#the readmore debacle

[cesium-sheep]

they came home in a good mood and we opened presents, obligate documentation under the cut

in my stocking I got another hair band and more candies

from my friends I got:

the kirby paper box kit I've wanted for years from rou

a very cute sheep yarn bowl from diane

an adorable robin ornament and a very nice kirby drawing from mana

a "chocolate passport" sampler from amy (to share)

from my mom I got a pen and clear file from the kirby 30th anniversary set, a kirby hat for the cats, and $150 in gift cards

from my brother I got kirby's dream buffet

from my dad I got:

a frank lloyd wright night light

a new robe

a buddha board

new compression gloves

a new pair of my favorite pajama pants

a nice new bag

from matt's dad I got $100

from matt's brother we got a box of pastries to share

from matt's mom I got:

a hannukah card game?

some chocolate snowmen

a box of russel stover assorted

a couple scratchers

a toothbrush

a light up christmas tree ornament

a yarn bag

a pair of fluffy socks

a skein of yarn

from arin's parents we got fancy spreads and a little pancake set

from arin's sibling we got fancy curry pastes and such

from matt and arin I got:

an automated blood pressure cuff

a hand-friendly stick lighter for clearing resin bubbles

spring loaded scissors

a set of canvases

two pairs of long fluffy socks

a pocket mirror

a fancy analogue metronome

the bra I needed

more instax film

a cute kirby blind box plush

the calico critters pony I wanted

a felt food sewing kit

a cute fleece jacket with teddy bears on it

enough of my favorite yarn to make a new sweater (he made sure to pay attention to how much I need for certain projects since I keep complaining about people giving me 1 or 2 skeins like "that's enough for a project right? :)")

a nice wheelchair cushion

a glass slug figure

a new bear water bottle

a stuffed animal hammock (matt had been trying to convince me for months but arin picked it up independently on a whim)

[planetary]

oh im so mad i have a cavity in my tooth and like what the fuck i brush my teeth twice or sometimes three times a day i literally Have to or i cant relax enough to sleep i floss after eating like anything and before i brush i have special mouthwash i use in the middle of the day too i am Obsessive about my teeth. and i get a fucking cavity. WHAT IS THE POINT GRRR IM SO SICK OF DENTAL WORK two abcesses a wisdom tooth and that whole debacle with my stupid fuck of a dentist shoving a broken piece of my tooth INTO MY SINUS CAVITY and now i have to get a FILLING maybe multiple bc who knows there could be others LIKE wtf. just take them all out at this point whatever omfg.

AND MY DENTAL INSURANCE DOESNT COVER SHIT so this will be probably like a thousand dollars again hopefully not more and what else? yeah i cant stop thinking of that fucking episode of CatDog where they went to the dentist because when i first saw that episode like 10 years ago i got so fucking mad i still have a screenshot of me bitching about it. heres an excerpt from the episode sypnosis

“When the dentist opens Dog's mouth and examines it, he finds his mouth perfect, which surprises Cat. Then, he checks Cat's mouth and notices that his mouth is unclean and loaded with all sorts of decay. The dentist scans CatDog through an X-ray and discovers that whatever damage Dog does to his teeth will affect Cat's teeth and vice versa.”

so thats fucked right now let me go transcribe the screenshot i have from 10 years ago. ok heres my thoughts from 2014

“before i send this i would just like to say that ive been watching a lot of CatDog recently and it's on now and im SOrry. but it needs to be said. have you ever seen catdog? it was on TV about ten years ago and it's about this cat and this dog that were attached to each other. ive got some concerns about it. the show isn't ever fair to Cat. especially in this one episode, where CatDog goes to the dentist. Cat eats very good food and Dog eats literally shit. Cat brushes and flosses after each meal and Dog is still eating shit. but because of some logic that has no scientific backing at all, whatever one does to his teeth affects the other. so Dog just gets to be a shit-eater and be rewarded while Cat is punished no matter how hard he tries. its just... so unfair. you get where im going with this?”

LIKE DO YOU GET IT IM LITERALLY CAT RN AND IDK WHO DOG IS BUT WHEN I FUCKING GET THEM IM KILLING THEM sorry this is long but im not putting it under a readmore you followed me so you agree to see me complain on the dash. you love it. I HATE TEETH

[nemuro-incinerator]

To everyone who’s on my account for Utena content, skip this post. Not only is it unrelated, it’s a messy fandom situation (from the series I was into before Utena) the likes of which I almost never get involved in anymore but has gone far enough that I feel I need to say something. The reblog won’t show up if I’m on my main due to being shadowbanned for the horrific crime of pointing out something stupid a TERF said, and I doubt I’ll be trusted if I use a brand new sideblog, so I’m posting here and putting everything under a readmore. My apologies once again to my Utenaheads, have this as compensation

With that out of the way, apologies for the long post, but I figure it’s best to reblog on the most recent post rather than a more relevant example. I’ve been refraining from saying anything publicly on this topic, as I am at the very least somewhat known in the inner circles of the fandom despite having not been involved since August or so, but this debacle has gone far enough that I feel a need to do so. I was a patron for a long time and have been following Nevermore since August of 2022, which is something I feel I should state not as some sort of flex but to establish that I know what I’m talking about. (Please note that I am not hiding my identity - you can see my main account in my bio. If you would prefer not to go check, it’s @west-of-the-styx)

From my experience in the fandom, giving genuine criticism of the comic and its direction without some layer of anonymity is daunting, as not only is the fandom small and generally positive to the point of excess, the creators are always around. I’ve seen them go after people in various cases, and while some cases were valid, it created an atmosphere where making the wrong comment makes one liable to be publicly dragged by the very people creating the webcomic one criticizes. I do not mean to sound dramatic, but it’s created this veneer of nothing but applause and praise, and I feel that isn’t healthy when engaging with media. Media should be critiqued, and, in the case where it feels socially unsafe to critique media, measures are inevitably going to be taken. 

