#idk what to tag this but look new promo

[e1igius]

[ DATA ENTRY ] clearance required. accessing :: HUCKLEBERRY SAWYER , file created 2018. required age verification. [ 21+ PRESS Y / N ]. [ WARNING ] mature content present. rated R / MA.

ELIGIUS , derived from latin eligere "to choose". original character developed over the years by solito. personals dni. all relevant information available on pinned post.

[disturbnot]

             ► RUN

[softspiderling]

✦ . * ocean blue eyes pt. VI | r.c

pairing: rafe cameron x reader

author’s note: introducing yn’s finsta this time🤭 also a little spice? idk you tell me. anyways @zyafics and @ghostofwriting this is for you

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

liked by youruser, rafenjj, rafe247 and 1.311 others

rafeupdates Rafe at a LOEWE event with a fan

view all 219 comments

rafescameron god i’ve seen what you’ve done for others

rafeontopofme Alexa play that should be me by justin bieber

cameronsbby ummmm yn what are you doing here

➞ ynsunshine omg i thought i was seeing things

➞ jjsandrafes ??

➞ rafesgf wdym??

↳ cameronsbby she liked this post👀

↳ rafesgf HUH

↳ ynsunshine SHE UNLIKED IT AGAIN HELP WHAT

↳ kelleigh_leclerc thats crazy😭

↳ raferaferafe @.youruser explain yourself

↳ jjsandrafes NOT U TAGGING HER

rafe247 he looks so babey for a change

rafeonmymind i’ve always wanted to go wherever rafe went

liked by sarbear, jomby, topster and 129 others

nothisisyn mentally i’m here

view all 89 comments

sarbear aren’t you supposed to go into the interview like any second?

➞ nothisisyn what? no. what? no.

papajay if u mess up jimmy fallon i’ll never forgive u

➞ nothisisyn shut up, who asked you

↳ papajay feisty

↳ jomby 🤨

liked by youruser, rafe, jimmyfallon and 98.361 others

fallontonight @.youruser is here to perform her hit single “sunburn”, share her feelings about reaching 1 billion streams on spotify and what it’s like living in Chicago

view all 342 comments

youruser thanks for having me💙

ynalways I knew it

ynsunshine god she ate and she knew it

jimmyfallon such a humble guest

➞ youruser such a good host!!’

whationlylistentoyn she’s doing so much promo what is going on?🤨

➞ sunburninmiami new album???? SINGLE??? SONG???

obsessedwithyn this rafe guy is EVERYWHERE

liked by raferaferafe, raferforlifer, cameronz and 2.941 others

rafeupdates Rafe recently at a diner with family and friends in New York

view all 736 comments

rafe247 okay that’s sarah but who’s “friends”👀

rafesgf RAFE AND SARAH ARE SITTING NEXT TO EACH OTHER BUT WHO’S SITTING ACROSS FROM THEM

cameronsbaby this pic looks so sneaky😭

➞ rafeonmymind right like they can’t even eat in peace😭

raferforlyfer guys chill it’s probably like yn or john b, they were all just in New York for yn’s show

jjsandrafes oh to be on a fly on that wall

samira_johnson

onlyrafes i wish i could randomly meet rafe at a diner ffs

ynsbaby my worlds are colliding if it’s really yn🥹

➞ jessicascorner they have been colliding for a while😭

↳ rafesgf HUH WDYM BY THAT

↳ jessicascorner i mean that sarah, rafe’s sister, has been yn’s guitarist for a while now so the world’s been colliding

➞ ynonly they’re so mother and father

↳ rafesgf are they dating????

↳ ynonly not as far as i know

────────────

Sarah’s phone:

liked by youruser, loewe, cleogriffith and 1.941.103 others

rafe LOEWE on my mind

view all 11.038 comments

kelleigh_leclerc omg the sparkly coat

➞ rafeslegacy it’s called fashion baby, look it up

cleogriffith I like it, Picasso

loewe Model material

❤️ liked by youruser

➞ raferforlyfer is loewe’s insta account run by a gen z’ler?😭

sarahcam looks good ig

cameronsbaby he looks so good😫😫😫

rafesgf Rafe in his active era

liked by youruser, loewe, sarahcam and 842.917 others

cleogriffith had the best time at loewe’s

view all 2.841 comments

youruser im in love

➞ cleogriffith 🤭

sarahcam AAAHHHH!!!!❤️

❤️ liked by cleogriffith

kiecarerra wow🤩

❤️ liked by cleogriffith

hereformisscleo weird way to propose but yes

loewe absolutely stunning!

➞ cleogriffith 🤍

obsessedwitchu imagine looking like that

popeheywardphotography my baby!!!❤️

➞ cleogriffith ily❤️

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

author’s note: 100 points for the person who guesses what’s going on with JJ

[theminecraftbee]

I'm really glad to have found the Hermitcraft fandom here on Tumblr, I've been a long time fan and it's awesome to discover all this great fanart and content and stuff. Any must-follow MCYT/Hermitcraft/Minecraft blogs?

oh gosh, welcome! in general i am BAD about remembering who i follow and who i don't; a great way to find who you want to follow might be to just go through the #hermitcraft tag and follow people you find funny, or, heck, if i reblog a lot of art from a certain artist you like (or not a lot, like one art even), go follow them!

while we're here, a few additional general etiquette rules (keeping in mind that like, this is tumblr, trying to claim ANYTHING is a whole-community norm is basically impossible i am claiming a norm from my specific circle of guys): do not crosstag, only tag things that are actually in your post. don't use the 'minecraft' tag, that tag is for people who like the actual game. (i mean, you can use it if you are posting about minecraft, but not if you're posting about the youtubers). it's generally considered rude to put your crit in the main tags, especially without tagging 'discourse' somewhere so it can be filtered. shipping should generally have a 'hermitshipping' tag on it for filtering purposes as well, but if something is tagged hermitshipping and you're mad about it just like, block them, they did the important part.

the hermits i know of on tumblr (could be more, idk): @/joehills @/pearlescentmoo @/falsesymmetry @/therealdocm77 (not actually active but has the account) @/geminitayyt. cleo also had an account but it is no longer active. also @/inthelittlewood is here and like very active, as is @/askzloyxp and @/quinnhills. as a general etiquette rule, just... act like they're perfectly ordinary tumblr users and continue your business as usual! and don't send them weird asks or anything.

off the top of my head, a few blogs i like, an EXTREMELY non-exhaustive list, find your own guys out there as well you won't regret it! like, you will find the experience you like best just going out there and looking for it yourself! i've absolutely missed a bunch of guys i love, let alone guys you would love! this is like 10 million percent non-exhaustive, i follow 1,570 blogs apparently, many of which aren't hermitcraft or mcyt related, but many of which are, so i just sorta. went for it. and when i was having trouble remembering if a name was a repeat that's when i stopped. so. non-exhaustive list:

@nightshadeowl, @jestroer, @astronomodome, @kingtheghast, @floweroflaurelin, @roenais, @silverskye13, @wasyago, @rusty-courage, @art-by-fate, @silverskye13, @redstonedust, @betweenlands, @sixteenth-days, @judas-iscaryot, @terracottakore, @cherrifire, @antimony-medusa, @hybbart, @made-nondescript, @luigra, @cuteiemonster, @mawofthemagnetar, @potionofinstantdamage, @concorp, @spiderziege, @salemoleander, @bc-jpeg, @magicalmanhattanproject, @simplydm, @12u3ie, @mishapen-dear, @lunarblazes, @girltimeswithscar, @kishdoodles, @quaranmine, @shadeswift99, @bdoubleowo, @quicksandblock, @beacon-lamp, @kikunai, @sideblague, @applestruda, @ingapotejtoo, @belmarzi, @strifetxt

anyway FEEL FREE TO PROMO GUYS OR YOURSELF ON THIS POST TOO! from what i understand we may be getting some new guys sometime soon here from the twitter lands? so it may be helpful to have that for anyone who's looking for new guys to follow!

and most of all: WELCOME!!!

