#not tagging anything else lol this is just for archiving purposes

[gracebethartacc]

ancient ancient animatic from my old hms designs from when I was apparently playing with the idea of them all having wings ? that I never finished but I had posted frames of back in the day and I remembered it existed so decided to dig it back up and put in a little display case called “Wip I never finished” with sparkly font

(current hms designs btw)

[meanbossart]

in the least confrontational way possible…what’s up with you shipping durge and orin? is it just another aspect of u liking fucked up dark dynamics in media? personally its not for me at all, but i’m curious why you like them together and how her dynamic is with ur durge

[CONTENT WARNING for mentions of inter generational incest and grooming below, nothing explicit.] Hm. You know, it's a little unfortunate that we have reduced every depiction of characters having a relationship that is at all romantic or sexual in nature (not even, really, I've only ever drawn them hugging LOL) as "shipping". I don't "like" them together in the way I like DU drow and Astarion together, for example, and they never really were together. I made up a story that I find interesting, because I find Orin interesting and wanted to explore her themes more, and liked the idea that hers and Durge's relationship wasn't always "bad".

I really enjoy writing for DU drow, I put a lot of effort into making his story feel fleshed out and suited for the in-game universe. It's a little disheartening that some people may harp on this without considering that there is a wider context beyond it just tickling me, somehow. These are two characters who've never even had sex, in which one of them (Orin) isn't even interested in romance or "mating", and the other one has no concept of healthy relationships, familial or otherwise and just desperately grasps at the one thing he feels a kinship to: to the eventual disintegration of the one relationship he had that approached anything to mutual understanding and relatability.

Theirs isn't a love story, it's a story about isolation and grooming that led to total dependency. If you've been told your whole life that everyone and everything is fated to die at your hand, that your kind is meant to be contained within a genetical crockpot, that debauchery is normalcy and everyone else is the enemy, it is no huge stretch that you would dump all expectations of companionship onto your one, supposed equal - friend, sister, mate, should-be-lover. And then, if you're a bad person on top of that, you won't take no for an answer.

Add to that that your grandfather (Sarevok) is apparently in total agreement and a practicant of the idea of inbreeding for weird purity purposes and you have yourself an environment where an obsession like such can be born - one that Orin wants nothing to do with, because unlike DU drow, she doesn't become distracted by matters of the heart - and hence we have conflict, and we have reason for resentment to brew over time. At some point in the past, they had a "good" (within the bhaalist concept) relationship, and there was nothing sexual or romantic about it. DU drow crushed that. And then he got a worm in his brain for it.

Is that shipping? 🤷 idk

If you go onto my blog's archive and look up the "orin the red" tag you can find more asks where I discuss them and their relationship.

[shizuoi]

20 Questions (for fanfic writers)

thank you for tagging me @seek--rest ♡♡♡

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

81

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

468,946

3. what fandoms do you write for?

i dabble in anything that attracts my interest, but for the last year it's been exclusively lockwood & co!

4. top five fics by kudos:

my scorching sun, show me the way (marvel's eternals)

you'll find love with me somehow (marvel's eternals)

i can see your heart beneath your ribcage (you should save it for me) (enola holmes)

prepare for trouble (and make it double) (the magnus archives)

pulling teeth behind bottom lip (山河令 word of honor)

5. do you respond to comments?

yes unless they make me uncomfortable

6. what is the fic your wrote with the angstiest ending?

i don't really write non-happy endings but you might think you've caught her (but you've blown your only shot) (tua) had an open-ended dark ending which was pretty ooc for me

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

dskjalhsgdfjkal literally close your eyes and click on any of my fics tbh but recency bias demands the hanahaki au heartburn (l&co)

8. do you get hate on fics?

maybe once or twice but i deleted the comments immediately and haven't thought of them since. i don't tend to write in very big fandoms so i fly under the radar for the most part i think

9. do you write smut?

do i ever :3

10. craziest crossover:

i'm more an au person than a crossover person; closest thing that would qualify would be the l&co now you see me au pros and cons

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

i...think so? it wasn't a direct copy/stolen per se, but it felt heavily inspired...

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

many times!! very honored every time people ask ♡

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

TheMalapert and RainShadow07 and i have a few things cooking (katabasis, permutations, a secret new series coming up :3)

14. all time favorite ship?

oh jesus this is tough but i can't say no to some good spirk

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

mm not sure, my interests bounce around a lot so sometimes i'll think i won't ever pick anything up again and then BAM inspo so i'm gonna cop out of this question LOL

16. what are your writing strengths?

dialogue and realistic character interactions and introspection. characters are very important to me and i always strive to do them justice by taking readers through their struggles in a compelling way that makes the outcome that much more satisfying. i also think i do a decent job at creating interesting worlds (on the surface)

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

following up with my previous answer, i'm good at ideating smaller/surface worlds, but my worldbuilding is pretty weak when you dig deeper. i do this on purpose sometimes because if i get too sucked up in the worldbuilding/situation, it throttles my ability to explore characters without feeling trapped and that really frustrates me. i have a fic im going to post this month that i did so much research for the world and parts of the character's backstory that i'm creating that i basically paralyzed myself for months because i was too afraid to write the character inaccurately in accordance with all the research i had done and knowledge i had accumulated. definitely something i would like to improve on!

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

when done with respect and intention, it's a very powerful tool. i have a fic that i'm writing where there's non-english dialogue and i think about this poem often

19. first fandom you wrote in?

young justice i think? (on ye olde ff.net)

20. favorite fic you've written?

til' veins run red and blue because it has a strange longevity on ao3 and every time i go back to read it just to make sure it's not bad i always emerge very pleased with myself LOL

tagging: @ohmyoverland, @synestheticwanderings, @woahpip, @dappledwrites, @lemonsharks, and anyone else who wants to partake!! consider yourself tagged ♡♡♡

[yujeong]

Writing Pattern Tag Game

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 posted fics and see if there’s a pattern. I was tagged by @mightymightygnomepriest, thank you so much ❤️ (I am going to skip the two poems I've posted, as well as my TMNT fic, because I put it on Ao3 for archiving reasons - it was written when I was like 19 lol) 1. A grave mistake

The first thing Tee registered was the noise.

2. just a mission

It hasn't even been two days since the auction, and not even a day since Porsche received a punishment too severe for his mistakes, before Kinn comes barging into his room.

3. the things you can(not) change

The sound from the TV startles him.

4. a trip down memory lane

It is Macau’s idea to go to the safehouse.

5. The Knight's Pawn

Kim woke up to the sound of the doorbell.

6. Shoot me

"You have to choose Khun Vegas."

7. Broken Vows

Pete should have realized the day would take a bad turn.

8. Dead End

"Have you ever thought about dying?"

9. just a kiss

Porsche’s mind is in a haze.

10. Incredulity

Pete came back.

I had to cheat a bit with No3 (there's an unintelligible phrase before the line, which is put there on purpose) and No8 (there's a short of poem-like snippet before the main fic because I just couldn't resist), but other than that, oh shit there *is* a pattern. I guess I love using short, punchy sentences (with the exception of No2) that manage to 1. set the tone and 2. give the reader a general idea about what they should expect... which is tension and angst in almost all of them lmao. That's all I got, honestly, I don't know if there's anything else. I'd like to tag @fleet-off, @lu-sn, @adanima, @suzteel, @dual-desires, @thisautistic and anyone else who would like to do this :3 (I know some of you have less than 10 fics posted but you deserve to talk about your writing if you want to, soooo 😇)

[happylandfill23]

well howdy there partner! *tips tiny pink sparkly cowboy hat from party city*

i'm tumblr user happylandfill23 and this is my blog on tumblr dot com!! here's an intro post so you get to know me a bit :]

first things first, you can call me ember (or by my url that works too) and you can refer to me with any pronouns!

i use a couple tags to sort my posts, so i'll explain them here -

[#styrofoamm] - my art tag! this is where all my drawings are so you can check those out if you want!! (this blog was originally supposed to be dedicated to just my art but look where we are now)

[#landfill rambles] - the tag where i just kinda. say stuff. doesn't even make sense sometimes but i just kinda talk or ramble there, yknow get my thoughts out (even if my thoughts are just ham cheese sandwich)

[#cyberdevils] - anything related to cyberdevils, a band i created! there are a few other tags related to this one, those being [#pixie pereira] for the band's singer/guitarist, [#ace calix] for the band's drummer, and [#shags] for the band's bassist (no that's not her real full name btw). oh there's also [#cosmo pereira] who's pixie's younger brother, [#gloria nguyen] for shags' girlfriend, [#shagloria] which is shags and gloria's ship name, and probably even more once i add more characters and lore!!

