im so sorry you got nasty asks ppl can be so vile. i love seeing you on my dash and you always have the best posts and put great stuff on my dash. ive never watched naruto but i dont mind seeing that either <3 ily i hope youre doing ok outside of ppl being terrible
since we're talking about call outs lately, i've been called out many times, most of which are made from lies and sometimes by altering screenshots, but the most effective call out i ever got was like, in early 2015 there was a tumblr user everyone knew was a terf, but she would say "actually i support trans women" this was before crypto terfs were as talked about so the language wasn't really there to say "hey this person is a crypto terf." but yeah some people put posts of this woman on my dash and i made a random post on my blog "why do yall reblog her shes a terf" and of course she searches her own name daily, found my post, and replied to it that me calling her a terf was racist. that was it. no other interaction. but she went on all night talking about me being racist and just making things up as she went "oh i bet she says the n word all the time irl" kind of shit that had, like no basis? But her follower base took it 100% and i literally had thousands of anons telling me to kill myself, trying to goad me into being racist (didnt work), and the most concerning thing was i got hundreds of anons being like "what was the point of doing hrt if you still look like that, you should kill yourself." It was like, violent and overwhelming. and on top of it I'd get random young teenager trans people who followed her and bought into her bioessentialism showing up in my messages being like "you give trans people a bad name" "you're why transphobia exists" etc etc it was fucking crazy.
but i lost like, no followers because everyone around me understood, this woman was a terf. this all set up the real one though.
later in the year a teenage "communist" trans girl made some snarky comment about me being racist on a post of mine blowing up. i ignored her cuz like, who cares it's just some random teenager. but i guess people were looking for a reason to hate me cuz that blew up, lots of people just took that at face value no need to investigate. when someone finally did send the girl an ask being like "hey how is she racist" she replied "I dont remember but I know she is" and even more people just took this as 100%. the thing is, i do remember her being one of those "you make trans people look bad" terf following young trans people, it's not that she didn't remember, it's that she didnt want to admit she followed a terf and she believed a terf just saying shit. I lost like 3/4s of my followers, i had a lot of people i thought were my friends just stop talking to me, and going forward every time i got a call out there would usually be a line of like "also she's racist, everyone already knows this" all cuz this girl needed to make a snarky comment cuz she just loves terfs.
the thing about the "i dont remember" bit is it made some weird game of telephone. "I dont remember" became "oh she's racist, i think she says the n word" which became "she called black bloggers the n word" like people just made shit up about me and connected it to this call out. and when id be like this isnt true id be met with a "this is just known, youre a known racist" and it's like, to this day i will still find people be like "hey good on you for growing as a person and not doing that any more" and its like I NEVER DID IT TO BEGIN WITH
Okay I am going to use the Somerton situation to talk about something that is very important to me. Following the discussion I have seen former Somerton fans being disappointed in themselves and questioning how they can ever trust another video essayist again. I have also seen some people being smug because to them Somerton was obviously unreliable from the start. As a person who also saw the "red flags" in Somerton, I would like to skip the smugness and talk a bit about what the red flags were to me.
Someone else has probably posted something similar and Hbomberguy's & Todd in the Shadows's videos touched a few of these points, but they didn't focus on them or how to spot these things. I think it is a good thing: I think it would have reinforced the idea that Somerton's fans were to blame for being lied to, and these youtubers didn't want to pin any blame on the fans. Also, some of the things I'm going to talk about were not by any means proof of him being unreliable, they were common tropes I personally associate with people who are bullshitting on internet. Think of it as something like spotting terfs: If you consider following a tumblr user and find out they have at some point posted "males will always be a danger to females no matter what they say", it is very possible that they are not a terf. Maybe they were having a bad day and were just wording their post badly – But you should probably search "trans" from their blog before following them, just to be sure.
So, the tropes in James Somerton's content that I consider red flags:
Lack of sources. This one may seem obvious and Hbomb talked about this in his video, but the lack of sources in his videos was outrageous. Video essays are called essays for a reason, they are not supposed to be just a guy talking about whatever comes to his mind, they should be well researched essays. Obviously video essays should contain one's own thoughts and interpretations and those do not need citations. But James Somerton didn't come out of the womb knowing everything about LGBT history, Disney and film theory, if he actually knew something about all this stuff, he should have learnt it from somewhere. There should be sources he could point to. It is very common that even when a video essayist doesn't tell you where they got all their information, they open their video by saying stuff like "when I prepared for this video I read the book Also sprach Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche and this one thrilling blog post about lesbian cruising in 1960s Sweden". From what I've seen, James does not really do this. From watching his videos you could arrive to the conclusion that James Somerton does not read any books, he just knows everything. There are situations where people don't feel the need to add sources, like when the information is considered common knowledge or when the topic relates heavily to the essayist's actual academic field or profession. This is okay and very understandable, but can sometimes be dangerous, since if the video essayist markets himself as a marketing specialist, people are more likely to take his word for stuff that has to do with marketing, even without sources. It is understandable that in many situations an essayist may think "why should I cite a source? I know this thing!", but doing your research well is partly about checking if the information you are certain of is actually true. Also, as Hbomb pointed out, if you can cite a source, your audience can go learn more about the subject. It's not about anyone doubting you know your stuff, it's about learning. That's why well-respected video essayists usually cite their sources very clearly.
Lack of pictures and screenshots. This is about different kinds of sources again, many things on this list are kind of about sources. An example: When James Somerton made a video about JKR, he mentioned something about Rowling at one time saying that trans students in 30-50Feralhogs (or whatever the wizard school is called) could use magic to present as their gender. If this was any other video essayist, you'd expect a tweet to pop up, or something else confirming Rowling ever said this. Nothing pops up, obviously because Rowling didn't say this, but you can't see anything fishy in that because things rarely pop up in Somerton's videos. He doesn't show you court documents when speaking about a court case, he doesn't show you the comments apparently mad at him for implying the gay anime is gay when he is complaining about people being mad at him. There is a reason people show screenshots and tweets in video essays. When a good video essayist says JK Rowling has tweeted that all people who menstruate should be referred to as women, the video essayist shows the tweet so people know they are not making it up. If there were hoards of annoying bitc-- I mean, angry white women whining about gay sex in HuffPost articles or Somerton's youtube comments, he should have no trouble showing you those. Remember that you should not trust someone just because they show you pictures or screenshots. Pictures can be photoshopped, screenshots can be doctored. Many youtubers are aware that you listen to their videos while cleaning or while walking your dog and don't actually see the screen all the time, and some may take advantage of that by saying something like "and here she threatened to kill me" while showing a text message where someone said "die mad about it". A screenshot alone isn't much but you should demand to see the screenshot.
Passive voice. I am once again bitching about this. Somerton repeatedly says things like "it's been said that" or "it was common knowledge that" or "a legend says that" or "according to most interpretations". He doesn't say who says it, making it very hard to fact check and that seems to be his goal in some cases.
