#that's the fun of fandom!! taking something you like

[grind-pantera]

anaya crumbs were super yummy, really flavorful 10/10, i licked the plate 🙏🙏 (i love youre writing, like i can physically feel the passion leaking through ur words its crazy) lov ur work 🙏🙏🙏🙏

I want to lick the plate actually i want to lick his entire body but that's beside the point here we got babey

Title: An Apple A Day. Fandom: ( Kingdom of the ) Planet of the Apes. Pairing: ( Very mild, I'm testing out the waters here ok ) Implied! Anaya x Human! Reader. Rating: T. ( Mentions of mating but otherwise IT IS FLUFFY BABY ) Words: 2.3K+ Summary: Anaya takes you to see his favorite Apple Tree.

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“Anaya! Noa and Soona are going to wonder where we went off to.”  You laughed quietly, feeling twigs crack under your weight as you were placing your feet in the exact spots of where the Ape in front of you did, knowing that he was walking on spots that were safe and not tripping hazards. It was a considerate thing for him to do, gaining knowledge once or twice from experiences with you that your eyesight was nothing compared to his and the dim lighting caused from the tree leaves causing shadows on the floor of the foliage left you squirting to see at times. 

And your balance? Well… You were clumsy, and Anaya knew it. In fact, he thought it rather endearing to see you stumble when you tried to keep up with his pace, and in a bid to get you flustered, he’d move faster just to enjoy the chase you’d give him. Why did you chase after him? The male Chimp hadn’t the slightest idea, but it was alluring all the same especially when you got too close… close, close enough for him to feel the heat radiating off your body onto his, evident even through the lining of the fur along his body. 

“Anaya close.” He uttered to you, letting his hazel green and golden eyes settle into your own for a second, your heart jumping into your throat as you realized that he was nearer to you than you had thought, really able to take in the detailing of his face. 

The sweeping wrinkles under his eyes, the softer ride of his brows that were always so indicative of his moods, the dabbling smile that you wished was exclusive to your eyes only and the coloring around his nose and lips, lighter than the rest of his face and all you wanted to do was trail the tips of your fingers along the delicate splattering there to see if your suspicion was right or wrong about their skin being rougher. Your eyes fell downwards to his slightly agape mouth. Sharp canines that could tear out every vital organ of your body just for fun. Swiping your teeth with your tongue, you wanted nothing more than to feel Anaya’s under your touch just to cure your morbid curiosities. 

Swallowing lightly, you nodded as if in agreement and let him lead you forward. Shoving aside the rapid heartbeat in your chest and the ever growing redness on your cheeks from having him look at you so intently, you began trailing closer behind him. As compared to Noa, Anaya was gentler in his step, almost floating in nature. But, that could have been from the fact that he appeared excited to show you something and he was unable to keep it in.

From the gait of his broadened shoulders, all your previous thoughts went out the window as you were catapulted into a hypnotic state at how the cross body satchel he had rubbed so deliciously against the fur of his shoulder, the friction inexplicable to you as you felt your fingers twitch at your sides. The sleekness of his fur glittered under the sun as it seeped in spottingly through the leaves of the trees above, and occasionally, it played against the taut muscles underneath. 

He was beckoning you forward with the wave of his arm before deciding that you were going too slow. Reaching forward, Anaya tucked his hand into your own, and without a moment's hesitation, he lifted you over a tree root that was jutting out of the ground that you had not seen before.

Gasping quietly at the sheet strength of him, something not explicitly noticed when he was around Noa due to Anaya being smaller, more tapering on the chest and waist, there was no doubt in your mind that he had the capability of tearing you apart limb by limb. That idea lingered deliciously in your mind as he smiled slightly at you when you were drawn to him, your hand placing itself softly onto his chest so you could leverage yourself before still holding your hand and leading forward once more. “I don’t want to get lost in the woods with you, I’d rather get lost with Noa.” 

“Is close, not too far… From Soona, Noa.” His tone was reassuring to you as he tugged on your arm. Forward, he said, keeping going. Drawing your bottom lip in, you pushed a few tree leaves away from your face before coming to a flattened landing, almost like it was carved, in the middle of the trees. Glancing around, you noticed that… Anaya wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Panic washed over you in small waves. You could just yell for Noa and Soona, right? It wasn’t like the Ape took you into the woods on your own and left you here, right?

Clenching your jaw tightly, a few leaves above fell onto your head, one onto your face and as you blew it away, a few apples began raining from the Heavens on your left side. Gasping at that, you were fast to jump away from them out of fear of being hit before Anaya hit the ground on all fours with a rather graceful ‘thud’. “See?” Smiling up at you, Anaya crouched down and grasped an apple. You placed a hand against your chest and told yourself to reel it in as you crouched beside him. “Favorite apple tree. Anaya knew we were close, and wanted to show Echo. Best apples here, they… grow very big.” 

The way he looked at the fruit was a wonder in and of itself. The way that his thick fingers caressed it made you wonder if he’d be that gentle with your skin if he knew you were just as fragile as th--- Your innocent train of thought completely derailed at the visual of Anaya’s canines, in all their speared glory hitting your gawk. He brought the apple to his mouth and with one swoop, he consumed half of it, juice dripping from his mouth and down to his chin and ultimately getting lost in the fur of his beard. Your mouth fell open at that, suddenly too dry to say anything of substance. Playing your fingers against each other, you turned your eyes away, afraid that he would notice you staring. 

