#both of which have a target audience of 1 (me)

[vigilskept]

terrifying what kind of brainrot veilguard solas can spark in a person’s brain. i haven’t even reached the ending in my playthrough w/ a lavellan inquisitor and i’ve written like 10K in a weekend. what the fuck.

[copperbadge]

I'm getting depressingly good at identifying the formula for Pop Academic Books About ADHD.

Regardless of their philosophy it pretty much goes like this:

1. Emotionally sensitive essay about the struggle of ADHD and the author's personal experience with it as both a person with ADHD and a healthcare professional.

2. Either during or directly following this, a lightly explicated catalogue of symptoms, illustrated by anecdotes from patient case studies. Optional: frequent, heavy use of metaphor to explain ADHD-driven behavior.

3. Several chapters follow, each dedicated to a symptom; these have a mini-formula of their own. They open with a patient case study, discuss the highly relatable aspects of the specific symptom or behavior, then offer some lightweight examples of a treatment for the symptom, usually accompanied by follow up results from the earlier case studies.

4. Somewhere around halfway-to-two-thirds through the book, the author introduces the more in-depth explication of the treatment system (often their own homebrew) they are advocating. These are generally both personally-driven (as opposed to suggested cultural changes, which makes sense given these books' target audience, more on this later) and composed of an elaborate system of either behavior alteration or mental reframing. Whether this system is actually implementable by the average reader varies wildly.

5. A brief optional section on how to make use of ADHD as a tool (usually referring to ADHD or some of its symptoms as a superpower at least once). Sometimes this section restates the importance of using the systems from part 4 to harness that superpower. Frequently, if present, it feels like an afterthought.

6. Summation and list of further resources, often including other books which follow this formula.

I know I'm being a little sarcastic, but realistically there's nothing inherently wrong about the formula, like in itself it's not a red flag. It's just hilariously recognizable once you've noticed it.

It makes sense that these books advocate for the Reader With ADHD undertaking personal responsibility for their treatment, since these are in the tradition of self-help publishing. They're aimed at people who are already interested in doing their own research on their disability and possible ways to handle it. It's not really fair to ask them to be policy manuals, but I do find it interesting that even books which advocate stuff like volunteering (for whatever reason, usually to do with socialization issues and isolation, often DBT-adjacent) never suggest disability activism either generally or with an ADHD-specific bent.

None of these books suggest that perhaps life with ADHD could be made easier with increased accommodations or ease of medication access, and that it might be in a person's best interest to engage in political advocacy surrounding these and other disability-related issues. Or that activism related to ADHD might help to give someone with ADHD a stronger sense of ownership of their unique neurology. Or that if you have ADHD the idea of activism or even medical self-advocacy is crushingly stressful, and ways that stress might be dealt with.

It does make me want to write one of my own. "The Deviant Chaos Guide To Being A Miscreant With ADHD". Includes chapters on how to get an actual accurate assessment, tips for managing a prescription for a controlled substance, medical and psychiatric self-advocacy for people who are conditioned against confrontation, When To Lie About Being Neurodivergent, policy suggestions for ADHD-related legislation, tips for activism while executively dysfunked, and to close the book a biting satire of the pop media idea of self-care. ("Feeling sad? Make yourself a nice pot of chicken soup from scratch and you'll feel better in no time. Stay tuned after this rambling personal essay for the most mediocre chicken soup recipe you've ever seen!" "Have you considered planning and executing an overly elaborate criminal heist as a way to meet people and stay busy?")

Every case study or personal anecdote in the book will have a different name and demographics attached but will also make it obvious that they are all really just me, in the prose equivalent of a cheap wig, writing about my life. "Kelly, age seven, says she struggles to stay organized using the systems neurotypical children might find easy. I had to design my own accounting spreadsheet in order to make sure I always have enough in checking to cover the mortgage, she told me, fidgeting with the pop socket on her smartphone."

I feel a little bad making fun, because these books are often the best resource people can get (in itself concerning). It's like how despite my dislike of AA, I don't dunk on it in public because I don't want to offer people an excuse not to seek help. It feels like punching down to criticize these books, even though it's a swing at an industry that is mainly, it seems, here to profit from me. But one does get tired of skimming the hype for the real content only to find the real content isn't that useful either.

Les (not his real name) was diagnosed at the age of 236. Charming, well-read, and wealthy, he still spent much of his afterlife feeling deeply inadequate about his perceived shortcomings. "Vampire culture doesn't really acknowledge ADHD as a condition," he says. "My sire wouldn't understand, even though he probably has it as well. You should see the number of coffins containing the soil of his homeland that he's left lying forgotten all over Europe." A late diagnosis validated his feelings of difference, but on its own can't help when he hyperfocuses on seducing mortals who cross his path and forgets to get home before sunrise. "I have stock in sunburn gel companies," he jokes.

[sanijoys]

HC: Bunny Isekai 1

Discontinue

This Head canon is taken inspiration from another author. They have given me permission to take inspiration from their work with credits of the original :> @lotusarchon :D

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You and your friend love the story of Sun Wukong or JTTW but how you two got introduced to it were so different.

she first discover LMK in which she begged you to watch it with her. At first, you were fine with the story, however as it progressed you started to feel regret in agreeing to watching it.

The show wasn't bad per se, rather it was how the show portrays the OG characters from the source material that being JTTW.

Although you kept reminding yourself that this was just an adaptation and the target audience are children. BUT STILL.

You begged your friend to try reading or at least watch a summary (heck, you even recommended her to watch the live series) of the original story of JTTW. You made sure that she will only be watching/reading the original and not another adaptation.

You were to happy that you were able to convince her to watch a summary of it (bless your soul). And you gleefully took every reaction she made.

"Who tf is Erlang?"

"Red Son got his ass kicked by his own uncle? What?"

"WHO TF IS THI- HE CHEATED ON PIF????"

"You mean to tell me that LBD was a fucking weak demon??? HUH??"

"DBK wasn't trapped inside a mountain?!" "ye-"

The list of reaction goes on, and you took it all like drinking wine.

Of course she took two days break (both from watching LMK and the OG JTTW) because she REFUSED to believe that DBK cheated on his wife. WHOM SHE THOUGHT HE LOVED. (you told her that he did cheated and that at least PIF got her girl boss moment).

But despite after watching the summary she still choose the Lego show (much to your despair). She was still thankful of you for letting her watch the OG.

Although you tolerate the show, you can never have it in you to linking it.

And don't get yourself started with another one that your friend found. Black Myth Wukong.

You first discovered that game through a Youtube short but chose to ignore it. That is until your friend found it.

She watched it before you, and gave you the link to watch it. Her words being "It looks so cool and I love the story! You might love it too!"

She also mentioned to you that thee game was accurate to the original story. (you hade your doubts)

Although you were slightly hesitating in watching it. You kept getting video shorts of it for a whole week. You were at your end point so you watched the 20 hours gameplay.

To say that you had many, many points about the game.

You like the graphics of the game. The music? Oh damn it is majestic. The animations were so good that you often re watched it (especially in Ne zha's scene). And the voice acting? UGH, you can just sit there and rewind to listen to Erlang's voice. But these are just the good points.

The bad points.... What. The. Fuck.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT ZHU BAJIE WIFE IS THE SPIDER QUEEN???? (you had to look back both live series, book, and summary to check if you missed that part).

You were so confused with the black bear story too. Because didn't you (black bear) swore to Guanyin and become the mountain's guardian deity??? You were also confused with Elder Jinchi's dialogue because why did he mentioned the two best friends of the black bear???? Huh???

Also, who tf is Ping Ping? And what do you mean Red Son was born through the River of Child Bearing??? WHAT????

You were breaking down throughout the gameplay because you couldn't help but think how the devs literally altered almost most of the story points.

YES, you knew that the game plot was basically a what if situation if Wukong choose to rebel the heaven's (again) so he can get rid of the golden headband so that he can be finally be free from the clutches of the Heaven's.

But that's the thing... the golden headband was removed after the journey. His headband was finally removed because he found enlightenment. He was literally named as a Buddha.

Your brain at the end of the video was fried from all the recalling just to make those points. And yes, you did create a power point presentation to your friend showing those said bad points.

Did you have a small argument with your friend about it? Yes. Did she realized that she was actually wrong to assume that it was an accurate adaptation? Yes (it took you 2 hours to make her admit it). Were satisfied after that? Absolutely.

