#the fandom has been asking for it since 2014

[mars-ipan]

what is lovemaol

i do not know how to even begin to explain something that i can barely comprehend

[lordsardine]

.

[fuckyeahmhawkefenris]

I promised myself that I would never ever bring it up because I have enough stress in my life already and these discussions take up a lot of time and energy and require a lot more witt and eloquence than I posess.

But.

This wound has been out there for many many years, and I feel that now it starts festering again, and since I have taken it upon myself to preserve our history, I feel that it would be simply wrong to remain silent when I have something to say.

So, you probably know I make fenhawke renders in XPS using models extracted from da2.

My Fenris model uses these textures

But I must point out that I had to manually edit them to look like this, because the original game textures look like this:

(I believe they do, because the dude who shared the models only did the extracting, and is not known for editing textures)

Want to know why I did what I did?

Because I spent much much MUCH more time looking at fanart of Fenris, than playing the actual game, and at some point it started feeling wrong to me to have him so pale. My vision of him was influenced by the fandom.

That doesn't change the fact that THAT's how he looks in the game.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

Come and tell me that it's impossible to take him for a generic white dude.

Racism is bad, duh

Whitewashing dark skinned characters is bad, DUH

Many of you may have gotten immersed in the wide world of modding (I can't do it, all known mods change too much about Fenris for my liking, and I need him to have his iconic features), but

can we please stop pretending that Fenris in the original game was obviously depicted as dark skinned?

Because that's some stupid bullshit that has caused and still causes a great number of people, mostly artists (often casual fans), a lot of distress, and outright promotes bullying hiding it behind an image - illusion - of social justice.

Yeah, in 2014 we got Dorian and Krem and some others in DAI, finally seeing what people of Tevinter look like.

But guess what? In 2012 we had no idea, and could only guess. Back then we actually had discussions about this, offering opinions and not being afraid to talk? In 2012 we did not really know how to portray Fenris, and artists made their own choices.

In da2 the only tevinters we encountered were

For the best, probably, because had they been depicted as dark skinned, that would have likely become a case of some very unfortunate implications. Looks pretty hopeless to me, either way.

ETA: and of course I forgot Fenris's SISTER

I'm not saying that racism is not an issue in this fandom. It is, obviously, like anywhere else.

But can you imagine a person who played DA2 (exclusively, without getting into DAO or DAI or trying to explore the fandom and looking at more fanart), taking a liking to Fenris and deciding to make fanart of him and sharing it with the fandom, and then having angry anons come to their ask box accusing them of racism? For depicting Fenris in the only way that is known to them?

Think about it for a minute.

I've witnessed a number of such happenings over my time here, and I've been around since 2012.

If you take the time to look at our old fanart, you'll find various depictions of Fenris. Some darker, some lighter, but back then NOTHING could be considered wrong, because we had too little to go on.

It would have been funny had it not been so bloody SAD to see older pictures circulating the net and read comments filled with rage and hurt over whitewashing brown characters.

I get it, you want to fight for justice, but THIS is not JUSTICE.

That right there is some act 3 Meredith level of lunacy seeing blood magic everywhere and condemning innocent mages.

Before you decide to go harass an artist who made a picture that does not match your vision, take a few minutes to think about how justified it would be. Weigh your options and at least choose your words carefully.

I shudder to think how many potential fans had been put off and turned away from this fandom, left wondering wth is wrong with us.

---

ETA: concerning lighting https://fuckyeahmhawkefenris.tumblr.com/post/772588487945879552

[hungee-boy]

HELP NEEDED TO SECURE SAFE HOUSING

My name is Ross, I'm a 24 year old artist and writer (though barely) here on Tumblr since 2014. I've spent most of time here within Bioware fandoms and have met a lot of good people both within those spaces and outside of them.

I've asked for financial help in the past for things such as bills and food for me and my family, but now I'm asking more than I ever have before. I'm asking for help in securing a safe house for me and my family to live in, replacing our 30+ year old, rotting mobile home that has served as our childhood home.

Since my dad died in 2021, it has been very hard for all of us to adjust to both the grief and the mountain of responsibilities that he previously tackled alone as the sole breadwinner. These past 3 years have been a struggle to keep bills paid and keep ourselves and our pets fed. The struggle is made so much worse with your only shelter disintegrating around you.

I've listed the financial details in the GoFundMe, but generally we need extra help in regards to prep work for replacing the house and expenses after the move (including extra payment, furniture, living expenses, etc.)

It would mean the world for me if we received the help we need to make this happen, genuinely I would be forever grateful to anyone who is able to contribute. I love my family so much and I only want what's best for us, what everyone human being deserves. I know that because of current housing costs we will be living together for the foreseeable future and I sure as shit don't have plans to buy or rent my own place anymore. This will be our home, our safest place, where I will raise my kids most likely. We so desperately need this that I can't stand to think about it not happening.

So, please, if you have the means, please consider donating even $5 to help us achieve this dream, this dream that we all thought impossible until now. Again, for every contribution, you will have my and my family's gratitude, forever.

Thank you 💖💖💖💖

[supernaturalrandomness]

Since this show has been going on for so long (hell, we're living in season 16 now), and I still see people watching it for the first time, it got me curious, when did you start watching/joined the fandom and what were your initial thoughts regarding the characters, the cast, the conventions etc.

