#the original idea for this was to also include some example blogs

[feeder86]

Feeder 86: The Top Ten

Can you believe that the Feeder86 ‘Orginal Gainer Stories’ blog will soon be posting the two hundredth story? I thought of many ways to celebrate. But then I stopped and realised that I would probably be best using the time to address one of the questions I get asked about most frequently. Which of the stories do I personally like the most?

This was not an easy list to make as I very rarely go back to re-read my own work after I have finished editing and posting them. This is not because I do not like them, but because I always see bits that I want to change. Nevertheless, this project was the perfect opportunity to revisit a few oldies that I remember being very proud of at the time. 

Hopefully you will see this list for what it is: a glimpse into how I write, my motivations and drive; rather than just a self indulgent pat on the back for myself. Yuck!

So, with that being said, let us begin...

#10 The Feeders’ Formula: This tale certainly had to be placed into the list. After all, it is the one that kicked off ‘Original Gainer Stories’ all those years ago. There are many amazing examples of instant body weight transformation stories out there. I felt that I needed to write this one as my contribution to the genre. It went down well at the time. I swiftly wrote a Part Two, then followed it up with others (The Feeders’ Formation, The Feeders’ Formalities, The Feeders’ Foreclosure, The Feeders’ Forecast, The Feeders’ Former Years), becoming something of an ongoing saga in recent years; focusing on the different Feeders from that very first meeting. As a writer who sometimes struggles to find the ending, these are wonderful to write as they all have the same inevitable conclusion. There is also so much freedom to be had when you’re working with characters who are pretty much pure evil. I know so much more about the Feeders than I’ve ever written down, so it is great to tease out those little details with each new installment. The newest of these tales (The Feeders’ Foreplay) was the darkest yet, but seems to have provoked a very favourable reaction from many. Who knows what the Feeders may get up to next? I do! And you can find out too, once we start a whole new sweeps season of stories this April! Come with me into The Feeders' Fortress!

#9 Only One: Where do I start? Only One has my absolute favourite type of feeder. Ben is big, sexy and very in control. He’s one of those rare types of guys who always stays on top and is a step ahead of absoultely everyone he meets. Who wouldn’t fall for him? I certainly did! In fact, I loved him so much that I wrote an entire prequel for him (and none of you even noticed!) Check out Rewire if you want to see how Ben became the man we know and love.

#8 The Wright Boys: The idea of a weight gain that cannot be stopped or controlled is a tempting one for many. How much easier would it be if you didn’t have to second guess your choices or face the pressure to lose weight? This was the first tale of what I see as ‘The Curses’ saga that eventually bled into many other stories (including another one on this list!) and culminated in Wright vs Beckett. However, this story remains my personal favourite of these. If you’re a fan of looking for crossovers between my stories, these are some of the most explicitly linked. I followed it up with a spin-off tale (The Wright Boys: DNA), but continue to have ideas about how I could go back to these boys in the future. Watch this space.

#7 Making Monsters: The title of this story really does give away how I felt about it at the time. This is quite the saga, spread over into not just two, but three parts! It began as a story that was very similar to Blackmailed; a tale that I had written previously about a guy voyeristically enjoying seeing his friend fatten up her boyfriend. However, this story evolved even further for me, with Tommy’s love of eating and gaining weight being both his greatest love, and his biggest shame. His denial only heightened the tension for me, and, when he does eventually give in, the gains feel all the more satisfying as a result.

#6 The Pig Feed: It’s not easy to write a gainer story where there isn’t another character spurring the events along and encouraging things. In this tale however, that role is given to a very tasty and surprisingly addictive pig feed mixture that Steve gets himself hooked on. It’s a story that I really enjoyed writing and still feel very happy with. I have considered writing more stories around this interesting feed. However, I am yet to do so; deciding (for now at least) that things are perhaps best left as they are. But, feel free to let me know your thoughts on this.

#5 Farm Boy: Whether you grew up in a big city, or a small rural community, like Hayden in this story, we can all relate to having desires and attractions that those around us don’t understand. And, thanks to how well connected we are these days, we now know what it’s like to realise that you’re not actually alone, and the whirlwind of excited emotions that follow. I enjoyed writing this story because I, quite simply, fell completely in love with Hayden. As kinky as he was, he still retained that fresh faced innocence throughout. If any of my characters were destined to be together forever, I imagine that these two would be my top choice.

#4 Keeping a Crush: This is one of those stories that I wrote in a matter of hours, and I was so pleased with it when I was done. Getting the train to go to work is not necessarily something that many Americans have to do, and so the location had to be switched to the UK (quite refreshing, I thought!). For me, it’s one of those really rare instances where placing very solid restrictions on the structure of a story (In this case, having it all take place during the commute to and from work) and finding that it actually elevates the sexual tension and mood. All scenes take place in public settings. All conversations could, in theory, be overheard. These days, so many people meet online and flirt for weeks by messaging back and forth, before they even see each other for the first time. Nowadays, for better or for worse, the actual, real fantasy is finding a connection with someone you just see in the real world; perhaps with a person you literally just met on the way to work...

If you’ve not read this one, I really would highly recommend it.

#3 To the Max: Stories with a magical element to them are either loved or hated. However, I find that this tale walks that line very successfully. Ned gets his hands on a love potion and makes straight guy, Max, fall for him. I’m sure we’ve all been there with that fantasy! However, it is in the consequences of inviting someone into your life, someone that you actually know very little about, that the entire eroticism of this story is based. I won’t spoil it for those who have not read it, but believe me when I say that things soon start getting very interesting indeed…

#2 Tommy’s Two Hundred. Don’t recognise this one? Well, that's because none of you have read it yet. 

Now, I’m not just saying this because I want you all to come back for the two hundreth story, but this is genuinely one of my absolute favourites. For my big milestone stories in the past, I have written something specifically for that event (Wright vs Beckett, The Seven Feeders of Finn). However, this is just a tale that I adored writing and decided to hold back for you all, especially for this occasion. It’s a story of domination and submission within a fairly open, but very kinky, relationship. Strapping Hunter plays the part of a very controlling feeder, making me break many of my own rules and stretching my boundaries to the absolute limits. You’ll either love him, or you’ll hate him. That’s all I’m going to say…

Also, this story is going to be the first Feeder86 story that will be fully illustrated. It’s all thanks to the amazing talents of Spellwell9 who was given an advanced copy and asked to imagine the characters in four different scenes. I cannot wait for you to see this!

Put it in your diary. All will be revealed from Friday 5th April…

#1 F80 Control: This is perhaps a controvercial choice (especially as my #1). I have previously admitted that this story strays a little from its purpose of being a gainer story. In other words, I get very caught up in the background story that is being told. However, I feel that the science fiction genre is surprisingly underused in tales of weight gain. Yet, the combination of Aritificial Intelligence and submission seemed, to me, to be the perfect blend. It really is a beast of a story if you can follow it all the way through to its conclusion. 

With the advent of improved artificial intelligence software in recent years, I felt the time was right to develop the world further, with the addition of F80 Ctrl Alt Del; a spin-off tale set slightly before the main story. Then, unable to help myself, I followed this up again with another companion story, F80: Kidnap and Control. 

The reason I chose this universe as my favourite is because this is where I am happiest writing. With AI, I don’t need to consider the morality or motivations - I know exactly what their aims are and I can see multiple ways in which it will cause conflict with humanity (and their waistlines!) I would also love to write more for this world one day, and I even left a little unused subplot in the last story that I think would provide the perfect starting-off point for another chapter. Will I ever write it? Well, we’ll have to wait and see…

So, there you have it! The the complete list!

This was a much harder exercise than I expected when I first embarked upon it. Stories like: Jiggle the Jock, Meticulous, Rule Number One, Freaks, Leftovers I and II, Ethan: The Secret Feeder and, not fogetting The Consequences I, II and III all crept in and out of the list, unfortunatley missing out on the final cut. There are many, many others, of course. But this list cannot go on forever...

So, why not tell me which ones were your favourites? Feel free to write in the comments and post a link to any other stories that you have enjoyed from myself, or from other authors. Hopefully, if we all work together, this could become a great resource for people in the future, filled with signposts and reccommendations.  

Also, don’t forget the Feeder86 Contents page where you can find links and descriptions of all the 200 stories posted so far (as well as plot outlines for upcoming tales as well). Please continue to enjoy the vast catalogue of stories, and even have a go yourself! I love supporting the many new gainer fiction writers who contact me. So please do get in touch if you need advice, or to talk through your ideas. Let’s all encourage a whole new generation of people to get typing away! I’m sure you will cheer them on just as much as I will.

Thank you to everyone who supports the stories blog here on Tumblr. Keep checking in every Friday througout April for a whole new sweeps season to celebrate this milestone. Stories will include: Tommy's Two Hundred, Train for a Gain, The Feeders' Fortress and The 1% (a companion story to The 5%). For now, I thank you all for taking time out to sit and read the very bizarre tales that sprout from my mind. You are all wonderful.

Happy 200 stories!

Feeder86

[hopelesslyprosaic]

A Different Kind of Queen of Crime- five ways that Dorothy L Sayers changed the way we see Sherlock Holmes

For my first Holmesian post- a crossover with one of my more usual subjects on my other blog! For when one is talking about Sherlock Holmes, in particular Sherlock Holmes scholarship, there are nor many more pivotal names than Dorothy L Sayers. Sure, Christopher Morley may have had a greater impact on Sherlockian culture, and Richard Lancelyn Green on Holmesian scholarship, to name only a few- but Sayers's contributions to scholarship and "the game" were early and underratedly pivotal.

If you're a Sherlock Holmes fan who is unfamiliar with Sayers's influence, or a Sayers fan who had no idea she had any interest in Holmes, keep reading! (And if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan who wants to know what I think about Sayers, check out her tag on my main blog, @o-uncle-newt. Or, more to the point, just read her fantastic books.)

