#and want it to die already but popular culture isn't helping

[unbeleveable-archive]

Also, the munchkin was no mistress of poisons. That is further bs that came about because of her Florentine heritage. It was thought true on the continent of most Italians back in the day and she was no exception.

[thespiritofvexation]

Saw @glorious-blackout posting about seeing Kaizers Orchestra which reminded me I should too. Thought I'd look up how I went about posting about the 2022 Deep Purple show and had to laugh when I saw the tags!:

Sooo, what show are we seeing next?😆

Anyway, back to Kaizers Orchestra!

Backstory: Sweden isn't as good at recognising music from Norway as the reverse, but we used to have ZTV, sort of a swedish MTV only more pretentious meaning they didn't air only the most popular hits but also the old, the new, the obscure and even the norwegian. Here I first heard "Kontroll på kontinentet" by Kaizers Orchestra when I was idk 18, 19?

I downloaded it and put it on a mix CD that has been played at many a party in my family over the years

I haven't encountered a single person who knows Kaizers Orchestra so I remember being thrilled finding out that @glorious-blackout knew about them a few years back! It sparked renewed interest for me!

When I heard they were coming to Stockholm late February this year I started a little brainwashing campaign, sneaking a lot of Kaizers into the playlist at family gatherings. And since "Kontroll..." already is on the family soundtrack it wasn't a very hard sell - my mom, dad and bro wanted to go with me✌️

On to the show:

Felt big satisfaction that the show was sold out and evidently not being the only swede who knew about them (although there seemed to be quite a few norwegians there)

When the speakers at the venue greeted everyone welcome to tonight's show with "Keezers Orchestra" there was a collective "noooo!" and indignant scoffing from the crowd. I felt at home:)

Wise from experience I got me a band shirt before the show instead of saying I'll do it after and then... not.

Debated if I should look up any live stuff beforehand but decided to go in blind, a good choice!

Seeing a double bass on stage naturally got me all fired up (you know me!) Expected it to be switched out for a conventional bass after the first song but NO, double bass STAYED!❤❤❤

I don't know what to say about the stage show, it had oil barrels and gas masks, everything I'd expected to see and they killed it!

KONTROLL PÅ KONTINENTET!!!

Double bass solo in the solo-section was of course the best solo. He can marry me

"Hjerteknuser"❤💔

Somehow I have never heard "Die Polizei"? Or it just didn't stick with me. But it sure stuck now! The crowd singing in this final song brought tears in my eyes. And since it went on forever it wasn't hard to join in!

Couldn't help but thinking Die Polizei has major Die Mauer (Ebba Grön)-vibes, but make it norwegian with a happy ending! <-a compliment of course..

My glasses are admittedly very Thåström-tinted at the moment but after having started the day at the cinema watching the documentary about Imperiet, and then visited the swedish punk exhibition at the city museum, it was the perfect ending!

Family was also happy and thanking me for this very music-cultural day. Dad is currently posting Kaizer-videos on facebook...

The only video I filmed (because my filming suck as you can see) was the end of Die Politzei, the crowd had been singing like this for a good while!

[writtengalaxies]

{Questions anon} folklorist brain you say? (eyes-emoji-goes-here) lemme just slide this over. Vampire!reader with darkiplier, anti annnnd hmm murdock headcanons?

Questions anon. add-on for the vampire one. just to yeet some ideas cuz i realized i was kinda vague. like Do the boys help their beloved get blood? did they offer their own? if they did, did it go well with anti being well anti and darkiplier technically being dead? What sort of vampire is the reader and what challenges do the boys help their s/o with? (running water, sunlight, home turf, invited in.) does the reader use their vampire abilities to mess with the guys? Go feral plz

Mmm feral yeeees good >:3

SO FIRST AS A DISCLAIMER, I'm working mostly with the modern popular media concept of vampires, if only because do you know how many different kinds of vampires there around the world in folklore? And that's just counting the straight up vampire ones. We're not talking any of the fun funky ones that are technicalities, like the leanansidhe (a type of fae creature that targets artistic types by giving inspiration and then literally sucking out their life essence so they die young!) or ones like the VAMPIRE. GOURDS. WHERE IF YOU DON'T HARVEST YOUR VEGGIES AND FRUIT, THEY'LL TURN INTO VAMPIRES AND ROLL AROUND AND GROWL AT YOU DO YOU KNOW HOW FUNNY THAT IS. Or you know, touching on real life accounts and accusations of vampirism. (Yes, Elizabeth Báthory de Esced, but also the case of Mercy Brown in Rhode Island (which in turn was part of a larger pile of accused vampire cases in New England! And that was 1892! That's recent in terms of history!). Both of which are fascinating looks at the cultural responses to folklore!

(I...have had a single cup of coffee, so...pardon the rambling.)

But anyway, working with a little closer to pop media vampires, if only because it's the most consolidated, understood concept of them. I won't get into some of the finer nuances (like it's garlic flowers in some cases for vampire warding, while others say the bulbs proper, which in turn is just generally part of the "consume this to purge off and ward from evil spirits AKA sickness").

...This got away from me.

SO HERE WE GO.

Dark

Despite having basically stolen someone else's body, the influence over time means that the blood in it isn't...really....blood any more.

That said, he does offer, if nothing else, out of politeness. But it's like going to take a sip of chocolate milk, and discovering the chocolate is barbeque sauce. It's not pleasant.

He's not great at the whole concept of feeding, or the fact that vampires can be...attractive. Most of the media he was aware of (before the whole...events of everything) was Bram Stoker's Dracula and the 1922 film Nosferatu...the man's been too caught up in revenge to really follow media trends.

Still, he's an ooky spooky man who seems to be able to craft entire dimensions of darkness, and that helps. If you have a 24 hour personal night time filter, well...that's choice.

Mirrors...are a touchy spot to him, even if modern ones are aluminum backed and not silver backed (and really silver was the whole problem with mirrors before), so you don't really have them. Makes it harder to get ready in the mornings (evenings?), do skin care, stuff like that...but hey, the thought counts.

Anti

THIS GLITCH BITCH. He already possesses bodies. He's a demon, after all. It's so easy for him to get you a snack. He'll ask what in particular you're craving, go find someone.

It helps he likes how the biting feels. I'm not saying Anti's into biting but...........................he's into biting.

And if you want to have fun and not worry about invitations into places? He'll just body hop into someone who's staring into their phone and take care of that for you.

He kind of takes a little bit too much joy out of the terror and panic your dinners have sometimes.

Someone starts shit with you because they feel like you're encroaching on their territory? Good news, you have a demonic guard dog of a boyfriend. You never have to lift a hand to expand your turf.

Murdock

For someone who isn't a vampire, this man has too many goddamn experiences with this.

First off, he's going to invite you along to jobs. Sometimes he treats it like an art gallery, bringing you several of his choices of victims.

It...gets weirdly romantic and sexy? Murdock, blood, and the way he's bringing you choices, letting you taste like it's a wine tasting and he's a sommelier...

