#this is not the Fun Outrage Post some people are probably wanting

[mtkay13]

Wen Kexing!! My focus here was to channel his coolness even through warm colors, and to get his... "essential vibes" through one picture. More (rambling) below! (this is essentially a post about WKX's personality)

A big case can be made about "who or what is the 'true' Wen Kexing". So; let's be real, I don't know if anyone makes a "big case" out of it, but I sure have seen people seemingly arguing against a vague 'common opinion' regarding Wen Kexing's personality. The """common""" opinion (allegedly): the true Wen Kexing is [insert one of WKX's facets] (or something along those lines) The case against it: all Wen Kexing's are the true Wen Kexing Now I do agree with the fact that "all Wen Kexing's" are Wen Kexing, technically. For clarity, let's list and name those various facets (most are commonly accepted, some I'll just name on the go): - Wen Kexing: I'll use his full name for the personality we're first met with in the book. Someone cold, rather quiet, analytical and distant. Giving off strange vibes in social situations (ZZS thinking he's weird, other jianghu figures being creeped out by him or thinking that he's up to no good), contemptuous - Philantropist Wen: The more extravagant, (bullshit) storyteller, outrageous and shameless flirting enthusiast version of WKX. - Valley Master Wen: cold, calculating, quiet, cruel, unbelievably patient, dislikes fun and games, barely feels anything - Wife Wen: The over the top dramatic wife whose life is made difficult by his difficult and shameless husband, essentially a lot of roleplaying the good littol domestic wife and whatnot - The wooden man: similar as Valley Master but demure and apparently subservient? (for calculated purposes) Okay they could be more I guess, but the point is, we have an array of WKX personas and personalities and the actual consensus (I think, my sample is like 10 people so....) is that every one of those is "true" to WKX and that not one of them is a fully constructed persona. Now, while I agree, I guess that what I wonder is: what is WKX in his resting state? If nothing is happening and that he's not in a particularly social or specific situation, what do we get to see? I think that the answer mostly resides in extra 4, which is an INCREDIBLE retelling of TYK from WKX's perspective; someone who thinks quite a lot, and for long, someone who observes things with distance and little to no emotion. Someone who is used to having one goal (revenge, taking care of ZZS during his coma), and who will probably go through a lot of quiet thinking when finally faced with the void of not having one specific thing to aim for. Someone who will have to learn to find joy/happiness, and who probably doesn't... get there "naturally"? (and by that I mean, without ZZS or without directly following ZZS around). Someone whose ties to his own emotions have been severed a long time ago, I guess. Someone still quite contemptuous of many things and people and who has a whole life he didn't plan for or even consider ahead of him. Which is............ what I tried to draw............ here..................... (That and also I wanted to draw a pretty looking hanfu in sepia colors) (but I SWEAR that was not the main goal) (I think) (anyway please ignore me)

[edwardslvrr]

༯ 405, TREVOR ZEGRAS

trevor zegras x singer!reader

the one where rumour has it YN has a new boyfriend and Trevor has a new girlfriend

taglist if you’d like to be added to my taglist, message me privately or comment on this post

warning this is all fake and just for fun, no hate to any of the people mentioned. Just a reminder that this is pure for entertainment xoxo

last part main masterlist trevor zegras masterlist

ynupdates

via twitter

REPLIES

username imagine if she’s back together w trevor

username after that album? bro is sobbing in the corner

username would be such a YN thing to do tho

username what if new bf is old bf 👀

username so many paparazzi and no one thought tp take a picture of the dudes face???

username this outrageous behaviour, YN. we’re out here sobbing to her new album and she has been macking on some new dude

username no fr she has me sobbing here like a child for days now

username atleast she looks hella good

username cool and whatever but tour dates pls?

username YN it was suppose to be me next😔

username imagine it is jack hughes

username jack’s probably trying to shoot his shot w trevor now tbh

username she wasn’t interested in Trevor’s unemployed ass anymore lol

yourinstagram

los angeles, california

liked by jackhughes and 1.395.728 others

yourinstagram good riddance deluxe is out NOWW!!

view 19.738 comments

username oh wow- this is depressing

username “i hate the fact that i miss you around” MOOD

username jack really feeding into the rumours abt him and YN by liking this

username not people believing that rumour what??

username honestly the weirdest rumour i’ve ever heard

username y’all will believe anything atp

username WHAT DID U PUT IN 405 WHAT

username “how are you looking at me like a stranger” my heart bro??

username imma go call my therapist.. this is too much

yourbestfriend okay OUCH?

yourinstagram oops?

username ayo jack i see u dude

username the last picture such a mood

username too much pain girly

username “i loved you so hard for a time” trevor go sit in the corner and think about what you did.

trevorzegras

liked by colecaufield and 104.749 others

trevorzegras all summer long

view 1.284 comments

username in his tim mcgraw era?

username bringing up taylor swift any time he can in his personality

username uhm.. last picture?

colecaufield suspicious

username glad u seem to think so too

username cole spill what you know

username soft launch?

jackhughes winner

username wtf does that even mean

username ellen, get jack back on the leash pls

username pls let that be YN 🙏

username YN out w her new man, Trevor hinting his new girl. Can i please go cry..

username as long as it isn’t some tiktoker you got my approval.

username trevor just wants to be a tiktok star, leave him be

username he’s unemployed, he needs to get money from somewhere

username a lot of questions rn

ynupdates

via twitter

REPLIES

username that’s definitely jack

username bro u say that abt an ARM

username she isn’t a homie hopper dude

username could be trevor🤷🏼‍♀️

username why do i feel like her and trevor are back together, like there’s no way it’s a coincidence they both have a new partner at the same time

username how did people ever get to the fact she could be dating jack?! y’all are so weird

username nah after that album i refuse to believe she has already moved on

username she’s probs dating him again

username i mean the album was writing a while back tho-

username i refuse.

username yn probably panicked so hard when she realised she posted that

username she def cried

imessages

taglist - @ihrtdan

[rinniemybeloved]

[✦] - 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐌𝐀 𝐊𝐎𝐙𝐔𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐃

notes : is this really a kenma x reader or just kenma as a dad? Idk

warning : pregnancy (?) kodzuken, but . . . he's a father. Concerning, i know.

pairing : dad!kenma x mom!reader

would he want kids?

sorry but no. Literally just no.

he thinks kids are outrageously annoying

he doesn't really have time either. my man is working without breaks.

but sadly (luckily tbh) you got pregnant

u told him when he was in the middle of a game, he did not pay attention to you until you pulled the headphones off of his head

when he actually comprehended what you, he did not look the the happiest

but he was not really happy though!!! he just didn't want to show it at that moment!!!

I always see people saying that kenma is very private with his personal life. to me that isn't really true

when he announced that he was gonna have a baby to his fans, they went crazy.

even his whole fanbase was worried about him being a dad 😭

He'd probably want a boy since he very lowkey believes that boys are better at gaming

but he found out that you were having a girl

girls tend to be cuter though, right?

when the baby was born kenma was PANICKING

he doesn't know how to hold a baby at all, he was almost gonna drop the baby

you two decided to name her Ayaka <3

yes, he named his daughter after a game character

he had to do a lot of convincing though :(

new dad kenma is hilarious.

he doesn't know how to put a diaper on a baby

he is confused on whether the baby will be too hot or too cold

he thinks newborns can eat a whole apple

it's mostly you taking care and doing all the 'parently' things

shares food with his daughter. a lot.

when his friends see this, they're all so surprised.

"I've never seen kenma share anything, not even with (y/n) !"

