#why tf did I know tumblr would kill the quality

[mortyinc]

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦!”

[justxaxstrayxkid]

Ranking every outfit Nora has worn

I've rated her human names and I've ranked her vessel names. Now it is time to rank all of her outfits 10 to 1. Why am I doing this? Because I'm a sucker for pretty clothes and babygirl is a fashion icon. These are just my opinions obviously so don't take them seriously. Though I am being dead serious when I say Mizuchi invented the fashion industry. What I want people to take away from this post is that we, as a society, need to respect Mizuchi's drip. No pun intended hehe

10. Childhood Kimono

No sense calling it the childhood kimono when she's always gonna be a child but idk what else to call this. I put this fit last because it's quite basic. There's not much to talk about here. I don't have any particular feelings towards it either. I do think the pink obi is cute. Mainly cuz pink is my favorite color. Also is it just me or does the kimono look way too big on her?

9. Childhood Kimono Enhanced ver.

This is the same exact fit as the last one and it only appeared in the one-shot manga bout Rabo and Yato but I want to rank it separately because of her accessory. She's just too cute with that little bow in her hair! Don't mind me fangirling over that bow like it's a national treasure. The sandals are nice new touch too.

8. Pink Kimono

This one is only shown in anime during the flashback scene where Yato massacred the ma clan. I love this kimono because it's in my favorite shade of pink. There isn't much to say about it though. It's pretty basic so I put in this spot

7. Volume 8 Kimono

This fit appeared on the cover of volume 8 of the manga. I have to admit, this fit is kinda crazy. Like the grape (??) socks, the random checkerboard pattern, the green hiyoku, the flower pattern, the flower in her hair. It all seems very random. But I actually think it goes together well! A hot mess can sometimes turn out beautiful. I like the way she looks with a flower in her hair. Mizuchi with hair accessories equals world domination. And why tf does that ayakashi doggie have a paper crane in its mouth? That's more random than the outfit lmao.

6. Fruit bowl Kimono

This one only appeared in a colored page of the manga. Can't remember what chapter or volume it was in exactly but I think it was in beginning. This kimono is very beautiful. The pattern on it reminds me of fruit bowls lol. Babygirl rlly has the best fashion sense ever. You can't change my mind on that. And she's wearing a hair accessory here! Rejoice!

5. Boysenberry Kimono

I think the color is boysenberry but I’m not sure. My eyesight isn’t that good. So this fit is from a Kami To Enishi card. The game is discontinued but I just couldn’t not add this fit in. It’s so pretty! The color of the kimono matches her eyes which is my favorite aspect of the outfit. I think the pattern on it is supposed to be temari balls. Or maybe it's supposed to be beach balls. Of course we can’t forget to mention the bow! Tbh I don’t think it matches with the rest of the fit. But hey, it matches better than the whole volume 8 ensemble. I still like the bow and I’m glad she’s wearing it!

4. Capybara Fit

First of all, how the heck do you spell capybara? I’ve seen it spelled in 5 different ways. Second of all, I LOVE THIS FIT MORE THAN MY FUTURE CHILDREN! Seriously it’s so cute! She rocked the whole world when she put this on. I screeched when I first read the chapter this was in. That's the sheer power of this outfit.

3. Yurei Fit

Next is babygirl's classic outfit, the yurei outfit! This fit is so iconic I had to put it in the top three. I have a lot to say about it. In a way, this fit is part of the reason why I got into Noragami. Like I'm an avid horror fan and I especially love any media that has to do with yurei. Yurei are Japanese ghosts for those of you who don't know. I saw a gif of Mizuchi here on tumblr and her character design caught my eye. I thought Noragami was going to be in the horror genre because of this fit. If she wasn't wearing this fit, I probably wouldn't have become interested in Noragami at all. Thank you to the yurei fit for getting me into this amazing series. I love her personal touches to it. Like the way she wears her hitaikakushi slanted, her big obi, her gauntlets, and her hiyoku. Her hiyoku had this lil flower pattern on it in the first few chapters. That was super adorable. It's a shame she never wears it again. Yurei are usually depicted just wearing a simple white kimono and with long hair. But babygirl has her own personal touches and she has a bob cut. She is rlly out here being a trendsetter for dead people in Japan. A round of applause for this fit.

2. Flower print Kimono

Excuse the poor quality pic. You've probably figured out by now that I have a thing for flower patterns lol. That's exactly the reason why this is my second favorite outfit of hers. It's one of her more simple fits. But I think it's to die for! Pun fully intended ;) If I remember correctly, in the past, she and baby Yato stole this from someone they killed. Sorry but I find that hilarious. R.i.p to whoever this kimono belonged to. You may have been killed but you didn't die in vain because a rlly cute girl has your kimono now. I wonder if babygirl would ever pull this out of her closet and wear it again. She may not even have it anymore since the flashbacks where she wore this were like centuries before Noragami takes place. This kimono might've already become tasty grub for moths :(

1. School uniform Fit

Of course, the school uniform is first. This fit literally invented the fashion industry! No one can tell me otherwise. Words can't fathom how cute babygirl looks in this. As a school girl who's been to multiple schools with uniforms, I think I'm qualified to say that Mizuchi looks better than anyone else in a school uniform. It's not just how she looks either but also the fact that Hiyori gave it to her. That really warms my heart. This fit did so much for the world. Like I've said before, it will go down in history as one of the best things to happen in fiction.

[afriendtokilltime]

Okay, fine. Let’s talk about parasocial relationships.

The term “parasocial” has been making the rounds as a very very smart sounding thing to say. It not only establishes that you know an unusual and complex word, but also that you are too smart to fall for marketing tactics, and that you are much too cool to show enthusiasm for anything!

So, what’s a parasocial relationship? It’s a one-sided relationship with a celebrity or fictional character--the entire relationship takes place in your head. You’re reading this on tumblr, which means you have lots of parasocial relationships. You’re very parasocially popular! Maybe you even have one with me. (Probably not, I stopped posting for a long time, so we probably don’t parasocially know one another at all.)

I first encountered this term being used as an inherently bad thing, something to avoid, as though the term referred to the negative version of itself. What I saw was not people explaining why it can be harmful, but speaking as if we all know it is (the way you’d use “alcoholism”).

I see people carefully watching themselves to make sure they aren’t engaging in a “parasocial relationship,” or referring to a behavior they don’t like as “borderline parasocial relationship behavior.” But, there is no such thing as “relationship behavior” other than closing the psychological distance between yourself and another person. “Parasocial relationship behavior” is doing this, but it’s one-sided. You get closer, and they do not. That’s it. That’s the only thing. Does that mean building a shrine to Kristen Stewart? Does it mean crying with joy at Hbomberguy’s Mermaids/Donkey Kong stream? Does it mean writing a 100k fanfiction about Hermione Granger, Vampire Slayer? Does it mean buying a David Bowie CD? Does it mean begging the show writers to finally make that queerbaity relationship canon? Does it mean killing the president? You decide! 

Becoming psychologically closer to people and characters is not inherently unhealthy, whether they know who you are or not. How you treat them and respond to that closeness, and how they choose to cultivate closeness, can of course be unhealthy...but so can reciprocal relationships.

What’s weird to me is that we generally seem to be aware that there are bad and good (healthy and unhealthy) relationships. I have a good relationship with @randomshoes because we support each other, are interested in each others’ success, spend quality time together, and communicate well. If I was to stalk her or kill a president for her, or if she was to abuse my trust and take all my money while falsely assuring me she loved me, our relationship would be somewhat less healthy. 

So, what’s so bad about parasocial relationships?

They don’t actually care about you and they are taking your money.

If a marketing team/a celebrity uses these relationships to prey on vulnerable people, that might be an abusive relationship...in the other direction. If I manipulate a friend I know out of her money, I’m the bad guy, right? But if I’m famous, and she’s 16, and I knowingly manipulate her out of her money, then she’s the bad guy, because teenage girls are dumb and they should feel bad for ever liking anything, forming identities, feeling attraction, or basically being uncool and childish in any way.

