#oops got on a soapbox

[rq-producerperson]

Hello!

Basic question: any tips for getting into a career involved with creative stuff? (Anything, but specifically audio design and writing.)

Additional information about my specific situation I suppose: I'm heading into my second year of college, and have been working towards getting my degree in anthropology with the hope of going into artifact preservation/restoration. However that's kind of always been a... Second priority, I suppose, as I've always wanted to make a living off of my writing, but assumed that even if that was really possible, I should get a degree in something else.

Last year at school I was working as a stage tech for the college of the arts there (mainly for concerts, not theatre), and I loved it a ton and genuinely wouldn't mind a career in that vein.

The last three months I've been working a shitty assembly line job (9 hour days in a windowless room doing the same thing over and over and over and-). The only plus side to it is I've had plenty of time to listen to stuff, and I've gotten really into Magnus. The Q&A episodes and things like that made me realize that there are other things I could do (and love) in a creative vein than just writing. I'd also never considered that my enjoyment of doing tech for live stuff might translate outside of that, but I really genuinely think it would.

So next year I'm taking a bit of a jump and I'm going to be taking some of the introductory journalism courses at my school. (There's a film and media production emphasis under the major with plenty of room for more fiction-oriented work. And then grad school is something I've been seriously considering since I learned the word anthropology, so that's still very on the table if I choose to pursue this.)

This has been a really big switch for me, and quite frankly I'm terrified of getting stuck at a job like the one I currently have for the rest of my life, with a creative degree just rotting in the corner. (At least with anthropology there would probably be another five+ years of school after undergrad, so that was less of a looming issue.)

Just... Any advice on getting my foot in the door? Especially with hopes of eventually moving out of the states?

Sorry for such a long ask, I'm very bad at being brief. :p

Thank you!

Heya, thanks for the Ask. I’ve had this one sitting for a while thinking of the best way to answer, because the truth is that life is variable so I struggle to give what I feel is meaningful advice when the landscape is always shifting.

However, I’ll do my best with what I know.

The keys that I think are best are Patience, Perseverance, and People.

First, Patience.

I’ve mentioned this a few times but it’s important to remember, life changes quickly and the creative market is constantly shifting. Being able to pursue a job in the creative industry means having the patience to wait for the right wave to paddle to, the right gust to lift you up. But like with nature, there is never a guarantee that the winds or tides of fate will flow your way. There’s an element of chance to it.

You have to be prepared to change and take chances when you feel they are right for you. Shoot out before you’re comfortable and you’ll sink, wait too long and you’ll miss a great wave. I can’t give an answer to when is best to know your ready or what the right chance is to take. I CAN however advise that waiting, watching, and learning is the best chance to take that shot. So, learn as much as you can and stay curious and adaptable.

Second, Perseverance

When you have decided a path to trod, a wave to ride. You commit. Know how to move with the current and keep your focus. It’s easy to keep laying out options, but when you have found that Moment that’s right for you to act on your chosen course, you can go in half way.

Before RQ and during the first half of my employment here I was always working two jobs. I’ve done retail, freelance, post graduate work, office administration, accounting, entertainment hosting, you name it. I was an office assistant when I started at RQ but quickly knew that even though I couldn’t make money with it (it was still just Alex in a Yurt at that time), I wanted to commit to it, to make that job the best thing I could do, and I kept a simple day job to make ends meet. I got lucky, I found a mentor who taught me how to advocate for myself and that I had a creative voice after spending years being beaten down. But I also had the conviction and perseverance to know there was something worth building on.

And we did that together.

Which brings me to my last point, People.

You hear a lot in the creative industry that it’s “about Who you Know” and that’s true, but not entirely in the way you think. Learn about people, what their strengths are, how they compliment each other. Surround yourself with likeminded people that want to attain the same goal, have the same passions. Breaking through the creative industry cannot be done in a vacuum. Always make sure you have a support network of other passionate, skilled, and dedicated humans.

Don’t know how to meet people? I bet you do more than you think. Fandom was my in, not just from shooting my shot, but for teaching me how to work creatively with others. (I still try to do art companion work with fanfic writers when I can)

So yea, maybe it’s a standard answer or underwhelming, but the truth is there is no magic key. There’s Skill, Luck, Determination, and Community that make these kind of jobs possible.

[sk1fanfiction]

(ch. 15 review) — it’s the way i kept trying to prolong this chapter 😭 anyway. i love inconvenienced tom (i’m sure dumbledore does too) like it’s so him to sleep way after curfew but complain about being called to do something during his “sleep time” and then i love how absolutely irritated he is once he enters dumbledores office and sees his two nightmares — harry & mini abraxas reincarnate being there. him using a silencing spell and dumbledore lowkey approving is just hilarious, harry’s a bit too loud for everyone’s taste apparently. i seem to have forgotten that voldemort is gorgeous? but did malfoy not clock the identical faces?… also tom riddle experiencing empathy??? and for abraxas’ clone?? oh dumbledore (and maybe ruby) what have you done to the poor guy ! the parvati and lavender fight… that’s so sad i know she’s in love with her but saying mean things to your friends is never nice and i feel so bad for lavender bc yes she’s a bit boy obsessed (although tbf cedric is beautiful) she’s still a good friend and she’s just a teenage girl !! also ruby doing nothing to help, i feel you girl, it’s awkward getting between two close friends arguments. i also did not realise that draco and pansy were officially dating oops. ALSO DAPHNE AND ANTHONY?? i did not expect that at all idkw but personally i’m thinking good riddance oops, jk but i don’t mind them together but poor ruby she’s a bit confused and bitter (although there is a perfectly handsome single guy who is literally in a blood vow to protect her so, she shouldn’t be too disheartened idk). nice to see blaise getting complimented on his bone structure yearly, it’s quite phenomenal. HARRY AND CHO MY CUTIES, he’s a little awkward and nervous but he’s got the spirit !! lastly that note… i’m wondering who wrote it and i’m leaning towards tom bc of their conversation in the forest when she ran away and also his affinity for participating in writing things for the potters during valentines. ooh and nott is such a dick i kind of love that for him.

I ended up prolonging this chapter to >7k to wrap up dangling plot threads so that's valid (the next one that I accidentally posted earlier is more normal length -- that'll be up on Sunday after I proofread it).

That's on me for giving Tom one of my most unserious habits (pretending to 'go to bed early' so people won't bother you for three hours). Harry is definitely (canonically) too loud (controversial but I like OOTP CAPS-LOCK!Harry). Truly the stuff of nightmares.

Malfoy (nor anyone else who has seen them both, like Narcissa) did indeed not clock the identical faces (Clark Kent effect, ig).

Also I haven't given Voldemort a physical description except for his red eyes in a while (since Three Can Keep A Secret, I think?). That is on purpose, because I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted OG/Snake Face Voldemort. But I came to the conclusion that (I think this is canonically correct?) he got the snake attributes from the regeneration potion in GOF, and in RFMD he gets regenerated by the Elixir of Life, and then Jadis from Narnia lives rent-free in my brain and I was thinking about that scene from The Magician's Nephew where she eats the forbidden apple or whatever, which makes her Beautiful in An Eldritch Way and decided to go with that...

Tom?? Experiencing empathy?? He begs to differ and says it is totally for strategic reasons.

Honestly, I do feel bad for making them fight :( Lavender is a good friend (will never get off my Justice for Lavender Brown soapbox) but the whole situation is just so messy. If I were Ruby I wouldn't know how to intervene either.

I was never sure if Draco and Pansy dated in canon, but I decided, what the hell, I've never done a proper Valentine's Day chapter before, so, why not. And on the note of Daphne and Anthony yeah that was intentional blindsiding (I think the only times they were seen together were Ancient Runes class and the junk shop and both were Ruby-centric things). Confused and bitter -- that's exactly why I said jealousy, jealousy is required listening for this chapter (for Parvati, too).

There is a perfectly handsome single guy who is literally in a blood vow to protect her

👀

I can't decide who would be more horrified by this proposition.

Blaise loves that for himself, too. I was re-reading OOTP to figure out Harry and Cho and then I realised that their #1 pastime is actually talking about sports 🤦🏾‍♀️

Of course it's Tom. Who else lives in the intersection of loving to fuck with people and misuse stationery for nefarious purposes?

[icelogged]

soooooooooo right abt coquette being used for regressive femininity im not even familiar w it but it's just kinda really frustrating to see something u found yourself in being used for something almost diametrically opposite to it

EMMM one of my favourite gay people on my phone or however it goes

“—used for something almost diametrically opposite to it”.

that’s what gets me the most. the reclamation of girlhood lost to trauma repackaged into patriarchal bigoted dogma but written in a glitter pen.

i went off longer than i expected, so i went full throttle— oleta’s soapbox moment. tysm for this gift cliff 🫀💞 I will try to use it well :3 @ everyone else if you are not acquainted with nuance or im generalizing (not all xyz) don’t interact with post maybe sit outside without your for 15 minutes. i’m in flare today and can’t deal with people thinking i am attacking a specific group, im targeting them specifically when we’re literally strangers etc etc

just because you put a racially “diverse” [one girl of colour] group of VS models as your header, reblogged *“poc coquettes” are valid and think women are inherently “divine” doesn’t mean your opinion on body hair [a true neutral; as it doesn’t care what you identify as, it just grows (and yes there are exceptions)] and femininity, want for your boyfriend to think for you, holding his finger instead of his hand to make you feel small and demure, constructing every facet of your being down to smell whatever corporations say “is” coquette—doesn’t mean your idea of femininity is extremely regressive, Mary. and it literally does not serve you.

when people speak out about this the response is so sinister and calculated; suddenly these concerned persons are anti-feminist. “let women have fun and feel good”. uhm hey did you know that your pleasure shouldn’t the only indicator in deciding what is “good” or not.

how are you going to tell me that saying **woke trad wife aestheticisms and waiting to see what the influencer it girl of week is wearing before shopping is anti-feminist. it’s like the definition of feminism has become freedom for women to do whatever they want [instead fighting for worldwide liberation and then equity]. feminism is anti-feminist because you told a woman no… smells western selfishness to me. “if it feels good then it can’t be bad”. so it’s feminist to agree with the man who ended eating women he said this to [fictional, chose this example because i think Hayden is a kinda genius and i so thankful work for so many reasons but the discussions and awareness her “silly little story” has shifted the trajectory of many]

this all very by design and social media amplifies it. [I know i draw tiktok through the mud every chance i get but] eras don’t even last 5 years now and that shift can be marked through tiktok’s journey from being musical.ly to what it is now.

musical.ly [branded as fun social media for youth including underage persons] -> oops we had such a bad pedophile problem we gotta overhaul everything -> tiktok [cringe, because it was just musical.ly but called something different and people think people especially kids minding their own business and having fun lipsyncing is cringe, 2018?2019?] -> summer 2019; guys it’s just like vine, are feeling that nostalgia son?(it was not like vine) -> im locked in my house wah wah (people are dying steven) i am so bored and addicted to technology that when i refresh my feeds and there’s no new content i don’t know what to do with myself time to try this new app. did i mention im horny and my porn addiction got worse <3 -> tiktok having to scramble again because of all the new adult content. thus the tiktok is now an app for everyone rebrand -> disguised ads as unsponsored content -> becomes a profitable app -> you can’t say lesbian but you can sure romanticize the nuclear family -> (we are here. i’ll be talking more specifically about regressive femininity especially the kind found in the “coquette”community) femininity is womanhood, it is a specific checklist and if you don’t follow it you’ll never be a lizzy grant waif key west kitten soft girl old money female manipulator (i’ll never get that one, Jesus). shaping your body and presentation to what is deemed desirable and feminine is self care and self care costs money thus hating your natural self is actually bettering it. let the original self die and be just like her [can be anyone, tuned to their likes and opinion on beauty] and don’t forget to preserve your youth [as if aging wasn’t a natural process and something you could stop if you have the money]. older male validation should be your lifeblood, they aren’t like the silly boys at your school, don’t you want fall in love and have a big strong man to protect you that takes advantage of your naïveté to control you but that’s okay because you’re an angel starlet and he has money because he’s older (no he doesn’t he’s in debt Julia like everyone else) <3 but when you hit 26 you might as well be ***milf. be warned hubby gets bored of “milfs” because they’re too harden by the world by then, seen too much, too hard to shape into the little maid sex doll of his dreams so he trolls for ****eighteen years olds again. “if it’s legal :purple_devilface:” etc etc etc ! #coquette