"He probably loves ayaka more than us 🙄🙄 "

even gets a little sad when his daughter doesn't wanna eat with him

is constantly trying to teach her how to play video games

she's probably gonna know how a controller works even before she knows how to talk

kenma is oddly very proud of it

he doesn't show her in any videos though, he will wait until she says she wants to

but when she does say she wants to be in his videos, he's gonna start posting random 10 second videos

"my daughter chews on her shoe"

"giving my daughter a lemon for the first time"

"trying to put headphones on my daughter"

they are all so cute but strange at the same time 😭

she's exactly like kenma in some ways

she absolutely HATES being touched

except for her daddy though

like this girl will glare at someone and then turn around to snuggle with her dad

such a sassy lil thing

kenma is the fun parent, he kinda just wants ayaka to enjoy herself

you'd bake cookies and tell kenma that your daughter can't have more than 3

but guess what? those two would wake up at 4 in the morning and secretly eat way more and you wouldn't know a thing

he'd also spoil her a lil too much for your liking

if his daughter wants something, it will be hers in less then a few hours

in conclusion, Ayaka's life as the daughter of worldwide famous kodzuken is something a lot of people would want

Requests are open!

[confessionsofa-roleplayer]

I miss the good old days when writing on tumblr was less of a hassle. You didn't need to follow the icon trends to be relevant and you could use gifs of any size on your posts and no one cared. Everything was just about writing and your editing skills didn't matter. And be ready to be accused of being racist, if you're writing a PoC, if you accidentally make a mistake while trying to brighten a picture that was in a dark room setting for an icon. The correct response to this would be to reach out to this person and try to give them some tips! Not to yell at them as a first response. I miss when the "trigger warnings" actually meant something and weren't used so lightly. Despite what you think kids may think, tw do not mean "this thing is something that I don't like", or "it makes me uncomfortable", or anything like that. It actually means something that can trigger you into having a panic or anxiety attack. I miss when anyone could write villains and no one batted an eye and no one attacked you for doing so. They seemed like any other character being written. But now fiction equals reality and if you don't put disclaimers all over your blog, you could get callouts and hate mail for writing them. And even when you do put disclaimers on your blog, you could still get the callouts and hatemail. I miss the days before pro-ship and anti-ship existed, especially since no one on this hellsite can tell you the actual definition of what those words even means. Because it seems most people use those words wrongly. I miss not having reblog karma, and before folks gets the pitchforks over this one. I understand why people feel the need for it, but I feel like some people have taken it too far. It went from "reblog from the source so it doesn't mess with my notes! I'm not a meme blog!" to "I know you're just reblogging it from the source so you don't have to send me anything!" Meaning you can't even reblog it from the source now, too. because apparently it's not really about, "messing up my notes!" I miss not having to fill out interest trackers. We used to just be able to talk and communicate with each other over what we want to write, and now it's like we have to fill out an application before we can write with each other, like it's some kind of job interview. I'd prefer just talking with my writing partners personally. I miss when people didn't complain about not getting memes, while also simultaneously complaining that people take on more than they can write. Which is it guys? Do you want us to send you memes or not? Will you complain, too, when I don't get your response out quickly enough because I took on another meme? I miss not constantly needing to worry about everyone's opinion on how we can all run our blogs. Everyone says, have fun, it's your blog! But is it really? You almost have to worry about it, at least to an extent, because you get unfollowed and blocked in the blink of an eye anymore. No communication. Just blocked. Leaving you with no clue as to what you did wrong or how you could fix it. The point? Tumblr has become a place where you have to jump through hoops just to write with each other these days. It's just a big hassle. Between all of the spoken and unspoken rules, the trends, and the people who are all addicted to outrage, ready to get a mob together for even the tiniest of offenses. It's no wonder people don't want to write on tumblr anymore. Everything we do seems to make people angry. It's like walking on broken glass. If y'all ever wonder why people are disappearing out of the rpc, this is probably a lot of the reasons why. Some of you guys really take this RP thing way too seriously. It's not real life. Just relax okay? We all need to relax…

[wardensantoineandevka]

ah, there's the DA fandom I remember.... honestly, and I probably shouldn't be saying anything about it, especially not this long a post, but I love to yap, like this whole world state discourse rn is so funny to me, someone who doesn't even remember most of the choices being lamented over and their consequences. like, I feel like this discourse is disproportionately fans who remember everything and are super attached to all their PCs.

and, I think it's completely valid to feel upset that these choices don't carry over in a meaningful way or don't affect the new game significantly. but, like, I do also very much understand the writers saying that they didn't want to make every single player mark off a high number of choices they don't have (or don't remember) the full context for, only to have that choice affect like five lines of flavor text overall. i know that WAS super fun and meaningful to many, but speaking for myself, making me go through a whole checklist just to change some minor stuff that doesn't really factor in is a bit tedious.

when they say that, they're not just talking about new players, that also includes casual players who have been here for over ten years too, people who didn't quite like some of the other games, or people who simply don't remember what any of this means.

I totally understand what they mean about "if we're going to port it over, it ought to actually matter." I also totally understand the thing about like, a lot of the choices don't actually affect northern Thedas and many that do in an abstruse political way, they're not really relevant for Rook (who isn't a political player of that level) or even the companions and other characters (who seem way more local and organizational politics or their primary concerns aren't at the level of The Grand Political Game).

like, again, it's valid to feel stung or disappointed, but it is kinda funny to me all of the outrage (typical of this fandom) and all of the "they're saying fuck you to all the longtime fans" as someone who has also been a fan for a long time and reacted to this with "oh thank god, i don't remember what most of these story points were anyway"

[lucky-clover-gazette]

kings rising highlights & annotations

chapter 14

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

Because he couldn't put Jokaste in a sack and carry her bodily across the border into Kastor’s territory, the journey presented certain logistical challenges.

In order to justify two wagons and an entourage, they would be pretending to be cloth merchants. This disguise was not going to stand up to any serious scrutiny.

well, actually...

Laurent wandered in and outlined a plan so outrageous that Damen had said yes with the feeling that his mind was splitting apart.

i’ve said the thing about laurent and tabletop rpgs before but UGH. he’d be living his best life

Jord who had won short sword, Lydos of the trident, Aktis the spear thrower, the young, triple-crowned Pallas, Lazar, who had whistled at him,

i like how everyone has qualifications except for lazar, whose identifying quality is that he is gay

Laurent’s addition to the expedition was Paschal, and Damen tried not to think too deeply about the reasons why Laurent thought it necessary to bring a physician.

LMAOOOOO

And if the worst happened, Guion’s testimony had the potential to bring down the Regency. Laurent had said all of this succinctly, and told Guion, in a pleasant voice, ‘Your wife can chaperone Jokaste on the journey.’

wait does damen not even know what the testimony is? iirc guion told it to laurent off the page, after the chair scene. is it the thing about the regent killing the former king, or was that paschal’s piece of the trial? do both of them say it? whatever, the trial stuff is fun but i’m not that determined to work it all out ahead of time. it was a lot more rewarding to that with laurent’s perspective, especially earlier on, but ehhhh here i’m going to take it easy

Guion had understood more quickly than Damen.

shocking (sorry damen)

‘I see. My wife is the leverage for my good behaviour?’ ‘That’s right,’ said Laurent.

when does loyse talk to laurent? does she ever, or does she just speak at the trial uncalled for? guess we’ll see and i’ll trace back what i think probably led to it

Damen watched from a second-storey window as they gathered in the courtyard: two wagons, two noblewomen, and twelve soldiers of whom ten were soldiers and two were Guion and Paschal in metal hats.

He was waiting for Laurent to arrive in order to discuss the finer points of his ridiculous plan.

Laurent was standing in the doorway wearing a chiton of unadorned white cotton. Damen dropped the pitcher. It shattered, shards flying outward as it slipped from his fingers and hit the stone floor. Laurent’s arms were bare. His throat was bare. His collarbone was bare, and most of his thighs, his long legs, and all of his left shoulder. Damen stared at him. ‘You’re wearing Akielon clothing,’ said Damen. ‘Everyone’s wearing Akielon clothing,’ said Laurent. Damen thought that the pitcher had shattered and he could not now take a deep draught of the wine. Laurent came forward, navigating the broken ceramic in his short cotton and sandalled feet, until he reached the seat beside Damen, where the map was laid out on the wooden table. ‘Once we know the rotation of the patrols, we’ll know when to approach,’ said Laurent. Laurent sat down. ‘We need to approach at the beginning of their rotation in order to give us the most time before they report back to the fort.’ It was even shorter sitting down. ‘Damen.’ ‘Yes. Sorry,’ said Damen. And then: ‘What were you saying?’ ‘The patrols,’ said Laurent.

damen can you PLEASE focus.

