#remembered that i'm actually more of an artist than a writer and got a little too silly lmao 💀

[fluffy-ami]

Then... lee!caelus? 👀

*inhales* Y E S-

lmao just let the poor dude be the complete gacha addict he is, who needs sleep anyway (I'm just in love with this concept, Caelus is so silly slxkslkz-) 😭

(Milestone ☁️ Top 5 Favourite Fandoms + Recently added) Requests are still open (probably gonna close them in a few days though)! 🌟

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD Critique: Bad Faith, Fandom, and Respect

All right. You know what? Screw it. I saw one post I just cannot ignore anymore that encapsulated all of my problems with the fandom right now. Personal rant incoming.

I understand that there's a nuance to the discussion of season 2 of Our Flag Means Death, and that there are people going a little too far with both their critiques and their support of the show. But oh my God, I'm tired of being straw-manned and made fun of for legitimate critiques of the show.

I just used the block button on someone in this fandom for the first time. Some of you might think I'm overreacting for this, but I saw a post that I could not on any level stand. This person, who I will not name names of, because I'd rather just block them and never deal with their level of bad faith again, took their one legitimate criticism of those of us who critique the show, the back and forth on whether or not Izzy's death was homophobic or not, and used it as the first in a literal list of straw man critiques that no one I've read in the OFMD Critical tag has made (and I check it like once a day bc I like reading meta, sorry), proceeding to absolutely make fun of the legitimate critiques that people have of the show, parodying them in the worst possible ways. They took our legitimate critiques about everything from the sexist handling Zheng Yi Sao's character, the absolute ableism of the finale, the questionable optics of the handling of trauma, etc. and stretched them into things that they very much were not (two examples were that we were crying ableism bc of something to do with seagulls and that we thought the problem in the Stede&Zheng dynamic was the "emotional labor" involved).

Now I'm pretty sure this post was a joke. I *think* it was a joke. But how in the world am I supposed to feel comfortable in the main section of a fandom like this when the comments and replies to this post were full of people agreeing sincerely that this is what the critical section of the fandom is like? How am I supposed to feel when I just see people making fun of me for my analysis of the show? I love this show. I adore season 1 and I'm clearly still making fan related content (moodboards) for season 2 along with my critiques.

Sure, I vibe way more with fanfiction than the actual canon at this point, but I still genuinely engage with the show. And to have the critiques that I made in good faith, regarding issues that I sincerely care about such as ableism, sexism, homophobia, and the handling of trauma, made fun of and taken out of context and straw-manned to their extreme, makes me feel so absolutely unwelcome in this fandom.

Other than keeping up with the couple of fan series that I'm currently still reading, I don't know if I can stay in this fandom any longer. I can't say that I'm excited for the new season if this is the kind of response that any good faith critique of the show is going to get. I can't say that I feel safe or comfortable when there are this many people ready to dog pile on me for a critique I made with ACTUAL TEXTUAL EVIDENCE to back it up.

I would like to thank all the people who have been making excellent critiques of the show. Their meta-analysis is what got me into making my own critiques, which I was nervous about making in any other fandom. I don't think I've in any way tagged them all, but just a few I can remember off the top of my head. Go read their critiques/meta- it's really good!

@sky-fire-forever @carrymelikeimcute @blue-b-bro @bougiebutchbinch @treesofgreen @sixstepsaway @alex51324

And from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has engaged with my mood boards or my critiques or anything else that I've made, as well as the amazing writers and artists in this fandom (such as @ruecrown, @aletterinthenameofsanity, @fool-for-luv, and @possumsmushroom). You guys have kept me going with my love for the show and engaging with it for a while now. Despite the stuff that is making me take a step back now, I really did love this while it lasted! I'm still planning on making a few more mood boards, but other than that, I'm going to take a step back from engaging.

Hope this post can spread enough support/joy your way to counteract the ache I'm currently feeling!

Sincerely,

Ashley (aka @khruschevshoe)

[anti-spop]

i obviously can't just make ppl actually read our posts to get our point, but yeah it's infuriating that spop stans just assume we're haters with no life for hating on a silly little kids show (while at the same time stans make spop look deeper than it is). we're just seen like homophobes/lesbophobes, racists, ableists etc. who send death threats to fans and the crew-ra.

of course, there are some people like that, but most of the anti/crit community does NOT condone harassment. although we may get a little intense about our criticisms, they're still valid. spop does romanticize abuse. it does make light of bullying. it normalizes ableism. it's still racist. maybe these things aren't intentional, but the fact it's a KIDS show is why we're so revolted. kids and teens are going to internalize these elements and think they're healthy both in fiction and in real life. we also have to remember that grown adults are behind this show, hence why we have to call them out on it. and still, we aren't out there attacking or sending death threats to nd stevenson or anyone in the crew-ra. i certainly do not support that.

also, at least i actually post things that aren't negative rants. i do post some constructive criticisms, like how certain characters and plot elements could've been awesome if done right. like i talked about how frosta would've been a more interesting character if she retained her s1 personality, or how a friendship between bow and kyle could've been neat. how characters like castaspella or micah could've been more relevant to the plot, or how catra's redemption arc could've been more efficient. you know, we're not attacking the show. most of us still love it - or at least what it COULD'VE been. spop has a good premise. the problem is the execution.

besides, i feel like this is important to ppl who want to write their own stories or maybe their own tv shows and movies. it might make a difference to these creators! who knows! at least i'm an artist and a writer, so it could help me. but most importantly, this is a space where we can point out these issues and what we would've done if we were the creators of spop. we don't attack spop fans, we just offer a critical view of the show. not to mention we're just a minority in the fandom, it's not like our blogs are going to cancel c//a or anything. the show is over and everyone got their "happy" ending, so we're not rlly ruining your experience. you can just block us or filter the tags, because at least we DO tag our shit.

and again, there are shitty ppl in the anti/crit spaces, but they don't speak over the whole community. at least they don't speak over me.

[idiotlovesongs]

i wanna talk about being latino (mexican and colombian) in bandom, specifically being a fan of ptv.

as we all know, bandom is so very fucking white. sure you can go looking for specifically poc bands, but the majority of the popular bands are white with one or two people of color in the band and they are either white passing or get treated fucking weirdly by fans because white fans don't know how to interact with their poc idols normally (not that they interact with their white idols normally but it's a bad weird when it comes to poc).

most bands are sexualized but with ptv it felt particularly gross in the way it was tied to the fact that they were mexican. they were and are hot, don't get me wrong, but did the term sexican have to be so fucking popularized?? the fact that they were latinos was really fetishized in a way that white artists really didn't get. i remember someone talking about how the only reason they got a girlfriend in middle school was because in between getting called a beaner and a wetback, she was also called a sexican. it gave emo and alt people almost a right to fetishize latinos, specifically mexicans. and emo latinos just had to sit and take it because it was the only love we really got from such a largely white fanbase. a lot of memes around them (at least the ones that i remember, the ones that stuck with me) were kind of racist and stereotyped them. not to say ptv didn't make those kind of jokes from time to time, but it's different when it's coming from your own people rather than some person on the internet who is probably white.

i really fucking love ptv. it was so nice to finally look and see someone like me up on stage playing music for you. it was nice getting recognition from other people that we could also fucking do that. it gave us something to be. and i grew up around a lot of poc, but i always identified more with fandom spaces and bandom cause i was a weird emo child with a fucked up sense of sexuality and gender. i experienced that sense of other from my irl community and then in bandom spaces because most people were white. i wasn't totally conscious of the effects until i noticed in my writing that all my characters (and i do mean all) were white. Do you know how embarrassed I felt? How ashamed I felt? How it still feels so fucking shitty? that shit sticks with you. how is it that i was so entrenched in a white community that i forgot that i existed? that people like me existed. ptv really helped pull me out of that.

rpf is bandom was and is a big thing. if you were gay or questioning in middle school and you were emo, you read rpf. that's just how it fucking goes. i read maybe like one or two from bands that i liked, but the ones that i fucking devoured involved vic fuentes. yeah most of the writers were white and fetishized him, but it was still nice to have someone there that looked like me. idk if other poc can relate to this, but i always feel super uncomfortable walking into a room and have there be only white people. it makes you feel alienated as fuck. having vic and the rest of ptv in these digital spaces made me feel less alone subconsciously. again, this works were definitely a little racist and homophobic but i wasn't super picky back then and i had yet to unpack some internalized issues.