This can come in a variety of forms - private group chats being the main one - but a public platform such as an anonymous confession account allows for another perspective to be shown in a way that would previously tarnish one’s reputation. Does that I mean I unabashedly support and agree with every take on esoterichistoria’s account? Fuck no. Do I think Nevermore is a terrible webcomic and should be thrown in a dumpster fire? No. Do I think there should be a space for alternate opinions, “quality” or not, to exist and interact with the wider fanbase? Yes, I do. Like it or not, it doesn’t matter how much someone says critique is accepted and we’re all friends here if one’s experience contradicts that. The Nevermore fandom has been quite friendly to me personally, but, based on my own friends’ experiences, it’s at least in part because I never toed the line into posting anything controversial. As I said previously, I haven’t been involved in the fandom for quite a while, but I’ve heard things through the grapevine.

In conclusion, I believe esoterichistoria has every right to run the account they run and that sending them hatemail is going way too far. In the modern age of the internet, hatemail can very easily be a precursor to something worse, and even besides that point it’s frankly rude and immature, which is quite hypocritical from those making the same comments about the very blog getting sent hatemail. Just as Red and Flynn are real people impacted by what others say, so too is Esoteric/Dean Mourn.

If you wish to discuss this matter with me, my DMs are open, but do keep in mind that it’s finals season and I am a college student and as such I may or may not be able to reply in a timely manner. I sincerely hope we can all come to an understanding on this issue, though this is likely the last time I’ll post on it publicly, as I’ve moved on to pink-haired-anime-girl-going-through-horrors pastures. Aralt out

genuinely rlly sorry to hear that ur getting death threats no one deserves that. people in the fandom should really know better than to just send death threats and be hateful its hypocrisy

i think the creators sending that hate ask influenced a lot of people to send hate to you and the thought of that makes me really icky they should rlly know better since theyve got people idolizing them

I’ve actually gotten spam and hate targeted toward me personally after what happened over on discord 💀, I’m just confused bc they act as if the confessions I get are my own personal opinions?? 😭 I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong by just posting peoples anonymous opinions and responding to them. If my blog really bothers people so much to get that big of a reaction, then just block. I’ve said this over and over again.

Also, creators shouldn’t be idolized, they are regular people like you and me, especially when their audience is mostly people under 18. Parasocial relationships could come out of this. When you’re a creator, you should keep a distance between you and your fan base, bc treating them like friends or giving special treatment could result in more things like this happening. As adults, they should set a better example and actually speak up when things like this happen, instead of just ignoring it and acting like it’s not their problem. Sure, your fans might not like it, but since you are in a clear position of power, you should not let it get to you. I was honestly very surprised when that happened to me in the discord when I was still sort of a small blog, I hadn’t expected that type of behavior.

Really sorry for the long response but this is something I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a while 😭

Adding tags so that this will hopefully be the last time I receive anything like that. This blog was created to give people a sort of “safe space” to say their opinions, not for anything else

[silverskye13]

Hey, i love your fics, and my two cents here is that if it bothers people that deeply they are very welcome to unfollow you. its your blog, use it how you want to.

that said, i did want to ask if you might ever post your fics from here onto AO3? I've got some friends that don't use tumblr that I've been sharing them with and it’d be much easier for them to keep up with if they didn't have to rely on me. Either way tho, just wanted to say your writing is incredible and inspiring (i was also surprised and delighted when i started to see your name pop up in the hermitcraft tags, because you wrote one of my favorite undertale fics, phantom pains!)

Well! Thank you for the kind words!

You're absolutely right this is my blog to use how I see fit. But I do like trying to accommodate. I recognize I don't exist in a vacuum. I just also have preference on what makes things easier for me as well, and finding that compromise line is difficult sometimes.

And I do plan on cross-posting to AO3 eventually! I'm just not sure when. A lot of the timeline for these quicker fics is very squishy and up in the air, and I'd like to hold off on transferring them over until after they've found something solid. That way I'm not reorganizing a series 12 times, or posting/deleting/reposting a bunch of chapters.

Also! Phantom Pains was so long ago goodness! That was the first fic I ever wrote, I think? That's crazy. Awesome we've found our way back into the same circles again :D

[rensrendition]

I'd love to hear about Lighthouse Keeper!Shen Wei fic and GYADL Threesome fix it AU (I'm still working on the art (*cough* bribe))

:D Thank you @buriedbybooks! (And I am STILL excited about the potential for that bribe art, btw! ;D)

[In reference to this post.]

Lighthouse keeper!Shen Wei

So, the lighthouse keeper!Shen Wei fic is going to be a little difficult to go into detail on without giving too much away, but it started out back at the end of July when @fan-man-huaisang and I discovered a picture from The Rebel (posted by the always appreciated @zhu-yilong-laying-on-things ^_^) of Z1L in this AMAZINGLY SOFT-LOOKING blue cardigan. And f-m-h tagged it something to the effect of 'now i want to see him playing a lonely lighthouse keeper!' And we started talking about it. And then I started talking with @elenothar about it, and we got equally excited about the entire aesthetic of Z1L in a lighthouse on a lonely spit of land that looks a lot like New England, and somewhere along the way I started calling this character 'Shen Wei' and she said, "Oh, is this going to be a Guardian AU?" and I said, "...YES. YES, IT IS." And I'm not sure how much else I can say without giving too much away, but I can mention that Zhao Yunlan does show up, and this IS, believe it or not, a canon ending fix-it for the drama, because we've both always wanted to write one and never really full-on indulged that beyond hand-wavey post-canon AUs.

And I have been given permission to post a snippet, so... enjoy? ^_^

Just as he felt his strength beginning to return, just as his gasps after air finally started bringing in more oxygen and less sea spray… the ocean changed. He hung there, suspended, as it stilled, the waves growing gentler and moving him about less and less and less… drawing back as a maelstrom gathered beneath him.

One moment the sea was still, was calm, cradling him like a babe in its mother's arms, and the next… the ocean was nothing but froth and darkness, and he was lost in its thrall, barely able to catch a breath before the next wave slammed down and carried him ever further from where he’d started. He fought the waves, fought the current, fought the dragging undertow, alternately swimming for all he was worth and curling in tightly to protect his head as unseen things in the water slammed past him and into him, until he felt the water draw back once more, this time pulling him with it… higher… and higher… and higher… so high that if he fell from this height it would surely be the end of him… and then he saw it.

Bright.

Shining.

Golden.

And so soft and warm, he could practically *feel* its heat on his face.

A lantern.

…a lighthouse.

Land.