It is definitely a good idea to remember that transactions are a part of how art is usually consumed, and not to express your affection or deep identification with an art/artist by spending lots of money on tee shirts that depict them. However, even this type of interaction can be encouraged in a healthy, positive way.  Patreon seems to really make people mad, but it’s not the worst system for artists who Live in A Society and don’t happen to have any lembas laying around. “I’ll pretend to love you so you can make me a millionaire” seems kinda gross but “I appreciate that your support helps me continue making the art you love” kinda sorta does not.

Some people go too far and commit heinous crimes because they expect their parasocial affections to be reciprocated.

Those crimes would be heinous even in an already reciprocal relationship. (I  already mentioned this, but if I committed terrorism for my very real girlfriend who knows exactly who I am, that would probably make me no better or worse than Hinkley.)

You’re an isolated loser and need real friends.

Okay. Anybody pouring all their energy into one relationship is probably not doing life correctly, regardless of how parasocial that relationship is. But this is a point on which I simply do not agree. People engage in these behaviors regardless of how wide their friend circle is. If not with celebrities, then with fictional characters, or even historical or political figures (think more “little father” than “senator” though what you do with that Bernie Sanders picture in your room is between you and God). Oh speaking of God, relationships with religious figures might arguably have some similarities and speak to the same human tendency, but there is of course the difference that Justin Bieber doesn’t know who TF you are, but God does.

Uh, sorry, you didn’t address my point. Forming parasocial relationships stops you developing real relationships.

I actually think it encourages reciprocal socialization. I didn’t have many friends growing up. When I met two other kids who were obsessed with Harry Potter, we bonded over that, making up our own characters (next generation type of BS...still better than the book 7 epilogue), and this formed the basis of a friendship that lasted basically my entire pubescence. These parasocial relationships are generally part of a broader interest, and interests and hobbies help you meet people, break the ice, and uhm...form real relationships.

It’s not just interests, though. I was hardcore into dinosaurs as a kid. Literally every child likes dinosaurs, but that didn’t help me form any new friendships. The other reason I think parasocial relationships lead to better real relationships is...practice. You are engaging in social behaviors, whether or not you’re any good at them, whether or not you succeed. This is what’s required to learn any new skill, but it’s generally discouraged.

You don’t just learn about how to socialize, you also learn about yourself. You develop a sense of identity and learn what you like and dislike by associating yourself with favorite characters.

Children and teens often imitate their behaviors, and though that can be a bit annoying (why yes I do have the Spanish Inquisition sketch memorized but thanks for repeating it to make sure I got it), it also helps them figure out what kind of people they want to be (maybe you want to be funny, so you over time learn that what made Monty Python so funny was surprise, surprise and fear, and you develop comedic timing). Knowing what kind of person you want to be is important.

Right, but it’s selfish. You keep calling it “one sided” which it literally is. There’s no checks on your behavior.

Right. I think that’s good, though? I think it’s good for people to sometimes do selfish things. I think it’s good to cultivate parasocial relationships because they are a way to self-soothe, and get your own needs met, without burdening others. We are social creatures, and we absolutely need relationships, but nobody owes you a relationship. Nobody owes you affection or love. Having a way to cultivate that for yourself is actually incredibly valuable.

It’s worth commenting here that I think my strongest parasocial relationships are probably with characters I’ve made up myself. They are “a part of me” in that they are always there in my life, but unlike some writers, I do not base characters on myself or see them as reflecting specific parts of me. I relate to them in the same way I relate to Harry Potter, except that I was the one who made them up initially, and books I write about them can be published and I can make money off them. (On some theoretical plane of existence.) It’s pretty clear that I am the one doing all the work on both sides of this particular parasocial relationship, but it doesn’t feel super different to me than the fact I very intensely relate to certain characters not made up by me. I don’t conceive myself dating one of them, like I don’t have a Dorothy L. Sayers thing going on, but I don’t really think it would be wrong if I did.

What do you mean not being a burden on others? What about toxic fans putting pressure on creators?

Yeah...that’ll be in the “unhealthy relationship” category. But, okay, I guess where I am ending up here is I do think it’s good to recognize parasocial relationships exist and talk about them, because it reminds you that even if a relationship is not reciprocal, you do have responsibilities. If the other person is real, that means they are only human, and even if you have no choice but to stan, you should give them some breathing space. The Shinji Ikari ContraPoints in my head can be my super close friend, but if I expect the real Natalie Wynn to give me any more energy than she already does to her entire audience by making the awesome videos I enjoy so much, I’d be really rude, demanding, and honestly not worthy of her friendship if it was “real.”

Parasocial relationships are relationships which means, just like with reciprocal ones, you have to not be a dick. You have to respect the other person and recognize they are a human being separate from you. Even with characters, Harry Potter can’t be hurt by anything weird and demanding you do, but Rowling could, and so could other HP fans, so respect is still important. If it’s not already clear, I strongly disagree with people who suggest fanfiction is disrespectful, so.

If you understand that your relationship is abstracted, and that you do not deserve any kind of reward for all the energy and love that you pour into it...then enjoy your parasocial relationship, because it is absolutely normative, human, and can bring great joy and meaning into your life. In fact, almost all of what I just said applies to reciprocal relationships, too.

[weapon13whitefang]

Challenge Ask: One of the theories out there is that Beth is part of the Whisperers. If so, what do you think Beth would have to do to get Daryl to join aswell? #BringBackBeth2019

I’m gonna start off by saying that, with one hundred percent belief on my end, Beth would not try to get Daryl to join the Whisperers unless she had absolutely no idea who he or Carol or Michonne – the only people she’d recognize at this point since Maggie and Rick are MIA – were at all.

The Whisperers in the comic would only kill people that wouldn’t conform to their belief. They shun civilization and humanity and view humans as animals. Basically, the apocalypse was a reset for them to “go back to their roots”, so to speak. Which is funny because on the show, that’s what The Wolves believed. Hell, a Wolf basically says that to Morgan and Gabriel before Carol kills him:

“We’re freeing you. You’re trapped. You need to know, people don’t belong here anymore.”

Which is why a lot of people who’ve read the comics probably thought The Wolves were going to be The Whisperers. They’re very similar after all… But it turns out it was more like a hint / foreshadowing of the Whisperers. At least in terms of dealing with people with views that are “way out there”.

Think about it this way. So far, besides Terminus and The Wolves, the other groups that TF has faced had very understandable reasons behind their actions that one could associate with human survival and mentality. The Governor was a bit mad but his choices stemmed from basic human emotions that were twisted. He lost his family and therefore it twisted him up and he wanted a cure to get his daughter back and he wanted control to run things as he saw they should be. His actions were disgusting and horrible, but he was still marginally human. A monster in his actions. But a human.

Dawn and Grady were an example of The Stanford Prison Experiment. The psychological perceived image of power and control over one’s prisoners. Dawn believed she had control and therefore she underestimated people and what they can and will do for power or to survive. If you’ve never read about the experiment or seen the tapes, fair warning that they’re hard to stomach but also really fascinating. But I can say that some of what we saw at Grady is very similar to the experiment. Especially when you focus on how each person fell into their roll and how quickly things fell apart since the experiment only lasted six days but many people left mid experiment…

Anyway, Grady still had the psychological connection to human actions. What we saw with Dawn and the other officers and the prisoners/Beth was examples of human actions when given no boundaries within boundaries. Meaning the actions of the officers were still “controlled” in the hospital because too much push could have consequences to them even if Dawn was slack on punishment for the sake of a power balance, she still had the illusion of control over things and psychologically that put people in place. Even the ones plotting against her. She was still being a cop just with very twisted views and survival choices… It’s kind of like when you deal with a teacher that thinks they can do whatever they want because they have ten year but, in the end, they still have to keep to certain school rules or risk a full-on student attack. Least in high school anyway.

