#not so much other people that are here just for my art but more so myself

[neil-gaiman]

hey Neil, I hope you are having a good day. There's this question that's been bothering me for years. I never knew who to ask, or how, and I was always sure it's only me who experiences these things. And then I looked back at my favorite book of yours -good omens- and I thought, of course! Neil! He's the perfect guy to ask! So here it is.

You wrote good omens with Terry Pratchett. You know that already, sorry. Here's the thing.

Whenever I work on things with people, no matter who they are, friends or colleagues or strangers, I always have a hard time collaborating. It's hard for me not to be in control of the project. I actually love the idea of making things with other people, and sometimes I have the best time doing it, but the minute they bring up an idea they have that I don't agree with or like- I have a hard time. I can never bring myself to say "sorry, i don't really like that idea", i hate hate hate saying no to people, or hurting their feelings, so I end up nodding politely and we end up with a finished project I dont like.

When you were writing good omens with Terry, how did you do it? How did you collaborate and make something so successful? Did you just never disagree with anything he came up with?

If you end up seeing this, thank you very much. This is a life- long problem of mine.

I suppose that both Terry and I knew that seeing that we were making art and telling a story, there wasn't any right or wrong about what we were making. It was art and it was fun. My only goal was to make Terry laugh, his goal was to make me laugh. With a subgoal of Get to the next Good Bit In The Plot Before The Other One did.

I don't remember any disagreements or arguments, any more than you see disagreements and arguments in people doing Improv comedy. We both knew the book we were writing, and each day we'd talk on the phone, the aim being to make the other one laugh. When we did that successfully we knew we were heading in the right direction.

One reason i suspect we never actually wrote the sequel after plotting it is that it would have been a job and not just fun.

It sounds like your collaborations aren't any fun. Better you should do solo stuff.

[silusvesuius]

this tree from my new drawing looking goated afffffff 👑👑

[poppy-metal]

Omg

Patrick comes over as a friend. Day after another night where Tashi is distant with you.

Her clinical attitude in bed is fun. But when she doesn't break the illusion sometimes, you feel... Small. Disposable. Like a doll - and not in the fun way.

And Patrick sees it in your eyes. The way you clearly want to be closer to the two of them but keep pulling back. A twitch in your hand. He doesn't say anything to you - you're barely his friend, and he knows you're... Fragile.

But he doesn't hesitate to confront Tashi when he drags her out for a smoke break after dessert.

YEWWWW GET IT

something about patrick understanding tashi better than anyone else and seeing through the dynamics of your relationship so clearly. it irritates her as much as it soothes her.

there's been clear tension between you and her and even art when patrick comes over and he can deduce why immediately. just a simple gesture of you trying to hold tashi's hand in yours for a few minutes and her only allowing it for a few sedonds, before she tugs it free. the wounded look on your face. the way art catches it and looks at tashi like he wants to say something but of course he doesn't. patrick could roll his eyes at the whole thing.

he talks to tashi during a smoke break - just him smoking really, while she sips her wine. he props his hip on her balcony railing - "do you know why I've gathered you here today?"

tashi makes a face into her cup. its a red wine. fitting for her, patrick thinks. "I'm sure you'll tell me."

he gets right to the point. "she just wants you to love her you know."

a flinch crosses tashi's expression. like the verbalization of the word startled her. she looks into her glass. "i do. love her, i mean."

he points to her "but does she know that."

her expression hardens back up. he can physically see the walls rising. the drawbridge to her heart pulled back. she crosses her arms. her defiant pose. lifts her chin.

"it's not my job to hand feed her what should be obvious."

tashi and patrick are the same, but they're also different. because where patrick has his faults and his reservations to being vulnerable, he knows enough not to take it out on other people - at least not the ones he loves. he makes himself be vulnerable to them, even if it hurts.

he blows out a plume of smoke.

"it is your job, though."

tashi's face twists - she has something to say about that - but patrick lifts his finger.

"not done. you're a tough nut to crack, tash. that's just who you are - but when you're in a relationship with someone else - its not just about you anymore. you realize that, right? because I don't think you do."

she glares at him. but she doesn't protest that fact, so he continues.

"a relationship isn't just about you - its about the people in it. you have to make sacrifices and you have to bend and you have to be willing to make some changes about yourself to better fit with your partner. or partners. because not all of your edges are gonna align. to make the puzzle fit - you gotta move shit around."

he can tell she's processing that. even as she rolls her eyes and turns her body to look out over her balcony. the wind ruffles her hair just slightly and he thinks she really is beautiful. beautiful and tortured and much more simple than either you are art are aware of. she's this pillar of immovable stone on the outside but inside she's really just. well. a girl.

"i dont know how to do that." she says quietly. "i dont know how to not put myself first."

patrick takes another drag from his cigarette.

"dont see it that way. you're not putting your needs on the backburner - you're just meeting them where they are. don't you consider it a need of yours to make her happy?"

tashi's lips purse.

to really drive it home, patrick says - "you can play tennis by yourself by hitting the ball against a wall - but it takes two players to make it a game."

that works.

[galedekarios]

also re: the last gale art i reblogged

when i have the spoons to do so, i'd also very much like to talk about gale and depression and him being high functioning. it's an extremely heavy topic, but i think it's one of those things - if not the thing - that resonated the most with me on a personal level while experiencing his story for the first time, and it still does now almost a year later.

his isolation, his deep loneliness, gale using his magic to create an escape for his mind when he felt there was none for his body and withdrawing from the circumstances surrounding him as much as he was still able to, while still feeling mystra's disappointment echoing through the weave the moment he tapped into it - which is something that we know from his origin playthrough hurts him more than anything else (in that case it's related to elminster, but i think we can draw the conclusion here as well).

gale's social circle slowly withering away, one by one, until it's not a circle anymore, but a pinhead. enough to only include tara now. and even with tara, we know he's expecting to become too much of a burden, too much of a hassle ("i feared she had abandoned me." he says in act 3, after his long time away). he's waiting for the other shoe to drop even with his own familiar. i'm sure he wished to have her by his side even when he rationally knew that she had to leave to find a cure - or to at least find means to stave off his condition. he fekt he couldn't burden the only immediate family he still has left: morena. afraid of shaming her, afraid of burdening her, afraid of putting her in danger.

despite all that, he manages to leave waterdeep, to seek a cure for himself, or at the least not present a danger to thousands of people around him, once he recognised he was no longer able to treat his condition.

and when we meet him there is almost no immediate trace of all that, he masks it with smiles and politeness and humour. he's friendly. affable. unflappable. he cooks, he fights, he reads, he's well kept, despite tara's nagging about eating regularly in gale's origin playthrough. you'd never know. you only get a sense of melancholy sometimes (his first camp scene, staring into the fire, unsure of what the tadpole means for him and, more importantly, the orb), when it's all too much and he hasn't calmed himself yet, hasn't quieted his mind fully ("i need to retrace my steps to a glade of calm and think").

what a difference a day makes.

