#might design a few more things for merch before going ahead and making a test batch of them. will keep you updated teehee

[cryptcoop]

The Stupid Brigade

[thewritingstar]

ROCK’in around the Christmas Tree-Secret Santa Gift

so for the Secret Santa (on one of the servers lol) I got the lovely @michiamotippete !!!!!!!!

I whipped up a little Kiribaku holiday fluff (and minor steam) for you and I hope you enjoy this and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

For the @kuroshironekoserver event!!!

---

The cool cold air had taken Japan over during the winter months. Decorations for the beloved holidays had covered their city and everyone was rushing to finish their holiday shopping as Christmas day approached. 

Kirishima found himself inside the mall along side Mina and Sero. It was rare for them to have free time together since being a pro hero meant being on duty for most of their time. Of course Kirishima wanted all his presents to have meaning, but he desperately needed to find one for his boyfriend. 

Believe it or not, Bakugou was hard to shop for. He went ahead and let everyone else give him All Might merch and shirts but he didn’t want to fall under that category. Though he did buy themselves matching Ground Zero and Red Riot items because he knew he secretly loved flaunting his own stuff and not so secretly wearing his boyfriends. 

But he still need the gift. Ya know the big present that you save for last, the one that makes next year's presents even harder because you have to outdo yourself? The gift that makes the person receive it blush slightly as they try their best not to cry. The gift to end all gifts and makes you wanna spend the rest of your life wrapped in their arms? Yeah that. 

Easy peasy ...right?

“I don’t know why you’re worried bro, just sit naked on the bed and tie yourself up, he’ll like that.” Sero said and the heat rose to Kirishima's face before pushing him to the side. 

“Just because that's all you’re doing for Denki, doesn’t mean that will work for me.” Kiri quickly said and the boys went back and forth teasing before Mina complained about her shortage of caffeine, making them stop and get some coffee. 

“I still don’t know.” 

“Get him a rock.” Mina said. 

“I am not giving Bakugou a rock.” He stated and shook his head as he downed his coffee. 

“Well i'm out of ideas.” Mina shrugged and pulled them into another store. 

“Gee you’re so helpful.” Kiri shot back sarcastically. 

They trio ended up leaving the mall a few hours later. Each of their arms carried a few bags but even out of all the gifts, not a single one was for Kirishima's beloved boyfriend. 

“Don’t pout hun. I’m sure the perfect idea will come to you! You still have a week or two left. He’ll love anything you give him because he loves you.” Mina smiled as she kissed both of their cheeks good bye and hopped off the train with Sero as their stop was before Kirishimas. 

“Thanks Mina. See you all soon.” He waved goodbye and before long, he was departing the train as well. 

---

“What's with that face?” Bakugou asked as he stared intently at Kirishima. 

The red head broke from his daze as he refocused his attention on his explosive boyfriend who was currently ranting about being forced to work with Deku for the third time this month. 

“Oh uh nothing babe, sorry, just tired I guess.” He shrugged it off but it didn’t seem to get past Bakugou. The blonde let it slide for now as he finished up his homemade curry and brought his plate to the sink just as Kirhsima followed.

Kirhsima could feel that Bakugou was holding back from asking about his bluff so he did the only thing he knew to distract him, he poked his side. 

A sinister smirk grew on the red heads face as he saw Bakugou's hand tightened on the sponge and the signature scowl appear. 

“Ei.” He said with a dangerous warning but Kirishima was already gone with his playful mind and poked him again causing the blonde the drop the plate and drag him off to their room neglecting the dirty dishes. All Kiri could do was laugh as he was tossed onto the bed. 

“Don’t test me.” Bakugou snarled but it wasn’t meant as a threat but more...loving.

Pushing his limits, Kirishima sat up tapped Bakugou's nose. 

“Oops, hope I don't end up on the naughty list this year.” He winked before he was met with a deadly smirk and crimson red eyes. 

“Guess we’ll find out.” Bakugou let out a dark laugh. 

---

The next week came faster than the winter breeze and Kirishima still had not found the gift. He spent the morning going on a solo run as Bakugou was called into work early and he had a few hours until his own patrol started. 

His mind was racing for ideas but all the good ones had been taken. Two years ago he gave them matching promise rings, a thick black band and Baugous had an orange accent while his had red. The year before that was a photo album and poems he had written about him during their years at U.A and even the year before that he had creative gifts. 

But this one was big. It was their second year as pro heros and their fifth year officially together, though Mina likes to joke that they had been dating since that day they competed together in the sports festival. Somehow, he believed her. 

But now his thoughts went back to what Mina had said at the mall and a small smile came to his face. He checked his calendar and saw that he had three days until Christmas, enough time. He smiled as he popped his headphones back in and began to jog off his designated path and towards the perfect gift. 

---

The sun peered through the curtains as it stirred Kirishima awake. His arms tightened around the waist of his boyfriend and he nuzzled his nose deeper between the crook of the blondes neck. 

“Merry Christmas.” Kirishima sleepily slurred in Bakugou's ear and he was met with crimson eyes as Bakugou had turned in his arms. 

“Merry Christmas.” He repeated softly and planted a sweet and gentle kiss to Kirishima's lips. 

They had agreed to open their gifts once they woke up but five minutes later and Kirishima was back asleep with Bakugou following close behind. They luckily had the day off and decided that maybe sleeping in was the true gift, even if Bakugou protested a little. 

By the time they decided to open up their personal gifts, the sun had started to set and they were in front of the fireplace. The smaller gifts came first which consisted of hero merch, a new apron for Bakugou, new weights for Kirishima and a whole bunch of smaller items. Their living room floor looked of that of a five year old on Christmas day, paper everywhere. 

Bakugou wanted to give his final gift last and Kirishima nodded before handing over a small box to the blonde. 

“Now before you open this, I am aware of what is inside.” Kiri stated. 

“Well I fucking hope so.” Bakugou let out a laugh before tearing the wrapping paper off. 

He revealed a wooden box and cracked open the box. 

Kirishima waited anxiously for his reaction. 

First the blonde furrowed his eyebrows. Then he tilted the box slightly. His eyes darted back and forth between the box and the paper. 

“Um.” He said. “Rocks?” 

“Yep!” Kiri smiled and Bakguous lips tightened into a thin line before setting it down. 

“Thank you?” He tried to be polite but Kirishima's laugh sounded through the room. 

“Let me explain.”

“Please do.” 

Kirishima scooted closer to him on his knees and picked up the first rock. 

“When I was thinking of what to get you, I was lost. I mean what do you get the most important person when they already have everything?” 

Bakugou hummed. “I am important.” 

Kirishima playfully rolled his eyes before continuing. “Well I thought back to every important and meaningful moment of my life, and you were always there. So I went back to every place that meant something to use and collected these.” he gestured to the rocks. 

“I know it's lame and doesn't make sense but I worship the ground you walk on, so I thought if we could have a tangible piece of our journey, it would be worth something. So this one, it's from the field of the sports festival. Of course it's not the same rocks as before since you destroyed most of the field anyways but it was the first time you trusted me to help you, the first time you noticed me.” 

Bakugou stared at the other rocks in the box. He noticed that they now had small slips of paper attached and what they represented. 

“The beach with our first kiss. The campsite with the stars. The cliff where you said you loved me for the first time. It's all here.” Bakugou said as he took them one by one in his hands. The precious memories he loved came flooding back. 

“I thought that maybe we could start a little rock collection.” Kirishima chuckled. “Maybe when we travel or something.” 

Bakugou sat silently observing them all. 

“ I mean if you don;t like it that's okay too. I guess getting rocks isn't that great-”

“I love it.” Bakugou stated. His eyes met Kirishimas and he could see the truth in his eyes clear as day. “These mean alot to me. Makes me think about how lucky I am to even receive these.” 

Kirishima smiled and scooted closer for their noses to touch. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Bakugou said and pecked his lips. “Now it's my turn.” 

He stood and left Kirishima, grabbing a wrapped box on the mantle. “It's funny. The whole rock thing.” He came back to where he was and sat down before handing the gift to Kirishima. “We had the same idea.”

“You got me a rock too?!” Kirishima sounded a bit more excited than what it should have been. 

“Sort of, just fucking open it.” Naugou smiled and watched as his boyfriend torn the paper. 

“Kat-” 

“Not that its a competition, but my rock is much better.” Bakugou said with a smug smile as he watches his boyfriend's shoulders tightened back 

Kirishima sat as all thoughts left his mind. The instant the lid open, tears weighted in his eyes. He was focused on the perfect diamond sitting in the velvet ring box that he almost missed Bakugou's proposal

“So Eijirou Kirishima, will you do me the honor and accept this rock and me as yours forever?” Baugou asked.

In less than a second, Bakugou was laying on his back as Kirishima had literally bulldozed him to the ground and was practically straddling him. His face became wet with sloppy kisses and he could feel the tears dripping down his face. 

“Yes Katsuki, a thousand times yes.” Kirishima said breathlessly. “I love you so much.” He cried. 

“I love you too.” Bakugou responded by tightening his arms around him. He then let out a laugh as Kirihsima was busy looking at the ring on his finger, holding it up like a chick would in a Hollywood film. He just watched from underneath him thinking about how fucking lucky he was to be eventually wed to the kindest and hottest man alive. 

The rest of the evening was spent with them huddle in front of the fireplace talking about the different memories of the rocks and their plans for the future. Katsuki discovered that Eijirou secretly had a wedding all planned out on pintrest and kept waving his hands in his face since he couldn't keep his eye off the ring. 

“Merry Christmas baby.” Katsuki kissed his cheek and pulled him even closer. 

“Merry Christmas.” 

----

“So what did Bakugou give you?” Mina asked them as they all sat outside for coffee the next day. 

Kirishima and Bakugou looked at each other before he held up his hand. 

“A rock.” 

Mina stared at the shiny ring and practically shattered the glass behind them. “OH MY GOSH CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO!!!” She cheered and almost let her tears fall from the overwhelming joy of seeing her best friends finally getting engaged. “That's amazing and Bakugou what did your fiance give you?” She asked and Kirishima’s face rose to a pretty shade of red. 

“Rocks.”

“Oh you also proposed?” She got excited again. 

“No, like literal fucking rocks.” 

Her eyes snapped to Kirishima. “Kiri, love, that was a joke.” 

“They are special rocks that hold are memories, shut up!” He looked away but Bakugou kissed his hand. 

“I liked them.” Bakugou shrugged. 

“Bakugou baby i am so sorry.” Mina laughed. “But anyways. I'm the maid of honor right? Cause if im not, you won't have a wedding and that's a promise.” She threatened with a smile. 

“Of course Mina!” Kirishima smiled. 

“Okay good!” She giggled. “Now show me that pretty rock again.”

----

I hope you enjoyed this!!! This was super fun to do!!

[mikeydoodledandy]

The Box

I’ve decided to go ahead post this here too instead of just the link, as I’m very fond of this fic and was very excited to write some good, wholesome, sexy fun between the boys. No human AU here (though I do love my human AU for them), just a cryptid and his human boyfriend in the bedroom. Barclay’s still trans though.

So as you may have guessed, this fic is very NSFW below the cut, you’ve been warned. You can also read it on Ao3 here if you’d prefer that. Enjoy!

Joseph makes a few fun purchases and Barclay is more than willing to indulge him in testing them out.

“Alright, what’s in the box? You put it right in the middle of our dresser and you’re obviously trying to get me to ask about it, so I’ll bite.” Barclay chuckled, eyeing the package his boyfriend had oh so conspicuously set right where Barclay could see it when he’d come into their room that evening. 

