#might make some separate posts with the different fandoms?? maybe??

[allthecastlesonclouds]

me when art ! (featuring: some applebees for @rrat-king, a llarm alasa for @nauticalastro, chungledown bim+upchungle for @parkerpresentz, and a very sweet anna log for @tsisisail! plus my National Butch Day drawings and some other ones to fill the pages :D)

[biancadoes1]

I have a very long theory about the timeline and also L’s friends and family and what they know/knew while it was happening, and why things may have played out they way they did. (Not anything that violates their privacy, just some speculation about how things could have gone down that I think explains some things.)

I have been thinking most of this for a while, but that anon you had a while back claiming to work with a member of L’s family and what they were saying about N&L got me thinking. They may have just been a random person trolling, but I went back and read their previous post, and it seemed to imply the following:

L was in love with N, and wanted to date post filming, but N didn’t want to

L then got with A instead, and she became integrated into his friends and family group and they all liked her

All of this actually lines up with some fandom theories about what happened post-season 3, that they caught feelings and lines were blurred (L’s worlds about the blurring of lines, plus we’ve all seen the bts) and N wanted to take some time to separate from characters and make sure things were real. We’ve also speculated that L was hurt by whatever happened with N post-filming, and if that is the case could have caused his friends and family to be upset with N for the pain that he was experiencing. (My theory is that he was a fucking wreck if this is what happened because his feelings for N are anything but casual, and his friends and family had to deal with that/put him back together.) Don’t forget that L was also dealing with the end of a long term relationship almost simultaneously to “losing” Nic who I also think he had feelings for from day one, and I think everyone probably knew that his feelings for N had likely impacted/ended his relationship with J, and now N was stepping back from a relationship with him at that time, leaving him a mess.

So let’s say all of this has happened, and L went off the rails and swore off N, had his HBS and jumped into something with A (maybe with R’s help) and she made him feel better/boosted his confidence and he integrated her quickly into his life and his friends and family were all happy that he seemed happy and stable, and then… reshoots/press/tour happened.

I think N&L realized very quickly after reuniting that they still had feelings for each other and decided to move forward with a serious relationship because they knew they were it for each other, but they kept it a big secret even from people very close to them, and especially from anyone L knew wouldn’t be supportive or would try to talk him out of it after all that had gone on. He didn’t bring them into the circle, so they didn’t know what was going on. All they saw was what we saw, which is the interviews and press they were doing, which could be played off as PR, but they were also probably concerned about how close they were getting again. This could be why his sister/family seemed to be involved with A coming to the premiere to interfere what seemed to be happening, because everyone was concerned about him getting personally involved with N again and the impact that could have on him. The interaction with N was orchestrated to remind her that A was still there and mark her territory/intimidate her. L was reportedly upset/had an altercation with A at that event, and I think that after party N&L hug was her comforting him. However was also see him being very territorial about N at the same event, maybe because was worried about losing her again/it felt precarious/he is a person who needs a lot of reassurance, especially after the last time, and I think because N might have withdrawn from him or acted different because A was there and that made him feel insecure.

By this point I think N&L had already decided to get married and L had proposed (Australia Truther/down on the knee part one.) Ring was ordered and a backstory created for it to hide the truth until they were ready to share. They were engaged when N jokingly proposed in Italy. She starts posting the “boyfriend” pics. Press tour continues and so does the charade. In Ireland, L meets/asks permission from N’s family and the offical proposal happens (Down on the knee part two). Everyone’s emotional when L meets her mom but N’s bro in law is still a little skeptical/protective about the situation and the fact they L still had this situationship on the side/his family doesn’t know yet. They are both emotional about the tour ending and L tears up when N mentions that they (C&P??) will be married when they return to set.

They plan to separate for the summer so that L can handle business on his end. By the London radio interviews, N is starting to get emotional and withdraw a bit because the tour is ending and she knows what’s coming. He tried to comfort/reassure her but the situation sucks all around. Since their relationship is a secret, their communication will be limited, but as long as she is wearing the ring, he know she is still in and waiting for him (song lyrics), which he needs after what happened last time. She plans to hint at a relationship with JD to help conceal the truth, a friend but someone L will not feel worried/jealous about but will help provide some cover.

By the London premiere, everyone on L’s side is super concerned at where this is going, and someone or maybe multiple people close to L conspire for the pap walk to occur. I think some members of L’s professional team might have been in the group if people who were not supportive of a N&L relationship and/or didn’t know about it and participated thinking it would be a good move for his image to be seen as dating A or separate professionally from N.

L still has professional/personal commitments with A and his friend group, which he carried out, but he was anxious and miserable the whole time. I think the Spain trip was part of this/before Sorrento. I hope at some point he told A and his friends the truth, but an NDA may have needed to be involved to keep her and the friend group from going scorched earth and spilling all of the tea. At some point, maybe Italy, L susses out who has been violating his privacy and severs some ties/comes clean/runs home to Nic.

I assume at some point he told his family but that it is still very under wraps and only a small circle knows the truth. Going back to that anon, some people (extended family) may still not know the truth and be very confused and judgemental about what they are seeing in the media (N&JD relationship speculation, N appearing to run around with a younger man after rejecting L).

August: Chaos week, bless the telephone, Drink Your Milk pic. I think they reunited and L was staying with N while A found other housing arrangements (she was either living with L previously or staying there was he was on tour and he had to deal with that.

Talk Talk while flashing the ring…

Sometime this fall, I believe they got married and it was very small and intimate. Rings changed hands, she put one on his finger too, and they’ve been quietly staying out of the public eye. He’s been supporting her from behind the scenes and being her Ken while deciding what is next for him professionally (musical theatre?). They’ve started filming for season 3 as Polin and are emotional about all that has transpired since the end of S3 filming (tears in their eyes in the S4 Polin pic) or perhaps about what they are filming or what is next for them and taking some time to enjoy their marriage privately before sharing it with the rest of the world.

That’s my version of this friends to lovers story based on the crumbs we’ve received, and as Luke would say “it seems appropriate.”

No notes.

What do you guys think?

Edit: after re-reading this anon really has me 👀

Edit after the edit: there is mention of family in this post - I don’t want to see anything negative about them in the discussion. Negative comments will be deleted and I will not accept asks speaking specifically about them.

Their families are not part of this ship.

[stacygetsit]

****One of the common sentences that the doubters have used is that Luke and Nicola are not together because we see no signs of it on the Internet. I have read that one line sooo many times. I think people forget who Nic and Luke are. The reason we feel we know them like they are family is because on the tour they shared themselves with us we got to know them. But let's dive into some ideas I have. We wouldn't have known that Luke and Nic have even hung out outside of work and the only way we know is because it slipped during an interview. Ask yourself when is the last time you seen them hang out? Maybe when Luke had the play. We know Nic went to it but that was to promote his play. Nicola has never put it on the internet before the times they have hung out. We also know Nic wants to keep her private life separate and private. So could she be hanging out with Luke and NOT post? yes of course. If you pay attention to her last two set of photos there were pictures of people we didn't have any clue she was even around. Nicola clearly doesn't show us every single person she hung out with in 2024. So why do we think her relationship with Luke isn't taken in a serious matter. In the past five years we have had no indication that's she hung out with Luke (outside of work like events) and the only way we knew was by word of mouth can't we say it's fair to say she still doing it now? Yes we can assume that it's happening. She has stated that her relationship with Luke is unlike any relationship in her current life do you realize that included HER FRIEND JD. So again in order to understand what Nic is like with her man we have to look at how Nic was with her past relationships. The issue is we don't even know whom she has dated. Again I remind all of us we didn't know she lived with a man till again she said it. So clearly you can make an argument that unless Nic wants us to know we will be kept in the dark. This again is her past behavior this is realistically the only thing we have to understand what she would be like now. So my question to the doubters is why do you think she will react in any different type of way then she has in the past? So the doubters would say well that's because now it would be harder now to hide now that she is a celebrity. Well I have something to say about this. Yes her fame has risen but she not in the realm of Jennifer Aniston. Go ahead and ask your coworkers if they know who she is. Unless they have watch Bridgerton then honestly they might not. That's not me taking away anything she accomplished but it is a fact. Not everyone know who she is. Of course her fandom has grown BUT is it to a point that she being photographed everywhere she goes no. I want to remind you all that the photographer that took her photo in the Pub said on DM podcast he didn't even know who she was. And as much as I hate saying this it was "fans" that pointed DM toward Nic. I remember some of them sharing a screenshot of conversations they have had with DM. But that's a paparazzi that didn't even know who Nic was. That's how she able to fly under the radar. Which leads me into my next point and that is if DM thinks she dating JD then would she be looking for sightings of Nic and Luke NOPE. The paps are so concentrated on JD and Nic that it's not even in the realm of possibilities to look for Luke and Nic. I must applaud Nic and Luke for this. Good job. Yes did they take some heat. Yes especially Luke. But I can see why they took that hate on for each other. Now it makes sense to me why they weren't claiming these other people. One it wasn't true two plausible deniability. They never once stated they were dating these other people that was fans that assumed. Also I must add guys there are also places celebrities can go to get privacy or y'all it's called they are just choosing to say indoors more. And I honestly think Luke is phenomenal with sneaky around unseen. It's not unrealistic to assume he's not perfected it now for Nic.

[scummy-writes]

Things I've learned about being in fandoms on tumblr

Sometimes when I am navigating fandom, I will have bouts of... depression? negative feelings? regarding it. I think a lot of people go through this, but in the areas of fandom I buzz around in, I don't see many people talking about ways to sort of re-center yourself and take care of yourself in an online space. I thought I would attempt to share some of my habits I try to follow when I hit one of these moods. So here are 14 of them covering various subjects I run into the most. They will not work for everyone, but I do encourage you to think a bit about each point and see if it would work for you.

Feel free to add some of your own, but I am looking for positive advice that is not meant to put down others in a harmful way. I would also like to preface that I've been in fandoms for over seven years, most of them smaller rather than huge, but a lot of this advice is centered around someone just trying to enjoy the space/enjoying it as a fan creator (writing fanfics in my case). The 'you' used in this is a general usage of the word 'you'.

