#reverse image description! go!

[a-nah]

[Image description : a selfie of an very OOC samifer smiling to the camera doing a victory sign. In white clothes. With rings.

Death and chaos in the background.

Caption: HE SAID YESS!!]

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Since you've mentioned Scarlet Lady in one of your posts, what's your opinion on it?

I've mentioned before that I'm a big Scarlet Lady fan, which is the only reason that I'm comfortable answering asks like this one. I don't publicly criticize the content of hobby creators. That's wildly inappropriate! Punch up, not down.

The linked post was a general discussion of the adaptation process and how @zoe-oneesama did a fantastic job, so for this one, I'm just going to do some general gushing because I do actually like praising and enjoying things!

Scarlet Lady's chosen format (comic) allows it to have this wonderful conversation with canon where it can rely on the framework of canon to tell it's own story while also using canon for jokes and meta commentary. This means that Scarlet Lady is about as close as fan content can get to a direct reboot because it's able to have moments like this one from the comic's first post:

[Image description: Adrien standing in his room after transforming into Chat Noir for the first time. He is beaming and his eyes are shining with excitement as he exclaims, "This is gonna be awesome!"]

A single picture that communicates everything we need to know about Adrien getting his miraculous. When I've done this same thing in fanfic, I had to write out the full scene because that's how novels work. You have to give the full picture. With a comic, you can just quickly acknowledge this thing that we all already know and then move on to the new stuff. A picture really is worth a thousand words! (Or, in my case, more like two thousand...)

This allows Zoe to keep the same akumas that we get in canon without her story feeling like a boring rehash because she can focus on what's different in her version. A novelization of the same content would have to show both the stuff that stays the same and the stuff that changes for it to be coherent. That's a lot less fun to read and write. It's why I basically never revisit canon akumas in my own stuff. It's just too derivative for the written word.

This is one of the big reasons that I loved Scarlet Lady. Because it was able to have that more directly conversation with canon, it was able to take canon and say, "hey, why don't we embrace the tone that you established in season one and retell the story with that vibe?" That's something that I desperately wanted to see, but that is totally unsuited to my chosen artistic form. It couldn't be a novel. It had to be a comic.

If you want to know what a true formula show version of Miraculous would look like, Scarlet Lady is it. It does everything that Miraculous should have done:

Sticks to a lighthearted tone where nothing is ever super serious

Keeps Gabriel entirely unsympathetic

Has slow character development and background hints at a bigger plot as the only serial elements, allowing the individual episodes to be their own story while never feeling incomplete or rushed

Allows characters other than Marinette to shine while keeping Marinette as the clear main character

Makes Adrien narratively important

MAKES THE LOVE SQUARE CUTE SO I CAN ACTUALLY SHIP IT

Understands that Lila and Chloe can't coexist as antagonists

Reverses the love square, which is the best way to tell their story. Yes, I will die on my "love diamond" hill. It's a good hill. Come join me. I'll bring cookies.

I could keep going, but you hopefully get my point. While Scarlet Lady is certainly not the only way to do a formula version of canon, it's proof that a formula version does work! You don't have to go the serious route for Miraculous to be successful.

I want to take some time to gush about the ending, but I don't want to spoil it, so I'll put that gushing under a "read more" in case anyone hasn't seen it. I'll finish out this less spoilerish section with this:

I feel like some people are surprised when they learn that I love Scarlet Lady because - as some of you have probably picked up - it is quite different from my ideal version of canon. I'm not sure why that would stop me from enjoying a thing, though. It's important to remember that our personal ideals are not the only way to tell a good story. There are lots of ways to take what canon gave us and make something wonderful! It's part of the reason that I enjoy being in a fandom.

If I only wanted to see my ideal take on canon, then I'd stick to writing/imagining my own stories. But I don't want that! I like seeing alternate takes, too. Scarlet Lady is one of my personal favorites. It's completely different from anything that I'd ever think to write and that's why I'm so glad that it exists! I like being entertained just as much as I like creating my own entertainment and I don't want to only read stories that look like something I'd write. That's boring!

Spoilers below:

I've mentioned before that there are many, many ways to properly handle Chloe's character and Zoe did such a good job with her take on that! Chloe isn't absolved of all the things she did wrong, but she's also treated as a young woman with the ability to change.

While the comic bares the name of Chloe's alter ego, she was the never the main character. She never went on a journey. The story kept her to her shallow season-one self: a petty brat who just wanted attention. It did this because that's who Chloe was in canon and who Chloe needed to be for the comic to work.

The first time we see any complexity from Chloe is in the comic's final few episodes, which was absolutely the right call for Zoe to make! In a recent post, I talked about how the end of a formula show is the only time when you can break the formula in catastrophic ways and that's what Zoe did. She kept Chloe static until it was time to end the story and that's when the formula breaks. That's when Chloe gets depth because, once she has depth, the formula doesn't work.

That depth is not used to redeem Chloe, but to show us that there's hope for Chloe. That this petty brat who we've been dealing with has some serious issues and needs help. Help that she's going to get far away from the people that she's hurt because her issues aren't an excuse for what she's done. They don't erase the harm that she caused. At the same time, understanding her issues makes us hope that she can be better now and Scarlet Lady took a moment to give us that hope. To show us the START of Chloe's true story.

That is the kind of ending that I have wanted to see in so many properties!!! It was so wonderful to finally get one that did this right. A story that understood that full redemption to the team and damnation to death/suffering are extremes on a scale of possibilities. You don't have to go to extremes! You can fall in the middle and the middle is a perfect, natural place for Chloe to land in this kind of story. Fully redeeming or even fully damning Chloe simply doesn't work in lighthearted formula content. It's too big a lift as canon has already demonstrated.

I also loved Zoe's take on Emilie. I've mentioned that I don't like evil Emilie in part because it makes her revival feel like the start of a new story. She's back and she'd bad, so we have to take her down now! But I don't want that. I want the story to end when Gabriel is stopped. Zoe does this by giving us an Emilie that is another perfect middle ground. She matches canon's uncomfortable implications without feeling like a true villain who is a threat to society.

