#and it's hard. I don't want to keep a whole core aspect of myself out of sight

[the-mighty-nappa]

random personal ramblings below. continue at your own risk

I'm starting to realize why I haven't been able to be horny with my partners outside of the occasional teasing and joking for the past while and I have no fucking idea how to deal with it lmao..... ugh. tl;dr summary is that the more I unearth all the shit I buried before I transitioned the more I realize that what I thought was my main kink is turning out to be uuuuuugh something of a core that I can't function without. now both of my partners are into only specific aspects of it and my main one has started wearing padding when I request it if she wants to cum but like. i'm not okay with having it piecemeal, especially with my main partner (the one I would like to marry in the future) who is into exactly 1% of it and nothing else. It's also been the cause of depression starting again but I just do not know how to bring this entire topic up with her. I'm losing it and the lack of intimacy from all this has been making me feel like we're starting to drift apart, among other things.

[lord-aldhelm]

Aldhelm Character Analysis (and why I love him so much)

The following is a character study and my own opinions. I meant to post something like this several months ago when I started this blog, but I had so much other stuff going on I forgot about this in my drafts, so I am posting it now. I know there will be people who disagree with me, and others who maybe think I am being ridiculous or whatever, but I don't care. This is my blog and I want to share this because it is meaningful to me, and maybe perhaps it will resonate with someone. This is a kind of "about me" but mostly a rambling mess.

Aldhelm means so much to me, more than any other character in any other show or movie I have watched. I have fallen super hard for this man; he has bewitched me body and soul, and just imbedded himself into the core of my being. He is my muse, and has profoundly permeated every creative aspect of myself, from creating this blog, screencaps/edits, gifs, memes, artwork, poetry (don't ask), and fanfics. No one else has managed to do that to me. This show in general, and him specifically, have led me deep into this fandom and made me do things that I have never done before.

My attraction to him goes far beyond just him being a pretty face; my feelings for him are complex and multi-faceted. Of course I think he is exceptionally handsome, and I find everything about him attractive. But I was attracted to his personality long before I was attracted to him physically. The two go hand in hand, and it takes more than just being a hot dude to hold my attention. This show is loaded to the brim with attractive people and yet he is the only one that has captivated me.

I love him for so many reasons. To me he is absolute perfection and I would not change a single thing about his character. He is introverted, quiet, soft-spoken, and dignified. He is highly intelligent, has a calm confident demeanor, and has a great fortitude for dealing with difficult situations. He is elegant and refined, despite sometimes coming off as awkward. I love his quick wit and dry sarcastic sense of humor. I melt whenever he rolls his eyes or sighs with exasperation. He is so pure and wholesome, and loves with his whole entire being. His selfless and unwavering devotion and loyalty to both Mercia and Aethelflaed are unmatched. He sets aside his own needs and desires to serve others, ultimately to his detriment. (He deserved better in so many ways) He has many personality traits that are normally only seen in women characters, while still being very much masculine, and I find that dichotomy incredibly appealing.

Additionally, something about him triggers my nurturing instinct; I want to hold him in my arms and cuddle him for all eternity. He is so unbelievably sweet and gentle, and the way he was so soft around Aethelflaed just melted my heart. In fact. he embodies my idea of a perfect romantic partner. He is so calm, patient, understanding, eager to help out, very devoted and loyal, cares more about his partner's happiness than his own. I feel as a boyfriend or husband he would be very attentive and in tune to his partner's needs. Never arguing, or trying to avoid it as much as possible. Never raising his voice. He would go out of his way to do nice things for them just to make them happy. Acts of service, gift giving, quality time, and humor are his love languages.

But more than that, I see in him a reflection of myself, that I have not seen in any other character or real-life person, ever.

His quiet, contemplative, introverted nature, and preference for solitude matches my own. He is very Byronic/Jane Austen coded, with that brooding moody energy. Like me, he is the kind of person who dislikes bars, parties, or large gatherings of people, and prefers to keep to himself. He comes off as cold and calculating, but inside he is anything but. He is overwhelmed with emotion and allows himself to love wholly and intensely, despite not having his feelings reciprocated. Despite doing his best to hide his feelings, he actually wears his heart on his sleeve and allows others to use him just for the sake of feeling needed. He allows himself to cry, although he does so in private, not because he is ashamed, but because he wants to appear strong for others. He is the kind of person that hides the deeper parts of himself well from others, but I know that if you really got to bond with him, he would show you another side of himself, one that smiles freely and loves openly, laughs and jokes, and allows himself to be comfortable in the presence of others.

He appears to me to be demi/ace coded. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but seeing ace representation on the screen is incredibly rare and refreshing. Especially since his sexuality, or lack thereof, is never really brought up or ridiculed by the other characters (as ace-presenting people so often are in media). As someone who is demi/ace myself, I find his characterization in this way very comforting, especially since I have been ridiculed and downcast over my asexuality. I also find it delightful to see a male character who is not constantly talking about getting laid, making sex jokes, or aggressively pursuing or objectifying women. Much the opposite; he treats Aethelflaed with a level of respect and admiration that women are not often given by men. In fact he treats women in general with a lot of respect.

I feel his pain when he is ignored or his words are brushed off by others time and time again. As someone who has felt simultaneously invisible and freakishly "other" her whole life, I can identify with that strongly. I am always the one who others talk over or ignore in social settings. I have always felt like an outcast, even among my friends and peers. I never feel like I truly belong anywhere or with anyone, and have always felt like an outsider, just drifting along the perimeters of multiple social circles without ever fitting in. It is such a horrible feeling, and I empathize with him when I see him go through the exact same treatment.

I also feel his sense of uniqueness in that, like me, he is neither a leader nor a follower, but marches to the beat of his own drum. He had no desire to be Lord of Mercia even when it was offered to him (which I personally think was a mistake on his part). But I get it; I hate being in charge. I prefer to work behind the scenes and stay out of the spotlight myself. But while I am not a leader, neither am I a follower. I am always doing my own thing regardless of trendiness or popularity.

The biggest difference between him and I is that he is far more patient than I could ever be! He is much more level headed, whereas I tend to be more emotional and have a kind of firecracker reaction, especially when I am in an argument or when something upsets me. I think I would be a better person if I could learn to remain calm and collected during emotionally stressful times.

So, this is much more than me thinking the dude is super hot. And it also goes so far beyond me just thinking he is a cool and interesting character (which he is no doubt). He has actually become a permanent part of me, one that will not be replaced by the next hot thing to cross my screen. Even if I run out of things to post here (which will happen at some point), he will still occupy my thoughts, and I will still be drawing him, and writing for his character for a very long time to come.

[darkbluescamvictim]

i meant to actually freak out more bout ur latest chapter but i think the handprint gepard had left on sampo got me so bad i went into a catatonic state or something. (which i am trying not to go Off bout like oh my god the handprint?? gepard's love for him and how much he cares for him and how he would push himself so far to protect him?? left a permanent mark on sampo??/ aueuugh) ANYWAYS sampo being so fuckign knowledgeable and explaining and also i love how u do the masked fools n what theyre about?? but also ALSO like the 'crimes' he did and how upset he was and how CERTAIN sampo was that gepard would despise him for it. like he truly had the idea of gepard as a noble absolute figure of honesty and lawfulness. and gepard saying he doesnt care??? because he cares about sampo MORE??? insane. it truly nailed one aspect of sampard i always puzzled on like of where gepard's limits/boundaries of his morals lie in if he is capable of bending his unwaivering ideals of justice in order to love and be with sampo.

also the whole handkerchiefs. loved that shit so much like the idea that sampo has a bunch of handkerchiefs on him randomly to pull off the occasional magic trick.

also also sorry for the wall of text lmao,,

Okay so this took me forever to answer cuz everytime I went into my inbox I cradled this post like "If I answer this I'm gonna lose it I don't want this ask to be gone I wanna look at it forever :'(" Until I realised I can just answer you publicly to keep it on my blog forever lmao I hope you don't mind? I have to put it under a cut tho because this got wayyyy too long

Anyway first of all please don't apologise for the wall of text I LOVE getting walls of text?!? This is like being a 3 year old who's just been unsupervised for a moment and managed to get into the sweets hands deep mouth smeared and 2 hour sugar rush incoming every time I read it ok. So no need to apologise. Also THANK YOU ACTUALLY CUZ THE HANDPRINT IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME TOO OK?? I had this idea for ages (and also because it was just the natural conclusion to Gepard's actions anyway) so I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes a tiny bit feral about the idea and symbolism ok thank you thank you thank you Next, I honestly spend hours agonising over the problem of Gepard being incredibly lawful and honest while Sampo is, in his very essence, at the very least a troublemaker and also a good amount of criminal (thief/conman/scammer yadda yadda) What makes this the most difficult is really that both these concepts are at the core of their character; almost everything Gepard is has something to do with his unwavering sense of justice and almost everything Sampo does has something to do with his 'shadiness', at the very least. So to subtract from one in favour for the other felt really really hard to do and I think if I wouldn't have had the basically 70k+ word build up I wouldn't have managed to find even just the resemblance of a believable middle ground for myself. In the end, I think that Gepard's sense of justice is ultimately a sense of loyalty to the people of Belobog (as seen by his character text about standing between Belobog & the Supreme Guardian if need be); which he believes will fend the best when they follow the rules and laws set down by their government. But since he is also (at least now) loyal to Sampo and his wellbeing, he can see that what Sampo did while maybe 'not right', isn't worth causing the mental anguish nor be punished that harshly if it makes Sampo this distraught. Not to mention, 'this' version of Gepard is slowly learning to be more selfish and so ultimately, he put his own desire to be close with Sampo above his sense of duty (basically for the first time) which, granted, is a step away from canon Gepard's attitude but I hope made believable enough through my painstaking work I put in :')

Also, yes, Sampo is enough of a clown to just have handkerchiefs with him at all times (same as the candy for the Moles, he's always prepared in that regard) (Also the handkerchiefs are surprisingly durable and do make a good improvisational rope if the need arises)

[dragynkeep]

Since you're critiquing redesigns, I'd love any thoughts you might have on the ones I did for twiins' vid. Fair warning, Ruby and Weiss are both pretty similar to their og designs.

also i forgot weiss's scar cause im a dumb bitch

It's fine to have outfits not differ that much from them, so long as it shows some form of progression of change to stop it from looking too stagnant. If they're meant to be Beacon designs, don't worry about it, it's good to take inspiration from the OGs for the design.

Overall, the outfits are pretty good. I like the style of them, and they fit each girl and their fashion without deviating too much from what makes them work. The biggest issue I have is just the colour. I'll go into specifics for each girl, but the over-arching problem is that these are trying to fit all four colours on each girl, and it doesn't work for some of them because of their designated colour palettes.

Obviously, the conflicting colours have been removed to make room for the red, white, black and yellow, but now they've lost their unique colour to set them out from each other. They already had black and white to tie each other together, and some can have a third colour to tie into the team like Weiss and Yang's red or Blake's yellow, but now I feel like they're just missing that unique oomph.

Don't listen to people who say the girls should have all the colours on them, that will just make an ugly colour scheme and make more work for you to try and get it to work.

Adorable, you kept the core features while updating in some ways that I honestly like.

There's not much different from her Beacon outfit, and that's a good thing. You don't need to change what already works, and some of the changes you made I really like. The red corset now adds red to her midsection while preventing the previously black corset from doing a vanishing act, and same with the boots now having a red midsection rather than the red trim and laces.

I actually find myself liking the white added. The laces on the corset and boots look nice as either white or black, and I like the white underside of Ruby's gloves. She looks more streamlined and still ready for battle.

The biggest issue I have is the yellow. I understand wanting Ruby to have her sister's colour, I think it'd be great story wise, but Ruby's dark and gothic colour palette makes using such a bright and bold colour hard. Right now, the gold chain, bullets and sliver on her boots just conflict with the rest of her colour scheme and doesn't sit well.

The silver was a much cohesive choice, especially with Ruby's eye colour now being carried through her design in small ways. The silver and white would work better together on Ruby than gold and white, but maybe you could have that small splash of gold on an accessory rather than trying to carry it through. Maybe the tips of her bullets or a small earring. Something that isn't too big, but you still get Yang's colour on her.

