#my main issue with it had always been its paint and now its paint is just fucking spectacular

[pupwashing]

i ain't even gon hold anyone anymore i lowkey need swansea rape. like... he's not that type of guy AT ALL but i need some swansea pseudo-incest rape. he's my dilf crush so i need to assign him a sleazy pervy second side

-👧🏿nonnie who's so fucking gone

oh my god nonnie.

SWANSEA RAPE? SOUND THE ALARMS! A FIRE IDEA HAS HIT THE TOWER!!!!!!!!

umm I may have gotten carried away with this,,,, TW for noncon, unprotected sex, and a creampie :3

swansea really doesn't fucking like you, has never liked you, and always tries to keep you away from him, but you won't get off his back. you're more annoying than daisuke, and daisuke annoys the ever living hell out of him.

its clear you have some type of issue that just keeps you clinging to him, and there doesn't seem to be much he can do about it.

so when you can't beat 'em, you take advantage of your situation.

you're doe eyed and naive, the perfect target for any low level sleaze to have his way with you, which he plans on doing. you trust him enough to cling to him like a damned leech, so its not hard to get you alone in utility.

even easier for him to get his hand down your pants, and before you realize whats happening, his thick fingers are already scissoring your juicy cunt open.

jesus, you're already soaking wet. he tells himself its because of his old charm, not because of basic biology or whatever. you clearly want this, even if you're crying and struggling against him.

despite being up there in age, swansea's pretty strong. you don't stand a chance against him.

once his fingers are done opening you up, it's time for the main event: his dick.

it's been a while since he's been in this position. his wife doesn't care much for sex anymore, and neither did he, until you came along.

suddenly, his libido's back and better than ever.

one hand clamps down on your mouth in case you try to scream, while the other moves your dainty little panties to the side. your pussy is practically begging him to fuck it, and so he will.

you never thought you'd get raped by a man you considered as a fatherly figure, but life has a way of throwing wrenches into the happy ideals people love to have.

his dick isn't very big, but it is wide, so it feels like theres a battering ram stretching you wide open. it's girthy enough to make your insides feel like mush, to bring tears to your eyes, to make your legs feel like jelly.

every stroke breaks your little heart, piece by piece. you don't know why he decided to do this to you. maybe you should've stayed away when you had the chance.

you don't have time to dwell on your poor judgement, because your thoughts get jumbled with every snap of swansea's hips.

a con of being old is the loss of stamina, and swansea isn't exactly the stud he used to be. gone is the man who could last for hours keeping his partners satisfied, now a bitter old man who would rather work than use his dick.

it was over as quick as it started, ending with swansea painting your gummy walls white. his pull out game isn't like it used to be either.

you collapse as soon as its over. your legs can't handle your weight.

and of course, he simply zips his pants up and leaves. no one goes to utility, so no one would come to your aid.

as you lay on the cold ground, you think. about all the times swansea told you to get lost, or how he would always shoo you away.

but the cold hard truth is that swansea would've done it no matter what you chose to do. he was going to do this anyway. it was just a matter of time.

you were a ticking time bomb, and he was the detonator.

[sufferu]

Two things:

One of my main peeves is that you're accusing Subaru of "abusing" RBD, when in reality he's just using it to save the people he loves. Of course, if he was able to save others without using it, he would. What do you think then, should Subaru do when faced with the death of his loved ones?

That's also one of the reasons I asked you about Shirou Emiya from Fate. His brand of heroism can be summarized in two sentences "I want to save everyone I can see" and "As long as others can be saved, I don't care what happens to me" , both of which is always portrayed as a bad thing. But the idea is that, while the way he views it and applies it is wrong - the idea of saving others is what's beautiful, and that's what counts. How do you think this applies to the lens and themes of Re Zero, since you claim that the idea of self sacrifice is condemned in it?

I really don’t feel like it’s anywhere near a hot take to say that Re:Zero is anti-utilitarian or condemns the idea of self-sacrifice. I mean, so much of the story is about how Subaru relying on Return By Death would be a Very Bad Thing, and how him loving himself just as he loves other people is important. It’s like, the crux of his character arc. Saying “Subaru SHOULD be using RBD to save his loved ones, because the sacrifice of a single person is trumped by the sacrifice of many” is a valid position to take — a very utilitarian one, really — but it is not the position that the story is taking. And I very much like that about Re:Zero because 1) its narrative feels a lot kinder, frankly, and thus I tend to find it more cathartic, and 2) it is a very unique take within this genre of fiction. Most other stories within this genre don’t paint being a hero as a bad thing, or self-sacrifice as much other than noble. That’s the basic status quo here. And I actually don’t think that there’s anything wrong with being generic — those stories can still be fun — but I do appreciate that Re:Zero is taking a more unique angle on the question.

But more than that: different stories have different narrative angles. A lot of the time, you’re not going to get the same themes and messages from every story in a way that allows them to be easily transferred from one to the other. Sometimes they even respond to one another: while I’ve never watched Fate, I do know that Tappei took inspiration from Fate while creating Re:Zero — and because of that, I wouldn’t be shocked if he was making a counterargument to Fate’s idea of heroism through his own work. Anyway, Fate doing one thing doesn’t mean Re:Zero isn’t doing another. And I quite like what Re:Zero is doing here, so I tend to try and adhere to its themes within my own fanfic writing.

(Also, secret third reason: I think the attitude that Re:Zero takes here is a lot more respectful to the reality of suicide and self-harm. Like — those concepts aren’t really all that abstract to some of us, lol, and a huge part of the reason I was drawn to Re:Zero was its handling of that subject matter. Return By Death not only necessarily involves the subjects of both self-harm and suicide: it straight up invites the comparison to the real-life issue on several occasions. This is just a reality of the work. If it were to turn around and turn those very personal topics into a generic fantasy story — if it had done that from the start I might have been able to roll my eyes and take it as a generic edgy power fantasy or w/e, but if it started doing that NOW, after several arcs of treating them with a genuine amount of care, I would very likely throw the book at the wall and storm off to never come back.)

[rangerzath]

I've finally played the Lake House and now I'm going to talk about it for awhile. Spoilers below the break.

I will start off by saying this is one of the BEST DLCs I have ever played in any game.

I have always loved Kiran as a character since we first saw her, but The Lake House really highlighted just how fantastically rounded and detailed this character is given the short amount of time we spend with her. Her humor, the fear she experiences, but above all the determination she has to do her job makes a great character.

I appreciated how much we see of the everyman FBC agent. Not everyone at the FBC is a parautilitarian, a lovable scientist dork, or the Director. There are normal people working there believing in what they do. This is a very important part of the overall story of this organization to me. Often I see the Bureau demonized as a whole by the fandom and that really upsets me. Bad apples are everywhere, as we see in this DLC. But we also see how a good person like Kiran stands up against it. Even through the emails and documents we find in game you see good people trying their best against that evil. I am again thankful for Remedy's writing team that they really highlighted that. Even going as far as showing Darling denying a request to capture live test subjects, which means he learned after Dylan. You even see that Trench denied outlandish requests despite being being in the late stages of a galactic war raging in his mind.

You know I had to talk about Trench and Darling, but it was nice to see them again in this way. They still felt a part of this world in a way that made sense. Document storytelling has been one of my favorite things about Control. They present us with just enough framework to use on our own canvas to try and piece together details of those blank pages.

Did I get emotional over signatures? Yes, yes I did.

The atmosphere of this DLC hit all the right horror points. From the moment you walk into The Lake House it captures all the scariest horror vibes from the main game. The paint spattered on the walls like blood, but somehow even creepier because of how it wouldn't make sense to see paint like that (until you figure out just what is happening). Being helpless to the painted because again you are just an FBC Agent not a parautilitarian emphasized this feeling.

Using a picture frame set up with Kiran telling Saga what happened at The Lake House made sense and gives us the point in time Kiran would be providing this information. She left us clues in the main game with her dialogue of something horrible that went down at the Lake House, so it feels very appropriate that we get to see that in detail.

The question that resounded throughout this DLC of what is art was very appropriate given the struggles we face today with AI and plagiarism. How is art perceived and how does its emotional impact play on its viewer? Again the writing team really shines here with all the little details. The room with the ATDs was truly horrifying. I don't think they have ever made a room with no one feel so ominous.

Obviously there was a lot in the DLC for Control fans. We will be speculating on every detail for the next couple of years. I always hoped this last DLC of Alan Wake would lead into Control 2, so I couldn't be happier to see just that happen.

Unlike some DLCs that feel as though they were an afterthought, the story feels like the natural ending of Alan Wake 2's story. It felt like the only goodbye we would have with this game and its characters.

The ending song was a beautiful final note to capstone a game that Remedy struggled for so long to make, and I imagine at times doubted that it would ever be made.

I often struggle to put my feelings into written words, but I wanted to try and get them out. Remedy's future looks bright with multiple games on the horizon, but we see how quickly companies can run into issues and nothing is set in stone. Anything could happen in these uncertain times. We may never see these characters again, and most certainly not in the form they are now. It makes me really sad to think we may never see Saga and FBI Casey or Kiran ever again. Maybe there won't ever be an Alan Wake 3. Maybe we won't see Alan battle the Dark Presence again. Maybe we won't ever see Dark Place Casey's echos pave a path for Alan. Maybe we won't see Alice show us just how much a character can grown into her own. Maybe we don't even get to see more of Jesse, or Emily, or Arish. I already know with the passing of James McCaffrey some of these things are impossible. But its not only death that separates seeing a character again. The song End of an Era highlights this goodbye. This end scene. The curtains close. It is an end.

