#this is supposed to be an art blog but i haven't put up any art yet

[wizardsix]

probably won't be making any other veilguard posts bc I'm over it and I think we've beaten this game into the dirt enough. my ask box is always open if anyone wants my thoughts on smth specific or just wants to complain but I think I've had enough lol I want to move on to other games

[lavendoodles]

a fanart i've been wanting to finish for a literal month.

she is complete. it really has been a full month. I started this on the night of November 30th and finished it like 10 minutes ago on December 30th.

(The marvelous design belongs to @bigfatbreak !!!! Thank you for dropping this masterpiece omg)

I'm not gonna lie, this is the first reason I wanted to open a blog in the first place.

(if you want to read my rambles and see a closeup of the drawing, i'll put everything under the cut!)

A few months ago, a friend introduced me to the absolute jewel that is Bigfatbreak's Miraculous Ladybug AU, and I was hooked from the very beginning. I mean, you have all the stakes, all the drama, all the edginess that the original show could only dream of having, and the art is so pretty!!! The color palettes used for each chapter are always so pleasing to the eye, and the "halos" are a beautiful addition to the characters and the visuals when important moments happen.

I knew that I would make some study doodles for myself at some point, but as soon as that chapter dropped and we got to see Marinette as the snake Miraculous holder... I dropped everything and RAN to my tablet. Her design is STUNNING and I couldn't express my admiration in any other way, I HAD to draw her.

For some reason, I wanted to go for something big with needles and a tarot card as an inspiration. So I spent maybe the next three days working on it, but uuuuh that wasn't it. I also wanted to include snakes and some tulle fabric for the background, without realising how hard these two elements were to draw, especially the fabric (it's torture. I'm very open to tips or resources if you've got something). Then I felt like I couldn't get the tarot format to work. Then the rendering sucked. And I still couldn't make the background work. I gave up for a month. <3

And I suppose that it's in those moments of creative emptiness and lack of motivation, that everything suddenly clicks as if it was obvious from the get go.

Let's just go for a simple, eye-catching background with very soft rendering and a mysterious glow emanating from twelve sewing needles turning counter-clockwise. I know this piece is still full of potential, but I wanted to finish it before 2024 and before my mind had a chance to make me give up.

I find my mind to be incredibly insulting when it happens. But uh, considering that I haven't done anything solid in a month, I still take it as a small victory. Small victory is classy snake speedrunner seamstress. You go, Marinette.

[cheezitofthevalley]

Part 1

Hi! Sorry this took so long (new job). Let's get right to it.

Q: What are dividers?

A: Dividers are any graphic that is used to divide two things, usually bodies of text. They are useful for breaking up blog posts and signalling the end of a topic. You might not have noticed, but many websites feature dividers of some kind. Bloggers, however, tend to be a bit extra about their dividers. Here are some good examples:

Q: Ok, cool. It probably wasn't necessary for you to put that many examples, but it does make it clear that dividers can be pretty much anything. Still, I think there are more graphics that you've posted. What about those tiny thingys?

A: You mean favicons? Yeah, let's talk about those.

Favicons are tiny images that represent a website or company. Any easy example is probably right in front of you, if you're on a laptop. Look at the Tumblr tab you have open; do you see the little "t" icon? That's a favicon. Favicons were originally 16x16 pixels. They can be animated.

That being said, lots of people use the term to refer to any small pixel art. These can also be called pixels.

Q: Wait. Why call pixel art a pixel? Aren't pixels single points on a screen?

A: Well, yes. And favicons are supposed to have very specific dimensions and uses, but here we are. "Pixels" can sometimes refer to tiny pixel art, usually between 16x16 and 32x32 pixels (I know, confusing) large. These pixels are often animated. I use favicons and pixels to refer to the same thing.

Q: Ok, I think I get it. But what are pixels used for? Are they essentially icons, or trademarks, like favicons?

A: Sometimes, but usually not. They are often used like bullet points in website directories or lists. I've also seen them used as emoticons, buttons, and decorations. Some people like to simply collect them.

Here are some examples of pixels/favicons:

Q: oOoOO. I like those. Is there anything else people collect?

A: Yep! Pretty much all graphics are collectible. That being said, some lack any use except to be displayed. Fanlisting buttons, for example.

Q: What are fanlistings?

A: Fanlistings were a way for fans to connect online before social media really took off. They were basically online bulletins listing contact info of the fanbases members so that you could connect with like-minded people. They aren't much of a thing now, but they do exist. People who love Spacehey and Neocities are likely to use them. You can register for some and take a button to put on your blog to let others know you're part of that fandom. It also links to the fanlisting itself for others to join. Here are some fanlisting buttons (I haven't joined any):

They are usually 50x50, but don't have to be: they can even be other graphics, like 88x31 buttons! Some other common dimensions are 75x50, 100x35, and 100x50.

In part three, we'll finish up with a couple odd graphics, some interesting old websites, and useful posting tips.

[longing-for-rain]

What's the context as to what's going on exactly?

I assume you mean the people sending me death threats over a fanfictions I wrote (which is like... the 3rd? 4th? time this has happened now), but to summarize:

Ironically, I initially made this blog with the intention to just be very lowkey and post headcanons/silly posts/art and not engage in discourse.

At some point, I got an anon angry at me for mentioning how I viewed some of Aang's behavior towards Katara as toxic masculinity and answered it.

A kataang shipper reblogged the (properly tagged) post to whine at me even more, so I replied back with sources and maybe a little too much humor than she could handle, so she cried that I was a meanie and blocked me.

Had a few more experiences with Zutara haters reblogging my posts, making me increasingly annoyed.

I started writing more Zutara metas and criticizing canon more openly.

My posts got popular, popular enough that angry kataang stans started sharing screenshots of them around on here and Twitter.

