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nadiineross · 8 years

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title: mutual friends: five, probably

pairing: kara/lena, lena/having actual real life friends

note: no mon-el and maggie. alex is out and secure in terms of her sexuality. complete-ish; its just fluff. (read my tags if u want something extra lmao)

summary: Lena’s a little nervous, to be honest. Sure, she’s made friends, but if you really think about it, she can still only count that number with one hand. (To be fair, four of those friends work for a secret government agency, so it’s not that bad.)

It starts with Jess.

She’s beautiful and sharp, both mind and tongue. And the first thing she says to Lena after she’s hired is, “This will be the most unprofessional thing I will ever say to you, count on that, Ms. Luthor, but I won’t sleep with you.”

And that’s that.

Loyal as ever, Jess moves to National City with her, wordlessly stocking up her collection of alcohol at the end of the first week as she did back in Metropolis and forging a strange, mostly silent bond with Lena.

Jess is her first friend in a long, long while.

The next comes wrapped in pastel sweaters and plain button ups.

Kara Danvers, hair as golden as her heart, is a puppy.

Lena’s smart, though. She managed to survive the Luthor household, after all. Kara didn’t befriend her out of the kindness of her heart – Lena doesn’t doubt it’s there, no, she did is because she’s a Luthor.

It’s fine. She just has to prove them all wrong. Easy.

Okay. So it’s not that easy.

Literally the same month, she gets shot at in a helicopter (god, she knew flying was a mistake) and has her building attacked.

Still, it gets her a friend in Supergirl. Supergirl!

Who would’ve thought?

“You should be careful.”

Lena reaches for her glass, water, because she feels like she’s bordering on alcoholism, and regards Jess over the rim of it.

“Kara Danvers,” Jess clarifies, “The reporter.”

“What about her?” Lena asks, eyebrows raised.

Jess is thoroughly unimpressed. Under ‘Education’ on Lena’s Wikipedia page is a list of Russel Group universities. She doesn’t appreciate Lena’s attempt at playing dumb. “You’re a Luthor and she works at CatCo – Supergirl’s biggest fan club.”

“I’m a Luthor,” Lena says, almost amused. “And I haven’t done anything wrong. I have nothing to hide, Jess.”

“I’m not talking PR-wise.”

“Whatever happened to professionalism?”

Jess rolls her eyes.

Lena almost grins. Almost. She hides it behind her water, covered by her hand. “I can’t believe I pay you.”

“I can’t believe you’re letting Ms. Danvers manipulate you into friendship just so she can write stories about you,” Jess retorts.

Lena narrows her eyes. “You don’t know her.”

“Neither do you.”

“And how am I supposed to if I don’t give her a chance?”

Jess, mouth pressed into a line, turns around and opens the door. “Be careful.”

“Aren’t I always?” Lena smiles, wryly. She picks her pen back up after transferring the water into her other hand – try as she might, she is not ambidextrous – and finishes signing off a contract.

The door closes as Jess snorts. Outside, Supergirl flies by, a grin on her face.

The air is colder up here, on her balcony, she notes as she pours water out of a half empty plastic bottle, the ones she left around for drop in meetings, into the one potted plant she has out here.

Jess had went home earlier, but not after insisting Lena left at most fifteen minutes later. That was an hour ago. She makes another note to herself to restrict Jess’s access to security footage so she won’t nag Lena about it tomorrow.

“It’s late, Ms. Luthor.”

“Supergirl.” Kara. Lena’s not stupid. It’s almost an insult, honestly. They’ve been friends for just short of half a year now.

Kara drops herself onto the balcony and offers her a tiny smile. “Why are you here so late?”

“Unfinished work,” Lena replies, dismissive. She crumples up the bottle before twisting the cap on and quirks both her eyebrows. “This brings back memories.”

Kara nods, straight faced. “I’m sorry you, well… Almost… Died.”

Lena laughs and steps back into her office, tossing the bottle into the bin by her desk. “I’m sorry you had to skip coffee with Kara to save me from plummeting thirty floors.”

Kara follows her in, closing the balcony door, and rounds the desk just as Lena takes a seat. “Any time.”

“My hero,” Lena says, almost teasingly, turning on her laptop. “Not to be rude, Supergirl, but why are you here?”

“Oh.” Kara blinks. “Just checking up on you. Because we’re friends.”

That’s another thing, Lena’s jaw tics, because of the three friends she has in National City, two of them are the same person. The other, is her secretary. She sighs to herself.

Lena glances over at Kara and sees her peering over at a pile of CatCo magazines on her coffee table, all of which has at least one article she’s written. Well, at least she tries to hide it. “I’m fine,” Lena says, amused when Kara jerks around. “But thanks, Kara.”

Supergirl beams. “No problem, Lena.” A beat. “Ms. Luthor. Wait. Wait, what?”

After a fair amount of panic and two days of flat out avoidance on Kara’s part, she comes back with apologies spilling out of her mouth and bag after bag of take out.

For the next week, Kara tries to bribe Jess into liking her, because even though Kara’s proven to be a good friend, Jess still doesn’t like her.

Eventually though, Kara manages to find the secret, which is just twelve shots of coffee every morning and a quota of ten words per person spoken to her before eight.

And after that, Lena gets it. The invitation to what Kara makes out to be the most prestigious weekly happening in the entire city, if not country.

Game night.

There, she’s met with two not-quite-glares and two grinning idiots to make up for it. There’s Alex, Kara’s Rottweiler guard dog of a sister, and then there’s James Olsen. The other two are obviously Kara herself and Winn, the guy she’d met at her own gala.

She arrives five minutes late due to another IT disaster, despite wanting to show up at least five minutes early, and is disastrously overdressed.

Kara lends her a pair of jeans and a loose sweater to go over her dress shirt.

When she comes back out, James and Winn are still arguing over which game to start with and Alex is pouring herself more wine into a Mickey Mouse mug with her phone in hand. (Lena groans quietly out of the back of her throat, because, honestly, mood.)

They end up settling it when Kara declares that since it’s Lena’s first game night and it’s her choice, which implies there will be more game nights in which Lena doesn’t get first choice, making Lena want to bounce a little like Kara would. She doesn’t, instead, she gingerly sits herself down next to Kara and the arm of the sofa, and picks out Trivial Pursuit.

Kara wilts a little at the choice, but Lena’s in it to win it, so she just pats Kara’s arm – she’s not touching her leg, no way – and promises Kara that they can team up.

They split into two teams, Kara and Lena, and the other three. About four seconds in, it’s made clear to Lena that it’s really actually Lena playing and Kara’s still stewing over which president haunted the white house.

Still, Lena reckons she put up a good fight. She loses. Still.

Kara apologizes sheepishly when she realizes they’ve lost and she’s still deciding whether it was Washington or Jefferson – it’s neither, Abraham Lincoln’s ghost was supposedly sighted.

It’s only after Lena’s completely obliterated at Go Fish and they take a short break does one of the others finally talk to her.

“I love Kara,” Alex says as she sidles up to Lena in the kitchen, “But you shouldn’t have paired up with an alien for a game that was going to quiz you on human and pop culture.”

Lena, twisting the end of her borrowed sweater, smiles, softly, looking over at Kara who’s currently trying to throw chips into Winn’s mouth while James films the entire thing. “Who else was going to pair up with me?”

Alex snorts and mutters something with the word fuck. “I’ll do it next time. If you can even say no to Kara’s face.”

Lena grimaces and meets her eyes, stepping back a little at the slight hint of accusation there. “I–”

To her immense relief, Kara starts clapping her hands and hailing them back over before Alex can interrogate her more.

“We’re playing Monopoly now,” she announces, pulling Lena down next to her, except putting her in the middle, next to James, this time.

Winn immediately starts dishing out money and it doesn’t escape Lena’s attention when he slips both Kara and himself an extra hundred. Neither, apparently, does it escape Alex’s, judging by her indignant snort when Kara tries to hide it.

They don’t say anything.

James goes first, rolling the highest and scoring himself another roll, and buys out every property he lands on, screwing Winn over.

Unsurprisingly, Winn goes bankrupt first and spends the rest of the game trying to distract James as revenge.

Alex soon gets bored and runs herself into the ground on purpose, only to foster a renewed interest and starts helping Kara with strategies, leaving Lena as the last person who’s playing normally.

And with Alex’s help, Kara’s actually winning, so Lena, who’s already figured out they’re trying to get James out of the game with Winn, decides to help.

In the end, two hours of arguing and one noise complaint in total, Kara’s pouting into Alex’s shoulder as she tosses her last buck into James’s grinning face. He gives Lena a high five when she bows out and lets him have his victory and for once, she feels like she belongs.

“Thanks, guys,” Kara says after they’ve finally settled down and cleaned up (there was a lot of cleaning up, no thanks to Kara’s bad aim, or as she insists, Winn’s habit of moving every time she throws a chip to scam her).

She hugs everyone goodbye, first Winn, then James, and then it’s Lena, who she grapples around the waist and buries her face into. Lena doesn’t think she’ll ever be used to this.

Alex sticks around, giving Lena an awkward nod over Kara’s shoulder before turning back to the TV.

Outside, James and Winn wait for her, which is just… Well. Lena doesn’t want to say weird, because it’s sweet of them, really, but it’s weird.

“Thanks for letting me win,” James says with a wide grin, hand coming up to rub at his neck.

“My name’s Winn and you still let me lose,” Winn says as they wait for the elevator.

Lena laughs and tucks her fingers into her sweater (Kara’s not getting it back). “I didn’t know you’d be that bad at Monopoly.”

“I resent that. Really. I do.” Winn pauses, leaving the atmosphere in the elevator silent and awkward and Lena shifts her weight onto her other foot. “Anyway, tell me about photonic crystals and the hot solar absorber you’re developing.”

Lena tenses. Her little IT problem that made her late. “Did you have anything to do with a cyber-attack?”

Winn’s eyes widen. “Uh. I mean, no. Technically, yes.”

James transitions from absolute bewilderment to a frown and smacks Winn over the head. “We talked about this.”

God, Kara and her friends are going to be trouble.

After that, she forms a bond with Winn over what is quite frankly, nerd-stuff.

She counts him as her third friend she makes in the city. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

Alex is fourth when, the following Friday night, they team up together as promised for Trivial Pursuit and wipe the floor.

She’s still frosty at times, especially when she catches Lena smiling to herself at Kara doing something either really cute or stupid or both, but other than that she’s a formidable opponent in Monopoly and has a sense of humour Lena could appreciate.

James is last and it takes her three more game nights for her to finally understand why.

“Literally only Kara doesn’t know,” Alex says.

Lena gestures to her shelf of alcoholic drinks. “Help yourself, Agent Danvers.”

Alex happily pours herself a glass of whiskey and sits herself down on the couch. “Nice office.”

“Thanks,” Lena says. “Literally only Kara doesn’t know what?”

Alex gives her a look. Her entire body goes rigid until she relaxes when Jess steps in with a tablet. “Ms. Luthor, I have this month’s – oh. Hello.”

“Thank you, Jess,” says Lena as she nods for her to hand the tablet over.

“Both James and Winn know, Lena,” Alex says whilst Jess taps away at a second tablet, waiting for Lena to finish scanning over the reports. “About you.”

“Hm,” Lena hums, distracted.

Annoyed, Alex clinks her glass loudly. “And Kara.”

Ah. Her eyes moves rapidly from Alex to Jess and back to her tablet, she almost misses Jess’s scoff.

“Oh yeah,” Jess mutters under her breath, even if it’s obvious they’ve both heard it.

Alex smirks.

“I don’t know what either of you are talking about.” Lena returns the tablet back to Jess and pointedly looks over at the door.

“Of course, Ms. Luthor.”

Jess is a little shit.

When the door closes, Lena swivels around in her chair to face Alex. “Could you not embarrass me in front of my assistant?”

“She probably has more embarrassing stories about you than I do,” Alex replies. It’s true. Part of the reason why Lena’s stopped drinking after work is because she says some really stupid things without a filter. “Beside the point, Lena, everyone knows.”

“And what is your point?”

“That there are already three other people I know who are ready to kill you if you hurt her. Four, if you count Cat Grant,” Alex says, nonchalantly. “Also, just ask her out.”

Lena raises an eyebrow. She really expected more. “And you’re encouraging this, why?”

Alex gives her a funny look. “I want my sister to be happy, not a nun.”

Lena laughs.

“And by the way, even James agrees.”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“I can’t tell if you’re serious or not.” Lena stares at her. “They used to date?”

That– Lena stares at her some more. That actually makes a lot of sense. As far as she can tell, Kara and James both have the urge to help and, well, there’s something between them. Something a little too stiff for people who’ve been close friends as long as they have.

Alex mutters a Jesus Christ and gets up. “You’re both blind.”

And that’s that.

Winn’s off to some nerd convention for the next game night, so they can finally play two-on-two. Kara attempts to be fairer; she sticks their names on a random generator she gets off Google and picks teams every time they play a new game.

It takes off perfectly, starting off with Pictionary and a strange team played game of Battleships (specially lined with lead, she’s no cheater) with Kara, followed by more single player games they’ve turned into twos, like Chess with Alex (apparently, Kara’s misplaced Trivial Pursuit), and then Clue with Kara, again (making up ludicrous murder scenarios much to all of their amusement).

And then it’s James. She’s paired with James four times in a row. Really, what kind of random generator puts her up with the ex-boyfriend of her current crush? And pits them against the Danvers sisters? A higher power is out to get her, truly.

“Uh. Hippo? No! Elephant!”

“Yes!”

“Alligator? Crocodile.”

“Yes! Did we win?”

Alex chortles and wraps Kara up in a fierce hug. “As if those losers could beat us. We’re the reigning charades champs, Kara.”

Kara mimes wiping dust off her hands and takes a seat, grinning smugly at Lena and James.

“Well,” Lena says, apologetically, “I’m not much of an actress.”

James smiles, warmly. “I’ve heard otherwise. Medusa had us all fooled.”

“Do you want to act first or should I?” Lena asks, a little stilted.

“I’ll do it,” he says. “Theme?”

“TV shows!” Kara shouts, even though she’s an arm’s length away.

He does as told and turns to face Lena as she takes out her phone to open the app. “Ready?”

“As ever.” She doesn’t really have the time to watch TV, but she’s hoping for classics and shows that are so mainstream even she couldn’t avoid them.

James, always, always smiling, guesses to the best of his ability, even when she flounder a little on some of them. Unsurprisingly they lose, but by the time they’ve played four rounds, they’re only behind by a couple points.

They take a break before they launch themselves into legitimate single player games. Kara sprawls all over Lena’s lap as James makes conversation with Alex. “Are you having fun?”

Lena laughs, absentmindedly sticking a hand in Kara’s hair and working out the knots. “Yeah, of course.”

Kara hums. “Oh. Well… good.”

“Good,” Lena repeats.

“Okay. And you’re going to keep on having fun?” Lena furrows her eyebrows. “Because we’re playing Go Fish next.”

Ah. Lena bites back a laugh and fakes a huff. “I’m leaving now.”

“Lena.”

After that, James walks her to her car since it’s on the way to his.

“Have a good night,” he bids, waving as she tosses her bag into the passenger seat.

“You too,” she replies.

L-Corp’s finally announcing the new solar cells and she gives CatCo an exclusive.

Kara spends the majority of the interview gushing over a cat picture and mulling over the casual game of chess they usually play whenever she stops by the office. Jess drops in every now and then, leaving behind a snide comment before she leaves.

Then, she goes for a photoshoot with James (who insists on being the photographer).