-> It's good to celebrate milestones, whether its how many followers you have, works you've made in a year, or similar.

However... Don't let this become a competition or reasons to compare yourself to others. We're here to have fun and to celebrate us doing so- don't put completely unneeded and unnessacary competition on it. What's the point of that competition other than to make yourself feel bad or to belittle others? This extends further to notes - no number games. none. You can be proud of the numbers you have gotten, but curb all impulses to swing that in a negative way. The second that starts happening, talk to friends. talk to someone IRL. do something that isn't staring at your notifs, immediately. Even if its listening to silly things while washing the dishes- get out of your notifs tab!!! The numbers game isn't a game you have to be a part of, ever.

-> Don't put other bloggers on pedestals.

It's fine to be a fan of someone's work, and to be excited when they post or even talk to you and you're surprised by it. However, we're all just nerds together in a fandom- maybe don't put them up on a pedestal and hold their opinions/words as gospel rather than things you agree with. There's an unhealthy disconnect there for both parties, and can lead to unhealthy habits of a bad comparison game with one party not even knowing you're comparing yourself or others to them. And I promise that no one likes being pitted against others in those.

-> separating my main blog from my fandom blog has done wonders for me.

This one is a lot more of a 'me' thing that MIGHT be helpful towards others, but it's such a nice thing to have a 'normal' space where I don't have to worry too much about fandomisms but want to be online. I want to reblog other things that are not just fandom related and I don't want people from the fandom blog bothering me for. For the longest time I wasn't very upfront with my main blog purely because I wanted that separation, but for others to block me properly I put it up more bluntly.

I also think that this is good when you want to write about some things, but are nervous. In my example, I get nervous writing about my ocs. So what did I do? Made a sideblog for one, briefly mentioned it, and I post untagged drabbles at times when trying to explore her character. It's more practice on not caring about the note amount each post gets for me, and it makes me more at ease with things not getting any notes while exploring different subjects I don't usually write about.

-> Does everyone seem horrible, or are you just not in a good mood?

This is silly and maybe redundant for some, but it's good to keep a track of IRL verses Online. If IRL is weighing you down so much that you use online as an unhealthy habit (self destructive behaviors towards things you worked hard on, lashing out at friends for things out of their control, lashing out on other bloggers for inane things, focusing your bad mood on notes or fake popularity contests...) then try and figure out the big important things: Have you eaten, slept, drank enough water through the day, or are in pain/annoyance with something offline that you're not realizing? Is it one person online making you feel like this? Have you blocked them? Have you taken healthy breaks offline to reground yourself? When i am randomly bitter about the online world, this is typically my frustrations with smth IRL leaking out, and so I do something to help process that or to breathe through it. My personal go to is getting out of the house so I can listen to music, watch silly videos while putting together a simple craft I bought, or doing chores/playing games.

-> Is the fandom full of cliques, or are you witnessing friends just talking to each other?

I get it, it fucking sucks not being involved in a friend group. You know what makes that worse? By looking at other's friend groups bitterly and making up shit in your mind to justify it. The reality is this: people will be friends with a limited number of people, and frequently talk to them because that is who they are comfortable with.

You not being in that friend group does not mean there is anything wrong with you OR them. The honest truth is that it's hard to keep up with a ton of friends at once, and so people may not respond to your messages, or they might mean to but it gets lost in their hectic IRL, or they just don't mesh with you- and all of that is normal!

And... Really... It takes work to build up a friend group. You have to get out of your comfort zone and send the first few messages. You have to embrace the fact that it's possible a friendship won't pan out. It's natural, it's normal, and doesn't mean there is anything wrong with you or the other person. After trying and naturally just talking to people in the fandom, I promise that you will find a friend group of your own.

We are all socially awkward people trying to nervously talk to each other. Yes, even the people you follow that seem like 'everyone' likes them- they are nervous too. we're all just nerds here, remember that.

-> Understand that no one is obligated to do anything.

This ranges from so many things. Here is a list as short as I can manage it to get my point across: No one is obligated to comment, read, like, or reblog any posts. Any posts. No one is obligated to scour for new creatives in the fandom spaces and reblog their work. No one is obligated to tag their posts/creative adventures to your liking. No one is obligated to follow by your DNIs and BYFs. Obligation does not exist. Even your friends are not obligated to do any of this.

It is courtesy to do these things. Blogs will do their best to be supportive by nature, and to try and at least do some of this at any given time, but it's not a requirement. It's NICE to do so and encouraged, but the second you drill it into your head that no one, not even you, are obligated to do this, it's a bit easier to breathe and accept that no, it's a bit insane and difficult to read through 50 fanfics a week and comment a paragraph on all of them while also working on your own things and trying to manage 15 conversations while working 40 hrs a week and and and---

Instead, focus that energy on friends and yourself when you can and accept your own limitations.

-> have other fandoms you enjoy where you DON'T feel pressured to do ANYTHING.

Due to my hard fixation at usually one to two games at a time, I am usually only writing for those at a time- but I need other things to enjoy where I don't feel like I need to make something to post online. I don't feel that pressure from myself, i don't feel the need to try and engage with others. Just a quiet enjoyment for me.

-> If creating is really stressing you out and making you feel worse than better, reflect on the reasons this may be.

Are you hanging out with people who are regurgitating really bad beliefs regarding creation ("shame, you only got twenty notes, that's nothing", "wow fifty notes? that flopped.", "how did this person's shitty work get 30 more notes than me?"). Are you getting anons putting you down? Is your depression convincing you what you've made is worthless? Look at some of the points in this post regarding friends, blocking, and if you're neglecting your body's needs. If that still persists, there may be some self-reflection as to why things get to you so badly. Try to journal out the reasons why until you believe you hit one that is not your depression speaking.

An example: I would freak out about notes because I had friends that would talk around or to me in the examples listed in the previous paragraph. Cutting them off, focusing on friends who focused on the joys of creating, and focusing more on what *I* wanted to write rather than requests... I still get depressed at times but it's been so much more managable now with better support and feeling free creatively. Usually calling myself out at staring at notes helps me shake my head and move on now.

-> Blocking/Filtering is your friend, but maybe don't over do it.

Blocking seems vaguely controversial at times, but I do believe it's needed for a positive fandom experience. Outside of the obvious, the reasons I block people are typically related to how upset I am by something the person has done or said, even if it's related to fancreations. If it's something like them berating others for not believing their headcanon/fanon? Or grossly demonizing some character's mental illness? Or harassing people who dislike some characters and vice/versa? That's all a block for me.

I personally try not to overdo it and make educated decisions based on like, hey, is this just someone misunderstanding and not realizing how they're coming off? Is this someone who I am misreading their tone? Is this just a weird one-off behavior? Ok, then maybe no block button. But if seeing poor takes makes you angry for longer than, say, 20 mins? an hour? It's a week later and you're still all huffy about it and legit pissed? Maybe dig into that while also blocking the person for now.

The Filters aspect of this is similar, but it's a lighter version of blocking for me. Maybe I don't want to block this person but seeing them talk about bugs really stresses me out, so I look at how they tag those posts and filter it out for myself. Maybe I love their fandom blog but they're multi-fandom, so i will filter out a fandom I don't want to see them post about. That's it.

-> Don't be afraid to cut anon off, even if it's for a few weeks at a time.

I feel like those of us who take requests for fan creations are terrified of this a lot, but truly, taking breaks from the anon function should be encouraged. It is indeed a button for shy people, but there are assholes everywhere regardless. When they occupy your time too much or just annoy you, take away their ability to actually say anything to you.

For a creative, sometimes this can feel like the end of the world. But... you Can turn it back on later. I frequently shut it off during major life events, fanfics I am worried I might get weird anons about, when I'm in a randomly bad mood and don't think I can handle it. I Sometimes have it off for months at a time. You can cut it back on. But if anons make you anxious just imagining getting one right now? Flip that off for now. (also please utilize the block function for mean anons!!!)

-> turn those tumblr notifs OFF!!! (mobile) Additional: Turn your status OFF!!!

The only notifications I get on my phone from tumblr is when someone IM's me, and I've had it like this for years. I cannot imagine having my phone constantly going off with random tumblr notifications, I think I would have a bad spike in anxiety having that happen. It would make any negative feelings with notes/followers/number worse for me.

The online status is debatable, some people really don't have an issue with this, but I tend to feel pressured to respond to people asap if they see that my status is online and similar. Those people have not said anything to me regarding it, it's just my personal issue. So..I turn that status off. And it helps me feel better about answering in my own time.

-> Look at who you are communicating with.

Do your friends regularly dunk or mock people on the daily, over shit that is inane and petty? Are you a creative a bit nervous with your work because your friends are pretty rude with how they view other's works? Are you scared to like a character because your friend severely hates them/is attached to them to an unhealthy degree?

There are other subsets to this, but those are ones I find really troubling and try my best to avoid. I dont want to be friends with people who regularly mock others on the legit daily. I don't want to be friends with people who nitpick notes and use notes as a measure on how much worth someone has. I don't want to be friends with people who mock other's creative endeavors.

So... I don't! If I notice things are becoming a salt pit, I try to talk things out at first, but if its clear that's not gonna work, then it's outties for me. It's very true that everyone will salt over something eventually, but it's up to you to decide how severe it is with your friend circle, how it wears you down, and are they really people you want to hang around with if they just make you anxious or stressed all the time?

-> That vaguepost isn't about you.

Friend venting about someone who sounds oddly like you? Does your favorite blog mention something they dislike and you think you fit into that catagory- guess what. It's not about you!!

It's something I struggled with for a while, but eventually I came to terms with it by going "If they truly have an issue with me, they can talk to me one on one. Otherwise, i am assuming that this isn't about me" and gritting my teeth and forcing myself to repeat that until I feel at ease. Truthfully, I also just stopped hanging out with people who do this a ton in a harmful way, so my anxiety about this decreased. If it's an issue, friends should be willing to bring it up to you personally rather than make really meanspirited vagueposts.