I made fun of one particularly insane kataang stan who went on a few of my posts, and even into my DMs to screech at me for being every type of -phobic under the sun because I don't like Aang/Kataang. She still periodically blocks and unblocks me so she can shoot more of her brain vomit my way, and accuses me of harassing her for reposting screenshots of her unhinged comments to laugh at. She also accidentally followed me while trying to send an anon one time (I assume, since those buttons are close together) which was hilarious for someone who claims I bully and stalk her.

Recently, a bunch of kataang shippers got butthurt over a post I made referencing how Katara is drawn differently (it was a response to an Anon mentioning a much older post measuring the size of Katara's eyes and jawline) to make her appear younger during "romantic" moments with Aang. I commented on how I found it a creepy contrast and like how much more natural and human she seems while not with Aang, or with Zuko.

Another whiny brat kataang reblogged the (again, properly tagged) post calling me a pedophile, colonizer, racist, and whatever else his little rotten brain could come up with, and posted (without any trigger/content warnings!) out-of-context screenshots of a fanfiction I wrote exploring themes of sexual violence. This was apparently supposed to be "evidence" that I have a "fetish" or something, which needless to say, is an absolutely disgusting thing to say to a survivor talking about her experiences of sexual abuse, especially when you're a man who has never experienced that.

That brings us to why everyone is discoursing over the fic: Claws of Ice. Keep in mind, the majority of these people haven't read it, don't understand any of the context, and felt it was appropriate to leverage my trauma against me in the name of a ship war. The man in question is still crying about how he's the real victim here because I was apparently too mean to him when I responded to his accusations that I'm a pedophile and that my story of assault is a fetish to him, which is exactly the kind of male entitlement you'd expect.

So yeah! That's why they're all so obsessed with me, and throwing around every possible Bad Person accusation they can think of about me, but I really don't take it too seriously with that in mind. I was very nervous about posting this story in the first place because it was so heavy and personal and I was unsure of putting these themes out there, but the backlash has been oddly reassuring. The two biggest haters are that manbaby I mentioned, and that obsessive stalker who keeps spamming the atla-confessions blog with anons that are very obviously her while pretending she's trying to "calm down" the fandom, neither of whom can seem to formulate a coherent sentence. Like if that is the opposition, pretty sure I'm in the right here.

[othrysbulletin]

Welcome!

This is a blog dedicated to streamlining works centered around the Titan Army and its members, particularly the demigods. Here are some guidelines and tips to help you navigate the blog.

General guidelines:

Mod expects everyone who interacts with this blog to be a decent human being and will not hesitate to scrap with rude people.

All content will be TA-centric, meaning fanworks where the TA are side/background characters may not be put on here.

Given the darker/more morally grey nature of the Titan Army and its characters, this blog may include works with more mature themes. Mod will place content labels where necessary. Trigger warnings will be indicated in the tags (appended by "//"), which you can block. That being said, discretion for what fanworks to reblog ultimately lies with the mod.

Blog will run mostly on queue. If you haven't seen your works or submissions on here yet, chances are it's in the queue or it has already been posted (in the case of headcanons and meta, something similar has already been posted). Please do not bug the mod to follow up on anything.

Mod will not boost any fanworks that contain character or ship-bashing to keep this blog generally a positive and wank-free space.

Submissions and asks guidelines below the cut!

Submission guidelines:

How do I get my work plugged onto this blog?

If you want to plug fanworks about the Titan Army, the blog will be accepting submissions for the following: fics/writing, art, meta, and short-form headcanons. You can simply submit the links of the posts to your works; for short-form headcanons, just a plain text submission will do.

Otherwise, mod will be diving into the characters' tags as regularly as they can.

What criteria does my work need to meet in order to be on here?

As per the second general guideline, at least one Titan Army character must be a centric/main character. Including other characters is okay, but they will not be tagged for.

Ships with one (or more) TA characters and one (or more) non-TA character/s are accepted, so long as they are the focus of the work.

For writing and art, only completed works will be reblogged on here, i.e. wip snippets are not allowed. Completed and posted chapters of an ongoing multi-chaptered fic and completed b/w sketches are still allowed.

Do you accept fanworks with non-canon Titan Army characters?

Fanworks with OCs will be accepted.

In light of the incoming second season of PJOTV, the blog will also be accepting fanworks with Alison in them! Until she has a last name, she'll be tagged for with "alison pjotv".

For characters in canon that are headcanon-ed to be in the Titan Army in the context of the fanwork, they will be accepted. Mod will tag such posts with "ta [insert character name] (headcanon)," e.g. "ta percy (headcanon)".

Self-insert/x reader fanworks will not be accepted.

Any other content specifications?

While the blog will accept works of a more mature nature, the mod will not be plugging or accepting submissions of sexual content wherein one or more of the involved characters are underage. Works with extremely graphic violence will also not be accepted. This is done in consideration of the source material's general audience as well as the mod's personal squicks.

Asks guidelines:

Do you accept asks?

Yes! This blog will be accepting asks containing anything that's not covered by the submissions. Do keep in mind, however, that othrysbulletin is not supposed to be an askblog. For non-TA-related things, fanwork ideas or requests, and anything concerning the mod's opinions, you can ask them on their main blog.

What can we ask you?

You can ask the mod for fic recs; for instance, you may want fic recs of specifically a certain character or trope. For personal recommendations (aka "fics you like"), please direct them to the mod's main blog.

You can also ask the mod to promote TA-related events, games, askblogs, or community hubs!

Feel free to also clarify any of the guideline specifications, or to send in suggestions in order to improve this blog—as long as it’s done politely and in good faith.

Tag list guide -> HERE

---

Thanks for reading! Let’s all have fun :) Below is a link to a masterpost of other curation matters for Titan Army fans.