[manysketchbook]

Firffels: the Wuzzles Competitor That Disappeared

Recently, I found this toy at my local thrift store. I thought it was an oddly cute nativity toy, but upon closer inspection the tush tag read "FIRFFELS. I'm glad to be a SHAMEL." I did a quick search online and the first result was this page on Ghost of the Doll, a toy collector's site that archives information about 80s/90s toys and includes a forum where anyone can seek help with identifying toys. This lead me down a rabbit hole of figuring out just what Firffels were: a failed line of toys promised to be the next hot phenomenon, with minimal documentation online and a handful of toys floating around in thrift stores.

Other than Ghost of the Doll, I found info about Firffels in this 2010 blog post by Trish Babbles (written in an edgy, mean-to-be-funny style that I think is too uncharitable, but it was a different time to be online lol) and this blog post by AF Blog. My other info comes from Othello Bach's website dedicated to the book itself (her personal site is no longer functional) and from a handful of youtube videos I found of a Firffels commercial. Many thanks to these sources, without them there'd be like, nothing online about these creatures.

Firffels are based on the children's book Who ever Heard of a Fird? by Othello Bach, first edition published in 1984 by Caedmon Childrens Books (upon Googling, it appears that Caedmon is owned by HarperCollins now and focuses on audiobooks). The story follows Fird, a fish-bird hybrid, as he travels the world to find other firds. Along the way he encounters a goofy, lovable cast of other hybrid animals who have all never heard of a fird. The story ends with fird learning to love his uniqueness and find peace with being who he is. As is apparent in the Amazon link above (not sponsored, just showing my work), a used copy is $86 dollars right now. An audiobook narrated by Joel Grey (an actor that I'm unfamiliar with who is apparently known for his role in Cabaret) was also released on cassette, listed on Ebay for $75+. Luckily, there is a youtube video of someone doing a complete read through of the book, but the camera angle is poor. This is the only visual record I could find online of the interior illustrations by Michelle Dorman, other than a brief look at a few in a low quality VHS promo rip I'll get to in a minute, and the image below from an Ebay listing. There may be a few more photos in some Etsy listings that I missed.

In Trish's blog post they complain that Shamel is an ugly monstrosity and there were a few comments on Ghost of the Doll's forum of the same nature about Shamel, but I think Shamel is the cutest one! It just looks like a new breed of camel, meanwhile Fird in the background here is...he's so cartoonishly goofy. Idk how else to describe him. He's so fuckin' goofy. He'd make squeaky Spongebob-esque sound effects when he walks, I imagine.

The book was allegedly a hit and Remco bought the merchandising rights. They went all in, as is detailed in the 5 minute promotional video below. Based on a cast of 6 characters, plush toys and posable action figures hit the market with a promise that Hanna Barbera would develop an animated tv show starring Firffels, housewares would be made, there'd be a clothing line, and Design-a-Firffel contests would be held. A few housewares seem to have been made and plush toy sewing patterns were released, but I was unable to find evidence that anything else moved forward.

Absolutely fucking insane fact: according to this video, Caedmon Publishing was owned by Raytheon at the time. Thanks Raytheon for these cuddly children's toys and also, uh, horrific weapons of war?

After I bought Shamel, I went back to the store to see if there were more. There were! I found Bertle and Elephonkey, who still had the original tags. I swear the day earlier I had seen a frog toy with butterfly wings but it wasn't there anymore. I remember passing over it and thinking "eh, butterfly wings on a frog aren't cute," and did not bothering even looking at the tags. My mistake. Turns out that toy was worth a decent amount of money and was part of this whole story.

Bertle's pink belly super bright in real life, like neon. There is a sunbleached spot on it's front.

Elephonkey is the only one with original tags. I also included an image of the tush tag. For each toy the tush tag is the same but displays the character's name.

Hybrid animals are not a unique concept. Wuzzles, a line of plush toys that were animal hybrids with wings and likely made to compete with Care Bears, are brought up in most posts and forums where Firffels are mentioned--usually to disparage Firffels as being knock off, less successful Wuzzles. Wuzzles weren't exactly successful either, though they definitely lasted longer and had more reach, likely due to the backing of a Disney/Hasbro budget. AF Blog in 2015 makes a good point that I agree with: it's unlikely that Wuzzles and Firffels were ripping each other off due to production timelines. Toy lines can be in development for years before any information is made public. It takes a long time to design toys, then get them to a manufacturer, then go through the revisions process. Not to mention the time it takes to ship things out, negotiate contracts at every step of the way, etc. And, as AF Blog notes, Whoever Heard of a Fird? was released in 1984, a year before the first Wuzzles tv episode aired, and Firffels hit the market a year later.

People draw hybrid animals all the time. For example, furry adoptable artists draw hybrids all the time (take a shot every time you find a closed species that is a feline with a fish tail or deer feet or some other animal's defining trait), the Lego movie had Unikitty, and I literally went to Walmart today and in the toy section there was a miniature rabbit-like rainbow animal with wings and a unicorn horn there. The thing that makes these toys potentially appealing, in my opinion, is that they choose safe and popular traits: sparkly horns and feathery wings, for the most part. Things that are easily marketable.

The thing with Firffels is that they combined animals with traits that are less immediately appealing. Image below from Ghost of the Doll.

Some of them are cute but the others miss the mark. Personally I like Shamel and Bertle (the plush version only tbh).

Worth pointing out is that the character illustrations do not match the toy designs. If you go back and watch the commercials included in the 5 minute promo video, you can see that the Bertle plush and action figure are brown and green rather than pink and blue, and that Shamel's hair is brown instead of purple. I saw varied photos of the Butterfrog plush: some were lighter green while others were darker. Could be an issue with differing cameras, but I don't know for certain. And then there's Elephonkey, who is the most inconsistent of the bunch:

The first image is the prototype toy as it appears in the commercial. It is grey and flesh colored, with odd looking plastic hair. The second image is from Ghost of the Doll, of how the Elephonkey action figure actually appeared in stores. Third is a photo of my Elephonkey plush. Compare it with the official character art...well, he's not my favorite design in any incarnation.

I think the toys in the commercials were prototypes that were changed to brighter colors so as to appeal more towards girls. In the 30 second plush commercial there are 4 girl actors and 1 boy actor, with the camera shots getting closer to and focusing more on the girls' faces, so it would make sense. In contrast, the action figure commercial features 1 girl and 2 boys, and most of the camera shots are of the kids' hands playing with the toys, giving off a more boyish, gender-neutral vibe. Classics of gendered marketing, am I right? lol. But I think the change was a good one. I wouldn't have picked up Shamel if I hadn't seen the purple hair, and I definitely would not like Bertle if he wasn't pink. It gives the toys more of a cohesive style, a unique identity, and they fit in more alongside the Wuzzles/Care Bears visuals with the vibrant, happy colors. There's more of a toy-like quality to them, which increases the cuddle-ability and inspires more of an urge to play.