Also, I don't like when the cape is held together by a chain. I get that it makes it more secure somewhat, but it just doesn't look right. I really loved the cross imagery that Ruby had, and I wish it was kept here just to add to her aesthetic.

Still, a good start! You got some stuff really well, it's just a few colouring choices that's bringing it down.

This is a pretty design.

I like the style of the whole thing. The shorter sleeves on Weiss with the gloves just suits her style, and now the black leggings give a great contrast between her legs and white boots. I love the use of black to separate her limbs from her white jacket and dress, and the small jewels on her boots is a cute touch.

Also, great, Weiss keeps her high collar. Really, this outfit does well in keeping all of the core aspects of Weiss' design. Her high collar, bell shaped dress, puffed out sleeves, but it's been updated to look different in a good way. It's not too far, but not practically the same outfit.

Colouring wise, I love how the black and white are used. It's balanced but the white takes centre stage with the black being used for accenting. Weiss' limbs are now contrasting with her outfit, so they won't get lost in all the white, while the red now being on the inside of her sleeves too helps the colour travel more without overpowering Weiss' colour palette.

The only issue here is use of yellow. Just like Ruby, Weiss really doesn't work with yellow. It's too bright and warm for her colder colour palette, so rather than being a nice contrast like her small amount of red is, it just conflicts with Weiss and looks like it doesn't suit her. The removal of the blue means it isn't competing, but now Weiss has lost her unique colour that helps sell the ice and cold aspect of her character, as well as the colour that really complimented the red.

Weiss in blue isn't an issue. It really could've helped if it was introduced more, maybe in the hem of her dress rather than the red, and some gradients to help accent the white. Obviously, not too much otherwise poor Weiss become Beiss, but something to just set her out a bit.

Still, great outfit, good use of colour, just take away the yellow and use blue instead. She's still connected to her team through the black and red, but the yellow really is just so hard to use for her.

Okay, I love the way this looks.

Easily my most favourite thing out of all these outfits. I love Blake's shirt and jacket, it's beautiful, keeps some of the white on her chest, and easily fits in the French aesthetic that she had in Beacon. The yellow works here on Blake compared to the last two because it's being used throughout the design and Blake's palette means yellow can just slide right in.

Her yellow eyes helps the yellow on her body appear more cohesive, rather than just another colour slapped on. It's used through her entire body in small ways, not detracting from the black but rather accenting it. Even the use of white, while minimal, works pretty well. Her white undershirt and accents on her shoes stops everything from blending in together.

And I like the red, I really do, but honestly I just think purple suits Blake better. It's her own unique colour and should be used to help sell her shadows and darkness theme in her character, as well as just complimenting the yellow better than the red. The red and yellow together is a bit too bright and bold for Blake's design, that works much better on Yang.

The boots are mostly cute, but the red straps stick out a bit too much. It might look better to change their colour and keep the palette a bit more cohesive.

Either way, still my favourite outfit of the four. Really good job on creating this!

Now, there's a lot of potential here.

I love that the brown and orange on Yang has been replaced with black and red. She's the one girl I think works with all four colours on her, in the right ways. The black contrasts completely with the bright yellow, making it pop more, and the red with the yellow sells a warm, fire theme that is Yang's character.

I like that the red is on the inside of her colour and jacket, it's a nice addition that helps connect with the red in her gauntlet and her eyes turning red when her Semblance activates. The white sleeves also helps to separate the black jacket from her arms and adds some interest to what would've just been a black jacket.

Same with her shoes. I like the yellow soles, it keeps her colour through without being too much on her feet, while the white cuffs has the same positives as the white cuffs on her jacket. I'm not sure about the red stripe, it looks a bit too cluttered, it could've helped to have some laces on her boots instead.

The skirt thing is cute! It adds something interesting to her midsection when it was otherwise a bit bare, and is reminiscent of her Beacon skirt, and the sash thing she wore on her belt in V2.

The thing that's really bringing it down is the yellow pants. Yang's colour is a bit of a difficult one in that using it too much makes her design too harsh on the eyes. The yellow top works with the surrounding black jacket confining it and making it pop more, but the black designs on the yellow pants have an opposite effect.

It's way too bright and way too much yellow. It doesn't look nice from a design pov, and really yellow and gold should be used to accent the black, like how her Hunter outfit has the cream jacket take over most of the top half while her black segments were accented with bright gold. You immediately notice the gold on the black background, and it looks nicer. Swapping the colours on her pants around would help more for her.

Also, and this is just a minor personal choice, but I miss the splash of purple on her. Because she uses a good combo of the four colours, the addition of purple could just clutter the colour scheme too much, but that's where you sorta have to figure out the structure of the outfit to make that work.

Either way, it's a nice attempt, and there's a lot here that does work. It really is just the pants that are hurting this design.

[5uptic]

here from ur main. why don’t you like him today? 👀

i'm putting a keep reading on this one because this is the most negative i will get about 5up here, just as a way to express myself about how my perception of him has evolved from the last time i touched the subject. i also don't think i'll come around so probably this is also the last time i'll talk about this, at least as candidly as i plan on doing lol. and i do want to make it clear that this is no form of "cancellation", that this isn't me urging 5up to change or do anything, or to say that i will come back once x or y things change. this is just a matter of personal taste and just my opinion on the guy, which comes down only to my likes and dislikes.

but yeah, the wording of my tag post is that yesterday i just fully accepted that i don't like 5up. it was just a buildup of a lot of things... i have my gripes with every streamer i watch, because of course i'm not gonna like every aspect about their online personality and presentation - no one is meant to, that's just how humans work. so i did genuinely love 5up for a long time, while things about him and his community did bother me, because i enjoyed a lot of things on his streams and i had a lot of nice things to say about him. it's just that i no longer see those things that i used to like that much, or it's a case of the bad things outweighing the good ones.

of course there's the case of 5up's ego which is easily my biggest problem. i like other streamers who have a bit of an ego, like punz for example, but there are many instances where punz either accepts he's not performing so well, chat doesn't take him seriously and he plays along the teasing, or actually does something to back it up. and when it came to watching 5up the instances where we could make fun of him became few and far between. just something very memeable, like the whole colors thing, ends up being annoying just because he refuses to let go of the idea of superiority around something that 70% other people in the world experience too. and that's just one example: if you are familiar with 5up's streams, you can name a lot of other things 5up is overconfident about. and if you are familiar with 5up you are aware of the way he deals with those situations and can understand why someone might feel annoyed at the constant ego showcase.

personally, there are a lot of guys around my life who have an ego problem and mansplain me and shit, but in that case i'm able to stand my ground and tease them about it or call them out. but it's just an impossible thing to do with 5up because well, he's not my friend very obviously lol, so that just leaves me feeling powerless and annoyed on the other side of the streamer/chatter interaction.

this is also a big problem when 5up has pretty much branded himself around the idea of being great at every game. of course i don't deny his skill in lots of games he plays, but as someone who is into dbd content creators, the constant gloating when he was playing the game feels unwarranted because he's an average survivor at best, and relies heavily on good perks and killers on the other side of the 1v4. i really loved to see the og core 4 playing dbd because of the interactions and dynamics of 2 of them being complete noobs at the game, but the need to feed 5up's ego when he looped novice killers was so unnecessary and it made me cringe a lot. the phrase "breaking their ankles" is forever tainted because of it. this is just another case of 5up performing averagely and having an ego around it despite so many people being able to do what he does. and also the claims of "i could eaaaasily be rank 1 if i tried hard enough", the overconfidence and lack of self awareness is a big eye-roller. same thing with mcc: again, i don't deny 5up has skill and experience to back up some of his claims, but the overconfidence that he can bring his team to victory every time is annoying when he never does vod reviews or practices on the server. i remember when pogchamps was happening and 5up was going to be in mcc that same week, people were complaining that he never practiced and i was like "how do expect him to do it when he's competing in a chess tournament atm?". but then it turned out he barely did any chess practice outside of his streams with anna, and i had nothing to defend him with. and i know i can't feel crazy about this, because everyone is laughing at 5up's question of "what games does sapnap beat me in?" and just his lack of self-awareness when it comes to his perception of himself.

another criticism that i never voiced before is his inability to commit to let's plays or certain games. you know, stuff like it takes two, resident evil 8, deltarune chapter two, no umbrellas allowed (which was also the last time i genuinely enjoyed watching his stream) that so many people were able to coordinate and play across multiple streams, he just won't do it. if he didn't play "little nightmares" in one stream, i have a feeling he would've never finished it. the fact that he was so spread about his schedule annoyed me because i wanted to see 5up finish certain games, only for him to complete drop it the next stream and then claim that he wouldn't be continuing the game days or weeks later. again, not something i would fault him for, because who knows if there's a real reason why he does it, but it feels baity and i couldn't even get excited about 5up playing certain games because if i got too attached, he could just drop it immediately and forget that it exists.

there's also what i noticed yesterday, although i can't really have the novelty of saying that it's something that only i know. when people were messaging me when i first talked about how i didn't like 5up anymore, i got asks talking about his lackluster interactions when he's on calls with other streamers, and after yesterday's crab game lobby i have to agree. there was such a novelty in seeing so many people interact with each other, mcyts with otv and the crewfu, etc. punz hiding with scarra, steve and celine agreeing that costco chicken is top tier... but every time it was 5up interacting with others, it just felt stilted and awkward, and he just repeats things back and doesn't add anything to the conversation. back then i did pick up on this, although not as explicitly as now, and i didn't love streams where the catch would be 5up and co playing a new game and interacting. but yesterday i was finally able to catch it and that's what made me officially admit that i straight up don't like him.

sigh. it's sad. i'm still somewhat fond of him, and it's a very weird thing i've never experienced with other content creator. part of me wants to be able to like him and let that be the end of it, but i genuinely tried it. in the past months i sometimes watched his streams, no volume and no chat, just to try and have that bond again, but as soon as i turned on the volume he would say something that would make me roll my eyes. it's hopeless and i'm sad that it is, because i do love every other member of the crewfu and i like so many people in the streamer circle around 5up. it feels wrong for him to be the one exception when he was the one that brought me in.

well, all that said, i'll never be antagonistic to 5up on this blog so you won't have to worry about it. it's a me thing so i'll keep it to myself (maybe occasionally vent on my main if i feel like it). but i'll still post as i've been doing it lately and remain active in the community, so if that's what you're worried about, well then, no changes will be made to my blogging in these last few months :)

[nightswithkookmin]

RE JIKOOK IS ESTRANGED

Them

Me

Lol

JUMP CUT ALERT: This is a continuation of an ongoing discussion behind the scenes.

DISCLAIMERS:

Article 19, UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Every person has the right to freedom of opinion and expression which includes the freedom to hold an opinion without interference through any media.

Misinterpretation of my opinion, my words constitute a violation of my human rights. Please do not take my words out of context, share it on another platform in furtherance of your own agenda. If you do hold yourself accountable first. You are the author of your own intentions and interpretations.

I do not intend malice by my words nor do I seek to be disrespectful of any member mentioned in here. I simply enjoy mentally stimulating conversations and thought provoking discussions.

Let the records show.

MATTER OF THE DAY

Thanks to everyone that's shared your thoughts on this matter with me and thanks to that person that brought this matter to my attention.

I haven't looked into it and I don't know how severe this issue is.

I think people have the right to believe in anything they want to believe in. Personally, I don't think Santa is real but clearly others do, doesn't mean I'm sane or that they are crazy.

I don't think discussions of this nature should be about who is right or who is wrong. Everyone's opinion is valid and holds true to their own delusions. Lol.

Frankly, I prefer this kind of ship wars to the slurs and abuses and they are distributing hard core porn now?? What is going on! Chileee.

I have never believed JK and Tae to be anything more than friends. At one point, I wondered if they were even friends at all lol but since they admitted to having had a falling out themselves at one point the topic is now moot.

Tae and JK have- had- have a really special bond. To me anyways. I always saw them as the evil power twins of BTS due their ability to come together to wreck havoc especially on Bang PD's scripts. Lol. I think I have mentioned this a few times now.

