#fanartists are so cool y’all

[sillywizardvoice]

LADY MOWBRAY YOU HAVE RETURNED TO US!!! So excited to see all the eccentric old lady art coming from you guys

[casukaga]

a rainy day for two stylish kids at the blooming grove ☔️🍃

🌟 Instagram | Twitter | Youtube 🌟

[foryoumyheroes]

Otaku

[Bakugou + Todoroki] are in love with the anime character [Name]. 

A/N:  Gender-neutral reader  Crackish?? 

Bakugou Katsuki: 

He’s sort of picky with the genre, be it fantasy, horror, shonen, but his favorite character has to be a super cool, super powerful one. No excuses. 

You know, the type of anime character that’s probably introduced through a silhouette of them posing dramatically with their notorious group whose image is teased throughout the first few episodes/seasons. 

He goes pretty hard for All Might, and he’s definitely the same for your character. 

Reads the manga (but he buys it super secretly, like in a hoodie at night and the cashier probably thinks that they’re being robbed until he brings the entire [Series] collection to the register). Watches the anime the moment it’s broadcasted, reads metas and watches youtube videos that talk about conspiracies/analyses of your character. 

NO ONE CAN KNOW THOUGH. 

He’s taking his anime phase to the grave. 

For some reason gets super aggressive when you’re being flirty or being shipped with another character?? He hates all the scenes that tease any potential romance between you and other characters. asdfgj He’s like, “No one is good enough for [Name]!!! Except for me.” 

He even tries to think up ways he can legitimately square up with them LMAO. Like he wonders how he could defeat your potential S/Os in a fight but y’all are like ,,, anime characters SO WHY DOES IT EVEN MATTER LOL 

“Three-sword style?? Tch, I’d fucking blow that bastard to bits.” 

“Who’s this Gaara of the Sand looking ass and why is the author getting so bold.” 

He even tries to think of how well your abilities match up with his own Quirk, this dork. 

THE LENGTHS HE WOULD GO FOR YOU.

If you were a real life person and your dislikes are lets say spicy food or loud, overbearing people, Bakugou would be like, “Tch I’m right, they’re wrong. Shut the fuck up!!!” But if his ultimate wifu/husbando has those dislikes he would be like, “Omg...😳😳 opposites attract...👉👈” 

He honestly tries to be a low-key fan (as in, not be a fan at all to outsiders), but if one day during class Kaminari ends up saying that in [Series], you’re the weakest character in your group/squad, Bakugou would get super angry. 

“Hey, Dunceface!! It’s so fucking obvious that you’re an anime-only fake fan, so don’t talk as if you know shit!” 

Bakugou is those “um actually” ;; fans 

Bakugou is a manga reader, so by the time your introduction scene or Ultimate Attack scene is being aired he becomes super OOC. He’s hyped for it for days, incredibly nervous at how the animators handle the scene. 

By the time he watches it?? 

THE ANIMATION!! THE VOICE ACTING!! YOUR COOLNESS!!! PLS ORA ORA HIM IN THE CHEST!! HE’S BEGGING YOU! IF YOU’RE GOING TO UNISON RAID WITH ANYONE PLS LET IT BE HIM!! 

He’s legitimately sweating buckets by the time the episode is over. A whole-ass fire hazard. 

Probably knows how to play your character theme on the drums. 

Omg but if your character dies/is hinted toward dying/or the most recent chapters ends with a cliffhanger where you’re fatally injured he will become legitimately depressed. 

Like holes himself in his dorm room for a whole day without contacting anyone and with the blinds drawn type of depressed. 

When he comes to class the next day with eye-bags and is slouching and his classmates think that something horrible has happened, it’s probably only Izuku who knows what’s going on. 

He’ll say, “You’re upset about the most recent chapter of [Series], right? I know it must be hard for you right now.” He’ll give Bakugou an officially licensed rubber strap of your character and Bakugou will just ;; cradle it in his hands softly. 

In complete seriousness, your character is probably someone who is strong physically, but publicly rallies for things like, “Failure is fine.” Your character arc would probably explore what it’s like being not good enough or feeling constantly disappointed, so he feels comfort in your character. 

Todoroki Shoto: 

In comparison to Bakugou, he’s probably a more low-key fan unintentionally, but goes just as hard. 

Buys all of the merch, limited-edition or not, has your picture set as his phone lockscreen and homescreen, has a little acrylic charm of you on his phone, follows several fanartists that draw your character on social media. He buys enough merch that his room looks like a glorified shrine. 

It’s canon that he reads manga, but I headcanon that he’s even less picky with his genres and willingly reads things like slice-of-life or shojo all the way to shonen or adult fantasy, so your anime could come from any possible story. 

Your character is probably someone who is sweet and kind but has a traumatic character backstory. 

He probably ends up thinking stuff like, “If [Name] was with me, I would never let them get treated like that.” asdhj he’s a dork too. 

Unironically dramatically quotes you during battle and thinks that it’s still badass because he’s a teenage boy in his anime phase. 

Doesn’t get into debates with people who don’t like your character. He’s like, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion :)) even though they’re wrong. >:(.” 

If you’re from a sports/competition anime he’ll try to learn all of the rules, and even try it out for himself (if it’s not fighting) but he finds out that he’s... not very good at it. That doesn’t make him any less amazed though! 

If your character is from a different culture with different customs and traditions, he’ll even learn more about them outside of your anime! 

Forces his siblings to watch the anime with him. They don’t necessarily have to, but the Todoroki household has one big TV and he hogs it all the time watching your anime over and over. 

