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splonk-fox · 29 days ago

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The Psychology of The Dark Lord: An AvA Character Analysis

One of the most popular characters to ever be featured in the Animator vs. Animation universe is none other than The Dark Lord.

First being introduced in the penultimate episode of Season 1, the Dark Lord quickly gained prominence after his reintroduction in Season 2 a whole seven years later where, despite being (supposedly) killed off in that same season, quickly became a fan-favorite. Being used in many fanworks and a lot of fans clamoring to see his return to the series.

Yet, despite how popular he is, I feel like a good majority of the fandom don't really understand the Dark Lord's character. A lot of fans tend to depict him as things that he really isn't. Whether it be a caring friend to the Chosen One, or a tragic figure turned to villainy because of his creator's negligence, and while I have nothing wrong with deviating from canon a little bit when it comes to how you choose to portray characters, it did make me curious. Who is the Dark Lord, really. Well? To understand that. I think we must first understand where the Dark Lord's story started.

The Dark Lord first debuted in Animator vs. Animation 3. Created by the (at the time) villainous Alan Becker in order to destroy the Chosen One, he spends most of his screentime in this episode doing exactly that.

There's actually quite a lot we can learn about the Dark Lord from this first episode a lone. For starters, Dark likes destruction, a lot. The moment he sees Chosen the first thing he does is throw massive fireballs at him, destroying massive chunks of the the animation software they are both fighting on.

He also isn't above using the environment itself in order to give himself the upperhand, as seen by how he uses pieces of the animation program to attack Chosen throughout their one-on-one.

Another thing to note about Dark's fighting style is that he tends to work best when he has a group of minions assisting him. This is shown when he recruits the various Windows Applications to assist him in battle.

Generally speaking, Dark Lord is shown to be a pretty good improvisor, he has no trouble using the environment around him to his advantage along with coming up with plans to overwhelm Chosen on the fly as seen with the Windows Applications.

Aside from that, Dark is also a pretty big fan of going on the offensive. He immediately attacks the Chosen One without giving him a chance to really prepare himself, and he continues to try and overwhelm him while the latter mostly goes on the defensive.

This already shows a contrast between how Chosen and Dark operate. Aside from his introduction in Animator vs. Animation 2 and the beginning of Animator vs. Animation 3, Chosen is almost never the one to throw the first punch in any battle. More often than not he's the one responding to other characters' aggression.

What's more interesting than his fighting style however, is how Dark responds to his enemies getting the upperhand.

For context's sake, this is what happens after Chosen destroys the Minesweeper game Dark was trapped in using Firefox. We see here that the moment Dark is overwhelmed, he begins to cower in fear. It's scenes like this alongside other scenes that happen later in the series that make it very clear that Dark is only as strong as his ability to have the upperhand on his foes, the moment they get a leg up over him, he loses all fight and begins to cower.

We also get a taste of Dark's loyalty (or rather lack thereof) at the end of this episode. While we obviously don't know exactly what Chosen said to convince Dark to rebel against his creator, from an outsider's perspective all it really took for Dark to change sides was Chosen going "Hey you should stop fighting me and help beat the shit out of our creator instead." and him just going "okay."

You will see later on that Dark's willingness to forgo any loyalty to his allies is not exclusive to just Alan.

Now I should say, before anyone points this out, I'm aware that the popular consensus of Dark's change of heart at the end of Animator vs. Animation 3 had to do with the fact that Alan essentially left him to fend for himself against Chosen, and while this is true in a sense, there's no actual confirmation that this was Dark's reasoning.

Following Dark and Chosen's teamup, the two would destroy Alan's PC, escaping just in time before everything blows up.

I should note that, again, like with what we saw in Animator vs. Animation 3, the moment everything starts breaking, Dark just sort of freezes up and begins panicking while Chosen takes on a more proactive role, immediately running to the WIFI route and breaking it open for them to escape.

Yet again, Dark shows himself unable to handle situations where he isn't in control.

Regardless, one thing that can't be denied about the events of Animator vs. Animation 3 is that the destruction of Alan's PC clearly gave Dark a taste for destruction. Or should I say it gave him an even bigger taste in destroying things than he already had.

We learn through dates given by Animator vs. Animation 11 that following the events of Animator vs. Animation 3, Chosen and Dark went on a several month long rampage across the internet, destroying many websites and endangering countless lives in the process.

Now granted, the time they spent causing copious amount of destruction is actually a lot shorter than we first suspected. I and many other fans had the impression that everything we saw in the Flashback happened across the course of many years from 2011 to 2018, but this turned out not to be the case.

As of me writing this, the last known rampage the two went on together was in NewGrounds, which seemed to be by far the biggest of the bunch.

Prior to Animator vs. Animation 11, the only thing we really knew of the NewGrounds rampage was the single image you see above, but the rlease of that episode proved this incident to be far more devastating than we first suspected, it being the thing that would result in the death of Victim's partner Mitsi, leading to his fall to villainy.

Dark's overall screentime in Animator vs. Animation 11 is relatively short all things considered, only really appearing at the end. But it's also incredibly insightful when it comes to figuring out his character.

I mentioned this in my mini-analysis of the Chosen One's actions in Animator vs. Animation 11 (which you should totally check out by the way), but Dark's general disposition in this episode clearly shows off an aura of pride and arrogance.

Unlike Chosen whose emotions are... kind of impossible to read at least from a body language perspective, Dark clearly takes joy in the destruction he's causing and show's a general disregard for the lives of others as opposed to himself.

