#mostly because I hope my art has evolved and improved since then and

[canisalbus]

i would like to formally apologize for going through your blog and reblogging so much of your art, i just really like the silly gay dogs. and just all of your art in general. very shaped 👍

You never have to apologise for digging through my blog and liking/reblogging a bunch of stuff! I'm flattered to hear that you find my work interesting enough to warrant a deeper dive like that.

[tranderas]

My email to Failbetter Games

I rarely see a reason to hide my motivations or actions. I don’t have a lot of regrets in life, because as I got older- I’m 34 now- I came to understand that it’s pointless. Try to learn, grieve things like lost friendships and loved ones as best you can, and be the best person your emotional and physical state allows you to be.

Anyway

To that end, I thought I’d air out my grievances to FBG in a rather long email. It was a long time coming as I wasn’t convinced emails would do anything. Elias on the Failbetter Community discord server suggested I at least try, and I spent a week of proofreading to make sure I was as courteous as I could manage to be despite my feelings. I’m angry, angry because this game was so dear for me for so long and it feels like the current team has taken it in a direction so much in the opposite of what I find fun.

That anger is unhealthy, of course. Art evolves. Bands change their sound because they get bored or they want to make money tapping into a new audience. Painters refine and improve their style. Writers improve the range of their vocabulary and change tone. Everything shifts in this world. The healthiest thing to keep in mind is the fact that the thing you loved was there for that point in time and nothing can take that away from you, from your favorite game as a child to your favorite bands in your teenage years, you’ll always have those moments of joy.

I want to hold onto this moment of joy that I experience with Fallen London as long as possible, so I wrote this email in the hope of convincing them to alter their direction so I can enjoy it a little bit longer. Except for the signature that contained my real name at the end- not that it’s hard to find if you care, as my facebook url is /tranderas- the text is unmodified. Hopefully this shines light on what I want. 

What I don’t want is discussion about my needs. This is my place to explain, to vent, to point people to instead of typing everything out every time someone asks. But enough stalling.

___

Hello, I was encouraged in a Twitter interaction to write in and expand on my thoughts on the game so I figured I would do so now. Since I started writing this email before reading the December balance announcement, I'll address that at the bottom. The sparknotes version of what I'd like is as such: More content in London itself (especially socials), more Zee destinations, a profession uptuning, a fundamental rework of the deck that goes beyond favors, and a non-docks favor buff. From most to least important, the things I'd like to see addressed are:

1. The lack of endgame content within London itself is concerning to me for two reasons:

a. I play FL because it is a social electronic game, and I want to stay in zones in which I can continue to do social interactions. This is the reason I stay in London rather than going to Iron Republic and Port Carnelian, my first and second favorite zones respectively. If I wanted a story rich solo game I'd play Sunless Sea; if I wanted an analogue experience I'd play Blades in the Dark or read one of the books that influenced FL's style.

b. I simply don't like the mechanics of lab or parabola or how they gatekeep content. Because of this I haven't had any free content to pursue since the release of the new heists, and for a much longer length of time before that.

2. I'd love to see the remaining tier 3 professions given something they can do at lodgings. In general I prefer buffs instead of nerfs, especially in story games, and think it would be silly to nerf midnighter/correspondent/crooked-cross downward. Instead, give the others roles, perhaps in special options in the 4/5 card lodgings.

3. With the changes to Paramount Presence and the BDR power creep Notability has been significantly de-emphasized. I'd like that changed. To me the notability grind had the best balance of difficulty to cost-benefit analysis to end reward in the game, and while overcapping removed that, I would like something to use it again to make going above 10 worthwhile more often. Recent BDR items should make going even beyond 15 possible for very lategame players.

4. In addition to more endgame content within London, I'd like more midgame content at Zee. Sunless Sea got me especially interested in Frostfound and Irem, and a roleplay point for my OC is that she'd like to quite literally punch Mt. Nomad to death. Please don't feed us to spiders, though. The ones in London cause enough sorrow.

5. I would enjoy more free spouses that are not seasonal, and more ways to interact with player spouses. Again, it's a social game, and it makes sense to reward a desire to be social with the community. On the other hand, the NPC spouses in the game are limiting in their roleplay potential to the point that I've created a character around the Esoteric Accomplice for one of my OCs to get involved with between one roleplay relationship and another. Now allow me to take a deep breath while I discuss the proposed balance pass. The short version here is that I think it's wrong to release a deck refresh nerf without a fundamental change to what cards appear in the deck, and that the nerf to docks favors and yet another nerf to revs favors is misguided.

Here's the long version: I actually support a removal of the deck refresh mechanic. I got in trouble for calling flash lay resets an exploit on a private Fallen London fan server, and refused to use it until the lab convinced me it was a mechanic intended for use by FBG.

The widespread use of deck resets isn't a problem in its own right; rather, it's a symptom of how fundamentally broken the deck is in its current state. You have cards that are so bad that the narrative acknowledges they're awful and the mechanics give you a way to get rid of them at the cost of objectively worse lodgings. You have story signpost cards that clog up space held by desired cards. It can be nearly impossible to get Portly Sommelier (before deck refreshes i was getting one a month playing 60 actions a day) and dream qualities (my PoSI-ready SMEN alt has DbW3 playing every dream card that comes around). And most lodgings have cards that are objectively bad in a way that no new player can know without reading the wiki or asking someone- the exact problem you claim a desire to address in your announcement.

It's telling that players will do SMEN- a quest chain ostensibly about how much you're willing to sacrifice to some faceless maybe-god- in order to get rid of bad lodgings. I personally only bought back salon (Notability grind), rooftop shack (3 epa wine option), and bazaar premises (5-card potential plus good certifiable scraps/money option) after Trand got St. Beau's Candle, and JanieS only ever got the bazaar premises, her Remote Lodging, and the Orphanage. Even the other 4-card lodgings are only good under specific circumstances, and the rest of the 3s have worse cards with no endgame benefit.

Tranderas and JanieS both use remote lodgings. Trand is stuck with the Advertisements of a New Venture and Devices and Desires cards in his hand. Advertisements is an Abundant-rarity card. Since I have no intention of doing railroad due to disliking its mechanics the card simply sits in my hand. If I discard it, its rarity means it pops back up quickly. I think a way to opt out of story signpost cards such as aunt and railroad would be good progress toward solving the deck problem. There could be a large action or monetary cost involved with both removing it and reactivating it to balance, but without a way to get rid of these story hooks I need to keep refreshing to draw other cards around them.

As for the favors, I consider that part of the change mostly good. However, the docks favors -> Silk expedition doesn't really compete that well with other endgame grinds at the moment. Further, the Revolutionaries favor turn-in was already reduced dramatically this year, and I don't think it needs further tweaking. Rather than tuning docks and revs down, I would prefer to see the other factions tuned upwards, and the cost of earning favors eliminated from their cards (no 10 rostygold donation to the Church, for example). I'd still like to see the faction cards remain in the deck after they're given storylet sources, but made more rare, with the conflict options getting a boost to remain attractive in line with my proposed buff to payouts as they are good for London from a flavor/narrative perspective. In closing, it feels like the current FBG's team has a vision for the game that doesn't mesh well with how I see it and want to play it. Content has consistently moved away from what I want to do, leaving me with only SMEN and cider as goals to pursue (and as mentioned, I've run two characters- Samia R and Tranderas- through the quest chain to its completion). I obviously care about the game enough to want more things I like or else I wouldn't bother writing and proofreading this post or discussing and debating changes on the community discord, so I hope you'll take these opinions and suggestions into consideration moving forward. Regards,

Tranderas

[t100ficrecsblog]

an interview with @easilydistractedbyfanfic (she/they)

what are you working on right now? I don’t typically take prompts, but after finding out about the Bellarke Writers For BLM Initiative and how their goal is to raise money for BLM via various fandom prompts that are requested by readers and written & illustrated by various writers and artists, I wanted to get involved. I’ve finished two prompts and am working on my third, which is a Murphy/Raven smutfic set during their years on the Ring. It’s definitely an idea I can work with - it’s over 10k at this point with a lot more to say, so hopefully the anon who requested it will end up pleased! Go check out the tumblr page and the ao3 collection - there’s various t100 pairings/ratings and you can choose the cause if you want to request a fic!

what is the fanwork you’re most proud of? I struggled with this question! My stories are all like my kids, and even if some of them could use a bit of improvement with pacing or dialogue or whatever faults I see when they age, ultimately I do love them all and I’m glad I wrote them. I do sometimes play favorites but that often depends on what I’m in the mood to read myself. That said, I really do always feel proud of my story called What You Need. It’s a darker version of Raven & Murphy, but one that I don’t find unrealistic under the circumstances of the fic. I surprised myself with where my head went on this one. In a good way, because it was really fascinating to dive into the minds of who these particular versions of the characters were. 

I’m also pleased that I have over 500k on ao3 at this point. I never expected anything like this when I started writing, and it kind of blows my mind that this is my hobby now. It’s so strange to me that there are stories in my head at any given moment now.

why did you first start writing fic? I started writing in June 2018. Never wrote any fanfic before that, ever - though I did read plenty! I wrote three stories super fast, posted them all on ao3 on the same day and haven’t looked back. I think I started writing out of a combination of just really needing more content for my faves, but also I wasn’t in fandom before s5 and was quite desperate after s4 to talk to other people about Raven & Murphy. So I needed to get the stories out but also I had this hope that it would invite conversation when I didn’t know anyone in fandom.

what frustrates you most about fic writing? Just because I want to write doesn’t mean I can. Having prompts on my plate right now, I feel a real responsibility to finish them, but even when I carve time out to write, sometimes the words just don’t feel right. The muse doesn’t always strike when I have the time available. Also, it’s super ridiculously important to me that scenes and dialogue FEEL right based on the characterization I have in my head in any particular story. I can look at a scene I’ve written, especially an emotional one, and sometimes it’s just not resonating with me the way I know it could or should. It’s tough not to just push through and post it as-is, but I know that would never satisfy me, even if it means a much longer turn-around time on a story or chapter update. Often I will find that I get an a-ha moment that cracks open a better understanding of why a scene isn’t working for me, but this can take time and I have to trust in this process.

Not to preach, but it’s also frustrating when something you spend a lot of time and effort on doesn’t get much in the way of comments. I see posting fic on ao3 as a sort of conversation, so when there’s mostly silence even as the hits (and hopefully kudos) tick upwards, it can feel really...disheartening to feel like you’re talking into a void. And I say this as someone who has been fortunate enough to have regular readers who DO give feedback! I think every writer understands that they need to write for themselves first and foremost, but I wish more readers understood that feedback and enthusiasm will absolutely result in MORE CONTENT! I try very hard to follow this guideline myself by supporting and commenting on everything I read as time permits.

what are your top five songs right now? I listen to a huge mix of songs & my childhood influenced me a lot. 

Some floating in my head include - 

Chris Cornell’s live cover of Nothing Compares 2U Indigo Girls - Romeo & Juliet The Decemberists - Once In My Life Tori Amos - Silent All These Years The Chicks - March March 

what are your inspirations (books, songs, other fic)? I find inspiration in a lot of things, which I think is lucky. One of my biggest is the characters themselves. I love getting deep into understanding who I think they are, what their motivations are and why they’d make certain decisions, whether in canon or in an AU. What parts of their personalities do they keep when they aren’t tortured and under trauma on the regular? What would happen if I change this one scenario in their lives? I could probably go on forever just based on these sorts of thoughts, but I do also find inspiration in simple things like tropes, or song lyrics and the lore of the show itself. Quite a lot of my ideas in my inspiration notebook have sci-fi themes too. A few of my stories have already touched on sci-fi topics, and I absolutely plan more of them because I love how creative that can be. I also love the idea of suspended belief - can I have sentient plant life from an alien planet that can mindread & communicate by projecting thoughts into characters' heads? Yes, yes I can! (I wrote this story, fyi - Flora Incognita, part of a series) 

what attracts you to Murven? what first attracted you? Hey, do you have all day? Ha! Seriously, I could talk about this until everyone wants to strangle me! I loved Raven immediately - not so much Murphy! But I really disliked Finn, so ep 1x10 when Raven finally broke up with him had me interested. In that ep, you can see that Murphy is present, awake & nearby in the Dropship and probably overhears everything Raven says. Then he gets up and looks at her to make sure she’s still sleeping before he carries out his revenge plans. I’m not kidding - that one look absolutely and completely hooked me! Murphy was still awful then but he was so much more interesting than Finn, and back then I remember thinking how I’d really like to see them interact as two stubborn, strong personalities, because no doubt sparks would fly. And then when they did interact more, their dynamic was exactly what I’d hoped for and then some! 

I love that they’ve seen each other at their worst and at their weakest and most vulnerable, yet they’ve built a strong foundation of trust, faith and understanding. They have so much in common but they’re also different sides of the coin in some ways too. Fandom talks about Bellarke being the head & the heart, but to me Raven and Murphy are the intellect & the instinct - they complement each other, provide some of the qualities that the other needs, their differences improve each other. For me, nobody gets Raven like Murphy & nobody understands Murphy like Raven. Maybe not a lot of people notice, but Raven & Murphy check in with each other a lot - Raven tends to say “I got this” but Murphy is the only person who replies to her “Do you?”. And Raven listens to Murphy’s ideas and suggestions and plans even when she’s known as the genius because she knows that he has valuable things to say. They have fun together, make each other smile and enjoy each other’s company, which is in such short supply in this show! 

I know there’s parts of fandom that don’t ship them because Murphy shot Raven in s1. I have a lot of thoughts on it and have had quite a few tumblr posts about it. This is a fictional show - it does not reflect reality. I’ve been on the fringes of fandom for a long time and I know shipping doesn’t always mean yes, I want to see this relationship in real life. For me, I think it’s absolutely fascinating that someone Raven should hate has become one of her closest and most trusted friends. That she forgave him, and we as the audience get to see this dynamic change and grow, and that Murphy has always felt guilty about it even though he was being presented as selfish and out for himself - it’s such a huge, huge part of each of their character’s journeys. This is getting rather meta, but I don’t think either of these characters would have survived this long or evolved to the extent that they each have without specifically being around each other. 

And I absolutely can not discuss my love for Raven & Murphy without mentioning the whole way these two LOOK at each other! OMG have you SEEN it?!?? How could I not ship them when they look at each other like that! LOL! Also, I want to keep talking about this but I’ll stop now because I truly could go on forever and anyone who follows me already knows I’m wordy.

BESIDES Murven, what’s your favorite ship in t100? Honestly, nothing else comes close to Murven for me, but I did like Kabby before the show just eviscerated their characters. I like the possibilities of Niytavia still. I can see why people ship Murphamy in the earlier seasons. Definitely think Echo/Roan could’ve been something intriguing. And I’ve got this weird thing going right now where I wouldn’t hate Murphy/Russheda, but admittedly that’s mostly about the aesthetic! I tried really hard to like other partners for Raven & Murphy since they’ve always been my faves, but I’ve been meh about all the possibilities except Luna as a partner for Raven or as a Luna/Raven/Murphy threesome. At some point I might write that. Otherwise I’d say I tend to like the friendships more than the ships.

what are some things you’d like to recommend? I always hesitate to recommend other stories & authors because I can’t stand the idea of people feeling left out if I forget to mention them! But I would like to say that I really and truly love my fellow Murven shippers who read & support my stories and who create content like fic and art and gifs and fanvids. I find so much inspiration in them even though sometimes I can’t get through 30 seconds of a fanvid before I have to pause it because the angst is too much for me!

Since you’re kind enough to ask me this question and maybe a few people will read this answer, please - I recommend that everyone educate themselves on social justice and climate change and Black Lives Matter and capitalism and unions and what intersectionality & solidarity truly mean! Vote like your lives depend on it because THEY DO!

ed’s note: compiled a few resources -Rebel Well: A Starter Survival Guide to Trumped America -Jacob and Al’s Intergalactic Intersectionality Adventure -Get involved in your local chapter of DSA -Join Your Local Mutual Aid Group -Keeping Yourself Safe Online In This Capitalistic Hellscape -Angela Davis’ book Are Prisons Obsolete? -Resource about defunding the police

You can find @easilydistractedbyfanfic here on Tumblr, on Twitter, and on AO3. You can also a request a fic written by her via @bellarkefic-for-blm!

