#these panels are so cute im gonna be sick

[wtfforged]

ive been seeing a lot of mermaid zoros lately and i like him and i think that silly octopus that he let cling to him in the jaya arc should be his little-mermaid-flounder-sidekick friend

[gealachros]

Thoughts while reading Trimax Vol 13!

Wow we're reaching the end, its kinda crazy but its been a wonderful time. Thank you to Revenant Ghost for organizing this book club!! This was such a fun way to read Trimax for the first time and to see others thoughts on it as well

Now onto the reading

I love the alt covers, always full of funny details. Also a pirate AU for Trigun would be kinda cool

Wow holy shit... Already off to a strong start

Of course Legato is that kinda villain lol, gives himself a handicap to make it more fun. Hes such an edgelord and its great

Did he just catch the nail with his chin?? Livio is awesome man. Also, these fights are really cool. Very interesting dynamic between each fight

Ewww Legato licking Vashs blood is pretty disturbing. Such a maniacal character. (Not showing the panel here because I dont want to force anyone to see it again lol)

Lol Livio just wanted to get his clothes back. This man is such an amazing character

Oh wow... Shes got a sick as hell design even under the coat lol

I wonder if its supposed to be some sort of armor?

What is happening??? Seems like all the straps came off and that causes something to happen? I'm guessing it makes her more powerful but I'm not sure why

Lol even the people from space know about Vash. I wonder how they heard about him though

Wow this panel is amazing but also, hes fully colored black which is a little scary... Apparently hes used all his power which I dont like what that could entail...

Restraints??? Man she is badass as hell lol, I like her very much

Razlo is back??

LOL this fucking panel, I think Razlo is a little excited

WTF Elendira has a physic attack??? Also wow that was a graphic panel which I am not gonna show lol

Aww the flashback to Wolfwood

Oh cool, Razlo and Livio are working together now. I think they will work very good together since it seems like Livio is pretty good at tatics where Razlo is all about strength

I love this dynamic of them working together really well while still keeping their own personalities. Its really interesting character design for Livio/Razlo and its a great part of their character arc

Wow that design is sick, I love the attention to detail in Trimax

Aw this is really sweet, also holy hell what an awesome fight between Elendria and Livio/Razlo

Oh thats interestin, after what happened at July. Legato and that doctor are the ones who found Knives. It makes sense but thats something I havent seen before so its cool to know more about what exactly happened at July

Man the callbacks to Wolfwood break my heart every time

Ah thats how the space people learned of Vash, thats such a cool detail. Because of how hes been helping everyone all these years, the plants have remembered him

Indeed they do!

Aw its really cute seeing their thoughts on Vash

Some panels just absolutly send chills down my spine and this is no exception

Wow what an insane ending to volume 13, this one was super intense. Next it the last volume which Im interested to see the ending but also that means the story will be over so its bittersweet.

I actually do have the physical copy of volume 14 so Ill probably read that and maybe make a post with screen shots afterwards. I am excited though to read the physical edition since its the only one I have

Anyways, as always what an amazing volume and what an amazing story. Trimax is so well written its crazy

[pancake-breakfast]

Time to finish of Volume 5. Let's see if we can't get some more crazies on the playing board.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 5, Chapters 5-6 below.

Chapter 5: Death Deal

Everyone's screaming.... Blood is everywhere.... Picking up right where we left off, I see....

Holy fuck, was running over his face with the bike necessary, Legato??? Geez, man.

Creechur Vash is displeased.

CREECHUR VASH IS DISPLEASED!!!

...I'm sorry, but Legato feeling legitimately ill and being moved to tears of sadness that Midvalley would turn a gun on him and "betray Master Knives" is freaking hilarious and I absolutely LOL'ed. Gods, this man is such a mess.

I do feel bad for Midvalley, though. I feel like, in another life, on another world, maybe he could have just played beautiful music.

Dude is just staring and Wolfwood and crying. I'm telling ya, he's SUPER jealous. He wishes Knives trusted him as much as Knives is trusting Wolfwood right now, which is funny 'cause it's Wolfwood.

This look, though.... Find you a man who stares down your enemies the way Wolfwood stares down Legato. Even though he might not actually be able to see very well right now.

Got rid of them...? As in... Vash and Meryl? Vash and... Wolf... wood?? What did Zazie do?

Butterflies?

Ohhhhhhhhhh

Wait, I never *did* figure out why they were trying to get rid of Zazie. Glad Zazie's having fun with bodies, though.

It was because they didn't want Zazie to report back to Legato, huh?

Is... Gauntlet resisting Legato??

YES HE IS!!! GOOD FOR HIM!!!

Meanwhile, Creechur Vash is just waiting for all of this to die down, I guess?

Ohhhhh. Yeah, keeping Crechur Vash contained is gonna be a task for anyone.

Gotta have a good ol' Mexican Standoff.

Ahhh, I know there's so much going on here and it's all bad, but he really is kinda cute like this.

MERYL TO THE RESCUE!!!

Gods, she's screaming, she's crying, she's severely outgunned and/or outmatched by every player on the field.... She may be small, but her power is adequate.

AND SHE AIMS RIGHT FOR LEGATO!!! GET 'IM, GIRL!!!

It's enough for Gauntlet to pull the trigger on his gun....

...aaaand all hell breaks loose.

I like how even though Zazie's new form is more feminine, it's still like, "What is gender? I don't care. My gender is worms."

Legato appears to still be alive. Human skulls are more durable than we give them credit for.

Ohhhh, Stampede referenced this little speech of Legato's.

WTH happened to his face? Like, I know he just got shot, but I'm having trouble figuring out how he went from this...

...to this....

...in the space of a panel.

Ah, that's gotta be Midvalley's corpse. Meryl's right to scream. There's no coming back from seeing that.

I like the little stringy lines implying Legato's power.

Of course that bastard would be like, "Oh, you created a friend? Gotta make sure you pay for that by your friend's hand." He's a very sick fuck.

Creechur Vash is still displeased.

The only one here who hasn't quite seen this yet is Meryl, and she's already freaking out. Even Legato looks terrified. Glad his face is back to normal, though.

Ohhhhh, shit. The Nail is here.

Chapter 6: Let Us Walk The Path To Redemption

Ohhh, Vashie, babygirl....

Legato's little monster-puppet handler can feel pain??

Oop, something going on here is bringing Vash back out of creechur mode.

She has a point. People with a strong enough death wish can cause quite a mess seeking their own destruction.

Nevermind, Vash has turned into a lightning bug with too many wings.

Ohhhh, baby Vash....

I do love the use of white space here, though. This happens a lot when we fall into Vash's memories, and it really emphasizes his loneliness.

That's too many bullets. The image of bullets falling like tears....

Aaaand Legato is ruining the moment with his madness. Gods, this wet cat is gonna punish himself even harder now because of all this, and other people might actually have to watch that.

I like how they have yet to actually show her face.

Goshdarn, someone wrap Vash in a weighted blanket and feed him something nice and give him all the hugs.

YOU CAN DO IT, VASH!!!

Eyyyyy, body horror....

I love that he's focusing on the kindness of those in the past to pull himself through. He has no idea what the future holds... for himself, for mankind, for the companions who, after this, might not want anything to do with him ever again. But he's doing what he can to focus on people's kindness....

And... he's protecting Gauntlet, isn't he? Of course he is. Gauntlet, who's so tired from everything that's happened tonight, he probably wants to die. He was expecting to die. He lost his only friend by his own hand because of Legato. And now the man he came here to kill is protecting him.

OUT OF BULLETS, YA BASTARD!!! (The sound effect here is "ga-chi, ga-chi, ga-chi" over and over again. Def not a gun firing sound.)

Awww, man! Creepy weird guy carrying around Legato has a knife arm.... Whyyyyyy.

Look at his stupid face, though. He's enjoying this.

Ok, that's too many teeth. Please return some to wherever you got them from.

Did... Airship Lady shoot him through the head?

Yeah, she did.

Hahahahaha, the first time we see her fully revealed, and she's just being a baby after falling in the sand.

LOL, Meryl....

You know what? Legato deserves to be talked down to like this. He really, really does.

"Secret Number 13!" But that doesn't add up. Literally. In chapter 5 of the last volume, Wolfwood said they only had three left: Zazie, Midvalley, and Hoppered. They'd only been through six in the previous chapters, and adding Wolfwood to that mix only makes 10. Unless he's counting Legato and Knives, but in the last volume didn't think they wouldn't actually come out to fight??? Or was trying to mislead Vash on their numbers, since he said that one out loud but this one's in his head??? Very confused. Fix your math, Nightow.

Ah, that's... that's a lot of nails....

"You've really been losing it lately." You know it's bad when even the other bad guys are like, "Yyyyyeeeeaaaahhh, sorry about our buddy over here. He's... he's a little crazy. We're just gonna take him home so he doesn't do anything else stupid today. We'll resume tormenting you later."

Mannnn, if Bluesummers could hear Knives say this right now, he'd start crying all over again for a completely different reason...

I'm honestly not sure what happened in this explosion here.

Even Legato's little pet monster-thing is looking not so good. One's spine really should stay inside their body.

Looks like Vash is getting ahold of himself ok over there.

Meryl is soooo brave here. She's terrified to the point of tears, but she grits her teeth and readies herself.

Vash looks spent.

Nothing gets Vash's attention quite like someone in dire need.

Dude. Gauntlet. Why you gotta be like that to Vash!? You know and you're still like, "Eh, I even know it's wrong of me to do so, but I'm smiling about it."

And yet Vash STILL holds his hand so Gauntlet doesn't have to die alone.

Wolfwood and Meryl running to Vash's side now that it's safe. Meryl immediately inquiring after Vash's health. <3 <3 <3

BRB, finding a way to give hugs to a fictional character.

Hahahahaha, Milly. She's sooooo enthusiastic. I love her.

Is that... Zazie in the crutches??

LOL, yeah. But how did Zazie get ahold of a black wig? What a weirdo.

Heh. In spite of everything, here's Vash dragging Wolfwood to a makeshift funeral for the makeshift graves for two people who adamantly tried to kill them.

...No comment. I'm just gonna put this here. Yeah.

LOL, Vash is calling Wolfwood on his bullshit again.

This panel is a good panel. I'm going to put it here, too.

"You break it, you fix it." The path to redemption, indeed. Onward with the manual labor!

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10 || Volume 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 1 Supplemental Research, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Volume 1: Covers + 1-2, 2 DT, 3-4, 3 DT, 5-6 || Volume 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Volume 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Volume 4: Covers + 1-2, 3-5, 6-7 || Volume 5: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 3 DT

[weirdcat1213]

TRIMAX VOLUME ONE LETS GOOOOOO ....i didnt remember this was just 6 chapters...wow

ANYWAY LETS GO

chap 1:

-youre right IT MUST BE TOLD TIL THE END OF TIMES

-1st act of god you say...huh

-yeah who could believe that...thats insane....jaja

-ERIKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

-ik this was written in the 90s but i still dont like eriks saying that, like wth man lina is right

-hey lina :3 missed you

-....i like the new glasses...

-THAT SHOT REFLECTING VAHS YES THATS NICE LETS GO

-"lina cover your eyes :]" oh :c

-"oh is eriks again" :c

-YEAH GRANNY KILL THEM ALL >:D

-"stop. some legend that is" ow :c

-this is all just so sad cuz he rea;;y wanted to retire but he cant :c hes vash the stampede

-ww laughing at fake vash is the best xd

-YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH >:D

-also thats funny cuz yeah vash COULD shoot you in a matter of seconds but thats not what his name means and i really like that :3

chap 2:

-aw lina :c

-imagine going to the store and finding the silliest/most depressed wet cat in the universe ready for adoption

-GIVE ME THE PONY TAIL STAMPEDE GIVE IT TO ME PLS

-ok but how did you (from the perspective of a stranger) figure that knives was a name? knives comes from knife, so if a random person read "knives" wouldn't they think about the utensil first?????

-vash: how do you know so much about this evil entity that is my brother?

ww: hehe, please

-ily lina theyre talking bs

-YEAH >:D FREE BODY GUARD

-...im not ready for stampede eriks i will evaporate

-OH MY GOD THE HAIR

-BRO SHUT UP OFC SHE SAYS SHE DOESNT HAVE THAT POWER WHEN HE KICKED (i think) A FUCKING BULLET IM SO SAD

-....I WILL EVAPORATE IM TELLING YOU

chap 3:

-YEY MERYLS BDAY :D

-go get your vacation queen ily

-keele i will yeet you into the sun

-im never not going to be so fucking mad at HOW EASY THAT WAS BECAUSE THIS BASTARD MENTIONED MERYL LIKE IK YOU MISS YOUR DEAR FRIEND BUT OMG it just makes me sad

-wolfwood :3

-i like that :3 meryl just cant be an office person anymore when shes discover more of her world and people like vash. even if she almost died a lot of times, those were also the times when she was alive.

-YEAH MILLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

chap 4:

-:c

-ok but that panel with mostly shade is scary

-i also want to lift my whole self with my arm :D (she said even though just walking places makes him tired)

-ok but if he trained like that for 150 years no wonder he's the only pro gunman ever

-i like his face on that panel, he's amazed and proud that one of his siblings survived for that long

-vash knows why is it always like that and he understands it but god he wishes so hard for it to just fucking stop and it breaks my little heart

-hes literally just an anime girl saying "hi-mi-tsu :3" (im so sorry i will never say that again but I'm right)

-he remembers people and names after so many fucking years

-also those children probably have never met him but vash gives so much ragdoll energy that they went with it (ok never mind maybe they did but you get the idea)

-cmon brad :c why are you so mean to him :c

-SHUT UP OMG SHUT UP

-all of this just backs up the SA interpretation and although it hurts my feelings....damn its just good writing. like not knowing what your own body can do and people taking advantage of that...makes me fucking sick (in a good and bad way i truly don't know how to explain it)

-BRAD LEAVE HIM THE FUCK ALONE AHHHHHH >:c WHY IS EVERYONE SO MEAN TO HIM

-noooooooooooooooooooooo :c every time someone calls/vash calls himself a monster this user loses 5 years of their life :D

-wolfwood sir your projection will make me want to eat my own arm

-NIGHTOW IM JUST PROCESSING WHAT WW SAID YOU CANT THROW CUTE LITTLE FACES AT ME SIR PLS NOOOO

-"run away run away ">:b" i love him so much

chap 5:

-the chapters cant keep starting with flashbacks I'm gonna start WEEPING

-is geranium tea a thing? maybe vash would like geranium tea

-how dare you, my vash the stampede would never side with the cops, he's acab i know that in my heart

-THAT ONE PANEL MY BELOVED (the onle about looking without his eyes)

-hes so fucking done

-yey conflict time :3 boi oh boi

chap 6:

-oh the title placement on this one :3

-i dont think he will (or that he is) fine after all of this but sure

-such a loud chapter and vash is so quiet

-and again, there all judging, expecting to see what will vash do

-"what do you know about my pain" brb I'm gonna EAT SOME GLASS REAL QUICK

-...

-its like....its like why, why make me suffer like this. its not even heavy stuff its just that everything hurts. his impulse and desire to help everyone, his reason why, how others see him while he tries and sometimes win while other times fails. it all hurts in a weird way.

-...legato why are you inside a fridge (i kinda forgot lol)

WHAT A VOLUME i need to lay down

[todayisafridaynight]

OH I WAS JUST REMINDED CAUSE the angle on Jo in the last panel is similar to how I remember some shots of Takita + The General Premise Of Being Sick ☠️☠️And also that I was gonna tack it onto my ask about Day with the Sun but I didn't think it was relevant enough... but yeah... We Can Only Hope...

I can't say much about the show mainly because I was in a rut and couldn't engage with any media I tried to watch at all for a while [and with a stream, I couldn't pause to process things]; that said, it was insanely successful for a reason, and if nothing else it'd probably be fun to watch before you play Judgment and see how it influenced the games! I also really love Amamiya [the female lead] and Hiroshi Abe never disappoints :]

DO NOT BE ASHAMED TO ADMIT YOU ALREADY KNEW... I didn't know that's what Krillin's name was derived from... very fun trivia :] But yeah I love Nakai's dogs and his blog posts Dearly... it's actually kinda funny too because I spent ages the other day trying to find any other characters of his who wear unbuttoned shirts for reference [during which I also kept running into media that had no subs or wasn't uploaded at all so ☠️ I'm glad you found A Ghost of a Chance!], and I completely forgot about these pics until now...

Anyway here is a bonus Tsutsumi with his dog :] he got it in 2018 for his daughters...