Natsuo is begging him to watch something else and Shoto will just pout angrily from the other side of the couch.( ￣＾￣)

It’s so jarring because he doesn't look or appear like a hardcore anime fan, but sometimes he’ll just butt into conversations randomly and talk about you. 

Like you know those tumblr Naruto posts that talk about it as if it’s some sort of Renaissance literature. That’s Todoroki. 

[”Man, they’re so hot--!” 

“You want to see someone hot?” Todoroki asks with a perfectly straight face, and he’ll just... turn his phone around and show them a picture of an anime character.] 

When his dad tries to set him up with someone else: “You think they’re my type? Do they watch [Series]? Do they know what true friendship is?? Do they understand pining and love the way [Name] does?” 

Endeavor: who the FUCK is [Name]. 

Gets into fanfiction because of your character and series. He’ll just be reading on his phone during break times at school and everyone thinks that he’s being so well-read but he’s just reading pure smut with a straight face. 

Doesn’t mind when you’re shipped with other characters necessarily but he is super picky. If your character is hinted toward a potential romance with another character that’s pretty crass and doesn’t necessarily treat you well but you’re sticking together through the power of friendship, he won’t ship it. 

He’s just like “[Name] would be so much happier with someone else like me.” ://// 

And if your character goes through something traumatic or terrible during the series he’ll be so sad, like soooo sad. :((( Deku would probably be comforting him on the couch in the common room and everyone is concerned because he looks like he’s mourning a lost pet, but it turns out to be over some anime character pshhhsdfh. 

Deku would just be patting his shoulder trying to console him and Todoroki’s just sitting there with a big frown on his face going, [“But they’ve been through so much throughout the anime already...” 

“I know, Todoroki-kun, I know...” 

“The author can’t do that to them... It’s just not fair.”

“I get it,” Midoriya says mournfully.]  

Plot twist: They like the same anime character 

They’ll probably find out when they have to retake the license exam together. 

Todoroki will just take his phone out during off times and Bakugou’s eyes looks over because it’s drawn by the noise but then his head just snaps to the side when he realizes its a little charm of you, like, he’s going to get whiplash from that. 

“What the -- is that [Surname] [Name]?!” 

Like they have never really hung out together before this, so when they both first realize that their favorite character of all time is [Name] they’re left ,, just standing there ,,, pointing at each other like the spiderman meme.

At first they’re both inwardly excited because FINALLY someone cultured and with taste. They spend the entire time talking about your stats, your attacks, your post-timeskip character design, and your personality, and then they delve a little bit deeper and then they realize ,,, oh. 

Bakugou says that you don’t belong with the dumb protagonist, you should be shipped with someone strong, confident and loud, but Todoroki is like noooooo they deserve to be with someone that treats them gently. 

They connect the dots. 

[“Bakugou, you aren’t compatible with [Name]. It says so in their trivia page.” 

“Says you! They won’t want some bland-ass pretty boy! They would want a real man!”] 

They’re such fanboys ;;; they do realize that you aren’t real, right asdfghj?

One day Kaminari and Sero separately invite them to an anime convention, but they both say no and that they have plans or “something better to do” that day. 

Then Bakugou and Todoroki both turn up to the convention at the same place because they both reach for the last limited edition [Name] figure and they just stare at each other wide-eyed (ʘoʘ╬) like that. 

They start verbally fighting each other over the last figure and then physically fighting each other andddd then they get kicked out of the convention. 

Izuku ends up swooping in and getting the last box. 

[versegm]

What is reposting and why it’s bad

Cuz I suspect some of y’all don’t actually know what I mean when I say “don’t repost ppl’s arts.” Which is fine! Ignorance is no sin! But educating yourself is important. 

I. What is reposting?

You ever saw a nice piece of fanart and saved it on your computer? And then posted it on your public blog as is?

That is reposting.

Reposting is the act of taking something that isn’t yours (usually fanart) and, well, making a new post on your own blog about it. It’s different from reblogging, which is the act of sharing the original source.

II. Why is it bad?

Many reasons (this blog is full of exemples, and this post in particular goes into depths about it) but I’ll give the tl;dr:

1. Because it robs the artist of the exposure

You know that feeling when you make something? Be it a shitpost, a fic, a drawing. And you refresh your page over and over again to see the notes going up? 

It’s pretty disheartening when it doesn’t get any notes, isn’t it? All that hard work- sometimes hours! Poured into it!- and it feels like it was for nothing.

Now imagine that exact situation, but people do love your work! People talk about it! Go banana over it!

Away. Where you can’t see it. Because someone more popular than you posted it on their own page. 

And now not only you’re still being ignored, but someone else is getting all the credit, all the praises, all the screaming, for your work.

Wouldn’t you be pissed? Enraged? Hurt?

2. Because it harms people’s careers

Look I know it’s easy to forget it, esp when looking at fanarts, but sometimes people actually do make money out of their craft. If an artist includes a piece in their portfolio, and their would-be employer find that same piece uncredited somewhere else, they’ll have no way to know if this is actually the real artist. And the other way around- if someone find a nice piece of art and want to contact the artist, but find no credit, well, that’s a job opportunity out the window.

III. Ok cool but why should I care?

Well, I could say disregarding people’s feelings makes you a huge dick, but I know you don’t care about that. So instead I’ll say this: reposting directly harms you.

Because all those people you’re reposting from? Those fanartists? Those fic writers? How do you think they’ll react? Cuz aside from the fact that they very much can sue your ass, they’ll stop producing content. I’ve seen it happen. Artists deleting their gallery. Locking everything under private account. This isn’t a hypothetical. This is very common because when asking people to stop reposting doesn’t work, folks start taking drastic actions.

