#mod note: tumblr is being annoying and not letting me post the message from my inbox unfortunately : /

[justine-the-guillotine]

Hey there! I saw your post (about Mystic Code) on LucyDream's tumblr. Love how you're in your 30's but still playing otome games! I'm the same, but I'm in this world just recently. Can you make a list with your favorite visual novels and otome games? I love those ones with a more mature MC. I mean your can be cute/fun and still be sassy/adult hehe I miss it sometimes...

Okay Anon first of all I’m trash because I told you I would have this out the day you asked it and I totally didn’t so I’m sorry I don’t even know if you’re going to see this. 😩 But you need to know that THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE QUESTION I HAVE EVER BEEN ASKED AND I LOVE YOU A LOT. 

Anyway, I have a lot to say about this and here’s what I’m gonna say first - there’s a lot of layers to this question so let me just... write a novel. 

Important Note #1: I don’t know that you necessarily want to consider me some kind of expert on otoge with adult MCs. My favorite VN of all time is not an otome game and it is also not with a “mature MC”... you play as a 16-year old boy in Fate/Stay Night. But it’s such a good VN, if you can find it I totally recommend it. I will rave about it for DAYS so if you also want an essay about that please let me know. 

Important Note #2: Some little, technical things... - there is a difference between “mature MC” and “older MC” so I’m gonna kinda do a mix of both... but also going to include “older suitors” or “suitors with no canon age” in this criteria as well.  - I prefer PC games to mobile games but play mobile more often due to convenience... -I own a lot of games that I’m super interested in and have actually never gotten around to playing because I have both a time management problem and a shopping problem. So there are probably some even better choices than what I’m about to list from personal experience and maybe I’ll just come back and update this in a few months.  Moving on...  Here are my current top favorite VNs (otoge or not):  1. Fate/Stay Night (PC) 2. When the Night Comes (PC)   3. The Arcana (Mobile) 4. Amnesia (PC and Mobile) 5. Mystic Code (Mobile) My favorite mobile VNs:  I’m gonna tell you right now this list is gonna change on July 1st when Ikemen Vampire comes out... watch that immediately jump to the #2 spot but as of right now I haven’t played it so I can’t do that.  1. The Arcana 2. Ikemen Revolution 3. Mystic Code 4. Mystic Messenger (this is iffy to call this a VN in my opinion but VNDB lists it so I’m going go with it) 5.  Mysterious Forum and 7 Rumors  My favorite PC VNs (otoge or not): This list is a big oof to be honest because there are so many games I am really interested in but haven’t yet played. For example, I have 20+ unplayed games in my Steam library right now.  1. Fate/Stay Night 2. When the Night Comes 3. Amnesia: Memories  4. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 5. Cinderella Phenomenon  Now those are my favorites, but here instead are my actual recommendations for you personally Anon:  Recommendations for VNs with a More Mature MC:  1. When the Night Comes (PC, Free to Play) I absolutely adore this VN. It is the best otoge/dating sim I have ever played (thus far). But that’s because it caters to a lot of my interests - it’s definitely not going to hit the mark for everyone! The MC has no canon age or gender. You can date a human, witches, a vampire, a Lycan, and a demon. There are even two route options for poly romance. THE WRITING IS PHENOMENAL. I mean the story is great, yes, but THE FUCKING LANGUAGE is totally everything I love. It is very snarky, witty, and British. Swearing in places one would swear in real life. Sarcastic, “roll my eyes at myself” jokes that one would make in real life. Things are dark but with a sliver of hope. MC is a fucking badass and very much a mature adult. It’s currently being updated monthly (chapter 8 comes out tomorrow - 6/29) so we only have two more months left and then we’re done :( 2. The Arcana (Mobile, Free to Play, with Premium Options)  Please be cautious when interacting with this fandom, especially right now. But besides that warning, The Arcana is amazing. It is also currently still updating. But the MC again has no canon age nor gender. And as a plus, as far as I am aware, the suitors do not have canon ages as well. I wish all games would have no canon suitor ages but I digress. The story sorta starts as a murder mystery but evolves into something much more. It is magical. It incorporates tarot so well. The art is absolutely gorgeous. The MC is not at all helpless and definitely holds their own. 

3. Cinderella Phenomenon (PC, Free to Play)   Okay so MC in this one is NOT an adult. She’s 17, I believe. But she’s a bitch and I love her. I genuinely love the plot of this VN. The art is very pretty - very art nouveau. If you like twists on fairy tails, some snark, and a story of... uh, learning how to be less of a bitch ... this one is a great play! 