-> A personal one I am putting at the end since I believe can easily turn bad, is... Stop looking in the fandom tags if they continiously bum you out.

I will be transparent, I've had bouts of running into a ton of 'why you should love/hate this character' posts over and over, posts that are random but use 50 different character tags, posts about how annoying my fave is, posts from/about bloggers I dislike, etc etc. After a while, I decided to just curate my feed via whoever I was following, and stop looking into tags as often. At most, I do it once every 1-3 months.

Yes, this does limit what all you can see, however... There's only so much information I can take in at once. If I follow people who reblog a ton of fandom content I love and it's different across the board, that's good enough for me and I don't feel negative looking at the tags sometimes.

[xdexesx]

All right, people. Let's start from the beginning one last time-

A while ago I made this-

https://www.tumblr.com/xdexesx/773053963524276224/as-a-5th-semester-animation-student-i-am?source=share

post talking a little about the animation technique used in the Wild Kratts and hinted towards my desire to talk more about it, perhaps with a little real-life demonstration.

I didn't think much of it, but the post blew up a tiny bit inside this fandom and a lot of people showed interest, which made me debate if I should really do this or not, now that attention was on it.

Ultimately, I have now decided that yes, an Animation Deep Dive will happen.

I have decided to do it in terms of a YouTube Video Essay, with video footage playing and a voice-over explaining things and giving examples.

As one might think, this is a HUGE project, and it isn't helping that I have never done something like this before. Therefor, for obvious reasons, this project will take a while until it sees the light of day. I will sprinkle updates here whenever I have something, but all in all, don't expect this to come out anytime soon.

I am very much in pre-production, thinking about WHAT even to talk about and how deep I want to go. I haven't wrote a single line of script and probably won't for a while.

Annnyhow,

To give a smal sneak into things, I have actually started setup to re-build one of the rigs from the show, mainly for practice but also to use in the video essay.

Let me explain

After searching for a good reference for FOREVER (Trust me, getting a good neutral front 3/4 pose of any character was a nightmare) I got this one of our fav blue boy. I imported it into the program and started splitting the design up into the main parts. This was done by shape-blocking over the reference and deciding which body parts have to move separately from one another, as well as which parts might have different moving behavior (More to that when the essay is out I guess??)

From there, a drawing layer for each. single. bodypart. is made. These body parts then need to be drawn out on their respective layer, something I haven't done yet but here is a screenshot of the layer-view. The highlighted part are all the body parts (and maybe I missed some idk, there is always something like extra shoulders that might randomly appear later)

Lastly, for the setting up stage, I made myself a color palette with all colors I will need working on this man. Here is where my first doubts and regrets about this project came in.

Also the reason I am making this post, by announcing this to the world I can no longer back out of this project, haha *cries*

I understand waiting is a pain, and I would like to dive head first into production of this as well, but I will need and take my time with this because I really want to make a high quality video and not just throw words at a screen. I will probably also not be working on this at all for the coming week, as I have my finals on Wednesday and Thursday and I am so beyond ready to be done with this Semester

[holybasementdweller]

wanted to add my two cents because shipping discourse is just all over recently. Forgive me rambling a bit here. I have a lot of thoughts on this topic and would like to get them out there in some form.

Stop harassing CC's about their boundaries.

Would you go up to a random person whom you've never met before in your life, who has never met you either, and likely has no idea who you are, purely to ask them if you can draw/write/ship them with one of their co-workers?

No! It's a wildly uncomfortable question to a lot of people, it puts them on the spot, and some CC's may not care as long as they never see it. Now that the concept has been shoved in their face, they're forced to view the idea.

I feel like a large part of the issue is the divide between younger, newer fandom members and older, traditional ones. Primarily the concept that fan content is not intended for CCs, but for fans specifically. Most 'traditional' and older fandom participants follow this view because that's what fandom is. You get to make cool things, and ramble about different head cannons and ideas with your friends and maybe find other fans who become your friends along the way. Maybe you want to throw these characters you really like into this elaborate superhero AU, or draw them in costume, or explore relationship dynamics because it's fun and you get to ramble with fellow fans. It's called a fandom for a reason!

I'd like to clarify here that this post is not meant to target anyone in particular; it's going off a general trend I've noticed.

There's been an influx of people who create fan works or fanart that seems to be aimed more to gain clout or to be noticed by CCs. It's something they wanted to make, but is leaving the realm of "by fans, for fans," in a sense that it seems to have lost more of that "for fans." The work is then shoved at the CC more aggressively than if it was just for friends.

There's a reason that spaces like AO3 and Tumblr exist with such large fan communities- because the communities are meant for fans. It's all well and good when CC's decide to take a peek or participate in said fan spaces of their own volition. They're the ones making the choice to engage. It's NOT all well and good when someone, as a fan, is trying to make that choice FOR them by shoving fanworks at the CC begging for clarification on what is okay with them. You're not going to help anyone in that way. Fan spaces exist separately from the CC spaces for a reason. The CC is a person behind the screen who you don't know. The character or role they play in the series you watch? You might know just about everything there is to know about them!

If a CC has laid out a boundary that they aren't comfortable with X Y Z, then there's a really, really simple solution here. Don't show it to them.

Don't put it in main tags, don't tag them in the post, hell, block the CC so you know they won't be able to view something that makes them uncomfortable.

There's a lot of what comes across as almost puritanical virtue signaling I've seen lately, where people are talking about CC boundaries everywhere and trying to police fanwork. I will again refer you to the point above. The fanwork is not made for the CC. It is made for fans, and if it is something the CC isn't comfortable with, then don't go posting it where they might regularly look at things (such as main fanart/fanwork tags.)

Yes, there are CCs who are over here. Yes, they look through fan works. This app is primarily a fan-oriented space and it has tags that CC's (or anyone else!!) can block to avoid things they are uncomfortable with. Though at this point the few that are over here either were already gay dot com natives or have basically become one.

I may have gone a bit off my original topic but TL;DR:

KEEP FAN WORKS TO FAN SPACES, AND STOP HARASSING THE CC'S PLEASE. LET THEM EXIST IN PEACE.

[bulbabutt]

Thank you for being a bastion of sanity amidst the growing "but proshippers! But incest! But RPF!" purity culture's nonsense.

I'm so tired of being afraid to admit that I've even read a fanfic/fancomic because that same person might have a DIFFERENT ACCOUNT where they indulge in a problematic ship. And therefore they are "bad" and by association, I could be labeled "bad" for having looked at something completely unrelated and tossed on a block list.

It's asinine. Yet I'm too afraid to even get off anon because I know I don't have the mental fortitude to survive a potential online witch hunt.

So thank you, I wish you all the strength to keep screaming the words I cannot.

honestly youre not the first person to send me an anon about this, i just tend to feel just as afraid of responding to them as much as you are afraid of coming off anon. i think because while ill post things in vague context, it becomes another thing when someone says it out loud, yknow? but i appreciate it, knowing im not just screaming into a void where no one likes what i have to say.

i think what i will say is im not the only one who THINKS like i do, but i am just dumb enough to be loud and annoying about it. its kind of a thing where i'd never say anything specific because like... some people are so vicious and will demand blood if they get a whiff if i mention anything vaguely. the fact i have to be afraid to say 'people dont mind' for their own safety is crazy, huh?

i think that thing youre saying about being worried by association from association was the same first time i had this thought. i was reading something so good so deep something that effected me so deeply from how well it was talking about the realistic effects of incestuous abuse, and then i went to see what else the author had written and i was like. oh. theres just regular incest in here too. and that was kind of a moment of hm.. perhaps i need to think more about what really matters here. the fact i can engage with what i want and just say 'oh i see what else you do, thats not for me so i will just not engage with that'

so it hurts worse when theres the idea of someone engaging with art they like that has nothing 'weird' going on, then suddenly getting hit with screaming that that artist has a side account theyre not advertising where they make weird art that they are keeping FULLY separate from the account in question. like i do not see how that helps anybody in that situation.

then theres the generalization of it. the idea that maybe all you did was draw like. 19 yr old versions of two 15 yr olds kissing, and suddenly that gets you put on a list of people who will draw literal children in sexual situations, gets you put in that same boat without question. that shit is so cruel to me, that these things all get painted with the same brush. equally as bad, equally as deserving of being ostracized. or the idea that you get put on that list for not caring about if strangers ship things on the internet, makes you just as bad as someone who makes it. i really just hate this entire culture.

idk im... old school i guess? back in my day youd watch a shitty cartoon that had over 20 characters in it so you could smash them together in whatever ship suited you. crack ships were the bread and butter of me and my friends, shit that made no sense but in your own head. the idea of being anti... shipping at all is so... thats very weird. shipping as a thing is very much what fandom was ever made for in the first place? like. im not kidding, learn your history if you dont know that (middle age women shipping kirk and spock)

back when i was a kid i watched this tv show called kim possible, and i was a kid who didnt know shit about themselves seeing a pretty villain lady for the first time who called the main character who was a girl princess. i didnt know what to make of that, i didnt know the age difference between them i was a dumbass child, they were both drawn the same way! then im like 12 years old on the internet, i see theres a ship of the teenage girl and this like 30 yr old villain woman. do you think my 12 year old self saw the problematic nature and thought deeply about the morals of said ship? no. i was like 'holy shit i wish i was the teenage girl dating shego. why do i like this? oh god im a lesbian'

again. i was a child. what are you gonna do, go back in time and arrest my 12 year old ass for looking at pg rated fanart of women kissing on the internet? we didnt HAVE real representation yet! there was no korrasami, no rupphire, no bubbline, no lumity! shipping was the only place you could see stuff that was gay! and it being GAY would get you in more trouble than it having an age gap!

the fact is people WOULD cancel me now for that, wouldnt you?! thats where we're at. that IS a problematic ship, id be put on a blocklist in todays internet for being a child who crushed on villains. i didnt make it, i didnt create for it, i just looked at it and that would get you in trouble now!!! thats crazy.

i know thats a random tangent to go off on, but like..... hhhhh i dont know man. sometimes it seems like people want the internet to pass by broadcasting standards and practices and thats!!! bad!!! let people experiment with their weird shit as they figure themselves out, its so fucking normal. youre not a bad person for looking at things on the internet, youre not a bad person for engaging with things, youre not a bad person for being horny online! especially if you make your own fucking space for it?? a space easily blacklistable, with trigger warnings and EVERYTHING... we didnt have those when i was a kid, so some things are better, but culture is just worse.

i dunno. i just think i would not have thrived in this environment as a teenager. im glad im old and know better, but i worry about the lessons kids are learning from this. to feel ashamed, to bottle shit up, its not good for you. be kind to yourself, be kind to others. we're all working through shit in our own ways.

sorry for another long annoying post

[pensandsneakers]

Incredibly long Inej Ghafa essay incoming:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Y/N-ification of Inej in fandom, where some people treat her like she’s less of a main character on her own with her own goals and arc and more like a self-insert knife girl vehicle to experience the story (which is seen as you know, Kaz’s story.) This is mostly based on how she’s written in the show, but also before the show there have always been all the “knife wife” jokes and posts which are you know, Fine, but always felt to me like an oversimplification of her character.

