#twilights also based on some fanart...

[kinfusion]

look upon them...

[crunchybeards]

Would you mind doing a Xaria and a Monty?

We got the t4t worsties over here.

Also ignore the random words on the second pic. This is gonna be a full piece at some point and those were just a few reminders for myself, nothing important.

[whateversawesome]

Spy x Family Fic Compilation

Love Is... : After a practicing a 'welcome home' kiss with Yor, Twilight develops symptoms he had never experienced before: a rush of energy, good mood (when near his family), voracious appetite for his wife's cooking, aggressive behavior towards other men (who dare to come near his wife) and a desperate need to kiss Yor again. This is the first rut of his life. How will Twilight deal with this? (Multichapter. Completed!)

With Murderous Intent, I Love You: Yor and Loid meet before Operation Strix and fall in love, but have to separate. Later they find each other again aboard a cruise ship. Unfortunately, Loid is Yor's target. Based on Spy x Family Season 2 ED Music Video Todome no Ichigeki. (Completed).

Eden's Ball: A cute Twiyor Eden AU. Eden's Student Council is hosting the event of the year: a ball! This is the perfect opportunity for Loid Forger to finally ask Yor Briar to be his girlfriend. There's only one problem...he needs to ask her to the ball first (Two-shot, completed).

Fate: In this AU, Loid Forger and Yor Briar meet as children and are best friends who plan on spending the rest of their lives together. Nevertheless, they are separated after the bombing of their town. Years after the war, they find each other again in a very unlikely place. (Multichapter, completed)

The Rose: An alternate universe in which Twilight and Thorn Princess meet before Operation Strix. During a Governor's ball, Twilight faces the most important mission of his life: to steal the Thorn Princess. (Completed).

A Kissing Disaster: After their identity reveal, Twilight and Yor must navigate one important aspect of their relationship: intimacy. Twilight is more than ready for it, but Yor still lacks experience. Getting carried away can bring unexpected consequences. (Completed).

Addicted to Yor: Upon realizing he's become addicted to his wife, a very touch-starved Twilight resolves to stop touching her all the time. Will he succeed? Spoiler: No he won't. The man is hopelessly in love with Yor. (Completed).

Joint Mission: On the first joint mission between the Garden and WISE, Thorn Princess overhears something that makes her doubt her husband's love for her. Twilight's most important mission now is to reassure his wife. (Completed).

The Divorce: Twilight and Thorn Princess discover each other identities during a side mission. After that, Twilight knows his marriage is over. But can he go through with what needs to be done? (Completed).

Last Days of Operation Strix: Twilight can feel it: Operation Stix will soon be over. It's almost time for Loid Forger to die. He's supposed to have a clean exit like his other missions, but Strix is NOT like any other mission. As much as he tries to deny it, Twilight has been compromised. Now he needs to choose between his duty and his love for his family. (Multichapter. Completed!)

As a Real Family: A series of tooth-rotting fluff one-shots in non-chronological order in the same universe as Last Days of Operation Strix. Just some domestic fluff about the Forgers, including super cute Twiyor baby.

Until You Come Back to Me: (Actors AU/Eden AU) Everyone knew actors Yor Briar and Loid Forger had a long history together. But seven years ago they parted ways and moved on with their lives. Now Loid Forger is coming back to Ostania. Nobody knows he's now a spy for Westalis. His mission: To spy on Prime Minister Donovan Desmond. To achieve this, he'll have to get close to his former love, Yor Briar, and manipulate her into spying for him. His agency, WISE, was very clear to him: Do whatever it takes, whether is a heartfelt reconciliation, friendship, or even...seduction. (Major angst warning for this one).

Fake ID: In this Eden AU, teenagers Loid and Franky will do anything to get into a nightclub to see their favorite band. (A small prequel of Until You Come Back to Me). (Completed).

Also, thank you to all the artists who have crafted fanarts from these fics. I appreciate you and your beautiful art from the bottom of my heart 💖

@artbyluro

@juuyeah

@juuyeah

@astersugar

@pokianne

@giushia

[minty-mumbles]

Linked Universe Survey 2023

The long awaited results of the survey. Sorry it took me forever, making graphs is hard.

There were 452 responses to the survey as a whole, which is almost double what we got last year, so thank you to everyone who participated!

If you want to see the raw data, you can find that here. I had thoughts about the data, but compiling that into another post would be too much of a hassle. Feel free to send me asks about it though!

