#unless this DOES qualify as fanart

[typicalopposite]

[pikahlua]

Fourteen Days of My Hero Academia

Greetings, friends! The ending has been announced for beloved shounen manga My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi, and I thought it would be a nice opportunity for everyone to express their love of this amazing series! So I am posting a series of prompts for everyone if they would like to participate in this little fandom challenge.

The idea is that, on each day listed, you will create and post something with respect to the day's theme. By create, I mean whatever your heart desires. It could be a fanfic, a fanart, a fanvid, a moodboard, a diorama, a meta post, a screenshot, a poem, a drabble, a few sentences of reflection, anything really! Whatever your brain dreams up! The only requirements are that it qualifies as some sort of fan creation for MHA and that it pertains to the day's theme. The final day of the event will be the official release date of the final chapter of MHA: August 5th, 2024.

Any given day may have multiple prompts. You do not have to do all of them (unless you really, really want to), rather you may pick the one prompt that inspires you the most! And feel free to interpret each prompt however you like. For example, on day 8, you may wish to interpret "line" as a spoken piece of dialogue or as a drawn shape such as the way Horikoshi does creative paneling. On day 11, you could interpret "name" as a nickname, a code name, the kanji in a character's name, or any special meaning in a character's name. Let your imagination run wild!

You may skip out on days if you wish or need to. You may put as much or as little time and effort into this as you like. You could start working now to make some big works, or you could use this opportunity to do a little daily journal project. The sky is the limit! The goal here is to spend some time thinking about MHA before it ends and to make a collection of little fanworks for everyone to enjoy in the process!

Please tag your submissions as #14DaysofMHA (ideally as the post's first tag) so that everyone can enjoy them!

Without further ado, here are the prompts! Thank you @siflshonen for the assistance brainstorming them!

Fourteen Days of MHA Daily Prompts

Day 1 (July 23rd): Family, Home, House

Day 2 (July 24th): UA Academy, Education

Day 3 (July 25th): Weather, Light Fades to Rain

Day 4 (July 26th): The Ladies

Day 5 (July 27th): Quirk, Special Move

Day 6 (July 28th): Minor Character

Day 7 (July 29th): First Impressions, Just One Bad Day

Day 8 (July 30th): Title, Lyric, Music, Line

Day 9 (July 31st): Legacy, Story, Past, Childhood

Day 10 (August 1st): Emotion, Heart

Day 11 (August 2nd): Symbol (of), Name

Day 12 (August 3rd): Face, Smile, Humor

Day 13 (August 4th): Future, Growth, Change, Evolution

Day 14 (August 5th): Anything you want

Feel free to send asks if you need clarification on anything. I will try to edit in any new information to this original post for everyone's convenience!

[thedrunkenreadersreviews]

An end-of-the-year confession...

Let's pop some champagne as we await the New Year.

Now, as the title demonstrates, I do have a confession to make, or rather, an opinion. My main focus is on male main characters (mmc) but I'll start with my short gripe on female main characters (fmc).

*Sip, sip*

I want more fmcs like Evangeline Fox from the Broken Heart trilogy. Or Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle. The book, not the movie.

I want more fmcs whose main goal is to find love. I want to read about a girl who loves pink and dresses, who is pinning over a boy, who sees the good in people even when most others don't. I want a girl who is not strong with a sword but strong in love. I want a girl who can save the world with love, not war, like Evangeline Fox. I want a girl who takes pride in doing what many deem to be typical feminine tasks like cooking, cleaning, and sewing. Some of the best moments in Howl's Moving Castle are the concoctions Sophie sews together. I want girls who find liberation in these typical feminine tasks like Sophie did; who enjoy them.

*Sip, sip*

And I want more male main characters in young/new adult in general but more mmcs like Cardan. I am so sick of the Rhysands and Xadiens and Kais and Dark whateverthefucks from Lightlark that are just copies and pastes of the same character over and over and over again. Some shadow-daddy with a massive dick who gets under the girl's skin and gives her a cringy nickname. Who is a warrior and several thousand (hundreds) years old and has slept with so many women that it is astounding how he does not have an STD (since condoms are not a thing in these books). The number one thing I disliked about Cardan was the promiscuity but damn at least Holly Black made it somewhat important to the plot and character development. But Cardan is one year older than Jude and still otherworldly! And he is not some big, muscular, warrior, shadow-daddy---he's a moody noodle. A MOODY NOODLE! (Another pet peeve is the fanart of him with a six/eight pack, like no, Jude is bigger than him in the muscle department.) I want my noodles!

*Sip, sip*

Male characters are critiqued so disgustingly in these romance/romantasy books that as an Asexual I really roll my eyes to the point that they nearly get stuck to the top of my head.

Masters of Death literally opens with Fox banging a client after she came to him to have a seance with her recently departed husband. Like, what?

The Selection series (as ass as it may be) gave me hope with Maxon. And then I read the script for the (thank the stars above!) canceled Selection TV series that was going to have Maxon's first scene be him banging some random maid in his bedroom. Like, WHAT?! He was a virgin in the books and was nervous about talking to girls. He hadn't even kissed anyone until America Singer! Even Mafi pissed me off with what she did with Warner when he and Juliette broke up for that short while. Like, seriously? He is utterly, devastatingly in love with this girl but you know, gotta stick it somewhere. 🤷 Emily Wilde's trilogy. I love it! But why does the mmc have to be such a hungry-for-sex creature and flaunt it in the fmc's face?! It adds absolutely nothing to his character, their relationship, or the plot!

*Sip, sip*

Am I supposed to have this information just so that I know they're good in bed or so heavily desired? It takes one sentence: "A string of broken hearts trailed behind them." BAM! That tells me everything I need to know. And even if so, why does their being good in bed matter? Is their status diminished if they are not? Why does the mmc have to have a slew of bodies in the past of their sheets in order to qualify for being an attractive companion while the fmc needs to be portrayed as having less history if not no history altogether? And this is not a male author issue. All of the examples I provided are books written by women. I really don't give a damn about their sexual history unless it is intrinsic to their character development, the plot, and/or their relationship with another character.

*Sip, sip*

I think Margaret Rogerson did this perfectly with Nathaniel. He is actively pushing girls away by trying to ruin his reputation and coming across as some evil sorcerer. Here are just some of the best quotes by Master Thorn regarding romance and his romantic life:

"'I've been hard at work trying to ruin my reputation for years. Perhaps after this, influential families will stop trying to catapult their unwed daughters over my garden fence. Which actually did happen once. I had to fend her off with a trowel.'"

"'Scrivener, I know I cut a devilishly handsome figure lying here on the floor all covered in blood----which I hear some girls find quite appealing, strangely enough, and if you're one of them I'm not going to judge---but please stop crying. It's only a flesh wound. I'll be back to fighting evil any moment now.'"

"Nathaniel nodded. 'If you can believe it, I used to fancy him. Then he went and grew that mustache. Or he murdered a gerbil and attached it to his face. For the life of me, I can't tell which.' ... 'I like girls too, Scrivener.” Amusement danced in Nathaniel’s eyes. “I like both. If you’re going to fantasize about my love life, I insist you do so accurately.'" (It should be noted that his bisexuality is never mentioned again, and I appreciate it so much as it normalizes it and that is what I want!)

"' [Silas] What is this, master - the third time I've broken you out of a jail cell?' Nathaniel coughed. 'Minor misunderstandings, on both previous occasions,' he assured Elisabeth. (….) [Silas] spoke mildly, his lashes shading his eyes. 'At least you're wearing clothes this time, master.' ... 'I'll have you know,' Nathaniel said, 'that that was an accident, and the public certainly didn't mind. One woman even sent me flowers.' To Elisabeth, he added, 'Don't worry. She was forty years old, and her name was Mildred.'"

On top of that, Rogerson does not go into heavy detail about his past. He does not flaunt to Elisabeth about how many partners he had in the past or how great a lover he is. It is summed up so nicely in those quotes which is pretty much all you get about Nathaniel's love life.

*Sip, sip*

Exuse me while I go reread A Sorcery of Thorns.

*Sip, sip*

But yeah. Shout out to V.E. Schwab who not all their mmcs are sex addicts, Laini Taylor, Shelby Mahurin (even though I didn't like Serpent & Dove I appreciated how Ried didn't have 100 random, faceless girls in his history), and ... and ... oh, shit, I think that's it.

If y'all have any more recommendations for these types of characters, let me know.

Cheers to a new year! And hopefully a better one for books.

*Sip, sip*

[acourtofthought]

for the love of god its like every once in a while when e/riels can't find anything to prove that gwynriel won't happen they bring gwyn's SA like they're actually proving a good point.... SHUT THE F**K UP PLS

nothing makes me more mad than them talking about gwyn's SA like they know how she feels bc if they knew they wouldn't even dare to think about those disgusting things!!!

pls share these comments and ppl experiences so these supposed concern about gwyn's health can see how people of SA feels about sex and gwyn's character: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSh2iFnIbzO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

they're so disgusting and this is only a fictional character but they forgot sarah also wrote these characters base on the real event. someone like gwyn exist in real life and something similar happened to them!!

and it's not just gwyn also rhysand and lucien!!! bc these two are 1. men 2. they threaten other ships (e/riel and fey/in). i haven't seen anyone saying nesta is lying about her SA bc she's not threatening any other ship or i don't see anyone fault her for drowning herself in sex and alcohol after her SA...

they also ignore what happened to feyre and what tamlin did to her bc they don't even see that as an assault and saying "feyre overreacted" and "tamlin pANiCkEd he didn't mean it" and let me tell you no feyre didn't overreacted and tamlin very much meant it, i've been in feyre's place...

honestly this fandom is degrading everyday and i'm so sorry for them.