What I appreciated in this song was that it highlighted the struggle of getting to that ending. No matter what goal you are trying to reach, whether it's Alan trying to escape the Dark Place, Jesse finding out what happened to her brother, any one of us creating things that make us happy, that path always has its ups and downs. And that end will always be bittersweet. It will change us. It is a goodbye.

Whatever Remedy creates in the future it could be something we may like or something we may end up disliking. They could ruin characters or make brand new ones for us to fall in love with all over again. We can take that or leave it. Whatever they decide to do. Maybe we like Firebreak and their new type of Remedy game, maybe we don't. But none of that will change how we felt about these prior games and how these characters made us feel at this moment in time. We can look back and remember how it made us feel. When we laughed, when we cried. The journey they took us on.

I will always be grateful that I was able to experience these games. They moved me in ways I cannot find the words to fully describe. I will carry these feelings forward and cherish this memory.

“There are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part, So just give me a happy middle And a very happy start.” - Shel Silverstein

[latalpavolante]

Baroque Winter Landscapes - The Sims 4 Loading Screens

Much to my surprise I noticed it's December again and so I went looking for some winter-themed loading screens, but couldn't find any in the style and with the mood I had in mind. So, thanks to this great and very helpful Sims 4 Studio tutorial by sigma1202, I could create some myself!

This pack includes six baroque landscape paintings of Dutch and Flemish painters of the 17th (and late 16th) century. So you get some beautiful winter sceneries, snow-covered houses, lots of people ice-skating and many more details to discover while you're waiting for your game to load (which, as we know, can take its time...). Plus, I feel the atmosphere somehow perfectly fits the time before Christmas.

Download here (Google Drive, free)

You can download them seperately or all together in a zip.file. Please make sure to only place ONE loading screen in your mods folder at a time!

Please let me know if you encounter any issues!

———————— UPDATE 08/11/24: The loadings screens of this set have been fixed to work with the Life & Death update and yesterday’s patch. The issue with the glitching plumbob should no longer occur.

UPDATE 09/11/24: The file size has been reduced and is now back to ca. 5-6 MB per loading screen. Please consider re-downloading the updated files to avoid potential negative effects on the game’s performance and loading time. Sorry for the inconvenience! ————————

You can find details about the paintings I used under the cut:

So downwards and always from left to right, we've got:

01 - Lukas van Valckenborch, View of Antwerp with Frozen Schelde, 1593, Städel-Museum Frankfurt am Main

02 - Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne, Winter, 1614, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

03 - Christoffel van den Berghe, A Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters and an Imaginary Castle, ca. 1615-20, Met Museum New York

04 - Jan Brueghel the Younger (attributed), Snowy Landscape, after 1625, Museo del Prado Madrid

05 - Aert van der Neer, Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters at Sunset, 1655/60, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

06 - Aert van der Neer, Sports on a Frozen River, ca. 1660, Met Museum New York

The links lead to the paintings in the respective museum's online collection, in case you want to know more details or take a closer look at them without a rotating plumbob in the way 😅

[papabirdurskeks]

Hello, I adore your Rhulk and Orecursor stuff and I currently am having an issue

I have no idea what Rhulk woukd look like before he got messed with by the witness and the darkness, any ideas or advice you can give along with some of your headcannons for lubreans

🥺🫶

Thank you kindly dear friend 💞

Hello!

Finally getting around to answering this so I do apologize for this being so late! But thank you so much! That means a lot to me to hear that! ;;

And to the issue on hand, I know exactly what you mean!

When it came to coming up for a design for Rhulk, I had a lot to think over and struggle with cause we got so little of what we could know physically about him and Lubraeans in general! I think I can speak for all of us on how we all were curious to peak what was under the mask and speculate what he looked like! xD And still, we are curious to know and yet it hasn't stopped many to speculate and create their own versions of what they think he may look like!

So, when came time to draw down a design for my own, I went about using these different steps! (More under the read more!)

First, I took a look at his in-game model and the concept art that was created by the team at Bungie, most notably the works of Tobias Kwan!

I think looking at the models and concept art itself is a great start to getting an idea and feel to what you want to see or put into thought of what he may look like! Here you get everything you sort of need to know with a basis!

Added with the in-game lore too, it can help to further paint the picture to what we know and may speculate on! And yes, while we know the in-game model is Rhulk after he was reshaped by the Witness, I do think that there are aspects of him that truly remain his own and therefore may have been the basis for future Disciples and the likes how have been reshaped into what the Witness may have deemed to be perfect to its eyes!

However, I also like to speculate further beyond just what he was given before us! And that is by using real world animals in comparison to what can probably put together for our thoughts on Rhulk without all this badass armor!

In my personal headcanons, I tend to speculate that Lubraeans are a cross between Cassowaries and Emus with some aspects of Mandrills and Gelada Baboons! Especially when it comes to male Lubraeans!

To summarize these headcanons, males are usually colorful with bright feathers and big fangs to accompany them while females do not have feathers nor possess the same bright colors their male counterparts do! (Reposting my headcanon chart here for this)

Both males and females come in a variety of colors and shades, but the main rule that has been followed is always the males being more colorful! More of this can be further explained on my old headcanon post here!

This especially applies to my AU as well! And even then, in said AU, there are differences in Lubraeans as they have since split up into two subspecies; the Homeworld Lubraeans (those from Lubrae) and the Regimists (descendants of those who still use the title of their ancestors and have since been banished from Lubrae to live elsewhere). So, you will definitely find differences between the two in this AU! (Comparing Shaan to Avyaan for example below)

So, backtracking onto Rhulk now, this is what helped me put together my own personal thoughts of him and what he may have looked like! Though originally he didn't look as colorful or put together in my first draft, he actually looked less like what I have in thought of him now!

(First sketch of Rhulk coming in, lol!)

Then I had speculated he had the feathers and fangs, but not as much as I do now. And he lacked the more prominent nose ridge and the colors that came with it. YET, it was with this idea that I was able to venture forward and put more thought into it!

And by looking at the model again closely as I played with the idea more, this is how I sort of just put Rhulk together as he had been shaped! I used a small snippet of the concept art and model to help put this all together here!

Some people tend to speculate that the body and shape itself is what he truly looks like, and others see armor. I personally see armor as well and what hides beneath is a different face and body than what we do see in game! So, either way of looking at it can be just fine, it really depends on what you as an artist/writer prefer to do with it! c:

But with putting this information all together, this is how I would usually think Rhulk would have looked like before he was injured and reshaped by the Witness! This look also falls mostly to how I see him in my Alternate Timeline AU as well before his big injuries!

(Warning, he's naked! So, no clothes here! Just fluff and feathers)

And again, this also depends on how you look at the timing too! The sketch above is before he joined the Regime to showcase what he looked like before he opted to cut/shave most of his feathers off! Below also shows a better look at this headcanon wise:

So really, depending on how you want to go about the design choice and how you feel it fits best, there really is no wrong choice to doing it! c:

I say let your imagination run wild and play with those ideas as they come to you! Shape and remold them! Because you'll eventually find something you'll like in the long run and deem to fit what you think works best for yourself, your world building and your stories and headcanons! ^^

I hope this helped and wasn't too confusing! And I do look forward to seeing what you do in the long run!

Best of wishes and luck to you! You got this! c:

[razorblade180]

This is my RWBY Hot Take:

BB ended up being canon because of fandom and VAs pushing for it. Which, is not necessarilly a bad thing, but it is when you can ACTUALLY tell. And I think that´s the problem.

Now, RWBY has always been on the sights of Yuri and Queer fandom, which are a both a force to be reckoned with whenever people want to admit it or not. This shouldn´t be surprising considering that they showcased not one, not two, not three, but FOUR main characters with very unique desing, appeal and personality. OF COURSE the show was gonna attract lesbian women like honey attracts flies XD

At the same time however, RWBY kinda wanted to fall into very classic old tropes of anime, hence why even 10 years later Ruby has still to show attraction to somebody, like a proper shounen jump character, with some twists every now and then. Which is why you can´t convince me that Sun wasn´t put there to be Blake´s love interest, but the fandom had already taken into the main characters hooking p between them and just wouldn´t move from there.

Proof of that is that even after 10 years of absolute 0 development, White Rose is still one of the biggest ships out there, receiving new art almost daily by, you guessed, lot of tumblr queer (which seems to be in abundance, maybe there´s a correlation? Beats me). Now, this isn´t me throwing shade over WR, they DID have some very good base and chemistry, but people rationalizing that Weiss MUST be bi or even yet, a Compulsory Het (despite absolute 0 evidence that´s even a thing in Remant) just doesn´t paint a very positive figure of the fandom.

What I´m trying to say with this? Well, if a fandom can be THAT obssesed with queer characters (Ask CanonSeeker about it if you don´t believe me) and attract an audience who clearly has an obsession with them either because they just want to see girls kissing (lot of pervs around, the NSFW reddit sub has MORE subs than the main one :/ ) or because they want to see their representation/projection/whatever and see absolute no issue with the crumbs and the bad things RT did some of its queer workers (like Kdin)... who is there not to say that this couple, (or any other even!) is not fanservice?

