#number of asks remaining in askbox: 4

[textfromthelookout]

Hi! I absolutely love your brilliant analyses of Vegeta. He has stubbornly remained my favorite character of all time, and it’s wonderful to see his character arc treated with the depth and attention it deserves. ❤️

I would love to hear your thoughts, analysis, headcanons, and anything else you believe regarding the relationship between Vegeta and Freeza. The pieces of their dynamic we get in the manga and anime have always fascinated me.

More specific questions: How much of Vegeta’s personality and worldview at the start of Z do you think was influenced by Freeza, and how much was due to his Saiyan nature/the short few years he spent on Vegetasei? What methods do you think Freeza used to mold Vegeta into his own image?

Thank you so much for your time and for the insightful commentary you bring to this fandom.

Oooh, what fun questions!!

So then… what indeed is the relationship between Freeza and Vegeta? Depending on when you ask, there’s different answers to that question. Let’s start at the start.

For essentially Vegeta’s whole life, Freeza is his purpose for persevering. He shoulders the will and rage of the Saiyans—he is their hope for vengeance. Freeza destroyed everything that meant anything to him—his culture, his home, his people, and his status. Freeza occupies a strange space in Vegeta’s mental hierarchy; simultaneously far, far above him as a monolithic, implacable expression of power, and eventually fated to be crushed beneath his royal heel in retribution. There is nobody Vegeta despises more. There is nobody Vegeta fears more.

To Freeza, Vegeta is a pet. An amusing, deluded little dog with an eminently yankable chain. He is not, in any sense of the word, a threat: Freeza in his base form is literal orders of magnitude stronger than Vegeta, prior to Z, he sees him and the Saiyans as a whole as the frogs in a well that they are. Yes, Vegeta is strong—but he’s not even top 5 strong at the point in the story we meet him. Barely top 10, if you want to include King Cold and Cooler’s group. An asset, certainly, but he has stronger men, and Freeza was willing to sacrifice a whole planet’s worth of similar assets on a cost-benefit analysis. Together, the Saiyans would probably destroy most of the rest of of his forces before he could put them all down: then Freeza has to rebuild from scratch, and that’s a hassle. Better to cut the rot away before it compromises the limb, if you see what I mean. (As an aside: Nobody actually knows what the Super Saiyan is exactly before Goku roids out into one on Namek, so Freeza’s trepidation surrounding it reads—to me—less as fear of a warrior stronger than himself appearing to topple him, and more as a dictator knowing a rebel’s rallying point when he sees one. Zarbon claims to Vegeta that ‘what Master Freeza feared was a union of all the Saiyans. Alone, you are nothing.’)

No, Freeza keeps Vegeta around for the simple fact that futile struggle is his favorite entertainment, and Vegeta is a paragon of futile struggle before most everything else. He knows all about Vegeta’s vendetta, and how he’s pinned his hopes on the legend of the Super Saiyan manifesting in him, and that eventually he’ll try to bite back. So it’s fun to jerk him around and watch him swallow indignity after indignity for the sake of a long game that Freeza knows he’s not going to lose. Oh, you conquered Planet Shikk in three days? Zarbon could have done it in one; so much for the vaunted Saiyan strength. He’s a trophy, unique in the fact that he serves Freeza loyally while not disguising his hatred towards him at all.

Namek is a fabulous arc for a lot of reasons, a prominent one being the whole Vegeta-and-Freeza thing coming to a head; a perfect encapsulation of the dynamic. Everything that Vegeta does to impede Freeza, up to and ultimately including his theft of the Dragon Balls, is treated by Freeza as a minor inconvenience. A small bump on the road to immortality. Vegeta kills Cui? That’s cute, let’s see what he does next. Kills Dodoria and Zarbon? Irritating, but not unsalvageable. Steals the Dragon Balls? Now he’s earned a beating, but the Ginyu Force retrieved them quickly, and no way Vegeta leaves that encounter alive.

And like. He isn’t wrong to look at it that way, is he. Goku has to bail Vegeta out of dying by Recoome’s hand. He gets a lucky break and a rana ex machina against Ginyu himself. Once he actually starts fighting Freeza, the cover comes off the whole thing immediately. Because it’s not a fight to Freeza. He’s not eliminating a threat, he doesn’t view Vegeta as a combatant. He’s pissed and he’s killing two birds with one stone—punishing those responsible for screwing him out of his wish, and blowing off steam by toying with them and watching their spirits break before their slow, inevitable, agonizing deaths.

