#which means it’s up to individual fan artists to create their headcanon

[aconitemare]

I don’t know how great of a design choice it was for DC to give most of its male characters black hair, blue eyes, and white skin in a medium where the only appearance indicators are hair color, eye color, and skin color.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/718540890786922496

The crucial difference, to me, is that fandom is for fun and guilting people into changing what they do for fun generally does not work.

I've been in a fandom situation like anon describes. In a book fandom some years ago there was a lot of discourse over the appearance and ethnicity of characters with very sparse book descriptions in fanart and the way racialized stereotypes feed into those choices. I agreed with a lot of the points - though not always how they were made; there was a lot of that early Tumblr "we're not obliged to be nice to our oppressors" rhetoric used as an excuse to harass people. I didn't receive such harassment myself, and I actually liked a lot of the POC-centric headcanons that some of the fans were promoting and adopted some of them for my own. I started making fanart where one or more of the characters were POC.

But ultimately l stopped making content for that fandom around that time. The feeling of scrutiny and having to self-censor and second-guess myself before choices as inconsequential - in the grand scheme of things - as how dark I make the skin of a fictional character I draw for my own fun and for an audience of like ten people - took the fun out of fandom. I don't have a lot of self-discipline, I can't just sit down and make things. If I make art, it's because I got a random bout of passion to create something in my head and I carried it through before the excitement ran out. Putting any brakes and checks and "but what will people think of this?" in there means the art never sees the light of day.

And maybe that was good for the POC artists in the fandom - one less white artist drawing two characters of unspecified ethnicity as white. I'm sure some people reading this would be like "good riddance". But if the goal is to drive away white artists so POC artists receive more attention, then that's a little harder to make sound appealing, isn't it? I mean, I wouldn't even take issue with it if that were the goal, fair's fair and all that. But then don't present it as "oh we just want our POC ships and characters to stop being snubbed!"

(In an ironic twist, the book has since received a visual adaptation with white leads and the substantial diversity that was previously found in fanart even pre-discourse disappeared basically overnight. Which just goes to show how silly it is to act like individual random-ass fanartists have much impact. )

...The other crucial difference is that online settings are inherently anonymized in a way a real-life engineering workplace or whatever isn't. Most people don't know the demographics and ethnicity of most other people they interact with, unless it specifically comes up. Even on places like Twitter this continues to hold true, and it drastically changes what it means when POC fans' content and opinions are ignored, and how to fix that. I don't have a point here except to say that a lot of this discussion seems to assume racist bias is targeted when it very much isn't, and act like "just stop being racist and ignoring fans of color on purpose, you dicks!" is a viable solution.

At the end of the day, the problem I see here is people with actual institutional power (in this case, people making design choices of big-budget media) need to make more and better POC characters, and then the fandom will follow - rather than expecting fans as an amorphous collective to pick up the slack where the mainstream dropped it. Those are the people you need to be putting pressure on. Funnily enough, the people I virtually never see accused of racism is the people who were actually in charge of the aforementioned visual adaptation...

--

[hermajestytak]

Her Majesty, Our Almighty Tallest Lady Miyuki

She was a lost character that never made it to the show proper because The Trial was never finished and never adapted post cancelation. She was voiced elegantly on the spot by Melissa Fawn in The Trial's Invadercon script reading, but was never officially voice acted, animated, or even colored.

Yet...despite never making it to the show, more than many other cancelled characters, something about Miyuki resonates with the Invader Zim fandom. Take a look throughout the fandom and you'll see her time and time again. In fanart, she's romanticized and illustrated as elegantly as possible. In fanfiction, she's a crucial character to the backstories many Irken fan characters.

There's many reasons why this is. For one, her name is gorgeous. One of the few facts we have about her is she was named and created after storyboard artist Miyuki Hoshikawa.

The name Miyuki itself holds different meanings depending on which kanji its spelled in: 美幸 means "beautiful fortune/happiness," 深雪 means "deep snow," 美雪 means "beautiful snow, and 美由紀 means "beautiful reason for history"

The association of Miyuki with snow has lead to some depicting her lead color as snow white. However, the most common color to depict her in within the fandom is blue, usually a cereulean blue. Other colors she's been drawn with include yellow and green, but the popular blue depiction arguibly makes her even more loved by the fandom because it makes her stand out from the usual green/red/violet color palette of the Irken Empire and, quite frankly, it makes her look gorgous.

Speaking of standing out, another reason for Miyuki's popularity is her gender. Female Irkens are much rarer characters in the series than Male Irkens (most likely because they take 1-2 more steps to design than their masc counterparts). Of the 50 named, individual Irkens on the series, only 7 are female (a whopping 14%), so Irken girlies are a rare treat for the fandom and of them, Miyuki is by far the most powerful.

In fact, Miyuki was most likely the most powerful Irken in history (that we know of). Red and Purple have to split their power between each other and Spork was only Tallest for a very short time. However, Miyuki was both a solo Tallest and one implied to be Tallest for a while.

Speaking of the tallest, Miyuki is one of only four that we know. Of them, her reign is the oldest. We don't know how long she was tallest, but she perished when Zim was over 10 years old. In the fandom, she's often depicted as being the tallest since before Zim was even born, so she likely reigned while our most important Irkens (Zim, Skoodge, Red, and Purple) were smeets that would have been taught to look up to whoever was tallest.

One interesting, debatable note about Miyuki's character is how much better of a tallest she supposedly was. She openly worked with the Vortians that Red and Purple went on to betray during their reign, so we know she was a more strategic and responsible tallest at least. However, some fan depictions take this a step further and headcanon Miyuki as "the rightful tallest" so to speak: a more merciful, kind, and virtuous planetary leader to contrast Red and Purple's cruelty. In other words, the fandom has a bad habit of really romanticizing her.

What these depictions tend to forget is that Miyuki was proud of her Empire. The very nature of an Empire, especially the Irken Empire, is to expand their rule. The Massive was designed during her reign to expand this rule by conquering nearby planets. She may have been a more competent Tallest, but a Tallest nonetheless and in the Irken Empire, intergalactic colonization and war is extremely glorified no matter who the leader is.

So I personally headcanon Miyuki as not a merciful, benevolent Tallest that the entire universe loved, but rather a Queen of England type figure whose adoration, regalness, and acts of kindness within her empire serve as a distraction from her and the control brains' cruel, empirical nature; she's beloved by her kind, but despised by everyone who sees the Irken Empire for what it really is: an intergalactic colony of genocidal ants.

[henshengs]

About Rule 63 fanworks

I was asked yesterday to elaborate on my genderbend opinions, as a trans person, which I’m happy to do, and I’ve thought about it a bit today to make sure I’m not saying something off the cuff and not thought through. Still, this is a sensitive, complicated topic, and I’m open to discussion on it.

This also got long, so I’m putting it under a cut.

So, obviously I can’t speak for all trans people. No minority group is a monolith in our opinions and this is particularly the case for the transgender community because our experiences are so very diverse and individual.

I am very rarely hurt or offended by genderbends/genderswaps/rule 63 fanworks. I know people for whom this is not the case, and I believe the pain involved is very real. The thing is... living in this world is inherently kinda painful when you’re trans. This world’s not built for us. All kinds of random things can cause me pain throughout my day. Store mannequins. My own reflection. Lesbian poetry. Pictures of other trans people. When something triggers my dysphoria or feelings of alienation, I have to stop, acknowledge the feeling, and then consider whether the thing is, outside of hurting me, contributing to the ignorance of and hatred of people like me by its very existence.

I don’t think the basic act of asking, “What if this character who is a cis man, was a cis woman instead?” does that. I think if anything, it opens the door to then ask “what if he was a trans man? Or a trans woman? Or nonbinary?”

Asking “what if this story was about a cis woman” lets cis women talk about their experiences and see themselves in stories, something I think is valuable! and also can lead to stories exploring sexism and misogyny, things which affect all trans people too!

In the rest of this post I’m going to use the terms “rule 63″ and “genderswap” to refer to the act of creating a fanwork changing a cis/presumed cis man to a cis or not-specified-to-be-trans woman, because this is the vast majority of the work under that label, because most fictional heroes and iconic characters are cis men, and because people who create cis man->trans woman or cis woman->trans man content, in my experience, usually use terms like “trans headcanon” instead.

(A lot of rule 63 fanworks don’t explicitly specify that the now-female character is cis. We can presume that most artists aren’t even thinking about the possibility of the character being trans, but we can presume that for 99.99% of all art, anywhere. It’s not a unique evil of rule 63.)

The claims that rule 63 is inherently transphobic, rather than just something where it’s good to be extra careful to avoid transphobia, as far as I’ve seen, use two arguments: A) that making the character a cis woman is wasting an opportunity to make them a trans person, and this is transphobic, and B) that rule 63 fan art is gender essentialist and cissexist, because it ties gender to physical characteristics.

Argument A doesn’t hold up for me, 

because couldn’t one then say that reimagining an abled white cis character as an abled white trans woman is racist and ableist? that reimagining them as an abled trans woman of color is ableist? No transformative reimagining can cover every identity. We say “write what you know” and talk about Own Voices, and that includes cis women who want to write about the experience they know. 

It’s also not fair to tell trans people that we must always think about trans experiences, even in our fiction. A lot of the time we don’t want to have to write or think about dysphoria and discrimination and we want to live in the heads of cis characters or even just characters whose AGAB is not mentioned! 

And it is also, imo, not a great idea to pressure people who may not be educated about trans experiences to write about trans characters just because they want to explore sexism or write about lesbians. 

many, many trans people first begin exploring their gender identity through creating cis rule 63 content, because it’s ‘safer’ than directly engaging with trans content.

With argument B, I agree that a lot of rule 63 art looks like this

and this sucks. To me, though, it’s important that it’s not the genderswap aspect that makes it suck. Artists who do this are also designing original characters with sexist, gender essentialist designs. Artists who don’t draw sexist art in general, also don’t draw sexist rule 63.

(yes, I know She-Hulk is not a rule 63 of regular Hulk. But you guys know the kind of art I’m talking about.)

I’ve also noticed a genre of fanfic that’s like, “if these characters were girls, they’d be sensible and conflict avoidant and none of the plot would happen!” or “what if these violent, tragic male characters were Soft Lesbians who braided each others’ hair” and again, I assume these authors write canonical women the same way. The genderswap part isn’t the bad part, the sexism is. 

Non-sexist rule 63 actually, in my opinion, fights gender essentialism and cissexism. When a character is exactly the same except for the ways a gender essentialist world has shaped and pressured them based on their AGAB, that’s a strong statement on the constructed nature of gender! 

But the argument that making /any/ change is gender essentialist, is... I understand where it’s coming from. I am a trans person who presents androgynously and I am a hypervisible freak because of it. I would love to live in a society where visible gender markers weren’t a thing! Unfortunately, we don’t live in that society. We live in one where we are constantly under pressure to conform to one of two profiles. There are almost no gender non conforming male characters in popular media. And changing a gender conforming cis man into a gender conforming cis woman seems to me to be a neutral action at worst. Not to mention characters from historical canons, who would be under a ton of pressure to conform. 

For physical body type characteristics... 65% of all speaking roles in Hollywood are cis and male. It’s harder to get statistics on other forms of media, but it’s undeniable that overall, most stories are told about cis men who do not have breasts or wide hips. Changing the story to be about a cis woman who has those features is introducing more diversity! 

I typed “rule 63″ and “genderswap” into the tumblr search bar today, and I saw a lot of art of women with a variety of aesthetics and body shapes and characteristics, who looked like people I’d see out at the mall.

Again, I sure do wish we lived in a post gender society. But we don’t, and in our society, everyone, myself included, looks at a picture of a person and gender categorizes them based on appearance. It is not wrong for someone to draw “Geralt the Witcher as a hot butch woman” and give her some physical markers generally agreed upon to denote ‘butch woman’ rather than ‘gender conforming man’ to tell the viewer that that is what they have drawn. Just as it is not wrong to draw “my OC who is a hot butch woman who fights monsters” and give her those markers. 

Finally, both arguments against genderswaps are, in my opinion, flawed because they implicitly posit the act of creating fanworks of the original, cis male gender conforming character design, as neutral. I think this is incorrect. I think that if you’re going to argue that drawing a cis male character as a cis woman is transphobic, you have to also argue that drawing the character as a cis man is transphobic. But I’ve only seen people do this when a trans headcanon becomes extremely popular in a fandom.

Again, I’m just one person. I’m also biased, because firstly, as I mentioned, rule 63 doesn’t usually trigger my dysphoria; secondly, I almost always come down on the side of “don’t limit what people can explore in fiction; ask them to explore it more sensitively or with more content warnings instead.” 