He's obsessed with watching you feed and feast. Sometimes it's almost too much, even for you.

However...when you confess you can't cross the nearby river because running water? He does research, figures out the specifics. You just need a bit of dirt from home to be able to conquer that? Easy. A bit of resin, a scoop of dirt, and a locket is all you need. 

Oh, and he gladly offers himself to you for feeding. He may be covered up most of the time, but that makes those times where he bares his throat to you as he tugs down his turtleneck, or pulls back the sleeves to expose his wrist all the more tempting. 

After all, he can't let the taste of anything less linger in your mouth for too long.

[orangepanic]

Directors cut for the uncommon rainsss

Aw, thank you.

Sigh. After the Uncommon Rains. Though it's not yet finished, this is without a doubt my least popular long fic. Despite some initial interest, even most of the people who normally read my stuff (all 2-5 of you, bless) aren't really picking this one up - or if they are, they aren't telling me about it. I have a few theories as to why this one is a flop, but that's not what you asked. Besides, I personally love it, so I'm gonna gush about it anyway. Maybe someone out there will give it a chance. And to the few readers it has, thank you!

As I explain in the summary and author's note, "After the Uncommon Rains" is essentially Jane Austen's last novel, Persuasion, rewritten as a Western. Some of this is self-serving. Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen, and one I think is generally severely underrated in favor of others like Emma or Pride and Prejudice. In it we have characters who aren't in the throes of folly and misunderstanding, but actually living with the consequences of that previous folly. The action opens with main protagonist, Anne Elliott, faced with the prospect of reuniting with Frederick Wentworth, a man with whom she was deeply in love and briefly engaged to some seven years prior. Her family disapproved of Frederick's lack of wealth; Anne caved to their pressure and broke it off. She's been miserable ever since. Frederick, however, is now the dashing and very rich Captain Wentworth, having made his fortune on the very wit and intelligence that Anne fell in love with. Now he's back. And oh boy, does he hate her for breaking his heart.

So immediately this screams Irosami to me. What I love about Anne and Frederick is that their attraction isn't just physical, but intellectual. They both love culture and reading and learning about the world, and have good hearts and strong moral compasses and are brave and selfless with their friends. Which is what I see as the chief attractions of an Irosami ship as well. Their minds are made for each other just as much as their bodies. But I didn't just want to re-write Persuasion with Iroh as the naval captain and Asami as the quiet victim of her family's hatred of benders. Not only was that boring, but it didn't quite fit. Asami stands up to her father in canon. She doesn't take anyone's shit. Of the two of them, I think Iroh the more likely to cave to the pressures of honor and duty. Therefore, Iroh is a more obvious Anne. And Asami, the ambitious and talented 19-year old CEO with a bit of a temper and ride-or-die loyalty, is a better Frederick. It also allowed me to bring in more members of the OC family I've already created for Iroh, including especially his little sister.

I also wanted to do something fun with the setting. I personally struggle when I have to follow another work too closely, so I thought the challenge of making Persuasion work outside of Edwardian England would help. I've been playing with the idea of a Western for a while. So, why not? A Western it became. What is Anne's stay at the Musgroves became Iroh working at Tenzin's sky bison ranch in the Si Wong desert, and Captain Wentworth's success in the navy became Asami's inheritance of Future Industrial Railroad, which just happens to be building a line out that way.

The most fun I've had with this fic is hands-down the worldbuilding I've had to do for the setting. I've done so much research on cattle ranching and clothing styles and climate and locomotives. I've looked at so many pictures of dresses and hats and trains. I have my friend with a horse on speed dial to ask her questions about riding and the care of ostrich horses. I feel like I invent a plant or animal or food every ten lines. It's really great. Is it a coach or a carriage? Did you know that there's a difference?

By far the least fun - or maybe just the hardest - is matching up all the characters. In the novel there are far fewer main characters. The Musgroves' two daughters are Anne's only real rivals for Wentworth's affections. But in this fic I had to figure out what to do with all the air kids, all the Beifongs, Korra, plus Mako and Bolin. It was absolute chaos, with like five different people filling the roles of two. Other characters don't cleanly map - Baatar Jr. is playing the role of two characters, as is Bolin, while Commander Bumi is more like one and a half and Lin combines the roles of 2-3 bit parts so sometimes I feel like I forget that she's there. The endgame Linumi is based on the flimsiest of side ships. There's no renters of Kellynch, so Frederick's sister and the Admiral's roles are spread out among the cast. The whole plotline of Mr. Elliott, Anne's creepy cousin who almost marries her instead of Frederick, is dramatically reduced because I cut out the entire inheritance sub-plot altogether. Same with Tahno, who is playing a reduced version of Mrs. Clay who doesn't really want to marry Izumi (Sir Elliott), just kind of be a sponge on the family. Basically, it's been chaos.

If there's one mistake I made in planning, I think it's probably trying to force the Korra sami bit. For one, it's probably clear as day to a reader that I don't vibe with the ship because I can't write it to save my life. The whole Korra and Asami dynamic feels awkward and forced to me. Second, though I know it's an AU and 2023 and I'll probably be roasted for this, no one remarking on the same sex relationship also feels weird for both the Western and the Austin genre, mostly because there is always so much about inheritance and marriage there. Nobody batting an eye that Korra wants to marry Asami without addressing money and heirs and all that in a world where those concerns were the driving force of most of the plots seems a glaring omission. Finally, it introduces even more people into the mix, and other side ships like Makopal that I struggle to write or have to spend extra time justifying. I think everything would have gelled better with eventual Makorra and Bopal as the other side ships. Oh well. I wanted Borra. :-) I will live with my choices.

That said, I still love this fic. I'm having fun writing it. It's stretched me in new ways, most notably in it being the first time I've ever worked with beta readers. THANK YOU YOU LOVELY AMAZING PEOPLE. And whether a lot of folks read this story or not, I'm glad that I tried to do something different and difficult.

[nosetoons]

Is it me or does like very few stuff on Netflix I love/really like that have already been either cancelled or overshadowed isn't really worth the $16 a month? No, Squid Game doesn't count.

I miss The Midnight Gospel forever and always. But at least now I don't have to fork over money to a company that only cares about popularity because someone on eBay literally made a bootleg DVD that contains all 8 episodes of this show. And I would rather pay $25 once for a DVD I can watch over and over for free from now on than pay $16 a month for stuff Netflix ignores.

I'm not usually vocal about piracy and bootlegging, because that just seems to be the thing most people do because "skurew da compahnii" but the thing is this, Netflix isn't losing money. They're a billionaire company just like the rest. And they flat out refuse to do physical media copies of their own stuff unless they can outsource it to other home media distributors.

