#love that my most popular post is the lowest effort one

[paimonial-rage]

My most interacted with fics:

Cocky Bastard Vibes (Zhongli)

Tipsy Tales (Anemo boys)

Why He Rejected You (pt 1)

Telling Them Off (Ayato, Venti, Xiao)

A Sight to Behold (Yae Miko)

Obvious (Neuvillette)

Simple (Alhaitham)

What Destiny Has Brought (Fischl)

Why He Rejected You (pt 2)

Blasphemous Assumptions (Zhongli)

[lolliputian]

Fic Stats Meme

Tagged by @graysparrowao3! As per usual, feel free to do this if you want to, I feel awkward tagging for memes.

Rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words [you may also share the related stats should you wish].

...in full transparency, I'm doing this despite knowing I'm going to get hung up on numbers. These are all Baldur's Gate 3 fics.

Most Hits: Time and Again - Perhaps unsurprising! This is my main fic and has ten chapters. It alone is at 65K words. I don't anticipate that the stats will proportionally change as time goes on (this fic will go on for a while). It's my baby~

Second Most Kudos: Self-Control, Private - LOL, I AM NOT SURPRISED. Listen. I love this fic. I feel like it did a GREAT job highlighting the dynamic between Zevlor and Mavari at a time when I was still figuring it out, and I absolutely love how in tune they are with each other. But I'm also very aware that the fact that it's smut and that it's first person (in a fandom where reader fics are very popular) is going to make it a more appealing read to people than some of my other works. Even though I make it very clear that Mavari is her own fully-formed character...y'know.

(In full transparency, I am not into reader fics at all.)

Third Most Comments: Shut Up, Inner Voice - I have mixed feelings about this. I like this fic, because I like everything I post. But it's actually one of my lowest effort fanfics, and it's one of the few I won't reread. The POV character in it is one of the fandom favorites, so it makes sense that it performs well, it's just...weird when my own preference is not the majority's?

Man, it feels a bit ungrateful to complain about any fic doing well. It's just that I've worked harder on other stuff that's frankly much better, and it's weird to reconcile in my brain.

Fourth Most Bookmarks: It's actually also the previous work, but, for the sake of variety, I'll go with the next one - By Chance - also a pretty quick fic to write, but I absolutely LOVE IT. It was so much fun to write. Cal and Geraldus as a pairing has gripped me, and I can't wait to write more of them.

Fifth Most Words: Was the Domlor fic so I'm going to go with the fourth most, which is: A Much Needed Conversation - This is the first fic I posted for the fandom! I'm still proud of it, but it's weird for me to read, because it was what the TaA ficverse was going to be pre-epilogue release. I still am very proud of the platonic connection between Zevlor and Rolan here and am very invested in their friendship. ...This, of course, also spawned the AU that led to A Night to Forget, which is one of my favorite things I've ever written, and the Rolan the Quick work, so there's that. I think I'd probably still recommend this fic as one to read if a person will only read one of my fics, but it's also not really representative of what I write anymore.

Fic with Fewest Words: THE HELLRYDER HERO by MIRKON! - I'm not gonna lie, I thought this would be one of those fics I threw together quick and it skyrocketed in popularity just because it's short/cute/off the wall. Shows what I know.

[rockitmans]

Thanks for the tag, @cerriddwenluna

Rules: List your "top 10" (or up to 10 if you haven't written that many) fics ranked by kudos on AO3. Are you surprised by what's most popular to your readers? Then, under a cut, provide your ranking of your personal top 10 fics (with explanations if you want!), and then tag a few fellow writers!

Spinning Out, 56k

Blaine Anderson Vs. Valentine's Day, 12k

No Take Backs, 10k

Witch Wanted, 24k

Ellipsis, 1k

#1 absolutely makes sense. Spinning Out was a labor of love and the fic that made me confident enough to start sharing my work. The Valentine's Day one being second is a little weird to me because I felt like a duck with my feet frantically paddling beneath to get it finished and I guess I'm surprised it came out well enough to be second, especially as it's also my most recent (bar Ellipsis).

No Take Backs is not my usual sort of story at all but I'm proud of how it came out. Quality wise I would argue it's better that #2 but less fun so not surprised it's third. Which takes us to Witch Wanted. My baby. Such a personal story that wasn't going to work for everyone. And clearly Did Not 😅. Still it's a niche set of tropes to begin with and the ending was... controversial so the ranking makes sense.

And Ellipsis is just a lil ficlet I wrote in a few hours and posted yesterday and has already been around Tumblr once so no question of being lowest.

My ranking:

Spinning Out

Witch Wanted

No Take Backs

Blaine Anderson vs Valentine's Day

Ellipsis

Ellipsis being bottom doesn't really reflect how I feel about it. I'm actually really proud of it but also it is just something short and sweet and didn't require the same level of effort as the other fics.

Otherwise my ranking reflects my personal enjoyment mixed with how well written I think they are. Witch Wanted is very special to me. I even got a lovely message from someone saying how it really helped them realise and challenge some of their own ableist views and I think that's absolutely the kind of stories should help with. As well as being enjoyable of course!

It could almost be first in the list but Spinning Out is also tied up in the feeling of finding this community and meeting some wonderful people like none of that would have happened if I hadn't just impulsively posted Spinning Out one day. Also I genuinely love it, it's the one I'm most likely to reread though I haven't currently reread any of my own fics.

And I think I've kind of covered my thoughts on the other two! No Take Backs is better written and a more emotional and thoughtful story but BA vs Valentine's Day is infinitely more fun and silly and joyful so it depends on the mood of the day.

Tagging: @bitbybitwrites @ericdooley @heartsmadeofbooks @hkvoyage if you want/haven't been tagged already

[ratlesshonret]

i love how my first “sephirah break room” post is easily the most popular despite the fact that it’s also easily the lowest quality of the bunch. like, i didn’t even have the sprite files saved yet, so everyone had their default expression and the sprites were super low quality because i just ripped them off the wiki.

some of these posts i’ve spent like thirty minutes on for singular edits trying to get stuff cropped right, especially for the coffee boomer meme edit and the one that used the Red Mist sprite, since I couldn’t find it and had to crop the background out of an in-game screenshot.

maybe it’s just because the first one... came first, but god the production value and effort increasing does not seem to have any bearing on the popularity. if anything they’re getting less popular lol.

maybe it’s oversaturation.

[sudoscience]

I posted 14,611 times in 2021

122 posts created (1%)

14489 posts reblogged (99%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 118.8 posts.

I added 303 tags in 2021

#my post - 68 posts

#undertale - 56 posts

#mother 3 - 33 posts

#deltarune - 29 posts

#my ramblings - 22 posts

#save - 22 posts

#youtube - 20 posts

#omori - 20 posts

#asriel - 19 posts

#asriel dreemurr - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#if it takes me more than a day it's because i got distracted and forgot and now it's way too late to respond without it being super awkward

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Here, have this. I made it at great personal cost to myself (I opened TV Tropes because it came up in the search results).

37 notes • Posted 2021-03-15 02:54:35 GMT

#4

Prediction: this time next year, Undertale theories about W. D. Gaster see a massive resurgence in popularity as Undertale turns 6 years and 6 months old on 15 March 2022. A week prior, every official thing about Undertale vanishes from the internet. The soundtrack isn't on Spotify, the YouTube channel goes private, there's no merch on Fangamer, etc. You can't even buy the game anymore (but you still have it if you already own it because that would just make too many headaches for other people).

Toby keeps his Twitter, which has now been scrubbed of any references to the game, but refuses to acknowledge anything about it disappearing. On the 15th, he tweets in Wingdings, "the truth is you got owned nerd". The next day, everything goes back to normal, but Toby still acts like nothing was wrong in the first place.

43 notes • Posted 2021-03-15 18:10:02 GMT

#3

He's learning piano

47 notes • Posted 2021-05-14 05:36:23 GMT

#2

Games inspired by Earthbound be like: Come closer, I'm just a quirky RPG about the power of friendship. I am going to fuck you up emotionally. Look at how cute and lovable my characters are! You will be devastated by my ending. My soundtrack slaps! Even the good ending is still kinda depressing. I'm an indie game!

(I'm counting Mother 3 in this, even though it's not really an indie game, but I guess the fan translation kinda is. It's technically inspired by Earthbound, though.)

56 notes • Posted 2021-06-12 04:33:24 GMT

#1

ಠ_ಠ

60 notes • Posted 2021-01-13 07:05:23 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[thisdreamplace]

I saw a post recently by liisutoo which was rather triggering, talk about thoughts being reflected I was just thinking that maybe I am fooling myself and I am wasting time trying (even though I've had successes with the law as much as I keep telling myself that they were only coincidences) a moment before it was posted. Also liisutoo love, no offense if you read this, I have you feel better and get back on track soon ❤ any advice on thinking that this might not be working for some stuff or in general? Are these thoughts from a poor self concept? I am so confused with the whole ignoring the 3d. Some say ignore it completely, some say see it for what it is (past assumptions) and accept it but keep doing your techniques, others say that they have tried to ignore it completely and came up with jack shit 😂 how do you go about this?