What Dark got up to after the NewGrounds rampage isn't exactly made clear, whether he continued destroying websites or settled down for awhile until 2018 when the events of Animator vs. Animation Season 2 would occur is unknown. What is known however is that while Chosen began having second thoughts about what they were doing, Dark only became more and more hellbent on the destruction of everything and everyone in sight.

When it comes down to it, both "The Flashback" and "The Showdown" are easily paint the clearest picture of the Dark Lord as a person.

Starting with The Flashback. We clearly see in this episode that following the destruction of Alan's PC, not only was Dark incredibly proud of his and Chosen's accomplishment, but that he had no intentions of stopping there.

We already know what happened with Chosen and Dark's rampage on the internet, now it's time we talk about what happens in the "present day" (or at least, the present day from an Animator vs. Animation Season 2 perspective)

In the time spent between their intial rampage and the events of Season 2, Dark shows off his technical prowess in the form of the ViraBots. Large, parasitic, spider-like entities who's sole purpose is to consume and destroy everything in sight. We see in the Showdown that Dark has direct control over everything that the ViraBots do and don't appear to have any free will of their own, the only ViraBot that seems to have any form of autonomy was the one he sent to Alan's PC, and even then it's possible that he was controlling that one as well seeing as he's seen working at one of his computers in the Showdown when Chosen first confronts him.

Keep in mind that this episode takes place directly after Chosen saved Alan's computer from the ViraBot, so I don't think it's out of the question to assume that this is what Dark has been up to during the events of those episodes.

Theories aside Dark continues to show off his pride in The Flashback where, after Chosen enters their shared home, he quickly shows excitement at his arrival before showing off the capabilities of the spines that the ViraBots use.

Clearly, Dark Lord has a lot of pride in his creations and wants Chosen to be excited too. He even goes as far as to send the very first one all the way back to their creator's PC for some good ol' revenge, likely thinking that Chosen would be more on board with his idea by sending it to the one person he should hate the most, oh how wrong he was.

Now, Dark's relationship with Chosen is a pretty big factor in his overall character and I do want to talk about that in more detail, but I first want to address the infamous "betrayal" scene.

To start things off simple, once again Dark shows his overall lack of genuine loyalty to his allies here by immediately dropping any and all friendliness with Chosen and attacking him with a fireball the moment the other shows objection to his plans. He shows very little hesitation in doing so and, despite what others may claim, was very clearly the aggressor in this situation. Chosen made no attempts to seriously harm Dark before Dark made attempts to seriously harm him.

The worst thing Chosen did at the beginning was throw Dark to the floor after the other refused to let up on sending the first ViraBot to Alan's computer, which in comparison to Dark's more destructive reaction, was overall pretty tame, and that's neglecting to point out that Chosen tried the passive approach at first and only got physical when Dark refused.

It's a hotly debated subject among the fandom as to who exactly betrayed who here, and quite frankly it doesn't really matter all that much, though for the sake of this analysis, let's explore the concept of "betrayal" and who between the two of them fits the definition more objectively.

According to Google, betrayal is defined as

"the action of betraying one's country, a group, or a person; treachery."

Now this alone doesn't really tell us anything about what it means to betray someone, luckily we have this definition from Vocabulary.com that gives us a more clear picture of what a betrayal actually is.

"Betrayal means "an act of deliberate disloyalty,"

So, at it's core betrayal means an act of deliberate disloyalty, which means that, unfortunately for Dark Lord defenders, means that he objectively fits the definition of betrayal more.

Chosen trying to stop Dark from releasing the ViraBot onto Alan's computer is not an act of disloyalty, it's merely him disagreeing with Dark's ideas, the closest you thing you can get to "disloyalty" from Chosen is him trying to shut down Dark's machine. Which really doesn't mean anything because as far as we know, Chosen never actually intended to double-cross Dark, he just wanted to stop him from sending a code-eating virus over to his creator's PC.

What can be classified as an act of deliberate disloyalty however is attacking your so-called best friend with a fucking fireball and immediately throwing hands with him before promptly doing the exact thing said best friend didn't want him doing in the first place. and I haven't even mentioned the ViraBands.

In case some of you didn't catch on from the episode, Dark Lord's ViraBands seem to have a built in feature that gives him immunity to Chosen's eye lasers. We see this in action when he quite literally surfs across them after he equips his first ViraBand.

My good friend @xjackjackx was the one to bring this to my attention and I feel it only strengthens my point, so big thanks to him for this little bit of trivia.

Regardless, this shows that even prior to this interaction, Dark had already gone out of his way to make a Wristband that was specifically designed to counter Chosen. Which either means he was planning on turning against him way sooner, or that he simply installed this as a keepsafe, likely having noticed how Chosen was beginning to have second thoughts about their destruction. In any case Dark clearly didn't trust Chosen enough to believe that his friend would stay by his side to not specifically invent a weapon that would give him the upperhand in a battle against him specifically.

This little big of trivia regarding the ViraBands' laser immunity actually does a lot to recontexualize their eventual falling out. Instead of Dark simply being excited to show Chosen his new invention and the latter not liking it, now it almost seems as if he was testing him. Testing him to see if Dark's plans to infest the Outernet with ViraBots was a step too far for Chosen. It would even explain why the example he showed of the ViraBots' capabilities was by destroying a globe, he was trying to test how far he could push Chosen before the other decided enough was enough.

It would also explain why Dark was so quick to resort to violence during their falling out, he had likely already seen this coming and had prepared himself for this exact interaction.

Now granted, a lot of this is speculation, and I'm not denying that, but I do at least think it's worth talking about, especially in regards to what is without a doubt the biggest point of contention with the Dark Lord's character...

