#impossible to find anything on the source blogs that don't tag

[project-sekai-facts]

Hi! Welcome to Project SEKAI facts!

This account posts daily facts and trivia about Project SEKAI! I occasionally do longer analysis/content overview posts as well as some event speculation.

This account is currently operated by one mod and is scheduled to post daily at 5pm UK time. Bonus facts may be posted if I find something interesting in newly released content.

Reposts OK aside from essay/analysis posts!

Hope you enjoy your visit!

↓ Submissions & Asks info + more below cut ↓

Submissions are welcome!

Rules:

Must be canon or otherwise official - Content from any server of the game (including cards, stories and songs etc), music videos, Petit SEKAI, official artwork or 4komas is OK! I will also accept content from the anthology mangas, magazine articles, and seiyuu content (including unofficial stuff so long as it is relevant to the game, like something they said on a personal livestream). In other words everything is fine except fandom stuff/unofficial fanworks.

If the fact is related to Vocaloid/Virtual Singers, it must be relevant to Project SEKAI in some way.

No leaks - Leaked content is usally low quality and I will not be able to post the fact until the content has been released officially, so I'd rather you didn't submit it at all.

Please submit a source for your fact - a screenshot, image, video or link is OK! If you don't have any then that's fine, but please at least tell me what story/card/article/stream/etc is the source so I can get the screenshot/image/link myself.

If the source is not available on the EN or JP server, or is not available online, please attach an image/video! - I only play on the EN and JP servers, and will only be able to get screenshots and recordings of content available on those servers. If your fact relates to content exclusive to any other server or is from a physically published source and you do not provide an image/video, I will not accept the submission.

Asks are also open if you have any questions about a fact or if you have any general questions for me. Due to the incredibly overwhelming amount of asks I get nowadays, it is impossible for me to answer everything. Sincerest apologies for that. I still try to answer as many as possible but it could take a while for your ask to get a response. Also please do not ask me about shipping (platonic stuff is okay I just don't like to go into noncanon/speculative territory and then share my opinions on that. In other words I don't wanna start ship discourse).

Tagging

Characters are tagged Firstname Lastname (excluding Vocaloids). For example, facts about Ichika will be tagged as Ichika Hoshino.

Events will be tagged using the fan translations from the Project SEKAI wiki, rather than the official English names. This is just for consistency so I don't have to go back and redo tags whenever EN changes a title.

The media will also be tagged (e.g: Hatsune Miku: COLORFUL STAGE or Petit SEKAI)

Full tag list linked in blog description

Send me an ask/comment if you need anything trigger tagged. Triggers will be tagged "trigger tw". Flashing lights is the only thing I actively tag atm.

About mod

Yes I am one person. I treat this blog like a full-time job.

EN player since launch, got the game for the Sonic costume, stayed for potato ni natte iku. Not joking.

I am learning Japanese and am also entirely self taught. If I make any mistakes with my translations I apologise + please correct me!

i'm a VBS main (but like. barely. I love all the units a lot). no i will still not tell you who my oshis are or my opinions on ships. i like the vbs side characters and asahi and sakurako. i will tell you that much because i doubt how much people care about them.

I wrote the TVTropes entry in the header before the one other person who uses that site accuses me of stealing it

Feel free to send asks about my opinions on the game idm talking

I have most notifications for this blog turned off so if I ever miss something I apologise

That's all from me. You should watch all the Love Lives.

^ best ask i've ever gotten now framed in my pinned post

[x0401x]

i think the anime community on here is like low key high key dying bey it's kinda hard to find posts if you are searching it up, which defaults to the most popular posts, or using tags cuz for both you can really only search for one thing at a time right. and you can't general search terms like 'anime' since that just pulls up generic anime art or reposted artwork and most people don't tag their posts with 'anime' forcing you shift through different tags to find posts.

you could also use others peoples blogs to search (i personally like finding inactive accounts from like 2016-19) and for me personally i get a reloading glitch (its a reoccurring mobile bug for me) if i try to reblog something 15 posts down a blog which is inconvenient to scroll back down again every time especially if you are really deep diving into a blog

of course there are source blogs but they are run by people and most of them have gone inactive over the years as people get busier and can't devote as much time to them

Honestly, I think the search engine on Tumblr is the best one out of most sites out there. Every social media platform will first and foremost give you the trendy stuff and it's either impossible or almost impossible to look for stuff posted chronologically. On Tumblr, you have both. You can use tags to see the most recent stuff in chronological order or you can use the search engine to see the most popular posts. Also, I'm pretty sure that literally any site in existence will show generic results if you search for something as absurdly broad as "anime".

Btw, I'm sorry about that bug. It's a fact that Tumblr is hard to handle on mobile. The tools are just not engineered to work properly on a phone and I hope the app will one day stop being a joke. Today's not that day.

As for source blogs, they always keep coming. Like, seriously. Whenever a source blog dies out, another one comes to take its place, unless it's because the franchise as a whole died out.

I still stand by the opinion that content is dying lately (especially in the anime community) because people are forgetting how to appreciate content from other people with anything that isn't likes.

[lingeronyourhazeleyes]

tl;dr: i'm looking for some McLennon and/or Milex blogs to follow

keep reading for my unnecessary rambling about me finding out about the McLennon and Milex fandoms and the miserable state I'm in :D but you really don't have to tho :D

okay, so the thing is: Beatles is basically part of my DNA. My grandfather was an OG Beatles fan in the '60s and passed his passion on to my mother so I literally grew up listening to it 24/7 (especially Rubber Soul - that's her fav album) so for me, listening to Beatles was about as natural as breathing. There are those 6-8 songs I've always been really, truly fond of, but never considered myself a fan or something (actually, I've found it rather annoying when I literally couldn't talk about anything without my grandfather ).

And then Now and Then came.

That fckin song tore me into small pieces, chewed me up and spat me out. I've lost my mind. Suddenly, my inherited infatuation "arrived" and I wanted to know everything about the Lennon-McCartney relationship (I mean I had bits of information cause it's literally impossible to get through a family dinner without my grandfather sprinkling some Beatles fun facts into the conversation). So I came to the most devoted source: tumblr. And I fell into this fckin rabbit hole called McLennon.

One and a half months passed. I've watched Get Back twice (my favourite parts I've seen far more than I care to admit. Like, I know all the timestamps to them by now and I feel kinda embarrassed about this fact), read about half a million words worth of McLennon fanfics, lurked on tumblr to check the McLennon tag every goddamn day, started to write a novel inspired by Now and Then (I've got almost 50K words - bless ya NaNoWriMo), and as I was doing research for the novel I accidentally fell into the Milex rabbit hole as well.

At this point, I can't not think about McLennon. I just can't. I'm eating, breathing, and bleeding McLennon. And I am miserable and lonely with all these thoughts echoing in my head and I desperately need some friends to be crazy about McLennon (or Milex) with. Or at least some quality blogs I could follow.