The rest of the post will be under a read more as it it large

Demographics

Other: Demigirl (4), Transmasc (3), Grey genderfluid, Unlabeled, Demiboy, Demiagender

Other: Omnisexual (4), Poly (2), Trixic, Abroromantic or Bellusromantic, Demisexual

General Questions

Other: Quotev, Discord, their own google docs

Other: Discord, Variations of "I haven't posted yet, but I pan to" and "I haven't posted my fics in ages",

Other: Wattpad, Deviantart, Discord

Other: Crochet dolls, Custom dolls, Roleplay blogs (2), Fan translations, Headcanons (2), Piano music

The purple section in the “Warriors vs Warrior” chart is supposed to read “Warrior.” I made a typo.

Favorites and Least Favorites

Selected Free Response Answers

im sorry warriors i just can't play your game (it is very very hard. i am stuck very early on in the game)

I love cats meow meow meow

was extremely tempted to put twilight for least favorite. unfortunately he is my favorite to write from the perspective of (he has taken over most of my wips. help) and that probably counts for something. WILD on the other hand. hooo boy how the hell do i characterize this gargoyle. why is he Like That. least favorite it is

Twiddy

very good fandom to be in :) everybody is very nice

It's a straight up crime that Wars lost the aesthetics poll so quickly. He has such a peak Link design with the best colors. Ugh I'm getting wistful.

FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS.

I will fight Hylia herself and the next person who implies Twi can't handle spice. If we're going to lean into him being southern/Midwestern, which is an alright stero type for our rancher, please keep in mind the culture you're basing him off. The south and midwest can handle their spice, I assure you. Have you ever had authentic Louisiana gumbo? It will melt you tongue off. Or some good old fashion spicy fried chicken? I promise the real stuff has quite a kick. (In all seriousness, though. It's more important that you're having fun. And even I can admit the idea of Twi being an Ordonian who can't handle his spice is more than a little funny.)

I am an OoT Link edgelord and have been since early 2017. So, in September of that year, when an artist by the name of jojo56830 puts out a lineup of nine different Links and the Hero of Time is there – the oldest, no eye, Hero’s Shade armor? I saw that one sketch and just thought “oh this is gonna be bad.” Yeah of course he has the coolest design. By the way, it’s only a matter of time until Fierce Deity shows up in the comic and I have reason to believe it could be this current Dawn arc. Dawn … Dawn of a New Day … and who brought about the Dawn of a New Day? Fierce Deity. Twilight is recovering but still injured and what will happen if he falls again? Fierce Deity is coming and we need to be prepared. In this essay I will—

Remember that time when someone put the whole script of the bee movie in here? I’m not that dedicated, and I don’t have that time, but let us remember and hope someone else does it again this time. Cause someone is bound too. We’re all crazy enough to do it. Alright, love you and stay hydrated pls!

Hi! I joined this fandom really recent but i’ve always seen LU stuff on pinterest and elsewhere. Only recently have i actually took the time to understand the fandom and get back into LOZ stuff and i adore the characters and story! The more and more fanart, fanfics, and comics i see about the different Links the more i love them all. It’s such a pain to pick just one i like or one i don’t like because they’re all so unique. I love this fandom and hope to get more involved!! Have a wonderful rest of your day :]

Epona is an underrated queen

your mom

I really don't get why Zelda is called Artemis. Athena makes more sense???? It perplexes me

Anyone seeing this should check out Breanna’s E!Wild AU

Something something queer every Link into oblivion!

[prismatoxic]

i don't talk about him a lot, partially bc as of right now i have all of one person who's totally on board with my bullshit, but. i love dark link.

i've had fun exploring him in oot, his most common fandom setting for obvious reasons (i have a wip fic about oot darktime), but when i originally latched onto the guy, i hadn't really engaged with oot yet. i saw all this awesome fanart and looked up his (minimal) lore and really loved him and darktime, and that was right around the time i was getting super into twilight princess. so, well before i saw the interlopers cutscene and thereby not influenced by it at all, i mentally inserted dark link into the narrative.

it's been a long time since then, and he's still with me. i've gotten to a point where i can't reasonably claim any of this is headcanon. he's an OC, he just borrows the base of a miniboss from oot. like that IS his backstory, and is important to his character, but... he's an OC. no denying it.

while p5 is occupying a lot of my brain right now, i still finally made the time to replay twilight princess for the first time in years (emulated, lmao). it's my favorite zelda and always has been. this also means it's time to revisit dark's story after having already been very enabled while sharing it with max. i have some new ideas and am inching towards finally being able to put some of it into actual writing.

anyway, all that to say: here he is. tp era dark link, both intangible shadow and flesh and blood version.

[violentvioleteye]

Which Link do you think you're most like

AND

which Link would your best friend say you're most like??

