#how it compared to a typical irl interaction

[trucksquared]

new tantycrul video yippee

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I’m curious to hear your reasons of why you love TWST because I also find the writing kind of frustrating at times but the potential and the characters keep me hooked even if the story often leaves much to be desired.

[Referencing this post!]

Firstly, I enjoy the worldbuilding! It’s very interesting to see how history in the Twst world is distorted from our own and how Disney stories are incorporated into and influencing the Twst world. For example, there is often a Disney story behind local holidays and traditions. There’s also a ton of thought put into clothing, food, etc. of an area, making each new place feel unique and not just a lazy 1:1 recreation or “[irl location] but with magic”. Because I enjoy Twst’s worldbuilding though 😂 I get frustrated whenever we don’t learn anything new about it…

Secondly, I think Twst has a standout design philosophy. Characters are almost never wearing an outfit for pure fanservice reasons; there is usually a reason or context provided for the new look, or the clothing or pose implies something about the characters’… well, character. For example, the head tilted back + smirk and the hand on the hip in Leona’s School Uniform card instantly tells us he is an arrogant person. He wears his uniform without the blazer and with a few of the buttons undone, which indicates he is informal and has a penchant for not following the rules compared to someone like Riddle, who does wear his uniform properly and is generally strict. We still get the sense that Riddle is arrogant too (he also has a hand on the hip), but his posture is much more straight, in line with his propensity for decorum.

Twst also isn’t afraid to be creative with dressing the boys. We see all kinds of colors and intricate patterns, ribbons and lace and even pseudoskirts, shoes with heels, varied hairstyles, and makeup. They also have to translate these outfits into metal form for Ortho or reinterpret the same outfit differently on different characters (like how each person wears the school uniform their own way). The characters show interest in looking after themselves, and fashion and skincare in some cases. This is so different from the usual bland guy designs we’d see in various other animanga. These types of extravagant looks and interests would be reserved for the “gay” character, typically as a means of getting around censorship by relying on coding to do the talking for them—but Twst just fully embraces extravagance as a regular thing.

But!! I think the main draw of Twst for me has definitely gotta be the characters. They all have really cool or cute designs and their own charming personalities and quirks! And it’s even better when the characters interact with each other; they can be really petty OR get really deep and I love that these lovable goobers can span that spectrum. There’s a loooot of material to use for analysis or theories, meaning there’s tons of content for me to hyperfixate on and use for my own creative and analytical endeavors ^^

[doomed-silly]

So I primarily have posted milgram content but I NEED to talk about ochako and toga from my hero academia so bad

FULL MHA SPOILERS BELOW

LIKE EVEN STUFF THAT HASNT BEEN ANIMATED

With that out of the way im specifically wanting to talk about toga and ochako in terms of neurodivergency, privilege, and social norms.

Starting with Toga to me shes well first off canonically LGBT (pan specifically I believe), but to me she reads neurodivergent. Not so much in behavior but in her role in the story/how shes treated. She has a quirk that's at first glance not seen as "normal". She exhibits behaviors that are alarming and also not "normal". You can probably see where im going here, but Toga was born into a system that had 1. Decided before she was born that she was someone who needed to be changed to fit the mold and 2. Born into a system that prioritized the status quo over her as a person.

Moving onto ochako, I'd argue that ochako exhibits extreme levels of affection like Toga does. The key difference is Ochako does it in a socially acceptable way. Ochakos quirk does not predispose her to expressing love differently from the majority of people. Ochako is a very affectionate loving person, and she is empathetic at heart.

So after setting up some basic information where am I going with this? I wanted to talk about privlidge and ostracization. Since im relating toga specifically back to autism I'll be speaking in those terms. Toga shows affection and love based on the genetic makeup she was born with. Toga is simply doing what is natural to her. When someone who is autistic is born its the same way. We are autistic. The way we show love or socialize or anything that autism effects (which is mostly everything) is inherent to our autism. Once Toga starts deviating from what's considered normal shes sent to get professional help. In this case and what most cases are irl its not about helping the autistic individual acclimate to their surroundings and cope with them its about teaching them to act in a way that's deemed more acceptable. This can be seen with Toga when shes literally told to "quit smiling like that". Just our facial expressions are enough to upset people. I know plenty of autistic people who had to practice their facial expressions in the mirror. But anyways after this Toga quite literally starts masking the visual cue of this is a LITERAL mask she wears. For anyone who doesn't know irl with autism masking is the process of someone who's autistic presenting as neurotypical (not autistic). However this is an extremely draining process. And when you reach a point you can experience burn out which then effects everything in your life including your ability to mask. Toga broke she couldn't keep masking which led to her drinking the blood of her crush. So just some quick recaps Toga was born with a system that was built to force her to conform or face ridicule otherwise.

Next is ochako. In terms of privlidge ochako isn't rich (the poor jokes were plentiful), but compared to Toga it comes down to her quirk. Ochakos quirk doesn't effect her behavior or at least the way she presents to people. She's the type of girl people love. Translating that to irl ochako could be considered neurotypical. Ill speak more about ochako later but for now that's the info that's relevant.

We hear first hand from Toga she doesn't understand why how she expresses love is wrong. To her it is inherent. And irl id say majority of autistic people dont drink blood to show their love BUT we do typically approach love differently than neurotypical people. They literally made a whole show about dating while autistic. And this is where ochako comes in. She grew up in a system that benefited her. She never had to think about her expression of self because the system never faulted her for how she expressed herself. When she is first interacting with Toga shes still trusting the system because she doesn't have the life experience or personal connections to realize that some people are not only struggling under the system but are actively demonized under it. From there toga is able to find her chosen family and ochako attempts to connect with Toga. But now I want to go to their final confrontation. At this point Toga is beaten down. Ochako is fully embracing the fact she was wrong and she wants to understand and help Toga but at this point Toga doesn't have an interest in the system anymore. And I think where it starts getting heart breaking but also really interesting is that ochako is actively taking hit after hit from Toga but still choosing to connect vs fight. Toga has never had someone who was apart of the system willing to reach out to her like this but especially to that degree. And I think the final push Toga and ochako needed was ochako acknowledging that Toga suffered not because of the fact shes a villain and has a quirk that makes her act a certain way, but because this system was not designed to help her. And ochako completely opening up to Toga at her worst literally not shielding herself when Toga goes to stab her shows Toga a level of care and willingness to understand and love her that she till now didnt think could happen for her. Toga desires love and connection. In her own words she falls in love too easily with everyone and everything. She so desperately wants people to accept her and love her, but because she was born in a way that was deemed incorrect shes barred from the connection she wants. Seeing ochako not only accept her but actively fight to get through to her is that connection she longs for. Not just love but a signifier of validation and acceptance that she didn't deserve what happened to her in her past and that people can love her outside of the bounds of what's "normal"

And i think that culminates to Togas question "am I cute?". On the face of it its a bit of a juvenile question. To Toga though this isn't juvenile because to her its her finally being able to let go of the hatred people gave her.

I think what's so heart breaking about Toga is what she even says in her final monologue. Maybe if there were more people like ochako or someone had reached out earlier things could've been different. Toga didnt need to be fixed she just needed support.

And from there we can get more into ochako. During her confrontation with Toga she specifically mentions realizing there's more than just her family that needs help and to me I read that as her acknowledging what extends past her world view. So many neurotypical people or anyone not part of a marginalized group are very resistant to being open to learning past what they know. But ochako saw there's more to the world then just her and she then took action to educate herself and extend empathy. Her monologue to Toga is exhibiting this like when she talks about how she thought Toga smiling while doing awful things meant she liked hurting people and then proceeding to say Togas smile was perfect. Ochako is at this point fully accepting her position of privilege. She is able to see her own prejudices and shes also not only wanting to talk and get closer to toga but is willing to extend an offer that benefits toga and not the system. Ochako has been viewing toga through the lens of the system they grew up in, so once she realizes she was wrong she can't just expect toga to work within those constraints. Toga has been doing that her whole life which led her here. Ochako takes accountability and also makes the space comfortable for toga by saying she'll give her as much blood as she wants. Ochako is fully embracing toga as she is and not what shes "supposed" to be.