*i’m going to be real with y’all… the use of “poc” [people of colour, person of colour] as a word, not as it’s true form as an acronym has taken years off my life. ‘person/people of colour coquette’ doesn’t make sense. while we’re at it… nblm/w also ruined my life specifically /hyperbolic. e.g nblm reads; ‘non-binary loving male’ when you mean ‘male loving non-binary’. as wlw reads; ‘woman loving women’ also interpreted as women loving women, though such wouldn’t work as smoothly for nblw etc

** i miss when woke actually meant something, aave and ball terminology becoming universal means nothing is sacred

*** the way men in their 60s are dilfs sometimes dilfs all the way to the grave— women who are 27 are milfs… but only three years later they’re hags! oh and men apparently somehow when you reach 30 you’re a certified daddy, unaffected by ageism and your desirability to people who’ve only been adults for less than five years is bass boosted supported by the patriarchy… that sounds familiar doesn’t it? desirability sure has a short shelf life for women and they have to care about it, agonize over it, spend all their money over it but that should be a post in itself *adds to my drafts <3* honestly i do write all the things i said i would i just have ocd and im waiting for a made up arbitrary time to post that is 100% determined by mental illness, perfectionism and subconscious self hate because i totally don’t consciously hate myself anymore because im the sweetest girl in town (haha get it?) and think im martyr gifted from god but i am really into self harming and sabotaging <3 thanks trauma you’ve made my life so interesting ! my brain gets more wrinkly everyday trying to navigate it <33333

****IN MY OPINION people shouldn’t be identified as adults when they are eighteen and nineteen but somebody really wanted to fuck someone’s daughter :/ making me think of another one my ****’s theses; all evil in the world stems from greed. now if society was founded in science not feelings adults would be 25 and older as the frontal cortex develops by then but i can see how that would be an eugenics nightmare as neurodivergent people etc can develop it later though i can’t see this hypothetical society checking everyone’s brain before deeming them an adult because a). you have to wait even longer to legally sexualize them b). it would give everyone a free mandatory health check up but that is also another conversation

[kanalcoin]

🚨 Malaysian Police vs. Bitcoin Bandits: The Great Mining Raid of 2025! 🚨

So, you think you can just plug into the electricity grid and summon $BTC out of thin air? Think again, my savvy crypto hunters! 💡

This February, Malaysian authorities took down a full-blown illegal Bitcoin mining operation 🎉, discovering a staggering 45 mining machines powered by... you guessed it—stolen electricity! Yep, nothing says 'professionalism' like being the resident crypto villain! 🦹‍♂️

💔 Welcome to the Dark Side of Crypto!

The raid highlights Malaysia's ongoing battle against these cheeky power thieves, likely paving the way for stricter regulations. I mean, who would have thought crypto could come with a side of criminal charges? 😏 Local police, led by Supt Mohd Hafz Muhammad Nor, expressed their "shock" upon uncovering nine rigs connected to... well, let's just say the grid was NOT in on their little operation.

“Upon arrival, we found nine mining rigs connected to stolen power supplies.” - Supt Mohd Hafz Muhammad Nor, Police Officer, Malaysian Police

💸 Oops, Landlords! Who's Paying the Bill?

And the hits keep coming! 🧨 The financial fallout for landlords? Try a whopping $1.9 million in unpaid electric bills! 💸💔 Talk about a major buzzkill! Landlords are now standing on a soapbox crying for stricter regulations and backup plans to protect themselves from these slick renters who slip in, set up mining rigs, and then ghost. 🙈

For those who think this is all a laugh, remember: Malaysia has historically had a little 'problem' with power theft, suggesting that the regulatory systems are, shall we say, ripe for an upgrade. Experts are calling out for improved oversight—because who wants to deal with surprise bills while trying to just #HODL in peace? 🤦‍♂️

So, if you're still convinced you can take a shortcut in the mining game, better think twice. The authorities are watching, and they've got *the power*! ⚡️ Check out the full story here!

What are your thoughts on these rogue miners? Is this a sign of things to come for crypto regulations everywhere? Let's discuss below! 👇

#Bitcoin #CryptoNews #CryptoMining #Malaysia #IllegalMining #CryptoCommunity #InvestSmart

[dragonnan]

Finally watched the Doctor Who 60th Special. Thoughts and critique beneath the cut and please expect all the spoilers.

It's been a while since I've hyper-fixated on Doctor Who so I want to have full transparency that that could have colored my experience a bit.

I was exited about the idea of the older cast returning. Donna's run on the show was one of my favorites as well as one of the most painful endings. It always felt incomplete and I think many other fans felt the same. Getting to FINALLY go back after 13 years of wishing for resolution was amazing!

Overall the acting was pretty decent for having been so long since the cast played those characters. Jacqueline King gets a special nod for showing a Sylvia that maybe actually learned from her mistakes with her daughter and comes off as a woman struggling to be better while still showing plenty of her personality to read as authentic.

I like the character of Rose (Donna's daughter in case it needs clarification). I love that she's trans and unlike some critiques I saw, I didn't see it as “wokism” (which is a really clumsy way to say you're bigoted). Frankly it's long past time there were trans characters added into popular media and not simply token individuals but in large numbers. (steps off soapbox while keeping it nearby as needed).

Taken as a whole, however, I did not care for the special.

The start – the villain was weak and so one dimensional it could have been made of paper. A muppet villain would be hard to pull off at the best of times and this was not the best of times. I felt like I was watching something that had been filmed exclusively for children. I never got any of the nuance that even Daleks, beings literally encased in a salt shaker inspired tank, are able to bring to the role. I've felt emotional connection to Cybermen which, again, are frozen expressionless masks. The Meep was a bug eyed Christmas sale item that couldn't even manage interesting with sharp teeth and a snarl. Gremlins it was not.

This builds into the overall lack of emotional depth I felt through the entire episode. Nothing felt consequential. Nothing felt ominous or dire. I felt nothing during Donna's supposed “death” - which I attribute to that thing about not being earned. She'd flipped a few buttons. Great. Really earned that tragic death (oops, sike!)

The “fix” was trite and too “neat”. “Thank God Donna got knocked up I guess???” What took an hour to resolve desperately needed a full season at LEAST. And there was no win for feminism by turning Donna and Rose into Mary Sue characters that are just OH so much smarter than the Doctor cause he's wearing his man face that day. I didn't like the way the Doctor was dismissed due to being male presenting. Before, when they were looking disaster in the face and the Doctor was lost as to what to do - Donna could figure things out differently due to being HUMAN and having a different POV. The way this played out, now, was sloppy and injected cliché where it never should have existed.

I also hated the stripped down TARDIS set design. It felt like they put all their budget into the stuffed animal and just painted the set white and slapped some lights on the walls. Was it intended as an homage to the old school white space of decades ago? Possibly. Doesn't matter though cause it just felt soulless.

[kavrillia]

Asexuality and gender roles in Lanarian society

(I’m giving this post a pretentious title because it started out as a short, joking post but evolved into long meta as I rambled.)

Me:  I originally wrote this character as asexual before I even knew what that was (or that it described me, too).  Now, many years later, I’m going to make that a significant plot point because good asexual representation is rare and I have some first-hand perspective to add.

Also me:  *writes most of the scenes addressing the character’s orientation from the POV of their allosexual partner*

Oops.

I think the overall messages still come through okay, but I should probably add more from the ace’s perspective.

Those messages being, in part, that aces are not obligated to have sex if they don’t want to and a good partner will respect that; that a healthy relationship is possible without sex; that some aces will have sex because they enjoy making their partners feel good, even if they could take it or leave it on its own; that being ace can lead to some hilarious misunderstandings and misinterpretations; and it takes a lot, lot more than sex to make a relationship work.

It only complicates matters that Zadie and Abarok have a sort of gender role reversal going on in a lot of ways (at least from a human perspective; Lanarian society has very little sexism, so nobody in-universe thinks this is unusual at all.)  She’s the bullheaded soldier who charges off into danger to rescue him, and he’s the more sensitive, nurturing one.

It isn’t expressed as clearly in the novel(s) as this (at least at the moment), but basically Lanarians’ feelings on gender are as follows:  “Most people with these genitals tend to be [adjective], but some are [mutually exclusive adjective] and that’s kind of interesting, like learning someone is left-handed or double-jointed, but there’s no value judgement attached.”

Their language has male, female, and gender neutral name markers (similar to the Norse ____sson and _____sdottir, only there’s also a ____soffspring, or in this case Gea’____ani, Jhea’____ani, and Ea’_____ani.)  I’ve never sat down and thought about Lanarish pronouns, but if I did I’d make sure they were naturally inclusive.

Lanarians treat orientation similarly.  Sexuality is a spectrum that can change with time, so nothing is off the table, but it’s also not a big deal.  If you’re dead set on having biological children it can be an issue.  Otherwise, it’s just a personal preference like ice cream cone vs. bowl, regular chips vs. ripple chips, or anything else.  (Disclaimer because this is the internet:  I’m talking about consenting relations between adults.)

Oh, you can’t whistle?  You have a rare blood type?  You started using gender neutral pronouns since I last saw you?  You got a new car?  Your new partner is a different gender than all your previous ones?  You’re allergic to pineapples?  It should all be mildly interesting trivia and small talk, not a reason to hate or discriminate.  Worry about the things that actually harm other people.

Basically, be your authentic self and do what makes you happy with whomever wants to join you (or don’t do anything with anyone, if that’s what you want.)

/soapbox

Am I projecting my own feelings about gender and sexual orientation onto an entire culture I made up?  Maaaaaaaaaybe...

I should also state that I’ve never shoehorned in a character’s LGBTQIA+ status solely for representation and political correctness, or whatever.  As I’ve matured and learned about myself and the world around me over the past couple decades, my original universe has grown along with me.  If it feels right for a particular character to be queer in some way, then they are.

I’m not one of those writers who believes they’re connecting to beings on a different astral plane and channeling their voices, but I do feel that characters take on a personality and a true “voice” of their own over time that can guide the story in directions I didn’t originally intend.   

Getting back to Zadie and Abarok, I was determined to keep them platonic at the beginning (because platonic male/female friendships are so rare in fiction), but as I got to know them the connection between them got deeper and deeper.  I couldn’t picture them in a cliché romance story, though.  A few years later I leaned the asexuality existed, and things in my life and writing started to make sense.  A plot point is Zadie’s struggle to define what she and Abarok have going on, but in the end the labels don’t matter because it works for them.  

Anyway, if there was a point to this ramble it’s that I try to treat issues of gender and sexuality in a respectful, inclusive way in my writing, but the story and the characters come first.

[whatthefuckisasweep]

shuffle tag game!!

omg i got tagged .... thank you @the-losers-are-still-losing : D!

shuffle your ‘on repeat’ playlist and share the first 10 songs you get, then tag ten people!

Just do it if you want to...!! But also, here are some @'s!

@gloomy-prince

@squeakykid

@kordbot

@stanstanthebirdman

1. Tomcat Disposables - Will Wood

2. The Song with Five Names, a​.​k​.​a. Soapbox Tao, a​.​k​.​a. Checkmate Atheists! a​.​k​.​a. Neospace Government, a​.​k​.​a. You Can Never Know- Will Wood

3. That's Enough, Let's Get You Home - Will Wood

4. True Love - P!NK

5. Adderall - Max Frost

6. Slow Dance - Saint Motel

7. Obsessed With You - Orion Experience

8. Wow, I'm Not Crazy - AJR

9. She Wants Me (To Be Loved) - The Happy Fits

10. Oops - Little Mix

shuffle tag game!!

tysm @wipsbymor for tagging me! <3

shuffle your ‘on repeat’ playlist and share the first 10 songs you get, then tag ten people! (i def don’t have 10 to tag but oh well-) @eddiekaspbrakirlsblog @whatthefuckisasweep @sunshinereddie @christaylorsversion (obviously these are no-pressure tags)

1. all this and heaven too - florence + the machine

2. eat your young - hozier

3. to the end - my chemical romance

4. dance, dance - fall out boy

5. taunt - lovejoy

6. mermaids - florence + the machine

7. happy together - gerard way ft. ray toro

8. south london forever - florence + the machine

9. kill all your friends - my chemical romance

10. miracle, baby - nothing but thieves

[moons2stars]

Okay so I need to get this off my chest, and here it goes.

IF B*rchie happens, the writers would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Not only is most of the fandom Varchie and Bughead shippers, but the characters themselves are at stake.

Betty and Archie would have to be extremely OOC to ditch their respective partners that they are completely solid with to be with one another. It would be excising the wrong message. I fell in love with Betty’s character because she had so much layers and I could relate the keystones of her character. Her character came such a long way from having an idealized crush on Archie because of what she thought would be fitting for the image she was destined to. Watching her finding her self worth, and overcoming her trauma was what made her character so easy to root for. Yes Riverdale has constant plot holes, and things they bring up and never touch. However, one thing they gave kept up is Bughead’s resilience, and development through hard times.