I am sorry you are having a hard time right now. I think everyone should know it’s totally normal. I know Youtube coaches are super popular and they make manifesting seem so cut and dry. But for many of us, myself included, this journey just simply wasn’t so easy mentally. I’ve had some of my lowest moments on this journey, which I have shared before. And that’s okay. We can take it day by day and do what feels best to us. There’s no rush, no race. It’s okay to take a step back when you need to.

I think it is important to note that mental health shouldn’t be compromised for the law. Seeing how it is such a mental based practice, this is something that should not be pushed to the side. It is simply silly and unproductive to do so, no matter what any coaches say. The thing is, it’s about not using it as an excuse or a block. No, you don’t need to be in a certain mental space to finally get what you want. Don’t attach these two things together. You don’t have to. However, of course, having a good mental health is important period. I will say that in my low moments in the law, giving myself those days to have those complete meltdowns actually worked wonders. Even though in the thick of it, it seemed like it was doing nothing and like I was going nowhere. Now, I can look back and see how much it helped me to keep moving forward and release the old story more and more. If it helps to remember, God (who you really are), sees every state with unconditional love. We don’t need to judge ourselves so harshly.

Anyway, to answer your question: are these thoughts from a poor self concept? Absolutely. It’s also from a strong identification with the ego. Our Godself knows none of this is real and anything fear based simply isn’t true. When we allow ourselves to relax into the things that feel good, that are love, more and more... we allow the illusion to dissolve on it’s own. You know, the podcast episode I keep listening to lately always reminds me of this. We can feel the emotions all day but we have got to practice the first principle: be still and know. We don’t have to keep identifying with the fears, doubts, or questions. Emphasis on questions. We all get carried away by our questions and it’s time for us to give them a rest. It’s one thing if you’re a true beginner with the law, but another if you’ve been learning for months and still questioning. Continuing to do so just keeps you stagnant. Like another anon said a while ago. Constantly feeling the need to look for answers manifests you... the need to look for more answers. lmao We often fail to see they are their own block, because for some reason, there is no one to change but self is too daunting. We much rather read all the day, try every new technique for a couple days to 2 weeks, and then wonder what else is out there. We avoid doing the consistent work within.

I say that these thoughts are from a poor conception of self because they are. If you saw yourself as always getting what you want, as things coming easily for you, as being God (even in the moments you don’t feel you are), etc etc... would you still be singing this same tune? No. And the thing is, it is so much deeper than basics affirmations. This post literally says it all. You cannot just affirm for self concept and be like “omg I affirmed for self concept and nothing changed!” Like you literally, quite literally feel a shift within you. Suddenly you can’t complain about certain things anymore, because despite anything else, you know within... you truly feel within, that things are a certain way for you now. You actually won’t feel the need for 3D validation and yet you’re easily getting 3D validation anyway. That’s not to say you won’t have human moments. But suddenly, you’re no longer attaching those moments to your ability to have what you want. You already have it in your inner world! You have felt it in consciousness and that’s where it counts the most. It’s a lot more easy to remember in those moments, to take a step back. You start to realize it’s okay to just be, to do what you need to do and feel what you need to feel and it has nothing to do with the success of your manifestation. It’s already yours, it’s been within you this entire time. You are literally your desires. That’s why you have them. Changing your self concept literally makes this approach not seem so scary. It becomes bearable and then easier with practice.

When it comes to ignoring the 3D, as usual, do what works for you. For me, ignoring the 3D is just about letting it be and trying my best to mind my own damn business. LMAO Unless it’s showing me something that aligns with what I want to be experiencing, I practice not mentally getting too involved. I don’t try to change it by force and sometimes I don’t even bother revising if it feels like I’m revising out of resistance. I just let it be and return to my inner world, because consciousness is the only reality. Sometimes this is easier said than done. Whatever. I know I only get better the more I persist and I know I don’t need to be some extreme idea of perfect to be successful. I am already perfect right now and so are you. If we were not already perfect for our desires, we wouldn’t have them. It’s us that keeps the experiences we desire out of view. So it’s also us who has to allow them into view.

So to sum this up in a shortened version, if we would all just take a moment to take responsibility for ourselves and realize there is no one to change but self... and really commit to a focus on our inner worlds, we will finally get to experience the change we want in the 3D world. I promise, if you would only make this commitment to yourself you will see firsthand how the law works inside, out. It’s not outside, in. Surrender to this truth and it will get easier.

Just know, you are not alone in this. For everyone reading this, all of our mental efforts will bear the most delicious fruit. We will live the lives we have always wanted to live. It is ours, now. 💖

[tricktster]

Hey, I'm just letting you know I noticed some of your posts have been reposted on facebook by "Just Sock Thoughts"

Yeah, I feel like I get my Premium Original Content scooped by aggregators pretty frequently, and for the most part I don’t mind (or like... just don’t see it because I can’t bring myself to actually get into Instagram). But there are two aggregator incidents that stand out in my mind as particularly remarkable:

Incident 1:

I’d probably have a much bigger head about the relative frequency that one of my posts takes off if I didn’t know that becoming an Extremely Minor Internet Personality is way less about making good content than it is about... random luck, I guess. 

Like, this is actually a sideblog (so for any of my longtime buddies on here who might be wondering why I’m not following you? I prooooobably am). At the time I made this sideblog (2015-2016?), I never thought it would pick up more followers than the 200 or so I had managed to coax into following my main blog over the course of four-ish years. 

I was wrong, this account rapidly accumulated followers, and now I get scooped by aggregators on the reg. And like... it’s not like I’m doing anything different on this one than I was doing on my main, other than obscuring my identity a little better? I’m not funnier here, I’m not changing my formula, it’s just that I got enough followers when I first made this sideblog (through my patented process of Writing Explicit Undertale Fanfic in the Hopes of Getting Enough Monetary Donations That I Could Afford To Eat) that now even though I’m just posting my own weird niche bullshit on here, the odds are stacked in my favor towards any one of my posts picking up a lot of notes. If I posted the same exact thing on my extremely obscure main? The odds swing HARD the other way. In the 3-4 years before I made the trickster account, I was lucky to break 10 notes on a post, and 500 was as high as any of them went. 

Except for one. 

You’ve probably seen the post I’m talking about. It’s surpassed my most popular trickster posts by like... several hundreds of thousands of notes. I’m not linking it here for two reasons: 

A) I never scrubbed all my selfies off my main and I don’t need all y’all discovering that I’m hot as hell, and more importantly 

B) the post in question fucking sucks. 

It’s like the lowest effort meme, it’s smug and annoying, and it basically reeks of the worst era of r/athiesm. It’s the sort of shit that gets popular on facebook groups that wish they were “I fucking love science” but can’t achieve the same degree of quality... even though it’s an extremely low hurdle for them to jump. It evokes the concept of a fedora. Whenever I see it on tumblr, I want to hop in a time machine, travel back to the 17th century, convince Matsubayashi Henyasai to take me on as a pupil, train under his tutelage until he declares that I have mastered my chosen weapon, hop back into the time machine, travel to 2013, infiltrate my old apartment, and finally, at the precise moment my former self is about to click “post” on that dumbass meme, destroy her mouse, laptop, and cellphone with an incredibly accurate barrage of shurikens. 

Still, like... while it makes me cringe to my very soul whenever I encounter it, there’s a tiny part of me that has spent the last eight years just BASKING in the validation of knowing that there are several hundred thousand anonymous people out there who think I’m funny. It is not an attractive part of me, but shit, I’m an Extremely Minor Internet Personality, and you don’t become that unless you’re in some way motivated by the approval of anonymous strangers.

I’m giving you all this backstory so you can understand the significance of something that happened last month.

There I was, innocently scrolling through my news feed to see how my Trumpy uncle was justifying the whole coup thing, when I came upon a familiar image. I recoiled in horror, and then examined it more closely.

The Coolest Guy I Knew In College But Never Succeeded In Really Befriending (Because I Was Too Intimidated By How Cool He Was) had just shared my smug, cringy-as-hell meme from 2013 on his wall... and the version he had shared had been not only watermarked by one of the aforementioned wannabe “I fucking love science” groups, but also had a copyright symbol on it next to the name of some dude I’ve never even heard of.

THE MAELSTROM OF CONFLICTING EMOTIONS IS STILL OVERWHELMING ME TO THIS DAY. I AM WINCING. I AM INDIGNANT. I AM REASSESSING WHETHER THAT GUY WAS ACTUALLY AS COOL AS I THOUGHT HE WAS. I AM WEIRDLY AMUSED. I AM EXTREMELY CONFUSED. 

I AM SUSPICIOUS THAT SOMEONE MIGHT BE MAKING MONEY OFF OF MY NONSENSE, AND IF SO, I WOULD LIKE MY GODDAMN CUT. 

...

i’m fine

i’m gonna be fine

Incident 2:

This really requires a lot less elaboration than the last one, but @anagha-draws brought this aggregator post to my attention and I just can’t stop thinking about the fact that there’s a guy out there who got paid some amount of actual U.S. dollars to write a book report about the time I accidentally played WAP for my mom’s book club. 

