#the good news is y’all may be getting more consistent posts

[phantomsies]

me returning after a month of not posting shit with a head full of ideas knowing good and goddamn well I have a 8 page paper due Sunday

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

cute j word stuff 😳

J WORD LITERALLY HASN'T GOTTEN AN EVENT SSR SINCE THE FIRST HALLOWEEN EVENT IN OCTOBER 2020 🤡 (and even then, his role in that event wasn't massive; Twst was still trying to iron out its kinks in event stories back then).

i'M SO HAPpYN THAT HE FINALYLR GETS TO hAVEQ ANTOHER EVENT SSR aND HAV EFUN ANd bE SO sdORDADlBLE IN ULTRAMARINER TOWN fwgvkjwvkwi3qrt463t87pteqgadgnafho OTL It feels like forever since he last got this much delicious new content…

Here’s a list the things J word did and/or said in Eternity Float that I found really cute. This is in no particular order; just consider this a stream of consciousness!! This also only covers episodes 1-3 of the event; the rest of Eternity Float doesn’t come out until May 5th so I may make a separate post for that.

Bro calls it FATE when he pretends to run into Yuu and Grim at Ramshackle. F A T E.

When Jade asked if Yuu and Grim would like to go to a wedding with him, the phrasing was such that he could easily be mistaken as inviting them to HIS wedding. Did he ask it like that on purpose just to mess with them 💀

Jade witnessing an Eternity Float as a child and loving that he got to see the desperate bride and groom screaming as they clung onto their rowboat for dear life… Of course he’d want to participate in one himself, JUST TO SOW MORE CHAOS.

NOT HIM LOW-KEY MAKING EVERYTHING A COMPETITION. Racing to be the first to a bench, catching two crabs AT ONCE in the water instead of crabs skittering on land, suggesting rock, paper, scissors to settle who will be the person to go without crab for dinner…

ALL THE MIND GAMES???? Manipulating Riddle and Malleus (and Rook, but Rook basically needs no convincing to go along with Jade’s invite) by using their weaknesses—Riddle’s wish to maintain the dignity and honor of a dorm leader, Malleus’s desire to be invited and included in group activities—against them… Bro fr played them like fiddles 🎻

CALLING US HIS “close friends”????????? Idk y’all, do you boot your “close friends” out of their home while you hold their house hostage OTL

Jade bluntly telling his mom “Azul did not wish to see you, mother” AnD THEn ALSO HAVinG THE AUDACITY tO ENCOURAGE HER TO TAlK WITH AzUL AS MUChsAS ShE WANTS NEXt TIME THEY vISIT HOME… Azul, Jade is NOT on your side for this one.

He’s absolutely killing that outfit 😭 GOOD JOB PICKING IT OUT FOR HIM, LEECH MAMA

HUMBLE BRAGGING ABOUT HIS CRAB-CATCHING SKILLS

Clowning on Grim for “using himself as [crab] bait” 🦀 (Rook’s the one who was concerned for Grim, Jade just smiled at Grim’s suffering…)

Him casually mentioning that the Mostro Lounge’s tuna sandwiches use the tasty canned tuna from the Sunshine Lands… Somewhere in the distance, you can hear Azul clapping for this free ad placement.

Calling a stray cat a DOG.

Not only acting out for the puppet show but putting forth the extra effort to use different voices for the different characters (INCLUDING barking for Max the dog). This makes me feel like Jade would be really great at reading picture books to his (hypothetical) child or children!! Or even reading to a whole group of them at like a library event or something.

Buying souvenir puppets for Azul and Floyd!! And then inviting their peers to a puppet show at the Mostro Lounge to pressure Azul to fulfill a promise. That means, in just ONE, Jade has invited Malleus go TWO things: the wedding and to a puppet show at a later date. Jade’s literally breaking all kinds of records here.

Eating his portion of crab VERY conspicuously, just to subtly rub it in Grim’s face 💀

Jade knowing so much about Ultramarine City, even though he wasn’t born there. (I barely know anything about the place I was born in, so this is really impressive to me.) True, he did visit quite often to learn about and prepare for life on land, but I think it’s great that he’s consistently curious and wants to keep learning new things all of the time.

Georgina telling us more about Jade as a little kid 🥺 how he and Floyd would always be in sync when it came to mischief, even if their interests differed and they often spent time apart…

Learning that Jade manifested his magic in his last year of elementary school, two months after Floyd!!

He gets to eat his favorite food… octopus carpaccio… Jade goes into such detail about it, it’s like he’s a judge in a cooking manga. And he gets to enjoy mushrooms (porcini orzo) too!! I’m so happy seeing that he’s eating well 🍱

Intentionally slicing the prosciutto pizza into slices of different sizes SO HE CAN WATCH HIS CLASSMATES FIGHT OVER WHO GETS THE BuGGEST PIECES. He would have gotten away with it too, were it not for Rook intervening—

Teaching Riddle and Malleus how to row the boat!! Jade is actually a really good instructor.

Giving a big, dramatic speech about how they should absolutely obey his every word (because the sea is so dangerous, and one wrong move could mean death)… only for him to use this as a pretense to absolve himself of suspicion when he fucks with them 💀 LIKE HE SORTA ShAMES THEM WhEN THEY QuESTION WHY HE DIDN’T CORRECT THE DiRECTION THRY WERE SiTTING TO ROW.

TRICKING RIDDLE AND MALLEUS INTO SHOUTING “Fight on, fight on!! Go, go!!” AND ALSO SING WHILE THEY ROW while having completely serious facial expressions… and getting Yuu to record all of this silliness for posterity 😭

He taught Riddle and Malleus how to row in a straight line but not how to get back… and let them row so far out that they struggle to hear his other directions from the pier.

aHHHHHhHHhhHGgggghhhhhhHHHHHHH J WORD ROWING THE rOWBOaT FOR US IN THE RHYTHMiC, THE KISS THE GIRL RHyTHMICCCCCCCC 🙂‍↕️ HE’S PriNCE ERIC, HEm’S pRINCE ERiCING SO HARD RitFHT NOW 🗣️ (Yuu has a dialogue option after the Rhythmic; YOU CAN CALL YOUR EXPERIENCE “romantic”, THIS IS NOT A DRILL)

Jade speaks Italian this event!!! It’s not full sentences, mostly just short phrases (primo piatto, secondo piatto) and words (ristorante, taverna, names of dishes, etc.) dhshwjdvkekw BUT I STILL FIND IT CHARMING, OKAY.

The way Georgina comments that Jade has gotten very good at using cutlery?? Implying he used to be so much clumsier?? Yeah, I know we all start off with no knowledge but this is significant because his twin, Floyd, just wings everything and can do so well with minimal effort sometimes. Floyd is a genius—but Jade is not. Jade has to work hard to be good at stuff, it doesn’t come naturally to him—and I think that’s really admirable.

Some of his responses to Yuu dialogue choices are cute 😭 Some standout moments: 1) if Yuu says they didn’t recognize Jade with his new hair, he says he must have Yuu get to know him better 2) if Yuu is successful at catching a crab, Jade suggests that they go after bigger game someday do you count as bigger game, Jade—, 3) if Yuu expresses hesitation to dance, Jade essentially replies with, “Not to worry, I will take the lead. No matter how bad you are [at dancing], I will support you.” STONE COLD backhanded kindness 🫣

Jade gets nostalgic seeing all the townspeople dancing in the plaza… It reminded him of when he was clumsy with his feet. Watching those mesmerizing movements gave him the motivation he needed to keep practicing walking and then eventually running. Again, another example of Jade having to work really hard to get to where he currently is!!