So don’t be that person. Don’t fucking repost shit without permission. Ask people if you can repost their stuff.

[ectonurites]

as someone who actively uses both i think its so interesting the differences between the dc fandom on tumblr vs twitter. like as a fanartist I prefer tumblr, but as a comics fan to talk about comics I prefer twitter, if that makes sense.

like tumblr has such a focus on fan content which is really cool and people’s art gets around a lot more, but i’ll mention something happening in current comics with my art and 80% of the tags are like ‘WAIT DC IS DOING WHAT?’ vs on twitter where as soon as new solicits or issues drop the information & panels are EVERYWHERE and discussion happens but fanart has a life of 24 hours at most before it stops getting spread around.

the ONE consistent thing i see in both places though? tim & damian fans at each other’s throats about things that happened a decade ago in comics. it never changes. tim & damian each have so much power over y’all and its iconic of them honestly

[youreyeslookliketheocean]

Yo I’ve expressed my admiration of fanartists before but it’s fanfic writer time and—as a said fanfic writer who knows how much time and effort writing can take—you all are incredible. Seriously. I’ve read fanfics that are better than published novels before. I’ve read fanfics that I want to print out and put on my bookshelf just so I can have a physical copy, because they’re just that good. I’ve read fanfics the lengths of novels in a day before because I got hooked and couldn’t stop. I’ve read so many one-shots, I can’t even count them.

Fanartists are cool because they give you content in a snapshot, but fanfic writers are cool because you give us a full on movie in our brains. You have this wonderful capability of sucking us into your worlds, your stories, your au’s, and making us feel at home there, and that is incredibly incredibly cool. Plus, you do it all for free which is like... wow. And all while society places this stigma around writing it... y’all are little rebels... I see you 👀 :))

Keep writing, ‘cause you and your imaginations are awesome, and I wanna see it too.

- Kat

[xaeyrnofnbe]

wings of fire fans are so cool. i’m just thinking about it. like i think i read two or three books, but i got bored. i’m following a ton of wof fanartists on multiple platforms though because the fanart is SO GOOD. like literally what?? you guys are all so good at drawing those dragons????? i’m not a wof fan i’m a wof fan fan. does that make sense

like as far as cool art goes y’all’s community has a lot of bangers. you guys are cool 👍

[artificialcaretaker]

Look y’all I’m tryna edit my boy Vase rn but like. He’s genuinely so hard to look at so it’s really difficult getting images. Note that my edits are full of fanart and I LIKE the fanart of him but the knowledge of it being Vase makes it abhorrent to my eyes. Why is he like that? It’s like the part of my brain that controls emotion and the part of my brain that controls interpretation of images are waging war on whether or not I can keep looking through his tag. No offense to anyone who’s into him I get it y’all are cool but there’s just. Something. That makes him so visually unappealing. Again, no hate to fanartists. Y’all are doing great, it’s just that my brain is going crazy.

[deostyx]

It’s so weird that the tail end of gen z see Thomas sanders and say “omg! You were my childhood!!!” And also didn’t know he came out like back during vine and so when he posted stuff for pride they’re like shocked… I feel so stranded out here 🤨 then again my age group were the “uwu gay bean” bitches so maybe never mind.

But also on a different note… this fandom has definitely gone under the radar over time and I’d be lying if I said I kind of like it that way? I love seeing the popular fanartists and I love seeing everyone still talking about it, and now we’re left with a smaller more passionate group of really intelligent and talented people I honestly respect a lot.

I know some of y’all have moved fandoms, And yes I still follow you because I think y’all are freaking cool. The main part of fandom (to me) is to find a community of people that like what you like, and learning about yalls new interests and stuff keeps me open minded about the media I consume and I love that. Sorry I’m so sentimental right now, maybe I’ll delete this, but whatever man

[jadethest0ne]

35! Go for it! ✨

Oh right, for this ask game! I had nearly forgotten about it XD

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want! 

If there was one fic-related thing I’d want to ramble about it’d be specifically being a comic artist, and the different things I experienced going from the Pokemon fandom to the RotTMNT fandom as a comic artist.

I spent 5 years creating a Pokemon comic called “Liberty”, based on a nuzlocke playthrough of Pokemon Soul Silver (basically pokemon on hard-mode with permadeath involved for those of you who don’t know what a nuzlocke is). Meanwhile, it’s been just over a year since my first foray into creating comics for the Rise fandom.

The Similarities

The Disparity between Fanart and Fanfiction

Being a comic artist is odd sometimes because I basically do both fanart and fanficiton at the same time. I can understand and vibe with what a lot of both fanartists and fanfiction writers go through and deal with. This is why I feel like I can answer a lot of these fanfiction questions despite a good chunk of my story-telling being visual.

I am also aware of the disparity between fanart often getting a lot more eyes and attention than fanfiction. Deciding to write a piece of fanfiction instead of draw it out in comic format is often a calculated choice on my part, because writing prose takes more energy from me and often gets less rewards via views and interaction from readers. But despite it taking more energy, it takes less overall time for me to write something out than draw the same story, so I often factor that in when deciding which medium to create a story in.

I feel bad that a lot of fanfiction writers don’t get the attention that they deserve because of this disparity, so may I remind readers to please please PLEASE support your fanfiction creators and interact with their work! It seriously means a lot to them! Even a little message or a reblog will do! The main similarity between these two fandoms is this disparity, and I think it’d be awesome if we could get the number of interactions between fanart/fancomics and fanfiction to be more equal.

