#unsurprising results tbh

[haunthouse]

I posted 4,047 times in 2022

That's 1,914 more posts than 2021!

371 posts created (9%)

3,676 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@houseinblue

@andromerot

@calamitys-child

@squidbroom

@kimsbian

I tagged 3,775 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#disco elysium - 537 posts

#art - 353 posts

#kaylee.txt - 335 posts

#mcr - 118 posts

#answered - 82 posts

#black sails - 81 posts

#poetry - 71 posts

#ofmd - 66 posts

#kim kitsuragi - 65 posts

#harry du bois - 63 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i’m thinking of swapping the buttons on this dress for strawberry shaped buttons ive had for a while 👀 maybe also doing some embroidery on (this is inaccurate bc i hit the tag character limit daily so i have so many longest tags lmao)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

516 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

#4

i've ported my spatial horror reclist to notion to make it easier to sort and filter! everything is arranged by type, subtype, and a key describing what kind of hauntings are present in the work, and you can filter by any of those things.

check out the list here, and feel free to send me more recs for it!

edit 10/20/2022: if you've sent me a recommendation and i haven't replied to it, don't worry! i like to wait until i have time to check out whatever media's been recommended myself to respond/add it to the list, and i've been swamped with deadlines lately, but i prommy i'm not ignoring y'all <3

1,101 notes - Posted August 24, 2022

#3

absolutely wild how explicitly leftist leverage is. i just hit s3 on my rewatch and every single episode is like “hey have you thought lately about how fucked the prison system in america is? how about how easy it is for rich men to buy political offices? and also labor rights and how bosses keep dangerous jobs from unionizing so they don’t have to put in protections for workers? the fact that insurance companies can choose who lives and dies? companies in general being allowed to weigh actual people’s deaths against the cost of settling a couple lawsuits and choosing the latter? thought about all that recently?” and they just let that be on television in two thousand and ten

1,211 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

#2

also, because i'm still thinking about the disco elysium kids:

i think the difference in how people react to cuno vs cunoesse is really so indicative of peoples' reactions in general to trauma survivors. (...)

1,348 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

redistributing wealth (searchable pdf of horror in architecture by joshua comaroff & ong ker-shing) to the masses (tumblr users obsessed with haunted houses)

enjoy! <3 xoxo

5,086 notes - Posted October 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[hyunin]

I DO WANT TO SAY belatedly that election night was a dumpster fire but in my red red state in my slightly less red district every conservative-backed candidate for schoolboard lost. that means queer kids who are going to school where i went to school will be significantly safer and may even receive the support they need and they won't need to worry as much about the books they want to read getting banned and they won't learn that slavery was GOOD. like that kind of stuff will influence them for the rest of their lives!! it's so important!! and that's in a RED RED state so please do not underestimate the value of your vote no matter where you live. your local elections are so important. primary elections are important midterm elections are important and we will have more in 2026 so y'all better get out there when the time comes ok!!

[l3monlem0n]

Some Murder Drones Episode 7 screenshots I thought were interesting and my thoughts on them :>

SPOILER WARNING!!!! is spoilering

Nori, despite being a middle aged woman with a child, appears to be an Otaku or otherwise likes "edgy" and "scene" stuff, as well as listening to nightcore, very much like her daughter. Good for her tbh you're never too old to have fun

She also has a photo of Khan and what I can only assume is baby Uzi, though it appears to have blue eyes, but maybe it's just the lighting. Still very cute she has a pic of her husband

As well as all the previously mentioned Otaku stuff, she also drew herself as an anime character. She has a skinsona. Phenomenal (pos)

Nothing much here, just Uzi coughing up blood. Girl got the goop (gore) inside of her already

Lab Space. Apparently the Church was just down there and not even the humans know why. The canonicity of this is questionable; it could just be a joke

OT, as per google, stands for "Occupational Therapy". Makes sense for the context, and makes the bottom text funnier

"Fun Time To Universe Big Crunch: 87". The Big Crunch is a hypothetical way the Universe could end, where the universe folds on itself and shrinks into a single point. 87 "what" I don't know. If it's months, that 7 years and 3 months

Honestly the Murder Drones lore is super confusing. I think what this is trying to say is that every other Zombie Drone is doing poorly, (Except for Yeva), they are trying to reactivate 002 (Nori) via the USB. I'm not sure what this means. Maybe they only got the results they wanted from the two of them, and are trying again with Nori since she was the only other one that worked (also why they got Yeva when she failed; this may all be referring to how the episode opened up) Also, the date says SER. As revealed in the episode Cabin Fever, Copper-9 has months that Earth does not. SER most likely stands for Seramorris, the month revealed in that episode

Looks like the "bad event" wasn't the first one. Certainly was the last one though lol

Just a good pic of ghost/hologram V with the scary stuff. Might use this as a wallpaper

You can literally see the hole in his neck where N bit him in...

...And it's to the point his HEAD FALLS OFF. (including because I didn't notice the first time around)

Yup, the idea that Uzi became the Admin for N and V is completely true. I wonder what would've happened if she didn't, since Cyn didn't react whatsoever

friggin bug (very pos)

You would not believe how difficult it was to get a good pic of this (I'm using snipping tool lmao). Always a pleasure to see Uzi's doodles. Things her gun can do (upper right):

NOT judge her

Forced prom date (?)

Allows her to say she had friends before she frickin murdered them with sci-fi machinery

The cut off text at the bottom: Plan B: Normal gun + Shoot really fast

This is while Tessa is looking for something in the lockers. Claws, chains, magnets, Wings, and scribbled "HELP". Looks like the lockers were all specifically to hold the infected worker drones. Oof

We are in the future now baby. We have rererererereCAPTCHA. Funnily enough, it still couldn't stop a robot

There is a message board where someone who doesn't like robots is talking. They also are scared. Also no one else is using this system, which is unsurprising. "Ur aight ;)" Wait is the winky face intentional foreshadowing? Or unintentional?

