#i’ve had this url for like 10 YEARS!!!!!!

[stressedanime]

if i changed my url would yall know me….

[tophatofdoom]

I’d change my URL but I have too many mutuals I don’t want to confuse

[lingy910y]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

tagged by so many friends @energievie, @gallapiech, @deedala, @mybrainismelted, @sgtmickeyslaughter, @gallawitchxx, @heymrspatel, @burninface & @iansw0rld as you can see work is making me busy lmao

age: 17

location: ny

top sheet, yes or no? nope

how many stuffed animals do you own? around 10 but i only keep my ian and mickey one on my bed lmao. even tho i don’t play with them anymore i’m still sad and sentimental over my mom throwing out so many </3

the names of your pets (and the explanations behind them): no pets

favorite color: red violet

any tattoos? no

how you transport your belongings (purse, tote, hands, pockets, etc.): a backpack for school and a tote for casual items

the last movie you watched: a rewatch of everything everywhere all at once with my sister who hasn’t seen it bc last time she stopped in the middle and i’ve been trying to get her to finish it bc i know she’ll like it smh

how long does it take you to get ready in the morning? 30 mins

favorite weather: 70 degrees, cloudy

relationship status: never been in one

ice cream flavor of choice: (hi face 👀) vanilla

first fandom: mlp:fim 🥹 the juxtaposition between this and shamey lmao

how many books have you read this year? literally only in the middle of one, i think the reason is bc i have too high standards and gets put off if someone gives a bad review 😭

first 4 words of your last notes app entry: "mickey: i attempted to" oh i was reading tsoa/greek myths and was like damn and we thought mickey was unhinged. my dude achilles fist-fought a river god, killed his lover’s murderer, tied his corpse behind a chariot, and dragged him around the gates of troy to the point where his dad had to beg for his corpse and the gods had to step in 😭🙏🙏🙏

and finally, if you had to change your URL tomorrow, what would you change it to? i thought abt darlingian but chani took it before me so idk. i don’t wanna change it tho cause i’ll also have to change all the dead links 🥶

tagging @blue-disco-lights, @jademickian, @doshiart, @mmmichyyy & @ms-moonlight-inn

[transsexual-dandelions]

Weekly tag Wednesday !!

Thank you Kat @mybrainismelted for the tag :D

Name: Dean :D

Age: 18 :)

Location: Maryland

top sheet, yes or no?: nah, don’t care, I got better blankets to use even in the summer

how many stuffed animals do you own?: a shit ton, there’s a gap between my bed and the wall so I just line them up there to fill in the space, plus they make great pillows. Some I can live without, some are dying with me. Id estimate 20 or more?

the names of your pets (and the explanations behind them): if we’re doing just my pets, starting with alive, I have a black cat named Salem we adopted in October so we tried to give her a spooky name. Her name before that was like princess starshine or something? And now to dead ones, I had a cat named sox, bc her fur pattern made it look like she was wearing socks and I thought it was cute. When I was a kid I had a white rabbit whom I named snowball for obvious reasons, before her was a rabbit named furball, don’t remember how I got to that. Other honorable mentions I would not be able to explain: Bailey (dog), mr. jingles (cat), 8 ball (dog), Roxy (dog), Shelby (dog)

favorite color: yellow, which was also my assigned color as a kid, and what people always associate with me

Any tattoos? No, but i plan on some!!

how you transport your belongings (purse, tote, hands, pockets, etc.): depends on where I’m going and what I’m doing but usually pockets, the jacket I always wear has SO many pockets and can hold so many things perfectly and easily. If I’m going out on a day trip I have a small backpack I’ll use, especially for stuff that won’t fit in my jacket pockets (water bottle, extra meds, etc)

the last movie you watched: me and my friend started the perks of being a wallflower the other week except I fell asleep 20 minutes in. Otherwise I’ve been watching psych which has movies

how long does it take you to get ready in the morning?: getting ready itself is a 10 minute affair, waking up takes an hours worth of alarms

favorite weather: anything hot, if it’s below 75F I’m cold, and I prefer it to be 85-95. It’s 91F and I had to fix the pool and I’m living my best life. I love a good summer rainstorm too

relationship status: single but there is a guy I like :)))

ice cream flavor of choice: cotton candy, cake batter, coffee, mint chocolate chip, vanilla

first fandom: Harry Potter

how many books have you read this year?: I don’t think I’ve finished a book but I’ve started some? Most were for ap lit which sucked, “the road” I hate you !! Started “the night stages” by Jane urquhart before school got in the way as it always does. Maybe once my brainrot dies down I’ll read more books.

first 4 words of your last notes app entry: it’s a drawing of me showing different cursive Cyrillic letters to explain why I’m struggling (specifically, cursive о and д )

and finally, if you had to change your URL tomorrow, what would you change it to?: I have absolutely no idea. I used to change my url to have it match whatever fandom I was into but I was moving between them a lot it got hectic so I wanted something not associated with anything. I have a supernatural backup saved, so either that or dandelions-from-Dean, or something else flower related

Tagging !!

