#it's so sad that creators feel like they can't create what they want bc it's not the tumblr fixation rn

[nataliescatorccio]

i just want people to know that just because your content doesn’t get many notes, doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile. there is someone out there, a living breathing human being, who appreciates it, whose day it made that little bit brighter, and who admires what you do. nothing is a ‘flop’ if it made one person happy.

[zhongrin]

To the kinich post

why can we kill baby monsters and not cats. Or dogs. Can we kill the foxes on Inazuma? The seals yes.

Hoyo is weirdly specific with that is a monsterlife lesser then a stereotype pet?

Or do cats symbolise something else in the game because of Venti being allergic?? (He is a fucking WHISP not even human he is just copying an appearence how the fuck does he have an allergy??? HE CONTROLS THE WIND HOW THE FUCK DOES THIS EVEN-)

We are the monsters here.

Have u seen the hilichurl just chilling around. The slimes playing? The evolved hilichurl watching the world? They use instruments. Slimes to fly. They know how to use instruments. Pyro slimes for explosion. Dendro to create shields (how the fuck i want that too) anemo to transport and fly.

They have a fucking language. Most are former people. We are just to ignorant and fearful to realize we've been killing sentient people who laugh and have fun and have their own traditions and-

*falls over and gets carried away by an exasperated husband* "...I know I shouldn't have given you a sight to the over darkness."

ok nvm i lied i didn't (can't) sleep bc of all the noises outside (yay /s) so here goesー

hskdjskdj no idea i mean game-design wise it makes sense sure, but lore wise??? idk why we're attacking these natlan ppl and their saurians, they look normal and are mostly just chilling in nature... why are we beating them up? lore wise? i don't think there's an explanation for it?? maybe they 'got too excited' like what the daily quests says and we're just calming them down?? lmao

and again if we approach it lore wise, it doesn't make sense for the traveler to continue killing the hilichurls either?? at this point they know what the hilichurls are. so yeah, it's all for the sake of gameplay orz

........

hnmmm. here's an idea...

cw. not proofread, word vomit, violence/light gore

you get isekai'd into teyvat. you're worshipped as the creator and all that pizzazz; we all know how it goes so i'm not going to explain further.

now imagine, one day you decide to stroll through the lands, accompanied by a few select people; perhaps the 'main team' you always use for exploration in-game. a few ways away, you see a camp of hilichurls. obviously you know what they actually are, and you got curious if you could do something for them, right? i mean, being the creator, an all powerful entity, you might even be able to reverse their curse? who knows? better try it out!

so you step closer to try and communicate with them.

but to your utter surprise, instead of doing so, you find your body moving on its own, hand raised to grab the nearest character's weapon, before swinging with the full intention to kill.

thud.

the blade decapitates the poor creature's head.

as it rolls on the ground and you stare at the gruesome sight in both horror and denial, bile rising from the back of your throat, your acolytes follow your example and proceeds to eradicate the entire camp.

your will is their command, after all.

you can't even scream. you can't find your voice. nit because of fear or sadness or frustrationー you just can't.

once they finish, they return to you, expecting praise and adoration, only to be greeted by tears and muffled sobs. they don't understand why you were crying; even before your descent to teyvat, haven't you been commanding them to do the same thing, countless times? they try to offer you the remnants of the hilichurls' bloodied masks and divine scrolls ー you've always liked receiving those! why are you crying harder? what did they do wrong?

you look like you were trying to say something, but they find the words leaving your mouth is of a language they have never heard before.

you thought you could find a home in the world you loved so much.

but you just feel..... lost.

[spoiler/explanation below]

eventually, you realize you were no 'creator' of this world at all.

you were just a string marionette of celestia's.

'the creator' had always been an illusion; an existence They created to pull the blanket over everyone's eyes. your existence's sole purpose is to control the archons, the dragon sovereigns, and the people of teyvat. like an ignorant shepherd leading the sheeps straight to the maw of the wolves.

you weren't some all knowing creator.

you weren't even a monster.

you were never yourself at all.

[gojoest]

I want to think that the anon who asked you if you like incest is someone very young, because I genuinely can't imagine approaching a writer in real life and asking them that.

this might be it. but then again there are many different age groups that think likewise, unfortunately, and we see on daily basis how many get involved in the age old discourse regarding dark content, harassing people, arguing that what you write or draw reflects what kind of person you are and that it speaks volumes about the real life morals you hold or that you need help asap. i think big part of it stems from the false belief that the art you create or consume is what you must actually want and desire for you to happen irl just bc you feel strongly about a fictional character or just bc you go into the tags on tumblr dot com or scroll through ao3 every now and then to read smut bc you are horny and want to get off. sure we do that. but it also is really sad to see people reduce art to just that :,) all stories told are supposed to make us feel something and idk why ppl assume the creator themselves doesn’t feel disgust when bringing art to life just bc it’s their work. i also don’t think you need to have some sort of trauma at all cost in order to write or talk about taboo topics. sometimes the reason is as simple as wanting to explore and challenge yourself as a writer or a reader. overall idk what ppl who can’t draw the line between fiction and reality are doing in fandom spaces. like half the time you’re not supposed to even read that one manga bc you’re so morally just yet there’s so much murder and morally questionable shit going down there

[lastoneout]

Been seeing a lot of increasingly hostile posts about this pop up again from both sides and honestly I think that "you should work on decoupling your drive to create from your desire for validation bcs audiences are fickle and algorithms are evil, so it's in your best interest to create for yourself first and foremost" and "if you want the creators you like to continue making stuff you should try to give them feedback and support in whatever way you can bcs the internet is fucked and while someone might bake just for the fun of it, if they spend six hours on a cake and take it to a potluck and no one touches it that's naturally going to be discouraging" are concepts that can and should coexist.

Like I don't think fans should feel SO pressured to engage in the Correct Way that they stop engaging all together(like if someone truly does not have the energy to comment on every fic they read I don't want them to stop reading fics in general, hearing about that makes me really sad, I want people to read my stuff even if they can't/don't want to comment), and I do think some people can go a bit too far when making "pls reblog stuff" PSAs, but I also don't think artists/writers are inherently being whiny and selfish for desiring support from the people who enjoy their stuff, especially bcs algorithms are stupid and evil and the internet kinda just sucks in general for creators so that fan feedback is really the only support a lot of us are ever going to get(and also there's also nothing wrong with pointing out general trends in fan engagement and culture and critiquing how some of them are concerning/harmful).

Is it good to create for yourself first and foremost? Yes. Is it normal to want feedback and support? Also yes. Are you obligated to reblog/comment on every single piece of art you find that you like? Not at all. Is it still a good idea to try to support people when you can? Absolutely.

Idk I just think there's nuance here that gets ignored. I'd love to hear what other people have to say tho, cuz I think this conversation needs to happen, so feel free to chime in.

[spicybylerpolls]

I really can't unsee the sexual imagery now. This might have already been said (and if it has then I guess just ignore me? Lol) but - When Mike starts talking about the pen the unknown hero agent gave him. The pen that the unknown hero agent actually gave to Will, but whatever. And then he says "why would he give me a pen that didn't work?" He rushes over to Argyle, takes the pen and un-does it, revealing the number, and remarks. "It's the number. We've had it this whole time." Then, finally, when they go try and call the number they discover it wasn't a traditional landline, like they had expected, instead it was something newer, a modern idea, a computer they were calling.

Most interestingly, after Mike reveals the number from the pen, Argyle remarks "you got his digits man?" creating both a romantic and sexual undertone to the scene.