TW: Sexual Assault I adore the link you shared, thank you so much. It was very empowering to read someone's experience and what they felt comfortable with. Not all SA survivors are going to be the same. Some may need a year before they're ready, some may need longer, some may need less than that and the link you shared is an example of what worked for them and something I hope we're all really happy to see. So any post where someone claims Gwyn MUST follow a specific timeframe because her SA assault happened over 2 1/2 years ago (by the end of SF), that because she did XYZ since then, it means she won't be ready for a physical relationship for a specific amount of time after, is a post that should not exist. I've noticed in this day and age, people like to toss around that all opinions are valid but that's a misnomer. Not all opinions are equal and valid and this one such example. If you claim you have a degree that makes you qualified to diagnose that Gwyn is not ready, you'd be wrong. A real therapist would understand that unless they had the chance to directly ask Gwyn questions related to her state of mind when it comes to relationships and her assault then no one should ever bring their degree into things. They should not be claiming they are an expert on her character based off the limited information we read about while she had a conversation with her friends under stressful circumstances. And no therapist would EVER place a time frame on when their client is ready to move forward, that is for the client to decide and the therapist to simply guide them to self awareness as to what's right for them. The only person who will be telling us if Gwyn is ready is SJM and if Gwyn is Azriel's love interest then guess what? There is a 99.9% chance that there will be intimacy as these are romance books and she has written sex into every single one of hers. Just as Rhys was ready, just as Lucien will be ready if he gets a book. And if Gwynriel is endgame, of which there are many possible hints for regardless of what some in the fandom claim, the author has said that Az is kinky which means anyone drawing fanart of Gwynriel bondage is completely justified in how they got from point A to point B. Maybe they'll have missed the mark and SJMs version of kink will deviate from that however it does not make those who commission or draw the art wrong for their current interpretation. It does not do a disservice to the character of Gwyn. Claiming it's a disservice is basically someone saying to a survivor "you were assaulted but I don't feel you should be alright with a consensual situation between two fictional people, a real possibility based on the authors writing style and previous works because I feel it's triggering for you and I think it's best if I decide when you're ready for that. You wouldn't be ready in real life therefore she's not ready either". This world seems to be full of people telling other people how they're allowed to feel about their own life experiences and it makes no sense to me. They think they're keeping it to the topic of the books and Gwyn's SA but it affects real survivors because when they claim that since Gwyn suffered SA 2.5 years ago and has trauma related agoraphobia she could not possibly be ready to overcome her trauma within a reasonable timeframe before the next book, they're saying that's the rulebook for all survivors. They're saying that there could never be a situation where someone could finally battle their demons and move forward. And no one, not Peggy from Utah or a therapist with multiple degrees should ever be telling a survivor what they can or cannot accomplish, real or fictional. Until we are in Gwyn's head and have her thoughts on what SHE thinks of Az and sex, no one should be boxing her into anything. At this point, anything is possible until we're told otherwise by the author herself.

[harfblarf]

It's interesting, to be sure, though a few things stand out to me off the bat. This ended up long as hell so I'm stuffing it under a readmore.

Most artists aren't lawyers; God knows I'm not. From what I've seen on your blog, I don't think you are, either. That's not a bad thing and it doesn't preclude this from happening, but it does raise some issues. The complexity of licensing and legalese is the very thing that makes smaller and less experienced artists vulnerable to exploitation under the current system. As it is, I don't fully understand what the process would be to publish under the "OAG License", whether that would be different whether or not the hypothetical OAG platform existed or not, and what steps would have to be taken to make the "OAG License" a legally recognized form of artistic license. Do you know those details? Have you confirmed them with a copyright lawyer? I saw you say in another post that being backed by the guild would turn any legal action "into a class-action suit by default". I am like 90% sure that is not what a class-action lawsuit is or how it works, unless a VERY interesting spin is put on members' copyrights and interests under the guild. I advise caution in slinging around legal terms and talking about how the hypothetical OAG would legally function if you are not working with a lawyer and/or 1000% sure you understand exactly what every term means and the involved requirements and standards. Misinformation of that nature can harm your credibility.

"Art" is not defined here, which is a problem when members are supposed to exclusively work under the OAG License when they can. A screenplay is obviously art, and you note fanfiction as an exception because it is explicitly derivative, but what about a digital art piece commissioned by someone else? What about a fanfiction adapted into an original work? What about livestream and video footage of things like lets plays? Those fall in a murky grey region of legality under fair use due to transformation, but that grey area means, in many cases, the person who created the stream or video has copyrights over the video and can turn a profit, but they can also be hit with DMCA claims. If that isn't art, what about livestreams of someone working on their art? Livestreams of someone working on fanwork? Does that count? Is non-fiction work included under the OAG? What about other weird things that can be copyrighted, like written and filmed book reviews, or the stories attached to recipe pages? When does code qualify as art-- does it always, or is it only when that code is in service to another form of art, like a videogame, art software, etc? Some of this, I'm sure, would need to be gone over with a copyright lawyer who can appropriately assess what the existing law says qualifies as "art" and can reasonably be protected by the guild and its license, but that step would be critically important for getting this at all off the ground.

"The artist" also needs clearer definitions and structures. What happens to works with multiple artists? Do all need to be active members of OAG to submit? Is collaboration and publication with non-OAG artists forbidden? Will the OAG have any say in how profits are split between multiple artists of a project, or will the expectation be that the artists work that out for themselves?

How will OAG enforce the 30% profit rule? Will there be limitations on where works can be published and sold to ensure the revenue stream is documented and under OAG purview? What if the artist has posted it to a platform where revenue directly associated with a specific work is unclear, such as Patreon? What if the artist sells their work in bundles or collections-- what if they sell it in a bundle with something ambiguous or simply unenforced under someone else's copyright, like stickers of fanart for existing media properties? Do artists owe OAG 30% of ALL income potentially associated with the work they published under the OAG license? That's bonkers, and I'm pretty sure entirely unenforceable unless you demand horrendous levels of financial transparency from every single member. If OAG has a hosting platform capable of turning profit and thus is in charge of processing those payments, will OAG automatically take its 30% from that? Presumably the 30% applies to "profit from a work" and not "each artist's profit from a work", but for multiple-artist projects that should be made explicit, and any platform built for OAG structured to account for multi-artist projects, for both payment and project controls.

Required monthly submissions as the sole way to uphold your membership status is not a good strategy. For one, a lot of work simply isn't complete in a publishable state within a month, even for full-time and wholly able-bodied artists: traditional paintings, novels, poetry books, videogames, sculptures, etc. Despite the guideline for the platform specifying that disabled artists should not be excluded, this also absolutely annihilates the ability of disabled artists to participate. "Once a month" may sound like very little to an able-bodied person accustomed to seeing digital artists crank out a dozen finished works a month, but there are disabilities that disable people for several months at a time, disabled artists who can only produce art once a year, once every two years. There are artistic fields that take months and months to complete a single work. You fundamentally exclude both groups from participation in this protective guild when you require constant proof of work.

It's also unclear what defines a "monthly submission"-- obviously submitting the same exact thing two months in a row would be a Problem, but what about revisions to a previous work, or alternate versions like recolors? Where are the lines being drawn? Is incomplete work, like drafts and sketches, considered an acceptable submission? I mean, it's still a unique piece that would fall under the artist's copyright, even incomplete. What will the overhead and supervision of this requirement look like, what will the appeals process be? Who will be in charge of checking a member has fulfilled their requirement?

Suggestions:

Also, what about an artist who has previously published work but now wants to join OAG? What are the expectations for their backlog, if any? This will be almost all artists. This is critical.

Quick edit: also, what about people like professional screenwriters, who already work with trade unions? Will OAG be in competition or collaboration with those trade unions? How will that affect profit share requirements? Is OAG specifically catered to small and freelance artists-- how will it account for members who work with studios, production houses, publishers, and large companies and copyright holders? Will being a member of OAG preclude any work on projects by those entities? Will working with non-approved companies earn membership blacklisting, like scabbing does with trade unions? That means people might have to choose between OAG membership and a stable job, or working on a Disney movie. How will OAG handle those split incentives? How will OAG negotiate with powerhouses to change the industry, should they gain sufficient influence? How can leadership be held accountable to these goals and values?

Do away with monthly work requirements. Members of other successful unions and guilds, such as SAG-AFTRA, are not expelled if they are unemployed for a time.