I definitely encourage creators to seek out and listen to a variety of trans opinions. But this is mine: I love rule 63, I make a lot of it myself, and I think if no one created it we’d lose something awesome. 

At the end of the day, what I really want is more trans content*, but I’d rather have cis rule 63 than just stories about cis men. 

Also: I personally have nothing against the terms genderswap or genderbend. I don’t think it reinforces the gender binary to acknowledge its existence by saying you’re ‘swapping’ the character from being cis with one AGAB to being cis with the other. But I can definitely see the argument against it, so I don’t blame anyone for going with rule 63 instead.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading; I hope you have a nice day, and have fun creating and consuming the fanworks your heart desires. I’ll end by linking this comic, which is just eternally relevant.

(*by which I mean: trans content created by other trans people, that matches my hyperspecific headcanons, likes and dislikes, and doesn’t set off any of my often changing dysphoria triggers. See what I said at the start, about transgender existence being constantly mildly painful. There are many awesome aspects to being trans! This is one of the less awesome.)

[miraefmd]

headcanon: public instagram account

word count: 441 words.

mirae created her public instagram account in 2013 after selene were given the go-ahead to open their own personal social media. instagram wasn’t as critical a platform to have back then as it is now, but mirae has always enjoyed the social aspect of social media and being able to share what she’s doing and read comments from fans, so it was a no-brainer to join instagram at the time. she hadn’t had any kind of private instagram account before that.

she’s started to use it more frequently in recent years as the platform has become more important and her individual activities have picked up some. she’s come to realize that it can be a valuable marketing tool.

she posts regularly. it’s not an everyday thing, but it’s usually multiple times a week now. most of her posts are pictures of herself, pictures of or with her groupmates and friends, or updates on her projects.

her story is updated even more regularly than that, with a few daily updates to her story being the norm. when she’s really busy or working on projects she’s not allowed to disclose publicly yet, her story activity will be lower, which is how her fans know she’s working on something new before it’s announced.

her following increased most substantially after parasite became popular. before then, almost all of her followers had been korean or international selene fans, but parasite reaching relevance in a wide expanse of markets led to her getting a bigger global following that was, admittedly, more for her looks than anything else. they didn’t all stay around once the trend of parasite faded, but it did shape her instagram status as more of an “influencer” than she was before and marked an advent of pictures of herself performing noticeably better than her career or selene posts.

the accounts she follows are a mix of friends and people she’s a fan of. a quick look through the accounts she follows will reveal her members, celebrity friends, foreign artists, directors and actors she’s worked with, staff she’s close to, and fashion accounts. she does curate the accounts to follows to stay relevant to her interests while being aware that they’re accessible to the public, so it’s not unusual for her to follow and unfollow accounts from time to time, which keeps her “ratio” on the low end.

she’s had the same username since 2013 and it doesn’t have any special meaning. it’s her romanized named hwangmirae with the characters 미 replaced with underscores. she didn’t feel the need to be creative with it and it’s good for her brand to keep it simple anyway.

[capsiclewidow]

2019 Creator-In-Review Tag

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2019. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I was tagged by amber (@stolethekey). I began reading it’s been a long, long time earlier this year and was instantly hooked. Seriously, go read it. It’s fantastic. She was one of my favorite Romanogers writers, and then somehow we ended up in the same Discord server. Now I get to call her a friend and harass her endlessly for more stevenat content. 😇 you are amazing and incredibly talented, my friend. thanks for tagging me <3

I’m tagging carley ( @chrishemsworth​), niki (@natasharomanoff​), and anyone else who wants to do this!

The rest of my sappy ranting and the list of my favorite works is below the cut since I know this is going to be long af.

In 2019, I shared both my writing and my art for the first time, both very big steps for me. My series (The Tightly Tangled Web) was first piece of my writing that I’ve ever posted, which was never, ever the plan. It was just supposed to be something I did for fun. I took myself way out of my comfort zone sent the first couple chapters to Niki (@natasharomanoff​), and her endless encouragement and a+ reactions were enough of a push to finally post it. The overall reaction was overwhelmingly positive and still to this day pushes me to continue on. To every single fan of the series, thank you. You’re all amazing. 

I also got an iPad late in 2018 and started teaching myself digital art, which I discovered I enjoy much more than tradition art. Actually enjoying it and not getting so frustrated with myself encouraged me to keep going, and I know I have a long way to go but even through my highly critical eyes I can definitely see my own improvement since I posted my first drawing in January of 2019.

So before I get started with my list I’m going to get a lil sappy. Every single comment, kudos, Tumblr ask, tweet, and instagram like means the absolute world to me. Especially with my writing; that kind of encouragement is the sole reason I keep going, even when I get frustrated with it. Every single comment makes my heart so, so happy and they’re my absolute favorite emails to get. Please know that I notice and appreciate every single thing, even if I don’t respond to all of them. I love reading people’s reactions, I love when people notice the little details I throw into my writing, and I love that I can somehow make people so happy with something I truly started just because I felt like it with no intention of ever sharing any of it.

So thank you to every single one of you, and I hope I can continue to give you content you enjoy reading. And thanks niki for being my number one fan <3

Now that that’s out of the way:

1. Old Wounds (first installment of The tightly Tangled Web series)

This series is my baby, and I started it way back in May of 2016. It began as a single post-Civil War fic, and somehow turned into what will eventually be a seven or eight part series. This was part one, and to this day it’s still my favorite. TWS is my favorite movie of all time and means so much to me, and this was the first part of the series I really began working on expanding into a full, multi-chapter, canon rewrite of the movie. It required so much research, attention to detail, and re-watching it frame by frame, and it just made me fall in love with the movie all over again. Plus I got to tell Natasha’s side of the story, and writing her perspective of the events in TWS made me really understand and appreciate her character on an entirely new level.

2. Laughter Lines

I again have to thank Niki for this one, because not only did she bring the song to my attention, but she shared with me her headcanon that Steve saved Natasha and they went back to the 40s to live out their lives. I think I wrote this entire thing in one night, because once I started it all just came pouring out and I ended up loving the result so much more than I thought I would. Plus I got to fix the Russo’s bullshit, so...you know. win/win situation.

3. New York

There were three individual things I wanted to eventually use in fics: the song New York by Ed Sheeran, Steve and Nat getting the best milkshakes in the world (from the comics), and the Captain America statue in Brooklyn. They all ended up in this fic, a post-Infinity War one-shot that allowed me to explore the mindset Natasha was in leading up to Endgame. It made me feel better after seeing Endgame to at least give them both a little slice of happiness that they both deserved.

4. Captain Romanoff

We’re switching gears to art now. This is still one of my favorite drawings that I’ve done. I’m in the process of writing a series that has a scene which loosely inspired this, plus I just wanted to draw Natasha as cap. It also got me out of my comfort zone as far as lighting and colors go, as well as all of the suit detail.

5. Endgame Romanogers (I uhh...don’t name my art idk)

This is the only stevenat drawing I’ve ever finished (i should probably fix that...whoops), and it again was a challenge with the lighting. I think it was also the first time I really drew Steve. But even though it made me sad every damn time I looked at it, I ended up absolutely loving it, which doesn’t happen often with my art. 

[whogivesa-ship]

In the early days of this blog’s previous iteration, I had a very interesting conversation with a trans woman on the topic of genderbends. That post is now (sadly) lost to the Tumblr purge, but I remember her making some very good points, particularly that genderbends imply secondary sexual characteristics like breasts or the lack thereof are equal to gender. Recently I’ve seen more and more people claiming genderbends are transphobic and I think that topic is worth addressing again. So today let’s talk about genderbends and why I think they’re perfectly okay as a trans guy.

What is the purpose of genderbending?

The whole idea behind genderbending is kinda complicated. For some people, particularly women, it can be very cathartic to imagine your favorite characters going through the same gendered struggles you do. If a male character were female, would she have trouble being seen as competent? Not be taken seriously as an expert in her field or as a powerful fighter? Experience sexual harassment? If a female character were male, would he be mocked for taking on a typically female role? For other people, the idea boils down to hgnnnn girls sexy, which is fine too. Contrary to popular belief, horny people do have rights. I’ve also seen plenty of artists make genderbends to play with a character design they like. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that genderbends represent a lot more than cis straight guys on a quest to add tits to everything possible.

Do trans people really hate genderbends?

I’ve certainly seen individual trans people who are triggered by genderbends. However, trans people as a whole don’t unanimously hate genderbends. They’re actually really popular in some parts of the trans community. For example, the Bowsette trend? Largely fueled by trans women. Seriously, check out what r/traaaa has to say on the topic. Turns out a lot of trans people really like the escapist idea of being able to somehow magically transition and be conventionally attractive.

What about the enbies?

Another thing genderbends get accused of regularly is erasing nonbinary identities. They certainly do exist within the gender binary and don’t really address enbies. However, so does modern society in general. In my opinion, the solution isn’t to throw out genderbends entirely, it’s to increase the number of genderbends where binary characters are portrayed as nonbinary.

If not genderbends, then what?

So it’s clear that genderbends serve a specific purpose in a lot of cases. People should be allowed to create the art they want and if someone wants to imagine a character design if it were more feminine or masculine, or wants to see a favorite character deal with gendered problems, how can they express those ideas if genderbends are off the table? According to a lot of people, the answer is trans headcanons. However, those are policed even stricter in fandom and a lot of creators are scared to even touch them. The answer is creators just don’t get to explore ideas about gender in fan content. That’s not right. Fandom has historically been a place for marginalized people to tell stories the mainstream won’t listen to and that includes women and other marginalized genders.

Yes, but what about the breasts?

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that I haven’t really addressed the claim I brought up at the beginning. Do genderbends play into the idea that secondary sexual characteristics are inherent to a certain gender? The reason is because I think that’s correct. Yes, genderbends definitely do reflect our cisnormative society in a lot of ways, including the idea that breasts = female. However, I don’t think that makes them unacceptable to create. Genderbends may be questionable if perceived as a statement on trans issues, but that’s not what they’re intended as. They’re exploring issues of gender largely within cis society, which is a valid topic to discuss because it’s the society we’re all living in right now. People need to remember that cis women are an oppressed group too. They have a right to express their struggles through art just as much as trans people. While I’d love to see more examples of trans inclusive genderbend content, there’s nothing wrong with what we have now.

A Note on Terminology

The term genderbend isn’t universally accepted by any means. I use it because it’s the most common and in my opinion, pretty descriptive of the concept without being binary-normative. It’s actually meant to be more inclusive of enbies than the previous popular term genderswap. However, alternatives do exist including cisswap, rule 63, and presentation play. I’d recommend including genderbend as at least a tag, just so the content will be properly caught if people have the word blacklisted.

[oc-rehab-centre]

How To Make An Ackerman OC

(Artist: Xue Lian Yue) 

How To Make An Ackerman OC

The Ackerman Family is a very iconic bloodline, exclusive to the Shingeki No Kyojin Universe. A byproduct of titan engineering, the Ackermans possess unimaginable strength once reaching an “awakened” state, through which their strength is triggered. Levi and Mikasa Ackerman are arguably some of the manga’s icons and are well known by many members of other fandoms.

With such an interesting and enigmatic aura to the Ackerman Family - it is understandable that many people in the OC Fandom might take interest in having an Ackerman of their own. While typically - we would advise you here to avoid having fanmade characters be related to canon characters, here - we are going to try and discuss the tropes and cliches of Ackerman OCs. We will tell you what to avoid - and perhaps give you some pointers on how to improve upon your OC. As usual, what you read will be based merely off of personal opinions.

More may be added into to in the future! If you have any suggestions or tropes you would like us to add, send us a message and we’ll add how we best believe could correct that trope/problem!

Trope 1 - Tragic Ackerpast

Sad backstories are not an uncommon thing in Attack on Titan. A majority of the show’s main characters have tragic pasts, and the Ackermans are no different. Of the two childhoods we have seen, Levi’s mother passed away while he was still young and he only learned enough to survive in the Underground District before being left by Kenny.

Despite being from a bloodline that is actively trying to be suppressed - does not mean they need to have a tragic backstory to validate their Ackerman heritage. 

Perhaps your OC grew up a little rough around the edges - but their entire nuclear family does not have to be slaughtered - nor do they have to be adopted or fostered by some abusive parents or the perfect, rich parents for their own protection. While this may help your OC better “correlate” with the canon Ackermans in the series, OC critics will be picky of details and certainly pounce on you for this. Just because they are an Ackerman OC does not mean they need an “edgy” backstory. 

Note: This fact/tip of OC creation does not just apply to Ackerman OCs! Shingeki No Kyojin, as gruesome as it is - not every character has a tragic past, filled with murder, melancholy and abuse. While tragic pasts can add to certain fanmade characters, it can detract from others. Be sure to do it well, if you decide a tragic past would suit your character, and try to avoid the common tropes/cliches.