a little sidenote that i've noticed is that people talk about gender envy a lot when it comes to white members in bandom, but i've seem almost no one talk about it when it comes to ptv. maybe i'm just on the wrong side of tumblr, but i've very rarely seen someone say shit about ptv giving them gender envy and they are so fucking gender. literally fuck y'all. the day another white twink gives me gender envy is a cold day in hell. i went to mexico and got it so fucking often because i finally saw what my actual fucking face could be. i saw my features on guys and wanted to fucking crawl into their skins just to see how it would feel. and the gender euphoria i got at everyone saying i looked just like my dad was literally unreal. and yeah i got told i was the female version but it was so fucking close. i felt like i could fucking taste it. tangent over.

this is not to say ptv were always amazing and helpful to the community. i mean, they definitely catered to a white audience. i still remember watching their music videos and wondering why all the actors were white. they were the only poc in most of their old music videos. i particularly took note of the fact that there were poc in the music video of pass the nirvana because they quite literally had none before. i still remember the day i watched bulls in the bronx and wondering why they didn't have latinos in a music video for a song that was so tied to their latin roots. i get that latinos come in all different shades, but they are always picking the palest shade?? come on.

and i acknowledge that ptv probably didn't have control of the actors chosen for their mvs, but it still demonstrates the issues in bandom and how even in their own music videos they are kind of othered. i know if i was in a band, i would at least try to push for one actor to be visibly latino or some other poc. but like i said, they could very well just have no control over this and it's someone else pulling the strings for their music videos. it just felt kind of shitty to look at their music videos and see that even their they were the only latinos in the space.

sidenote, being latino and emo is fucking hard. being emo is seen as a white thing and, if your peers don't make fun of you, your family and community sure fucking will. i was in mexico and had my hair dyed bright red (which is admittedly an attention grabber) and you have no idea the amount of stares i got in my dad's pueblo. kids, parents, grandparents, everyone looks at you and stares. i'm sure this isn't specific to latinos, but i'm talking about my personal experience. my uncle, who had admittedly been kind of creepy and weird, kind of stopped interacting with me as much when i got my hair colored, when it became very visibly obvious that i was kind of alt/emo, and i definitely felt like my family was gonna talk shit as soon as i left. but that's also just how latino families are. there's always chisme. i can't imagine what it must feel like to actually live in mexico while being emo (especially in the 00s-10s) but, from what i've heard, it's not fucking fun. you're just really othered in a way that i didn't totally feel in the states because i had my friends who were also emo. i mean the mexican emo wars is such fucking proof of the difference in the way white people interacted with alt cultures and the way mexicans did.

anyways this was just me putting words to a feeling i've always had about ptv. it is by no means articulate or well crafted, but i just wanted to get this out. i really do love pierce the veil and most of their work. i always smile when i see the way their heritage influences their music and they really effected the way i see myself and my culture. i love that they got a mexican folklorico dancer to dance with them on stage for bulls in the bronx. it seriously warmed my heart to see them embrace us that way and honestly makes me wanna fucking cry. don't come at me because this shit is half assed. i know it is. it is just me talking about my experience and feelings and what i've heard from other latinos. if you're latino too, add onto this post or message me if you want to talk about this stuff or just ptv in general. white people, don't engage in this convo. it is not about you and i don't care about your opinion on the latino experience in bandom. other poc are welcome to talk about their experiences too. was there a band like this that y'all had and how did that impact you guys' perspective of yourself and your culture?

[thepalmofyourfreezinghand]

i actually love you’re losing me haha

but i got a little sad/frustrated at the thought that most people taylor’s writing songs about won’t ever get the chance to tell their side of the story. and it’s such a complicated matter, too. because while yes, i believe that singing/writing about one’s own experience shouldn’t be viewed as wrong, it’s hard to ignore the audience’s reaction to the songs.

i remember this one interview, i think it was from red era, when taylor was telling a story about a guy who after breaking up said something along the lines of “don’t you think about writing songs about me”. and taylor played it off as a joke, and i think she said that she replied i won’t, and then she did, with the sassiness that was on-brand for her back then, and which i loved. but this particular interview always was in the back of my mind whenever one of her exes was brought up within the fandom.

i remember that people would bring up this quote as an example of jake’s(?) assholery, and i get that, because trying to control another person’s way of expression is kind of an asshole move, but. it must be extremely frustrating for taylor’s exes to be painted as the bad guys and then be hated by thousands (if not millions) of people for years after.

and it’s not even the ‘rabid’ fans, so to speak. one of my best friends, a fellow swiftie, reacted with confusion and mild disgust(?; i’m sorry, not sure if that’s the best word for it haha) upon hearing that one of my comfort movies is one in which jake plays lead role. and she’s really rational and level-headed. granted, she’s probably not tweeting hateful stuff about him, but it still impacts her choices about which movies to watch, for example. and i imagine there’s more people like that.

i have this one song of john mayer’s that brings great memories, cause it was my camp counselor’s favourite and he used to play it for us on his guitair & sing, and i felt guilty listening to it for YEARS bc of what john mayers did to taylor.

i went on quite a rant, but what i mean is: the view that taylor only writes songs about her ex-boyfriends is *extremely* damaging and frankly not true, but it’s hard to deny that her songs impact (sometimes more, sometimes less) the lives of people about whom the song are about. the question is, should artist take it into account while creating, or would that impact the craft too much? i don’t exactly have an answer.

but i do understand why people would be afraid to start a relationship with taylor.

also, your blog feels very safe, so thank you for that :D <3

Okay, so... I'll get back to this when I'm not as frustrated with the fandom as I am today, but there are a couple of things I wanna say.

I need everyone who says "it's her story, she can say whatever she wants!" to please reflect on what such a blank statement entails and what are its consequences.

EXAMPLE A. Lev Tolstoy is one of the greatest writers that have ever existed. He was also a horrible human being who vexed and tormented his wife, Sophia Tolstaya, for years. I'm not gonna go into that here, but there was abuse, of all sorts, involved. Tolstoy crushed her spirit and made her life miserable while forcing her to bear more than ten children. Tolstoy is also the author of "The Kreutzer Sonata", a novella about the hatred of a man for his wife, which ends with the former killing the latter (described by him as "hysterical" and "mentally diseased") and which can be read as an ode to sexual purity. Did Tolstoy practise what he preached in the novel? Absolutely not. And yet, his word was taken as gospel by everyone in Russia, and people pitied Sophia. They thought that she was the woman portrayed in the novel and that she was making poor Tolstoy's life miserable, even though she went to great lengths to stop people from speculating and talking about it (she went as far as protesting the censorship of the novella in front of the czar). After the author's death, she was also despised by scholars and her entire persona was reduced to that of a frigid wife holding her husband back. It was only at the beginning of the 2000s that Sophia's diaries and two novels were finally published and studied. And they told the story of a woman who longed for a loving marriage and who was dying in her husband's shadow. It took 100 years for people to learn the truth about Sophia, because they'd only paid attention to Tolstoy's art before then.

EXAMPLE B. Hélène Devynck is Carrère's ex-wife. He is, without any doubt, one of the most famous writers alive, and arguably a top 10 writer worldwide when it comes to literary fiction and nonfiction. He is, again, an amazing writer (read "The adversary"). In his latest work, Yoga, he had a few passages where he wrote avout Devynck, even though in their divorce there was a clause that forced him to submit anything he wrote about Devynck to her, so that she could delete it, no questions asked. The story is long, but this quote from Devynck sums it up nicely: "I'm asking for distance. I don't want to be his literary object anymore. I just want to exist elsewhere".

So, to sum up: to every fan out there who's saying "she can do whatever she wants with her story! She shouldn't care about the consequences!", PLEASE remember that that's the same excuse used to justify what famous and powerful MALE artists have done for years: write about their female partners, make them a character in their story and delete their personality without any care for the consequences.

I don't have a solution. And I think that art should be as free as possible. But if you can't recognize the precarious position of "the muse", if you can read Carrère's ex-wife plea and still think that the author can do whatever the fuck they want, then I really don't know what to tell you...

[altraviolet]

Oh man now that I've seen TWO asks this day about Soundwave dying, is that the inevitable conclusion to this fic? Did I miss this big spoiler somewhere or all the clues to it? I don't remember seeing a "Major character death" tag, either.

Or is this people speculating and doing "what if"? ...not that I'd be adverse to it, especially if it made sense to do so!

Also I completely understand about work sapping all creative juices. While I don't write (I've dabbled in the past, but little 3k words or less things for OC's way back in the LJ days), I used to sketch, draw, paint nearly every day for hours before I ended up in a corporate 9-5, full time job. Even doing customer service jobs, I was able to sketch on napkins and scrap receipt paper and sticky notes.. and now I just.. can't. Its unbelievable how mentally draining full time jobs can be. Every now and then I'll get the sketch pad or watercolors out,but it's maybe once or twice a year now.