I think in the time skip ochako continuing to use her time to help kids like toga is also a testament to her character. I really do believe this whole arc is a beautiful way to encapsulate how autistic people are disregarded and mistreated by our society and also shows how far acceptance and understanding can go.

"This world might not be a comfortable place for you to live in" is the line that has me constantly thinking about these two. It's rare im so moved by a piece of dialogue that it makes me rethink my life. But for all of MHA's faults im glad we have toga and ochako

[lightning-and-sparks]

Hey! Are you writing a prequel fic and don’t know much about spray paint?? I got you💅

Sparks Guide to Spray Paint

Spray paint is definitely a strange medium that depending on who you are you may not ever get to interact with much. Graffiti culture as a whole is super cool and something that’d add more depth to your fics.

Something I found that isn’t as common knowledge as I thought is that people don’t know spray paint is toxic. It’s loaded with cancer-causing chemicals that you can’t inhale too much of. Many muralists I know use what is called a respirator

Respirators are probably the best layer of defense when dealing with spray paint but probably not something a runaway teenager would have. Which goes into what I have used/use. While it’s not as good as a respirator I have used a dust mask. They suck in the heat but are great at keeping stuff out of your airways and the next step of defense I’d recommend. They’re easy to find and more importantly, easy to carry.

I’ve used them for construction stuff and that metal band is going to keep them put and even leave a mark when you're done. They’re disposable and usually because they’re always near me I’ll replace them more frequently because they gross me out.

Options that aren’t as good but better than nothing are your typical bandana or shirt pulled over your nose and mouth combo. Easily the most aesthetic which would make a better look but not as safe. (I have done these but irl I’d try and get something that would protect you especially if it's something you do frequently.

Super great pro tip, don’t be stupid like me and put these in your hair after I don’t even know why I did that. Spray paint dries quick but somehow I managed to do that and get some black in my blonde highlights which sucked.

Okay! On to the paint.

Yes, they are runaways who probably don’t live in luxury but spray paint is pretty expensive, and rightfully so. There are cheap alternatives and even half cans which are super cute and tiny but totally inconvenient for tagging but can be used for tiny details.

Spray cans are heavy when they’re full so I like to keep my colors to a minimum. Usually, I have to walk far and into wooded areas so that’s my primary reason. Also, not as much paint as you think is there.

One way to get around costs and just get tags up are black tags. They take significantly less paint because you only really need the one coat. Depending on where you are they kind of blend in IMO. (I've used the can on the right and it worked pretty good.)

Had to pull out one of my own pictures because there aren’t many good ones on Google. There is a lot you can do with black and white. I’m a girly teen girl so I’d rather spring for a nice red, blue, or purple to go with it.

I think I could compare spray paint to nail polish. It has a similar rattle and needs to be shaken. There is a metal ball in each can. While you can control how you spray it, there still is a wild element especially if you don’t have different/angled tips but those aren’t necessary. Some people prefer to buy their own tips since the ones on the can usually suck. (especially cheap paint)

I know that gun-shaped handle is not aesthetic but believe me, holding a can and pushing down on it hurts like hell. People usually use those to spray paint like furniture but I just thought they were worth mentioning.

You can't really spray paint in the rain or it looks like shit. It does dry fast but it's better to have that window of a dry period.

The purpose of Graffiti is usually political. It's a way to get a message across and protest something. It has morphed into more of an artistic outlet but the roots stem from expression. I've never really made something that was in protest to something specific but I feel the whole point of what I do is to combat the boring and lifeless urban look. (I live in a city)

Tagging is the proper term for marking an area. A tag is usually between 3-5 letters and has creative liberties throughout. I used to use a three-lettered tag but I knew some people who knew it so I recently switched to a four-lettered one. I've seen longer and I've seen shorter. There aren't set rules for tagging and in some way, it is a free-for-all.

There are unspoken rules of tagging. realistically, it is bad sportsmanship to cover over tags but it happens. I know of people whose friend died and his tag got covered and they were devastated so I personally try to avoid that.

Contrary to popular belief, graffiti isn't illegal everywhere. There are areas where authority will "overlook" such as abandoned areas. Frequent hunts for me are usually underpasses (illegal) abandoned buildings (50/50 shot) and a semi-abandoned skate park (Legal; Sk8ter boi map cooked with that one)

Sometimes you can even get commissioned to do a piece. I've met a person or two who have.

Tagging for the most part isn't meant to be explicit or hagness. It is more so art. I like to take creative liberties with it like making "S" or "Z" into birds or other objects because, at the end of the day, it is about expression.

Quick tagging, or as I've deemed it. Is kind of premade tags on stickers where you just kind of leave them where you go and are common in high-traffic spots where you can't pull out the cans. (Whoever started the "Hello My Name Is" stickers, I love you)

The Lookout.

Graffiti is unfortunately a two-man/woman job. If you are somewhere you aren't supposed to be you need a lookout. Mine have changed over the years and I used to work with other artists and we'd swap. Not everyone will jump at the chance to do something kinda illegal.

Just for shits and giggles, I'm pretty sure the duo in Wasabi Extreme are supposed to mimic an artist and lookout/spotter whatever. I think that was a cute detail.

Style.

There are so many different types of graffiti styles that I could never talk about to the proper extent. I think the biggest takeaway is that no two people really tag the same. They may look the same but it's different. The style of tag can also reveal their skill type.

Where I am, graffiti is like a community almost. You meet people or recognize them by their artwork. your name and tag are one on the same and I've been called by my tag. It may seem punk or whatever but really it's just a bunch of artist that make their own gallery.

I've recently gotten back into it with a new name and look. It is really fun, very risky, but feels right. I'm not saying to go out and vandalize stuff but, ya know. Make something once in a while

I hope this is useful to anyone for fics or other stuff. I'd recommend like looking more into it if you're interested because this is definitely not a full guide.

[thenovus25]

1 In the Black Mirror episode 1, season 3, we see the use of an extreme version of a meritocracy. Does this level of severity already exist in our society today?

Thinking about the merit system from the episode and trying to compare it to our society in a 1 to 1 fashion is narrow thinking. Yes we can compare this to the idea of social media since it seems to be an in world social media. We see this system reach much further into everyday society than just social media. So, thinking outside of the box when thinking about their society to ours IRL we can start to find other similarities. For example, people with low scores are people typically that work more in the working class jobs. We see this with the truck driver being a low low score. We can maybe start to see the similarities to people who work working class jobs in our society. Typically people in these types of jobs are viewed lower than someone who is white collar. Thus working class people are seen with less merit. Overall, yes I do think we have this system and it may look different in our society comparatively, we are more similar than we would like to think. 

2 Does the human race subconsciously already use the merit system? 

As humans, we know that it is in our nature to judge anyone and everyone for just existing. Which most likely stems from our ancient ancestors need to stay safe and out of danger. This now being ingrained into us as a species has seem to lead to a lot of negativity and problems globally This can be seen in any type of hate crime. These are just the use of a ranking system to determine who is on top (The most highly rated). I think this is also a thing that we see in dating or having preferences. The system that was shown in the Black Mirror episode is almost a recreation of Tinder and Similar apps. Swiping to the right for yes and the left for no. While you aren't giving someone a star rating, you are using a merit like system to determine whether you find that individual attractive.

3 Can the merit system that we see in the Black Mirror episode be seen as a type of (social) currency?

In the episode we can see the merit points be used as a symbol of social status, the higher you are, the more opportunities you have. The Lower you are, the less opportunities you have. Does that sound familiar? The currency system we have in our society has the same effect. The richer you are the more opportunities you have, the poorer you are, the less opportunities you have. People in the merit system universe almost use their rating as a currency in similar ways to our money. Obviously not in the literal sense out using your points to buy physical things. We can look at it similar to this idea of social currency. A currency that isn't physical but is purely based on your place in the social and economic ladder. This and physical currency typical go hand and hand. 

