#not that it will make any tangible difference though because no place that i'm applying to even asks about my minor

[an-asuryampasya]

i am (1) step closer to graduating! 🥳🥳

(my final grade finally came out and the tags of my compulsory courses just got sorted)

aaaaaaah today it hit me that I'm (almost) an actual certified Engineer now and. oof. who was in charge of that decision. terrifying.

[reasonsforhope]

Heads up/warning that I'm going to start posting articles related to the Israel-Palestine War

I've worked really, really hard to keep my blog about positive news only, and that's going to continue - these posts will be only about good news related to the war.

Of which there really, really isn't much, so I don't know that there will be a lot of posts, but I will be posting articles about humanitarian aid reaching those who need it and actions that will prevent more lives from being taken.

I know that, no matter my position on the war, this is something that would be very controversial and make a lot of people upset, so I wanted to be explicit about my position on this - and my posting policy, which is not the same thing. I also wanted to give people a heads up because I know the war in general is really, really triggering for a lot of people right now, for a lot of different reasons. I'll be tagging all relevant posts, so if screening those out is something that you need to do, you can.

I have worked very hard to make this blog a space with only good news because I know how much it can matter to have just one place, if nowhere else, that you can count on to not give you emotional whiplash with horrible news. To know you have one place you can go where you are guaranteed not to see bad news that will send you into a tailspin. That's why I've had a policy of not including signal boosts or PSAs about tragedies, no matter what they are, on this blog. (I do post about some of that stuff, including the Israel-Palestine War, on my main blog, though. I consider this blog to be me trying to run a public service, basically, and so have specific policies for myself around that, including my editorial and fact-checking standards.)

I'm going to be honest, I was really, really hoping the war would end after a couple of weeks, which has historically not been uncommon for wars with/involving Israel.

But that's clearly not happening, and I can't keep not acknowledging what's happening on here, so, this post.

With that, I imagine people probably want to know my actual stance on the war, since that's what I'll be posting in accordance with.

So, here's the official stance of this blog:

Every time a civilian is killed, it is a tragedy; Every time a child is killed, it is a tragedy, no matter their nationality. I condemn all antisemitism and all Islamophobia.

I support all calls for a ceasefire, as well as demands that Israel immediately stop its repeated bombing of hospitals, ambulances, shelters (including UN shelters), and refugee camps.

There is no situation in which the repeated and/or intentional bombing of hospitals is justified.

There is no situation in which the repeated and/or intentional bombing of shelters or refugee camps is justified.

There is no situation in which the repeated and/or intentional bombing of ambulances is justified.

There is no situation in which the killing of children is justified. Yet more children have now been killed in Gaza than in all global conflict zones combined in each year since 2019.

There is no situation in which cutting off an entire country and/or territory's supply of food and water is justified.

Yes, this applies to every group involved in the war, including countries supplying either side, and any countries or non-state organizations who may yet join the fighting.

The initial Hamas attack on Israel was a tragedy. The continued Israeli bombardment and invasion of Palestine is also a tragedy.

Most of the things I post will be about aid reaching Palestinians or news about tangible, confirmed progress toward a ceasefire. I probably will not be posting good news posts about aid reaching Israel, unless it's explicitly and only humanitarian and/or barring drastic unforeseen changes in circumstance. This is because as of yesterday, November 7, the Palestinian death toll is over 10,000 to Israel's roughly 1,400 (only about 200 of whom have been killed in the past month, starting on October 8, aka outside of the initial attack by Hamas). At least 3,195 children have died in Gaza, 33 in the West Bank, and 29 in Israel.

The Palestinian death toll is nearly 8 times the Israeli death toll. The number of children killed is 110 times higher in Palestine than Israel. (Source for death toll here, ratios via calculator.) Every single one of those deaths is a tragedy - and there have been far, far too many tragedies this past month.

(On a related note, Israel stands very, very little chance of actually eliminating Hamas with this war. The US has attempted this same strategy and failed many times: the US failed to eliminate the communist/North Korean regime in the Korean War, which is technically still ongoing 70 years later; failed to eliminate the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War; failed to eliminate numerous groups of Iraqi insurgents in the Iraq War, which triggered Iraq's civil war; and failed to eliminate the Taliban in the Afghanistan War, even though that war lasted for literally 20 years. Afghanistan is once again under total Taliban control.)

The last thing we need is another 20 year war. The last thing we need is more civilian deaths. Bombing civilian settlements, as well as hospitals, shelters, and refugee camps are war crimes under international law, meaning that both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes.

It's time for the war crimes to stop.

Humanitarian aid reaching civilians is good news, and I will be posting accordingly.

Ceasefire now.

[mauesartetc]

What is, in your opinion, something or some things that we can learn from Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel as both writers and artist?

There's plenty to learn, though the sad thing is, much of it is what not to do. (Strap in; this is a long one.)

Visuals

- Don't let one color dominate your palette. It overwhelms the eyes and makes characters blend in too much with the background. I'm glad they toned down the red a bit in Helluva Boss, because damn.

- Conversely, don't use so many different colors on background characters that they look out of place in the world. Yes, I'm aware these characters were fan-created, but Viv Medrano could've given these fans a palette as a guideline to stay within so their designs feel like they belong in the show's setting.