The Differences

I’m more popular as a Rise artist?

So, as I said, I spent 5 years making a Pokemon comic and 1 year creating a bunch of Rise comics. And yet I think I got more (or at least the same number of) viewers on my Rise comics in that one year than on my Pokemon comics in 5 years. I certainly got a similar number of followers, despite the differences in time. One of the main reasons for this is likely due to the social media platforms I posted on. I posted “Liberty” on deviantart and on the Pokemon Nuzlocke forums, the latter being particularly niche. As for my Rise comics and artwork, I branched out to other sites including here on Tumblr, Instagram, AO3, and Twitter (though insta got fewer comics due to the image size restrictions). The number and popularity of the sites I posted Rise artwork to are more than deviantart and that is likely a big reason. The other reasons for my increase in popularity may be for some of the other differences...

There aren’t that many comic artists in the TMNT fandom

I could probably name only a handful of consistent comic creators in, not only the Rise fandom, but in the TMNT fandom. And I mean the long-running, over-arching story type of comic creators. There aren’t that many of us. There are tons of artists and fanfic writers out there, yes, but very few that combine the two.

Meanwhile the Pokemon community has TONS. Especially the nuzlocke community. Heck, the Pokemon nuzlocke community started and was named because of a popular comic detailing the events of the creator’s nuzlocke challenge playthrough of Pokemon Emerald. You get a little bit more lost in the crowd amongst so many other comic artists in the Pokemon community, but at the same time have more people to learn from and relate to in that way.

My involvement with the Fandoms has been different

There’s been a lot of collaboration and working together among creators within each respective fandom. I feel like personally, a lot of my collabs with Rise creators has been a lot more direct and more personal than the kind of things I did in the Pokemon fandom.

For example, in the Pokemon comic fandom, it was really common to cameo each others’ characters in your comic, or include each others’ comics or characters in memes. This wasn’t always a planned thing, though we would ask each other for permission. I joined a Pokemon comic discord, but most of my interactions there and on other platforms involved brainstorming help. Not only that, but sometimes the community was a bit more competitive as well. For instance the Nuzlocke Forums would hold an “extravaganza” every year where folks voted on various categories to vote for the best nuzlocke (I won “Best Pokemon” and “Most improved” in 2018 :3 ).

Meanwhile with the Rise fandom, I did more things like art trades, collaborative art pieces, and zine work. These were a lot more direct and planned out and involved a bit more trust and interaction with other artists. I also became close friends with the folks in the discords that I joined as part of a Rise server, beyond just “fellow creator”.

As a result, I found myself doing a lot more serious artwork and even created other fics for the Rise fandom beyond just my comics, while when it came to Pokemon I stuck mainly to my “Liberty” art/comics.

More eyes, less interaction and visa versa

Again, this could be mainly a differences in what social media I’m using, but a big difference I found between readers of my work is that I got A LOT more people commenting on my Pokemon comic than on my Rise comics. I may be getting more views on my TMNT comics, but boy did I get more interaction with my Pokemon comics. I would get at least 5 people leaving these in-depth analysis or guesses of what would happen on each page for my Pokemon comic, not to mention the dozens of other reactions I would get in the comments. And despite that comic being on hiatus for a year, I still get some comments on it!

So, unless I know the commenter personally, I feel a little less involved with my readership with my Rise comics than my Pokemon one. Which is a little sad. I do appreciate you all who appreciate my work, but I feel like I appreciate you from afar and can only go “awww” at the things y’all leave in the notes or on the anonymous asks I get, instead of being able to thank you more directly.

Rise readers are a bit less patient

I get lots more people asking me “when the next page is coming” on my Rise comics and fics much more often than on my Pokemon comic. This virtually never happened with my Pokemon comic. Granted, I was way more consistent with “Liberty” and it had a set schedule, whereas my Rise comics/fanfics never have. But still.

I really DO NOT like those kinds of asks/comments. Please do not ask me when the next one is coming out. It makes me feel stressed and ashamed and pressured, which can create negative feelings around my work and make me less likely to finish them. I get that you’re excited, and that’s cool. But literally no one likes those kinds of comments.

For perspective, “Liberty”, my Pokemon comic, has been on hiatus for nearly a year and I’ve gotten maybe two comments to that effect, and they were newer readers who weren’t around at the time that I announced my hiatus and the reasons thereof. My “Liberty” readers have been so patient with me (bless them), and I feel a real loyalty to that kind of readership. I don’t know when, yet, but I really want to get back to “Liberty” someday, not just for myself or that story that I lovingly crafted, but also for them.

Pokemon was a hobby, Rise is a passion

Likely due to the fact that I have made a lot of close friends within the Rise community, and the fact that it has helped me immensely through this really tough year, I feel so much closer with the Rise creator community. Pokemon was a thing that I did for fun as a side hobby. My TMNT related comics and art have pushed me so much further in my art, gotten me involved in various projects, gotten me into creating animations, holy heck was I sucked into this fandom in such a short amount of time, and I love it so much.

I have been a fan of Pokemon since I was a kid, and I never thought I’d find a piece of media that would capture my attention and adoration as much. I think at a point when I was shifting from the Pokemon to the Rise fandom I said something along the lines of “I feel like I’m cheating on Pokemon with Rise”/j but it’s kinda true, haha!

In the end, both fandoms and the people in them mean a lot to me, and I’ve grown a lot from them as an artist and a person. I will be forever grateful to the other creators, readers, artists, writers, friends, collaborators, etc in both.

