#is it great? no but I haven’t made a fanvid in a long time so 🤷‍♀️

[thehighfiveproject]

Friends, time to get your high fives out of the crisper drawer.

Here's your card for this edition of the bingo. Remember, zero need to sign up, but if you want to share it with us so we can reblog and share the love, make sure to @ us by Monday, May 1.

Remember this, too: you don't have to complete the card! Any number of these things you can do will be a great high-five to whatever creator you want to shout-out or encourage. Just make sure you provide a link to whatever you're high-fiving about. (Except for 'message a creator', although if you want to brag about the cool person you messaged feel free to link to their work!)

Below the cut you'll find the usual list of definitions for each square in case you need any help or ideas, along with a black & white version of the card if you want to get creative and make it your own.

Here’s the way we’re defining the activities associated with each card. If any of this is confusing after you read it over, send us a message and we’ll help!

- ‘leave kudos on a fic’

This is the easiest one! Just go out and find a fic you like and leave a kudos on it, if you haven’t already. It’s a small gesture but it makes an author know that someone actually read their story!

- ‘reblog/retweet an art post’

Find any art post you like and share it! Here’s the catch: you need to interact with it a little. When you reblog/retweet, please tell the creator what you thought about the piece – you can add some tags, or reply to the post, or quote-retweet or add a comment, or anything! A simple “I love this!” is nice but some details are even better (“your linework is so good!” or “that shade of blue is perfect”). One thing to think about: a lot of art on Tumblr is reposted (like when a user posts another artist’s work from Pixiv, say), so it’s nice if you make an effort to interact with posts that are actually from the creator if you can. That way the artist will see your comment!

- ‘reblog/retweet a fic post’

Same as the above, but for fic! Again, tags/replies/comments are needed, preferably with a little detail. You don’t need to be super eloquent or leave a detailed review (although if you have time/energy, that would be appreciated!); a tag as simple as “that was really cute” or “great characterization!” will do. Like with the art posts, it’s nice if you reblog directly from the writer (if you can) – some fics are posted by AO3 feed bots and the like, so the author may not even know a reblog has happened.

- ‘reblog/retweet an edit’

Same as the above, but for edits! Edits can include a gif set, or a set of screencaps, or even a fanvid. And, again, some simple tags/replies are needed. “I love that song choice!” for a vid or “great coloring!” on a gifset can let people know their work is being appreciated.

- ‘comment on a fic’

Find a fic, on any fic-hosting site you like, and leave a comment. That’s it! Again, no need to leave a novel-length comment (unless you’re inspired!) – a sentence or two is all we’re asking for this square to be considered complete. This is a great opportunity to let a writer know how their piece made you feel, or what section you particularly liked.

- ‘message a creator’

‘Creator’ here can mean anyone who makes *anything* to do with fandom: art, edits, fic, meta, knitted sweaters with character faces on them – if they’ve made anything, they’re a creator, and now’s your chance to let them know they’re appreciated. Send a message (anonymous or not!) letting them know that you enjoyed their work!

- ‘make a rec post’

This is a chance to tell your fandom friends about something they need to see. You can rec a fic, a blog, a fan event, an artist, an author, that person who knits sweaters with character faces – any kind of fandom thing that you want to make sure people see. This doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but feel free to go into as much detail as you want! Just make your own post, on Tumblr or Twitter or wherever else seems best to you, and give that thing you loved a little fanfare.

- ‘interact with a meta post’

A little love for our analytical friends! Here, you can reblog/retweet any kind of meta post for your fandom, whether it’s a three sentence headcanon or an essay-length dissection of why Character X is the absolute best character in Fandom Y. It’s even better if you respond to the meta, whether that’s agreeing or (respectfully!) adding your own thoughts, but sharing it is the main thing here.

And here’s the non-decorated version, in case you feel like making it your own. Get creative, if you want!

[kuwdora]

hiiiii!, you were one of the og vidders from LJ vidding community days and i've always admired your vids and skills from afar, so:

12, 13, 26 for vidding ask!

Oooh hiiiii there. You are so sweet! You don’t have to admire from afar! Come sit on the couch with me and we can squee together. You can ask me anything you'd like!! (I love your Andor vid btw, I think it’ll be popping out of my queue any day now.) Most underrated vid that you wished had gotten more views?

I love that 80% of people so far have asked this question because it means I can answer with different vids each time. This is a loaded question, in my opinion, and actually one that shows up on the end-of-year vidding reflections I do nearly every year - and I always never know how to answer.

I learned early on when I looked at the YouTube analytics and found most people don’t actually finish vids they click on in my catalogue, which means maybe they weren’t the audience for it anyway.

It’s also a matter of audiences being able to find my vids and know I’ve made them. I’ve never prioritized learning how to do metadata on YouTube for my videos to show up more in searches. I also am terrible at crossposting and archiving my vids in multiple places for people to find them.. So there’s tons of people who might not even know I’ve made something they’d like to see. Especially since I’ve been doing it for so long and moved through different fannish platforms along thet way.

Here is my Toshiko Sato from Torchwood vid that I made in 2008 to The Ranctouer’s “Steady As She Goes.” I think this can qualify as underappreciated. Hope you enjoy!

Vid that took you the longest the edit?

Since you know me from way back in the day, I’ll answer this with something I’ve talked about in great before that I think you might like to read (if you haven’t already!): High Voltage, my Stargate Ancients fanvid. It took me ~5 years to make. But I actually spent most of those years rewatching the show and thinking about the song and watching a lot of vids and how they told stories. It took me more time to figure out how to tell a subtextual narrative about a group of characters (the Ancients) and across a 3-show franchise that the showrunners never had fully tied together. You can read more about my years-long experience learning how to make High Voltage here on tumblr as well as over here because I really can write like 6,000 words about it. Any vidding rituals you have?

I always try to export drafts of my vids and try to remember upload them cloud storage so that even in the worse case scenario that my hard drive fails that I still have a copy of it somewhere. I had a hard drive failure recently and I actually hadn’t backed up a lot of those files to my cloud storage so there’s a lot of old unfinished stuff that I love and won’t finish but I don’t have a chance to revisit like a beloved trinket on a shelf anymore. (Archive and backup everything, ritualize that as much as possible in your own lives and projects!)

Also? My vid draft file naming convention: kuwdrafta_vidsong-name[date].mp4 Thank you for the lovely asks!! Get to Know the Vidder ask game! Send me an ask!

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

I’ve just spent the last day bingeing S1 of Daredevil for the first time in OVER A YEAR and, my god, the whole time I just flailing around inside at how goddamn hot Matt Murdock is all over again. 😵💫

It’s crazy. I mean, I’m CharlieThomasCoxUniverse for heavens sake! I see him every single day...but pics and gifs and fanvids pale in comparison to the experience of actually properly seeing and hearing Matt on-screen again. It’s like comparing the warmth of a light bulb to actually standing outside in the heat of the summer sun - there is no comparison. 😮💨

(So glad now that I made myself wait so long before watching Daredevil again. Having been a Charlie fan for so long, I’ve learned to try not to over-watch my faves of his. I always have a better and stronger viewing experience when I haven’t seen something in a while so I try to rotate his filmography. And so, yeah, Matt Murdock’s in-person hotness just hit me like a truck again today and I feel a little faint tbh.🥴🥴🥴 But it’s all good. It’s GREAT. lmao)  

I also happened to take this screenshot and...I think it’s safe to say Matt’s never beating the slutty little waist allegations.😏

PLUS...I left this pic sitting in my drafts and came back to find it had been slapped with one of these:

I’m dying.🤣 I mean, the man’s completely dressed from head-to-toe, but you know what, Tumblr?? You’re absolutely right. 

Matt Murdock in the suit of sin is absolutely pornographic. 🔥🔥🔥

[lesbianlovelanguage]

I couldn’t get @shprka’s post about Little Lion Man out of my head, so on the eve of Stranger Things four,

here’s a video for Billy

[3nigm4art]

MI6 Cafe Creators Tag Game

(Thank you for tagging me, @spiritofcamelot!)

We’d love for people to keep getting to know each other after this year’s 007 Fest, so we’re starting this tag game!

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 3 new people to complete this. Also, tag the person who tagged you and @mi6-cafe so we can reblog your response.

Note that when we say ‘fanwork’ in the questions below, that could mean a fanfic, gif, fanart, headcanon, cosplay, crocheted work---any kind of fancreation counts!

1. What work of yours challenged you when you were creating it?  

To some degree, everything I did has presented itself as challenging, one way or another. Mostly because a) I refuse to turn in sub-par work, and b) everything I knew was going to be easy had to be made more difficult by adding some challenge to it.

For example, I challenged myself to write “The Q With The Dragon Tattwo” within 24 hours. No one told me to do it, but I churned out the 2,710 words anyway.

And everything becomes challenging when you are stupid and ambitious. “No one has done that before? WELL, I’M GONNA DO IT.”

Which often results in dumb ideas being turned into even dumber things. Like “The Bidding” fanvid.

“Don’t do anything I would do, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” -Tony Stark

2. What is a fanwork you’ve seen which gave you a new headcanon about a character?    

Honestly, I don’t really headcanon things. Even if I do, I don’t follow them.

