#the thing that gets me very personally the most is that my og fandom friends and i have a twt gc with him

[bewareofthenewphannie]

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[victimsofyaoipoll]

Finals

Propaganda Under Cut

Sakura Haruno

Her husband is gay and her author doesn't know how to write women. So many people say she's the worst but she. DESERVES. BETTER!!! Save her from this franchise.

My baby girl my bestie my best friend. She committed the crime of um being written by kishimoto who both doesn’t know how to write women and somehow writes men in the gayest way possible specifically naruto and sasuke. Like the thing is naruto and sasuke ARE gay and also she gets so much hate for the crime of kishimoto writing her one dimensionally in love with sasuke. I know her personally she is a butch lesbian to me just trust me she’s in love with Ino and has a lesbian thing going on with Karin okay just trust me. My everything. She needs to divorce the loveless lavender marriage she’s in 

What is there to say, even? The OG Threat to my 90s anime brain, the only woman I've ever hated with such a passion she made me turn away from the color pink. I used to write fics with my friend where she got left behind on purpose so our OCs could join the Naruto and Sasuke team instead. I loathed this bitch until I was 16 and realized the author simply couldnt write women and decided it was time to make peace with Sakura. It is not her fault she's vaguely written and obsessive over Sasuke. She deserves better. Sasuke and Naruto still should be together and Sakura shouldnt be with Sasuke but I no longer believe this because I hate Sakura, it is because I love her. She deserves a spouse who will actually put in the time to treat her like the hero she is.

Misa Amane

she gets treated in-canon the way fandoms treat female characters that Threaten an m/m ship. it's like, "oh why don't you go sit in the corner and be pretty, misa, while the Men have intelligent conversation and pretend they aren't ten seconds from fucking each other, doesn't that sound nice?" it's infuriating. and MAYBE it's better now but i remember her getting treated the same way in fanfiction too, like we all need to do just as badly by our female secondary characters as fucking tsugumi ohba, but with the added insult of making her be alternately oblivious of the relationship between light and L or actively trying to sabotage it—incompetently, of course, because god forbid misa be allowed dignity or moments of cleverness.

she's one of the first characters I think of when I consider old school fandom misogyny. The annoying bitch and clingy crazy gf allegations were AFTER HER ASS. She's also a lot more intelligent than people gave her credit for, but most seem inclined to take the Very Biased word of our unreliable, narcissistic narrator and his homoerotic arch nemesis and claim that just because she's bubbly and into romance that she's also a complete moron. Which is blatantly untrue. Everyone was afraid of Misa girlbossing too hard. Killing people and devoting yourself to the deranged twink of your dreams even though you know he'll never love you back??? Having a hardcore goth aesthetic and being so Hot even literal Death Gods are into you?? God forbid women do ANYTHING!

Not only is she the victim of yaoi culture, she is the victim of early 2000s misogyny by an author that wanted to introduce a girl character because he knew his male rivals were getting too homoerotic. She is a goth bimbo icon who portrays what I think is one of the few callouts for stan culture and what parasocial relationships can do to both the stan and the idol. The fact that she is a toxic fan of Kira and also hot, funny, sociable is tragic in its own way, which I think the author did try to touch on but was too misogynistic too really get through. Of course, she was reduced to villain status by the fandom and anime alike because she got in the way of the supposed romance in their psychological horror anime

[wrenkenstein]

OC creation musings + Juno retrospective

I was rewatching this video by Rea, and it struck me that this exact phenomenon happened to me in 2022, with the first inklings of Juno's design - back when I couldn't decide on whether or not her name would be "Juno" or "Kite", and desperately trying not to make her a scientist. She's obviously come such a long way since then, having now become a very well-known character in the fandom, but I often think of the fact that had she not become on of my artistic passions, I probably wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today.

Juno is absolutely everything to me. She is a representative of my passion for storytelling, and she connected me with so many of my now closest friends - one of which is currently living in my house! How crazy is that, man! All of which I can attribute to simply becoming so fixated on my own OC that I couldn't stop thinking about her, or drawing her.

Of course, that's come with some highs and lows. She's getting a professionally done cosplay, a 3D model and potentially a Battlefront mod - but she also has her own dedicated group of haters who think she represents the 'wrongs' of fandom, lol. I certainly have recieved my fair share of 'Juno hate' in my 3-4 years here, but the positivity and support make it well worth dealing with a few rotten apples. It's radiant and outpouring, like a warm ray of sun, and it keeps me going deep into the night.

Anyways. Total tangent. Want to see all her design iterations? Yea you do ;) Here's the first ever Juno ref!

I made this on my phone in 2022, at the tale end of watching TCW and back when TBB was just one season. You can definitely see that the idea was always there, just a bit disjointed in its application. That gas mask on her helmet ended up causing a lot of confusion, so I removed it in later iterations - but to this day, I think this one picture is what really captivated me. Something about the aura, man,, she scary lookin

Then, of course, I had to draw what her face would look like - if it hadn't been for a RP, I don't think I would have.

Woah - she's like a whole different person! And you can see the beginnings of her white hair streak, though back then, I wanted i to be really subtle. And I was soooo adamant about this lol. She also was almost beat for beat Ellen Ripley, and you can see me paint over a picture of Sigourney below with her OG faceclaim haha.

Then we have the Juno-ing... part two. Where I went darker!! Both in themes, and in her color scheme. This one still has so much personality, and I remember being obsessed with how I drew her eyes and face back then. Nowadays, I think it's hideous. xD This was also around the time I was phasing out her gauntlets and oxygen mask, but both still remained for practicality purposes, even if they didn't serve anything to the design. Oh, and the hair streak. Now it's a Thing :tm: but it isn't really flowing well with the design - not yet, anyways!

We finally get to a point where I, begrudingly, accept the fact that her white streak is going to be her facial focal point - and at this point I'm laughing about how much I tried to avoid it LOL. But here, we also see her get more and more refined. Her face is still a bit wonky, but the stern vibe and posture are starting to come together and tell more of a concrete story, even if the reference doesn't have as much color or personality as the last one. I also did this one for my senior year of college!

I even designed her some totally BS civvies - and I gave her a s2 paint job, which admittedly looks hideous LMAOOO but we ball regardless. The second design was scrapped anyways almost immediately. The civvies stayed!

And then, of course, THE FINALE! Her face went through so many iterations with her current ref, but thus far, it's been the longest standing and most accurate one. It atually started out just as me goofing off with a marker pen in CSP, that quickly changed to "hey... this could be something good." And I was right! This is the Juno that's currently circulating today, and I've been polishing and refining her as I go, since I still feel as though I could perfect things.

And then, of course, her various outfits, which I posted about a while back. Oh - and have you seen Baby Juno?

Well now you have. :)

I think it's so cool to see how someone can fixate on a character and pour so much love and thought into them, that this character becomes their entire brand. Juno inhabits every part of my brain space and is what I think about 24/7. I'm so proud of how far she comes, and she reminds me about how incredible fandom can be and continues to be! Something about her is just so intoxicating to me. I can't get enough of her, and I can't wait to keep developing her over the years to come.

Which then begs the question - what is your equivalent to this entire thread? Do you have an OC like Juno, who you're fixated on and who dominates your creative pursuits? Do they have multiple artistic iterations? Because if you do, share them!! I WANNA SEEEEEE.

Anyways, that's Wren's Ramblings for today ~ I got bored haha

SHARE YOUR OCS!!!! >:0

[cuttlefishcommie]

Haven't posted in a while, time for a comics rant.

