#there were some ideas that i didn't use

[seventeendeer]

this isn't at all meant to be condescending or finger-waggy because 100% we all have blind spots like this, but I'm really, really hoping that the people who never found Gaiman's approach to his own fandom concerning in any way will take this all as a learning moment.

he was an older, hyper-famous author engaging directly and frequently with an online audience of largely vulnerable young marginalized people. he presented himself as cultured and worldly, and made himself approachable as someone to go to for advice, encouragement and "wisdom." his manner of speech was extremely pathos-heavy and clearly intended to be comforting and encouraging in exactly the way his target demographic needed it to be to swallow every word. the way he spoke about stories and creativity was designed to make young creative hopefuls feel special and important, while sweeping real analytical techniques under the rug - in hindsight, likely so no one would think too critically about the disturbing amount of patriarchal abuse played for cheap shock value and voyerism in his own body of works.

Gaiman saw a target demographic that was desperate for an older creative role model to tell them they were worth something, and he exploited that pain to twist a narrative around himself where he was king and any critique leveled at him or his works were the enemy.

to be clear, he could have been innocent. he could totally have been just an out-of-touch old man saying nice things to people because he wanted to be kind and he thought he was a lot smarter than he really was. red flags are warning signs, not a surefire way to tell if someone is actually "secretly shitty."

but if you used to look up to him, PLEASE take this moment to revisit the ideas you absorbed from him. did you take his words to heart because they seemed to have objective merit? or did you take them to heart because it felt good to believe what he said? do you still hold these values? does knowing he was intentionally manipulating his online audience make you less certain? do you need more information from a different source before deciding one way or another?

again, I'm just really, really hoping people on here will take a moment to reevaluate the ideas and opinions he's injected into tumblr fandom culture, because his reach is immense and he has absolutely been manipulating popular perception of relevant topics to gain further influence and control the narrative around both his own and Pratchett's legacy. please, please take this moment to notice what he's been doing - and next time someone tries to pull the same shit, hopefully we'll be able to apply what we've learned from experience.

[nenoname]

Details in Stan's letter that still haunt me

(how long will I continue thinking about a two page letter that's technically not even that long because Stan's handwriting is fricking large? .....you don't need to worry about that.)

The bro code only shows up in the Lost Journal pages, and to me Stan's message feels like it purposely echoes Ford's "miss you" in the college photo (and for some reason the message doesn't appear in the website version of the photo?) ....or alternatively Stan simply noticed how distressed Ford was about this entire thing and wanted to support him in a way so he can be sappy but without the kids knowing, or both!

Stan's claim about the Oregon lottery contradicts what the Lost Legends website said about Tate McGucket's ability to predict the winning numbers!! ...but also breaking into the Lottery HQ is definitely a very Stan thing to do and it's not the first time small gags have been retconned

Despite spending most of his letter nonchalantly destroying him, the taunt about ripping a dollar bill in half is the only part where Stan is directly responding to Bill. Maybe it's the two of them having similar ways of thinking but it's rather specific considering Bill taunts the reader about it...

And after Bill spends an entire book calling Ford Sixer despite normally using a pretty wide range of nicknames for him, Stan then spends his letter mainly referring to Ford as Sixer, even though post-Weirdmageddon he tends to use a mix of nicknames. And it's not like he'd gotten to see Bill himself for long, let alone see him steal that childhood nickname (that is only used twice in the actual show btw!). Did Ford tell him what happened or...?

With all this and the website's "still on your mind" message, what I'm getting at is my tinfoil hat theory of Stan somehow seeing some of the pages the irl readers saw, even when it should be personalised to the specific reader, and he's been lying about it for some reason. Considering that the book flat out doesn't make an attempt at convincing Soos, I find it a stretch that whatever Bill was telling Stan via the book was an attempt to convince him either.

Wouldn't be the first time Stan's skimmed through a book and lied about what it meant to him.