@especially-fuk-u @spookygingerr @mickittotheman @jademickian @atthedugouts

@sleepyheadgallavich @mickeym4ndy @em-harlsnow @thirstyvampyr @roryonic @jrooc

@iangallagherisadeadman @iansw0rld @lee-ow @deathclassic @mmmichyyy

@burninface @heymacy @thepupperino @softmick

[sollucets]

tag game for @khaopybara !! thank you for thinking of me i needed the boost 💜

1. why did you choose your url?

my url is from ‘sol lucet omnibus’, a latin phrase that means the sun shines for everyone. a lot of my urls & usernames and whatnot are sun themed, so this is just another in a long line. for a while it was ‘solclaw’ while i was in a werewolf phase. but i dont plan to change it again

2. any sideblogs? name them and why you have them

ahhh…. the secret come out. i guess? i have two sideblogs. @jinjjayo is my kpop sideblog, which i have not advertised having so far but does exist. i also have @solref, which is just where i collect tutorials & other reference stuff.

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

not consecutively, i took breaks, but my first blog was made in 2011. :0 i’ve had three main blogs over the years.

4. do you have a queue tag?

i do! i don’t use it often but i tag things that are queued with ‘ghost post (queued)’

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

the original one, i made because my cousin recommended it to me. we shall not speak of its url. this current one was made when i started seriously writing again (thank u rasmr <3)

6. why did you choose your icon?

i love ayluna. my babygirls. that’s all there is to it lol. im also quite fond of the lil stars i edited in

7. why did you choose your header?

i did a lot of work to edit the scene’s colors for my lfls episode series, so i wanted to keep that and use it for one more gif haha. also i love them terribly

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

it is currently this set of the 3wbf trio doing their puzzle piece hugs, at just over 1000 notes. 🥺 im happy they deserve it

9. how many mutuals do you have?

73! i know this because (and i am aware this is embarrassing) i keep a notes document of my mutuals with names & tracktags, so i counted manually. that is,,, thats a lot of you. i love you all very much 🥹🥹🥹

10. how many followers do you have?

i have just over 900 followers. ._. wild

11. how many people do you follow?

i follow 155 blogs. i try to keep the number down but there are simply so many beloveds.

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

sure lol. ive done textpost edits, and that disney only friends thing, and etc.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

i check at least once a day. usually more though

14. have you had a fight/argument with another blog?

noooo. i never have. i always just blocked people or we drifted apart. i love to block though

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

i think it’s counterintuitive. people don’t like being ordered around, so a lot of folks will instinctively scroll. then the ones you do get are often because of anxiety, so it feels cruel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just ask normally / say please reblog this

16. do you like tag games?

why ask this at #16 of a tag game lmao. yes of course. doesnt everyone love to overshare

17. do you like ask games?

yes very much. it always makes it feel more lively. i try to play when i have the time :>

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

ouuhh, mona @thitiponqs probably, hehe. all member of usergif and gay dot tumblr dot com and everything else. everyone should know mona u.u everyone is famous in my heart though.

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

no! >< it isn’t personal. i don’t have crushes very often. certainly you are all very lovely and cool, and i’ve had mutuals follow me who i had to go scream into a pillow about after for sure, but. it is all quite platonic im afraid 2 say. would still be happy to make out though

20. tags?

i will try! i choose u @markpakin & @lamonnaie ✨

[thealogie]

I loved the seasonal donmar warehouse URL but I was like who IS that anytime I saw it on my own dash. I’ve had this one for 10 years we’re here forever baby

[themakeupbrush]

I love the content you share, but I’m curious about your username. Why are you called the makeup brush when you just post fashion? No complaints here, like I said, I love your content, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything makeup related on this blog. I’m just curious as to the reasoning behind your username.

I’ve honestly been counting to see how long it was before someone asked this I started this page over a decade ago with the intention of it being a makeup page (let’s be real: I really wanted the free makeup PR and event invites influencers were getting) unfortunately, the makeup influencer space was pretty saturated, even back then.

Over time that bled into posting backstage pictures of makeup from runway shows, then following certain models/victorias secret angels who were frequently in those pictures, and then to fashion content.

I typically try to prioritize makeup/backstage pictures, but in recent years those have become MUCH harder to find than they used to be. I don’t really delete anything from this page except personal posts, so you can actually see the change in content over the years in my archive. It became harder to find backstage/makeup pictures probably 4-5 years ago.

