smally-poly-and-off-the-wally

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

oh god it's that time of the year again, so here are some quick reminders:

The content allowed on AO3 is legal according to American law. This is a sensible place to draw the line when your explicitly stated aim is to have a fanfiction site where the content is not subjected to random purges for obscure reasons

AO3 is run by a non-profit organisation. Nobody is making any money out of this, and when the donation drive goal is exceeded, excess money will go to running the site in the future and fighting potential legal battles for the right to create fanworks

It's possible to donate to AO3 and various charities etc, stop acting as though every cent donated to AO3 is a cent taken from "people who need it more"

"Fiction affects reality" yes but the fiction that actually has a societal impact is the latest heteronormative, subtly racist, mass marketed drivel from Disney, not that one properly tagged incest PWP fic with 150 hits and 40 kudos on AO3

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

i think vampires and mad scientists should kiss eachother

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

Illustration of today’s events

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

seeing anyone going “ok fandom blog” “you’re a ___ fan I’m not listening to you” in any context on this app is SO funny to me like imagine voluntarily choosing to spend time in a sewer with a bunch of other people and then being like “wow you chose to be in the sewer for THAT? my reason for willingly spending time in this sewer is so much better than yours and I am much cooler than you” girl we are all in the damn sewer.. we all wear the same clown makeup... be humble.....

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

In case you aren’t familiar, Michael Scott Moore and David Rohde are both journalists. Moore was held by Somali pirates for 977 days. Rohde was held captive by the Taliban for 7 months after being abducted in Afghanistan.

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

leftist antisemites are really everywhere on this hellsite making & reblogging their posts like “the Jews have too much power and privilege and actually their very recent genocide was not that bad compared to what my group experiences and antisemitism doesn’t even exist in my country and especially not in liberal spaces”

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

Patient Zero

(via)

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

Hi! Im doing an survey to see what the general opinions in the dsmp fandom are and how they change with time.

The survey will take about 5 minutes to do, so if you could do it and/or reblog this post it would really help me out!

Also if you have any questions/want more info/want to see when future surveys are go check out @dsmp-surveys

Survey link: https://forms.gle/MVWBsvfgN1QMj1YR7

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

yall like. it's very cool that tinakitten is the first woman of color on the server! but it's a little weird to say "omg the first woc on the server we must support her really hard and hype her up she's such important representation to combat racism make sure you go follow her!" when you make a big deal out of supporting her because of her race or gender you're turning her into a Diversity Win rather than treating her like a real person. i am very happy she was added, and mentioning that is cool, but asking the fandom to Take Notice that she's a woman of color is less like "it's great that the dsmp is diversifying!" and more like "we see you only as token representation."

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

truly begging the internet as a whole to learn the difference between the “oooh i’m not like other girls i’m cool & quirky” mentality & the genuine feeling of being a total outsider among their peers that many young women experience, usually due to holding one or more marginalized identities. like “i don’t fit in with & feel ostracized by the majority of my classmates” is not inherently a pick me thing & we really don’t need to be shaming young women for expressing that they feel this way

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

i went to the dentist today and my dentist honest to god said “can i ask you a question…….what the hell is in your mouth”

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

My ancestors, watching me dump an entire stick of cinnamon, two cloves, an allspice berry, and a generous grating of nutmeg into my tea, sweetened with white sugar and loaded with cream, while I sit in my clean warm house surrounded by books, 25+ outfits for different occasions, and 6 pairs of shoes, in a building heated so well I have the windows open in mid-autumn:

Our daughter prospers. We are proud of her. She has never labored in a field but knows riches we could not have imagined.

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

If monster girls/boys ever became real, posts on /r/relationships would include species along with age and sex.

“My (M21 Human) girlfriend (F22 Lamia) keeps shedding all over the house. How do I tell her that’s my fetish without being weird?”

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

genius LITERALLY not taking its foot off wilbur soots neck

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

Off-Topic Post: My ATLA Live-Action Wishlist

I have exactly 0% faith in the Netflix adaption so here’s a list of what my dream live-action adaption would entail. None of these changes would really change the fundamental plot or qualities of Avatar, I think.