Aka - the pen is his dick, he doesn't know why it doesn't "work", when he finally comes to terms with his sexuality, he will realize it does work, "it's been here the whole time" and the reason it wasn't working was bc he wasn't attracted to what's traditional (girls) but instead whats new age (boys).

Unknown Hero Agent Man could even be seen as god in this symbolism, when Mike says "why would he give me a pen that doesn't work?" ((( This honestly makes me sad because it reveals a lot about Mike's character ☹️ and also would be proof that he's gay, not bisexual - sorry bi mike truthers )))

unknown, god is unknown

hero, god is idolized

agent = a person or thing that takes an active role, god is the creator

And lol, the unknown hero agent man (god) gives this pen to Will originally and then Mike takes ownership of it? Okay 😭

Also to be noted this happens right after Mike and Will's heart to heart where they talk about being afraid to reveal the truth. I was always so annoyed that Argyle cut him off. I wanted to hear what Mike was gonna say. Well, now I know, I guess. lol.

And see, I had already seen this symbolism through the lens of Mike's romantic feelings alone before, because it works there too. Never did I think about it in a sexual way until... I was introduced to this blog. And saw other posts about the sexual symbolism regarding Mike and Will's relationship, specifically in S4.

It's all just very interesting. How you can convey sexual themes without outright saying it. And honestly, I think that's nice. Because maybe we don't need these explicit scenes in every show, like Sex Education or something. Maybe we don't need it every season. But to remind people that yeah, this is a big part of their life, and specifically Mike and Will's struggle, through symbolism is great, honestly.

Also want to say that I hate that I feel I can't just post this on my own blog lol. I really hate that an open discussion about the literal themes in the show has to be censored. About something that is arguably the most natural thing in the world. Especially when this isn't even really referring to sex itself but rather Mike's struggle with it and would be such a big contribution to the byler fandom overall...

Anyway that was super long, sorry. Would love to hear thoughts about this?

Do you think Mike talking about the unknown hero agent man and the pen he gave to him is symbolism that Mike is frustrated about his sexual feelings for women (or lack thereof?)

1. Yes

2. No

3. Unsure

4. Possibly

Please note that the purpose of this blog is not to be creepy or to make anyone uncomfortable. That's why I created the #spicy byler tag (I will tag all polls with this). If you don't want to see this blog or anything related to it on your feed, please block that tag. Not everyone is comfortable with this sorta stuff, and that's okay.

[taegularities]

Hello lovely Rid 💕💕💕

I feel you a hundred percent on it being so heartbreaking to see so many content creators on here leaving or even just feeling discouraged from the lack of interaction.

It's been making me so sad for a while to see all of these amazing talented people not getting the love and appreciation they deserve.

And it might sound too self pitying but I genuinely wish I could be on here all day reblogging things, reading fanfic and leaving feedback. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing enough and I overthink the way I interact with content all the time. Like, I wish I could read more than one fic a day and be posting feedback more often too. And I wish I could interact with every author on here because everyone deserves so much love for the amazing things they create.

Anyway, I didn't want to make this about myself, but I have this on my mind constantly too and I wish I could help more.

If anyone is reading this and is too shy to interact with content on here, please please please consider doing it, because not only does it help the wonderful creators, but it's also extremely fun and the least we can do as people who are enjoying the fruits of their labour!

I love and appreciate everything you do, Rid, and also the fact that you're here still despite everything being so discouraging. Sorry for the ramble and I hope you're doing okay 💞💞💞

hey, love <3 everyone should read this ask. i want to tattoo it to my forehead.

i understand. i know some readers really try hard and it means the world to me/us. it's okay that you can't read everything, and you absolutely don't have to... you'd be an actual superhero, if you could. i think just the thought counts, too, and you do so so much already.

what i don't enjoy is just seeing likes. or knowing someone read my stuff but didn't reach out. it costs nothing, and writers do slave over those fics for ages while simultaneously handling their lives...

i'm just wondering — and that's a question to all silent readers: what can we do to make you interact? i know you're shy, but i wonder if we can make this space more welcoming to you... bc i really do promise that once we start talking, we'll have so much fun, as ivi said. and that goes for most blogs here!

just wanna clarify again that i'm more than happy with interaction on my blog! but this is more about the silence and loneliness, and so many people leaving. the community has changed, so let's make it fun again 🥺

[michaelmyersbignaturals]

this won't go anywhere since my blog is still new and no one will probably care but i need to talk my vampire and werewolf lore somehow. it's not fully developed yet but oh my god i can't shut my mouth. i wrote this 2 years ago and my writing has improved since then but these are the basics:

Basically there are four main courts of vampires; one for each direction [north south east west], and there are small "sub-courts" within them [some affiliated with the main ones, some not]. They each have their own form of politics, but sometimes if there is a large event going on [like one of the subcourt lords going batshit insane and trying to cover the sun, so vampires can go out for longer and take over the world yk] they meet up and discuss how to deal with it, do it, and go back to their homes

There are also wars, but they almost never actually do anything territory related, but it does change a lot bc you know it's WAR. there are mostly humans though, and these subcourts are usually small, and the main courts are very far away from human civilization [like the northern one literally being in the middle of the ocean].

And some more about the vampires themselves; they were created by a rogue god, trying to wreak havoc onto the world. The vampires that were around when they were created have either been vanquished, or seclude themselves from others, and so modern vampires don't know much about this god. The main courts mostly forgot about them, but the south didn't. No one in the south did, so the subcourts here are connected to the main court, but only because they're basically a huge cult, and their lord is a cult leader who believes he himself is the creator of all vampires.

Also the lord of the western court is dumb but his decision caused them to be one of the most powerful vampires

So basically what he did was he found a desert in not sunny weather, and chose to make his court live there. A few days after settling there the regular hot, sunny weather came back, and they were super far into the desert so they're just stuck there. But! Since they're immortal, they've developed large, broad wings [either man made or evolutionary] that block out the sun! And they also developed a small resistance to it, so they can be out there for hours, since the sun now only feels like a bad sunburn to them

If they're out for too long they'll still get vanquished though. sad

the way their fangs work is that they have modified canines that act as glorified straws; they suck blood, and these fangs connect to some major arteries that only vampires have that flows through their body, which comes in handy when it comes to our next point;

the sun.

The vampires feed on humans, but in MY universe the sun chooses what to affect, so if you have human blood in your system, you won't be vanquished; so what the vampires do is feed on humans and basically trick the sun. i haven't fully developed the reason the sun doesn't get immediately suspicious, but i would say that it wants to make sure it doesn't make a mistake, so it just allows anyone with human blood to not get vanquished [and animal blood too ofc]. i might develop this more as i write a story based on this lore. i like the celestial bodies being sentient; so let's move on to the moon, and werewolves! the werewolves aren't as developed as the vampires, but i can't wait to think of some interesting ideas for them.

The moon is also a sentient being [like local 58 but equally terrifying] and that causes werewolves!

basically imagine the moon being a living creature that roamed the earth; in any form. wreaking havoc, killing all of the humans the other gods created. the gods decided to banish the moon into space, cursing it into the form of a planetary mass. in order to keep the moon subdued, hunters were assigned to quell it by hunting and giving it blood; but the moon forced them to undergo a painful transformation each time they hunted in it's in its full phase, and so the first werewolves roamed the earth. every few years, when the moon is at its full strength and getting ready to return to the earth, hunters from around the world are chosen to undergo this painful transformation. their forms vary on their strength; more strong and powerful ones were the more anthropomorphic werewolves you see in most media, and the more agile and sneaky ones were basically transformed into wolves. some are just humans with their anatomy squished and stretched, basically wolf shaped humans. others get fur, and basically transform into wolves.

this transformation takes hours. their bones stretch and break, their organs shift and change, their skull changes drastically. this is the most painful experience any human could ever have to experience. hunters start at around 4 in the afternoon, and it ends at 10 at night, where they then rise and begin the hunt. they stay in this form for the rest of the night, and then turn back the next day. the transformation afterwards can be triggered at any time, and becomes less painful the more they do it. some consider it a blessing; others consider it a curse.

because of the vampires dependency on animal and human blood to survive, there is conflict with the two. there will be more development as i write the story.