TA fandom curation masterpost -> HERE

[humming-fly]

oh shit blinked and missed this one

let's be real I haven't done a proper porn blog purge since tumblr started making new folks follow blogs without editing their icons or profile first so probably like 300+ of you aren't real, but hey to the remaining actual newbies welcome!

as usual for my follower milestones I'm gonna go ahead and open up my ask box to doodle requests for whatever for the next 48 hours or so, so if you want a small lazy sketch of something random now's your chance!

hmm I usually also share updates of any fun projects I'm working on during these updates, but nothing immediately comes to mind right now since it's inktober and I'm pluggin away at that- that said I do have a few art projects on the backburner, including some elden ring stuff and at least one fma comic idea, though I shy away from spoiling those so you'll just have to keep an eye out I suppose ;P

lest I leave ya'll with nothing enjoy this random panel of an oc doodle comic I'm making as an excuse to play with colors~

anywho thanks for the continued kind attention ya'll and massive props to all of you somehow handling the utter whiplash of content I put out 👍 

[trans-axolotl]

I'm a psych survivor & want to find community in general or join conversations on here but it seems like no one really cares what I have to say & a lot of the conversations on here about mad liberation etc. are so academic that I feel alienated & shut out by them, and afraid of being talked down to & made fun of, even though I was (barely) able to master's degree and thought I was fairly intelligent. it seems like the academics mainly want to talk amongst themselves. idk. it's like the more I try to connect the worse I feel. I guess you probably don't have an answer to this but I appreciate your blog & how accessible your writing is

💜💜💜anon i think you have SUCH an important point. for me, the most meaningful mad community that i've found has always been when I've been institutionalized and just talking with other mad people, where most of them don't have any experience with mad liberation politics or antipsychiatry or any of that vocabulary. But like--time and time again those are the people who just get it the most, and are some of the most insightful people I've met. And I know that if some of my psych survivor friends came on tumblr, I think they would be judged for not having the "right" language or not communicating clearly enough or whatever. Which makes me so fucking mad, especially considering how many of us are disabled in ways that impact our communication, processing, and language. and how to me, it feels like such an important value of mad liberation to celebrate different styles of communication and all the different ways we're going to show up and exist as mad people! I'm sorry that you haven't been able to find a lot of welcoming community on tumblr--I know how exhausting and isolating it feels to not be able to connect with the people that are Supposed to actually understand and support you.

and it's not that I hate academic stuff about madness--I'm currently at university studying disability studies and really appreciate disability scholars. I think it's super fucking important + there's a lot of really talented people doing cool work. But I think that especially in disability studies, there needs to be a LOT more of an effort put in to actually make research + writing accessible. If half our community can't access any of the writing about our community, that's fucked up, you know? I'm always getting into arguments at university lmao when I talk about how we should do more to translate academic work into plain language. especially since i think it's a form of injustice when we are kept away from resources and knowledge that would let us build a political understanding of our experiences. it just feels super important to me to think about accessibility and what that means in mad spaces and psych survivor spaces, and who feels welcome to participate in our spaces and who feels left out of them.

and i also don't really have answers or solutions for How to Make That Happen on Tumblr--if you or any followers have any suggestions i would def love to hear them. i know that a lot of people are going to come on tumblr to do a lot of different things and that some people see this mostly as an academic space for them, where some people just come on here to talk or create art or a million different things.

For me, I use tumblr as a space where I want to talk and connect with a lot of people about all kinds of topics and hear psych survivors opinions on a ton of stuff. a lot of my posts are pretty casual, but when i make longer educational and political posts i spend a lot of time thinking about the best ways to translate really academic concepts to a wider audience. when i sit down to write out a long post i try to incorporate as many accessibility features as possible like using bullet points, putting in summaries/ Tl;DR sections at ends of posts, adding in real life examples when I'm defining complicated technical concepts, adding content notes, and more. Before I post, I read through my posts and highlight every time I use a more academic or technical term. Then, I think through whether that vocab is necessary for people to understand the post, or if there's better language I could replace it with. A lot of times I do end up keeping in some technical terms in my posts because it is honestly the most direct way to explain some of the stuff I want to talk about, but it's been super valuable for me to go through and really think about it, even when some terms stay in my writing. that's just my process and what works for me and I really don't think that other people need to write the same way I do lmao, but if anyone ever wants to talk about writing in plain language & easy read PLEASE come into my inbox bc i love talking about this and want to chat about it with more people.

other things i'll say is that i've found that virtual/in person psych survivor/antipsych support groups are often times a lot more welcoming and accessible and are just like, people talking about things and hanging out together. I've heard really good things about Wildflower Alliance's support groups, and also recommend the Hearing Voices Network. Project LETS has been running an exceptional psychiatric survivor support group for almost a year that is more casual and is a really great community, I'm hoping that they're going to open up availability again in the spring so that might also be worth checking out in the next couple months. Campaign for Psych Abolition in the UK runs a mad art space that seems super fun. i wish there were a lot more existing groups cause it sucks how few things there are tbh.

anyway, know that you + anyone else are always welcome to chat in my inbox or on any of my posts and you will not face any judgement from me. i genuinely love talking to other psych survivors so much and want to hear what people have to say. the only people i get annoyed at on my posts are psych students and other mental health professionals who leave really bullshit stuff on there lmfao.

sending you all the solidarity, anon <3

[zippy-reacts]

Sonic the Comic Liveblog: Issue 94

I really like this cover art! I can't put my finger on it, but there's a certain je ne sais quoi about this art that really identifies it as belonging to a British comic.

Oh okay, cover art was by Elson, explains why I liked it then. Anyway, we see once again that the price of StC is being raised. I've said before I feel StC is expensive, especially in comparison to late 2000s era Beano, but I suppose when you compare it to something more comtemporary like IDW Sonic it's a good price? Then again, who knows how it stacks up when you account for inflation. Annnnnd final note about this image - I wonder if that sonic spinner toy works like a fidget spinner?