Thank you all very much!

[echozanee]

Ninjago fanartist y’all are so epic and cool <3

[eyrieofsynapses]

First Thoughts on YJ S4 Panel

WARNING: SPOILERS for the DC Fandome YJ S4 panel!

Okay, before I start chattering away, can I just saw how much I love this title poster? Because I love it. LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT HOW BADASS IT IS. 

Warning: this first bit is a teeny bit ranty, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t genuinely love the panel. It was really fun, but I have a few gripes with the amount of information we got. If you wanna cut straight to the cheery bits, check under the cut.

So... uh. I’m not gonna say I’m disappointed? Because I’m not, this was good, we got info, it was nice to see the voice actors. But I’m... underwhelmed. I definitely wasn’t expecting a lot but this was still, mm, not as much as I thought we’d get. No poster, no previews of character designs, not a peep as to when we’re getting the new season, nothing on where it’ll be streaming, nothing as to new characters, nothing as to who’s going to be the villain, and the Q&A session was maaaayyybe 3 minutes long. Oof, guys. Thought you said you’d leave us with something that’d leave us “more than just ‘whelmed.’” 

Essentially all we got was the title, and a few snippets of information regarding what the current status of the Team and its characters is. They didn’t really get the chance to talk to us at all about the actual season, either- I think Brandon spoke maaaybe three or four times? He got the title reveal, but, well, we knew that already, not that it’s their fault, but still. I love hearing the voice actors chat about their experiences and we got none of that, so that was disappointing. I’m wondering if there wasn’t some material cut, actually, because I distinctly recall seeing a clip on Twitter with Phil Lamarr talking about what it was like returning to the show, and it wasn’t in this. So what’s the deal, DC? Short-changing us on YJ again? When are we gonna get some actual news? 

There is the little problem that their big reveal of the title was spoiled, oh, maybe three or four months ago, and that isn’t their fault, but it does make that revelation more of an “okay, well, glad that’s confirmed” rather than an “OH MY GODS IT’S PHANTOMS WHAAAAAAAT” like I think they were hoping. Still, that’s definitely exciting to hear, and the new title poster looks cool. 

I got a “WHAT!!!” moment maaayybe three times, which is significantly less than I thought I would. There just wasn’t that much new info. But I think that’s less of a Grandon/production team problem and more of a world state and DC problem. I’m not annoyed at them, I’m annoyed at DC and at the pandemic, because I’m willing to bet their snippet was cut short by DC and what information they could’ve revealed just isn’t ready yet because of current events. Probably we would’ve gotten character designs if it weren’t for that.

As for the audio play, it was pretty good. They were definitely struggling what with having a distinct lack of people to pull from for a voice cast, but made some tongue-in-cheek references to it to take off the edge. I don’t think I realized just how many people voice for YJ until now... or how many characters each actor does. It’s a bit janky, and weird what with the arguing over who’s narrating the story (why, are they telling us the story, or are they telling it to someone else? Are you breaking the fourth wall, are you not? Make yourselves clear) but I’m blaming that on the fact that they’re more used to scripts than they are audio plays. These are different mediums, so there’s an inherent gap there; this probably would’ve gone better as an actual episode. 

So, FIRST watch-through, here’s my HAPPY cheery thoughts and reactions, in no particular order! I might do a second one later, we’ll see. (Under the cut, because it’s long.)

Return of Bowhunter Security! 

Clipboard makes a comeback!

The Supermartian marriage has taken place and they’re making reference to taking a long journey with Conner, M’gann, Bioship, Gar and J’onn. So... Mars? Do we finally get to see Mars?  

Forager gets to be sassy! And a hilarious narrator! Which, c’mon, it’s Jason Spisak, honestly, I don’t know what I expected.

Ahahah, Jason makes the most delightful faces when he’s voicing Forager. (And a few flubs, but he’s good at covering them.) We all miss Wally, but man, he does a good job with this character. Also, hey, that’s how he does the clicks!

Rocket! Even though she had a relatively minimal presence, sigh. I’m hoping they build her character more this time, she always get short-changed. 

ARTEMIS IS LEADING THE TEAM, repeat, ARTEMIS IS LEADING THE TEAM!!! YES!!! 

And she also makes a reference at some point to being in this fight for ten years, which, HMM, do I hear a reference point for our time jump? They started back in 2010, so this implies that the season’s caught up to 2020. So... season one was 2010, season two was 2016, season three was... 2018, I think? So does this make the next time jump two years too, or am I off? It also takes place on February 23rd. Eh, either way, it’s absolutely not as long as a lot of people were fearing- heck, I’m thinking this might be the shortest jump yet. Yay!

I’m not sure if the Snapper Carr dialogue is cringy or hilarious. I’m going with hilarious because I’m betting this would’ve been great if it were animated. It definitely loses something without the animation. 

Is... is Crispin Freeman playing four characters? Five? Will, Roy, Jim, Captain Boomerang... I think I’m missing someone, I’m gonna have to go back and rewatch this later, but wow. He switches between them so fluidly, too, that’s impressive.

Forget Freeman for a hot second, Nolan North, what are you doing, dude? Conner, Clayface, Mallah, at least one or two others, with a LOT of animal noises included... wow, okay. I definitely didn’t realize how many of these guys do two or three characters. 

Phil Lamarr doing Brick, Black Manta and Kaldur all at once is definitely impressive. I’m gonna take a guess and say he likes doing Brick best. He seems to get a little grin sometimes when he’s playing the character.