LASTLY I think you should give Arakawa his stubble back so I can scritch him under the chin As God Intended and I think you should write a sequel to Sons of Bosses so I can line up with a bowl :]

OH fair fair fair 😩 if its anything, since watching more jdramas and movies ive borrowed how camera angles are done in those SO it is vaguely intentional for it to be reminiscent of dramas :]

once i strongarm time from Life i'll surely give it a watch (❁´◡`❁) im forever grateful a lot of jdramas are only 10-12 episodes long, it makes binging shit HELLA easy and gives me motivation to watch and finish things ♪(´▽｀)

it's actually so unfortunate a lot of nakai's movies and shows are practically exclusive to japan (if not myself just constantly being reminded i should be better dedicated to studying japanese..) (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) still, it's what makes finding anythin he's in all the more enjoyable and has me all the more grateful （*＾-＾*）

BUT OH MY GOD TINY BABY PUPPY HIIIIIIII handsome feller.... what a cute coat... what a silly face pattern ive never seen a dog like that..... epic .........

arakawa-with-stubble has been cooking in the back of my brain for a LONG while (i've Mentally drafted a few comics that take place during a time where he'd reasonably be growing some), im just a lazy bastard who never draws any of those ideas (╯▽╰ ;;) sequel to Sons of Bosses may be a thing... depends on if i can force this goofy brain of mine to work and write three fics in one week..

[pashminalamb]

okay i think i figured out the issue as to why my last ask from our convo didn’t sent (not from this morning). cause i had sent one a while ago and you never responded so i thought it was a glitch or you just didn’t get it or you’d finally gotten sick of me. i had a picture attached (my screensaver) so that’s probably why it didn’t sent. i just let out a huge sigh of relief cause i thought you’d finally gotten sick of me 😭😭. but thankfully that is not the case 🥹🥹 *gestures to the ask from this morning*. okay so i’ll just send it again if that’s alright. *ahem*

also. i think im finally ready to come off anon. surprise?? i was thinking about it for a while cause we’ve talked a lot by now (2 months almost i think?) and i consider you one of my online friends (im okay even if it’s not reciprocated). and it just felt right. you can still call me starry if you want (i love the nickname it’s so cute 😭❤️).

okay so here’s the actual ask

BELLE!!!! I’m honored (abt your screensaver) 😌😭🤧. I spontaneously change it to different TR panels and choosing one for the ending was so hard but I ended up choosing a classic.

Heads ups this is gonna be a long one I’m sorry .

Ohhh what kind of sensitive topics if you don’t mind me asking? I personally feel like topics are talk about raw things are some of the best pieces of writing. Another reason why hurt/comfort is one of my favorite tropes. Just exploring the angst and hurt and hard to deal with feelings into understanding and comfort and closure really hits for me.

And same here. Every time I get on Pinterest it’s just. Hot shirtless fictional character. Hot shirtless fictional character. Hot shirtless fictional character. Angst fanart. Hot shirtless fictional character. And then I end up going down the rabbit hole of trying to save all of them while simultaneously finding more and it becomes an endless cycle 💀💀💀.

Pshhhh the Izana fanart had me wheezing. Just the absolute judgmental look in Izanas face. I just know Kakucho was ready to pounce on Izana to hold him back from hunting down Shion adhkbffjjgg. And ofc it was Shion because who else 😭💀. I’m complementing if I should change my screensaver to one of the hundreds of Izana pictures I have saved (rip my storage 🥲) but I think I’m gonna keep the Takemikey one a bit longer mostly because if I change it that means I’m finally slowly starting to come to terms with the fact that the manga is over AND IM NOT READY FOR THAT YET DANGIT. OH!! And I can’t believe I forgot to mention that I finally changed my pfp on tumblr. I ended up picking Takemitchy because the end of TR was fast approaching. And I also changed my theme from orange-flowers-in-the-sunset to purple-clouds-during-the-early-morning. I’m quite proud of it if I do say so myself 😌.

If you do decide to start writing TR content then you have my full support. But even if you don’t then that’s totally okay too. I don’t wanna accidentally pressure you into it with my constant rambling about it. But if you do pls let me know so I can celebrate the fact that one of my favorite writers is gonna start writing/doing TR content 👀🥳. Rindo is a great place to start. He needs more content I hardly see any for him as compared to Mikey, Izana, Chifuyu, Mitsuya, and etc. My baby needs some love too.

Dude Reo had me when he did the super hot eyebrow thing LIKE SIR NO REASON TO DO THIS TO ME. NOT TO MENTION HIS DID IT TWICE?!?!? And the freaking HEADPATS he was giving Nagi???? Nagi no offense but can we pls share your bf?

And ofc take your time with your fics. Amazing things aren’t produced in a day. They need to be edited and fleshed out and rewritten. All a hundred times over. So take your time and don’t let anyone pressure you into doing more than you want to because at the end of the day this is YOUR blog and YOUR writing. Personally, I’m just happy with the interaction 😊❤️. NOT THAT YOUR WRITING ISNT AMAZING IT IS but a lot of authors just don’t interact and I wanna get to know the amazing person behind the beautiful writing too you know? Makes all if it more real I think. But that’s just me.

Ohhhh man I’ve heard quite a few things about Kaiser and I’m still undecided abt him cause new characters can be hot as they wanna be but if they hurt one of my babies (unjustly) then it’s on sight 😤😤.

“Dommed his way through it” agjfshbcfhjhg. Basically 😭💀. I read someones post saying how much they love him yet he’s got the personality of an apple and I was like yes but no but yes but no while laughing. Baby boys been through so much I think he deserves a break 😭.

Yes expose the flawed systems of this world 😤😤. Seriously though, I’ve heard so many stories about how models are treated and it makes me so sad because they really are some of the sweetest people out there (you’re a perfect example) and yet they go through so much. For me, I come up with stories and characters that often go through or have a personality trait of mine so that I can sort of analyze and work through it in my writing (that is if I don’t decide to go the angst route ofc). And its almost always done unconsciously . So it’s therapeutic for me.

I’m glad you’re doing well!! I’m on break rn and having no work to do is so weird because I’m so used to being productive and working all the time. So that that when I don’t have work I’m just like. Suspicious that I’m gonna miss a deadline or something and everything feels off balance . Trying to break that habit and just learn how to relax again.

Well he’s obviously wrong because your shirt looked amazing 🙄 (even tho I wasn’t there). Men. I swear if fictional men were real, real men would be sweating so much harder than they aufesst are because women are realizing that we deserve better than the bare minimum. They’d also very much be scared for their lives cause if our fictional men found out how we were being treated just due existing it would be all over for them. Sorry abt that bit. the state of the world makes me feel a lot of intense emotions sometimes.

Stuff abt me huh? Hmmmm well I like to write, eat, and sleep. I need more hobbies 💀. I like to learn new things whether it be about animals, politics, wars, or art. I love reading and books. One day I want to have a whole room set aside as a library in my house with two floors and a walking ledge and those rolling ladders and stairs. The whole Beauty and the Beast library but small enough to fit in a small house. I like meeting new people. The things you can learn from a single conversation astound me. I like researching any topic that catches my eyes and analyzing it so much that it unknowingly becomes a hyperfixation. Idk it just scratches an itch in my brain. I want to travel the world one day. And learn and speak and write fluent Spanish, Arabic, and French. I also like leather jackets and comfy clothes and eye makeup. Oh and I like listening to music a lot. Especially walking outside with my earbuds in while it’s cold in the late afternoon when it’s dark but there’s still light and laying in the grass on a hill.

Shows: EXTRAORDINARY ATTORNEY WOO!!! I love that show. It’s been a minute since I’ve watched it tho. Gotta start binging again. But I usually don’t watch shows unless they really catch my eye. OH!!! But I’m short excited for the Percy Jackson tv show coming soon!! Reliving my childhood in 24 minutes every week is gonna be a real treat.

Anime: I’m not watching anything new atm. I binged one piece over the summer though and got to the Sabody arc (early 400s). I’m rewatching TR for the 3rd time this month tho. I cant make myself reread the manga yet it’s gonna be too much for me to handle too soon 🥹🥹🥹. WAIT I TAKE IT BACK. I’m currently watching Blue Lock and Chainsaw Man. I cant believe I forgot 💀💀. Oh and I’m also rewatching the Ranking of Kings and Banana Fish (I don’t know what made me decide rewatching this angst fest was a good idea especially with TR ending but I’m here now so 🥲🥲🥲).

SNACK: Tbh honest I’ll eat anything. Either I’m a vacuum or I’m incapable of eating so my body lovesssss me 💀. Im honestly more of a meal person. I love spicy and savory food tho. My mom never gave me a bunch as a kid so when I eat them now it’s very rare and even then I’m very picky abt which ones I like. I do like caramel, milk chocolate, or whole chocolate flavored sweets tho.

Manga/Books: I’m currently rereading the wrath and the dawn, reading belladonna, and reading HP Lovecrafts stories. On the manga side, I’m reading Chainsaw man (cause I wanna stay ahead of the anime) and I’m finally starting Moriarty the patriot.

I’ve been meaning to read more nonfiction books cause I can gain a broader perspective but i don’t know where to start or find an hood ones or find ones that aren’t mainstream but secretly awful. Do you have any recs?

The Bachira b-day suit panel is very much appreciated 👀😂. ALSO I would love to chat but for some reason my tumblr messaging is broken? I even tried on my laptop and it didn’t work. So I sadly excepted my fate of asks only communication a while ago 😞🤧. Also also some people really need to learn what boundaries are. Like just in general. AND NOOOO THAT FIC IS ONE MY FAVORITES ITS ADORABLE. And ofc that doesn’t erase the fact that your writing has improved by a lot (it has wonderfully btw) but you should also be proud of some of your early works no matter how cringe they seem to be.

How was your day? I hope uni has been going well? As always, I hope you have a good day!!! *sends many virtual hugs*

- ✨ anon

Tags for this ask : sensitive topics; mentions of depression, SH and just me talking about my writing, opinions and life

I- this is first time I’m experiencing an ask based tumblr glitch. I’ve only heard of it from other writers, but experiencing it? This was first for me and I’m sorry that happened to you. I promise I haven’t gotten sick of you and I still look very much forward to your texts . I was wondering where you were after I sent that response out - cause I thought you got tired of me instead 🥹

And omg when I saw you come off anon! 🥹 I was so excited!! Hi!! And ofc you’re one of my online friends as well! One of the first actually 👉🏻👈🏻 like- yeah I used to speak to writers here- but the relationship wasn’t a very consistent one. Like if I’m being point blank about my opinion, It’s not very often that I speak to authors and writers here as idk why but I get the feeling that they see me as a person using them for the sake of reblogging my works and liking them (a few writers being exceptions ofc) - which isn’t the case cause I can get by fine without their help; and I can tell when I’m not wanted even if I can’t see you. So you’re right, a lot of authors don’t interact and they mostly stick to their own circles (again, some of them being exceptions ofc) and me being me, I’ve never done well with crowds; and I’m a loner here - I closed in on myself and didn’t interact with any blog - it kinda helped cause I didn’t have majority opinion of how and what a character should be like or how I should write them shoved in my face. And I focused on interacting with my followers and people who took interest in my work - cause at the end of the day I’m creating content for you guys - who follow me and for myself cause I consider it therapy.

but yay! I finally saw you! ପ(๑•ᴗ•๑)ଓ and ofc I’ll still call you starry!

I’m sorry for closing my chat box; but there was the need to put boundaries for some people ૮ ◞ ﻌ ◟ ა(the amount of spam I got from dating websites and meetups and suggestive messages is crazy and then the ask to sequels came in when I opened it so I had to close it again, and I’m sorry you couldn’t reach me :/ I’m creating a new account so that I can follow some of you back and have fun - a first time thing for me so I’m kinda nervous ૮₍˶Ó﹏Ò ⑅₎ა )

I changed my screensaver again

Sorry I had to do it. It was Rindou and he looked very pretty - and maybe I’ll put gojo back idk- I don’t like indecisiveness but atp it’s just me when I go to get food with friends and screensavers (and pfps)

I’m glad to see someone agree with me abt writing hurt/comfort topics. When I mentioned about sensitive topics what I was talking about stresses on mental health - ranging from mild to severe issues; topics such as depression, and SH thoughts, eating disorders and stuff like that as well how people think about their body image and just very overwhelming emotions in general. Cause these are real issues and speaking from experience, people don’t talk about it cause it’s the case where they have to think twice before saying something to someone or afraid that they would judge them if they opened about it. I’m not a professional but since I’ve experienced this before (and at times still do) I wanted to write about it and since breaking mirrors was so well received - I made a decision to write something deeper and more intense which covers these topics. And what I really like you saying is that these are raw forms of writing which is very true cause the feedback I got for breaking mirrors just proved that people liked my fic and provided them comfort in some way - which means that it was relatable. And that’s what I am aiming for since this is an ‘x reader’ insert.

My Pinterest looks very weird. I’m omw to posting a shirtless man’s pics on my pinned post who idek for the sake of making my blog look good (literally on the cusp of doing it and maybe I will- Sam smith dropped unholy and it’s hoe hoe hoe season too + the fact that we’re gonna slut shame men on this blog) I spend a lot of time on Pinterest cause of pretty people tbh -

I really like your pfp! You got me thinking of changing mine honestly- but Aiku *heartclench* my love - I’m actually in the middle of making one - (*≧ω≦) and I did check out your blog! It’s so chaotic and cute! And I really love the color as well - it’s very soothing (˶‾᷄ ⁻̫ ‾᷅˵)

Gonna tell you now- I had an emperor! Izana that I started months ago, kisaki and Rindou now. Cause I thought of something and it made me go ‘holy hell. That’s- I have to write that down’ and Sanzu’s as well cause I have a lot of art of him saved - his hair is so pretty pink 🥺 but I need time to work on it and I can’t promise it soon cause I have 30+ something wips pending (*T.T)

Everyone’s thirsting for Reo, (me praying at my Oliver shrine hoping that he comes out good and his va is what I imagined so I’m excited for it-) he does give off mature vibes and I’m like 100% sure he’s gonna be a sugar daddy on the market. *wheezing* Nagi share your bf 😭

Istg Izana’s expression - public execution. Time for them to be canceled on Twitter. I love seeing small fanarts like this. And I even found one Mikey art that had me thinking abt changing the theme of my blog

I said what i said. Rin doms his way out of problems- personality of an apple 💀 but they like him. It makes sense

And yeah we should expose issues. So for modeling, honestly it’s not about the body cause I’m pretty average looking like seriously - breaking mirrors was based on my experience; but it’s about the poise, confidence and manners you have as well. (although I have seen some of them be bitches for no reason? Being nice doesn’t cost you anything - being mean is just gonna make karma bite you in the ass) but I think people everywhere are beautiful - body standards shouldn’t determine anyone’s self worth. And I know models look pretty, it’s all about owning the image. Like I have peach fuzz. I don’t shave it instead I ended up cutting my hair short - which exposed it more. Instead of feeling upset about it, I just decided to own the look and be more confident cause this is the way I am and it changed a lot of things for me. In short, Willy Wonka was right about confidence being key -

As for my writing, I’m good at reading people tbh; and the same goes for characters as well - so I draw my own conclusions after dwelling on the thought - and yeah writing is therapeutic. Oh god ik that feeling on when you’re on a break and the feeling of having a jumpscare comes over you (>﹏<) can’t even have good time in peace

Ik it’s a good shirt - hmph. I’m not gonna take an opinion from someone who wears sweatpants and a loose tee. *wheezing* - real men would be sweating if they saw Aiku, Rindou and *proceeds to name 160 husbandos* at my door.

I love the idea for beauty and the beast library 🥺 how I wish I had that - *sigh* and yes! You can learn a lot of things from one convo with a person and if you think about it you literally have a lifetime to know everything about them - cause that one convo is never enough. I totally get the whole thing with a hyperfixation - researched a lot about Egypt when I was younger; and got fixated to a point my mom had to drag me away from the computer- fun fact; Arabic has words similar to Indonesian and Hindi! Leather jackets are so cool and comfy clothes are literally the best thing to sleep in - my ears get cold during the winter or when it sets in- so I wear headphones and walk around places.

Woo young woo is so precious and I love the way they introduce themselves - woo to the young to the woo - 🐋

For anime, I’m contemplating if I should re-watch Vinland saga - the way I cried in the last episode. I. Bawled my eyes out and I still get teary when I think about it 😭; latest updates on snacks, so I bought a lot of sour candy (yea I eat a lot of sour candy)- and my roommates thought it was really sweet. Ended up with headaches over how sour it was and accompanied me to the store, ended up buying sweet things and finished most of the candy and left me the mints ಠ_ಠ

So I mostly read books on history, politics and psychology. To get started I’d recommend going for some autobiography or biography; like geisha of Gion or historical fiction like memoirs of a Geisha - that’s what got me started. I’m glad you liked my comfort fic - a creation that makes me embarrassed cause when I read it the nicknames there are different and these are more solid and I use them for every fic atp. But yeah my fics have come a long way and no matter how cringe they seem, everyone has a starting point in their hobbies and this was one ‘em.

Speaking of Uni, when I had the Mikey and haitani brothers screensaver; remember that guy who made a comment about my weight that I told you about, calling him Danny btw- he said that there was a naked man on my screen.