People want to see what they want to see, and will resort to all kind of emotional pitfalls to rationalize their preference or how "it was always meant to be".

No, having a base as friends is not enough. Yes Nora, people can be friends, and sometimes it´s better if they remain that way, as you have discovered. You can´t have a character show attraction that is slowly being reciporcated for seven years only to drop itone day and say "nah, it was never about it" and pretend the fandom who is not just looking for validation and seeing hot girls make out bdon´t end up scratching their heads in confusion. That´s just now how it works. SPECIALLY when lot of people were dropping after the disaster that was Vol.5

Which is another reason that it feels like the writers just caved:

They realised they were not going anywhere with BlackSun and with the WF, so they just removed it out of the equation and pretend it never existed. They needed to keep their fans interested, and while at it, some Rainbow Capitalism to get some more attention. People called it forced because morons are "ugh, lesbians!" (Not forgetting that some people on both sides of the equation just can´t get that Bi people exist) while the reason can be simply that RT can´t write romance for shit, and the relationship feels more like they just wanted to speedrun to make up for 6 seasons where they still had plausible deniability (forgetting that they just put that line on the sky dropping Sun...) while at the same time not outright confirming until the last minute.

So, the whole point of this rant is: BB is fanservice? Yes.

But it´s the BAD fanservice. The kind of you can TELL they are caving to the fandom for attention, and doing so in a kind of unnatural way, that they try too hard to give crumsb ("Yeah... Ruby.") and have to confess in a magical plot device that feels like taken out of a fanfic, so instead of "this is the natural progression our characters took" feels more like "Yaaaaaaas, we gave the fanatics what they wanted, aren´t we great!? Another "cultural" victory, yay, so now give us the money so we can greenlight Vol 10!"

So, TL:DR - If you are going to give fanservice, try at least to make it FEEL natural, or don´t give it at all. If you ar unsure, get a good producer, a guy whose sole job is to say NO.

This time I think I’m just going to primarily be the bridge that allows people see and respond to this with their own opinions cause if I’m being honest, it feels like you got into the weeds a little and I couldn’t follow. Please be civil in comments.

As for my personal opinions about BB in general i will reiterate what I’ve thought for the past few years now. The ship itself is fine but any cultural impact it would’ve had was lost when you wait so long that Disney beat you to showing a lgbt kiss scene. I think RT did course correction when seeing its popularity which isn’t in itself bad at all, but they just sucked at it.

The two roads people have to walk is thinking BB was planned from the start or added later due to popularity. If you think the first one, then face the fact RT handled it very poorly and unnecessarily made things messy by adding Sun. If you believe the second then don’t be delusional if someone has the opinion it made certain narrative choices messier or that once again, Sun was written as a potential love interest.

I like BB but RT made some questionable choices that wouldn’t say hurt Blake and Yang’s character, but hindered scenes because they dragged it out too long. Also hate to say it but 95% of their relationship healing, comfor, angst, etc. was built off of Adam. So when ya kill Adam… the thing that made the dynamic interesting is gone. That’s not a problem if he died at the end of the show, like most characters do with the trope.

But I will say I do respect the fact they didn’t immediately date after murdering him because that just doesn’t look good on any level. However, Atlas had a time skip. As much as I love Ren and Nora, maybe we should’ve gone to the dance club and do the kiss there before Atlas went to hell? Then we could have a nuanced discussion about if the two of them telling Robyn without consulting anyone was okay.

[cindylouwho-2]

Etsy's Adult Content Ban: Some Things You Might Have Missed, & Some Reasons Almost Everyone Has Missed

As almost everyone knows, Etsy announced a wide-ranging ban of many types of sex-related items on June 27, to take effect on July 29, 2024.

While the corporation was predictably vague about the reasons for this change, it's not overly-difficult to figure out why this happened, although at least one reason seems to have slipped by many. It's slightly more trying to make the logic work when we consider what they still allow. It may be more interesting (and vital, for some sellers) to consider what Etsy might ban next, or ban by accident when this policy takes effect.

While this post isn't intended to be a deep dive into all of the revisions to Etsy's official policies, I will briefly go through certain highlights of the new rules, followed a few alternative ideas for both sellers and shoppers. I'll then discuss why Etsy did this, and we should expect in the coming weeks, months and years.

First. here are the relevant materials:

the much-quoted announcement

Etsy's new Adult Nudity and Sexual Content Policy

the revised Mature Content Policy

as well as some of the media coverage:

Mashable was the first large outlet to publish

The New York Times (soft paywall)

The Guardian

The BBC

Modern Retail (soft paywall)

What's Out, And What's Still OK to Sell or Display

As has widely been reported, Etsy will no longer allow sex toys that touch genitals or enter the body, a female product model's nipples in photos, photos or "photo-realistic" images of sexual acts, types of nudity with "sexual context", fetish items such as used underwear and foot pics, and "sexual language referencing familial relationships". (Pornography was already banned before now.)

Plenty of other items are still permitted, though, including:

BDSM accessories

body harnesses

kegel weights

sex furniture

non-photorealistic nudity and "sex acts without visible genitalia or anuses"

female nipples in photos if the photo is the product and the first listing image obscures them

These exceptions lead to all kinds of questions. For example:

Etsy likes to position itself as LGBTQ2S+ positive. That means a topless photo of a trans male with visible nipples is ok even if they never had top surgery, right? Especially if they have legally transitioned and have government-issued ID that lists them as male, correct?

Where is the "non-photorealistic" line drawn? If a painter attempts to be photorealistic, but is not very skilled at the process, is that painting ok to sell on Etsy?

I am sure you can think of plenty more. But holes in the policies are not my main concern in this article, so I will move on (after noting that Etsy is going to have some enforcement messes with the policies as written).

Where Should Sellers and Shoppers Go After July 29?

(Mention in this section is not an endorsement of the platform. Please carefully research any option before signing up. Some links are not "safe for work".)

Etsy gave business owners just one month's warning that they were no longer wanted on the site. Many are still scrambling to replace their steady income that their Etsy shop provided. The alternatives are not always simple, and it does depend on what a shop sold.

There are a few small marketplaces for adult items, including https://spicerack.market/ and https://charmskoolshop.com/ (links not safe for work). These are not going to have the level of traffic Etsy had, but that also might improve now that many businesses and shoppers are looking for new venues.

There are also larger marketplaces that do allow many of the products Etsy banned, but each has its own restrictions and exceptions, making it risky to copy existing Etsy listings over directly. Always carefully research the rules everywhere. Amazon does have a sexual wellness category, but it is not part of Amazon's Handmade section. eBay also has sex toys. The Artisans Cooperative currently has some adult items listed, but the site is still in beta, so only coop members can sell there at the moment.

Freestanding websites and self-promotion are another approach, but this can be daunting for makers who chose Etsy for its built-in traffic, plus some platforms and payment processors do have rules against certain types of adult content. Shopify's Shop app bans pornography and "sexually gratifying" fetishes, and the bot filters can sometimes block allowed content by mistake.

If you have a favourite seller, they have likely already posted where they plan on going next; if not, ask them.

Why Did Etsy Ban Many Adult Listings, and Why Now?

The various media articles lay out numerous possible reasons for the new sex policies. They include:

Some jurisdictions have laws that limit what children or under-18s can see online, which is likely why Etsy's short announcement uses the word "safe" in 3 different places.

Some social media sites restrict adult content - "evolving industry standards", perhaps?

Some payment processors restrict what adult items can be sold.

We're forced to speculate, because Etsy has refused to answer questions or release additional statements since June 27. That's problematic when talking about destroying livelihoods, because none of these reasons seem to dictate an absolute ban.

As mentioned above, many sites still allow most of the prohibited products, either openly, with age minimums, or with siloed categories that don't appear in generic searches. A big tech company should easily be able to program for this. There's been no indication that any of Etsy's payment processors have withdrawn due to this content, either. So that list simply doesn't add up.

Instead, it's clear that the core explanation is that Etsy wants a bigger slice of the ecommerce pie, and is willing to reject long-standing sellers and product lines to better appeal to shoppers who find sex and related topics distasteful. But again, why not just separate the categories better, as Amazon and eBay do? Amazon is certainly not lacking for customers despite having a sexual wellness category where many things Etsy disallowed still happily reside.

This all boils down to a key reason few are discussing: Etsy's faulty algorithms don't seem capable of keeping such merchandise out of sight of really picky shoppers. They've in fact been trying to do that for a few years now, as the 2022 Transparency report detailed. Etsy stated that the “mature content classifier” led to "a 17% decrease in flags of mature content from our member community". Let's be honest - 17% isn't a great reduction. Even worse, that classifier led to shadow banning such innocuous items as dog diapers and "nude" coloured leggings, while endlessly missing actual porn, including deep-fake AI celebrity images [Forbes; soft paywall].

CEO Josh Silverman has made it clear that Etsy isn't going to focus on improving search relevancy any more, and will instead be focussing on product quality and shops' customer service records to determine search ranking. Problem is, niche searches still display tons of irrelevant items - go check; I'll wait - and this is frequently where one might see things they weren't looking for. If the search and other algorithms aren't able to give shoppers accurate results even when Etsy is attempting to filter out mature items, then Etsy's alternative is to ban the items outright.