(still, he's opening himself up a bit again, re-learning to live again, travelling with people he may have not met otherwise, some of whom have become his friends. it feels good to chat, it feels good to tell stories, to share knowledge and meals, and to not be alone.)

and even when it all comes crashing down around him in act 2, he receives mystra's orders with quiet acceptance and a smile. he thanks elminster. he's glad it was him. he deflects your concern and doesn't engage with the deeper meaning of what it means to do as he was asked. oh you know him, don't you. he's an optimist. it's all not so bad. at least his death will have meaning. at least he'll have forgiveness.

it's only much later that he lets himself acknowledge how scared truly is. terrified, he says. and even then, he marches on.

anyhow, excuse my disjointed rambling, i just have a lot of thoughts about it all.

[princesstarfire1234]

TLDR: I fucking despise ship art and fanfics that infantilize Orion Pax / Optimus Prime

Okay so I just wanna put my thoughts out here right now because I've not seen many people talk about it and it honestly bothers me a lot...

So, it's no secret that I ship MegOp and stuff right? I like and have reblogged a bunch of art of them before and I will keep doing so, but something about how this place (or more certain parts of the fandom) portray the ship gives me major icks and I fucking hate it so much

Detailed thoughts under cut ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Case in point, a massive part of the TFP fanbase likes to ship Orion and Megatronus and I get that, I get why people like shipping those two but it's the WAY they do it. A lot, not all, but most of the fanart surrounding Orion Pax and Megatronus is him being like the smaller and more submissive one of the relationship which fine, whatever, but most people just end up drawing him REALLY small like ik he's shorter than Megs who was a gladiator and all that and he was an archivist but jesus christ... Aside the size which is weird and all but it's really all about the rampant infantilization of the guy. When they remove all agency from the character and act like Orion is gonna fucking combust the moment someone confronts him or tries to fight him like no... I've not read Exodus but I don't think Orion being a nerdy book guy is gonna make him THAT soft, this is still the same mech who became PRIME like cmon

I don't know the exact words for it other than "infantilization" but like y'know what I mean right?? I'm not gonna name blogs but there's this one AU on here where Orion is blind and it has this cutesy artstyle which is fine but I vividly remember reading a comic on that AU where some thugs confront Orion and he's all like sobbing and shit and has to be saved by someone and it's... so you made him disabled and also a crybaby and absolutely incapable of anything??? Does that NOT give you an ick of sorts or seem weird??? God I don't even know anymore because I've seen many people seem to like that so I'm just scared I'm the weird one and wrong for this lmfao... Maybe there's smthn im not getting, you tell me

Anyways this post is getting real long, but this kind of "infantilization" also applies to certain fanarts of TFA MegOp, I always thought the ship was bordering on kind of strange (since TFA Optimus is like the equivalent of some 20-something college dropout and Megatron is implied to have been doing the war stuff way way way back like Ratchet's time) but I won't get into that, I just don't ship that certain brand of the characters myself, but it's fine, do what you want with it. Just know that I have seen art of those two where they treat TFA Optimus as this sort of incapable cutesy uwu boy (aaaghh)

So yeah.... hahahaha stop infantilizing characters and taking a ship where they're both grown ass big men and like straight up turning the other one into some weird ass incapable version of the character that lacks any and all agency and honestly bordering on being really icky as fuck, thank you, idc if you make Optimus the bottom or whatever, that's not what I mean, cya ✌️

[pixelatedraindrops]

Happy 1st Anniversary RainCode!

☔️6🔎30👻

Thank you for bringing me so much joy 💜💕

(and thank you for giving me the gift that is yuma kokohead)

I didn’t think I’d make art for it at first, but I figured this game has done so much for me, so I’ll give back by drawing the duo that started it all 💜🩷 These two are such an iconic pair and I will draw them together as much as possible c: (tho Shinigami will be mostly in her ghost form if I do)

First time drawing human form Shinigami non-chibi, and I admit she was a little tricky with that outfit. But I think I did it decently enough… xD

little bonus for the kokogami enjoyers 💕

miss death god is too much woman for this little boy to handle~ 🤭

i know he's an adult but can you honestly look at him without context and say this is a man??? he's just an eemey meemey little guy.

Personal Rambling below (because I love this game so much)

WARNING MINI ESSAY INCOMING (lmao)

Oh RainCode... Where do I even begin...

RainCode is a game that has changed my life along with likely many other people’s lives. Although the premise of it is fairly straightforward, the characters and atmosphere make this game so much more. The successor to Danganropa is honestly its own unique story and structure, and tbh I think I love and enjoy it far more than Danganronpa. But this game…is just so much more for me.

I truly never expected this game to be such an impact on my life, let alone become my next fixation.

So, for history, I was honestly in no real hurry to get the game on its release date last year, so I got it a day later. On July 1st, I played the game for the first time. And I didn’t think much of it at first. The only thing that was on my mind when I started this game, was that I was positive I was going to be treating the protagonist like Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri’s son the whole time.

This was the first post I made about RainCode back on twitter in 2023.

Yeah... Kinda silly when I look at it now... XD But I do still beleive this headcanon.

When I started the game my 2016 fixation of Danganronpa came back a bit. As a previous DR lover, I did make comparisons here and there to all of the characters. Yuma was very much like Naegi with his shy and timid demeanor at first due to having amnesia, and it felt like déjà vu when playing through the start of the game. But then it happened. The moment that solidified Yuma as my next and now permanent target. When he got sick/dizzy on the train... God that moment still lives rent free in my head. (I know the cause of it was different/related to the first mystery/case, but as someone who enjoys any sort of sick whump moment, regardless of if its little crumbs or a whole-ass meal it still counted for me) I was still shy and hid in the shadows with my silly little niche back then, but I told myself. Yep, once I finish this game, I’m writing a sickfic for this game and he’s the victim. (though what surprised me was that I wasn’t alone on that, 3 other people made sickfics with yuma before I did so that was a pleasant surprise xD)