We get the names of a bunch of other Worker Drones. Unfortunately for all 029 fans, her name was not visible. (also can someone tell me what "JWEB" could be short for?) And Yeva is said to have a patch. That may be the crucible thing idk

Cyn (which I will be calling this version Skyn [Skin + Cyn]) apparently took of the space suit just to give Doll the Withered Foxy jumpscare. Honestly really terrifying. If this photo was teased before release I think the fandom would've exploded

Just N being a good boy :3

The MDs, Cyn's pets. Nori refers to them as "Nerfed" so the "Entity" can ensure control, and says they were made to destroy other hosts. I don't know why Cyn would want them dead, but I'm not the loremaster here. YouTube line is there because I couldn't be bothered after the Railgun image

Probably already confirmed, but doubly confirmed that a symptom of the Solver is giving Drones organic insides. A Worker Drone body with a rib cage and guts. I wonder what would happen if the infection continued uninterrupted (also R.I.P. Doll I loved you :frown:)

I'm sure everyone noticed, but when Uzi tried to manipulate Tessa, the ERROR noticed appeared. Already hinting Tessa is not all she says she is

Apparently the Solver can create Black Hole Saws. Interesting development (Blackhole Blitz)

I know most people (I think) see this as a joke and N just being a bit of goofball. But honestly, I think he did it intentionally to shock Cynuzi and give Nori a chance. In the Pilot, he licked V's sword to surprise her too, which means he isn't unfamiliar with doing something weird and surprising for the advantage

Skyn eating Doll's core. R.I.P. Doll again. Seriously, was that Doll in Core Form like Nori was? Or was Nori a fringe case because she was "Exorcised" and this is just a regular core? Questions, questions. Also yeah the Solver also gives you a Core. Fun

This tag makes me think that this body is Cyn's actual body. Not longer a hologram, but her actual body from the mansion. The reason Tessa gave N, J, and V their names was because that was the first letter of their Serial Designation (she's very uncreative). However, Cyn's tag was slightly faded, which meant her SD couldn't be seen, so Tessa gave her the name "Cyn" after her P/N, even though the other 3 already have the same P/N as Cyn (Tessa, again, is very uncreative)...

...and for some reason, Cyn or the Solver, which ever theory you subscribe to, decided to wear Tessa as a skin suit for some twisted reason. It did help her with the Captcha. Also scary because this doesn't have the right proportions for an adult (unless Cyn really forced that skin on), which leads me to believe that this is a Younger Tessa, and she faked having an older voice. Maybe I shouldn't call her my wife... I'm sure Eldritch J is still available :^)

(Seriously, the eyes are burnt out, leaving two eye holes over the visor, so she gives herself two X eyes so it looks better. Also yeah we found out what that thing on the "It Came From Copper-9" poster came from. It really was Cyn or Skyn)

Just a frame of the final...frame... for coolness. I'm probably also going to use this for a background. Also, this is definitely Copper-9. You can see the ring and ringless moon together on the right. Uzi somehow got sent to orbit after falling in the meat hole

Well that was all for now. This series has consumed me entirely, body and soul, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Goodbye and goodnight

[viccharine]

hi guys long time no post! in an attempt to get rid of art block, I drew one Ryan Ross portrait everyday for a week. here are the results lol

commentary under the cut:

I’ve been in an art block for about a year or so (read; I haven’t made any art im serious about for like a year), so for some reason I wanted to reignite my love of portraiture using Ryan Ross—why Ryan Ross, you ask? no clue, just felt like it. could have easily been Patrick Stump tbh. so anyway, I wanted to get better at using references so everyday I picked a picture of ryro off of Pinterest and drew it for a week.

here’s what I learned:

(above) this is day 1 vs. day 7 —I don’t think I can quite call this an improvement as opposed to me getting used to drawing again (I don’t think my skill level has changed, just that it took me a while to figure out how to use a pen again)

for the sake of consistency, I only chose pictures of him from this specific era (headband, vest, tie, dress shirt), but it’s so interesting to see how Ryan Ross has changed (appearance-wise) throughout the years. i would say the peak of his fame was his teenage years up to early adulthood, so this era of his life is remarkably well documented. for better or for worse, this is notably a time of a lot of change for most people (speaking from experience), so I can’t imagine what it feels like for all of those changes to be documented on the internet

along those lines, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be perpetually a teenager in the eyes of the internet. almost every image of him on Pinterest is in the pre-split panic era, which is unsurprising but it makes he hard to remember that man is well into his 30s now. there’s this weird pseudo-infantilism and martyrdom of Ryan Ross on the internet because (as mentioned before) the peak of his fame was when he was a teenager, and he essentially disappeared from the internet when he was a young adult. I wonder what it’s like for your legacy to be your teenage self? my teenage years were probably the worst years of my life, I can’t imagine being solely known for 17-18 year old me. me drawing seven portraits of like a 20 year old Ryan Ross obviously does not help combat this perception of Ryan Ross, but I figured that I’d post it anyway (if not for the art, then for the learning experience) —to make a long thought short, it’s a little odd to see such a big difference between Ryan Ross and his legacy/reputation on the internet. I think a lot of us have a hard time remembering that Ryan Ross is a 37 year old man, not a symbol of pre-split panic.

art wise, the biggest lesson here is that progress is not linear. which, to be fair, I feel like this is a very common saying. but I think the day four portrait is my favorite, and the day five portrait is the worse. go figure

as a side note, my theory is that every artist goes through a phase where their style focuses on one or two of the elements of art. I think im currently in my line and shape phase (and will probably be for the foreseeable future)

anyway, those are all my thought. thanks to u if you read through this entire thing, lolz, I appreciate u lots of

see u all next time <3

[noxiatoxia]

I am ignoring my duties so instead I made this chart: I was wondering, who gets the most episodic focus/screen time in Ouran? These were the results...

Note "multi/other" means either there was A. more than 2 characters given complete focus or B. a focus on a non-main character such as Renge, Kanako, Kasanoda, etc.

Cuz of that, it's unsurprising that category is the biggest, nearing almost half.