His relationship with the Chosen One

This is definitely where opinions of Dark tend to differ the most. Either he and Chosen had a genuinely good relationship and that his actions in the Showdown were a product of him feeling both angry and betrayed by his former friend. Or conversely, that Dark never really cared much for Chosen to begin with. I've even seen some argue that Dark's actions are a result of his programming, Alan made him specifically to destroy the Chosen One after all, so perhaps this was simply him letting go.

Personally, I don't see much merit behind that interpretation, as far as we can tell Dark is completely unaffected by his programming and can basically do whatever the fuck he wants, unless you want to argue that he spent the past seven years holding back on his urges until Chosen conveniently decided to go against him.

Either way, that's not the point of this section. The point of this section is to analyze Chosen and Dark's relationship from as an objective level as humanly possible.

And... this is where I unfortunately have to throw in the towel, at least somewhat. The fact is we don't get enough of what Chosen and Dark's relationship was like beyond the snippets we see in the Flashback and Animator vs. Animation 11. What their relationship was like during the six years that followed their rampage is completely unknown and the best we can do is speculate. That said I do believe that by using context clues we could at least get a decent picture of what Chosen and Dark's relationship could've been like.

For starters, contrary to popular belief, it does seem like Dark had some sort of awareness of Chosen's change of heart. The mere existence of the ViraBands does enough to tell me that this was already something he had been suspecting long before their eventual falling out.

The second thing I should point out is that when it comes to the interactions that we do see, it seems kind of... one-sided. In the sense that while Dark is out here causing all of this destruction and enjoying it, Chosen does not, yet as we see in Animator vs. Animation 11 it seems like, at the beginning, Dark seemed to think he had a genuine comradery with Chosen, what with how he held up his hand for a high-five in that episode.

Generally speaking, I think Dark thought he had a positive relationship with Chosen until later down the line. At some point, he seemed to realize Chosen wasn't as enthusiastic about what they were doing as he thought, and so he created the ViraBands as a sort of keepsafe for if the other ever ends up turning against him.

With all this being said, what this does tell us is that Dark's habit of betraying his allies once it proves ideal is still very much a character trait of his long after he turned against his creator in Animator vs. Animation 3.

So do I think Dark just simply didn't care about Chosen? Ehhh, I think it's a little bit more complicated than that.

Something I haven't really gone into much detail on but I do think is important to Dark's character is the overall relationship he has with power.

I mentioned at the beginning of this analysis that Dark shows the most confidence when he has some form of power over his opponent.

In Animator vs. Animation 3, he confidently fights against Chosen because from a logical level, he has the advantage. He has Alan to help him fight Chosen, he also has the Windows Applications to help him fight. From his perspective he is the one with the most power in the situation.

During the NewGrounds rampage, Dark shows his power over his victims by destroying their homes and ending their lives, yet again he's in a position of power and shows himself to be incredibly prideful about it.

As for Season 2? Beyond being able to cause as much destruction as he possibly can, him attempting to sicc the ViraBots onto the rest of the Outernet is, again, a pretty big show of power.

When it comes to his fights with Chosen, Dark shows himself to be at his most agile and boastful once he equips the ViraBands and sends out the ViraBots.

See here that Dark has his arms out towards Alan's cursor as the ViraBots attack it, almost as if to say "come and get me". He is taunting him because he has the leg up on him, he has the power and he's exerting it over his enemies.

This is all to say, Dark absolutely loves to feel in control, perhaps out of some form of insecurity over losing his first fight to Chosen? Who knows, regardless it's pretty clear that Dark loves to feel strong. It's why I believe he made the ViraBots completely subservient to him, that way he can always have control.

And this all leads me back to Chosen.

I believe that, in a roundabout way, Dark did care about Chosen, but more in the sense that Chosen makes him feel powerful. With Chosen, the two were able to destroy Alan's PC, with Chosen, Dark was able to lay waste to many websites, leaving them in complete ruin.

Dark loves power, and Dark "loves" Chosen because he gives him that sense of power.

But what happens when the very person who gives him this sense of power was now actively trying to take it away? Well, you get what happens in Season 2, a Showdown.

Many have noted that Dark, for as brutal as he was with him, never actually tries to kill Chosen, he merely overwhelms him with the ViraBots before setting them off to ravage the internet while Chosen just sits and watches.

Now while you could argue this as simple circumstance, I think a more interesting way to look at it is that Dark is trying to prove a point to Chosen. He's trying to prove that he has the power and that Chosen should know better than to try and take that away from him.

It was never about eliminating Chosen, it was all about proving a point.

But in the end, in an ironic twist of fate, instead of proving that he was the strongest, Dark would end up having his ass handed to him by an Awakened Second Coming, the last thing he sees before being absolutely incinerated (as far as we know) is the green eyes of the stick figure who was so much stronger than he could ever be.

It's rather ironic that the very last thing Dark does before being absolutely pummeled by Second is try to run away. In the end, no matter how much power he attempts to give himself, no matter how confident he would like to make himself seem, Dark is ultimately just as much of a coward as he was all the way back in Animator vs. Animation 3. Because the only thing that truly scares him, is the idea of having absolutely no power or control over his own fate.

Ultimately, this is all my own personal interpretation of the Dark Lord's character. I honestly didn't expect this post to be as long as it was, but the more I dug deeper into the nuances of this character, the more surprised I was by just how interesting he actually was.

This is not to say I believe my way of interpreting Dark is the objectively correct one, but I do feel at least somewhat confident in the conclusions I have come to. I do hope that the upcoming mini-sodes Alan plans on making takes the time to shed some light on the finer details, like what exactly Chosen and Dark's relationship was actually like.