As the game went on it shocked and impressed me in many different forms. I realized that this game isn’t the Danganronpa clone I thought it would be. Sure, it had a lot of similar elements and mirrored mini games like Hangman’s Gambit, Spot Selection, and of course the Conclusion Comic of the whole case, but the story the world and the mysteries were honestly different from the way DR structured them. And it pleased me when not many people from the main team had died. Most of the deaths were of side characters that had appeared in their respective chapters. Which honestly was a breath of fresh air for me, and I think that’s the real reason it’s separate from DR. It’s not as cruel and not as stressful. It’s a lot more chill, but the mysteries were still enough to get me excited and look forward to the next maze I would enter. The mystery labyrinths were probably my favorites elements of the game. They were just so much fun. And every single character was so likeable, (yes even some of the peacekeepers were fun aside of one or two that I absolutely despise. mostly yomi and guillame lol but I guess I kinda like yomi a bit more bc of the fandom)

And I grew to love Yuma EVEN more. He is honestly one of the best written protagonists I’ve seen in a long time. It’s hard to do timid protagonists right, but RainCode definitely nailed it with Yuma. He had his moments, but it wasn’t enough to be obnoxious. He also shined in more ways than one. And my god, so many relatable moments… (I have anxiety too xD) He was so charming and cute the whole time and even had his badass moments. This little guy is the whole package and I LOVE him for that. Truly a unique and fun main character that blows every DR protagonist out of the water.

(Yes, I said what I said.)

And the ending, GOOD LORD THE ENDING?? It was so well executed, and the ending twist villain was immediately my second favorite character after the protagonist. I could go on about how much I loved the ending but if I did, we’d be here all day and I don’t want to spoil the entire game…so… I’ll leave it at that.

When I finished the game, I was so satisfied. (Yes I love it more than DR, what are you gonna do about it?) It left me super happy and made me want to make some fan content for it. Though I was still very quiet on twitter and had a feeling since twitter is a more complicated platform, I couldn’t gush about the game too much due to fear of spoiling other people…and when one of your favorite characters is just the whole secret of the game’s core mystery, I couldn’t talk about it too much… >.>

So, then I did the unthinkable. I went back to tumblr… It’s a little embarrassing but this account is actually my old one I had from years ago. I was on tumblr more 2013 to 2017 before I abandoned the site when it no longer seemed fun and there were times that I’d rather forget... (let’s just say that I used to RP with my OCs and…one of my RP ex friends catfished me and it made me feel VERY uncomfortable. I wanted to forget it, so I ran away and never returned.) I was super nervous to come back and try to post again, so my first RC related post was about him being a naegiri child.

After that I began making more edits once I gained access to the sprites and full body arts. I made some Pokémon AU edits because those were always fun, and then I started making feverish edits of Yuma’s sprites. My first post ended up becoming a hit and I caught the attention of some people. They liked what I was doing so it gave me a bit of confidence to continue. I got even more attention, and it made my confidence go up even more.

And then I started trying to draw art again, something I gave up long ago. My first few arts were a little rocky at best, but so many people enjoyed it! One of my older arts ended up becoming pretty popular. Through this my few pieces of art, my many sprite edits, and my first fan fiction (Home Is Where The Heart Is) got me pretty well recognized in the Rain code community on here. So much so that I felt confident enough to give myself a title. The CEO of RainCode Whump or “Whumpcode” and all of this confidence made me decide to turn my blog into a fandom and sick whump blog. It became a full blown obsession that possessed my mind that I've become TOO passionate about. Never thought making these little guys suffer would bring me this much joy... XD

Over time, I’ve drawn more art and written more fics than I ever had for a fandom. Before I never ever made fandom art, and I would usually only write one sickfic per fixation. (my last ones being demon slayer and spy x family) But here I am, making more art pieces than I ever have before (hell even doing a MONTH ART CHALLENGE) and improving even! And having 7 fanfictions of RainCode, 6 with Yuma and one with Makoto. And those two became my prime targets and muses for my art. Drawing them is easier for me and they’re my favorites so it brings me such joy to draw them. I love MakoYuma so much. Maybe not so much romantically, but friendship and familial. They have such potential to be so much, and I adore them. Plus putting them in sicknarios and situations is fun (I think we can all agree on that haha)

I think I’m talking too much, so I will say one more thing. I never thought my fixation on this game would last this long. I was positive it would go away after just a few months at best. The game is great but nothing amazing to keep thinking about for too long for me. But I think the main reason I was able to keep my fixation on this game for almost a year (and ongoing) is because of the fandom. (specifically, the Tumblr fandom, but some people on twitter are cool too) I’m honestly so happy I returned to tumblr and was able to make a name for myself in this community. I have met so many talented artists and creators and even made some new friends (and even got a few apprentices to take under my wing) If it weren’t for everyone’s support, I don’t think I would have ever done this much and made it this far.

I’ve essentially made a platform for myself, and I didn’t think tumblr would be a place I’d check daily ever again. To think this silly little game…would change my life so much and make me happier than I’ve ever been in such a long time. I feel recognized and like I belong, I’m finally able to be loud and proud about my passions for sick whump and not worry too much about it, I’ve finally found my prime target and I have fun with him every time, I’ve gotten back into the arts of drawing and writing again and I think I’ve made some of my best work yet, and I’ve met so many wonderful people and even collaborated with them on some fun projects too! (Here's the most popular one and also the first one I did!)  It’s just been…so wonderful… I am so happy to be part of such a chill talented and fantastic community TwT So thank you everyone… this is all thanks to your support… <3

Sorry I’m getting a little mushy here aren’t I… x’D I just couldn’t be more grateful for this game if I tried… So, thank you so much Rain Code, for existing and doing so much for me and making me so happy… I have never had this much fun in a fixation before, and I never felt like I was ever truly part of any fandom and was always just a lurker. It feels so good to finally feel like part of a fandom you love, and also be well liked, admired and accepted by others despite your niche being a little on the odd side… XD

I really hope there will be a sequel for this game, and we’ll see all these wonderful characters again. After all I’ve been through with this title and how much joy and purpose it brought me, consider me a fan for life. I will be dedicated to every future title in this series and play the hell out of it. And I hope it gains a wider audience come October when it is released for more consoles. (Just hoping no weirdos take over and ruin it with stupid drama and horrible things like the DR fandom…)

Though once new fans come in and are also tumblr users…I wonder what they’d even think of me and my place and takes when it comes to this series… XD (hopefully they’ll be nice to me… XD)

Anyway, I’ve said enough.

Happy Anniversary RainCode!!