And boy does it work an absolute treat on Vegeta. For three main reasons, I think. First is that Vegeta grew up under Freeza’s rule. Fearing him is in his bones now, and that’s a tough instinct to shake. Second, Vegeta is just starting to get a handle on how ki-sensing works. He’s not used to being able to feel other peoples’ powers. He is a bonfire among a sea of candles, and he’s suddenly face to face with the sun. He can’t run from it, he can’t deny it, he can’t shut his eyes to it. Imagine how that feels to someone who previously spent his whole life in metaphorical darkness. This only reinforces his fear of Freeza. Third, and perhaps most importantly: the two prior reasons run directly counter to the avenger narrative Vegeta has constructed for himself and lived his whole life by. He can’t get The Way Things Are Supposed To Go and reality to reconcile. As in the post before: he refuses to bend—so he breaks.

In a lot of major Dragon Ball fights (maybe all of them, I’m not gonna go back and check), there’s someone playing the role of the defeatist. The doomsayer. The ‘it’s all over, he’s too strong’ guy. For the group confrontation against Freeza, this is Vegeta. What a role to cast him in. What other role could he be cast in, with the history and mindset he has? He didn’t plan on tangling with Freeza until he was immortal, when his victory was at best overwhelming and at worst a matter of attrition. Past their initial clash—a brief grapple that Vegeta notably leaves winded while Freeza seems more annoyed than anything else—Vegeta doesn’t go head-to-head with Freeza. He’s hesitant to attack him. Scared. Freeza knows that. Freeza largely ignores Vegeta throughout the fight because he isn’t doing anything, which he taunts him about. Oh, I’m gonna kill this little half-Saiyan. Aren’t you gonna come save him, Vegeta? No? I thought not.

As tactically unsound as bringing Piccolo to Namek was—seriously what the hell, you almost defeated the whole purpose of going there in the first place—it makes for an interesting way to twist the knife in Vegeta. Here he is, embodying everything that Vegeta was supposed to—the champion of a slaughtered people, (almost) the last of his kind, fearlessly throwing down with Freeza. After a transformation, and meeting with decent success, furthermore. Piccolo, who has only the most tenuous of connection to his race and his homeworld (same as Goku, interestingly enough). And what is Vegeta doing?

He gets desperate. And when Vegeta gets desperate, he does stupid, crazy, desperate things. Like letting Krillin blow a hole in his chest because if he gets one more brink-of-death power-up then surely he’ll be stronger than Freeza. He just has to be. But he’s not, and all the fight goes out of him. And when the fight goes out of him, Freeza’s interest in him disappears too. Because that was the whole appeal of Vegeta to him—that expectation that he’d fight to the bitter end.

That’s where they stand at the end of Namek, up until Super. Vegeta is a pitiful disappointment to Freeza, Freeza is a memory of failure to Vegeta subsumed into his fixation on defeating Goku. And so, time passes. Vegeta goes through A Lot of development. Freeza seethes in hell, dreaming of revenge.

While Resurrection F is imo a rather poor arc, it’s got some stuff for us in this vein. Freeza comes to Earth for the grudge match against Goku—he barely acknowledges Vegeta at all, except to express surprise that he’s still around, and hanging around with Goku no less. He’s uninterested in him entirely—when Vegeta tries to cut into the fight, all Freeza has for him is a quip about pets and masters and an order to butt out.

And Vegeta just… takes that? Why does he just take that? This has baffled me for the longest time. The closest approximation of a Good Writing explanation I can get is Vegeta deciding that he wants Freeza reduced to about the power level that he was on Namek before he pulls that mean role reversal on him. Hey, did you know I have transformations now? But Vegeta doesn’t get off on crushing ants (anymore) the way Freeza does, so he doesn’t even really seem to revel in kicking Freeza’s teeth in like he’d wanted to for so long. I guess to his mind it’s too little too late. The Saiyans have been avenged for a decade already. He’s had time to heal and grow and rearrange his priorities.

Up through the Super Broly movie, that’s where they’re at. Mutual enmity, mutual acknowledgment of the threat each poses to the other. Everything past that, I’ll save for the Moro/Granolah post (and for once I’m. yknow. current with the manga again.)

As to the other questions—the thing is, I don’t think Freeza tried to mould him into anything, because the whole point of keeping him was [gestures to the above] That. Let me instead pose a different question—how much of Vegeta’s personality and worldview at the start of Z do you think was influenced by Nappa? Nappa, who was old enough to remember life on Vegetasei before King Cold took over. Who would know exactly what was taken from them, and would harbor a deep resentment over it? Whose view of such things was likely colored by his more than probable involvement in the Saiyan-Tuffle war? Personally I think it’s more than anybody realizes.

