#i elaborated more on this idea on my twitter

[yarrayora]

ok ngl i was kinda pissed when sending that ask about the toshiro and laios situation but thank you actually for not just dismissing it 😭 i understand how you'd be more confident in saying it as an asian person now because man that wouldn't have been a good look if you were white

and i'm sure the way people were framing it on twitter Was probably insane (even when people have the right idea on there it's so black and white) but yeah there's definitely a lot more than you'd think inside the text that is just xenophobia since he's a guy in a foreign country and all... kui's grasp on sociopolitics is honestly way too precise for it to be something that we just don't factor into the conversation y'know

cus i also agree that toshiro is being used to critique her own culture, he's pretty much Miserable being as much of a rule-following good boy as he is

yeah i kinda guessed that you mistook me for a white person lol

honestly the tweet i saw basically said laios' problem is that he has "white autism" which they elaborated as his inability to, uh, pick up on social cues. a problem that is not white autistic-only.

as i said my perspective came from being an asian who grew up as part of the majority, so it's inevitable that i have blindspots for things that an asian minority would experience

i think when it comes to shuro's interaction with laios, it's inevitable for laios to end up saying ignorant stuff because unlike in the real world where people outside of japan are now more familiar with japanese culture thanks to a lot of cultural exchange, the eastern archipelago hasn't really interacted with kahka brud much and considering that his own party members have been saying his name wrong for years it's probably safe to assume he just never really speak up about correcting people's assumption about him and by extension his culture

after all even if he only corrected them once both touden siblings would do their best to fix their pronunciation, it's just in-character, but shuro just suffered in silence possibly not really finding his nickname a bother because falin calls him that LMAO

[didsomeonesayventus]

Ruminating about Engage and Sovereign Blood below

I wonder if the direct JPN translation is more clear about what entails sovereign blood but going off of the localized text + circumstances I can understand, I can think of a few qualifying definitions:

Only the current ruler qualifies. Strictly the blood of the current presiding leader and does not include close relatives and/or spouse. Forget anyone else. The magic somehow knows who's in charge. (i.e. Morion was kidnapped because only Morion would have worked)

The strictest definition of the words Sovereign Blood. I find it perhaps overly picky tbh, which is probably partly the point (a rare resource compared to the options below) but it is the bare minimum confirmed by the text. Blood. Ruler. Bingo.

Leader + close relatives and/or spouse qualify. If you have a blood relation or married reasonably close into the ruling family. Anyone else is ineffective. The magic is purely based on bloodline/relation. (i.e. Any member of Brodia's royal family would have worked, Morion was kidnapped because he was the easiest target)

Falls more in line with blood pacts and such as previously established in FE on a series whole, like Judgral's crusader bloodlines, the Mark of the Exalt in Awakening, the royal families of Fates. Sovereign blood is important because there was a prior relation to an important historical figure or dragon that can be reasonably tied to lineage that distinguishes individuals from the rest of the people.

Any blood will work, actually, but it's on a scale: the most potent + effective is the blood of the current ruler. The magic is in offering the blood and whose blood is used determines potency. (i.e. They could have kidnapped and rounded up villagers to offer to Sombron but kidnapping Morion was easier + a more effective use of resources because he could be easily trapped and be just as effective as sacrificing a village or two, which would require more time + effort to target and round up said villagers on top of the time it would take for Sombron to gobble them up)

A much more broad take and going off of a general concept that offering blood alone is the source of the magic and that Sovereign just happens to be The Good Shit (a matter of quality, like a crystal versus a diamond), perhaps because of the points above. Maybe too broad, but feasible.

Personally I enjoy at minimum definition 2, as it means we can drag our royal besties into being potential targets for further dramatic plot purposes in fic (this is foreshadowing btw)

but I also enjoy the idea of definition 3 if only because it means I can think about the possibility of past Alear reaching such a point of starvation and malnourishment they resort to slurping the blood of fallen opponents to keep themselves going because Despite The Horrors I Gotta Live. Could also potentially explain how they became so strong by simply micro dosing on lesser blood to the point it built up a lasting power boost over time?

so, in essence. my conclusion is alear can pop open a vein in their besties if they are truly that desperate for nourishment/healing and they probably would hate it.

UPDATE FROM THE FUTURE OF JAN 5TH 2024:

Apparently definition #3 is correct because I was rewatching cutscenes and forgot that Roy post chapter 19 literally states in the text that Sombron has resorted to kidnapping Elusians to chomp on for blood sustenance and turning them into Coerupted as he does so YAHOO

[graff-aganda]

Sometime next month I'll probably open comms back up. 😳

[thishazbinamistake]

Howdy!

I am here to talk about Viv's horrible character designs.

From an animator perspective, they suck.

Here's why

1. The characters have way too much detail

For animation, more lines equal more work. You're going to be drawing them over and over, and it just creates more stress and work for the animators.

For example, I took one of the most egregious designs in HB (Beelzebub) and simplified it to be animation friendly.

(Can't send it here but I'll probably make a post about it or something.)

2. There's too much of 1 color

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH RED??

Especially since they're in a primarily red background, they don't stand out AT ALL.

Like how am I supposed to see them if they blend in to the background??

3. I have no idea what half of them are supposed to be

Charlie is based off a doll?

Alastor is based off of a deer?

Katie Killjoy is based off of a praying mantis?

Angel Dust is based off of a spider?

Beelzebub is supposed to be well... Beelzebub?

When designing characters, they need to be clear on what they're supposed to be! And no, explaining it on Twitter does not count.

4. The animation reference sheets are garbage

No wonder there's so much animation errors. There's no facial expression sheets, lip sync guide, nothing. It's just a 4 angle turnaround sheet where the character is in complex poses all the time.

If you Google Lackadaisy's animation reference sheets and then look at HB's, it's like night and day.

I'm more than willing to send some examples (along with the edit I did) if you want

So yeah, what are your thoughts?

These are all great points! I think you summed up the main problems very well, but I'll elaborate on each of them. I'm no expert at character design or animation by any means, but I'll do my best to explain my points!