Joseph had gone about his usual evening business of getting out of his suit and having a shower while Barclay read on their bed, giving the box in question glances every time he re-entered the room. Finally, freshly donned in a t-shirt and sweats, he padded over to join Barclay on the bed, though he was sans glasses for some reason, appearing to be still wearing his contacts. Barclay finally had to ask when the agent gave the box one more look as he slid onto the mattress next to his partner.

“Was I being a little too obvious? Sorry, I’m just a bit excited and maybe a little embarrassed, so I thought it might be easier to get you to ask first.” Joseph blushed brightly, leaning in and kissing Barclay playfully. The sylph raised an eyebrow, a bemused expression on his face as he set his book aside and leaned into his partner’s kisses.

“Oh yeah? What’s so embarrassing about a box?” He cupped Joseph’s cheek, fingers brushing teasingly against the side of the man’s throat. Joseph looked away, biting his lip to hide a flustered smile. Barclay loved it when he did that; it was one of the first cute things he’d ever noticed Stern do, and he’d only discovered more and more things he loved about the man as they’d gotten closer.

“I may have... ordered some items for us to try out. They’re a bit experimental, but I thought they could be fun.” Joseph shrugged, Barclay raising an eyebrow again.

“Items, you say? Why do I get the feeling this a bit more intimate than your usual bigfoot merch you always buy?” The sylph mused, getting up and grabbing the box from the dresser. It had more weight than he was expecting, the man grabbing his pocket knife before bringing the package back over to their bed where Joseph was still sitting in anticipation.

“I’ll tell you now, I could have actually gotten their sasquatch model but I thought it was perhaps a little too on the nose.” Joseph mused, wiggling in closer as Barclay slit open the tape with his knife and opened up the box.

“Well, now you really have me curious.” It took him a minute to dig through the packing paper before he uncovered two smaller boxes within. One was something named Travus and he couldn’t really tell what it was supposed to be based on the image on the box, but the other was very obviously a giant multicolored dildo with a knot at the base. “Oh wow.”

“Goodness, it’s certainly more.. blatant than I expected.” Cheeks aflame, Stern covered his face with his hands in embarrassment, peeping out between his fingers. “I’m very glad I didn’t get the sasquatch one now.”

“Aw, that might be fun too. It’d be interesting to see just what humans think bigfoot dick looks like.” Barclay snickered, pulling out the dildo box and popping it open. Joseph reached over and grabbed the smaller box, opening it idly though he was obviously more focused on Barclay trying to shake his other purchase free from its packaging.

“Do you even know what that looks like?” 

“I... hm.. I don’t actually. Never had the chance to be intimate with another sylph specifically like me, so I can only make assumptions.” Barclay shrugged, finally extracting the dildo from the plastic casing and wiggling it around in amusement. “Now this thing is a beast. We’re gonna have to really get you good and stretched, huh?”

“Yes, I suppose we will.” Joseph grinned, still blushing brightly. Barclay leaned over and kissed him softly, a gesture that the other man readily reciprocated. As their kisses warmed, Barclay idly batted away some of the empty packaging over onto the floor to get it off the bed, giving them more room. It wasn’t til they were both flushed and eager that Barclay pulled away, grinning like a mad fool.

“Well, at least now I know why you kept your contacts in.” He mused, kissing Joseph again as he slid his hand under his boyfriend’s shirt and across the plush skin of his hip. 

“That’s not the only thing I’ve made sure I’m prepared for.” Joseph purred, the sheer sensuality of his implication sending shivers up Barclay’s spine. 

His partner was fairly flustered and goofy when they had sex until you really got him going, which Barclay loved, but he definitely did know how to crook a sultry word in a way that got the sylph wet when he wanted to. Barclay slid his hand from Joseph’s hip to under the waistband of his sweats, giving his boyfriend’s ass a squeeze. The man had a great ass; the perfect size for Barclay’s big, warm hands.

“Oh, is that so? Now what could you have prepared just for me?” He chuckled as he began to lavish kisses against Joseph’s throat. The man let out a soft whine, tilting his head back to give Barclay full access. However, when Barclay moved in to get closer, he realized the small box Joseph had been opening was still in the man’s lap, distracting him. “..Hey, what is this thing anyway?”

“Hm? Oh.” Joseph blinked, a little dazed, before he realized what Barclay was talking about and looking down with him. “ This is something I got for you. The online store I got the dildo from had them and I’d never seen something specifically made for trans men before, so I thought I’d get it for you to try out. I hope that’s alright.”

“Specifically for trans guys, huh?” Barclay curiously pulled the toy out of the box, tossing the packaging off the side of the bed as well, his partner rolling his eyes. “What? We can pick them up later. I’m not gonna amble over to the trash while I’ve got my horny boyfriend right here.”

“We’re probably going to want to clean the toys before we use them anyway, love. Using something fresh out of the box is a good way to get an infection.”

“Ew. You’re right, but ew. I guess we do need the harness anyway.” Barclay scrunched up his nose before returning his attention to the smaller toy, the dildo set aside for the time being. It was cylindrical, blue and similar to a lot of mastrubation toys he’d seen for folks with dicks, but with the hole considerably smaller. He experimentally wiggled his index finger in the opening, noting the firm grip and suction it formed around his digit. “Huh, interesting. We’ll definitely have to give it a try once we get you good and dicked down.”

“Oh goodness Barclay, do you have to call it that.” Joseph tutted, but he was grinning, his blushing having made it to the tips of his ears.

“Pishaw, you love it.” Barclay smirked, leaning in again and kissing laughter to his boyfriend’s lips. They were awash in giggles and kisses, which ended with the sylph blowing a raspberry on Joseph’s throat and the agent squirming out of his grip from the ticklishness.

“You are an utterly ridiculous man, I hope you know that.” Joseph snickered, hoisting himself off the bed and beginning to clean up the packaging Barclay had discarded.

“Damn right I am. Life ain’t worth living if you can’t be a little bit ridiculous.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Stern before grabbing the two toys off the bed and starting towards their bathroom. “I’ll go wash these puppies off, can you grab the harness once you’re done with that? I get the feeling that getting this beast into it is gonna be a two person job.”

“Oh yes, I hope it actually fits with the knot. I didn’t think about that.”

“Eh, that’s what rubber o-rings are for. As long as this toy is silicone, we can just manhandle it in there.” Barclay started scrubbing down their new toys with a gentle soap, leaving the door open so he could still talk with Joseph. “So where did you find these anyway?”

“I believe the online shop was called Fantasticocks? They had quite a colorful selection, I had a hard time picking just one.” 

“Never heard of them. How did you find th-” A realization dawned on Barclay, bringing cheeky amusement to his face. “Babe, did you find them because they specifically have a sasquatch model?”

“No! I- Well.. Maybe. It wasn’t with the intention of buying that model, I was just... you know.. curious to see what sort of designs might be out there and they just happened to be the first result. They had other toys I thought might be fun for us, so that’s what I got.” Joseph sounded suitably flustered, Barclay shaking his head fondly as he finished his scrubbing and rinsing. 

“You’re adorable.” Retreating from the bathroom, Barclay found Joseph had cleaned up the floor and extracted Barclay’s more heavy-duty strapon harness from the dresser, as well as condoms and lube. They might only be using a toy and they’d been fluid-bonded for months now, but they’d just found condoms made everything a little more hygienic during cleanup. “I definitely wouldn’t be against getting a bigfoot dildo if you really wanna try it out. Maybe you can show me later.”

“Maybe.” Joseph fidgeted, bringing a smile to Barclay’s face as he picked up the harness, dildo in hand as he tried to figure out how they were gonna get it secured.

“So, got the chunky harness out, huh? Guess that makes sense for something as heavy as this thing, though that does kinda beg the question, did you uh..” Barclay lifted his wrist with his bracelet on it in Joseph’s direction, his partner having gotten back on their bed and was sitting warm at his back. “Were you hoping for this to be on or off? Considering this is the only harness I have that fits my true form.”

“Oh! Erm..” Joseph, rested his chin on Barclay’s shoulder, watching him roughly tug the dildo through the o-ring. “I just got it out due to the girth of the dildo, but it’s whatever you’re more comfortable with, love.”

“I always feel like I gotta be more gentle with you in my true form and this dildo doesn’t exactly give me the impression you want me to be gentle with it.” He frowned as the ring got stuck at the knot despite his pulling. He turned to face Joseph, holding the harness firmly, dick pointed towards the agent. “Hey, do me a favor and pull this as hard as you can.”

“Alright.” Joseph grabbed the rubber shaft, pulling it with all his might and a grunt. “I wish I could just tell you that- Ngh- you don’t have to hold back for me, but- There we go!”

The knot of the toy finally popped through the ring in their joint effort, waving lazily between them now that it was secure in the harness. Barclay chuckled softly, letting out a sigh. “Yeah, I think we both know I can’t do that though. I’m a lot stronger than you in that form no matter how you cut it and I could really hurt you if I went all out.”

“I know. It’s okay, Barclay.” Joseph cupped his boyfriend’s face, kissing him gently before pulling away with a shrug. “I don’t mind, but I feel like my being human deprives you of the pleasure you’d get from sex in your true form. You might have been better off with another sylph-”

“Nope, we’re not gonna start on that.” Barclay pressed a finger to Joseph’s lips, shaking his head before peppering the man with kisses. “I love you, Jo, and I don’t care that you’re human. Making sex a little complicated sometimes isn’t ever gonna be a good enough reason for me to not want to be with you. And I’m gonna kiss the notion right out of you until you finally believe me.”

“I love you too, Barclay. Some days I feel a little amazed by just how lucky I am. You’re everything I could have ever wanted.”

“What, because I’m bigfoot?”

“Because you’re the sweetest, kindest, funniest, most loving man I’ve ever met. And honestly? That means so much more to me than you being bigfoot. Crazy, I know, but it’s true. I came to Kepler on a hunt for a cryptid, but found who I actually needed in my life instead.”

“Who also happened to be bigfoot.”

“Who, also happened to be bigfoot, yes. But I think if you had been human and just an ordinary chef at an ordinary lodge, I would have likely fallen for you all the same.”

“Aw, babe, you’re gonna make me cry, in front of the dildo and everything.” Barclay wrapped Joseph up in his arms and kissed him soundly, the harness squished between them. Their embrace was soft and sweet and full of gratitude; warm intimacy that went beyond simple sexual yearnings.

Barclay slid his fingers under Joseph’s shirt again, squeezing his hips as the agent’s kisses grew more heated. Moving the toy and harness for the time being, Barclay leaned back, pulling Joseph on top of him as their kissing deepened, his boyfriend also working his hands under Barclay’s top. 

While the sylph liked to tease his partner from under the fabric of his clothes, Joseph was always far more eager to disrobe his lover. He pushed Barclay’s shirt up to his armpits, Barclay lifting his arms so he could wiggle out of the rest of it, leaving him bare chested. Joseph happily ran his fingers through Barclay’s chest hair at the first opportunity before kissing the other man again, Barclay humming in response.

"Man, you always love that fuzzy chest action, don't you," Barclay teased as Joseph kissed his scars reverently. They'd had the talk early on regarding the do's and don't of what they were comfortable with and his boyfriend knew attention to his top surgery scars were validating and a little arousing for him, even if he couldn’t really feel the sensation there.

"I am fond of it, yes. It's a pleasing texture and you obviously enjoy the attention." 

"I do. You got me there." 

It didn't take long for Joseph’s reaction to all their touching to become very apparent in his sweats, Barclay smirking and pressing his thigh up against his lover’s groin in response. Joseph bit his lip, rubbing himself against Barclay with a soft groan as Barclay turned the attention of his mouth to Joseph’s throat.

They divested Joseph of his shirt soon after, bodies warm against each other as they fondled and pet their partners in the dance of foreplay. The sweats and pajama pants were quick to follow their kin to the floor, leaving them both men naked in a crush of limbs, hungry touches, and needy kisses to whatever skin they could find.