Please send some help! I've completely lost my mind.

If you made it so far, thank you for your time and sorry for spamming your dash (and butchering the English language like this - I'm not a native speaker as you can see :D)!

[fictionkinfessions]

Hey, it's that anon from earlier complaining about the tagging mistakes... I just wanted to apologize for blowing up at you like I did.

I really wasn't thinking about what I was saying, and I've just been going through it recently, so pretty much anything was about to set me off. I know that's no excuse to take it out on you, and I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone. In my head at the time, I was giving valid criticism, but I see that I made a big mistake going about that the way I did. I was a complete and total asshole. I understand that you're only one person running this blog, so of course you won't be able to catch every mistake, and I'm ashamed of my ignorance and the way I acted.

Everyone else, please stop dogpiling me over this. I learned my lesson, I apologized, it's done, it's over with. I get it, I made a huge mistake. It wouldn't be the first time.

Either way, I hope you can forgive me. I'm a little embarrassed that not only did I have the audacity to say all of that stuff, but that it's now just on the internet for the world to see. Not that it's anyone's fault but mine. Thank you for your time, and I'm sorry once again. /gen

I don't know if you'll even see this but I'll try posting it anyways. Sorry it took so long, I wanted to think about what to say since I'd only get one chance.

This accidentally got long so there's a summary at the bottom. I know huge blocks of text can be difficult to parse. And a read more. Tada!

I accept your apology and understand you really did mean well. I know I fuck up tags fairly often and there are ways to mitigate that on my part. Like you suggested, double checking with a search is not impossible of me. Like I mentioned in a reblog of that post, I will make an effort in the future to search names and try to get it right the first time around. You were right to have sent that message. If you noticed and got irritated, I'm sure others have as well. I'm glad you went through the effort of sending a message about it. The point of tags is to ensure people can find their confessions. They can't do that if it's in the wrong place. I would disagree a bit, regarding memorizing sources and names. Yes I can recognize most names and sources, both stated and through confession context. I have done this long enough that it's usually accurate. But there are countless sources, names, and AU / fan created sources. I don't believe it's possible to memorize all of them. I think your suggestion of double checking with a search is reasonable and I will do so in the future. You seem very kind and compassionate, and I think you could understand where I'm coming from, regarding this.

[side note. You're not wrong about memorizing custom tags. I did have a little text document with custom tags and pre-typed names and sources. But at some point I stopped adding to it when it got overwhelmingly long and out of date when people stopped using their custom tags. Johnny Americanidiot, where you go? It also had reminders for what sources needed blacklist tagss. That didn't help the huge swathes of text that my eyes kept skipping over.... Anyways]

I am sorry you got dogpiled. I can understand where they are coming from, and I think they meant well too. I am glad to see people defending me. But I think at some point it went from blunt correction to outright bullying. Considering we get shit on by everyone who thinks kin people eat real gemstones because they're dragonkin, it really sucks to do that to each other. I hope we can all keep that in mind, going forward from here.

I will admit, and I don't mean this in a guilt trip way, that yeah that message did make me step back for a few days. I was more hurt over the tone than the correction. It made me wonder if doing this for so long made people take this blog for granted. You know what I mean? I've been here since 2016, on the first fictionkinfessions blog. Hell, I was a mod on the first @/kinfessions blog for a short while. I do this for fun, as far as typing tags and posting things others sent in can be considered fun. I always thought that if it was more trouble than it's worth, I'd just quit. Someone else can handle it until they felt it was time to pass it on. I don't think I've reached that point yet. I still like reading what people have to say and seeing people reach out, make connections through ask responses or reblogs or replies. It's endearing that they have a chance to do so.

[Not to get philosophical, but has anyone considered how lucky we are to exist simultaneously in this time and place? We get to live together and connect to each other, millions of miles apart. I think that's neat. Otherwise we'd all be that one Oddball in the Village who says they were once King Arthur /joking]

Anyways. I'm ok now. There was hurt and now it's gone. We're ok.

I promise I do take it seriously and make the effort. If I tag incorrectly or fail to tag a content warning, it's never on purpose. [excluding, you know, silly tags like 'ohio cw' or 'capitalism cw'. I think that's clearly intended as humorous and not sincere trigger warnings.]

The confessions are tagged, I don't delete confessions I personally don't like, the queue is always running, the followers list cleaned of spam bots, the activity page monitored for the very rare peer abuse [bullying], ask responses and such non-confessions usually get queued up asap, etc. Sometimes I think other people might be better suited for this just because they may not had adhd rearing its head. [Also not a guilt trip, I don't talk about my medical history much and I don't expect anyone to remember this tidbit. Also not an excuse, just a explanation as to why my memory does not work sometimes. Zest la vee.]

I don't know how to end this. Here is the summary.

In Summary

I accept your apology. Thank you for coming back and talking this out. I am sorry you were dogpiled and don't entirely agree with the amount of negative attention. I think it went past a reasonable limit of common courtesy at some point. I understand where you were coming from and I agree with what you said. I was hurt by your tone but I'm not any more. I will make the effort to double check names and sources. I hope whatever you were / are going through passes quickly. We'll be ok one day! I must believe!

Connie / mod party cat!

[the-sun-system]

WIP Pinned Post/About Us/DNI/Alter Info

☀️ The Sun System ☀️

DNI:

Basic DNI Criteria/supporters of any of that

Minors (No DMs, only sfw public interaction is ok)

Endos/supporters (whilst we don't think forcing people to remember their trauma is helpful, it is impossible to tell who is faking vs who has forgotten or discredited their trauma, therefore this DNI covers all endos/non-traumagenic)

Tulpas (For those who have a right to be involved in the closed practice, please know that this is not a thing against you. I just believe our experiences as systems are so different that I'd prefer to not have you in my trauma spaces if you don't consider yourself traumagenic. For those who don't have a right to be involved in that closed practice, fuck off.)

Anyone who fakeclaims individual systems, regardless of if you are a system or not, and anyone who supports doing so. There is no way for you to know, and it hurts all of us if we allow anyone to fakeclaim. If it bothers you, block and move on in our opinion, and if it's misinfo, you can address that without fakeclaiming. Real systems can post misinfo too, intentionally or unintentionally.

Pro ED or posts sp0/supporters (I get not being ready for recovery, it's just triggering for some of us.)

SH-centric blogs; posting about it sometimes is fine if tw are used on any images involved at least, but if that is your entire blog then plz do not

South Park/American Dad/Family Guy/Big Mouth themed blogs and alters from those sources - not because of issues with problematic introjects or anything, just because these specifically are extremely triggering to us for reasons completely outside of their subject matter and/or humor

About Us (More info in userboxes at the bottom under the cut):

Body is 25 year old and has transitioned partially to FtM (we use that term for ourselves exclusively because not all of us identify with the words transmasc/man or any variation thereof, but we all can agree the body is transitioning from female to male)

We are a recently professionally diagnosed DID system. Up until then, we were self dx though we thought it was OSDD not DID - so we do very much support researched self-dx and do not judge if you find out you were wrong.

