#or at least it helped get Tumblr eyeballs on it

[queenoftheimps]

One thing I find interesting about The Terror's cult following is that, on the face of it, the audience that is attached to the show is not at all what I imagine people assumed when it was released.

Like, this a show specifically about history and the military/the navy, with a cast that is 95% white guys. Even with the horror elements, I kind of imagine AMC executives might've thought it would do well with the 'Dad' audience, or people who like stuff like Band of Brothers. (Tobias Menzies' latest show, Manhunt, is in this category, and I don't think it's entirely coincidental that he & Ciarán Hinds were also big main characters on HBO's Rome, something that also fits this niche.)

And instead, it seems like it was mainly embraced by a younger audience (something Jared Harris himself noticed), specifically one that's probably a lot more queer/non-masculine than might have been expected.

I'm sure there are people out there with much more astute analysis than me on why that is, but I wonder if a lot of it is simply down to tone. This isn't a show about the glory of the military or a patriotic mission, or even about men being noble/tough in the face of an ultimately tragic ending.

It's about how all that shit falls apart when it comes to push comes to shove, and how sometimes things that are framed as glorious are actually a pointless fucking tragedy on behalf of an empire that kept chugging right along without them. And the only thing to show for it is the bonds these people formed before they died.

[sarahjtv]

My Hero Academia: Chapter 424 Spoiler Thoughts:

MHA is finally back from break and we have a calm after the storm chapter. Let me put my thought on Tumblr for a bit:

So, let's get this out of the way: Tomura Shigaraki/Tenko Shimura is dead. Like, DEAD, dead. Unless Kohei Horikoshi pulls the rug under us, I think he's made it clear that Tenko's not coming back. Those last 2 pages were it for his conclusion. He did add one more panel of Shiggy and some dialogue from Deku to say that maybe Deku really did "save" Tenko, but that's all we got. I'm still unsure how to feel about this, but I appreciate Horikoshi giving Tenko a bit more of a conclusion after the last chapter. But, the story isn't over yet, so we'll see if he's mentioned again.

Bakugo's parts were the best parts of this chapter. I'm glad to see him alive and well after everything (I highly doubt Horikoshi would keep him dead again anyway) and that his parents are there for him (Mitsuki yelling at him was funny ngl). Sucks that his right arm will never fully recover, but maybe that rehab will help him get to a good enough place. Also, his moments with Deku and All Might were incredibly sweet and a great conclusion to their little storyline. Seeing Bakugo genuinely tear up and look back on his and Deku's relationship throughout the years honestly moved me because it shows how far this young man has come (the artwork on his face is so good btw; Horikoshi has always been great at expressions in particular). Katsuki Bakugo's character development is one of my favorites in the series and he deserves #1 in every character poll he gets.

EDIT: OH, BAKUGO'S CRYING OVER DEKU BEING QUIRKLESS AGAIN AFTER THE EMBERS BURN OUT ONE DAY I'M GOING TO FUCKING CRY WHAT THE FUCK 😭

Deku continues to be Deku till the very end. I loved Izuku nerding out about how he gets to share a hospital room with All Might because of course he would. It's also nice to hear that A.) All Might reassures Deku that even though he doesn't feel like he saved Tenko because Tenko died, he still might have in the end and B.) Deku still has the embers of One For All which doesn't make him Quirkless. I assume this means that Deku is basically back at the start when he first got OFA. I'm sure his strength is still there at least, but it's probably not nearly as powerful as it was in the final battle.

Also, Deku's haircut 😭! I know they had to do it because it got messed up in the final battle and surgery, but please let his hair grow again before the manga ends, Horikoshi! I want his cute, bushy green hair back! There's also a scar on his right cheek covering his cute freckles I can't. His eyeball popping out of his socket when he sees Kacchan cry was hilarious, though 😂

All Might also telling Deku and Bakugo that they're the greatest heroes to him and everyone else is a really nice full circle on their initial dreams when the story started.

And then there are the two panels we get of Shoto and Ochako. I assume we'll touch on their epilogues next chapter, but I'm curious how they're doing because Ochako looks solemn and we don't even see Shoto's face because his back is turned to us in a dark light. I bet they're reflecting on what happened to Toga and Dabi respectively. We're still not sure if either of them really died, so it's a coin flip as to whether they did or not. There's also Shoto's whole family situation that needs tying up which is a whole other can of worms. I really hope this gets covered in the next chapter.

Finally, we see Deku and the others returning to UA which is currently being rebuilt. I'm guessing we'll see how everyone else is doing post-war too either in the next chapter or later. While we need to cover the main 4 (Izuku, Bakugo, Shoto, and Ochako), we also need to see how everyone else is doing because they weren't the only ones affected by the war. Everyone has battle scars of some kind.

And while the chapter is called "Epilogue", it's not over yet. We clearly have more story to cover and bows to tie as neatly as possible. Horikoshi can't please everyone (no one can, really), but I can tell that he's doing his best and that he still genuinely cares about his story after nearly 10 years. I'd say we have the rest of June at least and the end of summer at most until MHA finally ends. This was a really nice "wrap-up" chapter and we have more to go until the end. Despite its flaws, My Hero Academia is still peak fiction to me and some of the parts in this chapter cement that. It will always have a special place in my heart. I will be sad to see this series go, but I will be there until the end.

EDIT: I just saw Horikoshi's comment this week and it basically confirms that we have more story to come. He doesn't say how many chapter but he says "I'll keep going for a little while" and that we're returning to school life; the "Academia" part of the story. I'm really glad he's not rushing the conclusion because there's a lot of stories and characters to give finales to. I'm also really curious to see how school life is post-war, so I'm glad that'll be explored.

[kirathehyrulian]

♥Help Milana Auction Winner for Art Offer #1♥ (placeholder): 🐟Ocean Fishing🐟

*Do not Repost, Alter, or Use without permission of @wetsammywinchester.*

This work was inspired from @wetsammywinchester 's J2 fic Enthrall (For better viewing on desktop, click the image, then right click the enlarged image, and then click "open image in new tab".)

For more stuff from me please check out my “myart” tag here on Tumblr or my AO3.

👇( wip screenshots and notes below the cut) 👇

For more detailed notes: [AO3 link]

Art Notes:

In early Oct 2019, a section of the creator community held/organized a fandom charity auction to help out a fellow creator who had fallen on hard times (for more info on the past auction click here). I offered three commissions towards the auction. Paula was gracious enough to bid for and win my 1st offer for $30.

The details of that offer was: One title card and one illustration for a fic.

Because life events and burnout got in the way we didn't finish talking out all the particulars, but I just decided to go ahead and make two illustrations for now, and if the particulars ever get fleshed out in the future, I'll do the official title card and illustration that more closely fits the story of the scene and overall feel that Paula would like to be depicted from the fic.

So these works are more a placeholder. I made these because it's always been in the back of my mind for 5 years now to complete the offer because that was 30 dollars donated with nothing given from my side to show for it. So at least now it has something to show for it even if it's not the official work that was supposed to be done.

WIP Screenshots:

This was the first sketch idea that I abandoned because I felt like I didn't know how to actually make it and Jared's face would be mostly hidden, which was not a good thing in my book. I succeed more with Jared's face than I do with Jensen. So I had no confidence going in for this idea:

I ended up settling for a sketch of mer!Jared in the water and then I later thought that just doing Jared wasn't fair so I made another canvas for a Jensen fisherman companion piece to the mer!Jared one. Also, I tried to make Jared look 14-ish because I was told Jensen was around 18 in the fic, but up to the view if the attempt translated well. And this is the wip of both of those:

The mer!Jared illustration obviously was more intricate so that process took longer and had more wip screenshots than the Jensen one. I admittedly was getting burnout when working on Jensen's so I took some shortcuts with the t-shirt decal and the bags and containers surrounding Jensen. I just found some images on google and traced them instead of eyeballing it which saved me time and effort that would have made the burnout worse to the point that I might have finishing this work a lot later than now. So I'm not upset or ashamed about doing it for that reason.

I started this project around Feb 8th this year and finished it all March 14th (today). And that's it for now. Thank you for getting this far and-

Enjoy, if you can!♥♥♥

[beesmygod]

people on tumblr are only seeing a fraction of the amount of jojoposting ive been doing. who couldnt love the adventures of the joestar family

part 1: the only kind-hearted englishman on earth in the 1800s meets the most evil and most gay bitch in the entirety of human history. dio brando finally defeats jonathon joestar in their slowly escalating, lifelong sibling rivalry by becoming a vampire with an instant kill eyeball laser-beam. with the help of a solar powered italian and a homosexual in the midst of a manic episode, he narrowly defeats dio at the cost of his own life.

part 2: the manic homosexual (mr. robert e. o. speedwagon), dedicates the remainder of his life and oil speculation fortune on supporting the joestar family forever and ever, as well as destroying any remaining stone masks that turn you into vampires with instant kill eyeball laser-beams. his efforts awaken a crew of mysterious, powerful and very homosexual vampire god-men from the depths of the earth and it's up to jonathon's grandson, joseph joestar to use his hamon and wiles to stop them. he'll do whatever it takes, even and especially if he has to climb a big leaking pole while wearing a BDSM mask that controls his breathing.

part 3: dio's back, baby! and this time he's gayer than ever! joseph joestar, now in his 60s, recruits his autistic (positive) grandson jotaro kujo in his newest quest to make sure dio stays dead for good this time. his crack team of anti-dio experts is comprised of a frenchman who just wants to take a shit, joseph's personal buddy from egypt, a boston terrier that transforms into a chihuahua, and a high school teenager with more brains than everyone else combined. in a globe-trotting adventure, joseph joestar and da boyz use their "stands" (powerful dudes) to battle enemies with stands based on whatever horror movie araki watched recently and gather information before dio becomes too powerful and too gay to be stopped. a heartwarming story about a little boy who, after 47 episodes, finally says a badass one-liner.

part 4: jotaro kujo is cleaning up a big mess left by dio and his minions: a bunch of them went around firing magical arrows into people around the town of morioh and giving them stand powers. jotaro recruits the help of his 16 year old uncle (long story) josuke higashikata, at least 3 other teenagers and a gay bitch named kishibe rohan to help him clean up the town. however...a dark secret lurks in morioh...a murderous pervert with four fucking stands (?!) named yoshikage kira!!! can jotaro and da boyz stop this sadistic serial killer from living a peaceful life!? FUN FACT: this is the first piece of media to depict an italian as heroic

part 5: this is the one im on and im not finished yet, but i'm pretty sure it's just about the first ever they/them nonbinary mafia protecting the bosses' daughter. our protagonist, giorno giovanna, is the son of both dio and jonathon (long story) and he does not seem to understand what a mafia is or what it does. however, he tell his future capo that all he wants is to be a "GANG-STAR". he does not elaborate on this.

thats all i know dont tell me anything else. these are the most surface descriptions possible. when you get into details you can really get lost in the weeds.

