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ai-art-thieves · 6 months ago

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Hey, am I overreacting or do some of the videos on the youtube channel @/FactsByBriggs contain ai generated images?

Here's the link to the channel if you need it: https://youtube.com/@factsbybriggs?si=QC-lGMhM9239_g5C

I don't usually tackle cases that are on youtube, but for the sake of investigating whether or not something is ai generated I'll do it.

(FUTURE A2T HERE: THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE.)

Aaaaand right out of the gate I see AI.

However, I can't call this ai trash just because they generate art from ai.

The real deciding factor would involve a few things:

Does this channel tell people that some of the pictures are ai generated?

Does this channel credit any images they use online?

Are they using ai to mislead and/or farm content solely for monetization purposes?

Only one way to find out.

Ok, so right out of the gate, we don't see any links to images.

This guy also has a lot of socials.

....And a LinkedIn for some reason.

Let's put a pin on that for now.

What do the videos have to offer?

Ok. So we got an ai voice, an avatar that reeks of content farm garbage, and an image that has not been credited.

We're off to a good start. (in case you couldn't tell, that was sarcastic.)

What they didn't do is crop the url that is above, so we know the art got taken from somewhere.

Luckily, we have Google Lens.

That image is from @yuumei-art.

They took that image and did not credit where the image was from.

But, it gets better. IT'S NOT THE ONLY ONE.

There's even some where they even left the artist's signature! Not once, but twice.

And to answer your question, fellow anon, yes. They do use ai generated imagery as well.

This channel is generating images or taking images from the internet for their videos.

No, this is not me hypothesizing. This is what they are actually doing.

I know this because in one video, they use a stock image with the watermark still intact.

But let's take a step back for a mo'. We need to investigate that LinkedIn account.

I have no idea why they have this account here. Like, at all.

LinkedIn is a job hunting website, not TikTok!

The link they have goes back to their Linktree.

Another thing to point out is that they have a Kofi page.

Well, BuyMeACoffee.

Same difference.

There doesn't seem to be anyone supporting that page.

Looking at this channel some more, this doesn't seem to be a content farm.

It has the stench of one, for sure. But it's also responding to comments.

Feeling like I've hit a dead end, I dropped "Facts by Briggs" on google.

That's when I learned that Facts By Briggs actually has a tumblr page.

....It's just not advertised on the Linktree.

And they have their own tumblr domain.

....wait, tumblr domains cost 22 bucks (18.02 pounds sterling in the UK). Isn't Briggs struggling with financial stuff?

...Something's not adding up.

They reblog posts from a London Hip-Hop DJ and Rapper by the name of CANMKING.

I was going to let this fact pass. But...

And yes, he is a real guy.

But let's get back on topic.

What's even stranger is that Can isn't the only one of the usual suspects that replies.

ctkvi, the people that made an album cover for Can.

They too have a linktree and a tumblr domain.

They also do ai video and music work.

And upon investigating those guys...

"Instagram Growth Service"?

Ok, the LinkedIn accounts are starting to make sense.

Let's tackle that monstocity another day, because it looks pretty daunting.

As for the avatar...

Google Lens saved me again, and that led me to Adobe Express.

And lookie here!

It's Briggs!

And considering that its a part of the Adobe Express ecosystem, I can probably infer that the whole video is made on Adobe Express.

Along with some of the other projects that CANMKING has done.

"Riley Frankcap"

Yes. This man made another one.

Better yet, Can has a total of 6 accounts.

And they reply to all of his stuff.

ongawdclub is the oldest of the alts, going as far back as December 2021, but Can has been on tumblr since 2011.

...

Huh. Looks like this case does involve this fellow hellsite after all.

Ok that's enough rabbit hole digging for today. Also I've hit the image limit on this post. Needless to say, there's a whole lot to unpack.

TL;DR:

Yes, Facts by Briggs is a content farm.

Yes, it uses ai art. BUT...

It also uses images off the internet and doesn't credit artists.

Briggs himself is not an original creation, but an avatar that you can easily use on Adobe Express. It's probably how most of the videos were created.

Facts by Briggs has a lot of social media accounts, as seen on their Linktree, including one on LinkedIn and one on a Kofi-like site.

What Facts by Briggs doesn't have on the Linktree is a tumblr. One that has a domain. This goes against what was said in the Kofi, which states that they are struggling with money.

Facts by Briggs reblogs posts by a London hip-hop dj/rapper named CANMKING.

CANMKING replies and reblogs numerous posts by Facts by Briggs, along with five other accounts (reallysmalls, ongawdclub, needgoodgraphics, ctkvi, and rileyfrankcap (A news based content farm). Facts by Briggs also replies to posts made those five accounts. CANMKING is the oldest account out of the total seven, so we assume that the six are sockpuppets that astroturf his tumblr posts.

ctkvi deals with ai video and audio, and needgoodgraphics has a service that, and I'm probably guessing here at the moment, artificially boosts your instagram account by astroturfing it.

TL;DR for the TL;DR:

CANMKING is a rapper/dj from London who uses sock puppets, astroturfing, bots, content farms, and straight up kofi scams to gain success.

...and he made those content farm videos all in Adobe Express.

To prove it, I reverse engineered a Facts by Briggs video.

Mostly.... I know Facts by Briggs uses ai voices... but I don't want to make another account just to access the ai voice add-on. So I used the legendary "Why You Lying?" instead.

I only found one post that talks about CANMKING's scamming efforts, but they've only scratched the surface.

If any of you have any more info about CANMKING that's not listed up here, do let me know.

#case type: scam #case type: astroturfing #case type: sockpuppeting #case type: bot #case type: ai scumbaggery #long post #case: CANMKING

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lowrahh · 3 months ago

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Hey, remember gaypirates.club?

The little Mastodon server half of the OFMD fandom flocked to back in 2023, when we briefly thought Twitter was about to die?

That little server is shutting down at the end of this month (announced by @unicorndeathrace last week), and I'm here to urge everyone who has an account there to migrate that account to a different Mastodon server, even if you're only semi-active or abandoned your account long ago.

Mastodon lets you keep your follower & following lists – if Bluesky and/or Tumblr ever go down or fully enshittify, it'll be good to have your Mastodon account as a backup, with as many of those connections as possible still intact. The more people do this, the easier it will be to find your fandom friends in the next social media apocalypse!

It's actually a pretty simple process, and I wrote a step-by-step guide to explain how it works. You can read the whole thing here, but I'll share an abridged version here, aimed specifically at folks who aren't super familiar with Mastodon!

Part 1: How to find a new server (= instance)

The part people tend to struggle with is picking a home for their new account, so I've dedicated the largest chunk of this guide to that, but I'll also give some recommendations in case you find that part too overwhelming.

No matter what instance you choose, you'll be able to connect and interact with folks on all the other instances, unless their instance is blocking yours or vice versa!

The most important things to consider are:

What kind of community you want most to connect (if your answer to that is fandom, scroll down for a list of fannish instances!)

What kind of content you want to post/see

What you don't want to see

👉 Have a look at your potential new instance's “About” page (for example, gaypirates.club/about) for its individual Server Rules, Community Guidelines, and blocked (“moderated”) servers.

If you want to post smutty fanart or fic, make sure the server rules allow not just nudity/NSFW but also ~erotic content~! You should also check the exact conditions – for example, most instances will require a CW and/or tag, and some don't allow NSFW content in public posts.

You'll find lists of selected instances, sorted by category, at the links below. There are instances focused on fandom, queer community, specific regions/languages, instances for artists, writers, gamers, musicians – you get the idea!

If all that sounds overwhelming or just too hyper-specific, have a look at the “General” category!

If scrolling through lists isn't your thing, this little wizard can give you suggestions based on what you're personally looking for in a server:

❤️ If you just wanna hang out with fellow fans, I recommend joining another fannish instance! ❤️

Personally, I chose blorbo.social! If you're curious as to why, check out this post – it mostly boils down to “I like their server rules, and some of my moots are there already.” (hi @xieliansbignaturals & @ofmdrecaps & most recently @hamykia ... and anyone else I forgot, sorry I can never remember who all is on Tumblr XD)

Having said all that, I also encourage you to check out other fannish instances! Below are a few I've come across but am less familiar with than blorbo.social.

❗Note that this is not an endorsement of any of these servers – I skimmed their server rules but don't really know enough about any of them to say whether I'd personally recommend them! That said, if you happen to know that any of them are actually horrible, please do let me know and I'll remove them.