(...Now I kinda wanna see a story about the family reading their versions of the book and making fun of it while Stan is improvising every single one of his pages and blatantly ignoring Bill's attempts to mock and taunt him)

But also I'm fascinated by the letters that only showed up on the website (aka the Soos+Wendy+McGucket+Pacifica ones). I'm assuming that Mabel had stuck them on after Stan's letter... but they were basically eaten by the book itself because seeing Stan's letter kick-started Bill's breakdown which takes up the rest of the book

[bittersweet-jack-of-no-trades]

I'm sure this has been done before but Gravity Falls/Hunger Games AU? The 50th games/2nd Quarter Quell becomes even more dramatic because in one of the districts, the two male tributes are twins??

This year becomes one of the longest-running games in history; sparked in part by the Capitol's obsession with the twins, Stan and Ford, who have an argument early on and split ways. Stan becomes an expert in hiding and running, making and then breaking alliances as the other tributes inevitably try to use him to get to Ford. But why get to Ford?

Because Ford is excelling. The dangerous and odd mutations of the arena become his fascination and his strength. Probably also because during the pre-game process the Capitol got enamored with his six fingers and awkward attitude and view him as this weird little oddball underdog, and that infuriates especially the Careers. Stan is fighting for his life every day, and thinks Ford is doing the same--- but Ford has a mysterious, anonymous sponsor who sends him everything he needs, signing each note with not a name but a little triangle. The major upset comes when, of course, the last two tributes alive are Stan and Ford. The games end when Stan unceremoniously pushes Ford off a cliff and into the river below.

(Ford, of course, does not actually die. His sponsor was Bill, duh, who I picture as a Heavensbee-like figure, a gamemaker who is actually aligned with D13, more for the chaos than any sense of rebellion or morals. He takes Ford and deposits him in D13 to aid in the rebellion.)

Stan becomes the Haymitch-like drunken, lonely Victor who no one wants to interact with. His district, under his angry tutelage, goes through a period of losing. Then, the 74th games.

When they call Dipper's name, Mabel tries to volunteer. She can't, because she's a girl, but that doesn't stop her from trying so hard the Peacekeepers have to hold her down. So, she does the next best thing: when the girl's name is called, she volunteers again, pushing her way into the games despite Dipper's dismay.

They know Stan is their grunkle, but he's estranged and their first real interactions happen with him as their mentor. He assures them repeatedly they will turn on each other; Dipper and Mabel use the power of twins to win the Capitol's support as gamemakers dramatically drudge up reminders of what happened to the last set of twins. It's the "twins" angle rather than the original books' "star-crossed lovers" angle that earns the twins the right to win as a pair (can you imagine how Stan felt, knowing if he was just a little smarter he and Ford could've been spared, too?).

Eventually, D13's existence is revealed, Ford is shown to be alive, Stan goes through the reverse 7 stages of grief and probably also a lot of booze, etc. etc. They defeat the presidents (probably the Northwests, Pacifica would make a decent President's granddaughter), and end up taking down Bill too as his goal was, of course, to take dictatorial rule in the creation of the power vacuum.

[imerian]

Vr46 academy keychains

Set of five charms that all match in different ways

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　 . ✦　　˚　

Open for detailed pictures of each one

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ *ੈ✩‧₊˚

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

:･ﾟ✧:･.☽˚｡･ﾟ✧:･.:

˖⁺‧₊˚⭒✮⭒˚₊‧⁺˖

. ݁₊ ✶. ݁ ˖ˎˊ˗

I ran out of tags so I'll say it here but i would greatly appreciate a reblog, especially if you share your thoughts on these pieces in tags (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

(Also i forgot that bez have matching part with luca so I didn’t add that to tags sorry

[bloggingboutburgers]

Tbh I feel like going to the US while the Nazis are in power is suicidal. So of course I don't understand your choice of going instead of your SO coming to Europe. But while I don't understand, I wish and pray for you to be safe. Whatever you choose, I hope you guys will be okay

You might be right. I have no idea what the future has in store or if I'll come to regret it. But I've already stated my reasons. As it stands, with the year-long process we've already started and that we can't just flip on a dime overnight, my partner can't come and stay in Europe legally just like that. Legal immigration is not that easy in one way or the other. Also... Yeah, I've stated that before, but one shouldn't underestimate how shitty things have been getting in Europe for the past few years as well, and how the influence of the US (which is huge) is likely to make things worse. So again I'm not 100% sure whether that'd have been better anyway.