The second (or first, depending on how you look at it) is Haruhi, which I expected.

Next is interesting. Third is Tamaki, although if you want to count the twins together instead of separately, they would actually be third, beating Tamaki out by a whopping 8%

After that, Kyoya and Hani and Mori are tied. Technically, beyond Haruhi and Tamaki, they're all tied.

This is actually very interesting to me, as I expected Mori to be the lowest, but he's actually on the same tier as most characters! I suppose his focus just wasn't as prevalent...sorry Mori.

I know some people don't like this "dual" focus approach I've gone with, so I made another version, forcing myself to choose the SOLE character of that episode ("multi" not being an option). The only exception is the twins, because in some cases, they are literally impossible to place in importance from one another.

This is where it gets really interesting. Now with "multi/all" taken out and that category is reserved for side characters only, Haruhi is indeed the winner. However, "other" becomes second place.

Mori's score seems more appropriate now. Sorry mori. You were done dirty king.

What shocks me is Kaoru has MORE focus than Tamaki (tbh I thought he had less focus than HIKARU let alone TAMAKI...), however, again, this is by virtue of having to ignore Tamaki's major influence on most episode. Tamaki may have not been the "main" character for many episodes, but he was almost always the "second" main character.

Also, the reason I chose Kaoru for episode 20 and not both twins is due to the fact the episode is told from Kaoru's perspective. (actually thinking on it, Kaoru usually narrates for both twins...) And for episode 15, it seems we are shown the most detail with the twins, even if it is a small margin.

Also, does anybody else find it funny the episode titled "Mori-senpai has an apprentice candidate" focuses more on a side-character than Mori? Man...

Anyway, this was fun, though I may have made a minor error here and there.

[hal-o-ween]

Alright, time for another Monster Hunter wishlist! This time instead of just monsters I would personally like to see, I'm going to try and put a bit more focus on monsters that will fill unique niches in an environment, or interact with the environment in an interesting way. Doing it this way since, if my assumptions based on one very short trailer are correct, that's going to be a focus in Wilds!

List itself under the cut so I can really go in depth! I also have a lot on this wishlist, so it's going to be long regardless.

As some context for how I'm thinking about this game, several of the more recent major monster hunter games have really seemed to hone in on one particular aspect of the game, and worked on expanding or perfecting it.

Generations had an impressive monster roster, with lots of very unique additions and a huge returning roster. Tons of variants, and a some really cool new monsters that didn't use existing skeletons.

World eliminated load times between areas, and made a world that felt connected and more natural. You feel less like you're in a series of arenas, more like you're actually in an environment with these monsters.

Rise focused a lot on controls and mobility/maneuverability. Lots of verticality, as well as tons of new moves and abilities for various weapons, streamlining of certain weapons, and customizable move sets. You are encourage to explore and jump and climb, making it feel like it had another dimension that even world didn't quite have.

With that context for my thinking explained, let's start off with an unsurprising portion of this list; as usual, I want to see underwater combat (and the leviathans and piscene wyverns that go with it) make a comeback! Rise gave us more three dimensional combat and movement that worked beautifully, so I think they're really primed to bring back water combat in a way that feels much less clunky and slow. Specific water monsters I would like to see include:

Gobul: TOP of this list tbh. Not a favorite fight of mine, but I think if you want a monster that's going to make a water environment feel more alive and interactive, Gobul is a great choice. It's also very distinct appearance-wise!

Lagiacrus: a popular choice, and a cool one! I'm biased since Tri was my first monster hunter game, of course, but I want to see Lagiacrus get to shine again with its full move set, including under water moves.

Ceadeus: this one I wouldn't count on even if it was guaranteed that water combat would come back. BUT I love it, this elder dragon that exists at the intersection of whale, slug, and buffalo, is such a majestic monster, and it has great music to boot. My tri bias is showing, but even though it wasn't the most interesting fight, I still love it a lot and would love for it to get another chance in a game where water combat could be so much better.

Now for non-water monsters! I'm hoping for lots of monsters with less used skeletons, and ones that would play around in detailed environments in a fun way. To make the environments feel complete, a diverse cast of monsters will be key. As a result, a lot of my choices are Frontier MonstersSome of my top choices include:

Malfestio: a beautiful monster, and an extremely unique one! I would love to see it make a return, and I think it would really stand out in any monster hunter roster.

Kecha Wacha: really just a funky monster. Weird and memorable, and I think it feels distinct enough from any other monsters to be a worthwhile addition.

Qurupeco: Not only does it look unique, the ability to summon othe large monsters to its location is super interesting, often annoying, and a really unique behavior.

Nerscylla: a giant spider just feels like a surprising monster to not use more often. With how big the "small monster" insects are, it makes sense that there are big spiders around! I honestly just want to see more insectoid/arachnid-like monsters in general. They already have some neat ones, but it feels like they get put on the back burner a lot. On that note...

Seltas Queen and Seltas: a duo! Not many monsters in the series actually function as a duo together in combat, and there definitely aren't any in the main series on the level of these two. Monsters that interact like this are fun, and it feels... not necessarily more realistic, but definitely better than, say, Rathian and Rathalos just sort of beating each other up on accident while both trying to fight you.

Najarala: I think more monsters that feel snake-like would be fun, and Najarala is a good option. It's scales and sound based attacks are cool, and I just like how it looks.

Tetsucabra: the giant tusks and bright colors make it really striking, visually. Plus, there's not many frog-like monsters! Also, I love the armor for Tetsucabra.

Zamtrios: on the topic of frog-like monsters, this one is somewhere between frog and shark! With three different forms it can switch between in battle, it's a really fun fight with a lot of variety. I'd also like to see this guy maybe get a chance to try out underwater combat, but I can live without that for Zamtrios, it already does so much on land.

Bulldrome: A nice low level large monster that would still add a bit of variety to things! A bit annoying to fight at times, but I think it would just work nicely in a game with more focus on the natural aspects of thing.

