#watch this actually get notes because i draw a popular character

[tatonslice]

draw le fishe pretty please may you

his name gourt kirimi crimes several counts of murder

[hetalian-veteran]

The Draw of the Hetalia Fandom (and Why You Can Never Leave)

From the perspective of a fan of (technically) twelve years or so.

Something occurred to me a while back, and I wanted to share it to get other people's thoughts. I'll try to add funny pictures and gifs to break up the wall of text so it won't be as exhausting to read.

I made a post the other day about how the Hetalia fandom always draws you back in. This was, of course, based on the joke about how you can never really leave the Hetalia fandom. A joke you can find virtually everywhere you look in fan spaces online.

But this begs the question. Why? Why can't you ever truly leave the Hetalia fandom? What is it about this fandom that consistently draws you back in?

And note that people don't talk about Hetalia itself, but rather its fandom. You could stop watching the show or reading the comics for years, but the fandom is what won't fully leave you be.

(The Hetalia fandom every time you check to see if it's dead yet).

One answer I've heard has to do with the phenomenon known as Associative Memory, where you can learn and remember the relationship between unrelated items.

For example, you watch Hetalia, a series about the countries of the world personified as anime characters. These characters have their own personalities, traits, quirks, etc. And the more you watch the show and get into the fandom, the more you start to associate these things with one another.

For instance, someone can say the word Italy, and I'll start thinking about Feliciano Vargas. Or someone could say the name Matthew Williams, and I automatically associate that with Canada. Or I could see bushy eyebrows and immediately start thinking of APH England. Heck, someone starts talking about Vikings and my thoughts almost always go to the Viking Trio of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I could go on, but you get the idea.

And there's also the fact that we live in a world full of the countries that the show has personified characters of, which would in turn likely remind you of Hetalia.

But there's something more here going on. I've thought about it for a long while, and I think I've realized one of the biggest reasons why you can't fully leave the fandom.

It's because of how versatile the characters of the series can be in fan content. Allow me to explain.

(Me preparing to explain to everyone the epiphany that came to me one dark, stormy night).

Hetalia is a series with literally no plot. Like, zero. Some episodes may impact each other, but the overall series is episodic in nature. The only episodes you'd have to watch in order would be the ones going over the miniature love story between Chibitalia and HRE. And then there's the sequence of episodes going over the Industrial Revolution in season seven, and then the sequence of episodes explaining the relationship between Czechia and Slovakia. But that's it. And the Industrial Revolution and Czechia and Slovakia episodes aired in the latter seasons, long after the fandom was already very big and well established.

The episodes are largely adaptations from the original webcomic and thus are all a bunch of skits haphazardly thrown together. So I'll reiterate what I said earlier; there is no real, canonical plot to Hetalia. There are canon events and facts about canon characters, but seeing as the show is largely skits, they aren't tied down to any real narrative.

(The Hetalia fandom whenever they're given a piece of canon they don't like).

This leaves a lot of room for headcanons. Which leads to fans sharing their headcanons online. And when headcanons get super popular, they become fanon. And when a piece of fanon gets super popular, where it finds itself getting mingled with fanart, fanfiction, and even fan theories, you'll have people who start to confuse it with actual canon. There's really a lot to be said for the wild fanon of Hetalia, but I'll get to that another day. I need to turn the focus back onto the characters themselves.

I'm just gonna put it out there. The Hetalia characters are largely one-note. This isn't to say there isn't some depth to a few of the characters, but these characters are largely the epitome of "what you see is what you get." Especially in the early days of the series. The characters all have a set of straightforward, basic character traits, with their interpersonal relationships often being displayed in a very simplistic manner.

For example, Italy is a pasta-loving coward who's a massive flirt. Germany is strict and authoritative with a no-nonsense attitude. Japan is quiet and soft-spoken, only speaking up when he feels the need. America is a bombastic dork with a hero complex. England is an arrogant stick in the mud. France is a hopeless romantic who flirts with anything that has a pulse.

(Me taking a moment to pause and push away the cringy middle school memories of me shamelessly fangirling in class).

And as I said, their relationships are typically portrayed as simplistic as well. Italy annoys Germany, but Germany doesn't want to get rid of him because he's one of his only friends. England and France hate each other. America is that hyper-extroverted friend trying to get his introverted friend, Japan, out of his shell. Switzerland and Lichtenstein have a sweet sibling dynamic. And Prussia and Austria are portrayed as old friends who like to antagonize one another.

Because of the way the characters and their interpersonal relationships are written, this also lends them open to a lot of headcanons and eventual fanon. Not to mention that most of the characters have canon, human names. So if you want to use these characters in a fanfiction, particularly one where you don't want to depict them as countries (which is most fanfics), you have names at the ready that you can use.

And because of the simple way the characters are written, you can potentially write or portray these characters however you want in fanwork without too many people complaining that someone "isn't in character." There is so much room for your own interpretations of the characters. As long as you keep some of their basic personality traits from the series intact, you can portray the characters however you want. Especially because there's no real canonical storyline to drag them down. Because of the lack of canon storyline, you don't have to worry about fanworks being canon-compliant, canon-divergent, or canon-adjacent.

(Fanfic writers when they realize canon cannot stop them from creating whatever they want).

Do you want to portray Romano as the notorious mafia boss, Lovino Vargas, in the 1930s? Go ahead. As long as you can keep some of his cowardly and stubborn nature intact, you can do what you want with little trouble.

Do you want to portray England as the infamous pirate, Arthur Kirkland, in the 17th century? As long as you maintain his disdain for France, have at it!

Do you want to write a college AU with all of the characters present? As long as you keep in mind their personalities and have a basic understanding of their interpersonal relationships, have fun!

Now you're probably sitting there thinking, "Big deal, people can create all kinds of fanwork, regardless of what its content is, or what property it's for. What makes the Hetalia fandom so special?"

It's special because, since Hetalia is a series with almost zero canonical storylines, and the characters are portrayed in such a simplistic way, both of which lend their way to boatloads of headcanons and fanon, as well as small scraps of canon information that we can choose to either ignore or elaborate like crazy on...

Hetalia is a freaking goldmine for creating all kinds of fan content.

(Hetalians when creating the 2p! variations of the characters, probably).

So much fan content is out there. From creepypastas, to Hetaoni, Dreamtalia, the 2p! characters, historically accurate AU's, school AU's, and so, so much more. All because the canon is just loose enough to allow all kinds of fan content to be created and not seem too far off from the series or characters.

And that fan content ends up being way, way more fun than the actual series itself! Don't get me wrong, I still love the show, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't (or currently don't) have a freaking blast every time I engage with fan content. The creativity is insane, and the fanon is even more fun and entertaining.

The reason you cannot fully leave the Hetalia fandom isn't just because of Associative Memory, but because of the immense amount of fan content and fanon where, because of the nature of the series, you can do, write, draw, and create whatever you want. You can project onto these characters and their stories and interpret them to your own personal tastes. And you know what? That's a heck of a lot of fun.

And there you go, that's my two cents.

[saltydkdan]

Hello Salt man! You seem like an unhinged enough weeb for this question:

I’m going to be the president of the anime club in my highschool this year and have no fucking idea what I should do for activities and shit.

Any ideas? If not, that’s perfectly fine too!