☔💜👻🔍

[capslocked]

(I know this is an inopportune time to put out this ask, especially with the situation around plagiarism. Hopefully this serves as a dialogue on how writing is such a hard creative endeavor)

This is probably going to start off on a very tangential topic, but I promise I’ll connect it to smut writing.

So, one of my favorite video game series of all time has to be the Half-Life franchise. Particularly HL2. And one of the most discussed topics in the HL community has to be the HL2 Beta, with much of the community being divisive over it. On one hand, many people consider that the beta version of the game is superior to the retail version that we have today due to the expanded lore/concepts/tone, whereas the other side contends that the retail version is inherently superior to the beta version because it aligns with what Valve envisioned for the game.

And I think these arguments highlight one crucial aspect in the creative process: revision. Because video game betas are simply incomplete drafts of concepts and ideas, they undergo revision as the scope, direction, and narrative of a story change throughout the creative process. According to the summarized arguments above, there are some people who consider a revised work as being “better” or “improved” because it was revised whereas some people may argue that revision could potentially take away some interesting ideas or concepts and thus, make for a less compelling story.

I think we’re conditioned that, especially when writing essays or papers in our education systems, that revision simply means that we’re making a work better, not worse. But I think that in the creative writing space, sometimes revision could make a creative work worse.

As such, I’d like to ask a few questions for you: In your creative process, as you undergo revision, what are/were the challenges that you face? Were there some elements that you JUST had to have in your story, despite some proofreaders/beta readers pointing out that it made for a less compelling story? Or perhaps more importantly, were there any fics that, although revised fully for sake of the story’s clarity, you didn’t feel like fully realized its potential that you initially envisioned?

Goodness, this is the longest ask I think I've ever seen. Buckle up, serious fucking yap incoming. I'll throw a read more here to try and stem the bleeding.

Anon,

There's a series of paintings that sprung to the front of my mind by Arnold Bocklin, a german symbolist painter, that were produced shortly before art's age of mechanical replication. All versions of Isle of the Dead depict a desolate and rocky islet seen across an expanse of dark water.  Die Toteninsel (1880)

Bocklin would later produce an additional painting by hand in the same year (1880), one in (1883), another in (1884), and a final in (1886). (His son would produce a 6th version in 1901 but that's for a separate discussion.)

And look, I have an almost near-reverent respect for this series, simply by the fact they together perfectly convey a singular unified imagery. Bocklin evokes, in part, the English Cemetery in Florence, Italy, where the first three versions where painted - near the studio where his first daughter was buried, and in all, Bocklin lost 8 of his 14 children. It is often interpreted that the characters shown in the boat represent death, shepherding the dead.

The image clearly changes on each iteration, small details varying within each revision, but ultimately through Bocklin's own mastery of technique & composition, you'd be hard-pressed to find 'the original' or 'the best' among them. They all serve as a translation of the vision that the author/creator had in his head at the time of execution.

Related: this still from Miyazaki's (final?) animated feature film, The Boy and the Heron, has notes in the storyboard where Miyazaki explicitly referred to Bocklin's paintings for a scene where the story's hero begins a coming of age story, conceptually fixed on the death of his mother and dealing with grief.

This kind of engagement between works, a sort of cultural discussion, is where capital 'A' Art begins to materialize. Art is not about technical ability, or in literature's case: the ability to write elegant and stylish prose, or wield unique and colorful vocabulary. It's the ability to execute on a vision, so that others can be in communication with conceptual story that lives in your head.

No one can possibly say which of Bocklin's paintings is the best, simply because it's an uninteresting and meaningless question. The art lies in the communication and evocation of an emotional response.

So - to your question: Can a revision be harmful?

Absolutely. You already mentioned HL2, but I think an even better example from that medium is The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

This game, by all measures, should have been a total disaster.

Nintendo was rushing. Shamelessly reusing assets, and using experimental mechanics to pad out a limited amount of content - but instead, Nintendo tapped into a bizarre creative place. And without the time to question the ideas flowing out of it, the developers let the game take the shape it wanted to.

The result is a masterpiece of narrative fiction. A game where you watch cartoon characters struggle with the reality that they're going to die. Where director Eiji Aonuma's own manic depressive episode found it's way into the game by mere coincidence. (Or, Tingle!)

Nintendo would have never made such a bizarre game under normal circumstances, so it wouldn't be all that fair to say Majora's Mask was great in spite of its rushed development, it was great because of it.

It is easy however to understand how director Eiji Aonuma might feel resentment toward the work and how hard the experience must have been for him. In interviews, he revealed that he didn't want to do the remake, going as far to joke that he hoped fans could forget that the game ever even happened.

His attitude towards the original seems to be one of embarrassment rather than pride. Which makes it risky to go back and try to improve upon it, because when a creator doesn't understand what the appeal of their work is, they're liable to make changes that undermine it, meddle with things that didn't need to be meddled with. And I'd argue Majora's Mask 3D (2015) didn't exactly stick the landing, but I'll save the details for a different conversation.

The thing that makes Bocklin and Aonuma different here comes down to their own understandings of their respective creative visions. (Or the lack thereof.)

I think the general sense that revision == better, though, is mostly true. And I'm not talking about a beta-reader saying, hey capslocked, you just spent 300 words describing Karina's hair, my eyes are glazing over here. When is the reader going to fuck her tits?

But I mean something beyond the mechanical, writing the sex, the smut, the cumming - most people who have talked with me about writing will know I am a horrible planner. It's less about what I want to write and more about what I'm able to write. If something is clear enough for me to imagine and plan, then it's clear enough for me to write. There's no medium space.

As of this moment, I have an Irene fic in my docs that I have rewritten more times than I can possibly count. A self-inflicted torture. I don't think the fic is particularly unenjoyable by any means or the quality of the writing is 'bad' persay, but each time I approach it anew, I do end up one step closer to understanding what the fic actually is that I want to write.

But as of now, I still do not understand it well enough to feel comfortable committing to the current shape of it.

On the other hand I've got five versions of a part 1 of a misamo fic that average 25k words each, and I think that's less out of failing to know what I want, but more because I lack the self-confidence to publish. With each revision in this space, I feel myself losing things that the fic needs, or would absolutely benefit from. I find myself forgetting and diluting the parts of that vision that I actually feel are what I want to deliver and playing around in the mud of things that I don't. Each revision makes me feel as though I'm running in place.

It comes down to a matter of why you are revisioning. Simply taking multiple stabs at something and hoping for a better result isn't going to net you very much forward progress, and like in Eonuma's case, will set you back.

I use revisions in my creative process as a sort of communion with the essence or particular goals of a fic. That said, I've written things I don't care about at all. I get to the end and go, "okay, nice I guess" and hit publish. Neither scenario is really a question of quality.