Thanks for your ask <3 Hope this was satisfactory.

[songsofbloodandwater]

March Witchy Ask Game ༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･

1 ✧ What are some customs for this starting season that you wish to pass on in the family?

2 ✧ Does hair hold significance in your practice? if yes, tell us a bit about it!

3 ✧ What arts and crafts do you integrate in your practice? (painting, singing, pottery, embroidery, anything!)

4 ✧ If you keep altars in your home, do they change significantly across the seasons or do they remain the same? in which ways?

5 ✧ What is your preferred way to protect yourself (or someone else) when preparing to travel away?

6 ✧ What beliefs, customs or terms, in your practice have you reclaimed? how did you reclaim them?

7 ✧ What is your preferred method to cultivate peace (of mind, or in your home)?

8 ✧ What is your preferred method to bring joy and happiness? (to a person, or home)

9 ✧ Does your practice include some kind of trance work? what does that look like to you?

✧ Drop a number in the askbox and reblog if you'd like to receive some asks too! ✧

[whiteroseismyotp]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged somethjng from you! Get to know your mutuals and followers.

Oh hi! I'm not sure how long ago you sent this but I hope it wasn't very long(I never get asks and just happened to see this was there while checking my blocked tags). Anyways lol

1. Cats. Basically anything with cats really. Petting them, watching my cats somehow get stuck in the stupidest places, their little noises. Instant serotonin boost

2. Ice cream. It truly is a perfect pair to depression(at least in my case) because anytime I eat ice cream I start feeling better almost immediately. Birthday cake being my favorite, but thus far I've yet to taste a flavor I don't like

3. Most of my family. Being able to go visit my great-grandmother whenever I want because she lives right next door is incredible since she loves to gossip and we routinely talk mad shit about the family we don't like with any others present.

4. The decorations around my room. All a collection of things from games or movies or just standalone I loved, each one reminds me of why I love what it came from(Like my Reaper Plushie bringing memories if my first playthrough of the Trilogy)

5. Speaking of Mass Effect, that's number 5. Just everything about this game, from the jank controls of the Original Mako(which I'm STILL salty was taken from me), to the squadmate banter, to the progression of the fight. This game easily took my number 1 spot and will likely remain there for a very long time.

Not really confident tagging people directly but if you know you've interacted with a post from my blog recently and want to participate in this, go for it!

[feigeroman]

Thomas OCs: Evadne & Hilda (plus some headcanons about Diesel 10)

So, here’s the deal. When I originally invited people to ask me about characters from my NWR Stocklist post, I didn’t realize I didn’t have my askbox turned on. Hell, I forgot that this was even an optional thing. However, it was brought to my attention by one @jobey-wan-kenobi​ - alias @mean-scarlet-deceiver​ - and this post is to inform everyone that I’ve now put this matter right.

Oh, and they also wanted to know about two of my OCs, as well as my headcanons about Diesel 10. Find both of these things below the break.

EVADNE & HILDA

(Note: I’m not much of an artist - any more than I am a writer - so all OCs will be represented using pictures of the engines they’re based on.)

Number: 34 (Evadne) and 35 (Hilda) Class: L&Y Aspinall Class 5 2-4-2T Built: 1905 Arrived on Sodor: 1926 (purchased by NWR in 1953) Service (Shed): Norramby Branch (Norramby) Livery: NWR Mixed-Traffic Red (Evadne) and Goods Black (Hilda)

The 1925 NWR/LMS Agreement allowed the North Western to remain very much its own thing, rather than being closed or absorbed into the neighbouring London Midland & Scottish Railway. The larger company’s influence was still keenly felt on Sodor, mainly in the form of running powers, which allowed their engines to traverse NWR metals as and when required - usually on inter-company trains. However, there was one line on Sodor where the LMS still held sway, at least partly: The branch line from Barrow-In-Furness to Norramby.

One of the conditions laid down in the Agreement was the provision of a joint NWR/LMS service along the Norramby Branch. This was because the two towns it served provided important sources of revenue for the two companies: Norramby itself was becoming a popular holiday resort for Mainlanders and Sudrians alike, while the intermediate town of Ballahoo served as a dormitory town for people working in Barrow-In-Furness.

Both companies agreed to provide engines and rolling stock to work the service, and while history does not record which engines worked the NWR portion, the first two engines to work the LMS portion were Evadne and Hilda. They were two ex-L&YR engines, displaced from their work in Lancashire by more modern LMS engines. Though not the oldest engines the NWR had ever seen, they were no spring chickens, even at the time. However, they ably coped with their half of the joint service, and on very few occasions - usually during Summer or Christmas - did it become too much for them to cope with.