(this is part of why the baby thing doesn’t work for me. if this is a lighter comedy interlude, why is the baby meant to be understood as a dire, war-altering problem? and if it is a serious dire situation, why are we getting this moment straight out of a fanfic? i know damen is horny despite the horrors and it’s a treat for the reader, but i guess i’m just built different because this moment really does not do anything for me. although to be fair i think that’s partially just because i’m apparently sensitive to instances of laurent being reduced to his body and sexuality, or at least in a way that he is not aware of—see my chapter 12 analysis for the most blatant example. reminds me of the time last week that my mom said on the phone “you only want people to like you on your own terms,” which is a very accurate and damning statement tbh)

They had only twelve soldiers. Twelve-ish, amended Damen, thinking of Paschal and Guion.

AGAIN?? brutal. also i like the “ish,” it’s a little anachronistic and very charming

Vannes could handle Makedon, Laurent said.

i want more laurent and vannes interaction…

The soldiers only needed to know their own roles in the enterprise, and Damen’s briefing to them was short. But Nikandros was his friend, and he deserved to know how they would get across the border. So he told him Laurent’s plan.

honestly damen i think it would be a mercy not to tell him

‘It’s dishonourable,’ said Nikandros.

nikandros private twitter complaint #13. also akielions don't know what "honor" means

‘I wish to restate my strong objection,’ said Nikandros. ‘It’s noted,’ said Damen.

and there's #14

the awkward mien of his own soldiers, who had had to be schooled multiple times not to call him ‘Exalted’

clearly they did not attend the lamen school of committing to the bit

‘Your reports are wrong. The Lady Jokaste is in that wagon.’ There was a pause. ‘In that wagon.’ ‘That’s right.’ Another pause. Damen, who was telling the truth, looked back at the Captain with the steady gaze he had learned from Laurent. It didn’t work. ‘I’m sure the Lady Jokaste won’t mind answering a few questions.’

he rolled like a 9 for persuasion

He was red-faced and sweating slightly. ‘At the Lady’s request, I will ride with you personally through the last of the checkpoints, to ensure that you are not stopped again.’ ‘Thank you, Captain,’ said Damen, with great dignity.

i love that pacat didn’t tell us what the plan was, so we could worry for a second that they'd already failed. and then, this

‘The stories of Lady Jokaste’s beauty are not exaggerated,’ said the Captain, man-to-man, as they wound their way across the countryside. ‘I expect you to speak of the Lady Jokaste with the greatest respect, Captain,’ said Damen. ‘Yes, of course, my apologies,’ said the Captain.

“that’s my fucking DIVORCE HUSBAND”

He said, ‘How did you convince Jokaste to play along with the guards?’ ‘I didn’t,’ said Laurent. He tossed the wad of blue silk in his hands to one of the soldiers to dispose of, then shrugged into his jacket in a rather mannish gesture. Nikandros was staring at him. ‘Don’t think about it too much,’ said Damen.

i love the way “mannish gesture” is specified. like he can do both. good for him.

(this is sooooo botw/totk link. anyway)

Laurent held out his hand to escort her back from the supply wagon into the main wagon, a bored Veretian gesture. Her eyes had the same bored look as she took his hand. ‘You’re lucky we’re alike,’ she said, stepping down. They looked at one another like two reptiles.

they should be best friends

‘Keep the wagons on course,’ Damen said to Nikandros. ‘I’ll be swift, and I’ll take our best rider with me.’ ‘That’s me,’ said Laurent, wheeling his horse.

“and our horses are canonically in love. just in case you’ve forgotten”

Sweeping a branch out of his face, Damen said, ‘I thought when I was King I wouldn’t be doing this kind of thing again.’ ‘You underestimated the demands of Akielon kingship,’ said Laurent.

i love prince's gambit

‘The undergrowth was thinner when I was a boy.’ ‘Or you were.’

did laurent just call him thicc

‘Stop,’ said Laurent. Damen stopped. Following Laurent’s gaze, he saw a dog lounging on its chain near a small penned field full of horses on the west side of the estate.

me when i want to pet a dog

‘I’ll take care of the sentries,’ said Laurent. ‘You left the dress in the wagon,’ said Damen. ‘Thank you, I do have other ways of getting past a sentry.’

The light through the trees dappled Laurent’s hair, which was longer now than it had been in the palace, and showing signs of minor disarray. It had a twig in it.

how dare that twig mess with laurent’s gorgeous hair!!!

There was no sign of a blond head, but somehow the dog got loose and went streaking through the yard to where the unfamiliar horses were penned.

dog = pet

The spasming excitement of the dog egged them on. As did the sylph-like actions of a ghost, untying ropes, slipping open rails.

laurent is an animal whisperer. that’s a personal headcanon of mine

They probably felt they had the most to lose, but in fact everyone would lose the same thing: their lives. Everyone but Jokaste. She only said, mildly, ‘Trouble at Heston’s?’

i love jokaste. spinoff please

And then he saw the pale head, and the paler white shirt, a lithe figure palming his way from tree trunk to tree trunk. ‘You’re late,’ said Damen. ‘I brought you a souvenir.’ Laurent tossed Damen an apricot. Damen could feel the quiet exultation of Laurent’s men, while the Akielons looked a little dazed. Nikandros passed Laurent his reins. ‘Is this how you do things in Vere?’ ‘You mean effectively?’ said Laurent. And swung up onto his horse.

i’m sad that this series is best known for being horny because i am infinitely more interested in laurent being a snarky action hero than i am in him having sex. and i think lots of other people would be too

Risk of laming was high

i read that as “lamen-ing” at first

Earlier, Laurent had tossed Damen his bedroll and said, ‘Unpack this,’ and Pallas had almost challenged him to a duel for the insult.

Sitting down and eating cheese casually with their King was not something that they knew how to do.

i cannot believe people in the fandom would apparently rather live in akielos than in vere. in akielos, you’re not allowed to acknowledge the humanity of people beneath your class, which as far as i can tell is determined by birth. in vere, people like jord and laurent are homies who mutually respect each other, and you can social climb your way to the high court by giving good head

Laurent strolled up to the impasse, threw himself down on the log next to Damen, and in an expressionless voice launched into the story of the brothel adventure that had earned him the blue dress, which was so unabashedly filthy it made Lazar blush, and so funny it had Pallas wiping his eyes.

i love laurent of vere

‘You smell of horse,’ said Damen. ‘It’s how I got past the dog.’ He felt a throb of happiness, and said nothing, just lay on his back and looked up at the stars. ‘It’s like old times,’ said Damen, though the truth was, he had never really had times like this.

damen are you forgetting prince’s gambit again

‘My first trip to Akielos,’ said Laurent. ‘Do you like it?’ ‘It’s like Vere, with fewer places to have a bath,’ said Laurent.

yeah i’m sure that’s not the sum of his thoughts, but he’s trying to take it easy

‘You want me wandering around the Akielon countryside naked at night?’ And then, ‘You smell just as much of horse as I do.’ ‘More,’ said Damen. He was smiling.

laurent: if you want me to get naked you’re going to have to do it too damen: bet

‘They’re Artesian. Aren’t they? From the old empire, Artes. They say it used to span both our countries.’ ‘Like the ruins at Acquitart,’ said Laurent. He didn’t say, And at Marlas. ‘My brother and I used to play there as boys. Kill all the Akielons and restore the old empire.’ ‘My father had the same idea.’ And look what happened to him. Laurent didn’t say that either.

you just know child laurent used history books and his imagination to construct a sophisticated and complex narrative for him and auguste to play-act

His pulse beat with uncharacteristic nerves, so that he felt almost shy. ‘When all this is over . . . we could take horses and stay a week in the palace.’ Since their night together in Karthas, he hadn’t dared to speak about the future. He felt Laurent holding himself carefully, and there was a strange pause. After a moment, Laurent said, softly, ‘I’d like that.’ Damen rolled onto his back again, and felt the words like happiness as he let himself look up again at the wide sweep of stars.

i think it’s sweet how nervous and awkward they are about admitting the desire to do something this simple, when they’ve had the most complicated and intensely intimate relationship i’ve ever read in fiction

[dust-jacket-analysis]

There's a lot of discourse going on over on TikTok right now regarding Booktok. And as an avid reader, Booktok watcher, and someone who has a deep love for analyzing the media I enjoy, I'd feel remis if I didn't get my thoughts out there.

