#this series is. REALLY WELL DONE. amazing

[folatefangirl]

You rang? Okay I'm not going to put absolutely every one I can think of but starting with the ones I've actually finished:

Wonderbook by Jeff VanderMeer: One of the best writing advice inspiration books I've ever read. It's also filled to the brim with cool art and diagrams and excerpts and I love them so much. I always pick this one back up when I'm dealing with a really bad block. 5/5 stars, absolutely amazing and weird and a great way to shake the brain out of habits that aren't working anymore, though as with all art/writing advice books, YMMV and all that.

The Man Who Played With Fire by Jan Stocklassa: Absolutely absorbing read about a true crime case more people should know about imo. So most of us know of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson, right? Those books were published posthumously and so most people don't know that Stieg Larsson's true passion was connecting the strings of white supremacy among Nazis and Nazi sympathizers in Scandinavia who had escaped justice after WWII. It was a personal project for him. He ended up connecting this to the assassination of Olof Palme and investigating who might have done it. It's a really fascinating read and I highly recommend.

Dreamland by Sam Quinones: Goes in-depth into the pharma aspects of opioid use disorder and the epidemic that was perpetuated by capitalism and systemic failures within US Healthcare and safety networks for our communities, the money and marketing involved, and how it especially targeted American youth through avenues such as sports medicine and so on. It's really horrifying re: how much it exploits people at the bottom to prop up the people at the top.

Night by Elie Wiesel: Memoir of the author's experience during the Holocaust. Easily one of the greatest and shortest books that I will never read again because of what is in it, but I recommend to everyone at least once. It is beautiful and haunting. Note the author has other books in this memoir series that address his recovery i.e. this is the darkest one and has the content that is hardest to stomach, so you might feel better after this rec if you also read the others.

The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee: Really good nonfiction book on cancer that is definitely in accessible language to folks who aren't in medicine as well. It also goes into the industrialization of cancer medicine and how certain businesses knew things were causing cancer (tobacco) and still pushed their products as good and healthy. Very well-written!

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman: Barbara Tuchman was one of the first female historians ever widely recognized for her work, and she really deserves it for her ability to write about history and actually make it interesting (I still need to read one of her medieval history books lol). Anyway, this books covers roughly the first few months of WWI in a really detailed and well-written way and discusses aspects of the war in a way probably no history class ever discussed. Like yes, we know it was horrible and used trench warfare and chemical warfare but why was it between the countries it was with and also why did they end up in such horrific circumstances? Barbara covers that. (And also, we still very much use chemical warfare today, despite it being a crime against humanity. So worthwhile to read a book about the reasons why we consider it such a crime, imo.)

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan: Also comes as a documentary if you'd prefer that format! It's a really good book about the reciprocal relationship between humans and what we grow and focuses on four plants: apples, tulips, potatoes, and cannabis. Pollan's central thesis is that plants influence us as much as we influence them. Anyway, as a certified plant-lover, I really enjoyed reading this from start to finish.

Good nonfiction references:

The Flavor Bible by Andrew Dornenburg: Excellent reference for any cook who enjoys improv and/or is short on ingredients and so is forced to improv. Basically lets you look up any ingredient and see what flavors and ingredients pair with it best.

The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth: Another great writing reference and repository of writing advice for any writer. Essentially details every rhetorical device/means of making figurative speech in an index with examples.

Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes: Excellent resource for anyone writing a romance novel or long-form shipping fanfiction re: how to effectively plot a romance novel and have it hit all the elements and beats that you'd like to include in it.

Honorable mentions I have yet to finish but know are good:

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (specifically, I've heard this book goes into some true crime aspects and specifically FBI investigation procedures that the movie didn't emphasize as much since the movie rightfully wanted to feature more of the Osage cast and culture, rather than make a spectacle of their dead, which is very fair imo)

CALLING ALL READERS I really want to get more into nonfiction books and would love some recommendations.

Nonfiction books I loved include:

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (loved the firsthand account and humor)

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (loved the philosophical moments)

Poisoner in Chief by Stephen Kinzer (fascinated by the horror)

Into the Planet by Jill Heinerth (fascinated by the firsthand account and horror)

Please let me know where to go from here!

[doctorgirlsblog]

Merz Prinzessin vs. Dutch Lion (series)

Part 11: Engagement, truth, and old flames

Days came and went, and the end of the season was finally here. Aria, with Max out for the rest of the season, kept her lead in the championship, with Lando following closely behind. Max was still there every race weekend, watching the races, but he kept his distance, mostly staying in the RB garage. On the other hand, Aria stayed glued to Lando's side any chance she got, trying her best not to look at him when he was close. Her bracelet was still on his hand, as he never took it off since the day he woke up in that hospital bed. He wanted to, but whenever he tried, he couldn't bring himself to throw the damn thing away. It was the only piece of her that he had.

"ARIA WOLFF YOU ARE THE WORLD CHAMPION! Savour it, enjoy it, you deserved it. Job well done!"

"Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Schatz. Papa ist stolz auf dich." (Congratulations sweetie. Daddy is proud of you.)

Aria couldn't believe it. She won. "Amazing season guys! Thank you everyone for making it happen, I love you all so much! Danke Papa, danke Team! Wahnsinn!" (Thank you dad, thank you team! Unbelievable!)

As she pulled into the parc fermé in front of the World Champion sign, she felt tears pooling in her eyes. She jumped out, cheering at her team and running into their arms. Someone yelled in her ear to turn around, so she did, spotting Lando parked in front of the P2 sign, now stepping closer to her.

As she was about to hug him, he suddenly stopped, getting down on one knee. All noises suddenly blurred, buzzing seemed to stop as she looked at him wide-eyed. He pulled up the red velvet box, opening it with trembling fingers. All eyes and cameras were on them, and it seemed like time stopped.

"Aria Wolff, would you please do me the honor of marrying me?" His smile was blinding; rolls of sweat still dripped from his messy curls and down his forehead.

Aria was speechless. She didn't even notice all those eyes on her anymore. Everything was overwhelming at the moment. Her first championship, Lando on one knee in front of her. Her head snapped up to the big screen, looking at the broadcast of her win, and she smiled, savoring the moment. As she wiped her teary eyes, they locked with his across the paddock. Max was looking at her with such heartbreak, shaking his head sadly, but that one look at him standing there and not racing was all it took to make her remember what happened. So she focused back on Lando, smiling at him, nodding her head rapidly as she pulled him up to kiss him. "Of course I'll marry you."

And as they kissed, loud cheers erupted around them as fireworks above Abu Dhabi went off. When they finally pulled apart, Lando took her hand and put a beautiful diamond ring on her finger.

