#there are a lot of great artists in this fandom. I am not one of them

[hxhbigbang25]

HxHBB is turning 10... Let's get into what a Big Bang is!

A Big Bang is a collaborative event between writers and artists where lots of new content for a particular series, theme, or ship is dropped all at once. BANG!!

Writers complete a longer story and artists will create at least one full work of art based on the fic they choose/are assigned. The goal is to upload new, complete works that will inspire and add to the fandom!

Our HxHBB will result in an influx of new works for the fandom to enjoy and be inspired by and hopefully will inspire continued collaboration between writers and artists as well as participation in other, smaller fandom events (such as the Yorknew Auction and Greed Island Server events!)

How do signups work?

Signups will open Friday, January 10, at 12 AM EST! All roles will be on the same form, so Writers, Artists, and Betas will all be able to begin signing up on the same day.

There is no skill requirement and you will not be asked to submit a portfolio, we welcome anyone to participate in this event!

How do I get into the server?

Once we have received your application, you will be sent an invitation to join our Discord server via DMs. All main communications will be conducted through Discord, so please have or be willing to create a Discord account for the duration of this event! Additionally, please ensure your Discord DMs are open, otherwise Shal won't be able to send you the invite!

As in previous years, the only pause between applying and joining the server would be in the event that we have a wildly uneven writer:artist ratio. If that's the case, writers will be placed on a waitlist and invited to the server as more artists join the event.

The server is a great place to meet like-minded creatives and share in the fun of HxHBB, even if you choose not to be super active in it. However it will be the only place we share important links and information, so be sure to pop in every now and again so you don't miss anything.

Roles

Writer

Writers are tasked with coming up with a new, unpublished story idea that will be between 5-50k words. While there is no theme or prompt to limit you, please be aware that NSFW or explicit content is not allowed! Once writers have their idea, they'll submit a summary with title, ratings, and tags included to inform artists for their selections. This is a completely blind event, so make it good!

Artist

Artists are tasked with creating at least one piece of art based on a scene or theme from their selected story. Once they have picked their blind match, they will receive the completed story from which they will choose to draw whatever they like. We are looking for at least one fully lined and colored illustration, but comics, physical crafts, or other media created for their assigned story are welcome!

Beta

Betas are tasked with reading over the first chapter or 5,000 words (whichever comes first) of their assigned story and providing feedback on spelling, grammar, and pacing. Stories that are in need of a beta will be up for grabs in the server. You can absolutely read more than the requirement if you choose, but we are only asking for the first 5,000 words.

Pinch Hitter

Pinch Hitters are the most valuable role we have in this event, they are in charge of swooping in to save the day in the event of an artist drop! They will be given extra time to complete their pieces as a thank you for stepping up to the plate.

Reveal Days

As in the past, our reveal days will be July 1 and July 8. The first reveal date will be for folks who do not need extensions, the second will be for folks who do and pinch hitters.

Please share your works to whatever social media or hosting site you prefer—AO3, ff.net, Twitter, etc.—and share a link here on Tumblr. This is the only account for HxHBB so be sure to tag it and use #hxhbb25 so we can reblog it!

Important Links

We realize this is a lot of information! All of this and more is included in our Guidebook, which is the most comprehensive compilation of all that is HxHBB information.

For quick reference, sweet countdowns, and other helpful links, check out our Carrd too!

As always, you can also send us an ask to this account or, once the server is up, we will have a dedicated ask-a-mod channel.

We can't wait to see where this year takes us! See you soon and Happy Hunting.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Drew WWX and LWJ after I finished my rewatch of The Untamed a few months ago. I have gotten marginally better. May this set a benchmark for what to expect from this blog.

June 2023 redraw, June 2024 redraw

[pyrriax]

ANYWHO goodnight tumblr i'll be back on the art grind tomorrow i think 🙏

[prapuna]

.

[itsscaredycat]

ah yes…

my thoughts under the cut (turned out to be longer than initially intended lol)

honestly, kinda mixed feelings :’)

it’s great that the fandom is making a comeback because gravity falls is seriously an amazing piece of media, and all the offshoots that came from the main series are equally incredible. it deserves this second wave of attention and more! still one of my favourites, all the mysteries and secret codes back in the day changed my brain chemistry lmao

as far as personal feelings go, i can’t believe the amount of people i’ve had tell me that i inspired them in some way to be an artist through my old gravity falls art, it’s amazing! and i am so flattered and happy that i could have that kind of positive influence on people. art is my passion and knowing i had a hand in making it other people’s as well is a really cool feeling :’) i read every single message i get in my askbox and some of them have made me legitimately emotional (in a good way)

but then on the opposite side, there are a lot of people— most of whom i have never interacted with— who have a fully formed opinion on me based on actions of mine that are almost a decade old. just knowing that has been crippling, i’m ND and i’ve always struggled with anxiety issues surrounding how others think of me. it feels kinda hopeless and scary, because there is no way my current actions and the ways i’ve changed will ever reach all of them. but i’m only human, all i can do is focus on the positive and keep being kind in both my offline and online lives, and hope it comes back around

the shy part of me wishes i was just another person in the fandom so that i could share my art without fear of hateful comments, but also having made enough of an impact that something i made got acknowledged in “canon” is hilarious and pretty fucking cool (shoutout to @valdevia LOL) i’m just gonna keep doing what i’ve always done: make art because it makes me happy, and share it in hopes it will make others happy too 🩷

[firelightmlpoc]

This is Pansear (if you want proof, look at my pinned blog; I'm well aware that there are a lot of imposters out there). I wish to say thank you for being open minded while also acknowledging that- yes- I did fuck up at times. I didn't treat Azriel the best. I was selfish towards the MAP collaborators. I wasn't a particularly great person in general- all that I admit, and I have my own separate posts for those. Overall, I'm sorry.

The harassment was too much and the screenshots were obviously fake. It wasn't fair to me. It wasn't fair to anyone either including those who believed were fake too, even to future potential victims of allegations and former victims of harassment campaigns. I left not in admittance of guilt, but to everything else that has boiled over (again, I detailed this in a post).

I know there's people beaming to know that I'm alive and well (and of course, people who are angry that I'm not). I just want to say that I'm sorry for having to leave everyone in the dark for so long, and that I was basically a POS back then.

