#the joke here is this took HALF as long as the kpop crack art

[nuctua-larc]

When they're doomed by the narrative

[doughdels]

‘Masterchef’ SVT - first AU collab

Consider this as a blog entry or sorts. I’ve decided to type this down because I want to be able to look back at it somewhere. Also it includes a piece of art I did and took too long to do (which I’ll attach near the end so it’s still relevant to this art blog lol.

Admittingly I wasn’t able to progress much in improving my art or dwelling deeper into my hobbies in 2020, and I think even without the pandemic hitting globally my ‘development pace’ would have been about the same.

But when I look back and reflect, I’m grateful for this one impulsive ‘yes’ I did, that was so daunting for me at first (as one of the least sociable people on the internet), but in the end got me some new friends and a new experience.

Because everyone was mostly staying indoors last year, and there was this period in 2020 where (I assume it felt like) most of people around the world were at home, and so... I’m not sure if it applied to the kpop fandom in general, but in the certain fandom I initially hovered about on, there was a niche interest in the fan community that temporarily exploded: interactive AU’s. This niche thing probably started way earlier, though I found out about it and even followed closely with one late 2019 (SVT Simulation AU). It’s a little different than the normal socmed AU’s, sometimes it involves (the creators) roleplaying as the idol members, but the fun part about these idol AU’s is that fans of whatever group the AU is centered on can participate as sort of players and decide how the events in these AU’s get played out, and ultimately how the stories would end (in short, probably like how D&D games or visual novels work but in fan-twitter spaces). The events or scenarios that would occur throughout the AU’s are based on majority vote choices, some ‘options’ for the ‘next chapter’ may include being aided by clues or codes that would possibly hint to the best possible outcome, and some may include puzzles or riddles that need to be solved in order to get to the right outcome.

Note: Some AU’s feature ships 

Here is a list of some notable finished ones I followed from 2020 obviously all SVT lol (though I didn’t participate in all):

- SVT Maze AU (the sequel to SVT Simulation AU. Arguably the most popular and engaging AU that lead to the interactive AU boom (at least for SVT fandom circles) around the time the pandemic got more serious in 2020)

- SVT Produce AU (till this day I still kick myself for the ending lol)

- SVTrain to Busan (which reminds me I had to stop from reading the sequel SVT Peninsula halfway because of studies T^T)

- SVT Masquerade Hotel (The ending gave me chills. Oddly satisfying lol)

- Minghao’s Fate (a whodunnit AU)

- SVT Demigods AU but technically SVT’s Percy Jackson AU lol (season 1 is complete which is why I included here)

- SVT Circus AU (Ngl I was pretty attached to this one cause I played it and it also drove me crazy because I got a ‘special player’ role when I didn’t even have the brains for it lol BUT WE GOT A GOOD ENDING IN THE END SO THAT’S SOMETHING)

- SVT Arcana AU (this one is honestly still ongoing, based on the Arcana interactive game, but almost ending as I am typing this. I’ve stopped participating in it because of studies but the world-building and conflicts in this AU were out-of-this-world!!!)

- there’s way more than what I’ve listed here but you just gotta be good at searching them up

You could kinda see the pattern that most interactive AU’s that were created tend to have a sort of suspenseful or serious premise, nothing wrong with that cause brains were stimulated and it helped fans to keep in check with their heartbeat rates lol and look forward to the next day in bleak times. 

But I must say the best experience I had from being in this Seventeen Interactive AU community was somehow ending up being a part of a team that created our own AU. And I dare say, ours, was one of a kind *cues G-Dragon’s chorus*

Okay I was half-joking but really last I checked we were the only ‘happy’ and crack AU in 2020. After needing to re-read a few times of it as reference and re-experiencing the cringe of our writings and polls to complete my little art project for it, I am somewhat so proud of what our little ‘wallowing’ group achieved despite being total amateurs of whatever it is we were doing that time. It was funny thinking that we just jumped in to doing one because we were so devastated by the end of the SVT Maze AU (because *spoilers* the fact that we actually could have won the AU but... yeap, over-stimulated brain cells) and we wanted an AU that could heal our hearts... no deaths, no broken relationships, no backstabbers and baddies (though lol in the end we had one), just a fun parody.

And thus our ‘child’ was born: SVT Masterchef AU

(Right, a note: This AU has implied ships but not really)

It had garnered a small but loyal interest of followers. But the best part about this AU to me is that we actually completed it, with a BANG! even XD

I don’t know my Wallowing mutuals’ tumblr accounts but if you’re reading this. Again, I wanna say thank you for this little thing we did. And also, thanks for ‘picking me up’ I guess? For picking me up into our little group, and becoming such good friends and comrades in gushing about or ranting about k-pop in such a short time. I truly also think that my k-pop fandom experience (especially when it comes to SEVENTEEN) has become richer because our group chat. Cheers to the next future AU’s we may wanna mold and crave our hands on!

May I draw more stuff like this in 2021.