I love booster gold. I love him so much, he's my favourite ever comics character. He has a couple of basic powers like flight and usually blasts, but spends a lot of time using force fields, which is incredibly cool. It makes him a pretty versatile fighter. Similarly I love his costume, colourful, recognisable and not too complicated (plus it has wrist gauntlets, I love wrist gauntlets), which is basically everything you need for a good super suit.

Outside of the basics, I love his premise. He's a time travelling super hero from the future. There's tonnes of room for great time travel related adventures, which are always incredibly entertaining. Plus plenty of space for fish out of water comedy. Furthermore, the idea of a normal guy coming back from the future with high tech stuff to be a hero, is incredibly amusing and one of the most original premises for a character.

I love everything about him, I love that he's on the JLI. I love that he has a little robot buddy (Skeetz). I love that his arch nemesis is called Dick Hertz.

Boosters story is genuinely amazing. He's brash and he's bold, a confident goofball, but also a massive nerd. He comes to the past as a fame seeker with a less than noble history, he's shaky and he's not great at being a hero. He can be arrogant, and over sure of himself, and at the start he really doesn't feel that he fits in. He feels like an imposter in a world of genuine heroes. As time goes on, booster gold the og fanboy turned superhero (honestly this premise is universally delightful - looking at you Gwenpool) becomes more and more selfless. It's the greatest example of fake it till you make it, booster stop trying to hit the A list, and he's relegated to the B-tier, saving the world time and again, without anyone even knowing. Booster turns from being the arrogantly begrudging "greatest hero you've never heard" of to having that title be a thing of pride, an honoured descriptor. Booster becomes a more genuine hero than most others, all because he knew the future was brighter, and because he wanted to help people here. For many reasons, this story is incredibly personally impactful for me, but there's one other thing that I need to talk about for Booster.

This is to the fandom. Booster Golds most important relationship have never been any of his brief flings, it has never been any of the crazy characters from across time, it has never even been his family. The most important relationship booster gold has is blue beetle. Booster and Ted have one of the greatest friendships in comics. They'll hang out all the time, just for fun. They joke around together. They work together when they can. But when times are tough they always turn up for each other. It's an inspiring friendship for the ages. I understand why many people like to claim this. There are not a lot of gay relationships in comics, and that sucks. But, can we please stop this nonsense of pretending every time two people have strong feelings for each other it's romantic. Can for once, we have some characters with a very impactful friendship, that outclasses romantic bonds. I am so tired of everything being romantic, and as weird as it sounds, alongside bill and Ted's excellent adventure and Shaun of the dead, booster gold gets to be one of those breaks. So please, just for once can we accept there is in fact a platonic explanation for this, Booster and Ted are best friends, and their relationship is what being best friends should look like.

[getvalentined]

I posted about this on the twits, but I'm gonna do it here too because it's not like this is limited to that platform.

Since I've been seeing my least favorite shitty FF7 rumor around again, friendly reminder that there are no "legal issues" between Gackt and SE delaying anything. Sources claiming otherwise say "trust me bro" when Nomura has literally said it was just the workload.

People who claim that delays in production of anything in the Compilation are because of Gackt are parroting a rumor that's been around for over a decade, which was started by people who used it as an excuse to be racist and homophobic under the thin veneer of frustrated criticism. The majority of hatred toward the character of Genesis Rhapsodos in early fandom, and hatred toward Genesis in modern day fandom from OG Purists, stems from this same place.

Why do you think these people always assert that Genesis' very existence "ruins Sephiroth's character," but never complain about Angeal? Why do you think they have no problems with Aerith having a Jenova-infused Angeal Copy in her church for years—something that should totally change her understanding of the Crisis, but doesn't seem to in any way whatsoever—and yet anything and everything Genesis does is treated as an unforgivable retcon?

It's an excuse to say heinous, horrible things about an all-but-explicitly queer character who is modeled off a real Japanese man, and that's all it ever was, but it gets a pass because they dress it up as criticism of the franchise. Then, when they inevitably start throwing out slurs, nobody cares because "it's just Gackt—I mean Genesis, everyone knows he sucks."

Yeah, you "know" because you let a bunch of bigots tell you he should be judged more harshly than any other character in the entire series because he's not white or straight enough. Because he's based directly on a real flesh-and-blood Japanese man, and to these people that makes him deserving of hate, because people like that shouldn't exist. Because the character is all but explicitly queer (and it is even more explicit in the original language and when accounting for some key culturally-specific literary references portrayed throughout the narrative), and people like that shouldn't exist.

You "know" because you never questioned why this character specifically is the only one it's "objectively and morally correct" to hate and belittle, even though everything he's supposedly hated for applies to multiple other characters throughout the series.

The character is loathed, and the actor is blamed for everything, because some old guard fans said that's how it's supposed to be in this fandom, and if you don't engage with things that way then you don't deserve to be here.

Very cool and normal behavior!

There are very valid reasons to dislike this character, mind you, and plenty of reasons to be critical of the actor. I'm not saying otherwise. I'm saying the pervasive and frankly disgusting fandom-wide hatred stems from the same place as the continued, repeatedly disproven assertion that Gackt is to blame for everything "wrong" with the Compilation and its development: bigotry. I know this because I saw these assertions come into being in real time when Crisis Core first came out. I watched the people saying these things post the most homophobic rants on their personal accounts, I watched people I considered friends get banned from LJ communities for referring to Genesis as Gackt and referring to Gackt with racial slurs.

And I watched them come back later, promising they were better people now, armed with new claims and new arguments that allowed them to continue to be hateful trashfires without getting in trouble. As long as they weren't overt, it was okay. If they slipped up and used a slur in the comments that was mostly okay, since it wasn't in the main post. Mods might lock a thread here and there, but those people got to stay. Their "criticism" was "valid," and thus their bigotry was validated.

Those same claims and complaints are still regurgitated today, only now it's by people who aren't racist and aren't homophobic, but don't realize that their criticism is horribly unbalanced because it was all born from people who were just masking hatred.

Even worse is when these behaviors are mimicked by people claiming to like the character, because the fandom taught them that this was how you're supposed to engage with him, because it's just Gackt—Genesis (I said Genesis!) so he's a piece of shit no matter how you slice it and he deserves to be treated that way. Nobody else does, and nobody questions it, because this is just how it's done.

I'm sorry to be the one to tell people this, but if you slap a bunch of gay stereotypes onto Genesis and then have the characters around him treat him like shit because of them, while implying or outright insisting that IT'S OKAY BECAUSE IT'S GENESIS AND HE SUCKS SO IT'S FUNNY, you are following in the footsteps of bigots. If you constantly refer to the character as "Gackt" like the name itself is a pejorative, you are following in the footsteps of bigots.

No, there is no nuance here. I don't care if you allegedly came to all these conclusions on your own—you didn't and you know it—except for the fact that actually that's worse, because it means that you did some kind of deep dive in the source material and came out the other side agreeing with a bunch of racist homophobes who are still spitting bullshit after over 15 years.

Do fucking better.