It saddens me as well that this whole situation not only affected me- it has affected most of the fandom. It has affected the other artists, who no longer feel safe and comfortable. It has affected my friends, who missed me and feel lost in the dark. It has affected my fans, who worry about me and feel so conflicted about everything. It has affected friend groups who are distanced in their conflicts.

Even for the things I didn't do, I still felt horrible. There were no winners in the end, and any winner I could describe are those vile people hiding behind anons who have hurt the most.

People can already predict that I will never return and that is definitely the case. Not just for the sake of my well-being, but I believe it's for the best for everyone in general. It's been far too long that I danced through the harsh weathers- some strange fucked up game of ping pong, and it's time to put it to rest. I don't care if people will hate me still, all I care about is everyones' safety and for those who have been hurt to heal from this.

I have no real say on the Emily side of things. Indeed what she did to Azriel was irresponsible, but she doesn't deserve the harm and harassment she's got and been getting. Nobody does. Not even my calloutters and my harassers. Looking at their responses and posts just makes me feel bad. I can't help but feel sorry for them.

I hope you yourself are doing well. To all others reading this, I hope you all are too. The fandom isn't the same but I know love can persist somewhere. I am leaving it all up to you to make this place so much better, and that one day everyone can laugh again.

For now, I'm hoping things can rest.

I’m glad to hear you’re doing alright. And as you’ve said: Yes, you have done things wrong, but the actions taken against you were far beyond the pale for what you actually did.

An apology backed by action towards self-betterment is a good apology, & is what you’ve shown to be doing, though I truly wish that the cost you’ve had to pay for this all wasn’t so steep. I hope that you’re still able to find enjoyment in your art still, & hope that you’re able to heal from all of this, even if it takes a good bit of time to do so.

May the path you walk no longer hurt to stand on, & may you find yourself at peace with all of it some day.

[keeterz]

Time to make an updated post on the Guilty Gear artwork I've made up to this point!

First things, gotta include Bridget and Elphelt since these were made this year in 2023. Baiken, Testement, and Giovanna were done back in 2022. I think I'd like to do a Jack-O illustration at some point, and a friend of mine wants to help fund a Ramlethal print, so those might be coming up in the future at some point.

I've made some updates to the chibis as well to include a handful of the male cast! A few noteworthy mentions include an Axl that was inspired by an animation that my friend DoovadHohdan made, a Potemkin that works as a Pot Buster when you use it as a sticker on another sticker, as well as the husbandos in general being paired with plushies of their partners (well, missing Nago and Elphelt because that wasn't a thing at the time)

A little after the Elphelt illustration I also made an Elphelt chibi as well! This one will be double-sided once I convert it to a charm~

Finally, a sneak peak at something that isn't Strive related...well, not yet, at least (maybe). Here's a value comp for an ABA illustration I'm working on based on her Accent Core design! Hoping she makes it into Strive at some point.

I might want to explore doing some Accent Core related artwork in the future. Accent Core is a lot closer to the point of when I first got into the series in my middle school/highschool days, and there are some designs from the older games that are still hecking rad. Plus the music is awesome :D

It's kind of funny; I have to confess that I actually don't play Strive. Truth be told, the GGST movement and limited combo structure never clicked with me when the game first came out (and I was always more of a 3D fighter guy for gameplay with games like Tekken and Soul Calibur). And even though I am pretty sure I would actually thoroughly enjoy playing I-No and Elphelt with the season 3 changes, I just don't really do as much gaming these days since I'm more enamored with making art (and a few other things like biking). Plus I'm kind of just waiting for Tekken 8 at this point (dear god I hope the online is good just this one time god).

But as an artist? You bet your butt I hecking love coming back to Guilty Gear. I've been a fan of the series since the early 2000s (back when I stumbled across an abandonware PC version of Guilty Gear X and became sold on the series). The characters from this series check a lot of boxes for things I love to draw, from the way they are designed and all of their classic rock references all the way down to their zany personalities and backstories. And I feel like Guilty Gear is really special in this regard for me. Even though I'd rather play other fighting games (like Tekken or maybe even SF6), Guilty Gear is probably the one fighting game fandom I want to do art of the most.

If you are a Guilty Gear fan stumbling across this art collection post, hope you are enjoying the art! I will enjoy the series vicariously through you as I get back to working on some Tekken 8 artwork for Frosty Faustings, lmao. And if you're someone who is new to the series, give Strive a try! It's neat and the characters are great.

[deadtwinksdetectiveagency]

my thoughts on the whole Cameo Thing™

Putting my first tweet in a screenshot; the rest is copy-pasted. And for context, since the quoted tweet was (understandably) deleted, it said, "Yes $100 is a lot, and it feels a little classist as some of us won’t be able to afford it."

Cameos are not a public service. No one is hurt by not having the ability to spend $100 on a video. No one is being treated worse than others because they can't afford a personalized video. I don't understand how "classist" would even come to mind.

Even if that was the worst example, I'd still fully get J's reaction. He and G are professionals. They deserve to be paid fairly. Based on G's earlier rate, other ppl's cameo rates, con photo rates, and how unique J&G are... $100 is a great deal.

I expected the $100 price tag. If George charged $50 for one person... I mean, there's two of them now. 50 x 2 = 100. I'm shocked that more than a handful of folks were surprised.

A personal anecdote: I've just started taking art commissions this fall. I am finally confident enough to charge a rate that fairly compensates me. Honestly, I should probably charge more.

Things like art commissions, cameos, convention photos/signings all fall under the same umbrella. They are treats. They are luxuries. They are never going to be equally accessible to all. It's not just price; it's also time, expertise, location, etc.

What kind of message does it send artists, writers, actors, creatives, etc when we frame their reasonable* rates as selfish and wrong? * reasonable based on industry standard, not on individuals' wallets

Anyway. J radiated enthusiasm for another chance to engage with us. I expected his happy bubble to burst at some point—I was surprised by his level of fandom engagement tbh—but that doesn't make it any less fucking sad.

-

If you're upset or heartbroken or angry because Jayden is backing away: maybe think about why, and if you could change what you do to help protect yourself from suffering this kind of distress should something similar happen again.