My headcanons are not necessarily inspired by fanworks, but more often than not they are just random crap that floats in my mind. (I mean, have you seen my headcanons?)

3. Is there a fanwork that you really want to make, but you haven’t started yet?

There are so many.

There’s a long fic, currently titled “Everywhere at The End of Time”, and the reason why it’s not completed is that it’s the fic that’s not supposed to fuck up. I’d rather take my sweet time about it than rush it and produce a product I am not satisfied with.

I wanted to make this paper theatre thing with Q in Q-branch during Skyfall. That project is currently in limbo. Not that it’s not started, but rather I have come to the conclusion that I can’t do it with my current abilities.

As well as other smaller things, let’s see... Pathologist AU, mage! Q and knight! Bond and other secret projects.

4. What fanwork of yours surprised you, and how? 

“If You Have The Time, Would You Come by And See me?” was one that got increasingly complicated as time went on.

It was inspired by a song called 漠河舞廳 by 柳爽. And the story behind that song was that was an old man who stood in front of what used to be a nightclub. It caught on fire one night in 1980 and his wife died in the fire.

“如果有時間 你會來看一看我吧” was the first line of the song, meaning “if you have the time, would you come by and see me”. And the song expresses survivor’s guilt of the man, and how time has been unforgiving to him, living alone all these years.

Yeah...It’s a hell of a song.

It was surprising because the giffing process was FUCKING HARD. I had to compress it again and again and IT WAS STILL OVER 9MB LIKE WTF.

But ultimately I am pleased with the results.

5. What themes/styles/subjects are common across many of your fanworks? 

Q, blue and sad shit

6. What other fandoms do you create for, if any?

I used to do stuff for Evangelion and Trigun before Bond completely took over.

I did some stuff for The Batman when it came out.

Just did some stuff for The Sandman too.

But believe me, my interests are much, much broader than this. 

7. Is there an artist that you like to listen to while you create? Or one whose work always inspires you?

Again, there are so many.

Legit, if I have a mood and tone I’m aiming for a piece, I have a playlist of 5-8 songs on it. So I’m not gonna rec them all because it would be impossible. And I listen to anything and everything.

FINE FINE I’LL REC STUFF

King Gnu and Radwimps are two of my favourite Japanese bands. King Gnu’s “Chameleon” and “Prayer X” are great. Radwimps’s “Picnic” is one I often find myself mindlessly singing to.

Recently got into Saint Motel, Muse, Mother Mother, The Strokes, Mitski and others.

If we are talking about art... It’s also a long ass list of Twitter handles .

Chinese artists: Amuiiart, RDJlock, Chain_HN, woyaoCharlie, fromchive, sayhanawork, RuiRiell

Japanese artists: akagawa_sagan, rui4444, fyfyfy1000, 2964_KO, shokuen, sotanami, asmk_gengaten, toboso_official

Others: Kilgaaaaaara, _haga_nom, sundayjorge, KimJungGiUS, zcb1346, _elibaum, viv_tanner, davaja, chipkidd, TotinoTedesco

And many, many more. You can check by looking at who I’m following.

8. Share a fanwork that you’ve found yourself thinking about weeks after reading/seeing it.

I’m gonna share the one that I have consistently been thinking about for years.

Andddd... I can’t find it. I think the post is gone.

Welp I’ll just have to share another one

This is a Victorian AU 00Q fan art, but the title was “Skyfall Revisited”, a clear reference to Brideshead Revisited.

It’s just really good.

9. Finally, share where you post your works! 

Twitter: 3NIGM4_4RT

AO3: 3NIGM4

Youtube: 3NIGM4

So I’ll tag: @emiliasilverova @bluebellofbakerstreet @silverbrume

[phanomeheart]

Phandom Creators Class of 2019

It’s definitely been an interesting, at times very exciting, and at times very slow year in the phandom, and more than ever this year I was so grateful for all of the fanworks people created that kept me engaged in dnp. As I did last year, I wanted to create a list of people who posted a new kind of fanwork in the phandom for the first time this year. I’m sure this doesn’t capture everyone who that applies to, but it’s a lovely collection of art, fic, moodboards, and fanvids that were added to our community this year. I also might be a bit biased towards this particular year of new creators because this was the year I posted my first fic ever!

The list below represents 21 different creators with 26 self-recs! I also made a spreadsheet with all of the information below plus some more, if you find that easier to work with. Thank you so much to everyone who posted some sort of Dan and Phil themed creative content this year, and to all of the people who enjoyed and engaged with them!

And once again, as long as I’m around and there’s new creators I’m happy to keep doing these, so if you’ve been thinking of making some sort of phanwork but haven’t yet, this year seems like a great time to start!

Listed in alphabetical order by tumblr username:

Art:

@et-in-cinerem-reverteris | Instagram: shutup_turd

Self-rec: Dan and Phil's fringes used to join to make a heart shape so I put them inside a sparkly heart of watercolour!

First art posted: 10/15/2019

@fairylocal 

Self-rec: norman

First art posted: 9/9/2019

@tarredion

Self-rec: Norman facepainting in acrylics

First art posted: 7/14/2019

Other Fanwork:

@judearaya (mooboard)

Self-rec: Moodboard for The_Blonde's I'm Half Doomed and You're Semi-Sweet

First moodboard posted: 10/31/2019

@letgladnessdwell (fanvid)

Self-rec: Phil Lester and the TOPMAN Jukebox (a John Mulaney mashup)

First fanvid posted: 11/18/2019

Fic:

@ahappydnp | AO3: ahappyphil

Self-rec: Unnatural (G, 2.2k) 

Firs fic posted: 4/1/2019

@blackbirddan | AO3: blackbirddan  

Self-rec: someone (G, 4.2k)

First fic posted: 5/25/2019

@calvinahobbes | AO3: calvinahobbes

Self-rec: Necking (E, 2.1k)

First fic posted: 1/13/2019

@chickenfreeblog | AO3: chickenfree

Self-rec: lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways (T, 7.7k)

First fic posted: 8/12/2019

@echoedvoices | AO3: echoedvoices

Self-rec: The Wedding (G, 941)

First fic posted: 7/12/2019

@et-in-cinerem-reverteris | AO3: shutup_turd 

Self-rec: Class of 1953 (T, 8.6k)

First fic posted: 11/24/2019

@etceteraseverywhere | AO3: EtceterasEverywhere 

Self-rec: lost in illusion (my world set aside) (T, 1.1k)

First fic posted: 1/27/2019

@fairylocal | AO3: fairyy

Self-rec: learning how to breath again (T, 1.1k)

First fic posted: 4/9/2019

@geniusphilester | AO3: geniusphilester

Self-rec: A Year in the Life (G, 2.7k)

First fic posted: 1/28/2019

@hereandqueer-eek | AO3: hereandqueer_eek 

Self-rec: we have more in common than i thought (T, 5.6k)

First fic posted: 11/20/2019

@iamalwaysclowning | AO3: rants_and_bants

Self-rec: in whatever way (G, 1.5k)

First fic posted: 9/21/2019

@judearaya | AO3: JudeAraya

Self-rec: Some Kind of Magic (E, 4.7k)

First fic posted: 10/31/2019

@karcathy | AO3: karcathy

Self-rec: pretty mouth shut (E, 2k)

First fic posted: 10/25/2019

AO3: lazyfic

Self-rec: I'm Not Proposing (G, 2.4k)

First fic posted: 9/22/2019

@phangelica | AO3: phangelica

Self-rec: Wilde (E, 8.3k)

First fic posted: 12/21/2019

@phanomeheart | AO3: palomeheart

Self-rec: Effort at Speech Between Two People (T, 2.1k)

First fic posted: 3/2/2019

@possumdnp | AO3: possumdnp

Self-rec: in a simpler world (T, 2.6k)

First fic posted: 6/20/2019

@remmixx | AO3: megzeman

Self-rec: Falling is Scary (G, 2k)

First fic posted: 8/7/2019

@schnaf | AO3: schnaf

Self-rec: so glad you're here. (G, 8.6k)

First fic posted: 10/19/2019

@tarredion | AO3: Tarredion

Self-rec: Send me a picture (T, 4.6k)

First fic posted: 9/28/2019

@tolbabydan | AO3: CompletelyFigurative

Self-rec: all i want (M, 7.6k) (co-written by AmaranthLiz)

First fic posted: 7/31/2019

[throwing-summers-at-the-walls]

Hi, i hope you are feeling good! Im better than yesterday so i can finally answer you. First of all: i am so happy that you shared your fanfiction! i had a great time reading it! Im always open for more recs. Maybe your all time favorites? Or if you know some good h/c these are always welcome :) And YESSS please send me a link to your fanvids. -- yeah 13rw was super cursed. haha i also watched season 1 but thankfully i was able to sto watching becaue i could feel it making me feel bad (1)

I agree the suicide scene was just cringe (but i think i remember reading somewhere that they cut it out? idk) and overall this show just gave me the feeling that there was no hope and things are always getting worse instead of better and i hated that. but enough of that cursed show. can i just say i really admire how open you are about your feelings (like being suicidal and that) i realy, really admire this about you. i have so much respect for you that you can just share your feelings here (2)

