#originally on twitter and reads better as a twitter thread but i wanted to share here

[corseque]

hello last month i sent u a twitter msg about how at the very beginning of origins there are Solas Hints and you didn't respond, which is totally fair, i just wanted to make sure it actually sent bc it seems like info you would enjoy knowing/remembering lol either way thank you for your solas content it gives me life and joy

Hi, thank you for thinking of me, and that sounds really interesting. I hope everyone can forgive me, but I've had bad experiences on twitter and don't really open new message threads there anymore. It's the same with tumblr messaging (though tumblr asks are a little better because I can publish them for everybody to see). It probably sounds so weird, and sorry if it is, but talking to people "out in the open," so to speak, makes things so much easier for me. I prefer to share everything with everybody, so I don't have to worry about socializing in private, which I am not good at.

I would love and adore knowing what these hints are, but for the best chances of me to see it, making a public post with an @ would be easier for me. I'm reading back through this and it sounds very like... needy and demanding, but I'm just trying to be honest about my limitations. Again, that does sound really interesting and I would love to see it. Sorry my communication skills are dogwater.

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

Read a Twitter thread a few days ago how Katsuki, Izuku and Tomura are meant to be the pillars of hope and change for hero society (by Kikibats, go check her out, the thread is her pinned tweet), and that got me thinking about Tomura's birth name, so I looked up the kanji for his name (志村 転弧, for those curious), and I wanted to share.

(someone probably already did make this connection and worded it better but screw it we bail let's go-)

Kikibats' thread has mentioned what "Shimura" could have originally meant In-Universe, especially "Mura", so it's about a paragraph short, because I'm writing what it could mean in the story as it is (again, In-Universe):

So from the name Shimura Tenko, we have:

Shi (志):

"Determination, ambition, intent", which Tenko does have, arguably even more than Izuku has (I mean, running around barely sleeping while facing Gigantomachia for three months? spending four months in a tube and resurrecting by sheer anger?), but ambitious is after realizing his convictions and intends to carry on the League's. It can also refer to “will” as in willpower, the one trait AFO doesn't have, and the reason he was selected as his vessel.

Mura (村):

Mentioned in her thread, but "Village", could be an ironic spin on “it takes a village to raise a child”, since after his family's death no one was willing to take him in, and the one who did only did so to groom him into a monster. It could also refer to a heroic trait he has (yes, even as he was annoyed at Toya and Himiko when he first met them): taking people in when he thinks they're lonely, have been rejected, wronged by society and wanting to carry on their convictions, which leads to:

Ten (転):

a verb; "to shift", and sure enough, he's the one who created the Vanguard Action Squad with the purpose of kidnapping Katsuki, setting off the Kamino Incident and shifting the status quo of society. You could argue he has been since the USJ but no one really feared him until Stain came along. Tomura is also one of the characters whose goals and motivations develop the most through the story.

It can also mean "to turn", from changed from the sweet kid who wanted to play heroes with his friends, to a symbol of fear. And physically, he's the willing participant in Dr. Garaki's body experimentation and his body is constantly shapeshifted depending on his (and AFO's) mental state.

Finally, “Ko” (弧):

The kanji for “arc”, which is admittedly very vague and it could mean nothing, but.

It could refer to the arc he goes through.

From a kid playing with those others ignored who wanted to be a hero, to being groomed into the Symbol of Evil('s puppet), which eventually unravels once he becomes powerful enough to fight Izuku, resulting in the reveal that in spite of all what he’s been through, he’s still that kid willing to extend his hand (well, in a metaphorical way) for those who want/need someone to rely on. Someone who wants to be the LoV's hero.

Not quite a full circle, but still not too far off from his beginning.

A bonus point, since we (readers and watchers who like to read the raws/watch subbed anime) use "Ko" we usually think of "子" as in komodo, the kanji for "kid", this one abandoned by a complacent village. And remember since Izuku wants to offer him a hand, a crying lonely child in need of a hero. With AFO taking control of him, while Izuku (and most of Class 1-A) trying to save him, wouldn't it be neat to see Tomura choosing to take Izuku's hand, especially someone whose identity was forcefully defined by a touch of death?

Not quite the same innocent kid, but still the kid who wanted to be a hero for those left behind.

Would be fitting for this arc to come full circle, wouldn't it?

[itsmoonpeaches]

This isn’t to dunk on you - I just think the way you handled the whole Kataang Week drama could’ve been a lot better and more mature.

1. You should’ve discussed this with dailykataang privately in dms instead of immediately assuming they were trying to steal your work.

2. “They shouldn’t have assumed yes to hosting it,” true, but that’s typically how ship weeks are. You don’t require permission to host on several apps. And nowhere on your blog do you ever state that people must ask permission to host the week on another app.

3. I think you should’ve been more open to new Kataang fans who want to participate on twitter since the community is expanding there. That doesn’t mean creating a separate twitter account for Kataang Week, but maybe giving people permission to host a separate account on twitter?

4. I know you said hosting and participating are two separate things, but the way you worded your sentence and what you said to accounts on there made it seem like they were ok to host it. If you weren’t going to host it on there, how will twitter Kataangers even join in? That only leaves DailyKataang, the main Kataang account, to retweet the content.

Hello, thanks for the ask, anon.

Please refer to my original thread on twitter where I try to explain everything as clearly as possible. Otherwise, here it is copy and pasted:

Anyway, thank you all for reading the posts relating to kataang week on here. Sorry for the confusion. The other kataang week mods and I did not mean to cause a disturbance. To clarify:

1) Kataang Week is normally hosted on Tumblr

2) We encourage submissions on other platforms as we always have

3) We will not be able to share those submissions on our blog if we are not made aware of them. We don't track other platforms

4) In the past our workaround was a link to those submissions can be sent to us so we can post on our blog. This is still the case

5) We encourage cross-posting fanworks

6) We are not against kw on Twitter.

7) We never said anything in our rules about being allowed to host the same event on another platform without permission just that posting your kw fanworks outside Tumblr is encouraged

8) We'd like to be asked before hosting the same event on another platform outside Tumblr

9) Hosting without permission is like reposting without permission even if there is credit

10) We appreciate credit however

11) We are open to working with other kataang users outside Tumblr to further expand kw's reach. However, we were never asked outright

12) We are not trying to start a rift within the kataang community, only that we'd like to be worked with not assumed for

13) This one is just for me personally and not the other mods: I apologize if my replying publicly was incorrect. Yes it should've been a DM, however, since it had been 5 days and no one was notified the fastest option ended up being a comment

TLDR: We aren't and have not been trying to gatekeep to Tumblr. We never have been. We've always encouraged posting elsewhere, but we never discussed anywhere in the rules about hosting it elsewhere without permission. We were never asked for permission to answer your question, and that's the main issue. The problem was not that kw is being promoted outside Tumblr, but that it is being hosted and the wording in the original post by dailykataang on Twitter said and I quote, "kataang week takes place annually on tumblr, hosted by kataang-week since 2013 (not affiliated with dailykataang). this year our account will host & oversee kataang week on twitter. feel free to tag us in your works! 💗"

We appreciate the credit and the link back, as well as the good faith. We realize that this was not done maliciously. However, to us, this is the same as reposting without permission, and it was worded in a way that sounded like we did give permission when this is not the case. For example, if you see an artwork here on Tumblr, it may say something like "reposted with permission from the artist". All we ask is that we are asked or told instead of finding out through other means, especially since kw here does not track kataang tags on Twitter.