[ilikeyoshi]

"#yes yes yes!!!! #and ngl it makes me want to read or engage with it more too!"

i hope it's ok to point out these tags bc this is SUCH a huge mood i think deserves a little more explanation!!!! (at least from my perspective as both a creator (writer) and fan (of artists))

i used to have a ton of anxiety when creating and especially sharing my works, and my impulse was always to talk down on it, because a) i* (*my anxiety) believed it to be bad, and b) because i had this idea in my head that if i lowered people's expectations, they wouldn't be as disappointed when reading it.

i want to tell you what i've learned in my years of both being a writer and being a fan of artists, and it's that this is a terrible, terrible anxiety fallacy (like so many ideas/misconceptions borne of anxiety are) that ONLY hurts you, your work, and your potential readers(/fans/etc). it SOUNDS like a good idea when you have really bad anxiety, i know, i used to DEPEND upon this idea just to have the courage to SHARE my writing—and i want to emphasize that it's OKAY if you've done this before, it's an easy, easy trap to fall into, but i also want you to try and stop doing it because there are a lot of reasons you would feel better and do better for doing so.

you are what you practice! if you only ever focus on or speak about the flaws in your art, you WILL feel negatively about your art. my very first therapist explained it in a way that still really resonates with me: you have created a well-beaten, highly trafficked "road" in your brain. it is very easy to take this road because even though it's longer to your destination, it winds and bends, it's walked on so much it's flat and easy to traverse. when you try to build a NEW path—in this case, a path where you focus on what you like about your art—you're starting with no path at all. it's all undergrowth and vines and thorns and it hurts and it's tiring and you feel like this will NEVER be easier or feel better than the old path. but you have to keep taking the new one. you have to beat down the undergrowth until it recedes, cut down the low-hanging branches until you can walk with your back straight, and if you keep at it, if you keep at this thing that feels so pointless and stupid and hard, eventually, the path will be clear, and easy to walk, and you'll make great time getting to your destination because it cuts straight through; no winding or bending. and the old path? it will overgrow, and it will become hard and stupid to take. you have to beat the new path because once it's beaten, it'll be the far superior path in every way, including ways the old path was never superior even when it WAS the one you were always taking.

further—as these tags point out, and as i agree with wholeheartedly—by disparaging your art, you DO lower people's expectations. people don't want to be sad, frustrated, disappointed when they look at art—at least, not unless the art itself is trying to tell a story about that. you get what i mean, i hope—they don't want to go INTO something they already HAVE negative reviews on—your reviews! you, the creator, have already told this person the story/art/whatever is going to be bad, and i know, i KNOW it's not your intention, you're hoping someone will see through what you can't and tell you no, no, this is good, i liked this! and some people do! but you make it a lot harder for them TO do that when you tell them right at the beginning, "this is going to be bad, i don't like it," because what you're unintentionally telling them is, "and you probably won't like it either." the first way i learned this was in people always saying in their fanfic summaries, before you even open the fic, "the summary is bad, i'm bad at writing summaries, the story is better trust me bro." because what this does—again, so unintentionally, i KNOW what you're trying to do because i've been you—is you're telling the reader, "here's my pitch, here's the hook to my entire story, it's the worst part, it's bad, but the rest will be better," and what they KNOW is they've already put the time in reading the summary, and it's hard to commit MORE time to something when you've already told them it's bad, even if you promise the rest is better. it's like biting into a fruit and you hate the taste of the skin; it's harder to try the rest of the fruit when, so far, it's been bad (or you've been made to believe it's bad).

so what's the solution? how do you begin beating that new path? well, it depends on you. everyone's a little different in how they navigate stuff like this. but what worked for me, and what might be a good place to start (and by all means adapt as you figure out what works and what doesn't), is start by just NOT saying anything negative. no, "i don't like this," or "the summary's bad, sorry," or anything. write your artist's comment, author's note, whatever as normal, and REMOVE anything that depicts your art/writing/etc in a bad light. just don't give people any opinion whatsoever on what experiencing your creation is going to be like. this, for me, was easier than jumping straight to, "i'm pretty proud of this," or "i enjoyed working on this," because it wasn't withholding AND replacing, it was JUST withholding. going back to the roads and paths metaphor, i think of this part as the "taking a breather before i get to work on this monumental task of beating this new path" stage.

then, overtime, i started "stretching" my positive comments about my works. if i liked, say, TWO LINES out of a whole piece of writing, i'd say, "i'm really proud of this work!" because i AM proud of ANYTHING AT ALL, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, within the work. it's not a LIE, to anyone including yourself, but it is, perhaps, an EXAGGERATION. that's OKAY. we're trying to teach our brain to look on the bright side, to take the new path, and i've found that treating it a little bit like a dog—giving it a treat for ANY TINY BIT OF PROGRESS, was a good way to encourage myself to start making MORE progress. ESPECIALLY because the tags i reposted above are RIGHT: LOTS of people are MORE interested in a work when their very first impression (YOUR impression!!!) is positive. 'the artist/writer/etc is proud of this? oh, i'm so glad they had a good time creating, let's take a look!" it probably sounds too easy if you're still taking that anxiety-beaten road, i know, but try to think of how you've felt when someone disparages their creations versus uplifts them. were you put off by the negativity? were you sad that your friend worked so hard on something and didn't even like it? conversely, doesn't it make you a little excited when an artist says they really feel good about something they made, especially in a world where so many artists ARE feeling inadequate? i hope you see what i mean.

it's not an overnight thing, of course, this took me YEARS. this took a miracle that doesn't happen to most people: i wrote something i felt SO TERRIFIED people wouldn't like, even though i was secretly very proud of it (but too scared to dare suggest i was proud of it), so i indicated all kinds of things like "i hope you like it, i dunno if it's any good, it's just a little thing i'm chipping away at in my spare time" (it was not, it was a full-blown passion project) and, against the odds, a LOT OF PEOPLE told me they really really really liked it. a couple of friends who were decently popular in the fandom it was for liked and shared it and i got A LOT of encouragement. i basically got to beat my new path with a HORDE of helpers, and it was more like THEY beat the path for me and i chased along like, "what is happening, oh my god, what are you doing???"

i got really lucky. that doesn't always, or even usually happen. in most other areas of my life, i've had to beat the path myself. and it takes a long time if you're doing it on your own. but you should anyway, because it's so fucking worth it dude. yeah, it was awesome to get so much help with my writing confidence specifically, but it's been just as worth it every time i've had to do it alone too. and i have good news! there ARE ways to tell people you're on this journey of making yourself a new path. here are some suggestions:

"i'm new/rusty at this, so please let me know what you think!" - informs potential readers/viewers/etc you are learning and gives them an opportunity to HELP you learn. this is a positive interaction! this allows people to find a GOOD experience EVEN if they didn't enjoy the story much, because they can help, and people DO, MOSTLY, like to help.

"i want to improve at [dialogue]" or "i'd appreciate advice on [lighting]." - similar to the first example, but does 2 things: gives viewers specific instructions that can be really helpful for those that aren't sure how/what to critique (surprisingly common thing; the more specific you are about what you want advice on, the more likely you are to GET advice), AND allows you to, neutrally and non-disparagingly, ask for help in areas you don't feel confident about.