[catcze]

Hewo Catteeee~! This is onae anon again, and I just wanna say I am very close to that guaranteed Kazuha! Just 20 more wishes, I hope I get him! (Thanks for sharing btw)

Oh and people are discouraging me :|

I’ve been scrolling through suggestions channel in a server and people were telling me to not waste my efforts on kazuha…. The YouTube posts too!!! T*T

I hope you’re doing well~

- Onae anon

(P.S. I just realised that I didn’t follow you earlier…. Anyways, can I be ur one of your anonsss???? ^^)

Omg sorry I saw this a little late, but that's great!! OMg I hope you get him soon!!

Also, uh, regarding what you said abt people discouraging you abt rolling for Kazuha,,, So I kinda got carried away a bit, talking about how his kit works and how he is no way a waste;; so I just put it under the cut bc its kinda long kajsnd

But!! You totally shouldn't listen to them my love >:( roll for the characters you like and play them how you want to!! It's your game, so you should enjoy it!!

Also yes!! You can totally be one of my anons <33

Okayy, so for one, I think why people are underestimating Kazuha ––and this was brought up by people before–– is because he's more of a support/ sub DPS, kind of like Albedo (who people also underestimated and skipped, and are now regretting doing so.) Kazuha isn't meant to be a big damage dealer like Hu Tao, Xiao, or even Eula. His kit is optimized to play with a team that makes use of Elemental Mastery–– his C6 is the constellation that gives Kazuha more damage-dealing potential (and even then, it's not such a big jump) but to be honest, you can build him as a damage dealer even if he's C0, or just about any other role you'd like.

Unless you invest in him as your main damage dealer, his natural damage output alone isn't game-breaking, but if you put him in the right team with the right characters, he can literally fuck shit up. But if you invest into him in whatever role you'd like (as a sub DPS, support, burst unit, or a main DPS), Kazuha is honestly such a good character to use. Tbh I've been playing him ever since I got him yesterday, and I love him so much. Kazuha literally helped carry my team through Abyss 11, and if I build the rest of my characters a bit more, I'm sure that he'd be such a good asset on abyss 12 too. I've seen someone on twitter clear Abyss 12-1 (the one with the two big geovishaps) in 44 seconds because of Kazuha.

A lot of people compare him to Venti, and I can see why, but Kazuha and Venti's kit isn't as similar as people think it is tbh. Uh, I'm not gonna get into that bc this is long already, but Kazuha is genuinely a really good unit, whether as a damage dealer, support, or a burst unit, and the main reason why people don't like him is, frankly, a lot of youtubers and online suggestions aren't very fond of support units–– it always takes time for the masses to warm up to them. People didn't like Zhongli until he got his buffs, but now people are so desperate to get their hands on his shield. And Albedo? So far, he earned the lowest revenue during his banner at only 9(?) million from mobile players, in comparison to Zhongli's 16(?) mil, but now so many comments under anything the official accounts post has people begging for an Albedo re-run.

Listen, DPS units are good, okay, I'm not saying they're not, but most DPS characters are going to get powercrept one day. Mhy is always coming out with newer DPS charas with bigger multipliers and more optimized skills. Older DPS charas aren't as popular anymore (which, imo, is really unfair and not a wise choice since they still do a shitload of damage, but I digress) but if you look at it, support characters don't get replaced so easily. Like, think about it, Venti was the first ever limited 5 star that was released, right? And today, nearly a whole year, he's still regarded as one of the best characters in the game. Bennett and Sucrose are 4 star characters, but in those youtube vids, odds are they'll use their bursts to one-shot the bosses. And Mona, usually, is built more as a support than a DPS, but she's so integral to one-shot teams.

My point is, support characters are really, really valuable. Unfortunately, it takes people so long to see this–– usually, the characters' banners end by the time their potential is recognized. They're so overlooked just because they can't pop big numbers on their own, or because the character's builds are usually shit in their trials and give a bad impression, but one day people are going to regret not pulling for Kazuha dude.

Uh, TL;DR Kazuha is really really good, and I'm so passionate about the fact that people can't see that yet. Support units are very good, are are essential to make sure that your main damage dealer does big numbers, though you can run him as a damage dealer if you want to!! Point is, don't listen to other people and play him if you want to play him. Every character is a good character. Fuck the meta and tier lists, and those youtubers who discourage pulling for Kazuha just because they want clicks on their video. People who overlook pulling him now are going to be begging for his re-run one day.

[vertex-official]

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[localkatshelter]

Okame’s Underbelly: Anticipation |1st|

(Shinso x OC)

Katsumi's POV (localvillageidiot#0870) and Shinso's POV (hecker#8339)

Summary:

 Two people with a common passion meet unexpectedly during one of Shinso's lowest moments. He'd like to forget it ever happened but Katsumi has her own reasons for not letting it go. Through push and pull, they struggle to understand one another, regardless they can't keep away from each other.

Preview: 

| How long have I been staring at myself in the fucking mirror? My eyes look so dead...but don’t they always. I realized the extra lifelessness wasn’t due to my overall apathy or shitty eyeliner; it was due to them being red and puffy. That’s no good. I hurriedly searched through the cabinet for my eye drops. They were usually used for another purpose, but today, they’ll be used to disguise the fact that I had been crying. |

(Katsumi's POV)

My head fell forward for the millionth time as I struggled to stay awake for the last five minutes of my summer remedial science lab. Why does science have to be so boring? This fucking professor always lectures for the full three hours too. How could someone possibly have this much to say about chlorophyll? All I could do was watch the clock tick by until, finally, the class was dismissed. I gathered my things as quickly as possible and headed towards my dorm building. Throwing my things onto the kitchen table, I immediately started to strip and headed towards the bathroom. The silver lining in having to come to campus in the summer for my remedial class? Getting to move in early and having the whole suite to myself. I showered quickly and put on my typical Friday night attire: some broken-in mom jeans that I embroidered and had a friend paint on paired with a comfortable faded band t-shirt I had stolen from a partner I had long forgotten the name of, tucked and held in place with some old belt I fished out of a Good Will bin a few years ago. I hummed as I put on some clear lipgloss and touched up my hair. Perfect. I made sure to set out some dinner for my fat cat who was hiding somewhere in my bedroom, likely in my sheets. For a supposed emotional support animal, I never saw much of her unless she was in the mood to cuddle, which was usually at night.

“Harley, I’m going out. I’ll be back.” I called out.

She meowed from the bed in response. I grabbed my things from the table and tossed them into my bedroom before popping my headphones in and heading out the door. I was on my way to the only place that made my summer Fridays bearable: The Squeaky Wheelhouse.

After a short while, I walked up to a dark and disheveled, yet oddly charming, building. This was my hidden gem, the highlight of my college career, a place where artists gathered to share their work and critique the world around them without fear. Friday nights were open mic nights for spoken word poetry, which I didn’t think I would like until I heard Okame perform. Their words about the plights of the world of heroism and comic book celebrities brought to life really resonated with me. Most of their pieces were critiques on how heroes navigate their jobs and how they are treated by the government, the people, and each other. I admired the way they captured the duality of appreciating heroes for what they are while also not feeling a need to bow to them as if they were gods. It felt so real to me, especially because around the same time I first heard their work, I had started my photojournalism blog on a similar topic. It was really just a love project at first. I would take pictures of heroes in the heat of battle and use them to show how human they really are. Honestly, I'm not even sure if it was me or my quirk that had the idea first. My hyperempathology quirk sometimes had a mind of its own. It was always dragging me into situations that I had no business being in. I always ended up manipulating someone's emotions to make them feel better, which had positive and negative results. On the one hand, I was glad that I could make someone feel better. On the other hand, it made me feel like shit because not only did I manipulate someone’s emotions without permission; I also absorbed the negative emotions I had alleviated. In a strange sense, the blog was my own way of alleviating myself of what I had alleviated. I had never expected it to take off either, but there I was, a month later, still taking pictures of heroes in their most desperate and vulnerable state in an effort to humanize them. I kept at it because, well, they are people after all. They aren’t gods, they have emotions, but the way the media and the government build a hero’s image doesn’t allow for much expression. It’s unfair to them; it's as if they aren't allowed to be people anymore. I had always thought I was alone in that, but apparently, I’m not. My blog has a pretty decent following now, which I am super proud of. Although I’m pretty sure that a lot of people in the hero community despise or at least dislike me for basically being renegade paparazzi.

Oh well. No one knows it’s me who runs the blog. The closest anyone has ever gotten was when someone traced my IP address back to the college campus, but Kyoto University has upwards of 22,000 students enrolled. There’s no way someone would be able to find me out as long as I don’t use my personal electronics to post. Okame had also become a popular performer at the Wheelhouse and had a sort of residency time slot on Friday nights. It was weird, but I was proud of them too. I felt like we were similar, almost connected by our mutual views and creative outlets. On top of that, they used a pseudonym and a ghost performer just like I used a pen name and hid my IP address for my work. All of the aligning characteristics made me think we would get along if we ever met, but that’ll probably never happen.

I walked into the building, waving to the Friday night staff that I had gotten to know over the summer. I took a seat on a comfortable looking armchair near the back corner of the main room that had a decent view of the small performance stage. I opened up a book that I brought with me to read until the performances started. I ordered a large mint tea and settled in, anticipating Okame’s latest insight.

