#like I know they most likely changed the font and logos and stuff to merch selling

[pansetta]

Maybe unpopular opinion? I'm not a big fan of the new logo, and especially how it all looks for the merch

It just feels way too simplified and feels like the equivalent of brands simplifying their logos down to basic stupid shapes because "hur dur graphic design"

[askthefamous8]

🎈 Happy birthday to us! 🎈

In other words, it's our 6 year anniversary. While I don't have flashy new art, I have something that will hopefully make up for that. Several things, actually!

Short version: significant theme quality of life updates, guest artist program is back, date for hiatus end, and new merch!

Long version below the cut

Updated Redbubble store!

Some old, some new, but I'm sure you'll find something to your liking! There's some other stuff in there as well, unrelated to AtF8 or TTTE. Shop link here!

Site Update

Overall, the blog/website should be more accessible to newcomers and easier to navigate in general. Your feedback has been great and I've done my best to implement most of it. The biggest addition of that nature is the Beginner's Guide to Ask the Famous 8. This is a combination of FAQ, general information, and links to additional websites. It also covers whether the series is suitable for children, since I've had at least one for-sure instance where a guardian has reached out to me in lieu of their child. Even if you're an AtF8 veteran, do give it a read.

Easy sorting: Letters • Art • All Posts

I thought I'd add some common tags to the front page so you don't have to dig to find art or character responses. My hope is that this will make navigating easier for newcomers, and more convenient for long-time fans.

Cosmetic Changes

The color theme has been adjusted to be slightly lighter. The banner's font has been changed to be more legible. The old font was taken directly from the official Thomas & Friends website, but it wasn't the easiest to read, so I think this is for the best. The stamps on the banner no longer link anywhere and are faded so as not to draw too much attention. I've added the description nest to the official T&F logo to make the site easier to consume. Now it's very clear what this is right from the front page. I think it adds a nice professional touch, too.

Percy's icon has been changed and is no longer animated. He also no longer links to a page. Trust me, this is for the best, the old one didn't fit the style of the site anymore. Maybe one day I'll make this one animated as well... 🤔

The little copyright tag is brighter so you know who's running the show.

Updated social media buttons!

From left to right: Tumblr (I know this seems redundant, shoosh), Twitter, Instagram, Youtube playlist, Redbubble, and Fandom Wiki. Patreon will be coming soon 👀

Guest Artist Program

The guest artist program has returned! You can apply here https://forms.gle/kgKLr2bURX6XSv977. Before the hiatus ends, I'll be reviewing these in the meantime. Once the hiatus is over I'll start reaching out to people. To start off I'm aiming for one guest a month, but if we have enough applicants and I can stay on top of things, this might increase. I'm going to be implementing some new experimental features, hence why I'd like to take things slow rather than dive head in.

Back from the dead: some pages have been updated and returned!

Taglist - Comprehensive list of the tags used on this blog, with a few exceptions Romance - List of couples

Character Pages! The character buttons no longer link to the character's tag, but rather a brief introduction page.

After some great feedback, they should be much easier to digest, now. They're nice and simple, most of the info there provided by the characters themselves, and if you want something more in-depth you can check the wiki!

Official date for the end of the hiatus

February 1, 2022

I finally have some trips back home lined up for this month and December and I'd like to enjoy those without worrying about this series. When I get back I'll need to start seriously looking for jobs, but also my current visa expires in January and I really gotta get that sorted. However, that doesn't mean I won't be drawing anything! It's more that I want to continue improving non-ask aspects of this series before I resume them since asks take up most of the time I spend here. But if you want to see new content ahead of the curve, you can join my Patreon when it goes live- hopefully by the end of the year.

And that's it! I hope you enjoy these new features and I look forward to seeing you when we return from hiatus! Thanks for 800 followers and thank you for 6 lovely years!!!!

[sharpdressedbman]

A Tribute to Chester: Life, Death, Rebirth, and How He Lives on in Memory

How do you properly memorialize one of your childhood idols? Are you supposed to scream, cry, and gnash your teeth? Or do you put on noise-canceling headphones and block out the ambient noise of the outside world for a while? All of these are difficult questions to answer. I guess that’s why they’re rhetorical. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost two years since Chester Bennington passed. So in a way, this simple little essay is how I can honor him. It feels nice to write something that isn’t fiction or related to a blog for a change[1]. Let’s see how it goes.

Part Zero: Notes from the Underground

I must confess that I was never a member of the official fan club, the LP Underground. I suppose in retrospect that’s how I could have proven I was a legit fan despite never seeing them live in concert except via live stream. But even then, that was a rare occasion. I do remember a t-shirt I got from Hot Topic when I was 12 or so – it had the faces of all of the guys gathered around the classic script font of the band’s logo.