I apologize personally if this got out of hand as I said above. Yes, it should have been a DM. And to further answer your comment, we would have said yes to hosting outside of Tumblr.

[trilobi-te]

Chipspeech Twitter Archive Update

Hi I should have done this months ago.. I do not know when (or if) I am going to finish that website lmao. So I am just going to share my notes from Google Docs. Should be easier to read than the original posts and helpful as a starting point if anyone else decides to make a website :3

The documents are all on commenting mode so feel free to make comments to bookmark things for yourself or write your thoughts or whatever. Under the cut I have put some formatting notes.

It's a folder, each year of Twitter posts is its own document (I tried to compile them into one but it lagged too much). There is also a document with all of the original Tumblr posts (from the accounts I could find, no tags yet but I will go back and get them eventually, also no dates but they're all from 2015), and one with the bios from the official website for ease of access.

The formatting is a little (a lot) weird and there are probably pictures that need resizing/transcription but I figured it's better to give people access now. The text is small (to keep the page count as low as possible) so you will have to zoom in.

It goes by day, organized with a bulleted list. The top level bullets are each character that tweeted that day. The second level bullets are original tweets/retweets by that character. The third+ level bullets are comment threads under that tweet, the organization here is inconsistent but imo still readable (if you think something needs an edit for clarity let me know and I'll fix it).

For each character's section of the list, normal text is that character's tweets/comments. Italicized text is anyone who is not that character. If it is labeled with unitalicized text, it is that character/important account (e.g. the official Chipspeech account), otherwise it is a fan. I also included some labels and/or clarifying comments for Vocaloid producers I like, they're not central to the story though

I got rid of the line breaks within the tweets when copying them down because it was easier to format. Sorry about that. Idk how to fix it other than going through everything again but it doesn't take away from the story so I'm leaving it for now.

If something came from a website other than Twitter, I tried to provide the link (unless its content was deleted). I did my best to transcribe the Clyp posts that were not deleted.

If something is a text-only retweet, it is marked with [retweet]. If it includes an image, it's probably a screenshot of the whole thing. I only included retweets that felt story-relevant (so no miscellaneous cat pictures, Apple-related aesthetic images, etc.), but if people really want it I can go back and add the rest.

Deleted tweets are noted with [deleted tweet], with the characters they came from if applicable. Idk how Twitter works but it the person in the thread is replying to the username of a certain character, I assumed it was that character's tweet that had been deleted. If something says [deleted Dandy thread], assume there is a deleted Dandy tweet in between each of the listed tweets (or another character, but it's usually Dandy). That was meant to be a temporary time-saver and I've gone back and fixed the ones I've found, but there's probably more I accidentally skipped.

Anything not in English is translated in a comment. Except the X-Sampa (I will fix that sometime but there's not much of it). Also it was done with the built-in Google Translate feature so it may be a little incorrect. Unclear pictures and whatnot also have clarifying comments. I can add more clarifying comments (or image IDs) if anyone needs them.

I tried not to include any unattributed fanart but there are some that I forgot to copy the handle for (I am also fixing these when I find them).

As for any future updates to this folder as a whole, I kind of want to go back through each account's liked tweets to see if there's anything funny in there but idk when that will be. That would probably be its own document.

Honestly I should have given everyone access back in June.. oops. If you have any questions you can put them in a comment on this post (or reach out to me another way, idk). As I mentioned before, feel free to use all of this as a starting point if you're making your own website.

I'll pin this post so it's findable in the future. Also sorry for disappearing for several months (it will happen again).

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

[CN] Victor’s 2023 Qixi Event Offline Call + In-game Call + Mail

⌚ No spoiler warning since global server doesn’t get these anyways ⌚

[Translation under the cut]

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•

[Anika’s Notes]: Honestly, I’d rather you guys read my twitter thread for this since I added many translation notes I won’t be adding here haha: ♡♡

—

It’s me, Victor. I’ve found Pudding.

Not sure when, but he somehow crawled into the suitcase, and now came out on his own after waking up from his nap.

Hm, it’s the suitcase we were planning to take to the desert.

Yep, thankfully, although he flipped over the contents inside and caused a mess, the gastronomic map and camping equipment a certain someone had placed in there earlier are intact. So your plans for enjoying barbecue and stargazing won’t be compromised.

The red dress you wanted to wear for taking pictures is also in there. And all those jingling accessories that were tangled together— I’ve properly sorted them out for you.

However, there are now more of Pudding’s toys in the suitcase… and he’s still spinning around the area of the suitcase.

[Pudding meowing adorably ~pitifully~]

He seems to be stating explicitly that he wants to join us for the Qixi Festival.

Whether to bring him along with us or not, let’s decide when you come back.

—

【In-game Call】

Victor: Have you left the house yet?

MC: Of course, and I’m already in the car. How about you? Have you wrapped up the meeting?

Victor: Yep, but I also found a certain someone’s new masterpiece on my office desk, and I’m still finding it a challenge to figure out what the original inspiration is.

MC: …you really can’t tell? It’s obviously a cup!

Victor: Sure enough, your self-confidence is not to be underestimated.

Victor: It resembles a vase, it resembles a spray bottle–– but it just doesn’t look like a cup.

MC: Even if it doesn’t look like a cup, the pattern drawn on the surface should still be identifiable, no?

Victor: Your artistic style has always been abstract, and the tree branch next to the chestnut is somewhat satisfactory.

MC: …the paintings on the cup are clearly several skillfully rendered fruits nestled within the grass. It’s quite easily distinguishable.

Victor: Mhm, the blackish blob is indeed “easily distinguishable.”

Victor: Speaking of which, a certain someone mentioned wanting to try out a pottery workshop last month. It turns out she was already preparing this gift back then.

MC: Hehe, the most important value of a gift lies in the sentiments behind it. I’m sure CEO Victor shares the same feelings, doesn’t he?

MC: So, will my gift be a sumptuous feast, or some sort of handmade craft like the one I gave you?

Victor: Isn’t a certain someone usually filled with all sorts of whimsical ideas?

Victor: How come you’re being so restrained during a crucial matter like this?

MC: …! Seeing how you are boasting like this, aren’t you afraid of potentially not living up to my expectations when the time comes?

Victor: I understand the thoughts of a certain dummy better than anyone.

Victor: Even if your expectations are sky-high, I’m confident I can have you giggling all night long while hugging your gift.

MC: Humph, if you can’t achieve this result, then will CEO Victor step in for the gift and let me hug him all night long instead?