FederatedFandom.net:

Adult-only “server for the girls & the gays & seeks to provide a trans-inclusive, anti-racist space”;

NSFW images must be under a CW;

no “AI” content allowed.

fandom.ink:

18+ instance

“small instance designed for lovers of fanfic, fan art, fan meta/acafandom, fannish communities, and blorbos of all kinds”

erotic content limited to followers-only or unlisted posts

no auto-crossposting from other platforms

retro.pizza

Queer-run “poly-fandom nerd culture server”

NSFW, spoilers & potentially triggering content must be under a CW (see sever rules & their “Director's Cut” for examples/details)

fandom.garden

“queer, anti-racist, anti-ableist space”

Nudity allowed, erotic content restricted to followers-only posts from 18+ accounts

Runs on a modified version of Mastodon (glitch-soc) that has extra features but is potentially less stable

FanGlitch.space

Adults-only

“no anti-shipper/pro-shipper nonsense” allowed

“adult content” must be under a CW

Otherwise pretty minimalist server rules

Runs on glitch-soc.

Part 2: How to create a new account

This part is so simple I wasn't even sure whether to include it, but it's been a while since most folks signed up, so I figured I should, just in case it helps anyone 🤗 Otherwise, just skip to part 3!

Many instances have a manual review process in place to keep out spam bots, but if you have an invite link from an existing member, your account will get approved automatically! So if you want to join blorbo.social, let me know and I'll send you an invite! 💖

Go to your new instance's website and click “Create Account” or use your invite link.

Review & accept the server rules.

Enter your details and set a new password.

If you don't have an invite, you may now be asked to share why you want to join. For example, you can mention that you're moving from gaypirates.club because it's shutting down soon; for fandom instances, just mentioning your main fandom is usually enough to get you approved! Once you've filled everything in, click “Request account”/“Sign up”.

Wait for your confirmation email.

If there's a manual review process, keep in mind that most instances are run by a small team or even just one person, so they may not be able to approve your account immediately. You may find more info about how long the review process typically takes on the instance's About page.

Congrats, you're in! 🎉

You may now want to fill in your new profile by copying over your bio, profile pic etc. from your old account. But you won't lose any of that in the migration process, so you can still do this later if you prefer!

Part 3: How to export & transfer your account data

The actual account migration requires a bit of switching back & forth between your two accounts, so this part will be easiest if you have them open in two separate tabs/browser windows on your PC.

Step 1: export your data from your old account.

Go to gaypirates.club/settings/export

Download all the CSV files (see screenshot – yours won't be 0 Bytes, that's just cos I used my new account 😉).

I highly recommend you also download the archive of your posts & uploaded media! While these unfortunately can't be imported to your new account, there are tools that make it very easy to look at all the stuff in your archive once the server has shut down, without being some kind of tech wiz! I'll add a fourth part shortly to talk a bit more about the archive – that step isn't time-sensitive once you've downloaded the file, so just make sure you do that before the end of this month!

Step 2: link up your two accounts by creating an “account alias”.

Log into your new account and open the Preferences menu.

Go to Account Settings, scroll down to “Moving from a different account” and follow the link to create an account alias (or just navigate directly to [instance URL]/aliases).

Enter your old handle and click “Create alias”.

This action is completely harmless and will not disable or transfer anything yet.

Step 3: import the CSV files you downloaded earlier.

In your new account, go to Preferences → Import and Export → Import.

From the drop-down menu, choose which file you want to import, then click browse, select the file, and upload it.

Repeat the previous step until you've uploaded all your CSV's.

The number of accounts you're following might not match up with your old account immediately after import, since some may need to manually accept your new follow request. You can easily open those CSV files in Excel, Google Sheets or something similar to see all the accounts in your list, and you can always re-import them if anything goes wrong.

Step 4: transfer your followers & deactivate your old account.

This final step will deactivate your old account, put a redirect notice on it, and transfer all your followers over to your new account.

Until gaypirates.club goes down (cries), all your posts will stay right there, and you'll still have access to your data exports.

Once you're ready to move to your new account:

Go to gaypirates.club/settings/migration

Enter your new handle and the password for your old account.

Click “Move Followers”.

Don't panic if some of your followers aren't transferred immediately. This can apparently take up to a few days (in extreme cases), depending on which servers your followers are on.

✨ And you're done! Now, anyone who visits your old account will still be able to see your posts, but they'll be shown a link to your new account.

#gaypirates.club #gaypiratesclub #OFMD fandom #OFMD #Our Flag Means Death #mastodon #fandom mastodon #fandom fediverse

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chaotictempleknight · 6 months ago

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Some advice for writers

I would like to offer some advice to my fellow writers. Caution: this post is a bit on the longer side.

If you have any type of series on the internet, please have a master post for that series, or at least some form of organization. No, I am not going to go endlessly scrolling through your blog or website to find the first chapter/page.

Please have links to chapters if you are writing a digital novel/novella. It makes it easier for the reader to get through the story. This is assuming you're not using a website dedicated to literature.

Tag your work with what genre it is. I see a lot of stories and chapters on the internet that don't do that or only tag one genre. I would like to know what genre your story is as I have preferences for what I read.

When writing a synopsis or a pitch, please establish the stakes. Tell me what the conflict is and why I should read. What are the consequences if the protagonist fails? Also don't describe what your story is. I'll find that out as I read.

Plan your story out before you write it. You are not that 1 in a million who's going to be able to write a story as you go along. PLAN OUT YOUR STORY BEFORE YOU START IT. Here's my advice: Establish your plot and ending, write the plot, write your characters, then write an outline for the story. Make sure you're happy with it, iron out any last minute details, then write a rough draft.

Have multiple drafts and don't post the first thing that comes out of your head. Don't worry if you mess up during the rough drafts, you can fix it later. How many drafts you have is up to you, just don't get carried away with them as you'll never finish the story.

The protagonist must succeed. It doesn't matter what they succeed in, they must succeed in something. There's no two ways about it. The protagonist can be anyone, be it a hero or villain. protagonist versus antagonist is not good versus evil, it's a clash of egos and ideals. It doesn't matter who they come from.

Write an evil villain and a strong hero. Let your villain be evil and let your hero be heroic. This is storytelling 101, but so many stories these days try to make everyone morally gray and indistinguishable from each other. You can have sympathetic villains and questionable heroes, just make it clear where the lines between good and evil are drawn.

Stop trying to be relatable and POST SOMETHING. I don't care about how many WIPs you haven't finished or about how your cat keeps interrupting you. Post your story. If you're more concerned about being relatable than actually writing, you're not a writer.

If you're expecting overnight success, you are in for a very rude awakening. No, you will not have overnight success. AND NO, you are not that 1 in a million. It takes time, effort, and dedication for your work to get noticed. I should know: have you heard of ULTRAMagic Alternate? I didn't think so.

If you are writing to make money and become famous, get out. I'm serious, leave. If you just want to make money, go get a regular job. You are legitimately getting in the way of actual writers who actually have a story to tell.

Having beta readers is ideal for improving your story. Find people interested in the genres you're writing and see what they think. You can always go back and fix the story if there is something wrong with it.

This one is for readers: If an author asks you to be a beta reader, they are NOT asking you to edit their story (although you can if you want to). You don't have to be an author, the writer is looking for your perspective as an average Joe off the street. Tell them what you think of the work, even if you have no knowledge of writing.

DO NOT USE AI IMAGES. The instant I see an AI image attached to your post I'm immediately scrolling past it. Either learn how to draw or hire a real artist.

DO NOT USE AI WRITING. I will ignore your entire existence if I catch you copy and pasting stuff from an AI chat bot. I'm okay with asking a chat bot for assistance as long as what is written on the page came from your head and human hands, however. Also newsflash, if AI becomes truly sentient, you are stealing ideas and work from another individual. Let that sink in.

#chaotictempleknight #writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writer #writers #writers of tumblr #writing advice #advice #my advice #advice for writers #writing community #literature #bookblr #writing tips #tips #writing help

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letmesleep8 · 9 months ago

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the fucking punchline // elliexreader

CHAPTER 1: White Carnations

Ao3

content warnings/tags: drug usage (weed), implied daddy issues

notes: hello lesbians! this is my second ever fanfiction here on tumblr, quick reminder: i didn't drop the other one. this is kinda slowburn and also kinda daisy jones & the six inspired, so if you like that book you might like this too. i'll always link up the songs I used in the story at the end of the chapter. hope you enjoy. <3

taglist: @lorelaihehe @lonelyfooryouonly

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────••─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────••─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

September 09th, 2023

Time shakes, found you at the water

At first you were a problem my father, now I love you like a father a brother

Earthquakes shake the dust behind you

This world at times will blind you

Still I know I’ll see you there

The calloused, ink stained hands scribbled on a sketchbook, next to a drawing of what seemed to be a wolf. On the same page, Ecology notes got lost between chord progressions and two-sentence long lyrics. Near the margin, a quick but precise drawing of Dina’s eyes.