She’s a professional and she’s had shoots before, whether it be with her family or for L-Corp, so the shoot flies by.

Lena lets a stuttering college student wipe the makeup off her face and smiles kindly when he murmurs a bye.

“Just a second!” James calls before she can walk out of the studio. “Don’t you want to look at the pictures?”

“I’m sure they turned out excellently,” Lena replies, turning a little. “I trust your abilities in photography.”

James jogs up to her, his camera in hand. “Yeah, but you’re not even a little bit curious?”

Lena bites her lip before sighing and inching closer to peer over at the camera. “Okay, fine.”

She was right. She looks like she can stab a man with a stiletto and still look meticulous. That’s not the image she really wants for herself, but it’s one that she must have to run her company. Besides, it fits with the sleek, modern thing L-Corp’s going for.

“I look… great,” Lena says, slowly, as he flips through more photos.

“Are you complimenting me or yourself?” James jokes.

“Me, of course.” He comes to a stop on the last one, where she’s her hand’s half way to her mouth and she’s laughing her guts out – probably when Kara dropped in and did something endearing. It looks… nice. Softer. “Oh.”

James grins and turns his camera off before she can comment on it further. “Hey, I get off work in five. Wanna go for drinks?”

Lena, taken aback, only blinks.

“Hello?” James waves a hand in her face. “You in there, buddy?”

“You want to go for drinks with me?”

James tilts his head. “We’re friends, aren’t we?” He frowns. “Or do you not drink alcohol?”

“No, I do,” Lena says, hurriedly. “Yeah. Drinks. Sounds good.”

James chuckles. “All right, then. I’m going to put all this back in my office. I’ll meet you at the front?”

“Sure,” Lena says.

She almost texts Kara or Alex, or even Jess, to come be a buffer, but decides against it when she sees Supergirl zooming past overhead (she hopes it’s a cat stuck in a tree) and knows Jess would be a nightmare to put up with.

James comes out soon enough, tie loosened and customary grin in place.

He leads them to a bar walking distance away, so they don’t have to worry about transportation (she doesn’t really have to, because she’s technically still on the clock and has chauffeurs) and opens the door for her.

“Bar or booth?”

“Booth, please.”

James gestures to the one in the corner. “I’ll get us drinks. What do you want?”

“Oh, no, I can get my own,” Lena says. “I can afford it.”

“It’s fine,” James says, nudging her. “Come on, before a group of underage NCU students take it. You can buy the next round.”

Lena begrudgingly splits up with him after giving him her drink order, sliding into the booth and shooting a text off to Jess, telling her to head off early since she’s most likely not coming back to the office tonight.

Jess blue ticks her as usual.

“So,” James starts when he sets her glass down and settles down opposite her. “How’s business?”

She raises her eyebrows after taking a sip. “Friends talk about this in a post-work bar hang out?”

“Touché,” he replies through a laugh, and that’s how she makes her fifth friend, six months into living in National City.

They skip game night next week, because there’s an arson somewhere downtown and Kara and James have to rescue people as Alex and Winn work with the DEO. She feels a pang of incompetence in her chest when she sees all her exhausted friends the next day when Winn insists on a movie marathon to compensate, but she quickly pushes it away.

Winn’s apartment is as nerdy as she envisioned, and they mostly just leave the other three to geek over all his random gadgets he’s got scattered around.

Later, Kara flies everyone home individually.

It’s not the first time, the second actually, but it is the first time when Lena’s actually not dying.

Kara drops her off last, because Alex basically fell asleep two seconds into High School Musical 2 and Lena insisted that James go next, because Lena’s still trying to figure out how Winn got an entire airplane engine into his bathroom.

She hates flying, but she’ll take any chance to cling onto Kara. She’s desperate, so what.

“Are you okay?” Kara asks as Lena shifts in her arms to tuck her head into the hollow under her chin. “I can go slower.”

“No, it’s fine,” says Lena, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” she replies, brightly, before hesitating. “I, uh, don’t know where you live.”

Oh. Lena reminds herself to invite them over for dinner or something, and then mutters out her address as Kara changes direction sharply.

“My bad. Sorry.”

Lena tightens her hold on Kara, patting her muscled bicep lightly. “It’s okay.”

When Kara lets her down on her balcony, she takes a moment to adjust, murmuring her thanks when Kara quickly scoops her purse out of the air when she drops it.

“Uh,” Lena finally says, “Kara.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t have keys to my balcony.”

Kara blinks. “Oh. Right. That’s all right. Just give me your keys and I’ll fly down to let you in, this way you won’t have to fly again.”

Lena smiles a little, stepping up closer to dig into the purse Kara’s still holding and pressing it into her palm. “My hero.”

Kara looks almost dazed as she flops over the balcony with the keys.

It takes longer than expected. Kara apologizes when she finally barges into Lena’s apartment and twists the lock open. “The doorman wanted a signature.”

“It’s okay, Kara.” Lena whips off her cardigan, tosses it on her couch, and kicks her heels off. It takes her about two entire minutes for her to realize Kara is staring curiously at her walls. “Not what you expected?”

“Well, no. But it’s nice.” Lena gives her an amused look, padding to her kitchen for a tub of ice cream she’s not going to eat, seeing as she bought it for Kara ages ago from a brief trip to Europe but never found the time to give to her. “No, really, it’s nice,” Kara says, earnestly.

Lena takes a spoon from a drawer and turns, juddering back into the fridge when she finds Kara right there.

“Sorry! Sorry.”

Lena laughs and thrusts the ice cream into Kara’s hands. “Eat up, Supergirl.”

Kara takes one look at the label and is a goner. Lena can tell. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Says the superhero to a Luthor,” Lena says, dryly, shuffling around Kara to hoist herself up onto the island.

“You know I don’t see you as a Luthor, right?” Kara asks, frowning and holding the half-finished carton aside. “Sure, you’re Lena Luthor, that’s your name, but you’re not… You know. A Luthor.”

“It was a joke.” It was. Kind of. “Seriously, Kara, enjoy the ice cream and your out of this world metabolism.”

Kara giggles, appreciating the pun, and scoops a literal quarter of the carton on her spoon, stuffing it in her face. Lena shakes her head and turns to grab a roll of napkins.

“Come over here,” she says, one hand coming up to Kara’s neck once she’s close enough and the other with a napkin dabbing at her bulging cheeks. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Thanks,” Kara says around a mouthful of ice cream. A glob lands on her suit, just over the crest, and Lena quickly swipes that up before Kara can move her head more.

After that, Kara takes it slower, taking tinier spoons as Lena scrunches up yet another used up napkin.

It’s warm and quiet in here, surrounded by framed CatCo articles written by Kara, pictures from various game nights, and even one of her and Jess a gossip site had gotten when she’d first moved here. (She forgets to think about the one she has of Lex at her high school graduation hanging proudly by the door.)

When Kara finishes the carton and sets it next to the pile of napkins, she leans into Lena, sandwiched by her thighs. “Are you going to work tomorrow?”

“I always go,” Lena replies, eyes flicking from Kara’s still hopelessly sticky jaw to her eyes.

Kara’s hand rises up to cover Lena’s, still on her neck. “You work too much.”

Lena almost laughs in her face. “You have a day job and a night job.”

Her hand tightens on Lena’s. “Yeah, and I’m an alien who doesn’t need as much rest as you.”

“Your night job is beating the ever living shit out of criminals and charging into exploding buildings. We’re even.”

“Lena Luthor.”

“Kara Danvers,” Lena retorts, swiping her finger lazily over Kara’s pulse point. She wonders if Kara’s heart beat is just really slow or her skin is too dense for her to feel for it. “Thanks for worrying about me.”

“Not a problem,” Kara reassures, immediately and vehemently. “That’s what friends are for.”

Lena smiles and is so close to kissing her that she almost feels like crying when Kara jolts violently, head swiveling around.

Kara’s mouth is open, ready to say something, to apologize, but Lena hops off the counter and swipes twice at Kara’s shoulders. She pushes some hair away from Kara’s face and tugs her lower so she can kiss her forehead. “Go get ‘em, Supergirl.”

Kara gapes, then it morphs into a grin. “See you tomorrow, Lena.”

A moment after Kara’s jetting off, Lena falls back onto her counter, sagging. That was a disaster. A big gay disaster.

Lena sighs, takes the empty carton and spoon, and throws them into the bin and sink, respectively. She’s 100% certain the only reason she’s gotten so bold is because prolonged exposure to Kara and her friends have really boosted her confidence.

She’s not sure if she likes it.

“I heard through Winn who heard through Alex that you kissed Kara.”

“On the cheek,” Lena says, not missing a beat. She’s exhausted.

James hands her a whiskey, because that’s a thing now, they go for drinks every Monday and she finds that it’s an effective bonding experience and also an excellent time to bitch about businesspeople. He can really relate now that he’s been stand in chief at CatCo for half an entire year.

He’s somber, odd for him with his usual cheerfully charming disposition, but not in the slightest within this context. Lena sighs and hopes that this isn’t the end of their friendship. She doubts it, because James is genuine and accepting, and all-in-all the greatest guy she has ever known, and will ever know.

Lena’s sure of it. James pats her hand and Lena’s sure of it. “Now, usually, I wouldn’t help someone who’s head over heels for my ex by gossiping about said ex, but you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Lena Luthor.”

What’s with everyone and her full name? Christ.

Lena slumps lower in her seat. “And?”

“And the only reason why I know about this is because I heard through Winn who heard through Alex who heard through Kara talking about it for an entire hour and a half instead of choosing to eat the potstickers Alex brought for her.”

“Potstickers? Not, I don’t know, say, pizza?” Lena can’t hide the shock in her voice and she doesn’t really try to.

“Potstickers,” he confirms.

“Christ,” she whispers.

James nods in agreement. “Agreed. She’s in deep.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do?”

For the first time that night, he laughs.

“You’re on your own on that one, buddy.”

Predictably, Alex stops by the next day just after Kara’s left (she tries her best to drop in every morning, firstly, so she can give Jess her morning coffee the way she likes it, and secondly, to bid Lena a good day). “I assume you’ve heard.”

“Hello to you too,” Lena says, sending off an email and returning to her inbox. “How did you get past the guard dog?”

An email from Jess pops up. In it, is a link to a shared company document and in that, is a long list of HR complaints, dated in chronological order starting from the conception of LuthorCorp. She’s pretty sure if she prints it out, staples the ends together, and throws it over the balcony, it would just reach the floor. Message received, loud and clear.

Lena closes the tab and starts up on an apology email.

“Jess loves me,” Alex says, they share a good natured laugh at Jess’s indignant scoff.

“Close the door, please,” Lena says, and after Alex kicks the door shut, continues, “I did hear. From James.”

Alex takes a seat opposite Lena and raises her eyebrow. “You should ask her out. Y’know, on a date. That’s how normal people do it.”

“She’s Supergirl and I’m a Luthor.”

“No, she’s Kara and you’re Lena,” Alex says, sharply. “Try again.”

Lena sends the email off to Jess and rubs her forehead. “She’s straight.”

“Didn’t you graduate from Stanford or something?”

“Only Met U for my bachelor’s and master’s and M.I.T. for my PhD, actually.” Lena props her chin up in her hand.

“All right, humble brag – actually, not even humble,” Alex says. “I did med school in NCU.”

“All right, humble brag – actually, not even humble.” Lena smiles as Alex rolls her eye at her. “And I knew that. Kara talks.”

Alex throws her head back and groans. “Don’t I know it, Luthor. She won’t stop talking about your cheek kiss. Just ask her out. Why are all you both so incompetent?”

Glancing around pointedly, Lena furrows her brows and forces herself to be stiff-lipped to stop herself from smirking. "I run a multi-million dollar company and your sister holds the safety of an entire city in her hands.”

“Exactly!” Alex points an accusing finger at Lena. “I expected more from you guys. Well, actually, not from Kara. It took her an entire year of pining over a taken man to get a boyfriend.”

Lena’s eyes widen. “A year? Taken? James was taken?”

At this, Alex positively cackles. “Oh, wait till you meet Lucy Lane.”

“What?”

Alex takes her phone out and holds it up to her ear. “Oh, what’s that? A real life emergency? Sure thing.” She gives Lena a salute, excellent form, because of course. “Ask her out or I’ll sue you and use the money to pay Kara’s favourite potsticker place to stop selling to her!”

James tells her their whole story when she requests a pre-game-night visit at her office, since Alex has proven to be unreliable and whenever she’s around Winn, they end up arguing over robot ethics or something. (She’s also not about to say anything about it to Jess or Kara.)

Throughout the entire thing, his expressions flicker through pure adoration, frustration, contemplation, and sadness, bordering on wistfulness. Lena gets it, to some extent at least. She puts a hand on James’s arm and pushes his drink closer to him as he comes to an end.

He chuckles, mirth not quite reaching his eyes, and knocks it back.

“I’m sorry that it ended.” She means it, sincerely. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugs. “I guess some things just don’t work out the way we want it to, no matter how much we want it to.”

“Still,” Lena says, this time she means to say I’m sorry for violating the bro code or whatever that stupid shit is.

They fall into companionable silence as Lena switches her laptop off and halfheartedly organizes her desk into piles of paper.

When they go to game night, she sits shot gun in James’s car, instead of going separately.

By the time they reach Kara’s apartment, they’re back to easy banter. Kara opens the door to Lena’s red face, holding back her laughter and failing disastrously as James greets her happily.

“Hey, guys,” she says, carefully, “Come in.”

They’re early, so Kara lets them pick their spots first and dig into chips.

“Hey, Lena?” Kara asks when Lena’s rifling through the giant pile of snack foods for the cool ranch Doritos. “Do you want to change out of your work clothes?”

Lena curses under her breath as she straightens up, remembering that she left her casual outfit in her own car. “I forgot to bring a change of clothes. Can I borrow something?”

“Of course,” Kara responds, instantly, and leads them to her room. “Do you want jeans or sweatpants? Shirt or are you fine with just a sweater?”

“Jeans and sweater. Thank you.” She’s seen Kara’s ducky sweatpants and she’s not going to be caught dead in those around Winn and Alex.

“Any time.” Kara hands her a pair of jeans and opens another drawer to pull out her sweater. “So, um…”

She adjusts her glasses nervously.

Lena smiles, patiently, hoping Kara doesn’t bring up the cheek kiss. She’s not ready. “You’re going to have to finish the thought, darling.”

Kara blushes fire engine red and glances down at her feet. Pet name slip, oops. “Right. So are you and James… a thing? Or…”

“I’m – Kara, I’m gay,” Lena says, mildly. She came out publicly at least two years ago. This explained quite a lot, actually.

“Oh, Rao!” Kara blinks in quick succession and stumbles a little more over her speech, some not even spoken in English, or in any human language, for that matter. “Sorry. For assuming. That’s great! Good. That’s good. For you, I mean.”

Lena laughs and her chin bobs as she nods slowly. “Thank you, Kara. I do enjoy lesbianism.”

“Right.” Kara pushes her glasses higher, despite the fact that they’re at a reasonable height on her face. “I’m just gonna – I’ll go and let you change.”

That could have gone a lot better. It also explains why Kara herself hasn’t asked her out yet. Because Lena kind of wants that, she does.

When she goes back out, Alex has arrived and Kara’s on the phone with Winn in another room. She stuffs her folded dress into her purse and takes a spot next to James, who’s found the cool ranch, bless him.

After Kara walks out of the apartment to help Winn carry something up, Lena clears her throat. “Kara didn’t know that I’m a lesbian.”

Alex chokes on her sour cream and James lets out a long, suffering sigh.