As the wave crested beneath him, threatening to topple at any moment, he desperately turned his body in the direction of that shining beacon, all but willing the vast frenzy of energy below him to take him where he wanted to go. And as the wave trembled beneath him, finally crashing back down and taking him with it, he took in as deep a breath as he could and swam for all he was worth.

[swashbucklery]

Also I need everyone to understand like. The post+ debacle is being framed by staff as a moneymaking scheme for creators but it’s very much a moneymaking scheme for Tumblr. None of this “oh for creators who need income” that’s what ko-fi is for that’s what patreon is for those platforms already exist for artists who want to monetize their work! And they work fine!

The aim of this is to move that monetization onto Tumblr, so that the site gets revenue for themselves. That 5% cut is not insignificant and it’s a monthly cut of a monthly fee!

So, let’s say you’re a starving artist and you happen to have a huge following. Maybe 10,000 people read your blog and you’re like. I need the income stream, I’d like to monetize my work. $3.99/month for people to read my original content or look at my fanart and I have loyal followers who I think will pay money for this.

(Leaving aside the real issue of how easy this is to pirate using the mechanisms of Tumblr like. Reblogs of + content have basically a header with a readmore, but anything added to the reblog is visible to all so there’s nothing stopping anyone from copy-pasting the full text of the subscriber content in the reblog/reposting it as free content on their own blog/reblogging with a summary of what’s been said for free users to view. There’s no way this shit is going to stay paywalled.)

Let’s say you’re extraordinarily successful, and 10% of your audience subscribes to you for paid content. That’s 1000 subscribers, that’s a lot! If they all subscribe at the $3.99/mo tier, that’s $3990/mo which is a lot of money! Except, Tumblr takes their cut so it’s really $3790/mo and - Tumblr’s cut is $200.

Which means Tumblr is making $200 month off the back of your art, every month and also getting paid for the privilege of hamstringing fandom content on their own stupid website. And they’re making that from every artist, every month. This is not to help artists this is a cash grab and it’s important that we frame it and understand it as such. Less than 24 hours and I’ve already seen the narrative start shifting to “well, if artists are broke and they have to -” no! They don’t have to. Nobody has to use this optional paid feature, full stop.

The Post+ proposal offers literally no features over and above something like Patreon, where the fees are comparable (or Ko-Fi, where the fees are negligible) and there are more accessibility options for patrons/clearer policies for adult content for artists.

This is also again leaving aside the real concerns about how this is a setup to become a pay-for-unlimited-harrassment safety issue, and also the fact that a website that has always struggled with Not Breaking is going to attempt to process monthly microtransactions.

(And also leaving aside the very real and very perennial Don’t Monetize Your Fanworks Kids problem like. I am very much saying don’t do this for any fanworks, ever. But if you are making original art and content that is not copyright infringement to paywall like. Don’t paywall it here.)

[cacaitos]

rape tw

the readmore is mostly because it's long.

like all that '''rape fantasies''' debacle of the other day was really odd, but in the wording they use really got me to think about the actual ubiquitousness of them in media, more so than what you may think. now, rape culture is everywhere obviously, but in the recalling of may tropes and the meaning they hold to certain demographic-related genres i've personally found that its use becomes quite, helpful??? so to speak, not because it's good but because who writes it and who they write them to *finds* it so, at least to an extent. clarifying, I'm talking about traditional romances for women, by women, bodice rippers for example. i don't doubt a single gram that all the culture of cohersion and misogyny were much more worse so it is confusing why would it be such a recurrent behavior in what's supposed to be an escapist fantasy, but at least as far as the analysis' I've seen it comes from the desire to be sexual, to want sex, but by relinquishing all power they avoid the stain on their virginal, if not dignity, at least pride (or something like that? i don't think I have the best explanation). and like you can say it belongs to certain strain of romance, but it's in cutesy shoujo and other teen romances, it on kidnapping romances/erotica, on chickflick romcoms, even in stories about not leaving someone alone to fix their detachment issues (not precisely as equals let's say), not so much in the explicitly sexual way but this fantasies that necessitate the erasure of someone's ability to defend themselves in order to allow them to externalize x or y desire, if not honestly at least vicariously. i still don't like those stories but it's a more factual statement of why they're appealing societally.

now what does this have to do with kakihara or more to say about the masochism (let's use this word for now) in (the two I've read at least) yamamoto works. noting that im using them as illustrative examples not necessarily that I think he's right. yeah i was joking precisely about kakihara as a shoujo mc because what he wants, from ichi, is functionally what the fantasies above exist to achieve. i dont agree with the rape=threat-of-death as despair inducers thing phonegirl's monologue seemed to imply, but it's quite present in your mind as she uses almost word for word kakihara's stance on his own masochism. so in that scene where they're running, through suggestion and i would argue even plain dialogue, both the image of predation (fantasy of the threat of death) and predation (fantasy of rape), by implication, overlap. it's 'romantic' not as adjective but as a genre element.

furthermore, if phonegirl didn’t exist in the story the first place, kakihara’s dialogue/arc could’ve just be read through the more common villain that only finds an equal through the hero/through antagonism hate as a connection blahblah. like of course it depends on the type of character, that taking them out their comfort zone even beyond their protest so that they can truly feel liberated is appropiate even if i’m not necessarily a fan of them depending on the case.

now, kakihara isn't a poor innocent schoolgirl or a very unfortunate civilian woman, he's a middle aged, unattractive, shitty-moraled, cruel criminal man in a male-oriented work. unlike those above, unfortunately :/, he, or his pleasure or his body or his pain or 'rape' does not exist bc it's particularly visually or erotically tantalizing for the male seinen reader, probably, most likely. he's awfully strong willed, violent, can hold his own physically in a fight, and as a self-titled avid proponent of S&M what he looks in his life is his hyperbolic sense of partner equality through someone wholeheartedly giving all he can wholeheartedly receive, and then there's that bit more. he's been killing people left and right, he couldn't want to meet ichi an inch more. we don't even know why he's Like That, since it doesn't seem to be for a reason similar to phonegirl, for all we know he's just weird. so then, he's partially free of the (at least sexual) voyeurism these scenes usually are framed around (unless hordes want to come out and tell me they wanna fuck the old man), and by the way his character is constructed (violently unsympathetic, no particular trauma, enthusiastic), he's even basically castrated so he can't find physical pleasure, he's sort of free of the.. leering? and leaves the trope naked and bare: in the end it's just violence.