(Also thank you for reblogging my Peppy drawing it made my day ^^)

No problem! I loved the art

I think it’s pretty obvious for an Anime club to watch Anime, however that shit is basic, and I have some unhinged ideas.

Trivia (the least unhinged)

—Make a trivia game on PowerPoint, or on Kahoot that feature questions based on various popular anime. Get specific and weird for the harder questions.

Anime Debate Club

—(be careful with this one because depending on the group it may get heated lol)

—At the end of a meeting, choose to random anime characters

—Tell members that they can pick sides on which of the two would win in a fight, then between meetings, bring together their arguments for why, they have to have actual citation and examples of the character’s powers, or reference specific canon material

—Bonus points if one of the debate teams puts together a PowerPoint slideshow on a character’s power set, or the other characters weaknesses

—Have a judge award points for valid arguments, but have them be cracked out of their minds about it (For example, awarding points to “Comedy” characters, like if an Osumatsu-San character surviving a Ki blast could be funny? That’s a point towards them. LMAO)

NOTES: Obviously the characters chosen cannot be Goku, Vegeta, Saitama, or in general overpowered characacters. Also, having completely fucking insane match ups, or wildly specific match ups is recommended. Like Bobobo VS Dio Brando from Jojo. Or General Tao from Dragon Ball VS Gojo.

If the fight is extremely one sided, just make a list of all the ways that one side would fucking dominate because that shit is fucking funny LOL.

Weekly Book Club but for anime

—This isn’t really “unhinged” but I recently did a manga book club with friends weekly and it was super cool to meet up and discuss the chapters of a particular series and such

—You can do this for anime and assign a set number of episodes, OR do manga and provide a way to read it online

—Rotate out series every so often so people don’t feel like they’re focusing all their attention to a single series the entirety of the year

—This could be a fun thing to do casually between meetings and to talk about a little at the start

Pitch your favorite

—Have people make a short presentation on PowerPoint to pitch their favorite series that’s 3-5 minutes each, or whatever depending on how many people you have

—If you wanna make it funny make it so they HAVE to include both Pros, AND Cons about it. (Like for One Piece: PRO would be the amazing worldbuilding, and a CON would be that Oda cannot draw women)

Make an Epic OC

—Force people to design OCs for a specific series for that week. If they can draw and want to, they can draw them. If they can’t draw? Make it a stick figure, or a shitty drawing a child would make. And have them make a small write up about the character and their powers.

—This can easily be taken seriously, or just have them make an overpowered self insert, all of it is fine

Anyway that’s all my ideas! Hope this helps or inspires some of your own unhinged ideas

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

i keep thinking about ocelot takarazuka i dont really see the influence like he just looks like a middle age guy with masc features manner and fashion so what do you think the artist actually meant? there's nothing feminine about ocelot like how does the "is that a man or woman" thing play in here cause i don't see it. He's not like raiden or raikov. He's just a guy 🧍‍♂️so how does the all female theatre thing apply

Hello Anon! Full, immediate disclosure, this answer is messy and disjointed. I probably don't even answer the question your asking end of the day, but I'll try my best.

I believe this is the post you're wondering about?

As I said in this earlier post I'm not a Japanese speaker, so I have to go on interpretation, and what has been offered by the translations available. I can't help but think there is going to be some sort of nuance missing as a result, but I'll do my best.

To start, I think you and I might have a slightly different view on masculine and feminine-to me the two concepts are pretty interchangeable, but I do understand where you're (probably, I don't know you personally after all) are coming from and that, no, Ocelot doesn't have many traditional 'feminine' characteristics.

You'll note that in the original post, Shinkawa refers to getting inspiration from the idea of 'women in their 40's (the age Ocelot almost is in MGSV)' and 'long, flashing eyelashes'. (My interpretation here is that by this, he means in the way long eyelashes that are considered sexy have an eye-catching flow to them. Sort of like how we can say 'fluttering lashes'. Intended to draw a person's gaze in, and command their presence).

Doing some cursory research tells me that the Takarazuka Revue (because Takarazuka is also a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.) is an all-female musical troupe located within that same city. Started in 1913, by Ichizō Kobayashi.

(I also got distracted by this version that is a performance of Casino Royale, so there's that)

Anyway, ahem.

"Kobayashi believed that it was the ideal spot to open an attraction of some kind that would boost train ticket sales and draw more business to Takarazuka. Since Western song and dance shows were becoming more popular and Kobayashi considered the kabuki theater to be old and elitist."

Throughout the article, there is also this;

"Takarazuka has had a profound influence on the history of anime and manga, especially shōjo manga.[27][28] Osamu Tezuka, a highly influential manga creator, grew up in the town of Takarazuka. His mother knew many of the Takarazuka actresses, and as a child he knew them and watched many of their performances"

I can assume that the performances have a lot of influence on media, and it's not uncommon for MGS to take inspiration. There could be an entire article on the things MGS takes inspiration from, even outside the most obvious like Escape from New York, character model bases, etc.

Cycling back to the original point, (there is also a video that exact post comes from, but I don't have the link on hand, on YouTube *no translations). I think that it's entirely possible Shinkawa took 'loose' inspiration, or a little more. I can see why and how he might've based Ocelot's look on the idea. (Loose shirt, tight pants, scarf open neck). But there is also the element of which Takarazuka is a performance, more than anything.

It's acting. Playing. Something Ocelot does all the time. Half of his time on screen, he's putting on some kind of performance. While this is something he does the least in MGSV, that never fully changes 100%. (And after all, he's also hypnotized for most of the plot). So there's a counter argument to be had that this is one of his greatest performances pre-MGS4. But that's a different post.

Ocelot presents/is masculine. But, he has longer eyelashes, his clothes are a little more 'free' than the standard military garb when he's allowed to choose his own outfit. (Again this is specifically MGSV Ocelot, though there's something to be said about his chosen attire being such a sharp 3 piece later on).

At the end of the day, maybe a way you can look at it is to say that, Shinkawa looked to Takarazuka when designing MGSV Ocelot to give him a sort of 'flow' to his looks. He was attracted to the idea of taking elements from Takarazuka, because Ocelot is a performer, and he sees some possibility for feminine additions in his looks *or* might've thought it more 'fitting' than Kabuki.

But again, I don't know if we see fully masculine and feminine the same way, (and maybe Shinkawa personally associates long eyelashes with sexy women; or women made up to look like men but with longer lashes) I can't know for sure myself. I think you would need a native or very good Japanese speaker to interpret it fully.

If I was to offer you a personal opinion-I can see it. I can see where there's a draw that one might have with the look, and where Shinkawa might've gotten said inspiration. But I am not entirely certain how to put that into words either? My perspective isn't going to be 1-to-1 of yours either.