First of all, like you said, the character designs are way too complicated. Anyone who knows even the slightest amount about animation knows you want to simplify and streamline your designs as much as possible to make it easier on the animators. Vivzie is way too obsessed with her Deviantart OC lookin'-ass character designs to actually do this, even though it would seriously help to make the animation process way faster and easier. Beelzebub is seriously the best (or worst?) example of this.

I feel so bad for the poor souls who had to animate this. There are just way too many moving parts here, from her multiple arms, her wings, her markings, to her freaking lava lamp hair and tail?? It's just awful. And so many of Viv's designs suffer this problem, I could go on and on.

Like, I think it actually is a nice looking design, as a still image. Maybe not for the demon Beelzebub, but as a general furry OC, I think she's cute. But that's beside the point. I would love to see your redesign of her!

Next, the RED. So, most of the characters we see in Helluva Boss are red-skinned imps, which has been a common depiction of demons for centuries. One big problem I have is that there's little contrast in these designs. Let's look at our three main imps.

Aside from some white and yellow highlights, they're all mostly red and black. Their color palettes aren't distinct in the slightest! And, I mean, come on. Red accessories against what's almost the exact same shade of red skin? Really? It just doesn't look good. A little contrast here and there goes a long way, like... maybe make Moxxie's bowtie blue? Or Blitz's pendant green? I don't know, anything to help each character stand out, and help give them more visual intrigue.

It doesn't help that most of the backgrounds are primarily shades of red, too. Here's a few screenshots I found that really show this problem.

Look at all that fucking red. Like you said, there's such little color variation that the characters blend into the background. Now, to be fair, I did specifically choose these screenshots because I think they really highlight the problem, but this really is what so much of the show looks like. Granted, we do have a bit more variety in the different rings of Hell, each with their own main color, but this is still too much red, considering how much the color comprises the main characters' designs.

Next, like you said, Vivzie is really bad at making characters actually look like the things they're supposed to look like. Let's take Alastor as an example!

Oh boy! More red and black. So, Alastor here is supposed to be a deer. What's the first physical characteristic that comes to mind when you think of a deer?

Yeah, those big, impressive antlers! So... where are his? Oh, they're those tiny little forks on his head that are almost entirely obscured by his stupid emo hair. Like, come on! Giving him bigger antlers would have made him look so much cooler and more intimidating, and it would have been a great focal point for his design! It's such a missed opportunity. (I know he has bigger antlers in his scarier "demon" form, but you still could have made these a little more impressive.) And don't even get me started on those ears... they look more like fox ears or something. Like you said, a good design shouldn't need to be explained through supplementary material. We should be able to tell what a character is supposed to be just from looking at them!

Another great example is Angel Dust, who, despite being a spider, lacks so many distinct features we associate with spiders! He only has six legs instead of eight, he doesn't have pedipalps or chelicerae, and he also lacks that big old spider booty, which I think is such a missed opportunity, considering he is supposed to be in the sex industry. He isn't even remotely shaped like a spider, he looks more like a fuzzy stick bug or something.

Part of me feels like Viv is too afraid to make her characters look unique, so she just goes with the same, skinny humanoid design for just about everything. It's such a shame, because I really do think she is a talented artist who can make some really interesting designs. But then again, she also gave us Beelzebub, so... maybe not.

As for the reference sheets, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough but I couldn't find any official ones for the main characters, so if you could send those my way I would appreciate it! Though it honestly wouldn't surprise me if they were bad. I did look up Lackadaisy's and found them pretty easily and...

This is so freaking comprehensive and detailed, it's incredible! Look at all those poses and facial expressions!

Comparing Vivzie's works to Tracy's feels kind of unfair, since Tracy has been working on Lackadaisy for 17 years, and it really shows. This is leaps and bounds above Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel in quality. Rocky's design is tight; it's detailed, but not overly complicated. There isn't an obnoxious overuse of highly saturated colors, and there's such nice contrast between his fur, his eyes, suit, and tie, making his design very nice to look at. You can also tell so much about his personality and the world he lives in just from his appearance. It's such a good design, and Rocky is just one example from Lackadaisy! All of Tracy's designs are memorable and stand out from one another, unlike so many of Vivzie's characters, whose designs honestly feel interchangable.

So much thought and care has gone into Lackadaisy, and I seriously cannot wait for the full series, as well as all the other amazing indie animated series that have been coming out recently. It's sad that Helluva Boss is seen as the pinnacle of indie animation, when there are so many other series out there that are just.. better! Lackadaisy, obviously, but we've also got Digital Circus, Murder Drones, Monkey Wrench, and so many others that deserve way more appreciation than what Helluva Boss receives. And that's just from an art direction standpoint, we aren't even talking about writing. That's a whole other can of worms.

All of that being said, it's obvious that a ton of love and hard work went into Helluva Boss, and I hold absolutely nothing against the animators and artists at Spindlehorse. These poor design choices are a hallmark of Vivzie's art style, and they're simply working with what they've got. There is such wasted potential here because it feels like Vivzie is too afraid to step outside her comfort zone and design something that isn't a brightly colored, sharp-toothed twink, or skinny anthro wolf girl.