Here's the master palette I used for my hellhound designs, based on colors taken from canon Helluva Boss characters.

By making adjustments to the value and saturation of each of these colors, I created a range of new ones that wouldn't clash with the established setting.

Now let's apply the same approach to the background characters in the Hazbin pilot.

For the recolored pic, I took hues from Charlie and the background, and tweaked values and saturation as needed. And for the sake of cohesion, I did a quick and dirty faux-compositing pass on the image.

Notice how the added background shading lets Charlie stand out much more clearly from the extras. In short, paying closer attention to color theory would've made the pilot much more visually pleasing.

-Don't give all your characters the same body type. Not only is this boring to look at, but it robs them of their individuality. We all have unique habits and interests. Maybe one person loves to eat, maybe another likes to work out, maybe another never has much of an appetite. Maybe someone has a HUGE appetite but never gains much weight due to their fast metabolism. Also note that there are numerous ways to be muscular; a bodybuilder's frame will be different from a swimmer's, which is different from a dancer's, which is different from a weightlifter's, which is different from a track star's. It's all about which muscle groups are doing the most work.

Now if there were a story-based reason for everyone in Hazbin (and plenty in Helluva) being stick-thin, this would be easier to forgive. If, for example, sinners took on an undernourished appearance and constant feeling of hunger as part of their punishment, that'd make much more sense. But given Viv's long history of designing stick bugs before she ever gave a thought to Hazbin, I highly doubt this physiological uniformity has any bearing on the story. She just likes the aesthetics of skinny people. Nothing wrong with expressing one's tastes, as long as it has a purpose. Which brings me to my next point:

-Don't include stuff in your designs just for the aesthetics. If it doesn't serve some kind of tangible function, leave it out. Accessories, for instance: Does the accessory show a sense of style unique to this character? Is it part of a uniform? Does it hold special meaning for the character, such as a family heirloom or treasured gift? Does it serve a practical purpose, such as glasses to improve their eyesight? Is it symbolic?

A metric ton of Viv's characters have bow ties for the simple reason that she likes the way they look. Nothing deeper than that. She's only concerned with what she likes, not what the characters like. And much like the samebody syndrome, this steals away their individuality. If so many characters make the same fashion choices, it makes them look like a hive mind. Don't do such a grave disservice to the souls you've created. They deserve better.

-Make the environment make sense. Ever wonder why IMP's building in Helluva Boss has imp horns on it? Isn't that like humans working in a human-shaped building? Some sort of cultural rationale could make this work, but I doubt Viv thought that far into it.

(Writing tips after the cut)

Writing

- Give your characters agency. I've talked about this before, so I won't go overboard with detail, but it definitely applies to Helluva Boss.

These characters don't feel like real people due to how contrived their choices are. Why didn't Blitzo silence his phone while being hunted by murderers? Why did Octavia fully forgive her dad, no questions asked, even when he couldn't explain why he cheated on her mom? If Loona hates being around Blitzo so much, why didn't she just stay with the succubi on the beach? Why did Blitzo make out with the guy who treated him like a slave in the trip-out sequence mere minutes before? Why did Moxxie make a huge romantic gesture in an environment where such gestures are frowned upon? Why did Blitzo draw attention to himself when he knew there were people in the room he didn't want to engage with (and don't say "because he was defending Moxxie and Millie"; he could've easily done that without showing himself. There's a thin line between courage and stupidity, and he's crossed it several times)? Why did Stolas bring an imp to a couples-only club despite knowing it'd ruin his reputation?

The answer to all these questions is "Because the plot demanded it" (seriously, Ozzie's was just one big idiot plot that could've been avoided entirely if the characters used their brains). But let's be honest, if we non-fictional folks found ourselves in the same situations, the outcomes would've been very different due to our possession of common fucking sense. It's hard to relate to and root for characters who make so many facepalm-worthy decisions.

Your characters aren't your puppets. Let them drive the plot, not the other way around.

- Show, don't tell. Yeah, you've probably heard this phrase in the past. In this case I'm applying it to Truth Seekers.

First, we have the DHORKS agents (any clue what DHORKS stands for, by the way?) saying no one takes them seriously, yet they work out of a huge skyscraper with at least a few dozen employees and access to a nigh-unlimited variety of weapons. Whoever's funding all this must take them seriously; otherwise this person/people wouldn't have blown such a huge wad of cash on them.

Then, Blitzo claims he's only hard on Moxxie because he cares, yet we've only seen him berating Moxxie, belittling him, threatening to withhold his paycheck because of a mistake, making fun of his "smooth brain" and "baby dick", stalking him and his wife, watching them have sex, and did I mention the rape threat toward them in Ep 1? If Blitzo had shown some caring behavior prior to this, it'd be so much easier to believe him. But as it stands he's an abusive little shit who straight-up gaslights Moxxie in this moment, and Moxxie just... goes along with it (again, as the plot demanded). Blitzo's words don't match his actions at all, and this is the main protagonist we're supposed to sympathize with. On that topic...

- Don't coddle any of your characters just because they're your favorites. Their actions should always have realistic consequences, regardless of how unrealistic the genre and setting may be. If Blitzo and Stolas had gotten their just desserts from day one, Octavia would've left Stolas, Loona would've left Blitzo, and Moxxie would've fucking quit IMP and filed a restraining order. Yet nearly everyone in their lives lets them get away with murder because the writers favor them. This is beyond insulting to the audience's intelligence. Don't make the same mistake.