Should I probably have changed my username along the way to better reflect the content I post? Probably, but everything I’ve done to run this page has been setup around this username and one thing I value above all when it comes to this page is consistency so I don’t really see myself changing it. Case in point: I’ve only had 2 profile pictures on this account

From time to time people still ask me makeup related questions or for makeup content just based on my url, which I’m more than happy to answer.

TLDR: it was supposed to be makeup related, but I got distracted and content got limited over the course of 10+ years

[oneofthosecrazycatladies]

I’ve had this URL since I first started this blog 10 years ago and now I kinda feel like I want to change it…

[greatyme]

tag game 🫧

thank u @markpakin for the tag!!! :D

1. why did you choose your url?

bc I am a canker sore girl (an intak fan lmao)! But why did he also lowkey come up with a fire gender like yes… canker sore of a girl…. splendid…..

2. any sideblogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

@lwjenthusiast is my cql/mdzs sideblog I made after I started reblogging so much cql on main that I wanted a blog for it lol. I like it for organization n whatever. @biantianyang is my beety/tgcf sideblog for tgcf & beety purposes hehe (I think I’m more active on here than the other one lol)

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

For this blog, since august 2019

4. do you have a queue tag?

Nah

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

I used to stalk the druck tag without a blog and I wanted to get involved!! Once a skam acc always a skam acc…

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

It’s an iconic photo of ffv era Hayley!! I need everyone to know I’m a paramore fan too lol

7. why did you choose your header?

It resonated a lot with me. I’ve had it for years. It’s just a little quote from a book I love, grief is the thing with feathers. And I will Never move on. It’s one of my last acts of love

8. what is your post with the most notes?

I’m pretty sure it’s a post I made before only friends aired joking abt the type of product placements they’d have. Every time someone likes it I’m reminded of how they failed me via NONE OF IT tho. That show Needed some product placement BAD imo

9. how many mutuals do you have?

I counted once and it was maybe like 30 something…?

10. how many followers do you have?

I like the anonymity of this on tumblr so I shan’t say hehe

11. how many people do you follow?

138 and sometimes I think it’s too many lmao

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

Hell yeah brother

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

A Lot… countless times probably……..

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

I want to say no but like also maybe…??? If I did it was a long time ago tho

15. how do you feel about 'you need to reblog this' posts?

Extremely inconsiderate to people with ocd. They’re so guilt-trippy I hate them. I refuse to/do my best not to reblog them on purpose if I see them

16. do you like tag games?

Ofccccc <3333 hehehe

17. do you like ask games?

Yessss these too!

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

Omg idk… all my mutuals r famous in my Heart (is this too corny lol)

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

Hmmmm not literally noo

20. tags?

@pondphuwin @thisonelikesaliens @charles-edwin @loserlesbianongsa @iliketodecompose @brightokyolights @celestial-sapphicss @icouldhyperfixatehim (if u want/if u already did this I’d love 2 see it hehe)

[campgender]

So I say this with all the love and respect in my heart- I understand you feeling isolated or othered by people saying “men dni” on posts/blogs that you relate to, but fairly regularly complaining about it publicly from the standpoint of the man who is being asked to not interact, has a very “not all men” smell to it that makes it hard to like, empathize with the very real issues underneath this particular phenomenon. Also, in a very real moment of honesty, I think you know that you- tme bigender high femme fagdyke- are not the man in question that women don’t want to interact with. I don’t mean for this to come across aggressive or insincere, I just think it might be beneficial for you to reframe how you’ve been thinking about this issue, and it might help you feel less targeted by other queer people who are not trying to attack you.

wait, so i am a real man when it’s sexist of me to complain, but i’m not the real man they mean so the exclusionism i’m complaining about isn’t actually affecting me anyway? okay, got it: my gender is whatever gets me to shut up fastest.

speaking of my silence i’m very fascinated by your definition of ‘fairly regular’ since to my knowledge i’ve made 5 posts in the past 3 months that even reference this phenomenon, all of which except the ask meme response i posted yesterday are & have been unrebloggable due to my rampant fear of being accused of this very bullshit for so much as glancing in the direction of my own experiences!

if you last read those posts when they were made then it makes sense why you wouldn’t remember what i said in the longest of those, back on march 10 (link):

To Be Clear. my issue is not with people having certain boundaries, even when i disagree with the political implications! but i have had the tags “#men dni” and “#men do not interact” and “#men don’t interact” filtered for years, and i have the text “men dni” and “men do not interact” and “men don’t interact” filtered even though tumblr’s filtering system means that also blocks posts that are specifying something like “cishet men” (or even, occasionally, “i’m a man, men dni blogs don’t rb”), unnecessarily blocking posts people would’ve been fine with / happy about me engaging with, out of an abundance of goddamn fucking caution but apparently the burden remains on me to check individual bios before liking + reblogging a post every time i think the op might potentially be expecting me to self-gatekeep out of it.