Let's face it: if the real problem was female nipples being seen by kids, they'd all have to be blurred out, instead of just the first image. The first image is what shows up in search, ads, and recommendations across the site, so that is what Etsy is censoring. Kids are welcome to look at butt cracks to their hearts' content, as long as they click on the listing first. The real problem is instead that Etsy can't deliver accurate searches and tailored recommendations that people want to see, and regularly serves up things shoppers were not expecting.

But why now? Other than the recent promises to change the search focus from relevancy to quality, what made Etsy drop this notice on unsuspecting sellers on June 27?

The answer appears to be Etsy's new creativity standards, released on July 9. Those standards codify previously unofficial exceptions to Etsy policy, such as allowing 100% commercial goods to be sold in gift boxes. They are also the first official mention of Etsy permitting AI art to be sold on the site, although Silverman had already announced that unofficially.

The policy changes are likely to increase the number of listings on the site that are not handmade, vintage or craft supplies, and Etsy obviously felt the need to stem the eventual tide of sexual gift boxes of dildos from AliExpress - yes, there are already some listed on Etsy - and even more AI-generated nudity etc.

Note as well that July 29 falls just 2 days before the second quarter report is given to investors, providing Etsy with a topic to discuss during that call. They can claim they are taking action against mature listings without being expected to have removed 100% just 2 days after the ban, and the topic will likely be forgotten 3 months later when the third-quarter call happens. It's possible that, 3 months from now, no analysts will check to see if the ban was actually successful. Perfect timing, I'd say.

What Next?

First, any experienced Etsy seller knows that Etsy attempts to remove now-banned items will result in plenty of legitimate listings being deactivated as well; see the dog diaper example above. Items won't even have to be related to the prohibited categories, as the image recognition bots can be particularly bad. Every time Etsy bans something, even if only within one country or area, there is always collateral damage in the form of non-offending listings being removed. (I've had items deactivated for being amber, drug paraphernalia and illegal plant material, when they were nothing of the sort.)

At one time, you could expect Etsy to reinstate such items after an investigation, but that is less common these days, and frequently takes weeks to months when it does happen. This means all sellers should be alert and watch their deactivated listings folder in the coming weeks, and be resigned to losing best-selling products for no good reason, due to bad bots.

Long term, I doubt this is the last time Etsy narrows what can be sold in the interests of appeasing sensitive shoppers. Even if you 100% support Etsy banning everything that they did last month, you should be uneasy about what could be coming next. If age-limit laws were really behind some of this recent decision, what happens when some US jurisdictions start restricting no-fault divorce? Everything from party supplies to t-shirt slogans to happy divorce gifts could be on the chopping block.

It's also possible the company will try to continue to refine its bots and algorithms instead of outright banning other products. Since Etsy is already shadow banning items for certain searches, are shops with a few LGBTQ2S+ articles invisible right now in places where laws are discriminatory? In places where birth control is illegal or severely restricted, are birth control pill cases still ok? I am not sure we can assume Etsy won't continue down this path.

Whatever your thoughts on the listings Etsy is currently banning, remember that these are businesses who were allowed to sell their wares on the marketplace until this month, and have therefore done nothing wrong. Things you believe in could be the next target.

[rengineer]

How many iterations of the sentry did you have to make to perfect them?

" Well, perfectin' the sentry wasn't somethin' that happened overnight, " Engineer began, his tone taking on a thoughtful drawl. " There were plenty o' iterations to get it where it is now — every level, every function, built on the last through a good deal of trial and error. "

" Y'see, these sentries go way back to my granddaddy, Radigan Conagher. He laid the groundwork for the design — brilliant man. But what I'm workin' with now? That's been rebuilt, improved, and tuned to fit the fightin' we do today. My pa, though, decided not to stick to those designs. Don't ask me why; fella was always been eccentric. He'd painted a face on his sentries — for fun, I s'pose. "

" The Level 1 model was all about simplicity — semi-automatic firin', single-barrel system. Had to fine-tune the motion tracker so it wouldn't waste ammo on tumbleweeds or shadows. That took some work. Early prototypes? They'd lock onto anything that moved, includin' teammates. Let's just say I went through a few repairs on account o' friendly fire. Level 1 sentry, it's designed to deploy fast — give dem enemies something to chew on and hold the line. Simple, sturdy, and gets the job done. "

" Them retractable rear legs? Key to keepin' it stable. Gunpowder explosions from each round generate recoil — a force that'd send it tumblin' like a drunk Demo if it weren't for those legs absorbin' the momentum. That's what we engineers call inelastic collision mitigation. But when you upgrade to Level 2 or 3, that recoil ramps up, so the legs extend further, givin' it a wider base to keep it steady under heavier firepower. "

" Now, compared to my pa's sentries, there's a heap o' differences. Them old models, well, they were somethin' special for their time, but they didn't have the modular design or upgrade paths we've got now. Back then, the sentry had a more basic motion-tracking system — heck, I even took one apart once, just to see what made it tick. Lemme tell ya, it could shoot on its own if somethin' wandered into its line of sight — thanks to them sensors or tracking systems. But the rotation? That had to be done manually. Ain't like what I've got here. This thing? It covers a lot more ground, shoots anything that steps into its perimeter — automatic, no need for no manual control. Took me a few months to get it right, but that there was one o' the biggest upgrades from them old designs. "

" Level 2 was where things got real tricky, " he continued. " Dual rotational minigun barrels and a cyclical ammo feed system — that required a whole new way of connectin' the main power supply to the ammo housing. The first few models didn't last long under pressure. Overheatin' was one of the main issue — those dual barrels'd warp or jam without proper ventilation, so I added a coolant system to circulate fluid through the barrels and keep 'em from burnin' out. "

" Level 3? That's when rockets came into the picture — target-guided, too. Addin' that rocket arm meant reworkin' the rear housin’ to handle the extra weight and firepower. But the hardest part? Power balance. Had to make sure them rockets could fire while keepin' the barrels operatin' without a hitch. Blew up more than one o' these tryin' to get it right. "

" These sentries were top-heavy, so I had to make a few adjustments during the iteration process — see why my pa didn't stick with them designs. I had to use heavier steel for them legs, get that center of gravity as low as I could — while makin' sure it don't add too much weight to the buildin'. Ain't easy carryin' this whole contraption across the battlefield, y'know? "

" But every iteration brought me closer to what you see now. Ain’t perfect — still gotta keep a close eye on it to fend off sappers and keep it in good repair — but I reckon it's the most reliable thing on the battlefield. "

With a grin, he added, " So, if I had to put a number to it? I'd say at least a couple iterations. But perfection’s an ongoing process, y'know? Always somethin' to improve. "

[grifxmain]

I don't usually make rant-type posts about games I'm playing (or make my own text posts in general tbh), but I feel like I need to talk about this, even if only to get my own thoughts in order. Heads up that it will be a pretty long post, but the tldr of it is that the new Grand Harvest House is disappointing to me.

So the new Grand Harvest House. I was pretty excited about it since I've been wanting a second story for my house primarily so I can put my bedroom upstairs. (The fact that my bedroom is just attached to the living room is bizarre to me especially since there's no doors.) Hence why I bought the blueprint right away, only to be caught completely off guard by the sheer size of it. Since I wanted to use it as my main house I had intended to put it on my main plot by simply replacing the original Harvest House as I assumed that it would be roughly the same size but just with a second story. Instead the new Grand Harvest House is at least as big if not bigger than the entirety of my previous house.

Ignoring the miscellaneous items that temporarily had to be thrown on a heap to make space for the new house you can tell that the two houses take up about the same amount of floor space. But unlike the old house which uses a bunch of configurable add-ons to reach that size, the new house is just one big room that takes up all that space.

Yet despite how large the room is the are very few windows. Now some people might be happy to have that much wall space, I know I've had trouble fitting all the paintings I wanted on the walls of my old house before, but then again you can always opt to remove any windows you don't want by altering the house. But when it comes to altering the windows in the Grand Harvest House for some reason you cannot alter the windows per floor, meaning that if you want big windows on the walls of one floor you are forced to put big windows on the walls of the other floor as well. Speaking of walls, they are taller on the Grand Harvest house than on the older buildings for some reason.

On the bottom floor this is dealt with by the addition of wooden planks at the top of the wall, however these planks are not added to the walls of the top floor. Which creates some issues with the wallpaper.

Since the wallpapers were designed for the wall height that all the buildings before this one were the wallpaper is too short for the wall so that the wallpaper repeats near the top. The wall height on the top floor is slightly different on each wall too, so the amount of repeat wallpaper that's visible is different on each wall, which makes it even more noticeable.

Another strange feature found on the walls of the top floor are these thin wooden dividers. Since these do not exist on the bottom floor and the wall is registered as one big surface - the wallpaper is applied to the wall in its entirety rather than following these sections - they do not serve any actual purpose. Personally I think they look kinda ugly even on a bare wall, but that is of course merely a matter of taste.

However when applying a wallpaper they create this issue where, because the wall is treated as one big surface, the dividers will sometimes cut off the pattern in weird ways.

