#i saw the like original submission post and i was like haha what if i submitted my own au

[beannary]

the little prince separated au! donnie 🤝 john f kennedy: getting shot in the head

please vote for the little prince separated au in the @tmntaucompetition i dont have any reasons for why you should vote for my au other than pretty please ? 🥺👉👈

[id-rather-be-home]

oh no no, I really don't mean to make you feel disheartened nooo. like I said it was only if you're intention was for a switchvers fic because based on your responses lately I can't tell what the future vibe is. I think it's just the nature of the dynamic with the characters chosen! idk maybe it's not stoic... I saw in your other ask you said "will literally makes fun of mike and taunts him" n it reminded me how yeah, domming comes with that darker energy that takes over and so he's not going to be like himself regardless. the switch flip can be jarring in fic but it can happen in real life during sex, even if not to everybody. but the making fun of him is technically degradation not necessarily domming so that becomes a kink preference thing!

as for the disgust thing idk basically I've read the fic with moots and for example one said it was just his discomfort felt strong? but they likened it to how they personally couldn't picture will not liking it, or not feeling good after it, not the writing. i've read top mike bottoming fics and he usually enjoys it but I think that means the author is setting up switchvers (or just mike being a polite guy haha) instead of your fic which has grown to not be what was originally planned (maybe?), and so it's simply a different fic to those others! nothing bad!

and no no definitely not trashing, I know you like it all! it was maybe just some of the dialogue or yeah again his reaction after they finished. but that is your fic and vision, and what you felt best so reiterating I neverrrr want to tell someone how to write, and was just answering what you said in another ask about you wanting to keep in mind having something for everybody in it, which is why I just said as long as all is respected, you're so good! sorry for any panic

i think it's hard for me to tell people definitively what the future vibe of the fic is going to be because i'm not intentionally aiming for anything super specific. i enjoy both bottom mike and bottom will so i'll write them in whatever position i'm vibing with at the time i'm writing the chapter. the main consistency though is going to be a more dominant or assertive will with a submissive mike because i like it more

and when i said "makes fun of him" it isn't supposed to be taken like it's going to be in a super mean way that would require a 'darker energy' from will. will, as a character in the show, teases mike and is a little shit to him in some of the few scenes we get of them not fearing for their lives or battling with internalized homophobia and unrequited love. you could imagine my dom will having the same energy as he has in s3 during the dnd scene where he goes, "is it early, michael?" it's that sort of teasing! he isn't supposed to have some sort of dark energy to make him dominant

and to be honest, i don't know what your moot meant by suggesting will was uncomfortable or didn't like it. i re-read the chapter and will's headspace doesn't come across the way i thought it did when i was writing it - i think i was just not feeling confident as i was writing it. it's clear in the chapter that he's enjoying it and is engaged the whole time; in fact, he's taken by surprise by how sensitive he is and how much he wants from mike in that moment

though i'm really not sure how you wanted him to react at the end when they were finished?? he was tired (and sated, which i do say in the fic specifically) but wasn't a huge fan of the feeling of mike's cum leaking out of him which i think is fair? i could have gone into more of the aftercare stuff post-sex scene but i had lost steam by that point and just wanted to get the chapter posted since it had been literal months since i posted the last one

i think i just don't write bottom will in the way that you perceive him (or your mutuals) which is totally fine. i'm not expecting my fic to appeal to every single person who enjoys spicy byler. but, yeah, i think the future vibe of my fic is going to look a lot like how it looks now

i really hope this doesn't come across as rude! i'm just genuinely kind of baffled by the way will has been interpreted

[chatonnoir]

People cheering their Senti theory is confirmed. What do you have in mind about it?

Haha I knew someone would eventually ask me about it since I never really share my opinion on it

I really hated it early in the season, especially because of how people were acting after Wishmaker. Like, a lot of people saw Adrien say he wanted to be what his parents wanted him to be/didn't have any dreams of his own, and their response was a bunch of posts being like "OMG!!!! HE DOESNT HAVE ANY DREAMS!!!! THATS NOT NORMAL!!!!! SENTIMONSTER CONFIRMED!!!!!!" (yes I saw people talking exactly like this and saying things about how its 'not normal') and it was insanely insensitive and obnoxious. Things that were very obvious signs of abuse that a lot of us abused kids related to were turned in to "oBviOuS sIGnS hE's nOt HuMaN!!!1!1!!!1!" by the fandom. Truth be told, the fandom's behavior regarding things that "confirmed" the theory was far more upsetting to me than the idea of the theory becoming canon. I also personally felt like Adrien turning on Gabriel would be more impactful if Gabriel is Adrien’s biological father. Going against your birth parent(s) is immensely difficult to do when you’ve been conditioned to be submissive to them, especially because they often use the fact that you’re “blood” to manipulate you in to being loyal. That's not to say adoptive/non-blood related relatives can't be abusive and that going against them is any less difficult, of course. It's just coming from my perspective as an Asian person, since for us, filial piety and loyalty to our families is instilled in us from birth, and often used to manipulate us in abusive situations. The theory also just felt excessive to me. By which I mean, on top of Adrien already having a dead mother and a villain for a father, adding him having to find out he's a magical being who can be thanos snapped from existence felt like his story was crossing over from angst to just straight up tragedy porn.

On the other hand though, as time has passed and I’ve given it more thought, I don't think it's as unnecessary a plot development as a lot of the people opposed to it believe it is. I've seen people say that ML doesn't need to use metaphors/symbols for abuse when they've already been depicting an abused child from the start and that adding the magical element simply waters down/detracts from the abuse story, but I'm not sure I agree with that. You know I specifically like to talk about the differences between the English script and the French script, and the trend I've pointed out repeatedly is that American networks seem a lot more strict about what they deem "appropriate" for children's shows, resulting in the English script significantly toning down/softening/censoring things that were particularly romantic or emotionally heavy in the French script. I've also talked about how Astruc had originally wanted ML to be a show for teens, but ended up making it a children's show instead for economic/marketing reasons, while still trying to make ML a show that tackles more mature/heavy themes and that can be enjoyed by all ages. Those two things are, in fact, relevant here.

There’s a lot of things kids' media, especially kids' media that is affiliated with The Disney Corporation, can’t show without being blocked by executives or forced to raise the rating etc. Magical “loopholes” like Sentis let them get away with showing things more blatantly than they usually would and allow them to delve in to "darker" themes they otherwise wouldn’t be able to tackle, like explicit abuse/trauma and death (think of how Disney villains usually have to die offscreen by falling to their doom/being engulfed in flames/turning to dust/etc.) You may be thinking, “but darker things like death and physical abuse were shown by other Y-7 rated cartoons like Avatar: The Last Airbender!”, but remember that ATLA aired on Nickelodeon, not Disney. Nickelodeon has always been a lot more lax than Disney when it comes to what is “appropriate” for kids (and even then, ATLA always had to have those things happen offscreen). Did you ever notice how ML Season 1 was significantly more risqué than the later seasons, between Chat Noir flirting with Ladybug by saying he “looks hot in a swimsuit,” Ladybug implying that she’d like to see Adrien without his clothes on, and Ladybug being pinned to the ground with Chat Noir on top of her while they kissed? Did you also know that ML Season 1 originally aired on Nickelodeon in the US, after which the rights to the show were acquired by Disney? TOTAL coincidence that these teens got significantly less thirsty after the network switch /s

They've already been using magic as a loophole to push the boundaries like this, like all the times characters have "died"/disappeared, and when they actually showed Chat Noir accidentally “kill” someone onscreen (Aeon), and when they were literally able to show one of their leads eradicating all life on earth. They could get away with all of that because they have Ladybug’s Reset Button and because they kept it vague/magical enough to be able to defend that “they didn’t die they just disappeared/short-circuited/got turned in to statues/etc.!!!!“ (they absolutely did die). They can have Émilie's corpse on display in the basement because they never outright say she's "dead" and leave it vague enough that they can convince children and/or network executives that she's in a Snow White-esque endless sleep caused by magic. Characters being Sentis opens new doors for them in terms of storytelling which lets the writers bypass the limitations of being a children’s show. They can more blatantly depict Adrien being terrified of and submissive to his father without being censored/forced to tone it down because they can defend it with “no it’s not actually too dark/heavy for a children’s show, we’re not blatantly showing a child who has been traumatized and beaten in to submission! Its just because of his father's magical control! Perfectly appropriate for a children’s show! :)”

And that reasoning makes even more sense when you consider the way pretty minor/inoffensive things already get censored in the show. Chat Noir simply saying “I thought I’d lost you” was inexplicably turned in to “that was a wild ride” in the English dub of Animan??? Because apparently even having one of the leads get emotional while admitting that they thought their partner died was too much? They have a lot of constraints to work around when writing a show which is rated for ages 5+, is affiliated with Disney, and has a runtime of ~20 minutes per episode, and I don’t think enough people take those facts in to consideration when they criticize the show. Plenty of people have already made a lot of good points about how it could be beneficial for children who are victims of abuse (check out @gentil-minou's posts on it) so I won't get in to that. I just wanted to talk about this specific aspect since I haven't seen anyone taking it in to consideration in their criticism. Also, the people who are opposed to it really need to stop acting like there is one correct way to represent child abuse and that there aren't child abuse victims who actually find comfort in/relate to SentiAdrien.

My feelings are mixed and I'm waiting to see where they go with it instead of casting judgement before they've even had a chance to tell the story, but I don't hate it and I definitely don't believe it's the unnecessary plot development that the people opposed to it say it is.

[ahs-source]

Happy Friday! Welcome to this week’s Fanfiction Friday! Thank you to those who submitted these fantastic works for this week’s Fanfiction Friday. Let’s celebrate these wonderful works that you can all read while in quarantine! Please stay safe!

A Killer Time (Tumblr Post) by SisteroftheMoon (AO3) / @guiltyfiend​​​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Xavier Plympton x Female Reader | Tags: Smut, 1980s, Skating, Murder, Violence, Canon-Typical Violence | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 8077 words | Canon Divergent

It’s the 80s, and your crush Xavier Plympton offered you a job at the skating rink where he works. The only problem is, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and you’d be leaving late. You should be on edge, what with the murders of teenage girls happening with alarming frequency in your town, but you’re too blinded by Xavier’s shiny cross earring to pay it any mind.

Be Your Love (Tumblr Post) by HadesRuinsEverything (AO3) / @hadesruinseverything​​​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader | Tags: Drinking, Mildly Dubious Consent, Sexual Tension, Mild Smut, Angst, Sharing a Bed, Drunken Confessions | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 2954 words | Canon Divergent

Drunk grey attempts to seduce Michael with surprising results.

Dancing With a Stranger Part 1 + Part 2 by @myluciferiscody​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader | Warnings: au!, language, seductive-boi, unprotected sex, oral (female and male receiving), other smutty goodness | Completed (2/2 Parts) | 7028 words | AU / Michael as Owner of the Hotel Cortez

An AU where old!Michael where he’s not the antichrist but is the owner of the Hotel Cortez

Love Is A Battlefield (Completed) by The_Golden_Dice​​ (AO3) Relationships: Xavier Plympton x Female Reader | Tags: Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Pre-Canon, Developing Relationship, POV Female Character, Canon Compliant, Depression, Suicide, Ghosts, Original Character Death(s), Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Religious Content, Porn With Plot, Psychological Trauma, Canonical Character Death | Completed (12/12 Chapters) | 21162 words | Pre/Post-Canon Divergent

The year is 1984. You're a broke student living alone in L.A., plagued by your problematic relationships with a false friend and a disturbed ex.

You meet Xavier Plympton, an aerobics instructor with a dark past, at the gym where you’ve taken a reception job. You quickly develop feelings for him, and you learn to your relief that he likes you too.

Soon a deadly series of events befall you and the people in your life. Overwhelmed by tragedy and with your blossoming romance cut short, you are left a wreck.

Six years later you discover that while Xavier is dead, he hasn’t quite departed. You soon realise that if you are to be with him and finally achieve true peace and happiness, you must take your own life and become a Camp Redwood ghost.