4 How does the merit system keep people oppressed? 

The show's rating system is designed around the concept of popularity, utilizing a five-star scale to evaluate individuals. Its main objective is to impose control over people's actions and thoughts, limiting their ability to freely express themselves or act authentically. Consequently, individuals find themselves compelled to conceal their genuine emotions and to put on a facade in almost every interaction. This oppressive system is further reinforced by its connection to essential resources—people’s access to fundamental needs like food, housing, and healthcare is directly tied to their rating. As a result, individuals are trapped in a relentless cycle, where maintaining a high rating becomes essential for their survival, leaving them with little choice but to conform and suppress their true selves in order to secure their basic well-being.

Nosedive Short Film

[rielzero]

About My Webcomic’s Age rating..

Random but I feel like I need to state it somewhere: My webcomic target audience is not for teens or minors, its for fellow adults like myself. (18+) I am aware that the story doesn’t really imply this right away- also I am currently not that good at drawing gore. (chapter 1 has a supposed gore scare) And it currently does not have any of these themes right of the bat as I’m still slowly introducing some characters and world elements when the story unfolds.

More mature themes will pop up at some point and there will be a maturity warning from that point on.

Being online all the time you sometimes forget that when you were a kid yourself you’ve explored similar things only to find out the author did not intend for you to be a part of that audience.. It’s really awkward for me if kids ever try to interact with me based on my story, if they claim to enjoy it- Uhhhhhhh this stuff gonna have some adult things in it. Like, psychological stuff, some characters have depression, and characters may have romances. I really don’t want to spoiler.

Majority of characters I write are adults (about 99%), I don’t feel super comfortable writing teens or kids. One of the characters was supposed to be canonically underage (Vale, which hasn’t popped up yet) but he was 17, so I might as well make him 19, because his attitude wouldn’t change much. (18 is considered adult here in my country, but I do feel like 20 or 21 is safer, my youngest characters tend to be around 18 or 19.)

Since I read comics myself, it does help me study up on how to depict things tastefully, but I’ve also gained an interest in the macabre side, so the gore might eventually improve and look less cartoon-ish. It is still early on in the story, so my style hadn’t really been an issue before, but since its superheroes It might seem age friendly at first; trust me, that is not my goal. Things are going to happen.

There’s also the concern that I may have to censor things for Webtoons, while Tapas doesn’t mind much. There’s a very obvious double standard at times, because I’ve seen things on webtoon originals AND canvas that would at times get censored depending on the user. It’s likely an art style thing too, but I don’t want to do very cartoony violence. I want people to feel like things are tough when they read more tense moments. To worry for characters.

akjskfhkhkh Anyway tldr: my comic is not intended to be read by kids. Yes, 16 year olds included. Kids kinda scare me online, I want to say ‘’DNI’’ but people get mad when you do that?? I also don’t want to be rude to them. Just understand boundaries, please. I’m a very awkward person and I rather interact with other adults.

I’m 25, I’m tired 24/7. *explodes*

As for the next update; a pov switch which introduces a side character, but also has a lot of dialogue. I haven’t been able to work on it yet due health stuff popping up (chronic pain is a bitch) I need to make a small refsheet and then do thumbnails. Soon~ I’m excited to continue and get into it. The Mangaka software on Steam helps with building environments for the backgrounds. Clipstudio’s shading assist also helps me improve the quality of the panels.

Addendum/spoiler for ch1 just in case: Hills, being a  typical 36 year old, assumes people’s ages. This is seen in the end of chapter 1. Riel wears a mask, his eyes are kind of ‘’youthful’’ I suppose, so he’s sometimes assumed to be a teen- typically 20-25 year olds are mistaken for teens if they have a youthful appearance- COUGH as a twink IRL- people keep thinking I’m youthful. Riel’s ‘’infant’’ note is there to imply that Hills is an infant compared to him age wise. In case someone out there missed that. As this happens to me a lot, I thought it would be a fun joke.

[bimbinis]

Speaking as a straight guy with a pretty basic boring taste, the longer I go being in a relationship (and even just broadly, having interacted with women I was attracted to throughout my life) the more it stands out to me just how much having your only form of contact with women be mediated through curated images in media (what I think might be what smarter people than me refer to as "the spectacle") throws men's perspective of what an attractive woman actually is entirely out of whack. Which is not like a hot take but when I say this I'm not just saying that they develop unrealistic expectations of just how many women who look the "Instagram thottie" type will exist for them to thirst after irl (the number is p much zero given that they also expect said women to have had no plastic surgeries) and that they don't understand that usually even the women they're looking at don't look like that irl, but that it also completely skews their perspective of what they themselves find attractive.

Like of course it happens alot for men to lash out at even those very women once the illusion is shattered and they find out they have actually imperfections, but also like. Quite frankly, the overwhelming majority of men who don't actually have in person contact with women but very smugly number rate them and purport to not find anything below an 8 attractive would straight up cum their pants immediately from being touched on the arm by a woman they'd rate at a 5 if they saw her picture online. These men severely misunderstand and underestimate how much the phenomenon of attraction is contingent on real, tangible and, typically, physical interaction. How much eroticism is only truly realized by stimulating a multitude of senses the likes of which you can never get by simply seeing the reproduction of someone's likeness on screen. The image and sound of the most attractive woman in the world cumming, filtered through multiple layers of both intentional alterations and inevitable inaccuracies of the digital form is absolutely meaningless compared to the scent of any plain Jane when she whispers something in your ear

[i-like-eyes]

Trying to figure out how they'd work as puppets

More in depth analysis below the break

For those that don't know, typically the three most common variants of foam puppet are know as rod hand, live hand, and walk around. Examples would be Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird respectively. Rod hands are smaller in size and held up by, well, rods. Live hands have the puppeteer (or two!) insert their hand in a sleeve connected to the puppet for more interaction. Walk around puppets are full costumes the puppeteer wears, but what makes them puppets and not like, fursuits, is that there is still puppet mechanisms like moving the mouth or blinking.

Here is what comes from the website/Clown's tumblr:

Julie is a rod hand

Eddie is a live hand

Poppy is a walk around

Barnaby has a walk around and live hand

Howdy has a walk around and live hand

Sally is a live hand but "required an additional hand to help move her head, as it was much larger than other puppets"

Frank is said to have a fixed expression but his head could spin, rather he was rod or live or magic third thing I cannot figure out

Wally doesn't have any details regarding his puppet anatomy because he is special like that

Of note:

Julie likely has smth holding up all that hair (please be a fucked up skull please be a fucked up skull)

Poppy is a pretty standard walk-around puppet (she's just Big Bird), but I'm having trouble understanding how a human could fit into Barnaby or Howdy. Then again, 2d artwork of puppets tend to take liberties for the sake of stylization. So if someone were to make them IRL they'd either look really different or utilize tech I don't think was available in the early 70's

Howdy's legs could work on Squidward Spongebob Musical logic. Arms I have no clue, as a live hand he could have multiple people filling up those arms, but as a walk around idk cheap spider costume logic were the lower arms are attached to the upper arms ala a string?

I do not know what to make of Sally needing extra help to hold up other than that's so specific it might become a plot point

Frank.

Okay Frank lacking details or having weird details that stand out is a running theme for him. He has no listed backstory whereas everyone else can say where there were from and who their family is. Every character's first name ends with a long "e" sound whereas Frank is. Frank. (His last name "Frankly" does cover that though). The fact that WHRP lacks any concrete detail on his creation is a story reason, what's the story no clue we are 5% in dudes

Regarding his puppet, he obviously had a fixed frown because puppet but also could spin his head. Now I have absolutely zero clue how you can have the head spin and also have room for the hand for the mouth, unless this is a rod puppet (Rizzo the Rat) where the mouth is moved by some other mechanism. All I can say is I'd suspect Frank to have a very stiff (read: not majority foam) head and body in order to hold up such a feature. If his head can detach, I can imagine a metal ring of sorts that his collar covers up

His arms are a different story. The website not clarifying how his arms work doesn't really mean there is anything particular about them, but I am going to over analyze is anyway dammit

Points for rod hand: arms/hands are slim, inspirations Bert and Mr.Robinson are rod hands, lack of other rod hands/variety reasons

Points for live hand: Sally also has slim hands but is live hand, not all live hands have thick arms (looks at how small Ernie's upper arms are compared to his fore arms), Beaker hasn't been listed as an exact inspiration for Frank but look at him, and most importantly is Poppy. Poppy is noteworthy for being the only walk around puppet without a live hand counter part. As a result of having wings for hands the puppeteer cannot realistically perform any of the baking tasks in her segment. As a result she gets help from Sally, Howdy, Eddie, and Frank. The former 3 are all live hands, and one can assume that because of this Frank could be a live hand as well

And finally I know he's said to not super expressive but my heart says that he would look great with the eyebrow mechanism Bert and other puppets have.