It might be because this is a whole different planet from Mobius, but it feels really odd that we're seeing like… Disney-esque dog humans as secondary and background characters rather than more traditional anthromorphic animals.

Anyway, professor dude turned into reverse colour scheme Hulk. They're not even hiding it, his name is literally Bulk.

Ah yes, Sonic's "spin really really fast to solve any problem" tactic! Haven't seen that one in a good few issues.

Lol that's some pretty good snark.

Hey, that's pretty close to my main blog's URL!

Hmm. Starting to get Totally Spies vibes.

Nice monochrome colouring! And it's pretty interesting to see Vector characterised as being smart in this way, even if the explaination does sound like it fits right in with Classic era Doctor Who lmao

A review of Fighting Vipers, and look, there's Honey! I bet this reviewer never would've guessed that character with later be connected to the Sonic series

Ooooooh! Did not expect to be introduced to Ebony and Pyjamas today! I am quite aware these two are fan-favourites. Btw, I'm loving that outfit Ebony is wearing, never seen art of her wearing anything modern and casual like that before.

Ok! I guess she can change her outfit instantly! But man, I can already see that people must've fallen in love with this character quickly, just this one panel is great show of personality.

You have my heart, Ms Ebony <3

I haven't really brought it up much, but for a good while by this point, StC has become more or less just a Sonic comic (jeez, who would imagine considering it's name). The only other Sega comics they do anymore is the occassional run of Decap Attack comics. I guess out of all of them this one must've been a favourite among readers.

I about to make a joke sugguesting Johnny's drink is alcoholic, but I wonder how old he actually is? Legal drinking age is 18 so he could potentially be old enough? But even if he wasn't, the UK is not exactly know for having teenagers who always follow drinking laws.

Gonna file this one under "sentences that sound a lot more racist if we weren't talking about animals"

It's kinda funny that Knuckles just like… randomly has a pet dinosaur now. …oh my god this issue is from 1997 so means Underground (released 1999) wasn't the first one to give him a dinosaur for no reason.

You know what mate? I'd be pissed off too.

A third of the back page which is otherwise dedicated to reminding you when the next issue releases? oh god yeah, such a waste of space. Totally unbelivable. 🙄

The word of a kid who probably also enjoys burning ants under a magnifying glass.

[kittydoggie]

Day 2 of The Restructuring:

It is now evening. I am exhausted. I haven't gotten any drawing done, but I have cleaned an entire corner of my office. That means: going through stacks and stacks of old things that we had just shoved into boxes because we had no idea what we were doing when we first moved here. It's been like 2 years now. I've trashed a lot of e-waste (we had a fucking Tom-tom stashed in our stuff. Anyone remember Tom-tom? ) and other stuff that we just didn't need.

I would like to have things organized into sectors: hardware for home repair, art supplies, supplies related to resin and 3d printing. We have a lot of jewelry-making stuff, some of which is useless and taking up room, and some of which is very useful to me.

I'm may have to sacrifice my desk being near the door in order to set up the dark tent for the 3d printer. It needs to be both dark inside and have access to the fucking window so it can vent. I have considered setting it up next to the door (which has a little window in a perfect size), instead, and simply undoing the venting when not in use. I bought the stupid thing almost to make my wife happy. She thinks it's cute that I'm such a little mad scientist in my lair, with all the things I'm making all the time.

But goddamned if it's not a hassle getting the lair ready to deal with VOCs and ventilation issues. Ugh. I'm just in such a mood. At least I bought the fucker before shit hits the fan in regards to importing things.

I'm not ready for the economy to crash. I've even seen certain people (Musk and his wretches) saying that they intend to crash it to "reset things". If that's not an admission of guilt, I don't know what is. The popular idealogy among the elites right now is that democracy should die. It's been said by better than me that America is speedrunning Rome.

Romans knew lead pipes were bad for them, but they were convenient. I think about this a lot lately.

I didn't mean this to go so darkly. I guess I just wanted to see what writing a normal blog was like. How retro.

Here, instead, let's end it on something nice: I built a little shelf of those cube things next to my desk window, because it's the perfect height for my cats to sit and look outside. Nugget instantly understood that this was for her, and settled like a little princess on the cushion I put there for her. She sits there when I'm working.

I suppose that does answer my conundrum about venting- I couldn't possibly take her window from her, so I'll just set up the printer next to the door, with it's enclosure and possibly some extra safeguards against them hassling it. My office is quite large- it was obviously once a garage, in case someone is bored enough to have read my entire screed here. I could probably even make it two rooms, if I really wanted to do something heavy- however, there are more pressing home improvements for me to make.

For example, making my toilet stop screaming (cheap repair, but haven't done it yet from ennui).

[mysticstars02]

KW: Miscellaneous (RAW)

this is the best image i could use for this blog. ik there's one i really luv to use (it's the huge collab art made by yumikosudou where they transform YW characters into those gegege no kitaro art style characters you see in the right). Buuut i think it's safe to use this image here haha

Featuring two collabs with actual stories! And also some stuffs I find that Idk if it'll fit or I never seen these before lol

Cells at Work! Collab

(ngl i did not expect this to collab a series i barely know of. I don't watch but the concept looks cool!)

GeGeGe no Kitaro: Great Yokai War (?) Collab

most pure thing i ever seen. it's like seeing the interactions and the epic fights...but in chibi style XD

The Great Trial of Challenges

OH THIS ONE! I really wanna talk about this cause i think this is a pretty cool feature they add. Sadly I didn't get the main gist of this buuut I'm pretty sure this feature requires a shit ton of your playtime experiences and some competitive thinking (rambling warning btw lol)

How it works is that you have those green keys you can spend ONLY on the Great Trial and let me tell you: the Great Trial...is srsly a trial. Y'know those competitive features in the YW mainline games where you can set the rules only to specific rank of youkais (Like set the rule to an only Rank A or C battle), the Great Trial of Challenges is kinda like that...except it's very mean (It may be easy if I have some translation skills but it may be not haha XD).