Regular (Completed) by EmWrites4 (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader, Duncan Shepherd x Female Reader, Jim Mason x Female Reader, Xavier Plympton x Female Reader, Richard x Female Reader | Tags: Smut, Apocalypse, underage boy sex, Fingering, Oral Sex, Sex, Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 2281 words | AU / Canon Divergent

Reader, an average, everyday woman, finds herself saved from the Apocalypse and living in Michael Langdon's Sanctuary. She manages to enrapture the antichrist, much to her own surprise, and navigates insta-love and sex with him, with a little help from his not-so-helpful friends.

The Singularity (WIP) by Chekhovs_Power_Loader​​ (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Cyberpunk, millory, Sexbots, Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Apocalypse, Antichrist, Satanism, Robotics, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Set in near-future London, Biometric scan, Light Choking, Prosthetics, Futuristic, Loss of Virginity, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Multiple Orgasms, Robot/Human Relationships, Artificial Intelligence | Last Updated: 2020-01-05 (3/5 Chapters) | 12619 words | AU / Cyberpunk / Sci-fi

Mallory gets an unusual birthday gift from her godmother Cordelia: a sexbot that's not quite what it seems.

Sci-fi AU. It's time for the Robocalypse.

Such Selfish Prayers (Completed) by TinyRubySeeds (S_Kassandra180) (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Female Reader | Tags: Pale!Demon Michael Langdon, Established Relationship, BDSM, Dom!Michael Langdon, (Bratty) Sub!Reader, Slight Blasphemy, Role play (With some Dubcon overtones), Bondage, Whip play, Spanking, Knife and Blood Play, Vaginal Fingering, Rough Sex, Aftercare, Proper and Improper Aftercare, Sex as after care, Body Worship, little bit of praise kink, touch of angst just a touch | Completed (3/3 Chapters) | 19879 words | Canon Divergent

A seemingly uneventful Friday night alone changes entirely when you find a certain Pale Demon waiting for you...

sweet serial killer (Completed) by gelukstraan (AO3)  Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Pirate AU, siren au, Mentions of Smut, dark themes, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Mentions of Rape, plot heavy, Murder, Treasure Hunting, Slow Burn, Mermaids, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, michael is a dumbass, Historical References, Angst with a Happy Ending | Completed (9/9 Chapters) | 34099 words | AU / Pirates + Sirens

His voice dripping like honey, the feeling his voice brings similar to the stained red velvet jacket he is wearing. “So, finally I’ve got you where I want you.”

The Pirate/Siren AU where Michael is the feared Pirate Captain, and where Mallory is a Siren who needs to eat hearts to survive.

this is where you start to pull me in (Completed) by iridescentrey​​​ (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Rape Roleplay, Consensual Non-Consent, Outpost!Michael, Fluff and Smut, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Light Dom/sub, Dirty Talk, Blood Kink, (a little), Vaginal Sex, Cunnilingus, Anal Fingering, and some things I probably missed, inappropriate use of magic, Idiots in Love, they pretend they're not soft but they are, so in love it's disgusting, Michael is a little fucked up but we all love him, enjoy the filth, read the author's note for context and warnings | Completed (1/1 Chapters) | 7517 words | AU / Canon Divergent

Her sleep is deep, serene, her chest rises and falls in a steady rhythm. He can almost feel the elusive impression of her dreams when his mind brushes against hers, barely a caress. There’s something else in there as well, gossamer-thin threads of a spell intertwined with her joints, carefully crafted, wrapped around her entire body like a cage.

War In Heaven (WIP) by shecomesincolor_999​​​ (AO3) / @midnightontheearth​​​ (Tumblr) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Original Female Character | Tags: Fluff, Eventual Smut, Eventual Sex, Good versus Evil, non-canon, Masturbation | Last Updated: 2020-03-15 (3/? Chapters) | 7684 words | Canon Divergent

Satan’s reign in Hell was parallel to that of God’s in Heaven, both having legions of believers upon the Earth. And when Satan sends his son Michael Langdon to earth, God sends his daughter. Their parallel is the ultimate war of good versus evil.

Who wants to hear a joke? (Completed) by ​​​SophieGraceJ (AO3) Relationships: Michael Langdon x Mallory | Tags: Joker au, joker 2019 au, michael is the joker, mallory is batgirl, zoe is fem batman, madison is catwoman, myrtle is alfred, cordelia is lucius, john is commissioner gordon, omg this is terrible haha, this is part 1there will be more, Eventual Smut, Violence, Alternate Universe, Crossover, millory | Completed (Part of the Life is a comedy series) | 3007 words | Joker 2019 AU

These people, dressed in their expensive clothes, pretending to care about the welfare of people different to them. Pretending to want to change the city for the better. They had eight years to do so, yet no one had stood up to the challenge. Not until Zoe.

The lights seemed to dim. Nothing was beautiful anymore.

It was all false. A façade.

And in her dark thoughts, she saw him. The orange suit. The green hair and painted face.

Thank you to those who sent in these works! Please continue sending submissions to ahs-source.tumblr.com/submit or through the Tumblr mobile app to continue celebrating the writers in the community!

Previous FF Fridays: 1 | 2a + 2b | 3 | 4a + 4b | 5

[afterourhearts]

Eyeliner Tears

Why are Asian eyes so ugly? I thought to myself as I outlined their shape with the blackest liner I could dig out from the free Lancôme makeup samples Mom never used. This was my daily routine since I first discovered the beautiful black pencil when I was 12 alongside lip gloss, mascara, and blush. But eyeliner was my favorite – changing most dramatically what I hated most passionately. • Monolids are ugly because they make eyes look like slits. • Double lids are ‘mutant’ because, as my white medical professor once so aptly described, “Epicanthic folds are a prominent feature of Down Syndrome. If you don’t know what they are, Asians commonly have this feature.” Let’s face it: we can’t win, at least not in the beauty arena. But with my eyeliner adding the illusion of a larger eye, I felt halfway there. Not everyone, however, appreciated my foray into adolescent self-transformation. The Chinese beauty culture operates very differently than American beauty culture: pale skin, small mouths, soft bodies, and youthful innocence are prized over glowing tans, wide smiles, athletic frames, and sultry seductiveness. To achieve the Chinese beauty ideal of youthful innocence, heavy makeup such as eyeliner is unacceptable, and makeup at all is frowned upon for younger girls. Mom called them “raccoon eyes” and told me I looked uglier with it on but I never heeded her advice. She also said respectable girls did not waste their time on vanities like makeup, but rather immersed themselves in their studies. She especially hated when I wore makeup to church, a place where teenage girls are supposed to look extra pure. I rolled my raccoon eyes. One year, I met a new girl at our Chinese Christian Church. She was talkative, witty, similarly loved makeup and rebellion, and we became fast friends. This same year, a new youth pastor arrived at our church. He was funny, fluent, and finally our first youth pastor who wasn’t middle-aged. So how do they tie back to eyeliner? Prior to their arrival, I dreaded attending church, paranoid that the judgmental eyes of multitudes of Chinese parents hated my appearance and shared the Chinese cultural views held by my mother. Was it paranoia, or was I just observant? Adults would enthusiastically praise my younger brother’s handsome features and say nothing about my appearance other than, “She is tall!” Their smiles seemed disingenuous and their attitudes towards me distant. Or maybe I was just overly sensitive. Regardless, much of that paranoia melted away with the arrival of a new friend and youth pastor – two characters who seemed more attuned than the other members to the Asian-American dichotomy that was my life. I began to loosen up at church, smile more, and even happily greet the adults. I felt … safe. Maybe not enthusiastically accepted, but also not frowned upon with disdain. One might wonder why I was so concerned for approval from within my Chinese church. When you live in a country spearheaded by people who don’t view you as truly American, you cling onto the safe spaces that still might take you in and consider you a member. I wasn’t aware of how shaky my walls of comfort had been built, though, until one sentence caused them to tumble back down again. “He said he doesn’t like you because you wear so much eyeliner.” She told me. She being my new best friend and he being the cool and young youth pastor we both adored. “How do you know this?” I asked, disbelief and doubt at each other’s throats in the battleground that was now my mind. “Because he told my mom. And my mom told me that it’s not just him who thinks this way, but a lot of other parents. They tell their kids to stay away from you because you are a bad influence.” Bad influence. Me, the introvert who rarely speaks, a bad influence? I let that sink in. That night, I considered giving up my eyeliner. I thought all my fears about being hated by my friends’ parents were unfounded and paranoid. I thought my youth pastor would especially not judge me by something so exterior – actually, why would he judge me at all? Why would a grown ass man concern himself so heavily with whether a teenage girl wears eyeliner? Anger and sadness bubbled up around me. How did one of my greatest fears, one I thought had been pushed away and laid to rest for good, one which only my new friend knew so intimately, suddenly come to surface all over again? And that’s when it hit me: maybe she lied. The seed of thought that this supposed best friend might not actually like me at all was planted. And over the next few months, it thirstily drank up water and sunlight. I befriended other girls and began to uncover bits and pieces of the horrifying truth: she did hate me, and they had evidence. Screen captures and chat conversations were forwarded to my inbox. Not only did she tell others about how terrible I supposedly was, she also told them I disliked all of them and fabricated statements I had never uttered nor so much as thought. I could not believe it – why did she want to destroy my life and capitalize on my insecurities? What did I ever do but consider her my friend? Sometimes, you never get answers. Not too many months after, she moved again. We stumbled across each other’s Instagram accounts a few years later. She had dyed hair, tattoos, piercings all over, eyeliner wings bolder than I had ever applied, false lashes nearly reaching her thickly painted eyebrows, the same deceptively sweet smile as when we first met, and was surrounded by other Asian girls. I once burned with the anger of her betrayal, but all I could think about now was her new embodiment of the criticisms she claimed were the reasons for my rejection from our community and how ironic our appearances were now – me being the studious medical student who sometimes forgets to wear eyeliner and she being the girl who refuses to be seen in public without it - the pictorial epitome of the bad influence she once used to mark me for social abandonment from our only remaining community. Irony, Karma, or Hypocrisy? Today, I won’t know if sprinkled between her lies were grains of truth, and if her comment about my reputation was one of them. I won’t know if my eventual submission to certain Asian cultural values drew its main roots from my teenage experience of potential two-fold community rejection. I won’t know if she ever realized the extent to which she hurt me or if she continues to hurt in similarly sneaky ways our other Asian sisters struggling to find acceptance and self-love in a land which has subjected them to unwarranted rejection. What I do know is this: We All Cry The Same Eyeliner Tears Yes, we do. They trickle down from our unmistakably Asian eyes, glide along our sunscreen laden faces, and leave smudgy black streaks to remind us of both our perceived physical imperfections as well as our efforts to conceal the ugliness we feel inside. 

Feeling ugly is not just some manifestation of low self-esteem as these American schools/media/counselors might tell us in order to erase from our mutual history and from their responsibility the ‘chink’ comments that we heard or the fingers-pulling-eyes-upward-to-mimic-us that we saw.

Our damaged self-esteem is not some personal mental and emotional disorder or a reflection of our weakness but a collective experience caused largely in part by the pervasive belief that some belong here but we don’t and that some are beautiful but we aren’t. Don’t think that just because dating apps are now asserting, “Asian girls are the most desired race!” that the girls who come after us are protected from the less-than we endured. The American dating scene did not just become more “accepting” of us – we changed to look more like them. But underneath the beautifully and extravagantly drawn eyeliner wings, the perfectly filled in eyebrows, the time-consuming application of fake lashes, the hours spent at the gym to avoid ‘Asian flat butt’ stereotypes, and the sharp cut of the surgery knife on our eyelids, we still cannot help but wonder: is this beautiful yet? And when he says, “Yes”, we still worry, was I not beautiful before? Do we really want to be with the ones who only want what is made-to-order, and overlook the ones who saw the original, in all its imperfections, as worth discovering? So while I have every right to be mad at my Asian sister for the hurtful actions she made against me as a result of her wanting to be more accepted by our community than I was, I cannot lose sight of the more formidable barrier to our collective inability to self-love: not the lies she told before, but the lies they still tell today. Why are my Asian eyes so ugly? I used to think to myself constantly. And if you’ve read this until the end, I think you know the answer.