I'd like to hear from any of you and I'll tag some of my moots because I love to read your takes (<3) and opinions and I know some of you joined in 2020 or even 2024 so that's interesting to me

@sweetonsugden @cynifer @mistlovesxcas @heller-cockles-truther @meeshsen

For example, I started watching in 2014/15 because a friend recommended the show. I got hooked from day one (even though I hated some episodes like Bugs). When I got to like season 3 I noticed they were doing conventions and there's lots of panels on YouTube so I started binge watching them and I remember at first really enjoying the J2 dynamic and the jokes and the questions really. Then after a while it got a bit annoying when the same questions were asked again and again and I started getting bored when Jared would answer because his answers are so long where's Jensen was more quiet and reserved.

Then I found JIB panels and that's it, that's what truly made me stay here for a decade. It was also around the time I saw Cas on the show for the first time and oh boy did the Destiel hammer knock me out. I started watching Cockles panels because that was a new dynamic and I was amazed by their chemistry and started shipping Cockles but kinda as a joke.

Until two things happened:

SDCC 2017 "he sounds like that in the morning" "how do you know?" and Jensen's red face

Straddlegate 2019. Need I say more? Jensen's "situation" on stage and the selfie we got afterwards was what did me in.

After the horrible finale I left the fandom for a couple years but now I'm back and Cockles posting

[persimnon]

How to Train Your Dragon (Live Action) Review

As promised, here it is. Before I say anything I would like to restate my qualifications for context, and for anyone who is curious.

HTTYD was the first movie I asked to watch after seeing the trailer independently. It has been my favorite film since I saw it in theaters, aged 7. After seeing HTTYD 2 in theaters in 2014, it quickly spiraled into what would become one of my longest and most intense special interests: I gobbled up the specials, ROB/DOB, and the books that same year. It was one of my first forays into fandom. Scroll back far enough on my blog and you'll see me liveblogging new seasons of RTTE and reviewing THW after getting into an early screening. I have consumed every available media in this franchise, save for the comics on the sole account that I've been too lazy to get to them yet, multiple times. That being said, I am not a trilogy purist. I appreciate universe expansions and spin-offs. Hell, I've even seen some of TNR.

I'm getting ahead of myself, but I want to make it clear that I went into this with an open mind, having read no reviews, and nearly no spoilers save for the mild background given in this Dean interview. These are my unfiltered opinions on the film.

Overall Thoughts

A sincere and believable effort was made, but there was no point while I watched this film that I felt better served than had I been watching the original instead.

By no means did the film feel half-assed. Dean and the cast and crew obviously put their hearts into this and want it to be taken seriously.

But for several reasons that I'll get into, everything in this remake felt muted compared to the HTTYD I know.

Production and Plot

Toothless: We might as well get the elephant in the room out of the way first. What the hell was the SFX team thinking? Actually, I know exactly what they were thinking, or told to think: Keep Toothless as recognizable as possible. He is the selling point of the film. Capitalize on cuteness and nostalgia. But when every other dragon was redesigned to be more realistic, he sticks out like a sore thumb. Even worse, he's completely emotionally neutered by means of CGI. He can't make the same facial expressions, has almost no eye/eyebrow movement, and as a result can't communicate nonverbally as well as he can in the original. This especially shows in Hiccup's complementary dialogue with him. He talks to Toothless so much less in this version. We don't see nearly as much of a back-and-forth. We're left with a husk of the personality we're used to from him. One of the biggest losses, IMO.

Other Dragons: I've touched on this in Toothless's part, but it bears repeating that there is no room for emotion with realistic redesign. Think of Meatlug's lovey-dovey eyes for the dragon nip being overhauled entirely, or Hookfang's intelligence and caution not showing through those weird alligator teeth. The dragons felt secondary to the rest of the film. Literally the only thing I liked more was the Red Death being noticeably redder, as well as her spiked teeth. Other than that, I'm very disappointed.

Set: Nothing particularly worth mentioning. The on location nature shots are pretty nice. The buildings somewhat lack that larger-than-life feel that emphasizes how small Hiccup is supposed to be compared to the other vikings. There is one random thing I really really liked, and it was the addition of all that ash after the final battle.

Costuming: I only bring this up because wtf was Astrid's wig, my God. I'm sorry but it was so bad. I usually have wig blindness but that hairline was too atrocious to not take me out of the story at times. Also, Stoick with versus without that cape was insane. Another failure of the nature of a live action adaptation. Not having him (and everyone else, for that matter) be significantly huger than Hiccup all the time makes the whole "I don't fit in!" storyline lose a decent amount of weight.

Added Scenes/Viking Lore: I'm not against it. It's a good explanation for why there are vikings of many races on Berk. But I think this particular aspect of plot was advertised too much as a genuine expansion of story when it doesn't change much at all, really.

Missing Scenes: Salty that I did not get the "excuse me barmaid, I'm afraid you've brought me the wrong offspring" line. The only full scene exclusion I counted was the Terrible Terror bit after Test Drive, which was so damning. That bit gave Toothless a lot of personality, plus it had the foreshadowing line about dragons not being fireproof on the inside. Casual viewers will now understand less about how they defeated the Red Death.