They say an artist never really truly finishes a work, merely abandons it - and in a sense, the more I love a particular narrative or character(s), the more revisions I can drum up the motivation to jump into, again and again.

I suppose the longer I can spend time with a work I love, the more I can enjoy and distill an understanding of my own appreciation for it - before ultimately hitting publish and waving goodbye.

Thanks for the thoughtful ask, and sorry for the yap,

capslocked

(eventually.)

[onceuponalegendbg-rwby]

I think it's because people just see an easy designated punching bag online and view it's supposed "shittiness" as carte blanche to mistreat anyone who dares to not be part of that mob. We've seen it happen many times over the years.

Star Wars. Sonic the Hedgehog. RWBY. If there's a punching bag available, people will do everything they can to justify punching it.

A lot of people enjoy being cruel, but they hate being seen as cruel. So when an opportunity pops up where they can be as awful as possible because "the person/group/thing deserves it"? They just jump on it like hyenas to bloody carcasses. And then they get to pretend it's all justified to be an asshole because they're "on the right side", and will get protected and praised for their cruelty until it's not the socially acceptable thing to do anymore, or they just jumped onto the next bandwagon/fad for them to be an asshole about. Then they'll just go "Oh I'm so sorry, it wasn't that bad, can you just ignore and pretend I wasn't an absolute asshole that probably hurt you immensely? KTHXBAI. Oh and if you dare to call me out, I'll call you thin-skinned and sensitive but I'm just a victim UwU"

And the reality is that even IF this thing or media had a deserved bad reputation, more often than not that STILL doesn't justify being cruel about it. But a lot of people WANT to be cruel about it.

You are definitely not wrong. And it's gets so exhausting after a while, especially if you engage with that group, but even if you don't just seeing all the hate can wear you down after so long of seeing the same complaint (valid or not) over and over and over. Whether the piece of media deserves it or not, it just becomes redundant after a certain point.

It's hard to fight the urge to fight back, to not defend something you cherish so deeply, because you know the other person wants to get you riled up, they want act like they've got some make believe moral high ground because they're "objectively" right about how this piece of media should be perceived.

As I said in my original post, it's okay to not like something but that doesn't mean you have to make that vitriolic disdain your entire personality. More people need to figure out the ancient and therapeutic art of "Disengage if You Don't Like."

Now this also isn't to say we can't criticize media. As much as I love RWBY and will always defend it from its haters, I have my fair share of complaints about how certain elements were handled, mostly in the first four Volumes and especially in V4 itself. However, do those criticisms I have derail my overall feelings toward this show? No. Not at all. But I've already spoken at length about my feelings so I'm not going to repeat myself again here.

[bepoucorp]

HELLO BEPOU OF CORP!!!!! you’ll NEVER guess who it is ,,,, ANYWAAYYSS….!!! SO ,,,, about bats2riddle ,,…., do you perchance ,, have any hcs ? i have been thinking about that old bats2riddle art piece thing you posted like ,,, forever . the people ( me ) yearn for bats2riddle .,,,

HI MICHAEL!!

picture Michael is referring to + some prewarning(?):

I dont have a lot of headcanons! and i mostly think about them in the context of my AU and Batman forever i suppose?

I also dont have much knowledge about polycules and polyamory!! but i do like the idea of Batman and the rogues gallery practicing polyamory! ANyways heres some bats2riddle headcanons:

Riddler and Two Face don't know that Bruce is Batman LMAO

I like to imagine this relationship either between Bruce's Batman persona being involved or not involved at all... (Like he's just a civilian who got roped up in this)

^^ especially if the context is Batman Forever because of Riddler's former employment/one sided love with Bruce

Bruce and Harvey used to be exes/or had some kind of relationship while in college, there's some lingering feelings from Bruce which makes him more inclined to be apart of the relationship (love you former bruharvey/twobats!!)

Riddler is kind of the 'primary' partner when it comes to this? in that Two Face does like Batman but is closer to Riddler (and vice versa)

Riddler and Two Face's feelings about Batman is very obsessive even in this? (it's the mix of he's my enemy + my lover LOL)

call back to when i talked about their love languages because LMAOO??

^^ They all work with each other weirdly well?? like idk... i thought this was funny to call back to

Eddie managed to get two bad bitches with his autism and loser boy charm /aff

i think this is all?? take these old batman forever doodles too <3 i kinda wanna draw them more... but im lazy ZZZ thank you for asking tho!! hope this fuels more brainrot!!

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Hi!! I just wanted to let you know how much your short story, World Builder affected me like first of all I'm still thinking about it a week and a half later, and I'll probably still be thinking about it in ten years. Second of all, it's what finally got me to try writing short stories instead of putting loads of pressure on myself to write full-length novels. Third, I tried to draw art of it (I gave up because I couldn't quite get it right, but hopefully I'll come back to it one day). And fourth, it's given me the courage to experiment in my writing because I'm always so worried that people aren't going to understand what I'm going for and therefore they'll be uninterested, but when I read WB I, as the reader, was really excited about it and I actually had loads of fun working to understand what was going on and how it all worked rather than being spoonfed an explanation you know? Especially with the pronouns thing like that's so cool and the elation I felt when I realised what was happening was amazinggggg. Anyway yeah thank you very much, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to reading your other works when I get the motivation :)))

(ps sorry that my grammar and punctuation are awful here, I don't have the energy to correct it rn)

Glad you enjoyed it! In my experience, one doesn't need to worry too much about the audience keeping up. If you write weird shit, the people who read your stories will be the people interested in weird shit, and they'll put in the effort to listen to you. And if you don't write the weird shit, who will? A weird concept is, by definition, a less explored one. Any writing can have value to the right audience, but niche or experimental writing is more likely to push a reader's boundaries, stick in their mind for a long time or, at the very least, give them another work in a genre they love but get very little of.

Besides, it makes for great practice that can improve your writing in any genre, whether the audience is interested or not. And if you don't get it on the paper it'll just live in your head forever and bug the shit out of you. I hope you have fun writing short stories!

[catsharky]

Wanted to post these separate from my Art Fight post because I spent too long on these references (really just Fallstreak's tbh) to keep them hidden away on the AF site. Also cause I love these guys and I haven't really talked about them much on here.

So for anyone who was curious about the previous art I posted of these OCs, have some actual information about them!