“That clears up so many things for me,” Alex says. “I should’ve known. She basically told me I didn’t find the right guy accidentally when I first came out. She’s kind of awkward and just generally unaware about people’s romantic lives. Unless it’s on Sitcoms.”

Lena blows out a puff of air.

James gives her a thumbs up, though. “Maybe she’ll ask you out like you want her to.”

Here’s hoping.

“I’m learning so much today.”

Once again, because Kara’s magically found it, Lena wins at Trivial Pursuit, this time with Winn. It’s clear that Kara’s been reading up, since she actually contributes more to her team’s efforts. (Or, more likely, Alex tells them, when Kara goes to the bathroom, that she’s memorized as many answers as she can – later, she stomps out the bathroom and very emphatically tells them that Alex is a lying traitor.)

They try charades again, with one person sitting out every round to assign topics. When it’s Lena’s turn to pick, she gives Kara a choice between movies and animals (and she thoroughly enjoys Kara’s medley of the Little Mermaid songs), and James a list of occupations to act out for Alex.

To Winn, she gives musicals, because while he can sing, he doesn’t know anything about it and she’s still bitter that he’s declared himself the winner of their robots ethics discussion. Alex gets TV and she thanks her profusely. James and Alex win that particular round, seeing as James runs a magazine, so he knows his pop culture and Alex spends every other night binging on Netflix with Kara. Also, Winn flops spectacularly.

Next, Winn rotates off, putting James with Kara and Lena with Alex.

He gives Lena impressions and accents. Needless to say, she loses the game for them.

Judging by the unstoppable force of her laughter, Alex doesn’t necessarily mind.

Lena grins, good natured, and joins James. She’s going to destroy Winn, later, when she tells him what the fuck else she’s brewing up in her labs, which are very carefully guarded on her unhackable servers, thank you very much.

They’re nearing the end of a game of poker (Kara is as bad as expected; Lena is as bad as unexpected) when Kara hears some trouble a couple blocks away. It’s a mugging that Supergirl can handle on her own and faster than the Guardian can, so she goes alone, telling them they can stay as long as they want.

Still, Lena ends up going home early because she still has responsibilities, and Jess will kill her if she cancels another early morning Saturday meeting. James drives her and only starts off down the road when the doorman closes the door behind Lena.

She’s already asleep when Kara flies past her window.

It only takes Kara about an entire month before it happens. It’s almost winter now and Kara’s been wearing more sweaters in an attempt to fit in.

Lena herself is decked out in coat after trench coat. (Jess mutters something that sounds like, “There’s no in between with you two,” but she’s apparently never saying anything unprofessional to Lena, so she’ll give Jess the benefit of the doubt.)

There’s about a hundred articles written on her love affair with Kara, so they’re not necessarily fazed when a random kid takes pictures of them out on various lunches (on the ongoing hunt for National City’s best restaurant, not that it exists), but it’s not something Lena’s happy about.

Kara avoids the camera, self-consciously nudging her glasses using the tips of her fingers, before flat out frowning at the guy until a waiter notices Lena Luthor’s accompanying glower and kicks him out.

“How’s your week been?” Kara asks.

“You saw me yesterday,” Lena says, affection warming her tone. Seriously, they had game night literally less than twenty-four hours ago.

Kara puts a single index finger on the tip of Lena’s glass of iced lemon water, and Lena knows there’s not a chance in hell she’ll be able to lift it without breaking the cup. “How’s your week been?”

Lena laughs and wraps a hand around Kara’s. “Now? It’s great. How about yours?”

“Glad you asked,” Kara says, “Do you have, by any chance, a jerk detector you need testing? I know a guy. Snapper.”

“I’m sure I can start development on one.” Lena gently pries at Kara’s hand until she gets the point and moves away from Lena’s cup so she can take a drink.

Pouting, Kara splays her fingers over her face and slots her chin into the concave in her palm. “I can’t wait till Ms. Grant comes back.”

“Do you know when that is?” She’s still holding Kara’s other hand

“Well, no.” Kara grips a tiny bit tighter. “But I have hope that it’s soon.”

Lena’s pretty sure that’s enough to bring Cat Grant back. That’s one of Supergirl’s strongest powers, after all. She isn’t aware she’s said it aloud until Kara’s blushing and just about ready to haul Lena right over the table. “You think so?”

“I know so,” Lena says, fiercely. She has an unwavering faith in Kara, that’s only trumped by Alex to the best of her knowledge.

Kara beams before she nibbles at the edge of her lip and uses her free hand to fiddle with the tablecloth. The abrupt change in demeanor makes Lena knit her brows together and take another sip from her water. Are they going to talk about the coming out this now?

“Lena?” She hums in acknowledgement. “Can this be our first date?”

Her water goes down the wrong pipe and she coughs into her hand, so no one sees it dribble down her chin. Kara, almost knocks over her own drink when she stands abruptly to help Lena wipe her face and pat her back.

“I – I’m sorry,” Kara says, panicked. “We can ignore that.”

“What?” Lena croaks out, shooing her away, so she can just take seat and let Lena process. “No.”

“No?” She’s got the kind of wince that makes her scrunch up one side of her face in a pained smile.

Once Lena’s sure she’s not going to spew more water all over the place, she clears her throat and straighten up in an attempt to gather her dignity. It’s shattered. Spilled all over the floor. “I mean, if you want to ignore it, then… But I don’t. Because I would love it. If it was our first date.”

Kara’s entire body shakes with nervous energy as she bobs into her nod. “Yes! Definitely. I would be honoured.”

There’s a brief pause.

Lena giggles and then, after a second passes, Kara follows.

“We’re a mess,” Lena says.

“Gosh, don’t tell Alex, she’ll never let me live it down.”

“She’ll never let me live it down. Or Winn.”

“Pact to never tell them?”

“Done.”

#supercorp #supercorpfic #supergirl #writing #lena luthor #super friends #warning: impending long ass tag ramble i do this a Lot #first of all the title is that bc if lena had a facebook bc i hc that she becomes a literal cryptid like mcgrath after lex fucks up his life #she would only have 5 friends #5 of those are all mutual friends #and anyway this was supposed to fill a james&lena being bffs kinda prompt but i gave up bc i started off way too early #o shit also an important note: I HAVENT WATCHED SUPERGIRL SINCE SEASON ONE ENDED #literally april 2016 was the last time i watched a legitimate episode #so yea sorry for disastrously ooc if there is #but i watched some james videos on youtube so i think im kind of an Expert #lena trying to be Cool And Suave and tripping over her own gay so theres rlly no conclusion #anyway someone either give me validation or constructive criticism #im either gonna write more supercorp jess/alex or finally try to write james and lena bff fic #there was an extra scene with lucy in it but i just forgot what the fuck happened with her and rlly how to write in general so yea thats #where the summary came from #ALSO i was gonna bring cat in at some point and involve some nice j'onn shovel talk #i just want to say i hate mon-el and im avoiding maggie bc floriana is truly Disgusting and also i want to avoid the discourse #I JUST WANT LENA AND JAMES AND KARA TO HAVE SOME FUCKIN HAPPINESS #YALL CAN HAVE MINE except i dont have a lot bUT TAKE IT #i dont go here anymore and i stan her what kind of gay......................................................................................#anyway bye im going for Lunch

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blueprint-han · 4 years

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[Image ID: A black picture with the title “HOW TO SUPPORT FANFICTION AUTHORS” written in bold caps lock, colored with a winter forest picture. End ID.]

Well, this post has been made countless times, but I’m making one too because I’ve seen a lot of people say they’re new to tumblr and don’t know the whole “reblogging is better than liking” rule and other stuff. So without any further ado, here are ways YOU can support the fanfiction authors. Now keep in mind this applies to almost every author out there, not just the stayblr fandom, so if you’re a silent reader (or even if you aren’t), I advise you go through this post. Warning, this is a fairly long post going into detail, so yeah. I still expect you, the readers to read this, and if you’re a writer, feel free to lmk if i’ve written smth wrong or if you want me to add something! ^^

In this post I’ll go into thorough analysis of the pros and cons of each of the methods listed here and how YOU as a reader can show the authors whose fics you read more love and motivate them to produce content.

WARNING; LONG POST! GOES INTO A DECENT AMOUNT OF DETAIL. NOT EDITED, EXCUSE ANY TYPOS.

#1 : LIKING !

I think this is basic common knowledge, and a lot of people tend to do this. When you like the post, the author sees it, you see it, and if the author has their liked posts accessible (which majority of the time they don’t), and if someone deliberately goes to check it, then they see it. See why so many authors say just liking does nothing? Only liking says “Hey, I’m gonna tell you your story is not that good by simply liking it and not sharing it with other people. :D”

♯ PROS:

You’re telling the author that you've read their fic, and either you’ve enjoyed it to a certain extent, or you’re just saving it to read for later.

Likes are seen by you, the author and anyone who has access to your likes (which, most people don’t).

♯ CONS:

If you ONLY like, you’re not really helping the author’s work reach a wide audience because this site isn’t Instagram. Reblogging is the only way people can SEE our works. I’ll cover more on that in the next section.

In a nutshell, liking is good! But you should most likely use it in a combination with the other stuff I’ve listed below, because just the like itself doesn’t really do much in giving the author any feedback or interaction on their fics.

To clear shit up; I’m not talking about those people who don’t read the story or appreciate it in the first place. I’m talking about those who appreciate the fic, like it, but don’t leave any sort of feedback to show that.

#2 : REBLOGGING !

This is SO, SO important. I cannot stress on this enough. Let me explain WHY so many writers stress on reblogging content:

Tumblr’s tag system is inherently fucked up, and has grown more so over the year. I’m not kidding, at first, the fic either used to show up in the tags or it didn’t, but now, sometimes your fic can be REMOVED from the tags because of,,, idk tumblr tag shit. Anyways, as you can see, it’s very demotivating for authors at that point, because the major way for people to find their content and expand their blogs has been blocked.

Due to this reason, tumblr authors need to RELY on you, their followers to help spread their works to a wider audience. Now again, before you get me wrong, I’m not saying you ae forced to rb our works regardless of whether you like them or not. BUT, that being said, if you DO infact like the story, there’s no harm in reblogging, right? By doing this you’re indirectly telling the author — “hey! :D I liked your fic! Which is why I am gonna share it to my followers so they can read it too :D” Trust me, you’re doing nothing but helping the people who produce content for you to read. Seems like a worthy cause to hit the reblog button, right? It’s only a one, or maximum two step procedure.

Leave tags in your reblogs! Trust me, as an author myself and as much as I know from all my author friends, we oft check the tags of your reblogs to see if you found any part amazing or even if you have anything to say about the writing we put so much hard work into. Even a key smash or a “This was so [insert adjective] 🥺” is enough to leave a smile on your authors face.

♯ PROS :

You’re !! Sharing !! Your authors !! Works !! This leads to them getting more recognition, so for the content they’re so graciously providing for free, you’re promoting their blog and helping them expand it.

If the tags are being a shit, which majority of the time they are, then you’re literally making an author’s day by reblogging! You’re showing them that you, a follower and appreciator of their works are willingly sharing their content because it deserves to be seen by more people. Again before any dumb people decide to attack me, i am talking about people who like the fic but don't bother reblogging and are silent/ghost readers. I am not forcing anyone to read anybody’s work.

YOU’RE MAKING YOUR AUTHOR SO HAPPY WHAT MORE REASONS COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT !! 🥺

♯ CONS :

Literally none, because as far as I remember no author is against reblogging of their works. It’s quite literally the way this platform functions. Reblogging is IMPORTANT.

#3 : COMMENTING/SENDING FEEDBACK !

This kind of overlaps with the previous section, but THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT STEP !! When you leave feedback, you are directly giving the author something so much more valuable to them than high follower/note counts or money. Your feedback is literally our serotonin. I kid you not the number of times I’ve received a positive comment and smiled and it has made my day. There’s a reason youtubers (though not the best example, bear with me here because it was the only one I could think of) ask people to subscribe, like and COMMENT. The subscription is like a follow, the like is ofc like a heart, and the comment is equivalent to an rb with comments in the tags.

You might argue and tell me that a comment is basically like an ask so the reblogging step isn’t necessary, but I’m sure 99% of you use YouTube and you know that more comments leads to people’s videos boosted in the stream/trending charts. This is what reblogging does. Reblogging shares the piece with other people like minded, which leads to a boost in reads. You are literally helping your author grow.

It’s quite literally the same thing as youtubers. Youtubers NEED validation to keep their content creation going, so do writers, so do other ccs on this site. This post is however, focused on WRITERS, so keep that in mind.

♯ PROS :

By doing this, you’re giving author valuable feedback! It’s similar to what you do in rbing with tags. Interactivity with their fics boosts their note counts and helps expand their audience, so srsly, now think of it: your one comment is playing such a massive role to help ccs create more content.

Imagine how much of a difference the note counts will be in when every person who simply likes after reading the fic, reblogs, leaves a comment and sends an ask. the note counts would be high on each and every fic, which is validation in itself, but your comments would inspire the writer so much more! Please, don’t skip the commenting part. Even a simple one like: “this is so cute!” is wonderful.

♯ CONS :

Remember, if you’re gonna give constructive criticism (which I’m sure you all are smart enough to know if different from hate), make sure the author is okay with it. Authors need to be in a specific mindset and must be ready to accept criticism, so if you’re gonna give constructive criticism to them when they’re at a low point, it may demotivate them.

Just commenting, instead of reblogging and commenting in the tags/ reblogging and then leaving an ask in their inbox, while it gives validation in plenty, will not lead to the author’s work being spread. Therefore I suggest either reblogging and commenting in the tags or reblog and then leave an ask, or comment under the fic!

!! reminder; I am not saying that if you don’t rb and just leave feedback, your feedback has no value. We authors truly appreciate every bit of feedback, but this post is aimed to help you learn how to interact with and support authors, and make them feel more motivated, because the current scenario of liking and scrolling is taking a toll on their creative abilities. Take it from a person who’s been writing for a year.

#4 : COMMSIONING VIA THEIR KO-FI/OTHER APPS !

Before any of you attack me, let me tell you that this is not a step that is 100% necessary to do. ONLY donate if you can and if you genuinely want to, and if anyone is forcing you to pay for something against your will, you need to get yourself out of there.

Regardless, if an author has a kofi and you’re able to and you want to donate, you definitely should! It’s also a valid form of support.

#5 : ADDING THEM ON REC LISTS/ RECOMMENDING THEM TO REC BLOGS

This is such an underrated option, to be honest. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen my fic was recommended onto some rec list and it’s made me smile so hard. If you like some fics, create a rec list! They’re oft very popular amongst the fans too. Making rec posts is such a great way to share your favorite stories with others.

Rec blogs! I’ve seen a couple going around, and needless to say they are a great way to get someone else to read your favorite author’s work whilst also giving them your own feedback. These blogs oft accept recs via a form or ask box, and they leave your feedback along with their own, or else they’ll oft tag the author in the feedback post, so look! You’re basically helping your author share their fic to many more people, because you’ve given them feedback and a reblog.

♯ PROS :

Validation! Feedback! Reblogs! More exposure! Helping a blog grow! Spreading love! basically a run down of the stuff I’ve said before!

♯ CONS :

Literally no con of this. Unless, a one in a million case, this author says they don’t like receiving feedback/being tagged, and I’m sure NO person has said this before, at least none that I’ve heard of.

#6 : FINAL COMMENTS; MISC !