(Shinso's POV)

I had bitten my lips raw at this point. There’s no way it’s actually over. We’ve broken up so many times before, and we’ve always managed to hash it out. But this time felt different. She wasn’t returning my texts with curt responses. She wasn’t posting about me subliminally on her social media to piss me off. She didn’t show up at my house with the gifts I had given her and dramatically throw them at me. No angry voicemails. No tears. No nothing. The strangest part was that her last text wished me well, even though I ended it this time around. All of it almost felt like a real goodbye. But still, there’s no way.

I had to talk to her tonight to make sure. Throughout our whole relationship, despite our arguing, we never missed a Friday at The Squeaky Wheelhouse. That was our way to ease the stress from the strife of the week prior. No matter how mad we were, we would still begrudgingly sit together and enjoy the show. By the end of the night, we would always manage to soften towards each other once again. Even if my piece of the week was bitterly aimed at her, she still respected me enough to put my voice out there and perform it for me. That’s what I loved about her. She knew attention made me squeamish and vulnerability was definitely not my favorite pastime. I shared the document that contained today's piece with her. It was an apology. She could barely squeeze those out of me normally, so she had to know I was deadly serious this time around. I tried not to envision her reaction or dwell on whether or not she would even accept my apology because it made me so anxious that I wanted to jump out of my skin.

How long have I been staring at myself in the fucking mirror? My eyes look so dead...but don’t they always. I realized the extra lifelessness wasn’t due to my overall apathy or shitty eyeliner; it was due to them being red and puffy. That’s no good. I hurriedly searched through the cabinet for my eyedrops. They were usually used for another purpose, but today, they’ll be used to disguise the fact that I had been crying. Save those tears for later, Shinso. She’s seen me cry even less than she’s heard me apologize. Numbness was the best blanket I’ve ever had. But tonight, I’ll avoid covering myself up. I need to show her that I care because I’m known to fucking suck at it. After I applied the drops, I roughly ran my fingers through my torturously messy violet mane, exhaling heavily. I tried to dress up a little this Friday. I know it’s trivial, but I want to be my best for her tonight. My outfit was made up of my typical dark colors, but I dressed it up with a black jean jacket, chelsea boots, and a few bulky rings that she gifted me but were too cumbersome to actually wear. What makes them even more annoying is that I’ve been fiddling with them all evening to distract myself, and let me tell you, it’s not working. I have another hour until I have to leave; I need a better distraction.

I plopped myself down on my bed with my laptop and clicked on my “The Underbelly'' bookmark. I always loved the irony of this blog served as an escape but also as a merciless glimpse into reality for me. My leg bounced as the page loaded—no new posts. Shit...well, it has only been a couple of days. I thoroughly looked forward to the new content because the author and I are eerily like-minded as far as hero ideology. Sometimes I felt as if I wrote a few of the entries myself. They’re the only person that I felt connected to on a philosophical level, and finally having that was comforting, to say the least. It was a bit taboo to criticize heroes so harshly because it was easy to be labeled as ungrateful. I’ve personally always felt like a great way to show appreciation is to continuously try to improve a system that everyone relies on. I guess people just don’t like to make sense. Hero work is honestly one of the few things I actually cared about, and to see people be so dismissive really pissed me off. Then again, people don’t really know I feel this way. I try not to let people get into my head too much. That’s why I created my Okame persona. I wanted to get my views out there without making it about myself at all. I felt it didn’t really hold true to the purpose of my message, with the whole not making hero’s these god-like figureheads simply for doing what’s right. That and...I hate when people look at me for more than a few seconds. My searing glare usually fixed that right quick. Quickly getting over the minor disappointment, I closed my laptop. Well, I didn’t have another alternative distraction, so I decided to say fuck it and head to the kitchen for some liquid courage.

I downed about two shots of rum. I was taking the bus there anyway, so it’s not like it mattered. I checked my watch, 30 more minutes. I wracked my brain for something to alleviate the unbearable anticipation as I blankly stared at the bottle of rum. Oh! I could pick up her favorite soju. It’s super strong, so we usually reserve it for a day where we don’t plan to do shit else but enjoy each other's company. But I feel like if we’re gonna hash all the bullshit out, we might need to be generously buzzed. Liquor store it is. I adjusted my collar before I headed out the door.

I decided on four bottles of the grapefruit soju because she really likes tart flavors. She always made fun of me for liking the sweeter sojus, but I’ll let her think she has the better taste tonight. The drinks were hidden away in a plastic bag tucked under my feet. I tried to settle in my seat towards the back as I checked my watch again for the fifteenth time. It was now 5 minutes after the starting time. Guess both the show and my girlfriend(?) are running late. My hands automatically began scratching at the already chipped polish on my nails. She’s been uncharacteristically calm during this fight; I wonder if she’ll stay that way once she sees me.

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Alex ze Pirate Mini Review 5: Why I love One Piece and my final verdict

(Warning. Post contains initial geek out about One Piece that is meant to correlate to my opinion on Alex in general)

When I started this series of posts, one thing I asked myself was, how could I sum up my problems with the Sam story while also tackling some general issues with AzP without redundantly repeating major points of my previous posts.

… So I decided instead of giving a straight answer, I would first tell you how I came to fall in love with One Piece.

Around 14+ years ago, I began reading manga, with works such as Ranma 1/2, Pokemon and Dragon Ball being my starting point. You know, the average stuff everyone had read at some point. One Piece, already back then consisting of over 25+ volumes,  was only something a friend started to lend me and I read the first seven volumes, not really quite getting why it was that popular. I did not hate what I read, but there was nothing outright standing out to me the way the story was told that got to me. And then I hit the Arlong arc with volume 8 and onwards. While it was mostly the adventure of Luffy with his crew against Crocodile and his Baroque Corporation that totally sold me on the manga later on, the Arlong arc was what really got my attention. Seeing the character of Nami betray her friends, pieces of worldbuilding that would years later play a role and so much more, made me curious where things were going. Particularly, why Nami would betray Luffy. And when I reached chapter 77 to 81, where I got to read Nami’s backstory, how Arlong killed her adoptive mother in front of her eyes when she was just a little kid and Luffy declaring he was going to help her and her village, I was hooked. This was the first time in my life as a manga reader, I was not just entertained, I was emotionally invested. Because not only was Nami’s backstory genuinely saddening to me, but seeing Luffy determined to help her and the ensuing battles was exciting. Exciting because it truly showed to me, how awesome of a character this goofball with stretching powers really is. Not because he was physically strong, but because he was willing to do all of that for someone just “because” he considers that person a friend. Seeing Luffy not just beat up Arlong, but destroying everything this bastard had build on the suffering of the village and in doing so setting Nami free of the past that haunted her, because he cared for her as a person not in a romantic but platonic manner, was satisfying on so many levels.

 And ever since then Eiichiro Oda proved to me time and time again, even if he hits a bump in the road (seriously, fuck most of the Fishmen Island arc) he knows how to write a world that doesn’t just manage to be cartoonishly entertaining, but also filled with heartfelt moments, where true heroism is not defined just by physical strength, but the willingness of the main characters to help and care for each other and the people they meet across the journey. There are many stories out there where the power of friendship as a virtue, and the virtues it is build on are a theme. But in the world of shonen manga, One Piece for me is still the top.

 And Andrew Dobson’s Alex ze Pirate is the complete antithesis to everything Oda EVER created in One Piece.

 While One Piece has one of the most complex worlds I have ever seen in fiction, with Oda often times setting building stones for future story arcs years in advance (seriously, the thing with Brook and Laboon alone is worth mentioning) , Dobson can’t even bother to properly tell us in what part of the ocean Alex has her adventure or why there is a beaver dog thing walking around a bunch of humans.

 While One Piece has some gorgeous artwork and unique designs with an insane level of cartoonish detail, Dobson has some very generic designs and draws like a 15 year old girl that read Spirou and manga too much and now starts doing scribble artwork.

 While Oda draws chapters for over 20 years now, Dobson could not even bother to finish up the adventure of the crew getting properly together back in 2004, as only one volume was released.

 While One piece tells a story that defines the shonen genre for over a decade, Dobson tells stupid newspaper strip jokes that are not even interconnected much.

 While Oda’s Strawhats are the embodiment of the word nakama, Dobson’s characters only bring the following old saying to mind:

 With friends like this, who needs enemies?

 Bottom line, Alex ze Pirate is absolute garbage as a work of entertainment, particularly in the world of kids entertainment. It was so already long before Dobson wrote the three part story I reviewed in detail, but this story in my opinion was for anyone with a bit of brains the last nail in the coffin. Cause overall, this was likely Dobson’s last chance in his and the eyes of the readers.

 The last chance, because he was going to put all his talent as a writer and artist into this one story to prove his critics wrong; That he could tell an engaging and emotionally fulfilling story in a multi part story, longer than his 15 pagers. But like with everything else I have seen so far, he failed.

 He failed artistically, because damn does this not look even remotely professional compared to other professionally published work or even other silly webcomics like Cludscratcher or Housepets (which I highly recommend you to read).