I smiled to myself when I heard them call themselves partners in crime. The bond is there no two ways about it- you either appreciate it for what it is or you don't. personally I love their bond. Can't stand their shippers but I love their bond. They keep the drama going for me- love it. Lol

The question has always been whether their bond is as profound as their shippers make it seem. I argue it's not and I will always argue it is not. Lol

I think it's only fair that they also question whether Jikook's bond is as profound as we make it sound. I really can't be mad at that. All is fair in love and war- at the very least we can agree to disagree.

I mean even Jikookers themselves question the extent of JK and JM's bond. Some think they are just very special friends and nothing more. I think I talked about this in my is Jikook real post when I mentioned labels and the degree of love between JK and JM?

We know JK and JM have a unique bond. The question then is how far does that bond go. Is it just platonic, romantic or something in between?

This is the question I was aiming to answer with my is Jikook real post. My objective was to try and dismantle all the nuances that keep us from seeing the 'truth' about Jikook- that they are real. At least the way I see them.

I talked about unrealistic expectations we have of Jikook, false conditionings that often leads us to see Jikook as something more than they are- the amplified Jikook. We get used to highlight reels of Jikook's interactions in edits such that we feel there is something wrong with them when we see them in real time.

I mentioned that Jimin's nurturing nature often also estops people from reading more into his relationship with JK. He is nurturing of everyone, JK ain't special- they argue, just as this person is doing.

I talked about Jimin's Idol persona, the facade of the boy in love with JK- Jimin's role within BTS since debut and how that can equally blind us into thinking Jikook is something more or less than they really are. I have a post dedicated to this topic sitting in my drafts so I will not go into the details of it here. Please look forward to that.

But this person's post touches on another aspect of Jimin's personality that I feel is one of the things that often keeps us from seeing his relationship with JK for what it really is- his inclination for professionalism.

I keep saying this, several times now, that Jimin's Idol persona to me seems well developed, elaborate and very elusive.

I have mentioned a few times how I think during Jikook break ups that they keep it civil and professional for the sake of the team and that you might not even notice the difference especially if you place high value on their skinship.

The skinship would be there, the cordiality and civility would equally be there- except for moments when they are fighting, that gets bloody. Lol. They are best friends at the very least. It is why it's important to reevaluate the metrics we use to determine whether or not they are a couple.

I wish I could dialogue with this person to understand her assessment of Jikook and what she is using to determine whether or not Jikook are a couple and what makes her think Tae and JK are. Know what I mean?

What makes her think Jikook were a couple before 2017? What makes y'all think Jikook are a couple at all? I would like to hear from y'all- but come at me with the skinship bit and I'll block you deadass. Lol

So on this person's post, I think I agree with her assessment of JM's persona but I don't agree with the Jikook have been broken up since 2017. And I think I understand where this is coming from... I think some of us do. Yes they had a few fights that year especially leading up to Jimin's birthday- August was it? but we all know JK more than made up for it with the damn GCFs. Lol. kindly visit the timeline, peruse as many content as you can and form your own opinion on it. This is just mine.

Are Jikook Jikooking all the time? Absolutely not. They are human too. They fight, they make up, they break up they get back together, they have introverted, extroverted moments, they go up, they go down- have bad hair days, it's all part of their dynamics I'm afraid. From my point of view of course.

I feel some people notice these things too and when they sense Jikook aren't in a good place they bow out and Jump ship- I don't blame them. They are shippers not supporters. What Jikook need are supporters not shippers- or maybe both, do you.

Could this person be one such people? DNF shippers? Given up on Jikook before the end of their story? I don't know. May be.

Jikook is not a fantasy that you ship. It's a relationship that you support. You can't escape into them. They are an ongoing love story- chapters close, chapters open, you just have to ride it out till the very end.

I think the challenge of their post for me is whether or not Jikook is a performance. Her post leans into the whole Jikook is fanservice bull especially in light of the recent photoshoot video which some are using as evidence Jikook don't 'click' when the cameras are off- the lies they tell on Beyonce's internet!

I think I have speculated on this and shared my thoughts on this whole Jikook is fanservice bit. I will delve deeper into it in my next post on Jimin's idol persona but as I've already said, Jikook is fanservice is equally a misnomer.

Yes Jikook does fanservice sometimes, but they are not fanservice. Fanservice is the cover for their relationship. It's their glass ceiling- nothing to see here folks just two snakes under glass. Keep it pushing. (Sorry. Couldn't help myself. Lol)

But you do raise a valid question, what is Jikook like when the cameras are not filming?

Is the mood of Jikook in that footage the general mood of Jikook behind cameras as Tuktukkers are claiming? They barely interact, JM doesn't pay much attention to Kook, yadda yadda yadda?

And the part that gives me a complex, that JK only interacts with JM when they are the center of attention. Huh???????????

Sigh.

I feel caught between a rock and a hard place on this one.

The theory you pointed out in support of this assertion isn't mine and I think I made it clear I didn't share the same thoughts on it. I said it was valid nevertheless. Chilee, this is hard. Lol

Yes JK is an introvert, Jimin is an extrovert, JM doesn't live for JK, all that is true and some Jikookers have said that too- so when you ask, if this is who they are when the cameras are off does that mean what they do when the cameras turn on is fanservice-

I-👁👄👁

I don't know the thought process that went into that theory so I can't confidently defend it. I'll ask? Lol.

Personally, I'd like to know whether or not they see the tension in that footage as tension in the first place. Chileee I don't know.

I see it as tension. Not a very serious one though. So we'd have to agree to disagree on that one.

But the part I can argue, the part I agree with is Jikook aren't hyper super duper lovey dovey on each other all the time. They aren't cuddly all the time. They have their moments of quiet- Jimin seems like the more affectionate kind who'd rub all over JK in the comfort of their homes but still...

If you ask me though, I think Jikook are tamer on cameras than they are behind scenes. I always talk about the fear and panic in the members' eyes when they see Jikook gravitating towards each other- it's probably because they know the extent of Jikook's shenanigans. They know how worse it can be because they've seen it all.

And when JK panics sometimes when JM gets closer too you just know dude is scared perhaps because of his Mochi chick's devil may care shamelessly in love policies- Jimin wild. Bless him.

I did say also that Memories 2019 is equally eye opening. These were censored bits. BigHit was holding all of that and giving us crumbs- stingy mfs. Bless.

All that said, again I don't think Jikook are hyper lovey on eachother behind the scenes. Another part I diverge from that view is that this is not exactly off camera. It was just behind the scenes of a photoshoot. Something we've seen a countless times.

This is not BTS's first ever behind scenes photoshoot. It's just a different angle that's all.

They were working. They were at work. This wasn't an alone private space for them so they can't base on this to say Jikook don't interact when the cameras are off.

The cameras were rolling. We saw them interact, JM was interacting with everyone the way he always does on camera all the time except he wasn't interacting with JK the way he does all the time, grainy footage or not- I mean let's call a spade a spade and not a big fat spoon. Lol

As to why he was doing that- let's just say there are many schools of thoughts.

My thought as I've said is JM was freezing JK out. I think with anyone that's recognized and is familiar with Jikook fights, that mood is all too familiar as I mentioned earlier.

If JM was being courteous and not mad at his man then he would have kept it 'professional' and done the 'fanservice' bit with Jk as per usual just as this person is saying since the cameras were still rolling.

Jikook is not fanservice. They are real.

I have refrained from providing a detailed analysis of that '5 minutes' footage for reasons I will explain later when I do share my thoughts on that footage- eventually. Some day.

But my hypothesis remains the same that I think Jikook were fighting or had a minor issue. As to why they were fighting, chileee I don't know. The confirmation bias in me feel it had something to do with JM's birthday but honestly it could have been over anything at all- dumplings, microphones- we all saw that slap on stage, a certain Iphone notification perhaps, did JinMin make a secret VLive without Kook again? Lol

There are plethora of reasons, I can only speculate on a few. And I think we've all seen Jimin when he is not 'Jimining' with the others, JK included. Take his mood with Tae at GDA for example- since this is not a VMin post I won't go into it.

But it seems they squashed whatever beef they were having on stage when JM extended his hands to Tae and they shaked it out.

We've seen him and Suga bicker too- which again, I am not gonna to get into out of respect for their shippers but I can point you to the On comeback VLive early this year when Suga touched JM and JM mouthed Hajima to him- which I think had something to do with what was going on with him and JK at the time but that is besides the point. Every shipper for themselves.

I contrast his 'fights' with Suga and V to show you the difference between Jimin being professional and courteous and Jimin being rah rah. He was sat next to suga, talking and laughing with him but snapped the moment Suga held his back.

He did the same in the Dynamite MV Vlive, smiling and laughing with Suga but the moment JK teased him with the Yoonmin comment his countenance fell.

Jimin is not that good of an actor if you ask me. I have said he is very Kumbaya in nature, often makes compromises for the sake of the team but that don't mean he is a pushover or one to trifle with- he scares me when he is mad. Lmho.

The scene in that footage didn't look to me as that he was being nice and courteous to JK- is that y'all's definition of professional courtesy? Damn.

If they were having a lover's squabble then the 'icy' mood of Jikook we saw in that footage is not the general mood of Jikook when the camera's are turned off.

I have to state again that I don't know much of what goes on behind the cameras and most of the things we see sometimes are equally missing context.

That been said we have seen enough of Jikook 'behind cameras' and they are more intimate than we can imagine. A certain cozy selfie at the back of an abandoned truck comes to mind. Whatever they were doing at the back of the track wasn't intended for the cameras judging from JK's reaction.

We've had glimpses of Jikook when they are not the center of attention enough to have a fair idea of what they are when cameras are off and I don't think it is that mood we saw in that footage.

We saw them at Jingle ball bell, towards the end of 2019. We saw them in their own space doing what they do best- making us feel single as fuck. Bless them.

We've seen them at awards, we've seen JK eating Jimin's ear nom nom to calm him down- like I would have just bought him icecream to calm down his nerves or rubbed his back but whatever JK. He is your man; you know him best. Good for him. Good for both of you. Now come back and feed us.

And the bit about JK only laughing with JM when he noticed he was on the Bangtan Bomb cameras in that footage- now that's nasty below the belts phony ass ass! I felt that one straight in my chest, shit. Lol

Dude was in a doghouse it seemed and I noticed them stealing glances at each other and.... sigh.

I just think JK was looking for an opening to warm his way back into JM's good graces- it's really nothing we haven't seen before.... sigh.

This is 2020 that narrative of JK hates Jimin, JK doesn't like JM needs to stop. It's dead. Pack it up. Chileee, y'all tried it with this one.

Jk is nice to JM only when the cameras are on him? Nice try.

JK is so fake and fraudulent he glared RM down till he stepped away from Jimin- again, in the very same photoshoot footage y'all swear to God is proof Jikook is not real.

Find it. RM stood next to JM. Looks up see's something- or someone. Does his tell- the hand to head thingy he does when JK glares at him over Jimin. He backs away inches from JM.

Cut to JK. Dudes a mood. Jin bumps into him, stares at him but JK wouldn't even look at him and then deadass looks away grumpyly- talk of professionalism. You doing great swidy keep going!

You can hide a relationship, fake it on God but you can never hide the intimacy. Taekook just lack that intimacy, I'm sorry. Even in that 'estranged' moment Jikook's intimacy was still there-

Even in whatever mood JK was in- which again, I believe was just due to their lover's squabble- JK still was claiming his man and exercising his right of authority over him. That's how you know they are not broken up. In my opinion. Chileee. I'm gonna get in trouble. Deep sigh.

Y'all think JK was hovering over Jimin because he was preparing to strike him down like a censored censored censored? Yea, he was preparing to strike alright- All the corners of Jimin's heart. Y'all better stop before I find you. Lol

I said I wasn't going to analyze the footage in this post but damn. This man out here serving us all kinds of brooding assorted jeonlous as his man takes a time out or two to wiggle wiggle wiggle on him Malfroy style and y'all are out here peddling nonsense. Strike one.

He was a mood alright. Did y'all see Tae rubbing his chest, arms and legs, ears did y'all see any body else in there doing that for him? Y'all's falcon cannot hear his falconer give it up and sorry, Jikook can't relate.