“Do Echo’s…” He tilted his head, rolling a red apple towards your feet, “Not like them?” Sputtering softly, you reached down and grasped the apple that he had so graciously presented to you, “They’re… good. How---” You wanted to hear him talk more without Soona or Noa, knowing that they often left Anaya to his own devices at times, “How did you find this place? There’s gotta be like…A hundred Apple trees.” An exaggeration, but it garnered you a hooted and huffed laughter from Anaya. Glancing up, you looked at the trees above and were able now to see the spotted nature of the apples hanging happily on their branches. 

Anaya watched the movement with interest, how you craned your head back, how his eyes were able to see your heartbeat against your neck, hard and heavy as the blood pumped through your veins. Bringing the apple to his lips again, he bit into it and finished it off, tossing the core behind him to decompose back into the Earth.

Dragging his eyes upwards, he followed your gaze and looked at the apples above as his hand idly reached for another. Slowly, you traced the skin of the apple with your finger tips before dropping your stare to look at the Ape next to you, a motion that Anaya accepted and drew his eyes into your own as he took another bite out of a fresh apple, this one a bit smaller and proportionate so he didn't need to chew too much before answering. “Used to come here a lot. Would stop when Noa, Soona and Anaya went to Echo ruins. Long time ago.”  He explained softly, now urging with one hand for you to take a bite of the fruit you were dallying with between your fingers. 

Quickly, you were fast to raise it to your mouth and sink your teeth in, suddenly coming to grips that communal eating, even when it was shared amongst only two, was considered normal and a mild acceptance of whatever relationship was going to bud from the shared meal. 

Your bite in comparison to Anaya’s was tender and small, your teeth sinking in further than he had initially thought, but your rounded teeth did not help the case at all when it came to actually ripping the piece off and it came off in two pieces, one in your mouth and one hanging by a thread on the apple itself. At least, the blunted nature was what he noticed when you drew your lips back and he was able to see them in a clearer view and not have to captivate himself in an awkward stare when you talked or smiled. 

How weird, he thought to himself, placing the apple into his mouth and coming around you so he was face to face with you rather than sitting at your side. Watching with curiosity, Anaya narrowed his eyes and looked at your face. “Echo teeth,” He started and you drew your mouth closed so he was unable to see them anymore. “Ugly.” The way that your mouth flew open in contrast to you so shyly shutting your lips only seconds ago at Anaya’s words caused a rocketed huff of laughter to come from him, as he moved his head to the left side with an amused head tilt. You grappled that for a second - not taking it as offensive at all, you couldn’t blame him when he hadn’t seen or known any Echo outside of Mae personally, in fact, the blunt nature of Anaya’s words and opinions were often something you sought after, knowing you’d get the most brutal admission from him whereas Noa or Soona would try to be kind with their observations. 

“I know,” Bubbling out laughter, you covered your mouth with your hand, to which Anaya was quick to respond and grasped your wrist so you were unable to complete the action. Twisting your wrist in his grasp, it became abundantly clear that your ulna and radius were merely a jerk away from being broken by Anaya, but still, there was no fear in that as his touch was soft and aimable as he pulled your hand back downwards so he could see your teeth again. “They--- they’re nothing like yours, you can do a lot with your teeth.”

“Would… hurt if you bit someone?” Almost choking on a piece of the apple as you had taken another bite, you coughed a bit, staring at him with a widened gaze, “What?” “Would it… hurt if you bite?” You swallowed harder than intended, admittedly needing to chew the apple piece you had in your mouth a bit more but you staggered through it and wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, “I--- Wouldn’t imagine it would do anything to an Ape, if that’s what you mean. Humans don’t have the jaw strength that… that you have.” Anaya hummed at that, gazing once more at your teeth in mild amusement. Other than use for eating, they served no purpose then. How strange. “Bite Anaya?”

You blinked, swearing to yourself that Anaya had moved forward a touch. Maybe a few inches as he peered straight into your mouth, either waiting for an answer or waiting for you to open your mouth again so he could see what was interesting to him in the moment. He looked between your mouth, your eyes and then back to your mouth as it dawned on you what he had just asked.

“I’m not going to b-bite you!” “Why… not?”

“Inappropriate.” You uttered, looking down at your half-munched apple. “Humans really only do that when…”

Gesturing broadly with your hands, you looked into his eyes and hoped that your human ideology was recognizable. Unfortunately, from the tilt of his head and the perplexity of the drawn in brow ridge, Anaya had no idea what you were implying as a heat of embarrassment rolled through your chest. “Humans only do that when they’re mating.”

Anaya got deathly quiet in front of you and now as compared to your gawking earlier, you wished he would look away from you, to focus on something else but he kept you drawn in as he looked between your eyes with his own, looking down at his apple before ripping off another large bite. From between said bites, he muttered to you, “Echo,” Chew, “Mating,” Another chew, “Sounds like Ape. Lot of biting. Noisy.”

“I can’t believe we’re talking about this.” You groaned quietly to yourself and sat onto your butt, cross legged in mild defeat at the choice of conversation.

