#(clarification/examples in the notes btw!!)

[cup-noodle]

People reading Hunger Games as a pessimistic and misanthropic work makes me so mad. Ms Collins didn’t base a whole trilogy on the transformative power of kindness for y’all to disrespect her like that.

Like, I see it, THG is bleak as hell in places. But it’s also just about as far from ‘anti-humanity’ as one can get. Yeah, there’s bad people. That’s the point. We’ve all got the capacity to be bad but we can also be good. And that choice is what it’s all about imo - that it’ll always be worth it to do the human thing. Bury that tribute, smile to a child, give bread to your neighbour… it’s all the same and it’s all worth it. Not because of the circumstances but despite them.

[sassyfrassboss]

I read Camilla Tominey's article about the military uniforms. And I'm quite disappointed. CamillaT is usually a voice of reason. She has also been quite vocal about the abuse and harrassment she has suffered at the hands of the squad and his still stood her ground and called them out in it. So now, for her to come up with this article within a few hours of the funeral dress protocol (and clarifications and reasonings) being issued by Charles' office is ridiculous. She says the public will not like that Harry isn't allowed to wear his uniform and how insulting it is to him!

Well, I am public. And quite honestly I didn't care at all. BP also gave us a 'working royals only' logic and 'queens wishes' to explain the exception. So even that the public didn't ask for it, they did accept it.

Now, while I'm public I'm also a thorough army brat, born and bred. Both my parents have served as officers in different branches and are now retired. My extended family, my in-laws, their family, my friends all either served or are still serving. So I like to think I'd know a thing or two about protocol, as opposed to Camilla T (although she's a journalist and should certainly get her facts right). And certainly know more than fans of Meghan markle, who are most non-british, either teenagers or bleeding-heart wokeratti or plain uneducated in both commone sense and protocol.

In the UK, and many of the Commonwealth countries too, retired personnel ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WEAR THEIR UNIFORM.

Certain ceremonial occasions (for example, investitures, Remembrace day at the cenotaph etc) they may be given special permission to do so if they are themselves receiving an honour (though this is very rare). They are not allowed to do so if it's an occasion to mark or honour another soldiers service. That's the rules. It's called respect of the uniform, which comes above all. Note: Respect for uniform is above Pride for the uniform. It's not the same.

Personnel can wear their medals for ceremonial occasions. They may also wear a Cap with emblems, court of arms, logos. (This is like a baseball cap). But not their berets. Or officer's hats. Or Mess dress. Or livery.

If one holds a ceremonial or honorary rank (like Edward and Anne do) they can wear the uniform of that rank for certain occasions. Because they represent that regiment. This is ceremonial occasions. Not fancy occasions like bday parties or private weddings.

Now, Harry was an honorary captain general of the royal Marines. That was an honorary title. Which was taken away. Now he is left with just his Rank and an army captain. As a retired officer he cannot wear that uniform without permission. Period.

All other royals in his family who actively served, held a senior rank to him when they retired. Charles was Commander (Navy) and Flight Lieutenant (RAF). William was Squadron Leader (RAF), then served as Pilot in the Air Ambulance. Andrew was Commander (Navy). Duke of Kent was Lt. Colonel (Army). Prince Michael was Major (Army). All these are his senior officers. Protocol dictates, that when it applies they have seniority over him.

All of these men also hold honorary military appointments and titles (representative posts) which are senior to Harry's Retired Captain. Edward (as Commodore-in-chief) and Anne (as Admiral) also do. As do Camilla and Catherine, btw, but they have not worn the uniform for ceremonial occasions yet.

Not to mention that King Charles is now the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. So his will dictates the ceremonial protocol when needed.

Harry has also publicly denounced his country, the monarchy and his family time and time again. He not only called it boring and pointless but toxic, disfunctional and deliberately malicious towards him.

All of what im saying is just off the top of my head but if I can write this Ted talk essay on Tumblr in 10 minutes, then CamillaT, who is an experienced and smart journalist, as well as a former royal rota reporter, can definitely write a more factual article than she did. Writing a think piece should not be confused with riling up the masses just because you have the power to do so. This not a school debate where you were stuck with arguing either for or against the topic with no agency involved. Especially at a time like this, when protocol, tradition, plans have been set years in advance, it's not right to pander to the lowest denominator sentiment to seem to appear sentimental. Harry is a grown man who should be able to live with his decisions and be comfortable with his station in life, even if he is constantly striving to achieve more.

And on a similar note, the Queen was his Commander in Chief while she was alive as well. But he and his wife constantly demeaned her by calling her granny. Questioning her judgement, saying she is getting the wrong advice. They never respected her decisions. He has literally sued her govt to contest rules and regulations she set in place. So no one believes that he actually respected her. Hence, he does not get to play dress up at her funeral. Plain and simple.

Thank you!

You know I was thinking about this last night...during Philip's funeral, the UK Press was PISSED that the royals weren't wearing their uniforms and blasted Andrew and Harry because they knew that both men threw tantrums about those uniforms.

Camilla T's article proved what a hypocrite she, and other RR's are.

All of them in 2021 were upset Harry ruined it for all the working royals and now here we are with them saying it's an insult. They will say or do anything to sell papers and get attention.

[mushroomjar]

i know like nothing about vocaloid but you look like you're having a lot of fun and i think i might like to have fun as well. would you mind explaining them to me? each vocaloid has their own personality, right? what are they? what are your favorite songs by them? i know this is a lot lol you don't have to if you don't want to, but it looks fun and i want to know more!!

OMG!! I don't mind at all anon, this ask made me so happy!!!! Thank you!! I'll do my best to answer this as understandably as possible, but I've already faced issues when trying to explain all of this to people IRL, so feel free to ask again for clarification if there's anything you don't understand. Also this got a lot longer than I expected so I'm putting all of it under a read more, hope that's alright

Just so I don't assume you already know what vocaloid is I'm going to try to explain it quickly: VOCALOID is a voice synthesizer program, with which you can make vocals for music with voicebanks. Each voicebank is a different voice, provided by a real life person (thus we call these people "voice providers"), and each voicebank tends to have a character assigned to them, mainly for easier marketing purposes. So for example, if you want to make a song and you need vocals for it, you can purchase one of these voicebanks (like Hatsune Miku), and through the program, you can make them sing the lyrics, you can adjust the tuning of their voice just like an instrument (because that is what they are at the end of the day, an instrument really), and there you go! You have vocals for your song!

VOCALOID isn't the only voice synthesizer program, there are also others like UTAU, CeVIO, Synthesizer-V, etc. It should also be noted that many voicebanks originally designed for VOCALOID have moved on to other engines (all the CRYPTONloids, which are Miku, Rin, Len, Kaito, Meiko and Luka, have moved on to Piapro Studio, one designed specifically for them, just as an example), however VOCALOID is still going strong, and it's also the term I grew up with, so I use it as kind of a catch-all term for voicebanks in general, especially since most of the voicebanks I listen to were originally made for Vocaloid anyway, but I do also have a couple separate tags for voicebanks made for other programs

I invite other vocaloid and voicebank fans to correct me on any of that, or add additional info

Now with that out of the way, on to your next question: "Each vocaloid has their own personality, right?" Well... yes and no, but mainly no. Most of these vocaloids (calling them either vocaloid or voicebank is correct btw, voicebank is just a more specific way to refer to the character/their voice) actually have very few canon details about them, if any, and usually these canon traits are simply related to their character design, like we know Hatsune Miku is 16 years old, and we know her weight and height, but those are the oly canonical things she actually has. This is usually done for the sake of helping the voicebanks fit into the universe of whatever song the artists are making (btw musical artists that work with vocaloid are called producers, so I will be referring to them as such from now on). It helps make the immersion into each song easier as well. It could be more difficult to get invested in a song where Miku is supposed to interpret a calm and collected person if her canon personality was advertised as a hyperactive loud girl (I came up with this example to try to exemplify my words better but I feel like I'm just making it worse)

Now, there are some vocaloids that have canon characteristics (for example, Anon and Kanon are canonically twins, Aoki Lapis and Merli are sisters, Meika Hime and Meika Mikoto are not human and are siblings, etc), and there are even some that do have canon personalities. Now I don't know about every single vocaloid's canonical personality status, but the only one I can note off the top of my head is a... not very good one. Mayu, whose voice and design I love, but for some reason, her company decided to make her a canonical yandere and marketed her as such. It's no wonder that she's not a very popular vocaloid among producers anymore (that and the fact that as much as I love her voice, it is a very basic one, and it didn't bring anything new to the scene)

By the way there are some games that give some vocaloids canon personalities, like Project Diva: X and Colorful Stage, but I don't count those as canon to the vocaloids, I only count those as canon to the games and the games only

