#these are mostly just for fun and also for the overview posts I mentioned I'll be making :]

[missholoska]

me, a little over 2 years ago:

me now:

whoops

[hyperfixation-fix]

Alright girls, guys, and gays - welcome to...

A Newby's Guide to the Marauders Fandom

You keep seeing your mutuals post about this Harry-Potter-adjacent fandom. It seems cool, and pretty damn gay, and you're kinda curious to know more. Except there's one problem: there is little-to-no actual canon.

How do you get into a fandom with little-to-no canon material?

Well friends, I'm here to help! Consider this post your roadmap to the fandom - useful locations are noted, major landmarks and tourist destinations are starred, and recommended routes are highlighted.

But where you actually go is up to you.

Level 1: The Basics

If you're the freshest of fresh meat to this fandom, you may like to start with a nice little overview of our chaos-fanon. Here are some YouTube videos that give you a good tl;dr:

a deep dive into the marauders fandom by uncarley (YouTube video, general topic, no major content warnings) - this is a great starter video, especially if you're not a fandom person usually. It's digestible, fun, and not too lore-heavy.

The Marauders Era Fandom Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, general topic, no major content warnings) - alternatively (or in addition), this is another great starter video, but possibly more from a fandom-familiar perspective. Also Coffeekoe just has great vibes and I want to kiss them on the forehead. Mwuah mwuah mwuah.

Marauders Era Ships Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, several different ships, no major content warnings) - after you've got the gist of how the fandom works, you might want to know a bit more about the common Marauders ships. This video gives an awesome (and comprehensive) overview.

Level 2: The Canon in the Fanon

You're going to have a pretty tough time in the fandom if you're not at least somewhat familiar with The Fanfic™️, All the Young Dudes. This fic is as highly revered (if not more so) than the real actual canon text (obligatory fuck JKR).

First off let's understand what it is.

All the Young Dudes is a long-form fanfiction written by MsKingBean89 and published on Archive of Our Own. And when I say long-form, I mean long-form - this thing is a monstrous 188 (chunky) chapters long. It spans from 1971, when the Marauders start their first year at Hogwarts, until 1995, when Remus dies. Speaking of which, it's also canon-compliant, so I'll save you some heartache and tell you right now that all of the characters die in pretty tragic ways. I'm not going to lie to you, it's a pretty heavy story - there are strong themes of child abuse, homophobia, underage drinking/smoking, drug abuse, abusive relationships, and trauma. BUT. I really enjoyed it and have read it twice now, simply because the happy bits are worth the painful bits.

With all of that in mind, here are (my recommendations for) your options for acquiring your ATYD education:

All The Young Dudes Deep Dive! by Coffeekoe (YouTube video, ATYD, some light discussion of triggering topics mentioned above, spoiler heavy!!!) - yep that's right, it's Coffeekoe again. Mwuah mwuah mwuah. This video is a super duper great alternative to reading ATYD, or a great way to dip your toe in and see if you want to commit to reading it in full. Obviously it's spoiler heavy, so if you already know you want to read ATYD and spoilers bug you, just skip it.

All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 (AO3 fic, mostly Wolfstar, triggers as mentioned above) - here's just a straight up link to the fic. You may need an account on AO3 to access it.

All the Young Dudes by BIBLIOBIBULI (YouTube, same as above) - if you're like me and love the idea of reading a long-fic, but don't actually have the time/energy/patience/stamina to do it, an audiobook might be the way to go! This one is great, and complete. You're welcome 🫶

Level 3: Fics of Note

Okay! By now, you should have received your official Marauders Fandom Certification in the mail (or, I guess, via owl), and you're pretty much free to go and explore the fandom on your own. You may, however, still come across references that confuse you. Those (probably) come from one of the many, many, many popular fics in the fandom.

Here's just a few of the major ones and links to them, for your convenience (asterisks indicate fics that require an account to access):

NOTE: This is not a rec list. Approach with caution and read all the tags.