Relying heavily on anecdotes. Writing a dense, analytical video about film theory or history can be exhausting and you may want to pepper in little fun facts. However Somerton seemed to rely on these heavily; he can't just talk about how he has totally bought every lie told by The Pink Swastika, he also needs to tell a cute little anecdote about SS men forcing sexual favours out of men. He can't just tell a story about a court case, he needs to add in ridiculous stuff about the jury booing. This is what I mean by not all the things on this list being necessarily proof of someone being unreliable. Many people use anecdotes and little stories in their storytelling, it makes the videos flow better and it's hard to decide which anecdotes are valid and which are not. A source obviously makes an anecdote a bit more believable, but here are some things that instantly make me fact check an anecdote:
It's a bit too convenient, poetic or ironic. Sometimes real life is weirder than fiction but if an anecdote is "perfect" and has an amazing punchline and you could write twelve poems about it, there is a possibility it was invented by pop science books.
It assumes your political enemies are stupid. Dunking on conservatives, MRAs and transphobes is always fun and after you've seen a lot of this kind of content it's easy to believe anything about these people. You must resist the impulse to believe everything that may make your opponents look stupid.
The person telling the anecdote implies it is an example of a larger, systemic problem. You know what's worse than taking a random happenstance from human history or internet and basing an entire political theory on it? The said random happenstance being made up. You should in general be wary of people telling one story and explaining why it's an example of everything that's wrong in the world. We live in a huge world. You can always find a white woman who loves cute gays but hates the idea of Nick Heartstopper and Charlie Heartstopper getting nasty but that doesn't mean it's an indicator of a larger issue.
Simplifying complex issues. We all know that "only the boring gays survived the AIDS crisis, and that's why gays started to only care about marriage equality and military" is a horrible, insensitive thing to say, but you also have to think about it for like two seconds to realize that it can't be correct. It kind of reminds me of the "roe v wade caused the crime drop of 1990s" claim in Freakonomics. It sounds logical and simple, like a basic math calculation. Societal issues rarely are like that, though. You should never believe anyone who tells you about a huge societal shift and says it happened because of one thing and one thing only.
These were some of the things I noticed in Somerton's content that caused me to distrust him. I hope these were helpful to you and feel free to add your own "red flags" if you feel like it!
i have your old pictures, david. from before you became delusional. you have one month to delete your tumblr blog or i will be sharing them with the ENTIRE world.
ok so before you go further down your obsession with harassing me here a few things since you appear to be completely incapable of looking into your harassment targets whatsoever:
you can stop asking me to "post a photo if you are brave enough", the first link in my pinned post is my wikipedia with a photo of me, and basically all the info about me ever, i regularly post selfies on all social media sites im active on
you did not "clock me" i am a well known, publicly out trans girl, i crop slurs out of the asks you send me because i see no reason to share your pathetic hatred with my audience
it takes like 2 minutes of research to find my actual deadname, and david sure aint it
you clearly dont have my old pictures but even if you did i have no reason to care, i have posted pre transition pics myself regularly
sorry but i unfortunately wont be deleting my tumblr blog due to not giving a shit about you
half your asks are you being mad at me for not giving you attention, have you tried making friends?
i will now be blocking you and continue to live a happy cheerful live while you get mad at me and become sadder and sadder from this path you have chosen to go down
i am only sharing this because you are less than just pathetic and it is fun to clown on your terfshittery
Hi everyone. I've been putting some thought into the best way to bring this up without making light of it, since this is a serious topic and this is a very unserious blog. I don't want to reblog a bunch of individual posts without context and explanations attached, but if I find posts that I feel are thorough and explain what is going on, I may reblog them. Here is a summary, for anyone completely unaware of what is happening:
A trans woman (Rita, URL was Predstrogen, now Cyprederone) has had her account falsely flagged as NSFW and banned multiple times as a result of a transmisogynistic harassment campaign against her. You may have seen people talking about how her transition timeline has been flagged mature content, multiple times.
Support have been unhelpful when it comes to the harassment, and dubiously helpful about restoring accounts until this latest event.
People reached out to Photomatt about the topic, who is the CEO of Tumblr. He decided to respond, claiming that Rita was personally harassing him and posting death threats about him. This does not line up with the official reason why Rita was banned, which was "sexually explicit materials". The "death threat" was a slapstick post about an exploding car full of hammers. Matt threatened to contact the police or FBI about the threat, used neutral pronouns for Rita despite being informed of her pronouns, and even referred to her as 'it' in one sentence. He referred to Rita as "pergstrogen" in one post, which may be a particularly unfortunate typo, but may also be an ableist slur. He also sent people direct messages about the topic. Matt denied any possibility of transmisogyny playing a part, and suggested that people who feel this site is not safe for trans women should just leave to a different site.
Rita has been banned for life. Several people criticising Matt for this have also been banned.
Please pay attention to this, read other posts about it, look at Photomatt's blog (archived as of 21/02) to see the way he has handled this and Cyprederone's blog to see Rita's statement.
Here are all of Photomatt's posts about the topic, please check the notes of them to see people's responses as well as people archiving his comments. Edit: These posts have been deleted. I'm unsure if there is an archive somewhere of the comments, but these links are now the webarchive links to these posts.
You gonna do anything or make any statement about the rampant transmisogyny on this hellsite (original post with they/them) (first edit with "the account") (second edit with she/her) (archive of most recent edit)
I love this site and I’m sorry so many people are determined to ruin it.
So, the terfs and neonazis are fine, but a trans women giving threatening you is where you draw the line?
You should really feel bad about how transphobic tumblr is
all you ever do is drop the ban hammer on trans women you don't like, while casually ignoring the harassment they face
can I report your beahviour, or?
it's been four hours and nothing you've said has made this decision look better
Why did you misgender her lmao
❤ (heart emoji) [I don't yet have an archive of this. Please reach out if you have an archive of this, although there wasn't much relevant in this post.]
I'm continuing to get harassment and death threats here
My Beliefs and Principles
Tweeting Rita's saved URLs
He is further arguing with people on Twitter.
[Edit] Staff have now made a PR statement about the topic.
Please give trans women your love and support, and remember that this is deeply serious transmisogyny, not just an excuse to joke about car hammer explosions.
because i can't be normal about media and i'm making it y'all's problems
hi hello and welcome to my mildly unhinged ramblings about love and gender. this post comes to you in three sections, enjoy <3
--
t4t romance novels made me believe in love again
the first romance book i ever read was The Feeling of Falling in Love by Mason Deaver. TFOFIL is a t4t (trans for trans) romance that follows a teenage trans boy, Neil Kearney, and a figuring-out-their-gender teen, Wyatt Fowler, as they get themselves wrapped up in peak YA romcom shenaniganary and eventually fall in love. cute, right? just a fun little romcom, not much more to it?
yeah well that's what i thought going in, but coming out of that book i was in tears. tears because i'd never read a story about trans love before. tears because at that point in my life i'd never allowed myself to fully claim the word "trans." tears because Wyatt made me feel so seen and so real.
there's this one scene where Wyatt is talking to Neil and they describe themself as being the kind of person who sometimes wants to wear makeup and dresses, but other times they like their body hair and scruffy beard. and i just remember nodding along and then absolutely melting because Neil takes it in stride, he comforts Wyatt and let's them know that they don't need to have it figured out just yet. Neil makes it clear that he's there, and that Wyatt doesn't need to come out to anyone unless they're ready.