Finally, "what are your favorite songs by them?" I think a better way to phrase this is "what are your favorite vocaloid songs?" I'm sorry for being nitpicky, it's just that I've been in the community for a long time, long enough to remember when people didn't give any credit to the producers for their songs (people would say stuff like "world is mine by Hatsune Miku" when the correct crediting would be "worls id mine by ryo feat. Hatsune Miku", since Miku the robot didn't write the song, ryo did lmao), so I'm always really specific about that lmao

Now yes, I can tell you some of my favorite vocaloid songs! But first may I gush a bit about producers? Because what I love most about vocaloid is its diversity in genre. You can make vocaloid music in literally any genre possible, and some of my favorite demonstrations of this are hachi's experimental rock songs, Utsu-P's metal (yes, vocaloid metal, and yes, it slaps), PinocchioP's... electronic? Pop...... rock? Music...? (I'm very bad with genres), Kairikibear's rock, OSTER Project's jazzy pop, Wonderful Opportunity's electronic and rock and pop music, Mitchie M's pop, and Inabakumori's... chill rock? (I like to describe his music as chill rock. I am VERY bad with genres) Anyway those are just some of my favorite producers, but there are many many more in many many other different genres, like DECO*27 with rock pop, or AlexTrip Sands with cumbia

Now for some of my favorite vocaloid songs. I'm going to list them off, and you can look for them yourself if you're interested in hearing what they sound like. Vocaloid songs are more easily found on YouTube and NicoNico (a Japanese video streaming platform), so don't be surprised if you're a Spotify user and can't find the songs there (I say this jic because most people I know are mainly Spotify users, as am I, but I also have a playlist on YouTube with vocaloid songs I can't find on Spotify). Anyway some of my favorite vocaloid songs are:

Donut Hole - hachi feat. GUMI (my absolute FAVORITE song, not just of vocaloid. You can also find a self-cover under the producer's real name, Kenshi Yonezu)

Unknown Mother Goose - wowaka (RIP) feat. Hatsune Miku

Tengaku - Yuuyu-P feat. Kagamine Rin

NOISELESS HEART - Mitchie M feat. Hatsune Miku

Amanojaku - 164 feat. GUMI

Leia - Yuyoyuppe feat. Megurine Luka

GimmexGimme - Hachioji-P and Giga feat. Kagamine Rin and Hatsune Miku

Doppelganger Dispute - Wonderful Opportunity (also known as Jesus-P or Minus-P) feat. Kagamine Rin

Yowamushi Montblanc - DECO*27 feat. GUMI

God-ish - PinocchioP feat. Hatsune Miku

Lost One's Weeping - neru feat. Kagamine Rin

Narisumashi Genga - KulfiQ feat. Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin

Hello/How Are You - Hoehoe-P feat. Hatsune Miku

-ERROR - niki feat. Lily

Lover's Suicide Oblivion - OPA and Asaki No'9 feat. MEIKO

Lag Train - Inabakumori feat. Kaai Yuki

BUG - Kairikibear feat. Hatsune Miku

Life Reset Button - kemu feat. GUMI

Ikanaide - sohta feat. Kaai Yuki

IDSMILE - toa feat. Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin

I'm sorry, I know that's A LOT, I forced myself to delete many of the songs I originally wrote down, you don't have to listen to all of them. I also tried not to repeat producers so I could give as much variety as possible, though unfortunately I can't say the same for the vocaloids used in the songs. If you're interested, I could try recommending songs with other vocaloids, like Yuzuki Yukari or KAITO

Anyway, I've been typing for 30 minutes or more, I should put an end to all of this now. Thank you so much for the ask, anon! I hope this answers all your questions, but feel free to ask more if you have any more questions! Have a lovely lovely day, I had so much fun answering this!

[takutomarukiweek]

um, sorry for the really minor clarification lol..... i'm 100% down on the "contributors do any content with proper tagging" train!!! but is it possible to maybe list the more common spellings for how certain maruki ships are tagged?

this is both as a way for content creators to find *MORE* of what they already like, and for ppl looking elsewhere to easily filter the tag & move on btw. hopefully not a discourse thing at all

it's silly to say, but due to the abundance of names & spellings for joker's character, i kinda have trouble keeping track of every way joker can be named, listed, or tagged in portmanteau (name-smushing) ships 😅😅😅

see: calling him "pego" in pegoryu, but "shu" in shuakeshu, or using "ren" vs "akira" and making double the tags. (also, mixing up which name goes first in the shiptag just adds another layer of confusion lmao).

it's super no big deal if you're not interested!!! really it comes down to listing some tips like using the "takurumi" tag to get more hits, as compared to the less-known "marurumi" tag. contributors can still do what they want tho, like duh

also sorry to put twitter users on blast here lmao, but i'd appreciate if ships weren't tagged using emojis? 🧃☕️ like even if they make sense they're still really hard to filter 🙏🙏🙏

Hey! Don't worry, this is a perfectly alright thing to ask clarification for.

Maybe in the future I'l make a more proper and formal post, but since I don't know all of the possible ships Maruki has, I hope this will be okay for this ask in the mean time!

I do understand that a lot of ships have a lot of name variation and order, hence why I have decided to allow for all the ones you know of, especially those with Maruki has the focus character IE his name is at the beginning of the ship name. But that still means applying proper shipping tags to be used when posting.

So as an example, say for someone like Joker, and you intend on using him as a pairing character for Maruki. This will become the more commonly known "Marushu" tag, or any variation with the name preference (Akira and Ren) for Joker. This also means that tags for ships and pairings have to be in text for better searching and filtering, instead of emojis.

And lastly, regarding how to tag ships and pairings for this event, it is ideal to use the tags that the contributor knows and believes their work fits in! As long as, Maruki is the focus character, then you're good to go. Plus, I'll do my best to reblog works to this blog, so make sure to use the official tag #takutomarukiweek2023 and/or tag this blog to make sure your work can be seen.

Note: Do keep in mind that this is subjective to change as the event goes on, and as I receive feedback and suggestions as to how to improve it.

Thank you for asking this, may the rest of your day go well!

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

I might be missing something bur re: your tags on the Auschwitz names post. What in g-d's name is "toh holocaust discourse". I am so afraid

oh l-rd how do i begin to explain

tl;dr this is another useless toh twitter discourse thing that resulted in harassment of the people who actually bothered to have a normal critical discussion of media they enjoyed (ie. jewish + romani + black people). btw if anyone uses this as an excuse to bring discourse to the one safe bastion (tumblr) i'm straight up killing you i don't fucking care i am purely making this for clarification purposes

longer version as i understand it with the obligatory disclaimer that i don't pay attention to twitter and toh discourse in particular and this may or may not be correct so do not take this as an accurate report :

jewish + romani + black people point out a few examples of antisemitism, holocaust imagery, anti-romani racism, and antiblackness in the owl house. this is from a purely critical point of view and not intended to cancel the show. no one actually thinks dana terrace hates minorities. there is a fairly well-written thread abt this by a jewish person that came out before most of the discourse kicked off and summarises what it was all about: 'we have some legitimate criticisms of a very well-written and diverse queer show that we think is important to consider' and i would link it but i don't want it to start up again

white goyim start getting involved + suddenly the discussion moves from 'hm it is very annoying having to see mass genocides reflected in media maybe we should learn other ways of depicting the oppression of people that doesn't mirror the holocaust' to 'well I'M queer and QUEER PEOPLE were affected in the holocaust so I HAVE MORE OF A LEG TO STAND ON THAN YOU and i think it's FINE' to literal autistic queer jewish people + poc and thus the Harassment Begins

people also start harassing crew members(?). i should also note that no one who is capable of critical thought thinks the toh crew hates jewish people

'well alex hirsch is jewish and HE didn't say anything so it's FINE :/' alex hirsch's job is not Jew Sensitivity Reader that is not his job he is not paid to do that it is not the job of minority groups to play the sensitivity reader at all times you can do your own research jesus fucking christ you are allowed to research things you are allowed to know things about antisemitism

white goyim want to play the oppression olympics soooo bad i am still having to debate whether jewish people were more affected than queer people by the holocaust or not (spoiler: this isn't a debate you just want to feel important)

no one on twitter has critical thinking abilities. this is news to no one

'well it's because VILLAINS are supposed to be BAD' that was not the point of this discourse and you know it

people start breaking out the antisemitic language and get defensive when jewish people are understandably upset. 'well you shouldn't have started discourse if you didn't want to be called 'one of those'!!!!!' seems to be the general feeling

it's also worth noting that the majority of people who were being harassed were jewish + poc and the people doing the harassing were white goyim so like. idk i think there's a point to be made abt that

[sarahthevampyrslayer]

Serious question:

Are shows accurately depicting reality when they show people witnessing something and they instantly jump to conclusions? And they don’t stay around long enough to get the full story and they don’t ask for clarification about what they saw??