This is all very hypothetical as in season two they have teased the same thing with the window scene. For all the times they teased Barchie, they backed up Bughead/ Varchie’s relationships twice over. Let’s look back to the Reggie and Veronica fling at the end of season two. Nothing ever came of it. They exercised a love triangle for .2 seconds.

Whatever happens with this whole plot line, will not make me hate Betty’s character, or stop shipping Bughead, because I know this is not Betty or Archie’s character. It’s the writers playing around with what if’s and trying to stick to outdated comics that represents toxic love triangles.

[beck-a-leck]

God I’m about to drag up an embarrassing personal anecdote, but it fits for this.

So something like 10+ years ago, when I was still a relatively new fic writer, it was in fandom vogue for people to put “Comment Ransom Demands” on their fics, saying things along the lines of “I won’t post the next chapter unless I get so many comments” And I saw it worked well for other writers I was following, so I did the same thing on one of my fics. I immediately got called out on it by a reader, who, rightly, said they were turned off from reading and discouraged to continue engaging with me if I was going to “go on a snit” about comments every chapter. (I do remember they exactly called it a “snit” and it stuck with me because that’s exactly what it was. I basically threw a tantrum because people weren’t giving me the attention I thought they should be)

I was embarrassed at the time, and ashamed, I never tried holding a chapter update for ransom again (and I’m so glad that trend died out quickly). And even now looking back at something I did 12 years ago, I’m still embarrassed about it, but I’ll be damned if that person didn’t teach me a valuable lesson that day.

Content Creators cannot control how Content Consumers interact with whatever they create.

Full Stop. The End.

That’s just a fact of fandom. You cannot demand all your readers leave a comment. You cannot demand everyone who likes your art also reblogs. You can’t control what people do or how they enjoy your stuff.

You can, however, ensure Fewer people enjoy what you make when you tack on a Huge Guilt Trip to everything you make.

As a Content Creator, do I wish I could get comments from every single person who reads my works? Absolutely. Do I feel a little hurt and low when I see some other fic getting more attention than mine? Yes, occasionally I do.

Would I not create nearly as much as I do, if it weren’t for people who leave comments. Maybe Yes Maybe no. I know I have some fics in my library that I only continued because of one or two dedicated commenters.

Of course Content Creators love feedback, and we want to engage in conversations with the people who like what we make, or we just want to see the nice things people have to say about what we made.

As a Content Consumer, though, I am SO GRATEFUL there are a number of non-comment ways to show my enjoyment for whatever I’m consuming. Because, god, if I was ‘contractually obligated’ to leave a comment on every fic I read or reblog every piece of fanart I like I would consume So Much Less Content.

There are a hundred thousand reasons any person can have for not leaving a comment or rebloging a piece of fanart, and nobody should have to explain any of their reasons. Nobody should feel guilty for leaving a comment box empty.

Feedback is important and necessary to building a healthy and active fandom! But nothing kills fandom participation faster than making Demands of People and adding Guilt and Anxiety to their Fandom experience.

not sure if its the appropriate blog to send this to but the culture around "dont just like/give kudos, reblog & add comments!!" has just made me stop engaging so much in fandom at all. i have completely stopped using the like button for art/fic even if im reblogging it, just in case they dont notice ive rbed it as well or if i put it on a sideblog, and with fics especially if i cant think of something to say in the tags i dont reblog it [1/3]

the thought of the author being disappointed or angry with me for not commenting/only writing a word or two/giving a templated response is too much and stresses me out completely, especially since ive seen multiple creators calling their fans out either via vagueposts or by @ing/screenshotting peoples urls to shame them. i fully and completely understand why creators need the feedback - i myself post stuff occasionally and it does suck when its paid very little attention [2/3]

- but that culture that came up around it was so utterly paralysing to me that im largely disengaged at this point. i feel it has cooled down now but it had a real anger to it for so long that i just feel low key guilty for even looking at free fanworks at this point. you were one of the first bigger blogs i saw who loudly went against that culture so i did want to say thanks but idk what, if anything, there is i can do about feeling this way [3/3]

-

*hugs* this is definitely a good blog to bring this question to. I’ve talked a lot about this, and I think it’s something that needs to be discussed more. 

Authors who are doing this are bullying their readership and their fellow fans. 

Yes, it hurts when people don’t visibly appreciate your hard work. Yes, it’s painful when other authors get attention you don’t. Yes, it can be demotivating and heartbreaking when you share something you love and hear nothing back. 

None of that is a reason to lash out at people, to screenshot and shame them, or to make people feel guilty over something they do in their free time for fun. 

Because guess what? Writing fic is also something you do in your free time for fun. If it’s not fun anymore, the solution isn’t to browbeat others into making it fun for you. The solution is either taking a break and changing your focus or finding something else that’s fun about writing since comments and kudos aren’t a reliable source of serotonin. 

All of this is to say, anon, that there’s nothing at all wrong with reading fic and not saying anything afterwards. There’s nothing wrong with giving a thumbs up or a like or a kudos and leaving it at that. There’s nothing wrong with being quiet, or not having anything to say or being tired or just not wanting to comment. 

You’ll probably need to consciously remind yourself for a while that reading without commenting is okay. Reading without leaving kudos is okay. Liking without reblogging is okay. It’s your blog, your time, your thoughts and feelings and you get to do (or not do) whatever you want with them. 

*hugs* I’m really sorry that you’ve been made to feel this way, anon, and I hope it gets better for you. I hope those authors are able to find their happiness again too. I’ve been in that dark place where they are and it’s not a fun place to be. I’m so glad that I was able to make it out to the other side. 

[laora-ryn]

why lichtendahl tsery is the coolest character in gundam 00

Or, in which Laura thinks a lot about Lichty's prosthetics. Probably even more than the production team did

look i just love lichty a lot okay

---

me, last night: i can't write this post, i have a horrific headache and laundry to fold

me, four hours and almost 4k words later: oops

laundry did not get folded

---

so i'm gonna preface this with, while i have two degrees in bioengineering, it's been about 3 years since I was in school, and nowadays I do more assistive tech and hardly any prosthetics. so, pls don't take my word as god or anything, I'm just here with feelings and science that is (hopefully) at least 75% correct

uhh slight content warnings for show screencaps with blood/dying in them?? and discussions of things that would probably be considered body horror

it is under the cut because holy GOD it got long

first of all, i would like to put out that i am so upset that we literally only find out about his prostheses when he's dying. it makes sense for the story and for his character, it just makes me really sad that it isn't explored any further. like, even prosthetic limbs or systems in general are barely touched on after this

Louise has a prosthetic arm in s2, and we see the surgical scars briefly during the party scene, where she's talking with Setsuna, but she turns the subject quickly. So like, all we know canonically about in-universe prosthetics is that they exist, and that they work well enough, and look close enough to real limbs, that they pass to people who aren't looking closely.

But at this point in 2308, Louise having a prosthetic arm is considered the last-ditch effort. The way Saji talks, the idea of regrowing her arm in a regen pod isn't out of the question, if it weren't for her particle poisoning. (I have another soapbox here about the pods, lol) So I feel like most likely, by this point prosthetic systems have kind of fallen out of favor, and the favored med tech is regrowth (so long as you have the $$$$$$$$).

Which begs the question of: how long ago was Lichty injured?

"My parents cashed in their chips in the solar wars," and he was injured in the same explosion. Setsuna's scene at the start of ep1, which we're led to believe is the twilight of the wars - at least in Krugis - is in 2301. So, as a guess, he was injured in the late 90's. He's 21 in 2307, born in 2286, so - 11-13. Prepubescent, or barely starting puberty, when he's caught up in an explosion that blows away half his body.

His parents were elevator engineers, but I have to assume that they were working within the atmosphere, possibly at the base, because catastrophic injuries like this + the vacuum = no chance of survival, definitely not long enough for someone to find him and get him medical help. So, he must've been on the surface. Still, it's a miracle he survived at all

The wiki makes it sound like his entire body is mechanical, and "only his mind" remained (???). Personally, that, uh, makes no sense to me, so here's my personal headcanon on how much of his body survived:

Obviously his right side was blown away, we see that in ep 24. But I imagine for him to have any sort of chance of survival, his heart must've been spared?? Which guided my thought process there. So, he's got a little more than half his chest, a little residual abdomen that probably got swapped out for prosthetics anyway, + his left arm.

Which...leaves us with a 12ish year old kid on extensive life support, who needs a new lung, a new arm, two new legs, a new diaphragm with which to use that new lung, and all new viscera, as well as a body cavity that will support all of those shiny new organs, both in gravity and without.

I headcanon that Lichty's got one of - if not the - most extensive prosthetic systems in the world. That his parents knew they were going into the job with risks, knew they were bringing Lichty (and the siblings I headcanon he had, who didn't survive the attack) into the potential crossfire of the war. So, his parents probably had it written into their contract that if anything happens to their kids while they're on the job, they get all their medical care paid for by the company, and they get the best care available.

I headcanon he's Ukrainian, ie HRL, which doesn't seem like the bloc to pull out all the stops to save a single nobody-kid. But assuming he has extended family who assumed guardianship, they would've been able to call in the contract and get Lichty put back together. (Sounds like a long shot to me, tbh, but obviously he survived somehow.)

So this kid's on life support in a trauma center somewhere, probably in Indonesia or maybe China, considering the HRL's elevator is in the middle of the Pacific. He's got an artificial digestive system feeding the parts of him that are left, he's on a ventilator, he's on dialysis, he's got so many tubes and wires coming out of him that he's half-hidden behind them in the hospital bed.

He's in an induced coma for months before he's anywhere close to stable and the doctors feel comfortable waking him up. And even once he's awake, he's kept in a sterile room because half his surface area is still open wounds and they can't risk infection. Everyone he sees, for months and months and months, is either on the other end of a video or in a hazmat suit.

And of course, even once he's mostly stable with machines substituting for the organs he's missing, there's the matter of rebuilding them.

We've got just a couple shots of his prosthetics - honestly, not a lot to go on, but here's the three I'm looking at:

(last image from this post by pwryyynce)

So, what I'm seeing here is that his musculature and bone structure are all made of metal, and probably whatever other structural parts were needed beyond his ribs/synthetic spine. They're covered by what looks like real skin, considering all the blood. I think it's reasonable to assume that they took skin samples and grew duplicate swathes in the lab in the early stages of his treatment, so they wouldn't need to worry about rejection when they grafted it onto him. They probably made or simulated subcutaneous tissue also, so that his arm doesn't look (and feel!!) like skin stretched over a bunch of metal. I feel like probably, people would say something if Lasse threw an arm around his shoulders and ended up with a bruised forearm lmao

What I'm really wondering about is his organs. It's been way too long since I took a biomaterials class, and there would be enough innovation 300 years down the line that all the stuff we use now would be moot anyway, but I wonder how many of his organs were grown or transplanted, and how many were just substituted with mechanical systems that do the same thing.

This is a part I'm really no expert in, but I feel like just putting in filtering systems to replace his kidneys would probably be a lot easier than growing him new ones. They'd make him a functioning urinary system to connect the filters to, but tbh that whole system would probably be easier/simpler to just re-engineer.

I feel like his lung would need to be organic to deal with expansion and just. All that oxygen exchange? But it's entirely possible that a synthetic lung exists 300 years in the future that they could install. Pulmonology isn't my strong suit Px

Digestive system would need to be completely rebuilt, and I've always imagined it as synthetic, just his intestines replaced by a mess of tubing, possibly engineered to increase their overall surface area, reducing the length of intestine needed and leaving room for other systems around them. His esophagus would still be there, at least part of it, so they'd just integrate that into an artificial stomach

What's REALLY tripping me up is his circulatory system. Like, okay, he has a heart, and re-creating the major veins and arteries would be doable, but - interfacing them with the lung so the blood can pick up oxygen?? Interfacing them with the stomach and kidneys and liver properly?? Like, I do not know how you would functionally recreate a capillary bed and that sounds like a job for Future Bioengineers lmao. But I just.

You'd think at first that he wouldn't have as much blood because of all the mechanical systems, and I think he'd probably have less than average, but most of your viscera is involved with processing energy to keep your brain going, right? So your blood still needs to go down to your intestines to get those nutrients in order to bring back up. And, on top of that, his skin - which presumably covers the majority of his body, and definitely covers his limbs and upper chest - is vascularized and needs blood, too.

