#if you don't make fandom things for your own dnd group then who will.

[feytouched]

forgekeepers x text posts

[utilitycaster]

I feel like a lot of people are projecting their own feelings towards what Taliesin did onto the cast as they seemed to me more stressed than necessarily angry at Taliesin but I don't actually play DnD so I thought I might ask you if what Taliesin did really was extreme enough to have actually made the cast as other playerd mad. I've just seen the claim that the cast is mad at x before, with Sam having scanlan leave or Bowlgate or Liam handing over the beacon and then the cast weren't actually mad at all.

Hi anon,

So just a blanket statement for the various questions I have received: until like, Wednesday, today was supposed to be a work from home day, as I often try to make my Fridays; I was pulled in to help an injured coworker briefly this morning, which I understand and which was relatively painless and would have left me free to work from home after 10 am, which is entirely reasonable. I then was sent to a last minute additional site and it turned out they were completely unprepared; this wasted about two and a half hours of my time and I'm now, understandably, extremely annoyed. This may bleed into my responses, though by and large I'm going to specify if I'm annoyed at you or not. Anyway, anon, I'm not annoyed at you at all and any "you" I say below is addressed to the fandom on the whole; this is a valid question.

Yeah the cast is mad. Yeah that's valid; as Matt pointed out there were extensive warnings specifically indicating that this would be a bad idea for Ashton to do. The cast is attached to each other's characters! They were, in fact, mad about Scanlan leaving and Tary showing up, because they care about Scanlan and that was an intense scene; Liam genuinely thought Sam was leaving the show. They were mad about this! They are also, probably going to get over it pretty quickly, or be "mad" about it in the way that your friends still roast you in the group chat over a typo years later. This isn't really even a D&D thing other than that Matt had Evontra'vir and Allura repeatedly say "you might fucking shatter." It's an anger born of concern that Ashton might have been permanently killed. But they weren't, and even if they were, it's fine. (The cast was not remotely mad about bowlgate though; see following paragraph.)

Which brings me to my next point. I have really only checked the blogs of people I follow because of aforementioned work problems and have barely glanced at the tag, and this is in conversation not just with this episode and that discourse and me being pissed off over real-world personal inconveniences, but also the larger discussion of "must stories have conflict?" and the fact that all the people who until quite recently insisted that actually Bells Hells are ROCK SOLID TIGHTLY BONDED and shat repeatedly on the astute point that Bells Hells are actually very surface level pleasant and don't ever discuss their issues have done a 180 that they will never acknowledge. Anyway:

It's extremely normal to be mad at people you care about, and to have arguments with them, and in fact it's likely more unhealthy to not have disagreements and get mad ever, and some of you sound like you've never been outside or had any friends. Like really that's it in the end. Actually believing Marisha and Liam were mad at each other? Friendless behavior. It's completely fine to wonder if this anger was valid, but like, honestly, people get mad over dumb shit every day and the point is that even if it's a stupid thing for the cast to be mad at (obviously, I think it's fine), be fucking normal and recognize that friends can be mad over dumb shit or valid shit and talk through it. Like. Some of you have no conflict resolution skills because you see all forms of confrontation as inherently evil and couldn't be me. I get in fights all the time and I get out of them and it's great. I am glad I no longer live in the midwest but god I cut swathes through problems there because I had zero investment in being Minnesota Nice when I was angry. Somehow this has turned into life advice, which is not what I thought it would be, but anyway. It's okay to be mad at your friends and expressing it in the way the cast did is super normal and they will probably all go out for drinks; as a person who has never chilled once in her entire life, I think we should all chill.

[thornfield13713]

...I truly hate Mizora. Yes, I know, least controversial opinion in the fandom.

Just- I can't help but wonder if this was, in part, set up to separate Wyll from the group, the same way Gortash dropping the bomb about Durge's past in a Dark Urge run can come off as him trying to separate them from their companions. Yes, okay, completely different contexts/preexisting relationships/goals, given that Wyll being alone might actually make him less effective now he's been tadpoled and lost a lot of power, but the techniques are similar. Probably because getting the resident warlock out of hock to their awful boss is a very, very common activity in DnD parties which include a warlock, and even if Mizora does not know the convention, she probably knows how often warlocks have wriggled free of apparently-airtight contracts after falling in with a scrappy band of misfits.