Crimson Rivers by bizarrestars*

Just Lovers (Like We Were Supposed To Be) by bizarrestars*

Best Friend's Brother by bizarrestars*

Choices by MesserMoon

Kill Your Darlings by MesserMoon

All the Young Dudes - Sirius's Perspective by Rollercoasterwords

The Cadence Of Part-Time Poets by motswolo

Art Heist, Baby! by otrtbs

Only the Brave by Solmussa*

Level 4: You're On Your Own, Kid

You're still here? Why are you still here? You should be out there, enjoying your newly acquired fandom!

Fine, one last piece of advice and then you really have to leave:

Engage.

This fandom is unique because it is the weird, Frankenstein's-Monster-esque lovechild of thousands of strange little obsessive gremlin people like you and me. Sure, it only has one eye and far too many nipples, but who cares? We made this and we love it. And it's your job, as someone in the fandom, to keep it alive by engaging. Yes, this is true for every fandom, but even more so here. Comment, reblog, share, recommend fics, ask for fic recs. Fuck it, create too - write, draw, share headcanons, make playlists. It doesn't matter if it's "bad" or "wrong", there aren't any fucking rules.

Add another nipple, by all means! Eyes are overrated anyway.

[becauseimanicequeen]

Ming and Joe's Colors in My Stand-In, Part 4: Yellow/Gold

Part 1: Overview

Part 2: Black and Blue

Part 3: Red and Green

Part 5: Brown

Part 6: Random Color Moments

I received an ask a couple of days ago asking me about Joe and Ming's colors (which is something I've been thinking about for a while) and decided to answer that question in a separate post (which turned into a series). So, here I am.

I previously stated in my overview in part 1 of this series that:

Ming is black and red.

Joe is blue and green.

Yellow/gold is significant to both.

Brown also has some significance.

(Btw, since secondary colors (like orange) sometimes are hard to separate from the primary colors they're created from, because they can include a lot more of one of them, I will sometimes use yellow-ish to refer to yellow hues that might verge towards orange.)

As you can tell by the title of this post, I'll focus on the yellow/gold in this one. And as I mentioned in the overview in part 1 of this series, yellow/gold has a big significance to both Ming and Joe.

I first want to establish that I write yellow/gold because, even though both are used separately in My Stand-In, they entwine. Also, if we only look at the colors, they are the same even if they are different. If we take away the metallic shimmer of gold, it basically looks like a deeper/darker yellow hue.

To simplify things, I would say that Joe is mostly yellow/yellow-ish because his home bathes in that kind of light and it follows him around elsewhere as well. He’s often surrounded by it. It’s a part of him and his life.

Ming is mostly gold, which we’ve seen is part of his family home. Joe mentions it as well.

And the reason I say mostly is because, as I mentioned, their yellow/gold/yellow-ish entwine (which I'll get into in a moment).

So, let's dive into the fun stuff.

Yellow is the color on the color wheel that’s the closest to white because it reflects the most light. Yellow is often associated with light, warmth, optimism, caution, and deception.

Gold's symbolisms are the same as yellow, but it also has the added associations of luxury, power, and royalty, to name a few. Gold, as in the metal, has a reflective surface. It's pretty on the outside but it's also dense (the densest of all metals). (Did I add this last part to tease Ming? Yes. I love him to bits, but, at times, he's dense as hell, lol.)

Also, on a cultural note, yellow is associated with the king/royalty in Thailand. Therefore it's also associated with authority. I wanted to add this since Ming isn't just connected to yellow, but the finest, most pristine, and luxurious yellow, which is gold. And considering the hints they’ve dropped about his family, they definitely have authority and power (associations of yellow and gold respectively).

All this symbolism sounds a lot like both of them. Joe is definitely warm and optimistic. Ming also shows warmth (in many of the moments when he lived with Joe). Ming also has power, especially in the form of his family (but also in his and Joe's relationship and in the attachment Joe feels towards him).

But there’s also caution and deception involved. Joe is, especially in the beginning, cautiously optimistic about Ming and their potential relationship while Ming holds most of the deception part since he’s using Joe as a stand-in for Tong (even though we know Joe is a stand-in for Tong who was a stand-in for Joe, lol). Joe has a role in the deception part as well, especially when he’s in Joe 2.0’s body and has his own ulterior motives for doing certain things to Ming.

As I wrote in the overview in part 1 of this series, Ming's queer awakening in this moment when he sees Joe's back in that yellow/yellow-ish light on that billboard affected him a lot.