When an author points out about how the interactivity is drastically reducing, don’t just give them blind apologies. Yes, you feel sorry for not interacting as much, we understand, but rather show that you’ll become a better content consumer through your actions. We need to see that we’re not just throwing words into a void and that people are actually trying to be better content consumers.

Understand the fact that authors don’t get paid for this, and 99% of the time, these authors don’t take commissions either. They’re giving you novel worthy writings for free. Take Percy Jackson: You think the author would have felt motivated to write the subsequent parts, let alone two whole series based off of it if literally no one showed that they were interested? Rick Riordan has sales, he is being paid, there are millions of people and big agencies who provide him feedback. Now take that huge amount and simmer it down to an audience of maybe 10000 people This is what fanfic authors want. They don’t want your money, nor are they telling you to risk your lives for them. All they want is, a reblog, some tags, some feedback, some INTERACTIVITY. A sign that they aren’t throwing fics into the void and that people actually like them, some motivation to continue. Seems fairly easy to throw an rb with some tags, right?

Don’t bother to tell me that we do this for ourselves and we shouldn’t ask for likes and reblogs and feedback, because 1) you are consuming the content that we “write for ourselves” and 2) writers post their content here for interactivity and feedback. We could just not post and write and save our fics in our dungeon drafts for years. But we choose to post to entertain the readers, the consumers. And we aren’t even asking that much in return.

Don’t give me the whole “I’m scared that authors feel that comments are annoying” excuse either because seriously this has been DEBUNKED SO MANY TIMES. Istg, in the nicest way possible, if you still think writers are annoyed by interaction and feedback, after so many posts, long rants have been posted as to how we’re not, then you must truly be living under a rock. There, I said it. Please stop thinking this way, I’ll say it again, AUTHORS ARE NOT ANNOYED OF FEEDBACK, COMMENTS, TAGS, REBLOGS. WE LOVE IT. Saying this is like saying that the audience in a theatre play shouldn’t clap when the play ends because the actors would find it noisy. 🤡

I’ve seen some people saying they have anxiety issues and such, so pls note that I’m not invalidating your condition. If you’re trying to be more interactive, I really appreciate it! If you can’t, that’s fine too. You’re trying.

But for the people who have no reason other than feeling lazy to rb and comment, your lack of interactiveness is not excused. Please. Tumblr is a reblogging site. If you’re gonna consume content like authors are some sort of machines, I encourage you to go get some more perspective.

This site is not Instagram or the satan bird app. Your likes are appreciated but frankly speaking, they do nothing to the author except tell them “Hey i read ur fic but i'm not gonna support u :D” and honestly, that is detrimental to their creative capabilities and mental health.

DON’T FOLLOW AN ACC JUST TO MINDLESS RB THEIR SIGNAL BOOST POSTS AND THEIR REBLOGS OF GIFS AND NOT INTERACT WITH THEIR WRITING AT ALL ! Trust me, authors prefer a lower amount of interactive followers than a high count that doesn’t even give them any feedback. Again your follows are appreciated, but when you’re following, you know the type of content the author creates, so the author expects that the more followers, the more interactivity. These days, this is just becoming the opposite. So don’t do it! If you’re gonna follow to read, interact with their works. I promise, this will make both you and the author happy. A win-win situation.

In conclusion: SUPPORT YOUR FUCKING AUTHORS! THEY ARE NOT MACHINES THAT HAVE NO FEELINGS TO PRODUCE CONTENT FOR YOU! FICS TAKE DAYS AND DAYS OF PLANNING, PLOTTING, OUTLINING, WRITING, EDITING, MAKING TEASERS. SO JUST SHOW THEM YOU APPRECIATE THEM WITH AN RB. IT’S THE L E A S T YOU CAN DO.

I will be liking this post here written by the lovely @chaninfused and @scriptura-delirus . Please take time to read it because if you weren’t convinced by my arguments, you will see how much frustration we as writers face on a daily basis. Please, just show support. Here is the post by @stayndays about how to get more people to read your work, because it also has a note on reblogging. Please educate yourself, and put an end to this mindless consuming culutre and bring up some interactivity.

If you’ve read this far, I want you to go to two of your favorite authors and leave some feedback in their inbox, and tag me in it (either tag me yourself or ask the author to do so, they won’t mind). Show your writers that our words are taking effect and you are becoming better consumers. I mean it. I’m serious. I want every single one who reads this post to do this. besides valid reasons, if you’re lazy to do this, you’re a part of the problem. PLEASE get more perspective.

Also, feel free to add to this post! I’d love to read your thoughts too, remember to be kind though. And, if I think your rb is somehow contradicting my points and is bringing down the reason I made this post, I will politely ask you to delete your comment, because this post is about being truthful about the harsh reality of tumblr consumers and how we can change it. I’m sure none of you will let it get to that point, though. <3 love you guys. 💓

And, just a reminder, don’t just blindly like this too. Do what I said before, and while I am not forcing you, I’d appreciate your reblog, because seriously, it took me 3 whole days to write this, plus, I’m sure this will help more of your followers understand the fault in consumer culture. haha, that’s it! This post was way too long uff.

also, this is ur cue to not be stupid in my inbox. You have something to say? Think I worded smth wrongly? I’m sure it wasn’t my intention to do so, point it out with manners.

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gh0st-patr0l · 3 years

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ADHD in DSMP

So about a week back, I made a post about Karl Jacobs (a bit of a passive aggressive one, I’ll admit, but I think it was justified), complaining that a lot of the ‘criticism’ I see about Karl is actually rather insensitive towards his ADHD. I got a lot of responses to that post, and the most common sources of confusion I saw were:

People not understanding what I was saying they should avoid being judgmental of, or-

People who didn’t know that Karl had ADHD or didn’t understand which behaviors were caused by it.

First of all, Karl has confirmed that he has ADHD.

(NOTE: Yes, I know he said ADD. ADD and ADHD used to be categorized as separate disorders, but in the most recent edition of the DSM, it was decided that they are both simply subtypes of the same disorder- ADHD is the correct technical term. ADD is still sometimes used as shorthand by some practitioners to diagnose primarily-inattentive ADHD, but it's a bit outdated.)

Secondly, that original post made me realize that a lot of people who may be well-meaning may genuinely not fully understand ADHD and its symptoms as well as they want to or think they might. If you aren’t aware, Karl isn’t the only one in the DSMP with ADHD- to my understanding, both Technoblade and Dream have confirmed that they have it as well. So, I thought it would be helpful to put together a comprehensive crash-course on ADHD symptoms and how they effect people’s behavior!

Now, before we go further, I want to address something- as I said earlier, I saw some people unsure of whether certain behaviors are ADHD or “just his personality”. I feel the need to point this out above the read more so people will see it. To answer this question, as someone with ADHD;

A lot of times, it’s both. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, meaning that it’s caused by the way your brain developed from birth. A lot of the symptoms and effects of ADHD are extremely influential towards the way we think, act, and behave, to the point where “symptoms” and “normal behavior” really don’t have a clean differentiation. This is why it’s technically classified as a ‘disorder’, instead of an illness. While certain aspects of it can require treatment, the condition itself as a whole is not something to be mitigated or eliminated- it’s a part of who we are as a person. This is also why sometimes, even if you don’t have ADHD, you’ll look at certain specific behaviors or experiences and go “Oh, but I do that too!”. A lot of ADHD ‘symptoms’ are just a bunch of normal traits or behaviors, but in combination with each other and some actually problematic aspects, form the appearance of the disorder.

So, what are you allowed to nitpick about it? Well, there’s no real ‘authority’ on this, and even if there was it certainly wouldn’t be me. But if you want my opinion? Nothing.

See, here’s the thing- what I was trying to say when I made that post was not that you can’t be critical of Karl. If you want to say something about his Actions, his Ideals, or the content he creates- sure, go for it, that’s fair. I will agree that there are some very valid and constructive points to be made. But when you post ‘criticism’ about the way he speaks, his interests or preoccupations, his personal behaviors? That’s not criticism. That’s just judging someone.

And you’re allowed to think that stuff! Nobody can control what annoys or bothers them. It doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person. But you don’t need to be vocal about it. You can keep your mean thoughts to yourself. And if you do make posts or communities or whatever about judging someone for things they can’t change about themselves, don’t call it “criticism” or try to morally justify it. It’s not productive or righteous, it’s just rude. Nothing else.

Anyway. Back to Education!

The following will be a descriptive list of visible ADHD behaviors, using Karl’s behavior as examples.

I feel the need to add a disclaimer here- I am not a mental health professional. However! I have ADHD myself, I have taken some psychology courses and done a Lot of research into this stuff, and I’m the daughter of a therapist with access to a DSM. While I’m not an expert, I’d like to think I’m fairly well versed and knowledgeable on at least ADHD. (That being said, if by chance anyone who Is a professional sees this post and notices mistakes, by all means let me know and I’ll fix it!!)

WHAT IS ADHD?

You’re here for the behaviors more than the science, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Known in the past as Attention Deficit Disorder). Despite its name, the root problem of ADHD is not in the person’s ability to pay attention, but their brain’s capability to manage itself. In simple terms, people with ADHD have a lot less control over what their brain does and wants. This results in some behavioral differences along with some personal challenges, namely a difficulty with attentiveness and self-discipline.

Now, onto the symptoms!

ATTENTION

This is perhaps the most visible and pervasive of the ADHD symptoms, hence why it’s the namesake. Inattention is a lack of focus and an inability to stay present and occupied with certain tasks or thoughts.

Because ADHD impairs self-management of the brain, people with it have an extremely hard time directing themselves anywhere but where their brain instinctively wants to go. This results in inattentiveness and the easiness of distraction that is often mocked or stereotyped for people with ADHD.

Here are some examples of how Karl can sometimes display his inattentiveness;

When he has an idea that he seems passionate about, only to drop it or switch to something totally different without warning soon after (either forgetting or getting bored of his original idea).

When he sets out to do something like a build, works on it for a short amount of time, and then immediately gives up or gets someone else to do it.

When someone else is talking and he totally zones out. (NOTE: While I wont make a whole section for it because it’s not easily observable, maladaptive (constant and intrusive) daydreaming is a common ADHD symptom as well!)

It’s important to remember that the whole problem with ADHD is that we can’t control when or what we focus on. When someone with ADHD zones out during a conversation or activity, it doesn’t mean they’re doing it on purpose, and they likely don’t mean any offense! We often are trying our best to listen or participate, but our brain just wont cooperate.

However, inattention is not the only way ADHD effects our focus. There’s also what’s called hyperfocus or hyperfixation, which is when we are so absorbed into a single subject, task, or idea that it is extremely difficult to get us to think about or do anything else. This is usually because our brains have found something that is getting those satisfaction chemicals flowing, and it’s clinging to that with everything it’s got.

People with ADHD will often experience brief periods of hyperfocus. Think of how Karl talks about spending hours straight working on a build or project without eating or drinking, or how he’ll sit down to play a game with someone and end up going six hours without even noticing.

There are also hyperfixations, where someone with ADHD becomes extremely preoccupied with a certain subject, topic, etc. for a period of time. These can be short term- personally, my hyperfixation can sometimes change as quickly as a couple weeks at a time. However, it can also be long term. Karl has been obsessed with Survivor since the second grade- not to mention his memorabilia, rambling, and constant references to Kingdom Hearts.

HYPERACTIVITY/STIMMING

This is a BIG one for Karl. I should clarify; ‘stimming’ is not a technical term, and in professional situations these behaviors are just referred to as Hyperactivity. However, I personally like the term stimming much more and find it far more accurate to what the behaviors actually are, so I’ll be using that instead for this post.

If you’re not already familiar, ‘stimming’ (derived from ‘stimulation’) is an unofficial term used to describe consistent and abnormal patterns of physical and vocal behavior typically expressed by people with ADHD and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). This includes things that people usually call fidgets or tics.

(NOTE: There are differences in how people with those two disorders stim. This post will explain stimming specifically from an ADHD perspective! ASD stimming is caused by very different factors and presents itself in much different ways. Do your own research if you’re curious!)

There are two major observable forms of stimming- physical and vocal. Karl expresses both VERY often! I’ll use examples for each type;

Physical Stims: Flapping his hands/arms, jumping up and down when he’s excited, twisting around into odd positions in his chair, throwing, hitting, or tapping things, standing up and pacing around when he’s hyped up or laughing, twisting his rings, etc.

Vocal Stims: When he gets excited and repeats a certain phrase incessantly (Think any variation of “I’m popping off”), making certain repetitive noises while he’s focused on something or bored (”la la la”, the meow-noises, the weird heart-beat noise, etc.), singing or humming, tongue clicking.

It should be noted here that it’s pretty common for people with ADHD to get “stuck” on certain phrases or noises, and be unable to stop repeating them (reminiscent of echolalia, a symptom of ASD, but not the same thing). Think of how Karl might sometimes keep making a weird noise for an extended period of time even though it’s not that funny, or that one time he was physically struggling to keep himself from singing the Bakugan theme. These repetitions are completely impulsive and trust me, we usually know how annoying it is while we’re doing it, but we physically cannot stop.

ADHD stims are caused by the fact that the barrier between our brain and body is much weaker than a normal person’s. Because of this, most ADHD stims are actually very positive expressions of joy, excitement, or enthusiasm! Y’know how when you get excited, you feel like you wanna jump or dance? The ‘hyperactivity’ of ADHD is basically just that, but we don’t have the self-control to Not do it.

Stims can be caused by negative feelings like overstimulation, but in ADHD this is not nearly as common. Usually, the most negative reason we’ll stim is when we’re bored- in that case, our brain isn’t getting the Constant Stimulation that it naturally wants, so stimming is a way to make our own.

Whatever the cause, stimming is natural and impulsive. While different people experience it to varying degrees, those who regularly stim typically have little to no control over it. Suppressing stims is very hard and very frustrating to do.

Besides that, like I said- ADHD stims are often an expression of joy, excitement, or enthusiasm. They’re a beautiful thing that shouldn’t be seen as shameful or annoying!

BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES

ADHD is a disorder which causes a lack of self-control. Naturally, this means that people with ADHD are inherently reckless, impulsive, and struggle with a lack of self-discipline that they cannot fix.

Of course, people with ADHD do still have some level of self-control, and they are still responsible for conscious, long-term behavioral patterns and decisions. However, in regards to most things, they are much, much less capable of controlling themselves than an average neurotypical person is.

These are some examples of how this will often present itself in Karl;

Excessive rambling, dragging on a joke or conversation when it could and should probably have been dropped, etc.

Speaking over or interrupting other people (NOTE: As someone with ADHD- THIS IS ALMOST ALWAYS UNINTENTIONAL. I know it can seem rude or annoying but I promise, 90% of the time if someone with ADHD talks over you, they either didn’t realize or physically couldn’t help it. Please try to be patient!)

Lack of awareness towards social cues (NOTE: Unlike ASD, in which the person is incapable of/has problems fully understanding social cues, ADHD results in a lack of awareness. For whatever reason, we’re often just not paying close enough attention to pick up on things like body language, tone of speech, and facial expression as well as we would normally.)

Indecisiveness and overthinking

Bluntness, lack of subtlety

Unintentional dismissiveness, accidentally ignoring things/people (NOTE: Again, this behavior is purely accidental. In this case, it’s usually just the person genuinely not hearing or processing things.)

Making noises, speaking, joking, etc. at inappropriate times

There’s probably more, but I think you get the idea by now. A lot of the time, behavior which results from ADHD can be seen as rude, lazy, dismissive, or otherwise intentionally harmful. In reality, we just aren’t wired to navigate common social interaction with grace.