The joint service was carried over to British Railways after Nationalization, and to begin with, Evadne and Hilda simply carried on as before - with only a change of livery to indicate the passage of time. In 1953, however, BR decided to modernize their half of the service, and retired the two engines in favour of a larger Standard engine. Coincidentally, Sir Topham Hatt had been searching for an engine to take over his half of the service, and when he learned of Evadne and Hilda’s retirement, he arranged for them to be fully purchased by the NWR, and they’ve worked happily on Sodor ever since.

(Incidentally, the Standard ultimately proved to be less than successful, and in 1957 he was replaced by two brand-new DMUs. These units - Violet and Hyacinth, would themselves become NWR property, after being superseded by more modern units in 1976.)

As for Evadne and Hilda themselves, one could best describe them as old dears. They’re often to be found reminiscing about the good old days, and reflecting on how different things are now. Evadne in particular is much more likely to complain about how this generation isn’t a patch on the one she grew up in. Hilda, meanwhile, is more optimistic on this front, and more willing to accept that for all its faults, the modern generation still has a lot going for it. Besides this, the two sisters are massive gossips. As they regularly travel across to Barrow, they are often privy to any goings-on over on the Other Railway, and can often spread the news faster than any official source. If any Sodor engine reports any Mainland happenings - from the newest development to the most lurid crash - you can be sure they heard it from Evadne and Hilda!

Trivia:

Evadne was originally named Ethel - I needed the sort of name that an elderly Northern woman might have, and this fit the bill. See next bit of trivia for why I changed it.

Their current names were both inspired by Hinge & Bracket, a comedy drag act from the 70s and 80s, encompassing radio, television and stage performances. Indeed, as I’ve developed the two engines, their respective personalities have grown to match their namesakes - Evadne (Dr Evadne Hinge) has turned out just as brittle and acerbic, while Hilda (Dame Hilda Bracket) has ended up being just as flamboyant.

DIESEL 10

Right, now for the headcanons bit. I’ll fully admit, I struggled a bit with how I wanted Diesel 10 to fit into my canon, and not all of this is set in stone, but let’s run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it...

Diesel 10 is in fact D863, Warrior, built in 1961, and withdrawn in 1969. Although written off as scrapped, he was in fact purchased in a shady deal which nobody is really sure about to this day. The most popular theory is that the government was involved somehow, and they modified Warrior to help meet their needs - again, nobody knows what they had in mind, but considering Pinchy was one of their modifications, it couldn’t have been anything pretty.

Eventually, someone got wind of this scheme, and in a panicked rush to cover up the project - codenamed Diesel Ten - government officials ordered the engine disposed of. They really meant to have him destroyed, but the person put in charge of this instead decided to foist Diesel 10 onto Sir Topham Hatt.

The seller allegedly claimed that he was part of a preservation group that’d gone under, and that if they didn’t sell Diesel 10 pronto, there was a risk he would be scrapped. The engine still visibly carried all his government modifications - including the bloody great claw on his roof - so exactly how Sir Topham Hatt took the seller’s story at face value is anyone’s guess. But he did, and by 1973, Diesel 10 was officially purchased and listed on the NWR’s books.

To this day, there are many conspiracy theories surrounding the sale and the events surrounding it. None of them can be proven as fact, but all of them may be true to some degree...

As in canon, I decided he was based in the Vicarstown area - specifically, at the Vicarstown Steelworks (alias the Smelter’s Yard). His main job is bringing in scrap metal, and taking out the finished iron and steel - his brute strength makes him perfect for both jobs. In between, I suspect Pinchy would be good for crunching up the scrap and throwing it into the melting pot.

Really, anything else that requires a claw, Pinchy would be good for. Rocks, branches, leaves, junk, murder victims, all that jazz...

Pinchy is operated by Diesel 10′s secondman rather than his driver. The two men do not get along, and each will often do things to annoy the other. Hence why Pinchy often seems to have a mind of his own.

It’s shown in Magic Railroad that Diesel 10 seems to have artistic leanings (using Pinchy to carve a self-portrait out of stone). I like to imagine that when he’s got nothing better to do, Diesel 10 indulges in a bit of metal sculpture - using Pinchy to make little pieces of art from the scrap before it’s melted down. He’s made hundreds of such pieces over the years, but never keeps any of them - maybe for five minutes once he’s finished, but then they go straight into the melting pot.