There's a great compilation of Sayers's writing and lecturing on the topic of Holmes called Sayers on Holmes (published by the Mythopoeic Press in 2001), though some of her essays are also available in her collection Unpopular Opinions, which is where I first encountered them. It's not THAT extensive, and it's from an era in which Sherlock Holmes scholarship, such as it was, was still very much nascent. While a lot may have happened since Sayers was writing and talking about Holmes, she got there early and she made an immediate impact- and here's how:

She helped create and define Sherlockian scholarship: Don't take this from me, take it from the legendary Richard Lancelyn Green! At a joint conference of the Sherlock Holmes Society and Dorothy L Sayers Society, he said that "Dorothy L. Sayers understood better than anyone before her the way of playing the game and her Sherlockian scholarship gave credibility and humor to this intellectual pursuit. Her standing as an authority on the art of detective fiction and as a major practitioner invigorated the scholarship, and her...Holmesian research is the benchmark by which other works are judged. It would be fair to say, as Watson said of Irene Adler, that for Sherlockians she is the woman and that …she 'eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex.'" We'll go into a bit more detail on some specific examples below, but one important one is that, as Green notes, Sayers was not only a mystery writer but an acknowledged authority on mystery fiction, whose (magisterial) introduction to The Omnibus of Crime, a then-groundbreaking history of the genre of mystery fiction, included a highly regarded section on the influence of Holmes on mystery fiction. She was able to write not just literate detective stories but literate critiques of others' stories and the genre (as collected in the excellent volume Taking Detective Stories Seriously), and as such, the writing she did on Holmes was well received.

She cofounded the (original iteration of) the Sherlock Holmes Society of London: While the current iteration of the Society lists itself as having been founded in 1951, a previous iteration existed through the 1930s, founded as a response to the creation of the Baker Street Irregulars in New York and run by a similar concept- the meeting of Sherlock Holmes fans every so often for dinner at a restaurant. Sayers, who seems to have been much more clubbable than Mycroft Holmes, helped run the Detection Club on corresponding lines as well. (Fun fact, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was invited to be the first president of the Detection Club! However, he refused on grounds of poor health and, either right before or right after he died, the Detection Club met for the first time with GK Chesterton as president.) While the 1930s society didn't last, and Sayers didn't decide to join the newly reconstituted club in 1951, her presence from the beginning was key to the establishment of Holmesian scholarship.

She helped define The Game: Sayers didn't invent The Game, as the use of Higher Criticism in the study of Sherlock Holmes came to be called. (The Game now often refers to something a bit broader than that, but it's a pretty solid working definition to say that it is the study of Holmes stories as though they took place in, and can be reconciled with, our world.) Her friend Father Ronald Knox largely invented it almost by accident- as Sayers described it, he wrote that first essay "with the aim of showing that, by those methods [Higher Criticism], one could disintegrate a modern classic as speciously as a certain school of critics have endeavoured to disintegrate the Bible." This exercise backfired, as instead of finding this analysis of Holmes stories silly, people found it compelling and engaging- and this style of Sherlockian writing lives on to this day in multiple journals. Sayers, with her interest in religious scholarship as well as Holmes, was well equipped to both understand Knox's original motivations as well as to carry on in the spirit in which further Game players would take his work, as we'll see. She also wrote the line that would come to define the tone used in The Game- that it "must be played as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord's; the slightest touch of extravagance or burlesque ruins the atmosphere." While comedic takes on The Game would never vanish, her establishment of tone has lingered, and pretty much any in-depth explanation of The Game will include her insightful comment.

Some of Sayers's ideas became definitional: Here's a question- what's John Watson's middle name? If you said "Hamish," guess what- you should be thanking Dorothy L Sayers. (When this middle name was used for Watson in the BBC Sherlock episode The Sign of Three, articles explaining its use generally didn't bother to credit her, instead saying that "some believe" or a variation on that.) She was the one who speculated that the reason why a) Watson's middle initial is H and b) Mary Morstan Watson calls Watson "James" instead of "John" in one story is because Watson's middle name is Hamish, a Scottish variant of James, with Mary's use of James being an intimate pet name based on this nickname. It's as credible as any other explanation for that question, but more than that it became by far the most popular middle name for Watson used in fan media. Others of Sayers's ideas include that Watson only ever married twice, with his comments about experience with women over four continents being just a lot of bluster and him really being a faithful romantic who married the first woman he really fell for (the aim of this essay being to demolish HW Bell's theory of a marriage to an unknown woman between Mary Morstan and the unnamed woman Watson married in 1903, mentioned by Holmes in The Blanched Soldier); that Holmes attended Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (she denied that he could have attended Oxford, having gone there herself- fascinatingly, Holmesians who went to Cambridge usually assert that he attended Oxford! Conan Doyle of course attended neither school); and reconciling dates in canon (making the case that one cannot base a claim for Watson's mixing up on dates on poor handwriting as demonstrated in canonical documents, as it is clear from the similarity of different handwriting samples from different people/stories that they were written, presumably transcribed for publication purposes, by a copyist).

She wrote one of the only good Holmes pastiches: Okay, fine, I'm unusually anti-pastiche, and genuinely do like very few of them, but this is one that I love- and even more than that, it's even a Wimsey crossover! On January 8 1954, to commemorate the occasion of Holmes's 100th birthday (because, of course, he was born on January 6 1854- Sayers was more in favor of an 1853 birthdate but thought 1854 was acceptable), the BBC commissioned a bunch of pieces for the radio, including one by Sayers. You can read it here (with thanks to @copperbadge for posting it, it's shockingly hard to find online), and I think you'll agree it's adorable. The idea of Holmes and Wimsey living in the same world is wonderful, the way she makes it work is impeccable, and it's clearly done with so much love. Also you get baby Peter, which is just incredibly sweet!

I got into Dorothy L Sayers, in the long run, because I loved Sherlock Holmes from childhood and that later launched me into early and golden age mysteries- but it was discovering Sayers that brought me back full force into the world of Holmes. Just an awesome lady.

[bogleech]

Also going to finally make a pinned post for all my stuff:

BOGLEECH - my tumblr blog is named after this website I created around 2002 and still update. Thousands of pages worth of content focusing on creature design as well as real biology. My review of the original Legend of Zelda monsters might be the most straightforward example of my articles.

Links to some of the most popular content:

POKEMON REVIEW ARCHIVE: - I rate and review each and every single Pokemon, in Pokedex order, on its merits as a creature design. I also do so as someone whose favorite animals are all parasites.

DIGIMON REVIEW ARCHIVE - same, but more chaotic.

CREEPYPASTA COOKOFF ARCHIVE - for several years I hosted a yearly writing contest before it grew too big for me to keep up with. There are over a thousand user submitted horror, fantasy, sci fi and surrealist stories here emphasizing unconventional, original ideas you seldom see from the "creepypasta" community!

The original "MORTASHEEN" Monster Archive - since the early 2000's I've created and illustrated more than 800 creatures and counting for my own monster-catching world, now set for release as a tabletop RPG setting.

AWFUL HOSPITAL: SERIOUSLY THE WORST EVER (page one): an interactive comedy-horror-sci-fi webcomic I started in 2014 about a medical facility that could maybe be better.

Some of my other internet stuff:

PATREON - constant work makes my patreon updates inconsistent, but the content backlog goes back years with a huge amount of exclusive art and writing. I try to put up new exclusive stuff whenever I can.

ETSY - I design all sorts of original enamel pins like these, plus I sell zero-maintenance terrarium plants (just leave them in a jar!), original books and other things!

COLOR THE ABYSS (available on the above etsy!) - a 30 page educational deep sea coloring book! Includes a few famous favorites like giant isopods and hagfish, but mostly focuses on less popular, often much weirder animals.

UNBELIEVABLE BUGS - also regularly restocked in the etsy store, 30 of the strangest and most surprising arthropods most people have likely never heard of, illustrated by myself and @revretch, written for even the youngest kids to understand (but will likely teach you something new at any age)

My Itch.io and Ko-fi - both sell digital versions of my books, including some creepypasta collections and my first novel, "Return of the Living," about a world of entirely ghosts suddenly dealing with the appearance of ghost-hunting monsters.

TWITCH CHANNEL - I now try to stream something at least monthly, sometimes weekly when possible, from horror games to books and art.

YOUTUBE CHANNEL - archives my twitch streams and other little things.

INSTAGRAM - look at pictures of my huge weird collection of toys and Halloween collectibles

BLUESKY - I'm going to put mainly just updates to my stuff on here.

SEE ALSO:

HUMANS-B-GONE - a science fiction animated series by my partner @revretch, about a world of kaiju-size, technologically advanced insects and arachnids to whom vertebrates like us are just pesky little "gubs." Also has a tumblr account @humansbgone

FINALLY, HERE'S MY GUIDE AND RESOURCE TO MAKING YOUR OWN INTERNET WEBSITE IN A FEW MINUTES WITH NO KNOWLEDGE OF CODING

[witchyintention]

How to Be a Witch or Pagan Without Falling for Conspiracy Theories and New Age Cult Stuff

Witchcraft and paganism offer beautiful, empowering ways to connect with the world, the divine, and yourself. But let’s be real: the spiritual community can sometimes feel like navigating a metaphysical minefield. From “lizard people control the world” conspiracies to the pervasive influence of New Age cults, finding your way as a witch or pagan can feel daunting. So, how can you embrace this path while keeping your wits about you? Let’s dive into it—no tinfoil hats required.

1. Know Thyself and Do Thy Research

One of the most powerful tools for any witch or pagan is knowledge. Before diving headfirst into spiritual practices or belief systems, ask yourself:

What am I looking for in my path?

What resonates with me spiritually and ethically?

How can I learn more from credible sources?

Avoid treating every book, blog, or TikTok video as gospel truth. Instead, prioritize research from reputable authors and scholars. Look for historical, cultural, and anthropological contexts behind practices and beliefs. For example, if you’re exploring Norse paganism, read the Poetic Edda, but also check out scholarly works like Hilda Ellis Davidson’s writings.

💡 Pro Tip: If something sounds too fantastical or claims to have “secret knowledge,” approach it critically. “Ancient Lemurians built the pyramids” is not archaeology—it’s a conspiracy theory.

2. Critical Thinking: Your New Familiar

While spirituality embraces the unseen and mysterious, it doesn’t mean suspending all logic. Here’s how to keep critical thinking in your witchy toolkit:

Fact-Check Everything: Whether it’s a viral claim about moon water curing all ailments or a new trend like “quantum jumping,” take a moment to verify its origins.

Ask Questions: Who benefits from spreading this belief? Are there ulterior motives, such as selling courses, books, or products?

Beware the “Cult of Personality”: Be wary of influencers or leaders who discourage dissent or demand unquestioning loyalty. Spirituality thrives on diversity of thought.

3. Beware of Spiritual Bypassing

Some New Age ideas encourage bypassing real-world issues in favor of “high vibes only.” While positivity is great, ignoring trauma, systemic problems, or mental health struggles in the name of spirituality is toxic. True witchcraft and paganism embrace balance, acknowledging both the light and the shadow.

✋ Red Flag: Anyone who tells you to “just manifest” your way out of hardship or suggests that you’re attracting negativity because of bad energy. Life is more complex than that.