Since Ming thought it was Tong, that yellow/yellow-ish light (and his own gold) followed him to his first real meeting with Tong.

No wonder Ming was so obsessed with Tong there for a long while. Their colors were entwining. So much to the point that Ming, after seeing Tong with May, had to flee the country after ripping that image with (what Ming believed to be) Tong’s back and the yellow/yellow-ish text.

It was no different when Ming came back, though. That yellow/gold/yellow-ish light followed both Tong and Ming that day.

But, luckily for Ming (and unluckily for Joe at this point, lol), he found another man with that yellow/gold color to latch onto. And he did. Just look at that yellow/gold/yellow-ish in the background when they first met.

Look at them later facing that yellow/gold light in the restaurant, which is the night they start having sex together.

The light was guiding them towards each other. It was guiding Ming towards Joe; in the first moment they met when Ming hugged Joe from behind (the picture above) and when Joe literally guided Ming up the stairs to his home with that light next to them.

It was guiding Joe towards Ming as well. This is the same night Joe thanked Ming for making his dream come true (to have someone to welcome him home with the lights on and a nice meal) and when Ming said he would move in with Joe.

The light was guiding them towards each other and, in many ways, they were the light in each other's lives.

But the yellow/gold/yellow-ish also served as a hurtful reminder of their connection.

In the lights that were on when Joe's heart broke together with those mugs he dropped.

And in the lights that were present when Ming called Joe to ask when he was coming home and Joe told Ming to move out.

The light was also there when Joe broke down after having seen Ming (whom used to be his light) again, and when Ming was still waiting for Joe (his light) to come back, even though it had been two years.

They are both still carrying that light with them after all that time…

And Ming makes sure he's surrounded by it every single day (both his gold in the golden details and Joe's yellow in that warm light to make sure their yellow/gold is still entwining)...

And the light is there, trying to guide Ming back to Joe…

(Joe is literally in the same hotel, but we all know Ming is dense and doesn't have his glasses on, so… I'm just teasing. Kind of... lol.)

Another fact about yellow, though is that, in Jungian psychology, yellow is associated with intuition. Interestingly, as we saw in the 8th episode, Ming uses his intuition through his meditation (together with the facts he knows about both Joe 1.0 and Joe 2.0's accidents and how similar they are) to find ways to find out if Joe 2.0 is Joe 1.0. And he does (even if Joe won't admit to being in Joe 2.0's body, yet, which is understandable), thanks to the sneeze of all things, and while being in that light!

Ming just wants his light back in his life. He wants Joe back so he can vow never to hurt Joe or make him cry again. He wants Joe back so he can show Joe how he mended their broken mugs with his gold (to show that the wounds are where the light shines through).

He hurt Joe in the worst possible ways, he knows that, and he's ready to repent for the rest of his days (well, as soon as he's 100% sure Joe 1.0 is in Joe 2.0's body). Because the Ming who hasn't been the same since Joe's accident, desperately needs his light back into his life.

Am I getting too sappy? Probably. So let’s end with something even sappier…

The moment Might realized that the back he saw on that billboard wasn't the back he thought he saw. The moment he realized the one he'd really loved all this time was Joe. The moment Ming broke into tiny little pieces (just like those mugs) because of all the guilt of losing Joe and how it was his own doing. The moment he saw Joe 2.0 in that yellow/gold/yellow-ish light...

Que tears…

Part 1: Overview

Part 2: Black and Blue

Part 3: Red and Green

Part 5: Brown

Part 6: Random Color Moments

[lycorogue]

Meet My OCs: Artie (Part 2 - Current Characterization and Images)

Hello again! Welcome back to my Meet My OCs series. This, surprisingly, took a couple of days to write up/edit. Mostly because Artie IS still an evolving character. I haven't quite locked them in yet, and I needed some time to sort out what to even share with you fine folks.

As I mentioned in Part 1 of my introduction to Artie, I tried to roleplay Artie twice, but both games quickly fell through. Artie's personality and gender identification also changed a bit between the two versions, as did their age. That's a lot to try to sort through and try to narrow down what will be canon for the character and what to scrap. This is made doubly hard because I don't have a story for Artie yet. They live in the ether of my mind, and that's pretty much it.