Ahhh, Danica McKellar definitely likes playing Terrence Terror. Don’t ask me why, I’m just getting that feeling watching her. Villains are fun to play.

...Wolf? Where’s Wolf? Uhh, guys? Where’s our fluffy doggo? Don’t tell anyone but I’m scared. 

Oooookay, that was unexpectedly gruesome. Dehydrating a man into sand? I mean, okay, it’s Clayface, but we didn’t know that till later. Eeeewww. Y’all, ik you’re going more dark, but that wasn’t an image anyone needed.

Jokes about Dadbod!Will are... hhh, cringy or funny, cringy or funny... I’m going sorta funny for now. Not enough to make me laugh, but enough to make me smile. 

Okay, Will’s definitely still hilarious. Literally that entire scenario with Captain Boomerang was amazing, and only made better by the fact that it was entirely Crispin Freeman. The “are you the Green Arrow fanclub president or something?” “...you have no idea” moment, the “boomerangs are better and Batman said so!” “...okay, FINE,” FLINGING CLIPBOARD, Boomerang teasing Will for his dadbod and Will answering with a wicked uppercut... ah, man. This is 100% Roy/Will Harper and I am here for it. 

I can see some people disliking this humor, but personally, I’m gonna just sit back and enjoy it. YJ has some quirky humor, but honestly, if you’re part of the fandom and you don’t like it, why are you even here?

Huh, Raquel’s a vegan and nobody’s making jokes about vegan burgers? Nice!

Oh, my gods, Forager deciding that Lian and Amistad playing with the food is an educational activity is AMAZING, 100% in character, and something I really, really want to see. 

(Fanartists? Fanartists, pleeeeaaasse?)

Will and Artemis ribbing each other will never get old.

...wait. Hang on. Is Will the comedic relief character now along with Forager? Is this a thing? I guess it is. If you’d asked me who out of the original Team would replace Wally as the comedic relief back when I had finished the second season, I would not have thought of him first, but I think I’m good with this. It’s definitely in character to his comic version. 

Ahh, Conner and M’gann’s relationship is still... interesting. Still not sure how to feel on this one. But hey, they’re married (?) now? Uh... nice? 

Nightwing’s off on some mysterious mission, hmm? I’m assuming that’s because of Jesse McCartney not being there, but I think I’m gonna headcanon that there are Other reasons for this. 

Yay, Clayface getting redemption! I love this in the Rebirth Batman: Detective Comics, so I’m 100% down for seeing it here. 

Tim did that for Clayface! Sweet! Not a plot thread I expected to go anywhere from that one season three episode, but one I am very happy to see used. 

...more secrets. Uhh, M’gann keeping secrets from Conner is... icky... again... but granted, keeping them because of confidentiality agreements is, well, a better excuse than she’s had in the past. Still, this is getting old.

Huh, so Waller will let out the Team’s secrets if they tell anyone about Belle Reve. I think this was already covered in the third season, but maybe not so explicitly. The reactions... hmm. Of course Conner’s okay with letting out all their secrets (and M’gann’s willing to... go along with that? ...okay...?), but the others, maybe not so much? Hmm. I wonder what Dick would have to say about that one. He definitely has something to lose. Not sure about Kaldur or Artemis, though. 

Jason did NOT get to make any Wally references. That makes me even sadder than if he did make one that made all of us cry. C’mon, guys. Let him have his references. 

I’m always a little meh on M’gann, but hey, M’gann gets to be a 100% certified badass! Saving Clayface AND taking down a ton of baddies with telekinesis, yay!

Oh, my gods. LOOPHOLES. WHAT IS WITH THIS TEAM AND LOOPHOLES. I love them so much.

The Team signing on as Bowhunter Security- oh my gods, all of the Team in fucking Bowhunter Security uniforms- oh my gods, so very in-character, so very true to YJ, so absolutely goddamn hilarious, I wanna hug whoever came up with that. That is the BEST mental image and it is a CRIME that they didn’t animate that. 

And, of course, Kaldur just immediately goes along with it. The Team’s corrupted him fully now. I mean, we knew that, but he’s done now. 

Black Manta attempting to roast Kaldur for his security uniform and Kaldur roasting him back 100 times worse is wonderful. “I wear my dignity on the inside, Father. Where do you wear yours?” KALLIE I LOVE YOU 

Ooooo, Artemis is inviting Roy to the Team? This should be interesting. He’s definitely not totally stable, but it seems to me that Artemis should be able to more or less keep him in check. Hopefully. She had to deal with Wally for five years, surely she can keep Roy in check?

...hmm. We’re all thinking there’s gonna be a Red Hood arc... Roy’s joining the team... Roy and Jason did have that run as the Outlaws in the comics with Kory... and this version of Roy has the sort of temper and attitude that I can just see Jason possibly getting along well with... hmmmmmmmm... 

Hah, villain shenanigans. Having Task Force X argue all the time is in character and admittedly sort of funny, especially as Black Manta’s sort of pulling a Kaldur and playing the absolutely exasperated denmother. I dislike BM thanks to him being a Baddie and all, but watching (listening to?) him struggle to contain them is enjoyable if only because I like watching him suffer. 

Ahh, watching the VAs is fun. It’s definitely nice to see that little view behind the camera. There’s the little smiles, the tiny grimaces at the icky bits, the responses to various bits, the way their demeanor changes with each character, everyone egging Nolan on when he’s yelling for Clayface being disintegrated... I’m sad we didn’t get to see them chat, but watching them interact while they work is fun. Pity Jason and Stephanie didn’t really have any interactions, though, I bet watching them work together would’ve been fun. Ah well. Still fun overall.