The thing is that the idea of being that one dimensional, “knife wife,” powerful/dangerous girl is literally explored in the text as Inej openly wrestles with her identity as the Wraith.

It’s important to remember that the Wraith persona is not something Inej chose for herself, it’s something that Kaz gave her, and though he did it to give her protection, it still stands that the idea of the Wraith is exactly that stereotype, the powerful baddass stripped of emotions and vulnerability, unbelievable with all of the different powers she has, but is somehow always ending up using those powers in service of the men in the story.

Inej is given this role to play, but because she’s strong and unwilling to compromise on her faith she finds ways to make the Wraith persona her own, by bringing her religion into it for example and naming her knives after Saints.

But there reaches a point when Inej realizes that the Wraith persona is static and limiting her, which is literally represented by her being stuck/trapped in the incinerator.

She realizes that the way she’s been living as the Wraith has made it so that she doesn’t know what she wants, only what Kaz wanted. “Kaz Brekker was just a boy, and she’d let him lead her to this fate.” But she says “she couldn’t even blame him because she hadn’t known where she wanted to go.”

Once she names the fact that she’s been allowing herself to be guided by whatever Kaz’s goals are and hasn’t been living for herself, Inej becomes ambivalent to the idea of being a “dangerous girl,” which were at first the words she clung to to become the Wraith. “She thought of her knives… maybe they’d go to some other girl who dreamed of being dangerous.”

It is only when she realizes that she wants to hunt slavers that she is able to picture her future and who she can be. “She was not a lynx or a spider or even the Wraith. She was Inej Ghafa, and her future was waiting above.” She affirms her own identity which is separate from all of the other labels that people have given her, and chooses her own direction and goal, separate from anything Kaz or anyone else wants from her.

I love that the stakes of this realization are literally presented as life and death. Because yes, without the sentence “she was Inej Ghafa, and her future was waiting above,” Inej would not be the same. If Inej was only a cool acrobat called the Wraith who goes on a heist and has a relationship with the brooding lead, that would be the death of the great, full rounded character we know her to be now. (Not to mention it would be shit. …Anyway.)

After Inej figures out what she wants, her arc in Crooked Kingdom is to kill her previous self. Dunyasha is the physical representation of that YA girl stereotype. She’s constantly talking about her skills and the fact that she’s “chosen,” with her royal blood etc. Dunyasha is a powerful female character in the sense that she’s a female character with a lot of “powers.” She’s not someone who could exist in real life. When Inej interacts with her it’s like she’s talking to a cardboard cut out with lots of one liners. By defeating Dunyasha in the end Inej proves that the things that she might have had to lose to become a cold knife wielding baddass (like her hesitance to kill, her sentimentality, her faith) are actually her strengths. She has proven that Inej Ghafa is stronger than a trope.

However, the idea of being a dangerous girl is definitely still nuanced. I’m not saying that because Inej needed to become a person separate from the Wraith persona and her life in Ketterdam that the idea of being the Wraith is meaningless, or that Kaz is “problematic” for giving her that role or anything. Kaz understands the power of a legend, and Inej makes it clear that by gaining that identity as the Wraith, Kaz saved her. “He’d helped her build a legend to wear as armour, something bigger and more frightening than the girl she’d been.”

I’d go as far as to say it’s normal and good that Inej started out this way. She’s just a teenage girl who’s had to fight every single moment of her life, and wanting to escape into a role/character that makes you feel bigger than yourself is something that I think many others can understand.

When she’s in terrifying situations, Inej still uses the word dangerous to comfort herself. Like in Crooked Kingdom when Jan van eck has kidnapped her and she’s doubting everything she says to herself “I am a dangerous girl.”

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a dangerous girl. The trope exists because it’s an attractive fantasy. We all want to be bigger, stronger, more powerful than we’re allowed to be in real life. But for most of us, it’s just not real. Dunyasha is not a real girl that could exist outside of fiction. Inej is though. That’s why this quote hits so hard “What about the ones who aren’t chosen, the invisible girls. We learn to hold our heads as if we wear crowns, we learn to wring magic from the ordinary. When the world owed you nothing you demanded something anyway.”

It’s ok to look up to the girls in fiction that may be one dimensional but make you feel a little less small. It’s ok to get caught up in the worlds of the people around you instead of living for yourself. It’s ok to not know who you are or what you want. But there comes a time when you can’t just keep stalling. You can’t keep “holding onto nothing.” You take what you can and create the life, relationships and sense of self that you deserve.

You demand something more.

[californiannostalgia]

Processing identity as a child abuse survivor

Recently I had a huge revelation. Come with me on this childhood trauma realization journey (if you want).

This post was written for those wavering on the 'was it abuse' question.

Fair warning, each of these revelations were a whammy. I recommend you keep in mind that these revelations will transform the way you see yourself and the world. This took me out of commission for hours at a time.

Revelation 1: Was I Abused?

Read this Tumblr post. Go down the list. Check the 'yes'es and 'maybe's.

'Was I abused' is a yes or no question. I need you to really think about this if your answer is 'kind of'. If you could be truly honest with yourself, what would your answer be?

For years I've gone to the logic of 'it wasn't that bad,' and 'at least the worst didn't happen,' or 'others have had it worse'. This is such a low bar. You deserve better than the bar your parents set for you. The socioeconomic circumstances and the normalization of violence in your living area? Yes, influential. But not a justification.

At the end of the day, the veracity of these statements don't even matter. It's a yes or no question: 'Am I a survivor of child abuse?'

It may take a really long time to truly process, and even then it might feel uncomfortable saying it like it's truth. I need you to know your truth is truth. It's a yes or no question.

Take a break. I recommend you don't progress further until you've processed Revelation 1.

(Shameless plug-in of my fandom blorbo interests: Rick Riordan's Trials of Apollo series really helped me with this first revelation. It made me feel seen and less alone. It may not be perfect, but I personally liked it!)

Revelation 2: What does this mean? (health-wise)

Listen to this Ted Talk by an expert (medical professional).

This is the part where I got angry and really fucking sad. Let yourself be sad. Let yourself be furious. Our life is not our fault and we're still stuck with this lot.

Genuinely this was such a shock for me to realize. The thing that has the biggest impact on my life is not my anxiety, depression, ptsd, insomnia, blood pressure, immune health, etc. The root cause of my physical and mental illnesses is Adverse Childhood Experiences.

ACE is more common than you'd think. Acknowledging that what happened to you was bad will be beneficial to humanity's survival in the long run. Like any illness, ACE can be fought at a societal level.

Take a break. I recommend you don't progress to the next revelation until you've processed Revelation 2.

Take your time to be angry and sad. Take forever. You never have to forgive your abuser, even if they change their behavior. The chance at a civil acquaintanceship you might be willing to extend to your parents doesn't require your forgiveness.

.

Revelation 3: Why is your therapist recommending you retell your life story?

This one is mostly for when you have steady access to a therapist. Here are some things I wish I'd known before seeking out therapy in the US.

(Is it shitty that you can't get therapy on your own terms when you're underage? Yes, it fucking is. To those of us who survived to adulthood: holy shit y'all. At 19 I felt like absolute fucking bullshit, like my brain was a burning ball of tangled barbed wire. It does feel absolutely shitty. But reaching 19 is an achievement.)

The thing is, I do or say a lot of things that I later come to think of as embarrassing, inappropriate, or in certain circumstances, potentially abusive. Genuine trigger reactions happen. I will always have to live with a piece of my parents in my head. But I don't want to do to another person what they did to me. Self-awareness is what separates me from my abusers.

What to do about this? Number 1: chill out. You're not gonna be your abuser. Humans are unique and imperfect. They have not replicated themselves in you. It's okay to make mistakes when you're talking or reacting. Your brain is fucked up. You can do something differently next time.

Number 2: read this article about Overthinking, Over-apologizing, Oversharing, and Overwhelmed as trauma responses.

Then read this article on how to deal with Unresolved Trauma.

Yeah. It be like that. Isn't it fucked up? Recognizing the four Os in my behavior helped me realize I'm not an antisocial asshole by default.

Unresolved trauma is the root cause for my behaviors that I think of as unhealthy. This revelation happened very recently for me. Before this point in time, I couldn't understand why I would want to recount traumatic events in therapy.

At this point in time, I have regular access to a therapist I'm okay with. Going over memories and deconstructing the blame system seems like a reasonable thing to try.

What happened to you as a child is not your fault. You're not the one who landed yourself in your life. You've been given an unfairly difficult situation to be responsible for. You did not create your coping mechanisms for shits and giggles.

So yeah. Number 3: figure out your life with the help of a therapist. Let's see where we are ten years later or something.