I don’t remember what happened to it. The last time I remember wearing it was in August 2014. I supposed by then I had outgrown it. But still, buying whatever merch I could and getting all of the CDs and eagerly anticipating the next music video all had to count for something.  I knew the names of all the guys, even Mark Wakefield, who was never an official member, and Phoenix Orion (Dave Farrell?), who left before Hybrid Theory but was back in time for Reanimation – more on that later.  

But I digress. Let’s get on with the real meat of why we’re here. In terms of structure, I thought it would make the most sense to go album by album, discuss some memories I have associated with each, and attempt to unpack why they remain so important to me even as time has marched on since then. Growing up with the band, as I’m sure many of you did, you might feel a similar connection that you never fully grasped until the night of the tribute show in December 2017.

Part One: Hybrid Theory

#Forfeit the game/Before somebody else/takes you out of the frame and puts your name to shame/Cover up your face, you can’t run the race/the pace is too fast, you just won’t last. [HT Track 4: “Points of Authority”]

Although Hybrid Theory came out in October 2000, I think the first time I heard it was for another month or two after it came out. It’s still one of the most vivid memories I can still recall, the first time “Papercut” blared out of a cd player. I was sitting in the basement at my buddy Andre’s house and we were playing Perfect Dark with our mutual friend Alberto. It was honestly the perfect soundtrack for the game. Here’s what I said back then: “Dude, who is this? This is awesome!”

               “It’s Linkin Park.”

Even then I thought the name was cool, the way that they intentional misspelled Lincoln – the rule of cool and all that. Elementary school hadn’t even ended yet, but it was still part of my formative years, musically speaking. Before then, I had never discovered any music on my own – my friends had always shown me. My parents didn’t raise me to enjoy music – I hated classical and most of the “standards” went over my head. My parents were still throwing karaoke parties. My old neighbor John showed me James Brown. That’s how I latched onto my first favorite song of all time “I Feel Good”. Then came Third Eye Blind, another early love of mine. But that’s a story for another time, as is my recollections of Limp Bizkit. This tale is about LP.

I wouldn’t realize it at the time, but Hybrid Theory would continue to be one of the most important albums to be me as I left elementary school and hit middle school. The days of Perfect Dark and WCW/nWo Revenge began to fade[2] as Diablo II and Starcraft emerged. The sound of Chester’s howls and Mike’s swagger along with the rest of the bands driving instrumentals provided a backdrop like you wouldn’t believe.  “In the End” stood out in particular, although as middle school came to an end, it became clear that those reasons weren’t ones I wish to discuss here, now. Ask me again another time. It was at the end of middle school (hell, even before) that I confronted the notion of how deeply uncool I was, and probably tangled with imposter syndrome, anxiety, and depression long before I knew what any of those terms meant.

I already knew I was an introvert who was much more inclined to stay inside playing video games, reading, or writing instead of going outside to play street hockey or anything like that. That shouldn’t have meant that I was an easy target for bullying, but hey, it was the 90s and then the early 2000s, so what could you do? LP helped me cope, even if I couldn’t always express my anger in responsible ways.

I think here is a good place to stop and point something out: mental illness has been something that has been immensely important to me – it affects me and I know it damn sure affects my wife and mother in law. I went through a very dark time in my life roughly five years ago that LP also helped me pull out of – but I’ll get to explaining that more in-depth later on. Right now we’re still in the HT era; I just wanted to talk a little bit more about my motivations for writing this piece.[3]

Part Two: Reanimation

#Keep that in mind/ I designed this rhyme/ when I was obsessed with time. [RA Track 3: “Enth E Nd]

Full disclosure: when I first heard Reanimation, I thought it had its moments. But it wasn’t something I could listen to end-to-end and love every single song. Heck, even HT wasn’t like that, since some of the songs had to grow on me. The video with the robots and aliens having a war while the disembodied robot heads of the band sing the remixed version of “Points of Authority” by Jay Gordon of Orgy was definitely awesome, but I don’t know, I had mixed feelings about the album that took years for it to resolve into me think of it as one of the LP’s early era classics that would culminate with Meteora and Live in Texas.

I have a very distinct memory of popping this cd into the car’s stereo while we were out in…Houston? Taiwan? The details are blurry now because it’s been too long. Seventeen years was a long time ago, and 2002 me was simpler, less refined, and yes, much dumber and naïve. On an emotional level, “p5hng me Aw*y” stood out, and even though it wasn’t actually a true Linkin Park song, “It’s Goin’ Down” stood out from this time period too.

