#if you don't enjoy what they enjoy

[technically-human]

I delivered

[coolerdracula]

saying “visual style" because, for example, if you would swap your current wardrobe for an identical, ethically made counterpart, there would be no visible change

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I'm back in the Tigers cage again.

(You too can join in on throwing a Rat Of A Man into a Tiger cage by reading Tiger Tiger)

[muppetfreak]

Mr. Riordan, it is truly a pleasure getting to experience your second draft.

[an-established-butt-dent]

Solas x Lavellan

Dragon age the Veilguard

Tel banal, ara'ma

It won’t be terrible if you’re with me.

Available as print here.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

real talk having the 2nd worst new years eve yet 🤢🤢🤢 (throat infection, twisted neck, banged-about-foot, ego AND the rest o' me all bruised like misjuggled peaches 🍑🍑🍑)

im bent outa shape and suspectin the universe owes me 8 buck if anyone wannsa chip in

[swampybogg]

[lazylittledragon]

ok someone please correct me if i'm wrong but am i weird for thinking those 'audiobooks don't count as reading' posts are ableist as fuck????

[permettez-moi]

Okay. So. I typically prefer to keep fandom things lighthearted and silly, but this one struck a chord for me. I will try to keep the rambles minimal and make a properly formulated response (I think I succeeded) to the point that I wrote my thoughts out on paper first. (4 A4 pages, I am so sorry. Long post.)

Your first point, I must say, I believe to be quite personal. Not everyone thinks the same way, so some things you find boring or redundant, someone else never thought of, and finds it very creative or unique.

Furthermore, creativity isn't easy. Some days it runs at you, arms wide open. Other days it hides away and you need to learn how to find it. You can't force people to be 'more creative'

Secondly, 'the godawful out of character headcanons'. A headcanon is just that. From the head. We make them to relate to a character, find comfort in them, or to hate on them. The whole point of headcanons, fanon etc. Is to tweak your little guy (literally for the RA fandom) until he is just right for you. Once again, personally, I find book Halt a fun and intruiging character, who spoke to me. I have come across fanon versions of Halt, such as autistic! Halt , that made me cry because I felt seen and understood. It healed a small part of me, simply because this was a character I was already connected to, simply because I liked him. Now a version of him was made that struck me to my very core. I have watched many pieces of media with original autistic characters, but none moved me the same way, because that initial connection was missing.

I understand that not all fanon is your cup of tea, it shouldn't be. There are a lot of takes I don't enjoy, but it's the internet. All you have to do is scroll once, and it's gone. We're on tumblr.com, if you truly don't like what someone comes up with, simply block them. Curate your own experience.

'Long essays about incredibly obvious things, which read as if they were written by younger fans and could have been summarised in a small post'

Much like my previous point, you don't have to read the long essays. Just scroll on past them. And I don't think it's right to discard them as obvious. Not everyone thinks the same things. I have read quite some posts about things I had never even considered that put my mind in motion and made me come up with new fresh things. I don't think you can discard the newer or younger audience and complain about the lack of creativity in one post. Creativity is something that grows from interaction. A fresh pair of eyes goes a long way.

Sometimes you might read something and think 'this is obvious' but there might be a new apprentice out there who now looks at the series in a new way. Great perception and comprehension doesn't just spawn. It's a skill you learn by engaging in it. I am sure that you too, once discovered obvious things as something wholly new. They are growing the foundation of their thoughts and interactions, please don't bash and degrade them for a matter completely out of their hands. They didn’t pick when they were born, and can't force their learning curve. You don't condemn a flowerbud for not jumping straight into growing petals.

Now, I don't know if I am counted as either a fan artist, nor a 'settled' one at that. I still feel fairly new to active fandom (not sure if that's a shared opinion or a me-thing) and I definitively don't pump put fanart like crazy, but I've made some things. So I am not sure if I can respond to this properly, as I am not sure I am the intended audience. All I can say is that when I draw or make a piece, it's for me. Not the likes or the reblogs. They're fun, sure, but ultimately, fanart I draw, I draw for me. This is not instagram.

