#it’s a self-indulgent animatic but the ideas are SO COOL!!!

[fenicearts420]

CAN YOU PLEASE STOP COMING UP WITH COOL ANIMATIC IDEAS FOR ONE SECOND, BRAIN?!?! I already have an animation I wanna work on but haven’t touched cuz of procrastination and now you give me THIS?!?! PLZ STAHP!!!

[bestworstcase]

is there anything about rwby that you would have done differently as a writer? i.e. introducing certain ideas of characters earlier, complete wholesale changes, etc.

in terms of major narrative choices, adam attempts to assassinate sienna as in canon but her personal guard remains loyal, there’s a scuffle, and she’s able to escape wounded but alive, showing up at haven to pincer adam’s forces with the faction of the white fang that refuses to go along with his coup.

the albains are loyal to sienna but still weird and disliked – not for sinister foreshadowing but because sometimes people are just sort of weird and off-putting, and that’s a fun trait to give a couple of good guys who show the fuck up to defend an ally who’s hitherto been a bit distrustful and cool toward them when the violent splinter group tries to assassinate him; narratively the albains being like this while aligning themselves firmly with sienna also provides an opportunity to cast the belladonna’s alliance with and support of sienna into sharper focus and perhaps allows for blake to bounce off and talk to some guys in the “yes direct action and tactical violence, no whatever the fuck adam’s doing” camp to refine her understanding of the white fang and make it clearer how adam corrupted what sienna does and believes.

and the arc resolution is sienna reclaiming leadership of the white fang and preparing to clean house while ghira and ilia plan a second, separate but allied organization focused on advocacy with the overall point being that expecting one group to do and be everything is part of the problem.

i talk about this more here. the white fang arc really isn’t as bad as its frequently maligned but suffers from a lack of clarity in how it’s intended message is delivered; the point of sienna surviving and having genuine allies to represent her side in menagerie is to address that lack of clarity by articulating her philosophy and underscoring that the belladonnas support her and ally themselves with her because the objection isn’t “violence in bad” but rather “indiscriminate violence that materially harms the cause and violent infighting are bad.”

aside from that, i wouldn’t change anything significant presuming that i had to work under the same conditions as the actual writers (<- if they hadn’t lost those two episodes in v9, 9.10 wouldn’t feel so rushed and we’d have got that animatic as a full episode; if there hadn’t been budget issues in v5 mistral wouldn’t feel so empty; etc it’s very easy to fix problems like this in hypotheticals where you imagine you have infinite time and money, but in the real world if this were my story and i faced these sort of logistical challenges it would be to the detriment of the narrative in the same ways and i have no interest in pretending otherwise).

all that said

if i were the one writing this story and either i had more money or it was, like, a series of novels (<- which is what i’d be writing, realistically) – the religious layer of the story would be a lot more overt, not just in terms of the religious conflict with regard to the brothers but i would flesh out 1-2 other religions too. blake’s arc would feature wrestling with complicated feelings about god-of-animals-worship. ruby and yang would’ve been raised monotheistic light-worshippers; weiss would be a lapsed orthodox brother-cultist (in my head this is comparable to, say, the chasm between evangelical protestants and a lapsed catholic). oscar would be stolidly practicing some other religion that has nothing to do with the brothers, to ozma’s consternation, because that’s funny. salem would be still a polytheist but pointedly not worshipping Those Two, because that’s also funny.

<- this is not to “”fix“” anything i just think it’s important as a writer to be self-indulgent. and i like fantasy religions. bfrgscbk

[your-ne1ghbor]

Hey! Here I come with ✨asks✨

There’s a lot here sorry 😭 And if you’ve already answered some of these, just pass them

Why did you choose to remove Amaya’s eye? Does she wear an eyepatch?

Why is Mag specifically afraid of fire?

Are they going to get villain transformations?

Are we going to learn more about the royal couple’s backstories in the actual story?

How are you going to show your story? (Writing, blurbs, comic, animatic, etc.)

How many songs are you planning to show?

Star’s backstory?

Design dump on the main four! Symbolism?

What are you going to do with Valentino? Is he important in the story?

Who gave Val to Asha?

How does Valentino act with the royal cat?

What deleted scenes specifically inspired your story?

How would Asha react knowing you created her backstory?

Asha meeting canon!Asha. Would she die again

Is cursing allowed in your AU?