Any post we either made or added to will be marked with thesunsystem tag so we can go back and reread stuff easier (gotta love the amnesia).

As any neurodivergencies and/or developmental disorders are shared throughout a system (since we all use the same brain), we all are autistic and have: ADHD, ASPD, OCD, and PTSD. Certain alters hold more symptoms than others of course, and some struggle more or less with said symptoms. Non-neurological disorders some of us struggle with are MDD, Panic Disorder, and GAD. All of these have been professionally diagnosed throughout our years of mental health professional help.

Alter List:

(Not all of us are currently comfortable sharing our names; these alters will either use a shorthand for their name or emojis to identify themselves)

Host - He/Him, brainmade shapeshifting demon/demonkin

🐈 - He/They, fictive (has integrated, we will hold this for him out of love and respect)

Becca; 📚/🍒 - She/Her preferred, they/them ok, brainmade @im-ur-cherry-bomb

Hilbert; HB/🩻 - He/Him, fictive @404name-not-found

Doug; 🛰 - He/Him, fictive @jettisoned-again

C/☕️ /🚬 - He/Him, fictive @hell-of-a-sunset

Miranda Pryce; 💎 - She/Her, fictive @input-error

Peter/👼 - He/They/It/Celestial Neos/honestly any besides she, brainmade angel @scorched-feather

Jacobi; J/♣️/🧨 - He/Him, fictive @explosion-noises

Note that we use the block button to curate our experience. If we block you, it doesn't necessarily mean you did anything wrong. We have triggers associated with many pop-culture things, and if an account posts about them too often, we will block for our safety. Of course, we also use the block feature for its traditional purpose. If we block you, kindly do not reach out/interact via a different blog.

[credit: systemuserboxes]

[guidetorp]

I’m actually new to the Tumblr RP community and it’s sort of confusing to take in at first so I’d love some advice, thank you so much in advance for anything!

I’m not really sure where to start or how to search for roleplays, appropriately make or tag them, or terms like “muses”? I’ve seen it around, but I’m never sure what it means.

My only experience in getting involved in the roleplay community on other platforms would be through things like “communities” or basically a big user ground labeled “something RP”, but there’s nothing like that here. How would I reach out / extend my reach?

Oh!! Well first and foremost, welcome to the RP side of Tumblr! It's been a few years since I've been active in the roleplay community myself, so I encourage you to take my advice with a grain of salt as I'm sure things have changed!

That being said, starting into the rp community can be a daunting task for sure. Navigating tagging, links, etc is an acquired skill, but certainly not impossible! Just remember to be patient with yourself and allow a few dink-ups along the way.

Now, let me preface this by saying that the tagging system here is dogshit! Completely terrible! But using appropriate tags for your roleplay is still extremely important, as it helps other individuals either find you or avoid you! Lengthy roleplays can be a bit of an eyesore on the dash if you aren't involved in the community so using #rp or #roleplay each time will help the filters out.

I strongly recommend checking out this blog for more relevant roleplay etiquette, which also has some pretty great information on the tagging system! The individual running it has stepped down though, so it's just for perusing and not an active help blog!

Now, muses! Muses are simply a source of inspiration. In the sense of roleplay, they are the chosen character the roleplayer is using in the RP. Fictional or nonfictional, original or established, anything can be your source of inspiration. A similar term thrown around is a face claim. A picture of the muse to display, very simply, what the character looks like. That can get messy if you aren't careful, as you want to make sure you're crediting the artist or not claiming pictures of someone else's original work under the guise of 'inspiration'. Some use photos of celebrities or stock images, not as official 'this is what my character looks like' but more as a 'this is the ballpark of vibes I'm going for'.

Remember, if you want to have a specific picture for your muse, commission someone to make it for you, or make it yourself! The RP community can be fantastic for exploring other hobbies, depending on what kind of flavor you want to implement! I've seen people make comics, paper crafts, or customized photography for whatever their scene requires! I've even been a part of an immersive horror rp that went on for months as a real-time mystery.

To get yourself out there, I HIGHLY recommend fandom first. It might be a bit controversial, but having a fandom oc or character will start you in an established universe and provide the basics of familiarizing yourself with roleplay. From there, you can expand universes and begin interacting with other non-fandom characters!

And how would you interact with them? Roleplay memes/ask games are a great source, those huge lists of prompts with numbers next to them? Yeah those are fantastic for getting started. Just choose a few of them at a time and start writing! Just don't over exert yourself! If you aren't getting any replies or interaction, that doesn't reflect on your ability by any means. Just have patience and write for your OWN enjoyment.

You can also send prompts to other RP blogs! People usually love reblogging those big lists so if you have a few folks in mind that you'd like to start roleplaying with, shoot them an ask!

Anyways, I hope you can glean what you need from this response! If there are any specifics you'd like to know about, I'll always be here. I wish you best of luck with establishing yourself within our roleplay community, and once again, welcome!!

[aflawedfashion]

I posted 4,183 times in 2022

That's 769 more posts than 2021!

502 posts created (12%)

3,681 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@aflawedfashion

@rosamundpikesource

@maiagaru

@lonely-night

@soupsnakessss

I tagged 4,123 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#stranger things - 663 posts

#joyce byers - 495 posts

#winona ryder - 467 posts

#otp - 459 posts

#jim hopper - 336 posts

#aflawedfashiongif - 336 posts

#the wheel of time - 299 posts

#joyce and hopper - 289 posts

#david harbour - 277 posts

#snowpiercer - 274 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i knew they’d stop making music but they always seemed to love performing so i figured they’d dust out their hits periodically and perform

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

1,927 notes - Posted January 23, 2022

#4

See the full post

1,963 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

#3

See the full post

2,055 notes - Posted January 20, 2022

#2

See the full post

3,304 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

3,654 notes - Posted August 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[expatesque]

Thinking of starting a tumblr. Yours is beautiful. What's your advice for newbies?

Aw thank you! A few pieces of advice...

First thing: change your icon and header first thing before you go out following people. Because of the prevalence of porn blogs, some people automatically block anyone with a standard icon (not me, I don't care really, but some do).

How do I find people to follow? Look through tags on subjects you're interested in, or if you already have someone you know you want to follow, look at who they reblog from and who they interact with. But don't worry about doing this all at once, it'll build up naturally over time.

How do I use this site? Mostly, you reblog posts you like. I think of it as like collaging, like an interactive (and very chaotic) Pinterest. Note that if you have thoughts on a post, it's considered polite to mostly put them in the tags. Reblogging and adding a comment in the body of your reblog is like starting a conversation with the original poster / whoever you reblogged from. If you just want to add some thoughts for yourself / your followers and aren't interested in being part of a conversation, put your thoughts in the tags. Note that the OP can see your tags though so don't be rude in there about people's work (like if you reblogged some gifs of a fashion show, totally fine to be like 'I didn't think a great season for Chanel' but rude to be like 'These gifs are hideous').