I say sometimes because as seen here there are some wallpapers that do change up the pattern to fit with the dividers, note how the wallpaper starts in the middle of the 'flower' on both sides of the divider.

Moving on from wallpapers another side effect of the taller walls is that any ceiling lights end up way higher that they are designed for. This is even worse in the middle of the room on the bottom floor as the only place to put up ceiling lights there are the support beams directly under the roof. This is not the end of the world or anything but it just looks a little sad and also gives very little light. Which is especially unfortunate since the room is so large and cannot be divided into smaller rooms, meaning that the entire building will remain dimly lit.

Even with the new building blocks the room cannot be properly split up as the heights don't line up, but if you could you would not be able to paint the walls made with the building blocks anyway.

Other than the big room there are 3 spots on the bottom floor to add more rooms, in the same places as the windows just like how it works in the other types of buildings.

This means that the rooms are not centered in the wall to which the are added, except for the back wall where there is a staircase in the way. If you don choose to add a room it will also spawn in two pillars on the wall where the corners of that room are. However since the walls of the Grand Harvest House are taller than the walls of the add-on rooms this means that those pillars will stop abruptly.

Lastly, the second floor itself, which is the main feature that this new building is meant to provide. As seen in the pictures it is not so much a full floor as it is just a loft. The part at the front wall of the building is fine, but the two walkways on the sides are a little too slim to really put any furniture it, effectively turning it into dead space.

All this to say that the Grand Harvest House feels a little poorly thought out and is ultimately disappointing to me. It feels as though the people who worked on this only made the house without considering the previous building options and how this new building would fit into that roster. Now I know of course that they have stated that they are looking into more options for second stories in player homes to add in the future, so perhaps something that fits in with the other building options will be coming down the pipeline at a later point. But as it stands right now I find that this house is very difficult to implement into a home just by virtue of the incredibly large scale of the building. That being said I do think that this building could work as a standalone so that is how I will use it, likely by turning it into a sort of community kitchen type space on its own plot to use when I have people over for cooking. I would have liked to be a bit more aware of these issues before purchasing the blueprint for it though. It would have been nice if the patch notes had mentioned the size, since both the trailer for this patch and the preview pictures shown in the patch notes do a poor job of conveying the size of the building due to the perspectives used. I might not have bothered getting the new house at all if I had known about everything I mentioned ahead of time.

EDIT: I found another issue regarding add-ons used on the Grand Harvest House. So I started building the community kitchen I mentioned and actually added add-ons to the building rather than just hovering them over. Specifically I added a fireplace to the back wall and two bay windows in the front wall, but when doing so I realized that this made it so I couldn't change window size anymore. So if you want to change the size of the windows upstairs it means you have to remove the add-on on the lower floor first.

This isn't the worst, though a bit of an unnecessary hassle, but with the front wall there is the porch in the way so you have to turn the building and look at it from an angle to be able to grab the window add-ons. Which once again confirms this feeling that the Grand Harvest House is just poorly thought-out in terms of practicality

[judgeanon]

Plastic Skies - Model 13: F-15E Strike Eagle "Garuda 1"

Near the end of last year, I bought a sheet of bootleg decals to make my Mobius-1 F-22 Raptor (as seen here!). The sheet had a lot more decals than just the Mobius ones. Some were for planes I had no interest in doing, some ended up in my old decal-less Berkut model, and some inspired the model I'd end up building right after the Area 88 Tiger. After all, I knew sooner or later I'd end up making an F-15. Even if I'm not its biggest fan.

Yeah, yeah, I dunno, I just don't like the F-15 Eagle. I know it's the backbone of the USAF and a fantastic plane and it does everything and the story of how it was conceived is super funny, but there's something about it that just doesn't spark anything in me. It's just... a fighter plane. Much like the Flanker platform, it always felt like the most standard example of Fighter Jet to me, without the cool swing wings of the Tomcat or the sleek small shape of the F-16. There's no such thing as a boring fighter jet, but the F-15 is close.

That's not to say we don't have some history. One of the last models my brother built back when we were kids was an absolutely massive (for us) 1/48 scale Eagle. As with all our models, it was glued together and not much else, and I distinctively remember it losing one of its tail fins somewhere underneath a bed. Still, the thing was huge to us, and I always remember it as the biggest model we ever had. But that's about as much fondness as I have for the Eagle.

Or at least, as much as I had until Ace Combat happened.

Although the Eagle is very prominent in several AC games, the important one for this model is Ace Combat 6: Fires of Rubi--I mean Fires of Liberation, for the Xbox 360. This was one of the very last Ace Combat games I tried during my "I want to play all of them phase", since although PS1, PS2, PSP and 3DS emulation are all pretty good right now, Xbox 360 emulation is not quite there, and has apparently been not quite there for years now. I should know, I tried. But earlier this year, a very generous and dear friend of mine offered me an old Xbox 360 which he'd come into possession and was using to try some cool hacker stuff. And soon, I was finally getting to play AC6.

The game itself is great, as are all Ace Combats. It has a really interesting "large-scale battle" system, where different units are doing their own thing and you can choose which ones to support. It has the first appearance of high-g turns, which I love. It has a killer soundtrack, but that's no surprise. It has a really frustrating boss fight followed by a really amazing final level. And it has one of the most gloriously OP fictional jets in the series. Its story isn't quite as engaging as the PS2 games but I'm very glad I played it. And as seen above, the game's cover star is the F-15E, a plane for which I already had the decals to make.

So as I was finishing up the Tiger, I knew what the next project would be.

This was also going to be my first Academy model kit. Academy is a Korean model kit company that as far as I can tell sits quite comfortably in the middle ground of model kit quality. They make decent stuff for a good price with solid plastic quality, although some reviewers note a few glaring accuracy issues. I don't really care about accuracy when it comes to models, especially not at the price I found this, so I got to work pretty quickly.

The cockpit was the first step. Emboldened by my work on the Tiger, I tried to really make it shine this time, adding those little extra dabs of red to the flightsticks and other touches. Unfortunately, the decal sheets were a bit too wide for the panels, so they ended up getting warped and stretched. It looks pretty bad, but once inside the plane, I figured it wouldn't be visible. And I was right! Althouh what is visible are some of the corners where I skimped or forgot to paint, something which I'm definitely trying to work on in my latest kits.

The main fuselage was a much easier fit than the Raptor, although not quite as easy as the Tiger. The Eagle is a big motherfucker, after all, so putting it together requires a lot of pressure in different spots. Unfortunately, it also resulted in some plastic melting around a few corners, but only in the underside, and only on one wing. It was still a good lesson that made me want to invest in better cement, but it'd take a while for me to actually do it.

I decided the next step would be the nozzles, which is where this particular kit goes a bit fucking nuts. The F-15's thrusters feature external fairing arms for their variable geometry nozzles, which is way easier to explain with a picture:

And if you're observant, you can go back to that first picture of all the model's sprues and see how this kit handles that. But just in case:

The parts in green are the 30 (!) parts necessary to build just the two exhaust nozzles. The parts in orange are Academy offering people who aren't insane a way out, with two fully built nozzles with "turkey feather" panels instead of the arms. Which is very thoughtful of them, but after 12 models, I guess I was feeling a bit insane.

Admittedly, it wasn't rough sailing. The panels themselves didn't fit as well as I would've liked, and the faring arms required a very delicate touch. Still, I figured it'd all look at least decent once I went in with my beloved burnt iron paint, and sure enough, the end result was mostly fine.

Around this time, I started running into what's become my weak point this far into model building: indecisiveness. It's easy to think that models are "put them together first, then paint, then decals, then varnish, then panel lining, then clear coat", and some cheap kits are perfectly capable of following that order. But the more experienced I get and the bigger kits I try, the more I find myself playing with that order, doing things like painting certain parts of the plane first before gluing, or even fully detailing things like tail wings before I'm even done painting the fuselage.

Which sounds smart and is the way to do until you're staring at four different tasks and you just don't know what you should start on now. In this model's case, one of the biggest problems was armaments.

This isn't even all of it, btw. This is still missing the eight other missiles I also had to paint. Though I will say, as messy as the yellow tips on the Mk 82 bombs are, I'm still a little proud of the way I figured out to paint them roughly similar:

It's not perfect, but nothing is. However, the armaments thing was something that bothered me all the way to the end of the build.

Painting the fuselage was a way different story. One of the reasons why I chose AC6's F-15 was precisely because it's just one big color. No camo jobs, no masking tape save for the yellow bits on the tail wings, just me and my brushes and a newly bought box of Revell Greenish Grey paint. That paint is... an odd one. Looks absolutely disgusting when wet, like the insides of a toilet after eating some very unhealthy food, but once it dries out and especially once varnished it looks... kinda cool? Kinda awesome? It just has way more personality than the usual air superiority grays of most USAF fighters.

The other part of the build that was surprisingly comfortable was the landing gear, since this model only has one door for each gear. Made the whole thing go by in a breeze, and before I knew it, I was already putting in the decals. At least the big ones. Admittedly, they're not 100% game accurate, since AC6 uses low visibility versions of the emblems and such, but they were there and I wasn't not gonna use them.