[dogtoling]

Hey, I know this is not really splatoon related but can you give us tips of how to draw fat peopll/ink fishes? I always struggle to do so, and i' trying to learn how to do it

I got an ask similar to this a while ago and answered it here! I guess check that out for more of an in-depth overview of how I approach drawing fat inkfish (and people!) myself. There's a lot of good posts and tutorials floating around tumblr about this already (and i'm too lazy to go look for links, but they're out there lol)

I wrote down a lot of general tips in that previous post and I don't really think i have anything to add that other people haven't already said and that i haven't already said myself, so I'll just stress the importance of referencing Real People. As with drawing pretty much anything, you want to understand the mechanics behind it and How It WORKS, and then you'll mostly be chilling... especially with a subject with this much variety in it!

But since I want this answer to have any net value at all and not just be a "well look at this other post i made" referral, i would also like to talk to everybody who is New to drawing fat people or just generally unsure of their ability to do and reassure that you will probably do it badly at first. that's fine, i think i probably did it badly for 10 years. this is how learning art works. it probably won't take you ten years if you actually use references for it though lol

But to save you some time and frustration: give some love to areas that are NOT the stomach or torso. Fat also accumulates in the limbs and the face and you will hit a wall really quickly if you just add a belly and draw stick arms and legs (which also occurs in real body types obviously, but if you're trying to go above Chubby territory it doesn't really work, and most of the time when people struggle with drawing fat people my understanding is that they can't make bigger sizes look correct at All). But to do this effectively you will probably need to learn basic fat distribution, and after you learn this, you will probably be able to eyeball proportions correctly while drawing and also be able to eyeball when they seem off. (This is doubly why I recommend looking at a variety of real people for reference).

And for Inkfish - THE TENTACLES. Don't sleep on the tentacles. Those are part of the body and they are FLESH! Therefore they should also have fat accumulation to some degree. It's a pretty effective visual in conveying higher fat percentage and works the other way around too, if you have a particularly skinny character (which is surprisingly hard to convey in a species with no skeleton, i'm ignoring whatever the FUCK Acht has going on. i'm choosing to believe those are the structure for the gills if we wanted to explain it), you can give them notably thin tentacles and it will help get the point across. Just scale the suckers accordingly if you're into that kind of stuff. They don't change size, so they will look smaller on bigger tentacles and really big on tentacles where there's not much else than the central muscles.

My final beginner tip is stop drawing fat characters with anime boy sharp jawlines. this might work with characters that are just barely chubby but the majority of people will have a double chin or AT LEAST a generally softer jawline. if you're drawing someone who's like, significantly fatter than chubby and they don't have a double chin, it will look like a skinny guy in a fat suit 99% of the time. hope this helps lol.

[arcielee]

Interview With a Writer

Thank you so much @inthedayswhenlandswerefew for always being willing to take time out of your day and allow me the chance to fangirl over another brilliantly written story. I don't think I can even properly express how grateful I am to relive this literary trauma you have blessed our eyeballs with. Just... thank you. 🦀

This is the 20th installment of Interview With a Writer! You are welcome to read over the other talented souls on Tumblr and ao3 who shared their brilliant writing! 🧡

Dividers are by @saradika-graphics 🧡

Name: inthedayswhenlandswerefew

Story: When The World Is Crashing Down

Paring: Aegon Targaryen x Reader

Warnings:  Language, warfare, violence, serious injury, alcoholism/addiction, references to sexual content (18+), be mindful of chapter warnings!

Where did the idea for When The World Is Crashing Down come from?

For a long time (since last spring, at least), I’ve had kind of a vague inspiration for a story that would take place between Rook’s Rest and the end of the war, essentially chronicling all the destruction that the Greens endure and how Aegon would cope with it. I had a sense that there could be a deeply honorable, romantic story somewhere in the midst of all the large-scale horror.

Then—around the time I was finishing Comet Donati at the end of the summer—one day I had a vivid scene pop into my mind, and true to my usual writing modus operandi, it was at the end of the story: a woman who is just emotionally demolished, crossing a field as sparse snowflakes begin falling to meet her supposed rescuer, Cregan Stark. He thinks it’s this wonderful reunion, while she feels like it’s the end of the world. Once I saw that scene, I knew I’d have to write this series immediately. It just possessed me!

For the first month I was working on WTWICD, I listened almost exclusively to Fall Out Boy’s second album, From Under The Cork Tree. The songs are absolutely riddled with anxiety, self-loathing, violence, desolation, pride, lust, and defiance in the face of defeat. That album helped shape the general tone of the series and, of course, gave it its title as well.

You have notoriously stated before that the vivid scene for inspires an entire story. What are your next steps? What were the pivotal moments that had to happen in WTWICD?

So once that first scene occurs to me, I know I have a week or two of really powerful momentum in terms of figuring out the major arc of the story, so I take advantage of that and get right to work making a chapter list and brief character notes. I knew that the series was a bit like a circle in that it would start the same way it ended: ashes would be falling instead of snow, Aemond would be taking her captive instead of Cregan, and Angel would be mistaken for a Green instead of being wrongly assumed to be a Black. I also knew that I wanted WTWICD to (generally) follow the same canon events as Fire & Blood, so I matched each chapter to the actual events from the war, and then had another bullet point beneath with a description of what would be happening with Angel, Aegon, and the other characters that are the heart of this story.

In those first few weeks, I’ll hear a lot of random snippets of dialogue that I swiftly jot down in my Word Doc under the heading of whichever chapter I feel it will likely end up in. One of the very first quotes for this series was Aegon’s greeting to Angel in Chapter 1: “Hello angel, welcome to the end of the world.” These quotes help flesh out the story and transform requisite general events, like Angel meeting Aegon when he is near death after Rook’s Rest, into specific scenes. And then for any necessary detail that I don’t have an instinctive answer for, I start researching.

For example, here’s how I determined that Angel was a Celtigar. I did some Fire & Blood research to see which Westerosi families were allied with the Blacks vs. the Greens. I knew I needed a family that started out on the Blacks’ side and stayed there, and also wasn’t already decimated by the time Rook’s Rest happened, so that narrowed it down somewhat. I had felt that the vibes of the fic were oceanic, yet bleak—grey mist, rocky cliffs, rough waves—so I was leaning towards Angel being from the Crownlands. I stumbled upon the Celtigar family (having never heard of them before to my recollection) and was so excited! Firstly, I loved that Angel would be Valyrian, though not in an obvious way; the Celtigars, after being shunned by the Targaryens and Velaryons, intermarried with non-Valyrian houses until their features weren’t so distinct. Secondly, the crab metaphor was perfect. I had already known that the theme of perpetual resurrection—rebirth/reinvention that is repeated, though not necessarily leaving the person better off—would be present in this story, and crabs molting was symbolic of that. (Also, I’m from Maryland originally, so I appreciate crabs more than your average person, haha.)

Then for Angel’s faux family (Thorne), I knew I needed a Crownlands house that was loyal to the Greens throughout the war, which narrowed the options down considerably. I wanted a Crownlands house because I thought Angel, as a very academically smart person, would be savvy enough to know that another Crownlands family would share her accent/appearance/general knowledge more than someone from the Reach or the Riverlands, thus making her lies less likely to be detected. I also loved that Thorne (as in rose thorns) could be a subtle nod to a previous series of mine that was a Wars of the Roses AU: Now I’m Covered In You.

Tell me about your Aegon interpretation. Why is he the way he is in When The World Is Crashing Down?

Aegon is someone who has already gone through a number of transformations before Angel ever meets him. He is an innocent child, an unloved and mistreated adolescent, a man who succumbs to his worst vices, and then an aspiring hero who is trying his absolute hardest to live up to being king after his coronation. When he is wounded so horrible and painfully at Rook's Rest, Aegon is at the point where he's just ready for his suffering to be over. He got a brief taste of greatness and then was knocked back down to being useless and in agony all over again; he's accepted that his story is over.

Angel saves Aegon’s life literally, but she also gives him an opportunity to be honorable in a way that he hasn’t fully been able to before. She never knew him before his maiming, so she has no memories of his drunkenness, whoring, or any other sins. She is kind and gentle, and she sees Aegon as someone desirable and brave, particularly when she gives him (unintentionally) the opportunity to be her rescuer: from the brothel, from Cregan Stark, and from the world itself. Once they’ve met, Aegon is motivated by Angel—and the future they hope to have together—to be the greatest version of himself yet: someone who can both give and accept love in its purest form.

It is Aegon's love for Angel that compels him to fight to stay alive even under the most dire circumstances and when hope seems irrational. He's not doing it for himself; he's doing it for her.

What about Aemond? How is his relationship with Aegon?

Oh Aemond. The duality of man. Throughout this series, we see evidence that Aemond has all sorts of negative feelings towards Aegon. He feels that Aegon is physically weak, intellectually unimpressive, morally corrupted, and just generally unworthy of being king. However, at the same time, Aemond loves Aegon and is entirely loyal to him. Aemond borrows the crown when Aegon is unable to rule, but he never tries to take it. Aemond will flirt with and proposition Angel, but he never tries to get her to actually leave Aegon. And each time Aegon is wounded, we see that Aemond not only cares for him physically, but tries to uplift his spirits and carry out his wishes. We see Aemond hunting for a healer and then helping to clean Aegon’s wounds at Rook’s Rest. We also see him comforting Angel and stopping her from treating Aegon’s bleeding, shattered legs on Dragonstone (which is what Aegon begs for him to do in High Valyrian). Finally, we see Aemond’s repeated denial that Aegon might not survive the war. Daeron, Larys, and Autumn are all pragmatic enough to discuss it, but Aemond isn’t. His love for Aegon is too great.

Aemond’s interest in Angel is 50% ego-driven. He knows that she prefers Aegon to him, but if he can win her affection, he scores a figurative victory over his elder brother and gets to feel worthy/superior. This impulse (which isn’t necessarily something Aemond is consciously aware of) only intensifies once he learns that Angel is a Celtigar and therefore of Valyrian ancestry. But that means that his obsession with her is also 50% inspired by her intellect, skill, courage, and dedication to Aegon, all things that Aemond highly values. Angel never has any romantic feelings for Aemond, although he does increasingly become a source of strength, guidance, and comfort for her as Aegon’s health deteriorates. But he is definitely a little in love with her, even if that emotion is in large part merely a manifestation of his own inferiority complex.

What characters in your story that you enjoy writing?

Aemond “There are other Targaryens” Targaryen was definitely my favorite character to write in this series. He is a menace!! But a menace who is also loyal, clever, vulnerable, capable, flawed, and—it must be said—very, very nice to look at.

I really enjoyed writing Daeron too, who I envision as similar to who Aegon would have grown up to be had he not been beaten down by so much emotional and physical trauma. Daeron’s a ray of sunshine who is also an unrepentant war criminal, energetic and arrogant and a diehard warrior for his family. He jokes around with Aegon, but strategizes (or at least attempts to) with Aemond, recognizing the role that each brother plays in the family.

Finally, I loved Autumn! She was essential to Angel’s survival—street smart instead of book smart, experienced instead of sheltered and naïve—and while Autumn’s arc is tragic in some ways, she gets one of the happiest endings in the series.