...I am once again somewhat disappointed that killing Mizora has to wait for the post-game, and then only if Wyll and Karlach head off to the Hells. I'd quite like to kill her, but- alas, Wyll's powers last only so long as his contract does, and killing her, thus turning Wyll into a lemure, in a fit of outrage at how she treats Wyll seems a tad bit counterproductive.

Because, seriously, that description of just how much pain this puts Wyll through is just- fucking hellfire, that's awful. And all in one go. I guess it was relatively brief this once, but- still. Mizora's got to go.

Ah. And there's the goal.

I saw a post once discussing how, unlike Auntie Ethel, Mizora couldn't not give Wyll what he wanted and then take her price anyway, so she's doing all she can to take everything that would be personally rewarding for Wyll about what he achieved with his powers, and how much of his ability to keep going as a hero and not be reduced to miserable regret is just him resisting that as hard as he possibly can, because regretting would mean Mizora gets what she wants.

So, here she is to wreck the life Wyll has used those powers to build for himself, even if, actually, it's...probably going to make him less useful to her, at least on the Sword Coast. Given he's hunted in the Hells themselves, not so much there, but that isn't the point. The point, as always with these deals, is getting all the enjoyment out of it that she possibly can.

This is where the Jaskier comparisons are coming in, because I think one of the first things Thoradin is going to do after all this is sit down with Wyll and ask how he feels about having it put into song that the horns were a result of a devil punishing him for refusing to kill a mostly-innocent person. They don't have to put in the contract, he is quick to add. Mizora could just be a random devil who turned up to stir shit and present Wyll with the choice between his own glory and an innocent life in the sung version. But it's a way to spite Mizora a bit more, and a way for Wyll to keep the life he's fought for.

(I do hope there are bard answers later on that let you do songwriting - even if not explicitly songs to bolster companions' reputations. There aren't many class-specific romance options I've seen, but being able to write songs about your partner feels perfect for a bard.)

[greatlyblessed]

✨️🦋💭!

Oops I forgot to answer this for a couple days sorry! Here we go: (answers under a cut because I expect this is gonna get long).

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

💭 First because I think it's gonna be easiest--

I kind of just. Get story ideas I want to put out there for people to enjoy? Specifically I'll end up with some kind of conglomeration of characters/themes/wordlbuilding that makes me go yessssssssss. So for Mixed Bag, that was the idea of the scrambled up turtle teams. For my current OF project, that was the re-imagining of our DnD group in an urban fantasy beachy setting. (Though it's changed drastically from that initial inspiration lol.)

Quite a few of my OF projects actually started as fanfic daydreams that I realized I could file the serial numbers off of and have work as OF without losing what made me interested in them in the first place.

🦋 Oooooh this is hard. Because so many characters have different things that are so fun to write!! I love Rise Leo's schemery that just flies so under the radar it is currently causing Problems. I love 87 Donatello just having 0 chill at all. I love putting the characters in situations that bring out parts of their characterization we don't see much of in canon (03 Mikey being forced to be Competent lol).

Overall I do tend to enjoy the more dramatic characters, just because it's fun to write characters being over-the-top and some of them lend to that easier than others lol. But I don't think I could pick an overall favorite.

✨️Noooooo how could you ask me this one. I don't want to. I love and cherish all my commenters I can't pick!!! :( :( :(

I will give special shoutouts to the commenter who made their own little chart for who goes where lol. It's a big, confusing fic and I appreciate them making the effort to be able to track it!!

(Also yes I did squee when I Nekotsuki had commented on my fic lol. I feel like I'm on my way to Fandom Fame.)