Then there’s The Saviors. Negan was using charisma and intimation to rally people the way he wanted them. He was basically being an Adolf (I’m not gonna put the N with the Z word in here incase it gets flagged or something since Tumblr is on some cray with their tagging or mention issue) and he used charisma and the illusion of power to make things his way. We get a hint from Gordon (the Savior who tried to get away that Dwight killed) that things before Negan were different. That when Negan came in, everyone and everything changed:

“Thug swoops in with a baseball bat and smiles and we’re so scared we gave up everything – but there’s only one of him and all of us so why are we living like this?”

If you think about it, Negan’s reign was a very basic example of Adolf’s reign over Germany. Adolf came in, worked himself up to power in politics with cunningness, violence, and his overall charm. People liked him (crazy enough) and he was excellent at speaking and surrounded himself with people like himself that weren’t afraid of violence to fulfill their political gain… Who does that sound like? Negan. And Negan used a lot of psychological torture on people (example of letting Dwight fuck with Daryl by taking away his clothes, keeping him awake with cheery music, and feeding him dog food), something Adolf himself had done with his camps… Basically the Saviors could be an example of Germany and their fall to Adolf’s political party… And this is even more true when you think of how Germany had a hard time adapting after Adolf’s fall (I know there’s more history to it than that but I’m not going into politics and history here, just pointing out similarities).

So now look at the Terminus crew and The Wolves. Out of the two, Terminus is more human than the Wolves were. They were once a peaceful group who put up signs to bring people together to survive and have a future… But the wrong kind of people got in and stayed and used the Terminus crew and raped and just enslaved them. This broke Gareth and his brother Alex and their mother Mary. He started seeing his deeds – eating people and hurting them – as things he had to do. Not things he wanted to do. Things he had to do to survive. They needed to eat. Food was scarce, so they took a page from the Walkers. People became the food. You’re either the butcher or the cattle mentality taken to a whole new level… Those that didn’t fall in line – those that questioned the choice to eat others – became the cattle.

Really, Gareth even says it to Bob after Bob wakes up (I cut down some of the speech because it’s not really needed):

“I want to explain myself a little. You see, we didn’t want to hurt you… before. We didn’t want to pull you away from your group or scare you. These aren’t things we want to do. They’re things we gotta do. You and your people took away our home. That’s fair play. Now we’re out here like everybody else trying to survive. And in order to do that, we have to hunt. Didn’t start that way, eating people. It evolved into that. We evolved. We had to. And now we’ve devolved, into hunters… I just hope you understand that nothing happening to you now is personal…. A man’s gotta eat….”

It’s human to evolve… But it’s also an animal thing. Humans and Animals have evolved over the years to adapt to the changing environment and changing world. Gareth had a point when he said they had to evolve… But he was right in that when they evolved, they devolved as well. They went back to cave men. Because in TWD world you can’t be like you were. Like Beth said, you gotta put the past behind you or it kills you. The Terminus people became the Walkers… Humans as Walkers. So, they were the first simple example of The Whisperers in that they turned their back on civilized norm. They ate other humans to live. They weren’t too different from the walkers… Just maintained their human mind of being able to have cognitive thoughts. In the end, that got them killed cause they tried to eat the wrong people.

Then there’s The Wolves. Primitive and cult like, The Wolves used the walkers just like Terminus adapted with the walkers. Now we didn’t see a wolf eat a person (least I don’t recall seeing them try to eat a person) but they did use the walkers and took to overthrowing and raiding other survivor groups to survive. They were scavengers (taking the arc of The Scavengers in the comic, who are the ones who actually attack ASZ after Rick kills Pete). They were like wolves. They scavenged their food, mark their territory, and would grow in numbers with gathering more people to follow their way or gather more walkers to use as a trap, marking them with their W’s as well. Marking them like a farmer marks their cattle. A butcher marking their kills… Which is what a pack of wolves does. They mark their territory and take from it as they see fit.

So again, it’s easy to see why they were viewed as being The Whisperers. But I believe – like a lot of people – that they were just a “beta” version of the Whisperers for the group to face. The Wolves devolved from civilization to taking on animal qualities of a cult-pack mindset and were using the walkers to gain an upper hand against other “packs”, AKA the people they attacked. The Whisperers devolved to become those that use the walkers but walk among them… The Wolves and the Terminus crew were a buildup to the Whisperers – a buildup to Beta and Alpha. Alpha is basically like Gareth and Beta is like Owen, the former leader of the Wolves.

So, what about Beth in terms of my entire rambling? Well as I said, I do not believe that unless Beth didn’t know who Daryl was, she wouldn’t try to lure him to the Whisperers. That role seems to be going to Lydia – the girl we see telling Daryl in the trailer that “you don’t belong with these people” or so it’s being made out as… We’ll see.

Now I started writing this out before the mid-season premiere so I’ve gone and changed some thoughts, but most of the following stuff is still what I think. I think Lydia is going to try and persuade Henry and Daryl. More so I see Henry, as it seems they’re trying to play Carl’s role with Lydia on Henry, though I don’t see it going over like it did in the comics (We saw an image of Lydia violently lashing out in the future episode previews so I’m still with the belief that she can’t be trusted for now./// May change.)

Anyway, with Lydia persuading Henry, his easily impressionable and good hearted nature is gonna have him go after Lydia (SPOILER ALERT FROM HERE ON YOU’VE BEEN WARNED there’s going to be an exchange for Luke and Alden from Alpha to get her daughter back). Daryl is going to have to get into the Whisperers group because I’m sure others are gonna be captured (this part I do not know but I do know Daryl is supposed to put on a Walker suit and mask). That’s how he ends up fighting Beta like we see in the preview (which, ooc for this post I’m so fucking excited for just FYI ‘cause I love love love Ryan Hurst and I’m so happy to see SOA peeps on TWD… Can we get others? Please?! Lol) and that’s going to probably get Daryl captured by the Whisperers as well.

Now here is my speculation… I have a few ideas about – if she is with the Whispers – that can maybe be possible. One, I am wondering if Beth is going to be shown coming across the spiked Walker heads. Why do I think that? This:

This is Andrea after she finds the spiked heads of her friends with Michonne, Rick, Dante, Carl, and Lydia. Michonne in the comic was in a sort of relationship with Ezekiel (who is one of the heads that the group finds) and she breaks down, unable to put down Ezekiel’s reanimated head. Andrea takes a knife from Michonne and does it for her. Now… Look at how Andrea looks. She’s wearing a poncho, a hat similar to what Gabriel has been wearing (I believe it’s called a Gaucho hat or more commonly just called a Mexican cowboy hat), jeans, her hair pulled back, and the scar on her face.

The poncho automatically makes me think of Daryl. Daryl’s poncho was left back at the prison when it fell along with Merle’s bike. So unless Beth ended up back at the fallen walker over-run prison (which, hey, if she was still in Georgia when she woke up, wouldn’t be that far off though I highly doubt it) then her picking up a poncho not only would be a reference to something Daryl did but it would also connect to Maggie as Daryl let Maggie wear the poncho in S3. The hat would be a nod to Rick, as the Gaucho “Mexican Cowboy Hat” would associate to the cowboy hat that Rick wears and honestly with Beth’s jeans, would look dope as hell… Just saying. She’d look like a female Clint Eastwood, which is why Norman wanted the poncho – Clint Eastwood look.

This image of Andrea is one of the many that really paints that Beth and Comic!Andrea looked very similar. There are tons of images in the comic of Andrea that make Beth look like her twin. Especially with the new cut across her cheek she had received in Grady.

With this image in mind and being at this part in the comic on the show, I can’t help but just gravitate to it and think of Beth in general… Which is mostly just fan reaching with no solid evidence, but that’s one way I can see Beth having a connection to the Whisperers’ coming across their “handy work”.