Was Angel ever relieved of her guilt of what she did for Aegon?

Oh no, Angel felt horribly guilty for betraying Aegon, and I don't think she gets over that in her lifetime.

Aegon is definitely aware of Aemond’s interest in Angel, but isn’t especially concerned about it. He’s used to Aemond coveting the things he’s been given and feels that the Aemond-Angel dynamic is just the latest iteration of that lifelong pattern. Aegon relies upon Aemond both emotionally and physically—all the Greens do, as he and Vhagar are the muscle behind their war effort—and ultimately trusts him to do the right thing. Aegon doesn’t suspect that Angel would ever consent to being more than tentative allies with Aemond; it’s not even on his radar.

She acted impulsively in a moment of great emotional turmoil and misdirected desperation to help the Greens win the war and, in my mind, Aemond bears the responsibility of manipulating her into making that decision. (Even ghost Aemond alludes to regretting how he handled that situation in Chapter 12!) But Angel personally feels that she was disloyal to the love of her life, and wasted time that she should rightfully have spent with Aegon doing something that would have hurt him instead.

And she never gets to confess to Aegon, so she never gets the absolution of his forgiveness (which he undoubtedly would have given, under the circumstances).

What inspired Angel?

I love writing “readers” from all sorts of backgrounds and perspectives; we’re all unique people, and “readers” should be too!

Angel is the archetypal poor little rich girl. She has material comforts, but is ultimately ill-suited and dissatisfied with life as a noblewoman. She floats around aimlessly with nothing to look forward to (except her eventual marriage to a stranger, of course) until her brother Everett is nearly killed in a fire when she’s fifteen years old. Healing gives Angel a hobby, a purpose, and a sense of agency (indeed, the power to save or end lives) in a world where she has vanishingly little control over her own fate.

At the beginning of the series, Angel has a profound fear of sexual intimacy. I think this is something that would have been very real to women in a situation like hers, but isn’t often spoken or written about. She doesn’t have much knowledge of how sex works, and what she does know is pretty discouraging: women who are resigned, at best, or tortured at worst, with blood stains on sheets, death or disfigurement in childbirth, and being physically completely at the mercy of an older, larger man who you didn’t choose for yourself. It’s the stuff of nightmares! I once stumbled upon a Reddit threat of people sharing stories of their 90-year-old grandmas not knowing what an orgasm is, and it just completely broke my heart. I wanted to give voice to all the girls and women throughout history who have been robbed of agency over their own bodies and pleasure in sex.

Angel’s journey is a circle: she begins fearful, then becomes intrigued as her feelings for Aegon grow and she realizes she trusts him. (I think it’s significant that the two men Angel loves most, Aegon and Everett, are both disabled and therefore physically not as threatening to her.) She gets to experience informed, enthusiastic consent and pleasure, and then that joy is slowly taken from her as Aegon grows weaker.

And at the end of the story, Angel is back to where she started: forced to give herself to a man she didn’t choose—and he can have her whenever, however, and wherever he wants her—and without expectations of pleasure, only pain and resignation.

Do you feel Angel and Aegon complement one another?

Angel compliments Aegon because she is both clever and resilient enough to heal his body, but also provides him with opportunities to be a hero and prove his worth, not to her but to himself. She needs him to save her from danger, she looks to him for reassurance when she is fearful, and she relies upon him to be king when the war is over and therefore ensure their happy future together. She is, to Aegon, the perfect balance of strength and weakness.

What Angel gains from the relationship is someone who she actually admires and desires, but also someone who values her for who she really is. Aegon likes Angel regardless of who her family is and what her political affiliations might once have been; he does not care about heirs, bloodlines, prestige, obedience, or power. With Aegon, Angel knows that her own desires and feelings will always be first and foremost. That’s a rare thing to find in a Westerosi marriage.

Was there any contentment with her marriage to Cregan Stark?

I don’t feel that Angel ever found anything like happiness in the North. Several readers commented that they believed she was only existing with Cregan for the rest of her earthly days, not truly living, and I think that’s accurate. Cregan Stark never questions the narrative that he saved her from the immoral, violent, rapist Usurper, and in Winterfell Angel would have had to hear—from servants, from guards, from her husband, from her children once they were old enough to know the story—comments about how horrible Aegon was an how honorable Cregan was for ensuring his defeat and “rescuing” Angel. So her loss (and the fact that it’s this indescribably heavy secret she has to carry around with her) is a wound that is ripped open again and again and again. She can never develop a sense of fondness for Cregan, because she can never forget his hatred for and his role in killing the man she loved. She can never truly get joy from her children because they are just like Cregan: large, loud, rugged, dark-haired wolf pups who repeat the fictions they’ve always been told were truths. It’s a very hollow, soulless existence for Angel.

But of course the bright side is that because she remains alive and has some influence over Cregan’s political decisions: Angel is able to protect Jaehaera, Autumn, and other Greens after their faction’s defeat. She is also able to share the true legacy of the Greens with Jaehaera once Aegon’s daughter is older. Jaehaera otherwise wouldn’t really understand their true motivations, personalities, or gifts, nor the love they shared for each other; she was a child when most of the Greens died, and Autumn would not have felt comfortable sharing what little she knew at risk of endangering her ability to stay at court with Jaehaera. We can assume that Angel was eventually reunited with Aegon (and her other lost loved ones) in the afterlife, and so there is some happiness in the long run.

Angel definitely showed some magic in her Valyrian blood: we saw her dreams with Aemond, Helaena, and Daeron, but when Aegon told her, “If there’s anything interesting on the other side, I’ll find a way to let you know," was this what you were referring to at the end with, "…dreams that you never want to wake up from."

Yes! That is exactly what I was referencing, and I was thrilled that so many readers picked up on it. 🥰 It’s the closest we get to a “happily ever after” in this fic.

Celtigars are the black sheep of the Westerosi Valyrians. They’re glorified pirates as opposed to royalty or well-regarded merchants, and they aren’t nearly as magical at Targaryens or Velaryons. In the ASOIAF canon, there are no references to a Celtigar ever riding a dragon or joining the Targaryen bloodline. Angel was never going to be a dragonrider (she hates them!). But Angel does have some very subtle magical abilities that show up occasionally, and the dreams are one of them. After the events of WTWICD, for the rest of Angel’s life she is really only a shell of herself (not me making crab puns!), but dreams of Aegon give her comfort and remind her of the promise that she will see the people she loves again one day.

In Angel’s dreams, the ghosts appear in settings that they were attached to in life. Helaena was in the gardens with her insects, Aemond was in the rookery hard at work writing his letters, and Daeron (the closest thing this family has to a sunshine personality) was on a warm summer beach with Tessarion, exactly like he was the first day he ever met Angel. I feel that when Aegon appeared to Angel in her dreams, he was probably on Dragonstone, invoking memories of those idyllic first few months they got to spend alone together before Aemond started showing up (uninvited) and the battle with Baela and Moondancer.

In addition to the dreams, I think that Angel has some very slight clairvoyance. Even in the early chapters—and even as his burns are healing—she was always filled with this heavy dread regarding Aegon’s long-term health, and the threat of organ failure after repeated trauma is something that crosses her mind over and over again. She even mentions it to her brother Everett in Chapter 6. Part of her, I believe, always knew on some level that he wasn’t going to live to see a peaceful world.

Out of all your "Readers" so far, which one do you feel you relate to the most?

Out of all my readers, I think I personally relate the most to Appletini from North to the Future.

Our situations are different in a lot of ways (sadly, scruffy Juneau fisherman/rockstar Aegon is not real nor in love with me), but I think we share a) an innate fixation on responsibility and aversion to risk, and b) a sense that there is something more out there that we are always wrestling with. Do we take the leap, or do we stay where we are? Are we worthy of more? Are we doomed to relive the curses of prior generations? That sounds a little dark, probably, but I don’t mean for it to. Appletini gets a happy ending, after all!

Do you wish to share any possible new story that might be coming up?

At this point I have no comment whatsoever and nothing to announce. But I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! 🎅🎄🎁😏

[deityoftherain]

swimming below zero - Flower Husbands Empires S1 Fanfic

Rating: General Audiences

Relationship: M/M

Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Status: Completed Oneshot

Word Count: 2,896

Summary: Jimmy loves swimming and wants to share the love with his husband so he gives Scott a swimming lesson <3

Full fanfic underneath the cut! Please reblog, leave kudos on the AO3 fic slash notes/likes here on Tumblr, comment either place, and etc if you enjoy the story :D

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Scott was eyeballing the murky waters just off of Codland’s docks as if it had personally offended them. 

Due to Rivendell’s lack of swimmable water, Scott had never gone swimming before. Rivendell didn’t even sell swimwear, so Scott was wearing some from the Codlands. Jimmy wouldn’t admit it so openly (he would, depending on who was around), but he did find great pleasure in seeing Scott in clothing more typical of Codland… and in significantly fewer layers than normal. 

Scott’s swimming shorts and shirt showed off some of his pale white skin that Jimmy usually only saw when they were alone, though Jimmy noticed that Scott’s skin was starting to flush pinker from the sun’s contact and the warm humidity frequently occurring in the swampy territory. The swim shirt was designed to help them not burn under it, but Jimmy had slathered them with sunscreen anyway and would keep an eye on the sun’s position in the sky so, if all went well, they wouldn’t burn.

“Of course it is!” Jimmy declared confidently, flashing his husband a wide grin and swishing his tail. Scott was willing to learn to swim and Jimmy was determined to teach him! “Seeing how often you visit, it’ll be good for you to at least know the basics. Besides, you’ll be fine with me here. I’m a really great swimmer.”

Swimming was one of Jimmy’s favorite things so, naturally, he was very enthused about it. His tail-swishing allowed him to get some of his happy energy out without people thinking he was too strange. Scott didn’t mind his excited hand flaps or jumps, claiming to actually like them and find them cute, but they were in public! Some people already saw him as unfit and they cursed the Cod Council for choosing him to be their Codfather. Fortunately, that wasn’t everyone, but the angry people tended to be the loudest.

Jimmy has always felt socially awkward and out of place, and, ever since he became the Codfather, he’s felt even more social pressure. Learning all the rules took time, but he’s got it down! Or, at least, he thinks he does. He could never be sure; it was all a mess.

This wasn’t to say he wasn’t social, because he was! Jimmy loved talking to people and engaging in everything the world had to offer. It was just difficult for him to understand why some people acted like he grew an extra tail out of his ear when he was simply existing as he was in a space.

Scott stared at Jimmy for several moments before allowing his muscles to relax. “Okay, Jimmy. I trust you.”

Jimmy felt his face light up as he took Scott’s hand and led them closer to the water. Scott’s grip on his hand was tight as it often was when Scott was anxious, but Jimmy would take care of him. “Do you want to jump off together or go in after me?”

Scott contemplated for a moment before choosing, “Together.”

“Okay, you took the water-breathing potion, right?” Jimmy asked to make sure instead of assuming. He figured it would help calm Scott’s anxieties and make them safer to have it for the first eight or so minutes of their swimming lesson. Jimmy had gills as a feature of his cod ancestors, so he didn’t have to worry about it.