[rotthepoet]

hiii,

my day has been lovely! i have been working on what started out as me just wanting to put my ocs into hogwarts, but has very quickly spiral very far out of control and has turned into a rewrite of the entire series instead, it's fun :D

today i was working on schedules for them which gave me a headache and made me want to throw my pc out the window, but i got it now (or at least the ones for first year). organising is my passion (/gen) and either filling in or just making details from scratch is so much fun. canon? what canon?

i have been thinking about this in particular, so i am very eager to ramble about it to someone. if you get me started on this i will talk. a lot.

also to answer your question: yes! magic alignment is kind of like dnd alignment. to me at least.

you may be able to tell that i am approaching all of this from a more... outside... point of view. this is partially because i am #aromantic and kind of don't really care for y/n or reader related stuff (not in a mean way, just not my preference) and also because exploring the possibilities is so much more fun that reading (or watching an edit of...) the same thing again just in a different font.

deary me i am rambling into your inbox, well. hope your day is/was nice too

- 🦆 anon (proud parent of 5 (<- my ocs. my children.))

OMG PLS PLS PLS FEEL FREE TO RAMBLE INTO MY INBOX OR EVEN DM ME. I already love this so much its literally so me core, (when i was super active on Quotev WAYYYY back in the day(when they still had roleplay groups) i loved loved loved making class schedules for all of the people who joined AUGH its so fun(i was def super annoying about it tho lmao!!) )

But for realsies Dude please please please feel free to infodump all you want about your ocs. You might get me started on my own tho 😛

And like i totally get the outside perspective thing. Sometimes i love to just watch the hp fandom exist and ask all the questions JKR never even thought of.

And!! My day was nice! Thank you! The weed pen i found that i thought was broken actually works and im so joyus!

[yappacitor]

Woah an intro post

[General]

Hello everyone , I'm Fouad ! This is a side blog where I interact with posts with far less of a filter than on my main (can be posts of political nature , or of nsfw nature) follow me at your own discretion .

Arab/Tamazights/French/English OK! English isn't my first language

I am 21 ,I use they/any. I am Arab/North African/Moroccan/Amazigh/Mzamzi Muslim (you can refer to me using whatever label you recognize last in this list).

My sexuality is unlabeled , but I am in a relationship with a very wonderful so it isn't really relevant at the moment!

I am neurodivergent and hypersexual (admist many things) , your patience is very very much appreciated ! I also speak in all caps sometimes , it's just the burst of energy

New friends are always much appreciated! Esp those interested in Tech , TTRPG/RP and any kind of media really I am love anything and everything and I'm open to watching/playing/reading things myself! If we're mutuals feel free to ask me for discord!

Feel free to ask me for main and discord esp if we're moots!

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[Nerd stuff 1]

Although I am more into video games , anime and manga. I consume any kind of media regardless of genre or support feel free to infodump or share anything to me!

I am big into RP and TTRPGs/DND ! I was our groups forever GM so I have a lot of premade worlds and campaigns and note to try out or talk about! I have many OCs and would like to know about yours and make ours interact!

I sometimes draw , once in a while my OCs and once in a while my friend's OCs...unfortunately I didn't make much fandom art yet but who knows!! I mostly do fan art and that fan art be for friends! I can always show you some of my art!!

The caption here is wrong , this is more just a list of media I remembered on the fly. This isn't all of my fav medias! there are much more I forgot to put here!

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[Nerd stuff 2]

This is my third (out of 5) year as an electrical engineering student ! I specialize in smart system management which is another fancy way of saying robots , thou our program also includes renewable energy ! So I do embedded , electronics , RF/Analog circuit design However I dabble also in:

mathematics (with preferences towards Group theory and Analysis)

mechanical engineering (mechanical conception and Solid kinematics)

Physics (Electromagnetism , Optics , Quantum mechanics)

game development (I use Godot and Unity) and general programming (C/C++ , Python , Rust)

Computer architecture

I'm also a bit into biology , spec evo and chemistry !! Not a lot but enough to discuss them with people (thanks partner for that :3)

I'll post a list of my projects later feel free to ask me about any of them !!

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Past the general warning against bigots terfs and zionists , I don't have that much of a DNI list. However please understand that I might not interact with you if something is past my comfort and I might mute some tags .

While I might not likely block without warning , there are some cases I'll skip the warning and straight out block . But making proof of human decency will save you from that treatment.

[theroyalspiderart]

AO3 Questions Tag Game!

I got tagged by @squish--squash. Thank you so much! I'm glad you thought of me!