"I love you so much Aria. My world champion."

"I love you too."

"Let's get this party started!" someone from the team yelled, and the night indeed began. Surely, it wasn't going to be a party for everyone.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Max was clutching his phone so hard that his hand turned white. Every media page was talking about their engagement. Her ring was on display in thousands of photos, stabbing him in the eyes. It wasn't enough that she said yes; she had to look him dead in the eye the moment before she did it. He turned the phone off as reality started to creep in. She is going to fucking marry him. And there wasn't anything he could do.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

As Aria woke up the next day to Lando still sleeping beside her, she sat up, stretching softly, and then looked at the ring on her finger, examining the beautiful almond-shaped diamond. She caressed it softly as she felt a soft kiss on her shoulder. "Good morning beautiful."

"Well, it's hardly morning, sleepyhead. We were out all night."

"And rightfully so. My fiancé became world champion." Aria turned around in bed to face him. "You really had it all planned out, didn't you?"

"Of course I did. I even got your dad's blessing. You know how scary that part was?" He huffed.

Aria smiled. "Oh you poor, poor lad."

Lando opened his Instagram, answering some comments from family and friends congratulating him. Aria hummed softly, eyes half-closed, as she lay her head in his lap. "He congratulated us."

Her eyes snapped open as she sat up. "Who?"

"You know who. Max."

-"Oh."

"Aria can I ask you something?" She nodded.

"Do you regret it? Not being with him?" Aria sighed. "Lan, I already told you. I was completely honest with you. Part of me will always love him. But there is no world in which we could be together." She kissed him quickly, hopping to close the topic. He hummed contently, before standing up. "You sweet girl. I'm gonna shower real quick and then we can go grab some lunch before our flight tonight."

Aria waited until she heard the water running, before she took his phone and opened the said post. Oh Max, if you only knew..

Her phone ringed and she saw Victoria's name pop up. "Vic! Hallo!"

"Hi there World Champ! Congratulations on your win!"

-"Thank you Vic. I'm still coming down."

"I can only imagine. Now, mind explaining to me why Max called in the middle of the night, dead drunk, crying about you getting engaged?" Aria froze. "He did what?!"

"You heard me Aria. This nonsence hat to stop, it already went too far."

-"What do you want to say Victoria?"

"Either you tell him why you left or I will. I won't let my brother mourn you alive, because of your childish fears."

-"No. You know I can't. Please don't."

"This needs to end honey. For both of your sakes. If you don't do it, I will. Even if you never talk to me again." Aria sighed, rubbing her hand over her face. Victoria continued. "Max is coming to visit tomorrow. If he doesn't hear anything from you, I will tell him. Text me when you decide. Bye Aria." Line went off. She flopped back in her bed, groaning in her pillow. What now?

As they drove to the restaurant, Aria pulled her phone out, texting Victoria.

Aria: "Go on and tell him. It won't change anything."

Victoria left her message on read, deciding not to answer, as she had already said everything she had. She will tell Max everything.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

As Max was cuddling with his nephews in his sister's living room, he finally felt at peace. Probably for the first time in last couple months. "I missed them so much." He looked at his sister, smiling at her tiredly. Boys were cuddling into his side, slowly drifting off to sleep. "It will do you some good to spend time with them. They missed you too." As boys slowly fell asleep, Victoria motioned at him to follow her outside to the garden. As they sat down, she took a hold of his hand making him look up at her. "We need to talk about Aria."

Max sighed, leaning further into chair. "There is nothing to talk about. She's getting married, that's it. End of story."

"No, it's not. You don't know the real reason why she's doing this Max."

-"And you do?"

"I do. And it's my fault I didn't tell you earlier."

-"Vic. What did she do?"

"She was there every day and night, Max. She kept sitting at your side, not letting go of your hand, crying her eyes out. She kept repeating that it was her fault, that she never got to tell you the truth, that she loved you. The day you woke up, the nurse sent her to pray. She was hopeless, Max. We all were, but Aria was a mess. She wasn't eating or sleeping. She barely talked. I found her in the chapel when you started waking up, but she refused to go to your room. She pulled me down to sit with her, and started talking about how she swore to God she'd stay away from you if you woke up, so you could be safe. I tried to reason with her, but she kept denying it. Before she left, she took her bracelet off, giving it to me, and begged me to take care of you. She kept texting, asking how you are. She cares, Max. She does love you. She was just too scared, she still is, that something will happen to you if she stays with you." As she finished explaining, tears were silently falling down Max's cheeks. He couldn't believe what he heard; his eyes were fixed on the bracelet at his wrist.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He muttered quietly.

-"I'm so sorry Max. I wanted to, she didn't let me. I didn't know it would go this far."

"I need to see her Vic. I need to talk to her."

-"Don't wait Max. Go get your girl. Hope you're not mad at me."

He stood up, hugging her gently. "Never. Thank you sister."

And for the first time in months, there was hope.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Aria went back to her old place, wanting to clean up a little as it's already been months since she moved out. She sat on the bar stool in the kitchen, looking around empty space, all her memories dancing around the walls. She smiled.

Her eyes fell to her ring again. She hadn't heard from Victoria since, and she wondered if she had actually told him the truth. As she pulled out her phone to check for new messages, there was a knock at the door.

She gave it no thought, thinking Lando probably had to stop by and say goodbye again before he left to visit his family. She swung the door open, speaking through laughter: "You big baby! You saw me an hour a—," as her eyes looked up, she froze. "Max."

"We need to talk, Aria." He stepped beside her, getting inside and looking around the almost-empty space. "You moved out."

"I did. Months ago."

"To his place, I presume."

"Yes."

-"So you will marry him?"

"What are you doing here Max?"

He stepped closer, and she froze. She wanted to move, to put distance between them, but that was only her brain talking. Her heart glued her to the spot, letting her lose herself in the storm raging in his blue eyes. Being so close to him after all this time threw all logic from her brain out the window.

His fingers brushed against her cheek and her eyes closed at the contact. "I know." He muttered softly.

She pulled away instantly. Trying to keep her voice steady, she spoke slowly. " It doesn't cange anything."

He stepped closer to her again, invading her space completely, taking her chin in his hand and making her look up at him. "I know everything Aria. And if you think I'll let you go now that I know you love me too, you're so wrong. This nonsense needs to stop. Please, Schatz. "

She let out a shuddering breath. "I can't. Please go Max. You have to go."

-"I'm not leaving you! I'm not gonna let you marry him just because you think I'll die otherwise!"

"You don't get it Max! I couldn't watch you die! I won't watch you get hurt again, because of me!"