Music: So similar to the original that there is basically nothing to comment on. John Powell knows how to replicate a formula for success, at least. Unfortunate lack of Jónsi during the credits, and I wasn't a huge fan of the suite that replaced it.

Individual Character Analyses

Hiccup: I believe that Mason tried his best, and I don't think he's a bad actor, per se. But where was Hiccup's bite? So much of that boy's appeal is the fact that he is dripping in sarcasm at all times. It felt like all of his lines were being recited, not reenacted. He was, again, muted in both the emotional and literal softspoken sense. This goes for all the characters, but it's worth mentioning now that one of the biggest gripes I had with the film is its lack of voice acting. There is a world of difference in cadence and tone alone. It wasn't until now that I realized how many of these characters are truly made by their voices. Hiccup is perhaps the biggest casualty of that.

Stoick: Based on what I just said, Gerard Butler gave the film's best performance by a mile. This is a man who knows how to convey status, desire, and emotion when he speaks. He is perhaps the only one who did this as well as in the original, and obviously he had a massive leg up given that he was reprising the role. But because of that, I have little else to comment on. He brought the Stoick we know to life. He was a bit less joyous at times, maybe, but that's about it.

Gobber: BRB forever crying that Craig Ferguson didn't want to take this role. I wonder if they offered it to him? I'd have to guess so. This is more of a consequence of sound mixing and compliance to realism, but there were many lines (think "always...always...goes for the kill") where Gobber was yelling when in the original he spoke the line more softly. This was like the opposite of Hiccup's problem. Because he always had to project, he lost a lot of the sly humor that made his original performance so lovable. His friendship with Stoick took a pretty big hit thanks to this—RIP the "you got a headache" exchange.

Snotlout: Not obnoxious enough. Never thought I'd complain about him not being annoying! But seriously, him being less of a bully, less misogynistic, and slightly more flirty with Astrid threw that snotty charm off balance. I was, however, shocked by the addition of the arc concerning his relationship with Spitelout (who is woefully no longer our beloved David Tennant). A nice touch, makes me wonder if RTTE played any sort of part in influencing that, but at the same time it felt slightly out of place when there is an obvious parallel to Hiccup's own arc with his dad, and they acknowledge that exactly zero times.

Astrid: My fucking god what have they done to you my girl. They nerfed you soooo bad. Where was her RAGE? This girl has ANGER ISSUES! Why is she DOTING all the time instead of YELLING? We are so far removed from Camicazi that her influence might as well not exist anymore. Also, I did not like the whole ~closer relationship with Stoick and her being floated as a possible chief~ thing. Especially when it culminated in her being the first one to follow him to Toothless after the final battle. Way to twist the knife into poor Gobber's failing characterization. It feels like this new lore on her could factor into the sequel in unintended ways too.

The Twins: Neither was convincingly crazy enough and were both missing a lot of zinger lines that are classic to me personally. Also, I get that the original was from 2010 where casual misogyny was more acceptable, but Ruffnut is not a girl power type of person. What was that. Both also suffer greatly from lack of strong voice acting. Tuffnut at least gets +1 points for the fagcent.

Fishlegs: Not much to say other than that he slips into his native Kiwi drawl so much that I could not take his performance seriously in the slightest. Most convincing preservation of character though.

Final Thoughts

Between its lazy attempt at changing up the dragons, the weight of the film's adherence to the original's script dragging down all the actors, and its inability to properly balance cartoonish whimsy with live action realism, this adaptation is a disappointment to any serious HTTYD fan. Put simply, it lacks a soul. At the same time, it's a formulaic blockbuster and I expect it to do very well financially and successfully return HTTYD to public conversation. But I don't see any reason to rewatch it when the original is everything it wanted to be and much more. If the animated medium ain't broke, don't assume a live action remake will fix it.

[hockey-finns]

the unofficial pekka/juuse primer

this originally started as a way to introduce pekka to another fandom, but slowly over time it has become the unofficial juusepeksi primer which I’m very happy about! check out the new stuff at the end of the post!

so, pekka has been one of juuse’s biggest idols since he was twelve and he used to watch his highlights on youtube. they met the first time in the 2014 ice hockey world championships when juuse had just turned 19 and he was clearly very starstruck by pekka, who took juuse under his wing immediately

here is a gif of juuse so maybe pekka has a type (significantly shorter, blue eyes, dark hair, younger… sounds familiar?)

By a coincidence (it was fate) juuse was also drafted by nashville predators and ended up playing in the same team as pekka, and that’s where their relationship really kicked off

Here are some memorable moments:

first The Daddy Interview that all hockey tumblrs have probably seen (also multiple people have commented that they thought this is the beginning of a gay p*rn before they knew they’re hockey players)

in addition to this pekka often refers to juuse as ”my son” of ”my boy”

probably the second most kinkiest well known moment - The Collaring in front of the whole team

when juuse was asked his opinion on the chant ”Rinteen Peksi, parempaa kuin seksi” (”Pekka Rinne, better than sex”) he answered ”that’s true”???

juuse is very well known for doing the splits and he has also said that his party trick is to twerk in the splits (sadly no video evidence)

juuse has also had a goalie mask which featured pekka in a sexy white suit and he very proudly presented it to pekka

juuse’s actual father is also named pekka so it’s a bit awkward that his father and his daddy have the same name

one of my most popular posts is a translated video where pekka talks about (praises) juuse for four minutes straight in a sauna and in the end he requests that juuse does his interview shirtless

(So do whatever you want with all the daddy kink, dom/sub shit and the praise kink)

here are some wholesome gifs to cleanse your soul because in the end these two love each other to bits

(gif/video credits in order: @dermott, @rask, @imadeoutwithmikeywayonwarpedtour, @rask, @sorokie)

[tyttamarzh]

Missasinfonia, songs and QSMP…

Hello!! Well, since we all continue to miss Missa, I want to share a little thought.