So, he still needs a decent chunk of blood for his body to run properly, which is great and A+, except for the fact that blood is made in your bone marrow, and guess what he doesn't have a whole lot of, anymore?

I don't know if they'd be able to like, create some kind of system that approximates bone marrow, or somehow supplement the stuff he has left in his left arm and remaining ribcage/breastbone/spine, but this would also significantly impact his immune system since bone marrow is also where your white blood cells come from. So like...that would be a serious issue they would need to address, maybe they'd somehow put bone marrow in his prosthetic long bones, with enough of the hormones/stuff that tells it to keep production of BM up, since it's constantly reproducing itself? Or else just have a whole extra box in his abdomen that's like "no, you make blood now" idk like I said, this is not My Thing

Again his immune system would be fucked, so the Bone Marrow Box would also need to replenish white blood cells, which would not at all help with replacing his lymphatic system. His thymus would probably have survived since it's over the heart, but his spleen is gone and - yeah, I'm not qualified to talk about this lmao

tbh I don't understand the liver or pancreas or gallbladder at all, and at this point I'm too afraid to ask

But! His nervous system! is something i am qualified to talk about, buckle up kids we're going for a ride

because his brain/brainstem/spine to T9 ish, probably, would have survived. Which means his use of his left arm would be 100% intact. Tbh after all this he's almost definitely left hand dominant, even once he gets a functioning right arm again, for reasons I will get into in probably a few paragraphs

For the mechanics of a prosthetic arm, tbh in the 24th century they've probably perfected it. We've come a long way now (well, as of 2018, when I wrote my thesis) in making a hand that can physically move in the ways a real one can. the real problem with fancy stuff like this is controlling it.

Lichty would functionally be a shoulder disarticulation amputee (where your ball and socket joint is disconnected), which is. about as high as you get. Your major nerves to the arm are the radial (back of your arm/hand), median (thumb half of your arm/hand), and ulnar (pinky half of your arm/hand). Those three kind of thread around your collarbone before dipping down into your arm, splitting up gradually into smaller nerves that innervate different parts of your arm and hand.

Sounds great and neat and simple, right? You just follow the nerves and make new wires and attach them to the prosthetic, right?

(((((((:

nerves are a FUCK, and yeah, none of that is how it works, and tbh I feel like evolution just made it overly complicated on purpose, just to frustrate people because oh my god

To slightly oversimplify, you have two different kinds of neurons making up your nerves: sensory and motor. Sensory takes inputs from the endpoints (your skin, typically) and sends them back up the spinal cord to your brain. Motor takes inputs from your brain and sends them down to the peripheral nerves to create a result (typically, muscle contractions). These are not sorted into neat sections within the larger nerves, and aren't especially easy to differentiate, especially if you're just trying to zap a whole nerve with electricity to make the muscle go. you're gonna hit all sorts of muscles, and all sorts of sensory inputs, and it's a mess.

Here's a basic diagram of a nerve for reference:

Basically, what you need to know is that every axon (neuron) is going to innervate a particular muscle fiber, or send a particular type of sensory input for a particular patch of skin. These axons are not sorted neatly by type of neuron or area of the arm/hand. They regularly jump between fascicles throughout the length of the nerve, and fascicles aren't neatly sorted, either. So, trying to target a particular fascicle, for example, is usually a lost cause. (without putting an electrode INTO the nerve, which is a Whole Other Thing that's being studied, but urgh)

Currently, myoelectric prostheses are the 'state of the art,' where there are sensors on the inside of the socket that read muscle activity in the residual limb and use it to power the prosthetic. This...wouldn't work for Lichty for a variety of reasons, and is generally not super well received by patients today, anyway. Typically, if you're lucky, you get 4 electrode sites, so for example, you would be able to flex/extend your elbow, and open/close your hand. Not exactly 27 degrees of freedom, yeah?

A process that tbh could work well in conjunction with future!prosthetic arms is something called targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR), where they basically say 'hey Lichty, try and flex your right elbow,' they record which nerve endings in his residual shoulder light up, and then they attach those to the mechanism that flexes his elbow. (Typically they deal with fascicles, if I remember right, but tbh in 300 years I wouldn't be surprised if they could go more specific.) It wasn't the focus of my research - our lab did hands primarily, and TMR is usually reserved for high level amputees, and it's a SUPER invasive surgery, so not a lot of people go for it. But lichty's just about as invasive as you can get lmao, so

TMR can also do some limited sensory feedback! basically, they stimulate different nerve endings and ask him what he feels and where. That's where a phantom limb map comes into play big time. Depending on how complete it is, he could say "yeah it's upper arm, vaguely pressure?" or "yeah it's the back of my upper arm but sort of to the side, and about halfway down, and it's sharp poking." Both the motor and sensory stuff are kind of hunt and peck searching but they kind of have all the time in the world to work with him on this, so I think it'd be a really good option for him!

So, google targeted muscle reinnervation if you wanna learn more! It's cool as fuck, and it's the thing that I think is probably most viable for Lichty to get use of his right arm back! I don't know that it'd give him full movement and full sensation, but it'd be enough to go on - especially since they'd definitely prioritize getting the most common sensations and motions working. A couple people in my lab were looking at combining different movements to reduce the number of movements you'd need for prosthetics in general - moving your wrist at a certain angle to approximate both radial deviation and wrist extension, for example.

Now legs, I am less qualified to talk about. TMR also works for them as far as I know, though balance and gait would be a Whole Thing, he'd have to relearn how to walk, not just because he's been bedbound for so long, but because he has to learn how his new legs operate, and where his new center of gravity is, and just...yeah.

I imagine probably, legs are the last thing they get him working on - they get his torso finished and operational and closed up, and at this point he wouldn't need to be quarantined/sterile anymore. If he really wanted to be up and about at this point, they could get him a power wheelchair, or a one-arm-propel manual chair would work too. Then they'd get him an arm and start him with therapy for that, and skin grafts. Once he's recovered from the arm surgeries and doing well enough they'd probably start talking about prosthetic legs.

Depending on how well TMR works 300 years from now, he'd have to re-learn grip strength, pressure, heat, like he'd have all new baselines for his new limbs which would in particular impact his hand. That'd be a looooot of PT and OT to make sure he doesn't drop or crush stuff on accident. He also may need to learn to operate without proprioception, depending on whether his phantom map included that. Proprioception is knowing where your limb is in space without looking at it - so like, if he didn't have it, he couldn't just like reach over and grab something, or type on a keyboard, without watching his hand as he did it - at least without a lot of practice and trial and error.

also your nervous system does sympathetic and parasympathetic stuff which is like, the automatic 'tells your organs to do their job' except i know next to nothing about that. so uhhhhh I think it'd be reasonable to assume that all the mechanical replacements for organs have their own like, 'battery' and 'brain' in them that keep them going properly and that's all i'm gonna say about that

holy jesus god this nervous system section is like as long as the rest of it combined i'm so sorry

His ribcage would need to be rebuilt in metal, which we can see in the pics. His spine would also need to be, if only to connect his ribs to his new pelvis lmao, but I guess it looks like they built in more metal around his abdomen too, so the spine would be slightly less structural than in the normal body. but - yeah, there would definitely be a lot of work going into into 'printing parts that will keep all these obscenely expensive organs in place and connected to the right things'

(oh that's another thing!! I headcanon that all these custom parts are 3d printed to his specs, in whatever material is best for that particular job. Presumably the material options are a lot more than we have now, and esp the metal structural parts, I think would make a lot of sense to print)

In terms of skin coverage!! Pictures are inconclusive whether he has skin covering his abdomen, or just his upper chest and limbs!! We can see skin on his hip and shoulder, but none in between, but I can't tell whether that's because his side was damaged worse, or if there's no skin there to begin with. Personally I think grafting skin to metal would create all sorts of New Issues that would be more effort than it's worth, but shrug, and also, leaving it open, with just a brace to go around his abdomen as extra support, would give him/his doctors easier access if anything were to go wrong. In my fics I go with the brace solution, because angst, but YMMV

skin coverage brings up all sorts of angst that his silly swimsuit just cracks the surface of. he's def wearing that suit for at the VERY least the skin graft scars, and also probably because he doesn't have skin on his abdomen sdlfkjsodfjsl

The other fun thing that would need to be taken into account for lichty! Is that! He's twelve (ish) when this happens! And twelve year olds! Aren't done growing! Lichty's pretty tall, 5'11" ish if I remember right, so it's not like they just stunted his growth permanently.

If he's 12 when he's injured, I'd guess he's probably 14 ish once he starts looking at getting prosthetic limbs. 14 yo boys aren't done growing either, so they'd either have to make him Weirdly Long for a teenager before he grows into his prosthetics, or make his limbs and torso designs growable to match what they think his height and weight would've been.

Growable limbs would be Really Difficult but probably doable? he'd just have to come in every several months after he's discharged to get Stretched (lol). On the other hand, he's probably actually pushing 17 by the time he's discharged, by which point most teenaged boys are done growing. So, it would make sense for them to make him Long while he's an inpatient, since that last year of therapy would be the most intense/functional, and also when he'd be roughly his adult size. So, he'd be a little disproportionate for a few years, but theyre years that he spends largely in a hospital bed anyway, so it wouldn't be that big of a Thing?

Then, they'd be able to discharge him when he's ready, without any plans to bring him back unless something goes wrong

They would've just estimated what his limb lengths would've been, with some growth room in the size of his chest and his right shoulder. His remaining chest would still be scrawny as a 14 year old, when his torso's closed up, but on the off chance he turned barrel chested by the time he hits 17 lol they'd need a plan for that. Luckily, adult!lichty is scrawny af, so there was probably minimal adjusting that needed to happen there.

The other other thing is, he hasn't gone through puberty yet! And while some of the puberty hormones would still kick in on time, ie the ones that come from his brain, he's also now missing all his reproductive organs. so, he'd need to get injections for the hormones he's missing, probably, because he looks and sounds like he did, indeed, go through puberty

(it's my headcanon that he's infertile even though he desperately loves kids. He and Chris adopt a small horde once they retire peacefully from the job they definitely didn't die doing)

This kid definitely has chronic pain - phantom pain and otherwise - especially when he's in gravity. he definitely has sensory and motor deficits that he gets really good at hiding. he definitely prefers to stay in space because it lessens the pain, and also because it means he doesn't have to walk around, which reduces pain even more. He's probably got a backup cane and/or wheelchair stashed in the back of his closet for bad days on the surface. he probably goes to see dr moreno more than anyone else, which causes lasse and feldt and chris to constantly ask if he's okay, as well as they can around the secrecy rules. he's definitely left handed, and sometimes his right hand is next to useless depending on the day, so he's gotten really good at typing one handed, and maybe even prefers the one handed keyboard he learned to QWERTY or standard DVORAK or whatever they use on the ptolemy lol

uhhh he weighs more than a normal person his size, most probably, because of the metal parts. the blood flow means his arm and legs would be warm, and the skin has nails and hair and wrinkles that make it a convincing enough arm, but if you hold it too tightly or look at it too closely it looks a little off in a way you can't place

he's definitely got a Thing about people touching his abdomen or chest, not even like because he's touch-sensitive like setsuna, just because his stomach isn't gonna squish like everyone else's and that'd lead to way more questions than he's willing or able to answer

an artistic rendition:

lasse: when the FUCK did you get abs like this oh my god???

lichty: nervous sweating

but yea tldr is 'this kid definitely shouldn't be alive, but he is, so laura got to geek out about biotech and uh also his rehab would have taken literal years after the literal years of surgery to put him back together.' in other words he was probably recruited to CB like. Barely a few months after he left the hospital for good

((also, as an aside, i would like to make you all very sad and remind you that lichty's backstory is actually really similar to lockon's, he lost his family in a terrorist bombing as a kid, and was horrifically injured by it to boot. but so far as we can tell, he basically took the exact opposite approach to neil. like yeah, his cheeriness is probably a front at least part of the time, but like, he didn't go off the deep end, and join CB for revenge. he joined to make the world a better place, and never once talked to anyone at all about the stuff he went through as a kid, and never - so far as we can tell - blamed anyone for it))

((like idk guys just. lichty going through the same thing, only worse as lockon, and coming out the other end as an objectively happier and arguably better person, gives me a lot of emotions that i'm struggling to articulate sldkfjaosdjflad))

((also I definitely headcanon that the kpsa did the bombing that killed lichty's family too just because it hurts a lot, especially since lichty's bomb would've been roughly a year after Neil's))

I uh don't really have a conclusion here so. Have 4k words of science dump, thank u all for encouraging me yesterday to write it!!!