Anyways, that about wraps up my thoughts. Thanks for the ask, this was fun to delve into! And again, I'd be very interested in seeing you post your redesigns! 👀

[csny]

not to be messy but how do you feel about people stealing other peoples viral posts on tumblr and reposting it on twitter like it’s theirs. (she’s on here by guttergirl-444) & she has stolen many more lol

at first glance it’s like shock and amazement more than anything because i never thought this would happen to me, but when i actually stop to think about it, it actually is very frustrating and invasive. i know it happens all the time and i can’t really stop it, plus my posts have no copyright or anything but it is true, when i make posts that aren’t haha funny laugh a lot play a lot, they kind of are little extensions of my artwork. like drafts and ideas that often get elaborated on if they seem to connect with people.

i don’t really want to dunk on other artists because it feels mean spirited, but i just want to point out this one instance that shows how writing anything on tumblr is “just a tumblr post” and people often don’t consider that there’s a person behind it. it’s almost like a popular tumblr post becomes fair use. This artist here took my words directly from my post (and even used the same iconography of a beach??) and when you click on the link in the description, it takes you to their instagram account with 142k followers. not even a single nod to me, who wrote the actual words. as an extra little punch, they call themself a poet in their bio.

sure my post was a bottom text top text “meme image” but there was a lot behind it—in both thought and time. the exact same ideas and photos made their way into a book i made just a couple months later. i think i sold umm one copy?

all in all, im not complaining about lacking “popularity” because that’s utterly stupid. but there’s something moderately soul-crushing about making a tumblr post and having it ripped to shreds by all walks of life online. It literally feels like i’ve placed something beautiful in the world out of my own kindness, then walked away, and when i come back everyone has defaced and damaged and killed it. it’s kind of invasive but I know it’s the way things go.

i love the anonymity of tumblr but sometimes I wish it we were all a little more open. Maybe people could remember that behind every blog is another person with ideas, cares, opinions, annoyances, and loves. I’m sure this one twitter account isn’t really doing much damage—honestly I haven’t even gone to look at it to see how people are replying—but it’s rough out there on this beautiful social media we call tumblrposts.

[moonlight-shadxw]

This is a continuation of my previous idea! So I've had a few talks here and there with friends, canon mic is a LOT more impulsive and angry than he shows, and my Mic has caught onto that lol, he's just trying to piss him off on purpose so they can agree on something and be more like each other. Or actually, my Mic probably intends to corrupt canon mic 🤷🏻‍♂️ as for the part about Aizawa, I wrote a thread on twitter about how people often sideline how canon aizawa generally treats everyone better than he treats Mic, he's pretty mean and borderline cruel to him lol (I can elaborate if you need me to!), my Aizawa isnt any better if not worse, but for different reasons. Evidently, canon Mic brushes it off as "but he's my friend he doesn't mean it like that" 🤷🏻‍♂️

the last part regarding the boiling your guts part, my mic got 🥰👹 because he actually does that to people lol

[x-on-the-calendar-business]

ryan ross iceberg explained (masterpost and tier 1)

tier 2, tier 3, tier 4, tier 5, tier 6, tier 7, tier 8

if somehow you have no idea how icebergs work/what they are, then i’ll give a tldr: it comes from the saying “it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” so basically, the entries at the top of the iceberg are the stuff the average person would know, and as you go deeper, the content becomes more obscure. for example, if you’re a more casual panic! fan, then a lot of the entries in the sky tier are more likely to be things you would know, whereas you’re probably only going to know the stuff at the very bottom if you’re an insane person (me).

i got most of the entries from this iceberg from a couple of others that i found on twitter, here and here [i]. i combined them, shifted some stuff around, and added some things to make this one. of course, a special thanks to the twitter users areyouIlooking and checkyesjuul for making the ones i used to create this one.

i also want to give a special shoutout to the tumblr blogs @pathetic-at-the-disco and @prettyoddfever because i got so much info from them for this iceberg and they are just incredible sources of information for panic! fans.

finally, i'm really hoping everything on this iceberg is correct; of course, i did my research and there was a lot of it i already knew. however, i was not actually there for presplit panic! so i can't speak off of firsthand accounts for a lot of things. with that being said, if something is wrong, or if there is something you think should be added, please feel free to let me know, and i will go back and edit the post.

enough introduction, let’s get started.

the sky (tier 1):

guitarist of panic!:

what he is most well known for. ryan was the original guitarist of panic! and one of the true founding members. he departed the band in 2009 with former bassist jon walker, which we’ll come back to later.

rosevest:

this refers to an iconic piece of clothing that ryan wore while they were touring their debut album, a fever you can’t sweat out. he wears it in live in denver as well.

(side note: the post i got this pic from is a very interesting look at their outfits from that tour so i would recommend checking it out here!) [ii]

good at makeup:

during the fever era, ryan was really well known for doing makeup looks, some elaborate. i’m inserting some examples here, but i’m also going to link a post that showcases more pics of the makeup looks he did. there are more that he did than just the ones shown in that post or here (like the god awful blue eyeshadow he did on that red carpet), and there were a lot of times he just did the classic black smudged eyeliner.

and the tumblr post as promised: the makeup styles ryan ross wore in summer 2006 [iii]

ryden:

oh boy, where do we even start with this one. there are actually going to be quite a bit of ryden references in this, but at the end i’ll link a masterpost for further reading (although most of it will be covered here). but to be keep it short and simple, ryden is the ship name for ryan ross and brendon urie. it was arguably one of the biggest ships in early 2000s bandom, as evidenced by the litany of fics written with them as a pairing. this ship (unfortunately) still lives on in people’s hearts today even though ryan and brendon don’t speak anymore.

also, i know it would seem to make more sense if their ship name was ryDON not ryDEN because of how brendon’s name is spelled, but the ship name comes from the mashing of their nicknames ryro and bden (which still doesn’t make any sense but i digress).

unfortunately, all of the ryden content on this iceberg will probably be long because i am a former rydennie (yes u can make fun of me for it go ahead) so i have a lot of knowledge on that ship. but trust me i know that ryden was not real.