As I've posited, JM I feel was mad as hell for whatever reason and wasn't in the space to be that person JK needed him to be- in that moment. Doesn't mean they are like that behind scenes all the time.

And before I get attacked again for causing drama, being toxic etc by Jikookers understand that I am just a delusional person shipping these two in a way that makes sense to me. Write me off as delulu, and go please.

Whatever ambiguity surrounds that moment, to me, Jin and RM's reaction to JK clarifies things a bit. Jikook were boiling hot. JK was still keeping an eye on his man. Lol. Bless them. That's my conclusion. I'm running miles with that. Catch me. Lol

Feel free to come up with your own theory in a way that makes sense to you.

I'm not sure how long that fight lasted but from the rain day incident I'm hoping it wasn't that long. Jikook are fine I believe- I hope. Judging from the way JM drew JK out in his VLive with the whole I miss JK comment? Did that not sound familiar to y'all? And that Mickey mouse thingy- JM ain't slick. Bless him.

JM is the perched akekeke whisperer whispering all kinds of things in JK's ear, feeding JK news of what goes on on social media and what not. Dude don told his man they won a BB on his birthday, told his man Jin wasn't happy he chose his bag over his- definitely told his man Army was missing him- what? I'm going with that too sue me. Lol

Did you or did you not see Jk coming out to do a live log afterwards? And JK seemed less grumpy, in very high spirits? Wedding bells- I'm manifesting it for JK. Manifest with me.

Remember when JM did a log and talked nonsense about JK, and JK did a rebuttal log to respond to JM and address some of the things JM had said about him? Remember that? It's a jikook thing and it's back😌

I have said JM uses social media to connect with Army while JK uses it as an outlet to express himself. Through out his Live he kept talking about how he wasn't prepared to do a live and it shows in the way he kept saying it was awkward, he just kept it business and didn't know what else to share... I wonder who put his paws on him, dragged his ass to turn on the camera because Armys had asked of him- a certain quick tempered chick who dragged his man out on social media to do the whole Chuseok greetings 2020 on Twitter perhaps?

And JK is so whipped he'd do just about all the hoops to appease his man- Jikook AU written by Goldy. High five. No but seriously...

Behind the scenes, JK sneaks into JM's bed at night- Taekook does it too? Please! The look on JM's face when RM spilled that tea is enough said.

There's only two people in BTS that panic and don't want us to know they lay one on God in bed and it's not Tae Kook.

JK: Jimin hyung and I will sleep here

JM: how about we let the others choose first

Everyone shares a room:

Footage:🦄🍲🐯🧀🐺🍟🐓🥛🐑🛏

JIKOOK share a room:

Footage: 🚪👀

Behind the cameras Jikook sneak into each others bed- camera caught them live. You saw JM's face, I can't make this shit up. Lol

Behind the scenes, Jikook do laundry at 1am. *insert JM pervy face meme.

Chileee, y'all making me trip with this one. Deep breaths.

Jikook have their moments. This was one of them. Can they be human? Please. Thank you.

At this point, these folks are not even shippers. They is shoppers shopping a man for their bias. Lol. Just admit y'all want Jeon thick thighs strong butt for your bias and go. Just admit you want some tall glass of Tiger charming face husky voice strong chest for your bunny and go. Lmho

Chilee, when we say Tae and Kook had a falling out we don't mean they freeze eachother out behind cameras. Hell, we don't even mean they fake their bond or interactions. C'mon! Tae and JK admitted they are not lovers and y'all is bitter. That's why y'all is making up this nonsense about Jikook. Speak the truth and shame the devil. Peter would be proud.

When we say Tae Kook is not real, We just mean JM spends JK's birthday with him while every one including Tae is out there cruising for Jesus with friends. We just mean Jikook claim eachother even when they beefing. That ship beefed and didn't even know they was beefing and they are real? Damn.

We just mean Jikook make efforts for each other even when they are having bad days- Had it not been for Jimin they'd still be gnashing on these cold streets. Place some respect on his name, y'all's ungrateful. Lol

Tae and JK don't want each other they both want Jimin- there. I said it.

Thanks for attending my Tedtalk. 👁👄👁

Now where was I? Never mind. I'm just gonna go burn some sage. There's too much negativity going on around. Hakuna matata!

There is nothing wrong with Taekook as a ship. Personally, I'm a multishipper I ship all the ships but I support Kookmin. I don't mind their shippers calling them whatever, but my eyes twitch when people who claim they support Jikook act wishy washy with Jikook. Lol. Like are you going to withdraw your support of Kookmin if JK sits on Tae's lap?👀 Yall make me nervous. How can you think Jikook is real but then look at Taekook and go huh??? What are y'all seeing that I can't see?

Like those are two completely different dynamics. It's the skinship isn't it? Talk to me. Jikookers who see something nonplatonic in Taekook honestly give me trust issues. Y'all have me out here looking over my shoulders.

I am delusional but I'm confident in my delusions because to me it is about the love and support for JM and JK as LGBTQ plus couples. Please stop shipping Jikook, stop shopping JK and JM for eachother and start supporting them because they are real.

IN MY OPINION.

Signed,

GOLDY

[insipid-drivel]

Any tips for someone who wants to make a lil surreal webcomic/series?

Sure! I no longer am affiliated with doublethickcustard, but I'm totally cool with sharing the behind-the-scenes creative process that ultimately were produced into webcomics:

Firstly, I'm a hardcore writer, not an artist, so I kind of tripped and fell into the world of webcomics by meeting DTC and finding that we had very compatible fantasy ideas. He was the art behind the comics (I'm not sure if he's still in the game; I haven't heard from him in years), while I worked on most of the worldbuilding, mythology, bestiary, main characters, pantheons, cultures, and even maps of the universe that I was initially working on myself and planning to publish as a novel, but DTC got into my work so much that he started painting characters and scenes and eventually got the idea to publish them as webcomics since they're such a popular format these days for storytelling.

When we started working together, we wrote the stories like books with the mind of creating a working manuscript. After a chapter was complete, it was time to storyboard, which he did from an artistic standpoint, and I did from the standpoint of distilling prose and dialogue into more condensed phrasing to fit well in speech/thought bubbles.

So, Rule #1: You want the size aspect ratios of thought and dialogue bubbles to take up about as little space in a panel or page as possible while remaining true to the core story and keeping the characters in-character. You don't want speech bubbles to take up more than about 25-50% of a panel (depending on the resolution you're using). However you can make exceptions if there's rapid-fire back-and-forth dialogue that you want to flow well and keep your readers engaged. For panels where a lot of dialogue is unavoidable and you can't fit a whole lot of art in, lean toward compensating by focusing on facial expressions and gestures between characters. That will let your readers picture the characters conversing while reading along.

#2: Don't be afraid to have fun with fonts. One great and crafty way to further impress your characters' moods and personalities is by assigning them with their own unique fonts. If you have a hard time thinking from that perspective, try thinking, "What would this character's handwriting look like?" Using colorful fonts to portray emotion (red for anger, for example) is also a great way to keep a reader's attention. You want to play on their peripheral vision so while they're looking at the art, they're still subconsciously registering dialogue even if they've finished reading it in that panel. Your brain is able to register an extraordinary amount of information using your peripheral vision, even when you're focused on one thing in particular. Your brain is still cataloguing the entire page even after you've moved your eyes across multiple panels.

#3: If you're working with a partner, get everything regarding publishing and monetary benefits in writing. DTC screwed me out of our earnings and I never saw a penny because he kept the money to himself and refused to share it with me because "as an artist, I do the really hard work and you just write shit. I'll let you have some money if you tell me what it's for. Why don't you trust me?" I'm an Aspie and was taken advantage of. I wound up relying on my mother just to afford food.

#4: "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." -Cyril Connolly. I highly discourage trying to write and produce a story for an audience. Write and publish what you love to do, and your passion and dedication to your craft will endear your readers and shine through your work. You may be publishing, but it's still your work. Your creativity. Your spirit. The death knell to the passionate creator is having other outside forces pushing you away from what you want to create in order to please an audience. Let fanfiction writers retcon and reinterpret as they will. Your artistic integrity should always come first.

#5: Don't force it. Don't over-exhaust yourself in trying to meet strict deadlines and make yourself anxious and panicky to hurry up and get a new chapter out. If you're not a person that is comfortable with keeping a regimented work cycle, then just let your readers know. "You can look forward to a new chapter about every [your comfort zone here], but remember that I'm human, and sometimes life and writer's block happens." If you're up-front with your readers from the get-go that you're human and you have your own needs and life to lead outside of publishing, they'll respect you for being forthcoming. If anybody digs at you about it, feel free to send them my way. It's okay if you need an advocate to handle comments from your audience. You're not weak for struggling with unsolicited critique. In fact, here's my ancient essay "Unsolicited Critique And Why You Should Fuck Off" I wrote back in 2016.

#6: There are free platforms everywhere. You don't have to shell out a ton of money for specialized software. I use Google Drive exclusively and it suits me very well. And remember, analogue is not dead. If you like to do your webcomics by hand in sketchbooks or on storyboarding easels, go for it, and you can upload your work for free by going to your local library. Lots of libraries have scanners that you can use to scan your art so you can digitize it and get it out there online for free. Many libraries are also strict about wiping their computers' metadata on a regular basis in order to prevent the government from using your reading and browsing habits against you to get their own way, so utilizing libraries can be an excellent source of anonymity (especially if you're researching "suspicious" content like The Anarchist's Cookbook; governments do flag certain sources of content as being potential material for terrorism paranoia. If you're concerned about your anonymity, consider utilizing a VPN; there are open-market VPNs available for free out there and they're not too hard to find.)

Regarding surrealism:

Surrealism is a tricky, yet rewarding path to pursue. However, it's difficult to do it well. I love to work with surrealism, because I have an extremely powerful manifestation of a condition called Schizotypal Personality Disorder. My entire life is a surreal experience, and so I have intimate familiarity with it. Here's how I express surrealism:

#1: Research. Get the most accurate, real-world information and data about the setting you're writing, even if it's not even close to being in the realm of reality. Sometimes, reality is surreal on its own. Whenever you have a subject you want to work with in your comics, before you start writing, look things up. Do not base your work on what you've seen other artists and television shows do. Almost all of it is rooted in hogwash. Look into experts; when you're writing about injuries, research what real trauma surgeons and EMTs really experience, for example. Get the hard facts and a solid foundation in reality, and then start bending and breaking the rules.

#2: Once you've got a solid understanding of what's really a real-world possibility in a scenario or setting, start fucking around. Be subtle at first. Start lacing little inconsistencies that, upon re-reading or closer scrutiny, will make your readers go, "Wait, what the hell?" Shoot for making your readers do a double-take. Don't highlight your little mind-games, and absolutely aim for sowing the seeds of uncertainty in your audience. When they have an uneasy sense that there's something off about the story, they'll keep reading and re-reading in order to try to puzzle things out. It's in moments like those (you'll it when you reach it; trust your instincts) where you can abruptly turn things upside down and inside out and completely shock and spellbind your audience. Misdirection is your best friend.

#3: Don't use the same mind-games twice in the same story. Your audience is full of people that are scanning for the rhythm of your work and trying to anticipate what's going to happen next. With every installation of your webcomic, tweak your approaches and disguise them by repackaging them in a new, sneaky manner. You can still use the same surrealist logic, but putting it behind many different guises will keep your audience surprised while not requiring you make extreme quantum leaps around in your surrealism; thereby saving you time and energy, while also making your audience smack themselves on the forehead with, "Dammit, you got me again?!"

#4: Leave some questions unanswered and some fates undetermined - not only will it continue hooking in readers, but it also gives your fans fuel for fanfiction and conjecture, causing them to mislead themselves. Keep your secrets and tricks close to the vest. Even as I reply to you here, note that I'm not giving examples from my own work. I'm totally happy for this reply to circulate, but it's not going to teach my audience anything new about my own secret methods. This may be unsatisfying an answer for you, but I'm still a working writer, too ;)

I really hope this helps. Get out there and pursue your dreams!