I know these particular posts never got much engagement when I posted on my old account, but if I could please just have a bit of your time. This is all apart of a larger subject of which I'm extremely passionate on.

Four days ago Booktoker @bookishwithb aka, Celine, posted a video. In that video she talked about the rise of anti-intellectualism, specifically on booktok. She addresses the way books are "marketed" or presented on booktok, and also how that has an impact on the publishing industry.

Her main talking point was how a lot of books are being recommended based on what tropes are in them. More specifically, reduced based on those tropes. Her example being the Poppy War, by R.F Kuang.

She talked about how she's seen it marketed as a book with "a strong female main character." And how infuriating that was to her. She went on to explain how there was so much more to the book and how it was about war, and trauma, and how dark and deep and impactful it is. I highly recommend this video to anyone interested. Because while controversial it says a lot about the "tropeification" of media (which will probably be a post by me sometime in the future).

And as is the ways of the internet, this sparked something huge.

So many different creators responded to her video. Some agreeing, most disagreeing. There's been outrage, and healthy debate. But mainly (and most importantly) conversation. Everyone throwing their two cents in, people defending the right to read what you want how you want.

And since the original video went up, this conversation has taken on a life of it's own. It's now become about reading for fun Vs. reading for analysis.

Many argue that it doesn't matter why people read, or how. Just that they are. Others argue it's a sign of a bigger issue that readers no longer engage in the story's their reading.

I have my own opinions. I agree with both sides on certain things, and am overall enjoying the discussions. But, as always, I have things to say.

There are some books that, while entertaining and a fun read, have no substance per say. No analytical value. I think a lot of those three-hundred page medium spice romance books you find on a table at Barnes and Noble fall under this category.

Now, I really love reading those books. Their quick easy reads that keep me entertained. But, they really cannot be analyzed past surface level. Very much not a time to try and think critically.

Those are the books I read for escapism. When I just want to decompress and turn off my brain. Or make a long car ride pass by quickly. And that's okay. Yes? Because it's still reading. I am still gaining something from it. Physiological benefits, it's encouraging and strengthening my empathy. I am still (in some cases) increasing my Lexile, and keeping my brain working. Which is amazing.

Other times I read things with very high analytical value. Such as High Fantasy Novels with social commentary reflecting our world. Or Dystopia packed full with metaphor, allegory, and symbolism. Or even my most recent read for college: Brown Girl In The Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson. An amazing book commenting on the suburban sprawl, and urban decay. Sprinkled with magical realism regarding Afro-Caribbean culture, and even mentions of Romani practices such as Tarot.

These are books I read knowing I need to turn on the part of my brain that's very analytical. That enjoys breaking things down in that way. Storylines I have to engage with on an additional level, otherwise I miss the entire point of this story. It's not only important, but necessary.

So, yes. Reading is reading, now matter what. And any reading is better than no reading. And we should foster that mindset, especially amongst younger generations. But, that doesn't mean you should never engage critically with a book or show or movie you're consuming. Because some media requires that for a base level understanding. And saying that doesn't make me elitist. Or pretentious or judgmental or a snob. Because it's really just true.

I've seen a lot of creators bring up the literacy crisis in youth, specifically in my country (America). How many kids can't read at a level they should be in elementary schools. Even in Highschool. And that we really should all just be content there's an entire community at least reading at all. That we should encourage any and all reading.

And to that I say... yes, but no.

Because here's the thing. There is in the most literal sense, a literacy crisis. The kid's can't read. And it is absolutely devastating. As someone who grew up devouring books every week, reading three grades above my own, it's soul crushing. So I do think reading should be more pushed and encouraged. In school, in the home, everywhere. As much as possible and appropriate for children. Any and all.

But, there's also another literacy crisis. A Media literacy crisis.

Media literacy, the ability to critically analyze and engage with media, is at an all time low. According to a survey done by Media Literacy Now and, the Reboot Foundation, 42% of respondents were taught how to analyze media. Let that sink in. 42%. That's less than half the people who participated in the survey.

(More statistics generated by AI with the following prompt: Give me reliable statistics regarding media literacy in terms of books/reading:

A Survey done by the National Endowment for the Humanities states 65% of adults have low literary skills when it comes to reading comprehension, critical thinking, and expression.

Pew research conducted a survey with resulted in 57% America adults having read at least one book in the last year. With 26% American adults not having read any form of book in the past year. Including audio books.

The American Library Association has said that the average American only reads four books per year. And more developed countries only have average citizens at ten books a year.

An Survey done by Reading Partners has said that 1 and 4 children read at a below basic level by the end of 4th grade.)

And we see this sentiment echoes all over the internet. Constantly videos are made with people talking about how they were never taught Media literacy, and their should be a class all about just that (Which... I have thoughts on. Again, another post).

Even though you can (rightly) argue that this skill was taught. In English class. That's not the point. The point is that people cannot only not read, but most young adults and fully grown adults cannot read critically. Cannot, will not, and aren't.

And in some cases it's because they don't and still don't have the resources. But these statistics aren't just minorities, people in poverty. These surveys and statistics cover people from every walk of life. Poor, Rich, White, Black, Asian, Hispanic. Queer, Straight, Trans, Cis. All ethnicities, wealth brackets, identities. Every demographic. It's indictive of a larger issue.

So we should encourage reading for fun. Reading to read. Reading for escapism. Reading of every kind. But, to claim that there isn't an issue? To trample creators addressing these issues with insults? To claim it's them being pretentious, snobby, elitest, Privileged etc.? That's feeding the issue.

Recently my friend recommended me a video essay, which I unfortunately can't find (Will edit the title when I can).

But in that video, my friend told me that the creator says something... so insightful. She defines stupid as this: Not a lack of knowledge, but the unwillingness to accept new knowledge.

Which is just... such a perfect way to look at it.

You aren't "stupid" for not knowing how to think critically. For not having learned to analyze media, and for not having the resources to do so. But if you have the resources, have the ability to learn how, and you don't/refuse? That makes you stupid.

And by burying your head in the sand and claiming that there is no issue, by hiding behind pseudo offense and that claims of judgement, you're being stupid.

Don't be outraged that the creator of the video that started this all. Don't feel "called out" or judged. Don't put words in her mouth. She wasn't saying people cannot read for enjoyment. She was simply pointing out a larger issue.

--------------------------------------------

To end this very long and tedious post, I'd like to provide a couple of videos in order to help improve Media Literacy! Just some videos I've watched that I found helpful (Also if you just go on youtube and search up "how to analyze..." you'll find so much more)

Crash Course Media Literacy: A playlist series that breaks down media literacy and the history of media as a whole.

How to analyze a Book- 101: This video gives techniques on how to better understand what you're reading, and how to find the main themes and organize them. It gives tips and processes.

How to Read (and Understand) Hard Books: This video breaks down the three types of reading and even gives book recommendations that touch on that.