That being said, Netflix fumbling the bag for one of my all-time favorite shows is one mistake I can't forget, nor honestly forgive. It makes it even worse they straight up told its co-creator Duncan Trussell that they were happy with the show when it premiered. Fucking two-face liar. If anything TV show cancellations are very confusing to me. Because the thing is Netflix is a multi-billionaire company, if the show wasn't successful for them, they have like all the other shows that are super successful, why not put some of the money they earned from that one successful show to give to the people to work on a new season for that show, specifically for those fans. Not every show on there needs to be on the line like Squid Game, Stranger Things, or in animated terms, Big Mouth. Like at this point, what was even the point of opening up the animation division if you're not going to let the artists and animators in the division have their projects take off by letting it just die after one or two seasons? It makes no sense.

Not like it matters anymore, because it seems like to me Netflix's future of adult animation wants to line up with Fox's adult animation lineup; just nothing but soulless adult animated sitcoms. It's not even just Family Guy clones anymore. It's just the goofy quirky character goes on stupid adventures and says "fuck" and "shit" and there's TONS OF NUDITY AND POP CULTURE REFERENCES HAHAHA. It doesn't even help the fact Netflix's most recent adult cartoon is resulting in the company being boycotted by Black people because they thought using BLACK STEREOTYPES was a great way to make a show for black people. Meanwhile, shows like Midnight Gospel and Inside Job are left rotting away because Netflix didn't give it a chance but are literally looking for ways to make the next Big Mouth.

In other words, if you are wanting to do a cartoon, avoid both Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. They're not into animation for passion, they're in it to make a quick buck.

Anyways, here's my annual doodle for the show's 4th anniversary. Again, I know it's long gone, but it's still an amazing show that I highly recommend even if it's only 8 episodes. If you don't have Netflix, just buy the DVD off of eBay. It's worth the 25 bucks.

Happy 4th Anniversary, The Midnight Gospel! 2020-2024

[edelweissacermacrophyllum]

Act in good faith

1 Samuel 24:1-25:44, Psalm 68:15-20, John 18:25-40

One of the things I love about David is how often he acts in good faith. His treatment of king Saul is almost unique in the realm of kings and their successors. Remember, David has already been crowned king by the custom of the land. Samuel crowned (anointed) him before he became any sort of hero or folk legend. He knows that he will be king and that Saul is messing up the kingdom and yet he acts with distinct good faith towards Saul, not only sparing his life but showing him that he spared his life and offering him the chance to get close and apologize. Evil people tend to assume that everybody thinks the way they do, or at least would if they were clever enough. Good people hope that everybody is acting and good faith and want to offer them the chance, but when that turns out not to be the case, good people are capable of empathizing with evil people. Of course, David isn't perfect, so when Nabal insults him and repays him evil for the service that David has rendered, even though Nabal didn't agree to pay for the services and was a little strongarmed into them (this looks a bit like a protection racket), David goes to attack and kill Nabal and his household. But Nabal's clever wife Abigail goes to head David off and placate him with diplomacy and gifts. I think there's a lot of honour/shame culture and hospitality expectaion going on here that helps explain what happened.

I don't quite know what to make of Jesus's and Pilate's conversation. Pilate doesn't come across as such a terrible guy. He seems to want to engage with Jesus in good faith but Jesus keeps answering his questions strangely, by claiming to be a king but also that his kingdom would not be violent toward's Pilate's. Pilate basically shrugs his shoulders and says that he doesn't want to execute Jesus. He doesn't act in bad faith really, but also not in good faith. He is a pragmatist and decides, like Caiaphas the high priest, that one person should die instead of a popular uprising, or that one person should die to save the people, which is not a very subtle metaphor. But we need obvious metaphors, because the subtle ones often don't reach enough people. We need beauty that you don't have to study to appreciate. We need both our makers and our consumers to approach things in good faith, with the understanding that there are people everywhere that are affected by everything we do. And that the easy things to consider, like dollars and laws, are not nearly as important.

[dannyphantom-rewrite]

Character ref for; Jack, Maddie and Jazz,

Art by @gally-hin / @gally-hin-phantom

Okay so first off; in terms of Actual redesign, I didn't change a whole lot. I'm actually very fond of Jack and Maddie's design's, my only real issue was with their proportions. Like...look as a lady person who is also thiCC I do not have a fucking wasp thin waist and I'm sure I'm not the only one, lmao. As for Jack? Godamnit he looked like a brick on toothpicks. Just Let him be a fucking Bara man! Anyway of course I asked Gally to do this one bc they're fucking great at drawing different body types

I also cannot and will not take credit for Jazz's outfit. I didn't have any issue with her canon clothes aside from them being a bit plain, so what she's wearing here was literally pulled straight off of her original concept art, which I will link here.

Anyway, getting to the Actual character lore now, let's start with

Maddie Fenton

-Full name is Madeline (I haven't decided on a maiden name yet)

-Born and raised on a farm in Arkansas, had a southern accent that she trained herself out of in college bc it was just one more reason for people not to take her seriously. Still sometimes uses "y'all" completely unironically bc old habits die hard.

-She has a really big family, and they're proud of her accomplishments but feel like she's wasting her talent studying ghosts, because really, up until the Fenton portal was up and running there wasn't even any solid proof they existed. Her sister Alicia is the one outlier there, and even if she doesn't understand, it she completely supports her.

-She majored in engineering and minored in psychology at Wisconsin EDU. Her, Jack and Vlad were all in the same engineering class, and that's where they met.

-Maddie is particularly interested in how ghosts think, analysing their behavior, their motives. Not only that, but they aren't just dead people with unfinished business, they've built an entire culture in the Ghost Zone that is completely seperate from humanity, and she wants to understand all of it.

-skilled marksman and 9th degree black belt, (which is. The highest fucking level there is holy shit? I looked it up after I saw it on her wiki page.)

Jack Fenton

-He's from Minnesota (Amity park is in Illinois and him and Maddie didn't move there until after they got married) 

-okay, "but why minnesota specifically" you ask? Because. I crave. Foot ball discourse. 

-minnesota vikings vs green bay packers guys do you UNDERSTAND WHERE IM GOING WITH THIS 

-The funny thing is that Jack only watches football casually while Vlad is a fucking die hard so when these two got together to see a game it was like....

-Jack: Here to chill and have a good time.

-Vlad: Primed and ready to start a fist fight at any given moment.

-I am never not going to be salty about how Canon Jack was portrayed like a complete moron 99% percent of the time. Like no...theres a difference between Actual Stupid and ADHD induced dumbass-ery.

-Am I saying Jack Fenton has ADHD? Yes. why? Because I also have ADHD and I have always vibed So Hard with his Character.

-Jack is loud and easily excited about things that interest him. He's impulsive and fidgety and yeah, a bit absent minded. He has a mouth that clearly runs so much faster than his head. His train of thought doesn't get derailed so much as it stops and takes several different detours on the way to it's final destination.

-and that's only the tip of the iceberg, really, I'd need an entire essay to get into this completely, but I just really relate.