How do I get people to follow me? I would spend like a month or so getting used to Tumblr first. Once you're comfortable with how it works, the best thing to do to get followers to (1) to post stuff and (2) to interact with people. Post whatever you're interested in, whether that's photography, quotes from favorite books, commentary on your football team of choice, etc. It's best practice to add a source in the caption if the photo/quote/whatever isn't yours. Tag your posts with big broad tags (e.g. fashion). Note that, at least in my experience, it's impossible to know what will land and what will fizzle so don't stress about it too much. On 2, send people asks, particularly when they've posted an ask game (one of those lists of questions or like 'ask me anything' type posts). You can also like / reblog a bunch of posts in a row from a person, which makes them more likely to notice you and potentially follow you. But I think the other two have higher success rates usually.

Overall: don't stress too much about it. Tumblr is for fun, we're all irrelevant little magpies collecting shiny stuff for our nests. Don't be too obsessed with sticking with one style or aesthetic, post what you like, let people get to know your authentic taste. Use the block feature liberally. You curate your own experience here so if someone annoys you, unfollow / block without remorse. Hope you enjoy, we love it here!

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Hi! Hope you're doing well <3 I been reading some of your posts about LO and Greek culture in general! And as a non-greek I think your culture is amazing and it should be respected as any other culture, so, I had this question a little while ago

I made a couple of characters based on greek myth creatures, and I kinda had a story for them in an ancient greek inspired world (highly inspired tbh, I think it might take place in an ancient greek ambience as well), but now I think that might be insensitive (?) I don't know how to express it, but I just want to know, would it be ok if I continue with that idea or should I scratch it?

TIIIME TO FINALLY ANSWER THIS

I am really sorry for the long wait! I was trying to think how to answer this properly and also mustering the energy for it xD I will pin it so you can find it more easily, if you come back to the blog.

For starters, you can write whatever you wish. I am hesitant to say to people “you can't write this and that” because it might make people feel estranged and uncomfortable and I believe that distance serves no real purpose. Yes, it’s likely that a xenos won’t be making the story VERY culturally accurate but if the story is 30% culturally accurate as opposed to barely 5% which we see in the popular media today, then it’s still a win. Not to mention that Greeks themselves are not 100% culturally accurate most of the time in their Greek mythology stories. This happens because 1) Americanization has hit us hard 2) They write them just for fun without bothering to research much. We are also lucky if we have a 30% accuracy in our texts most of the time.

(I love percentages if you can’t tell 😂)

You might have figured out I have the tag #writing (and perhaps also #writing advice ??) where I answer these type of questions, so visiting it might help! I'm not gonna tell you if you can write it or not - you can write whatever you like - but I would advise you to treat the Greek culture like any other real or fictional culture. Do a proper “worldbuilding”, let’s say.

THE CREATURES

As you know, some are more serious and some are more playful. They don’t easily “switch” from their behaviors so it’s best to keep a serious creature serious and a playful creature playful throughout most of the story. Some reading is needed, to figure out how the ancient Greeks saw those creatures. Because assumptions are usually not helpful. If we have no clues about their behavior, that’s free real estate I guess 😂

Now, if you are going for the “almost like Greek culture but not quite” thing, that still needs similar studying. You need to know where you are basing those creatures and how they see their world - or how the world sees them. And what elements make sense to change.

You can still not base the characters nowhere and just have a gal with snakes in her head. You can do that xD However, if you like to be more in touch with the culture you need to use some context and the “ambience” you talked about. It’s another thing to say “this gal has snakes on her head“ and another to say “this is THE Medusa“.

Some Greek culture needs to shine through. I mean, it would be great if it could shine though in general, so your references and basis to Greek mythology are better. It would be safe to assume the ancient folklore creatures have some Greek culture in them since they have Greek names, they have been written in Greek stories behaving according to the Greek societal rules and ethics, and generally being symbols in Greece until our days. And your story is about Greek mythology, so you want to emphasize the Greek aspects of your heroes and world.

THE ANCIENT GREEK INSPIRED WORLD

I don't know what research you’ve done so far but I will begin from the basics anyways. Ancient Greek ambience, as you can probably guess, is not “chitons, wine, vines and white pillars” 😂 The ambience specifically doesn’t come from the aesthetics but from the feel of it - the food, the customs, the symbols, the dances, the language interjections, the behaviors and values. Parts of the culture are also how is reverence and modesty are expressed, what makes someone present “manly“ or “feminine”. So, it’s gonna take some research.

People usually write some of the aesthetic and think they are covered, even though their worldbuilding is bad, precisely because they have only presented the very top of the iceberg. No food, no dances, no certain behaviors, nothing. You could say they are “soulless Disney remakes”. 😂 You can also do that, but you need to know how it will come out. It might be quite bland and, if I am not mistaken, you said you want to avoid that. (And I think most of Greeks would tell you that they don’t mind a Greek “soulless” remake but it would be super extra great if you put cultural elements in).

Ok, I don’t mean make it like an encyclopedia, but presenting some stuff from the culture is how you get the ambience. You might as well take a writing advice list for worlbuilding stuff you must have and see which ones you can find irl from the Greek culture.

Important! Remember that nearby cultures affect each other, so if you change one element from the Greek culture it’s likely it has to be changed in other cultures next to your area. If wearing green makes you manly in Imaginary Greece, it will also make you manly in Imaginary Turkey and Imaginary Bulgaria, let’s say. (there is no “ancient Turkey” or “ancient Bulgaria” as countries - and depending on the era, “ancient Greece” is also not a thing - but you get my point xD)

For the interpersonal relationships/interactions, you can read some ancient translated texts presenting daily life situations of the ancient Greeks (start from Googling stuff, I really don’t have sources for that xD). It’s very likely that the ancient sources won’t give you a very defined feel (try it anyways, if you like). Therefore, I suggest you see interactions of modern Greek people.

Worry not! YouTube - through me xD - has you covered! Searching the tags #greek tv #greek youtuber #greek podcast and #video. On youtube you can even find vlogs of people visiting Greece and see interactions with the locals. (If you have trouble finding them, you can send me another ask).

Similarly, it might take months to find all the Greek language interjections so you can go for modern ones. Besides, many interjections like “popoo“ are ancient. Besides, if you are not making a very “serious” story, the modern touches might help it feel more in touch with the present.

Surely, people are people everywhere and humans between countries share cultural traits, but there are some slightly more predominant stuff depending on the culture. Cultures close to each other share more traits, so, if you can’t find any Greeks around, you might be able to find our neighbors. Middle Eastern, north African, or south European people (and Hispanic/Latino Americans!) around might help to understand the dynamics between friends and family members. If you already belong to some of those cultures, congrats, you have most of the formula figured out!