[silveny-dreams]

Sil’s Unlocked Experience That No One Asked For

So. This got long. Oops. I’m chalking it up to Sil’s Poor Planning When She Types As She Reads.

(Yeah, this is gonna be purely spoilers. Spoilers only. Spoilers galore. Literal quotes from the book included. You have been warned, thoroughly. If you click the read more and have the audacity to get mad at me for spoiling Unlocked for you, I will merely laugh.)

Anyways. Here is a post ten times longer than you needed it to be. I had ~Thoughts~.

FIRST THINGS FIRST, YALL.

SIR. ELWIN. HESLEGE. THE MAN FINALLY HAS A SURNAME

I would lay down my life for Elwin Heslege and here are some reasons why:

“Grow strong, new little Wanderling. You hold some very precious DNA” the only Sophie’s third father I truly care about, tbh

“In the category of Proof That Things Keep Getting Weirder Around Here” Sir Elwin Heslege how does it feel to know you invented comedy also would you please accept my hand in marriage

In an official health record for Sophie, he notes “I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON!!” verbatim, in all caps, two exclamation points and everything.....Sir. Valid. I have been there, my dude.

The man would lay down his own life for Sophie Foster and I cannot give him any higher praise than that

Anyways beyond my love for Sir Elwin Heslege (!!!! Still pumped about the surname reveal!!)

Maruca! Chebota! She’s got a surname too!! Finally!!!

Totally forgot that Biana being a third child would have been scandalous if she hadn’t been a Vacker—must be nice being practically elven royalty lol

“A Crush, A Kiss, and Crushing Heartache” lmao rest in pieces Dexter Alvin

I Will Not Forgive Keefe For Redacting His Middle Name From His Registry Records And That Is A Promise (Keefe Cassius Sencen seems more and more likely every day)

Keefe Sencen has literally forty pages of detention records and I’m not surprised but also I definitely laughed

The chaotic descent into madness witnessed in Dame Alina’s principal comments on Keefe’s detention record as time continued on....chef’s kiss

Tam Dai Song and Linh Hai Song....make it make sense, Shannon

Was an entire section speculating on wyl*nh really necessary in Linh’s registry record, Shannon 🙃 was it 🙃

Wylie! Zoran! Endal!

(My phone autocorrected Endal to “end all” and I was like “haha............hang on a second I need to get Shannon on the phONE—”)

Tiergan!! Alenefar!!!

GRADY AND EDALINE SUGGESTED AS WYLIES GUARDIANS I WILL CRY ABOUT THIS FOREVER CAN YOU IMAGINE? I AM ALREADY THINKING OF THE HEADCANON

“Prentice’s close friend (Sir Tiergan Alenefar)” bruh.......bruh.

Stina Destry Heks (also. the way I giggled when “Stina” autocorrected to “stone” at first)

“In a more recent investigation, one report did suggest that the real reason Timkin was able to return to Foxfire...was because he [REDACTED]. And if that’s true, then perhaps [REDACTED]” DO NOT PLAY THESE GAMES WITH ME, SHANNON.

Marella Adene Redek of Fluttermont is registered for the match despite being a pyrokinetic and while given her flirtiness I’m not surprised can you hear me screaming about it anyways

“Anyone directly related to any of the registered pyrokinetics was labeled as a bad match to halt the spread of their genetics, and the ability detecting session at Foxfire now specifically forbids any exercises that might make a prodigy detect heat”—I love love love this as a plot point because it is so unbearably shitty and unfair and I love seeing how cleverly Shannon has built a world that elves think is perfect but it clearly isn’t and I cannot wait to see Sophie demolish and dismantle the entire matchmaking system to get justice for her friend anyways I digress I will get off my soapbox now

Words do not describe the frustration I felt at reading “Brant [LAST NAME REDACTED FOR SECURITY]”. I will eat your doorknobs, Shannon. Do not test me on this

“While the crowd’s initial reaction [to Marella’s reveal as a pyrokinetic at the Celestial Festival] was shock (the collective gasp was loud enough to make many ears ring)” MARELLA SWEETIE YOU ARE A QUEEN TURNING HEADS WE LOVE THIS FOR YOU

I would lay down my life for sparkly blue-green stuffed kelpie Sir Splashyhugs, the first reported emotional support stuffed animal

(Team Give The Whole Squad Stuffed Animals Keeps Winning And Winning, I Tell You)

GRADY. HOWELL. RUEWEN. I AM GOING TO LOSE MY MIND

👀 Edaline Ruewen? You had an assignment given to you by the Council? Care to spill, sis?? Hello???

YALL. I have THEORIES. The Ruewens barely needed any convincing to take Sophie? There was a “brief pause, an exchanged look” between Alden and Grady before Grady agreed? BRUH. You cannot convince me Alden didn’t say something to him telepathically. And my current working theory absolutely has something to do with Jolie.

EDALINE! KELIA! RUEWEN!

“Former caretaker of Brant [REDACTED]” !!! Brant!!! Where are your parents!!!! Why is your name redacted!!!!! I will get my answers or die trying!!!!!!

“SHE’D BEEN ASSIGNED TO ONE OF THE COUNCIL’S MOST FRAUGHT SITUATIONS” E X C U S E ME SHANNON SAY MORE RIGHT NOW

“THE COUNCIL SUSPECTS THAT SOON [REDACTED]” SHANNON IF I DONT GET MY ANSWERS I WILL BE THROWING ROTTEN FRUIT AT YOUR H O U S E

EXCUSE ME??? ALDEN DEDRICK VACKER?????

................................

Do I even need to explain to you what his middle name sounds like

Do I even need to explain the theories racing through my mind right now

I’m going to lose my mind. Shannon. You’ve killed me. This is it. My death. I’m going to go insane

You’re telling me this man married his 201st match recommendation and was engaged to Alina, his 104th recommendation.....did we know he was engaged or am I insane and just forgot

Della Adara Vacker. Queen.

Literally how did Alden and Della get together I need answers

“The Council opted to take her up on it [her request to be appointed emissary], having her look into [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]” bruh.........Shannon how u gonna tie up all ur loose ends if u keep ADDING INFO

“Della did inform the Council that [REDACTED]” Shannon is literally just toying with me now. She is doing this on purpose.

GISELA MINETTE SENCEN WHY IS THAT NAME SO PRETTY BITCH I WILL TEAR YOU APART also I hate that her middle name and my middle name sound so similar someone shoot me

Shannon is going to have to sit there in her wrongness on some of her pronunciations of things and be wrong and get used to it. VES-purr-ah. I ask you.

Do we know what a Chief Mentalist is already or am I sensing more complications Shannon will get to explain later under duress

My dearest s c r e a m e d when she saw the art of Bullhorn. She screamed “YESSSSS” aloud. It startled me into nearly dropping the book.

Wow we love that Laura’s way of interpreting that humans are “less stunning” than elves was to draw Sophie’s human family as chubby. Like. I get that literally in canon they are not skinny models, but. Come on. Bruh. Seriously. I’m tired.

Laura Hollingsworth has no fucking clue what Forkle looks like and she can get used to being wrong about it

My dearest said verbatim “she can only draw one face” and honestly? Correct

That being said....I saw her renderings of Linh and Livvy and Oralie and was reminded that I am, in fact, super not straight

ANYway

We love Shannon for reminding the fandom that the elven world is flawed on purpose! You’re doing amazing, sweetie!

Anyone else wondering whether Blur (who is widely theorized to be Jensi’s brother) is also Councillor Darek or am I reaching

....I’m reaching, it’s because he’s a phaser and I’ve gone so long without any aNSWERS, SHANNON

Swirled? White silver and gold?? Leaping crystals??? Hello????

How long before Keefe Sencen (or the Neverseen, take your pick) steals one of those, place your bets now

Shannon Messenger Drop Your Starkflower Stew Recipe Challenge

.....why does the art of custard bursts look like mini Victoria sandwich cakes what is this utter nonsense

Keefe Sencen’s affinity for butterblasts is valid and correct and I stand by it and also I want some

I amend my earlier statement. Shannon Messenger Drop A Comprehensive KOTLC Cookbook With All The Recipes For All The Elven Foods Challenge Because I Just Ate A Whole Meal And All Those Food Descriptions STILL Made Me Hungry

Biana doing a fashion section? Tam and Linh on Exilium? Flori on gnomish vegetation? Delightful.

Fitzroy Avery Vacker on sports is my new favorite I’m not taking any questions. Fitzroy Avery Vacker, popular but awkward jock.

The twiggler illustration is even better than I imagined, god bless Dex Dizznee

The STUFFED. ANIMAL. SQUAD. ILL CRY I SWEAR ILL DO IT DO YOU SEE THOSE CUTE LIL ILLUSTRATIONS

I will probably never again see the words “the unmapped stars” and not immediately go “Ah. Nattie” in my brain so that’s where we are on username permanence

On that same note I’ve been doing a double-take every time I see the name Silveny so we love that for me

Sophie’s 👏 codenames 👏 for 👏 her 👏 friends 👏

DIMPLES 😭 SPLASH 😭 DONT TOUCH ME

“Sometimes I wonder if the real reason the Black Swan won’t tell me what they’re planning is because they don’t actually have a PLAN” girl. You and me both. (“but at the same time...I kinda think it might be better” I....nah)

Me, reading Sophie’s description of Gethen, getting to the part about a crescent-shaped scar from a dog bite: good boy, Lodie

I can and will be making lushberry juice before all of this is over. We will conveniently forget whether I decide that it will be adult lushberry juice or not

Not to be dramatic but Keefe Sencen is so fucking sappy and also REALLY bad at deflecting the trauma with humor even though he tries so damn hard and I’m sorry I know it isn’t cool to like Keefe Sencen anymore but I have never once claimed to be cool and I do I like Keefe Sencen a lot so there

this novella is seriously only a third of the book. Just. I’m both glad for Shannon because that means she definitely got more sleep and hopefully felt less stress about plotting this year

But also. A third of the book

Anyway

NOT GONNA LIE—I HAVE BEEN WONDERING IF GISELA WOULD WORK WITH WHAT KEEFE ALREADY HAD. I THINK I AM CORRECT, FELLAS

Give Keefe Sencen His Voice Back In A Dramatic Little Mermaid-Style Fashion 2K20

I almost put 2K21 but I am impatient and refuse to wait that long

Well. Guess he won’t be in a coma for the next year.

Would that have been better, I wonder

Also

Not me sighing in resignation that there still seem to be more questions than answers

Gettin tired of this lil song and dance, Shannon

However

Please god in heaven Shannon give me more Grady and Keefe moments in the future because that was The Shit, Yo

Also. The amount of Keefex I got in this book. The Lord said “maybe I can’t give her answers but I’ll make sure her heart isn’t just sad”

Please Let Me Be Able To Trust Glimmer Thanks Very Much Shannon

Well it’s 1:37 AM here so I’m gonna go to bed and then instantly regret this post in the morning ✌️

[gumnut-logic]

An unusual fear

This is for @misssquidtracy​ who asked for Merlot: Do you have any unusual fears? Thank you for asking :D

I do. Ocean waves and thunder. The wave phobia is the result of being dumped by a wave in water almost out of my depth when I was about four years old. It was the loss of control and the fact that no-one in the group with me noticed my distress. I righted myself, but my brain recorded it all in detail and now I have lots of difficulty with waves in the water.

This was compounded by a father who did not understand and yelled a lot. There were scenes of him chasing me down beaches demanding I go into the water despite being absolutely terrified. Going to the beach as a kid was a torment. I would beg the weather to be calm otherwise the yelling and the stress would be hell. It didn’t help that the rest of my nuclear family loved to play in the waves - I’m talking open ocean here sometimes. I love the open ocean, but never ask me to step foot in it...there were incidents where I was dragged in screaming.

Respect other people’s fears. Fears are a real thing. They may look stupid to you, but terror is terror and no less crippling just because the subject of the fear seems trivial.

::climbs off soapbox:: Sorry, got a little serious there, oops :D It be a bugbear of mine, me thinks.

Anyways, here be some Gordon ::hugs::

-o-o-o-

“Shut up, Alan.”

Gordon sat in his co-pilot’s seat, arms crossed over his chest not pouting. No, not pouting at all.

Annoying younger brothers.

Okay, he only had one, but sometimes he was the worst.

“I’m just trying to understand, Gords. What exactly scares you?”

“I’m not scared.”

“You squealed like a girl.” His older brother’s voice was much deeper than Alan’s and took Gordon a little by surprise.

“Shut up, Virgil.” Big brothers could be just as annoying.

The engineer shrugged a little. “Hey, just trying to help here.”