Discovering and logging all this inconsistency has been pretty fun. But it makes me think that these toys were probably doomed by a chaotic, unorganized development process behind the scenes. And given that the book was published in '84 and toys hit the market in '85...the signs seem to point to production being rushed.

To be fair to Firffels, it was probably a little harder in the 80s to hit it big with kids. You had to be lucky, you had to have connections with the right distributors, you had to anticipate what is universally appealing to children--one of the most unpredictable audiences out there--and you had to pay to air your commercials during prime child viewing hours. These are all things that are still true, but we have the internet now and the advertising power of the internet is scary. Going viral on TikTok has the potential to skibidi someone's toilet career. iPad babies are growing up into grade school kids who throw birthday parties every year and get toys as gifts. We are living in an era where mass-producing cheap little polyester plushies and plastic figures is easier than ever and corporations have massive budgets to pump into kids' eyeballs through every advertising avenue they possibly can. They don't even need to come up with the designs anymore, they can just partner with whatever Roblox game is popular right now and capitalize on that. Maybe Othello Bach should get on Roblox.

Actually, it appears that Bach was given the short end of the stick by the time Firffels were pulled. Though her personal website is no longer up, her other website dedicated entirely to Whoever Heard of a Fird? has some info:

At the height of Fird's success, with over 100 licensees cramming the store shelves with children’s merchandise and an animation contract with Hanna-Barbera, the book and all the merchandise suddenly vanished from the shelves.  Although she lost the rights to several other published children’s books at the same time, Othello has never received a reasonable explanation for what happened.

So this passage actually clears something up for me. This whole time something that hasn't really lined up is that I had assumed that Othello Bach published the book first and then was approached for merchandising rights after the book sold well. I actually think now it's possible that from the get-go the book was written with the intention for it to become a worldwide sensation. Not so much Bach's intent, though. I have some professional familiarity with licensing and other such creative publishing contracts, particularly with books. Based on what I know, I believe it's more likely that Bach pitched her manuscript to Caedmon Publishing and Caedmon, seeking to create popular IP, was like, "this has potential and we are going to sign you on not only for the book, but for more." That might be why the character designs are so strange: they were trying too hard to get famous quick and had instructed the illustrator (it is regular practice for publishers to pair authors with an illustrator and given how much was on the line for this IP, Bach might not've had much input here) to design characters that could also become toys. It's unlikely that Michelle Dorman, a kids book illustrator, had product design skills needed to make standout, awesome toy designs. Not a knock on her, illustrators just have niches within their field that they're best at it. It's why you see so many illustrators complain about how often they get approached to design logos--that's not what we do, thank you.

What's sad is that clearly Bach had signed a bad contract that gave away most of her rights as the writer to the publisher. She openly says so above. My guess is that Caedmon told her they needed more rights than usual to be able to conduct so much merchandising (like signing contracts with Remco, much easier to do when you don't have a third party also involved), and because they were pouring so much effort into it on their end. Bach is just the writer, so while the original idea is hers, Caedmon would have matched her with an illustrator and taken charge of all the licensing and merchandising. For a publisher this is a huge commitment financially and personnel-wise, so it makes sense why they would have put forth a contract that gave them so many rights. If Firffels had become as popular as they'd hoped, they don't want to not own the IP. They would have poured all those resources into it and not be able to reap all the rewards because that pesky author would own it. It's almost like contracts like these are predatory and only serve the interests of the publisher. Almost like publishers are companies existing in a capitalistic system and therefore only serve profit, not people. Almost like companies will never truly have artist's best interests at heart, and if you are ever to sign a contract with a big publisher you need to have a good lawyer by your side.

It makes me so sad to read that they didn't even give her a reasonable explanation as to why everything was cancelled. She does not even appear to have any of the merchandise on hand, as all the photos on her website are from Ghost of the Doll. In hindsight we can guess, obviously, why the cancellation happened but I'm in the moment it was probably upsetting. It's still upsetting, given that she has included this in her website for the...revamped book!

However, like Fird, Othello refused to give up. For the next 20 years, she tried to regain the rights to her work. Entertainment attorneys assured her it would never happen.  They said, "It can't be done!" But... it could be done and Othello did it, regaining the rights back to all her work.

Yeah, so, I actually think this is the saddest part about the whole thing. She managed to get some of the rights back and republished the book with...new art...that looks so fucking BAD. Image from her website:

Sorry to this illustrator, but got damn. There is no sauce to this art whatsoever. It is unseasoned, not even salt and pepper. This looks like ass and would never fucking fly with any editor worth their chops. It took me ages to figure out that the long yellow curved line is Fird's tail. Like, this is so unbelievably sad to me. I don't even really like the original art a whole lot, but compared to this...

My informed guess as to what happened is that Bach lawyered up and fought. As we know, Caedmon is now owned by HarperCollins. I can't say for certain but there was probably some case to be made that Caedmon being sold breached the contract, or nullified parts of it, or perhaps the contract expired. It could even just be that HarperCollins didn't care about an old, unprofitable IP and granted Bach her rights back. There is also Remco to consider: they also hold some of the rights, but probably just for the merchandise? Given how prominently their logo is displayed on the toy tags, they might actually own a significant share. Perhaps they were happy not to have anything to do with the book so long as the merch rights weren't touched. I don't know! There's no info about it on the site and this stuff is usually under NDA.

So Bach got her rights back, but she's just the writer. She doesn't own any of the art, so in order to republish the book she had to hire a new illustrator. She likely did not have a huge budget for it, maybe even paying for it out of her pocket because the Choice Books logo she has in several spots on the Fird website appears to be for a distribute on demand service, in place of a traditional publisher.

As the writer, she also would not have gotten the rights to use the original audiobook, so she had one re-recorded. It also appears like she does not have the rights to the name "Firffels" either, as the only places it appears on the site are in photographs of merchandise and in titles specifically referring to the work that is still owned by Caedmon. She carefully refers to her own work as "Fird" for short or the book's full title, probably because she cannot legally imply that she owns or made anything else.

I dug into this thinking it would be a quick look at some strange, forgotten toys from a bygone era. Instead I found a story about how an artist can so easily be shafted by publishers. Everything always loops back around to workers' rights, it seems. Stories like this about shitty publishing contracts (see: Webtoon if you want to get into something current) still appear so often, man. It's depressing, and indicative that the publishing industry needs some reforming ASAP. Like, Illustrators, when are we getting a proper union?

But I'm glad Bach got her rights back and got her book republished within her lifetime. I'm sad she didn't have the budgets for a better illustrator. Sorry to bring that up again, I work as an illustrator irl and I have opinions about craft, lol. Also I just think that given how hard Bach had to fight, she deserved to have better art made. That being said, here's another link to her current website. There's not much there but what is there is a monument to a battle she fought and won, and is proud of.

The lack of detailed, clear, centralized documentation of these toys frustrates me. One of the most frustrating things about the internet for me is that there are few easily accessible, publicly available archives of toys--even for modern toys. I've had to use Amazon reviews and Ebay listings and broken online stores to decipher publication years. With this in mind I decided to do a write up and provide clearer pictures of the toys that I have (I'll take hi res pics in natural lighting too someday). Archives are important to me and the internet kinda sucks for it, I say as someone who started this blog for that purpose. If Tumblr goes down, so does everything I've posted here. As an artist who works primarily digitally, one of the scariest things is knowing that I'm laboring over an ephemeral body of work. It's just not going to exist for very long unless I print it out on archival materials. Data is not the same as a physical object. My Firffels have survived for 39 years but the digital art I draw every day is unlikely to last past 10 years because websites die and files get deleted.