[dragonsateyourtoast]

Special thanks to @skylarklanding for a donation to the Emergency Release Fund!

By the way, head on over to that blog to get a taste of some of Skylark’s art; similar to what I’m doing, you can show a donation and receive a custom art as thank-you!

Original post of mine

Prompt, courtesy of @writing-prompt-s: “It is impossible to erase a curse, but it is possible to trade it with someone else. You’ve been wandering for years, searching for someone willing to trade curses with you, but never suspected it would happen like this.” 

-

Not many people are unlucky enough to get hit with a real curse. A true curse, a curse that writes itself into your bones and blood, not some surface-level scuff on your soul. Those happen all the time; little things like a higher likelihood to stub your toe, or a few extra minutes of searching when you’ve lost your keys.

To be cursed with a true curse is different. It’s something that you feel in your lungs when it hits you, which screams like static in your mind when it activates. It lies dormant like a disease, letting you forget it exists occasionally, until the time comes for it to rear its ugly head and it spits venom into your life once again.

You can’t get rid of a real curse. The little ones? You can polish them away, or pay a witch to get rid of them, or whatever. But the real ones... those are powered by something greater than just a little bit of malice. Those ones aren’t just throwaway statements of “I hope you always forget about your tea” or little sigils drawn on paper and burned to ash. These ones are borne of blood.

I used to sing at a church. I’ve long since abandoned the church, after they told me I was evil for a good number of things, including my curse. I didn’t even think it was that bad, at first.

When I speak, things come to me. Animals, mostly. Sometimes it’s plants. Insects and spiders and stuff are the biggest problem. Birds are the next worst. No matter what I do, if I utter a single syllable, I am swarmed in an instant with everything alive around me except other people. I laughed on a lakeshore once - the fish died when we were trying to shove them back into the water. I sighed too loudly once, on a wet night; I’d never seen so many worms.

There are online boards for people who want to swap curses. I know you can do it - curses don’t like to be destroyed, but they love to hop around. They’re kind of sentient; they like to see new things. Sometimes, if you don’t give them what they want, they’ll evolve, force you to carry them harder. Mine is pretty dormant; I never speak, but it doesn’t cause problems. It can feel my misery.

I’m not going to get into what got me cursed in the first place. It was an accident, and it wasn’t even my fault, and I’m marked forever in more ways than one.

July, 2014. I sat in my room, reading a book. I don’t remember what it was. One of my friends messaged me, asking about a movie that was coming out, and while I was checking movie times I saw someone had pinged me in the curse boards.

Curious, I visited. I’ve had this curse for twelve years, mind you, and never been able to find anyone willing to switch me. It’s just too inconvenient.

But, there in the board, was a message in a five year old thread I’d made. It read:

“Hi! I saw your notice. I’m a wildlife biologist in Arkansas. I’m cursed too, and I think that you would be the perfect person to switch curses with, if you’re willing. It seems like you’re an active member of the forums, but it’s been a while; do you still have the same curse you did before? I’d really like to swap you for it, if that’s still possible.”

What? I stared at it, uncomprehending, until I finally messaged her directly through the site. “Thanks for your interest,” I told her. “What curse do you have, so I can know what I might be getting into?”

“Nothing too terrible,” she wrote back. “When I speak, whatever I say comes out in a different language. I never know which language it’s going to be, either, and if I stop speaking or take a breath, well, it switches. It’s really a nuisance if I’m trying to communicate with people! Yours seems to be that you can’t make any sound at all; being able to laugh or speak without consequences would be an improvement for you, right?”

“It would,” I wrote back. “And it would mean you have a lot less freedom in what you can say. Why do you want my curse?”

“I can’t explain it,” she said, “I guess I’ll have to tell you if it works.”

We agreed to meet up about six hours from where I lived, at the halfway point between our houses. I wasn’t working at the time - it’s difficult to hold a job when you can’t speak or your building suddenly reveals how many rats are in it - so I gathered what I needed and left the next morning.

Six hours. I had six hours while driving to wonder why she would choose to make her life worse, by preventing herself from even laughing. I couldn’t fathom why. Did she want every living thing to swarm her at all times? I say swarm - I mean it. Just because the curse brought the animals to me didn’t make them friendly. I’d been bitten, stung, pecked, and scratched more times than I could count.

Whatever. It probably wasn’t my place to ask. I hadn’t asked her how she had gotten cursed, she hadn’t asked me, and I wasn’t going to ask her what she wanted it for if she wasn’t willing to tell me.

I pulled into the designated place - a restaurant on a tiny little highway exit in the middle of nowhere. I stood next to my car and waited.

About fifteen minutes after I’d arrived, a car pulled into the parking lot a few spaces away from mine and shut off. A woman got out - probably about thirty, with dark brown hair and brown skin, warm green eyes shining out from her face. She glanced over, saw me, and her face lit up. “Zdravo!” she called, and I knew it was her - that wasn’t a language I recognized. I nodded in response.

She pulled out her phone as she came over, and opened up a notes app. I opened mine too, watching, and she wrote down. “Songbird, right?”

“That’s me,” I wrote back, showing my screen to her. “Got everything we need?”

“Yeah, I visited a witch before I left home; that’s what I did with the rest of yesterday.” She set down a bag that had been slung over her shoulder and pulled out a shiny green box. She opened it, pulling out a length of white silk, and held out a hand. I held out mine, and she grasped my forearm; I took hold of hers.

Together, we wound the white silk around our hands and arms, binding us together, and tied it on the bottom, which is a lot harder than you’d expect. Then she looked me in the eye, still brimming with excitement. “Bist du so weit?” she asked, and then sighed and rolled her eyes. “Är du färdig?”

That still didn’t make sense, but I got the sense she was asking me if I was ready. I nodded sharply.

She began to speak. I didn’t understand it, of course. The language must’ve changed at least four times as she was trying to talk, and I couldn’t get a word of it, though I kind of understood some of what sounded like maybe French. I did catch her name, though: Maria Coombs. She finished, and looked up to me, expectantly.

My turn. This was going to be rough. I opened my mouth, swallowing; I really, really didn’t talk often. “My name’s Sage Lawson. I willingly take on to myself the burden this stranger bears, so that they might carry mine in turn.”

Above, I saw a flock of starlings divert swiftly in its path; a fly bounced off my face. “I give to this person the magic that has plagued me. I take upon myself the magic that has plagued her. Together, we give to each other.”

Nothing seemed to happen, but the starlings fluttered into a nearby tree and began to squawk at each other, ignoring me. I looked warily up at them.

“Is that it, then?” Maria said, and gasped, her eyes going wide. She clamped a hand over her mouth. The birds overhead hopped downwards into the branches surrounding us, eyes black and wary.

I hastily unbound our hands. I was still too nervous to talk. Maria picked up her phone. “Say something!” she tapped out, and showed it to me, grinning.

I rubbed my hands together. “Antoka,” I said, still feeling my voice rasp in my throat, and paused. I’d meant to say “sure,” but my mouth had just... said something else. The feeling was uncomfortable, to say the least. “... أعتقد أنه نجح.”

Maria clapped her hands together. She was beaming, brighter than I’d ever seen anybody smile. I ran my hand over my mouth, shaking my head. I could speak... though I wouldn’t make any sense. Whatever. I could work with this. I could work with this!

“Thank you,” Maria typed back, still beaming. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I didn’t, really, but she was so happy, I couldn’t help but smile and even give a little breath of a laugh. That was more than I could’ve done before.

I handed Maria the silk back. She took it, replacing it in the box, and put it back in her bag. Already, she was humming.

You could hum, I remembered. You just couldn’t open your mouth and speak, or laugh, or sigh too loudly. Humming was the only thing that had saved me from despair after I’d been cursed.

“Maria,” I called, as she walked back over to her car with a bounce in her step, and she turned, eyebrows raised.

“Hmm?” she said, without opening her mouth.

“Ευχαριστούμε,” I said, with a smile.

Maria may not have known the language, but she understood a thank you when she heard one. She beamed at me, waved, and got back into her car.

Three months later, I got a message from Maria, the wildlife biologist living in Arkansas. It was an email that she’d sent after getting my email address from my account on the curse forums, where I’d been busy figuring out how to work with my new curse.

“Thanks,” it read, “for all the help. You have no idea what this means to me.”

Attached were two pictures. One was of her on a canoe, floating through some kind of forested swampy area, and the other was a photograph - in full color and perfect clarity - of an ivory-billed woodpecker.

[tillidontneedfantasy]

No. 6 Collaborations Project - Ed Sheeran: I’m not like a regular musician, I’m an Uncool™ musician.

When Ed Sheeran emerged onto the American pop scene in 2011 - 2012 as an understated solo act, he famously utilized the loop pedal in his live shows, creating the sound of a full production with just his voice and one little guitar. This is just one of the elements that made Ed Sheeran such a compelling rising star; one singer-songwriter could cast a very large shadow. 

Sheeran’s dominance over the pop scene since then and throughout the last decade is undeniable, and he really wants you to know it and acknowledge it on No. 6, as he (rightfully, but not so moderately) celebrates his musical achievements and endeavors over the years on tracks such as “Take Me Back to London” featuring Stormzy and “Remember the Name” featuring Eminem & 50 Cent. But he also doesn’t want you to forget that still, despite all of his success, *Amy Poehler from Mean Girls voice* he’s not like a regular musician, he’s an uncool musician. Travis Scott opens “Antisocial,” a well-produced but underwhelming song about Sheeran’s introversion and anxiety, by stating, “All you cool people, you better leave now,” which sounds silly coming from an artist as "in” right now as Travis Scott. This is a message Sheeran attempts to drive home even more so on the opening track “Beautiful People” featuring Khalid, where Sheeran explains how he does not quite fit in with the lifestyle of his industry. For someone who is so adamant that he remains uncool, he sure scored a heap of very cool artists to collaborate with him on this new record, even including a DJ, loop pedal be damned.

Funny enough, the song including DJ and producer Skrillex, titled “Way To Break My Heart” is one of the few that is reminiscent of Sheeran’s roots, both sonically and lyrically. While Sheeran’s singer-songwriter chops have not particularly diminished with success, they feel repetitive and at a stalemate on No. 6. Sheeran still holds his own on the strongest tracks, but the voices featured on this project are what hold them up the most.

BEST TRACK: “I Don’t Want Your Money” featuring H.E.R.

No. 6 is thematically heavy on Sheeran’s relationships with fame and with his wife, Cherry. Sheeran is generally most triumphant when he focuses on the latter, a love song master as displayed by the overwhelming success of the overly cliched “Thinking Out Loud” and “Perfect” (from x and ÷  respectively), but is most effective on this album when he integrates it with the former. On “I Don’t Want Your Money,” Sheeran outlines the strains that celebrity life put on a relationship in a way that is universally relatable, whether you’re a pop mega-superstar or an average Joe from Chicago who’s had one viral tweet. In the 2nd verse, he sings: 

“Baby I’m doing it for us, so why you taking that tone like I’m the bad guy? / I thought it would have made me better in your dad’s eyes / I’m busy stacking up the paper for the bad times / ‘cause baby, you never know / I’m popping right now, but there will come a day when I won’t.” 

No matter the lifestyle or job, anyone who has ever been a working individual in a relationship knows the struggle of a work-life balance, and the pressure when things are going well to do all you can to maintain that lucrativeness in case it all falls apart in the future; it’s a sacrifice for the sake of security. Sheeran’s awareness that his height of fame for any musician is not built to last forever is also a refreshing note of modesty. H.E.R. graciously lends her magically soothing vocals as the voice of Sheeran’s wife, assuring him that his time is much more valuable to her than his money, beautifully supported by a very sweet guitar riff. There’s a lot of horns in this song as well, which don’t necessarily fit with the theme or vibe but somehow work anyway, because horn instruments can improve almost any pop song exponentially.

WEAKEST TRACK: “1000 Nights” featuring Meek Mill & A Boogie Wit da Hoodie 

Directly following the relatability of “I Don’t Want Your Money,” Sheeran reminds us that, despite the trick he might have just played on us, we, in fact, cannot relate. Sheeran chronicles his “faded” tour ventures as he casually hops through continents on “1000 nights.” Following a recent trend of artists dismissing any criticism or opinions that are not glowing, Sheeran proclaims in the 2nd verse, “I don’t need to read reviews if you can’t do the things I do.” Although Ed Sheeran will most definitely not need to read this blog post, I hope he and his peers remember that ubiquitous success does not make anyone impervious to imperfection, and that consumers are allowed to and should continue to think critically about art. Maybe that sentiment will mean more coming from me once I tour multiple continents.

THE IN-BETWEENS

One of the strongest tracks, “Best Part of Me” featuring YEBBA, showcases Sheeran’s longstanding ability to churn out a heartfelt ballad, musically stripped back with the simplicity of his earlier work and his staple romantic prose. “Feels” featuring Young Thug and J Hus is short, sweet, and catchy, yet feels easily lost in the fray. A bit too often, Sheeran sounds out of place on his own album. On “South of the Border,” a fun track that feels slightly derivative of the mega-smash lead single “Shape of You” from ÷, Camila Cabello and Cardi B steal the show. And on the jarring yet intriguing closer, “BLOW” featuring Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars, Sheeran’s first verse is quickly dulled by Mars’s shine. Kudos to Sheeran for gathering such talent, but when it works best, Sheeran’s in the passenger’s seat while his contemporaries are driving, making you forget who even owns the car.

BEST PROSPECTIVE SINGLE: “Put It All On Me” featuring Ella Mai.

Ella Mai is the true star of “Put It All On Me,” and the slight growl in her voice when she sings the line, “grab my waist,” is a pure knock-out. Riding off the magical spell she cast on us all with “Boo’d Up,” she can help Sheeran keep the momentum of his Cool Uncool Guy image. It’s got the perfect tempo for the radio and has “make me into a club remix” wisely written all over its DNA. 

***

As Sheeran has released his past 3 solo major studio albums, + (2011), x (2014), and  ÷ (2017) (seemingly having a thing for math), he has evolved yet always stuck to his strengths. All artists should experiment, bend genre boundaries, collaborate, and step out of their comfort zones. But No. 6 mostly makes the listener feel like Sheeran is trying to prove that hip-hop is his comfort zone and strength, as he laments “I wanna try new things, they just want me to sing / Because nobody thinks I write rhymes” on “Take Me Back to London,” apparently backtracking from the x deluxe track “Take It Back” opening assertion, “I’m not a rapper / I’m a singer with a flow.” Well, it turns out 2014 Ed was correct. Ed sounds great when he sings with a quick “flow” and sticks to what he knows. The most effective way for any artist to successively evolve is by utilizing their strengths to create something different. In the few moments on No. 6 when Sheeran does so, his spark glimmers through and we’re reminded of why all these artists jumped at the chance to work with him, though he should feel just as (if not even more) lucky. Hopefully, his next release will leave behind the numbers by subtracting a bit and return to the basic equations. Grade: 2/5

DISCLAIMER - REVIEWER’S BIAS: I have been an Ed Sheeran fan since his debut release in 2011; I remember watching a video livestream for the American release of + that only 12 other people joined. I love all of +, a majority of x (which hold, in my opinion, his 2 best songs, “I’m A Mess” and “Nina”), and very little of ÷. I was very disappointed by ÷, but still consider myself a fan. I really wanted to love No. 6 and went in with an open mind and heart, but it just felt like a conglomerate of failed crossover attempts that just didn’t do it for me. I truly believe Ed is talented and has the potential to make an album in the future that I can proudly call myself a fan of, but No. 6 doesn’t quite qualify.

[princess-kidatheart17]

How are your BH 6 OCs so popular? I work hard on mine as much as everyone else does; not only on art but personality too, but the notes, if I get any at all, are in very small numbers. I bet it's because I pair her with Wasabi.

I've been on this site since 2015 and I've been posting my drawings since 2016. My art improved a lot in 4 years and I also got to befriend people who support me as an artist (and I am forever grateful).

Believe it or not, even today my art can get less than 15 notes (and 12 of them are likes due to the reblog-like dilemma this site has).

Original characters always attract less the attention of people than canon characters, for the reason that unfortunately, some say it's part of "cringe culture" (which is BS). And people can be harshly critical of OC/Canon ships and Self-Insert/Canon ships, for the same reason.