[obxfiles]

one thing the obx cast always reminded me of was a high school friend group and god knows those are fragile as hell. i don’t understand how it’s so inconceivable to some people that he fell out with one person and then decided to isolate himself to not cause anymore problems. it seems so in character for him to do that as well, knowing he’s a very anxious person, and neurodivergency affects people in all kinds of different ways. crazy to me how apathetic obx fans seem to be to that.

it’s not even like he’s on bad terms with other cast mates, him and Drew were attached at the hip most events they attended together for example, and he gets along just fine with the older cast too, Gary, Anthony, Cullen…

yes!! like as much as i want them to all be a family (and i do believe chase and jd and laci and madelyn are still close with everyone, rudy included) you can just tell some of the dynamics were off.

especially that live stream that madison and mariah did where they'd openly laugh/talk shit about rudy. that felt like such mean girl behavior and made me feel so bad for him. like i still don't understand that. you don't have to like anyone but who in the world goes on a live stream with so many fans and talks shit knowing he's gonna see that. that just makes me feel sick.

knowing he has panic attacks and struggles with severe anxiety and seeing people give him hate for not being as active at events just also makes me really uncomfortable. like at pougelandia when twitter was like "lmao rudy ran away to hide with elaine" like maybe he needs a break??? i know i would.

if you watch any interview with him, you can tell the kind of person he is. he is so openly and honestly himself, and that self is so kind and thoughtful and introspective. he overthinks, he needs time away by himself, he gets homesick and lonely. i don't understand why the fandom can't extend grace to him.

and can we talk about drew for a minute!! and laci too. those interviews with the three of them were so sweet!! rudy was 100% "his old self" there, and laughing and teasing laci and bickering with drew, it just felt like season 1 with the og group all over again.

it makes me so sad for him that he was so uncomfortable on set. i can't even imagine. and maybe i'm projecting here, but my freshman year was so hard. i had a group of friends who seemed close on the outside but i was always excluded. they'd invite me places to make fun of me and always talked about me behind my back on AIM back in the day. seeing rudy and seeing some of the BTS dynamic....i got such bad flashbacks to those moments. seeing him always on his phone, off by himself, trying to self regulate. it was like almost looking in a mirror, and my heart broke for him.

i do think he and jd and chase are still close. or at least i hope. i just wish the fandom wasn't so hard on him. it's like they've targeted him and i can't help but think of those of us that have always gotten targeted for being "the weird kid." they don't seem to care about him openly talking about his struggles with panic. twitter seems to be making it all a big joke and i feel physically sick over it.

it's bullying plain and simple. doesn't matter if a person is sixteen or twenty six. what they're doing is bullying.

[cloudcountry]

thank you to the three people that tagged me in the twst author spotlight ^^ irene, siren, and sapphy, thank you. i read what you said about me and i was very touched. i didnt think i would gain so many friends in such a short period of time, and you all deserve to be recognized for your contributions to the twst community!! :D

EVERYONE LOOK AT MY FRIENDS.

@tinyletterz, who has a beautiful soul and amazing writing. i've known her since my baby days on quotev writing for a fandom which shall not be named, and it's so such a pleasure being her friend. she writes twst x reader content and has a gorgeous series about flower languages that i think about a lot. thank you remy for helping me get accustomed to tumblr, you're the og!!

@shkrmpp, who was my first mutual that i'd never met before here. thank you for asking about jellyfish and being such a bubbly presence on my dash. shrimpy writes x reader content and creates adorable art!! their hair dye series with the leech twins is super cute and i find myself thinking about teh floyd part in particular very often ^^

@fukashiin, with the prettiest themes and the gorgeous art style. winou CONSISTENTLY writes absolute bangers that make me so giddy. this one in particular is one of my favorites, and her writing style reminds me of a soft summer breeze. she's such a bubbly person and its so fun talking to her, even if we don't talk often. ^^ she's one of the three people that keeps my deuce content afloat.

one could say many things about the beloved @hisui-dreamer!! from the way she adores her friends to teh way she writes, rinna is always soft and sweet. she radiates comfort and is such a soothing person, i feel so safe around her. she writes x reader content and every single piece is its own masterpiece. she's one of my closest friends on here and i wish nothing but the best for her every day.

@merotwst, who has a bucnh of adorable oc content (on @meromessy !!) and writes x readers!! ellie in on haitus right now takinga well deserved break. <3 but she writing is amazing and i am FLOORED whenever i see her art!!! it's literally so gorgeous and i don't understand how she does it. its crazy. how is so much talent in one person.

@siren-serenity is not only a lovely author of x reader content, but also a lovely friend. ^^ siren also has an oc named melody who is so cool!!!! she was the pastor at my wedding and fought TOOTH AND NAIL for that position LMAO love u renren!!! she really writes azul SUPER WELL and im so happy to have met someone so calm and soothing to talk to.

@officialdaydreamer00, aka nutmeg, is a rascal. an absolutely rascal but they're really the best. they have a yuusona with LORE and a bunch of really creative & cute events!! seriously nutmeg, nobody does it like you. if you want to see our favorite twst boys in strawberry dresses or recieve a pair of cute earrings, irene's blog is the place for you!!!

@the-v-lociraptor has STELLAR art. she was one of my firts mutuals on twst tumblr and i was terrified of talking to people but her vibes were very much "i am nice you dont need to be afraid" and sniffling scared me was like "OKAY I CAN TALK TO YOU" LMAO but yeah. she draws people so,,, full. thats the only word i can use to describe it. they just look s soft and alive and its really so amazing. i love her art so much!!

@siphoklansan is another artist!! i think about the art she drew from loona's heart attack with twst character weekly basically. it has been stuck in my brain since i started following her. sippy, its trully beautiful how you mix your culture and your art together. i remember you talking about it when you were drawing fairy gala stuff and it was just stunning. please keep doing what you're doing!! i hope your hiatus proves restful <3

@ceruleancattail is one of THE most creative writers i have ever met on this platform. every time i check out their account theyre talking about a new au or doing something different. they write x reader stuff and ar ethe biggest cater kisser ever (even if they wont admit it hehe!!) their writing is so refreshing, if that makes sense. their butler au is so goofy whaahwwahwah

@moonlit-midnight has the prettiest writing style :((( hannah is literally so sweet and it shows in everything you can find on this blog. THIS BLOG HAS PLATONIC FICS TOO!!!! DID YOU KNOW THAT?????? and even better, they're inspired by hannah's own friendships :((( literally the most wholesome thing. you can find x reader's here!!!

@iseethatimicy is an x reader writer and fellow azul kisser!!! she writes some really cute stuff for oour favorite silly little cephalopod AND AND AND AND HAS SOME OCS!!! THATA ARE SUPER COOL!!!!! shimiko and icy are both so cool and interesting 9EVEN THOUGH IM VERY SHIMIKO BIASED AAAAA I LOEV SIREN TROPES !!!!!)

@ryker-writes IS SO KIND. he gave me the sweetest set of flowers for his garden event :(( i still think about them and aaaaa i havent forgotten when he fought me over me being cool LMAO so goofy wahhwaawh!! HIS OC JAXON AND RIDDLE ARE LITERALLY SO CUTE :((( he writes x reader content & makes oc content!!!

@totallymem3 draws occasionally and omgggg meme's art is gorgeous. HAVE YOU SEEN HER DRAW AZUL. her art is so soft and its honestly adorable :(( meme is such a nice mutual too!!! like i met her on anon a while ago we've been besties ever since fr. HER ART REMINDS ME OF SPRING GO CHECK IT OUT PLEASE!!!!!

@z3llous is SO TALENTED!!!! another mutual that im liek WOW how do you exist??? he creates the most stunning twst fanart :((( THE OCTAVINELLE BIAS IIS SO REAL AND SO SO OBVIOUS BUT WOW.....WOW IS IT GOOD. zell is also a game developer and if you like cute little kitties and adventure games you should totally try it out here!!!