[bciwasinlove]

Hi. I have not been on twitter or even in the fandom long enough so i came here to ask you about something. What's with the song claiming thing? Suddenly ziams are claiming songs that have been claimed as larry song. No I'm not gate keeping. Pardon my word choice.I'm not English. But I'm just curious. As long as i have been in this fandom, no control was a larry song the moment it came out and everyone was ok with it and even ziams never claimed it before.now suddenly they are like oh liam also wrote it? Home has always been larry song considering the timeline, him leaking and all, ziams never claimed it before, now suddenly home is a ziam song too? 18 was taken as a larry song from the moment ed said it was written from 1D perspective and everyone was ok with it considering how Louis used to literally serenade Harry like turning his whole body,changing pronouns etc. No one had a problem untill now. Suddenly in 2020/21 ziams are claiming it. Why didn’t they do it before? Why now? I'm just curious.

Warning selfies have been a thing with Louis for years. Now suddenly it is linked with liam too? How? Did he do it before or something? I genuinely don't know. So let me know plz.

The whole devlin thing, devlin album came out in 2017 i guess and they comparing Louis tweet with zayn tweeting that is from 2016. How does that make sense?

Also some people say larry closeting didn’t work but ziam did...awful thing to say. If it didn’t work then there wouldn’t be so many antis and they are still going through so much. People wouldn’t believe Harry dates every woman that breaths around him. And they claim there are two bbg in ziam relationship right? Why did they need two bbg if it worked? I mean if the closeting worked? Bbg has nothing to do with relationships.

Idk if ziam was real or not but I'm sure gigi was pregnant, she had that symptoms, pregnancy glow,tired face and all. Now whoever the father may be..idk.

I'm not convinced about ziam and how does that make me hypocrite? Also there are some "if this counts(larry),this counts too(ziam)" thread. what's with the comparison?

Sorry about the rant.

Hello anon wow this is long a lot to unpack so I'll start with your song questions.

Idk why ziammies are suddenly trying to claim songs that have ALWAYS been larry related. Especially when Liam said in an interview that Louis and him were a song writing duo for 1D BUT that he wrote the melodies and it was Louis who wrote the song lyrics. Last I checked melodies don't equal meaning of a song so how are these songs about ziam?

Some examples of this....

They are trying to claim Home but Liam said the song was personal to Louis and how when he read the lyrics he didn't want to change them. Home is also a direct response to If I Could Fly with ONLY Harry on the credits. Home was leaked by Louis the night of Belfest when Larry found out BG was being taken pasted the birth of a kid and it pissed off Louis so he leaked Home as payback bc it was clearly a loud song management didn't want on the album.

They are trying to claim 18 but the song was written by Ed who said [compared to other 1D songs he wrote for them] he wrote 18 with a 1D member in mind. [That is why we claim the song at all.] Ed was closeted in the band to Harry next being Louis and Niall he was the least closeted to Zayn and Liam. Side note Ed has a song called Friends that he said was about 2 friends of his who fell in love and when a fan yelled L&H he laughed/smirked and said init so it makes the most sense 18 was written with Harry in mind. Plus 18 is about meeting/loving someone sense they were 18 and it was only Louis who was 18 when they all met and it was Harry who would scream NO 16 when singing the song. Also larry changed the lyrics to HIM and would stare directly at each other when singing 18 livem According to ziam MPs ziam weren't a couple until at least 2 years into the band so why would 18 make sense for them also given they were both 17 when they met & none ever went NO 17 when singing it.

They are trying to claim No Control but that song as we know is about the morning after sex and the second round they end up having. Like stated before Louis wrote the lyrics to 1D songs and Niall plus Larry always made it DAMN CLEAR what that song was about. Also remember when Harry would always jam out hard core when Louis would sing his part in No Control aka majority of the song. Yeah that song is Louis song no doubt.

They try to claim Alive which makes no sense bc Zayn nor Liam is on the credits at all only Louis. They say it's bc Liam said he related to the song ok I see that but still he didn't write it and still how does this song equate to ziam? Alive is more a song used as proof Louis isn't straight bc it's about self exceptance of who you are even tho others around you for along time made u feel there is something wrong with you. It's about Louis who is more confident part way through the story being told and then helping his lover [who seems to be a bit insecure about themselves] except and love who they are. Since Liam didn't write on it the relationship aspect couldn't be about him and Zayn. Since he said he just relates to Alive at BEST it could mean he might not be straight but it can't be used as proof of who his partner is when he didn't write on it.

There's others but I think you get the point they have always been larry or hinting at Louis sexuality songs so I don't get why or how they are suddenly saying their ziam songs? Myself @lovemylarents and @fearlessmoon09 think bored people in quarantine is what happened to change the landscape.

To your next question warning selfies...

So warning selfies was something Louis did everytime something BG stunt related was going to happen. He started it and did it a ton back in 2016/17 when BG stunting was massive for him. Liam never had anything to do with warning selfies and Louis warning selfies were ALWAYS like I said BG related so suddenly ziammies going Liam does warning selfies for things involving Maya or Gigi makes no sense. It was ALWAYS a Louis thing.

For the Devlin thing...

You hit the nail on the coffin with that one the album with the song Cold Blooded that had the lyrics "so is it true XXXX fathered a baby? I don't really think so, if you ask me he don't like ladies. Could have been HARRY, yeah, I bet it was HARRY" [emphasis on Harry bc I saw a ziammie change the lyrics to Liam] came out in 2017 while Zayns tweet was done in 2016. Unlike Louis tweet which was specifically about this album not just the artist and tweeted during the height of BG stunting. So not the best comparison. They really should fact check before making these "larries are hypocrites" threads bc veteran larries know and fact check everything.

Next thing you mentioned what I call their slogan "larries closeting didn't work but ziams did that is why less talk about/believe in ziam then larry" piss me off so much and what you said it right. If larry's closeting didn't work then we wouldn't be here complaing about how the GP sees Harry as a queerbaiting womanizer, how solo henries who want to have sex and suck Harry's dick exist and how some locals don't want to join Louis fandom bc they think Louis and his fans are homophobic or that twarries exist thinking Louis is a deadbeat dad. Tell me again ziammies how their closeting didn't work? It is so invalidating to everything larry has been put through. Also if larry's closeting didn't work but ziams did then why did they need 2 BGs for Ziam and only one for Larry? Myself @kaybutlarry @babyhoney-28 and @onlythebravestan are still waiting on an answer to that question haven't gotten one.

As you said about Gigi yes she definitely looked more pregnant then Briana ever did. The reason I don't believe in their BG with Gigi is bc their story is inconsistenent. Side note back when Liam had a kid no one besides a few on tumblr ever said it was BG 2.0 they didn't start saying BG 2&3 until Gigi happened. Back to inconsistenences so their original story when we first learned Gigi was pregnant was it's fake just like Briana there's no kid, then when Gigi did the livesteam showing she had a bump and a round face you get when pregnant the story changed to she's pregnant the kid is just not Zayn's.

Then I recently saw some who [after the kid was born] went back to the story the kid is fake there is no kid OR they are using a child actor. Unlike Louis BG they don't have a consistent story that makes sense. Also the kids are never shown unlike with Louis kid F gets posted every damn day with creepy and bad photoshop, and a million articles about how he is Louis twin to shove it down our throats the kid is Louis. The situations have NEVER been the same with Louis vs even just Liam kid.

To your last point ziammies keep calling and making threads about how larries are hypocrites bc we don't believe what they do which is damn annoying bc they constantly say just leave us alone why do you care we exist but then constantly make threads like that getting mad we aren't all ziammies. If your going to make threads against us then yeah were going to say something and respond to your threads the way we would to a debunking larry anti thread. Their threads like that are either using funny coincidences of larry that we don't use as concrete proof to compare to ziam OR their ziam version of our proof has been debunked already like the Ziam Levine Stylinson sticker on the bears. [If you want more info on that ask @lovemylarents.]

They constantly take what is a larry proof and say it's also about ziam [Example the songs] or have a ziam proof that mirrors a larry proof. [Example the devlin thing or selfies] In their threads they always compare miniscule larry things that aren't our MAIN proof. See the miniscule proofs are the house and the big proofs are the concrete foundation that without it those miniscule things would not be able to really count as proof of larry and the larry house would fall. Ziammies ONLY have miniscule proof not a very solid foundation so I'm unsure how long their house will last.

I have been in this fandom for 10 years I have seen MANY ships come and go [Examples: Ziam, Ziall and Narry] but the one ship that has always been here was Larry. Larries have been here for 10 years, Larries are the ones who are talked about in the media, Larries are the ones constsntly gaslighted, Larry is the one ship that needs to be denied a bunch [poorly might I add] there's NEVER been any other ship or ship group people have hated, gone against or talked about this much besides Larries/Larry.

Funny [not for us] but funny that Liam goes through all the trouble of gaslighting Larries and talking about EVERY Louis stunt but he never mentioned Ziam which is a ship that actually involves him or the Ziammies who say Bear isn't his kid. Why did he talk about US and not THEM which involve him? Also funny Liam can easily say the word Ziam but Louis can't pronounce an EASY @ just bc it has the word Eroda in it.

My mutrals and I all agreed we didn't give af that ziammies existed until they kept talking shit about how we aren't ziams to and then go why are larries acting like antis hating us. First off it was NEVER larries hating on them it was toxic solo Zsquad and solo Liam stans who were. We didn't get involved until the entire tl was LARRIES ARE HATING US AND BEING HYPOCRITES. Second off and my last thought it's easy if you don't want us in your replies then don't make threads about us being hypocrites and use easily debunked ziam proof or miniscule larry proof to mirror bc we will point it out bc you think were hypocrites thank you.

[bcanetwork]

BCA NFTalk Vol.3｜Art Blocks NFTs’ Imagination

Guest Speakers：Host ArthurLou BCA Co-Founder丨Vulcan DAO GP（简称A）

Zero Chen NFT Consultant of FTChinese.com（简称C）

Ting Song AI and Blockchain Artist丨IOAC Asia Ambassador（简称S）

Hesiod 「Theogo NFT Observer」Chief Editor （简称H）

Nico Yang VulcanDAO GP（简称Y）

Background: It's been a few months of a mini-bull market for NFT collectibles, which the frenzied sales of CryptoPunks have pushed up in recent days. In addition, Art Blocks, as a generative art segment, topped the 7-day trading volume list strongly, ranking first with The Art Blocks segment was ranked fifth overall with $498 million. These three segments - avatars, generative art, and solo editions - make up a solid JPEG Summer. In this context, we invite four guests to chat about the NFT imagination beyond Punk.

01

Host A: What do you think of the macro reasons for this 2021 Summer rampage? Share some of the recent Punk-like replica disc projects and NFT collecting tips that you've been following.

C: It's not very surprising that Punk is on fire; its holders or investors/collectors who are bullish think it should be higher priced. Its broken circle has become more apparent, and this mini-bull market is a spurt of an accumulation from the entire NFT market that preceded it. Social subcultures and aesthetic psychology drive NFT and trendy fashion, so its rise and fall may be very different from how technology has evolved and popularised. Compared to traditional art and traditional collecting, this wave in the crypto world should be just beginning. If CryptoPunks do become digital antiques, I believe they will be worth much more than that in the future.

Y: Until 2021, it will be difficult for digital content creators to get their work recognized by the market and to cash in without relying on big institutions with a centralized approach. The breaking of the circle in media and the entrance of money brought by the wealth creation effect have greatly refreshed the perception of digital content. Echoing what Che Guevara once said, "After we leave, they build you schools and hospitals, not because they have shown great mercy, but because we came."

The identity that comes with NFT is only really felt when it is held. The purpose is different, and the logic of buying and collecting can be very different. A scarce NFT is a status symbol in itself.

S: Compared to the art market, which is repeatedly tested and scrutinized by connoisseurs from different perspectives, there is a sizeable speculative bubble in the English-speaking community on Ethereum. A lot of this bubble is in cultural content and projects that lack culture can be short-lived. The works that I want to keep inside my wallet for a long time are the ones that I will be happy to look at even ten years from now.

In this JPEG Summer, I strongly feel that it is similar to 1CO at the end of 17, where all aspects of blockchain project parties were active, but the market turned cold after 18 years. A successful crypto art series is also a successful cultural product that combines technology and art.