Being a Big Hero 6 fanartist is also hard, considering the fanbase isn't as numerous as it used to be and that Big Hero 6 is underrated, which is an important point to consider.

I perfectly understand how you feel. People underestimate the hardwork we do as artists. But I can tell you this: it took me years before my art got any recognition at all. And even today, I'm not popular like some artists on this site who have 10 000 reblogs.

Here are some tips I can give you from personal experience:

Be patient. Like I said, popularity as an artist doesn't happen overnight. I know it's frustrating, but it takes time for people to notice you and your art to be more exposed. So use that time to draw more and get more skilled artistically!

Take your time to draw. Forcing a drawing for the thrill of it or because you can't wait to post it will have visible consequences on your final project. There is no rush, so be relaxed and take all the time you need until you're satisfied with the final result.

Also, don't draw if you're not motivated. If you have an idea and you don't want to forget, write it down, but like I said above, the final result will show if you didn't put all your heart into the drawing.

NEVER. I repeat, NEVER TRACE A DRAWING OR A PICTURE. It's plagiarism and you'll never get better since all you do is copy. What I do is that my program makes me open the image as another layer, and I use the image as reference so I can draw on my canvas next to it. But seriously, never trace.

Tumblr is not really the best site for artists due to the aforementioned reblog-like dilemma. Despite this, the first 5 tags in a post are crucial, because your post will appear on these tags and in the search for people to see. So choose them wisely so your post can be seen. I also give you the advice to put bonus notes/sentences as the last tags and not the firsts (otherwise it'd be more difficult to be seen)

Diversify your art. Even I should do that more. I mainly draw BH6, but it's great to draw other things to test your skills as an artist once in a while.

Speaking of which, I know as fanartists we have tendency to draw the same characters because we love them (for myself, I mostly draw Karmi and Hiro). But try to draw other characters too! They all have different designs which is interesting to experiment with your own art style!

Watch tutorials on Youtube. Go see digital art tips on some blogs. Study anatomy (not at school lol but artistically speaking). Learn how to shade. It's only beneficial for you to ameliorate your skills and add depths to your drawing that will catch people's eye! It's what I did and I still do it today. No one is born as a skilled artist. We all started as children drawing suns in the corner of the page and stick people. Whether or not we experiment and draw again and again will determine if our art evolves or not. Hard work makes the dream work. Never stop drawing, that's how you improve!

I don't know which program you use, but if you're interested, mine is MediaBang Paint Pro! It's free, easy to use, and even professional artists use that program! There are are lot of options and layers to perfectionize your art!

I use a Wacom Tablet and pen for my art, since it's easier for me than drawing with a mouse (since we're used to draw with pencils). It costs around 100$, but if you want to stick to drawing with your computer mouse, you can always watch tutorials for help, since drawing with a computer mouse can be difficult.

That's all I can think of. Hope it helps!

(other artists feel free to add to this list if you'd like!)

[ververa]

"You are enough"

CHAPTER 11

Ronnie had always been an artistic soul. She had never had too many friends and hadn’t wanted to change it. She wasn’t the same type as her mother – who would socialise with everyone whenever the occasion arose. Ronnie was just Ronnie – she preferred such a way of living since the very beginning. But it all was connected with her childhood. She was brought up mostly by her grandmother. And Joanne, as an overprotective granny, didn’t leave her too much space for exploring the world – as kids usually do. In the woman’s eyes she was always a little and way too fragile thing that may get sick or hurt herself every time she left the house. Basically, in granny’s confidence everything from the outside could kill her. Joanne preferred to keep her preoccupied with something different, that let them stay inside, and that thing were books. A whole lot of literature – fairy tales, short stories, comic books. It was as if she were living in a completely different reality.

So, when she finally broke free it was a bit hard to accustom. She was like the odd one out. And her new school was a kind of reality check and a real challenge. Being a good and liked by every teacher student was one thing, but having a mother – that demands being the best in everything was the other. Ballet class was never Ronnie’s dream, but for Caroline it was a way to made her own dreams and ambitions to come true. It was okay for Ronnie to do what her mother wanted until things got complicated. And when they did the girl finally understood what a pain in the ass her mother was. She had nobody who could help her when she broke down. She was dealing with her own demons and post-traumatic stress disorder on her own, because for Caroline it was her who was the problem. She was carrying on for so long, that when she didn’t have to do it all – alone any more – it was really hard to stop. It was as if she had built walls around herself. And nobody tried to get in to her shell, until she met Ellie.

Caroline was that type of mother, who noticed her daughter only when she succeeded in something. But even then the woman wasn’t really there for Ronnie, but for her success. She was always boasting herself – claiming it was all thanks to her. But with Ellie it was different. The psychiatrist was with her in, probably, the worst moments. When she was suffering from major depression and broke down – Staple was there ready to help. When she made the worst of possible decisions and cut her veins – it was Ellie who pulled her out of the bath and blocked the bleeding. The psychiatrist not only saved her, but also took care of her further treatment. She didn’t let them send her to a madhouse far away – in the middle of nowhere. She took care of Ronnie n her own. And she cured her of depression, eating disorders and low self-esteem. But despite being the best psychiatrist and the greatest of possible remedies Staple couldn’t cure her from insecurities and sensitivity to criticism.

But she was a painter. Criticism was a part of her profession and she was taking it pretty well. But after painting for almost half of her life and exhibiting for 3 she was done. Ronnie felt as if she had nothing more to offer. She simply didn’t have new ideas and all her old works were already seen by everyone. It wasn’t the first time she had a block, but it lasted longer than before and Ronnie was almost sure it’s a permanent state. It felt as if she had run out of everything that was in her head previously. Though the worst was yet to come.

____________________________

Ellie was abroad when the girl decide to end her adventure with painting – at least for some time. She went to meet with her agents, even though she wasn't really convinced to it.

"You what?!" a slim blonde – Bella yelled

"I'm not going to paint"

"And why is that?" the woman rolled her eyes not taking it seriously at allowing

"I don't have anything to offer any more"

"Ronnie" a tall, black man began "You should think about it"

"I did. If I haven't thought about it I wouldn't be here. This is the end"

"Ronney. Little girl, it's not the first time you're facing such kind of block"

"Jason is right. You should go somewhere. Rest, relax. And inspiration will come, as always"

"It won't" Ronnie shook her head "I know you don't understand. And I don't expect you to do so. My works were filled with grief, anger and fear. But I don't have it inside me any more. The old Ronnie is gone. I evolved and there's nothing more that I can paint"

"Is it because of Ellie?" Bella asked

"What? No"

"In my opinion it is"

"Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with it. It's my decision"

"You do not make decisions, little girl"

"Don't call me that. I'm not a kid any more"

"If you weren't a kid you would know that it's not a decision that you can make just like that. Did you even think what consequences it may carry?"

"And if you're not so vain you would know that there's no use in continuing it. Think about the last exhibition. It was a flop, because I have nothing more to show. You wanted me to dye my hair, so I could draw attention. I did. Now, my hair is fucking pink, but it changed nothing. People do not enjoy my art any more. Get over it. I'm done painting. A real artist ought to know when it's time to get off the stage. And this is that very moment. I gave people everything that I could, but I run out of ideas and I'm not going to push myself, because you want to earn money"

"And what are you going to do?"

"I..." she hesitated

"You have nothing! Only paintings. If you leave, you're over" Bella stated "You're nobody without them!" her voice was full of venom At that Ronnie stood up. She smiled at the woman and then at Jason, who seemed to be afraid to interfere in their little argument. "You're right. I'm nobody without paintings. So, it's probably the high time I changed it" she said and left the office ____________ Ellie had been working on improving Ronnie's confidence since the very beginning. On the one hand the girl was introverted and sensitive, but on the other she was full of energy and creativity. That combination astounded Ellie. Even though it wasn't easy, after those 3 years that passed, she managed to unblock the girl. However, there were still those moments when Ronnie got insecure and that's heartbreaking.

“Maybe I was never meant to be a painter” the girl implied as she was talking with Ellie on Skype

“Nonsense. You’re a great painter and you created a lot of wonderful works. It’ll always be a part of you, but if you don’t feel like painting any more you don’t have to”

“Bella sent me an e-mail what consequences my quitting will have”

“Which are?”

“If I terminate a contract I’ll have to pay quite a lot of money”

“This is a typical ploy”

“I know, but…”

“Look, our finance is stable. You don’t need to worry about the money. You can do it”

“And I’ll just sit at home and be your dependent? I don’t think so”

“I knew you’re going to bring it up again” Ellie shook her head “We’ll talk about it, when I come back. By the way, you remember that you’re going to the symposium with me?”

Ronnie did remember. It was going to be another dull meeting during which she would not talk with anyone, cause she’s just not like them. She didn’t like going there, but was doing it for Ellie. However, the girl failed to understand why the hell the psychiatrist wanted her to be there.

“I do, but maybe you should go there alone?”

“Why?”

“You know, those hair...”

“It’s not that bad”

“Red. My hair is fucking red. And ‘bad’ doesn’t describe it any more”

“Don’t be so dramatic. It’s only hair after all”

“El, I look like a forest fairy”

The psychiatrist burst into laughter

“Yeah. Sure. Laugh at me” Ronnie huffed

“You look stunning. I would say fairy-like” she chuckled

“It’s not funny”

“You sure? Cause I think it is”

Ronnie rolled her eyes

“I’m serious you look good. Nobody will care. And even if they do, I’ll be right there and nobody will dare to say anything”

“Ellie the bad-ass?” Ronnie laughed

“No bad-ass. Just the boss” she shrugged smirking

“Being in charge is definitely your thing” the girl stated

“I suppose it is. So, I hope you’ll be here tomorrow”

“You say it as if I had a choice”

“You do have a choice”

“You’re going to give a speech and you promised to show me what a bad-ass you can be. How can I miss such a promising event?”

_____________________________

The symposium was supposed to be the ending of the one of many business trips – on which Ellie was. She was obviously the best psychiatrist and so she was asked to discuss the topic of delusion of grandeur – in which she was an expert.

It definitely wasn’t the first time she had to make such a speech, though she didn’t really like it. After all, instead of doing it, she could focus on her work or spend some time at home with Ronnie.

That’s probably one of the reasons why she wanted the girl to be there. The second was that she hated all that fancy parties – or more precisely the people there. And being there with Ronnie she could avoid some dull and not desired talks.

Work and education had always be the Most important things for her. She worked hard to succeed and had never even thought thought that some day it wouldn’t matter that much. But there she was – in her hotel room waiting with anticipation not for the symposium – as she used to do – but for Ronnie to arrive.

Though, the girl’s flight was delayed. Due to that fact they’re supposed to meet at the symposium. Ronnie hated such situations. In the aspect of having things under control they were both similar – everything had to be planned and go according to the plan. In other circumstances they’re pissed off. And so, as Ronnie finally arrived she was, basically, on the edge. Her patience and inner peace were already overexerted, so when things complicated even more she exploded.

“I’m sorry” a slim brunette dressed in some elegant clothes came to her

“Yes?” the girl tried to sound polite despite being nervous

“Not to be rude, but I think you may have mistook the places” she affirmed

“I’m afraid I don’t understand”

“You don’t look like someone with a doctor’s degree”

Ronnie frowned and took a few steps back. Then she took a deep breath, cause internally she had already punched the woman right in her face.

“Not to be rude, but shouldn’t you mind your own business?” she responded calmly

“I’m only saying that’s a fancy place and the meeting is for the doctors with degree in psychiatry”

“I’m not going to prove you my point. Neither do I intend to duel with you, as I don’t have a habit of attacking defenceless” with that Ronnie turned back only to face her girlfriend

Ellie was standing there with her arms crossed.

“Doctor Staple” the woman began pleadingly “I was just trying to explain that this meeting requires some standards and it’s not the right place for her”

Ronnie wasn’t sure what to do – whether she ought to say anything more and simply put the woman in her place or not. Ellie’s face remained unreadable. She glanced at the woman, then back at Ronnie.

“Indeed, Miss Levine, this meeting, place and in general work requires some certain standards and abilities that you’re apparently lacking” the psychiatrist attested dryly

Ronnie’s eyes widened. She looked at Ellie surprised – she definitely hadn’t expected her to act like that

“Well, miss” she addressed Ronnie “I bet your place may be already taken, as you’re late, so I’m afraid you’ll have to sit down next to me”

The girl smiled at Ellie’s professional tone

“I bet I’ll have to make do with it”

“I suppose” Ellie’s smile came back as Ronnie came closer to her “So, how was your flight, baby?” she asked loud enough for Miss Levine to hear

The woman’s eyes widened as she learnt with whom she was just talking. And it only made Ronnie laugh at how ridiculous and stupid people could be sometimes.

“I didn’t know you can be that bossy” the girl chuckled as they entered the building

“Do you think I overreacted?”

“No. It was… well, it was funny” she laughed “For me at least. Cause the poor woman was probably at the edge of having a heart attack”

“It’s only her fault. Nobody gets to mess with my girlfriend. Definitely, not someone with inflated ego, that’s not really compatible with their intellect”

Ronnie smiled fondly looking at the psychiatrist. They’re together for a few years, but it still amazed her how protective and combative Ellie became when it’s coming to defending her. But she could act the same and when it was about standing up for Staple, Ronnie didn’t shy away from resorting to violence, which she proved on a few occasions. In the girl’s case it was rather reasoned – since she cut herself off from her mother she had nobody, but Ellie. However, even though Staple did have a loving family none of them could compare to Ronnie. She was the best that had ever happened to Ellie and it was a natural instinct – to protect what was the most precious to her. And Ronnie became, literally, the world to her.

Even during her speech, the woman wasn’t looking at anybody, but the girl. And at one point she needed to take a break, cause when her eyes met Ronnie’s she got too distracted to continue.

“Will you tell me what’s your secret?” the girl beamed when Ellie came back to her seat right next to her

“My secret?”

“Yeah. How do you know that much?”

“I don’t” she smiled

“You do. That was great. Really. You did great”

“Thank you”

“By the way, do you feel like going for a walk later? I’ve something to tell you”

Ellie looked at her questioningly

“Actually, I feel like going for a walk now” the psychiatrist said

“But it’s not the end yet…”

“So what?”

“I thought you want to stay till the end…”

“I intended to, but now I’m way too curious what you’re going to tell me”

Ronnie only shook her head chuckling, as Ellie led her to the exit.

“So? What is it?” the psychiatrist asked when they were outside

“Well, I decided that I’m going to go back to the university”

Ellie stopped and looked at the girl. She wasn’t surprised – they simply didn’t discuss how Ronnie had to take a break form the university, because of the treatment and then didn’t continue.

“What? You think it’s a bad idea?” Ronnie asked

“No. This is a great idea. I mean as long as you want it I’m going to support you”

“I don’t know yet. I would like to do something that may affect people’s life. Though there’s nothing I’m good at, so it may be hard to find something suitable. But I can always try”

“Nonsense. You’re good at everything”

“Yeah. Sure. But still there’s no studies for me”

“Did you think about psychology?”

“Psychology?”

“Yes. You would be a good psychologist. You’re a good listener and people tend to trust you”

“I… Well, do you think I can?”

“Of course, you can. It’s all up to you”

“O-okay”

“You know?”

“Yes?”

“I’m so fucking proud of you” she cupped Ronnie’s cheeks

“Because I’m going to study?”

“No! Because you’re a fighter. You defeated your insecurities and put that stupid bitch in her place”

“Well, I guess I have a good master”

At that Ellie smiled fondly and leaned in to kiss the girl.   

[fuckyeahexofics]

happy 10k post!!!

we’re happy to announce THIS post is our 10,000th post (and we’re almost at 10k followers too)! we couldn’t have done it without you guys and so as a love letter here are the admin’s favorite 10k+ fics:

I have a lot of favorite fics but after thinking about it, I realised that it always came back to (after a while) you learn (Junmyeon/Baekhyun, NC-17). This fic doesn’t need any introduction anymore, everyone knows it. It’s so beautifully written, I’m in love with the way things evolve and blossom into this amazingly realistic relationship, with ups and downs. Junmyeon’s insecurities and struggles are so well described and you can just feel his emotions. Baekhyun is so precious too and I love his character, so strong yet so vulnerable. I just don’t have enough words to describe how much I love this fic and how thankful I am of curledupkitten for bringing this piece of art to life. They blessed us with such amazing works and they deserve all the recognition we can give them!