but of course as you’ve so kindly pointed out the expectation to self-gatekeep is all in my head! never mind how many people reblog my femme posts with a cool url or insightful tags whose blog when i check it out specifically says something to the effect of “trans men this means you too” after their men dni policy. but since i obviously haven’t been thorough enough in my brief sporadic generally filter-tagged vent posts, let me be perfectly clear:

while i may feel a twinge of disappointment over a femme gender meme & frustration over a butch positivity post created by blogs with ‘men dni’ policies, my core issue here is blogs that self-brand as femme/queer/dyke/whatever archivists who are expecting me to gatekeep my access to my own history. that is why i started reading full texts myself & that is why i post excerpts anyone can reblog & that is why my tumblr has been left to run her queue for days at a time while i try to resolidify myself in the arguments of four decades ago instead.

so thank you for the reminder that no amount of self-censorship is enough 💖 i’ll try harder to stop playing this rigged game 💖

[choicesficwriterscreations]

CFWC Writer of the Month: the-pale-goddess

Each month CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers, and this month’s writer of the month is @the-pale-goddess! We hope you will enjoy learning more about her and her work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog: the-pale-goddess Blog Masterlist

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

I downloaded Choices in an extremely terrifying moment of my life in late 2019. I was seeing the ads everywhere and thought that this game might serve as a fairly decent distraction. Well, I wasn’t wrong skfjksjfk 

I’m not sure which one was actually the first, but it was either the default TRR or Save The Date promoted at that time. 

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

My obsession with Open Heart and Ethan Ramsey tied nicely with the release of the second book in 2020. The lockdown allowed me to explore this fictional world further, so I started looking for more content. I found the legendary Denise, aka @justanotherrookie, while lurking on IG. That’s when my long-forgotten Tumblr account came to my mind, and I logged in with the intention of scrolling through the tags to satisfy my EJR thirst.

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

Oh, dear…It’s very silly! My skin is extremely pale and I have always been obsessed with music; hence the combo. 

Fun fact: this account is quite old (though still not as old as my tumbroke card; I had like three other accounts before this one), and I was slightly embarrassed to enter a new fandom with my dusty aesthetic blog signed by some ominous name, but decided to go with the flow. Then the-pale-goddess has become my brand, and it was too late for any changes–anyone who has changed their URL knows how problematic blogging is afterward.

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

My first fandom post was inspired by the frustrating ending of the softball chapter AND the first hiatus announcement…It didn’t age well. As we all know, Ethan & MC didn’t ‘talk about it.’ What’s more, we had to survive a long OH drought before PB decided to resume the second book. 

Three years later, the very same shitpost is still the most popular Choices post on my silly little blog lol

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction?

3 years, fanfiction is my pandemic baby! Though I’ve been writing since I was a kid, it was mostly poetry and never in English. But as time passed, I got more occupied with my teenage life and eventually lost motivation to write. That old passion resurfaced several years later, at the beginning of the pandemic. Apart from the obvious need for distraction from the COVID situation, I was frustrated that my English skills were getting rusty, so I decided to dive in. 

6- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to write about?

No surprise here: Open Heart (the first book) and Open Heart 😂 I never tried writing about any other Choices book. 

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were writing it today?

Miami Heat aka my smutty Miami AU. The concept is brilliant, but the execution…Yikes! I often think of rewriting the entire thing because the writing is amateur at best and my inner perfectionist cringes whenever I think of this mini-series.  

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

It all depends on my mood, so here’s a list of my favorites!

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be but found could use a little more love?

Cabin Fever - apparently this 69 plotless smut is iconic for some reason? I don’t really get the hype. It has an insane amount of kudos on ao3, my other fics can’t compare lol 

Burnt - Book 1 mutual pining E&T classic and one of my absolute favorites (we’re talking top 3); it could definitely use a little more love!

10- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? 

I’ll shock you all and say that I wish I could write fluff for the rest of my life kjgkdgjkdf But since I suck at it, I’d love to be stuck with angst and a dash of smut. 

It’s probably a sad thing to admit, but I feel the most comfortable while writing angst. The realism of pain and the emotions that follow are simply very familiar, and it’s easy for me to conjure up a creative image to match the idea. Besides, there’s so much to explore in the angsty realm: all the flavor, nuance, layers, and symbolism. The possibilities are endless!