Stormy coming in with the hot and heavy questions, I love it cause I'm bored as shit rn

If you're asking me what Link I'm most like, I'm caught between Twilight and Time personally. If we're talking canon, Twilight and I have the most in common. Raised rural, elder siblings, parentified/held above a pedestal (I love Rusl but why does he keep comparing his boy to Twilight big weird), everything he knew was upheaved and he was the only one who could even remotely fix it (personal issues that cropped up in February, if anyone reading really wants to know look in the last chapter of Last Link. Or it was the chapter before. One of the two.) also. Wolf. I'm such a wolf bitch. My first username that I kept for the longest time (before switching to my current handle) had the word wolf in it. I am such a wolf bitch I made an entire new species for LOZ just so I'd have a reason to make Twilight and Time MORE like wolves. Also I have such a fondness for the Hero of Time, and I love the songs, and Ilia reminds me a little of my girlfriend (sweet, loves animals, forgets shit constantly), and I would do ANYTHING TO HOLD A DOG RIGHT FUCKING NOW

But I also feel like I'm a lot like Time in the sense that I never had much of a childhood and by the time I could, it was already too late. A lot was burdened onto me at a young age and I had to grow up very, very quickly. I see the fanarts dictating Adult!Link with Child!Link still inside him and I'm like "god, it's me." Also I fuck with masks. Also he's a golden wolf in Twilight Princess so again, the wolf thing. I have less to back up Time, it's more so me looking at him and going "hey same pain" in a metaphorical sense.

Also, I asked my best friend and girlfriend what Link they thought I was and it was a resounding Twilight from the both of them.

Starlight (my best friend): You parent in a "You're being stupid fucking stop" type way which is very Twilight

Sage (my girlfriend): You also kind of have that farm boy butch personality, y’know? Like if Twilight were female, he’d probably look and act a lot like you do. The parenting is a funny perspective but I see it differently; you’re the cat wrangler

So the Queen and Princess have spoken

Stormy, I hope this isn't me overstepping and I've only interacted with you a handful of times so I could totally be off base, but your vibe gives me a mix of Time and Legend. You got that parental aura of like "come to me if you did something stupid, there's very little we can't fix, dumbass" with some good helpful advice, but also the snark and dry wit of Legend that has left me cackling into my food several times while reading your stories.

[spencer-is-someone]

my top five FAVORITE fics I wrote this year

it’s almost new year, and I got a lot…

A lot done this year

so, let’s go over my top five favorite fics I wrote (and finished) this year, not in any order

thanks to @unhappy-sometimes for the idea!!

Tapes and Face me

This one is a twofer, mostly because they’re connected. I’m very proud of tapes because I really wanted to capture that analog horror feel, mostly because my irl friend was really obsessed with the Mandela catalogue at the time. Face me was like my first huge foray into whump. My favorite part of this fic was Sylvia and Anya’s relationship, and the letters Anya wrote to her as “mission reports”.

Open eyes

I wish this one got more love and attention. It was a very weird character study I wrote where Twilight meets Loid Forger and Redacted, who are separate but also the same as him. It bounced off from @buf309’s doppelgänger comic, but sort of became its own thing, it even had some fanart that I’m too eepy to find rn, I’ll have to reblog it later.

Tastes like blood

an idea that was over a year in the making, where Yor gets to enact revenge on someone for (almost) killing her husband on their wedding night. This fic is so important to me because Maya Rowan, the would-be killer, was such a fun character to write. I love her so much. This fic did have a sequel that I have yet to finish unfortunately, but IT WILL BE DONE (at some point)

Clementine

your stock standard “Anya gets kidnapped by those gosh darn scientists” plot, based on my initial interpretation of the song “my darling Clementine”, where, in my mind, it was about a father who lost his daughter in the river, and he couldn’t swim, so he “lost his Clementine”. The “swim” here was meant to represent how twilight couldn’t deal with his own feelings for his daughter, so he lost her, but then he gets her back again, fighting tooth and nail to keep her safe. For those who don’t know, I am especially weak for father-daughter stories (my relationship with my dad is great dw) so this one his very close to my heart. The scene where Loid finally says “I love you” to Anya was inspired by Ai Hoshino’s death scene from Oshi no ko (which unfortunately ended very badly this year, spare yourself the trouble and just look up Ai’s death scene, that’s as peak as the story gets) and I was listening to the ost of her death scene while writing it. And my god does it just tear you up inside.

also his mom’s ghost saying “you’ve been holding her like that all along” still rips me to shreds okay?

and last but not least

A way out

“Yay Norman mention”

“Update wtf?”