“creative differences:”

this entry refers to the july 6th, 2009 split where ryan and jon left the band. the most cited reason for the split was musical differences, as stated in these interviews with brendon and spencer [iv]. however, most people believe the band actually split due to personal reasons since they basically all stopped speaking afterwards, and because of some comments jon made [v]. in fact, one MTV interview specifically singled out ryan and brendon as not getting along, but it has since been deleted [vi].

cheez wiz:

this references a clip from the pretty. odd. short-film called american valley [vii]. the video went viral circa 2015/2016 and became a huge meme in the bandom community, especially in the crankthatfrank yeemo fanbase (that sentence wasn’t in the bible). if you were a panic! fan during that time, you know the cheez wiz jokes were inescapable.

milk fic:

“ryan was kneeling in the bathtub…”

this is also unfortunate. to be blunt, this is a ryden fic in which brendon gives ryan an enema with milk. it catalyzed a trend of other shocking fics within the bandom sphere, such as the comb fic. it’s just cringy. sadly, it became so iconic that brendon knows about it and even made a vine referencing it [viii].

i would link it but i’m not going to because the author, druscila, is a pedophile. so there’s that.

onceler jokes:

i’m going to put a picture of the onceler, who is from the lorax, and ryan side by side. and that should explain this.

now let’s move on to the next tier.

tier 2

references:

[i] https://twitter.com/areyouiooking/status/1366887508441718790?s=46&t=srOJ3YueMMsx9_sm96odQQ, https://twitter.com/checkyesjuul/status/1368794897499615233?s=46&t=srOJ3YueMMsx9_sm96odQQ

[ii] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/628882839458512896/panic-at-the-discos-2006-summer-tour-costumes

[iii] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/629161631117656064/the-makeup-styles-ryan-ross-wore-in-summer-2006

[iv] https://patd.livejournal.com/2943372.html, https://patd.livejournal.com/2928377.html#cutid1

[v] https://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/post/131968366779/jon-walker-and-ryan-ross-from-a-2009-interview-in

[vi] https://whisperdlullaby.livejournal.com/9051.html

[vii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBot_X9pquo

[viii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyWlisnfrm0

[olderthannetfic]

I do love this season just because the wank that you can see emerge in FFA. The most recent one of course is from BFE and Yuletide! For anyone who did not know:

In 12-25-2023, someone made a comment in a treat they received, saying that there were "issues" with their main gift and that the treay literally saved their day. Of course nonnies would investigate this! What was so wrong with the main gift? What were the issues? Obviously something about the recip DNWs, right?

Well... No, not really.

The main gift was fine. It was a canon divergence AU, that the recip okayed in their letter. It was also whump about the fave character of the recip, also okayed.

So, perhaps, a new DNW? That's a possibility, it happens! And nonnies leave it at that... Until fucking 01-01-2024 came and the recip commented on the main gift... Fucking. Stupid. The recip complained that the fic was an AU, and that that was the issue. The problem: they okayed CANON DIVERGENCE AUs, they did not want "AUs that change everything, like coffee shops" and the like. The author responded the comment (yes, the comment moaning about this was left IN the fic) with screenshots of the letter, the DNW and what the recip okayed. The real issue? The recip does not know how to fucking write. Why on earth would you say "I'm okay with canon deviations/slightly alternate timelines" and then complain that the author DID a deviation from canon. That's not knowing how to write what you actually want.

The recip responded. "Well, congrats. You could have completely ruined someone's Yuletide." Then, they went to Twitter and wrote "I'm glad that it got me and not someone who is more deeply affected".

You are deeply affected. You went to thanks the treat as "saving your day", waited until authors revelations because of paranoia of the gift being "a revenge from Yuletide mods" (yeah, I'm serious), then complained in the FIC itself and went full shithead to the author pointing out your poorly worded letter, and then made bunch of tweets about it in what nonnies described as and "insufferable teacher about to send a formal complaint to the local administration" tone.

If y'all want to see this full, dememe "Dragonlance" (yes, it's from that fandom...). The first chunk of the wank is from 26/12, and the other chunk from 02/01.

Moral of the wank: really, write your DNW well. If you okay something and then receive that something and instead of reflecting that you poorly worded your yes and noes or you found a new DNW or whatever you choose to go to the author an be a full shithead, you really can't fucking complain and play the victim here. Thank god this person said it'd be their "last Yuletide". With recips like that I'd hate to participate at all.

--

Sheesh!

I've occasionally written my requests poorly and—even more occasionally—had this result in fic that wasn't to my taste, but there's no need to be a baby about it!

This sounds like a version of the "no extreme kinks" problem: People often assume everyone else understands some vague concept like "AUs that are too AU" or "Sad endings that are too sad" or "Kinks that are too kinky" without really trying to elaborate on what it is that bugs them. I admit it's not always easy to explain this succinctly, especially if you want to avoid the dread "Only write for me if you're skilled"-sounding letters, but most people can do better than this.

It sounds like maybe they have a weird idea about the boundary between "canon divergence" and "AUs that change everything".

[jovenshires]

endless au edits: smosh theatre's seasonal lineup (2/4)

keeping up with the run of smosh classics, smosh's second production of the year will be a rendition of little shop of horrors in the spring, directed by the other esteemed smosh co-founder, ian hecox. as per usual, any hecox production is certain to be a delicious twist of comedy and tragedy, and this show fits that descriptor to the t. packed to the brim with bright and colorful costumes, elaborate props, and punchy dark humor, little shop makes perfect sense for a director well-known for finding the bright spots in the darkness (and vice versa). with his trusty stage manager sidekick and previous fellow director, spencer agnew, by his side, hecox is sure to make this musical a hit. as for the cast, fans will be delighted to see smosh's resident powerhouse courtney miller as audrey, a hopeless romantic with a heart of gold. miller is not only a vocal and theatrical legend, but also both nonbinary and queer, something they noted that they hope to bring to the role of audrey. miller shared the news on twitter earlier today, saying, "i cannot wait to bring to you this fantastic person i've gotten to know over these past few months. i've put a little piece of myself into her, and i just want you all to know this is our best, gayest show to date." smosh certainly leaned into this idea by making her leading man fellow queer actor and fan-favorite funnyman, tommy bowe. bowe has been with smosh for seven years now; over that time, he's gone from lighting director to bit-part actor to, finally, leading man. this will be the first smosh show bowe's ever taken the lead on, and as i know firsthand from working with him on several other theater productions, no one deserves it more. bowe also shared the news to his social media today, saying on his instagram that this is "a dream come true." we previously saw bowe and miller side-by-side in last year's production of les miserables as thenardier and madame thenardier respectively. as you may recall from my review, the two than proved that they have electrically fun chemistry and excellent comedic prowess, which is extremely promising for this production. i, for one, couldn't be happier for them, and i cannot wait to see how queer this show can really get. other than the two incredible leads, this may be one of the most interesting and unique casts smosh has ever assembled. starring in his first feature role at smosh is trevor evarts as orin scrivello, dds, audrey's controlling, masochistic boyfriend. known for his previous (and part-time continuing) work at the mythic playhouse, evarts is a mangenue on the rise to stardom, and this show is the perfect launchpad for his career. in an interview posted today with theater weekly, evarts said that he was "so excited to join the cast," stating boldly that, in his opinion, "smosh is the future of theater." as trevor's talent is so evidently rooted in his quick-witted, raunchy comedy, there is no doubt in my mind that evarts will make the perfect killer dentist. you know how the saying goes, though; something old, something new. thus, it should be no surprise that we will see two returning faces to the smosh stage, specifically mari takahashi (audrey ii) and joshua ovenshire (mr. mushnik). after nearly four years of absence, the two original cast members are returning for a much-anticipated reunion with the smosh crew. since their original leave, takahashi and ovenshire have worked together on several minor productions, as well as beginning their own podcast. today's episode confirmed that they would be making their re-debut on the smosh stage, discussing why they left and, more importantly, why they're coming back. as an actor, takahashi is known for her rich singing voice and commanding presence on stage, while ovenshire's specialty lies in physical humor and over-exaggerated personas. i can't think of better additions to this cast - although it will certainly be interesting to see how well the old blood blends with the new...