I should point out that puppets from the 90's (Dinosaurs and TMNT come to mind) used more robotics in order to achieve more expression with the characters, but I don't think that kind of tech was common place in the 70's and would apply here.

The big take away is that this post was made for practical reasons; I am just Quite Fond of researching this kind of thing. This will probably not get you any lore, but it could provide context for the characters. I personally suspect that Poppy not being able to fly or perform tasks she swore she could will play a big of her character. In general I think that what other puppets can and cannot accomplish will play into the theme of figuring out who you are. That's the real fun.

[thisvegetabledoesntfallinlove]

having aromantic feelings in this denny’s tonight bc i had to go on a blocking spree yet again.

I just think like... people don’t know shit about what it’s like to be aromantic. aphobes complain about the Fandomization Of Pride and say shit like “asexuality is basically a fandom thing; if your community is entirely online and based around tumblr tags and headcanons, you cant possibly compare it to actual real life gay experiences”

and like. i have some bad fucking news for you about gay people who live in super homophobic backwater small towns. I’ve known plenty of gay people who were completely closeted irl and whos entire interaction with queerness was online communities, especially gay shipping. that doesn’t mean there aren’t other gay people in those homophobic little towns, its just often too dangerous to look for them. there are definitely other aro people in my backwater little town! I just can’t find them. I’m not saying this is the best way to interact with the queer community! or even a good way! for instance, nobody gives a shit about gay vs aro or bi vs pan irl! this drama is all internet shit! but being terminally online is certainly not a problem unique to aspec people.

honestly, as someone who’s trans, bisexual and aromantic, the thing that’s actually made my life the most difficult for cishets to swallow is the aromantic part. my backwater town is fairly liberal, so they can be chill about the gay thing, they can even tolerate the trans thing, but not getting married???? what do you mean you can’t be like the sweater-wearing chaste gay dads in the commercials? what do you mean you don��t want to date but you still want to have sex???????

nothing about my identity is palatable. nothing about me is relatable or marketable. my life, my future, my happiness, looks completely alien to your average cishet. the first time I told someone irl that I was aromantic, the immediate reaction was “oh my god I’m so sorry” as if I just said I had cancer.

like. actually. yknow what. yeah I think the aromantic experience is very easy to compare to my experience as a disabled person. its because I’m fundamentally missing something that Typical People consider completely intrinsically tied to their worth and their happiness. what’s the point of life if you can’t get married? whats the point of life if you can’t have a job? “i’m so sorry to hear you’ll never experience the be all end all of human existence; retiring to live comfortably with your aging partner as your grown children take up the mantle of your legacy.”

people don’t know what its like to be aromantic. they think of it as a tumblr tag, or headcanons, because the only time they bother to interact with aromanticism is when they’re complaining about our headcanons. no one can deny that aspec identity in this decade is intrinsically connected to the internet, in the same way that no one can say that gay identity in 1970s and 80s america wasn’t intrinsically connected to gay bars. its because That’s How You Meet People. queer people have always taken whatever was the current way for humans to connect to each other and carved out their own space.

aromanticism is in the stage where its hard to find other people, and no one knows what you are, and if you explain it to them they think you’re sick. we’re in the stage where we don’t get a lot of explicit canon representation, we have to scrape by on aro readings and subtext and coding.

and it IS coding! its coding! I don’t care if aromanticism wasn’t named yet back then! there are plenty of instances of queer coding from before we had words like “trans” or “gay” or “lesbian” or even “queer.” what matters is that someone somewhere was like “this character has the experience of not feeling the socially mandated attraction to the opposite binary gender,” which is a queer experience whether the person feeling it is gay or aromantic. just like bisexuality and lesbianism weren’t separated for a long time because straight society didn’t care if the wlw could also technically like men, lesbianism and aromanticism and asexuality weren’t separated because straight society didn’t care if the woman who wouldn’t get married to a man wanted to kiss girls or not.

this is way longer than I intended it to be and it got kinda rambly and train-of-thought, and I don’t think I really have any particular conclusion here. just aro feelings. idk if this makes sense but I’m tired of trying to edit it to make more sense so I’m just hitting post

[fanby-fckry]

Reblogging for reach and also to add my experience.

A lot of what I’ve seen is other queer people with shitty attitudes who think they’re doing the community a great service when they’re actually being queerphobic, but there’s some classic queerphobia in there, too.

This got long, so I’m adding a read more.

Content Warning: discussions of queerphobia (obviously, lol), and fandom discourse

1. Talking over other queer people to claim “bad rep.”

The greatest example of this is Angel Dust, with people saying that his portrayal is homophobic and/or transphobic. I’ve seen accusations of both transmisogyny and trender-stereotyping, from cis queer people, with no input from the trans people they’re oh-so concerned about. 🙄

The existence of a feminine, gay, drag queen, addict, sex worker is apparently offensive to some queer people – never mind the fact that there are scores of other queer people screaming from the rooftops about how we relate to him, or the fact that there are irl femme gay men, drag queens, addicts, and sex workers in the queer community.

2. Gatekeeping and infighting among a-specs in how Alastor is portrayed in fanworks.

I know multiple aroace people who’ve gotten anon hate and threats over supposedly erasing Alastor’s identity for *checks notes* putting him in QPRs that reflect their own experiences as aroaces.

Everyone making fanworks of Alastor with nuanced portrayals of aroace-ness are allo aphobes until proven otherwise, apparently (sarcasm).

3. Gatekeeping queer headcanons.

This discourse honestly feels so pointless to me, but the rampant transphobia that comes up during it is worth discussing.

People keep claiming that headcannoning gay characters and/or characters in same-gender relationships as trans/nonbinary is somehow erasing their canon queerness. Way to tell on themselves, lol. How exactly would Angel Dust being a trans man make him less of a gay man? Is it because you don’t see trans men as men? Mhmm, that’s what I thought.

I’ve seen it to a lesser extent with transfemme!Charlie headcanons, but people seem to be most vitriolic about transmasc!Angel Dust. Maybe it’s just the bigger sample size, though, because I come across more transmasc!Angel content.

4. Interphobia/Intersexism in fanworks.

This is a general fandom problem, but I sure have seen a lot of it in Hellaverse fanworks. It seems to mostly be caused by ignorance, not malice, but I think that makes it even more worthwhile to talk about, tbh.

We have got to stop calling fantasy genitalia/all non-cisnormative genital configurations “intersex.” 90% of the time, the word fans are looking for is “altersex.”

From InterACT’s Intersex FAQ:

Intersex is an umbrella term for differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy. Intersex people are born with these differences or develop them in childhood. There are many possible differences in genitalia, hormones, internal anatomy, or chromosomes, compared to the usual two ways that human bodies develop.

“Intersex” is a word that refers to real and innate differences in sex traits/reproductive anatomy.

A non-human character with animal or fantasy genitalia is not intersex. A character or person who transitioned to have traits that don’t fall within the constructed sex binary has not “become” or “transitioned to” intersex.

Again, the words fans are most likely looking for is “altersex.”

From the LGBTQIA.Wiki Page for Altersex:

Altersex is a catch-all adjective to describe primary and secondary physical sex characteristics or a combination of that do not align with typical arrangements. The term is largely intended to describe fictional characters that have a mix of physical sex characteristics, but this usage is not exclusive.

As I said before, I do believe this is mainly caused by ignorance, but perisex fans (and perisex people in general) do have a tendency to react poorly when called out on their interphobia, lashing out and digging their heels in.

I say this, both because it’s true, and because I’m half expecting someone to come at me with that energy now that I’ve spoken up.

Full disclosure: I’m perisex, but I’ve seen intersex people complain about the intersex tags being flooded with altersex content and about people generally misunderstanding/misrepresenting the meaning of the word intersex. I’m simply echoing that sentiment.

