#this is my first contribution to the fandom and first post since april!

[zancaveri]

Happy Valentine's day, take the cards that i made on my phone at 2 am last night!! 💗

[iamamythologicalcreature]

2024 Round-Up and Review

2024, aka The Year I Discovered I Love Drawing Baz With Long Hair.

But also.

Honestly?

(Yeah, I'm going to be honest. Yeah, it's going to be a long post. Buuuut it's my blog, so here we go!)

This past year was rough. Really rough. In many ways as difficult as 2020, and in some ways, even harder than that. I lost my specialized medical care after 2023, and my health tanked in 2024. Medication changes, chronic illness/pain, and the hardest thing of all was... this idea I seemed to have that if I could just fake it enough, I could make it. Like I could deny my disability into non-existence. Pretend it away.

Instead, I ended up pushing myself past the breaking point, with the worst possible timing ever.

And THEN (when I desperately needed to stop and rest), I packed up my life and moved across a continent. (I hadn't moved since college. So I thought I'd move and it'd be done. That was wrong. Ahem. I'm still moving in...)

But the GOOD that happened last year came in the form of friendship. That's not just a line. My friends were my lifeline. To those friends who stuck it out with me even when things were far from easy, thank you. You are the most incredible people I know, and your friendship has given me reasons and opportunities to feel joy and hope where I might not otherwise have done.

Okay. So. The ROUND-UP is... *drum roll*... Under the cut!

At first I was a bit bummed to see I'd only finished 9 pieces of art during the entire year. But since I am being honest... I know I did my best, and so clearly the best I could do last year was nine pieces of art. So many of those pieces were attached to amazing projects, though! I got to do several collaborations with some truly amazing human beings, and I also got to run my very first fest for the fandom! So I'm calling it good.

Now, finally, the art links:

(I won't be including works in progress on this list, as I still hope to finish them at some point XD)

January: Oh my God, January. I didn't finish anything in January, but I worked on a lot.

February:

Tis better to give than to receive - This was my contribution to Erotic Grope Fest, and it was my first time doing anything NSFW. It's pretty tame, all things considered, but I think it still fit the mission. Also ended up posting a high-res version of this on AO3. Because. I mean. Come on. XD

March:

Three lost boys (found) - I started out as a beta reader for @mooncello's inspired take on Neverland, but by the time I received chapter 2 I was very nearly begging to be able to illustrate it. I'd had this particular image in my mind after reading the matching scene in chapter one, but had tried to suppress the inspiration. Silly me. I'm so glad I gave in. This is a favorite of mine.

April:

Keeping Neverland - (Technically posted on Tumblr in May, but on AO3 in April, so...) Illustrating @mooncello's writing again, and this one was a challenge! But one I wholeheartedly embraced. I wanted to echo Baz's journey as an artist with my illustrations, so where I used pencil sketching for the chapter one illustration, I went for a finished charcoal drawing, here. Digital charcoal, it turns out, can be just as difficult as the real deal. Slightly less messy, though. (I'm very proud of this finished piece.) Also where I continued my exploration of Baz's long hair. XD

May:

A rough sketch for a rough night - It feels a little off to be posting this sketch in my art round-up, considering the emotional inspiration, but truth be told I ended up liking this sketch quite a lot. I also learned a couple things, from both the events of that night (not my finest moment) and the drawing of the sketch (hey putting my feelings into art is a good idea). So I think ultimately this little sketch deserves to be included on this list.

June:

Teenage Dream - I posted this on Tumblr in June, for my birthday, but I actually did the art at the beginning of the year for the Valentine's Day exchange on the Carry On server. I rarely finish anything to this degree, and am immensely proud of it. That said, I ended up using it for so many things last year, I'd be okay to not look at it again for awhile. (I called it "Teenage Dream" because it made me think of a daydream Baz might have had as a teenager - now made real with Simon by his side. Cause I'm a sucker for their romance >.> )

Illustration from The Eternal Life of Baz Pitch - So I'm not sure how I got lucky enough to earn a special preview of @monbons's story, but I knew I couldn't read it in pieces. So she let me read the whole thing. It was very cool. I read it all at once I think? And when I was done I crashed Monica's DMs to yell at her about it. But then I drew this picture. (While I was chatting with her, even, and casually asking her about cherry blossoms so I could draw them the way she imagined them. It was very fun.) Now we're friends. XD (Check out the fic - now posted in entirety!)

July: Uh. Migraines. Just migraines. I had to pull back from the fandom a lot, and stopped participating in a lot of online activities. Boo.

August: Sketched concepts for CORB, and packed.

September: I moved over 4000 miles.

October: Everything I worked on in October ended up debuting in...

November:

Carry On Through the Ages! Okay, as stressed and sick as I was, I have no regrets about taking on COTTA. It was AMAZING. So much wonderful content! It was SO GOOD to contribute to the fandom, and to do that with history geeking? Dream come true. I also dipped into my previous area of expertise (picture manipulation) and did some cursed paintings to promote it. Mona Baz, Stormchaser Gothic, Mademoiselle Wellbelove, and Iconic Icon Simon.

A Prophesied Rivalry - Another dream come true was collaborating with @monbons for COTTA! I loved talking ideas with her, and she was so supportive when I hit road blocks, too. I love Ancient Egyptian art, and this was as much a love letter to that ancient art style as it was to my beloved Snowbaz. (I did a ridiculous amount of research to do this piece.) (And now I have Egyptian Baz and Simon in my new apartment. Extreme Bonus.)

Snow on Ice Illustration - Getting paired with @leithillustration for CORB was like winning the creative collaboration lottery. Not only did they grasp my concept from the get-go, but they've taken it in a creative and exciting direction. Also, we've become good friends, which is the very best possible outcome for a collaboration. (You should check out their story if you haven't already!)

(Snow-kitty also got very sick at the end of November, which halted a lot of my progress on some WIPs. It was scary for a bit, but I am so happy to say he has fully recovered.)

December:

Snowflake Exchange presents More Than a Footnote - I kind of love that I started the year illustrating one of @mooncello's stories, and ended it with an illustration from another! I was so excited to pull Heath's name from the proverbial hat for the exchange. I'd wanted to draw something from More Than a Footnote since the first time Heath told me about it. I completely love Dev and Niall at this point, so I hope to play with them some more in the future! (BTW Heath I think you're one of my muses hope that's okay XD)

SO. Yeah, the year was often a hard one, but a lot of good happened in spite of all the bad. The good was even more valuable for daring to happen in the midst of so much blah. (And boy howdy, did I get a lot of material to learn from.)

In 2025, I think I'm going to focus more on accepting my limits. Like, I can still work on improving my health and functionality, but I really need to try and determine when I need to stop. That has its own learning curve, but I have to start somewhere! I'm also working on vision therapy, which I'm doing on my own since I can't afford the out-of-pocket expense. Still... So far, so good. Fingers crossed!

Creatively, I think 2025 will be the year where I get to work on projects I started in 2023 and 2024, and I find that quite exciting because those are ideas I genuinely loved. I also hope to bring some other ideas I've had for a very long time to life. (Finally.) I hope, hope, hope! And hey, if I get to do more collabs? That would be awesome, too. (Carry On Through the Ages will be returning, as well!)

Thank you to these lovely people for tagging me in on this round-up, and for remembering me despite my frequent absence!