There’s a lot of variation in where they are/what setups they have. Some of them seem to have proper studios, some of them don’t but they have mics, Danica’s on the lower bunk of her son’s room with what I’m betting are several sheets hung behind her, and then... well, then there’s poor Stephanie with earbuds and what I’m betting is her phone at her friend’s house XD Also, Greg’s library is really awesome, can I steal it please?

Green title card... I know people have been positing this for a while, but Lazarus Pit? Also, the thing people haven’t talked about: Mars?! Is this a nod to the Martians, since M’gann, Conner, Gar and J’onn seem to be going there? 

Lots of speculation regarding Phantoms, but that’s been going around for a while, so *shrug* I’m not gonna spend any time on that for now.

Someone’s gonna have to write this out, methinks, for further examination. We’ll see if I get around to doing that or not before Fandome ends. I’m betting someone will record it and post it on YouTube, but a written-out version of the script would be useful. If I do, I’ll probably post it, so keep an eye out. 

So... season 3.9, episode 1? Hmm. Does this come directly prior to the fourth season? I kinda wanna say it does.

I have more thoughts, but I think I need to do a rewatch first, maybe in a little bit. Anyway... not what I was expecting, I sincerely miss Dick and Wally, but lots of funny jokes all the same, and lots of interesting information on the fourth season even if it’s nowhere near the amount we wanted. I might be underwhelmed but I’m certainly not disappointed. 

[rainbowcaleb]

Fic Summary: Caleb was pining for Essek. And it was *terrible*.

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

Welcome to another The Author’s Meta where I offer insight, dumb jokes, and a behind-the-scenes breakdown about the fics I’ve written. Today’s installment focuses on “Second Servings” (linked above), the second in my Shadowgast series.

As always, spoilers ahead! Consider this is like a director’s commentary on a movie; you’re gonna see the movie scenes if you read this :)

- This was actually the first Shadowgast I had a more solid idea of (other than a Particular Scene that is coming up in part 4). I had just marathoned most of campaign 2 and my mind kept circling around that cupcake episode (for obvious reasons, oh my god jester), and the Nein’s brief thought of contacting Essek as a way to get out quickly.

- and then my brain went brrrrr like a little shadowgast motor and “how would Essek respond to a message if him and Caleb had Just Done A Thing Together and then Caleb ran off an adventure again?” (the answer was, of course, with all the graces of a socially uncomfortable nerd)

- as an aside, strong moonshine will help polish metal. but then you have armor that smells like moonshine

{more after the cut}

- possible messages Caleb was rolling around in his head when he couldn’t sleep include things like “what are we now? what do we do next? does this mean things are different? do you want to see me again, kiss me again?” but of course that’s much too honest for where his headspace is right now

- I’d like to think in a future timeline Jester introduces Essek to the wonderful world of sweet breakfast foods and inundates him with a hundred years of donuts, pastries, pancakes, and other things he’s never tried

- for Essek’s possible messages, scroll up and see Caleb’s. M U T U A L   P I N I N G

- matt mercer tell us more about Essek’s tower and his cool ley line research, PLEASE I BEG YOU. Fine, fine, I’ll just have to write it myself later.

- Essek immediately being like “you want cool magic, I got cool magic!! let me share!” is just him being a romantic deep at heart.

- You would be surprised how long I agonized over magical laundry ideas. Like, does Essek have servants? I mean, probably, but I also like the idea of him choosing to be isolated and just neck deep in his own research and magic and being like “oh shit it’s laundry day” or “oh shit I forgot about that cup of tea I made six hours ago.” Just relatable academic things.

- You would NOT be surprised to know how difficult it was for me to hold myself back from “Caleb strips completely down in front of Essek because he isn’t that bothered by nudity, let’s see how Essek reacts” and keeping it mild (for the time being, lol).

- Listen....... gingers look great in deep blue. Essek knows this and definitely (self-indulgently) made sure to lend Caleb a coat that made him look awesome.

- We know what Caleb was doing (copying a spell) so what was Essek doing in the background? He was actually ignoring the vial of dunamis. He knows it’s probably stolen. He knows it’s probably related to the research he is helping the Assembly with. At this moment in time Essek is mentally doing gymnastics to explain how Caleb came across it, and has basically been jotting nonsense into his notebook to pretend to look busy. He basically settles to “the Nein stumble upon weird shit all the time, it must be a complete coincidence” and decides to refocus himself on kissing Caleb instead

- “You seem to haunt my laboratory lately.“ shout-out to the comment for finding my favorite line. Essek has it BAD.

- I have a LOT of thoughts on the fashion of the Bright Queen’s court and how patterns and colors have significance. Think about some of ye olde royal times with coat of arms and the such. Basically my (very long meta) thoughts boil down to the fact that these families can live a very long time, and when one dies they are brought back into that family den when they remember. Having specific patterns and colors associated with each den not only helps the reborn soul find their way back to their family quicker (like if for some reason they ask for directions or help and the helper doesn’t know the name, they could mention the color/pattern and the helper would likely recognize that and point the reborn soul in the right direction.) Also, it helps establish a rather strict hierarchy and social order. People would know what den you are part of immediately by looking at you.

- Another favorite part :  “What do you like, Caleb? Pleasure?” Essek murmured against his neck, pressing gentle kisses between words. Then he scraped his teeth against where he had been kissing, biting lightly. “Pain?” Y’all are NOT READY for when they ~~explore further~~. It should be in my next chapter update for part 4!