Mason Deaver has another t4t romance, Okay, Cupid. and that similarly had me in my feels because there is something so special about finding people who embrace you for all that you are.
every t4t romance I've read has one thing in common, the fact that the love interests do not love each despite the other's transness. their transness is not an obstacle to love or to attraction or to adoration, it is an object of it. their transness is something to be admired and to be loved and to be cared for. it is not something the other has to "get over."
reading The Feeling of Falling in Love was the first time i ever thought to myself "maybe, just maybe, i can call myself trans and still be loved." because up until that point i hadn't let myself accept that i was some flavor of trans. up until that point i'd said "not cis" without ever saying trans because i was so scared my being trans would make me unlovable. t4t romance books showed me how wrong i was. they showed me that my ability to be loved was not dependent on my girlhood.
ha you thought i could write something this long on tumblr and NOT mention good omens? think again bestie
i have held a trans reading of crowley since i read the book and the show only solidified it for me. crowley canonically plays with gender.
he's dressed femme during the crucifixion scene, his modern look is a mix of men's and women's pieces, his hair is a Whole Thing in and of itself. i could go on but i digress.
but it's not just the way he plays with gender that informs my trans reading of him. it's also how his character arc can very easily be read as an allegory for transness.
an angel who falls (a girl who isn't a girl anymore)
a fallen angel turned demon (a girl who is a boy now)
a demon who isn't really a demon anymore (a used to be girl, a thought to be boy, is now nonbinary)
girl = angel and boy = demon is entirely arbitrary in this please don't read into it
now, you may be thinking "A how in god's name does this apply to trans romance?" to which i say, aziraphale falls in love with every version of crowley. aziraphale beams heart eyes at angel!crowley before the beginning and loves crowley as a demon for millennia and is so deeply and unabashedly in love with crowley in his not-quite-demon form of s2.
aziraphale loves all the versions of crowley because crowley's angel or demon-ness (gender) is not the reason aziraphale loves crowley. aziraphale doesn't love crowley because he's a demon or because he used to be an angel, aziraphale loves crowley because it's crowley. crowley in whatever clothes he chooses to where, crowley with whatever hairstyle he's fancying at the moment, crowley as he inhabits the shades of grey just a little more.
to me, that is so easy to read as a trans love story. you could argue it's t4t depending on how you read aziraphale, but to me, it's at the very least a love story between a mostly-demon who gets down to some gender fuckery and an angel who loves him very much.
fuck it let's talk about fanfiction
i don't think i could make this post without mentioning @ineffabildaddy's fic I'm Beginning to See the Light.
i have a complicated relationship with my body. i don't plan to ever medically transition because i don't want to make any permanent changes to my body. but there are days where all i want is to have a flat chest and hips that are flush with the rest of my body but instead i'm stuck with tits and an hourglass figure cis people always seem to focus on.
i don't hate my body, but the idea that anyone could look at it and not just see A Woman is beyond me. i walk through life being perceived as a very feminine woman even on the days that i feel the most androgynous. the idea that a lover could look at my body and still see me for who i am feels like a dream that could never happen.
and IBTSTL slapped me (lovingly) across the face with the message that, actually, i can be loved as my whole self and that there are people out there who don't look at me and see A Woman and those people don't love me any less. IBTSTL made me feel safe in my trans body because it said "you are worthy of love and adoration because your transness is not something to get past it is something to admire. it is something to love."
--
i think the point i'm trying to make here is this: trans love stories are so special to me. they've been so vital in my own journey to love and accept myself. they're the reason i can imagine myself maybe having romantic love in the future.
representation matters, it can quite literally change your life.
TLDR; Cast & Crew Sightings; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika/Rachel; Con O'neill; Will Arnett; Trans Day of Visibility; Cool Pirates; Fan Spotlight; Love Notes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika;
Hey lovelies, I'm late again, but I got some good sleep. I'm finding it's much easier to write love notes after I wake up so I'm debating how I wanna go about moving forward :) I'll keep you posted. Hope you have a good day <3
= David Jenkins =
Chaos Dad just poking his head out to weigh in on the milk debate.
Src: @Soupbeech on twitter
= Rhys Darby =
Just a little sing along with our favorite captain.
The Edge Podcast: Apple / Spotify
Source: EdgeAfternoons Instagram
= Taika Waititi =
Taika is spreading the word on Rachel House's new movie The Mountain! Src: Taika's IG
= Con O'Neill =
Con O'Neill just out in Dublin feeling cute. Src: Con's IG
= Will Arnet =
Will Arnett is just hanging with a few... Former Presidents of the United States?! SRC: Will Arnett's IG
= Samba Schutte =
== Trans Day of Visibility: Cool Pirates ==
First on the #CoolPirates From in the House is Kate!/Force!
Learn more about Kate: Tumblr
#CoolPirates from the crew side: Jes Tom! @jesthekid 💛🤍💜🖤 🏳️⚧️
Instagram / Tumblr
== Fan Spotlight ==
Yes! And how could we forget, CHICKEN HAT MAN, Ted Barton! Thank you @melvisik!!
= Big Gay Energy Podcast =
Another reaction episode of Big Gay Energy Podcast is out!
youtube
== Love Notes ==
Can I just take a moment to tell you all how much you mean to me? I have been on the internet for a long time, since the olden days of AOL, Dial Up Internet, yelling at your family to get off the phone so you can log on, and when google image search had only like 3 pictures when you did a search on it (my first image search was Harrison Ford by the way).
And never in my many years of fandoms, and being online have I ever met such a wonderfully welcoming group of people. I spent a lot of years being anxious, and even now, when my confidence has grown, it was hard at first to want to just jump into the fandom. But you know what? I took a leap, and all you wonderful people just welcomed me, and every other person with open arms. You were kind, and supportive, and continue to be every single day.
I see so many folks mention that they were afraid to use tumblr or to engage and then some kind person in the fandom made them feel safe and welcome, and now we have another lovely, talented, kind, beautiful member of our crew.
This fandom really is second to none, and I want you to know just how much a positive impact on the world you have, because it's huge. And sure, we do some other cool stuff like raise money and things but like, on a day to day scale, you make people feel safe. Our crew gets to go throughout there day with a positive experience they didnt have prior... they can take that positivity and spread it to others because they might have one more spoon today because of all of you.
I just want you to know you make such a wonderful impact on this world, so if you're ever struggling and wondering where to go from here, poke your head back into this fandom and see all the love we have for you.
Hope you have a lovely day/night m'dears, get some rest this weekend <3
Hi! Arun here! I thought that instead of answering your submissions one by one I’d gather all the frequently asked questions and answer them in a single post (this is a mix of art/OC/commissions related q's)!