Let's set up a real example coming from a KW player: If I remember, the trial is set up by 3 stages. Each stage contains restriction and certain aspects for tribe AND rank.

The 1st stage is free-for-all style meaning no restriction/rule, just put out your best team.

The 2nd stage gets a bit harder. There are now rules and restrictions. Let's say the rule for this stage says you can only use Rank A or lower youkais (I believe this also applies to Gunmashin/War Demon God's Rank???) AND you cannot use this following tribe: Enma and Kaima tribe

Now comes the 3rd stage, this time it's serious. I believe they add more rules and restriction to this stage so now, you can still use Rank A or lower BUT you are forced to use them from this tribe like you can use Rank A-C but only from the Slippery tribe. This also will go for the Gunmashin as well (You can only use the demon god's from this specific class)

Sometimes the rule will keep you using Rank Sho but you can't use Rank Paradise/Heavenly Rank youkais

Very challenging but it's also pretty cool! You may think that this looks like it's worth to try it out...yet I haven't mention why this feature is very mean. I haven't gone that far yet I also forgot how many challenges I clear (I think I clear at least 50???) BUT...there is a challenge that will forever be a wall to me before this game announce to go defunct. What challenge is that I struggle the most?

On the 3rd stage of the challenge I was on (again Idr what it is exactly), there is one rule...that is so mean idk how the f- am I suppose to do. These are the following restrictions: Rank Sho, Any tribe is acceptable, Gunmashin is allowed, you are forced...to use one youkai

Yeah

A rule said to use one youkai against a team of 5 Rank Sho youkais

Part of me thinks that maybe with quick summoning, instant collision damage and bulky stat could work right? Ngl, I got my ass kicked like so many times on this freakin 3rd stage of the challenge I was stuck on (I tried to use Rank Sho Rinne on this challenge, 3 seconds later and he immediately got his ass kicked asksa)

Again, pretty cool feature for challenging players and huge props to the user responsible for the Heavenly Rank's stories (bc I'm pretty sure you unlock those scenes by completing certain amount of trials. I'm very positive you have to beat EVERYTHING and my poor brain is not enough :'''>)

Never-see-before events (well for me lol)

I found a few of these videos coming from the user who's responsible for the Heavenly Rank stories. I actually don't remember seeing these events during my KW playthrough (I might have misremember it but yeah)

More interaction with Gunmashins? Part I

More interaction with Gunmashins? Part II

[cookinguptales]

I promised I'd update on the efficacy of blazing that post once it was done and I... think it's done. So here's some thoughts on the experience. Put under a cut for length, but maybe some of you will find it interesting, especially if you're interested in trying to market your own art.

Now that the blazing is done, it's a little difficult to see how much good it did. I actually got more impressions than they promised, so I can't say that they didn't hold up their end of the deal. And I certainly got more attention on the post than I did just by putting it in the tags or posting it on my own blog.

I got 45 likes on the post, as opposed to the 1-2 I often get when I just post things to the sideblog. Five reblogs from strangers. It seems like Tumblr would release it in little bursts, so I'd see nothing for like 6 hours and then I'd get like 10-15 notifications all at once. That made it really difficult to tell whether all of those likes were people who'd seen the blazed post or whether one or two people were reblogging it each time and that was driving the likes.

I'm apparently supposed to get a report about the campaign, but it's been 12+ hours and that's not here. It also still says the post is blazed when I look at it, so I'm not really sure what's going on there. The impressions aren't still going up so I don't think it's actually blazed, but maybe it just says that until the report is assembled and emailed to you.

I'm assuming that the report isn't automated? And that's why there's a delay. Which I suppose could be a good thing, if it means an actual person is looking at it.

I got quite a few hits on AO3, but I'm not sure it's many more than I would have been getting already. I've already been getting a surprising amount of momentum on AO3; I was already getting 100+ hits a week on the fic before I blazed the post. (Which is kind of shocking, compared to other original fiction I've posted on AO3, and I'm very pleased with it.)

I'm also not sure how many of the people who liked the post intended that as a bookmark so they could come back and read the story later, perhaps over the weekend. (Weekend readers happen a lot when you post long fic on AO3, and considering about 32k is up on AO3 now, I suppose that qualifies.) So it's hard to say whether the blazing gave the post (and project as a whole) actual legs or not.

While I'm happy to get 45 likes, especially if even a fraction of those people actually read the story, it's unclear whether that's actually going to translate into more readers going forward. Like blazing got a lot of likes but very few reblogs, and that could just be because people haven't had a chance to read the story yet, and it could be because people wanted to be supportive but don't actually want to read the story.

One thing that's true about fiction (and art in general, I guess) is that word of mouth is pretty imperative. The best book in the world simply will not move if people don't know about it. And advertising might get the project to more eyes, but one person telling their friends/followers about it would probably have a much further reach than paying for a few thousand impressions.

Look, I might be shitty at marketing myself, but I have actually worked with authors who are better at it lmao.

What I'm saying is, I think it's too soon (or too difficult) to tell whether doing this got me 45 new readers or 45 people who stopped scrolling enough to be like "yeah, I'll like that" or potentially many more readers than 45 if any of those people read it this weekend, enjoy it it, and tell people they enjoyed it.

I know that any creative on tumblr kind of pulls their hair out about the likes/reblogs thing if just because we're always mindful of how many people even know that we created something in the first place, but... idk, I have hope that this at least got a few more eyes on this project than it would have otherwise.