[unforth]

Alright not to like liveblog my breakdown on main but yesterday was a really bad day after a really bad, like, 4 months, and I've hit a bit of a breaking point and one of the only things in my life that can give is running @mdzsartreblogs , @tgcfartreblogs , @svsssartreblogs , @erhaartreblogs , @tykartreblogs , and @cnovelartreblogs , so that is what has to give. It's been a 99-out-of-100 days thankless job. A small number of people do say thank you and yall I appreciate you so much (HUGE shout-out to the artist I met at Flamecon who gifted me a zine when I said I ran these blogs, @bonesblubs you rock) but I have never done an act of fandom labor simultaneously this labor intensive yet this invisible before and, uh. It sucks. I spend an hour or more a day on this every day, if it's under 2k hours since I started the first of these in September 2020 I'd be shocked. And I do it because I love it but doing it means I don't have time or energy to do other things I love. And I really don't want to just quit, but I can't keep this up.

In a last-ditch effort to try not to just give up, I'm making the following changes:

1. Only watching one tag per fandom for the MXTX fandoms. I am going to check *only* #tgcf, #svsss, and #mdzs. Artwork posted to any other tag, I will not see unless a mutual reblogs it.

2. Reduced tagging (even more). I'm only going to tag characters and maybe overarching au type (eg, "modern au," "fantasy au"). I'll no longer tag creatures. I will continue to tag the same common trigger warnings I already tag.

3. If a work's appearance doesn't make it obvious what it is AND the tags aren't clear, I'm not going to reblog. I can't keep spending 5 minutes or more trying to figure out what I'm even looking at, scared that if I guess wrong the artist will get mad at me for mistagging their work. If I do reblog, I'll tag only the artist name and/or whatever else I can identify for sure.

4. I am no longer going to follow #link click. The fandom is just too big. I've started dreading checking it. If I was more into it and less busy I would make another spin off just for it but neither of those is true. (The art is so good, I hate to do this, but. If you love link click, highly recommend the main tag, lots of great stuff there.)

5. I will no longer tag any non-cnovel content in the art/post. Like, if someone draws, idek, Xie Lian and Marinette from Ladybug, I'm not gonna put any tags for Marinette, just for Xie Lian.

6. Basically if I run into something hard to tag or confusing or unclear, my new policy is I'm not gonna fricken bother.

I think those are everything but idefk, I cried for 3 hours last night and got 4 hours of sleep so I'm mostly fueled by exhaustion and desperation right now and my memory is even more fried than usual.

How artists can help. This is obviously all optional. You do you. But since some people might want to know what would make my life easier, I'm sharing. I'm not claiming I feel entitled to dictate how people fandom or anything like that.

1. Put the tags for the character(s) and ship(s) early in the tag list.

2. If you make art for a fandom that isn't one of the big ones (right now the only big danmei fandoms on tumblr as far as I can tell are the MXTX fandoms and maybe 2ha) I am begging you to use my tracked tag #cnovelartreblogs

3. Do mdzs art? Tag #mdzs. Do tgcf art? Tag #tgcf. Do svsss art? Tag #svsss.

4. Not only artists, but everyone, *please* stop tagging fandoms not discussed and/or depicted in your post. It's gotten to be stupid common for people to blanket the danmei fandom tags with posts only about one fandon (like, svsss-only works also being tagged mdzs and tgcf and 2ha for some damn reason). This isn't about just my sideblogs tbh this is just fandom etiquette that seems to have been forgotten or never learned by many. Tagging unrelated fandoms isn't "reach," it's annoying. People go into the #mdzs tag to see mdzs, not whatever not-mdzs stuff people have decided to tag for ~reach~, and seeing the same post in 8 tags, none of which it's related to, is so damn irritating, and makes scrolling the tags looking for content that IS relevant take that much longer. Knock it off.

Okay. I think that's as much as I'm prepared to meltdown where everyone can see. Thanks in advance everyone for your understanding, and apologies to everyone about to see this 8 times as I reblog it to each sideblog.

At least I'm not tagging it to everywhere. 🤣🤣🤣

[ofstarsandvibranium]

Meet & Greet

Fandom: Stranger Things (Gamer/Streamer/Modern AU)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x F!Reader

Summary: Your collab stream with Eddie was a success! You thought afterwards, communication between you two would dwindle, but it didn't. You kept inviting each other to play games on stream, you two were constantly messaging each other off screen. You two became great friends so quickly. But both of your communities definitely think you two should be more than just friends. Based off my imagine here.

Pog Champ | Thanks for the Raid!

Eddie Munson Masterlist

The closer Twitch Con was, the more nervous you became. Not only were you going to have your own Meet and Greet, but you were also going to be meeting Eddie for the first time.

For months now, you and Eddie have messaged each other. You've played several games with each other on stream, he's even invited you to his new D&D campaign with his other friends. You've woven yourselves into each other's lives and you don't even know how you could continue your day without your daily dose of Eddie.

You've definitely developed feelings for him and for several months, you've been keeping it in. However, you don't know how much longer you could keep it in. But then again, you're meeting him for the first time and you don't want to put him off.

UGH! Why are feelings so difficult?!

__________________________

For Twitch Con, Eddie is rooming with his friend and mod, Dustin, at the hotel. As he's unpacking his clothes, Dustin is chilling on his bed.

"So...you're meeting Cat."

"Yeah, and?" Eddie asks as he hangs up his jacket in the closet.

"You nervous?"

He scoffs, "No! Why would I be nervous?"

Dustin rolls his eyes, "'Cause you fucking like her."

"No, I don't! How many times do I have to tell you-"

"Eddie, man, c'mon. Stop bullshitting me here. It's just us." Dustin stands from his bed and approaches Eddie. He places his hands on his shoulders, "Eddie-"

"Don't touch me."

"Sorry," Dustin immediately drops his hands and clears his throat, "Eddie, tell me the truth: do you like Cat?"

Eddie gulps, "Y-Yeah. But I can't tell her that! Especially not this weekend. We're meeting for the first time and I don't want to overwhelm her. She's already got a lot on her plate this weekend. I don't want to add to it."