Please note that I do read all your messages and I’m so grateful for every one of them!!!! I keep all your words really close to my heart, thank you for liking my art and loving my Ocs as much as I do, it means the world to me <3
What’s the name of your OCs?
They’re called Cotton (the blonde one) and Puppy (the dark haired one). The original idea for them was to make some silly wolf/bunny OCs (that’s why Cotton is called like that, it was supposed to be a joke about her tail…) but somewhere along the way they took over and became something completely different!
Is there a webcomic for your OCs?
Not currently! I don’t have the time or the skills (for now) but I’d love to give it a try in the future!
I was wondering if you mind people using your OC art as character art/inspiration for DnD?Just games with friends that are for fun, nothing for commercial.
Go ahead! I find that really flattering.
Just out of curiosity, are any of your OCs bisexual?
Both Cotton and Puppy are lesbians. That’s what I feel comfortable drawing since I’m a lesbian myself. If I ever do draw a bisexual OC I’ll make sure to mention it! <3
I think you said Cotton was a dominatrix in a previous ask, but is Puppy on the opposite side of the spectrum or is she just glad to be there whichever way?
Puppy is very much a sub. They both switch (Puppy as a service top and bottom and Cotton as a top and power bottom), but the dom/sub dynamic never changes. Also I wanted to mention that these dynamics do not transcend outside of the bedroom that much, there’s more to them than their kinks but I do love to draw them deep in their submissive/dominant headspaces.
Are one of the lesbian fairytale characters trans?
I didn’t design either of them with that in mind, but I’m super OK with people headcanoning them as trans!
May I use your art as a header/icon?
Of course! Remember to credit me tho~
Do you allow people to use your art freely?
I don’t allow reposts of my work (not that it matters that much, since almost all my art has been already reposted a million times ))): but I’d really appreciate it if you just shared my posts instead of reposting my art). As for phone backgrounds/wallpapers or stuff like that, yeah!
Do you have an instagram account or other social media, I would love to follow you there.
My main platform is twitter (same @), I post all my drawings there and I’m usually more active over there. Tumblr is kind of like an archive. I really like the community here but I find it easier to reply/interact with people on twitter! As for instagram, I do have an old art account (same @, again) but I haven’t posted in so long. I may start posting there soon if a certain rich guy decides to keep destroying the bird app tho.
I’ve always thought about this… how do you think it’d look if the aesthetics/styles [of your OCs] were reversed?
I’ll have to explore that in a future drawing, I haven’t thought much about it!
Do you write fics for your characters or has anyone else written fics about them?
Not yet! A couple of my friends have offered, tho! I usually like to stick to drawing because that’s what I do best, I don’t wanna subject anyone to my writing (it’s not very good,,,,). When I share some of my Ocs stories, I think it will be in comic format.
What's the story behind your OCs?
There are several, actually!! I like to put my OCs in different universes. As for now, there’s the Fairytale AU, the modern setting AU (this is the original one), and now the Werewolf/Vampire AU. I also did a drawing of them as spiderwoman and black cat but I don’t think that AU is gonna make a comeback for a while. I’m also planning a scifi AU but I’m not sure I’d be able to pull off that aesthetic with my current art style so I’m still working on it.
The Fairytale AU is the one I’m working on most of the time. I wanna release a small artbook with their story + illustrations. That was my main goal for 2023 but life got in the way, so maybe,,, 2024??? *crosses fingers*
Is your shop down? It’s saying that it’s not available.
I open my shop for 1-2 weeks every now and then, that’s why it’s closed most of the time! My plan is to open the store again in september, if i manage to finish all the merch in time! I’ll announce it on my twitter and tumblr account when I do.
Would you ever share a tutorial on how you make your art?
Yes, of course! I’m not very good at explaining my drawing process but If it helps anyone I’d love to! Just let me know what part of the drawing process you’d like me to focus on, because If i try to make a full illustration tutorial it’s gonna be too long/difficult to follow.
May I ask what brush do you use for your lineart?
I use a different brush almost every time I start an illustration, I’m not very consistent when it comes to that (I think it’s mainly because I haven’t found the perfect brush yet!). But let me know what illustration you’re curious about and I’ll try to remember which one I used!
Do you come up with poses off the top of your head or do you use some type of reference? I always struggle with them.
It depends on what I’m drawing! Some of my drawings are reinterpretations of paintings (I’m obsessed with pre-raphaelite painters and arthurian legend paintings in general), so in those cases I try to adapt the poses to my art style. Even If I’m trying to recreate an already existing painting I end up changing the poses/proportions a lot along the way to fit my personal taste/art style.
Other times, I just sketch from imagination (this is more entertaining, I think, since looking at references can make the drawing process a bit tedious). If I find it hard to draw a certain pose/part of the body I will look up references on printerest, no shame in using pictures! If I still can’t find the pose I need I’ll just take a picture of myself (this is like, a last resort for me. I’m too lazy for this).
My personal advice would be to use references for the pose and then tweaking the pose and trying to make it more personal
I love the way the armor was designed and rendered! Can you share some tips on designing armor?
Drawing armor is something I still struggle with most of the time. I think I’ve learned a lot in the past year (please don’t look at my armor drawings from 2022,,,,, sigh) but I still struggle to draw certain poses/angles. My advice is: don’t hesitate to draw non-functional armor!!! There’s always gonna be someone like “actually, that armour makes no sense :)” well !!!! it looks cool as hell so who caresssss !!!!!
I think it’s more important for you to get comfortable drawing armor before you start beating yourself up for not drawing accurate ones. It takes a lot of practice (I’m still learning!!!), especially if you’re trying to draw historically accurate ones, so start by having fun, and then work your way up from there.
Most of the tips I can think about are really hard to explain without a visual example, so let me know if that’d be a tutorial you would be interested in and I’ll try to make one (I’m cringing a little just saying this bc I swear, my armor skills are so bad compared to some amazing artists out there………..).
Do you allow cosplays your OCs?
YES…. YES PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM BEGGING YOUUU ILL LOVE YOU FOREVER !!!!!! *rattles my cage*
Do you allow fanart of your OCs?
Again,,, PLEASEEEEEEEEE !!! Just tag me so I don’t miss it and remember to give me credits if you do !!!!!!!!!!! :D
I was wondering if you use procreate , clip studio, or similar apps?
A mix of both. I used to draw on procreate only until I got a tablet and now I’m a clip studio user (csp sponsor me please), and now that’s all I use. I’m so used to drawing on PC now that I don’t think I’d be able to go back to procreate, but I still like that app a lot! All my drawings (even the ones I do on csp) always get retouched on procreate because I like some of the effects (*dreamy sigh* chromatic aberration filter,,, love u).
I wanted to know if the marks Cotton has on her waist are tattoos or like a scar?
Those are tats! Puppy is a tattoo artist ~~~ (I’m actually not sure if i’ll keep the waist tats on Cotton or if I’ll end up redesigning them,,,)
I was wondering if you take commissions?
Not right now. I also don’t have any plans of opening commissions any time soon! When I do, I’ll post a google forms on twitter and here on tumblr with the prices and type of comms I do. But there’s nothing scheduled.