That said, actual money was involved here, so... ROI? Hmm. I mean, there might be a few more readers, which is what I really want. Monetarily, unless there's a big influx of subscribers or something this weekend, probably not. I did actually get two new Patreon subscribers over the last 24 hours (something I'm thrilled about, tbh) but I don't think either of them were from the campaign. One explicitly told me where they'd found me (bluesky) and one was anonymous but intimated that they'd been wanting to read this for a while and only now did so, which tells me that they were already aware of it prior to the campaign.

I'm not doing all this for the money, precisely, but money is a consideration when you're spending money to advertise a project. I love this story and I desperately want other people to love it, too, but I'm not made of money, either. I can't keep spending money on this if it's not making any, after a certain point. I'll just have to let it do its own thing.

So would I blaze this post again in the future? Hmm. Maybe. I'll wait a few days and see if this actually translates to people who read the story, keep reading the story, and maybe tell their friends about the story. I'm not opposed to funneling the money I get from Patreon back into a campaign once a month, if the campaign actually does anything.

Like, I'm not exactly making much from Patreon, but running a low-level blaze campaign with what I get isn't the worst thing in the world. Feels kind of like an easy-come, easy-go situation, financially. At least this hobby won't be costing me money, if you get me.

I unfortunately have to be pragmatic about my hobbies lmao. But at the same time, if I think about it like "well, I spend money to get thread for embroidery" I guess it's not a terrible expense for, again, a hobby. Just maybe not a lot and not often -- and only if advertising actually results in people reading it!

I guess you really only need to hit the right person at the right time once, though... On tumblr, if the right person reblogs something, you can go from two notes to two thousand notes in an hour. And if the right person talks you up on any social media site, that could lead to an explosion of new readers in a way that none of your own efforts ever could.

Trying to reach that one person kind of feels like trying to win the lottery, though. lmao. Like I said, I don't have the personality for marketing! I feel guilty and annoying when I talk myself up and gambling stresses me tf out. I do not have the hustler mentality. I just wanna write stories. haha.

This is long and meandering and I gotta go take a shower, so I'm gonna leave it here! But I'll update in a few days when I get my report and when people have had a few days to read!

[nayialovecat]

I am increasingly considering deleting my tumblr account… I don't know if there's any point in keeping the account. I don't seem to know how to be in the fandom or build popularity, though - I feel like I'm doing something wrong all the time. What am I doing wrong? I don't know. I don't think I draw worse than popular people, I don't think I upload less stuff - yet people don't give a damn about me in general…. Maybe it's because I don't reblog my own work over and over again, I don't stand with a loudspeaker and shout "hey, I'm here, notice me" - and I guess that's what you have to do on tumblr, so… if that's the case, I'll rather say: thanks, no. Or someone explain to me how the damn thing works, 'cause I still haven't caught on in the few years I've had an account here.

Such the deviantArt is simple and user-friendly, and that's despite the annoying changes (Eclipse) that the developers have been making. There, if someone likes your work, they give it a like and that way everyone can see your work in their favorites, which causes more people to like your artwork. What do the likes on tumblr give? Shit, nothing, I haven't noticed that they give anything except that the author of the post knows that the other person exists and doesn't have a total blast on them. But honestly, while at the beginning the likes on tumblr made me happy, now seeing them in the gallery on my face only gives me a smile like I ate a lemon. Further… an additional advantage on dA is the existence of clubs - when I put my art in the appropriate club, it has a chance to reach all the people who are in that club, and because it is on topic, a greater chance that it will find amateurs. On tumblr there are only hashtags, which in addition do not work properly. On dA I can divide my gallery into thematic folders, arrange my works in any order, I have order there, and everything is transparent to viewers… Browsing the archive on tumblr is a torture - when I want to read chronologically someone's comics here, I have to do a lot of tinkering, unless the author makes a masterpost (but they rarely do).

I hate tumblr. I can barely tolerate it, but lately the fact that no matter how much works I upload, how active I am - I'm still invisible for most people, doesn't help. I was hoping that at least creating content from a game that many people like, having an open ask box and generally being active would change something, but… I guess I just don't get it and don't know how to be in the fandom, don't know how to gain popularity, I'm too introvert - or maybe I just think too highly of myself and truth is that I just draw crap. I don't know. But the only thing that still keeps me on tumblr are asks - but those are getting fewer and fewer, and I'm tired of asking for asks, y'know?… I just can't. I'm not good with that at all. I don't know how to ask for anything.

And I know that someone is about to accuse me of being a hypocrite… that I hardly reblog anything myself. I know I don't. I could. But then my tumblr would be even less readable and transparent. For me personally, it's annoying to browse a tumblr with someone else's drawings and every now and then other authors reblogs. It throws me off my rhythm. For that, I love the blogs of people who do not draw themselves, but reblog others, because there I have an overview of what other authors create. I have considered setting up a reblogging sub-account myself, but… tumblr rejects me, rejects me more and more, discourages me, I dislike it more and more… So my plans are slipping away and I think I'll eventually just delete the account or abaddon it.

I'm not a Drama Queen, it's just that through all of this, the thing that was supposed to help me reignite my desire to create and artistic activities ie closer contact with people, creating more, etc., has achieved the opposite effect: over the past few years I have undermined my self-esteem and my desire to do anything, I am beginning to develop the conviction that I shouldn't be drawing when few people like it, and the icing on the cake is that my most liked arts are garbage, scribbles done in seconds - and artworks that I spend a lot of time on, that I polish and colour, and shadow, go unnoticed… this hurts me, hurt me so much as an author and makes me ask myself: then why the fuck try? It makes no sense!