Nothing is easy and everything is confusing. Take a break, hydrate, eat, sleep, do something nice for yourself. Do something you like doing. Thanks for reading.

[viablemess]

I have a lot of feelings about the Durin Family, Fili in Particular

---Howdy folks it is that time of year again where i go absolutely feral for Fili Durin. He is underappreciated and tumblr has addressed that but i feel an URGE to add to the discourse so here I am. This post is not done, fyi. I will add more to it later.

It's 10pm/22:00. I just got home from class. I'm waiting for my ramen water to boil. There is a fireplace and some holiday lights. Let's have a (fireside)chat.

First of all, the constant tying of Fili and Kili together?? Like I get it. Merry and Pippin parallels. I love parallels (looking at you, George), but come on. Chill, just a tad. I know Tolkein didn't give you much to go by, but he didn't even write tauriel into the books or Bolg and yall ran with that anyways. Use your creative brains, pls, I'm actually begging you.

ANYWAYS. Have them develop separately even if only a little. Kili is the younger one, literally viewed younger bc he has the smallest itty bitty beard. He is not the heir, he is the spare, and could have some deep rooted personal insecurities about that as a result. He may feel that he deeply has to prove himself to Thorin bc he does not have a set role in the future like Fili does. Kili gets his romance with Tauriel, which--khgf;ushfw;e uneneccary, but I can appreciate the attempt to broaden the target market and appeal to a romance audience even if the previews did not hint at that happening at all so it would not have been a marketable trait per say but I digress. Again with the parallels of forbidden romance, poor Legolas still does not get any, we know, he was not even in the books really either, let's move on.

Kili is babied by the company, needs to prove himself, his mother made him promise to return to him so he is still deeply in the "coming of age" side of things (a lot of the company is, but that's a topic for another word vomit fireside chat). He begins to realize that he might like elves which goes against his family and he was already the spare, might as well go all in and fall in love with an elf. Fine. I can deal with that. But let's see more of Kili messing up, more so than just the trolls. Let's see him make silly goofy mistakes more. The company always tries to keep him out of the line of fire by making him an archer (heh) and keeping him off the front lines. They do everything to protect him, bc Dis is a terrifying woman, ansd if she made Kili promise to return to her, dammit, the company will return him to her if it is the last thing they do. Kili likely spends less time with Thorin and Dwalin than his brother, so here he is, questioning his own self worth and if he belongs in the party and his own abilities while coming of age and sticking out from his family even more, so why not rebel a little? why not be an archer which is not as glorified, why not consider shaving to meet cross cultural beauty standards, why not date the elf (dammit, I'm convincing myself for Tauriel's presence and I hate that). He's trying his best and messing up along the way, and is INNOCENT. Completely. He is aware of his ancestry and what happened, but he and Bilbo are the two being narrated to when telling of the Durin family history, and as a result, the differences in dwarven / hobbit culture could be explored further. Thorin has a little kiddo to watch out for, and maybe is softer around, because even Thorin knows Kili is young, maybe even too young to be here but if they didn't let him come he would have snuck after them, so we get to see a more forgiving, family-man Thorin who we do not see anywhere else (and yes we get that at the end of the movie but I'm getting to my critique of the (I almost called it a keldabe wrong fandom) forehead touch with a name I cannot recall later).

Onto his brother. Fili is the heir, okay. So, that means that he is likely raised very differently from Kili. Whereas Kili may have had some time to play and be a kid (as much as they could in the Blue Mountains as refugees, anyways), Fili likely was given no such privilege. He followed Thorin around like a lost puppy, watching his every move and trying to imitate it, because he knew he would have to do Thorin's job someday. Even if Thorin did get married / have a kid / etc there would likely still be a window where Fili was in charge before Thorin's kid came of age, and as the years went on, the chances of that happening diminished, and so Fili threw himself more and more into his crown-prince-studies. Maybe a little obsessively, just like his uncle, who had practically stepped into the role as father. Because Fili thought he had to be Thorin. Thorin, meanwhile, saw the King that Fili could be, and that King was so much better than him. Fili grew up humble as a result of them all being refugees, something Thorin did not have to learn until much later and even then he never fully got it. Fili was kind, because he saw the suffering of his people, and understood how large of a difference a small act could make. Fili also had the teachings of Thorin drilled into him, because Thorin's problem was that whenever he saw Fili, he also saw Frerin. Frerin was Thorin's younger brother, just as blond as Fili, and (I'm assuming) played a roll in Fili's name (both starting with F). Frerin died at the Battle of Azanulbizar, and Thorin remembers that battle, he remembers losing his little brother. He can understand the fear that Fili feels whenever the company encounters a fight because he has felt the same in the worst of ways. But, because Thorin understands, he pushes Fili to be better than him. Even if that pushing is too much, too hard, too fast, too young--Thorin knows that Fili can be better than him, and Thorin does not want Fili to suffer as he has suffered, so he does everything in his power to prepare Fili for what is to come, and because Thorin loves him, that is all he does. He pours that love out as motivation and pushes Fili to do more, do everything, and do it better than he did. Fili, being young, does not realize this. He just sees it as Thorin preparing him to be king, and quite brutally at that, but Thorin is the closest thing he has to a father, Fili is not going to question it, not for anything, except for his little brother. And that just hurts Thorin, because he knows that, had he had the chance, he would have died to save Frerin at Azanulbizar. He knows Fili would do the same for Kili, but they are both so, so young. Thorin fears he could lose them both in one go, if he is not careful. So he is harsh, he scares them, he is forceful, because they do not have time for care and coddling, that won't keep them safe.

Whereas the company sees Kili as carefree and fun, Fili is cold, like his uncle. He is stone, and observant, and polite. He has to be Thorin, AND everything that Thorin is not. It is an impossible task, but he has to try. That is what is expected of him, not just by his mother and uncle, but by the entire people that is behind him, waiting for him to ascend to be king. He does not get a choice. The only one who can pull him out of that rut is his brother, with whom he actually feels like he can be what he is -- barely older than a kid.

Im gonna let that sink in for a second. They're CHILDREN.

anyways.

So, Kili gets his romance plot. It's cute and it parallels. And I've established that Kili must prove himself, and Fili will bend over backwards to make Thorin happy, which likely also extends to Dis, his mother.

I imagine Dis gave Kili the river rock to come back home, and she told Fili "be safe, don't be stupid, etc etc" but HIGHLIGHTED "take care of your brother", and Thorin does the same in the movies.

So, when Kili galavants up the bridge to open the gate after the party does a little slip and slide down the river, Fili naturally goes with. He sees that Kili is about to get shot. And Fili, who knows above all else he has to be king and he has to take care of Kili, just does the normal heroric thing and jumps in front, and he gets shot.

He is chastized for it, for being stupid, but overall they both are thanked for getting them out of the mess, and there is no time to waste because the company has to leave, and Fili (like what Kili did albeit maybe with more conviction) will not let others help him, or show weakness. So Fili continues on, poisoned, and Kili has the guilt of knowing his brother took an arrow meant for him. Fili must suffer the consequences of being a hero, and Kili must suffer the consequences of being the youngest, and feeling guilty for not taking responsibility for his own actions.

This all boils over to a fight where Kili tells Fili that "I made the choice to go up there, I didn't ask you to intervene!" because dammit Kili wants to be treated like an adult and FIli just took that away from him, again.

Fili, naturally, retorts, "I just did what I had to, because you know what? mom didn't tell me to come home--all she told me, all everyone ever tells me--is to take care of you! So I don't matter, not to this family, not in the same way you do. You're a son. I'm a prince."

Which, ouch. Slap in the face to Kili, and maybe the company overhears. Kili feels slighted, but also maybe is starting to understand, he can be a kid, Fili cannot. And Fili, meanwhile, is about to break from the weight of expectations that feels heavier than the lonely mountain ever could.

So, Kili stays with Fili when they get to Bard's, because it is what Fili would have done for him. Thorin is pissed, but lets it go, because Kili isn't Fili, and ouch, again.

I imagine Bofur helps quite a bit, he has a kind soul and listens better than most, and while Fili is delirious with fever Bofur talks him through it. Kili gets to be more coherent with Tauriel, and we get to see if their relationship actually holds up outside of a "she saved my life I love her" style of interaction which bleh is cliche as all get out.

and PLEASE when the dwarves do get out of Bard's house, they get to actually help Bard deal with the dragon. I read a fic a long time ago (if I find it I'll link it and the author below) where Fili had to be Bard's arrow anchor instead of Bard's son and I just chef's kiss. The dwarves who are left get to help the humans, and they feel more sympathy for them. Maybe they witness more death, and so when the dwarves do turn their backs on the humans later, Fili, Kili, Bofur, Bifur & crew are like "wait wtf they have suffered enough" unlike their future indifference we see in the movie.

and THEN all the dwarves arrive at the mountain, and Fili and Kili actually get welcomed home like the family they ARE, but it's stunted, because something is wrong with Thorin. He is glad to see Kili and Fili, but barely spares them a glance. They've heard the rumors and stories, of gold sickness. They begin to wonder, and we get to see them talk (probably with Bilbo) about the concept in secret where everyone is looking for the arkenstone. We get to see Kili with his hero worship refuse to believe Thorin would fall under a gold thrall. We get to see Fili, who is afraid of becoming like Thorin, too scared to enter the treasury unless immensly pressured to do so, and even then someone is always with him, because he worries. He still holds the ruby Thorin threw at him, and he keeps it in his pocket. He holds it so tight the edges cut his palm, and the pain seems to distract him from the wealth that surrounds him. I always wondered if Thorin gave Fili that ruby because he was the heir, or the only dwarf with so much gold about their person, with his hair. It was what Thorin saw first, not because it was his nephew, but because he looked like the very thing that already clawed Thorin down into his own demise.

AND NOW the war starts. and this needs to be another post bc ffs I'm losing my shit this is much too long.

[inkyu]

Do you have any old art or comics you gave up on?