I've seen writers who do ko-fi for tips or writing commissions for certain stories (I remember a tf author I used to follow did this - where a story was only continued if the chapters were commissioned) - or even patreons, where they set up an early access to the newer chapters, and the cut scenes, additional content - have you thought about those? I think you've got a big enough following where it could be feasible to go part time! And maybe fund a self publishing of an original work sometime down the road!

>is that the inevitable conclusion to this fic? Did I miss this big spoiler somewhere or all the clues to it? I don't remember seeing a "Major character death" tag, either.

The major tag on the fic is "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings." You haven't missed a big spoiler or clues. The influx of "WHAT IF HE DIES" was puzzling to me, too, but I rolled with it.

I'm curious why people think Soundwave is going to die, when one of the major themes of the fic (at least to me, inside my head) is bringing people back from the dead. Not literally, of course. But... but did they see the whole point of what Rodimus is doing? Trailbreaker, Ambulon, and Mirage? Skywarp? Literally pulling Soundwave from the shadow zone, where life is not worth living?

There's actually a lot more I want to say on this, but I don't want to spoil the story. I have a FAQ planned for when the fic is done and I address death in it, and my approach to writing it vs JRO, and the aforementioned major theme.

I'm guessssssssinnnnnnng people are going the doom route because of the Scavengers, and because Soundwave keeps getting injured and can't be healed, and because... ? I feel like stakes have been high in the past, so maybe that's part of it, too. I won't say anything else for now, though.

This post got long so I'll put the rest under a cut.

>Its unbelievable how mentally draining full time jobs can be.

good god, yeah. low key, I used to be an artist (mostly hobbyist, a few pro jobs). I gave up and went back to writing because it's much easier/comes more naturally to me, and that's all I have energy for. I fuckin' mourned stopping art, to be honest. but you know what, I'd rather have Echo Garden than slog through commissions. I learned I'd rather create my own things than do things other people want me to do. so I guess learning that about myself was ... good. it's absolutely unbelievable how draining a 9-5 job is. I will admit I am jealous of people who have spouses or understanding parents that allow them to do art full time by providing a safety net in the form of housing and health insurance. jealousy is very human, you know :D surely there is a better balance out there for us ;A;

>I remember a tf author I used to follow did this - where a story was only continued if the chapters were commissioned

oooohhhhhhhh you know... I get it. I get people need money. but that doesn't sit right with me. I would not withhold fic like that.

>patreons, where they set up an early access to the newer chapters, and the cut scenes, additional content - have you thought about those?

I've thought about it only in the fanciful sense. To be honest, unless I was getting enough support to quit my job, it's not really going to change my life. Like, how do I say this. I won't have any more additional time in the week to write if I make $50 extra/month through patreon. I'll still be doing my full time job AND I'll have an obligation to write for people. Does that make sense? Unless a patreon offsets the actually draining thing in my life, it's just another thing I have to do.

Although 'early access to chapters' sits way better with me than denying future chapters UNLESS funded. Though paying for fic is a huge gray area and I don't think it's wise to poke that beast...

>I think you've got a big enough following where it could be feasible to go part time!

thank you, I appreciate your kindness here :D I don't think my following is big enough, though. I think the readership is maybe 1400 people? and a bunch of those are minors and most of the adult fandom is fucking broke, lol. (the tf fans with the money tend to be the major toy buying ones, not the fanfic reading ones. Stereotype, but that's my observation)

and part of the problem is my place of employment. I asked, years ago, if I could go part time (so I could practice art) and my boss said no. it's a full time only position ;A; which is why I say, unless patreon can fully support me, it's not really feasible. freelancing incurs a higher tax rate and you don't have any health insurance, so I'd actually have to make more than I am now... and given the number of absolutely fantastic fan artists I see struggling to make it with patreon, I know I can't (since fan artists make more than fan writers)

I hope that my answers don't sound dismissive. Thank you very much for your empathy and kind ideas. I don't think the fandom can support me monetarily in the way I would need, and I think their interest in me will drop as soon as Echo Garden is finished. I base this statement on the fact that TEG has exponentially higher stats than any of my other fics.

The people clearly want only one thing, and it will eventually end xD

If you or anyone else thinks I'm looking at this wrong and there may actually be a way I can write without dying, please let me know. I've thought about this for years and the above is what I've concluded.

Thank you again for the kind ask! <3

[kalinara]

I was skimming through my dashboard and I saw a post that I thought was really interesting.

In the post, the person stated that they missed when fandom was more interactive, when it came to fanfic writers and fan artists, rather than today, where it was like the content creators were machines that didn't need positive feedback, but were just there to create product.

I'm paraphrasing, because I can't find it again. It stuck with me for a bit though.

See, I think this is the natural effect of discouraging constructive criticism.

I can appreciate that very few people enjoy logging into their email or messages and seeing a comment regarding a project that they've spent so much time and effort on and seeing "Well, this is what I think you did wrong."

I can appreciate that for most folk, fanfic is a labor of love, something that they're sharing with the community. They're not craftsmen honing a craft, per se. They're not looking for advice on how to improve.

That's understandable. But I think it misses something really important: that constructive criticism, heck, even a polite yet negative review is still ENGAGEMENT.

It's a conversation in a way that kudos aren't. It's a conversation in a way that gushing praise really isn't.

I'm not saying a writer has to agree with the criticism. People are people and sometimes people are full of crap. But the fact that someone took the time out of their busy day to actually engage with a writer about something they created, and to talk about it, and think about it, and examine what worked for them and what didn't...

That does mean something, in my opinion. I've been a fanfic reader, primarily a lurker, since I first took baby steps onto the web in 1996. Back before AO3. Back before fanfiction.net. I remember webrings, and mailing lists, and geocities. I even, vaguely, remember bulletin boards.

As I said, I was a lurker primarily. I didn't talk much. I followed the discussions. Sometimes I'd agree with it. Sometimes I'd disagree (quite strongly). I very rarely commented or reviewed.

But when I did review, that was because I really wanted to. And when I did review, I put a LOT of effort into it. I'd talk about what I thought the author did really really well (which was a lot! Or I wouldn't have bothered.) I'd mention what didn't work so much for me, and what I thought might have worked better. It'd take hours, sometimes, to figure out exactly what I wanted to say - what I would want to HEAR if I'd written the story. I always tried to leave the kind of reviews that I wanted to receive on my own work.

I'd never write a review like that now. The etiquette's changed. I recognize that the kind of review I wrote back in 1998 would be incredibly rude now. But when I look at the comments I've left nowadays - they're quick. They're meaningless. Even on fics I've truly loved. Sometimes I don't even comment. Just a kudo. Sometimes I forget to do that. It's not personal, but I've got things on my mind.

It occurs to me that even the word is different. "comment" vs. "review". There are very different expectations.

I see people sometimes talking about how what they really want is comments, though. And interaction. And I get that, but when you limit the type of interaction that you're looking for, then I think that you're going to get less of it.

I'm sorry. But sometimes I'll read a fic that's okay, but not great. It's got wonderful ideas, but they could be developed better. It's got good character voice, but some of the word choice is a little off. It doesn't sing.

At least, to me. Maybe it's just a matter of personal taste. Maybe it's a craft issue. The author didn't ask for my opinion, and that's fair enough. But am I going to leave lukewarm praise and nothing else? Maybe. I have before. But more likely, I'm just going to hit the back button and look for something else.

It's easier to give feedback now than it was in 1997 in a lot of ways. Kudos buttons are lovely. Instant review buttons/forms that don't require a perpetually shy anxious person to send an email to a stranger are wonderful things. I probably do leave more comments now than I did back in 1997.

But when it comes to actual substance and engagement...I'm not sure there's even a comparison. Why bother? If I feel really strongly about something in the fic, well, I can write a blog post about it instead.

It is kind of funny that this means that I get the engagement out of it, rather than the author, but that's how it goes sometimes.

[rel124c41]

I suck horribly at actually talking to people but I NEED to make it known how much I've loved and enjoyed your jade fics!!! Every single one has been a total banger., i've been fed so well.