Number two, if Beth survived the gunshot, her memory could be all kinds of fucked up. She might not have a single clue as to who Daryl or Carol or Michonne are. She might not recall that she has a sister or who Rick was or even know who Judith was/is. I always keep in mind that we were told the reunion could be bittersweet for Beth and the others… Bittersweet could mean that she doesn’t remember anyone OR that she’s partially blind and can’t recognize people OR that she doesn’t remember anyone and is a completely different person than she was… That would be the only way I’d be able to see Beth within the Whisperers world. The Beth we know wouldn’t stand for what they do. Would she maybe stick around to survive them if they captured her? Absolutely. But the moment she could, Beth would escape… Unless she didn’t know who she was at all anymore. As in who she is and who she was are not part of her and make her completely different. What’s more bittersweet than finding something you lost but it’s not the way you remember it? Ever find an old book or an old photo or something you lost, only to see it’s missing pages or is cracked in places or just not completely like you left it… That could be Beth. That gunshot has to have some kind of leftover affect on the girl… Trauma to the head isn’t gonna leave you in one single piece. Not from what I’ve studied and heard…

So of course the third thing is that she’s pretending and with the Whisperers as a means to survive because they said join us or we kill you / fuck you up. So she joins them… But if Beth saw Daryl or Michonne and her memory was still around, then she’d do her damn best to get to him and Michonne to get back to her family like she’s been trying to do FOR EIGHT YEARS. This is why I have a hard time with this whole “Boots is Beth” thing, by the way. I can see the appeal of it. And there are some strange things around it… But if Beth had any clue of where Rick or Maggie or Michonne or Daryl were, she’d have gone to them asap. Granted, she could’ve gotten held up / something bad happened to her on the way between the junkyard and Alexander. But even still, eight years is a long time to get held back…

Overall, eight years is a long ass time between Grady and now. Oh sure, it had been two years or so since they’d seen Morales and suddenly he shows up and his loose end was closed… But at least Morales wasn’t some weird ass fucking Dutch angle bullshit. He left for a new location with his family, he never made it, and he found the Saviors. That’s the basic of it… But it’s a story and it folds up nice enough to make sense… Beth’s story is an eight year fucking gap in the TWD world. For us it’s been just over five years of nothing… Would now be the best time to drop her in? Well it wouldn’t hurt the ratings right now that’s for bloody sure. I mean – I know everyone is pointing it out but why don’t I as well – the ratings for Season 1 were just slightly lower than they are now… Slightly. Not too far. But close… Season 4 and Season 5 were the best and highest in ratings out of all nine… They need to step some shit up. Not by taking away and adding in a bunch of who the fuck people… But by doing something no average viewer is going to expect. I took film classes. I studied this shit. They need to do something or the show can end up on the chopping block and goodbye big screen and FEAR and all the other ideas that were supposed to be played out.

Now… Back in 2015 – give or take – I did have a thought. This will be my final thoughts on Beth and the Whisperers, I cannot believe I’ve written something this long good god I am sorry for the long read…. But anyway, back in about 2015 or so, I wrote a post called “Liz Makes A Contribution to TD” (click to read if you want) . In that post I talked about the season five cast photos that were out at the time.

If you don’t recall which one those were, here’s a link from Skybound of them . So these photos come out and – like Skybound pointed out – there was no Tyreese or Beth or Carl. Which had people speaking up on Tumblr and I saw a few people on Twitter also comment to Skybound about how bizarre it was that we didn’t have these three… Well then we got a picture of Beth and Tyreese.

Of course Tyreese’s photo looked like everyone elses. Like they were all inside a barn (which they would end up in later… But not Tyreese) and Beth’s… Well, if you looked at everyone elseS THEN LOOKED AT Beth’s… Hers was completely different.

If you look at Beth compared to the others, hers just… Sticks out. Everyone else is inside something. There’s light coming through cracks and hitting everyone… But not Beth. She’s being completely covered in light. As in it’s shining down on her while it’s peaking at everyone else.

Now of course, if you read my post, you know that when we got Season 6 Promo pics, a lot of people flipped out and were pointing out how Beth’s picture looked like she was on the other side of the wall that Rick is leaning against and listening to the Walker on the other side.

Take a look

Even someone like me - on team fence - could still look at these images and go “Hey, Wait a minute…” and gasp at the realization that it literally looks like Beth is just on the other side of the wall Rick is against

Immediately I was thinking of Beth’s lines that she screamed at in Daryl to make a point to his drunk, angry ass. The same damn lines that many of us today have still been quoting and that many people have been pealing back layer by layer and feeling like this is important and it’s trying to tell us something.

“I know you look at me and you just see another dead girl. I’m not Michonne, I’m not Carol, I’m not Maggie. I’ve survived and you don’t get it ‘cause I’m not like you or them. But I made it and you don’t get to treat me like crap just because you’re afraid!”

How many times has TD gone over and over this line? How many times have you all found yourself just repeating that line and thinking “why did they have her say that if they just were gonna kill her” when we were told Scott had this whole damn thing planned out… Why give her that line to spit out? Or the line she says to Daryl as they’re sitting and talking on the porch?

“I’ll be gone someday.”

“Stop.”

“I will. You’re gonna be the last man standing. You are… You’re gonna miss me so bad when I’m gone, Daryl Dixon.”

Of course I highlighted the important elements... I have thought really had about this line many a times and I know you all have as well… So when I thought of those lines and thought of those promo photos and what they were saying to me, I went into “Holy Shit I Get It” mode.

Beth IS A dead girl… She’s among the dead…

At the time I didn’t understand what I was getting at. I just knew Beth would return with the Walkers. I felt that deep in my gut when I looked at the images. And even now, looking back at them, my body is like “dude, wake up and look dammit!” and I’m looking… But until now, I think I get what I didn’t realize back then.

The Walkers Beth will be with… Are the Whisperers.

A living girl among the dead… Who does that? The Whisperers do that. Alpha and the Whisper do just that. They LIVE among the DEAD. The WALK among the DEAD. They ARE the WALKING DEAD. They are what Rick said that Team Family was and what Daryl said they are not.

But what exactly does that mean… Is Beth a Whisperer… Or will she come from the Whisperers.

Let me explain… You asked if I believed Beth would try to convince Daryl to Join the Whisperers… If Beth is among the Whisperers AS a Whisperer, no I do not believe she will try to bring Daryl over… But rather try to get from the Dead to Daryl and Carol (who will be the only damn people left she will know with Michonne leaving) and reveal herself among the dead…. Or this whole Whisperers arc will lead to something that will clue Beth on where to find everyone… As in the Living Dead – the Whisperers – will be with the walkers that lead Beth to Hilltop or Alexandria or the Kingdom… Something done among the dead will lead the living back.

Make sense? God I hope so.

Those images are the only reason I could see Beth have anything to connect herself to the Whisperers… She’s among the dead. I do believe that… But how she’ll be with the living again is the mystery…

I’m so sorry this took so long and is so long oh my gawd lol!

Also imma tag @twdmusicboxmystery and @bethgreenewarriorprincess and @bethgreeneishopeunseen and @wdway cause they’re more TD than me and know more shit lol

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

how to keep yourself together during uni semesters in australia:

im not gonna lie: over the past 3 years at uni, i have never kept myself together. so, im probably not the right type of person to give anyone advice on how to keep yourself “together” at uni lmao. but i felt like doing it, since im close to finishing so here you go, people:

class/subject and degree advice:

- if you’re not doing a double degree (which will probably give you four or five subjects to do each sem, and a full 4-5 days at uni each week, like some of my friends), stay home on your days off. take those days both to relax, and also fill yourself in to do some of your readings (although i’ll admit i only started the “doing my readings” thing this semester after two years of ignoring them, lol whoops.) this will help your stress levels a bit (hopefully) bc at least you know what the fuck you’re talking about in class and can actually say something during your tuts/lectures.

- if you’re doing a single degree or even a double degree (again i know some people who’ve done it with double degrees), and your full load of 4 or maybe 5 subjects is stressing you the fuck out, drop down to three units per a semester, if you want to actually keep a full load for certain things. yes, it will make your degree go slower in most cases, but not as slow as going part time. it will obvs make your load a tad lighter (if you’re a full-time student), and it’ll free up your days spent at uni. it will give you fewer deadlines to worry/stress about. 

on another note, go part time if you want to/have to. i met one person at a careers fair this year who’d been at uni for five years doing her commerce degree with just one subject a semester bc it gave her less stress and plenty of time to actually work at her job.