A beginner's guide to Critical Literary Analysis: This video is made by fellow tumblr user @bluemooniegif (One of us ✊One of us✊). A very good video for beginners. They literally opens the video telling the viewer you don't need any prior knowledge. They also has another video on her channel, which is just the next step up from this one! It's super great, and perfect if you're younger or have less of an understanding on any of this.

Diving into and developing media literacy skills takes effort. It's not a skill you can gain over night, and requires time. But, if you're willing to take that time, a whole new world opens up to you. And you begin to look at everything through a whole new light.

[indierpgnewsletter]

Should the GM make things interesting?

Obviously, yes. But also, no.

Words are great, stay with me.

I was reading an Alexandrian article that was about the – often debated – idea that when players come up with a good plan and the dice roll in their favour, their plan should just work. While a GM might be tempted to force some hitch, some curveball, some twist – some interesting-ness, the Alexandrian (and lots of other people) suggest that you should resist that urge and just let things be simple.

The sense that “something interesting should happen here” is understandable because it’s so often the role that the GM is playing. It comes from stories we know and other games we’ve played, right? There’s no good heist movie where the plan just works out. And probably your favourite gaming session was one where there were outrageous twists and unforeseen consequences. This particularly applies to trad and storygames – cultures that want sessions to feel like a particular kind of narrative or a particular medium, usually a movie or TV show.

Now the Alexandrian has a very trad focus. In the games being discussed, players normally spend a lot of time planning – discussions, debates, dice rolls around investigation and convincing NPCs. Now anyone who has invested all this time will find it pretty fun if their plan goes well. So I agree with the Alexandrian, if the dice fall favourably (rare!), a hitch-less session is great and will be enjoyed by all. And if everyone is already having fun, why would you feel the need to do something more?

If you think that it’s only interesting when sessions have twists and turns, then play something like Blades in the Dark where the idea is that you plan less and fail more. It’s probably a better fit for you because it’s design is in line with how you want to play.

Okay, but what happens when you’re playing Blades in the Dark and the players are just rolling 6s? In a lot of Forged in the Dark games, there’s been a trend towards designing some kind of currency that the GM can spend to introduce twists that is aimed squarely at this problem. I am not a fan of that stuff for two reasons. First, because mostly they’re giving people permission to do things that they already do. Nothing can stop me when I think of something cool to say, nothing! Or to put it more seriously, there’s a reason Apocalypse World says you make GM moves when players look to you. Or when there’s a golden opportunity. Second, even though these games are it’s-only-interesting-when-things-go-wrong games, even though there is minimal planning investment, it is still perfectly fine for a session to have only expected and obvious things happen.

Why? Because the players’ actions are interesting enough. Or at least, they should be.

Games like Blades in the Dark are more or less defined to facilitate players taking only interesting actions. They’re designed around players coming up with outrageous ideas and having the tools to actualize them. Not always succeeding… but at least crashing and burning in an entertaining way.

I think it’s important to think of these games as ones where players are supposed to be able to entertain themselves.

But, you ask, what if the players’ plans aren’t interesting? Well, I say, interesting to whom? If the players’ actions aren’t interesting even to them i.e. they are bored by their own choices, then that’s a real problem. When I find myself in that situation, it either means I’m having an off-day or I’m playing the wrong game with the wrong group. Not a big deal – I’ve been there before, I know what to do (see last week’s post). But it’s not something that can be fixed by a GM. If their actions aren’t interesting to you but are interesting to them, that’s a complicated situation too. But it has nothing to do with games.

So, yes. Should the GM make things interesting? Obviously, yes. But also, sometimes, no.

(This was first published in the Indie RPG Newsletter.)

[all-pacas]

Would you elaborate on a Chase in The Good Place AU? It's consuming my brain since you mentioned it and I love your AUs

I mean, mostly just an offhand comment on I'd love to have all of them be forced to attend a Chidi philosophy lecture, because it would be fascinating on so many different levels, right? Or just using the Good Place as a shorthand for "surprise! Your life was meaningless and now you're in hell! Change!"

Foreman and Cameron both seem fairly set and certain of their morals and philosophies, but are in different ways hypocritical and inconsistent. They both think of themselves as good people for sure. And I don't know how much critical self reflection either of them do.

Chase is a bit askew of the two of them, not because I think he's much more self aware, but he's also much more morally vague — he doesn't have a ton of stated values or a strict moral code, I'm not even sure how he views himself, how he'd define himself if asked. Cameron would call herself a good person. Foreman would call himself intelligent, a good person. Would Chase? Not out of some enlightened awareness, but just… everyone on the show thinks he's morally vacant, and he knows it too.

(And that's not even touching House or Wilson in the Good Place. House alone, who studies religion and philosophy and both knows his morals and his code and is incredibly ambivalent and self-hating.)

I mean, they're all going to the Bad Place. I think Chase and House would be the least surprised, on a scale: not happy or accepting, but, you know. Sure. (Especially post S6 Chase. He knows he's off to hell.)

Cameron would be horrified, and outraged. She does so much to help people! She's so nice! I think she overlooks or tries to overlook the harm she causes, the ways she can be cruel: they're accidents. They're unintentional. Intent is what matters, and her intents are always good, or at least: she tells herself that they are. Which isn't true. She can behave selfishly, she can behave unkindly. But it's very important to Cameron that she is a good person, both as something to be and something to strive towards. And she is! She is a good person! She does work hard at it! But I do think she ignores her own failings.

Foreman, for his part, strikes me as a utilitarian — he's done net good, so what does it matter if here and there he's bent a rule or hurt someone's feelings? He probably is the one who lies awake and considers himself and his place in the world and how he's doing and what he's done. He wants to be good, but he also wants to be the best, he wants to be admired. (Him and Amber are the same. If they won't like you, you have to be right.) He wants power, partially because he does have that ego; partially because it's a way of proving himself. On the whole, he is a Good Doctor, he Saves Lives, he Helps People. That should outweigh the people he's hurt or been cruel to. That should matter more.

I don't know what sort of philosophy Chase would best fit with. He falls into a sort of … nihilistic hedonism, almost: enjoying himself and wanting to have fun, but only because he also believes that if he's a burden to others he deserves death; because he's Quite Catholic and just sort of accepts when it's over he's going to hell. So what does it matter, right? If he's fucked no matter what, why not sleep around and having a good time? It's sort of a reflection of his talk with House in Cursed: if caring leads to pain, it's better not to care. If you burden others, you have failed.

So they're all in the Bad Place. There was another bus accident or something. And they get to do the fixed version of the game, reincarnating again and again until they reach enlightenment. Foreman's Bad Place seems pretty easy. He's gotta stop caring so much about the opinions of others, getting his self worth via superiority and praise. Cameron's biggest flaw, I think, is that she avoids the consequences from her actions. Runs away and uproots her life repeatedly; ignores the ways she hurts people or ignores their feelings. In a way she's too empathic: she pushes her own feelings and empathy onto others, and assumes they feel the same way she does, need nothing but what she'd need or want. I'm not sure how to make that her personal hell. Chase? He's again the hardest (after House), because I think he'd sort of just accept he was in Hell and that was that: why try to improve? Why try to change? He doesn't try, that's his biggest problem. We know he's incredibly bright, capable of solving cases on his own from early on, but he never tries (because trying means failing which means disappointing others). He stays with House for years after he should have moved on because it's safer and easier. So that's his personal hell: something to make him need to try, want to be better. Put him in a position where he has to.