Ellie was sitting in the corner of her Organic Chemistry lecture at Jackson’s Community College, hiding her freckled body under a gray sweatshirt and her sleepy eyes behind overgrown face-framing bangs. As the professor finally called the class off, she got up from her seat, walking to her visibly well loved truck, its blue paint holding scratches and slight dents, clearly faded from the sun

I sat on my window as I watched her old truck drive by, as loud as always. I was waiting for my nails to dry, afraid that the maroon polish would stick to everything if I didn’t have the patience to let it take its sweet time. She got off her truck and stepped on her cigarette before going through the front door.

I had met Jesse a few weeks earlier, it was karaoke night at the bar. I managed to get a few drinks from the old creeps there and was already feeling a bit too “happy” when I stepped onto the improvised stage we had set up and gave that bikers’ bar the best drunk performance of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” they had ever seen.

I have always loved to sing. Writing, playing the guitar, putting up concerts for my family in my living room. Music is my soul. But I’ve come from a reality where art wasn’t an option, being an artist would not pay my rent, nor would it show to my parents that I wasn’t a complete disaster. So I worked as a waitress and saved up to the last cent of any tips I would get, only spending enough to pay my parents my contribution to what they spent so I could go to cosmetology school

After I finished my fifteen minutes of fame, I went back to the cold reality and started cleaning up some tables. That was when Jesse came up to me, drunk and full of compliments to give. He had a girl beside him, Dina. He started rambling about his band and how they’re so good that they even do weddings, and then he asked me if I had ever auditioned for a singing gig at all. I was full of confidence and whisky, so I gave him my number when he said they could use another vocalist

The next morning I had basically forgotten about my new deal, and I figured he would have forgotten about it too. But I was wrong. The boy did not forget about it, in fact, he kept calling me to schedule my “audition”. So I finally gave in. I grabbed my guitar case and started walking to the address he gave me. It was just down the street from my house, at the Miller’s. I held the case on my shoulder and walked towards the open garage door. There were Dina, Jesse and the girl I had only seen from my window every now and then.

– You actually came! – Jesse got up from his seat, walking his way to me. – Oh, you play the guitar too? Damn, Williams, found someone else to do your work. – He joked and the girl gave him an annoyed look, sitting comfortably on the old chair inside the garage. I couldn’t help but observe how her thighs set apart from each other and her head was thrown back mindlessly.

– So, are you gonna show me what you’re all about? You seem to have really impressed the other two. – She gestured for me to sit on a stool, her voice was, honestly, cold but not in an unfriendly way. She seemed nonchalant, but not distant. Her green eyes had the warmth her mouth seemed to lack and her face was strangely expressive, like someone who had spent their developing years in front of the tv instead of talking to people, but it complemented her sharp voice just perfectly.

– This is a song I wrote a few weeks ago. It’s not finished yet, but I think it’s fine. – I spoke as I tuned in the guitar while keeping my eyes mostly on the girl, who seemed to be paying close attention to me and, at the same time, seemed to disdain me.

She analyzed my every move as I started singing. I could see some curiosity peeking through her eyes when I began performing the first verse.

“She's asleep in the backseat

Looking peaceful enough to me

But she's wakin' up inside a dream

Full of screeching tires and fire”

I played the chords and kept singing the words, trying to mask the knot on my throat. “Emily, I’m sorry, baby / You know how I get when I’m wrong” I tried to keep my voice from shaking; not because of the lyrics, I haven’t talked to Emily since 8th grade and, honestly, I just think it’s a beautiful name. I wanted to cry because I felt anxious. Turns out it hurts more to overcome your fears when your blood is not 50% whisky.

It was as if I could listen to my father screaming from a distance: “you are a waste of time!” Suddenly, it was like I could slowly feel my blood going through my veins all throughout my body, sliding like raindrops on a window. I was feeling overwhelmed, the song felt never ending and I was sure that I had gotten at least 30% of all the notes wrong. I didn’t realize how much I wanted this, how much I craved for a chance to showcase my songs, a chance to pretend that my dreams were possible. And in my head, it was all over, until I heard Ellie’s voice from across the room.

– Sounds good to me. – She shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. – If you two think she’s good then she’s good and she’s in. I’d be the odd one out anyway. Dina flashed me a warm smile and gave me a side hug.

– Welcome to the band! – She nudges my arm.

– Rehearsal every Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3 to 5 pm. – Jesse smiled from the worn out couch he was lazily lying on.

We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon getting to know each other better. Dina talked about some songs she would like to perform at their next weddings, Jesse laid back on the couch and played with the drum sticks. The band had some work of their own, but not many since Ellie was basically the only one who was more interested in writing than playing covers.

– Hey – I was sitting on the floor and scrolling on my phone, Ellie scooted closer to me, brushing her jeans against my knee. – D’you write that song by yourself? The “Emily” one and shit?

– It’s called “Emily, I’m sorry”. – I chuckled, nodding. – Yeah, I did. I actually write a lot of songs. Why?

She reached out for her sketchbook inside of her forest green backpack, I couldn’t help but notice how it matches her eyes almost too perfectly. She flipped the yellow pages until she found a small verse of lyrics to show me. I wasn’t really used to showing unfinished lyrics to people but I grabbed the small handbook in my pocket.

Do you understand the things that you’ve been seeing?

Do you understand the things that you’ve been dreaming?

Come a little closer, then you’ll see

– I woke up in the middle of the night last week and wrote this down on my phone. Do you think it could perhaps work with the melody you wrote?

– Well, actually… – She scratched the back of her head and looked up.

– You haven’t thought of a melody yet, have you? – I smirked.

– No, no, of course I have, I just… – She stuttered. – It just needs a bit of… refining.

– Refining, huh? – I chuckled.

Jesse told Dina he was bored and, with a smirk, they both decided it was time to go watch a movie at his house. I was ready to take my things and leave too, but Ellie stopped me.

– Hey, wait! – She called for me. – Do you want to work on the song? I mean, I ain’t got no professional studio but we could make it work with what I have. The others don’t really like to write and shit, I was thinking maybe we could give that one a try.

– Oh, sure. – I smiled softly.

She closed the garage door, giving us some more privacy. Ellie reached for the laptop on a tools table, it was plugged into a reasonably nice mic, she must have saved up for ages to buy it. She also got an electric guitar out of the case and started to tune it. With my acoustic guitar, I started humming a few different generic melodies that came to my head, until Ellie liked one and decided to try to follow it with her guitar. We stayed there for a while.

– Do you like it that way? I don’t think it’s working out well enough.

I scratched the back of my head, my eyes narrowed. I rubbed my hands over my face.

– I don’t know, I'm just having trouble locking in, I guess. We could give up for now, if you want.

– I know something that could help, if you’re up for it. – She smirked slightly. Maybe I was overthinking it, but I could swear I saw her eyes wander to my mouth. – I mean, if you’re even a smoker, of course.

– Oh. – I fell into reality and felt stupid. – Oh yeah, sure, I- I mean, we could try. Cool.

She got up and gestured to me to follow, I put the guitar on the case and took it with us. We exited the garage through a small door that led to the kitchen. Her house was messy enough to be acknowledged as a college student’s but it was furnished like some kind of family had once lived in that space

She led me up the stairs, into her room. I shyly sat on the edge of her bed and she got some weed and some silk out of her bedside table. She started rolling it up and I watched as she licked it together in record time, I would be lying to say I wasn’t impressed. A simple lighter came out of her pocket and she took a long hit before passing it over to me. I brought both the blunt and her gaze up to my lips, taking a drag not as experienced as hers. It wasn’t my first time smoking but I was scared to bite more than I could chew, for some reason.

– So, are you from around town? Never seen you around. – She was trying to break the ice. I got up from her bed and walked towards her window, she was quick to follow after me.

– Right there. – I pointed to the other side of the street, about three or four houses over. She seemed surprised.

– Really?! – She spoke, surprised. – I thought that was where the annoying lady from the Neighborhood Association lived. The one that’s always telling people to speed down and shit.

– Yeah, that’s my mom. – I laughed as I watched her cheeks grow a bright red, her eyes trying to look anywhere but mine. – It’s okay, she really is annoying. She does that to me too and I’m her own daughter. – I sat on her windowsill, taking another drag of the joint. She joined me, sitting by my side.

– I mean, she never complained about the noise during the band’s practice sessions. Gotta give her that, though.

I laughed and she took the weed back.

– She can be a bit mean but she is a music lover, after all. Maybe you’ve found her soft spot with that one.

– Aw shit, gonna have to give her tickets to our next underground-bar concert.

We both laughed at the idea of my mom at one of our shows.

– Gonna make sure to tell her to look out for it. – That was when I realized I hadn’t asked a really important question. – What’s the band’s name anyway?