"leave a comment if you liked it!" or "let me know what you liked best!" - listen. i don't think 'fishing for compliments' is bad as long as you're not being manipulative about it. these examples are very clear in what they're asking for, which is compliments, positive reviews, etc. and that's okay!!! first of all, lots of people LOVE praising works they like, i promise, and asking them to DOES make them feel like they have "permission" to (i know that sounds silly but i also know if you have anxiety about creating, you have anxiety about commenting, i see you, i was you). secondly, i have gotten the MOST encouraging, confidence-boosting comments this way, especially with the latter example. there is NOTHING more immediately anxiety-curing than a comment that says "i liked [scene/dialogue/character/etc] specifically." it's AMAZING. (also, if you're looking for advice on commenting, this is a GREAT thing to do. imo, this and "speculating/interpreting the work" are the two coolest comments i get they make me feel AWESOME.)

remind yourself, as many times as you have to, CONSTANTLY if you have to: likes/kudos mean someone enjoyed your work enough to press a button. views mean someone liked your work enough to click through for more. these are POSITIVE interactions, they are not "less positive" than comments or reblogs/reshares. i know those last two things are more obviously gratifying, and depending on if you NEED your work to spread (for exposure/commision prospects/etc), very good, awesome ways to support you, and i don't mean to say you shouldn't WANT comments and reblogs/reshares. but for me, it's helped me a lot to recognize that any bit of effort whatsoever means someone LIKED my work. it's also helped me to think of all the times i've shared a link to an artwork in a discord or something, and know that there is an entire, untangible metric i can't and will never see that, sure, i can choose to believe doesn't exist or isn't very high, but i can ALSO choose to believe it happens quite a lot, and the latter makes me FEEL better about my work and makes me want to create MORE, so i think that's the more productive mindset personally. it doesn't matter what the truth is, you know? we'll never know it and it doesn't harm us to never know it. but it DOES harm us to assume no one quietly, unseen by us, likes our work, and it DOES ENCOURAGE US to assume lots of people do.

here's the thing: anxiety disorders fuck you up by making you believe extremely negative, scary, depressing things. the disorder gets worse the more you allow it to make you believe these things, and the only way out, as stupid and hard and at times impossible as it feels, is to say, "no, i don't like that interpretation, i'm going to replace it with a positive one." anxiety is making paths all throughout your brain, and you have to just, make paths too. anxiety needs YOU to make paths, but YOU don't need anxiety to make paths. your paths WILL be better, safer, easier and happier. you just—and i know that is the biggest "just" ever—have to make them.

but i believe in you. i don't need to know you or your circumstances to believe in you. i believe in the sheer amount of control you have over how you face the world. and it's so much more than anxiety would lead you to believe.

i looooove seeing artists & writers proud of their work!!!!! i looooove captions & authors notes that say things like “i’m quite happy with this” “i love how this turned out” “i had so much fun making this”!!!!!! i loooooove when the act of creation is joyful & we take pride in what we make!!!!!!!!!!

[gb-patch]

Hi, the 'refund ask' person here. Please don't feel pressured to give an answer, I just want to clarify and apologize for a few things, for whoever is behind this acc, reading and taking their time to give detailed answers :)

First, I am sorry, truly, for coming across as a rude person who would scam a small business, and such valuable creators and artists. It was not my intention. I didn't think of it in the moment, I didn't even think that my question would be answered. (Which obviously changes nothing because you would still read it, and it apparently took me a while to realize, but you are a real person. A personal 'sorry' here.)

Like you said, it definitely was an 'it doesn't hurt to ask' mindset that I wrote the question with. Thank you for assuming I meant well, I really did. But I do see my fault now, so really, really thanks for taking your time to explain it in detail. In retrospect, no matter how 'well' I meant, I was in the wrong. To put it mildly, I was ignorant. It feels stupid to say it, but I guess I needed to hear from someone that I couldn't just give someone money, take what they're offering, and ask for my money back. It wasn't how I viewed my question then, but it definitely is now. Also, they might not see this, but a sincere thank-you to the other people who commented on my ask, for making me see how wrong my words sounded when they weren't just in my head. It was a lesson learned, to say the least.

Also, please understand that I didn't mean to say it wasn't worth $5 for 'just a moment', even though I did say it that way. I see how I could've worded that differently. Each and every moment of the story is super important to me, and believe me, I do think thay they all are worth way more than what you're charging, or mostly, not charging. However, it was silly and greedy to ask you to just give away even more of those beautifully made moments. Of course it is your right to charge for your hard work, and I am actually glad you're doing so.

I know it doesn't change anything, or take back what I previously said (no matter how much I wish it could) but I really wanted to make sure you didn't think there was someone in your audience who would be willing to scam you and even shamelessly ask for permission to see if they could. Again, not the intention at all.

Finally, it is actually so nice to see that a small company like yours has a lot of supporters willing to defend it. My question definitely wasn't a scam attempt, but if it were, I'm so glad to see that it wouldn't succeed or go unnoticed.

I will keep on supporting you, albeit silently for the time being, and playing your games for as long as I can. Our Life is an absolute delight of an experience, it inspired me a bunch, helped me through some tough moments in my own life, and is a game that is far more than just a game to me. I can't wait to see what you put out there next. You guys are some of the best out there in my opinion. Love what you do, love the way you communicate with your audience, and love how you handle crises like this. Hope you all have very nice lives where you can create to your heart's content :)

Sorry for the drama I caused, and sorry again, bc this ask is too long :) Thank you for reading.

It's alright. You don't need to apologize. I'm happy you were sympathetic to where I was coming from and that's all I would want. You didn't upset me or cause me any harm and I absolutely don't want you feel unwelcome over asking a question. It took years to make a game that could make people happy, but in only minutes I can sour the experience for people forever with what I post in these ask answers. I hope to avoid that as much as possible.

Not long before you sent your answer, there was another ask about this that was understanding of your situation.

"Im NOT that anon but I'm kind of sad how many other anons are judging them and seem to be a bit eurocentric? not everyone who plays these games have the same currency or similar currency conversiom rate as someone whos family is from venezuela, $5 is barely enough to buy flour, rice, and fish so what may seem like pocket change to you might be all someone else could live on. scummy would be to do so without ask. just disappointed bc i thought this community was more open-minded"

I agree that money is a difficult thing to get and people can't be blamed for not being able, or simply not wanting, to use it on visual novel content. Though, it is also a sore spot for artists who are very familiar with people who flat out devalue their time/effort and think there's no reason to pay for it. It can be hard to always take the question of 'can I get your hard work for free?' with no frustration. But that wasn't the intention of the original question.

If it the question had gotten a different type of response people wouldn't have felt the need to come to my defense over it. At the end of the day, I'm the one who could've avoided this and answered the question in a way that left the asker and the other readers satisfied/informed. It went too far this time.

It's always hard to know how to manage these situations. When a question comes along about a touchy topic but I think it's important to answer, I try to make it definitive and also to make clear that this doesn't open the gates for future asks about this. If I don't, then inevitably more asks come in and I either have to keep addressing/arguing a topic or ignoring them without explanation. It can make a development blog about posting previews a pretty unpleasant place. But if I use one ask to make an overall statement, it can come across unnecessarily strong against the single question the asker sent in.

To the OP, I'm sorry for making you feel like what you did was a huge mistake. It really wasn't. It was a just question over a policy that was intended as neutral and ended up with extra meaning put on it because of outside circumstances/other people's prior and potential actions. I hope you're able to feel reassured after all of this.