I bought the Firffels from my thrift store thinking I'd resell them. I'm low income so I sell many of the things I thrift. I prefer to buy the older toys or the ones that need cleaning because it makes me feel better about being a reseller (I don't want to take away options from low income kids in my area, ya know?). But I'm putting in the labor to freshen them up and I'm putting in the effort to make unavailable toys available again, at least for one person. And I don't have a whole lot of shelf space to display the toys in my collection...but for now I think I'll keep them.

[queerbuckleys]

INSPIRATION SATURDAY//SEVEN SENTENCE SUNDAY tagged by @hippolotamus and @honestlydarkprincess i dont have any visual inspo this week, just promo for 7x05 and my own queer journey :) i am still messing around with this, right now this is before the date but it might be moved and rewritten a teensy bit but for the most part beats wise it'll stay the same.

“Okay kid, ready?” he asks Jee now that all the mugs are filled.  And then he stops, frozen with the tray of mugs in his hand and Jee taking off toward the living room. And he just stops and watches. His family. And something in his gut tightens. And it becomes too real that there is something, that there is a fundamental truth to his being that they don’t know. It’s not that he thinks they will think less of him. It’s that there’s this thing that wants to burst out of his chest and he doesn’t know how to say it.  He shakes himself out of it and finally joins them, placing the tray on one of the end tables next to Hen who passes the mugs out. He settles into the chair.  “So, when is this little munchkin arriving?” Maddie asks over her coffee. “She’s with another family for the weekend, but we get to pick her up on Monday.” Karen replies, her fingers running over the hem of a little pale green onesie with ducks all over it. She’s smiling and glowing, and looking at Hen.  Buck listens and puts the puzzle pieces together, he’s witnessing another pure joy. Something that he knows the both of them have wanted for so long.  “You guys are having a baby?” he asks softly, grinning like an idiot. He doesn’t need to hear the answer. He wants to wrap them both up in the biggest hug. He was always going to be ecstatic when this day came for them, he always believed they would have their chance. But now, now, he wants to weep with joy. There is a whole new thread pulling at his heartstrings. He wants to say I think I’m like you and I'm excited to find out more.  But he just sits and watches, his eyes bright.  “--Buck?”  “Huh” “How is single life treating you?” Karen asks “Well, I uhh, have a date on Saturday.” his leg bounces rapidly.  “Oh how fun! What’s her name?”  He swallows and nearly chokes on his coffee.  “Uh, Tommy,” he says casually. He doesn’t even know how it came out of his mouth if he’s completely honest.  “Oh, I love subverting gendered names. We should consider that!” Karen says tapping Hen on the shoulder with a smile.  Buck actually chokes on his coffee this time.

idk who to tag my brain is mush for some reason

[laniemae]

ok super quick first impressions of the new deep cover promo

Omg she looks so menacing here I love it

And here’s a better look at what she broke in the thumbnail. It definitely looks like a chess piece of some sort but there’s also something on top of it. Idk it kinda looks like those weighing scale things that often symbolise justice.

Yeah and what I said earlier it definitely seems like she’s not wearing anything under the uniform LMAO the fanarts coming in. But it also seems she has a name tag or something of sorts and what looks so be some sort of belt/sash?

Also kotoko omg those shoes wtf is that.

And to me this pose kinda reminds me of how es was sitting with their legs crossed in the beginning of undercover.

I think there’s also more gifs so if anyone has an account pls post them

[incalculablepower]

some fics i've liked lately

it's been a weird year. when i made this list of recs back in january i fully intended it to become a monthly thing, but life happened and then i guess it just kept happening. in early 2023 things were ramping up in my new career, i was practicing and playing a lot with my band to prepare for our first show, i was settling into dealing with depression and anxiety with medication, i was getting over a miserable breakup. then i fell in love. i lost my job (the best and most favourite job i've ever had) abruptly this past may. this is my longest period of unemployment since i was a teenager and while you think it would be the best time to lose yourself in fandom, i felt the opposite. fandom was such a lifeline to me when i had a miserable job and was in a bad relationship and needed an escape but i was very present in my own life this summer. i took my partner to visit my family and spent a lot of time with friends and played shows (and recorded some music... shameless self promo once again) and in between i watched so much star trek on my couch. this is such a long preamble to explain why i haven't been fandoming as much lately and why idk if i'll write anything again anytime soon (let's say, once i have a job i want to procrastinate at) but -- i HAVE been reading fic! not as much as before, but i have been, and there's enough for a fic rest list so that's what i'm giving you today. when times are dire [podfic] - @aibidil

drarry. i have such a soft spot for middle aged draco and harry falling in love, the relationships they have with their friends and their grown children. @aibidil reads her own podfics and it's an utter delight. i usually only listen to podfics or audiobooks when i'm doing work around the house but i can going on walks with my headphones just so i could listen to more of this one.

purple haze by @ashesandhackles

romione. i was so so honoured to see this pop up in my ao3 gifts during @thethreebroomsticksfic pride fest this year. it turns the well tread romione ground of shell cottage and the yule ball over a bit, using them as settings to explore a confusing mix of jealousy and sexuality for ron and hermione. ashes knows i love mess with these and it captures that teenage chaos wonderfully, then lets them laugh at it as secure and settled adults.

crookshanks by @ala-baguette

gen. warning that this is a tearjerker, especially if you've ever loved and lost a pet. i think the pure and simple expressions of love and gratitude from crook's pov here would be a comfort to any pet owner.

at some point this year, i got REALLY into the idea of a one-sided dramione. it's hard to look for, especially since it's such a popular ship but i managed to find a few that scratched the itch until i find the time and/or motivation to write one of my own new years eve by 2daughtersofathena, the guardian angel by mylifebelongstothebbc, and a boy of hans by elixirsoflife. the last one being my personal favourite, a grim take on the hanahaki disease trope.

every mother is a grave by witchofimber

this was recced by @whinlatter in @thethreebroomsticksfic discord (btw i feel like no one on my followers lists needs anyone to remind them to read beasts -- but please read beasts) and when i saw "gillian flynn treatment" in the tags i slammed the mark for later button. this is probably the most balanced and realistic portrayals of molly weasley and her role as a mother that i've ever read in hp fic. it's not weasley family fluff but it doesn't devolve into something so flat as bashing either. molly is regular mother with flaws and strengths like anyone else and how they amplify and shift with love and grief and pain and stress and duty and pressure. every single relationship she has with her children is uniquely expressed and the way it ties the past to the direct aftermath of the war is so well done and a great way to organize this giant, messy family. particular care here went into fred and george, giving them their own identities in a way that can be difficult, given the source material. a favourite line:

“Probably have tried to make us name the twins after them.” He stopped laughing, sucked in a breath. “Do you want to?”  For a second she considered it. It would be wonderful, getting to use those names again like living things. But -  “No,” she said. “I - if they were alive, I’d have said no, so I’m saying it now. Let the boys be their own people.”  The truth was that she didn’t want to lose her brothers. To have their faces erased in her memory, painted over with her sons. To have to say no, not THAT Fab, I mean UNCLE Fab - he died before you were born. Anyway, she liked the names Fred and George. It was easier like this. 

the scrunchie by @saintsenara

another fic i've meant to read for ages and finally got around to just yesterday. the background drama of these side characters as a cheap scrunchie from boots floats around them is so perfectly teenage. reminds me of the other series i loved as a teenager around the time HP was coming out: georgia nicolson and gossip girl. i could also compare it to derry girls a little, how despite the environment surrounding them these girls are still being girls, arguing about stupid things and getting crushes on boys and having the absolute most ridiculous blowout fights with your sister (parvati and padma's portrayal here is probably my favourite i've ever read!)