- Give romantic partners things in common other than the romance. Whenever we see Blitzo and Stolas sit down and have a conversation, it's always about their relationship or Blitzo's job, and the talks take place in either Stolas' bed or on a date. And at some point between episodes 6 and 7, Stolas' attraction to Blitzo magically developed from lust to love... off screen. If the writing gave this more time to evolve organically over several episodes, the relationship might actually be worth rooting for.

Don't these people have hobbies? Political views? Favorite foods? Favorite restaurants? Favorite movies? Opinions on the huge power gap between them? We know Blitzo's favorite animals are horses; maybe he could gush to Stolas about that-? Y'know, just so they have something to talk about other than sex sex sex grimoire sex.

And here's a thought: Maybe they could... laugh about something together? Cry about something? Experience strong emotions in each other's presence other than lust? That's how you make the audience care about your romantic pairing: Understanding the difference between adult content and mature content.

- Cut the fluff. The Hazbin pilot did NOT need to be half an hour long.

First, there's Vaggie's exposition dump to Angel Dust regarding Alastor's past. She could've simply said "I don't trust him" and then explain why to Charlie in two sentences. This would leave Alastor's origins shrouded in mystery and make the audience curious to learn more in future installments. Plus, he wouldn't seem so ridiculously OP (you're tellin' me some guy who died in the '30s killed tons of overlords who'd been around for centuries, and no one was prepared for it? Also, I thought only angelic weapons could properly kill demons-? Gettin' some Gary Stu vibes there) and the animators wouldn't have to deal with that sequence.

Then there's Husk and Niffty. They really didn't need an introduction here, as they add nothing to the story's climax. And as another ask pointed out, neither did Cherri Bomb. She has no powers outside of her weapons, so Angel could've just taken some bombs and fought Sir Pent on his own. If all these characters were cut from the script, it would've saved the animators countless hours of work (it's so obnoxious how complex Husk and Cherri's designs are), and it would've saved the audience from slogging through a slow-paced second half.

That's all I have for now. May we all learn from these pitfalls and do better in our own projects going forward.

[lordlenne]

Could you elaborate on Title 18, because I'm pretty sure it makes NSFW underage illegal

Not immediately illegal at first glance. You have to officially be a part of law enforcement before you can say something is illegal. The reason being is because of the Miller test.

Before I elaborate Title 18 for you, let me tell you about the Miller test, the most important thing in determining whether a fictional NSFW art content is legal or illegal. This is a long read, so I hope you’re prepared! (Read more under the cut! unless you’re mobile, then sorry!)

The Miller test is a Supreme Court test, meaning it is the absolute beginning and end all for judging anything to be legally considered obscene before it is defined as against the law. In order for anything—a drawing, a photo, a piece of written fiction, etc.—to be considered against Title 18 (i.e. the law) the piece of material must pass the Miller test and be considered obscene. If it is obscene, then it can be considered illegal as long as it doesn’t pass some exceptions from Title 18. But for starters, the only way you can actually have a passed MIller test become official on your work is if you get prosecuted for your work.

Essentially, this means that public domain fictional material is considered not against the law unless higher powers abuse their powers by deeming you criminally unjust enough to afford spending so much money and time to go about arresting you for reasons that are protected by website Terms of Service, Privacy/Content policies, and DMCA, let alone the Miller test. An art hosting website will definitely intervene if they deem that your artwork does not violate their ToS, and hearing that you were unfairly prosecuted (meaning without proper representation) without their knowledge is important for them because they don’t want content writers (who follow their ToS) to be prosecuted, because this creates a bad image for them and creates a hostile environment for hundreds of thousands of other content creators.

Back to the Miller test, now, say you were threatened to be arrested for your artwork. But this is just a threat—to actually be arrested and prosecuted, the Miller test must be applied and the facts be presented to a judge before a warrant is signed by said judge for your arrest. For your content to be considered obscene, it has to pass ALL THREE PRONGS from the Miller test as follows:

1. Whether “the average person, applying contemporary community standards”, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest

2. Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law,

3. Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

Let’s break it down one by one:

Prong 1: “Whether “the average person applying contemporary community standards…” refers to community standards of where the artwork is presented in. For a simple example, my fanfiction falls under the ArchiveOfOurOwn community. They are community—nothing bigger than a state. For Prong 1 to pass, the AO3 community has to, as a whole (unanimously), find my work offensive and sexually appealing. However, a community is comprised of large groups of people, and being that it is AO3, these large people are scattered across the world. One person in California might find my work offensive and inappropriate, but someone in New York can find my work the opposite, or in fact, hold some artistic value (see Prong 3). If this is the case (and it usually is), then Prong 1 fails because the community does not have a unified word. This is an easy prong to fail because the community standards are established by both AO3′s Terms of Service and the community of writers that create so much varying content. AO3 basically allows works that create prurient interest, and other writers have already produced works with prurient interest. Because the community (as a whole) cannot find offense in my works per individual writers’ morals and Terms of Service combined, Prong 1 fails. (At this point you can forget about trying to label my fanfiction as against the law and just stop reading about the test.)