His artistic career has been met with mixed reactions. Most refuse to believe that such a big, psychotic brute would ever want to express himself in this way. Those who’ve managed to see his work claim that what it lacks in technical precision, it more than makes up for in spirit. One of his pieces even won an award - a one-off collaboration with a local art student, who came searching for materials for her latest piece, and ended up being inspired by the formations Diesel 10 created.

[juzaa]

writing rules!

hi hi! my name is nidhi and i write in my free time! i’ve recently fallen for some really pretty theater boys, and decided to create a blog for them :)) the askbox will be open from time to time, so please look @ the rules below before you request!

do not ask for NSFW scenarios/headcanons for characters who are underaged/minors

aged-up characters will be accepted in certain scenarios 

please specify whether you want a scenario or headcanons written in bullet points

please be specific enough with your requests! something simple as ���Taichi and reader go stargazing” will be enough!

will be reader-inserts only; character x character will be allowed in certain scenarios

reader will be gender neutral/have feminine pronouns

the reader CAN be the director, but they will be an adult! please specify!

only the main troupe members + sakoda will be written for! requests for matsukawa, tetsuro, etc. will not be accepted, sorry <3

side note:  because i play the EN game, i won’t accept requests for the boys that join after acts 1-4! i will accept requests for them when A3!EN releases the new acts :)

there is a limit on the number of characters you can request per ask! you can request up to 3 characters at a time for full scenarios, and up to 5 characters at a time for headcanons!

Stories will be organized by tags, and i’ll do my best to (eventually) make a masterlist :)

any possible trigger warnings will be placed before any works containing said triggering contents

I might refuse a request if it’s something too heavy as well, so just keep that in mind!

ultimate disclaimer: all works are made for leisurely purposes. no money is being made from these fan-made works. each series belong to their respective owners—user juzaa merely owns the fan work's ideas/plot, original characters (OCs), fictional places not mentioned in canon, etc.

The askbox will also remain open for discussions, and i’ll try posting some memes that i make from time to time. My A3! ID is also in my bio if you want to be friends! 

I hope that we all have a great time here!

EDIT AS OF JUNE 4TH: TO SHOW THAT YOU’VE READ MY RULES, PLEASE LEAVE A FLOWER EMOJI WITH YOUR REQUEST!! THANK YOU!

[sienofrph]

⌜˓ ˑ ⋆ 𝚂𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙾𝙵𝚁𝙿𝙷'𝚂 𝚃𝚄𝚃𝙾𝚁𝙸𝙰𝙻​ ➤ CUTTING A PNG IN PHOTOSHOP ˔ʾ⌟

i was asked how i cut out my pngs in photoshop, which i often use in my graphics. luckily, cutting out pngs is very easy and only requires photoshop and a tad bit of patience and practice. below the cut you will find a detailed tutorial on how i cut out my pngs !! if you found this useful, please give this post a like or reblog. my askbox is always open to questions if something isn’t clear or you are struggling with something !! good luck, darlings !! xoxo

alright, before we can start cutting, the very first thing you need to do ( and i guess is needless to say -- but i’ll do it anyways ) is find a picture you would like to cut out, save it to your computer and open it in photoshop. once this is done, we are good to go !!

STEP 1 : when your picture is open in photoshop, increase the scale ( i usually set it at 350px, but this usually depends on the size of your picture ). simply make sure that the zoom is strong enough so you can see everything in detail. this is definitely important if you are cutting out a picture of a person with very unruly hair or hair that sticks out a lot. the bigger the zoom, the more precise you can cut. 

STEP 2 : once your picture is zoomed in, select the erase tool. 

STEP 3 : once you’ve selected the eraser tool, you’ll have to pick which eraser to use. in order to erase the background and make it transparant, you first have to select the middle eraser ( the background one ). then, simply erase a small part somewhere random in the background ( you should see the checkered background in that spot, then you know you’re good ). if you don’t do this and immediately go to step four, then you’ll remove the background but it won’t be transparant -- it’ll be white.

STEP 4 : now, select the first eraser tool. this one you will be using from now on, to cut out the picture.

TIP : if the image you want to cut someone from is very plain, f.ex. a one colour background, then you can opt to use the last eraser tool. then you just have to click the background and it should all disappear. but this will only work if the background is one and the same colour and if the contrast between the background and the person is big enough.

STEP 5 : now we have to adjust the eraser settings before we can start cutting out. in order to do this, click the small arrow ( see circle on picture below ). a drop down box will appear.

STEP 6 & 7 : in order to get a clean, detailed cut, you don’t want the eraser to be too big. usually, my eraser tool is set at 3px. but again, this depends on how big your zoom is. it’s possible that you’ll have to set it even smaller if you want to cut out hair or something of the sort. now the only thing left is select the plain white, clear cut eraser ( number 7 on picture below ). 