[#cool art !] - any art i reblog that isn't mine! i forget to tag things on occasion but i can assure you if you scroll through this tag on my blog it will take years upon years to reach the bottom

[#q] - the posts in my queue, nothing much else to say about that one lol

i have 5 other blogs if u wanna follow me there as well -

@styrofoamm - my art blog! this is mostly for archival purposes, but it has all my art reblogged to it and u can follow me there if u wanna see my art or if u like my drawings but think i'm intolerable lol

@ask-cyberdevils - my cyberdevils ask blog! you can ask anything about them and i'll draw a response (unless it's a question to me specifically, which you can certainly ask as well)

@gu1t4rf41ry - pixie pereira (cyberdevils)'s blog

@acexofxspades - ace calix (cyberdevils)'s blog

@shags-shags - shags (cyberdevils)'s blog

i'm not gonna go super in detail about what i like, but you'll probably see me post a lot about gorillaz, blur, nimona, julie (band), mars argo, the owl house, nirvana, ppg, daria, manic street preachers, and several other things i'm not gonna bother listing lmao

feel free to shoot me an ask whenever you want!! i love interacting with y'all and it means a lot even if I don't respond <33

and as i mentioned earlier, you can also send me asks on my second blog, @ask-cyberdevils (PLEASE)

you can also find me over on youtube! i mostly post covers and speedpaints, you can find my channel here :D

idk what else to say here so i hope you decide to stick around!! <3

[love-bokumono-fics]

Fresh Crops! October 23 - October 29, 2023

This week's newest stories and chapter updates for Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons on AO3!

Among the Mushrooms: The Kingdom of Castanet - by Atomitrox; WIP, 4/?, 26k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M Fandoms: Animal Parade, Tree of Tranquility Relationships: Kasey the Farmer | Yuuki/Luna | Ruumi, Kasey the Farmer | Yuuki/Selena |Sheila, One-Sided Molly | Hikari/Gill, Kasey the Farmer | Yuuki & Gill, Kasey the Farmer | Yuuki & Luna | Ruumi, Kasey the Farmer | Yuuki & Calvin the Adventurer, Calvin the Adventurer & Gill, Gill/Molly the Farmer; Characters: Kasey the Farmer | Yuuki, Gill, Luna | Ruumi, Molly | Hikari, Selena | Sheila, Calvin the Adventurer, Owen Additional Tags: Friendship, Romance, Drama, Betrayal, Escalation of Drama, Post-Apocalypse, Slice of Life Summary: It's been two years since the world was engulfed in nuclear fire, but Castanet and those who live there remain untouched by the devastation. In a world full of unpredictability, Kasey, Gill, and Luna toil in their pursuits of happiness and purpose.

The Egg Thief - by dicelady20; WIP, 15/19, 59k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence; Category: F/M Fandoms: Dragon Ball GT/Z, Friends of Mineral Town Characters: Trunks Briefs, Claire the Farmer Additional Tags: Harvest Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Romance, Slow Burn, Martial Arts, Cussing, Crossover, Healing, city vibes, dark scenes, POV Multiple, POV Third Person Limited, Mild Gore, Supernatural Elements, First Meetings, story of seasons, Alternative Perspective, Don't copy to another website, Don't Have to Know Canon Summary: Claire decides to give the city life another chance, but as she does, she is haunted by her nightmares & her past. Mr. CEO of Capsule Corp., Trunks, is haunted by something else in his life; juggling between his CEO work & saving Earth from vindictive dragons. As their two worlds collide, what could possibly go wrong?

The Strong Willed Gwen - by SymphonicFantasia; Complete, 100/100, 9.8k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: Gen Fandoms: Save the Homeland, Magical Melody, Hero of Leaf Valley Relationship: Bob | Kazan/Gwen | Sara; Character: Gwen Additional Tags: Animal Death, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Angst, Romance, Character Study, Character Development, Character Death, but only for one chapter i'm not perma killing gwen lol Summary: She was aware that she was a violent girl from time to time; it was no surprise to any of the townsfolk. That was just who she was. The strong-willed, horse loving, Inn cooking Gwen—and nothing more.

Never Hurt Again - by SoSNami (ThatsSoChravesHome); Complete, 1/1, 1.2k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/F Fandoms: A Wonderful Life Relationship: Nami/Pony | Aya | Jill; Characters: Nami, Pony | Aya | Jill Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort Summary: Maya finds out Nami is missing, when the farmer finds her she makes an innocent remark that Nami flips out about, when she finds out why, Maya realises she doesn't really know anything about her redhead's crush past at all.

The Mysterious Girl - by SoSNami (ThatsSoChravesHome); WIP, 1/?, <1k

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/F Fandoms: A Wonderful Life Relationship: Nami/Pony | Aya | Jill; Characters: Nami, Pony | Aya | Jill, Tim | Tei, Ruby | Lou, Rock, Takakura, Celia | Seperia, Cody | Gordy Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Bad Parenting, Dark Past, Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love Summary: Maya meets Nami and instantly falls in love, but she knows quickly that wooing her won't be easy, will they ever get their happy ending?

Forget Me Not - by Kache; Complete, 1/1, 1.1k

Rating: General Audiences; Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings; Category: F/M Fandom: A New Beginning Relationship: Witch Princess/Henry the Farmer | Haruto; Characters: Witch Princess, Henry the Farmer | Haruto Summary: To the Witch Princess, immortality is a curse. You live forever, even if the world were to be enveloped in eternal darkness. You experience everything, until there is nothing left to experience. It erodes feeling, until there is nothing left but an empty husk. With her daughter and spouse's passing, she senses that it's about time to start over once more.

[rollercoasterwords]

your comments on cw warning are so true, and i’ve been thinking about the expectation for warnings in fan fictions after reading young mungo (an amazing published book containing really triggering material that, because it’s a published book, does not have any warnings).

I think on the harry potter fandom there’s this thing that happening where people feel entitled to having access to all fics, even if they contain triggering material. This expectation is then placed onto authors in the form of requesting detailed cw allowing readers to curate fics to avoid the most difficult to read scenes.

Or even if tags are completely correct, because people have latched onto specific characterizations of characters, some people get upset when the difficult tags apply to the characters in a way that doesn’t match their head canons (ie. remus cheating/ regulus having a negative perspective on sirius leaving/ any unhealthy relationship dynamics between wolfstar).