Because I’m a very straight forward person. If I saw romantic partner of mine kissing someone else I sure wouldn’t walk off and leave my imagination to go wild, and I also wouldn’t be passive aggressive by giving them the silent treatment either. I would wait to see wtf is going on and then I’d confront them. Are other people not like this? I can’t say I’ve experienced this situation from the liar’s perspective so I’ve never had anyone confront me about lying but I imagine if I did do something like that I’d be confronted by the other person.

Idk. I’ve just never understood this writing choice, especially in teen shows. Btw I’m watching The Lying Game so every single character is terrible with communication lol. On an unrelated note why do all the main characters of these shows dress like they’re in Sex and the City but everyone else dresses like a normal teenager? Pretty Little Liars is a good example.

[fae-of-the-rose]

I posted 1,247 times in 2022

That's 602 more posts than 2021!

12 posts created (1%)

1,235 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@silvermuffins

@bealoideas

@glitteringnebulae

@nyctoheart

@perkynurples

I tagged 1,247 of my posts in 2022

#yes good - 315 posts

#inspiration - 176 posts

#reference - 173 posts

#oh my gods - 115 posts

#jojo's bizarre adventure - 100 posts

#twisted wonderland - 86 posts

#kingdom hearts - 67 posts

#mdzs - 58 posts

#grandmaster of demonic cultivation - 56 posts

#ensemble stars - 36 posts

Longest Tag: 75 characters

#how in the fuck are you not going batshit with your lab in that apartment??

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Urianger Augurelt/Thancred Waters, Minor or Background Relationship(s), minor Gaia/Ryne | Minfillia Characters: Urianger Augurelt, Thancred Waters, Gaia (Final Fantasy XIV), Ryne | Minfilia Additional Tags: others are mentioned - Freeform, Named Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), for like two lines, Implied/Referenced Abuse, thanks Vauthry, goes into absolutely no detail but it is mentioned, disgustingly in love dads

Summary: Urianger and Thancred's home is always open to those who need a place to stay.

6 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

#4

So when I’m bored and unwinding for sleep apparently I make characters. Anyway @khttrpg posted a character sheet thingie to make characters with and I figured why the heck not I can always use more OCs.

Assuming I did my math right, Riley here has 5 Major Levels, is the Replica of a scientist’s son who’s father was very, very keen to see how far the human body could be pushed before being forced into Heartless/Nobody.....and look I based him on Prompto Argentum, taking characters from a video game or other media and building them in a TTRPG system is a really good way for me to figure out how the system works. Also he was the easiest to justify as a Cosmic Mage and I really like Cosmic Mage’s flavor. 

All of his stats should be right if I did my math right this late at night (I added +3 to HP and +2 to MP) and there were a couple of things I noticed missing from the doc but otherwise extremely fun to build out! His whole deal would, obviously, be about finding where he belongs and figuring out where the scientist is now and maybe getting revenge for the bullshit that guy did to Riley’s “brothers”.

EDIT TO ADD since tumblr’s ask limit means this is easier:  The things I noticed missing were: several Jobs give you free spells that don’t count against the number of spells you can learn but at no point in the doc does it say just how many spells you can learn aside from those; and some clarification on if a Talent can exceed a Stat if boosted by Reflex Improvement or other Class abilities.

7 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

#3

>playing Stardew Valley for the first time in a while >”btw Ginger Island is a thing” >unlock Ginger Island >oh...oh no

anyway I do not think I am likely to ever use anything on the island except that forge ever that is just TOO MUCH I am not a min-max/must make all the money type of player I am just a simple Fae who wants to marry cute boys and have a cute farm

11 notes - Posted July 18, 2022

#2

I’m gonna need an internet historian to compile this wild Nier Automata Church Saga once it’s all said and done this is just bonkers like. whatever it ends up being it needs to be preserved as both a wild time and also a prime example of the DrakeNier fandom and how willing we are to like. accept this shit

41 notes - Posted July 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

D23′s going on today and new Tron game holy shit yes

119 notes - Posted September 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[theeretblr]

Hey, apologies if this is rude or invasive, but i've noticed that a lot of the creators on the dsmp seem to have a lot of confusion about the lore of the server. And the go to in that case often seems to be to... ask fans?? That just seems like such a bad practice. As a fan myself involved in discourse, fans are bound to be very biased and prone to misinformation, especially on twitter, so that seems like it could muddle things more, potentially. Don't you guys have like.... a discussion/question channel in your discord? Any character bios to look to? Can't everyone just ask their fellow members for clarification on that stuff, surely getting it from the source is more reliable?

Of course, I don't have any inside knowledge, so this may be stepping over the line, maybe everyone's just too busy to be reached all the time or something, but this is just something that has confused me for a long time.

(Not aiming this at you, btw, i respect you so much as a creator, you're just the only one i could think of as available to ask this :') also, as a side note, imo it would be very cool if characters got involved with your character more if they're curious of all that's happened, since you're literally the historian of the server, lol, but that's just me being wishful. Sorry if this was too long, thank you for your time and all you do, have a good day ^^)

[Long post ahead! Sorry! tl;dr at bottom] The issue with creating lore on the Dream SMP is that everyone has to be a main and interesting character. Unlike regular media where you can have background characters who get little screen time and that's absolutely fine. Since the DSMP is so exclusive, everyone who is part of it wants to have a character with an interesting and engaging backstory and character points. As a result, stories aren't so much "planned" they are more of a negotiation so that everyone involved can have their moment which makes planning VERY challenging.

It is also unfortunately generally a process that is heavily managed by those with the largest audiences. If content is planned with all the people guaranteed to get at least 100,000 viewers on Twitch, everyone involved is going to benefit more. So it makes sense from a logistical side, it also helps create more of a sense of having "main characters" which helps with ease of story writing, but that does leave people with lower average viewers more on the sidelines of the lore and unable to develop their characters unless they start trying to do stuff outside of the "main lore".

We do have a #script-plans channel in the discord, but that is talked in only about once per month nowadays. Outside of that, most lore is planned in DMs and group chats and as a result, a lot of people are left out. For example, before the whole Pogtopia war, I really wanted my character to have some sort of redemption arc for my betrayal in the style of Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. However, since I was never involved in the preparation and planning of this event, this never ended up happening, so it kind of had to be rushed before the war which I felt was unsatisfying. There was also a time where someone else referenced my character in some of their lore without talking to me about it first and I only found out about it because I saw "Eret" trending on Twitter.

There are so many lore ideas that I've had that I thought could be really interesting, for example, I thought that it could be interesting to suggest that when I tried to revive Wilbur back in January 2021, it caused some sort of rift in the spirit realm that caused The Egg's Bloodvines to start spreading like wild fire. This whole connection could have then been explored more in future lore and really would have brought The Egg plot closer to the "main story" imo. Like imagine trying to reverse engineer the bloodvines to understand the spirit world and reverse death that way or something! But no one but Puffy seemed remotely interested, so nothing happened with that. I'm not the only one who's had ideas like this just get no attention unfortunately.

I do miss the early days of the DSMP lore where the majority of it was improv. For example, the entire L'manberg side was unaware of my betrayal before I actually betrayed them. All their reactions were genuine surprise and betrayal! After that, plans became a lot more pre-written and people started being unable to get involved for fear of messing up the pre-written script. The whole Saving Michael situation from a few days ago was the first instance of actual improv driving the story of the SMP that I've seen and been a part of in a VERY long time! It was fun, though stressful, it reminded me of the early SMP again where if someone had the drive, they could get involved and make their character engaging without worrying about stepping on other people's toes with pre-written lore and plans. I hope I can turn this into a more interesting story piece, but no one has contacted me about Michael so far.

There is also lore that happens on the server that a lot of us just aren't aware of for the reasons mentioned above, but there are also about 40 of us in the server, so we can't keep track of everyone. This is why we ask our viewers as the "hive mind" of chat can generally tell us the correct answer even if there are a few people with wrong info.

In general, interesting lore is very challenging to do on the SMP, especially if you want to get any where near the "main lore" that most people are actually interested in. I hope to think that a lot of this isn't just exclusion, but it definitely feels like that at times and I know it has alienated a lot of creators from participating in or wanting to participate in lore at all which is incredibly unfortunate as a lot of these characters have SO MUCH potential!

Overall, I do wish creating lore on the SMP was more open and democratic, unfortunately, it's just a massive challenge as soon as you want to start actually planning it. This is unlike any other form of media, the characters are actual people and you can watch the story from all of their perspectives. All of these people and characters have to interact and drive the story in ways that don't clash and are interesting and then be able to walk away from the action and continue their own individual story and motives. Imagine a TV show where EVERY character has their own spin of series, everyone from the main "hero" character to the janitor, it's so hard to manage. This causes things to move SO SLOWLY as it's impossible to keep track of all this information at such a scale.