[naturecalls111]

if the shower comic from your hs au is canon, I bet law got that body from beating the shit out of bullies or something like that lol that might be how Luffy got his crush from

Oooh anon, good you brought it up - I just realised I vaguely elaborated on this on twitter but didn't get the chance to here.

(Although I want to preface, these types of details are totally up for interpretation, I'm never stingy about it. If you like the idea that he beat the shit out of bullies, by all means, I wouldn't put it past him - he's a moody teen and probably takes huge issue with stuff like that since people have attempted to subject him to it at times. I definitely considered giving him some history as a delinquent, more as a 14-16 year old than the current HSAU timeline, but that's a whole other story)

First, I just want to clarify the obvious - no highschooler looks like that, the comic was done through Luffy's POV so it's absolutely a hyper-fantasized version of whatever Luffy was seeing, which was a lot more muscle definition than there actually was 😂

That isn't to say Law ISN'T fit for this AU - Law's reason for being fit is... pretty silly, maybe, but it's because Law was pretty active as a kid anyway because Corazon was - da-dum - a professional volleyball player, and would practice with Law as a pasttime together.

As Law grew older and out of playing volleyball (although just to note - Law is great at the sport, just doesn't care to play it in highschool), Corazon just made him adopt a casual habit of fitting exercise into his week ("if you're not going to go out and see some sunlight, then at least eat your vitamin D gummies and fit in some activity during the day" etc. Appropriately health conscious since he's an ex-athlete. He's okay with Law doing whatever he wants so long as he's happy, safe, and healthy to the best of his abilities.)

On top of that, Corazon is a pretty big guy, makes pretty big portions for dinner, and as a result, Law (also being a pretty tall guy) eats a lot too. It's both passive and intentional effort, maintaining his physique.

YOU OPENED THE FLOODGATES, I'm going to elaborate EVEN more for something that might feel irrelevant, but you're totally free to skip this part if you want to avoid HSAU "spoilers" 😂

Law and Kidd used to date, and since Kidd (big, buff guy) enjoyed the gym and eating lots, Law would just go with him and they'd make dates out of it because they never went on "proper" dates anyway (candle lit dinners? Sitting in the park? Kidd vc: "That's some sappy loser shit")

Whoof, sorry for the rambling. Tumblr has so many more characters at my disposal than Twitter does - so dangerous! 😂

[petit-papillion]

there's a lot of misinformation going around as far as lewis' signing goes. there's a few things i know/have heard from legitimate sources. from people who know their shit and how ferrari operates.

it was decided pretty early on that sainz might be replaced. uhh beginning of the season, early. vasseur noticed certain things and patterns which raised some alarm bells.

there were a few replacements lined up, sainz was third or fourth on the list, allegedly.

they had given sainz contract proposals, he refused to sign. rather whoever was negotiating on his behalf would more often than not fuck up the negotiations.

charles was, without a doubt, consulted. they don't need to consult him with regards to the second seat, not really. but ferrari *has* been building itself around charles. especially under fred. and charles was *very* receptive of the idea. as someone on twitter said earlier, people think he's stupid but he's just crazy lmao

charles signed the contract fully knowing that lewis might come on board. he was not at all blindsided. this isn't Binotto's ferrari where they backstab willy nilly. honesty is valued here.

both of them knew what they're stepping into :)

Hi Anon! (Saw your other ask as well - will post it separately)

Definitely a lot of misinformation, but also some really sour Carlos and Mercedes fans. I can understand this is a tough pill to swallow for some, but if you look at it objectively (yeah, I know, hard for me as a Charles-fan as well), the writing was on the wall for a long time.

Charles expressing how he had faith in Fred and the project. Willing to play second fiddle for the team in Singapore so Fred could bring home a win. Fred calling out Carlos when he was talking BS in post-race media pen.

Rumors swirling about Charles having signed his contract. Charles being completely unbothered about contract renewal was a sharp contrast against Carlos stressing that he wanted his future with Ferrari sorted before 2024.

Estrella Galica, Carlos's sponsor, leaving Ferrari. Monster Energy leaving Mercedes, but keeping their sponsorship with Lewis. (Which reminds me of a post in my drafts that I made before the Lewis to Ferrari bomb dropped. Related to new sponsor Peroni. Will post later)

And rumors about Lewis moving to Ferrari as early as May last year. More interactions between Charles and Lewis, including their famous joint DSQ post - could also have been to test the waters and see how they got along / how people responded to them together.

Mercedes giving Lewis the Bottas treatment of a 1-year contract leaving the door wide open for him to look elsewhere. Lewis complaining (a lot) about not being listened to regarding changes to the car.