[stygiansun-totaleclipse]

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Fen!!!! Hope you are doing weeeell 😇

The Aurryn thread had me in stitches omg. You created a problem... now take responsibility 👀

Also just completely ignoring the whole reaction you have to the luca questions..... hmmm... 🧐🤔

But back to my ask. It is my most favorite ask i alwaaaayyyyys ask and i neeed to ask. If no one else has. But i fucking love a jealous RO especially when they try to not be jealous or it's completely outrageous for them to be.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo: MC is at some ball thing and another noble is very much just trying to rizz the hell out of them. Like flirting their pants off (to hopefully flirt the MCs pants off too) and MC isn't uncomfortable but just enduring it because it's probably not something new. What do the ROs do/think about that 👀 📝

Also, I'm so glad the page is so lively, lol 💜

Hi again!! I’m doing well thank you! Hope you are good too. I see no problem with the aurynn situation 😏--in fact I have discovered I have the power to turn straight people gay with nothing more than a drawing so NONE of you are safe. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🔫🐛pew pew

Dunno what you are talking about with the Luca questions....there is nothing suspicious going on. :3

As for the jealousy question:

Kieran: pre-feelings, they won't really be very jealous and would probably only intervene bc they feel that someone flirting with their betrothed is going to be a bad look for them, you, and the noble. Post-feelings, they would start getting jealous but would have a hard time recognizing it as jealousy bc it is not a feeling they are familiar with. They'd probs spend a while just watching you from across the room with a troubled look and then find some excuse--if only to convince themselves they are doing this for a good reason--to cut in and dance with MC instead. They'd be in denial over feeling jealous.

Aurynn: pre-feelings, not going to care much so long as MC doesn't look uncomfortable. If MC does look uncomfortable or like they are so incredibly bored out of their skull, he'd step in but otherwise he is fine with letting MC handle it or if mc is flirting with others if they want to. He's a slut. He gets it. And he knows if MC really wants out of it they can just signal him with a look and he’ll come to the rescue but not without badgering the hell out of the noble first, if only just for the fun of it. Post-feelings, he's going to be struggling with why the hell he cares so much about seeing someone else rizzing mc up and might start getting petty about it. He wouldn't even care about rudely cutting in if it means he gets to monopolize your time and would probs overcompensate by being overly casual and talking too much so you can’t get a word in edgewise or question him bc he doesn’t quite know why he did that either.

Samira: Pre-feelings, so long as MC doesn't look uncomfortable, she would feel it would be rude to intrude even if she thinks it is a bad look for someone to be flirting with an engaged person so openly bc she is not nobility and feels a bit out of place cutting in between nobles but she would offer sympathetic looks if she can tell mc is just enduring it. Post-feelings, she might start to choose to interpret the noble's actions as overly brazen and mc as uncomfortable just to give herself an excuse to cut in. Would be staring daggers at the other noble even after they left despite herself.

Nihm: pre-feelings, would feel it would be bad for someone to be flirting with an engaged mc so openly and might leave it for Kieran to handle out of respect but if Kieran doesn’t notice then they might try to politely cut in so as not to cause a scene. post-feelings, they are going to have some internal suffering and maybe staring at mc longingly from across the ballroom as they try to figure out what they should do. Might cut in to avoid a bad situation and then feel really awkward afterwards bc they've cut in for selfish reasons and now don't know what to do about it. Might just leave out of embarrassment.

Lilith/Lucien: Petty about it either way. They might debate about stepping in at first and then very quickly lose that self-debate—if one even occurred at all—and scare away the noble, which wouldn't be hard considering L's reputation in Celestyl. They’d be pretty smug about having your undivided attention. They tend to pout if you choose someone else over them, depending on the situation.

[lemonhemlock]

No because all the anons talking about the Aemond x TB OC self insert fics are so real. Because those are so ridiculous derivative it is crazy

-White haired Targaryen looking child of Rhaenyra, probably named Visenya is either 1- takes after her mother because genetics don't exist 2-is the one trueborn daughter of Laenor and Rhaenyra who was conceived during consummation

-Can sword-fight, ride, talks like a 21st century woman, is a #girlboss and a 3rd wave feminist

-Takes Aemond's eye out as children instead of Luke being the one to do it

-Aemond somehow falls head over heels in love with her because she is #notlikeothergirls and just really really super hot

-Aemond abandons his family, his brothers, his sister, his mother and all the people he cares about to go fight for Rhaenyra because apparently the SI is just so hot and he is so in love with her

-They probably repeatedly have amazing super hot poorly written pre-marital sex but SI ofc doesn't get pregnant but there is no explanation like moon tea or anything

-Aemond calls his family out for being misogynistic haters or something for some reason????

- 639363 pages of Alicent bashing

-Aegon is the devil himself

-SI and Aemond get married and have children with white hair who they name after Rhaenyra and Daemon

-Author somehow managing to sneak in their own opinions that Rhaenyra is the one true heir and her and Daemon are innocent little saints who do no wrong

Just explained the plot of like a min. of 50 of Aemond x TB OC fics

i mean.... yeah :)) good for them for having their fun, but, bless their hearts, i had to check out

at the end of the day everyone can relate to this feeling of frustration when the majority of fics skew in a direction you're not a fan of. and every author should absolutely feel like they can post whatever they want and enjoy themselves; the target audience isn't always you and that's fine. but i simultaneously feel like venting these annoyances with like-minded people in your own space is also not a crime. sometimes we don't like stuff and want to gossip about it. it's really not that serious, everyone has the thinnest skin imaginable these days

it's like we've forgotten how to interact with one another. not liking something is not a personal affront to the person who does like it. it does not require outrage at the expressing of an opinion. it does not require a silencing campaign. you shouldn't expect others to keep quiet all the time just so your feelings won't be hurt. the fuck. especially when, i repeat, the tags can always be muted. what are you even doing interacting with the posts if the mere act of verbalizing a dislike bothers you so much?

there's a world of difference between occasional banter and sending authors hate, leaving disgruntled reviews, telling people to kms or insinuating that on your blog, casually accusing them of being illegal sexual deviants and whatever other deranged insults stans trade like candy and we definitely should stop acting like these two things are the same. you don't have to turn everything into a fight in the trenches

Anonymous asked: Yeah while I don't expect Alicent to be portrayed in every fic as the best mother who has no bad qualities since nobody is perfect it's becoming tiring to constantly read about how she's always trying to actively destroy her children's lives and is to blame for most things including the upcoming war while Rhaenyra is an amazing mother who truly loves her children and can do no wrong, like the worst she'll do is maybe arrange some unwanted marriage to her OC daughter or betroth her to another man who is not Aemond. I've come across to stories in which Alicent was abusive to Aemond for no reason other than she's a bad mother, was physically recoiled by his lost eye, turned and indoctrinated him into a religious extremist just like she's always portrayed in many fics or even tried to have Rhaenyra's daughter be assassinated just to prevent Aemond from defecting to the other side by marrying her and not the Baratheon daughter the greens want him to marry. To some extent I do believe it's very hard to avoid some OOC-ness from these characters since they're being put into new scenarios that didn't happen in canon and everything about this is being left to the author's personal interpretation which will naturally spark some debate whether or not what a certain character's actions are believable within their universe, however, due to the formulaic nature of a lot of those fics most characters (especially green ones if we're talking about Rhaenyra's daughter OCs) are brought to insane levels of OOC just to make their story work. Like yeah, if Aemond has constantly been abused by his mother (not physically necessarily), by Aegon, by his grandfather and, on top of that, Alicent and/or Otto try to have his beloved OC assassinated well, chances are this will make him denounce his family and switch sides sooner or later. Something that would've never happened under normal circumstances. Oh and I've also noticed a trend in quite a few of these fics of using Alys in cheating tropes and always turning her into an evil witch and seductress who tries to separate Aemond from the OC and use him for her own benefits…all I'm going to say is you don't want to see how demented and misogynistic people get about her in the comment sections. Anyway I'm sorry about extending this discussion about Aemond x OC fics and I hope it hasn't attracted too many weirdos who are spewing hate in your inbox!

i pretty much agree with you, anon, not much more to add. :))

[blazehedgehog]

a negative question (those aren't fun i know) but what would you think of as some awful moments in gaming or gaming history?