Anyway, that's my piece. I'm sure other creators have their own takes on this situation, but this has been my experience. Hope this helps people understand why lore can be slow to produce but also why some characters don't get the screentime you hope they'd get. I love the SMP and everyone on it, it's done so much for me, but eventually you get to a point of wondering whether working on lore is even worth spending the time on if you're not sure if people will actually want to work with your ideas. I definitely want to do more lore and lore streams, but developing stories that are interesting and actually work towards some sort of goal rather than just people existing and doing things is a big challenge. Sorry for such a long post! Thanks for the question and I hope this gives some understanding of the inner workings of the server. I hope no one finds this upsetting either, sometimes things just work out like this. Please don't attack anyone over this either!

tl;dr Lore is hard to plan because everyone wants to be an interesting character and the majority of planning doesn't happen in the server so most people don't know what future plans are. That's my perspective at least.

[demisexual-culture-is]

Hi! I have a question (you don’t have to ask this btw, just wondering), I know that demisexual means you only feel sexual emotions after being friends/knowing a person for a long time/being romantically attracted to them for a while, and demiromantic is being romantically attracted to someone after knowing them really good and all that. I’m demisexual demiromantic and have used those labels for a while. But I’ve always wondered if I can be, for example, gay demiromantic/demisexual, or pan demiromantic/demisexual? Like, it has nothing to do with the gender(s) you’re attracted to, right?

Sorry if this sounds confusing, my english isn’t that good heh 😅, and again, you don’t have to answer this.

Have a nice day/night! <33

*cracks knuckles* That's my cue... Amazing anon, first of all this is not meant to be rude in any way whatsoever. But I'd like to point something out to you? Demi-based attraction is actually more simplified than that. The amount of time doesnt really matter as much as you’d think, by which I mean - as long as you feel that there is a strong connection between you and the other person, it counts. One thing that was hard for me to learn, with my partner, was that we got very close, very quickly. It freaked me out, tbh, because I thought time was more important a factor than it is. For some reason, a lot of people think you have to know a person for a set amount of time first but this isnt necessarily true! You just need to feel that bond, strongly, before the demi-based feels kick in. And that's valid, and okay, and nothing is wrong with it!

To answer your other question - Yes! Absolutely! You can use whatever label(s) fit you best, and make you feel happy and comfortable. It's absolutely okay to go by demiromantic/demisexual alone or to combine labels. For example, demi-bi-romantic/sexual. Or demi-pan-romantic/sexual. As long as it makes you feel good and validated, and fits, you can always use them! My point is, it can be used as a standalone or combined, depending on what you feel works for yourself, the individual. (Because, as we know, demi- simply indicates when the feels show up. After a strong attachment is formed, and there are a number of ways this can be seen/felt, it just depends and will vary from person to person) I'm not sure what you're asking with that last part, but I also cant say what you identify as. Only you know yourself, but I hope this helps! One last note, you can use as many labels or as few as you’re comfortable with! No need to throw a long list of labels out there unless that’s what you want. People go a bit nuts trying to figure out their entire identity but its also completely okay and valid to keep it simple. Again, its supposed to be what works best for the individual. Sorry for the long reply, I just have a lot to say and I really hope it makes sense to you, and everyone else that follows this blog. Feel free to send another ask if you need more clarification! - Admin Link

[hamphobicbasil]

Could u elaborate about the dsmp story being bad? Not a rabid/brain dead fan, just genuinely curious and I enjoy reading people's rants lolol

oh you dont know the floodgates you just opened

a few things:

1. despite not liking the creators of the dsmp anymore, I don't actually hate most of them. [the ones that are particularly unsavory fall outside of this of course] so all that I'm saying i truly mean in a critical sense towards the story, its also just all purely my opinion as someone who enjoys fictional and fantasy stories and who like criticizing works to see what it does well and what it doesn't do well

2. for clarification I'm going to use the c![name] to indicate when I'm talking about the characters. Don't get me wrong, I think its annoying too but its the only way I'm gonna be able to write this thing without getting something across the wrong way yknow?

3. I stopped watching the streams after November 16th, [save for one Techno one but I closed out after a particularly bad story beat lol] and so all information coming afterward is all second hand from either me seeing people on twt talk abt it or people dming me. All i really know is up to dream's imprisonment and some stuff past that.

4. This is mostly aimed towards the "main" story, so stuff abt the badlands, eggpire, and whatnot are briefly mentioned.

anyways uh, i'll try to be brief but also include enough information to get why i feel the way i do on some stuff across

A. Performances Alright obviously these people are all streamers, so obviously they might not be the best actors, and hell no one is even asking that of them. However, when you're telling a story that's based on the audio with the visuals kinda coming to a second, it's gotta be pretty strong. I will say, some of the best actors in my opinion are Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo. I would include Ranboo but I never watched any of his story bits or story streams so I can't say much. Wilbur and Tommy are excellent in selling their character's emotions and feelings, when I watch the stream I don't feel like I'm watching an rp but an actual thought-out story yknow? And one of my favorite Tubbo examples was in the Hog Hunt video whenever Techno attacked him, he sounded genuinely afraid and I believed everything his character was feeling.

However, unfortunately, not everyone is gonna be that good. And I'm gonna say it; Dream and Techno have to be the worst out of the entire cast. I understand Techno's whole character is this monotoned badass, however, when really emotional moments hit I feel like he never lets that fall, and a lot of intense moments just ring hollow. And I'm sorry but Dream's attempts at being intimidating leave me laughing whenever I watch them. It feels like he watched that one scene from The Marriage with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannson and said "Oh this is what good acting looks like! Just yelling." His whole "I don't give a FUCK about Spirit!" speech isn't as great as people keep making it out to be. And whenever he tries to act coy when being a villain it feels like a guy reading the script for the first time, a bit like he's trying too hard. I have more problems with his character but his portrayal certainly doesn't help.

Everyone else is fine, and I don't feel strongly either way about a lot of them.

B. The "Lore" Okay first off, I can't be the only one who thinks it's silly that people are calling the dsmp's story "lore" when it's not, it's the fucking story. Lore indicates backstory to either the world or the characters, which a lot of the streams don't really pertain to. This is a really petty section but god it's a weird pet peeve of mine.

Other than the misusage of "lore" vs "story", the actual lore and world-building of the world are so lackluster that new elements can be introduced whenever and it often feels cluttered or not well thought out at all. And here's the thing, I feel like if the writers sat down just for a few minutes to establish world rules and general history, a lot of this could be solved! but so much is made up on the spot that it starts to feel like they're grabbing at straws to keep people invested, trying to reach that next high and intense story beat without actually earning it.

C. The Egg / Eggpire This is a pretty minor note since I was only invested in the Egg storyline for a little bit, but god it's so underused that it's almost embarrassing. Bad has provided this super interesting antagonistic force that's infecting the SMP, can control people, and who one of our main character is immune to, and it's just never used or even talked about again? Now I understand if he wanted to keep it to a side storyline only, however, to introduce this borderline eldritch creature and force within the world and then never have it dealt with is so weird.

D. The Writing Oh boy this is. kinda a big one. Now I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty obvious I have a bias for the Wilbur writing over the current team [that consisting of Dream, Quackity, and Tommy mostly]. I don't this his writing is perfect by any means, the characters constantly bringing up traitors got obnoxious after a while, and writing Hamilton but in Minecraft really isn't the modern Shakespeare or anything. However, I think his exploration of characters and plot progression was a lot more thought out and well planned, like he actually had two brain cells behind the story yknow? The current team I think fails to be as emotional or even impactful, things happened too fast and my god was everything drowned in angst for so long.

Don't get me wrong, you gotta have your characters face hardships to make them reach their goal believable, but some of the shit they put the characters through just felt like too much. From c!Tubbo's constant comparison to c!Schlatt [who btw, fucking ordered his death and kept him from his friends in a nation he felt trapped in] and on a side note, i kinda really fucking dislike the "c!Schlatt dad!!" au's or the au's where c!Tubbo inherits some of Schlatt's features, it would be like c!Tommy getting a c!Dream mask after his exile, it's feels so weird yet people eat that shit up for some reason.