4. Stay Grounded in History, Not Appropriation

A common pitfall in modern paganism and witchcraft is cultural appropriation masquerading as spirituality. Using sacred practices or symbols from cultures you’re not part of without understanding their context can be harmful.

If you’re drawn to a practice, research its origins and ensure you’re honoring it respectfully.

Consider focusing on traditions tied to your own ancestry or exploring paths open to everyone, like modern witchcraft.

🌿 Example: Smudging is a specific Indigenous practice. Instead of co-opting it, explore alternative smoke-cleansing methods with herbs like rosemary or lavender.

5. Cult Warning Signs: Spot Them Early

Not all cults look like Hollywood’s hooded figures chanting in candlelit basements. In spirituality, cult-like behavior often hides under the guise of community.

Red Flags Include:

An authoritarian leader or group demanding absolute loyalty.

Isolation from family, friends, or outside perspectives.

Fear-based control tactics, like threatening spiritual punishment for leaving.

Heavy financial exploitation (e.g., expensive courses or “required” donations).

💡 Remember: True spiritual communities empower you to think for yourself, not rely on a single leader or system.

6. Separate Science from Spirituality

You can be a witch or pagan and still respect science. Magic doesn’t have to contradict reality—it works alongside it. For example:

Herbs like chamomile and valerian have scientifically proven calming properties, but that doesn’t mean they’re a cure-all.

Astrology can provide insight into your personality, but it’s not a substitute for therapy or medical advice.

🌙 Balance: Use spirituality as a tool for meaning and connection, not as a replacement for critical thinking or evidence-based practices.

7. Build Your Own Practice

You don’t need to follow every trend or adopt someone else’s path. Witchcraft and paganism are deeply personal journeys. Create a practice that aligns with your values and beliefs, free from the noise of conspiracy theories or cult-like pressures.

Ideas for Starting Out:

Learn about local folklore or the natural cycles in your area.

Experiment with simple rituals, like lighting a candle with intention or journaling under the moon.

Create an altar with objects that resonate with you—crystals, photos, or even trinkets that make you smile.

🌟 Most Importantly: Trust your intuition. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s okay to say “no, thanks.”

8. Community: Seek Connection, Not Control

Connecting with other witches and pagans can be enriching—but choose your circles wisely. Look for communities that:

Encourage discussion and critical thought.

Respect individual paths and practices.

Avoid fear-mongering or elitism.

👀 Where to Look: Online forums, book clubs, or open public rituals are great starting points. Just remember to maintain healthy boundaries.

9. Grounding Techniques to Avoid Falling for the “Woo Woo”

When exploring spirituality, it’s easy to get carried away. Grounding yourself regularly can help you stay centered:

Meditate or practice mindful breathing.

Spend time in nature, whether it’s a park or your backyard.

Write down your beliefs and revisit them regularly. Are they still serving you?

10. Be Open-Minded, Not Gullible

It’s okay to explore the mystical and unknown, but there’s a difference between curiosity and naivety. Stay open to new ideas, but don’t abandon discernment. Your path should feel empowering, not overwhelming or manipulative.

Final Thoughts

Witchcraft and paganism are all about connecting with nature, yourself, and the divine in ways that feel meaningful and authentic. By staying grounded, informed, and true to yourself, you can embrace this path without falling prey to conspiracy theories or cult-like traps.

Remember: You’re the captain of your own broomstick. Fly wisely.

╔══ ∙∘𓆩⟡𓆪∘∙ ════════╗

How to Support the Blog

╚════════ ∙∘𓆩⟡𓆪∘∙ ══╝

💜 Love the blog? Subs on Ko-fi & Patreon (18+) get to see posts before they go live on Tumblr! I also offer readings and spells in my Ko-fi Shop!

[doyoulikethis-videogame-song]

Ask Masterpost 1/25/2025

I will be answering the BLOG RELATED asks that I have received since opening my inbox. Lucky number three this finally becomes consistent :).

I would like to state here that even though I don't respond to them (I'm persnickety about keeping ask spam low) I very much appreciate everyone's well wishes and compliments and gratefulness for this blog. I screenshot all of them and keep them in a folder. Thank you so much and I hope you keep having fun :).

@forrest-knight asked: Hello! I am here to ask for some clarification regarding the rules: “Songs from multimedia series that are primarily NOT video games (such as the Homestuck minigames, for example) will not be accepted.” I’m a bit confused with this rule, does this mean we’re not allowed to submit songs from licensed video games (aka games made for non video game media), even if the song is originally made for the game (ex. To The Moon from the DuckTales NES game). Or does this rule is intended for something completely different? *please note that I’ve never read homestuck, so this might relate to my confusion Anyways, thank you so much for doing this! And I hope you have a great whatever time you are reading this!

SO Homestuck was the only example I could think of at the time as a series that actually did this. I was specifically thinking about franchises/series/works that 100% did not start off intending to be a video game but, in the nature of being a multimedia series, added video game minigames or mobile games as it developed.

This is referring to things like homestuck (a webcomic that featured small browser/flash games within the comic), many idol gacha games** (hypnosis mic, love live), etc. This does not include series that were 'completed' (loosely used since I know many of these frequently get universe-expanding sequels and threequels and whathaveyou) and then had video game spinoffs, such as Star Wars, Marvel, etc.

** exceptions being tracks that are exclusively used in the video game itself, such as BGM.

I know this rule is probably the most complicated one and I'm still trying to figure out how to word it clearly and precisely LMAO. Fundamentally it comes down to intent, which is why I'm still on the fence some things like tracks used exclusively in promotional materials and things like that.

That being said: if the song is originally from a video game as in literally you can hear it while you are playing the video game you are totally in the clear

And according to your second ask (I won't name the songs in case you want to submit them): The one made for and coming from the NES game is fine (of course), AND the one that is the 8-bit version of the NON-VGM one is ALSO FINE, because it was REMIXED for the NES game :).

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**NUMEROUS QUESTIONS ABOUT PUTTING DISCLAIMERS ASKING PEOPLE NOT TO SPOIL THE SONGS**

The blind listening and polling period is just for fun! If someone really likes a song and wants to know what it is/where it's from, PLEASE feel free to tell them!!! And PLEASE always enter the notes with the expectation that there may be song spoilers!!

I will ask that you keep it in the TAGS rather than the comments or reblogs (you're more than welcome to DM people the title if they ask), just for the sake of people who might want to discuss the song without spoilers. I'll put that in the pinned and the (eventual...) formal rules.

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What's up! New here so sorry if this has been asked before but has the exact same song been submitted more than once before? Like it's clearly different people but the same song keeps getting submitted over and over again?

Ever since Mod Rae cleared duplicates I have no idea anymore, BUT I know there have been a lot of different submissions for a few select Disco Elysium songs. That doesn't shock me because I know it's got a cult following here :).

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do you get a lot of the same people in ur notes or is it like. a few of the same and then it branches out to fandoms where people know the song? or do u not pay attn to your notes at all (also fair)

I do read the notes (when I remember)! I really like hearing people's opinions, and I always look through the tags on songs I know (I find it really hilarious seeing 'is this dark souls?' 'is this nier?' on any orchestral ever). There are a lot of familiar faces but I'd say the majority for any given poll are new or sparsely in the notes :).

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Would you ever consider adding two more "i dont feel strongly/have an opinion" options to the polls? Specifically, "it sounds familiar and i dont have an opinion" and "ive def heard it before and dont feel strongly/have an opinion"? Of course, if theres a specific reason why you dont add those two as options, feel free to ignore this, ty <3

I've considered this -- but honestly, that button has always existed as more of a 'I just want to click a button' option than an actual datapoint I'm looking for (I think I might have answered an ask similar to this before but I don't remember so I'm answering it again LOL). When that option dominates, I always read the notes and tags for discussion and I'd encourage anyone who is genuinely interested to do the same. Actual complex opinions, of course, cannot be captured with the limitations of preset poll options anyways LMFAO.

-----

@mkcannothelpyou asked: I'm beginning to wonder if spacing series severely further apart and prioritising picks further down the queue that aren't as represented would make for a more interesting order - as it is, it feels like you can more or less still track what people submitted and when, with waves of series (and closely related works within those series, at that) coming in conspicuously densely. Hearing the same style only days apart might impact poll results for the negative as time goes on.

This was mostly the fault of me allowing people to submit multiple songs at once, leading to songs with similar qualities (as they are all liked by one person with a particular taste) being grouped together, even if they're from different series. I limit submissions to one per period now so this will not be a problem in the future :').

-----

@the-mayor-of-space asked: how long do submissions typically stay open once they are open?

I originally wanted to have them permanently opened (thinking people wouldn't mind waiting for their submissions) until I got an insane amount of submissions, severely underestimating the popularity of this blog. I then tried to do a 24 hr submission period, and then a 12 hr submission period, but both of these still ended up with a fuck ton of submissions so the current answer is 'They're closed until I can figure out something proper'...

I don't want purging the existing submissions to be on the table, but if I get to the 1 year anniversary of this blog without a better option I might have to go that route -- in which case I'd probably publish all the unposted options so people know if theirs was cut so they know to resubmit it if they're still interested.

-----

**NUMEROUS QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW FAR BACK THE SUBMISSIONS ARE**

WE'RE FINALLY IN AUGUST!!!!!!!!

-----

are fan/non official/non licensed versions of songs allowed? because i am 100% certain #293 is a fan made remaster and medley arrangement (im not the submitter but i know the song well - i found the youtube video the audio is from and the comments from OP confirm it is a fan remix). if they are, that's totally cool, but i couldn't find anything in the submission rules about it. i dont intend this ask to be rude or hostile at all, and either way im grateful you've created such an active community with this blog!

They're not really allowed unless they're from a mod or fangame. Since it's a fanmade remaster it's kind of towing the line, so I'm not inherently against it, but it might end up just being a highly situational thing.

Note: I'm not familiar with Fire Emblem at ALL but I knew this particular song was from an older game, which is why I wasn't opposed to posting the remastered version. In any future submissions I'd appreciate if this sort of thing were indicated just in case! I will add that to the submission guidelines :). And of course if there's a better way to go about this (i.e if the game is like, 30+ years old fanmade remasters/upscales are permitted or something like that) I will make sure that's made clear as well :).

-----

sorry if you've answered this before but I was just wondering, are people allowed to submit spoiler songs for the polls? like final boss songs and songs from endings and secret endings

Absolutely! But I think for all future submissions (this doesn't apply now since there's a huge backlog) I might put a hold on the submissions of OSTS from new games for like 1-2 months (i.e No Mario Kart 9 OSTs until two months after the game drops!) so people who are playing/going to play the game have time to play it before hearing the OSTs unprompted.