Okay… and? Do you want the same screensaver I have? Will that make you feel better? So yeah there’s that and Uni had me by the neck cause of this one prof (T.T*) but life’s been going well otherwise! I hope you’re doing well (working on that side account so that I chat with you!) and sorry for the late response (ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡

*sending koala hugs back*

[blookmallow]

oh boy i completely did not realize how fucking far behind on liveblogs i was. oh god im still back at the second trial. ok. lets Go

---

my GOD. well ryoma's really fucking dead

that. sure happened

I DONT FUCKIGN BELIEVE THIS

THEY REALLY JUST CHUCKED KEEBO INTO THE FUCKING PIRANHA TANK

which means absolutely everything in this room is completely soaked in bloody water now. everyone should be covered in ryoma's blood

i have to say "he was getting scolded by kirumi like a misbehaving child" is the funniest answer i never expected to the "where has kokichi been all this time" mystery

how come ryoma gets 2 labs. that seems unfair

i mean not that this lab is. useful for anything much. what is he supposed to be studying/practicing in here. what makes him the Ultimate prisoner. how do you be the best at being a prisoner

i CALLED IT

i figured out. everything in this case except the fucking. zipline situation. and who did it. but i did get the whole "snuck him in through the window and hid him in the tank/he was already dead and dropped in when the piranhas did" thing

but i dont understand how nobody could see it. like. the panel squished all the piranhas into the front so you couldn't see him from the front, but wouldn't anyone looking at it from the side be able to see there was something behind them. wouldn't angie or himiko have seen it. how did nobody notice a body falling in the water. i mean i know ryoma was really small but still

BUT APPARENTLY CHUCKING KEEBO INTO A TANK OF BLOOD AND PIRANHAS WAS FINE

this time instead of doing sick skateboard flips in your head its a. mind taxi through a vaporwave landscape which is. something

i dont remember what the context for this was or why i have it but my GOD look at this boy. hes so cute im gonna lose it

[dorky-thighchi]

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT DAISUGA AND CANON MOMENTS

Let’s appreciate these two for leading the team to the nationals (long post ahead)

1. Their goals and hard work for the team:

They’re always shown together planning for the team. When Asahi stopped playing volleyball, Noya got suspended, former coach Ukai stopped coaching. I felt bad for these two, they went through hard times as their captain and vice captain it’s their obligation to unite and guide the team. During their first year and second year they were used to failure and called flightless crows. Their expectations crumpled but they did not give up. It’s Daichi and Suga’s job to bring back the name of Karasuno to the nationals with the help of coach Ukai and Takeda, finally they made it to nationals, that’s why their former captain was so proud of them because they followed his words. When they didn't have their coach yet, they behaved as Karasuno’s temporary coaches (thank goodness Takeda’s an angel). Daichi was shown coaching the team in the first few episodes and Suga helped Tanaka bond Kageyama and Hinata. Suga questioned Daichi’s plan about the weird duo (Daichi’s a matchmaker) but after what Daichi said he helped the two bond and honed their skills.

In the HQ light novel “Melancholy of the third year student”, Asahi stated “with Sawamura leading the team and Sugawara taking care of the members, what could i possibly do to contribute” he witnessed Daichi and Suga walking together in the hallway; Asahi was impressed because of their dedication to guide the team to the nationals despite they’re in college prep class still they gave their best in guiding the team. Tanaka also acknowledged his senpais hard work that’s why he extremely respects his senpais, he was always there supporting the two. Coach Ukai madly respects Suga because he gave his setter position to Kageyama for the sake of the team and Daichi because he’s the best in motivating the team. 

2. They know each other so well: 

Daichi has this proud mode when he talks about Suga. When he told the team that Suga’s an experienced setter he had this “Yes that’s my amazing setter” face and when Suga did that amazing spike he jumped like a kid. In the HQ light novel “Sugawara’s decision” this happened during the first training camp. Suga was anxious to tell Daichi of his plan to give his setter position to Kageyama. When Suga finally told Ukai about his decision, Daichi and Asahi overheard their conversation and promised to win any match as much as they can. When Suga stated “I think in order to win, the person we need right now is Kageyama” Daichi and Asahi expressed their concern because the three promised to step on the court together (i get so emotional when the 3rd yrs play together). Daichi was worried and he told Suga that they can do something about it. THIS IS ACTUALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE HQ LNs because of what Suga thought after their discussion “He was glad to have sawamura who accepted him the way he is, as his teammate” AND I FUCKIN LOST IT HQ LN SHOULD BE ANIMATED. Daichi supported Suga’s decision for the team, “Daichi was very certain of Suga who had been with him for the past 3 years”, he even stopped Tanaka from interrupting Suga’s monologue telling him to listen. 

Remember when Ukai announced the first lineup for dateko vs karasuno match and the shot was focused to Suga and back to Daichi; you can see Daichi did this weird eye thing glancing at Suga. Daichi’s proud moments of Suga were “I think you’ve revived too Suga” and “I’m glad you still want to fight” when he told Daichi “I do wish my tosses could’ve played a part in the victory”. When Asahi and Noya stopped coming to the team, the only members left were Suga, Daichi and the 2nd years. Suga also took the blame and Daichi was there for him. He was shown secretly listening to Yamaguchi and Suga’s conversation about the mop (and comforted him that he shouldn't blame himself. I’m kinda disappointed they didn't include this in the anime). These panels show their trust and respect for each other.

He cant even dare to hurt Suga (but lets Suga punch him anytime) and he knows when Suga goes to overthinking mode. Also Suga knows Daichi so well i think i’m gonna cry. Scolding Daichi when he was not vocal during the game; Suga’s known for being the only one who can lecture Daichi. When Daichi told Suga and Asahi that it’s better to hand over the team to the 2nd yrs, Suga knew Daichi didn't mean that; Daichi felt hopeless because they lost again. He knew Daichi wanted to stay and play volleyball and step on the orange court. 

He’s also used to Daichi’s stern mode. Daichi was also shown being the one who can keep Suga in control like “Suga please calm down”. Their relationship isn’t fully conveyed in the anime but i’m thankful that creators created drama cds, light novels, extras, spin-offs and haikyuu stage play to let us know more about the characters.

 3. The team parents: 

They always discuss about their team members like Suga asking Daichi about Kageyama and Hinata (kagehina bond ep) and Tsukishima. In the haikyuu drama cds “what if karasuno’s manager isn’t shimizu kiyoko” and “the reason behind the t-shirts” they were worried about entrusting the manager’s job to Tanaka, Noya and Hinata. When the team was hungry because Kiyoko wasn’t there, Suga told Daichi to take action so he assigned the weird duo to buy foods for the team and they were the ones who planned for the names of the shirts with the help of Noya, Kiyoko was pissed at the two because they were busy thinking of their own shirts. In the haikyuu light novel “the last summer vacation” (Sources: 1|2) Suga watched the team with worry on his face because it was so hot so he approached Daichi and expressed his concern that the team will get sick from the heat. Coach Ukai overheard the discussion and called a meeting. They’re usually seen together in every scene in the anime, stage play, haikyuu light novel, extras, manga, spin-offs and drama cds, scolding Tanaka, Noya, Hinata, Kageyama and Tsukishima; discussing volleyball stuffs; and buying pork buns for the team. In the lets haikyuu and extras (hq spin-off) it’s actually semi-canon they’re karasuno’s team parents. They also have this karasuno christmas bonding tradition.

It was also STATED BY THE DIRECTOR IN THE HQ MAGAZINE AND THE VOICE ACTORS THAT DAICHI AND SUGA ARE THE TEAM PARENTS AND TANAKA’S THE BIG BROTHER (here are the links: 1| 2|3) 

IT’S CANON!!!!!! IT’S DAMN RIGHT CANON!!!!!TEAM PARENTS DAISUGA IS CANON!!!!!!

 4. Teasing, bickering and just them being dorks: 

Suga teasing daichi is my jam. In the HQ LN “Yachi’s delivery mission” (Sources 1|2), this conversation frickin made me squeal like a mouse with laryngitis. After practice the team was thirsty and wanted something cold to eat. “It’s indeed hot, lets get ice pops before we head home” daichi stated then frickin SLY/LIL SHIT SUGA JUST CASUALLY SAID THIS REMARK “Oh that’s not a bad idea, are you going to treat us Daichi-san” HE FRICKIN ADDED -SAN. So the team didn't let the opportunity go away they screamed with joy and thanked Daichi. After what happened Daichi just glared at Suga who was smiling at him. Daichi’s a softie when Suga’s involved. Suga got Daichi to buy ice cream for the team.  I REPEAT HQ LN SHOULD BE ANIMATED. 

Daichi knows when Suga’s about to do something stupid and his antics. They argued about this. When Suga was mad at Daichi because he was implying that the last year shrine visit was nothing; he was so pissed he started fuming at daichi. Suga also told Daichi that steak just being steak is better over diced steak.  Hyped suga and daichi trying to calm him down is the cutest shit. In the HQ LN “Tokyo Expedition: Captains’ Meeting”(Sources: 1|2), Daichi warned Suga about Kuroo because he knows how to read minds and loves mind games and Suga was like ‘you need to chill Daichi’. When it was Suga’s turn to pick a card from Daichi’s deck he picked the joker and twitched his brows, Daichi whispered at Suga telling him whenever he drew the joker his brows twitch so Suga massaged his brows. I REPEAT AGAIN THIS SHOULD BE ANIMATED. The other captains and vice captains are competing against each other but look at these frickin idiots they are helping each other. DAICHI OBSERVING SUGA THEN WARNED HIM ABOUT HIS TENDENCY OF TWITCHING HIS EYEBROWS. IM GONNA FRICKIN DO A BACKFLIP. Also Daichi and Suga love to make fun of asahi but when you frickin hurt asahi these two will frickin punch you in the face. Frickin daisugasting dorks.

 5. They are always together and in sync:

In the manga, anime, extras, stage play, light novel, drama cds and official art/merchandise they’re usually frickin together and always in sync, same reactions and thoughts. Remember when Daichi looked at Suga (S1 ep24) like he was asking for approval then Suga nodded. That was so cute ugh.

Extras: 

Suga is 6 months older than Daichi. June 13 and December 31. Their birth dates makes me go WAIT WHAT. 

Suga and Daichi’s name meanings are compatible.

During the christmas bonding time, Suga received daichi’s gift, a daruma. Daichi bought it as a gift because it weighs like a volleyball (he’s such a volleyball nerd) and he told Suga that they should draw the eye together. (Source link)

Suga thought that Daichi was jealous of his t-shirt because the phrase on his shirt was cooler than his. (Source link)

Suga’s first synchronize attack was a success and he tossed it to Daichi. Coach Ukai assigned these two along with Tanaka to learn synchronize attack.(Remember when Daichi told Suga he borrowed coach ukai’s tablet so they can watch the videos together)

The way they look at each other like there’s nothing else to look at. 

What I truly love about these two is their relationship and trust for each other.They complement each other, which makes them a good combination. They went through obstacles and look THEY MADE IT TO THE NATIONALS, kiyoko witnessed their progress and asahi thanked suga and daichi because they welcomed him again in the team, remember when asahi was not sure if they’d accept him to the team but daichi and suga were just laughing and made fun of him. 

Their vice captain and captain interaction isn't fully expressed in the anime and i hope that everyone will appreciate them more! They made it to nationals! And them being proud of Hinata and Kageyama in the hq time skip is one of the best treasures Furudate sensei gave to us. 

Lets talk about these two. Daisugasting volleyball idiots. 

I rest my case.

[junosartsthetic]

Rohan Headcanons

Here’s eight pages of Rohan shit I wrote late at night. I should stop doing that. But alas, I won’t.

Okey

HeS a lil shit

That’s canon

But

He’s also kinda 🥺🥺

Heavens door also is 🥺🥺

if Rohan isn’t in the mood to give affection heavens door will gladly hug you for hOUrs

like

It’ll just nestle up against your chest and sorta,,,, fall asleep almost?

N ur like Rohan it’s asleep on my tits

N he’s like,,,, god I wish that were me…. I mean,,,, uhh,,, fuckin sucks 4 you guess you’ll just suffer

he likes drawing you

lol sketches on napkins n such

He just likes lookin at ur face

🥺🥺🥺🥺

He also has a pen somewhere lost in his hair

He keeps it there just in case his other ones get lost

Somehow

Even tho he’s got so fuCKin many

Also he lovEs learning things!

He’ll pick up a book about anything and read it just because

He’ll try to impress u with weird n random facts

Most of the time it doesn’t work

he likes when you mess with his hair

On the outside he’s like

DOnt fuckin touCh me but on the inside he’s like,,,, oooo head scritches r niceeeee

He believes he has an exceptional sense of style and doesn’t take criticism

He wears silk pajamas

But only sometimes

99% of the time he sleeps in his clothes because he passes out from exhaustion mid-drawing

Rohan also likes writing

Just lil things

Poems n such

He’s rather sentimental about certain things

He likes to go to libraries even though he’s got a bunch of books at home because he believes it allows him to better absorb the information he needs

He hates off brand things

It’s a maJor pet peeve

“What the hell is this?”

“What do you mean? They’re pop tarts?”

“THESE ARE NATURALLY FLAVORED FROSTED BROWN SUGAR CINNAMON TOASTER PASTRIES GREAT VALUE BRAND™️!”

“Yeah, pop tarts.”

“JAHDHWHXUWUDUWHDGWG”

He likes to wear slippers

Bunny slippers

They’re cute

He got heavens door a lil pair of them

Gotta match, ya know?

He picks at his eyelashes when he’s nervous

You gotta tell him to stop or else he’s gonna have to wear falsies

That makes him quit for a little while at least

He once accidentally stabbed himself with a pen but refused to go to Josuke for help

He’s still got a scar from it

his house has a basement but he’s never gone down to it

Too scary

He just says he has no use for it

Lies!

He’s a scaredy-cat

He can play quite a few instruments

He can also sing

He sings in the shower

It’s not half bad but his song choices tend to be awful

“STOP FUCKING SINGING ‘I KISSED A GIRL’ IN THE SHOWER OVER AND OVER! ITS SEVEN IN THE MORNING AND IM SICK OF IT!”

He’s got an embarrassing tattoo somewhere

Probably something stupid like a butterfly on his calf

He pretends it doesn’t exist

He used to read random people’s memories with heavens door when bored or uninspired but after a mortifying memory he read he stopped doing that

He once had a coo-coo clock but smashed it because it was getting on his nerves

he hates the sound of gum chewing

It’s the worst™️ to him

he sometimes forgets to shower

Nasty

But when he does shower it is extra™️

He takes reaaaaally long showers

And sings, as established

what the fuck does he even do in there?

Idfk

It’s a secret

He orders takeout because he can’t fucking cook

He’s trash at it

He tries

But he just can’t do it

he tends to make faces when he draws

It’s hilarious

He once drank 17 five hour energies to see what would happen

He doesn’t remember what happened

He awoke 2 days later in the hospital

he enjoys playing scrabble but only because everyone who plays against him ends up crying in anger when they lose

He owns a bunch of record players for the aesthetic™️

Doesn’t use them like ever

Owns like 3 records that he will play once in a blue moon

Everything he does is for the aesthetic™️ tbh

He likes to be held

But only under certain circumstances 

Do nOT touch when he is in the middle of drawing something intense

He will turn around and sMAck you with his pen (on purpose or accident? Idk)

He’s clingy

He’s needy

He’s whiny

He’s like a puppy

But with the ego of a cat

He’ll be actively spooning you but assures you he is nOt having the time of his life

Eventually he admits he likes hugs n human contact

But at first it’s like trying to give a cat a bath

Yikes™️

Speaking of baths… bath time!

He likes baths

They’re nice

Bubble baths

They help him think 

And he likes to mess with the bubbles

He likes the smell of candles too

You normally buy him candles in special occasions 

He loves them

Most of the time

Occasionally he will despise the scent but keep the candle around anyway because he feels bad throwing away a gift

Well, a gift from his s/o

Anyone else he’ll tOss that sucker into the trash

The gift— not the gift giver

Maybe

If it’s Josuke— he’s in the dumpster 

Uhhhh

Slightly nsfw but uhh,,,

Boob stress balls?

Nice

It’s a win-win situation tbh

soft, moldable, attached to someone he loves

Amazing

You’ve gotten used to it tbh

Whatever calms him down

Also he likes when you kiss his forehead before going to bed

He’ll be staying up to finish something and you’ll kiss him good night and leave your chapstick on his forehead and he just—

Makes him feel loved

He won’t admit it though

you usually initiate the affection

Sometimes he’ll hold your hand or something in public

In private he’ll be more outgoing but deny it means anything

“What, no I didn’t mean to touch your ass it was an accident”

“You’re still touching my ass”

“It’s still an accident”

you two also get in realllly stupid arguments 

“Did you open this door?”

“What?”

“Did you open it?”

“Why would I open the basement door?”

“Did you?”

“No!”

“Liar!”