You lazily watched the series of LMK (the season 5) as you ate your spicy noodles. You can hear your friend from the other side of the vc squealing when MK was able to come back to his friends.

Although you showed your disinterest to continue watching the show to your friend. She bribed you with free spicy noodles and ramen for 2 weeks. So in the end, you agreed even though you didn't want to. But hey, at least you got free food for 2 weeks.

You sigh internally when it was the end of thee show, 'Finally, its done.'

"So, what did you think of the ending, bubble?"

Bubble, the nickname she gave you. Why did she nicknamed you that? You didn't want to know.

"It was good, although it would have been interesting to have an episode of Ne zha and his dad's interaction," You continued while swirling the soup of the noodles, "Cause' I wanted to see how their relation go."

"Or is it because you wanted to see more Ne zha scene?"

You can hear her smugness.

"Both."

She giggles from your honesty, "I still don't get how you don't like the show but you show favoritism to one of the characters."

You gulp down the soup and replied, "Not my fault that they made the character hot."

"Ah, fair."

You throw the cup in the trach can next to your desk, "Anyways, didn't you said that after this episode you'll be doing your research paper, Cheesy?"

A nickname that you gave her since she was basically is obsesses with cheese. It's also because she gave you a confusing nickname too.

You hear her groan from your headset as you exit the share screen in discord.

"Ugh, but don't wannaaaaaa......"

Rolling your eyes you told her that it's either she sacrifice the downfall of her grades or not. This made her groan again but she said she'll do it. Thus making her say her goodbyes, leaving you alone in the vc.

'Hm, I wanna eat ice cream,' You drool at the idea, 'Amma just check my wallet.'

You found that you had enough for four. Huzza!

You went and grab your cap. You went down from your room, informing your mother where you will gone to, and asked your brother if he also wanted ice cream.

after that you leisurely walked to your local convenient store across the street. As you went to cross the road, you heard someone shouting.

At first you didn't mind it. After all, this is a loud street that you lived in. But it seems that this was your biggest mistake.

Because you felt a hard impact hit the back of your head. Causing you to fall on the pavement, you felt your head ringing. Trying to get up from the ground but then you felt another impact...

Before you knew it....everything turned black.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wewo :3

[rainbowsky]

In the last months I was wondering and being a bit preoccupied with GG not having new endorsements and losing existing ones. Also with him staying away from show appearances and now not going on any NY show. But the last couple of days I keep thinking that he’s trying to escape that “traffic star” stigma and keeping it low key. Even though his album broke any record there was ti be broken. What do you think of GG’s “behavior” towards the c-ent this past year?

Hi Karamelina2005 😊

If you're genuinely hand-wringing over GG's career and endorsements, I think that's a pointless waste. GG is doing exceptionally well. While he doesn't have as many endorsements as DD does right now, the ones he does have are dominated by luxury brands and high end products. He's also still one of the top people in the industry in terms of number of endorsement contracts. He's doing fine.

Frankly, when an endorsement of his doesn't renew I always assume it's because they can't afford him anymore. No one - no one - has the power to move goods like GG does. No one is even on the same continent when it comes to sales. Let me guarantee you he's one of - if not THE - most sought after brand endorsement contracts in China.

I don't know how long you've been around, but over time you'll likely come to see that endorsements come and go. It's a totally normal, totally routine part of doing business. Brands are constantly shifting their strategies and adjusting their audience targets, budgets fluctuate, etc. etc. etc. - all of this leading to changes in spokespeople. This is completely normal.

I also think it's important for fans to remember that GG and DD are not social media influencers, they're actors. Endorsements will never be the central focus of their careers, and if anything they're likely to gradually do fewer endorsements as their careers become more serious and more established. Fans should resist the urge to measure GG and DD's careers by endorsement contracts.

Artists in China are also required by the government to be accountable for the brands they endorse. They must only endorse products and services they themselves or close family members are using. Someone like GG is going to be very picky about which contracts he takes on. He's a shrewd businessman who cares about how he is perceived and what he represents.

Frankly, the kind of people who worry about this type of thing tend to be insecure fans who are trying compete to one-up other fandoms for whose idol has the most clout. It's incredibly stupid and pointless.

We don't even know the details of their endorsement contracts, so it's pointless to try to bean-count over them. What would you rather have - 10 contracts valued at $100K each, or one valued at $1 million? The amount of money might be the same, but the amount of work is dramatically different.

So I urge people not to worry about such things. We don't know what's really happening behind the scenes.

As for live appearances, he hasn't done a live NYE performance for years. I honestly don't know why people still insist on expecting it of him. It's obviously not something he's making a priority.

Why? Well, only GG knows for sure, but I suspect there are multiple factors at play. The traffic star issue is a big one I've talked a lot about in the past. Both GG and DD have been transitioning away from that perception and more toward the path of serious actors/performers. But there are other factors as well.

Given that he has his own material out now, and a license to produce live performances, he may want to save himself for a future concert of his own (we can hope, anyway).

Frankly he doesn't need to do things like that. He's one of the top stars in China right now, and scarcity seems to make him even more anticipated by audiences.

He might not want to deal with the stress and hassle of preparing for and doing a performance like that. There is a LOT that goes into those performances, and a lot of stress and unpredictability. The last time he did Dragon TV there were huge audio issues that almost ruined his performance. He hasn't done NYE since. (Before anyone takes that and runs with it and assumes that's why - we have no proof of that. I'm just saying it's a lot of work and a lot of stress and if you don't need to do it, why bother?)

I suspect that control is a huge factor here. He is in a position now where he can pick and choose situations where he has a lot of choice and power. Why would he go back into unpredictable situations?

He said in an interview a while back that he hasn't been doing variety show appearances because he finds dealing with people's expectations and reactions too stressful. It's possible that applies here as well.

He wants to spend time with his parents, relaxing and watching DD on TV. He rarely gets much time off, and I have no doubt that he wants to make the most of it.

In terms of 'attitude toward the industry', I think both GG and DD have been doing their own thing, focusing on doing the kinds of projects and activities they enjoy rather than chasing after every opportunity. Gone are the days when they'd be packing their calendars full of a wide range of activities of varying value and appeal. Their choices seem far more curated and personal these days. I talked about that a fair bit in the past, including recent posts.

GG debut anniversary

DD debut anniversary

DD Exploring the Unknown

GG and project choices

I believe they're both doing their own thing, taking their own paths, and working toward having greater control over their careers, greater control over their projects, more time for their private lives, etc. and it shows.

I mean, just look at GG's album release and it becomes obvious that we don't need to worry about his career. The man has - on top of all the big projects he's been doing with top directors and top luxury brands - been developing and recording an album of his own, completely on his own time and with his own money and team, without any of it leaking, and with the few melons about it totally not believed by audiences. That's a pretty big flex.

And the album has been a massive, massive success.

So yeah. Don't worry about GG. One thing you can be certain of is that he will always focus on what's best for him and his career, and he's smart and capable and surrounded by experts whose entire job is to support that process.

[eurothug4000]

PIGLET'S BIG GAME - INTERVIEW WITH PASCAL CAMMISOTTO

Earlier this week I interviewed Pascal (game designer on Piglet's Big Game 2003) about the making of the title that has received a whirlwind of attention online recently. You can find more information in my video that's going up today on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@eurothug4000/videos

How did the project come into existence?

At that time, Doki Denki studio was already working with Disney. 

We had released three PlayStation 1 games with them. Disney was working on the film Piglet's Big Movie and was looking for a studio to develop the video game alongside it. 

I don’t want to say anything inaccurate, but I believe it was, officially, our first PlayStation 2 game released on the market.

If the information I found online is correct, Piglet's Big Movie was released after Piglet's Big Game came out! Were you given any direction by Disney on what the game should be like and if it should be similar to the movie in any way? Or did you have complete freedom in designing the game (story, gameplay etc.) as you wish?

I’m not too sure anymore how everything came together, but I believe Disney didn’t give us access to the film's content. 

They were very secretive (and I think that was quite common at the time). They just wanted a ‘product’ to accompany the movie release. 

All we knew was that it revolved around Piglet. So the game’s story was developed by us (the game design team), as narrative designers didn’t exist back then. 

We had a lot of freedom, both in writing and game design, and I think that was partly thanks to Disney's producer, Risa Cohen. She really supported our decisions in the interest of quality.