Georgina calling her own sons [name]-san (an honorific usually for strangers or to indicate politeness) kills me every time 😂 ShE’s WVEN MORE FORmAL ThAN JADE. I wonder if he intentionally tries to emulate her mannerisms???

HE PRACTICED SLICKING BACK HIS HAIR FOR THIS WEDdiNG?????!?!!?!

Practicing pushing his hair back/styling it for this very event 😭

HIM TELLING GRIM THEY RAISED tHE ShIP IN THE BOTTLE FRom a BABY ShiP 🚢

My favorite moment in this event (so far) is during the dance in Port Inn Plaza. The locals see the NRC students dancing and begin to join in the dance!! Jade smiles to himself and says that this feels so exhilarating; it’s something he couldn’t ever have imagined in the past. “Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful memories.” *SLAMS HEAD INTO THE WALL* ARE YOU kliDDING ME???!!??!!!!!??????? OTL J word, this conniving liar and manipulator, ACTUALLY BEING sENTiMENTAL AnD EARnEST FOR ONCE?????? YOU MIGHT As WELL KiLL ME NOW, TGAT WOULD cAUSE mE LESS EMOTIONAL DiSTRESS.

He’s having so much fun and living his best life out here, it’s great seeing him being in his full element 😭

[deantfwinchester]

Care in Cartography

Pairing: No-Outbreak!AU, Joel x Teacher!Reader, same timeline - established relationship, marriage

*This one is set post-wedding but pre-pregnancies. I’ll place it chronologically in the masterlist, but it truly can be read as a standalone like all the others.*

Summary: As your therapy sessions get more intense, you start to experience physical symptoms of trauma processing - in this case, migraines.

Warnings: angst, fluff, mental illness, trauma processing, vague discussion of past abuse but no specifics. (Reader is still pretty blank-slatey, but has a history of trauma prior to meeting Joel)

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: Okay divas, two years later the continuation of “A Simple Request” is in the works. This self-indulgent, very self-insert-y nonsense is me taking a break from my much more well-crafted story.

Maybe i’ll post a WIP of the third part of ASR soon if anyone’s interested? As good-faith promise that I’m actually working on it? lol. y’all enjoy my wayyy too personal word vomit here 🫶

_________________________________________________

The migraines are new. You’re not sure when they started, but it certainly took you a long time to figure out what they were. You’d grown accustomed to headaches, but these were different. A pain that started in your brain stem and grew up the side and back until you were wading through the world in a pulsating helmet of pain. Often you’d wake up with them, or they’d settle in just after therapy, later that night.

When they wouldn’t respond to your regular Advil or Tylenol, you tried everything: wearing your blue light glassed all damn day, mindfulness at your desk during the brief silence of your empty classroom, drinking so much water you had to pee damn near once a class period, but no luck. With no discernible cause, at a certain point you just got fucking curious - could it be related to the somatic stuff in therapy? You know the body stuff is fairly new but incredibly integral, and you’ve also done enough research to know symptoms can appear that feel super disjointed. Fuck.

You do some googling and it starts to make sense. That CPTSD subreddit reads your mind like usual, and sure enough, other people have had similar experiences. The real trouble with these is that they’re getting too consistent to hide from Joel. It’s becoming more and more difficult to brush off or distract him when they start to appear. When more weeks pass and the headaches get more intense and consistent, your ability to power through them wanes. Coupled with the exhaustion from the day, your Thursday nights become a wash. You have no choice but to tell your husband what’s going on.

Joel knows about your past, that’s not what worries you. He knows about the difficulties you’ve endured with your mental health, of course the ones you still suffer, and the early experiences that put you in the weekly therapy you’ve been in since before you met. Moreover, he knows why you’ve committed so hard to getting deeper these past few months. You two have talked about having more kids, about wanting a baby. You’ve talked it out with Sarah too, making sure she’s comfortable and securely aware that she means the entire world to the both of you. She’s excited to be a big sister at this point, and y’all can hardly wait. But there’s work you need to do first, and you told Joel as much.

At first he insisted the way you are with Sarah is evidence you’re more than ready to become a mother for the second time, but you know too well what unhealed wounds can do between mother and child. You explained how they can pass from mother to child, these unhealed parts. You tell Joel you won’t get pregnant without doing a good bit of the work first. You know the journey is lifelong, but your body has to be yours and yours alone while you take on the physical toll of this early healing.

Joel understands you, and admires the dedication you have to your little family. He may not have the words for it, but damn if he isn’t impressed and grateful for the mission you’re on to sever the cycle you were born into. If it’s something you need, he wants you to do it. He made it more than clear that he’d be there, supporting you, every step of the way.

While he doesn’t fully understand it, he isn’t surprised when you tell him what’s happening with the migraines. That they’re probably gonna get worse before they get better while you release and re-experience traumas stored in your mind and body over the next few months. He expresses worry over this price you’re paying, but is assuaged when you ensure it’s better for you in the long run. He believes you, and acknowledges you’re doing it for more than just you. And that he appreciates it.

When Joel comes home one Thursday night to find you curled up, room dark and blinds closed, space washed in an uncharacteristic silence, he knows what’s going on. Gently as can be, he just sidles up next to you and brushes your hair back from your face, half-squished into the pillow. When he lays the back of his hand against your forehead, checking your temperature just in case, your eyes slide open and he knows damn well what he’s dealing with. He lets out an almost-silent “Hey darlin’. Let’s get you settled, hm?” before setting about doing what he can to care for you.

Joel gets the ice packs, recently-acquired migraine-specific meds in case you forgot them, refills your Emotional Support Water Bottle with fresh, cold water, some source of caffeine, and anything else he can think of. He’ll handle dinner too, of course — weekly schedule be damned.

Joel’s muttering nonsensical words of comfort while lying next to you when you speak for the first time:

“We really oughta switch thursday nights out at this point.” Though your words are somewhat muffled into the pillow, he can make out enough to know you’re referring to your weekly dinner schedule — you’re Tuesday & Thursdays, Joel’s Monday, Wednesday, and grilling on Sundays. You take most summer nights because it just makes sense, and Fridays and Saturdays are take-out, date nights, or social events, reliably.

“What makes you say that, darlin’?” he asks, and in the deep blue-gray of the room you can just make out his strong brow furrowed in confusion. You lift your head and turn just enough to be sure Joel can hear you clearly, though your voices both remain hushed.

“You’re always so sweet, and you know I appreciate it, but don’t you get tired of this Joel?” you ask, an injured desperation plagued your voice and you look at him — even in the dark he can see how wide your eyes are, glistening with a mixture of guilt and pain. “Week after week, you get home from working all day, and I’m just fucking laying here in the dark? Can’t do shit, I’m terrible fucking company, not even making dinner on my night” your voice is breaking, and his face does the same, crumpling at your distressed tone and undercurrent of fear and helplessness in your troubled words.

“Sweetheart, what the hell gave you that idea? Never in my life have I been tired of taking care of you. And I never will be,” he says in a gentle whisper, stroking your hair lightly, testing the waters for comforting touch at the locus of your pain.

“But being this fucking useless, on the regular?! You can’t tell me it doesn’t get old,” you rebut, and he knows where this is coming from. He’s seen this fear in you before, and he knows it’s a remnant of whatever you talked about in therapy today. The dregs of old moments of abuse, feeling burdensome at the hands of people you trusted, had no choice but to trust. He used to get angry thinking about it, about the people who treated you that way. Now he’s just grateful you’re here, laying in front of him right now, stronger and more resilient than any goddamn soul he’s ever seen.