Nibblesnarf: a really funky looking monster, and one that would be cool to have in that desert from the trailer. Being able to feed it bombs when it charges you is a fun bit of its fight, and I think seeing it ambush small monsters while you explore the desert would be just the right amount of cool and concerning.

Namielle: Genuinely, the fact that Namielle was introduced in a game that gave it almost no attention whatsoever pains me. What a cool elder dragon. It has that deep sea bioluminescent look, and it's fight felt so distinctive.

Gigginox: The little giggi spawner egg sacs it lays are a neat little hazard, and I think Gigginox is just a really distinct looking monster. I personally prefer it to Khezu, but that's purely personal preference. I feel like Gigginox is a fun cave dweller, and a bit more interesting than Khezu is to me.

Gammoth: PLEASE capcom you give us the rest of the fated four but not my BOY? IN THE GAME WITH ADDED VERTICALITY IN COMBAT? This big guy could have been so fun but you are simply cowards who hate him and me.

I decided to make a separate list of Frontier monsters, as well as Monster Hunter Online monsters! These ones are always less likely to make it into a main game, if they stand a chance at all, but still. Frontier's particular penchant for unique monster gimmicks lead to a lot of options with distinct appearances, and abilities that could make use of the environment in fun ways, and generally I would just like to see some monsters that haven't gotten to shine much in the main series. Frontier and Online monsters I would like to see:

Forokururu: a large, hummingbird-esque monster that gains different buffs and abilities based on what color of flower it drinks from. This gimmick would be such a fun way for a monster to interact with the world, plus this is one of my personal top choices, and a monster I would kill to be able to fight for myself.

Baruragaru: the blood sucking ability, which is somewhat similar to Forokururu's nectar drinking in function, would be really fun! I live when monsters have abilities that affect or are affected by other monsters. It makes them feel less like things that happen to be in the same space and more like creatures sharing an environment.

Pokaradon: the only monster that looks like a walrus/seal, so a good way to give a diverse monster roster! This is a monster I would love to see given a shot at underwater combat.

Akura Vashimu: a scorpion! This falls into me wanting more arachnid/insect-like monsters in the games, just to help round out the roster. We have so many reptile and mammal-like monsters, I think more monsters like this one would help things feel more varied.

Caeserber: a big beaver monster could have some really fun environmental interactions! Chewing down trees and building dams would be a really fun behavior to see play out, but even if that's too much, just seeing beaver dams could make the world feel a bit more connected to the monsters. This one is from Online.

Tartaronis: another Online monster, this is an elder dragon that inhabits a desert area and has a body shape similar to a sea turtle! Thinking about it, it feels so odd that we don't have more distinctly turtle-like monsters in this series.

I don't expect to see most, if any, of these monsters in the game. I would love to, as I think all of them would be fun additions, especially for newer players who may not have gotten the chance to fight a lot of these monsters yet. I hope to see a lot of them, especially certain ones that I think can really add a lot to an area, but I don't expect it. Just like I hope for water combat to return, but don't expect it. Either way, I'm already really excited for this game. I may have my gripes about every Monster Hunter game, but I would never say they disappoint me. Even if my assumptions about this game are wrong, I expect to have a lot of fun playing it, and I can't wait to get a good look at any and all new monsters it brings to the series!

[cyborb]

there have been some asks sitting unanswered in my inbox for an embarrassingly long time so I'm just going to go through and answer a bunch of them at once haha.

Sada and Turo / Paldea

now that the dlc is out I can play around with my own version of paldea's story and the professors (that I may or may not actually talk about), but they won't be in the rainbow rocket stuff with supersymmetry. "officially" at least. maybe I'll draw something for fun, but I don't intend them to actually be in rr like the rest. they're more interesting to me within the story of paldea, especially with the ai aspects and ... other things going on there.

but to the anons who sent me these: those ideas are cool and honestly you should pursue them yourself!

Lusamine

absolutely yes. in the base universe, her "unification" with nihilego kills her pretty quickly. iota lusamine is luckier since her nihilego seems to prefer keeping her around for longer. slow-acting vs fast-acting poisons, I suppose. by the time lusamine is picked up by rr, it's been about 6 months since she became jellyfish. who knows how much time she has left but her mental (and physical) state will continue to deteriorate along the way. an unsurprising consequence of willingly jumping into the mouth of a parasite

possibly? I haven't given that much thought tbh. considering lillie and guzma's proximity to lusamine when she goes motherbeast, they'd both be lucky to make it out alive hahaha. but I could see all three of them trying to help people and pokemon in the UB-overrun world too

honestly, no clue. I don't even think she knows, and she definitely doesn't care. who needs regular pokemon when she's got ultra beasts now! if lillie is still around she might have taken in a few of them herself though.

Other AU stuff

I've actually made a post about team galactic here!

one fun fact about each of them:

maria/mars is giovanni and ariana's first child, and she ran from her home in kanto when she was 16 to become a pokemon trainer and get away from her parents. sorry silver (she hasn't contacted him in a while).

juno/jupiter makes traditional (hisuian) style pokeballs as a hobby despite the fact that they absolutely are not practical to actually use anymore. but they look nice

sterling/saturn helps run the in-universe equivalent of pokemon showdown because he's a nerd. he enjoys simulated battles more than the real thing most of the time

great news: the rainbow rocket invasion all his fault!

by that I mean the choice of the base universe for invasion wasn't entirely arbitrary; rainbow rocket didn't just Show Up and hope this universe had what they wanted. beforehand, someone from rainbow rocket (either giovanni or archer, maybe even colress) scouted things out, and approached faba for information about the general state of the world and necrozma in particular. faba essentially sells out the universe (and aether's work with necrozma) in exchange for the promise of power and whatever tantalizing rewards the rr emissary offers haha. it's possible some of this involves planting a device to let rr come back to the right universe when ready too. what faba is up to when everything is going down in rr is not something that I've thought about, but he definitely gets found out for his actions leading up to it. oops!

unfortunately probably not. the rr stuff is happening on the other side of the planet and I can't think of a situation which might result in them getting to meet up. I'm not enough of an expert on the two of them to say how such a meeting would play out either, but it would definitely be... interesting considering their own universe's version of the other person has been dead for several years.

rose would probably be the least upset about it but cyrus wins the award for most upset (he has control issues). lysandre absolutely would have the most violent response to it though

Compliments

while I'm not going to share the collection of complimentary messages I've gotten over time, I want everyone to know that I really appreciate hearing that you enjoy my ideas and art! it's encouraging and I'm glad people like my pokemon playground hahaha. and that applies to tags too! it's always great to see... I don't always get around to actually answering the stuff in my inbox (whether it's actual questions or otherwise) but rest assured I do see it!