What do you specifically remember working on for the game? (Certain levels, overall gameplay loop etc.?)

I remember several things: the horror gameplay, which was completely new for this target audience; the hour of real-time cinematics that I directed with the animation team; the cameras in each room that I placed as best as I could to follow the action; and finally, the overly difficult combat (which I wanted to tone down, but wasn’t allowed to. ^^). 

The atmosphere in the studio was fantastic, and I genuinely recall a sense of pride in what we were doing. 

Yes, it was a kids’ game, and yes, sometimes it was cheesy, but we still had so much fun making it, as if we were making it for ourselves. It was truly a great project.

Do you remember what the reception was to the game at the time of its release?

Yes, the game was very well received. It was considered by reviewers to be a very good children’s game. At that time, many licensed games (especially those for kids) were rushed and uninspired. 

That wasn’t our philosophy at the studio. We wanted to make a good game, even if the target audience was very young. 

I think that’s why the game surprised people with its strong approach and quality.

Have you seen some of the posts about Piglet's Big Game recently? What was your reaction to seeing them if so?

Absolutely not. I just found out, and of course, I’m thrilled that it’s being talked about again!

People online are talking about the "horror" aspects of the game, were these intentional? Was the aim to have a game that had elements of the horror genre?

When Disney spoke with the studio about this game, Marc Albinet (the head of game design, my boss) immediately wanted to make ‘a Resident Evil for kids.’ 

I believe he even went to Disney to pitch the idea, and he must have been convincing because they said yes. 

Since we didn’t have access to the movie’s script, we created a story centered around Piglet. It focused on his lack of self-confidence and the courage he would need to help his friends, who were asleep and trapped in a nightmare. 

The horror element was tied to these nightmares that the player would need to resolve.

Are there any links or anything that you'd like me to mention so people can find you online, or any projects you're working on?

You can find me on X (@KaMiZoTo), but I rarely tweet. Since my time at Doki Denki, I've gained quite a bit of experience, and now I have my own studio: 

http://drawmeapixel.com

We released in 2020 "There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension", which I recommend everyone try without watching any let’s plays to avoid spoilers! (The experience relies on surprise.)

We’re also working on a new secret project with the same meta spirit!

A big thank you to Pascal for taking the time to talk about the game!

[altruistic-meme]

skk fic rec time !!! 🖤🖤

okay i officially have more skk fics bookmarked on my ao3 than my sister has fics in general bookmarked on hers. so. it is time for another ficrec list by abram, bsd/skk version this time!!!

i have no idea yet how many fics will be on this list. i will go until i decide to stop. but as of right now i have 124 bsd fics bookmarked and i definitely won't be listing all of them so if anyone wants a pt. 2 then i certainly have the material to do that.

i'm not putting warnings with the fics, but bc this is BSD please do take note of tags and warnings that are given! i read a lot of fics with darker material so do be cautious!

One-Shots:

keep you alive, set you on fire by flyby @orbitalflyby (Explicit, 23k) Dazai steps out in a dress and heels for a mission, since the gown won't fit Yosano. He's only supposed to spend an hour or so leading their targets on a dance around a charity gala, but the unexpected arrival of a certain Port Mafia Executive threatens to disrupt all his plans. And when he and Chuuya find themselves finally face to face, they end up entwined in a tense game of mutual provocation...

~

Don't Pull Your Punches by kanekei (Teen and Up Audiences, 5k) Everyone thinks that their partnership is a series of Dazai being a troublemaker while Chuuya is helplessly dragged along for the ride. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Some days it feels like Dazai is the only one aware of how insane Chuuya actually is. OR: 3 times Dazai cleans up after Chuuya + 1 time he doesn’t bother

~

The 5 Elements of an Apology by artemisiatea (Teen and Up Audiences, 6k) in which dazai learns that change is hard, but accountability is harder

~

Tea Over Rice by the_most_happy (Teen and Up Audiences, 8k) “Oi, Dazai— what would people say if they saw us?” Dazai gave him a puzzled look. “That we’re happy,” he answered. He made it sound simple; he made it sound pure. “They would say we’re happy.” They never stopped being Double Black — just different clothes and less blood on their hands. [Or: What if Dazai and Chuuya escaped the Port Mafia together?]

~

Lost All Judgement by todxrxki (Teen and Up Audiences, 12k) “Uh, sorry, but unfortunately I already have a date to the dance.” “Oh, really?” Tachihara says, sounding disappointed. He pauses for a second, clearly processing what Chuuya’s just told him, and then says, “Who is it?” Chuuya certainly hadn’t budgeted for this. Panicking, he tries to think of the people that he knows that are single, and before he knows it, the first name that comes to mind is slipping out of his mouth. “With Dazai.” / After a momentary lapse in judgment, high school student Chuuya ends up having to pretend to date his enemy Dazai to get Tachihara off of his back - and quickly finds it's nowhere as bad as he'd imagined.

~

oh darling it's alarming to think of us apart (you know you've got me in your pocket) by interludewings (Teen and Up Audiences, 20k) “Okay so if we’re both still single when we’re twenty two,” Dazai’s smile grew even wider. “Let’s marry each other.” By the time Chuuya’s twenty two, he’d probably be in a relationship with someone else, and the possibilities of them even remembering each other were slim to none. And so, Chuuya gave his answer. “Fine, let’s do that.” In short, fifteen year olds Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya made a stupid promise one day in their school library out of boredom, which leads to the next seven years of their life filled with fighting, burnt notebooks and late night conversations.

~

The Undercover Mission by OldSauk411 (Teen and Up Audiences, 16k) It all started when Atsushi was sent to drop off some papers that the Port Mafia had let them borrow. That was when he saw her, the woman with orange hair and blue eyes standing in the Port Mafia's hallways and talking. She was beautiful if he was being honest. However, after he left, he forgot about her- at least until a few months later, when the ADA and the Port Mafia teamed up for an undercover mission. One that was led by said 'woman'. Aka, Chuuya Nakahara. _____ Or: Atsushi sees a woman from a distance and thinks she's beautiful, up until the Port Mafia and the ADA team up for an undercover mission and it's revealed that the woman was actually Chuuya Nakahara.

~

Nothing but your spine by osamuchuu (Mature, 6k) “Oi, Dazai. We’re here.” Chuuya reached into the car to shake Dazai’s shoulders a bit, rearranging his coat to lay over the man’s back. Dazai swayed and blinked up at him. Whatever painkillers he’d been given had stolen the sharpness from his face. Dazai looked fifteen again, wide-eyed and vulnerable. And then he smiled. He smiled and Chuuya’s heart stuttered because it was so fucking real, so small and different from all the painted faces he wore now. This was dangerous.

~

strange loyalties by finalizer @tarmairons (Mature, 13k) “The Agency dorms are being fumigated,” Dazai explained cheerfully. “So, I offered—Atsushi can stay with us.” Or: Atsushi's observations from inside Yokohama's strangest household.

[sidenote: this is actually a sequel fic and while i loved the first one, this one really just took me to a whole other plane of existence which is why it's the one on the rec list. i do also rec the first one though!]

~

Yokohama public High School- almost as crazy as their pep rallies by BlowingYourMind (General Audiences, 20k) "The slacks! They're way too tight on him! Exactly no teachers ass should be like that, the students may be offended-" "Dazai, I think you're the only one that notices, and maybe refrain from eyeing up your co-workers like that-" "But how can I not!" Dazai huffed "It's right there in front of my face, it's hideous!" Oda sighed. he was just an average man with an average job gaining an average salary, but he would need to find a way to help Dazai and his obvious crush on Chuuya Nakahara before he lost his sanity. Or The story of how Chemistry teacher Dazai Osamu fell helplessly for coach Nakahara Chuuya, and the student body's many attempts to get them together.

~

If you refuse to listen I'll say it twice, love of my life by olympiansally @olympiansally (Mature, 15k) There’s Atsushi, Dazai’s star pupil. There’s Fyodor, arguably Dazai’s soulmate, a single mind in two bodies. There’s Kunikida, Dazai’s partner. There’s Oda, the reason Dazai wants to live. And then there’s Chuuya. If he asked Dazai to define him, to name his purpose, Chuuya already knows what he would hear. Chuuya is his dog, Chuuya is a slug, Chuuya is a chibi. And sure, maybe he is. But none of that is enough. Or, Chuuya can’t figure out what he means to Dazai exactly, but if he would only listen, he would realize that Dazai has been telling him all along.