I am trying. I'm still trying. But I feel more and more like throwing it all to hell. If there are any people on tumblr who, for some reason unknown to me, nevertheless liked my work at least a little - I encourage you to create an account on dA, 'cause soon it will probably be my only art account on the Internet…

Sorry for the slight drama, but it has been slowly building up in me lately, and now it has started to crack. I don't understand why I can't be like others and what I'm doing wrong. I've been asking popular people for advice, how is it that their every word is sipped like ambrosia, every art or post even the worst gets thousands of likes and dozens of reblogs… I learned that there is either a some rainbow luck or they will not share their dark secrets with me… Apparently in the face of this, I'm not lucky enough.

[classiclitbracket]

I just need to put this out here because I've seen a couple of people complain about it. I am not responsible for lack of diversity in the polls or in the results of the polls. I tried to include classic lit from a variety of applicable countries and from authors who are both male and female, gay and straight, and white and non-white. I even tried to get a cross-section of the most famous classic lit novels in my auto-entries to encourage a wider variety of submissions.

I also don't control what people vote in the polls. I've been trying to remain impartial as far as what I post on this blog goes, and I haven't seen any discriminatory propaganda/comments but I would not support it and block those involved if it were to happen. If people are voting mostly for white, straight, male authors, this is a demonstration of systemic and historical biases in the way we conceptualize classic lit. You have every right to be angry about that, but don't direct it at me or anyone who votes that way. There are plenty of valid reasons to vote for any one of these books, and this is not at all meant to shame anyone who votes in good faith for books by non-minority authors.

If you're annoyed about the restrictions I've placed on the definition of "classic lit" for the purposes of this bracket, there's a section about it in my welcome post which I will reproduce here:

There is so much amazing Islamic, African, S./E. Asian, Pacific, and South American literature out there, but I feel it really merits its own bracket by someone who understands the material more and that it wouldn’t really get the fair chance it deserves in this bracket anyway, as I expect it to be American and Brit Lit heavy as is, and more people will likely come out to support those books, so I might as well just limit the criteria off the bat.

If you're annoyed I've included books that portray certain things in a negative light, there's a section on that in my pinned which I will reproduce here:

I do not want to see any moral complaints. Many of these authors/works were racist, sexist, etc. and I fully condemn that, but we can separate the art from the artist and still understand the importance of/enjoy the work despite its flaws. You’re free to not like/not vote for a book due to offensive material, but I don’t want to see tags/comments/asks saying “you shouldn’t have included x because it’s racist” or “nobody vote for y it’s misogynistic.” This isn’t “which classic lit book is the most morally correct”.

This blog is explicitly a safe space for people of all races, nationalities, sexual orientations, genders, and religions, and if you feel you're not being represented here I'm very sorry and you have every right to feel that way, but this is supposed to be a lighthearted little bracket about love of books. I didn't intend for and don't want it to get political. If you really have an issue with my blog or its results, you're welcome to unfollow, and if you think you could do it better and want to make your own classic lit brakcet, go for it! I'll even give you a shoutout over here if you don't go about it in a rude way.

Lastly, if you're one of the people who has said something like this, I don't want you to feel called out/shamed etc. You have every right to that opinion and those feelings, and most of them I agree with. This is also not directed at the people who were jokingly calling Well of Loneliness (and I think another book I don't remember for sure) losing homophobic. I know that was a joke and I don't care if y'all do that in good fun. Also, if you see any of these comments in the wild, please, please, PLEASE do not harass those people because a) they're probably correct b) it's rude and not worth it and c) this is supposed to be fun and lighthearted and doing that is the opposite!

If you still feel like I've screwed up in some way please just DM me and we can talk about it. I don't want to deal with this more on here if I can avoid it.

[signofthestriking]

"She's not trying to be rude or anything. Shes just shy."

Oh my god I'm actually making an OC intro post I haven't done shit like this since I left Amino-

This is Maize! A teenage hermit of few words, with a dad she's supposed to avenge. I say "supposed to" because it's not really her idea, but more on that later. She's one of the main characters from my fanfic book, Three Musketeers.

So what's Maize's life like before the start of the book? Well, pretty simple. Train, read books, hunt for food, rinse and repeat. Up until she was about 13, she was under the supervision of her mentor, Master Limax.

I still need to learn how to draw old men.

Limax was a harsh teacher, to say the least. And his whole goal was to prepare her for a fight with the man who killed her father, another Saiyan warrior and no stranger to combat. And Maize agrees to this goal, because why wouldn't she? It's Master Limax. If he says avenging her father will put her to rest, she'll trust him.

After all, Maize does find herself feeling quite hopeless and distant at times. She often finds herself unable to understand what Limax is trying to tell her, and can never meet his gaze. Her mood is always weighed down by something, and her expression often remains flat no matter what she's feeling. But that's all just grief, ri-ight...?

But anyway, once she turned 13, Limax left. He said he would return when she had proven her true strength to him. Presumably, he wanted to test how she took care of herself. And she managed to take care of herself pretty well! She could hunt her own food, she adhered to her training routine as always, and she joined the World Martial Arts Tournament once she was old enough. Of course, there was only so much any human could do against a Saiyan, even a teenage hermit like Maize. So she won twice in a row, and earned herself some money! Which she barely used, but hey, she has it!

Now, right around when Limax left, Maize soon sought out Penguin Village. Technically, she was forbidden from interacting with humans, and had been punished for sneaking out to the village before. But she went there anyway, and found the local library. There, she found a whole new world to explore, and dove deep into a newfound love of reading. At least Limax gave her a basic education.

Maize asked if there were books on Saiyans, and of course, the librarian had no idea what that meant. So they directed Maize to a working computer and suggested she look it up. She did, and her search yielded one result: a blog post that briefly mentioned Saiyans by name, specifically a vent post of sorts. So, naturally, Maize immediately reached out to contact the other person.

That other person happened to be Konnie Sai, a half-Saiyan in Central City who was on lunch break whe Maize reached out.