“Why would I lie about that?”

he’s a blanket hog

Also loves his pillows

He wears a lil sleep mask to bed

It’s cute

he unironically has a hydro flask

It keeps his water cold

He finds the jingling of the ice in it annoying though

I think he wouldn’t enjoy digital art because he can’t feel the paper and the ink and it’s not as personal

he likes eating ramen

Even though it’s terrible for him

If you look closely there are little stains on his papers

It’s ramen broth

But it’s convenient and he can’t cook for shit so it’s what he eats

He acts all refined but he’s not if you look closely

He’s got a reallly messy closet I bet

He tries to keep organized but it’s difficult!

He likes drawing birds

Idk why

Birb

He’s got a framed picture of you on his desk

He looks at it when he’s feeling stressed

It usually calms him down and gets him ready to work

you’ve nude modeled for him a couple times

Half the time he’s not even sketching

You don’t care though

Seeing his suave facade and expression be replaced with red cheeks and stifling coughs is cute

By the end you just give him a kiss and then it leads to—

The nsfw is for later

anyway

He’s tried to get you to draw

But anything you draw he criticizes so harshly that you’ve sworn off showing him your drawings 

You know he’s doing it to help you

But it still hurts

you’ll sometimes help shading things in his manga

It’s the only thing he trusts you to do

But only on minor panels

And in small patches

But you still get credit as a background artist so you’re happy

You paint his nails a lot

He doesn’t mind

his favorite color is a dark green like his hair, though he also enjoys gold to match his stand

[northcarolinanative]

𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 (𝟻)

Chapter 5: The Bigger Picture

A/N: WOW! Y’all are so sweet and amazing <3 Here is Chapter 5. Tension is building, kinda. This is so s l o w burn that it’s hurting me. I kinda want this to be about more than just a romance tho? Especially in the beginning, but I am working on the other chapters, and where it is heading, I promise! Bare with me haha! Also I have no clue if those maps exist or if that’s even a thing. I’m just making it up, but it could be right haha. 

I practically dragged JJ through the front door of the Chateau. “What’s all this about Y/N” JJ finally asked as you both walked through the kitchen. I pulled my keys out of my pocket, fiddling on the keyring, finding the small golden key. I held it up to JJ, rattling the other keys, a smile plastered to my face. “A key? How exactly is that supposed to help us Y/N?” I rolled my eyes in response. I turned to the door, just on the side of the living room. 

My dad’s office. 

As long as I could remember, I was never allowed in there for extended periods of time. I would wander in some late nights when he left the door cracked, or to bring him a glass of water and a snack. I could see him now thinking back, hunched over the desk, glasses low on his nose, pen in one hand, the other holding the map that he was marking up. 

“Ah. Y/N. Taking care of your old man, making sure I stay alive I see” and he would chuckle, but I didn’t. I left, and days later her disappeared, he was killed all because of that stupid shipwreck, just like my brother. 

I rummaged through a few things, pulling binders down and looking through the first few pages. JJ looked over at me, honestly worried. I mean if I was watching someone else in my position I probably would be too. I know I probably looked crazy, I was grasping at short, short straws. It was all because I was not ready to give up on my brother just yet. I found the binder labeled “Ship maps”. I pulled it out and handed it to JJ. Okay, maybe this was a little far-fetched, but it was something. 

JJ took it carefully out of my hand. He hesitantly looked at me before looking down at the map, slowly unfolding it. I started to tap my fingers against the table. My nerves were on edge as JJ looked between the map he was unfolding and me. His hand reached down to cover mine that was tapping at an annoyingly fast pace. I bit my lip as he looked over the map. 

He furrowed his brows and looked up at me. “What am I looking at exactly?” He questioned. I laid the map out on the table. I couldn’t blame him, if my dad had not been into this stuff I wouldn’t know what was happening either. 

“Okay so here,” I pointed to one of the lines that were on the page, and traced it down the coast of North Carolina, to where it landed in a port in Charleston, “is the route that the ship was recorded to talk, based off of the sonar and the GPS in it. Ya know, the kinda thing that the bigger, hauling, cargo ships have? For the long trips?” I finished looking for the key. 

JJ slowly nodded his head looking at me. He could tell I might be on to something, he just was not quite sure yet. I flipped up the side of the map, just the first panel, and it showed an elaborate excel table, filled with numbers and symbols. “Here” I pointed to one of the highlighted symbols along the path that I previously traced, “Is…” I took my other hand to skim the table to the side, trying to find the matching color and symbol. “Ah. Here.” I tapped the symbol in the table, JJ leaned closer to me making my breath hitch involuntarily, we were so close, we were touching, practically no space between us. “See here it says that this ship reached 35.1146° N, 75.9810° W, on Saturday, May 14th, 2007, at…” I followed the line with my finger, 16:45” I finished my rant. 

“Okay.” JJ breathed out, his brows still knitted close together. I could see the worry in his eyes. At this moment I could not see it, but he thought I might have been going crazy, things are starting to get to me.”Y/N, this is great, but I don’t know what this has to do with John B.” He sighed. “But I'm not gonna lie, a girl who knows her way around the ocean, the commanding voyage out to sea, boss babe style, kinda hot Y/N” JJ joked, trying to lighten the mood and his worry, then he realized how close we were, but he didn’t move. 

I let out a laugh. It felt natural, which was nice. “I'm being serious JJ,” I said, still laughing and pushing his shoulder back. 

“Whatever you say,” He paused. “Princess.” I rolled my eyes looking back over the map. “What does all this mean though? How is this map, from before we knew what the Merchant was, going to help us find John B?” 

“Ah, you have to think bigger JJ. You see if we can get the coordinates of the Phantom’s last signals, where it was found, or where it could have been between last night and when they pulled it up, we can cross-reference that, with any boats that may have come through. If we can somehow get a map from any of those larger companies, maybe the ferries, hell we might even be able to get it off the internet. We can see if any boats came around then start from there?” I said, but it sounded like a question. “I know that it’s barely anything, but it’s something JJ!’ I continued rambling. “If the ships picked up JB and Sarah, pulled them on board, then  maybe…” I didn’t know how to finish the thought. I looked up from the scattered maps to JJ. 

JJ stared blankly at the maps then up at me. He both put his hand on the sides of my face and just looked at me. He probably thought I was crazy, that I was losing my mind. “You’re a genius Y/N” He then placed a quick dramatic kiss on the top of my forehead. “Seriously, I never would have even thought to look into any of that.” He stepped back. I was slightly taken about by his actions had we always been this touchy with one another when John B was around. “So where the hell do we start Nancy Drew?” JJ said, rubbing his hands together making me laugh. 

“The ferry would be a good place?” I said shrugging my shoulders. “But I haven't exactly thought that far ahead” I laughed a little, and saw a smile still on JJ’s face.

“Then we’ll start at the ferry’s office!”  JJ said moving out of the office. I looked up and around the room. At all the research that my father did. All the books that line the walls, the maps hung up, all of it. I wanted to get rid of it. My skin felt hot and I could feel it turning red. I gripped the table tightly, hoping the anger would pass. A picture frame on the wall caught my attention. I lifted it from the hook it was sitting on. In the frame was a picture of the Royal Merchant, labeled and matted. Stuck on the outside of the glass, covering the lower corner of the Merchant was a picture of the three of us, John B, my dad, and I. It was taken a few summers ago by our neighbor, we had come back from a long day out on the boat fishing. I felt tears start to form in my eyes. My back was facing the door so I didn’t see JJ enter the room. He came up behind me, putting his hands on either of my shoulders. He looked down at the photos in my hands. 

I reached one hand up to wipe a stray tear. I was so sick of crying. “I can’t believe that a shipwreck from the 1800s made me lose two of the most important people in my life.” 

“I know” JJ spun me around to look at him. “You have a plan,” He said smiling

“We’ve got a plan” I corrected him. “Actually, before we head out on this chase, do you think you could help me with something?” I said softly. 

“Anything,” JJ replied. The worried look still in his eyes.  

“Can you help me clean up here?” I looked around at the mess, from when I got here, and the mess that I had just made. “I don’t know, I just want to clean it up, lock the door, and not think about it for a while,” I said, starting to fold-up maps. 

“Of course.” JJ smiled starting to close up binders and arrange them on the shelf. “If  you were going to use me as a maid Routledge, you could have at least bought me one of those cute costumes?” 

I pretended to gag. “JJ that is an image that I did not need in my head.” 

“You may not have needed it, but I bet you’re enjoying it.” He winked in my direction. I felt the blush creeping back onto my face. 

“In your dreams J,” I said with a laugh. 

CH 6

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[earthbinder-a]

i’m gonna yell about the thrall panel under the cut because i NEED to get this out of my system in a constructive way. im tagging it for spoilers but i’m not deleting it with the rest of my blizzcon blogging bc i feel that it’s important.

so it was terrible. christie golden and two dudes i dont even know the names of just ... butchered thrall for an hour. bragging about how proud they were to have been on this journey with him for 14+ years only to give the saddest synopsis of thrall and his story i’ve ever seen.

first of all, they severely butchered the relationship between thrall and garrosh. they claimed garrosh was thrall’s closest friend - FALSE. i can’t even BEGIN to tell you how wrong that is. it’s a disrespect to thrall AND the people who are actually deserving of that title. i maintain that thrall’s closest friend was jaina, followed very closely by vol’jin. jaina worked with him for years to maintain peace between factions and they were incredibly close, not only as political allies but as friends. whether you ship thraina or not you can’t look me in my angry little eyeballs and tell me that they did not care DEEPLY for one another, and even after everything they’ve been through as of shadowlands, they STILL. CARE. ABOUT. EACH OTHER. they even said in the panel, verbatim, that thrall and jaina’s fates are intertwined! you’re just gonna gloss over that? seriously? they COMPLETELY glossed over theramore and the ensuing fallout with thrall and jaina, to boot. they had the nerve to call jaina an ‘echo of taretha’ as well even though thrall has canonically stated that even though jaina VERY BRIEFLY reminded him of tari, he soon realized they were VERY different people. it just feels so disrespectful to them both, to ignore their importance and significance to each other like this.

the same goes for vol’jin. and i don’t think it was very slick to almost deliberately ignore jaina for most of the panel and SHOW THE CINEMATC WHERE VOL’JIN FUCKING DIES AND NOT EVEN BOTHER TO SAY HIS NAME. garrosh was not even close to being that important to thrall and the fact that they tried to sell it this way makes me sick.

secondly, the casual laughing about aggra deadnaming thrall and refusing to call him HIS NAME. like it was a Funny Quirk of hers or something. like it was cute that she told him his name was dirty and refused to call him anything other than the name that his dead parents gave him that he Didn’t Want To Be Called. and then to act like she’s the perfect wife ... and immediately after, make a joke about thraina! because that’s so absurd, right? no chemistry or anything, right? i’ve rambled about this a bunch and you all know the deal, but this made me obscenely angry. 

thirdly, the fact that they talked about garrosh as much as they did. i didn’t tune into this to listen to them cry about poor garrosh! this panel was supposed to be about the evolution of THRALL! and it wasn’t even like they were talking about garrosh in a way that was objectively good; all they did was woobify him. they literally compared him to a SCARED CHILD during his mak’gora with thrall. he wasn’t a fucking child. he was a grown adult man older than thrall by ten years, give or take, who had committed SEVERAL WAR CRIMES and evaded the factions’ attempt to give him a fair trial. he was not a child. 

i just ... feel pretty defeated about this. i knew it was gonna be shaky, but i didnt think it would be THIS bad. i’ve cried about it, i’m getting over it, but i’m just really bummed out that they gave us this abomination as if it does thrall any justice at all.

[chibistarlyte]

kiribaku prompt-- bkg finds and smuggles a cat (or kittens?) into the dorms one evening during a thunderstorm and panics when he realizes what he's done and goes to kiri trying to figure out what he's gonna do now that he's done it (aizawa eventually finds out but can't bring himself to punish bkg for it bc he would have--probably HAS--done the exact same thing)

*rubs hands together* OKAY FAM LET’S TRY WRITING SOME KIRIBAKU HMMMM YES

i’m praying it’s not terrible ahahahaha....

.

BANG BANG BANG BANG.

The sudden pounding on his door startled Kirishima enough that he fell off his bed with a yelp.

“Oi, Shitty Hair, open up!”

Rubbing his head where it’d hit the floor, Kirishima scrambled to his feet to get to the door. Bakugou sounded a little frantic on the other side, if he wasn’t mistaken. And that never bode well--Bakugou rarely ever sounded anything other than angry or at least mildly irritated.

Kirishima opened the door to see a sopping wet blond holding an equally soaked bundle in his arms. It seemed to be Bakugou’s jacket.

“Dude, what--” the redhead started before he was nearly bowled over by his boyfriend. Said boy practically ran over to the bed, but crouched down on the floor next to it rather than sitting atop it.

“Close the door!” Bakugou ordered in a hiss. A confused Kirishima complied.

“What has got you in such a tizzy, dude?” Kirishima asked, crossing the room and approaching the explody boy. He knelt down next to Bakugou, tilting his head. “This...isn’t like you.”

“Shut up, just...just help me with this!” Bakugou growled, holding out the bundle.

“...What is it?” Kirishima asked, reaching his hands out.

“Meow...”

Kirishima froze, red eyes glancing quickly between the bundle and Bakugou.

And Bakugou had the audacity to pout.

“You brought a cat into the dorms?!” Kirishima exclaimed, moving several panels of wet fabric to reveal a drenched feline with black and white fur. The cat stared up at him with wide olive green eyes.

A blush lit up Bakugou’s cheeks and he scowled. “It was out in the rain! What the hell else was I supposed to do, leave it?!”

Kirishima frowned, not having a good answer for that. Had he been in the same position, he probably would have rescued the cat too.

Because that’s what a hero would do, right?

Sighing, Kirishima scratched at his forehead underneath his thick white headband. “Let me at least get a towel...both of you need to dry off.” He offered Bakugou a small smile before crawling to his storage tubs to look for one of his spare gym towels.

The cat meowed again and squirmed in Bakugou’s grip. Growling, Bakugou released the cat from the confines of his jacket and set the animal on the floor. It shook its fur out, spraying water droplets everywhere.

“Hey, watch it you dumb fucking thing!” Bakugou yelled at the cat. The cat just stared at him before starting to lick its paw.

Kirishima threw a red towel at Bakugou’s face, smirking as his boyfriend spluttered. “Here, use this one. I’ll try to dry the cat,” he said, holding up a black towel for said purpose. He scooted closer to the bathing feline and tried to pick it up, but the cat only squirmed and immediately slipped out of his grip. “Kitty...why have you forsaken me?” he sighed, trying again and failing to grab the elusive creature.

Having dried himself off, Bakugou snatched the towel from Kirishima’s hands and dove right for the cat. “I’ll get it, hair for brains,” he said with an eyeroll. But just like with Kirishima, the cat slid from Bakugou’s grasp and trotted further away from the two boys. It sat down and started licking its side, stopping to stare at them for a few moments before continuing its grooming.

“Dumb fucking thing,” Bakugou said. “I saved you! You should at least respect me!”

The cat stopped bathing, stared at Bakugou with those green eyes, then turned away from him and continued licking its wet fur clean.

Kirishima busted up laughing, clutching his stomach. “Ohhh man, he dissed you hard!”

Growling, Bakugou balled up the black towel and threw it at his boyfriend’s face. Vengeance from earlier.

“Asshole!” Kirishima accused, though the bright smile and laughter still present in his voice made it clear that it was more of an affectionate nickname than an insult. He tossed the towel back at Bakugou, who dodged effortlessly this time.

“Try again, dick face,” the blond said with a smirk. He might have even stuck his tongue out a little. Maybe.

Kirishima was about to leap at Bakugou and tackle him to the floor, but the cat’s meowing interrupted the action before it could occur. Both boys glanced over--the cat was sitting at the door, pawing at it, wanting to be let out.

“No, kitty, you can’t leave the room!” Kirishima said, crawling over to the cat and picking it up. This time, at least, the cat sat comfortably in his arms without wriggling for freedom. “I do think we should get it some food, though...maybe some water?” The redhead looked to Bakugou, unsure.

“I don’t even know if we have anything for it to eat. And I don’t have a litter box or anything...” Bakugou trailed off, then scoffed. “Goddammit, I really didn’t think this through.”

Kirishima offered a small smile. “Not thinking things through usually works for me...maybe this time it’ll work for you, too?”

“Shut up,” Bakugou said without any real venom.

The cat, still in Kirishima’s arms, nuzzled into the crook of his elbow and started purring. The redhead’s whole face lit up with a smile. “Aww, kitty likes me.”

Bakugou pursed his lips. Of course the cat would latch onto Kirishima. He was the most positive person Bakugou had ever met. He exuded charisma and good vibes. And animals were usually good judges of character.

The sight of Kirishima cooing and lightly scratching the cat’s head was so undeniably cute that it made Bakugou want to puke. Almost.

“Oi, shitty hair, let’s at least get ‘im some water.”

Nodding, Kirishima stood up and carried the cat to his bed. He set it down on the camo comforter and shook his finger at it. “You stay here like a good boy, alright?”

“The cat’s not gonna understand you, idiot,” Bakugou said as he stood up. He dragged Kirishima to the door, taking one last look at the cat to make sure it was still on the bed before they slipped out of the room.