-----

@its-daisukenojobito asked: Just out of curiosity, do you prefer the more obscure submissions, or more well known? I feel like for the sake of reach, the more well known the better, but as a participant, i love being able to hear something I wasn't expecting, and knowing it!

I have no preference, but it's always fun hearing good stuff from games and series I've literally never heard of!

-----

@venonomnomicon asked: am i allowed to DM to check the status of a submission? it was a couple of months ago though i do respect it's probably just deep in the queue as you get hundreds of submissions a month lol

Absolutely, but you'll have to DM my main blog (@himejoshi) because apparently tumblr doesn't let you have DMs when you have more than one blog admin.

-----

@royvalentine asked: is the form supposed to be only submittable once?

Yes, so people would only submit one song per submission period. I intended to make a new form for every submission period... There just hasn't been one since.

-----

hi question, do pinball tables count as video games?

I don't think I have enough experience to answer this question... What do y'all think????

[plural-rambles]

Hello! Welcome to Plural Rambles, a place where you can talk about anything any everything you want about your system and experiences with it.

Oftentimes you wanna talk about things but feel unsafe, uncomfortable or awkward talking about them on your own blog. This is a place where you can do that with hopefully a little less anxiety, especially since now anonymity is an option.

Credit to @wonderhorror-sys for the idea.

-

We are SOA, it/he, masc and non-human terms ONLY, NO they/them or it&/you&.

We also run several other blogs.

We are pro-endo; the blog has no DNI. Just don't be a dick.

Guidelines, tagging system and promo tagging under the cut.

-

Guidelines:

[PT: Guidelines:]

You can NOT post:

Discourse, fakeclaiming, blaming or bashing on any topics.

Anything advocating for external violence toward anyone.

Anything super explicit [sex or gore/violence].

Talk of being actively suicidal.

You CAN post:

NSFW in moderation. So, you can talk in some detail about what you do if it's relevant. But don't submit like, smut levels of detail? If you're unsure, feel free to DM it first for clarification. [Again this goes for both sex and gore/violence.]

As @fictive-culture puts it, "unconventional" in-sys relationships and experiences. We also recommend @fictionfolk-safehaven for this as well.

Vents, rants, trauma and negative experiences to your comfort level and appropriateness assessment.

IDEAS of what kinds of things you can ramble about:

Headspace! Layouts, maps, functions, in-sys abilities, etc.

Relationships! Talk about your people, talk about how relationships form, talk about dynamics, gush about how much you love your people.

Origins and syscovery

Roles and abilities

Identities of any kind

Theories and projects

Special mention of religion, you should join @the-haven-keepers-collective's Discord server to be part of an essay on religion and plurality 🤎.

Et cetera! Whatever else.

Reminder that your posts don't need to have form or make sense, you can just ramble and get it off your mind if you need to. If you've got word salad to any degree that's also fine, you're all welcome here 🤎.

Also, submissions can be as long or short as you see fit.

AND if your submission involves any pictures but you want to be anonymous, you can say so at the beginning and we will post it ourselves, just like on @syscord-out-of-context.

Any hate, jusgement or harassment anywhere on the blog will be deleted and blocked.

-

Tagging System:

[PT: Tagging System:]

'nsfw' but not 'nsft'. Will also have 'gore and violence' if applicable.

Rather than 'unconventional' we will tag 'taboo', alongside whichever taboo is applicable such as 'cw incest' or 'cw age gap'.

Other common or requested triggers will be tagged as [for example] 'murder tw' unless they also fall under taboo cw or 'gore and violence' tags.

'vent post' for any vents, rants, traumadumping or negativity.

'outreach' for if it's indicated some kind of response is wanted.

All of these will be added generously just in case. None of them are judgements, they are just to allow other people to filter.

Other tags include [but are not limited to]:

submission, ramble

not a ramble, maintenance, off topic

'-- Name || pro/nouns' for the headmate processing the submission

'anonymous', anon tag or username will also be tagged

fictive, factive, introject

'sysparenting' and 'natalgenic'

-

Promo tags: Can we get a boost?

@funnier-as-a-system @funnier-as-a-fictive @funnierasafictive @intuspluric-culture-is @introjectheavy-cultureis @fictive-culture @fictionfolk-safehaven @plurality-culture-is @plural-questioning @plural-polls @pluralasking @thedailyheadmate

-- Avery (he/it)

[purpurkat-makes-things]

Hello! After having some time to get over my loss for the Pokemon TCG Illustration contest, I decided to write up a small blog entry about the process and include some WIP pictures. Feel free to look below if you want to read my ramblings on the process.

Idea Generarion-

So coming into this contest, I knew I wanted to make a mixed media piece. In terms of theming I chose something that not only reflected a “magical moment” for a Pokemon (in this case meeting a legendary Pokemon), but also a moment when playing the games myself. In fact this piece was inspired by my awe when I first encountered a box legendary in game, as before I thought my teacher was lying to me when he said you can catch the legendary on the box!

This is the concept sketch that started it all! At the time my main concern was getting ideas down and seeing how they looked. Thinking about things like how would the composition would look, how would the colours look. So on and so forth.

I didn’t want to focus too much on the sketch and wanted to start making the physical object, so out of some cheap paper I started making a set up testing out size, scale, composition. I didn’t want to get too attached to the original sketches only to realise I couldn’t make it in real life… I went though a few drafts trying to get things right, slowly adding in aspects such as background objects and higher quality drawings.

After completing the draft I bought the images back into procreate to experiment with colours. This is the point where I made the mistake of thinking I had plenty of colours to choose from, not realising I would be limited by what I could buy from various yarn shops. That or hope I could find the right colour online, but that was always a gamble. If I don’t stop talking about this now I’ll get sidetracked talking about how much I miss yarn shops…

Anyways, I cut out the individual pieces that I would make within the background and used them as a guide for crochet assets. For this part I wanted to use different stitches to create textures such as the ripple stitch, bobble stich and some cable stitches, I feel bad as I never took any work in progress photo so of them. Let’s pretend you’re looking at a photo of a half finished crochet abstract shape.

Finally onto the main event, the Pikachu (and Suicune). The decision to make Pikachu a plush was based on what I would have liked to make for the 2022 illustration contest (if I wasn’t geographically challenged!!) Despite being British I decided it would be fun to make anyways, so I could experiment. I never got around to that but decided it would be fun to try for this edition.

Making the pattern was HARD! As I wanted Pikachu to have a unique pose, I had to work out different methods to plush i’ve made in the past which have been somewhat relaxed in their posing. I ultimately ended up making each part individually, pinning it together and then making adjustments as needed. It didn’t start out great however I ended up with this weird Pikachu shaped thing that did the job. Throughout this process I would regularly photograph it in the background to try and catch any issues early on. For example if the ground needed to be a different shape.

Photographing the final price was interesting. I felt bad for my partner as I essentially turned my dining table into a mini photography studio! I spent several days waiting for different lighting opportunities and experimenting with different light. Marking down different camera angles to ensure I have all of my bases covered. I easily took over 100 photos to get the perfect shot! In the below photo you can see washi tape being used to rest out different positions for the sculptures.

And that leads me to the peice! Even though i’m sad I didn’t make the top 300, I am pleased with the work I did for this piece (and my flygon entry too!). I’m glad I decided to experiment with ts peice and look forward to refining my methods in the near future!

[raguiras]

Mionn's art & writing ship trade event

(Click the art for better quality!)

I'm hosting an art & writing event centered around ships & duos (multifandom)!

🖤 REBLOGS ARE SUPER APPRECIATED

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

I've recently reached 200 followers on this blog, 900 on my meme blog, and 100 on Instagram!! Honestly, I don't even know what to say... I feel so damn honored and am so grateful for the support!! 🖤🖤🙏

As a multi-milestone celebration as well as an event for the official Spade of Storms (Deuce x Allen) day, which is on the 27th of July, I decided to host a TRADE EVENT!!!

Basically, this event is going to be an open art/writing trade that's all about ships (or platonic duos).

The event starts on 7/23 (today) and lasts for rest of July as well as for the entirety of August. For every Allen x Deuce art/writing that I receive during this duration, you get one of your own ship from ANY FANDOM back!

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Why am I hosting this?

it's a way to thank everyone for three different follower milestones

a contest/DTIYS/raffle wouldn't promise that everyone gets something back, so I went for a trade event

the event allows me to post more about other canon TWST characters and draw them while not having to neglect Allen x Deuce

I wanna make new mutuals & friends, get to know more ships, and strengthen friendships with mutuals I already have!

Artfight is/was tons of fun, but I only do/did colored sketches there & ships are a tricky subject. Meanwhile, I'll do ANYTHING here!

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Basic information:

Make a drawing/writing/comic of Allen x Deuce. (Ideas can be found in this post's pink "starters for my ship" section.)

Post it on your blog, tag me in it, and refer to my event. (While posting is by far preferred — especially for bigger artworks and written stuff — you can also just DM it to me.)

In return, you'll receive a gift of the same type for your own ship from any fandom (OC x canon, canon x canon, OC x OC)! I'll DM you about the ship, so make sure that your DMs are open.

For example: If you submit a sketch, you'll get a sketch back. If you submit a fully shaded drawing, I'II make a fully shaded drawing for you, too. If you add a background, I'll (do my best to) do the same. If you write a drabble... You know the drill!

ANYONE can join, whether you follow me or not! However, new followers through the event are super appreciated!

EVENT TIME: July 23th (today) - August 31st

Anything submitted before or after this event duration will not receive anything back (unless we explicitly do a trade), but be held in high regard nonetheless!

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Rules:

The portrayal of Allen x Deuce must be shippy/romantic.

Please keep angst at a minimum unless it has a happy ending. Comfort is allowed.

Please DO NOT add your own OC or another canon character to the submission. Including them in the background as a wingman or something is alright, though. Additionally, any kind of romantic implications between Deuce and another character/OC are NOT allowed.

Please no NSFW. Harmless implications and slight spice are okay, but keep in mind that these characters are both minors.

AUs are very much allowed! All the previous rules apply here, too, and I'm willing to give an overview of some AUs via DMs.

Please no genderbending.

Please DO NOT draw Allen or Deuce as a standalone character. This is a SHIP event for a reason.

Please don't change their appearances too much, especially when it comes to the color schemes & body types.

Giving them different outfits — especially event outfits — is absolutely cool (yes, you can draw Allen in a skirt if you wanna), and changing their hairstyles is okay as long as they still look like themselves.