Gordon grunted at him. “I’m not scared.” No, he wasn’t.

He was terrified.

“I get scared.” Alan was being that blatantly honest, cute younger brother now. His blue eyes were ever so earnest. “There is nothing wrong with being scared.”

“I’m not scared!”

Virgil opened his mouth again and Gordon wished he had a pair of rolled up socks he could shove between his brother’s teeth. “Alan’s right. There is no shame in having a little fear. It’s healthy.”

This wasn’t healthy. This was stupid.

Gordon stared out the front windows of Thunderbird Two and tried to pretend his brothers didn’t exist.

He had squealed like a girl. He hadn’t known what was in the box, though really, he should have expected it.

Stupid Australia with its stupid wildlife. They were supposed to save people, not pets.

But the kid had been screaming for his little Ernie and Edna. There had been enough time and Alan had darted back into the apartment to grab the pets. The fact Alan had had to hurriedly hand the box to Gordon in order to secure the pod was incidental.

Gordon didn’t know what was in the box and Alan didn’t know Gordon had a problem.

Docking with Two, they clambered out to check on the rescuees they had transferred up to Virgil. Gordon’s foot caught on one of the pod assembly rails just as Two took a nasty gust of wind to one side and shifted just a little.

A yelp and the aquanaut, arms full of box went down.

Unable to catch himself properly, and desperately trying to protect the box because he knew there was a life form in there, he landed hard.

The box slipped from his grip.

It teetered and fell on its side.

And Gordon came face to face with a pair of large lizards.

Okay, so he had screamed like a girl. But if Virgil had said that in front of Kayo, he would have been flipped onto the floor and then made to squeal himself, baritone or no. Their sister was not one for stereotypes.

At all.

Now Gordon loved all creatures…well, most. There were certain humans that he felt quite strongly the universe could do without, but that was beside the point. Gordon loved mother nature and all her weird and wonderful creations.

But since his encounter with the giant bearded dragons while rescuing Buddy and Ellie, his mind had taken the concept and run with it.

There had been nightmares.

Many nightmares.

And lizards had become a thing.

Not a thing that he encountered very often.

But a thing.

And to be confronted by two rather large and scalies unexpectedly…

Well, he had reacted.

Fight or flight had become flight and he had removed himself from their presence very abruptly and, according to Alan, quite comically.

Annoying younger brothers.

The kid rescuee had run over, gathered up his pets and hugged and petted and loved all over them, all while Gordon’s skin tried to crawl into his hair.

Ugh.

Ultimately, Gordon had made it out of the module and the rescuees had since been transported to a safe location.

They were now on their way home…to no doubt another round of ‘ridicule the Fish because he’s a scaredy cat’.

He found himself staring at the dash as Virgil brought the huge cargo plane in to land on her runway.

Nothing was said as they taxied into the hangar, Two pivoting ever so gracefully.

Virgil’s hands danced smoothly over the controls and her engines whined down to silence, her airframe settling and creaking as she lost heat.

No one moved.

“Gordon?” Virgil’s voice was soft.

“What?” He didn’t look at his brother. Still not pouting.

“We’ll keep this confidential. Right, Alan?”

Gordon looked up in surprise to find his little brother nodding vehemently.

“Really?” C’mon, with such an opportunity for brotherly humiliation? The squeal was probably recorded for all to see. He frowned. Blackmail. They wanted it for blackmail.

But to Gordon’s astonishment, Virgil poked at the dash and brought up the recording. The aquanaut flinched as he saw his reaction on film. At least Alan was honest. If it hadn’t been himself, it would have been absolutely hilarious.

As it was, it just made him feel ashamed with the urge to curl up and die.

Virgil’s fingers darted over the recording, marking key frames. “Computer delete selected recording.”

A confirmation window came up and Virgil didn’t hesitate, his fingers deleting the incriminating scene.

Gordon’s eyes widened. Scott and John would kill him if they found out. Mission recording was a protection for all of them and deleting was blasphemy. Even Gordon had never been daring enough to mess with mission documentation before.

“But Scott…what about Brains?” Hell, John could be staring over their shoulders right now.

Virgil half smiled at him. “You let me worry about that. You just promise me that if want to talk, you come to me.”

“Or me.” Alan piped up behind them.

Gordon opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He stared at his older brother and the honesty in those eyes. A glance at Alan and he found the same.

His shoulders dropped. “It’s so stupid.”

“No fear is stupid, Gordon. It is still fear and needs to be respected. Fear is never a laughing matter.”

Gordon didn’t miss Virgil’s eyes darting in Alan’s direction as if needing to press the point. Alan frowned back at him.

But then the moment was gone and Virgil was going through post-flight, Alan was climbing out of his seat complaining that his uniform stunk – it did, Gordon could smell it from here, but none of them could talk, they all stunk.

But as his two brothers did their thing, Gordon found a swell of fondness rising in his belly. It washed away the grump and the pout.

And he found himself smiling a little shyly.

“Thanks, guys.”

Virgil returned his smile. Alan threw him a smirk before darting to the hatch and lowering himself down.

Okay, they were annoying, but they were his brothers and that was the part that counted.

-o-o-o-

[hoe-doroki]

ana reads bnha ch169

previous chapter here first chapter here next chapter here

We’ve entered the school festival arc, folks. I introduce you to my new program: Ana ruins everything

Aw, this is so teenage. Like, Kami’s actually being super sweet. He seems genuinely curious and he’s identified that it’s something that Jirou really, really loves. But she has that teen shame and those teen nerves and so she’s lashing out. I definitely did that as a teen. Fortunately I don’t feel embarrassment nearly as often now, post theatre-school. My room shows all my childish obsessions loudly and proudly and idc who sees.

Oop, Kiri, I hate to break it to you, but overlooking enormous world suffering is a part of the human condition. We are conditioned to walk past unhoused people on the street and not think about the housing crisis. We are conditioned to not prioritize world news and have any awareness about, say, what’s happening in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. We are conditioned to forget about South Africa’s water crisis as soon as talk of “Day 0” exits the news media. This is how humans cope and how humans think. We can’t constantly have tabs for every world crisis open in our brain at all times and, like it or not, they can’t all affect our every decision. We are not perfect in this way, and its not achievable to attempt otherwise. It’s something heroes would assuredly get desensitized to—which makes Aizawa’s response kind of odd to me. Really, he should say that stuff like that is happening in the world all the time. It’s just that it just recently became personal to you and is front of mind for you. We need to marry how to both be activists in our everyday lives, but also carry on our everyday lives without ruining all the joy and good fortune. That’s how you burn out, buddy.

*steps off soapbox*

Disco!Shou and Katsu!! Omg, it makes me laugh, it makes me cringe. Let it be known the world ‘round that I don’t like disco and don’t wanna see my boys in this state! Although, I don’t mind laughing at them…

But it’s still super strange to me that Shouto is the one who looks this up. How would he have seen the video that he brings up? (How does he even find it when he doesn’t know what it’s called?) I get how it relates to the provisional license class, but it’s still a bit of a stretch. I do appreciate the attempt to tie in what is otherwise a very isolated mini storyline with the larger story, though.

Also, can we talk about Shouto in a black button down????? Pretty please????????????

Overall: Wow, I have a LOT to say about this chapter. First and foremost, we have another night with Bakugou asleep before anyone else. Canon confirmed. Second, we get a cameo from Shinsou and Mei. Always a win.

Now. This, uh, club idea. Setting aside the fact that I don’t get how Shouto thought of it, I have a lot of issues with this idea, and will continue to snark about it for the rest of this arc. I mean, I love this arc, I do, but I have many, MANY gripes with it (including my biggest nitpick with the whole series—wait for it, it’s a while away yet). They’re not things that I wish were different, but just things that I, personally am like 😒 yeah right. First of all, most people at concerts enjoy themselves because they’re a fan of the band. There will be considerably less enthusiasm when it’s just the yahoos you go to school with. Next, Ashido says she can teach everyone to dance, and it’s declared that she can teach anyone because she taught Aoyama one step in one day. Well, let me tell you! I took four years of extensive (expensive) dance classes in college and I NEVER got good enough that anyone would ever wanna watch me. Seriously! No way you can teach everyone to be good in 1 month? Next, Jirou is supposed to teach multiple people different instruments in a month. Aside from the fact that there’s no way she has time for that in addition to classes, a month is simply not enough time to learn an instrument and all the songs that you’d need for a whole concert.

Sorry, y’all. This is an arc about music and dance—two things I actually know a lot about. Welcome to hell.

[thetypedwriter]

Only Mostly Devastated Book Review

Only Mostly Devastated Book Review by Sophie Gonzales

You know those feel good movies that are short and sweet and fun while you’re watching it, but mostly forgettable? You all know what I’m talking about. It’s the experience of something that is fine, enjoyable even, but largely unnoticed on the grand scheme of things?

Only Mostly Devastated is like that. 

Now, before the fangirls attack, let me just say that what I commented above is not an inherent criticism. Not every novel that I read, or people want to read, has to be a masterful prose full of epistemological queries and agonizing philosophies on life.

 Sometimes you want something sweet and fluffy, like cotton candy, to fill in the times when your brain needs a break. A good book does not necessarily equate to a challenging book, although English teachers in school will have you believe otherwise. 

Sometimes books can just be fun. 

Only Mostly Devastated tells the queer book version of Grease, down to allusions making its way even on the front cover. The plot is basic in its storytelling. The main character, Oliver, is staying in North Carolina for the summer with his parents as they help out his aunt while she receives treatment for cancer. During the summer, Oliver has a not-so-summer-fling with a boy named Will that both think will end when Oliver moves back to California at the end of the season. 

But lo and behold! Oliver’s parents decide to stay in North Carolina for a year to help out, forcing Oliver to spend his last year of high school far away from home and unbeknownst to him, attend the same high school as his beloved Will from the summer. 

However, predictably, Will from summer and Will the basketball player that Oliver meets in high school, seem to be two different people, with Oliver trying to reconcile why the boy he loves is pretending like he doesn’t exist. 

This book...isn’t original. In any way, shape, or form. From the plot, the characters, the dialogue, and even the writing, nothing about this stands out too much to me. 

Again, this does not make it a bad read, sometimes you want light and easy and predictable, but it does make it a forgettable one. 

The plot is fine. It’s sturdy, it works for what Gonzales is trying to achieve, which is mainly the love story between Will and Oliver. She does try to throw some other things in there, like putting a side character who is struggling with being bisexual, another side character with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), some light stuff on body image, other airy commentary on fetishizing people’s sexualization, and of course, the death and loss of a loved one and the grieving process that goes with it. 

Now, you might be saying, wow, thetypedwriter, what are you thinking? That is so much stuff that she put into her book! Incredible! How can you call it shallow and predictable?

Well, for one, the book is short. While again, nice for those readers who want something light to carry on their way to tan by the pool, great, but for those readers who want something more, this can be frustrating. 

For an in-depth reading experience for any of those themes above, hitting the tip of the iceberg would be putting it lightly. The book skims the surface of those topics, but they aren’t delved into in any semblance of sophistication or depth that would actually make this a more memorable read. 

Reason two, Sophie Gonzales does come across quite preachy sometimes. 

Now, this can be tricky so let me explain. Putting forth your agenda or your beliefs and values in a book is not an erroneous thing to do. Actually, it’s an amazing thing to do and people have been using books as a form of expression for these types of things for centuries. Some may argue that the intrinsic value of a book is to express such opinions. 

However, this is not Sophie Gonzales’ biography, nor is it an opinion article about how she feels about the fetishization of girls kissing girls for male entertainment. When you are going to put your opinions and beliefs into your book, it needs to make sense in the scheme of the characters. 

For example, if J.K. Rowling randomly had Ron go on a speech about women’s rights and toxic masculinity, it would be out-of-character and baffling since Ron would not be the character to say such a thing. 

However, if Hermione were to give such a speech, the ideas and beliefs would be passed along, message received, but without breaking character or pulling me out of the universe to think what the hell because a sermon came out of left field that held no continuity in the scheme of the novel as a whole. 

This happened to me quite a lot in Only Mostly Devastated. It was like Sohpie Gonzales got to a certain point, told her characters to step aside, and then got on her soapbox to preach about love and acceptance. 

Once again, I’m not against any of the messages she’s portraying at all. 

What I think lacked finesse, however, was the way in which she got those messages across, which was often out-of-character and forced the plot to go certain places just so she could get the chance to talk about those issues. 

With that out of the way, other slight criticisms I have mainly are to be found with the characters and the writing itself. 