@emeryhall, @rimeswithpurple, @prettygoododds, @artsyunderstudy, @noblecorgi, @alexalexinii, @best--dress, @j-nipper-95, @roomwithanopenfire, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @imagineacoolusername, @mooncello, @whatevertheweather, @thewholelemon, @youarenevertooold, @monbons

And to everyone who is still tagging me on wipsday posts, other things, commented, any of that! Thank you. It means a lot to me. Hello's and How-Do's and general well-wishes to:

@drowninginships, @aristocratic-otter, @that-disabled-princess, @leithillustration, @bookish-bogwitch, @theimpossibledemon, @fiend-for-culture, @bazzybelle, @ic3-que3n, @blackberrysummerblog, @run-for-chamo-miles, @shrekgogurt, @confused-bi-queer, @hushed-chorus, @cutestkilla, @skeedelvee, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @wellbelesbian, @facewithoutheart, @ileadacharmedlife,, @raenestee, @supercutedinosaurs, @fatalfangirl, @palimpsessed, @martsonmars, @brilla-brilla-estrellita, @theearlgreymage

And anyone else who actually read my extremely long post. XD

[sitp-recs]

2024 in review - recs & highlights

following last year’s tradition, here’s the 2024 version! I took several breaks this year and wasn’t able to do as much as I had planned, but I’m still so damn proud of these small accomplishments. also very grateful for being part of this inspiring and creative community, and for having made some amazing friends along the way. I’m tagging everyone who’d like to join me in this exercise of self-love and celebration - feel free to @ me!

this year I’ve…

✔️ wrapped up masterlist #4 and kickstarted #5 which will be the last one. I hope I can make it special!

✔️ put together a reclist to celebrate my beloved Teddy Lupin with some of my favourite rare pairs

✔️found my way back into single recs! @eleadore inspired me with her exquisite the sun between us and I wrote my first fic rec since April 2023. at first I struggled a bit to find my voice, but it was really special to pour my feelings out there again. I hope I get to write a few more in 2025!

✔️ joined @hprecfest last minute, and it’s been the highlight of a very busy December. I’m thrilled to be reccing so many works I love and excited to find new favourites thanks to everyone’s brilliant contributions! thank you both @danpuff-ao3 and @coconutice22 for running this wonderful project to celebrate fandom 💗

✔️ officially created my BL sideblog! curating old man yaoi pics for @pink-heart-jam is bringing me so much joy and comfort. I’ve already made a couple friends over there and have been reading so much more than I imagined!

things I’m looking forward to:

✍️ finish my Erised readings so I can update my fest rec list asap

✍️ post part III of my special rec series “fic as a sensory delight” which I really enjoyed doing!

✍️ getting back to the hidden gems series! got a few drafts from s2 waiting to be reviewed and posted, and am already planning a s3 👀

[blackmoonlightexpress]

About the mixed response in China & why I think TTEOTM will prevail in the end 💪

Saw the "Badly Received in China?" post earlier and thought to share a longer take on the situation in China, why are there so many antis, and my own predictions on its future.

First, a clarification, TTEOTM has been an massive hit in China. The data speaks for itself in every way you can measure commercial success: viewership, platform membership, app downloads, social media heat index, advertisements, merchandise sales, unintended tourism GDP contribution. The drama has shattered records and outperformed all the recent xianxias, which you'd never dare to expect for a drama with no dingliu (顶流) that airs exclusively in the dead April slot on a platform that's 3rd (sometimes 4th) amongst online streamers. (Some day I'll create a master post just on the stats.)

The only area it falls short on is critical response. It's not just the low Douban rating (opened at 6.x and now dropped to 5.6). The three Bs - Douban, Weibo, and Bilibili (which you can think of as China's IMDB, Twitter, and Youtube) were full of attacks against the show. This included trending topics on how the actors looked (LYX too thin, BL looking old/big/overshadowed by CDL, CDL 照骗 not looking as good as in photo) as well as allegations of plagiarism and drama behind the scenes between cast & crew members. A lot of people watched video edits that twisted the facts and had a poor impression of the drama and even left 1/2-star reviews on Douban without ever watching an episode. (This type of brainwashing is more effective than you'd think. I've been reading a lot of negative posts about the Little Mermaid movie and almost caught myself writing something negative about it without ever watching.)

As all of this unfolded, I kept asking myself, why all the smearing? Who is behind it? And why TTEOTM in particular?

A lot of what appears to be normal user activity is driven by water armies, marketing accounts, and "black" hot search ranking, all paid. This is all backed up by photo evidence captured by netizens. It comes down to commercial interests of rival platforms, productions, actors. This actually happens to every drama that is threatening in some way (almost a proof of success), but TTEOTM attracted more anti $$$. Why? For one, it's seen as the secret weapon that could elevate Youku's status as a 3rd/4th player to a close 2nd to rival and even at times overshadow Tencent. It's no coincidence that, Bilibili, which is owned by Tencent and has way more daily active users than Youku, has promoted hate videos and limited the traffic of fan videos - at some point not even recognizing the drama's Chinese title in search results. (Bilibili used to be a haven for LYX fans and a platform LYX has partnered with extensively. This flipped 180 degrees since he no longer has any unaired dramas with Tencent.)

TTEOTM is also a target for rival productions. It's got big name stars with solid acting reputation, one of the hottest IPs, and high anticipation from all the promotional materials - they've been super loud in letting everyone know that they have better costumes, special effects etc Meanwhile, there's a massive pipeline of unaired xianxia dramas that stick to the old formula and will likely feel dated after people have watched TTEOTM. People even started questioning how some productions with bigger rumored budgets ended up with cheaper-looking promotional materials, costumes, CGI (read: embezzling). So if you've invested in xianxia 101, you'd really want to discredit TTEOTM and stop people from watching it.

But there's also rival fandom jealousy, which is almost worse. Someone asked which fandom is behind it, I would say everyone. There are only so many "resources" to go around in the "entertainment winter" and it's a zero sum game. LYX and BL are both already big stars but still not at the top yet. They are big enough to threaten the dinglius, but not big enough to be accepted as having "made it" by other rising stars. E.g. Yang Mi, Yang Zi, Xiao Zhan receive a lot of hate too, but it's less realistic as a prospect to bring them down. In contrast, the smearing of Bai Lu actually kind of worked. (And I'm really talking about the fans. The actors probably leave it to their agencies/companies.)

Other fandoms are especially bitter in this case because TTEOTM really upset the status quo and commonly accepted truths in a way that kind of discredits everyone else. A lot of the below have been used by fans of dinglius as excuses for when a drama doesn't perform:

Youku is a rubbish platform and Youku exclusive web dramas will never have high viewership

It’s impossible for an actor to break out twice within the same genre

An actor can only develop a big dedicated fan base with CP marketing

Breakout hits are always unanticipated dramas that come out of nowhere

Autumn/Spring is a dead slot. Hits can only come out of the summer and winter holidays.

IMHO A lot of the intense hatred comes from long held beliefs being proven wrong. LYX has always been thought of someone who’s borderline A list and B list, yet the opening viewership of TTEOTM is like double that of dramas led by bigger stars. It would have been less threatening if it started low and slowly gained traction because the drama proved to be good. But the initial hype speaks to the market power of a LYX xianxia, so a lot of people wanted to see it fail and looked for faults everywhere.

Moreover, because TTEOTM had an explosive opening, it did not have enough time for word of mouth to develop before people started bashing it. If you look at Douban ratings, shows that fewer people watched tend to have better reviews because only fans bother to rate it. Starry Love and Back from the Brink, both harshly dismissed as flops by the industry, both have >7.0 on Douban. Meanwhile, people love to hate on a show that is receiving a lot of hype - suddenly they are held to completely different standards even if the budget is similar. Why are people more accepting of the rise of Dylan Wang and Esther Yu in LBFAD? In the end because the expectations were pretty low. They were able to build up a fan base while no one was watching.

Finally, TTEOTM does have lots of production problems, some of their own doing and others not their fault. Either way this left the drama less defensible in the face of scrutiny or tucao (吐槽) culture. The production is very ambitious and took risks, but did not deliver everywhere. It's got parts that look like a blockbuster film and parts that look like a B grade TV show. I personally did not like some of the editing, lighting, cinematography, color grading, special effects, makeup. AND this is precisely the type of production details Chinese viewers LOVE to fixate on. Meanwhile, compared to western viewers, they are more forgiving about things like mediocre acting, dubbing, slow pacing, repetitive tropes or storylines, uninteresting characters. (I think this has something to do with cultural differences around rewarding perfect execution over innovation/risk-taking, sum of the parts over parts that carry the sum.)