-"So you decided to leave me instead?!"

"I did. And I would do it again if I had to."

-"Because you don't love me like you love him? Is that it?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! I love you enough to stay away, if it means that you'll be safe."

-"Nothing will happen. I can't believ-"

"You can't believe what? That you were dead? Because I saw you, Max. You were gone. Gone..I have to stay away from you Max. I love you, I do, but I have to." She moved away from him, turning away to face the window, when he spoke again.

-"So you will go and marry him? Be his wife?"

"I will. I do love him. Not like I love you. Never like I love you."

"Ari..." His voice broke in a whisper, and she squeezed her teary eyes shut. "Take care of yourself Max. Now leave, please." she whispered.

"Please don't leave me again. I can't take it."

Sob broke out from Aria as she turned to look at him. "Max," she whispered, and that was all it took before he was striding toward her, taking her cheeks in his hands and crashing their lips together. She didn't know who stepped closer to whom, who was the first to start ripping the clothes off as all common sense left her brain as soon as their lips met.She led them down the hall to her room, her clothes making a pathway behind them. Her back landed on the soft mattress, and Max was there instantly, hovering over her, before he started kissing and nibbling on her neck. He murmured softly between kisses "Are you sure?"

"Please."

That was all it took for Max to kiss her again, as all the pent-up tension finally caught up with them, completely pulling them under.

Tag list:

@amz824 @m4xgirlie @samriddhisingh @aykxz98

[birbfeeder2artisticboogaloo]

THIS EPISODE IS. VERY HARD TO WATCH ;A;

poor daqiang ;A; poor old man ;A; poor EVERYONE ;A;

but um. don't listen to the old man tho. it doesn't matter how much u've suffered already!!! IF IT SUCKS, HIT DA BRICKS!!!! HIT THOSE BRICKS DAQIANG!!!!!!!

props to ALL the actors tho, they are KILLING IT. they are SLAYINGGGGG and SERVING and WORKING HARD. i hope they've got the recognition the deserve bc they've done fantastic work here ;A;

[idlesuperstar]

- He’s the same man I knew before in Ireland, but lately...I’m...changed...by him.

[luescris]

Watching the Wingfeather Saga on Angel studios and looking at the books I need them all So Bad it's gonna become my New Favorite Thing just watch augh

More thoughts in the tags like always ahdgsg

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

2 & 3 for the book asks :)

2. Did you reread anything? What?

... okay, so.

I listened to The Foxhole Court trilogy as audiobooks (and read the Sunshine Court as an eBook after).

And then I went back and reread the the trilogy as eBooks because there were a lot of names to keep up with and I felt like I missed a lot the first time around.

And then I still didn't understand Andrew's character, so I read the entire trilogy from his PoV (a fanwork, but a very complete fanwork).

I have no defense except that this series is fucking insane.

3. What were your top five books of the year?

I am choosing to count series as one "book" and also doing a top 10 because I read a lot of really good books so, in no particular order,

The Poppy War trilogy by R.F. Kuang

The Baru Cormorant trilogy by Seth Dickinson

Lady Susan by Jane Austen

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Poor Thing by Alasdair Gray

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

and as a bonus because I accidentally put it in the wrong place before and therefore didn't count it

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

[thisantithesis]

loki season 2 spoilers ahead!!!

wow the loki season two finale hurt.

for his whole life loki has wanted nothing but to be known, to be a true god, to rule over everyone and be seen. but before that can even happen he gets taken away by the tva, told that his whole life is meaningless, basically disrupting his view of everything.

but then he helps mobius find sylvie. together, they reach the end of time. they kill he who remains, and loki finds himself back into a situation that’s completely unfamiliar to him. during his time at the tva, loki made friends and created meaningful connections—something that he never did in his past. and it’s finally when he has those connections that everything starts falling apart, that everything as he knows it is coming to an end. those special friends he made will all be lost if he doesn’t find a way to fix whatever’s going on.

he spends centuries learning everything there is to know about physics, just so he can fix the throughput as fast as possible. time and again he goes back, over and over until he’s satisfied that everything he’s done will work. but then it doesn’t, and he’s back to square one. he goes back to his fight with sylvie at the end of time, failing again and again at stopping her from killing he who remains. and then he learns that his only two options are to destroy the loom, causing a horrible war that would end everything, or killing sylvie and letting he who remains live, securing the sacred timeline. it’s an impossible choice, which is why it’s so much harder when he finally decides what he’s going to do.

either option would mean losing his friends as he knows them now, with everything they’ve gone through between them, so he makes his own choice. he sacrifices himself, letting his friends live in a universe where they don’t have to lose anything else.

loki, god of mischief, who was known to be brutal, deceiving and cruel, sacrifices himself for the good of all. he single handedly destroys the loom, killing all branches, but then revives every single one of them with his magic. he uses that same magic to create a space for himself where he will sit, for the rest of all time, keeping every branch alive inside a tree that was made from those very same timelines, and he’ll know that he made the right choice, fulfilling his glorious purpose.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Markiplier in Space is so amazing! I have to watch his other series now, like a Heist with Markiplier, a Date with Markiplier, and Who Killed Markiplier?, I think.

And I can't wait for his movie to come out! Iron Lung, I believe it's called? I hope it does well.

[swytdoll]

𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆!𝐓𝐎𝐉𝐈 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒

𝒮𝒴𝒩𝒪𝒫𝒮𝐼𝒮: toji’s bulking and you’re ovulating! how can you keep your hands to yourself when all you want to do is touch? 𝒞𝒪𝒩𝒯𝐸𝒩𝒯 𝒲𝒜𝑅𝒩𝐼𝒩𝒢: any color can read<3 size difference (toji has a monster cock ૮ ․ ․ ྀིა), blowjob, female oral, choking, pussy slapping, unprotected sex, cream-pie, explicit language, mirror sex, 69, toji fucks you in a headlock ݁𖥔 ݁˖

BULKING!TOJI who always seems to be wearing the sluttiest clothing. muscle tees that grip his meaty arms enticingly, showing off every curve and bulge of his well-defined biceps. his sweats always seem to hang too low on his hips, revealing a dark happy trail that leads down to his waistband. the fabric clinging to his thick thighs.

BULKING!TOJI who religiously carries a protein shaker with him, even on date nights, because he's serious about his bulking diet. he’s got a variety of protein powders, from chocolate to vanilla, and he loves mixing them with different fruits and oats to keep things interesting.