- friendly reminder mercer’s drow have FANGS. Just let that thought rumble up in your head. :) :) :)

- I am genuinely extremely sorry for how many times Essek and Caleb get interrupted mid-steamy scene. I promise later chapters will make up for it.

- me thinking about how debauched the boys look after their makeout session

- Essek’s weird reaction and pushing away from Caleb a bit is because his mind has raced back to the new refrain of “I am engaging in activities with a human, with someone from the Empire, with someone who does not know what I am doing right now, does not know what I have done. I am kissing the very man who brought the beacon back to my Queen, the one that I had helped smuggle.” big yikes Essek!

- Essek with the parasol from Jester will continue to be one of my favorite moments of this campaign so far. Thank you fanartists for all your contributions.

Well, this has been a Shadowgast Saturday and I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes peek!

THE END.

So why am I doing this? (1) I adore behind-the-scenes and meta information from artists and authors. I love finding out why someone wrote a certain scene or chose a certain color. Maybe you’ll like my BTS too!

And (2) I want to learn a healthier way to engage with my own fics. I tend to write my fic, get stuck in a spiral of editing and editing and editing, get frustrated with editing and just post it, then never re-read it. (Yikes @ myself ). So this is a way for me to re-read my own fics and remember all the reasons why I enjoyed writing it in the first place!

[asterekmess]

Sterek Love

Guys, I love that y’all are sending me messages. It’s so cool to actually get asks and anons and stuff. BUT, I’ve noticed all my messages have been about Scott! Now listen, hating on Scott can be kinda fun, and it’s good stress relief. BUT, this is a sterek blog.

So, how about we get some Sterek love in the messages for a bit, huh? Send me your favorite scene! A favorite fic trope! When did you first fall in love with Sterek? What was the fic that totally sucked you into fandom? Tell me some of your favorite sterek fanartists! Favorite sterek fic writers! Spread the love, my lovelies!

[jayietheriverwarrior]

had a lot of fun working on the Squirrelflight design meme I did recently, so I decided to do another one. This time I picked Spottedleaf, since she has one of the most interesting written designs, and it's been interpreted in a lot of really cool ways by fanartists. The blank meme is made by @shebpaw on Tumblr.

I'm actually planning on doing another round of Spottedleaf designs, so feel free to send me your designs if you want me to use yours. :D

The artists that I used the designs for Spottedleaf are, in order:

1. Mine

2.

3. @birdsong-warriors

4.

5.

6. @goldenflowersupportteam

I'm even happier with how this design meme turned out than the last one. :D These are some really cool designs, and I had a lot of fun drawing them and trying to get them right. Once again, I drew them all in my own art style because I find it easier to compare and contrast different colors and patterns when they're drawn in the same style.

There’s a lot of really cool Spottedleaf designs out there, I had a lot of fun picking out which designs to use for this. These are some of my favorite Spottedleaf designs, or the ones I feel are the most unique. The colors on meow286’s design are really pretty, and I love how soft and pretty she looks, and the little leaves by her ear. I love birdsong-warrior’s comic Redtail’s Choice, and I definitely wanted to include their pretty Spottedleaf design. Trying to get the expression right was interesting, but I like how she kind of playfully teases her brother in the comic and wanted to get her personality across here.

I was struck by how pretty Dovah-del-Norte’s design was when I was looking for some to include, and how interesting it would be to try and replicate. Not totally sure I got it right, but it was fun to draw regardless. ^^ I picked DragonWarriorCat’s design to draw for the same reason, I saw it and loved how pretty and unique the design was, and it looked fun to try and tackle. She looked pretty oriental-ish when I saw her, so I drew her as an oriental cat here, I hope that was right. I saw goldenflowersupportteam’s design a while back, and the mostly-dark tortie design with minimal white was a big inspiration for my current Spottedleaf design, and it’s such a beautiful design, I definitely has to include it. :D

Overall, I’m really happy with how this turned out. :D Merry Christmas, y’all. I got some video games and tickets to see Celtic Woman, and I had a really nice day with family. How about you guys? And don’t forget to send me your Spottedleaf design if you want me to use it. ^^

[nanaartas]

I was really confused because people have been complaining about how all of the female characters from Overwatch have the same face and I’ve never really seen it that way so I went and did a study on their face shapes and structures by tracing reference lines over official art of them and they are literally all different. They have different face shapes and facial structures, different eye shapes, even different eyebrows so no, the Overwatch artists are definitely not ‘reusing the same female model’ as so many people have been saying. Overwatch is an awesome game with great representation and diversity and I hate to watch it get shit on like this.

Its okay to be critical of something but not to the point where people are harassing the artists and creators over it on Twitter. That team works really hard and deals with a lot of harassment from fans and should be given some well deserved credit.

To any fanartists who see this post, feel free to use this image as a reference for fanart so that you can get the face shapes and stuff on point, and also, y’all overwatch fanartists rock.

Stay cool.

Edit: I know someone is going to reblog this with that gif (you know the one) but I'd like to point out that 1.That gif is incredibly cherry-picked and specifically leaves out characters with seriously different faces like Zarya. 2. The womens faces are angled specifically to downplay unique facial structures and shapes. 3. The gif was made to move quickly to make the faces seem to blur together on purpose because considering the creator cherry-picked the hell out of the gif I wouldn't put it passed them to make it extra fast (so that you don't have time to pick out differences) just to make their point valid (even though in the gif you can still see that not everything lines up perfectly). - Thanks