Lia, Willow, Trish, Shawn, Chayse (my husband's OC), and Devon (my friend Ronoxym's OC) all live in the story of X-Future/Glitches.

Amara, Jolene, Connor, and Nathalie live within the world-build of Gyateara. Every other D&D character I come up with - Arianna Snow, Emerald Gaze, Kriv, Elymoxa, Aubrianne, etc - can conceivably be slotted into Gyateara as well.

Mevakor is a fun NPC I came up with for my game of Scum and Villainy, and he can live comfortably in that world.

Colton and Zetelica have my completely original story to hang out in.

And then there's poor Artie. Orphaned (potentially) in character, as well as orphaned (truly) from any story they were crafted for. I'll have to sort out what to do with them some day. Maybe they will join Colton as he navigates his new life within the supernatural (pulling a little bit from the Dread game Artie was reworked for). Maybe Artie will find themselves in a desert portion of Gyateara (taking inspiration from the OG role play on Gaia that they were created for). Maybe Artie will become a glitch and join Lia, Willow, and Chayse. Maybe they will get their own original story entirely. Without really knowing, there's no way to hard-lock their build. They will always evolve as I find out more about them.

In the meantime, though, we have Part 2 of Meet Artie. I tried to really lock down what I feel are core components of the character, and then share those with you fine folks. I also brought up potential key traits and what I need to work out to solidify them more. Finally, I have a few images that I did up - thanks to Hero Forge and various Picrew makers - to TRY to lock in what Artie looks like.

Honestly? Considering how loose of a character build Artie still is, I'm surprised this post went as long as it did. I hope it's still a fun ride as you get to know them a bit better.

You still in?

You may have noticed that I never once mentioned Artie's last name. That would be because I never thought of one.

Whoops.

I don't think the colony culture within the Gaia RP required family names anymore. Everyone just knew who was related to whom (a necessity with such a small populous to make sure the gene pool remained relatively diverse). As for the Dread game? I don't think it was considered important to know the characters' last names? Most games of Dread are one-off/one-shot games, and, for Dread in particular, the characters may not make it out alive anyway.

So, positive side of never getting to play Dread with Artie: they didn't die. Whooo!

Not having a story for them means I haven't really had a need to come up with a family name. So, that's one of the things on my character-creation check list that I need to get to.

Overview

There are some elements that were consistent between the two versions of Artie. It's obvious that I'll have to keep them. They are core to their character.

For one, they are between 9 and 16. My current incarnation seems to be comfortably nestled at about the preteen range. That feels like the "right" age for them.

Artie's birth name is Artemis, and is AFAB. They also consistently dress androgynously, so that they can equally pass as either male or female. I do like the idea of Artie being genderqueer/GNC (are they two different things? Is GNC a subcategory of genderqueer???) Clearly, I need to do more research on what it means to claim those identities. I want to make sure if I stay on this route with Artie I don't use them to misrepresent the queer community. So, again, my Asks are open, and I am cisgender. If you have any advice, I would love any help I can get in making sure Artie is written correctly.

Speaking of things I'm not particularly knowledgeable about (yet), Artie is also good at engineering, and has a more analytical mind than creative/imaginative one. They are sometimes curt and a touch abrasive/blunt.

They aren't particularly close with their parents. Heck, Dread!Artie was straight up neglected/abused by her parents and killed her father.... sooooooooooooo. I haven't decided if Artie is just distant with their parents, but still living with them, if Artie is estranged from their parents, or if Artie is an orphan. I think I'm leaning towards the last one though????

Finally, Artie seems to have a special bond with animals - even wildlife - regardless of version. That trait is definitely staying.

Physically speaking, Artie is currently 4'8" (142cm), still fairly flat chested (they haven't started binding yet, but they wear baggier clothes to hide their developing curves), and weighs around 72lbs (32.6kg). Sometimes they weigh more, sometimes less, but usually they average out to 72. They're a lean little stringbean, but have a round face. They have a lightly-tanned olive skin tone and stormy-gray eyes. Their hair is a sort of silvery ash-blonde color that almost looks like gray sand. It's thick and has loose waves, but they keep their hair cut so short that the waves rarely show up.