Maybe someone else can interpret all this better than me, I definitely feel as if I've not done this justice at all. Because at the end of the day, I don't see a hard divide in masculine and feminine in Ocelot, but I think that you, Anon, see him as 100% masculine. But again, I can't speak for you and I am not sure.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/740136068340482048/the-funniest-dni-i-ever-encountered-in-all-my-12?source=share

As a House Martell stan, it's been interesting to watch the evolution of that particular corner of the ASOIAF fandom over the years. For a while, because they were less present on the show (and their actual focus on the show was pretty bungled), they were mostly the favorites of superfans who'd read the books and therefore were deeply devoted to the whole ASOIAF universe, and given how much that means memorizing various types of Targaryen incest over the years, were almost never antis. A lot of people were also drawn to that they were the ~sexy, liberated house, as well as there being a fair number of POC who identified with some of the few non-white people in those books who were actually fully-realized characters (in the books, not so much in the show). IME it was usually people who were also shipping a lot of the other popular "problematic" ships in the fandom like Jaime/Cersei and Sansa/Petyr Baelish.

Then, at some point - particularly after the show ended and the fandom shrunk a lot - it got infected with a bunch of people writing long essays about how Daenerys and the entire Targaryen family were inherently "white supremacist" (previously, it had been more common for POC and other fans who focused on anti-racism to stan Daenerys, and point out that what the final season did with her was some white bullshit that tried to conflate killing oppressors like slavers with killing poor downtrodden people) and there ended up being a fandom fight between those people who saw the Targaryens as the more racist house or the Starks, but they all stanned Martells but in a very shallow sort of way just because they were the POC house. It's also worth nothing that Dorne has equal primogeniture - women can inherit, and in the books it's Doran's eldest daughter, Arianne, who is his heir, even though he has two younger sons - and it also is more accepting of LGBTQ+ people and bastards and general "sex outside of marriage" than most of the rest of Westeros, so it attracts a lot of people who are into them for that reason. I mean, I like them for that reason among others, but of course that's going to be a magnet to people who want to prove that they're extra special progressive for stanning them over like, the Lannisters.

Also, probably worth noting, the people in the second group were generally younger. Book-centric fans generally tend to be older IME in ASOIAF fandom. I feel like whenever a fandom is younger, there's more likely to be more anti behavior.

Anyway it was very weird to get back into ASOIAF when I read Fire and Blood and then when House of the Dragon started airing, and feeling like "my corner" of the fandom had become completely unrecognizable in my absence.

Also, I suspect it's probably drawing in some people who just really like Pedro Pascal. (It was better when it was drawing in the Alexander Siddig stans from DS9 fandom, snerk. Although even that fandom has had an obnoxious influx of younger purity-policing virtue-signalling types discovering it these days, writing stupid discourse about how Garak/Garashir is problematic and people should instead ship characters who don't like each other that much and don't interact much one-on-one because the combinations of them are more progressive or something.... sigh! Anyway, probably not helped by the fact that Game of Thrones completely wasted him, even though his character was one of the best ones in the books and a big one that drew me into loving House Martell. He would've been great as book!Doran, but alas....)

I'm also going to say that as others have pointed out, I'll always be mystified by the fact that ASOIAF even HAS antis. If you're that opposed to incest, age-disparate relationships, violence, etc. anything controversial, how can you stan the actual canon of that show? Or the books, which arguably have even more rape and incest and ephebephilia going on. It just seems like you'd have to have a very adversarial relationship with canon to a point that I just don't understand why you don't pick another fandom. Of course, it's probably really just that antis are hypocrites.

--

Hypocrites, yes. But also drawn to material that they're not comfortable being drawn to. The younger they are, the more the cognitive dissonance makes them act out.

I don't condone it, but I do understand it.

[woodenfawn]

Re Zero Highschool AU Concept

very new to tumblr, sorry if i mess anything up!

mey and i just talked about this and threw it together and had a lot of fun with it XD I'm at arc 6 and mey is anime-only so far, so some things may be inaccurate, and some characters are not included!

If there are things you want to suggest please do, but any spoilers should be either really vague or plot-irrelevant (like, outside of main plot developments. Side stories are fine i think!) mey's notes from our conversation, I'll put some of my individual thoughts in at the end (Thank you @tanya-degurechaff for letting me ramble about my blorbos for so long! and watching re zero!!! and everything!!!)

Click on the keep reading to see all the notes, i think???

Shitty Re:Zero Highschool AU

All the king candidates are all part of the Student Body, all running for Student Body President. That's the competition.

Emilia is an awkward transfer student. Her step-dad, Betelgeuse, had to move for work purposes. She looks a lot like the weird girl, Satella, which people isolate her for. Emilia deepest secret: watches 70s TV shows. Her clothes look vintage. She watches Antique Roadshow. When she goes to Anime Club, she finds out the anime she likes are very out of date. (Astroboy). 

Subaru is the leader of the anime club and he instantly falls in love with Emilia and invites her to join. She takes the invite. Besides anime club, he also goes to the QSA, but as a student named Natsumi Schwartz and it's 100% convincing everyone.

Julius hates Subaru guys he swears. Julius is the captain of the fencing team and hangs out with Reinhard very often. He and Reinhard go to the chess club every Wednesday after school. Julius is also a secret LARP-er and goes to Ren fairs as a cool knight. 

Reinhard is a straight-A, valedictorian, star of all of the sports team golden students. He's planned to take the Astrea Company after he graduates. Secretly, Reinhard wants to be a shoujo manga artist. He keeps his shitty Manga in a pink sketchbook at the back of his locker. He goes to the Anime Club with Subaru and that's the only time he can draw.

Otto had a lot of trouble in elementary school and barely talked, rather interested in his anthills instead of people. As he got older, he started making friends and now hangs out at the anime club. He's known as the student janitor, cleaning up after everyone else. He also lays facedown in dirt talking to bugs. He's autistic and has a special interest… in bugs/nature in general. Sensitive hearing, uses noise canceling headphones. Scalper. Theater Tech. Stage manager. 

Garfiel is a freshman who's known to cause a lot of trouble and hates school. He's actually a youtuber who makes shitty rage roblox and minecraft trolling videos in his freetime. He's quite popular with elementary school boys. Calls Subaru Captain in school, follows him around. Great at sports

Rem is a VTuber for LugunicaEN. Her Oni form is her Vtuber model. Very popular for her genuine talks, she does ASMR, gives advice to people. She's very kind. Writes fanfiction. 

Ram is just a girl 👍. Mobility aid user. 

Priscilla is a theater girl, she acts like she is the best actress. Tries for all the lead elegant female roles. She's a good actor, just a little bit annoying. 

Roswaal is the theater teacher.

Wilhelm principal 

Crusch also does Fencing Club. She's very academically intelligent, though struggles socially. A good leader.

Ferris is the TA for the nurse. Also Vtuber for LugunicaEN. Openly part of the QSA, no one realizes she's a girl somehow. Girlfriends lesbians Crusch.

Liliana is an older student who gets held back, joins theater because she's a great singer. Priscilla has a sexuality crisis and becomes a woman lover.

Anastasia is part of the student body beforehand.

Otto is friends with Subaru's mom.

The triplets are all in the DnD club. It's just the three of them. Mimi is a Berserker.

Subaru is good artist, great at sewing. 

Ferris can also draw. They draw together and talk about their girlfriends. 

Emilia CANNOT draw. Worse than Reinhard.

Puck is the cool teacher, knows everything. Wise…

Beatrice is the librarian. Looks like a student, is not. Never leaves the school, no one knows why. 

Echindna is a history/english/science etc. Teacher, teaches everything no one else teaches. How is she doing this.