I Tag: @neon-virus and @xmajordumps And any wonderful person who wants to hop on the wagon!

1- How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently, only three. One drabble and two actual fics. (One sadly left behind BUT I do intend to work on it again)

2- What's your total AO3 wordcount?

About 9,527 based on current fics. Actually a bit lower than I thought it would be, I should fix that.

3- What fandoms do you write for?

Currently it's Cult of the Lamb and Splatoon! Specifically bouncing off Splatoon 2 and into 3. I don't have a lot of things I'm a big fan of but maybe that will change in the near future! I'm getting into more games so I might pick up another.

4- What are your top five fics by Kudos?

Also pleading the fifth only because I'm no longer in the fandom for most of the fics sadly

5- Do you respond to comments?

I would like to more, yes! I don't get a lot of comments so it's hard to do, but if I get more I'd really like to!

6- What fic have you written with the angtiest ending?

A fic I haven't posted before actually. It's more of an on-going/living story so to speak. A story of trauma, pain, trying to make up for said inflicted trauma, coming to terms with never being forgiven, and knowing this character has actively fucked up that life beyond repair. It's real nice to have around for pain~

7- what fic have you written with the happiest ending?

Currently have plans for both my CoTL fic Death's Forbidden Love and my Splat fic Why Do I Hate You So? (Soon to be renamed) to both get happy endings! Of course there is angst along the way. What can I say? I think they deserve to be happy

8- Do you get hate on fics?

Dunno, never had someone actively tell me before :V

9- Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I need you to understand that is like the majority of my personal writing. I want to estimate a good like.... 80-90% of personal writing, be it RP or for myself, is either primarily smut or has some element of it sprinkled in.

As for what kind? Yeah, you'll have to kill me to get that answer. My main page is SFW but if you know me, You Know.

10- Do you write crossovers?

Not any more, but I used to all the time! Back when I was on Wattpad I want to say like 5/7 fics were all crossovers of fandoms and oc/canon stuff. It was a lot of fun. I think my most popular ever was a goofy Hetalia/Aliens fic I made. Don't ask me where I got the idea, I couldn't tell you.

11- Have you had a fic stolen?

ACTUALLY YES! Still pisses me off, but a fandom friend stole one of my drabbles and posted it to her account. I think it's dead now and you can't find it any longer but it did happen!

It was a small friend group and I was like- in middle school. I've done my wailing about it.

12- Have you had a fic translated?

Nope, but it would be nice if someone did! If they like it enough to translate it, I'd be honored!

13- Have you co-written a fic?

Sadly, no. Unless you count RP stuff turning into OC lore, then maybe. But in literal terms? Nah.

14- What's your all time favorite ship?

Oh this one made me think.

I'm gonna have to go with 3/8 from Splatoon simply because of my own ship pair of them. I adore these two a lot and all the growing they've done as characters together.

15- What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My personal Paracosm's story tbh. There's no set storyline for the world and it just exists in the back of my head like a DND campaign. I want to do it justice one day and turn it into an actual story and REALLY REALLY flesh it all out.

16- What are your writing strengths?

I'm often told that my characters feel like real characters. Not in like, they're made by a professional, but more so in the way they feel like they've had solid personalities. My personal favorite compliment I got was from a teacher in my high school. He'd commented on my lead at the time and how, despite my clunky writing skills, she felt like a living breathing person he was being told all about. Like a long lost friend.

I think this rings most true in my current writings of my version of Narinder. I've gotten a LOT of compliments about him and it makes me excited to write more! Hopefully if I can polish my skills again my whole cast will feel this way!

17 – What are your writing weaknesses?

Pacing. By god is my pacing TRASH. I'm getting some more work on this with my friend's help and just getting back into the flow of writing again. I'm hoping to reawaken my middle and high school self cuz that bitch could bang out 3,000 words a day for fics.

18 – Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Mixed. An actual language? I don't trust my translation skills to be that solid. Small phrases I can do but definitely not full on conversations.

A language I made myself and am currently attempting to flesh out more? Oh you bet your sweet bottom dollar I'm writing whole SCENES in that shit!

19 – First fandom you wrote for?