Joseph’s length pressed heavily against Barclay’s hip as the agent kissed him passionately, fingers tangled in the sylph’s long hair. His skin was dusted with pink and he always made the best noises when he was enjoying something, like Barclay kneading his ass in a way that stretched him just right. 

It had taken the man so long to not try to hide his little cries of pleasure and Barclay was proud of how far he’d come and how comfortable he was now. He might blush and fuss, but it was a far cry from the Joseph who went on lockdown when they’d first dipped their toes into sexual intimacy.

Barclay finished working a mark on Joseph’s collar bone, examining it with pride before groping for the lube bottle on their bed. “What do you think, time to get you loosened up?”

“I'm more than a little eager to get going, but are you sure you don’t want me to take care of you first his time?" Joseph asked, settling on top of Barclay as the sylph lubed up his fingers. 

“You know how sleepy I get after I cum, babe. If you did me first, I’d fall asleep on you mid-fuck, and nobody wants that.”

“Fine, fine, but I always feel a little guilty that you always attend to me first.”

“Just makes me hotter and wetter for when you do get me off, Jo. Hell, the noises and faces you make alone are almost enough to make me cum.” Barclay smirked, brushing the slick pad of his index finger against his boyfriend’s tight hole.

“Oh you flatter me- Ah!” It wasn't the best position to stretch Joseph that deeply, but getting to see his boyfriend’s face as he pressed a lubed digit into him was one of his favorite indulgences. Joseph had prepped himself in the shower, so he was a little loose already, but a far cry from the stretching he would need to take their new toy.

The man whined keenly as Barclay worked his fingers in one at a time, nails lightly digging into Barclay’s chest as his eyelids fluttered. It took everything in Barclay’s power to actually focus on what he was doing, rhythmically thrusting as he loosened Joseph as best he could from this angle, his partner rocking his hard length against his thigh.

“Alright, I know you love humping my leg at the same time, I’m gonna need to go deeper if we don’t want this bad boy to hurt like something fierce, so scooch.” Barclay smirked as he nudged Joseph off of him, the agent pouting but flopping over onto the bed on his belly, ass in the air. 

“I wouldn’t call it humping . I’m not a dog. I just.. get a little carried away,” Joseph huffed. 

The sylph smirked, giving his rump cheeky smack and earning a pleased whimper from Stern before he re-lubed his fingers and pressed into Joseph once more. Barclay peppered kisses along his partner’s spine as he worked, feeling the man’s muscles loosen under his touch. His large fingers were always enough to make his boyfriend squirm in the best of ways, Joseph pushing back against him with soft, breathy gasps. 

“Careful now, I’m always happy to finger you until you cum, but I was under the impression you wanted to try this new toy.”

“If your hands weren’t so fantastic, I wouldn’t... nh.. have to worry about the risk of cumming early.” Joseph lamented between soft gasps, Barclay snorting.

“Are you saying you wish I was worse at fingerfucking you?” He mused, sliding three of his fingers all the way inside of Stern and pulling a particularly throaty moan from his partner’s lips.

“No, never.. Fuck, Barclay.” He rolled his hips back as the sylph stretched him open, Barclay feeling cheeky.

“I thought we were fucking you first.”

“Love, I will hit you with this pillow if you don’t stop cracking jokes and fuck me into the mattress this instant.”

“Oh man, someone’s roaring to go. Shoulda put the harness on first, hold on a sec.” Barclay pulled his fingers from Joseph’s body, wiping them on the sheets before rolling over on his back and trying to tug the harness on as fast as he could. It got tangled, because of course it did, Joseph watching with flushed amusement. “Fuck, why are these things so awkward..”

“Here, let me help.”

In a joint effort, they got Barclay secured into his strapon, multicolored dick sticking straight up on his lap. Joseph wet his lips as he eyed its girth, Barclay holding it at its base and wiggling it playfully.

“So how do you want to do this, babe?”

“Well, you’re certainly in a good position for me to ride you, now aren’t you?” Joseph pointed out, grabbing the condoms and the bottle of lube for himself. He deftly opened up the wrapping, rolling the rubber onto the shaft before lubing it up. 

Sometimes Barclay felt a pang of wistfulness wishing he could actually feel what the man was doing, but that was a train of thought he tended to avoid following as engaging it led to a rather uncomfortable vein of dysphoria. He was overall fine with his genital arrangement once he’d actually figured out what he liked and was comfortable with, but he had his days sometimes.

Today was not a day he wanted to go down that particular rabbit hole, however, especially with the knowledge that his partner would be taking good care of him afterwards. Joseph was so rarely one to disappoint. The things he could do with his hands and mouth were fantastic.

He was thankfully brought back to the present as his boyfriend straddled his lap, positioning himself above the lazily bobbing dildo. Barclay held it steady as Joseph lowered himself onto the cock, letting out breathy pants as he did, a hand on Barclay’s chest. 

However, he only made it about halfway down before he stopped with a sharp yelp at a thick part of the dildo, quickly pulling himself off with a grimace.

“What’s wrong? Not good?” Worry flitted across Barclay’s face as he sat up, cupping Joseph’s face in concern. Joseph shook his head, pressing his forehead to his lover’s shoulder.

“Sorry... too much, too quick. Burns. Give me a moment.” He took a few deep breaths and swallowed thickly as Barclay stoked his back, wondering if they should stop. “Alright, I’m good. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s okay.” Barclay murmured, meeting Joseph’s eyes as he held him. “Do you want to keep going, or no?”

“Oh, keep going for sure. Barclay, I’m fine, I promise. I just got a little overeager.” He flushed, nuzzling Barclay’s throat. “You’re sweet to worry though.”

“How about a different position then? Something where gravity is less of a third party involved.” The sylph suggested, still concerned. He knew Joseph was fine, but things like this always made him anxious. Even in this form, he was always worried he was going to break Joseph somehow, even if it wasn’t realistically something he needed to worry about.

“I can agree to that, what did you have in mind?” Joseph nodded, gently petting Barclay’s beard. Barclay could tell the agent had noticed his partner’s anxiety and felt a little guilty about it, but was relieved that Joseph was alright and also willing to try something gentler. He hoped he could get over this anxiety for Joseph’s sake as they got more comfortable moving forward, but he wasn’t quite there yet.

“Hm. Here, I have an idea. Roll on your side.”

“Alright.”

Joseph lay on his side on the bed, getting comfortable with a soft sigh. Barclay brushed his fingers along the curve of his partner’s body before resting it on Joseph’s hip and pressing himself close. No doubt Joseph was able to feel the large length of the dildo resting against his ass if the shudder that quivered through his body was anything to go by. “I bet you see where I’m going with this.”

“I do,” Stern replied with barely a whisper, putting his hand on Barclay’s. “And I’m liking the direction.”

“Sure hope so. All the deep penetration of riding without having gravity to contend with. Alright, here we go.” Barclay smirked, reapplying a dollop of lube and lining the toy up with his partner’s hole once more. Stern whined as he slowly pushed the head passed the ring of muscles, the agent gripping the sheets. “Good?”

“Yes, now move. Please. ”

“Yessir.” The sylph chuckled, beginning a steady thrust. He started shallow, working the toy a little deeper into his partner with each go. Joseph leaned his head back against Barclay’s chest, lips parted in pleasure as the other man started fucking his boyfriend in earnest. He didn’t go past the knot yet, saving that for when Joseph was more thoroughly fucked and loose enough to take it.

“Mh, perfect...” His boyfriend mumbled, a pleased and flustered expression on his face as Barclay really got going, his fingers curling into the sheets. The sylph kissed his throat, sliding his hand over the man’s hip and grasping his cock. Joseph shivered again, bucking up into his lover’s touch.

They got into a comfortable rhythm, Barclay making a challenge for himself to see just what sort of noises he could pull out of the other man. Joseph was panting and rocking between the cock in his ass and Barclay’s hand, his skin damp and warm with pleasure as his partner met his movements. He was a picture of exquisiteness, wrapped in the passion of tender love, the sight of which got Barclay throbbing with want.

“Damn, you’re gorgeous,” He praised, tone husky with arousal as he picked up his pace. He could just barely feel his erect clit rubbing against the harness, the sylph trying to press himself against it to try to get some much-wanted friction. 

They had yet to find something that could adequately get them both off at the same time while Barclay pegged Joseph, but it wasn’t like he got nothing out of it. Joseph was ravishing like this and Barclay adored making him feel good, even with the disconnect. Joseph never went without returning the attention in full, so he could hardly be bitter.

“Faster. Fuck Barclay, please ,” Joseph whined, toes curling against their bedding. Barclay adjusted his angle before proceeding, his thrusts growing quicker and more erratic. That must have hit Joseph’s prostate head-on, because the man let out a long and quavering moan, loving every moment.

Barclay was glad their room was far away from the other residents that Joseph could feel comfortable letting out such cries of pleasure without alerting their neighbors of just what they were doing. The sylph adored his partner getting to let go and enjoy himself. 

As he pressed kisses to Joseph’s shoulders and neck, the man let out another series of shuddering gasps, body tensing under his partner’s touch. He murmured incoherent praise as he was pulled closer to orgasm, thrusting his hips more desperately.

“Barclay, I’m.. I need.. Fuck.. ”

“What do you need, Jo?”

“Close. I want.. Knot. I’m ready for the knot.”

“Yeah? Okay.” Barclay nodded, nibbling his boyfriend’s ear as he began thrusting deeper. 

Joseph’s body resisted the large bulge at the base of the toy at first, but Barclay quickly found the lube bottle and awkwardly squelched a bit more on the cock, dribbling some of it onto the sheets. Neither of them cared though, too preoccupied as the sylph began putting more strength behind his thrusts, reminding himself that Joseph could handle his human form just fine and wanted this. 

His partner’s moans grew more needy and his fingers dug more tightly into the mattress as he got closer, pressing his head back firmly against Barclay’s chest in a fevered attempt to ground himself in his pleasure. The sylph, recognizing just how close Joseph was, gave the toy a final snap of his hips and popped the knot inside Joseph with one deep thrust.

The agent cried out, eyes screwed shut and lips parted as he embraced his body’s quake of bliss. His muscles tensed under Barclay’s touch for half a moment before he met release, cock throbbing in the sylph’s hand as he came, no doubt clenching hard around the girth of the knot in his ass. Barclay held him close through his orgasm, thrusting through it and murmuring praise as he gave the love of his life an anchor in his ecstasy.

“Barclay...”

“I’ve got you, babe. I’ve got you.”

“Fuck..”

Finally, the throes of passion released Joseph, his body relaxing against Barclay’s as he let out a pleased sigh. The sylph wiped his hand off on the sheets before gently rubbing circles his partner’s hip and thigh with a soft smirk.

“So... what kind of review does the toy get then?”

“Mmmh... fantastic, loved it, would get fucked by it again.” Joseph hummed, shifting so he could look up at Barclay’s face. He had a flushed and dreamy expression that the sylph couldn’t help but kiss. “Provided, of course, that it’s attached to my wonderful boyfriend.”

“I’m sure that can be arranged.” He mused, careful not to jostle the toy much while the knot was still firmly lodged in his lover’s backside. Joseph smiled and kissed Barclay again, the pair taking a tender moment in Joseph’s afterglow. 

“Mmh.. I love you, you know that?”

“I love you too, Jo. I love that I can make you feel good like this.”

“You’re very good at it.” Joseph grinned, stroking Barclay’s beard and stealing another kiss. After a moment, however, the agent gingerly shifted his hips with a small wince.

“Alright, I think I’m ready for this toy to be out of me, I’m getting a little oversensitive.”