And then, there are creative choices that are daring and controversial. These are not problems per se - for every viewer that hates it, someone loves it because it's different. But this perhaps explain why its score has dropped further, even in non-Chinese platforms like MDL, even amongst fans of the show. For example... (spoilers ahead)

Opting for a bad/open ending, knowing that it'll upset some fans, but sticking to it because they feel that it protects the overall integrity of the story (no deus ex machina). Of course, most viewers prefer a happy ending. It would have been easy to just give people what they want. The screenwriter doesn't even have to come up with a new ending for god's sake! However, almost every xianxia that has come before has resurrected the lead character after the big climax. Viewers have been making fun of the cop out: What's the significance of life and death if everyone just reincarnates?

Packing lots of details in a fast-paced, highly complicated, non-linear plot, trusting viewers to be engaged enough to use their brain, rewatch, and discuss outside the show (a bit like Christopher Nolan films). The downside of this is that it's hard to edit out a scene. There's also high risk of viewers getting confused and complaining that the plot makes no sense. Even though most things do if you go several layers down, some rightly point out that they just want to be entertained and the drama should stand on its own.

Making this a male lead centric (大男主) drama, which is rare in the xianxia genre that more recently has targeted young women exclusively. The story shifts from focusing on LSS's mission to TTJ overcoming his fate, perhaps at the expense of the romance (a criticism I see a lot from viewers looking for a pure love story). However, for context, viewers in China (including CCTV itself) have been complaining that the xianxia genre has lost the "xia” (heroism). It's gone from Chinese Paladin, which is about ordinary people overcoming odds to become heroes, to stories that are just about pretty people, who happen to be gods, falling in love since the success of Eternal Love and Journey of the Flower. TTEOTM brings the focus back to "zero to hero" character development, so this is also a change that many welcome.

Allocating a crazy portion of budget and screentime to superhero fight sequences. I agree with all the critics who say these scenes don't add much to the story, the B roll looks better without CGI, and they could have kept other scenes instead. BUT guess which scenes I find myself rewatching and showing off to friends the most? Episodes 14, 15, 32. Because it is thrilling and glorious. Plus after enduring so many Marvel films over the years, I'm pleased to see a version that's genuinely Chinese (not some pan-Asian BS), rooted in our philosophy and martial arts tradition, featuring Chinese faces that have real kungfu training.

Going over the top on aesthetics - colorful costumes, hair accessories, and heavy makeup. A violent reaction against the simple pastel aesthetics that have dominated xianxias over the years. Of course, lots of people hated on the eyeliner and found the extravagant visuals distracting.

However, even with all its flaws, I'm glad it aired and did not wait for perfection. (A lot of May dramas did not go live last minute due to "technical problems" i.e. government censorship. These days, airing = success.) In addition, I predict that over time people will come to appreciate TTEOTM more. Here's why:

1) A lot of dramas now widely lauded as classics started out with poor ratings. Over time, the noise will die down and make way for what really matters - compelling acting and story. Empresses in the Palace (2011) opened with a Douban rating of 2.7 out of 10 (yes, this bad). Viewers didn't like the casting choice. They thought the actors looked bad. There were also issues with the costumes. Over time, its rating increased to 9.4. It's now a show rewatched so loyally that data analysts use its viewership to track market size. Similarly, a lot of the issues people have with TTEOTM are superficial. The things that matter most like acting are good, and even if you dislike the story and editing choices, it did manage to keep 70M people watching and engaged till the end, incl. people who don't watch a lot of TV or like this genre.

2) Moreover, when people look back or rewatch, they tend to focus on just the highlights, and TTEOTM is full of memorable scenes. There are also so many standout memes/gags (出圈梗) that will live in our cultural fabric forever. Fans on Douban were surveyed on who they would have chosen as the director instead and still overwhelming "rehired" Kuk Kok Leung. Biases aside, I think people realize that you could have a better executed drama overall - higher production value, greater consistency, more attention to detail, BUT you might also lose a lot of the things we loved. I don't know if another director would have allowed TTJ go full creepy/evil/weak in the first few episodes or filmed all the steamy love scenes without a modesty backlight. TTEOTM feels so different because it breaks ALL the rules (see above) that I'm not sure if dramas in the future will try to replicate. If they do, TTEOTM would have started a trend. If they don't, TTEOTM will remain the only option.

3) Only dramas that inspire passion will stand the test of time. There are plenty of dramas that score well but don't inspire passion - they will fade away over time. The TTEOTM fan community is intense - there's so much discussion and engagement everywhere. Its Douban group is the #3 most active ever (measured by # of comments). Its MDL page has 68K comments, highest of all aired CDrama. Its Douyin topic has close to 29B views, highest of all costume drama. (Interesting to note that TTEOTM has an excellent reputation on Douyin, the platform with the most active users and least amount of toxic fan activity.) Fans have spent >25M RMB on merchandise, an unprecedented amount - 3M RMB on a character that appears for <10 mins (OG Devil God). It's got to have done something right because this is way more buying power than the fans of LYX and BL combined. And in my N=1, I've not been this excited about a franchise since Game of Thrones and then Harry Potter.

Bottom line, you might have liked it, liked it with regrets, hated it... but if you're spending the time to read this post, all the way till the end, you've become a luna-tic (or 烬神病人)!

[katwriteswhump]

Hi there! I recently came across whump community and tags and I'm interested to contribute my writings here too. But I have no idea how to start, and if any idea of mine is original. I checked out a few upcoming whump events too and I think maybe I can participate in them?

Can you please provide any tips and information about this genre and help me out? Thank you.

hello! nice to meet you! it’s always lovely to hear from other people trying to start in the whump community.

honestly, i just kind of started posting my work. i gave my ocs tags, and released them into the wild. idk if you write for fandoms, ocs, or a mixture of both, but there’s always going to be an audience who’ll want to read your writing.

all whump is going to be similar or related somehow, but everyone writes slightly differently so you don’t need to worry about your work not being original, im sure it is. i think the most important thing about posting whump writing online is just making sure you’ve tagged properly, since we write about a lot of stuff that’s potentially triggering. past that, you just need the courage to go for it! i spend most of my time scrolling the whump tag, so im bound to come across writing by all sorts of people. if you posted your work id definitely see it (that being said, if you wanted to tag me when you post, id definitely love to see it).

im pretty sure the next upcoming whump events are the april ones, like whumpril? im planning on participating and ive got the first few days queued, so that might be a good time to get started? it’s pretty close tho so idk. that’s for you to decide.

so in conclusion, go for it! i’d love to be tagged if you don’t mind me seeing your work lmao

thank you so much for the ask!

[solrosan]

solrosan's fandom year 2024

Third year in a row I'm a late with this, but I'm two days earlier than in 2023 and 2024 so that's an improvement! There's been a continued drop in my fandom contributions, however. No reason to drag this out more than I already have, so...

2024 was the year that I…

...was correct about my Spotify wrap no. 1 song

...got the AO3 fridge poetry magnets

...realised I don't know the names of the INFINITE members

...failed to learn the names of the INFINITE members

...had five different youtube tabs open without watching any of them (they are still open)

...wrote an orgasm on January 1

(the difference between my first Tumblr post of 2024 and 2025 is depressing)

...did Camp NaNo in April and managed 300 words per day

...met @the-sign-of-tea!!

...asked for a Bluey fic and got one! (thank you @ess-jay-oh)

...wrote what can probably be classified as Bluey meta

...bought SO much fandom merch for a fandom I'm not even in

...got back into reading

...sent an AO3 style comment to the author of one of the book series (and got the sweetest reply!)

...rewatched Mad Dog in the hopes it would make me finish my fic (it didn't work...) (thank you @woodohwanedandproud for watching with me)

...stress rewatched Beyond Evil because it was going away on Netflix, only to see that it's back a few months later

...stopped listening to true crime pods at dinner

...decided I would start posting my half-arsed half-finished fics on AO3 but didn't

...posted the least amount of words on AO3 since getting an account

...knitted a baby blanket

...got 11 notes on my most popular Tumblr post

That was that, I think. Going by how little output I've had this year, I won't do a stats section.