Dustin shakes his head, "How are you older than me but you're acting like such a pussy!"

Eddie narrows his eyes at the younger man, "Shut up," he pushes Dustin back and he falls onto the bed.

___________________

Your assistant, Suzie, accompanied you to Twitch Con. You and she shared a hotel room and she was also partially your bodyguard. She may seem harmless, but she could definitely assert herself.

Day one was here and she walks beside you after you two enter the convention hall. You decided to do an IRL stream for the first day to ease your nerves. Having chat there made you feel a little less lonely.

"Hi guys! It's Twitch Con Day One! I'll be walking around the convention with Suzie today. So if you're around, say hi!" Suzie follows you with the phone attached to a handheld tripod, connected to a portable charger.

While you walk around, you have your own phone to look at chat. You and Suzie respond to any questions.

"Am I here all three days? Yup! I'll be here! Today I'm just checking out the booths and the vendors."

DreamerHorizon: whens your meet and greet?

"Tomorrow at 2pm! Suzie and I are gonna go check out the meet and greet area so I know where to go. But I hope to see some of you there!"

EchoKnight: i'll be there!

"Yay! Can't wait to meet you, Echo!"

PuckYouLol: you're meeting Eddie right?

"Hopefully! I'm not sure what his schedule is looking like, but I told him to swing by my table tomorrow if I don't see him today! I'm hoping I can see my other streamer friends too!"

As you walk through the hall, you stop at different booths. Several sponsor booths as well as Artist Alley where several small businesses and artists sold their game related merchandise.

"Guys, look at this crocheted Among Us character! And the pink one has cat ears! I think I'm gonna get it. Remember I used to use this exact character during the Among Us era? Good times!" Suzie focuses the camera on you as you pay. You grab a a business card of the artists and show the camera, "Check out their shop if you want some cute crochet plushies!"

Eddie spots you in artist alley and he's frozen in place. You're with a friend and it seems you're streaming.

"Dude, go up to her." Mike, one of Eddie's other friends and mods, nudges him. His girlfriend El, by his side.

Eddie gulps and shakes his head, "Nah. She's busy streaming. I-I really shouldn't bother her."

Mike rolls his eyes and El shakes her in disappointment, "You're not gonna chicken out tomorrow for her meet and greet are you?"

He shrugs, "Don't know. I wanna meet her, but, I mean," he holds his arms out, "Look at me. There's no way she'll wanna meet me in person right?"

Dustin snorts and leans in to Mike, "Told you he'd be a pussy."

The oldest of them smacks down Dustin's hat, "And I told you, Henderson, to shut the fuck up. Now come on, let's keep walking around." He pulls his friends along, further away from you.

He wants to meet you, truly, he does. He doesn't want to admit it, but Eddie is scared and insecure. He's afraid of the thought of you rejecting him. He doesn't want to experience the same feeling he's felt a lot of his life. The feeling of no one wanting him around, everyone thinking him as a freak.

A large majority of his mind and heart knows you aren't like those people back in his hometown. You're kind, smart, funny, and treat everyone you meet with kindness.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, he'll pluck up the courage go meet you in person.

____________________

EddieTheBanished: good morning, miss big time streamer!

CyberCat: I'm not a big time streamer!

EddieTheBanished: says the one who has a meet and greet table!

CyberCat: i'm so fucking nervous for today...

EddieTheBanished: You'll be fine! People will be showing up!

CyberCat: I'm so nervous I don't think I can eat anything.

EddieTheBanished: you should definitely eat something. don't want you passing out or anything.

CyberCat: fiiiiine.

"Eddie, stop texting your girlfriend and start getting ready!" Dustin tosses a pillow at Eddie.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Eddie exclaims, throwing the pillow back at the younger man.

"Right. You need to have enough balls to ask her to be your girlfriend to call her your girlfriend!" The pillow gets thrown back at Eddie and Dustin rushes into the bathroom right as the pillow hits the door as it slams shut.

________________________

You kind of regret going to that Twitch Party last night. You had one too many shots of...something and you woke up hungover. Not an ideal feeling considering you were probably going to meet a good amount of people today.

Luckily, Suzie had ordered room service for the both you and you had a hearty meal, despite your stomach telling you it needs to do everything but eat.

Afterwards, you made up your face, doing your best not to appear hungover, which included taking some painkillers.

It was noon by the time 1:15 pm by the time you got to the convention. In 45 minutes, you'll be having your meet and greet.

From what you understood, the meet and greets were still going by the lottery system. So hopefully the people who attend your meet and greet are actual fans and not people who chose you as a backup. Apparently that's been an issue for the past few cons and that added to your list of anxieties leading up to today.

Suzie holds your hand tightly as you go to the streamer lounge. There you meet one of the con representatives that walks you through the process of the meet and greet.

You keep your eyes on him while he escorts you towards the meet and greet area. He explains the process, things you can and can't do, as well as that there will be a security guard nearby in case anything were to happen. You were really hoping nothing bad would.

You peeked out from behind the curtain to see the line that formed to meet you. You're in shock to see that many people.

"Hi, Cat!" some people exclaim, spotting you from behind the curtain.

You smile widely, waving at them, "Hi! I'll see you guys soon! Thanks for coming!" the group cheers and you let the curtain fall back. Suzie looks at you with a grin, "See! People showed up!"

"Yeah, they did," you respond with a smile on your face.

_________________________

"Woah. That's a lot of people," Gareth says as he spots the line to meet you.

A big smile appears on his face to see the amount of people that showed up for you, "I told her people would come." He cranes his neck to see you beyond the crowd. You're engaged in a conversation with two guys. You're nodding and smiling as they say something to you, and respond back.

Afterwards, they hand a phone to a young woman who takes a picture of the three of you. You thank the two men and wave them good-bye. You excuse yourself for some water. As you're quickly chugging down, you spot him: Eddie.

Your eyes widen and you gulp. You slam your water bottle onto the table and squeal, "EDDIE!" You apologize and excuse yourself from the next person in line to rush over to him.

"Oh shit, she's coming this way!" Mike says and Eddie quips, "Everyone be cool!"

You're not sure what comes over you, but you run to Eddie and throw your arms around him, "It's so nice to finally meet you in person!" you exclaim.