Victor: You sure know how to make demands.

Victor: Nonetheless, all of this is contingent on you not being late. Otherwise, it’ll be like fetching water with a bamboo basket – all in vain.

—

[Tidbits]: the word cup (杯子) actually has the similar pronunciation to 辈子 (meaning one’s entire life). So, it’s considered a romantic gift among couples to express their emotions of being together for a lifetime~

【Mail】

“Using handmade offerings to pray for ‘predestined love and marriage’ is somewhat elusive. The wish to never be separated— just expressing it to me like this is enough.”

—

[pshattuck]

Hello everyone so this is going to be a pretty big blog about the upcoming future of my life as a artist. So to try to shave off some time I will be copying and pasting the Twitter thread I made to here.

Startiiiing now:

“Hey everyone I got another update for you and it’s probably gonna sound like “she’s changing shit again” but I feel like a lot has been going on in my life and a lot of it is changing too and I think I discovered something about me and my artwork that I feel like is important.

The reason I started pumping out content before this new job I got was well after I lost my old caregiving job YouTube and commissions were my only source of income for the last 6 month and I honestly was making enough for bills at that point it was my family keeping me afloat.

So yeah, life was not kind to me and I got.. well extremely depressed. I kept applying and no one was accepted them the one job I wanted I did not get and I was lucky to just get by. My brain all the time for the past few months kept saying I was a failure Until I got lucky.

I just got done with shadowing and orientation and I’m now officially working at a job that yeah can be stressful but I fully enjoy. I’m feeling happy and I’m finally healing from this dark cloud that’s following me. And with this month coming to an end I realized something.

Growing up my art was the one thing that kept me happy it was my happiness from real life issues and it got me to meet the love of my life along with great people in online community’s. However, the more it became a stressor to live off my art… the less it made me happy.

Not to mention the reason I shared my art to begin with because even if it was cringe or my art was not the best in the past … I always loved to see people enjoy it. It killed me to ask people to give me money to draw for them. It’s just not me.

I allowed a online algorithm, and a few words from a small handful of people to make me second guess what I loved to do, I allowed money to make me decide what I should work on…I realized I secretly hated myself for it.

This new opportunity in my life is why I’m writing what I am today and it’s my own choices and it’s one I’m actually happy with.

Everything I draw will be free to view I’m going to build it up on Tapas and Tumblr just for the multiple image support plus they have better age restriction on there platforms because I’m a adult and do want to dabble in NSFW stuff.

The one animation I have on sale in my store I will be making it free to view. For the amazing person who did buy the pack I will be dming them so once my paycheck comes, they will be refunded.

And now for the big thing.

The next few months I will be saving my own money and working on Concept Art for the next few months along with working on comics because by next year I want to work and pay people to help me bring my comics to life as animated projects.

The first project will more then likely be Jackie’s Everyday Adventure because it has the least amount of characters and backgrounds and will dabble in the form of 3D animation. This will be a strictly animated series with some rewrites from the original comic version.

Homebrew… is honestly the biggest project since there is over 30 chapters and I’m not even halfway done writing scripts. I won’t Even considering working on animating that until at least chapter 10 is out.

Everything else will be explained over on Tumblr that will be where I blog about my projects since there’s not as tiny of a character limit on there. Thank you all for reading this and I will link the full update on Tumblr and I will share a link to it on here.”

And now here we are on Tumblr!

The only thing I will be keeping for any financial support will be Ko-fi but that’s only if people want to, I’m not going to have anything locked behind a pay wall.

Commissions will no longer be open because I will just be doing art trades or request. Since my new job is full time I don’t need to worry about the stress of not finishing something quickly.

Physical print books are still gonna be a thing however not for a long while. Since my old client liked my original books ill be printing a small handful of copies of them so I can give them to her to read at the nursing home. And leftover copies will be for contest prizes.

YouTube on the other hand… I’m going to be honest I’m not sure if I truly will bring back Pshattuckproductions. The most fun I have had with YouTube was building up lunar comics. I will honestly be focusing on that channel in terms of any uploads.

So far this is all for now. So see you soon everyone.

[alexissara]

A collection of Short Yuri Manga reviews I Wrote Recently

5 Star SHWD is an exciting action yuri series which features something most manga and comics typically do not feature, women with actual muscles. There is a good diversity in the range of muscles on women but the story has so far only 4 women in it and like 0 men who matter at all. It's very focused on the characters who matter to the story it's telling.

The story it's telling it a world where eldrich horrors that were made during "the war" appear driving people into killing frenzys and consuming them. Our heroes work at SHWD a private company that disposes of these monsters. The monsters are like ugly slime things they at present exist as a thing for the people to kill and aren't like "villains" they are the nature of the world stained by war.

Politically I am not sure if I am connecting to the plot or theme but I am not totally sure what the story is trying to say other then wouldn't it be hot if a slammer buff woman and a big buff woman kissed on the lips on the battle field and to that end, I agree, whole heartedly and I want to see it. I look forward to future volumes, I am not totally sure if the series will be for me but I am super glad I Picked this up and supported this very original piece of art.

5 Stars Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games is one of the most beautifully drawn manga's I've read. There is fantastically stunning ugly moments for the girls and captivating panels aplenty.

The manga's story follows assimilation, desire, growing up, and more all in fun fighting game action, sparks of romance between the two lead girls and more. There is nothing explicitly, openly gay, yet in this volume but there is many many moments that do read as next and not subtext.

The setting gives them a reason to hide their shared passion for each other, well fighting each other at fighting games. Aya's deep dive into conforming hoping she'll feel the joy she felt as a kid again by becoming a proper young lady is sad, heart breaking and exciting to watch break as she falls for Shirayuri.

I need to read the other volumes stat.

5 Stars Princess Anisphia is a ridiculously charismatic protagonist able to lend emotion, humor and excitement into every scene of this manga. Euphyllia is immediately capturing but the depth they give to her makes her a compelling romantic lead and character for the plot. It feels far beyond the bog standard Isaki story where one's past life makes them uniquely equipped to deal with the world but instead Princess Anisphia is likely actively having her dreams hindered by realizing her past life in the modern world. I think the story has really interesting hooks for later conflicts and great romantic hooks for that building relationship between the two women. It's very good.

4 Stars Black and White: Tough Love at the Office is a wonderfully drawn manga, the tension between these two very fake women as they show their real sides to only each other is fantastic. There is a lot of chemistry in their heated just off screen violent sex scenes. They are the stars of the book but the story does focus on the stakes of their jobs or potential promotions or whatever else and I just can't get invested in that. Regardless, I Would read Volume 2 just for them but I would hope that we would zoom in even more on them, get to know them internally better to understand them. I am detached from office culture and for sure not attached to Japanese corporate culture, like the dorms sounds dystopian to me in a way that I doubt the reality of this fiction, even though it's probably a perfectly normal thing. Regardless, I enjoyed my read of the book and I think there is a particular flavor of sapphics that will have this be their favorite series.