- go to your faculty’s/school’s help desk to find out whether your course progression is right. also book meetings with the head of your faculty whenever you can; according to the head of the students bookings are open or wherever possible in your timetable. doing this lets you know whether you’re progressing with your course in the right time-frame, or right time-frame for you. remember, these people are there to help you. this saved me hours of worrying throughout my degree. 

- TRANSFER DEGREES IF YOU HAVE TO: if you feel out of your depth, or completely disinterested in your degree, transfer from it. in some cases (mostly if you’re in the same faculty and the degree is a flexible/general one) you can easily get the first year subjects in transfer credit. this is what i did in first year, when i realised that i felt very out my depth, personality-wise and for other reasons, in the bachelor of communication and media studies in 2015. i knew, after one semester of it, that it was not what i wanted to study.

I realised that forcing myself through marketing and management subjects and studying blogging at uni just bc i had a tumblr- yes, that was my kind of ridiculous and super misguided reason for picking the course, believe it or not- would “kill” me, (like obvs not literally) but it would drain tf out of me if i continued w/ it. but  luckily, since it was in the same faculty, all i had to do was do an extra subject in spring sem in 2015 (bc degree changes required you to have 24 credit points in a semester to transfer at my uni for most courses), and that sem sucked, but i got a years worth of credit in my degree, so i finish one semester earlier.

- for classes in a single degree, try and find your ideal amount of days at uni. my ideal is three days. i almost had the opportunity to have a two day week at uni this sem, bc the timetable gods were almost good to me. but unfortunately, the timetable gods were assholes and managed to let a two hour tut for one class (editing) on tuesdays ran through my US literature lecture. but i also didn’t really want just 2 days at uni, bc i knew that i probably wouldn’t be fucking productive at all in the 3 remaining days i had off during the week.

- go part-time if you have to, no matter whether you’re on a single or a double degree. do your degree on your own terms.

- don’t listen to your parents spiel on your degree or what majors/minors to do. same goes for running your subject choices by your parents. 

- or if uni is really, really getting you down, you can defer for six months and go back later. (also, for mental health, see a councilor/psychologist either from your uni or outside of uni, i started doing this after a mental breakdown in second year). 

- on feedback from your professors/tutors: okay, so. i’ll admit here that i’ve become the asshole student that literally only gives a shit about the number grade, rather than the quality etc comments that the professor (usually) gives back to me after they’ve marked my assignment, bc i don’t really have the heart to read what they’ve written etc. but, like. actually read their feedback... or listen to it. 

if you have an odd professor that likes to give audio feedback (one of my philosophy profs did this, and no. i didn’t listen to it on either assignment, particularly bc it was my least fave subject that sem and bc i had a drama with the essay that lost me like 20% of my grade for that subject), listen back to it and see what they say on your (presumably, i have faith in y’all) well bullshitted essay. their feedback is valuable. also don’t be afraid to approach your tutors for feedback either.

- on asking for help/advice on your assignments or the subject in general from your profs/tutors: DO THIS. of course, it’ll just be general guidance in their consultation hours or via email, but, don’t be scared to ask them! it might boost your marks a bit or help you clarify your essay’s argument or something like that. i was too terrified for the better part of my degree, and then too stubborn to ask for help from my profs/tutors and i think that’s why my marks and my mental health got kinda shitty. idk how to ask for help. but then again, idk how many people actually do this in the courses i did. but y’all do it.

for the general side of this, they can help you by giving you extensions (if they’re not an asshole) or whatever to help you sort your shit out. this is something i never did. but do it when you need it.

- on the topic of marks, they don’t matter. but don’t try and settle in the “p’s get degrees” mindset... even though i say this whenever i get a final mark and it’s a pass. i aimed for a credit average tbh, marks wise. i’m dead average lmao. but then again, i’ve never been a straight-A student, born to graduate uni with like high class honours or the like.

general uni life and life advice:

- GET YOUR P’S OR BLACKS (i.e. GET YOUR DRIVER’S LICENCE Y’ALL), if your family circumstances permit it or if you’re motivated enough, before you get to uni. it’ll open up so many opportunities on campus (if you don’t live on the campus and you live far away from it). and also other ops outside of uni. (but then again you might not bother driving to uni everyday  bc like uni parking, depending how it is at your uni, will always be a fight for spots.

- although i said earlier to use your days off to do some study... also use them for self-care and like life admin meaning the following:

face masks

actually take a looooonnnnngggg fucking showers y’all. the shower is the one place you’ll actually fully relax while you’re at uni. also it’s a good place to mentally plan and map out your essays etc.

yes, netflix

BUY A KINDLE (if your budget permits ofc). although it was a big cost on the outset obvs (its like $200), it was the best investment for me. i saved a fuck ton of money for some subjects, bc the books were either free or like $20-$30 cheaper on my kindle and not anywhere between $20-$40 for some texts in the uni shop. like, textbooks for english lit/creative writing or even philosophy (sometimes) etc subjects, can amount in costing to $200 or more in total for buying separate texts, just like a single, average business/law/nursing/science textbook.

read books from outside of your prescribed texts, and get totally engrossed in them if you can. i did this in first year with the complete tomorrow, when the war began series and the ellie chronicles (it’s sequel trilogy) by john marsden. and yes, i completely ignored by readings for these books, bc i hated like 90% of my uni texts. but i’ll admit that it made uni a tad more bearable, though.

if you have free days, do not go into uni. use them to catch up on sleep. or do my next point.

apply for jobs. maybe you’ll be lucky to get one and learn how to balance study with work. also it can keep you sane, money wise. something i didn’t get to have during these last 3 and a 1/2 years. but you’ll also get to know how hiring works, in general.

make yourself a fucking study timetable. this will help you get an idea of when you’re set for study. and i know, i know. it’s so hypocritical of me to suggest this bc i never bothered to make one for myself anf instead went with “i’ll study when i feel like it”......... which, um, barely ever happened all throughout uni... until this sem. lol whoops. try and stick to your timetable.

if you can, delete you fucking tumblr. 

COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE! MAKE THIS BEVERAGE YOUR FRIEND.

if your uni has a bar, don’t avoid it. you might make friends there. i was alone at uni for a vast bulk of the time, so i avoided the bar and mostly stayed in the library.... which didn’t give me much time to make friends.

if you make good friends at uni, talk to them often, so that you can coordinate some of your classes/tuts with them and so you can exchange not w/ each other to save time come exams. it’ll also save your ass in some classes where the prof passes around the roll in the lecture and doesn’t really check the attendance

also try and pick subjects that have recorded lectures, those fuckers save your ass come essay writing time etc.

if you’re doing literature/creative writing etc subjects, read some of your prescribed texts in the uni break- in either the november-march break or the june/july break. yeah, it’ll drive you insane bc you’re reading for a class in the holidays, but, fuck. it’s saved my ass a couple of times with books that are anywhere between 200-400 pages long (e.g. wuthering heights, lady chatterly’s lover, the grapes of wrath, any of shakespeare’s plays etc etc) giving me either a lighter reading load bc I’d finished the book during break or I’d left a few pages near the end of the book, but had read the bulk saving me a fuck tonne of reading time during the heavy part of the sem.

AUDIOBOOKS BITCHES. i only started using audiobooks on youtube when doing shakespeare. but damn. they’re amazing if you don’t really want to be engaged in a physical book sometimes, and great for gauging the tone of whats being said/picturing the characters more clearly when doing literature/creative writing subs. i’ve heard several times that they’re particularly good for commuting to and from uni, if you live far away. but sometimes they can be a bit pricey.

buy secondhand textbooks y’all.