-ana

Like the other admins, I too have A LOT of favorite fics, so picking one is truly difficult.. But, It Had To Be You (Baekhyun/Chanyeol, R), would be one of my top choices, the pacing of the story flows really well. I love flowergirl and would definitely recommend her to new eris, all her stories are easy to read, not overly complicated and 100% enjoyable. Another favorite of mine would be eventually (i fall into you) (Kyungsoo/Jongin, NC-17), jjokkomi is an amazing writer, I’ve been reading her stories since her AFF/ LJ days and her stories never disappoints. For the right dose of angst, I would also recommend Soulbinder (Jongin/Sehun, NC-17) by Hyperionova The improvements she’s made since her AFF days is notable and I love the way she sets up the story, the character development in all her stories is amazing. Please show these authors some love and I’m looking forward to our next FY!EF milestone!

-cat

Thank you guys so much for letting us reach this crazy milestone! 10k posts!! The fic that’s closest to my heart is in the territory of the dragon king (Baekhyun/Kyungsoo, R) but since I’ve talked about that fic before let me rant about Phoenix (multiple pairings, NC-17). It’s a really long story but such a great ot12 fic that has stayed with me through my three years in this fandom. unniebee is my role model for writing because I can only hope to be as good as her at setting creation, character development, you name it. You’re rooting for the characters the entire time, there’s such a wonderful setup and pacing for this scifi story... *kisses fingers* amazing. I also recently reread this one so it’s totally worth a read too A Prince and his Guard (Kris/Kyungsoo, royalty!au, R). finally, what’s a personal post without self-promotion? jk jk but I’m super proud of my work just give me a reason (just a little bit's enough) (Luhan/Chanyeol, NC-17), I hope you guys can give it a chance <3.

-jen

I’m really touched that we reached 10K in our posts, which are mostly a product of all the admins' work through the years. A BIG thank you to our followers who keep supporting us and interacting with us, thus making this possible! As for my favorite fic, I keep Unbreakable (Baekhyun/Kyungsoo, NC-17) [need to join community to read] very close to my heart. It touches issues of identity, representation and public exposure that just... move something in me. Another story that I really love is also by jumpthisship, Press Start to Play  (Chanyeol/Kyungsoo), which has a very dark underlayer to its plot and characters, dealing again in themes of identity and what you believe in vs what you are forced to do. That’s it!

-niki

WE LOVE YOU ALL! thank you for your support uwu

[agirlinhell]

Just in case y’all missed it or didn’t look at Clementine’s updated bio, here are a few things you need to know that are a distinct and unique part of my portrayal of her that I DO NOT want anyone stealing! Beware of spoilers and mature themes and post length! If you see anyone stealing these headcanons, please IM me.

-Clementine is an eclectic witch with an intrigue for the occult and all things magical. She takes elements from African Witchcraft, Animism, Art Witchcraft, Astrology Witchcraft, Crystal Witchcraft, Dianic Witchcraft, Divination, Elemental Witchcraft, Kemeticism, Floral Witchcraft, Green Witchcraft, Hearth / Kitchen Witchcraft, Hellenism, Lunar Witchcraft, Musical Witchcraft, Sea / Water Witchcraft and Hoodoo to make her own type of magic.

-Clementine is demibiromantic and demibisexual - most times she has no preference between men and women, but sometimes this fluctuates in preferences, i.e sometimes she prefers the company of males over females and vice versa.

-When she was younger, from ages eight to eleven, she would start to draw vent art, especially after the incident at the St. John’s Dairy - and often times this consisted of rather dark imagery. She stopped at age twelve.

-Clementine is racially ambiguous. She identifies as Black / African-American, but it is possible that she may be descended from other none-African races further back in the family tree, though this is debatable. Regardless, Clementine does not know her true heritage nor is it likely she ever will, and it’s not like she can take a DNA test. However, regardless of belief, it's highly unlikely that Clementine will ever know her true heritage, and as such, she identifies as Black / African-American, even if there is the possibility of her being mixed.

-Clementine identifies as Cisgender Female / Demigirl so thus she uses she/her/ and they/them pronouns. She’s still experimenting with her gender identity and discovering herself. 

-Clementine is very androgynous, especially in her youth during the events of Season Two. Many individuals at Howe’s thought she was a boy.

-In her default verse, Clementine is eighteen, as it is set a few months after the events of The Final Season.

-Clementine is a proud Scorpio - and a Scorpio Queen at that.

-In her default verse, Clementine is leader and Headmistress of Ericson’s Boarding School For Troubled Youth, to which it is later renamed The Enlightenment - Aasim is the one who came up with the name because the previous suggestions that Violet gave out were considered quite informal but Clementine and Violet sometimes call the school the name they chose as a private joke.

-The Enlightenment is not only a settlement in it’s own right, but it also doubles as a sanctuary for the lost and the refugees from the wars outside of their borders and an actual school in the apocalypse. The settlement becomes formidable and renown for it’s neutrality and safe environment, and survivors from more established communities send their children to learn there.

-Clem was raised in a mild Christian household before the outbreak; she was an agnostic during the events of Season Two to Season Three: A New Frontier, and in present time, she is Pantheistic and a believer of the Greek Pantheon but will occasionally pray to and brings offerings to Egyptian gods such as Bastet and Sekhmet. She mostly prays and brings offerings to Hecate, Persephone, Aphrodite, Athena and Artemis, but will also pray to Apollo, Demeter, Dionysus, Hermes, Hestia, Harmonia, Nemesis, the Muses and the Charites. Yet her patron goddess that she prays to most will always be Hecate, the goddess of crossroads, entrance-ways, light, the night, the moon, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, sorcery and necromancy. Despite all this, she is very open minded to other religions and faiths, and even those who don’t have a faith.

-She believes in past lives and reincarnation, and that there is life on other planets.

-Honestly, at this point, after seeing humans literally rise from the dead and start devouring people, she’ll most likely believe in anything considered “occult”, “mystical” or “magical”.

-She speaks English (mother tongue), Spanish (intermediate, taught by the Garcia family), French (beginner, self taught, Louis teaches her a bit as well), American Sign Language (in a verse where Louis loses his tongue, self taught, intermediate, post-The Final Season), Latin (self taught, beginner, post-The Final Season), and Korean (beginner, taught by James, post-The Final Season) in default. She hopes she can learn more languages in the future, because of just how essential it is for communication in the apocalypse.

-Clementine has up to the middle of her calf on her left leg amputated by AJ after she was bit by a walker - often uses crutches to move around, but this advances to using a wheelchair or riding on her mare, Epona, when she wants to speed up her pace, and this evolves into a wooden foot and then a prosthetic foot via trade with other settlements.

-What is truly concerning, however, is her mental health: Clementine is psychologically damaged. Depressive disorder, PTSD, Anxiety, abandonment issues, suffers with hallucinatory episodes from time to time, she is an insomniac. Survivor's guilt. Self-loathing tendencies. Sociopathic tendencies. Suicidal tendencies. Possible messiah complex. She has the possibility of becoming an addict to drugs or alcohol if she is not careful and has suffered from substance abuse after her exile from The New Frontier whilst in Prescott at a young age. She could potentially have a "hero complex," with her inherent desire to help those around her, despite being unable to help herself, and having a compulsion to make the world right. She dislikes her reality which is mostly portrayed as polluted, dull and disheartening, full of the dead walking among the living, human trafficking, anarchy and homelessness, and struggles to cope with everyday life but it has improved post-The Final Season. 

-Clementine's lived in borderline poverty and homelessness for most of her young life and she has faced the possibility of prostitution at a very young age in Prescott in order to survive and this obviously leads her to having trust issues. Clementine was for the most part, lonely, and did not have friends or family, as everyone else had either betrayed her or died.

-She has heightened senses. 

-Clementine also has a deep fear of illness. She lived for a very long time in the wilderness with the groups she’s been with, especially in Larry’s case and his frequent heart attacks to the point where it indirectly lead to his own death by Kenny’s hands and then lived on the streets of Prescott and received very minimal medical care, for this, she can be absurdly clean to the point it’s a little jarring. Even a simple cold can make her worry as she had no way to provide for herself if ill, it reminds her of the extreme situations she endured. 

-She suffers in silence as a survivor of sexual abuse - she has never told anyone of her experiences. 

-She's self harmed and attempted suicide on multiple occasions in her past, both at a very young age. She hasn’t done either of these things since she was twelve years old.

-Clem still dreams of Lee and her loved ones and talks to them as if they were still there with her. 

-While Clementine is not completely cured of her depression and her mental illnesses, it is also noticeable that she is no longer suffering from it as much as she was before, and some of her mental health is under her control.

-Clem worked as a Former Supply Runner, Patroller, Hunter, Medic and Fighter for The New Frontier.

-She was a Former Spy, Beggar, Thief, Arsonist and Child Mercenary For Hire and has been a Bar Owner and a Businesswoman of many trades - almost that of a Gang Leader in Prescott - all at a young age.

-Clementine ends up taking Tennessee and Willy under her wing and thinks of them almost the same way as she would AJ - her younger brothers or her sons - it’s complicated, but she loves them very much.

-After the events of The Final Season, Tenn shows up quite often in her room at night because he cannot sleep due to the recent trauma he’s endured and asks her for advice or alternatively, to sing him to sleep. She gladly does so. 

-Clementine’s maternal grandmother was a Voodoo practitioner. Clem can still remember her, but only vaguely. Her grandmother had intended on teaching her granddaughter Voodoo but the outbreak hit before she could.

-Post-The Final Season, Clementine and the group takes care of nine stray cats who she’s named Luna, Hazel, Sol, Serena, Rai, Brynjar, Oreo, Pepper, and Stella. She and AJ take care of a little box turtle that they’ve named Franklin. Three stray, friendly foxes also make their way around the school, a white fox, a black fox, and a red fox, to which Clementine and the group began naming Aurora, Agni and Aenar. Determinantly, Clementine has her own horse that she stole from the Delta and named it Epona after the mare began taking a liking to the girl. Clementine rides her often whenever she feels stressed and they share a great bond.

-Clementine’s full name is Clementine Maria Jasmine Cree, but will use the surname Everett in honor of her protector and adoptive father figure. “Clementine” is “Mercy” in Latin, “Maria” is the Latinized form of “Mary” whom is a respected figure in many religions - notably Christianity and Islam - whom is the mother of the savior of the world; it has several different meanings: “sea of bitterness”, “sea of sorrow”, “rebellion”, “wished-for-child” and “mistress or lady of the sea.”, “Jasmine” is a Persian word meaning “Gift from God” or “God’s Gift” and it is also named after the Jasmine flower, which holds significant cultural, symbolic and religious significance in countries like India, Hawaii, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Syria, Thailand and the United States. It symbolizes motherhood, love, respect, beauty, sensuality, appreciation, good luck, purity, and romance. “Cree” means “Highly Spirited”. “Everett” - a surname that Clementine takes on as a momentum to her mentor, Lee Everett, comes from the Old English word eoforheard which means “brave as a wild boar”.

-She is directly descended from a Voodoo Queen in New Orleans, she also has ancestral ties to the Maroons and many of her ancestors were bokor or caplata, meaning male and female Vodou witches. Many of her recent ancestors were skilled in music. Her relations tie back to Ancient Egypt and other great African empires, many of them were explorers, travelers and sailors, whilst others were horsemen and feared archers and warriors. Clementine has no knowledge of any of this, nor is it likely she ever will discover this revelation.

-Post-The Final Season, Clementine lets her hair grow out a little longer. She lets her hair loose, especially when the colder seasons pass through as it covers her neck and just past her shoulderblades. When styling her hair, she often chooses protective styles in traditional African styles such as Afro Puffs, Bantu Knots, braids, and cornrows.

-As an eclectic witch, she likes using glyphs, sigils, runes, colored candles, metals, herbs, oils, crystals, special stones, rocks, seashells, animal skulls, flowers and plants to use in her spells and to decorate her room. She has a grimoire that she write her past in, the history of magic and how she initiated, an appendix of crystals, herbs, plants and trees, spells, ingredients, prayers, incantations, rituals, holidays, zodiacs, planets and celestial bodies, gods/goddesses/deities, their powers and how to worship them, the planes of existence, animals, mythical creatures, demonology, dragonlore, necromancy, the dark arts, books to use as references, colors, altars, recipes while cooking / baking in spells, magical objects, spiritualism, mythologies of several cultures around the world, symbols, sigils, the phases of the moon, flower language from the Victorian Era and fan language. Luckily, the school is quite large and the library is being rebuilt and books are generously donated by other settlements through trade. Clementine’s knowledge skyrockets in adulthood, quite impressive for a girl who had once been in first grade.

-In the colder seasons, such as autumn and winter, she tends to wear more to clothing with furs on and inside them if she manages to acquire them. Some of the outfits she wears consists of her own homemade outfits of animal furs she had skinned herself. Clementine wears an Omega necklace that Louis gives her, symbolizing the end of something. In current plots, she wears a opal crystal pendant necklace around her neck, hanging down to about her chest as a gift from The Commonwealth; it’s her birthstone and she believes it could grant her luck among other things. She often makes her friends and family fur cloaks to keep them warm.

-She begins taking an intrigue in playing musical instruments, notably the piano, but has started playing the flute, the violin and the harp. Clem is mostly focused on learning her piano lessons as of now, though.

[auroral-melody]

Why do you ship Lucifer/Dream ? I'm just curious.

NONNY I LOVE YOU FOR GIVING ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO JUST YELL ABOUT THEM

As with most of the convoluted, context-less things I post (e.g., the full-on rewritten characterization of Beelzebub in Good Omens), it started with a simple conversation between myself, @procrastinatingbookworm​, and @aqueeraphale​…and ended up in a hence unwritten fanfic that maybe we’ll get around to eventually.

Put it this way: self-written fanfiction is the answer to why I ship them. I need to actually write it on a page for y’all. I’m not really going to go into ~Oh, My Ship Is Canon~ because it’s clearly not. I’ll point out a few things in canon I want to talk about, but this isn’t a “I ship them because [] and [] in canon” it’s a “I ship them because I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT STORIES I WROTE/MY FRIENDS WROTE”.

So how did this happen?

I’m pretty sure it started with something along the lines of generally agreeing Dream being bi, on the basis of Lucifer Pretty. Which evolved into an, “oh, that’s fun! let’s write it” RP, along with some doodles (back in May 2018. My art has improved since, and my character design thoughts, but)

Which turned into the concept that basically goes as follows

- Morpheus lonely and depressed- Death essentially brings him to Lux, to definitely set him up with Luci bc hey obvs they’re both bi disasters. Maybe see what happens- Morpheus voice I don’t dance- Death voice Okay I’m lesbian but he’s being nice and offering so I’ll dance with Luci instead- Morpheus voice [shocked pikachu meme]

Basically, it boils down to the fact that Morpheus was a very…lonely and sad person and tends to make enemies easily. Lucifer clearly doesn’t hate him, or Dream would probably be dead in a ditch, but he’s obviously engaged in their relationship as friendly rivals. Lucifer has just left Hell, and is kinda not knowing what to do with himself. He’s looking for something new and different.

They’re both incredibly touchstarved/affection-starved. Morpheus intentionally isolates himself from his friends and family, not seeking out friends, while Lucifer has spent the last billions of years completely alone in Hell.

So the setup here works pretty well. Death wants to help her brother, Lucifer is like, the one person who isn’t pissed at him, Morpheus Sad.

From then on is essentially just what we’ve written. They end up…somewhat dependent on one another for comfort because they just aren’t good at investing in any other relationships. And Death and Lucifer become more friendly.

Morpheus and Luci’s relationship is…tumultuous at best. They care for each other, but they cling so much to the One Thing they like at the moment. It’s not exactly the best thing. So the fact that Dream transformed into Daniel was pretty awful for everyone involved.

This AU fits in with the Lucifer continuity mostly based on Lucifer taking place shortly after Sandman ends. Dream is not often brought up, but allow me to go through some places where he is, and how I interpret them in context of the AU.

Obviously, this will have some spoilers. Also light NSFW art.

Lucifer (2000), issue #8.