Funnily enough, Sonic. That's where a lot of my creation started as a kid and where my Paracosm kind of spawned from. Despite having never really written a fic for it before, I consider my first "comic" to be that fanfic. AKA 10yo Spider was having a blast writing their characters being besties with the canon crew -fingerguns-

20 – Favorite fic you've written?

Gonna be Death's Forbidden Love. It's my most ambitious writing project in years and has reignited a part of my love for just making stuff. Plot still isn't solid but I really enjoy the things I have planned and I hope to share more of this silly spinoff with everyone!

Thanks again for tagging me Squish! This was a lot of fun and brought back some good memories for me.

[stick-ball]

So this is awkward.

See, if you were talking about a after class students club, or a neighbourhood book club or really, whatever the fuck - this would be a rational theory. But you quite obviously have not been in a cult. Cults aren't your toxic neighbours acting like your parents don't beat you when you seem to trip and fall on your face every week. Cults aren't your high school teachers who punish you for your focus and skill slipping rather than finding the cause for it. And Cults aren't your two-faced FRIENDS who act like you deserve your partner treating you like shit because of some self-appointed competition in being the happiest and most well adjusted in the sociopathic friend group.

Trust me, I know the difference.

SO, let's be direct and informed now:

1. In cults, self-harm is a norm. Yes, it is a NORM. Since you made guesses, let me make some of my own. I refuse to believe none of the "normie" Ravens did not self-harm. Usually, in real cults, it's through a starving/binging spiral(fasting and feasting goes brrrr), cutting, burning, body mutilation of different kinds, and last but not least the good old substance abuse. Ravens had their options severely limited, though, to the very direct and physical.

2. In cults, abuse is a norm. Yes, it really is a norm. In general, sadly, abuse is very widespread, which i dont think is news to anyone, considering how 90% of this fandom projects onto the most tortured character of the week with their own ouchies. I refuse to believe Riko was the only bully in the nest. Especially considering what Jean's pov shows us. They all were extremely mentally unwell. They were also used to being physically harmed by their coaches for making mistakes. Jean is utterly relaxed about throwing fists with a teammate, don't think that's a new thing for him. Ravens hurt eachother. On court and off. One of them has scars and bruises? Newsflash, most likely they all look like a Pollock painting in the communal showers.

3. In cults, your understanding of reality slips hard and fast. I don't know if you were ever on meds that distort your understanding of reality, but it's a but like that, except without the hallucinations. Everything sounds like a good idea! It's a bit like the army you go sir yes sir and beat a dude into a pulp bcs his vibes were off. Another thing is, cult leaders aren't idiots. Evil acts in general, aren't stupid. They're malicious and manipulative. They make you dependent on them whole before you realise you want to run.

4. In cults, you lose your sense of self, sense of identity, and sense of autonomy. You can't, not because I say so but because you literally CANT say what you would and wouldn't have done when induced into cult mentality. Because it's not you anymore. The superego gets locked up in a room with padded walls. Your identity gets led around on a leash, waggling its tail at the person holding the leash. It's crude, but it is what it is.

In general, saying I would or wouldn't ever do something if I was in a certain situation is like people saying how they would make sure both of the kids survive after watching Sophie's choice. Like, what's your source? A work review? The dnd moral alignment test? Our brains don't have a moral compass in a life or death situation. Sorry, they call it brainwashing for a reason.

5. So yeah also, I get why some people would say they would never stay on the Ravens but, newsflash, you guys would probably never END UP on the Ravens team! Sorry, someone has to say it! It's not a community group, it's a sports ivy league. Calling them psycho for staying for a scholarship is a hilariously naive mindset.

Anyhow, I refuse to believe the issue is 'if' the Ravens knew what happened to poor little Jean. The issue is if they knew what was happening to them at all. The brain is an incredible place. You can fool yourself and others into believing honestly anything with enough conviction. I once fooled myself into not feeling pain so well the doctors didn't see my arm was broken! Stranger things have happened! You know why? Because I am the main character of my life. You are the main character of yours! Jean is the main character of TSC, so you obviously care about him immensely. But the other Ravens aren't privy to his boss level status, they're the heroes of their own stories. They literally quite frankly don't give a fuck. Just like Neil doesn't give a fuck to tell us what half of his teammates major in, or what skin color they have.