It didn’t take them long to retrieve a small serving bowl and fill it with water. Kirishima wanted to find something for their feline friend to eat, but there wasn’t much in the kitchen that they could reasonably feed to a cat. So they forewent the food for now and just settled on the water.

When they got back upstairs, Bakugou held the water while Kirishima unlocked his door. The redhead cracked it open just enough to peek inside. At first glance, he couldn’t see the cat.

“Maybe he’s hiding...” he said as he pushed the door open just a bit more.

“Close the door!” Bakugou suddenly yelled from behind him, but it was too late. A black and white blur sneaked past their feet and ran down the hall.

“Shit!” Kirishima yelled, giving chase. Bakugou abandoned the water dish on the floor and gave chase as well. They couldn’t afford for anyone to see the cat, or else they’d be in huge trouble.

“Stupid fucker,” Bakugou muttered under his breath, rounding the corner and dashing down the stairs after the cat. Kirishima wasn’t far behind, propping himself up on the railing to slide down a little faster.

The cat led them all the way down to the ground floor, into the common room where both boys stopped dead in their tracks.

Aizawa was standing behind the large couch, arms crossed and bloodshot eyes staring blankly at the two. Shouji stood next to their teacher, two ears pointed at Bakugou and Kirishima.

“Uh, hi Aizawa-sensei!” Kirishima greeted nervously, giving a small wave. Next to him, Bakugou grunted in greeting.

“Kirishima. Bakugou,” Aizawa said in his gravelly voice. “I’ve been informed that you’re hiding a cat in your dorms?”

“Uh...”

As if on cue, the black and white fluff ball jumped up on the back of the couch and looked up at Aizawa, meowing at him.

“We’re sorry, sensei!” Kirishima immediately blurted out. “You see, Bakugou found the cat outside in the rain and didn’t want it to get sick or hurt, so he brought it in here to keep it safe, and--”

Aizawa held up a hand to silence the redhead’s apology and explanation. “Whatever, I don’t need you to tell me the hows or whys.” And then, Aizawa’s expression turned just a tad softer and he reached out to pet the cat. “Shouji actually came to ask if you two could keep the cat.”

Both Kirishima and Bakugou’s eyes widened, then Bakugou glared at Shouji without any real heat. “How’d you even know we had the cat?”

Shouji wiggled one of his ears. “Kirishima’s room is right next to mine. I could hear you guys yelling about it through the wall.”

Kirishima laughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Bakugou scowled, though a blush dusted his cheeks.

“If you can get the proper supplies and choose a room to let him stay in, you can keep the cat,” Aizawa said, still petting the cat. He eyed Bakugou. “That was a very heroic thing you did, Bakugou. I commend you for taking this cat in when he could have been in danger.”

Bakugou grunted, his blush deepening.

Kirishima latched onto Bakugou, giving him a giant hug. “Woo, we get to keep him! Thank you, Aizawa-sensei!”

Aizawa waved his hand at his students. “Just make sure he stays out of trouble, and make sure you take care of him properly.”

.

Later that evening, after they’d gone out to get a small bag of cat food from the convenience store and set up a temporary cat box for him to use, Kirishima and Bakugou sat on Kirishima’s bed. The cat was curled up on Bakugou’s lap.

“What should we name him?” Kirishima asked, leaning his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

Bakugou stared down at the black and white fluff asleep on his lap, thinking of a name.

“Mischief. We’ll name him Mischief.”

[cleaduvalls]

i watched “spy kids” 4 times in 1 week and here are my thoughts

carmen your nightgown is like 200 years old, get a new one

you clearly know this story by heart, you’re saying parts of it. why are you questioning what “take him out” means

a double wig should be more obvious than that

we can see that that’s a glass elevator. people can see you changing, ingrid

nice hat

why did you kill the swan

is that paul rudd???????

how are jets ripping pages out of a book

heart shaped parachutes shouldn’t be working that well

why is there a guitar on your bed. how do you sleep

i think the kids would have seen the track in the floor at SOME point

why is there a jungle gym in their house. i know they’re spies but who has a jungle gym.... in their HOUSE

carmen you’re a frog

i think juni just legitimately try to kill carmen

why are both parents going to school. is that like, a Thing????

juni how do you do that

who puts a video screen in the front seat

hey look its floop. love that guy

they’re not picking on you for the bandages, it’s cuz you brought the toys OUTSIDE your backpack. always put them inside. trust me

did his mirror just.... zoom in?????

h*ck yeah beat him up greg

do all the other kids hate him too??????

dang that hurt

“chief” that’s so white

stupid kid. his dads a spy

that floop doll isn’t even close to accurate

hey look its floop again. love that dude

Big Willy Wonka Energy

oooh skipping numbers i see. love that

why do the subtitles have “mr. floop” as his name. its just floop, yall

“sometimes in order to think big you have to think small” pretty inspirational tbh

oh hes fidgeting!!!!!! love that

woah what are you doing this is rated pg ingrid

i wish my uncles would tell me im shrinking. they just make small talk abt school 😔

this gradenko lady looks like jan from the office

hey its floop again!!!!! love that dude

yes juni. its a fire drill in your own home

these dudes have a jungle gym AND a pool. what the h*ck

why did you pull off your mustache to prove you’re not related. if anything that makes you more related. greg does that too

why did he put the mustache back ON

where did those boats come from

carmen says manual weird. man-yull

right, cuz adrenaline causes warts

“don’t touch anything” *immediately touches everything*

basic boat ettiquette: don’t shit in the boat. those toilets can’t handle anything

is that globe..... punched in???????

floop!!!!!!! love that dude

feet on the desk????? i dunno seems pretty gay

since when did carmen get keys to that

i might be wrong but i dont think thats every country

what does pressure have to do with positioning a laser

this floor is the best mechanic in the whole movie. reminds me of a richie rich comic i had as a kids

why did they not run into the wall. i wanted to see that

is the slide there when floop films his show????

HEY ITS FLOOP!!!! love that dude

theres a bunch of normal food like.... sour worms. why did they pick the slime from charlie and the chocolate factory when johnny depp finds the oompa loompas

thats a sick coat. best one in the movie

that was a good snap. nice acoustics

God what a power move. something thanos would say

listen floop i love you but thats not how you say research

fELIX NO

and hes gone. cool

did she kick the camera?????

haha author unknown. cuz hes a spy

why did you take that one specifically????? plot convenience????

he can still be a spy, just not a good one. learn to read

is that supposed to be a question?????

FUN FACT if you listen closely when carmen says “like felix said” you can hear a weird cut in “said”, almost like its a new clip

theres no keyhole

i think juni can read. why are you spelling it

did you have the floop toys in your pocket????

OKAY THIS SCENE WHERE THEY PLAY IT BACKWARDS?????? THAT MESSED ME UP AS A KID 

what do those things do?????

i can feel the pain from the fan blades

how did that break the chain????

why would you annouce that. they can hear you. just because they’re thumbs doesn’t mean they’re deaf

that’s a thing, not a place

FLOOP!!!!! ON A BILLBOARD!!!! love that dude

how are you slipping. shes holding YOU

YOU DROPPED HIM GENIUS

how do people not notice the jetpack dudes

DOES NO ONE CARE THAT CLOTHES WERE STOLEN

that’s a cute coat

why is the lady cool with carmen just... doing that

HEY I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!!! AND THAT DUDE!!!!!

ofc you can’t think “straight enough” you’re gay

why is mexico sepia tone

when do you think juni had time to change and learn a new language

IF IT HURTS TO HIT HIM, S T O P

i wanna be on that merry-go-round

HOW DO YOU K N O W THAT HIS CODE NAME. WHY “MUST” IT BE HOMBRE

i love how junis just like “we already got a fake uncle”

LOOK AT HOW FLOOP IS SITTING!!!!!!!! THATS GAY!!!!!!! HE IS A HOMOSEXUAL!!!!!!!!

ALSO MORE FLOOP!!!! say it with me, LOVE THAT DUDE!!!!!!!!!!

minion looks like barry from friends

wait i lied this coat is better

we DO have uncles like that!!!!!

if your inventions are so good why is your font so BORING

hey wait carmen said that. hmmmmmmmm 🤔🤔🤔

glowsticks dont help you see like at all

the map looks like gallifreyan but its not. spy kids is older than the doctor who reboot

they go ZOOM

THATS NOT HOW YOU SAY MANUAL!!!!!!!

great job carmen YOU wrecked the plane

WHATS A REGULATOR

oh its just a breathing thing

haha pee joke. funney

where are the brains coming from???? that factory is Not Correct

if i were juni i would look back over all the floop’s fooglies tapes and see what the agents were saying backwards. once the mission was done, ofc

it took me like 5 minutes to figure out what sknaht meant the first time

SEE THIS MECHANIC IS GOOD BC NOW THERES NO PLEXIGLASS

WHY DOES NO ONE RUN INTO THE WALL

F L O O P  I S  G O D

love that dude

you discussed with the spy parents that juni watched the show. he just told you that you took his parents. you KNOW this is juni, why are you surprised that he watches it????? you already know!!!!!!

tbh i kinda want some of those colorful chains. they’d look cool somewhere

haha voice crack

no wonder your shows not doing well. those are awful times

why is there a sexy thumb nurse. why did floop make the thumb nurse sexy

use her first name?????? you’re clearly dating

!!!!!! THEY USED THE SAME TOOL MULTIPLE TIMES!!!!!! UNHEARD OF!!!!!!!

he cares so much about this show!!!!!! its so sweet!!!! love that dude

YEP THIS COAT IS BETTER, LOOKS A M A Z I N G IN A RUNNING SCENE

haha you killed carmen

ok this scene with the acid crayon is like my absolute favorite. something about using a crayon to escape and then floop (love that dude) opening the door a second later and then doing a double take. FAVE

wheres belize

ok so apparently its a country by mexico

no you CANT tell her you need to ESCAPE

we finally got a clean outside shot of the castle.... that place is wack

haha minion can’t sit in the hand chair correctly because hes STRAIGHT what a loser

hey juni HOW DO YOU DO THAT

minion you know what the robot costumes look like AND what juni looks like. dont be stupid

what..... what do you want carmen for, exactly, minion??????

floop is supportive of others’ art!!!!!!!!!!! love that dude

HE SAID “WHERE’S MOM AND DAD” LIKE THEY’RE HIS OWN PARENTS THAT’S SO C U T E

ALSO ANOTHER SCENE WITH THE GREAT RUNNING COAT

he says doppelganger beautifully

“its too late” that timing was BEAUTIFUL

you COULD take 500 brains out if you just TRIED HARDER. still love that dude

his control panel has buttons that spell “floop”

WHY CAN MINION TALK NORMAL

if its reversible why do you have it in later movies

carmen fights fake juni and juni fights fake carmen because they didnt have the fancy clone (?) technology

THREE TIMES!!!!!! THEY USED THE SAME TOOL T H R E E  T I M E S THIS HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!

nice censorship

HOW DID MACHETE SMASH ONLY THE CLEAR WINDOWS AND A L L THE CLEAR WINDOWS THERE ARE NO MORE CLEAR WINDOWS!!!!!! ANYWHERE!!!!!

wow nice 3 buttons thats totally how you hack

oh look they have all died

oh. guess not :((

machete you better rip off your mustache

HES GOING TO JUNIS LEVEL TO TALK TO HIM!!!!!!! HE RUFFLED HIS HAIR!!!!!!!!! HES GONNA MAKE A GREAT DAD!!!!!!!

wow no shit ingrid

did he leave his wart bandaid on the kitchen counter?????

ALAN CUMMING!!!! ON A CEREAL BOX!!!!

ok CLEARLY other people watch floop’s show, he’s rated number 2. kids at the school are gonna recognize juni and carmen. they better get popular

is that george clooney

well that’s not how it works in spy kids 2. or 3. or 4. or the tv show

[todayisafridaynight]

Tsuma is an INSANE one to start on but also a fantastic one... I think my first was SP so it's so funny we've "traded" those specific shows lmao BUT YEAH. YEAH. I BELIEVE YOU. I'M GONNA BE NORMAL ABOUT KEISUKE BUT NOT ANYTIME SOON. Tsutsumi's Princess Peach lips every time Maida squishes his face 😭😭😭😭😭

The moment outside the school basically condenses everything about the show for me it's so perfect and cute but I'm INTERNALLY SCREAMING AT ALL OF THIS BEING SAID OUT LOUD... PLEASE... YOU'RE GOING TO END UP ANOTHER IMPRISONED TSUTSUMI... He really is SUCH a malewife though that's what destroyed me frame one... especially because he's really similar to how Tsutsumi talks about himself so like perfect casting I hope he had fun with the role... Definitely continuing when I can are you kiddinggggg

Well Hopefully You Still Think AtR's Cute And/Or Sweet Wherever You're At Now So The Rest Of This Isn't Embarrassing LGSKFJLGJ BUT YEAH... YEAH... I'm aro myself so all that's Complicated right, and definitely something I tried to consider when Sorta-Not-Really-Recommending, but it's good to hear it can be entertaining even without being able to relate :']

THAT COULD'VE GONE /WAY/ SOUTH AT THE PANEL but I'm glad everyone made it out unharmed😭😭😭BUT YEAH... at the end of the Ohashi arc when Ogata threw all his stuff off the desk and the gang just wordlessly put it back for him 'cause that's all they can do... ough. Momence. That's why it was so sick watching everything fall into place [temporarily]. Also appreciate the Jo-ism in doing all the dirty work for a politician in the family and wanting to be stopped without saying it upfront and uhhhhh being fine with dying and/or going to prison LMAO

OH BUT NO PROB it is always tradition for me to send the translated letter once I've indoctrinated someone new :] funny thing is every single version I've sent is different because I've been editing it to this day

AGAIN i chose tsuma cause the title was Utterly Insane and i just had to see for myself what the fuck was going on and im so glad i did... funny that we did trade first-watches (and fun that i get 'my own version' of ogata's letter lmao) :)

BUT YEAHYEAH keisuke's adorable.. like genuinely i think he's tsutsumi's cutest role ive seen so far its hard for me to imagine one topping it in regards to how endearing he is (❁´◡`❁) keisuke being so enamored by his wife but being So Blind To How Things Look is genuinely super funny. like poor guy really is just super happy to have his wife back in a way but not yk (╯▽╰;;; )

Horribly i think of okita from that Taboo movie when it comes to consuming media: even if i dont personally have that experience or understand 100%, i can still appreciate a good story and characters (im paraphrasing SO hard and with less homophobia </3), so if you got anythin good throw it my way anytime ♪(´▽｀) !! i'm about to start episode eight in a bit but NO WORRIES i still very much am a fan of the show !! and im sad/excited to see im almost done with it ( sad its almost over, but also SUPER interested to see how everything comes together in the end (☆▽☆) )

[ryangha]

talk to me about the flashback for days

oh gosh………. you’re giving me a reason to really get into some osudana nd ill take it lol i literally cant shut up about it so it’s under a read more lmao

first off!!! osu calling out to dana specifically reminds me of that other time he called her out like:

it seems like dana’s in a different neighborhood than the one showed above, even though she’s prolly around spoon’s building since in this point of idwtkoh they’re close to catching knife, however… osu caught her once again nd we’ve been knowing he’s been meaning to talk to her so… has he been remembering her fave spots again hmm?

and then he’s striking a convo with dana which parallels back to the older chapter like:

i mean, yaaa obviously, she’s bleeding (he says so himself lol) so he’ll ask but i think it’s a nice progression that in their recent interaction, he can just tell from looking at her: it’s more of a mental strain than physical (and two panels before dana looks to be super stressed) so… osu concering himself over dana’s health is prolly a cordial thing, but for someone whose always sick, i’d like to think he’s extra concerned about dana’s health, which we all know she’s as healthy as healthy can be. 

ohhhh don’t get me started about that final panel… dana sheepishly rubbing her hand and i think it’s so cute that the one person that fazes her into not only blushing but really gets those sweatdrops going is osu lol? also i love in this flashback she’s squinty-smiling ???? i know when some people like genuinely smile, their eyes kinda squint together so…… this is how we know this is dana’s reaching point of happiness hahaha. 

nd i guess while i’m here, might have to address the rest of the flashback, which ill have to admit is kinda scheme-y on osu’s part? 

hmm i’ll have to say i think dana is aware (or at least suspects a bit) of osu’s ultimate goal here (to end baekmorae’s whole career ofc)? she accepts the invitation but not the money (which i honestly dont know what that means other than the fact to get an invitation, you have to be insanely wealthy nd spoon is a gov’t organization isnt it?) and then i think she finally accepts both (plus another invitation) cause osu apologized… and states the other invitation is for… raptor? im wondering if he came up with that on his own (tho he’s aware of no.2 history with baekmorae, did no.2 mention anything about baekmorae and raptor?) but it seemed like dana figured it out by talking with yeomho?

idk but i am soooo glad that osu didn’t go for what you commented earlier, like, it definitely looks like that dana sticks her foot down and tells him ‘hey thanks for all the help but you shouldn’t concern yourself about this’ but damn osu has to pull that apology and that extra invitation.... he has been planning that’s for sure. i like that this flashback does show more of osu that’s like... i don’t wanna say manipulative, but he knows what he’s tryna do and i think it’s glaring to dana even if she adores him so much... so anyway i have stupid b*tch disease nd can’t make of anything else but just have this panel of osu regarding dana with what im gonna say is worry, even if she says ‘don’t worry about it’ 

but yeah that’s my two cents lol @yuissamidare​ i’m sure you have much more coherent sensible thoughts about this nd i’d love to hear them if you will!!! 