“Can do, babe. Gonna go nice and gentle.” Barclay carefully pulled the toy from Joseph’s body as the man bit his lip, his loose hole twitching salaciously as the cock slipped free. Barclay growled softly in the back of his throat, pulling the man into his arms and pressing his nose against Joseph’s throat. “Mmmn.. You do things to me, you know that? Your body, your noises, the faces you make.. I love all of it.”

“I’m glad. It’s gratifying to know I get a big, burly cryptid such as yourself hot and bothered,” Joseph teased, twisting in Barclay’s arms to face the man and kissing him eagerly. He reached down, loosening the harness enough that he could slide his hand under it and rub the pads of his fingers against Barclay’s hard clit. “Which I do believe it’s time I return the favor, isn’t it.”

“ Fuck , yeah.” The sylph’s breath caught, a soft rumble growing in his chest as his boyfriend teased his clit. He rocked his hips a few times, enjoying the closeness until finally pulling away as the harness started to pinch. “Just.. gotta get out of this thing first.”

“Of course. Let’s see if I can figure out how this thing works.” Joseph let Barclay peel away, the bigger man kicking out of the strapon and peeling off the used condom to discard later as the agent picked up the smaller toy he’d gotten his partner. 

He wiggled his finger experimentally in the hole like Barclay had, turning it over in his hands before he grabbed the bottle of lube again, squirting a few dabs into it. Putting his finger in the hole again, it made an amusing squelching noise, the two of them snickering as the sylph kissed his partner’s neck.

“Well, what’s the verdict?”

“I think I should be able to line this up, but I’m worried it might not be ideal for me to be holding it. It is a mastrubatory toy.”

“Well, it’s worth a shot. If we can’t turn it into a couple’s thing, I’ll just use it during your next trip to DC and think of you fondly.”

“Good to know it’ll have some use then regardless. And you know you’re always free to pleasure yourself without me involved, even if I am here,” Joseph reminded him, kissing the corner of Barclay’s mouth.

“I can, and do, I’m just being cheeky,” Barclay snickered, pushing himself back against the headboard and spreading his legs for Stern. 

Joseph wet his lips, shimmying up to his lover on his hands and knees. He kissed Barclay softly, reaching down and finding the man’s clit once more, giving it more attention to get it to stand good and erect for him. Barclay gasped against his lips, color filling to his cheeks as Joseph spread him open so he could position the toy on his erection.

“How’s this?” Joseph pressed the hole down on Barclay’s clit, forming a suction that made the other man shudder, the sylph letting out a soft gasp.

“Good, it’s on there. Now try moving it.”

Joseph nodded, awkwardly trying to thrust the toy on his lover, but after a few attempts, it seemed like his prediction was right. It felt nice, but the awkward jostling took away from most of the pleasure. The agent frowned. “Judging from your expression, this isn’t doing much for you.”

“Yeah, not really. Here, lemme try.” He grasped it himself, Joseph letting go, and gave it a few pumps, shuddering with a few jolts of pleasure. “Nnh.. yeah it’s definitely more of a solo thing. Feels good though. That said, I don’t wanna just sit here and have you watch me jack off.”

“No, I’d prefer if you didn’t do all the work either.” The agent sighed, gently taking the toy and putting it to the side before giving Barclay a devious smile. “Besides, why simulate someone sucking you off, when there’s someone who will happily do the real thing?”

“You make a good point,” Barclay chuckled, kissing his boyfriend again. If there was one thing he always enjoyed, it was Joseph’s mouth down between his legs.

“Actually...” Joseph bit his lip, his hand sliding down to Barclay’s arm where his bracelet hugged his wrist. “Are you comfortable with my doing it in your true form tonight? I’m admittedly a little disappointed that the toy isn’t something we could share, especially after you’ve made me feel so good, so I was hoping I could show some love to your true self. But only if you’re alright with it of course.”

“Oh.. uh..” Barclay swallowed, anxious excitement bubbling in his chest. They’d only made love with Barclay in his real body a handful of times, half of which had been cut short by the sylph’s fear of hurting his human partner. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy it, quite the contrary, he just got so scared of their difference in size and power that it got to him. Even humanoid sylphs were more sturdy than humans were and he was still struggling a lot with the mental roadblock of what could happen if he got too carried away. Joseph was always understanding of his distress however, supportive and kind no matter what.

That said, he also adored Barclay’s true form and made sure the sylph knew it. Barclay had originally been worried his body would disgust his partner, but Joseph was never anything but elated to embrace Barclay’s real identity, fur and all. He supposed that shouldn’t be a surprise from someone who was so interested in bigfoot well before he actually met the real one, but it was touching.

“That’s a lot of fur to wade through just to eat me out.” Barclay mumbled, rubbing his arm and looking away. However, Joseph’s hands came softly to his face, bringing his eyes back to his boyfriend’s.

“And well worth every moment of it to make you feel good, Barclay. I understand your worry when you’re pegging me, there’s a lot of muscle behind those thrusts that you get scared you can’t control. I think you could, but I understand and I would never force you to try anything you aren’t comfortable with.” Joseph told him calmly, an understanding smile on his face. “Let me give you this, though. You’re not going to hurt me like this and it’s something I want to provide. I love you in every shape and form and I want to show you that.”

“I...” Barclay felt a deep love for the man in his lap in that moment, the man with the kind of tenderness in his eyes that Barclay never thought he’d get to have. He leaned in and kissed Joseph gently before holding out his wrist, offering his partner his bracelet. “Okay.”

Joseph nodded, rubbing his thumb against Barclay’s cheek before reverently taking the clasp between his fingers. Giving Barclay one more soft look, he popped it open and let the bracelet fall free.

The bed creaked at the sudden change in weight of one of its occupants, but it would hold just fine. This was Barclay’s bed after all, it was made to hold his true size.

The sylph smiled sheepishly down at his human lover, who smiled right back, running his fingers through the fur of Barclay’s chest. And then they were kissing again, something Joseph had never shown any sign of being deterred by despite Barclay’s considerably larger teeth and mouth. 

Barclay worried, he always did, but slowly but surely Joseph had proven time and time again that what form the sylph was in didn’t matter to him. His body language and attraction never changed from one shape to the other and he engaged Barclay just as eagerly regardless.

“Now, let’s get you taken care of, yes?” Joseph hummed, their bodies warm again after their little aside. Barclay nodded absently, distracted as his partner slide down his large and shaggy form. 

His fingers always felt so nice in his auburn fur. Actually, his hands were just nice in general. Joseph’s long and slender fingers had been the source of many idle fantasies before they’d gotten together, and knowing them for real still felt a bit like a very good dream sometimes.

Barclay shifted his weight to give Joseph better access between his legs again, the man parting his dense fur around his groin. It was thick enough that he didn’t have to wear pants, but his boyfriend didn’t seem to mind. 

The change in form had done nothing to ebb Barclay’s arousal, his now considerably larger clit stranding erect from his folds. He had to admit, he enjoyed just how much size his true form lent to his clit. In his human disguise, it was about the size of Joseph’s thumb, but in his sylph form, it was much closer to that of a human cock.

The agent wet his lips, glancing up at Barclay’s face once more before wrapping his lips around the sylph’s clit, pleasure rippling through the cryptid as the man began his ministrations. Joseph’s mouth was always magic in a way that Barclay was a little envious he couldn’t replicate himself.

Joseph’s tongue lathed over Barclay’s length, pulling a rumbling moan from his chest as he leaned his head back. It only took a few passes to get Barclay slicked up, his heart-rate spiking as Joseph began bobbing his head rhythmically along the shaft.

“Fuck, Jo... you’re always so good at that...” He sighed, not sure what to do with his hands. He decided to stretch his arms out, resting his wrists on the backboard above his head as he enjoyed the view of Joseph swallowing his clit. The agent was quite the sight, attentive as he watched to see if Barclay was enjoying it, his cheeks dusted with pink as he ran his fingers through the fur of Barclay’s thighs.

Barclay’s clit throbbed in the man’s mouth, the sylph groaning as his partner did something with his tongue he couldn’t even describe. He panted softly, wondering how long he could keep himself from tangling his hands in the sheets or Joseph’s hair. His partner picked up the pace, earning him another moan.

He’d have to be careful. While they were out of hearing range for Joseph’s cries of pleasure, Barclay could very well shake the walls with his voice in this form if he didn’t show some restraint. He and Jo had been considering getting a place to themselves, which would give them the perk of not worrying who heard them, but Barclay wasn’t sure he was ready to leave the lodge just yet. Maybe though.

Joseph patted his leg, getting his attention before he popped off his erection, his expression sultry and coy. “Are you in the mood for anything inside you, love? Or would you like me to keep going as is?”

“Oh uh... Nh.. fuck , Jo..” Barclay didn’t get an answer out as Joseph licked a stripe across his clit, making him shudder with a gasp. “Shit uh.. Sure. A little something in me might be nice. Maybe some fingers. Vag is fine, I didn’t clean out like you did.”

Alright.” Joseph grinned, returning his attention back on Barclay’s clit as he patted around for the lube bottle. After a few attempts of not finding it blindly, Barclay chuckled and handed it to him, the agent snorting softly before lubing up his fingers.

Gently, he slid three digits inside his partner, Barclay moaning appreciatively. Penetration was a take it or leave it kind of thing for Barclay; he couldn’t really cum from penetration alone, but it was a nice addition to attention to his clit when he was feeling up for it. He was a pretty roomy guy, especially in his true form, so he didn’t get a lot of friction from it, but having something to clench around while Joseph did amazing things with his mouth was always a nice bonus. 

His boyfriend crooked his fingers up into a nice place and then began to hum against his shaft in a way that always drove Barclay wild. It was amazing in his human form and even more so in his real body. The sylph rocked his hips into Joseph’s mouth, letting out a breathy, rumbling moan. 

His hands finally dropped, Barclay reaching out to put a hand on Joseph’s head before remembering himself, his large palm falling short on his thigh. He didn’t want to accidentally grip Joseph too hard, especially when he came. 

His boyfriend noticed however, sighing through his nose before carefully reaching up with his free hand and taking Barclay’s, intertwining their fingers. Barclay’s hand dwarfed Joseph’s to an almost hilarious degree, but the gesture was sweet, the sylph giving his partner’s fingers a gentle squeeze.

However, he was distracted from his worries once more as Joseph hollowed his cheeks, ramping up the suction on his clit.

“Fuck babe... You’re gonna get me gone quick if you keep this up,” He groaned, Joseph smirking around him and giving him a few nice thrusts with his fingers. Barclay was rocking his hips in earnest now as his lover took care of him, pleasure rippling through him. His fur prickled as the desperation for release grew, the sylph recalling the moans he’d brought to Joseph’s lips just before this. 

The way Joseph reacted under his touch and called out his name in his ecstasy, how he cared so much and always wanted Barclay to be comfortable, the love and passion he always found in his eyes, and the face he made as Barclay brought him to climax. Barclay had been telling the truth when he’d said all that Joseph did in bed was almost enough to make him cum from that alone, so remembering that while his boyfriend’s mouth was around his clit was about what did him in.

Feeling the heat in his belly grow, sharp and hungry and wanting, Barclay pressed the back of his hand over mouth to muffle his cry as that tension rose to the surface of his skin. Joseph responded to his lover’s body by thrusting his knuckles into Barclay's wet, warm heat and humming keenly around the sylph’s clit, throwing his partner over the edge.

Barclay’s whole body shuddered, the sylph groaning deep and low against his hand as his large feet curled into the mattress. His fur stood on end the ripples rolled through him, body clenching around Joseph’s hand inside him as his clit throbbed.