 He failed as a storywriter, because instead of emotionally engaging and well paced, this shit is rushed, works more on “tell, don’t show” than anything else and really just magnifies the worst aspects of his characters and Dobson’s mean spirited humor in general. Cause this is not a tale where we feel like Sam genuinely has found a family and friends in Alex and her crew. It is the tale of Sam just accepting that he has nothing better going on in his life.

 He failed, because instead of actually putting care, effort and love for his characters and work into this, he likely just wanted to get it out and hope that just because he “put effort” into this more than usual, he would already get praise by default.

 And once this thing was out, all that happened was the following: Even more people realized what kind of hack he is, that this project was not going to be salvaged even if actual stories instead of strip based jokes are told and he misinterpreted the disinterest as reason to just completely give up, instead of trying harder.

 And as a result, even if Dobson still went on to do shitty redesigns and a few more pages for it, Alex ze Pirate soon after ended. Put into everlasting hiatus, where it joins such work as Pilote Candidate or Frank Millers All Star Batman and Robin.

 Dobson, if you ever read this, let me just say it how it is: You failing to make even the most basic story about people appreciating their friends, particularly when within the last decade there has been an entire fandom of manchildren out there that was build on a show with “Friendship is Magic” in the title, just shows how bad of a storyteller and creator you are. You shouldn’t have gone to college in order to become an animator, you should have joined fanfiction.net in order to get some basic understanding on how to even write. Cause your writing is so bad, it makes fanfiction look genuinely complex and thoughtful. Well that and you should perhaps go out and find genuinely friends and not just online supporters that mistake you for some persecuted innocent artist, when in reality you are just a toxic idiot who attempts to manipulate people so he can profit of them and their fleeting interest in his substandard comics based on the lowest common denominator cartoons.

 I wrap this review up. We will revisit Alex one day again, but for now, I just want to focus on something more positive. So within the next weeks, if I post something, I will try to make it focused on something NOT Dobson related. You know, stuff to genuinely enjoy. Till then, I just want to say thank you. Thank you @hypocricyofandrewdobson for reblogging my entries. Thank you to everyone who liked this, reblogged this or started to follow me because of it. I hope I managed to educate and entertain you all in a positive manner, without making myself come off too much like an assholish nerd with too many interests. Stay safe.

 And hey, if any of you has his own two cents on Sam, Alex or the others, even ideas how to make them genuinely better, I am always open.

 See ya.

[calliecat93]

Seriously though, the thing that annoyed me most about the Kelvin Timeline films is how is really did not understand Kirk, McCoy, or the Triumvirate dynamic. I don’t want to rant on the AOS films too much, they’re perfectly fine movies and being a newbie fan maybe I just don’t have the understanding of things tat I thought. But after spending two months watching all of TOS and loving it so much because of that dynamic... it just irks me. I know that reboots have to do things differently. Things have to change or you get an urban copy with no identity for value on it’s own. But at the same time, you have to understand that original property and put in the time and effort to make it work. Reboots like Ducktales 2017 worked because that effort was make. Reboots like The Powerpuff Girls 2016 failed because no effort was made at all. The AOS films made an effort, don’t get me wrong. But aside form Beyond, it just feel like they either didn’t understand how The Triumvirate and their respecitve dynamics worked and hwy it was so essential (and even then Beyond ain’t perfect int hat area) or decided that it was better to stick to pop culture interpretations despite those almost ALWAYS being exaggerations.

Kirk is a risk-taker and could be reckless and arrogant at times. But he was also perfectly level-headed and responsible as well, and no him being younger (if anything TOS said he was kind of a serious, overly studious person int he Academy so shouldn’t his arc be int he opposite direction?) or this being an alternate timeline (with the films doing NOTHING to explain/justify the changes the event that triggered it made) is NOT a valid excuse. This was the film going by the pop culture interpretaiton of Kirk. A reckless, arrogant, rebellious, womanizing idiot who has a heroic soul, but is a pain int he ass. Which sure it’s fun to joke about, but that is a shallow reaidg of James T Kirk. He was brave, responsible, charming, and VERY dedicated to his duty. Sure he’d go against Starflee’s orders sometimes, but he knew when to judge whenw as the time, hece hwy he needs Spock AND McCoy with him. He needs the logical half (Spock) and the emotional half (McCoy) to find the balance. To make the right choice. Sometimes it may be best to be logical. other times it’s best to be emotional. Sometimes it’s a combo of the two. But Kirk had the ability to take those options and make the right choice and f he makes the wrong one, find a way to make it right. Sometimes it meant going against Starfleet’s orders, sometimes he abided by it. Sometimes he could be rational, other times his emotions or circumstances got the better of him. But regardless, this was a man who proved over and over why he is a Starfleet Captain and one of the best. AOS Kirk got there eventually, but... let’s just say that he never should have gotten that captain chair in 2009.

McCoy has always pretty much ben given the shaft compared to Kirk and Spock since the former is the main character and the latter is the breakout character. Event he TOS movies are guilty fo sidelining him, though at least those tried to keep him involved. TOS is guilty of it too, but they also put a lot into his character even if not everything made it onto the screen. My point is... what is McCoy’s role aside from Chief Medical Officer? He is the one who gets Jim to took at the emotional/human aspect of situations. He is the who challenges Spock and his repressed emotions. If Spock is concerned about the needs of the many, McCoy is the one concerned with the few or the one left behind. He’s a doctor. A psychologist. A caretaker. It’s his JOB to look after the well-being of everyone especially Kirk physically, mentally, and emotionally. Essentially, he is the opposite of Spock. Spock is the logical one. The big picture person. The one whose roll is to keep Kirk on task and remind him of what’s truly at stake depending on their success or failure. He’s not emotionless, but logic will be what he leans towards first unless certain circumstances forces him otherwise. They are the opposite ends of the spectrum. Because AOS made Kirk the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Spock, McCoy loses his roll nor does he take up being the balance between the two ends. Essentially Kirk and Spock have to sort it out on their own, which... well if you read my watchthrough post you know I didn’t care for how it was done. McCoy’s part was sorely missing. He was just...t here. he filled the sarcastic best friend spot well, don’t get me wrong and he DID feel like McCoy because Karl Urban is a great actor who cared about what he was doing. But the narrative clearly didn’t feel the same way.

Here’s what I think, and again as a newbie fan maybe I just don’t have the proper understanding. I apologize for that. But TOS was at it’ best, imo, when these three were together. They were great on their own. Their respective broken up dynamics (Kirk and Spock, Spock and McCoy, McCoy and Kirk) were all also great. But went they were together? Even during the show’s lowest points, they were at their best. heck Final Frontier, while NOT a good movie, was enjoyable because of these three being together and doing their thing. Sure TOS might not gave given McCoy the attention he deserved and maybe Kirk and Spock hogged too much of the attention due to their main character (and Shatner’s ego) and being the most popular character respectively which affected EVERYONE else, not just Bones. But you can tell when the writers realized what they had with The Triumvirate, and they took advantage of that. I can only speak for myself but while I was liking ST TOS alright, it was near the end of S1 when they began focusing more on these three with the finale seeming to be when it truly clicked into place that I went from liking it to becoming a fan. Because the dynamic was just that good.

AOS just... didn’t seem to get it. Beyond did, but even then they spend most of the movie part so it can’t really shine fully. Now they are films. They get two hours a piece at most. TOS had an hour runtime, but got over 20 episodes a season and six films. It had PLENTY of hours to form and showcase the respective characters, relationship dynamics, and the three together. But tbf again, the films were made when TOS was about 40 years old. But they ultimately decided to go how they did, and it just... missed the mark. Kirk wasn’t Kirk and given McCoy’s most emotional traits without his common sense. McCoy lost hi importance and relegated to side character. Spock... honestly he got it the best of the three, through given a LOT more unnecessary angst when his TOS story already gave him everything he needed to be sympathetic and relatable. Seriously, Amanda dying still pisses me off especially HOW she died. But he at least maintained his role and played it mostly well. The dynamic that made TOS so great was broken, and I highly doubt that was the big change that was supposed to signal how this timeline is broken. Which, sorry to say this, but it is just an easy excuse for whatever changes are made without having to put the work in to justify it. Which when it comes to reboot, is one of my biggest issues.

Again, I don’t mean to bash the AOS films. I don’t hate them. I liked watching them. It took a bit but the characters did grow on me. Whether it continues or not, there is potential in it and I can see fanon getting very creative with it especially because there’s so much that allows so much creative freedom. Plus they DID bring this era of Star Trek back to popular conscious, hence why Spock has likely been brought back in Discovery and soon Strange New Worlds. But I just feel so... annoyed by it because it took the thing I loved most about TOS, and cowered away from it. I was so excited to see these three together again after being so sad when I finished TOS, and it just... wasn’t there. I expected it to be different, not essentially non-existent. But ah well, guess I have fanon at least. I can only hope that if this reboot continues or a new one emerges, they will do better there. Because I want to see them again and it’s okay fi they’re different form TOS. I just want those differences to come with the understanding and respect of what came before. And AOS, at least int his area, did not until it was arguably too late. It’s not even close tot he worst reboot I’ve ever seen though and like I said, Beyond showed signs of hope. But only time will tell if they lead to anything.