I don't know if it has already been talked about here, but in the Hispanic fandom of Missa we have his songs very present and some people have not been able to avoid talking about how some of them adapt perfectly to the QSMP.

I want to talk about two in particular whose lyrics I think are perfect for describing Missa's relationship with his family.

The first one is called "Privilegios" (privileges) and I think it describe what Missa is currently going through with Philza. Well, it talks about the anxiety of feeling insufficient for the other and trying to improve but feeling afraid of moving forward (the young Missa from 2014 wrote very deep lyrics). I remember that in a stream he told us about how several of his songs came about and said that he wrote "Privilegios" thinking about us, the people who follow him, because he didn't feel enough for us and is why he always try to do things better. Either way, I think he's perfect for describe his situation with Phil.

The song:

Lyrics

Sometimes I forget my sorrows and things I should do Because ideas slip away, they do not allow us to see Well creating something new means forgetting I would like to be like before and go back to the past

I know how to write the word mature very well But my thoughts don't let me act I don't want to forget, I don't ask for your mercy Because honestly I can fix it.

Chorus I don't know what to do if you're not okay (you're okay!) I don't know whether to lie to me or throw myself at your feet I wonder if I can deserve you Because I didn't earn the privilege.

How can I destroy damn anxiety? If outside my mind is my reality It is not so easy to wish others ill. just so I can free myself

The second song I want to talk about is called "Tarde para el plan B" (Late for Plan B) and I think it could be a message from Missa to Chayanne, some of the things he mentions remind me of what Missa told him in that day of fishing before travel to Japan. He talks about how it's okay to fail and that he shouldn't be overwhelmed by his mistakes, and encourages him to keep going and get better. There is also a phrase that I like to think is very much theirs, since it infers that even if they are not together, he will always see him. Now every time I hear that song I think of them and I can't help it u.u (It's a song created 10 years ago, but I think it's fits perfectly).

The song:

Lyrics

Have you ever wondered… what could happen if after the years, you could come back to the past? Would you have the chance to see what is wrong the bad memories you would be able to erase.

Enjoy moments you didn't see coming feel from the beginning what you should feel but remorse can cut you and repenting would be the final act

Look for alternatives, see how to improve May you know how to handle your situations You don't always get a second chance. you must take advantage of what time gives you

If they give you their hand, don't take our foot don't ask for the moon when it's barely dawning You don't run when you want to calm down do something your soul can bear

[PRE CHORUS] And it's not that it's bad, it could be worse. What doesn't kill you makes you better.

And listen to me, here I will be, watching your actions wherever you are.

sometimes the reasons chase me but they don't want to catch me Sometimes actions are what will count, but you won't count. I prove that what I say is true It's your problem if you don't want to change but honestly sometimes everyone can fail

In the hope that everything is fine There are ideas within your being that grow and create the bad decision than wanting to correct what has already happened

Do what you need to make you feel better. Defeat your demons, destroy that pain Errors exist to know what someone else could fall into

and it's not that it's bad, it could be worse What doesn't kill you makes you better

listen to me, I will be here watching your actions wherever you are

My favorite phrase from this song is: "don't ask for the moon when it's barely dawning" (I just like how deep it sounds xD)

And that's all for now, I've never created a post here, I hope it's okay. Thanks for reading my crazy thoughts. Greetings!!

[ckret2]

who were your 3 previous blorbos that you mentioned in your reblog about the most compelling emotions to give characters (I've only been following this account since after TBoB dropped lol)

(For context anon is asking about this post where I said in the tags that I'd inserted loneliness in 3 of my last 4 blorbos as the primary most compelling additional emotion, and then Bill got loneliness but also a bunch of other fresh new horrible emotions.)

Okay, in chronological order, my past 4 Top Blorbos that I decided to headcanon "I bet deep down they're devastatingly lonely and it's gonna be fascinating to write about":

1. Ghidorah specifically from the 2014 legendary continuity of Godzilla movies.

In King of the Monsters, Ghidorah is an alien monster that, as far as anyone can tell, mainly just wants to destroy Earth.

In various different Godzilla continuities, Ghidorah is: 1) an alien with a history of planet-devastation who travels between worlds encased in a meteor; 2) mind-controlled by a multitude of alien species for the purpose of planet-devastation; 3) made into a giant monster out of three tiny harmless innocent pets for the purpose of nation-devastation; and 4) unlike most other Godzilla monsters, completely friendless and without allies, except for the one time they and Gigan were mind-controlled together.

So I stuck that all together and went "what if they were created by aliens out of three pets for the purpose of planet-devastation, but they escaped and now wander aimlessly between planets destroying them wherever they go because after being used as an apocalypse machine that's the only thing they know how to do, and they've never had any friends or allies except for a brief stint working alongside Gigan?"