What are the seven teens’ roles?

What about Sabino?

If Mag had the chance to get rid of Asha, would he? Without Amaya getting mad at him? (Since she was the one that brought Asha in)

Do the royal couple have similar goals in the story? (Like how @annymation’s royal couple are both in love and villainous, versus @oh-shtars’ royal couple is literally titled Grand Despair)

Will “A Kingdom of Thorns and Roses” name ever be mentioned in the story?

Draw Mag dressed as Megamind >:3 (or meeting him or treating to him, idrc)

Canon!Amaya reacting to TkoRaT!Amaya

What dementor-like monster is shown in your past drawings? Will we see other ones?

Where did they spawn from?

Will there be other realms in your story? Like a Star realm or a cursed realm

Would you consider this a “Disney movie” or more of an AU? Like, could it be made by Disney? (minus a few things like queer representation or cursing)

How can stars die? Can their physical bodies die but their “spirits” remain? (I know you cut this aspect but will it reappear?)

Are there any aspects of other rewrites you want to incorporate in yours?

Why did Maggy and Amaya name the kingdom “Rosas”?

Who discovered wish magic?

Who taught Asha how to make flower crowns?

Are you scrapping any songs?

Adding any new ones?

Adding any new characters? (Like how I’m adding Evangeline)

Are Asha’s parents important to the story?

A little self-indulgent, but some TFS doodles? :3

I hope you enjoy these questions! <3

yoo I finally got internet now let's get to these questions

Ooo you really cooked with these questions @wings-of-sapphire✨️✨️

The eye originally was a way to explore how I can make her more scary, but then it kinda stuck with the overall design so yeah lol. And no, she doesn't wear an eyepatch. I mean, an eyepatch is cool and all, but just an empty eye socket is more terrifying and disturbing to look at for me and works with the overall tragedy of her character.

Mag is more afraid of Star's than fire. But...

He couldn't do anything except watch as a star destroyed his home in flames.

When it comes to fire though, he is more nervous or afraid when it is used to destroy things. If it is used to light up a room or cook food, he doesn't really mind since the intentions aren't bad.

3. Maggy will 100% get a villain transformation, including Amaya as well. It's kind of like boss stages. So basically, they will have a total of 3 transformations, the last one being something scary (haven't thought about the designs yet for the final transformations)

4. The beginning song or replacement song called Home is the founding of Rosas and the actual downfall would be shown since Star Boy didn't know what happened since the stars didn't tell him why Mag is the way he is basically. So yes, 100%.

5. A mixture of all of them. I do want to write it out, but rn I just don't know how to execute it.

6. I'm not sure. It's debatable since I've been focusing more on the worldbuilding than on the songs. Plus, I am no song writer, I suck at writing songs. Even if I get an idea for one (for the replacement song "Welcome to Rosas" is a good example of that [Its called Home]), it's just execution for me.

7. Heh heh that's for a separate post but here is somewhat a glimpse:

(That's mag btw, I'm just messing with his design again 💀💀)

8. I had finished Asha's design, just need to add some minor details. Plus, the other 3 is still me messing with the designs. However, I can show you some of my ideas:

Maggy's is somewhat gonna look like this:

Ofc with more sharper edges and thorny design.

For Amaya, I'm still not sure outfit wise lol.

9. Valentino will actually serve as a guide through the castle and of Rosas to Star and the 7 friends. Idk I just think a goat helping a star with directions is a funny and fun premise. Plus, Star Boy is terrible with directions 😭

10. Idk he just appeared one day and Asha was like: imma keep you. I probably will add more to both of them, but I'm not sure how they met at the moment.

11. They are silly. Aka, they are close friends. Just that Charo gets a little annoyed by Valentino haha.

12. The scene where Asha and Star escapes from Amaya, and the villain couple deleted scene and the wishing tree deleted scenes.

13. She wouldn't care. She probs be like: No shit? Until she realizes how much I do her dirty and she will collapse emotionally.

14. TKORAT Asha would moreover be nervous around her ad Cannon Asha would probably dislike her

15. Yes lol

16. tbh idk yet, I haven't really put much thought into their characters yet since I wanna focus on the main 4 and worldbuilding before I come to the 7 friends since I personally don't know at the moment. All I know is that Dahlia and Gabo are most likely will be siblings since I loved their semi bickering in the OG film.