Reduce the profit cut taken and structure the OAG around tiers of member fees and an annual donation drive instead. Operate on the same basis as organizations like the Organization for Transformative Works-- you're providing a valuable service, and those who benefit from or believe in that service will want to support that service to the best of their ability. Run donation drives and offer higher donation tiers of membership fees with the explicit understanding that higher membership fees do not provide greater benefits to the member, only provide more support to the guild. Membership fees and donation goals will also stabilize the guild's income and allow it a consistent budget.

Reconsider the guild's understanding of profit from artwork, and its very mission. Yes, the landlord system of copyright is extremely fraught. But OAG, as I understand it, would not overhaul copyright law or magically exclude its artists from its effects. Rather, OAG would create a collective force for bargaining and enforcement of individual artists' rights, and a collaborative space within the guild for a radical change in our understanding of what it means to "respect" that copyright. It bears a lot of similarities to the Organization for Transformative Works in that way, albeit primarily protecting profit-turning original works rather than transformative ones. This is important because individual artists cannot produce sufficient art at market price to survive off of selling their work only once. Small artists will be turned away from OAG if its philosophy precludes the validity of selling their art in forms like stickers, buttons, and shirts.

On the same note of reconsidering the OAG's mission and turning it to better serve its potential members, consider the merits of OAG running its own member-owned (and potentially member-operated) shop for the small things artists subsist off of-- prints, buttons, shirts, etc. Also consider what services OAG could provide to entice potential members, such as how SAG-AFTRA provides the option for medical insurance. This is also a major concern for freelance and independent artists and would be massively appealing. There are other things that only something like OAG could do, as well, such as coordinating a standing group of beta readers and sensitivity consultants partially paid through membership fees, lowering the requirements for artists to access that tool while providing better and more reliable pay and content moderation for the job.

Consider developing an initiation process for membership. OAG will have better prestige if a certain level of skill or quality, or at minimum a certain extent of portfolio and backlogged work, is necessary for full membership, but that will also reduce access to artists, so I would weigh this carefully. Potentially, newer or less experienced artists could have an apprentice membership title while they develop their skills. A (voluntary) mentorship program pairing more experienced member artists with apprentices learning their specialty could be a great incentive for joining the guild. In that case, some degree of member accreditation for specific artistic fields would be necessary, which does become a bit complicated.

Even if you don't have a formal initiation process for standard members, some degree of checks for stolen work, ai-generated work, and content farms would be a necessity.

If you have any intention to begin turning this wheel on your own, I recommend looking into if this project might qualify for any grants, and if so, using some of those funds to pay copyright lawyers to consult on the project and its ideas. If the basis is shaky and unclear, no artist will want to bind themselves to it, especially not when the price of entry is forsaking their only legal defense for their creative work. Paying artists and affiliated workers (editors, publishers, programmers for a potential website, storefronts) for consultation would also probably be a good idea, as possible.

Eventually, you will need to develop and provide proof of concept beyond overly formal pseudo-legalese terms and conditions. I get that it's in a very larval stage right now and you're seeking feedback on a very exciting idea, but randoms on tumblr who dislike copyright law aren't the best avenue for that. Connect with actual artists of several sizes, those large enough to live off their art and those who are not, and canvas them for their opinions of copyright and their understanding of it. Stop by an artist alley at a convention and ask the people with booths what resources would benefit them as an artist, and if they would enjoy operating under guidelines such as what you've laid out in your post-- what they would be willing to do and pay to participate in a community with these understandings shared between them, what they would be willing to do and pay to have the security of a guild with legal and artistic resources available to them. What they COULD do and pay for that. This is labor- and potentially cost-intensive, but there is no avoiding that if you actually want to make this happen in a way that takes off and serves artists.

Figure out what can be launched on a small scale and do it, then invite artists on board to test it.

At minimum, figure out what kind of legal entity OAG would be. Would it qualify as a trade union like SAG-AFTRA? Would it be a non-profit organization/corporation like OTW? These are the basics. It's gonna be hard to get people on board to work on something that stays nebulous. Working in a conceptual space is flexible, but it's also flimsy; people don't want to commit time, energy, or money to flimsy.

As an extension of that, set up OAG as a legal entity (whatever suits it best) and build it a simple website. Put something concrete into the world for people to sign onto.

TL;DR - cool concept, but it's just a concept right now, the sort of exciting thing drawn up in brainstorming and not yet grounded in practicality. That limits the potential for its development and growth. It lacks research and professional input. Consult experts. Consult artists. Get a PR person who can sell the idea. Etc. Put your boots to the ground and either start making it happen, or find someone who will. Otherwise, it will remain only a concept.

What's funny to me is that nobody cares about copyright outside the US and maybe, I dunno, Canada and Europe? For the entire third world, it's something we politely pretend is real so we don't hurt their feelings, but it's probably the fakest and less upheld concept here, absolutely nobody cares.

Some yanqui says something deranged like "um, uh, yeah, you should pay for every time you play a song otherwise you're stealing" and we just pat their head and say "claro que sí tesoro" while we download 15 GBs of movies and the local pizzeria has a mural of like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny to promote it.

[aquietwritingcorner]

Why haven't you been in any competitions before now?

Short answer? I didn't know they existed until it was too late.

The longer answer is that, most of the TMNT competitions I see running on tumblr are geared towards, one, Rise of the TMNT stories, and/or, two, seem to have a heavy bias towards stories that are either comics or incorporate a lot of artwork with them.

I have five Rise fics that I've written, all one shots, and one of those is a crossover fic that focuses more on 2k3 Don. Most of my stories are 2k3 based. And to be honest? The fanbase for that is a lot smaller than Rise currently is. So my works tend to either not qualify, or no one has ever heard of them.

I am also primarily a text-based creator. I don't have artwork to go with my stories, unless someone else draws some for me (and let me tell you I am over the MOON when some one does!I love it!) The stories with the pretty artwork tend to get more attention and recognition. And that's no shade to them! It just how it works. FanART gets more recognition faster than fanFIC. Honestly, I very much enjoy looking and reading a lot of the stuff these creators make, ngl.

I mean, I suppose if we wanna reach way back, I participated in and even won an award the Stealthy Stories Fan Fiction Awards. But that was structured very differently than the current comps, and, like I won that award way back in 2006, so...

...omg that's nearly 20 years ago. Like, in two years, that will be 20 years ago.

When did I get that old?

[deltalunaris]

Effective immediately, ALL of my blogs- except for my SFW fanart/fandom blog (TBA)- are ADULTS ONLY, NO MINORS UNDER 18.

It’s a decision I have put serious thought into, and I do not make it lightly.

[Reasoning under the cut; feel free to ignore.]

I did want to have a majority of my blogs be accessible for anyone 16+, especially those who needed access to any of the trauma-related resources I hope to write on soon.

However, as I work on myself, I realize that I can’t put myself in those shoes.

Outside of my own family & duties, I am not meant to be any minor’s constant, reliable safe space. That is for qualified professionals to oversee, and not some mid-20s stranger on the Internet who is still figuring life out.

As well, I don’t feel it’s safe to have minors mix in with the otherwise older audience I’m expecting. I have experienced in-fandom predation myself when I was a minor, so I feel it’s important to do what I can to prevent this from happening again. I know I can’t be there to stop every creep, but I can limit their reach.

Lastly, I have wasted too much time trying to make my art, my story, my very being, palatable. I have panicked, fretted, and even lost sleep over the perceived possibility of making a piece that is too gritty, too raw, and ending up hurting/scarring someone younger in the process.

It has cost me days, weeks, months of nearly-finished to finished pieces left unsubmitted, sitting in their folders, rotting away as I work on more like them.

I need not explain why this is destructive not only to my career, but to my very creative process, my trauma recovery, my very soul.

It’s especially disingenuous to myself as a survivor of severe trauma, and no better than what was done to me when I was but a budding artist.

My story is one of a severely traumatized child who went through events most people would not have survived from, let alone want to survive.

That, inherently, isn’t safe for other children to be exposed to. Not until they’re old enough to not only understand, but to cope with knowing about these tragedies. Secondhand trauma is very, very real, as I have experienced myself.

Maybe I’m overexplaining myself- and I likely am- but this is important to me.

Shared safety as a whole is important to me.

Other artists may do things differently, but they’re not me.

I value others’ safety as much as I value my own comfort.

And that’s that.

Thank you for reading, and for respecting my boundaries on this matter.

More to come very soon, including actual art.

[EDIT]: In the event that I join a multi-animator project, I understand that there will very likely be the presence of minors. This does not bother me, as I do not use M/AP servers for socializing purposes, and I do not accept friend requests from servers in general.

In the rare situation that this happens, do not send me any requests or DMs unless you are the M/AP host OR are a verified M/AP helper. Unless you’re an adult and we end up connecting very well (incredibly unlikely; parasocial activity makes me nervous), I’m generally made anxious by strangers wanting to get into DMs with me. 

[yuuriweek]

Mobile Friendly Themes and FAQ

Yuuri Week 2021 Themes:

Here are our themes! Remember that you only have to use ONE of the daily themes, although you are welcome to try and combine them and use multiples.