4. Mystic Code (Mobile, Free to Play, with Premium Options) I’m not gonna elaborate on this here since Anon already knows about it but I want to remind people reading this that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS VN... I believe it is the best game to come out on mobile thus far this year.  5. Love Tangle in the Niflheim+ (Mobile, Free to Play with Premium Options, Abandoned)  So... normally I would never recommend a Shall We Date game as a top choice, however, this game is SWD’s only exception. It, of course, has the god awful mechanics that all SWD games have, which could make it a bit annoying to play. This game has also unfortunately been abandoned by SWD so there are NO updates to it. Luckily, all the routes (save for one, I’m pretty sure they were planning to release Sunny’s route prior to abandoning) are out and in full. MC has no canon age and it doesn’t matter because she’s fucking dead. Your suitors are also dead. This is the best premise of a fucking story I have ever seen. As with most SWD games, the writing is a hit or a miss depending on the route, but the MC is mature and strong-willed - never helpless. (One thing I will give SWD is they tend to write their MCs with a bit of *bite* in them.) The writing has some well-timed comedic moments so it definitely keeps you entertained!! I originally started playing just for the novelty of it but I actually genuinely love it. Plus MC has the best hair of all the MCs I have ever seen. 

Additionally, I recommend both Ikemen Sengoku and Ikemen Revolution (Mobile, FTP w/ Premium Options). The MC usually has her shit together although she does have her moments of “oh no baby what is you doing?” And in both games, she’s a young adult, not anywhere near 30 but I still find I have no problem self-inserting.  Other games:  -  Hustle Cat (PC, $) - I have yet to play, but it was recommended to me by two people I trust when it comes to these types of games. It seems to be geared toward adults and as far as I am aware, MC is customizable in not only pronouns but build as well.  - Mr. Love Queen’s Choice (Mobile, mostly FTP) - I do play this and I enjoy it. I wouldn’t really recommend it for a “mature” MC (even though she is a young adult who runs a company), but I mod a MLQC discord server and noticed a lot of our members are in the late 20s-30s. So obviously this game appeals to an “older” market (har har, I just mean “older” than 21). It’s a VN at its core, but it’s got so much extra shit going on that it can be overwhelming unless you like those sort of games. The story part of it is really, really good. And the MC gets equal time with all the suitors (instead of specifically just choosing one route to date).  - Food Fantasy (Mobile, mostly FTP) - this isn’t a VN and I don’t think it’s technically an otoge either- it’s a JRPG-  but oh my goodness the art is fucking gorgeous, and the backstory that sets up the game is WILD, dark, and deep. It blew my mind. It’s cute! So I had to throw it in here in case you were looking for something fun. :)  And finally, VNs on my “To-Play” List:  - Ikemen Vampire (Mobile) - this is coming out in just a few days and I have been waiting for 8 months, so I’m super stoked! - Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (PC and Vita, $) - The House in Fata Morgana (PC, $) - Clannad (PC, $$)  - Tokyo Debunker (Mobile) - as far as I know there’s no official release date yet, unfortunately! :(  Anyway please message me more if you have any more questions or want to know anything else, I love this shit thank you!!! Depending on the question I’ll try not to write a thesis paper next time :[ 

[cherishedproperty]

Pillowfort Thoughts

So I’ve been on Pillowfort almost a week. I’ve started a community for D/s writers. I’ve written my own stuff there. I’ve worked to find friends, new and old. And for those of you who are interested, I thought I would collect some thoughts. (Btw, I know this is long, and I would use a “read more” cut but I’m not sure if anyone would be able to see the full post given that I’m marked explicit. So apologies.)

First let me say, Pillowfort is not (nor is it intended to be) a Tumblr substitute. It functions differently. It makes explicit choices about functionality that affect how people interact and the type of culture that develops as a result. It reminds me more of Livejournal than Tumblr, and there are pros and cons to that. So here’s my assessment:

Pillowfort does not allow users to comment when they reblog. You can comment on a post (like a Tumblr reply without a character limit), but it stays with the OP and does not appear on your blog. Pillowfort has made a conscious decision here and does not intend to add reblog comments. 

The pro of this is that you content creators don’t end up with disturbing/unwanted words being attached to their content. I know several people here who have struggled with that. But the flip side is that stolen images will be as prevalent as here (or more) because people will repost the image to be able to append their comment. Another pro is that you don’t end up with a bunch of different posts on the same thing clogging up your feed when a discussion gets active; it all stays in the threaded comments for the post. That part is really nice. Sometimes the same thing shows up on my Tumblr feed like 5 times in a row with different sets of comments and reblogs, and it can be a mess.  