Part Three: Meteora

#I’ll never fight again, and this is how it ends…I don’t know what’s worth fighting, or why I have to scream, but now I have some clarity to show you what I mean… [MA Track 9: “Breaking the Habit”]

Meteora is one of those albums I more clearly associate with Diablo II and Starcraft more than any other games. Just something about the overall darkness and broodiness of the album really fit both of those games. Also, this essay project is making me want to go back in time. Not really from a nostalgia standpoint – okay yeah I guess from a nostalgia standpoint. But it was during this era that I really started to enjoy their music videos. Believe it or not, for the longest time, not all of the songs on the album were rated five stars. I used to be stingier with that rating that I am now. It took a while for some of the songs to grow on me, but “Somewhere I Belong”, “Faint”, “Easier to Run”, “Breaking the Habit”. “Nobody’s Listening”, and “Numb” were instant standouts. I’m still not sure what happened to my original copy of this album. The last I checked, I had a burned copy, but not the real deal.

Part Four: Live in Texas

#When I look into your eyes there’s nothing there to see/nothing but my own mistakes staring back at me# [LIT Track 8: P5hng Me A*wy – Live]

Man, I remember this too. It must have come out six months or so after Meteora did, and grabbing it from Kmart was one of my best days. I think it was also the first LP album to have the dreaded Parental Advisory sticker on it, and this is probably the album I blame most for me disliking the edited versions of songs. Sometimes edits can be clever, but when they’re just bleeps or certain naughty words are blanked out, then it gets annoying. Then again, I probably wasn’t a stranger to this concept thanks to early exposure to Third Eye Blind and Limp Bizkit, as I mentioned before. Was this the first time I heard “live” performances of LP? I think it was, and it probably stoked my eagerness to see them live in concert. Alas, it was never to be.

Part Five: Collision Course

#Yeah/Thank you, thank you, thank you, you’re far too kind#  [CC Track 4: “Numb / Encore”]

It’s fitting that as I pick this up on (7/21/19) it’s the day after the 2 year anniversary. I meant to have this finished by the 20th, but it just didn’t happen. Plus “Numb/Encore” was one of the first songs that started up on this go-through of the playlist. If you’re interested in listening to it, I can direct you to my Spotify profile! Numb is one of those songs that have taken on new meaning since his death, but out of all the collaborations on this mashup album, I think it’s the one that works the best sonically and thematically, especially with the juxtaposition between angst and bravado[4].

Part Six: Fort Minor & The Rising Tied

#So sick, if he’s gonna think/That the good lord would come take him/I’m shaking him, “Wake up, you son of a bitch!”#  [TRT Track 14: “Red to Black”]

It was four years between the era of Meteora and Minutes to Midnight. In between that time, there was a sea change. First there was the mashup with Jay-Z, and then this came along in November 2005. I remember being more stoked for it than probably any other music that I discovered that year – and this was when Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent, and Coheed and Cambria dawned on me, among others. For those who don’t know, Fort Minor is/was Mike’s side project. He’s since done other solo stuff under his own name but between then and now he would bust out verses from The Rising Tied and incorporate them into existing songs. I always thought that Red to Black was the most LP-sounding song on the entire album and that for the longest time I thought Chester used Jonah Matranga as an alias and it wasn’t a separate person.  

Part Seven: Minutes to Midnight

#In this farewell/There’s no blood, there’s no alibi/Cause I’ve drawn regret/From the truth of a thousand lies/So let mercy come and wash away# [M2M Track 6: “What I’ve Done”]

In the interest of time, these entries are probably going to get shorter and shorter. At this point, I just want to get the damn thing over with. “What I’ve Done”, the lead single was the one that struck me the most at first; I remember LP making a big deal about how they wanted to start a new sound after leaving their classic era behind. The music video was awesome, and I think LP was one of the best choices for the Transformers movies. I always thought that “What I’ve Done” would make a great wrestling song. Not necessarily as an entrance theme, but as a hype video for a PPV or a feud or something like that. EWR back in the day helped reinforce that belief though I can’t exactly remember what I associated it with – anyway, that’s neither here nor there. The day that I got this album was the same day the shooting at Virginia Tech happened. Finding out that the shooter was a mentally ill Asian dude spooked me. In today’s parlance, I was shook.[5] That’s something that has always stuck out even though it’s something I’ve not been fond of discussing, for obvious reasons. Still, for our purposes here, it is for once, actually relevant.

Part Eight: Dead by Sunrise and Out of Ashes

#Don’t want to lose my innocence/Don’t want the world second-guessing my heart/Won’t let your lies take a piece of my soul/Don’t want to take your medicine# [OOA Track 2: “Crawl Back In”]

The melodies that emerged on Minutes to Midnight, especially when it was Chester’s turn to take the mic, evolved. They turned into another platform for his music: the side-project Dead by Sunrise and their only album, so far as I know: Out of Ashes. I lump this album in with Welcome to the Masquerade by Thousand Foot Krutch and Dear Agony by Breaking Benjamin. All three emerged during my sophomore year of college[6], which was another difficult year for me. I think that is when I had the most trouble sleeping, either by choice or for other reasons.  Out of everything LP-related, I think I have given this the least amount of attention. It’s probably time for that to change, ten years later.