------ That's it for this selection of reviews. If you liked this I wrote some twitter thread reviews I could make presentable for several other manga and a few GNs I read this year. I'll also be writing more of these over time, I decided I like doing little reviews on Good Reads after I finish something, helps with my bad memory.

[misakialter]

Omega And Season 1

This is a "Everyone Dropkick Misaki Before They Don't Stop Talking" post. So I'm gonna open up by saying thank you for reading if you're here to listen to me.

Anyhow...

Not content with giving it some time of the day on my Media Thread on Twitter yesterday, I wanted to fully go off about Saint Seiya Omega (The First Season) because it sure is a series I did not expect to like as much as I did in spite of it having some serious shenanigans which are so hard to get behind.

To know what I'm talking about in case you don't know about it, here's a quick summary:

The series is about a group of warriors serving under the reincarnation of Goddess Athena who strive to protect the world against great evils who wish to take Earth for themselves or even destroy it.

Set after the main series as a sequel, our story tells the tale of Koga, the new bearer of the Pegasus Cloth, who was raised by the current Athena herself, Saori Kido. After her kidnapping by the powerful god known as Mars, his journey is set into motion and along his upstart Bronze Saint companions are pitted onto a grand scale battle for the survival of Earth with all odds stacked against them.

They are some key aspects it shares with it's predecessor but unlike other series who are perfectly content on tidying up what already works, Omega instead pitches brand new things, for better or worse, to see what sticks.

Omega and Legacy

Right of the bat we tackle gracefully the involvement of the previous main cast while also not diminishing the role of the past protagonist and previous Pegasus, Seiya, the only one who remains a little more of an active participant. They are mostly absent with a good excuse from the story's part, but also offer a passive involvement as mentors to the new generation of Bronze Saints, so they are not wasted. They also play a huge part on the legacy and lore the series are set in through their connections through the villian and their confrontation with them.

I mention it here because this is part of the foundation of this world, something that makes everything tick and have a place, making much of the original series feel appreciated without needing to pave the way so hard to the new one as to spit in the face of it. It's something that a sequel series often tends to miss with, instead of properly reading the room.

The series also makes sure to play with said expectations of the original lore and play with it — There's deadass a fight which is a copypasted homage but the outcome is different PRECISELY because of it's context. It can be safely said that nostalgia is weaponized by Toei in a rather interesting manner compared to other sequel series.

This is probably one of the strongest aspects of the series on a fundamental level so whenever it does something like say, the Sanctuary Arc again, it doesn't feel eye rollingly whack we're doing this again on yet another series because there's more than enough to avoid it holding up entirely by nostalgic feelings.

Of course, now that we're getting to the plot, we're starting to see the more obvious cracks in the armor.

Omega and Storytelling

Let me tell you a horror story in one sentence:

WEEKLY SCHEDULED ANIME EPISODES ON THE 2000s

So you know, it's felt in a lot of places, here included.

Our first episode leaves a good hook for the series which is soon a little muddled in the following ones. Key introductions for some characters are made but the decision of having the Palaestra, a school of Saints, might sound way too much of a generic setup, followed up with a tournament too.

Fuckiiiinnnn uuuuuuhhhhhh—

— And then it's thrown away almost immediately. The deceptively generic first few episodes kick into gear eventually and now we meet Aria — a character who is gonna remain super important this season — broaden the scope of the conflict, get to see EXACTLY how dire this is, increase the amount of intrigue and deliver a lot of promise for the future of this sequel.

...

What you just experienced here is the first sudden peak this series felt like having.

Continuing with the road trip, we suffer a bit of filler, a bit of inconsistency, and it takes a while until the ideas begins to flourish. It's clear that the format is unfit for the things they wanna do in the series, and as they cannot find ways to stretch things, plotlines can become dormant or episodes take a bit before they stop feeling just okay. And thus, much like the characters in the series in terms of power ups, it bursts sporadically into some truly spectacular heights.

Koga (To an extent), Aria, Eden, Sonia, Soma, Mars and some of the Gold Saints' development prove to be constant highlights of the story and promises that are delivered on with extreme efficiency and are set up as early as they are introduced, which feels like a reward to one's faith into these ideas and are probably your reasons to stick by.

That is not to say that is free of sin and makes it easy to do so: The element mechanic being quickly dropped, some fights kinda blend with the rest and are just serviceable, the aimless nature of the roadtrip that could've made it drag on, the lack of focus on some of the main characters I hadn't mentioned (To the point Haruto is like, disappearing between episodes sometimes) and so on, so forth. They are notable points which hold the story back, and it truly doesn't fix it as it keeps going.

As we segue into Omega's own Sanctuary Arc, it does everything in it's power to do good on it. While not perfect, this last portion of the season shines as brightly as it can and peaks the hardest — To the point of making me feel A LOT. Like it got me for real.

And even as we got the finale the series closed off spectacularly, and in a way so definitive I could confidently list my feelings about it. So even as I list the drawbacks, I find myself highly hesitant to call it a bad season overral, especially because I had fun. Mid feels like also selling it short. But objectively, it's not like I can call it the best thing ever.

It is very well able to fool me into doing so, however, and that is the biggest compliment I can give it.

Omega and Presentation

And that's the biggest compliment I can give it I guess.

As I said before, the curse of being a weekly means that it's cursed with being animated weakly. Some key episodes get to pop off with fantastic shots and amazingly detailed drawings but there's also moments of low budget where a still drawing gets zoomed in and stock footage is reused. The writing has to carry a lot of this but a lot of this is also not helping a ton unless it's a very important moment in the story. So much like it, it stays middling until it peaks.

The action is also the reason why the armors were redesigned into these new, simpler and smoother looking ones, the intention was to make it look good in motion, and it does! But it's not as often exploited as it can be.

Here's the thing:

The reason why the classic Saint Seiya was fine with the bulk was mostly due to there not being a need for dynamic and smooth flow with such static but to the point action — They ARE metallic armors after all — And yet it still made a point to change up the designs when bringing it to an Anime to something easier and modern looking, to put it into motion which was a necessity.

With Omega this core idea is a hit or miss. I like the armors, but at the same time, these characters do not feel armored. Some fans are outright aleniated by them but in my honest opinion, the issue with it is more about the fundamental usage being heavily underplayed when that was the whole point, and not so much the fact that they look like this, considering these are STILL neat looking designs especially in this artstyle and in motion. Getting the job done is at least something they accomplish fine.

Either way, let's end up with an amazing positive: The OST. Dear lord, the music was fucking fantastic in every way. The tracks it borrows from the original are done great justice while new tracks fit the scale of the story perfectly, and it is hardly misused or jarring. It doesn't reach the peak of Saint Seiya's original soundtrack but it is an incredibly worthy successor, giving Omega a standout identity on that aspect. And when they made a second opening after their rendition of Pegasus Fantasy for the first... CHRIST, now THAT'S understanding your series.

...Oh, I'm still talking about the music, not Omega as a whole, don't worry. Don't want to give you a heart attack after all.