I absolutely loved the readers lack of autonomy in your japanese folklore fic (im typing off memory so my spelling of everything will be off) they didn't have a choice in anything. fish wife <3 I'll admit I was a little confused with the Garappo, i truly thought it was some weird suicide until Jade later mentioned it. And why Floyd mentioned his brother dying to one, (I honestly thought it was supposed to be jade creature)

AGHHHH fish wife??? really?? fish wife??? the ending was so delicious, i could almost visualize it. so lovely. the fear, lack of autonomy, the loss of all they've known, never knowing what's real and what's a fantasy. I'm not sure what you envisioned for their future, but I can imagine that lack of autonomy will be more of a pressing issue than it was. God, the view of that though!!! Someone you only remember when you're too hazy to be in the real world, someone that's been with you throughout your life, someone that's wanted you since you could remember. isn't that so romantic? Finally together where the sun can't part you, under the water.

i dont know how to really explain what im feeling, or what i think, but i feel like it's such a poignant visual to be killed by this Jade in that way. It feels like watching a puzzle you've been working on be completed, or reaching a new plot point in a game you like, it's this feeling of intrigue, anticipation, idk. I always get that feeling reading your fics and also HOLY FUCK THEYRE SO LONG!!!!!!

and dont think i've forgotten your other fics LOL im ready to talk about those too holy fuck. I don't have that much to say unfortunately, I really enjoyed them just as much but I'm far more speechless. The Jade fic based off of Mera's god! Floyd was... really nice. The altar scene felt like Jade was punishing them for something. That's just how the bee crumbles, though. "sadist" might not rhyme with "jade" but it's basically the same word anyway... I loved watching Jade's opinion of Reader change over the time skips, he goes from mild annoyance/hate or, idk, repulsion (?) to interest, to love (menace style).

The reader fulfilling nothing in the end was certainly something. I loved it.

I've never really had a family, so I can't understand reader's motivations in your "crowley finds a way to send Yuu home" fic, but it made me wish I had one. I enjoyed the ending, the usage of the ghost camera. Poor Jade, really. I don't have much to say, because I'm not personally a fan of angst.

I feel like I can safely say you're my favorite writer, even above Mera. (who i now know you're also a fan of!!! which is neat!!!!!)

i know i probably could've DMed you but I feel like an ask is more appropriate >:) i hope you enjoy the long ask, as an artist myself this is kinda like tags on my art, and i really feel like you deserve that happiness. not good at talking, my bad!!!!

oh the way this made my day, i’m on break for my 6-2 shift and just AAAAAAAAAA thank you thank you thank you for this ask (*≧∀≦*) i’m geeking over here man,, i’m so flattered

okay to answer the first thing about why Floyd mentions his brother got killed by one!! the entire point of him going there is to check if his future sibling in law opinion on yokai, his brother’s lovesick so Floyds on the case

he had to make the reader let him stay!! the idea of the garappa outside is more terrifying to the reader than letting in a stranger & he mentions his brother dying to one (falsely!!! he’s lying ofc!!!)

bc the reader’s like oh that sounds familiar for him to have a brother, that fits into place — doubled with the bath salts, it’s an ease slip inside the shrine

“the fear, lack of autonomy, the loss of all they've known, never knowing what's real and what's a fantasy.” dude why did you write Sundo better than me??? why did you write the whole thesis of Sundo in a more poetic and all around better way that i ever could holy shit

also if i was the reader i’d give into to be an umi bozu so easily,, like the eldritch beauty of becoming something truly incomprehensible, some Berserk-esque creature

like look at this!!!!! it would be so cool to be this!!!!! GIANT FISH WIFE!!!!

AAAAA to be a huge monster loved and adored by your husband who stole/shares your immortal soul and infects your memory like a leech 💕💕

“It feels like watching a puzzle you've been working on be completed, or reaching a new plot point in a game you like,” AAAAA THANK YOU!!! (￣个￣) this particular part has me geeking,, i’m a big video game fan so to mimic that feeling of completeness, integrality!!!

and yeah i’m always worried about length bc i’m too fluent in yappanese when it comes to writing

the altar scene in Psilocybin was definitely a mixture of punishment and accepting them into his world — he’s always going to be salty that he does not know what fear tastes, smells, looks like upon the reader! (〃´∀｀)

i’m a HUGE momma’s girl so that’s where the theme of Schism came from haha and i love Tool’s music — thank you for saying u like the ghost camera usage, i was worried the audience might not get this BUT reader does not end up leaving; that end scene is specifically with the fragment of her soul from the photograph on Jade’s desk

ALSO MORE THAN MERA???? AAAAA THATS CRAZY PRAISE 💕💕💕 (O∆O)

UM THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK <<<3 im tattooing it in my head forever!!!! also ure my first mutual and it’s such an honor bc you’re so incredibly talented and AAAA i’m still geeking 💕

[ooops-i-arted]

It's the last day of June but I have one more post in me for @jedijune but it's a little different. The goal of Jedi June is to appreciate the Jedi, but this time I'm appreciating them in a more meta sense.

I saw Attack of the Clones in 2002 as a wee lil preteen and as soon as I laid eyes on the Jedi, I instantly wanted to be one. I wanted a cool lightsaber and space adventures like many a kid, of course. But I was also hitting those awkward teenage years and all that comes with it and I had no words for it, but I knew I was experiencing it different than my peers. I only heard "gay/queer" as an insult or an opportunity to be bullied or even murdered. I wouldn't hear "asexual" until after college. But I knew that more than anything I wanted to imagine being a Jedi because then I would never have to get married. (Also: they had girls. My sister and I watched the AotC VHS over and over and over again and memorized every single frame that had Aayla and Shaak Ti and Bultar Swan and Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee. Even though you had to be a thin, pretty girl, girls still got to be Jedi.)

And on top of all of that, I was supposed to be too old for toys but I still wanted to make stories. So I took my happy ass and my allowance money to Borders and bought this:

This, here, is Baby's First Fanfiction and Fanart. I wouldn't fall in love with LotR until January 2003. So this is where I got my start as a writer and artist of characters. (I drew all the time since I could hold a pencil, but mostly dinosaurs and animals.) I loved writing and drawing before, but it was the Jedi that first catapulted me into what I've become as a fan artist and fanfic writer now.

So for fun I dug out Baby's First Jedi OCs and decided to draw them with twenty-one more years of art skills:

For a little background, 2002 Preteen Me had a Very Grand Plan of writing a novel, submitting it to Lucasfilm, and getting it published. It would be about Derran Kanis, My Most Wonderful Jedi OC and her life and her adventures, and the very last scene would be choosing her Padawan, whose final line would be "Yoda, my name is." (Preteen Me was confident that since we don't actually see Yoda in action this wouldn't break George Lucas' rule of not revealing Yoda's species or background. The focus would be all on My Wonderful Jedi OC anyway.)

A little Yoda is a lot easier to draw now after all the practice with Grogu! Should I call Favroni and tell them it was my idea first? XD

I was obsessed with the Jedi Apprentice series most of all, so of course there had to be more characters for them to get into Shenanigans with for both generations.

Leronna was Derran's friend, a wise and serious Jedi Master. Derran was the Qui-Gon of the relationship and more of a risk-taker, while Leronna was more solemn to balance her out.

Their other friend was Mukdon, because I thought a Hutt Jedi would be really cool and unique. To contrast Hutt stereotypes, he was rather un-confident and a worrywart.

Of course Yoda needed a friend to get into trouble with, so he had Leronna's Padawan Te-Mon Zeyon. Te-Mon was the serious and play it safe one to contrast Yoda being more reckless (I figured he couldn't be that wise and solemn yet but that cheerfully mischievous side had been there the whole time.) Now that I look at him, I think I accidentally designed a Light Side version of Kylo Ren's TFA outfit.

Last of all my redraws was Tama Ci, a posthumous character and Leronna's first Padawan. Losing her to an illness made Leronna reluctant to take another Padawan and contributed to Te-Mon being more cautious, since he didn't want to risk himself and force his Master to face another loss. I don't remember for sure but I strongly suspect her design was influenced by Aayla Secura, since she's my sister's favorite Jedi and we often tracked down any content or merch of her together.

No I will not post any of the fanfiction... it's baaaaaad. It was written by a preteen and it shows. (No offense to any of you in that age range - just that as an adult, I've learned a lot more since then.) But like favorite dolls you take off the shelf and play with now and then, all these characters hold a special place in my heart. Derran, as my first and most dearest - the core of my first grand plan for a long fic - is very special to me and my oldest "active" OC, now existing as a character in SWTOR.

The Jedi were escapism and a refuge for me as a kid, just like Din Djarin and his friends are for me now. So that's what I really appreciate most. That even as a preteen/teenager, in all those awkward years, I still had a place to mentally escape and pretend I was a badass space monk who never had to get married and could live in a cool building with a huge library.

[gacha-every]

Another casual Movie Review!

From meee!!! :D

Hello again, we got one of my main sources to my love for animated movies/shows today, Disney!

And we got their new movie, Wish!

First off, !!🟥SPOILERS🟥!!

I watched this at home and it released in Cinema so I can't count reviewing the animation because I only got the low quality cinema vid for now. Still tho, animations are great, so ye, I'm sure it gud UvU

But we're talking more about the story, characters, and other perks!