Satella is a weird girl who has never really talked to anyone. Advises the anime club, no one talks to her. Has a weird shrine in the girl's bathroom. 

Minerva is the school therapist, part of the health and social relationships classes. She's just so sweet… she takes care of the therapy dogs. Aggressively supportive of everyone. She's like a shaking chihuahua. Tries to act threatening, is just not. Really likes Emilia.

Felt is the youngest running for student body. She really wants two lunchtimes. That's her goal. 

Rom is the gym teacher 

Fredrica is the older sister of Garfiel, top student. She and Crusch are friends. Ready to graduate, just a girl. Trying to control her younger brother.

Henkel stands outside of Reinhard's class window shaking his head in disappointment.

Reinhard likes magical girls a lot, he just wants to help. He genuinely loves power of friendship stories. Really likes Tokyo Mew Mew and made Felt watch it. Reinhard likes to cosplay magical girls for cons and drags Felt along. 

Subaru convinces Reinhard to get Tumblr, does not know how to use it. Reinhard: "Dear Diary, I had breakfast today, two eggs and a toast." He also texts using the glitter flowers gifs with shiny text.

Al is a stage crew guy who follows Priscilla around. Otto doesn't know what to think about him. 

Otto disappears for days at a time. He is camping.

Garfiel is secretly a furry. His fursona is based on Garfield. Has commissioned Ferris.

Ferris is a furry artist. The Vtuber and Furry stuff is completely different.

Garfiel almost stopped going to school, Subaru convinced him to stay because he's been there before. Garfiel respects Subaru because of this and that's why he follows him around.

Petra is an elementary schooler who visits the highschool. On friendly terms with all the teachers. Why is this child here. 

Elsa is the science teacher, especially biology. Seems just fine at first, but has some… moments that's a bit terrifying. Everyone ignores that.

Meli is a future scientist, best friends with Elsa.

Gluttony twins are great students and hang out in the cafeteria all the time. Right below Reinhard, Crusch and Julius. Acts like delinquents.. 

Regulus is a horrible teacher. Terrible man. The kind of teacher that's like "your learning depends on how I'm feeling today", hated by everyone. 

Capella is not in the school… she. She is not in this au. Gets booted in this HS au.

Sirius is a very sweet teacher. She's the kind of teacher that's almost childish, really wants everyone to get along. She almost seems condescending, but she's genuine about it. Obsessed with Betelgeuse, every time he visits Emilia, she flirts. 

Pandora is the one who keeps Regulus in line. A faculty member. Philosophy Teacher.

Hector is a sad janitor man. Otto took over his job.

Tonchinkan are the three school delinquents, but strangely friends with Felt and therefore associated with Reinhardt (who's trying to keep them in line).

Daphne is the Lunch lady. 

Typhon is a student who's really into philosophy. Bad at it. Misquotes things often. Probably says a Lord of the Rings quote trying to be smart. Googles "how 2 be smart"

Sekhmet is a no nonsense teacher, she doesn't like being a teacher, but good at her job.

Individual notes:

We initially thought this up because we were joking about a Subaru-Reinhardt-Julius highschool fanfiction, cause honestly the way they're written in-story would fit that so well, and ended up making this whole thing...

I think the witches should all be staff/teachers of some sort, except for typhon maybe?

We set wilhelm as the principal just by vibes, but we have some ideas that would clash with the concept. maybe the dragon is the principal and nobody's seen him XD

Reinhardt's story in more detail: he's a straight A student (the kind with over 100% in all of his classes) who joined all of the sports but skipped it a lot because he was just so good at it and also he prioritized chess club. Julius is in a similar position. Subaru then invited him to the anime club (being the idiot he [she?] is) and Reinhardt accepted because "friend!!!!" he found his love for shoujo anime and now tries drawing his own. he's okay at drawing girls but awful at drawing guys. He picked up crossdressing from Ferris and Subaru and had a full identity crisis when he realized Ferris was transfem and Subaru is an egg (or closeted transfem or bigender or something). he realized he's just a cis man who likes crossdressing but he had to put his shoujo down for a little while... now he forces Felt to cosplay as a magical girl with him. She secretly has fun! Every time Heinkel shows up outside his classroom window he just... slides his sparkly pink sketchbook back into his backpack

Subaru sews the cosplay fits!

We said sirius is sweeter in this AU because i don't think anything would trigger her more extreme views in this story, and mey can't tell me if that's right or wrong cause they haven't met her yet XD i might be but i think a sweeter role fits her!

Rem and Ferris are in the same vtubing group. they refuse to talk about it

Emilia picked up her outdated language from old shows and anime! She joined the anime club because she was excited to talk about the old old anime she loves, and when subaru talks about waifus she just thinks "ah, like that lum girl!"

Julius has either really really good taste in anime or really really bad taste.

Subaru's just picking up friends cause he's too chaotic to follow the atmosphere, and the people he tried to become friends with just so happen to need someone like him!

Subaru WILL try to woo emilia with anime pick up lines

When Rem develops a sleeping disorder that makes her fall asleep while standing up sometimes, she becomes wheelchair buddies with Ram! Ram is determined to push herself (though she'll let Emilia do it sometimes) and Subaru helps Rem out!

Rom is a very sweet teacher. everyone is scared of him at first but they all call him grandpa at the end (teasing, but lovingly). Felt is actually his adopted granddaughter, and when she got to highschool it got a little awkward but made some very funny moments!

Ram is a very good student in some places but very bad in others. They don't know what to do with her. Sometimes she gets an A and it's clear she didn't cheat but sometimes she fails. sometimes in class she knows everything and WILL show off and sometimes she's straight up asleep. Nobody can figure out the pattern.

Otto will sometimes skip class and teachers either don't notice or just say "oh he's probably doing janitor stuff we shouldn't bother him."

can patrasche be the very aggressive therapy dog

i think i should stop here before i write a whole book

we haven't even got a fanfiction planned or anything we just talked about this for a few hours

if anyone does want to write a fanfiction that would be hilarious and send it to us please

[the-monkey-ruler]

starting to think novel fans should chill out about inaccuracies in lmk like it’s doing its own thing like china, japan, and others have. it gets weirder when they use a shield like ‘protecting chinese culture’ like i understand with smth like the disney adaption, but not with a show that’s popular with chinese kids.

I mean… I think it is less with how inaccurate it is and more than it kinda getting the message of the novel is being spread as something that it is not. There are a lot of Westerners for whom this is their first introduction to Xiyouji and, yes, there is a lot of misinformation going around because of the creative liberties but I don't think it's coming from a place of "Oh it's different and it's bad," but more "People that are watching this cartoon should understand that this is a reimagining of the world and shouldn't take it so seriously when they try to critic Xiyouji despite never reading it."

Let me start that taking a new twist on Xiyouji media is nothing new. Like I get doing new things is fun and interesting and draws in a new audience and Xiyouji fans are NOT unused to having different Xiyouji re-tellings that range from horribly inaccurate but something being the most beloved things to be very accurate and being mid.

But that is because of how the characters are driven and what I think is the biggest issue that LMK has had with its storytelling. They have been making a lot of character choices that I think really undermine what Xiyouji is about and how it kinda is disrespectful to use something so deeply ingrained with Chinese culture and almost sweep away any reference it has to Daoism or Buddism and make it very… one-sided in that regard.