Smut doesn’t need an explanation, does it? I live on the thirst street 🤡

11- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

I do. That’s probably why Open Heart got me sucked right in–OH MC felt very real and relatable, I couldn’t help but see bits of myself in her. Though we share many traits and experiences, Tiffany definitely isn’t an extension of me. I poured my heart and soul into this woman, but she has become her own person and I try to avoid self-projecting into her character unless there’s a clear purpose. 

12- What element of writing do you struggle with most?

Recently, I have been struggling with writing in general lol The internet is ruthless!

My biggest issue is that self-loathing perfectionist who doesn’t let me enjoy the process, nothing seems to be good enough for her, and that attitude dims my motivation and hinders creativity.

On a more technical note, I absolutely suck at describing basic movement. I could churn out a long essay on a character’s internal struggle explaining the most complex emotions or a 4K elaborate smut, but when it comes to finding the right words to portray the simplest action, like walking down the stairs or setting the scene for an early morning conversation at the hospital, I feel lost kdhdkhdkdb 

13- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

Pretty much all of my WIPs are neglected 🤡 But here are the most important projects I’m hoping to finish at some point in the not-too-distant future: 

Home With You AU

Past, Present, Future

My Way Home Is Through You

14- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? 

Since fanfic is based on an existing work of fiction, and the core plotlines and characters should be well-known to the readers, I guess it could be a tedious and confusing read for someone who isn’t involved in the fandom. But then I have received comments from people unfamiliar with OH who have stumbled upon my fics and gave them a chance, so maybe I’m wrong lol 

I like to think that I would be okay with sharing my works with someone I know and trust in real life, but let’s be honest: my crippling anxiety would stop me ksjfkjssd However, if I were to pick a fic rec, I’d choose Heaven Upside Down AU because it doesn’t need an extensive OH knowledge. Plus, I’m very proud of this series.

15 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing? 

While I try to keep my writing style unique and simply mine, there are three lovely ladies who had a huge impact on my writing journey:

@writinghereandthere (aka an actual genius and my writing role model) was the direct source of inspiration behind my fanfic revelation. I fell in love with Ethan and Mariana, Ana’s beautiful prose, her wit, unparalleled talent, and fantastic characterization. Her writing changed the trajectory of my life. Though she left the fandom long ago, her masterlist is a must-read for everyone, trust me! (Ana, if you’re reading this: I miss you more than words can convey. Sorry for the spam I leave in your inbox every now and then skgjksgjk Hope to hear about your original work soon ❤️)

@starrystarrytrouble & @terrm9 - these two literary geniuses have inspired me to follow my own writing path and develop a distinctive style. Their masterpieces offer poetic, raw emotions, encouraging me to allow myself more creative freedom. I’m in constant awe of their unmatched talent and come back to their works whenever I want to feel things ❤️

16- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? 

Can I have all of them, please? 

I would pay all my money to watch a TV series based on my canon OH plotline…I’m not kidding, I even made a bunch of Netflix edits because I need it in my life. On the other hand, my precious AUs would look amazing on the big screen! The most scrumptious one still hasn’t left my head though, so you have to trust me–the cinematic potential is truly there kdgjkdgjk 17- Do you write original fiction? 

I have a few ideas, but they’re so complex I’m stuck on the outlining phase. Mayhaps one day?

18 -  What other hobbies do you have?

I’m a certified music freak and a cinephile. I practice destroying male egos on a daily basis. I love photography, niche sports, playing with my dog, lifting people’s moods, random unhinged facts, and ignoring reality, and I have just entered my skincare expert era. 

19 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

🥰 + ✨ + 💀 

These three emojis perfectly encapsulate who I am as a person, I think: full of love and magic, but also dead inside ksjgksjgks 

20: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to)

I’d like to thank our lovely admins for giving me this exciting opportunity to ramble about my tiny corner on this hellsite and showcase my word vomit. My heart is full of gratitude! I may not be as active as I used to be, and real life doesn’t allow me to change that, but our fandom will always have a special place in my heart, and I feel very lucky to be a part of this community. Thank you for still putting up with me and supporting my fictional world ❤️❤️❤️

[eldritch-muppetshow]

onceler askblog digital horror/arg brainstorm session, go

(tw: implied suicide ideation within the story)

(also major spoilers for an arg that doesn’t exist yet and may not happen. i’m not super concerned abt spoiling people though, because in the end i want to get this idea out there somehow even if it never fully materializes beyond these notes)

story

- have “starting point” be a fake blog planted into the onceler fandom as an “archive” of old fandom content, with particular interest in a since-deleted blog that no one can seem to find

- set up the “lost” blog with a url that makes it seem like it’s been deactivated. it’s not, but it’s password-protected so that no one can access its contents right off the bat

- have the fake fandom blog rb select posts from the “lost” blog, hiding the horror content until people unlock it by finding and entering the password