It’s interesting to see how this has shifted, even just by looking at the past year. Like the switch between how the CCNTUAW tag used to be used to people now assuming that it means the same as the no archive warnings apply tag is very shocking to me. Like it used to be that authors could just say “i’ve chosen not to warn, mind the tags” and that would be it. Now it seems, even if authors say that, some readers will still expect content warnings.

yup!! i agree w....everything u said i think lol.

i definitely agree that there seems to be this....weird way that a large portion of the fandom treats "accessibility" when it comes to fics. as in, some people seem to have this idea that fic writers should be trying to make their fics "accessible" (read: palatable) to the broadest possible audience. i see this in comments and questions from people who say things like "don't you think more people would read the fic if you wrote x?" "don't you think more people would enjoy it if u wrote the character x way?" "are you worried that fewer people will be interested in a fic about x?" all of which indicate that the person is assuming the primary goal/purpose of fic is to appeal to as many people as possible.

and to be fair, it's not like it's just readers thinking this way (bc there's no clear divide between readers + writers in fic spaces, etc etc.)! i've seen posts along the lines of "i really want to write x, but i'm worried people won't like it, and i want to make my fics accessible!" and it's just.....well.

i think even framing fanfiction in terms of "accessibility" is a little misleading. because people hear "accessible" and immediately associate it with disability advocacy and think oh, more accessibility = good; less accessibility = bad. but fanfiction is not a service that anyone is providing, nor is it a product, nor is it like....something that anyone needs access to. in fact, nobody is entitled to access to fanfiction in the first place. and by nature, not every fanfiction will be accessible to every person, because it isn't made for you. and if a fanfiction doesn't fit your specific tastes and isn't enjoyable for you to read, that isn't harming u, and it isn't taking anything away that ur entitled to!

but i think ur right that with the way fanfiction has sort of been turned into tiktok content, what happens is that a couple fics get really popular at a time, and a bunch of people want to read those fics so that they can participate in the hype and make their own tiktoks that get thousands of views about these popular fics. and then if they don't like the fic for whatever reason or can't read it, they feel as though they are being denied access to some sort of club that everyone else gets to be part of. and then they either decide that the way the fic is written is "problematic," because it was too dark/violent/sad and therefore inaccessible, OR they start posting "hot takes" going "everyone else loves this fic but i actually think it sucks!!" because those are the only ways they can now participate in this weird social-media fanfiction economy where people are posting about fic first and foremost because they want views on their own tiktok channel, and not necessarily because they actually want to appreciate the writers. fun!

[kindestegg]

random question, but id love to hear any headcanons you've got regarding the Collector species! i know you have a lot to say about Colly, but what about the others? ����

hmmmm bites down on this ask n shakes my head aorund like its my beloved toy YES YES YES!! thank u for asking.. i WAS JUST talking to my besties about this

(oops this got long... i promise i only wanted to say this in a very informal manner without much thought... ooops)

from the way the lore book is written, i'd like to infer that the collectors as a species highly value acquiring and mantaining knowledge, i sort of view them as very pompous, scholarly-like, they view themselves as above other creatures and therefore have decided the best way to spend their unusually long lifespan and use their insanely overpowered magic is to brave every corner of the universe (and dimensions, if the peeking book pages are anything to go by) to find new creatures to observe and study. collecting is the purpose they have chosen to give themselves, hence the species name.

the way that the archives seems to contain a large supply of books, along with the fact the book collector read seems ancient but fairly well preserved, and the fact collector himself is pretty intelligent when it comes to knowledge about spells and magic (considering he was able to prepare the draining spell for belos and claimed to have "taught (him) magic stronger than anybody's"), i think they definitely pride themselves in collecting knowledge as much as they do collecting creatures. "to preserve, to observe". in a natural manifestation, collectors would typically not just collect but observe the anatomy of these creatures, likely making notes on it. its like if biologists didnt just tag and release the animals they grabbed to study but instead instantly taxidemied them, or at least put them in a zoo for no good reason. but what im trying to get at is that theyre huge snooty nerds who study biology in suuuper unethical ways.

i also like to think that the archive house collector made is reminiscent of the same structures collectors in general would have, it makes sense hed try to mimic what he knows n has seen n its structure definitely looks pretty alien n also with a name like "the archive" it makes me think he pulled it straight out of the archives collectors would keep back in their home. im willing to bet a "collection room" was also a thing in said original archives collector is copying. i also doubt he is reading ALL those books and they seem like they contain info not from the isles so he definitely materialized those like he did that ancient lorebook, and it makes me think he just did that because he knows any good archive needs to have books.

on the whole part about "if they meddle in our affairs we fucking blow everything up lol", it seems, super brutal and overall an incredibly exaggerated reaction to have and counterproductive to preserving things and it makes me think that because they already see themselves as so self important and naturally powerful, they believe anything that dares defies them must not be worthy. collector culture i imagine is one of supremacy and high disregard for other living things. they see everything else that exists as something to just be conquered, to be observed, to be experimented with. if it tries to escape this fate, they will reign down their fury. in a way, it reminds me of how some religious figures are said to react with fury and extreme punishments if their authority is questioned. it also makes me think of how imperialistic powers react whenever their rule is met with resistance. also just plain old alien stories about abducting random people and animals to study them lol

moving onto something a little lighter, it fascinates me that collectors seem to have a concept of family. judging by how our collectors family is shown next to him, its likely that young collectors are made to accompany their parents on trips to visiting new worlds to observe and collect from from a young age, brought along to experience what it is like and told to follow whatever the adults are doing. like a fucked up "bring your own kid to work" type of deal. and if my theory with the elders is correct, then that also indicates they have higher hierarchical beings that watch over the general affairs of collector families, and help decide when a young one is ready to be assigned to go collect from a planet on their own. which tells us they DO have a hierarchy with figures of power calling the shots and ALSO that collectors start training from a young age and already can begin collecting on a planet of "their very own" (so to speak, we know they shouldnt own the planets but its how the species views the relationship).

collectors also?? maybe dont need to eat??? i know colly was joking when he asked king what mortals eat but it makes me think there is some truth to the fact that although colly knows what mortals eat and was messing with king, he STILL wouldnt eat in normal circumstances. which like, okay, but then they also sleep? so it makes me wonder if they acquire energy through other means (for example, plants photosynthetize, so i wonder if they absorb light around them or something) or if they simply are born with a certain quantity of energy they can use in their lifetime, and that will eventually dwindle once they grow older, yknow, like stars do! maybe the younger a collector is, the more powerful they are, yet when they near the end of their very long life, they have barely any power left. that could also explain why they are introduced to collecting from such a young age.

but like, they also sleep? collector seemed like he was genuinely sleepy and actually sleeping soundly in multiple shots?? so they still conserve energy in some way, even if they arent putting in more energy in their bodies. its possible sleep is important to them because it helps them keep track of time and also marks a break from periods of activity, letting them keep their supply of energy also for longer. to collector society, maybe sleep is really valued because it ensures they will live their long lives as long as possible. again, would also explain why his outfit looks like pajamas- maybe collectors are always wearing soft comfortable clothing that allows them to sleep in it as well as move around in it because to them being able to sleep at any time is valued.

i cant think of anything more at this current moment... but maybe ill think of something else later on!! might also compile these in a more eloquent post if people are interested lmao

[rationalisms]

Omg you discord post is exactly what I’ve been thinking as well. I’ve joined it for fandoms and school groups and irl community stuff and each and every time I get so anxious that I end up going ghost. Speaking specifically on fandom though, I recently deleted my account and the app (love being #free) because the one to one feel of involvement is A Lot. I love screaming into the void and shooting off a stupid post way too much so having to think through everything I say is anxiety like I don’t actually want to feel like I’m in a chat room? Idk but it’s the same with twitter, I use it to crack some jokes but the extra sense of familiarity that seems to come with frequent interactions overwhelms me and everyone else just seems to be okay with it. I realize that’s a box of a social anxiety thing in general though. Anyway not that you asked bit this is why I don’t think I’ll ever leave tumblr it caters so perfectly to the hermit in me lol

oh bud i completely feel you, it's an absolute nightmare for people with any amount of social anxiety. pretty much the only reason i use discord is for ttrpg organizational purposes, and for the one movie watching/music league group chat with my group of friends; any servers i've joined that are bigger than that i go through the exact same process every time: agonize over what to say for several days because everyone else already seems incredibly familiar with each other in a way that's so deeply terrifying and intimidating and then eventually just leaving again. which sux! i wanna Take Part In Stuff and meet people who share my interests but i'm a big ball of anxiety and that setting is my nightmare... so i definitely get you. and good on you for deciding that you're no longer getting anything out of it and pulling the plug! it can be hard especially with how much it's assumed that you have certain social media and FOMO and alla dat, so i'm glad you were able to draw a line and i hope it helps make you feel more comfortable.