[clonerightsagenda]

The aro icon poll has concluded, with Murderbot claiming the lead. This is unsurprising as I wasn't sure TMD even qualified since I think the aromanticism is intentional, but I knew not including it would result in a bunch of 'where's murderbot op' comments.

Anyway! Here is a roundup of everyone's submissions for additional iconic aro works and moments.

Keladry of mindelan, tbh. she had sort of crushes, but turns out romance isn't her thing, which she learned as she got older and is totally valid. she's also canonically aroace, so yay!

when lirael in the book of the same name spends her whole life alone and treated like a child bc she fails to develop a power that most people get before puberty. and also when someone flirts with her and she leaves/changes the subject very quickly bc she doesn't want to deal with it. she's still aro to me

lirael erasure on that poll. goldenhand is not real and cannot hurt me

when rin from the books of bayern's defining moment of using her powers Wrong is when she thinks it will satisfy her to persuade someone she's told likes her to kiss her but everything abt it feels so horrible she runs away and is miserable for years. and then reclaims her powers by using them to help and befriend people on a deeper level

The entirety of Kamen Rider Fourze #The main character is determined to become friends with everyone even his enemies #he is completely oblivious to anything romantic that may involve him #he quite literally gets stronger from the power of friendship

oh Fushi To Your Eternity's whole story #being about finding humanity and connection as an immortal demi god #and still Not Getting romantic/sexual love #despite many people trying to explain it #and also a cult that has spending 200 years #trying to help the reincarnation of their founder seduce him #and never getting past the friend zone #also barely getting in the friend zone because Fushi is pretty :/ about them #seriously pls watch To Your Eternity it is SO good

everything about jo and laurie's relationship in little women

-ME from REAL LIFE

oh also tris from the emelan books is rlly quite acearo!!

deeply unpopular opinion but steve harrington is aro TO ME #i know there are multiple ways to read his character but like. his s3 character arc is about realizing he doesnt need to be in a #relationshp to be happy and he’s trying to force it anyways bc thats what he thinks he should do! #his most fulfilling relationships are with children and a qpp with a lesbian! #he tries to ask robin out and it definitely seems like he maybe just doesn’t know the difference between romantic and platonic love because #he has not in fact ever experienced the former!! #yes i know there are other ways to interpret these things. However its my god given right to project onto characters so thats what i’ll do #i also think ophelie from la passe mirroir books is aro but presumably nobody else here has read those lol #OH and cannonical acearo rep shoutout to the fires stone haha

Seren from “Seren” being exiled from her home planet for reaching the age of 25 unmarried, and her whole entire regret is the “getting exiled” and “disappointing her family” and “failing to be a Productive Citizen of her Planet” parts whereas she never seems like she actually cares about the being married part At All

I am slapping each of these works with a celebrity book club-style sticker like this

[hepatosaurus]

2023 AO3 Wrapped!

I had a lot of fun tracking my fic reading in 2022, so... I did it again in 2023! Still fun, still both completely unsurprising and a little illuminating at the same time. I definitely read less fic this past year—only 77 across 12 fandoms, compared to last year's 110—but that's OK. Life happens, and I'm very aware that I'm never going to be a person who reads a million words per month (or 100 books a year). Stats-wise, I can't guarantee that these numbers are completely accurate, but they feel right and that's what counts.

Word Count

971,646 words! Numbers fluctuated throughout the year with one real dead zone (lol @ June - I was busy! sibling got married! played a lot of Zelda!), and I kind of petered out by the end of the year. On the plus side, my brain can handle reading actual books again, which was fun. On the minus side: less fic. Oh well. (Also: May's number isn't entirely accurate, but I had to put rubicon's final word count somewhere. No, I haven't finished reading the complete edited fic yet, but that's when the last chapter draft hit my inbox, soooo there.) Most fics were on the shorter side, unsurprisingly (average length was ~12k); I think rubicon was the only one over 100k. I did read more 50–100k fic compared to last year though, which was nice.

(Putting the rest behind a cut. Obligatory warning that this is mostly about Fire Emblem, but what else is new?)

Top Fandoms

My FE3H reading took a HUGE hit this year, falling from 87.3% to... 83.1%. Ouch, how will my faves recover. Really though, this was yet another reminder that although I certainly watched and loved a lot of new movies and tv shows, read new books, played new video games (ok, it was mostly BOTW/TOTK), all things that could conceivably lead me to check out greener pastures, I am still in an extremely monofandom phase in terms of actual fic reading/fandom participation (four years now!). And honestly, I'm fine with that! I'm having fun, blorbos are still my blorbos, there's still a ton of fic I haven't read yet (new and old), and I'm in a nice/quiet/drama-free corner of fandom. Besides, the average fandom lifespan is too short these days anyway. I'm doing my part to break the cycle. :P

I do wish I had the brain space to read a little more widely, though. I was so close to going on a zelink bender after I finished BOTW, but life got busy and it just... didn't happen. Maybe in 2024. Severance and fandom juggernaut SoftBank Next 30-Year Vision tried their best—two fics each! impressive, lol—but the heart wants what it wants, and what it wants is anime chess pieces kissing (and/or killing) each other.