- hide hints of the password to the “lost” blog in the fandom blog’s content

- The reveal is that the onceler featured on the “lost” blog is in fact still alive (probably with some body horror-laden imagery bc you know me), still aware of everything after 10+ years and desperate for reprieve but unable to truly rest in any material sense. at this point, the setting and plotline of the blog has withered away to nothing— all that remains is the main character, driven mad after losing everything he knew + understood, being isolated for over a decade, and yet still persisting after everything around him is gone

- the players’ new goal is to find the password that will deactivate the blog. lots of dramatic irony in how the featured onceler seems to believe it will put him out of his misery, but the reader knows it will not fully “release” him in the sense of erasing him from existence— he will still live on in other people’s memories and reinterpretation of the character. leave the reader uncertain if he is truly “free”

- tie in the horror of the persistence of an idea/art; the idea that you can’t fully “kill” an idea once it’s out there, the horror of being permanently defined by/praised for art that you aren’t proud of— and the persistence of a character beyond what you wanted to set as the end of their “life” under your writing

what is this project trying to say (if it’s meant to say anything at all)?

- basically an elaborate commentary on death of the author in fandom and the persistence of ideas, through the lens of a fanon/au character as a sapient being. the loss of the setting/characters surrounding the “lost” onceler is one big metaphor for how popular au characters in fanon tend to lose the context surrounding them as people only make content for a single popular character— and in turn, they only remember that character

- (could also be commentary about how almost nobody gives a damn about the rest of the 2012 lorax movie outside the onceler, but eh)

- a pretty interesting thought exercise i’ve had is: can you name the original creator of underswap? what about the creator of underfell? or the heroic au in the villainous fandom? i’m sure there’s someone reading this who does remember, but my point is: these aus and characters persisted long after the creators’ involvement with their respective fandoms, and they’ve shifted enough from the original author’s intent that if you ask a couple fandom members “who are these characters”, i guarantee they’ll all have a slightly different answer.

- despite how the project is written, the intended message isn’t necessarily “we need to stop using characters/aus FOREVER if the creator stops being involved with them”. i consider the dark aspects of the story moreso a byproduct of its status as a digital horror story (and my own fears as an artist) rather than a deliberate condemnation of fanon persisting after the creator stops their involvement. because there are cases where the creator willingly gives their art to the community, or is otherwise fine with people continuing it in their place

- also i’m gonna have to set up a fuckton of blogs for this if i’m gonna make this a fully-immersive experience and not rely too much on the suspension of disbelief lol

[hashtagloveloses]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Thanks....

the issue here is i have a recency issue. they cycle out depending on what i’ve consumed recently. so ill forget a blorbo and be sad about it. also i have a predilection for sad little bisexual guys so it’s very skewed

1. one of my OGs is will parry from his dark materials. he’s of that type of male character that is relentlessly kind shonen protagonist who keeps being forced into violence but doesnt want to. also the original book boyfriend next to percy jackson. 12 year old me was obsessed. i loved prince caspian and half the narnia boys for the same reason, and when i watched fullmetal alchemist this was why alphonse elric was my favorite elric brother. (this is also why i love yuji, tanjiro, and deku very dearly)

2. probably one of my first blorbos of all time was elphaba from wicked, hence my old URL. reading that book too early changed my brain chemistry. area leftist of a marginalized identity maligned by society and also bisexual as hell. she will always be my first and forever girly. you can imagine what happened to me when i met wei wuxian, who is essentially the same character. i went nuts

3. the funny little bisexual man who covers his pain with humor and cares so deeply usually goes on the list. one of my first was and always will be Sokka, but percy jackson fills this role as well as my beloveds, Satoru Gojo, and Vash the Stampede

4. funny little bisexual man who covers his pain with humor and is doomed by the narrative could cover many already mentioned but Nicholas D. Wolfwood remains the pinnacle. he’s very important to me. ive made a lot of posts about him but him representing this existential dread that you’ll die before you find happiness haunts me

5. the secondary villain who becomes a begrudging part of the team for comedy also always is a favorite but Greed from FMA has always stuck with me. an embodiment of one of humanity’s sins finding peace because the thing he most coveted became the love of others and not material wants got my ass

6. i understand there arent many women on this list and while i have favorite female characters in many pieces of media they dont often make the top list, however asajj ventress goes on the list. her story even before dark disciple is one of the best in star wars. as u can tell i have a predilection for evil women maligned in society

7. maul is also one of my favorites of all time. they really resurrected him and made him the most compelling in the narrative. the tragedy that he wont let go even in his last moments always gets me. watching twin suns actually broke me. his story in rebels was airing in a part of my life where i really identified with him as someone gifted yet ignored and thrown away and it got me

8. shocking absolutely no one, while sailor moon is one of my favorite pieces of media of all time and it is largely about women, my blorbo is tuxedo mask, mamoru chiba, the like ONE guy. he’s pathetic, he’s bisexual, and he’s also one of my first anime crushes of all time. more importantly he has been wronged by many adaptations and i must fight for his honor.