i don't mind twitter as much because it feels more passive in a lot of ways. like, engagement can just be a driveby fav or even if you do reply or someone replies to you there's an inherent built-in acceptance of delay in response or even just like. Acknowledgement By Fav Can Be Enough. which imo is definitely not the atmosphere for discord at least ime. but it's still not great for fandom stuff for a ton of other reasons including the complete lack of archiving. and honestly, i abandoned my public twitter for my locked down private one for a multitude of reasons and the anxiety around having to keep up some sort of Public Persona is definitely part of it, so i absolutely understand you on that level as well.

tumblr has its own issues obviously, but like you i never felt the same sense of pressure or dread here. a big part of that is obviously the whole reblog system in itself, in that it's totally fine and even encouraged to just, idk , silently curate pretty pictures for a bit and at most commenting in the tags when you have something to say or w/e, but also being able to do the whole shooting random thoughts into the void whenever you want to instead. it's also much, much easier to curate my experience here than anywhere else lol. much more robust blacklisting functions available (albeit reliant on third party extensions) and if you didn't choose to put something on your dash then tumblr won't for the most part force it on you. so that for sure helps.

idk, i don't have the solution! because like, yes in many ways discord and twitter are suboptimal for fandom stuff but in many ways it's also down to the fact that i do obviously have pretty severe anxiety around these things and struggle with it immensely in a way that a lot of people obviously don't. which sucks but isn't their problem.

i still think we should all move to dreamwidth though. if enough of us hermits congregate there other people eventually have to follow, right? that's how we all ended up on tumblr in the first place :x

[saltymongoose]

Important: Community Label News and Other Questions for Y'all

[Flagging Posts & Content Policies (Questions at the Bottom)]

Hey guys, more news on the Community Labels! Just so everyone knows, if you're on desktop and see the three little dots on the post and you hover over it/click it, it shows this:

Apparently we aren't supposed to click the flag if the post is properly labeled, because that reports the post to Tumblr as needing a manual review for one. It also looks like this on mobile:

I'm just putting this out there in case y'all are like me and click new things just to see what it does (I almost did it for some posts on my for you page 🤦‍♀️). I'll also be going through all my prev. posts sometime this week to check for what needs to be labeled (smut has already been 👍), but tags work pretty well for now until I go through all 600+ lol. (Though if you do think something needs a warning, please lmk!)

As for content policies someone asked the Tumblr Support Twitter if NSFW content was allowed now with the labels, and this was what they said verbatim: "Hi there, community labels don't change our content policies: and some types of content are still not welcome in the community. More info on what we consider NSFW here: tumblr.com/policy/en/comm.."

However, they deleted this response just recently (??) so I still have no clue what's going on in that regard. I don't post anything that's against the current content policies and don't plan on it either, but just for those who may want to do NS/FW art or smth: please be careful and don't get banned because Tumblr is vague about this. I'll try to keep y'all updated if I find anything new, but just be cautious for now.

[The Actual Questions]

As for questions relevant to this blog, here's the deal:

Since I'm going through them anyway, do y'all want anything else tagged for regular asks? Like specific characters, for instance?

This concerns smut (!), so it's very important. Considering how this will make keeping adult content hidden far easier, do y'all think I should still keep it strictly on Ao3 or just post it both here and there? Either way, it's ending up on Ao3 for archival purposes, but I wanted to get your opinions. All shall still be tagged, warned of, and put behind a read more (for extra safety) and we'd probably have to wait like a week or so till the rollout ends - but still, this alters things a bit and I wanted to know if your thoughts have changed on it.

So lmk what you guys think, I look forward to hearing what your opinions are. :)

[drawnaghht]

so I've been seeing this in various fandoms but ppl tagging stuff like "help this post in the tumblr algorihtm" or "help my post won't go popular" has been catching my eye again and wanted to make a post to adress this... I guess?

tumblr is a blogging site.

it's not like twt or even like insta/tiktok. even if it seems tumblr tries to add new similar features.... it seems it has mainly stayed for blogging purposes despite its own unique blogging system (the reblogs and multiple blogs system which I hadn't really seen much anywhere else before tumblr in 2009).

i also just remembered tumblr only uses the first 5 tags for the "Tagged" system they have now next to the "search" system,and the rest are "viewable" just on your blog,,,,, so yeah, no reason to use every tag possible unless it really does apply to your post ^^

This is fine for me, since I still use it mainly to archive my art, but I figured maybe this sort of reminder could help any other artists worrying about getting notes or people sharing their stuff. like posts "pop off" completely randomly, and even in big fandoms, sometimes the work you poured your heart into gets just 2 notes while the meme you made the same evening gets like 50+ and so on. it's pretty normal for most people.

Like it's fine. it's the internet, so many things are a little transitory anyway. It might feel a bit sad but it is what it is. what I've learned here is that having your 5+ friends is one of the finest ways to just enjoy your fandom stuff quietly (but I'm kinda rambling now) enjoy the fandom posts you make! don't feel bad bad about not getting notes! it's your experience and you curate it, and that includes just chilling and forgetting about the post that wasn't seen by anyone!

lol u can add here if u know anything else abt this, I haven't been using tumblr as much recently, but it seems things are mostly the same as 5+ or so years ago, with minor changes here and there.

[frooopsen]

Title: Discover (we can do it together)

Ship: Lin Beifong / Pema

Rating: M

Chapter: 6/7

Summary: Based on this post One week turned into two and Lin kept offering for Pema to stay, since she didn’t need the guest room for anything or anyone else. After a few weeks, the offer didn’t need to be said out loud.

Tags: Modern AU, Canon Setting, Soft!Lin, but not too soft lol, still canon-grumpy, slowburn i guess, Lil bit of Drama, Divorce, lots of feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Crush, lil pinch of angst, jinora is sarcastic, not very straight, who needs canon????, not me, Mutual Pining, hella gay, Alternate Universe - No Powers, No Smut, BUT still semi-spicy, No Bending, i swear I don't hate Tenzin, I had to to it for the plot, friends to whatever the fuck this evolves into, Travel, Vacation, Flowers, tropes though, lots of tropes, but only the good ones, Fruit, did I mention pining???, cos there's pining, also Lin smokes, for hotness purposes, but actually just because it looks hot, don't smoke!

[miraculouscontent]

Ask Explo--

...you know what, you’re right. Name change effective immediately.

Askplosion #10:

(unrelated to everything by the way but I DEMAND THE ANON WHO MENTIONED “REMARRIED EMPRESS” A WHILE BACK COME FORTH AND ANSWER FOR THEIR CRIMES. IT’S SO GOOD BUT IT’S UNFINISHED AND I’M HOOKED, HOW DARE YOU)

Asks responding to previous posts:

It’s okay! I figured that was what it was but it’s been so loooong.

Ah, wow.

Um, that’s definitely not a part 2; I think that’s more like a four-parter/five-parter or something.

Sorry! No can do!

That’s totally fair!

I think the reason I so quickly agreed with it is like--

I’ve been watching the Inuyasha sequel and it’s not like I don’t think the narrative’s apparent punching bag Moroha (who is fourteen years old) shouldn’t be punished when she does something wrong/sneaky/manipulative, but they punish her as if she’s Miroku (who was eighteen years old).

Basically, I want the punishment to take the age into account, or at least only affect Marinette on a more personal level and not be “Heart Hunter” where they take totally understandable feelings of heartache (remember, it wouldn’t have mattered which miraculous she took because Hawk Moth got the Miracle Box and Fu regardless; even beyond her emotions, I feel like she chose the best option available to her considering which temps she knew the location of) and then punish her for them by memory wiping Fu and taking away all of her temps and giving Hawk Moth the grimoire translation.

Yes!! I really wanted to respond to this one, thank you! (It’s this one and then there was another one talking about Luka and Adrien, then talked to me about how I refer to Luka as “soft” but not in a bad way; I unfortunately don’t remember the whole thing.)

Ahaha, and yeah, I feel you. Anti-salters are a very strange conundrum I still haven’t figured out; like, I get not liking salt, but...