I have never heard of ace attorney but that story you described sounds really good. and i get reading sth that isnt good for you and still doing it (because im a dumb bitch too :D) -- okay i might accept that Root will never grow on you (but i thought so too and look at me now :D) but i havent fully given up yet :)-- yes thats the girl. i think it was really sweet when she said that to Shaw. and i think Shaw appreciated it that someone tried to figure her out instead of just writting her off (3)

Shaw is really cool and definately also a badass and in combination with John its just great! but you will have to suffer trough some Shoot.  but maybe, maybe you will end up not hating Root. hope dies last (idk how the saying goes in english, sorry). -- Did you ever ship Caresse (in a romantic way)? cause sometimes i do and sometimes i dont and i get so confused about it :) but i think most of the time i like them more as friends. anyway her death really sucked and you are right with (4)

her death and them losing the library it felt like a different show (i mean i guess it was a different show then). i kinda get your feelings about the destroyed library because i also really loved it (and im really bad with change) but i dont think it affected me as much as you. but yeah i still missed the library very much. and while the subway is a really cool new place its not the same. (also the subway is super dark cause its underground and idk it just makes the whole thing less homey) (5)

Yes he is everything! such a great, interesting character and i wish there were more John-centric episodes! (like ones that explored his character more). that was one of my biggest dislikes of the later seasons that John wasnt featured as much anymore. i think he chuckled a few times in the show but a real laugh? i cant remember one :(  -- He did promise Joss to talk to Tyler so @show were is that talk? -- if seen the vid its awesome! thehiddenmemory has some great poi vids! (6)

yes i think so too. Like Grace would probably be relived and thankful that Harold is still alive and maybe they would even try again but eventually she would figure out that she cant trust him after lying to him for so long or sth like that and Harold would ofc realize that he is in love with someone else now. And then he finds out that John is still alive but stayed away cause he didnt want to get in the way of Harold/Grace. But then Harold comes back. And when they meet again John is like (7)

you came back for the machine? what about Grace. But Harold tells him he came back for John not the machine and then they kiss and have a happy live with Bear (sorry i got a little carried away here :D). -- Yeah Zoe is really hot and she needed more screen time! -- i hope you have a good day and i hope i havent messed up the numbers on the asks! :)

Hi ! I'm finally free from the resits, I hope you're doing okay with your thesis 💛

Sorry for replying late, there was the exam resits, and I read a bunch of fics, then I fell into pokémon and started bingewatching it. (Also I had a breakdown during therapy today so I'm gonna finish writing my answer to distract myself - it's been sitting in my drafts for so long rip)

Thank you !! It was a very personal thing, I'm really happy you liked it !! Your support and your comment made me thrive 💛💛

Tbh I was surprised to see it get kudos given that the only intended audience was my self projecting ass 🤣

So, my fav fics (my fav fic ever is in French, rip to y'all bc it's so good):

I am, I am, I am by RavenWhitecastle

Actually check the entire series this work belongs to: The Sinner and the Saint. I haven't finished it yet but I love it (I just skipped the explicit fics bc I don't like smut or sub!John)

Breaking All The Rules by talkingtothesky

Outsider Perspective by Neery

A Really Private Person by astolat

Hamartia (the hero's fatal flaw) by astolat

If Only for Tonight by spacemutineer

From Here, Where? by AKMars

Stroll by TheaNishimori

and the world was gone by lunarcorvid

a light that never goes out by vindicatedtruth

Limitations. by Michaelssw0rd

Reel you in and spit you out by Michaelssw0rd

All I Want For Christmas Is You by richmahogany

By What Power I Am Made Bold by brinnanza

Aftershocks by darringtons

At Certain Hours It All Breaks Down by nogoaway

construction of a kingdom by the_ragnarok

You Take Me Higher Than I've Gone by talkingtothesky

All Together Now by beadedslipper

I'll Let the Waters Still by brinnanza

Birthday Tradition by talkingtothesky

Things My Father Taught Me by KRyn

Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder by infiniteeight

Better Luck This Time by Lisztful

Motivations by JenNova

What's On the Table by cortue

In Another Life by Della19

I Thought We Already Were by talkingtothesky

Misunderstandings by thisstarvingartist

This is already fucking long omg so for the h/c: my bookmarks filtered with Rinch and h/c

Here's my playlist, it's mostly Rinch, but there are a few not Rinch vids, plus some scenes I like

This is long enough already, so it's time for a read more. Also, warning, we be talking about suicide

The portrayal of suicide is cringe most of the time anyway. If my suicidal ass can find a list of suicide methods and their lethality in 2 mins on Google you'd think writers who are supposed to do some research would be able to find them too but no they're like "ah yes slicing wrists" even though it's literally the shittiest method 🙄 (I just don't understand why slicing wrists seems to be such a popular method in the collective imagination ? It's weird.) At least in 13rw she took aspirin and cut herself vertically instead of horizontally but still, no hesitation wounds, and she dies even though she only got 4 wounds iirc ? I know more about jumping off bridges than slicing wrists, but it kinda sounds like bullshit to me. Also Netflix once suggested "beyond the reasons" to me, it's a sort of discussion with the cast and crew of 13rw and the only thing I remember is a moment of intellectual masturbation abt how they "opened a discussion abt suicide" 😬😬😬

They may have cut it out it's not impossible, idk I didn't hear about it, but it's not like I look for info about this dumpster fire lol. Maybe they faced backlash ? Wouldn't be surprised given how shit the show was. And yeah it has a hopeless vibe, I mean that's how it be when you're suicidal, but I didn't like it either.

You're sweet 💜💜 it's interesting that you find it respectable or admirable, I don't have an external point of view, so I'm just like 🤷 it is what it is. I understand where you're coming from though, I guess it's still quite a taboo subject, and suicidal people don't always feel comfortable talking about it, so me throwing around that I jumped off a bridge must be surprising. I'm detached enough from my suicide attempt that I'm able to talk about it without much of a problem, and I'm not really suicidal anymore.

Dumb bitches unite 👏👏👏 we be out there reading shit we shouldn't read

Yeah I think it's nice how the show didn't portray Shaw as a bad person for not having "normal feelings". Well, hope makes one live as we say in French (idk the English saying either lol) but don't hold much hope about me liking Root lmao

I used to ship careese bc they kissed in the crossing, but then I read some Rinch fics and I just ended up falling into it to the point where I stopped caring about careese. Now I think their relationship works better as a friendship.

Yeah all that change really puts me off... It just gives me "bad spin-off" vibes. Especially since there is less John :( and less Rinch :((((

Lmao yeah I just have a lot of feelings about early poi hgkfglrk. Also :/ I'm sad about the subway being less homey pls I just want happiness ?? I swear this show destroys my heart on top of owning my last braincell (brb changing my blog title to this lmao)

Mood I need all the John-centric eps, give me m o r e characterization and development and backstory and feelings hhhhhhh. I love him so much I just wanna spend more time with him. And that's what fics are for ! Yeah thehiddenmemory is so talented ! Astolat made some good ones too, on top of writing really good fics ! (Our fandom has been blessed with the presence of one of the ao3 founders hell yeah)

Also, remember how we talked abt the poi subreddit ? The other day I left a comment on there, wild I know. It wasn't a discussion about the last seasons though, I'm not crazy, it was about the impact poi had in our lives so I said it literally taught me English. Who knows maybe sometimes I'll comment again lol. I just don't wanna meet one of those people who prefer late poi over early poi.

Allow me to uuuuh write something based on what you said. Don't ask me how John survived with no major injuries, my man got that Thick Plot Armor alright. Hope you appreciate me getting carried away sjdkdksk it's kinda rushed and the first part isn't that good bc idk how to write Grace I'm just here for that sweet sweet Rinch stuff

Harold is eating breakfast with Grace in her kitchen – he can't think of her home as his home – when his phone vibrates. It's a text from the machine. It's a surprise, she barely contacted him since... He blocks the thoughts and the images coming to his mind. The machine sent him a picture. When he opens it, his heart misses a beat. Right here on his screen is a silhouette he thought he would never see again. His phone vibrates again. Another picture, this time it's unmistakably John, wearing his signature suit, Bear next to him. Transfixed, he stares at his phone until he feels Grace gently touching his arm. She goes straight to the point.

"Is it John ?" He looks up in confusion, but before he can say anything, she adds, "I hear you call him in your sleep every night."

"It's him, yes." He doesn't want to explain. He only wants to see John, to touch him, to tell him how much he loves him.

"You should go back to him. I like you, Harold. I am deeply relieved to see you alive. But I've been thinking, and... It's not working. This, us... You aren't really the man I fell in love with, the man I grieved... I can't trust you anymore." She doesn't say 'You lied to me' but Harold hears it all the same.

~

Harold sits on their bench. The machine indicated John often comes here. Soon enough, his arms are full of Bear, and John is standing in front of him.

"John. How are you ?" he asks when Bear finally calms down.

"Busy. And you ?"

Harold eyes him suspiciously – John once said he was busy when he was bleeding and way too close to death – but he seems to be well.

"I'm fine." He doesn't have time for awkward small talk." I thought you were dead. Why didn't you contact me ?"