~

In the throes of Corruption by BlowingYourMind (Teen and Up Audiences, 7k) Dazai’s ability ‘No longer human’ ironically made Chuuya human. It stripped him of the god that set his insides to flame and wreaked havoc. Corruption was terrible to Chuuya but Dazai’s touch never was. Or Five times Dazai helps Chuuya through the throes of Corruption.

~

hide the truth by writingfromtheshadows (Not Rated, 24k) When Chuuya wakes up in the middle of an ongoing fight without any memory of how he got there or what happened to him, he ends up turning to someone saved as 'bandage-waster' in his phone. Somehow, it just feels like the right decision.

~

Dream a little dream of me by BlowingYourMind (Teen and Up Audiences, 9k) "What would you like to dream of, Chuuya?" Dazai asked, and his partner shifted in the bed before settling down. "I dunno idiot, you pick." Dazai hummed, "I believe I can arrange that." Chuuya's eyelashes fluttered against Dazai's palm as Dazai continued to speak, voice turning into a whisper as he spoke late into the night. Or Chuuya can't dream, and Dazai has a soloution that quickly turns into a routine between the two of them.

~

Multichapter fics (all complete)

in the mirror, i bloom by ephemeralis (Teen and Up Audiences, 12k, 2/2) It twists him, turns him, curls in his chest like something alive, something he knows but can’t dare to name. Chuuya curses the red-black petals that fall from his lips, these nearly rotten things that tear him apart from the inside out. Part of him wants to rip his own traitorous heart out, through a ribcage shattered by feelings he can’t contain. Anger is easy, a thing he’s learned to control. This— whatever the hell this is— is not. Or at least it’s easier to feel as though this is beyond his own control, because Chuuya is not in love. (It feels like a lie even to himself.) After he's hit by a strange ability, Chuuya is forced to consider truths he'd much rather keep hidden- but not everything is as simple it seems.

[sidenote: this was the first bsd fic i ever read and HOOOOLLY CRAP what a beautiful way to join the fandom. i've reread this fic several times since. stunning.]

~

where your loyalties lie by writingfromtheshadows (Explicit, 163k, 20/20) Loyalty is the foundation of the yakuza code, something that was drilled into Chuuya at an early age. However, his lessons did not cover how to manage a political marriage with his organization's oldest rival.

~

Inseparable by milwritsecausewhynot (Teen and Up Audiences, 107k, 21/21) Best friends is too simple a term to squash the entire dynamic of Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya within. Sure, they’ve known each other since they were children, and they’re each other’s #1 on their best friend lists on Snapchat, and Chuuya’s been seen one too many times in his hoodies. People have also noticed how Dazai’s main muse for his volunteer hobby of polaroid photographer is the redhead himself. But the pranks they pull on each other isn’t much of a ‘best friend’ thing to do. Especially when one of the pranks get pulled so far, That Chuuya is forbidden from seeing Dazai ever again. And though he sees no good coming from such a forced separation, the one thing that can enhance their futures together is propelled forward at a faster speed than either of them could have ever imagined: Coming to terms with their unusual feelings for each other.

~

Do I Get My Worthless Reward Yet? by World_Ender22 (Teen and Up Audiences, 40k, 10/10) Chuuya has always been certain of two things: he is going to die young, and it will be Corruption that kills him. So when the Boss orders him to use his Corrupted form without an out, he is neither surprised nor distressed. He simply does what he's told. When Dazai learns that the whole thing is a ploy to make him rejoin the Mafia, he plans to beat Mori at his own game... starting with convincing Chuuya to join the Armed Detective Agency. / Soukoku

~

When I Awake by wildflowertea @wildflowerteas (Mature, 235k, 23/23) Dazai Osamu has been in a coma for exactly one year, seven months, and twenty-two days. But Death still refuses to take him. Trapped in the space between worlds, and unable to die, Dazai waits, killing what precious time he may have left and hoping—praying—that his family will pull the plug and move on. He doesn't expect someone to move into his old apartment instead. Nakahara Chuuya, two-time Grammy awards winner, and freshly unemployed pessimist, has never believed in fate—much less the supernatural. But the lively—if a bit annoying—ghost of his apartment's previous tenant, might just change everything.

~

hopelessly devoted by soukocacola (Explicit, 188k, 18/18) "Get your grades up." Oda tells him. "Then we'll talk." Well, Dazai thinks. If he's going to be miserable, the least he can do is make Chuuya miserable, too. Maybe then Chuuya will ditch him and Dazai can fail out of college with no regrets. 

~

His Prized Experiment by fauxtales @fauxfroot (Mature, 94k, 18/18) "As terrifying as it could be, there was something just so freeing in using Corruption. It is, after all, his strongest state. No one can harm him when he uses Corruption; he is all but invincible. There are days when he lets himself dream. There is the part of him wondering if that’s just the god or his instincts trying to convince him to unleash pure chaos and destruction on the world, but that thought is easy enough to push away. He has no control in that state after all." As a teenager, Chuuya is subjected to experiments at Mori's hand in an attempt to find a way to control Corruption. Now, years later, Mori has decided it's time to revisit the experiments. Dazai is having none of it. But can they really leave their entire life behind?

~

death offers no absolution by Zairielon (Mature, 62k, 10/10) After so many years in the Port Mafia, Chuuya thought he couldn't be phased by anything - that he had carried out the worst orders that would ever be given to him. Then he sees things he never saw before. He sees horror, cruelty, needless suffering. He sees death in every step he takes. Chuuya is only human, too. Eventually, he breaks. OR, Chuuya leaves the Port Mafia and attempts to escape his bloodstained past.

~

from a to o, i love you so by anticide @anticidic (Explicit, 22k, 3/3) Here they were dancing a dangerous tango and crossing lines and blurring boundaries that neither Fukuzawa nor Mori would take kindly to. Dazai was supposed to have gotten over Chuuya, not melted in his embrace and bound them together for an eternity. (Or: Dazai and Chuuya's unconventional relationship sparks a radical change within Dazai when he wakes up one day under the weather and feeling very, very off.)

~

My Body is Your Body (I Won't Tell Anybody) by thereweregiants (Explicit, 26k, 2/2) Thanks to a rogue ability user, Dazai and Chuuya find themselves switching bodies. ...yeah, there's no way this ends well.

~

Mission - Entrancing Armed Detective Agency by cocktailjjrs (Teen and Up Audiences, 105k, 12/12) “Charming? Have you finally started dreaming now?” Dazai turned to face his longtime partner again “Say what you want, asshole, but people like me better anyway” Chuuya ignored the jab at his lack of dreams, only shrugging in response. “I can bet anything in this world that you can’t be liked by everyone. Your efforts will be fruitless by the end of the day” “Wanna bet?” Chuuya smirked “You’re on!” Dazai returned the smirk “I’ll tell you who your target will be” . . . In which, Dazai and Chuuya are upto their old shenanigans and make a bet. As a result - Bonds are formed, secrets are revealed, money is spent, devious plans are concatenated; someone gets drugged, someone gets punched, someone gets a wakeup slap. And Chuuya's 'brute' image is at imminent risk. All of this - to with the bet!

~

Prey to Your Instincts by skylorr (Mature, 98k, 8/8) He was a beta. He was normal. Barely any scent, no cycles, no mating instincts. Just plain old normal. At least, that’s what he thought. He thought he was normal. But instead, Dazai is currently curled up on his single mattress in the shipping container that he calls home as he sweats profusely and struggles through cramps, pains, and the desire to nest. His mattress has a single thin blanket, which apparently does not satisfy the omega instincts trying to claw their way out of his mind. He was so close, too; days away from his 17th birthday, the birthday that would have officially made him a beta. Hope is a killer disease.

[sidenote: there is also a sequel to this fic that i recommend just as much! it's still a WIP <3]

~

Illustrations of Lying by writingfromtheshadows (Mature, 49k, 20/20) It is more difficult, perhaps, to bear with fortitude the little daily trails of life, than great calamities, because we summon up all our spiritual and moral strength to resist the latter...  Upon faced with the culmination of Mori's plan, Dazai does not go to Odasaku's side. Instead, he relieves Mori of his duties.