But god, did c!Tommy get the brunt of it all and in retrospect after his final death, it kinda feels really fucking gross. Now obviously, I'm not trusting any of these people to write decent mental health representation, but c!Tommy's PTSD and how it was explored was just degrading. [Specifically the scene in that one Techno stream where he saw the final control room from the first war, and had a flashback / panic attack where he started calling out for c!Dream. I understand this is an actual thing people with PTSD will experience, but it felt so fucking stereotypical it got on my nerves. I actually had to close out of the stream because it made me feel sick, fiction shouldn't leave you feeling that way.] And don't get me started on how they basically reused the formula from the previous arc. [Problem introduced -> Tensions rise as things start to fall apart -> Big confrontation -> Exile -> Return from Exile -> Blowing up L'Manberg, again.]

And speaking of characters-

E. Character Arcs, or the lack of them In my genuine opinion, some of these characters' arcs are so disappointing. Especially c!Tommy's. I'm not one to believe that he was a "selfish" character or anything, however, his goals were simply set on his discs and maybe c!Tubbo, he didn't have much outside that. However, L'Manberg gave him something to care about, he gave up his discs for it and he fought for it tooth and nail, I think it taught him to open up to others and trust more. It was a great character arc for him to have, seeing him still fight even after his first exile alongside c!Wilbur, to return safely to the nation that he and his found family had built.

But then his second exile happened, and I feel like all of that was undone.

c!Tommy's exile genuinely pisses me off for so many reasons. It's not that characters can't have their low points after reaching a major change or feeling like they've "completed" their arcs or anything, but it's more of the fact that it seems like he's never going to heal that feels like a spit in the face, especially to people who might have had setbacks like that before. Progress isn't linear, sometimes things happen and you get knocked back down, it can take a while to get back up, but I don't think c!Tommy's character is ever going to be allowed to get back up. From c!Dream, who pretty much was a constant abuser in his life, killing him then reviving him, and his still fractured relationship with c!Tubbo, which by the way I have a had time believing they would still be friends after all that happened, it feels like he can never get a win and it's generally kinda a shit way to treat your characters who have been abused. Of course, not all abused characters are going to get happy endings, I'm not trying to dictate that they all should, but c!Tommy deserves one and the fact that it's so obscure feels shitty.

Side note: we still don't have a canon reason to give a shit abt the discs. Like I'm sorry but without some sorta connection to the MacGuffin why should we give a shit about him getting them other than "he wants them lol". Like hell, I would even accept the classic "they were the last gifts from his parents" or something, but we still don't have a reason.

c!Tubbo also lacks a fulfilling arc as well, from someone who started out as a yes man, he has progressed a bit into having his own interests first, but besides that sometimes his character makes me so. depressed. He's easily one of the most pushed around and hated characters within the story, all for being a kid who didn't know what to do and he's in the same vein as c!Tommy; these kids can't get a break. Also, his anti-violence beliefs morphing into the "lets kill c!Techno lol!" bit was so out of place and without proper build-up it was like. what. And now he's building nukes?? god c!Tubbo makes me so sad because he's kicked around constantly and never given a chance to grow.

Another small note, I also don't really enjoy c!Techno at all. Besides the previously stated reasons of lack of emotions when they're really needed, I find his character to be weirdly pretentious. He talks as if he's constantly been betrayed and hurt but I personally, don't see it? Like, I think one of the main examples was the Pogtopia vs. Manberg war, yknow he wanted to end the government but they just reinstated it after they won = c!Techno upset. But this doesn't make sense to me because why did he think otherwise? The entire time c!Tommy had talked about taking back their nation and starting again, so the fact that c!Techno suddenly thought there would be a sudden change is, to put it bluntly, kinda fucking stupid. I don't want to say that he "plays the victim" or anything because that feels a bit harsh, but his character feels so far up his own ass that I can't enjoy him.

I have a major grip with c!Dream as well, but that's getting it's own fucking section.

F. L'Manberg This is a quick note before we get into the, forgive me for this, endgame, of this entire rant, since the next two sections are tied together. But god, L'Manberg makes me upset because it feels like they gave up on it.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is supposed to be c!Wilbur's "unfinished symphony", the thing that destroyed a once charismatic and widely loved man, his attempt at power that utterly ruined him. But the fact that it just got blown up in the end after everything and left to rot felt like such a waste of time. From the first war, to Pogtopia, to even c!Tommy's exile, it all felt fucking worthless in the end, and the story is actively closer to how it was when it started now more than ever. I wished it was actually allowed to exist and continue to be a peaceful place in what is a chaotic world, but no it was just snuffed out because why dedicate to this concept of finding others you can band together with and feel safe. fuck that noise apparently?

G. The Villains Now villain-wise, I'm only talking about c!Dream [during the first war], c!Schlatt, and c!Wilbur. And believe it or not, this is actually mostly positive.

Now I'm not gonna lie, c!Dream as a staring antagonist wasn't bad actually, he posed a genuine and threatening opposition to L'Manberg, even if we didn't know his real intentions or motivations as to why he was against it. He's lucky in this sense because he didn't have to be good, he had to be passable. If anything, he felt more like an anti-hero than a tyrant or traditional villain, and my god do I wish he kept this theme going forward.

Now quick disclaimer, I don't like JSchlatt as much as the next guy, he's an adult man who should know better than to joke about some sensitive topics and act the way that he does. But the one thing I'll ever give him is that damn, was he a good actor for his character.

Now here's the thing, c!Schlatt wasn't particularly deep at all. He had no real motivations behind his exile of c!Wilbur and c!Tommy other than getting competition out of the way, had no reason to act the way that he did and yknow? that's fine. The reason why he worked was from his performance alone, he was actually intimidating. When he came onto the stream and was doing his typical bad guy stuff, it was actually intense to see what he would do. Whenever he would almost catch c!Tommy back in Manberg, whenever he would begin to pressure c!Tubbo, it put you on the edge of your seat and it felt like everything would change at the drop of a pen. He's a villain to be a villain, and this works out because he's just charismatic and well put together enough to make it interesting, even without the backstory or motives.

c!Wilbur however, is much more tragic, and the best villain of the story. He essentially was the "mentor turned evil" trope and it felt terrible watching him descend into madness, unable to trust barely anyone except for c!Techno and c!Tommy. Hell, in the end I think he still cared about them both, despite losing everything. Sure, he blew up L'Manberg, but there was still a smidge of the old c!Wilbur in there made everything he did feel melancholic. His death at the hands of his father after achieving his final wish was chilling, and something I still think about.

Until yknow, Ghostbur came back way too soon to let people feel his loss as a character within that world. And then he got revived, pretty much-undoing everything that moment meant for his character lol.

And then there's the worst one:

H. Dream. I'm going to be completely honest, c!Dream is one of the main reasons why I dislike the current dsmp stuff so much. Outside of his actions as a person, the way Dream decided to write his character as this overpowered madman of the dsmp really just. destroyed any intrigue that he could've had. Perhaps this is from my growing dislike towards him, manifesting into a bias towards his character, but god I cannot fathom why people try to insist he's interesting when he has as much depth as a fucking puddle.

And here's the thing, I'm not even entirely against c!Dream being a villain, hell I think he would've been great as an anti-hero if anything. Make him sympathetic but not through c!George to get your precious "DNF" points or anything, but show him actually caring about the people within the dsmp, including c!Tommy and c!Tubbo. This would make his rival status with them just a bit more complicated, sure they're enemies, however, he doesn't want to hurt or kill them, and there's still a level of friendship there that keeps them bonded when things get super bad. This could've been super interesting to see, the first villain of the story receiving a sorta redemption arc then descending into madness as he started to fixate on being a god. This is all how I feel personally, but god do I feel like it would've been better than his current character, and hell would've worked with how he was during the Pogtopia arc, before the war that is. I'm not trying to tell Dream how to write his own character, but there are so many other ways he could've done the madman seeking to become god rather then. whatever the hell we got.

Because instead, we got this power-mad asshole who does things... because he can? And that's one of my major issues: he tries to surround his character in mystery to make him "intriguing" but it's kinda like c!Techno, it comes off as pretentious. Not only that, but you cannot keep waving around this mystery of a backstory without ever actually revealing it. I know the story isn't over, but c!Dream is effectively at his lowest point, now would be the time to reveal his backstory. But no just keep it in the dark and keep everyone guessing, that's totally fun and not at all tiring and annoying. (sarcasm, if anyone needs it)

And back to his performance, he doesn't sell this aloof, cynical and strategic warrior that has perfected the blade or some shit, he comes off as some angry guy yelling on reddit. which i don't need to tell you, isn't intimidating. It feels like he's trying to have c!Schlatt's intimidation combined with c!Wilbur's depth, but instead he's like a little brother who's trying to hard to mimic his older brother and is kinda embarrassing himself.

but other then that i dont feel too strongly abt the dsmp lol

but seriously, these are the main complaints I have abt the story tbh, I could probably talk about more but I wont because man. this is probably gonna get me in trouble if any of the hyper-dsmp fans actually read it.