[comicteaparty]

March 7th-March 13th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 7th, 2020 to March 13th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is your overall marketing/promotion strategy for your webcomic?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I don't know if this counts as a strategy, but these are some of the things I do to promote my comic or my work in general. 1. Most important from what I've noticed (which I have been failing at due to stress and self-doubt lately) is to post updates to your comic frequently and consistently. It seems somewhat silly that simply putting your work out there is the best way to grow an audience, but it really is. Newly posted chapters frequently get shown on more pages and thus detected by the algorithms and potential readers. It also helps to establish trust with current and returning readers. 2. Participating in art/comic events, forums, and other comicking communities (such as this one). In a way, this isn't really marketing directly, but it is good to build connections with other creators! 3. Conventions! I actually have gotten a several new readers/followers from attending cons. It's also nice just to talk to people, get your name out there locally, and to make a little bit of money while at it. 4. Social media promotion. Tbh, this hasn't been super helpful to me, but more eyes is always a win in my book. I try to post almost every day, even if it isn't art or comic related. Having some kind of social media presence at all, even if it's small, shows people that you are working hard to connect to others. Also finding the right hashtags definitely helps with visibility.

kayotics

Overall, my strategy for marketing is to be authentic and just keep plugging my stuff. People will come if they like it. I work as a marketer for my day job, so I know what I COULD do, but I really don’t do that much since a whole marketing plan would take a lot more time than I have available to me. Some of the stuff I do otherwise: - regular updates. This ones pretty important for retaining viewers I already have. Any good marketing strategy is thinking about retaining people, not just getting new ones - self promo: this usually is on top webcomics or on social media. I get a LOT of traffic from top webcomics, and I get a good handful of people from social media. - conventions, like mentioned before, can be a great way to get people’s eyes on your stuff. I have a postcard that I hand out to people if they come by or they purchase something. - the thing I don’t do enough is post more art outside of the comic, or even just little previews. If I were dedicated to marketing, I’d be sharing sketches or illustrations on social media to grow my audience.

DanitheCarutor

Ah you know, I don't really have much of a strategy. At some point I promoted as much as I could on Twitter, adding my comic to those share/promo thread, getting in on relevant hashtag events, participating on WebComic Chat (whenever I remembered to). I've done a little promotion on forums, but there is really only so much you can do since only so many people hang out there and if your work is super niche like mine, they will pretty much avoid your promos at all cost. Lmao Other than those I don't really do much, at some point I attempted to use Instagram but the site/app is very stingy about offsite links. I also started a Facebook page, although if you don't have the money to boost your promos and don't usually have a lot going on with your comic outside of weekly updates, it won't get a whole lot of attention. I've also tried to be more active, but I'm not a good conversationalist, and I tend to be kind of a thread/conversation/mood killer so I try to avoid talking outside of Q&A prompts like this.

eli [a winged tale]

Same Dani, I used Instagram for a while too and I just don’t think the platform is a good fit for my vertical scroll comic (see exhibit 1) Twitter is a mixed bag as well and I think unless you have a solid following already, it’s hard to gain traction. What really helped was being on Webtoon’s staff pick for a couple days. I’m not sure how Tapas picked up but it’s reassuring that there’s a couple of followers gained every week when I posted regularly. So it really does sound like the first step is to have a steady update schedule (working on the buffer! Got a month’s work down today). It’s just challenging because while I could upload one page a week but on the vertical scroll sites it seems like a longer episode (6-7 pages) is valued more as a solid update. Love hearing everyone’s thoughts and hope to learn from y’all! (edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Consistency and con attendance were big ones for me, but something I learned worked well (and was really fun to do) was creating really fun, really dumb, non-canon bits of art every now and then. Following meme prompts or funny ideas from other people. If your comic can afford some humor being thrown its way, making people laugh is a great way to get some attention. No one needs to know the details of your story - they just need to relate to the characters/humor somehow. I had more than one person come across my dumb, meme-y ancillary art and go “Welp, I want to read your comic now.”

eli [a winged tale]

Memes to the rescue! What has been your favourite to do? And which one has surprised you in its relatability/popularity?

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Two shots of vodka.

Also that terrible sweater meme. Everyone is required to do the terrible sweater meme. People eat it up.

eli [a winged tale]

Too good

Ahh I can’t wait till I can actually write silly adult characters

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Now that you mention it, the nice thing about the terrible sweater meme is it works with a WIDE variety of comics.

eli [a winged tale]

I would love to do a meme with y’all

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

"Came for the story, staying for the sick memes"

Spring-heeled Jack

I try to post updates every friday when my new pages go up on Patreon. And then I make my big post when my tapas and website update at the end of the month. Between all that, I have little flyers that I carry with me and if I'm ever in a shop that has a little self promotion section, I plan on tacking up a flyer. I do conventions, and this will be my first convention season while actively making a comic, so flyers will be handed out then as well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

My comic isnt very comedy-heavy, and even for the funny scenes, my sense of humor isn't compatible with most people's. So a lot of the memes out there just don't work. But terrible sweater meme doesn't have to be hilarious. It can be just cute, or even weird.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

For me, uh lmao. I sometimes make some funny strip panels and it was received well even though it's not polished for my liking lmao

Spring-heeled Jack

Keii, I feel you. I'm not good with comedy and my comic isn't meant to be funny, either, so I don't know how well a comedy meme will help me.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

overall, I try to be honest with just self promo and asking when I have a chance "Hey pls check out my comic lol"

eli [a winged tale]

Or maybe just something relatable? Seen a couple caption this on tumblr

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think instead of memes, what I'm gonna do is my characters cosplaying more well known characters from works that have some tonal similarities with my own. This isn't just for advertising purposes; it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time for myself. But I'm realizing it can serve some of the same purposes that memes do.

Spring-heeled Jack

That's extremely cute!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Keyword being "SOME" Tonal similarities... Some of them aren't very similar but have a couple of parallels, etc.

Spring-heeled Jack

Oh for sure. Even if you could find that 'perfect match', it might not be a great cosplay for them, and give too much away

Are "draw the squad" prompts still a thing? I love those

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The One White Dude and the Tiger Dude in my comic will definitely cosplay Calvin and Hobbes at some point.

Spring-heeled Jack

LOL

omg please, Keii

eli [a winged tale]

YES

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yeah, not every comic will have super memeable humor - but whatever you can do to break down that wall between you and a potential reader and go “Hey! Look at this. Is this relatable? Do you get the reference? Etc” Is a very good bet

Also yes squad memes are PERFECT

You can boil down your comic’s relationships so simply.

Spring-heeled Jack

I have four couples in my comic so those "ship dynamic" posts might be fun

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What are squad memes?

eli [a winged tale]

I also need to be educated about squad I mean all the memes

Spring-heeled Jack

OH MAN!! They are fun as heck. You can find templates and it's a very simple character design in the template, but the poses are super silly. And then you just draw your characters in place of those simple figures(edited)

If you google "Draw the squad" you will find a bunch

renieplayerone

Oh! Ill have to try that! These squad bases look fun!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I still have one of those I need to finish Back when I first started sharing my work, I was surprised and delighted at how quickly people shoved it through a meme filter.

Maybe that’s another thing! If marketing opportunities present themselves as a surprise, try running with them and see where they take you Within reason, of course. Never feel forced to follow anything that people respond to in a particular way. Just take it into account and see how you feel about it.

renieplayerone

(Im here to lurk on this week's question, i have no strategy and need ideas haha)

eli [a winged tale]

Omg draw the squad looks

too many to choose

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I love draw the squad poses so much TuT I wish I had more time to draw within more of them. I think I always get a little dishearten about making memes because I feel like I need to make my jokes full illustrations but I never have time for much extra content beyond ballpoint pen sketches :T

Mei

Honestly I don't have a marketing or promotion strategy for my webcomic. I make updates every week, and I post it on my twitter and kinda plug it there. I'm actually god awful at trying to make people read my comic because I'm a little bit nervous about it, to be honest. So I just sort of leave it there and see if people find it, half the time. That being said, I tried to promote it pretty hard at conventions last year. But that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I'm hoping to make flyers with QR codes so that people can scan it, and it'll take them to the landing page/tapas for the comic. That might be a bit easier than getting them to just search the title, plus having a flyer is a nice bit of promotion if I get the opportunity?! Making memes and drawing characters in different clothes or in squad things sounds like super fun tho and I might look into that in the future

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's nice to hear everyone talk about this topic. TBH I had completely stopped promoting my comic because I got too scared of backlash, being a disappointment, etc. (Initially I'd attracted a number of people who weren't actually my target audience, and that led to some less than ideal results.) But some time last year, it occurred to me that 1) I'm making this comic for my reader self (or my "hypothetical taste twin" as I like to call it)... which means 2) I only have to appeal to people like me. So I started asking myself, "What would I have to say/do to get me to read this comic?" and that made it significantly less intimidating. I haven't actually started doing self promo (though I did start plugging my updates on Twitter at least). But most future self promo I do will be based on that ^ question.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(oh god, I was just checking out the latest update for one of the Korean webcomics I read, and the new episode is about a hikikomori... who says "I want to change, but I can't step outside because... maybe there isn't a single person out there who will understand me." THAT WAS ME but with comic promo. Well, I'm getting better and I also hope this character will, too, though knowing this comic his chances aren't so great lol...)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I hope that wasn't too awkward to share! Tl;dr I really think the "what would I have to say/do to get ME to check out my comic" is a good approach for anyone else feeling intimidated about doing self promos.

In the same vein, but on the opposite side of the coin: I'm curious to know, what were some things that got YOU to read someone else's comic?

Some of my own answers to that aren't very relevant to what we can do for our own comics: e.g. I'm Korean and when Naver has a new comic in their pro comic lineup, I may check it out. I'm also a member of SpiderForest and I check out the applicants' comics during the app season. Stuff like that aren't really good promo options that we can take. But things that may be relevant: - 'Evocative scenery shot that doesn't show the face/ doesn't focus on the face.' MY WEAKNESS. That kinda pictures feel subtle and kind of lonely to me, even if it's a group shot. And I like stories with those vibes. -Promo includes an evocative quote. Could be from the comic itself, or from something else like a classical literature or whatever. The creator of Ark (https://www.arkcomic.com/) does this sometimes and even though I'm already following Ark, those promos get my attention.

eli [a winged tale]

Definitely the art promo now that I think of it! Merch, posters, banners etc. If the art intrigues me, I definitely take a look at the site/blurb/first chapter

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I wonder if we can semi-workshop promo art at some point? Not really intensive like "change xyz" because that's not always feasible with art, but just impression feedback like, "this pictures gives me these vibes, and makes me expect this kinda story"

I would be curious to see everyone's even if we don't workshop

eli [a winged tale]

YES

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Yesssss

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yes please. I don‘t promo besides update notices simply because I have no clue to start.

Mei

Sometimes I get really attracted by the style of the story? I immediately started reading Wolfsbane because the art was cool and different from a lot of whta I'd seen on Webtoon up until that point. And then the story was perfect for me. What keii said about writing for yourself is right. Patrick Ness once said you should write the stories your younger self would have loved to pick up on a shelf

and I think that's a pretty evocative thing. At the end of the day, you should be enjoying what you're writing (hopefully). And if you enjoy it and you're having fun making it, that can rub off on the people reading it, or you find the people who like that similar vein of story?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(It's also 100% legit to write stories for your current self )

Mei

(oh yes 100% that's what i'm doing HEHE)

Tolkein wrote LOTR because he was like

in love with worldbuilding

was there a market for such a strange type of novel at the time? No. Definitely not. Did he write it anyway? YEAH HE DID

Deo101 [Millennium]

I really wanna do an art workshop yes.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Aight, anyone who wants an impression feedback from me, post your promo art in #art_help

Warning, my impressions may be totally off lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Also I don't do much marketing. Mostly I try to get in with communities and learn about making comics, I just want to improve my craft. All I really do is make my updated every week, and share whatever art Ive made on my Twitter or whatever

Okay! I think I only have my cover on my phone, but on my computer I also have my banners and icon. So I'll share all those in a bit when I'm at my computer

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(off topic but I'm sick, and when I'm sick or very tired I constantly misread words. I read "my banners" as "my bananas" and I was very confused for a couple seconds.)

Deo101 [Millennium]

My bananers

Feather J. Fern

I am terrible at marketing my own work, but I am very good at marketing other people's work. I use the "you would like it for this reason" to grab people. Unfortunately I can't do it for my comic because I am bad at seeing the good in my own work oof. I am getting better at it though.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a really good way to do it!

And I can relate. My own hangup is a little different, but it can be extremely difficult to be brave for sure, whether in front of other people, or just in front of your own brain that constantly judges you.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was talking about a friend's comic and then the person I was talking to was like "Don't you write comics" and I was like "ahfoofjw yeah but don't look at them"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I was thinking a lot about the whole "it's like [well known work] meets [another well known work]" approach that was discussed earlier. And I think that could be relevant here. Like, think of something that has either influenced your comic significantly, or just happens to have some core similarities. How would you market that thing? Could you market your own thing using a similar approach -- since there are similarities?

I'd thought of a really good example to compare HoK to. Then I got sad because the said example is extremely obscure outside of Korea. But now I'm like, hey, people don't have to KNOW that work. I can do this differently. I can talk about HoK the way I could talk about it.

('it' as in the other work that's obscure outside of Korea)

Feather J. Fern

I do think that's a good fast shortcut but I don't like using it becuase the shortcut sometimes makes people angry when they don't get what they like out of those two things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's why I said to NOT actually bring up the comparison work

Don't name it

Just list the traits that are shared in common

Feather J. Fern

Oh sorry

I miss read

(And my name changed colours all the sudden?)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's a confusing topic, so no worries

It means you leveled up

Feather J. Fern

OWO!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Say you want to compare your work to... I dunno, DBZ, because it's got super strong aliens duking it out barehanded, blasting ki-like energy attacks, etc. Don't name DBZ. Talk about your work the way you'd talk about your favorite aspects of DBZ. "My comic has super strong aliens duking it out hand-to-hand! YEEEAH!"

OH MY GOD I NEED TO DO THIS NOW.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah! That's what I would do. (But it also helps for me that my comic has no hard reference points) but for my new comic, people are gonna compare it to Zach Bell, and Angelic Layer i think

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm gonna write up some drafts that I will revise and tweet at a later time

Feather J. Fern

So I jsut got to you know, not promo it as such XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I want to do this too for a quick pitch

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do it (shop talk or story help maybe?)

I'm writing a vomit draft for mine

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yee

Feather J. Fern

I think I will do it for Story help

(Also so I can help flesh out my new project lol lol)

eli [a winged tale]

Kei I might be suuuuper off since I read only the beginning but I sort of thought inuyasha but Korea and handsome boys

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Sometimes you don't even realize your story can be marketed as "blah meets blah" until much later down the line - I've only started realizing the number of existing properties I've absorbed unintentionally into my comic. It's not how I'd market it on a serious front, but to a friend for story help, heck yes.

But a lot of people on Twitter seem to do that strategy for PitMAD and it works great for them, so... shrug

I guess it still belongs in a "pitch arsenal," as it were

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, the one "blah" I just thought of is something I hadn't realized for all these years. But it makes so much sense now that I look at it.

eli [a winged tale]

See that’s where I got confused but I think this is what I’m gonna aim to do: - pitch to readers: inspiration but this awesome unique thing in the comic - pitch to other comic makers: the Logline - pitch to agents: comparison works if requested and longer pitch depending on their format - pitch to family: just read it plzthanksbye

renieplayerone

or alternative pitch to family: Please dear god never read this

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's me

Oof... Writing the 'promote your comic by talking about the traits it shares with Another Person's Work,' I made myself cry, and that is definitely a sign I'm on the right track.

eli [a winged tale]

Right track is good!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It took me years to even think of an 'other more popular work' comparison for Children of Shadow. XD But at the same time, it's really different from the works I compare it to, so it's hard to say 'Read this if you like X or X because it has a few similarities in theme and tone, but is still very much its own thing'.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah which is why I'm not even gonna namedrop my X.