Part Nine: A Thousand Suns

#Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds/I suppose we all thought that, one another# [ATA Track 2: “The Radiance”]

If Minutes to Midnight was an attempt to step out of the shadow of Hybrid Theory, then A Thousand Suns represented an aural breakaway. It was vastly different, integrating more spoken word and turning up their signature sound to 12. I can’t remember exactly if it was in 2009 or 2010 that I was meant to go see LP as they rolled into DC. Ultimately, I couldn’t go because of a lack of transport. It all ended up moot anyway because that was the show that got canceled because of Chester being sick. Trying to dig up that post on Facebook is probably beyond me now because it’s a day late. Maybe someday I’ll be able to find it again because those days were golden (at least my pathetic little eulogy for him that I wrote two years ago.)

Part Ten: Living Things

#Fly me up on a silver wing/Past the black where the sirens sing/Warm me up in a nova’s glow/And drop me down to the dream below#  [LT Track 6: “Castle of Glass”]

So if LP had been striving to break away from the sound that made them famous, it was at this point where they were “Nah bro” and went full bore back around into an ouroboros[7] of awesome. While the vast majority of A Thousand Suns[8] had to grow on me over the intervening years, Living Things grabbed me by the throat and never let go. It followed the Hybrid Theory blueprint to a T. After all this time, “Castle of Glass” still stands out as my favorite from the album, but as is often the case, it’s hard to pick favorites.

Part Eleven: Recharged

#When I was young, they told me, they said/Make your bed, you lie in that bed/A king can only reign ‘til instead/There comes that day it’s off with his head# [RC Track 1: “A Light That Never Comes”]

The less said about this, the better. It had its moments, especially “A Light That Never Comes” which showed me the potential of Steve Aoki. But the memory that stands out most clearly about the day I got this album was getting a case of Hell or High Watermelon beer. I think since I got it from Record and Tape Traders, it was the day I found the TARDIS socks for Ally and sent them to her later that week. As you probably gathered from the cluster of footnotes, this was deemed my least favorite “official” LP album, and that ranking has held up in the last six years. It does to Living Things what Reanimation did to Hybrid Theory, but for whatever reason, I can’t bring myself to enjoy it more.  

Part Twelve: The Hunting Party

#Cause you don’t know what you’ve got/it’s your battle to be fought/until it’s gone# [THP Track 7: “Until It’s Gone]

Ah, here we go. LP seems to follow patterns in the creation of their albums. Cause roughly a year after Recharged, there came The Hunting Party. After A Thousand Suns came and went, it seemed like LP was on a creative lull. But then we got LT, Recharged, and THP in three straight years. This came out in 2014, and it’s hard to believe that five years have passed already. To this day, I still think that my favorite part was all of the guest appearances on their album, especially from collaborators they hadn’t featured before then, like Daron Malakian and Tom Morello.

Part Thirteen: Welcome

#First time I did it, yeah I’ll admit it/I kinda hit it and quit it and left y’all hanging# [“Welcome”]

In all honesty, this should be a footnote for The Rising Tied. It came out 10 years later, as a way for Mike to tip a wink and a nod at all his fans that were still waiting for a full-fledged sequel. Fate had other plans, though. I can still remember helping to clean Tidewater while this song blared through my headphones.  This probably became one of my most played songs of 2015.

Part Fourteen:  One More Light

#Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do# [OML Track 9: “One More Light”]

We’re almost to the finish line. I was super excited for One More Light because it broke a drought of no new music until 2017[9]. The song One More Light became more poignant after his passing. I hope it still makes him proud.

Part Fifteen: Afterword

So where do we go from here?  Honestly, not even the remaining members of the band know. They’re not actively looking to replace Chester, and as a group, they’re still officially on hiatus. I didn’t even touch on any of the DVD or special edition releases that I’ve barely heard. I guess in a sense they’re honorable mentions, but without having listened to them, I can’t form any honest opinions or associations for them.[10]

[/mrhahn]

     [1] It seems fitting that I mention that shirt I got as a twelve-year-old because that’s when I started picking up on writing as a hobby. It was a way to release my imagination and translate what I had in mind into a story, even if those early stories were embarrassingly bad. These footnotes will serve to flesh out those asides since they’ll more than likely distract from the main narrative I’m trying to spin here.

         [2] Although Revenge remains iconic! Even to this day, I still long for an N64 and another copy.

[3] Chester struggled with MI too, even though hardly anyone knew it. It’s what ultimately got the best of him.

[4] My fascination with Genius Lyrics is really helping me to analyze and better understand the meanings of the words.

[5] It didn’t help that he bore an uncanny resemblance to me…

[6] 2009, how time flies!

[7] Not sure how to spell this dang word.

[8] I regarded it as my least favorite LP album until Recharged came out. More on that later.