-Jacks skill-set / interests regarding ghosts vary a bit from Maddie's, most notably in the sense that he doesn't believe that they're static entities already set in their ways, completely incapable of change.

-Jack majored in engineering and minored in Biology at Wisconsin EDU.

-Jack's work with tech is a bit hit or miss. He definitely HAS the engineering skills, but the intrest isn't always there and he's constantly jumping back and forth between different projects. He tends to focus on the concept work and schematics and leave most of the assembly to Maddie as a result. It's an arrangement that works well for them, and has drastically decreased the number of unintentional explosions in the lab.

-A lot of Jack's work tends to revolve around ghostly biology and Ectoplasm, figuring out how ghosts are made, what makes them tick, what the hell Ectoplasm Actually Is, how it's used as an energy source, ect.

-and yes, that does also mean he handles the dissections.

-See that facial scar? Yeah, that's not actually there at the start of the series rewrite but it's very important for plot reasons so I had to include it. Can't say much more on the subject because SPOILERs owo.

Jasmine Fenton

-Jazz is a 18 years old, and a senior at Casper high.

-Which means she prepping to go away to college and won't be around to keep an eye on Danny.

-Obviously that doesn't mean I'm just writing her out of the story, oh no. Know why? Because she's also gonna go to Wisconsin EDU. ya know who else is in Wisconsin? Fuckin' Vlad.

-Jazz is autistic, Although she passes for neurotypical in part due to symptoms being completely over looked in girls due to gender stereotyping and also the fact that she doesn't have any special interests that are considered " "too weird.""

- Her hyperfixation with psychology started at a young age in an effort to better understand people, and social/emotional cues and all that.

-Jazz is well liked at school but she's not popular or apart of any specific group or clique. She's very kind and compassionate to people, and just about everyone knows her, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who actually Considered her a friend. Except maybe Spike.

-I'm gonna have to give spike his own Character ref at some point, but he's this scary looking goth kid that's been held back twice. He's actually super sweet, just really fuckin' quiet and anxious. Him and jazz kinda ended up gravitating towards each other. She might do most of the talking, but they look out for each other.

-its not like jazz doesn't try to socialize, but it's difficult and she's found it much easier and less stressful to just. Keep to herself and let her interactions with her peers stay shallow and superficial. Sure, it's lonely sometimes but it's better than constantly worrying about saying the wrong thing or making some other misstep.

-One of Jazz's other special interests is football, and it's not so much the players or the game as it is the strategy of it? Started out as one of those things you do to bond with your dad, and she ended up getting really into it.

-She absolutley winds up getting into stupidly intense discussions with Vlad about it, too, lmao.

-Her and Danny probably bonded over SBNation bc that shit has both sentient satellites and ridiculously complex football mechanics.

-She's completely oblivious to the fact, but Dash has a massive crush on her bc holy shit this girl understands football (hey bud your toxic masculinity is showing put that shit away)

-I mentioned that Danny was in Cheer for a bit in middle school so it makes sense that she'd also be pushed into doing some kind of extracurricular activity.....so.....she was in a martial arts class for a bit thanks to Maddie and has a good grasp on self defense.

I think that's everything? I feel like I'm leaving things out tho? Idk if I did I'll come back and add on to this later and also pls don't hesitate to ask questions bc it really helps me flesh things out better.

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Art reposting etiquette

I see art theft happen a lot, and whether or not it's true or has just been happening more frequently in the circles I follow I can't help but at least feel like it's becoming more and more of a problem.

To be clear, "reposting" is downloading art from a website that you did not make or own, and uploading it as a separate post, regardless of where and how it's presented - with notable exception of header and profile pictures assuming they are not trying to imitate the artist. Not all art theft is reposting, but all improper reposting is art theft.

As cut and dry as "stop art theft it's bad, don't repost art" posts make it sound, there are several benevolent reasons people may want to repost such as:

Believing they are spreading the artist's influence around the internet

Adding intrigue or a visual aid to a fanfiction

Sharing some neat art they thought was really cool

Just to name a few

Assuming the best in people, these are not necessarily bad reasons and DON'T MAKE PEOPLE BAD, but many often don't understand there's a dark side to the reposting issue.

People who may want more art may be unable to find the original creator

People may not realize that the artist makes rent with the very artwork you're enjoying and they may be looking at stolen premium content meant to put food on the table

People take art and further edit it so that it becomes even harder to trace back to the original

Malicious websites and bots find popular fanart and illegally use it to produce bootleg merch. This has a double-whammy effect when someone sees the merch IRL when out and about and wants it because it's cool art of their favorite character but don't realize the artist is actively being robbed.

Reposting art makes it harder for the artist to track down the thief and take legal action as well as actively funnels traffic away from their business. By and large it should always be assumed that reposting for any reason is damaging to the artist's wellbeing; and frankly, if you don't care you're actively hurting someone, it makes you the asshole, not me for calling you out.

But, that isn't to say reposting is NEVER allowed, but ONLY UNDER EXTREMELY SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES. That's the point of this post.

Before you can decide if you should even attempt to repost art, check these things first:

If it says directly on the art "do not repost" don't waste your time. They are not going to make an exception for you.

Check to see if the art is already on the platform you're planning to upload to (especially here on Tumblr). Often, artists make it a point to put their work in very specific locations for their own reasons. They may not want their work on your website at all and you need to respect that.

Gain the artist's explicit permission after explaining where you want to repost their work, which work you want to repost, and why with how you plan to credit them. If you gain permission, keep a copy of the conversation for your own protection. If you do not gain permission, don't repost at all.

If you gain permission to repost art, these things are an absolute necessity:

Mention of the artist's name

THEIR main platform of choice

link to the original piece used

It would likely look something like this:

Artwork uploaded with express permission by @[artist] on [website], found here - (hyperlinked to original piece)

Bonus information to include:

Additional social media handles of the artist

Link to the artist's Patreon and/or Ko-Fi if available

Link to artist's store if available

Hyperlinking the image itself so other users can just click it to find the work/artist

Remember reposting should be about the artist, NOT YOU. You didn't create the work, and even if you supported them via Patreon it still doesn't belong to you, nor are you entitled to it. A commission you personally paid for is the only piece of work of that artist's creation you are ever entitled to unless otherwise stated in a contract when you bought it.

To continue to cover my bases I'm going to address some stances that may pop up about the issue:

"I didn't know reposting was that bad!"

It's okay. That's why I made this post. In general, as a supportive fan and consumer you should try to learn how artists are rewarded for their work on different platforms. YouTube is different from Instagram is different from Facebook is different from Tumblr. Learn which best ways to support your favorite artists in the ways that are most beneficial to them, even if all they ask for is respect and a little appreciation. And do take down any art you may have reposted. It can continue to do damage by remaining up, but removing it almost always mitigates any future harm and genuinely helps. Now you know better and can be better moving forward!

"I can't get ahold of the artist for permission."