Joseph rocked up to hold him as orgasm gripped him, Barclay pressing his face into his boyfriend’s shoulder. Joseph stroked his fur as Barclay rode through it until finally the warm bliss of release settled over him, calming the shockwaves. The sylph sighed, nuzzling his partner’s neck.

“Mmh... That was.. Damn...” He mumbled, the post-coitus haze taking hold. The agent chuckled, kissing the side of Barclay’s face.

“Good, I take it then.”

“Mhm... Real good.. Crazy good.”

“Good.” Joseph smiled, running his fingers across Barclay’s chest. “You’re awfully warm.”

“Mh... Overheating a little I think,” Barclay replied, blinking a few times. He was very hot now that he thought about it.

“Ah. Would you like your bracelet back on?”

“Please.”

Joseph nodded again, locating Barclay’s disguise and carefully latching it back around the sylph’s wrist. Gone was the fur and large form, replaced by a very sweaty, very flushed human one. Barclay grinned, falling back into Joseph’s arms.

The agent kissed his neck as Barclay languished in the afterglow before he shifted to take his contacts out, placing them in their container on their bedside table before settling back in with Barclay. The sylph smiled softly, flopping back on the bed, Joseph following suit.

“Hey... I love you, Joseph. I know I keep saying it, but I do. Dunno what I did to deserve a guy like you,”’ he murmured, tracing his fingers along the man’s sweat-damp skin. They were both sticky and properly fucked out now, the pair sprawling out on their bed in a lazy, contented pile. Joseph ran his fingers through Barclay’s long, loose hair behind his ear, rubbing his thumb against the man’s cheek.

“Everyday I find myself thinking the same thing about you, Barclay. So many things could have prevented us from having this, but they didn’t and I’ve never been more grateful.” 

“Man, we’re such lovestuck fools, aren’t we?” Barclay grinned as he pulled his lover onto his chest, Joseph getting comfortable and leaning his head on the other man’s shoulder.

“Mh, yes, but I think it’s well deserved. We’re sort of an odd love story, I think we deserve some giddy happiness now that we’ve made it this far,” Joseph hummed, Barclay getting sleepy from listening to the rhythm of his breathing.

“Yeah. That’s a really good way to put it.”

“I’m glad it’s you I get to share my nights with. And everything else in between too.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Barclay smilled, kissing the top of Joseph’s head. “I’m glad we can have fun like this and try new things and laugh and make messes and talk about stuff. I never really realized just how important that is until lately.”

“I didn’t either. But I’m thankful I get to do it with you. Speaking of messes...” Joseph craned his neck, glancing at the sheets. “We do have a bit of one to clean up.”

“Eh, it can wait until morning. Or at least til 2am when we’ll both wake up sticky and gross and huddle in the shower together, then drag all the sheets off and nap on the comforter until it’s time to really wake up.”

“Are we really that predictable?”

“Yeah, but I love that. I love that we can just have... normal dumb things we do together.”

“Yes.. me too. Mess aside, I suppose I am getting rather tired.” Joseph smiled, shaking his head as Barlcay yawned, the sylph blinking sleepily.

“I’m always sleepy after a good fuck.”

“Yes, I know, it’s adorable.” Joseph leaned up, kissing Barclay softly, which Barclay returned just as tenderly, closing his eyes as his beloved settled back down on his chest. “Sleep well, Barclay. I love you. Thank you for indulging me tonight.”

“Always. I love trying stuff with you. Goodnight babe, I love you too.”

And, thoroughly satisfied from their little adventure, the two men drifted off in each other’s arms, basking in the warmth and love they shared. A love that, though each passing day, only grew stronger.

[nomadicism]

Voltron: Legendary Planning Fail

Thanks to @ptw30​‘s post, “A Few Thoughts on DW/VLD Marketing” for reminding me that I’ve had a draft about VLD toys, merch, and marketing copy inconsistencies to complete. Read her post first.

I’ve been researching the toys and merch for several months now to follow-up on weird things that I noticed much earlier. I’m a toy collector who is also a designer and have worked in advertising/marketing, and in broadcasting at Cartoon Network. I left that world to design and develop applications in genetics/life-sciences, best decision I ever made (co-founded a startup in between all of that too. Good times). My experiences had me zeroing in on this show bible business that came up during that Let’s Voltron interview (March 28th, 2019). I’ve been suspicious about it for awhile, as the gradual unraveling of VLD’s narrative, lore retconning, and OOC dialogue and behavior of the characters (most egregiously in S8) is indicative of a lot of problems, and an incomplete or poorly-done show bible is at the top of that list. Now combine that with the weirdly slow-to-market of VLD merchandise and toys.

Both manufacturers and merchandise license program partners can’t get product to market in time to meet (or even anticipate demand) if they don’t have official assets from the show, and that includes anything that would have been in the show bible. When the show-runners let it out that their show-bible was the “loosest you’ll ever see”, and then complained about the elemental icons used on the toys by the manufacturer (Playmates) not matching their aesthetic, and after they redesigned them, Playmates didn’t want to use them, I was like: “Really? Y’all got hung up on that?”

It takes months, sometimes over a year, to design and test molds for toy prototypes and then to go into mass production and distribution. Traditionally, there is also a step where the IP holder has to approve the design concepts created by the manufacturer (toys and other merch).

The IP approval step could potentially have been made more complicated by the different players involved in the communication: WEP, DreamWorks Animation, Playmates, Studio Mir, and the most complicated layer of all, DreamWorks Classics, aka Classic Media. All of them could have been involved, I’m not saying that they all were, but it’s something to consider.

DreamWorks acquired Classic Media in 2011-2012 and formed them into a separate unit within DreamWorks Animation. Classic Media were the managers of the Voltron IP among many other brands in their huge IP library. That’s the short version b/c it’s complicated. IP ownership and licensing is not always as straight-forward as one might think, especially with these toy-cartoon properties from the 80s.

So where did the elemental icons come in during the creation of the show bible and toy design approval process?

Above: packaging inserts showing the elemental icons.

I kept the package inserts because—as a toy collector—I strongly felt that the packaging was done very well. The graphics are slick and look good. The ink has a nice saturation with a lot of color depth, range, and fidelity. The die-cuts are excellent and intricate. The packaging on the larger lion sets makes great use of aqueous coating and spot varnishes. Whomever designed the packaging knew what they were doing, and also understood the print production process (Hi! I used to do that too).

I kept these even though I always ditch packaging because I wanted to scan them for collage art. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these elemental icons, and they look reasonably well integrated with the graphic assets from DreamWorks and Studio Mir. These inserts were from the toys released in 2017.

The toy packaging gets more interesting when you see what marketing copy was sent to Playmates to use (or work from if it was from the show bible).

Above: Shiro’s package insert with descriptive text that says, “Long ago a mighty robot warrior, Voltron, was created to protect the galaxy from evil. Now, five young heroes must master the power of the Voltron Lions to defeat the Galra empire and restore peace!”

“Five young heroes” eh? They must have gotten that text early on because that’s kind of a weird way to say it when the Shiro packaging also says “…wise beyond his 25 years…”. I mean, 25 is still young, but that’s not what comes to mind when I read “five young heroes” on a toy box!

Shiro is the only one with a listed age in any of the packaging. I noticed this when I got these toys in 2017 and it reminded me that I had originally read that it would be five teenagers and I had to go looking for articles that I kept (yeah I do that b/c toys).

From this article on ActionFigureInsider.com about Playmates launching the VLD toyline in 2016:

“Let’s Voltron! Playmates Toys and DreamWorks Animation today announced plans for a new toy line based on the new DreamWorks Animation series Voltron: Legendary Defender, a re-imagining of the classic property featuring five teenage pilots and mystical robot lions, set to debut as a Netflix Original Series in 2016. Playmates Toys will serve as the master toy licensee and will create an expansive line of toys set to launch in spring 2017.”

and

“Voltron: Legendary Defender follows five unsuspecting teenagers as they are transported from Earth into the middle of a sprawling intergalactic war and become pilots for five mystical robotic lions in a battle to protect the universe from evil. Only through the true power of teamwork can they unite their lions to form the mighty warrior known as Voltron. Voltron: Legendary Defender premieres on Netflix in 2016.”

LULZ. That ain’t no fluke y’all. That loosey-goosey show bible and the initial story planning drafts/concepts must have had Shiro as a teenager. Oops.

Playmates got part of the message in time to slip-in Shiro’s age on his packaging, but why the discrepancy between the article in early 2016 and the 2017 toy release in the first place?

Obviously, things changed between the first story planning phases, the release of marketing copy to media, the release of production art assets to Playmates, and when S1 was made. There still would have been time to update that copy for Playmates and media in early 2016, given that S1 would have already been in production, with S2 to quickly follow by that time. The show-runners already knew before that article ran that Shiro was not going to be a teenager anymore (and likely many other toy-relevant details). Did they intentionally not update anyone who had a right to know, or did it just slip their minds? Did someone else in the chain of communication mess up? Did that disagreement over the design of the elemental icons take up a lot of time, or possibly include larger disagreements?

Since the first wave of toys were released in 2017, when Keith was in the Black Lion, they would have been designed for production and manufactured much earlier than that. Playmates can’t turn around on a dime to manufacture toys (not to mention design the packaging) to match the seasons. They need to have the information of what will happen in a season way ahead of time. This is one of many banal-yet-important reasons why your show bible needs to be tight, and your character arcs well-planned out.

We can see the first wave of the toys in photos from Toyfair 2017. There’s even a Zarkon figure, and various toys that are clearly for young boys (prop swords, masks, and the like). I remember seeing these photos right after Toyfair and thinking that Zarkon figure was looking pretty cool looking for what it was.

Above: Zarkon prototype figure with black bayard sword. Photo by Jim Kiernan for NerdyRottenScoundrel.com.

Since Playmates was able to create a prototype of Zarkon ahead of Toyfair 2017, that means that they began the design phase in early 2016 before the show first aired (possibly before that even). This also means that they knew that Zarkon had the black bayard, so that much was planned out.

Then in Toyfair 2018, Playmates had new toys, including prototypes for the Hunk, Pidge, and Allura figures, the HyperPhase lions, and the “Stealth Mode” translucent lions. It’s worth noting that photos of the Pidge and Hunk paladin figures show up on the inserts in the 2017 toys as they were originally intended to be part of that wave.

Above: Prototypes for the Allura, Pidge, and Hunk paladin figures. Photo by Joe Moore for Toyark.com.

So salty that Playmates cancelled these.

Below, an excellent video from Toyfair 2018 where Pixel Dan asks the hard questions of the rep (if video doesn’t show here is the URL to it on YouTube):

Pixel Dan asks about the possibility of a Lotor figure, and what happened to the other villain figures from 2017 (e.g. the Zarkon figure, and there was a prototype for another robeast other than Myzax). The rep says those were pushed back, and there “will be more Lotors” (LOL) in the next phases in development. I’m pretty sure he got Lotor confused for Zarkon.

It’s important to note that Pixel Dan and the rep talk a lot about the slow distribution of the first wave of figures based upon what retailers were doing with their ordering and stock. That people weren’t seeing them in stores. The rep explains that the toys are made in response to demand and that’s also up to the retailers to order them, but there’s also some comments that I interpreted as though they didn’t have enough details about what to make in the first place.

For those who haven’t already seen me share ToyGalaxy’s excellent video about the action figure industry being broken, give it a watch:

The video above explains a lot about why Playmates had problems with distribution, as ALL manufacturers were-and-still-are having distribution problems. It’s really hard to find toys at stores, my partner and I go hunting all the time, the lengths we go to are absurd.

I’m certain that retail distribution problems contributed to demand for the toys and that’s partly why they were cancelled. But this problem with the show bible also contributes because if Playmates had future season information when they should have, then they might have been able to design toys that more closely matched the show, thus boosting demand once it hit critical mass. I also wonder how much time they lost in the beginning due to the back-and-forth over the elemental icons.