Prong 2: “Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way…” also uses community standards. Yes, it uses individual state obscenity laws to determine if something is obscene, but patently offensive uses the word of the viewing public. The viewing public does not mean people of the state in this sense, but rather, where the artwork was placed, so it uses the community as “the public.” In my case it would be AO3, and so the public view is considered the audience.

Now, even if the audience were responsible for judging something as obscene, they need a state law to follow. It is initially difficult to determine which state law to use, because the offended, the law enforcement, AO3 community, and the defendant has to negotiate between which state to use especially if everyone is scattered across multiple states. The time and effort to decide this is usually the turn off for law enforcement especially when they have doubt that prosecution has a high chance of losing in the long run, when considering the other two prongs and Supreme Court case defenses.

Prong 3: “Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value” uses national level standards. What a community might find obscene and offensive can actually be different than a national view and it might have redeeming value instead. For example, AO3 (impossibly) finds my fiction as obscene, but national powers can find my work to hold artistic value instead, thus the prong fails. This can actually be the case because all of my fanfiction is created with artistic value. The production of fanfiction is handwritten (or rather, hand-typed), taken from one’s creative mind and fleshed out into a tangible form with the intent to express artistic creativity. The national level doesn’t just look at something and say, “oh, it describes sex, it’s obscene”, they have to carefully examine every chained word, sentence, and paragraph, and then determine if it is written about sex with the intent of prurient interest, or if it actually holds (even a little bit) of invoking an artistic connection with the reader. In regards to written fiction, there is a difference between extremely explicit and nasty smut and only smut, versus a piece that has a portion of sex, but also contains excerpts that have artistic values of romance, comedy, drama, etc, or even just an artist expressing their talent/ability to weave a captivating plot or action. (And it takes a group effort of experienced, unbiased, literate people with basic inference skills to determine this, and not the inexperienced and young mentally-incapacitated who are easily offended by things that disturb them.) If it is found that any of the mentioned values are contained within the art piece at all, Prong 3 fails.

—–**********—–

Whew, so that was the Miller test! So, taking all that in mind, when the Miller test somehow passes all 3 prongs on my NSFW fanfiction (which, again, is highly impossible), only then can you step up to Title 18 because Title 18 requires a piece of obscene material to use for its guidelines. You cannot just take something and deem it obscene at first glance, it has to be legally considered obscene by the Miller test first, and to do that, you need to actually be an law enforcement officer and slap the test onto someone’s work with the intent of prosecuting them, and not just testing their work for the fun of it. And to do that, you need to know my personal information, which AO3 is not going to provide at all because it goes against their Privacy Policy.

That said, if my private information was somehow disclosed (which I can also sue for, by the way), the first barrier you need to overcome is the Miller test, not Title 18′s obscenity laws. You cannot skip the Miller test unless it is, without a doubt, real child pornography. In such a case, you skip ahead a lot of steps and get sent to prison ASAP. But because all of the material I create is based on fiction, you need the Miller test, no ifs and/or buts!

And because the Miller test fails at least two prongs when using any of my fanfiction… then there you go, I’m legally safe! (On two points at that, usually people get a close call with just one prong.) So I’m actually not going to go farther in depth on Title 18 (1466A specifically) for you, because we’re just not going to reach that point with me.

I’m also going to leave a point for the Miller test that you should consider as well:

The Miller test is not just something you can use on everyone freely. It is a Supreme Court test that requires time, money, and effort. The Miller test will only usually come into play when a convicted child predator is on parole or been released on conditions that he not have in his possession any type of child pornography—real or fictional. To judges and lawyers, it’s not worth the hassle (time, money, effort) to arrest John Doe who has no criminal record just because he created content (fictional, at that) that made someone uncomfortable.

But remember this only applies to U.S.! There are indeed some countries in the world that prohibit even the creation or viewing of fictional children in sexual situations. I don’t fall in those countries if it wasn’t obvious, but for those that do, I would suggest reading on your local laws.

And that should be it! Any more questions, feel free to keep asking! I’m going to tag this post as a reference though so that people can come back to this if they want.

[davidmann95]

I hear you on Potter being deceptively hard to world-build and an eventual failure in the making. Seeing the franchise name become "Wizarding World" is a bad sign but WB seems to forget Potter was a story with a clear ending, so it CAN'T go on eternally like Star Wars or superhero-verses. I'm already feeling bad on how new Potter media reflects on the main seven books. Anything else to add onto Potter & franchise-building in general: how hard it is and the roadblocks corporations face doing so?

I’ll admit, I definitely dropped that in there on purpose, because the idea of How To Make A Shared Universe is one that was preoccupying me a bit recently, and why Harry Potter it turns out can’t do that at all. Even setting aside how good or bad it might have been, Cursed Child is clearly redundant: there was one villain that all other evil flowed from in a very direct sense, his defeat closed the narrative for the main character, that’s the end, no other stories cry out to be told in this world. Yes, you can make a quintilogy about the guy who wrote one of that main characters’ textbooks, but it’s beyond pointless.