And then, the very last bit (I promise) about fanartists interacting less and less, and moving to other fandoms: it happens! This is not unique to RA, we are just a small fandom so you notice it a lot more. We can't all be obsessed all the time. Interests fluctuate. Some artists might come back, others might not. Fandom is a sea filled with waves. Why do you think there are more youngin's? It's the tide. I don't think it has to do with fandom as much as personal life. Because, to be honest, if a whole bunch of people shared your opinions, they would not leave the fandom. They would pull a Moses and split the fandom in two. A part that remains as it was, and a part that's new.

And if you want fanartists to stay and keep drawing stuff, maybe don't tell the younger ones that they are worthless because then they will never want to draw for RA again, and that's how fanart dies down.

So please, I kindly ask you to tone down your anger toward the younger apprentices. It's okay not to like all the changes and new things, but don't blame the people that do.

You can't dislike how little 'quality' and new things are being posted while simultane being mad at the younger ones posting new things with qualities the older ones might’ve already discovered.

Hating on fandom, that is the best way to kill discourse.

i genuinely hate going onto the rangersapprentice tag. no shade to anyone but ninety percent of the posts right now are completely empty of any creativity whatsoever. you have people posting the most godawful out-of-character headcanons, writing these looong essays on something that was incredibly obvious in the first place and didn't need an entire post dedicated to it or some mixture of the two. its so annoying. i get younger fans joined this year but some of these read like they were written by middle schoolers, come on.

this fandom used to be full of artists but most of them migrated away since their high effort posts would get the same amount of attention as someone saying some crap like "Headcanon: Halt is a total softie :) He likes pigeons" i dare people to go onto the profiles of well known RA artists and ask their opinions and you will see that i'm right.

x

[spacebubblehomebase]

"A New Day Will Dawn."

-Said some guy named Luke probably.

Welcome to my #HHStargazersAU! Stay Tuned~♡? -Bubbly💙

[peace-hunter]

Hi! I love your Ghost Primes with Optimus AU! It’s so good.

I have a question though, do the Decepticons know that Optimus can see the 13 prime ghosts or do they just get increasingly confused each time they fight?

Thank you for the lovely artwork!!

oh they Know something funky is going on for sure lmao

a little more serious answer: they can tell something is going on with optimus and they desperately want to pretend it's not. they don't want to know how he's aware of things he shouldn't be, how he knows stuff that should have long been forgotten, how he seems to be more familiar with them than he should be. how sometimes he speaks and it's like the dead are talking through him. how sometimes he will answer to empty air and somehow they can just tell what he's responding to. who he is talking to.

they Know. and they really, really want to pretend they don't.

they already carry the guilt of failing them once. the idea of doing it once more is unbearable and they'd rather deceive themselves than face it. they'd rather their friends stay dead and gone than think of them seeing what they've become.

haunted au

[skecherss]

Maybe it's the eternally distrustful loveless child in me but idk something about the way DC has been writing familial relationships in recent years rings so false to me. There's no room for the complex, nuanced, unnamed relationships Batman and Nightwing used to have, nothing like the warped mother-daughter-sister thing Barbara Gordon and Cass Cain had, nothing like Superboy's weird obsessive hero worship/bone-deep dread of his clone fathers or Max Mercury's weary undefined protectiveness of Bart or Wonder Woman's dogged loyalty to her little "sisters". Cause — for me, at least, I know I actively seek little moments of connection in stories; when I write or when I read it is to seek comfort. I think that's why DC has made this shift. Readers like me gravitated to those little warm moments, and DC noticed that we did without stopping to think about why.

But there's a point at which I notice diminishing returns of comfort from fluffy writing — it ceases to register as real. It's too good, too saccharine, too empty of any of the pain and frustration it takes to express genuine love for the other person. It's all hand-holding and no sweaty palms. It's so easy for someone to say they love you. It's so easy to see when it's all just words. And part of this is, yeah, bad writing; all that stuff about show not tell. They're trying to tell us these characters care about each other without giving us any real proof. but. idk. I need my love to be real. I need to feel the bones behind each embrace. I can't accept affection without struggling my way into it. Honestly I'd rather get a grim gritty Batman who forgets he HAS kids until they throw themselves into the line of fire than a milquetoast helicopter Batdad who tells his kids exactly what they mean to him without actively being in a state of bleeding out.