— @unhappy-sometimes, 2024

what CANT I say about this fic? It’s, imo, my magnum opus. It was so goddamn cathartic to write it. If you’re going to read it, please, please mind the trigger warnings.

getting on with that, this fic is so important to me. It started out as a very angsty whump fic that somehow became a very personal look into a narrative about self harm and coming to terms with one’s existence. Really, if you’re in the right headspace, I would suggest you read it. BUT ONLY IF YOU’RE IN THE RIGHT HEADSPACE. it genuinely reflects a lot of the dark thoughts I’ve struggled with since my hospitalization when I was thirteen. I hope that, if I can find some catharsis in it, maybe you can too.

well, that’s a wrap. I’ll still be writing, but I just wanted to get this post out there. Love yall, and happy new year!

[denalilily]

🚨 ATTENTION ALL TWILIGHT BLOGS! 🚨

Because of the news of what's happening on tumblr right now that we got today, I thought it would be a good idea to have a group chat of some kind to strengthen the community and friendships so it all doesn't get lost. Yknow, in case the apocalypse happens on tumblr. If any of you are interested in joining the group chat discord server, message me for the link! I'm hoping it will help people get to know their mutuals better, especially if you have mutuals who's posts you always reblog, but haven't talked to yet. It's all brand new so I'm testing it out. We can also discuss how we could find a way to archive posts from inactive twilight blogs who have contributed a lot to the fandom, since there's a danger that it could all disappear one day. (that was @bellasdumptruckass idea) You can just join it as a backup plan in case we disappear off the face of tumblr and need to move one day, or you can use it to chat with other bloggers, whatever you prefer. Anyway, once again, if you're interested in joining just message me for the link! You can all also add me as a friend, I'm denalilily on there too 🥰 Reblogs are appreciated to help spread the word!

🔥 WHAT'S NEW 🔥

❣️ I recently bought twihards against humanity - an online party game for the server, so if you want to play then join us!

❣️ Lots of twilight based emojis made for the server

❣️ Different channels for twilight discussion, pictures, games, nsfw discussions, fanfics, fanart and more

P.S - this server is for tumblr users only, so please don't share it to other platforms! your blog doesn't have to be solely about twilight, but you should have at least some twilight content on your blog to join.

[equestrian-war]

Hello! Welcome to my MLP Au i want to go through some important stuff about this Au Before i start to post things on this blog

Good place to start is talking about the origins of this idea originally this was a game i would play with my child hood best friends when i was anywhere between 12-13 when season 7 just began and the movie had just been announced originally as kids we called it Hippogriff war because the story is about ponies being at war with griffins

Fast forward to about 5 years later

When i was 18 I decided i wanted to redesign feather beak and moonstar for me and my friend for shits and giggles.

Enter the era of eagle duck faced feather beak

Though this started out as a fun drawing project i realized i really like Moon star's and feather beaks dynamic and decided to do some concept art for a comic though life happened and the comic ended early

The early days of me making the comic 2 years ago was me lowering the like- eight characters i barely remember and made it into the main 4 in my comic hence me making ash hoof and calamity

Two characters that i thought of a long long time ago and never drawn but reworked them into equestrian war

Around that time i had redesigned moonstar and feather beak again and decided to make them based off the four horsemen War, Pestilence, Famine And Death. Though i call them the Four horses of the apocalypse and they are to put an end to the war

The original logo

P.s after 2 years i realized Equestrian is spelled horribly wrong

Equestrian War 2 pastel horse bamboozaloo

So this one was being worked on a bit in 2024 and i basically got worn out from the new style of the comic because i made it Too detailed so didnt last long but still important to mention that i tried doing this twice now but-

Welcome to Equestrian war 3

This Au takes place 100 years in the future were twilight sparkle is princess of equestria. We Follow Moon Star in finding the four horses of the apocalypse in order to take down the crusty old griffen king, King Nimbus and save equestria but thing is- she distrusts everypony

RULES

You may draw fanart for the series i do not care

You may make ocs and sometimes i might include your oc as a background character

Any inconsistencies with some show lore is usually just my own head canon and im only including lore and references to gen 4 because i haven't watched anything from gen 5 except the movie and do not plan to in the future as i dont like it

Target audience is 13+ due to the violence, serious topics, and scary moments though im hoping to also keep the same vibes of mlp. Kind of making MLP for a more teen audience

Im glad to have you for the ride

[downstarr]

Fanfic and the Right to Be Forgotten

You know that thing that’s been happening where people are binding fic that they didn’t write and selling it for a lot of money? And some people are even selling merch based off of fic without permission?

That speaks to new and/or young people in fandom not realizing how tenuous the existence of fic is and how easily it can and has been taken away. But what’s also contributing to this is the idea that fic exists in some kind of creative common just because it’s fic.