STEP 8 : and now you can finally start cutting out the person on your picture !! this part is pretty self-explanatory -- just begin to erase the background, closely around the person, following their frame. don’t worry if it doesn’t go smoothly from the get-go, often, you need some practice to get it done quickly and smoothly.

STEP 9 and 10 : once the entire frame has been traced, you can make the brush size a bit bigger again ( step 10 ) and make the transparant trail around the body wider and wider ( step 11 ). when it is wide enough, zoom out again to 100% ( step 9 ) and now you can use a big brush to erase the remaining of the background quick and easily.

and this is how you cut out a person from a picture !! this is the end result, which you have to save to your computer as a png !! if something isn’t clear or you have more questions, feel free to let me know, dear. don’t forget that practice makes perfect -- you usually don’t have a very steady hand from the get-go. but it’ll come, trust me. hopefully this tutorial has helped you out. one more thing, i apologise for the dutch settings of my photoshop -- i hope this hasn’t made things confusing !! xoxo

[westie-impostor]

2018 Dogblr Gift Exchange!

It’s finally here! The 2018 Dogblr Gift Exchange is here! Hosted by @collegiatecanine and myself, westie-impostor.

Are you excited???

I know we are!

@Collegiatecanine and I are excited to announce another Dogblr gift exchange/Secret Santa!  We got such positive feedback last year, and we hope to continue that positivity within Dogblr this year.  Note: we are switching to a primarily email-based communication due to issues with Tumblr messenger last year.

With that said, we put together a few rules, just so that everything remains fun!

1. You do need to be an active member of Dogblr to participate! Unfortunately, there were so many people last year who do not regularly post within dogblr, or even about dogs at all.  This led to many feeling like they had no idea who they were sending their gift to, and it felt impersonal. If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to ask myself or @collegiatecanine

2. Because we want to be inclusive, there is a price suggestion of around $15 for single dog homes, and $25 for multi-dog homes (in USD). We strongly recommend staying in the area of this number so that everyone feels like they got a fair shake. Please do take into account things like labor in regards to homemade gifts! We know that there are so many talented members of this community, so please consider your hard work into this number.

3. We are going to try our best to match people up according to dog-family-member count; blogs with multiple dogs will most likely be matched with other blogs with multiple dogs. However, if you’re a single dog owner, please indicate if you are willing to provide individual gifts for homes with multiple dogs! Every dog should receive their own gift (though you can send as many as you wish).

4. Likewise, please indicate if you can accept a partner from other countries.

5. Homemade treats should include an ingredients list; please pay attention to the allergy/sensitivity list provided. Let’s keep everyone out of the vet’s office!

6. The schedule is as follows: registration closes on November 11th, matches will be made and sent out by the 17nd of November, and gifts should be mailed by December 10th (or earlier, especially if sending internationally).  

7. In the end, you are responsible for yourself and your dog(s). Please message either myself or collegiatecanine when you mail your gift - your partner is counting on you! We also need you to have your askbox or messenger open - to be able to get in contact with you in case of emergency.  Please check your emails for partner updates!!! 

8. Keep your partner (who you are sending a gift to) a secret until you send your gift! When you send your present to your partner, you should disclose your identity in your gift for the surprise. It’s exciting to be surprised, and it a great fun part of the game! Make sure you include who you are in the gift so the gift recipient knows who you are!

Please fill out this survey to participate! This is the most important part, so please be thorough and make sure you fill it out completely.

If you have any questions, please please please be in contact with collegiatecanine or myself, westie-impostor. We hope that this is (yet again!) a fun and exciting way to boost holiday spirit, no matter what holiday you celebrate (or if you celebrate at all)! 

[thebossiswrongasrain]

100 Questions to ask to get to know me

I thought this would be interesting to do so here we go. Just say in a number in my askbox and also answer it yourself if comfortable.