Also also... Ima be real, I've shared that before, but the time where I was separated from my partner due to the travel ban was the only time in my life where I had actual suicidal ideation. I don't want this to happen again. That's why I'm making moves so it doesn't, first and foremost.

[seleneprince]

Mulciber: So, are you a boy or a girl?

Sevrina: I'm a fucking mess

[pastelaspirations]

I had a dream last night, or early this morning, that I was reading this scholarly book about how to write a dissertation. I have no idea why. But the book kept having... utmv references? Like, it would tell you how to do something and then use utmv characters to demonstrate

I got to one point where it referenced this supposed "famed" fight of Error and Ink. They went to a wild west au and Error supposedly "braved the chacoa in the canyons."

What is chacoa?? And why did Error have to "brave" it??? I don't know, man, but that is an exact quote that I remember

Anyway. I was reading, trying to discover more about this famed fight because it sounded low key interesting. Then, the book mentioned that Ink ran into… Coshuss. It was the au's variant of Cross. Imagine a very disgruntled bounty hunter cowboy and that was him. Getting angrier and angrier because it was apparently a source of comedy that Ink was having difficulty saying his name right

All I could think was, "Yeah, same, Ink." I had no idea how to pronounce that name

Well, the librarian who was in the room with her daughter with me, the daughter eventually had to run out of the room to get something. The librarian somehow knew what part I was at and said, "You know, you can admit what you thought his name was."

I didn't know what she meant. I guess she thought it was supposed to look like a bad word?? Dream version of me thought that too since I went, "Nah, I think it looks like... Koksue. Kosueh. Koshu."

Cue me badly trying to pronounce this poor man's name. Finally, I settled on one name I pronounced consistently, "Koshussss." Basically, "Koshu" with an awkward, annoying "s" sound dragged out at the end

The librarian woman started busting a gut. I laughed along too, even though I didn't really know what was so funny. Sure, I meant my pronunciation to be kinda funny, but not that funny

I then looked at the book and that was when I saw the correct pronunciation written out in parentheses

It was supposed to be pronounced CrossCross

I literally thought that was so funny, that I snorted so hard from laughing in my dream, I woke myself up.

A part of me is sad. I kinda really do wish there was a "How to Write Your Dissertation 101" book out there with utmv references I should know, but apparently don't

[greyedian]

MAN I'm seriously so sad about season 2. Bc I wish act 2 had the same emotional impact on me as it appears to have on so many others. But rn I'm just somewhere between unable to care and actively annoyed by some of those writing decisions. Seriously the more I think about it the less I like it.

[numberonetribble]

Stuck at my mom's house until the 27th, can't finish the comic I was working on until then :( here's a rough Cowboy!pinup sketch of Bumblebee and some Breakbee + Piston angst:

[o-uncle-newt]

I just got a bit more time in my schedule and I'm hoping to get started on a Sayers-and-Jews reading list, if anyone has any suggestions! I just really feel like I've never seen anyone talk about how WEIRD the apparent received wisdom is of "Sayers was in a relationship with a completely secular Jew who tried to convince her to have premarital sex she was religiously uncomfortable with, which NATURALLY made her start writing about Jews, but a totally different kind of basically fetishized ultra-conservative type than Cournos was." There are clearly missing links there- not an obvious or intuitive connection at all- and I have my own ideas of what they are and am so curious if it's already been written about.

[wombywoo]

Hi, Womby!

Firstly, I wanted to tell you how much I adore Vincent and Quinn!

And if you feel comfortable answering this:

how did you create them?

Did you design them first and then develop their personalities and backstories? Or the other way around?