17. Dead.

18. Mag will only take that action if she becomes a threat to him or the kingdom.

19. They have similar goals in the story, yes. They both want to make sure that everyone will never dream again. They both lost everything because someone wished on a star, or hense had a goal to pursue, and it caused an entire kingdom to fall. Why should they let a dream go Rouge again? They would at least be doing everyone a service by making sure the problem doesn't become a bigger problem later on.

20. The title is so long that idk how I will incorporate it in the story. But if I do, you guys will probably read it 🧍

21.

Megamind has a point Maggy 🤷

22.

TKORAT Amaya wouldn't like how Cannon Amaya literally didn't do anything or even tried anything to prevent her husband from going down the path he did in wish. So yes, TKORAT Amaya pretty much hates her.

23. I don't necessarily have the drawings with me except for this one:

But moreover, another one I have, that I am still designing for "the River of Lost Souls" is probably the closest thing to it. I have more, I just don't have it on me rn 😭

24. Hell, for the River of Lost Souls. And the pic I showed above is from my Oc, Axe's species. Or basically coming from the ground I guess. Plus another one I wanted to show was an old design I had for Axr hehe

25. The Star realm does exist in my au, so does hell, and I'm debating a monster realm, but rn it is cut for it kind of complicates things heheh.

26. I have thought of this before, and I see it more as it's own thing that can be futher explored in other interpretations like shows, pre-quals, ect. It's more AU than Disney to me at the moment.

27. You have to get them out of their disguise form in order to cause any sort of long lasting injuries. Other than that, dark magic is literally the only way to hurt them. And it has to be in their star form. Their disguise form are like a shell for their true form. That's why it is better to have them in their most vulnerable state in order to do any sort of damage to the Stars.

28. I was inspired by a ton of AUs, and a lot of them did rub off from me, like The Wishing Kingdom, Fallen Star, and Reach for the Stars aus.

29. When they founded the kingdom, the whole place was covered in so many roses and flowers. They also dubed it Rosas not only because of the roses founded on the island, but it has a calming name that isn't threatening to people. It sounds...peaceful.

30.

31. Her parents. No not her adoptive parents, her biological parents taught her :3

32. I am a Star is removed. I fucking hate that song with every fiber in my being. This is the Thanks "We" Get would be rewritten to fit the context of Mag and Amaya.

33. I want a song between Mag and Star. It would be focusing on how much of a monster Star could be and "will" be. Plus the song called Home (that I still dunno how to execute 😭)

34. Quite a bit, but the few would be Maggy's Star, or the Blue Star, the star that destroyed Rosas, Aster, and some creatures that makes the worldbuilding whole.

35. Not sure at the moment. I would imagine it as a lingering effect on most of the people in Rosas.

36.

(I had no refrence for Asha when I drew her when I was camping lol 💀)

Anyways thank you for the questions! I had a lot of fun answering them! Hopefully this gave you guys some more info on my AU!

Gonna go through my inbox, so now I will bid you adue 💕

[godfrey-the-chaos-duck]

well, update! (at long mcfucking last)

I have a discord server set up for this, you get the link if you express interest in being part of this, whether for VA stuff, art/animation or simply moral support (yes you can join for the vibes alone but BE. NICE) We got four members so far including me, which is. three more than I thought I was gonna have so that's something I guess

New rule which I hope people will be chill about: ABSOLUTELY NO DISCUSSING THE LEAKS. I shall say again:

NO. DISCUSSING. THE MOTHER. FUCKING. LEAKS.

like. talking about how shit it was that it happened? Fine. We all agree on that. but for the love of GAWD no spoilers please.

okay that's out of the way, now on to the fun stuff

I am working away at making the script for VAs and artists to reference cause, as previously stated, nobody wants to wade through twelve thousand words of self indulgent fic written in my weirdly descriptive poetic style, to try and do something.

I have a possible VA for Vox and Fizzarolli, which. I was honest to god not expecting to find someone who can do Fizz's voice, he only has a few lines so I was deadass considering cutting his part out (I would have cried about this cause I love Fizz so much) He isn't in the server cause he doesn't have Discord but we're keeping in touch. Fellow Fizzarolli fans, say "thank you Joshua". I also have another VA on board but we haven't talked much about what roles she can do, and I think we're waiting till we have a decent cast on-board. If it helps, I do quite a good Angel Dust and Katie Killjoy, so if no-one else volunteers for those, I can give it a try if I need to.