_____________________________________________________________

Comments: Friends who have read this far or read my shared thoughts at all, I know my experiences are not isolated. My past shared posts related to familial pressures and relationships have shown me just how overlapping our experiences can be. The feelings of low self-esteem and self-image at some time or another in your life is probably a universal one. Experiences of betrayal are sadly quite common. Hopefully you enjoyed this short piece - it’s a bit different from the other posts I’ve written (a little more cleaned up and narrative when compared to my usual frenetic ranting) ... anyways, I wanted to share that I’ve been working on putting together some more shorts + poems in my free time (this is how I destress from school haha) and something I hope to achieve through writing with this project (and since day one) is unfiltered and unapologetic storytelling highlighting the Asian voice that is so often completely ignored in discussions of race and discrimination. I’m not saying our experiences are to be equated to the experiences of other minorities because noo, but I am saying we should at least be included in the discussion. 

This brings me to my next point: I want to continue to share your stories too. If you have experiences you want to share related in any way to your identity as an Asian-American female, I want to hear them and with your permission, try to make prose or poetry of it. Text me, message me, or call me and let’s get in touch :) Thank you for being a part of this whether as a reader or direct contributor. Let’s shape our collective voice!!!

[comicteaparty]

May 9th-May 15th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from May 9th, 2020 to May 15th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What experiences do you have related to contests for comics, and do you find them worthwhile?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

:0 what a relevant question(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Funnily enough, I was going to enter this year’s WEBTOON competition, but I decided to focus on my webcomic instead. I still have concept art of my original idea (based off of Russian folklore) that I might draw one day, but it was fun drawing it.

I decided instead to just support the friends and fellow artists I know who entered the contest. It’s nice to see their hard work pay off.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I usually had either no time or no interest in a particular contest, so I have no clue. The only time I had both you needed to give up your copyright to enter, and thus I found it more worthwhile to put the effort into my own art and the dayjob.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I’ve never submitted to a contest I’ve considered submitting my existing work for various contests/awards, but in the end I always decide my story just isn’t far enough along yet to justify it. And my brain isn’t buzzy enough to create an original short story for something like the Webtoon one, so I’m out on that. I did get nominated for an award that turned into a voting contest anyway, but the winners were going to be practically guaranteed based on existing popularity, so... it was a nice gesture without any real chance of success. But it was cool to be up there with some heavy hitters. I dunno. Maybe one day I’ll feel more comfortable with the idea, once I feel like I’ve earned the chance

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Not webcomic related, but back in 5th grade, there was this shounen jump-like Korean magazine that I was reading. One day, they announced a contest with the first and second place winners being offered a chance to serialize their own thing. While I had been doodling my own comics before that point, that was the first time it occurred to me: hey, I could be doing this like a pro. I could be a pro. So I tried to make my own entry for that contest. I never finished it, nor did I, in retrospect, stand a chance. But it was an eye-opener: my work could be taken seriously, could be seen by others. It was a possibility! I was going through a less than ideal time in my life at the time, too. Nothing super bad or abusive, just unstable/unpredictable, left me no headspace for a 5th grade kid to dream of the future. So it was pretty meaningful to have that kind of eye-opening excitement about possibilities/ future/ change.

I no longer want to go pro. I don't think I can deal with the emotional burden of relying on audience reception for income. But it was a good phase to go through.

DanitheCarutor

For comics it's never crossed my mind to submit anything for a contest, the prizes never catch my interest since I'd rather just buy something if I want it. I'm not much of a competitive person in general, if I do get like that it's usually for something fun that doesn't require as much stress, time and resources as art. (like sports or video games) A while back I saw two contests to win a digital drawing tablet, it was getting a lot of hype in the webcomic Twitter community, but I already have a tablet and almost never use it so the contests were kind of pointless for me. Even if the tablets were those fancy screen tablets you draw directly on. Not comic related, but when I was a teen I hung out on Gaia Online almost all day and partook in the art contests there to win items and gold. Drawing was just some fun thing back then since I didn't have to worry about cost of materials or the value of my time, so I indulged in those contests often. My mom used to get really mad at me wasting my "talent" and resources pretty much for free. Lol I still have all the avie drawings saved on my computer.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, Gaia contests were fun that way

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Speaking of contest, I did participate in an illustration fan contest for ADV (when it was still around), I found it while I was still a small Deviantart artist. I don't have strong hope of winning but when I did, my school kid self was excited. My work was appreciated and I made art for a series I loved. I felt a little victory. :) It's easier to draw for a fan series than make up an original that has obstacles stacked against me. But I might try to participate in a comic contest one day(edited)

DanitheCarutor

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) Fff Gaia was such a low stress site, I loved hanging out there. Getting those monthly special items was a while event.

carcarchu

I agree dani, i have never understood the point of art contests where the prize is tablet. what do you think they're drawing on to enter it??

DanitheCarutor

I think a lot of the people who do have contests for art supplies like that have sponsorships, but they're pretty pointless if you're good with what you got... and you just don't like competing in general.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It probably makes more sense with traditional media supplies since you run out of them all the time. But tablets... yeah

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I had kind of a similar early experience with contests as keii'ii. Went I was a kiddo, Tokyo Pop still existed and had their rising stars of manga contest. Seeing other Americans being published like that really took me from "I love these comics and drawing fan art and ocs for them" to "I could write my own stories with my own characters and other kids could buy them at the store and be inspired." My adult experience with contest had mostly been that they're a one way a good way to feel heart broken for a while X') I've got a lot of perfectionist tendencies, so loosing always feels really bad. Maybe also because I take a lot of pride in my work and I want to be recognized for it. And I think maybe winning a contest is kind of an easier way of feeling accomplished than a followed count or monthly site statistics? I'm not sure XD also it would just be cool to be able to tell people I'm an award winning comic artist XDXD Dealing with rejection/not winning is definitely something I've gotten better at. I'm hoping to make a small submission for that shonen jump contest that got posted here a few days ago. Not cuz I think I'll probably win anything, but it feel like a neat thing to do for myself. But also... Always got that secret hope of what if I did haha! XD

DanitheCarutor

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) In a way it's kind of redundant though? If you think about it you're using up your resources to get more, which would probably just be enough to refill the stock you used for the contest with a little extra. (depending on how much work you put into the illustration/comic) Unless the contest was for a year supply of 'X' you don't get much out of it. xP I can also see the tablet contest being good for people who can't afford to get one, or can't afford to upgrade if theirs is broken down and old, but yeah. It's not super useful if you already have a good functioning one. I know for some contests it's also the bragging rights, or some credibility when you're trying to get art/comic jobs, but it's just not my thing.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Aww I understand how you feel @mariah (rainy day dreams) you describe the same emotion I felt trying to enter comic submissions, wanting that chance to get it noticed and picked up. Yeah as long as you give it a try, at least a story is made!

[awfullyhorriblybadfantrolls]

hey guys. mod whimsy here.

a lot of people have been asking is the blog dead, are you guys dead. the answer is that i don’t know.

the reason that this blog has been inactive on my part for so long is that i’ve fallen out of the fandom. it’s just not for me anymore and among the other things i do and enjoy, i can’t quite fit it into my heart anymore. it just kind of feels like a dream that i had a long time ago.

one of the reasons this has happened is because i feel like the fandom is dying too. ever since the end, i felt like homestuck was due to be fizzled out. despite the fact the games are out and all, i personally see little to no content being made at this point. probably cus i don’t follow up, but that’s because of one specific reason, and the main reason that this blog kind of faded away after a while on my part.

there just isn’t much content to work with. we rarely get submissions and it’s hard to find things on the internet at this point. that, combined with my already dwindling interest in the fandom, is ultimately what drove me to abandon this blog. it felt like a hopeless struggle to keep this blog alive with so little material and so little interest, so what was the point?

i’ve been avoiding this for a while because the truth is, i feel ashamed. i feel ashamed for not being able to say all of this earlier, and felt guilty every time an ask rolled in wondering what happened to this blog. it made me feel awful every time i thought about it, and i thought maybe i should let this blog die a peaceful death after such a wild life. but i knew i shouldn’t. i knew you guys all deserved an answer, but i was too much of a coward to give this explanation i’m giving now. i’m only saying all of this now because i saw that janus did too.

so is this goodbye? maybe. it depends.

i sometimes still see people chucking the occasional like onto our posts, and that makes me feel happy. like the awful, horribly bad content we made was still making people have a funny little haha or moment of enjoyment. i loved doing that. i still do. no matter the lack of resources, the lack of interest, the edgy teen that will always be in me really loves The Cringe™, y’know? even after all these years, i still do, no matter how much i’ve grown up.

so the answer the previously posed question, i would be willing to continue this blog, making content for it, if people still want it. if this content is still making people happy or giving them a moment’s worth of amusement, that’s enough for me. i originally made this blog some years ago because i found the worst troll i’ve ever seen and i just wanted to share my thoughts on it with everyone else, and then it grew into a community of sorts. of people that liked the stuff we posted and it seemed like you guys liked us, too. at that point i not only wanted to appease the edgy teen within me, but our audience as well.

so i want to keep doing that, if you all want it too.

if you’ve read all of this through, i thank you. so much. i know this has been long but i feel like i needed to give what was owed and this is all from my heart, without filter, no revision, full stupid. i felt like i owed you all this explanation if i disappointed.

thank you to all of our followers who have stuck with us all these years. for all of the good times and the fond memories, the joy interacting with you all brought to me. if some of you are still here, i would be absolutely astounded.

so that’s probably all i wanted to say. thanks for sticking with us, through thick and thin, insults and memes.

i love you all.

mod whimsy

[amysubmits]

With 24/7 D/s, how do you handle decisions about babies/children (or pets) together? I’ve wondered this and wanted to ask if you know anything or how that might work.

I’ll tag some 24/7 D/s folks who have kids because I haven’t made any babies yet. @yes-i-could-be-the-walrus @crusoesampersand @dwpreturns @lesstalkingmorespanking @bellandherbeast

From what I’ve read, different couples handle it differently. 24/7 D/s doesn’t have to be TPE so the submissive could have half (or even more than half) of say over parenting, or they could choose to let the Dominant have the final say. It would just depend on what works for you both and what you agree to. 

We have two dogs that we’ve had since a bit before we entered D/s. I feel like pets are wayyy different than kids but I’ll share how we handle pet stuff anyway seems how you asked. 

I knew I wanted a dog and CD kinda started to share my dream after a while, and so we talked about it as a daydream sort of a thing for over a year I think. We read and talked about it for a year or so, but fairly casually for the most part. We didn’t have a plan to get a dog in any given month or that sort of a thing. I watched pet adoption sites online for a while, and then when I saw our dogs posted in a Facebook group as needing to be rehomed it just felt right to me. So I asked CD if we could get them and we talked it over for a couple of days. Getting two dogs was really not the original plan and we aren’t usually spontaneous like that, especially with such a big decision. But it just felt right, so he said yes but only if their current owner would agree to sort of do a week trial. The previous owner said yes, so we intended to take them home for a week and then decide after the week. On day 2 I knew I was going to be devastated if he decided against it. I could tell he was enjoying them a lot too but I was still nervous. I don’t remember exactly how but somehow I kinda probed for what he was thinking and he said something like ‘yeah there’s no way they are going back’ and I was so relieved, haha. So he had the final say in whether or not we were getting the dogs, and he set boundaries on that process, I guess.

In actually caring for them…I feed them most of the time. We feed them twice a day when my pill alarm goes off. I almost always do breakfast, dinner is more divided between us. A lot of times I’m showering or doing my hair at their dinner time so then CD will feed them. We both refill their water dish, and we both take them outside. I keep track of when their flea meds are due and bathe them the day before their flea meds. I don’t really know how that became their bath schedule but it did somehow, and if I don’t think they really need a bath I ask CD if I can skip the bath and just do their flea meds. Our one dog has daily meds and I give them to her right before I go to bed. CD trims their nails and decides when they go to the vet. When the vet has given us options on how to treat something, or whether or not to run a test or something, CD makes that final call as well. They’re old and don’t care for playing a ton anymore, but CD plays with them more often than I do. 