“Hard to sleep when others are mating. Keep the village up, Anaya gets mad.”  If your cheeks weren’t reddened before, you were positive you were the same color as the apples that scattered on the floor after being shaken off their homes as you drifted into the conversation.

Anaya refusing to relent control as he continued the topic, almost mindlessly as he took bites out of his apples around his introspection, not quite beating yourself up at the fact that the conversation turned out this way, but surely trying to keep yourself tame enough to not give him all the details that he was seeking, his mouth coming to prop one more question at you between his bites.

“Have heard Echo,” Chew, “Mating…” He chewed pensively this time, the words coming to him in deep thought, though admittedly, his question left you falling backwards to lay on your back as a refusal to actually answer, “Takes much energy. Is true?”

“Anaya.” You grumbled. “I’m not answering that.”

“Have you not… experienced?”

Groaning loudly, you shut your eyes and covered them with your arm as you fell to rest on your back, splattering yourself across the floor of the woods. Maybe, if you were lucky, something poisonous would bite you and you wouldn't have to respond.

“I’m not answering that.”

“Noa right,” Anaya grumbled in dissatisfaction, turning his body to grab another apple with a rather smug retort, “Echo keep Echo secrets.”

[summer-of-bad-batch]

BAD BATCH 20 QUESTIONS

Get to know your fellow Bad Batch fandom community! Answer the following 20 questions! (Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for this Ask Game!)

Answer the questions and tag whoever you'd like to see their answers too 🥰

When/How did you get into the show?

Who is your favorite character from the show and why?

Was there a member of the Bad Batch you didn't like at first? If so, why? Has your view changed?

Who is your favorite non-Batch character?

Which character from the show do you most relate to?

Who is your favorite villain/antagonist from the show?

If you needed a Bad Batcher to help you commit a crime, who would it be?

Which Bad Batcher would be in charge (or take charge) of movie night?

What's something you didn't notice the first time watching the Bad Batch? (Or...what's something you didn't notice until someone else in the fandom pointed it out)

What is one strange head canon you have about any of the Bad Batchers that you haven't seen anywhere else?

What is a character quote/moment that is under appreciated from the show?

What scene/moment from the show lives in your head rent free?

What's your favorite way to participate in the Bad Batch Fandom?

Which Bad Batcher would scream the loudest on a rollercoaster?

Based on vibes alone, what is the "birth order" of the Batch? (Oldest, middle, youngest)

What's your favorite episode from the show and why?

What's your least favorite episode from the show and why?

Do you have any fun memories associated with the show?

What family movie would the Cadet Batch watch on repeat?

What is your favorite thing about being part of the Bad Batch fandom?

BONUS QUESTION

Did you commit voter fraud during prompt voting for @summer-of-bad-batch? 😂 (I have a google sheet that I'll share screenshots of at the end of the challenge with PROOF of the insanity of Summer of Bad Batch voter fraud...peak insanity, peak hilarity, loved every moment of it!)

No Pressure Tags: (all the Summer of Bad Batch community...I'd tag y'all, but that tag list would get insanely long...you know who you are 😘)

[livin-like-larry413]

How brain dead of a fandom do you have to be to be okay with and perfectly rationalize telling someone to kill themselves and then celebrate the fact that they DID kill themselves after the fact just because they wrote something other than the main ship.

It’s almost like the people that entered fandom in the last 5 years, during and AFTER the pandemic have never grown up or interacted with general media in the way the “weird kids” have since the dawn of fucking fandom media literacy—and it shows.

In every other instance, it’s “protect your peace” / “like what you like” / “Don’t let other people shit on your interests”—but as soon as someone has a ship you don’t like or a headcanon that goes against the flow of factual canon or what YOU DEEM CORRECT, it’s hell on fucking earth and “how dare you actually have fun in this fandom space where nothing is actually real and these characters aren’t really people but I’m gonna treat them like they are and you should KILL YOURSELF for having fun with a FAKE world and FAKE people.”

How in the hell have you completely lost the plot of what fandom actually is—a place to have fun with the world in a way the creator either hasn’t gotten around to yet, or all together just doesn’t plan to do? To form a community where you have fun with others, make fond memories, and create something just for the fun of it? If you’re so fucking concerned about how other people will view you if you have fun with a piece of media that you can’t even really have fun with it, you aren’t really grasping the point of being in a fandom space, and you aren’t ready to join at all. You are a child.

If a select amount of you are so hellbent on being part of a toxic fandom for “lore” you’re a piece of shit. It’s not quirky and cute to be apart of the toxicity. You are an actual fucking child if you think it’s okay to speak utter vitriol and abuse to people in fandom spaces just because they don’t have the same headcanon, way of writing, ideas in GENERAL as you do.

I’ll repeat the words that have been apart of fandom for the last SEVERAL decades:

“If you don’t like it—Don’t read it. Back buttons exist for a reason. Block buttons exist for a reason. Use it.”

If you want to see what the aftermath of what utter horseshit toxicity looks like in large fandom spaces, do your own fucking research, I’ll even list 3 huge, prominent fandoms from the early 2010’s for the earliest instances: Voltron did it. Still does. Real people died and were threatened with death threats. The fandom died. Steven Universe did it. Still does. Real people died and were threatened with death threats. The fandom died. Homestuck did it. Real people died, were continuously threatened with death threats and the fandom died.