Panel lining was also shockingly easy for this kit. Although I'm still pretty lousy at it, the kit's panel lines were very well defined and easy to get the paint in. Compared to other kits I've had, this one was very well behaved when it came to this step. Sooner than I'd expected, the whole thing seemed almost ready to be done. I just had to finish the armaments and we'd be all done.

So... yeah. You might notice something missing here. As it turns out, this kit doesn't actually have enough parts to put the 12 green bombs I'd painted besides the Mk 82. They're supposed to go three alongside the edges of the conformal fuel tanks (where the missiles now are) and three on the little chunks poking out of the sides. But for whatever reason, this kit only has four of those little chunks instead of six. And due to some issues with the instructions, I think I also glued the ones it did have wrong.

On top of that, I had some issues gluing the hardpoints with the Sidewinders and Mk-82 bombs to the wings, mostly because hey, protip: gluing stuff that's already painted and varnished is waaaay harder than gluing stuff when it's fresh off the box. But I just had to be a smart boy and get all the panel lining done first... Very frustrating, especially after realizing this, too, isn't game accurate. But it'd never really been my goal to make something perfectly accurate to the game. Like with the Raptor, like with every kit I make, I'll always choose what looks good to me over what looks closer to the real (or virtual) thing.

Eventually, the whole thing was done. Painting the cockpit was tricky but I've lost a lot of my old fears about it these days. And once the whole thing was varnished, I found myself really liking what I was seeing. The long nose, the beefy wings, the shiny engines... Maybe I'd been wrong about the F-15 all this time. Maybe it isn't really a boring jet. Maybe I just needed to let it back into my heart. And although it gave me a real tough time in a bunch of places, at the end it's low-key one of my favorite models so far, and a nice homage to an unsung game.

And it looks pretty cool on the Area 88 base too.

[hirugaymi]

Sasamiya's guide book rant: a bit upsetting

Sasaki to Miyano is a very casual read, a simple, cliche BL story with gorgeous art and interesting main characters that hooks out from beginning to the end of the romance and gets you to a satisfying conclusion.

But to a person who's been hooked in this silly story like I'm committing substance abuse, the real key of Sasaki to Miyano's storytelling are its side characters, and I am not happy about what I found.

The Slice of Life genre, and consequentely shoujo manga/BL manga tend to rely on the side cast for most of its lighter moments: jokes, exposition and expanding the story.

Harusono-sensei has a habit of discreetly releasing the lore of these side characters in contexts that extrapolate her main manga story unless said lore has influence over one of her MCs.

Merch products with little story snippets, captions for her birthday art posts, little comments over her Fanbox exclusive livestreams, artbooks, light novels and Volume Extras all paint this interesting landscape of characters much richers than you'd firstly assume when picking up SasaMiya or HiraKagi to read for the first time, and as an avid fan of this Manga Universe she's built, I was anxiously waiting for the SasaMiya guidebook in hopes of getting to know one of her most recent additions to her cast: Shirahama Kyouji.

Offically debuting in the manga by chapter 42, Shirahama was previously established as Tashiro's childhood friend from the basketball club in the First Year's Novel. In 2019, when Tashiro's birthday art was posted, his name was revealed to the readers for the first time through a quote-retweet from Harusono clarifying that no, she had not invented a character out of the blue, this guy's always been Tashiro's companion. In 2020, he made another appearance in his friend's birthday art, later then becoming an established member of Miyano's now group of four friends.

In the guidebook, like she does with all her side characters, Harusono establishes his gimmick: Shirahama is a boy who wants to be popular with girls and is upset at his state of perpetual loneliness.

His current function in the story is to be the one guy who's more aware of romantic social cues, considering Kuresawa's is constantly talking about his girlfriend, Miyano is the main character who's dating for the first time and Tashiro is...

What the fuck is Tashiro doing?

Being the guy with no girlfriend was Tashiro's thing at the start! He's the one whos compained about wanting to live some kind of high school romance even if he studied in an All Boy's School (ie: the Bazaar Drama CD), he's the guy who was afraid his friends would leave him for their S/O's.

By Shirahama's official debut I started noticing a process I could only call "straight man-fication" of Tashiro's character. The author quite literally transferred his gag to Shirahama.

I abhor this decision with my whole heart, not because I don't believe Tashiro can be anything but a funny character, on the contrary, he's proved in both his novel chapters that he can be interesting and funny, specially if he's interacting with his narrative foil.

Enter Hanzawa and the contradictions of his hinted romance storyline

Harusono has established pretty well who Hanzawa is by the latter half of SasaMiya, her most developed side character apart from Hirano, who has his own manga, his family issues and his overall aversion to romance when it came to his own life made for an interesting one-time side character beyond his gimmicks with the rest of the cast.

Hanzawa's role in Tashiro's chapter in the First Years LN is to guide him into believing he can and wants to be responsible for something for once. Tashiro's role in Hanzawa's later development is to show him there's need for balance in everything and that the man deserves to rest for a while instead of trying to work his brain into repressing his personal issues.

This is a fine dynamic on its own and that, in my honest opinion, never needed to be turned into the hinted romance the manga has been giving us in the newest appearances of these characters. In the guide book, these two characters gain a whole pages long fully colored extra about the two of them missing each other.

Tashiro doesn't feel like himself when he's nostagically reminiscing the departure of his upperclasmen, his internal monologue feels divorced from the guy we cam to associate with a carefree and lighter nature. But that's fine, isn't it? Giving the carefree guy a serious moment is a classic Anime Character Development move.

Tashiro's been serious before, in moments mostly associated with Hanzawa and with worrying about him (the Movie extra where he gives him a juice bottle).

What bothers me the most is what Hanzawa becomes here.

In this guide book comic, Hanzawa's attachment to his high school life is comically exaggerated as he repeatedly refuses to leave his classroom at the last day before the Third Year's graduation ceremony and has to be forcefully dragged by Hirano.

When these two out of pocket moments for these characters appear associated with each other by matching internal monologues, they feel OOC to me.

I do not think Hanzawa's story needs a romance. I absolutely do not think Tashiro's pair should be his overachiever upperclassman.

I think Harusono's haste is apparent when you look at what these two characters became and associate it with Shirahama's persistent appearances in the story. It feels contradictory to all these established characters, but specially unfair to Shirahama, since his role in the narrative as Tashiro's companion is lost and he becomes a flanderized mess of exposition dialogue and Miyano's personal tutorial to dating life.

Not the first time she does that to a character, don't get me started on my poor boy Ogasawara.

If the guide book's a guide to anything that's bound to happen in SasaMiya's last volume and the upcoming spin-off, I don't think Hanzawa and Tashiro (or poor Shirahama, he doesn't deserve this) are on a good path.

I love SasaMiya and this has not hindered my enjoyment of the series at all, but it does hurt a bit, specially considering their individual potential.

[quillscales]

Shouta entered the dimly lit chamber, his steps muffled by the woven tatami mats underfoot. The chamber carried an air of concealed authority. Unlike the main audience room, which was rarely used anymore, this one was shrouded in a calculated mystery.

Dominating the far end was a large wooden panel, a kugikakushi, standing about six feet tall and carved from deep, richly-hued cypress wood. At the center of the screen was an intricately detailed image of an immense, stalwart oak tree. Its roots dug deep into the earth, a testament to resilience, while its branches reached skyward in a bloom of flourishing leaves, symbolizing growth and prosperity.

He smoothly descended into seiza as he reached the spot designated for him at a low, ebony table —a mere arm's length from the intricate wooden screen hiding Lord Yagi. His back was unwaveringly straight, his hands resting palm-down on his thighs, and his gaze directed respectfully downward. In that carefully executed posture, he was the epitome of disciplined reverence, silently awaiting his Lord's words.

The table was bare except for writing materials and an ornate incense burner wafting out curls of fragrant smoke, filling the air with a calming scent, though it was a touch too potent. Nothing on it revealed why he had been summoned.

The shadow of Lord Yagi was visible below the screen, so Shouta knew he wouldn't be waiting on him. That did occur sometimes. Flanked on either side of the screen were two of the highest-ranking members of their clan: Sasaki Mirai and Nezu. Their presence indicated something serious.

It was Nezu who spoke first.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you were asked to come here." His voice wasn't as casual as it usually was when he was handling the trainees.

Shouta lifted his gaze to meet Nezu's. He didn't ask for clarification. They called him here, and the reason would be revealed when it needed to be.

A light cough broke the silence, causing Sasaki to look at the screen with his brows pinched. "Lord Yagi—"

"Just a tickle in my throat." Their Lord dismissed the concern of his friend and advisor quickly. "I think I used too much soy sauce…" He mumbled.

Lord Yagi had been leading the clan since Shouta was just a child; it had been over forty years now, but for the past five years, he had hidden himself more and more. Some figured pride or shame over his aging led him to hide behind a screen. Shouta wasn't sure of that himself, but it wasn't his place to question it anyway.

"Well, apologies for the air of mystery," Lord Yagi said, laughter lining his words as Shouta quirked an eyebrow. The Lord had always carried a certain exuberance. Another cough escaped Yagi, this one clearly intentional. "This matter we're dealing with is of grave importance, Aizawa. Under different circumstances, I might've handled it personally, yet…"

Sasaki stepped in before Lord Yagi could continue, "It isn't fitting for a Lord to handle such affairs." He said as if Lord Yagi hadn't been handling all of the clan's affairs not five years ago. He approached the table and handed Shouta a scroll. "I presume you're aware of the Shie Hassaikai?"