Thank you everyone who has talked to me and poked me and reminded me of the fact that I'm actually a human being with hobbies of my own this year! You keep me sane!

[srmt-zine]

At last, some details!

(A while back on @srmthg we had a zine interest check, and it remains open for any additional suggestions/feedback about what you'd like the zine to be (you can also shoot this blog an ask) but I don't plan on doing a second interest check. If enough people feel this is a mistake, there's still time to do one, but as it stands I don't see the point. I will continue to accept feedback and take it into account moving forward!)

By the way, my name is @netbug009 and I'm your friendly head mod for this project! This will be my first time running a zine, but I've been helping run projects in this fandom for 18 years!

The Format

SRMTHG Zine (cooler name tbd) will be a free PDF zine scheduled to release on September 18th, 2024, AKA the 20th anniversary of the series' first episode!

I know a lot of folks (myself included) like to have nice, shiny, hard copies of zines, and I hope to get the zine onto a publishing on demand site such as Lulu to let people buy them at-print-cost if they'd like, but a free digital edition will be the first priority. Since this zine is a celebration of the anniversary of a relatively small fandom, I want as many people to be able to access and enjoy it as possible! Plus, this is my first time running a zine, so I think it's smart to keep it simple. This also lets us worry less about page counts - if a lot of cool people contribute cool stuff, a PDF can be a chonk as we want!

The Content

The zine will include both fanart and fan fiction (and maybe even a few QR codes to some other digital goodies like AMVs and fanmixes if there's enough contributor interest!)

Light shipping will be allowed, with a few exceptions - no adult x child and no monkey x human ships will be allowed. (This was THE overwhelming request in the interest check and is not open for debate.)

We're going for a general vibe and love the idea of getting copies into the hands of voice actors/staff, which should give you a rough idea of the type of content we're going for - if it's too creepy/fetishy to hand to Ciro at a convention, it's too creepy/fetishy for the book. (That said, Monkey Team is a very silly and weird show with a love for classic horror tropes so I hope people don't let that limit their imaginations too much if they wanna do something spoopy!)

NO AI WORK WILL BE USED OR ACCEPTED IN THE CREATION OF THIS ZINE. I hope that'd be a given but just to be 100% clear, no.

The (Rough) Timeline

March 2024 - Contributor Applications Open!

April 22nd - Zine members selected and invited to Discord

May 1st - Zine members finalized

June 1st - Zine check-in 1

July 1st - Zine check-in 2

August 1st - Zine pieces due!

September 1st - Zine layout finalization due!

September 18th - ZINE RELEASED!

You might notice this is a pretty long timeline for a zine and we're starting pretty early; because this fandom is fairly small and this is a big occasion, I want to provide extra time so that as many people can hear about the project and participate as possible.

If you're looking for something to do until contributor apps open, SIGNAL BOOST, SIGNAL BOOST, SIGNAL BOOST! Reblog, post to Twitter, tell your friends, get the word out so this can be the biggest celebration it possibly can! If you make any graphics in your quest to help get the word out, PLEASE tag this blog so they can be shared!

Aaaand that's the basics! Again, feel free to send an ask with any additional questions. If you're considering applying in January, it's never too early to start sketching/considering ideas!

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

Welcome to ma blog! 💙 (+ Links Masterpost)

Quick introduction to me -

Name: Sparkles ✨

Gender: female 🩷

Birthday: Oct. 26 🧡

chronic Sonic fanatic 😜💙

✅ What you can expect to find here:

pretty much everything Sonic 🤣

Wholesome Sonic & Tails Wednesday contributions: art, fics, screenshots, etc. 💙💛

random screenshots from something in the franchise accompanied by me happily screeching/ranting about it

Sonamy things 💙🩷 (and occasionally from some of my other ships, like Knuxouge and Tailsmo)

reblogs of Sonic stuff from other people

my fanart

my fics (they're also on AO3, I'll leave links down below)

Sonic Cinematic Universe stuff

Sonic IDW stuff

Sonic Prime stuff

Sonic Boom stuff

(yeah)

CHAOS 😈

❌ What you WON'T find here:

complaints

hate posts

politics

inappropriate anything

(I TRY to avoid reblogging things with swear words, but sometimes the post is too good overall or something so there might be an occasional one. There won't be any in my own original posts, though)

This is my space to have a fun time with moots and the Sonic fandom! 💙

Socials -

Instagram

YouTube

Cara

DeviantArt

AO3

Writer sideblog: @sparkles-writes

Murder Drones and Digital Circus sideblog: @tadc-and-md-sideblog

Speaking of art, I will occasionally take ✨ REQUESTS! ✨ I won't officially open commissions till sometime in 2026, but until then, if you want a doodle of something (Sonic related ofc), just drop an ask in the guacamole box! Terms apply, like nothing inappropriate and no weird ships and/or ships I don't support, but in general, y'know. 💙

Links to my fics:

"Toddlers are harder than one would expect" - in which Sonic comes to realize that he's all but adopting this little fox that started following him, even though he barely has a clue what he's doing.

"Sonic Frontiers - Anything for Them" - in which Sonic's absolute dedication and love for his friends — even to the point of death — is explored as he scales the towers on Rhea Island.

"Foxes Go Floof" - in which Tails goes poof and Sonic thinks it's the funniest thing.

"Comfort in a Thunderstorm" - in which Sonic and Tails experience a thunderstorm for the first time and talk about their fears.

"Girl Talk" - in which Sonic and Tails talk about Amy, and Sonic's confusing friendship/relationship with her.

"Sonic's Weird Napping Places" - in which Sonic naps in weird places and his friends find him in said weird places.

"From 'Friends' to 'Parents'" - in which Sonic Wachowski comes to realize that Tom & Maddie are his parents, not just his friends, through the screen-to-text version of two actual scenes plus a new scene or two.

"Sonic Frontiers - Calm After the Storm" - in which Sonic and Tails — both exhausted after the events of Sonic Frontiers — take care of one another.

"Wachowski Family One-shots" - a collection of one-shots centering around the Wachowski family: Tom, Maddie, Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails.

"Healing Hugs" (Sonic Prime) - in which Tails tries to understand what happened with Sonic in the cave, and offers the simple comfort of a hug.

"Brothers' Night" - in which Sonic drags Tails away from his work to have a fun night together with no screens.

"The Darkness Within" (Sonic X) - in which Sonic guiltily reflects on his actions as Dark Sonic, and Tails sits with him, comforting him without knowing what happened.

"Sonic vs. Tails - The Ultimate April Fools Battle" - in which Sonic and Tails spend the entirety of April 1st locked in an all-day prank war.

"Enchanted" - a Sonamy AU, strangers to lovers, slow burn 💙🩷

"Tom's First (official) Father's Day" - in which Sonic faces the second Father's Day he's faced since getting adopted by the Wachowskis, and is determined to make this one better after last year's awkwardness.

"Fevers Can't Ruin Birthdays" - in which it's Tails's birthday and Sonic tries to give him a perfect day, but comes down with the flu instead. (basically the plot of Frozen Fever lol)

"Can't Die with Regrets" - in which Sonic Wachowski, while trying to stop the Eclipse Cannon alongside Shadow from shooting at the earth, fears dying without getting back to his family to apologize to Knuckles and Tails and check on his parents. Actual scenes written, with thought processes added.

(will update this as I write more)

Dats about it! 💥

[choicesficwriterscreations]

Greetings

Hello! Lia from @liaromancewriter here. It's been a whirlwind week (or so) since I transitioned into the role of admin/moderator of CFWC. And I'm long overdue for an introduction post.

I've been contributing my content to CFWC since April 2021, when I first discovered this resource. It helped bring my work to the attention of a bigger audience than my tiny blog ever could. Over the years, CFWC also introduced me to fanfic writers and artists that I hadn't been aware of in my little corner of the fandom.