Nell

Full name Abnell Roache (will also accept 'Nella', but loathes being called 'Nelly'). A health and safety inspector for an interstellar cargo company, Nell becomes stranded on an ocean planet when the ship she's auditing- the ACS Endurance- experiences a catastrophic engine failure and tears itself in two.

Adrift on an endless alien sea with no guarantee of rescue and little emergency food, she has to survive with the help of Bas: an (illegal) AI inhabiting the chassis of her life pod's survival assistant. With her only goals being survival and finding any other survivors, she's unprepared to find herself making humanity's first contact with another sapient species; an alien biologist named Fallstreak who has also found himself trapped on the planet. 

She's thrilled to learn about Fallstreak and his people, as well as teach him as much as she can about humanity, and if she has an immediate, massively obvious crush on the tall faceless alien? Well, the only other person there to complain is Bas. Which he does. A lot.

Bas (Pronounced 'Baz')

An illegal AI inhabiting the chassis of a life pod survival assistant (though to clarify, in this universe all true AI are illegal because they require a human brain scan to be made and that's a legal rights nightmare). After years of only knowing his 'father', Richter (the engineer aboard the Endurance who purchased and programmed him), he boots up to find his home destroyed, his father dead, and himself in the company of a total stranger; Nell. 

He has a lot to deal with: keeping Nell alive, figuring out how to interact with someone other than Richter while also mourning his death, and acting as a middle-man/interpreter between Nell (who he has rapidly developed what seem to be romantic feelings towards) and Fallstreak (an alien biologist who's captured Nell's interest without even knowing what he has). 

And to top it all off? He has a text-to-speech Australian accent.

Fallstreak

An alien biologist with a bio-mechanical body, named after the cloud formation (look up 'Fallstreak holes', they're neat!) that most closely resembled an event that occurred on the day of his birth.

Extremely curious and wants to learn everything about his two new companions, as well as share his knowledge with them. Verbal language is all but entirely unused by his species, however, so the language barrier between Fallstreak and Nell+Bas is a large one. Thanks to Bas' assistance, he's able to understand spoken communication fairly well, and speaks (in very broken sentence structure) by vibrating the membranes in his gill openings, resulting in a voice that sounds somewhat like early English vocaloids; understandable but clearly not a natural voice.

Living a fairly solitary life isn't uncommon for his species, and he hasn't had the opportunity to experience romantic interest before, so when he meets Nell and begins to fall for her, he's more than a little confused (oblivious) about what his emotions are doing. Unfortunately draws some jealous ire from Bas as a result, but is pretty oblivious to the AI's attempted rivalry. 

--

All three of these guys are from a WIP comic called The Rive that I hope to finish some day. I have most of the story figured out, and quite a bit of it scripted and ready to go, I just need to actually draw the damn thing.

[omorimodreverie]

Reverie Devlog - 2024 July - CHAPTER 4

Overview

It has been a while since the last update since before the release of Reverie Chapter 3, so we finally are making an update on what happened in the past 3-4 months.

What’s with the Inactivity?

First, let’s get the reasons for our inactivity (at least to public) out of the way:

Chapter 3 released around April-May, so that period would be redundant to cover in a Dev Log in that time period.

Around the same period, some people have had high school finals (like in my case, Stahl writing here), or college exams. 

Despite that, there has been steady work done in the background by others in the team. The past few weeks have also picked up in activity as well, so things are moving in a positive direction.

Chapter 4 Info

Area

As it’s no longer a much secret since it's been speculated since forever ago: Chapter 4 takes place in dreamworld. The next area involves 1 major area, Sweetheart’s Castle; and 2 minor optional areas, Pyrefly Forest and Metro Depths. This info is relevant to development, as it changes the development process quite significantly.

The obvious benefit is that many assets can be reused and modified, especially for the castle. What will be done with it though, we’ll leave up to speculation. This applies to tilesets, maps, and even some sprites like enemies, leading to far less workload than Chapter 3 had demanded with the real world.

Gameplay

Gameplay wise, this will be where the “mid game” should start ramping up, so difficulty would start spiking here as well compared to base game. Normal mode would still be accessible for most players, but Hard mode would get more aggressive in terms of mechanics, and start to really pose a challenge. Regardless of mode, both would really push for players to learn emotion mechanics properly (I mean seriously, some people still played the entire mod without using emotions at all???).

For a rough overview for what’s coming gameplay wise:

Enemies throw ailments far more often

Some enemies nullify, absorb, or repel specific emotion damage innately

Charge skills and Telegraphed heavy attacks appear more often

Troops tend to appear in larger sizes

Considering feedback received from Chapter 2, it won’t be as tedious as Cattail fields, where enemy encounters tend to be spongy and slow-paced: leading to the next point;

Battles are generally more dynamic, going in a more aggressive direction: enemies are easier to kill, but so are you.

Area conditions that spice up the initial battle a bit

Progress

As of now, Chapter 4 is going relatively fine. There is a temporary knock down in activity from external factors, but we’re still able to keep a steady pace, which is what really matters in the long run. For easy viewing, the progress will be split into sectors:

Writing is going steady, it isn’t as difficult as the real world which has higher stakes, but it still matters to write in character. 

Pixel art side of things is also going well. There is far less work needed in terms of pixel art, due to less of both sprites and maps. Basically, anything now is relatively easier than CH3.

Drawn art also is going fine, the majority of spriteworks are already done. As mentioned before in CH3 dev logs, half of the sprites were done before CH3 even started, so this is not new information.

Music is also similar to Drawn art in progress, the majority of songs having been completed beforehand. Though one major difference is that a decent amount of those assets became “outdated”, so we might need to work on replacing or recomposing. This also happened in the art side, but just not to the same degree.

And finally in RPGMaker work itself, there is also some progress made, though less than others as this would be the final step after all assets are completed. The work here so far is mostly implementing all the assets and organizing files. On top of that, we have also started working on cutscenes as well as enemies.

Final Notes

Overall, progress is going steady, despite earlier difficulties in terms of activity. All sectors are progressing in some form, which is a nice change of pace compared to CH3’s very lopsided work allocation.

Thanks for reading this far, here's a preview of some work done so far!