Another thing worth mentioning - people seem to dub Kenny as an abusive relative. That man is caring and sweet in his own kind of way. Regardless of the fact that he is a killer, he is very human. 

Trope 2 - Forms of Levi Connection

There are various thing that never fail to annoy me about the Ackerman OCs and their relationships to Levi, but I shall only explain and resolve a few of these pet peeves - because they go against the known canon. I’ll list them below - and then you can read about them.

Levi is the Father/Brother/Uncle/etc.

The Thug “Quartet”

Being a Scout

1. Levi is the Father/Brother/Uncle/etc.

A majority of the Ackerman OCs I have seen are in one way or another, connected to Levi. After browsing a few of the Ackerman OCs via Google and looking through their biographies to discover their Ackerman heritage - Levi was almost always the father. And, if not the father - he tended to be either the older brother of the OC.

While there is nothing to confirm the fact that Levi does not have any siblings, I would just like to say - it is unlikely that any of Levi’s fanmade siblings, would be Ackermans. Kuchel, after having Levi - would likely not bear any more children after him - considering the fact that she was presumably sickly even before her son’s birth. (Idea: Remember, Levi has a father, even though he is never seen or named. If Levi’s illegitimate father was a player and enjoyed screwing with lots of prostitutes, you can theoretically have an OC to Levi who isn’t an Ackerman!)

I got a little carried away in that last statement, but I feel personally like it is a realistic idea, far more realistic than Levi having any siblings younger than himself.  Levi having older siblings is an idea I am honestly less opposed to, on the condition that they are done well, of course.

What is even better than having your Ackerman OC related to Levi, remember that Levi, Kenny and Kuchel only make up one side, hell, perhaps even just one branch of the Ackerman Family. In comparison to Levi, Mikasa’s side of the Ackerman family is practically estranged from Ackerman OCs. It is always a matter of being related to Levi, rather than Mikasa. 

Perhaps you can propose that Mr. Ackerman (Mikasa’s father) has brothers or sisters who have Ackerman children of their own. You are free to be crafty with OCs - as long as they make logical sense!! You have the opportunity to fill in gaps which Hajime Isayama never filled in himself with your own headcanons and plot ideas. Perhaps that man has a stat of 11/10 mystery for a reason you can fill in!

Now to move away from siblings of Levi is concerning a majority of Ackerman OCs - the children of Levi. Many children of Levi tend to be the product of either common pairings (Levihan, Rivetra, Ereri, etc.) or of a canon x oc couple. While these OCs are very prevalent in the fandom, it is quite annoying. Many OC critics argue that children of Levi are instantaneously Mary-Sues/Gary-Stus because their very existence breaks canon and they will advise you to rethink your consideration of making your OC an Ackerman. 

Common themes in Levi being the father are typically not believable. Many creators fail to consider the fact that Levi’s age when making their OCs, the product of canon ships or canon x oc pairs. Many people often forget that Levi did not join the Scouts until 844, a year before the Fall of Wall Maria - yet (this is only an example), he has a child who is 15 years old and a member of the 104th Trainees Squadron by 847. I have seen very many Ackerman OCs whose aging does not fit at all into the timeline of the Attack on Titan, so be cautious and take a few minutes to make sure the dates make sense. Just use a calculator or some mental math skills - and make sure it is passable.

2. The Thug Quartet

Moving on - often times, if the OC grew up in the Underground, they are a fourth member of the Thug Trio - composed of Levi, Isabel Magnolia and Farlan Church.

In relation to the question regarding the insertion of an OC in the Thug Trio - I would personally advise OC creators to avoid this. One of the most unoriginal things you can do, which can potentially destroy a fan character is plopping them straight into the series and rewriting the canonical timeline to accommodate your character. This just takes so much originality out of a fan character, and much of the fun out of creating one as well.

A good fan character FITS into a storyline. The canon story should not have to be altered for them to fit into the series. If you are altering canonical events in the story so that it bends to the personal history/timeline of your own character, I’m sorry to tell you this, but stop. For the sake of having a good OC, just stop.

If you want your OC to also live in the Underground District, certainly, they can still be an Ackerman and not be part of Levi’s Thug Trio to, uh, still be a thug - if you’re dead set on your character being a thug. 

3. Being A Scout

Let’s be honest. A majority of the OCs in this fandom are soldiers and members of the Scouting Legion. There is nothing wrong with being in the Scouting Legion, Hell - most of my own OCs are in the Scouting Legion. Now allow me to explain why this peeves me. 

In connection to the idea of the “Thug Quartet”, a few Ackerman OCs (and also many OCs in general) I have seen have been exploited for their strength and are pretty much Levi, regurgitated in a much smaller, female form. The fact that many Ackerman OCs are asked by Erwin to join the Scouting Legion, rather than joining by their own free will. 

*inhale* Just a little bit of salt - people seem to forget Erwin wasn’t the Commander until 845. I’m very nitpicky when it comes to the dates, warning to all the future OCs I will review! 

The Scouting Legion is not a first choice for most sane individuals, especially prior to the year 847, when Eren convinced a sizable portion of the main cast to join the Scouts with his teenage, hormonal military propaganda. It was/is a death wish to be part of the Scouting Legion - punishment, depending on how you look at it. Refrain from having your Ackerman Oc (or any OC) be convinced to join the Scouts in the same manner as Levi, Isabel and Farlan - it makes for a very unoriginal concept.

Trope 3: The Ackerman Archetypes 

If you ask people to describe Levi and Mikasa Ackerman, the answers you will get will be pretty simple and basic. They are badass, reserved, and powerful. In this section - we’re gonna discuss what OC creators forget to keep in mind when making their Ackerman OC, and these are basically the stereotypes. 

Personality 

Physical Appearance

Strength

1. Personality 

A common misconception about members of the Ackerman Family is that they are all cold and stoic characters who are not overly expressive, often seen frowning subtly in a detached, mysterious manner. GOD. This is an incredibly annoying thing to see in Ackerman OCs - personalities are not genetic and furthermore, the Ackermans are not soulless beings incapable of emotions, just because their badass levels are OVER 9000!!

It’s a common misconception as well that the Ackermans are all stone-faced individuals, but God.. Isayama and WIT Studio have done a lot better in recent chapters/episodes to show both Levi and Mikasa with expressions other than, y’know: 

That. 

Just because they are an Ackerman does not mean they have to be exactly like Levi or Mikasa - they are free to have their own original personalities. 

2. Physical Appearance

Another very common trait of Ackerman OCs is their appearance. In a majority of Ackerman OCs - they will have jet-black hair, light pigmented eyes which if blue, will more often than not be described as “ice blue”. (lol) 

This is admittedly a rather justified trait. We see that many of the Ackermans from Levi’s known side of the family possess dark hair and light eye. (with the exception of Grandpa Ackerman, but we can assume he had darker hair in his youth, unless it was a trait from Grandma Ackerman.) It can be argued that dark hair and light eyes are dominant genetic traits, but not every canon Ackerman is dark haired.

Going back to Mr. Ackerman, we know that he has light hair - and therefore proves that not all Ackermans have dark hair. Black hair does not have to be the only colour that exists in Ackermans. Brunette, blonde, fawn - please! I’d love to see some Ackerman OCs who do not have astoundingly light/bright coloured eyes or black hair! It would actually be refreshing to see an Ackerman OC who does not look like a carbon copy of fem! Levi. It will certainly help your character seem more original, despite being an Ackerman!

3. Strength (+ Ackerbond Concept)

Out of all of the archetypes seem in Ackerman OCs - what pisses me off the most is a lack of understanding of the Ackerman’s strength and its origin. There are countless Ackerman OCs who have stats that surpass Levi’s. This not only breaks canon - but seeing Ackerman OCs with stats that say “Battle Skill: 12/10″ and such of that sort, but in their bio, there is never anything stated about a traumatic/changing event that sparked that fire, just makes OC critics wonder if you have really done your homework on how the Ackermans work.

For those who don’t understand what the Hell I’m trying to say here, news flash - the Ackermans are not born as ripe, killing machines. Their strength is often dormant, only awakening in response to an event which causes them to feel threatened, endangered or simply so god damn sh00k that their physiology alters drastically, giving them superhuman strength. 

In a flashback episode from Season 1 of Attack on Titan, back when the scenes of the manga were animated accurately and at a reasonable pace - (*cough* Season 3 *cough cough*) we see firsthand how Mikasa’s strength is unlocked. 

As a result of trauma and developing what the fandom commonly calls an “Ackerbond” to Eren Jaeger, it is only here when Mikasa is able to find the drive to fight and her ability to do so nearly flawlessly. An “Ackerbond” can be defined as a special and unbreakable bond formed between an Ackerman who they fiercely devote themselves to. Known Ackerbonds that exist are the bonds between: Uri Reiss/Kenny Ackerman, Eren Jaeger/Mikasa Ackerman and Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith. 

Some Ackermans, like Mr. Ackerman - never awaken their Acker-strength, and live just like ordinary people, not possessing Ackerbonds or many of the defining traits of the Ackerman bloodline.

Out of the many Ackerman OC bios I have read, a majority completely gloss over the fact that Ackermans are not born as natural warriors - but it is instead something that must be awoken. They often fail to describe HOW their OC came to unlock their power - and even fewer detail the concepts of Ackerbonds between their OC and another character. Hell. Wait. I’ve never even seen an Ackerman OC with an Ackerbond - they just tend to be in love with someone, but that doesn’t count as an Ackerbond.

I would strongly advise, if your OC is an “awoken” Ackerman with stats that exceed 10/10, that you include details about how they achieved their superhuman strength and who they are Ackerbonded to. Additionally, having an Ackerman OC who is not “awoken” and is just your average Joe is also fine, perhaps even better, in some cases! 

But in all cases, DO NOT go putting your OC as “Humanities Strongest”, surpassing Levi Ackerman, Mike Zacharius or Mikasa Ackerman! Just... Just don’t, why should be self explanatory. 

Assorted Tropes + Pet Peeves

Age and Profession: A majority of the Ackerman OCs appear to be no older than 20 by the year 850. Teenaged OCs are common and cliched in this fandom, and being graduates of the 104th Trainees Squadron is another overly used concept. It would be nice to see some Ackerman OCs who are not soldiers or teenagers/young adults. 

Too Many Canon-Breaking Qualities: Some of the most canon-breaking tropes among OCs would be things like canon x OC shipping. Now - I personally have nothing against canon x OC shipping, it does not bother me at all when it is done right. But, having an Ackerman OC is special enough. To keep from getting negative attention and commentaries - try to limit the amount of special qualities you give your OC. This does not apply to only Ackerman OCs, but to OCs in general! Giving your character too many special qualities - like the canon shipping and a spot in Levi’s squadron breaks the canon, and will detract from your character rather than add to it!

Summary of Main Points

Avoid giving your Ackerman OC too many traits that make them overly characteristic and put stress on the canon like: incredibly tragic pasts, canon x oc shipping, being part Asian or from another iconic family, being a member of  the 104th Squadron, being part of the Special Ops. Squadron, etc. Try keeping your OC’s life lowkey and avoid making them too special.

Your character does not have to be directly related to Levi, Mikasa or Kenny to be an Ackerman. There is such freedom to expand the family tree - so take advantage of the plotholes!

Make sure your character FITS into the canon - rather than the canon having to change to accommodate their personal storyline. Try to avoid plopping your character straight into the canonverse - you have the freedom to be creative and give them a story of their own!

Try not to use the Ackerman stereotypes - like the certain personality, appearance and strength without delving deeper to explain why they are the way they are! 

If they have stats over 10/10 - please, remember to explain why! Ackermans often don’t have their full strength unless their strength is triggered or awoken - often because of a traumatic event or when they discover the person they are Ackerbonded to!! If your OC has high stats and is an Ackerman, find a character for them to be Ackerbonded to!

This is all for now! Thank you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope it helped~!

[cooltapes]

Can I ask your opinion as a bigender person (I’m cis)? What do you think of non-fetishy genderbends? I love seeing fanart that’s a different take on a character, whether simply  a different hairstyle or a redesign of their costume or a straight-up AU, and when it isn’t for fetishy purposes some of the genderbend stuff is pretty creative in that direction. But is it something I shouldn’t support?  

I’ve reposted this from your ask just in case you didn’t want to be published, but I wanted to ask other people and also talk about it because it’s a topic I’ve been thinking on a while.