“Baby, the only thing that bothers me about this newest ritual of ours is seeing you in pain. You know I know it ain’t your fault. You can’t help hurting, honey. And don’t you dare think I don’t know it’s because you’re workin so hard, sweetheart,” Joel pleads, his own voice beginning to crack now, thinking of everything you’re having to do to keep yourself safe. Everything you’re doing to prepare yourself to expand your family, the sacrifices you’re making for the child you’ll have together before they’re even on the way. Your eyes fall, shying away from his own, and he pulls your gaze back up to meet his own.

“I know you need this - all of this work - for you and for us. I hate seeing you hurting so much, sweet girl, but knowing you dealing with this now will keep you safe, keep you here with me? I’ll lay right here in the dark with you, shoveling cheerios in every damn week for the rest of my life, if it’ll help you, baby” he’s smiling at you now, but his eyes are wet with empathy and concern. His voice is rougher now, like he’s talking through tears he won’t let slip - like holding strength for the both of you is paramount in this moment.

Joel rubs your back with a pressure you recognize. He wants you to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he’s here, in every possible way. You reach out to touch his cheek, applying a pressure of your own. One that tells him to let the emotion flow if he needs to, and you know he’s recognized it when you feel hot tears slowly slide into the crevice between your palm and his stubbled cheek, before swiping a thumb beneath his eye, collecting the wet traces of love he can’t contain onto the pad of your finger.

You’re crying now too, and he shushes you in his thickened voice, knowing you need to keep the fluid. “C’mon now, baby. I’ll never tell you not to cry when you need it, but tears’ll only make your head feel worse. Gotta keep you hydrated.” He grins and you release a wet chuckle of your own before scooting closer to bury your head in his neck, tucked tight under his chin. His arm tightens around your back like he wants you melted into his chest, like he knows he can keep you safe if he can tuck you right in next to his other beating heart.

He’s rocking you both ever so lightly now. Not enough to aggravate the pain in your head, but enough to will you to sleep through it. When you wake in a few hours he’ll make sure you eat something, and once you sleep again you’ll wake up Friday morning right as rain. This isn't uncharted territory for him, and he’ll play cartographer for as long as you need. Lord knows you’ve mapped miles and miles since joining their little family a few years back. The two of you will scribe new paths in graphite back and forth and together, erasing and replotting whenever needed, for the rest of your days. As long as you’ll let him.

[shawtythatluvsurgut]

hey guys. i got back from seeing my dad (i was gone all of september doing that) and realized that im $150 short on rent for this month. i lost around 50 subs from that one month i took away and i totally understand and am not mad at anyone for unsubbing, but it’s put me in a pickle for paying my rent in november. by a pickle, i mean that im $150 short. it’s embarrassing to admit this, but i miscalculated when i bought my tickets to stay longer and thought id have enough for my upcoming rent. technically i should have had enough, but losing that many subs really put a dent in my finances. i’m kinda stressing right now so if anyone can send anything id appreciate the help so so much. i will also send personalized content as a thank you. you can also help by subscribing to my OF (im back to posting somewhat regularly) so that we both benefit.

i’m sorry that the disneyland plan didn’t work out. i was looking forward to eating good, way too expensive food, but my dad’s health took a turn. that’s why i made the last minute decision to cancel disney and extend my trip in north cal. i couldn’t get a refund because disney is full of cash cows, so im kinda screwed right now. i’m glad i recalculated before the first of november hit because i can at least try to see if anyone can help.

also, i have video ideas coming to my OF. right now i want to keep my weight somewhat consistent or maybe gain slowly because i, too, have been having some minor health issues (not due to gaining, but gaining isn’t helping right now). I AM NOT LOSING WEIGHT OR PLANNING TO. I am just going to go easy on how fast i gain. i have a stuffing video planned for this month, along with my usual pictures semi-daily.

i just needed to be upfront and let everyone know what is going on with me. my dad is dying, i’m in school and i hate it, school has been taking up a LOT of my free time, i didn’t calculate my money correctly, and i got my meds switched. i feel like a zombie lately. and i may have lost a friendship/relationship that was very dear to my heart in the midst of this stress.

if i had other options, i would choose those first. but, unfortunately, i don’t. i don’t mean to sound like a bum asking y’all to help me financially or sub to my OF or whatever, but im kinda freaking out a little. so if anyone can help, even just an OF subscription, i would GREATLY appreciate it. even if it’s just for this month.

i feel so pathetic right now begging for help online, but hopefully my upfront honesty will relate to someone. sometimes saving is hard and i’m a blonde so ya know i can’t do math and idk im embarrassed. if anyone wants to buy a custom please message me on here or on OF if you’re subscribed. i’ll be putting in the work to try to bring y’all back and keep y’all satisfied. that’s a big priority for me and im sorry again to anyone who subbed to watch me eat at disneyland. i didn’t want to cancel that, but my dad was officially diagnosed with congestive heart failure on the day before i was supposed to fly down to LA and i couldn’t leave him. he’s put in the work to earn his spot back in my life and i couldn’t leave him the day he got that news. i love him and my mom despite any hardships and the last thing i could do was ditch him. i hope me being real helps you guys understand why i didn’t deliver on the disneyland content.

i understand if you are upset and you have every right to be! but i figured maybe being honest about what im going through could maybe help some of y’all build back trust with me. i feel very awkward and uncomfortable sharing such intimate information, but i think it’s what’s fair to all of you. thank you to all who have stuck around <3 and thank you to any/all who subscribe and/or send me money to help me out.

sending so much love to you all, as this has been a hard year for more people than just myself. the world needs a bit of honesty and transparency, and you all deserve that, so that’s what i’m going to give. <3

- Nico

[vesperpharsalius]

hey, i'm new to here so i dont know if someone asked you to same question so, sorry to bother. may i ask if you countinuing your fic ice and fire? as i say i'm kinda new and i dont know your update schedule or smth. have a good day!!😚

Well... welcome to my corner of the hellsite! Happy to have you. Please feel free to send me messages and asks; my inbox is always open (although it’s bursting at the moment and I tend to reply with about as much speed as you’d expect if we were communicating by preindustrial transatlantic letter) and I don’t mind repeating myself in the slightest. An admirer could never bother me.

😘

So, there really is no underestimating or underselling how passionate I am about Ice and Fire and Alis Aquilae, generally, which is the collective name for my planned Bellonaverse. Words, quite simply, fail me whenever I try to convey the depth of my obsession.

Let me just say this: if, for whatever reason, this project is abandoned, it will be for one reason and one reason only: I am dead. Mourn me. Remember me fondly. Because nothing but death itself could keep me from finishing it—and, indeed, it may very kill me. I am currently committing acts of hubris in this endeavor from which I may never recover. But goddamn it, kitten—we are finding this Northwest Passage and exploring Darrow’s southwest passage, too.

The good news is that the bulk of I&F is already rough–drafted. When I first started posting, about fifteen months ago, I thought it was closer to being done and that I’d only need to do some final touches on each chapter before I published it, and… yeah. No.

🤡

Extensive rewriting and revising and polishing has delayed progress significantly; I never thought it’d take more than a few months to finish this, tbh, and it’ll be two years, come July. And, hell, I’m not even halfway through; fourteen—out of 150? To say nothing of the supplementary fics that I’ve planned for AA, written from the perspective of other characters that will complement the main trilogy; these will be about 50k apiece. 