Omega and Saint Seiya

When you have to follow up an original work, especially a classic to many, you're set up with some insane expectations. Not being able to deliver them is also kinda crushing, it can be disappointing to give it any sort of chance. Change, new ideas, different stories, all become taboo if you cannot find your footing or appropiately pitch them with conviction.

A sequel series is a difficult thing to make, let alone have it stand out on it's own.

And I fully believe Omega managed to pull it off with this season... After falling down the stairs for a couple times IT'S NOT PERFECT GUYS IT'S JUST A SILLY LITTLE THING IT'S OKAY IT KILLED NO ONE UNLIKE THE NETFLIX SHOW.

To it's detriment it's one of the most unique amongst the sequels to Saint Seiya and the one whose best ideas shine through spectacularly in spite of all it has to go through to commit to the good ones. Objectively it's got some notable weaknesses getting in the way but beyond animation, it was personally fun to experience and I do not regret it in the least when the worst it could offer me is Mid™ rather than a complete waste of it's potential.

Overral, the series stumbles, but does not fumble. I had a lot of fun with it no matter what the issues were. I am ready for whatever the fuck is supposed to be at Season 2.

And as always thank you for reading, hope it was fun.

Later!

[darkeneddawningmain]

Reblog chain removal rant

I just spent a long time composing this message about removing reblog chains to submit as feedback to Tumblr's help center and wanted to share it here as well. It's pretty long so I'm putting it under a read more, but I hope this post encourages more people to submit feedback to Tumblr about what a bad idea removing reblog chains is.

I'm here to add another voice to the protest against removing reblog chains. There are a lot of things I wish was better about Tumblr (direct links to posts from the post header and being able to pause videos instantly on mobile at the top of the list!), but by and far the worst change Tumblr could ever make is to take away reblog chains.

By taking away reblog chains, Tumblr would be losing the entire essence of what Tumblr is. People have already illustrated this really well in posts (which I hope staff have seen), but getting rid of loved features to become a worse knockoff of other sites is the worst possible decision to make. It will not result in the users of the original sites Tumblr is trying to mimic abandoning the sites they're already established on to join Tumblr. The other sites already have their community ecosystems and brand recognition that people will not want to abandon just because Tumblr is suddenly operating in a similar format. All the change would do is drive away Tumblr users that are here for TUMBLR.

Even non-Tumblr users appreciate reblog chains! Have you not seen screenshots of funny and classic Tumblr posts circulate the web, beloved specifically for the collaborative reblog chain format? Tumblr has always been a source of engaging and satisfying content in a way that other sites share to feed off of, and it’s precisely because of Tumblr’s post format. In comparison, when people share screenshots of Twitter posts and threads, it’s obvious how much clunkier posting to Twitter and also sharing posts from Twitter is. (I refuse to call the site ‘X’ btw)

When people post to Twitter, they have to either make sure their message fits within a finite character limit (which works for small zingy posts, but ONLY the ones they can make fit), or they have to break up their message into many pieces, which is so clumsy.

1) The poster must compose their message in segments, which can cause problems if they realize they want to edit earlier parts of said message because it’s already been posted. It can also cause problems if they (like me) have ADHD and forget what they’ve already said if they can’t see the whole message at once. Workarounds like composing in a separate program are inconvenient, and posting long messages still requires many steps (e.g. cutting messages into character limit sizes and posting each individual tweet)

2) Readers have to be aware enough to see and/or find all of the parts of the message, which people will often miss or not care to follow up on.

3) If anyone wants to add to a thread, they can only reply to a single tweet, and then go through the same process of breaking their message into pieces. This means that anyone reading the replyer’s thread would have to follow a link to the original thread if they want to see all the context, and that’s just inconvenient enough that people would rather not.

4) Anyone who wants to share these threads via screenshots has to make sure they have all the tweets in the thread. Do they also navigate to other threads to additionally screenshot further context? What if the poster still has more to say and hasn’t finished their thread? Not to mention how much wasted space there is in these screenshots since each tweet is separate and has its own UI around it.

That got into a bit of a rant, especially since removing reblog chains doesn’t necessarily mean Tumblr will enact a stupid character limit, but I hope my point that Twitter is NOT a better site than Tumblr was made clear. People sharing Tumblr screenshots and laboriously trying to convey longer messages on a platform that is unfriendly to them goes to show that reblog chains are not confusing or overwhelming to anyone. If anything, Twitter’s format is far less intuitive and people have just been forced to get used to it. Many people HAVE to use Twitter for work; people feel like they have to since it’s the current dominating social platform; people think Tumblr is dead and not an option anymore, etc.

In conclusion, making posts less convenient to see the full context of at once is a HUGE slap in the face to your loyal userbase that has been sticking around specifically for Tumblr’s engaging collaborative platform. It’s a pointless cut to functionality that is not enticing to anyone, even the people you’re trying to entice. I hope the people in charge can recognize this and not move forward with the idea. Thank you for your time.

[violentivy]

Survivors guilt

My family had a bit of a rough year as far as the holidays. I mean, my family of origin.

See, my brother caught Covid and tested positive on Dec 23rd. My Mom tested positive yesterday, (Merry Christmas I guess.)

My brother was all over his socials talking about how he felt bad for anyone who couldn't spend time with their families this holiday, and that he understood how hard it was.

The gesture felt empty. I hated that he suddenly had ALL THE SUPPORT IN THE WORLD for people separated from their families the moment he can't see his kids for ONE holiday.

I get that he's autistic and empathy might be a bit of a stretch for him, but I TOO am autistic, and I have spent my life being overly empathetic to make up for my siblings complete and utter disregard for anyone but themselves. It's kinda funny, I mean, funny isn't really the world but I lack the right one. I've been unable to spend Christmas with all of my children for 9 fucking years. If you think about that in time lost, the memories I will never be able to make with my kids, how I am grateful to get to kind of be there through a twitter thread now.

When I was their full time parent, I made sure that all of them knew I would never abandon them. From the moment I first held them in my arms. Then to have them ripped away because "You can't read social queues." feels awful. I too, am autistic, and I just wish I had a chance to have a "normal", real family.

I never saw one meme, one expression of care or concern, nothing before yesterday.

As a matter of fact, the first holiday after the kids were taken, I went to my Mother's house she called my terrible mood her fault in an effort to try to guilt me into feeling better. Maybe that worked when I was a kid IDK. It doesn't work now.

I stopped going to her house for Easter after that. I usually spend the day home by myself.

I understand in a very real way that I am on my own. My family is just some people I'm related to and I've never belonged with them. I keep them, just as I keep all acquaintances, at an arm's length. I do not even permit my sister to message me. I do this for my survival.

Just as I spent yesterday. I sat at home for 18 hours just playing video games all day and it was glorious. I didn't have to share the controller, I didn't have to get off of my computer to help someone, or make a huge meal. I didn't cry too much.

My upbringing was pretty terrible. I understand my parents were doing the best they could, but their best was fucking awful. I've found since I've started reparenting myself, and encouraging myself to take off my mask more and more, I feel better.