But until then, that'll be all folks! Thanks to everyone who stuck through this entire analysis, I know it was a bit of a lengthy read, but I appreciate it either way. Feel free to leave your own thoughts on this post via reblogs/comments, I would love to see what ya'll think of this analysis.

Anyways, I've yapped long enough. Again, thank you all for reading and I hope to bring you all more things like this in the near future.

#animator vs animation #alan becker #ava the dark lord #ava the chosen one #character analysis #long reads

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beesmygod · 5 months ago

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i found the era of fanwork lionization to be extremely annoying to navigate as a young artist. almost all art work has at least some intrinsic value, whether its valuable to all of society or just for an individual for reasons as vast and varied as the sea, but the argument that all art work is inherently equal by virtue of simply coming into being feels like an extremely reductive and inauthentic way of interfacing with something built on a foundation of thousands of years of critique and arguments/defenses of the merit of individual pieces. i yearn for authenticity in people's reactions, not glib reassurances that everything is good and nothing is bad

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stereopticons · 3 months ago

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On This Day in Schitt's Creek...

Well, hello, you! Were you wondering what fanworks were posted on this day in the Ao3 Schitt's Creek tag? Were you looking to read some older fics you missed or perhaps re-read an old favorite? Well, look no further! Each day, I will post all the fics that were posted Ao3 on that date from 2017 to 2024! Give some of them a read and show the authors some love! At the end of each month, I also plan to post some stats about the fics posted in that month.

Multi-chaptered works or unfinished WIPs will be posted on the date they were last updated. All fanworks included in the tag for that date will be included in the post.

2020

Designated Grape [david/patrick, M, 1,097] by bellalafrella

This is my idea of what went down on that car ride back to the motel after Patrick came to get his drunk fiancé from Herb's fruit winery.

Filling in the Blanks [stevie & patrick, M, 4,493] by Aelia_Gioia

A series of random text conversations that fill in some blank spaces.

In Moira Rosé Veritas [david/patrick, T, 2,283] by Aelia_Gioia

After David and Moira sample all the fruit wine, after Johnny and Patrick have a heart to heart, it all culminates in Room 6.

More under the cut!

Morning Rosé [david/patrick, T, 532] by whetherwoman

Somewhere Near [david/patrick, T, 20,777] by alldaydream

Patrick Brewer suffers from amnesia that has erased six months of his life, forcing him to move back home with his parents. No one knows about the life he spent in Elmdale, so he goes chasing after his lost memories there only to end up in Schitt's Creek instead, taken by the handsome owner of the general store he's supposedly never met before. Before 4x07 The Barbecue

sustineo [david/patrick, E, 10,056] by @rockinhamburger

The bad thing about being a world-famous contemporary artist is… actually, there are many bad things. The clout-chasers and users. The frenzied hoards of tabloid “reporters” and paparazzi vultures. The pressure from interviewers, curators, collectors, and art critics to pigeon-hole himself, or, at the very least, be consistent enough for them to do it for him. The neverending demands that he ascribe an approved meaning to his art. The elitist club at the very top of the art world pyramid, which David has never been a member of, what with his postmodern, mixed-media, performance piece style of art that in equal parts seems to shock and disgust and enthrall. Or, an alternate universe where David is a famous, reclusive modern contemporary artist and Patrick is the art critic who is interviewing him about his new exhibition.

Synchronicity [david/patrick, T, 2,966] by @landofsonlali

david and patrick have a conversation after leaving jake's apartment.

2021

[art] The Roses Reunited [david/patrick, NR, art] by @frizzlenox

The Rose family poses for a portrait at the Emmys when Moira is nominated for Sunrise Bay.

Assistant Direction [stevie & moira, T, 2,378] by bigficenergy

Stevie's lazy morning with Ruth is interrupted by repeated phone calls from Moira, who is nervous about her first day of filming the Sunrise Bay reboot and simply must talk to Stevie.

China [gen, G, 300] by Rosey_Peach

Come Away with Me [david/patrick, M, 6,034] by @flowerfan2

There’s a beauty to David that’s hard to define in words. Patrick prefers to tell him with long, slow kisses and the kind of gentle, drawn-out love-making that gets David to drop his defenses. He had sort of hoped that this weekend would lend itself to a night like that, alone in a fancy hotel in the L.A. he had imagined. It’s a lot less likely to happen in their subpar Airbnb. David and Patrick take a trip to L.A. for the Sunrise Bay premiere. It isn’t exactly what Patrick expected.

Free Marcy Hugs [david/patrick, G, 803] by @goodiecornbread

Marcy Brewer is a hugger. So she puts her mom hugs to good use. TW for implied homophobia/transphobia, but no phobic or harmful language is used.

kiss away the pain [david/patrick, T, 1,008] by @lastchancecafe13

“I can’t say that was something I would have ever wanted to see. I know you’ve told me stories but hearing and having it laid out in front of me like that. And he stood there with that smirk on his face--” Patrick's voice trailed off as he pressed a kiss to David’s lips. Patrick's thumbs traced the tear tracks down David's cheeks. He wiped them away before continuing, "I can’t believe after all that that you’re here and you’re so good David. After all that that you were willing to open your heart to me--" Tumblr kiss prompt #39 kissing the tears from someone else's face

Leaning on Somebody Isn't Easy [david/patrick, G, 2,976] by lucianowriter

A Continuation of “Hate To Say That I Miss You.” It’s been three weeks since the phone call and David finds himself single and at a bar where Patrick is. A conversation happens. Will they get back together or is there too much baggage? Based off Ben Platt’s Temporary Love

The Diamond and the Duke [david/patrick, E, 4,005] by asoftplacetoland

Patrick plans a very special roleplay for David for Valentine's Day based on his latest television obsession.