And let's face it, if you had the opportunity to snap up a 7x wdc with a huge following, great sponsorships, and a massive potential for merchandising, all aside from being an outstanding driver who your homegrown future champion can learn from, you'd be an absolute idiot not to go for it.

As for Charles not being on board with this: not buying it for a second. Will elaborate more another time.

[littleseasalt]

I'm so interested in the idea of q!jaiden and q!forever being parallels, ive never considered that much before! Would you mind elaborating on why you think that?? Especially cause im a big jaiden fan but i don't watch forever much!!

Oh, sure!

The main thing you need to get between q! forever and q!jaiden parallels is q!forever's reason for mistrusting q!jaiden. Basically the whole heated thing the fandom does between them and brings up every once in a while. And q!forever's reason has always been that he knew that if he was in q!jaiden's place, he would have done worse. Had it been Richas the one who died, q!forever knew he would be doing anything to have Richas back, or to avenge him somehow. And we do see he was true to his word when he got extremely angry and wanted to blow up the island and everyone. Forever mistrusted Jaiden (will be dropping the q! because honestly tiresome to type it out everytime on the cellphone) because he was projecting, he wouldn't trust himself if he was in her place.

Also a small note but something that I see people bring out often- Forever is the most motherly father of Richas. Like literally you could make a list of all the scenes where he acted exactly like a Brazilian mom would act.

Then we get to the happy pills arc, where Forever, drugged to a illusional state, sees a rock as his own son. He builds a secret place at his home, where he hides richarlystone for his drugged mind happy delusional state, gets a bunch of pictures of richas' family and puts up on the wall. Isn't it somewhat similar to jaiden's house at bobby fields?

Now, I personally don't like comparing much drugged forever to jaiden because. hey he was fucking drugged and not in the control of his mind, but I can't deny there is somewhat of a parallel here.

It gets more clear when Jaiden herself ends up seeing the house, and at first she gets weirded out, then proceeds to say something along the lines of understanding it and everyone grieves on a different way (I can't remember exactly her words sorry, can't really check her vod rn too), THEN, she finds a secret waystone on the place that is named "forevers weird place". Now compare that to Forever following Jaiden and Cucurucho to bobby fields and putting up a waystone "Jaiden secret house", finding the place filled with Bobby pictures weird, then proceeding to say he would do worse if he was at her place. Aren't those two situations extremely familiar?

Now, the reason I put the parallels as an answer is because of something I've seeing some people point out on twitter, although I personally don't agree with it fully.

Forever is happy that he got put on drugs by Cucurucho because otherwise he would have blown up the island. Despite how horrible being forcibly drugged was, he is somewhat glad that it happened. (now this is the part where I don't fully agree with what people are pointing out) Immediately after he woke up, Cucurucho goes and check on him, ask how he's been doing, ask if he needs more of the drugs. Yesterday, Cucurucho asked him again how he's doing, about his health. Cucurucho is somewhat being nice towards him. This would be similar to Cucurucho approaching a grieving Jaiden and manipulating her. So I've seen some people who are expecting Forever to end up more fed friendly today, like what happened to Jaiden. I personally don't fully agree with this analysis of Forever accepting that due to the friendliness being showed, but oh well.

I'm sure there's probably a lot more I could point out that I'm missing or forgetting- maybe other fellow Jaiden and Forever enjoyers could add on to this post, but currently I'm typing this while working on a college work to write with two friends, so sorry if something crucial slipped out of my mind LMAO. hope this post was somewhat helpful!

[justice-flonne]

Twitter and the death of Media Literacy

As the original post now has reblogs turned off before this post came out of the queue, looks like I have to make my own

Lemme tackle picture number 2 first. Number one, what the HELL do you mean "normal mentally ill [woman]"?? There's no such thing. There's not even such a thing as normal non-mentally ill. Everyone is different and has different reactions and symptoms. and number two: where the fuck do you get off calling the author a sex pest for the "crime" of exploring her options in brothels (well, i guess maybe it is a crime, i forget how japan's laws are, but still. i better not hear you demanding more rights for sex workers while indirectly demeaning their jobs, ya nitwit)? Being gay (or even just non-conforming, and that's not even just about gender) in Japan, while not as bad as say, the Middle East, is not exactly a walk in the park. She probably at the time of writing didn't have many options, and everybody explores their sexuality in different ways. It's really messed up that you're calling the author a sex pest for describing her life, especially since she did nothing wrong (as in, her encounters were all consensual. again, don't fully know the laws regarding brothels there. i think it's a "we'll pretend we didn't see that" scenario)

This also kinda ties into the downright dangerous idea that an lgbt+ person, lesbians especially, can only be an innocent pure being. that kind of thinking can and HAS gotten people into horrible abuse scenarios

As for the "incest"... whoo boy, this is gonna be long:

Now, I have actually read this manga, and I can cite the pages with the supposed "incest" mentioned in the first pic. I'd elaborate, but I'm admittedly quite bad at that, so I'll let the comic speak for itself:

(forgive me if there's any errors in the alt text. it's late 😭)

As you can see, the author does not LITERALLY want to fuck her mother. She has childhood issues from not enough affection (elaborated elsewhere in the book, but I'm tired. read it yourself. i got these pages from a definitely legal website, so can you), and wants to be held and coddled. She even straight up says what she feels is abnormal and yearns for a woman NOT RELATED TO HER to do things with. She KNOWS what she feels is strange and wants to (and eventually DOES) grow from this. I could post more images, but i'm probably pushing my luck as is

Point is, you "adults" really, REALLY need to learn that depiction is not the same as endorsement. Not everything is as cut and dry as the Marquis de Sade. This is, as the damn title says, the author's experience with loneliness as a result of growing up with an emotionally distant mother in a society that is markedly different than America

please, PLEASE, learn to think critically, and i mean "critical" in a "english class analysis" kind of way (for lack of a better term), not a "this thing you like is bad and it offends me" "critical." It's alright to be uncomfortable with things and even to not like things, hell I myself am a HUGE hater, but please, don't throw a tantrum because a real person wasn't a smol bean like you hoped

holy shit i need to go to bed

[sheryl-lee]

"gifs = art" could you please elaborate on that besides the skill that goes into it?