A few people in line record you and take pictures of you since you're closer to him.

Eddie's words get caught in his throat. His cheeks start to heat up and he begins to stutter, "I-Uh-You-" he pauses to clear his throat, "Hi." He doesn't know how, but you're so much prettier in person. He didn't think it was possible to be even prettier.

��Ye-Yeah. Um, hey. It’s uh, uh good to meet you too.”

Dustin, Mike, and Gareth, are snickering at him, while El is smirking.

You think it’s adorable though. You take him by the chin, lowering his head down a bit more. You stare into Eddie’s eyes and smirk, “You’re wrong by the way.”

“About?” He asks in sudden confusion.

“Your eyes do kind of sparkle.” You giggle and take a step back, "Thanks for coming. Did you guys want to hang by my table?"

Dustin opens his mouth to accept but Eddie beats him to it, "It's okay! We should let you do your thing."

You pout a bit and Eddie swears it's the cutest thing he's ever seen, "You sure? It wouldn't be an issue! You guys can even hang behind the curtain to wait for me?"

He shakes his head, "We're sure. You're busy and we should let you get to it."

Your shoulders sag a bit, "Okay," you say dejectedly, “I’ll message you after this and maybe we can walk around the convention together?

Eddie nods, "Sound good!” He gives you a thumbs up and then cringes because why the hell did he do that? That’s so lame!

You chuckle and give him a thumbs up back, "Cool. See you later!" you give him a wave and head back to the table. You apologize again to the people waiting for you and gesture for the next person to come up.

Eddie's frozen in place, watching you speak to every person that approaches you. Gareth nudges him, "Smooth, dude."

Eddie scowls, "Shut up," and pushes him forward, "Let's go wander."

"You're telling me you don't wanna creepily watch her from her afar?" Mike asks, causing Dustin and Gareth to snicker.

"Mike, leave him alone. Come on," El tugs his hand and leads him away. El gives Eddie a nod and he nods back in thanks.

He glances back at you and as if knowing he was looking, you look up and stare right back at him. You smile and nod at him before bringing your attention back to the person in front of you.

Eddie gulps and rubs his hand over his chest, trying to soothe his fast beating heart.

[rae2velaris]

2024 Was a Great Year for Elriels

The end of the year is approaching, and unfortunately, there's no announcement yet, but Elriels definitely have plenty to be grateful for this year.

On the contrary... (Quick rant...I'm allowed one a year)

The other side has enjoyed complaining and discrediting articles and large companies commenting on Elriel...

Why?

I suppose it's because their side of the fandom has nothing new to talk about with their ships?

All they have are:

Commissioned art pieces paid for by themselves (great for the artists and Elriels do commissioned pieces to so... touche)

Screen Rant articles. This website is a way for free lance writers to make some money. Honestly, if you want to dive into them, go ahead, but these article centralize on the writers' opinions and click bait/SEO. And no, I'm not going to hunt down these writers' information to discredit. People are allowed to have their opinions and make money however way they want. Just at least take a moment to look at the titles for Screen Rant articles vs. TIME, TODAY, and E! News. You'll see a difference going forward in this post.

Additonal unnecsssary "official" weeks/ "spontaneous" days for ships and characters due to the belief that Elriel fans ruin everything

Anyways, let's dive into this year's pro Elriel content ❤️

January 30th, 2024

TIME- Time magazine is a widely cited resource and maintains high standards of journalism. In this particular article, only Elain and Azriel are mentioned as a possibility for the next ACOTAR book.

January 30th, 2024

TODAY Show- A sit-down interview with SJM. (This particular part of the interview I condensed together on Canva because of the limited pictures we can include on Tumblr) Below, Sarah talks about fate, the idea of exploring rejecting mates, and free will. (Lucien and Elain?) She also discusses her characters ending up with someone who offers growth and joy. (Azriel and Elain?) SJM can't tell us in black and white that she's doing this, but COME ON people. There's a reason she discusses it.

Oh, and the TODAY show decided to like/comment on Elriel comments ONLY.

Side Note: If interested, take a look at this tumblr post for a lovely, thorough breakdown. ( @courtofblooming )

April 19th, 2024

Guilty As Sin Instagram Story from SJM- Sarah loves her little crumbs, and this song honestly encapulates Elriel. We unfortunately don't get confirmation from SJM, but I'll include some of the lyrics for you to judge.

This cage was once just fine

Am I allowed to cry?

I dream of cracking locks

Throwing my life to the wolves

Or the ocean rocks

Crashing into him tonight

He's a paradox

I'm seeing visions, am I bad?

Or mad? Or wise?

What if he's written 'mine' on my upper thigh

Only in my mind?

One slip and falling back into the hedge maze

Oh what a way to die

I keep recalling things we never did

Messy top lip kiss

How I long for our trysts

Without ever touching his skin

How can I be guilty as sin?

What makes it even better? Audible and Spotify commented ONLY on Elriel posts in relation to this song. You won't find these particular companies commenting on any other ships of the fandom.

Side Note: The other side of the fandom tries to discredit these influential companies by stating the person behind the account doesn't represent the whole company or just enjoy saying the companies comments aren't credible. Multi-million dollar companies are NOT going to waste their time and reputation on fanon created ships. These companies are business smart and only invest in what's profitable. There's a reason they make millions...ELRIEL is profitable due to canon evidence. Simple as that.

December 2nd, 2024

Bloomsbury and SJMaas Updates announce that the audiobooks are now available on Spotify- Bloomsbury, SJM Updates, and Spotify are in close collaboration with each other. Makes those Spotify Elriel comments even more satisfying. ❤️

December 9th, 2024

SJM 2024 Author of the Year Spotify Video- Although we got little news for the coming spring about audible books, us as a fandom had a lovely time dissecting the video. Yet again, Spotify only commented on Elriel comments.

Side Note: Take a look at these tumblr posts for an inciteful look into the significance of tea cups/Elain ( @offtorivendell ) and an excellent interpretation of the Spotify video. ( @wingedblooms )

December 13th, 2024

E News!- I know this particular article has ruffled some feathers, but it's entertaining none the less! Gotta love the nod to Azriel's wingspan. IYKYK (And yes, it's credible... it's owned by NBC Universal... the same company that owns TODAY and 33% stakes of Hulu through Comcast (Comcast owns NBC Universal, and the stakes are through NBC Universal). I only add Hulu due to the ACOTAR TV series being developed through Hulu.)