BULKING!TOJI who loves trying out new high-calorie recipes and often ropes you into cooking massive meals with him. you two have fun experimenting in the kitchen, making everything from giant stacks of protein pancakes to hearty chicken and rice dishes, always ensuring they meet his caloric needs. he’s genuinely grateful. often, hugging you from behind while you cook, placing the sloppiest kisses behind your ears, his tattooed arms coiled around your frame. his gratitude is evident in the way he nuzzles into your neck, whispering sweet nothings about how much he appreciates your efforts. “i love you, y’know that. . .right?”

BULKING!TOJI who’s noticeably chubbier, you like it. really like it, often burying yourself into his pudgy side with a satisfied sigh. “i could die like this.”

BULKING!TOJI who despite his intense workouts, always makes time to cuddle and watch movies, using you as his favorite "recovery" time. he loves resting his head on your lap while you binge-watch your favorite series, feeling your fingers run through his hair as he relaxes. “i hate this scene.”

BULKING!TOJI who gets annoyed and sleeps on the couch when you won’t stop playing with his tits. “you’re so damn annoying.”

BULKING!TOJI who you make sure has a secret stash of snacks in his gym bag for when he needs extra calories on the go. protein bars, nuts, and dried fruits are his go-to, and he always has a little something to munch on between sets or during quick breaks.

have a good workout<3 - signed your amazing beautiful girlfriend

BULKING!TOJI who becomes an expert at meal prepping, and his mini fridge is always stocked with containers of chicken, rice, and veggies. each container meticulously measured to ensure he gets the right amount of protein, carbs, and fats, and he takes pride in his perfectly organized fridge.

BULKING!TOJI who likes wearing your crop tops, flexing in front of the mirror. “take it off! you’re stretching my shit toji.” “no.”

BULKING!TOJI who can’t resist squeezing your face in his bicep, laughing as your chubby cheeks push together. “haha!”

BULKING!TOJI who just throws you over his shoulder during arguments. “i’ll put you down when you’re done being a brat.”

BULKINGTOJI! who thinks it’s dumb as you tie a pink ribbon around his wrist, demanding he stay still. he thinks it’s even dumber when you record it, the video boasting one-million likes on tiktok. “they loveeeeee you!”

BULKING!TOJI who’s entire hand covers your face. jeez, your poor cunt, he thinks.

BULKING!TOJI who can’t help but admire the way your swollen sticky lips suckle at his thick cock, pulling him back in greedily. usually, it’d take some time for him to ease into your tiny hole. but, you were ovulating today and after seeing your boyfriend walking around shirtless with nothing but boxers on, you practically jumped his bones.

BULKING!TOJI who presses all his weight onto you as he fucks your soppy pussy, the pressure in your back dull as he prods into that sweet spot from behind. pale veiny hands pull your cheeks apart, spreading you, revealing your puckering hole. a glob of warm spit followed by his thumb lubricating your asshole has you arching your back in anticipation. “papaaaa,” glossy eyes squeeze shut as he gently sinks his thumb into your asshole, pelvis relentlessly slapping into your sore ass. the sight has his dick twitching, “humph, look so pretty with both holes filled.”

BULKING!TOJI who doesn’t care that you’re overstimulated, rocking his dick into your tight velvety walls at a mean pace. you don’t know how many orgasms the man has yanked from you. “i know baby, doing so good. takin’ all of me like a big girl, fuckkkk.” glazed eyes watching the way you glisten on him as he folds you against the wooden headboard, your legs flush to your chest. “tojiiii,” you whine, he could get drunk off the way you whimper his name. “am i deep baby?” he groans, thick cream building on his base. “mhm!”

BULKING!TOJI who has you in the nastiest headlock, one hand wrapped around your throat, the other forcing you to look into the mirror. you’re a mess, disheveled hair, tear-stained cheeks, swollen lips. the man’s so fucking huge he covers your entire body. “unt, unt. eyes open beautiful.” he sends a particularly deep thrust that has you shivering. slick, slick, slick, a repetitive noise that has him grunting deeply into your ear.

BULKING!TOJI who eats your pussy while you suck his dick. it’s a struggle taking him, drool seeping down your chin as you slurp at the veiny masterpiece. it’s also a struggle to concentrate as he eats you out like a starved man, spitting, slapping, fingering. god, you’re gonna cum again. “cummin!”

BULKING!TOJI who watches as his cum trickles out of your pulsing hole, pushing it back inside with a frown. “stay.”

[sinterblackwell]

the absolute irony in completing a positive review for the last volume of a series, complementing its stellar character work and intricate mystery; and then seeing someone else’s 2-star review which complained that it was actually the complete opposite with little to no explanations of certain aspects of the story :’)

[fushitoru]

helloooo i literally ADOREEE your writing and have read ALL of your jjk works istg!!! i was wondering if you had any recs for any series? ive been in a slump lately and i rlly wanna read some new fics but cant find any :((

oh i gotchu. all of these are NSFW (unless otherwise indicated), well written, and untragic ending (uhhh unless i remember wrong, some of these i read a long time ago) because i'm picky and a pussy.

completed

gojo satoru

convergence theory (ao3)

canon au, marriage of convenience au. tension is well written, and gojo is a little shit lke he would be in canon. beautiful and yummy characterization of him as the complex character he is.

shame on me by @starmapz

canon au. i love how gojo is written, and i love trish's writing style, lol. reader has a curse inside her, like sukuna is inside yuji, and gojo comes to take her to jjt. it's very well written the yearning >

games and matches by @lostfracturess

modern au, dad's best friend au. AHHH HE'S SOSOSO FINE IN THIS like i need him so bad. i just love reader's inner conflict and also the drama. i need dilf gojo <3

pandora's box by @c0pkiller

priest au. it's just so interesting to see them battle their impulses and what their religion has told them to do. the pining is chef's kiss, and satoru is realllyyy sweet in this one. i didn't know what to expect when i was reading it but wow it was very, very well written.

moonlight (ao3)

canon au, mating bond au. sort of omega verse but not really. the sexual tension is INSANE and it's genuinely so well written. the angst is delicious and the comfort that follows is even more delicious.