I have been given the power to go on a super yap... :happy: :happy: :happy:

I have a lot of stories I gave up on because I had too many (20 if I recall right), but the ones I've kept/survived from my middle school story purge were Two Over A Kind, and Shadow Killed. However I have other stories that came after those two after I entered high school such as Mandela's Requiem, Backyard Thursday, Never So Norm, Collidests, and Rose Burnt, (yes I have a lot of stories, but they're not lore heavy so they might seem short/fast)

Although the only official rendition of a comic out right now would be Mandela's Requiem but I want to re-draw it in a different format similar to my ask blog @ask-the-druggieverse and what Homestuck uses because it's easier and I can gather all the images I draw and upload it YouTube for people to read

As for old art? oh geez I have a LOT of old art....

I'll put it under a read more and separate them by year U_U

Also blood warning (gore maybe too? not sure what to label it-) and huge and tiny spoilers for Mandela's requiem!!! (I just felt very proud of those drawings and I also can't help myself but show the future plans I have for MR's story!!) (and also characters that will appear in MR's epilogues!)

Part 2 Post

(Also if you see this in a fandom tag I.E Undertale, The Last Dimension.... Dream SMP. (neutral) then that's why (This was back in 2020 and I was still in 7th-8th grade at this time (I'm a senior right now) so don't judge me(I only drew beeduo and Michael so don't worry it's not those creature (IYKYK)))

(And no, I don't plan on drawing any DSMP in the near future, maybe if requested and the person isn't problematic (I.E Ranboo, Tubbo etc etc) however for the problomatic ones they will get heavy re-design/name change so they don't resemble their og character/persona to seperate the two more because I don't like looking at them knowing what they did. (Especially C!Wilbur, I view him looking different/being named something else)) (sorry if I keep yapping about this I know people hate the DSMP so much and I don't want to get attacked again (I've been attacked before in the past for liking it back in 2021-2022 on my old TT account (deactivated, my current TT account is dead and I never want to return to TT again.) so just mentioning DSMP on my main blog scares me a bit I hope you understand!))

2025 (Hey!! this Year!! :D)

some of these you've seen I'm guessing, I haven't drawn a lot of stuff yet but it's still the first month of 2025 ^w^, as for the first image It's still a W.I.P as there's other batches I need to complete! (If you wanna see them feel free to ask) I'm also gonna change it so that Cream is the son of Nicecream guy because when designing Cream I had the intentions of him being an OC and not an AU, Nicecream guy legit had 0 part to play when making him

Same goes for Hamburg, Calliope, and Basil as they're based of existing OC's mainly and not undertale OC's when they were supposed to (crazy)

Image Order:

1st: Fiddletale mini batch No.3

2nd: A Backyard Thursday trio!

3rd: Consent!Sans

4th: An ATDV Panel

5th: Someone needed help drawing beards so I made a ref to help U_U

2024

None of these I bet anyone has seen unless they're in discord servers I'm in

Anywhos, these are mostly oc's and 1 MAU I've talked about before (slice of pie verse)

Image Order

1st: My first drawing of 2024!! it's for my my OC story "Never So Norm" I was trying to find a design for Aliza AKA Ty's mom!, I'm gonna re-deisgn her again later because I don't see her as skinny anymore but a little more chubby U_U

2nd: Mandela's Requiem's epilogue characters! for any creepypasta fans out there yes... MR is like super/heavily inspired off of CRP characters, plus Ben Drowned was free game sense no one owned him (Nintendo technically own's this character legally but hey, fuck it we ball), and as for Casey I think you can guess who she's a walmart version of (Rina is completely original, I only added the "the killer" part cuz I thought it would be silly)

3rd: Backyard Thursday god silhouette list! I haven't fully drawn them out and needed some silhouette's to see how they would all look like!

4th: Mandela's Requiem epilogue Chester character sheet! I haven't touched this specific character sheet in a LONG time and need to come back to it as this story is one of the very few stories that has a small cast of characters to work on!!

5th: Slice Of Pieverse unified!Nightmare hehe ^w^ tiny spoilers: In SOPV fusion is a thing after the calamity happened (it's a split timeline of Underverse where Bill!Sans is a bit more important) although this isn't a "fusion" form, families (either blood related or adopted) don't fuse, they unify (essentially they can use each others abilities/their abilities become stronger)

2023 (oh geez, the in-between era of my old and current style..)

All of these are oc's (that includes the DGRP oc)

Image Order

1st: MY SILLIES FROM TWO OVER A KIND!!! ILY GUYS SMMM The main character isn't there but eh, these were re-designs ish as some of them changed from being half-vampire to full human (Duke & Jackey) and some just needed color palate changes or design changes (David & Luu)

2nd: I think my 3rd or 5th attempt at lineless? I don't know but I remember struggling a lot to do lineless so I just kinda just gave up, but hey! Look at me now! I really love lineless art now!!

3rd: My Danganronpa OC Yaku Unmei (or just Unmei) for a cancelled DGRP roleplay (I do not support the creator of the old roleplay. She intentionally or not has groomed minors into being desensitized to NSFW (I was already desensitized to it from the past but it's still fucked up) and wrote proship stuff.(I don't fucking care if it was for "accuracy" that shit was clearly a fetish. I can't believe your friends made me think for a second you weren't a groomer all because you have autism that's fucking insane.)) On a different note because I'm still not over that whole situation and person. (trauma response sorry) Unmei while being the ultimate unlucky student is one of the survivors of the killing game! If it was still ongoing... now she's just a DGRP OC that I might implement into one of my main stories

4th: More Never So Norm doodles! This time of beta-Terezi and Samy interacting! not too proud of how I drew Samy but hey... this is the inbetween era... :3

5th: Our lord and savior Jake Murdalinn who's also from Never So Norm, I love you Jake Murdalinn, my favorite ghost hunter and SFX crew guy

2022 (oh man the nostalgia is kicking in guys) (this folder and before it are so disorganized I cannot tell you which drawing I did after my first one in order U_U)

Oh geez... t h a t e r a... the era where I would just create create create and procrastinate a lot, I'm thankful for all of the characters that came out of it though

Image Order

1st: my Frist drawing of 2022, aka my OC 0-Riguren or Origuren (twas my mash mash words = name era as well), he's from TOAK (and needs a HEAVY re-design and STAT.)

2nd: Fanart of Phillip from the last dimension on webtoon! Also tiny fun fact! Phillip was the other inspiration for my OC Danny (I haven't drawn him yet but I have an idea) (Although the main inspiration was yet again, Karkat Vantas (Homestuck is one of my special interests so I have a lot of stuff inspired from Homestuck))

3rd: a TOAK height chart line up, and my second time trying to make one! my first time was.... augh... heavy note on making a height chart, there are going to be a lot of characters being similar in height and there's no need to worry about that (I worried about it my first time around...)

4th: Ah yes, Fiddletale... and.... Bartertale. (NOTE: Barter is no longer a sans or an AU, he's just an OC that's in BT along with Fiddle(long story but after Fiddletale ends It's no longer an AU however people can still claim it as an AU IDC bc everyone's gonna get re-designs for BT so essentially they're separate characters in a way)), some changes between Bartertale!Barter and Backyard Thursday!Barter: AU: Cis Man, A Sans, Skeleton, Out!Code BT: Trans Man, Half-Human Half-Skeleton no undertale involved, just a regular citizen trapped in a country in a forever winter Also Fiddle and Barter are husbands in BT <3

5th: The very first drawing I've done for Collideists... Also fun fact: This story would have never been made if I never joined an event in a discord server I'm in where everyone was making these species called "Shadow Creatures" I chipped in and created a "Light Creature" concept and things went on from there

2021 (OH HELL NAW JIGSAW GO BACK GO BAAACK :sob: :pray:)

Do you SEE how different my style was back in 2021!? oh lord... I'm like- super proud of my development... heh...

Image Order

1st: Amari Feng, She's from my given up story called "A Fantasized Beginning", I gave up on this story because I had too many stories and this one just had too much stuff going on (In short: It's basically RWBY and MHA mixed into one, kids go to school to become pro-hero's in outer-space because an evil group known as "the dark entropy" were colonizing/taking over planets and the heros had no idea how they kept doing it, and then BOOM!!! PLOT FUCKING TWIST!!! the number 1 pro-hero was the one conducting the evil groups plans all along and the hero get's stopepd by the MC's, although the colonizing and taking over doesn't stop as more villains pop up and hero's continue being hero's but this time the hero's have a easier time saving everyone) I made this story when I was in middle school along with many others, although after I did my story purge the only two stories that survived were Shadow Killed and Two Over A Kind (TOAK had a massive story overhaul and is not like it's OG plotline) I don't have plans to go back to this story, however I might if I complete all of my stories before I die, which I'm sure I will because I'm shortening a lot of them, and if I do I will DEF shorten AFB by a lot because middle school me planned like 16 something seasons (jesus.) (Also Amari was not the MC but an antagonist that later becomes an MC and was heavily inspired off of Himiko Toga(Can you tell?))

2nd: Heh... My first attempt at lineless art.... This is also back when Blipthyn was blue and was named Blueprint, I do not like TOAK's 5th rendition of a story as I was going through a hard time and heavily trauma dumped the shit out of that specific rendition of TOAK and just scrapped a lot of it, only a few things I liked survived in the current 6th? 7th? version of the story and I plan to keep it that way unless it becomes too long in my eyes

3rd: THE CTT!!! CHAOS TIME TRIO!!! Also my fist art/was around the time I met my friends Keter and Geno in the lunime discord server! we all loved undertale at this time and formed this group, a lot of things changed about each character so these are their old/beta designs, however this piece still has a place in my heart because of how special it is to me :hearts:

4th: I'm gonna be for real with you I have no fucking clue who this was for These aren't my characters nor do I remember the person who created these OC's, I do know I was very proud of this drawing because I made the other person super happy, I just dunno who it was so if by any chance you're the creator of these characters hi!!! :3

5th: Heh... Hello Swap <3 ILY <3

????-2020 (I don't know if all of this art was from 2020, all I know is that I shoved a bunch of art in this folder because I didn't wanna loose it XP) (also this only has 4 because I reached the 30 image limit so I will make a part 2 of my yap session U_U)

HEAVY NOTE: I do not support the problematic creators of the DSMP. I am a firm believer in separating the art from artist(s) to an extent. If both the art and Artist are problematic they can't be separated (I.E TCOAAL(I hate this game and creator.))