“I did,” Scott confirmed, not taking his gaze off of the watery depths.

“Perfect. We’ll jump on ‘jump’, okay? Three, two, one, jump!” As Jimmy instructed, they both jumped off of the dock in sync, earning mild air time before plummeting into the water.

Scott’s hand was still holding Jimmy’s tightly, but it had grown more suffocating. The pressure was actually starting to hurt, but Jimmy didn’t dare tell Scott that. He didn’t want them to overthink this more than they already were. Besides, he’s felt more pain than this before. He just clicked his tongue in a pattern to take his mind off of it and it worked well.

“You can breathe, Scott.” Jimmy kept his tone as soft and gentle as possible without sounding like he was babying them. Scott’s face briefly conveyed distrust, but it soon gave way to acceptance as his mouth gaped open to take a deep breath. “The potion will still be in effect, but it’s good that you know how to hold it for when you swim without a potion. We’ll work on treading first so you can keep your head above water if you ever get stuck.”

From there, the swimming lessons went better than he had expected. Sure, Scott was nervous, but Jimmy gave him some slack. Rivendell wasn’t exactly known for swimming, after all!

Jimmy taught Scott several swimming techniques, some Jimmy knew from experience and some he had to research beforehand. He had done the research many times, but he made sure to refresh himself on the basics. Elves didn’t have tails or gills so, without a breathing potion, they couldn’t move as fast and had to stay near the surface. Those two things required an altercation in what an oceanfolk would learn.

The longer they went on, the more distracted and out of it Scott seemed. It wasn’t too noticeable, for Scott was well versed in hiding things such as that, but Jimmy was picking up on hints. Or, he thought he was. He wasn’t sure since nonverbal cues had always been difficult for him to interpret. Jimmy would need hundreds of fingers to count how many times he’s stared at Scott simply to observe them and their actions. The fact that Jimmy found Scott very handsome was simply an added bonus.

Still, Scott insisted that he was fine and that he wanted to do this for him when Jimmy offered him a break, so they continued on. Jimmy was easily convinced to continue because, selfishly, he didn’t want to leave the water yet. It felt wonderful against his skin and the temperature was just right. He loved his time above the waves or up in the mountains with Scott (mostly because Scott was there), but the water would always feel like home, it would always feel safe.

Scott’s movements grew more and more stiff, and he appeared increasingly more fatigued. He couldn’t conceal the true nature of his pain any longer so Jimmy insisted, “Let’s head back to shore.” “Okay,” Scott agreed with somewhat squinted eyes. He turned his sights onto the distance… in the completely wrong direction. Scott was facing east, which would eventually run into The Ocean Empire or Mezalea if they kept swimming. “Scott, Codland is that way,” Jimmy corrected, pointing west. Concern continued to bite at him, but Jimmy was more than confident in his own swimming abilities. He’s been doing it for as long as he could remember, afterall! He would keep Scott safe.

He rested a hand on Scott’s shoulder and they flinched away at the touch, reacting as if Jimmy had smacked them. Jimmy furrowed his eyebrows. Scott was usually quite open to touch by loved ones, but sometimes he responded in touch-adverse ways. Jimmy didn’t fully understand it and it was hard to accept it. How was he supposed to determine when it was okay to touch him and when it wasn’t?

Before Jimmy could say anything, Scott turned himself around and began to swim west toward the docks.

Now Jimmy wasn’t too proud to admit this, but Scott was so slow (most non-oceanfolk were) and Jimmy was getting antsy. Trusting Scott to be able to employ the skills he taught them, Jimmy started swimming in wide laps and loops around the general area Scott was in. It became a game of sorts in his brain, easily entertaining himself as he often did. Jimmy couldn’t tell anyone how long he spent doing that with any sort of accuracy, but it was likely too long.

A shiver ran down Jimmy’s spine as the water grew colder. The sudden temperature change snapped him out of his fixation on his imaginary game that only he understood. Jimmy had tried to teach Lizzie it before, but she couldn’t make sense of it. The unexpected cold felt like it was pricking his skin; he hadn’t realized he needed to mentally prepare himself for it.

Scott! Jimmy’s eyes widened in recognition a moment later, putting the pieces together on what probably happened. He had gotten too distracted! Jimmy balled his hand into a fist and hit his head with the bottom of his palm several times. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Pushing away the pity party, he swam back to where Scott should be. There were several chunks of ice floating around and a rather large slab of it on the surface. There wasn’t much of a pattern to it that Jimmy could figure out, but he didn’t focus on it long, so he might have missed it.

Jimmy found Scott in no time, and their eyes were redder and puffier than usual. He was curled in on himself, his body shaking like it did when his anxiety became too much for him to control. The breathing potion would have run out a long time ago by now, so Jimmy knew he didn’t have much time.

He rushed forward, quickly stealing Scott’s lips in a kiss. Scott’s body reacted in a jolt, but he didn’t push away as Jimmy used his gills and mouth to transfer breathable air to Scott’s lungs. Scott’s fingers gripped Jimmy’s shoulders, but their hold on him was weaker than their previous strength.

Once Jimmy couldn’t handle the unprepared for cold any longer, and he gave Scott enough air for them to not drown, he held Scott close and pulled them away from the ice-filled water. Scott seemed to have stopped creating as much ice out of his panic, so Jimmy was able to outswim the cold patch in the otherwise warm water.

As soon as the ice blocks were no longer trapping them underwater, Jimmy swam him and Scott to the surface so Scott could breathe properly. Scott gasped for air as soon as he could, his chest heaving with the effort. Jimmy kept them upright so Scott wouldn’t have to do anything but focus on breathing.

“Sorry,” Scott croaked after several minutes, squeezing their eyes shut and resting their forehead against Jimmy’s shoulder. 

“What happened?” Jimmy asked, holding one arm around Scott’s waist while the other played with their wet blue hair.

Scott didn’t answer for several heartbeats before weakly mummering, “It was… I just… My body stopped moving on command, and my limbs are all tingly and numb, and my brain feels foggy. It's just… my body feels extremely weak, it hurts to think, and I panicked, creating uncontrolled ice clumps. I’m sorry.” “Shh, don’t apologize,” Jimmy ordered gently, but they’ve had that conversation many times before. He didn’t like when Scott would apologize for things that they had no control over, but Scott continued to do so anyway. It was like he couldn’t control it (perhaps a compulsion or trauma response?), but Jimmy chose not to linger on it. “Let’s just get you to land and I’ll carry you to my place, okay, love?”

Scott made a sort of noncommittal hum or grunt in response, letting his eyes flutter close as Jimmy kept one arm around Scott and used the other arm to help him cut through the water. Even with the added weight of Scott, Jimmy moved swiftly and speedily; they arrived at Codland’s docks in no time.

Jimmy did as he told Scott he would and carried him close to his chest. Swimming kept his muscles fairly active so, while he didn’t always look like it, he was rather strong. Scott was tall, as elves often were, but Jimmy could manage his weight without problem. After all, even without his expertise in swimming, he has had plenty of practice carrying people and things over the last several years.

Codlanders were used to water and mud, so no one batted an eye when they didn’t dry off before using the wooden paths to get from place to place. If they were outdoors, it was fair game. If going inside one’s house, it was customary to use the towel provided to dry oneself off if needed, but they didn’t have to worry about that. Jimmy had plenty of towels to use when they got to the building Jimmy called home.

“Do you think you can stand, petal?” Jimmy asked once they entered the home, his eyes moving around to observe what was around and see if anything would spark ideas to help Scott.

Scott considered his pain and options for a moment before nodding. “Just let me down near a wall or a sturdy piece of furniture.”

Jimmy did as he was instructed, keeping his hands on Scott until he was convinced Scott’s legs could hold his body up. When they could, Jimmy retrieved a few towels for himself and for Scott to dry off. Scott used the wall to help keep themself up, but otherwise managed well enough to get themself as dry as they could. Once dry, Jimmy helped Scott change back into his previous clothing before going to change himself.

“Are you feeling any better?” Jimmy flicked his tail, and twisted his right wrist back and forth anxiously as he stared at his husband. 

Scott’s eyes were half-lidded, staring off at nothing, and his body was sitting limp. He breathed out, “It’s too bright in here.”

Jimmy could understand that feeling since he also felt overwhelmed by light sometimes. He quickly darkened the room in every way he could think of before asking, “Is this better?”

“Yes,” Scott confirmed with a barely noticeable twitch of his lips into (assumingly) a smile. “Thank you, Jimmy.” “Of course,” Jimmy returned the smile, but his was wider and more infused with fondness. He pressed a kiss against Scott’s forehead, careful to not put much pressure into it, before laying a blanket over their body. “Thank you for going swimming with me. It made me really happy, even if it didn’t end very well.” “It was worth it,” Scott opened his icy blue eyes to blink lovingly at Jimmy. They patted the spot next to them with a slight tilt of their head. “Will you sit with me?” “Of course.” Jimmy didn’t waste time moving to their side. He wrapped his arm around Scott, who promptly leaned in against his chest. Jimmy brushed Scott’s bangs out of his eyes before peppering kisses along his hairline and around his face. 

Scott laughed weakly at the kisses, glancing up at Jimmy through his eyelashes. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Jimmy returned the sentiment honestly before returning to the kisses. After Jimmy stopped, and the place fell into a peaceful silence, Jimmy blurted out, “Do you hate swimming now?”

“No,” Scott answered nearly instantly. He peered up at Jimmy again, reaching up to cup his cheek. “Jimmy, I could never hate what you love with so much light shining through you. Besides, it was fun, until my body started to shut down on me.”

Jimmy felt warmth swell in his chest as he leaned into Scott’s touch, relieved that Scott was alright and happy that, until the end, the swimming lessons went well. Still, he was concerned. Jimmy hadn’t completely forgotten about the symptoms of some mystery illness Scott had been suffering for the majority of his life, but it was such a normal thing to feel for them (and something Scott always tried to hide when it flared up or got worse) that Jimmy would forget to check in sometimes. He felt bad about it, but it was hard to remember things when he got distracted by something he enjoyed doing. “What did the doctor say? Did they figure out what it was? Does anything help?”

Scott sighed heavily, letting his eyelids flutter close as he dropped his hand. “They don’t know and nothing really helps. It’s just what I have to live with.”

“We’ll find something to help,” Jimmy promised, even though he couldn’t exactly do that. He was going to try, though!

“You being here is more than enough.” Scott laced their fingers together before bringing the back of Jimmy’s hand up to his lips. “Will you ramble to me while I rest my eyes?”

Jimmy tried his best not to jump up with excitement at the open invitation. One thing he loved about Scott was his listening skills. Jimmy was used to rambling even though no one paid attention (he’s done it his whole childhood), but the thing about rambling to Scott was that he actually paid attention and remembered information Jimmy told him! It wasn’t perfect, but Scott would ask questions about things Jimmy liked too if he had any!

His grin was as wide as it could be, his sharp teeth on full display as he started blabbing about the recent changes he’s made as Codland’s emperor and how well they’ve been going so far.