[9] It wasn’t until that I built the playlist that inspired this essay that I learned that there were some other singles issued between The Hunting Party and One More Light. These tracks include “We Made It” with Busta Rhymes, which actually fell between Meteora and Minutes to Midnight; “Not Alone”, which was between A Thousand Suns and Living Things; and “Darker Than Blood” with Steve Aoki that was between The Hunting Party and One More Light.  

[10] One was called “Frat Party at the Pankake Festival” and the other one was “Road to Revolution”, I think?

[folklorecostumes]

REPUTATION LYRIC INSPIRED TOUR OUTFITS AND POSTERS PART 1

A lot of these posters are pictured in either giant bubble letters, rep font or in calligraphy. Can’t do any of these? Download the rep font or font you wish to use, type up what you want in a big enough font size, print, cut, and trace, or glue them down up to you! Of course, write these however you wish!

Hello all! Thanks for waiting so patiently for this list! Because of how long it is and how very excited you all have been waiting for this we have decided to post it into 2 parts to keep the excitement going. Part 2 will be coming in just a few short days and will be linked here, maybe even sooner than you think! Please enjoy all the ideas we listed below so far, send us others you may have and want to share with the swiftie world. We apologize if the formatting on this looks bad on mobile, we are trying to actively make it easily accessible and readable across all platforms!

And lastly, enjoy and tag us in these recreations! We want to see them! We want to help them get seen by Taylor!

Find the Reputation Part 2 list here.

Find the 1989 idea list here and here.

Find the Red idea list here.

Find more costume and poster ideas and tips here.

lovelovelove,

 - Reputation Costumes.

…READY FOR IT?:

1. “Knew he was a killer” – you and a friend or significant other dress up as a killer and their victim (not to scary or realistic though! Just have fun with it)

2. “Left haunted” – could make a fun sign saying “Taylor left me haunted” or something silly with the word haunted! Could even use Haunted (Speak Now) lyrics!

3. “But if he’s a ghost, then I can be a phantom” – Few ideas:

         → Two people could dress up as ghosts. 

         → Could also dress up as Danny Phantom because of the wordplay, or even the Phantom of the Opera if you wanted to be clever.  

         → Could also dress up as ghost hunters/ghost busters.

4. “Holdin’ him for ransom” – dress as bank robbers! Could even copy the outfits from the vault scene in LWYMMD.

5. “I keep him forever, like a vendetta-ta” – Poster that replaces him for Taylor, so it says I keep Taylor forever, like a vendetta-ta.

6. “Island breeze and lights down low” – maybe dress tropical—think family vacation ha. 

         → Could even improvise a poster that instead of saying island it could say (city name) breeze and stadium lights down low. Ex: “Boston breeze and stadium lights down low” (yes, I know its FOXBORO, but we all know Taylor just calls it Boston lol).

7. “In the middle of the night” – Dress as if you’re the night sky, glow in the dark ceiling stars or tape on a black/navy blue outfit with glitter. A matching poster in the shape of a star or a moon would be the perfect pairing.

8. “Are you ready for it?” – Poster with these lyrics on it. Remember posters can be as simple or as creative as you’d like. If you have a large enough group, you could make giant cutouts and hold two letters or so each.

9. “Stealing hearts and running off..” – A poster in the shape of a heart (not anatomical) with the lyrics on it.

10. “He can be my jailer” – Cop and Robber costume, could do the orange jumpsuit from the LWYMMD video and copy the “guards” around the birdcages outfits.

11. “Burton to this Taylor” – dress as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

12. “Let the games begin” – Multiple options for this one.

          →   Could dress as a referee/sport player/some sort of sport reference

          →   Have a game board attached to your outfit, make your own Taylor inspired game, maybe by gluing homemade items over a monopoly and have little trivia questions about her.

          →   Game board inspired poster—an Uno card but with these lyrics rather than traditional uno face.

13. Recreate one of the outfits from the music video

END GAME:

1. “I wanna be your endgame” – Poster designed as your favorite/or classic “end game” credit logo.

2. “I wanna be your first string” – Sometimes related to sports or your favorite ship from a TV show/Film/Book so do what you may with this.

3. “I wanna be your A-Team” – Could dress up as the A Team. Poster with friends that spell out A-Team.

4.  “Big Reputation” – Poster with these lyrics or wear the End Game merch sold on Taylor’s site. Can’t afford it? Make your own with stencils and fabric paint!

5.  “I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put ‘em” – Make/buy a shirt with a map on it—think buried treasure map with x’s to mark where stuff is hidden!

6. “Your body is gold” – Gold morph suit, gold body paint, gold glitter, gold anything! Dawn yourself in all gold for this look.

7.  “So here’s the truth from my red lips” – Make an outfit with red lips open with a speech bubble above it and have end game lyrics in each one! Or make a poster with the same idea.