@cecilebutcher MAKES THE BEST OCS. creator of igor and saver of the universe. im not kidding igor saved the universe IDC WHAT YOU SAY ITS CANON TO ME. cece i sliterally the sweetest and soososososo creative i am eating up every crumb of igor content i get fed. OM NOM NOM. ofc junto is nice too and hes so sweet!!! GAHH you just put so much love and care into yoru ocs its so admirable :((((

@ang33333333l is another azul kisser that i became mutuals with a while ago!!! dolls love for sebek and azul is very sweet to see and her yuusona fauna is adorable too!! she also draws her yuu and characters sometimes!! :D she doesn't have a lot of oc content up on dolls blog yet but im looking forward to seeing more!! >:D

@leonistic deserves the most underrated writer of the year award. soru writes x reader content and is another super sweet mutual of mien (I KNOW IM SAYING THAT A LOT OKAY.) she writes aroace content and its literally feeds me. seriously. their aroace azul content makes me giggle and kick my feet and GAHHHHH !!! plus they have the patient to do matchups which is crazy and i love them for that ^^

@rains-asleep is the nickname master because he calls me straubs and thats such an adorable nickname :(((( HIS WRITING IS SUPER CUTE AND IT GIVE SME SO MUCH SEROTONIN (they write x readers btw!!!!!) they recently hit 500 followers (CONGRATS AGAIN!!!!!) and they also write for haikyuu, mha, genshin impact, and obey me!!!

@shinysparklesapphires is an artists that has a lot of cool ocs!! i believe navi was the first one i was introduced to and he's such an icon ^^ sapphy is also really into precure and produces a lot of content for the fandom!! i have yet to finish the precure series she recommended to me but its good so far and laura is the best so true!!

@datboredpencil has THE most STUNNING art. if you want idia x cater content this is DEFINITELY THE BLOG FOR YOU!!! each piece has so much love poured into it and i swear. YOURE ALWAYS LIEK "its a work in progress" BUT IT STILL LOTS SO LOVELY :((( YOUR USE OF COLOR IS JUST SO MUAH!!! CHEFS KISS!!!!!!! I ADORE IT

@twistwonderlanddevotee makes really pretty backgrounds!!! i actually used the isaac one she made for my private account AND ITS SO CUTE I LOVE IT I WANT TO EAT IT SWALLOW IT WHOLE MUNCH ON IT SHAKE IT AROUND LIEK A DOG TOY ANYWAYS. i am very normal about sofia's backgrounds. PLEASE GO CHECK THEM OUT its literally so unique?? like who else makes backgroudns liek sofia. Nobody.

@queen-shiba has an open inbox everyone!! you're welcome to send in requests!!! ^^ the queen of savanaclaw makes oc content for chuki, a really sweet kid taht deserves all the cookies in teh world :((( ALSO!!! she has an au for the tsavo man-eaters which is super cool!!! :O she passion for lions and tigers really is admirable and its nic eto see her talk about them :3

@beeirdos-buzzing-bogaloo has a gift when it comes to making ocs!! thule remains my favorite of the ones he has talked about because his design is just so neat!!! I LOVE THAT HIS NICKNAME FROM ROOK IS "MONSIEUR STARGAZER" :((( you have so many ocs that i havent even heard about yet...so im super curious to see what else you put out!!!

@dove-da-birb IS SUCH A GENIUS. they're one of my closests friends and their writing is SO BEAUTIFUL. they're also kidn of a little shit though so watch out /aff tehy write x reader content and draw sometimes, although i dont think theyve posted any of them. ^^ dove is SUCH a delight i promise you'll have fun every single time you talk to them. their energy is infectious and im genuinely really glad im the main target for their chaos. i would not have it any otehr way.

@ashipiko has such delicious art!!! the colors are always so vibrant and the way she draws is so unique. truly, a staple of both the twisted wonderland and as3! fandoms!! her energy is always upbeat and cheery, its hard not to smile when youre talking to her!! truly the biggest ace kisser on thsi platform (probably in the world too hehe)

@shyhaya writes for a myriad of fandoms!!!!!! hayami writes an azul thing for me that made me lose my mind IT WAS SO GOOD. PLEASE check out this blog. you wont regret it. requests are open!! ^^ even twst content aside, im sure you'll find something you like sich haya writes for so many fandoms!! talk about multitalented :3

@thehollowwriter has so many gems. quinn writes every character in twst so well, teh writing is so immersive and just ughhhh MUAH!!!!! every piece with azul in it is such a banger and it makes me giggle and kick my feet :3 LITERALLY THERE IS SO MUCH X READER FLUFF AND ITS ALL GOOD ITS A CRIME I DIDNT FIND THIS BLOG SOONER.

@cyath, who has some of the PRETTIEST art i have EVER seen. they draw stuff based on my fics all of the time and i adore it so much. examples of their art can be found here, here, here, and here. do you understand what i mean. do you get it. their art style is SUPERIOR and i ADORE IT!!!!!! they truly have so much talent like damn save some for the rest of us hello!!!!!

@crheativity writes twst x readers!! she's a beginner writer so PLEASE PELASE SHOW HER SOME LOVE!!! right nwo she has some heartslabyul content that i havent gotten around to reading yet but i am SUPER excited to go through them when i get the chance!!! rhea is super fun to talk to hehe <3

and lastly, @jade-s-nymph who organized this whole thing!!! rubia is on hiatus right now but i've seen some of her projects and a few of the things she's written and they're all really good!! there's a lot of x reader content on her writing blog and self indulgent nymphleech content on her personal blog :3

[pipartuuli]

hello, toki cube anon. You and plvtosun and glassgilotine were some of the first, and I found people from there. I don't mean to do harm to anyone. I did not send all of those but most. I am very sorry I've hurt you.

Yo?? I'm... going to respond as if this is the true OG Cube Anon. Obviously I have no way to verify. I'm also going to speak only for myself.

Okay, first of all, this experience for me, personally, has been a fun and hilarious experience. The Toki Cube phenomenon was a delightful addition to my Monday morning and watching the fandom run wild with it has been amazing. The mystery?? The craze?? Seriously. But yeah, no harm done to me!

By the same token, I'm hoping you're able to take all the memes in stride.

Next, if the original request was meant to be genuine, I highly recommend you look into commissioning an artist for your request. Assuming this was meant to be a NSFW thing like most of us are assuming, most fanartists don't do smut for free unless you're a good friend. Like, no harm no foul from my perspective since I make no promises about fulfilling requests anyway, but you're probably not going to get what you're looking for for free.

Another piece of advice - it can also get a little weird peppering a bunch of artists with the same request, especially in a fandom this small. There are only a few dozen Mtl artists that are active and most of us know each other. If your request had been more specific, it might have ended up feeling a little plagiaristic for all 30 of us to be working on the same image.

Anyway, uh, thanks for this experience! It's been a wild one to say the least.

[weekend-whip]

Ninjago Fic Rec Week: Day 4

Prompts: Fluff / Cole Recs! (i'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of my favorite fics today aaaa)

Fluff Recs-

Good Hair Day: Kai helps Skylor do her hair, based entirely on a headcanon of Kai being good at doing hair (hey, his own style is a choice)

Little Brother: Lloyd realizes the perks of having five older siblings. Lots of sweet family fluff and young!Lloyd shenanigans <3

Nya, Kai, and That One Drink: Including this one specifically because it's probably the most lighthearted thing I've written yet that doesn't involve Jesse snknksnskn, the group goes for takeout in the X-1 Ninja Charger, only for one thing to lead to another and Kai winds up forgetting Nya's drink. What's a brother to do now?

Socks: Wu wearily but delightfully is forced to watch the ninja get way too much merriment out of a ridiculous pair of socks (I, personally, am of the belief that they belong to Lloyd, but—)

Five Times Jay Cheered Someone Up: And the one time he was cheered up in return (i am DISTRESSED that i didn't include this on my Jay list aaaaAAAA)

Five Times Lloyd Was a Pain: And the one time he wasn't. Child!Lloyd for the soul in this one!!!!