It was moments like this that Jimmy knew he loved his life. There were hardships, sure, there always were, but cuddling with Scott during a peaceful afternoon as they talked about whatever they felt like was perfect. Jimmy wouldn’t trade Scott nor moments like this for the world.

[mayberrycryptid]

Thank you for the photo references and your drawing (which was very good btw) of HQs.

I started on the fic I wanted to write. (Actually started two fics tbh.)

It's not a McDanno fic, but I hope others will enjoy it all the same.

My second fic is McDanno Sentinel/Guide trope.

So far both stories have two chapters written. I would like to finish at least one ; both preferably) before posting.

I just wanted to stop and say thanks for your help.

MOAR Hawaii Five 0 fic is always needed--especially sentinel AU!!! If you don't have a Tumblr acct, feel free to drop me the A03 links when you post your fic, so we can get more eyeballs on your fic!!

And I am so glad my posts helped. And hey, I discovered there is another door in Danny's office! So I learned something new!!

Two chapters each is also awesome!!!**fist bumps you and then hands your muse a big bowl of soup**

[pb-dot]

Yuletide Ramblings

While I'm not religious by any measure, Christmas in Norway is honestly a decently secular experience once you tune out all the songs about Jesus and roses springing from barren fields and whatnot. This is to say that the holidays have always been about family and the people close to me. I may be overstepping my bounds a bit, but let's include my dear tumblr moots and general tumbl-o-sphere in the proceedings and talk a little bit about my 2023 on Tumblr.

If I'm going to be frank, and I want to unless the opportunity to be earnest should present itself, 2023 was a tough year for me. My ongoing journey to finding treatment for my depression stalled out, and my job search has similarly been quietly moved from the "top priority" box to the "it'll happen when it happens"-pile. I've been able to do this much thanks to the welfare systems in my neck of the woods, and although the process has kind of sucked along a number of axises, I do acknowledge it has helped me.

What has also helped me, though, is you guys. After starting using the platform in June of this year, I have found replete friendship and support, an almost overwhelming torrent of commisseration, enthusiasm and the particular brand of weird that seems to be the first language around here. Y'all have helped me get writing and stay writing, and really have honed my "take it easy, but take it" approach to a razor's edge.

While many parts of the internet are slowly but surely content-ifying themselves into a desolate wasteland of human connection, Tumblr keeps going with actually trying out the "social" part of this whole social media thing. Granted, that may be because of incompetence in trying to follow the trends on Tumblr's end. Still, I want to thank all y'all for keeping it personal, for keeping it weird, and keeping it as free of the scourge of "personal branding" as one could conceivably make a site full of artists and freelancers.

Cheerleading social media sites isn't really my bag, but I will concede that I've grown quite attached to the way Tumblr does things, and the weird arbitrary ways it prods us into acting. It's all down to the people, of course, and I've found quite a batch of good eggs on this here site. I almost don't want to shoutout specific users because I'm afraid I'm going to forget someone truly marvelous and even though there's every chance they'll never notice, I will know and the snub will eat at me.

That said, I do want to shout out a couple of people who've made my first half a year of tumblr great. @toribookworm22's timely asks have certainly helped me keep track of the weekdays, as well as helped me with a bunch of worldbuilding and minutiae. @dyrewrites and @teacupsandstarlight have both been great to talk to, and I would be in dereliction of my duties if I didn't at least mention the illustrious @scifimagpie in this context as well. @jeahreading and I seem to mostly pass as ships in the night, but sometimes the distant sound of a foghorn can be just the thing, to torture the metaphor a little. @that-weird-kid-from-your-school is also a joy to talk to, and her palpable enthusiasm is great.

Now for some people whose work I follow who I don't speak to much because I am intimidated by their skills. @canisalbus and their adorable gay dog-men never cease to fill my heart with love. @secondlina and their crows similarly also make me smile. @mlm-blues and @were--ralph have both done wonders for my self-esteem, and it is nice to see and share the enthusiasm for lads on occasion. @shyroism is mostly off-site what with the streaming, but they're definitely an underrated streamer who could do with some more eyeballs on their work. @fidgetspringer is an awesome punk, an awesome artist (shoutout @fidgetspringer-art,) and has a truly magnificent beast of a bird hound. @everythingfox is an endless source of cute animals which is an obvious lifesaver, @bearotonin-international is Important, @raccoon-central similarly does some heavy lifting for my mental health with their lil' grabby hands. @bodhrancomedy is a good lad who does good videos and do the acting real good. @sootchild has good art and I like it.

I'm running out of steam, which is a shame because there are a lot of people who deserve just heaps of praise heaped upon them on here. Hell, if you're still reading at this point, rest assured I think you're at the very least awesome and deserve good things happening to you.

In closing, I would like to once again express my delight and joy for how Tumblr has been in my first half year, and I hope the however long until I get maudling again is just as good if not even better!

[thecurioustale]

My 6-Week Tumblr Return Trial Period Is Up

Happy Autumn! Today is the Autumnal Equinox. (That is, if you're in the Pacific Daylight Time zone or earlier; it's actually tomorrow, the 23rd. The moment of equinox is 11:49 pm PDT this year.)

I came back to Tumblr six weeks ago (actually a little shy of seven weeks but six is the highest whole number) and said that I was going to give it consistent effort till the Equinox to see how I felt about it. Well, that day is today!

I've decided to significantly reduce my Tumblr presence, but not go back to zero like before. I still plan to post at least once or twice a week, and more whenever the fancy catches me. I don't want to slow-roll you, so there's the bottom line.

For those interested, I thought I would talk about my experience since returning.

Why I Came Back

A few years ago on my birthday I set myself a challenge of posting in my journal every day for a year—which I more or less did, and then promptly stopped because it had been a laborious thing for me with limited rewards.

This year on my birthday I decided to try that challenge again, except this time "soft": no formal public announcement, and no penalty if I missed a day. Good thing, too, because I missed a day right away! 😅 But I definitely was doing more and better writing on my journal than I had been, and I liked that. Maybe there was a sweet spot between the strict artifice of one journal entry every day and the sad default of no entries for weeks.

Then, a few days into the challenge, I got the idea of diverting this energy away from my journal and into social media, to try and begin the long process of building an audience for my creative works. I recognize with some dread that when I eventually do finish my next novel, no one is going to read it—because no one is going to know it exists. But that's not set in stone; this is something platforms can help with! And you can't just build a platform overnight. You have to start well in advance. In this post-mainstream-publishing era where independent artists' only hope is to create their own following, I knew that I would have to at least try, if I wanted people to actually read my work.

Building a platform is something I had done years ago, around the time the Prelude to After The Hero was coming out, and I was hugely successful at that time in creating lots of content and lots of channels—i.e. the platform part. But I didn't actually get anywhere in building an audience. Then my life fell apart from multiple catastrophes in a short period, and for many years I had no ability to pursue "platform growth" at all.

But I have that ability again, at least temporarily, and maybe this time I could do better.

Marketing and being social are very hard for me. They don't come naturally to me and I am not good at them. But what I can do is write about my creative work, my life, my take on the world, and anything else that comes to mind. With any luck, that would attract some eyeballs. It's the same thing I was doing eight years ago in my platform-building work, but I could be smarter about it this time, and learn from my past mistakes, which involved a lot of wasted effort that no one ever saw. This time I could try going specifically where the people are: social media! Social media was a part of my original platform-building push eight years ago, but only on the periphery. This time I could put all my platform-building into it, and not all the different channels at once, but just in one single place. Concentrate all my effort on a single point!

So I chose Tumblr: the only social media platform that still seems to reward long-form, thoughtful content. (Not counting YouTube video content.) Facebook is definitely on the way out as a relevant social media network, Twitter was unusually toxic even before the idiot took over, and TikTok to put it politely is not my jam. But Tumblr...I still use Tumblr! I still read several people's pages, and have done so for many years.

I was never actually active on Tumblr as a creator myself. As far as posting my own content goes, my social media home has always been on Facebook (and, for a while, Google+). My "return" to Tumblr this summer wasn't really anything of the sort. Even though my account is many years old, this summer was my first time making a big effort here.

And here's what I learned.

What Worked and What Didn't

I went in with very low expectations. In other words, I didn't actually expect anyone to see my work. I expected to put in my six weeks, toil away in obscurity the whole time, and leave.

But a couple people did notice my return, and reblogged my early posts, and between them they had enough followers that their reblogs got me a small influx of followers. (Hi!) So there were eyeballs, at least. I wasn't talking to the wall. It was a good bet that anything I wrote would at least have a chance of being seen by multiple other people.

A good start!

I set about trying to learn about the Tumblr algorithm and people's usage patterns. I learned that there is a very strong signal to set apart the content that people enjoy seeing and the content they don't. On the scale of Zero to Fire, a lot of what I wrote was either hard Zero or pretty decently Fire.

In the Zero category: My short-form humor was dead on arrival. So was my Tolkienian vocabulary series. My fat liberation essay—by far the biggest effortpost I made during my six weeks here—attracted a single troll and no legitimate engagement whatsoever. At 7700 words I doubt many people even read it. Cool art reblogs were also pretty much a Zero. The people in my tiny audience don't want to see any of this stuff, at least not from me.

In the Fire category: People liked my hot takes on copyright law, left-handedness, rationalist-adjacent topics and framings, some personal anecdotes (but not others), and—most promisingly—some of my discussion about the mechanics of authoring and writing, including topics such as redemption arcs, body diversity representation, losing interest in one's own stories, and long sentences. To the extent I am going to attempt to build a larger Tumblr following over time, this "mechanics of authoring" area is probably where I will focus my primary aim.

Not everything was Zero or Fire. There were also some posts in the middle. My posts actually discussing my own work, The Curious Tale and Galaxy Federal, landed in this space. They mostly fell flat for my general audience, but did noticeably better than the hard Zero stuff due to the consistent engagement of a tiny handful of fans. (Thank you, especially you Fip!)

In terms of financial support, six weeks of content creation on Tumblr yielded no book sales and no new patrons on my Patreon fund, though I did get one pledge increase from an existing patron! This isn't a big surprise, since I didn't make any push to attract new patrons and have made no attempt to hide that my book is also available for free. Still, zero is a noticeable number.

What Tumblr Feels Like

I'll be honest with you: I don't really "do" social media. I never have. I don't like social media. I am a creature of individual websites, web journals / blogs, and message forums. Facebook is the social network I use most (if you don't count YouTube), and my Facebook is set up more like a walled garden than a social network node—i.e., it is almost completely restricted to the people on my deliberately-short friends' list. I use it to look at cool pictures of clouds and landscapes, learn about things going on in my city, and keep in touch with friends. I've never really been one to use social media the way it is intended these days.

Nevertheless: Of all the social networks, I've always had a comparatively positive view of Tumblr. Tumblr is where freaks and weirdos come to be freaky and weird, and I love it. (Sometimes in principle more than practice, but still.) There used to be a tumblr called "Fuck Yeah Fat Upper Arms," and that was what I would point to whenever I had to explain to someone why I love Tumblr.