Every time I try to create original characters, they end up being shallow caricatures of characters I like but without real depth or actual personalities :/

Thanks so much for the kind words about my boys 🥰

As for the question--I kind of just...thought of them as concepts at first. Like, I had a vision of a vampire/human dynamic and projected some of my ideal characteristics onto them, tweaked a few early concepts into something more compelling, and just...went with it. They weren't even their true selves, especially in the beginning, but as I kept fantasizing about the idea, they developed more in my mind. I think it was sitting down and drawing them for the first time that solidified them as Characters for me. And once I had that, I was able to explore their backstories/personalities as if they were suddenly Real Boys. Currently, it's really easy for me to invent and share details about them, because I just know them now. It's less thinking about it in terms of 'this is my original character and I want them to do XYZ things' and more 'this is a person that exists of their own accord and I want to share their story'. I'm their caretaker and I let them decide things for me (I'm realizing now this all might sound crazy asdfghjkk I swear it's like they've taken over my brain 😅) But yeah--I think it's actually the best part of creating characters in the first place--to reach that stage where you feel like they exist outside of your own mind--they live and act and feel, I'm just the one pulling a few strings~

[greenerteacups]

Hi GT! Congratulations on the last chapter, as always! Lately my brain has been fixated on a detail that I find very interesting. I can't help but think that any adult in LH who is preparing for war has at least once thought while looking at Draco "ok, this could definitely help us in the future". And I find it almost hilarious because I love the way you characterize Artur and Molly and their protective instinct towards the kids... but let's be honest, Hermione, Ron and Harry have ensured the heir of the greatest house in the wizarding world to the cause.

One of the interesting parts about the Harry Potter series is that both sides of the conflict use child soldiers, and you get to see a realistic range of reactions to that from the adults around them. There's Molly, who's reasonably unconditionally opposed to it on the grounds that They're Children, and then Sirius, who unreasonably supports it on the grounds of being himself a stunted teenager, and then Mad-Eye, who reasonably supports it on the grounds of "they're going to have to fight anyway," and Dumbledore, who is some combination of these viewpoints depending on the situation — most protective of Harry when the danger is real, but perhaps necessarily the most realistic about Harry's role in ending the war. Lionheart has a slightly different cast of adults, because it's a different POV, but you still see a range of opinions from Narcissa ("you'll harm my son over my dead body, but also he needs to be able to defend myself") to Snape ("careful, Draco") to Moody (the same, arguably more so, because he's thinking of the long game) and Dumbledore (again, some situation-dependent combination of viewpoints). The kids are often so caught up in their own part of the conflict that it doesn't occur to them the strategic decisions that are happening over their heads — when you're a teen and an adult tells you you're too young for something, the kneejerk reaction is "fuck off" — but there are always conversations happening in other rooms, especially in Grimmauld Place.

[smegmafactory4ever]

I also (in light of recent events in my country) have to apologize to Americans. I have made fun of people canceling celebrities for politics but it feels goooooooddddd as fuuuuuuck. Like I'm not gonna be rabid, a good song is a good song. If Hitler made good music I'd listen to it, not a lot, but I would when I'm drunk. But I hate JK now, I lost a lot of respect for Mimi Mercedez and at the same time I'm completely back on the Sajsi Mc bandwagon and I love Seka Aleksić like never before.

[creativesplat]

ok... so Lambert x Eve...

Eve and the two Blaiddyds

Lambert and the two Fierenes

The step-siblings

@blaiddydbrokeit and I were talking, and they have now sent me down the wonderful rabbit hole that is Eve and Lambert getting married and looking after their children.

[fvckw4d]

The concept of queerbaiting annoys me. I was told that it refers to a work of fiction pretending to cater to a queer audience but then pulling back from it to avoid alienating homophobes, which is an incredibly specific thing. But a lot of people seem to think that it instead means "any time there's any gay subtex, metaphor, or ambiguity" or "whenever something from 1995-2012 was being a normal amount of homophobic for the era."

[icejello]

Anyways svsss au idea but it's The Little Mermaid, it's not gonna follow the original story per se. Who's the little mermaid? Luo Binghe ofc, he's been BEGGING his dad (yes it's tianlang-jun) to let him go up to the human world but his dad said noooo bcs humans are dangerous (is it bcs binghe's mom was actually human and they killed her with the reasoning that she betrayed humanity by being with mermaids? Um sorry Su Xiyan but you will have to be dead in this one).