I do not support Dream, Wilbur Soot, ETC ETC, Even though I don't talk about the DSMP on this blog often I will refer to the roleplay characters with different names to help further separate the RP characters and person I.E: Wilbur: Wynter(Or Winter)(Sorry but ever sense the Shelby stuff my brain magically imagined a different guy in C!Wilbur's place)(i'm being so fucking fr rn, every time someone mentions C!Wilbur I think of someone different same goes for the others too), Dream: Delusion and Ambition(For DreamXD), George: Cogs ETC ETC (In fact I encourage anyone still in the DSMP fandom to do the same cuz Dream is getting a little too close to his DSMP character rn...)

Image Order

1st: Laim! he's also from another cancelled story called 12-15-22-5, or also known as 12-15-22-5 Project: Life this story was a romance between a resurrected angel heading and a human, the resurrected angel's goal from the company he was revived from was to find a way to break someone's heart/love to the point of dying so that they could kill a god (for some reason?? my middle school self never really specified why) However things backfire as the resurrected Angel falls in love with the love interest (heh... not straight BTW...) and other resurrected angels are sent after him and his friends because it'll "sabotage" their plan, I never planned an ending for this story but I do remember that this story was inspired off of HXH and Four Leaf on webtoon

2nd: I'm gonna be so fr I don't know why I made this character (his name is Phrog)

3rd: Ian and Damien's first ever design <33 And also Shadow Killed's first ever concept art! their designs have been changed by now so yeah :(, in fact this art was made back when I was beginning to feel happy again, although that died out because Middle School was super rough for me.

4th: Ah yes.... DSMP.... Beeduo.... and... MICHEAL!!! (This was back when the DSMP was at it's prime from my knowledge... augh...) I'm gonna so fr with you I never saw Michael (Beeduo's adopted child) as white I'm so sorry, I always viewed Michael as black I don't know why I did I just did XP, no hate to anyone who views Michael as white, I just never saw it myself This isn't ship art btw. You will be blocked if tagged as ship. (Not Threatening/Serious)

Part 2 Soon (Mainly for the comics because I reached the photo limit and I wanna show some old comic panels now :( )

[tonydaddingham]

it's all well and good to have discourse regarding generalised theories and meta and such like, it's cool to discuss and (politely) debate stuff; maybe you can change other fans' minds by sharing your perspective/analysis, or maybe they can change yours.

what's not cool though? screenshotting actual posts (that can easily be found on a straightforward google boolean search, or hell - usually just by typing the contents into tumblr itself) of takes you don't agree with and subjecting them to focused ridicule. those are someone's thoughts and feelings. that is someone's time, their effort, and their dedication.

what's not cool is vagueing about people's posts in such a way that it is obvious that your post is about them, about that particular post, and not just the theory/theme in general. this fandom is huge but it's also incredibly small sometimes - we're all so often of the same mind that art and fic and meta pass through us like shockwaves. what im saying is that the person that that post is about? they'll probably see it. don't be bullies. a good portion of us have had enough of bullies to last us a lifetime, and it's not needed here.

reblog a post and disagree courteously, patiently, and with compassion, or make a separate post "ive seen discussion on this theme/thought, and whilst it was interesting, i personally don't agree and here's why...". send a polite ask to the op perhaps asking them to clarify some things, because you don't agree but at least want to understand and discuss, if they'd be amenable.

if the bad takes are becoming too much, or are upsetting you, or the person is doubling down despite polite debate and it's pissing you off? that's absolutely valid and you're allowed to feel like that - and if you don't want, or can't, address it politely, and it's too much... block them. block them so you don't have to keep seeing it. rant about it in the DMs to someone you trust if you really need to, but don't publicly make people - on what is (to my mind) the mostly inclusive and open-minded platform - feel like shit because they see media different than you.

don't make people feel like they're absolute scum just because you disagree. don't make them feel stupid, or close-minded. dont stick labels on them that they will likely internalise and make them feel like the worst human being to walk the earth. it's humiliating, it's alienating, and it's going make some people fear having any interest in something they used to enjoy, and that once brought them joy when they needed it most. you personally may not be bothered, but others might - have some respect for them.

god knows im not perfect and ive done it myself, im not pretending otherwise bc sometimes i catch myself being unkind, or feeding into this culture of "different thought = wrong thought", but by god im trying to do better. don't be like me, please please please just be fucking kind

[phantomyre]

following the train of thought that EC-vincent is a different timeline from rebirth-vincent, does that suggest that the entirety of EC could be just /one particular timeline's series of events/ instead of The History? or is this divergence just for vincent?

for example- does it make sense to consider EC-glenn to be different from rebirth-glenn & etc etc?

(wanted to get your thoughts if you had any)

Hey there, and thank you for the question! I do have a few thoughts on it, albeit I try to approach it based on what we've been given across all recent information so it might sound a tad generic. Long post... (sorry, I got carried away lol)

[Preface] As is already obvious, it would appear that of all the main party members, Vincent's the only odd-ball out in terms of his appearance. He doesn't 'belong' to any timeline in EC unlike all the other characters who are from Remake/Intergrade/Rebirth. And I think this is for a reason. I've seen the excuse of perhaps Vincent was just modeled a long time ago, but frankly I don't think the dev team are that shallow. They've had Vincent's model for about a couple years, give or take, or at the very least his design. And they know fans would pick apart character appearances and inconsistencies if something (like Vincent) was out of place. And yet they chose to go out of their way with a totally different take than what we see in Rebirth. It would have been a lot easier to port in Vincent's Rebirth design into EC, but Nomura decided to painstakingly create Vincent from scratch for EC. What's more, we also get a completely different Galian Beast, which is also another extensive process to create. Now granted-- perhaps what we see in EC was what we were going to get in Rebirth but got scrapped, and Nomura may have been so married to Vincent's EC design that he wanted to include it instead. However, if there's anything we have learned about the FF7 dev team (and Nomura), it's that there's always some nuanced reason behind it aside from 'I spent so much time on this; just add it already'. Anyone who has been in the FF7 fandom for some length of time will know you can't always trust what the devs say 100%. They are artists, and they like to be a bit mysterious. All this is to say... I just think there's a potential lore reason for why they decided to give Vincent this unique treatment of being time-line vague. Rebirth has shown us that there isn't a single timeline but multiple worlds that diverge and merge, depending on the choices being made by those who can affect fate. So at least within Rebirth's 'world', we know that multiple worlds can exist in tandem. This concept isn't exclusive to Rebirth, however. It is also indicated (by Sephiroth) at the very beginning of Ever Crisis...

During special story-based events where a portal is involved, you'll notice that they will always have something along the lines of 'another possibility' being repeated. So in essence, while there's nothing official that states EC is its own world or timeline, we are being told that the Lifestream is capable of weaving many 'possibilities', or alternative worlds. And this is front and center with Ever Crisis and Rebirth. What's more, EC just so happens to line up with the compilation lettering system... AC, BC, CC, DC, EC... Coincidence? For those of us who know OG's story and have played EC, there are a few differences when going through the OG's story. It isn't 1:1, and some things are taken from Rebirth. One might call it abridged. So... is Ever Crisis a separate world/timeline? Maybe. In terms of Glenn, I think it's a bit early to tell because Rebirth essentially gave us a spoiler for what happens to Glenn. But First Soldier's story has yet to conclude. So in terms of Glenn, he's a bit of an outlier. I think we'll have a better answer to that when we get part 3 as I'm sure we'll see him there in some form. Though back to Vincent... While it depends on how one looks at 'worlds' or multi-timelines, I think we can mostly all agree it's not a single world. What causes this to get very convoluted is that we got Vincent who is immortal... there are many ways they could handle him being both immortal and being a part of the Lifestream's system that creates multiple worlds from choices. However, the simplest thing I can think of is that Vincent simply exists outside of time. I feel as though Vincent is described as outside of time, but I could be wrong. All I know is that in BC, Vincent does say 'The passage of time has no meaning to me'. This is going deeper into some other territory but I'll just briefly say that I believe Vincent is incapable of merging with the Lifestream... but that's for a different discussion. And because I think he cannot merge with the Lifestream, he is thus 'outside' of time if that makes sense. TLDR: I think it's very possible EC is meant to be 'another possibility' of another world created by the choices of our protagonists (and by way of logic, the choices we make as gamers). Secondly, I think this curious lack of design cohesion is specifically for Vincent, only. This may have to do with him being immortal and existing (likely) outside of time itself. I think this is their way of communicating (as all artists do) Vincent's identity to us without really divulging it. I wouldn't doubt part 3 will uncover this side of Vincent so that we can come back to EC and see a connection.

[peoplesrazor]

Okay, I'll play.

I'm going to address something else first, but starting at where the word Also is in bold, I'll be giving some examples to counter whether or not they were "allowed" to do those videos.

Let's pretend anon's assumption is correct and Lily is getting more heat for her video, could there be any other reason for this besides the fandom not batting an eye and whatever other nonsense Lily is trying to apply? (Lily, you're covertly calling folks you don't like Nazis and Nazi sympathizers again. We've talked about how this is holocaust denial.)

What could be some other reasons this may have happened, I wonder?

Maybe age of the videos? Let's see. Lily's SU video is 6 years old. EZ's is 7 years old. E;R doesn't have an SU video younger than 8 years old. So, yes, Lily's came out later and may have been easier to find.

How about how many people have watched the videos? E;R has a few videos. The highest is at 1.2M. EZ's video is at 3.1M. Lily's is at 8.8M. More people have seen Lily's video.