[Image Description: Four panels of the Lucifer comic. The first is a backdrop, with Lucifer’s text saying, “But to Dream of the Endless, I imagine it would look like poaching, pure and simple. And since he’s the gamewarden he wouldn’t like that at all.” The second panel shows him holding a sword over a goddess’s son. The goddess, Izanami-no-Mikoto, looks on. She is made of stone. He says, “He’ll do it. I won’t even need to compel him. If I speak his name, he’ll come, and see what you’ve made here. So it’s your call, Queen of Death. Heads I win, and tails -- tails it all comes down.” The third panel shows the goddess holding up a hand to stop him. The fourth, the kneeling son says, “She offers atonement, Lucifer Morningstar. She offers your wings.” End description.]

In the AU, it makes a lot of sense that Lucifer would be able to easily summon Dream of the Endless with a single word. “He’ll do it. I won’t even need to compel him” is an interesting phrase. The absolute certainty in Dream’s actions – even if this is after Morpheus’s transformation (which I’m not sure of), Lucifer characterizes Dream as though he knows him well.

Oof. Lucifer: Nirvana.

[Image description: A watercolor cream and purple comic panel. In the distance, there is a boat. From the boat, Dream of the Endless says, “Bearing in mind our previous meetings, Lucifer Morningstar, might I suggest a bargain? I will ask no favors if you will offer me no gifts.” End description.]

This is the only conversation I recall in Lucifer or Sandman in which Daniel!Dream and Lucifer speak to one another. Yet Dream says,

“Bearing in mind our previous meetings, Lucifer Morningstar, might I suggest a bargain? I will ask no favors if you offer me no gifts.”

In the AU, their relationship soon after Dream becomes this version is tentative. Hostile at worst. They might be trying to figure out what comes next.

[@procrastinatingbookworm​ and I did write a fic on this! Find it here!]

Either way, they’ve talked before.

[Image description: A close picture, misty, cream and purple, watercolor, of a small boat, silhouetted. Dream’s silhouette is on the right, along with a small bird perched on the end of the boat. Lucifer is sitting, lounging on the left side of the boat. Lucifer says, “The situation isn’t likely to call for either. Your predecessor preferred a corkscrew to a stiletto. What’s your position?” End description.]

How did they end up on a boat in the middle of nowhere? Lucifer looks supremely comfortable, lounging, completely trusting that Dream offers him no harm. They’re standing, very awkwardly, on opposite sides of the boat.

Lucifer is making a metaphor here, regarding how Morpheus was not very to-the-point. He knew how Morpheus worked, how he thought. He’s asking in an almost affronting way: “What’s your position?” that could be interpreted as curious or as a thinly veiled hostility.

[Image description: A watercolor of Dream’s profile, somewhat silhouetted. He has white hair. He says, ‘By all means let us be direct. Someone has used human dreamers to stage an assault on you. I assure you, this someone has attracted my attention, too. The matter will be dealt with.” End description.] 

Dream is taking this matter very seriously. It just seems that Morpheus may not have put as much attention into random attacks, but Dream is very involved. In the AU, this is kind of because Dream is keeping an eye out for Lucifer.

This conversation just hints, to me, of much more backstory between them.

They’ve been trying to bargain, offering favors or gifts to one another – something they don’t really have a good reason to do in the comics, except maybe to secure an alliance, but that feels…?? Well, considering the rest of the conversation…

[Image description: two panels, watercolor. The left is Lucifer’s face, and he says, “Actually I intend to deal with it myself. It would be unfortunate if our investigations hampered each other.” The right panel is of Dream, with a hand on his waist, looking down. He says, “I am interpreting that statement as a threat. Very well. This touches profoundly on my interests, but you are the injured party. Your rights are paramount.” End description.]

Lucifer is certainly difficult to make an alliance with. (Tangent, but I love this issue’s art style.) Dream still seems surprised – “Very well.” He is respecting Lucifer’s somewhat “bugger off” statement.

[Image description: A watercolor landscape shot of Lucifer on the left, with black wings spread, and Dream on the right, turned away from both the camera and Lucifer. Dream is saying, “I will conduct my own inquiries, along avenues that will not intersect with your own. Whatever I discover I will pass on to you. Via an intermediary, of course.” Lucifer replies, “As you like. But somewhere discreet. No white ravens.” He is referencing the bird also present but off-panel. End description.]

At this point, Dream turns mostly away from him. In my eyes, I see this as hurt/deflecting, supported by the fact that he says he will pass information via an intermediary – unnecessary, it feels, considering they’ve been talking, they’ve had multiple conversations before...it’s very sudden. Feels like it was based off of what Lucifer said. Which was a threat, but still, Dream knows how to not cross boundaries and get himself killed from a threat.

Lucifer doesn’t seem to have a strong opinion on this, or rather, he says, “As you like.” Letting Dream do whatever.

I don’t really have much to say on that part. It’s just a really fascinating conversation.

The Sandman (1989) Issue 72:

[Image description: Mazikeen and Lucifer sitting on what looks like a bench or stone beside one another. Mazikeen is to the left. She has an arm around Lucifer’s shoulders. Lucifer has his hands steepled in front of his face and his expression is unreadable, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. Mazikeen is almost leaning on him. She is wearing a red dress with no sleeves. Lucifer is wearing a blue suit. Both have curled hair, and Mazikeen is not wearing a mask. Overlaid, there is text from Matthew the raven, talking about Morpheus’s death. Matthew says, “I mean, Despair may be the thing that comes after hope, but there’s still hope. Right? When there’s no hope you might as well be dead. What’s in my heart?” End description.]

I find this significant in the AU because, firstly, it’s a point where Mazikeen shows affection to Lucifer. She has her arm around him. It feels...comforting, to me. Secondly, it’s the one panel of Lucifer I can find in the Wake -- and it’s when Matthew is talking about how he cares about Dream, and he’s figuring out his relationship with this new Dream.

Overall, Lucifer clearly respects Dream as just...another individual. He attends his funeral. He speaks with him multiple times.

In our AU, he and Dream are happily married, and their relationship post-Morpheus is settled, loving, happy. Because I love happy endings!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed reading!! Feel free to shoot me a question about my thoughts on this AU. Because I have a LOT.

[hollowphobia-casual]

FRIENDSHIP IS MAGICAL VI:  THE AGE OF SUPER ULTIMATE CHRONICLES OF FRIENDSHIP ORIGINS ZERO

So with Tumblr bursting into flames and most of the artists I know and respect trying to abandon this ship like rats escaping the titanic, I felt it was best if I moved this from my usual December the 25th to... NOW, Because well I worry that many people on this might not be here by the time 17th passes and my eternal dying love to those I care about will be unheard and what kind of person would I be if I didn’t remind EVERY.SINGLE.ONE of my friends how important and special they were to be and what makes them fantastic, So yeah depending on the state of tumblr after Dec 17th this might be the last one, or I will just have to email all of you INDIVIDUALLY. @mistercrowbar CROWBAR! HEY! So, you’ve been on this friendship list since..., we have been friends, which is.., a really long time, like I honestly can not recall a day where we have not been friends and during all that time I can’t get over just how amazing you are! Like, Holy shit are you real? Cause I get to a point where, I think this woman can’t improve anymore, and then BAMB! You do! Like Jesus, I’m always just floored by what you put out, I said once before that I strive to be as good as you some day and that has not changed! But now it gets even harder, cause like, not only are you good at art, You go and pull this beautiful disaster out of your head, SAY HELLO TO FUCKING RYYBYN BITCHES! If there was a competition for some of the best DnD characters I have ever seen on paper, I’d vote for Ryybyn every-time, a literal joke character who evolved into one of the most emotional rollarcoasters I have ever seen, who made me DETERMINED, to either play a game with you (And I fucked that up) or a game of my own, just AH!, This character! Like, their design, their character art, THEIR STORIES! OH GOD DON’T GET ME START ON THOSE, CAUSE YOU BEAUTIFUL GENIUS! You took comics from your session and made a BOOK! That I want to buy! I WANT ONE, BUT CHRISTMAS SO, ARGH!  FUCK YOU SANTA! And!