i also can't leave without reccing @saintsenara's wip, one year in every ten. i can't get enough of a good case fic. tomarry/harrymort (both versions of this ship, oddly, apply to this fic) is not something i've ever sought out but i really think the way it's handled here could win over any non-believer. it's sharp and funny in a way that makes it turns into poignancy hit even harder. i screenshotted two full phone screen pages of chapter 27 so i could go back and read them over and over. it might be one of the best things i've ever read from ron's POV (emphasis mine):

It had been a long ten years, with a chair at their table always left empty and a hole in their hearts always unfilled. Grief was exhausting and boring and dully painful, like a slightly sprained ankle which you can still walk on, but which always bothers you a little bit.  But there had been love among the grief. There had been love before the grief - indeed love had caused the grief - and there had been love after. His love for his parents and his siblings had changed, the way wine left in a barrel changes and becomes richer and deeper. There was more sorrow in the love, as he threw a quaffle around with George and saw the tired lines at the corner of his eyes. There was more recrimination, more struggle with the mistakes they had all made in the past, as he finally sat down and had a real chat with mum and dad about how a lifetime of corned-beef sandwiches and maroon jumpers had made him feel. But there was more joy there too. And with joy came forgiveness and understanding and hope and fun.

image used is wildflowers (1915) by tom thomson

[forerussake]

Writing Patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern!

Thanks for the tag @dual-domination <33 This sounds fun!

Shen Wei comes to awareness slowly. (Out of near-death - Guardian, Shen Wei-centric)

“What are you doing?” Zhao Yunlan asks. (The light of new beginnings - Guardian, Weilan)

It’s not the first time Zhao Yunlan sees the Ghost Slayer fight. (Raw - Guardian (novel-verse), Pre-canon (?) Weilan)

Almost a year passes in between the end of the Guardian promo tour and the next time they see each other. (The shared art of drowning - RPF, Zhubai)

It’s late afternoon, the sun slowly starting to creep towards the horizon. (Learning curve - Guardian, Guo Changcheng and Shen Wei-centric)

His back aches. (But pursue no regrets - DMBJ, Pangxie)

It starts, as many thing do, with a question in a group chat on a Sunday afternoon: Is professor Shen okay? (The grace of care - Guardian, Shen Wei and Jiajia-centric)

“It shouldn’t be possible,” Zhao Xinci grumbles, “and yet here we are.” (Exchange - Guardian, platonic Weilan i guess? Zyl is literally a child in this and they’re meeting for the first time idk)

Lao-Zhao’s doing it again. (Petrichor - Guardian, Weilan, Da Qing POV)

Blood isn’t hard to get off the kitchen floor. (The easy part - Guardian, Zhao Yunlan-centric)

Patterns: I like to start with shorter sentences, to quickly draw the reader in. I either start with something to introduce the setting a little bit but with a twist, or with some action. I try not to open with (too much) exposition or description, instead trying to make my first sentence immediately evoke questions: what is wrong with Shen Wei? What is he doing?? Blood on the floor??? Developing the pace and mood of the piece first, and only then delving deeper into the real setting and what is actually going on. If I can I like to put my readers on the wrong foot a little at the start: e.g. ‘exchange’ isn’t about zxc at all. The first sentence for me is all about drawing the reader in, and once I’ve got them, that is when I start explaining myself. (There are exceptions to this, where I start with the setting right away, e.g. in ‘learning curve’, but i tend to look back on those as my weaker opening lines/paragraphs :)).

Tagging: @pangzi @elenothar @lynne-monstr @mjsakurea @programmedradly @lunarriviera @the-marron @deathofsanity @hideyseek @lucientelrunya @stupid-lemon-eater @miss-ingno @aredhel-of-doylkien @thedaughterofshadows if you want to!!!

[kithtaehyung]

🎨 Every Month of 2022 🎨

Link a creation from each month this year <3 (it’s totally fine to skip months!) and tag some creators you love!

tagged by my beloveds @raplinenthusiasts, @anpanmann, @rumue, @jeongtokkie, @sevencoloredstar, and @avizou the TALENT is overflowing. thank you all for thinking of me :')) i loved seeing all of your creations and here's to a productive and fun new year! full list of links under the cut💕

january: scrapbook agustd february: hobiday22 - hope world visuals march: D3T0UR album concept april: bangtan world tour merch concept may: 2 years with d-2 - d-2 visuals june: JITB edited promo poster july: MORE movie poster set (that took off on twt!) august: time difference movie posters september: sexy nukim promo posters october: the astronaut movie posters november: indigo promo posters december: indigo visuals series

i wonder what type of gfx sets i like making..... lmao.

idk how i managed to create and post at least one thing per month this year? it felt like i wasn't exactly making things gfx or gif-wise, more like getting stuff ready for a print shop. but i guess i couldn't stay away from photoshop for too long at a time lol. here's to a lot more creating in 2023! to anyone looking forward to my sets being prints (among other things), the site is on the way :D

pretty sure i'm the last one to do this but tagging some creators i love and miss: @kimtaegis, @userhobi, @rosebowl, @gimbapchefs, @eggjinnie, @yooboobies, @kth1, @jeonggukshi, @rkivedfiles, @jung-koook, @sugajimin, @ofkimtaehyung, @slipped-away, @jooheons, @jsuga, and @tanyoorine !! happy new year!

[koffing-time]

I will gladly interact with you! Send an ask! @ me! I would love to RP with you. I will do an (IC) promo if you ask (assuming i'm popular enough for that lmao)!

Hello Hello ~

My name is Tix (they/them, occasionally it/its), and welcome to my rotomblr blog! I'm 23, I'm from Unova and i have a small café on Route 3 right outside Striaton City. If you don't find it, just look for the Daycare on the hill, walk up that hill and look for the building at the foot of the hill! And now come in and get a cupcake, you earned it!

Don't be alarmed by the poison types around here! Most of them are registered to me and are completely harmless unless you touch them. They are also friendly, so if you wanna pet them, ask me! I'll gladly provide handling advice.

I also have an employee, Olivia. I might occasionally mention him. Maybe she'll also make a few post here and there.

There is also Brandy, my Rotom. Let's hope they can behave!

As for my Pokémon, there are a few! [Complete list of Pokémon including retcons at the end in the ooc section]

My Koffing, Coffee! The shop's named after him! Look at his FABULOUS moustache!

Bienenstich the Scolipede, she's very good with kids. If you need someone to look after your toddler, she's the gal! (i am so not kidding)

Cream the Haunter. No, your drink isn't haunted, she just helps me out a bit.

Muffin the Roselia, he's the primary gardener. I would do more around there but he doesn't let me.

Poppy the Toxicroak, he's a cool guy. He also makes music with me.

Basil the Toxtricity. Best bassist i've ever met (sorry Roxie).

Carrot Cake the Clodsire. He doesn't do much, but that's okay.

Rhubarb the Ekans. Little rascal. Don't trip over him.

Eggplant the Skorupi. He's new, still getting to know him myself!

Soup the Grimer is also quite new. I hatched him from a strange egg.