So far we have no artists, which isn't an issue yet cause as far as I know voice stuff gets done first in animation. I will be putting out the call again closer to when we need artists for this. Expanding on this from the original post: I'm hoping for something similar-ish to the show's style, done as an animatic or even rough animation with a bit of colour if possible. I'm not expecting perfection, I'm not asking for something completely polished, I just want something I can see, I guess. And again, I wish I was rich and was able to pay people, but unfortunately I'm broke as fuck. This is why I'd love to get a fair few people on board so the work is divided up evenly and no one person is doing too much.

There's a LOT of talented animators and VAs on Youtube who've inspired me, but I have no idea how to reach them as I'm not sure if a lot of them have Tumblr. Any advice on this, or anyone who knows similarly talented people on this hellsite, would be very cool

Anyway, I was gonna reblog this way earlier, but between the Halloween boop war and then. well, this entire week, I knew the post would get buried. As things seem to have calmed down a bit, I figure now's as good a time as any to boost this

If you've read this far, thanks!

~ Godfrey

this is without a doubt the weirdest thing I have ever done

SALUTATIONS, HELLAVERSE FANDOM! 

You probably don't know me, but my name is Godfrey. (Pleasure to be meeting you, quite a pleasure!) 

To be quite honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing here. As I type this, I'm unspeakably nervous.

"Why are you nervous, Godfrey?" I hear you ask.

Well...

I have a dream

I'm here to tell

About a fanfic I wrote for Hazbin Hotel 

(sorry)

Okay okay serious director voice from now. 

Look, this is gonna sound absolutely unhinged, but hear me out. (insane rambles under the cut, this bitch is LONG)

In April, a friend and I had a conversation about a song I wrote and how it was. Well, kinda coded to Vox and Valentino.

Then one thing led to another, and two-and-a-bit months and twelve thousand words later, I had written an absolutely sprawling shitshow of a fic (details later in the post)

Even as I was writing it, I knew the written word didn't do it justice.

Hence, this post. 

(golly, this sounds really demanding, I am so sorry)

Fuck it, my mom always says "if you don't ask you don't get", and for once I want her to be right.

This is, I suppose, a sort of... call to action, for lack of a better term.

Artists, animators and voice actors, I'd like your help to turn this fic into an animatic, or if we can manage it, an actual animation.

ONLY if we can manage it, not if it's gonna stress anyone out.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Just to get this out of the way, not that I should even need to say this but it's unfortunately 2024. If anyone even SUGGESTS using A.I. your ass is getting blocked. I don't fuck with that artificial bullshit.

On to my next point: I am unequivocally in support of artists and actors being paid for their work. 

However, I am a Broke Bitch. Unless we could somehow do crowdfunding or something, I physically would not be able to pay people. This makes me feel like a very shitty person, but unfortunately it's the truth, and I want to be upfront and honest about that.

This is why I hope to get as many people on board as possible for this project, so nobody has to do a shit-ton of work.

I understand that most of you are busy, with work, school/college, or life generally life-ing. Join the club, my life is hectic too.

This is why I really have no set deadline for this. Whether it takes a few months or a few years, as long as it's done well with a minimal amount of stress.

Well, now that that's out of the way, time to go into details a bit.

Characters in order of appearance (this is mainly for VAs)

Vox

Valentino

Velvette 

Angel Dust

Charlie

Husk

Alastor

Vaggie

Lucifer

Niffty

Sir Pentious

Asmodeus (yeah this is slightly a Helluva Boss crossover)

Frank (the egg boi)

Fizzarolli

Katie Killjoy

Tom Trench

And lastly, depending on what everyone else thinks, I have an idea for how Verosika and Zestial can be involved. 

Will there be musical numbers?

The short answer is YEAH, cause Hazbin is a musical. I cannot stress enough how much the music is My Problem. Literally, apart from people singing, I will take care of that.

My Idea Of The Process 

(please bear in mind I have little to no idea of how the animation process works so this is almost definitely wrong, please feel free to correct me about it)

Step 1. Storyboard

Step 2. Voice lines and songs get recorded

Step 3. Animatic (this could very well end up being as far as it gets and that is absolutely cool beans)

Possible Step 4. Animation

Finally, I'd be more than happy to be the one to edit all the clips together. Editing is its own kind of hell, and I'm totally willing to take one for the team.