1) Put your Spotify on shuffle. Give me the first 10 songs that pop up.   2) If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?   3) Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.   4) What do you think about most?   5) Do you have any tattoos? What are they?   6) Do you sleep with or without clothes on?   7) What’s your strangest talent?   8) What is your favorite quote?   9) Ever had a poem or song written about you?   10) When is the last time you played the air guitar?   11) Do you have any strange phobias?   12) Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose?   13) What’s your religion?   14) If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?   15) Do you perfer to be behind the camera or in front of it?   16) Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?   17) What was the last lie you told?   18) Do you believe in karma?   19) What does your screen name mean?   20) What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength?   21) Who is your celebrity crush?   22) Have you ever gone skinny dipping?   23) How do you vent your anger?   24) Do you have a collection of anything?   25) Do you perfer talking on the phone or video chatting online?   26) Are you happy with the person you’ve become?   27) What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?   28) What’s your biggest “what if”?   29) Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?   30) Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm.   31) Smell the air. What do you smell?   32) What’s the worst place you have ever been to?   33) Choose: East Coast or West Coast?   34) Most attractive singer of your opposite gender?   35) To you, what is the meaning of life?   36) Define: Art.   37) Do you believe in luck?   38) What’s the weather like right now?   39) What time is it?   40) Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?   41) What was the last book you read?   42) Do you like the smell of gasoline?   43) Do you have any nicknames?   44) What was the last movie you saw?   45) What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?   46) Have you ever caught a butterfly?   47) Do you have any obsessions right now?   48) What’s your ideal first date?   49) Ever had a rumor spread about you?   50) Do you believe in magic?   51) Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?   52) What is your astrological sign?   53) Do you save money or spend it?   54) What’s the last thing you purchased?   55) Love or lust?   56) In a relationship?   57) Are you a virgin?   58) Can you touch your nose with your tongue?   59) Where were you yesterday?   60) Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?   61) Are you wearing socks right now?   62) What’s your favorite animal?   63) What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?   64) Where is your best friend?   66) What is your heritage?   67) What were you doing last night at 12 AM?   68) What do you think is Satan’s last name?   70) Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?   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?   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?   73) You can only have one of these things: trust or love.   74) What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?   75) What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?   76) In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?   77) How can I win your heart?   78) Can insanity bring on more creativity?   79) What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?   80) What size shoes do you where?   81) What would you want to be written on your tombstone?   82) What is your favorite word?   83) Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word: heart.   84) What is a saying you say a lot?   85) What’s the last song you listened to?   86) Basic question: what’s your favorite color/colors?   87) What is your current desktop picture?   88) If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?   89) What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?   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?   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?   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?   93) You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?   94) You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?   95) You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?   96) Do you have any relatives in jail?   97) Have you ever thrown up in the car?   98) Ever been on a plane?   99) If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say?   100) Give me your top 5 favorite actors/actresses.  

[thestuckylibrary-bigbang]

Welcome to the Stucky Big Bang Challenge!

FAQ

What is a Big Bang?

A Big Bang is a fan challenge which asks artists and writers join forces to create beautiful transformative works for their fandom. Writers pitch an idea for a fanfiction and artists claim fics that they are interested in. Then the writer and artist work together to post a completed fanfiction that is accompanied by custom artwork by a set deadline. Everybody benefits, especially the fandom.

What are the bare bones expectations?

We will require an email you check reliably often to send information through.

We will require you to check this blog regularly for updates

The word count minimum for this years big bang is 20K words. Authors are expected to meet this requirement and publish their work by the deadline.

Each fanfiction must have at least one art piece accompanying it. Artists are expected to finish and publish each artwork by the deadline.

Is my idea eligible?

Does your idea include Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes as a main pairing? Then your fic is eligible! We allow poly, provided Steve and Bucky are part of the relationship. Crossovers are permitted as long as Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are still in there. It’s fine if your idea isn’t overtly romantic, as long as Steve and Bucky’s relationship is a part of the fic we’re happy. However, works with Steve/Bucky as a side pairing will not be accepted.

No kinkshaming is permitted; however, all kinks must be tagged when published, as well as any major content warnings. Basically anything within the context of stucky is good to go as long as it’s tagged appropriately. 

2017 Schedule

March 20: Sign ups open 

April 25: Author Sign Ups close 11PM MST

May 20: Author’s Summaries and 5000 word draft due 12:00 Midnight MST

May 28: Summaries available to view

June 7: Artist Sign ups Close 12:00 Midnight MST

June 8: Claims Open 11:00pm MST What time is that for me?

July 15: Mandatory Check in for Everyone

August 12: Due Date (tweaks and editing can still be done)

August 18: Posting Begins

Weekend August 18-21: Everything is Posted (hard deadline. Both Fics and Art MUST be complete and posted by 12 Midnight MST August 21) 

The times are what they are. They’re what we could make work for everyone involved in running the bang as we’re scattered in different time zones. They are non negotiable.