In my first watch, I was pretty chill, entertained, and unbothered... in most cases. Honestly, I was only feeling unbothered sometimes because of the expectations of people's critics all over Wish

In my second watch tho, I was pretty bored, yet still enjoyed it somehow, but anyway–

I give the movie ALONE a 7/10

The characters are great, the songs are gud to listen to while watching (This Wish is on loop in my head tho, that one's catchy), the comedy is gud too, story is gud too!

Yeah, guys! The movie is actually not bad!

...It's just not jaw dropping that is, y'know?

The movie is a little generic but also not??? I dunno

It kept me entertained, it's a gud movie for funzies, and it's especially not that triggering at least to me, it's just not that rewatchable y'know? Also had some trouble remembering some of the characters' names even

Anyway ye, movie, okie

Easter eggs were fun to catch

(My dad even has his own theories like Asha being the fairy godmother like from Cinderella and Magnifico being the mirror like from Snow White)

...BUT—

I WANNA TALK 'BOUT SOMETHING ELSE

Huh? What? No it's not critism, I'm already done

NO, it's my favorite part of all

IMAGINING POTENTIALS!!!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the movie had potential, I mean, it does in some cases but not generally

HOWEVER

If you consider their SCRAPPED CONCEPTS like these fav examples: Star is supposed to be a shape shifter and has a male human form (possible romance with Asha), and Magnifico and Amaya are supposed to be a villain COUPLE! LIKE BRO! This is the ONLY part I'm triggered by the movie honestly, because it's MISSED potential! This potential didn't come from the movie itself, no! It's from the dumps!

I'm honestly glad fanfics exist

Like imagine bruh, what more new set of formulas can you think of? Asha's father being Magnifico instead? Making her a PRINCESS?! WHOLE NEW TOP TIER LEVEL TO TACKLE– oh wait

SOMEONE'S ALREADY DOING THAT! YASSS

read it pls, it gud

Anyway, ye, that's honestly the only fun I have from the movie, imagining it's potential

But it's honestly a shame that the potential is missed rather than the potential is oozing... you confused? Okay, what I mean is, missed potential is like those scrapped concepts, oozing potential is like from the movie itself has potential for a few tweaks here and there and boom! Better movie! So ye, Gacha Every math for ya lol

Anyway, ye, it's a shame...

BUT DON'T LET IT STOP YA THERE!!!

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT IF YA URGED TO🔥🔥🔥

YOU, ME, ANYONE, TACKLE THE INGREDIENTS! MAKE A MEAL!! AND WE'LL FEAST!!!

Artist, writer, daydreamer, WHATEVER! I JUST w i s h ;D PEOPLE SHOW THEIR REVISIONS OF THE MOVIE! Let the creativity and fun DRIVE!!!

I'M SURE I AM! WOOO!!!

Movie fine: 7/10 :)

Revision rush: 9/10 B)

Wish is gud, healed my inner child which is what my constructive criticism is orbit to, so if you're into that thing, stay tuned for more! ^w^

[understandingbimbos]

Ashtens Empire, who first gained recognition as a Kim Kardashian look-alike, has passed away from complications with surgery. First reported April 22nd, 2023 at 6:13 PM EST by a user in her thread on theperfectboobs.net and confirmed about an hour later in a tweet from Nicolette Shea. She was 28 years old.

Earlier this month she had given a brief interview about her career and plans for the future:

I didn't follow Ashten as closely as I did Kristyna Martelli but as inevitable as it was I had hoped something like this would never happen again. It takes me back to the incident that happened on Twitter, when I was accused of harming women by encouraging bimbofication. Even though that's not true it's a thought that hasn't left my mind since. I don't feel guilty for enjoying the look of plastic surgery, especially when its not something I'm personally pushing or funding but when considering the risks and results its something difficult to not at least be conflicted with. We don't know for sure it was a cosmetic procedure that killed Ashten, really we know very little about her or what happened, I couldn't even find her real full name for this post. And, cynically, I think some people are okay with that. It seems to come with the territory.

Bimbofication is a fetish that's so difficult to grapple because there's almost inherent ties to objectification and submission. And seemingly that leads to a sort of callousness that may be normal but I find difficult to accept. You could argue for a lot of these women this was their life's work, that they died as they lived, in the throes of self-sexualization but the idea of objectifying someone even in and after death makes me feel sick. I can't help but feel it cruel. A young woman is gone, someone's fiance, daughter, friend. But some time later down the line I'm sure I'll see a video or pictures of her used again as fodder for cheap ejaculate as if she were AI generated and not a real living person that meant something to someone. And that depresses me. It seems so meaningless too because, won't my hypocrisy prevail? I've admitted before that the dehumanization that this fetish requires arouses me but its repulsive too. Repulsive and repugnant.

My blog isn't really geared towards to those interested in becoming bimbos but I see a lot of them in my notes because we're all under the same fetish umbrella, and there's probably more of them left on tumblr than artists and writers. To you all, I just want to emphasize, please be safe. You don't need that much to be a bimbo. Chloe Cherry managed it well with mostly just lip fillers and a change in makeup. Of course, I'm sure most of my followers aren't thin blonde white girls, but one think I begrudgingly have to admit Chrissy Chlapecka and the TikTok teens got right is the idea of bimbo personal expression, which I've been meaning to make a post on. Yes, being bimbo is more than just wearing pink and trying to be "y2kcore", but you actually really don't need huge fake tits so big you'll knock someone over! And you don't need to be super duper skinny with the waspiest waist ever. You don't need to be blonde or have pale skin either, please feel free to still be yourself!

All that being said, I hope Ashten is at peace now. Or in a better place. Wherever she may be, I think its important to remember that she was. It always makes me feel a sort of emptiness when I go to a currently active bimbo page and I see them reposting pictures of people who have long since left the bimbo life behind or their identities have been long since forgotten, their pictures having been subsumed into the internet as a whole. I just think we should value individuals over tits.

[bisexualshakespeare]

Twenty questions for fic writers

thanks for the tag @lowkeyed1!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 53 without my podfic only works

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 195,236

3. What fandoms do you write for? According to my front page, the fandoms I write the most for are Haven (7) Ted Lasso (6) Fandom - Fandom (6) Teen Wolf (5) Our Flag Means Death & Willow (4)

I'm fine with Haven being my number one but I'd like to bump Teen Wolf off there. My Willow fic will overtake it soon but I still need another fandom to push it off completely!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Wedding of Errors - Teen Wolf, Allison/Lydia, Rated T - Wedding Planner AU and my first (and only?) Big Bang fic! It had beautiful at and I still follow the artist though it looks like the post got deleted in a blog rebrand or something.

Not a Rebound - Supergirl, Winn/James, Rated E - Post season 2 episode 1 smut I wrote to make myself feel better after they nerfed Kara/James for no reason! (we know the reason 😑)

No Time Like the Present - Young Justice, Jamie/Bart, Rated G - Short little future fic of Bart having a panic attack and Jamie helping him out. First time I wrote something and was like wow that was like writing writing!

Uninvited - Elementary, Gen Sherlock & Watson - pod together project I had to ask for a co-writer to help pinch hit this for me because I was struggling. It was strange to co-write, especially with a stranger, but it was interesting and the podficcers seemed to have fun!

ShapeShift - Teen Wolf, Stiles/Danny, Rated T - AU based on a Bollywood movie I found on Netflix and became obsessed with called Pyaar Impossible. Also a pod together project!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Sometimes. I like that ao3 has the unread comments on your front page, so I like to keep them there so I can see them and smile at them when I'm scrolling through the suggested marked for later stuff. If someone has commented multiple times, I'll usually thank them on the most recent one rather than replying to all of them. Of course if someone asks a question I'll answer. Otherwise it depends on my mood.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I was gonna say I try not to leave fics on too an angsty note but then I remembered Garder le Silence my Harry Potter pod together that's an episode of Potterwatch during book 7. It's pretty moody all the way through.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably A Wedding of Errors. It's the only fic with an epilogue so you actually have a little time after the couple gets together. Hmm should I write more epilogues? 🤔

8. Do you get hate on fics? I got an angry comment on Wedding saying it was a bad f/f fic because I spend too much time on the side m/m/m love triangle. Honestly that was something I was worried about and if the person had just been disappointed, I would've understood but they were just mean so fuck em.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? a little! increasingly more so last month lol some light d/s, with a lot of silliness and communication

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? nah I don't love the idea of crossovers. Usually I'd rather have a full AU

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? i don't think so?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! Wedding was translated into Russian in 2015, two years after I wrote it and the translator made a little banner for it!