Shouta took the scroll with a nod. "I have." He said before opening it. There was a picture of a young man, though not much younger than himself.

"The current leader of the Clan, Chisaki Kai, has been expanding his territory. There have also been…concerning rumours surrounding their trade." Sasaki explained as Shouta took in the painting. He would have to memorize the man's face if this were to be his target. "We've been given information that he's set up a tea house in Yumebara. Though, it's more like a brothel, or rather… His own personal play house."

Shouta frowned at the mention of Yumebara. He looked to Nezu, who confirmed his suspicions with a nod. "It was Kayama who brought this to our attention."

Shouta's frown deepened at the mention of Kayama. If she was the one who had brought this to their attention, then the issues in Yumebara must be severe indeed. It had been over a decade since Kayama left the clan to pursue her own life as a geisha. She was still an ally but didn't work for Lord Yagi anymore.

"A close friend of Kayama's was found dead." Lord Yagi said, and the air stilled.

Sasaki dropped a small glass bottle onto the table. It was two-thirds empty, but a dark brown and somewhat viscous liquid was still inside. "This was found inside her kimono. The last place she had worked was at the Kageyuri, Chisaki's tea house."

Shouta picked up the bottle and inspected the liquid in it. It was familiar but not overly so.

"It's laudanum." Lord Yagi spoke up. There was no hesitance or doubt in his tone.

Shouta nodded. "Was she sick?" He glanced to Nezu, who shook his head.

"Not as far as Kayama knew." He elaborated.

Shouta understood then that this wasn't a simple mission. He needed to figure out what was going on inside the Kageyuri. Chisaki Kai wasn't a simple target. The need for discretion explained why he was chosen as well. He was much less known than some of their other members, and he did his best work undercover and underground.

"Kayama has a way to get you inside." Lord Yagi said.

"I don't think I'd make a very good geisha." Shouta deadpanned as he placed the bottle back on the table, eyeing it suspiciously.

Lord Yagi laughed at his remark. "Don't be so sure." There was a little teasing in his Lord's tone before he continued. "She has a few options for you, but she wants to meet you first to review them."

"And once I'm inside?" Shouta asked.

There was a beat of silence before Lord Yagi answered. "…I trust your judgement on what must be done."

A toothy grin spread on Shouta's face. No restrictions, then.

[roleplay-abiogenesis2]

Five Comfort Characters, Five Tags ~

Cyno (Genshin Impact). To absolutely no one's surprise. Cyno started as a character who I pursued purely for aesthetic reasons (general soft spot for white haired boys, the Egyptian theme tickled the history nerd in me, and he wears my favorite color palette) to much much more. Due to timing I could have never predicted, he became the medium through which I escaped my pain in a time of severe grief, and walked me through all of its stages to a place of acceptance and healing. Cyno took me by storm and has been my strongest muse for half a year now, completely monopolizing my brain and my blog. On top of that, he gives me an excuse to tap into my horrible sense of humor that was there long before he came by.

Saruhiko Fushimi (K Project). The OG muse of this blog and still a muse I hold dear (as I should, considering I had his face permanently carved into my skin three times now). Saruhiko is possibly the muse I relate to the most for reasons I do not wish to cutie-fy. Looking at him is a bit like peering into my younger self, with all the troubles of those years (some of which come back to haunt me again on occasion). He is a muse full of flaws that I love to portray for the crude and toxic things that they are, with no romanticization or excuses for it.

Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII). Not a character I relate to by any stretch of the imagination, Sephiroth may come as a surprise at first. But it is thanks to my fascination with him that I am here, both online and in-real life. Were it not for FFVII, I would probably have never found the drive to learn to speak English, a choice which in itself led me to the hobby of online writing, and roleplaying, and even to move to the UK. Not everyone can tell the story of how a videogame changed their life so drastically, and it's safe to say I owe it all to this guy. As well as...

Red XIII (Final Fantasy VII). My favorite playable character in the game and of my favorite Final Fantasy race altogether, Red XIII and I grew up with a strong hatred for our father that was entirely misconstrued. It would be many years later that I would come to this realization, when I too came to terms that the man my mother always told me about was one painted by her own bias and resentment and did not reflect the truth. Unfortunately, just like for Nanaki, it was far too late for me to find closure, as he'd already passed away by then. For this reason I hold this cub close to my heart.

ZEN (Mystic Messenger). Since I've mentioned my mother, here comes the cherry on top (and what a beautiful cherry he is!). The story behind Zen's route resonated deeply with me, a survivor of narcissistic abuse at the hands of their own mother. Through Zen's eyes, I recognized my own deep-rooted anxiety and difficult family issues. Whenever those feelings come back to haunt me, I know I can find comfort in writing him to ease my own pain and fears. Zen was my main muse in the days of Facebook Messenger roleplay, for a good 2 and a half years, and I'm happy to say he's here to stay.

Tagged by: @shouga-nai (took forever, but here it is!)

Tagging: some multi-buddies! @starscrxssed, @mmriesoftvat, @azure-steel, @ofdraiocht, @maquiscursed

[full-loup]

Big, Bad Krystal

More fat Krystal with an associated short story. This one featuring on my own take with her joining Star Wolf.

I always felt like her Command outfit was hideous and was wondering why Star Wolf doesn't have its own logo, so I rectified both issues.

Almost two full years had passed since Fox McCloud had kicked Krystal from Star Fox, concerned for his lover's safety. At the time, it had made sense to Fox, and he at least partially still believed it was the right decision. Unfortunately things didn't turn out at all as he had hoped, the vixen placing herself into danger anyways, taking mercenary jobs and eventually even teaming up with Star Wolf as though hoping to spite him for what he'd done.

After hearing of this, Fox had reached out to her and Star Wolf, the teams engaging in a rare joint effort to take down the newly forged Anglar Empire, a threat that had boiled out of the seas of Venom and drowned the Lylat system in the chaos of war. With Star Wolf's help, Fox managed to defeat the Anglar's forces. Unfortunately for Star Fox, Wolf had struck the final blow to their hideous Emperor, ending his reign of terror and making them heroes in the eyes of Corneria and its surrounding planets. Now with their main opposition out of the way, and much of the celebrations focusing upon their rivals, Fox had more than enough time to repair his shattered relationship. A shame, then, that Krystal didn't plan on making things easy for him.

She did not take well to his choice to remove her from the team. Not at all. He knew those feelings would change her, especially with all that time for them to stew and broil and worsen within the scorned woman. He just didn't expect those changes to be so... physical as well.

He had seen her briefly whenever she would comm him over his arwing's combat channels, but in the heat of battle and with her not desiring to keep said channels open long, he'd never got a good look at his former love. Other than that, the two had kept more to simple voice calls whenever they made contact, and while Fox had assumed she simply didn't wish to see the man who had broken her heart, he now realized things may have been more complex than that.

"Krystal!" Fox called out to rotund vulpine as she climbed less than gracefully out of her arwing, painted in the signature red of Wolf O'Donnel's mercs. His arms were held out wide in welcome as he struggled to hide the astonishment from his expression, failing for the most part, "You... You look different, but also great! New haircut!"

Turning to face him as she climbed down the ladder from her cockpit, Krystal glared at him. Fox's blood ran ice cold, knowing full well the both of them understood the vixen's hair was one of the only things that hadn't changed since they last met. She'd be able to read his true thoughts full well thanks to that damn telepathy of hers, making his comment doubly idiotic.

"Let me help you Fox. 'You've gotten fat', that's what you meant, isn't it?" The blue-furred pilot snarled, her belly leading the way as she  stomped over to him, "Let's just get it out of the way right now, right here why don't we? Or am I supposed to be as ashamed of my weight as you are?"

Fox's expression soured, his smile curling into a snarl of his own as he stepped up to meet his ex-lover and ex-teammate, "I thought you wanted to talk, but if you just want a fight? Just get back in that fighter and off my ship because we are not doing things like this."

The vixen's green eyes narrowed at that, a frown dimpling her chubby cheeks, "Kicking me out again already?" She said, before sighing and shaking her head, "But I can't pretend to be angry about that when I know how you really feel. Even now, beyond your... I'll just say it, disgust, I can tell that you still want this... Want us. More than..."

Not waiting for her to finish, Fox reached out his paws to hold Krystal's in his own, pulling her to him as he looked into her eyes, "More than anything else."

She blinked for a moment at him, then snorted, tugging her paws free and turning away, "Alright. We can try, but this time we need to be more honest with each other. Both of us do," She said as she grabbed her supplies from the arwing and began to make her way out of the hanger.

"Fine by me," Fox grumbled before calling out to her, "Why don't I start?! How long until you get back in shape?!"

A growl tore free from Krystal's lips as she stormed out the door, slamming her fist on the control before it slid shut.

For the next week or so, neither of the vulpines talked much, the Great Fox making its way back towards Corneria for the victory celebrations. The ship was large enough for the two to avoid each other, and Krystal had made it clear that she would need space for some time before she would warm up to the idea of talking things through with Fox. He was completely fine with that idea, especially after their fight in the hanger, and so did his best to give the vixen all the room she required. 

"All the space she needs? Smart move." Falco said, sitting across from Fox in the ship's canteen as he sipped his morning coffee.