– White Carnations. – Ellie took another hit, blowing the smoke outside and passing it to me.

– White Carnations… – I breathed out the smoke. – I like it. Any particular reason for the name?

– I don’t know. – She shrugged her shoulders. – Sounded good, I guess. – She was clearly lying, but I didn’t want to push her too hard so I changed the subject.

I went back to playing some chords on the guitar and we were lost in a comfortable silence, until I had an idea. I started humming something along the lines of: “Ten thousand people stand alone now / And in the evening the sun sank, tomorrow it will rise / Time flies by, they all sing along”, repeating the last line over and over until Ellie started singing it too. At some point she simply changed it to “time flies, bye-bye” and I absolutely loved it. It sounded like something you’d point the mic at people so they could scream at a concert

Only then I realized my bare feet were in her lap, like we had been the closest of friends for ages and not distant neighbors that only now realized that each other existed. Her tattooed hand rested on top of my ankles and her hazy eyes and smile seemed as familiar as my mirror. That evening we wrote the entirety of ‘Come A Little Closer” while sitting on her bedroom window, then ate a bunch of chocolate covered ice cream bites.

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initialdsecretsanta · 8 months ago

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Initial D Secret Santa 2024

✨Secret Santa is finally here!✨

What can I contribute?

Artists: 1 illustration/drawing/painting, or a 1-page comic

Writers: minimum 1k words

Other: Archives, Edits, Collages, Stim Boards, Character Analysis, Crafts. And more! Let me know your idea and we can see if it'll work!

Please note that this will be open to all ages, so no N/S/F/W content!Also, this should go without saying, but these are hard rules: No incest. No underage/adult ship.

How do I contribute?

First of all, sign up!!

Then, on the deadline:

If you have a tumblr, just post your work on the deadline with the tag #initialdsecretsanta2024 and mention this blog @initialdsecretsanta !!

If you don’t have a Tumblr, you can submit to this blog or email me with links to your other social media and I will post them together here on the deadline.

What is the timeline?

19 November : sign-ups close

21 November : match-ups sent out

13 December : final check-in

20 December: tentative deadline!

How will match-ups be made?

I'll do my best to match you up based on your preferences and what you are able to contribute! Of course, depending on the number of participants this may not be perfect, but I will be considerate.

What happens if I sign up but later need to drop out?

That's fine - you don't need to give a reason, just let me know as soon as you know so I can find a workaround with the match-ups.

How do I sign up?

Fill out this form here

Any other questions?

Send this blog a message or an ask!Thank you!! I hope you consider joining! 💖🎁✨🔰

#initialdsecretsanta2024

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blighted-elf · 5 months ago

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❤︎ About:

Hi, I'm B or Blighted. She/her, bisexual / Artist / Gif maker I mostly post about video games and tabletop games. Please DO NOT repost my art or gifs without permission.

❤︎ Art Commissions: flats (open) / portraits (closed) Tracking #userblighted

❤︎ Links:

❤︎ Art Tag / Art Blog / Gif Tag / OC Page / Carrd ❤︎ Patreon / Ko-fi / Bluesky / Twitter/X ❤︎ Instagram / DeviantArt / NexusMods ❤︎ Discord: blightedart ❤︎ Steam: 462374237 ❤︎ ESO: blighted-gt ❤︎ SWTOR: blighted-gt ❤︎ Palia: palcats

❤︎ FAQ:

"How did you make/do ___?" For modding help, look through my #blighted modding tag. Otherwise, send me a message or ask and I'll try to explain. "What programs do you use for art/gifs?" Photoshop for both and Premiere Pro for gifs. "Can you draw this character?" If you commission me or vote in my Patreon polls. Otherwise no, I do not accept requests for art (or gifs).

"Can we do an art trade or collaboration?" If we're mutuals, send me a message because I'm most likely down unless I'm super busy or something. "Can I add you on Discord/Steam/ESO/Palia/Etc.?" Yeah go ahead! Preferably let me know what your Tumblr username is first :) "Why did you block/softblock me?" I block for a number of reasons - obvious ones like bigotry, being rude/hostile, posting hate in the tags of my posts, posting hate in the tags of fandoms/characters, stealing my work, claiming my OCs as your own, etc. I also block AI content. Divider credit: saradika

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sandrakir31 · 5 months ago

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Hello. I think it's time to explain a situation you may have encountered in the Rescue Bots fandom.

The first screenshots are already about a month old. Here you can see me responding to people on the tag about WHY some artists draw Blades with white skin and why that even has a right to exist. I would like to clarify that one of the authors said that: "If an artist draws humanization of characters (that is, not only Blades, but also other bots) in white, then he deserves to have his pencil taken away". Maybe it was said in jest, I'm not sure, but I thought it necessary to say that artists, in principle, always draw exactly what they themselves like.

I'll add that I myself don't care at all what skin color you give to the transformers, but don't scold other artists for this.

You can see the whole post at the link: https://www.tumblr.com/sandrakir31/771089245225025536/okay-i-see-that-our-argument-is-becoming?source=share

This conflict, as I thought, ended back in December. I apologized and said straight out that we had a misunderstanding. And I really didn't want to argue about it anymore.

But to my regret, it continued here. Sorry, the author deleted the post so there will be no link.

Same topic, same argument. But they just start insulting me from the very beginning.

I understand everything, but maybe sometimes take into account that not everyone here knows English at the slang level.

The author of the post above, I am truly sorry that this could scare you. And I really said that we are simply raising your activity on the page with this dispute.

But what's the funniest thing? This character went to apologize to the author INSTEAD OF ME FOR MY OWN WORDS. Sorry, but you're not really my mom.

Well, I was blocked and that seemed to be it. But...

Post: https://www.tumblr.com/oldeubagel/7734039402849894 40/sometimes-i-think-about-how-a-grown-ass-20-years?source=share

Dear oldeubagel, if you could just pm me and talk to me calmly about this instead of acting like a child and spreading misinformation about me, this post wouldn't be here. Let me clarify that I don’t care about other people’s age from the start, until these people start picking on mine.

I'm sorry I'm cluttering up the tag, but I thought it was worth explaining the situation.

#sandrakir31 #tftb #rescue bots #rescuebots

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bishopinblue · 2 months ago

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Old fandom drama time!

It has been about 3-4 years since I had been as active as I was in the Nefarious fandom (Indie game/comic). I have gripes with multiple people in that fandom, but one/two of them thought it was a good idea to make a "call out" blog a few years ago about the Official Server, the RP server, SoR, and myself. Unfortunately for them, I remembered and felt the vigor to do what I should have done as soon as this shit was published.

Let me start this by saying I am about 95% confident I know who is responsible for this blog. Because they thought it was okay to name drop me I'll be doing the same under my assumption and dissection as well.

From here on, my own replies will be italicized to differentiate the caps from text. Please know this is going to be a very long post.

If you read it in full, thank you for your patience.

So hello chaoticmelody3805 and khimer_zherki. I have full reason to believe you two are the ones behind all this belly aching.

I will mainly be referring to Melody in this post due to the knowledge and proof that she has talked about most of the points in this blog to a near identical degree in private. All the while, Khimer appears to have been more of a support than a driving force. Considering he also hasn't done much harm to me I will be overlooking him. Still, I think acknowledgement is due for my reasoning on this.

To start, I think it is important to mention the fact that I was a mod in the Official Server and only that server. There are some references later on stating I was a mod in the RP server as well, which are false. I was never a mod in SoR and only held a sort of Teacher Role for a whole of 12 hours before asking to have it removed. This was early on when I was still fresh into the server.

With that being said, let's get to it.

Iceberg Post link for reference.

I want to address the reddit post first and make it abundantly clear that the creator himself was the only one with the power to edit, delete and monitor the reddit page. I don’t even have a reddit so being responsible for deleting it isn’t possible. When this iceberg was posted, Josh was the one to see and delete it. No one else. That is the only thing I wanted to address in the opening remark.

These two points have to do directly with the Official Server, as shown in the iceberg image.

"Bugs in the game"

No shit. It's a small indie game with the efforts of a handful of artists and coders to complete it. Even then, the plot was fun, the characters charming, and gameplay was enjoyable for what it was worth. It's the first stepping stone to the fandom and was often asked for a second game.

This entry is simply pointing out the obvious for most, if not all indie games and is just mean spirited towards the creator for his efforts.

The comics came after the game, buy the way. The server mostly pandered to the comic over the game.

"Bot raids"

Bot raids happen on bigger public servers. This is not something that was 100% preventable and precautions were put in place to MITIGATE the amount of bot raids that occurred. All things considered, it would have been leagues worse without the clearances put in place once the initial raids kicked up.

I say mitigated because for it to be 100% safe, the server would have to be private invite only.