And.. If you were not just fantastic enough already, incredible artist, attractive, funny, nerdy as all shit, super space wizard, DND and now.., now.. FUCKING HOME OWNER, like how, why, when, what! I know you moved into a house, like, Holy shit you moved into a house, but holy shit you OWN a house, it’s yours, you can paint dicks on the wall and no one can stop you! Your Independence it just, floors me, every-time, here I am questioning everything about myself and myself worth, and you go buy a house, and release two books IN THE SAME YEAR. I said how I wanted to follow in your footsteps, become as great as you, WELL APPARENTLY I NEED TO PICK UP MY GOD DAMN FEET CAUSE I’M TOO FUCKING SLOOOOW. I am SO grateful to meet someone terrifyingly amazing and best of yet, they think of me as their friend (For now) Just.., Please, don’t ever stop breaking down walls and plowing forward, you fantasticly insane woman you. @nightmargin So, what feels like, not that long ago we were chatting about Ralph and OCTs, as well as other kids who are incredibly prone to accidents and damages and now, well, YOU HAVE A FUCKING HIT GAME THAT I CAN’T LOOK LEFT OR RIGHT WITHOUT SEEING IT’S LIKE BOOM! Go to MCM OneShot Cosplayers, Look at youtube videos either seeing your characters in the background or I’m seeing people playing your game! I went on a Discord chat and I saw someone sporting a Oneshot icon. I’m just, so, happy and proud and amazed by the how far you have come, it’s just, you were always a talented person, your comics, story and artstyle was fucking fantastical, I was soaked into every second of it, wanting to learn more and more with each new picture and then, just to put the cheery on this cake, you did music, but not just any music REALLY GOOD MUSIC, I remember going to your gallery on DevianrtArt just to listen to a song over and over cause it was so good, like, damn and now, you are like, HUGE, it’s insane, like seriously, someone took time to make a 3D model of your character, holy shit. I’m lucky to get fanart, but what this is, I just, my friend is amazing person, and I couldn’t be more happy for her if I tried, you should be proud of yourself if you are not, take time and just let the well earned reward sink in, your hard work has defiantly paid off. @blueskyesartic Okay, so like, You are amazing, I dunno if I’ve ever said it enough, but, you just are, there is nothing about you that I’m not awed by, you are just, so fantastic in my eyes, I dunno if that's putting you on a pedestal or not, but fuck it, this is my sappy list so I say what I want! Your art is beautiful, you yourself are just one of the most fun people I have had the pleasure to talk to and I miss it so damn much, are trivial pointless conversations that spiraled endlessly into jokes and deep discussions, are critical thinking on story telling and art in general, it was amazing, but.., either you are never alone or I’m not and, I hate that, I’ve missed you so much it sucks, like.., I have these great memories of us talking, drawing and spending time together, these perfect moments in time that I will cherish to the end of my days, cause I know you are going to become something, I can feel it, but I might end up left behind. I just wish I could spend more time, talking, chatting and just being with you, you are amazing and I’d love to run on to you on a stage at a convention, like we joked about, but no matter what happens, you need to keep being brilliant, every second of every day, you have to continue, cause you are great and everyone knows it. @taplaos HOLY SHIT HAVE YOU SEEN THE SHIT THEY CAN MAKE, IT’S FANTASTIC, LIKE, HOW DAMN!  Everyday I feel like I’m seeing new and more amazing designs for T-shirts created by you and it’s just like, wait, this is tappy right, maker of wonkey eye, how when, OH MY GOD, Your art was always so bright and colourful but, damn you’ve improved so much I feel like I need to stop and just soak in how much you’ve improved, cause damn, can I just say damn. I am so proud of how far you have come and I can’t wait to see what fantastic designs you come out with next, you are amazing Tappy, don’t let anyone ever tell you other wise! @dansome0203 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, GOD DAMIT, I have both talked to you a lot this year, but also not enough, or maybe I have, or maybe I haven’t, I dunno, but god dammit I wanna talk to you more, but you are hardly online when I am it’s so GAH! You are just, that amazing my friend that you are driving me insane! URGH, I feel terrible there is like, a shitton of things I wanna do for you, draw your characters being namely one, but I haven’t had time and just, URGH. But more importantly, the reason I wanna do all these things is just cause, you are fantastic, and I don’t just mean the way you draw boobs (mostly), you are such a kind fun person with so much great creative energy I just wanna, get inside your head, I have such mixed feelings on one side I really wanted to be in that DND game you started, but it’s also just a delight seeing the stuff that comes out of it, the curiosity building from it, that funny ass video you shared with us. Everyday I think I’ve seen the limits to your skill, charm and wit, then some how you change everything with new ways of being all that and more, it’s a tad exhausting. All I can really say that this year has been fantastic in what time we have spent together and I just want to spend more, I can’t wait for the next opportunity I’ll get to do so, maybe I should try asking you into a call or something, I dunno, please just, keep being you and keep being fantastic. @flunafloon & @spesiria & @spookydrawsI I didn’t wanna do this, but... I’m sorry, you guy are fantastic people I love your work, I love each one of you but I just.., I struggle to keep up to date with my own life let alone my friends, but three were such big important parts of me it feels.., no I feel like a shit for basically knowing nothing about what has happened, I use to message you each frequently, keeping up to date on your art, your lives and now.. Fuck I hardly even see you on my dash and I just, fuck, I can’t.., You are all amazing people, I should of been a better friend, I want to say I will be but it’s getting harder and harder and I don’t want to disappoint you, I respect and love the three of you too much for that, I’m sorry for being such a useless shit, you guys, are fantastic and leagues above me. @doodlediddy MY FRIEND IS HAVING A BABY, MY FRIEND IS HAVING A BABY! LIKE, HOLY SHIT YOU HAVE ANOTHER PERSON GROWING INSIDE YOU, LIKE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, It’s beautiful, horrifying and just, I can’t believe that someone I know, someone I met on the internet, had close conversations with and more or less stopped me from doing something, VERY stupid, is going to be a parent, like, WHAT. While I am above the moon happy for you and your bundle of joy, I do know this means we probably aren’t going to chat as much, which hasn’t been that much as it is, which REALLY super sucks, I miss you, like, OH so much, I miss are chats, are discussion.., heh, I still remember when I stayed up super late just to send you Toradora, one video at a time, god, that was so funny and really bad for my sleep schedule actually. Still the best romcom ever. I really miss you, I’m so happy for you, I hope we get to talk again, love you, you big christian mamma. @lou0 There are many people I would attribute to me being here right now, from saving my life, to being a mentor and some just being shoulders to cry on, but none of them.., were the person I obsessed over.., wait let me rephrase that. When I started as good old Clock-workable, making steampunk rip offs of Unknown Peron’s Karl, you were some I admired, you were a kind, passionate and amazingly creative artist, AND HOLY SHIT MAH, SHE’S IN BRITAIN, I COULD POSSIBLY MEET THIS WONDERFUL PERSON. Sadly that never happened, and I’d openly admit I feel very intimidated talking to you, I dunno why, shame? Guilt? I feel like, I don’t belong, that I’m not good enough for you, that there are better people who deserve your attention that I do, despite just how, fun you are to be around and just how important of a person you are to me, so I admit it, it hurts, me seeing you down low like you are, I wanna pick you up, be the motivation you were to me, but I also have to accept that I can’t be, all I can do, is try to be a good friend and be there for you. You are, the most amazing, creative person I have ever known, I’ve wanted to Commission you for long, to collab with you, to have one of my characters drawn by you, hell just be noticed by you, cause you are just that important, I mean, I dunno what I am saying here exactly... You said you don’t see a point, but you to me, your are was the biggest point, it was bright, colourful, sexy, scary, amazing and just filled with so much character, everything you drew and draw has just so much life to it, I wanted to capture some of it and have it for my own. I dunno if what I am saying is meaning anything, but your art reflects you and to me, you are colourful, sexy, scary, amazing and just filled with so much character, every second has been delightful and if you will let me, I would love to continue to enjoy it more. @jabbage I find it funny how, no matter which minecraft server I joined, I never got as far in building a base, than I did on your server, as short lived as it was and despite no one ever joining it, I never joined a server where I got as far as I did on that server, like, I dunno how but there was something about it, maybe it was the fact that I really wanted to build that clock tower. I miss that, I hope you are well, you beautiful human being, It sucks, cause I know that, out of everyone, i feel like I spent time with you the least, which is stupid, cause all I can think of, when talking to you is good memories, which is like saying I stopped talking to you because you were too nice, which is dumb, the truth is i just got busier, and busier and it sucked. Cause I remember thinking how I really wanted to get o know you, cause you were a fun person, I’ll try to be better from now on, cause deserve it, you are a fantastic human being, smart and caring, not just trying to butter you up to make up for my.., terribleness, but I will try, to be better, for you. @shadowscarknight You fantastic mate and I know, it’s been hard, I’ve not been avoiding you, I really haven’t, but, it’s just hard you know? The way, that ended it probably wasn’t easy being you, I dunno if you even know why the two of us stopped talking to each other, hell I dunno why, but that isn’t your fault, specially after you commissioned me, which again, I happy you enjoyed it. You are a great guy, funny, witty, charming and your designs, fuck off they are that good, but you do come up with a lot of them, but then again you get inspiration and you do what you love, so no one can fault you on that, unless your making another ask blog that you won’t update, hehe. I promise to talk more, cause I’m so proud with how you are improving, cause just like, wow, every time I see you look away, it just gets better and better, I should really ask for some tips off of you, cause damn mate, your leaving me behind. I hope you don’t stop being fantastic mate, You are a joy the world can never do without. @totalobelisk I know where you hang out!... So it’s not excuse that we haven’t been talking as much, fuck mate I’m sorry, I don’t hate you or anything, no, fuck no, you are great, it’s me, I’m just.., fucking useless to be entirely honest, I’m terrible at communicating with people and I’m surprised you haven’t just unfollowed me from everything and cut all ties, cause, fuck, I’m just so.. I’m sorry, you are a fantastic guy and we’ve been friends for too long for me to neglect you like this, I’m so sorry, I hope I can start talking to you more to make up for it, or just hit me up sometime so we can chat, cause you deserve better from your friends. @velkro-bitch & @fivirr & @a-trashcan-in-a-corner Am I cheating by grouping you three together, yes, maybe... BUT I ALSO HARDLY GET TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU GUYS AND IT FUCKING SUCKS, CAUSE YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL LOVELY PEOPLE AND I WANNA SPEND AS MUCH TIME WITH EACH OR EVERYONE OF YOU! (Or maybe I’m just secretly trying for a four way polyamory) But Jesus fucked by a pogostick guys, how can you three come into my life, be amazing shits and then just leave me! You are all such wonderful, thoughtful and delightful human beings that every second with you felt like an eternity, I’m a naturally defensive person, I have a lot of barriers in place to keep myself emotionally safe, and all three of you tore those down! (your gonna have to pay for that) AH, And to make it worse, when you shmucks do show up it’s very late and I gotta go to bed, REVOLVE AROUND MEEE DAMMIT, I WANNA SPEND TIME WITH YOU GUYS, it’s so hard I love being with you all, but it’s so infuriatingly difficult, I feel like giving up half the time, but I also don’t want to cause I love you all so much, god you three drive me mad, but it’s what I enjoy about you guys and I hope we do get to spend more time together. @phantomdotexe I honestly do not know where I would be without you right now, for you it may seem like all you did was re-post my art, credit me and commission me, but you also introduced me into a large friendly community that I didn’t even think I had the right to be in, I was and still very much am the new kid to all this, but everyone you introduced me to accepted me with open arms, artists and writers whom I thought I’d never get the chance to speak to talk to me casually nearly everyday. It’s all thanks to you! You amazing person you, I know you beat yourself up, ALOT, when you really shouldn’t, you are so amazing, not just in your writing talents, but in your world building and characterization, but even then that isn’t there is all to you, you are.., the most, charismatic, funny, playful and down right enjoyable person to be around, you are infectious, you have touched so many people in so many ways that you manged to build a community of friends and fans who want to build upon your foundations, I dunno if I’m even speaking the right words now, haha.., But you are fantastic, so when you struggle we all want to help, we all want to see you grow as a person, as a writer and an artist, you brought so many wonderful people together, you should deserve to see how truly wonderful you are. @horrorjuice Speaking of people I don’t deserve to be friends with, I’m just.., fuck where do I start, well, I will say it’s not entirely my fault you are hardly ever on Discord and I don’t like Facebook, but Bubby, my bubby, I miss you! I miss your explantions, your ideas, you concepts, your worlds, your beautiful bubby brain like GAH, I remember our chats, are long wonderful chats where your dog would bark loudly, the beautiful horrible slobber monster that he was. I miss you Bubby, I really do, I wanna chat and talk like we use to, I wanna hear your beautiful amazing ideas and see your brilliant art work, god I miss you, but I hope you are well and that you are being just as fantastic and brilliant as the day we first met, you wonderful human being. @valbey-the-girl Fuck you, you lovable asshole! How dare you be such a wonderful insightful human being who has had my back for so long, I remember when we became roommates for University as a somewhat after thought, we hung out but we were not exactly ‘friends’, but now, I dunno how I could of survived with out you! You are a wonderful source of humor and opposed thinking that I enjoy, you agree and don’t always agree with me, which is the best sort of friend, someone who can challenge my values and viewpoints, but at the same time doesn’t belittle me..., mostly, you twat. I am so happy that we’ve stayed friends for as long as we have and that I invited you more into my world, with regular games of DnD and other video games, as you prove to be time and time again a great person I love to have at my side. I hope we get to hang out again person to person, because I miss you mate, talking on chat gets stale fast specially when your friend is as great as you. @whatever-i-feel-like-rebloging I struggle, so hard to understand us, that it hurts cause.., I want to be friends, but I just always feel like I’m being pushed away from you, and it hurts. I’ve spoken to many friends about the troubles we have had and many of them have said to drop you, but I don’t and I dunno why, maybe because, I’m scared? Or maybe cause I’m unsure how or, perhaps I’m just very hopeful? I remember a time where we’d talk all the time and I loved it, it was great, we never discussed or mentioned how we didn’t like each others thing, we joked, we flirted and it was fun.., but now, all we seem to do is give each other little comments and snap at one another and I hate it, I hate it more than anything I can imagine. I wanna be your friend again, I wanna laugh with you, joke with you but, I feel like I’m just being singled out and removed, that I am something of mock and ridicule, which I hate and I dunno what to do with myself or you anymore. I hate, disliking this, I just.., I just wish I had never liked you, because I feel like that was when everything went down hill, cause we use to be such good friends, but now, I feel like we are more, acquaintances.., it sucks. @grittysugar HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. That’s all... ... .. Okay okay, but fucking seriously, you went from some gal drawing redhead accident prone children flying goats and tall noodley men with green hair who probably shouldn’t be to fuck. TO DO FANTASTIC CREATIVE ANIMATIONS ON YOUTUBE, LIKE HOLY, GUM DROP SHIT, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA-, I wanna kiss you I’m so proud, like, GAH, I still can’t even put it into words, like it was..., uh ... .. . EIGHT YEARS AGO, that we were opponents in a tournament on the internet and now your, I’m so happy for you, and I SUCK cause I haven’t bought any of your merch yet... (but I will), And if I can I’d love to see you at a con so I can give you a big ass hug, but that might be another, I dunno, ten years. Also I’m a shit head and it’s occurred to me I have never asked for your Discord information, which now is probably high protected FU-, God I dunno, if you still count me as a friend, or even a blip on your radar, but I just wanna say, I’m happy and just, SO proud of you, I want you to keep growing as a person, an artist and just, be fantastic. @clauseart OH MY GOD HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR COMIC GOING! And shame on me for not staying in touch more cause holy shit, you are on fire, your colours, designs, panels it’s just, WOOF, it’s blowing me away, I’m so proud for you, every time I see you post a page, all I think about is how I need to catch up because my comics currently in the dust, while yours steams ahead. I honestly can not wait to see where things are going, and to see how you go with it, I may not be the best of people at times, but I’ll be damned, if I won’t try to follow along the best I can, cause you have only just begun and I’m so excited to see you be yourself and just wow everyone around you! OH and Please most some stuff from your DnD game! I’m curious about what you guys are up to these days, hehe. Be fantastic. @funktrash The girl was essentially my fan when I was a nobody is doing a webcomic better, quicker and more on time than me, AND IT’S GREAT, like, AH! I know, you beat yourself up, it’s part of who you are for such a long time but, you have to realise, YOU ARE AMAZING, you are fantastic! Like, seriously, you have a comic, your is beautiful and just, WHAT, I remember back when we made an rp group based on this thing! And now it’s something I can read and enjoy, and I’m enjoying it, seeing these characters whose stories I’ve only had the chance to glimpse at now brought to life with your beautiful colours and wonderful sense of humor, timing and pacing, it’s just, YES! I’m so amazed at you, you are fantastic, don’t ever tell yourself otherwise, cause you are a star, a bright burning beacon of awesome! @mortooncian-art FRIEND!... FUCK! Okay, so I’ve always known you existed forever and I’m always loved your work, I even followed your webcomic! Until it wasn’t a webcomic anymore, but sadly I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT YOU, expect that you are so funny, your art is fantastic and I’d love more than anything to get to know you more! Cause like, I see your art, these lovely illustrations filled with so much character and life, I just wanna do the same, (If I only wasn’t very busy) Like, I enjoyed your stuff so much that I regularly looked forward to going to twitter just to see what you posted, either a comment or art, cause it was the highlight of my day, and I HATE social media with a passion, but you made me really excited just to see your posts, and I know a person who can do that with just their art is probably twice as exciting as a person, and I really want to get to know you more! So I hope you keep being a wonderfully fantastic person, whom company I get to enjoy in the future. @sunshinedrago This woman, single handily got me back into watching shitty anime again, and I love her for it, God dammit you are such a fucking fun person to be around, despite the damage to my ear drums I do enjoy our conversations from nerding the fuck out, to tearing things apart. I may not always seem that happy at times, but I’m naturally a miserable person so you will have to forgive all the BS you went through with me, but god you are intoxicating in your positivity, the characters you make are enjoyable to playground with, the ideas you come up with are very surprisingly engaging and your commissions, equally detailed and time consuming, haha. Like Jen I dunno how I have lived with out you so far, you are such a conversational delight it makes me feel like I’m a teenager ago, howling loudly in laughter as I watch awkward as shit anime and actually enjoying my life, but whats great about you is not just the fun, it’s also the insightful and thoughtfulness to you we all grow attached to, you have a great way of handling peoples pain, that I have only seen in a few people, being to be compassionate, reasonable and always to get a chuckle at the right time, I dunno how you do it. But please don’t change, it be a travesty if you did. @tuz-ohtopia TALK TO ME MORE! Tuzoh, you are a very busy guy like.., stupidly busy the amount of work you put into your DnD sessions are stupidly amazing and the stories you have crafted are fantastic, all I want is to share in it more, to listen to how you work, you scheme and plan, your creative thoughts, everything. But you are busy, which is what both I love and infuriates me about you, you have such a driven determined work schedule it puts me to shame, I never wanna see you slow down, because I know you are doing something that is just, wonderful, but at the same time I wanna talk to you, get know you and build on our friendship, I feel like I’ve talked about you to more people then I have ever to you and it sucks, cause you are an awesome dude. Not trying to pity you and say just stop everything for me, I’d never want that, I’m just, so enthralled by your creativity that I wanna get to know the inner workings, maybe work with you. But no matter what happens please just keep doing what you are doing my friend, you are a delight and fantastic treasure, I can’t wait to see what you do. @knifetotheback WHERE ARE YOU! no seriously I mean it, you appear like, every now and again, but you are hardly ever around and it sucks, cause you are a fun wonderful person. You were always a delight to talk to and it sucks that we don’t get to chat as much, I hope you are alright and that you are still having fun with what you are doing right now, we miss you, I miss you. Keep being wonderful, where ever you are with whatever you are doing. @nickala OKAY, So, feelings, down in words,..., fuck this is hard, I dunno how to describe you, like shit, you are amazing, but beyond that, you aren’t just an amazing friend, you are a unique friend, a special friend, no wait, that sounds romantic, what I mean is.. I feel trapped so often, I hate it, my brain is flawed and wrong, I know I shouldn’t think like that, but I can’t help it, I speak and I make people mad, upset, annoyed or just.., I hate it, it’s the part of me I dislike the most, I just want to talk to people and say “HEY, you are beautiful, keep it up” But I can’t, but you, understand me, you help me so much with these thoughts and understanding the world in a way others could not and for that I will never not be thankful, but at the same time I feel shit, because, I know you are struggling, I wanna help so much, I wanna be there to make it easier, to help you through this rough patch, but I can’t I dunno what the right words to say are cause this isn’t a thing where one solution is the right solution.., but you have to realise you are amazing, your creativity is outstanding, the designs and creatures you create are far greater then anything I could ever come up with and I wish I could be on par with your skill in monster design and anatomy. You don’t have to compare yourself, to others cause you are already in a league others couldn’t even dream to reach, if only you could focus on that and draw strength from it, and I wish I could help you do that, but all I can say is that I will be here, the best I can, even if it’s terrible. @thelovelyghosty Is it possible to meet someone who makes you very calm and also incredibly nervous at the same time, YES IT’S YOU! I love you Jen, I am so happy that I get to have you as a player in my DnD games as well as be a human being I get to call a friend! It’s amazing just how open you are to everything as well as critical thinking, you are a breath of fresh air compared to people who only speak with their feelings and not just their thoughts and I enjoy every second of our conversations, yes even the dumb ones! I feel like you complete a part of social circle that I didn’t know was missing and that’s why it hurts so much I hear what you have to struggle through, but you amaze me, because despite all the bullshit you are still here, you are still a person whose company I get to enjoy, your strength is awe inspiring even if you don’t see it yourself, not to mention your brain, have I gone on about your brain enough, cause it’s fantastic! I wish I could just ramble on with you for all day and night, cause I imagine the discussions we’d get up to come be fantastic. You bring a fantastic fresh view you everything, even seen in your character, the Amazing Shield, they’ve hardly spoken but like you they have left an impact on me and everyone else that I doubt anyone will ever forget and as such it wants me to return in kind, you are an outstanding person and I want you to keep being outstanding, so I’ll always be there for you, no matter what, day or night. @altoblt5 Okay, first off, you are too adorable, so I will just have to kill you and second, thank you for joining my DnD game! I won’t lie, I was super fucking hesitant at you joining as I’m not good with people at all, expect all these friends above this text, ignore them for a moment. I am hesitant as shit, I’m nervous and I worried that anyone could be a potential threat to me or others, but you, came fucking tap dancing in with a stupid, lovable infectious character and personality that just, melded so well it made all my worries go away and the more I’ve gotten to know you the less regrets I have about you ever joining our game, you’ve only improved it by adding a dynamic to the group that we didn’t know we were missing from the start! I hope as we go on we can stay in touch, possibly do more games together and just chat more, cause we should really do some other stuff outside of DnD. @riyamilea I’ve been following you since Rise and I have to say, I’m so happy I did, and I was fucking ecstatic when we got to play in a DnD game together, like H.O.L.Y SHEEEET, that was fun for as little as it lasted, but I guess it was invertible a bit, there were signs, but out of it I finally got to make you my friend, and that's an experience I am so proud of cause like, YOU ARE AMAZING, you are so fun and insightful, I just, I’m so excited that I get to talk to you, cause just like, GAH I dunno how to put this into words, you are just, brilliant, that’s it, you are brilliant and I can’t wait to spend more time with you and hopefully, we can play more DnD together in the future, in the mean time, just keep being fantastic.

[topweeklyupdate]

TØP Weekly Update #67: I Don’t Want the World to See Me (10/19/18)

I say “they’re back, they’re really back” every week, but I only say it because it’s true. Our band kicked off the first tour of the Trench Era with gusto this week, and that’s only just scratching the surface.

This Week’s TØPics:

The Bandito Tour Begins

Additional Tour Dates Announced

Jim Dun

More Interviews with the Band

And MORE!

Major News and Announcements:

Again, there’s not an awful lot of “news”, mostly just developments happening in real time. That said, there is one notable piece of intel, as the band added another three dates to the second North American leg of their tour: namely, a second show in Toronto, a concert in Newark to further serve that densely-populated metropolitan area, and a show in San Antonio to show Texas some love. You can register for those tickets now, so get to it!

The Shows:

The Bandito Tour kicked off in Nashville last Tuesday, and it was incredible. Of course, not everyone was totally pleased with it: Some people thought there were too few songs from Trench, while others were heartbroken that too many old favorites were knocked off. For that first point: nine out of fourteen of the new songs made their way onto the setlist, one more than the eight songs from Blurryface that landed on the first headlining show in Australia that era. Granted, those shows were significantly shorter than the current arena shows, but those songs also had much less competition for space. Point is, there’s still plenty of time for “Chlorine” to make it on the setlist, clikkies.