I also personally love to look at genderbends from a design perspective, because character design is really interesting to me and I see it (when it's done well) as an analysis of the conscious choices people make when gendering their characters and how society perceives certain traits to me masculine/feminine, a tool to make yourself more aware of your own biases about gender and the concept of a gender binary. Like, these things shouldn’t impact on the way we perceive a character’s personality, but they do, and those are biases worth scrutinising. Our individual and collective understanding of gender plays a HUGE part when designing both a character's visuals and personality and to suggest otherwise is to just ignore the source of many gendered problems in fiction. Sailor Neptune is a good case study. As a cis woman, she performs hyper femininity within the lens of being a lesbian in an out relationship. If she were “genderbent” (I’ll get to that term in a second) to a cis man in a gay relationship, what would convey the closest impression to her original design? An effeminate cis gay man, with the same mannerisms and style as canon Michiru, or a cis gay man performing hyper masculinity? The former may be related to the original character more but I would argue that from a design perspective the latter is actually the closer equivalent after dissecting the societal expectations Michiru is both fulfilling and subverting, even though both “genderbent” Michirus would seem COMPLETELY different to canon Michiru. But why? What implications on personality and character agency does it have for a character to perform/subvert certain behaviours when the only thing you change is their assigned gender? Is a cis man who makes the same choices as canon Michiru in his presentation expressing fundamentally different personality traits than a cis woman? Why do/don’t we perceive it that way? In short, with what we know of Michiru’s canon personality, if she had been assigned male at birth instead, would she have made the same choices for herself? What is more fitting with her personality? And why and what do we project onto her when we consider this? This is the kind of analysis I run through when I think about “genderbending” characters... But.

I’d argue that most “genderbends” aren’t done well, or done with this analysis in mind, they’re very much just a surface-level embrace of the gender binary and gendered roles/designs. “Genderbends” are one of those things I enjoy playing with myself but probably wouldn’t trust coming from other people unless I already knew where they were working from. A lot of “genderbent” art I see is interesting for me to analyse not because it’s good but because it’s a window into how the artist - and anyone identifying with it - has internalised and expresses gender. I think the very subtle ones - the ones that just barely change a character’s silhouette or facial structure to the point where they “pass” now as a different gender - are both the most fascinating to observe but also the ones that leave the worst taste in my mouth if I don’t know where the artist is coming from and what they’re trying to demonstrate. It is interesting to see just how flimsy our definition of gender is but at the same time so rigid once you are seen to cross that line. And of course, as you said for some a “genderbend” is just an excuse to create more fanservice, which I would argue is incredibly interesting to dissect for how it fits the consensus of acceptable heterosexuality (I cannot stop thinking about the One Piece figures that turn cis male characters into big tiddy anime girls for straight male fans jack off to and how many layers of heteronormativity this is buried under) but again, not a GOOD thing. An anthropological thing. That doesn’t mean that I really want those “genderbends” to exist.

Alright, now to the term “genderbend”. I think the best thing you could do, and what I do on the rare occasions where I share what I make, is to tag them as “cisswaps” instead because it acknowledges that you are working within a cisnormative, binary structure, and if you’re aware of that framing then it at least implies you don’t agree with it. There’s a post roaming around out there that suggests all “genderbends” are trans adjacent and I don’t think that’s accurate or ... good, even. As I said I don’t think cisswaps or “genderbends” are necessarily good things and to suggest an artist adhering rigidly to a binary gender system and couching everything within cissexism is somehow creating a trans narrative is a bad take IMO even if I understand why some trans people would want to perceive it that way. I think gender headcanons are completely different from cisswaps and I love and support them. I don’t know if there’s a specific tag for those, though. If anyone knows of any I’d love to hear them, but I’m afraid they’d just get gunked up with bad content anyway.

This was a long post and the final message I want you to take away is that I cannot tell you if this is something you should support or not because I’m just one person with one very specific experience wrt gender. Some people will tell you cisswaps/“genderbends” are fine and lovely and that all this is overanalysis and there will be others who will tell you they have no merit whatsoever and you should never ever engage with them, even to dissect them.

Personally I think so long as you have a nuanced understanding and approach to gender, you don’t personally ascribe to a binary/cissexism, and, as a cis person, you find and listen to trans experiences, do whatever. That’s more important than whether you reblog someone navel-gazing about hypothetical gender roles in fictional AUs. Tagging stuff like this with “cisswap” is a good place to start, and most importantly it also provides trans people with a tag to block if they don’t want to see this content. And if a trans follower tries to approach you that something you do reblog was hurtful, be open to it.

TL;DR: For me personally cisswaps/”genderbends” are “interesting” but that doesn’t mean "good” and I am very hesitant to actually interact with other people’s because they can be and generally are binarist/cisnormative, but the concept is not inherently bad.

I would love to hear from any of my other trans followers here for their experiences and opinions.

[incoherentbabblings]

TimSteph Fanfic Recs

I was thinking about making a list the other day but then anon prompted me so clearly the time is right to make one of these.  A lot of these authors have stuff which is worth checking out outside of the individual stories I’ve linked, so have fun, and add any that you love as well!  It’s quite long so see the read more for full list!  **Starred Fics are the Favourite of Favourites**

Oldies but Goodies

**Make This Go On Forever by boywonder_iii**

“Stephanie thought she was just imagining things when she saw the darkness in Tim, but the more and more she was with him, the more she realized he was slipping further towards the point of no return. Unbeknownst to him, she had something up her sleeve to keep that from happening.” 

Set after Steph’s return and the Robin/Spoiler special, Stephanie goes to efforts to bring Tim out of his shell and be open with her once more.

Note: Straddles being an R to NC-17 rating, but it’s not too explicit.  Sweet more than anything.

Adventures in Death Traps by faile_neume

Tim and Steph are stuck in a trap and shenanigans ensue.  

This is just plain funny.  A+ banter and usage of Tim and Steph saying c2007 lolcat meme jokes which I’m not sure is cringe or charming (I mean we have canon proof that Tim and Steph used to say pwned so I’m going with charmed) 

The Antidote by aravistarkheena 

Tim is poisoned and Steph stays with him until Bruce arrives with the antidote

Drugged confessions with angsty apologies and cuddles are good for the soul.  Fic includes the wonderfully earnest line of “ “There is a place for Tim Drake,” she said fiercely, around her tears. “There is a place with me. Tim Drake belongs with me.” ” like URGH good stuff right there.

Rainy Nights by aravistarkheena 

Tim has to walk home in the rain, feeling miserable until Steph cheers him up with bed snuggles

Sweet schmoop!  Set after the above story but works completely independent of it if you just want to read cuddles in bed.

**Learning By Doing by iesika**

“There's a first time for everything.”

I’d argue this is the best smutty fic that TimSteph has...if you are looking for a definitive yes this is the full deal kinda schtick.  This is explicit but also very vanilla.  Just what you’d expect from these two’s first time.  Includes Tim getting sidetracked by the type of bra Steph is wearing to the point of getting a tape measure and later sending her a proper good sports bra in front of her mum. 

Ao3 Newbies 

All The Ghosts That Bring Us by Downmimosaeyes

“It’s been a rough night,” he says, then after a moment’s pause clarifies delicately, “You’re hurt. Let me help.” Set at a handwavey point sometime after Steph's return from Leslie faking her death.

Includes Tim taking care of Steph after a difficult fight with Clayface.  Shower cuddles and hair washing and gentle teasing from Tim about Steph’s choice of shower curtains and towels

Mosaic by Heartsfightforyourwrite

In an odd way, they found each other once more after falling apart. It wasn’t a matter of starting again on the holy grounds of their past, but rather, picking up the pieces of their broken devotion and hoping that an artist, or someone, could create some sort of mosaic masterpiece out of the mess.

A good look at how messy TimSteph got towards the end before Flashpoint, but also how that messiness means they fit so well together and with no-one else.  

**Sorry That I Bruced You by quipquipquip**

He tied a purple ribbon around a brick and left it on her windowsill with a note that said: Want to catch a movie on Friday? - Alvin. Post Batgirl #24, Tim/Steph fluff.

The best TimSteph fic bar none.  A totally believable and adorable way of getting the two back together after the end of their batgirl/red robin solo runs.  The fic is chock a block with references to earlier issues and fan theories, such as the Dr Midnight actually being Red Robin that saved Steph from the Black Mercy, their date in Robin #111 and their first date ever to the cinema.  It’s just...really good.  

Countdown to a Bad Idea by Nimravidae

Stephanie has that feeling in her gut that says she's either about thirty seconds away from making a bad decision. It's the feeling she gets right before she jumps off a rooftop or into a den of criminals. Or when Tim Drake is standing too close.

Anther fic depicting them getting back together after their solos, but this time a little less smoothly.  This one is explicit again, so be mindful when reading.  

Slick by Merit

Why stop at one?

Just smut.  Just pure absolute smut.  

Hallways by fightforyourwrite

Things would be a lot less awkward if Stephanie wasn't wearing a dress shirt and shorts.

Steph tries to sneak around Wayne Manor after staying the night.  This being Wayne Manor, she fails.  Just adorable really.

Photograph by redbirb

A lazy morning with Tim & Steph

I am weak for bed snuggles you hear me!  Weak! I confess it!  Also a sweet callback to when Tim had actual hobbies, like photography.

Don't Wake by MeRascalJoy (DarkQuill)

*Spoilers for Detective Comics #940* This. THIS was Tim. Solid, warm, breathing, alive. Not disintegrated on some clocktower's roof.Just a dream. It had only been a dream. (A nightmare.)(Pre-52 Steph and Tim's "death." Alternatively, Steph has a nightmare and Tim comforts her in his own awkward way.)

Written just after Tim ‘kicked the bucket’ and has the gut punchiest ending.  Thankfully as of the end of Tynion’s run the two have got their happily ever after (for now grumblegrumble) but at the time this was 100% pure ooOWWWww??!?!

Spoiled Again by WanderingJane

Tim would like everyone to know that he really hates catchphrases. (Please make her stop.)

Written during Batman Eternal and details what could have been the first meeting between Spoiler and Red Robin in the New52.  Sweet as candy floss ending and to be honest my headcanon of their relationship before they got together proper by the beginning of Rebirth.  Afterall, Red Robin met Steph in Batman Eternal, Spoiler and Red Robin may have met at a different time...

**Bird all Sing (as if they knew) by anonymous**

"How do you spell 'engagement'?"   "Who are you texting?"   "Tim."

Bruce get it into his head that Tim is going to propose to Stephanie at aged 19 after finding an big ass ring in his closet.  Not quite a TimSteph focus fic, as Stephanie only appears through one text conversation with Bruce (and it is a golden conversation).  The fic is more about Bruce’s inability to let Tim live his own life, pushing him to move back to the manor or go to college, whilst Tim is quite content to continue working at WE, getting joint tattoos with Steph and preparing to move from an apartment to a townhouse.  Miscommunication leads to hilarity and arguments.  Seriously this is one of the funniest batfam fics I have ever read, but also one of the more heartbreaking.  Bruce means well, but can’t bring himself to actually ask about the ring, leading to him belittling everything about Tim’s existence in an effort to prove that he’s too young ‘to be making such big decisions’.  Cass and Damian also make quick (hilarious) cameos.  Not complete yet, but patiently waiting for the ending hinted at in the tags (no rush though anon, it’s glorious as is) 

Midnight Talks, Chapter Six by ShariDeschain

Damian's family loves him. Sometimes they even say it (or come really, really, really close to say it, at least).

Like above, this is a fic less where TimSteph is the main focus, but rather this time it is Stephanie and Damian. Set during the Batman Reborn era, it takes a really good look at what a good influence Stephanie is on Damian.  I’ve included this in this list a)because it is very good, and b) Damian’s attitude to Tim can be softened through Stephanie.  There’s a fantastic conversation at the end regarding how Stephanie is viewed by Damian, and how Tim can be useful in this one (1) regard: if Tim marries Stephanie, then Damian can safely claim her as his sister.  After that Tim is fair game for murder but-

Heroes and Thieves by starspatter

A story about second chances, healing, and having hope.

One of my fave things about the DCAU is the hints that Tim’s wife is Stephanie Brown (blonde, wears purple, knows all about his past adventures...yeah it’s Steph) and that they do get their happy ending. Set in the DCAU this covers Tim’s efforts to get on with his life after the Return of the Joker film, and how Stephanie plays a major role in this.  A WIP, and only five chapters in, this story updates slowly but is well worth the wait, as it is already nearly 25,000 words long.  Long TimSteph fics are a rare find, and this is shaping up to be the best of the bunch.  

EDIT CAUSE I’M A FOOL A GODDAMN FOOL.  Brick to the Face tumblr page.  

Drabbles after drabbles of pure gold.  Sweet through to humour to angst to a bit smutty, something for everyone there.

Thanks to Tynions efforts on Tec there are more TimSteph being written, especially ones where they aren’t the main focus, but are present in the background, which I am pleased to see more and more of.  Where Tim and Steph appears, it’s a given that they are either together or love one another, or at the very least are each others closest friend.   No more sweeping Steph under the rug because she’s inconvenient you hear me! 