1) Age up all the kid characters by 2-3 years.

This one is mostly for practical reasons. I want the teen characters in the show to be played by young adults (18-22), since they’ll generally be more skilled at their craft and not subject to child labor laws. Pretty much the only characters that I feel need to be played by child actors would Aang and Toph, since their status as children are both crucial to their backstories. Even then, I’d still like them to be played by actors in their mid-teens.

Plus the older the characters are, the less awkward the fighting scenes will be…

2) Have Aang be frozen for 70 years instead of 100. Have Sozin’s Comet arrive 5 years from then.

Sozin’s Comet was inspired by Haley’s Comet, a real-life comet that returns to earth every 75 years. Why not take the inspiration a step further? This would serve quite a few practical purposes:

Bumi could conceivably be portrayed by an actor. There are actually jacked 80-somethings in the world and aging Bumi down to 82 years young would open the role up to fit senior citizens aged 60-80. A buff and agile 112-year-old might be too hard to accept for a live-action Avatar. And aging down Gran-Gran, Pakku, and Iroh wouldn’t affect the plot either.

Having Aang master three elements in five years would still feel like a tight schedule, but also take into account that Aang’s actor would be aging significantly over the course of filming the show.

Aang’s emotional growth into the role of Avatar would parallel his physical growth into adulthood.

Plus, 70 years is still a long time to be gone. I think lines like “No one’s seen an airbender in… 70 years!” and “You must put an end to this 70-year war” would still carry a lot of weight.

3) Have Katara start the series as a self-taught, mid-level waterbender who needs a teacher to help her become a master.

I know Katara is a very focused and hardworking character, but her becoming a waterbending master over the course of 4 months kind of undercuts the art of bending. Even prodigies like Toph and Azula still worked at it for many, many years before becoming masters.

By having Katara be a mediocre bender at the start of the show, we still get an idea of how passionate she must be to have gotten that far on her own, while also not undermining the magic system. Plus, she’d be able to participate in more fights in Book 1.

4) Weave Mai into Zuko’s past more.

I feel like a big reason many fans don’t “buy” the Maiko relationship is that it really wasn’t set up very well. It doesn’t even need to be a major focus point, just have Zuko make a few references to Mai when he talks about wanting to return home or have him look fondly at a knife she gave him before he was banished. Heck, even just having a flashback of her looking horrified as Zuko gets burned by Ozai would be enough to sell many people on the strength of her feelings for him.

5) Weave Guru Pathik into the series finale.

Have Pathik visit Aang on the Lion-Turtle’s back and give him some sagely advice. Expand energybending’s mythos more and have Pathik explain what Aang needs to do to unblock the Avatar state. The lion-turtle can still give Aang the energybending ability, I just think the writers could do so much more to worldbuild these details.

Plus Guru Pathik is just cool.

6) Develop the Water Tribe and Air Nomads more.

Hire experts on Indigenous, Arctic, Tibetan, and Buddhist cultures to help expand the Water and Air nations. Draw from the show’s real-life inspirations to incorporate more distinct tattoos, clothing, gestures, rituals, mythos, and relationship dynamics into the series. Doing so would only enrich the world building and make the universe feel all the more real.

7) Costumes and props from the source.

Have the costuming and props departments buy fabrics, materials, clothing items, set props, and weapons straight from their cultures of origin whenever possible. First and foremost, drawing from its real-life inspirations will always improve the fantasy world’s verisimilitude. Secondly, traditional craftsmen and artisans are a dying breed. Buying from the peoples and cultures that inspired Avatar helps to preserve these traditional crafts and skills into the modern age.

If you’d like to see my dream Avatar cast, check out my other Tumblr: https://avatarfancast.tumblr.com/

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

[smally-poly-and-off-the-wally]

SO COME ON ONE AND ALL TO SEE THE APATHY THE RINGS OF GRACED DEAD SOULS THAT FILL THE TAPESTRY