5. Erasure of canon queer identities.

Ok, this may sound out of pocket from the guy who was just complaining about false accusations of erasure regarding fanworks/headcanons, but give me a second to explain.

I’m not talking about fanworks/headcanons, I’m talking about fans (and antis, some of whom seem more invested in the franchise than actual fans, lmao) straight up claiming that confirmed canon labels “don’t count.”

This is mainly in regards to a-spec and m-spec characters; the aphobia and biphobia is present, front and center.

I’ve heard people claim that:

Alastor isn’t ace (no followup explanation; just vibes, I guess)

Alastor is “basically straight” (worse than the above, imo)

Cherri Bomb isn’t bi because she only shows onscreen interest in men

Charlie is a lesbian rather than bisexual, because she’s in a relationship with Vaggie

I’ve even seen one person claim that Viv, herself, isn’t bi, because she hasn’t publicly shown interest in another woman. (What?) Granted, I couldn’t figure out whether or not that was a bait account before blocking, but real fans and antis do seem to conveniently forget that Viv is sapphic/m-spec when criticizing the portrayal of sapphic and m-spec characters in her shows.

I’m not saying that her identities make her exempt from queerphobia, but people do tend to act in what I’d consider to be bad faith, not taking her experience as a queer woman into account and treating her like some straight girl who only wants “diversity points.”

End Notes:

Ok, that’s about it, I think!

Keep in mind, my experience with this is mostly limited to tumblr and some early twitter content (like pilot-era; no idea what it’s like over there, now-a-days), so I’d say it’s a bit more focused on inter-community discourse/morality politics than queerphobia by non-queer people. If that’s not what you’re looking for, I totally understand.

Doing some research for a new video about queerphobia within the Hellaverse fandom (including Helluva and Hazbin) I would love to hear people's experiences with this that I can discuss on my Youtube channel. Obvs you can be anonymous.

For clarification: I've heard that there are some fandom groups on Facebook but also things like Reddit that have a tendency to want to exclude queer people altogether from their groups and try to downplay and ignore the overt queer themes within the show. But really if you've experienced any kind of queerphobia I'd like to hear about it.

[bricommissions]

Haii haii.... I'm a minor who uses he/they Pronouns,, + I am so horribly awkward irl and people kinda mistake me on being on a bad mood/angry (because sometimes I squint my eyes because I cannot fucking see clearly bc I think I got the wrong prescription of my glasses!! And to add along with it, it furrows my eyebrow, and because of my "resting bitch face") but in reality I'm not I swear!! I lack friends but more on having acquaintances,,,, and I try to be nice in every social interaction(in the end the conversation won't last a minute) but uh I try to "look" or "act" more kind because I don't want my younger brother to start copying me like mom is gonna blame my fuckin ass if they turn out to be a little shithead delinquent, so yeah I guess I'm nicer to kids, even tho some of them are scared of me because of me being too nice with them or acting like I'm their older sibling!! But I swear I'm nice and respectful, sometimes annoying and clingy to my acquaintances? (I am backing off from them rn bc they might find me too annoying) and also to my older sibling, in online I'm the same but more social and like... I have 2 friends online, I'm a silly lad who roams around the internet either on tt, ao3, discord, or tumblr, and twitter, and of course I cannot forget about the slow self esteem!! Also it would be very very nice of you could pair me to both genshin and enstars thank you !! :D

omg hi hi, thank you so much for sending something in !! i hope you're having a good day/evening/night :D

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE . . .

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

FOR ENSEMBLE STARS : KOHAKU OUKAWA !!

i think the both of you would instantly get along very well. & it's only uphill from there !! as you said above, you're often mistaken for being in a bad mood. however, i think kohaku would be able to see through that & sense your true kindess right off the bat. he's very intelligent & good at reading people. that awkwardness you mentioned probably wouldn't even apply since he instantly feels more at ease around you compared to his unitmates.

if you were a part of the staff working with the younger idols in training, i have a feeling you would eventually run into kohaku. after you keep meeting, you'd eventually get to know each other better & even become friends !! since he has older sisters & you are an older sibling in your family, you'd be able to level with each other about family matters. you can share the struggles, exchange tips, & swap points of view. before you even realize it, you both start looking forward to spending time together.

kohaku starts helping you out with the young future idols when he's not working with his units, crazy:b & double face. he sees the way the younger teens are wary with you because of your older sibling vibes, but he's quick to defend you. kohaku is in a very crazy ( pun intended ) unit, but with you, his silly side comes out for reasons unrelated to work. he talks about how he doesn't quite understand how you don't have more friends considering how kind of a person you are. kohaku enthuses about how much he enjoys your company, that he's able to enjoy being himself with you. along those same lines, he's quick to pick up on your struggles with self esteem. that's why he always compliments you when he gets the chance. he points out your efforts to be kind, the way you take care of the idols in training, & how much respect you show to those around you.

after working with the young teens, you both have a habit of hanging out in the practice room once they all leave. you typically end up showing kohaku silly videos you've found on various platforms on your phone. the more this happens, the closer you'll sit together. eventually, you have an unspoken thing of holding hands while scrolling through the videos you wanted to see kohaku's reactions to in person. you showed him discord & he made an account; you obviously became friends on there. you might send him goofy memes on there whenever you're not together.

HOWEVER !! the unspoken thing becomes obvious when kohaku gives you a parting kiss on the cheek one evening after practice. the rest is history !!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

FOR GENSHIN IMPACT : BENNETT !!

i can think of no one other than mondstadt's coolest adventurer ever !! similarly to kohaku above, i think even an accidental "angry" face could not deterr him from befriending you almost instantly. he struggles with making friends because of his unfortunate bad luck streak, so he'd see becoming friends with you as a rare yet welcome instance of good luck !! perhaps you're also a part of the adventurer's guild ─ that could be how you both meet.

i think you'd both have a wonderful time adventuring with one another. since you are respectful, you wouldn't make fun of him for having a hard time with luck. you bond over reasons why it's difficult to make friends. him with his notorious bad luck, you with being misunderstood as someone with a temper. i think you both would be friends for at least a year before he starts realizing that his feelings may not be platonic anymore.

it's when he watches you tell the younger kids who dream of being adventurers themselves stories about your quests that he realizes he likes you !! you both often watch over the kiddos together after a long day of adventuring, so story time happens often. but there's something speial about that day.

bennett thinks about how he loves the way you don't judge him & how he deeply enjoys being your number one cheerleader. as the kids go home, he spends the rest of his time with you beneath the golden sunset telling you exactly how he feels.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

THANK YOU FOR READING !!

if you're the person that sent this & are unsatisfied with the results, feel free to shoot me an ask or im !!

if you'd like to receive one of these yourself, they are still open at the moment. please refer to THIS POST if you're interested.

if you liked my writing, please consider commissioning me !! it is my only source of income at the moment. i offering writing commissions such as custom character x reader fics, comfort character emails, ship fics, & more <3

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

[themichaelvan]

tagged by @changingcore / 15 questions for 15 mutuals (oh fuck do i even have that many)

are you named after anyone? - birth name, nope. does it count if i got my chosen name from a fictional character??

when was the last time you cried? - this morning!! nothing 2 be concerned about i got woken up by the fire alarm (also nothing to be concerned about it just needs the battery replaced) and was so tired & upset i started crying, which happens. more often than i would like. hm. maybe i named myself after the wrong afton kid

do you have kids? - nope!! i do like interacting with them though but only like 3 max at a time JFJRJFNG

do you use sarcasm a lot? - irl yes, online only sparingly. & i make it very exaggerated not usually deadpanned or anything so people can Tell (which of course nobody needs except for Me but i digress)

what sports do you play/have played? - did soccer when i was a little kid (Hated It), was on a swim team for a while, and did marching band for the longest (which is my favorite and yes it counts as a sport and you cannot say it doesn't until you've been in marching band. cunt)

what's the first thing you notice about other people? - typically clothes and then hair! i have a relatively mild (but still pretty bad compared to ppl without it) case of face-blindness, and i CANNOT tell people apart by their faces at all unless they have smth like a bunch of facial piercings or a scar or smth Noticable so i tend to look at other things first.