😭 it is so crazy to think someone thought about my fic so much they put it in another language! I am in awe of them. Umi no Iruka you can ask anything of me. You can throw me into battle like a pokemon. I am in your debt.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Just Uninvited!

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku from My Hero Academia. I have never written a fic for them and I probably never will. It's a classic case of, if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. 🥺

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Hmm well I don't usually post anything unless I've finished it. I did start a series of fics for a glee rare pair but I am nOT going back to that. I have the last installment in my Winn gets fucked series like 90% done I literally just need them to fuck and I can post it. I have a couple Haven WIPs I probably won't go back to unless the hyperfixation comes back in a big way.

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue, calling back to things earlier in the fic, estimating the word count of a story, which I didn't think was a strength but lowkeyed said it was their weakness so i guess!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Description of places blegh, coming up with events for people to do between plot points, describing how people move and gesture? I can see things so clearly in my head it's so hard to describe! it's like "and then they do the face they did in episode 6 where they were like hmnmm you know??" impossible! I should've become an artist!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I would love to if I knew the language well enough but unfortunately I'm english only. I've thrown in a few lines sparingly but I think there's definitely some cool stuff that can happen if it's used right by someone who understands the language well.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I think Jimmy Neutron? I got into fandom young lol

20. Favorite fic you've written? Whatever I'm currently working on is my favorite! I love creating so much and I'm ecstatic imagining all the scenarios and tweaking them over and over and living in their heads and surprising myself when I come up with things I didn't plan! So by that measure my favorite is my unpublished Cyrano inspired romcom but if we're going published, I of course have to go with Multivocal, my heart ❤️ or perhaps A Familiar Sound, my soul! ✨

Tagging @secrets-of-luftnarp @lawlessferalgay @lichfucker @caseycassidy

[floating-in-the-blue]

Twenty Questions Writer Meme

Thank you soooo much for tagging me @nuandia <3 <3 <3

How many works do you have on AO3? 84

What's your total AO3 wordcount? 341,785

What fandoms do you write for? currently (and for the foreseeable future), it's only Julie and the Phantoms (with a very minor guest spot from Red White & Royal Blue). In the past, I've also written for Metal Gear Solid and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries with a few more random ones sprinkled in, but usually just for a single fic or two.

What are your top five fics by kudos? Will You with 409 kudos (one of my earliest jatp fics when the fandom was still hungry) Home is Where My Ghost is 253 kudos (even earlier jatp fic but let's be real, not as good) In Your Starlight  253 kudos as well (the jatp Star Trek au) Silent Souls  with 254 kudos (somehow this little Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them soulmate au got really popular) Under My Skin  208 kudos (a silly, fluffy Metal Gear Solid tattoo artist/florist au)

Do you respond to comments? I really want to say "always" but there's a few that I haven't responded to yet. Though mainly because I've been talking with the people on other sites already. But in general, save my few lapses, I do believe that it's only good manners to say 'thank you' if someone takes the time to not only read but also comment what you've written.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Well, the angstiest ending, because very sad and bittersweet, is the one I wrote for Nature 2.0 but which hasn't been published yet but I love a lot. There's two more finished Metal Gear Solid fics with sad endings, Dear Dave and Battlefield, because they're both, strictly speaking, major character death fics. The death just happens to be more or less natural at the end of a (mostly) fulfilled life.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Except for the sadder MGS fics, most of my fics have proper happy endings so I'm not sure. The Star Trek AU has a very hopeful ending that I quite like and I think my current wip, the Alex Adoption Fic, will have a very happy ending, especially considering the beginning.

Do you get hate on fics? I have once received anon hate on a prompt fill gift fic that asked for genderswapped Snake/Otacon because the anon thought I was transphobic. It was honestly very laughable so I didn't take it very seriously. And of course there was the whole blacklist disaster in the jatp fic and me ending up on that list because I'd dared to write jatp smut (once, at that point, very loving, with aged-up characters). But I didn't receive hate on the actual fic, either on AO3 or here.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes, see above ;D I've gotten better at the steaminess, I think, but my characters still talk more than I usually expect them to (though I love it) and they're also very bad at hiding their feelings. I also like to keep it a little down to earth with some awkwardness or clumsiness and lighthearted notes. So no hardcore pwp with only bare resemblances to the actual characters from me. I do believe even the sexiest times need to make sense with the characters ;D

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? The earliest fanfic lil me ever attempted was a massive crossover of Star Trek (TOS and VOY), Stargate, X-Files and Star Wars (and maybe a few other things I can't remember right now) but I never got very far. Incidentally, that's the only fanfic of mine my parents ever read (they were very encouraging ... not sure what they would think of things now XD). But actually published fic? I might forget some earlier things, but I don't think I've ever written a crossover with characters from two distinctly separate fandoms meeting somehow (except co-writing, see answer below). Only ever AUs with maybe a borrowed universe or plotlines.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? not as far as I know. There was somebody who stole a bunch of smut fics for jatp and posted them over on wattpad but mine weren't among them. Still not sure whether to be glad or affronted about that ;P

Have you ever had a fic translated? I have! Silent Souls (Vietnamese translation) ... it's all in the title ;D It got 8 kudos and a bookmark. It doesn't really count but I've also translated rpg-turned-fics written by me and a friend into English and once I get access to those files again (hopefully saved from my old hard drive) I'd like to get back to those and finish the translation. Maybe once I run out of inspiration for jatp if no other fandom has claimed me by then.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Evidently, the answer is sort of. They weren't properly written as fic. But turning an rpg into a fic was also a lot of fun and a nice challenge. Luckily, my writing partner's and my own style meshed well enough so it was easier to put it together. As vans already mentioned, she and I brainstormed a very nice polyphantoms idea that I still quite like but we never got beyond brainstorming. I might ask her if I could tackle the idea again now she's moved on to other fandoms but I'm not sure I could write polyphantoms any more. I also once wrote a self-insert Final Fantasy X/Dark Angels crossover fic with a friend in high school. It was not good but lots of fun.

What's your favorite all-time ship? I'm assuming this is about writing and then the answer is obviously Willex (Alex/Willie from jatp) because I've written so much for them and still have so many ideas. But I also really enjoyed writing for Snake/Otacon from Metal Gear Solid. They're angstier and burdened with more baggage and their canon ending is more bitter than bittersweet but the philosophical soldier/genius nerd combination is a very nice flavour to explore.

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Nature 2.0 probably. It's the only one of those ambitious fics I actually started posting on AO3 and so will forever haunt me there. I'm not saying never but it is very unlikely at the moment.

What are your writing strengths? I think character, dialogues, and scene flow. I'm also a decent editor (for a non-native speaker) so pretty all of my stories should be pretty readable without having to stumble over frequent repetitions or typos or weird tense changes.

What are your writing weaknesses? action scenes and PLOTTING

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Does it count as writing dialogue in another language if I'm writing in English even though I'm not a native speaker? XD As for other other languages. It hasn't come up yet, tbh.

First fandom you wrote for? Aside from the aforementioned massive crossover lil Yeo attempted as a young teen, I think it was the self-insert Final Fantasy X (never published, thankfully) with a friend.

Favorite fic you've written? This is always difficult but also not. I think the one fic I am 100% happy with is Call For a Date, (Don’t) Fall in Love the willex fake boyfriend agency au. That doesn't mean I don't love my other fics though because I generally do.

I'm not sure who's done this and who hasn't but let's try @innytoes and @jonairadreaming <3

[raccoonfallsharder]

tiny lil violet anon here!! hh second guessing is really common w creatives (i would know.. i'm a digital artist) but i want you to know that you're probably one of my favourite fic writers and you actually inspired me to start working on a rocket x reader fic of my own a while back!!! (would you mind if i sent you my fic if i ever finished it?)

honestly, i dont think you have to worry about how well you capture rocket's voice bc honestly you're one of, if not the best i've read— your triptych day 17 fic was genuinely mindblowing for example?? your understanding of how different people write rocket is so in depth and the way you made all three renditions of rocket different but so clearly still rocket got me awestruck (do you have any tips on writing the 3 different rockets btw? i'd love to understand more about how you differentiate them! ><)

i remember reading the boring adventures of space pilot and sweatshirt girl for the first time after reading the rocket comics and thinking that helping rocket out on that ferry was exactly what i was hoping someone would write?? it was the fic i needed and didn't deserve LMAO literally every thing you've written has always filled a gap that i didn't know was there & didn't know i needed ♡♡

sorry for the ridiculously long ask ^^; your work genuinely means so much to me and im totally in love with how you write rocket— while ik every artist doubts themselves, i want you to know that the work you create is so much better than you give yourself credit for!