Top Authors

56 individual authors, with the top spot going to...desmodus! which does not surprise me tbh; they write such good fic. Looking at these particular results was an interesting reminder that I'm really not someone who methodically/voraciously reads through an author's entire back catalogue, at least not currently. Like, besides the named authors, there were four more with two fics each and the rest had only one each. Next time, I'm almost tempted to see if I can factor in word count to get a better idea of how much time I really spent reading each author, especially since I might (hypothetically) read multiple forgettable 1–5k fics by Author A, and then a single memorable/meaty 95k fic by Author B that sticks with me for years. Is Author A really more of a "top" author? Not really. That's more work on my part though, so we'll see what happens. (All of this waffling could be solved by making an actual rec list for once, but shhhhh.)

Top Pairings

Surprising absolutely no one, I'm still in sylvix hell. Congrats to None for jumping a couple spots in the rankings, though! A solid showing. I need to get better at tracking platonic relationships, but to be fair, those tags are underutilized on AO3 to begin with (or not used consistently), and I typically—but not always—stick with the main tags chosen by the author.

Also, please note that the ship in sixth place was entirely thanks to alphabetical sorting (it was a six-way tie), but I'm keeping it as is because it makes me laugh/implies some sort of character growth on my part that may or may not exist.

Top Characters

Lol. In my defense(?), Sylvain did drop almost three whole points this year; he couldn't even hit 60%! What kind of blorbo...?! Jokes aside, it's an entirely expected list. My Blue Lions/Golden Deer bias persists, but I'm not sure what determined when I logged "Blue Lions Students" vs. their actual names—probably half laziness, half just following what the author picked. I did love seeing Ask A Manager's Allison Green chilling at the bottom of this list with Bakugo, though. I'm sure she'll be fine. (And god knows Mr. King Explosion Murder and the rest of my top 20 could stand to follow her advice.)

(Also: apologies to Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, as I see his illustrious surname was cut off accidentally. Forgive me.)

Ratings, Categories, etc.

Also pretty unsurprising! I considered cutting my NSFW tracker at the beginning of last year since it's a little redundant, but that never happened. It might come in handy one day, especially if I'm looking through my spreadsheet for individualized recs. I was surprised that the Multi category was so low, but that could be due to inconsistencies in how people tag their fic? And/or how I logged them. Sometimes it means poly, but sometimes it just means that there are multiple kinds of ships in a fic. Either way, it's something to consider for 2024's tracker. Consistency! Let's strive for it! ✨

Tags & Tropes

Also about what I expected, though I was honestly shocked to see Established Relationship ranking so high? And Friends to Lovers so low? What is going ON here. (The former is probably partially due to mikey desmodus's excellent married sylvix fics.) Sorry to Horse Feelings, though; I made a dedicated tag on my google form and everything, but there was only the one fic in the end :(

Etc: Commenting, Rereading, Reccing, and Bookmarks

Commenting: My only real fic-reading "goal" in 2023 was to get my commenting percentage up to at least 50% and...I did that! Just barely, but 51.9% is 51.9%. Obsessive media tracking works!

Rereads: As expected, and pretty in line with last year (with a tiny increase). I'm just not a big rereader in general, though I did do a fair bit of rereading WIPs to prepare for new chapters. (Not sure how I classified those, come to think of it...)

Bookmarks: Also pretty similar to last year (with a tiny decrease).

Reccing: Now this DID surprise me. That "Yes" percentage seems almost absurdly high, jumping from 46.4% to 61%, and my "No"s dropped a ton too (22.7% to 5.2%). Either I got nicer or I just read better fic. :P Leaning towards the former, but probably a bit of both tbh. My one DNF was a longfic WIP that didn't spark joy and was becoming a hateread, which is rare for me - byeeeee.

Takeaways

By now my tracking form has become part of my fic-reading routine (read - track - comment/etc), and I can't see that changing any time soon. Obviously not everyone wants to (or should!) engage with fic this way, and I can definitely see how it might suck the joy out of reading for some people, but for me, it's been a good mental exercise and a really helpful commenting aid. Also, it's just fun. I like thinking critically about media! I like having a place to record my silly little thoughts about the silly little fanfics I read! All in all, I highly recommend doing something similar if you, like me, get a rush from making lists and compiling data, and if you like complimenting people but sometimes need that extra push to actually tell them and post a comment.

Goals-wise... I don't really do those lol. Probably to continue commenting and maybe try to read more widely, but honestly I'm probably not going to change my habits intentionally. Besides, looking at what I've read so far, yes, it's already half Fire Emblem, but also half gen and half F/F with nary a Sylvain in sight*! We got History Boys, we got Haikyuu filk, we got Ingrid and a MILF! Who knows what's around the corner?

(*This is quite literally only because I haven't logged rubicon yet. Don't worry, he's coming.)

[halohamilton]

Hi, can you post your reading on Harry? Have you done any on Louis as well lately? Do you feel that their energy a bit lighter than last year or is it still heavy? Ty!

hi! sorry this took long but I checked it on their energies:

Harry:

I used the wild animal spirit deck. I love using this for an every check and highly suggest it because it's such an interesting deck. If you google the pdf book you'll see the meanings of each animal.

I'd gotten the octopus, shark and frog for him, all represented by water. He's really in his feels lately. The octopus represents intelligence and yearning, but someone who lacks boundaries or healthy ones. The frog represents cleansing and healing that's necessary to take place, talks about "rejuvenation" and how "frogs" are overworked and undernourished so it's vital for self-care. There seems to be a need to release a lot for him. Finally, the shark was very interesting because in the book it talks about something big lurking under the surface that needs to be exposed, when someone is hesitant to be honest or totally themselves or say what they want.

He really is in a desperate need to release a lot of negative energy he's holding onto and it seems to stem a lot from lack of self-care and overworking (I've been saying for ages he seems to be the type to use work as a distraction).

For zodiac cards I got Scorpio and capricorn.