family formation by @dellalyra

found family au in canon universe. i love this one, super fluffy and well written. it's super domestic, and very comforting. i love gojo (as a father and daddy :p)

ukiyo (ao3)

secret marriage au in canon. super flufy as well baha gojo is adorbs :3

baby steps by @lemonlover1110

pregnancy au, and if i remember correctly canon au. the tea in this is crazyyy actually, and i felt the angst as gojo and reader grappled with the pregnancy. i loved the ending, it felt so rewarding <3

nanami kento

inflitration by @pseudowho

canon au, fake marriage au. i loved the pining in this. It had a lot of my favorite tropes, including forced proximity, the classic making out to avoid getting caught, and fake marriage (to overthrow a cult). also haitch writes this man beautifully so ik it was going to a banger

strangers in love by @ayyy-pee

exes to lover au, and the angst hurts really good. they make up very well by the end and i love this series a lottt. lexi writes conflicts out so beautifully, and im so in love. the end had me on my toes but i was so glad nanami pulled thru <3

your best friend's brother by @delirious-donna

modern au, best friend's brother au. the humor is done amazingly well, and their writing style is amazing. The sexual tension is actually INSANE there were times I was screaming at them to fuck because of the chemistry they had :3

toji fushiguro

unscripted (ao3) by @ryowriten / @kasukuna

modern au, toji's a erotic va in this. ITS SO FUNNy and megumi is super super silly. reader is so me coded (she's a loser basically) and toji is super hot. the sexual tension is amazing and it feels like reading a rom com.

sukuna ryomen

hesitance by @yenayaps

modern au, gym employees au SO FLUFFFYYY READER IS ME. i love sukuna like this, where he's so down bad. the ending is sooo sweeet it'll make you cry

defiance by @yenayaps

heian era au. GRAAHHHHHH THIS ONE WAS SO SWEET IT'S SO CUTE LIKE THE ENDING MADE ME CRY BC IT WAS SO SWEET. everyone needs to read this one, i love heian era aus like this

ongoing (BUT i have very strong faith that they are going to be finished because the authors are active with frequent updates. otherwise i'll kms live on camera)

what you know by @starmapz

sukuna x reader college AU. SUPER self indulgent, sukuna is such a cutie. i would even say found family au because sukuna takes care of his brothers and AHHH IT'S ADORABLEEE <3 it's also really steamy bc sukuna is SO HOT so :333

kickoff by @celestie0

gojo x reader, college AU. oh my god i love this series gojo is so lore accurate if he was a college student in 2024. he's just ughhhh so well written you will have such a crush on him. also reader is a baddie too what can i say

in holy matrimony by @celestie0

gojo x reader, modern au, fake marriage au. the banter in this is BEAUTIFUL it's so fucking funny. it's sort of like a rom com, and the angst is just written so beautifully. reader is just a girl :(

motherhood and matrimony by @alygator77

gojo x reader, fake marriage au ceo au. AHH THIS FIC IS MY GUILTY PLEASURE. please im always on my toes with this one, reader's a single mom and her son's interaction w gojo are sooo cute. gojo best dad :(

controller by @yenayaps

sukuna x reader, ceo au. i haven't gotten the chance to fully read this one but WOW seeing the tags + knowing how sienna writes this is gonna be FIRE

angels in the snow (ao3)

nanami x reader, strangers to lovers. don't be afraid to pick this one up just because it's ongoing, you'll feel very satisfied because it feels like a collection (and has 52 chapters already) than an incomplete series. nanami and reader meet at an airport and have to drive home together bc their flight gets canceled. the progression of their relationship is so sweet, and he's suchhh a green flag. very comfy <3

[mollyrealized]

How Michael Met Neil

original direct link [MP3]

(Neil, if you see this, please feel free to grab the transcript and store on your site; I had no easy way of contacting you.)

DAVID TENNANT: Tell me about @neil-gaiman then, because he's in that category [previously: “such a profound effect on my life”] as well.

MICHAEL SHEEN: So this is what has brought us together.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: To the new love story for the 21st century.

DAVID: Exactly.

MICHAEL: So when I went to drama school, there was a guy called Gary Turner in my year. And within the first few weeks, we were doing something, having a drink or whatever. And he said to me, “Do you read comic books?”

And I said, “No.”  I mean, this is … what … '88?  '88, '89.  So it was … now I know that it was a period of time that was a big change, transformation going through comic books.  Rather than it being thought of as just superheroes and Batman and Superman, there was this whole new era of a generation of writers like Grant Morrison.

DAVID: The kids who'd grown up reading comic books were now making comic books

MICHAEL: Yeah, yeah, and starting to address different kinds of subjects through the comic book medium. So it wasn't about just superheroes, it was all kinds of stuff going on – really fascinating stuff. And I was totally unaware of this.

And so this guy Gary said to me, "Do you read them?" And I said, "No."  And he went, "Right, okay, here's The Watchman [sic] by Alan Moore. Here's Swamp Thing. Here's Hellblazer. And here's Sandman.”

And Sandman was Neil Gaiman's big series that put his name on the map. And I read all those, and, just – I was blown away by all of them, but particularly the Sandman stories, because he was drawing on mythology, which was something I was really interested in, and fairy tales, folklore, and philosophy, and Shakespeare, and all kinds of stuff were being mixed up in this story.  And I absolutely loved it.

So I became a big fan of Neil's, and started reading everything by him. And then fairly shortly after that, within six months to a year, Good Omens the book came out, which Neil wrote with Terry Pratchett. And so I got the book – because I was obviously a big fan of Neil's by this point – read it, loved it, then started reading Terry Pratchett’s stuff as well, because I didn't know his stuff before then – and then spent years and years and years just being a huge fan of both of them.

And then eventually when – I'd done films like the Underworld films and doing Twilight films. And I think it was one of the Twilight films, there was a lot of very snooty interviews that happened where people who considered themselves well above talking about things like Twilight were having to interview me … and, weirdly, coming at it from the attitude of 'clearly this is below you as well' … weirdly thinking I'm gonna go, 'Yeah, fucking Twilight.”

And I just used to go, "You know what? Some of the greatest writing of the last 50-100 years has happened in science fiction or fantasy."  Philip K Dick is one of my favorite writers of all time. In fact, the production of Hamlet I did was mainly influenced by Philip K Dick.  Ursula K. Le Guin and Asimov, and all these amazing people. And I talked about Neil as well. And so I went off on a bit of a rant in this interview.

Anyway, the interview came out about six months later, maybe.  Knock on the door, open the door, delivery of a big box. That’s interesting. Open the box, there's a card at the top of the box. I open the card.

It says, From one fan to another, Neil Gaiman.  And inside the box are first editions of Neil's stuff, and all kinds of interesting things by Neil. And he just sent this stuff.

DAVID: You'd never met him?

MICHAEL: Never met him. He'd read the interview, or someone had let him know about this interview where I'd sung his praises and stood up for him and the people who work within that sort of genre as being like …

And he just got in touch. We met up for the first time when he came to – I was in Los Angeles at the time, and he came to LA.  And he said, "I'll take you for a meal."

I said, “All right.”

He said, "Do you want to go somewhere posh, or somewhere interesting?”

I said, "Let's go somewhere interesting."