[suzukiblu]

hi! i have a question for you, if that’s ok? i always try to leave comments on fics i read, especially on ao3 where it’s really easy to do that. in other fandoms i’ve been in, before getting into dc, fic authors often responded to my comments on their works and it was pretty easy to make friends through that and other social media and have lots of fun interactions talking about the fandom and our favorite characters etc.

however, i’ve found with this fandom it seems to be very different? almost nobody seems to respond to comments on their fics and i’ve found it very difficult to make any fandom friends, even in a casual-tumblr-mutuals kind of way. (this isn’t about you btw, you seem like the friendliest person i’ve come across on here so far which is why i’m asking you haha)

i completely understand many people are busy or some authors may find responding to comments overwhelming, but i was just wondering if this is something you or anyone else has noticed? is it a quirk of the dc fandom in particular? or am i just getting older and fandoms in general are changing haha, idk.

anyway sorry for the long ramble, feel free to ignore if i’m making no sense. i really enjoy all your stories (and your art! your art style is so cute!) and i hope you’re having a great day :]

Thank you, I'm glad you like my stuff! Especially the art, that I always feel like I'm worse at, hah. ❤️ I hope you're having a great day too. And asking me questions is always okay, no worries! I can't always get to everything in my inbox, to be honest, but I do my best to respond to as much stuff as I can. Either way, though, I never mind getting questions.

Personally I don't currently respond to most of my comments (I try to answer questions that aren't spoilers, but that's usually it these days) because it's just really easy for me to run out of spoons doing it and end up down a rabbit hole of comments instead of actually WRITING, which stresses me out because then I don't feel suitably "productive" for my imposter syndrome brain, and I also know a few people who don't respond because of anxiety or things like that, but I don't know if it's specifically a DC fandom thing or an overall trend in fandom in general? Every fandom is different, obviously, and also certain SECTIONS of those fandoms are different. Like, when I was into MCU fandom, I never really expected super-involved responses when I wrote Stucky because there was SO MUCH Stucky that it seemed like a lot of people just kinda churned through it and it all blurred together for them, but when I wrote about Darcy Lewis oh BOY did people come out of the woodwork to tell me how much they loved it in GREAT detail. Having a niche in general helps, I think, because if you're doing something that isn't super-common or interested in something that isn't super-common, people will be more excited to see it from you or hear you appreciating it from them.

I WILL say there's only a couple DC authors I can currently think of who I generally assume I'll get replies from when I comment on their fic, but I don't know if that's the specific fandom or just that I'm not reading a ton of fic right now and therefore have a smaller pool of authors I'm commenting on. Like, it's hard to tell, honestly. Also DC is a very widespread fandom and pretty old and established, but there's definitely characters and series and canons that just get ignored by huge chunks of it, so if you're into them you either have a real easy time finding people who are excited to talk to you or a real HARD time, depending on where you're looking.

Either way, I think it's really great that you try to leave comments on everything you read and a really good habit for the fandom ecosystem, I know a TON of authors who appreciate getting even, like, a single friggin' emoji or kudos, whether they respond or not. Literally any not-a-hate-comment comment is good for the ecosystem, imo, even when it's not obvious that it is. I very literally once wrote, like, eighty thousand words pretty much just because someone left a very kind comment on an old fic I'd abandoned. I did not actually RESPOND to that comment, as far as I remember; I just changed my mind about abandoning the fic and went through the long-ass process of getting my brain back into it and then the even longer-ass process of writing another 80k over the next few months/year until I got to the end. So like, I VERY much am a person who believes in the value of feeding the ecosystem, hah.

I am largely a call-and-response type of writer myself, so like, getting comments or people talking to me in my replies/asks/messages is basically like somebody is putting tokens in the fic machine and pulling a lever, and we'll all just see if I write three sentences or 80k or secretly tailor a fic towards things a frequent commenter's mentioned appreciating/being into. It's a surprise every time, with me!! And like, that's just how I work, of course, everybody's different, but I have NEVER met anybody who told me they didn't like getting comments.

When I leave comments myself, I tend to feel like more like I'm just telling the author that I think they're on the right track with the thing they're writing, one way or another, and letting them know it got a reaction or feelings or the like out of me, but I'm generally not really expecting a response from them. For actually making friends, I've found MUCH more luck in talking to people on Tumblr and Discord than on AO3. I've made friends on AO3 on and off over the years, but it's just much, MUCH easier for me to do on Tumblr and Discord. Though I kind of have a cheat code there in the sense that I'm a pretty prolific writer and so I've kinda encouraged people to get into the habit of checking my blog pretty frequently or even put alerts on for it, so generally people have a lot of opportunities to talk to me or be reminded I'm around.

I tend to notice people who show up repeatedly in my Tumblr mentions, personally, especially when they talk in the tags or comment in the replies or send me asks, and some of them I've either become friends with or just, like, secretly adopted as secret faves and sometimes sneak little extra treats of Things I Think That One Tumblr Person Would Like into my writing or pick specific WIPs to work on because I think "hey last time I wrote this [ TUMBLR FAVE ] really liked it, I should write more!" (and then I cackle in triumph/delight when they reblog it later, for that is a Victory, mwahaha), but like, it's a process? I definitely feel like making friends in fandom is generally slower than it was once upon a time, but also I'm a Fandom Old so there's been a few migrations and such over my time online too. And also Discord confuses me, hahaha. Discord is VERY confusing to me.

Ummm . . . okay I got INTO that reply, I guess, lol, but I hope that answered your question? Or at least helped answer it, if nothing else!

[howl-arnon]

Hey!! I saw your post about maybe meeting other people in the same Fandom and I'm OBSESSED with The Mandela Catalogue- I adore drawing and writing, and I'd love to be friends or just talk n stuff! Your art is incredible, the amount of detail makes my jaw drop- Don't even get me started on the rendering, my GOD. /pos

Thank you! I would love to have new friends of this fandom😭 like- I try to find ppl from this fandom for a while now, just to talk and stuff. This fandom have so much talented people in it artist, writers, animators etc. I'm glad that you like my art 🥲🥲 I'll continue to upload moree. Usually I get lots of idea from ppl who write some fanfics I admit, I like how people interpret him in writing so SO much! I would say my art on Mandela catalogue does not base much on the real thing ( Alex kister version ) although I'm in love with his work- I get more drive from all these other talented ppl in this fandom

/ here's another silly angel piece for you guys

[spidermanifested]

okay so. since the other post hasnt gotten any takers and i am still broke im opening up more general commissions as well lol. shoot me a friend request on discord @spidermanifested if youre interested in any of the following:

regular commission fare

flat color headshot ($20): a shoulders-up drawing of any character you want, human or furry or robot or Watever. my specialty is, as always, old people. lineart and flats only.

painted headshot ($35): a shoulders-up drawing but this time i get to go hog wild with the shading. i like doing this better so youre basically getting swindled that it costs more

flat color full-body ($40): a full-body drawing in a pose of your choice. please feel free to give me some kind of reference for how you want the pose to look. even if its a stick figure. its So much easier that way

painted full-body ($55): a full-body drawing with shading. pose references also greatly appreciated