This is NOT A DTIYS event, so please DO NOT redraw one of my Allen x Deuce arts. Please come up with something original.

If you have any more questions, please DM me!

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

What CAN you submit?

drawings // comics // writings // animatics

For drawings, anything from a quick sketch to an extremely detailed drawing with a background is allowed! You'll get something of the same quality back. The same also goes for writings/fanfics.

Animatics will receive a drawing in return.

What CAN'T be submitted?

Gacha videos // edits // memes

-> You can theoretically submit all of these and I'd appreciate them, but I wouldn't be able to give you anything back.

Memes refer to funny pictures that simply have Allen & Deuce's faces in them. DRAWN memes/meme redraws count as DRAWINGS.

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Starters for Allen x Deuce

Got no clue what to draw/write about?

Check out the few already existing Allen x Deuce posts on this blog for proper lore and facts.

Check @spade-of-storms for fun facts, shorter rambles and additional info.

In any case, you can't go wrong with simple fluffy, romantic scenarios! Dates, kisses, cuddles, whatever!

For information about Allen himself, please check my pinned post.

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Q&A:

I want to join the event, but I don't have any ship (OC x canon, canon x canon, OC x OC) you could draw/write about for me in return.

That's okay! In that case, I'll gladly draw/write about two separate characters or a platonic duo for you.

Can I do multiple submissions for this event?

Obviously, and every single one will be "revenged"!

Can I get something of another type/quality back? For example, can I get a fully shaded drawing for my sketch, or art for my drabble?

Unfortunately not, as I prefer to always give something of the same type back. There are only the following two exceptions that I AM willing to do:

you do a drabble/oneshot —> I do a sketch

you do any type of art —> I write a drabble/oneshot

Is there anything you refuse to draw/write about?

Deuce ships (other than Deuce x Allen). NSFW. Family x family. Minor x adult. Any ship considered to be problematic.

How do I tell you about the ship I want you to draw/write about for me?

I'll DM you after you post your event submissions.

Do you prefer to do OC x canon, canon x canon, or OC x OC?

I have a bias towards OC x canon and canon x canon ships. However, I'm willing to do any ship that's not problematic! In the case of OC x OC, I simply need you to provide information on two OCs instead of one only.

Will you do poly ships?

In order to keep things fair, no. But I could include the third party as a plush or chibi head.

I want to make Allen x Deuce content for you, but not receive anything in return.

That's also super appreciated anytime (and totally doesn't make me freak out /pos)! Simply share it as a gift and don't mention the event.

How long is it going to take you to finish your "revenge" on me?

It depends on the type of submission you make & what I'm giving you back. Some things can be done within a day while others may take much longer, but either way, you WILL get something of the SAME TYPE back & that's guaranteed.

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

Personal notes:

My health isn't the best and I also have a job. Please be respectful and don't rush me nor get mad when I'm being slow.

Please do not start a discussion nor get mad at me if I refuse to draw/write about a ship I deem problematic & want you to pick another one instead. Preferably pick a ship that's by far NOT problematic from the beginning.

I'm unwilling to draw/write about any Deuce ships other than Deuce x Allen because I kin Deuce a ton and tend to feel uncomfortable with many of his ships, so please don't ask for any. I'm asking you to not start a discussion over this, either.

I won't post everything I make for the event on this blog. Sketches and writings will either be DMed to you or posted on one of my other blogs.

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

That's it for now! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to DM me.

And again, thank you so much for 200 followers!

♤ Happy trading! ♤

[my-pjo-stuff]

I was rereading the pjo books to write fanfiction and all. I stumbled on a lot of mischaracterization, you pointed a lot of them, specially about how Rick keeps trying to make big world events include his characters(probably to make it easier to kids and all).

But one thing that always piss me off is how he makes the demigods so one sided, a demigod has to have a specific personality because of their divine heritage, one example I see a lot is Annabeth, specially from the first books.

My question is, how would you change them?

And btw, love your blog, throwing straight facts❤️❤️

Aww thank you so much! And also to be quite frank, I never even thought of that. I was so focused on more glaring writing issues that I completely glossed over that- but now that I give it some thought....Yeah, you're right. You are SO right. And here's what I would do : Starting off with Annabeth since you mentioned her, for her I'd probably bring in more hints towards her being basically raised by Luke. As it stands in the books their relationship is mostly tell-don't-show with the exception of maybe BoTL and TLO. So to counteract that I'd give her more rebellious streaks, and especially make her more skeptical towards the gods. She saw what they did to Luke and Thalia- so having her just blindly follow them seems a bit....weird. You don't need her to be outright resentful ofc, I'd change it towards Annabeth being a "just learn to live with the shitty situation bc we can't change it " instead of a "this is fine actually!" type of character. I'd also include her "ADHD" more, show her actual struggle with classical school stuff. Show that intelligence doesn't equal wisdom, maybe even make her relatively bad in school due to lacking the normal education children her age should have recieved. Clarisse meanwhile I'd actually make smarter. War, as brutal as it is, also included a lot of strategy. Her goal was to make her father proud by victory in battle. So I'd keep her personality and general attitude the same, but make it so that she was also a good battle strategist. She could study historic battles, aswell as have a great amount of knowledge on weapons. Basically make Clarrise that one classmate in high school who was able to list all the tanks of WW2 by full name alongside their functions and other stats, ASWELL as a war history buff. It would keep her original war like personality while showing that Ares kids are very much not stupid. I'd probably try to give Nico some more nerdy aspects back. He still a teen even if he "grew out of it" and it WAS quite a big part of his character when he was first introduced. I'd have him be genuinely passionate about some topic- perhaps a favorite show or even just mythology. Mainly so Nico can have something to actually make him happy and to be excited about instead of just being "emo, dark, angsty Hades kid". Will Solace I'd give literally any kind of characterization before he got it on with Nico. The Aphrodite cabin as a whole would get a LOT of sisterly bonding from me. Like instead of having them be the "catty, dumb, mean girls of camp" make them the tightest-knit cabin. Show them actually bonding and being genuinely protective with each other. Also give Aphrodite some sons. That's all I can rly think about in the moment, feel free to add something if anyone has any ideas!

[hiddenhearthwitch]

📚 Small Intro To Polytheism📚

One of the most frequent asks I receive is how and where to get started when it comes to polytheism. This is a fairly broad subject and I’ll try to be as general as I can for advice but I will include specific references for Norse polytheists as that’s my shit. This information can be used to help you find a pantheon or to help you pick deities to work with it. If you’d like to use it to pick a patron deity that’s super, if you want to worship 20 gods and not have a patron deity that’s cool too. You do you dude. Please keep in mind this is all reflective of my research and personal practice. 🌻

Picking A Pantheon/Deity

This really boils down to personal preference. You’ll read a lot of posts and books that tell you many different ways and it’s entirely up to you because it is your practice.  That being said, there’s a couple of different ways to go about it. 

Research! This is one of my favorite ways to delve in. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with reading the stories of multiple pantheons and picking on that calls to you. You can also talk to other devotees and see what they have to say about deities and their religions. It is important to keep in mind that some religions are closed so please do proper research!

For example, I wasn’t originally a Norse pagan. I read some stories and thought the Hellenic pantheon would best suit me. I reached out to Eros for a while but after feeling no real connection to the pantheon I continued my research! After reading up on the Norse pantheon I decided to reach out to them out. Obviously, I fucking loved it because here I am. Point being, you can pick a pantheon based on research and not some divine message or whatever. You are also more than welcome to try out a religion, decide it doesn’t suit you, and move on. 

Divination! You can use runes, a pendulum, tarot, etc.This can go a few different ways. You can write pantheon/deity names on separate pieces of paper, mix them up, and place them face down then ask the pendulum to pick. You can assign a deity/pantheon to each suit of cards or major arcana card or even do the same thing with runes. 

For example, this is how I found a devotion to Frigg and Hel. I asked if there were any deities who were interested in working with me and pulled the runes Hagalaz and Berkana which read as Hel and Frigg to me. I followed up with tarot cards and pulled Death(Hel) plus the Queen of Pentacles(Frigg).

Asking/waiting for a sign. This isn’t something I’ve personally done so I don’t have much to say on the subject. You can go about meditating, praying, doing a ritual, or whatever and essentially wait for a sign after. It can come via a dream, something you experience, symbols you see in your daily life, it’s pretty much up to your intuition to decipher it. If anyone has information they’d like me to add in here please let me know!

If there’s a god you’re curious about and don’t want to do any of the above it’s totally cool to just reach out and ask if they want to work with you. 

Idk How To Research

Same, tbh my keyword search game is weak. Anyways, good portion of us are looking up dead religions with little reliable resources. To give those curious about the Norse an easy head start here’s a compiled list of  books by yours truly(click me!!) . It’s important to take everything with a grain a salt of salt when doing research. In my experience a lot of the retold Norse sagas have been Christianized or written under heavy Wiccan influences. It’s a good idea to do research on the author before reading one of their books.

Other blogs! There are tons of great witches and pagans on tumblr that have information waiting for you. 💗 You can search their blog/tags for good references for books, websites, podcasts, etc. Plus lots of blogs are open to answer asks. If you don’t know where to start for searching it’s best to try things based around your interest like: “norse polytheist”, “hellenic witch”, “gaelic polytheism”, etc.

Media! How lucky are we that we live in the age of technology? Knowledge is right at our fingertips! There are countless documentaries, podcasts, and audiobooks on youtube full of information for different cultures and religions. I’d personally recommend almost anything by BBC, Myths & Legends, and World Mythology!

Books! I love starting on goodreads to find good books and trust worthy authors. They’ve had almost every book I looked up with bunches of different reviews so you can get varying perspectives. Check out your local library as well! A lot of city libraries have online databases now of all of their books so you can “check it out” online and read the PDF(personal fave). 

Feeling Lost Still?

That’s completely reasonable and your feelings are more than valid. It can be overwhelming and lot of information to soak up. Just do your best and take it at your own pace, there’s no rush to find a deity or pantheon. 💞 Below are a few other general concerns I hear a lot that I was hoping to address.

“I’m leaving a monotheistic(Christian, Catholic, Jewish, etc) religion and it’s giving me anxiety.” This is entirely common and almost expected in my opinion. I was raised Roman Catholic and my first year to two looking into polytheism riddled me with anxiety. I was constantly concerned that god would smite me down or I’d face an eternity in hell for worshiping false gods. While I can’t speak for everyone that fear was entirely erased for me when I found my gods. I’ve never felt so safe and strong and hopefully with time you can find the same in your gods!