[quarterlifekitty]

Which obsessed! 141 character is most likely to harm their kidnapped partner? Is the harm minor like a smack or broken bones? I'd like to see a most to less likely scale👉👈

cw: kidnapping, dark fic, physical violence, emotional manipulation, serious wound/blood, minor amputation, description of parental abuse (does not occur in writing, just a personal anecdote). Also sorry I did the scale in reverse!

So I'm gonna say Soap is at the bottom tentatively. It depends on how well you can handle pain. I think he's almost overly empathetic-- he's the type who will cry if he sees someone crying, and wince when he sees someone in pain. So if you're easy to reduce to tears, he won't do very much, if anything. However I can also easily imagine a scenario... Stay with me here.

(So there's a style of corporal punishment, which I'm not going to say is good, but I can see Soap subscribing to it. My grandfather used to put his hand on the top of my fathers head and hit that. This is so that whenever he was giving him corporal punishment, my grandfather hurt himself as well, maybe more so, and wasn't able to forget how much force was being used. Again, not gonna say it was a good thing to do, but there's an amount of logic behind it.)

Anyways, I can see Soap doing that. Any injury he inflicts on you, he'll do to himself. It's almost like he's making his own soulmate style bond. It's another effort on his part to build up a connection between you-- a sort of camaraderie.

I think John cares too much about image to be able to hurt you very much. He won't do anything that will leave marks-- I also think he's the one most likely to take you on outings, so he can't exactly have you looking like an abused spouse. Anything he does is open palmed, nothing that leaves cuts or bruises.

Gaz prefers not to resort to violence, but he's not shy, either. He's more likely to put you in scenarios where its up to you not to get hurt, so less of the burden is on him. Things like holding a knife to your skin so you have to stay completely still. Also in situations where he'll grab, and tell you to say what he wants you to say or he'll just keep twisting.

Ghost is fully willing to hobble you. Not in a permanent way, but if you like running, like fiddling with things you shouldn't be fiddling with-- he will break bones and cut tendons. It is not in a way that causes more pain than needed. He isn't cruel, he doesn't want you to hate him and associate him with pain. So he'll dutifully care for the wound, make sure everything is setting correctly and that you have everything you could ever want while you recover. But it's possible he's only making sure it heals well so that he'll be able to do it again later if needed.

Nikolai's physical punishments will come without warning, without gradation. He'll basically let you rack up sins, offenses, bad behavior-- all while you don't know he's keeping a tab and fully intending for you to pay up when he's ready. And he will do permanent damage. Nikolai will have never once laid a hand on you in violence, and suddenly one day one of your tirades of screaming and calling him a monster ends with your pinky wedged in his bolt cutters, right at the middle knuckle, all while the look on his face doesn't change. And he makes you beg for him to help. Tell him you need him, that you always needed him, that you were being stupid and you didn't mean what you said. If you tell him what he wants to hear? Suddenly he's like a big cuddly bear again, doting on you and cooing poor thing while he neatly bandages and cleans everything, feeds you your favorite meal, doses you with plenty of painkillers and cocktails.

If you refuse to beg? Well, he won't let you die of gangrene or anything. He'll pour the nearest bottle of liquor over a kitchen knife and hold it on the stove for a minute before cauterizing the wound.

When all's said and done, months and months from now, he'll probably get you a decorative silver cap for what remains, finely engraved, with you new last name, perhaps?

[lonelysheepling]

Recently read @queenofthequillandink ’s DPxDC crossover fic Unearthed, Reborn

I got inspired to draw character sheets for Danny, Sam, Jason, and Jazz’s vigilante personas. Here’s a link to the author’s drawings of their outfits (these were a vital reference for me when doing this so thank you so much for sharing them Quill) More commentary (like 7+ paragraphs plus 2 images) about this project and the designs below the “keep reading” line.

None of these thoughts I have for each character are in order, but I have a lot of commentary for these since this project was a lot more conceptual than my normal work. I also just like talking about my art/design process. If you ever find yourself wondering at some point why an element from the original design wasn’t included, the answer is that the removal was completely intentional and part of my grandmaster vision for this work and wasn’t because I just forgot about it entirely during the design process.

————————————————————————

Aconite (Sam)

This was the first one I sketched out, I wasn’t even sure at the time if I was going to fully commit to drawing all of them. I thought that Sam was gonna be the hardest since her description was way longer than the others, but then bird boy beat her out. I took a lot of creative liberties with her design, the bag was added bc I couldn’t figure out how to add pockets to the skirt. I was trying to avoid a joker color scheme so I had a lot of ref images that I got by searching like “purple green aesthetic” on Pinterest. The dark purple and dark forest/blueish green won out in the end. I desaturated a lot of my colors for her just to get as far away from the neon Gotham rogue aesthetic. I also added the bdsm harness over the armor to add more punk elements to her design, I know that in real life that would be very uncomfortable to wear over scalemail armor but sometimes we take creative liberties when they look sick as fuck. Also, I didn’t realize until I went to look for a reference for aconite flowers that aconite is wolfsbane! That was neat to learn! Also, the font I used for Aconite is called “zai Art School Calendar 1931”, I’ve used this a few times for other projects, it’s one of my favorite fonts. The ‘zai’ fonts the creator has are all very good.

Shade (Danny)

There wasn't much to add to this page. His outfit is pretty simple (besides the patterning). I wasn’t sure how to pull of an optical illusion pattern but I was reminded how I sometimes get an eyestrain induced headache when looking at someone wearing a patterned shirt with really thin stripes so I just leaned into the idea of a small/detailed hard lined pattern. I originally made 5 separate patterns for him and then turned them into stamp brushes in procreate. I only ended up using three of them, the one on the chest, the one on the legs, and the one on his hand. But, I imagine the patterns fade and shift when he moves, sort of like a lenticular print. I gave him constellation freckles and stylized the hair’s fade into white. The hair was inspired by how time-woods draws Martin Blackwood’s hair (linked: time-woods’s fanart of Martin Blackwood). Also put way too much effort into the teeth on the mask. I just like the chunky teeth design. Oh yeah and the font I used for him is called “Typewriter_Condensed_Demi”

Erinys (Jason)