In Karl’s case, he’s clearly an incredibly sweet, empathetic, and kind-hearted person, if the various close friends who have talked about him are to be believed. Just because he talks over people or makes a poorly timed joke, that doesn’t mean he meant any harm.

I think that’s about it for how much I wanted to point out! You can do more research if you’re curious, but I feel like this post should be enough to tell you what to keep in mind and be understanding about when talking about/making judgements on Karl, and other people with ADHD.

#sorry if this is longwinded but I had a lot to say so [shrug]#karl jacobs #dsmp #dream smp #dreamwastaken #ghost.txt

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unnerving-creation · 2 years

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You know what?

I am good enough. I AM gorgeous and I don’t care who thinks otherwise. My weight changes nothing, my hair and my teeth change nothing either. I am me, and I am proud. I am valid. I am beautiful. I have friends who will accept me and support me, no matter what. Fuck this “He needs to diet because he’s getting heavier” shit. I’m fine how I am, It’s not like I have a health problem. I don’t need a diet, I need support.

I am not lazy, I need motivation. I’m trying my best, that’s all that matters. If I get hungry I’m going to eat. If I get thirsty, I’m gonna drink something. If I get tired, I’m going to sleep. I’m trying to do what’s best for me, not others. If I wanna wear a frilly dress and wear makeup and paint my nails I will. If I want to have short hair and wear jewelry I will. If I want to be myself, then I will and I don’t care what people think.

I will absolutely take advice and constructive criticism, but if someone’s just being an asshole and making things harder, I’ll speak my mind. Whether it’s online, to my friends, or in their presence. If you’re giving me healthier alternatives I will take them happily! However, if you’re just telling me I “let myself go” or I’m “fat and that makes me unhealthy” just fuck off. Don’t be an asshole because I’m “fat” or “cringe” or “ugly”. I could care less if you called me those things, actually. So what I have a bigger body, I have bigger bones anyway. Who cares if I’m “cringe”, I’m doing what I love! It doesn’t matter if you think I’m ugly because I have acne or I have a double chin, or even because I have more body hair.

Does being chubby mean I only eat junk food? Nope, I actually love fruits and vegetables. I don’t eat keto bread because it’s healthy I eat it because it’s Hawaiian flavor and it’s really fucking good. I do dishes and laundry and I take out the trash. You see what I’m getting at here? It shouldn’t matter what I look like, don’t assume just because someone’s heavier it means they only eat non-healthy food and they’re lazy.

I am chubby and I’m not ashamed of it. I am transgender, omnisexual, and polyamory. I paint my nails and wear makeup. I wear dresses some days and oversized hoodies the next. I don’t experience a lot of dysphoria, even as a trans person. I love stuffed animals and “cringy” things. I am a furry. I enjoy playing the flute and listening to heavy metal. Most importantly, I do have friends. I am good enough, it’s just how I am.

Why am I like this? Because I’m me, and that’s who I am, and always will be.

Do I face bulling and teasing because of who I am? Yes, but do I care? Nope, because I have friends who will be there and support me. (You guys are amazing btw <3/p)

#a bit of a rant but self love never hurt anyone!#this is /pos btw #self positivity #transgender #omnisexual #polyamory #pride #important #tall post

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spirit-animal-sisters-official · 2 years

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Well, if it's not hate, it sure seems like a ton of animosity is directed at him and the comic, something I just don't understand. So, he, for the sake of argument, doesn't write the characters or write the stories the way you and others want him to. I can see how that could be frustrating, but at the same time this sounds miserable and not particularly very fun.

Some critics here on tumblr come across as very vitriolic, obnoxious, and unhinged. Check out this exchange for example: https://kellodrawsalot.tumblr.com/post/688674541689536512/you-know-as-much-as-i-really-dislike-sonics

The OP even stated they didn't like Sonic's characterization, but that wasn't enough for them because OP dared criticize their behavior. I remember when I was aggressively attacked by a very prominent anti-IDW tumblr user simply for expressing how I didn't think Tails cowering in Sonic Forces was really all that bad, being completely understandable given the context. And before you bring up the actions of bad IDW fans, I don't condone those either.

Frankly, I don't see how saying it's just entertainment and if one doesn't like it, they should stop engaging with it makes me a "clown". By the way, completely uncalled for and not putting yourself in a good light. It's a perfectly valid argument, especially with how obsessed some on here act about it, instigating and perpetuating toxic drama. Moreover, some folks seem to make complaining about the comics and Flynn their entire personalities and circlejerk about it near-constantly.

As for "stanning" Ian Flynn, I have no doubt some do that, but those people aren't worth engaging with. The vast majority of fans I've ever interacted with admit the man isn't perfect by any means and is not above criticism.

Here's a post from the TrekBBS forums that I feel fits the situation:

"I agree with you. Sometimes they just don't know when to quit. It gets old. I was going through a rough patch in life at the time DSC premiered, I was glad to have Trek back, and I thought it was the best Trek in a long time. For me, it was something to take my mind off the Hell my life had become at the time...

... and some people here don't realize the other point of view. What's trash to them is treasure to someone else. Or they don't care. I think criticism is one thing. But to deliberately go out of your way to rain on someone's parade on purpose is something else. Especially once you know you're pissing people off and do it anyway. I never did that in the VOY or ENT Forums when those shows were going. My belief was, and still is: "Let the people enjoy their shows."

I think there's a distinction between coming on to talk about a show and coming on to just bully people. I think there's a distinction between offering constructive criticism and offering nothing but hatred and bile. And if someone is still hating a show five years after it premiered, that's five years of dedication to hatred. That's not normal. That's not healthy. I wish they'd stop turning DSC into a punching bag and face whatever it is that's making them use it as one."

One more from the TrekBBS forum:

"There's actually so much great TV these days. I find it better to spend time watching shows I like rather than stomping around online shitting on stuff. Latest example for me is the Halo show. I watched 2 episodes, had enough of that and done. Others are enjoying it and good for them. I watched Yellowjackets instead and loved it.

I really do need to give Discovery Season 4 another shot. I watched the first 2 or 3 and then just didn't feel compelled to go back, but it might have been due to my mood at the time as opposed to the quality of it.

To me, TV is not something sufficiently important to be angry about. It's all just entertainment."

@randomthefox you wanna take this? This is a lot to unpack.

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 4 years

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#5: The One With Astruc's Self-Insert

In my introductory post, I said the main inspiration for this blog was @hypocrisyofandrewdobson. For those who don't know, Andrew Dobson is an infamous webcomic artist known for drawing webcomics that tend to demonize people he's come across in public or people who disagree with him online (either critical of his art or his political views), while portraying himself as the victim or wise man calling them out on their differing beliefs.

If you want to learn more about this guy who I consider to be far worse than Astruc, check out the blog in question. And no, I don't know why he draws himself as a blue bear.

Why am I talking about this? It's one thing for some schmuck on the internet to use his work to respond to criticism, but the creator of a popular animated series dedicating an entire episode to attacking his critics and trying to get others to feel bad for him is another story.

The second episode of Miraculous Ladybug's third season, “Animaestro” served as a wake-up call for fans (myself included) to make them realize how immature Astruc could be. The plot centers around the premiere of a movie about Ladybug and Cat Noir directed by Thomas Astruc, who voices himself in the original French dub.

And this isn't just a brief cameo like what Stan Lee did in the MCU. Astruc is the Akumatized person this episode, so there's naturally a lot of focus on him. Throughout the first half of the episode, Astruc portrays himself as this timid man who nobody recognizes or respects, like this idiot who doesn't know what animation is.

Doorman: This is a private event, sir.

Astruc: Huh? Excuse me? I'm Thomas Astruc, the movie director.

Doorman: You filmed Cat Noir and Ladybug? What are they like in real life?

Astruc: Er, it's an animated movie. It's all cartoon characters. We don't actually film anyone. See, there's this whole team that draw the chara—

Doorman: Whatever. Who would want to see Ladybug and Cat Noir as cartoon characters?

Get it? Wasn't that meta joke hilarious? This is how much I was laughing:

youtube

And Astruc continues to get about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield when he interacts with other characters like Jagged Stone and Chloe.

Jagged Stone: Ladybug is one of my best buds! I can't wait to see her movie!

Astruc: Well I—I'm the director, so actually it's more my movie, so to speak.

Jagged Stone: Oh, so you're the one who created the story?

Astruc: Well, technically the screen writers wrote the story, inspired by Ladybug's exploits.

Jagged Stone: Oh, okay. So you did all the drawings?

Thomas: No, no. The animators do all the drawings.

Jagged Stone: So what do you do then?

(Later on...)

Chloe: So you're the one responsible for this movie?

Astruc: Yes, yes! Exactly! That's me!

Chloe: Then you were the one who left Queen Bee out of the trailer. You're lame, utterly lame.

I can't believe Astruc had a scene where he interacted with Chloe and didn't insult her at all.

The episode is determined to make the audience feel bad for Astruc. Nobody respects him and what he does. Isn't that saaaaaad? Nobody cares about animated film directors like Walt Disney or Tex Avery anyway. Not even these stupid children understand how hard Astruc works.

Several Children: Ladybug! Where's Ladybug?

Astruc: Hey there, kids!

Teacher: Ladybug isn't here children. We came here to meet the director of the movie. Children: (frowning in disappointment) Aww.

(Astruc looks visibly disappointed.)

Way to insult your primary demographic, Astruc. I thought you said kids have a better understanding of these stories when people criticized the writing of a certain episode (It's that scene in “Puppeteer 2” if you're curious/don't value your sanity).

It's almost like you're using that as an excuse to half-ass your work while still getting to claim this show is so groundbreaking.

In case you can't tell, “Animaestro” is one of those episodes. The ones where the showrunners decide to dedicate an entire episode to attacking critics of the show in a blunt fashion. Whenever a show addresses criticism, they either create an obvious strawman character to parrot the opinions of fans who don't like their work, or have someone defend the show and insult the critics directly.

youtube

The problem isn't that they're ignoring criticism. It's their show, and they aren't obligated to listen to critics or fans who don't like the direction the show is taking. On the other hand, they aren't obligated to fight back like this and treat their audience like crap. Any show that does something like the three clips I showed you usually comes off as petty and immature because they dedicate so much time to insulting the critics.

Even during the Akuma fight, Astruc has to call out Ladybug for having problems with his movie in-universe, obviously representing critics of the show Astruc claims have no right to criticize the show while it's still airing.

Ladybug: What's with that trailer too? I am not scared of cats, at all.

Astruc/Animaestro: You haven't even seen the movie and you're already slamming it?

Cat Noir: He does have a point, you know.

Ladybug: I wasn't slamming it. It's called constructive criticism!

Yeah, how dare Ladybug be angry that this movie is portraying her as a powerless coward dependent on Cat Noir as opposed to a confident and brave superhero. She just doesn't understand the genius of Thomas Astruc!

And of course the character Astruc claims is “perfect” is the one to take his side.

And that's another problem with this episode, the metatextual references. Before he gets akumatized, Astuc says he spent three years of his life working on his movie. I get that time in this show is weird (we somehow had episodes taking place on the first day of school, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and the first day of Summer), but how did Astruc's self-insert work on a movie based on a superhero who has only been active for a year? Meta-wise, it's an obvious reference to the scorn Astruc has gotten from fans after working so hard on his show, but the only people who would get that reference are the ones who are aware of Astruc's reputation online.

Self-Insert aside, I actually think the titular Animaestro is one of the more visually impressive Akumas featured on the show. Animaestro takes on several forms based off several different forms and eras of animation, like flash, anime, rubber hose, and they all stand out. Granted, some of them are obvious parodies of other characters like Goku or Sailor Moon, but the actual Akuma fight is fun to watch. According to the Mexican Miraculous Ladybug Twitter account, this episode took two and a half years to create, and it shows. It's too bad the story behind it is completely insufferable, almost like the cartoon equidistant to Pixels.

But then comes the part that honestly makes the episode worth it, mainly for how unintentionally hilarious it is. Do you want to know what Animaestro's weakness is? Do you really want to know?

Animaestro is physically incapable of moving unless someone is watching him. I am not making this up.

Ladybug and Cat Noir literally defeat Animaestro by getting everyone to stop paying attention to him.

I could make so many jokes with this, but I can guarantee you're already thinking of something just as good, if not better, than whatever I write.

And there's the end where Astruc gives Marinette his ticket to the movie, which prompts Marinette to kiss up to him for no real reason.

Astruc: Sorry, I guess you don't know who I am either.

Marinette: Of course do. You're Thomas Astruc, the movie director!

Astruc: She recognized me. Somebody actually recognized me!

Nothing happened to make her change her opinion on the Ladybug movie, she didn't really say anything to him earlier in the episode that connects to this exchange, and outside of a few lines Animaestro said, she doesn't even know why he got akumatized (even though ironically she and Chloe accidentally contributed to it because of the awful subplot involving Kagami I talked about last time). If anything, it comes off less like she actually appreciates Astruc's work, and more like she's stroking his ego just to keep him from getting akumatized again.

So yeah, this episode is awful, and the fact that it came out right after the controversial “Chameleon” only proved to show what kind of direction the show was taking this season.

But honestly, even if Astruc still wanted to make about how he doesn't get enough respect the episode could have potentially. All he had to do was make a simple change: Instead of making it about validation for Astruc as a creator, make it about validation for animation in general.

It's a common misconception that animation is only used for shows and movies aimed at children, so the episode could reflect it. Instead of the huge turnout where several celebrities appear at the premiere, instead, the turnout could be a lot smaller, with the media dismissing it as some stupid kiddie flick. Instead of getting akumatized because he gets humiliated in public/getting no respect from anyone else, Astruc gets akumatized because he sees the audience didn't go wild for the movie after the premiere. All he can hear them say is that it's just “kids stuff”.

So when Astruc is Animaestro, he goes on about how important animation is. How it's helped produce propaganda since World War II. How it helped improve special effects in big blockbusters. How the medium is used to create movies that simply can't be filmed on a physical set.

After defeating Animaestro, Ladybug shows up to talk to him. She had seen the movie earlier, and actually enjoyed it. She had a few problems with the story, but they were just minor nitpicks and inaccuracies Astruc wouldn't know about, and she was blown away by the animation. She tells Astruc not to be deterred by his critics, and continue to do what he does. As a designer in her civilian life, Ladybug knows the joy creating brings her, and both she and Astruc want to spread that joy through their work.

Back at the premiere, Astruc thinks about what Ladybug said to him when he sees some kids reenacting a scene from the movie. Astruc walks over to them and asks what they thought of the movie. They said they loved it and how energetic it was. When he tells them he is the director, the kids' faces light up and they say they want to do what he does when they grow up, bringing a smile to Astruc's face.

Isn't that a much more humble approach instead of what we got? It would have helped Astruc come across as more sympathetic, especially with animation fans. But instead, we got an entire episode of Astruc whining about how misunderstood he is.

And you know the footage used for the movie at the beginning? Remember that, because I have a huge rant about it saved for a later post.

For now, here’s an example of a creator appearing in his work done right.

youtube

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rosemarydisaster · 4 years

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So, about Bi Caleb

Warning: very long post, discussing bi representation and biphobia.

*Sorry for spelling errors, English ain’t my firts language.

I can’t believe I have to tell you guys, but anyways: Caleb is bi whether he ends with a male character, a female character on a non binary character. That’s what bi people do, you know? they experience atraction for all genders. Saying that a bi character that ends with someone of the opposite gender is straight and queerbaiting is incredibly biphobic.

Yes, Vax was bisexual. Yes, he ended up with Kiki. Get fucking over it.