in theory, even the mortal chase I feel is still inside of 'the fantasy', even if in one part it's supposed to drop the safe part, but by its (and adjacent fantasies) logical conclusion it topples over the estimated danger expectations. he did get his thrill to want to live, but by conditions that killed him, and phonegirl imaginary as she is, all this grandiose prose about the therapeutic (basically what's implied) effects of rape or whatever or about 'playing' getting spliced would've not ended cathartically in reality, she would've just been raped beyond her 'fantasy' and she would've died from the cut. overall i think it's just the naked version of the first paragraph, if you get what i mean?

ack i do want to say smth abt the kakihara deal before i forget but i really gotta keep working -.-'

[thesummerfox]

On “Creators Supporting Creators”, and why this can go straight to hell

Another daily dose of guilt trip made its way onto my dash as I’m once again forcibly reminded that “creators need to support each other!” and “fandom creators need to stick together!” in posts that outline rather strictly what exactly constitutes as support. I cannot count the amount of posts I have seen that worry about fandom engagement being down, the likes/reblogs-ratio being utterly skewed in favor of the former instead of the latter, and what exactly constitutes as the care for and validation of your friendly neighborhood creator.

And, let me tell you, I’ve had it up to here with all of it.

The tag “creators supporting creators” is a security blanket. It’s a band-aid for the fortunate and less fortunate alike. It’s a measuring tool through which creators can engage in an interaction that is more of a “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”-debacle than anything else. It’s a way of amassing clout the way most social media functions these days, of gaining followers/subscribers, of feeling like somehow you’ve ‘arrived’ and will one day be a Big Name in fandom.

My friends, the tag “creators supporting creators” is one hell of drug that’ll lie to you and muddle the waters until you drown in them.

Supporting a creator does not mean spreading everything they put out there. Supporting a creator does not mean you need to be visibly positive about everything they put out there. Supporting a creator does not mean you need to reblog ten of their creations in order for your work to receive any attention from them in turn.

Truth is this: blanket support hollows the praise. How can a creator trust you actually love their creation when you next throw that exact same love at a creation that suffers from a number of visible issues, such as bad story formatting or a very pixelated quality? How can a creator believe that you like the way they portray a character when you next turn around and heap praise on a creation that portrays the same character in a way that is diametrically opposite to the first? How can a creator feel good about the praise you heap upon them when that praise is interchangeable with the praise you heap upon everyone else? How can a creator feel like their own work has inspired you when you next request the exact same work from five other creators?

It’s empty. It’s just noise. It does not sustain or nourish creativity, nor does it inspire or push a creator to try new things. It’s a void that grows with every interaction. It smothers growth on the creator’s part, but also limits your own growth as a reader/viewer. It does not invite in-depth looks at the media you both enjoy, nor does it provide any real sustenance that challenges you or makes you perceive things differently than before.

Our creations matter to us. We put a lot of work into them. We want to keep creating, but a huge part of creative flow is born of actual meaningful interactions with the rest of fandom. Supporting a creator can be as simple as offering feedback (“I really like this idea and love what you’re doing with xyz, but could you please add a readmore or adjust the paragraphs for easier reading?”), offering a sounding board (“I’m vibing with xyz idea so if you wanna talk about it please feel free…”), and offering a get-out-of-jail-free card (“please don’t feel obligated to update this week or fill this request/prompt if you don’t feel like it”). It can mean seeing a creator ask for a beta, a sensitivity reader, or someone they can bounce an idea with, and dropping into their private messages to talk about that sort of thing. It can mean sitting with them as they scream about not getting a scene right, or sharing a cool tutorial or resource with them that you know they can make great use of, and so on...

Support of a creator’s content cannot always be quantified under things such as a like/reblog-ratio or other forms of measurable fandom engagement. A creator is more than the sum of their content and does not always need to put out new material to have a place in their fandom. A creator’s relevance does not hinge on how much they produce, nor does it center around the popularity of their work.

If you really want to show creators your support, stop acting like a consumer. Support them as a human being who’s doing the best they can and would often like to learn how to do even more. You’d be surprised about what shakes loose if you do!

[fiblertsos]

About IZ’s fandom policies, and why they are like this

Ok, since I’ve seen people taking screenshots of my tweets on this subject, I thought it’d be better for me to just make a Tumblr post.

I’m sorry for not putting this under a readmore, but I want people who visit the tag to read it all.

tl;dr: No, IZ isn’t LGBTQIA+phobic, nor do they hate your hcs and AUs. It’s just literally how JP fandom works.

-

JP fandom etiquette functions as thus: the main tag is ONLY for content that complies with canon. This is done so anyone who searches for it has accurate information and the right “image” of the fandom they’re looking at.

“Image”, in this context, is not “oh I want new people to think this series is good and not icky like the icky fanart those fans make”. The “image” is, quite literally, a reflection what you see in official media. JP authors, while ok with headcanons, want people who get into the main tag to get what their series is about from the getgo, without confusion.

This is why shipping, “hard” headcanon content and AUs go into separate tags on Twitter: # whnoc (WH non-official content) and # whnos (WH non-official shipping)

What got IZ splitting hairs was not the headcanons themselves, but people using official art and the main tag to claim characters have canon sexualities when they do not. 

In JP fandom, the notion of “fantasy” is prevalent: fill in the gaps left by canon, and project anything you want in there. Characters having ambiguous sexualities and identities is something authors do on purpose, in order for a fan’s “fantasy” to take control in fandom.

What we see when someone edits official art to include a sexuality/identity flag and going “X is gay now! It’s canon!” is a fan acting on “fantasy”; semi-ironically declaring a character’s sexuality to express their love for the idea.

What a person engaged in JP fandom sees when someone does that is someone willingly breaking the ambiguity the creator put there on purpose just to selfishly declare their headcanon as truth, denying everything else. The main tags are for canon information, so if something like this is there, it’s seen as a declaration of canon truth.

Same with AUs! What a JP person thinks when they see an unspecified AU in the main tag, they go “oh that must happen in canon at some point”. It causes confusion due to the different views on tag etiquette, and that’s something IZ wants to avoid. 