You see the trend?

It’s not that fucking difficult to protect your peace, whatever that fucking looks like. It is up to YOU to not look at something you don’t like within fandom and to just move on with your life. Interact with the media that interests YOU; not the invisible audience that you THINK you’re pandering to.

No one forces you to read or look at something you don’t want to. It is up to YOU to curate the space YOU want in fandom, NOT on SOMEONE ELSE to curate for you.

You are never the cause of someone’s death, unless you are actively there and doing it. But you ARE a driving force in their decision. Be the force that makes them NOT take their life, instead of egging them on.

Making a fandom space insufferable to be apart of is not a flex. It’s not cute. It’s not quirky. It is not “fandom culture”. It’s not the POINT. The world does not revolve around you. You are the master of your own stage, but NOT the master of fandom AS A WHOLE. You make your own experience phenomenal, or you make it abysmal, and you can absolutely do the same for someone else in a fandom.

You’d think after Inquisitor, people would get the fucking point.

[yourlocaldisneyvillain]

cup runneth over

Rating: Explicit

Category: F/F

Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV)

Relationship: Cersei Lannister/Brienne of Tarth

Additional Tags: #dubious consent, #rough sex, #lesbian sex, #grief/mourning, #using sex to self-harm, #gender feelings, #degradation, #humiliation, #wine, #i guess it sorta counts as food play, #dom/sub undertones, #insults, #vaginal fingering, #not much plot lol

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Since he’s been gone, Brienne hasn’t been herself.

Cersei looks so much like him. Brienne finds herself craving her presence, following her around like a lost puppy. Cersei taunts her, calls her a big, dumb cow. And perhaps she’s right — no person in her right mind would let anyone what Cersei does to her.

It began weeks ago — and it continues, with no end in sight. Tonight, it’s no different. 

“I know you would take anything I give you,” Cersei taunts her, her tone cold and mocking. Brienne averts her eyes. Her stomach fills with hot shame and her cheeks burn, but her heart beats fast in a twisted excitement. It’s sick and she knows it — and yet she keeps coming back for more. She craves the sick and twisted pleasure. It makes her feel alive in a way nothing else does.

Not since he’s been gone.

Cersei gazes down at Brienne as she pours the wine into her cup. She keeps pouring and pouring, and the cup is going to run over, Brienne can tell. The wine reaches the brim. Brienne opens her mouth, wanting to say something, but she doesn’t.

(Stupid, spineless cow. Can’t even speak.)

The wine spills over the glass and all over the table. Brienne watches, unable to move. It slowly trickles down the table and onto her legs. She glances down at her sticky, wine stained thighs.

“Drink,” Cersei commands. 

Brienne takes the cup and drinks. She never particularly cared for the taste of wine, nor did she ever find solace or fun in drinking. She wants to lower the cup after a few sips, but Cersei grabs it and holds it to Brienne’s face. She tilts it and holds it pressed to Brienne’s mouth. Sweet wine drips down Brienne’s chin, glides onto her neck, reaching her shirt, staining it. Only when she drinks it all does Cersei lower the cup back onto the table. 

“Do you want more?” Cersei asks. Brienne is silent. She is sticky and wet from the sweet wine, stained and humiliated, filled with hot shame — but somehow the shame is even sweeter than the red wine. 

She does want more.

to read more, please go on ao3, and please consider leaving me a little comment if you've liked it! here is the link -> ♡︎ cup runneth over ♡︎

[byoldervine]

Hi! I just found your blog! I was wondering if you had any tips on writing a good, strong first chapter or two for fan fiction? I’m doing a cross over and I always have trouble in the beginning of my stories. I would love some advice! Thank you!

Welcome to the blog! It’s been a good long while since I wrote any fanfic, let alone started one, but I’ll see what I’ve got up my sleeves!

1. Open with a question. This doesn’t mean the first line has to be a literal question, it just means that your first line should make readers ask questions in their mind that encourage them to continue reading. If you open with something self-explanatory like “I woke up and opened the curtains”, that does give an idea of the scene and the time, but it doesn’t add any incentive to read on. Reframing it to something like “Opening the curtains might have been a bad idea”, you create intrigue; why was it a bad idea? Did they see something bad out the window? Additionally, it can take you straight into the action, which works well with my next tip

2. No need for introductions. With original writing you often have to set the scene more and ensure characters are introduced and well-established, and that often comes with the advice that you shouldn’t introduce too many new names and faces in the same chapter, but in fanfic you can safely assume that your readers are familiar with the characters and world already, meaning you can jump straight into the plot and throw as many canon characters at it as you like. Take advantage of this!