Mine Own Weak Moments [stevie & moira, 6, 3,644] by @treepyful

When her phone buzzed with a silent call for the third time in eight minutes, Stevie debated throwing it out her open window.

The Moira Rose Story [johnny/moira, G, art] by WrathoftheStag

It's the poster for the upcoming, and highly anticipated, Interflix movie The Moira Rose Story.

this is my confession [david/patrick, T, 791] by @blackandwhiteandrose

Patrick finds a way to tell David the things he wants to say before David is ready to hear them.

2022

About a Boy [david/patrick, T, 13,507, CW: MCD] by the_same_but_different

"How about mac and cheese?” “I’m very uninterested in that option.” “RJ.” “Patrick, I’m sorry, but these lunch selections you’re offering me are just…” “Incorrect?” “You said it, not me.” Patrick’s relationship with Roland Moira Schitt Jr over the years. (With bonus audio commentary from David Rose.)

Make a Wish [david/patrick, T, 1,330] by @goodiecornbread

After having a birthday lunch with Stevie, David planned on sitting alone at the motel, smoking weed and eating cake. Then Patrick offers to join him.

2023

Itty Bitty Living Space [david & alexis, NR, 100] by mallpretzles

David is at his wit’s end with sharing 300 sq feet with Alexis.

Wallpaper Whispers [david/patrick, G, 100] by @legalgal421

Patrick takes one last look at his room at Ray’s.

2024

Easy [david/patrick, G, 1,154] by obsessedwithdavrick

David loves his husband and enjoys his Sunday sleep-in. Patrick loves to spoil David. They both are taking time to enjoy their slow time together.

Making Everything Okay [david/patrick, T, 1,064] by obsessedwithdavrick

After many years of marriage, Patrick could pretend to be okay as much as he wanted. But David knew when his husband wasn't okay, and sometimes he just had to be the one to take charge.

oh honey, you can have me when you want me [david/patrick, E, 2,990] by stereopticons

“Such a good little slut.” He gives Patrick's ass a light slap. “So here's what I'm thinking. I think that you put on that dirty little sweatshirt because you wanted me to bend you over this table and fuck you, isn't that right?” David accidentally buys Patrick a joke hoodie. Patrick wears it, to great effect.

Rosewood [david/patrick, M, 40,050] by @beaiola

Inspired by Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Patrick and David have been friends for years, their bond deep and undeniable, and there's no one whose opinion David values more. So when a new family moves into the neighbourhood, it's only natural that David should turn to his oldest friend for his advice and support as he tries to work out what this could mean for him and his future. Patrick, on the other hand, isn't as instantly taken with Sebastien and Klair Raine but David's sure when they all get to know each other things will be different. But there's no way he could forsee the impact the Raine siblings will have on the residents of Rosewood.

Stats:

No fanworks for 2017, 2018, or 2019 2020: 7 fics/39,238 words 2021: 11 fanworks (9 fics, 2 fanart)/22,254 words 2022: 2 fics/14,837 words 2023: 2 fics/200 words 2024: 4 fics/45,258 words Total: 26 fanworks (24 fics, 2 fanart)/121,787 words

#on this day in sc #schitt's creek #fanfic #fanart #david x patrick #david rose #patrick brewer #patrick x david

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destinationtoast · 6 months ago

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I know this is the least of our problems right now but do you think the US election results will impact ao3?

I am not a lawyer, nor a founder of AO3, nor a volunteer there, nor a fandom journalist or historian, so I'm pretty far from the best person to ask. I encourage any and all of the above to please chime in with more knowledgeable answers.

That said, I don't think the next few years will probably directly limit AO3 or its umbrella org, the OTW.* But that depends in part on members voting for board members who will uphold the organization's current principles. (Vote! Become a member if you're not already, and vote! Vote in ALL the elections you are eligible for and will be affected by!) And that doesn't mean a bunch of works won't become private, orphaned, or deleted.**

*A couple reasons for my cautious optimism: The OTW was formed with the preservation and maximalist defense of fanworks in mind. So the shifting US cultural norms and increasing purity culture can't easily change the OTW from within (as we've already been seeing in past years when some fans have disliked some content). And in spite of everything scary happening externally (and there is a whole fucking lot), the US still has far more constitutionally enshrined freedom of speech protections than most places in the world. It will take a long time to tear all that down. Some states and locales are doing a lot to try to challenge free speech, especially queer content and sexual content, and there will be more challenges. But many of those challenges will be defeated because of the First Amendment, and it'll take a lot of time and effort to push through any constitutional changes. You can donate to organizations like the ACLU and the EFF to help protect against the erosions of rights, in addition to supporting the OTW and the Internet Archive who work to preserve free speech rights and online rights. (Other suggestions of where to donate or volunteer are welcome in the notes!) Also, perhaps best of all, the OTW is a non-profit who owns their own servers, which makes it MUCH harder to change what they choose to host than if they relied on any external hosting services and/or had advertisers.

**The archive already has had a whole lot of fanworks shift from public to private due to external events, including the AO3 ban in China, and recent AI scraping of web content. I'm sure more AO3 users will choose to make their content private over the next few years out of a fear of potential personal risks of them being found, and/or due to new attempts to ban content. (Some users will also delete their works for similar reasons, though I urge people to consider orphaning them instead!) Downloading for personal use any fanworks you love is always a good idea, and even moreso at a time of great heartbreak and panic, like now.