Even tho I'm not doing commissions atm, I’m currently looking for illustration jobs (specially book covers), so don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected]
That's all for now, thank you for reading!! I think I covered most of the questions, I'll make another q&a post in the future! Bye~~
ao3 • writing tag • time travel au tag (stories & snippets)
steddie drabbles & microfics
☕️ ko-fi
vibes only. mostly steddie, sometimes clarkson.
🌷 WIPs & multi-chaptered stories
➤ i’ll try. i’ll try. (but i couldn’t be better) WIP
M | 74k | 12/? | time travel au, angst, steve whump
Sent back to 1983, Steve tries to save his friends from everything that's coming and takes on the battle against the Upside Down alone with El by his side.
➤ nice to meet you, where you been?
T | 12k | 3/3 | tattoo shop au, pure fluff, trans eddie
Chrissy sends Eddie to check out a tattoo shop. Little does he know it belongs to Steve Harrington, or that they’ll both be falling for each other at lightning
➤ untitled knight!Steve / bard!Eddie WIP
T | 10k | 2/? | tumblr: part 1 | part 2 | ... regency au (freeform), enemies to lovers
Eddie is a bard of great renown who returns to Hawkins ready and willing to spite the people who cast him out all his life. He is in search of his muse: the knight Dustin has been writing to him about who has inspired his greatest ballads and poems. Dustin’s Sir Steve is nowhere to be found, but Lord Harrington seems to hold a grudge against Eddie and he wants to find out why.
➤ see the stars shining through the cracks of my broken heart | steddie week fic
T | 14.7k | 3/3 | tumblr: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7
in which Eddie and Chrissy get engaged and Steve is heartbroken. yearning ensues. a story about love requited and unrequited, breaking and healing, and hope (steddie & buckingham)
➤ shattered on the cliff’s edge, trapped by the tides WIP
M | 5.8k | 2/7 | tumblr: part 1 | part 2 | ...
A steddie ghost story. Steve Harrington, disgraced and disowned by his father for moral insanity, has been haunted by eerie dreams of a mysterious lighthouse ever since he was a little boy. His lighthouse quickly turns from recurring night terror to gruesome reality when his superior delegates him to fix the broken light and be the new keeper. But he soon finds out that it is he who is being kept.
➤ tales of blue | who did this to you? WIP
M | 13k | 3/4 | tumblr: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | Eddie POV, pre-s4, injured Steve, hurt/comfort
One summer's day in 1985, Eddie finds a very injured Steve in the boathouse, and even though he doesn't want the kind of trouble that this might bring, he can't just leave him there. So, scared though he is, he takes Steve to the one person he trusts to always make everything better.
➤ untitled kas!eddie / steve WIP
M | 5.3k | 1/? | tumblr: part 1 | post-canon, hurt/comfort, enemies steddie
The extent of his brain injuries and the intensity of his migraines is something Steve has been keeping secret from everyone. When he goes to Kas to let him feed, however, the sudden blood loss gives him a migraine. Kas decides to take care of him.
one shots & ficlets under the cut
(ao3) -> ao3 link in the tumblr fic post
🌷 fluff & floaty
floor time fic (ao3)
Eddie POV, falling in love, fluff, neurodivergent steddie
eddie likes Good Words (ao3)
Steve POV, stablished relationship, neurodivergent steddie, echolalia
rambly Steve in love
Eddie POV, established relationship, love confession
soft insomniacs (ao3)
Eddie POV, short trans Eddie, soft Steve, bickering, established relationship
3 am phone call (ao3)
Steve POV, soft, pre-relationship
car ride in love
Eddie POV, floaty, boys in love, Andante, Andante
stargazing
Steve POV, floaty & soft, boys in love
sick fic
Eddie POV, domestic fluff & silliness, steve is sick, eddie is in love
first kiss
Eddie POV, floaty, boys in love
loving eddie munson (is a full body experience) (ao3)
Steve POV, floaty, boys in love, introspection, love confessions
floaty steddie date hours
Eddie POV, established relationship, date night, marriage proposals, softness, dancing in the rain
sick fic 2 (woollen bat hat)
Eddie POV, sick!Steve, soft boyfriends in love, cuddling, Eddie reads Momo to Steve
🌷 yearning
✨yearning hours (a-side) (ao3)
Eddie POV, heart-wrenching yearning, light imagery, (mis)communication, vulnerability, first kiss
✨yearning hours (b-side) (ao3)
Steve POV, insecurity, trauma, darkness imagery, vulnerability, first kiss
✨yearning hours (bonus track) (ao3)
Eddie POV, light imagery, vulnerability, getting together
summer nights were made for steve (ao3)
Eddie POV, yearning, getting together, the stars are pretty but steve is prettier
✨yearning hours (hidden track) (ao3)
Steve POV, floaty music, getting together, sudden love confession, pining, A Flock of Seagulls
✨ high yearning make-out fic (smutty) (ao3)
Eddie POV, recreational drug use, dry humping, coming in pants, so much yearning, so much kissing, spicy six as friends
🌷 hurt/comfort
insomniac eddie & human weighted blanket steve
Eddie POV, developing relationship, comfort
Eddie being inexperienced at relationships
Eddie POV, established relationship, dramatic eddie, boys in love, cuddles
spiralling writer eddie
Eddie POV, established relationship, comfort, emotionally intelligent steve
‘You’d be a great dad’
Eddie POV, established relationship, insecure Eddie, comfort
steve has seizures (ao3)
Steve POV, angst, self-isolation, seizures, post-s3, found family, background steddie
nonverbal steve gets a hug (ao3)
Steve POV, established steddie, nonverbal steve, caring eddie, touch starved steve
sensory overload steddie
Steve POV, soft boys, building relationship, nonverbal steve, touch-averse eddie, floor time as the cure
🌷 angst & hurt/no comfort
spiralling steve
Steve POV, traumatised steve, nonverbal steve, established steddie, eventual comfort
breakup
Steve POV, steve is not okay, breaking up
My Boy
Steve POV, major character death, post-s4, inspired by My Girl funeral scene
memory wipe musings
Steve POV, post-canon, established relationship, breakup-ish
post-breakup steddie
Steve POV, a follow-up for @steddieas-shegoes prompt-fill | years after breaking up with steve eddie writes him a letter and they talk, mentions of drug abuse and rehab, starting over, 2nd chances (it's hopeful but it's kinda really sad)
knightmærs
Eddie POV, prince!steve, traitor!eddie, lovers to enemies who are still lovers but it's intrigue, brainwashing, torture, eddie whump, manipulation, open ending, violence & threats of death
🌷 smut(ish)
steve wants to hear eddie
Eddie POV, established relationship, anal sex
sexytimes in a tent
Steve POV, trying not to get caught, established relationship, hand jobs
sub!kas eddie (drabble) (tag for more)
Steve POV, good boy kas, soft dom steve
school reunion sex
Eddie POV, chubby!steve, dom-ish top steve, belly kink, light degradation kink, multiple orgasms, semi-public sex, reunion sex, good boy eddie
misc. & gen
steve and nancy finally have A Talk
Steve POV, apologies, communicating like adults, making up, platonic stancy
steve and mike coming out to each other (ao3)
Steve POV, bisexual lighting, established background steddie, mike & steve sibling relationship
why'd you jump? (ao3)
conversation at the quarry, coming out (kinda), working through trauma together, steve & mike sibling relationship, big brother Steve | cw: could read as suicidal tendencies or intrusive thoughts
a study in grief: steve and mike talking about barb (ao3)
Steve POV, Barb's death anniversary, Barb was Mike's friend, grief, mourning, big brother Steve, Mike character study
stobin arsonist tendencies (drabble)
Steve POV, robin wants to burn down steve's car and house, fucked up platonic besties, neurodivergent swag
🌷 i'll try-verse (time travel au) oneshots
steve takes el to see her first meteor shower
el calls steve magic
eddie finds nonverbal steve
tina's party steddie hug
steve meets wayne
clarkson fics