Scorpio is a very intense energy. It's 8th house energy, which is all about transformation. It forces you to look within, look at things that push you out of your comfort zone and forces you to deal with them. Capricorn coming after isn't surprising because he is going through a saturn return (also explains everything else here tbh) and capricorn is ruled by saturn. And Capricorn is all about success and ambition and doing whatever it takes to get to the top but I found the phrase "avoid heartless ambition" come up more than once(?) so again I just got the vibe that maybe he's overworking himself a bit.

Finally his tarot cards:

the King of pentacles, ace of swords, 10 of wands.

King of pentacles is all about getting the bag. Someone who's very career focused and focused on success. It did come out in reverse which is worth a note because that can represent a workaholic and someone who isn't stable otherwise.

The ace of swords represents truth, clarity, a breakthrough. Part of me wonders if he realizes he might be overworking or that he needs a break which is why he likely is going to disappear for a bit? though part of me thinks he's still going to be doing something but time will tell.

the 10 of wands is carrying a lot on your shoulders and that seems to be something consistent throughout everything I've read so far. This man needs to unload and take off the burdens. he has too much on his plate.

In conclusion I think he's starting to feel a little lost right now. I think he realizes he might have some unhealthy coping mechanisms and I think he also realizes one of them is overworking. But all of this is honestly due to his saturn return. it's all necessary for him to go through and I genuinely hope he takes a break from everything for a bit. He needs it.

Louis:

For the animal spirit deck I got the Buffalo, the spider and the stingray. Beautiful energies honestly. I think he's in a bit of a better place than Harry but again it's unsurprising because of Harry's saturn return, he's going to go through things that aren't so great internally. Whereas Louis has just finished his.

The Buffalo is described as "grounded yet heavenly, practical yet spiritual" which is so beautiful. Gentle eyes that are fearless is what is described in the book. it just talks about trusting the road ahead and knowing youre going to be okay no matter what.

The spider... with him as well, it's work work work. But spider importantly represents rewards through hard work, remaining enthusiastic and trusting the process, being "process-oriented" rather than "results-oriented" which i think is a great way to look at things.

The stingray is talking about growing confidence, developing your sense of self, balancing your chakras. It's suuucchh a pivotal point in personal growth. Making decisions about leaving the "old" behind and taking in the "new"

For his zodiac cards I got Aries and Neptune.

Aries is ruled by Mars which is all about desire, passion, actions. It's ambitious and chases after what it wants. It's all about taking charge, taking risks, taking control.

Neptune is so interesting. It's all about psychic experiences and imagination. It's a wonderful planet, I think here it's just about balance in what's real and what's not. Because neptune is very much an illusion planet so, a need to keep himself grounded which I think he's doing well already tbh.

For his tarot cards:

I got the ace of pentacles, the world with the 3 of swords, page of swords and the sun as well. looks like there was a lot of energy lol.

The ace of pentacles is a new opportunity, especially regarding money/career. It's also fruits of your labour, or manifestations coming to fruition.

The world and the 3 of swords came out together which is also significant. The 3 of swords is about pain and heartbreak and the world represents accomplishment and endings of cycles and closure. putting the two and two together honestly the energy is wonderful. I think he's healing from a lot and making great progress.

The page of swords with the sun... page of swords is all about an idea, communication, gestures, creativity and the sun is the ultimate happy card. Like it just means joy.

Overall is energy is just so wonderful and he seems to be very happy. I'm hoping it continues.

[spicybylerpolls]

i personally believe that since coming out noah has seemed a little different in personality, which i dont find surprising because he is more himself than ever possibly, but it does make me wonder what this could mean for his portrayal of will - and will himself actually.

but in that vein, it got me thinking about finn. considering that many people looked at noah's dungaree-no-shirt outfit, and the way he was close with millie, and saw a Straight White Man... and then Noah went on to good-humouredly chuckle at fans for 'missing clues' (like his friend's tiktok of them both overlaid with the lyrics 'i like dick' which is actually vague af in so many ways)...

...would you be surprised if finn came out as queer, and laughed at himself about it / made it seem like it was always obvious and we should have picked up on clues ? and possibly even seemed to come more into his own / seem less anxious and nervous in general?

like imagine it happening, and tell me your instinctive and unbiased reaction to the news.

a. i would feel validated because i already consciously think he's queer

b. i wouldnt be surprised actually, but i would be surprised about how unsurprised i was, because I consciously think he's straight

c. i wouldnt be surprised tbh, but i don't like to speculate

d. i would be surprised for another reason, like the fact he admitted it

e. i would be totally surprised, cos i think he's straight

f. i would be really surprised to discover he is actually queer, because i like to spec / headcanon but i dont truly believe it

g. i would be completely surprised cos i think he's straight, and i also dont like to speculate

h. i refuse to even partake as i dislike speculation thank youuuuuuu

bonus: it depends which orientation of queer tbh (e.g. he seems more bi, more pan, or nb, not just gay)

if this gets good honest results i may do a follow up poll! thanks mod!

Please note that the purpose of this blog is not to be creepy or to make anyone uncomfortable. That's why I created the #spicy byler tag (I will tag all polls with this). If you don't want to see this blog or anything related to it on your feed, please block that tag. Not everyone is comfortable with this sorta stuff, and that's okay.

[sunskate]

I mean… Chock/Bates won Worlds with a fall. It’s sad but totally unsurprising that mistakes mean nothing now. It was always a shady before, but I feel like last year’s Worlds was a turning point and judges are shameless about it to a bigger degree this season.