[shianhygge-imagines]

Persona 5 Headcanon: Studying w/ The Phantom Thieves

A lack of P5 imagines here... And so, to begin finals week, I’m gonna take advantage of it. :P :3 I got you fam. [I haven’t finished playing through the game, so some characters might be shorter than others... I literally only just finished changing Madarame’s heart]

|Masterlist Link|

Just fyi, I’ve been a Persona fan since P4′s first month of release... so before everyone’s hype... which actually seems to be the trend in my interests... After playing through P4, I played through P3... then P3P because I wanted to play as a girl (can’t blame me, I’m attracted to Shinjiro and Akihiko... >.>;) Then, I played through Persona 4 Golden, then PQ ;#

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Protagonist/Akira Kurusu/Shin Akaashi

- It might not seem like it, but Shin actually dedicates a bit of his time to studying the class material that he has no problem taking on the task of helping you study.

- If you’re a friend of his, no matter how difficult to make friends with him it is... he’ll dedicate his time to make you understand the various concepts no matter how simply or tricky. Don’t bother asking Shin for help studying if you don’t really know him. He might be kind, but he’s honestly got better things to be doing, so he’ll turn a stranger down unless it benefits his goals.

- Shin is an all around student, a jack of all trades, if you will.

- If you’re his significant other, all cards are on the table. If he’d taken notes in class (if because he often daydreams in class), those notes will get copied and placed in your hands within the day.

- everything you have trouble with... will be gone over... and Shin would even skip a day or two in the Metaverse in order to help you. (lucky lucky~~~)

- things might get a bit... frisky if you guys are alone for too long though... Shin’s very mischievous and he loves you to bits, often being unable to keep his arms from snaking around your waist and pulling you flush towards his body. He’ll reward you with kisses if you do well on your practice problems...

- and if you do well on your exams... he’s offered to let you do with him what you want... for an entire day... don’t pass up this opportunity to have him under your thumb.

Ryuji Sakamoto

- Ryuji... isn’t the most academically inclined individual in the school... he really tries to understand the school work [he really genuinely tries, the poor babe], but... you would often find yourself explaining to him about the various concepts involved in pre-calculus.... yeah... you’ll be doing a sort of backwards studying if you want to study with Ryuji...

- like studying the material by explaining it to someone else... it actually works, because it requires you to take the information, process it, then try to explain it in a different way... (seriously, this method of studying is one of the best).

- he’s pretty good with things like history and literature, although he’s purely average... and he’s abysmal in math and science. Now that I think about it, he’s like me and Chemistry... We get a little further when we try, but we’re still only average.

- Ryuji, my precious ball of sunshine... he’s easily happy and easily saddened... cheer him on and encourage him to get him in the mood to study more. Once his mood goes downhill, he’s more prone to not studying.

- Ryuji is also a bit... grabby? I mean, it’s easy for him to touch you, hug you, kiss you... but he’s still a bit iffy on people touching him. I mean, he’s a bright ball of sunshine and doesn’t really flinch away, but just be careful with him. Slow touches, not really rough, and always be affectionate. By all means though, don’t baby him.

- Reward him with nape kisses... >///< It gets him so flustered, the red travels noticeably and slowly from his shoulders up. And he’s not used to the love, so expect him to get a little shy and cute.

Ann Takamaki

- The “dumb blonde” stereotype doesn’t apply to Ann. In fact, Ann is around average with her studies! :3 Despite being a model, and a member of the Phantom Thieves, she’s been able to keep up with her studies. [better than myself, who still has trouble balancing schoolwork, writing, a job, and a social life...] 

- Ann’s specialty lies with history, English, literature, and gym... not that you really have to study for gym... so maybe health ed?

- Despite the fact that she texts in class with Akira and Ryuji... and the rest of the Phantom Thieves... her notes are actually pretty decent and concise. I mean, not on Makoto’s standard of “concise notes,” but pretty freaking close. Her handwriting is average, large and cutesy, which can make it difficult to read sometimes, but the notes itself covers the basics of what you need to know to do a little better than pass.

- She’s borderline average in the math and science department, so you could help each other with topics that you don’t understand.

- If you want to reward Ann for doing great at practice problems, give her some pastries. If you want to reward her for doing really well on her exams, and you have the money to spend, treat her to the buffet deserts at the fancy hotel... 

Morgana

- Morgana doesn’t need to study, silly. But he’s pretty good at helping you if you’re really that desperate... But only for things like language...? Or history???

- You can count on Morgana making comments while you study, left and right.

- That is... if you can understand him in the first place.

Yusuke Kitagawa

- Yusuke... Yusuke, Yusuke, Yusuke... Oh gosh, what am I going to do with this boy... First off, let’s get out of the way that, yes, Yusuke is VERY smart. In fact, he’s calculating and sly, too. BUT! He’s a naive little foxy that doesn’t get most social norms.

- You can expect Yusuke to be near the top of his class, but since he’s passionate about his art, it’s not likely he has the will to try for the absolute top. That being said, Yusuke’s intelligence rivals Makoto, Akira, and Akechi’s, especially in the social sciences, but he’s pretty exceptional in math and science as well.

- An artist’s mind works on a whole other spectrum than the normal person’s. Artists make associations with nearly everything they encounter, and they analyze deeply. Sometimes, the information an artist receives, could be the opposite of what other people conclude. Just know, that if you ask Yusuke for study tips, you might be in for a baffling ride if you don’t think on the same wavelength as him.

- That being said, if you want him to tutor you, be ready for him to teach you the proper way... but with random bursts of pausing... An artist, whether it be painting, sketching, writing, or creating music, often has pauses in their productiveness because of ideas that spontaneously pop up out of nowhere.

- That is, if you’re the one helping Yusuke, let’s say his grades have slipped a little due to his artwork or his work in the Phantom Thieves, expect yourself nearly at the end of your wits most of the time while you tutor him. Yusuke takes his studying seriously, but you just can’t help the fact that he’ll pause to stare at something that’s caught his interest.

- Reward this precious baby with new art supplies, healthy snacks, occasional candies, or even pay for his meals (don’t let him starve on only beansprouts). If you’re particularly close to him, give Yusuke little kisses or gently caress him, to reward him for a job well done.

Makoto Niijima

- Ah the epitome of the perfect student. She’s at the top of her class because of all her hard work, so she’s strong in all subjects. It almost makes you resent her... almost. As with most Asian mentality, doing well in school equals success in life. Eventually, Makoto learns that this isn’t always so, and she begins to tone it down on her ‘overachieving nature’...

- She still manages to be an overachiever without trying though...

- Makoto’s notes are very detailed, with her often taking notes in class, then later reading the textbook material before re-writing her notes with what the teacher taught in class and including the extra details from her own research.

Futaba Sakura

- She’s a genius hacker, shut in with agoraphobia... unless you want her to teach you how to hack... don’t count on her helping you with your studies too much....

- But you could help her with slowly getting over her phobia... difficult task, no doubt, but slowly expose her to more human contact using studying as the medium. Okay? Slowly though.

Haru Okumura

- I admit she’s a bit spoiled and naive, but she’s decently smart, above average definitely, but not as smart as someone like Makoto, Akira, Yusuke, or Akechi.

- She’ll have private tutors on the side, so if you ever need help, you could always tag along in her study sessions, money isn’t a problem with Haru, she’s glad to be able to have a friend to study with.

- Ah, but she’s also the type to get a bit distracted when around people, so you have to be the one to keep her on track and focused!

Goro Akechi

- This idiot... this Light Yagami-like idiotic dorky “pancake” genius detective, doesn’t even get to go to school that often. Despite going to the same prestigious school as Yusuke, his work requires him to neglect his studies. 

- Don’t be mistaken, Akechi can easily give Makoto, Akira, and Yusuke a run for their money in the academic field. 

- Studying with Akechi will be sporatic, sometimes you can go days studying with him undisturbed, and then there are days where you never see him. It’s not a very stable study relationship, but if you don’t mind the inconsistencies, go ahead and study with him. More often than not, he could use the affection and companionship.

- But also, pancakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-fi!

[nphofrph]

NPHofRPH’s Sing-Along Glossary of Roleplay Terms

The quintessential dictionary for the new RPer, or the veteran RPer who wants to get caught up on all the new-fangled slang them young folks are using.

(Note: does not actually come with any particular melody, but feel free to make one up as you go and hum it.)

1x1: A roleplay between just two people, you and your partner.

2x2: A roleplay between four characters. Not sure why it’s referred to this way. I guess the characters are all supposed to have paired up by the end of it?

4x4: Wait, are we stilling pairing them up, or can this just be eight characters?

32x32: Apparently we just like dividing by two in this neck of the woods.

Activity Check: A time when the admins go through the characters of a roleplay and make sure that they’re all still posting and haven’t run away from home.

Admin: The manager or moderator of a roleplay group; the one who’s in charge of creating the roleplay and keeping it running.

Angst: Piling on the hurt - usually emotional, sometimes physical - for your character to endure. Really fun. You should try it. Be a malevolent god.

Anon Hate: A message someone sends anonymously detailing why they despise you and what they’ve done to your mother, or threatening you in some way. Honestly, it’s hard to be threatened by that little gray fella with the sunglasses, but okay.

Apartment RP: A roleplay in which all or most of the characters live in a single apartment building.

Application: A description of your character to submit in order to be considered to join a roleplay group. Like a job interview, but not as painful.

Appless RP: A roleplay where you don’t have to fill out an application. Just insert a couple of details about your character onto a little form and you’re in. Quality may vary.

Ask Meme: A post containing a list of questions for others to send to your character.

AU: Alternate universe. This is where the characters of the work are placed in a setting or scenario not present in canon. For example, characters who are superheroes in their canon work meeting as ordinary high school students instead.

Backstory: The events of a character’s life that occurred before the beginning of the roleplay. Doesn’t have to be tragic. Is usually tragic.

Bandom RP: A roleplay in which the characters are in a band. It’s a pun, see. A portmanteau of “band” and “fandom”, I think. I’m assuming. I mean, I’m not a roleplay etymologist or anything.

Bio RP: A roleplay in which a detailed description of the character’s background and personality is required in the application.

Blogroll: A page which displays all the blogs that a user is following.

BroTP: Like an OTP (see below), except for best buddies instead of romantic partners.

Bubble Roleplaying: Roleplaying with only a select few characters or members in a group RP setting and ignoring the others.

Canon: The stuff that the original writer of a work made. For an RP group, this consists of the plot, additional info, and any characters made by the admins intended to be a part of the overall story. For other works, it’s simply everything that occurs in the work.

CBR: Could be related. Two faceclaims who could play biological family members.

Celebrity RP: A roleplay in which you play actual celebrities as characters. These exist for some reason.

Charrie: Short for character. Not to be confused with Carrie, a Stephen King novel in which a girl gets a bit power-crazy with her telekinesis.

City RP: A roleplay in which the plot takes place in a single city as its primary or only setting. Like a town RP, but the buildings are taller.

Closed Starter: A starter made for a particular blog to reply to. Sure, you can still reply to it if it wasn’t intended for you, but it’ll just lead to secondhand embarrassment for all involved.

Contained Theme: A theme that is frightened. It tries to hide from predators by curling up and making itself smaller.

Crackship: A relationship between two characters whose pairing seems unlikely or absurd.

Crackship Gifs: Gifs of two characters edited together so that it appears the characters are interacting with each other.

Crossover: A work consisting of elements from two or more works or fandoms.

Cross-tagging: Tagging a post with related things that are not actually in the post. For example, tagging a picture of Wonder Woman with ‘#superman’. Don’t do this. It’s all of the annoying.

CW: Content Warning. Same as trigger warning. See below.

Defiantly: Definitely, but misspelled.

DM: Dungeon Master. The person who is in charge of - wait, hang on, wrong type of roleplay. Sorry about that. Move along.

Drabble: Technically it’s a story of exactly 100 words, but it’s more used to just refer to a very short standalone piece about a character or characters in a particular single scenario.

Dry Docking: The opposite of shipping. When two characters who are a couple in canon are either broken up or were never together in the first place in your fan work or RP.

Event: In a roleplay group, an occurrence in the story in which all characters can participate. Also can be several days in which the verse is altered, such as a Future Week or other AU.

Exclusive: In a fandom-related independent RP, when the mun will RP with only one version of a particular character. For example, an indie RP playing Hermione Granger only interacts with a single indie Ron Weasley blog, and others who play Ron must go elsewhere.

FxF: A romantic pairing between two female characters, usually in 1x1 roleplay.

Face-chaser: Someone who pursues a roleplay or ship with a character based on their faceclaim instead of their characterization or the writing.

Faceclaim/FC: A real-life person used to represent what a roleplay character looks like.