Other merch, like t-shirts should also have been in production before 2017. They would have required details from the show bible as well. We could have had lion slippers y’all. Just sayin’.

So about those Allura with the Red Lion t-shirts that @ptw30​ mentioned in her post:

Above: officially licensed t-shirts for Allura and Keith with the Red Lion, bearing the fire element icon.

Someone (ptw30? headspacedad?) called these shirts to my attention privately a few months ago—after S8 but ahead of Hot Topic’s recent new t-shirt release—and alarm bells went off in my head. Typically, this is the kind of error that you’d see in a knock-off, but these are officially licensed and they were linked to directly from the Voltron store page (at the time they had a re-direct promo image for merch on Amazon, in addition to what they sell on their own store page).

Descriptive text in the shopping page for all of the t-shirts of this style reads:

“Join the Paladins Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge, Hunk and Coran as they combine their lion mechas together to form Voltron! Help them take on the Evil Galra Empire with these officially licensed Voltron: Legendary Defender graphic tees, pullover hoodies and popsockets!”

Coran eh? Interesting choice for text about combining lions. Why no mention of Allura on her own t-shirt? And what the hell is a popsocket?

On another Allura t-shirt—which also has different product specification text indicating that it’s probably not manufactured by the company that made the t-shirts above—has descriptive text that reads:

“Voltron is the classic cartoon series that began in the early ‘80s. It is an animated show that brings back the nostalgia of classic cartoon fever. Not to mention a popular show pretty much stole the idea. (starts with pow- ends with -angers….) Voltron will always be number #1! This women’s junior’s shirt features a high quality character design of Princess Allura and Blue Lion.”

Why are they dragging Power Rangers in the text for an Allura t-shirt?

And actually, it’s incorrect. Power Rangers aka Tokusatsu Sentai shows came first. Voltron/GoLion descends from the combining mecha genre that began with Go Nagai’s Getter Robo series in the 70s, which was influenced by the Tokusatsu Sentai shows. So no, Power Rangers didn’t steal that idea.

Did anyone involved with VLD do their homework other than Tim Hedrick and May Chan?

We can see here that the t-shirts that are available on the Voltron store, and what’s available on Amazon are not always the same, even though the shirts say they are officially licensed. What’s going on here?

Some—but not all—of the t-shirts in the Voltron store list “From Trevco” in their description. Trevco.inc does licensing for branded merchandise, and selling t-shirts via Amazon appear to be one of their licensing product programs. Both DreamWorks Animation and Voltron: Legendary Defender are among the brands listed. Oh look, another layer in IP licensing cake!

Meanwhile, in the Hot Topic store, there’s a completely different style—in terms of aesthetic and design—of both VLD and Voltron DotU t-shirts being sold. I suspect that HT licensed VLD and Voltron DotU for in-house design, plus artist collaboration design, as these are exclusive for Hot Topic and I’ve not seen them anywhere else. That could mean they have a different kind of license than what Trevco and others selling on Amazon have. The t-shirts from HT don’t list any other manufacturer on the label, other than being made in Haiti. I kind of want to buy that weird Allura with Red Lion t-shirt to just compare them. (Surprising no one, I bought the Lot//ura and Black Paladin Shiro t-shirts from HT).

The difference in style between what’s on WEP’s Voltron store and Amazon, versus what’s in Hot Topic is very interesting, and I assume it has a lot to do with demographics for their respective markets (perceived or real). In a traditional merchandize licensing agreement, WEP and/or DW would still have to approve any designs created by—or if artist collaboration with—Hot Topic.

How long did that approval process take?

The recent release of t-shirts (Feb/March 2019) include a t-shirt with a scene from S5 (the chosen marks scene for Allura and Lotor). There are no MFEs, Atlas, white-haired Shiro, or anything else from S7-S8. There is a Keith t-shirt with his cosmic wolf, and a shirt with the Monsters and Mana designs, so they got something from S6.

Above: Funko Pops. I’ve got a poorly-painted Allura (her right earring and tiara y’all), both Shiros, and the Pidge, Hunk, and Amazon Exclusive metallic paint VLD Voltron (Pidge, Hunk, and Voltron not pictured).

The VLD Funko Pops came out in the end of 2018 but ahead of S8. I’ve seen them at Hot Topic, and online (Amazon, and BigBadToyStore.com), but I have not seen them at other retailers that carry Funko Pops like GameStop and Target. We go toy hunting to those all the time, in many different places. I guess that demographic of boys aged 9-12 just aren’t interested in VLD to demand it at GameStop and Target. At least Hot Topic knows what’s up.

The Funko Pops use Allura’s uniform from S1-S2, and have two designs for Shiro (Black Paladin, and his black outfit). How long did these take to license and approve? Funko Pops are the lowest hanging merch fruit, so they should have been an obvious licensing choice by the end of 2016 once it was clear that VLD was a hit. But we didn’t see these until just before S8?

Finally, apparently WEP and the Voltron Store don’t mind those elemental icons that the show-runners hated, since they have a lanyard with them on it in their store (image below):

It’s almost as if no one is on the same page!

If I didn’t know any better—oh wait, I do because this is kind of my thing—it looks like these elemental logos were designed to be like Boy Scout merit badges. That’s fitting as the toys were meant to be bought by boys aged 9-12, and are safe for children aged 4 and up. With over 15 years of professional design experience across multiple fields and domains of design, if I were designing these, that’s exactly what I would have done from Playmates’ end, especially if DW and WEP had told me that their target demo was boys aged 9-12.

Shouldn’t the show-runners and Studio Mir’s very different design aesthetic have been made clear in the show bible and in any discussions and communications with Playmates (and whomever else was involved)? Who was responsible for communicating that?

To be clear, I like Studio Mir’s aesthetic much better, but what I like is irrelevant when we’re talking about toys and target demographics for marketing them, vs what’s appropriate for merchandise that could be for all kinds of demographics.

I’ve been in situations where I’ve had to design in parallel with an outside agency, and in the dark with little communication between us. It’s an awful position to be in, and I’m surprised that DreamWorks didn’t know better than to make sure that didn’t happen between those designing for the show and Playmates and anyone at DreamWorks Classics and WEP that might have been involved in communications.

I spat out my coffee when I read that bit about the show bible, because damn, if you’ve ever had to design an ad campaign (which can last for years!) with a half-assed or incomplete branding guide and little-to-no marketing and romance copy (let alone a style guide to help your copy editors write it), then you’re looking at a huge mess once that thing finally gets finished.

How did DreamWorks not catch that?

[inky-thoughts]

How to Organize a Zine 101

Hey guys!

Since I'm almost through with my very first zine that I organised myself, I just realised how many mistakes you can make without even knowing, and I learned so much within the last few months where a lot was kind of trial and error. So I thought, you guys might like to learn more about this, and I could share my experiences and newly gained knowledge! Maybe this helps if you are looking into organising your own first zine.

If you have any tips and tricks yourself you'd like to share, let me know, I’m excited to hear about them!

I am going to go through the different steps and phases that you should take into consideration, so this might get a small series of some sort? I hope you're up for this.

Also a small disclaimer:

I'm mostly talking about fanzines that have multiple contributors, and it will focus more on artists/illustrators and writers as that is where my experience lies. I have contributed on several free e-zines as well as a printed charity zine, and now have organised my first printed for-profit zine as well.

Phase 1: The Planning

This might sound really obvious and maybe silly, but there are quite a few things that you should take into consideration before just starting a project that might overwhelm you easily. Don't already head off and create a twitter account before you haven't sat down and thought about these questions first!

First of all, you should think about the zine itself:

What topic/theme should it have?

If it is a fanzine: What ships/characters/... should be the focus?

What format does your zine have (printed/e-zine/both)?

What should be included in the zine? (Illustrations, comics, writing, photographs, ... all of them?)

How many contributors/pieces do you want in your finished zine? (especially important for printed zines)

Do you want to have additional merch, e.g. bookmarks, stickers, charms, postcards, ... , that people can purchase with your zine in a bundle?

How are the specs (how many pieces per creator/how long is one piece especially for writers)?

Is it a for-profit, charity, or free zine?

After you now have a vague idea of what you want, you need to think about competition as well if you're not having a free online zine.

How big is the fandom/target group of the specific zine you want to make?

How old are they and how likely are they to spend money on your zine?

Are there only a few, but very dedicated fans?

How many contributors can you gather from the fandom? How is the general quality of fanworks?

Are there other zines that are similar or maybe with the same topic/theme/focus and what sets your zine apart from them?

Are there other zines going around at roughly the same time with the same target group, and should you perhaps wait a little so people can afford your zine again?

Is it a thriving fandom on the rise or has activity already peaked? If no fanzine: Is your theme at the pulse of time, or has some accute relevance to a lot of people?

Especially on tumblr, there are a few blogs entirely dedicated to zines and specifically fanzines. If tagged accordingly, they'll reblog all kinds of posts about a zine, but mostly Call for Submission, Zine Schedules, and Preorder Announcements (we will talk about these later on.) It is really helpful to check those out, sometimes there are even blogs solely about one fandom's projects, so it gets watered down even more. You can also test waters through polls etc. if you have a loyal followership that might just buy your stuff because it has you in or on it. However, I don't really find those very reliable.

The next questions are mainly about the doablity of the zine for you:

If there is any kind of production costs, do you have funds to cover them if the zine doesn't sell well enough?

Do you have anyone you can trust/are friends with who is also enthusiastic about your topic that they can help you?

How do you want to split work? How much do you want to contribute to the zine yourself?

Are you ready to make the commitment to dedicate basically every free minute of your life for the next 6+ month on this project? Are you in a relatively steady environment where you don't need to handle moving, changing jobs, schools, whatever at any point during your zine work?

I highly recommend you to at least have one other person to do the organisation with you, preferrably are two or even more.

Please do not underestimate the workload you'll get, even if it doesn't seem much at first, you will write so many e-mails because you need to get back to your contributors for one thing or another, you need to make sure the files are all correct, if you have writers you need beta-reading while also putting the zine together and finding a good printing service and making sure everyone is on time. For the last 6 months, this zine was basically my job, because it is just that, just without a clear salary, or none at all.

The next thing is kind of working out a schedule, with the rough stages/phases zine creations usually have.

Application/Gathering Contributors You have the option between public applications where people just send in portfolios and you pick from those, or you invite contributors you think are interested in the zine and you would like to have in it. Sometimes, there are zines that do both, but it's rather rare. There are some zines (usually free e-zines) that accept literally everyone who applies, and while it creates an opportunity for lesser known creators and beginners to gain a little exposure and experience, it doesn't necessarily mean that the overall quality of content is consistent and what you want to hold in your hands. I had applications open for a bit more than a month since I was very eager and didn't establish any kind of excitement or build-up thereof until finally applications open, but generally it's very common to have a full month to gather applications. The minimum should be 2 weeks, though. Also, don't let yourself be blinded by the sheer amount of applicants, especially in smaller fandoms, top tier creators are rather rare and everyone tries to get into a zine about something they love.

Curating Contributors If you don't have an Invite Only zine, you'll have a very busy time ahead now: You need to look through hundred or more applications and filter who is a fit for your zine, and who is not. Bear in mind that you aren't only looking for quality of work, but also which creator's style fits your zine best. Especially if you have several disciplines in your zine (e.g. illustrations and writing), I only can recommend to split the work load according to your speciality. That way you work faster and more efficient. Give yourself at least 2 weeks, the bigger/more popular the fandom, the longer it probably will take.