The Special Stuff

anime screenshot redraw ($30 per character in the shot): i love doing these also. if youve ever had a really good anime screenshot and you wanted an artists more detailed semirealistic rendition of it. even if its just that one of the guy from naruto kicking his leg up and saying "pathetic". especially if its that. i am your man

oc design collab ($10 per day): give me the details on an oc youre having trouble designing, from a description to existing reference material, and ill provide feedback and concept sketches until we settle on something youre happier with. it can be as much as asking me to design them from the ground up or as trivial as "do you think their hairstyle looks dumb"

fma eyecatch ($40): one of the intermission cards where the guy goes Full Metal Alchemist. with your character, matched to the fmab style to the best of my ability, which is preddy good i think

further info

if you want me to draw naked people or horny stuff thats another 20 bucks on top of whatever the price is

no horny art of characters under 18, period

i dont want to just open up ship commissions point blank because drawing people interacting is so much harder. but if the ship is something i am into as well i MAY be open to it. itd be double as expensive though

im allowed to tell you something is going to be too hard or i dont want to do it for any other reason

i take payment via paypal or cashapp, whatever works better. payment details will be given via discord. please have the money ready upfront and if for whatever reason i cant complete the commission ill refund you. once again thats spidermanifested on discord, or you can dm me on here if you dont have discord but i Vastly prefer it 👍

[rosinastrology]

Lana del Rey - Chart Analysis

My observations and interpretation of her chart:

Sun in Cancer, Moon in Leo, Scorpio Rising

Fun moon to have, and Lana is so beautiful!

The mind, sex appeal, and self are aligned with the traits of the sign of Cancer (protection, nurturing, and emotional). They all feel a bit more Scorpio. 

Very artistic person, right off the bat as I started to look into her chart. 

Her Sun feels pretty much like a Scorpio and very Scorpio sex appeal with her rising. Everything about her screams Scorpio. Lol. Not kidding. Her personal placements are watery. She is connected to her emotions deeply and intensely. Lack of abundance of love in the household. 

North node conjunct Venus (rules Taurus and Libra) in the 7th house of relationships and partnerships and the sign of Taurus indicates someone who is destined to form stable connections with either romantic partners as well as business partners. Her south node would be in the first house, so she is getting away from the I am and coming into the We are. In the past, there might have been a great deal of responsibility around looking perfect and following the male opinions on her body and appearance. Taurus deals with eating, in general. So, having Saturn in the 1st house of the self and body opposite Venus in the 6th (health, routine, and work) -7th house can indicate struggles with eating habits or body image due to others’ comments on her or desiring acceptance of others through the way one looks. 

There’s a magnetic beauty that exudes from her and many people find so attractive. 

Her Cancer Mercury expands because it’s pretty close to the 9th house of higher learning and education, travel and philosophy (ruled by Jupiter). In a water sign, it makes sense why she’s very in tune with the creative expression of the arts and brainstorming those ideas into nostalgic songs. Very emotional and creative with her art. 

Very potent sex appeal. Mars belongs to the 1st house whose cusp starts in Scorpio (as the Ascendant), where Scorpio is ruled by Mars and Pluto. Martian, Plutonian, Scorpio and Cancer strongly here. Her Pluto is in the 12th house of dreams and fantasy, drugs and illusions, mental asylums and hidden things. She’s highly connected with the collective’s emotional side and death/dark-related topics. I don’t really listen to her music or know much about her as a person and musician, but that’s what I’m reading from her chart. 

She struggles with self-esteem, especially her worth in relationships. She needs to learn how to nurture her relationships without giving away herself.

IC (home) in Aquarius: Home could have been a bit strange for her.

Jupiter in the 3rd house in Aquarius gives someone a beautiful, unique voice. Also, to point out, I think she must have odd or futuristic furniture, ornaments, and decor in her own house. That is something I’m picking up on, but just thought I should point out… or maybe obscure and eccentric colors around her house. Jupiter conjunct the IC can give abundance in the home, either a big house or family.

Uranus sextile Jupiter can indicate progressive abundance in terms of resources and monetary income. Then, she has Saturn square Jupiter which can indicate there was some sort of money struggles in her early household. Some sort of restriction in abundance. 

She’s far away from home. She’s not connected to the home. She gets easily lost in the intensity of her feelings and may recur to drugs, cigarettes, pills, etc. to alleviate the intensity.

Moon opposite Jupiter and square Venus, and Venus square Jupiter can indicate someone who has difficulty loving others and themselves, as well as not feeling very lucky. Jupiter is sometimes considered the husband in astrology, and Venus represents all things love and beauty, so having Jupiter square Venus can sometimes indicate not lasting in relationships either short-term or long-term because of that same lack of self-worth and confidence in themselves.

Her Moon in Leo close to the MC can give fighting spirit energy as well as a maternal instinct with the way she handles her career.

Intense person. Intense mental prowess and sex drive with emotive connection to the nurturing Cancer side. 

She’s suffered great disappointment throughout her life which I think have helped her write many of her popular songs. Neptune in the 2nd house, makes money from suffering and disillusionment. 

Midheaven in Leo: I think people see her as this Leo girl, who likes to party and she does because having Venus in Taurus, they like to have a good time. Very reserved though. I think she’s more of a free and talkative person behind closed doors with her closest friends and family, still private and does not like to talk much about her life with the public. She’d rather have the public know her through her music and what she puts out there.

The 8th house cusp is in Gemini (rules the 3rd house of speech and early home environment), which is ruled by Mercury in her 8th house. So, her mind and way of speaking is kind of slow and monotonous. I think she was body shamed from early in life which led to struggles with negative and restrictive views on her body and self. Taurus represents excesses of many things and having Saturn oppose the sign plus difficulty with seeing her worth may have taken her into a dark space at a certain point.

Leaving behind the past can serve her well in order to find the group of beautiful people who she should surround herself with. 

She knows how to appreciate beautiful people and art because there is this sexy pull sextile between Venus and Mercury. 

She’s got that mysterious and sweet face/personality. 

Cancer placements in a Scorpio house give that mermaid look too. She’s got that mermaid makeup look. 

Venus in Taurus, very lovely placement, but these people tend to indulge in things all pleasurable and comforting. Indulging can mean soothing one’s pains.

I think she finds comfort in foreign places away from her home.

@rosinastrology

Those are my observations on Lana del Rey’s chart!! If you’d like to see more of this, let me know in the comments!! Appreciate the feedback xx