To be clear, you can’t make money off someone else’s intellectual property without permission/paying a licensing fee, full stop. People selling fanart are basically riding off the goodwill of the IP holders not to serve them with a cease and desist. Usually the studios don’t do that because they realize persecuting their biggest fans for making a small amount of money is not a good look. They tend to take a harder line with fic for various legal reasons I won’t get into here. But basically, you cannot in any way, shape or form, make money off fanfic. It is only allowed to exist because the writers are not making money. Even that right was hard-fought and kept in large part because of the work of the nonprofit Organization for Transformative Works who run Ao3. 

Just because an author can’t make money off their fic doesn’t mean that fic belongs to fandom, though. It still belongs to the person who wrote it. It is not free for others to use unless the author explicitly gives permission. 

That means that the author of the fic is allowed to remove it and it should stay removed. The author has the right for their work to be forgotten and to disappear. It doesn’t matter if it’s beloved in the fandom, or if it meant something to people. That doesn't change the fact that it doesn’t belong to fandom. The idea that it does is what leads people to think it’s okay to bind and sell fic they didn’t write. 

Now, if I personally decided to delete a fic, I’d probably give people a head’s up and a chance to download their own copy for personal use. I also wouldn’t mind if they passed a copy off to a friend who wanted to read it. But under no circumstance should you put it up again or put it on a server for others to download to “save” it. Frankly, it isn’t yours to save and fandom should respect the wishes of the author who wrote it and then chose to delete it. 

Why would an author delete a fic? Well, it doesn’t really matter. It’s the author’s work and their choice. But maybe they were getting hate in the comments. Maybe they don’t think the writing was very good. Maybe they aren’t part of that fandom anymore and don’t want to interact with readers. Yes, they could orphan the work but they definitely aren’t obligated to. 

The biggest reason though, is that a lot of fic contains TONS of original elements. Some fic only holds a tangential relationship to canon through archetypes and basic personalities. Those original ideas belong to the writer. This means they have the option to delete the fic version and file the serial numbers off the work and turn it into a wholly original, saleable IP of their own if they want to. Many many published works started off as fic, the most famous of which is, of course, Fifty Shades of Gray which started as Twilight fic. 

If you circumvent an author’s wishes and repost or share their deleted fic widely, you undermine their ability to profit off their original ideas and writing. I get that it’s sad to lose a fic you loved, but it’s very easy to download copies of fic if you want to make sure you can reread it in the future. We also shouldn't guilt authors who choose to delete their fic, especially if they want to remake that work into something original.

Regardless of whether an author can make money off of their writing, it’s still theirs to control. Or at least, it should be. The idea that fanwork belongs to a collective also leads to authors and fanartists being taken for granted, as well as giving people the mistaken idea that they can remix it and sell it. 

This work doesn’t come out of the aether. It comes from talented folks who create transformative works for free. The least we can do is respect their right for that work to be forgotten if they decide to delete it.

[bullet-prooflove]

Hello! I have a question for you about requests/Patreon. I have seen a couple of accounts have commissions via Patreon, but I thought making money off of copyrighted material was illegal. Even if it is the author's writing, the characters and world (Show, book, movie) are copywritten. Just curious because I remember back in the days when authors like Anne Rice went after people who wrote fanfiction about her characters.

Hi there!

If I can answer them I certainly will.

So technically the act of writing fanfiction itself is copyright infringement so none of us should be doing it. For me personally if artists can make fanart and get paid for it, why can’t writers? That’s where there has always seemed to be a bit of elitism. People have and have had no problem with fanartists building Patreons but there’s upheaval when writers do. It’s an interesting double standard.

That’s how I reconciled it in my head. I did not and do not make a lot of money from my fanfiction work, I think the most I’ve made in a month is £30, I think it’s down to around £20 now. Sometimes people donate to my kofi and I think that’s pretty damn nice of them.

For a long time I was on the fence about starting a Patreon, here’s a little bit about my decision to start a Patreon:

After I had my mental health breakdown I was really struggling financially as my work were stingy with sick pay. I was in the position of if I quit my job, I wasn’t entitled to any benefits from the government because I didn’t class as being ill enough to be supported by them. (This was bullshit because my PTSD/anxiety/depression was insane, I became agoraphobic for a while – I lost 2 & half stone, I isolated myself I couldn’t sleep – there was no way I could look for a job/attend interviews and all the jazz that came with that)

What I was doing was creating content because it was the only thing that kept me sane – this is why my queue is always booked up a month in advance because I was generating so much back then I was scheduling 4 months in advance and beyond. Literally it was the only thing I was doing.

I did and do a hell of a lot of content for free (asks, my own storylines for characters) it seemed fair at the time when I was really struggling to ask for a financial contribution where people could help me out if they could afford it. And people did and I honestly am forever grateful to those people because they will never know how much they helped me.

I did quit my job as that was a huge factor into my illness and started my own business as an editor, book coach and marketer which has been fairly successful but I still earn a hell of a lot less than I previously did hence why the Patreon is still helpful.