Also here's two pics of me. (//i forgor what the picrew were. if anyone knows, let me know)

//I will draw your OCs badly

OOC below the cut:

// Hi, hello. I run this blog as a side blog, so I'll like and follow from my main @fire-water-grass-core. If you need to address me (the player/mun), I'm okay with any pronouns, and if you need a name you can call me Kama, Nox or Cheese. I also run:

@zekrom-sword where i explore some darker themes (ig?) regarding pokémon hunting. This blog is less focused on blogging though and goes more into headcanon/fanfic territory. I'm happy to RP with Felix (muse over there) though!

@fire-water-grass-core is the main, as mentioned. Originally it was planned for that one to be a personal blog for Olivia, Tix' employee, but i didn't really get into it. I mostly use it for OOC stuff regarding rotomblr ig?

@kamataros is my general, non-pkmn-irl blog. idk what you would want there? but feel free to check it out. I post a lot of shit and a lot of it is untagged.

NOW for the rules ig?

ZERO: don't be a dick. easy, right? right. This is the important part :)

First: blanket #unreality warning. I will tag posts usually as pokemon irl, #pkmn irl or #pokeblogging. The actual unreality tag is reserved that genuinely blends reality and fiction (such as talking about animals in the context of the pokemon world.)

Second: i went on a BIG hiatus for like 6 months. I've retconned a few things, but i didn't want to actually go through the blog and delete stuff. Instead, i tagged all old posts as #Koffing-Time-1.0. Everything with this tag is not neccesarily canon anymore. case-to-case basis i guess.

Third: If anything comes up, I'll try to put a warning tag. I'll keep it to one format: #cw [trigger]. I will probably still use them sparingly, since i'm personally okay with most things. Please tell me if i should tag something.

Fourth: I won't participate in high stakes a lot and probably never in ultra stakes. Everything will be appropriately tagged #high stakes pokereality on the off chance that i do join. I don't think i will be getting into details like "low stakes" and "medium stakes" for tagging.

Fifth: Regarding sentient/sapient pokémon: they are allowed. I might ignore them if i ever do any story-arcs or so, but go ahead! (this was different for 1.0)

Sixth: Ask games will be tagged with #ask game. Once i reblog them, they are open indefinitely, including old ones from #Koffing-Time-1.0. The tag will be for the initial meme only, not the answers to make it possible to find them. Generally, please put the question for the meme into your ask, especially if it's an older ask game. (Feel free to ask Brandy or Olivia as well, but if not specified it will be Tix answering)

Seventh: DMs are an OOC zone :)

OTHER TAGS:

I'm trying to use a funny tagging system for blogs i "frequently" interact with (as in.. i am not chronically on tumblr so "frequently" is a bit much to say)

Out of Character posts will be tagged with #ooc . This goes only for posts where a significant portion is ooc.

Out of Character answers to asks will be tagged #cheesy answers

Out of Character notes will be marked as // or //ooc (including tags)

I might reblog art or even posts that tix isn't involved in. these will be tagged #//reblog

Posts involving details about certain headcanons will be tagged #headcanon

Image descriptions or Video description will be in [brackets] .

Also here is a (not complete) list of a few headcanons that i use.

I'll update and edit this post as well as reblog it if something changes.

Lastly

I, Cheese, Mun will use pink coloured text in addition to the //

Tix will be writing/talking in colourless text

Olivia will be writing/talking in blue text

Brandy will be writing/talking in red text

otherwise, i won't use much colours in posts. this intro blog stuff will be the exception to make it easier to read (i hope)

That being said: feel free to interact, feel free to send a DM, feel free to send asks, I'm happy to do offscreen posts and RP and whatnot, I won't bite and i won't poison you. Probably.

PS: little thing about reblog chains (i guess?)

Now, that was a long one. If you read it all, congratulations, have a cookie. Or a coffee. And most importantly: have fun!

PPS: Here's a list of Tix'Pokémon:

Coffee the Koffing

Muffin the Roselia

Bienenstich the Scolipede

Cream the Haunter

Poppy the Toxicroak

Basil the Toxtricity

Cracker the Murkrow (retconned) [it hurt me to do this but there are so many already] (never fucking mind i love them too much i can't delete them)

Cheese the (shiny) Crobat (retconned) [it hurt me to do this but there are so many already] (never fucking mind i love them too much i can't delete them)

Rhubarb the Ekans

Chocco the Salandit (retconned)

Carrot Cake the Clodsire

Pumpkin the Bellsprout (retconned)

Loaf the Trubbish (retconned)

Yoghurt the Yveltal (retconned)

Bun the (ultra domesticated) Trubbish (retconned)

Roll the (ultra domesticated) Tubbish (retconned)

Appleslice the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (reconned)

Bacon the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (retconned)

Lettuce the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (retconned)

Tomato the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (retconned)

Caramel the Beedrill (retconned)

Tofu the Sliggoo (retconned)

Annie Stonefruit the (albino) Cranidos (retconned)

Jack the Pumpkaboo (retconned)

Brandy the Rotom

Eggplant the Skorupi

Leonard the bed-sized Clodsire Plush

Soup the Baby-Grimer

If all of Tix team appear in a post (i doubt) it'll be tagged with #tix band

Also a list of Olivias Pokémon

Hans the Lotad

Grill the Darmanitan

Marbles the Alolan Exeggutor (tagged with just #marbles the exeggutor )

The Kalosian the Escavalier (tagged with just #kalosian the escavalier)

Beach Ball the Gible

Gregor the Gimmighoul

If all of Olivias Team appear in a post, it'll be tagged #olivias gang

[humunanunga]

7 movies 7 tags (stolen from @/clannfearrunt)

What better opportunity to talk about movies whereupon I always got to show it to people who'd never even heard of 'em!

Ultraman: the Adventure Begins (1987): did you know there's a Hanna-Barbera animated adaptation of Ultraman? well now you do, and it's still cheesy, but now it's American cheese. to this day, I must say the name Susan in a sinister voice and point (also sinisterly).

Hanuman and 7 Ultramen (1974): did you know there was also a Thai production of Ultraman? no joke, this was where I'd first heard of Hanuman, but I didn't get all the hindu promo because I had the Japanese-dubbed cut on VHS as a child, which had a label in English but no subtitles that I can recall (I might not have even been old enough to read yet anyway) and I have no idea where my birthparents even found it. I don't remember there being any box art for it, in fact, idk if it even had a case. anyway, it's another a cheesy movie even more continuity errors, but as an adult it's another fun one to laugh at with friends.

Mermaid Forest (1991): okay, now let's switch gears from good old monster fun to some grimdark monster horror, because god. I developed a taste for blood at a very early age. it's based on the manga by Takahashi Rumiko (of Inu Yasha fame), with a soundtrack by Kawai Kenji, and it revolves around the tale of eating mermaids for immortality... but with a catch. the odds are against you, as most eaters either are poisoned by it or turned into unaging monsters. what can go wrong!

Mermaid's Scar (1993): another Rumik World OVA, look at that! but Scar a different adaptation of a different chapter. Mermaid Forest is still my favorite between these two, but I can't introduce one without mentioning the other, and they're both great for the Halloween or Obon seasons.

WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 (2002): okay, this one scratches an itch specific enough that if I had to pick one, it's possibly my favorite movie. yes, this is technically the third movie of an anime about utility mecha (called labors), but you don't need to have watched the series to watch this movie. I especially recommend going in blind the first time, no spoilers, ideally on a rainy day in the dark; but in every rewatch afterward you'll notice more and more hints and details. of course, if you do watch, content warning, WXIII (Wasted 13) is a crime drama, so prepare for a suicide near the end of this movie, too.

the Others (2001): is it time to dial it back a bit? well, how about a ghost story about a widow, her photosensitive children, their new housekeepers and the recent intruders. it's been a while, so idk if I still could, but I used to be able to recite this whole movie's script if I wanted to. another one for the spooky seasons, goes great with blackouts and thick fog.