The characters were all likable enough. I’m not about to go write fanfiction about any of them though. They were largely generic, although entertaining enough for what this book is offering. They were also all pretty forgettable and formed pretty forgettable relationships as well. 

Do I really remember any of Will’s friends? Nope. What about Oliver’s girl squad? Kind of? I did appreciate the attempt at including more characters of color, including Will.

I do think that Lara was the most interesting character. I honestly would have preferred to have had a whole novel about her rather than told from Oliver’s point-of-view, simply as Oliver is basic as all hell (white boy that plays guitar and is slightly awkward. I’ve only seen this character about 10 million thousand times before).

 And if Gonzales had written this novel about Lara instead, all of her themes would have worked infinitely better. You still get the struggle with sexuality, you still get the side POC characters with PCOS and body image issues, and you could still have the plot of loss and death if you wanted to. 

The friendship with the girls would make so much more sense, the fetishization topic could have been delved into way more thoroughly, and Lara was kind of a bitch, and I appreciated that about her. You would even still get a musical person in the form of Juliette even without Oliver on the scene. 

But, nope. We get Oliver. Which is...fine. Mediocre, but fine, I guess. 

Lastly, Gonzales is a perfectly average writer. The story flowed, it was funny, it had its moments of nuance and sarcasm, but there were moments where she would make comparisons, always with similes or metaphors, that left me literally confounded because of how bizarre and out-of-place I found them. 

Some examples:

1. “Up close, she smelled like sugary flowers.” 

-I’m sorry, but what do sugary flowers smell like? Why are the flowers sugary? Who would even sugar their flowers in the first place?

2. “Deep inside my chest, my heart was beating as though it was trying to tear free from bondage.”

-Just...an extremely odd choice of words. Why bondage, Sophie Gonzales, why?

3. “I’d rather floss with barbed wire, than watch a live sports match…”

-Ummm eww and scary?

I could go on and on with the frankly awful choices for comparison that are made in this book with incessant use, but I think you get the point. The similes and metaphors were downright baffling. Not really sure what Gonzales was going for with them, but...no. Just no. 

Lastly, Oliver’s nickname Ollie-oop made me want to curl up and die. It didn’t make them seem like better friends. In fact, the whole rose gold-girl-group and Oliver was such a dumpster fire of a friendship that lacked any and all actual solid foundations for a relationship that it annoyed me, especially in the end when Oliver decides to stay in North Carolina to be with people he’s not even close to. 

Additionally, the inclusion of Oliver’s two friends from back home was just...pointless, utterly pointless. I don’t even know why she bothered to write them into the story honestly. They added nothing. 

Again, her themes are good in nature and provocative in theory, but the book was just too short and shallow to justify writing in any of it when really all she cared about was Will and Oliver sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. It was almost like fanfiction, but published. Actually, nope, I think fanfiction is better. 

Wow, I guess I had more feelings about this book than I thought, mostly negative too. 

Once more, I want to heavily emphasize that I DIDN’T HATE IT. It was a super, light, super cute, very simple book that I’m sure a ton of people will appreciate right now with everything heavy going on in the world.

 If you need a book in cloud form, this is your novel. But....if you wanted something more like me, if you found it just a little too simplistic in nature, just a little too forgettable, then that’s okay too. 

Recommendation: If you’re too burdened down by carrying your sunscreen and your cooler out to the pool, this is the perfect light summer reading to tuck under one arm and melt your worries away for a little while. If you want an actually good, actually complex and refined LGBTQ+ coming of age novel then I’d definitely go for the likes of Red, White, and Royal Blue or Autoboyagraphy instead. 

Score: 5/10 

[lostinthewinterwood]

Heart Attack 2020

Hey friend!

Looks like you and I both like to write like the wind and suffer in the process, so without further ado, let’s go :D

Also, oops, my habit of procrastination has caught up with me… sorry about that!  Here’s a letter now at least…

   General DNW

non-con/dub-con;

explicit sexual content;

incest (incl. adoptive/chosen family);

a/b/o;

mpreg;

non-canonical permanent major character death;

complete downer endings;

hurt no comfort;

heavy angst;

on-page deliberate self-harm*;

on-page suicide;

gore;

graphic physical trauma;

character bashing;

cringe comedy;

fic-as-writer-soapbox;

fic that’s all about real-world bigotries or real-world politics;

canon-typical 2020;

unrequested full-setting AUs;

unrequested identity headcanons;

unrequested romance as the main plot.

*I don’t include things like, say, punching a wall in a fit of emotion under this. However, something like cutting would not be appreciated.

 *****

General Likes

– I really like plotty fics

– Secret identity and disguise shenanigans, the more layers to them and more absurdity the better.

– Crossdressing for whatever reason and gender disguises, also for whatever reason, though not as a fetish thing—that I enjoy less.

– Time travel and time loops are always fun, especially as a fix-it.  I have a general preference for Peggy Sue style (aka, an older character getting put back in their younger body at an earlier point in the timeline) over the character’s physical body stepping back in time, but either one is good.

– A focus on family and/or friendship, especially characters realizing they’re not nearly as alone as they think they are, and just generally characters who like each other and enjoy spending time together

– Found family; families of choice

– Character studies

– Worldbuilding

– Canon-divergence AUs and missing scenes; things set pre- or post-canon; wriggling into canon and poking at it to see what it spits back at you, if that description makes any sense at all.

 ***** 

wherein i request a time-travel canon and mostly don't request time travelers [art and fic]

Mother of Learning - nobody103  

·        Alanic Zosk & Silverlake (Mother of Learning)

·        Zach Noveda & None (Mother of Learning)

·        Kirielle Kazinski & Zorian Kazinski (Mother of Learning)

·        Kirielle Kazinski & None (Mother of Learning)

·        Raynie & Kiana (Mother of Learning)

·        Neoluma-Manu Iljatir & Zach Noveda (Mother of Learning)

·        Alanic Zosk & Xvim Chao (Mother of Learning)

fandom-specific dnw: romantic and/or sexual Zach/Zorian; physical parental abuse within the Kazinski family; significant exaggeration of canonical emotional neglect/abuse/general family dysfunction

 Prompts:

If you want to write an AU, you can consider any AU requested for AUEx for Mother of Learning, as listed here, to be requested in this exchange as well, even if the requested characters aren’t requested there, as long as it isn’t written as purely mundane.

I’ve written a fair few Mother of Learning prompts already; if you want to see me going off more about things, especially for Kirielle, please see the Mother of Learning section of my Gen Freeform Ex letter here.  If you don’t want to click through, though, here’s a bit of things.  

 Kirielle, Kirielle & Zorian:

If you want to focus on Kirielle’s relationship with someone who isn’t Zorian, for Kirielle and Nochka, they’re adorable and I’d love a further development of their friendship, especially getting to see it grow and develop over the months and years after the invasion.  If you want to write about Kiri and Zach, these two seem to have a lot of fun teaming up against Zorian lol, I really enjoy their dynamic and how they play off each other.  For Kirielle and Zorian, I love their dynamic!  And again here I’d really enjoy seeing their relationship developing in real time, rather than a constantly looping world.  I think it would be great to see either of them defending the other to their parents—and maybe Zorian ends up with custody of Kiri, there’s definitely things to explore there.

For Kirielle by herself, I’d love some sort of character study—what does she do now that the time loop is over?  She’s growing up into a war; will she be a mage?  An artist?  Something else?  Alternatively—what if she got pulled into the loop; what would it be like to grow older while still looking nine?

 Zach, Zach & Neolu:

Assuming you don’t go for a setting AU, I’d generally prefer something set at least in part after the time loop begins, but beyond that I don’t have a strong preference for where in the timeline this might be set.  Maybe something from before Zorian got looped in—maybe one of the iterations where Zach and Neolu just went off across the country having fun the whole month? Zach doing whatever, possibly very early on, or maybe him freaking out a little because what the hell, time travel is supposed to be impossible, and yet—what did he do in the start?

Or for post-canon, I’d really like an exploration of Zach, who’s got the lived-time of a middle-aged man and the body of a teenager—how does he relate to his classmates/other people in the real world, where everyone’s growing again?  Maybe something about his lawsuit against his caretaker, or just a little thing with him, Zorian, and How Do You Live Normally, Again?  This Is Hard, or some such thing.

 Raynie & Kiana:

Me? Latching onto a minor character in a big sprawling canon? It’s more likely than you think!

Anyway I like Raynie a lot; we don’t get a whole lot on her, but what we do get paints her as someone who’s having a very interesting life of her own, utterly divorced from the timeloop shenanigans (except re: the shifter children thing).

I like her and Kiana’s friendship, too; I like how when we finally see more of them both we learn more about how they’re similar and different.

For specific prompts, if you want to go pre-canon I’d really love something with her initial going to Cyoria and how she befriended Kiana in the first place (or, perhaps more likely, how Kiana befriended her; I somehow doubt that Raynie age 13, recently semi-exiled from her tribe, was particularly in search of outsider friends).

For post-canon, really, anything dealing with the fallout of all the things that go down in the real world would be fantastic too.

 Alanic & Silverlake, Alanic & Xvim:

I’ve grouped these because they both have to do with Alanic, but really they’re not very similar prompts.

For Alanic and Silverlake I’d be very interested in something to do with Alanic’s backstory; Silverlake knew him as a young necromancer, so… what happened there?  How did they know each other?  Why was Alanic set on becoming a necromancer; clearly he got far enough to have soul sight himself—how’d he get that?  Why did he leave the necromancer’s path to become a priest?

For Alanic and Xvim, I dunno, this seemed fun?  They’re both part of the “annoying but ultimately helpful teacher” club to Zorian, and they get along well with each other—gonna admit I don’t fully remember what goes down for them in the final, real-world iteration, but.  They’re both a lot of fun and they play off each other well; just go wild here.  I’m down for it if you are.

 *****

 mostly found family and similar vibes here lbr [art and fic]

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)  

·        Cassandra & Varian (Disney: Tangled)

·        Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Red | Catalina (Disney: Tangled)

·        Angry | Keira & Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider (Disney: Tangled)

·        Cassandra & Red | Catalina (Disney: Tangled)

·        Cassandra & Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider (Disney: Tangled)

·        Angry | Keira & Red | Catalina & Lance Strongbow (Disney: Tangled)

·        Angry | Keira & Red | Catalina (Disney: Tangled)

fandom-specific notes: Cass's canonical injured hand/arm that canon just kind of... forgets about and doesn't ever address after it's introduced is totally fair game; I'd love something that addressed that, just nothing too graphic about the original injury please.  Dnw fic which explicitly breaks up Rapunzel/Eugene.

 Prompts:

So, overall, I just love this show a lot?  It’s just so wholesome and heartfelt and hopeful?  Anything you write which can grab that vibe I’ll probably enjoy tbh.

But! Onwards to specifics!

 Cass & Varian, Cass & Catalina, Cass & Eugene:

This is my “team betrayed Rapunzel and/or ill-advisedly trusted a blue spirit in the woods and/or died for her before being resurrected” group lol, and I’d love something that explores one of those things; canon gives us a little bit of that between Cass and Varian in the form of “Nothing Left to Lose,” but it doesn’t really address it after they’ve both found their way back; I’d love something post-canon for any of these pairs, after Cass has finally got her act together and they can start learning to deal with all of it.  Sharing their experiences!  Figuring out how to emotionally process the bad (or good-but-with-unfortunate-consequences-even-if-only-temporary) decisions you made!  I’m here for it.

 Eugene & Angry, Eugene & Catalina, Angry & Catalina, Angry & Catalina & Lance:

All the found family! If you’re just dealing with Angry and Catalina, I’d take anything at any point in the timeline tbh—how did they meet? When and how did they start thieving together?  What did they do between their major appearances in the show?  If you go post-canon—how do they work out their new lives with Lance?  They’ve been living on their own for at least two years, probably longer; how do they learn to let go and let someone else take care of them?  And for either (or both tbh) of them with Eugene—former child-thieves, reformed because of Rapunzel!  He doesn’t have any parental-style authority over them; how do they relate to him as opposed to Lance, in a post-canon world?

 *****

 superhero time babey [art and fic]

Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020) [SAFETY]  

·        Matteo & Roxana & Sam & Tuma (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

·        January & Matteo & Roxana & Tuma & Sam (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

·        Mike Kleinberg & Sam (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

·        Eleanor & None (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

·        Catherine & Eleanor & Sam (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

·        January & Sam (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

·        Eleanor & Sam (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

·        Worldbuilding & None (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals)

Fandom-specific dnw: January as purely, irredeemably evil; absolute monarchy as unambiguously purely good.