We had a rule for a while about me taking them outside and feeding them breakfast in the morning becuase at the time I was waking up earlier than CD most mornings and would forget to feed them. Other than that, we never really intentionally sat down and decided how to handle caring for our dogs it just kinda fell into place this way.  

We’ve never really had any significant disagreement about how to care for our dogs but if we did, we would handle it like anything else we disagree on. Which for us means, he hears me out but he gets the final say. 

[unofferable-fic]

Submission from literalapologyblog + some thoughts re: GOT/Marvel/writing

“(too long for askbox, so sending as submission)

Hey, I left a dickish comment on a post you made (via defunct blog, “beewinged”), and I’m sorry. I just literally created a whole new account and painstakingly tracked down your url again to say that, because it was bugging me that much.

I was really into fandom and tumblr for a few years, and pulled out of it completely when one particular fandom went sour with drama and hatefulness. Hate directed at showrunners, between fans– a lot of it using the guise of progressive language.

I removed myself from fandom and social media entirely and pretty successfully, because I hate communicating with people in soundbites and hate how communities like tumblr (for all their upsides) make it easy for users to “curate” a personality and set of opinions with the click of a button.

And it took all of a few days scrolling the Endgame tag for me to go right back to a place of casual, de-personalizing interactions (two comments, the other one being, “this take bums me out”– but still two comments too many).

I saw about fifty posts that compared Endgame to GoT S8; yours wasn’t that unusual. Tags on tumblr, by design, highly concentrate extreme emotion and stimulus. Social media doesn’t care what it’s doing to compassionate discourse. Rationally, I know this! – but seeing post after post talking about writers and creatives, human people with families, as if they had committed war crimes– seeing “fuck the Russos”, “these writers are basically the same people as these writers”, treating “the Russos” like some kind of malicious entity or, worse, seeing anti-colonialist director of color Taika Waititi referred to as “a bag of racid dicks” (in the name of protecting the integrity of a made-up person) made it all too easy for me to perceive individual posts as a part of a vicious hivemind obsessed with its fandom reality-bubble.

I think there are some good criticisms of Endgame. I also felt and still feel that the writing in Endgame (flawed but thematically consistent, focuses on Tony’s arc to the exclusion of others, because his– for better or for worse– is the strongest) doesn’t bear comparison with the hasty and thoughtless writing of GoT’s last few episodes.

That opinion is not what I expressed in my comment on your post. I wasn’t starting a conversation in good faith (something I’ve tried very hard to hold myself to, in real life and when I do make posts online). I essentially expressed, “*you*, a part of a hivemind, are mad because the thing you wanted didn’t happened, and *you* are fronting like that’s ‘bad writing’”.

That’s a very personal accusation, and a really incendiary and unfair thing to say to someone on the basis of one post, ever if it reflects a generalized feeling I have about online fandom. I let my momentary irritation get the better of me, and focused it on you. It wasn’t the most unkind thing I’ve ever said, but that doesn’t rankle any less.

So: I’m sure you do have strong feelings about stories and opinions about storytelling, and I’m sure they are worth listening to, that you have people in your life who enjoy hearing your thoughts, and that the best and most complex of your thoughts can’t be gleaned from just scrolling through your tumblr.

You might have a thicker skin than I do, and maybe didn’t give my comment a second thought– but I’m sorry if, for even a second, it made you feel dismissed or hurt or misunderstood. You could be any number of people who, in “real” life, I’d never speak to so dismissively. I hope you continue to write, enjoy and engage with stories.”

First off, I want to apologise for taking a few days to post this. I saw this in my submission box and wanted to thoroughly think over it before I replied. I’ve since seen that the blog has been deactivated, but I wanted to post this in the hopes you might stumble across my response, because I do appreciate you going to the effort to find me again… It’s a serious effort! And rarely do people apologise for ‘dickish’ comments haha

First off, I understand anyone who wishes to take time away from fandoms, especially when things get toxic and experiences get ruined by it. For me personally, I have a tendency to just avoid those blogs/tags. There was certain things I don’t go near, and certain posts that I might read, internally disagree with, and move on. I’ve spent a lot less time on Twitter and Instagram lately, and I’m feeling better for it too.

In short, do I think that there are rightful comparisons to make between the writers at Marvel and GOT? Yes. Do I think that makes it okay for us to talk excessive smack about the Russos/TW? No. While my criticisms for the Russos and TW run deep, I never condone death threats or unnecessary insults. On one post in particular, I’ve ‘gone off’ on some comment the Russos made regarding fan reactions to Loki’s death. Nothing other than calling them ‘fucking eejits’, but cursing is used more casually here in Ireland, so maybe that’s why I use it as such. But yeah, other than that, I don’t agree with the notion of wishing death or serious harm on these people, and I think most people would agree with that. Criticise them all day, if it’s valid, but anything else is a bit… excessive. I certainly do think that there are far more valid criticisms floating about instead of death threats, but the harsh stuff is always going to jump out the most.

I agree with a lot of what you say - while there are definitely valid criticisms to be made about Endgame, it’s not an awful or bad film, and there are definitely more examples of poor and lazy writing in the last season of GOT. As someone who was in love with that show for a good five seasons, it was sad to see it go the way it did. I did, however, jump ship after some very telling and dramatic writing choices they made in season five. By my logic at the time, “if they will do x now, they’ll most definitely do y and z later”, and it’s never fun when that realisation comes to fruition. That being said, I still strongly believe that Marvel dropped the ball with some of my favourite characters in Endgame (Loki, Steve, Tony, Bucky, Thor). I think they did great by some characters, and terrible by others. But that’s probably a discussion for another post - most of my feelings have been far better explained in posts by other blogs!

“I essentially expressed, “*you*, a part of a hivemind, are mad because the thing you wanted didn’t happened, and *you* are fronting like that’s ‘bad writing’”.” If I’m being honest, this is absolutely nothing new to me haha. As a Loki fan and someone quite critical of the last season of GOT, I’m well used to people telling me “you’re just mad because your fave died!” and “you just don’t like it because it’s not the ending you wanted!” I think any Loki fan can attest to that too. It sucks, but if someone replies to me in that way, I don’t even bother continuing the conversation. You’ve already reached a wall before the conversation can start. I recently had a chat with a friend who I falsely assumed would cut me off in a similar manner, and it was amazingly refreshing to have my opinion heard and not automatically shut off because I’m a “Loki fangirl”. For me, Endgame just proved that my favourite character’s ending in IW was badly written, badly executed, pointless other than being motivation for Thor, and just overall illogical and out of character. Much like most Dany fans don’t mind her character becoming a mad queen, I don’t mind if Loki dies. My issue is how we get there and how badly executed it was in terms of writing. The actors themselves obviously put their hearts into what I would consider a weak story point. It seemed careless, much like Dany’s characterisation... “How do we get there exactly? Ah, who cares, just do it and get it over with. People will watch it and we’ll make money anyway.”. Can you imagine if they had screwed up Iron Man’s arc in the same manner? The backlash would’ve been insane!

I do of course apologise if I’ve ever some across as someone who just shits on Marvel, because that’s not who I am. I grew up being a massive Spider Man fan as a kid, and these heroes and films will always have a place in my heart, but I’m still going to critique something even if I love it. If anything, I think it’s even more important to acknowledge flaws in your favourite things. I’m certainly not right in ever instance, and I don’t think I know everything there is to know about writing!

My main hope from all of this is just that future writers learn from these mistakes and become better writers because of it. 

I genuinely appreciate the fact you went to the trouble to find my blog again apologise, because it’s something that I see rarely. I hadn’t paid much attention to your original comment, but your apology is valued and appreciated. It’s honestly something I don’t usually receive amidst a sea of “yOu’rE JUst mAD bEcAUse yOuR faVE DieD!!”

Likewise I hope that you continue to express your own thoughts and opinions on writing in an articulate manner, and hopefully you see less of those posts that proper do your head in! Thank you for explaining your point of view to me, and thick skin or not, apologies and calm conversations always go a long way.

[chariot313]

Western social media has no respect for Japanese online artists - and it’s killing online art

The visual arts have evolved to suit the most popular medium of each era. In nowadays’ case, the internet is the go-to method of sharing the fruits of one’s labour). However, as stated in that tweet thread of mine you can see if you scroll down a bit (assuming you’re viewing this post on chariot313.tumblr.com) different cultures have different attitudes towards how their customers react to their products. This include you know what fuck the formalities, I’ll just say it: The exclusively western concept of someone seeing something they like online and hitting the share button to stimulate the “Haha, upvotes go ‘brrr’!” dopamine in their smooth-ass lizard brain will be the death of online Japanese artists. Or rather, it has been already, and you would know that if you’ve ever seen an artist’s Twitter bio be in mostly Japanese save for one sentence in English; “Reprint is prohibited.”.

If you want to hear me rationalize the absurd claim I just made, feel free to click the “Keep reading” button. Otherwise, turn back now and save yourself from me possibly wasting your time.

Alright, you’ve chosen to stick with me. Just remember, you asked for this.

Introduction

Social media as a whole is based around sharing (posting, uploading, submitting, tweeting, blogging, streaming etc.) and other’s reactions to what one has shared (views, likes, subscribers, favorites, followers, upvotes, retweets, reblogs, crossposts, etc.).

However, miscommunication and culture shock due to language barriers and cultural differences is one of the many factors that can negatively affect one’s experience on social media. For example, the Japanese artist community, active on sites such as Twitter, Pixiv, NicoNico Seiga, FC2 blogs, etc.. Twitter is mostly inhabited by English-speaking users. Here in the west, our main motive for sharing something on social media (such as art) is for fame and recognition. However, over in the East, most online artists only upload their works to the internet for personal use. I’m not saying one cultural attitude towards sharing art is better than one another, but when these two worldviews collide, the culture shock can negatively affect the careers of artists who are unaware of the other culture’s differing views on sharing art.

So, I’ve listed numerous social media platforms below and I’m going to elaborate on how each of them contributes to the alienation and discouragement of Japanese artists.

DO NOT WITCH-HUNT OR HARASS THE CULPRITS I’VE LISTED AS EXAMPLES; THEY ONLY SERVE TO BACK UP MY ARGUMENT

Twitter

Go into the twitter search bar and type in the name of an anime character (usually female). What do you find? Most likely an account named after said character that does nothing but post unsourced fan art of said character with cheesy “in-character” captions on them.

Exhibit A [NSFW]

Exhibit B [NSFW]

Exhibit C [very NSFW]

Aside from that, Twitter isn’t that bad in this regard, as a lot of the art that gets stolen is originally uploaded to Twitter anyway. But I’m just getting started. 

Wattpad

Ah yes, Wattpad. One of the “trinity” of fan fiction communities (the others being fanfiction.net and AO³), featuring many different stories with varying degrees of readability. The problem is the option to add a picture to adorn your fanfiction, at which point most of the authors google “<fanfic subject> fan art” and use something from there without considering the repercussions. This causes Wattpad to be one of the top results when reverse image searching to find the source of some fan art, aside from another site I’ll mention later on...

Reddit

There’s a subreddit I often browse called r/ChurchOfJirou, a community for sharing anything relating to the character Kyouka from My Hero Academia (I mean come on, she’s like the cutest thing ever). A lot of the posts on that sub are sharing fan art of the aforementioned character. One of the rules in the sidebar is “always include the source in the title or the comments”. And most of the submissions make good on that rule. However, a lot of the posts are from Japanese artists on Twitter or Pixiv, and following the source link leads you to find the artist’s bio, which usually has something along the lines of “don’t repost my work”. And what’s more, the biggest offenders (of submitting art to the sub without OP’s permission) were the moderators of the subreddit. You know, the ones who are supposed to be enforcing the rules? I even got so fed up that I called it out, to which one of the mods replied,

“It doesn’t really make a difference, does it?”