It's definitely fun to go in depth into Jean and emphasise with him to new levels but shitting on people who survived cults is not a valid way to do it!

Laters gators!

sorry but I refuse to believe the Ravens didn't know how violent and depraved Riko truly was... you're telling me Jeremy, Laila and Cat figured it out after only spending a few weeks with Jean but the Ravens had no idea how bad it was, despite being stuck in confined spaces together on a near-constant basis for years?

Like, Jean changed out in front of them regularly. They would have seen his injuries and his scars hidden beneath his shirt. There is absolutely no way they did not know what was happening to him.

Not to mention the fact that 5 of them willingly participated in Riko's violence and raped a teenage boy who very clearly did not want to be there!! You're telling me none of them realized how fucked up Riko was to arrange that? And none of them tried to back out when they realized what exactly Riko was having them do??

You're telling me none of them saw Kevin and Riko facing off on the court and then Kevin's hand getting destroyed immediately after, forcing him to leave the team?? You're telling me nobody on the Ravens pieced together what happened?? That none of them realized just how dangerous Riko was becoming?

Part of it could be explained away as part of their cult programming, yes. And for some of them, there was probably also a degree of willful ignorance involved, of choosing not to look too closely and see the truth before them.

But lets remember that they didn't know the team was a front for the mob, they didn't know Tetsuji and Riko were yakuza. As far as they knew, the only risk reporting the abuse was getting kicked off the team and losing a scholarship. Their reasons for choosing to stay silent were entirely selfish.

I don't know about y'all, but if I'm a freshman Raven coming in and I'm seeing all this shit happening, I'm not sticking around long enough for the cult programming to set in. I'm transferring schools and blowing the fucking whistle. And yeah, the yakuza would probably come for me and I'd be mighty surprised when they did, but it'd be better to do that than to be complicit.

Personally, I think Jean is only choosing to believe the other Ravens didn't know because some part of him wants to think that if they had known the full scope of what was happening to him, they'd have done something to intervene; or at least, they'd have been kinder to him.

But the truth is, they knew. Every single one of them knew. And they did nothing to try and stop it.

[letitrainathousandflames]

Wait. How many levels of friendship do you have? And how does one become friends?

Aight sit down bc I have hyperfocus mode on and my leg is bouncing quicker than the speed of light. I have 5 levels of friendship:

1 ) awkward i-don't-know-how-comfortable i can be w/ you yet and i'm also adhd so i will forget to reply your messages sometimes and worry abt you thinking i hate you

2) i know a bit abt you and you know a bit about me. We exchange memes and wait to get a keysmash laugh reply. After a while, we get either one of us reblogging the meme the other sent, or we simply Know they were seen and are thus no longer plagued by the worries of level 1

3) We start having recurring themes/jokes in our convos. This is the best part bc I then know what to talk or ask about to get u going "oh! topic i enjoy!"; also, i know now your interests/hyperfixations/area of expertise and therefore you become my source of knowledge in this particular area so that a) I can learn from a friend and b) you get to infodump all that fun stuff no one ever asks you about.

(shoutout to my marine biologist buddy who knows everything about those underwater critters, the friend w/ animals who explains animal husbandry and the dnd pal who knows what all these dice do, love y'all <3)

4) We don't talk often, but we know timezones/work/studying is a bitch so we Get It. Starting convos is easy bc we know enough abt each other and are protected from most of the mortifying ordeal of being known by the computer screen and physical distance, which is also a curse bc goddamn, you must be fun to hang out with but there u are, in a whole other continent.

We frequently plague each other with cursed content. I might have 28% of a crush on you bc you know me better than most people IRL do. If we have mutual blorbos, we spend hours coming up w/ fic/scenarios for them, which feels as whimsical and lighthearted as playing dolls in a playground with a friend you just met but also feels like has been your soul companion since your previous lifetime. it's day for me when its night for you so the only thing we're granted is a sliver of time in which we squeeze the most meaningful glance via a discord stream of me playing some shooter game.

One day you might leave Tumblr or just shift into a different friend group or discord server, and I'll have a chunk of knowledge about you and nothing to do with it, and so will you. It was real. I hope we meet again. If we don't, I hope you find your happiness somewhere.