Punk is Punk in the same way that an asteroid hitting the earth is hard to replicate, and special times happen like this. How do you ambush the next Punk? 1. Is there innovation? 2. Is the seed community very geeky? 3. Is it a historical level under the megatrend? 4. Can the team continue to do it? 5. are the institutional holders coming in at the middle stage good enough to drive the project forward? 6. can it create a cultural resonance in the circle? These are all worth exploring.

Regarding collection investment strategies, I am very much focused on niche artists from developing countries, especially those with a pure art background or a very pioneering sense of creativity in the contemporary art field and those who respect the blockchain spirit of the blockchain community.

Moderator A: Each Trader (trader) has a different investment strategy, and each person has limited energy to focus on one vertical track. Suppose one is easily influenced by the market and forcibly changes his investment strategy. In that case, it is scary for a Trader, which is equivalent to the whole cognitive system having to be reconstructed.

H: The cost of a physical painting is not high, but it can be sold for hundreds of millions. Therefore, the value of a work does not lie in its materials or cost. Its physical price does not determine the value of Jpeg. In the structure of the blockchain market, Crypto Punks, Art Blocks, and BAYC represent the three dimensions that can be found in the NFT market. Crypto Punks starts from a programmer and is driven by technology; the monkey BAYC is community-driven. The blockchain community may be The base for the survival of the future blockchain; Art Blocks enter from artistic creativity.

From the perspective of social governance, Token is an institutional symbol. Mature NFT projects must create a field and a way of existence, and a variety of hobbies professional life corresponds to the current needs of various communities. I don't see it as a speculative target but rather as a script for building a kind of Metaverse called the respective Metaverse, whose development depends on the evolution of the community.

02

Moderator A: The more successful 10K projects have a cultural tribe behind them, and the ethos can be very different from project to project. How do you see Art Blocks as a clear stream with awe-inspiring numbers? How do you see it breaking out and the appreciation and valuation insights into generative art as a discipline?

S: The group of projects in NFT that are particularly speculative and not culturally good enough are like passing clouds and won't be in the prosperous state they are today when the market is in a bad mood. But two things are sure to go a long way: firstly, good cultural content is never speculative. But anything that has an innovative aesthetic or interest that strikes a chord is not entirely speculative and has its own commercial identity quite typically. The second point, the trend towards avatars and social identities, is unstoppable.

I am very bullish on generative art. Behind it is a respect and exploration of the mathematical logic behind information technology. The methods used are engineering in nature and reflect the cultural identity of a group of people.

C: Generative art started with computer technology and continued until this wave of artificial intelligence, more precisely the application of convolutional neural networks, entered the aesthetic vision of the masses, with a low correlation to the market price of generative artworks. In the past, the general aesthetics of popular art did not break through the traditional class texture (strong mediated aesthetic vision), the blockchain market changed this law, and the same thing is now entering the NFT art collectibles market.

H: NFT is a fuse to the art market, not a monopoly on art history. When the financial operation goes to an extreme, it is decoupled from the actual value creator. Although Art Blocks has a centralized organizer, it is isomorphic with the state-of-the-art community. Generative art will present different visual effects depending on the materials used. With the rapid development of technology and speculation, it is possible to join the first-line NFT.

Y: Art Blocks is the same thing as the explosion of CryptoPunks. Looking at the top 20 Crypto Punks holdings, the most intuitive data is that there is a very high degree of overlap with the big Art Blocks accounts, with the smallest of these holdings holding more than 50 Art Block NFTs.

More generally, a large percentage of the first blockchain explorers to make a large fortune were programmers. The culture that Art Blocks carries is precisely an aesthetically pleasing phenomenon from a programmer's perspective.

Any art form first evolved from technology, and the value of NFT relies on the programmer-led blockchain revolution to provide sufficient wealth to support it. Crypto Punks represent a new class of people, the last piece of the puzzle in internet development.

03

A: The bigger the wave, the further back you look; what should be the kind of work that can be called classic or digital antiques? What is the view on the future of NFT?

C: If we look at this from a long-term perspective, three points need to be considered. Firstly, there is a characteristic of any cultural investment product that performs more similarly to financial assets in a bull market and can be less liquid than financial assets in a bear market, with a liquidity black hole. Classic core assets can find counterparties no matter when they are traded. Broad consensus and acceptance are the hallmarks of traditional investments, and a sense of scarcity and value is formed over a long period.

Secondly, whether crypto art or generative art, continuing to move forward requires special attention to fit in with other cultural and sub-cultural trends, the spirit of the times.

Thirdly, the artist is a profession, not an inoffensive one. One might as well consider the NFT market giving artists such opportunities as a form of nourishment. If it does not produce investment returns, it is still making its contribution to the art market.

H: I encourage artists to get involved in art that may not be very romantic because there is a massive demand for essential art waiting there. A good NFT project is hardly successful without the creation of artists, and NFT offers a vast blue ocean for artists. Calmness is always within one's heart, maintaining a sense of rationality in the course of a bear or bull market, no matter how noisy it may be.

Host's summary: Since I entered this track myself, there are still times of anxiety and confusion, but things are still in the making. I hope that I can do something genuinely long-term like the four excellent teachers.

[almguav]

Hii, I really love your art I always get whenever I look at it! I was wondering if you could give any tips on composition maybe? Of course you don't have to

Ohhoho i’d love to anon ! I hardly ever think about why i do certain things concerning the composition and just do what feels right, so i will try my best explaining ^^

Composition is something I find myself learning through a bunch of trial and error still to this day. I would say the one most important things I learned through my own experiences, is to think of composition as more than just how a character is posed.

So when I think of composition I keep three things in mind; character posing (of course), blank space, and how much ‘information’ I keep in or out or cropping. I think no matter how complex your drawing is, these three things always play a part in your composition whether you realize it or not! So Here’s a few examples with some my works :0

I’m pretty sure every one and their mom knows the spiel of character posing; flow, line of action, shape, complementary curves and edges, yada yada yada. And concerning blank space, depending on what you want to achieve with your art, your blank space varies on it’s importance.

But here’s the most important aspect, the ‘information’ you present in your drawing aka cropping. (i dont only call it cropping because in some cases these two can be different things, but they easily and frequently overlap) Its hard to say exactly what can and can’t be information, but in most cases it involves the character’s pose. To make it simple, let’s imagine a beach! You’d imagine sand, water, and maybe even the horizon where the sea and sky meet! The thing I want yall to take away is that you only need those core elements to show that you’re at the beach, you don’t need the whole coast or everything under the water for us to understand you’re at the beach.

So applying that to art, sometimes you don’t need the whole body to convey what that person is doing. For example, comparing the drawings above, the right one is more redundant in it’s information and the blank space is bigger than the character itself, which takes away the drawing’s focus. This makes the composition - not to say boring - but uninspired at the least. So! Utilize your cropping! Sometimes chopping off the legs or letting things go off frame can be a small bump in making your art look more interesting and also lets you focus on the important parts of your drawing!

As always this isn’t end all of composition or how to make art and stuff, but i hope some once can find this useful! ^^ ✨

[alphaofdarkness]

I wish to know more of your awesome OCs!! So, 19, 22(or maybe as an alternative if they don't, something you mischaracterize on some of them by mistake? Odd, but I sometimes mess up my own ocs XD), 23, 24, 26, and 32 for the OC questions!!

Oh! You beautiful person you! 💖🥺 Of course I shall tell you more about my many, many ocs! Hopefully I can fulfill! 🥰🤗

More undercut because this turned out to be very long ~ 😅

19.  Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why).

Aw, honestly all my OC’s mean so much to me! It is hard to play favorites sometimes lol. Though, if I had to choose, I’m going with two of them!

Samantha, or Sam, is definitely my baby and has definitely developed so much from her original self. Nonetheless, still the same shy, curious girl who has a big role to uphold as chosen Beta to her Alpha. Plus, being a Legendary Wolf Warrior of Light, even more so! Still, despite many the many hardships and obstacles she has faced, she is still hopeful and a total sweetheart. She just wants a settled life and live her with her closest pack mates. 

I have definitely put her though the ringer a lot, emotionally and even explored just several internal things with her. I know Danielle is meant to be me in a sense, but personality and emotional wise, I am more like this lovely Angel. Best girl and everyone loves her!

Second is definitely Danielle (my BsD self insert). Personally, because I have started to embrace her and give her more of my personality and who I really am. Still keeping her as her own person with her struggles, in some aspects, but giving her more of me as well. She has definitely allowed me to have some more self love for myself. Even if it is come and go on most days. She has just grown to be more of a gradual part of me in the recent years since I got into Bsd. I truly love her as she gives me a reason to embrace the parts of me I never would have considered so much or even just not like about me.

Self shipping has definitely also helped, I just love Dany very much and hold her close, please she may be stubborn but she is hella fragile ;;;w;;;

22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how?

Hm, I wouldn't say anyone has mischaracterized my characters so much that I know of, maybe my parents whenever there is a moment they see my Oc’s and just make a judgement on them on the spot lol.

I suppose me mischaracterizing my OCs would probably be the Seven Deadly Soul Sins? Maybe ^^, These seven, practically, ghost entities of the Seven Deadly Sins are meant to be perceived as the worst possible people/wolves. Their existence is the reason people do bad things and are the negative contrast to the Legendary Wolf Warriors. 

Take an old, unfinished draw of all 7 of them together~

I know what they are, how they behave, what their very existence and presence entails. However, I have come to the bad tendency of redemption in my line of story telling, I often find myself back and forth whether there is any redeemable qualities that should be given to them considering their very existence and such. Envy, or Evelyn, is one that I can definitely see having something on that accord, but she is still at her core bad. 

I don't know if I am saying this correctly or even answering the question well lol. But yeah, I say my Deadly Sin OC’s often can be mischaracterized in a way. I can definitely picture them being top favs if my story was an actual thing. I support the fans in all they come lol ^^

 23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like?

I can't think of one I changed too much out of concern for what they are like that I can remember to be quite honest ^^, 

I guess maybe Wisler? I know when I first came up with the start up concept of the LWW, I never intended for him to be a previous Warrior. It was always meant to be Dany’s Aunt who possessed it and Wisler was just a precautious elder wolf who needed to teach her to better her powers, less she gives it up like his daughter had. 

Of course, the whole concept and idea, just gives way for him to have been a possible warrior in the past. If anything I just the developed the idea more and made it more of a tragedy for Wisler. Normally, the concept of being a LWW is meant to be a blessing, a gift bestowed by a greater power, but to him, after giving up his power and remaining upon the world, he just sees it as a curse. Pride only solidified that into his mind. Nonetheless, he becomes a mentor to the other warriors to better themselves and keep them from giving up their power.

Second, was more of a momentary interest in the Chronicles of Narnia and being ever so salty about Susan being left behind, while her family died and went to Narnia ;;;w;;; 

Silly thing really, but literally chose, out of all the warriors, Lidia to be the one to be left alive, from whatever scenario I had at the time, because she refused her soul gift of the LWW’s. It was a momentary silly concept, I don't know why I would chose her for this scenario at all, she doesn’t deserve that ;;w;;

If anything, the ones that I can picture are Yamato and Danielle, just because of their mental state and emotional turmoil under such a heavy weight of loss. It was a silly concept I had thought of once, and just cry little at the thought ;;w;; 

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why?

Heck, I would love to meet all of them... and heavy apologize for all the hell I've put them all through ;;;w;;;

But Jason~ most definitely...Not cause I self ship myself with him or anything but UwU,,, He is a sweetheart and a beautiful boi ~ I want to love him and give him a soft life pls.

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? 

Ahh,,, All of them, in a way? ^^; my middle self was something else entirely~

I think design wise, most if not all my warriors, are still the same. Maybe just a few new upgrades in their fur shade, colored eyes, and maybe their human designs too. Most definitely will change more in the future, just for the sake of bettering myself to draw people.

Old, high school art~ Cringe 

Any new design change is purely out of being in a more better mindset of design and just development of what make them unique. I have definitely changed all of their Soul Markings, I have changed Lidia’s name from Leafia recently, Taka’s formerly sky blue eyes to more of a pale green, Sora’s former tail scar to the claw ones on her shoulder, etc.