And the last thing I'll say is that future asks commentating about the situation won't be posted.

Thank you again for playing!

[spiders-hth-is-an-outlier]

I posted 5,264 times in 2022

211 posts created (4%)

5,053 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@fatalityzing

@wilzorose

@turquoiseorchid

@tearlessrain

@trickymxtape

I tagged 3,749 of my posts in 2022

Only 29% of my posts had no tags

#frigging cats - 250 posts

#the magicians - 156 posts

#ofmd - 84 posts

#stranger things - 47 posts

#us politics - 47 posts

#the power of queliot compels you - 41 posts

#lotr - 36 posts

#sandman - 33 posts

#awoooo - 29 posts

#quentin coldwater - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 134 characters

#dog i try so hard not to call stuff ‘orwellian’ bc cliche/overused but folks that was in the book. like. like this occurs in that book

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I think sometimes when I am caustic about a TV show that I actually love, it's because I am fundamentally angry that I got tricked into caring about it by people who, in retrospect, it feels like did not care about the show, or me, or what the show was to me. I don't know how to respond to that except angrily, and I prefer my undying anger cut with as much humor as possible. I don't mind loving something imperfect, but I truly resent being treated like a fool for investing in something, like that is actually extremely hurtful to me. And it makes me not want to be fair to the creators, who yes, were sometimes very clever and thoughtful, though other times overly slick and careless and inattentive. And I can, in some moods, parse out my positive and negative reactions to various bits of things with some equanimity, but in other moods I'm really just very angry about being yet again That Idiot who trusted people who were mostly just fucking with me to get a reaction, as bullies do. And then I'm not always fair, I know.

I look at my Magicians tattoo every day, all through the course of my day. I think all the time about whether or not the world is beautiful enough to live in, if the stories we tell about our lives make them beautiful or if they are sad attempts to narcotize us against the utter emptiness. I think about being on a key quest every goddamn day, and maybe I should be more grateful to the writers for opening up those questions for me through a protagonist I think would absolutely get exactly what I mean when I say that. But then -- I also do not think the writers very much liked that protagonist, or that if they knew me they would like or understand me at all, and gratitude still feels slightly out of my reach.

So if I sometimes talk about The Magicians as if it were "bad," that is admittedly a stripping-out of a lot of nuance. The reality is that I think it's a show that failed -- that failed to solve its problems or answer its questions, mostly because over and over it seemed to get bored and drop things as though nothing truly mattered and everything was disposable, which I personally think makes it a show that failed to land on a human level. And a lot of things fail, but I really, really didn't want this one to. Sometimes that leads me to giving it a little too much credit, and sometimes I know I give it too little.

131 notes - Posted August 30, 2022

#4

160 notes - Posted November 8, 2022

#3

I have this theory that what's wrong with Quentin is literally just like -- college. I mean, things are "wrong" with him, in that he's non-neurotypical and almost certainly has a depressive disorder, but I think the actual reason he's so visibly stressed and angry and self-loathing is that there's no environment more ill-suited to managing stuff like that than a place where people are constantly exhorting you to make massive decisions and simultaneously submit to nearly constant external assessments and everyone around you either has power over you or is in direct competition with you and you're expected to hyperfocus on yourself and your goals and be ready and able to justify every choice you make, and they say if you can do that you'll be successful but if you can't that's called failure, and also you don't ever sleep or have any privacy and half of your emotions are still mostly or completely new to you. He is like 22 at the beginning of the show, and he's furious with himself for feeling broken, but he is 22 and he's just limped across the finish line of a notoriously irrational and inhumane educational system. Quentin's biggest problem is that he's not capable of repressing how beaten to shit he's been by the last few years, but I guarantee 90% of his classmates are equally fucked-up and neurotic, they're just hiding it better. Quentin's not a good hider of things, have you seen his face? It's not built for that.

Anyway then he goes to Brakebills, which is exactly like Columbia except exponentially more so and also he's been training for this for ten minutes instead of his whole life and he fully thinks he's going to be expelled just as randomly as he was admitted, and the institutional solution Brakebills has settled on for this phase of student life is Brakebills South, so what more can you say about that. The reason Quentin starts to get better once they all flee Brakebills is that academia is designed to ruin people. Fillory is too, but sometimes you're allowed to stab your problems, and that really seems to be liberating for Q.

There are probably flaws in my logic here, but. Sometimes you don't so much need a quest to fix you as you need to do adulthood badly for a little while and gradually do it less and less badly, which Quentin did in seasons 2 and 3, but I suspect he might've just naturally done anyway if he'd managed a movie theater or whatever during those years instead of going to the school where they shove demons under your flesh. I'm saying he maybe didn't have all that many problems that required intervention, so much as they required just letting up on himself for two seconds.

213 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#2

I want to be clear that when I make fun of my fandom for rebloggging the same three kissing gifs obsessively for the last four years, not only am I doing so with love, I frankly appreciate our sense of restraint, because I also slum it over in Supernatural fandom, and I promise you that if even one canon Destiel kiss existed, those feral hobgoblins would be printing out copies and nailing them to people's doors like the 95 Theses. You would be physically unable to escape that screencap until your dying day. We're doing fine.

219 notes - Posted March 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I think part of the origin story of a lot of queer acephobia -- and I’m going to stress this at the top and the bottom, I’m only interested in how dynamics like this come to be, I’m not here to absolve anyone of it, don’t be an acephobic weirdo, deal with your stuff -- is that you are a filthy pervert and you aren’t entitled to sex it’s not for you is a massive pain-point for allosexual queer people.  Any interest  at all that we express in sex is deviant, obscene, a mental illness, destructive, offensive, and predatory; sex is what’s wrong with us, and the message kind of soaks in that if we could be ourselves but minus the sex, or at least the acknowledgement of sex, we’d be allowable.  Even back in the Deep Darkness of the 90s, I remember hearing people say nobody cares what you do in the bedroom, as long as you don’t shove it in anyone’s face.  Maybe the people saying that believed it and maybe they didn’t, who knows.  But it was easy to believe, at least on some level.  Maybe it wasn’t your personhood that was unbearable, but just some particular action or expression that you could mask or moderate, at least where the straights could see you.

So I think if you’re coming from a place where a lot of your journey to deal with your own sexuality starts with that specific trauma -- like, I really can understand why the idea that asexual people are oppressed is hard to process.  They’re doing what everyone told you you should do!  They’re the ones who are being obedient and inoffensive and “safe” and “family friendly!”  Of course that buys them approval.  Everyone always told you that was what buys approval, and you went through so much, externally and internally, to come to a place where you could say you’d rather have the sex than the approval, but they never had to do that!  They don’t even want the thing that was your monstrous flaw, how dare they think they understand what you’ve been through?

Idk, obviously no one story is everyone’s story, but whenever I hear an allosexual queer person being dismissive of the idea that asexuality is an axis of oppression, I get the strong feeling that I’m seeing the long shadow of someone’s internalized, visceral disgust of gay sex, manifesting as a resentment for people who never had to be disgusted by themselves in the same way.  I have so much empathy for that, I honestly do, but it’s still not okay to be so wrapped up in your own trauma that you’re fundamentally incapable of listening to people who are traumatized in a different way from you.  The way we’re treated isn’t fair, but it also isn’t the fault of asexual people, and the kicker is that straight people lied to us all along.  They wouldn’t like us better or treat us with more dignity if we could just excise the sexual desire from our personalities -- ask an asexual person about that.

6,360 notes - Posted April 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[camaro-and-smokes]

If I may give my five cents on this, especially on tumblr's pov... Sorry that this turned into a rant, I put it under cut bc of that.