(JP fandom has certain keywords to help them identify AUs, but we don’t have that system.)

About art edits, well. As an artist myself, not editing someone’s art should be pretty damn obvious. Not only do edits in the canon tag cause confusion, but it’s also the defacing of someone else’s art! 

About that, IZ has said cropping and resizing their art for video thumbnails, headers and such is ok, along with very light edits (like brightness or saturation, nothing that distorts the characters at all) that are positive towards the characters.

(Also, I know they don’t hate AUs and hcs because they’ve liked a bunch of them on Twitter, including when I made Wilardo and Ashe in FFXIV. If they’re fine with my ugly ass FFXIV models they’re fine with anything.)

The rumors of IZ hating LGBT fancontent were born from an earlier declaration of theirs, where they said “any LGBT content is not official nor intentional”. People took that as meaning IZ was denouncing shipping and sexuality headcanons as bad, but it was just them trying to reiterate the point about authors leaving sexualities vague. If I recall correctly, this was shortly after the whole siri/claire debacle, so people already wanted to pick a fight with them. A lot of the people who spread this rumor had blocked both Aster and myself, the two people who translate IZ’s tweets into English: so they had no source of translation except machine translators, which predictably enough did not do their job very well.

In summation: This is all a misunderstanding, JP fandom etiquette is literally just like that, and IZ just wants canon compliance in the main Twitter tag. You’re free to post hcs and AUs in another tag, and IZ even encourages it.

Edits are banned though.

[therealvinelle]

Meta masterpost

Last updated: 24th of December

This is now a masterpost of masterposts, explanation under the readmore. Thank you for your patience.

I was having issues today (15th of May) with tumblr, as my meta masterposts did not display any links when I viewed it from my blog. They all died. After some thinking and testing, I discovered that this is because a tumblr post can only have so many links before it says “Nope, not doing this”.

As a result, we’ll now sigh be doing nested masterposts.

The original masterpost (this post) will now be the masterpost of masterposts, linking to the sub-masterposts and giving general information. Also, all masterposts will be tagged masterpost.

Twilight:

Characters

Ships

Covens

Volturi

Vampires

The Pack

Worldbuilding and Lore

Mocking the Movies

AUs and Other Inspired Asks

Debacles

Miscellaneous

Star Wars masterpost

Harry Potter masterpost

Other fandoms masterpost

Isekai

Fanfiction

Writing

Miscellaneous

Other:

How the blog works, and why it may take a while before you ask gets answered.

Art is tagged under Twilight fanart (Though you won’t find all of universallypanned there. See below), fic-related things under Twilight fic. Apart from that I try to keep this blog serious, so shitposts can be found on main (@belovedordos). (Edit: I realized this makes it sound like I am a shitposter. Sadly I lack that particular brand of genius, what I meant is that I reblog other people’s shitposts on main.)

And if anyone is interested in my fanfiction, it can be found here (Ao3) and there (ffnet). Please stay away from the numerous deer fics, though, because they’re terrible. Hilarious, but terrible.

PSA: The very talented @universallypanned deactivated their Twilight fanart account, a sad day for all of us in this fandom. I’ve taken it upon myself to archive all their stuff as I felt somebody had to. All their art that I was able to find can be found on my blog here. Feel free to DM me anything that I missed.

[goldentemplariumcrow]

So, after much thought and mulling over, I decided I'll open Felipe to some ships without lemon/smut with female muses as an experiment.

Why an experiment you may ask. Well, let me explain the whole story on broad strokes.

-> Warning: there's a lot of rambling under the readmore.

Many years ago, when there were way more people in the RP side of the Assassin's Creed fandom and original characters were more well accepted among the whole RP community in a general way (a.k.a.: the wild times), there were many, many, many, MANY lovely female canon and oc muses going around. They came in all shapes, sizes, colors, personalities and overall were quite pleasant to RP with.

In my case, the rule was simple, I was open to ships with all genders, because Dio was, is and always will be pansexual (more precisely sapiosexual, a.k.a.: attracted to intellect), but I never felt really comfortable writing sex scenes for m/f ships. Romance was perfectly fine. Lemon? I did write it, but it wasn't right up my alley. I took it as a challenge to myself, as a way to improve my writing in whatever way I could, and I only did it with people I felt I was close enough to.

However, as many of us have experienced in the past (and many will in the future), some nasty bunch had to come around to spoil the fun of others. And in my case it was a bunch of muns from female muses, many of which were confirmed self-inserts, who started to complaint that even though there was some sort of relationship between Dionisus and their muses, there was no sexy times going on, that I always skipped or faded to black, while with another two muns I wrote it.

The problem arose when these muns started to mix everything, they confused their muses with themselves and myself with Dionisus, and with the storm that happened from this, soon I had to decide whether it was worth to continue allowing any kinds of ships or not, which wasn't easy and the situation only grew worse when I announced that I wouldn't be accepting new romantic ships of any kind for a while — meaning I would still write lemon, but my muse wouldn't be romantically invested in any way, shape or form with his partners, — and a good number of "partners" left, thus, indicating to me that they were only after Dio's dick.

This was a behavior of Dio's from the very beginning, he'll be the friend-with-some-benefits, but he won't be in love with a female muse, he doesn't have any romantic inclination towards them, just fucks and moves on, no romantic emotional attachment to female muses at all; and it became a behavior I enforced more and more until more issues came from other muns not understanding this and pressuring me to force the relationship.

So, by the end of almost a whole year of this bs and many other situations I'd rather not talk about, I ended up deciding that enough was enough and I wouldn't allow for f/m ships with Dio anymore.

Now, how does this whole debacle affect Felipe?

Let me start by saying that Felipe is fifty-two years old, but his body is that of a twenty-something young man, and bisexual. He's a closeted bisexual who repressed all of his attraction for males for most of his life, safe maybe a couple of years when he was an young adult, and had a pretty heteronormative life for all of his years after his experiences. Most of his experiences are heterosexual, it's what he knows and so it's his comfort zone, thus, it's normal that he fluctuates towards such relationships romantically and sexually, because it's what he's used to.

In my honest point of view, it is unfair to take this away from him, because this is an important part of Felipe. I'll not be open to write lemon/smut of f/m ships with him, but I think that taking the romance away from him is cruel and damaging to his possible developments, and to my writing.