8.  Recreate one of the many music video outfits!

I DID SOMETHING BAD:

1. “I play ‘em like a violin” – Make a poster cut out into the same of a violin and wear music notes.

2. ‘Now all he thinks about is me” – Poster saying “Now all I think about is Taylor”

3. “I can feel the flames on my skin” – Body paint flames in your arms/legs or wear flame pattern shirt.

4. “Crimson red paint on my lips” – Could be similar to the one above from End Game with red lips all over your outfit or a poster.

5. “If a man talk shit, then I owe him nothing” – Great lyric for a poster! Don’t want to put the swear on the poster? Get creative and maybe use the emoji covering its mouth or symbols!

6.  “I never trust a playboy, but they love me” – Going with a guy friend? Could have him dress like Hugh Hefner but of course remember the necessary clothing needed to get into a venue if you do this! Could also dress as a bunny (playboy related or just average you decide)

7. “So I fly ‘em all around the world” – Going to multiple shows? Make a poster of a globe with airplanes landing on each tour stop you’re going to!

8. “They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one” – Dress as a witch, could be inspired from the Salem witch trials, could be a cartoon-y Halloween one, or one from your favorite show or movie that involves witches!

9. “Pitchforks and proof, their receipts and reasons” – Poster in the shape of a pitchfork or one that looks like a store receipt or screenshotted iMessage but using Taylor lyrics as the messages or purchases!

10. “Light me up” – Most shows apparently will not allow lights but doesn’t mean you can’t light up with glow sticks, glow in the dark body paint/outfits or glitter!

11. “Most fun I ever had” – Poster saying “Taylor Concerts are the most fun I ever had!”

DON’T BLAME ME:

1. “Don’t blame me, love made me crazy” – Poster that says, “Don’t blame me, Taylor made me crazy.”

2. “Darkest little paradise” – Black lace vibe from this lyric, especially picturing those pumps that have fur on the front near the toes. Could also make a sign that’s a midnight black sky with glow in the dark stars writing out the lyric.

3. “They say, ‘She’s gone too far this time’” – Poster with this lyric and a map tracking all your shows if you’re going to multiple. Could have all the miles listed under each show!

4. “Halo, hiding my obsession” – Angel outfit? Make the halo out of glow sticks so it shines after the lights go down. Poster that says hiding my obsession, maybe make it look like a TSL post.

5. “I once was poison ivy, but now I’m your daisy” – Few ideas for this:

           →   An outfit that starts as poison ivy on the bottom but slowly progress to daisies. Could have buds of daisies starting at the bottom with the ivy and start to have them bloom as it increases until it’s just all daisies.

          →   Poster that spells out poison ivy in plastic (or real or drawn completely up to you) poison ivy.

          →   Poster that spells out Daisy with Daisies from a craft store!

          →   Daisy Buchanan from Gatsby.

          →   Poison Ivy comic.

6. “Fall from grace” – Michael and Lucifer, so aka could go as a fallen angel or the devil. If you watch Supernatural then you can pull from that for inspiration!

7. Taylor related this song to church, love and drug use because those 3 are powerful enough to change a person. Dressing up as if you’re in a choir could fit this song! Even something church related, however trying to remain neutral with that can be difficult.

8. Some people get a Fifty Shades of Grey vibe from this song, do what you may with that.

DELICATE:

1. Poster spelling out delicate with an assortment of colorful fake flowers.

2. “You can make me a drink” – Poster cut out in the shape of a wine glass with the lyrics being written in a bold, thick font and place to look as if from far away its wine drawn in the glass.

3. “Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?” – “Taylor Swift concert in (your state), where you at?” sign. Could also make this look like an iMessage chat.

4. Fringe outfit similar to the video.

5. Dive bar outfit.

6. “Dark jeans and your Nikes” – Could easily where this exact outfit paired with a Taylor shirt if you aren’t into dressing up for shows!

7. “Never seen that color blue” – Poster with sketched blue eyes and these lyrics underneath it. Could also wear an entire blue outfit.

8. “Is it chill that you’re in my head?” – poster ideas:

          →  Is it chill that Taylor’s in my head?

          →  Is it chill that you’re in my head, Taylor?

9. “Handsome, you’re a mansion with a view.” - Dress up with a costume similar in the idea of the a skyscraper costume but as a fancy house!

10. “Echoes of your footsteps on the stairs” - Poster with an echoing effect (think Microsoft early 2000s word art) on the lyrics. Could even place the lyrics on top of one another to look like it’s building a staircase. 

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO:

1. “I don’t like your little games” – See similar ideas for game inspired outfits above, OR

          →  Make an outfit featuring miniature games attached to you, like Tamagotchi’s or make your own mini monopoly/life/etc. boards and glue them onto your outfit or poster. Possibly break the little boards in half and have broken pieces to represent not liking them.