Which is not exactly… inspiring.

😬

I also completely underestimated how distracting feedback would be. It’s difficult—almost impossible, really—for me to focus on I&F itself when I have so many wonderful comments and messages and asks that I could be answering instead, because I enjoy discussing my fics far more than I enjoy writing them, if I’m honest.

It’s the instant gratification of it all. And, y’know—the praise kink. It’s kinking. 

(If you’ve sent me an ask or a message or left a comment on I&F that I’ve yet to answer, please know that I cherish each and every one and fully intend to respond. Don’t worry about being overlooked or forgotten. But you’ll have to be very patient with me, unfortunately, because I am swamped.)

That said, I’ve decided to change the paradigm a bit. What I’m going to be doing hereafter is batches of twenty–five; so, I’ll write twenty–five chapters, release one (or maybe two) a week, go on hiatus while I write the next twenty–five chapters, and so on. The first batch will be much smaller, only eleven, as I’ve already posted fourteen. 

The hiatuses only apply to the trilogy, though; I’ll throw y’all a different bone to chew on while you’re waiting. The first one will be the final chapters of MTB; after that, though… we’ll start digging into AA’s supplementary fics that I promised and some independent Cassius–centric stuff, too.

Hopefully, this will increase my productivity to a more satisfactory rate and give y’all some consistency in your lives. Really, it’s cruel what I’ve done: all this suspense, these empty promises of updates and responses and sex so torrid that a single read will permanently alter your brain chemistry or damn you straight to superhell.

They should try me at the Hague for this.

At my current pace, I should be able to wrap up I&F by the end of 2025 and get started on the sequel, which is still in the conceptual phase right now. At the very least, though, this series will be ongoing for the next three years.

So. Here’s hoping y’all don’t get too sick of me. 

You can expect Chs. 15–25 of I&F to start getting posted in late June. I’m gonna chain myself to it. I may or may not release Ch. 15 on its own, as it’s 95% done; right now, I’m inclined to save it for the group. 

But... you never know. I have been known to lie.

Thank you for the ask, for your patience, and for being such a good sport as I edge you. What can I say?

In typical Cassius fashion, he’s taking his damn time.

Stay tuned. 

Update: I lied. Ch. 15 is live.

😉

[multiplicity-positivity]

Hi there, we were just wondering if you have any advice on figuring out the separations/differences between alters. We've been on-and-off blurry for like two months and we're pretty sure our regular host hasn't really been fronting much but our memory is kinda consistent between fronters and can make it pretty confusing to tell who we are/who's in front a lot. Thank you in advance, and sorry if we worded this badly :3

Hey, we actually have a couple resources which may help y’all figure out some differences between the alters in your system.

The first is this little template which has a few questions you can ask each other to learn more about one another:

We also have a post with some tips on discovering differences, and sometimes forging new ones, between alters or headmates. The post is kind of long, but it’s an in-depth explanation on how individualizing has worked for us in the past:

A bit of specific advice though…

If it’s kind of hard to tell who is fronting often, maybe try making a habit of jotting down or doing something particular in those moments when you do know who is fronting. This could look like updating a fronting history log, writing in a journal, wearing a certain item of clothing, or doing something specific that the current fronter enjoys (listening to certain music, eating a certain food, working on a certain project or hobby, playing a certain game, etc.). Making a habit of noticing and acknowledging whenever you do know who is fronting in the present may help making these distinctions easier in the future.

Good luck with this. I know our own system can be blurry a lot (a big reason why we stopped doing sign offs here haha) but in general it has gotten better with time and effort spent like, consciously acknowledging those moments when we do know whose fronting.

[cyncerity]

hey mcyt g/t community it’s been a hot minute.

Just wanted to let you know that i’m finally, for literally the first time ever, putting together a definitive and cohesive timeline for the Store Shifter AU. It may shock you to know that no au i’ve ever made has had any form of thought put into an actual list of chronological events. But now, given that the Store Shifter AU is one that has more content and story than my other aus, it needs consistency or i will get so so lost when trying to write more for it.

However, the good news is i wouldn’t need a timeline if i wasn’t writing more, therefore you should be seeing more of it soon! Hopefully! I know I keep saying that but trust me it’s gonna happen eventually!!

This au is not only one of my favorites, but one of the oldest on this blog with its first part having been posted May 13, 2021 (can you believe i’ve been writing this bitch for almost 3 years with no idea what order things happened in? yeah me either). It holds a special place in my heart and y’all aren’t getting rid of it anytime soon >:)

[solsticehymns]

Y’ALL I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT POSTING 💔💔 this exam season going crazyyyy ngl.

good news is: i officially passed 2/4 of my classes! waiting on one more to get graded, and my last final is on monday. and then i literally graduate college next friday holy shit

ANYWAYS my point is. starting like may 12 expect MUCH more consistent and regular updates 🥰

and btw!!! i still have my time travel!reader x sirius longfic that i will be posting in chapters over the summer!! so stay tuned for that and more 🤭🫶

thank you for bearing with me during this little break i promise there is SO MUCH sitting in my drafts and you should def stick around!!

xoxo, sunny ☀️🌻

[iheartgod175]

So, that Star Fox x KonoSuba idea…

It’s had an insane grip on my brain. To the point where my good buddy @blazing-shadows had to spam me with fifty messages, haha XD

Basically, this is what happens when you get your yearly itch for one of your favorite franchises and add in the game that you’ve been playing religiously for a few weeks ^^

I’ve decided to title this silly story “God’s Favor on This Not-Yet-Retired Veteran!” It may be subject to change, though!

This particular crossover idea takes place during the Assault/Command timeline. Why? Because I absolutely ADORE Star Fox Assault, especially Peppy’s portrayal in that game, and while Command is a whole mess, a few ideas/characters were pretty neat (*cough* Lucy *cough*). That, and I wondered what would happen in an alternate scenario where Peppy dies for real during the tail end of the game (a question that has been answered by several authors, actually!).

So the basic gist is that Peppy dies for real after sacrificing the Great Fox, but receives a second chance at life when he meets Aqua, who revives him and sends him to Axel. That second chance at life involves a world where cabbages fly, ranking works like a video game, and the people there are somehow are even bigger a-holes than in the Lylat System. Oh, and he ends up being in a party with one of those a-holes. Not Kazuma—although he’ll definitely meet him later. That would be Dust, the resident town punk, and his long-suffering party consisting of Rin, Keith and Taylor. With his chances at retirement permanently shot, Peppy now has to navigate his new life of being one of the oldest adventurers in Axel, and try not to either rage quit or kill Dust in the process. Meanwhile, in the “real world”, Lylat is reeling from the Aparoid Invasion when the Anglars make their debut, and the fractured Star Fox team must face this amidst team struggles and without their beloved mentor.

It’d be easy to have either Fox or Falco in this scenario, since their personalities would mesh with the craziness perfectly (I personally would nominate Falco for this position since in-universe he’s super competitive), but even before I got into KonoSuba, the idea of Peppy ending up in an isekai situation—especially in this world—was too hilarious to leave alone. Also Peppy’s my favorite character, so that’s a no brainer, lol XD

Also, the main reason I had Peppy team up with Dust is for two reasons: 1. As much as I like Kazuma’s character, I wanted to challenge myself with writing an ensemble cast outside of the main one. Kazuma and his party will definitely get their chance to shine, but I wanted to focus on a different set of adventurers for this story, and the team that’s the opposite of Kazuma’s seemed to be a fun choice. 2. Dust is one of my favorite characters in KonoSuba, which happened completely on accident, lol (more on that in the KonoFan post I’ll make soon). And just imagining the headaches he’d cause Peppy was hilarious.