So, for a while, I'll open up and try the waters to see if it works with him. There'll be rules though, which will need to be respected as I brave this wilderness one more time.

[drops-of-moonlights]

Okay I did my duty as an artist and drew the girls in what I’ll be calling Neo Charmix until they come up with a better name. Now for Actual TalkTM about the leaks:

Honestly I’m not hating it! I’m one of the few bitches on Earth that didn’t mind the S5-S6-MOTA CGI look (the og movies were very very pretty but they could NOT emote in the fucking slightlest and the looser kinda shittier models of S5 onwards let them do very expressive faces) so that influences does seem nice, and by GOD FLORA AND AISHA GOT THEIR MELANIN BACK AND EVEN STELLA DOESN’T LOOK LIKE SHE HAD NEVER SEEN THE SUN IN HER LIFE. AISHA EVEN HAS ACTUAL CURLY HAIR!!!! LIKE ACTUAL CURLY HAIR HOLY FUCK

Neo Charmix is nice... but I’m very dissapointed in the wings rip. Like they’re pretty but in a post-Enchantix world if the wings don’t go balls to the wall it’s bound to be dissapointing. But also after the 900 variations on the Cosmix wings pre-release maybe they’ll look better when it airs? who knows. I like how they feel more uniform than OG Charmix but still look individualistic, and honestly? loving the tiaras. They pretty. Though I do have to say the ratio of how much each girl has is kinda off lmao, Bloom and Stella look fairly simplistic compared to Flora who has more layers going on with the dress and stuff. I know people are sad about the loss of Stella’s pigtails but I’m not mindind the hair down, plus FLORA HAS BEEN FREED FROM THE HAIR BLADES AT LEAST WHEN TRANSFORMED THAT HASN’T HAPPENED SINCE B L O O M I X

Tecna’s braids are of course a disgrace unless they do something actually cool with them and I’m not expecting them to do that (like, when transformed they’re covered in tubes that look like wires and so they can soft-mimic long hair. That would be cool but I’m not expecting it in the slightlest), but other than that their casuals are very very nice (MUSA YOU LOOK LIKE YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A DECADE).

WE’RE STILL MISSING THE DUDES THO AND I REMEMBER THE S8 DEBACLE. I DON’T FORGET THE TWINX. So we’ll have to see on that front.

I know we’re all expecting this to be a full reboot but surprisingly enough we still don’t have conclusive evidence? Like yes it all points to a reboot but the fact they insist on calling it Winx Club 9 is what throws me off. And if it is a reboot, what will it cover? We got 52 episodes so I could see like a S1-S3 speedrun and we get Enchantix halfway through. That would be interesting but I also can’t see it happening fully.

Yeah those are my thoughts they’re not like super well-together but also we’re just going by screenshots for the most part so. Be glad I at least put it under a readmore so you don’t have to scroll through the entire thing lol

[fullmetal-the-last-alchemist]

for that fandom ask meme.. pick your poison!!! lupin, transformers, or ninja turtles!! 👀👀😁

!!!!!!!! AHH THANK U SARAH!!!! <3 <3 hmmm i will answer for loop because that one's newest and cause the other two are franchises and that makes it a lil more tricky lol

put under a readmore for convenience!!

The first character I first fell in love with: DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY IT.... goemon my Fuckkng BELOVED. kite skypiea's video of him being incompetent with technology is like half of what pushed me to dive into the franchise The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: OH fujiko for sure... i assumed she'd be poorly written and underutilized - which, isn't exactly incorrect, but it definitely depends on the movie/anime part. she was SO good in fujiko's lie and in cagliostro... i love her shes so epic. love to see a girlboss winning The character everyone else loves that I don’t: HMMM a lot of people seem to like rebecca a lot - and i don't hate her or anything, but i'm defs not like a huge fan or anything lmao. OH AND i know a lot of people love albert - and again, i don't hate him, but i just see him and i'm like... ah, it's this prick again. alrighty The character I love that everyone else hates: i can't think of ANYONE tbh....... the cast is just so small.... plus i don't think there's any character that everyone collectively hates anyways?? hmm idk The character I used to love but don’t any longer: well. i'll say that i definitely liked ami better at the start of part 5, though that whole debacle is entirely the fault of the writers lol. ALSOOO sometimes i'm not a fan of the way jigen is written, esp in more modern loop stuff... stop making him grumpy and homophobic smh The character I would totally smooch: AGAIN... do i even need to say it... honestly i feel bad bc i've been watching so much loop content with LJ and every time she has to put up with me sighing abt how much i wanna give goemon a kiss every five minutes jgkdfhgkjdfh The character I’d want to be like: HMM i can't lie, everyone in the main squad is like.. sooo gender.... probably goemon, i love swords and his style looks comfy The character I’d slap: lupin i love u so much but if i met u in real life i think i would maim u on sight u_u A pairing that I love: POLYGANG BABYYYYY!!!!!!!!! specifically, imo, jigen and lupin are married, fujiko and lupin have been married and divorced about a dozen times, and all three of them are dating goemon <3 i am Particularly fond of jigen and lupin (the gay marriage of it all... immaculate), lupin and goemon (CRIMINALLY underrated, i love them so so much) and fujiko and goemon (ALSO very underrated... their dynamic is so goddamn cute) A pairing that I despise: WELL. i can't lie... i really don't like seeing zenigata shipped with. anyone tbh u_u i know there's a lot of joking about it in canon, specifically with him and loop, but like... i don't know, i feel like it's never meant to be taken seriously. and he's so much older than all of them?? and they literally call him pops... idk to me hes just Dad. yeah.

[hopevalley]

Season End “Podcast” Episode

Hey guys. We (Sara/@trash-god​ and I/Manna) recorded the audio post last night. The very basic rundown is that we answered some questions and discussed some things. See the end of this post if you want an approximate list of topics. I don’t think we talked about anything too surprising (and frankly I feel like we didn’t even really dig into the meat of some topics at all, for whatever that’s worth).

I’ve uploaded the file to dropbox since it can handle a file this large without any real issue.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FILE HERE.

You have to download the file or add it to your own Dropbox account to listen to the entire thing (it’s 5.75 hours long lol) so be sure to do that if you actually want to hear it all.