When my boss "corrects" my behaviors, he says he wishes someone had done the same for him. I just want to shout at him "wait, because you're neurodivergent and lack the social queues?"

See, I lack the social queues, too, but believe it or not, I feel pretty ok in my being terrible at it.

Nothing in my life currently follows convention.

My husband and I had had our holiday on the 21st with his kids, and I expect to visit my daughter and granddaughter on the 28th. He worked a 12 hour shift yesterday during which he made more money in a day than I make in a pay period. That's all true. However, my husband also does a lot of the household work as well. I'm glad because I lack the spoons to do so, as well as just the ability, but he can't see mess.

So, I point out things and he deals with them. It's hard to call oneself interdependent when your partner does so much. It feels like leaning but then I have to remind myself that I am the one who sees the things and points them out, so that he can do whatever needs to be done.

And I'm not like, completely helpless either. I'm disabled. That's ok. 40 hour work week takes all the spoons I have and then some.

I am able to cook sometimes. I can sometimes remember to do a whole load of laundry. Sometimes, I even remember I could be folding the laundry while I have a streamer on the television to essentially body double with me. I try not to get annoyed at how many times a day I trip over shit and fall.

On the 21st I was running down the hallway, caught a shoe, tripped and fell hard enough that I slid when I fell. I still have carpet burn on my knees.

I brushed it off, but I just wanted to sit, cry and feel sorry for myself. But my mother taught me that you can't do that in front of your kids. They need to see you as untouchable and unphasable.

That ISN'T correct, but since also poorly regulate, it's been necessary for my survival. I try not to wail. I feel a wail in my throat often.

Because that's GRIEF that is trapped inside, and I feel like I always carry it. It also feels as though no one really gets it. Like I am some delusional woman who believes she used to have children, but doesn't in reality.

Except the one that does constantly stay in contact, who pretty much gets a hold of me daily asking for some money, or some form of heavy emotional labor. An emotional labor I HAVE to do because I parented her poorly, because I too was a child when I had her.

But I have to do it before her brain fully solidifies. She needs to understand she isn't a bad kid. She's always been so good, but she also has always been under her father's thumb, and that nothing was ever going to be good enough for him.

Me? I'm pretty easy to please. Just let me to my own devices and reach out when you need advice. I'm just, automatically proud. You all were little wobbly pieces of sentient meat who turned into less wobbly pieces of sentient meat. And those meatsuits you currently wear are capable of amazing things like making music, or creating art.

In my head, I laugh and say "I made that meatsuit.". The fact is, I did. But ya'll gave it life.

And THAT is why I'm proud of you. You gave yourselves lives and dared to dream bigger than I could muster as a heavily emotionally abused little girl.

I'm still that girl, yes, still the same meat mech I've always had, but through your lofty dreams, I'm able to see beyond the faulty programing, and the crappy connective tissues that just don't stay in place the way they should.

However, it is also terrifying because as you dream big, I realize I have to help create a steady foundation for you to jump off of into your adult lives. And as a kid when I asked for that kind of foundation my parents told me I was being resource intensive. They told me I asked for too much and being self made was better than being just... Made.

It's called GENERATIONAL wealth for a reason. You're supposed to spread it. You're supposed to share it.

As if by some miracle my other 2 sons find this blog post, I'm sorry. I know you think I'm evil. You can think that if you'd like. You'll make your own conclusions someday. I love and accept you no matter what. My littlest one, I want you to know that you associate food with me. That's why you over eat. I was trying this new method with you were I fed you every meal so that you'd have a healthy association with food. The thing is, we didn't get through that entire program.

And my middlest one, you have my heart. As much as you all look, think and act like me, you may be the one who does that the most. Keep being your weird self. Keep asking those macabre questions and keep making it uncomfortable for everyone. Someday, someone is going to try to stop you from asking uncomfortable questions and revealing uncomfortable truths.

Don't. Don't stop ever. You're right to question. This world ain't gonna fix itself and in order to make it better for everyone, we gotta ask those questions.

I stopped because someone beat me repeatedly for it.

And for my other 2, who likely won't see this post. I am so, incredibly proud of you. You are living your dreams and even if it makes me nervous, understand that I am still proud. I am just fighting a lot of internal programming.

We'll all be together someday. Until then, I'll keep playing video games on holidays by myself and dream of spring, where you all would run around your grandparents back yard and hunt for eggs while the rest of the family enjoyed the warm of the springtime sun.

[monriatitans]

Let's Discuss Some $#!7: Big Changes

Saturday, June 8, 2024

On May 25th, I announced I would be pausing the sharing of Artist Shout-Outs onto Instagram, Facebook, and Threads for the foreseeable future due to the announcement they would be being used to train Meta’s AI. At least until I figured out how to use Nightshade. I changed my mind and deleted the Instagram, Facebook, and Threads they were, mainly, being shared to. Then deleted the duplicate shares from the Announcements Instagram. It occurred to me some of the people I had shouted out weren’t on any of those platforms and I would be the reason why their art was scraped over my dead body.

Also, the Saturday, June 8th, and 578th, Artist Shout-Out goes to Adam Miller! Check it out here!

I’m looking into deleting the Twitter they were shared to as well, after I’ve downloaded all the data. After I’ve changed how I log into the different platforms I usually used Twitter to easily login to… Shit… Moving on to better news, after I’ve sorted through my mini-vacation photos, I’ll be sharing them to the O&T blog as a slideshow. I even recorded small videos. It was fun and I’m excited to share it with you all! Also, thanks to my lovely honey, I was able to buy Super Lesbian Animal RPG off Steam to play for Pride Month! Lastly, for the curious, you can check out the Ta-Da! Lists for daily updates!

Well, this is all for today! Thank you for reading. May every decision you make be in the spirit of fairness and may the rest of your day NOT go to $#!7!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This announcement was originally posted in The Titans’ Discord; check it out here! Watch MonriaTitans on Twitch, YouTube, and Rumble! For more about MonriaTitans, click here! Hate the AI invasion? I give Artist Shout-Outs to human artists. Check them out here! Enjoy what I do? Please consider supporting via the WGS Ko-fi! Like what you see and want to know when there’s more? Click here to subscribe for updates and/or hit the Follow button!

[justmoreocs-writing]

I saw a thread on twitter where writers shared the top 3 inspirations for their current project, and reading the different responses (without context) was so interesting! Thought this was a great idea, so here we are with another tag game!

Rules: Share the top three inspirations for your current WIP:

Technically as it’s fanfiction, the original media for the story is always part of the inspiration, but I’m not going to mention that for my Peaky Blinders fanfiction: The Piccola Rossa Series. That being said, I’m awful at recognising inspirations, so I’ve tried to think of what might have been it for this.

The first inspiration is the idea of Nancy Drew. Luce is very much an investigator who gets herself caught up in so much because she can’t leave things alone. Not a major inspiration, but looking at it that feels very fitting.