Luckily, not all subreddits are like this. For example, other MHA-related subs like r/BokuNoShipAcademia or r/ChurchOfMinaAshido have moderators that are more considerate of artists’ wishes. Overall, Reddit is usually a hit-or-miss when it comes to this kind of thing. At best, you’ve got subs like the two I just mentioned which make sure to respect artists, and at worst you’ve got people trying (and failing) to edit out watermarks. Also, not to self-promote, but this tweet of mine represents this situation pretty well:

Imgur

Imgur isn’t that bad compared to the rest of these, but it’s a common one that people link to when asked for the source of whatever they’ve shared on Twitter or Reddit or whatever.

Amino Apps

Amino Apps is a strange case. I don’t know much about it since I’ve never used it, but from what I do know it seems similar to Reddit in that there are numerous communities for different niches. That said, judging from the way it clogs up Google image search results, I doubt OC art is posted there often.

YouTube

Now, you may be thinking, “How does a video site rip off others’ art?”. The answer is uploads of soundtracks. Look for any OST from a video game or anime on YouTube and the picture used for the video will likely be some fan art by a Japanese Pixiv artist, usually one that forbids reposts of their work. Not only that, but if the uploader did bother to add the source in the description, it’s usually not even a link to the actual source, more likely a link to Zerochan or Pinterest or something. Now take into account that some of these videos get millions of views. Imagine working hard on something, and some numbnuts takes it, slaps some music onto it, uploads it to YouTube, and gets millions of views while you get next to nothing in comparison.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B (re-upload; original had nearly 40 million views before it was copyright claimed)

Exhibit C

and many many others

Pinterest

Alright, this is the big one. When Pinterest isn’t giving recipes or wardrobe ideas to suburban white moms, it’s clogging up Google reverse image search, punishing anyone who just wanted to find the source of some cute fan art. I feel like this meme by ZebitasMartinexSi on Facebook sums it up:

For example, this piece of Legend of Zelda art by Twitter artist @_nomeri_ (I’ll just link to it, since it would be hypocritical of me to embed the image even though @_nomeri_’s bio warns people not to repost their art). Good art, right? Well, if you right-click and hit “Search Google for image”...

...yeah. Pinterest is a plague. It thrives on theft. Even worse is when someone will post fan art on Twitter/Tumblr/Reddit/etc. and have the nerve to say “IDK the source I found it on Pinterest ^_^”. Or worse yet, they link to Pinterest saying it’s the source.

Instagram

While many other sites rag on Instagram for its reposting of memes, it’s no better when it comes to reposting fan art, especially from Pixiv. I’ve seen lots of stolen pieces with fan fictions written in the description. Personally, if I were an artist, I’d rethink my career choice if I saw my art reposted on Instagram with a half-assed fanfic under it, so I don’t blame Japanese artists who close their Pixiv accounts after seeing that. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prevent it from happening in the first place.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt is more “renowned” across the web for its niche circles of bizarre fetish art, but in its defence, there are some legitimately good pieces on there. If you do find a good one though, try checking to see if all of the uploader’s pieces have a similar overall art style, because if not, that’s a sure sign of someone passing off some Pixiv user’s art as their own, which is unfortunately fairly common on DeviantArt.

9Gag

Not a whole lot to say about 9Gag. I mean, it does contribute to reposting of art, but nothing really separates it from the others on this list, aside from its watermarks. At least the watermark gives away the fact that something was reposted.

Know Your Meme

You know that Zelda pic by @_nomeri_ I was talking about earlier? Well, to add insult to injury, it became an object-labelling meme.

Imagine putting hours into something and politely asking others not to repost it, only to find that some nincompoops on r/DankMemes made it into an object-labelling meme.

But this isn’t KYM’s fault, per se. Know Your Meme only documents memes; they do not create them. However, as someone who regularly browses the Know Your Meme image galleries, I can say that the image gallery has essentially become Know Your Fan Art (unlawfully reposted fan art, that is).

Redbubble

There’s an NSFW artist I follow on Twitter by the name of Nico-Mo. A while ago, his Pixiv account was suspended, and there were numerous pictures on there that he had not uploaded to his Twitter or DeviantArt, so I found a mirror of one of those pieces on Gelbooru and reverse-image searched in hopes of finding it on his Twitter. No such luck. What came up instead was a .png of the piece made into a sticker being sold on Redbubble. In fact, that’s one of the major reasons why artists disapprove of their art being reposted, as it may find its way onto a sticker or a T-shirt being sold as merch without the original artist giving consent nor the artist receiving so much as a single nickel.

Facebook

Surprisingly, I think Facebook is one of the least offending sites on this list. Still worth mentioning, though.

Funnyjunk

Like Imgur, Funnyjunk isn’t that bad compared to some of the rest of these, but this exchange in the comments of a repost of an MHA artist that deleted their account (not hard to see why considering people straight-up ignored the big-ass watermark at the bottom) is proof enough of western social media’s flippant attitude towards ruining online artists’ careers.

Aggregator imageboards such as Yande.re, Konachan, Danbooru, Gelbooru, Rule34, SankakuComplex, Zerochan, etc.

I don’t think I need to explain these. But like Imgur, these are what most people link to when asked for source instead of bothering to find the original post.

We Heart It

I don’t know much about “We Heart It”, but it seems to be a “Pinterest Lite” considering it clogs up image search almost as much as Pinterest does.

iFunny

Basically the same as 9Gag, in the sense that its watermarks are a dead giveaway.

4chan

I’m not sure if 4chan really “counts” among these, as it’s a chat board where nearly everything is impermanent anyway. However, I was once on an NSFW subreddit where one submitter used a 4chan thread to get Patreon-exclusive material from an artist to upload to the sub (even though one of the rules of the sub was “no paywall content”), so that alone earns 4chan its spot on this list.

Tumblr

Yes, not even Tumblr is innocent. Although I’m sure you knew that. Similar to what I said about Twitter, look up any blog named after a fictional character and it’ll likely be chock-full of unsourced fan art.

“Why is this even important?”

Because if an artist sees that their work is being reposted, depending on the artist, they may delete the original post when they wouldn’t have to if people had just respected their wishes. Now, if an artist wants their works gone from the internet for other personal reasons, that’s up to them and we should respect them for it. But artists taking down their works due to mass reposting is 100% preventable, which is why it’s sad. If you don’t respect an artist, they won’t create art. Simple as that.

“Why do you care so much?”

Eh, I’m just weird like that. It just ticks me off when anything online, whether it be art, or a video, or whatever, is lost. In my opinion, nothing hurts more than clicking a Pixiv link on an imageboard and being greeted with “The work was deleted or the ID does not exist.”.

“But lots of western artists forbid reposting of their art too!”

Indeed, that is correct. But while many artists of every nationality and culture frown upon reproduction of their work, it seems only western social media is responsible for reposting art in the first place. I mean, why else do you think Japanese artists are saying “Reprint is prohibited” in English when the rest of their bio is in Japanese? Because English-speakers are the ones reposting.

“But exposure can help an artist!”

Yeah, that’s true...

...but “exposure” doesn’t mean much if those “exposed” to one’s work don’t know or care who it came from.

And if you need even more reasons, look no further than these posts about the same topic by other blogs:

https://cranberrywitch.tumblr.com/post/143456002228/stop-reposting-art-from-japanese-artists

https://thegospelofnagisa.tumblr.com/post/143308182398

https://edendaphne.tumblr.com/post/163117317030/ive-been-wanting-to-make-this-educational-cheat

https://marklightgreatsword.tumblr.com/post/190056977650/discourage-art-theft-in-fandom-in-2020-dont

https://letusrespectpixivartistconsent.tumblr.com/post/92189994896/why-is-this-important

also, not to self-promote but I made a thread on Twitter on this topic about a month ago that you can check out here.

That’s all.

posted Jun 14; last edit Jun 21

[fyrapartnersearch]

M/M Original Mafia RP & Mafia 2 (the game)

THE MAFIA FANATIC IS BACK YA’LL! CLASSES ARE OVER AND ITS COLD AS HELL SO I RATHER SIT INSIDE AND WRITE!! Time zone: Pacific Time. If RPing smut, are you of legal age in your country?: Yes, 23 What characters do you have/play?: A 24 male character. What characters would you like to play against?: Another original older male character who’s in their 30’s, to early 50’s. (Who is protective over his younger partner? I love this dynamic of “No one messes with that kid on my watch”.). They done have to be in the same branch of familia, mafia if you don’t choose them to be. Hell they could even be an undercover cop, or a rival enforcer I haven’t don’t those one before! I would like a partner with experience, (and usually someone 20+ age). This is heavy more in depth writing, so if your more on the lighter side. This may not be for you. Preferred rp medium: Email, and only Email since it is what I am most comfortable with, I can access it on my phone and reply much easily. Contact information: Feralvolpa@gmail.com I have written this with more than a couple partners but it still remains unfinished or abandoned stories for this RP since it’s created prompt. They either disappeared into the void or some times loss of interest happens over time. Eh, no big deal just keep moving forward haha! In all honestly I just want to finish and finally bury this story! Plot: A 24-year-old marine, a victim of human trafficking as past high-class prostitute is the new recruit in the Italian Mafia. He’s on the run from his pervious owner, needs protection, money and his freedom from his owner trying to reclaim him. Luckily the Don of the Italian mafia sees he’s useful. Even if the new kid will never become a made man in the family because he’s Spanish, the Don can see greatness in this young man who has the potential to rise in the ranks quickly. The new guy gets paired with an old hand, who meet each other again after a near deadly one night stand. The marine finds himself a bit smitten and enraptured with the older man who’s a living legend in the family. They work well together, and have saves one another’s ass more than once. The old pro doesn’t want to admit the kids got an unbreakable will to survive and good with a gun, better with a knife but instead just secretly becomes very possessive, if not a little infatuated over his young charge.  There’s a tenacity to new guy that the older man can’t help but admire. How someone can go through so much yet still rise to one’s feet the way the kid does and still keep fighting. He’ll make sure nobody else forces the kid to relive the past from which he’s escaped. Now things have a chance to change for good with each other at their back. While the new guy works on his own secret motives hiding something he knows from the rest of the family that could give the Don an advantage that could shake the crime world. *Important: You do get a bit burnt out or frustrated when partners only give back two paragraphs compared to your eight-ten paragraph reply. (I’ve learn to lessen my length of replies and dial it back haha). Mafia 2 What characters do you have/play?: A male OC or Vito Scaletta What characters would you like to play against?: Vito Scaletta or an another male oc. I’ll just be so happy someone else wants to do a Mafia 2 RP! I’m undecided which one of us will play Vito Scaletta but that can be decided when we talk. As well as the other characters from the game or original characters you would like to add in also.  Plot will be following the game of course, or if you’d like even post game dealing with the aftermath. (spoilers) I want to see a sad Vito crushed by the loss of Joe, trying to not resent against Leo Galante.  Additional notes: - This mafia RP will be dark and gritty/dark as FUCK with all that beautiful crime world fucked up goodness with dangerous and powerful criminals. - I want a long term partner! (PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE THE TYPE TO DISAPPEAR WITHOUT A SINGLE WORD). At least say goodbye! -Good character chemistry between our character’s ALSO THE BEAUTIFUL power struggle! -I am looking for M/M for the main paring for this RP. With other multi-pairings on the side. We can definitely double and have other relationships in the background. -I stick to 3rd person, past tense, in paragraph/novella style.(I once had someone ask me what “Paragraph writing” was…I couldn’t answer them because I felt that my brain broken in half) - I love well rounded characters and their development, Please have a character with a personality! - I really like to use face claims or don’t mind it if you want to include a picture with your character. Just for the love of god don’t send me anime character references! -I love talking in OOC, its fun to pitch ideas back and forth as well as brainstorm with my partners. -I am highly responsive when it comes to letting partners know if I need more time to work on my replies or if I’ll be busy. I also just love discussing characters and plot outside of the story! Brainstorming creative ideas is something of a talent haha. - I’m the type to give equal effort or even more so for my partners. I will write even 20-something long replies if you give me long and detailed responses in return. I will always be creative with my writing and try to make it very interactive for your character(s). So I expect the same effort back. -let the characters grow and develop, never let them stagnate or never learn from anything, Let them evolve. So none of that plot convince, it’s so boring.  -I won’t nitpick grammar, basic spelling and sentences will do just fine, I’m not a perfectionist and am here to have fun writing. -I love writing smut, if the setting is appropriate. But plot will be the main focus. ALTHOUGH I LOVE ME SOME SEXUAL TENSION AND POWER STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE TWO! - No limits to violence/language/etc. Since this is going to be in the world of a gritty mafia so expect dark themes. What I don’t want: - Half-assed writing.I’ve been RPing more than five years, I work on and edit a lot of stories for scripts classes so I can tell when something is rushed. Please come with at least some standard of your writing.  - THE LACK OF CHEMISTRY BETWEEN OUR CHARACTERS, JESUS DONT FORCE THINGS IF THE FLOW DOESNT WORK. Not everyone can be friends and that’s okay! - Supernatural elements randomly thrown into the story because I did not sign up for that shit. (Also honestly, not too big of a fan on it sorry!!). -A Boring RP with no effort. -All smut - SEME/UKE or Submissive/Dominate stereotypical pairings, (get that away from me).  - To be the one holding up my end of the RP Please for the love of god, GIVE THE STORY PLOT TWISTS!!! - Unimaginative plot lines - The “emotionless” character trait. Its boring, uninteresting, and not at all fun to interact with.  -Sending 4 lines of mostly dialog after I send you 5 to 10 paragraphs, Come on now…Have some depth or details to your writing. Show not tell! Kinks/what I’m okay with: Suit & tie, uniform, light bondage, toys, edging, dubcon, noncon, legal age gap, Spanking, voyeurism, praising. (Maybe a daddy-kink if you fancy it and A/B/O, but if your not one for it then that’s fine. (ask away if you want to include things). Limits: Scat, vore, vomit, bathroom stuff (not into the water sports), underage (no brainer), furries, feet, fisting, talking animals (this isn’t a disney movie), sounding and diaper/infantile. Just please don’t message me with; “Heeeeey do you want to RP???” No? I’m here looking for baking recipes Duh. Hahaha! Or “Hey I saw your ad and think we should be friends!”. No??? Who are you? I don’t know you, and coming at me like that makes me anxious to respond. It just feels so awkward on my end.  And finally if you come asking about this RP and your under 18 but your hoping for a chance because you REALLy like the prompt, my answer isnope!  Your name, introduction about yourself is simple and perfect! :) Along with the character you have to play and plot ideas you might have in mind is just fine! Also include which RP you wish to write for since I’ve posted a lot of ads on here and it gets confusing for me keeping track. I don’t know what someone is referring to when they messaged me; “I liked your RP plot!”…THAT’S GREAT! WHICH ONE?! BECAUSE I HAVE NO CLUES TO THE ONE YOU WANNA DO FRIEND!  I know my ad sounds and looks intimidating or has a serious tone, I’m just trying to put into words what I’m looking for in a writing partner and type of RP I’d enjoy having. I’m really quiet the opposite haha. I’m a really goofy person who gets over excited about stories and get over eager with plot ideas. So if it sounds Interesting or want to talk more about plot and characters, please message me!  P.S. If any of you are non-english speakers or bilingual please do not hesitate to shoot me a reply. I’ve had plenty of partners who were non-native english speakers! :D