Origin, personality and relation wise on the other hand, GRADUAL SHIFT! Some points:

Sora, Yamato, and Takaru are heavily inspired by the Digimon Adventure kids of the same name, I kept their surnames of the ones from the series for a long time into at most Junior Year of High School. Til I learned, if I want to make them my own, I have to change this entirely!

So Sora, Yamato, and Takaru are definitely different entirely from their original selves, personality and kind of design wise.

Sam was kind of meant to be like Kari from Digimon in a way, but heavily refused to name her that or make her in similarity of the character.

Another Oc of mine named Jacob Wolfe was originally going to be the Warrior of Earth before I came up with Lidia.

There was originally meant to be just 5 Warriors, Lidia and Jason not yet part of it and, surprisingly, neither was Danielle.

Jason was originally named Damien and was kind of, for a while, Danielle’s twin sibling... Changed that drastically and entirely after renaming him to Jason.

Originally, had some other mythical beasts living amongst them in the Forest of Dreams, like dragons and gryphons for a while.

Originally, played with the idea of the warriors coming back to life if they didn't give up their powers, but... after much though it just became more of a “too cheesy of choice?” Especially for an ending thing before the next generation kids come in, it was just not an option after a while.

These are just some that I can think of at the top of my head at least, I am sure there is much more scrap things in my mind lol.

32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why? 

...God I don't want any of them to fecking die grueso-(I should shut my mouth actually),,, even though I will admit I did internally put my warriors into a shitty thought-out idea of them in a Final Destination scenario...

Ahh, may Yamato in a way as that stoic, hardened protagonist with the will too try and survive, Wrath is his counter self sin, I find that fitting in a way. Same with Jason, just because of his slight nativity to being a warrior and how he left his former abusive living from his alpha and stepfather. Oddly enough, maybe Sam? Just because of her ability to see the worst things to happen in the future, but I am not sure lol.

Am thinking of the new Resident Evil game I see floating around with some gamer youtubers and I can see Yamato and/or Jason in the position and setting.

—✨——✨——✨—

I truly enjoyed all these questions! It gave me time to think and reflect on my ocs! I do hope you enjoy some old, blurred and unfinished art from ya wolf girl~ I truly appreciate this and gives me the feels of validation! ;;;w;;;

[comicweek]

Robert Kirkman on the State of the Direct Market and Storytelling

Milton Griepp: You're an Image Comics partner and one of the bestselling writers in both the comics and book channels. What are your views on the current state of the business?

Robert Kirkman: I don't ever want to be adding to the chorus of doom and gloom. I think that the comic book industry has suffered from this overall air of, "Oh, things aren't going well. Everything's going to the toilet. What are we doing?" That seems to be something where there's think pieces on all the news sites, creators get together and bitch about things. That's all fun and everything, but overall, I take a pretty positive view of things. I think that there are still opportunities and there's obviously bright spots where sales spike up, and you see people doing something right, and getting rewarded for it. I like that, because I think it would be hard to deny that we're not currently in a down period.

I'm certainly seeing that our numbers internally are in just a slight slump. I think that maybe that's a market correction of the boom in creator-owned comics that we experienced five or six years ago.

Things will level out, and then things will come back. It's all cyclical. We're definitely in a down cycle right now, which is unfortunate, but I think we'll come out of it just fine.

MG: That's basically the question we ask when we’re talking about the overall market: do you think this is a cyclical change or a secular one? It sounds like you're in the first camp.

RK: Yeah, it's something that has happened many, many times before. Also, I could sit back and say (this might be a little controversial, you're recording this, aren't you) I feel like a lot of the complaints come from people not recognizing their age, and not recognizing the fact that over time, we're going to lose touch with what it is that is at the core of this industry.

I've been doing this for almost 20 years now. I don't know, I feel like I'm getting up there. It's very easy for me to go, "There are less books being published now that are exciting me, and therefore that is a problem." You have to recognize that as we get to this advanced age, that the industry is not necessarily going to be catering to my tastes, and that is absolutely fine, and the way things should be. So when you hear the complaints, sometimes it's like, "That's just old man‑ism. That guy needs to calm down." If there's less comics for them, then that's good, because there's fewer of him. I try to be mindful of that as much as I can.

...

MG: You're starting a new arc[ of Oblivion Song], which we want to ask about, but before that, we want to ask about how you handle new arcs. Unlike a lot of publishers and creators, you start a comic series, and just keep going. You don't do miniseries. When a new arc starts, it's just a new number in the series. Can you talk a little bit about why you do it that way?

RK: I feel like that's the preferred method of comics. A lot of things I do just based on myself as a fan. That's what I would want. I don't want to have to track, "Oh, well, this number one came after this other number one." Then, "Oh, but that other number one came in between those two number ones." You break the system of following a series, or even collecting, because collecting is an aspect of our business that I don't think is bad. We are writing stories and crafting narratives that you want people to enjoy, but comic books have that added bonus of also being a collectible.

You want to have somebody that goes, "Oh, I got issue 36. I got issue 89. I got this whole run. This is totally something that I love having." I'm into that myself, as a comic book collector. I don't want to have those starts and stops in a series.

While I recognize that some publishers think that you get a little bit of extra juice every time you start something over with a new number one, I think if you actually look at the data, it more often than not provides a jumping‑off point.

You can watch attrition really kick in as you keep re-starting those books. Unless it's a massively different and popular creative team that's taking over with the new number one, it's something that I'm very much against.

I think that you want to make following the series as simple as possible. I very strongly believe that the reason the Walking Dead television show has led to a huge spike in comic book sales is because anyone can go into a bookstore and comic book shop and say, "I want to read Walking Dead. What do I do?"

They go, "The book with the number one on it. Find the book with the number one on it, whether that's the hardcover, the compendium, or the trade, and try that. If you like that, come back and get the one that matches it with the number two on it."

It's that simple. If you look at any of the DC shows, Marvel movies, Marvel shows, or a lot of the other stuff coming out… Somebody loves Spider‑Man Into the Spider‑Verse. They walk into a bookstore, and they're like, "Hey, I want to buy a Spider‑Man book. Where do I start?"

They're like, "Well, I like the Dan Slott run. Buy his number one," or, "Well, you really want to get this Visionaries book with Michelinie and McFarlane. That's got a number one." There's 45 different number ones. It's very unclear where a novice fan would actually begin their journey into comics, which I think is a really bad thing. It's a disservice we've done to comics as a whole.

Keep things simple. Volume one, volume two, volume three. Stick with it. That's the way I prefer to do things.

MG: We were talking about how you keep your comic series running rather than starting with a new first issue every time you start a new arc. Circling back to the macro discussion for a second, do you think there's any correlation between the huge number of number ones we have out there, and the fact that sales are a little soft right now?

RK: Yeah, I think it does get to a point where it's a little overwhelming. I've talked to younger creators starting off in the business. The reason I usually bring this up is because I feel like this is something I even did wrong.

When you start catching a little bit of heat and you've written a comic book, then you start another comic, and then you start another comic, you're bringing that audience with you from series to series. That's how a new writer or a new artist is going to build an audience.

For writers especially, because they can do multiple projects, when you start doing two series a month, three series a month, four series a month, five series a month, you're going to get to a point where you hit a critical mass, where your fan can't read everything that you do.

If you're a fan of seven different writers, and they're all doing five to six to seven different series every month, that's going to break the bank. I always tell creators, "Recognize your output, and try and find that sweet spot," because once your fan base stops buying, once they get to a point where they can't buy every book, then they're not going to buy as many as they would otherwise. If you're doing four books a month, and they can buy four books a month, then you do a fifth book, and they can't buy that, then they're just going to go back to buying two books a month. It'll actually make them buy less of your stuff, I feel.

The industry as a whole, because you have all of these new series, and all these new books coming out and you have Marvel and DC, Image, and other publishers publishing so many books, if you can't buy every Marvel comic (because you're a Marvel comics fan), you're going to buy infinitely fewer Marvel comics. You're only going to cherry‑pick the ones that you want.

The glut in the market, with us publishing so many books, is driving people to buy less and less comics. If I'm an Avengers fan, and it's impossible for me to read every Avengers book, well, then I'm only going to read the one or two that I really love. If there's only three or four, I might buy all three or four, just because I loved knowing that I have explored every corner of that world, and I'm getting every inch of that story.

[oumakokichi]

Ohhh can I ask what do you like about kiibo? He's one of my faves but I don't see many people talk about him

I absolutely would love the chance to talk about Kiiboagain! The biggest piece of meta I got to write on him was quite a long timeago, and it really is a shame that people don’t talk about him as much. It’snot as if he’s unpopular, exactly, but it seems like most people are onlyinterested in the “cute robot” aspect rather than the things Kiiboactually represents in the game and the things he accomplishes in Chapter 6.

Obviously I’ll be discussing Chapters 5 and 6 prettyin-depth, so there’ll be massive spoilers for the whole game. Please only readif you’re comfortable with that!

I think part of the main reason why there’s so littlediscussion about Kiibo is because his main time to shine doesn’t really comeuntil Chapter 5. I myself didn’t particularly have an opinion on him one way orthe other before that. Similar to Tsumugi, he stays mostly on the back-burner inall the previous chapters. He’s certainly level-headed and reasonable duringthe trials, but he’s very much on the outskirts of things, never part of eitherthe friendships or conflicts the other characters are having with each other.

Thankfully though, ndrv3 does much better than itspredecessors (in my opinion) of giving most of the characters a more fair andeven amount of screen time. Characters who received their fair share ofdevelopment in earlier chapters and then passed away aren’t around by Chapter5, so that allowed Kiibo to finally take the stage and receive a lot more focusafter five chapters of mostly only being brought up to either say somethinguseful to the trial or get robo-bullied.

Chapter 5 is the first opportunity we have to reallyinteract with Kiibo in a plot context, not counting FTEs. While it’s somethingthat was alluded to plenty in the other chapters, Chapter 5 finally reallyhighlights exactly how much Kiibo questions his own existence as it’s viewed byeveryone else. In a game all about how “lies become reality” and “perception iseverything,” he’s genuinely worried over the thought that others perceive himas little more than just “The Robot™” despite all his efforts to ask that theytreat him as one of the group.

Kiibo wants to be regarded as an individual, not a machineor a wacky exaggerated trope, even if that’s what the other characters keeptrying to delegate him to. Even if he can’t be human, per se, he’d at leastlike to be thought of as someone who’s not out of the ordinary. That’s part ofwhy he hates the mecha genre so much, in fact.

If he had his way, he’d honestly prefer to be an ordinaryhigh school student, just like the rest of them—and that, in a game where manyof the characters prefer talent and competitionand excelling above all else, is interesting. It’s not often that normalcy isany of the character’s desired goal; more often, it’s a curse that they’retrying to escape from. But it works well as a theme for Kiibo because being arobot is something he has literally no control over, something that arguablydoesn’t even count as a “talent” in the first place.

Kiibo is so desperate to settle the matter of how he’sperceived that he’s in fact almost reckless with it. He actually volunteers tolie under the press in order to see whether the sensor on it will detect him asa “human” or an “object.” When Ouma gives the group the electric hammers Miumade for him, explaining that they work on machines and electronics but not onpeople, Kiibo actually contemplates using one on himself in order to test howMiu actually saw him—something Ouma advises against, since if it turns out hewas regarded as a machine and not a person, his circuits would completely fry.

These things are, of course, not uncommon to robotcharacters in fiction. They’re themes that have been done before, but I ratherlike the serious twist things take with Kiibo’s self-perception anyway inChapter 5. It adds a level of understanding to the reason why he’s been so onthe outskirts of the group; unlike Tsumugi, who keeps herself on the outskirtsbecause she purposely wants to be an observer, Kiibo has simply felt excludedfrom the start and always will feel excluded,on some level. I feel for these kinds of characters deeply, and that’s probablythe point at which I went from being neutral about him to quite liking him.