As for the second point... listen, I’m gutted for everyone who didn’t get a chance to sing “Migraine” or “Guns for Hands” this week. But if they could play “Taxi Cab” after five years of acting like it didn’t exist, they can- and will- play those songs again. I promise.

The setlist was comprised of:

Jumpsuit

Levitate

Fairly Local- The first full performance of the song since 2015, complete with a reveal of a scissor lift under Josh’s drum kit and a “Hometown”-disappearing act.

Stressed Out- Introduced by a cute video of a flying red beanie to give Tyler a chance to run back to the stage, culminating in it descending from the sky for Tyler to wear.

Heathens

We Don’t Believe What’s On TV- Complete with Nigel introducing Josh with a romantic poem and Tyler’s now-customary first speech to the crowd.

The Judge

Lane Boy- Josh’s flying drum platform gets an extra light display at the end.

Nico and the Niners- A runway out to the b-stage descends from the heavens and hangs over the crowd; Tyler performs the rap there and finishes at b.

Taxi Cab- Tyler Joseph asks the thousands of people in the audience to sit and listen to this nice piano song his dad likes, causing us to drown in our tears.

Neon Gravestones- A transparent curtain imposes giant ghostly images of the band over the b-stage, while a gorgeous moving light display hangs overhead.

Bandito- The debut of this song was accompanied by another incredible light show and displays of soaring vultures. Notably, the first verse was cut, seemingly just to keep up the pace.

Pet Cheetah- Tyler and Josh head back across the runway to finish the sick beats, the pit drops like nobody’s business.

Iris- The band brings out the openers to play this Goo Goo Dolls classic, infusing it with incredible emotion and a killer uke arrangement. So far, Tyler’s been introducing it as the soundtrack for Josh’s childhood “firsts” (first kiss, first Fun Dip, etc).

Hey Jude- The bands perform one of the greatest songs of all time.

Holding On To You- Now with more pretty stars

Ride- Now without a drum island

My Blood- Now with SKELETON HOODIES and holding on to the crowd harmony conducting from The Complete Diversion.

Morph- Tyler does his best rap thing while Josh busts out his most technical drum island yet.

Car Radio

Leave the City- Replacing “Goner” for the encore, Tyler leans in hard for audience participation.

Trees- Now with imagery reflecting Josh’s tree tattoo. The keyboard is also placed above the car, which rises dramatically from the ground in the middle of the song because Tyler’s just extra like that.

Tyler’s Trees Speech in Nashville was a full one. After acknowledging earlier in the show that he and Josh were really nervous about getting this one right, Tyler thanked the opening crowd for giving him the experience of hearing “Leave the City” sung back at him for the first time, lampshaded how ridiculous the production value of the shows has gotten, gave Nashville-native lighting director Shap some grief, and joked about how he only messed up the second verse from “Morph”, so there’s some room for improvement.

Interviews and Other Shenanigans:

The biggest interview from this week was the band’s feature with The New York Times, which did not go too awfully in-depth in terms of revealing information that we didn’t already know but was still one of the more well-written pieces on the band I’ve seen in some time. The article takes their art and artistry seriously, covering their oft-repeated backstory with reverence fitting a band that has proved themselves time and again to be worth that consideration. The descriptions of Tyler and Josh read as totally on-point to their personalities, and there’s a cool revelation that Tyler’s kept an encouraging voicemail from Chris Martin on his phone since 2016. The highlight for me, though, is the absolutely crushing ending where Tyler responds to a question of his mental health by answering “I’m OK today.” It’s a mature and sobering outlook on his future struggles with his mental health; I hope he stays OK for many years to come.

Oh, and Jim Dun’s Instagram page is now public, so you should definitely go splurge through a year’s worth of cute dog photos featuring Josh, cameos from Brendon Urie, and snarky comments from Mark, Brad, Debby, Jenna, Jordan, Abigail, and friends. Josh even gave a little interview with Global K9 Protection Services talking about his relationship with his pup. Jim will be joining the gang on tour, so we’re sure to get plenty more adorable puppy action in the weeks to come.

Chart Performance:

Well, it looks like my suspicions last week were correct: Trench fell just shy of securing a #1 spot in the States, losing out to A Star Is Born’s soundtrack. But that’s no reason to be gloomy- last week was still the band’s biggest sales week ever, selling 135,000 albums and earning an additional 40,000 equivalent units in streams and other avenues of listening. And hey, they were the #1 album in Australia! That’s pretty cool.

As far as individual songs go, things continue to look pretty rosy. The album release boosted “Jumpsuit” and “Nico and the Niners” back to the Hot 100 at #79 and #95, respectively, while “My Blood” was able to debut at #81 off of the music video. Below the Hot 100, “Morph” and “Chlorine” managed to sneak onto the Bubbling Under chart at #6 and #12 respectively.

The songs impressed more individually down on the Rock Charts. Every single track from the album made it onto the Hot Rock Songs chart, which combines every source of music consumption with a similar formula as the Hot 100. Most of this can be attributed to streaming- nine songs from Trench made their way onto the Rock Streaming chart versus only two new arrivals to Rock Sales. “My Blood” is also continuing to gain radio momentum; we’ll see if that’s enough to keep it around next week.

Upcoming Performances:

With the Bandito Tour fully underway, let’s look to the week ahead to see what communities the band will be sharing their music with and try to determine if we might expect any surprises.

Show 3: Enterprise Center, St Louis, Missouri (10/19)

Capacity: 22,000

Tonight, the band returns to St. Louis, a city they’ve visited many times in the past. They played this venue at their last show here in 2016, albeit when it was under the “Scottrade Center” name.

Show 4: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (10/20)

Capacity: 17,500

Twenty One Pilots have never played this venue before, because it didn’t exist the last time they toured; heck, it didn’t even exist when they announced this one! The brand-new Fiserv Forum, built as the new home for the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, opened just last month with a concert from The Killers and has already hosted a number of other artists. It should make for an incredible show, even more so because it will be the band’s first ever arena show in the city. 

Show 5: XCel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota (10/21)

Capacity: 13,000

The band also played this venue in their last visit back in 2016. Not much else to say, so... moving on!

Show 6: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio (10/23)

Capacity: 20,000

Tuesday’s show in Cleveland will be the closest thing to a hometown show the band will play until their two announced concerts in Columbus next June, nearly nine months from now. As a result, expect to see plenty of family members in attendance (and maybe an on-stage cameo from Zach to perform his verse from “Kitchen Sink”). It’ll definitely be a real special night.

Show 7: Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, Michigan (10/24)

Capacity: 22,000

Wrapping things up, Twenty One Pilots will be playing their first show in Detroit proper since 2015, and their first ever arena show in the general region. This is another relatively new facility that only opened in September of last year, the harshest season of the hiatus. Hopefully those Ohio boys put on a good show for my Michigan kin.

-

It was another incredible week. I can’t wait to see how these shows continue to grow and evolve in the weeks and months to come. Let me know when you all get the chance to see them. Until then, power to the local dreamer.

|-/

[becomethevoidstuff]

November-December 2018 Featured Creator

What is a Featured Creator?

Write Way Studio’s “Featured Creator” segment is my way of showing appreciation for the creators of the world.  Creative outlets are limitless, because there is no end to human imagination.  Every month shows the succeeding featured creator.  If you would like to be a part of this collaborative project, contact me at studiowriteway@gmail.com!

My thirteenth guest creator is an artist known as Neri!

Introduction

This wonderful person goes by Neri.  She became twenty-six years old this September.  At her request, I will provide only a basic idea of what she does in the real world:  being an adult and building up her portfolio for the workforce.  She has graduated from higher education with a concentration on visual arts.  However, she did realize with Contemporary Art that it was a field not too aligned with her personal goals.  The style is “too limited and specialized public” while she wishes for her creations to be “more open to [the] general public.”  Despite her thoughts on the field, she still appreciates and values the experiences she learned along the way, such as printmaking and textiles.

Now, with her blog?  She mostly creates fan art and a few original pieces.  Because it is mostly fandom-oriented, the blog is separate from both her personal and professional lives.  She values her privacy a great deal, which is why most of her work on the blog lacks personal commitment.  She has participated in fanzines (better known as fan magazines) as well as related projects.  To name a few:  Present Mic Zine, Love Is . . ., BNHA Tarot Project, and What Makes a Hero Zine.  Until the projects are completed, she cannot disclose any more details about them!

What Sparked the Creator Passion?

O Ye of Powerful Spite . . . Or Was it Fandom?

Believe it or not, spite was a powerful force for Neri when she was younger!  She always felt an urge to control the world around her any way she can, and the only safe way to do so was by creating her own pieces, from custom logos, newspapers and more.  But there was is also the innocent yet obsessive beauty in fangirling.  She evfrusten went to the point of producing a family portrait with everyone in classic Sailor Moon apparel!

Eventually, her spite evolved into a deeper appreciation for the world around her.  The frustration persisted, though.  Creating is a part of her now, nothing else to it.

Taking It Seriously

However, it would be a while before she realized she truly placed more effort in her work.  She noticed other people at school being passionate just like her.  They worked together on improving their craft and extended invitations for others to join the drawing club.  Her best friend at the time introduced her to the realm of fanfiction forever ago.

Since then, she has become a fandom sponge, becoming inspired by anything in her spectrum, like dreams, patterns, and synesthesia, to name a few.  A few artists and mediums have also inspired her along the way.  Takehiko Inoue, Dave McKean, and Akemi Takada list a few figures of hers and they are all from the Eighties and Nineties.  The same period’s fashion sense helps too!  The artistic backgrounds in animation (especially by Aleksandr Petrov) and darkwave music sneak their way in as well.  All of these features help create an atmosphere, the most important thing for Neri (except maybe the subject matter). 

Future Projects

In concerns for the future, she does not have any immediate plans that do not involve fan creations.  The account she uses for her lovable fanatics is just meant for fun, after all!

Where To Find You? Support You?

Neri is found on a few places on the World Wide Web!  If you are interested in a commission or just have any questions, let her know right away!

Social Media

Tumblr @rubeedo

Pillowfort as @nerirubeedo

Remember, every little bit counts if you would like to support her work!

All about Commissions!

Support her with a cup of Ko-fi!

Last Tidbits

When Neri creates her artwork, she can imagine the music that would accompany it immediately.  She had previously been invested in music, including creating an orchestra as a teen!  It may also just be a natural occurrence for her – her mind matches colors to particular music notes and other details, such as textures and astrology.  The sensations never really turn off either.  She also can imitate fonts by hand!

Important Notice

Please understand that some information will not be shared by the creator’s request.  If you cannot understand that, there is not much more I can do to help you.  Safety is a top priority here, and I am here to help the creators, not instigate negative behavior.

Collaboration Disclaimer

The information provided in my Featured Creator articles is, in fact, from the real people, not some random Internet bot.  I do not use random stock photos to fill an imaginary photo quota.  Any photos in the Featured Creator segment are provided by the creators with permission to use them in this manner.  I want to support the original person behind the work, not a random online copycat creeping around.

To Neri,

Thank you very much for your patience with me on this!  I know I’ve left you waiting in the dark during a lot of it.  If you must blame someone, blame my college education – I have to get my graduation stuff together a semester early (a new thing they started this year apparently!)  I know that is not much better, but it’s something?

Honestly, I think you are a wonderful person and I am very happy to have this opportunity to work with you.  I love your work and its flair.  The potent energy you slip into each one is brought out by the bright colors and contrasts with the distinctive thickness of lines that I just adore.  It generated an adventure to look at your work.  I hope you have the best time in the future with your personal goals, whatever they may be!

Sincerely,

Jasmine Love

MLA Citation (8th edition)

Neri.  Personal E-mail Interview by Jasmine Love. November-December 2018 Featured Creator Collaboration, 26 October – 19 November 2018.

[thotyssey]

On Point With: Darlinda Just Darlinda

A veteran burlesquer, dancer and performance artist, Darlinda Just Darlinda continues to make her mark in nightlife and the arts world at large. On the eve of the premiere of her new project, DJD gives us the scoop on what this is, where’s she’s been and where she’s going!

Thotyssey: Hey Darlinda! I was wondering how last night's show at the House of Yes went... EXTRA!

Darlinda Just Darlinda: Hello! EXTRA Burlesque was awesome! LadyBox Theater did a takeover! My co-founders Peekaboo Pointe and Tansy did solos, and we were joined by one of our core dancers Vic Sin for a sneak peek of Untitled Rainbow Project that's debuting at Wild Project on Thursday 9/6 for a limited four show run!

We're gonna get into the deets of that intriguing project in a bit! So you are well known here for being a burlesquer, a dancer, a performance artist, a choreographer and show producer for a minute now. Were you always all of these things, or did some of these evolve over time after others?

Yes! I've been involved with dance, and  theater since I was a child. My mom was a producer of a non-profit dance series in the 80's, and they were both on the board of the local theater company. They put me in all the dance, comedy improvisation and theater classes that were available in my tiny Northern California town. 

So naturally I got my BA in Theater Direction. In college I directed The Vagina Monologues twice and for my senior thesis I directed Hedwig and The Angry Inch. I was obsessed with drag, but didn't know how to fit it in with my female body. When I graduated college, I discovered burlesque and realized that it was a combination of all the things I  loved... and haven't looked back in 15 years!

I was wondering how your stage name came about.

I actually found the name “Darlinda” in college one day, when I met this fantastic woman in a red, white and blue Swarovski crystal encrusted leather jacket. Her name was Darlinda--, I'd never heard the name before. Then a week later, I was shopping at the Monterey County dump's thrift store called Last Chance Mercantile, and I found a burgundy satin jacket with the name “Darlinda” on the front and a RAINBOW on the back, I also found some rainbow booty shorts that same day(apart from being queer, I've always been obsessed with rainbows). I lost the jacket at a show, but the shorts are still alive and well. 

Then when it was time to get a burlesque stage name, I thought about it... "Darlinda... just Darlinda, like Madonna!" then I changed my mind because I realized "Darlinda Just Darlinda is funny and catchy!" Sometimes it confuses people, so I have to reiterate, " first name Darlinda, last name also Darlinda, middle name Just!"

That’s a crazy coincidence, that odd name popping up twice in such a short time.

Right, I couldn't escape the name! Amazing!

Dita Von Teese just performed at Wigstock, and she’s arguably the most conventionally famous burlesquer... but the classic style she performs in is not what a lot of today’s burlesque dancers do. 

I wanted to go to Wigstock, but since I had a show, I was only able to see an hour of it... so it didn't seem cost effective. Anyway, Dita is great: she employs a lot of my friends, her shows are a Grand Spectacle, and I really appreciate seeing that kind of artistry on a big gorgeous stage!

 How would you describe your own burlesque... like, what are your goals when you perform?

My burlesque style is what I call Performance Art Burlesque. I tell stories, make political statements, do actual rituals, and sometimes just make people laugh and sing... along like my "Wind Beneath My Wings" act. My goals are to inspire people to feel something, to improve their lives, to be present and love themselves!

These days, burlesque is often about body positivity and female empowerment... these are important traits in the Trump / #MeToo reality. But I guess there will always be naysayers, feminists and misogynists alike, who dismiss it as objectification. How would you respond to them?

I have a #MeToo reverse striptease and an Anti-Trump striptease. Body objectification is only bad when the person who's body it is doesn't give consent, or isn't properly paid for what they do. I art model and strip! I've made my living consensually and consciously objectifying my body. It's my artistic "paint brush." One minute I'm doing a cute "patriotic" striptease... the next minute I'm physically nauseated, naked, pulling a photo of #45 out of my pussy so I can tear it up and tear up the patriarchy.

Werk! You and Minnie Tonka form the burlesque-producing duo The Schlep Sisters, best known for bringing us an amazing annual Hanukkah show, and more recently the “Boy Vey” revue at Coney Island. 

We will celebrate our 15-year Anniversary in Feburary 2019, and  our 12th Annual “Menorah Horah” during Hanukah (December 2-10th 2018)!

And you two did some drag in that Coney Island show!

"Boy Vey” in August, was our first time being drag kings together! 