The Vision

This is. (fffffff) this is the part that's gonna make me sound like a Draconian jerk but I promise I don't mean to come across this way.

I'm hoping to have something that's as close to the style of the show as possible. (this video kinda has the right vibes) This is so the final project will look cohesive and somewhat professional. (god that probably sounded so bad but I genuinely have no idea how else to say it)

TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR. I have nothing against artists with other distinctive art styles, in fact I've come across several that I absolutely love.

Regarding The Writing

I've never directed anything before, so forgive me if this is crossing a line, but like. 

I have my vision for how I want this to go and I'm kind of. not overly flexible on that. Obviously ideas that people have to get this to work good are more than welcome, but they might not end up happening.

Not to be a dick, but I am sorta the director so I do kinda get to make the call on that stuff. (ew god that felt odd)

If this gets off the ground, I'd have to turn this 12,000 word fic into a script to make it easier for people to read it and not get bogged down by my weird old-fashioned poetic style. This would be sent out to people who express interest at some point.

Just a heads-up: If you're expecting an AO3 link I am so sorry but it's Google Docs, mainly because this thing is wildly self-indulgent and I, for one, do not fancy attracting potential haters. Most people are nice, some are very vocally not. Besides, what would be the fun if everyone knew the story in advance?

BASICALLY

If you're interested shoot me an ask and I'll answer privately (OFF anon pls, I wanna know who I'm workin' with here!) or DM me and I'll get back to you.

If you see this and know someone who'd be interested, feel free to tag them or send this post to them.

I am gonna tag @achilleanauthor (my right hand man over here) @emeraldcity1900 and @onesidedradiostatic as they're kind of the only blogs I know who are I guess. Active in the Hellaverse fandom.

If this gains enough traction and I get people on board, I'll be setting up a Discord server (another first for me). 

Watch this space, and as Alastor would say, "Stay tuned..."

[fall-out-boytoy]

Invader Zim playlist sharing time!!

It's shuffleable, just play the first song first! On second thought you probably SHOULD shuffle it, I didn't sort this at all. If you have any suggestions GIMME!

List of songs w/ short, sometimes witty, and sometimes rambly explanation:

"Invader Zim (From "Invader Zim")" by Geek Music - it's LITERALLY the theme song.

"Touch Tone Telephone" by Lemon Demon - do I even have to say anything at this point?

"Bulletproof Heart" by My Chemical Romance - zim and dib Vibes

"You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" by the Offspring - zim singing to dib, perhaps? "And no one even knew, it was really only you"

"Alien Boy" by Wipers - title says it all, 'tis zim

"Cabinet Man" by Lemon Demon - GAZ

"Planetary (GO!)" by My Chemical Romance - vibes

"No Eyed Girl" by Lemon Demon - zadr from dib's perspective

"Really Cool Wig" by Lemon Demon - zim's disguise

"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" by Lemon Demon - zade. rather predictably this playlist is heavy on the lemon demon

"The Greatest Show - Bonus Track" by Pentatonix - have some meta! Also, yes, it's the Pentatonix version because I like them

"E.T." by Katy Perry - incredibly cheesy zadr

"Cryptid Hunt - Demo" by Averno, Sushi Soucy - swollen eyeballs and dib vibes

"We Will Commit Wolf Murder" by of Montreal - zadr duet!

"Bad Romance" by Halestorm - zadr

"I Miss the Misery" by Halestorm - yet another zadr

"A Mask of My Own Face" by Lemon Demon - zim's disguise

"Basket Case" by Green Day - when I first heard this I went "hmm yes, zim" but upon further reflection it probably applies to dib even more

"Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" by My Chemical Romance - vibes

"Lifetime Achievement Award" by Lemon Demon - I have absolutely no idea why this is on here, none of the lyrics fit, but it has some mighty good vibes. If you can think of a reason why it's on MY OWN PLAYLIST do tell!