I was a mod during some moments in the Official Server where I had helped think up ideas to help keep users as safe as possible. Once again, not 100% bullet proof and some still found a way in. They were dealt with swiftly each time, however.

Once again, only applicable to the Official Server.

"Important comics are Patreon exclusive"

The creator does these comics and the game as FREELANCE WORK. Of course he has the right to put some of the content behind a paywall! It's his main source of income! You and other users like you are lucky there was even a public version of the comic.

Instead of complaining about a freelance artist asking for compensation for their creations, maybe you should be happy with the free material he gives you in bulk.

"Comic is an incoherent mess"

This is an opinion, not a fact. Like all stories, some things bounce around and some details are hidden for later. Is it perfect? Hell no! But it's also not a damning factor either, let alone one valid for a fucking slander post.

Both of these points are opinion driven and hold no weight against their argument. Honestly, it feels like it was put in just to be mean and spiteful towards an artist who wants to make a living off his work. Pay your artists and show appreciation for the work they do!

This level can be applied to both the Official Server and SoR, despite one being only for the Official Server in the diagram.

"Bullying fan content that doesn't fit canon"

Josh has been very encouraging to artists and fans to make content they like for the fandom. The only times he has kept his mouth shut on details are for parts of the story that haven't been made public yet. He doesn't want spoilers.

There haven't been any caps provided to support this claim for him. This can be disregarded as opinion as well.

On the other hand.

SoR was notorious for restricting content allowed in its server, but also had a harsh vetting process that prevented most players from utilizing the creations they made.

Do you remember the Vetting Document? The one users had to fill out and then be judged upon if their muses “fit the universe enough”? I do. I also remember telling the mods to go fuck themselves because they wanted to change an aspect of my OC they didn't like. They didn't attempt to do that again.

If anything, SoR was much more restrictive in regards to following cannon content and even frowned upon most ideas that didn't adhere to the timeline. The worst of it was when I first joined that server, but over time it lessened a bit as more ideas were entertained. Only a bit, though. It was still a suffocating environment to play in thanks to the regulations and time slots for rping.

"Gaslighting"

For something as serious an accusation as this is, there are no caps. No proof. No nothing.

If anything, that makes this a null point too. To accuse someone of gaslighting, there needs to be proof or examples given. You have provided none.

Speaking for myself, I would say I was a victim to this multiple times in SoR. By mods and users alike. Even in the three posts of this blog it's present. It did lasting damage to my mental health and stability. So, while I will not acknowledge this point due to lack of proof, I will agree that it was done to me in SoR and the after effects show in my daily life. This is my own opinion in return for yours. Tit for tat.

"Comic released on Pride Month about an 'insane' character with rainbow hair"

One of the other mods answered this more gracefully than I could. A copy and paste of their answer is below.

*Lark does have rainbow hair, and she was in an asylum, correct. Her relationship preferences are unknown, and she is in fact- not insane- there is plot reason on why she is there, and it gets explained in the very same comic.*

Also, there is a cannonly gay character named Owl. One of Crows brothers. Macks fathers are also gay and married. Mayapple and Malice are also together and lesbians. There is plenty of LGBTQ representation in his comic if you want to claim it's only there as one moment of negativity.

"Being 'Progressive' for money"

Another opinion rather than a fact.

The above paragraph shows examples of the LGBTQ representation in the comic. Healthy ones at that!

You can say many of the characters in the comic are touch and go, sure. Something multiple fans have also noticed. But it's not just for LGBTQ ones.

There isn't much development on already existing characters and their relationships outside of Crow. So you can't pinpoint this just to a proposed lack of LGBTQ material when a lot of other characters outside of this lack the same attention. Malachite is a good example! One of my favorites when I was still a supporter.

It isn't being progressive for cash. It's focusing on the main character and developing the world around him. Albeit, in a quick paced way, in my opinion, but not one meant as a cash grab.

"The K&B incident"

This

Is where I get longwinded.

This was the thing that pissed me off the most.

As I stated at the start of this post I was NEVER A MOD IN SOR and was ONLY A MOD IN THE OFFICIAL SERVER. I don't know who started this rumor, but it is blatantly wrong. On top of that, no one had ever come to me to confirm it! This Is coming straight from the horse's boney mouth now. I have no reason to lie about this.

I had just as much power in that rp server as any other user did.

In regards to the Official server, however.

After leaving SoR, once I finally came to terms with how toxic that environment was and how two faced the head moderator, Fancifool, was, I did still want to rp and interact with some of the friends I made in that rp server. However, I did not want to use the Official Servers rp room as that was a place Fanci could still see me and I didn't want that. I like the privacy a private server gives.

Most of the strife, lies, rumors and manipulation all stem back to Fanci and I believe fully that any of these false accusations were fabricated from her to make herself look better, and me as a monster. (Another very long post for another time.)

Once I left, I kept away from anything to do with SoR and her. I wanted to mind my own business on the main server and enjoy the fandom. Even then, she was the one who persisted in watching and going after me whenever it seemed she could.

From things like trying to sabotage me making a pin design for the Official Server to spreading lies about why I left the rp server, she continued to harass me at a distance to the point my friend, Kaly, had to step in. She came in hot and told Fanci off before blocking her. Approaching with courtesy and a calm nature didn't work before and I continued to be targeted for minding my own business. Enough was enough.

That is where Kaly unfortunately got her big bad rep from Fanci, despite being more than polite to multiple people who didn't deserve it in the end. The ones who made this blog are examples of some of them.

That is all I will say about that aspect of my experience for now. SoR was an entirely different kind of trauma I had to go through and this post will never end if I tried to fit it all in here.

So back to the point at hand.

I brought up in the general chat in the Official Server that I was thinking about making my own server for folks who still wanted to rp with me, because I was NOT stepping foot back into SoR. I wanted to gauge who would still like to play with me outside of the server after I left. Not once did I say I wanted it to be a server to rival SoR nor be dedicated to Nef content. And I absolutely NEVER wanted to hog the unused rp channels in the Official Server. The same server they would host an rp in once a week or so as a type of stage to flaunt their writing outside of their server. If there was one thing Fanci loved, it was an audience. Which is also why she got so bent out of shape about the rp rooms being archived.

Fanci took this turn of events as me trying to undermine her stage, despite me saying that was not its intended purpose. She went to the SoR server owner and made up the hairbrained assumption, that you typed in this post, to get people riled up.

As a matter of fact, I still have the original transcript of the ENTIRE CONVERSATION IN THE MOD ROOM THAT OCCURED ABOUT IT!

I was at work at the time and couldn't join in until the very end, but I think this speaks for itself well enough on how little these people actually listened to anyone other than themselves. I also have caps showing that in their group chat after the fact.

Also, it was a majority of the OTHER moderators in the Official Server that wanted to shut down the rp channels. I was one of the only ones who tried to convince them to keep it open after Fanci demanded an audience with them. But the majority ruled and in the end I did agree with their choice as well.

In reality, it was Fanci who ultimately pushed the mods to decide to close the rp channels due to her persisting that it would be unfair to them to have BASIC RULES IN PLACE. Rules you can read in the doc transcript at the end when I was finally free to say something on the matter. Thus, the rooms were archived and a direct link to SoR was put in its place in case anyone still wanted to join their server. That archive is long gone now.

This is just one example of how facts were twisted to make certain parties look better than they were. Making mountains from molehills to make a group look better than another.

TLDR: Fanci made a spectacle over me wanting to see if people still wanted to rp with me outside of SoR, made up lies about what my PRIVATE INVITE ONLY SERVER would be used for, and ultimately why the rp rooms were shut down.

By the way, I still made that server and it's still invite only for close friends. It's called Blue Lagoon and it's beach themed. Don't worry. I'm not stealing her number count.

"Complaints about anything on this being ignored/excused"

Any issues or complaints brought to mods from both servers were handled to the extent they thought it appropriate enough to do so. This isn't their fucking day job! It's a damn fandom server.

I will admit, SoR neglected its own 25+ page rulebook often so they could keep numbers up. Because I was only a mod in the Official Server towards the end of this shit storm, I don't have much I can add to this point. But also, once again, no caps. No proof. No examples.

Another opinion rather than a fact.

"The Purge"

I was not around for this event and know nothing about it.

One thing I will make very clear is that the Syndicate of Roleplay was NEVER THE OFFICIAL RP SERVER FOR NEFARIOUS!

Josh never deemed it so and never once considered it a direct branch of his server for him to foresee. He has stated this multiple times. This was a self proclaimed title that held no weight in the servers validity.

"Sexualized art"

People make 18+ content. This is universal. Literally every server ever made has this happen from time to time, but at least there exists an 18+ server for the Official Server where it can be isolated to. Whether people use it is up to them. The mods usually followed up about that too. In both the Official and RP servers. Your second post actually proves that on its own.