I mean top of the list is Gamer Gate. Gamer Gate was, by the admission of the person who started it, his way of getting back at his ex-girlfriend. That's all it was. And it spiraled out of control into an entire hate movement that's still leaving ripples to this very day.

I am also of the opinion that most people who believed Gamer Gate was about game journalists were mislead and ultimately don't understand a lot about what they were campaigning against. The whole "ethics and lying in game journalism" largely stems from a growing series of misunderstandings and ignorance, which was largely exploited by bad actors to target women and minorities.

You cannot and will not convince me otherwise. Never ever.

That's because, in my 12 year stint writing for TSSZ, I took the job very seriously. It may not have paid much, but it did pay, and I did get a lot of valuable experience. And I watched friends in similar boats actually elevate their careers and become big, well-respected names in the games media/journalism space. Which gives me a better perspective than some folks have on what really goes on in that space.

I've talked about this at length many times over the years. About the weird adversarial relationship the press has with their fandom. And it's too big of a topic to contain in one single tumblr post, because it's many subjects, spanning decades. I cannot sum up why journalists used to (and still do) dunk on their fanbases, and why readers continue to value their opinions even in spite of that.

But I will say this: real, genuine corruption is a lot less common than you think. A lot of people get very twisted up in imaginary scenarios that simply do not exist. Most people in the press are simply trying to survive by whatever means the system allows them to. And I'd argue a lot of them are spiteful of their readers because some of you are genuinely insane and jump to these outrageous conclusions over literally nothing. Some folks don't know what an opinion means, or understand subjectivity, and treat it as a declaration of war.

Do conflicts of interest happen? Yes, absolutely. But with the way the market currently is, a lot of those things are necessary to keep media companies afloat. That's unfortunate, but it's not corruption. Not at the level you think it is.

When you see a website covered in ads for WAR OF DUTY 8: REDACTED OPS 4 and there's a prominent review for that same game, I can guarantee the person writing that review does not benefit from those ads and did not choose to put them there. All that money and all that blame goes to the corporation that owns the site. To the marketing managers and the CEO sitting at the end of the board room. That corporation may even go as far as to suggest edits to what probably starts out as a very honest review. But it is not the writer's fault. The writer has bills to pay. The writer needs to buy groceries. The writer needs to keep this job. The writer had real feelings and it was the corporation that changed the text.

And even then? The scenario I just described is rare.

You want to know what's even more rare? An indie developer sleeping with a writer for coverage of their game. A game, that, might I add, didn't even cost money. What was to gain there? Clout? You're out of your mind if you think that actually mattered.

Also? It's entertainment criticism. It is literally "Does this person like this piece of media yes or no?" This is not Watergate. It is not 9/11. Does honesty matter? Sure. But if you don't like a writer, go find a different one. There's a lot of us! But don't circle the wagons and prepare for battle, because that makes you a psychopath.

(Better yet: if you don't like a writer, start writing your own stuff! Be the change you want to see in the world and then understand how you're treated for that)

Which again just feeds into the idea that people who still believe that gamer gate was legitimate were tricked. It was a smoke screen. You were part of a hate movement. And how you react to that says a lot about you as a person and your values in this world.

[lutzlig]

Tumblrwoman Election Wrap-Up

To celebrate the end of this election, I'm gonna answer the rest of your questions!

First off:

Thanks everyone for participating! This ended up way bigger than expected. It was pretty exciting, seeing everybody chime in and participate.

Shoutout ESPECIALLY to all the people making fanarts, memes, etc... you people are incredible!!! Most of it can be found under #twe23, be sure to check it out, everybody!

Here's some highlights you people have made:

this github live number tracker made by @twilight-sparkle-irl during the vriska/katya poll. A THRILLING read!

this hollow knight miku oc by @anonymous-utility!! shes so cute...

@seasoned-cabbage made a wiki sandbox for the polls... it's so satisfying to see the stats laid out like this : D

@unidentifiedfroggy wrote fanfiction that just perfectly encapsulates the whole experience : ' )

General Q&A

"Who did you want to win?"

I myself think Vriska deserved the title most! I think vriska is just as integral to tumblr as Cecil is, if not more.

As for the other 2 involved, they didn't really care who won!

How often did you hear "Why are you pitting 2 bad bitches against each other"?

Often! One of us was going to count, but he got so annoyed that he stopped. You people need to get a new sentence.

"Why are there minors in a tumblrsexywoman contest?"

It's not a tumblr sexywoman contest, it's a tumblrwoman election! Before we made the poll, we considered whether it's better to throw out the minors or remove the "sexy" angle. We decided on the latter, mostly because this kind of competition would feel incomplete without tumblrgirls like miku and vriska.

Will you be doing this again next year?

Hm, not sure. Probably not! At least, I wasn't planning on it. We did this on a whim, and this is (SUPPOSED TO BE) my art blog.

I might make a blog for it next year, if these are still relevant and the demand is high (which i highly doubt).

Why didn't you answer my question?

I got like 130 asks this week and most of them were cries of pain and outrage. I was also incredibly busy irl until a day ago. If I didn't answer your question, Sorry!

Concerns about Corruption

According to the tags on these, every single one of the polls was rigged in some way or another. Particularly grievous examples of this were Miku's loss (I suspect Vriskavoters doing foul play (I am vriskavoters. I voted Bayonetta to sabotage Miku. Then i spent the whole day listening to Miku voicebank comparisons.)), and Marcie's win (Somebody accused the Adventure time subreddit of having swamped the poll. The post in question had 19 upvotes. The poll on tumblr had 92,123 votes).

What's more, I've been offered bribes!! Several american dollars! The political landscape of tumblr sure is a scary place...

Manners

Some of you really don't know how to act. This goes out to a small (but very, very vocal) minority - don't be a dick! Just because it's the internet does not mean you can just insult random strangers! This is a poll about fictional women, this is NOT a place to call people the r-word or imply someone is stupid for liking a character.

Some people left pretty graphic, violent messages. Most of these were jokes, but still. Take caution with the words you choose. This should go without saying, but telling strangers to "eat glass" and the like is not acceptable behaviour.

In the end, this was a competition between fictional characters, so seeing people arguing in the replies and trying to gain some sort of moral high ground was a little bit saddening.

Most of you were nice though, luckily : )

Thanks

To everyone who left kind messages, to everyone engaging and having fun, the fan art, the posts, to everyone expressing their thanks to us - thank you!!!

In the end, this was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see the website come together like that!

What's next?

For the next few days, I'm going to be promoting my friends' projects as much as I can to scare all of you people off of my blog.

I got WAY too many followers from this and frankly, that is simply not acceptable. You all need to leave NOW, because I want to get back to posting art eventually and I would rather not be on everybody's timeline.

That's why I have decided to become a massive sell out and reblog my friends' stuff on main for a bit. Peace!