The second is probably something like McMafia, for the simple fact the main character really doesn’t want to be involved in the family business, but is. That’s very similar to how Stan ends up being, but he does a better job of it in a lot of ways.

The third and final inspiration is, in a strange way, Six of Crows. Hal is very much the charming person who is really involved in criminality because of his friends, like Wylan. Don’t get me wrong, he certainly has the ability for violence that the other Crows have, but his story is a little closer to Wylan’s than anybody’s.

[sugardaddyerwinsmith]

eruri/hannigram parallels thread~

a) well-respected, handsome, charming man who can have anyone he wants falls immediately in love with rude, antisocial gremlin

b) assassination attempt to lovers

c) workaholic x malewife

d) cat person x dog person

e) starts with big power imbalance but they become equals

f) calculated chess master type x ready to throw down at any moment

g) terrible sense of humor they somehow share

h) mass murderer x doesn’t want to kill but is good at it unfortunately

i) I could kill you rn x how would you do it lol ;)

j) sharing very private childhood trauma/death of family with each other, perhaps for the first time ever

k) doesn’t think he deserves love x you know what? I’m gonna love you even harder

l) often share meals, just the two of them

m) come with me to this fancy party x please don’t make me be around rich people

n) share genuine smiles only with each other

o) faced with certain death? time for some eye-fucking

p) bi/pan x graysexual (headcanon)

q) labelled + publicly demonized by others: a monster & a demon (rts) / murder husbands (s3)

r) scars that remind them of each other <3

s) interview w Daisuke Ono (Erwin's Japanese VA) “suggests that understanding Levi is understanding about Erwin, too.” He says "Levi is a person who becomes a significant part of Erwin’s flesh and blood.” / Will in Dolce (s3 ep6) “You and I have begun to blur...We’re conjoined."

t) “Levi doesn’t care to define their relationship” / Will: “We know where we are with each other”

individual character parallels are under read more

first up, Erwin & Hannibal:

a) carefully crafted public persona/person-suit

b) manipulative bastard

c) literally tortured but doesn't cry??

d) barely avoids death penalty

e) fancy hair products

f) outsmarts the government

g) creepy smile when plans succeed

h) gives gifts to show his love

i) danger boner

j) shot through lower torso by beast titan/red dragon

Levi & Will:

a) "I need a drink"

b) chronically sleep deprived

c) extremely empathetic

d) hates interacting with people but good with kids/lemme adopt this orphan real quick

e) grew up poor & hungry

f) does manual labor as a hobby

g) am I gay? a journey of self-discovery

h) tfw when a side character tells you your husband is the devil

Erwin & Will:

a) JAIL

b) painfully self-sacrificing

c) kills to save lives

d) would prefer to just be a scholar

e) human incarnation of cargo pants but cleans up nice

Levi & Hannibal:

a) viewed as mysterious foreigner

b) taught to fight by aunt/uncle during adolescence

c) Ride or Die

d) carries bf’s body home

e) boyfriend jacket/coat

everybody now! Erwin & Levi & Will & Hannibal:

a) look fantastic covered in blood

b) everyone wants to fuck them

c) severe PTSD/well we don’t have time to unpack all of that

honorable mentions:

a) flamboyant gay x gay but homophobic

b) catboy, which is distinct from cat person (Levi & Hannibal)

end of thread - hope you enjoyed !

[eunnieboo]

life update + graphic novel FAQ!

hello! i’ve been hard at work on my book, but i wanted to share one of my favorite panels ♥ and i thought i’d take a moment to answer some asks! hope everyone has been well~

book Q&A:

🌸 chippedmoon asked:

Hi! I just found your Momo and Priscilla art and I’m wondering: where are they from???? I really want to read about or watch them. Thanks!!!

hello!! momo and pg are my original characters! you’ll be able to read about them in my upcoming graphic novel (!!!)

🌸 desmond-the-queer-dragon asked:

Hey! I just saw your artwork and I am absolutely in LOVE!! When is your graphic novel coming out and what will the title be??? IM BEYOND HYPED

🌸 chronodisplaced asked:

Hi!  When is your graphic novel out?  Is it out yet?  I'd love to read it :)

AHH thank you so much!!! it’s going to be called If You’ll Have Me, and it’s currently slated for fall 2023! we originally planned for a spring release but had to push things back because of industry-wide supply chain issues, printing delays, etc... for a more in-depth explanation i found this twitter thread very helpful!

🌸 sleeepyinseattle asked:

Hi! Love Momo and PG. Do you have an estimated release date and/or link to your graphic novel? I'd love to purchase it when it comes out!

thank you so much! i’ll definitely be sharing preorder links when they are available, and the second i can confirm a date, i promise i will not shut up about it! i’m very bad at being active online but i really am excited and anxious to share this little story with the world.

🌸 Anonymous asked:

Hi! I absolutely am in love with your artwork and original characters. I remember reading a while ago that there was production happening to animate them. Is that still happening?

thank you! oh gosh, i think you might be referring to the graphic novel that was announced? other than that, i can only think of this short animation i made of momo for fun. but if there was an official animation happening i would 100% be losing my mind

🌸 Anonymous asked:

You don't know how fast I'm gonna buy your graphic novel THE SECOND it comes out

OMG!! THANK YOU AW... just seeing people excited about it and looking forward to it really brings a tear to my eye. i’ve kept a lot of asks regarding the book announcement (and momo / pg in general!) because they are so sweet and kind... i appreciate all of them so much, thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

misc Q&A

⭐️ Anonymous asked:

Hello! I looked on your socials and didn't see anything, so I was curious if you offer prints/would be interested in starting to do so? That piece that you posted on November 7th made me tear up a little and I would love to add it to my wall of sapphic art.

thank you so much! i actually planned to reopen my shop this summer but had to push it back because i’m so busy. i’m still aiming for the end of this year though! i’ve been in touch with a company that does store management and bulk fulfillment, so i’m optimistic. the last time i had to pack and ship everything from home and oh my god... how do people do this regularly. my deepest apologies to everyone who previously ordered from me because i realized there were so many ways i could’ve done better after the fact. keeps me up at night sometimes lmaO

(this next ask is in reference to my rem / misa fanart and the first time i saw it in my inbox i screamed in delight. just wanted to give everyone the context so we can fully appreciate this)

⭐️ Anonymous asked:

they’re actually t4t goth gfs because i said so

anon how does it feel to have the biggest brain

(end of q&a! you can stop here if you'd like to skip my little diary entry. haha)

general life update

i wanted to make this post three months ago but in a tragic turn of events, the one day i set aside to accomplish some personal tasks made a terrible mess of my plans 😔 the deadline i mentioned back then was for inks, so i’ve since moved on to color! i’ve been working in the morning, then coloring in the evening and through the night. it’s pretty grueling, but i’m trying to be good about stretching and resting because if my body disintegrates i can’t draw more gay shit and what then?

i feel like i’m doing okay, all things considered! i’m just tired mostly. god, i’m so tired...

this book has been my life for all of 2022 which is why i don’t have much else to talk about 😂 i have a big deadline coming up so i’m really hustling right now. i actually have to deal with packing and moving as soon as i’m done, so i’m not sure when i’ll pop up again! maybe late september, maybe october... we’ll have to see!

thank you everyone for your endless patience ❤️

[olderthannetfic]

Hey so I recently saw something that idk if it's a reportable offense or what, but it was so wild that I felt like at minimum I needed to share. There's this fic called "Oddly specific rp request" – it's 60 words long, and it's just the author asking for someone to rp with them. But here's where it gets weird: they found someone, and the two of them then proceeded to rp back and forth in the comments section for five months.