Sending Acceptance/Refusal E-Mails After you chose your pick, you'll need to let people know who's in, and who is not. I would advise to send out acceptance letters first, since there will be first dropouts immediately after you finally agreed on them. As soon as you got everyone to confirm their participation, take those who barely didn't make it and put them in for pinch-hitters. You will be surprised how many you'll probably need along the way. After they confirmed that yes, they'll be pinch-hitters, send out the rejection e-mails. I consider it curtesy to send them because as applicant, you really want to know where you're standing. Calculate roughly 1-2 weeks for the e-mails because things just tend to drag along and people need a long time to respond.

Confirmations This usually only applies if you offer people to make collaborations. They need to be able to check out who else is in the zine, who is up for collaboration, whose style suits them best to collab with, test the waters with each other, and usually should come up with an idea, so again 1-2 weeks would be needed for that. However, if you have got your contributors confirmed and just need the backup and refusal mails, just set those deadlines parallel.

1st Draft Depending on how much you're already asking for, you might want them 1-2 weeks after the rejection mails went out (if you really just want to know what kind of ideas people got), or up to a month if you want first sketches/summaries. The first draft is also helpful to see if two people got the same idea, and you can steer people a little bit into the "right direction."

2nd Draft Usually this is where at least 50-75% of the work should be done if you don't take a 3rd draft. Most common are 2 Drafts and the endproduct. Give people at least a month between 1st and 2nd Draft.

Final Draft This is when the finished pieces should be due. Depending on the time of the year, the contributors might be under a lot of stress, so set this deadline roughly 1 month after the 2nd Draft. You will be stressed, everyone else will be stressed, so give yourself the time you need. Also listen to your contributors and observe if there are a lot not cutting a deadline, then maybe push them back for another 1-2 weeks. It will make everyone more relaxed.

Touch-up Phase Especially with writers, you'll need at least 2 weeks to touch up the final draft they submitted.

Buffer Time (don't write that into the official schedule but definitely calculate with it) There will always be unexpected events that will require buffer times. You also will need time to put the zine together if you didn't work on designing the file beforehand while everyone else was creating. Still, you'll need to fix some things and polish the whole thing. Minimum buffer should be 1-2 weeks.

Contributor Preorders With printed zines, it is curtesy to give every contributor a printed copy of the zine for free with them only paying for shipping & handling. This kind of established itself as compensation for their work that usually ends up to be for free as most zines are either for charity or barely cover their production costs. To know who of your contributors even wants a copy, you should give them roughly 2-3 weeks to preorder. Having those exclusive orders helps you to divide between contributors and the regular costumer if you hold both at the same storefront.

Previews (+ Proofs) Before you're launching public preorders, dedicate at least 1 week to previews to get everyone hyped up. Contributors and the "official" zine site post excerps of zine pieces so people get an idea of what the feel of the zine is. If you already got proofs/samples printed until then, post pictures of those, too! If you don't post the link to the shop yet, there definitely wouldn't be a problem to have the previews start at the same time as the contributor preorders. That way, contributors also have the chance to get a glimpse at their peer's works.

Public Preorders Depending on how eager people are for your zine, you can leave preorders relatively short, but no less than 2 weeks if you don't get an insane amount of orders within the first couple of days. People must be able to check out prices and get their paycheck before preorders close again. Some zines have a stacked preorder system where the first X orders are cheaper, and then there will be leftovers or a second phase of preorders after the first bulk has been shipped. However, this doesn't happen very often. If you don't have a hugely popular zine or are cutting way too close to any important deadlines, consider having 3-4 weeks of preorders.

Production As soon as you got your numbers from the preorders, RUN AND PURCHASE EVERYTHING. Depending on where you get your zines printed (also don't forget the optional merch on this!), you can be ready to go within a week or even more than a month. Calculating with roughly 3 weeks if you're getting your stuff from mostly national level is a good rule of thumb, however shit happens all the time anyway, so to be safe use 4-8 weeks. Let your customers know immediately if there are any delays that weren't planned.

Shipping Depending on how many orders you've got, shipping can be a hassle and most likely will take up one week or longer. Since domestic shipping is fastest, ship international orders first, that way customers don't have the feeling that they're forgotten.

E-Zine Currently, a common trend is to first get the physical copies sold, and then sell e-zines to gather more money and cover leftover production costs of the printed zine. Especially international customers and college students prefer e-zines because of the incredibly high shipping rates around the globe. E-zines aren't linked to any production at all after you got the file put together, so if you set up your storefront with the download, everyone simply downloads it. You can have those open as you like, common is anything between 1-3 month and even a whole year. If no money is involved at all, a lot of zines just exist as a permanent free download in a dropbox or other cloud, so this is the least complicated process.

Conventions Really, it's not necessary to put this up in the schedule, but thinking about it might be helpful. If you have a physical zine, you and some contributors might want to sell it on conventions, so offering them to buy a bulk to a smaller rate can be helpful to spread the zine's exposure. We handled this with "buying on commission" - mainly the contributor only pays for the printing costs + shipping, and later will pay part of the profit back to you. Especially with international contributors, be aware of the longer shipping time. Also reprints might take their time. I personally made it a rule to order the reprints 3 months before the con, and reprints can be made up until one year, but really, you don't need to do this.

After you've got your rough schedule, I would advise you to already gather information on how to produce and spread the finished zine. This also helps to know how much you should have in your backup fund for the zine.

For physical zines/merch

Check out printing services! compare prices and quality as well as product range, and find out how long production takes

Find an online storefront where you want to sell it if you don't have one yet

Research on conventions and fairs where you might sell the zine

Learn about shipping rates and which company is suited best for your purpose

For e-zines

Research on your options:

If it's free, what cloud-service are you most comfortable with?

Find a dowload hosting platform you're comfortable with that also lets you charge per download

Is a round-mailing an option? if yes, do your research on online storefronts as well.

Advertising + Web Presence

This is basically finding your social media where you want to spread the word and store all the information of your zine. It is common for a zine with multiple contributors and mods to have its own web presence.

Tumblr and twitter are very popular for this as tumblr basically is a quick-for-setup homepage where you can spread information incredibly fast if you get to the right people, you have the option to answer questions people have regarding your zine, and twitter is nice and handy to keep applicants and potential customers updated. Also think about where you've got a large following and can advertise the zine yourself. Twitter/tumblr is not required, but most definitely helpful.

If you yourself aren't very known or popular, try to get more influencial people interested in participating, or simply promoting your zine. It definitely helps to have a larger audience. Also find out about the tags used by largely popular zines, and what you can learn from them. Learn how the fanproject blogs filter content they might reblog.

Things you also shouldn't underestimate is affiliations! If there is a zine/project with a largely similar forcus and theme, try to get on their better side, and help each other out. They might be your competition, but if you schedule your zine in a clever way, you won't need to worry about this at all since preorder phase won't overlap at all. They might help you advertise your zine while you do the same for them.

There are also forums on zines and fanzines, but I think nowadays it's rare that you'll go viral through those. I personally don't have any experience with those, so if anyone has, I'm happy to hear about it!

next >>

Masterpost

[antionetterparker]

Ranking the 36 best ways to make extra money on the side in 2019

Side hustle is the new side chick. Gig economy is THE buzzword lately, no doubt. Everyone wants to bring in a little extra money.

If you’re always broke, trying to pay down that debt or save some side cash and just can’t…

If you hate your job and feel like a scrub when you go to work every morning…

If you’re not feeling on your A game and smiling every time you check your bank account…

It’s time for you to start reeling in multiple streams. If you’re not part of the digital revolution, you’re gonna be left behind.

So, without further ado, here are the best ways to get that side hustle going in 2019. No BS surveys, no secret shopping for $2 checks, no guinea pigging yourself to mad scientists, just straight, legit ways to make extra money.

Be sure to check out how to make money fast, best small business ideas, and work from home jobs too.

Ranked by potential to go digital and scalability (because turning your side gig into your FT money maker is the dream), here we go…

47. Teach yoga

You can’t go anywhere without running into lululemon wearing green tea drinkers talking about their auras.

It costs a few hundo to get certified, but you can easily make that back in a day if you can fill a class with 30+ people willing to pay $10 each. The industry is way saturated though, so it’ll take time to build up the credibility and fame you need to really make a dent.

46. Odd jobs/chores

Offer to help neighbors, friends, or acquaintances with chores in exchange for some cash. Maybe check out Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, but remember to consider the safety hazards of meeting people off of a website like these.

Instead of only looking around manually for jobs, sign up for TaskRabbit. TaskRabbit lets people post all sorts of odd jobs, from grocery pickup to calling customer service on your client’s behalf. (1)

45. Driving around

Lyft drivers in big cities make a solid $377/month, and Uber drivers rake in $364/month. It’s definitely not quit your day job material, but it’s not bad for a little side money. The more you drive, the more you’ll make. (1)

Best part is you can work whenever you want for Uber and Lyft simply by clocking in on the app. Try driving during weekend nights for the surge pricing, if you can tolerate drunk people, of course.

You do have to have a car that’s less than 10 years old, and piling on the mileage every weekend will take a toll on your car’s value and longevity.

44. Sell your plasma

You can make money selling your body… as in your blood plasma. Many donation centers will pay you $20+ per visit to sit there with a needle in your arm for an hour or a bit longer. Might not be a whole lot, but you can watch Netflix while you’re in the donation chair if you want.

Make sure you meet the requirements before you try signing up. (2)

43. Babysitting

Parents will always be willing to fork over some cash to watch their child if you’re qualified. Ask your friends and acquaintances since people who know you are more likely to trust you.

Or, you can list your services on Care.com and wait for the parents to come to you. (2)

42. Dog sitting

People will pay a good $15-$20 for you to take their dog on a walk during your lunch break. If you can manage to take 10 dogs out on your lunch break, that’s $150 in your pocket.

People will pay even more money if you take care of their dogs during long periods of absence, such as when they go on vacation or travel for work.

Get on Rover.com, set up a dog walker profile, and start getting yourself some good reviews. (2)

41. Website testing

Ever been on a website that’s laggy, ugly, or terribly unintuitive? You can get businesses to pay you for telling them how crappy or good their website is that by signing up for a website testing service.

UserTesting, a leader in the website testing market, will pay you $10 for every 20-minute video test you complete. (3) $30 an hour isn’t bad for such a simple gig, and you’re doing a good deed for web surfers everywhere.

40. Movie extra

You don’t have to live in Hollywood to be a movie extra anymore. In fact, film-making hubs are exploding around the country and places like Georgia and Louisiana are taking over the movie industry thanks to tax breaks. (3)

You can make around $50-$100/day as a movie extra, and you might get to see yourself on the big screen.

39. Art Modeling

No, you don’t need to be jacked and shredded to be an art model. Some might require you getting nude, but if that makes you uncomfortable, there’re plenty of art modeling gigs that don’t require you to strip down

Sitting still (nude or not) for a few aspiring artists could earn you $20-$30 an hour. Reaching out to local art schools is your best bet for finding work, but browse online job boards too.

38. Flight searching

On Farefetch, people post flights they want and how much they’re willing to pay. If you find it for cheaper, you pocket the difference. It’s actually pocket change most of the time, but you can nag $50 or $60 for some flights. (4)

37. Essay ghostwriter

It’s a moral gray area for sure, but if you’re decently smart and willing to go full-on no shame and write essays for college kids online, you can make pretty good side money.

You might only make a few hundred per week to start, but if you can upgrade to writing history papers for rich ivy leaguers or college entrance essays for wealthy foreign kids, you can start making a few hundred per essay. (5)

36. Private lessons

Good at guitar? Former basketball player? Start giving private lessons in your skill for pay. As a nice little bonus, teaching others how to do a skill usually strengthens your own ability to perform that skill.