I think if you aren’t earning fuckloads from it you’re able to fly under the radar, if you’re drawing in thousands like I know some people are in very popular fandoms then you’re more likely to get spanked as it’s seen as a depreciation of income to the original concept (book/show/movie)

I also think the way I sort of run my Patreon is kind of holistic in a way as everyone will still get access to those fics, you’re just paying for early access. They are not exclusive to Patreon or tucked behind a paywall forever where you can’t read the next part of your fav series (which is what a lot of Patreons do).

On the topic of fanfic and making money, there’s authors out there that who actively market their own work as based on stuff like Criminal Minds (Dr Rebecca Sharp) – how she hasn’t been hung, drawn and quartered by Disney I’ll never know. She has literally stolen actual eps and written them into her books.

I think a lot of older fandom writers remember the Anne Rice drama and are terrified because of it but I don’t think that’s as prevalent as it once was. 50 Shades of Grey started as a Twilight fanfiction, no one has sued E.L James for it.

I know for a fact that some tv show writers do check in on fanfic to take the temperature of their audience. It’s not publicly acknowledged but it can be good market research.

I hope some of that helps and if you have any further questions please feel don’t hesitate to give me a shout.

[ripplestitchskein]

Heey I really like your Stolitz and Helluva Boss Takes! They are very insightful and interesting to read. Your circus theory is adorable :)

I’m wondering, why do you think this fandom in particular is… so rabidly against media literacy. I too am an old trooper from the Destiel days and I remember the days when internet fans would beg for more complex characters that have grey morality. Also when people would BEG for gay representation like this. I’m so confused man. The “vivziepop critical” hashtag just makes me depressed. So many people seem obsessed to criticize this show and I don’t get it. I haven’t seen this much hate since Twilight. Also did the mistake of checking twitter… Also, why do people act like one person did everything when animation is a highly collaborative medium and there are 100+ creator names at the end of each episode? I’m so confused because I’ve enjoyed the show so much and went online to find fanart and fanfics and found… insane levels of hate and projection?? Why does everyone and their dog want to cancel this woman for making an animated TV show with millenial style sensibilities? Why are they saying the writing is horrible and atrocious when I personally think it’s better than Family Guy, Big Mouth, American Dad and many other adult animation show’s writings? I’m so curious because I’m from Eastern Europe and it feels like something particular about american culture doesn’t click to me in all of this…

Thank you so much Nonnie! If nothing else I might illustrate Blitzo’s little circus with everyone in their roles. I’m working on a Stolitz piece I am VERY excited about but maybe after that.

As far as your question. Whooboy is that a question I have both given a lot of thought to and found no real satisfactory answers, but I have some ideas.

I think it’s a mix of things and I think a huge part of it is the medium and the accessibility of the creators combined with the show reaching a huge internet audience other fandoms don’t really normally touch.

The audience numbers for both of the Spindlehorse/Vivziepop properties are ENORMOUS. On the main channel alone an episode will reach 20+ million views. This doesn’t include other channels that take the same episodes and put them on their channels and reach several million as well. The Nielsen numbers average around the 18-20 per episode but Nielsen ratings are a flawed metric especially with internet based media. We’ve seen some of the Amazon numbers as well and they are insane.

We also live in a time where people are under an extreme amount of scrutiny all hours of the day, the likes of which we really don’t have a comparison for in human history and we have a independent creator who was largely available to that fandom for a long period of time. A lot of media properties are corporate, are sanitized and managed by large PR firms. I think VivziePop said some things before she had fully grown and developed as a person that people latched onto as a core belief system, something the internet is really good at. There also isn’t a lot of grace given to people who change their views after taking in other viewpoints and information. If you say something it will live on in infamy and I think some of the hate stems from that.

I went into it a little in this post here that I just don’t think people are aware of the creative process that goes into making such a thing. An indie creator has to be way more transparent than a corporate entity to get the funding they need and that transparency builds expectations with people who can’t grasp that plots and characters change as the story actually develops. They are very used to prepackaged, sanitized and complete productions and this messy and chaotic realtime creative process is very foreign to them.

Critical thinking skills are also a precious resource in humanity in general, and when you’re dealing with a fandom this large you have more people who lack those skills than normal. These two shows do not spoon feed their audience, a lot of things are in the details and hidden under character complexities and I genuinely believe that they aren’t used to not being told flat out “this is what is happening. This is how the characters feel about it.” By the media they consume. We’re also dealing with two different shows with similar visual elements and comparisons are made between the two while ignoring the actual shows themselves. A great example is the chains in Hazbin for Angel and Husk being compared to the chain in the drug hallucinations in D.H.O.R.K.S. They are not remotely the same, or for the same reason but because they are visually similar, being from the same team people really thought they were on to something while ignoring the actual content and dialogue of the scene itself. Meme culture used for wrong imo.