Don't repost it then. Remember, at the end of the day reposting is only good for the reposter in fake internet points or actual money/intellectual property stolen but always tangibly hurts the artist. It sucks, but they have a right to determine where and how their hard work is displayed.

"Whatever, I'll do what I want. Lol"

Enjoy your takedown. Hey, artists, did you know you can find each website's terms of service and figure out how to submit a report with the offending post and user, and they're usually good about getting it down within days?! Look for "misappropriation" that's your ticket! 😊

But seriously, repeat offenders can get permanently banned from sites and even sued for actual real-world money and damages over your precious fake internet points. It actually pays to not be an ass!

"But I just want to support the artist and reposting is so easy!"

You know what's even easier?

It's literally only one or two clicks to support the artist or tell them how much you love their work! Most other platforms make supporting content creators just as easy, and some platforms even PAY the creators based on them or enable them to grasp opportunities to be paid!

"But I don't want to bog down my followers with a huge reblog dump of one person's stuff."

Put it in queue to space it out, then.

"I don't have money to support the artist so I repost instead to give them exposure."

Time and time again it's been proven that reposting actively funnels money AWAY from them. You don't have to monetarily support them with much. Buy one thing from their store or give them $1 on Ko-Fi. If you can't even do that, tell them you love their stuff and shout to the rooftops where someone else can pay them; but don't make it harder for them to get paid. Too many artists "die of exposure."

"Why do you even care?"

I AM an artist. I currently support artists with real money monthly because I love their work. I only ever make money off my own art on commissions, and that relies on people being able to find me. I'm not even the one supporting my two children, husband, pet, and medical expenses with only this option to pay for it, and you bet your butt I still would be pissed if I ever found out my art had been misappropriated. Some people do this to SURVIVE and I want to see that those who do have as little unnecessary struggle with it as possible.

"It's fanart/fan content put on the internet for free I can do whatever I want with it!"

At least in North America the law says you can't. Did you know that the way laws are currently written, if someone takes a picture of you and finds a way to make money off that photo they don't owe you a dime? They hold the copyright to it. When art is displayed publicly, that copyright is not surrendered and is automatically afforded to the artist by virtue of it being their specific expression and work. By being their work, they can actually sue you for stealing their property.

Ask Disney, they're really good at it.

And to close this out I want to say one more thing: the internet has changed a LOT in the time I started browsing from the early 2000's. Rules are different, cultures are different, and for younger people especially you may not understand how some have had to (and still do) fight tooth and nail over this internet space and still make it.

If you didn't know all this, THAT'S OKAY! You're learning, and the internet is more or less a wild west right now. That means it's equal opportunity to be a killing field or a place we can lift up and support each other. Reposting is just one corner of the bad things that can come of it, but now you know how to help and even start reversing the damage.

Learn about how people who upload free content make money. When you find misappropriated work, report them to the site and try to inform the artist - don't even acknowledge the thief, just slap a ticket on them and move on. Teach others how and why reposting is bad and what they can do to help.

If you love free content, show respect and protect it. Otherwise, artists will have to put it behind a paywall and that content you loved will disappear over time. Respect will get you a much greater return than entitlement.

[kali-tmblr]

Why is Penny Back?

"The Greatest Kingdom" caused much of the RWBY fandom to erupt with joy over having Penny back from the scrap heap. Unfortunately this joy was immediately followed by a host of paranoid conspiracy theories about why she came back. I want to examine three popular reasons that I think are bad, and offer up six alternative reasons that I think actually have some credibility.

Let's look at the bad reasons first:

1) To die again. Good writers don't pull the same stunt twice in the same story to the same character. A lot of fans won't put up with writers repeating themselves once within a story, and almost all of them will revolt if they repeat two things in a story. So, even if they ARE going to repeat one thing, they're likely to save it until a lot later, when the stakes are a lot higher and the audience is less likely to revolt, and that one repeat isn't likely to be Penny's death.

2) To be hacked. Penny wasn't hackable in her first iteration, and I think we can safely assume that after a hacking scare Atlas's greatest cyberneticist has made his robot daughter even less hackable now. You'd have an easier time hacking Ironwood's heart monitor. That said, there is a related concern, but we'll get to that later.

3) Fan pressure. As often as this excuse gets thrown up, I have yet to see any credible evidence of fan pressure changing the writing of this show. Nor would outside pressure be necessary, for reasons I will go into later.

Now let's consider six alternative reasons for Penny's return, from least to most likely. The first will examine her physical features, the second and third her role in relation to Team RWBY, the fourth and fifth will look at the reasons for her creation by the Atlesians, and the final one will look at the reasons for her creation by Monty Oum and CRWBY;

1) Heightened senses. The scene in "Black and White" where Penny points out that Blake has cat ears under her bow didn't just convince the remaining members of RWBY that Blake was indeed a Faunus. Indeed, it wasn't necessary for that purpose; they already knew that she was a Faunus. But it also told the audience that Penny has heightened senses. Maybe she has heat sensors that detected the heat signature of Blake's cat ears, maybe something else. We never saw her use those heightened senses again in the first three volumes, but there's no reason she can't use them to reveal something our characters need to know now.

Now let's look at her two potential roles in relation to Team RWBY:

2) Native Child Guide. RWBY is exploring new territory and needs a Native Guide. Jaune and Ren served as the Native Guides on Volume 4, with Qrow serving as an acerbic Native Guide in Volume 5. We already saw in "The Greatest Kingdom" that Weiss may have been too sheltered to serve as a completely reliable Native Guide.

But Penny would not only be a Native Guide but a Native Child Guide. Professional anthropologists love to work with Native Child Guides when studying cultures, for a crucial reason. Children will tell you what's really going on with a combination of bluntness and naivité that no adult can match. Perhaps there is something in the kingdom of Atlas that Team RWBY needs to see through the eyes of a child.

3) Innocent. Also known as the Rookie, the Newbie, or the Audience Identification Figure. The Innocent is the reverse of the Native Child Guide. Instead of giving information to the protagonists that they need to hear, they get information from the protagonists that the audience needs to hear by asking the obvious questions the protagonists already know and may or may not want to admit.

While Penny served briefly as the Innocent in "Black and White", Jaune was the Innocent for most of the Beacon arc. Then he matured out of the role and Oscar served as the Innocent for the Mystral arc. It may be that Penny returns to this role in the Atlas arc.

If so, I will miss Oscar serving as the Innocent, as I think he did it very well. But if he's not serving as the Innocent, that will mean one of two things. Either he is maturing out of that role and into another role, or he is the subject of the questions the Innocent needs to ask. ("Who is that cute boy? Are you dating him?")

But, remember when I said there was a potential problem similar to hacking? Innocents, because of their lack of people knowledge/skills, are especially vulnerable to manipulation. It's not necessary to go through the layers of security to hack Penny if you can straight up manipulate her. That's something to keep in mind.