DO NOT BUY YOUR TEXTBOOKS IN ADVANCE, in some cases. i did this for a lot of my subjects, and some times one to two of the texts changed each year... or in one case, THE WHOLE FUCKING READING LIST CHANGED. LITERALLY, and i’d spent like $200 buying the books in advance. but also, i got to read some good books by accident. don’t waste your money. but if you can find them cheap (like old editions in other fields obvs, that students are selling, buy them if you hella need the book)

take lunch in to save money on expensive campus food. but on that same note, don’t forget to spoil yourself with some of the nice food on campus every once in while.

also for lit/creative writing subjects, go to your local op shop or thrift shop to find some of the older books and get them for like $2 or 90cents instead of the fucking $15-$30 that your uni will have you sell your soul for.

Feel free to add more!!! and defs for other fields! 

[bethgreeneishopeunseen]

She Awoke Behind Death’s Door

For those who aren’t familiar with the properties, in late May 2014 a few actors filmed at two neighboring white houses in Griffin, Georgia. The manor on the left is the Pritchard-Moore-Goodrich House, a historic building in the area. The right house, the one with the blood above the door, is a residential building. According to reports, the Pritchard house was used for exterior scene while the bloody house was used for interior scenes. (You can find out more in my white houses’ compilation post and tag: X, X.) Recently I had a few revelations about the white houses and filming. Because I also received some asks about the properties, everything will be under a read more because this post is picture-heavy.

Yes, I know about the Rottweiler. (I addressed the dog in detail here: X.) Ozzy is a specially-trained dog, and he has a background in acting. He first started filming back in October 2013, when he filmed for Those Who Kill (X). Those Who Kill filmed in Rankin, Pennsylvania, a borough south of Pittsburgh (X). Ozzy’s owner likely travels for acting opportunities as he’s taken Ozzy to dog shows, evidence by the trophies he’s won.

Early in the morning on May 21st, 2014, Ozzy filmed for TWD. His owner had tweeted about it. Emily was likely filming that week as she disappeared and her social media changed (X). The dog’s scenes were also probably connected to the white houses filming as there was a dog house and two beware of dog signs, one of which was definitely added to the bloody house just for filming. 

While scenes can be relatively short, the scenes Ozzy filmed for were probably longer than most and very involved. On 5x10′s Talking Dead, Lauren Cohan mentioned that she considered to have her dog be part of the pack that finds the group. She ultimately decided against it because the make-up would stain her dog’s white fur for weeks, but she could have done it. If an amateur dog could be used for a scene like in Them, then it means TPTB filmed very involved, action-heavy scenes with Ozzy, who is trained and had to travel from Virginia.

I came across the June tweets when I first researched Ozzy the Rottweiler, but I was unsure of labeling them as TWD-related. (I was still figuring out social media analysis at the time.) Ozzy’s owner typically mentions whatever project the dog is involved in, such as Those Who Kill, and since he answered questions about TWD that day and didn’t feel the need to label the project, work that day was work on TWD. (Ozzy didn’t have any other projects that day.)

Source (X).

Closed set? Late nights? Those are common for TWD, especially with Emily’s scenes in season 5.

The blog who asked the owner about his dog deleted the question, but the owner’s response is still there. Ozzy did film two scenes for TWD, and going by the time stamps for the June tweets, they were long scenes, as Ozzy filmed for over five hours on June 18th alone. On June 14th and June 21st that year Emily was in Georgia (X), and she posted intermittently in the week between, disappearing completely on the 18th and 19th. While Ozzy’s owner tweeted about TWD when Them aired, he never actually posted pictures of Ozzy from the episode or responded to those who wondered where the Rottweiler was. Because there were no Rottweilers. Ozzy filmed for something else.

For the dog anon and the sick anon, please reference my old meta, I’m Not Your Sunshine: X. In that meta, @bethgreenewarriorprincess and I speculated that Team Family took refuge in the bloody white house after Coda. Since then I think it may have been possible Daryl and Maggie, as well as Glenn and Tara, may have not been there when it happened (X). The herd came, and the group that was with Beth’s body tried to escape. The car that was carrying Beth stalled, probably because it got stuck in the mud like in 5x09 (which was a psychodrama centered on all the horrors the group faced since season 4, especially Tyreese). In Coda, Rick passed a truck with a red bag tied to the radio antenna, and it looked similar to Daryl’s red bandanna, which he used to tie down the trunk he and Beth sheltered in. The truck had a fridge/freezer in the bed. If TF took the truck and then left Beth behind in it, she would be safe in the fridge/freezer, even if it were left exposed in the truck’s open bed.

Neighborhoods make up the outskirts of Atlanta. Christ was entombed outside of Jerusalem, and Beth being left in neighborhood outside of Atlanta would fit the Christ connections. While Beth suffered a gunshot wound to the head, she had an exit wound so the only thing she would really need is to have the wounds covered and to be given antibiotics to prevent infection. (There is evidence already that her head was bandaged (X).) She was left in a car near the white houses.

In 5x09, Tyreese spilled his blood on a painting of a house that is a Beth egg (X). Blood over the door in bloody house references Passover, when the Jews painted goat’s blood over their doors. The act protected them from the plague God sent over Egypt. Beth was protected from death by being in a house marked for death. And in the painting, there is a figure approaching the house. The other day I realized that the figure in the painting was similar to the mystery figure who filmed at the bloody house the night of the 23rd:

The figure resembles Morgan, matching dismissed rumors on Tumblr from the time that he was on set.

While the figure’s pack looks lighter than Morgan’s, Morgan’s pack had a lot of reflective objects, so the poor picture quality and spotlight could have made the pack look lighter in color. But otherwise the figure has the same build, shoulders, and costume. 

Both houses have a light by the door, and there is a canine creature waiting on front porch in the painting. There was a Beware of Dog sign added to the bloody house, as well as one on the gates next door and a doghouse between this house and the Pritchard manor. Ozzy likely played a dog living on the property. (The actor who walked onto set with Alanna, Chase Vasser, probably played the dog’s owner.) Ozzy would have picked up on Beth if she were locked in the fridge, and he could have led Morgan to her. Morgan then would have taken her back to the white house, where he took care of her before the Grady cops found her.

Officer Bello clearly shot Beth while attempting to kill Dawn (X), and guilt would have propelled her to find Beth. Beth was also immune/cured of the virus, and that would have been an incentive for all the cops to look for her. As I also went in to my I’m Not Your Sunshine meta, Beth being taken back to Grady would parallel a scene from The Book of Eli, a movie which Gimple pulled from for Morgan and Beth’s stories (X).

Lastly, it appears that Emily filmed a few times at the white houses in May. There were reports of her being at the properties earlier that month (X), and Christy remembers reports of filming taking place during production episodes 2 and 3. (It was probably changed to just 2 post-Coda.) (She remembers it specifically as she had episode 4 in the kiss pool.) In the background of the picture below, you can see the yellow “Do Not Mow” sign still in front of the Pritchard property.

Why would the sign be left up on the day of filming? Everything else had been prepared, such as the rusted car and the burnt door. The sign indicates that the property wasn’t ready for filming, that TPTB were going to film later, once the grass had grown enough.

Overall, we haven’t seen any of this footage because TPTB are saving them for Beth’s return. Because no way would they cut that much.

[imploder]

Response to Ikimaru Hate/Fandom Hate in General

@miss-serket​

“Based off nothing” spend 5 mins on ikimarus blog or the homestuck store lol. Check the links I provided dude I literally typed blocks of text for proof. “Based off nothing” my ass tf

I hope you and other people read this to the end. It’s important. We’re going to go step by step here. First off, you’ll have to forgive me for being a bit over the top and angry. Sunny is a close friend of mine, so I’m sure you can understand why I’d get emotional when people not only spread unjustified hate but also celebrate it. I’m sure if someone did the same to one of your friends, you’d feel the same way.

ikimaru ruined homestuck

Complete nonsense, but I’m sure you don’t care about that one because it’s written to be a “joke.” We’ll get into why this is a problem later.