It’s okay to want to learn more or to seek something more. I can’t tell you how to handle your anxiety but please know you’re not alone in that fear. There’s whole communities out there willing to support you and help you find your safe space(including me)!

“What’s UPG?” You’ll see a lot of posts, mine included, that mention UPG - UPG is Unverified Personal Gnosis. This is essentially someone’s personal thoughts and beliefs about a deity. For example, I associate Sif with hazelnuts. There’s nothing in the lore or any book that says that she likes hazelnuts; that’s just a personal opinion(aka a UPG).

“How do I reach out to the gods?” I have a lot of information on my blog about this topic although a lot of it is Norse specific. You can check out my beginner polytheist tag here and my beginner norse post/ask here.

Altar! This is my go to typically. Altars aren’t limited to the cookie cutter image that comes to mind(no hate though I have a few); one thing you can make a side blog dedicated to your pantheon/deity, make a small one in a tin can, or even make one in a video game like Minecraft or some shit. You can be as creative or as to the book as you want. It’s up to you.

Prayer! You can totally just sit down and be like, “Hey man wanna work on some shit together?”. While I’m not 100% that all gods would be down with you being that casual it’s still something you can try.😂 You can reach out to them by sitting down in a quiet space and meditating into prayer, praying in the car or in the shower, or just pray at the altar you set up if you did. Again, I can not reiterate this enough, it’s your practice, reach out to them as you please.

Do something personal! This is more like devotional work in my opinion. Let’s say you knit and you want to reach out to a creative or domestic deity, you can knit something as a devotional act to them and as a way to reach out. For example I pick up litter in honor of the Vanir and Jörð, or I play Skyrim for Thor and Týr.

Most importantly just be honest and up front with the god that you’re reaching out too. Considering that statement be honest with yourself as well. There’s no point going into a relationship with a god if you can’t be upfront, it’ll end up in nothing but grief.

“Can deities reach out through gods/signs?” They totally can. However, it is up to you and your intuition if a deity has and it’s not likely another witch will decipher that for you. Sounds, experiences, images, all have different meanings to each of us - they may show you something that’s very personal to you but would be mundane to someone else. Trust your instincts. However, please remember that not everything is magical, sometimes a raven is just a raven and not Odin.

✨Take everything you learn with a grain of salt. Including this post.✨

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[plusultraetc]

I'm gonna NEED you to go on that rant about Shinsou's epilogue look. I'm gonna need that right this minute. (When you get a minute.)

THANK YOU BECAUSE TBH I ALSO NEEDED TO GO ON THIS RANT. It's been percolating for days at this point. I apologize if this is a little (okay a lot) chaotic and disorganized, but I worry that if I nitpick it too much I'll never post it. Hard side-eye @ my inbox, etc.

I should start by saying: I really love Shinsou's epilogue look. Like, enough that I'm already making plans for a second, post-canon shinsou hitoshi expansion pack (current name ideas include: shinsou hitoshi expansion pack ii, 2 shinsou hitoshi 2 expansion pack, and shinsou hitoshi dlc). I love the long hair (he does look darling!! I personally always imaged his older self with shorter hair, but after the first image of him as a pro came out back in August I was sold); his eyebags + eyebrows remain immediately recognizable; and tbh I didn't even realize that he might indeed be wearing some kind of eye mask in that group panel but if he is I love that so much. I know that opinion isn't universal, and that's totally okay!! This is just an emo little ramble about why I personally enjoy a lot of the character design choices made for Pro Hero Nighthide.

Side note: I still can't believe we know his hero name. It was one of the only (realistic) things on my second epilogue wishlist, but honestly I was 50/50 on whether or not we would ever have it confirmed. And yet!! Not only do we know his hero name, but much like @greenhappyseed said in her post, 'Nighthide' reminds me very much of 'Nightwing,' who happens to be my Favorite Superhero Of All Time. So like. That item got two checkmarks on the wishlist. I'm obsessed.

OKAY NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE LOOK ITSELF.

The thing is, it should be gimmicky, shouldn't it? Not only does Shinsou have the same support item as Aizawa, and use the same combat style, and have a similar costume, but the hair? At this point, it feels like the story is leaning hard on The Dadzawa Of It All for a near-comedic effect. And it can be comedic! And also adorable! But it can also reinforce not only a recurring theme throughout MHA, but also Shinsou's own character arc at the same time.

There's a post--or possibly tags of a post--buried somewhere on this blog about how Shinsou's original hero costume is a really interesting combination of elements from both Aizawa's and Midoriya's suits. I've seen & loved posts about how his costume is, like, the perfect 'child of erasermic' costume, but as much as I love a good Mentor Mic moment, he and Shinsou don't really interact in canon. Aizawa and Midoriya are the characters who canonically have had the greatest influence on Shinsou's journey to the Hero Course and beyond. The similarities between his original costume and theirs is in keeping with the MHA tradition of creating a visual link between characters who inspire and characters who are inspired by them--Shirakumo and Aizawa, All Might and Midoriya, and Crimson Riot and Kirishima are just a few examples. That being said, having Shinsou's final hero design lean even harder into the visual similarities with Aizawa just makes sense. It continues the inspiration/homage trend, but it also serves as a reminder of Shinsou's series arc.

A few days ago, I saw some posts on another platform that essentially said that Shinsou's original purpose as a character--to draw attention to and subvert expectations surrounding so-called 'villainous' quirks--had been watered down while he himself was reduced to a mini-Aizawa. And I totally get where op was coming from--there were a lot of potential directions MHA could have taken Shinsou's character, and all of them could have been really interesting, but they all would also have required Shinsou to not be a side character, especially in a show with, like. More side characters than episodes. If we wanted to really delve into quirk discrimination via brainwashing, for example, Shinsou would have needed way more focus that he was just never going to get. THAT BEING SAID, I don't think this means his original purpose was forgotten, or that his taking after Aizawa watered his character down in any way. In fact, I would argue that the exact opposite is true.

Because here's the thing about Shinsou's infamous-to-me, largely-off-screen character arc: it's over in season 5. Obviously, Shinsou continues to be an impactful, important part of the story after the Joint Training Arc, but if you want to get technical about it, Shinsou achieves his aforementioned purpose/goal in as much depth as it will ever be afforded in season 5 when he is accepted into the Hero Course and set to transfer at the start of his second year. Shinsou's motivation is to prove that he can be a hero with a 'villainous' quirk; the concrete way for him to get there is to transfer into the Hero Course, graduate from UA, and become a pro. And in that arc, he takes that first, most important step, from which it is safe to assume that he will continue down the path to success. If we had never seen him again after the training exercise with 1-B aside from the occasional panel to remind us that he's still out there somewhere, waiting to transfer, it would have been both a huge bummer and a waste of his character and quirk, but he still would have had a complete arc. His purpose was never forgotten. It was just fulfilled.

AND YET X2. Shinsou sticks around, big yay, etc. He shows up again with a cool new costume, and then he shows up again again with a new haircut and a cool name post-timeskip. And yes, it's all very Aizawa-inspired, but that's because following in Aizawa's footsteps is exactly how Shinsou achieved his goal!! He wasn't turned into a mini-Aizawa for no reason, or for The Dadzawa Of It All--he was turned into a mini-Aizawa deliberately because that's how he becomes a hero. Shinsou has to approach his goals differently than his peers (see: the Hero Course entrance exam, which they passed & he failed) because his quirk is both viewed differently from theirs and must be used differently, much like Aizawa's. So those visual links hit twice as hard, because not only is Shinsou inspired by Aizawa, but he is quite literally and necessarily following the path Aizawa forged. (The capture cloth is actually a very literal manifestation of this--it took Aizawa five years to master, but he tells Shinsou that it will take him less time because he has someone to teach him. It's the same for every aspect of his hero career--including the social aspect. @bfire92 made a really sweet post about this as well, and I have Many Thoughts and Like Four Drafts about it, but that's a different rant lol)

TL;DR Shinsou looks a lot like a mini-Aizawa, but imo it's a natural continuation of both his character arc and MHA's thematic and visual trends. Also, he just looks cute. That's my son & I'm very proud.

[radiomogai]

why r u activity pronoun phobic-ish?

I will state my reasons for suspecting your account to be a troll.

The blog is new, a main blog, has no profile picture, and the URL is the term you just coined for it. Despite being a main blog, the blog is dedicated exclusively to queerness, primarily reblogs of it, with no other interests present. This is reminiscent of troll blogs from the earlier days of MOGAI Tumblr.

The flag made for activity pronouns is a combination of several already pre-existing flags despite having little to no relation to the terms they stand for. In this case, it borrows exact colours and stripe orders from the original polyamorous flag, polygender flag, and xenogender flag, with a layout reminiscent of the progress pride flag. You do list stripe meanings, which is a point in your favour, but there is no acknowledgement given to the flags used to create the activity pronouns flag.

You make extensive usage of tone tags (I appreciate that you did not use them when speaking to us in this ask, as we do not want tone tags directed towards us, thank you), including adding several on a single line.

Your second statement about activity pronouns is that they are valid. Validity discourse was much more prevalent in the earlier years of MOGAI than it is now, and the immediate insistence of things being valid even without anyone resisting the idea first was another common thread among troll MOGAI blogs.

Similarly, on the coining post you state that anyone who does not respect activity pronouns is a bigot, emphasizing this with a /neg (negative) tone tag. I certainly wholeheartedly agree that it is a bigoted action to not respect someone's pronouns. The reason I point this out is that this was another tactic commonly employed by troll MOGAI blogs, often in an attempt to make the MOGAI community appear unreasonable to those who were new to or already against it, to use it as a way to shut down anyone wishing to have genuine discussion or who expressed concern about them being a troll, and at times to guilt-trip anyone who said something they disliked. Continuing this, you are sending this ask asking why we are activity pronoun phobic-ish, presumably because I made a comment in the tags about suspecting this to be a troll; this is an example of how troll blogs would use the bigotry argument to shut down dissent or discussion. You have replied to your own coining post stating that there are so many activity pronoun phobes here; the only things that I can find that this may be referring to are two people asking genuine questions as well as my own tags in my reblog stating my belief that this is a troll. You additionally have decided to use the term activity pronoun phobia, rather than a pre-existing term such as queerphobia or exorsexism, another thing some trolls would do.

You made an add-on to a post that was about intracommunity queerphobia, a meme about cishets saying they are "not like those weirdos" referring to queer people, with queer people then doing the same to trans people, with trans people then doing the same to nonbinary people, with nonbinary people then doing the same to xenogender people. Your edit was xenogender people then doing the same to those who use activity pronouns. This is despite nobody having expressed this sentiment to you (at the least, as far as I am able to tell), yet the implication is that this is an established phenomenon. Another thing we have seen regularly with troll blogs in ye old days.