[autumnstwilight]

An anonymous discussion on monetizing fanfic which makes a lot of good points and I’m holding onto for the next time it comes up.

(I’ve got nothing against people who do monetize their fic, but I dislike the pressure/guilt-tripping/social-justice framing many of the discussions in favor of paid fanwork have).

>>>Do you think the lack of monetization in fanfic is preventing newer writers and different stories from being told?

When has monetization and commercialization ever led to a more diverse, innovative creative output? People who are writing with an eye to monetization or pull-to-publish aren't going to be the people writing weird experimental fic, or obscure rarepairs, or wildly improbable AUs that somehow work, they are going to write the same popular derivative fic of megafandom juggernauts as everyone else, because that's where the money and the audience is. And, like, that's fine if people want to do that! There's nothing wrong morally suspect about writing fun romance fic for a big audience if that's what you enjoy doing in fandom. But let's not pretend that monetizing that is some heroic effort to democratize fandom. One of the best things about fandom is that there is pretty much no barrier to entry. You can write the weirdest, most niche fic on the entire planet, you can write it about a canon only two people in the world have ever seen, you can write it entirely in emoticons, and you can put it online right now. It may not be popular, you may not get a million comments/kudos/twitter followers out of it, only a few people may read it, but there is no gatekeeper telling you not to write it or not to put it on AO3 if you really want to. Monetization would not make that better. 

>>>This is pretty much why I don't want fic monetization to be the norm. So much already ugly wank and discourse is prompted by fic and fic related jealousy. Imagine if money was brought into the mix. 

>>>I can see the basic logic that this would invite in those who are forced to monetize their every waking hour. The people who espouse this view imagine that being paid to write fanfic will allow people to immediately swap out extra retail/food service shifts, delivery, driving, or Mechanical Turk-type work for writing time instead. They then assume that there will be more diverse and innovative output because these people who previously didn't have time to write as an unpaid hobby will have time to write as a paid job. This ignores the fact that when it's a paid job, these people will not be writing the innovative works of their heart. They'll be writing what a more financially secure class of people want to read - if they're competitive enough in the right market out the gate to start making money immediately. It also ignores the more crucial thing here: that the way to encourage diversity and innovation in creative hobbies isn't to turn them into jobs, it's to ensure that everyone has both enough money to live on and enough leisure time in a week to pursue creative endeavours for free. Anything else is just a new thing to pay for.

>>>Frankly, I think encouraging people to ask for money for their fic is doing them a disservice, because the vast, vast majority of people will not make anywhere near even minimum wage for the amount of time they put in. They will be wasting time they could have spent doing something that would have made more money *or* writing a story that they would have fun with.

>>>If anything, money would make writers shy away from anything that could be seen as unappealing or controversial and cater to the perceived lowest common denominator. Of course lots of authors chase kudos even now, but it'd still be different if they were losing actual money by writing that unpopular ship or kink. It would make people ditch unpopular fandoms altogether.

>>>Somehow "creative professionals have a right to ask for fair compensation for their labor and not work on spec/accept starvation wages for the love of the medium" has morphed into "all creative expression requires monetary compensation." Like, I enjoy carving little wooden squirrel figures and it takes hours of labor. I have a right to charge whatever price I want for them, but if no one wants to buy them at that price, the "system" isn't screwing me over.

>>>I personally want the people reading my stories to be fellow fans and potential friends, not customers who see me as a service provider (and who, having paid for my services, have a say in shaping the form those services will take), so I have zero interest in trying to monetize my fic. If other people want to sell their writing, more power to them, but doing so necessarily changes the dynamic with readers in a way I suspect they're not all prepared for. For example, once you've monetized, you don't get to pout about readers not commenting on your stuff anymore -- they've already paid for access, that's a comment in of itself! Negative reviews are also fair game once you're offering your content for a fee (not that they can't also be left on fic, but in the fic world at least they're often seen as rude).

>>>I agree with all nonnies in this thread but I'd also add that it would likely actively stifle marginalized fans. I can sort of see OP's logic - privileged people with leisure and a steady income have more time to write fic, but if fic was paid, everyone would have an equal chance, etc. And for the first few months, this might work out. People desperate for money would write a lot of fic. People struggling to get by would give up their current side hustle and focus on fic. A few new working class BNFs would emerge. But inevitably, the same thing would happen as in the world of pro blogging and cheap genre fiction. Competition would grow. People with more money for marketing would start earning more. Brand development, market analysis, BNF status retainment would become the only certain way to make a living. Impoverished fans would have to make do with ghostwriting, or they'd have to try to develop a virally pitiable persona. Comfortable fans with a steady income and lots of leisure would still get most of the attention. They'd even sincerely believe they deserve all of it. And fandom wanks would become a thousand times more vicious because there's financial incentive. And like always, marginalized creators would be the most vulnerable (except for the lucky few, mostly the rich ones, who successfully built their personal brand on their identity).

[monkeydluffy19920]

Respond: Is Sanji a pervert?

In reference to/inspired by [x] @cruising-on-pirate-dreams

It’s always been an interesting topic to see how people interpret Sanji’s character, in general. Usually, if he is not liked in fandom, he is seen as a hardcore pervert who thinks nothing more than that and all the arguments are based on his will to peep women and his nose bleedings. Then, there are other thoughts, that consider that his ero- kappa side is partly an exaggerated gag made by Oda-sensei.

Ever since the beginning, it's been fun to ponder the reasons behind the characters’ behavior and Sanji is not an exception. Actually, he was one of the characters I didn’t completely like in the beginning, because back then, during the elementary school, it was hard to understand why would someone fall in love with (almost) every lady they meet. Then slowly his characteristic started to open more to my blind eyes and the more I saw the soft side of Sanji and how much he puts effort on his friends, the more reasonable it was to see why he is so popular among fans. It seems like the hate he gets is mostly because people pay attention to his lust-side and examine it only from one point of view.

There was a very interesting analyze written by @cruising-on-pirate-dreams about Sanji’s personality and tendency to be called pervert. In comparison, the fellow fan used Absalom and there were good points to be lifted up:

Absalom without a shame used his devil fruit skills to lurk on both Nami and Robin and never gave a rat’s eye whether Nami or Robin liked his forceful style to approach them. Both of them were clear objects to him that he licked and touched without permission, he even said openly that he likes Nami more because she is weaker in his eyes and later he kidnapped her and made her unconscious so he could marry her by force.

Sanji has a tendency to put himself into the submissive position, especially when it comes down to interacting with women. Yes, of course, he has this “I need lady~!”-kind of side but it’s remarkable how the more familiar/closer the woman is, the more submissive he actually is, in other words, he never puts himself above the ladies, especially when it comes down to interacting with Nami and Robin.

Before the Whole Cake Island arc was published, I’ve written in Reasons to love Mugiwaras - Sanji - post that I actually do believe that despite the reputation and what he gives out of himself in public (being tough and ladies man), deep inside he is actually very broken and vulnerable and once more of his past was revealed after the time skip, the more sense all the headcanons and speculations started to become logical.

The flashbacks in the Baratie arc showed that he was on edge of dying after the shipwreck which gave a little pieces of information about him but after the Germa66 and Sanji’s links into it were revealed, it was even more clear that he indeed had a terrible and traumatic childhood and suffered from great amounts neglection and abuse by his biological family until he escaped. The new supplement/update of the background story finally gave a further and more detailed explanation of why Sanji doesn’t see self-worth in himself and always puts others in front of him. He has put himself under the target line for his nakamas many times without caring how his own life and his dreams of finding All Blue would be thrown into waste if the worst-case scenario happened.

Thankfully, there was someone from the family standing by his side and therefore Sanji grew very close to his mother. Unfortunately, she passed away early due to the illness (that actually protected Sanji to become an emotionless killing machine like his brothers) and then he was again left all alone in his personal hell.  Sora’s death might’ve left a certain gap in his heart. Perhaps the reason he treats women kindly (especially the ones he really adores) has roots in Sora’s way to support Sanji and maybe inside his core, he decided to continue sharing her mother’s legacy of kindness. He might appear like a tough guy who swears like a sailor but only the fact that he has saved an enemy from starvation tells that Sanji truly has a heart of gold, just like Sora.

It’s highly likely that behind the scenes and below the surface,  Sanji could be actually looking for similar acceptance and unconditional love he got from his mother. But why then do all that ero-kappa stuff and womanizing when being around women? Mainly I still believe that it’s a continuous character gag just like Zoro’s poor sense of direction or Nami’s greediness but somehow it feels that there might be logical reasons behind this behavior.

Of course, it’s easy to interpret and only think that he is just a lustful pervert from the fact that his locker is full of girl magazines and that especially during the crew’s reunion after the time skip when it felt like Sanji couldn’t control himself with his nose bleedings.

However, if one takes a look to past 20 years One Piece has existed, it’s remarkable to see how much Sanji actually does pay respect to women, especially towards his crewmates. He doesn’t only give compliments on their appearance (i.e how cute they look) or use polite suffixes (”chan” and “san”) while communicating with them, he also praises openly and sincerely their skills and how strong they are. So, it’s obvious that Sanji definitely sees more than just their bodies.