December 17th, 2024

Goodreads- This is just a little star on top of the tree, but it's great to know that ACOFAS made it into the top 10 most read overall books this year. (Interesting how ACOSF didn't make it...) Notably, ACOFAS is the bridge for future spin-offs. (Also interesting how a particular character isn't seen in ACOFAS...)

(ACOFAS pictures taken from @psychologynerd post linked below)

In Conclusion...

As an Elriel, I've truly appreciated the continuous confirmations for Azriel and Elain for the future ACOTAR 5 book in small, simple ways. Even better knowing that Spotify and Audible have outwardly commented on ONLY Elriel posts.

As the year 2024 ends, I'll treasure these little nuggets of positivity until the announcement day! I have a feeling 2025 will hold some excellent news for the fandom. Until then, have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

P.S.

If you know of anymore pro Elriel content from this year, by all means, write a comment. 🥰

[dropoutconfessions]

I keep seeing things about how Dropout is failing transwomen and yes, absolutely, I fully agree we need more transwomen/transfemmes on the channel. And maybe I'm remembering wrong (I have not watched the full catelogue), but like...90% of the trans rep so far has been nonbinary people?? Ally Beardsley, Alex Song-Xia, Erika Ishii, Caroline Page, Vic Michaelis, et cetera.

We've had Persephone Valentine for transwomen but have we had any actual honest to god transmen anywhere?

And don't get me wrong! I love love love the enby rep. 100% here for it.

But every time I see something about how Dropout and the fandom are specifically failing transwomen and transwomen only, I want to beat my head into the wall. So, you're saying that enbies are just, what, girlies+? and get lumped into the same category as trans men because...? or just that they/transmen don't count at all bc they're ...what, exactly?

It's 1: hella confusing and annoying as a trans guy. Unless Ally Beardsley (who I absolutely love no matter what) comes out as a guy at some point, they are not my rep and won't ever be.

2: misses the point that over the past few years, as Dropout has grown, their representation has grown with it, and will (hopefully!) continue to grow. In the early years, all the trans community in Dropout had was Ally Beardsley. We owe them a lot for that tbh. It's not easy being the only different one in a sea of same.

Yeah, we need to keep the community accountable and try to keep the corporation accountable as well. 100% hands down, no disagreement here. Drag queens are great, but they're not representation for transwomen.

For the sake of all that is good in the world, can we stop acting like it's only transwomen not making it onto shows and that it's both transwomen AND transmen, and that Dropout has mostly been finding a "comfortable" middle ground with enbies?

Be upset about lack of representation, be vocal, call for change, push forward names of people we want to see, but please PLEASE don't start the whole oppression politics and who has the shorter end of the stick based on whatever gender people were assigned at birth. That shit is just gross.

yeah fair, not that many trans men specifically. personally, we need more TMA people on the channel. cause i am enby (demigirl), and i don't feel represented for shit.

dropout hasn't been finding a comfortable middle ground with enbies. dropout's been coasting with TME enbies specifically.

yeah dropout's representation has grown. it's grown with the amount of TMEs on the show. they're a company, not some independent webcomic artist, we're allowed to not be happy with amount of transfems on the show. they can go ahead and take their time and grow, but i'm still gonna dislike how slowly the inclusion of transfems has been.

yes, we need more trans men on the network, but like, we can agree there is a serious lack of transfems entirely yeah? idk, might just be me

[amalthiaph]

I took an interest in The Bad Batch around the tailend of S2. It's not news to Tumblr that I almost slept on this show. And I cannot thank Caleb Dume enough for being the reason why I pressed the play button for this one. While I haven't been around for most of its active run, and I wish I had been, the last year has been among the best months of my life.

This show challenged my morals, and taught me lessons that I will forever take with me.

Tech taught me to embrace and take pride in who I am. I now think that I am not something that needs to be cured. I needed to be understood and accepted. He taught me that we deserved to be loved and be allowed to live the way we want to (as long as we are not causing harm to ourselves or to others).

Hunter taught me that at the end of the day, we're all still humans. We make mistakes. We fail. But we can learn from them, and we can strive to be better. And I should also take care of my hair bec I cannot accept that a man in a galactic war have better hair than me (Okay, did you honestly think I'm gonna be serious this entire essay?)

Crosshair taught me that at the end of the day, we really are still humans. Sometimes, we make choices that not everyone will understand or agree to. Sometimes, we don't even understand our own choices. But we can learn from them, and we can strive to be better. And that I should also go to therapy bec istg my hand shakes like hell I always need to rely on a pen stabilizer when doing my artworks.

Wrecker taught me that in this world where we can be anything, always choose to be kind. He is a great man who would always be there for everyone, and I hope that one day, I can be that person too. He is afraid of heights, but he climbs and go on high places anyway. Like him, I should also start conquering my fears. Dear Wrecker, I did try conquering my fear of heights last March 9 but I can't. I will try again.

Echo taught me to always fight for the greater good. Almost two years ago, me and a group of people campaigned for a great tomorrow. With pink flags and pink balloons, we worked on our little thing I like to call our rebellion. Sadly, we lost. At times, I am thinking of just giving up bec that's democracy and I cannot go against the people's decision, but characters like Echo and the rest of Rogue One taught me that nothing should ever stop me for fighting for the people's rights and that my love for my fellow citizens should always come first before hatred.

And lastly, Omega taught me to be curious, or more likely to not be ashamed for being curious. Learn about the world. Learn about lots of things. We never know when we need it. While I could say be good at strategy and win 30 grand on card games, nahhh, I'm not that smart.

I also learned to reevalutate myself as an artist. This show taught me integrity. I had ranted about this lately but these characters challenged me in terms of art. I knew that the creators aren't best at proper representation. While I could draw them as they are in the show, I choose to stand for what is right, and represent them as properly as my skills could. In the more technical side, I became good at drawing armors. And this little Actors AU Draw Series taught me to be responsible; I tried my very best to create and post them on time. This increased my productivity.