Faceless Gifs/Images: Gifs or images that can be used in roleplaying regardless of the character’s faceclaim, since a person’s face is not visible or present in the gif or image.

Female Ban: An element in some works of dystopian fiction wherein the government or other higher power attempts to suppress a population by eliminating females and thus making it hard to procreate... Hang on, no, I’ve just been informed that it’s when an RP doesn’t allow any more female characters to be added to the group. Presumably, male bans exist too, but I think that’s just an urban legend.

First Look: A type of review based on a quick glance over the roleplay and what first impressions the reviewer gleaned from it.

Floating Timeline: A concept in roleplay that suggests that events in threads that are being written at a particular time do not necessarily take place in that time in-story. So, if a character has multiple ongoing threads, they are not actually in multiple places at once.

Fluff: Scenes that do not involve any significant obstacle and instead are intended to give the characters time to just have fun and be cute together.

Gif Chat: A type of roleplay thread in which each post is accompanied by a gif to illustrate the character.

Gif Hunt: Collection of gifs gathered from throughout tumblr or from various sources.

Gif Icons: Collection of gifs that are 100x100 pixels in size. Sometimes people make them 90x90 or 75x75 for what I can only assume are unsavory purposes. Don’t let your guard down around those things.

Gif Pack: Collection of gifs in which  all of the gifs are made by the person posting the pack, and usually are all from the same source (the same movie, TV episode, etc.)

Godmodding: Collectively refers to powerplaying, metagaming, or both. See below.

Gore: Explicit and/or graphic violence and blood. A challenge to see how many synonyms for “red” you know.

Gossip Blog: A blog affiliated with a roleplay group that talks about and passes judgment on the characters. Sometimes can be fun, if managed well, but often creates all species of drama.

Headcanon: Something that an individual or fandom believes to be true about a story or character, even though it is not shown to be the case in the canon work.

Hiatus: Taking a break from roleplaying due to real life occurrences taking priority. As if anything could be more important than finishing those replies, pfft! The nerve.

IC: In-character. The actions, thoughts, and posts of the character; the stuff that occurs in the roleplay proper.

Icons: Also called static icons, a 100x100 image of the character or faceclaim used to illustrate the character in lieu of gifs.

I’m sorry, what did you say?: An extremely vague starter. For some reason, people keep making this starter, despite it annoying and frustrating people. Like an Alvin and the Chipmunks film.

Independent RP/Indie RP: A roleplay blog or character not associated with any particular established RP group.

IRL: In real life. Don’t worry, you won’t have to use this one often. Nothing ever happens in real life.

Kik: Something that I recently learned is not a dating site, as I had thought. This is all I know.

KRP: A roleplay that uses K-Pop artists as faceclaims exclusively or nearly exclusively. This community has some terminology of its own that I don’t know, but most of it’s similar to the rest of the RPC.

Label: A brief descriptor or trope used to describe a character in an application. Some examples are The Scholar, The Heartbreaker, The Intrepid Reporter, The Lizard Tamer, etc.

Literate RP: An RP that is highly writing-focused and requires longer posts and replies than other roleplays. Despite the misleading name, it is not actually saying that other roleplays are illiterate.

LSRP: Legit Serious Roleplay. Same as Literate RP. Yes, this acronym is ridiculous, just roll with it.

MxM: A romantic pairing between two male characters, usually in 1x1 roleplay.

Magic Anon/M!A: A post for which you invite others to make your character take on a certain trait or action for a select period of time.

Main: In a group, the blog that contains all of the information and updates for the roleplay. Home base, basically.

Manip: A graphic edit of two faceclaims in which they are photoshopped to look like they’re in a picture together.

Mary Sue: A character whose unreasonable ease or difficulty in overcoming obstacles, forming relationships, and/or gaining accolades runs contrary to the intent of the writer and makes it difficult for the reader to get invested in the story or character arc. Also, apparently, a term used to refer to any female character you don’t like.

Mature RP: A roleplay that may contain dark or adult themes, and thus doesn’t allow players under the age of 18. Seriously, if you’re under 18, don’t lie about your age. That’s a dick move.

Meme: A post that features small prompts that others can send in to begin a thread. Elsewhere on the internet, this term refers to drawings of sad frogs.

Metagaming: Letting your character have in-character knowledge that they shouldn’t logically possess, just because the mun has it.

Mod: Another term for admin. We could never settle on one term for them. It’s like the couch vs. sofa dilemma.

Moodboard: A collection of images or gifs used to sum up a character’s personality.

Multifandom: Similar to Crossover, although usually used to refer to a work with elements from three or more works or fandoms.

Multi-Storyline/Multiverse: In independent roleplay, when the character exists in more than one universe at once, such that threads with a character do not impact the events of threads with a different character.

Mumu: Multi-muse. In which a single blog is used to play more than one character.

Mun: The writer/roleplayer. The person who’s controlling the character. You. This is you. Use this power wisely.

Muse: The character that you roleplay. Also, a Greek goddess who presided over the arts, although this definition is usually irrelevant in roleplay.

Musing: Posts that represent the character’s personality, history, or thoughts in someway, such as aesthetic photos, songs, or philosophical rants.

Mutuals: Blogs on tumblr that are both following each other.

MW: Most wanted. A character or faceclaim that admins or members in a group would really like someone to play.

NoTP: When some people think that two characters would make a good couple, and you would like to stab those people with a fork for being so stupid.

Novella: Very long format for roleplaying, in which responses should contain several paragraphs of writing. Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to write a novella; a reply shorter than 20,000 words is still acceptable.

NPC: Non-playable character. A character who is present in the roleplay’s universe, but is not played by any one particular writer.

NPH of RPH: That’s me!

NSFW: Not safe for work. Nudity, sex, graphic violence. Basically, the stuff that you absolutely don’t want to come across while browsing at the public library.

OC: Original character. A character you make that is not part of the canon or not pre-written for the RP group.

One-liner:  Roleplay consisting of only a single line or a few short lines. Sometimes referred to as “action roleplay” wherein actions are interspersed with speech. For example: “*Enters the room and throws confetti into the air.* I have arrived!”

OOC: Out of character. Can be used to denote that the writer is currently speaking or posting as themselves, rather than as a character, or be used to point out that a character does not act that way in canon, what are you doing, goddamnit.

Open Character: A pre-made character in a group who is currently not being played by any member of the group.

Open Starter: A starter that any character is allowed to reply to.

Original RP: A roleplay in which the plot and characters come from the admins’ and players’ creations rather than another source.

OTP: One true pairing. The ship that you love more than all the other ships. Except that most people have at least twelve OTPs, so...

OT3: One true threesome. Like an OTP, except there are three people.

Para: Relatively longer posts, consisting of full-bodied paragraphs or multiple paragraphs.

Playby: Another word for Faceclaim. Used more outside of Tumblr. See the couch vs. sofa debate.

Plot Bunny: A story that you would like to play out or see others play out through roleplay.

Plot Drop: A significant detail or event of the overarching story in a group RP that causes some change to the lives of the characters.

Powerplaying: Controlling another player’s character without their permission.

Private: In indie RP, a blog that only interacts with mutuals.

Promo: A post used to advertise a roleplay group or account.

PSD: Photoshop Data file. A type of file that’s designed to be edited on Photoshop or other image editing programs. It comes with the image separated into layers, so that different parts of the image, such as a background, a border, or text, can be edited separately.

Revamped: Extreme Makeover, Roleplay Edition.

RP: Roleplay.

RPA: Roleplay Advice. Like roleplay help, except, I dunno, maybe fewer resources, more questions answered? This one’s falling into disuse a bit. Oh, also Roleplay Assistant.

RPC: Roleplay Community. The group of us weirdos here who roleplay instead of just posting funny text posts and photographs of flowers like normal people. Alternatively, Roleplay Critic, a blog that reviews roleplays.

RPCHA: Um, Roleplay Critic/Helper/Advice. Seems a little over the top, but all right.

RPCW: Roleplay Critic Writer, I guess? I think. Same as roleplay critic. Think it’s used to differentiate from Roleplay Community.

RPG: Roleplay group. A group. That roleplays. Also can mean roleplaying game, or rocket-propelled grenade.

RPH: Roleplay Help. A blog that offers resources and answers questions to help people with roleplaying.

RPO: Roleplay Opinions. A blog that reviews roleplays. It doesn’t count as RPO if you just have opinions; you need to share them with the class.

RPT: Roleplay Talk. A blog that talks about roleplays and the roleplay community.

RPWCTOHA: This doesn’t stand for anything yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Sample Para: A few paragraphs of your writing you include as an example as your work when you apply for a roleplay group. Do not just copy and paste a passage from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” The admins will probably notice.

Secrets RP: A roleplay in which every character has a secret. These secrets are all listed together on a page in the RP, but it’s not revealed which character has which secret; that’s up to the other characters to figure out on their own through interactions.

Selective: For independent RP, when the mun does not roleplay indiscriminately with every blog or character that offers, but rather picks and chooses partners based on personal preference or certain criteria. 

Self-insert: A character who is a fictionalized version of the mun/author, with little to no change from their actual self. If they die in the game, they die in real life.

Self-para: When your character wanders away from the group for a bit to engage in their own sidequest or navel-gazing. Good times.

Semi-appless RP: A roleplay that sits on an ever-sliding scale, requiring more detail in an application than an appless RP, but less than a bio RP.

Semi-hiatus: Like a hiatus, except that you might still show up to the blog on occasion and do a little bit of activity. When your real life is busy, but you’re just that determined to roleplay.

Semi-selective: For independent RP, a blog that’s not quite as selective as a selective blog, but still maintains the right to refuse service to customers should they so choose.

Semi-truck: A truck that’s not as much truck as a regular truck.

Shipping: Holding up hand-puppet versions of two characters and forcing them to make out.

Shoutout: A brief advertisement for a roleplay group (or occasionally other blogs) that can be submitted to the ask box of a help blog.

Skeleton RP: A roleplay in which some details are given for the roles being offered by the group, but the applicant fills in the rest, usually writing the body of the character bio. Alternatively, a roleplay in which every character is literally a skeleton.

Smut: Sex. Doing the do. The horizontal tango. Bumping uglies. Woohooing. Written out in all of its gory detail. Not worth going to jail for, so for the love of all that is holy, don’t do it if you’re under 18.

Starboarding: Shipping a one-sided ship. When you want one character to be in love with another, but don’t necessarily want the feelings to be returned. The most relatable type of ship, honestly. More people should RP it.

Starter: The first post in a thread, one that is used to kick off a scene in roleplaying. Usually, especially in a group, anyone is allowed to reply and start a thread from that point.

Starter Call: A post that people like or reblog in order to request a starter from the person who posted it.

Supernatural RP: A roleplay consisting of paranormal elements such as magical creatures, witchcraft, etc. Not a roleplay about the TV show Supernatural, although I guess such a roleplay would use this tag too. This is a problem the showrunners should have foreseen.

Taken Character: A character in a roleplay group who is currently being played by a group member.

Task: In a group, a (usually optional) prompt or project that can be used for character development.

Thread: The series of posts and replies to said post that make up a scene between characters in a roleplay.

Time Skip: Usually indicated by a line break, this is when a thread moves from one scene to another without covering the time in between.

Town RP: A roleplay in which the plot takes place in a single town as its primary or only setting. Like a city RP, but the buildings are shorter.

Trigger: Something that makes a user anxious, panicky, or otherwise very upset when they see it on their dashboard without warning. Tag these. No, I don’t care if it doesn’t fit your tagging aesthetic, just tag them.

Tumblr: You are here.

TW: Trigger Warning. Used in a tag to indicate that the post contains content that may be a trigger. Please format as “#[trigger] tw”. Not “#tw: [trigger]”, and definitely not “#☾-*.:｡-❝✿~~ tw ~~✿&&♛”.

Twitter RP: A roleplay that uses Twitter as its primary platform. Don’t ask me how. I can’t even figure out how to use Twitter for its intended purpose.

Urban RP: A roleplay focused primarily on PoC (person of color) characters in a city setting. Often uses musicians such as hip-hop or rap artists as faceclaims.

UTP: Up to player. An acronym used in skeletons to indicated that part of the bio can be chosen by the applicant.

Verse: Short for universe. A character’s world or timeline.

WID: What I do. A list or page on a help blog that lists what services the blog offers.

X-kit: A browser extension that’s popular within the RPC. It works to make tumblr usable again every time the staff creates a new bug and calls it a feature.

[radfemfionn-blog]

On Genderbending

Hi, everyone! So, my computer’s charger is broken, and I only have 40%, so, I won’t be posting much for a while. But, I recently found out that now genderbending is considered transphobic, and I wanted to give my own perspective, as a trans person. So, without further ado… here’s why genderbending is not transphobic.  