[kabira]

a much-needed update.

hiiii so i realize i've pretty much left everyone here hanging for the past year, almost? and mentioned reposting on ao3 about a billion times but haven't really followed up on it. i've toyed with multiple ideas, like reposting, rewriting, deleting this blog off the face of the earth to disappear forever (jk), etc but! i've done some soul-searching in the sweltering summer and finally come to a decision.

there isn't a lot keeping me in this community now, but writing - for fun - isn't something i want to stop doing, because it's really important to me even outside the context of a fandom. i've become pretty rusty lately, though, owing to the fact that my last stint with writing a full-length piece was over a year ago, and i haven't really had the time or brainpower to chase down those plot bunnies (though they remain persistent). however, there's nothing that makes me want to write more than going through my old fics and being horrified by my many mistakes <3 so <3 i will instead be slowly rewriting and reposting my old fics.

does this mean i'll delete the old versions? probably not, because i like to see my own growth. i'll leave them unlinked on the masterlist and floating around on my blog in case anyone wants to revisit them. can't say i'm going to fix every single fic, but i'll try to do most of them. might even combine a couple of them into a single continuity (looking at you, spider-vernon).

i know i'm the prime example of all talk and no anything else, but i swear i'm going to try my best this time. hell, i opened my original draft of bhobc last night and redid the whole last scene on a whim, so i'd say the process is already in swing. if i can't bring myself to commit to something completely new, i'm at least going to try and redo what i already have. until then, i have some new ideas brewing that i'll probably end up either posting on ao3 (here) or my genshin blog (here) because i don't think i can fully come back to writing for kpop anymore. there's a million reasons for this, but the one that stands out the most is the way this community has responded to the events of the past few months.

despite all the atrocities being committed in gaza, i haven't seen most people even deem to comment on the state of affairs or use their accounts to bring light to them (some have talked it about their mains and not their kpop sideblogs with a SIGNIFICANTLY larger following - i wonder why!). even if you say it's for the sake of keeping content apart, why does this divide exist to you, truly?

it's disgusting to see that even some of the people here i used to respect haven't mentioned it, instead choosing to talk about their favorite kpop boy or, i don't know, what sonic character they'd be. even if something happens within the fandom, the outrage seems to be only momentary, a couple untagged posts expressing disappointment here, a two-week break there, and then they're right back to writing egregious smut as if nothing ever happened. where's your anger? where's your fucking humanity?

anyway, tldr, i'll be rewriting a big chunk of my fics and reposting the older versions anyway. also, fuck you to everyone who's been silent about the ongoing genocide.

[moon9931]

a really not well made meet the artist thing that i made

featuring me

but in real life

okay intro time ahem yay

Hey hi hi hello welcome!!!! My name is Gene, but you can call me moon in you want.

heres the info about me and this blog. you nerd. /silly:

I like to draw. its what you're going to see here. just be sure you can handle outrageous amounts of cringe.

im shy, and im going through lotsa stuff, so like, give me some time to post and dont expect posts every day

i have different designs for the pt characters i draw, especially fake peppino, i do that because i think its cool (but i dont really think people think its cool so i dont draw fp much)

Please be nice. this place is not a place to hate. go be an ass somewhere else

if you're an ass to the LGBT community please do not interact there is literally no point as I am OPENLY gay and I mention it sometimes

i am a minor please be mindful of that, and so is my batsona and humanoidsona, please no weird comments thank you

i am a lesbian and i enjoy drawing cleavages, to me, its fun

please no shipping discourse this place welcomes all non problematic ships

if I make you uncomfortable with any of my posts then I'm so sorry, you can 100% block me its okay

i dont draw pizza tower much anymore cuz im not that good at it, so i stick to my ocs

asks about me, my sonas, or my ocs is 100000000000000% appreciated it makes me happy, and same thing goes with fanart

hi i live off of kind words please tell me that im going to be okay /hj

also close up of me jumpscare warning

i think thats all

...

OH RIGHT MY BLORBOS

MY SMOOSHIEES

my babies!!! (some of them are probably middle aged but stfu)

names are in the alt text caption things

tagging @noodletime because im using Evelyn

also hi mutals and followers hii hello i love you /plat

[x0x0josephinex0x0]

bet | min yoongi

it's missing yoongi hours so here is this lil yoongi blurb to remind you he's the cutest ever <3 warnings: yoongi being a rizzler (jk), trash talking

It's game time.

Or at least it has been.

For the past three hours.

As Yoongi posts up for another round of one-on-one ball, you shake your head. "You like to nap more than anyone I know. How have you not gotten sick of getting your butt kicked by now?"

He grins. "You had enough? I'm pretty sure I've won more than half the games."

"What?! That's outrageous." In reality, it's probably close to even, but this is part of the fun -- the trash talk. And nobody does it better than Yoongi.

"Listen, if you're too tired to keep going, you can quit," he reminds you, a devilish glint in his eyes. "People your height aren't usually very good at basketball."

You laugh. "Min Yoongi, you are short."

He smirks at you. "Weak comeback," he says. "But I was thinking."

"Yeah? About how to stop getting your ass kicked?"

"No," he says with a chuckle. "Why don't we raise the stakes?"

"A bet?" you guess. He nods. "What are we wagering?"

He smiles, runs over to his bag, and pulls out a pen. "Write something on your hand you'd want me to do, and I'll do the same. Whoever loses has to do what's on the winner's hand."

Odd, you think to yourself. But you write on your hand -- "dance with me", something you've always wanted to ask him to do -- and hand the pen back to him. "Deal," you say lightly, although the laughter on his face as he writes on his hand makes you nervous. Is he writing something super embarrassing? Last time you lost a bet to him you had to climb a tree at 3 AM and pretend to get stuck so that the nearest passerby would have to help you out. You actually did get stuck, and Yoongi has never let you hear the end of it.

"There better be nothing about a tree on your hand," you call to him as you go to pick up the ball. You can hear him laugh.

The game is one of the best ones you've played against him. You're both playing extremely well, and you think you might actually have him beat -- until he aces a 3 from almost half-court. Then, the momentum is all his. You're tied up until the game point.

"What's on your hand anyway?" you ask Yoongi, out of breath.

He smiles, brushing some sweat away with his arm. "The only way for you to find out is to lose." And then he turns around and lobs the ball over his head.

Unbelievably, it swishes in.

Your jaw drops. "You did NOT just do that," you exclaim. "That was literally one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my whole life."

He shrugs. "I'm always motivated by the reward. What's on your hand?" he asks, grabbing it before you can dodge. He reads it and then his gaze flicks up to you.

"Dance with you?" he says quizzically.

"Uh..." Suddenly, you're embarrassed -- although you're not sure why. It's just dancing, right?

He pats your hand. "Don't worry," he says, misreading your embarrassment for worry. "There's no mention of trees on here." He hold his hand up.

"What does it say?" you ask, mildly dreading the answer.

"You'll find out tonight. I'll meet you at six at the square. Wear your normal clothes," he says, already walking away.

"What?" you say. But he's already gone, waving you away.

At six you stand anxiously in the middle of the small town square. The streets are mostly empty -- it's a sleepy little place, and most of the locals are inside with their families.

Suddenly, you hear a voice calling your name behind you. For some reason, this time around, it brings a chill to your spine.

When you turn, Yoongi stands there with a single white flower -- a daisy. Your favorite. He beckons you over with his head, the hand not carrying the flower hidden behind his back.

Gripped with curiosity, you move closer. "Okay, what's that about?" you ask, gesturing to the flower.

He sighs. "Gosh, do I really need to explain everything to you?" He laughs when you look confused. "It's for you."

He hands it to you. And then, from behind his back, the music starts -- a nice slow waltz playing on the speaker he had hidden in his other hand. He sets down the speaker and offers you his arm, and suddenly you are spinning onto the dance floor escorted by Min Yoongi.

"How on earth do you know how to waltz?" you ask him.

"This is by far the easiest dance I've done in awhile," he says. "Plus, you wanted to do it, so I learned after the game."

"You learned this in like two hours?" you ask incredulously.

"I'm actually pretty good at dancing," he reminds you, pushing you under his arm for a spin.

"Okay, you're right. But the real question remains." He raises his eyebrows curiously. "What did you write on your hand?"

He smiles and stops dancing. Taking both your hands in his, he places the hand he wrote on on top of your opposite one. In his neat handwriting, you read the words:

"Kiss Min Yoongi."

You look up at him, alarmed. "Is this a joke?"

He scoffs. "Why would I joke about that?" He tugs your arms so they rest around his neck. Your faces are almost nose to nose. He smiles gently. "Is it okay, though?"

"Okay?" you choke.

"Like, do you want me to?" He looks suddenly worried. "I won't if you don't like me like that. I just thought --"

But before he can finish, you make up your mind. Standing on your tiptoes, you kiss him.

His smile when you pull away is brighter than the sun. "Out of curiosity," you say, still stuck in his embrace, "what were you planning to do if you lost?"

He laughs. "There was no way I was going to lose that one."