When I first came into fandom and tumblr in 2015, adding commentary to reblog instead of tags was a norm more or less. Someone put something online and the people reblogging it ran with it.

I absolutely loved it. Also as a gif maker myself btw.

This is why I find it odd and sad that now people get offended when someone adds something to their post on a reblog instead of saying it just in the tags.

It's like taking away the one tool that tumblr was built for.

I personally feel that tags are like whispers. They remain in your blog and only your followers, the one you reblogged it from, the op and ppl who check the notes see them. That's very limited amount of people.

And that's what easily prevents new convos being created around something people truly enjoy. Whispers feel private and referring to them feels unnatural.

In my opinion, that's in the core of what prevents posts being shared more widely nowadays. It's why people don't engage and share posts like they used to.

People don't feel like they belong to a community when there's no discussion. When there are only whispers, there are no conversation openers welcoming anyone to join, thus no sharing in a way that means something.

Another thing I find troublesome in the sense of community and not feeling like you belong, is DMs.

There's nothing wrong in having private convos, but they, too, prevent people joining the conversation as part of community because they're done in private. For some people, like me, opening a discussion in private, directly with someone, is a horrifying thought. As a default I don't feel comfortable with it and I don't want to do it.

I sometimes do manage to push myself over that barrier, when I have an absolute need to tell someone how much I adore their work. But I'm not capable of doing that unless it's so overwhelming that I just can't exist if I don't tell them.

But in general, I'm terrified of sending a DM to anyone I haven't had a convo first in the open, no matter how much they tell me that it's absolutely fine to DM them.

Tumblr used to be the place for a community that everyone was able to join bc of the open discussions happening in reblogs. Everyone could join into the discussion like they would've done on a town square eons ago, following the original conversation starter, the original poster.

It's not like that anymore. And it breaks my heart because I love this platform. I loved the feeling of community this place had. And seeing the several different streams the original post was divided into was amazing. And you could engage with any version of those without feeling that you did something you weren't supposed to.

Now people telling me, especially creators (not all of them obvs), that I'm not allowed to give my praise or starting a convo around the post in a reblog instead of just quietly adding it to tags, makes me just feel unwelcomed and sometimes even unfollow that creator.

As a creative professional and avid fic writer I know how personal original art is. It doesn't matter if its art or gifs or anything else that is done by you and takes time to create. You don't want anyone to touch it.

Yet, once you put it out there and online, it's really and truly out of your control how people perceive it and how people want to interact with it.

It's ok to tell people not to alter your art/gifs/fics or repost it. That's only fair.

But the true question is: is it fair to tell people how they're allowed to interact with it? Is it fair to tell them not to add to it (without destroying the original work which remains unaltered in a reblog) and not to make it part of their experience the way tumblr was built for?

Because these requests keep people away from the thing that communities are built around: open conversation.

This is the end of my rant, but I just want to remind every creator of anything out there of Andy Warhol's words:

Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they're deciding, make even more art.

Just do more of whatever it is that you do and don't worry if someone adds to it. If they're a d*ck, block them. If they're adding in a positive way, let them.

And do not, for the love of god, make the number of reblogs, likes, retweets, whatever else, a measurement of anything. If they add to it, especially on twatter, and you worry about not getting the additional numbers of whatever from their retweet to your original tweet - you need to reconsider if your priorities are in the right place.

I’m not an OG Harringrove person (I call myself a member of the “second wave” lol I watched ST at the end of 2019 and got into the fandom while Harringrove for Australia was popping off in 2020) but I’ve noticed a reoccurring trend in posts/mentalities.

So many of us question how to be more active in fandom. What can we do differently that will get us more interactions? Really, what can we do to be more appreciated? During my time in this fandom, I’ve gathered good news and bad news:

The good news, is that any negligence we feel, isn’t our fault. We feel like something personal is going on, but really, everyone is just living their lives. So many OG’s are older, married, have kids, and have scary big kid jobs. People’s lack of interaction with us actually has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with them just trying to successfully exist lol

The bad news is that we, for some reason, are convinced that praise is intrusive. That rolling up into someone’s tumblr mailbox is the exact same as unlocking their house and yelling, “HEY. NICE COUCH. GOOD TASTE.”

I’ve been there, and I continue to visit this imposter syndrome place, because I’m a nasty little goblin who needs to be pat on the head as much as anyone else. Now for the deep dive:

Humans are pack creatures with an intrinsic need to create. Easy examples are food, and cliff drawings. It’s not enough to eat a banana right off a tree. We take the risk of putting it to fire and creating a different flavor profile. One of the oldest pieces of human art are some animal outline carvings in the side of some Egyptian cliffs that overlook a stretch of the Nile. Archeologists and anthropologists theorize that these are the first signage we ever made: “Hey heads up, these animals live in this mile-stretch of river. Yes, there’s deer here, but also hippos. Hunt wisely.”

These two traits combine into a neediness that doesn’t know how to be satisfied. Worse, we’re in a broken society that doesn’t celebrate the artist/creative anymore (if it ever really did). And that’s so hypocritical. Artists have kept people alive and happy just as much as the hunter and cook.

We create writing, art, edits, videos, etc and share share share share share….because it’s a stupid little wacky gift of stardust in our brains. This human trait trickles down into us making our silly little fanfics and art projects of rotten characters finding peace, getting plowed after a slow-burn, or just making tea for each other.

The honest truth is that creating isn’t enough. Yes, we do it for ourselves, and we always will. We need to create the same way we need water. The unfair flip side is that we also need our pack to answer us when we ring that bell.

All I can tell you is that life is hard, and more than likely, we see the stuff you’re posting for us. And we’re wildly grateful to you. We’re just trained to think that telling you how special you are, and how grateful we are, will make you disappear.

A star died eons ago and gave us its stardust. It’s unfair that shining is hard but we do see you.

[shizuu-chann]

(Yet another) MASS EFFECT RANT:

You know, the Crucible is an amazing feat of engineering. Therefore, there's no way in hell you can tell me that that thing isn't advanced enough to be able to pinpoint specific targets and leave others alone. The Destroy ending is my preferred ending, bc at least Indigo lives, and I can get over if I just have to make up her rescue and survival on my own--even if I don't like it. However, what always pissed me off was (not only did the Catalyst look like that stupid human child I have never once cared about; like, why? Why couldn't it have just been a floating ball of energy or something? It didn't need to be recognizable to Shepard's human brain. It was stupid, and I'll forever be salty I can't skip through the end dialogue with it...) the fact that it tells you the Crucible "won't discriminate". It's stupid and I hate it. There's no reason it shouldn't to me.