Output? Lily makes a video every few weeks to a month. E;R is closest to that, still being active and making them every 3 to 6 months, most of which clock in under 15 minutes. EZ hasn't made a new video in two years and sometimes took year-long breaks between videos before that. So, it's more likely someone might go to Lily's channel to watch something else, then decide to check out her main SU video.

I suppose I could count the number of videos they made or even how many times they made SU videos, but I don't think that would add anything.

Some other things to consider.

Let's be honest. Lily's title is better. EZ's video is close with "A garbage show for garbage people," but it doesn't hit as hard. Lily knew whose title style to steal.

Of course, if you type Steven Universe criticism in the youtube search bar, Lily's is listed first, so that's more exposure, too.

Any one of these, even on their own, could lead to more people being sent to, and therefore watching Lily's video and would be a reason her video gets more scrutiny.

In addition, Lily, by virtue of using terms and ideas more common on the left, appeals to a different audience than the other two people making these videos. Most of the people watching Lily's video may never have seen the other videos because of that. They might be more sensitive or, at least, more concerned with certain things that were said than another audience would be. Hell, they may have turned off the other videos at the first sign of them being bigoted.

Also, anon? The word Allowed would like to talk to a union rep, because it's doing nearly all the work in that sentence. I hate to break it to you, but you can't tell people not to be a bigot and have them just not do it anymore. The best you can do is point it out, talk about it, and warn others. I took your ask in the best possible faith and assumed that you meant we are doing that only to Lily.

But it has been done with those other videos. Hiding In Private did separate videos on E;R and on EZPZ. In fact, the one on EZPZ came out before the video dissecting Lily's video. Not their fault if you only know about the Lily one.

Here is a reddit thread talking about the other two, but not Lily.

Here is a youtuber talking about Lily's video last month. Here the same youtuber is talking about EZPZ's video four years ago!

Here's another youtuber also talking about EZ.

I've seen several other tumblr post or streamers or youtubers talking more generally about Steven Universe criticism and mention E;R and, especially EZ. Sometimes they don't mention Lily at all!!!

If anything EZ's video seems to be the one most talked about. It's quite possible, anon, that because you are a Lily fan, you are simply noticing the critics who talk about her more often.

Your ask also assumes that any one who is not dismissed as a "dumb chud" will be raked over the coals for their Steven Universe critiques.

Here's Uncivilized Elk, an actual fan, being critical of the movie. Positive comments, seems to be doing fine.

Here are videos by Jay Exci being critical of both the show and the movie. Again, agreeable comments. No negative effects.

So, maybe, people are taking umbrage at the things actually said in Lily's video and the way they were framed. Maybe it was just the way Lily comes off as someone who cares more about attacking the show and the creator then giving actual critique.

Sure, some people may already know something about Lily's rep at this point and come in with a pre-conceived idea of what to expect. The video's more than half-a-decade old and it tends to come up in discourse about the criticism leveled at the show. It was also the hot video on the subject right at the time those criticisms were most common. People have heard of her and the video and may already have an idea of what to expect.

Still on Lily for meeting those expectations and being even worse then they assumed in some cases, though.

[beefslipper]

Headcanons! Some Spoilers?

My first post got a lot more attention than I thought it would, so I'm just gonna drop some headcanons. I'll do a few different characters from different shows, anime/mangas, etc. If you don't know much about the characters, there will be some info on them that some people may not know already (Ex; character death, big events, whatever).

Some HCs are on the sad side while others are just silly, nonserious ones.

Also, if you disagree with any of these HCs, that's totally fine! Please just don't be negative about it or anything. And if you want to correct me on anything, go right ahead.

First up, I'm gonna do Jason Todd from the Batman Comics/shows. I love Jason so much, nothing could ever make me hate him <3

I feel like he'd believe in "hair holding memories" thing, so after his death and revival, he'd shave his head countless times to try and forget all the bad memories. Poor boy :(

For a happier HC, I think he'd be an absolute boss at Just Dance or automatically become the God of a video game that any of his younger 'siblings' need help with beating.

I also have a slight feeling he'd cheat during a silly 'family game night' thing and be hiding uno cards in his jacket or something LOL. Bro's the type to make one move during a game of chess before giving up and flipping the board.

Onto Gojo Satoru from Jujutsu Kaisen :D

I used to be a huge Gojo hater for no reason lol, but now he's kinda one of my favorites.

Since it's canon that he has a sweet tooth, I have a feeling he stress eats/bored eats (eats a bunch when stressed out or bored) and gets tummy aches pretty often from that.

I feel like he'd tear up a dance floor at a stupid little highschool event or something, but not like normal dancing. Bro probably dances like a Hotel Transylvania character LMFAO.

Lastly, Diluc Ragnvindr from Genshin Impact!!

Fun fact: he was my first main besides the traveler on Genshin Impact.

I HC that the poor man has a rough time sleeping (specifically after the Snezhnaya events and the death of his father). Whenever Kaeya sneaks into the Dawn Winery, he probably holds his big brother until he can sleep peacefully <3

(NO, I DO NOT ship the brothers in GI or the Batfam. Get those brownies outta here /ref)

Another silly HC I got is that Diluc used to be the sweetest kid in Mondstadt, but was unintentionally a little chaos magnet. Definitely a leash child so Crepus wouldn't have a heart attack when wondering where his son ran off to for the 60th time that day.

Bonus HC: Babysitter Varka. Must I say any more? Bro's probably still a big father figure in Diluc's life and sends weekly letters checking up on him.

Y'all are so lucky I forgot about HSR characters, otherwise I woulda yapped about at least 6 of them LOL. Might make a separate post later just for them, maybe multiple. Who knows.

If you noticed, yes. I learned how to insert images and I will 100% abuse that. When I learn how to insert emojis, I'm abusing that too. (I'm on a computer so I don't have emojis available as of right now.)

If you want to request HCs of any other character from the mentioned fandoms(? Is that what you call it?), go right ahead and ask! I probably won't get to it immediately since cramps are manhandling me right now, but I'll do it ASAP.

Anyways, have a great day, evening, and/or night, and make sure you stay hydrated!

[xxxnightcorequeenxxxv3]

AU Batboys as Cyberlife Androids

I have 100% a bit more than I can chew with this. As I mostly know these fandoms from fanfiction. And I haven't even played the game. But that doesn't stop me from going of the deep end and make a AU in my head featuring the bat boys as cyberlife androids. And of course, Bruce is the but of the jokes too. So how does this work? Let me tell you what I came up with at work doing busy work that requires low brain power, and I pretty much autopilot and AU craft. So the idea is that Dick, Jay, Tim, and Dami have all ended up deviating. And due to damage taken, has either managed to cram themselves altogether in child model Android (or some sort of USB system storage). Anyway, that's how we get Robin, who managed to sneak away using a circus as a cover, and they end up in Gotham. (I think Dick might have been a police android before the transfer to the Robin collective, and Jay maybe was modified by the past owner for crime, no idea about Tim and Dami yet, though.) So, even if they are at risk of getting hurt, they still try to do good in the world. They some how run into Batman. With a lot of back and forth, Bruce managed to convince Robin to come with him. What they don't tell Bruce at first is that there are more of them. So, after some time, Robin asks Bruce if he could get an adult frame, please. Brucie managed to convince the public that he got the child boot secondhand. And there has been a lot of speculation as to why of the not-so-savory variety. So when Bruce requests a blank model with no programming to be sent to Wayne Tech for the transfer. The only reason Cyberlife agrees to it is that someone in Wayne tech RND convinces them Wayne is probably just gonna .... the bot. and yeah, that's how Dick gets the cake. As the others were like no, you've been in charge of Robin for so long now, you go first. So Dick agrees to transfer to the new custom model, which can change to Mr. Wayne's preference. To Bruce's surprise, Robin is operational, just different as Jay is in charge of the collective now as the next experienced model in the line. This is where Dick and the others come clear that Robin is more of a Matryoshka situation. It takes some time for Bruce to get to terms with that situation. But after some time has gone by, they come up with a plan to get another clean slate android body. Brucie is now gonna be in to role play, for his second android. He manages to get one of them beefy security bots. So yeah, he leaves Wayne RND with the forwarding request for a new blank bot from Cyberlife. And some techs are thoroughly amused by the goings on that the requests go through. And That's how we get a big beefy boy for Jay to jump to. Making it Tim's turn to be in primary control of Robin for a time. Bruce asks Robin just how many there are in there now, as it seems like the supply is never-ending. Tim calms Bruce down by saying that if they get one more android body, they'll have one each. more time elapse. And Brucie has to make yet another request, this time for a android secretary. Lucky for Bruce, the same guys as the last time are still changing and approving his request again, sending what they laughingly call "an Androgynous Twink for Mr Wayne" this time. And That's how we get Tim and Dami separated again.

And that's what I got so far, as I have no clue what more to do than possibly draw stuff. ---- So I posted on Discord to and the oh so wonderful @bucketorandomness

Added this; yes, I asked if it was okay to do the edit with credit

Option for more after-market additions for the boys:

Damian was originally a security model who was changed into an assassin by unsavory folks

Timothy was still a Drake, purchased as a kind of “test run for a real child” which they think is going great when it really wasn’t. Extra learning modules and some advanced reasoning in his base programming were mandatory for purchase

Cassandra, like Dami, was repurposed into a stealth-based assassin from a dancer base. Language programming was removed to make more room for the modifications. She follows one of the others home after recognizing a fellow android

Duke gets adopted into the Robin Collective temporarily while they drag his model back to Bruce and demand he fix it

Stephanie isn’t an android, but she did jokingly offer to join the Robin Collective once science figures out how to download a consciousness. Whether or not that already exists is up for debate.

Barbara can be a secretary model for the GPD or she can be another human like Steph if you want. If she is an android, I suggest Jim Gordon notices her deviancy and decides to adopt this new person and teach her how to people like a daughter. Also maybe self-installed body mods. I feel like she’d get a tattoo without supervision so why not upgrade her own RAM and other abilities?