"The machine told me you were with Grace. I thought you wanted to come back to your previous life. I didn't want to crash into it and ruin what you had."

Harold wants to be angry at him, but he understands. He did the same with Grace.

"You would never ruin anything. Besides, my relationship with Grace... didn't survive my lies. She's very dear to my heart, but she's a part of my previous life, as you said."

"So you came back for the machine, and the numbers, like the good old times ?"

Harold gets up from the bench.

"I came back for you. You are an important part of my life. The most important part."

John smiles, finally. He takes a step towards Harold, they're so close they could kiss. Harold reaches out, grips his shirt and slowly inches closer. He's still afraid of being rejected but John wraps his arm around him and kisses him. The kiss is over too soon. John's smile is even wider when they part.

"You're the most important part of my life too," he says before kissing Harold again. "You will stay ?"

"Always."

Damn I live for sappy Rinch stuff.

Bitches decided that Harold saying "always" is peak Rinch. It's me I'm bitches.

Also ofc I had to make a reference to number crunch, who do you think I am

Anyway. I hope you have a good day ! 💛

[wallofweird]

do u think this is us' writers might do something like what happened on himym? like, putting madison and kevin together and tease it for a while, but making him marry sophie in the end? i worry a little bit, specially because they seem to have so many shippers. :/

Well, I have only watched one episode of How I Met Your Mother, so I can’t really talk about how that particular show ended, but to answer your question: no, not really.

The writers and the cast have said multiple times they have the ending figured out since the very beginning. The TPTB have added some stuff later on, but the core plan seems to be the same. They have made these ‘bold’ decisions, such as writing beloved characters to be dead, have Rebecca marrying her deceased husband’s best friend and Kevin having children with a recurring character he barely has scenes with (so far). They haven’t backed down, not even once. So I don’t see them changing the course of the show just because of what people might say. Kevin will end up with Sophie if that’s their original plan, but I don’t really think it is. Honestly, I believe there are even more chances he will end up with Cassidy or a new character than Sophie. The latter is the weakest contender for me. I will be making posts about Kevin and Sophie in the future, but here is something Justin has said about Kophie and their dynamic:

“In a way, she’ll always be in his life in some capacity… One of his ailments is addiction. So one of the things that happens — and I’ve done enough research to feel comfortable about talking about it in a way — is there’s this feeling of being alone and not being able to deal with it, so you self-medicate. And one of the things that I think that she will give to him and that she will always be there with him, whether it’s physical or not, is this sense of not ever having to be alone, always having someone there with you.” 

Personally, I don’t consider that to be very romantic and there is a lot more stuff Justin has said that makes me believe they won’t end up together.

Regarding the number of shippers, I guess there is no consensus. I’ve seen a lot of people who don’t ship Kophie or used to ship it but eventually became sick of their story. I know a lot of people excited for the potential of Kevin and Madison being together. There’s also people who would like to see him and Cassidy... People are vocal about Kophie, yes, but I also reckon that’s partially because it’s one of his most developed romantic relationships so far (in terms of longevity, not quality). The only people he has been romantically involved with for a significant period of time are Zoe and Sophie, but Zoe is out of the equation since she doesn’t want kids. I figure a lot of people can still change their minds and root for a different pairing, as long as there is quality writing and chemistry. Which I don’t find that hard to achieve at all with Kevin and Madison, the show is amazing and they’ve casted people with great chemistry to play the major couples (Rebecca and Jack, Randall and Beth). 

In fact, that seems to be happening already, there is a Kevison fanvid on Youtube that was uploaded less than two months ago and it’s already has achieved almost 116,000 views and become one of the most-watched fanvids of the show.

So, even though we can’t be really sure, there are enough reasons to believe Kevin and Madison will end up together and you can allow yourself to be a little hopeful. ;)

[unidentified-flying-sparrow]

I still love Harry Potter - but not JKR

Warning: This gets wordy. I really just rambled and let my thoughts take me where they will. And these are only my personal rambles - they aren’t meant to be a deep political statement or super eloquent or anything. They’ll be messy and meandering and mainly for my own benefit.  I just...needed to think. And remember. And feel.  You have been warned.

JKR has been in the news a lot lately. And not in a good way. To put it bluntly, she’s basically revealed herself as a TERF and is rightly being called out.  It hurts, because Harry Potter made a large impact on my life. But the author has shown herself to be flawed and I had put her on a pedestal for years of my life. I admired her “rags-to-riches” (sorta) story. Her success. Her talent with writing. I wanted to be her in some ways. She was living my life’s dream!

And now she is making hurtful remarks about a marginalized group of people who have done nothing except demand equality and recognition.

I first heard about the books through my mom. She was a substitute teacher at the time, and in the class she was covering, the teacher had just started reading The Sorceror’s Stone. Mom went out and got a copy, read it, and loaned it to me. She also griped about how no one knew how to pronounce the name “Hermione” - the kids she was reading to kept ‘correcting’ her with ‘Hermy-own-knee” as the pronunciation. It drove her nuts. I remember bragging to my friends when I figured out what the Mirror of Erised actually said. I was in junior high - eighth grade. I was reading a kids’ book that wasn’t hugely popular yet, and trying to lure people in.  I remember seeing more and more people I knew picking up the books. In high school, when we had free days in band (aka the teacher was sick and the sub didn’t know music), my friends and I would talk Harry Potter.  I was giddy when I got my own copies - hardback copies - of the first three books by saving my money and shopping the second-hand bookstores. It’s not that my parents wouldn’t have gotten them for me, but I wanted to buy them for myself. My original, paperback copy of Sorceror’s Stone was battered and tattered and well-loved.  Mom kept loaning out our copies to people. Sometimes, they didn’t come back. In that, it was like when she would loan out copies of The Lord of The Rings when I was a kid (which is why there are probably 4 or 5 copies of that in my parents’ house today). She knew the books were special. I put up Harry Potter posters. I glommed onto Hermione as a favorite character - a bookish girl who could still stand up for herself and have great friends? It was everything I had wanted for myself when I was eleven and struggled hard to have. So I adored her. And I shipped Harry/Hermione. Still do, but now days, I prefer just having an OT3 of the Golden Trio and an OT3 of the Silver Trio (or Sub Trio or whatever name the fandom uses now).  I sometimes had trouble sleeping and would pop the audiobook of Sorceror’s Stone into my cassette player on those nights. It helped me relax. When the first film came out, my parents and I were there to see it. I was amazed. I remember griping about minor tweaks, like Harry’s eyes (until I read about the contacts issues). Oh, what little I knew of how the books and films would splinter more. But still be fun. Goblet of Fire the book was released 4 days before my 15th birthday. I made the mistake of telling my parents I could hold off on reading my copy until then. After I saw my mom sobbing -for reasons she couldn’t tell me - at the end of the book...I never made that particular error again. When Order of the Phoenix came out, we went to the Barnes and Noble midnight release to get our pre-ordered copies. During the long wait, a guy wandered up and down selling Little Caesar's pizzas. Another guy had visited Wal-Mart, purchased every copy of the book they had, and was selling them for only a couple of bucks over what he’d paid to anyone in line who was desperate for an extra copy. My parents bought one and I spent the rest of the waiting period crouched under a parking lot light, reading, until my parents got the copies we’d actually come for.  I lost sleep reading all of the books as they came out. I was always done within a few days, at most. I just couldn’t put them down. I got T-shirts. Bought dolls/pillows/bedding. Got myself a T-shirt, a poster, and Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them when I visited the UK in high school. I saw the latter films at midnight releases with my friends. Half-Blood Prince the book came out during my first summer as a camp counselor. Almost all of us - camper and staff alike - were reading it or talking about it. Spoilers were forbidden but there would still be hushed conversations during bedtime hours or “me-time” after lunch (rest period).  Deathly Hallows - both book and film - came out after my mother passed. I got my copy of the book, quietly, at a Kroger at midnight. 

Harry Potter got me heavily into fandom. I was there for The Draco Trilogy and Pawn to Queen. My Immortal and The Shoebox Project. Squickfics that made it onto GodAwfulFanfiction and its successor, Why God Why. LiveJournal communities. Fandom wank. And so much more. Reading updates on MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron and watching fanvids. Listening to music uploaded from Draco and the Malfoy and other fanbands. Roleplaying communities that were being hosted on Proboards message boards. Countless Sorting quizzes.  I made sure to visit Universal Studios on my honeymoon with @lechevaliermalfet​ and want to go back one day, as only Hogsmeade existed when we went. I also remember how grumpy I was that @lechevaliermalfet​ had resisted my urging to read the books - he read them after they were recommended by an unlikely source. In hindsight, it makes sense. I was a solid fan. The person who recommended the books was not. I celebrated the release of Cursed Child with my family at a day-long celebration in Naperville, IL. I have a T-shirt to commemorate it, and a wand that I made with the help of my niece.  Just this year, @lechevaliermalfet​ and I did a date night - dinner and the first Potter movie on the big screen.