I gave so much space to the interpersonal relationships because that’s gonna give you an idea where the line of “respect” is. Surely, the ancient interpersonal relationships won’t be like the modern American ones  😂 There is no way a student goes to Chiron being like “hey, man, how you doin?” Knowing how Greek teachers were, as late as the 20th century, that’s gonna earn him a slap 😂

Another thing: saying “Good morning” and “good afternoon / goodnight” when you first and last see people in the day is VERY important and the best social practice! You won’t be considered rude if you don’t say them but in a slightly formal and especially professional environment, better use them. (Other modern Europeans also consider this a good practice.)

The most ancient greeting of Greeks is “be happy” (χάιρε / χαίρετε) but health is also very important and is another old greeting. Xάιρετε is more formal in our days and Γεια/Γεια σας ("have good health”) is the most used formal and informal one. Seeing how people wish health in the middle east, it might be that the Health thing has been here for centuries. Also, if you break something or something bad happens to you, we say “health” because having your health is more important than anything else.

Fun fact, “Charon“ (Χάρων) probably means “the happy one” :P It has the same root with (χάιρε / χαίρετε).

Many other social cues can be found in the tags I mentioned, but you can send me an ask if you need to know something more specific!

As for the food, you can find ancient recipes and even use modern ones (which are usually with the same ingredients). Same goes for dances and symbols. You can google stuff about them, go on Google Scholar and search there, as well. (Also, google pages where you can download those papers for free ;) ) Please do some cross examination to make sure that this element indeed exists and it’s not just one person pulling it our of their a**. 😂

If you can’t find info, you can lean on modern symbols and dances. The dances are similar through the centuries anyways. No one is going to come for you if you say you based an element on a modern Greek thing bc the ancient one was impossible to find with the resources available to you.

I don’t have many more things to add on these cultural elements because I already have tags for the modern ones. #greek cuisine #melomakarona #greek dance #greek custom #greek tradition  etc.

And, last but not least, research the weather!! I can't stress this enough 😩 We are not a desert and we are not the Tropics. If your weather is similar to the Greek one, then your creatures most likely will need some serious covering in Autumn and Winter 😂

All in all, it’s certainly not a piece of cake to write about other countries and cultures but, if they are open to let you in, you can learn stuff and do your best depicting them. It might not be perfect (and no work is actually perfect) but it would be a step to the right direction and might encourage more writers to do the same - instead of throwing some chitons in and calling it a day xD

If you have any other questions feel free to send me another message (dm or ask). You - or anyone else - REALLY WON’T BOTHER ME if you ask me many questions on my DMs or here.

[thatpinkbetch]

I'm going to answer it this way, because I'm actually not a fan of some of those, and I've heard this is the way to do it if you don't want it ending up in the tag or the search I think? If i censor any of the ship names it's not out of malice! I simply don't want any of this to end up in front of eyes that just want to enjoy their ships 💖💖💖 if there is anyone who doesn't want to see opinions against t*d*d*ku, k*r*b*ku, or even iz**ch*ka, please don't read any further! Oh my goodness i hope this is all legible...

Anyways, hello!! Thank you so much for the ask!! I love talking about my opinion avkvmsocnaocjsoxks it also makes me really happy you like my blog 🥺🥺🥺 (I hope this answer doesn't ruin that avskvneognsocjs)

I'll start out by confirming that I'm not a multishipper. It makes me excited to see how the act of shipping itself can make others happy, but it's just not that way for me. I actually never read fanfic until I got into bnha (bkdk is just that powerful 😁😁) I'm actually...a little serious when i ship, or when i enjoy media, i analyze pretty heavily, so also, if that doesn't sound like anyone's cup of tea, i would once again recommend to stop reading and enjoy your day please!

I love analyzing characters and storylines and dynamics, but i will admit, I'm not a fan of most of the ships - not romantically. I think all the characters have interesting relationships to each other, all of the kids are great friends, and I love bonds and friendships so much 🥺🥺🥺

Those first two are perhaps the biggest, at least they definitely were the biggest when I first entered. Once i caught up, I didn't really understand the enthusiasm, but people have fun shipping, so that's nice! I think of those two as easy ships, if that makes sense? They're pretty simple, and easy to digest.

I personally am not a fan of romantic t*d*d*ku for a very specific reason; it feels weird to me for Todo to immediately fall in love with the first person who's ever shown him kindness (since his mother of course). Todo had never had any friends, nor any want for friends, obviously because of the abuse he faced as a child. Mido was his first exploration at a life outside of his father, a life he got to make for himself, it just doesn't feel right to me that he should immediately think "oh, is this romantic love? Is this the one and only for me?" Well, perhaps a teenager might think that way, but i don't think that's actually how he feels deep down, and I'm sure that's something a lot of us have to learn as we grow (I've definitely struggled with my own understanding of romance for the past 8 years). I think he still is trying to learn how to socialize and to make friends and to be a friend (and he's doing SUCH a good job!) But to immediately plunge into romance, which can be complicated, i don't think that would be right for him. I hope that makes sense! I know they're a very cute ship, which makes for fun! But again, I can be a little serious when i ship...

K*r*b*ku kind of falls into similar territory for me? Baku definitely had friends growing up, but he's seemed to always have trouble understanding his feelings and where he stands with others, causing trust issues. Kiri is really the first person he knew where he stood with, a person for him to be comfortable with and feel on equal ground, which i think is such a huge and positive role in his life, and i don't necessarily think that it needs to be romantic - for both of these, i think these relationships are incredibly important, to everyone involved, and making them romantic doesn't make them any more important!! In fact, i feel like them as friends actually can offer a more complex, interesting, and human dynamic between these characters, as sometimes people simply default to romance and then end up pushing for the same old tropes and ignore all the intricacies Horikoshi includes in his writing.

Again, I love Mido's friendship with Todo, and I love Baku's friendship with Kiri. I think these relationships are incredibly important, and friends are incredibly important. People who ship them are having fun, which is so lovely, and i hope they continue to have fun! I hope you personally find more fics about them that make you smile and brighten your day 💖💖💖

Iz**ch*ka is a little difficult, because they certainly are cute, separately and together. I thought they were cutest before Ura was told about her potential crush on Mido, when she was simply a source of bubbly energy and positivity that helped Mido open up and feel comfortable around other people. I feel though that, romantically, it's extraordinarily one-sided, and at this point, i have to wonder if they really are "end goal." End goal for shounen, of course, is hardly ever explicit ahzovndlfjsoxo but i feel like a better storyline for Horikoshi to take would be for Ura to realize that she's been confused, and these feelings haven't really been a positive experience for her. I've definitely gone through things like that as a teenager. Now, the ship can be very cute! They're basically the same person, and they're cute and bubbly! But again, it simply isn't for me.