[bentchcreates]

Beyond Light and Darkness (Part 1)

This is going to be a two-part blog feature because I want to write about the book as a reviewer, as well as the experiences I had as one of the authors of this wonderful work. Also, fair warning that this is gonna be a long-ass post because I am on a roll. Haha.

Before BLaD

Let’s start from the very beginning, just a brief intro, for context. LOL.

Kath Bute (https://www.wattpad.com/user/kathbute) is actually a group of writers on Wattpad that bonded over the community forums a few years ago, and decided to collaborate and release an anthology of stories we wanted to read.

I was actually the last Kabute to join the first anthology, Beyond Fate and the Stars. I don’t know much about the group before I joined; except that they were working on an anthology based on the 12 Chinese Zodiac (with an assigned emotion) and they were short of one writer to do the Ox. I was very new to Wattpad then and basically just happened to be active in a forum for Filipino Writers, so they asked if I wanted to contribute. And I did. It was one of the first few times people actually asked me to write a new story.

After a few weeks I came up with Seek the Ox, Find Happiness (https://www.wattpad.com/183607408-beyond-fate-and-the-stars-self-published-seek-the) and in the summer of 2016 we had a book! My very first printed book! It wasn’t until MIBF that year that I got to meet my Kabute friends in person for the first time but it didn’t feel weird at all, kindred spirits and all that. (@AlaraChan & @lunatrix)(http://bentchcreates.tumblr.com/post/151133454706/bentch-at-the-37th-manila-international-book-fair )

As originally planned, printing BFatS was solely for us to have a physical book with our names and stories on it, a dry run. And while we might’ve discussed eventually making it available for selling, logistics and other business matters were tougher to figure out once the book is done. (We’re still trying to figure out if this is possible. Hehe.) But we wanted to do it again, and we wanted to do more this time, so we decided to take another shot at a second anthology, with selling the book as part of the plan from the very beginning.

The Stories

We tried our hand at a little bit of indie publishing. We had reviews that helped us with things to improve. We learned a lot from the first take and we had a clearer vision on what we wanted to become of this. The instructions this time was almost similar to the previous one: write whatever genre you want but there will be assigned prompts to follow and a sub theme of light or darkness. Even the interpretation of these themes was free for the author to make his/her own. 

I got “A broken wristwatch, peppermints and a hug that goes too far” and in the ‘light’ subtheme. I had finished an NA romance manuscript by then and I got off easy. Others who got perky prompts and then a ‘dark’ subtheme were a little more challenged! Hah!  

*Artwork by Trix Luna. My story prompts are here. ;)*

It was quite fun to write. And in the weeks that we were planning this second anthology, my inbox were constantly filled with book ideas; as well as funny messages (and abs!) from friends that were miles away from me. We talked about the book, and then about our personal writing projects, and cheered on each other when the writing gets tough. The friendships I’ve made with this book has got to be the best payoff in this journey.

Anyway, we also decided to open the proverbial doors for two more stories – two new bloods so to speak – so in June 2016, we called for short story submissions for the anthology. Four official entries were screened in anonymity (there were 5 stories, but we later found out @RK Sanchez should’ve already been part of Book 1 so she got in) and it was what I would say was the most challenging part of this. As an old Kabute (heh) and judge, I had a hard time choosing only two over four wonderfully written stories. In the end, I had to choose those who have showed the prompts more creatively and whose stories have captured our hearts. We welcomed @Nigel Libranages and @Raine RIllera into the fold. :P

With the stories and authors completed, we set out to editing, and because we didn’t have a professional editor, nor the funds to actually hire one, we did it ourselves. Around 14 pairs of eyes went through all the stories and different people who wrote different genres offered advice and suggestions for the improvement of our stories. It was team-effort every step of the way.

*My review copy with all the original members’ stories after I was done with my first run through. heehee.*

Development Hell

Development hell or development limbo is media industry jargon for a project that remains in development (often moving between different crews, scripts, or studios) without progressing to completion. 

– Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_hell)

We were 14 authors whose writing were more passion projects than actual dayjobs so when each of us got a little busy in the real world, the book got lightly shoved in the backburners. Some authors weren’t able to finish their works and to this day, we’re still waiting for them to release them (*wink wink, fellow kabutes!*) Most of us had a lot on our plates, I for one had to uproot and move back in to my parent’s house, and completing a book seemed like a huge task to strike off our To Do list.

I also had fears. Being a writer who could sell his books had been a big dream of mine and when felt like I was so close to grasping it, I feared it wouldn’t be as amazing as I hyped it up to be. I had to process it for a while, to learn more things about the industry, and ultimately, about myself, before I could fully commit to taking the plunge. And when I felt I was almost ready, I did it. I can only speak for myself but knowing I wasn’t doing this on my own, that I had friends with me, achieving our shared goals together, helped quell those fears. I’m still afraid, I have to say, but it’s more manageable now that I’ve got all these lovely people behind me, as I to them.

It took a few more weeks before we got our fire back (some slots had to be refilled with new stories, we had to hold a small face to face meeting to iron out everything) and when we got to see the artworks for the cover and the genre divisions, the excitement was renewed. I almost missed the cover reveal but when we all saw it, we knew that beauty had to be shared to the world.

*BLaD F2F meeting with Bebe Kabute Irina Jean and the secret agents again! heehee!*

*BLaD Cover reveal (art by @RK Sanchez) and this pre-order promo graphic is by @Johanna Lee

At this point, Summer Feels had been launched and I got to be part of the promo team on social media so what I learned from that I pitched in. In no time, we had a solid contract, a promo schedule, a pre-order form, a slot at #FilipinoBookFriday; and a launch date. @Lunatrix and @AlaraChan were sending us updates on what the book would look like, printing schedules and all. I was so excited I have picked clothes to wear on the launch weeks before. Haha!

*#FilipinoBookFriday promo graphic. Hosted by me and @Johanna Lee 

BLaD Book Launch

What we called the book launch was just going to be a small author get together, a meet-up to see each other, collect our books and have a small meal together. I thought about working on an invitation, a graphic I could print out and stick to my journal later, when I found out Trix already made a Programme (so HYPED, I’m telling you!) and we had activities to really set off our baby to a great start.

On November 30th 2017, we met at the CBTL in Trinoma where we rearranged tables on one side of the café as if we got a reservation (We didn’t. They don’t so reservations. Or maybe not for an event as small as ours. hah). We chose that venue because it was sort of a midpoint for where the authors were coming from; Baguio was the farthest point from the North and Laguna in the South (Okay, if we count Australia as the farthest point in the South, then we’re screwed because the midpoint is probably in the middle of an ocean. XD).

We started with a short Kath Bute intro and welcome remarks from Ate Kabute; and then all authors got to introduce ourselves (we introverts get all weird introducing ourselves to people we’ve been talking to for months online!). We got gifts and goodie bags from our artist Kabutes; I even got to do an unrehearsed live-reading of The Time Banker! And then we got to the Q and A part where we got to know more about everyone else.

We also got to sign a ton of the first batch of the print books. Seeing the book for the first time is just totally amazing (the cover is more beautiful in person) and seeing stacks of it together before they are eventually distributed is even better. I took a lot of pictures of the beautiful books and forgot to take pics of the people, haha!

It was such a fun experience, and knowing it had been possible because of this dream we all had, that we were now making into a reality, is priceless. I got to write, I got new friends and now I got a new book! There was hardwork, and I know the others worked harder than I did, but we can all say it is worth it.

What’s Next?

I don’t know how to end this blog. Haha. I rambled on and on about recent history and yada, yada, blah, blah, blah, but now I don’t know what my parting message will be. Classic Bentch! Haha!

I guess I’ll leave you with a link to order our book because now I know you’re itching to get your hands on it: http://bit.ly/BLADBatch2 (Batch 2 is set for printing in January, so delivery dates might be late January-early February)

We’re processing an e-book version for international release so watch out! (Naks, ako yung in-charge dito, so good luck to me. Wahaha) And we’ve discussed the initial phases for Book 3! No further announcements, thank you! Haha!

I think it’s also better to end with a thank you to everyone who has made this possible.

My fellow BLaD authors, thank you for sharing your talents – writing and editing AND artistic skills – especially to Mama and Ate Kabute who started all of this and pushed us to bring our collective best to the world. To my other author friends, who showed support by cheering on us and buying our books!

And to God, because this is your design. Thank you.

 *next part will be my review of BLaD as a reader. It will be biased because, you know, I wrote the preface (not-so-humble-brag!) and is currently in charge of promotions, but it’s a GREAT anthology, 500%!  

[jewelridersarchive]

November Update

Hey Jewel Fans!

Did you have a Spooktacular Halloween? We hope you dressed up as a magic character and had a great time!

We also wanted to remind you of our Design-A-Unicorn Artist Challenge! You have the opportunity to design your very own unicorn (and jewel pairing if you so desire)! Remember that you can design from scratch or use the coloring pages provided on the Artist Challenge page as a template. We can’t wait to see the fans’ creativity! And remember, submissions are due by 12/10/17, a month from today.