I’m rambling, I know, but the point is, Harry Potter got me involved. I made online friends and honed writing skills by writing fanfiction. I learned to have a thicker skin because of some of the feedback I got. I made at least one fanvid (I’m reasonably certain it’s been lost to the ether and good riddance). Sure, I participated in other fandoms (especially Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew and Witch Hunter Robin). But this was a fandom I shared with more of my family and friends than any other. And I could even - and did - read it to kids I babysat. Now, I know Harry Potter isn’t perfect. Lord knows, Cursed Child reads like a bad fanfiction, and I have seen those ideas executed in ways that fired up my imagination and emotions more effectively. Repeatedly. Then there’s the issue of worldbuilding. The not-so-great aspects/implications of much of what has come out of Pottermore aside, Harry Potter’s wizarding world has always been a shaky society. Others have touched on this far more eloquently, so I’ll just say that it was interesting that we only had a few token “good” Slytherins - who were still shown to have ambition that overruled their better judgement at times.

I always saw the films as a different interpretation of the same story, so I wouldn’t go nuts over the stuff that was altered, so that stays. They have flaws of their own. Sometimes they exacerbate what is in the books - sometimes not.

I can’t speak to the more recent Fantastic Beasts stuff as I haven’t gotten involved. Maybe eventually. But I never realized that the poor representation in JKR’s world might reflect her worldview more wholly. I honestly figured it was a more innocent ignorance or reluctance to risk upsetting the market at the time. But the more she tweets and posts...the more obvious it is that no, she just really is that biased.  I guess, at this point, I’m going to have to follow the Death of the Author route. I used to live for the engagement Rowling had with fans, and the tidbits she’d dole out. Now, I cringe every time I see one.   For the books themselves, I think I’m going to have to take the Death of the Author approach from now on. Because JKR cannot take away the positive things Harry Potter gave me and other fans. I won’t let her. And I am grateful that there are Potter cast members stepping up to denounce her. I love Harry Potter. JKR can go jump in a lake. 

[thehighfiveproject]

Friends, rev your high fives.

Here's the card we'll be using for this month's edition of our bingo! Grab it up and get going. Remember, zero need to sign up, but if you want to share it with us so we can reblog and share the love, make sure you do so by next Wednesday, November 2.

Below the cut: a list of definitions for each of the squares in case you need help or ideas (don't worry, those will be added to the FAQs post for easy reference), and a black & white version of the card, in case you just really don't like yellow.

☆ How do I fill my card? How is each square defined?

Here’s the way we’re defining the activities associated with each card. If any of this is confusing after you read it over, send us a message and we’ll help!

- ‘leave kudos on a fic’

This is the easiest one! Just go out and find a fic you like and leave a kudos on it, if you haven’t already. It’s a small gesture but it makes an author know that someone actually read their story!

- ‘reblog/retweet an art post’

Find any art post you like and share it! Here’s the catch: you need to interact with it a little. When you reblog/retweet, please tell the creator what you thought about the piece – you can add some tags, or reply to the post, or quote-retweet or add a comment, or anything! A simple “I love this!” is nice but some details are even better (“your linework is so good!” or “that shade of blue is perfect”). One thing to think about: a lot of art on Tumblr is reposted (like when a user posts another artist’s work from Pixiv, say), so it’s nice if you make an effort to interact with posts that are actually from the creator if you can. That way the artist will see your comment!

- ‘reblog/retweet a fic post’

Same as the above, but for fic! Again, tags/replies/comments are needed, preferably with a little detail. You don’t need to be super eloquent or leave a detailed review (although if you have time/energy, that would be appreciated!); a tag as simple as “that was really cute” or “great characterization!” will do. Like with the art posts, it’s nice if you reblog directly from the writer (if you can) – some fics are posted by AO3 feed bots and the like, so the author may not even know a reblog has happened.

- ‘reblog/retweet an edit’

Same as the above, but for edits! Edits can include a gif set, or a set of screencaps, or even a fanvid. And, again, some simple tags/replies are needed. “I love that song choice!” for a vid or “great coloring!” on a gifset can let people know their work is being appreciated.

- ‘comment on a fic’

Find a fic, on any fic-hosting site you like, and leave a comment. That’s it! Again, no need to leave a novel-length comment (unless you’re inspired!) – a sentence or two is all we’re asking for this square to be considered complete. This is a great opportunity to let a writer know how their piece made you feel, or what section you particularly liked.

- ‘message a creator’

‘Creator’ here can mean anyone who makes *anything* to do with fandom: art, edits, fic, meta, knitted sweaters with character faces on them – if they’ve made anything, they’re a creator, and now’s your chance to let them know they’re appreciated. Send a message (anonymous or not!) letting them know that you enjoyed their work!

- ‘make a rec post’

This is a chance to tell your fandom friends about something they need to see. You can rec a fic, a blog, a fan event, an artist, an author, that person who knits sweaters with character faces – any kind of fandom thing that you want to make sure people see. This doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but feel free to go into as much detail as you want! Just make your own post, on Tumblr or Twitter or wherever else seems best to you, and give that thing you loved a little fanfare.

- ‘interact with a meta post’

A little love for our analytical friends! Here, you can reblog/retweet any kind of meta post for your fandom, whether it’s a three sentence headcanon or an essay-length dissection of why Character X is the absolute best character in Fandom Y. It’s even better if you respond to the meta, whether that’s agreeing or (respectfully!) adding your own thoughts, but sharing it is the main thing here.

And here's the non-decorated version, in case you feel like making it your own. Get creative, if you want!

[kuwdora]

Witcher Commenting Event & Community Engagement PART 2

I recently wrote a long post about an idea I had for drumming up engagement on Witcher fanworks.

In that post I described a commenting event where we collectively go and comment on fanworks that could use some love. We would comment during a dedicated window of time so creators get a fresh wave of comments! We could squee together and build discussion on the fanworks and engage with each other about the work in the comments where creators can see us appreciating their work.

I made a survey to see if this was something people might be interested in participating… It turns out there is a LOT OF INTEREST for something like this.

My survey is still open! - Please fill this out and reblog to continue to spread awareness of the project. If you left your contact information to help organize/brainstorm and I haven’t gotten back to you, I will be reaching out in the following weeks to follow up when I can.

😍😍😍 My original tumblr post reached 155 notes in a week and a half and I have received about 53 responses. Incredible response! Most of the reblogs with comments in the tags have shown great enthusiasm which has made me very happy.

So thanks to your interest I have spent the last week and a half with excited fans, brainstorming what this commenting event will look like. We’re setting up a tumblr and organizing the rest of the details and logistics of everything. You might see me or others commenting in various ways on tumblr as we try different things on this platform just to see what it's like and how it might be received.

I hope to have a more formal announcement and link to the community soon with actual dates and everything.

We’ve selected a theme for our first Comment Crawl and we will be curating some fanworks for the first round. But in the future we may move towards voting on themes via poll and allowing people to submit nominations that fit some engagement criteria.

I’m so excited about this project. Ahhh! Makes my heart so happy.

Keep reading if you’d like to learn more about some of the survey results and see what people are interested in reading, seeing and commenting on here in Witcher fandom and where everyone discovers fic to read!

WITCHER FANWORKS INTERESTS:

When I asked what kind of fanworks you’d like to see in a Comment Crawl:

100% of you would like to leave comments on fanfic

88% of you are interested in commenting on fanart

39.6% of you are interested in commenting on fanvids (!! oh my heart!! YAY)

28.3% of you are interested in listening to and commenting on podfic!!

6% of you told me not to forget fan crafts and music playlists!!

Lucky for everyone there is a lot of incredible podfic, crafts, vids, and fanart in Witcher fandom! Plenty of things to show you that need more love. I’m excited to create an event to showcase these works!

I asked what kind of subjects you’d like to see and comment on for a Comment Crawl:

81.1% are interested in fanworks featuring character studies and gen (no pairing) (YAY!)

71.7% are interested in rare pairings (!!! YAY!)

60.4% are interested in femslash (YES!!!)

58.5% are interested in our juggernaut pairings

49.1% would love to read and see more fanworks from fandom exchanges

32.1% are interested in canon-specific fanworks (book, games, show)

And a whopping 73.6% of you are also interested in nominating your own fanworks for a theme! I hear ya! Comments are great!

20% of you also submitted ‘other’ - expressing your interest in reading more non-Wolf witchers, fear of not being interested in things outside your current fixations. And others are really excited to discover new-to-you fanworks and genres. We are a diverse bunch here in Witcher fandom. Which makes sense considering Witcher canon is 50 canons in a trenchcoat!

So my takeaway is that y’all are interested in a variety of things and I am hoping to curate our first event that will give everyone a little taste of the undiscovered and unsung fanworks on AO3, tumblr, and other social media platforms. There’s so much incredible stuff out here. 

In the second half of my survey I asked people how they discovered new fic to read:

90.6% of respondents are subscribed to AO3 authors/stories/tags

79.2% of respondents find fic on tumblr via reblogs

58.5% of respondents utilize AO3 bookmarks to find new fic

39.6% of respondents discover fic via Discord

37.7% of respondents discover fic via friend recs

26% of respondents discover fic via Tumblr tags

20% of respondents are clicking around via AO3 tags, filters and searches

This is suggesting that it takes a lot to find new-to-you stories outside your fannish circles of interest and that trudging through AO3 tags isn’t as productive as it could be for you to find new things to read.  