I'm sure the writers wanted to give all the endings to the series a bittersweet edge, bc real life isn't always perfect and blah blah blah, but I don't care. I don't care. I don't consume media for the realism. Quite the opposite, in fact! I consume it as an escape, so give me my perfect happy ending! Fix-it fics are great, but I'm so picky and I want to read about MY Shep, so I have to write it myself, and while that's fine, sometimes I just want the writers of the canon material to just give me what I want. Or at least give me the OPTION to have what I want. BioWare games are full of options (and sometimes the illusion of options, but that's a topic for another post), so why couldn't a perfect ending exist? It's disrespectful... THEREFORE, in my fic that I have yet to finish, but I've already started and know the ending in my head, the Crucible wipes out the Reapers and the scientists were able to program it to ONLY attack the Reapers. Specifics were programmed to differentiate between pure Reapers and creatures with Reaper code (re: EDI and the geth), and it didn't ever fuck with Shep's cybernetics or whatever specifics she had going on. Also, I hate that the Citadel, like, blows up, so that doesn't happen, either. Maybe damage to the Presidium, since that's about where the Crucible docks, but the structure of the Citadel is still intact. I'll let SOME of the mass relays be damaged, for that "life is imperfect" feel, but not all of them (like, maybe the Primary relays--the ones that can only go in one direction and take you from one side of the galaxy to the other--were fine, while the Secondary relays--the ones that can't shoot you as far, but are multi-directional--were largely damaged, idk). But EDI lives, bc I hate that stupid sad death montage after you make your ending choice, and so do the geth, bc they and the rest of the galaxy deserve to try and cultivate peace and understanding between organics and synthetics bc I do not believe that there is never a way for us all to coexist no matter what the stupid Catalyst AI says. It came up with the WORST plan for "preserving life," then destroyed its own creators--who were fucking dumb enough to create an AI to prevent other AI from wiping out organic species--so basically it doesn't get an opinion on anything bc it sucks. And Indigo, and EDI, and the geth, and the rest of the galaxy get a happy ending, like they should have from the start. All that hard work, and blood, and sweat, and tears, and struggle, and death, and sorrow JUST to BARELY survive and/or die at the end? Fuck you, ME writers. Do better.

[dramayeoja]

Goblin ❣︎ 도깨비

Kim Shin, an undefeated war general, is ultimately killed by a jealous young king named Wang Yeo. After death, Shin is revived by the gods—but his revival is by no means miraculous. He becomes a 도깨비 (dokkaebi, goblin), and is cursed. He will have to pay for all the lives he took in battle by living alone in immortality, witnessing everyone he's ever loved, die. Remaining lodged in his chest is the very sword that killed him. There is only person who can see that sword, and draw from his heart so that he can finally rest in peace: his bride... whom he's yet to meet.

Things get spoilery under the cut—you've been warned! ;)

Chipper, yeah? Haha so, right off the bat, the premises of Goblin remind me of like, a much more morbid version of the legend of King Arthur. You know, a man draws a sword from stone to prove himself the greatest king in all of Britain? Yeah. Just to be clear: this is a good thing (imo). Like, I personally think this is just such a cool idea for a drama 😍

Let's jump right in. I'm gonna be honest and say that, at first, I felt a little turned off at the female lead, Eun Tak, being nineteen (in the beginning of the show), meanwhile the male lead, Shin, is 900+ years old (but physically looks to be in his thirties). It just... rubbed me weird. But hey, the Twilight series (both the books and the movies) is exactly the same—high school girl, century-old man, bananas yet somehow romantic storyline... And I loved me some Twilight as a young adult. So I mean, I have no right to judge, really. Plus, Eun Tak soon turns twenty anyway. So that's an improvement I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️ We follow her character into her late twenties, nearly thirty. So things are definitely fine by then haha! 👍

Don't let that previous bit make you think I didn't enjoy Goblin—I LOVED it. That detail is just a lil funky to me, is all. Back during my Twilight obsession days, I was nearly twenty myself, and the thought of being pursued by an older man was exciting. Hell, I mean, it still is! But now that I'm two years shy of my 30th Birthday, I feel differently sometimes. I think, LAWD get that girl away from that man, she too young for him LOL. I am definitely getting old... Enough about Twilight now, apologies! I'm only using it for the sake of conveying similarities seen in Goblin 🙏 Let's talk cast!

Kim Go Eun as Ji Eun Tak and Gong Yoo as Kim Shin

Eun Tak is a bubbly young woman with limitless energy! While still in her mother's womb, Mama Ji was involved in a hit-and-run incident which, sadly, took her life. During Mama Ji's dying moments, she prayed to anyone above that her child's life be spared. Sat on a rooftop from afar, beer in hand (lol), Shin hears her prayers, as he is a god of sorts. He appears before Mama Ji, and shows mercy to her unborn baby. Eun Tak grows up with the ability to see/speak to ghosts. Said ghosts tell her constantly that she is the goblin's bride. How do they know? A strange birthmark on the back of Eun Tak's neck tips them off. Eun Tak unfortunately was taken in by her abusive bitch of an aunt, who jabs Eun Tak every chance she gets. Her cousins are assholes. Eun Tak's aunt really only keeps her around in hopes of collecting Mama Ji's savings (intended for Eun Tak) one day. Sad, right? I mean, isn't Eun Tak being born without her mother enough as it is? Life can be so cruel 😔

Lee Dong Wook as Grim Reaper/Reaper/Wang Yeo

This is Grim Reaper (or Reaper for short), portrayed by the handsome Lee Dong Wook. His character is just this strange, not at all tech-savvy man with a constant deadpan facial expression. Said facial expression provokes so many giggles during funny moments, and drives home the longing and desperation during sad times. We learn quite a ways in that he, in his previous life (again, just in case: spoiler), was Wang Yeo G A S P ! The young king that is essentially responsible for Shin's death, as well as all the misdeeds that were done to Shin's family. Again, this is something I don't want to spoil. Well, more, anyway 😆 You gotta see it!

Yoo In Na as Kim Sun/Sunny

Kim Sun, or simply, Sunny (she loves to spell her name for people lol, S-U-N-N-Y!) is the second female lead. Yoo In Na is so gorgeous that one look at her makes you feel like such a potato hahhah. 🥔 This fact about her beauty bleeds over into the show itself—every time another character meets Sunny, the camera does this slow motion pan into her lmao. She really is that pretty! Sunny's personality comes across so odd at first... Having watched all of the episodes now, I feel the intention of Goblin's creators was to make her seem like a soul searching for something it has lost in a previous life. idk if that makes sense, but yeah. She has this way about her, like she's disconnected from others, and is sifting through the haziness to find this thing she feels she's lost.

Yook Sungjae (my BtoB bias 😍) as Yoo Deok Hwa

Sungjaeeee ahhhh 💘💘💘 I had to gush, sorry! Hehe. Meet Deok Hwa: unofficial nephew of Shin. Deok Hwa is a third-generation chaebol (heir to a family-owned corporation) and spoiled man-child, always seeking his credit card hahaha 🤣 But I love him so much. Between Gong Yoo, Lee Dong Wook, and BtoB Sungjae? Man, I'm dying over here! Deok Hwa's true identity is revealed later in the show, which if you haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil it. Just watch. But his ending sucked. Like where did he go? Everyone else's endings got tied up neatly except for his. What gives, man? 🤔 Edit: I was actually reading an online conversation about what happened to Deok Hwa online—someone jokingly said he was reincarnated as BtoB Sungjae LOL 💯

Other various comments

AMAZING OST 😍😍😍

Good pace, episodes drag at times. A little confusing in the beginning, but you get there eventually. Maybe this is just me though, viewers who are a little more keen than I will likely catch on sooner ;) My mom was a little confused as well, and actually said at one point, "This should be called the 'what-the-hell-is-going-on' show," hahaha. Like I said though, we quickly moved on from this, and loved all the things. There are actually, I think, three (?) specials that were made to aid viewers in making sure they understand the complex events and relationships clearly. I haven't watched them yet, but want to!

Quite repetitive tbh, as there are unnecessary flashbacks often. Probably for two reasons: the obvious of reminding you what's what, but also to create suspense. Typical duration of most tvN dramas seems to be about 16 episodes, so it's possible these flashbacks and things are, for lack of a better word, filler. I don't know how rigid or lax tvN is about having a drama set at 16 eps, but I get the idea this is their preference. Seeing as so many of their programs on average last that long, I feel this must be what they want. Such has the potential to affect the writing, either positively or negatively.