They probably still fend for themselves, much like their Dread equivalent. I mean, their Gaia version also fended for themselves, but they also had a community available to help. I see this current incarnation not quite as self-reliant as Dread!Artie, but doesn't have quite as much community support as Gaia!Artie.

I haven't decided if Artie still has a petty father who named them "Artemis" to keep a family tradition alive despite Artie having a cousin named Artemis already (that had passed away just before Artie was born). I'm also still deciding as to why they were named Artemis in the first place. IS it a family tradition? ARE they at least part-Greek?

Personality

Artie is a bit of a loner. Gaia!Artie was irritated by people, but was still polite to them and showed them kindness. They were introverted, not wanting to be forced into socializing but feeling lonely if they couldn't at least hear people interacting around them. Dread!Artie was fully jaded and aggressive. She'd sell you out for a dollar if that somehow benefitted her. She yearned for Found Family, but never wanted to let anyone in and would self-sabotage to prevent anyone from trying. She was very much me-myself-and-I/survival of the fittest. Other people were only there as tools for her to use, she just needed to work out how to use them.

Current!Artie? Definitely still a loner, but probably not as grimdark as Dread!Artie. Also, probably a bit more jaded/snarky than Gaia!Artie. Some humble little Goldilocks area between those original two incarnations.

As mentioned, I'm definitely keeping the fact that Artie just feels more comfortable with animals (and they around Artie). Much like Dread!Artie, I don't think the current version would necessarily have a pet. While I haven't decided yet if they'll be homeless like Dread!Artie, I do still feel like Artie is nomadic, and might find it too difficult to travel with a pet? If I were to give them one, maybe a rat? Lizards feel the lowest maintenance for travel, but then Artie is stuck in warmer climates (or have to start lugging around heat lamps and the like). Dogs feel too big/high maintenance despite how many homeless people do seem to keep a canine companion. They aren't really "nomadic" though, so I feel like my point still hits. Maaaaaaybe a semi-domesticated stray cat (kind of like Gaia!Artie and their alien bug)? Gerbils/hamsters/guinea pigs all feel too hard to carry around without a cage. Rabbits also feel less practical for a nomadic life, but I could be wrong (please let me know if I am). Birds also feel too high maintenance, despite the trope of pirates keeping them as pets (if Artie were to have a bird, it would a type of corvid, I suspect). Rats/mice just feel like the right choice, if they were to have any pet at all.

Back to animal bonding though. I feel like a lot of the "weirdo Snow White" traits should carry over. Don't know if Current!Artie would use this connection with animals to win horse/dog racing bets or anything like that. I'll have to ponder that a bit more. Either way, they feel more at-home and relaxed socializing with animals than with humans.

Artie's Style

As I mentioned, Artie prefers loose-fitting, comfy, gender-neutral clothes. Jeans or denim overalls. Graphic tees. Plain t-shirts or long-sleeve tees. Work/hiking/combat boots; something durable and comfortable to walk around in for months. Hoodies or hooded zip-up sweatshirts. Swim trunks and light t-shirt to swim in.

They have a pair of steampunk-like motorcycle goggles - either the round lens or pilot style. They use them as sunglasses, to protect against the elements, or as low-end welding goggles while they're building something. Plus, they just like how they look. Makes for a good hair accessory.

They don't really wear any other accessories. No bracelets, necklaces, or piercings. They do have a basic wrist watch, but that's about it.

Visuals

Sadly, the computer that had my Gaia Online avatar rendering of the OG Artie died on me nearly a decade ago. I was going to recreate them, but the "Gaia Online Dream Avatar" creator Tektek was taken down nearly a decade ago, and I couldn't find an alternative. Shame, because I did enjoy that design.

Anyway, as I mentioned at the top of this post, I spent some time on Hero Forge instead to try to recreate Artie. The hair color isn't quite right, but I'm happy with them otherwise.

I decided to design them as if they were still in the RPGs I created them for. Gaia!Artie lived in a dust bowl/desert section of a planet. Dread!Artie was making her way to Las Vegas. Gaia!Artie would need a lot of pockets for their maintenance/engineering equipment, and had few other possessions. Dread!Artie was a nomad, and, again, was making her way to Vegas. The hair is still a touch too blond for what I picture. Some of the Picrew versions were a touch closer. Although, I ended up losing the skin tone I wanted for Artie when I switched to Picrew.