"Provoking suicidal people"

I don't think I know of this instance so I'm skipping it. No comment via lack of information and proof.

"ERP with minors"

You can say this was in regard to Dusty and you, Melody. I don't know what really happened between you and Dusty in that timeframe, but calling him a pedophile during a time when he was also young and unaware of some things is downright malicious. In fact, I did the math at one point and I think he was ALSO a minor during that time. So referring to him as the ADULT in this point is painting him in a worse light than he was.

Is he an asshole? Absolutely! I will not disagree with you on that. But I will never label someone something as extreme as a PEDOPHILE unless I know for sure they are one. Going to such an extreme label like this is alarming, but something you are known to do.

It's perfectly valid if you regretted that interaction with him, though! I've had moments like that in my time rping and interacting with different people. There was a lack of consideration from him and that's one of his major faults. He's inconsiderate.

As for how the mods responded to this instance. Once again, I was not there for this and there's no proof, once again.

But if this is true. You did not deserve to be treated like that and their response is more alarming than Dusty's idiocy.

"Exposure to drawn child porn"

My brother in Christ.

This is one of those instances of 'makes a character that's fully grown, but was Freshly Brought To Life recently'. I can't comment on this fully because it is also a matter of opinion in a way. One I also am not fully comfortable with. Yeah. I also don't like this trope. I think it's too close to the line in the sand.

In regards to the Event that provoked this bullet point.

It is so fucking easy to post an image or text in the wrong chat. I have done it so many times because, guess what? HUMANS CAN MAKE MISTAKES.

It doesn't matter if he had to press "several buttons" to post it if he didn't see he was in the wrong server. Which is what he said after it was all said and done! It was a huge screw up on his part, but the big takeaway is he didn't do it ON PURPOSE. He was extremely embarrassed by it after the fact and you even showed that in your second post.

Just say you want a reason for everyone to hate him as much as you do. To make him out to be a horrible person rather than someone you just don't vibe with. Cause my dude, I also don't vibe with him, but I'm not going around making shit up to make him look like a perverted pedo. That's fucked up and frankly you're fucked up for doing that!

"Active Pedophile in the community"

This is literally your last point in Level 5 just jumbled with different words.

However, I will agree that Dusty usually had risqué muses that didn't fully belong in that space. Which once again, should have been properly addressed by the mods in that server and weren't. If anything, instead of saying Kaly gave him passes for this, what about Fanci? His best friend and overall main power holder of the server who was letting him get away with it long before Kaly even entered the server.

But once again. No caps. No irrefutable proof. No evidence.

That's all for that post!

Now onto the second.

Accusations Post link for reference.

This part only has to do with the RP Server and the bullshit that happened in it.

What I will be doing for this post is simply debunking the outlandish claims made in them about ME. I'll explain why they are framed in ways meant to demonize rather than inform of anything actually malicious.

I'm not going to touch the top of this post as it's just another jab at Dusty and his idiocy. The guy's inconsiderate and I'm leaving it at that.

Where I will start is right here.

Allow me to start by genuinely asking WHAT SUICIDE BAIT?????

Where??

Do you even know the meaning of that word because I don't think you do!

And once again throwing around extreme words and phrases without understanding what they truly mean as well as the extremity of them. There isn't a single instance of that in any of these caps!

The only thing I can feasibly piece together that is close to that is when Dusty say's he's going to kill his phone and then himself.

Out of embarrassment.

A phrase that is so commonly used that everyone has heard and used it at least once in their lives. No one is being fooled by this. It's NOT suicide baiting.

I will go over the following main accusation against me (number 1) and why it is completely false, written and framed in a way to try and make me look like a horrible person. I will NOT be speaking for Kaly in this as her experience differs from mine. But I will touch on a few things involving her.

All the caps below are the extent of the conversation taken from this post as "proof".

Now.

I find it very convenient that the actual offending pic wasn't captured and that is because these caps were not taken at the time of offense. Not because you didn't want to capture it.

I know Khimer is most likely the one that took the caps before he left the server about a year or so ago. The reasons I think this is because of two things.

1. The date of each post alone is a baseline. This indicated that these caps were taken WAY after this happened.

I also want to point out how none of these caps are full screen caps that hide the full story and and additional context. To me, that devalues them and makes it look like certain things were framed or cherry picked. Something Melody is notorious for and also did often to make others look like unsympathetic assholes. Notably, something she attempted to do to Kaly and got caught for.

It's manipulation and gaslighting. Something she accused so many other people of. So yeah. Projecting much?

2. If you look at the first cap you will see chaoticMelody's name is one of the only ones that are white. This means that she wasn't in the server at the time of the cap being taken.

Based upon the timeline of her ban and when I knew Khimer also left the server, I can safely assume this was taken during my time still in the server considering my name isn’t in white like hers, but most certainly AFTER she had been banned and Kaly was no longer a mod.

This narrows it down to a chunk of time for me and deduces that it was not taken during the time Kaly WAS a mod in that server. While I was never a mod, Kaly was and demoted herself because she was sick of all the bullshit. She was never kicked from the role. She stepped down herself. I know for a fact this moment happened after she took that step down into just being a normal player in the server too. And if that’s hard to believe, then the proof given isn’t viable either as it says otherwise. I’ll get to why.

And no. The one user below Melody is not white as well. It is a pastel yellow. One of the other tiers they had in the server was that color and this user had it as their main color. The whole role system was a gradient from light yellow, to orange, and then purple. Purple being the owner/mods, orange being the standard users/players, and yellow being other roles like artists, viewers, etc. These were also the main colors of the main character in Nefarious, Crow.

That's not important really, but just a tidbit of logic behind it.

My username is orange just like all the other standard users. The moderator, Fancifool, and server owner at the time, Lock Jaw, have distinctly different purple colors to their usernames and that is because Fanci was the main mod at this time and Lock Jaw was the owner with the same privileges as the mods. Even when this cap was taken they still reflect that.

They were the ones responsible to handle this. Not me. Not Kaly.

If this were the case, then users like MasterofMemes, who was also orange, should have been on the chopping block too, no? And what about the blatant ping in the same color as Fanci and Lock Jaws usernames? Any discord user knows the role color matches the role, so how do you deny that one?

Even then, Memes and Fanci both acted before either Kaly and I did, so in either retrospect, once again, why am I being targeted for hate in something I wasn’t even responsible for, let alone was too late to get to? Is it because certain people coupled me and Kaly together as one entity? You all sure treated us like one, which was just fucking rude and demonizing.

With this information, this accusation that I 'favored' Dusty and let him get away with accidentally posting an nsfw pic in the server flops like a dead fish.

It’s so easy to take a cap, put it out of context and say whatever hate comes to your brain. But this was sloppy. Really sloppy. I didn’t say anything or engage with you on it for years because anyone with eyes and half a brain cell can put 2 + 2 together to make 4. Well… almost anyone, apparently.

And allow me to state again, because this seems to continue to not be committed to memory.

I WAS NEVER A MOD IN SOR!

Not once. Never wanted to be. Never was.

On top of this, the event happened in the middle of the day when most people with jobs were AT SAID JOBS as well as school. (Don’t think I need proof of that.) We weren't tethered to our phones for any beck and call that may happen. Assuming people with lives outside of a fucking discord server will come running at any instant is, frankly, ridiculous.

But it looks like it took Fanci and Lock Jaw roughly “2 minutes to get on scene” in this instance.

It doesn't matter if you have screenshots if all you're going to do is use them to make up lies about someone. None of what you know about me is even close to true. You can’t even dig up one cap that shows my username in the purple color Fanci’s is in because it doesn’t exist and won’t ever exist now because that server is either shut down or private.

Either way, this was a long time coming and I know by now Melody is probably in her early 20's. No longer a minor as you loved to flaunt about like a shield. So how about you act like a big girl and mind your own damn business from now on and stop spreading lies? You must be mature enough by now to do that. After all, your Harry Potter blog has been on hiatus for quite some time. That’s a good sign.

I will never deal with this brand of bullshit ever again. Not from the likes of them or others in kind. If anyone tries to stir up anything else aside from what is already on this blog I will no longer hesitate to act upon it.

If you're done embarrassing yourselves, then delete your blog and never utter my name again.

#bishop speaks #nefarious fandom drama #nefarious #nefarious game #nefarious comic #assortedmedia

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 1 year ago

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So, controversial topic. taking in count that in a month, the webcomic "scarlet lady" is gonna end ¿what are your feelings about it?

I know that there's people out there that don't like it for the chloe salt, but i have to admit that the damnation that chloe went through, at least for me, gave her more agency than canon, for the fact that it wasn't manipulated by outside forces like canon did, it gave her the right to choose to be better or worse.