Fandom-specific note: since I’m directly asking for politics in the worldbuilding option, it would be a bit silly to fully dnw real-world politics in this real-world-adjacent setting. Don’t worry about referencing real politics if that’s where you go with your fic; however, I would rather any focused-on politics be filtered through the context of the fictional countries the film uses, and please don’t reference real-world American politics post-2015.  “unrequested full setting aus” dnw has been modified to “unrequested mundane aus” so if you want to, idk, put them in a fairytale au or a sports-but-still-have-powers au or something—go right ahead.

 Prompts:

So, I enjoyed this silly little movie quite a lot—the characters were a lot of fun!  I love them all!  I really mostly just want more of them tbh.  If you want an overarching theme—I would adore time travel here, even more than I normally do. Time loops especially are just… perfection.

 Matteo & Roxana & Sam & Tuma, January & Matteo & Roxana & Tuma & Sam:

Team fic! Team fic! Team fic!  For these two sets, I’d love something about the whole team—of course—doing team-y things. You could set it in the summer, before shit goes down in the climax; or you could set it after—they’re going after January, of course.  What happens when they finally catch up to her?  What do they do?  How do they all process the relevant emotions of having been betrayed?  Do we catch a redemption arc?

 Mike & Sam:

These two are such good friends!  I like their friendship a lot, and I’d love to see more of it.  Something fun would be pre-canon—how did they meet?  What led them to start their band?  How much traction does their band have, really? Or post-canon—even having forgiven her, it’s got to be a lot to deal with, your best friend turning out to not just be a princess, but a superhero princess, while you’re just… a groundskeeper’s son(?).

 Eleanor, Eleanor & Sam, Catherine & Eleanor & Sam:

Family times!  There’s a lot of tension and secrets here, have been for a long time; tell me how they come to deal with it all and learn to live with each other better than they have been before the film—or give me backstory! How did things end up spiraling this far down?

 January & Sam:

I’d love to have something dealing with January’s PoV on the events of the film, or Sam’s PoV on January; more fun with secrets and betrayals!  (Fun for the audience at least; maybe less fun for these two though.) They got pretty close, after all—how did that have January feeling?  Did she second-guess herself over that?  How about Sam—she was the one betrayed by her new friend, after all.  If you want to see me talking more about just January, check out my Yuletide letter here.

 Worldbuilding:

Okay, so, I really did like this movie, so I say this affectionately, but… to call the worldbuilding here flimsy would be to, well, imply that it had bothered doing any worldbuilding whatsoever, and that’s not quite accurate, now is it?  To be clear, I do think this was probably a good decision, given that the movie is dedicated to superhero funtimes, not How The Hell Is This Happening, but it does leave me with so very many questions. For being a movie all about royalty, this movie is almost allergic to actually engaging any of the politics it hints at, what with the presented sides being “monarchy good” and “terrorism is fine actually”; if you want to write about the politics of the world these characters live in, by all means go ahead! For example, how did they manage to be a Western European absolute monarchy all the way to the present day?  I’d love to see that, or anything like it really, explored.  Other worldbuilding I’d be interested in includes an exploration of the “gene” which… somehow… manifests exclusively in second-born children of royal bloodlines—does this include bastard children?  What counts as a royal bloodline?  What happens when one of the superhero royal children has to ascend the throne?  Why only the second-born?  Is it really genetic at all, or is it some sort of magic?  If not magic, then wtaf is going on in the genetics of this world, I have to know more.

 *****

 disguise shenaniganery and/or PUNS

Original Work [SAFETY]

·        Male Student Mage Disguised as a Girl/Female Student Warrior Disguised as a Boy (M/F)

·        Male Student Mage Disguised as a Girl/Female Fellow Student Mage (M/F)

·        Male Student Mage Disguised as a Girl & Male Student Warrior (M & M)

·        Male Student Mage Disguised as a Girl & His Older Female Mentor (M & F)

·        Male Student Mage Disguised as a Girl & Female Student Warrior Disguised as a Boy (M & F)

·        Male Student Mage Disguised as a Girl & Female Fellow Student Mage (M & F)

·        Child Superhero & Their Concerned Supervillain Nemesis (Any & Any)

·        Spellsword Mercenary & Mathemagician (Any & Any)

fandom-specific dnw: age gaps in ships of more than 3 or so years when one character is underage; predatory manipulation between characters in the relationship in service of the relationship–if characters are manipulating each other for non-relationship things and such that’s okay, but i’d rather both parties in any of the ships be interested in the romance of their own accord. Additionally, please don’t have characters react to any gender-disguised characters (or characters in general, but it’s most relevant to them) in transphobic or transphobic-adjacent ways (i.e. none of the characters are requested as trans, but I still wouldn’t want to see the kinds of comments people make about trans people aimed at them). I’d also rather not see any kind of serious relationship with at least one character disguising their gender pre-reveal of that disguise–flirting, starting to date a little is okay but if it’s going further please have them reveal it. Please don’t play into the idea of gender-disguised character as “trap”.

also dnw characters requested as gender-disguised to be written as trans or to be written as absolutely loathing their disguise. other characters are fair game. if writing trans characters, dnw them to be explicitly nondysphoric (but not addressing it is fine).

fandom-specific note: the “setting au” dnw obviously does not apply here; my typical “identity headcanon” au dnw has been replaced by a dnw for “marginalized identities as the main focus of a fic” since there isn’t exactly a canon here lol.

If you’re a lovely friend who wants to do treats, I’d be totally on board for art treats for this section; however, I haven’t requested them as actual fills.

 Prompts:

All of these are fun groupings that, I think, imply both setting and some amount of plot; but I’ll have some more specific prompts anyway.  Overall I like all sorts of settings; all of my requested pairs imply some amount of speculative elements in the setting, but beyond that it’s all up to you.  Just-left-of-modern?  Ancient China but with magic?  IN SPACE? Whatever you want to do, go for it.

 Male Student Mage Disguised as a Girl &/Whoever:

Look, I’m a sucker for identity/disguise shenanigans, and I love gender disguises, and for all the books I read as a kid featuring girls disguising themselves as boys to do [insert restricted activity here], I never saw its natural inverse; this is a travesty and must be corrected for.  Anything playing into this whole trope/idea is just chef’s kiss, I promise you I’ll love it.

 Child Superhero & Their Concerned Supervillain Nemesis:

Another favorite dynamic of mine!  I love supervillains getting tricked into that semi-parental role where they’re like “hang on I may be a supervillain and a criminal but you’re a child where are your parents what are you doing here,” it’s quite possibly the Best dynamic I have yet encountered in superhero fiction… even if I haven’t actually encountered it all that much.

 Spellsword Mercenary & Mathemagician:

Okay, I’ll admit that I mostly nominated and requested this for the pun potential.  But I think there’s also quite a lot of implicit lore you could really dig into; what kind of world is this, where magic can be imbued in or used through swords, but can also be related to mathematics?  Tell me more about it!  How do these two know each other?  Are they both shamelessly, pundamentally invested in wordplay as well as their actual jobs?  If you’re looking for more plot-implying ideas, I would be super down if you wanted to map this onto one of my other origfic requests (but no pressure lol).

[maverick-werewolf]

Random Werewolf Fact #42 - Creature confusion: what is and isn’t a werewolf

I’ve been asked a lot of times, in various places, what is and isn’t a werewolf. I’m going to try to simplify it down to the most common mistakes - I’m sure I’ll miss a few, but here we go!

A good guideline to what I personally define as being a werewolf can be found here. But with that said, let’s get a little more into it, shall we? Let’s do that with some fancy lists; everybody likes lists.

Note that this is generally to be taken in a folkloric context. I might touch upon a few pop culture things - and these concepts, in my opinion, definitely do still hold true in pop culture - but generally speaking I’m referring to folklore, here.

Creatures that are confused with werewolves (but are not werewolves):

Vampires - Well, yeah. This is actually a pretty common one, for various reasons - but no, werewolves are not vampires, vampires are not werewolves, and “werepyres” (*cringes at the word* more on that later) are definitely not a thing in folklore at all ever.

Witches/sorcerers - This is a big one for me. Witches and sorcerers that turn into wolves are not werewolves, and that’s the case for a lot of reasons. (Side-note: Peter Stubbe/Peter Stumpp was absolutely not a werewolf, I wish people would stop counting his trial among werewolf folklore.) The overwhelming majority of werewolf scholars wrongfully claim various witches and sorcerers to be included among werewolf folklore, but I heartily disagree. Firstly, they rarely turned into a wolf for a thematic purpose (most werewolves turned into wolves for a reason, unlike modern media), and they often did so as an illusion, not a true transformation. More on that in my “what is a werewolf?” fact.

Wargs/worgs - This is another pretty big one. I did a little post on wargs/worgs once - you can find it here! But long story short, wargs (worgs is improper, introduced by D&D, see post for details) are giant wolves, generally extremely intelligent. They do not, however, generally shapeshift, so the idea of them being werewolves is out. They are, though, absolutely fantastically awesome, at least in mythology (pop culture doesn’t always do them so well and has an annoying tendency to make them all irredeemably evil).

The Beast of Gevaudan - Yep, absolutely not a werewolf - not in folklore, at any rate, though lots of people today like to make it a werewolf in pop culture because they were most likely told the myths were about a werewolf, which they kind of really weren’t. Details on that here.

Shapeshifters in general - If the person in question is turning into things other than just a wolf or wolf-man hybrid... not really a werewolf. That’s a shapeshifter.

All other werecreatures/werebeasts - This is a common mix-up, in both werewolf studies and popular culture. Mostly in that the overwhelming majority of “werebeasts” have retroactively taken basically all of their qualities from werewolf folklore and pop culture, and that includes their prefix/names.

Now, of course, some people define werewolves by what they look like. But werewolves come in wide variety (one post on that here, and another one here),

And remember: technically, all werewolves have tails! Or at the very least the more wolfish (not the ones in the style of the old Hollywood wolf-man) do.

Now let’s move on to another topic - what about creatures that some people claim aren’t werewolves, but let’s be honest, they totally are?

Here’s a list for those, too...

Creatures that are definitely werewolves (and sometimes people try to deny it):

Obviously I’m not just putting “werewolves” on here. As mentioned, lots more details in my “what is a werewolf” post linked to at the start of this post.

Berserkers - Yes, berserkers are totally werewolves, even if not all of them undergo an actual transformation. They’re wolf-warriors (NOT bear-warriors, despite what a lot of terrible scholarship will claim), and plenty turned into wolves - the rest “fought as wolves,” did all those awesome things like flying into mad rages and biting the rims of their shields and becoming impervious to all metal and fire and generally just being insanely hardcore badasses. You can read all about details of just how hardcore they are in various sagas (my favorite berserker is definitely Kveldulf) - you can also read my post about them here. I should really expand that sometime, or maybe do a part 2... There is just so much to say about berserkers (I adore them).

“Wolf shifters” - Yes, the wolf shifters in all those books are just werewolves. It doesn’t matter if they don’t have assorted Hollywood werewolf qualities - they’re still werewolves.

All other werewolves not called “werewolves” - This happens way more than it does for vampires, very unjustly. The word “werewolf” has a massive stigma around it, just ask anyone in any professional industry. So people call werewolves by all sorts of silly ridiculous things when they’re obviously just werewolves of someone’s interpretation or another. Worgen, wulven, lycans, blutbads, children of the moon, wolf shifters, cursed, accursed, blood beasts... Some people even just call werewolves “wolves,” which I’ve always found absurd. Some also just call them “weres,” which makes maybe even less sense than calling them wolves. But they are werewolves because they are humans + wolves, which means calling them humans (”weres” would mean “humans” and in no way denotes actual shapeshifting) or just calling them wolves is... weird. At any rate, there you have it. Can we just call all of them werewolves and give the word back its strength and scariness, instead of it being considered a lame joke?

Oops I kinda got up on a soapbox again. And you know me, I’d call a lot of the terrible horrible werewolves in Hollywood unworthy of being called werewolves (and most of those unfortunately were called werewolves; not that naming your thing a silly “our werewolves are different, we swear!” name actually makes people not recognize them instantly as werewolves), but...

Anyway!

Then, an outlier: you have Vrykolakas. I did a post on this before, so you can find a lot more detail here! But long story short, they are and they aren’t werewolves. It’s complicated. I really don’t know how I’d classify them; it’s really up to the lore of the writer/setting in question, if they are included in said lore, and/or which werewolf scholar you might ask. They can go either way depending on the legend in question.

I think that mostly covers it! I’m sure I missed more than a few, and I know this was largely just an overview and a lot of links, but hey, at least we have this nice concise list now, right?... Right?

Until next time!

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