Now let's examine what Penny's creation tells us about the Kingdom of Atlas. The difference between Penny and the other robots is that Penny has an Aura. Only living beings have an Aura. So where did Penny get her Aura from? There are two possibilities:

4)The Relic of Creation. Most fans are assuming that we'll have to go through the rigamarole of finding the Winter Maiden, escorting her to the portal, etc. etc., but we've already done that story. I highly doubt the Relic of Creation is currently sealed up in it's designer cubbyhole. Ironwood's m.o. is "Resources are meant to be used" so I fully expect to find the Relic in a lab in the middle of Mad Science Mountain with wires sticking out of it. And, given that the Relic of Knowledge is attended by a Blue Fairy, it may be that the Blue Fairy of the Relic of Creation brought Penny/Pinocchio to life and gave her an Aura for Piedro/Gepetto. That would certainly be an awe-inspiring demonstration of the power of that Relic. And if that Relic also has a three uses/century limit on it as well, it might also curtail that Relic's future use in the story.

The secondary evidence for this theory is how panicked Ironwood sounded on the scroll with Ozpin when the Fall of Beacon started. The Grimm invasion didn't scare him, he was panicking over Ozpin finding out about Penny. "Ozpin, the girl, I -- I can explain!" Did you break a promise and use something you weren't supposed to use, Jimmy?

5) Aura Transfer Technology. Ever since we heard Ironwood give his speech about wanting to protect soldiers in "A Minor Hiccup" I have believed that the original concept behind Penny's robot body was to help badly injured soldiers. The fact that Ironwood himself turned out to be a badly injured soldier only reinforced this belief. Then the other shoe dropped when we saw the Aura transfer pods in "Fall". Atlas already had the technology to, as Qrow put it, "Capture it (Aura) and cram it into something else", and not just the Auras of injured soldiers but of magic wielders. It's interesting that Qrow said some THING else and not some ONE else, as if the ultimate goal of the project was to end the confusion over where a Maiden's power went by permanently housing them in robot forms. Later, I wondered if Ironwood wanted to try this with Oz as well, and perhaps even to capture Salem's essence and store it permanently in some kind of containment field. I don't think any of these ideas are especially good, but they do have a distinct mad scientist/control freak vibe that suits the ambiance of Atlas.

At first I thought Penny was Piedro's dead daughter, whose Aura was transferred to a robot as happened in Astroboy. But after Jinn the Blue Fairy of Knowledge showed up I realized that the Blue Fairy of Creation might have simply been able to imbue a robot with Aura as happened in Pinnochio and Pygmalion. On a practical level, it doesn't matter which way it happened. Either way, Penny is proof of concept that robots can successfully contain Auras, and that is an important story beat.

And that brings us to the last and most important reason why Penny came back, the reason why Monty created her in the first place:

6) Androids Are Cool.

RWBY lives and dies by the Rule of Cool. Androids are cool, so, as detailed in the Official Companion, CRWBY made one. Remnant's tech level was about right for them to be starting to tinker with AIs, so why not? It would also allow the writers to explore story beats involving the implications and complications of AIs that they had already examined in other Rooster Teeth productions. Nor is there any need for fans to pressure the writers to bring Penny back when the pressure would be generated by the writers themselves.

All in all, there's a lot of story opportunities that open up with Penny back, and I look forward to exploring them.

[neotelenta]

3/6/18 (BONUS) OC Tables (Part 1)

1: Voirade The (Brilliant) Thief

2: Baxter Prague

3. "The Soul Designer"

4. "The Soul Designer's Assistant"

5. Storyteller

6. Walter Edgemond

7. Guy Gridley

8. The Servant of Sound

------------------------------

"Walter Edgemond finds themselves locked into a malfunctioning elevator with "The Soul Designer's Assistant". What happens?"

------------------------------

Walter: Shoot! The blasted thing's stuck! Ugh…

*Walter looks over at the Assistant to find that he's glowing in an impressive multitude of colors*

Walter: Well I gotta admit, Assistant, you sure know how to light up a dark room. You could easily pass for a popular idol here in Strength.

Assistant: Thanks. I'll try and take that as a compliment. Although I'd rather we focus on our current situation, if you don't mind.

Walter: Right, right. Always terse and to the point. Hey, help me out here. Maybe we can get this door open. And climb out, presuming we're near a floor.

Assistant: Sure. Here. Stand back for a second.

*The Assistant brings up what looks like a holographic 3D grid in front of him and overlays it with the crack in the door. The grid turns red in warning, but a moment later, a metallic blob appears in the grid and solidifies into a stake shape, with the pointed end facing directly in between the elevator doors. Moving forward ever so slightly, the stake gets jammed in between, and slowly opens them.*

Assistant: Now. I'll hold it here. Open it up the rest of the way.

Walter: Okay. Let me just….Hrrrrnnnngh!

*Walter, with his calloused hands and significant upper body strength, makes use of the opening and separates the two doors, revealing that they hadn't completely left the floor, and there's room for them to get out from the bottom. Assistant dematerializes the hologram, and the metal stake disappears with it.*

Walter: Hahah! There we go! Not bad teamwork, if I do say so! Classic stuff…

Assistant: Let's just get out of here. I don't like these small spaces.

*From outside the elevator, a voice calls out.*

Designer: Hey! Pixie! Are you alright?

Walter: Uh...You talkin' about your Assistant? Bwahahaha! Yes, he's fine! I'm fine, too, thank you!

Designer: Oh! Walter! Sorry, I didn't know you took the same elevator.

*Walter, in the meantime, crawls out from the bottom and drops down to the floor, with a little bit of help from Designer. Assistant soon follows.*

Assistant: Well that was different. Shall we proceed to the meeting?

------------------------------

"Storyteller goes to 'The Soul Designer's funeral."

------------------------------

Storyteller: ...I don't see any reason for this to happen. No. Let's go back a bit. There's no need for this. D=

*The scene fades to a paper-textured cream color, and you hear the sound of wind and fluttering pages.*

Storyteller: Cameron doesn't want to do this one, so neither do I.

------------------------------

"Guy Gridley has to fight Walter Edgemond."

------------------------------

Guy: I really don't see the point in this.

Walter: Haha! Maybe you don't, but you're looking like a mighty proud conniving villain if you ask me! What reality show are YOU from?

Guy: ...I'm no villain, Mr. Edgemond. I'm not trying to be, anyways. You must understand that I'm doing this for the good of EVERYONE.

Walter: Doing what? Convincing depressed and degraded people to commit SUICIDE? Have you lost your mind?!

Guy: I have lost a lot of things, Mr. Edgemond, but in fact, my mind is one of my most prized possessions. I pay a lot of attention to it. Try to think of things from my perspective. I know I do with yours.

Walter: What do YOU know?!