I mean, when I don’t like certain content, I just blacklist it. If I end up seeing it anyway due to cross-tagging or a lack of tagging, then I just blacklist the person themself. You won’t see me going after people for that very reason; I only see what people send/ask me if it’s content I don’t like.

I’m glad you’ve found some peace in this blog! Hopefully it continues to be that way for you in the future!

(and yay, a fellow INTJ!!)

New Asks:

There are female writers? ;P I just assumed they were all locked in a closet until the male ones were like, “okay, pretend to help us here, we need one female writer to claim girl power.”

As for Ladybug all like, “Cute, isn’t she?” I think it was rhetorical (she could also be messing with him but “Glaciator” tells us that she didn’t know he crushed on her so who knows). The writers do this thing where Marinette is all panic-y and occasionally self-conscious as herself, but then as Ladybug, she suddenly gets a bit of an ego. I think it’s meant to be there in order to make Chat Noir look less... idk, “obnoxious” when he starts boosting his own ego; trying to balance the two by giving them both big heads, so to speak.

Honestly, I feel like Adrien needs less screen time. :|

Even when he’s not on-screen, characters are usually talking about him, or you see his face in Marinette’s room/somewhere in Paris. I’m become so jaded by the guy that I don’t even think it’d matter if they remade the series and gave it a “totally good and interesting Adrien.” That’s how badly the show has made him out for me; “Adrien Agreste” the character is just... sigh, I’m so done with him.

And yeah, this whole idea about, “Marinette is [x], we need more AAAAAADRIEN!” comes off really bad, lol, especially when Adrien has very little going for him.

(this ask ends off like there should be a part 2 but there isn’t one in my inbox, so sorry if there’s meant to be something else!)

The exact lyrics according to the wiki:

My wish for a cat who's in love, with our own Ladybug. Is that he'll get what he's always wanted! She doesn't know she loves him, only sees Adrien, But Christmas miracles always happen!

Yeah, especially nowadays, those lines bothers me. Not only does it imply “true selves,” but that it’s Chat who should be getting what he always wanted and Ladybug is the one with a problem.

Like, excuse me?

Probably Stormy Weather, even in the first episode. Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn’t even touch her until they arrived on top of the TV station.

+ With all those effects and shots, it made it feel more action-y than typical episodes.

Marinette, Aurore, Luka, Anarka, Jagged...

basically any name that I haven’t really heard before (”Luka” makes me think of Vocaloid but the Luka there was female), or a name that relates a lot to the character (like “Aurore” for “aurora” since she loves weather things).

dfjbghfkdgfdgnjfdg this anon really like, “I NEED ANSWERS!!!”

It’s as if these characters hit 18 or something and just grow overnight, I swear. I’m hypothetically fine with some more variety in character height (it’s not like the show tries to be realistic, after all), but maybe don’t give us official heights if they’re gonna be this weird/inaccurate.

Especially when they change it just for the sake of a shot anyway. If you watch “Simon Says” when Ladybug and Adrien stand next to each other while looking at the picture of Adrien’s mother, the very next close-up has an obvious difference in their heights from what you just saw.

They’re 3D models!!! This shouldn’t happen!

I... honestly never thought of the “less threatening” thing! Dang!

And yeah, Marinette isn’t helpless or incompetent, but because of the Adrien crush, it makes her that way at times since she’s always falling on him and--

...ugh, actually, yeah, don’t wanna think about those implications. Hard pass.

Gross.

I’m not familiar with that one, though Astruc deletes his tweets all the time (there was one tweet where he confirmed that Luka was poor and it only exists in screenshots now because it didn’t get archived and he deleted it almost like he realized that he was pointing out the blatant classism in the show, oops).

Yeah though, I haven’t seen anything like what you’re describing. Sorry!

It’s okay! Sorry for having you clarify but him choosing and Marinette deciding to never give it back are very different things.

I don’t recall Chat Noir having much purpose in the final fight (in terms of both contributing and actual fighting; I know Cataclysm broke the object to release the akuma but was it needed?) so Marinette might either go cat-less or get a temp. Plagg could also be helpful in his own right because he’s small and blends in with the night, so he could hypothetically sneak up on the bad guy.

Afterwards, there’d need to be a new cat, but Adrien would also have to reconsider his actions and really think about what happened. I could also see Plagg going to Adrien’s house, half to apologize for giving the idea to Adrien that Adrien leave without telling Ladybug, but also half to call him out for giving up without consulting anyone. Adrien is a lot of conflicting things (see Adrien’s passivity compared to Chat Noir’s recklessness) so he’d have to find a middle ground within himself.

Marinette might carry Plagg around in her purse for a while and let Plagg have a say in who he goes to. Plagg might grieve for a bit over not having Adrien around (even if Adrien was flawed, Plagg didn’t ask for any of this so Marinette is doing her best here).

O-oh.

That’s always the rough patch with “endgame ships.”  Once it’s obvious to the audience that they’re endgame, no more effort needs to be put into them.

The other thing too is how Kagami, for example, is friends with Marinette. Even once Adrimi sinks, she’ll presumably stay friends with her. Luka, meanwhile, is Juleka’s brother.

They have lives outside of their love interests. Adrien is so into Ladybug that he doesn’t have that; I mean, Nino is Adrien’s best friend like once in a blue moon.

The entire class is just watching an episode and then calling on raised hands to answer what was wrong with what they just watched.

“Everything?”

“I mean, yes, but I’m sorry, you have to be more specific to get credit.”

I think Aeon herself is fine. It’s mostly just her transformed and that transformed name that I have a problem with (she doesn’t even look uncanny so I don’t get it). I heard there was something wrong with the name “Aeon” but searching the name doesn’t give me anything I would qualify as such so I have no idea. I just wish she was given a little less “I’m programmed to--” (makes her seem less sentient) and more “[anything that doesn’t have to do with pushing the love square]” because I feel like they might’ve done the latter to make her more “likable”? I think fans of anything usually like the “matchmaker” character provided it’s for a ship they like. Also strange that they make her a robot but Max and Markov don’t extensively interact with her, but that’s a nitpick and not a criticism of her character.

...I’m rambling, my bad lol.

(Ohhh, she was supposed to be a mummy? Like, foreshadowing her “dying”?? That went right over my head but I guess that’d be where the name Uncanny Valley came from? No clue.)

Best case scenario is probably the middle or the end of Season 4.

And yeah, it really doesn’t matter to me what they do with the love square. Marinette had gone through too much suffering and the show goes out of its way to show how much stress Marinette is being put under (and also keeping Luka away during episodes like “Gamer 2.0″ even when it makes sense for them to be there, as if trying to make sure Marinette doesn’t have enough moments with him to forget Adrien).

Like, ah, yes, I totally believe that Marinette is in a position where she can make reasonable decisions about her love life while all circles of her life are on fire.

If the Sonic movie of all things can have an interracial couple, there’s no reason why this show can’t, just saying.

And, even with Marinette, she’s white-passing (according to what basically everyone says, I’m really awful about recognizing race so this isn’t my field; I wasn’t aware that Ondine was Asian, for example).

Does Nadja count? Manon’s dark-skinned (I’m still not over the fact that all the kids in this show are dark-skinned; it’s not like it’s a problem from a representation standpoint - though all the kids are also all generically bratty/whiny so there’s that - but the percentages in this show are weird) while Nadja is really light-skinned, meaning either a dark-skinned husband or Manon is adopted.

Though I guess the problem then is that we don’t know, so there’s no established couple there.

Non-Miraculous Asks:

w-who gave you the right to say such things????

Uhhhh, that might be too broad of a question, I’m sorry!

I know this isn’t satisfactory, but I will say that my favorite genre is Fantasy/Romance (it’s why I adore Red Shoes so much; by the way, an anon asked for my opinion on that a while back and I will get to it! I’d need to watch it again to get screenshots) and my least favorite is probably Tragedy/Horror.