And spending an eternity flying from planet to planet without meeting anybody just to destroy it and move on sounds like a very lonely existence.

2. Alastor Hazbin, based solely on the pilot ep & the comic, since that was what was released when I was in the fandom.

He's a superpowered serial killer best known for going on a rampage that devastated the city like 90 years ago; he's also extremely gregarious, charming, and chatty. He tries to strike up conversations with everyone everywhere he goes, and everybody is terrified of him. I think he's a guy that NEEDS a social circle of like 100 friends to feel fulfilled, and when we meet him in show he has like, 2.8 friends. Niffty & Husk each count as .4 friends because from the pilot we can't tell if they're actually friends or if they wouldn't have anything to do with him if they didn't owe him.

Plus he fits into a very specific character archetype that I'm fond of, which is: super powerful super competent guy, unparalleled in his field, desperately bored (& depressed) because he's conquered all challenges and is craving something, ANYTHING to give him mental stimulation, and thus is pursuing more & more dangerous or stupid quests when we meet him in canon; doesn't realize that his "boredom" is actually loneliness and the real cure for his misery is getting emotionally close to other people and getting involved in their lives, something he'd previously shunned during his monomaniacal quest to become The Best.

3. Biiiiiiill Cipher! You came in with TBOB, I don't need to say a lot about this.

He's surrounded by people who worship, adore, and fear him, but emotionally intimate with none of them. He has lots of friends but none of them are real friends, because he can't be open, honest, & vulnerable with them (he doesn't even know how), and because he's closed himself off to the needs of anybody else in return and can only see the people around him as obstacles or resources.

He desperately craves attention because he desperately craves love, but when he gets attention & love, he's lacking whatever it is he needs to feel like he's loved, and so he always needs more.

And that's just one of the many, many things that are Wrong With Him.

4. And the current hyperfixation taking over my life, Aku from Samurai Jack.

He's created as an adult, super-powered and already knowing all about the world around him, as the only being of his kind. His first interaction is thanking his creator for making him, only to be told his creator intended to destroy him and then he gets attacked.

He single-handedly (single-handedly! by himself!!) conquers most of the world; the only minions he has during this time are temporary shadow-things he makes out of his own essence. When he decides solo conquest is taking him too long, he gets an army of unfeeling robots.

There's no evidence he has any friends, allies, lovers—any positive relationships except for a smattering of loyal underlings. Most underlings obey him out of fear. He spends most of his time alone; his socialization comes from hiring mercenaries and from visitors who have come to grovel before the leader of the world in hopes of currying his favor. When he's emotionally struggling, he'd rather split into two people and pretend to be his own therapist than talk to somebody else about his problems. In a side comic of dubious canonicity, he claims that he's not alone thanks to the presence of a guy questing to murder him who hates his guts.

Maybe he doesn't care! Maybe in the little The Sims user interface hovering over his life and showing his needs, he doesn't have a social meter that needs filling. He's never acted lonely.

But I think it's juicier to imagine that's because he doesn't know how lonely he is because he's never had so much as a glimpse of the alternative.

In spite of being proudly evil, when his oppressed subjects start looking to Jack as a hero, Aku's immediate desire isn't for them to stop believing a hero could save them; it's for them to see him as their hero.

[skepticalarrie]

https://www.tumblr.com/skepticalarrie/782944322810249216/httpswwwtumblrcomskepticalarrie7829416243040?source=share

Hey Allie, I'm not sure if this is what you meant when you said it felt contradictory, but I wanted to share a thought:

I feel like being in the fandom since the 1D days really helps you understand how both Harry and Louis’ public images are managed now — and also gives you a deeper sense of who they are.

Take this contradiction between the narrative around Harry and who he really is. I think it ties a lot to how he dealt with closeting and the whole womanizer image during 1D. I keep thinking of all those times he was asked invasive questions about his sex life or supposed relationships, and you could literally see how uncomfortable it made him. And on stage, he used to be so spontaneous with Louis, until they were told not to even interact with each other.

And I think by 2014–2015, he just emotionally coasted and put on a mask because it had gotten to be too much.

I believe it’s always been important for Harry not just to avoid hiding who he is, but to express it and feel free in doing so. So when he launched his solo career, he wanted that repression to stop — or at least ease up.

But of course, it wasn’t going to be a drastic shift overnight. It had to be gradual and strategic. I remember during one of his early tour shows, he said, “We’re a little bit gay, aren’t we?” and Jeff Azoff’s brother literally whipped his head around like he couldn’t believe he said that (we’ve come such a long way since then).

So I’d say it’s always been like this: “You can do this, but we have to do this other thing” Like, “You can have creative freedom with Fine Line, but the narrative will be about a breakup.” I’m sure it’s way more layered than that, but that’s how I’d sum it up.

And I think the reason someone newer to the fandom might feel that disconnect with Harry’s public image is because they don’t have the full context. I think it’s not so much about playing both sides or trying to cater to everyone — it’s more about constantly negotiating what Harry wants to express, what he's willing to compromise to do that, how to protect his privacy, and still hit the goals he has for his career. Like a constant chess game.

Yes, definitely. The industry is a big game, and you have to learn how to play it. I think any artist who’s reached the level of success that 1D did, and now Harry as a solo act, has to be part of that system and negotiate what they want to achieve.