Guy: That all of this is pointless. The countless heroes and villains you deal with. The money. The fickle fame that comes with drawing the attention of millions of people for short periods of time. The fear-riddled culture this whole place reeks of. The only way you cope with all of it is by always showing that you're tough, and that if you pretend you're not afraid, maybe you won't be afraid at all. That if you play by the rules and don't cross any lines, you have nothing to be afraid of. But you KNOW that isn't true. Because the lines will get drawn closer...and closer...And closer...Until even people like you are thrown out like the trash. And you'll be picked clean. I know what it's like, Walter. Please.

Walter: Nnngh…...You just really like to put things in those tidy life boxes with your words, don't you? It's infuriating to hear stuff like that come from someone I barely even know beyond his misdeeds. What do you want from me, huh?

Guy: Your life. But not for me. For yourself.

Walter: Oh, come on, Gridley…

Guy: Yes. Here I am giving you a lecture on why you should die. What's the problem? I can make it look convincing. You won't have to take a SINGLE scrap of blame. No-one will know but me, and I make it a solemn point to never share personal details like this to the outside world if I can help it.

Walter: ……But...I have people to ca-

Guy: Do THEY care about you? They only like you because they see you as a resource. And they treat you as just some person. When was the last time one of your coddled protagonists ever asked you about how your day was going? They never do that, do they? Or what about all of the literal garbage you begrudgingly buy from them to stay in line with what the reality shows want? They say the profit you make is from the 'heroes' themselves, but the 'heroes' don't tell you any of the other stuff they do, do they?

Walter: ……

Guy: Walter, please don't do this to yourself. If you die, it will finally break the system. They'll realize what they've done and what they're missing. That you, and anyone like yourself shouldn't be pushed like this. You will be the great sacrifice that helps TRULY save this town. You won't be missed. You'll be revered. I will see to it that everyone knows about you.

Walter: …...Let me go. Please. I don't want to look at you.

Guy: I...Hm.

*Guy raises his gun at the back-turned Walter and fires*

Guy: May this world be blessed with your understanding.

------------------------------

"Voirade and The Servant of Sound go on a quest to save Baxter Prague."

------------------------------

*Voirade and TSoS are riding in the back seats of a monorail train.*

Voirade: ...It's been too long, see? I can't believe it's been years, already…

SoS: TTS_Yes.mp3

Voirade: ...I'll be damned if I haven't been wantin' to return Snatcher to you ever since that day. They was wantin' to destroy your music, see? I couldn't live by that. Kekeke...Nah, not me. I'm a thief, but I has me limits.

SoS: TTS_I'm_Glad_You_Kept_Him_Safe_For_Everyone.mp3

Voirade: Yeah, me too, see? We gotta find Baxter, though. Only he can put the two of you back together again. Then maybe we'll get to finally see what it was like when you were fully human. Kekeke!

SoS: …

[[[The other prompts will come later. This was all I could do for today. Thank you again for reading.]]]

[anthrat]

The Akatsuki members as high-school students

Has this been done before? Probably! Do I care? No, because these are my terrible headcanons and nobody can take them from me.

A/N: This has been in my drafts for a long time, probably since early February. I’ve been lacking motivation to do anything at all for months and lo and behold, I find this basically finished piece bar one character. I really, really want to start writing again but I’m struggling to think of ideas, so if you have any requests for future headcanons/one shots/etc feel free to slide me a message or something :)

He's definitely the generic super intelligent kid who gets straight A's in pretty much every subject. All of his notes are really well organised, he keeps bullet journals and everything is colour coded - mans notes are literal art. His handwriting is definitely beautiful, we're talking professional calligrapher here.

All of his equipment is immaculate, he cries if one of his books gets a crease or something on it somehow. If you accidentally nudge him or ruin his notes he will silently hold a grudge against you forever - he probably won't act on his grudge though, he just wants to blend in and he dislikes conflict in general.

Despite being fully aware of his intelligence he hardly ever speaks up in classes. He only really speaks when spoken to and so is renown as the token quiet kid. I also envision him as being super pretentious, although he doesn't show it he definitely thinks he's better than everyone else.

His favourite subject would be English because he enjoys analysing anything and everything. If you're friends with him he will make comments on how random pieces of media etc. are a representation of -insert important world issue or theory.- He'd also like art despite it being the only subject he's not very good at. All his art is abstract, he will draw a pink square and claim it represents a patriarchal society.

Doesn't have many friends because he isn't very talkative, spends most of his time at school alone doing schoolwork. Sees school purely as an educational setting and so doesn't see the point in making an attempt to be social.

All of his school equipment looks like it's been mauled by 300 dogs because its all second/third/fourth+ hand. Man would never pay full price for a textbook. He definitely steals all the faculty equipment too. You could fill an entire room with the amount of stationary this man has but he will NEVER lend it to anyone else. If he does lend you something it's because its either A) broken B) barely functional (so like pens which can write 2 letters before running out) or C) you're giving him something better in return/paying for it (even then he'll probably take whatever he lent you back without you realising)

He also definitely runs mini-shops in school where he'll sell stolen equipment and things like sweets/chewing gum/trendy items (he made bank when fidget spinners were a thing) for like triple what they're actually worth.

His favourite subject is definitely history (He's a crusty dusty old man so of course) but he will never admit this. He takes business and economics but hates them, he's already done all of his own research into the subjects and is only doing them to get the qualification. Definitely complains about how he already knows it all already and it's a waste of time for him to learn it again. His only conversation topic is him talking about how he's going to set up his own business as soon as he leaves school.

Is very intelligent but only gets average grades in most subjects because he refuses to try if he dislikes the subject or sees it as a waste of time.

Watched DeathNote once and now thinks he's an actual real life version of Light Yagame. Carries around his own DeathNote and threatens to write people's name in it.

Convinced that he's been bestowed with supernatural powers, whenever he speaks he does lots of flashy hand gestures, - think generic cool-dude protagonist poses - these change depending on what piece of media he's currently obsessed with. His personality also changes alongside the poses.

Basically what I'm trying to say is he's the over-saturated 'weird anime kid' with a touch of superiority complex. Although, he's super confident and has absolutely 0 shame in this fact.

Bless his little heart, he loves writing but is the definition of 'uses complicated words without knowing what they mean'. He's still decently smart though. His grades would probably be pretty average because he struggles to apply himself properly. His favourite subject would definitely be something like sociology where he can freely express his profound ideas, even if some of them are completely god awful. He'd also enjoy any subject which gives him creative freedom such as art or English.

Cannot see this lad as anything but a jock. He loves sports, lives and breathes them. He's probably a member of practically every single sports team and is surviving on the basis he has a sports scholarship of some kind.

Despite him being a jock he'd be the most approachable out of all the Akatsuki members. He's the kind of guy who no matter who you are he'd always be happy to crack jokes and talk with you. He definitely brings in way too much food, he's that dude who brings a whole mini banquet to school every day for no discernible reason. He's always happy to share though, he's definitely the kind of guy who if he saw someone sat by themselves at lunch he'd sit with them and offer them food.