~

i'll bleed out for you by StarshipDancer @neonganymede (Mature, 75k, 7/7) What a shitty way to die.... Less than forty-eight hours ago, they’d been impaled together, and Chuuya had feared that the broken metal pole had pinned him in place against a corpse. Now, he worried that a corpse sat next to him, nothing more than a poorly-crafted imitation of his ex-partner. ... And what an even shittier situation to be stuck in. Or, A mission goes wrong, and Soukoku die together. Except, they don't, but now they're stuck in a safe house pretending that they did. And if Chuuya wants to find out what went wrong with Dazai's plan, he'll first have to find a way around the wall of silence that his former partner has built to keep him out.

~

Cigarette Game by chowderpuff (Teen and Up Audiences, 9k, 2/2) Chuuya has a crush on Dazai. Dazai knows this, and he thinks it’s a prime opportunity to mess with his partner a little. After all, why not? Chuuya’s reactions to his flirting are priceless, a new little bonus feature to the game between them, and Dazai actually starts to find it more entertaining than outright arguing. It’s all harmless fun until Dazai realizes that he has feelings too. Then it's decidedly not.

[ author's tumblrs are tagged when i could find them! if you know one who wasn't tagged or if you're an author and would like to be untagged, let me know! ]

[mydollsaregay]

new ag historical releases, let's go!!!!

nanea

nanea's volunteer outfit is $36 and her care kit accessories are $40.

nanea got an outfit that is both cute and story-relevant (according to some other folks, i haven't gotten to her books yet)! that's pretty hype, man! this is a pretty cute fit - it comes in multiple parts (shirt, skirt with suspenders, and tie), which is a bonus, too. it's not 100% my style, but i'll definitely be picking it up at some point (i'll likely wait for a sale, though). the only thing i actively dislike is her bow barette. it's not that i think it's historically inaccurate or anything (i don't think it's inaccurate, but idk), i just am personally not a fan of plastic bows. that's fine though, i'll just replace it with a ribbon.

now, nanea's accessories on the other hand are OUTSTANDING. all the little items are so incredibly cute. my only wish would be for less plastic, and real leather instead of faux leather, but that ain't happening in this era of ag. i love all the little items, and i love that the flashlight really works! i'll definitely be picking this up.

maryellen

maryellen's 2-in-1 outfit is $36, her dinner accessories are $36, and her stove is $125.

maryellen received a new playsuit outfit, finally!!! i'm so excited to have more clothes for her that it looks like she can actually play in! it's really cute, too. it's not my favorite color scheme for her, unfortunately, but i can work with it. i still think her originally vacation playsuit and her strawberry outfit are superior (and suit her coloring better), but this is plenty cute.

her accessories and stove are cute enough, but just not for me. i don't really have anything else to say about them.

melody

melody's salon outfit is $36, her salon accessories are $40, and her salon chair set is $150.

melody's got pants! i love a historical outfit with pants, and this is no exception. once again, the color scheme isn't my most favorite, but it's still super cute. i'll definitely be getting it when i have a chance. i'm also just. so relieved that the poor girl isn't getting cubed. i was worried, with the lack of releases, but this makes me very happy to see.

her salon accessories are bit steep for having no complex pieces, imo. i'd be interested in having them for my melody, but if i don't get the chance to pick them up, it'll be fine. i don't do a lot of different haristyles on my dolls, so i'm not really the target audience here. i do love that the instruction booklet for the hairstyles is made to look like it's from the 60's as well. if this set goes on a major sale, i'll pick it up then.

i'm shocked and pleased that our girl melody got a major play set! it's a pretty cool set. those magazines are awesome, though it's a shame they're gated behind such a big ticket item. the hot comb is so fun. idk how this set will do, but i'm glad ag though melody was worth it. (kinda sad when that's surprising to me but. these are the times we live in.)

overall

i am very happy with this release! i think there's a lot here to please both kids and collectors. i can see myself picking up all of the outfits and most of the accessories at some point, given sales, reward points, gift certificates, etc. I'm not interested in the big ticket items or maryellen's cooking accessories, but that's fine. they aren't meant for me.

while i think all of the outfits are cute, they do follow the color scheme of recent ag releases: they all look a bit like they got run through a "pastel-izer" machine. i get that pastels are fun and cute, (and they likely sell well considering ag keeps doing em), but i'd love a bit more variety. i'm hoping it's a "springtime release" thing, and we might get some more saturated/deeper/darker colors on a historical release this fall or winter. honestly, im also just hoping we get ANY historical release this fall or winter.

things had been pretty quiet with historicals for quite some time before this drop, and tariffs are going to start kicking in sometime soon, so i am going to continue to expect the worst while hoping for the best.

in the end, this release is pretty great!

[starcurtain]

1/?

I use an automatic translator, I'm terribly sorry in advance for any possible mistakes!First of all, I want to wholeheartedly thank the author for the excellent analytics of phaedei! It's hard to overestimate how useful this turned out to be for me as a person who is also starting to look at peyring, but wants to find this line between queerbating and queercoding, between real chemistry and potential and just a pragmatic desire to attract an audience "at any cost."

I would like to leave comments on the entire text, but it seems that I need time for the material to settle in my head and I can draw objective conclusions. But for now, I can write my thoughts on the thesis that it is "atypical" for Hoyoverse to portray MLM dynamics outside the heteronormative framework, because I don't quite seem to agree with him.

I can't say that ship with characters who don't have a clear imbalance of canonical feminine/masculine traits is something new and unusual for Hoyo games.The desire to reduce one character to a feminine image and the other to a masculine one is often more a product of fandom activity. In the canon, these qualities could be distributed much more heterogeneously and ambiguously.

Ayato and Thoma have an imbalance of power, but not femininity and masculinity, and many, on the contrary, interpret Ayato as more refined and aristocratic, "with delicate marble skin" and all that, and Thoma as a more down-to-earth person accustomed to rough and dirty physical work (he is not only a "housewife", but also a mercenary and a "problem solver").

Aventurine and Ratio have a size difference, which fandom can interpret as a classic "yaoi" pattern, but at the same time, Aventurine is not canonically more feminine, shows many traits associated in society with masculine and even toxically masculine behavior, and Ratio is more sexualized, wears makeup, monitors hygiene, contains in his lore and name, references to goddesses (the words "veritas" and "ratio" themselves are linguistically feminine) and does not show bright masculine features. Even the way the characters sit in the materials with them is an example that they did not try to position Ratio as a "big rude man", but Aventurine as an elegant twink.

Thank you for such a detailed response to the post! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, and I read all the parts of the ask you sent in!

Regarding this point, I'm not sure if it was unfortunately lost in the translations, but I did actually mention this in the original post:

"I don't want to say that Hoyo's track record on this front is bad, because honestly it's not. Their male characters often have surprisingly complex expressions of gender identity, with interesting blends of masculine and feminine traits."

But in the long run... I'm just less concerned with how Hoyo conceived of their characters in totality and more concerned with how audiences are encouraged to perceive those characters, as ultimately, the "gain" Hoyo sees from creating queer characters comes from audiences' interest. I believe the developers are very conscious of how players perceive characters and what consumers want to see from male characters. I think no one knows better how audiences will reduce characters (both male and female) to one dimension than the devs themselves lol.

And so, I just don't think it's accidental that a massive majority of Hoyo's MLM ships can be easily crammed into heteronormative patterns by audiences. Hoyo knows what sells and what fandoms love to do with ship-baited characters, and they provide just enough fuel for the fire to achieve the sales they want. Even while developing decent three-dimensional characters of their own, they invoke the fandom tropes on purpose to sell to their specific target audiences.

Characters like Aventurine and Thoma have masculine traits, yes--but then Hoyo deliberately uses feminine traits to market them, so that fans can apply their stereotypical heteronormativity. There's no reason for Thoma to be a housekeeper as well as a mercenary, right? He could just be employed by the Kamisatos as a "problem-solver" alone, but Hoyo added the housekeeper bit for... what reason? He's only a housekeeper because that allows fans to imagine him in a specific heteronormative role. Almost his entire hangout focused on "feminine" aspects (like knitting sweaters, a cleaning challenge, literal housekeeping classes, etc.) intentionally to make him appeal to fans, who Hoyo knew would then feminize him even further. And Aventurine does have masculine traits, I agree, but one of the core traits Hoyo used to sell him is being "in need of rescue," so that the players can feel like white knights for him and generate entire narratives of Aventurine being "healed" by the love of a big strong man (lol), a stereotypical plot that Hoyo deliberately helped along by making Ratio one of his "saviors."