So, many of you may think that this is a very trivial topic to ‘argue’ over, and I agree: in the grand scheme of things, it is trivial. But, nevertheless, I feel that it is important to address, considering that the origin of genderbending, and may I say, genderbending culture, stems from sexism and lack of female representation. For those of you who may be unaware, genderbending is when a writer or artist (more often an artist) takes male characters and depicts them as if they were female instead. This is the most common form of genderbending, but it should be noted it can be done in the opposite way, and has been. The reason this was so popular was due to the lack of female representation, and so, women and girls took characters they loved and looked up to, and re-imagined them as women, creating the representation they lacked and desired (and deserve). This practice was very popular in the earlier 2010s, but has since fizzled out do to recent accusations of the practice being transphobic. In this analysis I will be arguing against the common points for why genderbending is transphobic. 

I.

they assume every character is cis by default 

I think we all know where this is going… Being transgender is not common. A study which was published in 2011 stated that only .03 percent of the population are transgender, and while that is not the most recent estimates, it is highly unlikely that that number has increased by a significant amount. So, with the knowledge that being transgender is very rare, we can then logically assume that most people we encounter in our lives are ‘cis’. Now, with this in mind, is it then wrong to assume that characters, which are typically based on people’s perception of the world, that perception being that almost all people in the world are ‘cis’, would by default also be ‘cis’? I don’t think so. Now, I am not saying characters can’t or haven’t been trans in the past, nor that they won’t be in the future, merely that unless it is stated, it is not transphobic to assume they are, in fact, ‘cis’.    

II.

99.9% of the time nonbinary identities are ignored and the only two genders used are male and female

I can concede that yes. It is very rare for ‘nonbinary’ identities to be used in genderbends. However, when we become aware of why the need for genderbending arose, we can understand that the reason nonbinary identites are not represented is because the writing and art of genderbent characters is done, in the majority, by women who want to see the characters they look up to more like themselves. This doesn’t mean that these women are transphobic, just how it wouldn’t be sexist for a nonbinary person to create a nonbinary-genderbend. 

III.

they imply that in order for someone to be a certain gender, their body has to change to fit it (i.e., a character can’t go from male to female without having wider hips and breasts)

Now, this is an interesting one, because there certainly are women out there who have slim hips and flat chests, and men with wider hips and a more feminine physique, but even then, they have a different body type because being female is fundamentally, biologically different than being male. And, while I agree you don’t have to have a certain body type to be any ‘gender’, you do in order to be either of the two sexes, which is what genderbending at it’s core is about. It’s about changing biologically male characters (generally, as it can and has been done in the opposite way) into biologically female characters. 

IV.

they imply physical characteristics = gender

As I stated above, in the majority of cases, physical characteristics do equal ‘gender’. You can not expect people to change their perception, which is based on facts to accommodate a tiny fraction of the population. Does this mean I think people shouldn’t be kind to trans people and accommodate their pronouns, for example? No, absolutely not. But, what I do mean is that physical characteristics do equal sex, or ‘gender’, which is not transphobic, otherwise transgender people wouldn’t transition or experience what makes them transgender in the first place: sex dysphoria.

V. 

all of the above are examples of cissexism, which perpetuates the marginalization and erasure of trans people

The thing is, genderbending doesn’t perpetuate ‘the marginalization and erasure of trans people’. That’s like saying the existence of female characters, or ‘cis’ characters erases and marginalises trans people, which is obviously not the case, and the argument can be made that headcanoning (a headcanon is a fan theory) a masculine female character, or a gender non-conforming female character is trans, thus further marginalising and earsing butch and gnc women. You see what I mean? It’s absurd to say a certain interpretation of a character somehow causes the oppression of an entire group.

VI.

genderbending makes many people who identify as trans and nonbinary uncomfortable.

I would never deliberately want to make someone uncomfortable, but this argument can literally be applied to anyone and any group out there. For example, an all male cast in the majority of media can make women deeply uncomfortable, but does this mean all-male casts need to be banned full-out on the basis of being sexist? Of course not, that would be ludicrous. What you’re really saying with this is that females make you uncomfortable, and that ‘cis’ depictions make you insecure because of your sex dysphoria, which I do sympathise with. But it is not women’s or anyone’s job to validate you, but your own, and it is unfair to tell young women to stop creating art and fiction which gives them the representation they deserve, especially when they are told if they want representation they have to make it for themselves, because it makes you uncomfortable. If you don’t like it, don’t read it, don’t search for it, don’t reblog that type of art. Simple as that.  

VII.

generally presents as a toxic ideology that when one’s genitalia changes, so does one’s entire gender identity, completely disregarding the individual’s original identity for the sake of equating genitalia to gender.

This goes back to two points I discussed earlier: female representation, and, sex dysphoria/transitioning. If it was truly ‘toxic’ that one’s genitalia equals their ‘gender’ (in this context I mean the supposed ‘feeling’ of being male or female, not gender roles), then sex dysphoria and transitioning wouldn’t exist, thusly, trans people wouldn’t exist. I think it is far more transphobic to erase trans people’s sex dysphoria than it is for females to make art representing themselves. Which leads me to reiterate my next point: for the majority of females, their sex aligns with their ‘gender’ so when they want to see male characters more like themselves, that typically also means in their body type and shape, which should not be discouraged, as female bodies are beautiful and should be celebrated. 

VIII.

things to consider as an alternative to “genderbending”: trans headcanons

I have nothing against trans!headcanons, as it helps people cope and feel more connected to themselves. But, just how trans people deserve this, so do women. And, as I stated before, it can be considered sexist to headcanon a gnc character as trans, so should trans headcanons also be banned? You can’t have your cake and eat it.  

In conclusion, I am not saying women can not relate to male characters without changing them into females first, nor vice-versa. But what I am saying is that it’s not transphobic for artists, particularly female artists, to interpret and put forth interpretations into the world of male characters as if they were biologically female, just how it is not sexist for trans people to headcanon gnc characters as trans. As long as we all respect eachother, do not force our headcanons and interpretations as fact, and can acknowledge that gnc characters can be gnc without being trans, there’s no issue.

Blogs from which quotes are from:

1

2

3 

[learningtoacceptchange]

So your ship isn’t canon (A survivor guide)

Hello there, and welcome. You’re probably wondering why this should even be a post on Tumblr, but then again, since we have so many posts that cause even the most jaded and worldly of us to ask ‘why does this exist?’ I have decided to answer that with ‘why not?’

The inspiration behind this post was the current responses in the Overwatch fandom here on Tumblr. Now, I will freely admit I have not played this game yet. But I certainly plan on doing so in the future, and that was more than partially influenced by my introduction to a ship known as WidowTracer (aka Widowmaker/Tracer) and then a further introduction to a ship known as Lemily, Emilena, or Lemon Tea (no official name has been agreed, but so far all of the suggested names that are not ‘derogatory’ are adorable). 

(Edit: I do currently own a copy of Overwatch, and I love playing it! I mostly play Mercy cause I’ve played ‘healer’ class in everything, but I play AI with Tracer because I want to get better at being a fast running Brit with lasers) 

Basic terminology guide here:

Shipping: The pairing together of two (or more) characters from a series. Most shipping happens with romantic intentions or inclinations. However, shipping characters as friends (rather than enemies or lovers) happens as well. 

Shippers: The fans, the consumers, those who are observing and perceive characters in the series as being friends, lovers, enemies, or in a different relationship than the one presented on the screen. We are the ones inspired by these pairings for many different reasons (representation of self, admiration, gratification, wish-fulfillment, escapism, empathy, ect). 

Fandom: The fanbase as a whole; despite the different opinions, we all enjoy the series/show/game as a general pursuit. 

Ship: A particular pairing in a fandom.  

Shipping wars or ship wars: When fans who have different ships are opposed to others having different ships, and will give reasons why with the use of ‘discourse’ (see further down). This had led to several instances of in-fighting, lawsuits, the loss of many fans leaving the fandom due to the toxic atmosphere, and harassment against fans by other fans or third-party instigators. 

It is, in extremely rare cases, done with civil politeness and with a friendly camaraderie on opposite sides. 

OTP: One True Pairing. Can sometimes be one singular pairing from all the shows an individual has watched, or can mean a pairing from each show. A fan can have many OTPs from many different series. There is no offical rule that states that you can only have one OTP. 

OT3: Same as above, but with three individuals. Has been used in fandoms before, but is only rarely found in canon circumstances. 

Crack-pairing: A pairing that would never happen in continuity within the series, yet has the attention of at least one fan. Can be seen by others as an ‘unexpectedly positive’ or ‘completely gross’ pairing, depending on context. 

BROTP: ‘Brotherly (Or Bro) True Pairing. This is often used to describe a friendship between characters, rather than anything romantic. Also known as ‘BFFTP’, or ‘best friends forever true pairing’.

NOTP: Never or No One True Pairing. This is used to describe a pairing that you might particularly despise, i.e., hate with every fiber of your being and want nothing more than it not existing in the world. 

X: Used as a link to clarify that the characters in the ship are together. Recent use has dropped off lately in preference to ship names (which are usually a combination of the names of characters; Korrasami instead of Korra X Asami, Makorra instead of Mako X Korra, ect)

/: Used in place of X for characters in a ship; often used on media sites that show fanmade music videos or fanfiction about characters from a series. 

Canon: When something (about a character or place or thing within a series) is stated as ‘canon’, it is acknowledged by the creator(s) and/or those who work with/ the company owning the series/ the ones in charge that it is fact, and real. Many ships are canon. 

Non-canon: When something is denied, not confirmed, or made implausible  by the creator(s) and/or those who work with/ the company owning the series/ the ones in charge. Many ships are non-canon, but still admired and loved just the same as if they were canon. 

Headcanon: Unofficial statements about characters that might be closer to truth than previously thought, or that end up being wildly off the mark. Headcanon is often used in fanfiction to explain facets of a character or the ‘behind the scenes’ of what is not shown in a series. 

Discourse: *shakes my head* I might have to use another post about this one term. Basically the discussion about why ‘we can’t have nice things’ and how some ships are ‘wrong’ and others are ‘right’. Might start off well meaning with good intentions, usually evolves to a spitting match and disgusting behavior by demeaning others, attacking them with hate speech, denying their beliefs with perceived superiority, and ends up becoming a stalemate of hurting egos and smoldering anger. Many friendships and good feelings are destroyed because of discourse. 

EDIT: 

I completely forgot about this term. THIS is one of the very important ones:

AU, also known as ‘Alternate Universe’: This is used in fanfiction, fan theories and fan videos to explain many possible canon and ‘what if’ circumstances that might occur while watching or discussing a show. Many artists use an AU theme, such as a different setting (Ancient History or Space Age or High School) to show a vastly changed world where the characters would interact under entirely non-canon environments. A canon (sort of) example of this would be the chibi-school episode of Avatar The Last Airbender where Aang tries to ask Katara to the school dance. It’s not central at all to the series, but was created by the creators and is a fun, light-hearted episode. 

Crossover: This is another term that is used in fanfiction and fan videos. Sometimes characters from different series and entirely different universes are imagined to meet/interact in some way that has at least one fan creating an instance where this happened. Sometimes in happens in canon universes, such as The Question reading about Rorschach from Watchmen (both are DC universe of heroes) or between different companies (Marvel vs DC). Sometimes it can be different series set in the same place (Chicago franchise crossover between Chicago Fire and Chicago E.R.) Often times crossovers can be high unlikely (Team Fortress 2 vs Overwatch) but when they are well written and true to the characters, are enjoyable to read and watch.  

End the basic terminology guide. 

 Alright then, let’s get into it. 

I have observed that while responses to the official Overwatch comic ‘Reflections’ were overwhelmingly positive and upbeat, there were many that were disappointed and livid. And I can say it was not the first time I’ve witnessed such, having seen it in several other fandoms. And while I could write another article about how and why some ships are frequently targeted for harassment (and I just might do that...) this is mainly to provide another option to those who were simply told to ‘deal with it’. 

Maybe all of your pairings have been OTP and canon. Maybe you’ve never had to deal with taunts that your ship doesn’t deserve to exist, or with the casual flaunting of a disliked ship thrown in your face. Maybe you have a pairing that never happened in continuity, but you still like it all the same. 

And you know what? That’s okay. 

What’s not okay is if you have personally rubbed it in the face of someone whose ship is not yours. 

So, here’s a list of suggestions on how you can (in a healthy manner) deal with it. 

1. Deal with it. 

Do what you have to do to process your dismay/grief/frustration, but find ways to do it that DON’T target other people. Listen to sad music and lament that in canon, your ship isn’t a reality. Grieve, take a deep breath, and at your own pace, get used to disappointment. Sometimes you can tell other like-minded fans what you’re feeling, and receive sympathy instead of ridicule. It may be the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last, but you and your fellow shippers can support each other.  