I think Momjirou is very cute!! Of course, as a lesbian, i sense strong lesbian vibes from Momo, and strong bi vibes from Jirou, and I also saw the ship potential ever since the USJ attack - which i think, so did everyone else ahaovndofjsojfsk they're best friends without a doubt, though i have to say, i really like Kamijirou. She just makes him so soft, and he's so in awe of her, and she thinks he's so funny, I love how supportive he is of her, especially since she can be really insecure 🥺🥺🥺

I also think Ura and Tsu are very cute but another easy ship, and i kind of really like Ochamina 🥺 they're both pink and space themed, they're bubbly and energetic and kick ass, and i think they'd be super cute...

I saved todobaku for last, because, you know what they say, best for last! 😇😇😇

I've said it before, but if there was no Mido (impossible obviously, and i would never want that) then todobaku is where my heart would lie. Baku has never really been shown chasing after anyone except for Mido...and Todo, which really gets at my heart. There's a grudging respect there - very, very grudging ahakckdkfjskdk which i find very appealing! Todo is very important to Baku and he has also been able to show Baku some things about himself that he needed to question and reevaluate. Meanwhile, Todo puts up with exactly 0% of Baku's shit, which i find absolutely hilarious. It's funny to me how Baku wishes to intimidate Todo as he does everyone else, and Todo simply does not care. And Baku wants to be mad, and ends up mad that he can't be mad since Todo is a strong and worthy opponent. They just have such an interesting chemistry, there's so much friction, so much tension, and I enjoy it, particularly since they clearly should be friends, would be great friends, want to be friends, but Baku simply won't get over it 😂😂 I do prefer them as friends, but friends that are incredibly close, two people that understand each other on almost a telepathic level, two people that give each other shit while also refusing to take the other's shit.

I do agree that many people in this fandom seem to think their ship stands on some moral high ground? It could be a disconnect from the previous generations of fandom, or it could also be the growing mentality on this site that everything needs to be a battle of moral superiority, and also that what you like is part of your personality, and if someone doesn't like what you like, then they don't like you or that they think you're factually incorrect. I personally have stopped going into the bn/ha tag simply because I don't enjoy, well, many things i find there, and I'm happy with those that i follow. I've definitely seen hatred and invalidation for both LGBT ships and m|w ships, neither of which I'm comfortable with. I definitely don't go off tumblr for fandom stuff because there's practically no acceptance for any same gender ships, or any queer headcanoning, which, I'll be honest, makes me scared, as i am a very anxious person avdkvndkfje i do think it should be noted that we should be as accepting of cishet ships as we are of queer ships - no debate on this one - but again, you are right when you say that many cishet headcanons have been used to invalidate LGBT voices, and any and all allies must always be aware of this! It is much more often that queer voices are silenced, that queer ships are ridiculed, that queer shippers aren't allowed to enjoy or see themselves. And to anybody that doesn't want to be an ally... Whelp ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ what are you doing here ajxkvmdogjdicjsicjsodj I'm gay

I haven't really read much of anything recently, let alone other ships, platonic or otherwise, because energy has been low for me for a long time. I wish i could participate more and support all my friends and other fans, but it's been a bit of a struggle 😣😣😣 I'm so sorry! Something that I can do is make posts and analyses and metas, as those are quick and make me excited, so I'm always happy to respond to asks like these! (I say as i take two hours to write this response...)

I hope people have been taking care of themselves and remember that tumblr is really good at letting you cater to your own interests! I hope if you've made it to the end of this response that you enjoyed it, and you're not mad at me ahsovjekgjsocjwodkso if you are, that's fine, I'm sorry, I probably am really bad at social/internet etiquette and such that help you filter 😣😣

To any who are curious, you cannot change my mind ahdogmdocjdidk thank you to whoever sent this ask!!! A lot of this is a bunch of rambling I've always wanted to talk about but was frankly too scared to post! I hope I made sense and answered everything you were asking!! Please have a good day/night/life!!! 💖💖💖💖💖

[stimstomboards]

🌿Welcome to my blog!🌿

I'm just here to make stimboards and be a little kid. Please be nice!

🌿 🦕 🌿

🔴🔴I do not post graphic content🔴🔴

Any post with more non-kiddo vibes will have a general #tw tag, along with post specific tags like #lighter, #alcohol, ect. so you can easily filter out anything you don't want to see.

See the full list here

Need credit added to a post? Send a link!

Unfortunately, it's near impossible to keep track of every single gif that ends up saved to my phone.

I do my best to look for the original posts after they get added to a stimboard, but sometimes I end up not able to find anything. If you know a credit I don't, send a link!

(I don't tag other stimboards as credit, only op links or the first/original Tumblr post that has the op source linked)

[uchiha-sensei]

@lovin-momma no, you see, actually this discussion is happening between bisexuals that understand that the term "pansexual" is both unnecessary and hurtful, ultimately a product of internalized biphobia.

There's plenty of posts that explain this better and with sources, specially on @femmebisexuelle's excellent blog, since she's particularly academic about it, but in summary, bisexuality has always historically been defined as attraction regardless of gender. Because as they said above, and in many posts throughout the bisexual tag here, no one in their sane mind would choose someone solely based on their gender. Everyone who's a normal person wants a relationship with someone they like and find attractive, and both of those happens naturally, you can't choose the gender you'll be attracted to out of nowhere, so at best this notion of bisexuality is an illogical misconception.

Besides, gender is a tricky thing, as noted above. You can't be sure what someone's gender is even if they look more feminine or masculine, so for exemple, even if you are more attracted to femininity in theory, it could be just a feminine boy or a feminine noneby. In addition to that, "pansexuality" has been reintroduced (with another meaning btw) very recently, mostly because of transphobic and biphobic notions (coming from the uninformed youth that don't understand anything about lgbt history or theory) that bisexuality doesn't include transgender people or nonbinary folk, which is untrue and a disservice for the community that spent years trying to build respect even in between the LGBT community (where we are also discriminated against for a variety of reasons).

Finally, the notion that choosing a label should be solely based on "comfort" is also misguided, and often used as an excuse to continue reaffirming those same biphobic notions. The LGBT community is first and foremost a political community that fight for our rights, and thus history and unity is important. Taking into account all that I said here, why would someone still choose pansexuality over bisexuality, if it's at best unnecessary and divisive? The only possible answer is internalized biphobia. Furthermore, the "pansexual" discourse has become more and more vicious towards the bisexual community, because they can't truly separate the terms (which would be impossible, mind you, if not for the prejudice against bisexuality) and that bothers them. Why would it bother them? Yeah, internalized biphobia. Even the comfort idea don't make sense either, because it's based in untrue notions and internalized prejudice.

This has been rolling around in my head for a while now, but bisexuality meaning “two or more”...doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t! It really doesn’t!