eye colour? - ??? hazel-brown ??? no idea tbh but at least partially brown

scary movies or happy endings? - HAPPY ENDINGS. i am soso scared of scary movies i will gladly watch the little prince for the 60th time. Alternate Universe - Everybody Lives / Nobody Dies is one of my favorite tags on ao3.

any special talents? - ? What does this mean. i guess proofreading/editing?? i have always LOVED doing it and i just. naturally keep track of all the Language Rules and enjoy using them. the autism kicking in i suppose. and yes it does count as a special talent actually you would not BELIEVE how many candies i got in 5th grade from ppl bribing me to read over their essays.

where were you born? - arizona/usa. same town as my mom actually (despite her moving like 7 times in between her birth and mine)

what are your hobbies? - listen to music and pace around my room until i pass out. and painting, writing, drawing, various other arts n crafts, guitar, percussion when i have the chance (rn i only have a practice pad :|), and mobile games of heavily varying quality.

do you have any pets? - not atm but i used to have two cats (both still alive just in different household) that i still consider my little kitties :] i have 150+ pictures of them on my phone if you ever need cats i Got you

how tall are you? - 5'11" now!!! was hovering around 5'7"-8" for the longest time but i recently had a growth spurt and now im only the SECOND shortest in my family (out of six)

favourite subject in school? - by the material probably math! it is sometimes difficult for me to get a concept but once i do it's Easy. i also do have an advantage (parent has math degree and is good at explaining) but i try and make up for it by helping everyone else as much as i can jfjdndjf. by the Class def band/music class if that counts. both of my music teachers have been both very scary yet very nice to me and i loved their classes so so much and i extremely enjoy playing instruments with other people (when they behave)

dream job? - sorting pokemon cards in a comfortable chair as a day job with a 4 day workweek, being a freelance renowned fiction editor on my own time, with occasional music-related gigs (tutoring, repairing stuff, playing in concerts, etc). i give you no shit if i could do that for the rest of my life and get paid well enough to live on my own or with roommates i like, have a cat, and have enough time and energy to homecook a meal 3-4 nights a week i would be so happy. that's all i want in life. "oh you would get bored doing the same thing day in day out" no i wouldn't "how" autism.

tags: @irradiatedblood @schmope-is-dead @sapphireclaw @bmo-2143 @pokette @soldiertransgender @astral--horrorshow @catnerdenby @unrestrainedbalderdash @buggiboo @lunar-anomaly @altruisticmystik @syntacticerrortxt @catlokis-blog @rosesareredjaybirdsareblue . okay. okay i think that's 15. im pretty sure. jegus.

[itmightbeneb]

Hmmmm I think deeply about your points because I think I do what you don't like. But I like you. And hmm.. let me explain.. Mostly I ship for fun and giggles and I don't care about those ships becoming ""real"" or being ""confirmed"". I'm not interested in their irl personal lives. I enjoy content and their dynamics. But the thing with dnf and my other fandom (phan) is that it goes so much deeper. Of course we don't know them really. But it feels like they want us to assume? They want us to think they are in relationship? To dam dam dam truth them? I know it's mostly questionable when it comes to sexuality. And it's typically dnf thing. But as a closeted queer person I lied a lot about my sexuality and I still want my people to recognise me. I want people to assume. Also things change. People realise things. Some people are in relationships and never clarify their sexuality. And of course I support bisexuals and we should never forget about the fact that dream is also very much attracted to women. I don't know if you get what I mean I'm open for your critique

didn't phan hate being shipped? idk about now, it may have changed, but when I was a teen during their height of popularity I remember them hating being shipped

and tbh (unconfirmed but just a theory I have) I think a lot of the reasons actual people hate being shipped with one another is less the smutty fanfic (you have to go looking for that) but the invasiveness of shippers. EVERYTHING is about the person they ship you with, you can't look at another friend without people comparing how you look at them vs the person they ship you with. you can't hug them without people ignoring one hug in favour of another, dismissing friendships and relationships that mean a lot to you because it's not about that other person

like yeah Dream, George, sapnap and others are fine with us shipping them, but where I personally think it crosses the line is when we make every little thing they do into dnf, like they don't give us enough content in their own already

like yeah, we literally joke that you have to ship dnf in order to be a dream stan (enforced by dream), but I don't think he'd want us making every interaction with everyone he cares about into dnf. THAT'S the kinda stuff I have an issue with, that and the notion that we can't ship other dtkq ships with either dream or George bc it's not dnf, because say dreamnap for example have a brotherly relationship

Bro we're shipping real people let's not focus on what's real and whats not, both dream and sapnap are cool with it why should you care? let people have fun??? writing whole essays in response to someone having a little fun with dnn shipping or knf shipping or whatever because it'll never be real like dnf 💀treating them like fictional characters not actual human beings (cos like all this would be chill if they were all just fictional characters, well maybe not making fun of other shippers bc that's just rude, but the making everything either one of them does about dnf)

basically I think you're taking my dislike of people who truth a relationship to this extreme extent as dislike for dnfers in general

[acespec-ed]

A Crush Without Aesthetic

I’ve talked about a crush that was purely aesthetic attraction. Now get ready to hear about a crush that’s everything but aesthetic attraction!

It recently occurred to me that I might not be aesthetically attracted to my current crush. All these experiences I’ve been posting on this blog involving attraction have been... making me think more about the nuances in attraction. In other words, I’ve been having fun dissecting the exact feelings I have for this guy. Instead of, you know, actually fantasizing about him like a normal person. (Though I do a bit of that too.)

This is going to sound absolutely bizarre, but I am fine with not looking at him. Reflecting upon most of my past crushes, I wanted to look at them constantly. With celebrity crushes, I would straight up make collages of them in Photoshop to use as my desktop wallpaper. So I could look at them. I would watch movies or whatever they were in, and get annoyed when the camera wasn’t on them. I can’t remember much of IRL crushes, because until this year, I hadn’t had one in over 10 years. But I’m pretty sure I wanted to look at them a lot too.

And, God, compared to my aesthetic crush I already wrote about... we have a complete difference here. Conveniently, they are both UPS drivers who come to my work. I interact with them because I am a shipper, and delivery drivers show up every afternoon to pick up everything I am shipping out. Basically, these two men play(ed) the exact same role in my life which makes the comparison piss easy to see.

The aesthetic crush:

I wanted to look at him constantly. As soon as his truck would back up into our shipping dock, I made myself comfortable among the boxes for immediate viewing purposes. (It’s actually not as creepy as it sounds- I have to be there anyway to push the boxes forward so he can grab them to put in his truck.) I had my eyes glued to him, only looking away when he’d look in my direction. Anyone or anything that got between me and my eye candy would be cursed out mentally. 

The not-aesthetic crush:

I feel no need to look at him. When he arrives, my butt remains in my chair until my assistance is actually needed. I don’t feel compelled to stare at him. Sometimes I’ll take a good look when he’s looking away from me. Mostly to try and gauge my feelings. And when I do, I start feeling the typical crush-like feelings. The ache in the chest. The weak knees. The desire for him to take me in his arms (and in other ways). 

The only difference between looking at the aesthetic crush, and looking at this current one, is the desire. I still feel the same, physical sensations. The only difference is, I didn’t feel any urge to do anything with the aesthetic crush. I only wanted to look. This seems to be the opposite case with the current one. I want to do everything but look!

I enjoy being around the not-aesthetic crush. He's friendly, and there’s a niceness to him that comes off as sincere. (He legit once asked me if I was doing okay and how the company was treating me- because apparently me and my coworker had both been looking tired and overworked. And interestingly enough, a few days after that, I became sexually attracted to him.) Just being near him makes me happy, whether or not I’m looking at him.

Of course, I also liked being around the aesthetic crush. He was also friendly, and nice enough. But that alone wasn’t what made me happy. It added to it for sure, but it was the looks that drew me in. I’d be happy catching a glimpse of him driving by. My brain would go, “God, he’s beautiful!” Whenever I get a glimpse of the not-aesthetic crush driving by, I just get an “Aww, it’s him” sort of reaction.