9. the Doctor remains ever important to me, especially 9, but them as a character. probably the same as Vash and Xie Lian, the sad immortal character cursed to constantly be alone who doesn’t want to hurt people always gets my ass

10. Rapunzel from Tangled has always been a very special blorbo for reasons i wont share online but that series had my ass in a vice grip for a reason

[body5000]

I love your username and icon the aesthetic just hits

Yayy :) I’ve had this url for like 10 years now… it’s just my fav

[crushingcasanova]

1-50.

who is/are your comfort character(s)? I have a bunch, but Shiver from Splatoon 3 is a pretty big one! The other ones are kind of embarrassing so I’ll keep them to myself >_<

lighter or matches? Lighter!

do you leave the window open at night? I do not!

which cryptid being do you believe in? Nessie!

what color are your eyes? Brown

why did you do that? Do what? >_<

hair-ties or scrunchies? Hair ties for convenience but scrunchies are cute!

how many water bottles are in your room right now? None!

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee? Iced coffee is my favorite, so I guess cold!

would you slaughter the rich? Theoretically I suppose so? 

favorite extracurricular activity? Theater! 

what kind of day is it? It’s sunny and a good day! I have some fun plans so I’m excited! 

when was the last time you ate? Last night! 

do you love the smell of earth after it rains? Yes I do! 

are you a parent? (all answers qualify) I’m the parent of my plushies and nothing else! 

can you drive? Theoretically yes but I don’t have my license yet!

are you farsighted or nearsighted? I have an astigmatism but I’m nearsighted in one eye!

what hair products do you use? I don’t really use much except for normal shampoo and conditioner... sometimes I use a leave in conditioner when I go out! 

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails? I would! They wouldn’t be amazingly done though. 

do you say soda or pop? Soda! 

something you’ve kept since childhood? A certain childhood plushie of mine!

what type of person are you? There are so many ways to answer this... I’m just a very loving but shy person, I guess! 

how do you feel about chilly weather? Good, if I have a sweater on!

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing? Hanging out and doodling together!

perfume/body spray or lotion? Perfume!

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times? Going to a musical with someone I love!

about how many hours of sleep did you get? About 9 hours? I think?

do you wear a mask? I mean, not often. 

how do you like your shower water? Hot! 

is there dishes in your room? Nope! I never eat in my room! 

what type of music keeps you grounded? Splatoon Music!

do you have a favorite towel? Nope!

the last adventure you’ve been on? Probably a little walk and meetup I had with my best friend to go see a friend of mine in a show!

is there a song you know every word to by heart? I have like 14... Vending Machine of Love is the first one that comes to mind!

what’s your timezone? EST

how many times have you changed your url? Just once! 

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years? My theater best friend! I’ve known her since I was 5!

a soap bar that smells good? Irish Spring!

do you use lip balm? Every once in a while!

did you have any snacks today? Nope! I haven’t eaten anything yet today! 

how do you take your coffee? Usually iced and with a lot of sugar and chocolate!

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site? Discord and Instagram, and youtube! 

what’s your take on spicy foods? I like them!

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it? I’d probably pick someone who’s just not a good person... like a dictator of some sort?

can you remember what happened yesterday? Yes!

favorite holiday film? Santa Clause! It’s not very good, but I love watching it ironically. Either that or, for one that I actually like, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation!

what was the last message you sent? “Marigold is listening to my commentary” since Sol is on call as I’m writing these!

when did you first try an alcohol beverage? Never! 

can you skip rocks? Nope!

can i tag you in random stuff? Yes please!

[seancurry1]

Hey, I really liked your article on what the Internet is like in 2024. For many of us the way it is now is all we have ever really known. How did people navigate an internet before Google owned search bars and the same 10 or so sites ran public opinion?