At the same time, Harry Potter seems like it should be conducive to the shared universe approach: there’s so much mythology and history setting up the scaffolding of that world, it feels as if you could explore its corners forever. But all of it, from the spells to the characters to the locations, ultimately come down to how they impact Harry. That’s not a flaw of the work, and those characters do breathe on their own, but it’s not *really* an ensemble piece. Only the one guy’s got his name on the cover (well, Sirius and Snape had their nicknames on covers, but you know). Everything relevant feeds back to him and his development one way or another, and once his story is done, the world ends with him. It’s rich set dressing, but for a purpose that has been served.

Star Wars on the other hand, as the star of the day (or at least the day I received this ask) and therefore my primary positive example? Just going by that first movie, while there’s one character in particular whose narrative ends up driving everything, one of the first things we learn about Star Wars is that a lot of people’s very different stories are propelling this world forward, from comedic robot duos to gun-slinging space smugglers to princesses overseeing galaxy-spanning conflicts to wizard samurai to plucky teens in search of adventure. They’re all relevant, and because of that we as the audience are to understand that all the corners of that world they represent are themselves relevant.

Thinking about it, I ended up laying out some rules for how these mass universes (on the Star Wars/DC/Marvel scale) tend to work:

1. They can’t be set in what we’d comfortably call the real world. If it is, there’s no real shared conceits, beyond the ones us real schmucks already live by, and aside from that the characters could run into each other, the connection is immaterial. The Middle and The Office might exist in the same universe, but besides a theoretical crossover episode, what opportunities spring from that connection that justify making it in the first place, that’d make people go “wow, they exist in the same world, this changes everything about how they both work”? If two or more fantastical things coexist though, you’re multiplying the number of things you’re permitted to bring into each other’s narrative spaces, meaning crossovers can thereby make both worlds exponentially richer.

1a. Speaking of conceits, generally speaking there does need to be a shared one or two that’s specific beyond the very concept of “magic/time travel/etc. exists,” to show why all this stuff needs to be in the same world.

2. Closely tied with the above, there needs to be the opportunity to explore multiple genres in that world; if you want this place to feel rich, it has to be able to feel like all kinds of stuff is going on in there.

3. Closely related, the idea that there are multiple figures of significance worth following beyond their involvement in one or two other peoples’ stories in this world is crucial.

I talked about Star Wars and how it invites diverse genre possibilities a bit already, so let’s go with my own favorite shared universe in the DCU. While I tend to think it actually works best when the ties that bind them are fairly loose, let’s cover what the core Justice League alone bring in:

* With Superman and J’onn, it’s clear that aliens exist in this universe, that they may have fantastic abilities by our pitiful human standards (or may gain them under special circumstances), that both literal little green men from Mars beyond our ken and incredible Flash Gordon-style pulp sci-fi civilizations of near-humans number among them, faster-than-light-travel and teleportation are on the table to get them here, at least one brings an entire ghost dimension with him, and they may well wear elaborate uniforms and publicly devote their lives to protecting Earth, while also living among us as humans in “secret identities”. Their adventures in pursuit of this duty can take them from the depths of space to the inside of men’s minds.

* Batman shows that humans can also devote themselves to the same mission with the same basic methods of operation, that these weird costumed characters can fight flashy stylized murderers with elaborately themed Rube Goldberg-esque master plans, and that said human vigilante can in fact function and defeat them with access to a perfect physique, virtually every existing human skillet, a set of gadgets and vehicles that wouldn’t be out of place in James Bond, and a network of allies, i.e. superheroing is an option theoretically on the table for anyone and everyone in the right circumstances, and they can get so good at it as to earn a spot on the big table with people with superhuman powers.

* Wonder Woman and Aquaman demonstrate that magic, hidden civilizations that may emerge to impact humanity at any time, and literal gods are also on the table - and those of such realms may take classical heroic journeys to save our own world.

* Flash shows that just any old normal human can get powers like these under the right (if still improbable) circumstances, as well as bringing in time-travel and expeditions to other universes.

* Green Lantern shows that all these incredible forces can and will take notice of humanity directly, and declares that even our literal emotions can have a tangible, cosmos-shattering impact when the right super sci-fi tools are applied, and that we may take part in a universe-spanning mythology that extends from galactic military campaigns to beat cop work.

Even if you deleted the rest of DC Comics tomorrow, you could easily rebuild a world from those seven characters and the first principles they represent. There’s a ton going on. And at the same time it makes sense that they can and should all sit in a room together, because they share similar aesthetics and basic goals; that they’re the founders of their own genre all coexisting together in one world is itself a solid, unique central hook to justify building a universe around them.

I think those rules hold up pretty well. Take Kingdom Hearts: much as I love it, it isn’t well-suited to an expanded universe setup. While there’s a lot of crazy magic and super-science and alien races and mythology in there, it all only really comes down to the people with the keyblades, and they just go from world to world to beat a given bad guy or seal a keyhole; there’s only so much you can obviously justify doing if you stray away from that core premise. Star Trek on the other hand for instance, while centering around a singular organization, has such a broad mission statement - go Out There to find new life and new civilizations - in the context of multiple ensemble piece programs that you can do just about anything with those crews, from dealing with metaphors of race relations to getting thrown into the 1930s to meeting actual Greek gods, and as such a whole empire of TV shows and movies and novels and comics and audiobook dramas and whatnot makes total sense. That’s what it comes down to: if there’s a real feeling that this is a world that can plausibly have anything, then there’s no reason not to do do everything with that set-up.