He said, "Right, I'm going to take you to this restaurant called The Hump." And it's at Santa Monica Airport. And it's a sushi restaurant.

I was like, “Right, okay.” So I had a Mini at the time. And we get in my Mini and we drive off to Santa Monica Airport. And this restaurant was right on the tarmac, like, you could sit in the restaurant (there's nobody else there when we got there, we got there quite early) and you're watching the planes landing on Santa Monica Airport. It's extraordinary. 

And the chef comes out and Neil says, "Just bring us whatever you want. Chef's choice."

So, I'd never really eaten sushi before. So we sit there; we had this incredible meal where they keep bringing these dishes out and they say, “This is [blah, blah, blah]. Just use a little bit of soy sauce or whatever.”  You know, “This is eel.  This is [blah].”

And then there was this one dish where they brought out and they didn't say what it was. It was like “mystery dish”, we had it ... delicious. Anyway, a few more people started coming into the restaurant as time went on.

And we're sort of getting near the end, and I said, "Neil, I can't eat anymore. I'm gonna have to stop now. This is great, but I can't eat–"

"Right, okay. We'll ask for the bill in a minute."

And then the door opens and some very official people come in. And it was the Feds. And the Feds came in, and we knew they were because they had jackets on that said they were part of the Federal Bureau of Whatever. And about six of them come in. Two of them go … one goes behind the counter, two go into the kitchen, one goes to the back. They've all got like guns on and stuff.

And me and Neil are like, "What on Earth is going on?"

And then eventually one guy goes, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't ordered already, please leave. If you're still eating your meal, please finish up, pay your bill, leave."*

[* - delivered in a perfect American ‘serious law agent’ accent/impression]

And we were like, "Oh my God, are we poisoned? Is there some terrible thing that's happened?"  

We'd finished, so we pay our bill.  And then all the kitchen staff are brought out. And the head chef is there. The guy who's been bringing us this food. And he's in tears. And he says to Neil, "I'm so sorry." He apologizes to Neil.  And we leave. We have no idea what happened.

DAVID: But you're assuming it's the mystery dish.

MICHAEL: Well, we're assuming that we can't be going to – we can't be –  it can't be poisonous. You know what I mean? It can't be that there's terrible, terrible things.

So the next day was the Oscars, which is why Neil was in town. Because Coraline had been nominated for an Oscar. Best documentary that year was won by The Cove, which was by a team of people who had come across dolphins being killed, I think.

Turns out, what was happening at this restaurant was that they were having illegal endangered species flown in to the airport, and then being brought around the back of the restaurant into the kitchen.

We had eaten whale – endangered species whale. That was the mystery dish that they didn't say what it was.

And the team behind The Cove were behind this sting, and they took them down that night whilst we were there.

DAVID: That’s extraordinary.

MICHAEL: And we didn't find this out for months.  So for months, me and Neil were like, "Have you worked anything out yet? Have you heard anything?"

"No, I haven't heard anything."

And then we heard that it was something to do with The Cove, and then we eventually found out that that restaurant, they were all arrested. The restaurant was shut down. And it was because of that. And we'd eaten whale that night.

DAVID: And that was your first meeting with Neil Gaiman.

MICHAEL: That was my first meeting. And also in the drive home that night from that restaurant, he said, and we were in my Mini, he said, "Have you found the secret compartment?"

I said, "What are you talking about?" It's such a Neil Gaiman thing to say.

DAVID: Isn't it?

MICHAEL: The secret compartment? Yeah. Each Mini has got a secret compartment. I said, "I had no idea." It's secret. And he pressed a little button and a thing opened up. And it was a secret compartment in my own car that Neil Gaiman showed me.

DAVID: Was there anything inside it?

MICHAEL: Yeah, there was a little man. And he jumped out and went, "Hello!" No, there was nothing in there. There was afterwards because I started putting...

DAVID: Sure. That's a very Neil Gaiman story. All of that is such a Neil Gaiman story.

MICHAEL: That's how it began. Yeah.

DAVID: And then he came to offer you the part in Good Omens.

MICHAEL: Yeah. Well, we became friends and we would whenever he was in town, we would meet up and yeah, and then eventually he started, he said, "You know, I'm working on an adaptation of Good Omens." And I can remember at one point Terry Gilliam was going to maybe make a film of it. And I remember being there with Neil and Terry when they were talking about it. And...

DAVID: Were you involved at that point?

MICHAEL: No, no, I wasn't involved. I just happened to have met up with Neil that day.

DAVID: Right.

MICHAEL: And then Terry Gilliam came along and they were chatting, that was the day they were talking about that or whatever.

And then eventually he sent me one of the scripts for an early draft of like the first episode of Good Omens. And he said – and we started talking about me being involved in it, doing it – he said, “Would you be interested?” I was like, "Yeah, of course."  I went, "Oh my God." And he said, "Well, I'll send you the scripts when they come," and I would read them, and we'd talk about them a little bit. And so I was involved.

But it was always at that point with the idea, because he'd always said about playing Crowley in it. And so, as time went on, as I was reading the scripts, I was thinking, "I don't think I can play Crowley. I don't think I'm going to be able to do it." And I started to get a bit nervous because I thought, “I don't want to tell Neil that I don't think I can do this.”  But I just felt like I don't think I can play Crowley.

DAVID: Of course you can [play Crowley?].

MICHAEL: Well, I just on a sort of, on a gut level, sometimes you have it on a gut level.

DAVID: Sure, sure.

MICHAEL: I can do this.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: Or I can't do this. And I just thought, “You know what, this is not the part for me. The other part is better for me, I think. I think I can do that, I don't think I could do that.”

But I was scared to tell Neil because I thought, "Well, he wants me to play Crowley" – and then it turned out he had been feeling the same way as well.  And he hadn't wanted to mention it to me, but he was like, "I think Michael should really play Aziraphale."

And neither of us would bring it up.  And then eventually we did. And it was one of those things where you go, "Oh, thank God you said that. I feel exactly the same way." And then I think within a fairly short space of time, he said, “I think we've got … David Tennant … for Crowley.” And we both got very excited about that.

And then all these extraordinary people started to join in. And then, and then off we went.

DAVID: That's the other thing about Neil, he collects people, doesn't he? So he'll just go, “Oh, yeah, I've phoned up Frances McDormand, she's up for it.” Yeah. You're, what?

MICHAEL: “I emailed Jon Hamm.”

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And yeah, and you realize how beloved he is and how beloved his work is. And I think we would both recognise that Good Omens is one of the most beloved of all of Neil's stuff.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: And had never been turned into anything.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And so the kind of responsibility of that, I mean, for me, for someone who has been a fan of him and a fan of the book for so long, I can empathize with all the fans out there who are like, “Oh, they better not fuck this up.”