🫥 i have no idea why people are looking to me to explain something that has been repeated by many gifmakers and content creators for *years* and should be common sense anyways but...

beyond the skill that goes into gifmaking (the time it takes, the practice required, etc.) the different colorings, typography, blending and other proccesses that some gifmakers use in their creations absolutely can and should be considered an artform. look no further than the gorgeous gifsets some of my very talented mutuals have made:

@yenvengerberg becca's colorful sets are art as far as i'm concerned! like just look at this. she transforms the media she gifs and makes it look completely unreal in terms of sheer beauty and creativity.

@sith-maul one of the best creators on this site. nik is just so so talented. everything she creates is so stunning; you can't look at a set like this, for example, and tell me that it isn't art.

@hoe-biwan again, everything that flo posts is beyond incredible. i don't even watch star wars and i still silently nod my head and gape in awe when one of her sw sets is on my dash. just scroll through the comic book-inspired sets flo's made!!! that's art <3

@buffysummers ok alexandra is such a talented creator and a HUGE inspiration for me when i started giffing years ago. her eye for coloring and scene picking is out of this world! this is a recent set of hers that i particularly adore.

these are just a few examples, but if you scroll through my own blog or the various edit tags for fandoms, you would see more of what i'm talking about. there are so many talented gifmakers and editors on this site who take time out of their busy lives to create for us, and it breaks my heart when their work is discredited or disregarded or underappreciated. for their work to be invalidated and not considered art when it very much is? not only is it rude, it further demotivates creators from contributing to the site and makes them feel like nothing they create is good enough - believe me, i know that feeling all too well.

i've made extremely detailed and color-specific sets before like these, and it took me 3-4 WEEKS. EACH. i'm not exaggerating in the slightest. and since posting them, they've already been reposted here on tumblr and on other sites like pinterest, twitter, instagram, etc. if you even have like a shred of empathy you can understand why that would anger and upset me.

i don't know why people assume that gifmakers copy and paste the same 5 settings on their gifs, export them, and call it a day - it's not that simple at all. so much more goes into making gifs, and the majority of people on this site continue to laugh in our faces, steal the edits we spent so much time and energy on, belittle our work and claim that it isn't art (and friendly reminder! we do this free of charge and ask for nothing in return beyond clicking the reblog button, and so many of you can't even do that much). i shouldn't have to sit here and validate any of that - the creations should speak for themselves. you consider fanvids, fanart and graphics "art" - so why not gifs, which make up the majority of the edits on this site and, in theory, help foster/sustain discussion and fandom?

reposters all run up and down claiming that gifmaking "isn't that difficult" with zero experience... yet if they tried it themselves, they would know that's so far from the truth. and they DO know that deep down, or they wouldn't steal our gifs from us in the first place if gifs were that easy to make 💀

[uselessheretic]

Harm Reduction in the OFMD Fandom: Izcourse Edition

I keep wanting to write something up about this, but getting stumped on how to even begin. Largely, because I already know exactly what bad faith arguments are going to be made off the bat, and I feel reluctant to clog down my writing trying to dispel every weird take about things I didn't say. So, it is what it is. If you have questions please ask politely and use a bit of critical thought beyond trying to find anything to grab hold on to contradict.

The Izzy fandom gets harassed. A lot. Nobody here understands why either. When referencing harassment, I'm most likely referring to either direct abusive messages such as anon hate through Tumblr, or talking about the OFMD through a holistic view that includes harassment through Twitter of common dogpiling, stalking, spreading of false rumors, the occasional doxxing, and other things. I'm including Twitter in this conversation because the world doesn't revolve around individuals on Tumblr, and for some of us, it's beneficial to talk about the greater context of fandom without assuming that we are blaming random Tumblr users for Twitter drama. That said, a lot of people use both platforms and the two of them are closely linked, especially since a lot of meta from Tumblr gets poorly replicated on Twitter.

So we're on the same page, the way I'm defining harassment is: The continuous or severe targeting of an individual or group through harmful behavior that includes physical threats, name-calling, impersonation, spreading malicious rumors, and encouraging others to harass a target. This is not an all-inclusive list, but I want to create a baseline for what I'm talking about. This also means things such as stating you dislike a character, responding to another's post to disagree, or speaking positively about a character. This also means that instances of conflict are not inherently harassment either, although this is murkier as we move through the gray area of "continuous or severe."

I'll also be using the terms "Izzy likers" and "Izzy crit" since those seem to be each respective sides more preferred terms and things like "Izzy stans" or "Izzy antis" can hold negative connotations. I'll also be referring to the anon hate received as from a singular person, unless noted otherwise, and as "L anon."

So, I guess let's dive into it?

I've seen the question posed a few times "Well, what do you want us to do about it?" when Izzy likers have brought up the topic of harassment or alluded to the fact that Izzy crits as a group contribute to this. It's true that our individual ability to stop harassment completely is an impossible task, however, there are actions that can be taken as a collective to reduce the amount of harm being done. I don't believe it's true that harassment is an aspect of fandom one must accept to be within it. I also don't think it's right to equate messages telling Black people to get lynched as the norm in fandom everyone has to deal with. I understand that anon hate is common throughout fandoms, but the vitriol and noticeable escalation of L anon is an anomaly that deserves to be taken seriously.

Actions I'm proposing (and will elaborate on) are for Izzy crits to STOP:

Minimizing the harassment of Izzy likers

Separating this harassment from greater conversations of misogyny, transphobia, racism, and antiblackness

Engaging with L anon unless it is to very clearly condemn him without caveats

Encouraging the association of liking Izzy as being an indicator that someone is racist, abusive, homophobic, etc

Using the #Izzy Hands tag as a place to post character hate, criticisms of Izzy likers, or to find meta focused on disliking him.