I'm excited to continue building on the amazing work of previous mods and keep this community going for Pixelberry's Choices content creators and readers/fans. Our Navigation Post contains links to everything you need to know about participating in our community. But here's a refresher.

Content Submissions

As always, we accept fanfics, fanart and edits for the weekly F/AotW list. Tag us on the submission, and we'll reblog within 48 hours. If we don't, please contact me directly, as Tumblr tagging can sometimes be unreliable.

All submissions received before midnight US/Canada Eastern Time on Saturday will be added to the weekly list published on Sunday.

Throwbacks & WIPs: Now accepted any day of the week

Tag us on your old fics, art and edits (they should be at least two months old) or WIPs and Previews any day of the week, and we'll reblog them within 48 hours.

Meet My MC / OC

You can submit your Meet My MC / OC profile at any time by tagging us on the post or sending an ask with the post link. We'll reblog it andadd it to the master list.

Asks

Asks are always open, but we don't accept anons on this blog. If you have a confidential/private question, please DM my main.

Thanks for reading!

[project-pidw]

Hello everyone who's followed me here! The poll ended a while ago and it looks like people are interested in doing this so here's the blog where all further information about such a project will be placed!

Due to the fact that I've never run a fandom event before, this is going to take me quite a bit of time to organize, plus I've currently got a lot on my plate irl right now (such as writing and producing a musical from now until the end of the year which I am very hyped about but also I assume it's going to take up a lot of time) so bear with me as I organize my own thoughts before bringing more people on board

In short here's a generalized timeline for things off the top of my head (and is by no means all inclusive or a hard and fast timeline, this is just to give people general expectations)

Now (June 2024) - October 2024: Organizing all the feedback from the comments on the original post, coming up with organizational structures and outlining how many roles would be needed in order to put an event like this together

November 2024-December 2024: Mod applications and interest checks open

January 2025: Interest Check results are released and Mod application results are sent out

February 2025: Mods look over organizational structures, give feedback for how the event is organized, finish getting everything ready for people to contribute to the project

March 2025-April 2025: Sign ups are sent out for writers/artists/betas, distinguishing between people who would like to write pre-blackening arcs and post-blackening arcs (in my mind there would be an application process similar to that of a zine for writers and artists thay would like to create hard and fast canonically referenced events in PIDW but EVERYONE would be open to write general wife number whatever chapters OR Binghe gets massive power up chapters, for those that want to participate but don't wanna write smut, including people that don't sign up within the "event" time frame, allowing PIDW to be an ever changing living document that essentially never has to end however this system would remain open to changes depending on what people would like to see most)

May 2025: Results are sent out for people writing pre-blackening arcs and discord invites are sent out to all participants in the project

June 2025 - March 2026: Creation period, potentially longer or shorter depending on interest check results since the goal would be to create chapters with ridiculously long word counts for the sake of the bit

April 2026-???: Release of the project to ao3, with a new creator's work being posted each week at first and then speeding up to a daily reveal until all works are revealed in the collection, functioning similarly to a hypothetical Airplane's writing schedule

Once again this is all just... REALLY vauge outlines and the speculation of someone that has no idea how long it takes to put on an event like this, I would imagine that in actuality it would take much longer to do so, and life tends to interfere in things in mysterious ways so I would not be surprised if this does not end up accurate to the actual timeline, but just to give people a general idea of when a large scale project like this would be able to take place!

[theonethatyaks93]

Finally Talking About Dark Pinky (Day 7 of Pinky Week)

Guess who showed up finally!

Yep, you read that title correctly. No, this isn't some belated April Fool's Day prank. Happy Dark Pinky Thursday to all my fellow evil mice enjoyers and welcome to the final installment of Pinky Week!! This has completely gone off the rails and I apologize for the extensive delays and unkept promises; I was just so tired and I required a lot of breaks. So, to thank everyone who's been with me, I decided to make my last post for Pinky Week a tribute to the fans! Get ready, because things are going to get interesting.

4/6/23- Dark Pinky Discussion/Analysis: A popular fandom character, Dark Pinky is the character you go to if you're looking for the Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain fandom's official Tumblr sexyman. Gaining popularity in 2020 due to Dark Pinky Thursdays popping up as a meme, the homicidal and delightfully malevolent mouse has made his presence very well known on a variety of sites. And yes, I definitely have fallen to all the art and fanfiction I've seen of him. He's a great character, has a lot of potential for fanfiction, and is delightfully evil with a dark, twisted sense of humor (at least that's what I've taken from him). He's a recent obsession of mine and I'm glad to finally admit that I really do like him. I'm also glad to be contributing to his every growing fanbase. This essay will trace Dark Pinky's history, how he became so popular, and what he brings to the overall Pinky and The Brain community. And yes, I'll be mentioning Future Brain a few times since that is part of the story.

Humble Origins (Pinky and The Brain Comic Issues #1 and #24):

You might be surprised to realize but originally, Dark Pinky was more of a comedic villain rather than an outright malicious one. In fact, his plans were often times very silly and his tendency to break into evil laughter was more funny than menacing. He'd make his grand debut in Issue #1 of the Pinky and The Brain comics, being the one who ruled the alternate superhero universe Pinky and Brain find themselves in. At first, he doesn't reveal himself, rather he uses Dark Brain as a cover-up. But from the moment he appears, we get a sense of how different he is when compared to the original Pinky. Dark Pinky wears purple armor with gloves and pretty awesome spikes on his shoulders; he also has a long purple cape. The tufts of fur on his head are more straight and less curled, he has fangs, and wears a metal headpiece that (I believe) allows him to read minds. He still retains the iconic verbal tics that Pinky has and he also does an evil laugh after nearly everything he says. His personality is similar to Pinky, but with a slightly more villainous side. He finds pleasure in creating dastardly plans, showing the power and control he has, and relinquishes in the suffering he brings to others. However, he remains excitable, gets distracted by inane things, and his plans are more comical when compared to how the fandom would shape him to be. Dark Pinky does plan on murdering both Pinky and Brain but is defeated after he reads Pinky's mind and finds "horrifying imagery." He eventually returns in Issue #24 where he ends up trying to take over via public broadcasting. He's now bent on revenge and has a group of minions (in hilarious purple costumes) at his behest. He even calls upon the help of Poison Billie (another semi-popular character from this universe), and the two look like they may succeed. Eventually, Brain and Pinky do manage to defeat Dark Pinky and Poison Billie once again, this time seemingly for good. Dark Pinky's plan in this issue is very ridiculous and isn't scary in the slightest. It's almost intriguing on how he started out as such a comical villain before a few people decided to make him a little more unique. Dark Pinky remains to this day a comic exclusive character, never appearing in any of the T.V shows or even getting a mention in the series. The comics have also been questioned for the canonicity due to a few factors. However, Dark Pinky wouldn't be forgotten for long. Things only get weirder from here.

Dark Pinky and the Tumblr Sexyman Trope:

Now we're getting to the point where we must discuss the fandom. But before we do that, let's talk about the thing that made him famous in the first place: the Tumblr Sexyman craze. In the early 2010's after the release of the film The Lorax, a group of adolescent girls became attached to the character of The Once-ler, but not for his personality, rather for his appearance. The trend started up on Tumblr and began to grow in popularity to massive degrees. And this fandom was weird to say the least. People shipped the Once-ler with himself or alternate versions of himself and he became known as the first official Tumblr sexyman. However, as the years passed, more and more characters were added to the collection of Tumblr sexymen. Most of them had a common theme: tall, white, baddie/emo, often seen in suits. Others such as Sans from Undertale were a little different but still contained a few typical tropes. To be considered a sexyman, a character needed to showcase at least one or two of these traits plus have a dedicated following with a lot of fanart and/or fanfiction. They also can be considered conventionally unattractive or non-human. After the introduction of the Tumblr sexyman, many fandoms tried their best to find a perfect match for the rising phenomenon. And luckily, the Animaniacs/PaTB fandom had their candidate. While Pinky Suavo also caught on very quickly and was more well-known for his episode, Dark Pinky seemed to be the most accurate to the previously established tropes, being tall, white, evil, wearing purple armor, having a mysterious past, and sporting a super cool design. The potential for him was rabid and he seemed to check off all the boxes perfectly. It did take a while for people to find him, considering the comics are so obscure, but eventually Dark Pinky would hit the fandom in a way previously not though of before. Nobody would realize the impact this character would have. Until it was too late.