Repeatedly ran into the issue of not having enough canvas space bc of my fervent need to thoroughly document and plan out how the wings worked. I also reversed the colors for the bodysuit & armor so the under layer was black while the armor plates were red. I only realized afterwards that I may have been inspired by the red centipedes in Rain World (linked: gif of the red centipede, don’t click the link if you’re unsettled/afraid of bugs/insects), artists subconsciously draw inspiration from other artists all the time though so I’m not like upset about it. I stand by it because it looks sick as hell. Also leaned into the magpie theming for the wings. I think the vigilante form was supposed to be reverse magpie coloring? I can’t remember, but I stuck with normal magpie coloring. The anatomy of how the wings connected to the collarbone was inspired by JayEaton’s Magpie Bridge Project. Reference image link. Link to the article the image is from. I didn’t draw the wing armor because I couldn’t figure out how to would work with the wing anatomy and I ran out of canvas space. Finally, the font used for him is “DIN Condensed” this is a default font, I would’ve used something more punk but I needed the text to be legible.

Insight (Jazz)

I did Jazz after I’d already finished the initial trio, so I had to switch to a new canvas for her bc I’d hit the layer limit multiple times on the previous one. I really do love doing that spiked under-eyelash thing with characters. Don’t know when that started. Anyway, I added the shoulder pads to her outfit to help break up the empty space. The golden eyes were a nice accent color since her design is very overwhelmingly green. Honestly the braid hairstyle and gold eyes really do obscure her identity, multiple times when drawing her I was worried that she didn’t really resemble Jazz enough. There wasn’t a drawing from the author for her so I only had the text description to go off of. I just realized that she sort of reminds me of a forest ranger and I don’t know what to do with that realization. I copy/pasted my drawing of her eyes when gold and recolored them to match her normal eye color. There were two layers for that, a hue shift and a hard light layer to emphasize the shadows.

Here’s what it looks like without the hue shift: 

It looks really cool and I’m 100% that color combo in another drawing down the line. Oh yeah and the font used for this sheet was “Euphemia UCAS”. It comes with Apple’s operating system, I use it as a neutral default text most of the time bc it’s nicer than helvetica but not overly fancy like Times New Roman—and why am I talking about fonts. ——————————————————————— Anyway, this project was very fun to work on. The alt text for this was its own endeavor, hope the folks using screen-readers don’t mind 4-5 paragraphs of description text. Also, I cannot remember for the life of me if Dani got a costume description, but if she does I’ll make sure to update this image set with a sheet for her. And to the author, QueenOfTheQuill, if you’re reading this message that I’ve left at the very bottom of this post below a read more line, thank you for the fic. It’s very good and I’m glad I caught it during my slow decent into DPxDC brainrot. I love the interactions between Jason and Tim, it’s nice seeing a revived Jason that’s not bogged down by pit rage. They definitely seem like they could’ve been good friends if not for the unfortunate circumstances that led them to meet in canon. Also, I’m sure Jazz will love interacting with Batman and Nightwing. So much psychological & childhood trauma to unpack with them. Feel free to use/share these images if you so desire and thanks again for your work.

[thebibliosphere]

Playing GK, and I'm doing a "collectibles" run through Gotham tonight and went hunting for the street art in the West End.

(Sorry for the potato quality; I had to lighten the camera to make it visible in screenshots. Also, image IDs are in alt.)

I was surprised when the descriptor "Born This Way" popped up when I added it to my collection, along with a description of the piece being commissioned for Gotham Pride.

"Aw, that's nice." I thought. A nice little bit of world-building that ties in nicely with Tim coming out as bi and Dick offering to go to Pride with him.

So, anyway, art collected, I hopped back on my bike, took off down the street, and then reversed at full speed because I realized I'd just driven over a rainbow crosswalk.

"Aw, cool! That's a nice little touch. Wait a minute... is that an Irish gay bar?"

"It is! It's a gay Irish bar! Huh... I wonder what else is around here."

So I get off the bike, turn a corner, and start counting the rainbow Pride flags hanging over fire escapes and windows.

"Wait... does Gotham have a Gay Village?"

"Holy shit, they gave Gotham a Gay Village!"

"Wait, what does that sign say under the Pride flag... "The Quiet Escape Bookstore"... GAY BOOKSTORE GAY BOOKSTORE GAY BOOKSTORE GAY BOOKSTORE!!!"

So anyway, yeah. I have 154 hours in this game and only just now found Gotham's LGBT district.

[dukethomasweek2025]

Text version

All bonus prompts can be used in place of or alongside the week's prompts.

If you create something for Duke Thomas Week 2025 tag this blog @dukethomasweek2025 to be rebloged here!

Image Description: a yellow and white document. The header has a photo of Duke as the Signal saying "Go, go, ghost vision" and says "Duke Thomas Week 2025 - Five days to celebrate Gotham's daytime hero!" Below the header is text that reads "July 21st to 25th". Below this is a table with three columns. One column for the day, one column for theme, and one column for prompts. The table reads as follows:

Day 1. Community. Bat Signal, The Outsiders, Different Mentor, Old Friends & New Friends

Day 2. Family. Thomas Family, Case Fic, De-Aged/Age Reversal AU, Ghosts

Day 3. Sunshine. Dimension Travel, Hurt/Comfort, Powers, Fantasy

Day 4. Self Discovery. Character study, forging your own path, time travel/time-loop, wings AU

Day 5. Rebellion. Robin, Puzzles, Cryptids, Absolute Universe

The next table has a main header that reads "Bonus Prompts". Below this header are three columns labelled Themes, Settings & AUs, and Prompts. It reads as follows:

Themes. Duty, Going Solo, Resilience, Loss, Leadership, Fear, Expectations, Shades of Yellow, Shadow, Intelligence, Old Vs. New, Friendship.

Settings & AUs. Dark Nights: Metal, Silver Age, Historical, Zero Year, Post-Crisis, Sci-Fi, Villain AU, Future AU, Immortal AU, Royalty, No Capes, Gods AU, Genderbend, Percy Jackson AU.

Prompts. World Domination, Lark, Mermaids, Monsters, Vampires, Father’s Day, Music, Cosmic, Enemy to Caretaker, Fear of Heights, Babysitting, Role Reversal, Kidnapping, Eldritch Horror, Humor.