And even though I said Mydei and Phainon was an exception visually, I think they follow the exact same pattern in terms of personality. The reason there's so much bottom!Mydei in fandom is because the devs have intentionally marketed him to take that role. They didn't have to make him a sweet tooth, have characters in-game call him cute for drinking pink milk juice, have him play house, or make him the one who makes food for everyone. Hoyo invoked the trope of the housewife on purpose to sell him (largely to women, but also deliberately to yaoi fans), and the fandom responds by exacerbating that portrayal even further.

I do applaud Hoyo for creating characters that have depth and can play with gender-related concepts in interesting ways, but I'm not willing to say they're oblivious to how fandoms will perceive, adapt, and reduce those characters to stereotypes.

They know exactly what they're doing when they put out another twink next to a big buff man, I promise. 😂

[treason-and-plot]

AWESOME ANON TAG

I was tagged by @justanothersimsblog @bool-prop and @simcatcher

Thank you!

1) How did you come up with such unique & fascinating characters?

It helps to have vivid imagination, but of course for a Sims story a lot if not most of the inspo comes from the Sims themselves. Every Sim has their own story to tell! And a lot of the time I would be drawn to downloading a Sim because of the way they 'spoke' to me. Joël and Cammie come immediately to mind. Joël was the creation of @moremirrah and Cammie the creation of @thenakedsim. I fell in love with both of those Sims as soon as I saw them. They had personalities and charisma that just leapt off the computer screen.

2) When you started writing your story, what did you take into consideration?

The foundation of my story was the attraction between Joël and Anita. So it was basically a love story but from quite a problematic perspective, because Anita was with Harry and had just given birth to Saffron. There was also a twenty year age difference between my two protagonists. So I suppose it would be safe to say that I considered there might be backlash from some readers. And as expected, Anita was the target of a lot of vitriol.

3) How did you shape each character’s background/family?

I have dozens of characters and the process is different for each. I'd run out of space if I had to detail the process for each OC, so I'll just provide the background for Roy as an example. Roy's backstory had its genesis in the fact that he was a sports agent, and that he came from Appaloosa Plains. There was a particular sprawling riverside homestead in Appaloosa Plains that I adored and wanted to decorate and use for gameplay, but the family that lived there had to be wealthy to be able to afford such a property. So Roy's family became well-to-do horse breeders and trainers to align with their surroundings and the horsey game play elements provided by AP. His competitiveness with his brother Douglas also was important in shaping his personality and his career direction.

4) Do you plan everything before starting, or are you more spontaneous?

I'm a total pantser.

5) Does reality inspire you, or do you rely more on your imagination?

I have to give a large slice of inspo to the game, especially when it comes to the characters. The traits, star signs and occupations provided by the game contribute a lot. For example Anita first appeared in my game as an NPC Police Officer, so a Police Officer she remained. She's also a Leo, which helped define her personality. But in general I'd say it's an even split between reality and imagination. I think the majority of my OCs share at least some of my life experiences. A few people I've met in RL have also made it into my story, for example Saoirse's boss, Nadia.

6) When did you KNOW you were going to make this story? 

When I saw Joël autonomously kissing Anita!

7) What has shaped your story into being the way it is?

Definitely the response from readers, good and bad. Posting a story to a social media platform like Tumblr is a unique experience. There's a lot of positives, but negatives as well. One misstep and you can be cancelled. You have to be continually mindful of your audience and I have definitely censored myself on more than one occasion. I would have liked to explore darker themes too, particularly when it came to Naomi's story arc, but the feedback I received wasn't encouraging. So I more or less abandoned it. But you never know, I might resurrect it in the not too distant future!

I would like to tag @sircesimblr @deathfishstyx @pixeldistractions @zosa95 @mysimsloveaffair and @igglemouse. No pressure!💗

[meraki-yao]

The Winter Soldier and What If

God I keep thinking about how "What-if" treated my guy Bucky and I get so mad

It's not just the using stucky plotlines for steggy shit, it's not just keeping Steve's importance for Bucky while erasing Bucky's importance to Steve because God forbid Captain America has a homoerotic Patrochilles type relationship, it's not just the captain carter mess, all of which I can and will probably scream about some day

The one episode where everyone comes together in the 80s to deal with Peter Quill, God, I love me some winter soldier, like full on asset mode (as an audience not as a person God let this poor man be free), but everything with how they treated them drove me insane

Firstly, Carter and Stark immediately recognised the Winter Soldier as Bucky Barnes, despite him having his mask and eye shadow on, which is bullshit. In CATWS, Steve, of all people, only recognised him once his mask and goggles came down and his full face was exposed. Not to mention, neither Carter nor Howard were on the field with the Howlies during WWII, they spend very limited time around Bucky. If Steve didn't recognise him immediately, there's no way those two would have.

Secondly, and this is a mild issue I have, but they call him "Bucky": only Steve ever did, and later with consent, Shuri and Sam (haven't found the time to watch Thunderbolts yet so this might be outdated). This is a childhood nickname; in any other capacity, people called him Barnes, or at most, James. What the hell lady, you have not earned the proximity to call him Bucky.

Thirdly, after Carter says the Winter Soldier looks like Bucky, Stark immediately states that "Even if they're true, the man we knew is long gone". The shock is minimal, there's no confusion, just utilisation. There's no guilt or regret for not looking for him, for failing him. They're using the Winter Soldier to achieve their target, no different from hydra.

And this actually would have been understandable if it weren't for the next point: during the climax of the episode, Winter gets a clear shot of Quill, but his comm is intercepted by Stark, who proceeds to talk him out of it BY TALKING ABOUT STEVE. AND THAT BREAK HIM OUT OF THE COMMAND. This is 1, hypocritical, you say this man is gone but then you use this man's relationship to stop him from your target 2, this doesn't make sense, again as seen in CATWS, it takes a lot to break the winter soldier program: Steve repeatedly called his name, was literally face to face with him, and only after all that, and saving him, and "I'm with you till the end of the line", that led to the tiniest bit of clarity, enough for him to save Steve. You're telling me that the Winter Soldier broke programming just by Stark saying a name he at that point, did not recognise?

And lastly, NONE OF THEM WENT AFTER HIM. They have confirmation that he still has some degree of the consciousness of Bucky Barnes, and his actions during the mission indicates a lack of previous memories, and he still is the world's deadliest assassin, so on multiple levels, both professional and personal, they should have looked for him, but NO ONE WENT AFTER HIM. They're just content with "the winter soldier is out there". WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Seriously, I just... hate what if so much. There are MCU projects that I don't like but this one, I just... despise. They missed the mark so badly. And the biggest blunders happen to be my guys.

[archetypal-archivist]

I think one of the points that stood out to me about Quackity's statement is how professional it sounded and how he knew exactly how to move forward in a situation like this, despite how messy it is. It was short, it was to the point, it was without extraneous excuses or emotion, and it emphasized what went wrong and how he will fix it. End statement.

And I think something that jumped out to me is that- Quackity's trained in this. The dude went to law school. He could probably look at this mess and pick out what HR laws were broken, if any, and how it would be compensated in court, which in turn means he can then go and do that compensating. The statement sounds formal and trustworthy because I bet Quackity's had to do debate-style speeches and public speaking classes. He likely studied so he can put together a statement like this that would hold water in the court of public opinion. Maybe with the intent that such skills would be for a client, yeah, but it still carries over here, which is damn good because the QSMP mess is flaming harder that the 2020s dumpster fire merch tumblr started selling a while back.

I'm fairly certain the QSMP will survive this and with streamers like Badboyhalo and dedicated admins who love their jobs like Richas (Pomme and Richas have both told the audience in QnA segments on Bad's streams not to tell them to sleep, they know what they're doing), we'll be getting content in the interim while things are worked out, too. But I don't think we'll be reaching the level of popularity the QSMP had a few months back. Late 2023 to early 2024 has been nothing but blow after blow to the server, first with purgatory 1, then Forever, the backlash and horrible racism against the Brazilians and the targeting of Cellbit in particular, then Wilbur, then this... Yeah. I don't see the server escaping unscathed from this, there'll forever be drama tied to its name which is the last thing Quackity wanted from his project.

However, people love this whole thing. It's done what it's set out to do and created many genuine friendships and economic opportunities for the CCs. It's Quackity's passion project, a love carried to many other CCs, not to mention the fans. It's too beloved to die completely and given how long the admins stuck it out despite the working conditions, I genuinely think that most of the good members of the cast and crew will be sticking it out for the long haul. We just have to be patient and cautiously hopeful.