7/25- DAY ONE: Beauty

Optional Theme A: Formal Wear

Optional Theme B: Rainbow

7/26- DAY TWO: Gold

Optional Theme A: Champion

Optional Theme B: Extraordinary

7/27- DAY THREE: Soul

Optional Theme A: Transformation

Optional Theme B: Fairy

7/28- DAY FOUR: Determination

Optional Theme A: Choreography

Optional Theme B: Dance

7/29- DAY FIVE: Life & Love

Optional Theme A: Domestic Bliss

Optional Theme B: Hugs & Kisses

7/30- DAY SIX: Friendship

Optional Theme A: Devotion

Optional Theme B: Pets

7/31- DAY SEVEN: HISTORY MAKER

Optional Theme A: Dream Come True

Optional Theme B: Happy Ending

FAQ/GUIDELINES

What is Yuuri Week?

A Themed Fanworks Week dedicated to Katsuki Yuuri, protagonist of the popular anime Yuri!!! on Ice. We love Yuuri here and think it should be all Yuuri, all the time. Unfortunately that’s not possible, but at least, for this one week, it will be!

This fanworks week welcomes fanworks of ALL types; fanart, fanfic, graphics, edits, cosplay, videos, etc. The only thing we ask is that the content be 100% yours (as in no videos or edits made from other people’s fanart).

There is no limit to how many fanworks you can submit for Yuuri week either. If you can only complete one, that’s fine. If you manage twenty, that’s amazing!

Other Requirements for fanworks are:

They must be new. No old fanworks will be accepted for Yuuri week. Please do not repost old works or just edit old works either. Old fanworks you have yet to post are fine, but if it’s already been posted, it does not qualify. Continuations of old work (i.e. the next chapter in a WIP) are also not accepted.

As noted, the fanwork must be 100% yours or must be a willing collaboration between yourself and other users (i.e. not edits of another person’s fanart of AMVs featuring fanart).

After much discussion we have decided to disallow fanworks pairing Yuuri romantically or sexually with underage characters. Underage means any characters under the age of eighteen (we are aware that the age of consent varies, but this is non-negotiable) in canon. The moderators feel that for the safety of our underage participants and followers, as well as due to our own age, this is the responsible choice.

Fanworks must fit our daily themes. The themes are broad and we’re not terribly picky, so feel free to be creative in our interpretation. There are three daily themes; the main theme as well as two optional themes. You only have to use one of these themes. For example, if you use gold as your theme on day two, you do not have to use championas well. If you use pets as your theme on day six, you do not have to use determination.

Your fanworks must be centered around Katsuki Yuuri as a character! Pairing or friendship centered fanworks are more than welcome, but make sure that Yuuri is of majority of equal focus to the other characters in the fanwork (i.e. if it’s a Victuuri fanwork, Yuuri should be in it as much if not more than Victor. He should not be focused on less.) Just keep in mind, Yuuri-centric fanworks!

Okay I want to participate!

Wonderful! As noted above, the event runs seven days. Our event is not going to be picky about timezones, so as long as it’s still that day somewhere in the world, you can submit for that day’s themes. We’re pretty informal here at Yuuri week.

You can read about our themes here!!

I am on twitter, but not tumblr.

Then follow our official twitter and tag your fanworks with #yuuriweek. We will be running the event concurrently on there and welcome both twitter AND tumblr participation.

Posting Information:

Fanworks must be tagged.

Please put ’#yuuriweek’ in the first five tags of your post. If you do not do this, there is no way for us to find it.

Additional tags that must be included: The day your fanwork is four (i.e. #day 7), the theme (#theme: history maker). These tags do NOT need to be in the first five tags. They just need to be there. Please do this though. It will make it so, so much easier for us when indexing.

If your fanwork is #NSFW please tag it for that.

If your fanwork has ANY potential triggers, please tag for that. Common triggers include; rape, non-con, underage sex, character death, suicide (attempted or successful), and gore. Please send us a message if you have questions as to if your fanwork should be tagged. Do NOT decide that ‘surprising’ the reader is more important than warning for triggers. It never is.

For writers, your fics should include the following info:

Title:

Pairing(s): (unless there are none)

Rating/Warnings:

Summary:

Link: (If it’s not being posted directly to tumblr)

If your story is being directly posted to tumblr, it must be under a read more!

You can also submit your fanworks via our submit box.

Fanfiction writers, if you post your fanfiction to Archive of Our Own, please add it to our Yuuri Week Collection!

When you’re posting on AO3, right below the title/summary/notes section there’s a box that says ‘Post to Collections/Challenges’. Just type in ‘yuuriweek’ or ‘2021 Yuuri Katsuki Week’ and it will pull it up automatically, then select it! This does NOT stop it from showing up in the main YOI search it all, by the way. It’s just a neat little mini archive/collection for people to find everything written for this event.

If you have any questions, feel free to send us an ask at any time.

[love-takes-work]

I’ve recreated every food in Steven Universe

OKAY I THINK I FINALLY DID IT

I FINALLY RECREATED EVERY RECIPE FROM THE SHOW

Sooooo . . . what did I miss?

Now it’s your turn to help me be sure I got them all. Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Reblog this post suggesting a food from the show (with or without screencap; just enough so I can recognize it). The weirder the better.

I will respond to you with my photo of when I made that food.

If I can’t deliver, I will like send you $10 or draw you a SU fanart or something. (We’ll negotiate.)

I will accept asks instead of reblogs if you prefer.

It’s fine if you have a fairly common or easy suggestion and you just wanna see it. ;)

I’m offering this incentive because I really want some help combing the show for foods I might have forgotten! Your help is appreciated!

Edit: Adding responses. :D 

Dog-Nut (Pilot!)

Classic Hot Dog (Intro)

Fry Bits (2 - “Laser Light Cannon” & others)

Together Breakfast (4 - “Together Breakfast”)

Popcorn for Onion (7 - “Bubble Buddies”)

Giant Strawberry (8 - “Serious Steven” & others)

Large Pizza, Extra Fishy (10 - “Steven’s Lion”)

Cereal to stop the Foot (11 - “Arcade Mania”)

Aqua Mexican Burrito (13 - “So Many Birthdays”)

Movie Snacks (17 - “Lion 2: The Movie”)

Crystal Lizards (17 - “Lion 2: The Movie”)

Hot Dogs & Hamburgers (18 - “Beach Party”)

Lars’s Lunch (20 - “Coach Steven”)

Fire Salt & Fire Salt Donuts (21 - “Joking Victim”)

Big Fat Zucchini with Linguine (22 - “Steven and the Stevens”)

Chaaaaps (23 - “Monster Buddies”)

Mi Torta (23 - “Monster Buddies”)

Durian Juice (24 - “An Indirect Kiss”)

Fish Kebabs & Giant Fish (30 - “Island Adventure”)

Cheeseball Cake (32 - “Fusion Cuisine”)

Breadsticks (32 - “Fusion Cuisine”)

Shrimp Appetizer (32 - “Fusion Cuisine”)

Onion Rings (33 - “Garnet’s Universe”)

Baby Melon (34 - “Watermelon Steven”)

Nice Spicey Pretzels (35 - “Lion 3: Straight to Video”)

Mama Sadie Lunch (35 - “Lion 3: Straight to Video”)

Garnet’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (37 - “Warp Tour”)

Mayo Sandwich (39 - “Future Vision”)

Bindle Lunches (40 - “On the Run”)

Marshmallows (42 - “Winter Forecast”)

Waffle Egg Sandwich (42 - “Winter Forecast”)

Caprese Salad (47 - “Shirt Club”)

Three-Way Sub (55 - “Say Uncle”)

Pizza Steve (55 - “Say Uncle”)

Tea and Cookies (55 - “Say Uncle”)

Pile of Food (57 - “Reformed”)

Snack Sushi (Season 2 Short - “Cooking With Lion”)

Biscuits & Jam (58 - “Sworn to the Sword”)

Smoothie & Orange Slices (58 - “Sworn to the Sword”)

Best Breakfast in the World (64 - “Keystone Motel”)

Noodles and Butter (65 - “Onion Friend”)

Potato Steven (65 - “Onion Friend”)

Lion Lickers (68 - “Nightmare Hospital”)

Amethyst’s Hoagie (79 - “Super Watermelon Island”)

Fresh Big Donut Donuts (84 - “Steven Floats”)

Guacola (85 - “Drop Beat Dad”)

Pepe’s Burgers (86 - “Mr. Greg”)

The Finest Steak and Brie (86 - “Mr. Greg”)

Corndogs (87 - “Too Short to Ride”)

Pizza Bagel & Fantastic Fries (90 - “Restaurant Wars”)

Fancy Orange Juice (93 - “Alone at Sea”)

PROTES Protein Bars (95 - “Gem Hunt”)

Pine Needle Tea (95 - ”Gem Hunt”)

Sugar Shock Shut Down (109 - “Last One Out of Beach City”)

Apple Sidra (109 - “Last One Out of Beach City”)

Gem Harvest & Wedding Cake (111-112 “Gem Harvest”)

Korean Lunch (114 - “Steven’s Dream”)

Zoo Fruit (117 - “The Zoo”)

Pumpkin-Shaped Pumpkin Bread (126 - “The Good Lars”)

Ube Roll (126 - “The Good Lars”)