With Harry, it’s probably even more complex, especially with the added layer of his sexuality. At this point, I think he’s fully aware of what needs to be compromised to keep moving forward. I just hope he’s genuinely comfortable with where he’s headed (it seems like he is).

[nebrasska-alasska]

Ahh you fics are so fun to read, I've been indulging in them ever since I started reading sonadow and I LOVE THEM!! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

I wanted to ask, how do you stay motivated while writing? I've been in the trenches of my fanfic for months now and I can barely finish a chapter </3 (Also sorry if this question has been asked b4 :(( )

AWWWWWW Thank you so much!!! I'm glad you have been enjoying them so much, that makes me so incredibly happy to hear!!! <3

And motivation can be tough! I have a couple of tricks I use that help me keep writing even when I'm not really feeling up for it. The main, overarching motivator is that I just really want to have written a collection of Sonadow stories, a little library on my profile if you will. Seeing stories become completed is so rewarding and is a very powerful motivator for me!

The second motivator is something I've mentioned before, but it relates to readers. Back when I was in high school, I had so much fun reading fanfiction that had active updates (aka, weekly), and I consider this to be a core part of my high school experience. There was nothing quite like playing in a basketball tournament over the weekend, and then getting home after a long day of playing three games to see that an author of a story I had been following uploaded a new chapter (and back in 2014-2016, it was Haiju or Cordria in the Danny Phantom fandom on Fanfiction.net who I remember wrote awesome stories and were very consistent in their uploads). Basically, since I had so much fun as a reader following actively updating stories, it is an honor to try to provide this for anyone reading my fics. And hopefully people feel I am able to deliver!

So yeah, I don't know if that is super helpful! Short term when I am feeling not in the mood to write, I'll look forward in my outline to a chapter I am excited to get to. Good luck writing, you got this!!! <3

[lesmisshippingshowdown]

Introducing: POLL STEALING

Woah! The Les Mis Shipping Showdown, introducing a whole new gameplay mechanic when the tournament's already started? Say it ain't so!

Well. It's so.

Inspired by @hbowartournament (idk if they originated this idea, but it's certainly where I saw it), starting with the Round of 16 you will have the opportunity to earn back percentage points on any given poll by creating fanworks - fic, art, gifsets, fanvids, etc - for your ship of choice and letting us know about it. A full breakdown of how this works is under the Read More at the bottom of this post, and we'll also make a separate explainer post to link in each new poll.

To give you all a head start on your creations, we will be slightly delaying the Round of 16 poll drop to the evening (GMT/UTC) of Monday 10th March. Be there or be square!

This does, of course, also mean that we will be completely ignoring the entirely democratic results of our earlier poll and keeping each poll's running time at a week to give you the most time possible to get your fanworks finished and submitted.

Q: Why? Simple! I realised while searching for visual aids for the ships in the Round of 32 that this bracket contains a lot of surprisingly niche pairs for whom there's not actually a whole lot of content. 47% of the pairings that made the bracket have fewer than 150 works on AO3! So actually, this tournament could be a great opportunity to highlight & spur on a new outpouring of love for some of those rarer pairings, some of which haven't really been in their heyday since like, 2014. I kind of was operating along these lines already when begging you guys for fanart submissions every other day, but then I figured adding the competition element makes it more fun and gives you guys more of an incentive to participate!

Q: But my ship's just been eliminated from the round of 32 :( Now I don't get to play :( Fear not. Because I have a solution.

Q: Can I submit a fanwork I've already created? Ideally, new fanwork is the dream here, but we get everyone has time constraints and we're announcing this all pretty last minute. If you want to subtly rework the WIP you've had lurking in your Google Docs for the past 6 years, or tweak an artwork you already posted on here in 2013, we'll turn a blind eye. However, in the interest of both fun and fairness, we ask that you prioritise new, or at least newly updated, work (new chapters of existing multichapter fics count!) and do not just spam the tag with your entire back catalogue of 172,000 words of [insert ship here] fanfic. You can still post your back catalogue as propaganda, but it won't count towards the steal.

(PS. We're aware that some sections of this fandom have just had big creative output fests e.g. Valvert Week, and may therefore be all out of fresh ideas for this tournament. In the interest of not overworking you guys, if you'd like to repurpose any work - for any ship - published since February 1st, 2025 as a Steal Work, you are absolutely welcome to do so. Just be sure to send us a link and let us know that this is your intention.)

Q: Is there anything I can't submit?

Once again, we politely request no AI generated art or fiction.

NSFW is absolutely fine, but please ensure it is suitably tagged so anybody who wants/needs to avoid it is able to do so.

We know that with the presence of certain ships in this bracket (*cough* turnchetta) it's completely impossible to avoid parody/troll/shitpost content, and banning it would be antithetical to the point of some of these noble ships. Plus, some of the greatest creative works in Les Mis fandom history (*cough* the Enjonine rap) have been works in this vein. So you're welcome to goof around, but please be aware that at the mods' discretion we may discount anything we deem to be especially low effort or in particularly poor taste.

Q: You said the new round of polls doesn't start until March 10th - can I start posting Steal Works before then? Be our guest! If you've got things ready to go then you can post them as soon as they're done. Just make sure they're tagged appropriately (see under the cut) so that we know they're meant for this purpose.