Minimizing harassment and distancing identity

This includes things such as suggesting that the harassment might not exist, that it isn't that bad, it's just a troll, turn off anon, everybody deals with this, and the idea that people are using discussions on harassment as an excuse. Minimizing harassment normalizes the behavior and continues a narrative that Izzy likers should expect to get harassed online. Downplaying the effects or severity dismisses the victims of it, and refusing to recognize that this is a form of passive endorsement.

I feel some type of way about this personally because I don't appreciate my experiences of racist harassment being treated as something I should just get over or normal in fandom. Like sorry to keep bringing it up I guess lol but like?

This isn't okay and it goes beyond "normal" fandom harassment and I feel like I'm going crazy having to argue that this isn't just something shitty that happens to everyone, but an awful, violent, and frightening message(s) to receive. It genuinely concerns me to see white people in fandom brush it off and make a choice to instead focus on the implications of shipping Izzy with his boss. It points towards a trend of dehumanization online where we no longer see people as people, but characters in our screen who have lesser value than our favorite blorbos. I cannot believe I have to say this.

Purposely separating L anon from identity is another way of passively justifying abuse. Whenever people brush off L anon, it's often in the context of anon hate happens to everyone and ignores the fact that more marginalized identities are getting the brunt of this which includes rape threats, suicide baiting, and overt antiblackness. It can often be followed with reminders that Izzy crits of color also receive racism. The thing is, saying that Izzy likers are receiving racist harassment, doesn't mean that other groups of fans do not. The harassment Izzy likers gets still matters, even if you don't view it as unique. It's concerning to hear white allies especially utilize this rhetoric as if they have a limited capacity of caring for poc.

Engaging with L anon

A lot of people do straight up delete L anon asks. On the Izzy likers side at least, there's been an uptick in people posting the hate they receive or collecting screencaps before blocking out of a necessity of proving that the hate exists. I think a lot of us would prefer to not have to do that!

It would help if Izzy crits made an effort to stop engaging with the anon unless it was to condemn his actions. Certain forms of engagement can be viewed as encouragement whether intentional or not, and it feels noticeable that in the last few weeks L anon has gotten increasingly violent.

You don't have to tell L anon that "I'm not even an Izzy stan so you have the wrong blog anyways" because this normalizes the idea that he should be focusing his attention on Izzy likers. You don't have to argue and justify to L anon that you actually dislike Izzy or prove that you're critical of him for the same reason.

You certainly don't need to tell L anon "I don't care if you harass Izzy stans" and it's insane to pretend like this is anything but a dick move.

Telling L anon "you act just like an Izzy stan!" or that they're "Izzy coded" reinforces to him that Izzy likers are abusers and racists, therefore affirming in his mind that they're acceptable targets.

Seriously, if your response is anything other than "sending these messages is fucked up and nobody in fandom deserves this for liking a character" then just block and delete the ask. Any amount of attention can be twisted into positive affirmation and adding on "harassment is bad" doesn't negate the impact of confirming to anon that you view Izzy likers as racist abusers.

Encouraging the association of liking Izzy as being an indicator that someone is racist, abusive, homophobic, etc

It sucks stop doing it. We can draw a difference between Izzy the character and Izzy likers. In the end, your interpretation of a character is yours and nobody can stop you from having it. Putting thought into how you frame meta, however, could help lessen this association.

Be careful with your language and ensure that you are referring to the character when discussing the show. "Izzy stans refuse to see that he's X" is an unnecessary statement when it can just be that "Izzy is X which you can see from scene Y." When there is a specific trend of harassment being justified via claiming a group of people is bigoted, it's worth the effort of minimizing feeding into that assumption.

Saying shit like "Izzy likers who are poc are desperate for white approval" is like for one really shitty lmao? But also feels bad in a climate where people are being called Candace Owens race traitors who should be killed.

There's a great article that touches on this and the way that even when someone isn't directly harassing a person, their separate posts in combination with others, reifies the idea that the victim in an appropriate target.

The author further elaborate in her research about third order or indirect harassment.

The examples she uses here are a bit more extreme, but this is the same framework she's utilizing in her article discussing harassment on the left and in queer communities.

When you answer L anon and say shit like:

or respond to concerns about racist targeting like this:

I am in fact going to feel some type of way about a week later seeing L anon increasingly escalate his behavior until I get six messages in my inbox calling me a race traitor bigoted cunt. It doesn't matter if you say "it's bad to be racist" when you're already confirming the idea that Izzy likers are the main exporters of racism in fandom which is explicitly L anon's justification for sending hate.

Tagging character hate

I still can't believe that this is an argument when it's a basic courtesy within fandom and has been for years. Tagging character hate doesn't constitute as harassment. However, it does exacerbate an already hostile climate between fans and allows for more conflict that could be easily avoided.

If a meta post is in the character tag then people are going to respond to it. It being tagged communicates that this is something people can respond, especially when you encourage people who agree with you to comment.

If you want less Izzy likers to respond to your Izzy meta then just stop tagging it as #Izzy Hands. It will greatly decrease the amount of interaction! Putting posts into the tag ends up baiting people into responding, continuing to draw out a conflict that nobody wants to be in.

If you don't like Izzy and you think he's too popular a character or his fandom is where you end up seeing the most toxicity come from please consider not going through his tag. If you instead look through tags of characters you like, you will be rewarded with content of that character. The character tag will not function adequately as a place to locate critical content for them, so just cut out the middle man, and stop using it because it's just pissing both sides off and "I have a right to be here!" is the dumbest hill to die on.

Using alternative tags for organization literally just makes things easier for everyone. Tagging things with #Izzy crit or something like #Dizzy Izzy allows you to have a space to locate similar posts without having to expose yourself to a group of people you don't like. It also provides an easy tag for people to block and avoid seeing on their dashboard. This is better than people just having mute the tag to filter out when going through his character tag, because it doesn't require an entire community to cater towards your need to post things in a tag on principle. People who are new to the fandom and just happen to like the character also don't have to be confused by seeing chara hate in the tag and going to argue with it.

It is good to center your fandom experience on things you like instead of being set on asserting your right to be within a space you don't like! I promise!