You have a rant post about hating queerphobes, in which you speak about queerphobes voting for Trump, saying he will especially target MOGAI people, stating that WW3 will start because of this, and stating that we should form an alliance between queer people, people of colour, and MOGAI people. This is, again, reminiscent of posts trolls would make, but it furthermore is ignorant not only of MOGAI itself being queer, but also of the intersection between racialized peoples and queer people, and the already extensive contributions people of colour have made to the overall queer community. At worst, it is a troll post, and at best, it is ignorant. This post has 17 replies, none of which I can see even on another account, with only 1 reblog and 2 likes.

You ignored the question I asked you in the notes of my reblog in favour of calling me a bigot-ish instead.

None of these on their own would be particularly noteworthy. The combination of them all, however, adds up, and overall makes the blog set off our now-dusty troll alarm. While much of the currently active MOGAI community did not experience the trolls that used to plague our tags, we& did. We have been here since 2016, we have experienced the thick of it, and we learned what to look for. I ask again, if this is genuine and not made with any intention to troll, how and when were you introduced to MOGAI? I am very curious. Thank you for your question.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hello, I am so sure you're tired of hearing white people's story idea worries but uh. Here I am. I'm bad at keeping things short but I will try my best. In my main project I'm working on, three of the four protagonists are POC, two of whom are Black. I've had friends say that one would be described as Afro-Latina in the real world, but that's kind of my problem - this is a fantasy story, and I'm trying very hard not to use those kinds of Real World Words. I'm currently doing a full rewrite and one of my goals is to actually describe people more, because I notoriously hate character description (if a book has a goddamn looking-in-the-mirror-describing-myself scene I'm immediately throwing it away). I guess what I'm getting at is... how do you convey a character's race in a world that isn't ours? I've tried to bring it up a few times in narration but I'm worried it's going to get forgotten. I also wanted to ask in regards to one of the protagonists specifically, the one who may be Afro-Latina: She's a princess, and so the historical ruling family is Black. But like most (if not all) royalty, they have done some heinous shit in the past. This isn't doing the oppression-reversal thing, is it? And lastly, the royal family (including this princess protagonist) has piebaldism. I can't remember why I originally gave them this trait and I'm working on having it be more accurate genetically, but I'm worried that this is somehow racist? Basically, this story is not *about* being Black or anything, I'm certainly not qualified to write about that, but as a queer person I find the idea of "casual representation" incredibly important. That is to say, a character is undeniably X (be it Black, nonbinary, autistic, etc), but this fact doesn't necessarily have an impact on the plot. It's the hope of getting to the point where literally any combination of race/gender/sexuality/etc can be an "everyman" without raising questions. So all that is to say, I want to make sure the races of these characters are clear and undeniable, even if its a fantasy world. Thank you for all your hard work on this blog and I'm sorry to come to you like this! I hope you have a good week!

I don't think that was the best way to lead, no😅 Y'all don't have to apologize to me for being white. I'm going to direct you to read all of my lessons to help with your lack of confidence, but I'm gonna direct you to some specific ones for the questions you asked:

Gotta be honest, if you're not willing to commit to the Blackness of this character, then you shouldn't really bother writing her or any of them 😅 lesson 3 goes into why getting some sort of specific detail on a Black character is important. Just because "real world" races don't exist in your story, doesn't mean that that's not what we're going to see on human characters! White people might exist in your world, but you're not going to call them white! If you want us to see someone that would, in our world, be considered an Afro-Latina, then that's what you're gonna have to describe. Describe hair texture, skin tone; everything technique you'd use to describe a nonblack person, you're gonna use those same techniques!

Afro-Latina is an ethnicity, btw. She could look like literally anything. Do you want us to see examples of her specific culture, on top of her physical description? What else do you know about that culture you're referencing? I have another lesson that discusses that, plus, I always suggest Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko for this question. See how a Black author incorporates multiple real world cultures without ever saying those names outright!

Why would piebaldism be racist, when it's a genetic condition? 😅

As for the ruling family thing, refer to this lesson, but generally, it's not going to be racist unless you are careless about your narrative and make it so. 👍🏾 Do the research!

[mc-tums-fog]

Alright screw it, decided to speak my truth, and actually share my opinion/headcanon I had on Hans Gruber and Elliott Marston but on a separate post because it's long and deserves its own post

TL;DR I think Hans and Elliott are homosexuals, atp it's an analysis on film that I started writing at 4 a.m and finished at 6 am after being conked out at 7 p.m due to low blood so you don't have to agree obviously (also did not have to put this on this side blog but I don't need my main followers to see me crashout but if I decide to share it on there that’ll be between me and God)

So I think there can be a few things when it comes to if a character is homosexual

Details within the story

Performance of the actor

The creators' use of narrative devices/personal background thats embedded within the movie

To start off I think I've seen enough Alan Rickman movies to get a feel of how he did his performances and to me there are roles he did where the characters are obviously attracted to women, such as Sheriff of Nottingham, his portrayal of Rasputin and Sinclair Bryant. These three examples have significant parts of the plot, if not the driving force of how these characters are attracted to women.

I point this out because typically, within film, the average audience (at least more likely from an American viewpoint), are likely to assume that a character is straight because it's the 'norm'. American society runs with the idea that heterosexual is the typical and the default, when really this can be considered a headcanon to the viewer unless the creators put within the work that the character outright states or shows how the men like women. Which these three have done.

TO BE FAIR, Elliott Marston and Hans Gruber don't show one way or the other that point to either sexuality so you COULD argue that it still goes either way.

But given within the other points I brought up as well as still the consideration of how the performance plays a part, I think the lack of definite statements adds to the argument that they are homsexuals.

So I will say for AR performance real quick he's clearly showcased he was comfortable in portraying men who weren't fully straight with the prime example (that ive only seen of this tbf), is Dark Harbour. And even though that role came out after these two, there's still the likelihood that he would've been comfortable portraying this type of role in the past. I'll circle back to his performances once I talk more about the other points but just stating this as a heads up.

Even with how there's no concrete/outright showcasing of Hans and Elliott's sexuality, I think there still would have been ample opportunities for the filmmakers to show heterosexuality within the two in some way especially since the late 80s-90s films there's a lot that showcased heterosexuality/heteronormativity.

But there were also films that either intentionally or unintentionally showcased homosexuality. A case could be Top Gun, which idk much about from the filmmakers standpoint but general audiences I think they could see how it was very homoerotic with the dude bros hanging out (my mom who was born in the 60s recognizes the homoeroticness of it) or how Val Kilmer recognized, either as a joke or not i dont know the guy, how homosexual it was. A more definitive case is Joel Schumacher, a gay man that directed The Lost Boys which still had the protag like a girl but included subtext (to me its just text) of homosexuality within the film between the protag and one of the antags. And Batman Forever, which could have a gay reading for the plot, especially for the Riddler.

Related to that, there is a stereotype embedded within a narrative device of making the villians gay, more so to be harmful for an agenda (gay = bad) like making the villian Joker flamboyant to be in contrast of the hero, Batman. And Jokers obsession with Batman. But they are still embedded within the character regardless of the creators original intent (cause now the prime example with Batman and Joker people and creators have recognized this queer (as in odd) relationship and have made it queer (as in gay)).

And I think, as a queer person, I'd like to be able to reclaim that for myself but I know not everyone part of the LGBTQ community would and they don't have to. Also nowadays gay creators have reclaimed this (think like N.D Stevenson creator of Nimona and the new She-Ra) or might have had an input in creating villians, intentionally or not (like there was an assisted character designer for Scar thats a gay animator cant remember his name atm)

But this narrative device could be used to showcase how opposite the antagonist and protagonist are.

In the case for Die Hard, John McClane is a 'family man' (pretty dogshit at it tbh), who loves his wife and kids. At the start of the film he reeks of toxic masculinity, trying to be overbearing, and the movie showcases this 'masculinity' through means such as getting his hands dirty getting into gunfights/fights, being all sweaty and wearing a tank top, a real guys guy for the time of the film but someone you root for so you associate the traits with being good, even when he recognizes these can be faults.

So you have Hans Gruber to serve as a contrast to him. We dont know his relationship status, but nothing points to him being taken. He's refined in his looks, mannerisms, they're calculated. He reads magazines, is into mens fashion, and also has knowledge of american culture like Western films. Things that could be typical for men but again from a narrative standpoint these are traits more in contrast with John (besides the cowboys really but I have a reason as to why I point this out specifically).

These two are shown to be opposite to show the audience who you should be rooting for: The American cop that just wants to have a life of 'normalcy' with his wife and kids and be home for Christmas vs The German criminal, a 'deviant' from society that wants to get rich for Christmas.

When putting into that perspective, it may seem obvious to make one heterosexual and one homosexual and from the time period of the late 80s, guess which one was persecuted for being a 'deviant'.

But sure still nothing concrete, John being a family man was part of the plot it's the whole driving force but for Hans his driving force is to get money why would they need to include him liking a woman when it's not part of it.

Okay then the same thing can said for his brother, Simon Gruber in Die Hard With a Vengeance. They did not need to write his brother with a girlfriend where they include a scene in the ending where she pounces on top of him and they basically rip each other's clothes off. They did not need to include that because Simon at the end of the day is also doing the same thing as his brother, getting rich by Christmas. But they did.

And even at a point of the movie Simon and John recognize how much they hated Hans cause he was an asshole. There's contextual evidence that Simon did not care for his brother most of the time and always try to show how Simon is one upping Hans in his work (going after higher targets, getting twice the amount of money, having his plan nearly work, even having a better american accent with a fully thought out performance), so the way that the story could show that Simon is 'better than Hans' is being openly attracted to women because being a man you are at your best when 'attracted to women' (in the context of the 90s).

So when you have that added context, the case for Hans being homosexual could add up. There is also how Hans interacts with men and women. AR did make it a point for Hans to be respectful towards Holly (we stand a feminist standing on business to show respect to women in fiction and thereby women in real life). And reluctantly him being courteous to the pregnant woman wanting to be comfortable before he was going to blow up the building anyway.

Which again - not enough interactions with women to say his one way or the other, but the interactions he has with men is much more since he's surrounded by them. AND I think those could say enough. Like checking out Takagi's suit, calling John "cowboy," doesn't smile or laugh around his men besides to Theo, who he seems to genuinely enjoy his company. These are deliberate acting choices that could be related to the script, but some I have to raise my eyebrow at (lovingly).