In a corporate sense like you ask the basic principles don’t change, just the budgets depending on the medium and which characters you can wrangle if it’s an adaptation. I do admire though how the MCU and the DC TV shows have made it work in the public consciousness, particularly how they sidestepped the possible uncanny valley involved with the concept by slowly building up to their weirder elements. The MCU kicked off with a normal guy in an - admittedly extraordinary - exosuit he built fighting terrorists and other guys in exosuits, the next had a monster but one of science gone wrong in building a super-soldier, the next had a god but in another dimension, with most of his time spent on Earth being mortal, and the straight-up costumed superhero of the bunch was in a pulpy period setting, with only Avengers finally doing a straight-up superhero action movie where they all get together with some super-spies to fight aliens. The CW’s world started off with a single crimefighter without even Batman’s allowances for a strict moral code and a flamboyant theme, slowly introduced super-drugs, eventually allowed super-beings but in a limited context with a single well-defined source point, then time travel, and then magic, and then aliens but in another universe, and then finally they let it all sit together with all of these becoming normal elements regularly crossing over and teaming up with superheroes as an established part of that world. Not that it necessarily has to be that way - I have problems with the DCEU, but it isn’t that it kicked off with Superman and then immediately brought in the rest of the Justice League, even if the insistence on pseudo-realism seems odd in that context - but especially in the early stages of making this something that can work for the first time on TV (aside from Trek, but those didn’t often cross over on TV and didn’t branch out nearly as much) and in movies, I bet it helped.

[queerascat]

i found an old post about a poc ace and went on their blog and they know say they don't identify as ace because aces are bad, basically. and like, i'm literally crying. idk what to do, that just really struck me. someone who wrote about being queer, ace and a poc like me shitting on me and telling me my identity is inherently problematic when it's the reason i can't access mental health atm, which is something i need cause the 'discourse' & the violent abuse i faced on this website for (cont)

(suicide ideation, death threat and conversion tw) including death threats, caused me to fall back into suicidal ideation. and the only therapist available to me suggested conversion therapy (i live in a small central american country, there’s not much knowledge about these things- she thinks if i can be converted to straight, i will no longer suffer from my orientation). this is horrible tbh. i’m sorry to unload but as another poc ace i feel safe around you. i guess what i’m trying to say is that this ‘discourse’, which is just a bunch of people thinking they can gaslight and abuse aces or call the ‘bad’ or ‘cringy’ and don’t want to have any sort of intra community discussion but literally deny us our experiences and be abusive, is harming my mental health. friends i trusted turned out to be acephobic, send me literal death threats. in what kind of WORLD is that fucking ok? idk where im going with this, im sorry. do you know of any ways i can deal with this wave of ace and aro hatred that’s spread this website? i don’t know how to go about it. and now in the spanish speaking online lgbtq+ community, enbyphobes have copied it to exclude enbys for ‘being actually cis’ and are calling us ‘cisnb’ after regs in english calling aces and aros ‘cishet’ so that’s just fucking great :( that’s because the community is only now starting to realize enbys exist. and it’s also learning that about aspecs, so im starting to hear it in spanish too. i just can’t escape it.

i genuinely feel like i’m in no place to be giving any sort of advice on things of this nature– especially right now when i’m just managing to keep my own head above water for various reasons, but…

i’d first like to say that venting has been (and continues to be) a significant part of self-care / coping for me personally and i am beyond flattered that you feel safe enough to vent your feelings to me. no need to apologize, anon. i don’t know if i can be of any help to you, but i hope that the very act of venting in and of itself has been a step in the right direction for coping for you like it often is for me.

i also want to say that i’m very sorry to hear about all of the shit that you’ve been (and continue to be) put through. while i haven’t had your exact experiences, i can very much relate to feeling like you can’t escape “discourse” or otherwise harmful ideology as both it itself and the effects of it pervades other aspects and intersections of your life both on and outside of Tumblr. not to mention how it feels to finally find that rare, illusive something or someone that you share important but seemingly less common intersections with only to discover that that thing or person contributes to the very thing that’s, for lack of a better expression, fucking you up.

…ah, yes. like those old posts by a formerly self-identified ace and queer person of color who now not only advocates against asexuality but who does so in a way that blatantly shits on aces of color by pitching them against other QPOC, among other things. that’s some fucked up shit, ain’t it?

cough. anyway… my personal coping and self-care strategies.

my go-to strategies for coping and self-care certainly don’t work for everyone or in all situations, but with Tumblr and social media-related thing in general i often try to:

remove myself from the source of the distress.

even if only temporarily for a few hours, days, a week– whatever, i do what i can to mentally and / or physically check myself out of whatever it is that’s negatively affecting me and do my best to turn my attention to other things. i go to Starbucks, read a book, clean my apartment, focus on a personal project, catch up on shows, turn off my computer and my phone and finally make myself food– whatever. i focus on things that are actually tangible and perhaps offer some form of self-gratification even if it’s just in the form of tasting good because goddamnit, the time and cost required to get a caramel macchiato is (and quite frankly should be) far more worth it to me than the time and (mental) cost spent giving a damn about someone else’s bullshit. or so i tell myself.