5) All that but you actually survived the test of time and the shift of interests and we remain friends bc we are actually connected to each other's personalities and tastes and we make the effort to keep the friendship going, even if I now talk of a fandom you're not a part of, and you got married and had a kid and now doesn't have as much time but you still find a way to send the occasional message or drop in for a chat. We've seen each other's actual faces on video. I tell you my top-secret stories and you tell me yours. I constantly refer to you in convos w/ ppl IRL like "oh, my friend from [country]" said- to the point where they already have their own idea of you too. I love u and you know it.

[yuurivoice]

Okay so I don't mean to be a horrible psychoanalyst, and you have ZERO obligation to answer this if it's too personal, but during character introductions you were like "Howell has commitment issues" and like,,,, I noticed that several of your OCs have commitment issues??? Like Egon loves too strongly and pushes people away, Alphonse calls love "business" for fear of getting too close,, Is this something that you're projecting?? Like have you had experience with this?

LOL I didn’t think that was much of a mystery, it’s one of my selling points! 

The reasoning has some layers to it, but first off, yeah I absolutely have commitment issues so I write what I know. I put other little pieces of me into my OC’s (or even the fandom characters I choose and interpret in my own way) and that theme definitely carries through with some of them. I think the Egon thing is a little bit of a reach, because I think his arc is going to be more about learning how to appreciate people who are different from himself and not treating people like things to possess or cast aside at his leisure. Sure, romance will be there, but the themes and trajectory are a little different.

Alphonse is the one who is 100% me projecting. He has a shady nsfw job. He feels like a misfit. He keeps things casual and is scared of actually falling in love. He likes sweets and pretty colors and shit. The list goes on. He was also the first OC, so he had the misfortune of getting all of my self inserty things I wanted to do all wrapped up in one. LOL

Howell’s “commitment issues” are different, and based on...like...trauma and fear. Though I noticed this morning that there’s something to be said for the personal aspect of the loner who is hesitant to make friends thing, which really mirrors how I started off in regards to reaching out and working with my peers and stuff. So that’s kind of warm and fuzzy considering the newly formed bonds me and that group are building thanks to DnD. 

Anywho, saying all of that to say you’re basically right. hahaha

[egregiousmeme]

The reason we don't want a green or white taako is because we want representation, and we don't want anti-semitic characters. They Mcelroys want poc to speak up if they think they are doing something wrong. So they did and we are working for a better result. White and green taakos arent good because the character is coded otherwise and green is awfully horrible against what taako is coded as: jewish. And mexican.

(Sorry for the super late reply, I just needed to make sure I did my homework on this one, and I a few other things to attend to. But if you don’t believe me I implore you to do your research and tell me your findings. I would love to have an intellectual discussion on this matter! Thanks for the wait!)

Okay so I will say this: representation is important. It is very important.Undoubtedly so.

But there already is such great representation of poc with Lucretia,Kravitz, and Angus (as well as many others!) all being smart and intellectualpeople who are adored by nearly everyone in terms of popularity. It warms myheart to see this. So representation is there (at the very least more so thanother not so great places I’ve seen in other fandoms) and poc are not invisible.

People of color are people through and through and deserve their time toshine. Period.

I am all for supporting poc and I honestly like the sun taako design. I’vesaid it and you read it (I’m pretty sure). One reason I am held back by thewhole proposal is this quote in the mcelroy’s post talking about the problem:

“ Yesterday, we heard from folks who said it was problematic that we madeMerle brown, considering that he has a backstory where he was, more or less, adeadbeat dad. That’s a harsh boiling down of the character, but the criticismabsolutely has merit. We didn’t think of that when we decided on Merle’s newdesign. But it’s kind of exactly what I’m talking about here: If the Taako inthis graphic novel had dark skin, how many similar criticisms could be laid athis feet? If we gave Magnus dark skin, and then he spent the campaign being themore physical, more aggressive, less intellectual member of his team, there areissues there, too. Is any of that good representation? ”

I’m not sure if Taako is good representation. Because, despite hischarming attitude and character quirks, he’s not a great person moral-wise. Theway to fix this? Just promote the idea that Taako specifically will not bebutchered and shaped into a stereotypical thieving dark skinned dude. Get people to accept that those character traits are not because of his dark skin tone, but because of the character by itself. Because stuff like that happened to Merle (which I just flat-out don’t agree with at all, he’sthe very definition of a peacemaker and should not be boiled own to “blackdeadbeat dad” but, okay.) will also happen to Taako. I don’t want that to happen. I don’twant people to twist it even more to harm those that are trying to findrepresentation in characters they relate to. That’s just fucked, I think we can agree on that much.