November brings us some more site updates, including several new episodes of the second season uploaded to our YouTube channel. Since our late October Update, we’ve had Jewel of the Sea (one of the most enduring popular episodes of the show) along with Trouble in Elf Town and Mystery Island. As always, you can find both the International Starla and French Starla versions of these episodes on our YouTube channel as well.

For many of the fans who lived in the United States during the show’s airing on broadcast television know, Mystery Island was the last episode that we saw. Many of us spent those pre-internet years in the dark, believing that Gwenevere, Tamara, and Fallon’s adventures never had a conclusive ending. It seems hard to believe in 2017 that there was a time when you might not know the full episode list of your favorite show. Many fandoms went through the process of piecing together fragmented episode lists into a cohesive whole. Read Ronnie’s personal memories below to look through a window in time!

“For me, “Mystery Island” is an episode that brings memories of mixed feelings to mind. The thing to note is that for Chris and I this was the last known episode for many years. So to our 10 and 11-year-old selves “Mystery Island” was the season finale. In the United States, “Mystery Island” was the last episode to be broadcast during the initial 1996 run. For me in my own way of coping with the fact that my favorite TV series had gone off the air, I tried to connect the occurrences of the episode to create a finale in my head. While Drake and the rest of the pack were absent, all three girls were present in equal roles, Tamara’s babies were all there (although Shadowsong wasn’t present), Kale, Morgana, the two Dweasels and Grimm were there, and the girls even transformed into mermaids! Did that one fact make it OK for this to be the last episode for me? Perhaps. But like so many other second season episodes, this particular episode was in my opinion “less than” due to the appearance of a rather ridiculous and annoying character like Snowball. Did it seem that every second season episode had to have one of these? How is it that the first season pulled off guest appearances so well, but the second season is riddled with missed opportunities!

After the “Mystery Island” release, the show would be re-released in syndication during the earliest morning programming. Moving from an 8:00 or 8:30 AM, I can’t be certain of the time, to 5 AM and 4:30 AM time slot! While Grandpa was recording the episodes for us in the United States, my Dad was recording the episodes in Canada. He gave me both the first and second season of the recorded episodes on VHS as Christmas gifts during 1996 and 1997. If you read more about my life story in the about us section, you might understand a little bit more of the context of this particular part of the story. When I received the second season VHS at Christmas, it was quickly taken away from me and hidden in the closet. Ironic isn’t it… I honestly can’t remember whether I had even had the chance to watch the VHS or if it had been so quickly taken away that I didn’t get to see all the episodes. But the Canadian recordings had several episodes that for one reason or another, we did not have from the American broadcast. For one of the episodes in particular, “Jewel of the Sea,” I was so excited to find listed on the episodes that my Dad and Stepmom had been able to record for me! As you may know, both Tamara and mermaids are a love of mine, and this episode blended the two together perfectly! I must have already anxiously asked my parents if they had episodes reaching beyond “Mystery Island,” but in receiving the video tape, my suspicions were confirmed when the last episode they had recorded was just that. Did you ever see notification of why the series was canceled? My Stepfather probably made up this story, but he told me that he read that a popular television show (Jewel Riders) was canceled due to copyright. Or was it there wasn’t a good reason why it was cancelled… note to parents – although you might think that by telling your children little white lies you’re helping, they will remember them! And apparently confuse them two decades later.

A few years later, Stormy – leading mistress of the Jewel Riders fandom and queen of the Avalon website – advertised that she was able to send a VHS with the final episodes to anyone who wanted one. On the list were three episodes that Chris and I did not know existed – the final three episodes of the series! We must have been around 12 and 13 at the time. So this was about three years after the initial syndication dates. We excitedly got our few dollars (Note from Chris: we sent CASH through the mail haha) together and mailed them to Stormy, and within a couple of days received a VHS in the mail. This was our holy grail! The conclusion of our favorite animated series. What were these episodes to contain? What was going to happen to our beloved team of intrepid adventurers? You too will discover in the following three episodes we are very proud to share with you!

On a sidenote, in asking Stormy these so many years later about the episodes, unfortunately it isn’t known where these final episodes came from. Did these episodes release in your hometown in syndication? To our knowledge, these episodes were never released in North America. So we are very lucky to have the original Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders audio. Again, these are a copy of a copy… of possibly a copy. So while the audio quality might not be the best, we are very fortunate to have the audio track as the original creators intended to release the episodes.”

This brings us to the final three episodes of the show, which form a sort of trilogy. “The Fortune Jewel,” “The Spirit of Avalon,” and “The One Jewel.” You can tune into our YouTube channel every Friday starting 11/17 through 12/1 to see the final three episodes of the series, presented with the Princess Gwenevere audio track in a widely available release with the best possible picture and sound we have available.

Compiling these episodes – particularly the Princess Gwenevere version, which is our childhood version of the show and has never been widely available online – has been a challenging labor of love. As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to say how thankful we are for all the support, comments, and shared memories as we’ve talked Jewel Riders for almost two and a half years. We hope you’ll join us as we see the final (?) nostalgic adventures of the Jewel Riders on screen together.

Friends Together, Friends Forever,

Chris & Ronnie

Read the complete blog at The Jewel Riders Archive! http://www.jewelridersarchive.com/posts/november-update-3/

[getoffthesoapbox]

VK Science II - Odds & Ends

So I thought about it, but I hope my straightforward answers don’t come across as condescending! Aside from being blunt, I try not to write too much, but I guess it’s not a problem now? ’(^_^) In any case, before I get to the next theory I want to respond to some of your points :)

Your answers didn’t come off as condescending at all, don’t worry! You just seemed like a typical science-oriented person wanting to make sure everything was accurate before proceeding, which I completely respect.  (I have a thick skin anyway, and I’m fairly blunt myself though without as lofty a reason, fufu. ;D) But yes, feel free to write to your heart’s content, as long posts are a speciality of my blog anyway!

Pureblood Pregnancy: The reason why I can’t answer this is because Hino has full creative freedom to create whatever duration of pregnancy she would like for humans birthing Purebloods :/ Would you expect it to be longer? Probably. Honestly, though, I already don’t agree with her concept of Purebloods having a range of duration of pregnancy rather than a set time as most other organisms do (O_o)

Teething: This could be another reason why the Purebloods were scattered as I would think that this process would terrify their parents and even lead some to, sadly, label their children as “monsters,” abandon them, and leave them for death.

Well, of course Hino can do whatever she wants with the narrative elements; she could go off the rails (and has) if she wants and we’d be stuck having to try to pretend it makes sense. I honestly found her making the pregnancies 2-4 years to be just a ridiculous method to excuse Yuuki’s teen pregnancy and allow her to give birth in her twenties. I don’t think when Hino originally came up with VK that she ever intended the pregnancies to last longer than the human terms–it’s just that Hino needed to make the accident pregancy “acceptable” to shoujo audiences. This is just my personal theory, but for the sake of the story I’d say that the reason Pureblood pregnancies last longer is probably due to maladapted hormones of some kind that require the fetus to gestate longer in order to fully develop. Originally, before the Kaname magic pregnancy, Hino made it clear in arc 2 that Purebloods had a difficult time conceiving (hence why Haruka and Juri only had two kids despite living 3K+ years, and why the Pureblood numbers were shrinking despite them being immortal). That’s just my current thought from where we are, fufu. Really, though, I think it was just Hino trying to make Yuuki’s unacceptable teen pregnancy more palatable. =P

The Vmpr gene: In regards to your question… I’m not exactly sure since we’re not shown any examples. Not just that, but I intend to view human-turned-vampires (I always wonder if I word this write .-.) from a disease perspective. Based on my theory… I guess they would always code for humans since it’s a disease acquired later in life. In Zero’s case, I want to say that they would be human since the majority of Zero’s genes code for human and, again, I do not view the Level D’s as carrying the Vmpr gene, but… Well, maybe my next theory will help ’(^_^)

My thought was in line with yours that Zero (and any other Level Ds/Es) would code for human if paired with a human partner. Yuuki’s Pureblood would obviously be dominant, which would probably place Ren as a Level C or perhaps a Noble at best. 

Charisma: OHHH (O_O) Yeah, I just viewed those scenes as “hypnotism” rather than “charisma.” I see people’s willingness to listen to and follow Kaname as a result of charisma rather than Rido manipulating (hypnotizing) Aidou - they’re two completely different cases. As far as Yuuki’s charisma, I saw it as how she was primarily raised human and wasn’t sure how to act as a Pureblood princess (an authoritative position), so she lacked the same noble nature Kaname and even Sara exude that would attract others. In short, I think it comes down to how you define “charisma” in VK XD

Well Hino’s notorious for not directly explaining things and leaving things up for interpretation, but she makes a point of having the nobles fawn over Kaname in the first arc that he doesn’t use his charisma against the other vampires, implying that it’s an actual ability (if I remember right; it’s been a while since I’ve revisited arc 1). This would of course imply that his personal magnetism could be amplified to control his fellows (which he actually does when he murders the council). But this is assuming of course that charisma isn’t a social construct that the nobles have imagined due to their historical worship of the Purebloods. If it’s actually just in the nobles’ heads, then we’re just working with natural charm and Rido’s and Sara’s abilities are separate from the charisma. Either way, you’re spot on about Yuuki I think. Either she’s just deficient in charisma because she was turned back into Pureblood later in life, or because the Nobles saw her as human first, they can’t go into worship mode for her. Same results either way I suppose. XD

Mixed Children: …This is a weird title for this point considering how I am mixed LOL XD Technically, I can’t answer this, which goes back to why I was salty (=__=) In any case, I don’t think they would birth humans because vampirism is dominant. Due to the percentage of vampiric genes a Pureblood would be bringing in, it’s unlikely they would have a human child. The only evidence that kind of supports this is that it is implied (to my knowledge, at least) that the rise of the Aristocrats came from the Progenitors mixing with humans, which would follow the Night class’s explanation of the higher levels of “human blood” aka DNA as you go down the hierarchy…

Sorry, I couldn’t think of a better simple paraphrase to cover all the potential pairings. XD Hope I didn’t offend, lol. But okay, that makes sense that the vampiric gene would be dominant, so you wouldn’t have any human children cropping up unexpectedly (unless I guess there was another environmental shift that reversed things). 

NaCl: (  O_o) Ah… But are there Purebloods that have some human blood? Is that why the Kurans are powerful? …Because they have none? Wait… What? UGH that changes everything! This is why I gave up on figuring out the inheritance of genes! X( And in the first place, WHY would the Kurans be the only ones? Huh? Huh?! Did everyone else just “conveniently” die? And I’m not supposed to side-eye that? Yeah, ok, I see you Hino (  T_T) *diffuses in high concentrations of Na+*

Haha, oh no, I don’t think I meant to imply that Purebloods have any human blood, only to question whether or not it was possible for them to birth a human child if the recessive traits lined up right I think? Obviously they’d have no human blood in them as they’d be the purest expression of the vmpr gene, right? Sorry, I got wound up with speculating what the story would be like if two Purebloods accidentally had a recessive human child or if there was a character who was a more human expressing Pureblood/Noble (such as, say, a Noble who had all the traits except no powers manifest, or a Pureblood who had bloodlust but no fangs, or short lived Purebloods, etc.). That was more speculation about where Hino could have taken the story. ;D (See, and here’s where my narrative theory tangenting comes into play, so just smack me when I go overboard, fufu.) But no, I think your theories are right on and it’s not an inconsistency on Hino’s part; it was just me rambling incoherently. XD No need for you to become a pillar of salt over it, methinks. =P

Zero: I’m getting ready to review my theory before sending it in a little bit. Before that, since you’re curious about Zero and I’m sure a lot of your followers are, could you emphasize some special traits of his that are mentioned in the story, so I don’t miss any? I’m not sure I’ll be able to cover them since his hunter genes will play a factor. If I can, I might make it a separate submission. I want to point out that I know that you’ll probably point out Zero delaying his fall to bloodlust and descent to vampirism, but I intend to cover this for Level D vampires in general.