Like for what LMK is… it's fine. REALLY. It's a cute cartoon. A lot of Chinese people enjoy it and no one is trying to say that isn't true.

But what is true is that a lot of Westerns are being introduced into Chinese culture and folklore and there have been many cases of… insensitivity to say the least to blatant racism to say the most.

But I think a lot of fans of Xiyouji understand that there have been centuries of misrepresentation of Chinese, and other Eastern cultures, in Western societies and the response to wanting to correct inaccuracies comes from simply wanting to be represented in a good light. I would think that if Flying Bark was to take a new spin on other media without so much cultural significance they can do amazing but I can see where a lot of misinterpretation of the source material in Western fans is leading to high tensions.

The issue I've seen is how Western fans have really taken things like LMK or Overly Sarcastic Production, both Western adaptions of the novel, and taken that as pure fact. Again I'm not trying to say they are bad, I am saying they are interpretations all on their own and shouldn't be considered 'canon.'

I think fans trying to correct these inaccuracies in the fandoms as a way to try to say "Hey this culturally important piece of literature actually has a lot more meaning and ingrained messages that cannot be separated from the source material and shouldn't be interpreted as such by Western standards." and most cases being blown off for trying to correct these takes in Western fan bases.

Personally, I think that there has been lack of Wukong or his journeymates' perspectives has caused more confusion than anything else. Also with the depictions of heaven as well. And trust me this would not be the first time that Heaven was seen as 'the bad guy' in Xiyouji media but…. they just make it so clear that Wukong in this series has nothing working for him and it's because this creates a lot of discourse.

I do genuinely do enjoy LMK Sun Wukong, he isn't a fav but he is a delight, but I think the narrative that he is incompetent, incapable, illiterate, and a one-noted character has been taken too far at this point. I know this is not his story but, it's Xiaotian's, but it really feels like the studio is so insecure that Xiaotian can be a good hero on his own that they need to make Wukong seem more incompetent to make Xiaotian the one to fix his mistakes.

It is a very unbalanced dichotomy that I feel Flying Bark is not handling well personally, always pushing aside Wukong's point of view in favor of villains for the sake of "drama" and suspense and while that can be interesting… the balance just makes it feel too one-sided.

I also feel the crew of LMK has gotten too involved with Fandom culture. Reminds me a bit too much of Legends of Voltron fandom and how that kind of fan to Creator communication can be… dangerous to say the least.

I can't say I can agree with you anon with the amount of disrespect I've seen from some fans in the LMK fandom with its treatment of Eastern regions, customs, and even the language itself. I think that LMK fans trying to dissuade these attitudes are trying to stop the wave of disrespect by using the book but really reducing such a culturally important piece of media to just 'silly little legos' does reflect in reducing Chinese culture that is ingrained and cannot be separated from the original source material into something like an aesthetic really does damage.

Chinese films that play around with the idea of Sun Wukong can do so successfully because the established idles of Xiyouji are never changed while I feel that so many LMK fans taking the show too seriously in their interpretation of the novel and even Buddism, Daoist, and Chinese folks lore can be damaging.

Lego Monkie Kid as a show is fine. It's not the most groundbreaking or even the biggest Xiyouji media I've seen here but it's a fine show.

But I think some fans are trying to dissuade Western fans from reducing Chinese culture to something 'otherly worldly’ just being of the colonialism connections that the West has had with taking Eastern media and reducing it to products.

[nabexis]

Speedpaint and Artist notes under the cut

If you recognize this fandom send me fic recs, please!!

Decided to try a bit more of a painting style instead of my usual cell-shaded style with this one. I started tracing trying to get a feel for the character's poses, but go with more my style for the actual drawing.

Look, I Binged and rewatched the 10th Kingdom all in one day and while it is definitely early 2000s hashtag problematic I will always have a soft spot for it.

I hadn't watched this all the way through in probably… 20 years now? jesus, I'm old And I realized upon rewatch that I'd watched it FAR too young. Wolf is SO FREAKING HORNY OMFG. I hadn't remembered that but like. JESUS CHRIST.

Also Idk if it's because I watched it at double speed, but Wolf was more like a puppy than what we now think of as "wolfish" character archetypes? He's more like the old Looney Tunes caricature of a wolf, rather than the "lone wolf" archetype that's more popular in fantasy nowadays. Really interesting characterization when compared to modern film tropes.

Also the immediate turn around having ONE (1) session of Therapy was played for laughs but it made me get plot bunnies about how it could be rewritten today. Because ultimately it seemed like a relatively healthy thing he was doing, reading self help books and taking them to heart (even when they gave bad advice, unfortunately). Anyway, I'm fascinated and Virginia and Wolf are just gonna live rent free in my head for a while, I think.

[natlacentral]

Kiawentiio grew up loving ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender,’ and now she’s bringing the cartoon to life: ‘I did my best’

Kiawentiio is starring in a Netflix show. It's a sentence she's still processing.

"Growing up as a little native girl on my reservation, I never thought that this was something I’d even be able to do," she tells TODAY.com. "It was completely out of reach in my mind. So when I got the role, when we were filming and even now, it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that it’s all real."

Kiawentiio, a 17-year-old actor and singer from the Mohawk people, plays Katara, a beloved character from “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” in Netflix's live-action remake. The show hit the streaming platform Feb. 22 and quickly soared to No. 1 on Netflix's list of top TV shows in the U.S.

Before this, Kiawentiio appeared in "Beans" and guest-starred in Season Three of "Anne with an E." Now, she's adapting a cult classic cartoon and faces a fandom that's hesitant to trust a remake, still sensitive about the previous attempt, a film released in 2010.

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" ran for three seasons on Nickelodeon, from 2005 to 2008. The show achieved worldwide success and a cult following that only grew once the show was added to Netflix in May 2020. Like the live-action show, it became the most popular show in the U.S. on the streaming platform within days.

In a world full of "benders," people who can manipulate one of four elements — water, earth, fire and air — a group of friends embark on an adventure to save the world from impending war and destruction.

The story begins as Katara and her brother Sokka (played in the new live action by Ian Ousley) find a boy named Aang (Gordon Cormier) frozen in an iceberg. Aang turns out to be the long-hidden "Avatar," a bender with power over all four elements who's been promised to bring stability to the world.

Kiawentiio is a longtime fan of the original series and never thought she'd get to play one of the characters she grew up watching.

"The fact that I do get to play her, I cherish these moments, even the rough ones," she says. "When we were filming, there was a lot that I was trying to deal with at the same time. But even in all those moments, I do my best to stay grateful because of how lucky and blessed I actually am to to be in this situation."

Friendship is a core component to the series, and Kiawentiio says the focus on community in the show translated to set. She says she first met the rest of the cast at a boot camp, and was initially intimidated by some of the others — including Dallas Liu, who plays one of the main antagonists, Zuko. But the cast quickly found a close bond that she says will last long after production wrapped.

"With playing Katara, meeting the other cast members and becoming family with them, that is something that we are locked in for life," she says. "We’ve talked about this before, we’re gonna be at each other’s weddings type thing. I’m so grateful to have that, a second family formed for ever."

The whole cast had the difficult task of portraying existing, beloved characters, in addition to trying to translate a two-dimensional character to the screen.