But enough about me.

There's something I realized two nights ago; we, the fandom, are Bad Batchers ourselves. We can consider ourselves a family, but not one of us is the same and we're all interesting, and capable in our own unique ways. We can have our own opinion and stand about something and still coexist. Like our favorite charactera, we embrace and celebrate our differences.

This show may end. No more Bad Batch Eves, no more cryptic tweets that cause us to hyperventilate, no more Bad Batch Wednesdays but it will live on, through us.

I know there will be a day where we decrease in number, one by one, little by little, but still, the show will live on through our actions, our opinions, our choices we make after May 1, 2024 because I know that all of us were changed in some ways by these characters and this show.

To the crew, your cryptic tweets caused me sleepless nights, but thank you so, so much. It is through your hardwork that we had this wonderful show. Thank you for making every second of the past year so worthwhile and enjoyable for me and for everyone.

However this show will end, whether happy or sad, I am glad it happened. However short my time was with them, I am happy I had been here. However short my time with everyone in the fandom was or if some of you leave one day, still, thank you so much for being part of my life; I am so happy I met all of you.

To Clone Force 99, thank you. I've never loved anything like this before. May the Force be with you.

[vigilxnte-shit]

join the tuna team!

ever wanted to join a discord server full of people who share your love for one specific, depressed, hot martial artist with a lot of catholic guilt? do you have other interests such as baldur's gate 3 and musical theatre? if so, the tuna team is the place for you!

the tuna team began with the intention of a server where daredevil writers could unite to share our writing, beta read for each other, and just talk about our favorite blind lawyer/vigilante. since then, it has morphed into a place where we all talk to each other about our lives, share pictures of pets, and scream into the void about everything we love.

the tuna team welcomes anyone of any age (well, any age 18 and over), religion, gender, etc. etc. and we would love to have you! if you want to join, message me your discord username and i'll send you a friend request!

be advised that the server is 18+ and although we love charlie and his characters, we do NOT allow speculation on his personal life. we ask that anyone who joins be respectful of others' pronouns, identity, and boundaries- specifics on this are available upon request!

members of the tuna team:

here is a brief introduction to each current member of the tuna team! i am relatively new to interacting with the DD fandom (i've been a fan since 2022, but only just recently started talking with other fans online) and am frankly stunned that so many cool, talented, amazing writers who i look up to are in this server. everyone in here is inspiring and supportive, and contributes to the great vibe we have going in the server!

~~moderators~~

vienna @vigilxnte-shit: hi, as you may have noticed, this is me. i'm the owner of the server, i'm mostly here to write, talk about husband!matt, and send pictures of my cat, coconut.

brooklyn @jazerno: brooke is my irl best friend and roommate, as well as coconut's technical legal mother. brooke originally joined to be a moderator, but has since fallen for frank castle, as one tends to do.

mar @mar-thewriter: mar is a very good friend of mine who i met via another server of people i love. mar doesn't talk much here, but is a great moderator who i love dearly.

mads @madschiavelique: mads is the one who made our gorgeous get roles channel and is our coding genius. they are the ones to thank for

~~tunas~~

leg @a-leg-without-fear: leg is hysterical and our resident emoji artist. she has created all of our emoji in the server and also the lovely art featured above, as well as countless other fun works!

yuna @yarrystyleeza: yuna is the sweetest person you will ever meet and fun fact: tuna team comes from her name! yuna always has the best headcanons and her oc, madilyn, is DARLING.

sapph aka sunshine @sunflowersandsapphires: sapph is the mama of our server, she is sunshine incarnate and always has the best writing prompts + blesses our eyes with her pets!

hira aka robin @amphitrite-5: hira is a very soft and kind soul who regularly makes everyone's day with her kind words. she's also one of our best gamers and doesn't like to sleep (though really, none of us do)

via @zomtart: via is the #1 frank castle character defender and i have no choice but to respect that. they're hilarious and we love having them in the server!

i cant find mariam's tumblr: i was scrolling through mariam's messages and literally fighting the urge to laugh in the office. mariam is hysterical and our representative elektra fan.

eclipse @ecxlipse: eclipse is the baby of our server (i think) but has sent us plenty of gorgeous art and wonderful matt headcanons, and they always have the best contributions to our conversations!

crys @what-i-call-men: crys is responsible for several of the best, spiciest headcanons that have come about on the server. they also have sent the best photo of themselves wearing a DD mask.

zena @coxology101: zena is a busy bee and running her own server, but when we do hear from them, we get some of the best thoughts and BTS dardevil pictures.

ivy @catholicguiltboi: ivy is hysterical and has blessed is with photos of their son, yoshi (who i think is a lizard but i am not very smart).

pasta @pastafossa: my jaw dropped when i saw pasta wanted to join. they contribute so much laughter, many great ideas, and the best advice to the server and we are thrilled they're here.

sybil @gracethyomen: brooke and i have spent several nights since the server started laughing in our apartment over something sybil has said. they are genuinely one of the funniest people ever.

shiori @shiorimakibawrites: shiori has blessed us with some of the best matt thoughts time and time again. like pasta, their name is so recognizable to me that i was genuinely shocked when they asked to join, but i'm so grateful they did!

bella @bellaxgiornata: you'll be sick of hearing this but i genuinely could not believe bella wanted to join the server. in my eyes, she is like the taylor swift of the daredevil fandom (and for clarity's sake, that is the highest compliment i can give). in the server she constantly has the best ideas and is always so supportive of everything we all write.

lindsay @shouldbestudying41: much like bella, this is someone who i very much look up to and respect in the daredevil community. having her in the server is a blessing and they are insanely good at time management- i'm incredibly amazed by their ability to juggle so much at one time!

we also have a couple without blogs; aspen and paris. they are good irl friends of mine who don't say much, but are a joy to have in the server anyway :)

divider on top by @sister-lucifer

tuna team art by @a-leg-without-fear

[hermitadaymay]

-Removed double name tagging. This year, all submissions for each day's Hermit will only be tagged with the shorter version of their name (where applicable). For example, fanworks for Stress will be tagged "#stress," not "#stressmonster101, #stress." Notably, fanworks featuring Joel SmallishBeans will be tagged #joel.