I'm just straight up gonna talk about 'My comic has [this trait]' (and X shares that trait, but no one needs to know for the purpose of that pitch)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To answer the weekly question... I really don't have a marketing strategy. Marketing is my achilles heel, so I generally just throw pages up and hope someone sees them. I don't really understand social media nor do I have the energy to sink tonnes of time into it, which seems to be one of the biggest requirements for being picked up by algorithms. So my marketing strategy is just.., keep making comics and talking to other creators and hope for the best

eli [a winged tale]

I think that’s still solid Capn

Ultimately you need a product to promote

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's something that helps me, because while I can talk about my favorite works done by others, I feel stuck when trying to do the same with my own. So it's basically telling my brain, 'hey, you already know how to do it with other stories. Do the same thing with your own.'

eli [a winged tale]

So true Kei

renieplayerone

thats my strategy too. best case you market it great, worst case you've made a new friend so win win :3

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

My incredibly low numbers after 14 years of making webcomics beg to differ but... maybe someday I can hire someone to help me market.

eli [a winged tale]

I’m using the comic platforms rather than my own site so... sort of relying on their algorithms. I imagine it can be harder if you just post on your own website?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Sometimes the platforms don't help much if their audience isn't into the type of comics you make

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I post on both my own website and on platforms, but the algorithms for WT and Tapas don’t seem to like me, haha.(edited)

renieplayerone

yeah same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One of my top favorite webcomics got a front page feature on Tapas once, but it wasn't the kind of a story that gets a lot of traction there, so it still didn't get very popular. And that was in no way a measure of its quality. It is an excellent comic, just not a good fit for that particular place.

renieplayerone

I get far more views on my site, but I get way more engagement on Tapas and WT

I actually treat those two mirrors AS marketing for the main site(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Exactly renie! Good perspective!

I never know what different platforms tailor to...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, what Keiiii said. I make dark fantasy comics and both WT and Tapas favour romance, especially comics geared towards a female audience and drawn anime style. My comics aren’t particularly feminine and romance isn’t much of a focus, so they’re just not what that demographic is into.

eli [a winged tale]

I’ve been trying to remember how I came across my favourite comics and usually it’s through the art (interesting characters, unique dynamic style that I enjoy) and the first chapter holding promise (able to see what the character wants/will have to change into)

Romance has always been the best seller in the story world I think

Oh and most recently hiveworks and other web publishers have great recommendations too per genre

And comic conventions are always fun to meet creators. Sometimes If I feel I jive with someone I’m an instant fan

renieplayerone

I absolutely need to get better at having confidence enough to make friends at conventions x_x

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I have noticed my audience grow a bit since joining Spiderforest. They’ve helped me get a bit better at promotion, though marketing just isn’t my talent, lol.

renieplayerone

im always terrified haha

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a big step for sure renie! It took me like... three years going to VanCAF as an attendee before actually exhibiting and making friends(edited)

Mei

I know i'm late but i personally detest the 'this book is X meets Y!!', even though I get why people do it. I just wish they'd describe it to me like what if I'd never read either of those books......

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I would really love to get out to cons, they sound like a great opportunity for connecting with other creators. One of these years I’ll be able to get to one!(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah im usually kinda like "okay, well are you doing anything new or are you just doing those things :/"

renieplayerone

I exhibit with the Boston Comics Roundtable and I still havent gotten the courage XD

Mei

yeah, cons are really fun even to attend or to make friends! I find it really tough though, I'm so intimidated;;

yeah Deo... same... it's like

sure, I could pitch a story as two things. Like I don't know "The Walking Dead meets Shaun of the Dead" which is semi redundant anyway

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I only use it to give people a framework for the kinds of tones and themes they can expect from my work when I have to keep my explanation short and sweet.

renieplayerone

they should have badges that say "Hi i want to make friends but you are all so awesome its intimidating be kind"

Mei

or you know... use those words to just describe the story? It may be a personal preference, some agents LOVE comparisons

Yes renie, yes!

i'd love a badge like that like

pls talk to me i'm scare

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Sometimes a few words can’t fully describe a story as well as saying: ‘It’s a little bit like X meets X but if you add [insert unique thing your story does]’

Mei

I personally find that it depends a bit too much on people having read those books or stories before. BUT if you're pitching to an agent, they've usually read those books

so then they get a sense or vibe of like, what the genre is

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It’s all down to preference, really. Your own and the person you’re pitching to. If you don’t want to use comparisons to describe your own work, that’s valid, but try not to dismiss people who do.

Mei

so I get it, I just don't like it personally xD I think a lot of the times it takes away from your own voice and story

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That too is part of the reason why I'm not namedropping the works

Just having my self-promo self learn from my 'promo other people's stuff' self

Mei

yeah for sure, it adds that level of excitement to your own work that you'd give to others?

eli [a winged tale]

I think a cool exercise might be to check out someone’s work here and see how you would promote it

It’s always good to see from someone else’s perspective

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

yessssss, all of my friends have been much better at promoting than I am

mostly because they have no shame regarding it but they also just... know what sounds cool

Mei

Oh i'm very good at promoting my friends' work

I sold his DnD book to a kpop stan who doesn't like DnD and doesn't play, and it was a crowning achievement

eli [a winged tale]

Like for yours I’d probably say... Manta Ray princess finds herself very much dead but is given a second chance to revive her friends and save her kingdom... just need to find someone very much living and very much not afraid of the seaghosts they have become

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

SOLID

though now I imagine Phaedra as a Manta Ray in a dress which is... not entirely untrue

eli [a winged tale]

LOL omg I haven’t even thought of that! Just thought manta Princess is a hook

Mei

Me, pointing at Cheth "I mean look at him, LOOK AT HIM and tell me you don't want to read this"

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I guess for my work I market it from four potential angles: 1) The princess is cool and has a sword, 2) The villain is the best character, 3) The environments ain't bad, and 4) THERE'S A DOG

again, you gotta know who you're talking to and what they already like

eli [a winged tale]

In a world where a fallen god became trapped in the sea, a dead princess is given a second chance to fight for her life with a mysterious sea-bitten boy and undo the sea ghost curse that plagues the world.

Dammit I repeated world

Mei

hey... the environments are GREAT

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah Lady your environment shots are

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

ok I do try BUT BACK TO MARKETING

The number of times I see someone marketing their comic with very epic-sounding descriptors or broad generalizations... then that one day where they're finally like "oh, I have a character who turns into a hamster at nighttime" and people are like 'I'M SOLD'

And then they go ".... THAT'S WHAT YOU ALL WANTED???"

often it's those little weird details that get people interested

Deo101 [Millennium]

I wanna read about the were hamster please

Mei

sometimes I think the simplest and maybe slightly silly lines are what grabs people?

when things sound TOO epic i feel a bit intimidated

eli [a winged tale]

takes notes

Mei

but if someone were to sell me a big adventure epic as "it's hamsters and they fight the forces of evil" i'd read it

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

god yes

"Four small creatures band together to defeat a great darkness overwhelming their homeland."

No.

"Hamsters fight evil."

YES

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I.... I have no idea how to snappily describe my comics. XD

eli [a winged tale]

Same... I got to kids with wings for hair then my brain short circuits

Mei

i'd say it's the way you'd tell the story to a close friend

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

The best I came up with was 'Teenagers with supernatural powers team up with woodland critters to defeat monsters' but it sounds more adventure-y and doesn't really get at the fact that it's a dark story with horror elements and everyone's mentally ill.

Mei

like they come up to you and go "what's your comic about" "oh you know, my stupid comic's about mutant hamsters that take over the world" or something

(don't call your comics stupid none of your comics are stupid they are great)

Deo101 [Millennium]

"plant man and his goth boyfriend babysitting a ton of bozos" would probably be mine then

Mei

BEAUTIFUL

i'm sold

Deo101 [Millennium]

ghsakgjhgkhkgahgk my target audience...

Mei

i do think tho like this form of comedic one-lining may not work for something dark?

Unless you go "Spooky horror about cats that become humans at night!"

would need experimentation

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a balance I think.

Kids stranded on an island with weapons explore the darkness in human nature - Lord of the Flies

Mei

ooh yeah that's a good one!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A space explorer stranded on a foreign planet must join forces with the indigenous population and save his ship before his life support runs out.

Alternately

Small man goes to war with small carrot people

Pikmin

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) I wonder if one could describe CoS the way how people might describe Evangelion, but with magical powers instead of mechs.

Teens, monsters, mental illnesses

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Probably. Though I've never seen Evangelion, but those three words work very well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The relationship dynamics are way different, but yeah, those three things...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Also add trauma and cute lil animals and you have Children of Shadow. XD

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Evangelion also has trauma (though I don't know if you'd like it; this isn't a rec, just a promo discussion!) and it was refreshing to see at the time

A teen trying to fight huge monsters, even if he was doing it inside an equally huge mech, could lead to traumatizing experiences, and it was the first time I saw that seriously explored

Hmm, so I guess "teens, talking animals, monsters, mental illnesses feat. trauma" ?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don't know if it's similar at all, but that description reminds me strongly of Eureka 7. Wow, was that series intense,

🌈ERROR404 🌈

I really liked how the end happened - it was a nice solution to the lack of budget issue and told the story of his psyche reall well

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Though Eureka 7 was intense in a good way. I found the ending kind of unsatisfying, but admittedly I find the endings of 90% of animes unsatisfying (probably a cultural clash). But I enjoy them for the journey more than the ending.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I haven't watched Eureka 7, but the storyboard artist (one of the storyboard artists maybe?) for that anime is one of my favorite artists.

DanitheCarutor

Ah, a little late, but regarding the snappy promos I'm in the same boat as Cap'n with not knowing how to make one. At least one that would be ridiculous and totally not fitting the darker themes. I agree with all the people who have a generally hard time coming up with a pitch for their work, while having an easier time promoting other people's comics. Honestly my comic can be super boring to people who don't like pretentious, non-fantastical, angsty, character study types of stories. So it's really hard to think of a way to make it sound interesting without spoiling anything. Man! That thing when people come up to you, asking what your comic is about! Me: "Oh! Ah, it's uh, kinda sad and it has uh mental illness" -trails off with uncomfortable laughter- Them: Oh cool. -has a look of complete disinterest- Someone was actually extremely enthusiastic about the vague description of my comic, which somehow made me a mix of uncomfortable and excited.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I saw the conversation about blurbs and I just thought of one for a comic I'm working on! "An ecologist and a bird have a conversation about ethics"

I haven't started the comic yet so please send your critiques(edited)

and first impressions

(of the blurb)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"Angsty character study with a heavy dose of mental illness" <--- Could this descriptor work? @DanitheCarutor

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

kei said exactly what I was just typing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Great minds

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh, i just realized i've read dani's comic

I think your description is fine?

The artsy, angsty comics I follow all have kind of short, tongue in cheek descriptions

it's hard to capture the tone of an emotional comic in one sentence so they either joke about it or make it intentionally misleading

for example Drop Out's description is something like "two friends go on a road trip" and Fritz Fargo's description is "a human dumpster fire in the 90s"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The dumpster fire one is insta-effective

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dani, maybe make your description shorter if anything?

Something like, "An emotionally stunted alcoholic attempts to make amends"

and then follow it up with kei's line about it being an angsty character study

RebelVampire

Im not gonna stop the convo cause it is on topic. However, i do want to remind ppl these #creator_babble chats are permanently archived. So thats something to keep in mind if youre gonna workshop.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I asked before in this discord about making my own blurb better. The main critique I got was that I included too many things that I thought were interesting and unique that a new reader probably wouldn't care about. Like how the mc's powers work. But though it's unique and important to the story, it's not going to be a main reason someone reads the comic. I revised the blurb to remove extraneous info and make the tone of the comic more apparent, and I think now I didn't lose anything and made it more concise.

I think maybe agtahr could also be summarized a bit more succinctly

DanitheCarutor

Yup, you did once upon a time but said you stopped reading it a while ago. (which is totally fine, the reason is understandable.) The mix of yours and Keii's descriptions do sound a lot better than mine. Lol Thank you Fish and @keii’ii (Heart of Keol)! I've noticed people really like the word 'angst' when you describe heavy stuff. At least when I was a teenager everyone found it appealing. I'll tinker with it a bit and use Drop_Out and Fritz Fargo as a reference. Anyways, I'm going to stop talking now, don't want to bog down the main topic.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a good point; 'the best things about this story' and 'things that should go in its blurb' have an overlap, but they aren't always the same.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Yeah, I did but I'll probably pick it up again eventually. I remember enjoying it. If you do want to keep talking, we can move to shop talk?

mirandalorian

babbling I have the first three episodes of my webtoon ready to post tomorrow and I’m really excited and feel kinda proud that I made it this far...even though it’s not very far. It’s far for me without posting immediately end babbling

Feather J. Fern

I forgot to ask, but if people are tabling at cons, do you guys have promo stuff at your con tables for your comics?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Mostly a business card, but yes

carcarchu

i never did but my table partner one year had free postcards she gave out with purchase / to passerbys with her comic info and an illustration on it

kayotics

I always keep free postcards to advertise my comic on the table right next to my business cards.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yep, the free postcards did wonders for me last year. They disappeared quickly!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Buisness cards and postcards~

Feather J. Fern

Seems like Business and Postcards are the way to go.

Mei

business cards!!

i might be making flyers/postcards for my comic next time though! :D

sagaholmgaard

I haven't done much to promote my comic but I've gotten some good ideas reading through this, thanks! I currently plug my updates in twitter and instagram with a cool/fun panel from the new page. I do also share WIPS and try to engage through my instagram stories (Asking things like, 'what type of benders would the Reclaim squad be in an avatar au' and making doodles for the answers), but that only reaches those who follow my IG. its good fun tho. I've done memes with the characters a few times but I didn't get much attention, LOL. But it's fun so maybe worth trying again

Spring-heeled Jack

Today I went into a locally owned comic shop and went to the guy that owns it and said "I'm a local artist and I'm writing a comic. Could I give you some small flyers to let people take?" And he said yes, and then asked if I have any physical copies. I don't yet but told him I'll bring some by when I have them. He then let me know he carries other local artists! Something cool to think about if you have a local comic shop.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

ooo that's good to know

I droped off my zines at my local comic shop but maybe I'll drop flyers of my webcomic too lmaooo

Spring-heeled Jack

I also just ordered a business card carrier so I can tote some around with ease. I carry my flyers in my sketchbook. You should totally ask, it never hurts! Carry a few extra just in case you find yourself in a new area and find another cafe or comic shop.

I ran mine off on my at home printer on some nice quality but regular weight paper. I might need to get some more professionally done.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I keep a handful of business cards in my wallet -- that way, any time someone says "hey, that looks cool, what are you drawing?" they get a card with the title and URL. Slowly but steadily burns through the supply.

DanitheCarutor

Seeing if my local book shops will carry copies of my comic when I print them eventually is something I'm kind of excited about! My town is hardcore into supporting local artists and writers, so that'll be something neat to try out. Although I'm a little nervous that the rating might be a little too mature for what the vendors want on their shelves.

I know of using postcards to advertise, but never heard of fliers. Maybe I'll give that a try.(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I use double sided business cards, so on one side, it showcases some of my art, and the other side has contact info, a link to my comic website, and a QR code. It's been pretty helpful so far at conventions.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

You guys have all these sophisticated answers to this and my answer is just "scream on every social media platform I can reach and every person I meet about my comic."

Though I may not scream at people irl,,,

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Let's see... I have a twitter where I repost my comic pages, and a couple mirrors that help reach different audiences. I've also carried around business cards that have my comic's URL on it. One fun strategy I've used is doing review-exchange things, in an I-critique-your-comic-if-you-critique-mine way (with the assumption that most people who read all the way through Super Galaxy Knights end up liking it). Though, that isn't really viable anymore now that the comic is 600+ pages, cuz nobody would ever agree to that trade lol. And... that's pretty much it? Though, I should note that my goal with Super Galaxy Knights isn't to make the most popular comic I can so that I can make a living off ads or patreon or print sales or whatever. If I ever do manage to make money off the comic, it'll be in "spinoff tech" (basically, video games or other media based off it). (it's the reason why a bunch of early Starstuff Stories fleshed out the abilities of the characters they focused on) I would like people to read the story because I think people would like the story, but it's not like my future depends on its popularity.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

We (me and Q) are gonna (hopefully) tabeling at cons this year! I thought about doing free non permenant tattoos with our comic things. Also we have beautiful zines of the first chapter to sell. but a free postcard is also good

Desnik

promotional strategies...ah...the biggest thing I did for my first webcomic, RAWR! Dinosaur Friends, was simply update on a general platform (tumblr), using a consistent schedule and the same tags every time. That allowed some of the bigger biology/humor/critter blogs on tumblr to find me and I got a lot of people reading from their generous reblogs. I found some more niche crossover from sci-comm blog comments and dinosaur toy collector forums, because sometimes I'd have a comic that would coincide with paleontology news. It was mainly about finding my niche and bringing my stuff to that niche. To those struggling with finding readers, I would recommend distilling the contents of your comic and then reaching out to people who buy/read things like your comic. I've definitely made friends from general 'webcomic' forums and discords, but in terms of building a readership it's all about finding the niche and catering to it in a human way

In general I highly recommend shopping around for stuff like hobby blogs/forums/groups/discords that have some relation to the content of your webcomic. Those people DO want new content related to their hobby, but they don't really deal well with salesy pitches. Just be human and also a nerd for that hobby, too (nerdy enough to make webcomics about it)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, it's like fan comic for an existing IP with an existing fandom, except it's a fan comic of a 'thing' rather than an IP (e.g. you make a pirate comic? Great! Nobody owns pirates, but there are lots of pirate fans out there!).