[yanderecrazysie]

Oh you can write for Neige! I Imagine a reverse scenario with him where if Neige kept stealing roles that Vil wanted, Vil unknowingly stole Neige's crush from him. Like maybe him and reader are both actors and she's like the perfect princess in his eyes especially with her heroine roles! Until reader watched some of Vil's villain roles and fell in love with his characters. So much so that she started talking to Neige about how cool he is and how fun being a villain character seems to be. Even going as far as to try auditioning for villainess roles because now she wants some of that action.

Cuz lets face it, villains are more often geeked out about more than the heroes.

Title: Stolen Spotlight

Pairings: Yandere! Neige LeBlanche x F! Reader

WARNINGS: yandere themes

Description: Why would you want Vil when Prince Charming is right here?

Note: I genuinely would love to make a part 2 to this, what do y’all think?

“Vil is so amazing, isn’t he?”

Neige sank a little deeper into his chair, hiding his irritation. Vil finished his lines for the scene and the director yelled, “Cut! Perfect as always, Schoenheit!”

“Wow!” you squealed, “I got the chills, didn’t you, Neige?”

The dark-haired boy gave you a closed-eyed grin, “Of course!” As Vil walked by, he could sense the jealousy seeping through at the sight of Neige in his “Prince Charming” outfit and makeup. 

It was ironic, he thought, for Vil to be so envious of him, when his hard feelings couldn’t compare to the storm inside of Neige himself. Sure, he could have any protagonist’s role, if only he were to ask, but Vil owned something far more precious…

Your affection.

It didn’t make any sense! You and Neige were always Prince and Princess in the movies and plays you both auditioned for, while Vil was just a villain. You spent more quality time with Neige and never said a word to Vil.

Yet, here he was, friendzoned. All while you pined for someone that could never be the hero of anyone’s story. 

Vil was a cold, calculating villain that was cast aside by the end of the story. He was doomed to be outshone by the prince or hero- by Neige.

So why? Why did you look at Vil like he hung the stars in the sky? Why did you hang on to his every word, prewritten or not?

Neige swallowed the bitterness creeping up his throat. He should be happy for you. You were his closest friend, after all. 

But when you gushed, “I’d love to play as a villainess just once. Can you imagine that? I would be standing beside Vil, then!” Neige could barely stand it.

His nails dug into his palm, leaving crescent moon nail markings. That wasn’t how the story was supposed to go.

Neige forced a laugh, “Oh? But wouldn’t that ruin your image? Fans might not like seeing you as the villain.”

Your eyes filled with doubt and disappointment.

Good.

“Besides,” he continued sweetly, “Playing a villain means you’d have to go against me. Are you sure you want that?”

He knew you loved him- even if it wasn’t in the way he wanted. He was your best friend, your co-star, your Prince Charming… He had spent years on screen perfecting your chemistry on screen.

Yet, Vil stole your love right from under him.

So, Neige smiled, sickly sweet, “You don’t need to change, you know,” he murmured, “You’re perfect just the way you are.”

You seemed to consider his words, but you still looked at Vil, who was getting his makeup touched up, with longing.

Neige had spent years beside you, matching your every step in dance scenes, cradling you in his arms, even kissing you once or twice. And yet, you’d throw all that away to be with someone everyone clearly thought fit a villainous role.

“You were born to be a heroine,” Neige said as warmly as possible, “Strong and loved by all the fans,” he took your hand in his and squeezed gently, “Not some scheming nobody, second place to the villain.”

Your brow crumpled, “But… it’s not about that. It’s about-”

“Don’t you like things the way they are,” Neige interrupted before you could think your way out of this, “We are the perfect pair. Our fans love us together. Why change something that works so well?”

Your eyes cast down to look at your hands in your lap. Neige nearly sighed in relief.

This was how it should be. 

He squeezed your hand gently, ready to land the finishing blow, “I don’t want to see you end up in a role that doesn’t suit you or get stuck with someone who doesn’t care for you as much as I do.”

Your eyes widened, your cheeks darkening a little.

Neige let himself bask in the way he flattened your resolve without lifting a finger. But just as quickly, your expression turned determined.

“But that’s exactly the problem,” you said, pulling your hand away, “I don’t want to do what everyone expects me to do. I want to try something different!”

His stomach dropped, his perfect mask nearly cracking down the middle.

You smiled, but it wasn’t the cute, innocent one he loved, but one steeled with resolve.

“I’m going to audition for the villainess role,” you declared determinedly, “And I think I can make it!”

With that, you skipped off to your rehearsal, smiling widely, leaving Neige sitting alone, fists clenched at his sides.

Fine. If he had to be the villain to get you to himself, then he would be the villain.

[periwinklecosma]

list of palestinian fundraisers (part 3)

(part 1) (part 2) (part 4) (part 5)

here's the next batch of fundraisers from people that have reached out to me! there are a good deal of fundraisers here that are low on funds so please consider prioritizing them. at the very minimum, please share this post and consider donating if you are able.

disclaimer: i do not vet fundraisers, nor am i in extensive contact with any of the people below. these are just people that reached out to me via my asks and messages, and i am only going off of information that has been provided to me through posts made by them and other people spotlighting them.

Rasha Ibrahim (@rasha-ibrahim) - €2,349/€35,000 (6.71%) // vetted by @/90-ghost (here) and @/northgazaupdates (here) // LOW ON FUNDS

Ahmad Ashour (@ahmad2203) - €40/€30,000 (0.13%) // not vetted yet but appears legitimate (a reverse image search of one of his photos led me to this Instagram account) // EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS

Osama Thaer (@osamafamily2024-support) - €790/€50,000 (1.58%) // not vetted yet but appears legitimate (has been vouched for by @/aya2mohammed, an actual vetted fundraiser) // EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS

Abd Alhadi Aburas (@abdalhadiaburas) - $2,998 CAD/$65,000 (4.61%) // not vetted yet but appears legitimate (@/sneakerdoodle managed to connect Abd's fundraiser to an Instagram account that dates back as far as 2014) // EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS

Youssef Helles (@4-zien-yousef) - €13,889/€23,000 (60.39%) // vetted by @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi (#206 on this spreadsheet)

Abeer Ibrahim (@abeeribrahim2006) - $13,615 CAD/$70,000 (19.45%) // vetted by @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi (#157 on this spreadsheet), @/90-ghost (here), and @/northgazaupdates (here) Note: Please be warned that there is a photo of a martyr victim in the description of the GFM.