Cool Kids Potluck (126 - “The Good Lars”)

Jungle Moon Alien Carcass (140 - “Jungle Moon”)

Meal for Stranded Humans (144 - “Lars’ Head”)

Everything Pizza (148 - “What’s Your Problem”)

Together Breakfast Wedding Cake (151-152- “Reunited”)

Bixbite’s Pizzas (SUF 2 - “Guidance”)

Snow Cones (SUF 2 - “Guidance”)

Crystal Drinks (SUF 3 - “Rose Buds”)

Carrot Bean Meal (SUF 3 - “Rose Buds”)

Tomato Soup on the Go (SUF 5 - “Bluebird”)

Clams, Peanut Butter, & a side of fresh-cut grass (SUF 5 - “Bluebird”)

Bluebird’s Cake (SUF 5 - “Bluebird”)

Fried Eggs (on Amethyst’s face) (SUF 7 - “Snow Day”)

Protein Shake (SUF 7 - “Snow Day”)

Spicy Chili (SUF 11 - “In Dreams”)

Together Forever Cake (SUF 13 - “Together Forever”)

Cookie Cat Ice Cream (SUF 14 - “Growing Pains”)

Cocoa (SUF 14 - “Growing Pains”)

Ice Cream a La Pie (SUF 15 - “Mr. Universe”)

Caveats and Rules (read if participating):

It counts as a recipe for the show only if it is eaten or to be eaten by a character (onscreen or implied to have been) or otherwise prominently featured. (e.g., Together Breakfast would count even though it was not eaten, but random food sitting around incidentally in a fridge or bake case does not count as a recipe.)

Food items that are only mentioned but not pictured don’t count.

Food items that are part of the background art don’t count unless they are significant or interacted with at some point. This includes mentioned or pictured items on restaurant menus.

Note: I HAVE actually made some things that have only been mentioned or pictured on menus! So feel free to suggest them if you really want to see if I made them! But for purposes of qualifying for a reward, I can’t commit to making the entire bake case, pizza joint menu, Spacetries display, or commercial cooler full of food if they’re more scenery than snacks.

If I have made an item once and it recurs, it doesn’t count as a different recipe if it appears in a different configuration in a later episode. (e.g., if I made an ube roll for “The Good Lars,” I don’t have to make a new one for Steven Universe: The Movie.)

Non-food items eaten by animals, monsters, and Amethyst do not count as recipes. (e.g., I do not consider it a recipe when the Big Bird from “Giant Woman” ate a goat and Steven. I do not consider it a recipe when Amethyst eats wrappers or garbage. Weird food she eats is OK. As long as it is food.)

YES, I count all qualifying food in Steven Universe, Steven Universe: The Movie, Steven Universe Future, and any official shorts as fair game.

NO, I do not count food in the comics, the video games, the official or tie-in books, Ronaldo’s blog, or the Crewniverse’s celebratory food as recipes I have to make.

There is a lot of generic popcorn, chips, and soda in this show. I don’t count it as a new recipe every time someone munches one of these as an incidental snack.

Very minor variations on common snacks don’t count as new recipes. (e.g., I don’t have to make every donut or flavor of Chaaaaps anyone was ever seen eating. Including variation options in my recipe is enough.)

Random messes made with food do not have to be recreated as recipes. (e.g., Onion smearing condiments all over the kitchen is not a recipe; pizzas that get destroyed or thrown around are not new recipes; Greg and Steven scattering food leavings around their Empire City hotel is not a recipe; a seagull with a banana peel on its head carrying pizza does not count; Steven scattering the contents of his kitchen on the floor while making Together Breakfast is not a recipe, etc.)

Yes, the foods will be prepared/arranged by me. In most cases they are homemade creations but in some cases store-bought elements will be used and that is also OK. 

Food-shaped items that aren’t actually food are not recipes. (e.g., game controllers shaped like ham do not count. Crying Breakfast Friends are characters, not food.)

Things made out of food do not count unless they are eaten. (e.g., Fish Stew Pizza is required; Jenny made out out of pizza in Kiki’s dream is not.)

Vegetarian alternatives, facsimiles designed to look but not taste like certain foods, and ingredient substitutes are permissible. (e.g., vegetarian pepperoni on a pizza that was REAL pepperoni in the show is allowed; a non-fish substitute for a real dead fish is OK; dishes representing disgusting food that are secretly delicious are all right, etc.)

Thanks for your help. :)

[sevenrelics]

in a pissy mood everyone!!! here are some taz fanon things that bug me. feel free to add your own !  - angus is secretly a blupjeans kid, taako can sense that, and is intuitively affectionate towards him because of it. absolutely not. he can just love him because he’s an extremely bright and kind and determined little kid that’s grown on him!!! blood ties do not a good bond make ! - taako is made hyperfeminine, lup is hypermasculine. there have been better explanations by smarter more qualified people on this but. c’mon. really? gonna play into the stereotype of flamboyant gay guy for taako and just straight up transphobia with lup? ofc it’s different if you’re a gay man or trans woman and want to depict taako or lup like You but . for everyone else it reeks of stereotyping. - kravitz is big and strong and tough and taako is a blushing mess at the sight of him. no . nononononono . id say “where is this in canon” but it appears to be the opposite in canon actually. i remember the effect those tentacles taako cast had. i do!  - people depict angus like an infant or a full grown adult. i love angus. we all love angus. he is a capable little boy who is not a nervous wreck or tearful mess unless under extreme duress. he does not need taako to protect him from everything! he’s a very powerful smart young wizard Doing His Best. however though he’s also ike 10 oh my god who does he live with whys he have a teaching position is he okay does he get recess oh m - what lucretia did to the birds is immediately glossed over. this one actually has some canon basis and i get it. i get it! lucretia is such a prominent character and shes loved so so much and we grow to know her over all of balance but especially the stolen century. ofc the gang brought it in for a hug at the end. do not force taako to have that redemption arc. she hurt him and he’s allowed to be mad! he’s not selfish for that.  - ignoring the women. hey guys remember hurley and sloane? carey and killian? the ao3 fic count for them says otherwise and its especially sad when like. oh i dunno. background male characters like one indrid cold or agent stern get heaps of attention meta and fanart from all over but us sapphics are stuck being the only ones paying attention to the canon wlw - ignoring merle. he’s a horny boy (YECH.) too :(

[hotheadhero]

8 (does he ever unwind?? I'm concerned)

Caspar is a little hyper and possibly has a bit of ADHD (disclaimer: I am not qualified to make that call), so if you’re asking if he unwinds a la relaxing on a beach or something, he probably doesn’t do that, no. Caspar’s idea of relaxing most likely centers around eating to or even past satiety and then just plunking down in his room or something and sleeping it all off. Sure, it’d be better to do that in an unobvious place (he’s not as bold as Linhardt, to be intentionally sleeping out in public where everyone else can see), and if it’s a classically relaxing place, that’s even better (though whether that’s because he can run around and yell to his heart’s content when he wakes up or because he actually enjoys the quietude is anyone’s guess), but other than that, I don’t think he ever slows down. (Incidentally, I think a thread or fanart involving a food-comatose Caspar would be pretty cute~)

If “unwind” refers to being high-strung, I think the worst Caspar’s got is nervous energy. Unless you directly make fun of his height or beat him in an area he(believes he)’s good at, you won’t get him angry at you for long–and even if you did beat him in a fight, he’d simply bounce back and try again.

[ineffablecolors]

Kinda have to agree with your previous anon there, a lot of the criticism is mostly out on emma during s5 and s6 comes off not good? like they make her out to be someone who abuses hook or what not? also just villanizes the cs relationship, people really don’t understand that we don’t want to see that? especially since most of it is coming from s7 stans who don’t like cs anymore?

ok, anon, I’m going to use your ask to state my opinion on a number of things and I sincerely hope that neither you nor anyone else will be personally offended by any of it but I’m not the kind of person that keeps quiet about anything so..

I approached my first ask without any prejudice and hopefully the anon can make some use of the blogs I recommended and the other recommended in the replies. But I got something out of that post as well because the awesome people I tagged and a bunch of others put into a nutshell the current “problem” we seem to have - some fans want a completely positive and happy fandom experience without criticism of their favourites and with joyful immersion and acceptance of canon, other fans like to view everything critically, discuss and dissect and speculate on how what they see as flaws in canon could have been fixed or avoided.

There is nothing wrong with that. There are blogs that are criticism-free and they are wonderful places. Hell, I’m a really damn positive person and I think that I mostly keep to the joy and love side of things as well. However, I have no problem seeing discourse, criticism and even some negativity on my dash either. I don’t think this variety is a problem at all, I think it’s part of the beauty of fandom. Yes, I have unfollowed people who spend more time posting negativity than positivity about something I love but even then I’ve never judged those people for being disappointed by a show/fandom and venting. That’s what the follow/unfollow buttons are for - so one can curate one’s dash to one’s tastes.

(here I want to add though that discourse and criticism does not always equal negativity and being critical of a relationship/character does not always equal vilifying them. And neither equal hate most of the time. I think you went a bit too far there.)