if the source of the distress is outside of the internet, as might be the case with a therapist, i cut that person (or thing) out of my life even if it’s just by silently breaking off communication with them by not returning their calls or not going to their therapy sessions temporarily or indefinitely. as i said above, that person / those people / that thing is not worth the time or (mental) cost required of me by dealing with them.

limit or manage my exposure to the source of the distress when removing myself from it completely isn’t possible.

i feel like this often ends up being more taxing than simply removing myself all together, but blocking / unfollowing immediately upon coming across something or someone that can potentially or does set you off is important. blocking applies to more than just people, blogs or posts but also blacklisting tags, keywords etc using something like Xkit for Tumblr, the native block & mute features on Twitter, etc. if the distress comes in the form of asks, instant messages, etc then i disable those things at least temporarily, especially when blocking an IP fails to get the job done. i also avoid browsing through tags, which can be tough when you actively want to find something to help yourself feel better about yourself / your experiences / etc…

when the source of the distress isn’t online-based, i try to manage / limit my exposure by avoiding the person or thing in question when possible. again, actively avoiding someone or something requires effort on my part and can in and of itself be taxing, so it’s not ideal… but i do what i can.

venting.

while venting is by no means The Solution to anything and comes with its own set of risks / problems when done publicly, venting can be done in so many different ways. it’s a relatively easy form of instantly relief for me regardless of how small that relief may ultimately be. whether it be tweeting, journaling (online or pen & paper), venting on sites specifically made for that purpose, scribbling feelings onto a piece of paper and then immediately ripping that paper to shreds, typing heatedly into a text document and then closing it without saving– whatever, it helps for me to take even a moment out of my day to acknowledge how i feel and speak those feelings into existence beyond just the mess that is my own head at times. even if those feelings only exist in the world for seconds before i delete or physically destroy them because Anxiety And Shit, it still helps.

but perhaps most importantly is to:

focus on the fact that no matter what anyone else says or does, i am The Authority on who i am, how i feel, etc.

i know who i am, but i also know that who i am is not the problem even when others make me feel otherwise. regardless of how i may feel about the things that i face in regards to my sexuality, my gender, my race, etc, i try to keep in mind that those things that i face are a product of the society that i live in and the people who insist on interjecting their own personal bullshit into my life. imho, this is as true of Tumblr “discourse” as it is of life in general.

while it may not be possible to escape society or shitty people all together, there is a lot more to society and life in general than the bullshit that we find ourselves faced with at times. i try my best to look beyond or through “discourse” on Tumblr and see the communities of people both on an off Tumblr who, like me, are against such bullshit. while shitty therapists and shitty people in general may rebrand and rehash the same old tired, hurtful shit that’s been said to others for forever, i try to look past that and focus instead on the fact that a lot of people aren’t like that and have actually learned from the past and and are better for it. i try to focus on a future where i will have access to competent mental health resources and care even though i do not have that now…

…….i’m not sure why i ended up writing this short novel of a post that ultimately amounts to nothing, but yeah. anon, no matter how hard things get, please know that you’re never going at it alone. there are others out there struggling, coping, surviving in spite of the same or similar things, it’s just that if hardly anyone talks about it we end up feeling alone in it, unaware of others’ company…

….which is one reason why despite the potential risks, venting publicly even in the form of anonymous asks can be worth it sometimes and i very much welcome such asks on this blog.

all the best, anon.

[sonofamusicman]