Walid Al-Qatrawi (Paypal and Ko-fi) (@waled-family) // vetted by @/90-ghost (here) Note: Walid's GFM (here) has been disabled and thus can no longer accept further donations there.

Karam Al-Nabih (@karamrafeek) - €13,010/€20,000 (65.05%) // vetted by @/90-ghost (here), @/nabulsi (here), and @/northgazaupdates (here) Note: Karam's mother is chronically ill, and her condition is worsening the longer she stays in Gaza.

Ahmed Ziad (@ahmed-ziad) - £9,309/£30,000 (31.03%) // vetted by @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi (#99 on this spreadsheet) and @/90-ghost (here)

Eslam Balousha (@aslambalousha) - €20,233/€52,000 (38.91%) // vetted by @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi (#124 on this spreadsheet)

[beatrice-otter]

[image description: chart titled Talk Like A Technician: The Use of Technobabble.

Technology in Star Trek is complex and works in scientific concepts and principles that are far beyond what the majority of Players and Gamemasters are knowledgeable in. Throughout the collected media, Starfleet officers discuss technology using terms that most Players are not going to know. Instead of expecting Players to study and memorize technical manuals and reference books that have been published over the years we've provided an easy way to talk like a Starfleet engineer. Anyone can do "technobabble"!

To use the chart simply gather and roll d20s and consult the chart below for technical new terms and concepts.

Occasionally portions of the chart may not be applicable to the scene or circumstance. In that case simply omit that portion of technobabble!

The chart has six columns, Roll, Action, Descriptor, Source, Effect, and Device. Each has 20 rows.

Roll: numbers 1-20

Action: refocus, amplify, synchronize, redirect, recalibrate, modulate, oscillate, intensify, nullify, boost, reverse, reconfigure, actuate, focus, invert, reroute, modify, restrict, reset, extend

Descriptor: microscopic, macroscopic, linear, non-linear, isometric, multivariant, nano, phased, master, auxiliary, primary, secondary, tertiary, back-up, polymodal, multiphasic, tri-fold, balanced, oscillating

Source: Quantum, positronic, thermionic, osmotic, neutrino, spatial, resonating, thermal, photon, ionic, plasma, nucleonic, verteron, gravimetric, nadion, subspace, baryon, tetryon, polaron, tachyon

Effect: flux, reaction, field, particle, gradient, induction, conversion, polarizing, displacement, feed, imagining, reciprocating, frequency, pulse, phased, harmonic, interference, distortion, dampening, invariance

Device: inhibitor, equalizer, damper, chamber, catalyst, coil, unit, grid, regulator, sustainer, relay, discriminator, array, coupling, controller, actuator, harmonic, generator, manifold, stabilizer.

/end id]

[simplyghasel]

What Psychic Skill Do You Have?

hello!

welcome to a new reading! today we are asking the cards which psychic skill or ability you have.

this reading is made in two parts, one is this one, about which skill you have, and the second one is uploaded on my patreon and it is about how to develop your skill. of course you can also only read this reading - it can be a standalone!

how to use this reading: pick the pile that attracts you from the picture below, then scroll down and read the correspondent reading. if you will also read the second part, the pile will be the same you pick here

[image description: the three piles, with their correspondent numbers]

pile 1

[image description: pile 1 spread]

3 of coins in reverse: seeing things in their depth; being able to naturally go beyond the surface and see what is really hidden behind; I think it can manifesting in understanding in a moment if a person has good or bad intentions, but also in relation to the natural world; it also feels like a very deep bond with the earth as an element and with nature in general, as if you are aware and can perceive natural entities or information from nature that not everyone can; I see the image of the soil;

aegirine (1): you are solid; even in the middle of a (metaphorical) storm you are stable, because you get the insights that not everyone does and hence you are able to see things more clearly; where most people may have a doubt, you have a certainty, because you have received the information you need

Full moon in Gemini: the answers you need are coming; this sentence perfectly encapsulates your skill: you receive the answers that you need. I think that it can be both because you are exceptionally receptive or because you have a strong bond with an entity or an element (or with nature) and this makes you receive their messages;

find the second part here!

pile 2

[image description: pile 2 spread]

ace of swords in reverse: receiving or seeing things that are not about you/in your point of view; it can actually take form in diffrent ways: you could astral travel and see things that are far from where your body physically is or you could see/receive information about other people's stories (an example that comes to my mind is dreaming other people's stories or lives); in both cases though, your skill is to be able to see something that is far from you, physically, metapthorically or both

orange sapphire (41): you may also be able to see different possibilities, like the different outcomes that can happen from a situation; this card gives an image that makes me think of dressing rooms mirrors, that in a certain angulation show your image many many times; it feels like you have the ability to do something like this, but either with all the different possibilities or going back and further back in time

New moon in Aquarius: face the situation with more love: I feel that your ability is easily "standardized" like it easily becomes an habit and you risk to not feel emotions from the stories and things you see; it's healthy for you to not to become too much attached to them and keep seeing them as something independent from your own life, but your skill also needs a dose of empathy to be able to connect with the things and stories that you are shown

find the second part here!

pile 3

[image description: pile 3 spread]

5 of wands: empathy; this card shows two hearts moving towards each other and it makes me think that you have the skill to feel what other people are feeling - either literally or simply by knowing what someone is feeling. I'm not gonna lie there is a heavy, almost overwhelm energy, which makes me think that it's a skill that causes you a few issues, perhaps because you are not aware of it, or maybe because you don't know it enough to decide when to stop it; I also feel that this skill has the consequence that you are very often involved in discussions, because you see the situation and the feelings of the people involved so clearly

moldavite(35): you know what to focus on; there's a feeling of growth that makes me think that by understanding other's emotions and seeing them playing them out you can also learn something for yourself (ex. if you find yourself in a similar situation, you are familiar with the setting already); it can also be that you have a sub-skill: you can distinguish between your feelings and feelings coming from others and keep them separated easily; you feel them both, but you can recognize what is yours and what is not

New moon in Pisces: meditate and comtemplate: this skill that you have needs to be "emptied" at times - regularly or when it becomes too much; you need to come back to your center, to yourself (meditation could be a useful tool!) and forget about the emotions that come from other people and that, if they're too many or too strong, risk to feel like a burden or stop you from giving attention to what is important for you;

find the second part here!