I always thought the not-aesthetic crush was “kinda cute.” But I still feel like he’s just “kinda cute” when I think about his actual looks. Meanwhile, the aesthetic crush started out as “kinda cute.” And over time, grew to be downright gorgeous to the point where sexual attraction kicked in.

And this is so weird. I’m legit DTF the not-aesthetic crush. That is a rare phenomenon. And yet I don’t find him “sexy” at all. Like, ??????? Maybe this is what people are talking about when they say they’re sexually attracted to a personality. Or maybe I just like the attention he gives me (that he also gives to everyone else- I’m not that special it’s just the kind of person he is). I don’t know. All I know is, I want to be around him. I want to do certain... things with him. But I have no real interest in looking at him.

There aren’t even any physical traits I pick out and admire in particular. Most of my other crushes, I focus in on how beautiful their eyes are. Or their hair. Or facial features in general. For him? I guess I like looking at his chest but I don’t know if I find his chest attractive or if I just want to rest my head there. He does have long hair, and I have a strong preference for long-haired men. But that’s probably where my “he’s kinda cute” thoughts come into play. I like long-haired men. He is a long-haired man. Therefore, he is “kinda cute” to me.

I don’t know. If anyone was wondering what it’s like to have a crush with no aesthetic attraction, there’s your answer.

[slade-neko]

Saw this video game tag thing pop up on my dash a few days ago. Wanted to do it.

1. First game you played obsessively? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I believe I was 5yo. Still waiting on that FF7 Remake treatment.

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. Well if I play a game and like it, then I'll create sims of it. Does that count?

3. Who did you play with as a kid? My brother from the day I was born.

4. Who do you play with now? My brother FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN.

5. Ever use cheat codes? I wasn't lying when I made this post. {link}

6. Ever buy strategy guides? Yes! Mainly to look at the artwork though. (Don't need no guide!)

7. Any games you have multiple copies of? Lots of games, most being Left 4 Dead with 6 copies (3 Xbox 360, 1 PC case, 2 PC digitally.) What can I say, its a GOOD GAME!

8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection? Gold cartridge Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (maybe that's rare?)

9. Most regrettable purchase? I don't regret my purchases, but I have received games I have never played like Cubix (PS2) no clue where that game came from, but I have it somehow. Madagascar (Xbox 360) came with my Xbox 360, never opened it from its case. And Monsters Inc. Scream Arena (Gamecube) or something... it was a gift.

10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games? I'm only friends with people BECAUSE of video games, so yes.

12. Ever get picked on for liking games? No, that'd be ridiculous.

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has? Probably a lot, I'd say Call of Duty, but I technically played CoD 1, 2, and 4. The campaign mode was alright, but I don't really care for CoD games at ALL.

14. Favorite game music? Koji Kondo and Grant Kirkhope are two BIG ones.

15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick? Triforce is the most basic option, but I'd rather not get a tattoo.

16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL? Super Smash Bros. Brawl with hacks, but that was over a decade ago.

17. Ever lose a friend over a game? No, that'd be ridiculous.

18. Would you date someone that hates gaming? No, that'd be RIDICULOUS.

19. Favorite handheld console? PSP. 3DS is great, but PSP Monster Hunter has ALL of my portable gaming memories. Like playing in school after End of Grade tests with my friend.

20. Game that you know like the back of your hand? Sims 4 I like to think I know everything about Left 4 Dead. Quite a bit about Monster Hunter, more so of a series though than a specific game.

21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now? I'd say Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I loved it as a kid, but had a lot of complex pen & paper RPG mechanics that I never understood. I understand a lot more of it now, but its still complex as all heck. I just know you hit things, they die.

22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories? That's the only thing I wear.

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Not sure so I'll list a few. Sims 4, Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter (its a series though), or Left 4 Dead

24. First Pokemon game? Leaf Green

25. Were you ever an arcade game player? No, don't like paying to play.

26. Ever form any gaming rivalries? No.

27. Game that makes you rage? I don't get mad at games, but I had a custom modded Hard Eight mutation in Left 4 Dead that is absolute bullsh*t!

28. Ever play in a tournament? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

29. What is your gaming set up? A giant wall of video game consoles spanning from NES to Switch, 4 TVs, but I sit at a desk with a PC.

30. How many consoles do you own? "I own every console that's ever existed." - I Don't Play Games When I Play Games (My STRENTH) original song by Smooth McGroove BUT no seriously I own 32 consoles including handhelds.

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches? Yes. 3DS gave me headaches though I only really played with the 3D feature in Ocarina of Time 3D. I think my eyes broke because I couldn't get my 3D to work very well after.

32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic? Sure I play games based on a lot of things. Literally any anime game. If I had to pick Dragon Ball Xenoverse is kinda like a dream Dragon Ball game. Oh, Attack on Titan 2 is pretty neat too!

33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games? Some SEGA plug-n-play thing once. Played it like once and now its lost to time (or my closet.)

34. Do either of your parents play video games? Yes. Mom and Dad played NES Super Mario Bros. My Dad went HARD at that game until he saved the Princess. Then he quit forever.

35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop? "Hi. Welcome to Gamestop!"I never want to hear that again, but it was my main store until I went full digital/ online orders.

36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game? No, I don't tend to get upset or emotional, but Bill dying in Left 4 Dead made me pretty pissed.

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination? Never played it. I don't really play "bad" games, but maybe Sims 4.

38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like? The Sims 4

39. A sequel that you would die for them to make? Dragon's Dogma 2 WHICH I think is actually in development, so I'd have to say Fallout New Vegas 2. C'mon Bethesda you cowards, hand the keys back over to Obsidian so they can make another good Fallout game!

40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls? Two part question, two answers. VR Headset to immerse in world, yes. Motion Controls, no.

41. A genre that you just can’t get into? MOBAs and MMOs. I don't like paying to keep playing.

42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness? Nintendo 64 opened me up to what video games could be as a kid. Sad to say my parents' NES didn't really do that for me. And years later Fallout 3 was a big game changer for me too.

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else? Every day of my LIFE.

44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters? None. I'd rather emulate.

45. How are you at Mario Kart? Pretty dang good. 3-STARS MARIO KART WII, BABY!

46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Yes, both of those. I preferred when Animal Crossing had more character to it. New Horizons looks so pretty, but feels so bland compared to classic AC.

47. Do you like competitive games? No. Not really. Usually amongst friends or if I can get competitive against AI Bots. I love my machine bot friends cause they don't cry like 10 year olds when they lose.

48. How long does it take your to customize your player character? Too long. I've seriously restarted games because I wasn't happy with my character's appearance.

49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Yes, I am always the magic man, my brother is always brute warrior, and my friend is the ranger.

50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create? I don't really know. Honestly, I'd rather mod already good games to make them better than create something completely new.

51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep? No, that'd be ridiculous. But I've had a friend fall asleep playing games at my house 3 different times and currently dozes off during our Minecraft sessions. So, maybe that's not a completely ridiculous thing after all.

52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid? Kirby 64 apparently. My brother tells me we had to count out pennies to buy it. I must've been too young with no recollection, but I believe it.

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days? It's good if its not in the game's files from the beginning and is actually developed AFTER launch... and pre-order bonuses should be standard DLC a month or two later. Some games have content lost to time because of that pre-order bullsh*t.

54. Do you give in to Steam sales? Of course. If you want a game and its on sale then why not? I typically wait just for Steam sales to get games.

55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them? No? I typically make people and characters I like in Sims. I've made villains like Dio, but he's an anime villain and I don't really HATE him despite the horrible things he's done.

56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests? No. Never played that game.

57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements? I try to for all the games I really like.

58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? The Sims 4, Skyrim, & Fallout: New Vegas. Mods make them live forever. Left 4 Dead and Monster Hunter are good choices too.

59. Do you play any cell phone games? Those aren't games.

60. Do you know the Konami Code? No? But I'll take a guess. Is it make an IP and forget it exists?

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever? Keep forever... even the bad ones.

62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game? PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter World. It was basically for early access since the PC version was being developed and releasing after PS4, but I don't like waiting.

63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? Sort of. Been to anime cons and walked into the gaming tournament rooms only to walk out less than 10 minutes later.