This being KonoSuba, hilarious shenanigans ensue, but there’s also a little bit of seriousness due to, well, Star Fox. You can’t expect a battle-hardened veteran like Peppy to just be dumped into a crazy world like KonoSuba and pretend none of the canon in his universe didn’t happen, lol. I told my buddy that this little story is gonna be full of humor, drama, tragedy, a smudge of romance, and lots of wholesomeness, because although I put him through the ringer a bit here, Peppy needs a bit of a break after the stuff that happened in canon ;_;

If y’all like this idea enough—or if I can’t shake the brain rot off, haha—this might be something I’ll post on AO3! Let me know what you think in the replies!

[cutieeeszn]

Hobby’s to pick up:

Okay, if I’m being honest. I am very inconsistent with my hobbies. I end up dropping them all. But having hobbies and activities really help you in multiple ways. Finding new friends, learning new things, disengaging from electronics. (I see y’all) so here are a few hobbies to look into. Some of them ive tried/been trying to get into. And these are the ones I’m most consistent with. :)))

Crochet

Crochet or knitting is so calming. And really not that expensive. It’s simple to learn. And you can do it over playing some music. Let me know if there’s any crochet tutorial accounts you’d love to know!

Drawing

- ah. This one is simple. Many tutorials available. I’d say, begin with finding out your art style. Experiment. Go crazy. You can trace some drawings first, as practice. Slowly move on to actually drawing. And remember, be creative. Finding your own art style is so important and influences how good your drawing may come out.

Learning a new language

This one is fun. Duolingo…my best friend right now. I’m doing French. It’s a beautiful language, and after a while of learning French. (3 weeks) when I’m listening to songs I can understand some parts. I also find it so entertaining comparing them to English words and how they link. 21 days forms a habit. So, doing duolingo. Kind of an habit now.

Embroidery

Again, calming. It’s beautiful to see how the images end up. And it’s more fun when you draw your own images. Really cheap I believe, varying from where you’re from. But making pillows, frames and little pieces is so lovely with embroidery.

Writing/ Poetry

This one is good and interesting as a hobby, personality trait. And for your mind. Training your brain to express its thoughts in different words, sequences and hidden under other meanings. Is so beautiful.

Digital scrapbooking

My instagram is filled with these. Actually, I only have one post. But it’s a digital scrapbook. Using CANVA and 17v28 to make these scrapbooks are so fun. Not messy, and so easy.

Dancing

Not only does it look snazzy. Dancing has so many health benefits. Hip Hop to ballet to jazz. Now I think about it, I miss being a dancer.

Reading

Be a book warm, have no shame about it. Really. Let me know if you want some book recommendations. Books take you into another world, let you view things. It’s trust beautiful when you find the right kinda book.

Creating a tumblr blog

I just started this. It’s fun though. That’s all I can say.

Fashion Designing

I sewed a shift dress. Well, kind of. It’s so fun making clothes. Although, fashion design was a school subject. It’s very fun to do. You can remake clothes at home. Turn an old skirt into a shirt. Go crazy. (Btw, when you take classes you start noticing fashion design features in your clothes. I noticed seam allowances, overlocking.)

Learning to play an instrument

I’m guilty of picking and dropping instruments. Currently, it’s guitar for me. I was really good at clarinet, and eh and piano. But now, I’m going back to guitar. Learning and instrument has many benefits. Study wise, talent wise, im pretty sure mentally too!

Normal Scrap Booking

Same thing as digitally. Just pulls you away from the screen ;)

Photography.

Capture those moments. Cherish them. Post them. Print them. Annotate them. Write about them. Just capture them.

Sincerely,

bliss5tar.

[boqvistsbabe]

Update!!!!!!!!

Hey Y’all!!

Here is the start of hopefully monthly updates. I know in my last update I said I was going to be more consistently here and active. Obviously, that didn’t happen lol. Trying to hold myself to that rn. So this is probably going to be the format for all of my update posts, just so they are easier to follow.

Refresh:

So I am almost completely done with the blog refresh. I think all that is left is updating links and getting some other posts (ex: theme days) made/redone. Most of that got put on the back burner due to how long they were going to take lol. But hopefully, over Spring Break, I’ll be able to get those done (no promises, another thing I’m trying to do, is be more realistic about what I want to get done by when so). 

Writing/Other Content:

Ik I said I’d write more. Once again didn’t really happen. Well, I have written a decent bit, but never finished anything. There is one fic that I am going to try and work on after this week (midterms lol) and have someone look over it (the first time I’ve had a beta reader, look at me go lol). Like the blog as a whole, I am trying to organize my writing, like requests and my ideas and what is going out when etc. (@ any of the other writers if you have any suggestions of what to/where to organize my stuff so it doesn’t get all confusing and mixed up you should def let me know). Speaking of requests, I am going to try and do at least two requests a month. That doesn’t sound like a lot but for me, that feels like something I can realistically do. I will be doing old requests first because even though they are years old at this point, I liked the ideas so I genuinely want to write them. I am still going to be accepting new requests (esp because sometimes that helps spark creativity/help with writer’s block so feel free to send in any ideas!!) but I will try to get those older ones done first. As for any other content (playlists, moodboards, IG edits, drawings, etc.) I am also taking requests for those so feel free to send in any of those requests too. 

Another Blog?!

As of rn the second hockey blog has not been “released”. I want to catch up on things for this blog before I throw that into the mix and try to grow that as well. I am hoping to add that sometime this summer. Also, I do technically have a sideblog already (@samistheman) which is normally where I reblog random things, and I don’t really have tags for that blog I just kinda willy-nilly reblog there (it used to be mostly PJO stuff but now that’s kind of here because of how much of it there is lol).

Life Update:

College is a lot rn. I’m doing 17 credit hours and tbh do not know what possessed me to do that. At first, I was doing pretty good, but now not so much. Like I said earlier I have midterms this week. If y’all didn’t know this, I’m shit at taking tests so not doing great rn. Thankfully one of my classes ends on Sunday so at least I don’t have to worry about that. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life recently that is impacting a lot so trying to navigate that as well. I am moving out in May, which is yes months from now but there is still a lot that I need to do beforehand. Anyway, I’m going to a college hockey game on Thursday and I am super excited. I haven’t been able to go to a game since October. Also little fun update, I’m going on a weekend (work) trip to Boston. Super excited for that. I’ll be getting to go to a Celtics game and a Red Sox game (I’m a Royals girlie tho). I’ve never been to an NBA game so that’s for sure gonna be really cool. I’ve been to many MLB games before but this will be my first at a different stadium. Anyway, I think that is it for this update. Hope y’all are doing well!!