35. Data monkey

The money is literal nickels and dimes, but you can do it just about anywhere. Sign up for Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and pick up small, quick tasks while you’re sitting on the subway, or the toilet, or in your lame office job. (6)

Nickels and dimes add up to dollars, and you could probably rake in an extra $10-$15/day if you’re really diligent about it.

34. Translation

If you happen to speak two languages fluently, you’ve got a big money making skill. Pass their exams, and websites like Gengo, OneHourTranslation, and Unbabel will pay pretty decent side dough for you to translate stuff.

Just don’t expect to rely on your Duolingo skills forever… cash in now while you still can, because artificial intelligence is literally getting better at translation by the minute. (7) (8) (9)

33. eBay flipping

Go ahead and pop some tags with $20 in your pocket. This is about that thrift shop swag.

When you find something good, nab it and then sell it for twice the price on eBay. Repeat the process at garage sales, flea markets, Craigslist, and basically wherever you can find a good deal. One guy made $30,000 in side money in one year selling crap he found at flea markets. (10)

32. Rent stuff

The sharing economy isn’t the future, it’s already taken over. 44.8 million adults used sharing economy services last year, and that number will double by 2021. (11) Get on it.

Rent your spare bedroom on Airbnb. Rent your clothes on Style Lend and Date My Wardrobe. (12) (13) Rent your car on Turo. (14) Rent your RV on RVShare. (15) Rent just about anything you have laying around on Loanables. (15)

31. College coach

There are families out there that will shell out $42k large to someone who can help their kid get into an Ivy League. (16)

But even if you’re just helping kids get into mediocre colleges, editing their college entrance essays, or guiding families through the financial aid process, this is a solid way to make extra money if you know a thing or two about college admissions.

30. Personal trainer

Do you even lift, bro? If you can, you could make about $13-$17/hour in side cash as a personal trainer at your local gym. (17)

However, if you take your personal training to the digital world, virtual personal trainers can scale up and make a lot more money. Not only can you coach clients online, but you can write workout plans and sell them to fitness hopefuls.

Training Journal says virtual coaching is the wave of the future. (18)

29. Online sales rep

If you’ve got sales chops and aren’t afraid of a few no’s, try picking up a part-time, work-from-home, commission-only sales gig.

If you end up working for a startup, prove yourself by making big sales. You might be able to negotiate yourself a little equity if you want to.

28. Proofreader

Calling the grammar police. Now you can make money off your annoying habit of correcting everyone else’s sentences.

Websites like Fiverr and Upwork make it easy to make side money by proofreading everything from high school essays and letters to corporate announcements and manuscripts from budding writers. (19) (20)

27. Transcription

It’s about as thrilling as a repair manual, but transcribing audio to text pays consistently, and you don’t need to have any skills. Transcribers can make anywhere from $12-$20/hour on websites like Transcribe Anywhere, Rev, and TranscribeMe. (21) (22) (23)

26. App developer

Back in 2011, global app downloads hit around 2.5 billion. In 2018, that number was a whopping 194 billion total downloads. (24)

How many apps do you have on your phone? If you can write code, or learn to write code, focus on mobile app development. The demand is insane.

25. E-commerce

Take those friendship bracelets you used to make for your buddies and sell them on Etsy for side money. If you’re too lazy to turn your house into a Hobby Lobby and go full-on arts and crafts, start an e-commerce site that runs completely on affiliate links and enjoy the passive income.

24. Print-on-demand T shirt business

Launching your own t shirt business can’t be any simpler thanks to print-on-demand.

All you have to do is create the design (or just buy a design from someone else), sign up for a print-on-demand service like Teespring or Merch by Amazon, and handle the marketing. The print-on-demand service creates your shirt whenever a customer orders one.

23. Flip websites

Buy a few domain names you think will be in demand, and then sell them a year later. Or even a few months. One guy netted a $58,000 profit in less than 2 months by flipping 8 different domains. (25)

22. Email marketing

How many email newsletters are you subscribed to? Do they bombard you every day with content? That’s because it makes them money.

You too can make money with email marketing, and not just as a freelance copywriter. Grab a cheap subscription from an email marketing service, start up a niche email newsletter targeting a specific audience, then send them interesting and helpful content on the daily.

Monetize your efforts by partnering with relevant companies and doing affiliate marketing. It’s like blogging, but in your inbox.

21. Podcasting

Podcasts are hot, and only getting hotter as people find ways to cram learning into their busy lives.

Pick a non-saturated niche, have some interesting stuff to talk about, acquire a microphone and recording software, and start inviting guests if it’s interview style.

When your audience grows, you can earn income through ads/sponsorships, premium episodes, live shows, and your own products.

20. Graphic design

Creatives will want to get in on this. Designing a simple logo for a medium-sized company can net you $2,000 in your spare time. Of course, you have to have a killer portfolio built up to start raking in that kind of cash.

19. Blogging

Obviously I’m into this one, mostly because it’s a great way to build your brand and get your name out there. But it’s also a good way to make extra money on the side.

Pick a specialty that’s not already totally saturated and start a niche blog. Write epic content, network, do guest posts, and build an audience. Monetize. Think affiliate links, sponsored content, and ads in the short run, sell a product or service in the long run.

You can also scale in the long run by hiring writers to help you pump out more content and keep your blog growing.

18. Investing

Investing is a solid way to accumulate passive income on the side, but it usually takes years, if not decades, to see any substantial returns.

Common advice is to invest in “growth stocks” while you’re young to take advantage of the stocks appreciating in value.

But dividend-paying stocks are also a solid investment choice. Build up enough investment in dividend-paying stocks over time, and your dividend earnings could be paying the bills.

Slow and steady can win the race.

17. Video editing

Content may be king, but video content is the future.

The market is ripe. Download some free software (Wondershare Filmora and Lightworks are good) and start learning. (28) (29)

16. Self-publish a book

Anyone can be the next Ernest Hemingway now. Platforms like Nook and Kindle let you publish whatever you want, and if it sells, they’ll give you a cut. Amazon’s Kindle pays out 70% royalties if your book is priced at $2.99 or below. (30)

Hire a ghostwriter, pump out some cheesy fiction 50 Shades of Gray style, and wait for your movie deal.

15. Online tutoring

If you’re that nerd who always wants to go to pub trivia on a Friday night, you can make decent money offering homework help and tutoring online.

Tutors.com and WyzAnt will pay you to tutor in a subject if you can pass a test proving your expertise. (31) (32) If you want something more passive, eNotes.com pays around $8 every time you write an answer to a high school kid’s study guide question on their forums. (33)

Do you have a degree/are you currently a college student? Chegg will pay you $20 an hour (and they’ll pay you each week) to tutor students from wherever you want on your own schedule. (34) You can work as much or as little as you want.

14. Dropshipping

Dropwhatting? Dropshipping is basically setting up a website with killer SEO that sells a super niche product (think baseball caps or coffee mugs) and then transferring all your customer orders to a super cheap, third party manufacturer (think China, India, etc).

They make it. They ship it. You basically just sit back and watch the orders come in.

However, thanks to Amazon, the gap on this is pretty much constantly closing. Why is someone going to buy from your site when they can get the same thing on Amazon?

It’s still viable for now, but it might not be eventually, so get in while you can.

13. Virtual assistant

Assistants are basically glorified minimum wage coffee boys…unless you do it online.

Virtual assistants work for baller internet entrepreneurs and can do anything from Pinterest management to seeking out new clients invoicing for freelancers. It pays well, especially if you have specialized skills. And it’s one of the fastest growing jobs in the digital/freelancer world. (34)

12. Travel agent

Physical travel agencies may be a thing of the past, but online, they’re thriving. Freelance travel agents can set up a once in a lifetime vacation and reserve everything for you, for free.

They make their money by skimming a commission off the top of the hotels and tours they book. When you’re booking trips for fancy execs to the Four Seasons in Paris for $600+/night, a 10% commission on a 5 night stay is $300, without tours and transportation.

11. Social media specialist

Social media advertising budgets have DOUBLED since 2014, and they’re on track to grow a whopping 26.3% this year.

Start by writing status updates for small businesses for about $1/piece through social media agencies like Emphatic and Writer Access. (35) (36) Once you’ve got it down, learn some analytics, and start marketing yourself directly to clients as a specialist.

10. Online teaching

You don’t even have to be a certified teacher, and you might be able to make more than one, thanks to the internet. Check Skillshare and Udemy if you’re looking for websites that let you create courses and charge people who take them. (37) (38)

My advice: pick something you actually have some expertise in. Teaching is one field you can’t fake… at least not if you want to hit it big.

9. Voice acting

Were you that kid in high school who was in the drama club and walked around singing musicals all the time? Put that voice to use and make some money.

Voice acting is actually something you can do online and make good money, if you have some decent sound equipment. Voices.com, VoiceBunny.com, and Voice123.com all let you make a voice actor profile and apply to freelance jobs. The average gig on Voices.com last year paid $277.32. Not bad. (39) (40) (41)

8. Instagram influencer

This is THE buzzword of 2010s. Making money on Instagram sounds like total BS, but actually, if you have 20k+ followers, companies will actually pay you decent money to post a photo of their product.

If your follower count is in the 6-figure range, you can expect checks in the thousands… for ONE photo. #lit (42)

7. Online agency subcontracting

After you establish your presence online in some freelance skill, scale that skill up by starting an online agency and subcontracting the real work.

You focus on sales. Hire freelancers from sites like Upwork and Fiverr and subcontract your work to them by sending them your client projects.

Send the finished projects back to the clients and profit.

6. Photography

If you’ve got a camera and an eye for a good shot, get snapping.

Choose a nice (high school grads, engaged couples, newborns) and stick with it. You can do commissioned photoshoots, but you can also just sell stock photos online on iStockPhoto and Shutterstock for some passive income. (43) (44)

5. Web design

Every single business on the face of the planet needs a website nowadays. Learn code online from a place like Codeacademy or Skillcrush and start designing. (45) (46)

Good web designers can charge $75/hour and some even manage to rake in $100/hour. (47)

4. Content writer

Content has been king for a while, and it’s not going anywhere. As long as businesses exist online, they’re going to need content writers to keep their blogs fresh.

Get your name out there by guest blogging, climb your way up to contributor status on Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Forbes, etc. Offer content writing services and watch the cash flow in.

3. SEO consultant

If you’re looking for an internet gold mine, this is definitely one of them. Just look at the uptick in searches on “how to seo”.

A lot of fakers out there though, so get some practice in. Here are the basics: keyword research, blogging, link building. Go.

2. Facebook ads

Looking for a side gig with 3+ million potential clients? Learn how to run a solid Facebook ads campaign and you can take your pick. (49)

Good social media marketing is huge right now, digital marketing specialists even argue that Facebook ads are more effective than Google ads in many ways. (50)

1. Local lead generation

100% real talk, this is one of those side gig unicorns that can easily become a full-time income on a half-time work schedule. But like anything that leads to long-term success and not just 15 minutes fame, you have to put in the work in the beginning.

That being said, providing leads to local businesses is the most consistent way to generate a good amount of income on the side (we’re talking 4-figure checks…to start).

Why? First of all, the market cannot be saturated. What you’re doing is local, so you can replicate it in thousands of different towns and hundreds of industries. The combinations are endless.

Plus, when you provide this service in Springfield, Illinois, competition is cut down to you v. the balding schoolteacher who decided to take a crack at SEO during his summer vacation instead of you v. the entire internet.

The paychecks for one batch of leads are probably more than you’re making in a month at your current wet rag of a day job. There is literally nothing more valuable to local businesses than leads to paying customers. Tell a business owner you’ve got a stack of them and watch his pupils turn into dollar signs.

Don’t believe me? Your loss. Sorry not sorry.

via https://mlmcompanies.org/ranking-the-36-best-ways-to-make-extra-money-on-the-side-in-2019/