Origin: Spirits of the Past, aka Giniro no Kami no Agito (2006): I'll finish with one more animated movie-- produced by the same studio as for Last Exile, if you like steampunk, but this one's more solarpunk. suspension of disbelief and all that, watching Origin is more about the vibes, okay? the opening is serenaded by Kokia while dragons made of trees hatch from the moon and enter Earth's atmosphere. and it's beautiful. peak grass-touching propaganda, no notes. don't ask about the volcano.

Tagging @child-of-crows, @fangenstein, @marismolotov, @mini-binni, @photochoco and @ruby-goulash.

[hellsbroadcaster]

🔥🔥🔥

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion. Bonus points if you include a topic. ( IE. shipping, roleplaying, ect. )

Okay. I struggled to come up with some topics to talk about for a while plus just issues through the entirety of this week. BUT I FIGURED IT OUT.

🔥 - PROMOS. tbh, promo's main use were to help roleplayers find other roleplayers, to spread the word about your blog and find more partners and people to make friends and broaden your experiences with learning about new and exciting fandoms. Now I just find them tedious, and annoying to make. if you aren't a popular blog the odds of your promo being reblogged and spread around is so minimal. it also just feels like clout chasing at this point. and yeah nothing wrong with reblogging your promo and having your friends hype you up, but then ppl wonder why they think the rpc is so alienating? cuz someone else will reblog their promo's expecting the same thing and they don't get it and then they feel left out. but if its just so you can get some nice thrown at you, it just feels like more clutter for my dash especially if I'm already following you. now if you're a NEW blog. if you just joined a fandom, and you want some exposure, I'm down for that because that is what a promo is supposed to be for.

🔥 - Personals. I actually like personals. sometimes personals care more about what I post than my own followers. i get ppl being upset if they reblog their threads, but liking your posts? and maybe reblogging a headcanon or something but idk i guess for me that stuff just doesn't bother me. I love when people reblog my headcanon and they agree. or they add onto it, with their own thoughts. or they tell me how much they love it. makes me feel seen. makes me feel cool. i just think people forget that tumblr is NOT a roleplay site. yes, we found a use to tailor it to our hobby, that doesn't mean everyone who comes across our blogs know that. they arent apart of our community, what makes you think they have to abide our guidelines for it? tbh, roleplayers have just gotten entitled to thinking that tumblr is supposed to bow to our whim. we share a space with non roleplayers. to demand, and just expect ppl are just going to see your rules and read them and respect it rght away?? come on ya'll. we know to look for rules cuz its what we've been doing for years, but you can't expect that from strangers who are likely mobile bound just seeing something you wrote in the tags. its gonna happen. i just dont like the mannerisms some people have with them. you dont gotta be rude about it. if its really bothering you just block them and be done. problem solved. going out of your way to make posts about how annoying they are is just unnecessary.

🔥 - duplicates. this is one is gonna get me fired but oh well. Ya'll we have GOT to love ourselves better. because it is plain and simple insecurity for why people feel they cant talk or write with duplicates. i know it does deeper in some cases, like your current partner leaving you for the shinny new roleplayer of the same muse you write. believe me I've been there. but fuck those people. when are we gonna stop letting others dictate how we feel about ourselves? i hate seeing shit when a new roleplayer pops up with the same muse and suddenly you get the vaguing posts about 'suddenly feeling very doubtful of my portrayal' like its not obvious you are threatened. and in this fandom??? we're i follow like 30 different alastors?? lucifers?? Angels"?? all different, all got something to add and share. i got news for you but your portrayal isnt the only ONE. its not the end all be all. and yes I talk to my ego all the time, cuz there are some muses i write where i'm like I AM THE GOD FATHER OF THIS MUSE. but thats me and my own pride, doesnt mean anyone else who writes this muse is less than me. or i'm suddenly less than them. and there are portrayals i dont fuck with. i simply just do not look their way. but theres always muses i love roleplaying with duplicates cuz its FUN. also being able to talk to people who love this muse as much as you?? learn to stop looking at everything like its a competition and things will not be as stressful. its what makes this hobby unfun when you let those insecurities eat you up. im not saying its not valid, and im not saying you cant be upset, but what does it really do for you? what would happen if you just went and talked to them? imagine it goes well? you make a new friend. dont deny yourself opening a door just because you are scared of what 'might' be behind it. and its something I am learning and teaching myself. our issue is we all wanna be see, and heard. we all wanna be the absolute best. we wanna have the best portrayal like this sort of acknowledgement does anything. cuz while I know ppl love my own portrayals, still doesn't change the fact that i got issues and i cry myself to sleep still. the 'love' i get on here, ain't a fix. and if you think seeking validation on tumblr dot com is gonna fix you? its not. the attention and love we seek on here is just a placeholder, its us using this as a distraction from actually fixing our problems, and turn i still see how so many of us are unhappy. let it go.

[sleepis4theweak]

Hiya! I’m kind of a small creator on here and trying to get my rottmnt fic an audience but no matter what I do as promo material (art, skits, rambles) nothing ever works to get more than like 2 notes max. I’m confident in my story’s quality so I’m fairly sure that’s not the issue. I was wondering if you have any advice or anything like that? Your stuff is lovely and get a lot of community engagement so I’m curious if there was anything you actively did that helped you grow! I hope this doesn’t come off as rude or desperate, I just wanted to know if I was missing something since I’m pretty new to Tumblr. Enjoy your day ^^

Don't worry! You don't come off as rude or desperate at all!! <3

But tbh... you are asking the wrong person here...

I'm going into marketing, and I spent a full school year in high school doing an independent study on social media algorithms. So I know a LOT about how to grow social media followings- specifically instagram accounts.

But I never actually studied tumblr. I used to use instagram as a platform, but knowing how the algorithm worked was too stressful for me... I'd post stuff and be like "the algorithm won't like this because blah blah blah." Eventually I was drawing for the algorithm and not for me, and so I quit because it just wasn't fun anymore...

Which is why I have very specifically not studied Tumblr's algorithm, because I don't want it to turn into the same situation as with instagram. So I don't know a ton about how to grow a following... and also I've only been on tumblr for 5 months...

THAT BEING SAID: I can walk you through my tumblr and how it's grown!

My very first post was of a meme redraw with the 2012 turtles. I think it got around 1,600 likes?

I posted a couple more things, with varying amounts of likes and such. My first comic (which I never actually completed past the first part) got a total of 7 likes within the first months of posting it. Only when I got more followers did the like amount change.

When I posted my first chapter of the Flashbacks AU, I had 33 or so followers. I think I got to like... 300 followers from that first chapter alone. From there it was just... a steady growth of followers I guess. And with followers comes more reblogs, and with more reblogs comes more followers.

I have around 1,600 followers now. Not everyone is gonna like my posts, I think I get around 20 for responded asks and 100-300 for random pieces of art. Comics get closers to 600 or so. It depends on the content.

I think there are a couple of universal things that help grow an account:

1- Making sure your content is reaching the right people. Put the right tags in. Go crazy with them in fact. If I'm posting a piece with Rise Mikey in it, Im gonna tag: Mikey, Mikey tmnt, Mikey 2018, ROTTMNT, Rise Mikey, etc etc. On instagram they are currently trying to get people to limit their use of tags, but I don't think the same thing applies here. Even tho tags don't help as much here, they are still a good tool!