Now, I can understand why LGBT+ fans may feel disappointed when they tease a “gay couple” but the “straigth” couple ends up being endgame. Notice the quotation marks because there’s not such thing as a straight or gay couple for a bi person. They are bisexual in both situations, but I can see where the problem comes from. I’ve been queerbaited to hell and back by a lot of shows and it really hurts. It feels like they are laughting at you for caring. But I want those fans (whose feelings are totally valid, don’t get me wrong) to consider a few things when it comes to Critical Role, the first one being: it’s a D&D game.

Let me explain, because I know a lot of CR fans haven’t experienced what D&D is like in real life (and that’s absolutely valid, you don’t need to play D&D to enjoy CR). This is an improvisation game, not an scripted TV show. In a Tv show you can plan ahead of time what ship is going to be endgame, what themes are gonna come up for each character and it’s easier to deeply explore sexuality and gender as different planned arcs. In D&D you character’s sexuality may or may not come up depending on how you play it. Take for instance how other CR character’s have stated their sexuality:

Beau: overtly. Very *In your face* kind of lesbian. Marisha said “fuck it, I really just want to romance girls and be bad ass”

Yasha: openly, but not as in your face. Ashley Jhonson wanted to drink from that WLW cup while also being a shy disaster. Seafood market is her favored terrain.

Caduceus: Our Ace king has never hidden his sexuality, and yet he didn’t mention anything about it until chapter 114. He didn’t had the need to either hide it or state it. He was simply vibing.

I think Liam is going that route with Caleb. He’s flustered by Essek and Edwulf (Come on you guys, he always asks Matthew if he’s still hot). He also had/has a thing for Astrid and a think he might have feels for our favorite Tiefling gal. I know we are all too used to characters being teased as gay/bi only to have execs pull a “haha jk they be straight”. But this is not Sherlock or Supernatural. This is a show that not only has queer rep, but also supports queer organizations and creators. Hell, I’m sure some of the cast members are LGBT (but I’m not here to speculate on real people’s sexuality). If Caleb shows attraction to men he is not just queerbaiting, doing it for fanservicing or tricking the fans in any way shape or form: he’s just portraying a bi character. The thing is, since this is not a TV show, he is not doing it por woke points or to send a message. He’s doing it because he wants to play a bi wizard with depression.

So maybe there will be a point in which he can explores his sexuality more deeply, but remember he is playing a game. And his character is one that has a lot of trouble opening up to his feelings. Caleb is not someone that makes sexual jokes or flirty remarks. He is shy, awkward and has developed a really fucked up sense of love that he is now slowly fixing. Hell, in the same Talks episode Liam explained that Caleb was trained on Honey-pot tactics. Which, for those of you who can’t stand Bond films, means seducing your enemy/target to get information, manipulate them or assassinate them. WHICH IS A REALLY FUCKED UP THING! Let’s remember how he was the one to push Fjord to sleep with Advantica so they could spy on her. That boy has Issues when it comes to relationships. So if we don’t see him being as overtly gay as Beau, Molly or Yasha, well maybe it’s because that’s the way Caleb is. Bi people don’t owe you flamboyance, or dating both guys and gals for your approval. I wouldn’t make a post if it was only that, because I do feel the people who are aching for good bi rep and would love some more explicit confirmation. But Vax exists, so I know we can’t have good things down here.

VAX EXPLICITELY SHOWED ATTRACTION TO GILMORE. AS EXPLICIT AS IT GETS. HE FUCKING KISSED HIM. THEY WERE PRACTICALLY DATING. AND YET SOME OF YOU FUCKERS CALL HIM QUEERBAITING. AND I SAY: NOT ON MY WATCH! NOT ON MY FUCKING WATCH!!

How come a character can have canonically kissed another character in a romantic/sensual context and still be called straight? I know fucking Sherlock traumaticed y’all into having trust issues but believe me when I tell you: I’ts not that deep. This is not a “Haha I love u but in a no homo way bro”. It’s a “full homo darling, but also we’re gonna break up because I like someone else”. This is the opposite of queerbaiting. Instead of keeping a charade he was honest with Gilmore because he valued his feelings and realized that he couldn’t reciprocate them at that moment. And if you try to tell me that Vaxleth was forced and didn’t have a reason to exist except queerbaiting, let me tell you: you are wrong.

Vax saw Gilmore once or twice monthly while he spent a heck ton of time with Kiki. Sure, they didn’t had the kind of camera chemistry Gilmore and Vax had because Keyleth is not charismatic. She’s really awkward, and her relationship with Vax was more on the adorable and dorky side of things. I bring this up because I’m predicting something similar may happen to Shadowgast.

Trust me, I ship the hot wizards as much as any other critter (even though I’m a multishipper). But they haven’t talked to Essek in centuries. I think it may have been almost a month in rol and quite a few outside. And you have to take into account out-rol time to because they are humans (except Tal) playing a game and they forget about stuff (except Marisha and Matt). So Shadowgast may not happen because sure, they had really good chemistry for a month a month ago. People have crushes that die down over time All The Time. So maybe don’t be so butthurt about your ship not being canon that you accuse an ally of homophobia.

The cast of CR put forward such an amazing representation for the LGBT+ community and it really hurts me that you gets stuck on the one thing that isn’t canon. Matt has created a world in which coming out is not necessary because no one assumes your sexuality. A world in which people respect pronouns and orientations (except Tary’s father, who is a villain). A world in which Cad or Caleb don’t need to explicitly say “I’m ace/bi” unless it comes up in conversation. A world in which his friends can be whatever they want to be without pressure or reprecusions. A world in which they get to explore different gender identities and sexual orientations with full freedom. Let’s not interfere with that (unless there’s missrepresentation), and let them play their game. If you really need mlm or wlw canon couples or more outwardly LGBT+ people you have plenty examples among NPCs and other cast members (Allura and kima, Yasha, Beau, Dairon, Keg, Reani, Tary, Molly and Vax among others).

There’s way worst shows taking LGBT+ cred for barely doing nothing. Fucking Supernatural is the most recent example! Critical Role works towards showing an honest portrayal of LGBT+ folk and accepts valid criticism from their fans on the subject (when they changed J’Mon Sa Ord pronouns from it to they/them). They don’t owe you making your ship canon or portraying their characters the way you want them to (again, unless when it’s constructive criticism). Stop being so Fucking entitled and enjoy the show for what it is

,Respectfully~

*Edit: I´m tagging Caleb’s ships into the post because most hate comes from shipping wars. Most Shadowgast fans are respectful of the cast’s decisions, even if it disappoints them. But since I’ve already seen people accusing Liam of biphobia in that tag and since I’ve already seen this shit with Vaxmore I’m tagging the ship. If you want to read my long ass post do it, if not, ignore it. I’m not forcing you to read it. I’ve also tagged it with biphobia so people can avoid it if it’s triggering. I’m sorry if it makes you mad that your ship is not canon, but that’s not an excuse to be toxic to the cast. Those of you getting mad are the ones that need to read this the most. Like I’ve said in the post: you’re allowed to be disappointed, you are allowed to want more, but you can’t force the cast to give you exactly what you want. And most certainly, you can’t accuse them of some very serious stuff like biphobia and queerbaiting when it’s not the case..

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razorblade180 · 3 years

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What makes the RWBY community difficult to write for or be part of?

(this includes everything about rwby; Being a fan, RT, the Fandom, fellow artists, fellow writers and authors, haters, newcomers, etc)

This is a lot😅 Also it isn’t a rant. I’m just speaking. Feel free to disagree, be nice in the comments. Skip all the way to the bottom if you want the simple answer. 😂

Okay, how do I put this. It’s like this fandom is a train with multiple very specific railroad tracks. If you make something that doesn’t fit on any track then it is almost always essentially dead. Or if you pick a popular track, people assume you never want to go down the other one. This fandom also can’t take even constructive criticism about their favorite characters.

I’m not trying to bash any ship or anything of the sort right now but I’ve seen exceptional art of characters like Oscar or Nora get maybe 200 likes; meanwhile some says “Imagine if Blake’s ears wiggled every time Yang shows up.” And that gets 800. That’s always a little upsetting to see. Artist try so hard.

Outside of shipping, RWBY has a strong energy of “this is someone’s first anime thing” because there’s just so many hot takes I’ve seen that only makes sense of that person has never seen a shonen. On the flip side, there’s plenty of people that try making RWBY a full shonen and they are also missing the point that it isn’t 😅

All in all I think the problem this fandom has is a similar one to MHA fandom where people paint their own narrative so intensely and stan for certain characters so hard that they ignore what’s actually being presented on screen. Then get upset when the show isn’t doing what they want. The worst case of this has be everything about Clover, Cinder’s backstory, and Ironwood shenanigans. It creates this situation where you have a big hive mind of people being pretty basic most of the time, a small minority of people that try to make valid points on both sides, and then another large hive mind on the other that are actually toxic so the minority looks bad by association.

A majority of my Adam posts talking about him and even Jaune several years ago have comments like “you hate women and probably gay people” which is so dumb, but I know why they think that. It’s because there’s actual crazy people that think Adam was right and Jaune should sleep with every woman. I am not that person! Don’t put me with them and don’t assume everyone thinks like that. It’s as close minded as those individuals. I wish this fandom was as open minded as the people in it claim to be.

Rooster Teeth make things hard in their own way by letting the main characters either have no real consequences for their attitude, or giving them dialogue that sounds okay if nobody thinks about. V6 Yang and onward has so many lines that make me go “that doesn’t actually help your case. It makes it worse.” Or how Ruby goes against Ironwood just to devise a play that requires her to prioritize the world instead of going to help Mantle; the very thing she was upset about Ironwood for doing. She didn’t do anything for Mantle until the staff plan but I digress. I could make an entire post about the things characters say in this show that make no sense considering their situation or actions, but I know many people in the fandom will defend them anyways.

None of this would be a problem if the writers realize the heroes aren’t being that good and character’s call them out on it instead of saying “you’re right!” That’s why I liked it when Ren got angry and basically said “We suck at this! People are going to die because of us!” Also CRWBY fucking stokes the flames of so many different things it’s ridiculous. Not just shipping, but everything from hype moments to their own opinions that certain people will try to take as fact. I wish they were more careful with their words.

I’m not gonna really blame content creators much because everyone has their own taste and that’s fine. I certainly have mine. However I just hope they do their best to not promote any kind of real hate towards others and their interests as long it’s harmless. It’s actually interesting hearing varying opinions and seeing variety. Hating something is fine. Just don’t be rude about it just cause. My friends are newcomers. I tell them to ignore the fandom because at this point it’s a loop of the same thing. I rarely go on the hashtag. The top trending things all fall on the same railroad as usual. This show has so many characters but you would never know by scrolling. You will get the same 3-4 ships. Where’s the flavor lol!? Draw Ruby with Nora or something. Let Ren and Blake hangout. I see Ilia art once in a blue moon.

Lastly, I will finish this with something I may regret because I honest to god do not know how to write this without sounding obtuse. Now I know this isn’t necessarily the case, but it really feels like at times the fandom and even the show have this inherent stigma I guess is the best word; towards the male characters. More so the fandom than the show. Over the years I just get that impression from the way I’ve seen characters like Oscar, Ren, Sun, and even Tai, criticized for flaws or actions that are similar to female characters who don’t get looked on as harshly. Or how are so quick to point out Adam being an abuser and murder, but nobody talks about how Cinder has no problem hitting Emerald and killing people. Some even want her to have redemption after hearing her backstory even though her crimes are just as bad as Adam’s. Fans will understand Ruby lying to Ironwood and call it a good choice as a leader, but call Oz a piece of shit for having the same concerns. People use Yang’s trauma as a way to justify her actions and defend her, but uses Qrow and Ironwood’s as a way to vilify them and prove why they are problems. Oscar is pretty generic and Jaune is pretty cookie cutter in a lot of places; Ruby somehow isn’t like most young anime heroes that want to save the world with bright eyed ideals though? People hated Whitley until the show said that you shouldn’t, even though it was obvious he was a product of his environment just like V1 Weiss was. The one that floors me the most is how people think Tai is bad parent and completely invalidate nearly all his trauma and hardships as a single father who’s depressed about both of his previous wives. Meanwhile every poor parental choice Willow has done is okay because she did two good things recently and Jacques was the source of the pain. At least Tai actually raised his kids, help or not. Now I’m not saying don’t point out flaws and criticism on those guys, just don’t stop pretend like they are the only people with those flaws.

I guess I never really tied this all back into writing, but what makes it difficult is just the many pitfalls caused by people to look outside of themselves to see a different yet equally valid perspective.

#rwby #ask me stuff #rwby talk

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the-blind-assassin-12 · 3 years

Note

The caliber of your writing is not up to par with others in the fandom and that’s why no one tells you that you should publish any of your fics. No one wants to pay money to read what you’re putting out like they will gladly do for better authors who turn their writing into books. You should take your kofi link down too it’s just embarrassing to think someone would send you money for anything on your masterlist. Do some research about what sells and what people actually crave to read and then maybe you’ll have a chance at being successful like others.

Hmm. Not really sure how to answer this one. I guess first I should ask if you’re okay, anon. Because this doesn’t seem like the kind of message a happy person sends to someone- especially someone they don’t even know. So whatever is going on in your life that made you feel like you had to send this, I hope it gets better for you so that you can focus on lifting yourself up instead of tearing others down.

That being said, I am always trying to improve and so I am always open to constructive criticism- as long as it’s given respectfully and actually includes a valid suggestion or highlights an area that needs attention. But just saying that my writing “isn’t good enough” doesn’t fall into either category, so I’m not going to give it much thought. (Although admittedly it doesn’t feel great.)

As far as publishing any of my fanfiction stories as novels- I’m not looking to do that with anything I’ve posted or anything I’m working on. And if I did want to, whether or not anyone asked me to or told me I should wouldn’t really be a factor because if it’s something I wanted to do I would do it regardless. Absolutely no judgment or negativity towards anyone out there who is adapting a fic into a novel. Just because it’s not the path I’m choosing to take doesn’t mean it’s not the right path for others to take, and the beauty of it is that we all get to decide which path to mosey down as writers. (Fun fact, readers also get to decide what to read and what to skip, and it is possible to do so without trying to make anyone feel bad about themselves or their writing.) ✌🏻

Anyway, like I said, I hope things get better for you, Anon, so you don’t feel the need to send anything like this to anyone else.

#thanks anon #anon asks #this is not constructive criticism #just as an fyi #also the only way you would know I even have a kofi link is if you clicked the link to my Masterlist #and then scrolled all the way down and read the tiny font #so who is it really embarrassing for?#hint: not me

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sir-phineas-lost · 3 years

Text

Follow-up post

So I got a reply to my comment about the ableism in Ironwood’s character arc by @swapauanon and then they immediately blocked me. Since I am sometimes a petty bastard I decided to make a separate response anyway.

The first thing I would like to point out is that this person does not actually address my points in any way throughout this lengthy rant. My comment was all about the behind-the-scenes comments from the creators and they only responded with in-text examples and their interpretations of them. Those are important sure, and I will talk about those, but they don’t exactly come off as arguing in good-faith right from the get-go.

Okay, so I don’t TYPICALLY acknowledge RWDE’s beyond blocking them, but I think it’s important to separate how Ironwood views himself versus how the writers view him.

Because Ironwood’s entire downfall is his misunderstanding of how humanity works. He denies his own humanity, and sees maiming his vulnerable flesh and replacing it with unfeeling machinery as ridding himself of his own human weaknesses.