[roxirinart]

"Yes! Show me the power of the Red Crown! I have missed it so..."

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Kiss Kiss Fallen Tree!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

Navigating a Fade manifestation of Lucanis' PTSD as the underwater prison he was held and tortured in, to help him start dismantling his fears, begin healing and also accepting Spite, to help them both stop fighting for control, is certainly not on the list of things I expected from this game, but I'm so in love with it.

Even before that, you just know that Lucanis is not alright. He can't possibly be. He doesn't talk about it much, but who would be after the experiences he's had? And there are signs all over the place. I mean, he keeps hiding in the closed space of the pantry like a feral cat under a couch, and likely not just because of Spite, for example. But he keeps it all in, just like he keeps Spite in. Or out, even, in this case. But you also know that he can't go on like that forever.

And now, Lucanis has finally hit the wall. Thankfully, Spite knows what to do. So, he briefly takes the steering wheel. "Help us." ("He'll listen! He always listens to you!" I feel totally normal about knowing this, thanks, Spite.)

Just... the doors of Lucanis' mental prison opening for Rook by themselves as they gently talk down each manifestation of Lucanis' fears and doubts as a metaphor for Lucanis letting Rook in and letting himself be vulnerable with them is just 👌 Delightful. We don't break a single lock. He opens himself up to us.

And it doesn't magically solve all his problems and restore his mental health, of course, but it's a promising start. I like how the game acknowledges this. Rook is there for him, easing some of the worst thoughts, lending him perspective that he lacks because his mental downwards spiral is so thoroughly suffocating at that point. They're helping him start somewhere. Of course, helping Lucanis reach an understanding with Spite, thus helping him end the constant and surely stressful and exhausting battle over his own body there and then, showing him that Rook accepts and cares about him the way he is, so he can start accepting himself that way, goes a long way. It doesn't fix everything, but it's an important breakthrough.

The way Lucanis looks at Rook afterwards, when Teia asks them if they're alright? Also great. 👌

Though I think Rook should be able to hold Lucanis for at least like 300 hours afterwards, because that's approximately the amount of time I need to cry about it - the whole thing, Lucanis' dynamic with Rook, and Spite's trust for Rook and his willingness to play nice despite having been ignored and pushed away for so long.

Actually, poor Spite doesn't get enough credit for all that. He really goes, "Fuck, if he's not going let me in or go to Rook for help, I'm going to pull them into the deepest crevices of his psyche, so they can see the mess for themselves," and improves the situation for himself, Lucanis, and his budding relationship. Good job, Spite!

[dandelion-roots]

[ID: a series of drawings featuring Riz Gukgak from D20 Fantasy High. In the first, Pok holds Riz's shoulders in heaven as says, smiling, when you work until the dead of night, your friends know you do it because you love them. In the second, Riz is having a group hug with his party and the text reads, but is it really love that drives you, Riz Gukgak... In the next, a desperate, pleading Riz clutches the shoulder of an indifferent, faceless person and the text continues, ...or is it fear? In the fourth, Riz is younger and digging through crystals with bleeding hands; the text reads, what use are you when you can no longer dig. In the fifth, Kalina, shrouded in darkness with only her eyes glowing, reaches towards the camera with a smile; the text reads, when you're too scared to think. Sixth, Riz is filling out Fig and Kristen's papers under the light of a lamp, serious and tired; the text reads, when you're too tired to work. Seventh, Riz is lying in bed, eyes hidden behind hair, hand on his father's picture; the text reads, too sad to keep the mood up. Eighth, Baron stares into the camera; the text reads, too lonely, too insecure, too weird. Ninth, Baron is holding a defeated Riz by the throat; the text reads, to keep moving? Tenth, Riz is standing in the distance, holding his briefcase, and behind him is a football/soccer ball; the text reads, what use is a ball that can no longer roll? The last drawing just says none in brackets on a dark background. End ID]