The other cons of this are obvious. When someone scrolls through my blog, they don’t see the thoughtful commentary I’m providing all over the place. It also limits bloggers who primarily create when inspired by others’ posts (like you lovely erotica writers out there). Some people tag reblogs with “commented” or some such. Others will link the OP in a new post, but that fragments the discussion (especially without the ability to @ someone right now). There are other proposals on the table to allow OP to feature comments, but they are unlikely to ever switch to having reblog comments. 

Reblogs always show that you reblogged from the OP. So this doesn’t get content curators or communities any visibility to get followers. A friend just reblogged something from me about Twitter harassment. I only know she reblogged from me because it was right after I posted, and she only follows a few people (there’s no ability to see who likes or reblogs your posts right now). Her reblog shows that she reblogged from OP. So no one is going to know that I was involved at all unless they look at the notes on the post itself. 

There are no asks. And as far as I know, no plans to add that. People say the communities are a good avenue to ask those questions, but I have found asks to be a valuable part of the D/s community. You can direct message and the blogger could choose to put that question and response in a post. But those are really the options. 

When you change the original post, all of the reblogs change. If you delete a post, all the reblogs disappear. As someone who is horrified by typos sometimes after I post, this is super awesome. It has the potential for abuse, if someone changes a post you’ve reblogged and writes some Nazi shit on it that is now on your blog when you never meant it to be. So that’s something to know. 

Pillowfort has communities, and they are great. Communities have discussions and posts. So in my community, I’m putting writing prompts in discussions. People can respond by commenting on the discussion, or they can make a new post and reblog it to the community. Sometimes I got annoyed by the shorter sccwriting prompts that then led to like 75 reblogs of one-sentence comments clogging up my feed. Now that stuff can all go in discussions. Also, any member of the community can reblog their post to the community, rather than mods having to do it like with sccwriting. 

You can toggle off NSFW posts in your feed. As long as people tag posts appropriately. So if you don’t want to see buttholes in your feed at 7am, you can go butthole free for a while. I really, really like this. As long as people actually tag their shit appropriately. Which they don’t. But the community seems good about policing it now. 

There are other features people might like. You can choose who you share posts with—followers, mutuals, or everyone. You can decide whether a post is rebloggable or commentable. It generally gives much more control to content creators, which is nice. 

There are other features people might miss. There’s no overall activity feed right now. I don’t know who reblogs from me or likes my posts. I can see this on each individual post for my original posts, but it’s not gathered in one place, and I have zero visibility into who reblogs something I reblogged. 

Pillowfort is in closed beta right now, meaning they allow joining by registration key only, which in the past has happened with a $5 donation. They’ve currently suspended that process so the platform can catch up and absorb all the new users. But if you are interested, you can log in as a demo user and go through the full site (and even find me and the new community). You can also get on a waiting list to be notified when they open it up again. 

For now, I’m sticking around there and trying to see if the platform can work for me. But I’m also still open to new options and will keep you all posted on those as they arise. Feel free to reach out with questions about the platform if you have any. Happy to answer them.

[bearcalledred]

Buyer Beware: Anna Chandler/Elise, Czechmix, Taleybone, Annaelisedraw, ect..

The one of many names of which many are already familiar. Tumblr isn’t a good place for me to post all the screen caps, but they are all posted on instagram and facebook in warning groups. Here is a link to one of the groups it’s posted to (Bjd World Market) https://www.facebook.com/groups/280417182022846/?ref=br_rs

and (BJD Addicts Feedback/Community Alert) 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/974023212693715/permalink/1443803612382337/?notif_t=group_post_approved¬if_id=1506401287542825

It’s also fully on my instagram page. I’m posting here because I know how Anna is. She’s spreading her twisted version of the story around wherever she can, and she has confessed about me before on the blog TrueBJDConfessions. I do expect to see more from her. 

I’ll post the verbal content of the warning, as there are 42 screenshots and they really can’t be posted effectively here.  View beneath the “read more.”

And I’m always happy to send you the screencaps if you can’t see them elsewhere. Just be aware that there...are 42 of them lol. But I’m all too happy to supply them. 

!!!!Negative feedback for Anna Elise/Anna Chandler!!!!