As usual, if y’all ever want to talk dms/inbox are open <3

I am going to tag some moots, I am totally forgetting some people so I am sorry for that (if y'all could reblog that would be amazing)

@2manytabsopen @krugstrash @jimmystrudel @andreburakozy @sidneycrosbyhoe @fallinallincurls @timstuetzle @typical-simplelove @ilyasorokinn @drei-mrssvechii

[quirefeast]

gonna get vulnerable rnow: i know that i have been hard promoting my monetary work, and honestly i don’t like it. it bugs the hell out of me.

that being said, i’ve been really insecure about my posts (giveaways, posts with links) not getting attention and am at a loss for what im supposed to do. i’m gonna be real, the fact that my posts were more popular when i was like 17 is sooo nasty. more than ever i have to reach an audience, my skills are (supposedly) better than they were in the past, i post more consistently than i ever have and i just can’t seem to break out of the noise.

i will never blame my following or the people who support me for the lack of engagement. the only reason i found the confidence to do what i do is because of y’all. i just have to be honest with myself about where my skill set is, the connections (or lack of) that i have, the landscape for social media. I feel like every day i learn more and more but somehow know less and less. social media is a hydra and it keeps growing new heads.

i’m almost a quarter of a century. years ago, it was my dream to do art for a job. someway, somehow, i just wanted the chance to draw and reach people. i have the privilege of chasing that dream with the support of my partner, and it’s been thankless work. being an entrepreneur is a toil and being an artist is even harder. over the years ive grown independent, ive discovered a lot about myself that has broken my heart, but also healed me.

some thoughts about where im at: i think it’s good that im trying a lot of things, but i may have to slow my roll p soon. i don’t think im going to open my online store again until next year, and i also think im gonna rethink my strategies pretty soon. at the end of the day i have to pay bills, but i also won’t give up either. i still love creating. i don’t want to do without it.

i hope this inspires someone also, somehow. someone who might be feeling alone in the big digital world. oh ya fuck ai btw LMFAOOOO

[kithtaehyung]

hiiiii my love! :) I MISSED SO MUCH CONTENT BUT I’M CAUGHT UP NOW :)

first thing’s first, i read the prologue for seven days and i’m OBSESSED!! one thing that you always, always nail perfectly is the dialogue bc omgggg the dialogue in this is *chef’s kiss* the synergy between oc and jungkook is sooo good and i love how consistent jungkook is😭 one line that made me laugh so hard was Because one of us has to be the logical one and you’re a looney toon💀 this perfectly describes irl jungkook too bc tell me why one second this man is sitting normally, and doing headstands the next💀 WHEN HE STARTED SINGING ONE WISH?? I’M CACKLING SO HARD😭 i love me a goofy man and seven days jk is just that😤🫶🏼 the prologue already has me cheesing, but i have a feeling i’m gonna be giggling and kicking my feet in the air throughout every chapter🤭 ahhhh i really love these two and their chemistry so far EEEEEEEE!!!

next, the way i SCRUMPT seeing the fuckboys masterlist??? I’M SO EXCITED AND ALSO THE HOSEOK ONE?? *insert pic of emoji smirking and pushing it’s nonexistent hair behind it’s ear* HELLO?? also not me rereading new guy for the millionth time this year *insert pic of tae standing behind a pole* ALSO WE’RE GETTING A REVAMP OF HUSH, YEAH?? *SQUEALS*

AND FINALLY, THE RECENT TEASER FOR 3TAN11?? HELLO?? ARE YOU KIDDING?? I COULD BARELY HANDLE SEVEN DAYS JK WITH CHAINS AND HERE COMES 3TAN YOONGI WITH THE KILL😭😭 there’s so much happening in this little snippet, but CHAINS ASIDE, yoongi circling around the car to open the door for oc has me SWOONING!! he is the standard. i don’t make the rules☺️

i’m so sorry that i keep going mia😭 the disconnect i’ve been feeling from everything lately is just not it :( i always want to send you genuine asks with my genuine feelings, so whenever i feel this way, i always try to take some time to myself and get better mentally, before sending anything in. i’m much better now though and going through your blog and catching up on everything is just what i needed to start my morning :) have a great day, my love!🫶🏼

-🥮

MOONCAKE HI😭💕🍊 I totally understand the disconnect feeling and not wanting to come back until you feel okay. I’ll always love seeing your messages no matter how much time passes in between🫂 Hopefully things are okay now.

That being said.. holy shit yeah that’s a whole shit ton of to come back to LOL let’s get into it!!

Listen. 7days!jk is a hilarious gd fool and I can’t wait for y’all to see even more of him! Even though I’m gonna fight his ass I still already love him wayyyy too much🥹 Like we’re only one part in and it’s already getting hard not to kick blankets too much while I’m writing😂

AND THE ONE WISH PART HAHAHA PLEASEEE i couldn’t handle that and was like “this is where we’re going, huh”💀 the looney tune line is just. perfect for this dynamic.

THE FBOY!BANGTAN💀💀💀 okay so when I posted 7days I was like.. “well, shit. we can make a masterlist now” bc I already had stuff for jimin jin and hobi in the wips. just didn’t say anything for jin’s but only mentioned the other two in passing! get ready for them all and HUSH YEAH IS RETURNINGGGGG😤

🍊 not even gonna mention 3tan yoongi bc that man continues to destroy me in every single way possible PFFFT but yes🥹 him opening the door we love a man and probably love him too much‼️

i’m happy you’re back again! the blog may be a little slow in the coming days bc things are picking up both in the studio and with some shop stuff. but I’m writing wips, and drafting responses to feedback when i can💕

[gwynbleiddyn]

all the cool kids have pinned posts and i’m at least a year late so let’s go

about

aeron

he/him

raging homo and i simply will Not tolerate masc negativity here y’all went too far with that

dw i’n gymro, a dw i’n dysgu cymraeg 

rapidly approaching 30

i cosplay sometimes, i rarely share photos but if i do it’s #aj cosplays

blog content

bg3 / i said i wasnt going to get involved and then i did. i rotate astarion around my brain like a microwave meal and i think we should be allowed to kiss raphael actually. dyn is my main tav who is in a mlm (monster loving monster) relationship with astarion and sometimes halsin. the rituals are complex and unknowable.

lotro | rop | lotr / my dragon age/mass effect braincells are nuclear resistant. my lotr braincell is what one might call a tardigrade. she’s eternal infinite forever enduring the ages of this world alone etc. etc. i play lotro on arkenstone and i think rings of power is great. that’s all. 

critrole / im here for ashton & fearne & chetney only everything else is a bonus.

destiny / dont get it twisted i play this game for saint-14 and osiris

ac origins -  valhalla / bayek and eivor have me in a chokehold and i spent about 6 months writing frenzied alexios / thaletas content in between those two protags so you could say i enjoyed this trilogy more than anything else ac has ever given me

dragon age - mass effect / they get to share a category like a get-along t-shirt bc these are the only two braincells in my head that will survive a nuclear winter and this is the only way i can control them. i have many ocs. i always want to talk about them. i sent shepard to andromeda, and i rewrote thedas to cope with the harrowing ordeal of facing an egg as my villain. bioware will not let me rest. you can find my extensive list of bioware OCs here.

ocs - dnd / blorbo from my dnd is usually referring to maahes, he is an acquired taste so your mileage may vary in how far u can go before u simply want to block his tag. the good news is i wholly support curated dashboard experiences. the bad news is all of my ocs are equally hot messes of morality.

worldbuilding / you may see mentions of myridos; this is my homebrew world and eventual setting for some novels that i’d like to publish one day.

im not above shitposts or random stuff that makes me go hehe (fruity) and i generally do not engage in tumblr activism as a rule. i tag fandoms and art, i do not tag specific characters with enough consistency to make it safe for blocked tags. i’m open to dms/asks if you want a specific tag blocked - i can’t guarantee i’ll say yes, but i’m v nice about it i promise.

mini tag + link directory 

my doodle tag / my writing tag 

archive of our own

cosplay instagram

[sonic-hot-takes]

Remember when everyone wanted to roast Pontac and Graff over a fire like a marshmallow? That’s how a lot of people treat Ian, except Ian is an actual tried and true fan of the series

I’ve critiqued Ian’s stuff on here before; which, to be fair, is kind of the point of this blog, I’m not sonic-lukewarm-takes and it wouldn’t be revolutionary for me to say “uh, actually Ian’s the best writer the series has ever had,” but it’s absolutely true. Ian is the best writer the series has ever had. Maekawa is up there, but Ian’s dialogue has consistently been much snappier and charming (though this may also be a localization issue).