Would you be interested in an event about reccing Witcher fanworks?

56.5% said yes and would love to write and share recs

69.9% said yes and would love to promote and squee over recs

17.4% of respondents aren’t sure what this would look like

Many of you are also interested in learning more about recs lists and would be interested in an event that could help expose you to new parts of fandom and different characters and other fans. I have several ideas about this which I am excited to mull over and brainstorm later… but first we’re gonna do a commenting event!!  More details to come in the following weeks!

REMINDER: if you haven’t filled out the survey about interest in Witcher engagement events, the survey is still open! Feel free to leave me your thoughts about what you’d like to see in this event and future ones.

Feel free to leave any suggestions in the survey. Or send me a DM on tumblr if you have thoughts or questions!!

Thank you!

Tagging for reach...

@fangirleaconmigo @jackironsides @limerental @sargassostories @wannastayugly @mersephesie @bomberqueen17 @aramblingjay

[mikanrulz]

MAD OP - Fafner Movie Opening

This fanvid of the fafner heaven and earth movie is pretty great and I haven’t stop replaying it since I discovered it a few days ago and it’s styled like it’s an OP for a fafner heaven and earth anime *series* which kinda makes me wish HAE was at least a cour long instead of just a two-hour long... /cries

Highlights:

Kazuki’s face at 0:07

Kazuki and Kurusu are the main leads

like the main focus is all about Kazuki and Kurusu’s relationship

soushi is treated like Kazuki’s long lost missing sweetheart whom Kazuki just can’t move on from and whose memories keep Kazuki going

...which is totally true now that I think about it

the point is that when I was watching HAE movie, I was expecting Kazuki and Soushi’s relationship progression and that was what I focused on which made me overlook everything else, including Kurusu despite him having plenty screentime and his own unexpected  interesting background and subplot.

but like, *soushi*

also WHAT is even Kazuki’s face at 0:07

I watched HAE movie often enough to remember he had no this specific face expression in it.

plenty of kazuki ‘sadfacing and making you want to hug him and comfort him and protect him from everything’ scenes but NOT this specific sad face.

srsly

which sorcery magazine/pamphlet/poster/bonus content is the 0:07 face came from

I need it like I need air

I can’t believe I’ve been sleeping on Kurusu all this time

WHERE IS ALL THE KURUSU/KAZUKI FANWORKS

or at the very least all the Kurusu is the Soushi/Kazuki #1 fan (after Maya, who is the president of the sou/kazu fanclub)

look, kurusu gave soushi a body and healed kazuki’s eyesight so that they both could gaze at the pretty blue sky together.

he also kept soushi’s consciousness safe within him for two years just bcs it seemed *interesting*

kurusu also defied his Mir, his *god*, just to keep kazuki from disappearing

must be bcs kazuki looked at him with the 0:07 face

srsly wtf is the 0:07 face

if you watch Exodus right after the 1st season, you’d never guess kazuki is totally, completely, NOT alright in between, or at least during those two years where soushi’s gone.

but then again he’s always in ‘crossing’ with soushi during those two years, completely unaware it’s all real and NOT only his own hallucination for missing soushi so I guess it’s understandable for him to be a little messed up ;___;

this fanvid is pretty great, esp the editing so pls watch it ;___;

ALSO THE 0:07 FACE

and lastly, don’t watch The Beyond if you want to avoid thirsting for things you won’t have access to for at least three months and also the cliffhanger after the third ep is just dafjdafjdafdagb’ldhfda

kidding. please watch the beyond if you want to suffer more kafjdvfadvfg

[sweetsoursugarcube]

So, I’m playing the AO3 BINGO to celebrate 5 million fanworks on ao3 :D You totally should play too!

A fanworks challenge: @spideypoolbingo which I’m totally participating it, but haven’t posted anything for yet because a) I can’t finish anything and b) if I do finish something, I can’t stand to edit it, which means no posting yet. Oops? I swear I’m working on three different prompts right now. Check out Spideypool Bingo 2019 on ao3 HERE

A podfic under 30 minutes: Spideypool fic Quackery by @capsing read by @rhea314. Listen HERE

A comment you left on a fanwork: “Nnngh fuck, I didn’t know I needed this in my life until I got it here. I kind of hope Peter won’t have to turn into a werewolf in order to make this work, especially considering Eddie seems to be against it (and also because I just love Peter as he is aaa). Ned is such a great friend, just immediately on board with all the supernatural stuff haha. I love this, thank you for writing and sharing with us! 🌸😊” left on spideyvenom fic Peter and the Wolf written by barbaricyawp

A fanart based on another fanwork: @fluffyboots has made art based on their ereri fic Forest of Twilight. Both the fic and the art can be viewed HERE

A fanfic over 50 000 words long: Off The Record by @crookedswingset (a 138 368 words long, completed spideypool fic)

A meta work: Alphas, Betas, Omegas: A Primer by norabombay. I’ve made some a/b/o research, hah

A fanwork with one of your fav tropes: Man I have so many fave tropes and fave fics! But I’ll name i begin to understand why god died by @viscrael because it has fantasy, angels/demons, amnesia, angst (with a happy ending), fluff, hurt/comfort. A beautiful nezushi fic!

A creator with only one posted work: @songbird462 has only posted their ereri fic What’s left of me (which is a whooping 336 620 words long atm and still going strong!!)

A fanwork from a small fandom: spider silk by @spectacular-nostalgia. Spideyvenom is a ship with a pretty small fandom - the Eddie Brock/Peter Parker tag has 107 works on ao3

A canon-divergent fanwork: For instance the ereri fic Words Cannot Describe by @zhedang

A photo manip: Thief by @kanarek13 (check their ao3 profile for more manips! There’s so many to choose from I just slapped one of Neal from White Collar here)

A character study fanwork: I Like Birds by chinashopbull is a great character study of autistic!Peter (with spideypool)

Favorite fanfic: I’ve got many! But I’ll name the ereri fic Searching for Levi by blessende as one of them

A crossover fanwork: For instance Language by @lafaiette is a Spider-Man/Deadpool crossover fanfic

A fanwork with a color in the title: Spideypool fic Black Jelly Beans, Actually by hoosierbitch

A podfic over 1 hour: Spideypool fic Peter Parker's Home for the Wayward Villain by BeanieBaby is also available as a podfic read by @mistbornhero. You can listen to it HERE

A fanwork in progress: Blood Isn’t Everything, but It Pays the Bills by ChickenGoesMoo (18/? chapters of a slow build fic, tagged spideypool)

A fanwork for when you’re sad: One I’ve re-read a few times is platonic ereri fic Time Flows Unnaturally by orphan_account

A favorite additional tag: “Levi’s mysterious mer-dick” that Corporal_Levi_cleans_my_house used for their ereri fic Dark Waters

A fanart comic: We take us Home [COMIC] is a cute symbrock comic by @massivespacewren

A fanwork for when you’re happy: One is ereri fic Steered Straight by @jesse-m-c-c-r-e-e

A 100 word drabble: The symbrock short Made to Love by Goddess_in_Aubergine

A “classic” fanwork: ugh, would you believe me if I said I actually haven’t read all that many fics that a lot of people consider “top classics” (fics with the most kudos in a fandom)? Off the top of my head I’d name ereri fic Street Brat by @monswoon

Unfortunately I can’t find any of the fanmixes/fanvids I’ve listened to or watched on ao3 so I don’t get the golden ao3bingo badge :/ silver will have to do for now!

[leta-the-strange]

My troubled relationship with the FB community.

Okay, here goes. As ridiculous as it sounds (because in reality, it is ridiculous) I have taken a rather lengthy break from my writing – both here, on A03 and Fanfiction.net for my health. I have a few significant health problems and for as long as I can remember, writing is one of the few escapes I have – one of my true joys. Now, I’m by no means one of the ‘greats’ in any of the fandoms I’ve written in. I’m always in awe of the talent of some of the writers that I have been lucky enough to read and although I’m not at their level, I’ve been so excited to have the opportunity to have these platforms to share the stories I’ve poured my heart into and so mindblown and grateful to have people not only read them but take the time to leave feedback or thanks.

My love for Leta Lestrange began way back in the very first film when we knew very little about her. But I was starry-eyed from the get-go. A woman of colour main character? She quickly turned into my new inspiration and I was lucky enough to be one of the first Leta Lestrange-centred writers and blogs and meet some other great creatives and like-minded fans in the then tiny Leta loving community. I started developing my first multi-chapter story and (as daunting as it was considering the incredible talent in the stories I had read) started uploading the first chapters to share. A few people started reading my stories and left encouragement, advice and comments that absolutely made my day and I would feel so driven and inspired to keeping going and looked forward to spending my evenings putting together new chapters. My heart would skip each time I got an email saying that someone had left a comment, a review, kudos or notes.  

I was quite naïve in not knowing much about ‘ship’ and ‘fandom wars’ and when I found out that was a…thing, I did my best to stick to safe, neutral content, staying out of the confrontational tags, not engaging in the fandom too much – only to share things I created or liked (what all this is supposed to be about). Unfortunately, no matter how well I did that foreign, poisonous part of the fandom I was naïve enough to believe I could easily avoid by minding my business found its way into my life and quickly consumed something I loved.