*Note: This incident occurred on instagram. My username there is Bearcalledred. Anna Chandler/Elise has gone by numerous names, including Taleybone, Czechmix, Bunnyflavor, Ruddyrainbowdolls, annaelisedraw, ghostchildiv, bjdfairygiveaways, ninjaswordsparkle, and ninjakelpie.

I had really hoped I would never have to post one of these! But up until now, my transaction with @annaelisedraw was ordinary. She has been known by many things and was @ruddyrainbowdolls at the time of commission. I actually received numerous warnings about working with this individual, but I took the commission because I thought we were friends and that she wouldn't do anything shifty to me. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and look past her bad history. I was commissioned to make a pair of eyes, and then paint a doll of hers. I finished the eyes in a month, I believe. I can't check the exact date because the ruddyrainbowdolls account has been deactivated. So the eyes are done, and I'm waiting to hear back about the doll that she's finishing. She wanted to finish the mods on it before sending it. To this day I have gotten no communication regarding the doll, or any thing besides accepting the way the eyes look. I wasn't really impatient about the doll, so I didn't pester. All was fine! No indication that anything was wrong. In the meantime, someone submits to TrueBJDConfessions, which Anna seems to miraculously not know about?  Criticising me for that time my cat knocked a head off of a box into my lap. The buyer of the head knew about this and had no issue. Didn't know who it was, so I went on. Via her messages to me here, after we get into a disagreement on a photo of mine, she lets it slip. It was she who submitted a confession about me on the confession blog on tumblr. Nice! So profesh. "pets playing with customers items?" So that's never happened. I wonder what she could be focusing on? Our disagreement was about people who had been rude to me about one of my dolls' face. I posted the photo later saying "Idk that she really cares who dislikes her face." Because I was tired of people commenting that she looked like a blow up doll or that she was high. Naturally, I'm annoyed. I didn't notice that she had posted a comment later also on my box opening photo of her expressing her dislike of the sculpt. The comment itself wasn't rude, I would have had no issue with it. But what became rude was her comment on the picture of her afterwards. She then proceeded to assume entirely that I was talking about her, and began an argument. I didn't even know who she was, I have never heard of this account of hers. I won't go into detail about the argument. It's still up on the photo of Keeley mentioned before, you can read it. (for Facebook, I've included  a screenshots) I come to find out that this person, who I thought was some random person, is Anna. I feel betrayed and infuriated. I was going to initiate the refund to her myself after discovering this, because I could forsee many problems that I didn't want to deal with before I got this doll of hers. The eyes were a relatively small commission, but dealing with something complex like a doll was now something I did NOT want to risk. She has especially bad history in trading and shipping dolls in poor condition. I can actually vouch for that one. I traded for 2 minifee heads from her years ago, and they arrived unprotected with grocery sacks being the only thing to pad them. I didn't complain, they weren't damaged. I was going to sleep on the decision to refund her and end the commission, but I was awoken by messages from her, shown, asking for eyes or refund. I chose refund. I don't need someone like this posting a spiteful hate-review because we had an argument. This should have been the end of it, but she proceeded to be very nasty. I included the frequent "third picture of Negi" for reference. She apparently takes very high offense to my use of jointed hands. So in conclusion, this transaction and experience with Anna went from nice, ok, ordinary, to flaming dumpster fire so quickly. She is a very volatile client and I've heard this from many commissionable artist friends. Since posting the original warning, numerous people have come forth with their own stories about Anna. I have permission to post them. The fact that she had been banned and has numerous problem transactions on DoA should have been enough, but it was my mistake. She claims to have very little bad feedback, but that truly is not the case. She had a long history of bad transactions, including one now from me. She has been spreading the lie that I'm warning people about her because I "lost her sale." I actually had the choice to send the eyes. I terminated the commission and refunded out of choice. Btw, it was $40. I'm not slandering someone for a loss of $40, nor would I slander a client to begin with for wanting to end a transaction on reasonable terms. I may not have even posted a buyer beware, if she hadn't proceeded to be so vile to me. The thing that crossed the line for me was making fun of my illness. Saying that I "whine about my physical illnesses" and she doesn't, so I'm wrong. And also, gasp! I take sick days. How evil of me. So no, this isn't a simple matter of a lost sale. She's a terrible, abusive client, and I want people to be aware before they accept a commission from her. I'll answer any questions if someone should have them. I have screenshots of everything, and Anna may possibly be deleting her comments to make it seem like I have been. She mentioned one of her comments being deleted, but I was unable to find what she was talking about, and I'd been taking screen shots as the event progressed.