"Miss The Misery" by Foo Fighters - zadr vibes

"Voodoo" by Get Scared - pilot dib if he was more paranormal and less real-sciencey. Banger song too

"Nemeses (feat. John Roderick)" by Jonathan Coulton, John Roderick - zad_. I'd specify a letter but it's kinda,,,all of them

"Eighth Wonder" by Lemon Demon - zim vibes. "I might be small but I am the eighth wonder, eighth wonder of the world." I have Plans to make an animatic of this eventually

"Machine" by Regina Spektor - computer/control brains vibes

"Aliens Exist" by blink-182 - DIB

"Lights Out" by Mindless Self Indulgence - the obvious choice for this one would be zim but it also applies to the tallest

"No Children" by the Mountain Goats - zadr

"Do It All The Time" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME - it has zadr vibes but, like, that specific type of zadr where they take over the world together

"Alien Freak" by K-Modo - It is LITERALLY about Dib. THERE'S A PICTURE OF HIM ON THE ALBUM COVER. I have Plans to make an AMV of this eventually

"Baby You're a Haunted House" by Gerard Way - idk it has zadr vibes

"Obsessed With You" by The Orion Experience - zim and dib, naturally. I have Plans to make an AMV of this eventually

"Bad" by Michael Jackson - zim vibes

"The Queen of White Lies" by The Orion Experience - vibes

"You're so Vain" by Carly Simon - zim thinks this song is about him

"I Love the Stars" by The Orion Experience - this song is definitely in the running for the zadrest song that ever zadred

"Ruler of Everything" by Tally Hall - hmm I wonder who this could ever refer to. hint it's not who you're initially thinking of. yes I am taking guesses, send it into my ask box

"There's No Love in February" by The Orion Experience - idk it has zadr vibes

"As Your Father I Expressly Forbid It" by Lemon Demon - prof membrane

"We Are the Ones" by The Orion Experience - vibes

"(You're The) Devil In Disguise" by Elvis Presley - zim's disguise, yet again

"I Can't Decide" by the Scissor Sisters - zade

"Choke" by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME - vibes

"Leave Out All The Rest" by Linkin Park - zib vibes, as confirmed by zib expert @melodyofthevoid!

"Turn the Lights Off" by Tally Hall - just general vibes

"Necromancin Dancin" by Bear Ghost - raising the dead, hmm I wonder who that could ever refer to

"Revenge" by Mindless Self Indulgence - tak

"Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (feat. William Beckett)" by Set It Off - dib to zim, perhaps

"Knife Fight" by Lemon Demon - idk it has zade/f vibes

"Villain" by Stella Jang - hmm I wonder who this could ever refer to. hint it's not who you're initially thinking of. yes I am taking guesses, send it into my ask box

"Mastermind" by Mindless Self Indulgence - zim vibes

"ANTI-HERO" by SEKAI NO OWARI - dib vibesss

"Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance - gaz and dib and zim and also maybe tak. but like, aged-up. look I just like mcr okay? okay

"I Threw Glass at My Friend's Eyes and Now I'm on Probation" by Destroy Boys - zim and dib vibes

"The Sharpest Lives" by My Chemical Romance - *looks at whatever the hell this song is* hmm yes zadr look it mentions both "empires" and "vampires" and that's good enough for me

"Problems" by Mother Mother - zadr vibes, perhaps?

"Wrecking Ball" by Mother Mother - zim

"I'm Gonna Win" by Rob Cantor - zim

"Sarcasm" by Get Scared - just general vibes

"Oh No!" by MARINA - zim vibes, perhaps?

"It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M. - I could go off about how the random nature of this song reflects the random nature of Zim's plans, and how the chorus/title reflects Dib's increasing lack of caring, but instead I'll just say "vibes" again

"Kiss With A Fist" by Florence + The Machine - hmm yes zadr

"I Hate Myself for Loving You" by Joan Jett - hmm yes zadr fun fact I can play this song on bass

"You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi - hmm yes zadr gotta stuff this playlist with classic rock as well

[zkfanworkweek]

ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.  

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

[f4iryc4ts]

1. god who fucking knows i actually like never was into fnaf. never. i wasnt a fnaf kid. of course i knew what it was- i had friends and family that were super into it but at the same time i was kinda like a pussy even about the most tame horror content and even when i start indulging more in horror it just never rlly peaked my interest??? now fast forward to like mid-late january and i went through a rlly rough breakup and i kept getting sun & moon stuff on my fyp on tiktok and i sorta just fell in love with them?? and i fell down a rabbit hole. i devoured edits, animatics, fanart, cosplays, fanfiction- you fucking name it. and of course i also then start watching fnaf playthroughs and theory videos and analysis stuff. im sorta on a break rn but i plan to continue watching more of the series soon, but i do have a very good grasp of the plot and series from the many hour long video essays ive seen my god.