Dark Pinky is a Sensation (And how the fandom changed him):

Art featured below is by the incredibly talented @wimsiecal And if you're perchance reading this, I just want to tell you that your art is amazing and you have made me obsessed with Dark Pinky to an unhealthy degree!!! :) Seriously please go follow them if you haven't already, I'm begging you!!

After the fandom discovered Dark Pinky from the depths of the comic book series, his popularity skyrocketed, especially after the 2020 fandom revival. He quickly became known as the Pinky and The Brain Tumblr sexyman and that hasn't changed since, though Pinky Suavo has joined him. Dark Pinky fanart, fanfiction, and various other forms of media became extremely sought after and many posts would get thousands upon thousands of views/likes. Despite never appearing in the series, fans of Dark Pinky's would often point out moments where Pinky acted like his evil counterpart, some even editing screenshots to have Pinky appear like him. However, since Dark Pinky only appeared in two comics, the fans naturally had to get creative with him. Many fans have completely changed his character, altering his appearance every so slightly, or expanding on his past and personality. Dark Pinky's fan design was only a tad bit different. He was given sharper edges, different outfits in various shades of purple and black, a more detailed helmet, and he even appeared without the whole getup. Dark Pinky's design without armor or the helmet was entirely made up by fans. Here, he has the same body as Pinky but with scars (including a super cool one over his eye), dark eye shadow, and black painted nails. Dark Pinky's personality was also altered, making him a legitimate threat and an actual evil villain. He kills, his grip on the world is ruthless, he treats his servants like crap, and he shows no mercy to anyone. His comical plots from the comics are no more as he's become kind of scary and menacing. You don't want to mess with him. Yes he does have a sense of humor, but it's often twisted or at the expense of others. Dark Pinky still on occasion does an evil laugh or has a verbal tic but it's usually when he's upset. Some fans have given him a soft side; some of which include his feminine urges remaining intact and that he has a fondness for cheese. But be careful. In a few variations from people in the community, Brain is mysteriously absent. Mentioning Brain to Dark Pinky in those universes will often cause him to go into an insane rage. These fun and interesting pieces that were added to Dark Pinky not only make him more interesting, but add to his status as a Tumblr sexyman. These changes aren't technically canon, but they're arguably better since they make Dark Pinky stand out. It is quite strange to see him change from a comical antagonist to a semi-serious villain worth being feared, but it was much appreciated.

Dark Pinky Gets a Love Interest and an AU (Dark Future Ship/Fan-made Universes):

For the longest time, Dark Pinky didn't have a love interest of any kind. Sure, if you wanted to be shunned you could ship him with Poison Billie (please don't), but Brinky was the name of the game. The ship between Pinky and Brain was, and still is, incredibly popular among fans, after it gained popularity in the late 2000's and early 2010's. And of course when Dark Pinky got popular, he needed someone to be paired with. For a while, he would be shipped with just regular Brain or a fan-made evil version of Brain if creativity was present. Luckily, the fans finally got their perfect match when the Animaniacs reboot came out. In episode 9, the character of Future Brain was created and fans immediately compared him to Dark Pinky. Their color schemes were similar with both mice being seen in purple. Future Brain had a scar, robotic hand, and half of his face was robotic, all of which fit into Dark Pinky's universe very well. The hints that Future Brain was betrayed by Pinky also had many theorizing that he came from a future ruled by Dark Pinky, connecting the two together even more. It wasn't long before Future Brain and Dark Pinky ship fanart and fanfiction began popping up everywhere. Since the duo had very similar esthetics, they could be drawn together easily. The story potential was also very high as well. Dark Pinky and Future Brain dominated (pun intended) the fanbase and soon became seen as an alternate ship to Brinky. But while Brinky was healthy and cute, Dark Future (Often called the official ship name) was toxic and awkward. Some people portrayed them as an evil couple ruling the world together, while others painted their relationship in a negative light, where Dark Pinky was abusive and manipulative. It depended solely on what person was developing the story. Future Brain was also added to the quickly developing Dark Pinky alternate universe which has been shown via the extremely popular ask blog askdarkpinky. Featuring beautiful fanart and a darkly humorous tone, this blog is a must-view for any Dark Pinky fan. It created an expansive universe with lore, locations, and alternate versions of popular characters. Snowball remains consistent in the flashback sequences, aligning with his canon character exactly. Billie retains a majority of elements from Poison Billie minus the orange hair, including the plant themed outfit. Julia has a new look with a lab coat and goggles. She's works for Dark Pinky, making all of his technology. Brain is noticeably absent from this universe, with only hints to his possible location. It's also implied that this is in fact Future Brain and that he might be doing something. Dark Pinky goes crazy when Brain is brought up and refuses to hear anything about him. This drama and conflict is so interesting. The creation of this ship and various alternate universes only increased Dark Pinky's popularity and now, he stands as a cornerstone of the Pinky and The Brain fanbase.

Conclusion: Though Pinky himself is a beloved character, Dark Pinky stands on his own as a fandom favorite. From his design to his personality and potential, he fits the Tumblr sexyman ideology to near perfection. The fans have shaped this character and have made him stand apart from the rest. Sure, he's evil and doesn't treat things with care, but he's a good character. It's really spectacular that people in the community were able to turn Dark Pinky from a villain that existed mainly for comedy to a threatening presence with an un-hinged mindset. The fans are truly to thank for bringing Dark Pinky into greatness and there's hope that he can remain relevant and continue to entertain people (and make people question their sanity/sexuality) for a few more years to come.

OMG!! Pinky Week is finally done!! Woo hoo!! I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with me for this long period of time. You have been the thing that's kept me making these. I'll be taking a small break for the next few days and then Brain Week will begin! I can assure you guys that Brain Week will not take as long and will be better planned out. I can't wait to begin! Anyways, that's it for Pinky Week! Thank you for reading and have a great day/night! Happy (possibly belated) Dark Pinky Thursday to everyone!! Narf!

[demiesworld]

this is word vomit, me rambling, and basically just saying shit!! at the end i am thanking my followers for helping me reach 1k!!

i started this side-blog back in late april to early may just thinking that this was just going to be a fluke. originally i had only planned to just post more random shit on here, reblog some anime stuff, and just do whatever i wanted. there were times where i was like "im going to delete this blog", "im losing my interest", "this ain't getting me nowhere", just pessimistic thoughts.

that all changed when i started writing for anime. my very first post was a stupid "toman as stupid shit i did in my life" post which garnered some good attention. ppl liked it. then a little bit later i decided to write "tokyo revengers reaction to how you fight" and ppl LOVED IT lol i was so happy reading through the feedback about how the reader was depicted as being badass and strong.

later i got myself more involved into the anime fandom. i started watching demon slayer after a previous co-worker of mine mentioned to me that i should watch it bc it was a good anime. and it is!! demon slayer is one of the most popular animes out there imo. so when i began watching demon slayer i wanted to write content for the demon slayer fandom as well. now originally i wanted to write my first demon slayer fanfic with tengen x reader, but i was already hooked onto season 4 with the hantengu clones and had more motivation to write about them. the hantengu clones x demon!reader thing i wrote, i literally did not expect for it to get any attention. bc i haven't wrote smut like that in FOREVER. literally i thought it would go to shit but i was fucking excited to see it gain over 2.5k notes!!!

now before i got into demon slayer i was watching jjk. but i just never thought of writing for them since i had only ever watched the jjk 0 movie, and season 1. i didn't familiarize myself with the characters and just went with how the fandom portrayed them as. though as soon as season 2 came out with the gojo's past arc i wanted to write some content for them as well.