I also know there are notorious amounts of drama and pettiness on Tumblr, but in my experience it isn't so hard to just sidestep it most of the time. Also, I don't follow all that many people, so I probably just don't see much of this stuff in the first place.

When I returned to Tumblr I am pleased to say that it was basically what I hoped for: lots of wonderful niche and countercultural stuff; really thoughtful discussions that get a lot more depth here than almost anyplace else I've seen; and amazing art and fanart. There were lots of takes I didn't like, of course. Lots of stuff that rubbed me wrong. And the drama is definitely alive and well. But that's just life, right? As amplified by social media in all its unnuanced might. On the whole, I have enjoyed my time spent browsing Tumblr these past six weeks.

One thing actually did bring down my spirits about this place, though, and it has nothing to do with drama or takes I don't like: Tumblr feels kind of addictive. Like a giant industrial vat full of churning slurry, and if you fall in there's no getting out. I have an addictive personality, not to booze or drugs (as far as I know) but to content sources, specifically "content-firehose" websites that always have new things to read. I was stuck on GameFAQs for years back in the day, long after it had become a net-negative for me. Right now my big content addiction is Reddit, and it's definitely a net negative in my life for all the time it wastes for so little in return. And there have been many other content addictions in the years between. It's very hard for me to leave a content-firehose website once I've gotten sucked into it. And I really, really don't want to get sucked into Tumblr.

Like, this place is genuinely cool, but it doesn't "do it" for me like it did the last time I paid close attention to it. Fuck Yeah Fat Upper Arms is gone, and with it the innocence of my youth. Social media just isn't my scene, and returning to Tumblr has definitely given me the impression that I've "outgrown" it altogether. (I wrote a few days ago about one of the reasons why I think this.) I don't particularly want to spend a lot of time here. I don't have that content addiction to Tumblr yet, and I can feel myself actively straining to avoid developing it every time I'm on here. That's why I've only been reading my dashboard a few times a week.

I'm not saying social media is something juvenile that everyone is supposed to outgrow; I'm just talking about my own preferences and issues. My ideal use case for Tumble is to check in with Tumblr periodically and see new Samus Aran fanart and hot takes on cool things I've never heard about or thought deeply enough about. But, in practice, reading my Tumblr dashboard feels like dipping my feet in that vat of slurry I mentioned: It's very time-consuming and a lot of the stuff I see I don't really "need" in my life.

This six-week experiment has actually helped me to realize that, going forward, I should be looking to use social media less in my life, not more. It isn't just all-consuming and energy-draining; it has become kind of evil over the years. Tumblr isn't nearly as bad as some of the worst offenders, but on the whole we're slowly being pushed to use these services in very particular ways, ways which degrade us, and it's nefarious. Not just the abuse of our personal information and privacy, but the way we spend our time and think about the world. Social media seems to be making society actively worse on the whole, and that's down to the profit motives of the people who make the rules about how these services operate. It's probably not a coincidence that Tumblr, as one of the least-problematic major social networks, is also not particularly profitable.

I have lamented for years that I wish we would go back to individual people's websites and enthusiast–owned-and-operated message forums. I really think that this viewpoint is not just my nostalgia glasses talking; I think the individual websites paradigm was a better way of experiencing the Internet and interacting with each other. But while I can't do much to change society's patterns in general, I can at least be deliberate about how I engage with social media myself. And I think I'm going to be doing less of that as time goes on.

My actual public face is my Live Journal, even though it has languished for years. Either it or some successor blog is likely to be an ongoing constant for the rest of my life. I hope people will gradually find me there.

The Long Game

You're not gonna build an audience in six weeks. I know that. Also, in my time here, I've only done one of the two things that one needs to do to build an audience on social media: I've created content. I think my content has been more or less decent. (You can tell me if you think otherwise.)

What I haven't done is heavily engage with other content creators. I haven't done many reblogs; I've done zero asks; and I don't follow other tumblrs in a businesslike mindset of network—I only follow the ones I think I might like to read.

If I were to continue, the next step in my trial period would be a 3-month experiment. I've had enough success here in the past six weeks to justify dedicating another three months of my life to daily Tumblr posts if I want.

In that time I would need to focus more on the "networking" side of social networking. On the content side, I would continue trying to figure out what people like to see and what they don't. But it's the networking stuff that would be next in line for my full attention.

I'm also aware that all of my data are biased by the small size of my audience and the nonrandom composition of it. There is a danger in optimizing for that, from a long-term scalability and optimization standpoint. My social networking efforts would have to be geared toward diversifying my audience as much as growing it, because the truth of the matter is that I don't know yet who "my" audience truly is. Most of the people here now are people who are here because they like other creators and respected those people's recommendations—not because they necessarily like my art. The poor showing of my posts discussing my art kind of speak to that point.

So the question is, do I have a 3-month trial period in me? Or even just another 6-week period?

And that's a really tough question. I need to be writing my books, and I need to be paying my rent, and when I'm here on Tumblr I'm not doing either of those things. The best-case scenario is that by being here I'm setting myself up to pay future rents and have more available time for future creative writing. But in the meantime there are rents coming due in the immediate future, and my mental bandwidth is sickly and limited.

Is Tumblr even the place to build my audience? It might not be! It might be YouTube. It probably is YouTube. But Tumblr isn't nothing, and writing short essays is a hell of a lot faster than producing videos. A few loyal Tumblr followers might be just the pop I would need to get a future YouTube effort off to a running start.

One of my flaws as an entrepreneur is that I hate thinking like one when it comes to this whole sales / engagement / audience-building / marketing stuff. I like thinking about people as people, not as economic partners whose tastes and needs I must carefully accommodate to in order to hopefully earn a living from this someday. And I don't like thinking about my own content here as "content." I hate that word. But I am under no illusions about why I am here. I am not here for fun. I've done my Live Journal "for fun" for twenty years (as of last month!) and I have no audience to show for it. Growing an audience is not about having fun. Bonus points if you can manage to have fun along the way, but what it's really about is giving people an experience that they enjoy and want more of.

Social media is a hungry beast, a dehumanizing force (in my view), and an algorithmic rat race. I would much rather create content on my own terms, rather than try to play the social media game. This is one of the many reasons why I am so bad at the whole marketing side of building a business. Successful entrepreneurs dive right into it and give the people what they want. Like that "emotional damage" mate on YouTube: He gave an interview talking about how he just tried different schticks, not even comedy per se, until he found something that worked on people.

In an ideal world, when my next book is finished I could just press a button and everyone in the world know about its existence, and everyone who is interested could buy it and read it. But in the real world, you have to peck and scrape your way to attention, and I'm just so bad at this that it discourages me from even making the attempt.

So, adding it all up, what I come up with is that it would be wasteful for me to just abruptly give up on Tumblr as suddenly as I returned to it. I've started a ball rolling here, and I can build on that beginning if I want. But I also don't think that people need to hear from me on a daily basis. I'm probably not doing myself any favors by posting effortful content every day, not just in terms of my own sustainability but in terms of the algorithms of Tumblr and the mental bandwidth of my readers.

So I've come to the conclusion that Tumblr is probably not where my audience is going to be built, if indeed I ever manage to build one. But there is some potential here, and, more importantly, this is where the vast majority of my current fans are.

Ergo, going forward I will be reducing my posting frequency to a target of once or twice per week, plus whatever extras I see fit to add. I will continue to test out different types of content to see what catches interest. And I will start playing that social networking game that I dread so much, and try to engage more with others and hawk myself far and wide without looking like I'm trying to hawk myself, because for all that we claim to live in an age of sincerity we absolutely don't, and we will see where things go.

I will revisit this at Halloween, and see how I feel about it.

In the meantime, I will try to take some of this bandwidth I am freeing up and allocate it to other audience-building work. More on that as I have it for you!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and for giving me some of your time. Please please please do give me some feedback if there's anything you want to know or want to see me discuss.

[ellieellieoxenfree]

furious thoughts on this pile of shit show while i suffer through the last three episodes:

why the fuck is everyone's response to any kind of Situation to record their friends? all of you are fucking psychopaths

cheum is such a horrible little cunt and why anyone gives her the time of day is beyond me. i thought mew was the character i wanted most to drop-kick into a volcano, but cheum might actually beat him in the holier-than-thou judgmental hypocritical insufferable why-does-anyone-put-up-with-your-complete-lack-of-redeeming-values rankings

ray putting conditions on sand to establish a relationship with his dad before he'll go to rehab was fucking gross, regardless of how he spun it. and then the little 'sike i just wanted to see if you'd do it' is a masterclass of selfish, manipulative behavior that's an entire naval fleet of red flags. the chemistry is undeniable but this relationship is a fucking dumpster fire. every time sand caves to one of ray's horrible bullshit demands, i lose any shreds of respect i had for him.

boeing and mew fighting over top reminds me of the story i once read about two brothers fighting over an unwrapped tootsie roll they found on the floor, only for one of them to overpower the other, pop it in his mouth, and find out it was a cat turd

papang is so good and i love him so much and buddy, you deserve better than being nick's half-hearted flirtation due to the fact that nick sucks a fat one

if one more person sucks mew's dick about what a Great Person he is i am going to rip my eyeballs out

oh my fucking god my fucking god i hate this show so much why is mew the uea of this show where everyone wants a chance at that void of personality and charisma that is the mew bussy. why are you all such gross manipulative sanctimonious whores who can't keep it in their pants and still act like you're morally justified. fuck's sake. the only person who's actually honest with themselves is boston and all you do is shit on him but at least he doesn't prance around on his high horse and sneer on the Commoners who keep tripping and having their dick fall into each other. at this point, his worst sin is his absolutely ratchet-ass taste in other people, both platonically and sexually, whereas the rest of you wouldn't know loyalty if it bit you on the ass and still sneer at boston being 'filthy.' physician, euthanize thyself.

ray throwing out his multiple bottles of liquor in a tiny trashcan without even bothering to empty them.............that's my new go-to imagery for performative tumblr activism

'oh boo hoo my dad hired you to help me go to rehab' eat shit, ray, fuck's sake. oh boo hoo i got lied to. news flash, fucko, you're a lying manipulative sack of crap so what's good for the goose is good for the gander. you've been taking advantage of sand this entire show, ignoring his boundaries, making a fucking nuisance of yourself by refusing to leave him alone, stalking his vacation, interfering in his hookups, calling him a whore, trying to force an unwanted family reconciliation, and on and on. the 'oh well you don't want me to get better because you still sell liquor' oh my god dude eat shit eat shit eat shit.