meet-sweet | kids duty (ao3)
clarkson origin post with @unclewaynemunson. Wayne POV, first meeting, slow burn, pre-relationship, soft
coursework, caffeine and cuddles (ao3)
teacher student!steve, domestic fluff, established clarkson & steddie, found family
if i fell in love with you (ao3)
Scott POV, soft, established relationship, domestic fluff, If I Fell
home. (ao3)
Scott POV, comfort, floaty, established relationship, after-school car ride, domesticity
quiet. (ao3)
Scott POV, hurt/comfort, domesticity, established relationship, wayne doesn’t like how quiet scott’s house gets
don’t let go (i won’t) (ao3)
Scott POV, hurt/comfort, found family, post-s4, shared trauma, steddie, established relationship, wayne gets a bad flashback and scott calls steddie for help
ronance fics
snow angels
for @thefreakandthehair's spicy six winter fic challenge, Nancy POV, pining, first kiss, getting together
Will enby Helsknight/trans Tanguish/top surgery scars/stubborn avoidant Welsknight in a gender crisis make it into the main story of RnS? Like, a full acknowledgment of it? Because yes, us on tumblr are aware (and happily bully RnS Wels for it) but I’m curious to how it may be brought up in the main storyline instead of rambles and drabbles. (Don’t get me wrong, those rambles and drabbles are what get me through the day. But my best friend, who isn’t in the MCYT fandom whatsoever, just caught up with RnS and doesn’t use tumblr, and besides spamming her with tumblr posts I wanna know how much I can revel in the glory of the skrunkles with her!)
That is a great question, actually. And the answer is I don't really know.
So this is one of the downsides to writing things chapter by chapter. If I had gone into this going "oh heck yeah they're trans", this would've come up in the plot way sooner. It's nice information 1) for all the trans folks reading and 2) because it has the potential to inform the themes in the narrative. This whole story is about two chief things I think: death [the inevitability of] and identity [what defines you and why]. Why should you care if literally no one else (including the universe) does? That would be so cool to speak about in terms of a trans allegory! Why do you care about gender when it's just one thing in a world of crazy things? Or at the very least, how does it inform your identity? But this is a change I made on a whim suddenly, and I know Exactly Where I Want This Plot To Go, so trans topics and allegories as Plot Points probably won't happen.
On the more technical side of introducing trans characters -- how do you do that without just dropping "oh btw they're trans" in? Like, how do you make it a relevant thing to talk about, that doesn't feel forced or shoehorned in, especially this late in the story? Probably me overthinking, but I read it done wrong so often. It gets tired. And if I ever work on my original stories, there are trans characters in there! If I can figure out how to Do It Well in a fanfic, then I can figure out how to do it in original fiction someday maybe. So I kinda wanna take the introduction seriously? I've actually been thinking about it so much I've thought about rewriting the intro to the next chapter ahaha [it already needs rewritten in general, there's a lot going on, but the intro was going to be Helsknight waking up from something, and he sleeps shirtless, and not addressing top surgery scars then would be kinda silly I think.]
I can say at the very least, Gender Avoidant Wels probably won't factor in the story much. He is a character, but I don't think he'll become Enough of a character to faithfully address something like a trans self discovery arc. At best his issues with gender might be mentioned in passing.
Sorry! I know you probably want a better answer! My answer is basically: I don't know I'm still working on it. I want it to be there, but the capacity it's there is undecided.
That being said, I've been sitting on this glorious ask since the shenanigans started and the temptation to just Do That grows every time I read it:
i usually try to keep this as light as possible, but i have put this off for long enough that i have to post this. me and my partner desperately need help. we are just two gay people trying to make it alone here with absolutely no support system.
who we are: im j (or jet), im 24 year old trans guy whose had this account since 2014. i married my partner in 2018, we even met on tumblr when we were younger, we've been together for years. my partner is disabled (diagnosed with autism and seizure disorder and others)
what we need: our cat had an emergency surgery two years ago that means he needs to be on a prescription diet (hills urinary food) for his entire life. the vet suddenly said we need to bring him in again to get his prescription renewed and we cant order any more food for him until then, which he will not survive without, and he is not allowed to eat any alternative food without risking his life. we have less than half of a 8 lb bag of it which will not last him through the next month. with the vet, food, and ubers to get to the vet and to the only place they sell the food = 200
to try to summarize our situation, we were kicked out by family and made officially homeless for the first time last year. this is right after we moved across states (wa to az) to support my partners family upon their request, only to be subjected to abuse and kicked out directly due to homophobia in an unfamiliar state after a few months. this left both of us and all of our animals entirely homeless. we luckily have an apartment now but our situation is still not okay. we lost all of our belongings at this time, everything, and have not been able to replace them as we have fixed income. my partner is especially affected by this situation, as it was traumatizing, and they have just had to power through trauma after trauma because of poverty, more than i can say.
i also have severe dental problems that are not covered by medicaid in az and i have no way to afford. this includes wisdom teeth, root canals, and many cavities that will turn into that crazy expensive treatment if i don't fix it. some may remember this (+this). i was only able to have a little bit of work done before we were homeless and one root canal failed. i cant keep ignoring it, because they are worried about two of the cavities becoming root canals, and i want to prevent another infection, but thats at least 250 each.
we are still not going to be able to afford rent in future months because our EBT was delayed last month and i had to spend money we don't have to afford anything, and now we are in serious jeopardy even affording rent, let alone bills. our pets (2 cats 1 small dog) also desperately need vaccinations, which is dangerous to keep going this overdue without with their health problems. our dog has also been limping for the past week and he needs to be seen when that is ever possible.
any donations would go first to the vet appointment and cat food, then the other needs in order of priority. will keep updating this, i know its a lot and i really don't expect anything, i am begging for help with any of this
we are both students, we are trying to work towards stability, while being stuck here. i do everything i can to bring in money to support us on my own. we make 200 less than rent is monthly. i am in school to become a caseworker so i am aware of a lot of resources in my area, and have applied for everything, but we can not do this alone which is why i have to ask for help. i am so sorry for having to do this but i appreciate any support that i do have because of this website. you guys literally save my life. helping out other poor people and getting helped out on here has been the most compassion ive ever been a part of. dollars, even pennies, worth of donations has kept my cat safe, has affected me in real ways. it actually matters to us, no matter the amount.
thank you anyone who reblogs, donates anything, or reaches out.