I don’t understand how people can hear these random Bumblekast clips and claim that Ian just “doesn’t get” the characters or enforces the mandates himself or blah blah blah. If you took one look at Ian’s work with Archie, especially post reboot, you’d know right away how wrong that is. Freedom Fighters are there, characters like Shadow are well written, and honestly anything that could be perceived as “““woke””” is more subtext than anything overt (I’m honestly kind of surprised the intent was to make Sally and Nicole a couple post reboot since outside of a couple scenes in Spark of Life I struggled reading it that way).

As always, if fingers must be pointed at anyone it should be at Sega themselves. Even without memorizing all the stated mandates to heart, anyone who’s read both comics can tell that they clearly have IDW on a much tighter leash than Archie. Which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing since it’s meant to keep the series more accessible, but none of those creative changes are Ian’s fault. If Ian wanted to axe the Freedom Fighters so badly, he would’ve done it when he had the chance in the Archie reboot. Instead he not only kept them around, but also gave them new designs to help their outdated 90s Disney Channel lookin asses fit better into the Modern Sonic style that they were legally forced to go all in on. You really think that Sega advocated for a bunch of characters that had been made by some random foreign artists over two decades prior and never appeared in any of the mainline games?

(Spinball doesn’t count, fuck you)

This pattern continues. Sega wants to keep IDW accessible to new fans, so callbacks to previous games or older Sonic media are off the table. This is also why the worldbuilding is so bad in IDW, because they want to keep everything nondescript to avoid confusion. Sega is more concerned with branding than narrative, so Shadow is stripped of his nuance and just made into the edgy competitive Vegeta ass rival because that’s what his design and character archetype would entail (the general tone and aesthetics of his solo game don’t help). Same with Amy, who has slowly degraded from hyper fangirl to just girl. So on and so forth.

And it’s really sad to see Ian take so much crap for this shit, since you know he’d change it at the drop of a hat if he wanted to. Once again, post reboot Archie is proof of that. As a licensed writer, one of Ian’s biggest strengths is revitalizing and recontextualizing old characters and concepts in a new way. Literally one of the first things he did in Archie Sonic was put in Bark and Bean with the narrative role and personalities we know them for today. He took a random side character from SatAM that most people only barely remembered and turned her into a legitimately interesting antivillain, simultaneously filling a void left behind by the lawsuits. You know he’d kill to keep doing that kind of thing.

Once again, Ian’s not above critique. I took my big dump on Frontiers’ story when the game came out, and I’ll probably end up doing it some more if I can find it within myself to get any further in the DLC. Not all of his comics have been bangers, like some of his early early Archie stuff, some of the Metal Virus arc, and honestly quite a bit of the Mega Man comic, but overall his writing is overwhelmingly good. But some of y’all need to stop really need to stop crucifying him just because he says something like “maybe we should make Blaze a more accessible character” on his podcast

Help me out here: Why is there so much Ian Flynn hate going around lately? I thought everyone loved that he was contributing to the games. Now suddenly they aren't. I guess that's par for the course for this series but I don't get it. He isn't perfect but I like what he's done. Am I a weirdo?

Ian Flynn has always had a lot of fans, but any creator putting their work out there is going to have detractors as well. That's just the nature of being an artist. To some extent, it's no big deal. He's not a perfect writer. Nobody is! I consider myself a fan of his work, but I've criticized plenty of individual writing decisions from him on here.

But Ian doesn't just have critics. He has his own obsessive hatedom. And the specific nature of Ian's hatedom is... interesting.

A decade ago, Ian was only the guy writing for Archie Sonic, meaning any debates over his work were quarantined within that tiny niche of the larger Sonic fandom. Only people who kept up with the comics month to month had any real reason to have an opinion on the guy, which means we're talking about merely thousands of fans as opposed to millions.

Within that group, he had some haters. You had the people who were mad about story changes made during his run, particularly things like ancillary characters getting killed off (although over the years we've learned that most of those were editorial mandates from Mike Pellerito). You had the people mad that Ian didn't push their favorite ship, with feuding SonAmy and Sonally fans claiming that he was CLEARLY biased towards one or the other. You had the people who just really, really liked one of the previous writers way more - usually Penders, as hard as that may be to believe today. That sort of thing. Pretty normal comic fandom type stuff. Again, it comes with the territory.

Unfortunately, many of those haters only got worse over time, morphing into reactionaries who constantly try to incite Comicsgate type culture war bullshit.

There are people still mad at Ian for making Sally bi and pairing her with Nicole instead of Sonic in the later Archie comics. There have been elaborate MS Paint red string conspiracy boards explaining how people like Ian and Jon Gray have apparently been destroying the franchise from the inside for years by Making Sonic Woke. (Jon gets dragged into this because people are still mad about him drawing The Slap 20 years later. Yes, really!!) There was an unhinged change.org petition trying to get Ian fired, specifically from people who were mad that the Freedom Fighters aren't in the IDW comics. There was even a very sad little fan campaign from these people trying to get Sega to move the Sonic comic license away from IDW and over to Udon, because they thought Udon would bring Sally and Bunnie back and also make them sexy again. There's a lot of this.

(Unfortunately, Penders has also exacerbated this by gossiping about Ian on Twitter and giving these fans ammo, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.)

The thing is, for years, people who only played the games or watched the cartoons had no reason to pay attention to any of this. Now, though, Ian isn't just writing for some weird spinoff comics that only the super nerds read. Now he's writing comics that are canon to the games, and ALSO some of the games themselves, and ALSO consulting on other tie-in media like Sonic Prime, and ALSO writing the official Sonic encyclopedia, and ALSO serving as part of the new Sonic Lore Team at Sega. And on top of all this, he's got an increasingly popular podcast where he fields questions about his work on all of these things, which serves as one of the fandom's main windows into creative decisions being made behind the scenes.

As a fan of Ian's work, it's been really cool to see him rise in prominence. But the dark side of this is that his obsessive haters from the Archie days now have WAY more of a potential audience of their own. Now, every Sonic fan has to have an opinion on Ian. What this frequently means is that you'll have the Comicsgate types taking things Ian writes or says out of context, attempting to get more of the general fandom to yell at the guy.

Unfortunately, there are a wide variety of Sonic fans who take the bait:

You've got hardcore fans who disliked basically any recent piece of Sonic media and are looking for someone to blame.

You've got the people who are concerned about the sanctity of Sonic's canon, who shoot the messenger any time Ian mentions a new retcon from Sonic Team on the podcast - or any time he even mentions the THOUGHT of changing anything about the canon, as we saw recently with the Sol Dimension nonsense.

You've got people who romanticize some sort of mythical artistic vision that Sega of Japan supposedly has (or had) for the franchise. To many of these fans, American contributors like Ian just don't "get" the heart of the series and are trying to turn Sonic into something different. (This "heart of the series" tends to be some mix of Japanese instruction manual lore, the cinematics from Sonic CD, the OVA, and/or the games written by Shiro Maekawa, depending on what Sonic media the fan in question grew up with.)

You've got fans of specific characters or ships who pin the blame for how their faves are depicted entirely on Ian - most vocally fans of Shadow, even though the root problem is that Sonic Team hasn't known what to do with Shadow since 2006. At best this stops at regular old criticism, but at its worst this devolves into claims that Ian has an agenda against certain characters.