Q: So how does all this work? I'm glad you asked! Please see below the cut:

(once again, all scoring & rules lifted absolutely wholesale from the hbowartournament. they changed the game with this and i'm not even kidding)

Writers:

Post a fic (or new chapter) of at least 100 words to AO3. The pairing of your choice must be the primary relationship tag (and remember this poll is for romantic relationships only)

Link your fic here, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link to the post via asks/submissions. If your piece is part of a larger, previously established fic, please include in your message the word count of the new chapter.

Earn 0.1% for every 100 words, rounded to the nearest hundred

Artists:

Post your fanart to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% for a sketch, 0.3% for linework, and 0.5% for a full colour piece.

Fanvid Editors:

Post your video to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.3% per 10 seconds for an AMV/fanvid using existing footage, and 0.5% per 10 seconds for an animatic.

Photo/Gifset Editors:

Post your photoset/gifset to tumblr, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% per edited photo and 0.5% per gif/collage.

Playlist Curators:

Post your fanmix - consisting of at least 8 tracks (iykyk) - to Spotify (or create a YouTube playlist if you do not have a Spotify account).

Link your playlist here, tag it #lmss steal, and send us a link via asks/submissions.

Earn 0.1% per 8 songs on the playlist, rounded to the nearest 8

Earn 0.1% per 200 words of liner notes expanding on the selected songs

If you're struck by creative urges not listed above, just drop us an ask and we can figure out what category it falls into and/or approximate percentage conversion rates if it's something totally new.

No matter what you're posting though, the same applies - make sure to tag it #lmss steal so that we know it's part of this tournament, and send us a link to your post so that we don't miss it!

[queerdeans]

crimes: (ask a ye shall receive, I love info dumping)

Buck - Abandonment issues, reckless as hell, clingy + rejection sensitivity, foot in mouth-itis, once stole a fire truck to go hook up with a girl, has stolen more firetrucks since then but generally has good intentions, threatened to sue the lafd bc his boss didnt want him to come back to work after a workplace injury, canonically bisexual

Eddie - Runs away from his problems, PTSD from the army and losing his wife in a car accident, which isnt normally a crime but he breaks up with any woman who gets too close to him and cheated on his ex with a doppelgänger of his dead wife, once smashed a guys nose in during a fight in an illegal fighting ring, has identified himself as straight and been identified as straight by buck, I think that might mean he's canonically straight but the fandom has yet to reach a consensus. many are convinced that a coming out arc is imminent

Tommy - Back when he was only in flashback eps he was a classic dudebro in the firehouse, so was bigoted in 2005-2010 (to varying degrees, you'd have to actually watch the eps) but by 2014 is shown to be close to his queer, female, and non-white coworkers. most people take this as him being a representative for changing attitudes within the firefighting industry but some people don't like him because of this (their prerogative). Comes out in s7 after not having worked at the station since pre 2017 and confirms that he was closeted partly because of the toxic workplace environment, kisses Buck, who realises he's bisexual subsequently. Canonically gay, him and buck slept together last episode after breaking up in like episode 6 of s8 or smthn but they both have poor communication skills and that's the current fallout ig

anon serving up truth in my inbox

i'm kind of glad that past!tommy is giving bigoted firefighters representation because that was my experience growing up vaguely involved with the local firehouse in bucknowhere, pennsylvania.

i'm terrified to state further opinions tbh because i want all my mutuals to love me even if they all hate each other.

who is the most acab out of the group, that's my follow-up question. i'm guessing buck based on nothing.

[syn4k]

hello!!! as you are the resident miante person in mcyt (there might be another one but in my opinion it's you) I have a question: if I wanted to watch mianite how would I go about that/where do I find it? I know it's a youtube thing but I don't know which channel it's actually on and I am. Extremely Curious about it & want to watch it but I have no idea where to do that /genuine question

(also, I know it's got multiple POVs, is there anyone you'd recommend I start with?)

hello! thanks for the ask!

mianite has four main POVs that remain in VOD and episode form on the creators' channels, they all have a playlist for it and you can find them pretty easily by looking up "[creator name] mianite s1" on youtube.

i recommend starting off with jordan captainsparklez' POV like we did, as he is involved in mostly everything in both s1 and s2 and his episodes are edited down to only really have the important bits. if you decide to watch back through the series later from another perspective, tom syndicate's POV is another good one to watch as he's kind of on the opposite side of everything happening in s1 and it puts a lot of his actions in context that jordan left out of his episodes.

if you don't want to watch through the series in its entirety (which is completely understandable), fern @voidandradiance has made a playlist of the important lore moments in both mianite s1 and s2 that she'd be happy to share :]

also it's really funny to me that we are the resident Mianite Guy to you when we've only been here for like, six months. this series turns ten years old today and there are people in this fandom who have been here since the beginning of it or at least who have been here for way, way longer than we have.

if you do end up sticking around here, i cannot recommend these people enough:

@kiwibirdlafayette - AMAZING artist who has been here in the trenches here since 2014. syndisparklez enthusiast. his art-only blog is @grailknightmonty and he also posts Hermitcraft stuff occasionally :3

@transandor chase my good friend chase!! resident Jordan Captainsparklez Guy. brilliant writer, also happens to be fistfighting The Horrors, you know how it his

@voidandradiance i already tagged him before and i'll fuckin do it again because this bitch's writing is stunning beyond words and xyr brain is HUGE. if you like the style of the stuff we write, you'll LOVE fern's work. its so beautiful that i physically cannot overhype it. its so good, y'all. its so fucking good.