I don’t think I’ve watched enough to really be able to say? I’ve kind of been all over but I’ve never fully gone through any of them outside of Miraculous. I’ve seen bits of Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, Star VS the Forces of Evil (don’t know if that counts), and I meant to watch Yuki Yuna is a Hero but never got around to it. I saw the entirety of Puella Magi Madoka Magica but you guys know how I feel about that one.

Maybe Cardcaptor Sakura by default then? It was definitely not perfect but I liked some of the character dynamics (I also have a clipcut of it - basically where I go through a series/movie and cut out parts I don’t like so it’s only good stuff - so I’m cheating a little) and the male love interest was a tsundere type that I actually ended up liking, which is really rare.

!!! That sounds sweet~ I know Sailor Moon is popular so I’ll definitely take your word for it on that one.

I would also accept a “reincarnated”/”destined lovers” trope if maybe the ship themselves are the one who set it up in the first place. I have a Lukanette AU, for example, where they basically got together and then prayed to the shrine of the renewal god that they’d “always be together,” which ended up allowing them to reincarnate over and over (as if they set up their own soulmate AU ;P) and continuously find each other.

Though I guess that’s not technically a “meant to be trope,” but still, it’s a form of it but where it was totally consensual on both sides.

Also, I finally thought of a show that ended with the ship I wanted: Gargoyles. I didn’t see the entire series, mind you, but I saw most of it and Goliath and Elisa were just... quality, I adored them.

+ With Beauty and the Beast being my favorite Disney movie, they fit right in with my tastes.

I forget that AangToph (I think the “official” name for the ship is Taang, but don’t quote me on that) exists sometimes, maybe because I’ve never shipped Aang with anyone; I’ve got no problems with the ship though.

Ugh, and this is what I mean when I talk about people who set up these reasons behind people shipping something based on what they saw a few people do. It’s like, “you only ship Adrimi/Lukanette to spite Adrienette!!”

Meanwhile, me having shipped all three at one point and then dropped off the love square.

Also, me shipping Zutara has nothing to do with it being dark/edgy because I’ve never seen it that way (intriguing, sure but dark and edgy? lol) and also avoid dark/edgy ships like the plague.

I still laugh at people who are like, “you can’t ship it because it’s not endgaaaaame!” as if shows can dictate how and why I enjoy something. Like sure, if you want to let a show/movie spoonfeed you how you’re supposed to feel, then by all means, go ahead.

I suppose people may be theoretically happier that way, but it doesn’t make for an analytic mind.

I legitimately thought that “AssClass” must’ve been the actual name for something until it registered with me what it actually meant.

And eh, I guess it depends on the comparison and how accurate the comparison actually is? Like, comparing Puella Magic Madoka Magica to Miraculous... they’re not really close at all, but comparing... idk, Bunnyx to Homura or the concept behind “backfiring wishes”... maybe?

-

(note that the rest of this post is more Puella Magi Madoka Magica salt so you can stop reading here if you’re not interested in that; I’m not sure if this is all the same anon but I don’t mind letting people vent so I let them go off~)

why can’t we just have nice things

I agree, and I give a little eyeroll every time it’s like, “oh, this person had [miraculous]”

+ even just in general, I feel weird about any show that mentions/implies that real world famous people are [x] or [y] in their show. It breaks my immersion; real world locations are one thing but when it’s specific people (unless they’re made up characters like Santa Claus) or games just--break me.

I also don’t know what to think when there aren’t magical boys but you have these magical girls in this frilly outfits/skirts. The demographic is girls so I presume the reason must be like, “you can look pretty and still beat people up” (;P) but having so many magical girl shows without a hint of a magical boy makes me suspicious that it’s for fanservice. Sailor Moon has Tuxedo Mask but I also don’t know what that guy did outside of the meme of him doing nothing so I’ve got no clue.

(edit: I should correct myself that I’m not talking about Sailor Moon specifically; I don’t know magical girls that well, though I do know there are ones clearly intended for fanservice (you could say that for anything, to be fair, but still). It’s just that I see things like super short skirts or very “questionable” shots and I’m just like, “hm”)

Hmmm, good question. I feel like there has to be a lot but I’m also the type who doesn’t watch a lot of TV lol. I’m just familiar with cliches and tropes and such.

The reason I try not to use “ism”s of any kind is mostly because it’s too broad. Like, you know how the English language only has one way of saying, “I love you,” but other languages like Spanish have multiple?

It’s like that, and sometimes I think it’s too easy to throw those words out there. A “small” (possibly completely unintentional/misunderstood) offense is sexism, and then a “large” offense is called the exact same thing. I’d rather go into why something is sexist than just call it that, y’know? The only exception I make is “classism” because I feel like that’s not as... I dunno, divisive?

Anyway, for that same reason, I can’t answer firmly that, “Madoka Magica is sexist.” I will however say that it makes me uncomfortable with how the show makes out the girls being emotional because they’re young and female and then proceeds to make their life a living hell before they’re old enough to properly answer to it (I know that’s the point but that kind of makes it worse?). It doesn’t help with how all the girls have different personalities, so it’s not like you have only “crybaby girls” who are being taken advantage of; it’s basically like... all girls.

Not helped is the fact that their soul gem not only deteriorates naturally, but it can also do so faster if the girl falls into despair, which then turns them into a monster (and I know it’s kind of like an akuma thing, but the fact that it’s only girls is... I dunno, it comes off wrong?). It seems cheap that the soul gem deteriorates no matter what so it constantly needs fed even if the girl is consistently happy.

I would probably opt for the show being centered more around Kyubey being new to this or something - like, magical girls are a new thing - and then have Kyubey being surprised because they presumed that the soul gem would deteriorate naturally since “emotions are powerful but destructive to the person having them,” but then all the girls team up and help each other work out their problems. Maybe the reason magical girls are usually alone isn’t even because of the grief seed (I think that’s what it’s called?) thing not being able to be shared, but because Kyubey intentionally separates magical girls so they can’t do what the main group is doing, but Madoka is so into the idea that, “We shouldn’t have to be alone,” and so she’s constantly pulling all the girls together, which keeps them healthy.

Maybe Homura’s backstory could be that Madoka originally was more sheepish and more afraid to put herself out there, especially since she was a magical girl (who are encouraged to go it alone), which is why their soul gems were both deteriorating; they were friends but kept more of a distance, or maybe they were a team but that’s all they were. Then Madoka gives Homura the last grief seed to save her and that’s what inspires Homura and makes her see Madoka as something more than a teammate, which is why Homura actively tries to save Madoka specifically (which then encourages Madoka to want to keep everyone together as friends).

In the case that Kyubey doesn’t separate them out of concern of fRiEnDsHiP, but for another reason altogether, and then it’s ultimately their own downfall when they allow the girls to hang out and realize that it’s doing a lot of good for them.

“cute and innocent”

That was exactly it. It’s on Kyubey’s trivia section on the Puella Magi Madoka Magica Wiki.

Before the anime's first dark plot twist aired, head writer Gen Urobuchi said on his Twitter account that the "Kyu" in Kyubey's name comes from the English word "cute". This was a lie meant to further mislead fans into thinking that Madoka Magica is an innocent happy show. In a later episode, it was revealed that "Kyubey" is, in fact, short for "incubator".

In my personal opinion, a spoiled plot can’t be “ruined” if it’s a good plot. If you told me that Kagome was trapped in the Modern era for three years and then decided to stay with Inuyasha at the end of Inuyasha, it wouldn’t/shouldn’t decrease the value when I finally see it for myself because it’s good. That’s not to say that everything should just be spoiled right out of the gate, but it’s saying that maybe your plot isn’t good if you have to rely on shock value to make it work??

I FEEL THAT “ASSIGNING IT TO THE WHOLE GENDER” THING SO BAD. It just adds to my “the girls all have varying personalities so it’s not like Kyubey’s only after emotional crybabies or anything” salt.

I have no idea about any of the stuff about the writers so I can’t confirm or deny them. I will very much agree on the target audience thing though, especially with the whole “keeping the dark plot a secret” because really? Who is this for then? Like, the first two and a half episodes are for one demographic and then the others are--???