The fact that he was actually the most objective and fairestcharacter in the Chapter 5 trial earned him huge points, too. That was where hetruly began showing some of his protagonist potential, in my opinion. Assomeone who wants to be treated fairly and “like one of the group,” it reallydoes speak volumes to Kiibo’s character that he honestly, 100% believes thateveryone else should receive that kind of fair and equal treatment, too. Evensomeone like Ouma, who was being viewed in almost entirely antagonistic termsby the rest of the group and who they believed to be a literal “Junko 2.0.”

Even after using the Hope’s Peak remember light, Kiibo wasthe only one in the group who actually wanted to talk to Ouma, rather thanMomota in Chapter 5. He went to the machinery bay with the intention of seeingif he could have a face-to-face talk with him instead of having to rely on theentire dr1-style “let’s talk down the big bad villain from despair” plan thatthey had set for the next day. I still wonder what would’ve actually happenedif he’d managed to convince Ouma to let him in to talk, too—he didn’t succeedbecause Maki was already in the machinery bay at the time, but I feel likethings could’ve turned out drastically different if he’d managed to talk withOuma for himself.

That fair objectivity of Kiibo’s is one of my favoritequalities, moreso since it’s something that seems to be natural and inherent tohim, rather than something Tsumugi oranyone else programmed into his character. It’s so distinctly… well, I’mlooking for a good comparison and I keep coming back to Hufflepuff. Fair,hard-working, earnest, and unbelievably loyal, both to the people he caresabout and what he believes in—these are all traits that embody Kiibo as acharacter.

While these traits are definitely positive things, they canalso be unbelievably scary when carried to their full potential. After losinghis ahoge and severing his connection with the ndrv3 audience, Kiibo finallyhas an opportunity to think for himself and make his own decisions, without anyinterruptions or subconscious urges not to do so. And he’s the only character after Chapter 5 who looksat Momota and Ouma’s sacrifice, and decides to put a stop to the killing gameonce and for all, with his own two hands.

This is a cold, ruthless decision coming from a characterwho has looked at all the options as fairly as possible and determined that thekilling game will not stop unless he takes this course of action. When Kiibomade up his mind to end everything himself once and for all was pretty much thepoint where I went from just liking him to lovinghim. Stripped away of the audience’s interference or Tsumugi’s plans for him,Kiibo is someone who at his core was not entirely dissimilar to Ouma—if anything,he was even more willing to make sacrifices than Ouma was, because Kiibo was absolutely willing to blow up the wholeschool and everyone in it by sunrise if Saihara couldn’t find any other way ofstopping the killing game by exposing the truth.

This reflects a loyalty to his ideals and to the sacrificesMomota and Ouma left behind that goes very, very deep. I have a huge soft spotfor loyal characters, moreso loyal characters who do questionable things forthe sake of their loyalty—Juzo and Mukuro are both super high on my characterranking for that exact reason. Kiibo’s unwavering decision to do anything ittook to end the killing game made him incredibly likable for me, especiallysince, in the end… he was right. It turned out that blowing up Saishuu Academyand giving the audience an ending that was neither hope nor despair was theonly possible way to break the cycle of “hope vs. despair” that had been goingon for 53 seasons.

Once the trial begins and Kiibo has his ahoge and his linkwith the audience restored, Chapter 6 is a journey of him stepping into theprotagonist role at first, saying all the wrong things and falling into all thewrong pitfalls of the “hope vs. despair” cycle, and acting every bit the sortof Naegi-like, inspirational, hope-giving protagonist that Tsumugi set him upto be. Just as Ouma was very much set up by Tsumugi to be “despair,” aJunko-like figure to take the fall in her original plans, Kiibo was set up verysimilarly to be “hope.”

But “hope” within the killing game, especially “hope” asTsumugi wanted it to reflect the Hope’s Peak arc, is a false hope. All it doesis enable the same cycle to keep repeating. And that’s something Saihara pointsout, touching on the fact that the ndrv3 audience arguably wants to see “hope”even more than “despair,” as “hope” is heavily implied to be the choice thatkept winning the most in the past 53 seasons of the killing game.

Like Ouma, Kiibo rejects his intended role in the end, andthat’s exactly what I love about him the most, I think. Despite being someonewho was set up to be a puppet on a string every step of the way, Kiibo rejectedthat “hope” and instead was willing to stand with everyone and lay down hislife in order to end the killing game. Even though he had every reason to keeparguing, even though his “inner voice” kept telling him that “hope” was theright choice, he ignored all of that and instead consciously chose to tryending the killing game once again.

There’s also the matter of Kiibo’s self-sacrificing streak amile wide, which is something I always wind up falling for in DR characters andsomething that inevitably hurts me, since they always die. Characters whosacrifice themselves for the sake of others’ happiness do not get to have agood time in DR, ever. And Kiibo’s sacrifice at the end of the game goes soun-commented on most of the time, because Saihara and the others assume that itwas more the outside world’s doing.

But looking back at the final execution, at Kiibo’s concernas he saw Saihara and the other survivors under the rubble, and the slight smileon his face as he flew up higher to the dome to self-destruct in order to givethem all a chance to live on, I can’t help but feel that it was Kiibo’s doing,rather than the audience’s directly. Some small part of Kiibo still left inthere wanted more than anything for the rest of them to have a chance atliving.

In the end, the will to live on is the smallest and mostgenuine form of hope that there is, in my opinion at least. The “hope” thatTeam DR and the killing game audience wanted was false, but Kiibo was notmistaken about wanting there to at least be some way for Saihara and the othersurvivors to keep living. In a game featuring many, many suicidal and depressedcharacters, Kiibo is ultimately the one that presents them with the opportunityto keep living, so that they don’t haveto sacrifice their lives. Even if the road ahead of them is bound to be harshand painful, he wanted them to have the option to walk down it in the firstplace and to be able to find a reason, any reason, to keep living.

This has gotten pretty long so I’ll leave it for now, but I’mglad I had the chance to talk about Kiibo because he’s honestly such a goodcharacter. The last two chapters of ndrv3 succeeded in making him go from acharacter I was completely neutral about to one of my absolute favorite DRcharacters of all-time—because contrary to how he seemed initially, he wound upbeing one of the best subversions of Naegi’s original character and the entireHope’s Peak arc.

Thank you both for asking! I’m always glad to meet morepeople who really like Kiibo, so this was fun!

[amyelizabeth1986-blog]

A testimony ❤️🙌🏼

When we receive salvation, we are on a spiritual high, full of vigour and on fire, almost like a honeymoon period. I didnt want to hear it when people told me that it wouldn't last, to enjoy it while it lasted.To calm down and pace myself. I wanted to feel like that forever. I have never felt so complete, so utterly fulfilled in every aspect of my being. I felt like I was unstoppable. I knew where I had come from, I knew where God had led me out from, I knew just how much I had been delivered from because the Holy Spirit touched me in the core of my very being, He had set my heart alight so that nothing hurt anymore and everything made sense.

Then life threw up some pretty difficult situations and circumstances for me and I very slowly started to slip back into old patterns of behaviour and became more open to things that once ensnared me. I felt shame, I felt discredited, I felt under condemnation, I would go as far to say as I hated myself for how I felt I had fallen so short. Because I was so 'on fire' for God I felt all eyes were on me as I 'fell from grace' Some stuck by me, some distanced themselves from me and in turn I distanced myself from everybody else.

I felt like, if I am dishonouring God like this even though I cannot help myself, I cannot bear to be around His people or fellowship with them or with Him. I turned my heart away from Him and decided to go back to my old way of living, giving up all hope I could ever 'get right' with Him again.

It was too damn hard living a Christian life, I thought I had been set free yet here I was facing even harder challenges in life than ever before! I yearned for my ignorance before I knew the truth. Here I was, my resolve set on going back to my old life yet I couldnt actually 'enjoy' myself.

I had this niggling feeling in my heart that I wanted to fellowship with my Father. A deep sorrow that no matter how hard I to revert back to my old life with more and more manners of ungodliness in which I had once found some element of fulfillment albeit fleeting but now, none.

I felt so bad about myself because of how much I had been rejected in my old life by my own father and my childrens father I was deliberately attempting to live up to everyones expectation of me which was to fail and not be good enough and in turn hoping God would also throw the towel in and give up on me, that His people, my new Christian friends would see the 'real me' (which was the old me) and give up on me too. See that I was a fraud. That is what I had been doing all my life subconciously. Cultivating new friendships and new relationships and then pushing them away for self preservation.

I remember getting so frustrated with God, saying; 'I was better off not knowing You! This is too hard! Why did you come into my life to make it more difficult for me! Just leave me be and let me go back to my old life, I don't want this!'

I look back and feel saddened that I ever felt this way. I read Exodus this morning about the Israelites grumbling against Aaron and Moses; 'If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! (Exodus 16:3) Yes, that is exactly how I felt.

For the longest time, years, my life was spent yo-yoing between feeling seperated from God because my heart condemned me by my own ungodly actions and then 'coming back to Him' repenting and trying to live a more godly life, striving to please Him and live up to expectations, struggling to keep myself out of trouble and away from temptation.

It was exhausting. In both instances I always felt that I wasnt good enough. I looked at everybody else and couldnt understand why it was so difficult for me to keep up with how Godly they were. I think iI must have broken every single commandment AFTER receiving salvation.

The worst part about it is I knew that God had given me these gifts to bless His body and yet I was discredited because of my behaviour so it almost felt like my testimony was sprinkled with shame. It was like a smear campaign against God in me. What glory was I giving to Him?!

Then here is the manna that God sent;

'God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.' (2 Corinthians 5:21)

'The law was brought in so that trespass might increase. But where sin abounds, grace increased all the more.' (Romans 5:20)

'Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.' (Romans 8: 1-3) *And in fact, the whole of Romans 8*

'Therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come;the old has gone, the new is here!' (2 Corinthians 5:17)

'So if the son sets you free, you are free indeed' (John 8:36)

'As far as the East is from the West so far has He removed our transgressions from us.' (Psalm 103:12)

'I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Fathers hand. I and the Father are one.' (John 10:28-30)

and finally;

'...and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.' (John 8:32)

It is the truth that we know that sets us free. The more I focused on what the Word said about me and who I am in Him at the point of salvation, the less I did the things I did not want to do. The more I put my eyes on what God said about me and how He feels about me the more like Him I became by accident with no striving involved.

I realised the enemy has no power over me except the power I gave to Him. It is written that God's people perish through lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6) and that is what was happening to me. The knowledge is the Word of God. The enemy was having a field day with me because I did not really know in my heart who I was in Him. When God looks at me, He sees me just as Hagar said; 'You are the God who sees me' (Genesis 16:13) yet He also sees His Son, who is righteous, in us, sin free.

God is always refining us with His 'refiners fire and launderers soap' (Malachi 3:2) so even though over the years I have felt that I was going to and fro between living a Godly life and not, each time I 'came back to the Lord' (which is what it felt like) I was less and less like the old version of myself. Even though I didnt understand the new birth and who I was, God was busy refining me all the while.

This time, it has been over a year since I had full heart knowledge of the above scriptures and I have never 'walked with the Lord' in one go as long as this. i have slipped up and behaved in an ungodly way during this time but instead of turning my heart away from Him I just come right back to the Word of God and confess the truth over myself and remind myself of who I am in Him and that there is no condemnation because I am in Christ.

God supplied the Isralites with manna and quail forty years in the desert until they reached the border of Canaan. That is when the wilderness years were over. The Lord has provided manna for us in His Word. When we eat it, it becomes engraved in us, etched onto our hearts. The Lord has given us every provision in His Word that we may ever need for this lifetime. it is when it becomes heart knowledge and not only head knowledge, when we have a revelation of the truth that we step over the border, not needing to wander in the wilderness any longer.

This is a true testimony of Gods grace, love and salvation in me, despite much opposition and much human failings on my part. He is faithful and true and no matter what man may think He has a plan and a purpose for everybody no matter what they have done or said or how backslidden they have become. There is still a place at His table for every one of His children. He is calling all His prodigals home. He says; 'Not by mighjt nor by power but by my Spirit!' (Zech 4:6) He says; 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be (are) white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be (are) as wool' (Isaiah 1:18) and to those that try and put any of His babes under the law and with it condemnation the Lord says; 'It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a milstone tied around their neck than to cause any of My little ones to stumble.' (Luke 17:2)

❤️

LET MY PEOPLE GO