There's Insurance For That: In which Skylor gets a taste of the life of a ninja (and learning just how many places they've been banned from in Ninjago) Quite possibly my favorite lighthearted Skylor fic!!!

Cole Recs-

Sick Days: Sickfic, featuring Cole and having to contend with "Being useless", and the doting care

Passing On the Hammer: Cole has a meeting with his grandfather, while Jay tries his hand at being a fisherman and Kai thinks he can do the Triple Tiger Sashay. (Really a fic about Cole and his family's legacy, but Kai and Jay's antics are too hilarious not to mention snksnknksnk)

You're An Excellent Chef, Really *screams loudly* UGNH one of my very favorite fics exploring Cole and Zane's dynamic, will recommend every single time!!!! But, it's basically the duo bonding over cooking over the years. Makes my heart very happy <3

Quiet Weirdo: Cole and Nya friendship fic that the world definitely needs more of!!!!

Adjusting: PILOT BONDING, this time Cole flavored!! Cole's thoughts on his new budding team consisting of a chatty blue guy and the guy that won't stop staring at things. But a guy like Cole has never needed friends anyway, so he's got nothing to worry about, right?

Again and Again: MORE PILOTS BONDING but this time with Glacier! People keep asking me how Cole fell in love with Zane in Legacyverse and my mind always drifts back to a thing similar to this story! My personal investment aside, a nice fluffy fic about how Cole met Zane and they became friends with a touch of pining <3

You Worry Too Much: By the author of Chips and Salsa (another fandom Cole/Glacier classic), here we have a another tale centered around Cole's parents while he was growing up, and though it's a little more about Lou than anyone else, Cole ofc has a huge stake in the story and uwaah I love reading about Cole's family dynamics (both the fluff and the tragedy)

Some Climb Mountains: A retelling of how Cole met Master Wu, always gets me misty eyed because i am a soft soul ;v;

Cole and the Tastiest Broken Glass: S2 Pre-Child's Play, Cole and Lloyd bond over broken things, life philosophy, and candy. Cole and Lloyd sibling duo that the world also needs much more og!!

I'm Sure He Knows: More Cole + Wu bonding that speaks to me specifically, involving a conversation about a certain ghostly wind master who is no more.

Four Times Cole Helped The Guys With a Nightmare: And the one time they helped him. Cole's character at his purest in this one!!!

[devine-fem]

lol might get hate for this but in my opinion in terms of the ranking the SuperBat pairings….

1.) Damijon/Jondami- Yes I’m completely bias but I never felt this strong for such a pairing (regardless either platonic/romantic! ) Such an iconic (chaotic) duo! I’m glad the dynamic of Damian and Jon worked out well and is well loved!

2.) Superbat-I mean they are the OGs and I can get why fans love their dynamic and pair them! I’m more bromance for them but I do look forward to their interactions whenever the two appear together!

3.) Timkon-I’m neutral for them. I like the fanarts if I see them but otherwise I think they seem more aesthetically good together than like actually together. Hey at least Tim has Bernard now and personally Kon deserves better.

Jon + Damian have squashed potential. Their friendship would have done both their characters so much good. Eventually, as they grew Jon would have felt like he’d have to chase after Damian and keep up and Damian would seek and find in Jon when it comes to anything he can’t obtain as a hero.

Out of all the popular ships, this one is particularly rare.

Imagine a world where Jon and Damian did engage in a romantic relationship in later years. I think it would be great queer rep to show two people who knew each other as friends - grappling with the same heroic pressures and coming to terms with the fact that they might not want to be just friends anymore (a common queer experience) I also think that in stories where they are do become Batman and Superman, it’d feel very refreshing to see DC have the courage to portray an iteration of their most popular characters like that.

These characters are both fairly new and not so much engraved into the audience. They both know each other and share chemistry so there wouldn’t be a lot of room for complaint.

Superbat is meh to me. Over the years, It has done a lot regarding DC fandom, it’s a ship that’s become iconic and is popular amongst passive fans which could become quite annoying.

Superbat is realistically, never going to happen. Respectfully, I doubt DC would do anything in all seriousness when it comes to anything romantic between these two.

Especially with the obvious things like how Batman is and how Clark has a wife and kids.

Although, no ship is shipped under the ideation of becoming canon so I give this pair its flowers because honestly, it could be nice in domestic situations or maybe a workplace relationship but I don’t see it being endgame or like anything happening at all in a likable way.

Timkon, I’m very, very bias about how much I dislike Timkon. Most Timkon shippers realistically do not read comics and I know this because I was one at first for a short amount of time and realized how deluded and far off from the truth Timkon actually is.

It’s crazy to me because fandom is so intense about this ship and all for it to be… alright?

A lot of Timkon stuff is boiled down to being one-sided on Tim’s part. It really irks me that Timkon's evidence is like Tim trying to clone Conner while knowing that he has a thing about not being cloned because he’s a clone himself which irks me.

Then him dating his ex-girlfriend is a HUGE red flag to me, especially when their relationship was semi-abusive and built on grief but good thing it didn’t last.

Also, Tim and Conner are NOT as close as people pretend they are. Conner doesn’t know much about Tim beyond him being Robin, they don’t hang out outside of being heroes.

In reality, Conner doesn’t know much about Tim at all and he’s much closer with his other teammates - literally any other YJ teammate other than Tim. Conner's established friendship with Tim caused a lot of really horrible character assassinations on Bart, Cassie, and Conner. It pushed all characters aside in an attempt to emphasize their relationship.

If they were to have a relationship then people acknowledge its toxicity - see toxicity doesn’t take away from shipability but frankly, I think both these characters deserve to be happy.

If they did date, I seriously give them half a year before they break up. I’m happy Tim is with Bernard because he seems much happier than he’s ever been. I’m sorry, reading those comics it felt like Tim was just grieving his friend after having lost a family member and he was spiraling and needing help, that’s not ‘cute’ to me.

Anyway, I notice Timkon shippers use Kon more as an accessory to Tim and melt his character down for that. If they read his comics then they’d know that he is canonically attracted to Bart anyway (I say canonically because of the on-the-nose insinuation which I take as gospel because it’s crazy for a writer to just outright mention Conner might be attracted to Bart.) Which Bart is most of the reason Conner is queer coded like he is now anyway.

Anyway, not saying all Timkon shippers are horrible but I don’t like the shippers or the ship. It’s substanceless for me. If you like it I’m very happy for you. I think all of these ships are iconic and adorable. This is just me being a person with an opinion.

Anyway, my thoughts.

[mislamicpearl]

Thoughts about Ninjago DR S2 episodes 14-15:

Spoilers everywhere below the cut.

Awwww that flashback needed to be longer! God I miss seeing all the OG ninja together. And with Wu no less!

Glad Jay's voice actor is continuing to make his voice deeper!

Oh God, that whole scene of Wyldfyre talking to Roby was CRINGE!! What have they done to her?? Listen, I'm a defender of the straight ships in this show despite some people in the fandom saying they're badly written, I think Jaya, Pixane and Kailor are all adorable, and I'm not against the idea of Wyldfyre getting a boyfriend, though I don't think she needs one... but so far it seems all they're doing with this ship is actively TRYING to give the fandom a badly written straight ship, because COME ON! Who is this person acting all silly and awkward and simpering for this shady salesman guy?? Cause that ain't Wyldfyre! I'm not discounting the possibility that this could grow into a good ship with more time, but this is a really bad and forced start, probably the worst out of any in this show.

It really seems like they're planning on retconning the whole "elemental powers are only passed on through family members" rule, cause I don't think that mech was Lilly's. I mean, we already knew Zane's powers weren't inherited of course... maybe they're finally going to explain that?? Now that would be something. (I won't hold out any hope for it though).