“To have other people who are going through the exact same thing that you’re going through, it really strengthens our bond as a crew." she says.

There will always be differences watching something live action compared to a cartoon, Kiawentiio notes — but they can actually be for the better.

“So much more emotion comes, I mean, just seeing an actual face compared to a drawing of a face is so different on its own. So I’d like to think that the emotion of Katara and her backstory is more amplified or zoomed in on,” she says.

Another difference stemmed from turning a cartoon world into a physical set — which as a fan of the original show, Kiawentiio calls surreal.

In the original cartoon, the core trio travel across terrains, cities and oceans on the back of Aang’s flying pet bison, Appa. 

“All these new things that kept coming up, it was just crazy to see it unfold in front of me,” she says. “And for that to be my job, that’s just incredible. Especially as a fan of the show, I was really almost in tears once a week, or more than once a week if we’re being honest.”

Critics of live-action remakes often point to both the lack of new aspects to the story they bring, as well as some seemingly unnecessary differences from the original story. 

The series is the second attempt at a live-action remake of "Avatar: The Last Airbender." The first was M. Night Shyamalan's 2010 movie, "The Last Airbender," that released to overwhelmingly negative reviews. The film has a 5% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Roger Ebert, who gave the film a half star out of four, wrote that the film "is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented."

The live-action precedent set up Netflix's new series in a unique spot, where returning fans are simultaneously hoping for a more accurate remake while tentatively extending their trust.

Kiawentiio says balancing the appeal to both old and new fans was a through line during production.

“That was in all of our minds — how to appeal to existing fans from the original show and also bring in new fans that have never seen the show before,” she says. 

It's a weighty task for a young actor.

“For me, in the back of my mind was always ‘I’m just doing my best.’ As a person, you can do only as much as you can," she shares. "But I am open to opinions, and I know there’s going to be a whole variety of different opinions. And I did my best that I could at the time.”

Buzz around the eight-episode first season of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" continues to grow. Kiawentiio is looking to relish in any quiet she can find.

"As of right now, I’m trying to enjoy whatever quiet that I can," she says. "It’s hard for me to plan stuff because I don’t know where I’m going to be then. But I’m just trying to soak up the nice quiet, and I’ll be there when I’ll be there.”

[seasideoranges]

Your honest thoughts on Zutara for the ship asks?

OH!!

well before I begin here's a really cool relaxing video I very much enjoy

anyways

i apologize in advance if my thoughts on the ship seem very much all over the place lol.

on one hand, i understand the appeal! i have some friends/moots that share beautiful zutara fanart/fics that i very much enjoy! it's a ship that i very much understand it's significance and impact it's had on not just this fandom, but throughout other online spaces and just shipping as a whole.

on the other hand, while i understand the appeal, it kind of shocks me how ride and die people are with the ship, specifically with how massive the ship war is, and the nasty behavior that comes with it.

it's important to note that when the show first began airing, i was only 3, and i was around 7 or 8 when the show ended. i didnt really get into it because of how young i was, besides watching snippets of s2 and 3 on nick and random amvs i stumbled upon as a kid haha.

i had my first real watch of the show about 2 years ago, and while i wasn't extremely knowledgeable on the fandom, i did hear about the infamous shipping wars in the fandom, like whispers in the wind, and how zutara should've been endgame. going in with this knowledge, let me tell you how shocked i was with the lack of canon material in the show regarding zutara. like, i had people tell me there was a legitimate love triangle happening! people still believe that!

dont take this the wrong way! im not saying you have to have a ship be canon, or for it to have a ton of canon material in order to ship it, i love rarepairs and crackships, shipping is suppose to be fun! i know zk gets hate because it isnt a canon ship and i think that's very, very silly. this is more so a response to the "zk shouldve been end game it was robbed from us etc etc", because i'm sorry, but i didn't see this at all while watching the show. it was very clear to me what was suppose to be endgame.

i do understand that it was a different culture back when the show was airing, in the sense that there was tons of marketing material teasing zutara, thus people were upset with the writers when it didn't happen, but it makes me wonder if this is truly the fault of the atla crew, or the fault of the marketing department, and nickelodeon seeing how popular shipping was and asking it's marketing department to hone in on this to draw in numbers. most of the time the people behind a show don't get a say in how the marketing works y'know? ANYWAYS! Back to the actual ship! I don't like when people water down katara and zukos characters for the ship. I don't like the treatment aang receives from more hardcore fans, painting him to be some awful, no good, horrible partner of katara and friend of zuko. zuko and katara are ride and die for aang, if there was an aang fanclub, they're the ones who started it and they're fighting every week over who gets to be president lmao. i really dont like when this treatment gets extended to sokka and toph, treating them like bumbling idiots that katara is stuck with until zuko comes in to save the day because he's 'oh so mature, much more mature then those other 3 fools, and the only one who gets katara' which just. isn't true.

I like when people don't water their characters down and really focus on how chaotic they'd be, or the fact that they're still just teenagers! I like when people don't throw away Aang, and even in a zk universe aang is still close friends with them and their number one supporter. i like when they don't throw away kataras relationship with sokka or toph, and they're still just as important in her life.

final thoughts

it's fine! im not crazy over it but i understand the appeal. shoutout to my zutara moots, love the stuff you create, don't ever stop! besides sharing some zk art, you probably wont see zutara art coming from me, im much more focused on pushing my 'platonic shit talking wine drinking zuko and katara besties' agenda bahaha.

[sasaranurude]

Coly, the company behind Mahoyaku and Stand My Heroes, have announced a new game. Some friends and I realized that despite looking somewhat generic at first glance, it's got a handful of intriguing things going on with it! So here's a quick kind of long introduction to/my thoughts on Break My Case!

First: the website! The music on the site is really good! Go listen while you read this post!! There are 12 people listed as composers in the credits page, and it seems most every VA involved has at least a bit of experience with singing or music projects. The tone is a bit dark for a rhythm game (though I'm not ruling that out entirely), but otherwise it seems like there's gonna be a music focus. Cool! As far as other staff goes--the main scenario writer is also the writer of Stand My Heroes, and the character designer is Utako Yukihiro, who also did some work for B-Project.

The story concerns a cafe with a myriad of eccentric employees that runs an after-hours service where they solve problems. The exact nature of all this is left pretty vague.

And the draw for a game like this: The characters! Interestingly, they're divided into different departments at the cafe. What exactly those departments do isn't clear yet. As for the characters themselves--the more we looked at them, the more we liked them, lol. Quick summaries about what intrigued us about each guy. Note that these are not translations, none of us are fluent in Japanese (we all know just enough to get by with the google+jisho combo lol), and this should all be taken with a grain of salt.

The Main Office, consisting of Ai Kosaka, Yuzuru Kise, and Roka Suoh. (Names are listed in western given-family order because that's what the site uses for romanized names.) Roka is the one who owns the cafe, is the oldest character in the bunch at 36, and is that fun "mysterious guy with unknown backstory and an endless amount of weird acquaintances, who acts incompetent but might actually be hypercompetent" type of trope.

On account of the whole acting-incompetent thing, Ai and Yuzuru run the actual cafe business. And normally I won't be including fullbody character art in this post but I have to make an exception just this once.