Rules for Authors

Authors write a fanfic and pitch the summary to artists who will make art for the fic. The minimum word count expected is 20 000 words. We’ll require a 5000 word draft by 12 Midnight MST May 20, This is ¼ of the expected minimum word count. Authors may either: start writing after you sign up or continue working on something they are already writing provided it isn’t published. After the sign up close, Authors will have three and a half months to complete their fic. We’ll also require each over 20 000 word fic submitted to us by 12 Midnight MST August 12. Authors can do some minor editing if needed between then and the posting date, but the fic must be ready to publish on August 18.

You can write more than one fic if you wish, but do not submit more than one summary unless you are certain you can complete all works by the due date.

Communication with your artist is not only recommended, but required. You at least need to make your current draft available by the July 15 check in so the artist can begin working on their piece.

Works cannot be published until August 18 arrives and must be fully published by end of day August 21. When published, any major archive warnings must be added if applicable.Tags must include any and all common triggers and squicks that may occur in your fic. There will also be a AO3 collection open for the Big Bang. You can submit more than one fic if you really want to and you know both will be finished. Your fic must be submitted to us by 12 Midnight MST August 12 or it will not be included in the masterlist or AO3 collection. 

Summary and Draft Submission

Summaries and drafts will both be submitted through email to stuckybigbangsubmissions@gmail.com. Drafts should either be through a link to a google dog or an attached word file. Summary information will follow this format:

Username:

Profile URL:

Email:

Title:

Rating: (G/ PG/ M/ E)

Archive Warnings: (None, Graphic Violence, Rape/Noncon, Major Character Death, Underage)

Important Tags: (any additional warnings/type of au/important things to know. please limit yourself to 8 tags max)

Summary: (keep it to a 8 sentence max, one paragraph)

You may submit each as soon as you are certain of what you’re writing. Summaries and Drafts must be submitted by May 20 at 12 Midnight MST.

Final submission on August 12 will also be done through email. 

Rules for Artists

You will need a minimum of one finished piece per fic you claim. Art can be a drawing, painting (either traditional or digital), gifsets, graphics, fanvids, fanmixes, manips, songwriting provided it can be recorded and posted, 3D art including fibre, sculpture, bookmaking, craft, provided it can be photographed. 

Fanvids must be at least 1 minute and 30 seconds. Fanmixes must be at least 10 tracks and have a front and back cover. Gifsets must include at least eight gifs.

Consult the author on any squicks/triggers they may have before making your piece. Art pieces are not to be posted until August 18 and must be complete aside from small edits by August 12. Your art must be submitted to us by 12 Midnight MST August 12 or it will not be included in the masterlist or AO3 collection. EDIT JULY 24: Artists will NOT be required tosubmit their works for the 12th. Works cannot be published before August 18 and must be published by the end of August 21st.

Sign Ups

Sign ups will be available through a google from at 9:00 AM MST on March 20. We will post the links at that time.

Sign ups are now open!

Claims

Claims will be through a timestamped google form. Artists will need to submit their url, email as well as  the number and title of the summary/ies they wish to claim. Each artist will be allowed to claim a total of up to 4 fics total. In the first round, which will last for 6 hours, each artist will be allowed to claim one fic. In the second round, each artist will be able to claim more. This round will last until each fic has at one claim on it. After that, when the third round is announced each artist will be able to claim more fics if they so wish. each fic will be allowed a total of 3 artists working on it. All notifications of the results of claims will be done through email.

More detailed information will be given in an upcoming claims info post.

Check Ins

Check ins will be done through google forms, one for authors and one for artists. We will send out an email reminder in addition to posting on this blog about check ins, but it your responsibility to check in with us. There will be separate check in forms for authors and artists. 

Posting

Each team will need to make a post containing links to all the fanworks produced by them. A link post to the fic with links to the art added in is basically what we’re looking for. Each post will be reblogged here as to provide as much exposure as possible. In addition, a masterpost of all the fics will be posted here and reblogged to thestuckylibrary.

There will also be a tag on tumblr for all content posted here (#sbb2017)

We will post examples to make posting clear closer to the posting date.

Accommodations

If you require an accommodation in any way, for example if you are d/Deaf/HOH and need visual only art or are blind and need audio only art, if you cannot view flashing gifs, if you have a trigger that does not fall under archive warnings and so on, please let us know and we will ensure your needs are met.

Other Misc. Rules

We will not allow underage sex in any big bang submissions. This means no sex scenes if the characters are under 16.

We also request that participants do not bring bang related questions to thestuckylibrary as not all the mods there are mods for the bang. It will also keep everything much more organized if conversations about the bang remain on this url.

We trust all participants to be responsible for the content they create and engage with.

At this time, any questions can be directed to our askbox or stuckybigbangsubmissions@gmail.com, although we will likely get back to you faster from the askbox.