tiny little violet nonnie!! (⸝⸝o̴̶̷᷄‸o̴̶̷̥᷅⸝⸝) you precious sweet little flower. please don’t apologize for long asks - i love them (they just take a while for me to respond to). this was also so, so sweet, and the idea that any of my writing means a lot to you kinda makes me teary ♡

i would love to read your fanfic! even if you don’t finish it! you can always send it my way via dms or share via ask if you wanna stay on anon. or post it and tag me ♡ the fact that i was able to inspire you a little bit is honestly one of the most lovely compliments i could receive and it is truly an honor

(｡•́︿•̀｡)

i’m also so grateful that you enjoyed sweatshirt girl ♡ one of my favorite things about fanfiction is that it can give us the stories we need and deserve (or give us the opportunity to write them!). honestly reading grounded all i wanted to do was pick up that raccoon and take him home and feed him warm food and that’s how sweatshirt girl happened ♡o(╥﹏╥)o♡

so part of the reason i took a long time to respond is because i was trying to really think about how i write the different rockets. and i decided i only have one “tip” for you (or rather, one thing that worked for me and which i hope might also work for you.

but you know im gonna take ten paragraphs to get there!

tbh even though i refer to them by their respective authors, i don’t think “i need to write rocket like skottie young” or “i need to write rocket like james gunn.” i think “i need to know rocket, and understand him, and figure out how he would react & interact in skottie young’s galaxy” or “in the mcu.”

my short tip for writing any character is understand what makes them tick. what drives them? what do they long for? how do they hurt? what do they fear? in what ways do their insecurities and survival mechanisms weave together and impact the way they see the world, interact with friends, protect themselves from enemies?

your best tool as a writer of characters is your ability to empathize with them.

know and love your characters the same way you do your best friends. as authors we are playing god with their world and their lives and it’s a little bit of a sacred responsibility to at least make sure we understand them as well as we can ♡

so for rocket specifically…

fundamentally, my personal interpretation of rocket in any universe is someone with profound empathy, who feels pain very deeply. and since he hasn’t had the opportunity to like, see & practice healthy coping mechanisms lol, he has learned to survive by trying to hide that empathy and that pain under layers of calcification and sarcasm and spikes and blades. and it like, kinda works?? but sometimes it ends up hurting people who don’t deserve to be hurt and when he realizes that, the hidden empathy kicks in and he hates himself all over again.

and like many people, rocket also doesn’t really want to give up his pain. people tend to fight to keep their most hurtful memories or vulnerabilities locked inside. they build so much of their identities around them.

so the real question comes down to, what is each rocket’s source of pain? how does that impact how he interacts and thinks? what is his support system at the point in time that i’m like, crashing his party? how does that impact his interactions and thoughts?

skottie young’s rocket gets laid, so he’s not going to be worried about seducing anyone tbh. he’s probably got the most confidence out of all the rockets, at least on the surface. geez, the 2014 run? it’s like. all about his copious ex-girlfriends and about he’s the only one of his kind in the whole universe. if i were gonna write a full fic based on skottie young’s rocket, i’d base my foundation on the idea that the reason rocket has so many exes is because he’s constantly searching for something that he doesn’t believe exists (basically, someone who can make him feel not-alone) and he probably ends up sabotaging his chances every fuckin time he gets close.

ewing’s or rosenberg’s rocket? still canonically gets laid but has gotten treated like dirt enough times — including being betrayed by people he trusts at various points — that he’s always waiting for that to happen. and mcu rocket? that boy is so insecure about his worth on every level that if he has any pleasant interaction with anyone, he’s probably baffled about why the fuck it’s happening.

all this to say: how do you see (each) rocket? how does he move through the galaxy his authors creates for him? and how does that change when you step in and make something different for him?

it’s late here and my brain is foggy so i’m sorry if i didn’t fully and properly answer your question, sweet little violet .｡༅:*ﾟ*:✼✿ all this to say that if i am successful at all in effectively communicating rocket, it’s more about studying (my interpretation of) who he is in each setting than studying a writer’s style, if that makes sense.

ahhh good night, little love. i am an old baba yaga and i must sleep

[poopyballz28]

Collection of poopyballz28 baki idea's and thoughts

While I get back into writing, I thought I'd compile a bunch of stupid thoughts that aren't worth having their own post. This is a pretty long one so please laugh. Also ignore that Kiyosumi rant I don't know what got into me guys i swear

-poopyballz28

remembering, like, a year and a half ago when I described Kaoru as being built like a garage door. Never forget. I even liked him back then, I DONT EVEN LIKE HIM NO MORE! He's a meanie fo feenie i dunno, the karate boys are better.

me (number one kiyosumi katou fanboy and knower) watching other writers write kiyosumi falling in love with a woman and being super sexually dominate and it freaking me out because I have been blowing his back out in my brain for like 2 years:

I feel like I don't stress enough how genuinely submissive Kiyosumi is. I don't really write a whole lot of nsfw generally but JESUS CHRIST GUYS LOOK AT HIM. His build is insane where are you guys missing this. Women don't see the visions like I do. They just...cant see it. Perhaps I am too bara obsessed but no...I know the truth about his character...I would know...I'm the number one Kiyosumi Katou fan.....I know....

It's not even JUST his body, ITS HIS WHOLE CHARACTER. uptight, spunky, ego maniacal karate fighter that's super fucked up in the head who puts on this tough, intimidating act but behind closed doors he's a timid, embarrassed, submissive little dick taking asshole with issues that have gone unchecked FOR OH SO LONG. GRAAAHHH nobody sees him as i do ohhhh the LONELINESS how it pains me

yeah sorry guys for...all of that. lets move on to actually funny interesting stuff I thought of.

I was never much of a sporty, working out type of guy so I guess I wouldn't really understand, but whats up with all gym bro Baki fans being obsessed with and idolizing Yujiro and Jack. I just, don't see the appeal. One is a serial rapist and murderer AS WELL as a dead beat father and the other is just a drug abuser. How is that motivating to you people. Why obsess over the virgin Hanma's when you can obsess over the chad karate boys?! But its okay, because I KNOW these people are probably mentally ill, so that's why one day I'm going to open up a HOSPITAL. And a REHABILITATION CENTER for all deranged gym bro Baki fans. Please send funds via my cashapp, $kiyosumiballsucker3000. (thats not a real cashapp guys im trying to be funny)

I'm into REAL characters, that are actually interesting and cool, such as, 56 year old karate veteran and his three autistic and/or mentally ill sons, british, silly highschool girl who causes problems for no one, and not to forget, incredibly (and probably accidentally) gay coded kukendo man who apparently nobody cares about but me. That's right, I'm a REAL Baki fan.

Wondering when I'll expand on that Kureha and Kosho visual-kei band idea. Just THINK ABOUT IT. Kureha on vocals (and perhaps guitar) and Kosho on bass and bg vocals. IMAGINE. Kosho wears beautiful goth makeup and is rocking that deep shade of purple lipstick, AS THINGS SHOULD BE. I will never forgive Itagaki and the anime for removing it. It's just, never gonna happen. The two are in these, fucking, elaborate and gorgeously made outfits christ I'm a fucking genius. Kosho would 1000% wear an elegant (but still incredibly badass) lacy, vkei dress, looking like that fucking mana-sama guy (ourple edition) Ohhhh dude. I need to write some more for this idea.

To all my hardcore artist followers, if y'all want to draw v-kei Kosho and Kureha, I give you free reign over the idea, do your magic.

Wouldn't it be fucking hilarious if Yujiro died from like, the most random, insignificant thing in the world.

He's the strongest man- no, creature, in this world. He can brutally defeat animals larger than half his size with his bare hands. He can stop (and probably start) earthquakes at will. He died of a urinary track infection at 37.

Talking specifically about the english speaking fandom here, why do you think Katsumi is so overlooked and underrated. LOOK AT HIM. He is genuinely (I'm serious here) one of the most attractive manga characters I have ever seen in my life. Not only that but he's been through several arcs and has been included in a large amount of fights, HE'S PRETTY MUCH A MAIN CHARACTER YET NOBODY REALLY CARES ABOUT HIM!?! HOW!? On both sides of the fandom, Wattpad girls barely write fanfiction with him involved (thank god actually) and the gym bro's barely make their shitty edits of him (DOUBLE thank god) It's just so confusing to me. He's everything I've ever wanted in a character. Ever-growing strength and morals, an adorable and lovable face, a kind but fierce personality, and not to mention that sweet, sweet rack. Gorgeous pair of tits. Absolutely stunning. need to bend him over.