Unfortunately our connection was pretty poor so I (Manna) ended up doing most of the talking and there are some awkward silences when we couldn’t tell if one or the other was about to speak (haha) but I think overall it turned out okay. It should at least be listenable, but I do apologize for not taking the time to edit it. I just don’t have the energy.

You should see the button here on the top right, at least if you’re using Chrome:

If you have any problems downloading the file, let me know, but my only other option is to upload it to YouTube and I’d rather not do that since it’s unpolished and unedited. ;)

--

Topics discussed (under the ReadMore):

Allie’s Father (Dylan)

Allie’s Adoption

Nathan’s Inquiry

Helen Bouchard/The Manuscript

Barbershop + Fiona + Mike

Molly’s Pursuit of Bill

School Concerns

Dress Shop

Bill’s Uniform

The Triangle

Jesse and Clara

Faith and Carson

The Canfields

Henry’s Son + Christopher & Rachel

Lee and Rosemary

Ned and Florence

Other questions (in order):

1. What is your opinion on the show “remembering” and “including” all kinds of old things this season? For example, remembering Carson was a surgeon, mentions of Dottie and Abigail, adding Paul Jr as a character.

2. How do you think the historical accuracy side of things is holding up this season?

3. I miss the characters going without makeup and wearing clothes that suited their roles and positions in life better. :( What do you think about the show going back to that?

4. Come up with a fun plotline for S9 H-E-R style!

5. Who should Nathan end up with? If someone new, what type of personality would you choose for him?

6. How many seasons do you think WCtH will get in total? Will they make it past S10?

7. What character do you think was done the dirtiest by the series? How could it be fixed—if it can be?

8. Do you hope they bring back Christopher and Rachel?

9. What are your thoughts on the ‘faith’ aspect of the show (the religious one, not the character!) and do you think they’ll do more of that moving forward?

10. What do you think you’d do if you had to write a movie script for the next holiday movie for this series?

11. What do you think is ‘missing’ from the show? (Manna’s note: food & animals/pets like in Road to Avonlea, community feel outside of dire straits like the town meetings in Gilmore Girls, etc.)

12. How do you feel about adding more characters to the cast?

13. Which character do you think suffered the MOST in terms of writing quality this season, and which character got the best writing in comparison to the last few seasons?

--

Questions I asked Sara:

1. Do you feel that certain aspects of the season (Faith wearing pants, Freedom-Alls on Rachel, Fiona helping out with the fire and saying “Does it have to be a man?”—among others) are genuine but…perhaps misguided attempts by Hallmark to look progressively feminist? How do you feel about it? Would you like more attempts at this? Fewer? Better-written attempts? Any examples of how they could do it better?

2. How do you feel overall about the character writing this season? Who came out with the best writing and who was taken out behind the nearest Hardee’s and beaten to death?

3. If you could erase one plotline in S8 to make more room for another plotline of S8, what would you choose to erase and what would get more screentime?

4. Talk about one improvement you saw in S8 over the previous season(s).

5. What’s one thing you miss from previous seasons that you wish would make it back onto the show in some way?

6. Do you think Elizabeth is the new Lorigail?

--

Questions Sara asked me:

1. Why do you think they didn’t resolve the triangle with Elizabeth choosing herself instead of A Man? I almost believed they’d take that route when her gaze lingered on the title of her book.

2. What two actors currently on the show have the best chemistry?

3. Carson’s will-he-won’t-he-leave plotline consumed so much screentime and fostered nothing but a sense of annoyance. Do you think he’ll stay gone? How would you have written him off the show?

4. What do you think causes so many of the “heartfelt” scenes to come off cringey?

5. Do you think they’ll let Elizabeth stick with Lucas next season after all the vocal backlash?

--

Broader (?) Topics (that we honestly didn’t have time to discuss in more detail sorry sorry):

1. What kinds of storylines would you like to see for the existing characters moving forward?

2. Opinions on Abigail coming back (played either by Lori or by someone else)?

3. The biggest complaint about the ending was actually the “resolution” to the triangle debacle (regarding the path to getting there being sloppily done/poorly received by fans). Is that a fair criticism? Is it just now that the show has failed the audience with its poor writing?

--

I am not personally going to crosspost this to Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, or any other platform, but I don’t mind if others do so, so feel free to pass the link around if you want.

And as always, let me know your thoughts/feel free to send follow-up questions. :)

Thanks for sticking around this season!

[silverskye13]

different anon. it does for some people but not everyone. (also, some people may find the feature annoying in certain cases because the length it decides is Too Long is kiinda arbitrary and peoople have differnent lines.)

So in the spirit of Under-The-Cutting, I guess.

First thing of address, I guess: I can't control if people turn off the auto Tumblr readmore function. If it doesn't work for you, you can't control that either. But I find it a bit unfair that someone might, hypothetically, turn off the useful tool for cutting back on longposts on your dashboard, and then come into my inbox and be passive-aggressive about me not doing the function for them on my side of the equation. If that's the circumstances that kicked all this off, it's a bit... ahm... self-centered. I personally have it turned on, less because I want to filter long written posts [I like reading the fics posted on Tumblr] but because I like to filter long image posts, and those generally don't get censored under a readmore.

For that matter I also can't control someone's scrolling speed. I get what the second anon is trying to say: maybe only censor posts of a certain size. The issue here is what I think is long isn't the same as what someone else does. For me personally, I think long is a written work that tops out around 10k words. I'd get annoyed scrolling through that on my dashboard. The fic I posted yesterday was a rare 5k-ish. Most fics I've posted here in the past are around 2-3k, but I've posted an 8k fic here before with no resistance. Something I'm learning from this is other people think 2-3k is fine enough to scroll through, but 5k is a lot. So... noting that for the future.

So I personally don't like censoring my posts under the readmore function for a couple or reasons:

It cuts back on engagement, noticeably. It's the side-effect of social media that you want instant gratification as quickly as possible. When someone is given the choice to either click a button and sit on a post for awhile, or continuing to scroll through their dashboard for something quicker to engage with, normally they'll pick the second option. That's how social media was made, and while the Tumblr platform subverts this a little by it's nature, it still buy-and-large holds true.