[authorhjk1]

December special 2025

Hi everyone!

I know you guys might think this is way too early, since December is in literally 12 month. But after last time, I realized that I need to have a little more time to write the individual stories, which also means we need to do the voting earlier. I haven't set a date yet, but I'm aiming for something around October. Also, last time a couple of people mentioned that the time to send in requests was a little too short. So here we are!

Pretty much the same rules as before. Everything goes. You can request anything for the December specials and when I read your request and answer it, I'll let you know what I think and maybe make a few changes, if I don't feel comfortable writing specific kinks and such. I'll answer every request I get as soon as possible and add it to my personal list of requests. I'll then write a short "teaser" like I did before, so we can keep the request list, which I will update regularly at the end of this post, relatively short, because sometimes I get quite long requests. You can send me requests by messaging me directly, or by sending an ask to my inbox. Please make sure you label your requests as "December special requests". I'll make a tag for the requests I get, so you can scroll through them like last year.

The year 2025 will have four Sundays throughout December. That means I'll be writing four stories. A Christmas/Winter theme is preferred, but not a requirement. I'll post reminders probably every two months, so you guys don't forget that you can send in requests. I haven't decided on how the voting is gonna be, since we tried two different styles so far. I'll tell you more about that when the time comes. I'll add the link to this post to my pinned post, so you guys can easily access it. If I forgot any important information, please let me know.

Looking forward to your requests this year!

List of requests for the December special 2025:

1.

You, Irene and the new coworker Seulgi work for a media company, who produces music videos for entertainment companies. Around this time of the year, two female soloists are about to have their comebacks. Im Yoona and Karina. They both have similar music, similar concepts and the same target audience, which makes them natural rivals. A good music video always impact on a song's popularity and success. Which of the two can convince your team to invest more time and attention into their music video?

(A continuation of "Welcome party")

2.

G!P Ryujin brought back a surprise from Itzy's tour. A tied up Yeji in your bedroom. You make her watch you fuck Ryujin, before the two of you use Yeji however you want.

3.

IU planned on enjoying some relaxing vacation after a busy year. But she completely forgot about a quite important part of her most recent contract with a new investor. That means her vacation will include no relaxing at all. IU isn't prepared for what awaits her. The first mistake was to think that she'll be attending to only the CEO's needs.

4.

You're still getting accustomed to living with your new step family. Your new step mom Taeyeon and her daughters Karina and Winter seem to like you though. But one day everything is suddenly different. They don't just like you. All three of them find you attractive. And you're not sure how you're going to handle all three of them at once.

5.

While watching a new historical kdrama, you suddenly find yourself trapped in that time period. Being put into the role of a military general, you fight for your king on the battlefield and in the palace. But just when you think you're getting used to living like this, Yuri and Yoona turn your new world upside down again.

[un-pearable]

internally: decent movie. more tolerable than the previous for most parts. rewatchable. FINALLY has a soundtrack that sounds like sonic and DOESNT have gratuitous plot-irrelevant human scenes. sonic gets to do sonic stuff!!!!! characterization makes sense given previous movies and (very slightly) nudges him towards something potentially interesting. not inventive AT ALL (missing everything intriguing about SA2) but could be worse

externally: while some lore omissions make sense given the world established by the previous films, those choices are boring and others they make are completely baffling changes. rouge omission harms the whole thing. i dislike the entire direction they’ve taken with their sonic characterization and the themes and they fundamentally miss key traits for everyone involved . why did we do this. what was the point

it’s fun. more consistently enjoyable than the previous but that’s mostly bc the scenes that bothered me with the aggressive Carryness had tails in them so i could just watch him be cute.

lore change to make him another mystery alien is annoying but frustratingly makes sense given the context. i’m not torn up over it <- don’t care about shadow and didn’t expect much going in . the missing part of maria’s story is ridiculous though (why is she just there??????)

i love herrrr i love her 70s energy and outfits and i will incorporate the roller skates. its soooo cute . the godzilla movie with the biolizard is pretty funny but that’ll totally piss off diehards. i do think they do good job of showing shadow + maria as friends and why he cares so much about her but that’s mainly just the scope of a film vs a video game

COWARDS THOUGH . SAYING “THEYRE CHILDREN” ON SCREEN TO INTERRUPT A SHOT-FOR-SHOT RECREATION OF HER DEATH??? THATS THE POINT. SHES A CHILD. ITS A TRAGEDYY

the shots directly from the shadow 2005 intro…. unbelievable . hilarious

akira bike slide ON VERTICAL BUILDING is cool i’m here for it

low budget flight and actual sonic-esque music…. i accept my crumbs

knuckles is lame. literally stolen joke from sonic boom w the team knuckles stuff. i wanted him to fight sonic over the ME so bad

the wade reveal is physically painful like i knew it happened in the show but he sucks sucks and right after the only satisfying scene w the humans (shadow fuckin up tom) . ME you deserve betterrrrr

torn on the overall message. i think it’s a more coherent film than the last two and the message isn’t terrible - it aligns with sonic’s overall freedom and choice vibes. but having shadow be a tag along to eggman’s schemes is a weird choice given he was pretty explicitly the one who wanted to . yknow. blow up the earth in the first place and just gave eggman the tools in SA2. this version takes a lot of agency out of his story bc gerald is here. which is weird since the whole explicit theme is choices!!

fucking gerald. can i kill someone. mr carrey i hate him

extremely dragon ball combat. which is fine but unexciting . WHERE the fuck did the emeralds go at the end they just??? gone??? they detransform and (incorrectly) sonic falls out of super and shadow dies but the emeralds flat out do not appear in the film again after they initially transform . what happened

FINALLY giving us a heart to heart AND live and learn for the fight ONLY TO CUT AWAY TO TWO MINUTES OF CARREY SHENANIGANS. illegal . egregious. im glad he’s dead

the shift from sonic having to inspire shadow to be better and move onto his past to . shadow pulling a ‘you’re just like me’ is lame. hello again scourge .

like it’s a logical change especially given the target audience and the kind of stories that are popular rn but it’s sooo less interesting than SA2’s thing

shadow being confronted by sonic bc he challenges his belief of being exceptional and makes him reconsider what it’s possible to be -> shadow being sonic’s narrative parallel bc they both had one (1) human they liked who they would do anything for

^^^ it’s bad. not unwatchable like sonic 1 but bad change. makes sense for this established universe tho so i get it

tails is great . colleen should be paid more

WAIT THINKING ABOUT LIVE & LEARN AGAIN. I CANT FUCKIN BELIEVE IT at least they had the music still playing when they cut back to the fight scene but that bullshit w the egged men. torture

yay shadow dead!!!!! no that final endcredit didn’t happen

the moon shot was cool. sadly now sonadow fans will claim the moon <- IT WAS SONKNUX TERRITORY FIRST

rouge would have made this film 1000000000% better

why so many metal sonic???????? hi amy

at least she’s cute i’ve seen so many bad edits since 2020 at least she’s cute. i’m intrigued w the cloak choice what’s going on here. just to hide the outfit so they can change it? reference? hmm

fascinating implication for whatever 4 is going to be. in my heart carreybotnik stays dead and we get a pseudo heroes where metal is pretending to be him. but alas i fear the family focus for eggman in this film is leading up to. him making metal sonic and treating him as his kid. which could be fucked up in fun ways but i’m so tired of carreyisms

they did say 2027 though which is an extra year than the last two got…. what are you budgeting guys

why oh why is shadow consistently the only character who gets any emotional arcs or storytelling it taunts me…. can’t even hate the guy bc he’s the only one with interesting stories . this story sucks and it’s still better than what knux got . orz

sayonara shadow the hedgehog

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

Okay I know I promised a rant, but it came out like a bunch of bullet points instead, so sorry.

The time skip was entirely unnecessary and makes the job of writing a finale harder

Having the umbrellas split up again undoes all of the character development up to this point

The relationships between the siblings have changed in the interim and needs to be explained through clunky expositional dialog

Why is there no learning curve after six years of not having powers?