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world..."
George wanders into a bar. Nothing is ever the same.
Thanks to Soph for accepting a copy of this story. Apologies for the delay and ups being trash 💀
Thanks to @upthehillart for approving my use of their art for this fic.
Special thanks to the @renegadepublishing server for all your support, advice, and encouragement during the making of these books.
To ups, I hope you never feel the gentle touch of a woman, that your child never hugs you again, and that every time you enter a room, you forget the reason you are there.
Below, I will discuss the process, which will include a lot of spoilers. (But also more pics 😈)
When I heard this story was set in the same universe as choices, I lost my shit a little and read it. Slowly, however, this story began to mean a lot more to me than I could put into words. George's grief over the lost of his soul mate, the struggle to find himself, and Blaise's love, passion, kindness, and confidence in himself resonated to me in such a way that I knew I needed to hold it in my greedy little hands.
I started to think about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to bind this story. I struggle a lot from picking the font for the body text to picking the chapter titles. I finally, after fucking around with canva for more time than I'm willing to admit , I was able to come up with these:
(If you would like the files for anything I used, please dm me, and I will send them to you! I will eventually set up a google drive)
In the story, there is this moment where Blaise casts a spell that creates a constellation, of which George got the inspiration to make a mood ring that created a little sky, and depending on your mood the sky changes to reflect how you feel. He gives it to Blaise, and they have a picnic under the sky, indoors, later at Blaise's party they have such a cute moment at night and so I wanted to implant the sky in some way.
I also wanted to use constellations in this bind. I didn't know how or where. I just knew I needed them in my life. So while i mop over my inability to impelent them, I took a break. So one day, I was reading a book with these very cute corners, and then it hit me. (No, I didn't finish the book i was reading. I was busy stalking the internet, trying to find the perfect image)
After that, picking the page breaks was easy. I wanted something simple since I didn't want the typeset to look so busy that it took away from the most important element of the bind, aka the story. I added a few little things for me in Draco and Harry's 2 chapters because I'm weak, and that's for soph to find all on her own 👀
I will put this here, tho.
Lastly, because Tumblr won't let me post more pictures, here are the endpapers I used for 2 of the 3 books.
As some of you may have notice, there are blues, pinks, and whites in this bind. It's a subtle yet very loud depiction of the Trans flag. It was very important to me to show that this story is of a Trans man that, as soph, puts it, saved himself.
I added all the chapter notes, trigger warnings, and more information about this bind on the typeset itself. Ultimately, to me, this is a form of archiving stories I think matter, and if for whatever reason, technology dies on us, this story will still live on.
The info that's only important to the binders 💀:
Materials list:
Bookcloth: Colibri in color Cornflower, this cloth has a silk like finish.
Htv: I used siser's htv easy weed vinyl with a bit of a pinkish undertone to it.
Endpapers: they are from paper tree nook in the uk
Endband: 2 mm 100% leather with blue viscous thread
Textblock: I used standard 20lbs cream color paper. I used toner to print. To sew the textblock, I use blue linen thread and remie bands gifted to me by my friend duranbinding. I painted the edges using golden acrylic paint, and the charm and ribbon are both from Michael's
Typeset:
(I will edit in this bit later since I made so many changes its hard to recall them all)
I did a similar post yesterday!! (Linked at the end, hopefully, I'm mobile and sometimes tumblr can be weird)
I'm so so sorry it took my so long to get this request <\\3 I was trying to come up with new ideas so it could be different than the other ask <\3, which I highly recommend checking out! Imma be real I'm not totally confident in how this one turned out so that second post can be like an extra/make up <\3
I wasnt sure if you wanted this to be platonic or have them dating so!! It's mostly written as vague in that department!!
Jonathan doesn't strike me as the person who goes out and does things a lot
Just. Wake up, work, home, sleep, repeat.. he'll sometimes send texts to friends and family to schedule a lunch here and there but
That's about it, hes not very social
So a lot of these antics are really going to be made through you making the plans; with the shenanigans really being unplanned byproducts
Honestly I can totally see Jonathan starting shit with someone, be it accident or on purpose, prompting both of yall having to hightail it out of the area
Reminds me of that part from one of the diary of a wimpy kid movies, where greg n rodrick do that fake puke prank on the guy and have to make a run for it
Actually I can totally see yall subtly being menaces and fucking with people
Maybe not a fake puke prank persay but
Yk?
No crime stuff; I only really see that becoming a thing after he becomes Spot! Both from how he worded his whole "turning to a life of crime" thing and the fact he just
Lacks the experience and confidence
Moving on
Maybe it's just my "let's get silly with the writing" part of me, or it's my need for chaos (arguably the same thing), but
I feel like
Somehow, you guys would accidentally probably maybe kinda sorta
Wreak havoc in ways spot could only dream of (before doing the whole. Bouncing across the multiverse thing)
Yall could probably start the day wanting to go to some food truck and
End it by spending a night in jail
Neither of you are allowed anywhere near food trucks after that /j
No but serious note, Jonathan is basically a hermit, he doesnt like leaving his apartment unless he has to; people are just, so
Eeuuughchk!
So when you two hang out it's either his place or yours
But that's not to say it isnt fun!
Hes got normal stuff people have in their homes, like board games and consoles
And also science doohickies
Yeah people have that in their houses, that's a normal thing
Ngl if you give him any ideas for machines or whatnot hes totally going to give it a try
See previous post with a trans s/o, he would make the transgenderinator if you asked him to
Well now hes just turning into doof
Ykw
I feel like he'd take you to alchemax to show off stuff but like
If you asked nicely
How can he say no to that face?
And also he has no backbone
That's not to say you would pressure him, though! Because that's not cool, dont pressure people. But like, he would cave in the way of "I know it's not that serious and I know they'll probably understand if I say no, but I don't want to ever risk disappointing them ever in my life, so I'm gonna say yes!" Kind of way
He just like me frfr
And this is assuming you even know about alchemax
Which personally, unless you're in some way associated with it, I'm p sure be would have a strong boundary to keep you out of it
This is really just turning into a general ramble <\3
Anyways
I dont have many ideas since I struggle with general hcs like this but!! Yeah!! Definitely recommend the linked post for a better more cohesive (?) List of ideas and hcs!! This post kinda
Made me realize I dont have many hcs for Jonathan outside of making his personality a smart pathetic science man
Gotta fix that , give him some hobbies n stuff in the future
I haven’t been here long. What irritating changes have been made?
Credit where it's due, some changes have been good, like polls and stuff! But the big recent changes thus far that I would classify as irritating are:
- The UI change. This one may be less irritating for newcomers because it's basically the same layout as twitter and instagram, but for a lot of folks who've been here a long time, it feels cramped and like a loss of identity for the site. For many, the appeal of tumblr is that it ISN'T an algorithm hell like twitter or insta. Also, there's the annoyance of having to relearn where everything is, because it all got moved around.