=Updated desktop blog theme. (please look at it I did actual coding for this)

=Changed Bonus Days to Sundays.

=Time of rollover between dates will now be 12:00am US Central time (6:00am GMT).

+Added credits page.

+Added people to credit! HADM24 comes to you with the help of boatloads of my friends both online and irl and even some names you might know (keep reading).

+THE BIG ONE: Added a secondary goal for the Hermit-a-Day May event: a complete fundraiser for Gamers Outreach.

The way this community comes together to celebrate the Hermits and each other is incredible. There are something like 1,800 fanworks on this blog from last May and early June! And that's not counting what was posted on other social media platforms as the prompt calendar spread.

I wanted to do something with that momentum - something with a little more substance behind it than last year's spontaneous "hey we should all donate $14!" So I've partnered with two amazing fandom artists you may remember from their daily posts last year - @belmarzi and @rendiggitydog - so that as a community, we could make even more awesomeness come from this event.

I have created a Tiltify campaign so that donations can be made directly to GO - I will never touch the money - and tracked for our incentives:

GRAND TOTAL INCENTIVE: For every $150 we raise for Gamers Outreach (to a minimum of $300, and a maximum that is yet to be determined, but we currently have support for up to $2,100), belmarzi will make 10 seconds' worth of animatic, featuring as many Hermits as she can fit into the time frame. You can expect to see the animatic published in early July.

INDIVIDUAL DONATION INCENTIVE: For every $65 you personally donate to the fundraiser, Rae rendiggitydog will draw you a shaded flats commission of a Hermit of your choice. These will be finished in the order in which the donations are received, and may be sent to you in May or early June.

I've put a lot of work into making this happen, and I cannot tell you how excited I am for May to arrive! The campaign will be opened in mid to late April together with the posting of this year's prompt calendar.

We've got some great stuff cooking up for y'all this year, between the whole month of fanart and the fundraising incentives! Thank you all for being a part of it! The askbox is open for questions, if you have them.

Next time: the official release of the prompt calendar!

-Mod Luna

[uva124]

So yeah, I finished the drawing of Asha's redesign from Wish :D, maybe I'll make some changes in the future, but I'm happy to have finished it, it should be noted that I haven't seen the movie. , so I can't give my opinion on it yet, but I found it very interesting that their fandom is mainly made up of people who rewrote or made their own version of the movie, they are all very creative and it got me out of an artistic block. that I had a few months ago, but above all I found the rewriting of @annymation which is the one I have been most hooked on, so I wanted to do some redesigns of the characters coming out of its rewriting, that's why everything that has to do with the story of this version of Asha, as well as her personality and her world on which I base my drawing are the ideas and work of this account: @annymation

I'm just making a drawing of her character and how I would design her as well as sharing part of the process I had to do to draw her because, why not?

BOARD:

The first thing I had to do was put together a table full of references that reminded me of the character and things that I would like to add to her design, so I used milanote to do it:

-Looked for some Asha's concept art and save the ones I liked the most, and add the main colors that I used in the design. -I also created notes to write down the personality of the character and some of his data to have a better guide, I did a little research and found publications that talked a lot about Asha's discarded designs and how Disney workers had put that she had tribe ancestry Amazigh on his mother's side and since his father was from the Iberian Peninsula, that's why the next thing I wanted to do is research more about their culture. -I am not an expert on this topic, nor do I belong to the cultures from which Asha has ancestry, so you can comment on any correction regarding this topic, I wanted to implement details of this culture to her design and I would really like to give a correct representation :)

HAIRSTYLE

Continuing with the theme, I saw that the hairstyles in the Amazigh culture mostly had this type of colorful decorations on their braids and dreadlocks, that's why I also posted these reference photos for Asha's hairstyle.

-Finally I decided that Asha would not have all her hair full of braids or dreadlocks, but only a few accompanied by these decorations with a great variation of colors, although it was fun to sketch the many hairstyle options that I had in mind based on these concept art and other photos that I had saved

TATTOOS:

-Another detail that I liked was giving Asha some tattoos with designs from the Amazigh culture, because I saw that it was quite common for women to get them, the tattoo on her forehead is a symbol of protection against bad influences, that's why the The middle symbol is responsible for deflecting it in the 4 directions, I also added a similar one in Asha's right hand.

ASTROLOGY AND THE SPACE:

-An important part of Asha's rewrite is her knowledge of astronomy inherited from her father, especially with the stars for obvious reasons xd, so in addition to adding constellations to her dresses, research the meaning (or something like that) of the planets. Only 3 really reminded me of the character, which were: -Mars: Symbolization of the internal conquering function of moving forward, independent, self-determined, enduring failures with new energy, courage and energy to fight for your desires. -Saturn: Maturity, effort to solidly build realistic criteria, frustrations are transformed into objectives to continue growing, critical and realistic, far from getting frustrated when an objective does not work, you strive to move forward and obtain even more resistant and solid achievements, perseverance , and tenacity (I feel like yhis it the most similar to Asha :D) -Moon: protective role, feeling very vulnerable outside your known areas, feeling of security with your ties, importance of family ties. The one that reminded me the most of Asha was Saturn, that's why I drew those Saturn-shaped earrings :).

SUITS:

I looked for references and placed some on milanote, I noticed that the concept art was mainly divided into whether the dresses have lilac colors or warm colors, I decided to draw 2 models based on the discarded designs, although at first I thought of using only one color palette lilac and bluish, I realized that the reddish colors of her dress reminded me of Mars which has certain meanings that in my opinion coincide with Asha's personality. In the end I didn't decide what wardrobe she would primarily have 😅, but I like to think that in this version of Wish, Asha would have wardrobe and hairstyle changes like in some older Disney movies.

-These are some of the concepts that I mainly used for my version of the dresses

FINAL COMMENTS:

I am satisfied with the result, it was fun to make all this, although what I researched mostly seems little, it actually cost me several hours and I did it at night, so as a funny fact the next day I was explaining all this information to my mother and I felt like I looked like that:

(Make this drawing was so funny LMAO)

(Apologies if there are errors in my writing, English is not my first language and my writing is very basic)