[echonidae]

let’s talk commission stuff!

hey folks !!  so i’ve been reorganizing myself to get commissions back on track, and i’ve got some things i’d like to get your input on, if it isn't too much trouble !! ;v;

it’s a long one, so under the cut it goes sdfghghj

a slightly too long tl;dr because apparently this is a 10min read (i'm so sorry): commission revamp on the works! no date for it yet. gonna be easing myself back with just icons for a while at first (no date for that either thoug, not yet), then the revamp will be in full swing with all the other commission options, and the pricetable for them will be changed in the future as well. 

some questions: 

1) i’m rethinking commission types, is there anything you’d like to see as a new option?  2) considering i tend to open only a handful slots every batch, i'm thinking about implementing a waitlist (with a bit of a twist: it's split between Current Batch and Next Batch; a little more complicated than a regular ol' waitlist, allows me to get through some of the waitlist queue as work gets done). would that interest you or is it too much of a headache? 100% open to suggestions! 3) i’m organizing a board on trello for commission stuffs !! any suggestions or specific things you’d like to see there?

so! it’s already been over a year since i last opened commissions and i’d very much like to get back to them ;o; it’s been way too long! i miss working with you folks aaa

i don’t have a reopening date yet, but i’m planning on opening only icons for a while to ease back into the process. later on, i'll open the other commission options too. you see, i’m working on a full revamp of the whole thing, including the terms of service and that info image with the examples (because looking back, i think it no longer really represents my current style and how i really do commissions in terms of just... plain old rendering and polishing), so i’ll be working on new drawings and a new layout too, and all that good jazz :D

for full disclosure, along with this overhaul of the terms and such, i will be updating prices too c: i’m still working on the new values though, since i need to figure out what commission types/options the overhaul will have. which brings me to the first question here: what would you like to see as a commission option? for reference, here’s the og options:

(hoo i need to redo those examples *sweats*)

also, one more thing i’d like to note about this revamp situation: there isn’t a whole lot that’s changing really haha it’s just been a long, long time since i last did commissions, so i’m reviewing terms and i might change stuff that’s become outdated, or that needs clarification. if you’ve commissioned me before, the process itself is still the same so no worries! once the revamp is out, i’ll point out anything that has changed too c:

in regards to price changes, those first icon-only batches will be in their original price, and the new prices will only take effect once the revamp with the other options is out. it will be quite a while before until that, but if you have any concerns, feel free to message me any time ! either way, i’ll keep you folks posted !! i guess i also could post the new prices before implementing them, if that helps!

so, moving on! now to the waitlist situation <:3c as in, i’ve never had one, a while back someone asked if i did, and now that i’m reorganizing things, i’m wondering if it would be good to implement one :3c feel free to send any questions !! or suggestions!! i'm all ears!!!

usually i only open a handful of slots for each batch, right, and once they're all claimed, the commissions are closed until all the slots are finished. folks who missed the slots have to wait until the next batch, and sometimes those batches take a while to come back, and i usually just message those who missed the opening once the new batch is announced.

what i'm thinking for the waitlist is, i'll open it along with the batch of commissions, and limit it to a specific number of spots or close it by a specific date, whichever comes first. to apply for it, people would just need to send the form and i can tell them immediately whether or not i can draw their request, and then they'll be placed on the waitlist in the order they’ve been accepted c: pretty standard stuff.

here’s the important bit: that list is basically split in two. the first handful of people on the list, corresponding to the amount of slots for the current batch, will be reached out to as i finish working on the claimed slots, and then anyone else on the waitlist will be contacted shortly before the next batch. if, by the time the list closes, not all the opened slots have been claimed, folks on the list will simply be moved up the queue accordingly c: all of it would be discussed individually, of course, and very well disclosed in the commission info!

there are other points to it as well: anyone would be able to request a spot on the next batch's waitlist instead of the current one, and anyone can leave either list at any point. folks who had already claimed a slot when it first opened would only be able to apply for the next batch's waitlist (to give everyone a chance of getting one), and people on the list, either for the current or the next round of commissions, can be skipped up to a limit if they're unable to continue the order once i get to them.

oh and, before i forget, with the waitlist in place, i think i’d no longer be able to put slots on hold as i used to (as in, before paying the first invoice), as it’d be unfair to folks on the list. in that case, the person would be placed on the list as well if they want to, and contacted as soon as possible : )

also the "up to 2 slots per person" thing would be on thin ice too haha

anyway, this is kind of what i intended to do back then, with reopening slots as work gets finished, but never got around to. i want to make sure i don’t swamp myself with work, but also have it so that folks who want slots have a good chance of getting them, whether for the current batch or the next, as there's only so many slots i can open and work on at once, and time zones and irl things are to be considered too for anyone interested c:

it also makes it easier for me to keep track of messaging folks about new slots and such, and the list would be made public and easily available for consulting too : D more on this later!

so how's this looking? i've never done waitlists before and barely knew how they're supposed to work before starting to reorganize things, so please do feel free to voice your thoughts !! i’m 100% open to suggestions !!! do you think this system would work out for you? any concerns? if anything is unclear feel free to point it out, i'll do my best to explain the process or change stuff that doesn't quite work!!

so!!! now to the very last thing i wanted to talk about ! trello! 

i’m making a little trello board for updates on commission stuff! my commission info page here on tumblr and on deviantart both have this little section for updates on each slot’s progress, but i admittedly didn't do a good job keeping them updated (and constantly updating two things in different places just. kinda sucks.), so i’ve been diving into trello to unify that update section in one place and keep things nice and organized and transparent : ) it would be super useful for keeping track of the waitlist too, if that becomes a thing, or for updates on commission status and such!

so far i’m only testing things out, so it’s looking like this right now (sorry for the tiny image!):

(the board is lying btw, commissions are very much closed haha) (also if it’s basically unreadable, here’s the upload on sta.sh)

with all those little lists, the “available slots” and “sketch” and “lineart” and whatnot, i would be moving the card along the process : D and adding the appropriate labels, of course

this way i can have those halfsteps labelled too (working on/halfway through/finishing), since there’s only so many colors i can use without making it confusing (and tbh i’m already not too thrilled about color labels as it is, but it beats typing each individual status, and i’d imagine it’s more readable for folks consulting the list as well)

i really like how this looks so far in terms of organization but i’m unsure if the horizontal scrolling is anything but annoying, specially to folks on mobile (with the way i divide my screen on desktop, it certainly isn’t ideal either), so if you have any experience with that, feel free to let me know your thoughts!! there are a thousand different ways to organize this, and this is all a work in progress too c:

so! anything specific you folks would like to see on trello? i know this is a fairly common tool for commission queues and info and such but i’m super new to this platform, so please feel free to send suggestions! ♥

anyway yeah! that’s it! ;0; !

i’m sorry for the super long post, i’ve just been thinking about a lotta stuff haha i feel like i don’t interact a whole lot as it is, and since commissions are very much a team effort, i do want to get input from you folks on it c: it’s good to get a fresh perspective as well!

thank you so much for reading this far !! let me know your thoughts !!! :D ♥

[leafcabbage]

just remembered that tumblr existed. you make me cry a lot so take my question: if you're alright with sharing, what's your planning process? as a... blooming author i really struggle with planning all that so your insight would be extremely helpful, especially given the depth of your writing :D

hello! love to make you cry! this is really long so im putting it under a read more :]

so it starts with just a base idea, i figured out the basic character arcs (ex. ranboo will be struggling with work and make friends with the main four. i want to focus on bench trio.) i knew i wanted this to be a series so i also thought about overarching themes. i also ask myself are there specific scenes i want to work towards and sometimes draft those (the next chapter will have one of those). so create a foundation, figure out the tone of the story you want to tell (and this can change! it isnt set in stone, its just a starting point :D )

from there i mapped out my chapters. i have a few sentences describing each one, then i use my sticky notes app to go more in detail with what will happen in each chapter (and the next one or two to know what i want to set up). here's some examples of the base chapter plans (in italics because im done writing them) (i cant show off the sticky note because i clear them as i go :[ )

you can see the weirdly numbered chapters lol, this is where i rearranged or switched the order or combined chapters so the pacing would work better. certain things also played out a little differently, because in the moment it made more sense. so i have the base pretty clear but let it change as it feels right (think of the scene with bad :] ) a lot of it is just trusting myself and my feel for the characters (which comes with time, i stuck pretty close to the plans in the early chapters before i had that)

speaking of characters, they drive the story for me once i get a feel for them. they end up having motivations i didnt plan for a lot of the time, and i find it really nice to be able to talk through those with someone (even if that someone doesnt want to have spoilers :/ )

the climax is a good thing to have in mind btw!! knowing what you're working towards is going to help a lot. the climax does not have to be (and in my writing never is) the end. i write resolutions afterwards, multiple chapters of it because i want a nice happy time after the hurt/angst.

my final piece of advice is even if you are attached to a scene, sometimes you have to let it go for pacing/continuity/etc. so many things had to change/be cut for pacing and character accuracy and it's a little sad but the fic is far better for it :]

thank you so much for asking!! this is a little all over the place so feel free to ask for more specifics or for clarification :D

[nox-th-lk-sf]

explain why thor is such an asshole, pls

Oooh man, do not get me started on it. Please heed a few warnings before reading: 1) Of course, this will mostly revolve around Thor's treatment of Loki. 2) Please note that this is NOT a post about Loki's own actions, and that I will NOT cover them in detail. 3) Please remember that English is not my first language, so if anything is unclear, forgive me! You are always free to ask me for clarifications.