That being said, there is a problem and that problem is people who claim what does and what does not constitute a fan. Being an OUAT fan, a CS shipper or a Hook stan is not a freaking bachelor’s degree and there are no exams you need to take to qualify. A blog can post 100% CS 100% of the time and love every single interaction Hook and Emma have had. Another blog can post 20% CS, 25% HQ, 10% Red Swan and 45% other fandom stuff and prefer CS’s dynamic is S6 to their dynamic before that. If both those blogs consider themselves CS fans - they are both CS fans. They don’t need to prove their “faithfullness” to CS to me or you or anyone else. That’s just not how shipping does or should work.

I agree with some of your ask - I do understand why some fans don’t want to see Emma criticism or a dissection of the CS relationship - that’s their prerogative. However, your “vilifying” and s7 comments completely lost me because they resemble exactly one of those “you are not a fan anymore” statements that I don’t know if I should rage at or just roll my eyes at this point. Unless someone says they no longer like CS there is no reason for you to assume they no longer like CS or accuse them of that. Matter of fact, there is no reason to assume anything or accuse anyone of anything. You don’t like what they post - don’t follow.

I do not like or support this unnecessary tension between people with different preferences. I’m the kind of person who considered herself a Spuffy shipper even though I hated Buffy a whole lot of the time and thought they were both monstrously abusive to each other in S6. I made Spuffy videos but I also made Bangel videos. Yeah, that’s right. I didn’t even ship Bangel. Yet I spent hours and hours years ago watching and editing footage of them kissing and fucking to romantic songs. Why? Cuz I felt like it. Cuz I liked making videos. Cuz fandom should be a safe place that encourages creativity and discourse in every direction and doesn’t censor anything that isn’t harmful to people. The more we talk and create - the more we have to choose from. And the choice is yours.

And last just for the hell of it - I’m a person who considers herself a hardcore CS shipper, the Neverland Renaissance gives me life, Killian Jones deserves all the love in the world, I loved S7, I love Wish Hook and Rogers just as much as I love the first Killian Jones we met, I understand why Emma did all the wrong and questionable things she did in S5, I understand why Killian hates himself for all the wrong and questionable things he did in S5, I support multi-shipping, I support monogamous shipping, I love Emma Swan more than I have ever loved a female character, I read Killian whump without an ounce of guilt and love the everloving fuck out of it, I think the whole “Killian killed her granddad” plot was unnecessary and contrived and horrible, I think the speech Emma gave Killian when she found out was perfect, I think her giving him back the ring was too much, I think we should’ve had Henry call Killian dad, I think Snow was a bad mom to Emma 80% of the time, I would’ve loved to see Detective Rogers with Tiana or Regina, I cried when Rumple gaveRoger’s his heart, I think Emma is often not attentive enough to Killian’s feelings, I think her “he has one hand” comment was horrific, I think Killian should’ve learnt to stop keeping secrets after the Zelena debacle, I think Emma should have learnt that Killian would never leave her by S6, I think S5 is what proved how much Emma Swan loves Killian Jones, I think Killian deserved to have Nemo and Smee and his brother at their wedding, Emma saying “I will find you, Killian. I will always find you.” is probably the greatest moment of my shipping existence, I like Alice better than Hope for a CS daughter, I love seeing posts, fanfic and fanart on my dashboard that express an array of opinions because that is part of shipping for me, I completely understand and respect people who prefer to keep their shipping completely “clean” and positive. 

I think we should stop telling people how to love things and spend that time finding the right people to surround ourselves with and telling them how much we love talking to them, watching their videos, reading their metas and fanfics and being part of this multifaceted fandom.

[asynca]

My partner is very very very very insecure. I've been trying to communicate with them about a lot of things but they always blame themself even if no one is at fault. I even tried talking to them about this but it didn't work. They're constantly stressing over making me happy and it's exhausting but I do love them very very much and I show it all the time. How can I make them feel better? How can I tell them I physically/emotionally can't spend all day every day with them?

Well, the first thing you need to accept is that your partner’s insecurity is clearly pathological (and probably fueled by an illness like trauma or depression). Given that, for your own health, before you can try and cheer them up you need to accept two things: 

You may not be able to cheer them up

It actually isn’t your job to cheer them up: it’s their own job. 

You may not be able to cheer them up. 

You’re not a mental health professional, and pathological insecurity and illness is actually very hard to treat. You can only treat it if the person firstly acknowledges their behaviour is illogical and ill, and then also genuinely engages with the therapy. As a professional, I still struggle to help some people and feel very helpless at times!

Because of this, accept that in trying to cheer them up, you may fail. You may fail not because you’re somehow deficient, or hopeless, or because you’re a bad partner: you may fail because your partner has a very ingrained set of behaviours about how they relate to themselves and trying to pull them out of that cycle is fucking hard. 

I can tell from your ask that you already feel like your inability to help them is partially your fault. It’s not. You’re doing the best you can, but trying to superficially cheer someone up when they are ill is like using an ordinary umbrella in a monsoon: it’s a nice idea, but it’s the wrong tool for the job. 

What they really need is therapy from someone who is qualified and experienced in pulling them out of their self-hate spiral. They may also need medication. Essentially: professional help is needed. 

It actually isn’t your job to cheer them up

It’s super easy to feel responsible for your partner’s mental health. Unless you are genuinely the cause of their poor mental health (ie, your behaviour is toxic and/or abusive, etc), you’re not responsible.

The only person who is responsible for their mental health and good mental health habits is your partner. 

This means if you try to cheer them up and fail to: not your fault. If you can’t make them feel better about themselves: not your fault. If you try and try and try and try and still aren’t able to ‘fix’ them: not your fault. That doesn’t mean you should stop trying where appropriate to, but it does mean that you need to take that burden of ‘cheering my partner up’ from your shoulders and set it down. 

If your partner is ill, if your partner has pathologically low self-esteem, if your partner has bad habits that harm their mental health: it’s 100% ONLY their responsibility to sort out. THEY need to seek therapy. THEY need to take responsibility for their illness and get help. You can’t force them to do this, they need to take the initiative and be responsible for their recovery. If they choose not to do that (for whatever reason), you can’t feel responsible for it. That’s their choice to not recover. For your own mental health, you should stop giving your time and energy to cure someone of something they have no commitment to curing themselves. 

You’ve already said you’re exhausted: dude, you’re throwing your energy into a black hole if they’re not actively taking tangible steps to recover. 

You’re not a bad, unloving partner if you pull back and say, “I can’t keep trying to cheer you up when you’re not taking steps to cheer yourself up, it’s exhausting me and not achieving anything.” Actually, that sometimes may be the push they need to get help.

If it’s not, and if they try to unload the responsibility for their mental health onto you (”You never try to cheer me up!”/”I’ll commit suicide if you leave me!”/”I guess you don’t care about me after all…”) gently remind them that you love them, but that you’re not the right person to help them right now, even if you wish you could. 

HAVING SAID ALL THAT, what works to cheer people up?

There isn’t really a one size fits all for making someone feel better, but there certainly are things that land well. 

Little gestures that remind them how much you love and value them. Write a letter about the first time you knew you’d fallen for them. Draw them silly little amateur doodles of the things you’ll get up to next holiday. Send them a message randomly in the middle of the day to let them know you’re thinking of them. Even if you’re not crafty, spend some time making something for them. It can be something heartfelt, but something silly is equally as impactful. Leave a chocolate they like on their desk. Put their stuffed toys into the shape of a heart on the bed. Search the web for awesome fanart of their fave they might not have seen yet. It’s something that lets your partner know you spent time thinking of them. 

Little gestures that remind your partner how well you know them. Do they REALLY like your mac and cheese? When they’re down in the dumps, why not slap a bowl of it in front of them. Turn their bed down the way they love it. If you can, buy that thing they’ve been looking at, even if they can afford to buy it themselves. If they always wake up for work at a particular time, have their coffee ready for them as they wander bleary-eyed into the kitchen. 

Give them your undivided, complete attention for an evening. If you’re always busy, there’s nothing more meaningful that putting all that stuff away and sitting down with them. Phones and electronics away (unless you’re using them to pay attention to your partner!). Touch them. Hug them. Watch something with them if that’s what they enjoy. If they’re long-distance, watch a movie together on rab.it or lie down in bed and just voice them for hours. Nothing feels more loving than that. 

However, please do keep in mind that you can’t do these things constantly forever. You can’t give someone your undivided attention constantly, and you’re not required to. If you feel like you’re constantly doing the above things but it seems to be like throwing water into a bottomless well - it isn’t you that your partner needs to feel better, it’s therapy and taking responsibility for their own mental health. 

[sol1056]

Someone made a fake voltron leak and it was taken down by NBCUniversal/DCMA. All the trademarks in the picture were made up and some of them were the person's own name. The only thing the picture had that could be a DCMA infrigment is "Property of Dreamworks Animation". The caption of the post even says it was an edit. I think this proves that the strikes are fake or just auto generated.

All I saw were the images posted on twitter. I didn’t see anyone’s name, I saw no trademarks, and I’m not sure what part you’re saying was made up. More importantly: that’s not how copyright works. That’s not even how trademarks work. 