2. “Of the fool” – Could dress up as a fool/clown. Silly, whimsical costume.

3. “Said the gun was mine” – Could do a poster of a smoking gun with the lyrics looking like they came out of the gun/the toy guns where flags pop out.

4. “Rose up from the dead” – Zombie! Tombstone poster!

5. “I’ve got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined” – List of names—Taylor related, maybe her cats or not—but have them all crossed out besides for Taylors at the bottom.

6. “I check it once, then I check it twice” – Some say this reminds them of Santa so by all means feel free to dress up Christmas-y.

7. “Look what you made me do” – Use the lyric video to create cool posters.

8. “I don’t like your kingdom keys” – few ideas:

        → Outfit with keys drawn on, make them look vintage and old, wear crowns with this look! Could also have keys dangling off the ends of the outfit.

       →  Giant gold key posters, make them look novelty like the ones cities give to honor people.

9. Drama and Karma matching glitter posters.

10. Snake skin, snake rings, snake anything!

11. Choose one of the many outfits Taylor is seen wearing throughout the LWYMMD video, we’ll hopefully have some great, cheap knockoffs for these soon!

12. Dress up as “old Taylor” so this basically opens up endless possibilities from each era, check out our 1989 and Red costume lists for more ideas! Hopefully we can work on Speak Now, Fearless and Debut inspired lists soon too!

13. Merch! Merch! Merch! She has tons of Look merch on her site, wear that if you want to be casual.

14. Similar Blind for Love sweater is available on eBay! The similar patches are also sold at craft stores or online (eBay).

15. Use the patches sold through Taylor Swift’s store to make you’re own one of a kind outfit--whether it be a denim jacket, dress, you name it! You can even design you’re own patches using crafts.

16. “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now” - Poster using a picture of the “old Taylor” and a poster in the shape of a phone! Could incorporate the Our Song video, WANEGBT video, or the Look video when she’s on a phone.

SO IT GOES…

1.  “See you in the dark” – Poster where the word Dark is written in glow in the dark paint/marker to show up after the lights go down!

2. “All eyes on you” – Outfit with googly eyes glued all over it. Or create a poster with the same idea and the lyrics changed to “All eyes on Taylor”

        →  Add “my magician” if you wish to the end of the poster lyric or combine the googly eyes theme with a magician costume.

3. “My magician” –  Multiple options:

       → Dress up in a magician’s costume, this can be traditional, or you can be as creative as you want with it.

       →  Poster cut out to look like you’re holding a fan of cards (think trick magician’s deck) with any lyrics from the song written on it.

       →  Could dress up as a magician’s assistant.

       →  Dress up as a rabbit/bunny (stereotypically used in acts)

       →  Poster in the shape of a bunny peeking out of a magician’s hat, or just the ears sticking out of the hat, with so it goes lyrics on it.

       →  Poster of a crystal ball with “all eyes on you, my magician” written in it.

4. “You make everyone disappear” – “Taylor makes everyone disappear” written on a poster. Possibly write it in glow in the dark ink so it only shows when the lights are down and not before!

5. “Cut me into pieces” – Puzzle piece posters! You and a group of friends can each hold a piece that fits into the other and each can have one word of a line from any reputation song or simply use the “cut me into pieces”

6. “Gold cage, hostage to my feelings” – 2 options:

       →  Make a cut out poster in the shape of a cage, individual cut out in between each bar so it’s open, do two sides like this and attach strings to wear the sign so it looks like the cage is around you. Could even wear this with the orange jumpsuit outfit from the Look video!

      →  Poster in the shape of a gold bird cage with “hostage to my feelings” written inside of it.

7. “All our pieces fall right into place” – Poster with confetti, puzzle pieces, hearts either drawn on or glued. Either place or draw the pieces to spell out the lyrics as they fall down to a pile at the bottom of the poster paper or just have the pieces you decide to use “raining” down halfway through the poster and have the lyrics on the bottom half.

8. “So it goes…” Poster with these lyrics.

9. “Met you in a bar” – 2 options:

          →  Poster drawn and cut out like a whiskey bottle with these lyrics, Taylor and reputation written on the label.

          →  Using half of a poster board, draw what looks like a bar top (typically mahogany) with bottles either laying or standing across it and a few shot glasses, each bottle could be named after a song on the album!

10. “All eyes on us/All eyes on you/All eyes on me” -  Staring eye emoji drawn on a poster with a thought bubble above it with one of these 3 lyrics in the bubble.

11. “I make all your grey days clear” –

          →  One person dresses up as a cloudy/rainy day so all grey clothes and have reflective blue tape cut into rain drops and white reflective tape to represent clouds (typically clouds are grey/black when it’s raining but those two colors won’t be reflective, could use glow in the dark paint/tape as well). Could also wear a cloud poster with raindrops hanging from it on string around them or hold as a regular poster with these lyrics in the cloud.