Thanks for the ask, anon! I got into that a little in the beginning of the article that excerpt was from. Repasting here, and I'll elaborate further down:

There was a solid three years in college—maybe even longer—when I literally read every single article on CollegeHumor.com and Cracked.com. Whenever I had some free time (an abundance I was tragically unaware of at the time), I’d type their URLs into my browser bar, scroll down to the last article I read, and start reading. Once I was caught up, I’d check in on a handful of other sites the same way (mostly webcomics, and a few blogs). Questionable Content, Penny Arcade, XKCD, Ctrl-Alt-Del, and, yes, even some more embarrassing to admit than CAD that I’m not going to mention here were all readily-available in my browser bar’s autocomplete. When I ran out of new stuff to read, I’d hit StumbleUpon, or Reddit, or Digg. There were always some new URLs out there for me to uncover, good or bad (and there were a lot of bad ones), and I loved finding them. Please don’t take this as me flexing my OG internet cred; nothing I’ve said here is all that different from the mid-00s experience of any online American goober. I say all this to point out a fundamental shift in how the internet (at least the internet that I’ve experienced, within my social and geographical bubble) has worked over the last ~10 years. Those early days were defined by websites, not social feeds. When I “went online,” I went to specific URLs to see what the people behind them were up to. Sure, there was Twitter and Facebook, and Myspace before that, but those were still avenues to direct traffic to websites, more or less. People went on those platforms (and later, those apps) to be social, not make content. The most “content creation” you’d do on Facebook in those days was upload a selfie or tag all your friends in a party photo from the night before.

Before the feeds, everyone had a website, and you'd spend your online time going from URL to URL to check in on them. If you've ever heard the term "blogroll," this is the time that was from.

Let's say it's 2006 and I have a blog with a bunch of dedicated readers. Somewhere on my blog's page, I would have section dedicated to linking out to other blogs I liked. That was the "blogroll", and before that there were "webrings" which accomplished a similar thing in a slightly different way.

Webcomics were really, really good at this. They organically created a lot of the social infrastructure that earlier internet ran on, and that the later web 2.0 stuff was built on.

After a while, RSS readers became much more user-friendly, and blog owners made their blog's RSS feed as accessible as possible. If you input a website's RSS feed into your RSS reader (RIP Google Reader, we didn't deserve you), then your RSS reader would update.

[Random screenshot of Google Reader I found online. This was Google's take, but all the other ones more or less worked the same way.]

It looked a lot like email, to be honest. And on that note, I think the recent surge in newsletters is recreating that experience, to a degree. I subscribe to over a dozen newsletters, from Substack and other platforms/outlets, and I filter them all out of my inbox and into a separate label. This is a screenshot of my newsletter inbox:

I don't have to log into Twitter, or Threads, or Bluesky, or whatever to get the content I want from the people I want to get content from. I don't have to worry about how the algorithm is sorting it; this feed is always chronological. There's nothing between me and the writers, artists, and other creators I want to keep up with.

With the collapse of the algorithm-driven era*, I think we're heading back to this (or at least, I think we should be). What's great about this is: we don't have to be beholden to the whims of platforms anymore. We can just get the stuff we want from the people we want.

*The algorithms are still very much alive and still very much want you to keep yourself hooked up to their slurry, but they've dropped their end of the bargain. The spell is broken, there's no longer one place that feels like everyone is logging into to talk about whatever's happening on the internet in any given moment. Elon Musk ruining Twitter was the final thing that broke the spell, but it started happening after everyone got mad at Facebook for helping get Trump elected in 2016. Now that everyone's looking for something else to replace what they used to get from algo feeds but failing to coalesce in one place again, that's never going to come back.

So that all answers your question: "For many of us the way it is now is all we have ever really known. How did people navigate an internet before Google owned search bars and the same 10 or so sites ran public opinion?"

But I'd like to focus on the second sentence there for a second. You're right, right now it feels like Google owns search bars and the same 10 or so sites run public opinion. However, that's only because we've all given that power to them. I understand it, and sympathize with it. Creating an intentional presence on the internet is a lot of work, and it's hard to keep up with it as all the services we use to do it change their policies and settings.

I think this straight-to-the-source model would be better for all of us in general, and the best part about it is you can just start doing it for yourself whenever you want. You don't have to wait for a platform to start offering it, just find the writers and creators you want and subscribe to their newsletters. If a platform changes something that puts a wall up between you and the people you like there, doesn't matter. You're following their email newsletter and will still get those emails as long as they keep sending them.

That early internet I described was full of people still figuring out how it all worked, so the gears and inner workings were a lot more apparent and easier to play with. As the internet has gotten more polished, those gears have been covered up and less visible, but they're still there.

In fact, every Tumblr page has an rss feed, just add "/rss" to the end of its URL like this: https://seancurry1.tumblr.com/rss. You could set up an RSS feed yourself, or figure out a way to convert RSS updates to emails. Here's an IFTTT recipe to do it, but I'm sure there are other ways.

The platforms all want you to think the way the internet currently exists is the way it's always been and the only way it ever can be, but all the gears are there if you look for them. You can start ripping the guts out and seeing how it works for yourself, and even make it better.

Anyway, happy to pass on my Elder Internetter knowledge if you have more questions! I think we're at an exciting turning point in the internet where the power to shape our experiences is up for grabs, but it's up to us to grab it.