Oh, doi, of course Arin's friend's master is Ras, I'm an idiot. And yes I already forgot his actual name because it's stupid, I had trouble even hearing it right in the previous episodes.

Nya has both Kai and Jay's pictures put up like they're dead asdfjkh

I already ranted in a separate post about Zane, but seriously: what the actual FRICK is the writers' problem with Zane?!?!

Love that Cole immediately decided that couldn't actually be Jay because he wouldn't ever forget them.😭

Nya finally tells Jay she loves him!!! Out loud and to his face and everything!! UGH MY HEART😭😭😭 Please let her say it again when he gets his memories back!

Dang, they really brought Jay back just to let him walk right out of the show again ahahaha!

But dang, where's he gonna go?? And without powers now! Lloyd you had better keep that promise to find him later!

BAHAHA CINDER ANSWERING THE DOOR!

"She'll be there when we need her... she always is." AWWWWWW LLOYD'S SOFT SMILE WHEN HE SAYS THAT! Totally giving me Hunted flashbacks. If DR can claim to have done at least one thing right it's the RGB siblings!

Elemental power of balance? Really? Sure, that's at least very useful in this VERY specific rigged game.

Dang Sora, of all the ways you could've used your power on this tech-ridden obstacle course, you chose to make a balance pole?

This race to stop themselves from being disqualified feels like it's just for eating up screen time, and possibly (likely) to promote another set.

"Sounds like we need a vehicle. One problem. We don't have a vehicle." OMG that was one of the most adorable Nya moments we've gotten since the scene of her with the "bunch of little fish" and "I'll show you how I go!" XD

Aw yeah baby it's happening, corrupted evil Arin arc let's gooooo! I am so for this, it would do wonders for his character. It'd be crazy if he managed to learn proper spinjitzu from Ras, he'd become like Lloyd's own Morro.

Oh.. my... GOD. FREAKING WUUUU! THERE'S SOMETHING HE HASN'T TOLD US!!!! WHEN WILL WE LEARN???

[wri0thesley]

I am so sorry if this is invasive and weird, but may I ask what you work as? I'm at the stage where I have to build my future and I know you don't have an age specified but you seem to be doing really well (at least from the posts we've seen, again I really hope not to be invasive) for yourself and your partner and 25+ is still young! Again, I hope this isn't mean or weird, I'm just curious. (and severely nervous. First year of college is ruining me harder than any fictional man.)

ahh anon i'm afraid that the answer is probably not what you're looking for!

for the record, i am 27, i just find getting fandom older a little scary, especially having it listed right there!!!

i actually intended to be a performer and a singing teacher (my degree was going to be in music & musical theatre); unfortunately, due to a plethora of reasons (mostly my undiagnosed autism, unmedicated ocd/depression/anxiety combo, a nervous breakdown and my partner's physical health declining) i dropped out of my degree before the end of my first semester.

for about three years or so after that i was severely agoraphobic. talking 'can't answer the door' agoraphobic; 'never left the house alone, and even when with someone only went to the doctors and therapy' agoraphobic, 'rotted in my bedroom in an absolutely non romanticised way' agoraphobic. i was on the equivalent of disability because i literally could not function. meanwhile, my partner, who lived with me and my parents was getting physically worse whilst i was mentally struggling (since then haz has been diagnosed with ehlers danlos syndrome, fibromyalgia, lipoedema, thyroid issues and a lot of other things; they have a lot going on). i DID access several therapies, had . . . a couple of very bad relapses, went under crisis teams and all of that stuff (i had occupational therapy too which was HONESTLY i think one of the most useful things and helpful things for me in the long run; i cannot imagine what i would be like if i hadn't had the occupational therapist the crisis team found for me).

(coincidentally, if you are an og jojo follower you probably remember how bad it was; i've said it a hundred times, but running this silly little reader-insert blog probably helped save my life at a time when i had almost no contact with the outside world. i couldn't leave my bedroom, but i had my blog and i had my little internet friends and discord server).

i have gotten a lot better.

haz, unfortunately, has not gotten better physically and probably never will. they need help with a lot of things most people don't even realise disabled people might need help with. brushing their hair, fastening clothes . . . when haz first moved in, they were doing the same dance-intensive college course that i was. we danced maybe three or four hours a day. nowadays, haz needs me to hold their hand and keep them steady when they go from our bed to the bathroom (the room next door).

so i don't really 'work' as anything. well, my therapist would tell me off for saying that; the uk government classes me as an 'unpaid carer', which basically means i am on call for haz literally 24/7 and they pay me the pittance that is carer's allowance (carer's allowance assumes you care at least 35 hours a week, and pays you the privilege of about 45 pence per each of those hours. if, like me, you live with the person you care for and do more than those hours, it gets . . . yeah. oof. the government unfortuately know that most unpaid carers are loved ones and family members of the person who needs care and won't just stop doing it, and they'd be in the shit if we did because trained carers are expensive, so they can get away with that - FUCK the tories, honestly.

i am EXCEEDINGLY lucky that i live in a cheap area of the uk, that haz and i are internet savvy enough to be able to access carers/disability discounts, that we are in rent-controlled social housing (which my crisis team helped find for us because living with my parents was taking such a toll on us both, woo!!!!), and that we've been able to access services to help on the nhs. i got my autism assessment and diagnosis; haz is under several pain management teams.

all in all, i'm happy. i'm so much happier than i was seven years ago when i'd dropped out of university and felt like a huge failure, because all of my life i was a gifted overachiever and i thought my self-worth was tied to my academic achievements (and as an extension, what roles i got in what shows and when and who saw me and so on). i don't have a lot of money (i am a bargain shopped fgbnkjgjnfb) but i know what i like and because i'm Older Now (tm) i've amassed collections of it.

i am absolutely sure that you'll boss college, anon! that you will find that thing that works for you (one day i would LOVE to go back and get my degree! pre-covid i had an acceptance for a creative writing degree and i was getting ready to go back to uni as a mature student, but haz's health got bad again and then covid happens - and now ofc i have my autism diagnosis i can access so much more help!). but even if you don't, you can absolutely find happiness without 'traditional' success.

i don't have a lot in the grand scheme of things. but you're right in that i am doing pretty well, in terms of where i am, and where i've been. i have my own little home. i have my partner of ten years who is my soulmate in every conceivable way. i've had experiences that make me feel so happy i sometimes cry when i remember them. i have my own little cat now!!! things still stress me out. but i have come so so far and when i feel down i remember that.

good luck anon! i believe in you <3

[angelshizuka]

Hi there lol

Syaoran is also my fave CCS character, by far (and I’ve also been a fan for a couple decades lmao). I don’t complain about Clear Card often but when I do it’s in my tags or on anon bc I don’t want the people who do like it to come at me. Even if Clear Card is very divisive in the CCS fandom. But basically, having read the manga:

Clear Card doesn’t really have Sakura as the mc anymore. I mean it does, technically, she carries the story, but it ISN’T Sakura’s story anymore. It’s a story about the new characters - Akiho, Kaito and Momo. If you like them you’ll like Clear Card, if you don’t like them you prob won’t. And if you like some of them you’ll prob have mixed feelings on it. As for the rest of the OG characters, they are sidelined in favour of giving the new characters the spotlight, even Syaoran. He and Sakura are dating in Clear Card and we barely get any crumbs in the whole manga. Though I think the character whose “absence” I felt the most was Tomoyo. She’s supposed to be Sakura’s best friend, and we barely see her in Clear Card. It makes it hard to believe they’re still best friends there.