3. Vibe check. Your opening chapter can set the theme or tone of your fic, so pay attention; if you want something lighthearted and funny, have everyone cracking jokes or just generally not taking it all seriously. If you want angst and trauma, it helps if the tone is more serious. If you want romance, have that vibe either through a love at first sight deal or by using other established couples to set the mood. Even if by the second chapter the vibe has changed so you can build back up to it going forward, it’s nice to have that overall feel in the first chapter so you know what you’re getting into going forward; if readers like the initial vibe, they’ll like the fic. It gives them a taste of what’s to come

4. Take advantage of quirks. With original writing, the author has to pave the way for subtle quirks and mannerisms and dynamics to be recognisable by the reader - but in fic, you have the advantage of the readers already being familiar. You can use this to make characters feel more alive and, well, in-character, and thanks to their pre-established characterisation you can utilise it from the start. Maybe there are subtleties in their actions that you can take advantage of plot-wise? Or in your case with the crossover, it could maybe signify to Crew A that Crew B are very tight-knit and know each other and their strengths and weaknesses well

5. Have fun with it. Fic writing tends to be a lot more unserious than original writing; you certainly do your best with it, but everyone knows that it’s just for fun and won’t hold you to the expectations of a professional like some people sadly would for those writing original fic for the same reason. In any case, you can take a breather with fic writing, and ultimately the only way to do it wrong is to not have fun writing it

It’s a little difficult to give pointers that are purely fic-related, especially when I’m unfamiliar with the crossover plan, so it also might be beneficial to read other fics of those fandoms and any crossovers you can find if possible! Best of luck with your fic!

[mtkay13]

hi! I have a question, i dont quite understand why zhou zishu is drawn to wen kexing, would you be able to help me? Esp in the earlier chapters, i just get the vibe that he's annoyed with him and doesn't want the guy's company. Do you know when he starts having feelings for wkx or how it progressed? I know zzs is very composed and in pain due to the seven nails so maybe i missed it while being focused on the plot, or maybe the translation is confusing me

Hello there!!! I'm sorry for the time I took to reply, I've been quite busy lately and I am currently taking sort of a break from this fandom (I'm not done or anything haha, just focusing on other things atm.) Anyway! Since you sent two asks, I'm going to quote the other one as well here and reply to both at once! :) Here's your second ask:

i think i answered my own question, i saw the ask where you recommended a certain translation, and the translation is completely different from the one i read. In one, zhou zishu comes off as annoyed w wen kexing and i had a hard time figuring out why tf he was even bothering to meddle. In the other, he comes off as an inquisitive person who suspects more to the situation and to wen kexing, and he's drawn in. Not to sound like an idiot but i understand why there's so many translations of greek classics now. The word choice make the interpretation completely different. I wish i could learn mandarin and learn what the original work says. Random but do you know if it'll ever get an official translation? It has a TV show and all, wouldn't it be marketable to western audiences? Question by the same Anyonymous person

As you put it yourself, yeah, the translation and tone does a lot to indicate what ZZS sees in WKX. I feel like there has been a widely shared sentiment that ZZS is pretty much fed up with him for the better part of the book's first half, and while I think it's a front that he puts up indeed, I feel like the original version and some of the translations do a good job of showing how ZZS finds WKX very intriguing, likely very strong and quite handsome (haha). I like to feel like he started developing a crush quite early on in the book, already seduced by WKX's deep and suave voice in chapter 2. From then on, more and more details about him catch ZZS' interest--WKX's appearance, mystery, his strength and martial arts expertise, and of course the way they seem to profoundly understand each other. It seems to me like there's a big shift during the campfire scene where ZZS recognises WKX's sword technique as being Wen Ruyu, the two of them thus discussing WKX's ancestry and, following that, what it means to be a good or bad person. The connection feels so strong during that conversation that it seems very likely to me that they both started falling in love from then on. Overall, where the translation may play a big role in perceiving ZZS' attraction is how "human and lively" he may seem in some versions. His quirks and "humanness" come out stronger in the ones I have recommended (IMO at least) and thus comes off as much warmer and fun. Through that characterisation, the nuance of him expressing one thing (annoyance) but feeling another (interest) is easier to understand. So yeah, indeed, translation sure is something! Haha, and there are many stories of disagreements and re-interpretations of classics even within professional translators (because for how much I can sometime criticise some versions of TYK, it's important to reiterate that these are all fan translations provided by people kindly dedicating their time and ressources to translate for free--most of the time (cough)--and share for free as well.) Well, I can only wish for you to get to read it in mandarin one day, because it's really, really great (and mandarin is just a fascinating language altogether!!) As for the official translation... I'm not very optimistic. It seems like getting publishing rights is rather complicated to begin with, and on top of that, TYK is currently locked on jjwxc (the website where it was initially published) due to censorship, which I feel makes it even more difficult. Priest has expressed in a rather recent socmed post that she didn't want to edit TYK (whether to censor it or for publication) because it was too old, so it's quite possible that she just isn't interested in putting in the work for TYK to be officially published and translated. That being said, it's just my opinion/analysis of the situation, and I may very well be wrong! Anyway, many thanks for coming to me and trusting my opinion, and I wish you a wonderful day!! 💗💗💗

[allastoredeer]

Oh no, I hope all the folks annoyed about the influx of radioapple art with Lucifer in a dress aren’t talking about all the recent art of flapper!Lucifer. I've been seeing tons of radioapple art with Luci dressed in drag as a flapper girl and being all flirty towards an incredibly flustered Alastor, and I've loved every bit of it! No sign of any of the usual Manlyman!Alastor/UuU!Lucifer crap, just flapper!Luci teasing a VERY red-faced Alastor. I really hope that's not what people are talking about😟

I think I've seen pics of that floating around Twitter. Love the dress design, made me want to draw Alastor in one T.T Idk if that's the one any of the other Anon's were talking about specifically, but even if it is, don't let that take away you're enjoyment of it. You are 100% allowed to like things even if other people dislike it.