There is no reason to include children and it actually works to the season's detriment

The children are non-entities and only exist to motivate Diego and Lila, just like Claire in season 1

The entirety of season 3 was just a testament to how bad at parenting Diego and Lila would be

Watching Diego and Lila bicker about domestic disputes is just boomer humor at this point

Your target audience of queer people do not want to see the people they're supposed to root for abandoning their children

It would have been both entertaining and entirely in character to keep the Diego/Lila dispute to suspected infidelity

Lila moonlights as a FBI agent but Diego thinks she's cheating so he goes through all the woman scorned tropes

This way it subverts the trope and gives us more opportunities to see duplicitous Lila and himbo Diego

I really thought Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly would bring the energy, but no

I've never seen three hilarious people be so unfunny in my life

I cannot take David Cross seriously as a villain. He is so unthreatening.

Luther is the only one allowed to keep his character development and I just kinda wish they let him keep his wife

Allison is back to being an unrepentant bitch and does not earn the family's trust back

With a title like "the unbearable tragedy of getting what you want", I thought the episode would follow Allison trying to feel like she deserves to enjoy her life with Claire and Ray while dealing with the guilt of selling out her siblings

Considering that her entire season 3 arc was backsliding

But what it actually meant was okay I guess we'll never know

I heard a rumor??? Allison I think I heard a rumor about this guy?

Can we please give Klaus a break

Klaus can now clip into pushing daisies episodes

Klaus is trying to escape from his Angel Dust prison

Five looks like he's twelve

I'm always going to be suspicious of a showrunner that's trying to manufacture situations in which infidelity/incest is okay

Can we please give Viktor something to do

I do not blame him for fucking off to the middle of nowhere

Emmy for Elliot for depicting transmasc rageyt665ikju

I wish elliot would remove my marigold

Viktor has the power every autist secretly wants: to rule the fucking universe

Viktor between you and me I don't think this family is worth saving

Idk if Ben's arc is racist but it sure don't feel right

It's fuckin SHORTER. Why does it feel LONGER.

The no volume balancing is really fucking annoying

It would have been interesting to see hargreeves interacting with more than just one sibling at a time per season

Is being in your family like being stuck in a constant apocalyptic nightmare? You might just be transgender 

[youmakethelight]

I'm back in my pissed-off-about-the-title era, as if I ever left. The more promo I see, the more I have to see 'hashtag DARYL DIXON'. It's a fucking slap in the face every time.

It enables microaggressions and overt misogyny across the fandom and more broadly, as well as in how Melissa McBride is treated (e.g. second billing, being listed as '2. Carol' while her co-star gets '1. Daryl Dixon' by default).

Getting the 'DARYL DIXON' title greenlit early on was the biggest middle finger Norman Reedus and the male EPs could give to us and to melissa. I literally hear Negan saying "I just slid my dick down your throat and you THANKED me for it."

It validates people who want to push women, especially grey-haired women, to the sidelines. It elevates daryl as a typical 'leading man', who does 'leading man things' (excuse me while I throw up), which is so far from the outsider underdog autism-coded sensitive character who meant so much to so many people. It enables and rewards powerful middle-aged white men for publishing their problematic fantasies that centre middle-aged white men.

Sorry to make a 'mountain out of a molehill' bc yes there are much bigger and more pressing things happening in the world, but it still matters, and we can care about both. Tolerating problematic storytelling and marketing in our 'escapism' media, especially during a time of terrifying political development in the real world we live in, matters.

I've had people tell me to shut up bc it's "just a TV show" and it's "escapism" so it's not that deep. It's only escapism if it allows you to escape from the realities of real life. If women or anyone else hurt by the narrative have to tolerate microaggressions with their escapism, we're heading backwards. It's only really escapism for people who are uplifted by the narrative. And holy fuck, what a problematic narrative. And that's the baseline for our escapist media? The media that is supposed to be where we can go to escape the problems in real life? Where we can ignore real-life problems and create whatever world we want instead? Sorry, that's depressing for a LOT of us, not enjoyable escapism.

There's so much more to this issue. I could write a fucking thesis. But I'm actually fucking sick and tired of being hit back with fan-splaining from people I've never even spoken to before whenever I talk about this.

The truth is, no matter how much you might not believe it, the network absolutely can change the title if they want to. There are numerous ways they could do this by launching a rebrand. It's not fucking illegal lol. If they really want to uplift Carol and a more inclusive marketing message, they absolutely have the power to do whatever the fuck they want, and yes, that includes changing the title. Again, there are several creative options available to them.

The ONLY questions mystifying the decision are:

1. What is happening behind the scenes that they need to account for?

2. How much money would they have to spend?

3. How much money do they stand to make?

We are not, by any means, "stuck with" the Daryl Dixon title that more than half the target audience hate.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Oh okay, thank you for clarifying! I have seen quite a few polls on tumblr and on ATLA’s youtube page going hard Kataang over Zutara, that’s why I was asking. I think the best example is the one made by @hundredyearavatar here on Tumblr. Someone had a very interesting take in the comments though, saying that when the show aired the kids liked Kataang better, but the teens with online access preferred Zutara. Now, those kids grew up and everyone is on the internet, so this is why Kataang is more popular nowadays. It’s relatively hard to find a poll online where Zutara is far ahead of Kataang, I’ve seen most either at 50/50 or with a clear Kataang preference. If you judge by fan art and fanfics however, yea, there’s way more zutara stuff out there, but again, that tends to happen with non-canon ships. Ships that could have been tend to get more fan attention and stand out for people not familiar with the show, I agree with that, but I’m not sure if you downright were to ask people they’d mostly say Zutara is their favourite over Kataang. Does that make sense?

Polls are not an accurate reading of how an entire fandom feels, it's just impossible to make everyone not only see it, but also vote it (especially in polls that only have Kataang OR Zutara as an option, without "both" or "neither" as that excludes some nuance).

Polls are, at most, a way to tell in which corner of the fandom you found yourself in. If I, an anti-zutara blog, whose posts tend to be seen/shared almost exclusively by people who have some issue with the ship/shippers, were to make a poll asking people if they liked Zutara the winning answer would obviously be " HELL NO!" If a zutara blog, whose posts are seen/shared mostly by zutara fans, asks the exact same question the winning answer will obviously be "HELL YES!"

The official Nickelodeon accounts tend to have pro-canon results because they (mostly) post about canon content. People who wouldn't change that much about ATLA are their target audience, aka the ones voting. You'll find the zutara fandom in spaces like change.org, making petitions to make the ship happen in the Netflix version.

That being said, I don't think think it's fair to dismiss Zutara's popularity in places like AO3 or FF.NET (or especially in pre-internet era fandom) as being a natural consequence of it being "the non-canon option." There are tons of fandoms where the canon pairings are highly popular and have tons of fan works, even if the story shows us all the "main" things that happen in a romance (first meeting, moment they realize/admit their feelings, first kiss, first time, wedding, having kids, etc). Not to mention, Zutara is not the only non-canon ship in Avatar, so it having been THE most popular for over a decade, and still being super popular today, to the point that it is one of the things even people who never watched Avatar know about, cannot simply be explained away with "people gonna write what the show didn't give them."

I also don't think "Kataang kids got internet now" explains why it became more popular/zutara isn't treated as untouchable anymore. The internet wasn't as wide-spread in the mid 2000s but it did exist, and both ships had fans who were kids, teens and adults. I think this change happened because of three things:

1 - People change their minds sometimes, especially if they watch the same stuff over and over through the years.

2 - The zutara fandom got way too smug about being popular and way too bitter about not being canon, to the point of harrassing others over it, and thus people that were previously indifferent to the ship (or actually liked it, but weren't die-hard stans) grew to dislike it. I used to not care for either Kataang or Zutara, but seeing one fandom be mostly reasonable in their arguments in favor of their favorite pairing while the other was super entitled made me look at both differently.

3 - A LOT of the people in the fandom right now weren't fans back when it first aired (some having not even been ALIVE), but had already heard about Zutara: and watched the show expecting it to be an actual romantic possibility that was taken seriously and got lots of screentime, but simply ended up not being canon at the very last second due to executive meddling. Instead they saw Kataang being set up from the start, Maiko being set up since season two, both having big roles in the story... while Zutara had a few fanservice-y moments. They went in expecting a love triangle in which they'd have to decide if "Katara made the right choice" only to discover she never even CONSIDERED dating Zuko - who also never thought of her like that either. It was a pure "THAT'S IT? IT WAS A PURE FANON THING? THAT'S ALL THERE WAS TO IT?" Expectation is the mother of disappointment.