Is there anything else in the works from you two?

Minnie Tonka is in Untitled Rainbow Project this week, and is focusing a lot of her energy on her nutritional therapy practice called Wellness HQ.

Tell us about Ladybox. What’s the history of this theater group?

Yes, LadyBox Theater! Tansy, Peekaboo Pointe and I got together in January when I wanted to start working on my new Dance Theater show Untitled Rainbow Project. They had been working on their performance art piece Feast  for a few years, so it seemed fitting that we band together to start our own dance theater / performance art group, and LadyBox was formed. Tansy has a background in theater, choreographing and starring in Eager to Lose at Ars Nova. Peekaboo Pointe has both a degree in dance, and is currently getting her Masters in Theater Technology. 

With our cumulative decades of nightlife / burlesque entertainment, it seemed like the perfect time to start this company. I have dabbled in off-Broadway and noticed a huge male-centric influence on theater / performance art, that is super oriented towards gay men... but not so much queer women. So it's been really thrilling making this work with mostly queer women on the steering wheel! There are some men on stage, but it’s a mostly women-run company. It surprisingly feels revolutionary, because it shouldn't in 2018. But in the #45 regime, women's rights are threatened, so now is a huge time to stand up for our rights. 

On a more logistical level..., once the company is up and running, we've got a few productions under our belt. We want to produce other female, queer, trans, POC, performance art/ dance/ theater makers. We hope the LadyBox can be a place for all folks to make their art! We are being produced by the amazing  Mighty Lucky Productions for this launch, and from this we hope to start our non-profit and apply for grants!

Why is your piece called Untitled Rainbow Project, by the way?

I've been doing performance art with a rainbow theme for some time, 10 years ago I did A Year in Rainbow, a year-long "life as art" project where every other month I would wear a color of the rainbow. I did a daily blog about it, as well as a show each month honoring the color... and the in-between months I would wear rainbow every day. Anyway, for the past 10 years I wanted to do another rainbow project, and so I came up with the idea to do a loosely-autobiographical story using the rainbow color chakras as a storytelling device. For example, Red has inspired Birth and Sex! Orange is about Divinity! Yellow is Intuition. Green is the violence of love. Blue is speaking your truth and your voice. And Purple is a Royal Explosion! I couldn't think of a name for the piece, so I just used Untitled Rainbow Project for a filler, and it just stuck!

Amazing! Well it should make for a fascinating experience of viewing at Wild Project on September 6th, 7th and 8th!

I understand that on premiere night (Sept. 6th), there will be an epic opening party at Club Cumming, where the URP shall be performing with other greats.

YES, exactly! Club Cumming has been such a supportive breeding ground for nightlife in the past year, so it seemed like the PERFECT spot to hold our after party and fundraiser. I'm SUPER THRILLED to have Ana Matronic be our DJ! There will be performances, and a live auction of some amazing art!! I'm SO looking forward to it!

And this weekend, you’re gonna do Bushwig! What’s your slot, and what shall you be doing?

I'm at Bushwig Sunday Night (Sept. 8) 9:20pm. I'll be doing "Wind Beneath my Wings," my favorite lip synch striptease. Two words: "expect pussy!"

Pussy Power!

Anything else?

 I'm a resident performer at Extra Burlesque at House of Yes, and Fuck You Revue at Bizarre Bushwick. So folks can find me at their monthly shows!

Okay last question: in your opinion or even experience, what is the absolute worst song to burlesque to?

Oh, that's a tough question. First one that comes to mind is Cher’s "Welcome to Burlesque." It’s TOO obvious. BUT I could see someone doing a parody to that song. That's really the joy of burlesque: it literally means to make a joke/ make fun/ laugh at something! And that's the joy of life... you get to laugh along the journey!

Thank you, Darlinda!

Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Darlinda Just Darlinda’s upcoming gigs, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

On Point Archives

[braindamageforbeginners]

Some writing prompts

Cycle 7, Day 7

So, as some of you know, I go to a writing class/seminar for cancer patients. I realize that’s not exactly something pre-GBM-me would’ve been interested in, particularly the warm, fuzzy, safe, and judgment-free aspects, but, again, if the choice is adapt and evolve or die, well, I haven’t been to Jiro Ono’s sushi place, yet. Also, I like the folks there.

Anyway, there isn’t anything big or terribly interesting in today’s post, I’m still scheduled to get strapped down and injected with Marizomib tomorrow morning, and I didn’t feel up to writing about the weird lizard situation in the backyard, so I thought I’d give a better conclusion than I gave in the group:

Prompt - Affirmative writing: Imagine 6 months from today. Looking inot the future, write a descriptive portrait about yourself. To guide your writing, consider: What do you look like at your personal best six months from now? What is the image that comes to your mind? Describe your face and how it reflects your state of mind... AUTHOR’S NOTE: I trimmed the prompt quite a bit, because the outcome wasn’t what I originally thought, and it did bring to mind a very serious question that I will have to face in the next six months even if this New Jersey wetlands of a body exceeds every expectation (in my body’s defense so far, I’ve dramatically exceeded everyone’s expectations at every turn, which is one of the few things holding me together psychologically). Also, even though I usually try for a mostly-accurate recounting of events, this is more-fictional-than-real (about a 65-35 split). DECEMBER, 2017: “What is my long-term prognosis, really?” I asked Senior Warlock. I didn’t expect him to give me a real answer. One of the first things to go out the window when you get diagnosed with a disease for which science has no established, effective treatment is useful data, terrifying as it might be. Mad Scientist occasionally gave me full information, but we’d had a ten-year doctor-patient relationship at that point. “Excellent,” he said, “we’re putting you on the very most aggressive, successful treatment we can, and you have several genetic markers hat are extremely favorable.” MID-FEBRUARY, 2018 “The scan looks great. Based on your interest, you’re already in the extended treatment trial,” said Research Coordinator. “You’ve tolerated both the chemo and radiation much better than most patients.” “I tolerated it well?!”  I sputtered, “I spent an hour a week complaining about side effects to you!” “Yeah, but compared to average, you’re doing much better.” That was the moment i began to realize that Senior Warlock wasn’t being cheerful, or even terribly honest - he was striking an odd Faustian pact, “We will kill either your disease or you; right now, we’re betting on you.” JULY 31 2018 “The scan looks great. No growth in any of your tumor sites, and improvement in the stroke area here, and here,” said Senior Warlock. I hope everyone reading this feels - at some point - the wash of relief I did in that moment. It’s also easy to idealize how I’ll look six months from now, because it pretty much looks how I look at this moment. After realizing just how dangerous cancer treatment can be, I’ve put myself on a training regimen and diet that I’m sure would wear out some semi-professional sports teams. I took my end of that deal with the devil very seriously - I’m at near-peak cardiac health, I’ve lost multiple inches from my waistline, and I’ve put on five kilos of muscle. I know from reading the fine-print (and my own experience in the med-tech industry) that patients can be cut from an experimental program for almost any reason, including (and most-likely) that they aren’t tolerating it well. I’m not complaining about these rules - they exist to prevent the sort of corruption and medical malpractice we’ve seen in inhumane experiments like Josef Mengele or the Tuskegee airmen, even if those rules occasionally cut both ways. I’ve gone for the approach from the film “Miracle,” when the coach shouts to one of the players, “If you want to make this team, you’re going to have to perform at a level that forces me to keep you here.” Same goes here; if I want to continue in a potentially-dangerous, experimental chemo program, I am going to have to be so absurdly healthy that it would reflect poorly on my physicians and the biotech company that owns the Marizomib patent if I were to suddenly die or refuse treatment. For those of you wondering what that looks like physically, well, my DMV photo was taken when I was 19, over a dozen years ago. The TSA now doesn’t give me a second glance to double-check my photo (for better or worse, my physical best and worst aren’t as far apart as my sense of vanity might like) “Do you want to continue treatment at this point?” asks senior Warlock. At every two-cycle check-in, he legally has to ask me this. Fortunately, I’ve also figured out the dialogue that orients me properly and establishes some level of informed consent. “Well,” I started, “Given the probabilities on cases like mine, and the symptoms and complaints in those patients, and compared to the side-effects I’ve complained of and other patients in the program have established; do the likely risks of treatment outweigh the benefits?” I asked. For those of you following at home, this is part of the core of medical ethics, beneficence vs nonmaleficence (the dictum to do good vs not actively worsening a situation). “No,” he says. :”Then I’ll be in the infusion center on Tuesday,” I say. MID-FEBRUARY, 2019 “The scan’s clean,” said Warlock Junior. This is it. The moment I’ve worked for the last 15 months. On the other hand, physically miserable as it’s been this is the longest I’ve been unquestionably tumor-free since 2007. And, even though the side-effects of long-term treatment are unpleasant, i know that, given enough time, they will become lethal. On the other hand, GBM tends to come back more frequently than that shark in Jaws, and if it does so now, it’ll likely be resistant to the only two established, effective forms of GBM chemotherapeutic agents. On the other hand, this is a chance to have my Tuesdays back, not to feel confused or disoriented five days of the month. The general rule of chronic cancers is that patients have to go five years before they’re considered medically cured. I’ve only made it a little over one. Just a measly 20%. I feel - for the first time in a year - calm and quiet. Possibly even confident. I know it’s an illusion that will last less than a minute, because, for the first time in over a decade, I also know what the next five minutes will look like,. “Given how well you’ve tolerated treatment, you’re a candidate for several other long-term therapies that are in clinical trials,” he continued. I hesitate, weighing the options.

The Prompt: Breaking your heart, both in the negative connotation, but in a sense of opening you to the beauty and possibilities of life. “When you see beauty in desolation, it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.” - Jeff Vandermeer When you’re young, everything moves quickly, far too quickly, really. Remember before you were ten? Before you were five? I’d bet those memories are filled with noise and light. Then you move - imperceptibly in an ideal situation, in a few stuttering leaps in mine, when you no longer have to worry about being the center of the world you inhabit; you have to become comfortable imagining the world without you in it. It’s beyond frightening, until you realize that much of the planet will remain unchanged. We are guests at the art museum, not residents. As disturbing as that is, it’s also a little comforting; we can’t take it with us, but we can’t burn it, either.

[inktrinsic]

‘ART IS EVERYTHING’

- interview with a tattooist

Baldwin Ang is a man on a constant quest, seeking to fill his life with experiences that enrich him, all of which he ultimately expresses in works of ink. Working with artists from all over the planet, Baldwin feels that his nomadic lifestyle is paramount to growth as a tattoo artist. The world his oyster, Baldwin's love for the craft brings him anywhere art exists - "everywhere, basically!", he laughingly says.

He believes every piece of inked skin tells a story, and listens intently to every customer who goes to him. Observing him at work tattooing fills one with a sense of wonder; such is the tangible passion he exudes when executing his craft.

With travel restrictions still in place, i manage to catch up with Baldwin here in Singapore, to talk about his passion for ink, and how he got into the craft.

Tell me about your first tattoo experience.

I grew up an only child in an average, middle-class home, typically Singaporean. My dad ran a small business,.and Mum helped out. Left on my own mostly, I pretty much entertained myself, with toys and later, other kids my age hanging around the neighbourhood. I started getting tattoos at a very young age - the first was a dare actually! Gradually I became intrigued by the art form, and this spark fueled my resolve to start doing research on tattoo as an art form and the history behind it.

I started tattooing at 16 (below legal age) without any proper apprenticeship, in a friend’s studio in Singapore. Initially, it was difficult to be taken seriously by people within the industry, they dismissed me as some "young punk" hence there wasn't much hope of me getting a decent appprenticeship anywhere. I stuck with it though, I guess I kind of knew this was what I really wanted to do.

I worked pretty hard, starting from bottom up, and about a year into it, my tattoo artist opened a door for me into the world of professional tattooing. I started understudying with Nicckuhori of Horikawa Tattoos, Singapore, (god-son of Sensei Horiyoshi III) whom i thank for showing me the proper methods pertaining to traditional Japanese tattooing. After that i worked alongside Augustine Nezumi for almost 2 years before embarking on my life as a nomad.

Do you think an apprenticeship is the best way to learn the business?

Without a doubt! Starting out without a proper apprenticeship, thats just a bad idea - like walking blindfolded- because you need to learn the basic techniques and stuff like that from the start correctly. Good foundation and whatnot. I took twice as long to get my basics right, and probably took alot of unnecessary detours, all for the lack of guidance. Although I think it worked well for me because all that hard work being self taught gives me a sort of perspective many younger tattooist seem to lack (no offense to anyone).

What is it about tattoos that compel you ?

That art can exist on a living human canvas.

What’s it like in your studio?

I work with my closest friends in the world, they are family. Nicckuhori, Sam, Colin, Wuzai - in Meteorite Tattoo in Singapore. There is so much creative energy andwe constantly bounce ideas off one another. There's alot of laughter, and camaraderie here - put 5 boys in a room, imagine the kind of mischief we get into! More importantly, there is a certain "sync" we share, artistically, aesthetically, and in even our beliefs so it works out well. Nicckuhori’s work is one of my greatest influences and a great source of inspiration; i respect and love him like a brother. Yet at the same time I hate him the way you hate your siblings because he fools around, laughs too much and always when I’m trying to focus.

Have you worked at many conventions?

I’ve attended many conventions but I’ve only worked at the conventions in Rome, St Gallen (Switzerland), Wurzberg (Germany) and Singapore.

How do people at conventions perceive your work?

(Laughs) I have no idea though I definitely hope it was positive.

Do you find working alongside other talented artists helps you to improve your own techniques?

It is really important for me to understand and learn from other artists. Observing other artists at work, discussing various pieces and techniques  with someone who is kind enough to share with me their ideas and techniques, that knowlegde is invaluable.

During your trips abroad, have you noticed any particular areas that are more welcoming to tattoos and tattooists than others?

Not really. I am lucky i guess, I have mostly only met really nice people who have welcomed me very graciously, and I’m very grateful for that.

Do you think that a formal art training is needed to becoming a tattooist?

I think it helps but formal art training in a traditional college is not totally essential as most aspects of tattooing are picked up on the job. While I have a diploma in graphic design from LASALLE, I don't attribute my artwork to the education i received in school.

Most of the best tattooists I know have no formal art training.

Who are your main influences, including both tattooists and the more traditional artists?

Sensei Horiyoshi III, Nicckuhori, Susan, Roland, Filip Leu, Mick, Aarron Cain, Carlston, Kuniyoshi, Hokusai, the list goes on!

Do you have a favourite style of tattooing? Can you describe your own style?

My genre choice would have to be Japanese style. I try to mix the traditional Japanese tattooing style with the neo-Japanese style. I am currently trying to explore a wider variety of subjects, colours and compositions.

What is it about your chosen area of expertise that you enjoy so much? Why were you drawn to it?

I revere the mystical history of Japanese and oriental tattooing rich in culture and tradition. Singapore is incredibly modern, there isn’t much preservation  of Asian culture, or any traditions since we’re a young nation. I have always been drawn to culture, and I was exposed to oriental art  at a really young age. Focusing on traditional tattooing was really just a natural progression.

What would be the ultimate tattoo for you to create? What subject matter/placement/techniques would you use?

I would love to do just a full body suit of Japanese background, water, earth, sky, fire, experimenting with shading the contours of the body. Maybe with a lot of positive and negative to create strong contrasts and boldness to last a lifetime.

How do you relax and spend time away from tattooing?

I am starting to try some abstract painting with oil, watercolour, Sumi etc. Nothing related to tattoos. And I watch too much Netflix. And I try to go to the mountains in Switzerland. I love nature. It’s good for the heart and soul.

What’s your favourite part of being an artist?

I get to be creative and the creation of good art. Art is everything, really, and it makes me very satisfied.

Lastly, what changes have you observed in the tattoo industry?

Not much, except for how society on a whole has evolved into one more accepting of tattoos as a form of art. There seems to be less stigma and bias when it comes to people sporting tattoos. This is definitely a sign of the times, and I hope that it will continue growing in that vein. That being said, I think there are also some who get into this trade with the wrong motivation, maybe it’s because of the hype sparked off by the media. Reality shows glamorise tattooing, making it seem really cool and easy, and with the Internet and websites that sells starter kits at super cheap prices and way too many books on how to tattoo, it’s becoming really easy to start tattooing, which somehow diminishes the richness of this art form.