Look, if you drew a stick figure and plastered “property of dreamworks animation” on it, it wouldn’t qualify as a copyright violation. (The combination of company name in specific font with logo placement are definitely trademarked, but that’s a different issue.) It doesn’t matter what text is on the image, because the characters themselves — every single character design created for VLD — are all protected by copyright.  

If you draw a picture of Keith, getting as close as you can to the show’s version, enough that the average person familiar with Keith could go, hey, that’s a picture of Keith? Technically you’ve just violated copyright. (Assuming you’re not protected by fair use, parody, or de minimis exemptions, of course.) This is why AO3′s lawyers are such a boon to fandom, because there is a difference between supportive fanworks vs things like selling bootlegs. 

If DW really wanted to be assholes, they could file a DCMA takedown on every freaking fanart from here to sunday and they’d be within their rights. (Even if you can demonstrate your work is exempt, that doesn’t remove their right to raise the question, as the copyright holder.) 

What I can tell you is that the company whose name was slathered on every image is a real company that does localization (dubbing and subbing) for various film studios and production companies. I don’t know (and haven’t bothered to look) for whether BTI has a contract with DW to provide services. I don’t think it matters. It’s the appearance of impropriety that would have most companies absolutely furious. 

If BTI knows its employees have not violated any NDAs, yet its name is all over images that claim to be leaks? You better believe they’d be on the phone with DW. All it’d take is one exec from another company going, “well, we were going to work with you but it looks like your employees are quick to violate NDAs.” DW’s over-eager fans have damaged a company’s reputation and put its potential/future income at risk, and yeah, in BTI’s place, I’d be telling DW to get its house in order and fix that shit, pronto. 

The only tool DW has in its arsenal is that the characters in those images are copyright. Real or false, a partner’s reputation may be reason enough to act. 

Unless, of course, the localization company isn’t trustworthy. In that case, DW was already on the phone — not with BTI, but with Legal, preparing a pretty significant lawsuit per breach of contract and violated NDAs. It would name the company, the C-suite, the execs in charge of the contract, and any/all employees (yes, personally) who had access to those particular images. Expect major fines, and some of those could be personal (the individual employees), depending on how Legal chose to proceed. 

If that were so, we should be hearing rumors about the images’ sources now being out of a job and facing fines upwards of 10K or more. Because if you think an employee at a contracted company could violate NDA and not immediately be in the crosshairs, you have clearly never tangled with an multi-national corporation’s Legal department. They live for shit like this, and they don’t let contract violations go by without retaliation. 

For now, I’ve seen no reason to believe DW is suing the localization company, which leaves me inclined to conclude DW’s acting to protect the good reputation of a company wrongfully indicted by those images. DW wanting those images removed may have nothing to do with the images’ veracity. 

Or maybe it does. I can’t tell, and not sure I care. I’m just trying to make clear real or fake is not the only reason for a DCMA, which means you can’t assume a DCMA takedown automatically implies an image’s veracity.

[vivithefolle]

Why I headcanon Hermione as white, an essay by me

I’ve been told to post this as an individual post since apparently I was making good points - so here ya go. Please don’t bake me into Dementor cookies.

Okay, so I never thought of Hermione as being anything but white, because in the books there are a few lines that describe her has having pale skin; however “going pale” is also a euphemism for being afraid. Same as “going green” is a euphemism for sickness.

However, I never thought of Hermione as anything but a British white girl because of her lack of reaction to the word “Mudblood”.

Okay so now I’m gonna dig myself a grave because people will accuse me of racism, but hear me out on this one. To be clear: I don’t mind fanarts of Hermione or Harry with varied skin colors. Hell, draw and interpret canon in any way you want, buddy, it’s your interpretation and it’s awesome! But when I write about Hermione and Harry, in my mind’s eye, I envision them as your average caucasian kid.

Below are my explanations for it. You’re free to disagree or call me out, but please read them first before you condemn me to twelve years in Azkaban.

When Hermione is being called a Mudblood, she doesn’t react. She understands that it’s an insult but she doesn’t seem to grasp its actual meaning, even after she’s learned what it’s for, and as the series progresses, she still doesn’t react to it. She mostly tries to keep Ron from beating Malfoy into a pulp over it.

Now, this behaviour doesn’t strike me as that of a socially inept, extremely opinionated and argumentative, very bossy young woman.

I mean. Would Hermione be the sort to let herself be insulted without doing anything about it? She replies to Pansy Parkinson’s cruel barbs by comments of her own. She defends herself when she’s being called out by her friends. She has no problem insulting Ron when she thinks he’s being insensitive. Rita Skeeter talks shit about her and she ends up locked in a jar for a week!! But have Malfoy call her “Mudblood” and she remains silent, at least until the sixth book.

What if it wasn’t because she’s used to racism, but on the contrary because she doesn’t know how to handle it, because she’s never experienced it?

I mean, had Hermione ever gotten grief over her skin colour, she’d be outraged and disappointed that this ideal, magical new world, that she would consider an outlet from the racist bullies back home, had actually its own form of racism, right?

Seeing her reactions to being called a racial slur, Hermione doesn’t strike me as a person who experienced racism - it’s because she’s not used to it, because to her it’s isn’t someone insulting her heritage; rather, it’s just some bully calling her an insult that feels distant and faraway to her.

For example. I once got called a whore. I’m asexual, I’ve never dated anyone, and never once dressed in anything that could be considered as remotely risqué. Still I got called a whore. And it mostly left me a bit confused rather than offended, because I knew that if there was a word to use to qualify me, “whore” would definitely not be one. (For the curious ones, the guy called me a whore because of my lifelong obsession with Pokémon. Yes, I fail to see the logic as well.)

So when Hermione hears someone call her a Mudblood, she doesn’t really registers the word as being a racist comment, instead she considers it some trivial, playground-level insult. It’s exactly why Ron gets so angry and protective on her behalf: because she should be offended by such a slur, and she isn’t. Anyway, that’s always how I’ve read it.

Also, her comment on horses when she talks about Firenze. Now I know that people of color can be racist as well, but she says it so… casually, so flippantly. It’d strike me as odd that someone so sensitive to the plight of creatures seen as “subhuman” would be able to say something like that without understanding the implications… Unless she has no idea that referring to centaurs as “horses” is an extremely offensive thing to do, because she doesn’t realize how racist it sounds, because she herself has never heard someone, say, call her “a monkey” for being black.

And you know, I think that having Hermione as a white girl isn’t so bad, come to think of it. My opinion is probably going to come off as controversial but I really, really want to voice it.

We have Harry, Ron and Hermione, a set of three characters, all from different backgrounds, and all privileged in different ways.

For Harry, it’s fame and fortune. Being the Boy-Who-Lived, no matter how much he may complain about it, is something that puts him ‘above the rest’. It allows him to get away with ballooning up Aunt Marge because Fudge won’t have the Saviour of Wizarding Britain in prison over something as minuscule as one tiny breach of the Statute of Secrecy - yes, it’s sarcasm. The point is: Harry’s status as Boy-Who-Lived may cause him grief, but it certainly comes with a few perks.

Ron’s privilege is, of course, his blood status. Being a pureblood is valued among the magical community and could even make some Death Eaters think twice before killing you. I think Voldemort would want to preserve as much of the Sacred Twenty-Eight’s bloodlines, considering how few there are left. (and yes, I have my own headcanon for how exactly he’d keep them alive. Wait for it…)

Hermione’s privilege is, quite simply, her normal, comfortable life in the Muggle world. A life where nobody looks down on her origins; a life where she never had to experience a war and its aftermaths; a life where she might feel a bit the outcast due to her brains and accidental magic, but would you rather be an outcast and live, or be considered “impure” and be killed without a second thought?

So, each member of the trio has some form of privilege, and it’s counterbalanced by a lack of privilege somewhere else. The ironic thing is that it’s usually the privilege of another one of them!

Harry’s, we all know: not everyone can be raised in a loving, accepting home like Hermione and Ron do, and it hits him full force with the Dursleys. For all his money and fame, Harry lacks a true, warm family (luckily Ron is quick to offer him one). And even if he can see the Weasleys every summer, he still has to return to Privet Drive and be reminded for a few weeks that yes, these arseholes he’s forced to live with are his only still living relatives.

The Weasleys’ poverty is evidently one of the ways Ron lacks privilege, but the very thing that is considered a privilege in the magical community turns out to be a double-edged sword; being a blood traitor, in dear Bella’s own words, is “right next to being a Mudblood”. Now, I mentioned I had a headcanon for how Voldemort might try to keep the old bloodlines running? Well, even though they’re blood traitors, the blood’s still pure, right? You’d just need them to stop supporting these pesky Muggleborns… you could have one of them conceive an heir, a perfect blank slate whom you’d teach all about blood purity… Now wouldn’t that be convenient? (I am aware that this headcanon is absolutely horrifying and I’m sorry I ever came up with it. I was just thinking of what Molly might have said to try and stop Ron from going on the run in DH, and suddenly this popped into my head and I was like “oh this is so awful!… it’s perfect”.)