This is fandom. Curate it with people and fandom art/fics/edits etc... that you enjoy and ignore the rest 😊It can be irritating and disheartening to see people hating on something you really enjoy (I get the feeling, I've felt the same way about characters and shows I like) but at the end of the day, you loving it and them hating it doesn't actually hurt anyone. We're all here to have a good time, whether that's gushing about a ship/show with a like-minded community or ranting about it with a like-minded community. Both can be fun and cathartic.

I mean, even if you did like UwU Lucifer and Manlyman!Alastor, I'm not going to seek you out and tell you all the things I dislike about it and why you shouldn't like it, nor should anyone else. I'm not here to rain on anybody's parade. That's why I rant here, on my own blog, in my own little space, with fans who agree and understand my frustrations. That way anyone who doesn't want to see my posts can block and/or mute me and go about their day enjoying the content that makes them happy.

Make sure to give the flapper!Lucifer and flustered!Alastor art some love so the artists know you're enjoying it too! As an artist myself, that does wonders for our motivation to draw it more often LOL

[doppel-dean-er]

unpopular opinion that might go against everything I've expressed up to this point: idk if I want Trobed to be canon in the movie.

like yeah, queer representation would be amazing, and if it ends with them in any other relationship I will sue for emotional damages, but like..... part of the fun of shipping is that it's fandom-made. I think the argument that Trobed is queerbaiting mostly gets caught up on season 4, with all the boyfriend jokes, the dick checking, etc. but we also have to acknowledge that season 4 was made by the same people who made Aliens In America, obviously that doesn't speak for the writers specifically but it does give you a significant insight into the thought process behind the increase in gay jokes.

at the same time, idk how it would handle that relationship. we've seen every explicit relationship in the show go south within ten episodes and I just idk. like, they only have to handle it for two hours at most, but there are too many variables it's so iffy and aurgh, I don't know if I trust the writers to give us this one solid.

I just don't think it's very likely to happen. but if it does, if they kiss on screen and/or explicitly state "yes, we are in a relationship, and we are in love" I will bake a cake, a whole cake, with a cup and a half extra of salt. the cake will be inedible and I will eat an entire slice on camera as proof. i'll also decorate it with an apology for being wrong, this is a dead serious promise because I know for a fact it won't be canon (like 99.7% sure).

i've been consuming so much explicitly queer media recently that I regularly just forget that Troy and Abed aren't canonically together. if push comes to shove, and they aren't canon in the movie, we can always just convince each other that it is :]

[brainwormcity]

Saw a thread in the Good Omens subreddit to the tune of "let's start a controversy - what didn't you like about GO?" Like, can we fucking not? For one thing, this whole hot take for the sake of hot takes thing is rather boring. For another thing, why are we trying to stir up tension where there is none? People with strong emotional attachment or special interest may become upset about some trait or scene you choose to pick apart.

In the same vein, I saw someone the other day say "Who do you like better? Crowley or Aziraphale?" and I was so unbelievably proud of the fandom's refusal to choose. The entire comment section was a resounding "They are a set, do not separate." That's exactly how I approach these sorts of situations. I love this show and I love this pairing and I won't rip it apart for fun. For whatever nitpicks you may have, Good Omens' quirks and idiosyncrasies are what make it special.

[silverwhittlingknife]

hi Silver! o/ because that fanart made me wonder - would you happen to know when/where Dick's stuffed elephant plush Zitka turns up in the comics?

GREETINGS CAM <3333 THAT ART WAS SO CUTE

Yeah, I think your instincts are right - it's a truly adorable bit of transformative fandom, but I'm 95% percent sure it's not comics canon. Barbara has canon plushies, but I don't think anyone else does.

I got kinda invested in the investigation (it's hard to prove a negative!) and I ended up typing out an entire History of Elinore/Zitka, so, uh, if you're curious, meet me below the cut for:

Where does Elinore / Zitka - the animal - appear in comics?

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

Where does Elinore / Zitka appear in comics?

We're gonna go in chronological order!

Dick's circus elephant friend was first created for practical reasons: in Batman 436, Marv Wolfman does a big expanded flashback to Dick's circus backstory as a way to subtly show us Tim before officially introducing him (so that we can have a technically-solvable mystery-of-Tim's-identity in LPoD). In this comic, there's an elephant named Elinore who loves Dick:

Aww. Such a cute elephant!

Batman 436 comes out in August 1989. New Titans 60 comes out a few months later, in November, and guess what? When Dick visits the circus, he is suddenly surprised by an unexpected blast from the past! It turns out that even though it's been years, Elinore still remembers him!

Here's the part where Elinore remembers Dick:

SUCH a cute elephant. I love her.

(Guess who else still remembers Dick even though it was so long ago. Guess which other character is about to be an unexpected blast from the past. Guess which character Elinore is directly paralleling guess guess guess sorry everything is about Dick and Tim in my mind but I can focus I swear)

Four years later, in 1993, Batman: The Animated Series retells Dick's origin story. They like and keep Wolfman's elephant, but they change her name to Zitka:

Wolfman doesn't return to the elephant beyond those two appearances, and a few years down the line, New Titans gets cancelled and Wolfman's not writing Dick anymore anyway. So the animal gets abandoned for a while, until Devin Grayson, a fan of both Wolfman and B:tAS, revives the Wolfman-era Titans team in JLA/Titans and then the ongoing series Titans 1999.