- The users being lab rats for various tests the devs wanna pull out of nowhere without consenting to beta testing new site features- like the one that took away user icons on the dash for like half the site. They finally put them back after getting enough feedback that said NO, but users were so used to their feedback being disregarded that they were half expecting the change to be pushed through anyway.
- The Netflix tie-in advertising being pushed even to people who had PAID tumblr for a no-ads experience. Complete with them somehow thinking it would be a good idea to put an unescapable-by-scrolling spooky clown on peoples' dashboards that u had to use ublock to get rid of. While I'm not scared of clowns and often find them quite charming, it sucks that staff didn't take coulrophobia being a common fear into account.
- A wave of fully sfw trans posts being wrongfully marked Mature and staff doing little to nothing about it. Not sure if this is still ongoing, but it destroyed a lot of trust and good will. (LGBT+ users have been having to fight a constant war against censorship ever since the adult content ban on tumblr, so yeah... Nevar 4get the list of banned search words that would bring back no results, like 'girl')
- The site gradually moving away from customization. Tumblr is a BLOGGING site. But it seems to have lost sight of that fact, because most new users don't even know you can fully customize your blogs with css and stuff (an option that is now off by default for new accounts!), because of the in-dash viewer giving you only how blogs look on mobile, which is a lot more uniform. There, it's more like every other site- you get a banner and icon. Oh, but you can change colors and fonts from a drop-down list too, that's cool I guess. Though they recently took away custom color schemes on Message windows, just another little bit of personalization taken away.
- TUMBLR. LIVE. Basically tumblr teamed up with a skeevy dating app partner to allow for livestreams- but not the cool kinda livestreams like on twitch where you can draw or play games, no- to a site full of people who value anonymity, they decided to push phone cam only livestreams. Not only that but by agreeing to the terms, you're giving out tons of personal data including your location to said skeevy dating app partner and all of THEIR third-party ad partners. Needless to say, most people didn't wanna use it, so instead of users it's flooded by p*rn bots (which is ANOTHER issue we've been dealing with for a long time and have been getting an even bigger influx of FROM tumblr live) and scammers. And thus, since tumblr likes to put a carousel of current streams on people's dashes, you often get softcore p*rn thumbnails from the bot streams with no way to avoid it except for toggling off tumblr live entirely.
- Oh wait. That's right. You CAN'T toggle it off. Because you can only snooze it for a while until BAM, you're jumpscared by a carousel of ladies licking your screen again! But hey, at least they made the snooze 30 days instead of the 7 it used to be, right? Yeah, except for the fact that you can't get rid of the tumblr live button itself on the app anymore, and now it's front and center with a NEW notification tag on it, overlapping your dash and cramming useful stuff like the search button out of the way.
NOW- A lot of this stuff CAN be at least mostly fixed on desktop by installing ublock and xkit and tampermonkey + dashboard unfucker... But that's a lot of stuff just to make the site usable, you know?
Hi there! I read "Call me menace" back when it first came out, and it came across my dash today via a long post of tumblr stories, and I was delighted to find you'd written so much more in that universe. I burned through everything on ao3, it's all amazing!!
But the reason for me sending in this ask is: Call Me Menace was actually kind of the first step in me coming to terms with being genderfluid. I knew I was trans, but I had been trying for a while to force myself into the other binary and questioning my own validity when sometimes the other end of the binary didn't fit. I admittedly had a lot of internalized stuff to deal with but that story was i think the first time I saw gender fluidity as something...strong? I guess? Instead of bending over backwards to try and not be "confusing" to other people, I could just... lean into it, if that makes sense. Being confusing with gender could be empowering, not a social weakness. I feel a bit embarrassed sending this, but your story really was the starting point in a chain of events that lead to me sitting here, a year later, so much happier and intentionally "confusing" and more comfortable in my own skin. I just wanted to send this in since reading through the rest of the synoverse writing made my day and reminded me of where I was a year ago.
Anyways, I hope this doesn't come off as weird lol. Thank you thank you thank you for your awesome writing and I'm super excited to see where things go next! :))
Thank you for reading, and for writing in!!!
Synovus is one of those characters who just kind of… manifested, fully formed. They were never a ‘he’ or ‘she’ or any other specific gender in my mind, but rather fluid between them from the get-go. I did worry, a little, about presenting a non-binary villain, especially since I’ve tried to be clear that Synovus really isn’t a misunderstood hero (though some readers may still interpret them that way).
But the responses I’ve gotten have done away with that fear entirely. Villain or not, Synovus is the protagonist of the story, and that’s resonated with so many more people than I ever expected. Even one person finding themselves a little more comfortable in their skin would make writing the whole thing worth it.
And for what it’s worth, anon - I’m proud of you. And Synovus would be too.
Tumblr to begin selling off user content to AI generative content companies.
My thoughts (that I also left on the official announcement post with some additional points).
I have a lot of feelings that I am going to briefly summarize here: this is fucked.
Tumblr, in the way it works, means that every reblog is essentially its own post. I can barely believe that "opting out", which is absolute bullshit, is going to restrict any data from being sent. A reblog is a copy, which means even if you opt out, the reblogged content likely isn't, and considering the absolute farce that is the way tumblr backend works (mainly from 15+ years of hotfixes) I have absolutely zero belief that opting out will work and that they can remove reblogged content from posts in a way that is substantially accurate.
The next issue is simple: If you opt out later, your data has already been packaged and sold off to the highest bidder and there will be nothing you can do about it. The way I've seen the phrasing on this has been that they have already packaged quite a few posts and sent them off. Once they are submitted, there is absolutely no way to remove them from the blackbox of data aggregation once the weights have been created from them (that's a very minimal explanation of how companies like OpenAI and Midjourney have their technology working. Once something is added, it can't or won't be removed).
The other issue: deactivated, terminated, or long ago blogs from users past can not, will not, and would not be able to opt out of this (and again, I don't trust them even if they say they will for deactivated accounts). That is the vast majority of the ecosystem here.
This toggle is worthless. They know that. Automattic knew this was going to be a horrific decision from the user base and pressed forward anyway. They are going for a cash grab that has a one time payoff and horrific longterm dividends. This pays them a single large sum, then nothing for practically infinite data usage.
They've had a horrific past few months between the mass layoffs, this obvious intellectual property sell off, the CEO of Tumblr going absolutely insane over trans issues, targeting users, making up lies, and releasing private information from inside a trans users account that wasn't public.
I adored tumblr for what it was, when it was in the best interest of the users, hell, there's a chance that Yahoo (who wanted to turn it into the "next PDF") understood Tumblr better than Automattic ever did.
I know a lot of previous and current staff members, several who are absolutely pissed about these changes. The enshittification continues of this poor place.
I have been on here since 2009 and have amassed well over a million followers in that time on this platform through various blogs, and for the first time in a very long time, I will start reconsidering my usage of [tumblr] and may migrate elsewhere (or nowhere).