And finally, Hermione’s lack of privilege solely resides in the Wizarding World she loves so much, and is probably what she considers the only downside to her being a witch: the fact that she’s looked down upon by blood supremacists who hold on to archaic views, and sadly these guys are from rich families and have influence over several important people… since they can bribe the less morally sound, it makes them much more dangerous than a couple of penniless drunkards shouting abuse in the street.

Making Hermione into someone who’s been dealing with racism her whole life instead of giving her this comfortable, safe home to return to - it breaks the delicate balance of privilege / lack of privilege in the trio.

I personally think that Hermione’s character is much more interesting if you make her come into the Wizarding World as this wide-eyed little kid who’s already persuaded she knows everything and that she’ll be hailed as a prodigy, only to have her understand that, just as respect is not something you’re entitled to, but something you have to earn - that’s the first lesson she’ll learn from Ron - there are also people who just won’t respect you because they’re prejudiced little buggers - and that’s where Malfoy comes in (and sorry but he’s just here to be a disgusting bigot, not to be redeemed by Hermione’s luuuuurve).

I get it, the the whole “Hermione is discriminated in both worlds” theme makes her a very tragic character… But that’s exactly the problem. If you take away Hermione’s privilege, it ends up being “the terrible, tragic, angsty tale of Hermione Granger, woe is her”, and she ends up in a position where people will just throw her a gigantic pity-party.

The trio’s characters are carefully balanced, and making Hermione a victim of racism in both Muggle and magical worlds ends up screwing over the remaining two by putting more woes on Hermione’s shoulders. Making Harry a victim of racism as well does the exact same thing - and I’d argue it makes it worse, because Ron-bashers are already very eager to scream “omg so wha t if he doezn’t hav moneys he complain for nuthing what a t erribl e freind” and to completely disregard Ron’s struggles… so add discriminated, rejected-by-both-worlds Harry and Hermione into this mix and Ron’s issues would be downright ignored in favour of Harry’s and Hermione’s, who would seem to have “more misery” on their plates compared to him, at least in a purely mathematical sense (the argument being that “more issues to deal with = more misery”).

Okay, you’re still with me, you haven’t unfollowed me, and you’re not completely outraged at my reasoning? Then let me tell you again: I don’t care about the characters’ skin color, and you can interpret them any way you want. Make Harry have Asian ancestry or have Hermione be a black woman, be creative, have fun. This is the way I see the characters and the way I interpret them, and my own reasoning for doing so. A trio is a balancing act and must be carefully constructed so there is equilibrium on every side. Add or substract something and it all tips over. It’s the main reason why the trio is so unrecognizable in the movies, with a Harry as bland as canned soup, a Ron turned into both a joke and dead weight, and a Hermione as realistic as a turtle dancing the boogie on ice-skates.

The triangle is the most stable geometric figure. Without Harry, Ron and Hermione have no purpose (besides falling in love and living happily ever after of course). Without Hermione, Harry and Ron manage but lose a great deal of time, and then it might be too late for them to save the day. And without Ron… Harry and Hermione are downright unable to function, kind of like a horse with a broken leg.

Why do you think Rowling had created only three different wand cores at first? Or why Harry, Ron and Hermione present some qualities from Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively? (yes, I associated Ron to Ravenclaw, because Rowena wanted “wit beyond measure” and Ron has wit in spades, and Hufflepuffs are known to be hard-working, which fits Hermione’s work ethic perfectly) Or why there are three Hallows, and why each member of the trio picks a different one? It’s all for the sake of the balancing act. A duo is made of opposites. A trio is made of complementarities.

… Well, this turned into an impromptu lecture on literature. I hope this’ll help you if you ever need to create your very own trio of heroes.

[iamanartichoke]

Thanks for the addition, @hidden-but!

Once again, I am not a lawyer, but here's my interpretation (again, anyone who is a lawyer please correct me if I'm wrong) of the above post (because I think it's deliberately misleading):

Basically, the process works the same as it always has. And yes, the following information is coming to you straight from a lawyer: We fully support Creators sharing their fanfiction and fanart on Tumblr. We encourage sharing creative work of all kinds on the platform.

Emphasis mine. This is worded very specifically; Tumblr is not supporting or encouraging you to sell your fanworks. They are not encouraging you to charge for your fanworks. Share =/= sell.

We encourage you to share your fanworks

means

we encourage and support posts and reblogs containing copyrighted works, but we're not telling you to SELL ANYTHING, so if you do, then the consequences are your problem.

Fanfiction and fanart are frequently considered fair use and we support our Creators’ fair use rights. Monetizing fan work does not necessarily mean that it isn’t fair use.

I think this is irresponsible wording bc it makes it seem like you have the right to charge for copyrighted works if you claim that your work falls under fair use - but how many of us actually know what fair use means? And if you don't know what it means, how can you use it as a defense by claiming your work falls under it? I'll be honest, I don't really know what all "fair use" entails but when I looked it up I found a pretty straightforward and thorough explanation that cleared things up for me.

From this article on fair use, published by Stanford Libraries:

In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an infringement.

So what is a “transformative” use? If this definition seems ambiguous or vague, be aware that millions of dollars in legal fees have been spent attempting to define what qualifies as a fair use. There are no hard-and-fast rules, only general guidelines and varied court decisions, because the judges and lawmakers who created the fair use exception did not want to limit its definition. Like free speech, they wanted it to have an expansive meaning that could be open to interpretation.

Most fair use analysis falls into two categories: (1) commentary and criticism, or (2) parody.

Emphasis mine.

Translation: You can share your fanworks (we're not telling you to sell them) and if you get in trouble, you can claim "fair use," and if that defense doesn't work because fair use isn't applicable, we will not protect you from whatever legal ramifications you face.

Whether a piece of fanfiction meets the requirements for fair use varies depending on the work. Intellectual property rights holders are in the best position to decide if they think a fanfiction or fan art violates their rights.

I'm just going to say Anne Rice and leave it at that.

Okay, I'll say more than that. Many authors, creators, etc won't hesitate to, at the very least send you a cease and desist and, at the worst, file a lawsuit against you. This is why it's so important that AO3 is non-profit and you can't link to or mention your ko-fi, patreon, etc - because many ip rights holders do not consider fanworks to be fair use and will go after authors (or artists, etc), so AO3's legal defense rests on "nobody is making money or profiting from this."

What Tumblr is doing is removing itself from any responsibility here by saying, okay, even if what you post isn't considered fair use, it's fine unless the person who owns that intellectual property decides to come after you, in which case, again, we are not going to protect you.

Tumblr went out of its way to say their statement on copyrights came directly from a lawyer. All this means to me is that Tumblr got their lawyer(s) to word their side in a way that protects them from any legal liability while still encouraging you to profit off of copyrighted works, and they're trying to make it seem like a lawyer has said this is fine, but that is very much not the case.

tl;dr: Copyright law and "fair use" are much more complicated than you might think, and the latter is probably not going to hold up as a defense if someone comes after you, and Tumblr still will not protect you. So again, by creating a post+ account and putting fanworks behind a paywall, you will be making yourself very vulnerable to legal action being taken against you and Tumblr will not do a thing to help you.

some very important info re: paid accounts~

I am not a lawyer, but I can decently interpret legalese and, being as I also suffer from tl;dr syndrome and assume others may as well, I took one for the team and went through the updated TOS for the post+ accounts and highlighted (what I understand to be) the most pertinent information, which ultimately comes down to this:

You cannot monetize copyrighted works (aka charge and earn money from fanfic, fanworks, etc) and if you do decide to put your fanworks behind a paywall via Tumblr, when you are inevitably sued, Tumblr will not protect you and will not defend you and you alone, personally, will be responsible for whatever monetary damages said lawsuit results in.

If anyone is a lawyer and knows I've gotten any of this wrong, please do not hesitate to correct me/this post.

Screenshots taken from Tumblr's TOS (updated 7-21-21), Stripe's Account Agreement, and the post+ FAQs.

1. Your paid account will not be hosted by tumblr; it is routed through a 3rd party.

2. By signing up for a paid account, you're entering into an agreement with Stripe, so in addition to Tumblr's TOS, you are also bound to Stripe's TOS.

3. Stripe, like Tumblr, will not defend you or protect you against any lawsuits.

4. Furthermore, you may end up owing Stripe money (indemnify = compensate)

5. Tumblr's TOS specifically states that you can't put any content on your post+ account that violates any laws, including laws that protect intellectual property rights of others. This is super important, because Tumblr's post+ FAQ also states that you can post anything that you would regularly post on tumblr, which I'm sure many will take to mean that gifsets, fanworks, etc are fair game, since all of that stuff can be posted on tumblr now. However, the difference is, you're not making money from the fanworks you're posting or reblogging now. Once money enters the equation, the game changes.

Tumblr is making it seem like any and all content goes for post+ accounts, knowing 90% of this site is fanworks. This is not true and you'll be opening yourself up for lawsuits if you charge for fanworks.

6. Tumblr further disclaims any and all liability in any legal issues.

tl;dr: Please do not make a post+ account, bc you will be opening yourself to lawsuits and if that happens, Tumblr's response will be not our problem, you agreed to all the terms which said you couldn't do that, sorry not sorry. Please protect yourself.