64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming? No, but I'm going to be doing that soon, hopefully.

65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file? GameShark for N64, PS2, Gameboy, and Action Replay for Gamecube, DS, 3DS. And no not really, I would cheat responsibly... but there was this one time at school my friend and I borrowed another friend's Gameboy game, loaded it up with my Gameshark, tried playing, it crashed, loaded it back up, save file corrupted... we just stared at each other jaws dropped, "Here's your game back, dude. Make sure you don't play it til you get back home!"

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it? No, but I remember seeing them on billboards in the game DRIV3R on PS2.

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share? Every game I play is filled with happy memories (mostly.)

68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool? These tiger plushes. My brother got white and I got orange. They were the coolest. Got a butt load of tickets from some jackpot spinning light game thing as I was good at the timing with repeated jackpot hits.

69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I've played quite a few masterpiece games, but to pick one, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas

70. Very first game you ever beat? Super Mario 64. I was a mere child on a Sunday morning and ate celebratory pancakes made by my Dad.

Wow, that was long... I get the feeling this was supposed to be a "send me ask with numbers" thing, but answering all at once is more fun.

[lumilasi]

I saw this in my feed and since I was pretty bored and FINALLY free from the said boredom, figured I could do this one. I generally enjoy question based tags, especially if they relate to art/writing/fandom/are some general things about favorite colors, music, foods, things about your home country etc.

(basically, you can tag me in stuff similar to listed above things and I’ll probably do them if I see them/have time lmao)

Fic Writer Questions!

How many works do you have on AO3? 

44 total. I used to have more but I’ve deleted an old Bleach one I knew I’d never continue to write, and two bnha ones for the same reason (those two were also at the very beginning stages so nobody missed a lot anyway)

What's your total AO3 wordcount? 

4 269 068......wow. It’s even MORE than I even imagined. Over 4 million words. 

....Someone take my writing tools away from me lmao

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

 Three. I started with MCU, moved on to Bleach and now I’ve done most ofr BNHA

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

Crossroads - 3069 

Family Secrets - 3015 

Reanimate - 1534 

The neighbor - 809 

Espada and Fraccion - 782

.....Admittedly this list surprised me. Not the first three but the last two. The fifth is an one shot for Bleach that I wrote AGES ago. I also for some reason expected this list to match the bookmark list more lmao

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I always try to respond to every comment I get, but often times when it’s just one word or a heart emoji I don’t really know what to say, so I might not reply to those. I do appreciate every comment I get, and read every single one, even if I don’t respond

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? 

I don’t do angst endings typically, but Family Secrets is probs the most obvious choice, given what happens at the end. 

- and its not even the real end, because I couldn’t help myself and made two more stories for the AU that was like “hey! this character I made you all love so much actually DIDN’T die, he just had unfinished business back home” lmao

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you've ever written? 

Rarely, typically they’re between my own fics (the story that crosses the paths of Crossroads and Family Secrets AU’s, literally titled Crossover, creative name I know OTL I was out of ideas) 

Or between me and other people’s fics. Currently there’s two, both with Crossroads: one with Theteapotofdoom’s fic Something Good, and another with leontheneon’s fic Here with you. Both stories are basically a two part series that is non canon to actual Crossroads. The first story is finished, second one has two chapters left...that...I uh...struggle to write it seems OTL

(not tagging either person into this because Tea is very busy IRL right now so I don’t want to bother her, and Leon hasn’t been around in ages, IDK if they even use tumblr anymore)

Have you ever received hate on a fic? 

Not really no? I can only remember one time with somebody kind of demanding me to completely rewrite one fic in the past. It wasn’t really hate, more just...kinda unreasonable in my eyes? This was years ago by now.

While I did understand their side and the particular struggle they had (once they actually explained it, the first comment at the time came off pretty rude and demanding), I still feel them wanting me to re-write an entire multi-chapter fic just for them is a bit unreasonable, like said.

Like it wasn’t just couple of grammatical errors that was their issue, we’re talking weeks and even months long process of completely reworking multi-chapter story, because the grammar wasn’t tip top perfect. (I’m not a native speaker so there’s bound to be some mistakes; pointing out small occasional things is one thing - asking me to rewrite an entire multi-chapter story is another)

You can imagine that is not exactly high on my priorities list with IRL responsibilities and being more focused on the actual content of what I write, the ongoing stories I’m updating. This fic isn’t even finished yet either, so...yeah. Like after they explained their side of the story I was a bit more understanding, but its still....a bit ridiculous and unreasonable in my eyes to ask somebody to do such a massive overhaul when the story isn’t even finished yet?? Like maybe once its done and I have time I can go and edit it, but not when I haven’t even finished it lmao

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Nah. I don’t care about smut a whole lot personally. I much more enjoy writing emotional scenes, character interactions and mystery. Plot over porn basically lmao 

Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

I don’t...do people actually do this? It feels like such a weird and pointless thing to do. It’s fanfic. stuff you write for fun and for free, for people to read for free. I’d also imagine its pretty easy to get caught given AO3 shows when you first posted your story. 

Have you ever had a fic translated?

 Yes, a couple of times. In Russian and I think other one was Chinese?

Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

Writing the crossovers was kinda that? Like I asked feedback from Tea and Leon on how to write them. there was also actually third crossover story that was supposed to happen (only I wasn’t going to be the one to write it) but this project has been shelved as the other person had to drop majority of online activity due to some IRL health related things. (I’m just glad they recently contacted me to inform they were doing better)

What’s your all time favorite ship? 

Right now it’s..probably pretty obvious its Shigadabi, but I can never really say any ship is my all time fave, as it always changes depending on the fandom lmao. 

I guess my favorite character x proper sleep/emotional stability/happiness will always be the OTP

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oof. I always try to finish every single one, and if I absolutely know I won’t, I tend to just delete them. Thankfully I’ve only done it thrice. Which I guess is still a lot, but compared to how much I write, in context not really? 

What are your writing strengths?

From what I’ve gathered of feedback, its typically emotional moments/character dialogue and interaction/character arcs and so. Mystery plots too. Or maybe that last one is just me lmao

What are your writing weakness?

Personally, while I tend to get positive feedback on both, sometimes I feel like I struggle to choose a good pacing for a fic, and fight scenes are always a pain. Namely, I might struggle with making the pace too long-winded and slow sometimes. Ironically, my IRL update pacing is probs a bit too fast in turn. (To add another layer of irony, I got an update ready for Unravel that I’ll post after making this tag)

Also writing shorter stories. I’ve been trying to write one-shots more (like the Spinaraki series thing) to kinda try and get myself to pack up my stories better and not let them always spiral out of control haha

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I did try to do that once with a fic I deleted, I had a native speaker help me with the canadian french bits. This person is no longer active on tumblr, and I deleted that fic because I realized I’d never finish it. 

Technically tho, as a non-native English speaker, EVERY word is in other language to me lmao. I could only add Finnish as an extra one easily, and it rarely makes sense to do so anyway.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for? 

MCU. It’s what I originally made my AO3 for, as I felt brave enough to post things. I also can’t remember writing fandom related stuff before that, it was typically more oc related. Writing fics has helped me learn a lot about world-building, character consistency and all that stuff, without having to make everything from scratch (tho I do enjoy doing that as well of course). I feel like my original work writing has improved too thanks to my fic writing shenanigans in a way lmao. Tho that might just be me, IDK

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? 

Oooof. This changes a lot depending on the time. I can never really pick just one either: my current favorites are Stringmaster, The neighbor and Family Secrets

Stringmaster because I love building the Steampunk AU, and Tomura’s relationship with Dabi and his Sensei, The neighbor because I personally think the romance build up in that one is probably one of the best I’ve done so far (the character dialogue in that is among my favorites I’ve written as well) and FS, because it taught me a lot about character building through writing a character like Hisashi.

 Plus I just really like Hisashi. 

And baby Izuku and little Tenko are super adorable. 

And Inko is the best mum.

 Also the fact the whole story is so ironic in a sense its still kinda funny to me. 

The only writer I know that might be around rn is @nightlilly0110 soo...I guess I’ll tag them if they want to do this! Anybody who’s a writer can snatch this too of course ;)