Having characters that do “problematic” things, say “problematic” things and behave in realistic and nuanced ways is hard for people to separate from the creators or the fans. Any whiff of perceived “toxicity” is jumped on like rabid dogs. They believe it’s a reflection of what the creator and fans actually WANT in real life. It’s purity culture run amuck and it’s a HUGE issue. Like actual fascism in action and it’s extremely concerning to me but what can I do but continue to engage critically with what I like and provide analysis while enjoying it?

There is also this sense of competition in fandoms. My ship is less problematic than yours. My blorbo is a better person. Etc. It’s the silliest shit.

There is also a huge wait time between episodes. In a binge watching culture, or a serialized tv culture where seasons are completed and then released all at once or on a regular schedule with maybe a week or two between it is hard for the audience to retain what they saw previously and connect it. They also build up expectations and have months to sit with them only to be disappointed when it doesn’t play out how they wanted. The Sherlock fandom was notorious for this. The years long gap between seasons let things fester and rot and now we have a show like HB that will go months between episodes and take years to tell a story.

Being completely honest almost all the criticism I’ve seen is not rooted in actual problems with the show but people saying “if they had done X and X and X it would have be a better show” but because the show didn’t deliver what they specifically wanted it’s “not good”. Or they don’t realize it is delivering that, just at a very slow pace.

I think it can best be summed up by a lot of the internet are what me and my partner call “baby brained”. I don’t mean to be dismissive of real criticisms but I haven’t seen any that hold water yet that aren’t rooted in the things I’ve mentioned above. If I’m presented some I’ll engage with them logically and will use the text to determine their validity.

I have more thoughts on this but this is already pretty long so I’ll save it for specific posts on this subject. But like I always say, just block them and do things that make you happy with the things you love. You don’t owe them your time or your attention and the creators don’t owe them anything either.

[yayforocs]

OLD ART PART 2!!!

picking back up in october 2013!!!

random headphone girl? random headphone girl

ok i can't find this one (or its later successor) anywhere so i'm. assuming i never posted it? even tho i could've sworn i did.

it's the noxcrew gameshow hosts, johnny smooth and scotty love :VVV

kinda wanna redraw them again tbh tbh

a link :V

WOW OK i was going to send martyn inthelittlewood a fan letter ages ago when he was doing the uhh!! the um!!! the videos where he opened stuff from fans!!! he had a po box u could send stuff to and i drew some fanart of him and characters he liked and wrote out a letter!! but i! never sent it OTL i think i just was never satisfied with what i wrote bc i remember trying to write it multiple times dslkfj

also i found teen ib au doodles! :V i did draw something after all

doodle of homestuck troll oc, terian oneira :V (the name did actually like. mean something. but i don't remember what)

a redraw of like the second aqua pic i drew ever bc Actual Player AquaUmbreon had changed his minecraft skin :V (so i'm not gonna tag this as the character sdlkj)

speakin of the CM server crew, tis me and razor :V

there's also a vaughn from harvest moon island of happiness!! this was also a july doodle, hm.

there's also some crystal chronicles crew doodles :VVV from when mogi and i were planning out the caravan!!

november 2013 :VV

oh man oh man oh man ok i never posted this one bc i started coloring it w colored pencils n then i never finished so it was just unfinished to me bUT i played fire emblem awakening and was wrecked by a nuzlocke playthrough where i got gaius and maribelle s supported and then maribelle. died. so i drew a lyric comic thing (but i was going to add in the lyrics digitally, so. rip.) set to.... a song that i cannot find???? i have the recording on my ipod of it but it's a rip from youtube that. i guess isn't there anymore. here's the poem based on it though: (and straight googling the entirety of the poem led me nowhere also so i'm just. where is this from who originally wrote it what.)

Sun sets low beneath the sky Leaves all in golden state Stars glow at edge of twilight And here I stay, your words await Goodnight, Goodnight

Sky a shade of midnight blue Moon in its glowing fate The world at peace is a calming view And here I stay, your words await Goodnight, Goodnight

Distance leaves us far apart So at midnight if I may Wish upon the brightest star And hear your voice so softly say Goodnight, Goodnight

also ib oc, adam! :V he's from a fic i wrote abt garry getting stuck in the gallery and inadvertently getting out with the help of another kid pulled in years later

skip to april 2014!

it's a redraw of my first post on yayforstuffs, the CM crew! :V man look at how tiny i drew sdlkfj

moving to february 2015 :V

i have the ENTIRETY of the original original ib sprites i made!!!!!

this is so many why did i do All Of Those sdklfjs

-ah heck ran out of images again, holdon

[rumpletrumple]

8!!