Because taking into consideration of his future roles at the time, like Sheriff of Nottingham, where he improvised the line "and bring a friend" to the woman when saying she needs to be in his room by 10:45. He made the choice to make the Sheriff intensely heterosexual.

So, the same points can be applicable for Elliott Marston. Quigley, an American man who opposes racism who gets the girl in the end, battles against an Australian man who is racist and goes against Quigley. Same narrative structure as Die Hard. At the time of the 90s, if you want people to root for one and oppose the other, just add sexuality into it. When looking at Elliott and his interactions, he barely interacts with the women, which his men do bring to the ranch. But you never see Elliott with any women. The background has some men by some women, but Elliott is by himself without one. He'll banter with his men and has an immediate liking to Quigley and the American culture (which you could argue he just seems him as a tool but bro invites him for dinner and the other men argue about how they are barely shown this kind of treatment. Also, he fully laughs and smiles with Quigley but barely shows a crack of a smile with his men. Like come on.).

There's also the performance AR has for this like he does for Hans, having Elliott be refined and elegant in his mannerisms compared to the brute and rugged nature of Quigley.

So, yeah, that's just my thought. And I say in the previous post that I think I would've gotten jumped (and still might) for this opinion more so cause there's plenty of x Reader fics between these two characters that have the reader be female more so than gender neutral or even male. And many women thirsting over AR in general. Which, nothing wrong with that, obviously, but I fear about the lack of room for discussion that could be have when analyzing these two performances in a queer lens.

AND then you have the more historical context of cowboys being homosexuals. In films, it's more showcased as something associated with heterosexual men, but I think many queer people know or acknowledge that there's evidence for cowboys in the old west to be gay.

This could also add further context of Hans Gruber knowing westerns. John knows westerns in the heterosexual lens (knowing which man rides of into the sunset with a particular woman) while Hans knows westerns in the homosexual lens (easily listing off the men in the westerns).

Anyway, that's it for me. I've crashed out enough on here. I'm going to crash out again by going back to sleep.

[coochellati]

hi hi! Long time fan of your blog—and It’s really inspired me to write my own Bruno fic, any tips for a first time bruno writer?

HELLO!!! 💕

First of all, I just want to say thank you so much!!! Your kind words have made my day—no, my month. 😭🩷 AHHH I LOVE THIS QUESTION!!!

Okay, so I have a big tip for writing Bruno, (or anyone, really,) and I learned it in Araki’s book, Manga in Theory and Practice. This is a technique he uses to make sure his characters are always acting “in-character.”

Every time Araki creates a new character, he fills out a character history sheet for them. It’s a basic sheet containing all sorts of important stuff such as their personality traits, dreams for the future, forming childhood experiences fears, etc., and he uses that sheet to figure out how his character would react to any given situation. In Manga in Theory and Practice, Araki includes a blank Character Sheet and an example of what a filled-out one may look like.

(this isn’t actually the original Dio character history sheet—Araki lost the OG. This version was made from memory. I don’t know if the original was actually this blank.)

Since Araki hasn’t released one for Bruno, I decided to make my own.

(This image is huge. HUGE. 6232 x 5519px!! Unfortunately, tumblr compressed it so you can’t read all the tiny writing :( can you tell I was an overachiever in school? Here’s a link to the uncompressed photo in Google Drive!!)

You are welcome to use this sheet if you’d like! (Anyone reading this is free to use it.) This sheet contains canon information as well as my assumptions/headcanons since Araki hasn’t given any kind of answer to some of these questions. You don’t have to agree with them. After all, everyone has their own interpretation of Bruno Bucciarati—this is just the way I see him.

Here’s how my process goes: whenever I put Bruno into a situation where I’m not sure how he’s going to react, I consult the character history chart.

For instance: what if Bruno is in a situation where he catches reader smoking weed?

This is something I haven’t always been sure as to what he’d do—I’ve changed my opinion on this multiple times. Weed is legal in many places, after all. However, after looking at my filled-out character sheet, I now have a more solid idea of how he could react.

Canon information: Bruno’s dad (his only immediate family) became injured because he witnessed a drug deal. (Which ultimately led to his death.) The way Bruno sees it, drugs killed his father. He also can get very worked up over matters that are personal to him, such as when Diavolo attempted to kill Trish, or when he caught Passione peddling drugs.

Using this information, I believe that Bruno is probably going to be very angry at reader, even if it is legal nowadays. It wasn’t very legal in 2001, and Passione likely trafficked weed on top of everything else. Sure, weed isn’t cocaine, but it was still a very stigmatized drug at the time.

(so yeah. Bruno would not be very thrilled about my love for Mary Jane… I’d quit for him. Also, this is just my assumption—it’s okay if you don’t agree with me. There are infinite ways to interpret a character, and your opinion is just as valid as mine.)

My advice to you is to fill out your own character sheet! Here’s a version that has no headcanons/assumptions if that helps :) (Unless you want to use mine, lol. But I know my word isn’t gospel, and you likely have differing opinions on him.) If you want to reword it entirely, here’s a full-res blank version!

Another reason I recommend this because you’ll really get to study his character. Being forced to think about his strengths/weaknesses, forming experiences, the relationships he has with others, or hell, even where he was born can really help form an idea of the character you’re writing. Through this exercise, I feel like I’ve gotten closer to Bruno. When it’s a character you love, filling this out feels like you’re spending time with them.

I’d also like to note that this character history chart is ever-evolving. As I continue studying Bruno's character, my opinions and mental images of him become clearer. It feels like I'm a sculptor carving a statue out of marble, gaining a more defined picture with each detail I learn. The sheet above reflects my view of him at this current moment in time, and it will likely change in the future.

Another tip I have for you relates to writing his dialogue. Bruno can be a little weird. For instance, he often speaks quite eloquently:

He’s very self-assured:

But then, there’s moments like this:

I recommend studying his speech patterns. Hell, I’m always learning more about the way he speaks.

I’ll leave you with this: In the end, there is no “right” or “wrong” way to write Bruno. How you write him is up to you, and your interpretation is just as valid as anyone else’s. Don’t worry about what others may think about your version of him—just do what feels right for you. Write Bruno the way you see fit. :)

I hope this helps!!!! Don’t forget to have fun. 💕

thanks for the ask!! <3

[doyoulikethis-videogame-song]

Ask Masterpost 2/1/2025

Fourth edition! I changed some formatting things for better readability.

Summary:

Permissibility of creator-leaked/teased soundtracks (Not allowed)

Proposal of demographics poll

Permissibility of Simlish covers (Allowed)

What franchise has the most polls?

Permissibility of remixes of licensed music (Allowed)

Inquiry about duplicate submissions

Permissibility of pinball soundtracks (Not Allowed) and Inquiry about ports of older games

Permissibility of unused tracks in the game files (Allowed)

Permissibility of roblox game tracks (Allowed)

Highest "I like & I know it" song?

Inquiry about revealing the composer before the reveal

Proposal of demographics poll

"Can we submit 'leaked' soundtracks from games if the creator leaked/teased them?"

I'm going to say no, because there's a broad spectrum of scenarios that could happen in between the 'leak' and the official launch of the song that would technically make the 'leak' not indicative of the final product and of course you don't know that until the final product is released :').

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@pomrania asked:

Is there any chance we could get a poll on what people mean when they vote for that they like a song, or that it sounds familiar? For me, "I like this song" means "I'd want to listen to it again once it's revealed", and "it sounds familiar" generally means "I'm not sure whether I've heard it before but I might have" also sometimes it's "I know I haven't heard this SPECIFIC song before, but I recognize the motifs in it".

Or if that's not something you'd want to make a poll for, then I'd still be interested in seeing what people say for how they vote on things, like in the comments.

I think this would be super interesting to do for a special event or something like that! I've been curious about demographics and other general statistics for a while now. I'm actually starting to have quite a good rhythm with managing the blog now so I may begin implementing the fun side ideas I've had sometime soon (or at least, I hope so, this semester is looking rough LOL)

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Can we submit simlish versions of popular songs, like simlish Katy Perry?

They're remixes for a game so absolutely! I think we already have some in the submissions queue.

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Which franchise/game has the most polls?

It's probably destiny (forlorn, distant stare).

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@haellen-o asked:

Is licensed music created/remixed for video games allowed?

(examples being the version of rob zombies dragula in the original jet set radio. And ludens by bring my the horizon)

It's an official remix for the game's soundtrack, so absolutely :).

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Out of curiosity, how often do you get duplicate requests from different people (or maybe the same person, worried you never got their first response, lol)? I think you've said you have around 7,000 requests, is that after removing duplicates or before?

We honestly have a lot of duplicate requests for popular games, and we've been shaving down the duplicates as we go along and queue new submissions. I think we've cut down AROUND ~1000 duplicates so far (we're not done!) and these are mostly very popular (at least on tumblr) games such as disco elysium, sonic series games, in stars and time, final fantasy, pokemon, tf2, mass effect, hollow knight, legend of zelda, just off the top of my head. The 7000 number was from before removing duplicates.

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for older games where the music is ported to different consoles, would the soundtracks be considered separate if the soundfonts impact them enough, or do they have to be very, VERY different? Like if a game was released on pc vs a 32x port.

Also, if a pinball cabinet includes a soundtrack, is that considered a video game soundtrack?

I would honestly just submit your PREFERRED version (if the soundfonts did differ), and I would put BOTH versions into the reveal, since I don't think this is a common enough occurrence to be significantly obnoxious/unfair for whatever reason. As for the pinball question, last masterpost answered overwhelmingly 'no', so I'm going to say no as well :').

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Are unused vgms allowed for submission? So in the files but never added to the game itself.

If you can credit the creator of the tracks then yes! (provided they're in the files in the final publicly released version and not from a demo/waiting for a future update to be implemented in a live service game/etc)

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are roblox games allowed?

Yes, if you can credit the creator of the tracks and they were made for that roblox game :).

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what song had the highest "I like it and I've definitely heard it before" percent?

I think it is still #100, which was Megalovania from Undertale (85.20%) Correction: It's Death By Glamour, #460, at 87% :)

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@enderlordisadumbusername asked:

are we allowed to mention song composers before the song has been revealed?

Absolutely!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And please do!!!!!! (This will literally only give away the game if you were already familiar enough to know the composer, so it's actually very perfect)

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Would you or have you ever run a poll to gauge how much of a song your followers listen to before voting?

Definitely considering it after learning a lot of people don't listen to the full song or even at least the first minute...