2. i think it was??? like just the archetype of their characters. like one of them is so frantic but slightly chaotic but truly means well while the other is very deranged and more quiet and creepy but in my humblest opinion more relaxing and charming (and kind hot but u didnt hear that from me so shhh). which are like two flavors of some of my favorite characters. also theres this like weird character archetype of non-humans i like that i cant explain that have this similar Vibe that i adore so much and they fit it so well (i.e, bill cipher, discord, etc).

3. since mid-late january !!

4. no 😭 and i havent watched a full playthrough yet either dont kill me i promise ill get there plz im taking my time

5. i havent rlly made my own content :( the closest thing to content i have made was fanfiction that lays in my google docs that is so far for my eyes only

6. my favorite type of art is usually like comics or stuff related to headcanons people have and other stuff- and fanfiction i like fluffy romance stuff bc im a fucking loser but also bc i have no shame i also like nasty horny shit. usually nasty horny shit, with fluffy romance stuff, with some like mystery or threat involved and mild angst or drama. balances it out yk???

7. i dont rlly care for aus with sun & moon actually- but i dont rlly mind human fanart of them i think its a rlly fun idea i just dont actively go out to look for it yk? so ig that?

8. ehhh not rlly but i imagine myself in that setting a lot so ig u can say i almost have a self insert??

9. i like them!! i think they're the perfect mix of cute so they fit the whole daycare kiddy jester theme- and scary to fit the iconic uncanny fnaf vibe!! theres def more like preferable designs made by fans but im happy with the ones in the game :3

10. oh definitely alllll the fan content are you kidding me??? you guys are insane 😭 and i appreciate every single one of u for keeping this fandom alive ily all ♡

11. moon 😭 I LOVE SUN SO MUCH but moon is my favorite between them im so sorry

12. i love the idea of eclipse and i love seeing all the cool designs people come up with for them!!

13. lovely a cutie. not traumatized. happy :D

14. HOPEFULLY HAPPY I WANT MOON TO BE HAPPY PLZ HAPPY PEACEFUL MOON SINGING LULLABIES TO KIDS AND READING GOODNIGHT STORIES

15. two separate beings in one body!!

16. hmm more assertive sun !! a lot of people treat him like hes all just glitter glue and yes i believe sun is 100% a people pleaser but i also believe he will snap and call someone out on their bullshit and when hes mad hes Mad and people rlly need to stop infantilizing him !!

17. gross asf proship shit i dont see it much on here thank god- usually it's only on a03. but when i do see shit like that my jaw drops and im just appalled. how could they do sun and moon like that. sun and moon would never what the fuck.

18. THE BOOK THATS COMING OUT?? I THINK?? RIGHT???

19. sun?? fuck yea for sure !! moon?? HOPEFULLY 😭 hes my favorite and i want to kiss him so i hope so 🤞

20. in short the daycare attendant my beloved im holding their hand and kissing them and hugging never thought i would want to fuck an animatronic but here we are theres no going back at this point.

alright dca fandom, here's some questions bc i'm curious. the funky jesters make our brains go brr, but why? treat it as an ask game or answer in the tags if you feel like it! :)

how did you get here?

why these characters in particular? what was the hook for you?

how long have you been here?

have you actually played fnaf sb?

if you make content, what's your favorite piece you've contributed?

what's your favorite sort of art or fic? what genre/flavor/style?

what's your favorite au?

do you have any ocs, or have any ocs you're fond of?

what do you think of the dca's canon appearance? Scary? Cute? Something else?

what keeps you in this fandom despite the very small amount of canon content the dca had?

be honest: if you had to pick only one, sun or moon?

thoughts on eclipse?

thoughts on pre-glitch sun?

thoughts on pre-glitch moon?

do you interpret sun and moon as two sides of the same person, or truly two separate beings in one body? does it matter?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see more of?

what's something in the fandom you'd like to see less of?

anything you're looking forward to?

do you think you'd actually get along with the dca if you met them irl?

free space! talk about whatever's on your mind!