I dunno. Me personally, I just like feel good stories. I do like some good conflict and drama (for context, Remarried Empress is basically a webtoon that gives you things to feel salty about and then makes its own salt fic as its plot, allowing for endless streams of feels and catharsis, so I’m definitely not against drama), but there are other times where I just want to feel good watching something.

I feel like the show expects the characters to be selfless/perfect and then punishes them even though it’s their writing that’s causing them to act out. I can’t really talking about “out-of-character” but sometimes it’s just obvious where “we did this because we needed a plot/conflict.”

Like, hello? We don’t need the main characters screwing up; why can’t we just have some feel good thing where they take the day for themselves (seriously, imagine a Miraculous episode where Chat Noir actually tells Ladybug to take a couple days for herself, like maybe someone else gets the earrings for a few days as a temp while Marinette gets to breathe; IMAGINE IT). Not everything needs to be high-stakes to be interesting and you need those calmer moments so that the action-packed ones feel more intense.

SAYAKA DESERVES BETTER.

I feel like the magical girl genre as a whole can be way more complex than it’s made out to be. I think people hear the word “magical girl” and think “cute girls in short skirts talk about girl problems and fight evil with the power of friendship and accessories.”

Ugh, just the mention of Rebellion makes me sigh internally.

Congrats on working on your own magical girl story! I hope it goes well for you!

I know it’s not technically a magical girl show, but there was also Totally Spies that Astruc worked on to some degree (I think there was some characters who were based on/a loose reference to the mains from that show but I don’t remember exactly).

The thing about the female characters suffering is that they could make for good lessons on positively directing one’s emotions (like Usagi from Sailor Moon, for example, maybe having a problem with taking her anger out on her friends, but learns that she can save that rage for the bad guys; “Gamer 2.0″ from Miraculous could’ve done that, honestly, by having Ladybug absolutely WRECK all of her gaming opponents in “violent” (cartoon violence obviously) fashion). It’s just a shame that it’s not taken advantage of.

Sayaka??? Selfish???????

*does not compute*

(Also, I wasn’t tired of them, don’t worry! It was a little overwhelming in my inbox but it’s me who’s allowing all the asks to flow in so the blame isn’t on you lol.)

I’m not sure where this obsession came from with, “you have to be selfless and you’re not allowed to use your powers for yourself.” It’s like the world’s going to end if a character leaves to go Self-Care or something. I think what happened is that shows got this idea that promoting only the giving of others is great and it’s not important to take time for yourself (even with “Gamer 2.0,” it was still Marinette playing games with everyone else, and they treated her dedication and seriousness like a bad thing when she literally did not have time to waste and they didn’t give a reason why it was good for her to take a break, only that she should).

This usually leads to the “demonization” of characters who sport a lot of self-confidence or any sort of ego. It works on both sides; Marinette is a punching bag because of her anxiety and occasional lack of confidence, but if she had an ego as Ladybug, there are parts of the fandom who deem her “obnoxious” (i.e: “Reflekdoll”). There’s a delicate balance between “be confident” and “be humble” and it’s a tightrope act.

[themelodicenigma]

I’ve seen a lot more talks recently going around about Ultimanias, Benny Matsuyama, Maiden, etc. Here, on the Twitter...If there is one thing I’m genuinely curious about, is what exactly sets everyone’s understanding about epitexts? For supplemental materials like guidebooks or reference/fan books and how exactly they’re produced? How much do you understand about the history of Studio BentStuff and their way of making said materials, or even about anything related to authorship and publication?

There are just too many things thrown around so easily on the internet these days, not enough productive conversations about these things man. It’s...weird.

It’s easier to have a conversation with someone if I understand their foundational logic for this stuff, because a lot of the things I see are very strange. Or at the least, isn’t practical for what goes behind the production of these types of materials. Authorship and production knowledge is important—having a pragmatic approach for having a sense of what happens “behind the books” is a must have for decent conversations about guidebook/fan book making. Whether it’s for materials that are purely informational, for entertainment and uniqueness, or the sweet spots between—right where BentStuff typically specializes in.

There are SOOO many companies, SOOO many writers and editors, that exist and create this stuff, obviously going way beyond just Japanese related companies like that of the Famitsu, Dengeki, or V-Jump brands. But, obviously given the tags, FFVII or Square Enix games are the topic for today, along with BentStuff. For this stuff (heh), there has always been more than just Studio BentStuff, and even for them, the foundation of how they make their books is what makes them, I’d say, one of the best companies that do what they do. And what they do, how they get it done, was always set before the Ultimania series. If you don’t know about how they made their ALL ABOUT series or their Kaitai Shinsho (解体真書) series, then you don’t really know about the Ultimania—the former two being the heart of the “research and analysis” and “project”-minded approach they use to create that series. I know many don’t understand Japanese or don’t want to go through the trouble of working out translations, but....there is SO much information out there, on their website, in their books. And to be honest, so many of these misunderstandings start to not make sense to me when we have had whole online communities for decades dedicating themselves to translate stuff and provide information.

We can regurgitate the same quotes from the same books for 20 years, making circular arguments, but not talk about this in-depth?

I’ve been planning on releasing this huge thing, this “archive” essentially, of information about BentStuff, but I’ve realized that it’s honestly easier to talk about these things on a more case by case basis with interested people. Because there’s a lot, and I want to be able to talk to people about this stuff so people can really get where I’m coming from. Maybe I’ll post something at a later time to get something started, but this would definitely be a thread where it could start.

But, like, I gotta cover something I saw recently.

Honestly what set this off for me is someone saying that Matsuyama is a “rando writer” (as in being external to BentStuff) or was “commissioned” to write the Diary Entries or Maiden....

It’s just...so interesting the amount of confidence one has when saying these things without any of the proper evidence or understanding on the subject. I’m not trying to be harsh, but, it’s just weird. I just want to throw this out there, real quick:

Matsuyama essentially co-founded Studio BentStuff along with a few other writers from the BASIC magazine company, the lead in that being Akira Yamashita, who is the CEO. Matsuyama is one of the Directors of the company, along with Ichiro Tezuka, a name ya’ll probably recognize from FFIV stuff. This company was built by writers and lead by writers, but many others (some from BASIC too) eventually joined them to create what we have now. He ain’t no “external” nothing, though when it comes to their published books, it is true he didn’t do much until the FFVII Kaitai Shinsho. 

Also, BentStuff write and edit [proofread] their own books, even if there are others who will supplement this, typically the publishing editors. e.g. like with Kaitai, those in the Famitsu editing department (whoever published Famitsu at the time) or for the Ultimania, editors from SE. Naturally that is to say, they get whatever they need if they can from the developers of what book their making—this is the same for any company who makes guides, really, if they have the opportunity to be in further contact with them. However, that caption of a picture you keep quoting from the book? A line from the character profile? Story Playback? You can literally see in the back of the book who was in charge of writing that—go read their staff comments on their website (if you don’t feel like translating like I did, just use Google, you can at least get a general gist for most comments). There’s a lot (they stopped including comments around the FFXII Battle Ultimania), with Ultimania being the latest series, but check out ALL ABOUT and Kaitai Shinsho stuff, too, but there’s even stuff for Dragon Quest. It’s a treasure trove, and the staff say some funny things too a lot of the time. Either way, you’ll appreciate what it is they go through to make these materials.

On that note, of Matsuyama’s writings (particularly of the Diary Entries and Maiden for this discussion), he was never commissioned specifically to write what he does—his own staff comments on the BentStuff website and the peritext (or lack thereof) in the books counteract this alone. Not to mention, it isn’t practical in how the process of their book production works.