Idk. I personally felt quite offended by some of the writing in Clear Card because of things I’m not usually ok with in media, and I felt the characters were OOC sometimes, but again, that’s just how I personally felt about it. I’ve never like, attacked anyone who likes it or anything like that even if I disagree with them, because I try to respect everyone’s tastes. So if you try it and you like it good for you! And if you don’t the OG will always be there (and I think most fans still prefer the OG). I rather not disclose the reasons why I don’t really like it here, but I hope that helped a bit!

I started watching back in like 2004 when it first (and last) aired on Dutch TV. I remember looking up the Japanese dub online with my sister and discussing the differences between the dubs (a lot of changes, but at least the Dutch dub was more faithful than the Cardcaptors dub I keep hearing about).

Sequels always seem to be a mixed bag, so I'm not at all suprised the same happened with Clear Card. Though, very mature of you to handle it the way you do, I just hope you don't get too much shit from people who do like it.

I plan to watch Clear Card once I'm done with my CCS rewatch (only have The Sealed Card left), because I like to form my own opinons on these things. I do am prepared to not like it and I'd honestly be shocked if I liked it more than the OG, especially if it's not really Sakura's story anymore. I guess we'll see.

Aside from Syaoran, my fave thing is his relationship with Sakura, so my main hope is that the Syaosaku moments make me at least glad it exists, because we didn't get much post-confession content with them in the OG.

[getvalentined]

R, S, and T for the ask game :-)

prompt for S is for Tseng if you'd like!

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

This is actually hard to say! Firstly, I see all ships as being friendships—if they're not friends, I don't think that's a good relationship. My favorite ship is still VinVeld, I think, but it's basically a pool noodle so it's hard to call it my favorite in fandom. I am the source of like 75% of the fanart ever drawn for those two, so like. The fandom is me. 😭

I think my favorite relationship altogether (romantic or platonic) within fandom right now, as in the ones where I interact with other people, is Strifentine. There are a lot of really fun people into their interactions all across the world, and I've honestly never had a bad experience on that side of the fandom. Pretty much everyone over there is very much "I'm in my lane and that's all there is to it," and that's basically how I feel about fandom in general so it's pretty great. Also I just love the character dynamic between the two of them in-canon (particularly the OG and AC), so it's always really nice to play with regardless of context!

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

I have a lot of random Tseng headcanons, but I think I've shared most of the fun ones at some point in the past. I can talk about one of my stupid Tseeve headcanons that works in conjunction with a Tseng headcanon?

My Tseng has had an on-again-off-again relationship with Reeve since he was about 20, often with long "off" stretches between the "on" periods—he's had plenty of flings and even the occasional repeat hookup, but his only actual dedicated relationship has been with Reeve. Given that he knows Tseng has slept with other people, Reeve does not know this until they're planning their wedding around 2012; he makes a joke about a jilted ex-boyfriend showing up to cause trouble, and Tseng says that won't be an issue since he doesn't have any ex-boyfriends. He didn't think this was a big deal, considering that he was more dedicated to his job than to anything else up until Meteorfall—which is one of the reasons he and Reeve broke things off so often—but upon discovering this, Reeve proceeds to have a minor internal crisis over whether or not that means all his boyfriends during their long "off" periods count as cheating. (They don't. Oh my god. They don't. Reeve. Please.)

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

Vincent is half-Wutaian! To be clear, all characters in Japanese media are generally meant to be viewed as partially Japanese unless broadcast very specifically as something else (IE: the Shinra family are explicitly intended to be white), but Vincent is so obviously part-Asian just visually that I'm sure it's intended in-universe. Grimoire has a different hair texture and base skin tone than Vincent, though, and his build and facial features are quite different, leading me to the conclusion that Vincent gets those visibly-Asian features from his mother. (Also seeing people go out of their way to portray Vincent as white gives me hives.)

[ for the A to Z ask game ]

[raayllum]

1 - favorite fic you wrote this year. 3 - favorite line/scene you wrote this year. 12 - favorite character to write about this year. 14 - a fic you didn’t expect to write. 21 - most memorable comment/review. And 24 - favorite fic you read this year.

I have no precision on fandom or fic... You are free to choose which fandom. Thus, you may make us discover other universes.

1) favourite fic you wrote this year

Looked through and discovered that I wrote 20 fics this year, which is wild, even if the majority are oneshots so... certainly have my pick an picks for various reasons!

These are the ones, probably:

This Fall Might Just Kill Me is 10.2k of Callum trying and failing to get purified, post-S4, and was one of my favourites and one I return to pretty often for a personal re-read. Very Callum/Rayla centric, some magic worldbuilding, and lots of devotion. Oneshot

Twice as Many Stars is 8.7k of Sir Sparklepuff is an existential horror story, the fic, featuring more religious trauma allegory than expected. Also a oneshot

Teach Me How to Name the Bigger Light a fanon s6 currently of 5 out of roughly 26-30ish chapters, and at 41k and counting. Main characters are Callum, Ezran, Rayla, and Claudia in about that order. It's a lot of fun, and a lot of angst

3) favourite line/scene this year

"If it's not you, it's not anyone" has one of my favourite love / Rayllum confessions I've ever written. I also loved this line from a (now non canon) fic regarding Kpp'Ar's feelings on Callum/people "There are many ways to mend broken things, if you can". I deeply enjoyed Callum threatening Nyx over Rayla's safety in this pre-S5 fic and this piece of description as well: "Callum knelt down in front of her, her cheeks heating as he reached up and pried the shawl away again, looking at the way the scar crept over her shoulder like dark ivy" + this Rayllum passage from "this fall just might kill me" (edit in the link):

“It’s because if I die,” he said, squeezing her hands. “I want you to be the last thing I ever see. And you are good enough, Rayla. You are . I don’t care if you destroy me. I don't care if we make each other better or worse or both. I love you. I’ll fall for you every time. I’ll choose to, I’ll choose you, every time.” 

I also really enjoyed writing Callum and Lujanne in "older but just never wiser" because it was interesting to revisit their dynamic now that well, Callum is older, powerful, and much more jaded/angry.

Drabbles wise this Rayllum one has one of my favourite metaphoric uses I've ever been able to pull off and I always love 1) writing messy Ezran and 2) Ezran being a little done with his brother's less than favourable methods, so this one for Ezran's "underhanded" comment for sure

But if I had to pick a singular exchange fic wise, it is of course the end of the Callum and Ezran fight from Ch4 of fanon s6, because it was a line that hurt me so much I was sad the rest of the day, and I also thought of it before writing a decent chunk of the boys' argument, so making sure it felt earned and hit the way I wanted to was very fun if also angsty. I apologize in advance lmao:

Only this time Callum scoffed, peeling away, his green eyes glinting. “Yeah, right.”  “I am your king and I forbid you—” “You don’t get to forbid me from doing anything because guess what?” A manic gleam overtook his brother’s face. “I don’t fucking care what you think, nevermind what you fucking decree. I’m freeing Runaan, and that’s final.”  “Then you can do it without my help,” Ezran said with a ragged breath. “Because I am not giving you my seal.”  Callum stared at him with cold eyes. “Dad would be so disappointed in you.” But this time Ezran was ready for the blow, as he said, “Well at least I called him Dad."

A shameless plug OG fantasy world wise was definitely this lines from my sequel WIP. You can learn more about it/the fantasy world here <3

The Alpha of the Crescents may have worn her old friend’s face and mannerisms, but the girls they’d both been were long dead, just like their families.  It was time to finish the job and bury them.

as well as

“Good. Vita willing I won’t live to see your next lives.” “Because seeing you again has been so pleasant,” Jamie muttered.

from book one

12) favourite character to write about this year

Given my above answers it's clearly been Callum, but Ezran has probably been my standout in "teach me how to name the bigger light," easy, even if I think Rayla's POV is going to sneak up on me more and more as the fic goes on, especially once we reach the chapters at the Starscraper. I've also written a somewhat decent amount of Kpp'Ar POV this year, I loved writing Claudia in "twice as many stars" in particular. Everyone? Can I say everyone?