You can’t tell someone’s gender identity from looking at them. If you’re attracted to multiple genders and you’re physically attracted to someone, and they tell you for example that they’re agender, and you get to know them, and you like them and develop feelings for them, and then they tell you’re they’re actually bigender? Or they’re a woman or a man now? Would you stop having those feelings because you’re only attracted to some genders?

No! You wouldn’t! Because being attracted to multiple genders but not all doesn’t! Make! Sense! Why would we be attracted to two or more genders but stop at all? That doesn’t make sense! It doesn’t translate into real life!

Bi. Means. All.

[guyinlovewitheremika]

your post has literally 0% ship-related content between Reiner/Bertolt and Levi/Erwin. please stop this ship tagging thing unless it's actual shipping. my xkit blacklists it automatically because i have posts of ships i don't ship disabled and it annoys me when it blocks things i like to see, but please DO NOT TAG it just because it has two of the characters in it. there's nothing shippy about it. 0% ship-related content. thanks

This is the post in question

Okay I’m sorry, but that’s not gonna work out.

First of all, about the issue whether or not the post features ship related content or not. Yes, character X and Z aren’t making out on screen, but it is still a fact that the images highlight the relationship between X and Z, by isolating them from a larger group and presenting them together, sharing an activity. What’s more, this is coming from an OFFICIAL source, aka the people in charge chose to highlight the relationship between X and Z. From a shippers standpoint, that’s huge. The importance of the specific relationship is given an emphasis through official sources, thus in turn validating the feelings of the shippers in question. 

Furthermore, do you consider your definition of what is shippy and what not to be a universal fandom rule? Do characters actively need to be doing the do for it to be shippy? Matter of fact is, the relationships between characters can be appreciated without it needing to be directly romantic/sexual (I suppose that’s what you’re referring to by “actual shipping”). People are allowed to be invested in a relationship of any shape or form. If I were to, hypothetically, write a meta piece on the canon relationship between say, Eren and Mikasa, without necessarily implying they want to make out under a tree any minute, it would be accepted for me to tag the ship, because ultimately, the shipnames are used for the sake of tagging one’s appreciation of a relationship. Granted, the big majority of the posts found there has romantic undertones, but its not exclusive! You’re free to interpret a relationship in any way you want to. People can “ship” characters platonically, or whatever. Your definition of what warrants a ship tag isn’t a universal guideline in fandom.

And if you think I’m just trying to shove my personal opinions on the matter in your face and make you accept them as universal truths, that’s not the case at all. Many of the “big, popular, accepted” blogs tag official art concerning the relationship between X and Z as a ship. Many of my followers do to. Everyone is allowed to tag and interpret things the way they want to. And though you personally may not agree that the pic features “actual shipping”, that is once again not a fandom wide rule we’re all forced to abide to. If you check the reblogs under the post, you’ll notice that many of them got tagged as rei/ber or eru/ri, despite the fact that they’re not “explicitly shippy” or whatever. People can interpret it the way they want. I can interpret it the way I want. And that’s just how it is. For many months now, I’ve tried my best to share all kinds of Attack on Titan related news, from promotional material, to updates on xyz, or newly released artwork, with the fandom. I happen to spend an absurd amount of time refreshing official sources and trying to share news with as many people as I can, because people want to see new content. Shippers greatly appreciate official content concerning the relationship of their preference, and if I get the opportunity, I gladly want to provide them with that. Hence the shiptag: a way to bring attention to new official stuff. And once again, people are entitled to interpret the artwork the way they want; the ships in question may not be my biggest OTPs, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy them. 

And here’s another thing: You are absolutely 100% entitled to blacklist a ship you’re not a fan of, I by no means want to deny you the right. But matter of fact is, when choosing to blacklist a ship, you need to acknowledge that you will be missing out on certain content. You may have your own definition of “actual shipping”, but please do acknowledge that this is not a fandom wide, universal viewpoint. Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation, and allowed to act according to it. You can’t expect to somehow enforce your own personal policy on me or the rest of the whole fandom. Things just don’t work that way. You’re the one who resorted to blacklist which, once again, you are totally fine to do so, but you need to realize that not everyone’s tagging system will be conform to that. You can’t control the whole fandom according to your personal viewpoints, especially if those aren’t conform to how the majority of the fandom works. I apologize if I’m starting to sound rude here, but you’re the one who accepted to see less content, and the fandom isn’t perfectly cut together for everyone. I already try my best to tag stuff appropriately. Stuff that is explicitly romantic usually doesn’t get character names. And things that aren’t necessarily explicit may get the shipname, but also character names, and, in the case of official things, also various tags for that (I did originally not feature my “s2 art” or “official art” tags on the post in question due to poor memory, if you had those highlighted and if this was the cause of this issue I apologize, but I’m human and mistakes happen). I already try my best to keep this organized to conform to as many people as I can, but it is COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE EVERY SINGLE PERSON WITH THE TAGGING SYSTEM. I do my best but there are limits. I’m sorry you may miss out on some content or that you find this system “annoying”, but I’m not going to revamp my entire system and alienate many other followers for that. I mean, hell, it’s not like I’m shoving your NOTP in your face or anything.

And ultimately, what I interpret as shippy and what not, or how I tag the content on my blog is ultimately my decision, and mine alone. I’m sorry if it really doesn’t work out for you, but this system has worked well since day one, and is certainly not limited to my blog alone. 

This got long, I may have gotten a tidbit rude, but I really wanted to sort this out.

[caravaggista]

Hi (different anon) as someone who was raped repeatedly as a child and for whom the sight of a naked male body regularly sent me into panic attacks I find your tone in regards to a simple request kind of awful. I'm currently studying art history at the graduate level and I understand where you are coming from but survivors of trauma don't need to be treated like children when we ask for something simple. I'm sorry your elitist sensibilities were offended.

This will be the last Anon I reply to related to the original anon’s ask, lest  this blog turn into a platform to debate nudity in art in perpetuity. I was hesitant to reply to this Anon at all, as I realize that no matter what I say, there will be people with strong opinions about this topic, but due to the content, I felt it was important that this Anon (if they are even still following) receive a response.

Hi Anon!

Please  know that I am incredibly sorry that you experienced that kind of physical and psychological trauma, and I sincerely hope that you have found healing. I can’t say I have experienced the same degree of trauma, but I have been sexually assaulted in the past and know what it is like to have panic attacks so bad that I was physically paralyzed and unable to breathe (or so my body thought). Art was not a trigger for me, but rather a source of healing; that being  said, I realize we all react to images differently. 

The original anon did not say anything about trauma in his/her ask. They said, in fact, very little. Am I to assume that everyone who encounters my blog might have some traumatic experience in their background that makes it difficult for them to view nudity, and thus preemptively protect them from potentially disturbing images with a tag? I don’t wish to sound callous or insensitive, but that is not something I am inclined to do, not least because we all experience art in different ways, and (as I’ve explained in previous posts), I believe engaging with art as-is – no matter how potentially disturbing – is incredibly important.