I will be answering for Roses and Wolfsbane (a WIP) unless askers specify they want a different story! Answers may contain spoilers!

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

Yes!! I have had a lot of things inspire me for this but the main thing was a piece of art my friend (@/stargazed.siren on instagram) made! It’s since been deleted because it was a couple years ago but she made a halloween piece of rerik fanart that featured a vampire Erik and vampire hunter Raoul! I loved it and I felt super inspired to write something about it, so I sort of worked from there and have been workshopping since!

I’ve also taken a lot of inspiration from different medias, Bram Stoker’s Dracula being the biggest :) I haven’t read it but I have done a lot of research about it, I use a lot of the “vampire rules” from it for Erik :) Some other things that have inspired me are a little more embarrassing because they’re Twilight and Teen Wolf 😭 The story is mostly based in the ALW musical but there’s also been a lot of inspiration from the original POTO novel, especially for Raoul’s backstory (which I have also tweaked to better fit with my story!)

Another inspiration that’s more so inspired me to write was a book I read for my English class called The Apothecary’s Garden by Jeanette Lynes! The story has a lot of symbolism regarding flowers and kind of made me think “I wanna do that” so then I created a doc, starting writing down the characters, the plot, etc, and now here I am 💪

The whole story is kind of an amalgamation of every vampire/werewolf media I’ve heard of :)

[wolfnanaki]

Somehow the things that surprised me the most about that e621 chart you posted were

1. that Maid Marian is still pretty popular, i guess she is still a gateway to furries;

2. that Judy and Toriel already got stuff in there some good years before their source materials actually released (i guess undertale had a demo/kickstarter and zootopia had concept art released pretty early but still)

and 3. ...twilight sparkle is the most popular mlp character? I mean, i guess she is the "protagonist" in a way but still, was expecting either rarity of fluttershy for some reason

Yeah, Maid Marian has enduring popularity. Like with Krystal, despite her last mainstream appearance being years ago, fanart of her persists!

This happens all the time when characters are revealed before their source material comes out. There were several hundred Mr. Wolf and Diane Foxington pics based on trailers alone.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were pretty close. Also, in order to make the list fair, I had to truncate the MLP characters down to the most popular (and that was a recurring element; one character per franchise), otherwise they would dominate. If I didn't, the top ten would include the main six, Celestia, and Luna, leaving only Judy and Rouge as the non-pony characters on it. But yes, Twilight's domination is surprising, even to me, who was big into MLP G4 when it was around.

[ghosthoard]

spooks end of year wrapup! pt. 9

i was a horse girl when i was a kid. i had a whole artbook about how to draw horses and drew them over and over. i watched saddleclub. i loved the movie Spirit. it was one of the most prominent phases of my life.

i stopped drawing horses for years until this fanart. my experience and practice all came back to me like i was possessed. and i'm quite proud and i think i did epona some justice as the most beautiful girl. of course i used tons of references still but it came easier than i thought it would.

the boyssssss! THE horse girls themselves. i really like how i colored twilight's pelt, i've been trying to replicate it to this day and this is still the best i've done. i tried to make the two of them have slightly different builds where twi is broader while wars is skinnier. and like i said in the tags, gotta make twi do the cowboy belt hold and give wars a slutty little waist, it's necessary for my soul.

this was the second twi i've ever drawn and while i love the build i gave him, and i like his face, it's not the face i want to draw for him. i also like the expression i gave twi, i was aiming for like a realizing glee based around the fic where twi had his moment of "this is my brother".

BLOND HAIR IS A NIGHTMARE TO RENDER. sky might be the hardest for me to draw but wars's hair coloring is another struggle. i don't know how to get the right colors for shading both the darker shadow color and the light color. i'm not quite satisfied by how i drew wars's expression, i was aiming for delighted and young but i think it's too serious.

also i completely gave up on drawing their chainmail because i couldn't nail a good way to do it. but i tried pushing myself to shade with sharper shadows and i color picked from jojo's shadows for wars and i think it looks good.

but again overall, i think i drew them in a way where it feels like they can start moving any moment and i like that for me

do you guys know tenderleavesbob??? have you been graced with their writing??? immediately click the link in the original post and feast and tell them they're spectacular!!!

they're able to pack a punch in such succinct and short way because of the words they pick and their mastery of timing and organization. their work has so much heart and they deserve all the appreciation.

“Later, Twilight would realize that moment was when he first saw Warriors and thought brother.”

Powerful succinct writing! That one sentence lives on in my heart.

Thank you @tenderleavesbob for your writing!

Link to the ficlet!