[scam-alerts]

🚨Scammer Alert🚨 + 🔎Scam Exam(ination)🔍

Seen as: 'I'm feeling so inspired by your picture/art!' Scam Type: Muse Scam

1 - Description of this scam:

The muse scam is a variant of the fake check scam in which the scammer will contact the victim over social media and claim to want to use their image for an art project. The scammer will often use a stolen social media account to increase their credibility. They will offer a generous sum of money and offer to pay via check, and the victim is instructed to send money to the scammer for “materials” via an irreversible method. The victim is under the illusion that the funds cleared when the bank makes the money available thanks to current regulations. Usually the fake check deposit will be reversed in a few weeks, but it can also take several months. If you do not have the funds to cover the amount, your balance will go negative. Your bank will usually charge a fee for depositing a bad check, and your account may be closed depending on the severity of the scam. source (reddit)

Additional info about the muse scam. (from malwarebytes)

-----

Example account shown here: @muralmagicsworld (banned)

Accounts also running this scam: @craftpatch, @shadyduckgladiator emilyartlana emilyfanartist thoughtfulgraze rogerwil01

(Note: There are probably a lot of scammers running this scam. This post is mainly talking about the blog that I managed to find or were made aware of.)

2 - What this scam looks like.

Part 1: The request. (on a post made by a bot no less... lol)

A secondary (more recent) example of this request can be seen here:

The source of this is from this post by @blankwisher64 who gave me permission to use it. Thank you!

A third example can be seen here - Given by anonymous:

-----

Part 2: The blog an their posts.

The blog's earliest post was made on November 11th 2024

Using google lense (the photo icon you can use to look up an image on the internet) I was able to find these images linked to a youtube channel and an instagram account made by an artist known as Andreas Liss.

The woman in the first instagram post's name is credited, by the original artist, to be the lovely Anastasia Dmitrieva.

Where as the scammer... well.. They decided to call her... Jennifer.

-----

Final words: The muse scam is quite common and it's recently migrated from instagram to tumblr. If you are someone who posts pictures of yourself or your animals, always remember this: If someone tells you they're feeling 'inspired' and they'll draw you or your pet but you have to 'pay for art supplies' and they're willing to send you a $1000+ 'check/money order' and 'you can keep the rest' because they're feeling 'oh so generous'?

It is and always will be a scam.

Other helpful guides on spotting scams. (by @kyra45)

-----

Disclaimer: This post is only meant to serve as documentation and reference material so that others know: why this person is a scammer, and to provide more information about the scam they are running. I do not, in any way, endorse harassment or mass reporting these users. Only report posts related to asks, comments, or messages if you GET them or ones like them. Thank you.

[fireflysummers]

Hey everybody!

I'm alive! A doctoral student, but still alive.

I've been working on a couple of larger, long-term projects, one of which is the Umbral Wings Tarot Project.

VIII Strength The God Emperor Pingwing Dragon UPRIGHT: Strength, courage, persuasion, influence, compassion REVERSED: Inner strength, self-doubt, low energy, raw emotion

The project is fully backed on Kickstarter already, and there's only a week left to snag a copy!

Preorders Close 7/26/24

Go check it out!

Or Consider Commissions Maybe?

Image Description is in alt text.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

That means that for a work to be eligible for copyright in the USA, it must satisfy three criteria:

1. It must be creative. Copyright does not apply to non-creative works (say, a phone book listing everyone in a town in alphabetical order), even if the work required a lot of labor. Copyright does not protect effort, it protects creativity. You can spend your whole life making a phone book and get no copyright, but the haiku you toss off in ten seconds while drunk gets copyright’s full protection. 2. It must be tangible. Copyright only applies to creative works that are “fixed in a tangible medium.” A dance isn’t copyrightable, but a video of someone dancing is, as is a written description of the dance in choreographers’ notation. A singer can’t copyright the act of singing, but they can copyright the recording of the song. 3. It must be of human authorship. Only humans are eligible for copyright. A beehive’s combs may be beautiful, but they can’t be copyrighted. An elephant’s paintings may be creative, but they can’t be copyrighted. A monkey’s selfie may be iconic, but it can’t be copyrighted.

The works an algorithm generates —be they still images, audio recordings, text, or videos — cannot be copyrighted.

For creative workers, this is huge. Our bosses, like all bosses, relish the thought of firing us all and making us homeless. You will never love anything as much as your boss hates paying you. That’s why the most rampant form of theft in America is wage theft. Just the thought of firing workers and replacing them with chatbots is enough to invoke dangerous, persistent priapism in the boardrooms of corporate America.

- Everything Made By an AI Is In the Public Domain: The US Copyright Office offers creative workers a powerful labor protective

THIS IS THE LAST DAY FOR MY KICKSTARTER for the audiobook for "The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation," a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and make a new, good internet to succeed the old, good internet. It's a DRM-free book, which means Audible won't carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Going to Burning Man? Catch me on Tuesday at 2:40pm on the Center Camp Stage for a talk about enshittification and how to reverse it; on Wednesday at noon, I'm hosting Dr Patrick Ball at Liminal Labs (6:15/F) for a talk on using statistics to prove high-level culpability in the recruitment of child soldiers.

On September 6 at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

[transrecursive]

TRANSRECURSIVE

[Image description. First image: One version of the transrecursive flag. The flag has 7 stripes. from top to bottom the stripes are baby blue, pale blue, white, light purple, white, pale pink, and baby pink. The flag is flanked by a baby blue arrow pointing down on the left, and a baby pink arrow pointing up on the right. Second image: Another version of the transrecursive flag. The same as the previous version, but rotated 180 degrees, so now the pink stripe is at the top with the pink arrow pointing down, and the blue stripe is at the bottom with the blue arrow pointing up. End image description.]