'my friends dumped me.' 'serves you right.' nick you are also a shit friend so shut the fuck up

ugh yet another unearned reconciliation EXTREMELY DISMISSIVE J/O MOTION. i am aggressively uninterested in boston/nick. this shit sucks to an unreal degree.

why will god not end my suffering and just wrap it up on topmew. either shit or get off the pot, both of you. there is not even remotely enough storyline to stretch this shit out to twelve episodes and this will-they-won't-they dithering has all the appeal of watching two thirteen-year-olds discussing which pair of earrings to buy at claire's for an hour

'we should just separate' YOU TWO AREN'T TOGETHER YOU DUMB BITCH

does this show want the world record for unearned reconciliations? yo and plug's 'oops i guess we're back together' had potentially even less screentime than the bullshit april/cheum reconciliation (i'll die mad about it, i have no idea why the two of them are together but that's the true only friends method of relationship writing), and now ray and sand are back on their pathetic codependent bullshit. truly a tragedy of epic proportions. these two belong in separate hemispheres until they both work out their mountains of individual issues.

if they're drinking beers in the bathtub when ray's supposed to be in rehab i'm just going to end my life

'i don't want you to drink too much' HE'S AN ADDICT YOU FESTERING FUCKHUSK DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW ADDICTION WORKS THERE IS NO 'OH THE ADDICT WILL JUST CUT DOWN ON THEIR DRINKING' HE NEEDS TO BE SOBER. S O B E R. AS IN, NOT DRINKING. holy shit this show is making me so angry bed friend is almost looking like a Fun Time.

boeing is back and mew is with him

in case i haven't said it in the past five minutes, i fucking loathe nick so much

hey what the fuck. what the fuck. 'let's get revenge on atom by tricking him into a quick fuck and then recording him secretly' what the FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE JESUS CHRIST WERE YOU ALL RAISED BY WOLVES

wolves are probably more civilized than this pack of assholes i apologize to the wild wolf population

good to see that ray has learned fuck-all and continues to drag sand along to clean up his messes when to me it feels like the entire point of court-mandated community service is that you do it yourself without running to your bangmaid to help you

every time top shows up i get one step closer to necking myself

'why don't you trust me' i am going to rip this man's throat out with my teeth

OH MY GOD YOU TWO SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT MY GOD IN HEAVEN YOU ARE SO FUCKING INSUFFERABLE

why is everyone so fucking concerned with getting top and mew back together. i hate mew's moms. 'well, if you really love him...' the dude is a known cheater and pump-and-dumper. what is this show's obsession with everyone's magic dicks that they just can't get over. they keep doing the same thing with boston. dick so good it makes a man crazy. maybe if y'all stopped fucking like you were the habsburg dynasty, you could be less tiresome. as near as i can tell, there's fewer than ten gays in the entirety of bangkok and you've banged all those cocks. please. jesus. you're not the british royal family. let go of the inbreeding.

incredible that it's been eleven episodes and i could not tell you a single concrete reason top gives the slightest shit about mew. if you held a gun to my head and told me to give just one reason, you'd have to kill me in one shot.

'you know i will not be able to forget about this easily' dude it's been your raison d'être since it happened, it's basically your entire personality along with being a smug sanctimonious cockbag

'i don't want to force you' okay not that this show has had basically every character bulldozing each other's boundaries or anything but w/e do you boo i guess

boeing is so fucking DULL i know they think they're spicing things up with his chaos agent nonsense but i am bored i am fatigued i am over it please just fuck off dude

OH MY GOD CAN WE PLEASE JUST HAVE ANOTHER NOTE THAT ISN'T CHEATING OR ATTEMPTED CHEATING. GO FIND A NEW DICK TO SWING ON. JESUS CHRIST. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. HOW IS THIS TWELVE EPISODES. HOW DID ANYONE ENJOY THIS RANCID STEAMING PILE OF GARBAGE. I AM ACTIVELY JUDGING ANYONE WHO ENJOYED THIS IN ITS ENTIRETY. GET HELP.

good to see ray is still drinking, so that rehab plotline was yet another big fat nothing

having to suffer through one last episode of this is making bed friend look even more appealing and bed friend had me actively contemplating suicide

oh jesus god 71 minutes why in the name of all that's holy

i hate ray

that's it. that's the comment. i am not even going to list out the reasons or context. fuck ray. dude sucks.

boeing, shut the fuck up

'do you still love him? you should kiss him' sand if you had the spine god gave cooked spaghetti you'd dump ray and then dump his body in the ocean but you won't because you're a fucking puss with no self-respect so

if this is some raggedy-ass attempt at a threesome i will end it i swear to god i will

god ray sucks so fucking much i was told sandray was the best relationship in this show and i'm not sorry but some of y'all need to take a mike's hard look at yourselves and get taste

like, truly, ray is such a rancid character. 'let me force you into making out with your ex so i can play personal pity party' go fuck yourself, dude. go shove a stick in the spokes of your bike wheel somewhere else because i don't feel like listening to you bitch and cry for another 65 minutes

'i don't like him being around you like this' OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD YOU STUPID FUCKING BITCH. STOP ENGINEERING YOUR OWN PROBLEMS AND THEN PLAYING THE VICTIM

of course this dumb bitch cheum is like 'i think moving in together is a great idea' i hope she gets hit by a car

ray continues digging to the center of the earth. i am tired.

'i can put your name back on our project' i hope cheum actually gets hit by a train

'what i want is a chance to be your friend again' boston could be the only character i give a shit about in this show but he pulls shit like this and i'm just like, why, dude? why are you constantly bending over backwards for people (including nick) who treat you like garbage?

i stand by nick being an asshole. i don't care. the show is like 'oh he stands by me he's supportive blah blah' no. what the show tells me i should think is not what it tells me in its writing. nick is just as much of a prick as everyone else and just because he has a weird codependence with boston's magic dick game does not make them a functional relationship or one i remotely root for. i am excited for boston to go to new york so he doesn't have to be in this pit of vipers and he can actually learn how to be a human being who is treated with more respect than what he gets now.

i keep harping on this same point, but it is insane to me that a show that is entirely built on people's messy relationships has given me not one iota of evidence to prove any of these people should be getting nasty with each other. it's not even 'oh they're bad for each other' (which they are), it's that the writing is doing nothing to establish the bonds and hoping a handful of talented actors (this is not everyone in the cast, fwiw) will be able to provide enough chemistry to cover for paper-thin narrative work.

and as soon as i unpause, i get a 'sweet' boston/nick scene, which might land if i gave the slightest shit about them as people. the cutesy scenes are actively insulting to my intelligence, like i've forgotten the entire show has been built on people betraying, cheating on, lying to, and being heinous to each other. this just feels like all of these dumbfucks have short-term memory loss and can't remember how wretched they were to each other five minutes ago.

nick: i could do animation in new york. i could work at pixar.

the amount of white-hot rage i feel at this 'oh the kids hate ray and they need sand' scene is incalculable. the gears of this raggedy writing are straining.

oh my god. are they seriously going to have a relationship heart-to-heart while ray is doing community service? fuck this show.

what is ray's fucking deal about boeing? this is honestly pathological and creepy. i think they're trying to make a point about ray's insecurity due to his deep-seated trauma but it's insecurity due to deep-seated trauma as interpreted by an alien who has never had exposure to human beings before.

creak creak creak go the gears of this idiotic manufactured boeing drama. this thing is so underwritten and badly paced and poorly planned i'm shocked it wasn't a lucasfilm production. this is dickensian levels of padding. was this dictated to a five-year-old who kept going 'and then what?' to avoid going to sleep?

can't type anymore, boston just ran into boeing at the club and my eyes rolled out of my head and ended up across the room

oh for FUCK'S SAKE this is so FUCKING STUPID

cheum seeing boston arrive and being like 'well now boston can prostrate himself for absolution in front of all of us' go fuck yourself you cow

like yeah boston's boeing makeout was the stupidest moment of this episode and that's saying something considering top and mew exist but that also is so clearly some more clumsily engineered writing to go Ooga Booga Boston Bad Slut Ooga Booga that i'm more annoyed with the writers than boston as a character

this is so fucking nasty. jesus christ. some real weather underground weatherfries shit, except, oops, the circle is one person and everyone else is virtuous and perfect and has never done anything wrong. i hope a meteorite hits the hostel.

i also hope someone drowns mew in the river like a kangaroo

sorry i said the stupidest scene of the episode was boeing and boston making out because of course they play truth or dare and of course sand is kissing top. whatever. who gives a shit. god is dead and life is meaningless.

'being with you gives me so much positive energy' bitch are you serious please say sike

GET FUCKED, MEW, GET FUCKED, I AM SO SICK OF YOUR BITCH ASS, I HOPE YOU DIE, I HAVE NEVER HATED A CHARACTER SO MUCH AS YOU, I HOPE TOP GIVES YOU SYPHILIS

the boston/nick breakup scene hit with the force of a light breeze so that was a big nothing

god why on earth do i have to fucking keep seeing top and mew. jesus fuck. no one likes them. their story has no narrative urgency. god damn.

i actually can't do it. i'm fast-forwarding through this scene because i'm so fucking sick of them.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA THE HOTEL IS ON FIRE HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

normally i have a bad reaction to fires in media but also in this case i'm allowed to celebrate it as a treat

of course it wasn't even a bad one. both of them should have been burned alive, but i'm not getting anything i want in this show.

cannot believe they got seven minutes of screentime as opposed to boston and nick's, like, one. the narrative favoritism in this show is repulsive.

'and you must trust me' ray i wouldn't trust you to dress yourself without zipping your dick into the fly of your pants

'i want an easy but meaningful name' sand already has one but as usual you have to bulldoze over anything he has as an individual so you can smear your feces on every lampshade he owns

wow even in the post-credits scene and even when boston's a continent away these useless shithogs can't miss a chance to humiliate him

'don't worry if you're alone. we can be your friends.' i'm calling the cops to report a terrorist threat

in conclusion:

[willowedwisteria]

Wisti

I just had the goriest idea for a fix I had in my Tumblr life

Bloody Mary!reader imposter au

So basically all who hunted down reader would get tortured, and most popularly via getting their limbs stretched until they almost fall off and reader would then pull out all their guts, but its a special case for the archons

The archons would be blinded as they hear the sounds of people's screams while the reader tortures them and then leaves their heads to be skewered on a spear at the gates

And then for the finally, the archive would be tortured by the white room torture method.

Was it gory enough?

TW: gore

Once they've found out that you're the real deal, you decide to trick them into "forgiveness". You tell them to look in the mirror, and repeat your name 3 times in a row for redemption.

They would be confused, but most will believe your words. Plus, it sounds so simple and easy. You truly are a kind god to spare them in such a way.

Others would be a slight bit rebellious. We deserve a more significant punishment, your grace, we've done something unforgivable. They're absolutely right, but at least they're aware, unlike some people who crumble to their knees in front of you and wail for your mercy like a child.

"Bloody mary," Time is ticking.

"Bloody mary," Children are crying.

"Bloody mary," And their fate is sealed.

Once they stare back at their reflection in the mirror, they see you - but something's different. The specific scars that you've received from them are fresh, almost as if you had just gotten injured. A knife in the stomach? They'll see the blade sticking out of your gut. Your divine features tainted by countless scratches? They'll begin to ooze out wine red blood.

It was already torture standing right there in the reflection, all of the irreversible injuries you've received, all of the pain and suffering. It was as if... they felt your injuries shaking their core. However, what broke them the most was your expression. Depending on the person, you would either be violently sobbing or glaring at them.