A friend suggested that I do this so I guess I'm doing yhis

1) Sexuality? Straight 2) If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? Eric Whitacre, hands down 3) Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17. "A thin crust of dirt spread from the ghoul's hand, straight up Eurymachus's spectral arm." 4) What do you think about most? Nowadays, my future and where my life is going 5) What does your latest text message from someone else say? "ok. I'm at the side in the parking lot" 6) Do you sleep with or without clothes on? Usually just underwear, but I guess I wouldn't be opposed to sleeping naked 7) What's your strangest talent? Independently moving a single eye 8) Girls.... (finish the sentence); Boys.... (finish the sentence) Girls are just girls; Boys are just boys 9) Ever had a poem or song written about you? Not to my recollection but who knows 10) When is the last time you played the air guitar? I always play the air guitar, I never stop 11) Do you have any strange phobias? I'm not sure if I'd count it but I've got this thing about gremlins 12) Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose? Just ask the surgeons 13) What's your religion? Spiritual with a somewhat Christian leaning, but not altogether religious 14) If you are outside, what are you most likely doing? Marching band usually but I'll do whatever with my friends 15) Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? Depends on the time I guess, I love performing but I love the creative aspect of shooting and the liberty to make artistic differences 16) Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band? My marching band, I judge the song not the band that performs it 17) What was the last lie you told? I'll ft out of bed soon 18) Do you believe in karma? Absolutely 19) What does your URL mean? Idk I just like the sound of it 20) What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength? I can get overexcited and go a little nuts; I am unfalteringly loyal to my organizations 21) Who is your celebrity crush? Karen Gillan by far 22) Have you ever gone skinny dipping? A couple times, but I never was all that into it 23) How do you vent your anger? Swordplay or throwing knives usually, because I haven't managed to form a healthy habit yet 24) Do you have a collection of anything? Playing cards, I have probably a couple hundred decks at this point 25) Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? I think the phone? Mostly because with video chatting there usually isn't as much of a purpose to the convo which can make it hard to keep going naturally, but for the most part I prefer face to face or texting 26) Are you happy with the person you've become? With some of me, I'm stuck in some bad habits that make things hard, but I've been pulling myself together 27) What's a sound you hate; sound you love? I hate the sound of jackhammers; I love the sound of cellos 28) What's your biggest "what if"? Probably what if I'd applied myself in high school and actually developed decent study habits 29) Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens? Absolutely; it'd be vain not to 30) Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm. Window blinds; blu-ray remote 31) Smell the air. What do you smell? Fresh wind 32) What's the worst place you have ever been to? A skeevy motel in Nevada 33) Choose East Coast or West Coast? West coast, but more northern 34) Most attractive singer of your opposite gender? Taylor swift is attractive, but such a bitch 35) To you, what is the meaning of life? Life doesn't have a meaning, you give it meaning with the legacy you leave 36) Define Art. The intangible made tangible, the abstract made concrete, the infinite made finite 37) Do you believe in luck? Absolutely 38) What's the weather like right now? Partly cloudy, a comfortable breeze 39) What time is it? 1:56 pm 40) Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed? Yes; I nearly hit a car when I first got my license but I swerved away just in time 41) What was the last book you read? I believe the last book I read was looking for Alaska, but I was rereading 42) Do you like the smell of gasoline? A little bit 43) Do you have any nicknames? Master B-Dizzy, Brian-T Crest, Drunk Uncle BRT, Taps 44) What was the last movie you saw? In theaters it would probably be Rogue One, at home it would be Homeward Bound 45) What's the worst injury you've ever had? Well when I set my hand on fire that wasn't great 46) Have you ever caught a butterfly? Yes 47) Do you have any obsessions right now? I'm pretty into It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia right now 48) What's your sexual orientation? Straight; wasn't that number 1? 49) Ever had a rumor spread about you? I don't think so, but in middle school I started rumors about myself 50) Do you believe in magic? Of course 51) Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? Not really grudges in the sense of wanting revenge or anything, but if you've wronged me I remember it forever 52) What is your astrological sign? Pisces 53) Do you save money or spend it? I try to save, but I've been known to treat myself 54) What's the last thing you purchased? Some office supplies 55) Love or lust? Love always 56) In a relationship? Not in a couple years now 57) How many relationships have you had? 2 or 3 legitimate ones 58) Can you touch your nose with your tongue? No 59) Where were you yesterday? Mostly home, ran a few errands though 60) Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you? Yes 61) Are you wearing socks right now? No 62) What's your favorite animal? Wolves, majestic little badasses 63) What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you? I like to think it's my singing, but I think my sense of humor could be a plus 64) Where is your best friend? At this moment? No idea 65) Spit or swallow?(; Ehhhhh hard to say, probs spit (wow that came out of nowhere) 66) What is your heritage? American for a long while, but originally scotch Irish 67) What were you doing last night at 12 AM? Working on arrangements 68) What do you think is Satan's last name? Pense 69) Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off? Obviously 70) Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend? Most of the time, but I'm pretty annoying at times 71) You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do? Save the dog, if I'm at that point at my job, I'm on my way out already 72) You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid? I'd tell a few people; I'd probably just get my affairs in order and tell people what I've been needing to tell them; maybe at first, but I don't think that'd last long, I don't really fear death anymore 73) You can only have one of these things; trust or love. Love, but what is one without the other 74) What's a song that always makes you happy when you hear it? Eric Whitacre's A Boy and a Girl 75) What are the last four digits in your cell phone number? 9017 76) In your opinion, what makes a great relationship? A mix of complimentary traits that maintain intimacy and sexuality while keeping the higher sense of love and the ability to enjoy each others company 77) How can I win your heart? With kindness and a love of art in all forms 78) Can insanity bring on more creativity? Absolutely, but be careful, that can be playing with fire 79) What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far? Hands down, joining marching band in high school 80) What size shoes do you wear? 10 1/2 men's 81) What would you want to be written on your tombstone? "We must nourish creativity in any medium, so as to preserve the greatest of all of them" 82) What is your favorite word? Etherial 83) Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart. Kindness without motive 84) What is a saying you say a lot? It's all good 85) What's the last song you listened to? Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas 86) Basic question; what's your favorite color/colors? A forest green, especially when coupled with greys and browns 87) What is your current desktop picture? A snowy mountain peak 88) If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be? Probably Donald Trump 89) What would be a question you'd be afraid to tell the truth on? Have you ever stolen anything? 90) One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren't really doing anything, they're just standing around your bed. What do you do? See if they can talk first. If they cant or become hostile, I'd probably start slashing at them with the machete I keep next to my bed 91) You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what's even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power? Shapeshifting into animals 92) You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again? My band finals retreat from sophomore year of high school 93) You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? None, I claim all my experiences as they got me to this point in my life 94) You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be? Uhhhhh Selina Gomez probably 95) You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? Italy or France, maybe Venice? 96) Do you have any relatives in jail? No 97) Have you ever thrown up in the car? No 98) Ever been on a plane? Yes a good number of times 99) If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say? Life goes on, but we have to make it better for ourselves