Except at the end of the day, he can’t cast off his VERY human soul, and his refusal to acknowledge that he can’t and SHOULDN’T do that are ultimately what leads to his downfall.

I have seen this “Actually it is just Ironwood himself that is ableist” argument before, and I don’t think it holds any water. While it is true that he begins to see compassion as a weakness, he never expresses the views you say he does about his own machine parts. And if you want to talk about how Ironwood sees himself vs how the writers see him you really can’t do so without talking about framing and subtext. When we get scenes that emphazize Ironwood’s machine parts to make him look intimidating or use his passive superpower (described as “hyper-focus” by the creators themselves) to shut off his empathy, that is the writers telling us that these physical aspects of Ironwood makes him less human.

Meanwhile, what V8C12 was TRYING to convey (even if it was horrible in its execution), was that it’s one’s SOUL that defines them, not the body that houses it.

Literally NO OTHER CHARACTER with mechanical parts added to their body views themselves as less human.

[...]

Penny doesn’t angst over not being human, she angsts over being treated like a soulless tool. (Which is why I don’t like that they turned her human. Had they set up that she’d wanted to be human back in Volume 2, it would’ve been one thing, but they don’t establish that Penny wanted to be human until AFTER her mechanical body has been discarded.)

So here they outright contradict themselves. They start off saying that no other character views themselves this way, and then go on to say that Penny does (but only after she has been turned human). And like, points for admitting that scene was bad, but they seem unwilling to consider that maybe the fact that the writers did include that scene tells us something about the way the show at large views disability. They seem to think they can just write it off and move on like this instance of Penny absolutely seeing herself as inhuman can just be ignored. it also disregards that this isn’t just Penny expressing how she feels about herself. When Penny gets her human body she expresses surprise that hugging someone makes her feel “warm inside” even though she has hugged people countless times before. This is not a villain saying that having machine parts makes you less human and being proven wrong, this is a hero saying outright that “wow, my mechaniocal body made me unable to appreciate this simple human interaction, but now that I have a flesh-body I can”. Things like this is why I do not buy the argument that it is only Ironwood who thinks being part machine makes you less human.

Mercury doesn’t angst over the loss of his legs, he angsts over the piece of his soul his father tore out.

[...]

While Yang DOES lose her arm and angst over it, she doesn’t view herself as less human because of her prosthetic.

The closest we get to a LITERAL “cybernetics eats your soul” story is with Cinder, and she doesn’t have ANY cybernetics, just a parasitic leash that’s slowly consuming her flesh and threatens to eventually consume her mind if she doesn’t get rid of it. And if/when she does, I imagine she’ll replace that with a mechanical arm.

(I moved a few parts of their post around here because it made more sense to me to talk about these quotes together)

I feel like this highlights how much this person completely ignores the core argument of what makes the themes in RWBY ableist. They focus way too much on the literal and whether the characters “angst” over their humanity. But like I have said before, thie main issue here is theme and subtext.

Mercury doesn’t “angst” over his legs, but that doesn’t erase the subtext inherent in the fact that he still lost his legs (and presumanbly the piece of his soul) at the same time as he joins team evil.

Yang is probably the best take on a disabled person with a prosthetic in the show. I will give it that. I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong with how it has handled this storyline, but I do think it sets a certain expectation for how it thinks a “good” person should handle their disability. Because Yang basically deals with her lost arm by seeing her prosthetic as an “extra”. She creates a distance between herself and it instead of seeing her mechanical arm as actually part of herself. Again, nothing inherently wrong with that but combined with the Penny-nonsense it creates a pattern of seeing machine parts as inherently inhuman and “lesser”.

The point about Cinder is where the argument relies too much on technicality. Sure, Cinder’s new arm isn’t cybernetic, bhut it is still a prosthetic and it is unambiguously presented as evil and corrupting.

So, no, it’s not the fact that Ironwood has prosthetics that makes him less human, they’re simply a symptom of his view of “soft” traits (kindness, empathy, forgiveness, and flesh), as weaknesses to be sacrificed for the “greater good”. Basically, while I know this term gets misused a lot, Ironwood embodies toxic masculinity. The idea that showing any emotion other than rage and pride is “shameful” and “unmanly”. The idea that brute strength matters more than strategy. That taking unnecessary risks to achieve your goal is “brave” and “daring” and not “stupid beyond belief”. Plus, I want to point out that WINTER HERSELF said that Penny (as a robot) was more “human” than her.

Again, this completely ignores how Ironwood and his prosthetics are framed by the narrative. The idea that all of his flaws are based in toxic masculinity and have nothing to do with his disability is just not very supported by the text or by word of God (again, it was the creators themselves who said that losing his arm was “symbolic of losing his humanity).

And Winter’s words to Penny aren’t very positive either. The point being made there is that Penny was always human “underneeth” her robotics, which sounds good until you realize that this still frames her mechanical differences as negative. They are treated as a prison for the “real” Penny and the narrative explicitly tells us that they have made her unable to feel certain emotions.

It’s just that searing off that flesh after breaking his own Aura serves as a good visual metaphor for Ironwood giving up his “softer” traits to accomplish his goals, even if there was a better solution staring him right in the face (i.e. the rings were EXPOSED and he could’ve just nudged them out of alignment to get to Watts).

This feels like a really big reach on their parts to justify their idea of Ironwood as stupid on top of everything else. It relies on assuming things about fictional technology that was never explained in the show itself. I mean, if the rings are so easy to nudge then what is even holding them in place?

Either way it doesn’t really matter because the message of the scene is the same. If the point is to signal that ironwood is willing to give up his softer traits because he is also willing to give up his soft bady, then that also tells the viewer that being able-bodied and being capable of compassion/kindness/etc are synonymous.

It has nothing to do with the metal, and everything to do with the “Mettle”.

I have no idea why they would bring up the fantasy neurodivergence the writers added in through word-of-God as if it somehow makes the show less ableist. “Mettle” as it is described by the writers, is not a character flaw. It is a chronic condition.

Edit: Seriously, I hope you realize that the hatedom makes it VERY hard for any criticism of the show to be taken seriously when the very VALID cricisms are downed out by “Adam should’ve been an anti-hero!” and “Fascism is good, actually!” leading to those of us with ACTUAL constructive criticism getting lumped in with you lot!

I am curious what they think “constructive criticism” looks like since apparently “Hey, constantly equating robot parts with inhuman behavior is shitty and ableist, please stop” doesn’t cut it.

Anyways, fuck this guy. If they want to be taken seriously maybe they should think about why they had to make such a long-ass rant to dismiss criticism of very basic ableist tropes.

#rwby #rwby meta #meta #rwby critical #rwde

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inventors-fair · 3 years

Text

Tri, Tri, Tri Again

What makes a common? Usually the little black and/or white symbol on the card, but that’s not the point right now. What makes a common different than an uncommon? The thing is, we know the difference between a common and a rare, even when sometimes those lines are a little weird on older cards like Scion of the Wild and Sinkhole in their own ways. The line is there these days, and we’re designing for the modern era whether we like it or not. I’d hope that after over twenty years of tinkering we’re at a place where we do like it, so there’s that.

What stops a common from being an uncommon, though, is a little harder to quantify. We have to talk about recursion, multiples, finishing, the role in the draft, the complexity for new players, etc. There are so many factors that can make pushing commons hard in ways that we don’t touch that often. I wanted to do this contest because it’s both a restriction and a challenge. Making a common card isn’t easy unless you know your slot. Making a common with the three lines of text, well, that’s something else entirely. And for the most part, I think people did amazing work. There are a couple obvious cases where I feel people should have looked at prior examples, but in terms of general work, we’re on the ball here.

We’re only doing two bullet points this week: “Things I like” and “Where to improve.” I feel that that’s the most constructive, yes? Gimmicks can be fun, but let’s be real, we are here to get as much positive feedback as we can and to improve what we like to do, which is making custom cards. Easy enough. Let’s pick some cards and some brains.

@deg99 — Emberwild Inferno

Things I like: On its surface, this is mechanically just fine. It’s a three-mana bolt, but with a distinct upside, and you know, nobody’s going to be upset when playing this in a draft. Red removal is perfectly fine and anti-prevention, while a corner case most days… Well, kind of. There are actually ten current standard cards that prevent damage, which is kind of surprising to me! Still, ten ain’t as much as it could be for relevance, BUT, it’s still perfectly reasonable to see that it would be in this set.

Where to improve: Firstly, “Emberwild” is spelled with an “e” at the end in every iteration of MTG cards printed thus far, and it’s kind of throwing me off. Also, it’s a term from Dominaria; what city is doing the blessing? What city are they in? There needs to be a comma after damage, “cannot” should be “can’t,” and I feel that we have to tell at least one person almost every contest: Damage needs a source. “Emberwild Inferno deals 3 damage to any target.” No spells after 1999 use that kind of wording. Please, please proofread your cards.

@dim3trodon — Reassembling Sentinel

Things I like: Totally fine to be using Ward here, and I like where it’s going. This is an interesting cost-to-PT ratio, definitely more aggressive, and I don’t hate it. Flying and first strike later in the game are also totally valid. I’m personally not the biggest fan of ability counters, but in this instance, there’s absolutely nothing wrong here. Permanent additions like this are important for modern Magic.

Where to improve: But why add the ability counters only if they don’t have them? Is there some ruling corner case that I’m missing? Why not just four mana for a flying counter, three for a first strike counter? It doesn’t feel intuitive to me. Yes, multiple counters are waylaid on cards like Crystalline Giant, but that’s because it wants as many as possible. Here, where you can choose, I feel you could have just had it add the counters. Regarding flavor, I don’t see how this card is “reassembling” anything. Assembling, yes, but REassembling? Not clicking for me.

@dimestoretajic — Mob Beast

Things I like: Gruul rules! Well, there’s no ruling, but—anyway, this card works in interesting ways and I think it’s pretty serviceable. Raging Kronch comes to mind, and the beasts of Ravnica are definitely up there. It’s an interesting name for sure, and it’s making me think more than it is making me feel critical. Is this beast part of the mob, or belonging to the mob, like it’s being wrangled? It could be either, and that’s fair. This card would make a good finisher.

Where to improve: I’m worried about multiples in draft for sure. I mean, chances are you aren’t going to get too many of them, but having a bunch of hasty finishers can be a bit of a pickle especially when you can also slot these into other multicolor strategies. Maybe it’d need to be tested to be believed, but, y’know, how many one-mana 3/3s are there, right? For the flavor text, emdash your quoter and put them on a separate line. If it’s too cramped, time to revise.

@dumbellsndragons — Fledgling Nightblade

Things I like: Renown is fantastic here. I don’t necessarily know how renowned an assassin wants to be, but in their own circles, heck yes. It encourages blocking in its own way, and it’s certainly powerful on that front with the deathtouch. I think for me the flavor is one of the stronger points here, and I want to see a little bit more of a “professionally getting better in all colors and competing” world, so thumbs-up there.

Where to improve: The last time we saw deathtouch and menace at common was Kederekt Creeper from Alara, and, well, I don’t think that’s precedent; deathtouch and menace is strong. Really strong. Like, at common, I think it might be a bit too strong. It shows up printed so little because of that, even at higher rarities. Honestly, a 3-mana 1/2 or 2/1 might be better, but that’s also my worrywart tendencies. I’d have to play. This design as it stands would be fine in a Modern Horizons power level set more than a standard one.

@gollumni — Sovereign’s Duty

Things I like: I’m a big fan of “can block any number of creatures” for someone who isn’t super defensive when playing the game. I think it’s neat, and represents cool stuff, and I like this card a lot! The name is generic, but I don’t mean that as an insult. I could see this in a core set, on Dominaria, on Theros, on Eldraine, any number of planes, and for a common, that’s a good thing. That’s some success right there.

Where to improve: That last ability made me worried about layers until I checked with some rules people. It’s not the layers so much as it is the wording. “As long as enchanted creature’s toughness is 5 or greater, it can block any number of creatures.” Continuous effects. Argh, that really threw me for a second! It was also kind of frustrating because there wasn’t any great precedent, but you know, nothing wrong with new territory.

@hiygamer — Guider of Souls

Things I like: Exploit would make a very cool mechanic in Orzhov, and I think that if we ever do a “mechanic/faction mixup” contest then you get precedent on that front. Totally flavorful and totally awesome. I think that Orzhov tokens was one of my favorite draft archetypes from RNA and this card continuing that tradition with death triggers is definitely up there in terms of capturing that feeling.

Where to improve: This card feels busy for some reason. Unfortunately, for this contest, you had to have the three lines, but were this printed, I don’t think it would have vigilance. Two flying bodies would be enough. If you wanted to keep vigilance, I’d definitely knock it down to one body. Two fliers… I feel that that’s too much. But, what do I know. Also why aren’t they white and black like the other Spirits? Regardless, that flavor text is also pretty dry. Not bad, but dry. What if it was the guider talking to the spirits instead? “Come, let me lead you to the light of Orzhova.” Little simpler, shorter, more personal.

@hyenagirldick — Poisoned Gookeeper

Things I like: I think despite this being kind of a placeholder, everyone liked this card’s name. I’m up there. This one, wow, this is giving me a lot of whiplash. The typeline is making me think Simic, but the “horror” is making me think Innistrad, but the Scavenge is making me think Ravnica again, but—and so on and so forth. I want context! Mechanically, using “scavenge onto” as a verb here is interesting and I don’t hate it. A good twist on this mechanic.

Where to improve: Despite that drive for context, I think ultimately the mashup is making me more confused than intrigued. It’s just over the line, to be fair, but it needs consolidation of ideas. You’re asking a lot of us here, to interpret the world, a new use for the mechanic (that seems considerably cheaper than the average common scavenge-r), to have a deathtouch blocker like this with the high toughness, etc. It’s not bad! But it’s a lot.

@hypexion — Blade of the Blessed

Things I like: I feel that the trend of having cool explorations of auras and equipment is 100% the right way to go and this card feels like it slots right in. Let’s talk about flavor, because without flavor text, this card still tells an amazing story. As long as you’re able, pick up the sword and fight. But, if you’re blessed by XYZ deity, then the blade becomes easier to wield. Fantastic. That much I like.

Where to improve: I believe that the last ability is too complex for common. It’s not that it doesn’t make sense or that it’s too powerful, but I believe that it’s asking stuff from players that they wouldn’t necessarily understand at common; it’s not immediately grokable. I like the space and I like what it’s doing. I think if you drop the cost to 1W it would be a fine uncommon. And you know what, I think I’m in the minority. I think that there will be disagreement, and I understand where that’s coming from.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Mummification

Things I like: I’m always a fan of cycling abilities for sure. Can’t be countered, instant-speed, powerful effects, heck yeah. I’m also a fan of finisher abilities like this. Black’s triggers for life-loss were definitely fun with those big enchantments. There aren’t a heck of a lot of common noncreature non-aura enchantments out there as precedent, but regardless, they exist.

Where to improve: Looking up precedents for this effect, I’m definitely skeptical about this at common. For one, it’s any player. For two, it’s whenever a spell is cast. For three, it’s harder to remove. All that together combined with a potential common cycling shell where you can draft a bunch of these and then make all black spells have extort? Actually, this card is almost strictly better than a two-mana enchantment with “Black spells you cast have extort.” Almost. I think this might have had to go back to the drawing board. As for the flavor, I don’t grok what the name, text, and abilities have to do with one another.

@koth-of-the-hammerpants — Coffin Devourer

Things I like: I just read the flavor text, and, uh. I love it but wow. That’s some nasty, funny, funky stuff. So! Let’s talk about the card. Perfectly serviceable in terms of getting things out of graveyards then making creatures big. There aren’t too many cards with tap abilities and vigilance at common, but they’re definitely there, so that’s okay. Man, I can’t get over that name and flavor combo. That’s really something special.