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: “And this had better be good.” And I have that part of me. But then, of course, the other part of me is like, “But I'm the one who might be fucking it up.”

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: So I feel that responsibility as well.

DAVID: But we have Neil on site.

MICHAEL: Yes. Well, Neil being the showrunner …

DAVID: Yeah. I think it takes the curse off.

MICHAEL: … I think it made a massive difference, didn't it? Yeah. You feel like you're in safe hands.

DAVID: Well, we think. Not that the world has seen it yet.

MICHAEL (grimly): No, I know.

DAVID: But it was a -- it's been a -- it's been a joy to work with you on it. I can't wait for the world to see it.

MICHAEL: Oh my God.  Oh, well, I mean, it's the only, I've done a few things where there are two people, it's a bit of a double act, like Frost-Nixon and The Queen, I suppose, in some ways. But, and I've done it, Amadeus or whatever.

This is the only thing I've done where I really don't think of it as “my character” or “my performance as that character”.  I think of it totally as us.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: The two of us.

DAVID: Yes.

MICHAEL: Like they, what I do is defined by what you do.

DAVID: Yeah.

MICHAEL: And that was such a joy to have that experience. And it made it so much easier in a way as well, I found, because you don't feel like you're on your own in it. Like it's totally us together doing this and the two characters totally complement each other. And the experience of doing it was just a real joy.

DAVID: Yeah.  Well, I hope the world is as excited to see it as we are to talk about it, frankly.

MICHAEL: You know, there's, having talked about T.S. Eliot earlier, there's another bit from The Wasteland where there's a line which goes, These fragments I have shored against my ruin.

And this is how I think about life now. There is so much in life, no matter what your circumstances, no matter what, where you've got, what you've done, how much money you got, all that. Life's hard.  I mean, you can, it can take you down at any point.

You have to find this stuff. You have to like find things that will, these fragments that you hold to yourself, they become like a liferaft, and especially as time goes on, I think, as I've got older, I've realized it is a thin line between surviving this life and going under.

And the things that keep you afloat are these fragments, these things that are meaningful to you and what's meaningful to you will be not-meaningful to someone else, you know. But whatever it is that matters to you, it doesn't matter what it was you were into when you were a teenager, a kid, it doesn't matter what it is. Go and find them, and find some way to hold them close to you. 

Make it, go and get it. Because those are the things that keep you afloat. They really are. Like doing that with him or whatever it is, these are the fragments that have shored against my ruin. Absolutely.

DAVID: That's lovely. Michael, thank you so much.

MICHAEL: Thank you.

DAVID: For talking today and for being here.

MICHAEL: Oh, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

[ikissjude]

paint me in lipstick stains 💋 sjy.

in which bf!jake is a simp and LOVES being marked with lipstick | tiktok series

jake x reader, fluff fluff fluff, warnings: again, SUPER fluffy, jake being whipped, lots of kissing, wc: 560

anybody could tell that jake was absolutely smitten. no matter what you did, your boyfriend would look at you with all the love and adoration in his body. any mundane task done by you would be just as graceful. and to be honest, you loved the attention.

even now, your boyfriend is giving you his undivided attention. there you sat at your vanity, looking like the most beautiful person to grace the planet, yet you were just putting on a new lipstick. you giggled as you caught a glimpse of jake staring, his chin resting on his palm and his feet swinging in the air behind him.

“you look like a lovesick puppy, jakey.” you laughed.

“you know i can’t help it, y/n,” he sighed. “you just look so good.”

“you always say that when i’m not doing anything special,” you rolled your eyes playfully. “besides, what’s so interesting about me putting on makeup?”

your boyfriend took the opportunity to come closer, his arms wrapping around you and his chin resting on top of your head. jake stared through the mirror; he couldn’t get over you.

“everything you do is perfect for me,” he whispered dearly. “that shade looks amazing on you, by the way.”

“oh yeah?” you smiled at him. you looked between your own reflection in the mirror and back at your boyfriend. “you think it’ll look good on you too?”

“what do you mean?” he raised his eyebrows at your inquiry. fully facing him, your hands reach up to his cheeks, caressing them before planting a sweet kiss on his lips. you knew you’d at least leave a mark, and you could tell when jake’s face went as red as the shade the two of you shared.

“looks good on you too, jakey.” you jumped up from your seat into the man’s arms to attack him. smothering your boyfriend with kisses, you left marks all over his face, neck, collarbones, anywhere your lips could reach exposed skin.

“so-” kiss. “good-” kiss. “you deserve-“ kiss. “more kisses,” you kissed him until his face was littered with your marks.

you adored the site in front of you. jake marked up by you, him holding your gaze, looking at you as if you had hung the stars in the sky. you were equally smitten with him, giving him one last chaste kiss on his plump lips.

“you know, i think everyone should see how good this lipstick looks on you,” you said, grabbing your phone off the nightstand after leaping from jake’s hold. “just follow my lead, mkay?”

you applied the lipstick just a bit more before plopping down next to jake on the bed. once you were comfortable, you pressed record, applied more of the lipstick and smudged it at the end. jake grabbed your chin gently, wiping off the smudged makeup. you panned the camera over to him, who looked at you with his puppy-dog eyes. your couldn’t resist his gaze, giving him another kiss before ending the video.

you giggled when you watched the video back, jake looking as pathetically in love with you as ever.

"you know, if i post this and the boys see it, you're never gonna live it down, right?" you teased.

"well, they already know i'm down bad for you," he countered. "and they'll just see how much i really love you."

© ikissjude 2024

[itsscaredycat]

ah yes…

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

honestly, kinda mixed feelings :’)

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

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

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

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

[originalwinnerfanfish]

Well, I did it

Megatron - I love his tfp design. Probably one of the best iteration of Megs. He is huge, heavy armoured, his face covered with scars… He doesn’t looks like an ordinary military leader who is only capable of giving orders, but like real warrior who can destroy any enemy with his bare hands.

So, in the WOF version, he definitely shares some features with Princess Burn, not only because of his might, but also because of his horns shape and dirty-dark scales (that absorbed blood of his enemies)

Starscream - Boy, I hate him so much 🤣… but in the good way, trust me! In my opinion, when the show's creators make you feel such strong negative emotions towards a villain, it means they've done a great job. Also, I think that his animation in the show was absolutely incredible, because even though he's a 3D model, he still manages to move like a 2D character, which is amazing!