Like... this fic has 34,354 comments on it at this point. Only like five of them are outside of the one rp thread, and they're all in another thread which is literally just someone asking how the fuck there are 34,354 comments on what is basically just a personal ad. The two rp-ers chimed in to say that at this point, it's not even really rp, they just like to talk.

I wasn't actually able to verify that last part, though, because I tried to click "show more" on the rp thread, and AO3 couldn't load it and threw up an error message.

Like I know that interactive fics are a thing and all, but... surely this is against the rules, right?

--

Sigh...

I mean... is the work itself a fanwork? Not really. (So that's reportable.)

But if I were the Abuse team and I had to field this one, I would probably tell the person to c&p the comment threads into another chapter, declare it a valid fanwork, and call it a day.

Much as I don't want to encourage stupid RP requests as AO3 works or to just declare that unsuccessful RP ads are bad while successful ones are good, cleaned up RP transcripts have long been posted in fanfic spaces, and reporting this work will probably just get it converted into a real work rather than getting it taken down (and that would be a good thing, in my opinion). So... gray area? Kind of?

It's not unheard of to use the comments section as a fanwork. I wrote a joke years ago that was the first Ghost Soup Infidel Blue fic, and while the body is technically a (bad) fic, the actual point is the fake fandom wank in the comments. (I recruited people to start fake fights before the recipient woke up.) "Ghost Soup" was a hypothetical fandom in a meta post about how to write exchange letters, and the idea of standard fandom wank was kind of baked into the original example, so I thought it would be hilarious to get fans to riff off of that. In fact, a bunch of people after the recruits saw what was going on, got the joke, and jumped in.

It's not the same situation since the body of that work was an actual work, but I don't want to be super ultra draconian about weird meta uses of AO3 either, you know?

I would personally leave this one alone because it's just going to give Abuse a headache. There's plenty of low-hanging fruit to go after instead.

FWIW, to RPers reading, while AO3 was designed for comment threads, it was conceived of as a bit more static and less social media-y. The heavier the interactions, the more strain on the system. (Running twitter is harder, on a technical level, than running a site full of static text documents. That's a lot of why OTW wanted to focus on an archive, not make fandom's next social media home.) I think a better procedure would be to RP on Dreamwidth, posting a cleaned up transcript to AO3 if that's your thing. I know a lot of you already use DW or other more suitable platforms, but for those of you from other corners of the RP world...

[remindingpersephone]

Returning With Randomness

Good morning, my darlings. My Tumblr mini-break has resulted in me changing the way I utilize the blue hellsite. I'm putting all this babbling under a jump to keep your scrolling aesthetically pleasing.

14 days isn't much of a break, but I was testing out a theory. I felt like I was checking social media, or at least the 4 Biggies: Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, too frequently and in too automated a fashion. Got five minutes between tasks? Check Insta! Need a breather from spreadsheet madness? Log in to Twitter! And on and on. While it is always nice to check in with my mutuals, I would then get sidetracked and the next things I know I've lost 20 minutes to somebody's thread about SCOTUS or lunar eclipse or whatever. Not terrible, in and of itself, but when added to all the other noise and distraction in the world, it has become detrimental.

Life offline these days is busy and stressful. My job is good but hectic, so I have to stay focused and disciplined with my time and attention. Home life is difficult and I'll leave it at that because it involves other people who don't want their shit aired out online. So even if I wanted to read about the latest Kardashian drama (keep your mitts of Marilyn's dress, Kim!) I just don't have the time or the mental bandwidth.

Moreover, reading gossip and useless opinions just isn't good for my mental health. I'd argue it's not good for anyone's mental health, but I believe everyone has to the right to live their life any way they see fit, including but not limited to social media brainrot. You do you, baby.

Which brings me to my point (I have one, I swear): social media may have been an unfortunate mistake. Or at least, 75% of it. The 25% that allows us to meet each other, learn new things, talk to people around the world, share, connect, inspire, is awesome. A truly wonderful gift. But the other 75%: rampant disinformation, bullying, repeated ugliness, echo chamber effect - is an awfully high price to pay. Is it too high? I don't know. I think we need to recognize it now, acknowledge the problem it has become, and find a way to preserve the good and eliminate the bad. There has to be a way. Our society has done some amazing things. We have to find a way to keep trolls from ruining the world.

I think it was @hopefulmisanthrope who said a while back "Do we really need everyone's opinion?" in regards to social media's negative effect. I found myself repeating this sentiment a few days ago. I told someone "We don't need everyone's opinion, all the time."

I must clarify that there is a difference between using Twitter or Tumblr, etc. to express yourself, and using it to spread maliciousness. Use it to write something silly or sad or moving or beautiful. To just put something out into the universe. I wholeheartedly support this for everyone. Remember, a thing isn't free unless it's free for everyone. So follow your bliss and post your heart out if it brings you joy. God knows, I've posted about meaningless shit before, because it made me happy. I just posted on Twitter about wind, for fuck's sake. I'm not contributing to the overall betterment of society with my 479th Instagram picture of orchids. But neither am I harming it buy doing this. It's the thousand mile long thread of echoed hatred and ignorance that worries me. That's the shit we've got to stop. It is not a case of, "Well, who's to say what's hate and what's not?" We are. We all know the difference between what is evil and vicious and what is harmless. I want the people that scream freedom as a way to absolve themselves of responsibility for the things they say and do to shut their mouths. Adults know when they are protecting true freedom and when they are using it to mask discrimination and acrimony.

So, to get back to my original thought when I started writing this post a hundred years ago, is to say that I want to use Tumblr differently. I want to check in on my mutuals by going to their individual blogs. I want to write my own posts when I either have something to capture so I can refer back to it later, or because I want to share something. I don't want to start scrolling mindlessly, miss all the good stuff, while zoning out. So if I don't appear for a while and then suddenly heart bomb the hell out of you, this is why. And if I miss you and you wonder why, drop me a line. I do check messages to see if anyone is trying to reach me directly.

Everything is tumultuous (to put it mildly) in the world these days. I'm looking for ways to maintain equilibrium with my energy, attention, and output. I am responsible for what I allow myself to absorb, and what I put out into the universe. I want both of those to be good, healthy and helpful. So the learning and the adjusting and the analyzing and the changing and the growing never stops. Neither does my rambling, apparently. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I love you, kittens. Take care of yourselves and be good to each other.