As far as treating the anon like a child, I don’t share your opinion.  I provided educational resources and reasoning for my position, as I would to any person or student. I honestly don’t know what else to say if you think that is treating someone “like a child.” In my opinion, and I will probably receive a lot of flak for this, providing the option for my followers to hide images that are troubling, uncomfortable, disturbing, and the like, is treating them like children – again, because art should be confronted. It’s supposed to be powerful, whether the power it holds is positive or negative in our lives. We have to work through why these images affect us in a certain way, and attempt to move past it to appreciate and study art objects as what they are: creative works, with specific cultural and historical contexts.

Lastly, you mentioned my “elitist sensibilities.” What, exactly, is elitist about my response? The fact that I shared educational sources? The fact that I did not, and still do not, want to run my blog a certain way, no matter how simple the request? I’m not seeing it.

I want to leave this topic with an excerpt from an editorial David Freedberg wrote some years ago on censorship. Tagging or not tagging is one extremely minor form of what I would deem censorship (or at least, the potential for censorship), and his words relate to what we have been talking about here over the last few days: the power of images, our responses to them, and whether or not images should, or can, be controlled. I have linked to the article in its entirety at the end of the excerpt. 

“There is, these days, what seems to be an extraordinary resistance to acknowledging the presence of the provocative, not only resistance, but confusion. To acknowledge the full force of the provocative, however, is by no means to suggest that it ought to be censored; it is only to recognize something of the individual beholder’s role in the power of images. … The power of images resides not within representation itself, but in the irrepressible and impossible desire to look until we have seen everything, until our eyes are wide open. But the fact is that we can never see everything. If we do not acknowledge the power of representation in visual form, even in its disturbing forms, and if we do not acknowledge what we know about ourselves and what underlies our exchanges with pictures and sculptures, then we will continue to collude with the censors.” - David Freedberg, “Censorship Revisited,” RES: Antropology and Aesthetics 21 (1992): 11.

[terminixcanada-blog]

Terminix's Bed Bug Do's and Don'ts

This probably goes without saying, but the last thing you'd ever want to do in a zombie outbreak is to pretend like you know what you're doing. Because the chances are, you're not going to make things any better, regardless of what your intentions may be. 

And if you had the chance to read the blog we posted in January, you'd understand how similar a bed bug and a zombie infestation can be.

There are many courses of action that may seem logical to you in the heat of the moment. You might even come to believe that you're capable of single-handedly winning against the overwhelming horde of bed bugs living in your home. You might dream of valiantly driving them away from your abode, graciously winning your family's praises for your cunning wit and valour. But we assure you, you'll most likely be doing the very opposite. 

Bed bugs are known to be extremely resilient and devilishly crafty. Here are a few do's and don'ts that you must always keep in mind when you're confronting these little bloodsuckers! 

DO be wary of their signs

The best time to deal with any infestation is before it actually happens. Don't let bed bugs catch you off guard! A single female bed bug can lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime. But if you find and eliminate the source early on (aka, her), you can stop her from breeding and increasing her followers.

Here are some signs that you should look out for:

1. Bed bug spots If you have bed bugs, you'd normally see small, dark spots on walls and floors near their hiding spots. They're composed of your undigested blood that the bed bugs had to excrete. Gross.

2. Bed bug exoskeletons These annoying pests molt twice in their lifetime. You might find their empty shells in the crevices and corners of your home.

3. Musty scent Individually, they probably won't smell of anything. But when huge groups of them are clustered together, you'll most likely detect a distinctly musty-sweet odour wafting in the air. What, you can’t recognize a bed bug infestation when it hits you right in the nose? 

DON'T use a Bed Bug Fogger

Where do we even begin with this one?

A bed bug fogger, also known as ‘the bug bomb’, sounds like a quick and easy solution to exterminate those nasty suckers from your home in one clean sweep, right? WRONG.

Foggers use an aerosol propellant to disperse its contents through the air, which settles onto open surfaces. However, bed bugs tend to hide when they aren't feeding. And guess what? They tend to hide in spots the foggers don't reach.

Not only are the foggers ineffective, but they’ll cause the bed bugs to scatter and dig deeper into the nooks and crannies of your home to get away from the source of the chemicals – meaning a more settled in, hard-to-reach pest infestation.

Foggers also contain a very low concentration of pesticide, which means that they'll likely fail at killing the bed bugs they DO reach.

And the bad news doesn't stop there. The low level exposure to pesticides actually helps the little buggers develop immunity - and they'll only continue to get stronger as time passes. You'll actually be making them harder to kill!  

DO protect your bed with a mattress encasement

If you encase your mattress and box springs, you can trap the bed bugs inside and keep them from gorging on your blood. They'll be unable to feed and eventually starve to death.

Furthermore, bed bugs will be very easy to spot and remove, since they can only scuttle around the white surface of the encasement. Mattress encasements are easily one of the best ways to prevent these bloodsuckers from making your home theirs! Just make sure you install them properly and get a handle on how they should be maintained. Remember that the encasements should stay on for at least a year.

DON'T dispose of your bed

We can't stress this enough. It's very common for people to assume that they have to get rid of their beds and textiles once their homes are infested with bed bugs.

No, no, and no. Doing so will do more harm than good:

Hauling that infested mattress could spread the infestation even further throughout your home. 

You'll be giving the remaining bed bugs a chance to throw another housewarming party on the new mattress that you'll be bringing in. 

Your hard-earned money will be spent for naught.

DO eliminate any clutter in your home

Bed bugs are great at hide-n-seek. Giving them a playing field will only make it worse! Try to reduce clutter and organize your personal possessions as much as you can.

In particular, don't store anything under your bed, and keep the floors neat and tidy. If you've got any piles of laundry, newspapers, magazines, shoes and toys lying around, you better clear them out. They give bed bugs millions of hiding spots, and treatment will become close to impossible!

And if you need to dispose of any items, make sure you seal them tightly in plastic bags before tossing them in the outdoor trash.

DON'T escape to a friend or relative's home

You don't want to be doing this. Bed bugs are notorious hitch-hikers; they'd definitely be more than happy to tag along and settle into your friend's humble residence.

Furthermore, bed bugs can live up to 18 months without feeding, so escape just isn't an option.

DO call a licensed exterminator

This is THE way to go for a complete extermination. There's only so much you can do alone! The best and safest bed bug treatments can only be done by an experienced team of professionals.

Foggers and other pesticides come with a list of health risks and other dangers that you don't want to be dealing with! Licensed exterminators can provide effective heat treatment options, which require specialized equipment and expertise.

Save yourself the trouble and let us take care of your bed bug problems! Terminix Canada has provided superior bed bug extermination services to the GTA for 20 years. Our innovative bed bug heat treatment will get rid of your unwanted visitors once and for all!

For more information regarding our pest control services, call us at 905-738-6676.