Transrecursive when used as an identity label describes an individual who may have one or more of the following experiences with their gender:

a feeling or desire for a simultaneous and harmonious transition in both masculine and feminine directions

a feeling or desire to transition in alternating directions (for example, transitioning towards masculinity then back to femininity, or vice versa, perhaps multiple times.)

a feeling or desire to transition to a gender similar to what they were assigned at birth, that they may have felt denied access to earlier in life and now want to reclaim on their own terms. (E.G. unwanted gender reassignment, rejection from similar gendered peers, or being pressured to conform to the expectations of their assigned gender to the point of feeling alienated from it)

another similar experience, leading to what may be felt or described as a "repetitive" or "fractal" gender.

In use as a broader term, transrecursive is meant to act as an inclusive umbrella term for "contradictory" identities such as afab transfem and amab transmasc, without relying on assigned gender language. It also includes transfemmasc/transmascfem, and certain expressions of multigender or genderfluid.

Intersex voices should be centered in discussions of the transrecursive identity and community, but the label is not exclusive to intersex people and may be used by anyone.

Recursive transitioning is not the same as detransitioning. The distinction is in that the goal is not to "return" to the previously assigned gender, but to instead transition a second/third/nth time, continually transition, or to transition to a gender considered similar to what the individual was assigned at birth. That being said, people who have detransitioned are not inherently excluded from using the label.

Transrecursive people might identify as:

AFAB transfem, AMAB transmasc

FTM transfem, MTF transmasc

Transrecursive [man, woman, person, transfem, transmasc, or any other label] (or with no addition at all)

Gender recursive or sex recursive

Recurfem, Recurmasc, Recurgirl/woman, Recurboy/man, etc. Combinations such as Recurgirlboy or Recurfemmasc are also acceptable.

FTMTF or MTFTM (or other variants such as FTNTM, FTMTN, MTFTN, MTNTF)

Or anything else they want, as it is not mutually exclusive with any other identity label, even cisgender.

The flag's meaning and symbolism:

The use of pinks, blues, and white and the order of stripes are meant to pay homage the original transgender flag. Purple is added as the center stripe to represent the centering of intersex transrecursives, as well as to be evocative of the lavender stripe, representing diversity, added by Gilbert Baker to his original pride flag in 2017.

The arrows and their opposing orientations represent a "circular" or "contradictory" transition, as well as symbolizing movement and personal growth.

The flag is meant to be reversible, and may be flipped or drawn in any direction according to personal preference, as long as the stripes remain in their original "ombre" order with purple in the center, and the arrows remain in opposing directions.

This flag and label were designed/coined by me (the creator of this post and mod of this blog, @transrecursive.) No credit is needed to use the flag individually, but please at least let me know and consider citing this blog/post if you're going to be making money from using it (E.G. making pride merch)

[dailyfigures]

Welcome to the Official DailyFigures Bootleg Spotting Guide™!!!!

here are the steps that i like to use! each step does have exceptions so just keep going down the list until you're 100% sure!

1. where are you buying the figure?

if you're buying from a trusted figure store there is no need to worry. sites like amiami, solaris, nin-nin game, hobby search, ninoma, crunchyroll store, etc. do not sell bootlegs. if you're buying from ebay or similar sites, amazon, an individual seller, a local store, etc. you need to be a little more careful. 

ebay/yahoo auctions/other large scale marketplaces sometimes put something in the description to clarify it's a bootleg, however the word "clarify" is generous; it's just enough so you can't sue them but vague enough that you might still fall for it. watch out for anything that's worded like "china variant", "overseas version", "reproduction", "copy", etc.

also don't make the mistake of assuming irl stores won't sell bootlegs, or are automatically legit or know what they're talking about because they're a physical store; this does not have to be the case! some of the most horrendous biggest bootleg memes have been spotted in irl figure/anime stores, they can and will sell bootlegs so beware!

2. does the figure have a bootleg?

not every figure has a bootleg made of it! check myfigurecollection to make sure.

example ;

rapunzel miku has a bootleg, better check well before buying! vampire miku doesn't have a bootleg (yet?), you're good to go! it is technically possibly you're the first person to discover a new bootleg, so it's always good to keep going down the list to make sure!

3. is the figure ridiculously cheap?

if the figure is extremely cheap for no apparent reason, it's probably a bootleg.

example ; 

this is a bootleg. no one in their right mind would pay 150 bucks for a real figure and sell it for 8.

4. is the figure being sold from china?

almost all bootlegs (apart from people reselling their bootlegs) are produced and sold in china. obviously there are real collectors selling real figures living in china too so there are exceptions, but i'd be careful if you're inexperienced.

example ;

almost all the bootleg sellers on ebay are located in china.

5. how are the seller's reviews?

if it's an individual seller you can ask them for proof of past sales. if it's a reseller website like ebay you can check the reviews on their profile. some bootleg sellers use bots to give themselves overly positive reviews. be wary of accounts with a lot of sales and somehow 100% positive reviews!

example ;

this ebay seller sells bootlegs and has 100% positive reviews.

6. how do the pictures of the figure look?

there's 3 options ;

☆ the figure looks like an obvious bootleg in the picture (unsure how to tell? we'll get to that!) -> it's a bootleg.

☆ the seller only uses the official promotional pics and none of their own -> suspicious. there's no way to visually check the figure so this is very risky.

☆ the figure looks good in the pictures that the seller took -> either this is good news OR the seller stole these pictures from someone else and will send you a bootleg. a red flag is using pics with bad quality and multiple different backgrounds/lighting (they stole the pictures from multiple different people). make sure to reverse image search their pictures!

7. how do you recognise a bootleg just from looking at it?

let's say you're looking at an ad and maybe the lighting is a little vague so you're just not fully sure whether the figure looks right or not. here's what we do!

1. get a picture of a bootleg of the figure in question which you can find on myfigurecollection (figure page -> pictures -> bootlegs).