These two Picrew designs are probably closer to the ash hair color I picture for Artie. Not quite gray. Not quite blonde. Somewhere on the spectrum in between.

Nanameka: the maker used to create the left image, the one with gears behind Artie. The maker used for the right image: with the sun setting behind Artie.

Neither the hair color nor the skin color really works for either of these versions of Artie. The right "vibe" is there for them though? And the one on the left isn't TOO far off hair color wise. The one on the right isn't TOO far off skin tone wise?? I also like the clothing I could choose for them with that right image, and that they could have their goggles.

The maker used for the left image: Artie in a black shirt and brown hoodie. Maker 773 - the one used to create the full-body Artie on a rooftop.

So, what do you all think of Artie? Any advice on them? Any thoughts in general? They've been so neglected in my mind for so long*, and their call to be noticed was so loud the other morning. I'm glad to revisit them again. I'm also happy to share them with all of you.

Now to get back into the habit of working on this series a bit more. I still need to finish up my Meet Lia sub series....

*Poor thing! They get enough of that from their parents!... how sadly appropriate...

[booksandabeer]

okay you mentioned your exessive reading lists and the notes you take on them about the fics you chose and that has me intrigued, like what is the process behind this, how do you categorize, what do you note down, do you grade them? I'm kind of a bit obsessed with the whole idea

Hello there, anonymous person!

Thanks for the ask--sorry it took me so long to answer but I was travelling and didn't have access to my computer. As previously established, there is in fact a method to the madness. Not so sure if there's a method to the method though. Let's see!

I'll put this under a keep reading thingy because: long and text-heavy (surprise!)

I think the most important document--and the one that I always keep up to date--is the Masterlist (that's actually the name of the document). This is basically a giant spreadsheet with multiple tabs that helps me keep track of all the fics I have completed (I have separate lists for DNFs, WIPs, and currently--to my great shame--four (!) TBR folders with lists organized by priority) sorted by year and month. I posted screenshots the other day and I made sure to make them small enough so that no one can decipher any actual names of authors or fics. See, what I write into all these lovely little columns there is really meant for my eyes only. Because I do grade fics and sometimes I get a little snarky and write little mini-reviews. But. I would never, not in a million years, show up in an author's comment section and go "this aspect of your fic was good, this other one, eh, not so much. Bit of a shame, really. 5/10." It's really a tool for me to help me jog my memory when I'm looking for something to rec, reread, or simply check if I have read a fic before or not.

But just to give a short overview, what I track/categorize in the Masterlist: type (fic or series), title, author, pairing, word count (and I aggregate the total for each month and year), post date & read date, kudos & comments (i. e. have i left any? good way to track "outstanding" comments), rating (1-10), verse/genre (e. g. canon compliant/divergent, modern AU, no powers, pre-war, Shrinkyclinks, etc.) and finally, the most important one: description. That last one is where everything else goes, from short summaries, to favorite lines, to little memorable details to positive and/or negative comments about the fics. And sometimes that can turn into a rather long text and sometimes it's just "mangos in a bowl". I just scrolled through the spreadsheet for this year and here are some fun facts...well they're fun to me...

month with the highest/lowest word count: June (1.360.738 words total, haha, wtf?) and December (178.357 words total, but tbf, I had hardly any time to read and what I did read was/is mostly WIPs and those are on a separate list)

highest/lowest word count per individual fic: 111K and 791 words (I only track 500+ words fics); longest series comes in at just a little over 330K.

highest/lowest rating: 10 (there is only one 10 this year, but a few 9s and 8s, which is still really good because I'm stingy with high ratings) and a 3 (which is really rare because I hardly ever finish a fic that's below a 5, but I had read and liked other fics from the author so I kept going, hoping it'd get better. It did not). I also have one fic with a '?' rating, which is for a fic that started out spectacularly good and then went completely off the rails in equally spectacular fashion, so no clue what to rate it.

Ok, that's it for now. I hope this answers your question a little bit and wasn't completely boring? And yes, I do realize that this is all very silly, but it amuses me and I enjoy doing it. Other people do embroidery. I make lists.