Then to body swap, what @cruising-on-pirate-dreams wrote as well in another post. It’s easy to be seen that Sanji was happy that Law happened to swap his and Nami’s bodies and yes, he took peeks and adored the body features. However, because of this ero kappa-gag, one perspective is easily being left out of the spotlights (if readers didn’t pay enough attention): He did take good care of Nami’s body and he was aware how his actions can affect on her body and reflected on them many times. He smoked in her body but felt bad for doing that. Now it could be easily argued: “If he cares about Nami, why did he smoke in the first place?” but the answer is simple, he is a chain smoker and besides, Nami herself did give him the permission and the cigarettes in Punk Hazard.

Well, despite Nami’s warnings, he did take her jacket away when she wasn’t looking but he had a good reason (Kinemon’s torso was underwater and he happened to be the best swimmer out of the options) and besides, he apologized, just like he apologized for harming her lungs with his cigarettes. He also kept constantly worrying whether the diving would be too much for Nami’s body under the circumstances.

So, if Sanji really does only see Nami as a sexual object he wouldn't have feel an urge to apologize for things he did when their bodies were swapped. If she’d only matter to him for lustful reasons and for good looks, he could have taken the advantange on her by taking everything away and do more exploring (if he was alone) but he didn’t because obviously, they were busy solving the mess Caesar made but mostly, (putting aside the comedy-reasons) he knows that going further would have been way too disrespectful and would have violated their nakamaship (and would be against the fact that he has protected her purity back in Thriller Bark and tried to avoid to stain her) especially if he later got caught somehow and it would anyway make no sense if he wanted to hurt her in any way intentionally. 

So, at least for me especially Punk Hazard was an arc that proved that despite the comedy, Robin and Nami are clearly not objects for Sanji and although he surely has felt some lust towards them, he respects the boundaries treats them well and speaks with much softer tones to them and even uses certain suffixes while addressing them. 

Someone asked the reasons behind the suffixes and whether there are any deeper meanings  Oda’s response was that he was basically inspired by his older staff members who wanted to be treated as they were younger. Zeff taught Sanji chivalry and perhaps this detail of the story was really based on Oda’s real life.

Back to the previous topic, why is Sanji portrayed as a pervert? Well, mainly for sure to make balance with comics on heavy storylines and because being interest in opposite-sex openly seems to be part of who he is but then thinking below the surface, what if those wild nosebleeds and dreams about peeping women are all actually just a mask of him? Yes, he does have a crush easily on women he meets and flirts with them but what if there is more than that?

Actually, one of the headcanons I’ve had for years is that Sanji has experienced a traumatic loss that has given him the deep fear of losing the others he holds dear (and that’s why he'd be so sacrificial) and Whole Cake Island sort of supported that thought. It can be possible that because he was strongly bullied by his siblings and despised by his own father (being called a weakling and so on), this all has stained his self-confidence below zero for good and it still will take time to see that he is worthy. Hopefully, Luffy’s words back in Baratie and the retrieval team’s efforts and experiencing his lowest point before the tea party opened his eyes for good and gave his character the chance to grow.  

Like many fans agree, the only place where Sanji has complete confidence is anywhere that is related on his profession, cooking because Zeff convinced that the “chibi-Nasu” really does have potential in becoming a chef, otherwise, he can be surprisingly insecure although he doesn’t show it up openly, perhaps he hides it with this kind of actions.  On top of that, Zeff raised Sanji to respect women so if he really was a pervert and didn’t care about what his foster father taught, then perhaps he would act more like Absalom. However, (again setting the comical aspects aside), I think Sanji himself knows where to cross the line when it really comes down to women. Most likely Zeff wouldn’t approve if Sanji really thought that women are just objects of lust and Sanji probably doesn’t want to disappoint (even unconsciously) someone who saved him from certain death and raised him as his own child. 

Only Oda-sensei knows completely his character and knows the answers but Sanji’s behavior makes me wonder that what if actually at some point he has created kind of an “alter ego” to protect himself? What if he built himself a personality full of confidence so no one would see that deep inside, there is a fragile boy and a wounded man? Well, this is all just speculation so it’s hard to say whether there is any truth behind these thoughts or not but shortly said, Sanji is a great character and there are definitely reasonable reasons for his behavior, in general. However, he indeed is stuck in these ero kappa- gag and it’s sometimes a shame indeed that some (potentially shippy) moments are ruined by those weird faces or when he goes too lustful but on the other hand, it might be just Oda’s way to keep the series’ focus on the main points instead of romance

It’s really hard to believe that Sanji would actually be a pervert as in the term is officially described but once again, it’s all about interpretation. However, if one takes a closer look to the comparison between Sanji’s and Absalom’s interest in Nami (and other women) and comparing it to the facts of what perversion is in terms of human behavior,  it can be easy to tell that out of these two, Absalom is the true pervert.

[hhinsectmafias]

Saint Just, the vivid image of a blue rose that after having received several blows and cuts, always stands erect, standing, showing itself beautiful and invincible, proving to be capable enough to lead the number one gangster group of all hell with determination and effort, improving the former headquarters of her father with a much larger and more elegant. However, there are never enough members. Are you ready to be part of the court?

- DESCRIPTION:

Butterfly's mafia besides handling illicit businesses such as drugs, weapons, etc. It handles very important business and investments with any means of hell, making ties and pacts with other business groups. However, having more than 90% of fertile territories in its domain, its main objective is the export of its own brand of perfume made from blue roses and other delicate flowers that captivate any inhabitant, achieving great fame and popularity .

- JOBS:

They are of a lot of variety, but all are basically divided into four groups within the mafia:

MARQUES: They are the closest members to the main leaders (who are Saint Just and her father Phillip) work in important positions as managers or business leaders of the most recognized companies in hell, they even live and have their own room in the great mansion of Saint Just.

KNIGHT: They fulfill a fundamental role, they are in charge of protecting and caring for the floral territories, either as gardeners, or for the export of the products, making the trips safe and without signs of sabotage by any enemy.

GANGSTER: They are the ones in charge of dirty work. Did any company borrow money and did not return it or dare to betray stealing from the family? Then you better not receive a white rose stained in blood. To this group belong murderers, thugs, etc., whose job is to teach those destitute. They also can work as bodyguards for marquises.

ASSOCIATE: It is the lowest rank of the mafia. As the name itself says, they are only familiar with the mafia, but not directly with the family as a marques. They are responsible for gathering information on some advantage in which to invest or to collect money borrowed from other people.

- RULES: 

Be loyal, love and respect the main leader, your majesty Saint Just, as well as obey the mandates of the main leaders of each rank. In this way you demonstrate your absolute fidelity.

You need to have the tatoo.

Once you have been part of this mafia, there is no going back. No other of the three mafias will be able to receive you.

Do not make exchanges or close deals without Saint Just being aware, she will always have the last word on her links.

Do not reveal the secrets and strategies of the group.

Do not commit treason, or you will be expelled.

If you have a friend from a rival group, they should only be that ... FRIENDS.

- TREASON:

Is practically considered treason if you disobey any of the mafia rules, but the worst betrayal is when you break rule number 7. Currently the three mafia groups are in a kind of cold war, proving to be better than others in certain aspects. Why not resort to sabotage, wars, murders, etc.? Simple, the answer is in the younger sisters of each leader of each mafia, who despite belonging to different mafias they are very close, like sisters, which led the leaders to be more considerate at that point. It is permissible to only have friendly, but not romantic, relationships, because there is a risk that secrets of each mafia will be revealed. If any member discovers your betrayal, you and your partner will not have a happy ending.

- SECRET LOVE 💖:

"Hidden love is the prettiest of all," said a sage.

No human being is perfect, and for that reason we are in hell. It is impossible to deny what your heart tells you, love that person very intensely and do not let it go. The representatives of each rank are the ones who are in charge of patrolling the city daily, verifying that each of its allies does not break any of the rules. But every person always sins of a failure. So don't give up, there are ways to love in secret!

- INITIATION RITUAL:

Whether joining to be a Marquis, a Knight, Gangster or Associate, everyone follows the same initiation ritual, which is not complicated. Once you've chosen what rank to join. All members meet in the main hall. Where you will approach her majesty Saint Just and she will deliver you a Blue Rose, as a welcome sign to this great family. From that moment on you are owned by the mafia.

- CREATION OF YOUR MEMBER:

With all this explained, are you ready to join?

If you want to include any oc within the mafia, you must make the following table of information, Saint Just needs to know everything about your oc to fully trust in it.

Your oc doesn’t need to be a butterfly to be part of the mafia, it can be what you want! Maybe a butterfly, a spider or a moth! Or if you prefer a plant, a animal, maybe a goblin with powers?) Use your imagination as much as you want! But remember! It has to have a moderate elegant appearance without being so wild or aggressive. Afther all those points, you have to complete the next table :

- Name:

- Age:

- Height:

- Gender:

- Sexual Orientation:

- Cause of Death:

- Mafia: 

- Job: (If your oc is going to be a Marques, a Knight, a Gangster or an Associate, you need to put it here)

- Abilities:

- Personality:

- Likes:

- Dislikes:

- Other data of interest:

- Secret Love: (Optional) (If your oc has any secret relationship with any oc of any of the enemy mafias, you must mention it and label the creator)

As I said before all mermbers need to have the tatoo of the mafia. You can use it on a piece of clothing in full view of everyone or in any part of your body where everyone can see it.