"hey are you an alien" "who tf are you and why are you in my dms-"

The two got to talking, and while Konnie didn't immediately trust Maize, the two soon grew to become friends! Maize would make regular trips to the library just to talk to Konnie, even figuring out how to setup a way to talk to her new friend from her island home. Konnie would gripe about her dad a lot, but Maize still enjoyed the company of her long-distance friend. Limax had warned her away from having friends, citing that they would turn on her once it benefitted them. But once Maize met Konnie, she broke that rule as well.

Which turned out well for her, because three years later, Konnie found a Dragon Ball. In the basement of her school. There's a reason it was left there but shhhhhh. So you know what that means?

"Hey what if we used the wish to learn more about Saiyans?"

Because, despite Limax knowing a lot about the Saiyans and what they were up to in this universe, he's never told Maize the details. Deliberately. He's only said that he wants her to be "better than that". Konnie's in a similar boat with her father, but that can be explained in its own post. So, with two young Saiyans left in the dark about their own history, what can they do? They can hunt for the Dragon Balls and get their own answers!

And that turns out to be the catalyst of a whole new adventure:

Anyway fun trivia about Maize:

She likes to talk to animals, at least when they can talk back. One of her first conversations with someone aside from Limax was a talking turtle who was curious about what she was training for.

She survived rabies for a couple of months, due to her Saiyan constitution. It was a rough couple of months, and it would have killed her had a passerby not intervened.

Maize's favorite food is fish. More specifically, the giant fish she catches below the ocean outside her island home. They're big enough to satisfy her appetite, usually.

She once drank out of a decorative water fountain, not understanding that those are just for show. She still thinks they're a waste of water.

Despite being a two-time champion, Maize doesn't actually like going to the World Martial Arts Tournament. Too loud, too crowded, and too many eyes looking at her.

The people of Penguin Village don't see anything strange about Maize. They just think she's a wandering swordsman who stops by to read books from the library. She also bought an old laptop from someone there so she could talk to Konnie from home.

Anyway idk what else to put here I just love her a lot

[raiidens]

Hello! I've been looking around everywhere for an answer but haven't found any yet. I'm using theme #19 (love it btw) and want to do two things: #1, make the "content" tab lead to the homepage of the blog only; #2, add another tab that, like the "content" tab, opens in the blog itself rather than opening in a new window (I want to use this to add an "art" tab so people can browse my art in the same window). Are these things possible? Especially interested in #2. Thank you!

Hi!

For the first thing, I'm guessing you want the content link to do what the home link does? I suppose you can just rename them. Look for these two lines:

<a href="/"><div class="link" id="home-link">home</div></a>

<div class="link link-selected" id="content-link" data-id="content">content</div>

The first line is the home link and the second line is the content link. You can rename them by changing the word before the </div> (and right after the >) on both lines. You can also just remove the whole second line if you don't like how that content link works.

And for the second thing, that'd be a pretty difficult thing to code unfortunately, no easy fix for that. You can use these to add a link to the navigation:

and then put /tagged/ARTTAGHERE in the URL, but there's not an easy way to have it come up like the content link does it unfortunately.

[squirrelpudding]

January 7th, 2024

When I was a little kid I used to ridicule my parents for needing to use a headlamp to see their keyboard when using their computer at night, but now, as I write this in bed, I find myself needing the handy little button that makes my keyboard light up. Anyway, I haven't blogged in a few days because all I have done is go to work and watch tv. I haven't taken any pictures with my digital camera recently, and I told myself when I started this blog that I would use the photos from that camera and not photos from my phone. But here we are. Using photos from my phone. Today started a new art project and I went to dinner with my dad. The art is a collage that is supposed to be Jeremy Allen White in his Calvin Klein ad, but you cant really tell that it looks like him unless you see the reference picture. But I am having a lot of fun making it! It is very stress-free because usually I am worried that I will ruin my art if I do something new. Like when I paint I usually worry that any new stroke I add will mess it up, but for this it is all just scraps of paper and I can see how things look without committing to it. As with all of my other artwork I make, it looks a lot better in person than in the photo. In person the placement of the paper kind of looks like it is there on purpose, like I meant to put it there, but in the photo it doesn't really. Sometimes I wonder if I got good enough at art I could sell my work. I wouldn't want to do it as my main job, but it would be nice to earn money from doing things I enjoy.

For dinner my dad (does "Dad" have to be capitalized? I think only when I am speaking to him and saying it in place of where a name would go, but as a title it doesn't need to be capitalized? Like I wouldn't capitalize "cousin" unless I was Ricky from "The Bear" and I was saying cousin as a nickname.) and I went to a nice restaurant that had signs in the front advertising that they were considered good by Michelin. They didn't have any stars, but just that they were considered good. I thought they were good, but my dad said that to earn a Michelin star they would need to have much smaller portions (i thought that was funny). My dad is a funny fella. I think the idea that the tire company "Michelin", with the Michelin Man as their mascot, is in charge of the most snooty restaurant rating system in the US (or the world ?) is just silly. I always used to think that the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters was the same guy as the Michelin man. I now know they are different. At this restaurant we went to, we got pizza (it was a pizza place) and brussels sprouts. I just found out that brussels sprouts has an "s" on the end of "brussels". I've been pronouncing it "brussel sprouts" my entire life. While we were walking to a bookstore down the street from the restaurant (side note: I have never spelled restaurant correctly I always have to use autocorrect), there was a store with maps in the window, so of course my dad wanted to look at it. I feel like all dads like looking at maps. Its funny how similar people are. Anyway, there was a sign in the window that said "No Loitering" (see last picture), which is so funny because that was exactly what we were doing.

One thing I forgot to say about the restaurant is they gave us bread with olive oil/balsamic vinegar dip. Its funny how something so simple can bring so much joy. Also, earlier today I had Naan and Hummus as a snack. That is also something that is so straightforward, but so delicious. I love that in every culture there is some form of bread and dip/sauce, and they are all the same but all very different.