Yes, BentStuff as a company can either get the license or be hired to write a guidebook, but in determining who does what for the book, this isn’t done the same as, say, Jun Eishima being hired by SE to write the FFXIII or FFXV novels. Or, even, what Matsuyama would’ve had if he was able to write the originally planned novel for Lightning Returns. The decision of who does what is mostly internal of that of BentStuff, for example, who does the Scenario section, or the maps, who writes the prologue if included, who does the character profiles, boss data, speedruns, time charts, technique tables, etc. Whatever. Matsuyama, just like everyone else, does his decided part, and we can’t any more say he was specifically “commissioned” to write his creative materials than we could for all the other members doing their roles. At least, not without the proper evidence. (get into more below)

Either way, don’t create the wrong idea by using "commission” to describe the reasons as to why Matsuyama included these materials—the most practical and rational reason being, you know outside of him co-founding the company, that many companies allow creative freedoms or projects to be had about their works. Canonical or not—this isn’t new. If a company founded by writers gets the opportunity to write guidebooks, it makes sense for them to seek the opportunity to work in their own “projects” to make their books unique, and the idea of this started all the way back in their ALL ABOUT series, precedent to both Kaitai Shinsho and Ultimania.

There of course, has been other things, like “Square Enix said” when it comes to anything written in the Ultimania books, the notion that certain presentations within a guidebook suggest canonicity, that the more creative materials [their “projects”] Benny or other BentStuff members create are canonical simply because they’re in the books, etc.....oh boy. 

He isn’t a “rando”, nor was it “commissioned”, and most of his creative works are limited to the books for entertainment purposes by BentStuff, for the book, and typically nothing more like being officially a part of the respective series canon. Unless evidence supports his or other’s authenticity as author’s for the series in question, I believe the default thought for ALL his materials should be that of fun readings for the books, expressions by BentStuff. That honestly goes into a different conversation about the canonicity of any of Matsuyama’s or others materials in the guidebooks and about authorship/authenticity, but the important thing to note is the two emphasized points above. If you want to get into canonicity, we definitely can as, honestly, it isn’t really too hard to cover with the proper evidence, which is also from in-book peritext or Benny’s own comments. Other observational stuff too. There are only a handful of materials that can really be discussed based on evidence of Matsuyama’s authenticity as a writer for the respective series. At the top of my head, included would be the short stories for Brave Fencer Kaitai Shinsho, the FFXIII Omega story, and maybe, his materials for the series SaGa—some like Beender just setting-wise aren’t canonical, but the value of his interpretation for this series can be discussed considering he has worked on one of the games scenario at a later date.

I digress.

Like I said, I’m just open to discuss this stuff without having to write a huge informational dump of like, their entire history, though I know people who are researching themselves would find that useful. It’s just a lot. But if any of that above is something you believe or disagree with, please, feel free to tell me why and we can get this ball rolling. It’s fun to talk about, at a certain point, I didn’t spend all my time researching just to be miserable. 

Eh, sort of.

Misery loves company, so....

[kaaras-adaar]

Repost, don’t reblog! Tag 6 muns you would like to get to know better when done!

Name: Owl Nickname: K, Kmod Age: Old Faceclaim: I am a fun sized owl. Pronouns: He/him Height: 5′3 Birthday: October  Aesthetics:  Punk, mohawks, leather boots, deep reds, birds, knights, armour, space, owls, metal music

Favourite muse(s) you’ve written: Kaaras is going to have to be my favourite. He’s just... so much to me now, and we’ve grown so much together. He’s made me so happy, I’ve met so many people through him, and had so many wonderful experiences with him as well. He’s just been a blessing. DA helped me out of a huge depression of my life, and I will never forget that. Kaaras is my knight in shining armour at times, even if that sounds lame lol.

I would say my second is Tobi over on my multi. I love getting to write an antagonistic muse, and I originally wrote antagonists when I first began writing, so I have MISSED that. I love Kaaras and how kind and loving he is, but I just REALLY like writing antagonists. I love getting to be dark and gritty with all the details and I get to do that again with Tobi.

What inspired you to take on your current muse (that you are posting this on): Originally, Kaaras’ blog was made for me to post my playthrough with him. I have a friend who didn’t play games but was interested in him, so I made this blog as basically an archive for all of my art, writing and playthrough vids of him. Someone asked if they could write with me, and I said yes. I was hesitant to, since my last RP experience was pretty dull and boring on here from my last fandom, but people really took to Kaaras. And he’s just grown more and more, each day, thanks to everyone <3 6 years later and still going :) 

What are your favourite aspects of your current muse: That he loves his job as Inquisitor. Honestly, I don’t see many people writing Inquisitor’s that take their role as purpose and duty like Kaaras does, and I think that makes him unique. He doesn’t feel burdened by his role, and if he does, he is thankful no one else has to carry it. So, I believe that Kaaras FITS the role of Inquisitor really well, and that’s something that I love about him, but I’m also so damn proud of him because of it as well.

I also love that he comes off as this really kind and loving person, but he takes forever to get to know. It means its hard and relationships with him take a really long time to grow, but I like that. I love growth and slow burn. I love getting to still learn new things about him, even though I’ve been writing him for such a long time. I love seeing how blunt he is at times, and how he embarrasses me with his terrible dad jokes and when he’s overly romantic that it makes my heart sick and I feel like I’m going to die from sugar overload. I love that he’s moody, even though it sends me insane at times because I never know what the problem is. I love that Kaaras is KAARAS. He’s himself, and I have no control over anything he does anymore. I love that he is himself, and that makes him so much realer for me.

What’s your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing: For one, my passion for my muses, and the world around me--I get inspiration from any source I can get. Most of all, though, it’s all of you guys and your amazing muses. You’ve made Kaaras grow, you’ve inspired me to toss him into so many situations and force him to deal with things so he CAN grow. And sometimes that makes him take a step back, but that’s still character growth, even if it’s been a struggle for us mods in the background.

Favourite types of threads: Anything that makes our characters grow. I LOVE slow burning romances. But I also love fluff and angst, and horror and just DOMESTIC things. I love all threads. <3 I love seeing him laugh, cry, break, angry, everything. I also love when things are awkward and uncomfortable. Kaaras can’t get along with everyone, but that doesn’t mean we can’t write together. I like that challenge, and I like getting to see all the different sides of Kaaras, which isn’t always possible depending on other muses.

Biggest struggle in regards to your current muse: His moods. It will always be his moods, and sometimes his moral high ground. Sometimes Kaaras is (to be blunt) a snob... His morals can make it seem like he’s on a high horse, and putting others down. I find that can be a challenge because I don’t want mods to take it personally, Kaaras is just... like that. But his mood swings are also very intense sometimes that he can be happy one second and then internally fuming the next. As a mod, it impacts me more than most might things since I’m a very empathetic person, and I get very in touch with the characters I write, I want to put myself in their shoes so I can write them the best I can, but that at times does mean mood shifts can be a challenge. Also, I just don’t like making mods uncomfortable, but it’s a part of RP. Just know that mod =/= muse :) 

Tagged by: From my old blog  Tagging: @lathsuledin @theharellan @chiefambassador​ @trevelyanmagic​ @many-tales-told​ 

[frooopsen]

Title: Discover (we can do it together)

Ship: Lin Beifong / Pema

Rating: M

Chapter: 7/7

Summary: Based on this post One week turned into two and Lin kept offering for Pema to stay, since she didn’t need the guest room for anything or anyone else. After a few weeks, the offer didn’t need to be said out loud.

Tags: Modern AU, Canon Setting, Soft!Lin, but not too soft lol, still canon-grumpy, slowburn i guess, Lil bit of Drama, Divorce, lots of feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Crush, lil pinch of angst, jinora is sarcastic, not very straight, who needs canon????, not me, Mutual Pining, hella gay, Alternate Universe - No Powers, No Smut, BUT still semi-spicy, No Bending, i swear I don't hate Tenzin, I had to to it for the plot, friends to whatever the fuck this evolves into, Travel, Vacation, Flowers, tropes though, lots of tropes, but only the good ones, Fruit, did I mention pining???, cos there's pining, also Lin smokes, for hotness purposes, but actually just because it looks hot, don't smoke!, again NO SMUT