Grayson then brings back the elephant in a flashback to Dick's past in Titans 16 (Jun 2000), where she imports the B:tAS name. Sometimes I'm skeptical of TV-to-comics imports, but honestly, I endorse this one. You lose the alliteration, which is a shame, but IMO Zitka is a better elephant name than Elinore.

Here's Dick with the newly-christened Zitka in Titans 16:

Grayson also briefly references the elephant in Gotham Knights 20 and - in a final angsty callback - in Nightwing 88 (Feb 2004), where Zitka tries futilely to comfort Dick in the midst of his trauma conga line:

... And... honestly, I think that's it for comic appearances? The two Wolfman comics plus the three Grayson comics.

Both Wolfman and Grayson are writing multiple titles - Batman, New Titans, Titans, Gotham Knights, and Nightwing between the two of them, spanning a big chunk of Dick's post-Crisis canon - and both writers use the elephant for heartwarming moments of nostalgia, which means if you're doing a post-Crisis readthrough for Dick, Elinore/Zitka feels memorable. But I don't think she actually shows up that much.

For post-2011, I am not as well-informed - throwing this out to the dash? anyone know? - but I feel like Zitka the heartwarming symbol of Dick's heartwarming circus past is, uh, thematically very at odds with the Court of Owls evil!circus vibes, so my instinct is that this story element was almost certainly dropped in the reboot.

Did Dick ever have a stuffed elephant toy in comics?

In WFA, yes; in main comics continuity, no. Technically, I have not read every comic ever published, so I could be wrong!! But I don't think so.

Below, find my rambling reasoning on the tonal vibes of pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, and post-2011, and why this particular story element doesn't seem right to me for the first two.

Pre-Crisis (...okay, mostly the Silver Age): stuffed animal, yes or no?

tl;dr no, requires too much background knowledge on the part of the reader, plus the elephant wasn't a thing until later

Elinore doesn't get created until post-Crisis, but also just generally, pre-Crisis callbacks are more along the lines of this reference in Batman 129 (published in 1960), where, wow, Batman and Robin are hunting jewel thieves - and it turns out Robin recognized this strongman! BUT HOW?!

The comic goes on to recap Dick's entire origin story in flashback, on the assumption that you may not know it.

(BTW, if you'd like to know more about Haly's Circus throughout the years, nightwingology has a great post here summarizing a lot of fun plotlines and characters!)

Basically: Silver Age comics are very self-consciously episodic and kid-friendly; they're not generally gonna do overly-elaborate callbacks because they don't know what comics their kid readers may have randomly picked up or remember.

By the time of post-Crisis, comic books were being written for an adult audience buying from the direct market, i.e. readers who are collecting whole runs & don't need or want Dick's origin story to be recapped to us in full every time it's referenced. That's why in post-Crisis, we get stuff like "hey, neat, this particular soda brand is getting mentioned in several different books!!" or "in order to understand this story arc, buy SIXTEEN DIFFERENT COMICS in FIVE DIFFERENT RUNS and read them ALL ACCORDING TO A NUMBERED ORDER and also you better be following the individual plotlines and recognize these five minor characters who we don't bother to introduce!! Good luck!!" But the elaborate post-Crisis plotlines - and subtler worldbuilding like a stuffed animal callback to Dick's backstory - don't make a lot of story sense UNLESS you're imagining your readers as completionist adult fans.

So IMO a stuffed animal wouldn't be a pre-Crisis thing unless it was The Episodic Story Of the Week, and I don't think a stuffed animal is action-adventure-y enough for the fast-paced storytelling of the Silver Age. (Unless it, like, came to life and tried to eat you or something.)

Post-Crisis: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr: no, Dick's a manly tough guy, he's not gonna have a stuffed animal, that'd be lame, like something Tim might do

Part of the edgy grimdark adult vibes in 80s/90s comics is that some characters who used to be kinda silly & goofy & lighthearted - like Batman and Robin - get reimagined as Serious and Angsty and Edgy in a Tough Cool Manly Brooding Way. This massively affects characterization for Bruce, Dick, and Bruce and Dick's relationship.

(I obviously love this change & love the tense Bruce-and-Dick interactions, but plenty of fans of the earlier fluffy comics really disliked the edgy retcons of Miller / Wolfman / Starlin / et al.)

The upshot is that post-Crisis is a period when you could have a recurring reference like a stuffed elephant, but you wouldn't have a stuffed elephant, not for Dick. I think a toy like that would be too cutesy / childish / effeminate to give a male character in post-Crisis, unless you were poking fun at him.

Now, you could probably let Tim have a stuffed animal, because Tim is sometimes cool but also sometimes a tryhard loser who is faking being cool and not entirely pulling it off (see e.g. the Robin comic where he practices tough-guy faces in the mirror, or the Teen Titans comic where Conner discovers his cringy Enya CD, or when he's fanboying over Connor and it's awkward, etc etc.). A stuffed animal would be deeply embarrassing, and you'd have to be careful to compensate by having Tim do something cool afterward - but Tim's character concept allows for "he's kind of a loser sometimes."