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

The very first customer I had at the first con I tabled at, came over and said "I like ghosts! I like the ocean! I'll take it!" And wrote me later saying it was exactly what they were looking for.

And honestly it's all because I make sure every cover has something spooky and something watery, and the genres are in the title I make it very easy for people to understand what it might be like.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

omg the genres are in the title

that's genius

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Definitely not planned But it helps so much!

I think if authors have a rule on certain symbols/motifs they MUST make sure come across on covers/posters/etc, that can be a good marketing strategy. With some wiggle room, of course.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I... I feel like I can barely even describe what my comic is, which makes it so hard to market. 'Do you like comics with cute animals and eldritch horrors and angsty teens that have superpowers and hidden religious symbolism everywhere?!? Then my comic is for you!' What even is that demographic, because I sure don't know.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) If you take away the cute animals part, that actually sounds like stuff a lot of teens are into/ a lot of people were into when they were teens. And most people love cute animals, so adding that to the mix, in theory, shouldn't reduce the accessibility too much. Buuuuut CoS has its unique flavor that's decidedly different from all the "angsty teens, eldritch horrors, religious symbolism" stuff I consumed when I was younger. I don't know how to describe that flavor, nor how to utilize it for marketing. But yeah, maybe some food for thought?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've used short phrases that are sort of representative to describe my comic. Examples include "consensual mind control" "a guy whose ideal life is not being entirely alive" "friendship" and "anticlimactic conversations"

I have no idea how effective any of those are

someone tell me pls

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

As someone who just started reading your comic last night I think consensual mind control is a really cool descriptor. I haven't heard that too much before.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

!

that makes me happy

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) Heh, I'm not sure what that unique flavour is, either, but it might have something to do with me avoiding the typical 'chosen one' structure that most teen fantasy literature has. The characters are all (except Fawna) a part of the hidden world already rather than discovering it, and everyone's pretty much running around like chickens with their heads cut off rather than having any power over their situation (which is kind of a huge part of the theme of the comic). It's definitely different than the typical urban fantasy, so it's been really hard to find which audience that appeals to. From what I've gathered based on the people who comment on my website, it's mostly academics in college or beyond, for whatever reason. XD

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Honestly I think for almost all comics their first pages were what convinced me to keep reading. Even with Phantomarine I was ambivalent about the description but then I saw the first page, and though, yeah, I'm into this.

Maybe my own comic can be the same way

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Exactly the same with me and your comic - I was also all about that first page It's a powerful thing! I think for anyone about to delve into a comic - which is, by nature, a very visual thing - it's going to be that visual that ultimately pushes them over the edge.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

maybe my description should just be ascii art of my main character O-O | -(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

^ It's why I tinkered with the first page of HoK soooo many times even after it went live. But it wasn't enough; it still gave off the wrong impression as to what kind of a story one should expect. Finally, more than a year after I started posting it, I redid like 1/4 to 1/3 of chapter one from scratch. Even though it will never be perfect, I can live with it now. chapter 2 on the other hand... It's an imperfect intro to the right story, rather than an intro (good or not) to the wrong story.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To be honest, my intro probably doesn't hit the right notes to explain what my comic is about, which may be part of my problem. It starts out seeming more like an anthropomorphic fantasy than a dark urban fantasy / horror story. That's just something I think I'm going to have to live with, because I'm tired of reworking old pages (I already do it far too much). I think my best solution is drawing a new cover that showcases the tone and subject matter better than the one I'm using now.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh god, you reminded me of the 3 cover pages I spent hours on only to later scrap. Then my current cover page I did in one hour after it came to me at 4am(edited)

and it was perfect

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

XD

and my page redoings were after the reboot.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Cap, I don't know how representative it is of the story but I looked up the Ashes cover page and it's very impressive

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, I already redrew my intro once.... and this is the third iteration of this comic. And I'm currently redrawing the first two chapters of my other comic. I'm so sick to death of starting over. -_-

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh, thank you!! I like to go all-out on covers, heh.

Kabocha

Promotion... ... is that a thing you can eat? ... A few things I've tried is business cards -- tweeting about it -- posting about it on dA... I try to stay away from services like Tapas and Webtoon because I'm not formatted for those sorts of things, and I fear I'll probably just frustrate myself. It's a delicate balance right now between remaining happy with my work and getting it seen, but overall, I guess I'm not too stressed about it since it's not a source of income for me... I just... like making comics. I've also done conventions -- Conventions are fun, don't get me wrong, but nowadays they're a really low return on interest for many shows for original stuff (except slice of life and "oh no I did a bad" types of zines -- people seem to really enjoy things like that since it's often pretty easy to relate to). They feel like they used to be easier for selling original work, but the market's gotten rougher because there's so much competition and only so many dollars. if I ever print, I'm probably going to have to lean on some marketing-savvy friends for help... Hopefully things haven't changed too much by then. I think the tool that's worked best for me in the past few years has been doing guest comics here and there, as well as using topwebcomics, oddly enough. TWC was pretty good for referrals when I started doing comics way back in 2006~2007...

sagaholmgaard

Since the topic is about promotion... Do yall know if there are any twitter hashtag events for webcomic creators? My friends in the indie game industry have certain hashtags that people can post in during specific times every week - do we have anything similar?

Kabocha

#Webcomicchat!

https://webcomicchat.com/for-creators You may also find this page helpful

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

#webcomicchat is great because you get to talk shop while talking about your own work! It's not just "look at my comic"

sagaholmgaard

Ahh!! Thank you!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I know some people do #WebcomicWednesday - not sure how official it is, but it gets some attention!

sagaholmgaard

I'll check that one out as well!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

There's also #comicartistsunite too

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

webcomicchat always looked like fun, but I definitively am on the wrong side of the globe for the times it's going on

mirandalorian

Promotion is difficult. I always feel like I'm being too pushy, even for something that's free. I also feel like I built up a following that had nothing to do with comics or art and so when I switched directions to head that way, i don't get the response I would like. Reading all the thoughts here has been really helpful tho. Just got to put them into practice

Feather J. Fern

I think my current attempt for promotion is at least being more willing to promote. I have to force my fear of "I shouldn't tell people because it's not as good as (blank)" and just shove my comic into a spotlight

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

If anyone is worried about bothering people, putting variety into your promotions will make things more palatable for people for sure. I have one person on my timeline spamming the same exact post over and over again, almost daily, and it doesn't seem to be doing them any favors There's no need for a promotion every day. The people I see that do a more-obvious promotion tweet, like, weekly, or every two weeks, seem to get good results from that Sometimes less is more

mirandalorian

I need to get to that point Feathery. And ya, daily is a bit extreme imo. But I have to figure out the good balance

Feather J. Fern

Even weekly I don't do it because I feel like I am spamming and I feel awkward

Oh! Speaking of promotions, one way I found I got my comic promoted was by doing guest comics for other people! I got lots of viewers after each guest comic I did

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, for social media promo, e.g. on Twitter, you want to make your actual tweets have value -- not just things being linked off the tweets. (This is where gag-a-day kinda comics have an advantage, because each strip has entertainment value and you can just post the whole strip in a tweet.) Obviously this doesn't apply to every promo tweet; so like, weekly promo tweet that's solely about the links, as mentioned by others, is fine. But yeah, aside from those, you wanna make your promo tweets fun to read.

Feather J. Fern

Also cameos! Cameos are a great promo

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Not gonna lie, I am lowkey paranoid about doing cameos. Someone I know had to remove their cameo of someone else's character, because that other person objected to their character being in the print version of the comic.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Uff

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh rip

Feather J. Fern

Oh man, that's rough.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'll never even print HoK but I can still imagine someone being all "NOPE, I CHANGED MY MIND" at a later time

Feather J. Fern

I am planning to do some cameos for other people, not that Go Figure will ever be in print but I can see that problem. I think what I would say is that if you want a cameo you have to be 100% certain

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Might be a good idea to have a very simple agreement thing you can have them sign

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was going to have a written consent form

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"I agree to let you do a cameo of my character, and to not be a jerk about it at a later time. Signed"

Feather J. Fern

Signed and dated by both parties XD

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also the broad hashtags like #webcomics and even things more geared to genres like #drama and #fantasy and so on. Doing art memes helps sometimes, too.

mirandalorian

What do you think the best hashtags to use are? Is webcomics too saturdated?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm not sure about the best hashtags, but my biggest thing about hashtags on Twitter : don't use a bunch of hashtags in a single tweet!

For broad hashtags like #webcomics or #fantasy, I gotta wonder if anyone's actually checking those out...

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, I usually tag my update posts with #webcomic and my comic's name, but honestly I have no idea if #webcomic has ever helped out my post ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mirandalorian

Ya, I typically keep it to two or less, but i always wonder if webcomic is actually useful lol

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

takes note to use something more specific than #webcomic in my next update tweet

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think it may potentially be useful as a label for someone who's just found you on that platform, and is not sure what you're promoting. But beyond that...

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I usually use #historicalfiction and #webcomic. Not sure which one helps more, but well, there it is.

mirandalorian

Ya, I should use the genre tag too.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do people even search genre tags for that matter lol (a bit pessimistic, but still a genuine question)

like, I'll be the first to admit, I don't hashtag search to look for new comics to read. I don't think I ever hashtag search ANYTHING, unless it's like..... a very active trend that I am interested in (e.g. an upcoming video game that I'm looking forward to)

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Well, the tags are popular enough to be suggested by twitter so I'd think some use them, probably likeminded folk.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Same keii. I mostly use hashtags to look for fan art, exclusively on Instagram.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also a trend of "art sharing" tweets. I have found a couple of artists and webcomics through that kind of event, but again, the turnover isn't anything to write home about.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I wonder if readers make use of the search more than us creators do?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I doubt it, Lee

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

:/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I never use it as a reader, at any rate, though I don't know if others are like that.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Though, actually that's not true, I have used hashtags to look at more things being posted within art events. So inktober, mermay, hourly comic day, etc.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But art event hashtags are useful, because -- like I mentioned before -- those tweets provide entertainment value without anyone having to click on offsite links. e.g. the #StartToFinish tag that's hot right now.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I have followed new artists from those tags though and then checked out their off-site stuff. It's definitely a more round about way than someone specifically looking for comics to read via hashtag

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

From my limited observation, when people are looking for comics to read, they tend to ask for recs rather than do hashtag search?

"Anyone know of some good magical girl webcomics?" etc

which is a bit of a bummer for us creators, because that is completely outside of our control. Nothing we can do about it.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

here's the popularity for the #webcomics tag

So SOME people use it.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight) I'm gonna guess it's mostly creators using them to promote, rather than readers using them to search.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Also it seems to be peak in popularity in the USA

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) the graph implies interaction, really.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What counts as interaction?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

tweeting it and searching it

what I'm saying is we can't know.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t so much in Twitter, but I personally DO search hashtags on Insta to find new art.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's true, we can't know. I just personally can't imagine anyone searching for #webcomics to find stuff to read

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Insta is definitely hashtag game city.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, IG is a different beast

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Comics don’t generally gel so well with Insta’s format, though, so I’m usually seeking art and not comics.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

just to be safe, occasionally use it

To be honest, I'm probably more likely to find and become a fan of webcomics here on this server than any social media

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, I wouldn't say "don't use #webcomics" -- use it if you have no other, more specific tags to put. But on Twitter, you don't want too many hashtags, so if you got more specific ones... use those instead!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I feel somewhat self conscious in getting an instagram. But I'll get one most likely.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It might be a good idea to switch up your tags regularly? Choose two or three from a relevant list each update and see if any of those tweets get a noticeable boost in engagement.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah that sounds a good strategy

speaking of, any other creators into historical webcomics?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't seek them out, but there's some that I read.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

yours is touching upon the historical keii with the joseon-style elements.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's definitely not historical but yeah, got the aesthetics going for it!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah!

I must admit, I'm a bit starved for like-minded creators. I mean people that create historical webcomics. I know and follow a few but that's not nearly enough.

(if I'm babbling too much for creator babble please tell me!)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Babbling is fine! But this might be better for #general or possibly shop talk as it's not related to this week's topic?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

oh sorry, there's a specific topic here too?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, all the channels under CTP Activities have a... topic thingie that changes weekly

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

okay got it. I'll take it there. Sorry :/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Don't be sorry, be glad to chat about this stuff in another channel

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

With insta please be mindful that if you‘ll always post with the same hashtags, their algorythmn likely will assume you‘re a bot.

mirandalorian

Oh really?

I definitely did not know that.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yup, it‘s a big annoyance. At least it was that way half a year ago, how is the algorythm now? Nobody knows.

I kinda hate insta, but it‘s the platform with the most interactions for me, although I don‘t know if it goes beyound liking my panel cutout.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Instagram does it‘s darnest to lock the user into theor own ecosystem.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, hard same. I definitely get the most likes there, but I get very few referrals from insta.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Funnily, the only social media where I KNOW I got at least one reader from is pillowfort and their teeny-tiny webcomic comunity!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I keep wanting to hop over there, but also starting a new social media sounds exhausting TuT one day.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to start using PF

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s pretty chill, reminds me of the hey-day of livejournal, with great filtering - more intended to create many small communities than one giant pot like twitter.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t think any platform’s algorithms like me. I get very low engagement no matter where I post. I’m just not good at figuring out what these platforms pick up.(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I still have three invites left for this week.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Does cross promotion work for you guys at all?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

A little bit? But I think my comics are a hard sell, so I generally don’t get a lot of referrals when I cross-promote with other creators.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s how I found this community; but otherwise, nope.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Now I need to check out your comics Lee. I'm intrigued!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Haha, if you want to! If they’re not your cup of tea that’s a-okay.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I still have three invites left for this week.

@chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa] if you don't have plans for those invites, I would definitely take one and follow you first

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

About the hashtag thing on Twitter..... I have found the hashtags #webtoon #webtooncanvas and #celebrateCANVASday to be particularly useful for those of us publishing on Webtoon Canvas. I have gained a few new readers from this, and the official Webtoon Canvas page often retweets when these hashtags are used.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

That's good to know. I'm planning to start mirroring on Webtoon so I'll have to be sure to remember to use those tags.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to fix my series on WT first. But I'll give those hashtags a try once that's been done

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I tried using webtoon hashtags a few times, but their page never retweeted me. It seems either random, or there’s some hidden requirement for getting a rt.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

i use the tag sometimes but I found it more responsive if you have a vertical scrolling format comic

then they're more likely to respond to you

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Oh, yeah.... I use a traditional page format.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

same rip

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I do combine all my pages into long episodes at the ends of chapters, so it’s kinda scrolling, but they’re just traditional pages stacked on top of each other, lol. WT definitely doesn’t like that, but I don’t have the time to reformat hundreds of pages.

Feather J. Fern

Also promo thought, I randomly joined people's streams before and then got hooked on their comics after seeing them draw on twitch or something like that

Pistashi

I struggle a bit with promo stuff, because I get too self-conscious about self-promoting and I'm the type of person that ends up doing too much of it or none of it

at the moment I'm working on making a press kit and sharing it with some blogs and networks about comics

but still, what I usually do is join groups and try to talk with people that works with art and comics

this is kind of more inclined to networking and meeting new people to talk about what we like than promoting my work to potential readers

nothing wrong with that, but looking with a more critical eye I still have a lot to learn about building an audience and reaching people who could become future readers

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I wonder HOW much a large social media following is worth. Insta‘s shown me that it isn‘t necessarily translating into readers.

carcarchu

in my experience followings on different platforms are non-transferable. same goes with having a large following on your comic itself, doesn't necessarily mean having a lot of followers on your art accounts. that's why they say "don't build your sandcastle in someone else's sandbox"

Pistashi

that makes a lot of sense

kayotics

If you’re building your following around your own content (original art, comic updates, etc) then the likelihood that the following is transferable is higher, but it’s still not 100%. You’re competing with everything else on their timeline too.

RebelVampire

i think a thing to consider with webcomics especially when it comes to social media is that a good portion of people who follow comic creators on social media are other comic creators, not people who are just readers. and the good majority of comic creators do not have a lot of time to read other webcomics. While there are certainly exceptions, I see those very few and far in between. So the conversion rates for social media right now are super low until the dynamic of the communities on the platforms changes.

kayotics

I’d agree with that, but also having a social media presence has definitely opened up some doors to being seen by other creators, many of whom are professionals. It’s good for networking, might not be the best for gaining and retaining readers.

RebelVampire

Oh yeah for sure. My point was about conversion factor

its factor in networking is a whole other matter entirely

and is indespensible

kayotics

One thing that I didn’t mention for myself is that networking has helped a LOT with getting new readers. Word of mouth, is always the best way to advertise, and other webcomic people giving you a plug can see some really strong results