Another great element is that it does what canon refused to do: five back Adrian his agency by letting him vent his frustrations AND let him realize that his father is a bastard.

If you don't agree, that's more than excellent, i want to know your take in this topic, that being positive or negative 😄👍

My friend, you are talking to a big Scarlet Lady fan, so I'm happy to give my thoughts! Get ready for some gushing and in-depth discussion of the adaptation process. That's really what all fanfiction is, but Scarlet Lady is more of an adaptation than most since it's a true canon rewrite that often requires you to know canon to fully appreciate its jokes and meta commentary.

Before we get into it, I want to give a link to the comic for those who haven't read it. The artist/writer is @zoe-oneesama and this is page one of the comic. I'd follow the comic link if you haven't read it as the comic is nearing its end, so going straight to Zoe's page will spoil you on elements of ending.

General Thoughts on Adaptation

Adaptation is an art, not a science. There are things that are objective elements of a story. Things you really cannot change if you want people to feel like you're telling an adaptation of a given tale. But there are also plenty of elements that are more subjective. Things some people might consider vital, but that aren't truly necessary to stay true to the story's core. (Yes, the character core thing applies to stories too!)

For example, to be a Cinderella adaptation, you need to have some sort of big reveal moment where "the prince" finds Cinderella, but that moment doesn't need to involve a slipper and the prince doesn't need to be an actual prince. My favorite modern Cinderella adaptation is A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song and it twists both of those elements while keeping the major story beats in place, making it fully deserving of the Cinderella label while also being its own unique story that isn't a straight retelling, it's an adaptation.

I bring all this up because, as readers of this blog may have already guessed, Scarlet Lady does a lot of things that I personally would not do when adapting Miraculous. A big one being that I prefer a more complex take on Gabriel, but that's simply a matter of preference. A complex Gabriel is not a requirement for adapting Miraculous. Complex Gabriel vs comedic villain Gabriel is just a choice you have to make when it comes to adapting canon because canon is such a mess that both options have straight up backing in the source text. Even if they didn't, Gabriel's core role - villain - is one that leaves you a lot of room for interpretation based on other factors that we'll talk about in a second.

I'll close off this section with this: having read all of Scarlet Lady, I'll be so bold as to say that Zoe and I almost perfectly align when it comes to identifying the flaws in Miraculous because I've agreed with pretty much every change she's made. She did a fantastic job staying true to the core of canon while also telling the story she wanted to tell. It's not the way I'd redo canon, but it doesn't need to be for me to call it a fantastic story. Plus a lot of the different choices I'd make come down to narrative style and tone.

Narrative Style and Tone

I'm a novelist at heart, which means that I favor serialized storytelling. For those who don't know that word, it means stories that are one coherent whole just broken into chunks. Stories where the order matters. You can't start watching at a random episode, you have to start at the beginning. And skipping an episode usually means that you'll have no idea what's going on.

Miraculous is not a serialized show. It's primarily an episodic show, a word that means that episode order doesn't matter. Every installment stands alone.

Obviously Miraculous isn't completely episodic, but that's fine. Purely episodic narratives are rare these days. Most stories have at least minor serialized elements even if those elements are often ignored for multiple episodes at a time. This is where both Miraculous and Scarlet Lady fall. They're mostly episodic stories with serialized elements popping up every now and then.

Miraculous does this element poorly because it acts like it's a purely episodic show and then takes that to an absurd extreme. Rules, characters, and lore can never be counted on to stay the same from episode to episode even though that's not actually how episodic stories work. Scarlet Lady doesn't make this mistake. It understands that episodic narratives should have STORIES that stand alone, but that the WORLD the stories take place in must stay consistent.

Now that we've gone over the basic format stuff, let's talk about tone.

Generally speaking, tone is the vibe of your story. It can be serious, silly, dramatic, and so on. One of Miraculous' biggest flaws is that its tone is all over the place. It's a silly romcom that brings in serious topics in serious ways and then handles them with all the grace of a hippo performing ballet in a china shop because of course it does! Those topics are horribly suited to the show's overall tone so it has no way to properly address them.

This is one of the many things I love about Scarlet Lady. It takes the show's absurdist tone and honors it. That's why Zoe's version of Gabriel works so well! He's a silly cartoony villain in a silly cartoony comic as he should be. It's also why my versions of Gabriel tend to be more complex. More serious serialized narratives are where more serious complex villains thrive. Neither option is better than the other, it all comes down to how you're adapting the original work. Zoe's choices are perfect for her version's style and tone. If mine are even close to that good for my preferred style and tone, then I'll be a happy author.

Narrative Weight & The Chloe Thing

This is getting long, so I'll end with a note on Chloe since you brought her up as it's another great example of the fact that there are very few choices that are inherently right or wrong when it comes to adaptation.

I don't know if I'd say that I'm a Chloe fan, but I certainly don't hate her. I also love what Zoe did with the character! It's a prime example of a thing that I've talked about before: the issue with Chloe is not a lack of redemption. The issue is that Chloe was given too much narrative weight to be what canon made her.

Quick definition: narrative weight is the importance a narrative places on a person, event, thing, etc. The more time you dedicate to an element of your narrative, the more weight that element has in the eyes of your audience. The more they expect the element to matter. The way that you develop the element will also shape audience expectations.

In the context of canon, Chloe has more development than almost any other side character. We know more about her family, her childhood, her personality, and so on. This was an absurd choice for canon to make because Chloe is not actually important to the story they told. You could pull her out of canon and almost nothing would change. Gabriel can make akumas do whatever he wants so, lore wise, he didn't need Miracle Queen. In fact, he arguably shouldn't have made Miracle Queen. He could have just taken the miracle box and jumped right into the plot of season five. Similarly, Chloe being mayor was an absurd one-note moment that's easily replaced with something more logical.

Because of this, there are a lot of things you can do when adapting Chloe. Everything from turning her back into a one-dimensional mean girl to redeeming her to what Zoe did: take Chloe's narrative weight and petty brat behavior and lean into both to make Chloe a main antagonist while also acknowledging the fact that Chloe is a messed up teenage girl who needs some serious help. I'm super excited to see the end of Chloe's arc in Scarlet Lady as I think it's going to be one of my favorites in the fandom. That is admittedly not a high bar as I'm very picky when it comes to Chloe content. I think most of it falls flat because most of it fails to let Chloe hit some sort of rock bottom when she absolutely needs to if you want to do anything interesting with her. She's not the kind of person who will easily change or see the error of her ways.

Conclusion

Scarlet Lady is a fantastic adaption of Miraculous and Zoe is a fantastic and funny adapter. The comic might not be to your tastes - and that's fine, nothing has universal appeal - but it's still a great example of how to honor source material while doing your own thing with it, which is a true skill. One of the problems with many modern retellings and reboots is that the people running the show don't understand how to adapt a narrative. They take far too much creative freedom and end up with something that doesn't feel anything like the source.

If I found out that Zoe somehow got hired to adapt something I love, then I wouldn't have any concerns. I'd have no idea what she'd do with it, but I'd be confident that it wouldn't spit in the face of the thing I love. I'd personally read a hundred Miraculous re-imaginings with her at the helm.

#scarlet lady comic #Scarlet lady praise #I have really specific changes in mind for how I would redo miraculous #which probably leads me to make statements that have people thinking I want certain elements in ANY redo #This is very much not the case #I'm almost always talking about personal preference #Especially when it comes to the villain characters like Chloe Gabriel and Nathalie #You can pretty much always assume I'm stating a mere preference when I say stuff about how to fix a certain character or plot point #When it comes to reading redos I'm super open to alternate takes #I'm only super picky when it comes to what I will personally write

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ziorre · 3 months ago

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✨Commission info✨

I'm ready, I'm rested, I'm refreshed! And I'm completely charged to take care of your new ideas and characters!! I truly believe that every character is awesome and original and deserves to be shown with their own story! And I'll try to help you with this in a way that is more convenient for you! You just pick one below ;)

✨ PRICES:

- REALISTIC STYLE (for the cases, when you want it looks more real without much stylizing)

- USUAL STYLE (for the cases, when you don’t mind it looks more stylized and a lil sketchy)

- CONCEPT SHEET (for the cases, when you want to present your character, their outfit and props)

* you can find more examples on my page by the commission tag ** a helpful post describing a right order for your refs

✨ DEADLINES: After you DM me with a brief description of your idea, I’ll tell you the approximate date when I’ll be able to proceed with your commission. But the average deadline is from 2 weeks to 2 months. ❗❗❗Always warn me in advance if I need to draw art by a certain deadline❗❗❗

✨ PAYMENT: What: USD or RUB When: full pre-payment (when you sent me the email and we approved the art idea) Where: Lava.top (russian platforms, support payment via PayPal)

✨ PROCESS: You write to me in private messages on Tumblr, briefly tell me your idea of our future art, what style and what slot you want (full body / half body / bust). Then I give you my email address and you send me an email (with your Tumblr name as the topic please) with all necessary references (your character's face claim, their pose, clothes, background etc.). You describe the idea of the art in details, where it takes place, and other things that I need to know so that I can base the sketch on all that info, because after you approve the sketch, I don’t change art much in the further stages of the work, just some details. I send you the payment link on my Lava.top page. Send you the sketch. After you confirm that you like the sketch, I finish the work and send it on your email😊

✨ OTHER: - I don’t correct the art after you approved the finished version. - I don’t copy other artist’s work. - I publish every commission on my social media, if you don’t want it to be published, just let me know. - If you’re not sure about the art idea, I can suggest you 4 sketches with different poses/concepts/angles for extra $20 and you pick the one you like the most. - For significant corrections or a lot of small ones at any stage of work, an additional fee may be charged (this doesn’t apply to some small adjustments or details witch I missed). There are 3 free changes at the each stages of the work (sketch, finished version), further - $2-$5.