I feel that in my design he still looks more like a skywing, than an icewing (which is kinda logical)

Soundwave - This one was tricky. I couldn't figure out what his mask would look like, so I just made his face a really dark color. I think Soundwave has both gifts of the nightwings, and he’s equally great at telepathy and a future vision. So he doesn't really need equipment to predict enemy movements, which makes him an ideal communicator in the WOF setting. His Laserbeak is part of the armor enchanted by Shockwave, and it might also allow him to open portals (but I'm not sure with this one)

Shockwave - My favourite evil genius. He would definitely have animus magic and mind reading. I think Shockwave is the only one who has advanced the study of magic so far, precisely because he combined it with scientific knowledge and created safer methods of using it, that don't damage the mind. It's like if a Mastermind got animus magic in books.

I also like to think that he didn't heal the damaged part of his face just so that his enemies would fear him more)

Dreadwing - This man deserved better! It's really a shame that he was removed from the show so quickly due to financial problems. It would be great if his arc got a proper conclusion in season 3.

Considering that I didn't want to make him a hybrid, it was difficult to choose a suitable color palette. So let’s just say, that I tried my best😅

I don’t think that he would have any nightwing powers, but honestly it doesn’t even matter - this guy can make a bombs, what else does he need to be cool

Arachnid - Did anyone even doubt that she would be a hivewing? Damn, she even got her own “Othermind” virus. Her design was the easiest to work with - just a little poisonous ass (suspiciously similar to Maleficent).

Just like Starscream, I hate her, but in a good way. She's one of the creepiest characters in the entire series, who’s acting like a fucking heartless monster, especially with Arcee, but even so, there's always was something mesmerizing about her. I just really like strong female villains

Knockout - Wery bright and charismatic guy, definitely one of my fav cons!

I tried to draw him as handsome as possible. Worked a lot on the face shape and coloring, and as for me it turned out pretty nice (finally).

Most decepticons think Knockout is as stupid and lazy as all the other rainwings. And it's not like he completely disagrees with that. Of course he’s not stupid and lazy, but if it’s means less dirty work on the battlefield, well, he’ll continue act like a tipical rainwing

(I also believe that Megatron keeps him as an “art��)

Breakdown - Fun fact: "Operation Breakdown" was the very first thing I saw in this series. And it was an interesting experience for 8 year old me. Maybe that's why I'm so scared of eye gouging scenes in movies now…

I think that he didn't have any siblings initially due to his parents nature, and even after meeting Bulkhead, he felt uncomfortable among the other mudwings. And this is why he later chose the side of the decepticons. And maaaaybe because of one cute rainwing influence)

P.s.

I think that, being mostly nightwings and icewings, the decepticons are much more concerned about purity of their blood and rarely accept half-breeds into their ranks.

During the war, there were many animus dragons among decepticons, which is why they have so many artifacts that allowed teleportation and communication at a distance. But, honestly, I still can't imagine what Nemesis would look like in this AU

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @mimimar

Hi! I’m Michelle (Mimimar), an illustrator born and raised in Venezuela, currently based in Italy. I enjoy making colorful illustrations that reflect the things I love: fairy tales, fantasy, tenderness and queer (especially sapphic) stories. Occasionally, I also make paper dolls, comics and animatics. I have a lot of interest in book illustration and I’m currently developing my own stories that I hope to share as an author-illustrator someday!

Check out our interview with Michelle below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

I always enjoyed drawing when I was a kid, but it only became a hobby that I did almost every day when I was around 11. At first I only used traditional mediums, but I decided to make a serious effort to learn how to draw digitally when I was 15, and once I got the hang of it I never stopped!

I didn’t go to art school so all of my learning was done through studying the tutorials and resources that other artists generously share on the internet and lots of practice / trial and error.

How do you want to evolve as a creator?

I want to do many things but what I want to do the most right now is work on books! I want to make art for other authors’ stories and also my own stories as an author-illustrator. I want to grow as a storyteller and create art and stories that will really resonate with people emotionally. I’m always striving to improve my skills as well.

I also really love dolls, so working on doll box art or as a doll designer is something I would love to do someday. I actually have been designing paper dolls on my Patreon for the past few months, it’s been a fun project that is still ongoing right now!

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

Probably using a lot of purple! It’s my favorite color so I find myself using it a lot. If I can find a way to sneak a little bit of purple into an illustration or a character design then I will.

Congratulations on finishing your Ivy Comic! Did the outcome turn out like how you expected or were there some unexpected bumps along the way?

Thank you! It’s a project that I worked on very slowly in between other art because I wanted to really take my time with every spread and make each of them a fully detailed illustration. I thumbnailed the full comic before starting but I kept changing the sketch for the final spread until the very end! Overall I’m really proud of the end result. I sprinkled a lot of hidden details in every page that I hope some of the readers will notice. For example: the meanings of the flowers in each page represent what the characters are feeling in that moment, and the colors of their wardrobe become gradually lighter as the story progresses to represent their emotions, as well as the changing of seasons.

We’ve noticed that you have created some amazing cover art for TGCF. Is there another series you would like to do something similar with? 

That was another passion project that took some time to complete. Initially, I didn’t intend for them to be specifically covers, it was just a series of illustrations based on the 5 books/main arcs of TGCF. But since they were well-received and I had people telling me they wish they could use them as covers for their books, I decided to rework them into dust jackets for the english translation of TGCF!

I haven’t thought of any other specific series but I love doing cover art so maybe I’ll do something similar again in the future!

What’s your favorite part of your style? Why?

I’ve heard from other people that there’s a delicate quality to my art, this is something that I like a lot! I like pretty things, fairytales and vibrant colors. I think all of these things probably reflect in the art I make as well.

If there is one thing you want your audience to remember about your work, what would it be?

I hope that they remember how it made them feel. Feelings and colors are the two things I give priority to in my work. Most of the time I like depicting tenderness, softness and emotional intimacy. If that could reach the viewer and stay with them it would make me very happy. 

I make a lot of art with queer (mainly sapphic) themes because they’re the kind of stories I personally like and want to see more of, so whenever people tell me that my art has helped them in their journey to discover and accept themselves, or that they see themselves and their partner in my art, it is always extremely meaningful to me. When art that I made to give myself comfort can provide comfort for others, no matter how small, it reminds me once again that despite any hardships art is genuinely worth pursuing.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

So many artists! To name a few:  I love @sakizo’s amazing eye for fashion and detail,  @paneeps’ gorgeous style and striking colors,  the sweetness of @bevsi’s art,  @vickisigh’s pretty colors and concepts,  @idledee’s warm and heartfelt art,  @littlestpersimmon’s dreamy wonderful art,  and @loish has been an inspiration for as long as I can remember.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Michelle! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @mimimar.