          →  Second person dresses up as sunny day, in preferably light blue to represent a clear sky, yellow reflective tape cut out as suns on the outfit—could even have some breaking through clouds using white reflective tape. Person could also wear a sun poster around them like suggested above for the grey day look.

12.  “Wear you like a necklace” – Think flavor flav! Make a giant fake watch (or not a watch and just a necklace) out of string and cardboard. Have the reputation album cover or cd artwork be hanging from it/as the face of the watch.

13.  “Dressed in black now” – Wear all black! Draw attention to yourself with some glow in the dark paint or stickers, glow sticks and glitter.

14. “Scratches down your back” – Might not be appropriate with what its referencing for younger crowds and you may get looks from parents but create a shirt with bloody scratches down the backside and let the front side have “so it goes…” written on it.

15.  “You did a number on me” – Few options:

           →  Poster cut out into a 13/22/1989 with the lyric written throughout the 13/22/1989.

            →  Poster with an array of numbers related to Taylor filling it (13, 22, 1989, 10(Grammys), etc.). Write the lyrics in rep font first and draw the numbers around it, filling the background. Write in glow in the dark paint/tape, glue flowers over the lyrics, whatever you desire! Can even just use the word rep instead of doing the lyrics.

           →  Idea above for the poster could also work on a shirt.

           →  Poster with the number of shows you’re attending.

16.  “Who’s counting?” – See the ideas for the lyric above, they work well with this one as well.

[legobitar]

so, for the NERDS out there (i expect the venn diagram for “graphic design nerds” and “kiersey college fans” to be A CIRCLE and that circle to contain ONLY ME but like, i’m allowed to indulge myself on my own blog, so ya know), the logo, A BREAKDOWN: 

font used: iowan old style. no idea why i have it on my computer, but when i’d narrowed it down to two (the other one being bookman old style), iowan just felt prettier. idk. gut feeling. 

motto is stolen/borrowed from gothenburg uni. felt more exotic than using something from an american uni. i gave mel a couple of options (borrowed/stolen from old swedish monarchs and unis and stuff) and she went with this one! translation is roughly “take care of what’s been invented, and pass on new inventions”

i googled “free university logo vector” and used a bunch of them as reference points. the book is borrowed/stolen from one. the stars also but they were curved the other way so i don’t feel like they are AS stolen, lol. 

kiersey is in new hampshire, and the star/branch/star thing at the bottom is lifted directly from the new hampshire state flag/seal! bless svg files on wikimedia commons <3 

the apple was originally a flame thingy, but when i found out they have an apple orchard, i had to change it to an apple, because ... well ... apples beat flame thingys. i guess. 

i keep wanting the gold part to be gold glitter on clothes but i realize this is unreasonable because my only reason is my love for siser glitter HTV

back-of-my-head inspo was most likely chalmers and the old liu logo (is it your alma mater if you never graduated? anyway, i did one semester on liu and i have a hoodie with the old logo), and i live in fking gothenburg so i know the chalmers logo. probs sthlm uni as well. 

that’s it, i think? 

merch (clothes and bags) are mostly blue, with the print in gold, i think (i don’t even know if this is up to me to decide lol), but i’m also very much liking the idea of a gold-colored insulated steel waterbottle with the logo in blue. that would be rad. ofc also white t-shirts and stuff. not sure about black because the blue won’t really work on black? but i guess the print could be white? i’m definitely over-thinking this. 

there’s a super simple version of the logo as well, for athletics and whatnot. 

one color (for simplicity and also print reasons) (print is usually “base price includes one color”, then additional cost for additional colors, or base price + 4-color, but it depends on the print shop and printing technique) (but like, sports merch is usually screen printed and that’s def cheaper with one color) (i feel like the sports team have to budget for their own merch and that’s why i’m thinking so much about this!!!)

googled “university sports team logos” and variants thereof and was appalled. they’re ugly as shit. graphic design is not their passion.

but figured KC is probably ok for this one (in this FICTIONAL UNIVERSE good god i need a life)

used the stars from the main logo

used a shield thing from one of the generic “university logo” packs. works well bc they’re knights? apparently? i honestly don’t really know what this means because SPORTS??? ON AMERICAN UNIS?? i only follow the biathlon and cross country skiing world cups, i don’t know anything about other sports :(

but yeah additional info (like “KIERSEY MEN’S HOCKEY”) is written below the logo when you put it on a shirt or smt. in white or blue depending on your bottom color and if you even wanna splurge for that 2nd color. i’m actually gonna make a tanktop bc i THINK i have some gold HTV and i have two dark blue tanktops that i use for pajamas that may as well get pimped up. 

NERD TIME OVER

Okay, I have a bunch of really cool things from other people to show you guys this morning!!!💙💛💙