Anyways.

Tumblr won't let me put four images in a row. Come on man. I wanna maintain the BMC's site style. Why are you mean to me. Anyways. The Simulation Department, consisting of Kou Ayato, Mao Ukyo, Akehoshi Hinomiya, and Yuragi Kanno. "Simulation" is its English name given on the site, but the Japanese given would probably read more like "relationship department".

Kou is a footloose playboy and Mao is a serious intellectual type, but apparently Kou will ask Mao to pretend to be his girlfriend so that he can avoid trouble with women. That's gay. I love that. (Mao is a guy [as far as we know], he just likes makeup--he's not the only one in that cast who does, either!) We all want Mao's outfit.

Akehoshi was a sleeper hit in the group chat, because his bio has a sentence about how he's the most normal-looking-yet-dangerous employee at the cafe, and also explicitly describes him as being like a dog, and naturally we all went crazy for the silly puppy as soon as we realized that he was in fact a silly puppy. Yuragi, on the other hand, likes cats. Such a classic for his character design trope, lmao.

The Administrative Department, consisting of Taiga Tsukimoto, Haruhi Ichikawa, and Sei Okiya. Taiga looks cool but if you look at his fullbody he's wearing awful sweatpants and apparently he cries while watching anime. I love this for him. Haruhi is a streamer because that's like an obligatory character trope now I guess. Sei was very popular in the group chat for being the single most suspicious character in the cast. What's his problem.

The Watchdog Department (or enforcement department, if you translate the jpn) consists of Shizuka Fushimi, Takeru Mikado, Soyogu Shinkai, and Shinobu Aizawa.

My friend described Shizuka as a "wet looking glasshole" and yeah. ok. unfortunately he does look like that. But it's ok he's allowed because his bio says he prefers quiet, orderly places with plants and no people and keeps to himself in common spaces but his own room is a complete mess. AKA he's an autism king. So I like him.

Takeru was obviously a hit because look at them. Takeru and Mao talk about makeup together, apparently. CUTE! Shinobu is the most fashionable guy in the cast and his bio says he has a few screws loose, which is amazing. Good for him. I have nothing to say about Soyogu I think I forgot he existed until I was putting this post together and I only looked at these all guys a few hours ago

The Negotiation Department, with Kiho Arima, Kyoya Shido, and Riku Tateshina. I described this group as "grandma, grandpa, and Columbo" and then the group chat couldn't call any of them anything else. And I do mean grandma. Because. ok. another fullbody. Because oh my god we have to look at Kiho.

GIRL. WHAT. IS. THAT. YOU'RE WEARING A CARPET. YOU'RE WEARING A COUCH. kiho is apparently a fortune teller and my friend acted as if this excused the outfit but i DONT agree i don't think anything excuses this. WHAT IS THAAAAAT

Kyoya is an artist and Riku is a psychologist so honestly this is a really fun bunch of jobs going on in this department. Riku is described as someone who falls in love easily, and he's most interested in Ai (from the Main Office, the very first guy in this post). We couldn't tell if the implication there is that he's in love with Ai, or if he falls in love with random people and yet his true attention always drifts back to Ai. Both of these options are gay.

The ST (special tasks) Department, with Yomose Onda, Yu Nina, Kamiya, and Urara Manami.

Yu had his life saved by Tomose and has now dedicated himself to him, to the point of being ready to die for him. YOU GOTTA LOVE THAT. INCREDIBLE TROPE. UNBEATABLE. GAY AS HELL. All we know from Tomose's side is that he's "fond" of Yu. That's fine I'm sure you can learn to love him. Or learn to hate him. Whatever's more entertaining.

Kamiya has no memory, hence the singular name. I'm sure whatever's going on there is weird and interesting. Urara is the youngest character, at 20. THAT'S RIGHT. THE YOUNGEST CHARACTER IS 20. THERE ARE ZERO TEENAGERS! THE AVERAGE CHARACTER AGE IS AROUND 26. THIS SHOULDN'T BE AS NOTABLE AS IT IS BUT THAT'S GACHA GAMES FOR YOU. Anyways I like Urara because I think he looks like an angry kitty.

Anyways, that's the gist of what we know about BMC--or BreMai, if you wanna go for something closer to the jpn abbreviation--right now. More info might drop at/around Animate Girls Fest, since they seem to be giving out game beta codes there. I don't know if I'm completely sold on it just yet--coly did just have a detective-themed gacha game fail a few months ago with &0. But we're not even completely sure it is a gacha yet, or what kind of gameplay it might have otherwise, so... there's a bit of hope. Maybe it'll be a weird cool dark rhythm game! Who knows!!!

[burinazar]

I'm sure you've mentioned it before, but I was wondering who your favorite Made in Abyss character is and why they're your favorite? :3

I love all the main kids as well as many other characters so it's hard to choose but I think I'd have to say mine is Faputa. Not only is she a super interesting and cool character, but she's also A Creature. A little ball of fluff that can kill

---------------------

Thank you very much for the ask, anon! haha, "little ball of fluff that can kill"...yes, Faputa is great, and I think the main cast of Abyss is very endearing and very well fleshed-out. I was having a nice exchange on AO3 the other day regarding how GOOD the characterization of Abyss is and how it's often overlooked in favor of the also-extremely-good worldbuilding and plot, and why that might be, and was considering how it links together with some of my other Thoughts about ways this fandom is different from my other ones as far as what people are into (I need to finish the self-reblog I was gonna do about that on a recent related post actually). Anyway, pretty much the whole cast is endearing and/or enjoyable to watch in some capacity. But there is a definite answer as to favorite(s).

I put these up on my wall this evening, which may help to answer your question.

(Please note the scrolls. I missed the Amiami preorder period for those two because they closed earlier than the rest for some reason, but was able to get them from Suruga-ya eventually. They'll be on the wall at some point too.)

The story and cast prior to s2 I enjoyed in a, like, normal way, and then the Ganja squad arc hit me like a damn asteroid. These people...I've thought and felt and said so much about them, and after a year and a half I'm still brimming with something that feels like it has to be poured out, onto blank canvases and into the written word, and there's no end in sight. I have never had characters that were such good muses to me except perhaps for a couple I made up myself. Belaf has to be called my favorite at this point, but for a long time it was Vueko, and I really, really like Waz too; the manner in which these three characterize one another makes it a little painful to try to separate and rank them, but yes, that's the order. I dote on B and V in particular.

(Self portrait circa August 2023.)

At this point I have so much to say about them that being asked why I like them is hard to answer succinctly. Belaf is so, so sweet, but in an unusual weird, intense nerd way that I find incredibly endearing .....and then that kindness and strength of character fucking destroys him and it's tragic and beautiful and there is so much to pick apart in the manner and meaning of his transformation and his absolution, and it's also a great deal of fun to depict him as he was before. "Before" Belaf is such a fun sort of quirky nerd and his relationships wth Waz and Vue and Iru offer, like, SO much to turn over and look upon fondly, humor and friendship and loyalty and love.

And yet, when I write about his years of friendship with and loyalty and closeness to Wazukyan and Vueko and his parenthood and tutelage of Irumyuui and (note: hallucinatory) camaraderie with the other Ganja, hanging over my shoulder always is his downfall and it makes all of those things so much more beautiful, the tinny note of tragedy that is always playing at the edge of our hearing once we see it all and know how it must end.