But Dick isn't!! In post-Crisis, Dick's a tough / impressive / "cool guy" character, the kind of guy anyone would want to be, even in the flashbacks where he's Robin, and even in the stories where he's more lighthearted than angsty. It'd be kinda lame for Dick to have a stuffed elephant, so he wouldn't. I feel like Dick would be more likely to poke fun at it if someone had one, like when he's making fun of Wally for liking the Hardy Boys. Dick could have a Batman action figure, at most, and if he had one he would have it ironically.

Basically: in post-Crisis, a male character hugging a stuffed elephant feels more likely to be a punchline to me, not something poignant. (Even with Tim, Tim could have an embarrassing stuffed animal, but he couldn't hug it when sad - that's too far. Maybe Booster Gold might do this. Probably he wouldn't, but spiritually, he would. Sorry Booster ilu! <3)

Instead, Dick instinctively deals with his inner turmoil like the TORTURED ACTION HERO he is: by punching things and brooding and yelling and joining the mob and sleeping on rooftops and going on obsessive secret missions and acquiring Angsty Stubble!! Just like Batman!

(Technically I don't know if Bruce ever joined the mob but you know he would.)

Anyway as you know this is my favorite continuity and I am poking fun affectionately, but uh, yeah sdfsfdsfs. No stuffed animals.

Post-2011 / Infinite Frontier / Wayne Family Adventures: stuffed animals, yes or no?

tl;dr it's in WFA! Probably not anywhere else, but it could be.

Post-2011 stuff tends to be cutesier overall, most of all in the current Infinite Frontier era. So I don't feel like this would be tonally out-of-line with IF comics. Taylor tends to go for more meme-y references rather than fanfic references, though.

So the obvious best fit is WFA, which is aiming for a rough approximation of Silver Age family-friendly vibes - wholesome, episodic plots, Teaching Good Moral Lessons For The Youth, etc. - plus lots of Easter eggs for fanfic readers and some comic references.

And look, here we are:

Aww.

Whew - that's everything I could find!

Anyway as you can probably tell, I LOVE the elephant, so this was a very entertaining rabbit hole to go down, thank you <3

[volitioncheck]

i think i wouldn’t hate disco elysium’s collage mode nearly as much if it weren’t for 1) the way that it was marketed in such a tasteless, soulless manner, let alone the fact that it was a last ditch distraction from a dead on its feet studio piloted by dumbass thieving execs and released on the day of the court declaration, and 2) those dumbass fucking stickers

like if it had been included with the base game from the start and had been titled something a bit more tasteful and in-line with how i would have liked the feature to be marketed as— something like “exploration mode”, something that perhaps could only be unlocked after completing the game for the first time, AND didn’t have those stupid as hell visually and tonally incongruent with the artstyle stickers, i would have applauded it as a nice little bonus for being able to study and appreciate the 3d models and environments for reference.

[lunar-wandering]

I genuinely think so many people have forgotten the fact of "there are no toxic fandoms, only toxic people".

When fandoms get big, of course the amount of people u want nothing to do with is also gonna get bigger.

Youre not meant to combat them. Youre not meant to talk about them and expose others to them.

Youre meant to block them at the first signs and continue to enjoy your experience interacting with other people.

Kill the weeds, don't let the seeds spread, reap your wheat and enjoy your bread.

[qcomicsy]

Lately I've only been wishing to grab a comic about my favorite character and just have a genuinely good time reading it.

[carlyraejepsans]

I’ve started watching Utena because of you. What. Is going on

HI. WELCOME TO THE CLUB, watch the trigger warnings. but yeah, revolutionary girl utena veers more and more towards surrealism the further you get into the series. it often and voluntarily forfeits narrative/logical consistency in favor of visual storytelling, metaphors and symbolism. i was just talking about it with nic the other day, and if the story weren't so harrowing, i would recommend it to everyone who wants to get into literary analysis, because it is SO packed with symbolism EVERYWHERE that it actually encourages you to try to decode it.

whatever you think utena is about, it is NOT. you can't go in and treat it like your 49293th classical shoujo. utena is a firework show of visual symbolism and it very rarely, if ever, explains itself to the viewer. it refuses to handhold you, but it never berates you for trying and getting it wrong either. there is SO much handholding in modern day media, but utena trusts its viewer to take away something meaningful from itself and to piece its message together on their own. it's one of my favourite pieces of media of all time just for that

[mulletmitsuya]

random tokrev rant ahead !!

when i first started this blog it was going to be for random shitposts, groupchats once in a while, and mostly tokrev analysis but i was so scared of discourse that i just chose to do the funnier stuff 😭. when tokrev was at it's peak i'd be reading 20k+ words of analysis and it was so fun!! but i felt like i couldn't word what i wanted to say properly so that discouraged me but i wish i'd ignored that because there would have been at least one person who understood what i was saying yk?

[bluejayblueskies]

keeping this vague for now as the christmas special is still a patreon exclusive, but putting a tasteless caricature of fans who "hate Arthur and love John" and are "heading home to complain on the internet" into a supposedly lighthearted episode and slapping a laugh track behind it is not the inside joke "i'm laughing WITH you not AT you" that HG thinks it is