Fox chuckled awkwardly, leaning back into his chair as he let the eggs he was eating through steam, "Yeah... and believe me, she needs plenty these days. Have you seen her since she got back?"

Falco gave Fox's chosen dish a brief glance, huffing to himself in disapproval before setting down his mug, "She hasn't been out of her room much, but uuhhh, kinda hard to miss her, haha. Wouldn't be so quick to blame her though, maybe that Panther guy has a thing for big girls?"

Without even realizing it, Fox's fists began to clench. He'd heard about the relationship between the two, and while Krystal had implied things didn't get too intimate between the two, he had no way to know for sure without coming out and asking her, and now really wasn't the best time for that. Add to this that Panther had made it clear that he was still carrying a flame for the vixen, despite her breaking things off to try and work things out with Fox, and just the mention of the feline set McCloud on edge.

Taking a deep breath, Fox let it out slowly as his fists relaxed and simply said, "The less said about him, the better Falco."

Falco chuckled and shook his head.

"What?"

"Well it's just, you know, you're gonna have to get over that quick Fox, you're gonna be having dinner with the guy."

Fox stared at the avian for a moment, "What do you mean?"

There was silence as Falco gulped, not sure how to continue, "Well... you know, the dinner after the awards ceremony? Slippy told me Krystal was going to eat with Star Wolf after, and, um... wants us to come I guess. I thought you kne-"

Fox slammed his fists onto the table, filling the canteen with the sound of breaking glass as knocked his plate and cup over the edge, silverware tumbling across the floor with a noise that made Falco's feathers stand on edge.

"She's going to WHAT?!"

Krystal stood in the doorway to her quarters, the portal only partially slid open as she stared daggers at the fox shouting at her, "I was invited Fox. I was still part of Star Wolf when the battle happened. Tell me how this is all a big deal?"

"Oh I don't know! Maybe because O'Donnell is scum? Because he hired the man who betrayed my father before taking a job from the man who killed my father to kill us? Because he continued to be a thorn in our side for years, even after we met! I really shouldn't have to explain all this!"

Sighing, Krystal rubbed her temples with her fingers as she responded, "And I shouldn't have to explain to you all the times he's decided to help us. The Aparoids, and now the Anglars? They've changed Fox, and Pigma's not even a part of Star Wolf anymore! They couldn't even stand him, and he's dead anyways! You bloody killed him! So why can't you put all of this behind you?"

Fox leaned in close, slamming his paw against the door frame and squeezing it tightly as he growled into Krystal's face, "If you really expect me to just sit there, sharing a meal with the likes of Wolf and..."

He stopped himself short, but it was too late. He cringed as he heard Krystal start to snort, holding back laughter.

"Panther? That's what all of this is about, isn't it? Amazing, Fox. Really."

The vulpine's face flushed beneath his red and white fur, his ears drooping as his eyes failed to meet the vixen's own, "You still never told me if he... if you..."

"Don't." She growled at him, "Don't you dare ask me that Fox... not after you kicked me to the curb. You don't have to come to the dinner if you want to, but yes, he will be there. So think about that before you decide to turn me down." She said, turning and giving him a view of her much wider backside. Her voluptuously chubby body was bulging within the confines of a dark purple flight suit with silver and black accents, and just before the door slide shut to her bedroom, Fox caught sight of the black leather jacket she wore over it, emblazoned with the Star Wolf logo.

He looked at the button for the intercom next to the door, then jammed his finger so hard against it he felt like he might break it, "Can you at least wear something else to the ceremony?"

Krystal's face flashed onto the intercom screen, the vixen sneering into the camera, "I can't actually, all my old suits don't fit, so get used to it flyboy." As her face disappeared, a red circle with a slash through the middle replaced it on the screen, letting Fox know she would not be disturbed further.

[tussie-mussie-trouble]

Now that I've had a few days to recover from what i just did to myself i can proudly announce- on a new blog because I don't want my main blogs being associated with this project because one of my lives greatest achievements really probably dosen't belong my incoherent screamings into the void.

On that note. I beat this freaking nanowrimo thing in like six days. no I did not mean to. a friend was coming to visit by the seventh and i PANICED on the last three days. I was already overdoing it, but the last three days were a freaking doozy.

Image description: a terrible little graph showing a brief upwards slide, then a little cha cha slide to the right as it evens out briefly, which depicted my first 4 days of nanowrimo, followed violently by an uppercutting-punch to the face line that has a little pop up window under it saying i reached 50,018 words by november the sixth.

So heres a fun little question and answers session made up of the questions I thought were most suited to this acheivement.

are you okay? my hand briefly went numb. Somehow I was under the impression a fifteen minute walk was all I needed to do to fix that- it wasen't. i kept writing anyways. I think i've mostly recovered now- but to answer your question I am undefeatable and also i slept for ten hours afterwards so I think I'm basically done recovering

what is the plot A victorian professor lady, a ghost with emotional issues, and a college age whole entire freaking lady who just got adopted against her will by this professor try to solve the mystery of why the ghost guy cant move on and how he died

what was the most hours you wrote during this

12

4. did you take a brea-

no. no i did not take a break.

and while obviously i'm not the fastest person to have ever beaten this challenge i'm feeling pretty good right now. : ) i've always wanted to be able to write novels really fast and that's been the biggest thing standing between me and writing *more* novels. you know?

and yes the specific 'part' of the victorian era I chose is in fact, none of them. that was intentional. theres a lot of great things in the victorian era and this isint even a one to one copy of it. theres no specific town this takes place in, theres no specific time period this takes place in. just vaugely 'victorian era' so I could shove all the ten thousand things i've researched into one little area. its probably not even really earth. so like, good disclaimer to put there. don't go into this expecting great historical accuracy. though most is based on some sort of thing i learned about this fabulous era of history (yes im aware of the horrors too, It's not as if I want to live in lead face paint land and eat little arsenic wafers for my complexion or something- I don't need to be reminded that humanity did not briefly free itself from all the evils of this world so that humanity could drink tea and say things like 'tussie-mussie' and wear hat pins- I just think the victorian era is neat)

so yes I'm very proud of myself rn and hope to blog about my blorbos here to keep myself wanting to edit this thing.

speaking of which. This thing i've done to myself is called Tussie-Mussie.

[mizuta]

far from it to be my style to post about hashtag mental health issues on main but like. look. ive& been psychotic as far back as i can tangibly remember (hallucinating at 10-11, cognitive symptoms and episodes by 13-14). its been a part of my life so long that like... in a lot of ways im used to it and coping with symptoms and my life grew around a lot of the symptoms. like a tree trunk growing around a foreign object as a sapling. something that pierces directly through the middle but doesnt really impact the trees ability to stay alive in any meaningful way.

so like in a lot of ways im used to being in my own head. my partner is good at recognizing that things that are distressing to me in episodes dont process whatsoever as distressing to me a good chunk of the time. when im acting visibly distressed it actually means my level of distress is at like, 200%. its fucking unmanageable. if im visibly distressed its worse than anyone could conceptualize because typically otherwise im just numb to a lot of it or its just default my reality that its not distressing in any meaningful way until after the fact.

but like im ngl just because ive spent all of my teenage years upwards trying to take up literally the least space possible to exist and never show 80% of my "unacceptable" symptoms to 99% of people does not mean it makes it any less uncomfortable or awkward to like. be the token psychotic in some groups. to have to be the buzzkill and shit thats like hey sorry heres my hyperspecific request of the year because im fucking insane.

its miserable in a fresh new way of like sorry to have to remind everyone that its not actually a funny character quirk or joke my brain literally does not exist in your 'reality' in any meaningful way and the further outside of it i am on a given day the more unpleasant youre going to find me to be around. ignoring the insane person talking aimlessly in public doesnt actually help me it usually just reinforces that youre not real and never will be if its a bad enough day.

its never intentional. like nobody is ever doing this on purpose. especially again because i spent so much of my life being very good at hiding it. but like... it sucks so much to be masking half the time and be a little too good at it so when you stop being able to people are always levels of uncomfortable or upset. it sucks when you cant articulate anything properly and nobody really knows how to understand what youre asking for. it sucks when you have multiple severe memory conditions and cant trust your own memory and everyone immediately questions your memory when you ask for anything or point anything out. like of course im just going to fucking fold.

i dont know where im going with this or if this itself is even that coherent i know it sounds super vague but it really isnt about anyone specific im just babbling about like years worth of garbage. i got so fucked over by fakeclaiming culture because unfortunately when i started really displaying symptoms i was a teenager trying not to kill himself and being fucking insane loudly in virtual public when that was apparently an "obvious sign of exaggerating" so i had to learn to shut the fuck up and now everybody loves to forget how much im fucking unwell because god forbid you think too hard about what youre saying around others.

thank god for my partner who is literally the first person in my entire life whos ever tried to understand and genuinely knows how to talk to me when im in a particularly bad delusion or hallucinating or whatever.

man. im tired. i found out this last month i probably need to get a cane when i move out and i still feel like im going to be appropriating shit because severe knee and upper leg paint and severe balance problems cant be that bad. i hate having memory problems so bad that i so easily can be told that i dont know shit and Y is actually what happened and i usually cant actually argue against it even if im so sure thats not true.