But if I had to pick, Callum. (Non fic wise it's all the OG chosen one kiddos running around, I love 'em.)

14) a fic you didn't expect to write

Many days of angry muttering and half concocted plot points predated "teach me how to name the bigger light" and I am still slightly internally salty about it. However, it does feel good to have one last fanon season foray, especially since it's been four years since the last one, and I've been having a fucking blast, lemme tell you.

21) most memorable comment/review

This is hard because I do cherish every review and kind word I get (as well as anyone who leaves notes in their bookmarks) but there are some standouts. Basically anything from twice as many stars is fair game as well as this review on fanon s6, cause I'm gonna go the typical write route and say the long bois make my day / when readers catch onto the smaller details, that's absolutely my favourite:

@inamindfarfaraway <3 hope you've enjoyed the most recent chapter!

24) favourite fic you read this year

Have already done some TDP fic recs here so I'm gonna focus on what's in my bookmarks for now! I mostly read LOZ or SOC fics when I'm not making my way through TDP backlog, but this one for Six of Crows centreing on Inej and Kaz called High Wire Act stood out to me and I'm really enjoying "for the children we couldn't be" for TDP because it's trio centric and the exact kind of time travel fuckery I like to read.

This is tricky, though, cause I find most often the favourite things I participate in is like, the stuff I write because it's what I want to read and most tailored to my specific tastes? I also just don't read as much fic as I could / have in the past and it's hard to pick Just One Fic, y'know? So cop out answer, maybe, but this is the one!

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

So I'm stealing this from @tayloralisonswift and you should definitely check out their version, but I'm going to listen to and rank all of Taylor's songs album by album (and then maybe her non album songs at the end). You can also see my debut rankings and what I've changed here + my Fearless rankings here.

So with that in mind, it's Speak Now's turn. The only thing to note before we start is that I will be primarily ranking the OG tracks (a reminder that I own all the CDs here before you come at me for that) as they are my preferred ones but will note when I'm listening to TV. There is also mentions of suicide (nothing too in depth but still), so read at your own discretion.

Mine: This is one of those songs that have somewhat grown on me with time. It's very cute and relatable. 7.5/10.

Sparks Fly: Always a fun time. Has always and may always be upper half of this album's ranking. 8/10.

Back To December: I have a very complicated relationship with this song for personal reasons. Ultimately it is great though and arguably underrated, even by myself. The tour mashup was also iconic. 7.5/10.

Speak Now: Now you may think that the girl who ruined her brother's wedding (obviously not in the romantic love way the song depicts but still) would love this song. And yes, my friends and I have a good laugh about how I did it before this song came out. But ultimately I think it's a fun little number that I don't go back to much. 6/10.

Dear John: I actually hated this song when it first came out... or moreso I was very in denial about my own situation so was not ready to hear it and called the song whiny. Obviously it has grown on me a lot in the 14 years we've had it and is one of her best both lyrically and production wise in my honest opinion. 9.5/10.

Mean: I'm sorry I still can't get over her being like "you can't lead me down that road" just to call him a pathetic loser who's alone in life in the same song. And all over one bad review? Anyway it's a song that I've never clicked with even outside of her. 3/10.

The Story Of Us: Definitely one of my most listened to tracks on this album over the years. 18 year old me had it on repeat for months (iykyk). An absolute bop despite being sad. 8.5/10.

Never Grow Up: This song is to me what songs like Ronan and Soon You'll Get Better are for the majority of the fandom. So I don't listen to it all that much, but it is very good. 7/10.

Enchanted: This song was a favourite when the album first came out but overtime has fallen a bit into the background. Had I been a bit younger/more naive, it could have been THE late 2021/early 2022 song for me (iykyk) but alas. Again, still a good song, and very nostalgic at that. 7/10.

Better Than Revenge: So I'm listening to TV here, but not for the changed line. I'm actually very much team 'she should have kept it the same'. But the production of TV feels harder/more in your face and I love that. Having grown up in a left leaning area, this is a song that never really hit for me lyrically though because even at the time it came out, it was the 'this is such a 13 year old song' to my year group (I was the ripe age of 15 when Speak Now OG came out lmao), so the production really carries it here. 5/10.

Innocent: My stan song from the album and first self love song from Taylor! Very underappreciated. It, especially in the era where fans are rude about other fans not wanting to separate Matty from the music, leaves me so frustrated that this song is underappreciated because these same people saying to remove Matty sure as hell didn't do it for this song. Anyway amazing song all around. 10/10.

Haunted: I spoke about how Breathe was on repeat for a lot of 2011 during my Fearless rankings, and Haunted (+ Last Kiss) were right beside it. While Breathe was my song for one friend's death and feeling like I could not talk to my other friends about it, Haunted was the exact emotion I felt witnessing the other friend's suicide. So yeah, it's another song that will always have a special place in my heart for helping me through the worst period of my life. 9/10.

Last Kiss: I don't have much to say on this past what I said in Haunted, but having the bridge (and whole song) retextualised as a song about losing someone to suicide really changed this song from a part time love to long term love for me. 9.5/10.

Long Live: This is one of those songs that I need to be in the mood for but when I am? God does it hit. I also nearly teared up hearing TV (in general I was surprised how much Speak Now TV had me emotional because it's the album [out of the ones being rerecorded] that I have the least emotional ties to). Great song all around. 7.5/10.

Ours: This is another one that I don't really listen to all this much, but love queer readings of and always have a good time while listening to it. 7/10.

If This Was A Movie: I don't care what Taylor says, this is and always will be a Speak Now track and I'm annoyed the TV version was not on the CD lmao. Anyway I've always loved this song. 7.5/10.

Superman: Very cute song. Not a favourite, but I feel like I like it more than most people. 7/10.

Electric Touch: ... I need to be real with you all, apart from When Emma Falls In Love, I really do not listen to this vault at all. Like this is maybe the third time I've heard this song (and the second was the piano tour version). And in Electric Touch's case, this is sad because I feel like this song has everything I would like in a song. It's pop rock, even though I am fussy with collabs I quite like FOB, it's about new beginnings and more. Like it should have been a home run for me, but it's just boring to me. 5/10.

When Emma Falls In Love: I know I'm in the minority here, but I really love this song. It's so cute and very much something I would have been obsessed with in my teens if it had come out with the OG album. 8/10.

I Can See You: I once said that Fortnight was my 'This could have been us, but for it to have been, I would have needed to be a different person' song, and this song lives in that same universe. Now is probably a good time to mention that I think that both the Speak Now and 1989 vaults were very much the blueprint for TTPD:TA and I can see both men in all of the choices made lmao. Anyway, it's catchy and the music video was such a nice moment for the rerecordings. 7/10.

Castles Crumbling: This is another song that like I get why she put it on the vault, I think objectively it's a great counterpart to Long Live, but ultimately I just find it boring. 4/10.

Foolish One: This is one of those songs that had it been on the OG album, I'd probably have a sweet nostalgic feeling towards it because teen me would have loved it. But it didn't so I don't and again, just find it pretty meh. 4/10.

Timeless: I sound like a broken record here, but like it's objectively sweet, definitely is a blueprint to what was coming, but ultimately I just don't click with it, feel it drags on and find it boring. 4/10.

Final score: 158.5/230 - 68.9%