___________________________________

And of course I can't skip to say a huge thank you to those who commissioned and continue commissioning art from me! It means a lot! For real! This is not only material support, but also moral one, saying that I’m not wasting my time and energy in vain, that I’m moving in the right direction, that people like what I do! I can't tell how inspiring it is!! 360 commissions! I’ve never imagined that one day I would draw so many art for others! Just.. wow!! Thank you again so much for trusting me bringing to life your ideas! I truly appreciate it!😌

____________________________________

I think this is it, right? If you have any questions, feel free to DM me ;)

I’ll be VERY grateful for your reblogs!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤ (and thank you very much for this in advance, it helps me A LOOOOOOOOOT, you are the ones who keep me alive literally! I see each and every one of you doing that! You’re the best!!!) Thanks for your attention! Have a good day =)

#far cry 5 #baldur's gate 3 #cyberpunk 2077 #digital art #digital drawing #artists on tumblr #commission #my art

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fuckyeahmhawkefenris · 1 year ago

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MAJOR update

So I don't know if anyone else even cares about this stuff, but I made some huge progress with tagging/retagging things here. For some time I haven't been tagging any posts at all lacking motivation because, seriously, does anyone even look at tags these days?

Still, my love for this ship keeps me going. Maker, I'd forgotten how therapeutic the process is. For a few days I almost stopped dwelling on my own personal issues.

Anyway

Allow me to remind y'all that this blog has a list of TAGS, a rather extensive one. I shudder to think how much time I spent compiling it all, but it does make me happier somehow

We have an impressive collection of fanart, so many comic bits they had to be separated into their own category to make it possible to navigate through all the artwork, writings that I don't think can be found anywhere else. In the beginning this fandom also used to produce a lot of memes and jokes, not so much of it now, but we don't forget our history! There is so much to uncover and rediscover.

I guess that canoodling/hugging/cuddling/snuggling tags are still a mess (always have been) despite my best efforts, but I genuinely tried to make it make sense somewhat. Having 8000+ pieces of art for your ship gets you there. Hard to believe it used to be almost nonexisistent in the beginning. It was so easy to navigate in 2012...

I didn't even try to sort out the comics, and fiction is not tagged either, except for the most basic basics.

Well, if anyone has any better ideas/suggestions don't be shy about @ ing me. Hell, if you can think of any new tags worth adding, let me know. And if you could reply to the relevant posts with it, it'd be fantastic.

If you're bored and don't mind spending some time with Fenris and Hawke, observing them love each other, please take a look at the list. There are also separate pages for the people who make fanart and write stuff for us, so you can always find more of their works by looking up the artists name in the tags. Though this page is forever in progress.

There's always room for improvement, so if you have anything to say, PLEASE SAY IT.

Also, the pornstash is up again, and now there is some semblance of a system.

It is a members-only blog, since almost all of its content is flagged and can only be viewed by members. So you need to become one. Everyone is welcome to join, but please don't follow it. All you need to do is like this post. I'll see your username and send you an invite. After that you'll need to check your e-mail (NOT tumblr inbox!) and follow the link you'll find there. And please read the post i linked carefully, there's vital information in it.

I'm just really tired

I'd really like to sort this place out completely so that when I retire, and someone is willing to take it off my hands, I could be at peace.

#fenhawke #hawris #male hawke x fenris #male hawke #garrett hawke #custom hawke #dragon age 2 #announcements #theBlog

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undertale-fic-librarby · 2 months ago

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A Quick Guide to Ao3 Searches! (Part 1)

From someone who searches for fics frequently!

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So, you've decided to make the switch to Ao3! Or maybe it's your first time diving into the world of fanfiction! Either way, welcome!

Why am I making this guide? I feel like a lot of people can be overwhelmed when they first begin to use Ao3, so I'm here to try & help alleviate any confusion!

This guide assumes that you have made an account! Some authors choose to hide their work from those who don't have an account, including me! If you haven't yet, I suggest making one as soon as possible & coming back to this later!

With all of that said, let's get on with it!

Home Page

The first page that you see when you open up a tab with Ao3 should be the home page! From here, you can see tags that you've saved as a favorite, works you've marked for later, & news from Ao3, as well as links to both the Twitter & Tumblr status accounts!

Also on the home page is an empty search bar with a button next to it that says Search in the upper right corner! Above this is where you can access your account, the button to post a new work, & the button to log out of your account!

What we want to focus on is the empty search bar! Here, you can input what you want to look for, & it will show you the works that best match what you put!

Search Results

Now that we have our results, what next? Well, you could always stop here & look through the works manually, but that's generally not a great method, especially since some searches can have thousands of results to sort through! Thankfully, there's a solution!

Towards the right of your screen, a little below where you entered your search, there's a button that says Edit Your Search. If you click on this, it will lead you to a separate page where you can narrow down the works that you're shown, ranging from the title to the amount of bookmarks a work has! I'll briefly go through each filter as I understand it!

Work Search

Work Info

Any Field - Where you can find what you searched for!

Title - Where you can input a work's name if you know it!

Author/Artist - Where you can put the username of the author of the work if you know it!

Date - Where you can input a range of time that fics were posted/updated!

Completion status - Where you can choose from seeing all works, works that have been completed, or works that are still in progress!

Crossovers - Where you can choose to include crossovers, exclude crossovers, or see only crossovers!

Single Chapter - Checking this box will show you works with only one chapter!

Word Count - Where you can specify the word count you're looking for, from exact amount to broad range!

Language - A drop down menu where you can select from a wide range of different languages!

Work Tags

Fandoms - Where you can put what fandoms you're searching for!

Rating - A drop down menu where you can choose what rating you wish to be shown works from, ranging from any to explicit!

Warnings - Checkboxes you can mark to indicate that you want to be shown works with that warning!

Categories - Checkboxes you can mark to indicate that you want to be shown works with that category!

Characters - Where you can put specific character tags!

Relationships - Where you can put specific relationship tags!

Additional Tags - Where you can put tags that are neither characters nor relationships!

Work Stats

Hits - Where you can specify an exact amount to search for, or a broad range!

Kudos - Where you can specify an exact amount to search for, or a broad range!

Comments - Where you can specify an exact amount to search for, or a broad range!

Bookmarks - Where you can specify an exact amount to search for, or a broad range!

Sort by - A drop down menu where you can select how you wish to be shown works in the results!

Sort direction - A drop down menu where you can select which direction you would like to see results sorted by!

Most of these options are pretty self-explanatory, but if you're still unsure of how some of these work, try clicking on the question marks next to certain filters! These should help you understand some things a bit better!

By default, you are shown all works, including ones you might not be interested in! In order to narrow down the results, it's best to use work tags that match what you're looking for! Excluding results will be explained in the second part to this guide.

There are also different searches you can choose from on this page, those being People Search, Bookmark Search, & Tag Search! You can find the buttons for these below the empty search bar! I don't use these often myself, so I'm not confident in explaining how to use them, thus they are not included in this guide!

Search Works

Now that you've filtered what you want to be shown, you can hit the Search button near the top or bottom of the filter list! Don't click the one next to the empty search bar, but if you do, hitting the back arrow should take you back to the filter list!

For a more comprehensive guide with better explanations, I recommend checking out Ao3's official Tags FAQ, which includes what types of tags there are, how to tag your own works, & the process that goes into making tags, among other things!

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Congratulations! You've successfully searched for fics on Ao3! But, wait! This is not the only way to search on Ao3! However, this has gotten very long & so I have decided to make a second part, which you can find here!

#not a fic rec #ao3 search guide #mod sleepy

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