While I do not prefer to have a white Taako for the non-canonical comic (more aesthetically than anything),I don’t hunt down people that draw him as such or put hastily slapped on labels for people who are just drawing something that they love. Just as I don’t hunt down people for any other design they desire to draw. That’s just pathetic to harass people like that. Let people draw him how they want to draw him, and if you don’t like it then you don’t have to reblog or spread it to others, it’s just that simple.

But let’s hop onto the far hotter topic of the green and blue skin colors, shall we?

Green skin is anti-semitic, right? Well not by itself, no.

Unlike some of the more prominent racial propaganda depicting races throughout history (such as yellow peril, blackface, and red skin, ect.), green skin was not a widely-known by many, and is not nearly as present in other anti-semitic racial caricature elements as black hair with a beard, hats with a rounded top and/or kippah caps, hooked noses, dark clothing, and are typically depicted in negative light. Here’s a quick google search. The green skin isn’t really found anywhere in these depictions, as they were mostly in black and white to be used in newspapers. The only photo I have found is this image for an anti-semitic nazi propaganda flim, which by the way, was originally in yellow. So the “green skin is anti-semitic” argument is weak at best, and completely unstable at worst when looking at that by itself.  In any case, I do not think the people that draw green Taako are racist, but rather they merely draw inspiration off of other artists that draw him with that skin tone, or draw upon the typical skin color to depict a witch, you know, cuz’ he’s a wizard (I got some more research if you want to argue the witch claim, just hit me up). Heck even some Jewish people like to draw Taako green, that’s when you know the whole thing is rocky.Finally, Taako was never said to be Jewish, not sure what episode you got that from, but if you know, again, please hit me up with the timestamp and everything.

Finally blue.

Blue is ehh. It’s not green, it has no racial connotations, and is a cannon DnD 5e skin tone forthe sub-race of the High Elf– The Moon Elf, just the same as people arguing for the Sun Elf, it has equal ground in that regard to cannon. But all Taako fan designs are cannon, as stated by the fucking guy who plays Taako soooo “cannon” DnD skin tones may mean nothing in the grander scheme of things. But I think blue specifically, wasn’t the point.

The point that the Mcelroys were trying to do by using a fantasy skin coloris the same thing they were doing for their podcast: Not tie Taako down to onerace. No group of people can claim to be a blue race and “have” Taako (just the idea of being possessive over him for racial reasons is a weird just typing it out). Anyway, no one “gets” him. But they didn’t do too great of a job since it stillseemed to be tied too closely to lighter skinned people with the brightness of the blue hue and the fact that the Moon elf is typically depicted as “pale or fair-skinned.” Ruh roh. Okay idea, not great execution.

Personally? I’d change around with the blue hues to make them darker and make up a new sub-race so it isn’t closely related to “white” and is more on the middle of the spectrum. Or just make him Mexican and everyone will have to deal with it. //Shrug

But I guess that it matters very little when you consider people that are protesting for a change in the skin tone actually may be too late. It is conceivable that it is too late in the development process to change the designs. For all we know they have already printed out hundreds of pages when they posted the previews of the new designs. We just don’t know. I certainly hope not, but I can accept it with a grain of salt. I’m not sure others can swallow such a big pill though.

The whole fandom (white and poc both) are trying to come to terms with this situation that we’ve been given. We are all trying to discuss it and see what we can improve upon so there is a better and more diverse representation without harming the ones we are trying to support.

But Justin Mcelroy said that all Taakos are equal, and I am merely following the wishes of a guy that doesn’t want people to bully each other over drawing something they love. Sue me.