It's not like life is that dull for little binghe, there's his older cousin zuzhi-lang and there's also his friends mobei-jun and sha hualing but none of them seems that interested in exploring the human world and he's just so CURIOUS.

And on his 17th bday he practically begged his father to just let him take a peek and he promises he won't go alone, he'll bring his friends and his cousin can join too for extra measure! Surely it won't be that dangerous, right? Tlj finally gave in but on the one condition that binghe must NOT interact with any of the humans.

Binghe is thrilled! He went up and the sun was just setting and the sky was such a beautiful color. And then he noticed the ship. It was majestic, huge, he's seen wreckage of them on the sea bed but he NEVER saw them actually sailing on water and he was awed. He didn't expect a more breath taking sight could ever appear in that same moment but it happened and he saw a young man standing on the ship. He was beautiful with a smile on his lips as he stared out into the ocean.

But then disaster strikes! A sudden storm appeared and the ship somehow got damaged. There was yelling everywhere and binghe wanted to swim over and help but his cousin held him back bcs he promised his father he would not interact with the humans. But then he saw the pretty man fall from the boat and he ignored everything else to go and save that stranger. He managed to save the man and laid him at the beach where he hoped someone would find him.

Zuzhi-lang immediately dragged all of them back as soon as binghe was satisfied that the human would be safe. He didn't hesitate to report it to his uncle and his father got angry (he was worried). Binghe argued that it wasn't just him! He saw mobei save a man too! But mobei never made any promise to not interact with a human so that excuse did not work.

As soon as he could get away, he immediately went to the beach where he had left the man but he wasn't there! Binghe was stressed, did something happened to him? He was tempted to go on land to check it out but someone pulled him back and he's surprised to see mobei glaring at him. His friend asked him what he's thinking and binghe admitted he was worried about the man that he had saved. After having to watch binghe continuing to look increasingly and obviously nervous, mobei could not stand it anymore and asks him why he didn't just use his power to disguise himself as a human.

This surprised little binghe ofc bcs what? Power to disguise himself as human? That's the first he's heard of it. Mobei just explains how the mermaids from the royal blood line all have a special power to turn themselves into human but it doesn't last long and they need to always return to the sea or they would turn to a sea foam and that the disguise can easily be ruined if they come in touch with water bcs scales would show up.

Binghe is intrigued, he's curious, he's excited, he's nervous. He begged mobei to teach him and he only agreed to it after binghe would not shut up about it the whole way back. Now binghe is a great learner, it didn't take him long to learn it and the next day he immediately went up to look for the pretty stranger. Mobei-jun pointed out to him a spot where some clothes are hidden bcs as mbj said "he can't walk around naked" and binghe has no idea how mbj knew about those hidden stash of clothes but he didn't question it bcs there are more important things at hand!

Walking with legs felt weird ofc, this was a first for him. He struggled and practiced to find his balance and when he was confident enough, he went deeper into the land to look for the stranger. It wasn't long before he reached a city and he was mesmerized. The buildings looks nothing like what he's ever seen in the sea, there's so many ppl walking around, he sees little children running around playing, there are writings that he's never seen of and he momentarily forgot what he was there for. Binghe reminded himself that he's there for a mission and he shouldn't stay there too long.

He walked around, he didn't know where to start, there's so many ppl and it's such a big place, where does he even start with? But then he passed by a group of ladies and they were talking about how handsome the young man they just passed is. Binghe didn't question it and immediately ran towards the direction the ladies came from. He almost ran pass but stopped dead in his track when he finally caught sight of the pretty stranger sitting under a tree. He had a slightly annoyed look on his face and had a small frown as he listened to the young man sitting beside him ramble on.

Binghe watched, rooted in spot, as the stranger lightly smacked the other guy with a hand fan. He heard the guy call him something that sounded like "cucumber-bro" and the only thing he could think of was the sea cucumbers. Binghe must've made a sound in confusion because the both of them suddenly turned to look at him. It caught him off guard and he immediately turned to run away when he saw the pretty stranger opened his mouth to say something but instead he ran into another young man and fell down. The young man glared down at him and he heard the pretty man tell him to leave him alone. Binghe felt like his voice is as lovely as his face.