Oh sure! The big one of course is that he overcame the twin curse in the womb, allowing his twin to be born rather than devoured (as vampiric twins are and as hunter twins are due to the vampiric genes they carry). The second unique one is that he can overcome the Master/Servant bond (where a Master can hijack and control his actions). The third, and this is only sort of implied by Takuma during the last battle with Sara, is that he seems to have a sort of weird “Pureblood charisma” effect–where he’s basically to the Purebloods what they are to the Nobles. For some inexplicable reason, they’re all drawn to him/entranced by him despite him being about as low class a vampire as you can get. It’s implied that this is all due to his ability to overcome the Master/Servant bond, but if that was all there was, only Shizuka should be interested in him because she’s his Master. 

As for Zero delaying his bloodlust and his fall, I never saw that as particularly unique to him as Zero (but of course we never got to see a normal person get turned and fall, so we have no idea how long the process usually takes). But given how chill Kaien was about it, and that both Kaien and Kaname seemed to expect “when” it would happen, the process Zero went through in this just seemed to be normal Level D experience in my estimation. Happy to hear your thoughts on this of course, but I myself never saw this as part of Zero’s special characteristics. 

Hunters: I know I said I wasn’t going to address this point, but I did look up some things regarding the hunters. Since the first hunters drank the Hooded Woman’s blood, they didn’t just consume her red blood cells, which contain no DNA, but her white blood cells, which do… Although, someone can double check me on that since I had to look that up. As for what that would do and how that fits into my theory scientifically, I’m not sure, but we know what happens in VK, so meh; we’re already ignoring blood types, so why not? I still don’t understand the science and how it would genetically alter a whole group of people, so that’s all I got for this point.

I didn’t know white blood cells contained genetic info but red didn’t! That’s a fun fact. XD /random nerd 

Well we can just assume that what happened was the Hooded Woman ordered her genes to meld with the Hunters’ legacies so they can pass them on to their children (we know the Purebloods have control over their blood within other people, so we can easily allow for the Hooded Woman to have given the order here, or perhaps the cells just did what they do and took over). 

Thanks for continuing this discussion with me! I’ll send in my next theory soon! Until then :)

I should be thank you for hanging in there with me while I dropped out to play games! =) Will be looking out for your next theory!

[dianamjackson]

(via https://open.spotify.com/album/3lCTd24V0WQtd75GZjDVH0?si=etUwHKqmTSO_Nkjccmt4xw) My latest single is out now on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Deezer, Tidal and YouTube Music! If you like sultry vocals, big 80s drums, grooves with “a little more booty” (haha!), meaningful lyrics, soaring choruses, long guitar solos, breakdowns, beatboxing and absurd vocal effects -- this recording is for you. The two tracks are kind of opposite: the first is almost eight minutes with a traditional structure (well, as traditional as I get), while the second is half as long and 100% improvised (with the exception of the bass, which is the same as that for the previous song, but faster). Bass, guitar and vocals were all the first take and I did no further editing. I loved the energy and craziness of the track and wanted to preserve these qualities by leaving it as is. Vocally, neither track is perfect and I can hear mistakes everywhere; hence I may redo them in future. However, it’s interesting to hear where I was at at certain times in my life, and as always, emotional impact and human frailty trumps technical perfection in my book. And being such a voice-obsessed person, it’s often the vocal idiosyncrasies and faux-pas of my favourite artists that I remember fondly (MJ laughing in Get On The Floor, in Smile (in which his whistling is bizarrely poor!?); Hendrix laughing, coughing, slurring and insulting his audience, and his voice breaking; MJ singing flat in his live recordings and rehearsals... These errors humanise these geniuses, and that’s important. But yeah, if it bothers me too much I will fix it. For me the question is: do the vocals assist the flow of the song, or are they jarring? I intuitively know what adds to the ambience of a song and what disrupts it. This second track I set to footage of MJ dancing at a rehearsal for his Dangerous tour (see previous post) and it fits so well it’s almost haunting. This isn’t the first time this has happened when I’ve done a juxtaposition of his dancing with my music. Clearly we have a very similar rhythmic sensibility or bodily tension that manifests in the rhythms and phrasings that we habitually use (kinda unsurprising given the litany of things we have in common). I say tension, and it really is tension -- born of the suffering and restlessness that we endured in our lives. It’s also likely a result of having been inspired by many of the same (Black and white) artists. I really like the guitar in So Good, especially considering it wasn’t even a take, the guitar wasn’t yet tuned and I was literally just testing out that effect. (This is why it doesn’t flow as nicely as the solos in The Love You Gave Me.) It has attitude though -- shitloads of it. My guitar in this song wants to kill your mama and burn your dad. It’s got the cutting power of Buddy Guy and the melodic decorations of Hendrix and Gallagher. I have the quiet off-stage personality of all these guys, but when I put my guitar on I want to burn things. I was talking with a fellow guitarist the other day who said there was a ‘danger’ to my work -- an unpredictability -- and I agree. There’s definitely something wild about me, almost scary -- and by God, since I watched the video for Black or White for the first time the other day, I can only conclude that MJ is just as scary or even more so. You get why people call him ‘not quite human’ -- it’s like he’s possessed when he’s performing -- completely under the spell and control of an otherworldy force. He always impresses me with his movements, but in this video, he actually scared me. What impressed me most is that he’s dancing to no music. In his poem Dance of Life he describes coming up with movements inspired solely by the moon and the ocean and the night sky when he goes to the beach one night. This was a staggering moment for me because I realised that a true dancer must dance to something inside himself, rather than to something external like music. I know he danced to the washing machine as a kid -- but in this poem he talks about silence inspiring him the most! “And silence is my real dance, though it never moves.” This floored me. The guy brings me things every day. His footwork is brilliant as always, and lightning fast. I love the homage to Gene Kelly’s sidewalk dance in Singin’ In The Rain. His violence smashing up the car and dancing on top of it and touching himself is totally wild and so openly sexual, but the thing he does at the end where he’s massaging his body down from the heart to the sacral chakra, repeatedly -- really scared me. It’s shamanic, hypnotic. He’s screaming in a cloud of steam and it’s the climax of his dance, and to me it seems a ritual invocation of something -- like Dorothy clicking her heels thrice except far more animal -- he’s conjuring something by this repeated movement. This person is yielding fully; he's given himself over to something far outside his own conscious control. The otherworldly force he gives himself over to inspires me to do the same, and fully. True originality can only come from such a quest, I believe. When he got angry after Off The Wall and decided to remake himself, he said “To dig and dig and dig until I find”. When I listen to my vocals on So Good, it does sound at times like I’m possessed. I just get on a certain wave and let it carry me to completely unknown places, and I trust it. I’m curious about where it will take me, and I trust it. This scariness is partly why I used this photo for the album cover: I have lizard eyes and a fixed stare, and it’s scary. The Love You Gave Me I feel your Soul in mine Your hand on my shoulder Your joy is my joy We see with the same eyes You remind me who I am Gave me back to myself You're a part of me This I can't deny The love you gave me Was the love I needed The love you gave me Was the love I never had I will continue what you started Keep your light in the world Dance with the truest joy Let the divine winds blow right through me Follow your bliss, you said I take this seriously Shame is the devil Joy leads to heaven Shame is the devil The love you gave me Was the love I needed The love you gave me Was the love I never had We have been chosen To bring joy to the world I feel your hands on my heart I invited you in after all You're a part of me This I can't deny They took you away 'Cause you spoke your mind But we won't give up And we will win Step into the rhythm Of the universe It's all rhythm It's all sound All freedom Dangerous, yes you were To their regime But the tide is turning And we're winning We have been chosen To bring peace to the world The love you gave me Was the love I never had The love you gave me © Diana Szabo 2019. All rights reserved. The song is about MJ, the heaven of joy and the hell of shame, and there's a homage to Hendrix when he says "All sound, all freedom" at the beginning of a live performance of one of his songs (Voodoo Chile, I think). MJ represents in the world a certain revolutionary ethic -- that of love -- that is very dangerous to the dark elements operating in our world. (Dangerous is also the title of his album and song.) In a favourite quote of mine he says "Make love your weapon to overcome any evil." Military, as ever, he knows that love is the more powerful. I think this is because it's more expansive, and therefore has the power to dissolve and embarrass evil into submission. He doubtless saw himself as a fighter, as I do too. People who see things I feel have a responsibility to show others the way. We fight not with swords and guns, but with understanding, tenderness, innocence and joy.

[goddesssword]

I've actually been tagged for real what is this

Shoutout to @bitchcookies for the tag :0c

Rules: Answer the questions in a new post and tag blogs you would like to get to know better.

Nickname?

I usually go by Garnet (or Brielle on my more feminine days). My real name isn't even close lol. Sometimes people shorten it to Gar. I also know one person who referred to me as Garry Oak. It was something haha

Star sign?

Sagittarius ♐️

Height?

About 5′4″ last I checked.

Time right now?

10:12 AM

Favorite music artist(s)?

Implying I don't just listen to one song on repeat for days/weeks on end lmao. I’m pretty consistently a fan of Owl City, Paramore, and Mystery Skulls, but honestly my taste is all over. Except country I don't really do country my mother blasts it when we get in the car and I lowkey want to die this is why I just take the bus

Song stuck in your head?

We Are The Hearts by EXGF. It's really good I love it. Also currently highkey relatable with some of my Splatoon FCs I think I might use it in the webcomic I'm planning assuming the characters in question are still compatible with the plot once Splatoon 2 comes out :0c

Last movie watched?

Okay I'm gonna be honest I've watched Song of the Sea like twenty times since I first saw it last fall and I need to be stopped

Last TV show watched?

Not including anime? Probably the last round of SU leaks a few weeks ago lol. Including anime, Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon. It's better than I expected from the previews :d

What are you wearing right now?

The jeans and noisywyvern’s legendary bird trio tee that I fell asleep in last night. 

When did you create your blog?

This one in particular? February 27, 2015. I've been around much, much longer tho. The first blog I remember was made in late December of 2013, but I know I had others. Please don't go looking for them. They're bad and the first one I remembered was run together with my ex.

What kind of stuff do you post?

Fucking garbage don't follow me

Do you have any other blogs?

Too many. Most of which I haven't touched in a long long time. Please yell at me to actually get my shit together.

Do you get asks regularly?

Occasionally, but usually not lol.

Why did you choose your URL?

Okay so originally I had the shittiest memeiest URL for this blog under the name of snoo-pingas-usual. It was bad. Anyway my ex’s sister started stalking me and it was creepy so I put up that fake deleted code for a month or two and during that time I switched over to sporj, which was a running joke of a typo between me and my ex. And then Pocket Mortys came out and I was like ‘oh shit I might be able to snag a canon url’ so I went through the list of Mortys I encountered and found which ones weren't taken and thus I became spoonmorty.

Gender?

Demifemale.

Hogwarts house?

Puff as fuck

Pokemon team?

Okay honestly I play through these games too often and with too different rulesets to give a solid one but I will say that in the normal Sun run I last did I had Decidueye, Crabrawler, Midday Lycanroc, Mudsdale, Salazzle, and Lapras, with the event Snorlax on my team up until Poni. However my favorite teammate has to be my first random shiny, my Audino. Listen I will yell about him for days and how he saved me in a Nuzlocke.

Favourite colour?

Blue da ba dee da ba die

Average hours of sleep?

Shrugging noises

Lucky number?

Implying I get lucky lol. I guess maybe 3?

Favourite character?

Okay listen... It’s hard to choose cause like. I have so many faves. But look at Franziska. She could whip me into submission. I would let her kill me. She wouldn't cause yknow. She’s the prosecutor and her father tried that and fucked up horribly but still. I would let her if she did.

How many blankets do you sleep with?

Varies. Recently I've been too lazy to put on another comforter so I'm just sleeping with a sheet lmao

Dream job?

Anything with game design, especially the art and writing aspects.

Following: Too fucking many. 913 after a cleanout the other day.

i don't really have anyone to tag but if you want to go for it :0c