I’m a long time ice dance fan and tbh the only way to enjoy it is to accept that results are not at all correlated to talent, and you just gotta appreciate it when your favorite teams put out great programs. Once in a blue moon, a extraordinarily talented team like VM comes along right when their training camp is building political power. That was the case when they went to Marina and MF/P (same with Gabi and Gui), but it rarely syncs up so perfectly. Most of the time, you see things like what’s happening with LaLa - very talented, but IAM’s political sway is receding and they will not achieve what they should as a result.

i have lots of questions around this. considering CB fell at Worlds just 6 months ago, i don't understand how IAM's political sway is receding

if part of IAM's strength was that they have teams from so many countries, that hasn't changed, so what do you think their sway declining would be about?

i don't really understand how judges can be in the corner of one coach or fed or another and how they influence others to score for them, and i haven't heard anyone really explain it

overscoring and blatant favoritism isn't new - you've probably been watching it in real time for years -- that the British judge has been giving F/G scores up to 10-12 points above the rest of the panel at comps for years is a really straightforward example. i also wonder if Russia not being in the picture at the moment shifted the politics and there's more jockeying than previously to take advantage of that opening

i can see how the unfairness can be disillusioning. but even if my figure skating loving heart gradually gets ground into dust by this sport, i'm not there yet 😅 i might get irritated, but i refuse to be jaded on a day when i got to see that LaLa program, which is what i'm here for in the first place. sometimes art is undeniable

[danizmomota]

For Gundham being depicted as autistic: a lot of the way Gundham acts tracks with irl autistic behaviors, making him very easy to read as such.

Many autistic people have food sensitivities, and allistics, especially our parents, often treat us like burdens for it, pressure us, or otherwise try to ignore our boundaries. On a more general scale, ableist parents grieving our existence or acting as though they're martyrs for having to raise us is unfortunately common. So long story short, Gundham talking in his FTEs about how he despised his mother's cooking as a child but had to eat it or she would cry (instead of trying to accommodate him) struck a chord for some autistic fans.

By far Gundham's most glaringly autistic trait is his chuunibyou thing. It is fairly obvious that it's a coping mechanism; his delusions of grandeur and power protect him from acknowledging his own general lack of social skills and how isolated he is as a result. We learn in his FTEs that he's had severe issues making friends his whole life, and the way he tells it seems to imply that he's been acting like a chuunibyou to cope since childhood (though that may be his current perspective distorting his perception of the past. Anyway). Though his personality is obviously exaggerated (as are those of most DR characters tbh), Gundham being really bad at socializing and gaining friends, and coping with the fact through UTTER denial, is pretty unsurprising for an autistic person.

Other misc notes: In terms of autistic sensory issues, Gundham's aversion to others touching him could be read as that, but it could also easily be read as an issue with socializing. His passion about animals can also be easily read as a Special Interest.

(Sorry to ramble about Gundham)

For people depicting Kazuichi as having ADHD I'm genuinely not sure. It's pretty common to see really OOC headcanons about him being a part of different minority groups as though that would, like, negate his canon stalkery behavior? So it might just be that or there might be actual canon evidence for it. But I personally never finished his FTEs (and am unsure if I have ADHD myself) so I know less about this, sorry

Thank you sm anon!!!! I’ve always wondered about how people portray them as Autistic and ADHD.

[titleknown]

...TBH, I think it's because of how focused the debate is on copyright. because, copyright isn't really about material conditions if you actually think about it and how it operates.

Like, there's an old phrase that "The purpose of a system is what it does," and if you look at what it does, copyright is far more about procedure than artists' rights.

Look at all the creators who've had their rights taken out from under them. The creators of Disco Elysium come to mind immediately, as does Jack Kirby.

Look at how sampling was expanded into a "right" which only resulted in a brief windfall for a few artists followed by record companies buying up those rights and most small artists being priced out of it.

If you look at What It Does, in the long term it's far less about defending small artists and more about legitimizing corporate procedure and enclosure.

But, if you look at the rhetoric of most people who defend it in its current form, that material impact doesn't matter. It's all about vibes.

It doesn't matter whether or not the unauthorized use of your work actually had an actual material impact on you; directly or indirectly; if you consider it "stolen" in that framework, it is existentially tainted. It is about the principle of the thing, perceived fairness vs actual impact.

And, given how that lens of copyright and of "theft" is A) Based more on vibes than on actual impact and B) The most pushed angle on this whole issue, it is extremely unsurprising that it goes to existential questions rather than actual questions of material impact.

And, the creepy thing is, that's basically the whole swindle of the people pushing this the hardest, because their goal is not to actually mitigate the material impacts, it's to expand copyright.

Like, Jon Lamb and Karla Oritz were caught liking a tweet saying they hope the Internet Archive gets taken down via that lawsuit against it. Neil Turkewitz is a literal ex-RIAA ghoul.

These people do not care about your livelihood, they care about copyright and expanding its overreach.

Like, I agree with OP that we need to prioritize the labor question, fundamentally and deeply.

Like, online indie artists need an org to fight for their interests yesterday (though today will do just fine) and a lot of that has to do with pushing back against not just AI SEO-spamming sludge; but the broader ways algorithmization has fucked online artists.

Even in pro-AI-art orgs, there's a damn good reason that @are-we-art-yet 's rules include "Don't undercut other artists" and "Don't prompt living artists who aren't okay with it" and most importantly "Never do AI art work for megacorps".

But I also think that when we prioritize copyright, we ignore these questions because, at its core, arguments based around copyright "theft" are not about material impact; they're about vibes; and they drag the rest of the conversation into that space.

i feel like i'm losing my mind why has the AI debate pivoted away from material/labor concerns back to debates about Real vs Fake Art. cannot express just how little i care about relitigating Art and high art and low art and skilled vs unskilled art. what i care about is the treatment and compensation of workers, the power corporations are exerting over intellectual property and creators, the continued extraction of resources, and the omnipresent glut of spam and disinformation with few or no regulations/resources that filter out the SEO AI generated nonsense

[viiators]

[     ... how are you ruined?     ]

“   ruined by loneliness.   ”

you are so lonely. you are miserable in your solitude. you hate that you cannot bring yourself to reach out, to ask for help. you will be forgotten by all who never knew you. your biggest fear is that you will die alone, and you know this fear will be seen to fruition. you refuse to extend yourself beyond the box that others put you in. and it is a box that no one dare come near. you are lonely because you are afraid of yourself.

tagged by  @acthcr  tagging  @anomalyfated @moonreversed and you if you’d like to do it c:

[dorian-they-ao3]

GET YOUR TUMBLR YEAR IN REVIEW!