then... i got lured into the miguel o'hara stan. now i was already a marvel nerd BEFORE i rejoined the anime fandom. i was only watching the marvel films and the tv shows like daredevil, punisher, and loki. when i saw miguel o'hara on the big screen I FELL IN LOVE. not only that but he is voiced by OSCAR FUCKING ISAAC. god i want for this man to yell at me- ANYWAYS LOL UM we're getting off track here!! i went to reading some miguel o'hara fics, watching tiktok edits of this man, looking at fanarts of him, and then i sort of got the inspiration to write some content about him. and i do notice that there is not a LOT of miguel o'hara with a black reader or at the very least with a latin/hispanic reader. so i want to spice things up and contribute to writing things for him.

now mind you all i write my fics with a black reader in my mind!! but i never describe their skin color, their eye color, their weight, i don't describe what they look like bc i want for the reader to feel included!!! i want for the reader to feel as if they are in the story. unless it is stated in my notes that the reader is black, chubby, skinny, etc. then i write as that. but if you read most of my fics there's not really an indication of the reader's race.

so with this blog and through my writing i want to show all writers that you don't have to describe what the reader looks like. that there are ways to avoid describing the reader and to have the reader feel included. inclusivity is my goal here on this site. as someone who is multifandom, i want to bring something to the table and maybe make a change.

to end this all off bc damn this is getting TOO DAMN LONGGG i want to say to all of my followers thank you so much for following me. times have been hard for me, but you know seeing that i have ppl who love my content and my writing makes me happy. honestly it is getting me motivated to get back to writing more again. i hope to give you guys more content, and better up my writing skills in the future. please stick around for more! again thank you babes! i love you all so much!!

♡ with love, demie !

[qqueenofhades]

How would one cite a statistic that’s constantly changing from a website without a clear author? That is to say, the number of fics under a specific fandom tag on AO3 for a few different fandoms as one of my many example of direct fan engagement with the fandom?

Fanfic citation anon here- to clarify, it’s mla format, unfortunately

Hmm. First of all, you'd have to create a citation for AO3 itself. If you were using, say, the "Shadow and Bone (TV)" tag as your specific fandom, which I have picked solely because it's the one I am writing in right now, it would appear in the "Works Cited" list at the end of your paper like this:

Organization for Transformative Works. “Archive Of Our Own - Shadow and Bone (TV).” Archive of Our Own, archiveofourown.org/tags/Shadow%20and%20Bone%20(TV)/works. Accessed 15 May 2023.

In other words, you would use "Organization for Transformative Works" as your author (hence alphabetizing this entry under the "O"s), the fandom tag title as your title, and "Archive of Our Own" as your publication. In this context, "access date" is probably the most crucial part of your citation, because you will have to acknowledge that this is a constantly updating archive sourced from a number of different individual contributors. It's also tricky because you don't have specific page numbers, and even if you did, they would get quickly replaced as new content was posted. So you might write something like this:

"As of May 15, 2023, the Shadow and Bone (TV) tag on Archive of Our Own contained 9,012 entries (Shadow and Bone (TV), online). After the second season of the show arrived on Netflix on March 16, 2023, there were [however many] new entries added, especially in [tags, relationships, whatever other statistics you're looking at]. This represented an increase over [however many] entries posted since the first season's premiere in April 2021. Because of the archive's function as a collaborative online library that is constantly updated and contributed to by multiple individual users, these numbers are fluid and subject to change, but represent a rough overall aggregate of content and trends."

That way you provide a brief breakdown of your content source and how it works, you give some overall numbers about what you're looking at and how they've increased over a specific timeframe, and you point out that the exact accuracy of your figures may fluctuate since people are constantly contributing to the page and adding more stuff. You would most likely use "online" instead of a direct page number, since those are subject to change on internet pages anyway. And since you might have multiple citations with "Organization for Transformative Works" as the primary author, if you're looking at several different fandoms, you would use the fandom tag title for more specificity in your in-text citation.

Hopefully that makes sense, and good luck with your paper!

[daydreamalley]

Chuuya Birthday ficlet feat. baseless headcanons about his mom and family life

This was not meant to be my first original post on here, but it’s Chuuya’s birthday so fuck it. I offer angst as my first contribution to this fandom.

If you'd prefer to read on AO3 then you can find it here

A weird little thing I wrote from Chuuya’s mom’s perspective. We don’t know anything about her, but I feel like Chuuya was def a mommy’s boy. Also assume his dad caused a lot of the issues in his life. Like, his dad had the military doctor connections. Also look at the father figures Chuuya’s had. Mori? N? that is some unhealed daddy issues right there. Though Adam and Murase are great (but they chose him more than he chose them, and they were right for it). Weirdly enough feel like Dazai had serious issues with his mom and that’s where a lot of problems stem from. Don’t know why. Does he give off mommy issue vibes to anyone else? Anyway… back to Chuuya.

Mrs. Nakahara always had a sad look on her face. She hadn’t used to. It’d been that way for more than a decade now, ever since her son disappeared. Sure, he’d lashed out a lot, but really he was a sweet boy, one she couldn’t save from the wrath of his father and his coworker friends. She didn’t know which was her biggest regret, not stopping things before they got to such a bad point or not finally saving her son when it would’ve been most important. Her thoughts still often drifted to him, his wavy auburn hair, his passionate, caring eyes that were too often ignited with anger or dead with dejection. 

What could she have done? They’d told her he was dangerous, and she’d seen it, but Chuuya had always tried protecting her. The one time he’d thrown something out of anger and accidentally hit her she’d seen how he froze with the instant regret of what had just happened, she’d seen the tears. The reaction hadn’t been from fear of consequence, it was because he’d realized what he’d done and that he never wanted to hurt her again. And she was certain he wouldn’t have, even without the scolding he’d gotten from his father. One she’d just stood there through, not protecting him from his father’s wrath at all. These types of memories played in her head so often still, she’d long lost hope they’d ever stop.

She hoped if her son was still alive, he still had some of those same qualities he’d had as a kid, that he hadn’t lost his caring, his passion for life, his laughter, the storm in his eyes whenever anyone tried to tell him what to do. Though she knew it was unlikely. Despite that, she hoped he had at least one person he cared for, that he wanted to protect, and that that person was worth it. Perhaps more than anything, she hoped he had someone who cared about him. Who understood him, would be there for him through thick and thin, who cares for him just as she was sure her son cares for them. A person he could trust, because god knows not even she was a person he could really trust, even though he had trusted her wholeheartedly, and she hadn’t deserved it. She realized that much. And yet the boy had put his trust in her. He’d deemed her worthy, and he’d suffered the consequences.

This was usually when her tears came, when she thought of that. That was something she’d hoped he’d lost in his interactions in the world. That ability to trust beyond reason. Though she’d always gotten the feeling that even as a young boy he had always had reason. He was clever after all, maybe he simply saw things that she could not that justified his trust.

None of her thoughts would ever find answer. No matter what the reality, one thing was true: she would never see, much less know, her son ever again. Her small, angry, sweet boy. Oh, he’d always been so small for his age and yet so eager to be a protector, to defend what he cared about, to help in any way he could. And he’d just been so young.

She blew out the candle. The secret ceremony she kept for herself every year on April 29th. She wouldn’t forget her son, even though she’d failed him so fundamentally. He had a strong heart, one all his own as he certainly hadn’t gotten it from her or his father. And that strong heart wouldn’t be an easy one to break, she knew that much, and it gave her a glimmer of hope. She wafted the smoke away from the flame that had just been extinguished, leaving the room in an absence of light. “Happy birthday, Chuuya. I’m sorry I couldn’t love you enough to save you.”