2- Consistency. Idk how it works on this platform, but consistency is generally a good thing! With instagram theres an actual method to it (1 post a day= good, but the more posts you do a day the less people it shows it to), it might be worth it to look up if tumblr has something similar.

3- Have fun with it! I know this is kinda lame to say... but don't change your content for views. Just... do what you like and eventually your target audience will find you :)

4- Engage with what audience you do have! It's fun to bond with people online, and it helps that "community engagement" piece you talked about!

5-... stalk people hehe. (By which I mean: Look at what other artists post! What tags do they use, do they reblog their own posts a lot, etc etc. Also look at artists with similar followings to your own. For example, studying Cass might not be very helpful, because Cass has a large amount of followers and I'm convinced they could post a picture of a blank canvas and still get 1,000 likes hehe... BUT- I mean you could scroll down to Cass' (or other artist's) first posts and see what they were doing then! Just... observe others I suppose!)

Id love to tell you likes don’t matter, that what matters is having fun and loving what you are drawing. But also I do know how it feels to post something you are really proud of and then have no one like it- it sucks.

But just keep on going :) You'll find your people eventually I'm sure.

OH ALSO: IF ANYONE ELSE HAS ANY TIPS FEEL FREE TO REBLOG AND ADD STUFF IN!!! <3

[darkxsoulzyx]

SUN AND MOON SHOW TIME!

(welcome to hell haha) HELLO HELLO! Welcome to this post :)  This post will have anything Sun and Moon Show related that I have drawn!  (For more content, look at the tags! ^^)

Show Doodles #1 (Eclipse being a nuisance, Golden Freddy Ghost Shenanigans, Roxy’s Marriage Announcement, Minor Monty Cameo)

Show Doodles #2 (uh oh spaghettios, oh hey Lunar, Monty being unhelpful, “There is no plan.”)

Show Doodles #3 (BLOODMOON REAL, The Great Mouse Escape or something idk, FINAL SHOWDOWN)

Memes, Memes, Wonderful Memes

I FIXED THEIR DESIGNS /HJ

Show Doodles #3.5 (I FORGOT TO INCLUDE THESE) (WE LOST BLOODMOON???)

SIBLINGS SIBLINGS SIBLINGS

Show Doodles #4: I’M BACK IN TEH FING BUILDING AGAIN

Lunar living his best life frfr

Dark hitting the ground not clickbait (Seeing a video promo)

Show Doodles #5 (Moon has a not-so-fun time in an AU, Com. is best character, and CHRISTMAS-)

Show Doodles #5.5: I’M ALL CAUGHT UP (ish) (KC, Solar Flare is baby girl guys, Sun and his little blaster time)

Show Doodles #6 (Exploring more AUs, WHO BROKE THE COMPUTER SMH, Bloodmoon and eclipse being funny, OH HELLO KC)

Moon Fucking Dies real (Animatic)

LUNAR ALSO DIES AND IT’S FUNNY (Animatic)

Trashman /derogatory

Trying out some of the TSAMS new character’s designs!

Solar Flare tries Weed (Animatic)

Solar Flare Tries weed but funny

RUINS, RUNES, AND LOONS AU! (A TSAMS AU that was created by me!) (Still being worked on/WIP!)

“It’s Fine” (TSAMS AU >> RUINS, RUNES, AND LOONS AU >> GONNA HAVE IT’S OWN LITTLE TAG SOON PROBABLY WHO KNOWS)

Concept Doodles 1 (Sun, Moon, Lunar, Eclipse, Blood-Moon)

Concept Doodles 2 (Introducing Solar Flare, some Computer too)

Eye for an Eye! (Bloodmoon Lore-Related Video for RR&L!)

Bloodmoon Reference for Ruins, Runes, and Loons!

"What *is* Ruins, Runes, and Loons?”

his past reflection

Sneak peeks for what’s possibly to come

Newly Found Freedom (Comic)

[aanoia]

Welcome to my drafts

This is something my brain came up with and I didn't wanna forget it so I wrote down. I usually don't post the idea part but I figured this would turn out to be a really long fic so I wanted to know if anyone would actually want to read this. Tell me in the comments if you do and if you'd like to be tagged in it when and if it eventually gets posted!!

Note: this is very VERY sloppy and disorganized as i wrote it down as quickly as possible to just get the idea out. There will not be proper spelling or grammar and use of shorter versions of sayings such as idk and ofc, etc. This is not how my actual fics are, I'd suggest viewing some of my other marauders fics, or just fics in general, to see if you like my writing style (gotta sprinkle in a little self promo ofc). I encourage you to share any other ideas as this is just a rough draft and open to change. Thank you and enjoy whatever this is.

Marauders Era y/n black goes into the future, comes across future Remus (love interest) who's like "who tf are you and why do you look y/n black when we were younger" and she's js like... what and then it clicks in his head bc he remembers when she time traveled and he takes her into his office and she makes fun of him for being a teacher then Harry walks into Lupins office and she's shocked at how much he looks like James and he recognizes her from an old picture he saw of his dad and his friends and is like "u look like one of my dads old bsfs, are you her daughter" and Remus is like "Yeah her name is y/n Jr., y/n is her mother blah blah blah blah" then Harry's like "maybe ur mom could tell me stories of my dad" and Remus is like "her mom disappeared when your parents died" and it shocks y/n bc James is dead and she's missing so she stumbles out of the office and is like "I'll let you guys talk privately" and she passes by students who are whispering and they mention Sirius blaxk and she's like, what abt him? And they hand her the news paper that says he escaped Azkaban and she like wtf so after she sees Harry walk out she storms in and is like "tell me everything that happened." And he's like "I'm assuming you know almost everything already" and she's like "what abt wormtail? Is Peter okay" and he tells her and then she asks abt regulus which breaks her heart and then she asks abt herself and he talks abt how she went missing after James and lily died. And then before she leaves she asks if he and her ever had something with each other and he raises his left hand where a wedding ring sits with a smile and she's like "we got married?" And he's like "Yeah it was a double wedding with James and lily" and she smiles and then leaves blah blah blah then she comes back with tears in her eyes and for the young marauders it had only been a second and they're like "You're back already! What happened, why are you crying?" And she just looks at them then starts walking to her dorm then Sirius grabs her arm and is like "y/n are you okay" and all she can imagine is his picture on the news paper and his crazed face and then she looks back to see James and she can't help but imagine him dead so she shakes off his arm and walks away.

Time skip to the present, y/n is with Bellatrix when Sirius died bc she "joined" the dark side but kept it super secret, not even Peter knew. When Sirius died she broke down to her knees and Bellatrix just left her and she sobbed and apologized to Sirius before he wisped away and he was like "ik ur intentions were pure" bc twin telepathy shit he knew why she joined and then Remus was kinda mad at her and was like "you knew, you knew everything that was gonna happen and yet you still join his side and now your brother is dead bc of u!" And she yells back "u think I wanted this !? You think i wanted my brother's to die?! My best friends? You think I wanted to leave you, my husband? No ofc i didn't but I spent years thinking of any possibility to stop the inevitable future and ik i told me not to but i couldnt help it and I figured the only way to stop it was from the inside, so when Peter got James killed and Sirius sent to Azkaban I knew I was too far in and had to disappear so you wouldn't get hurt too. Yk me better than ik myself y rly thought I would be cruel enough to join that bastard!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!???!?!?!?!?!!!!?!??!" Briefly ofc. Anyway they kiss and blah blah blah idk what else that's as far as I thought