Where to improve: This card doesn’t really fit the prompt, and I think next time I’d have to reach out about something like this. Vigilance and trample go on the same line; yes, even in standard-legal sets where sometimes abilities don’t go together, because that’s mostly for starters and core sets and the like. Technically it fits the prompt, but for all practical purposes it’s a workaround that shouldn’t have been submitted as-is. Now, that’s Fair meta. The card’s totally fine on every other front, I think. You’re gonna have to decide, though, if you wanna stick with the sort of Scavenging Ooze wording or the Tome Shredder wording. I think you should go with the second, with the exile as a cost.

@mardu-lesbian — Rifleman Trio (JUDGE PICK)

Things I like: Huh, another card with vigilance and a tap ability. Well there we go! This card’s also got a lot going on, but it doesn’t feel like anything is at odds with itself, and is also on the upper side of being pushed without going into strictly uncommon territory. It’s got reach (“Stay on the defense, fellas!”) for blocking as it comes down, it’s got conditional vigilance (“Learn from those organized chaps!”) which encourages multicolor play but doesn’t force it, and it’s got that cool damage that is both a finisher, a pinger, and teaches a little about the combat advantage (“FIRE!”). So yeah!

Where to improve: I guess the only question would be where the rifles come from. Is this Ixalan-ian? I don’t think it super matters. This is a great commendable card.

@masternexeon — Bloodstarved Beast

Things I like: “Vampire beast” is one heck of a typeline. I like that part a lot, and honesty, I like weird echo costs a lot to. I’m surprised this isn’t a name already, actually! This card feels like its basis is in a lot of neat love letters to old-school Magic and high fantasy, even outside of the choice to submit with old-border.

Where to improve: The complexity of this one is definitely up there and past. Doing weird things with established mechanics that aren’t immediately grokable probably don’t belong at common. What happens when you blink it after previously paying an echo cost, a player might ask? Paying a cost for a continuous effect feels...weird, and I actually don’t know if that works within the rules. Nothing wrong with that specific echo cost, so that’s fine, but the second ability isn’t something I’d personally want at common. For the last ability, it should be “you draw a card and you lose 1 life,” see Phyrexian Rager.

@misterstingyjack — Flames of Anarchy

Things I like: Removal and cycling is perfectly serviceable. The cost suggests that the set has a stronger monocolor theme if the removal is costed like this, although it might just be for the slightly more powerful effect (sort of) and the ability to cycle if you don’t have the RR already. Name’s pretty darn awesome, too.

Where to improve: I know that you tried to balance it by making it only his creatures or planeswalkers, but this is still a recursive damage spell that’s asking weird things of you. What sort of set would have a sorcery-matters theme at common? What’s the as-fan? I think you had a cool idea that is indeed cool, but what you’re asking of your set and your rarity is too much than what can be provided. I don’t think this kind of recursion is what you want at common. In the shell that it’s intended to be in, I think it’s too powerful.

@morbidlyqueerious — Proven Sword (JUDGE PICK)

Things I like: Like I said earlier, new things with equipment and auras are totally awesome, and I fully support this kind of cost. Equipping to certain creature types for cheap makes sense to me because nine times out of ten it’s not something that’s going to be radically changing; either the creature is there or it’s not, and it’s either a Warrior or not. And that’s cool! First strike can be really powerful with that boost that you’re giving it, and if you have any other warrior or equipment strategies, then you better believe things are gonna get nasty on the field. I think this is a one-of in your pool, but it’s a fantastic one-of. Equipment can be undervalued at times!

Where to improve: I’m not 100% down with the flavor text. The blacksmith doesn’t “make” the metal, do they? They make the blade. I think that you had a good concept but it’s not exactly there yet.

@naban-dean-of-irritation — Physical Fluctuation

Things I like: Well, the art’s a big plus, and the flavor’s funny, so that’s pretty great. I think that common combat tricks in the GW sphere have always been a little funky, especially with Ravnica’s weird return to that again and again. There was even that green one, but searching for things that have multiple instances of “target creature” on Scryfall is such a pain.

Where to improve: Seeds of Strength is weird, but they’re all +1/+1 so at least that much makes sense, same buffing all around. Martial Glory is a little harder to grok sometimes, but it’s only up to two creatures, so that’s not the worst that can happen. If you have three creatures, then this card has a number of options that is legitimately making me worried about my ability to do simple math and statistics. The variance here in P/T distribution is off the charts. Yeah, it would make sense in-game, but just on principle, I don’t want that much at common. It’s—you know what, I’m gonna do some math. … There are at least 27 different variations if you have three creatures. I don’t think that that’s what people need at common.

@narkis24 — Unbound Devil

Things I like: Pushed P/T with drawback is totally valid. I like the fact that the “unbound” in the name refers to the fact that you can’t control it, literally, without someone holding the leash. That could make for some fun flavor things. If you’re on-curve, then you got some big beats that you can get in early.

Where to improve: I honestly wonder if it’s too much, actually. Yeah, it has to attack every time, but if you can get a one-drop then this then any removal on-curve and/or more Devils, then you’re in one crazy good spot. I think in terms of power level, this is uncommon for sure. In terms of abilities, I did a little searching, and there isn’t any precedent for non-temporary control switching at common. That’s for a good reason, IMO. Again, this is a great card, but definitely uncommon. And a good draft uncommon, too!

@nicolbolas96 — Lost to Memory (JUDGE PICK)

Things I like: This is a really funky pauper card that also happens to have great draft function. The destruction is conditional, but on-curve you’re going to be fine with it. If there are no good targets, you can at least get a card out of their hand and deck. I think that the versatility there is awesome and that this card is definitely up there in terms of playability. And, well, it’s not that powerful. That’s a good thing! It stays at the common line while having great effects and not pushing anywhere it doesn’t need to be. Yeah, maybe the Pauper-rack meta doesn’t want it at sorcery speed, but heck, I think it’s great. Good with Chittering Rats

Where to improve: The flavor text lacks something for me. I know sometimes he asks questions, but unless they’re directed at someone specific, they tend to be either contextual to another statement or answered. I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel as...suave as Bolas usually is. It seems small but it’s a hangup for me. Feel free to up his grandiosity.

@partlycloudy-partlyfuckoff — Idyllic Falchion

Things I like: Heh, back to equipment. You know how I feel about that. Interesting sacrifice trigger. I think that that’s the strongest part of the card in terms of—well, maybe not power, but in terms of the “cool” factor and “push” factor. It’s fine for common, and it’s strong, and you need the color to cast it, so that’s awesome. And bonus points for making me look up the word “falchion” too; it helped to envision the weapon and scenario you had in mind.

Where to improve: The second ability doesn’t work. The equipment would need to be on the battlefield for the equip cost to be activated. Instead, it would read: “{cost}: Return ~ from your graveyard to the battlefield attached to target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.” And that would honestly be kick-ass for like...six mana? Get that in your archives, ‘cause I like the idea a lot. As it stands, doesn’t work rules-wise.

@rasputin-gold — Copse Fiend

Things I like: “Copse” got me, and I like the vocab check there, very nice. I think that your typing and the general mood is really fantastic, and holy crap, look: that flavor text literally gave me a touch of ASMR. It’s not the next great American novel, but it fits so well, and it feels great and creepy, and it tells me so much, and that, that’s awesome.

Where to improve: Let’s take all that mood and make a different card with it, because there’s...a lot going on. A four-mana 4/3 with wither would be totally fine by itself at common. GG activation for a lure? Okay, makes sense, but combined with the wither, that’s something that’s far too powerful at common, assuming a set with the mana alignment to make that happen. The assumption that you have a Forest (capital F!) to give it first strike (tertiary in black and NOT in green) and potential recursion is way too far gone. If this card were presented without rarity I would assume it was rare. So, yeah, this is one of those times where it’s not a bad card but for this contest it’s just too much. Keep it appropriate for rarity.

@reaperfromtheabyss — Dwarf Forge Scrapheap (JUDGE PICK)

Things I like: Well, I already talked about the clues from the winners’ post, so I’ll go out on a limb and say that yes, I like this one too. A combination of the “shifting animated pile of knobs and gears and junk that when animated can come to life and hit you in the face” with “forget this I’m gonna make mana” is pretty funny to me, in that dry card way, and this card in general is pretty cool. In terms of gameplay, yeah, you can have a beater on turn four if you really need the boost, or late in the game as a colorless source, but it’s also mana-fixing, a three-mana buttwall, and just a cool card all around. I think that this is one of those that could have great art flavored on a cool world, and the name could be changed to fit just about anything.

Where to improve: “Add ONE mana of any color.” ONE. I’m unreasonably curmudgeonly about that error, somewhat jokingly, a little rib-nudgingly. Easy oversight, but don’t let it happen again! (Kidding, kidding, I know I need to up my editing skills too.)

@snugz — Sidestep

Things I like: this card. I like this card, dangit. I don’t care that it wouldn’t be very playable in a whole lot of decks or archetypes as a weird combat trick, but I like it. It’s simple and funny and plays into the “I’m gonna right myself while tripping you up” gag and that’s great. The simplicity speaks to some Rookie Mistake vibes that I’m down with.

Where to improve: Again, I don’t think it’s playable. I could see them printing this card and having it be basically draft chaff, but maybe not, maybe it’s something in a combat-trick heavy set with some radical payoff. Maybe it’s a pauper Heroic card that could make the deck tier-1. But it’s so simple that it’s hard to talk about! I’m sorry I can’t give more feedback than that, honestly. The card’s too well-made. So, with that in mind, you need to season this steak. Any flavor text for any context would be awesome.

@starch255 — Scab-Clan Brawler

Things I like: 100%, this feels Gruul. It’s a big fighter that’s on-curve with some brutal flavor despite no flavor-text. The notion of the Gruul tribespeople fighting among themselves comes across here fantastically, and having a 3/3 trampler is definitely something that a RG drafter will want on turn three.

Where to improve: [Foreword: This is a lot of text and I swear it’s mostly not criticism; you made me think.] Brawl needs work. A lot of work. As it stands, either you lose a small creature, you lose this one and put a +1/+1 counter on your bigger creature, or you happen to have a 2/4 that can survive. I am… I’m working this out as I’m writing, and I want to like it, and I want to improve it, but the more I think about it, the more I think that the mechanic isn’t the problem. I think it’s actually surprisingly complex, almost more complex than a Gruul player would want immediately. The choice of payoffs is so hard to think about—and at this point, I’m not so much criticizing as I am ruminating. I really want to play with this mechanic just to see if my knee-jerk “fighting your own creatures is bad, ugh” is lizard brain and if there’s galaxy brain behind it. You’ve put me in a conundrum here. Hold onto this one.

@thedirtside — River Delta

Things I like: Great name, makes sense. I can picture the landscape where you would want this place to appear. Nonbasic lands are pretty interesting to design at common, and breaking away from the Guildgate/Life-gain lands was an ambitious move.

Where to improve: I know fetchlands are weird on the scale, but in terms of probability, the ability to (1) get your colorless mana if need be OR (2) tutor for the land you need while thinning your deck and furthermore (3) getting a 3/3 body once you’ve sacrificed it later in the game… This is borderline rare and might even be pushed for an uncommon. Yes, it’s basic, but in limited that’s a non-issue and in constructed there’s nothing wrong with getting your basic lands just to make this card work for you. The part about it being tapped really isn’t that much of a massive drawback. I like this card a lot. It’s not common power level. Small notes: “shuffle your library” can just be “shuffle” IIRC, and your comma between the 3UG and Exile seems wonky.

@wilsonosgoodmcman — Ruthless Vigilante

Things I like: Gotta love a vampire rogue. This particular card doesn’t seem to have a home, but it doesn’t seem to be sending any mixed-messages either. Ixalan doesn’t really want the roguishness, Dominaria could have it but where’s the vigilantism, Innistrad has different colors, Ravnica has different flavors, etc. etc. So does it belong? Yes! But “were” is yet to be determined. That’s totally okay.

Where to improve: IMO, your abilities are too strong together. Vigilance and deathtouch is a pretty powerful combo once you get yourself in a position where you can attack, because, well, then you still have a murderous blocker. There’s a reason it hasn’t appeared at common yet. The lifelink feels a bit odd, honestly, and the toughness boosting feels out of place. Why is an aggressive vigilante boosting its toughness? Actually, why does a rogue have vigilance? There’s no precedent or flavor connection there. I’m just not feeling what this card is offering me. It might play, like, fine, but it doesn’t feel good and it doesn’t feel like it has a place that couldn’t be replaced by a more cohesive card.

@wolkemesser — Dry Sands Summoning

Things I like: We haven’t had a real good desert world since the Abzan from KTK, and I miss that. Having a sandy feel and aesthetic could be really cool here, and I think that what you were going for what the flavor of turning the desert into, like, part of the warrior tribe. That much I like a lot.

Where to improve: I find myself a little frustrated trying to write commentary, because there’s a lot to go on here and I don’t want to be too harsh. I’m going to address the individual parts, but in general, please, please run these cards by people before submitting.

The hybrid cost is fine but that’s pushing it a little. Eventide was an exception I personally liked, but the color weight doesn’t always play well with others. That part is honestly fine.

Enchanting cards in graveyards should never currently appear at common. Spellweaver Volute is a rules nightmare/abomination.

It would be “Enchant land or land card in a graveyard.” “Warrior” needs to be capitalized. “Enchanted land is a 3/1 Sand Warrior creature with haste. It’s still a land.”

What is the purpose of having a land also be a creature in your graveyard? At common? I can’t envision any scenario in which that would be a reasonable theme. It can’t attack from your graveyard, it would be weird for type-changing in the graveyard with Conspiracy, and it wouldn’t move it to the battlefield either.

The retrace is a decision that’s almost designed to cause confusion. So it could enchant a card in a graveyard, but not be in a graveyard, until it’s in your graveyard, whereupon you can discard a land to cast it from your graveyard, but not target a land discarded this way.

@yourrightfulking — Mutilated Faerie

Things I like: This name and the intention of the flavor text is almost grimdark; I’m not averse to that. I actually really like the fact that it can’t block, because it lets you have deathtouch with a little more aggression. The fact that it’s an assassin almost makes me wonder about the story of this individual character, and you know what, that means that flavorfully you’re doing something really right.

Where to improve: The “human sacrificing” part feels important to your implied set, and I don’t know how to feel about that. You get a 2/1 deathtouch body and potentially take out another faction? I mean, if this was Eldraine, this card would probably be actually sought in drafts with the human as-fan. Might be a little too powerful on that front depending on the environment. But, uh, the flavor and name? I want to like it but it’s more confusing than not. “Pixie plucking” seems like either a poaching crime or a children's game, and the reason WHY pixies are plucked could be better specified. The second sentence is a fragment. Your story implies that a plucked pixie will 100% die, but then, how did this one get mutilated? To kill the culprit, the pixie would have had to escape mutilation, and this mutilated one apparently survived a 100% kill rate? Not sure where you’re going with this. Sort it out and you’ll be fine.

And there we have it. Again, I wanna stress, I’m using my best judgement and opinions here, but people are absolutely free to disagree. I hope that the constructive portion, even if it’s something you disagree with, helps see another perspective. Lots of cards here help me see other perspectives as well, and thank you for that. Tune in for something tomorrow. What will it be? The world may never know. Or maybe it will. Or will it?

— @abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #commentary #entries #three ability common #inventor's fair

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