Meanwhile, in Yokohama…

Chuuya opened a bottle of wine for himself, alone in his apartment. Birthdays weren’t exactly big celebrations in the Port Mafia. And when he was in the Sheep he hadn’t even known his own birthday, something he felt was fitting for someone who wasn’t human. He’d only figured it out from the files the Flags had gotten for him. In fact, the last time he’d been celebrated was when the Flags tried to throw him a 1-year anniversary of when he joined the mafia. And what a brat he’d been about it all. He tried not to remember that day too often, royal clusterfuck it had ended up being. He can’t ever remember anyone celebrating him without there being some achievement connected to it, without him having done something. Maybe as a kid, before he could remember, someone had celebrated him for him, for simply existing, but if that had ever happened the memory was long gone. He thought back to what he’d read in Rimbaud’s journal (that Dazai had eventually allowed him to read), about how he explained birthdays to Verlaine. “Celebrating birthdays is a simple gesture that suggests one thing: Your birth is something worth celebrating. No matter what anyone says, you deserve to be here.” Chuuya snorted to himself. Much like Verlaine, if someone tried to celebrate him like that he’d be more suspicious than grateful. Isn’t that exactly how he’d reacted to the Flags? He’d realized far too late how much they genuinely cared about him and not just his place in the mafia. Just as soon as they were gone, and of course that’s when it hit him.

Chuuya thought through the mundane line of birthdays he could remember. The Sheep had tried to celebrate a kind of birthday for him once, when he was 10. He’d been too worried about their resources to enjoy any of it, instead scolding everyone for trying something like this. They never tried again after that, just used his battle wins as excuses to splurge. 

His 16th hadn’t been so bad actually. He had been new to the mafia still. It was his first run-in with Murase as a mafioso. Though they had run into each other when Chuuya was still in the Sheep nothing had ever come of it.

He couldn’t even remember what Murase had tried to bring him in for that birthday, not realizing Chuuya was part of a much harder organization to catch, but he did remember the moment in the interrogation room when Murase was looking through Chuuya’s files, eyes flaring as he ran over the file, and abruptly got up, saying he’d be back soon. It shouldn’t have been that abnormal, maybe he’d thought of something he had to do or realized something he needed to address immediately, not in Chuuya presence. And technically those things were true, Chuuya just couldn’t figure out why that thing was apparently bringing him some shitty-ass cupcake from the breakroom. When Chuuya demanded what the hell it was, Murase replied “it’s your birthday kid. The least you deserve is some cake.” Chuuya had let out a small “oh” in response, the look in Murase’s eye turning soft and almost sad. Chuuya was about to blow up at him, he didn’t need anyone’s pity, but then Murase got back to business, and Chuuya settled a little. Eventually he did bite into the cupcake, realizing he was hungry and it was sugar after all, and he pretended not to hear Murase’s murmured “happy birthday kid” as he finished the cupcake.

A couple more fairly forgettable birthdays, or ones he tried to forget, brought him here. He cheers-d the city lights outside his window. Once again as alone as ever.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Chuuya! 

This won't be a normal type of post for me, and I guess it's just a mess of headcanons, but I quite liked it so felt like sharing. Hopefully it isn't too weird or disparate.

[whisperinthedeadofnight]

With the final chapter of "Marie" posted, my first multi-chapter fic is now completed. Next week, I will begin posting my other multi-chapter fic, which is much longer. This next fic is one that I've been working on pretty much daily for over a year, so I'm very excited to finally be sharing it!

In my previous general update post, I had expressed hope that I would be able to start posting some of my Parks and Rec Timeline posts within a month, but that didn't end up panning out. I am still hoping to get these posts started soon, but I've been busy and haven't had the time for it yet. Likewise with my fanvids, which are probably a bit further away from being ready but will hopefully be ready at some point in the near future. I've mainly been focusing on finishing the editing for my fics, which has taken a little longer than expected, so I haven't really had time to work on those other projects recently. But I just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about those other projects and that they will be coming at some point. But I don't want to give an estimate right now since I will probably end up getting it wrong again. So if anybody is following along with this blog and is interested in those projects, I will just say stay tuned! They will be coming eventually, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

In terms of other projects, I haven't had a chance to work on too much new stuff recently. I've mainly been focused on trying to get the editing for the fic that I will start posting next week across the finish line. It probably won't be fully completed before I start posting it, but I am probably about 90% done with the editing. And it is only the later chapters that still need to have the editing finished, so I will be good to start posting the early chapters and will definitely have the editing completed before I need to post those later chapters. The editing for that fic has consumed most of my time lately, so I will be looking forward to being able to work on some new stuff once it is completed.

My next fanfiction project will be from a couple of fic exchanges that I have entered. I will be writing fics as gifts to other writers based on their requests and will be receiving fics based on my requests as gifts in exchange. I'll keep it vague because the fics in these exchanges are supposed to remain anonymous until authors are revealed a little while after the works are revealed. But I will be writing some things outside of my usual April/Andy focus. Though I may be receiving some April/Andy fics written by other authors as my gifts, so it may still end up contributing something back to the fandom. It should be interesting to try writing some new things and go outside of my usual writing comfort zone. I will share those fics on here once they are no longer anonymous, but I don't know the exact date of when that will be. But once I finish my current editing, these exchange fics will likely be my new focus (but they shouldn't be as time-consuming, so I will hopefully be able to work on other things on the side).

Outside of those exchanges, my focus will still remain on Andy/April. I do have a shorter multi-chapter work-in-progress fic that I have been working on on the side that is close to completion, so I will hopefully have that one edited and ready to go by the time that I have finished posting my next multi-chapter fic. Aside from that, I do have a couple of one-shots that I have completed and still need to edit. I should hopefully be able to get those out at some point too. After these, I am brainstorming several ideas for my next Andy/April fic, but haven't decided definitively yet. But I do plan to continue writing for them and will hopefully have some more cool content for them coming up in the future.

[galaxyswirl]

💙💕Introduction💕💙

Thought I’d do an introduction here since I actually haven’t done one ✨ I’m not exactly “new” to tumblr, this account was actually made 4 years ago, but it just wasn’t a social media that I used.

It was due to the Twitter chaos that I remembered that tumblr exists too, and while I didn’t come here to “save” myself from Twitter, I thought I could use this app to post my art too. I also have:

• Twitter 💙 : @GalaXxY03a

• Instagram 💙 : swirl_gswirl

• Derpibooru 💙 : GalaxYSwiRL45

My artist tag on Derpibooru is : galaxy swirl

✨Who am I?✨

My names Sarah, and I’m born and live in Sweden🇸🇪, I’m a hobby artist and draw ponies from My Little Pony. I mostly draw ponies from MLP G4, but occasionally I draw MLP G5 too.

I’ve been watching MLP:FiM ever since it came out, at the age of 7. Since I was so young I wasn’t involved in the fandom but at around the age of 12 I started to get conscious about the MLP Fandom and started engaging more, and that’s where drawing ponies began. Now, drawing had always been something I loved to do for fun, and still love, it’s been my hobby for as long as I can remember so having a fandom to contribute to with art feels amazing 💕

At first, I posted art on Equestria Amino, but later on started an Instagram at the end of 2019, the account was mostly focused on my favourite pairing AppleDash, but now it’s where I post all of my art, that’s also when I stopped posting on Amino, my account is still there, but I don’t use it. Later on I also started to post my art on Twitter and now I’m here 😁

Aside from all this:

I’m 20 years old

Birthday: 24th April 💕

I’m studying at university, first year pharmacy student, really hoping to get that bachelor in pharmacy 🥲

✨What do I post?✨

• PONIES 💕💕

And also art of my OTP AppleDash ( yes it’s still my favourite pairing ) 💙✨ Because I honestly just love drawing them

I don’t have any open requests or commissions, I don’t financially rely on art, therefore it’s just a hobby, but I might open them later on, but that’s a few more years in the future.

✨💕Other things💕✨

• Favourite pony = Rainbow Dash 🌈

- Applejack is a close second

• Favourite color = blue💙

• Favourite drink = coffee, iced or warm doesn’t matter, but I love mocha Frappuccinos 💙

• Favourite animal = cats 🐱✨

• Favourite singer = Taylor Swift💕

• Favourite subjects = biology, chemistry is a close second 🧪

✨Some of my art✨

Last but not least, I appreciate each and every one of you who like my art, it makes me so happy to see that the content I put out makes others just as happy as it makes me 💕