A continuation of the previous bullet: I think Goblin's creators oversimplified the plot at times. I'm unsure if this is due to possible pressures to meet a specific requirement(s), or what. I'd rather forgo ALL restrictions and let creativity flow, let the story be told without pressure to fill a specific amount of time, etc. but TV production is weird. And contracts are weird. tvN might not to blame for these issues, could simply be that storytelling isn't always easy, man. I'm a writer myself, it's hard! I'M being redundant now lmfao! Anyway, yeah ~

Absolutely LOVED all the scenes that were filmed on location in beautiful Québec City, Canada 🍁 Tall, romantic trees, the fall foliage, historic buildings... sigh. Now all I need is Gong Yoo chasing me and we're all set! ;D

In addition to Shin being revived, my crush on Gong Yoo has been revived as well LOL. He fine 🔥 A classic K drama crush, can't go wrong with GY👌

Gong Yoo is always stellar at doing kiseu (kiss) scenes, and in Goblin, he does not disappoint. He really goes at it 🙈 which is preferred vs. the typical person kissing a stone statue that you see so often. He even did a lift kiss with Kim Go Eun that was reminiscent of THEE Coffee Prince kiss he did with actress Yoon Eun Hye! 😍

I never saw it coming, how the sword would wind up being removed from Shin's chest. I worried what the writers were going to do, how would they approach this, and just wow. The way things turned out is such a relief. It also told me that Shin's love for Eun Tak is true. I mean, I didn't need that scene to occur for me to know that, rather it just adds extra oomph that yes, Shin really does love Eun Tak. He didn't want her to suffer knowing she was responsible for his "death," so he thought quick and used her hands WITH his hands asdfghjkl. How dumb (bc noooo now you're gonna die) and amazing he is at the same time 💜

I love how Shin made his way back to Eun Tak after passing away, it was such a powerful scene. I could really feel his struggle, and kept yelling at my TV for him to stand up lol!

Devastated that Eun Tak died 😭 I really thought as many times as she'd cheated death before, she would somehow continue cheating death again and again for the rest of her days. But no... What a selfless person, Ji Eun Tak. Her being reincarnated as Park So Min gave me some closure. Not the closure I wanted, but closure.

The relationship between Shin and Reaper is ADORABLE. Whenever they interact with each other, they just have this great dialogue. Shin pings, Reaper pongs, Reaper pings, Shin pongs. It's great 😄 I still laugh about the slow-mo scene of them returning from the market with green onions HAHAHA 😂

I love Sunny & Reaper ~ However, their history as Kim Sun & Wang Yeo in their past lives is so very sad. I don't even know where to start RE: my feelings on this 💔 imo, their ending kinda sucked. I just wasn't satisfied with them having had this complicated, tragic story, only to be reincarnated in this fashion that I ultimately found to be just... idk, disappointing 😩 Again, closure, but not the closure I wanted.

I thought Reaper, the other grim reapers, the name cards, the depiction of what happens immediately following death with the brewing of the tea, the afterlife, etc. was all very creative. We really don't know what awaits us when our time comes—it's interesting to wonder if it's anything like it is in Goblin 🍵

Can't stop thinking about Goblin, even though I'm now watching Thirty but Seventeen & Mr. Sunshine! I'm emotionally cheating lol halp.

Photo credits: tvN & AsianWiki

Yo yo! I'm sorry I took so long to watch + write up this review! It's been a long couple of weeks for me, I wasn't always able to watch when I wanted. It was maddening 😆 But I have finally watched, and feel like the most accomplished person on the planet hahaha. xoxo 💜

[mouseratz]

the obvious references and similarities between reanimator & Frankenstein (in both cases speaking as a duology despite there being more films to both stories) are preddy cool even though they are both very different movies to watch & often come out with different themes......

like. idk. Herbert very much feels like a version of Henry who isn't conflicted whatsoever about The Work vs Normal Life; he's accepted he's given up everything for this, but it doesn't matter to him, bc like. how could anything else matter in light of this? Instead, that conflict is pushed onto Daniel, who ends up in a very similar situation....(but, unlike Henry, ends up actually facing consequences for this. because he chooses to become invested in the work, he loses his love. confusingly, Elizabeth is never put at anything but the reference of peril in the second film, which I'm kind of sad about. there was a hint of Elizabeth losing her own grip in Bride of Frankenstein, but it's not really followed up on any further than being a consequence of the events of the first film. I kind of wanted her to lose her shit and lash out at him. but then again, I wanted Megan to do that, too. where is the female anger......)

Interestingly, Re-Animator's Bride reads as a mashup of Frankenstein's Creature and Bride- herself being the one disgusted with her state as an undead creature and deciding to destroy herself because she feels so unloved and misplaced; the dynamic of unloved vs horrified is pushed from the creature and the bride to Daniel and the bride, which is so deeply ironic as he was one of her own creators and she was the subject of his obsession with death. which is so awesome. can we do any better than that.

they're all united by the same concept: overcoming death and the problems with that. Frankenstein is far more focused on the creature and his plight, his innate humanity and the way those around him repeatedly deny him of it, whereas reanimator focuses on how you would see the obsession with defeating death/creating life affect someone.....what committing to that pursuit wholly could mean, and why someone would be unable to accept the finality of death (through both Herbert and Daniel). frankly reanimator is also just much sillier. but you also can't ignore the connection and inspiration here bc Frankenstein is a classic.

frankenstein's creature 🤝 Re-Animator's Bride

deeply tragic figures who did little wrong in life except for existing and yeah did deserve to be loved and taken care of and weren't and that's why they returned to being dead

idk I remember watching bride of reanimator and being so sad the bride/Gloria only shows up for like three minutes. but actually that's just part of the reference. since the bride of Frankenstein ALSO only shows up for three minutes. in both cases a glorious three minutes, but

[monstersinthecosmos]

It's really sad to me because the ARMAND IS EVIL MANIPULATOR TRASH BOY is suuuuuuch a shallow take on him and I will defend him forever because there is so much more to his character and his intentions and morality than that. I will defend him forever!

But it's so foreboding to me that the show already flattened Lestat this horrifically so I'm just bracing myself for the AMC team to also have an extremely shallow read of Armand because it would track with how they've written the other characters, too. So like ugh it's going to be so disappointing to navigate all of that in the future, not just in fandom but from the show canon itself. And it is what it is; I've been saying the same about separating Show!Lestat as his own character bc all the AMC people are OCs at this point, but it's always going to be disappointing.

And it feels like, I see the wiggle room they've left themselves in regards to the characterization of Lestat, like if Armand is truly dictating this version of events and ARMAND is the one flattening him out to be this way?

BUT IF THAT'S THE CASE, YOU'VE THEN FLATTENED ARMAND INSTEAD?

We just can't win, man.

(It also doesn't remove the real life creator commentary about the abuse dynamics or using rape for a woman's "character development" or trading all the Ricean existential angst for fucking like, infidelity drama [therefore also creating an in universe standard for monogamy which kinda fuckin sucks and removes a lot of the nuance of the Lestat/Louis/Armand drama lol so that's a shame] so it's just blah blah we can speculate all we want about what their intentions are and we can do mental gymnastics to make it make sense and try to squint to see something resembling Armand in all this tacky manipulative bullshit but at the end of the day I genuinely just don't trust this team lol.)

anyway I think Assad Zaman is lovely and he nails the Armand Deadpan™ and has perfect hair LOL I just think like it's silly that he's 38 years old and the reveal is extremely bad writing. I don't trust this team to write him at all, and they've already changed a lot of the stuff in the story that removes or changes his narrative function and there's a lot of other glaring deficits in the writing of S1 that really damaged my trust in them to pull it off or be respectful. I'm sure I'll complain about it a lot for the foreseeable future. :)