2. get a picture of the real figure, preferably a user picture since promotional pics can look a little better than the real product. (figure page -> pictures -> figures).

3. pick some details that are clearly different between the original and the bootleg.

4. get a picture from the ad you're unsure about. check the details you've just picked. does it match the bootleg or the real figure? there we go!

example ;

these are user pictures of a real miku figure and a bootleg where i circled the differences i picked. in this case; the way her hair flows, the direction the pink flowers grow in and the length of the stem of the yellow rose.

here are two pictures i found in two different ads of this figure. i circles the differences i picked; the first pic has long straighter hair, pink flowers growing to the left direction and a yellow rose with longer stem. this is real! the right pic has shorter curled up hair, pink flowers growing straight down and a yellow rose with a very short stem. this is a bootleg!

8. does the figure come with a box?

bootlegs often come without box, or with a box that has a different design on it than the official box.

it's not neccesarily suspicious if a figure doesn't come with a box, but it is suspicious if a seller is selling a lot of figures without a box. it's also a big red flag if it's a preorder the seller states it'll be without box; all official figures are produced with box so this is not possible.

if it does have a box, compare it to the official box! find a picture of the official box on myfigurecollection (figure page -> pictures -> loots&boxes) and compare it to the figure listing you're looking at.

sometimes bootleg companies just completely make something up, like this; the official box vs a bootleg box vs another bootleg box. easy to tell the difference this way!

sometimes it's not as easy; here's another official box vs a bootleg box. see the difference? the little 5th anniversary logo on the bottom right is missing!

this has exceptions; sometimes the box looks the exact same, like this official figure vs the bootleg. in this case you will have to use on of the other steps on this list (if you're wondering; the way to tell here is that in the official they took care to package the fragile motor accessories seperately in the blister, instead of on her body like in the bootleg).

thank you for reading my guide!!! i am by no means an expert, these are just the steps i like to use myself and i am absolutely open to suggestions and questions! :) if you're really struggling with a possible bootleg case, you can always send me a message/ask and i'll take a look!

edit; thanks for the suggestions in the comments/reblogs! i appreciate you guys' advice and added it into the guide!!! :)

[theresattrpgforthat]

Blog Buddies: GoblinCow

Last week, I reached out to one of my ttrpg friends and asked if he wanted to try a new experiment with me - a public discussion of various topics related to ttrpgs, kind of like the VlogBrothers but... well... with blogs. @goblincow was excited about the idea, so here's edition 1!

Hello Josh!

Thanks for being the first person to try this experiment with me! I like the idea of writing blogs to each-other, just talking about thoughts we've been having about ttrpgs.

What I think is so interesting about our friendship is that I feel like we're reaching towards each-other from opposite sides of the aisle; I'm most at home with PbtA and FitD games like Apocalypse Keys and Slugblaster, and you live very comfortably amongst OSR/NSR games like Mork Borg and Troika. The skills that the two of us have polished are similar, but not exactly the same.

We were talking a few weeks ago about Troika and the OSR, and one of the things we touched on was agency. When I'm playing a Powered-by-the-Apocalypse or Forged-in-the-Dark game, I'm throwing a lot of agency over to my players in the form of choices about the world and their relationship to it. We choose what parts of the world we care about when we make selections on our playbook, and we choose what kinds of stories matter to us when we select the thing that binds our group together. The map typically fills out as your characters make choices, and more often than not the GM doesn't even know what a place or a person is like until that part of the story shows up.

In a lot of the OSR games I've played, the map feels a little more… predetermined. Even in a depth-crawl or a dungeon with multiple routes, the GM typically has an image or a flavorful description that points them in a direction or towards a theme. I don't know, there's something about the way these kinds of games feel like they're expected to be played that doesn't quite give me the same feeling of spontaneous creation. (It's also entirely possible this is the result of my specific experiences, so I'd love to know your thoughts on this.)

Let's see if I can tackle this tension from a different angle. In a lot of PbtA games, the characters are exploring their relationships with each-other, much more so than they are exploring the land around them. In the last Troika game we played, it felt very much in the reverse. I knew that my Parchment Witch had this objective of getting back home, but I didn't feel like she had a reason to care about what the other characters at the table were doing. I have to think a lot harder about what motivates her - and that allows the setting to occupy front and centre, but for me, it made it harder to figure out what my character would do next.

I think the difference between these two styles of games is what the rules tell you to do. The rules in the OSR are often considered to 'get out of the way,' prompting players to try and come up with something to do, and only ask you to roll when your character is in danger. More often that not that danger is physical, although sometimes it might also take the form of Sanity or Luck. The success state is survival. The fail state brings you closer to death.

In contrast, in a lot of the story-games I run, the rules care a little bit about what happens to the character, but I feel like they care much more about the relationship that character has to the world around them. In Masks, your teamwork gets stronger if you're honest with each-other, and you need that teamwork in order to succeed in high-stress situations. In Apocalypse Keys, your relationship to the world is measured by your Doom, and how close you get to becoming a Harbinger. In both cases, I need to roll if my character attempts to comfort another teammate, - and while opening up to them or bottling up my feelings are both interesting answers, it's often the dice that tell us which way the story is going to turn. The randomness propels characters into situations that players might typically try to avoid.

This means that my characters in games like MASKS and Protect the Child are goaded into complex relationships, and the randomness of the die results prompts me as a player to consider my character's motivations - and to care about the people around her (or, at least, to care about what others think).

This isn't to say that my Parchment Witch shouldn't care about her traveling companions. She's certainly allowed to, and I'm hoping that as we continue to play, she finds a good reason to connect with the other players at the table and create fraught relationships with each of them. But I'm going to have to do a lot of figuring out on my own about how I want to make that happen, and that's a muscle I haven't had to build in the way I game before.

What kinds of agency do you feel exists for players in the OSR/NSR?

What are the rules of games like Troika and Mork Borg prompting players to do?

How do you cross the gap in what the games tell you is possible and what the players have to figure out for themselves?

Are there any struggles that you have in games like Blades in the Dark or Apocalypse World?

I'm looking forward to reading about what thoughts this sparks! (And I'll be re-blogging this post with a link to the response when I get it!)