2. Find an outlet.

Many fans find inspiration and a sense of well-being by doing something for their ship. Draw some fanart or write some fanfiction, find a talent related to the characters or story that inspired you/caught your interest in the first place. Channeling energy into other pursuits can be a great way to find others who support your opinions, while not stepping on another’s ship. 

3. There will be others. 

This might be the most important thing to state here; there will be other shows to catch your attention, other ships that will inspire you, other moments when you feel that calling again. A lot of people are mocked for hopping around from one fandom to another, but there is no rule against liking multiple things or people, nor should there be. Fandoms have been dropped and picked right back up before, and it will continue to be so again. It should not be the end of your world if your ship isn’t canon, nor should anyone make you feel that way.  

And if you feel like none of these suggestions are helping, if you feel like you cannot find anything that speaks to YOU...

4. Create your own. 

This seems like a dismissive comment, but in all seriousness, this could be one of the most important things you can do. Tired of seeing nothing but straight couples in the stuff you watch/play/read? Create your own. Sick of the same old formula in every movie you see? Create your own. Want to make a statement against cynical naysayers and haters? Create your own. 

That’s what inspires so many artists/animators/video game makers/writers/painters/comic book creators/musicians/individuals with creative outlets! Because they couldn’t find what they were looking for, they created it themselves. An idea formed in their minds, and they ran headlong with it, in turn inspiring others to create. It’s the butterfly effect with art, and it can cause a tornado of inspiration. 

This barely covers the basics, but I sincerely hope that it helps someone dealing with their ship not being canon. Thank you for reading this, and please continue shipping. 

[phoenix-angel-suyari]

Dear Fandom: It's time we had a talk about what qualifies as an appropriate comment on fanworks. We've all been there. We've all had that moment. When you find the most wonderful piece of fanwork you have ever had the luck to run across. You are entirely enraptured by it, you can't look away. Whether a fic, a piece of artwork, a video or a music list, this piece speaks to you. It reaches in and makes you feel and you just have to leave a comment. It's very tempting to just keyboard smash and emoticon your way through a comment. Creators of fanworks can be touched by these kinds of responses. But, please do read through them at least once before leaving them for good. Because sometimes, while we are emotional, we may phrase things in such a way that actually causes harm - whether intentional or not. There are times where we can be so wrapped up in the fan content we're experiencing that we can become suddenly surprised by content we may not have been expecting. We've all been there. You saw the fanart and you clicked it so quickly you may have sprained your index finger. And then you see the artist's tags or comments and their perspective suddenly clashes with yours. It wasn't the pairing you thought it was. The artist's view or opinion is in direct opposition of your own. How could they have produced the work you're looking at and not see the same thing? STOP. You're wrong. Do not leave a comment and inform the artist that their content is in some way invalid because it does not comply with your standards, opinions or personal headcanons. You are entitled to those as a fan. But you are absolutely NOT entitled to force them on another fan for any reason. You spent hours reading what you thought was the perfect fic. It had the perfect blend of your OTP, your favorite tropes and the absolute perfect balance of kink and fluff. And then you get to the part that suddenly surprises you. A reveal or a cliffhanger that just doesn't agree with the fic YOU have personally been enjoying spending your time and energy on. How could they do this? Why would they do this? What were they thinking?! STOP. You're wrong. Do not leave a comment that directly or passively aggressively attacks the author(s) or their work. Their work is their interpretation. They are spending their own time and energy to create content which they then share of their own free will. Their work does not suddenly become less valuable because you personally disagree with the direction THEIR work has taken. You do not get to tell them how it can be fixed to best suit you. That fanvid was so seamless. It had everything! The perfect song coupled with the right application of clips. Until you reach that one clip that you feel should never have been included in the first place - for whatever reason. Are they not as deeply committed to this fan following as you?! Honestly, where are they even getting all of this?! STOP. You're wrong. Everyone interprets the relationships between characters differently. There will always be outliers. The fandom canoes adrift in the wake of armadas. You do not get to tell someone their feelings are unimportant or that their connection to the source material isn't as impactful as your own. You cannot force your ideas on other people. The music list was going PERFECTLY. It fit your OTP to a tee! It was just the right blend of emotive and transcendent. Until that one song you just can't stand cropped up. How could they even think that that song was acceptable? It has nothing to do with them or their relationship! Clearly the compiler is lacking the connection you have to the characters, their stories and their histories. STOP. You're wrong. Just because a song causes a different emotional reaction in you does not mean that the compiler's work has no bearing. You do not get to say what holds emotional weight or connectivity for others. Am I saying that you have to like everything? Absolutely not. You are as free to your opinion as everyone else. I repeat: You are as free to your opinion as everyone else. That means that everyone's experiences with the source material is valid. Everyone in a fandom has an equal right to be able to express themselves and share their connections. Just because you do not agree with someone, does not mean you cannot both like the same thing overall. There will always be differences of opinion. That's just a part of what it means to be a society. Which Fandoms ARE. And just like any society, everyone has the responsibility to conduct themselves with at the very least a modicum of respect. Just because you are a part of Fandom does not mean that your personal ties to that fandom are in any way more valuable than anyone else's. Fanworks are contributions to a society in the same way that any work produced contributes to any society. Fanworks happen to be free and plentiful. That does not mean, however, that you can treat them as an entitled resource. Behind every fanwork is at least one person. Someone out there in the world, going about their every day and trying to live their lives as best they can with what they have. Fandom is a gateway, it is an escape, it is a place where we can connect with other people and share the things that have made a real difference in our lives. And the way you would not want someone to walk up to you and comment on the state of your dress, or the book in your hand, or the doodle you're creating in your notebook, or the conversation you're having, fan creators with every creation they share do not deserve to be criticized or ridiculed or harassed or debased because of the content of their work. Am I saying that you have to constantly praise and adore fan creators? No, I am not. You can disagree with their content. But, unless your disagreement is based in actual fact that can help enlighten someone so their content can be improved upon, there is no need to comment at all. Disagreeing with the way someone handled a situation because they may not have all the facts is entirely different from disagreeing with the way someone handled a situation because it is a direct violation of your own personal headcanon. It is just as simple - some may argue more so - to simply leave the content. If the content does not agree with you, you are well within your right to leave the situation. But, if you do not agree with the content, that has nothing to do with the fan creator and everything to do with you as an individual. There is absolutely no need to attack someone or try to make them feel unworthy because of a difference of opinion. It's a plague on all of Fandom as a whole. And there is no need for it. Just as there is no need to try and 'correct' someone else's fandom experience. There are more than enough of us, that there will be people with whom you can share your fandom experience with. I guarantee it. It's the beauty of Fandom. There will always be someone else, somewhere who will see things very close to the way you do. And you will always find one another - eventually. In the interim, can we please try to be kinder to one another? Can we acknowledge the fact that all fanwork is valid. And that just because something is free does not give someone the right to try and control it. Remember, words can and will hurt. And the last thing you want is to crush the spirit of someone doing the fandom community a vital service.

[smallforone-blog]

Rules

Attention!:

Some of my muse’s thoughts and behaviors are problematic. He is a victim of emotional neglect and sexual abuse, from a toxic household, and has developed deviant sexual and social tendencies in response to this trauma. Notably, he exhibits some narcissistic and sociopathic traits, has a poor/flawed understanding of appropriate sexual behavior, enjoys manipulating people, mocks/criticizes/verbally abuses others especially when stressed/defensive, possesses low empathy, and passes blame to excuse his behavior. Depending on when in his timeline he is being portrayed (before or during/after intensive therapy in third year high school), these facets may be more or less pronounced, controlled, or acknowledged by him.

I have a zero tolerance policy for criticism or accusations regarding my decision to portray these serious, dark themes. I do not condone my muse’s views and actions, nor do I fetishize them. If you are uncomfortable with these themes, please block the appropriate tags. If you object to the entire principle of writing them, please unfollow. Simple. You are always welcome to ask me respectful questions regarding what/how I play, but casting judgment will not be accepted.

How I Play:

I am non-private semi-selective, meaning we do not have to be mutuals in order to interact and create threads, but I am still entitled to declining something I don’t want to engage in.

I may not follow back for myriad reasons all regarding my personal preferences (muse identity, characterization choices, writing style/ability, frustrating blog layout, missing rules/info, etc). Please do not take this personally. If this happens, you are still welcome to initiate interaction with me in any way, IC or OOC!  Also, if I do follow back, I definitely want to RP with you!

I will likely unfollow and decline to interact if you have too much OOC drama/fandom hate/anti behavior/bullying/callouts/discourse/politics/worldview on your blog. HUGE pet peeves of mine. I repeat, I do not support callout culture.

I am very uncomfortable with interacting with duplicates of my muse. It is absolutely my own failing and insecurity, but even just reading about others of the same muse triggers my inferiority/superiority complex, and I feel very sensitive. I wish it were not this way and could better interact with my fellow muns with good taste in muse, but this is currently not the case. Again, nothing personal is intended, but I will most likely not be able to interact with the blogs of duplicates for my own personal comfort. (This is 100% not the case for other fans of the muse or meta/fanfic writers; come to me!)

Multimuse blogs generally make me uncomfortable for various reasons, so unless I make a rare exception, I probably won’t follow (though I repeat you are still free to interact with/follow me).

I operate my muse based on what I feel is in his character to do at that moment. Sometimes that makes planning difficult, because he may not respond to a circumstance in a way I anticipated. Sorry if things do not go as planned. But I do also love plotting and overthinking things, and I think the more we communicate about what’s going on, the more we’ll both be on the same page.

I am willing to play scenes including sex/smut, gore/violence, angst, horror, abuse, torture, my character’s death, etc., and there will likely be somewhat disturbing content like this on this blog, especially considering his personality flaws and history of abuse. They will be tagged with “cw:” followed by the label.

I have severe depression and social anxiety with unpredictable mood/energy/motivation swings. I have a history of sporadic activity sometimes, and I know that is inconvenient, sorry! Also, in general I’d tell you I am slow at responding.

I may drop a thread due to general life anxiety, lack of ideas, or loss of inspiration, my deepest apologies. Don’t feel bad and do feel free to continue interactions with my muse in the future!

If you are RPing smut with me and I do not know your age, I assume you are above the age of consent. I am uncomfortable with roleplaying smut with underage individuals, so please refrain if you are under age 18.

What I Appreciate:

I am a huge fan of thorough communication. Notably, if you are planning on attempting to kill or torture my muse, it would be nice for some notification of this (either in the post/tags or in a message) at least one post beforehand.

Let me know if something I’m doing in a thread with you is making you uncomfortable. I myself am comfortable with exploring some very dark themes. I will do my part to check your blog rules, and I apologize if I am ever forgetful about anything mentioned.

Please try to refrain from controlling my muse’s thoughts and actions (unless that is your muse’s quirk; ask me).

Please try to remember to start a new post instead of reblogging an ask post over and over. I literally do not care, but some people whose dash I may show up on do care, and I’d rather give the people what they want.

I would rather non-RP blogs not reblog my RP threads (but following me and ‘liking’ them is totally okay)! Headcanons I’m going to say are generally okay to reblog, because I appreciate that others enjoy them. Just don’t steal them for your own muse or anything--like, especially the really specific/original ones.

I am not an artist and none of the art on this blog is mine. However I do edits on various images from time to time, usually tagged as such if significant enough. If you are the artist of something on my blog and want it taken down, message me! Similarly, I find it unsettling for others to use my significant edits meant for my muse in particular as their RP blog dash icons, so please don’t do that; I...think that’s fair and makes sense...? ? If you’re not sure, you can totally ask me about it.

What Is Acceptable:

Always feel free to send me an ask, IM, or communicate in our RP thread if you have something to say or ask. Or if you just have a random comment! Seriously, anything.

If it seems like I’ve forgotten about a thread or neglected to respond and you you really want to continue it, feel free to message me to remind/ask about it.

Let me know if there is something you want tagged, and I will try to accommodate with what I see as reasonable.

I am 100% cool with us engaging in more than one thread at once. Do it.

Pretty much all the memes in my #memes tag are always open. Meaning as long as you specify which one you’re referencing, you can send it in any time, even if I reblogged the post ages ago.

I selectively accept OCs and characters from other fandoms. It would be nice to have a little background on them first (either in a message or a link to info), especially if I am unfamiliar with the character or fandom (just assume I am). I may not be capable of responding if I don’t have enough knowledge about what I’m doing.

I am okay with roleplaying total AUs (as in, a completely different setting), but it is not my default preference. The best way to go about seeing if I’m interested would probably be to message me.

#info is my tag for posts with further information about my RP tendencies, habits, and preferences. Reading those is absolutely not obligatory but just there in case you want to know more!