Let's go movie by movie.

Thor 1: Thor treats Loki like a lesser being, and his friends along with him. Thor mocks his magic, calling it tricks, and Vollstag makes a jab at his 'silver tongue'. Now this might be considered silly and unimportant, but let's not forget that were a simple warrior or, God forbid, a servant to mock a prince (as seen in the movie, both cases) they would get the whip at best and death at worst. Both are let go without consequence, and while Thor might not be the main perpetrator of this violence, he both excuses it and does not discourage it. That enables people to consider Loki unimportant and inferior, and to consider his orders as inconsequential (e.g. the guard who was supposed to tell Odin they were about to go to Jotunheim). Judging by how casual everyone seems about the treatment of the younger prince, it is clear that this is a regular occurrence, and it will set the precedent about the Warriors Three, Lady Sif and Heimdall's own treason later in the movie.

Another occasion in which Thor behaves like an asshole is in Jotunheim, when the tells Loki to "know his place" -immediately before starting a fight with Jotuns over being called 'princess'. He starts considering them a little more than beasts and "monsters to be slain" only when Loki (who has a stupid and questionable but nonetheless understandable motive behind it) tries to destroy their Realm. This, of course, after spending most of his life as a warrior and an imperialist, son of a man who was as bloodthirsty as they come (see Ragnarok's murals). They want us to buy that a lifestyle of more than one thousand years has been changed by three days spent in the company 'of mortals!' (Frigga)

Her tone says it all on how they consider the humans: if not beasts to be slain, then beasts who do NOT need to be slain. Inferior beings, at any rate.

Avengers (2012): after a lifetime together, Thor does not seem to notice that Loki, the would-be conqueror of Earth, is in pain and clearly not himself. Loki is clever and a strategist: he would never attack Earth in such a "visible" manner. It goes against Loki's nature, as he is shown to be the more diplomatic, less impulsive of the two. This denotes either a serious lack of knowledge about Thor's own brother's personality (which would be difficult and weird, as they have "played together, fought together") or simple disregard of it. Moreover, he calls Loki's legitimate anger over how he has been treated "imagined slights", insisting that Loki is only trying to conquer Earth because he (Loki) knows Thor cares for it. He is apparently completely unaware that Loki is acting in a very OOC way, and does not ask himself any questions over it. At the end of the movie, he slaps a muzzle over Loki's mouth, apparently without reason, since Loki does not need to use his voice to use his magic. I found this especially assholish, since this prevented Loki from explaining himself, had he wanted to (and he might have wanted to, since I would guess that the choice was between Thor and Odin, and so it is obvious that Loki would have picked Thor to confide in, if he had to absolutely do so).

Thor 2: during Thor 1, Loki had asked Odin: "So I am nothing more than a relic to be put aside, until such a moment where you may have use of me?" Boy, this was basically a harbinger, since Thor uses Loki exactly in that way. He does not visit Loki in prison, he does not allow Loki to mourn their mother with him, considers Frigga's attempts at easing Loki's (eternal!) punishment as INDULGING Loki. Thor threatens him with death should Loki betray him, and tells him that once their mission is complete Thor will return him to his cell (which, btw, puts Loki in the very delicate position of deciding whether to kill Thor and escape once he is out or return to his eternity of solitary confinement quietly, but I digress). Not once doesThor try to understand Loki's motives, ask him what the hell happened to him after he fell into the Void, or try to talk to him, so Thor either really took all of that OOC behaviour during Avengers 1 at face value (which would make him pretty stupid), or he simply does not care.

Now, let's analyse a particular scene, the famous "Trust my rage" scene. We all know what happened before Loki said this (Thor almost punching him) and from his expressions and body language, I believe it a safe bet to maintain that Thor has already hit Loki in the past. You do not behave like that if you think the person in front of you would never hit you, and you do not look surprised when they stop themselves.

"But they were enemies! Loki had already-" yes. They had been enemies, though how much was Loki's own free will during A1 is a big question mark. What is important is that they are working together RIGHT NOW, and you do not punch people you need to work with.

Lastly, Loki had literally to die in front of him (THE SCENE WAS FILMED AS IF IT WERE A REAL DEATH AND LATER NEVER EXPLAINED. LOKI DID NOT FAKE HIS DEATH.) to have some way of not returning in the dungeons and not having to kill Thor.

Thor Ragnarok: do I really need to explain? I think not. His treatment of Loki is monstrous and the manipulative behaviour he has with Bruce Banner, Hulk and Valkyrie is despicable. Just watch the damn movie, it is enough to give anyone the creeps.

IW: "You really are the worst brother".

EG: never once mentions Loki. Thor apparently has been fighting depression because of his death, and he never once speaks to him, or says his name. He behaves rudely and is generally unpleasant to his teammates and particularly Peter Quill, with whom he seems to have a bone to pick.

My conclusion: Thor is an asshole, friends and neighbours.

Also, didn't Thor threaten Tony Stark in AoU by grabbing him by the neck, all because he wasn't getting his way?

@piccolaromana @miharu87 @blacksuitofdoom @nikkoliferous @lasimo74allmyworld @meblokison @goldensillydragon and anyone who wants to join, please feel free to add to my rant! I was very Loki-centric, so if anyone has other examples, they will be much appreciated.

(Let's remember that Thor cannot really be trusted to behave in a good way with his friends, since he apparently can't manage that with the man he calls brother.)

[raavenb2619]

this might sound like a weird question but pls bear with me here. i have a question abt identifying as agender, can you identify as agender as well as a binary gender? ik this sounds weird and totally contradictory since being agender is by definition feeling no gender but what if you kind of feel like you're agender, but since you're presenting fem or masc youre an agender woman/man. and not like, a demigender where youre partially one and the other but youre fully agender w/ a gendered body

sorry if the question sounds rude btw,,, im notvreally good at conveying with tone and im genuinely curious and also questioning if that is like. a thing. especially because ive heard of some nonbinary people experiencing gender in a divine/supernatural way so i rlly hope i worded that ask correctly! thank you again 💜💚🖤

It’s definitely possible to feel a connection to agender while also feeling a connection to gender. Some genderfluid people feel agender sometimes, and some genderflux people might sometimes feel their gender go down to “0%” sometimes. I think I’ve heard of some people calling themselves bigender because they simultaneously feel agender and another gender, but I’m not sure on that. 

It’s also possible to feel connected to a gender/gender presentation without it actually being your gender? I’m not sure how to word or explain it exactly, but to take your example, I can definitely see a scenario where someone might be agender, but because they present within the conventional boundaries of gender presentation for binary genders, society tends to treat them the same as a binary gender. Thus, they could feel some solidarity or overlap of gender-influenced experiences while still being agender. 

(As a small side note, I’m not sure what you mean by “gendered body”, since bodies don’t intrinsically have a gender. If you mean “body or gender presentation typically associated with a particular gender”, I think that’s a better way to express it, even if it’s a little unwieldy. “Gendered body” can imply that some bodies intrinsically have a gender, which in turn implies that someone’s body can be indicative of their gender.)

Hope that helps, as always feel free to ask for clarification/any follow up questions. 

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Submitted:

[AHPF Note: More lengthy Priyanka discussion. Hopefully, the break works.]

I said “Too many hookups with married costars” which is actually par for the course in Bollywood and no one bats an eyelid when it’s men going through women. Amitabh Bachchan for example. Revered as a living god. Cheated on his wife left right and center.

I haven’t done my research??? Plant, I’m from the region, speak the language, watch the movies without subtitles btw and have followed these people through their gazillion glam ups and makeovers over 20+ years when they were all 6 shades darker and had their original faces. PC didn’t just pop up on my radar because she married a Jonas. I doubt more than 5% of people here even know who Shahrukh Khan is or his wife’s name.