Binghe ran away as fast as he could but he managed to hear something about that newly arrived young man as the pretty man's fiance. It didn't make that much sense to binghe, they didn't look like they were a couple if anything it seemed like there's an air of awkwardness between them! That was when he passed by a few ppl talking about how lucky it is for Liu Qingge to save a pretty man like Shen Yuan and immediately got his hand in marriage as a reward. Someone interjected that Shen Yuan is the lucky one bcs Liu Qingge is obviously a very beautiful guy with great fighting skills. Now little binghe did not know who those people who was mentioned were but he could sense they were talking about the pretty stranger and that guy he ran into! Personally, binghe thinks that whoever marries Shen Yuan is obviously the lucky one, it's not like that guy Liu Qingge looks THAT good! But there were more important details from the conversation that he just heard! Lqg is marrying Shen Yuan bcs he saved him but he didn't! It was Binghe that saved the pretty guy! So if anything, it should be HIM that marries the pretty guy!

Binghe realized it was late and went back to the sea feeling annoyed. How could someone just CLAIM they did something they didn't?! He knew his father would be anxious at him disappearing for so long and would be angry if he knew where he actually was but now is not the time! Binghe escaped to the land every chance he can and sometimes he would find Shen Yuan there at the tree again but sometimes he would have to go home with nothing. Binghe ranted and complained to his friends. How is that fair? It was him that saved Shen Yuan why does someone else get to be rewarded for it! They're tired of his whining about someone else marrying his little crush and shl accidentally suggested that binghe goes visit the sea witch.

Binghe didn't understand, he's heard of the sea witch but he doesn't need powers to be able to turn himself into human. But when he heard about how he could try asking the sea witch for a spell that would let him stay longer on land without water ruining his disguise, he was determined. Mbj glared at shl for that suggestion and she realized her mistake when she saw the determined look on binghe's face. Luo Binghe is a prince and the only child of tlj, what would happen if he found out that they told his son to go make a deal with the sea witch? He would kill them! They tried to change his mind but he would no longer listen to them, he was set on being able to tell Shen Yuan the truth.

A deal comes with a price and binghe lost his ability to talk bcs of it. He's not mute, he's just no longer able to talk unless he gets true love's kiss. He rushes to land and as luck would have it, ran head first into Shen Yuan. He was kind enough to help little binghe up and he immediately recognized him as the boy that's always watching him but would immediately run away if he was spotted. Shen Yuan tried to ask him for his name but lbh despaired when he realized that he could not tell him. Shen Yuan thought Binghe was an orphan because he didn't respond when he asked about where he lives despite seemingly able to understand him.

Shen Yuan took Binghe under his wings and realized hey, this kid seems to not know that many things. He didn't seem to understand a lot of things at the house, even the most basic and simplest things. Shen Yuan tutors teens and kids in his spare time, either teaching them academics or some self defense skill, so it didn't bother him to have another new boy to teach. Though it seemed like the boy is not able to speak, he does learn quickly and it wasn't long before he was able to tell Shen Yuan who his name is through writing. Shen Yuan enjoys the times he spent with his new disciple, he seemed to get along well with the other 2 older kids that often gets tutored by Shen Yuan too. Actually, Luo Binghe seemed to get along with everyone just fine except for one person, Liu Qingge.

Shen Yuan's parents keeps pushing him to set the wedding date but he keeps pushing it back bcs he wasn't ready. He was grateful ofc that Liu Qingge saved him but it wasn't him that decided to get married as a reward! That was his parents! And some things doesn't make sense to Shen Yuan, Lqg claimed to only found him at the beach, he denies being the one to save him but if that was the truth then who saved him? But his parents took it as lqg only being modest and now they're both stuck in this engagement. Still, as stressing as everything is, binghe felt like a breath of fresh air to him. Truly, he never met a guy like that, he doesn't seem to understand a lot of things when he first arrived but he didn't seem dumb.

How long would it take little binghe to finally reveal the truth to shen yuan? Will he ever confess? Will Shen Yuan reciprocate his feelings? Well that will all be revealed if i actually do write this.