*hugs* Hang in there, all, and continue to take comfort from AO3 & OTW as you survive the upcoming hard times.

#also I've still had a low grade fever for part of today #so i hope i didn't miss anything obvious #someone who is a lawyer etc please chime in #otw #asks #ao3 #toasty replies #(also that disclaimer is to acknowledge my limitations but not to shame the asker... I get why you might ask!)#50

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toytle · 5 months ago

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it effing sucks you had to turn off the comments on that jayce post bc i distinctly remember back in 2022 your art turned me into a jayce-truther

the greatest compliment i can get as a fanartist is when ppl tell me that my art converted them to the character/fandom i’ve drawn T__T

this goes double, TRIPLE for jayce, bc there was absolutely no reason for the fandom to unanimously single him out. to this day, it’s the most undeserved hate i’ve ever seen a character receive. and for what!

but ever since s2 dropped, i’ve been seeing a surge of jayce love,,, back in my day, most ppl would only bring him up to talk shit. i used to get told that liking him was a “red flag.” even ppl that enjoyed my art would leave backhanded compliments abt how my talent was being wasted on him (mind you, my comments were already restricted before this! this is what slipped thru!)

now look at us. fanworks and pfps and defenders galore. ppl are leaving the sweetest comments on my 3 year old posts, coming back to reminisce or to share how they’ve had a change of heart. i’ve gotten such a demand for my jayce prints that i’ve since revived and even restocked one of them! friends and strangers alike have said that they cite me in jayce’s defense!! hell, the fact that there’s discourse now where there used to be the single general consensus is more than i could’ve hoped for. all this other stuff is borderline fantasy 😭

i used to bargain for crumbs. never in my LIFE did i expect to be the one feasting. we did it, jayce enjoyers, we lost the battle but we won the war \o/

#no surprise that i began to dread posting him but i still can’t help but feel like i abandoned my special guy when i stopped drawing arcane #i have plenty of time to make up for that now tho. feels like muscle memory :’)#still haven’t finished s2 btw 💔#taking it slow bc this whole thing has been so overwhelming for me. we are so fucking back #danswers #arcane #jayce talis

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amyoffline · 4 months ago

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In Defense of the Phandom (Mostly): Dan, Phil, and Our Parasocial Social Club

Refer to my previous pinned post for an explanation of and outline for this project. Now that I'm done going through my old reblogs (god, it took forever), it's time to actually research and write this script! This will be my pinned post for the foreseeable future, so you can come back to it by clicking on my blog for the current status of this part of the process. (Note from February 15 - everything is on hold for now while I wrap up my dissertation!)

Script word count: 2,350 | Last updated: January 9, 2025

Research

Peer-reviewed or published literature: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Social media, forum archives, and fanwork: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ The great rewatch: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Discussions with other phannies (hey! that could be you, if you want!): ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎

Writing

Introduction, background, and conclusion sections: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2009-2013: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2014-2018: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2019-2025: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Long tangents (fandom, RPF, and PSIs/PSRs): ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Editing: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎

More details below the cut!

Research → peer reviewed or published literature:

I read a few things (like Haidt's The Anxious Generation) while I was in the process of searching academic databases, but most of the 403 works I have saved to Zotero for this are currently unread. They're not all the same length or will take the same amount of time to read, so the completion proportion is just getting updated based on vibes. I'm absolutely not referencing all 403 of these things in the script - I just cast a wide net for materials I thought might be relevant. Furthermore, there are some things I didn't save that I know I'll be referencing, like some of the Pew Research Center's work in the early to mid 2010s on teenagers and technology, or the journalistic coverage of what got my school district in huge trouble in 2011.

Research → Social media and forum archives:

The collection of posts, art, and fic (other than mine) to reference in the video. For regular posts and art, especially by people who have long since abandoned their accounts or whose content went pretty viral, I feel comfortable just showing things in the video with credit as examples. For fic, I intend to just discuss trends more broadly and vaguely since, as a fic writer myself, I know we tend to get more flack and less acclaim for our work and therefore prefer to stay out of the spotlight. Let me know if you think I should handle this differently - the academic impulse is to credit sources and reproducible searches for every single thing you do, but that's definitely not best practice for phandom history since we have so much "forbidden" lore. I'll also be reading the IDB forum front-to-back, listening to things like the phandom podcast, reading the current generation of phanzines, and looking at recent (and historical, if anyone has any) surveys done of phannies within the community. I'm assuming those folks would appreciate credit and/or a shoutout.

Research → The great rewatch:

Rewatching everything DNP-related so I can talk about it from more recent memory (and read what's left of the original comments for DNP videos that are still up at their original locations). I know there's a playlist for this but I also know it's incomplete, so I have been doing some poking around myself and will probably continue to.

Research → Discussions with other phannies:

Writing → Introduction, background, and conclusion sections

See old pinned post for the outline. Will expand details here once research is mostly done (I plan to read and watch everything in the research section aside from talking to other phannies, then complete the script's rough draft, then talk to others on call, then integrate that with and finalize the script).

Writing → 2009-2013

See above.

Writing → 2014-2018

See above.

Writing → 2019-2025

See above.

Writing → Long tangents (fandom, RPF, and PSRs/PSIs)

See above. These tangents are kind of mini video essays in and olf themselves, so I may write them while I'm reading through my saved stuff in Zotero and before I rewatch all the DNP videos.

#dan and phil #phan #dnp #daniel howell #amazingphil #amy writes #i feel weird putting this in the main tags but given it's been TWO WEEKS WITHOUT A PHUPLOAD no one's gonna mind #as indicated - this is now pinned on this sideblog! more minor status updates will just be tagged “amy writes” so follow if you want those

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thebroccolination · 5 months ago

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STOLAS AND BLITZ'S CURRENT RELATIONSHIP IS A TREASURE TROVE

Helluva Boss is the ideal source material for fanworks in so many ways. Especially because of where Blitz and Stolas's relationship is right now.