Hooking up with married costars = wrong but let’s not tar and feather someone just because you don’t like her. Priyanka is thirsty af but my point is she doesn’t need to yacht for money or connections which ALLEGEDLY is what MM was doing. She didn’t need connections to get her foot into Bollywood. She got the Miss World title at PEAK pageant mania in India when a slew of girls won back to back titles. They all got a couple of big movies automatically. Only a few made it to the top.

In her native language, she’s a decent (not GREAT) actor. Allegedly she was run out by Gauri but that’s because she finally tangled with someone who could shut her down there “for a while”, but a) the Bollywood rumour mill is on warp speed compared to HW. There’s no confirmation of that but yes she was disliked by a bunch of BW wives and there’s no solid confirmation apart from a few vague posts that were blown out of proportion and b) PC desperately wanted to be the first Indian to break into Hollywood. She moved for that crap FBI show after a solid run of some of her best performances in BW movies.

Again, I do NOT like her, in the “when you’re not in a movie, get out of my face, because you’re too extra” way, but she’s no MM.

As for her marriage, it’s weird. That’s all I got to say.

_____________________________________________________________________

Thanks for the clarification, but I feel “yatching” covers a lot of ground and would include sleeping with industry people to get roles which Priyanka supposedly did both in BW and during her HW entry point. Her first try at fame in the US was actually through music and I remember rumors about an affair with Pitbull. That’s when I first heard of her. I still feel “yatching” fits, but I guess it depends on how you define the term. 

[unordinary-analysis]

Episode 170

Honorable mentions:

Blyke is pissed at this guy

I’m not sure if I can call the superhero posse the superhero posse anymore because Blyke is kind of doing his solo superhero thing now, but I mean he’s part of the posse, and nothing is really contradicting. Yeah I’ll keep calling them that. The nature of the group changed, but not the basics.

Superhero posse is Remi, Blyke, and Isen btw

At the end of my first paragraph, when I say, “-with the complications of a real world situation,” I am aware that the UnOrdinary universe is not real, lmao. The phrasing I used is to try to convey that the factors of things like actual performance ability in regards to power are the roots of this system. So rather than being presented with a society whose classifications exist just for the hell of it, like it seems with a lot of stories, it is clear in UnOrdinary that the hierarchy is prompted and necessary, which makes it harder to debate the morality of its nature when presented with issues like discrimination or abuse of authority. Just a quick note. Probably should have made that more clear, but I didn’t want to go too off topic lol. I do that too much already.

Tfw you didn’t think you would find much to write about and the all of a sudden you have pages of writing

No clue what to say about the end of the episode. I don’t have any predictions as to what Kuyo might want. His history with Rei could go either way because we still don’t know if he stayed a hierarchical abuser or if he eventually turned to Rei’s side. Until we know that, and maybe even then, I won’t say anything.

^^also just lazy this is long already and I have to write another of these

My eyes are numb to this sorry if the transitions are confusing

Low Tiers vs. High Tiers: Newside and Origin Edition:

So, and I’m aware this is a skillfully awful way to start this post, we’re all aware of how bad the tensions are between different tiers, especially in places like Wellston. But in this episode, and the few before it, there’s finally a chance to explore into this concept outside of the select group of teenagers that make up Wellston Private High School. And, yes, we’ve gotten a few examples outside of this when Remi spent time as a vigilante, and also when the superhero posse got into some trouble at Kovoro mall. I don’t know, Remi just brings out the injustice in people for some reason? Anyway, I’m bringing this up now because I don’t think I’ve really talked about this before even when the other examples were relevant. To be fair, I don’t think I was writing these for most examples and during the first superhero arc (Remi’s), I had just started and my posts were like maximum 300 words long. Anyway, I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity now. It’s always really refreshing to see outside the small bubble we’re normally confined to as the usual focus of the story is on the hierarchy struggle in Wellston and everything to do with it. Though this Blyke arc is very much centered around his struggle with his power and his goal of advancing in the hierarchy, it also opens a window for us to see out, again, into that underlying concept similar to Wellston’s power struggle, but on a more extreme scale. Obviously, the villain of our story, John, is the main focus in the comic because he is the main character, but the villain(?) of the UnOrdinary universe is painted to be the struggle between low and high tiers. The hierachy’s paradoxical creation of social imbalance and social stability is the underlying focus behind uru-chan’s writing in this comic. This is a comic about class struggle with the complications of a real world situation (see honorable mentions above for clarification).

The social dynamic between the different tiers is magnified in the recent chapters’ events and location. We are already aware and comfortable with the concept of higher-tiers (not like high-tiers but higher) preying on low-tier districts to gain power quickly, so it’s a bit less noticeable, or standout, now, for me anyway. But in comparisons to the power struggle at Wellston currently (Joker situation), the situations in these worse off towns is still significantly worse. I’m just going to summarize what’s happening really fast, but hopefully you already know what’s happening because I’m bad at explaining. So basically: lower/mid-tiers or straight up mid-tiers (no known naturally higher-tiers have done this to our knowledge, but more on that later) pick a district known to be filled with low-tiers (always weaker than the offender) and attempt take over in hopes of gaining authority and power. Because no higher-tier has been seen attempting this, I want to say that the cause of this is the feeling deprivation of it in their normal life, where their ability grants them nothing special. Similar to how John reacted shortly after he gained his powers at first, they want to become the oppressor instead of the victims that they’ve always been. By going to lower-tier districts where around a 3.0 (or with aid, something higher), give or take is stronger than anyone else around, these people become “trigger-happy” for lack of a better word. They take advantage of finally being able to do something that they never have before and take it a little far. I do not think there are many motives other than this, especially because in this episode when Blyke was approaching the Newside woman, she thought, “Does he plan on toying with us, just like Lance did?” Take note of the word toying. From her word choices in her conversation with Blyke, I’ve pieced together that all Lance really did was mess things up around Newside, never really doing anything focused or thought through. He was thoughtless and impulsive. Destroyed their town and terrorized its people only because he could. I’ve also hinted at a little bit the use of ability enhancers. From Remi’s superhero arc, we know that some of these lower-tiers are injecting themselves with this enhancement drug to shoot up in strength to be able to attempt anything like this. This means that even if you are the lowest of the low, you have a chance at tasting power, which obviously stretches the number of people pulling something like this. I’m not too concerned about this today, however, because it’s kind of separate from the topic of hierarchical conflict, or at least enough for me to separate it from this post.

This entire concept of low-tier invasion and takeover is an example, probably the most telling one, of the dangers that come from such a polarizing system as the UnOrdinary hierarchy.

Everything I’ve said really seems to lead to the fact that dealing with both injustice and discrimination around ability and people trying to change who they were born to be is unavoidable in a world like UnOrdinary. Obviously, this ranking system was put into place for a reason as exemplified by Rei’s reign at Wellston. But as the world reaches new ages and innovative thinking, the confines of the hierarchical ladder aren’t as stable and reliable as they used to be. I’m sure in the past, the hierarchy has gone along almost without a hitch, but as violence grows due to the harsh pedestal the hierarchy unintentionally puts high-tiers on, and radical ideals are being placed into the heads of anyone who will listen (UnOrdinary the book), the structure of the hierarchy is becoming more fluid, which is confusingly ironic. It’s like the historical Age of Enlightenment reborn. People as a whole are growing more and more restless.

So, the big question is whether or not the hierarchy is still the best design for UnOrdinary’s society. Because while it has created a cushion for accidental and catastrophic incompetence in a more general, everyday context, it has evolved into less normalized, yes, but harsher clashes between the different ability levels. I will say that I, personally, support the idea of the hierarchy because order, when done right, will always defeat brute force. What I’d like to say is that, with proper involvement with the authorities, I think the hierarchical system would run smoothly. And yet they are caught in this circle of trying to stop revolutionary thinking among its civilians. This is why the authorities are trying to put an end to the superhero movement, not because the heroes are helping to clean up the streets, but because in doing so, the superheroes are disrupting the natural hierarchy. See the irony? The authorities aren’t doing what they need to do to stop the hierarchical uprising because they’re busy trying to stop people from rising up against the hierarchy, which somehow contradict. Now, all of this needs a beginning. This cycle obviously had to start somewhere or else the entire history of the hierarchy wouldn’t be so good and desired. The superhero movement is this start for this cycle and they all stem from the same thing: the revolutionary ideas that came from revolutionary thinkers: the book UnOrdinary. Obviously, before this there were some issues with the hierarchical system (allowing John to abuse his power as king), but the issue is more extreme and relevant as I explained in the second paragraph (the thick one), because of the lower-tiers feeling unsatisfied and acting out on other low-tiers because of that. But I really want to let myself believe that UnOrdinary set off a chain reaction in the UnOrdinary universe leading to the class struggles in the extreme state they are currently in. And as the comic is obviously called UnOrdinary, I like to think that there is a reason for that title rather than something so personal and niche as a sentiment of John’s.