PLEASE understand that this post isn’t about the characters. This is about real people. As a young girl of colour, yes there have absolutely been moments where I feel sick at some of the racist undertones in a large majority of the fandom’s depiction of Leta – I am happy to put my feelings on this in a more eloquent fashion in a separate post but again, the purpose of my first post back is about real people.

There are people in this fandom, quite a lot of people actually who all belong to one particular community, who not only are lucky enough to have the free time to create and share the things they love on the internet but also apparently have enough spare time to actively go seeking out posts, stories, works, etc that are centred on fictional characters and relationships that they don’t like (to put it lightly) for the sole purpose of abusing, bullying and degrading the creators to the delight of their followers that have little more than mic-drop gifs, ‘oh snap’s, and ‘#preach’ to contribute. 

This behaviour is disgusting, appalling, unacceptable and harmful.

And of course, not ALL people from this particular, I don’t know the word…’shipping group’ do this (so many are kind, talented and supportive) but enough have that I feel like even if I eventually came to like this pairing, I would never, ever feel safe engaging in that community myself.

I have characters I like, characters I love, ones that I am impartial to and ones I don’t like much. That’s the great thing about fictional characters. However, I have never felt the urge (or had the time or energy) to obsessively track the tags of ships and characters that I don’t like to leave hateful comments designed to make the creators feel unsafe and unwanted in a community in which they are just as entitled to be involved in than anyone else.

This obsessive, abusive behaviour destroyed my love for writing. One of the few things that drew me out of depression when I was unable to physically do much else activity-wise gave me intense anxiety and as much as I still received beautiful comments, I panicked when I received notification that someone had messaged me. 

My story has been called disgusting, dumb, awful, gross etc. I have been called deluded (apparently for not following a canon ship), a crazy dumb bitch, illiterate – just off the top of my head. I found a thread last year that encouraged people to upload new Fantastic Beasts content to A03 asap to get my story off the first page when I would upload a new chapter.  I was torn to shreds on both fanfiction websites after the second film came out and told that I hadn’t seen the movies (I had started my story well before the second film so I had to fill in the gaps which were quite a few). It seemed so pathetic and laughable at the start, I would just make sure I could monitor my reviews and would delete or not answer the abuse I received. 

Eventually though, it become too overwhelming and I found it too difficult to continue – my inspiration was gone and I was emotionally drained. A few times I actually became pale, shaky and vomited from the relentlessness of it. I tried to claw back the thrill and love writing gave me by practicing getting back on the saddle by doing prompts on Tumblr while I was in hospital battling one of my illnesses. I thought it might be nice to take requests from people – a gentle re-entry into my beloved hobby and reconnecting with other fans. I did a piece on Theseus and Leta that I had overwhelming support for. I actually cried when more than a couple people left beautiful messages in regard to my Theseus dying/Leta surviving prompt. A few people left me Newt/Leta related prompts. I got around to completing a first kiss request that earned me an anon informing me that my writing was trash, made them gag in their mouth and I should seriously reconsider inflicting my unwanted pieces on a fandom that doesn’t want them and to keep my shit out of the tag. 

I have seen blogs disappear from it and stories, posts and artwork removed. I was scrolling through Instagram and someone (quite notorious for this behaviour across all platforms) simply comment ‘ew #newtinaforever’ on a beautiful Leta fanvid that would have taken such a long time to put together. Surprisingly, the comments I got that were simply ‘ew’, ‘gross’, etc were more hurtful than the torrents of abuse sometimes. 

Just a few days ago, someone posted something absolutely non-confrontational and innocent about them personally liking Newt/Leta because they found it cute which of course opened the floodgates for abuse and I read a comment relating to people who don’t personally ship the ‘canon’ ship (this sounds so ridiculous now that I’m typing it) as deluded and needed to check into a mental ward. This is quite personal but I am someone who has an illness that is accompanied by psychotic symptoms and I have spent periods of time in a psychiatric hospital (and will likely need to during my lifetime) for my own wellbeing. I felt physically nauseous by this. I feel anxious now disclosing this as I know this will give more ammunition to the people who have not yet been blocked by me and enjoy taunting me but I want people to understand the weight of their childish, uneducated, ignorant outbursts.  

Because of my experience, PLEASE understand that when I say ‘unhinged’ I am not meaning it as a slur, it is coming from a place of serious concern. I think there are people in this fandom that are becoming quite dangerously confused between reality and fantasy. These characters ARE NOT REAL. If I can get through years of one my favourite characters being constantly hated on, written by fans as an abuser, rapist, you name it while far more ‘bad/problematic’ (white) females are adored and shipped with various characters quite harmoniously, and not resort to commenting, abusing or harassing people than you can get through your fave not being someone else’s fave. If your favourite pairing is canon, why are you so insecure about people liking other pairings? In Harry Potter, the most popular fan-favourite ships are non-canon and don’t cause any harm.

If someone writes on THEIR OWN BLOG that they personally don’t follow a certain ship, or they find a character bland or boring, or don’t agree with a casting, or don’t see chemistry between certain actors or like a pairing that differs from your own, JUST KEEP SCROLLING (and certainly don’t go on a witch-hunt by tracking down posts, blogs and stories you know you won’t like).

These are not real people. There is absolutely 0 reasons to be offended by someone saying that they find a certain character or pairing bland (which I haven’t done before). Of course you can disagree but if you are enraged, or offended, or feel inclined to personally attack or threaten A REAL PERSON over their preferences in something make-believe, than please, I implore you for your own mental wellbeing, to seriously assess if this level of emotional attachment to made-up characters is healthy.

I am planning on getting back into my story in time. I would love to get through the prompts and (nice) messages in my inbox now that I’m feeling a little more secure mentally and physically. I do thank all the beautiful people who have taken the time to request things, leave notes and such – I’m only back for them and feel confident that I can work through the toxicity and superiority complexes in this fandom with their support. I will do my best from now on to call out and check people when I see them mistreating others and to have more respect for myself and my work and not tolerate this any longer. I may respond and share some of the less pleasant messages I’ve received if I believe my responses can be helpful to others but there are some that require no response or audience.

I feel very content in the knowledge that I can see a story, visual, video, etc, involving a fandom, character or pairing that I don’t necessarily like and still appreciate the time and effort the person put in and find enjoyment in it too. If you still feel incapable of controlling yourself around people who are not a carbon copy of yourself, please just save yourself the distress by just blocking me instead of wasting valuable time and energy finding new ways to abuse me. I am not a harmful person, I am not an abusive person. I encourage you in your journey to hopefully become the same and if you need to remove yourself from temptation than I applaud that decision no matter how much I cannot personally relate. 

To anyone who has read my stories or sent me prompts, thank your for your patience and encouragement. I look forward to being able to get back into a community I have found such joy in.

[protect-namine]

I’m a little late for this but better late than never!! I haven’t made a fanwork reclist before. But hey, it’s AO3′s celebration and it’s always a good time to celebrate other people’s works!! So without further ado, here’s a mish-mash of some of my favorite fanworks across fandoms. They deserve the love!!

(Also, I apologize in advance for the long post)

A meta work

[NDRV3 | SaiOuma] Psychobabble

Exploring the concussion complex. (Let’s get brainsick.)

A fanwork for when you’re happy

[Haikyuu!! | TsukiHina] Four Weddings & a Funnel;

(AKA the fic where Tsukshima and Hinata hang out and get drunk during weddings, try to get over their failed romances, and end up getting together.)

A fanwork with one of your fave tropes

[Persona 5 | AkeShu] The Next Time Around

At an old friend's wedding in Venice, Akira Kurusu runs into the last person he expected to see, which would all be well and good – if he could just work out how he felt about it. And if the person in question wasn't his ex-boyfriend.

A character study fanwork

[Pokemon game!verse] youre terribly favoured (by heaven and above)

Close your eyes, Red. It’ll come to you eventually. Like most things. It’ll come to you eventually. And the only person who’s gonna be surprised is you.

A fanwork in progress

[BNHA] Subject: A Comprehensive Report

Izuku decides early on that heroics is not the only path to heroism.

A fanvid

I love the fandub for hiimdaisy’s Persona 4 comics

A comment you left on a fanwork

[TWEWY | composer!Shiki] a play of heartstrings (for gods to play at being human)

(Just look for the comment at the bottom. I basically gushed over the whole fic because it’s such a beautiful portrayal of composer!Shiki. It’s so great guys. Go read it!)

FREE! Your favorite fanwork

[Pokemon game!verse | Red/Green] speaking a dead language

Sometimes, there are people you just can’t live without. For Green, Red is that person. (I read this back in like... 2012 or something, and 7 years later it’s still my favorite fic to this day)

A fanwork for when you’re sad

Any dark fic about Tokyo Ghoul or any NDRV3 fic with pre-game personalities tbh, but special mention to Big Fake because it’s just so gross and intriguing and disgustingly, absurdly funny - and I mean that both literally and as a compliment

A 100-word drabble

[Danny Phantom] The Definition of Freedom.

A fanwork from a small fandom

[ERASED | KenSato] The Town Only You Are Not In

Kobayashi Kenya, in the years while Satoru slept.