One of the show's more obvious issues is the pacing, and while I don't know a ton about animated productions, it's always seemed to me like they're creating an enormously ambitious production on a pretty limited budget, so they kind of have to power through these episodes at a hundred miles an hour without the luxury of going at the slower, more nuanced pace they deserve. But that's where fanfiction and fanart can really elevate what canon gives us, because the show is creating so much potential to explore, and we have time in between episodes to play!

Basically: I love it here and this episode was a buffet of goodness.

Following Mastermind, Stolas and Blitz are discovering that despite their physically intimate relationship and their feelings for each other, they don't actually know each other.

In Sinsmas, we see Stolas and Blitz discovering so many new things about each other, to the point where you wonder what they ever talked about until you remember: sex. When they reunited as adults, they never re-learned who each other is now. Instead, they jumped past personal intimacy to physical intimacy.

And now that they're working on their personal intimacy, I love that Blitz has flipped completely from acting cold to Stolas out of uncertainty and self-defense to committing to him, unrelentingly loyal and affectionate. The way he is with Loona.

So we have them learning each other in doses:

• Blitz's horse thing

• Stolas's secret medication

• What Stolas eats

• Social norms Stolas didn't have to know when he was part of the wealthy ruling class

• Hellborn culture

• Blitz's genuine love for the company he built, not just pride

• Just how different Blitz's way of life is from the one Stolas is accustomed to

• And the real Blitz as opposed to the idealized version Stolas invented in his fantasies

In Mastermind, Stolas has that line, "Why am I throwing my freedom away for this idiot?" in part because he was still mad at Blitz, but also because Blitz has been knocked off his pedestal, and Stolas has to relearn him from nothing.

But the thing is: this idiot loves Stolas.

He's not ashamed to eat with Stolas in public, not ashamed to protect him from the other Hellborn who hate Stolas because of the trial.

He's genuinely delighted spending his time with Stolas.

He'll hunt rats in an alley just to make sure Stolas is eating what he likes.

And he champions Stolas's very first secretarial attempt in very characteristically giddy flavor.

He risks his life to save Stolas's, a flip from Mastermind.

He wraps Stolas in his own jacket to keep him warm, even though Blitz just complained about Earth's winter topside.

And he wraps Stolas in a blanket, then eats hot coals/brimstone(/whatever those rocks were) to become a hot water bottle for Stolas.

Because ultimately, what Blitz wants and perhaps realizes he wants in this episode is that he wants to be a complete family with Stolas and their daughters.

And they'll get there in part by talking to each other about what matters.

Not fighting, not yelling, not walking away, just talking to each other. About their vulnerabilities and their fears and what hurts. About their past hurts and their worries for the future.

And they've never done that at length before.

The trial gave Blitz the wakeup call he needed, and now the season is ending with Blitz completing another curve of his character arc. Does he believe he deserves Stolas? No. Does he have the family he wants? Nope! But to get there he has to make things right with Stolas, and he's (mostly) done that.

What comes next for them in season three will be up to Stolas.

Blitz has embraced Stolas, but it's not quite reciprocal yet.

So I look forward to aaaaaaalllllllllI the fic and fanart along the way. :>

#helluva boss spoilers #helluva boss sinsmas #helluva boss #stolas x blitz #stolitz #i love this show so dearly ugh the ART in that last scene

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ofstormsandfire · 6 months ago

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this is a PSA because I am getting real tired of stumbling across works on AO3 that say they were commissioned in the summary.

mentioning commercial activities of any kind (including but not limited to fanzine preorders if money is involved, patreon/ko-fi, or - y'know - writing commissions) is NOT PERMITTED ON AO3. they are fine with you linking to a different site that then links to something with real money involved, like for instance linking to your tumblr that has a patreon or info about commissions in the pinned post, but you cannot link directly to anything with real money involved.

"but that's unfair!" I know. I know, I get it, as a writer it pisses me off all the damn time, but that's the state copyright law is in and that's pretty unlikely to change anytime soon. the reason AO3 is so strict about this is so that they can claim, accurately, that the fanworks hosted there are noncommercial activity, which to my understanding makes for a stronger legal defense against people who would rather you not write fanfic at all.

please. for the love of god. if you're going to tempt fate/copyright law by taking writing commissions (which is, unfortunately, in significantly more of a legal gray area than art commissions, I desperately wish this wasn't the case but it is).

DON'T SAY THAT YOU ARE/HAVE IN THE PAST/WILL IN THE FUTURE ON ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN DOT ORG.

this is for YOUR protection, this is for OTHERS' protection, this is for the protection of the WHOLE DANG ARCHIVE.

signed, a very tired writer who doesn't want you to ruin it for everyone, thank you very much.

#seriously. please.#I'm so goddamn tired.#fanfic things #writing things #ao3 things #hopeposting

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tippenfunkaport · 2 years ago

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FYI, I have also locked all my fanfics down to registered users only because of the AI scraping on AO3. I'm one of many fan creators doing this right now and I know it stinks for users without an AO3 account, but it's the only option writers have available to us at the moment to stop our work from being scraped and stolen.

If this makes you mad, the Federal Register is currently open to comments on AI accountability until June 12th, 2023.