Read mores, as far as I'm aware, can only be added on desktop. The snippets that make it to Tumblr, barring when I archive them for myself on a separate document, are all written on mobile. If they aren't completely mobile, they're at least started/drafted there and then moved to desktop later - but I want to say 9/10 of these are written and posted completely from my phone. And they're going to lean even more into that, since for various reasons, it's currently easier and more reliable for me to write on my phone. I won't be able to continue writing fics here if I have to wait until I have access to my laptop every time before posting them. Which leads me to my incredibly me-only dilemma:

Writing these quickly and posting them rough to Tumblr is the only reason these quick fics get written in the first place. I started posting written work to Tumblr because I was tired of abandoning so many ideas in the shuffle between "Is this good enough for AO3?" and "Is this good enough to be written at all?" But if I have to re-add roadblocks that make posting here more trouble than it's worth, I know myself, I will end up not posting fics here anymore. I'm sure it sounds silly. It sounds silly to me. But it's less of a "readmores make me not want to write" and more of the mental gymnastics of: Is this fic long enough to need a readmore -> If it does need a readmore, when will I have the time to add it -> Do I post it now and edit it in later? Probably not, because I won't remember to add it later -> Since I waited to post it, do i even remember hours later that I had a fic I wanted to post -> Would it have been easier to post this on AO3, even though it doesn't meet my standard of craft of AO3 fics? -> Why am I bothering to do this when I have so many other things I'd rather spend my time on? If you've ever done that thing where you got nothing done on a free day because you had (1) thing you had to do in the afternoon, and all your mental faculties were taken up going "No I can't do X, I have to do that thing in 4 hours!" That's kind of the odd cascade the whole readmore thing is doing for me right now.

My thoughts on this currently is I have 2 compromises and 1 definitely-not-a-compromise. And the one not-a-compromise is I ignore all this ever happened, and continue doing what I have been doing. I don't want to do that because I like to be accommodating? I'm very community focused. I like building an atmosphere that's welcoming when it comes to the blog. But that might also be what I resort to just because, as I said above, if this turns into more trouble on my end than I think it's worth, I'll just stop posting fics here, and I don't want to do that. Which leads me to--

Compromise 1: I stop posting fics here. It's not really a compromise, but it's easy. Ish. Eh. Not really. Tagging everything on AO3 is a pain in the butt for something quick and dumb you wrote up because you thought it'd be fun. But being able to post a link to a fic like with my LongFics is a think I could just fall back on. I think it also means I'll probably stop writing this stuff though, because I'll get bogged down in things like trying to edit them, or link them together cohesively when they're out of chronological order [Like the Hels/Wels fics, which currently are all over the place in their timeline, and will continue to be so probably]. Regardless it's an option.

Compromise 2: We can go back to the old standby which is me tagging anything longer than 3 paragraphs as "long post" and then if anyone doesn't want it popping up on their dash, they can filter the tag. I also don't like this option because it blocks even more than a readmore does. But it's quick and easy for me, and maintains the integrity of "I wanted to post this to Tumblr and not worry about it anymore."

This is all stuff for me to stew on. I don't expect people to weigh in on these options, though you're welcome to if you think you have some good input for it. But that's about where I'm at right now.

[faranae]

Why not buy from bad dragon? I've always heard they're a really good brand.

(WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT EXPLICIT, BUT DOES REFER TO NSFW THEMES WITH STERILE EDUCATIONAL TERMINOLOGY. PLEASE STAY WITHIN YOUR COMFORT LEVEL AND READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.)

Let me open by saying this particular brand of community drama is quite ancient at this point. 

I was trying to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I should have said “do your research before buying from Bad Dragon” rather than making a blanket statement. The company may have made changes in recent years that I’m not aware of. While I as always welcome any corrections, please respect I have no intention of ending my boycott.

(There should be a readmore here! >:V Let me know if Tumblr breaks it!)

Bad Dragon, for those who aren’t aware, is a US adult entertainment company that designs and manufactures adult toys based on fantasy creatures. They are/were a bit unique. (Minors: This is one of those times where I’m going to just acknowledge you’ll probably Google it even if I politely ask you not to, which I am. At the least, please be safe with your internet browsing.)

Basically Bad Dragon was for a long time the brand when it came to this niche. They were the Kleenex of oversized adult fantasy toys in that everyone knew the name and associated it with that type of product. That is a very bad analogy in hindsight but I’m keeping it. 

While BD does make some great products out of quality body-safe materials (what I’d normally judge such a company on), it’s not their products I take issue with. The company itself has some... Interesting prior experience regarding designs, theft, and lack of credit/compensation for artists among other very questionable practices. 

DISCLAIMER: I’m going to keep these points somewhat short both to avoid triggering descriptions and so that if you want more information you’ll have to do some research. There are entire websites dedicated to information on BD, though the quality varies.

I’m not an expert source on this, just a consumer explaining the reasoning behind their choice to boycott. I’ll be double-checking a few things and adding events as I go to keep misremembering to a minimum. I will not be including any points that are not easily verifiable, so y’all can form your own opinions if you’re keen to research. 

ABSOLUTES:

BD at one point sold and marketed an “adolescent” model. Self-explanatory why this squicked me out, I hope;

BD continues to sell multiple products based on children’s media;

BD owned and operated a user-run instructional site focused on “scientific” animal molestation. It was taken offline when it brought bad media to a new business venture;

For quite some time the product pages/measurements were set up in a very misleading and often inaccurate manner; 

The ENTIRE Labs debacle, a program which BD used as a design and content farm, where they locked the program for months yet still claimed ownership of the designs submitted and sent legal action to artists for going elsewhere;

BD’s printing company has used source files to distribute prints without their clients’ consent;

ALLEGATIONS:

Multiple allegations of bestiality-related abuse practiced by company founders and owners, at least one of which may have had charges brought;

Multiple allegations of sexual assault regarding a former owner;

Multiple allegations of manufacturing products based on lifted designs from contests and forums without compensation or credit to the original artists;

Multiple allegations of employee mistreatment;

This isn’t extensive, and there’s a lot more accusations floating around out there than I thought while I was checking up on stuff. 

The company may be doing a lot better nowadays! I don’t know, and at this point I don’t particularly care to look. I made my decision a while back and there are far more options out there who sell safe and ethical alternatives which are better in many ways. /endrant