Your tears were like a waterfall, a violent storm of emotions that swirled around and they couldn't stop it. Banging on the mirror won't work, no matter how much they'd want to hold you in their arms and comfort you.

The way your eyes pierced through their body, your furrowed eyebrows, and that disappointed glare. They could hear you, your splendid voice ringing in their ears. Oh, why was someone so serene shouting at me? Oh, how could I make their grace hate me?

Your reflection suddenly lunges at them, hands escaping the mirror and latching onto their shoulders. Your fingernails dig deeper into their shoulder, intentionally making them wince under you. Dragging them into the mirror, you arrive at your own abode, ordering the archons around to help you, their punishment will be last.

As much as you would love to completely rip their organs apart, you don't like the idea of a city not being able to function. Thus, you decide to just leave those who are protecting the cities with scars, maybe ripping off a few fingers will satisfy you enough! (You wonder if claymore users will be alright after losing a few fingers though)

Though, now that you think more clearly about it, archons that have already retired such as Venti and Zhongli have lost their former will to govern their people. They had no control, so you suppose less of a punishment would be alright.

Lesser lord Kusanali has her suspicions about who you truly are, and so did her people. They couldn't be sure if you were an imposter or the real deal, so they welcomed you, but with restrictions. Understandable, you suppose, at least they weren't searching the whole globe for a trace of you.

"Oh dear, archons, your time is up!" You gleefully chirp, through the mirror. Once they examine more, they realize that there are scattered body parts behind you. Fingers, eyeballs, nails, heads, limbs, organs, and even bones. "Isn't it pretty? I feel quite satisfied with myself," Once you cheer for yourself and jump up in joy, you stumble on a rolling arm.

Picking it up for them to see, grinning innocently - malicious intent buried in your heart, you toss the hand across the room, and a horrified voice shrieks. "I gave out so many punishments and I'm sure I've carried out what I need to."

Your hands grip the edges of the mirror, leaning in closer, "But it's not enough yet."

Ei has one of her eyes gouged out in front of Kujou Sara and her subordinates, your finger inch deeper, humming to the sound of the thunderstorms. You finally pull her eye out, stepping out of the mirror as she clutches the area around her eye whilst blood spills out. "You'll need to do some paperwork, right? So I'll spare you an eye," You laugh.

Venti's vocal cords are ripped out, and you happily preserve them in your own abode. How will he ever fulfill his role as a bard if he has no voice? What a shame indeed. "I wonder if I can fix your vocal cords, but perhaps with the voice of a pig or an animal." You kneel to him, watching him desperately gasping for air, coughing out blood violently. "Maybe the vocal cords of a certain dragon will do!"

You ban the growing of glaze lilies and make sure they can never return again. Oh dear, Zhongli! I'm sure Guizhong would understand, right? Wait, Zhongli has already moved on from Guizhong's death? Then we'll just tear out his fingernails and toenails!

[nukirk]

I briefly mentioned in a previous post about the uncertainty of the future of my Tumblr profile(s).

That's because it's going to become WordPress. Sorta.

Basically, Automattic (the company that owes Tumblr now) is losing money in developing features for Tumblr and all the things that is currently on Tumblr isn't helping to break even. They already cut Tumblr staff, reducing it to a skeleton crew. Remember all the original Tumblr programming that the Tumblr staff tries to come up with? That's currently off the table.

Since I already use WordPress to run my websites outside of here, it's not a bad thing on an interface level. But the main idea on why I use(d) Tumblr is for the community aspect of it. They are still working on integrating Tumblr into the Fediverse, opening the Tumblr community to others, interacting with posts from other spots, making Tumblr an alternative to Elon Musk's site.

So good news... all the work you put into Tumblr won't disappear. Tumblr is what I like to call a "backbone" site, where it's a launch pad for a lot of memes and human creativity. The interface will change and you'll pretty much have an experience similar to WordPress.

The bad news? The "hell site" you love to hate and its uniqueness is slowly disappearing, all because the fan base here is just hard to please and monetized.

I should know. @thoughtremixer has close to 24K followers. But using it nowadays almost means nothing. I do notice the people that see me, but beyond that, anything that I post barely gets double digits.

I'm not saying "oh, we should support Tumblr and buy subscriptions". But I am saying that if you have a creator that you adore and they are elsewhere, make sure to follow them there. Some of us are trying to make ends meet by getting our content to be seen by where the eyeballs are at. It's why I haven't posted on Tumblr back when everything was functional.

So, if you have a creator on Tumblr that you love, follow them at least on some other network of their choice. Make the effort because Tumblr will not be enough now that resources will be spent on trying to get change Tumblr into something else.

[toyotacorolla2008]

hi!!! i was wondering if you could do a tutorial for how you draw transformers? i can never simplify them like you can. do you have any tips?? also love your art sm <33

hi ヾ(•ω•`)o

I WILL TRY MY best to explain what i do… i don’t actually have a very structured system but this is vaguely how i got started and how i simplified the process

1. look up and compile a whole bunch of references

this will be useful for EVERYTHING– transfomos come with lots of shapes and gizmos and details and stuff so a variety of references from different angles and in different poses is really useful because you can see the shapes they’re made out of and also understand how everything connects with each other

trapezoid town! this is a mess but it’s a quick example of how by looking at everything you start to notice trends or details like what moves with what or how flexible some parts are

there are a whole bunch of resources very nice people have compiled on the web like here here here here and here (mainly MTMTE) and there is a discord server (this is a link to a tumblr post about it and not the invite link itself) for it too but you can always look through the source material and just start screenshotting and pasting shit into a folder. 

you don’t have to do humongous in-depth breakdowns if you just want to be able to quickly doodle robots (god knows i don’t!!) but having the references on-hand makes it easier for the times when you’re like This pose is going to be challenging and I’m not sure how all of the cuboids will be positioned.

references also help break you out of thinking of it as just drawing blockier humans because the proportions and shapes vary a looooooot

2. draw draw draw

at first i drew a lot using refs heavily to get an idea of the shapes then i got lazy and just started drawing anime girls and smacking rectangles and kibble on top BUT as you draw more and more you start to pick up on the Salient Features as well as their General Silhouette.

drawing from memory means that what makes them look recognisable will become more emphasised in your mind so you’ll naturally pick up on how you can simplify them without losing what makes your guy Look Like Your Guy. so if you want to simplify the robots just be incredibly lazy like me B)

i'm kind of horrible because i don't even do like Basic Shapes i literally just eyeball it

for poses i rectangle it out while thinking really hard

anyway when i first tried to draw transformers but Something Didn’t Look Right it was either a) the level of detail across the entire drawing was inconsistent and threw it off balance or b) proportions weren’t right and these things only got better with me finangling and doodling and learning by iteration.

of course sometimes i don’t give a fuck because no cops in transformers doodle land but yeahhhh i’m the kind of guy who only gets through stuff by throwing a lot of rocks at it. i don’t have a Method to offer you unfortunately but what i did do was

3. experiment and exaggerate and experiment!!

The First Rule of Gun Safety is to Have Fun and Be Yourself! i took a lot of liberties and rarely stayed on-model when i doodled and waffled around (and i still do…) but it helped me figure out how much i was willing to draw lol and consequently how i would stylise them.

i would play with how big or small or exaggerated or expressive they'd be… even my most detailed drawings are nowhere near comic-detail but my least detailed ones were. turquoise triangle that’s vaguely brainstorm-shaped. having fun with it and just doing it to make stupid jokes makes the practice seem like not practice.

so yeah tl;dr i started by reffing what bots actually look like, would trace comic panels to get an idea of the shapes and details and then start drawing side-by-side → drew billions of perceptors from my diseased mind and played around with lines → ??? → upgraded from goofy-looking rectangles to goofy-looking rectangles

that’s it for advice! (i don’t feel qualified to say that much)

below are just examples of stupid doodles i’d make on my ipad in class or in the margins of assignments lol, you can tell the last one is from when i still didn't understand brainstorm's build very well because the wings are placed wrongly... But i grew.

hope this was somewhat helpful! there are other tutorials from other artists that i can direct you to but this is how toyotacorolla2008 got to shitposting on tumblr dot com

[tunedtostatic]

My home state of Vermont (I am not there right now) is undergoing historic flooding, with many areas worse off than when Hurricane Irene hit a decade ago. You can read more in this tumblr post, and the vermont public radio site here.

I'm going to do charity commissions this week when things have settled down enough that more fundraising pages and damage assessments are going up. The current influx of volunteers and donations is truly a great thing, but I know from experience that Vermont (like plenty of other places on this planet) is not great about distributing help evenly, to put it mildly. While there's not much I can do to help I at least want to be on the lookout for places having a hard time getting eyeballs on their fundraisers.

(I do not want this casual venting to dissuade anyone from donating through the main gateways! To the best of my knowledge they are ABSOLUTELY helping people, and at worst you'll donate to a nonprofit that is Flawed But Basically Fine.)

I'm thinking I'll offer collages (fanmix covers, fic covers, &c, if you follow me you've seen these but I'll have examples in the actual post) for proof of donation of $5 or more. I'm also thinking about doing short folktale-inspired story commissions, of the kind where people can pick a [noun] and a [noun] and a [plot point].

Technically I could paint but I'm a little rusty to want to commit to that. If you can think of anything you've seen me create that you might be interested in commissioning, let me know!

[iturbide]

you echoed my earlier thoughts on the 'raidons exactly! i wasn't sure i liked the idea of players being given a legendary so early and using it as a bike of all things. since gen iii so many legendaries have basically been deities or the physical manifestation of some abstract concept — and the more powerful and mythical they get, the more absurd it feels to do things like, to quote an old tumblr post, "[ putting ] a bow on it and make it dance around [ in contests ]". i was worried SV was going to take that to its logical extreme.

but no, the 'raidons aren’t some majestic, god-adjacent creature letting a kid use them as a mount bc they're special and have "a pure heart" or whatever, they’re a [ redacted ] that we befriended bc they are little sandwich goblins. like, they beg for table scraps with puppydog eyes. they curl up to sleep. probably lick their own eyeballs like a gecko. they’re a creature.

i just really like this dialing back of the cover legendaries to just being some incredibly rare beast. they're more approachable and it makes doing stuff with them more believable.

YEAH EXACTLY THIS I honestly was not expecting how well and naturally the 'raidons would be integrated into the gameplay mechanics. Their nature as Legendaries also really feels like it hearkens back to older gens, where in theory there were (or could be) more than one: Entei's dex entries through at least Gen 7 state that "it is said that one is born every time a new volcano appears." We haven't seen Legendaries like that in a while, so seeing that approach with the 'raidons was extremely refreshing.

And it's all done so well. They have so much personality. They're basically giant lizard-cats. They want to join your picnics specifically to eat your sandwiches. They make little croony noises and fidget around when you give them baths. There is so much personality in them from the way they move to the noises they make that I couldn't help falling in love with them. I don't think I've ever had a Legendary I used enough to consider it a friend until Koraidon. They absolutely nailed it with this approach and exceeded all my expectations.