You've got fans annoyed by a perceived over-emphasis on comic-original characters in the IDW comics, ignoring the obvious facts that these characters exist because the game cast is so tightly controlled by Sega, and also, you know, that people just like the IDW characters and want more stories about them.

You've got a LOT of discourse over IDW's Sonic being a hero who tries to give his enemies second chances, as if half of Sonic's closest friends aren't already former villains and rivals. Honestly this is very transparently just reheated Steven Universe discourse lmao

You'll also see people who just think they could do Ian's job better. They can't believe that THIS GUY is the American fan working on all these Sonic projects, when clearly THEY understand the characters and lore and themes SO much better than this charlatan.

All it takes is for someone in one of these categories to be unhappy about some recent piece of Sonic media, and for them to come across an out of context quote or comic panel that rubs them the wrong way, and suddenly the leftist Zoomer Sonic fans will join the latest dogpile on Ian alongside the reactionary Comicsgate types who are mad at him for Making Sonic Woke.

In general, when fandoms get upset, they tend to want a scapegoat. A person or two to point a finger at and go "THAT's who ruined the thing I love!" This tends to be based less on reality and more on which contributors are the most visible online. You'll sometimes see teenage and adult fans of children's cartoons single out a storyboarder who's particularly vocal on Twitter, blame them for every story decision they don't like, and harass them off the platform out of a sense of retribution for their favorite ship or whatever. Failing that, fans might choose to blame every nitpick, down to individual lines of dialogue and frames of animation, on a showrunner, just because that's the name they associate with the show. And unfortunately, when it comes to Sonic, Ian is now arguably the most prolific and outspoken contributor on the English speaking internet, and therefore a common scapegoat.

Some of the things I've seen Ian blamed for are truly wild. A lot of people have claimed for YEARS that he's just lying about the existence of creative guidelines and restrictions from Sega - or, as fans call them, The Mandates - even though they're just an inherent aspect of working on a licensed property. Others claim that The Mandates are real, but somehow Ian's fault. A vocal minority of fans have convinced themselves that Ian is the sole reason the Freedom Fighters don't exist in the IDW comics, even though Ian says he's been pushing to bring them back since day one.

Sometimes you'll see people say he ruined shit he didn't even work on. A few weeks ago on Twitter I saw someone claim that Ian had written a rejected script for Sonic Forces in which Tails died. I could not find a source for this for the life of me. As far as I can tell, the rumor seems to have been born from an alleged leaked script for Forces with margin notes from Aaron Webber that criticized the way Tails was written, and also an old tweet where Aaron joked that Tails would die in an upcoming episode of Sonic Mania Adventures. These merged into "Aaron Webber criticized a draft of the Forces script in which Tails died." How'd Ian get dragged into this? Who fucking knows!

It's all just a big game of telephone. All it takes is some asshole to make something up about Ian on Twitter or YouTube or a DeviantArt journal or some forum, and at least a couple people will believe it, and then it gets repeated as fact. Again, this used to be contained by the niche nature of the Archie Sonic fandom, but now there are WAY more people who are receptive to this shit.

It's just sad to me that Ian tries to be so open and honest about his work, to try to explain the rationale for certain things, to keep fans looped in on the direction the franchise is headed, and this just gives the Flynnspiracy types more quotes to take out of context and try to paint him as the devil. If it sounds like I'm being overly defensive and dismissing his critics, man... some of the things I've seen people say directly to him are just unbelievable. People will send paragraphs-long angry screeds in to his podcast that completely tear him apart, and he has to sit there and be like "Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it." People literally pay for special guest interview episodes where they just rapid fire complaints about his writing at him directly to his face. I don't know how he does it. I would snap.

All of this over Sonic the fucking Hedgehog of all things.

I don't know how to wrap this up. Engaging with fandoms online is very tiring, which is why I tend not to do it. Things like this are too common. I guess, just... remember that making art collaboratively is a complicated thing. The people involved are generally trying their best given the circumstances, but they're only human. They make mistakes. But please treat them like humans. Criticism and dogpiling are not the same thing.

[ladyprince202]

So… I had the strangest dream. Not gonna get all deep into interpreting my dreams…

But… I decided to do a Tarot reading for y’all!!!

(Btw thank you for the previous likes & repost on my last reading… i been feeling under the weather. But I’m back!)

Pick Your Tarot Reading of the Afternoon ✨

Please pick one of these, as the message will convey to you personally. (It has been shuffled and laid out with crystals and/or cowrie shells)

Now that you’ve picked the number✨

Card #1 : (Reverse) Cups 7 - A lost sense of wonder and awe. Your creativity and imagination 💭becomes your saving grace. You wanna do so many things in your life which eventually you procrastinate. TIPS: Sometimes your mind can imagine great things.. but it can also kill so much time in not doing anything. ⏱Time is ticking⏳… you are not getting any younger, what are you waiting for? Try to put as much time in doing something as much as you think .🤔💭 Since there’s 12 months in a year, it takes 30 days to form a habit. Try to form a consistent plan for 30 days and see if anything change in your life. Was what you were thinking about it a great idea to do? Or was the idea was just good to think about and not do it? I suggest you do things you LOVE to do… that way it’ll be worth it doing something about it.🤍✨

Card #2: (Reverse) Malika Swords - Absentminded. Forgetful. You may not think things through and are subject to the influence of others’ opinions. A widow. Divorcee. Broken Ties. TIPS: Sometimes collecting others opinions and theories to gain a better understanding is good; what is not good is NOT thinking for yourself. Do you like the color red because your parents or friends like it? Or because YOU like it? Ask yourself why? Question and answer yourself to understand where your head is really at. When you only subject yourself to other’s opinions, you sabotage your message, your viewpoints, your own opinions and theories. What you have to say is less important which the “widow” concept is death to your internal relationship. You don’t really take yourself seriously which means is you are stuck in this situation because you are stubborn about change. You must learn to “divorce” taking the advice of others and start taking your OWN advice. If you do come across someone with an advice, make sure that it is mix with your internal advice as well as theirs. That’s what makes you a character. 🤌🏾✨

Card #3: Wands 2 - You act as surveyor to all that you have accomplished and seek to research and develop new things. You contemplate that which success brings and a sense of responsibility. TIPS - Having responsibilities means to take on more roles you have to do. But being able to do it well means you organize your environment to keep tabs on your responsibility. You should be proud of yourself for maintaining responsibility; Especially, if you are a student or a worker during the pandemic or even a parent, then you have the ambition to keep going. Keep that positive uplifting attitude and you will be blessed in the long run. Someone will recognize your hard earn work.. don’t give up on yourself. 🤍✨

Card #4: (Reverse) The Sibyl II - Lies, ulterior motives, aloofness, isolation, and lack of awareness. TIPS: Are you ignorant? Did you know that ignorant means to ignore? Why are you trying ignoring the truth? Even though the truth hurts, you can move on faster than the long-term lies you projected in your mind. It’s time to grow up.. talk to the little kid in you and tell the kid, adult you wants to learn how to handle the truth responsibly. Adult you will meet many kinds of people in your life, some will stay in your life and others will leave for many different reason.. but these are the truth you have to face and let it teach you about yourself, your mind, emotions and spiritual views. Little kid you will cry internally but will trust you because you are all you got. Trust that you will be okay even when you are facing the truth.

If you want more Oracle readings, please reblog this post. Thank you ✨🙏🏾