She’s lowkey homophobic. She doesn’t show it much but she’s basically a yaoi fangirl who sexualizes mlm couples

If you think Sunny is a “yaoi fangirl”/fujoshi, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. Have you seen works that actually do fetishize mlm relationships or sexualize them in a harmful way? The insistence of the seme/uke dynamic and using mlm smut as a means to their expressing their non-mlm sexuality are hallmarks of that. And those kinds of tones/qualities aren’t really found across her works. Yes, she ships DirkJake. Yes, she even sexualizes it. No, that does not make inherently bad. She’s not showing it in an unhealthy way nor is she claiming ownership of it. 

and she INSISTS dirkj*ke wasn’t abusive so a bunch of people blindly agree because for some God forsaken reason they think her art is in character and canon.

DirkJake being abusive is a FANON interpretation. Sure, there are some qualities of it, but at the end of the day, it’s a webcomic in which we didn’t get to directly see any of their relationship. We are just told about it through the monologues of Dirk and Jake. Was it abusive? Maybe! It’s perfectly fine if you see it that way. But it’s not CANON LAW. 

Also insisting that people are simply agreeing because they blindly follow her is just ignorant to other peoples’ own opinions on autonomy. Guess what? Other people have different opinions than you. Scary, I know! But that’s life. Shipping DirkJake or thinking it wasn’t horribly abusive isn’t wrong.

Her treatment of roxy was BEYOND awful. She makes her nothing more than a ditsy drunk who likes cats and helps Dirk get laid. Despite her struggle with her feelings for him, but that would get in the way of Hot Yaois.

So Roxy is a recovering alcoholic. Is depicting her drinking alcohol wrong? This is a really interesting question, and is one I don’t have a straight answer to. But again, in regards to the other stuff, this is coming down to how you are policing how other people interpret and draw characters. Attacking someone for depicting Roxy as “liking cats and helping Dirk get laid” is uncalled for. Literally no one is being harmed by someone doing that. You don’t get to decide what is  and isn’t okay when drawing a FICTIONAL character.

As for the “Hot Yaois” comment, see my response above.

Evey character is a 2D stereotype of themselves, and again, people TAKE IT AS CANON. This horrible mischaracterizing is definitely something that hurts the fanbase. Also, I’m not gonna rip on her art style but she only draws characters as skinny white people or skinny white people with a tan. She may give Jane bigger boobs and a bigger butt so she’s the “acceptable” type of fat. If she draws a POC they still have white features. All trolls “just 12 white people colored gray”.

People taking it as canon is not her fault. Hussie draws all the characters LITERALLY as skinny 2D stereotypes of themselves. And Hussie’s drawings are UNIVERSALLY CANON. Does that make it not okay to draw characters with different bodytypes/skin colors/etc.? Of course not.

And again you’re policing how people draw characters. Drawing characters with less common body types or as POC is great! But that doesn’t mean drawing them any other way is bad or wrong. We can discuss to what extent it’s harmful, but at the end of the day, you’re saying all these things because you think Sunny doesn’t draw people fat enough or POC enough. You’re inciting hate because she’s drawing a fictional alien race in a way that you don’t agree with. 

And the worst part, is how the homestuck store is monopolized by her. If you want diverse designs you’re out of luck! Here’s more Ikimaru!!

All this stuff combined is a huge drag on the homestuck community in the long run because she’s so goddamn influential and everyone thinks her POV is Canon

The WLF store being largely populated by her works was and is not her decision. She signed a contract with WLF a while ago. They ask her to draw things, and then she draws them. She’s not willy nilly deciding to deciding to flood WLF with unsolicited submissions. In fact, outside of WLF, she hardly even draws or wants to draw Homestuck anymore. 

As I’ve told other people in the past, your frustration here is totally justified. It’s understandable that you want to see different things in the store and that it angers you when all you see is art that you don’t like. However, Sunny is not the person you should be hating for this. That’s all on WLF’s end, and believe me, I will not get upset if people go around criticizing WLF.

But again, other people thinking her POV is canon isn’t her fault. She’s never claimed that how she draws characters is the canon or correct way. Sure, she has a HUGE following in the fandom, but that’s just what it is: a following. People follow her because they enjoy her art and interpretations. She’s drawing fanart. She isn’t creating what is suppose the be the correct image of the characters.

Yes, she’s my friend, but I’m not going to say people have to like her or her art. You don’t have to agree with her opinions; I know I don’t, and she knows that.

I think people are honestly giving her too much credit. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen on Tumblr dozens of times before. People hold Sunny to these unreasonable standards. People put her on a pedestal like she’s the CANON FANARTIST. And when she does things that people deem wrong or harmful, it creates that much worse of a reaction and backlash.

But there’s something you and everyone else has to remember, especially when saying shitty things about someone publicly. Sunny is just a normal person. She’s human. She has here own emotions, ambitions, problems, and causes for anxiety (which I might add is pretty much 100% from people like you). You shouldn’t hold her to this ridiculous standard just because she’s popular in one niche fandom on Tumblr. You don’t know her. You do not get to make sweeping judgments based on a couple of self indulgent drawings she’s posted over the past 5 years. 

That brings me to the most important part of this. A lot of the discourse near the top about interpretations of characters is something that isn’t 100% black and white. I could be wrong about those things. But even if I am, that does not justify inciting hate or encouraging people to write horrible things like “I’ll kill her,” even in jest. SHE’S A REAL PERSON. Posting that kind of stuff publicly is NOT OKAY. That is not how you act online or in the real world. I know Sunny has been deeply affected and truly hurt by seeing things like this. The worst part is that this kind of witchhunt fandom policing is still going on after multiple instances where it caused someone to attempt suicide. Why is this still going on? This kind of behavior is unacceptable and needs to stop.

[zmediaoutlet]

i love ur complicated thoughts on fic bc they border mine where on some level i know it's just fun but on another i will die with "characters are more important than plot" written across my gravestone. i can deal with a shitty plot if the characters are fun or interesting but a good plot with bad characters??? hardly

oh anon, hon–you are speaking my fucking language. 

This will be a perhaps unnecessarily philosophical little diatribe, but–whatever, it’s my tumblr, I do what I want, and I’m just dicking around until I can pick up my friend for dinner. So. Here’s the thing: I’m basically a nihilist. Realized pretty early that nothing has an essential meaning beyond the meaning that we give it. (You could argue that this actually existentialism, except that I also understand that just because we give something meaning, does not mean that the meaning is real or inherent–the thing still has no meaning, it’s just that we have decided to say it does. A semantic difference, but an important one.) Some people–read: assholes–decided that nihilism means that you smash up everything and kill and whatnot, because nothing matters anyway. That’s an absurd direction to take the philosophy. (Lookin’ at you, SPN Lucifer!) If nothing matters, then necessarily all that matters is to enjoy yourself. You could logically extend that to mean that you can enjoy yourself through hurting others, but I reject the idea that logic necessarily precludes compassion–there’s no reason nihilism has to be solipsistic. A happy, positive nihilist understands that joy is the goal, as long as you’re not hurting anyone else.

Okay, so, why tf did I just go on that little detour? Because, once you say that nothing matters–then, hell, what does it matter what people do with their fic? Surely it’s all just another fun little way to waste time until we die, right? Well, sure. That’s a totally valid way to think about it, and my personal philosophies say that I shouldn’t get all up in arms about people doing it badly, because–who cares? Well, the answer is that I do. I care, because this is one of those things that brings me pleasure, but only when it’s done well. Reading bad writing is such a thorough disappointment. (Of course, it’s also very tricky philosophical ground to start going on about what “good” and “bad” writing are, because then you get into this sort of stupid essentialist place where you start to find yourself asserting that there are objective qualities to art, and then you’re just lost, logically, and your arguments start to sound pretty asinine. Still. We in the writing community have trained ourselves to agree to a sort of canon of traits that = good writing. Are we correct? That’s up to the individual to decide. But it’s similar to how we generally agree in music that dissonance and ‘wrong’ notes are bad because that’s how our ears have been trained to understand music, not because there’s some One True Scale by which all music is measured. You get the gist.)