That would be all, You can start to create your ocs!

If you already have any oc that you want to join, you must also complete the table

Ask first in my ask box or in private message before join an oc to the mafia or if you want to solve any doubt.

Soon I will post the description of Spider’s and Moth’s mafia.

PLS Support me with your like and reblog for more people to join in >:’D

Thanks for all your support QvQ 💙

[pinkdogplushie]

Sanders Sides Headcanons: animal traits and the concept of "darkening"

Anyone who likes Sanders Sides and doesn't live under a rock knows that the Dark Sides possess animal traits and motifs. Let's see:

Janus's animal is the snake. It's quite clear just by looking at him: half of his face is covered in scales, one of his eyes is snake-like, a two-headed snake is his symbol, etc.

Remus's animal is the octopus. This is not as obvious as with Janus, but his symbol features octopus tentacles and his costume has green octopus-like details.

Virgil is the spider. While this hasn't been shown on the show, it's a popular fanon, and there's plenty of fanart of Virgil with spider traits (multiple eyes, spider legs, fangs etc.). Aside from that, spider imagery tends to be seen around Virgil: his room is full of spider webs, he has a (toy) pet spider, his curtains have spiders printed on them, he hisses, etc.

However, recently we've seen that animal traits are not exclusive to Dark Sides: Patton, in a great moment of stress, transformed into a giant frog. While this was just to keep with the running gag of Patton's love for Frogger, it's also the first time we've seen a Light Side explicitly taking animal traits. Nevertheless, we must analyze the context where these traits were revealed.

Which takes us to the concept of "darkening".

To discuss darkening, we must see what exactly is a 'dark' Side.

Dark doesn't mean "evil", or at least not irredeemable evil. All Sides mean well and want to help Thomas or get more recognition. Yes, even trash boi Remus.

What dark means is "counterproductive". Even if they mean well, Dark Sides don't seem to help Thomas; or at least, not in an obvious way.

Janus wants Thomas to take care of himself, and that's a noble endeavor; but he still prefers sabotage and manipulation to being upfront with his intentions and helping straightforwardly, which led to Thomas making bad decisions and being confused by his actions. It was only when Janus was actually honest and worked with the other Sides instead of against them that Thomas finally understood what he was trying to do and the others (sans Roman and Virgil) felt more at ease with him around.

Remus wants Thomas to acknowledge the dark parts of himself and be more risqué with his creative content; but he doesn't understand that the reason Thomas doesn't want to acknowledge the thoughts Remus produces is because they disturb him, and it's not that he doesn't want to delve into more "edgy" stuff, but he'd rather approach them from a more serious and philosophical angle. Thomas (both Sanders Sides Thomas and real life Thomas) doesn't shy away from discussing mental health issues, showing the impact of a religious upbringing in a person's moral code, researching topics like intrusive thoughts and the ambiguity of selfishness, or even showing himself and his friends (and Leslie Odom Jr.) dying in the name of being 'altruistic'. Remus just doesn't understand that, and that probably has to do with the fact Roman took King Creativity's moral compass when the Moral Split happened, resulting in Roman being mindful of people's sensibilities and Remus being completely amoral.

Finally, Virgil, prior to reconciling with Thomas and the Light Sides, only wanted to protect his charge, and still does; but acting antagonistic and scaring all the others so they'd pay attention to him only worked against him: Logan didn't understand him, neither Janus nor Remus took him seriously, and Thomas and Roman resented him for doing his job. Sure, most of the blow came from the others not really appreciating Virgil or making the effort of understanding his actions, but part of it - as he himself admitted - was Virgil acting scary so he would be listened to. The moment Thomas actually understood his function and accepted him just the way he is, Virgil eased up and started to relax around the others, leading his input to be seen as helpful and he himself to try and keep a more friendly stance towards the others.

So, having established that, to Sides, being dark is being counterproductive towards the charge (Thomas), we can say that "darkening" is the process of a Side accidentally or deliberately being unhelpful to the point Thomas is badly hurt, at least from their perspective. Darkening is a corruption or bastardization of a Side's core function caused by incredible stress and confusion: when a Side doesn't know what to do anymore, when everything they do or say is wrong, their own domain of thought turns against them and transforms them into an extreme version of themselves.

Darkening is like a Steven Universe corruption or magical girls witching out: despair, stress and confusion warp a Side's mind until they don't know who they are anymore, and their state of mind is reflected in their physical form.

Which brings us back to animal traits.

Because what happens when Patton finally has enough and refuses to listen to more moral dilemmas?

He gains animal traits, just like 'dark' Sides have. He becomes unhelpful, useless (from his own perspective). Patton darkens in that moment. Darkening is a fall from grace.

You know who else become animal-like when they fall from grace?

Christian demons.

That's right, folks: Remus is not the only one who reflects Thomas's Catholic upbringing. Subconsciously, all Sides are bound by religious beliefs, and these affect them when they're at their lowest. Patton, being the one who received and internalized the Catholic moral code when Thomas was growing up, is the first to show how 'falling from grace' affects a Side's physical form.

When an angel falls and becomes a demon, they gain animal traits to reflect their more violent and primal nature (ignoring the fact many of these demons had actually been Pagan deities before Chistianity took them and turned them into incarnations of evil). This also comes (at least, according to Good Omens, I don't know much of real-life demonology) with a change of name. Fanon gives different names to Light Sides's dark versions: @parano-vigilant-snake-boy, in response to my "King Creativity Rex" theory, called dark! Roman Burnout.

So, in short, when a Side (again, and I cannot stress this enough, from their point of view) fails to live up to Thomas's needs, they fall from his grace. They turn from guardian angels to demons and adopt the traits of such. They darken. Those who never believed themselves to be angels in the first place, like Janus, Remus and Virgil, adopt the traits from the get-go. It must also be noted that the animals that the Sides adopt are regarded as demonic or spooky, such as snakes, octopuses and spiders.

With all this said, what would other Sides' dark forms be if they believed they've fallen from grace?

Patton, as seen, takes on frog traits. Frogs, or rather toads, have been regarded as demonic animals: one of demon king Bael's forms is that of a toad. It probably has to do with their rather unpleasant appearance. There's a post here on Tumblr (I don't remember the author, please tell me if you're it or know who it is) that says that some frogs have heart-shaped pupils, which suits our sweet boi Patton. His name, based on his extreme, insane altruism and to keep with the religious themes, would be something along the lines of Martyrdom.

Logan takes on owl traits. This has been already explored in @parano--vigilant reverse au. The owl is considered an animal of wisdom: one of the goddess Athena's atributes was the owl, and the character of Owl in Winnie the Pooh is supposed to be wise (but kinda falls short). However, the owl has also been considered a demonic animal: Great Prince of Hell Stolas was depicted in the Ars Goetia as a crowned owl with long legs. In the Middle Ages, certain types of knowledge, like medicine and astronomy (the latter of which Logan adores) were forbidden because they were 'demonic' in nature. So, in a certain way, the owl also represents forbidden knowledge, and being a creature of the night only adds to the spookyness. Logan would relate a lot to the owl, given the others often don't want to listen to him or don't like what he says because it's the cold, hard truth. His name would probably be something along the lines of Forbidden or Secret Knowledge, if anything to reflect an attitude of 'I know something that you don't' or 'I could tell you but I don't want to'. His owl imagery might also be related to Thomas's love of Disney and based on the character of Owl.

Roman takes on goat and/or ram traits. Not only are these common traits for demons (including Lucifer himself), but goats also represent the wild, untamed and lustful side of humanity. Fauns and satyrs, for example, were half-goat mythological creatures that spent their time chasing women and accompanying the god of hedonism himself, Dyonisus. Roman is Thomas's passionate and fanciful side who likes to indulge and enjoy the pleasures of life, as well as the most romantic and the most concerned with courting Thomas's crushes. Besides, you need to be pretty extra to give yourself goat and/or ram horns. His name would vary depending on how rejection affects him: he could turn into Wrath or Revenge if he lets his more fiery side take hold, or he could turn into Burnout if he finally gives up and refuses to help Thomas anymore after his charge seemingly betrayed him.

The Orange Side has been headcanonned around as a butterfly. Depending on his nature, this could go two ways: if he's an independent Side, then he would be a moth, keeping up with the spoopy theme; if he turns out to be King Creativity/Rex (please visit the post with my theory of who the orange Side will be), then he would probably be a butterfly, the animal of metamorphosis (reflects how Rex is the fusion of Roman and Remus) and a 'pretty', flashy counterpart to the rather drab moth, reflecting how extra the Creativitwins are and how detached from both the Dark and Light Sides he is (because he's a mix of both, he gets to pick an animal, like a Dark Side, but he gets a non-demonic or spooky one, suited for a non-darkened Light Side).

Hoo wee, that was a long one. This might be just baloney, but please tell me what you think. If you've made it this far, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I spent a lot of time in this theory.