A crossover fanwork

[Chronicles of Narnia | Torchwood] The Shadows Feel Like Home

In which the Pevensies trip, fall, and somehow end up in Torchwood. (AKA the one where the Pevensies become spies guarding against the supernatural in England. I don’t even watch Torchwood but the whole fic is so fun to read regardless.)

A fanmix

Here’s a great Dishonored-inspired playlist.

A fanfic over 50k words long

[KH | SoRoku] Roller Coaster

... Mostly though, it's just two boys who met long distance, dreamed of working at Walt Disney World and fell in love along the way. (AKA the soroku coming of age fic but they’re always in disneyland)

A canon-divergent fanwork

[NDRV3 | SaiOuma] The roles we (are meant to) play

It’s an eerie feeling of déjà vu that overtakes him when he opens his eyes and sees Ouma hovering above him... Or, Saihara moves that little bit faster and Ouma ends up with a different hostage in the hangar.

A “classic” fanwork

[Life Is Strange | caulscott] The Sense of Me

After Max chooses to sacrifice Chloe, she finds herself determined to make this a new beginning, a timeline that won't be twisted for the worse because of her interference. Maybe this time, she might just be able to do some good. Nathan Prescott seems like the best possible - or worst - place to start.

[throwing-summers-at-the-walls]

Hello half valid anon here (i like my nickname 😂). I got through all your fics and they were all great. Right now im just reading a lot of poi fanfics and watch fanvids cause i can't accept that the series is over 😂 --- i know what you mean about fics affecting you negatively. I had this with 13rw (the Show and some fics) everything was so dark and hopeless that i had to stop watching it. I also love to seek out fics where someone is hurt so i can feel my pain through the characters (1)

But i try to read only fics with lots of comfort so it kinda feels like i get comforted as well (dont know if that makes sense). If it makes you uncomfortable or if its unhealthy for you to write about this i completely understand and i dont mean to come of as pushing you to write. I just hope whatever you do will be the right decision for you! As for you feeling suicidal im sorry to hear that. Let me know if there is ever anything i can do to help! I wish i could say sth more comforting but Im not super good with words :( i just hope you have people in your life that support you! 💛

maybe root will grow on you too? Or maybe you can skip her scenes and enjoy John, Harold and most importanly Bear! 😂 Yeah Shaw definately looks really good. She is a bit like Reese minus the caring. At first it seems she doesnt care about anything at all but thats not exactly the Case. There was an episode with Shaw and a little girl (3x5) and i really loved it (have you seen that one?).

I really think Shaw would grow on you (especially since in the beginning she does a lot with John) but then again a lot of her later scenes include Root so im not sure. Yes i love that there were never any romantic undertones with her and John!!

yeah the core four were great. I was so sad when Carter died! :(

i guess everyone sees chemistry different, i think Shoot and Rinch post have great chemistry ☺️

as for John being good with people: YES!! he is always so compassionate and such a great listener as well. I especially like him with children. John and the baby were so cute or John with the boy who offered to pay for him. John + Kids was always a great combination and i wished we would have seen it more often. Also regarding children we did we never got to see a John Taylor scene after Carters death? I needed that!

yes John the badass is also amazing! His character has so many different sides and i love him so much!!

i think Grace Harold was really cute but i dont really see a future for them, i mean he lied to her for so long! but then again they really loved each other so idk maybe they work it out. Im also not into John/Harold/Grace but like you said good for the people who like the ship :)

John and Zoe were great! i wish Zoe would have appeared more often!

I have so many things to say about John and the boring therapist but i think i better not say them :D i wish i could just erase their relationship from my mind!

of course he didnt die! i didnt see a dead body so i refuse to believe he is dead! i also just wanted them to be happy. what kind of an ending is it to let the main character die? i refuse to accept this! -- thank you for the rec i will check it out :) while i do like fluff i mostly read h/c (with the focus on the comfort) cause i just want John to get his much needed comfort :D -- i have no idea where season 1 is supposed to be boring. but idc the people can live with their wrong opinions :D

(today: tumblr user nourann3 discovers the option to indent text after almost 5 years on tumblr...)

Hiii !! It is a very valid nickname 😂 That's nice !! Hmu if you want more recs ! Lol same honestly, I can't believe it's been 4 years since the show ended ! I can give you a link to my poi/Rinch fanvids playlist if you're interested 👀

Oh boi 13rw is so cursed, can't believe I watched all of the 1st season 😬 I remember being afraid of the suicide scene making me uncomfortable but it was so cringe, unrealistic and just bad that I wasn't even that uncomfortable, I cringed when she cut her arms but that's it.

Yeah big mood I project a lot on comfort fics as well. For suicide fics, I think it also depends on how the fics adress the subject. It's something that is complicated to write. If I read a suicide fic with no recovery I'm gonna project but feel like shit. But with recovery, I can project into the recovery as well so it's better ! I read a really good ace attorney fic showing Miles recovering after a suicide attempt, it was thoughtful and didn't fall into the pitfalls of magical super fast recovery/love heals everything, and some lines stuck with me, it was really good and comforting. But yeah if it's just a suicide/suicide attempt then I don't think it's good for me (but sometimes I still read it bc I'm a Dumb Bitch).

Dw you didn't come off as pushing 💜 I'll see how I feel about continuing it or not. I have to figure out if writing about suicide is positive or negative for me 🤔 I mean I'm not portraying John's suicidal crisis as a positive thing, and he reaches out to Harold, and considers he might get better so I don't think it's bad for me ? Another problem is that I have a tendency to drop my wips to write a new shiny idea I get, and then I never finish anything gkgkffjfjf I dropped the suicide fic for the body horror fic which I dropped for the time loop fic, and there's also the hanahaki fic I started last year but I haven't touched in months, plus a bunch of random shit floating around OneDrive lmao someone stop me

What helps the most is venting, just getting that shit out is helping y'know. I appreciate your support ♥️ at least it's not as bad as it used to be

I doubt Root will grow on me, catch me watching her scenes at 1.5 speed lmao, also yes you bet I'll enjoy watching them !!

Yes I remember that ep ! Iirc the little girl tells Shaw she has feelings but the volume is lower than in other people or smth along those lines ?

I hope she'll grow on me bc she seems cool. I remember I was a bit afraid of her just becoming a sort of hollow copy of John, like "look we added another badass to the show". Seems to be more than that though ! Also I'm curious about their mayhem twins dynamic. But yeah if she has a lot of scenes with Root idk how much it'll annoy me

I feel like I wouldn't be able to get the Shoot chemistry bc I'm too biased against Root lol

Ikr the crossing hurt me so much. But thinking about it takes me back to my careese days and my first fics lol. I feel like the death of one of the core four + the abandonment of the library really alienated me from the show (did I already say that before ?). And here I'm gonna shamelessly derail from Carter to the library bc boiii do I have a lot of feelings about the library !! And you're here, talking about poi, so you're the perfect subject to throw these feelings at. This post really says what I feel about it (I'll put the link at the end as well if you wanna read it after you're done with this l o n g reply). It was in a way its own character and its forced abandonment/destruction really hit me (fucked me up when they broke that glass board). It says something that it's one of the few things I remember from S3 along with Carter's death and 4C. I loved it a lot, it was a cornerstone of the show. It was a safe place, a home for Harold and John (and Bear !). I love when they're together in there, I love this cracked glass board, this yellow stained glass in the windows !!! (at least I assume it's stained glass ?), these lights, Bear's cushion, the whole cozy/safe/isolated feelings, just absolutely everything. And yeah later they have the subway, idk when it's introduced I don't remember if it's early enough for me to have watched it. And maybe it's nice, I can't judge rn. But it's like trying to give me a new MC after a MCD, make him as nice as you want I'll be clutching the previous MC until I die. Gkfkfkff I went overboard and off topic but I just love the library ok

Ikr I love how he's badass but also gentle and understanding and nice to people ! I love him !!! Yeah wolf and cub is really good, also I love when John smiles to Darren at the end !! I use this moment as my pfp bc I love it so much. He's just so cute ! I wish he smiled more (did we ever hear him laugh in the entirety of the show ?). Baby blue is so great, Harold and him are such a married couple in this ep ! Yeah same more content with John and children would have been nice.

I never thought about how much we needed a John Taylor scene but yes !! We were robbed :((((

Speaking of John being a cool badass. Here's a badass John vid rec it's super good

Yeah they were cute in the past. I think it's good he went back to her bc it gives closure to both of them. But I don't see their relationship working again. She grieved, probably started to move on after all these years and knowing he lied all this time probably won't make her want to go back with him. I've never been in love so what do I know lol, but were I her I probably wouldn't want to go back with him and I'd just be happy knowing he's alive after all.

Same I need more Zoe (also she's hot)

Lmao let's just forget about that weird relationship shall we

Aren't we all the same, firmly believing he's alive and happy out there ! It was foreshadowed since the first ep and it made sense but do I care ? No, fuck that shit John is very much alive

You're welcome ! John needs all the comfort and the love !!! I think I have a preference for fluff bc he gets hurt enough in the show lol

Indeed they can, veryyy far away from us

Sry if this is shit I have like half a functioning braincell today

The post abt home bases I mentioned