It only takes a second to leave a comment to ask for legislation that works used in AI creations or training MUST secure the express consent of the original creator before they can be used. If we can get protections for artists, writers, musicians and everyone who creates that their work cannot be used in AI without their permission, we can go back to making fanworks freely available without fear of them being misused. Until then, we're stuck playing defense until the courts catch up.

(If you're a fan creator looking to do this as well, AO3 has a tool to let you do all your fics at the same time in seconds. On your dashboard, go to Edit Works and you'll be able to change the status on everything at once.)

If you missed the context, AO3 recently found that the archive was scraped for use in AI services like ChatGPT and Sudowrite. While they put in protections in December 2022 to try to stop it from happening in the future, it's not foolproof and there is nothing they can do about works already swiped prior to that date. The archive is recommending fan creators restrict their works to registered users only to prevent against additional large scale scraping in the future.

#ao3 #archiveofourown #archive of our own #ai #artificial intelligence #Sudowrite #tech news #fandom #fanfiction #fanfic writing #pro tip from me to you: you own the copyright to your fanworks #not the characters and details from the source material obviously #but your writing itself is yours and can be registered and protected as such #ChatGPT #tech bros #psa #important psa #ao3 writer

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beatleskinkmeme · 11 months ago

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Summer of Love Fanworks-a-thon Master Post

Please check out these fanworks and leave a comment!

Grateful for him by @johangeorghohman

5 + 1 things, 5 times George wished that Paul never met John (because George has a big fat schoolboy crush on Paul) + 1 time he was grateful that they did met

everything to be discovered by @backbenttulips

John and Paul exploring a romantic relationship with each other during the 2000s-2010s, and navigating life as famous old people and grandparents.

the size of a loneliness by @backbenttulips

Brian survives his overdose in 1967. John and Paul come stay to make sure he gets better, taking care of him in their own emotionally inept way.

Knocking at Your Door by @eveepe

5+1 fic. When they’re kids George learns that an easy way to calm Paul down when he’s getting the horrors is to give him a quick little kiss on the mouth. It becomes his go to method to soothe Paul when he needs to.

I Fancy Me Chances With You by @hootiepgh

Paul participates in a charity auction during the 70s. “Bid on a date with Paul McCartney” John pays an absurd amount of money to win. Paul is shocked. They go on the date and they’re both very awkward, neither are sure why John paid so much and what it entails.

I'll Never Do You No Harm by @hootiepgh

Aftermath of the "I want a divorce meeting," when Mal drives Paul home. Paul is broken and crying. Mal calls John and tells him how upset Paul is. John comes over. All the angst please!

But as the words are leaving his lips, a noise comes from behind by @hootiepgh

Mid-1969, Allen Klein and the Beatles are having a private meeting with Allen still trying to convince them to have him be their manager. He gets really frustrated and lashes out at one or all of them, and in an act of self defense Paul, Ringo, George, and John end up accidentally killing him. Afraid of what might happen if anyone finds out, they all agree to cover up their involvement in the crime. Their personal lives/ marriages start to crumble as they're forced to rely on each other as the only people they trust. Would like the inclusion of McLennon and George X Ringo

If I Needed Someone by @hootiepgh

Paul gets shot during the 1966 Memphis concert. John (doesn't) deals with the angst and the guilt.

Taking Trophies by @m1ssunderstanding

AU where John and Paul see each other sooner, forced into confrontation around 1971 when things were at their worst with John spewing his anger to the public and Paul taken aback by it. Of course this leads to some post-breakup, angsty, possessive sex.

Everybody Loves Somebody by @bewareofdarkness

Soulmark AU, the four of them are soulmates

invisible string by @scurator

McHarrison boat vibes on the Queen Mary for the Venus and Mars release party. Um, bonus points for George showing off that he won Bob Dylan in the divorce

deeper than oceans you run by @timrothencrantz

AU where they went through with doing Beatle island and establish their commune (?) or whatever the plan was. Polyamory ensues. This either fixes everything or makes everything worse (or somehow both)

yellow, orange, and blue, i love you by @menlove

Soulmates au where one sees colour for the first time when you touch your soulmate. I believe it would be fun to see how this would play out. This one could be a fic, a comic page or even an illustration where the boys realise what happened when they introduce themselves, whatever the artist prefers!

take it away by @monkberryfields

Younger John meets an older Paul at a record shop. Paul offers to teach John how to tune his guitar and play a few chords but at a price...

Posy by @ohjohnnysblog

Mclennon does a roleplay where they pretend John is a shy virgin groupie. Bottom! John

Banana Milkshakes and Armpit Hair by @crepesuzette2023

Will someone finally come on Paul's eyelashes?

I ain't no fool, and I don't take what I don't want by @crepesuzette2023

Mal and Paul make love al fresco during one of their trips. Paul wears nothing but the flimsy scarf he's seen wearing here.

all by design by @forthlin

the classic “john and paul do increasingly sexual things with each other while coming up with increasingly elaborate justifications for why it’s not gay” scenario, except they both DO know that it’s gay, they just each think they’re pulling a fast one by convincing the other one that this is normal guys-being-dudes behavior.

I've Just Seen a Face by @javelinbk

when John met Paul

Meeting on the Turret Stairs by @sleeper9

a John/Paul moment backstage (Hamburg/touring years/rooftop/artist's choice) based on the piece, Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton.

Oh no, he's beautiful by @sleeper9

The first time John wears his glasses around Paul he finally gets to actually see Paul's face and oh no, he's beautiful

Run For Your Life by @pie-of-flames

A recut of any footage into some kind of Beatles horror movie trailer (maybe Paul is dead?)

**This will be updated as we get more fanworks!!

#master post #summer of love #fanworks a thon #fanvideos #fan art

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