@syndianites is, as far as we're concerned, the mouth of god himself when it comes to Tom Syndicate SynHD. there is nobody on this site who understands this character better than she does. they consistently leave the most galaxy brain objectively correct tags about him on our posts and she never fucking misses. this bitch Gets It and i am very lucky to be her friend

@coolcattime's blog is more of a general purpose one, like ours is, but she carries the f/f ships in the Mianite fandom and is also a great writer! she's written a lot of neat AU ideas and although we haven't talked with her much she definitely lives up to her url- she's one cool cat :]

@cactusprisms is also someone that we see around a lot in the notes of our mianite posts, although we unfortunately havent talked much. also more of a general purpose blog but worth following anyways. shes vibing.

hope this helps! <3

[eldoradofineng]

Heyyy! 🤗

I realized that since I started to be a bit more active here a couple of months ago I forgot to introduce myself. So, to not be a complete random on the käärijä tag here goes:

I'm 32 and from Helsinki. Favorite things about Käärijä include tiddies, pits, pötsi and baby girl personality.

The song I sing in the shower: Paidaton riehuja

The song that make me feel extra sexy: Rock Rock (especially the remix)

The guilty pleasure: Auto jää (I hate how much I love this live)

With the most important stuff said, a funny story-time of how käärijä appeared to my life very unexpectedly (I'm putting it under the cut to not disturb the tag too much lol):

In around 2013-2014 a then co-worker of mine asked me to join her on a pub gig in Pukinmäki Helsinki of some rando rapper from her home hoods. I wasn't really into Finnish rap so agreed to join if she buys me some drinks. And oh did she deliver! By the time the gig started I was pretty smashed.

I only remember from that gig that the audience was maybe around 30-40 people and we kind of formed a circle. And in the middle was a small intense dude hopping around like crazy. I remember him thanking her mom for showing up and that was sweet. Loved the show, loved him! But the next morning was very Morganesque for me and I didn't even remember his name 😞

Then many years later at a student party somebody played me Välikuolema and I heard the name Käärijä for the first time. I started to listen to him a bit more but didn't really follow him much.

As for many, the shit truly hit the fan in 2023 when I heard CCC and saw the mv. I was up until 5 am. Something in my brain shifted and I have been on that road ever since.

That spring I told that old co-worker of mine that I finally got tickets to see my new fave dude Käärijä for the first time live! You can only imagine the pure shock and horror when she revealed that "Bro, we saw him years ago on his first ever gig, maybe you don't remember... I remember you had some weird drunken shenanigans with a chair that night". And then she showed me this picture:

During these past 1,5 years this image has haunted me. So let it now come to light and stand as a warning: Kids, don't drink. You might miss a historically important moment. That night I indeed chose to obsess over a chair instead of Käärijä and forever I will carry with me a sense of shame because of this 🥲 (as a disclaimer: no I'm not a weirdo that is turned on by furnitures, I truly have no explanation to this chair stroking activity).

So yeah, thanks for coming to my Ted talk!

I have loved the humour, art and the overall sense of welcoming community in this fandom so wanted to also give something back 🥹❤️ I am not an artist nor do I have the chance to go see his gigs atm, so may my contribution be (for the time being) sharing this embarrasing moment and hopefully it brings you joy 😂

[kidovna]

Hey!! I feel like I’ve been following you forever and it’s been amazing! I was wondering if you had any tips for growing an art account? I feel like I post a steady amount of art that’s decent (hopefully) and I interact with the FEW followers I have and love it! The art I create is art I enjoy and so its easy to keep creating. By no means do I really care about numbers but it does help with reaching bigger audiences, growing engagement for commissions, and freelance work. Tbf at this point I think the algorithm despises me but idk how to fix it. I’ve been posting art for a few years now but the engagement on my posts usually never gets above 200-500 on a wim, on average it won’t reach above 50-im so serious. Anyway!! Im only asking cause I’ve seen how far you’ve come on your account and how you and your art have evolved and there is no one who has inspired me more than you. Like ur work is the highlight of my day, week, month! Lots of love!!🫶

hello!! this is such an interesting ask and i get exactly where you’re coming from. i do think that i’ve been lucky enough to have gotten some work in the publishing field because of how much book art i’ve done.

honestly i’ve never done anything specific to gain an audience. i’ve been posting art since 2014 and i’ve switched to so many platforms over the years. i think people started noticing my work just as covid first hit the news and i got very involved in the harry potter fandom. sitting at home, just having finished my undergrad final project, i was posting every other day.

i genuinely think my consistency is what reeled people in and every time i was really passionate about something, i think people noticed that. i’ve gotten so many messages from people telling me that they read rwrb or watched st because of me and it always, always makes my day!

summarised : consistency is what the algorithm is looking for and passion is what the audience is looking for. if neither of this works, you could also always participate in trends? i’m too much of a procrastinator to do it at the right time but i know a lot of artists gain traction especially on reels and tiktok because of art trends and drawing challenges.