His grades would be a little on the lower side because most of his free time is taken up with all his sports, however, he'd still work hard at his academics regardless. If anything this man is probably the most dedicated, he would hate the fact that he's falling behind all his classmates but at the same time would rather die than give up any of his extracurricular activities.

He'd be fairly popular because of his naturally easygoing and humorous nature, but people would rarely ever invite him to events as they'd just assume he was busy.

Konan is an absolute babe, the kindest and most caring person in the whole school. Forgotten your lunch? She'll buy you some or give you her own. Didn't do your homework? Bitch will give you hers to copy, if it's an essay or something she'll sit with you and help you write it. Looking a little upset? Konan's right there to try and cheer you up even if you aren't friends.

Despite how wonderful and 100/10 a person she is she probably won't have many close friends. She'll get used a lot by others who take advantage of her good nature. She's smart enough to know what they're doing but she doesn't care, she's happy to be of help to anyone even if they don't appreciate it.

She's a bit of a teachers pet though, she's on super good terms with every teacher in the school even if she doesn't take the subjects they teach. Most of her breaks/lunches would be taken up by her helping with display boards or whatever.

Her favourite subject would be geography, she'd really enjoy learning about different cultures and societies. I can see her just really enjoying learning about how rivers are formed and stuff like that as well. Her least favourite would be something like math which is only fact based, she enjoys being able to look at things from different perspectives.

Also bitch would bake all the time, literally every lesson she'd whip out a box of cakes/cookies/anything else she'd baked the night before to share with the whole class.

Carries knives around with him because he thinks they make him look cool. He can and will whip one out at any given opportunity so he can flex a knife trick on you. His knife tricks suck though, he always drops them or cuts himself, if you try and walk away he'll beg you to stay claiming that fortieth time's the charm or something.

He never shows up to lessons, he doesn't even know what one is. If you ever ask him what subjects he takes he'll look at you blankly and ask what you mean. If he ever is in a lesson it's because he was dragged there by a member of staff. Honestly, the few lessons he's actually present for are so chaotic teachers find themselves praying he doesn't show up. Being as he never willingly shows up he'll never know what subject it is, and he'll ask insanely bizarre questions un-ironically because he gives no fucks and has no idea what is happening. For example, you'll be learning about arteries in biology and he'll ask something like "What ingredients do we need?" because he'll have confused arteries with artichoke and think he's in a home economics lesson.

Despite being the weird knife kid he's pretty popular, he's so completely brain dead and unaware of his surroundings that its impossible not to get along with him. He doesn't have the critical thought to bully anyone and so even if he tries to be horrible it always comes off as though he's just trying to be funny.

Oh dear oh lord what can I say about Zetsu? Zetsu is an absolute shit show of a student. Black Zetsu I can see as being very academic focussed, with their favourite subjects being religion, politics and some form of economics. I imagine they’d be very active within school politics/religious scenes, probably the head of some sort of group for both.

Black Zetsu would also be interested in applying for positions such as Head of Year, Class Representative and anything similar. They’re a big control freak and as a result have basically 0 friends. People would find them overbearing and awful to be around. They’re the incredibly opinionated kid who dismisses anything which they don’t personally agree with.

White Zetsu on the over hand, hoo boy. Class clown obviously. The living bane of Black Zetsu. If Black Zetsu wants class representative then you know people will vote for white Zetsu instead because he’s infinitely more popular. He’s incredibly weird but in such an innocent and goofy way they’d have a large group of friends. They wouldn’t be popular per say, but they’d be friends with practically everyone.

Their favourite subject would probably be biology because sex jokes, but I also think they’d enjoy English because uhh… Sex jokes. I just can’t see White Zetsu taking school even slightly seriously.

He basically lives in the art department. If you walk near him he will tag along and start talking to you about art, it doesn’t matter who you are you will be forced to listen to his speech.

Incredibly confident and has no issue starting a conversation with anyone. He's definitely the type of person who every time you see him he'd be with a completely different group of people, whether they want him there or not.

Despite his weird constant art rants he'd be the life and soul of the party. He's always fun to be around purely because of how much energy he has. He'd be the kid who makes everyone laugh completely on accident, although people would probably be laughing more at him than with him.

He'd probably get invited to lots of places by other kids just so he could be the butt of every joke. He wouldn't mind though, he'd brush it off and probably enjoy the attention he gets from it.

Most of his friends would end up being people who know nothing about art though, all the students who participated in any artistic subjects would stay far away in fear of him starting another argument about art.

If the art class ever does clay his has to be put in the kiln separately because it always blows up. He also has a habit of 'accidentally' damaging other people's art if he dislikes it. Eventually he would mellow out and start appreciating other forms.

Nobody knows who he is, people will have sat next to him for years and won't even know his name. The amount of times his name is called in the register and people will pipe up with "who's that?" or "didn't he move to another school?" is genuinely concerning. He doesn't care though, he'd rather go through school completely unnoticed.

Excels at all subjects (besides sports, he's never showed up to a PE lesson because of 'health reasons') despite putting very little effort into academics. His favourite subjects would be biology and math. He'd absolutely hate art as a subject, preferring to do art in his free time rather than make it into a chore at school. He'd have been put in Deidara's class at least once and it would have completely ruined all enjoyment of art as a subject for him. He'd also hate any subjects which prompt discussion such as English or sociology, he doesn't have any opinions on them and he doesn't care to listen to anyone else's.

Honestly, dude is the definition of a background character at school. He just simply does not exist, and I have mad respect for him. On the off chance anyone even tried to speak to him he'd probably completely ignore them, the only communication he has at school is through emails with teachers. He has 0 interest in making friends when they have nothing in common with him.

Another character sort of hard to pinpoint. He’d probably be somewhat similar to White Zetsu, but not quite as popular. He’d be a right teachers pet, with few friends his own age. He’d probably spend spend all his breaks and lunches with teachers in their classrooms, offering to help them with display boards etc.

Despite being a teachers pet he wouldn’t be academic whatsoever. He’d always try his best but bless him, he’s terrible at every subject and ends up constantly making a fool of himself. He’s definitely the sort to raise his hand to make a really great point, but his really great point is basically repeating the lesson objective. When studying of mice of men he definitely asked “what’s the name of Curly’s wife’s husband?”

His favourite subject, regardless of his ineptitude would be drama. He’d always be the most melodramatic and over the top in every character he played, not really caring what other people thought of him. In fact, that’s probably his best feature. Despite his lack of popularity he’d always unapologetically be himself, his goofy and over the top self.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

If we’re thinking more about Obito, I’d like to imagine for the sake of this headcanon Tobi is what he’s like during lower school years and then suddenly one summer he comes back and he’s completely matured into this foreign character unrecognisable to nobody.

He’d become incredibly serious, forgoing the role of energetic teachers pet to a much more muted one. He’d still be just as terrible at all his lessons, and still spend most of his time around teachers rather than others his age but he’d no longer have that fun spark. He’d probably start caring greatly about what people thought of him so his latter years would be trying to stay under the radar completely.