You ever just be reading a Y/N x Baki nsfw fanfiction and they mischaracterize Baki...in like every conceivable way. This guy DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT SEX IS. BARELY. How are you people so clouded by horniness you completely forget his character. He's an awkward little boy, why are they writing him like a flirtatious sex god?! Baki doesn't know what fucking "flirting" is, he's an idiot. He wouldn't freaking "punish" you in the bedroom guys, if he did he'd be so awkward and stumbling over every other word. AND STOP MAKING HIM SAY SUCH VULGAR THINGS YOU FUCKING FREAKS. Baki doesn't know what "eating out" means, he doesn't say curse words often and most of all, he doesn't. understand. sex. He's had sex ONCE with his wonderful girlfriend and they both barely understood what the fuck they were doing ☠️

How about you guys write him like how he actually is. Wouldn't it be adorable if there was an x reader with Baki where you two have like, loving but awkward sex for the first time and you try to guide him and help him understand in a wholesome way!? Wouldn't that be so much more true to character AND unique?? God, I have to do everything around here. Fuck.

Katsumi playing basketball and pointing at you and going "This ones for you, babe." then completely missing the shot.

Have I ever brought up that Kureha childhood headcanon where I think Kureha would find (or even kill) small creatures just to do little experiments on them and dig in their guts. Kosho walks in like "Nii-chan 🙁 what are you doing..."

Another Shinogi brother hc, I think it'd be hilarious if that blackish-brownish color of Kosho's hair isn't actually his natural hair color, and his real hair color is the same as Kureha's. THINK ABOUT IT THOUGH. He want's to be different from Kureha so he dyes it every now and then to differentiate himself. Plus he thinks it looks totally cool. Sometimes you can see his blonde/orange roots when his hair grows out. And yes, Kureha does tease him about this sometimes. Kosho fucking hates it.

Now that I'm thinking about it, Kureha teases Kosho about, like, everything. His v-kei obsession, his dyed hair, his fighting, everything. Not really a cute or funny headcanon either ☠️ Kureha is literally just a manipulative and judgemental asshole. I whole-heartedly believe that to be true. And in a way it is, I mean he is pretty much canonically like that. Kosho doesn't deserve this. Love that little goth guy, he deserves more.

Thanks for reading all this goofy goober shit all the way through. I'll probably be working on something else by the time you're reading this, so be prepared for content. Love you guys 👍

[ticklygiggles]

Top 22 of 2022

I've been meaning to do this before the end of the year for obvious reasons, but I just didn't have the chance until now! Thank you everyone who had tagged me, you all are so sweet

I apologize in advance, though. My memory sucks and my perception of time is broken sdjfjdhf

Part 1: Fandom Faves 

01. Favorite new fandoms of the year: SPY x FAMILY, Demon Slayer

02. Favorite new ships since this year: SPYxFAMILY - Twiyor, Cynari, ScaraLumi - Genshin Impact

03. Favorite anime/TV show of the year: Extraordinary Attorney Woo, SPY x FAMILY, Pokémon Journeys

04. Favorite movie of the year: Hmm, I honestly don't watch many movies, so this one's hard... maybe Turning Red? Haha

05. Favorite character of the year: Scaramouche/Wandered, Tighnari - Genshin Impact. Uzui Tengen, Rengoku Kyojuro - Demon Slayer. Seo HyunSoo - XXX Buddy.

06. Favorite soundtrack of the year: One of my favorite soundtrack every year will always be Liyue OST - Genshin Impact!

07. Favorite book/manga/comic of the year: sajkhfjdf this year I read lots of new Manhwas and also a few books. Some of my favorite manhwas were Define the Relationship, Perfect Buddy, Actually, I was the real one, Who made me a Princess?, Under the Oak Tree, Love so Pure (side story), Forget About My Husband, I'd Rather Go Make Money, The Marriage Business and mooore.

I didn't like the books I read this year that much, but I guess my favorite was Six Crimson Cranes. Also read some light novels and they were The Marriage Business and I'll be the Warrior's Mother.

08. Favorite game of the year: Genshin Impact and Obey me!

09. Highlight of this year to remember: March 7th when I went to Disneyland JSAFHJ

Part 2: Community Review

10. Favorite Tumblr moments of 2022: Tickletober, my 2k milestone. @vqler and @dokidoki-muffin return aaaand... I think that's the most I can remember hahaah

11. Favorite fan art of the year: I have been blessed with so much fanart this year omg, some of my faves were this one, of course because it's the first time someone drew art for one of my fics!

Also this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one, but honestly, there are so many aaaa

12. Favorite fic of the year: I read good fics this year, I can't choose, but definitely some of my faves are these beautiful fics I got from my dearest friends in my birthday and Christmas, here, here and here.

13. Favorite ask game of the year: The tickly alphabet, this one and the 3 sentence fic

14. My top achievements as a writer/artist/creator/blogger: Participating in Tickletober for the first time! I didn't finish all days, but I'm happy with the result haha. Also getting to finish my 2k milestone event!

15. My own best fic/post of the year: I think I wrote a lot this year, but one of my faves to write was this Koi ga Ochitara one because I've been wanting to write one with them for sooo long!

16. My most underappreciated fic/post of the year: Probably not the "most", but this Mafuyu x Ritsuka x Yuki one?

17. A post of mine that got more popularity than expected: Omg these three Tickletober fics because they don't have a large popularity in the community, but they got more attention that I expected!

Koi Ga Ochitara, Junai Drop Out, Sign

18. Something I changed on my blog since this year: I think I did write more this year, so that was nice!

Part 3: Next Year

19. Something I didn’t post this year but would like to do next year: I'd like to work on this little AU idea thingy I have been neglecting because I feel unsure to write and post, but we'll see!

20. Goals for next year: As for this blog... maybe getting into more fandoms to keep writing haha. Also, Ginny girl is trying to write less trash, but I'd like to keep collaborating with her, because I just love how well we write together aaaa

21. 2023 releases I look forward to the most: MAHOUTSUKAI NO YOME SEASON 2! Aaaand more Genshin updates and also Obey me cards that I can actually get LOL

Part 4: Spreading Love

22. Shoutouts to people who made my 2022 a better year: 

Goodness, here comes the fun part haha:

@otomiya-tickles of course my sweetie girl precious baby boo. I already told you this, but thank you for making my 2022 a loooot better, thank you for your endless support and your love! You are the best and I'm so happy to talk to you every single day! You are so so talented and smart and amazing and I love you!

@ragewerthers my frieeeend, I always have so much fun talking with you! From just daily life activities to our endless hcs about our precious Toshi *teary emoji* you definitely did my 2022 a lot better too and I hope we can still talk lots this 2023!

@wertzunge Maaaax, I think this year we talked more than any other time haha, I'm happy we're both excited about Mahoutsukai no Yome sdbfhsdf I already said this to you, but I hope we get to talk some more this year as well! Thank you for your friendship!! (Also thank you for your kind support during commisions!)

@vqler @dokidoki-muffin we barely interact with each other BUT I wanted to say that you both are amazing and super talented people and I admire your abilities and your creativity and it's so so nice to have you back in the community! You both are GREAT and I get excited every time I see art from you both. Such talented people, let me give you a respectful kiss on your forehead.

@ticklystuff omg hi! I know we don't talk much, but I just wanted to say that I really like you and you are so so so so SO good at writing ome such talent! I love seeing you in my dash and seeing all the cool amazing stuff you write aaaaa I think of you every time I see Childe, no lies. Thank you for being amazing!

@happyandticklish Queen of writing. No words just admiration. Honestly, you are so so so GOOD. I wish I could write like you and you're so kind and amazing help askdjskf We've talked a bit before and I apologize for my awkwardness aaaaa Thank you for showing us all how cool you are and for being a cupcake!

@myreygn Reeeeey! I honestly get so so shy when you mention how you fangirled when I followed you back ahahaha, thank you for always being so supportive with me! You are amazing and I like chatting with yoouuu! I hope we get to talk some more during 2023!!

@thornoisdono Thank you for the generous support in kofi aaaaa, I love every single fic you requested and hopefully, you'll see them up in the next couple of days! Thank you!

@intheticklecloset @zeke-ism @lovelynim @xsezzie @bloominggiggles @ticklish-v-93 @soft-tk-fluff @chibimochii @nnainai @tickles-tea @looneytickles @tiredleekaz @ssnicker-doodless @spongeboblevel25 @justmaybee @itslittlegiggle @tiklart @lovelymessybubbly @italeean @ticklishfanart - whether we had talked before or not, I'm so thankful for you all! I love seeing and interacting with your content. You all are amazing and make my stay in tumblr so much better! I'd love to get to know you all more this year, but I'll be always be awkward, but I want you to know that you are some of my favorite blogs EVER.