So. With all perhaps-unnecessary background said. One of the clearest and strongest ways that I believe you can measure whether a piece of writing is “bad” relates to the scale between character and plot. This is something which is particularly egregious in fanfiction, and significantly more noticeable there than it is in ‘original’ fiction. When you’re writing an ‘original’ work (note the scare quotes, please, and just decipher for yourself why they’re there), you have the luxury of creating a character and a plot simultaneously. Let’s say you want to write a murder mystery. You come up with your murder plot and your murderer in concert with only yourself–the murder is one that the murderer would do, because you have designed him or her to do that particular deed. Assuming you haven’t left plot holes, you’re all set. With fanfiction, though, no matter what plot you come up with--the character already exists. There is a set canon, a text, which you should refer to as you’re writing, because that’s who that person already is. In some ways, this makes the fanfic writer’s task easier--no need to introduce the reader to who Dean Winchester is, because presumably the reader has watched the show (read: is familiar with the text) and don’t need much of an explanation.

However, I could also argue (and will!) that writing fanfiction is in this particular way much harder, because there is a characterization for Dean Winchester that exists in the text, and if you stray from writing him as he is in the text--well, you’re not writing him, are you? If (to give an innocuous example) you confidently assert through narrative that Dean Winchester’s favorite food is cake--well, no. It’s not. Dean loves pie, not cake. So when you change that detail--either through carelessness or unconcern--then I stop thinking of the character you’re writing as Dean Winchester, and start to think that this is just some guy who’s shaped like Jensen Ackles. To give a less innocuous example: perhaps you assert through narrative that Dean Winchester sees his brother die, and grieves, but then moves on. Would that be healthy? Certainly. But it is not in any way how Dean would operate, and so I’m thrown out of the story.

What I’m narrowing in on here is that when you’re writing a character, you have to keep who the character is in mind. This doesn’t mean picking and choosing random traits from random episodes that are your favorite. A character is a whole, complete with good traits and bad. Dean is kind, but sometimes callous and even cruel; he is strong, but easily emotionally wounded; he’s a bit of a horndog, but he also is tender and yielding with many of his partners; and so on, and so on. Let’s say you want to write a story where Dean adopts a dog. Okay, fine, but look to the text. Dean doesn’t like dogs. This is repeated in various episodes. Why, then, is Dean deciding to adopt a dog? Here’s the thing: I truly believe there’s no such thing as a bad premise. A plot is a plot, no matter how small. But if you’re doing to use an already-established character to explore a plot, then you need to come up with a logical reason for them to do so. So: Dean adopts a dog. Why? Because the dog is so cute and his heart just melts!! No. Because after the experience with his hallucinations in s7, in an AU where Dean doesn’t go to Purgatory, Sam’s still a little shaky and tender and needs something soft in his life, so Dean sucks it up and gets the dog as a sort-of-therapy for his little brother. Not great, but better. 

What we’ve done with the second scenario is brought the plot to the character, not forced the character to meet the plot. This is crucial to making the perhaps-more-sophisticated reader actually buy what you’re selling. If you just can’t come up with a logical reason for the character to interact with the plot you’ve come up with, perhaps you should think about why you want that character to be involved at all. I believe that fiction writing relies as much on supporting logical evidence and arguments as a persuasive essay does--because what are we doing, after all, but persuading the reader to come along with us on the story we’re trying to tell? When the arguments are shaky, or when the logic is full of holes, then the persuasion fails, and the story collapses, and then, basically, I’m sad. I don’t like being sad. So we try harder.

**all of this is predicated on the idea that: a) you care about writing as a discipline, and b) that you’re not writing an AU. I would point out, though, that at the point that an AU become so alternate that the character is unrecognizable from their canon self--again, why bother to claim you’re working with the canon self? Make it a J2 AU. You can do anything there.

[higherthan-theclouds]

April 18, 2019. 12:53pm

Addiction: (n) the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.

Synonyms: dependency, dependence, craving, weakness, habit, compulsion, fixation.

I come from a family of addicts. My mother is what’s called to be a functioning addict, because even when she did crave to get her fix of her drug of choice, she still came home everyday to make sure me and my siblings were safe and okay. My mother makes 4 years sober this year and I couldn’t be more happy for her. My cousins parents are addicts in recovery as well, and for them, I’m even more proud of them. But addiction runs in my DNA. It’s genetic and it’s simply inevitable for me. I’ve never taken drugs in my life, and I don’t plan to because I’m smarter than that. My life was going to be much easier, because I knew better to stay away what was bad for me. I wasn’t going to go down that addictive path like my mother did. But I was wrong. I went down that path blindly, for 5 years and now I’m craving it. I’m craving /you/.

I’ve always joked around with you and told you that I loved you so much and I was addicted to you, and you were my personal drug. It made you feel good about yourself and you laughed it off accepting the fact that without you, there was nothing for me. I think you liked being that to me. I mean, who wouldn’t want someone around that adored tf out of them, right? It’s almost 2 weeks into our break up and I’m dying out here. It wasn’t until today that I realized and analyzed how addicted to you I really am. Being addicted to you, is worse than cocaine, herion; the worse drug you could possibly think of, it doesn’t compare to the high that you gave me. I was always high with you, I felt on top of the world with you and that nothing could shoot me down, as long as I had you by my side. You made me feel invincible. That’s why I stayed with you, no matter the way you treated me or argument we had, because my love, my high for you overcame all that. You were worth all the side affects.

Now, you’re gone. In the blink of an eye, you were gone and what’s crazy is I didn’t even see it coming bc I thought we were it. You were stuck with me, like I was stuck with you like you told me countless times when we would comfort each other. I believed your words and the tone you took with me when you said it, and I let you get the best of me. I depended on you, I did whatever it took to keep you bc at the thought of you leaving, I forgot to breathe. That’s where I went wrong. I went wrong by giving myself 100% to you, and you barely made 50%. You tricked me into thinking that you were in love with me too. Guess the jokes on me now huh?

Now I’m here, and my mind is my greatest enemy. I need a full out detox, of you. I need to stop looking for you and for having so much hope. I need to stop getting my fix and feeding my addiction. Thinking about you, our good memories, I need to stop looking at your social media, stop checking your tumblr to see if you’re online, all of it. Because that’s all killing me slowly and torturing myself. It’s like.. the fact that I’ve stayed away for two weeks means nothing to me because in my head, I still had hope. I still wanted you and waited for you. But. You’re not coming back. I could tell by the way you last spoke to me, no emotion in your voice that you wanted to be done. So there’s no reason for me to dwell on it anymore. You didn’t love me, plain and simple. I was just someone who was there for you and someone you felt comfortable with. Someone you liked to control. A toy, a game. A game that you knew you would always win. Now I’m the one suffering, the /only/ one suffering.

And no, just because I’m still in love with you, it doesn’t mean I’m crazy, because I’m not. I think you mistake being crazy for being in love. You’ve let me go, and you’re spending your time with God knows who, and doing god knows what and I’m assuming you’re happy with your life, your life without me. Because you haven’t come back yet, and knowing you it’s probably bc you’re doing the opposite of what an addict does, you’re thinking of every single reason to stay away from me, all my bad qualities which is something I’ve also should of done from the beginning. But you know me, I always see the best in everyone and with you, well as you put it, I put you so high on the pedestal that I refused to see anything negative about you, and you wanted so bad to keep that image that I had of you in my head, that that’s all saw for the longest time. Not anymore.

Thinking of you as perfect feeds my addiction, because it makes me believe that we still have a chance, but we don’t. You killed that when you walked away from me and left me here to fend for myself. Which I been getting by. I’ve had to become independent for the first time ever in my entire life and deal with the depression you gave me. I have to baby myself and remind myself that it’ll be okay and in the end I’ll see why things are the way they are. Believe me, doing it alone is no joke but somehow I wake up to see another day, every day. I guess that alone is a win itself.

That’s the thing about being addicted to a person and trying to get over a heartbreak. There is no fix for it to go away. Your mind has to mentally be strong for your whole body to get better. Your body has to be in sync again. I’ll get there. I don’t wanna be addicted to you anymore, it’s doing me more harm than good. I can’t be addicted to someone who doesn’t care. Time for me to sober up.