(Another crispy fried self portrait from last year. I don't really draw myself these days at all EXCEPT in the context of making fun of my sages obsession.)

As for Vueko, since she's fairly popular maybe explaining her appeal isn't needed...or maybe it is, because it's so much more than the shy and gentle and somewhat silly person she is on the surface, it is so, so much more. Under the Layer of Fuheh she's made of steel --it's just that she's very, very softspoken, which people mistake for passivity and spinelessness. Even fans who purport to like her sometimes reduce her to victimhood and weakness. Perhaps because it's a misconception she clearly holds about herself, and a viewer can be forgiven for not putting together that Vueko might literally be the sage that acts with the most agency. There's so much more I can say that I love about her and her story, especially in the context of the other characters and the way she subtly skews some narrative and trope-related expectations, but I think that's the heart of it -- yes, she was endearing as soon as I met her, but when I saw the subtle yet unmistakeable strength under it all (and parsed that she never saw it herself, I think that little pop of tragedy really makes it hit for me lol), I think that's what made me adore her.

This next little bit might be kind of fucked up but what really makes that strength into something that haunts and compels me is that Vueko has so much determination and strength of character that she will unhesitatingly act to destroy the people she cares about very very much if she has decided at that moment that it is the best thing for them (Irumyuui, Belaf, Irumyuui again.) I can trace the real beginning of my obsession with these characters to when s2e8 aired and this is pretty much why.

So...yeah. Belaf and Vueko! Aaaand there's no way I can write about Waz here without making this post way too fucking long but.

One more shitty self portrait from earlier in the obsession should do it.

Yep!

[snailsrneat]

"Oh, You came to tell me happy birthday?..Heh, thank you for your consideration."

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

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HII EVERYONE! So since it's Twyla's Birthday today I thought I'd give everyone a little treat and show off what I've been working on behind the scenes the last couple weeks.

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The prefect of Ramshackle, popular amongst her peers for her laid back demeanor. She loves the arts and expressing herself through multiple mediums. Specifically through fashion, often choosing to dress in alternative clothing styles. Despite the visual difference, she blends in quite well among the other students. Even with her temperamental companions.

-----------------------------

This is Twyla's new (and final) design! Let's talk about her little bit.

She's technically twisted from two different characters. Them being Bruno, from Encanto, and the three Fates from Hercules.

The three Fates are actually where I got the idea to give her the hobby of sewing, because I wanted her to have an association with string. Also they inspired the name of her unique magic magic.

Bruno mostly inspired her unique magic (like how it works and what it does) as well as parts of her personality and design.

Specifically he inspired her hoodie.

Aside from that though, design wise I also was inspire by other popular cartoon characters like The Hex Girls from Scooby-Doo, and Gwen from Total Drama.

I specifically wanted to go with a more grunge or goth aesthetic, mostly because we don't really see said aesthetics explored much through the canon cast, so it would give a good visual difference. Also she just matched ramshackle more.

But let's get to some actual character facts shall we?

Twyla is left-handed, but is slightly ambidextrous when it comes to using her hands for anything other than writing.

Her favorite food is pancakes, when asked why she just blinked and shrugged. "I dunno' know. Just make me feel like a little kid again."

Her least favorite food is Brussel-Sprouts, which she also allergic to.

She's been known to have several hobbies including sewing, drawing, designing, reading, writing, scrapbooking, photography, gaming, and baking.

It is also good to note that she has ADHD and it's hard to keep her attention one thing for long periods of time.

Atleast when it comes to things like school work. Her hobbies take up most of her free time.

She has lilapsiphobia, or the intense fear of tornadoes and hurricanes. She developed it due to a traumatic event during her childhood.

She is an orphan with a deceased mother and a "missing" father.

She use to work many different jobs when in the foster care system, ranging from an unground boxer to maid at a maid cafe.

She was in the fostercare system for a long time, until she turned sixteen. Which is when her inheritance kicked in and allowed her to move back in to her childhood home.

Until 6 months later when she was transported into Twst.

Her favorite flowers are Holly-Hocks.

She has been given many different nicknames by the rest of the cast bit to her the strangest happens to be what Vil calls her "French Fry#1"

Speaking of nicknames, Floyd often refers to her as "Manatee" or "Manny-Chan".

Let's hear some of her homescreen voicelines.

"Oh, hey, you look tired. Do you need take a break in the guest room?"

"OH! Shit. Forgot that I had homework for Trein today. *Sigh* I guess I'll just have to do it during Alchemy today."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm just drawing while waiting for class to start. You can join me if you'd like!"

"*Huff* *Huff*, huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just, uhm, got distracted watching the squirrels and I had to run to make sure I wasn't late is all. Don't worry."

"Where's Grim? I don't know, probably off committing crimes against humanity...AGAIN."

"Uuuuugh, Crowley keeps bugging me about some stupid fight between a Pomefiore and Savannaclaw student. Why can't people at this school just learn to make up on their own?"

"Ramshackle dorm actually has some pretty neat history if you can find some of the old N.R.C. school books. Did you know that Ramshackle has never had a housewarden? Only ever Prefects."

"Man, if I have to hear Ace and Deuce bicker about something dumb one more time I think I might actually commit murder."

"Heh, Azuls flustered face is so funny. He's makes it so easy to want to bully him I almost can't stop myself."

"Leona I swear to fu- Oh! You're not Leona...don't worry about what I was just about to say, okay?"

-----------------------------

*flops down face down on mattress*

Ahdhskahsshskajsjakshdbxhsusa..

Idk man my brain is tired and overworked. Also say happy birthday to me, it's my birthday I've been working hard.

[depravitycentral]

i love that you don't shy away from yandere themes that are considered gross! Period blood for example and invading reader's privacy in the bathroom. (Thankfully there's no sc*t 😅) A lot of your posts are 10k+ so I was wondering about your writing process

Do you write it all in one sitting? How long does it take you? If you get a block in the middle, do you just give up on it or force yourself to finish it? What's your favorite thing you've written?

Aww thank you for the reassurance! I'm never totally sure how things like that will be received - my goal when I write yandere works is to tap into the more creepy and gross side of the yandere, and I think that can turn a lot of people off from reading my stuff. Thank you for being a trooper and dealing with it, though; you have my heart <3

(Also please don't worry, scat will NEVER make an appearance on my blog. Other icky, nasty body fluids? Sure, but I have to draw the line somewhere and that's where I've chosen.)

As far as my writing process goes, I kind of go in spurts! This weekend I've been feeling weirdly productive and I had a lot of free time (a rare commodity), so I was able to sit down and pound out some of those profiles. I tend to get inspiration for a character and write like 60-75% of their profile in one sitting, then suddenly lose all motivation and want to stop to take like a snack break or do something else for a while. A lot of times when I'm that close to being done I just force myself to finish it, which sometimes has better results than others. (The Nobunaga nsfw profile, for example, was completed about 65% of the way done when I suddenly crashed on it, but I banged it out from start to finish in one sitting, so if there are lulls in the writing that's probably why.) If I leave something halfway done, there's all kinds of little notes and bullet points written down on the document with ideas I was working with, but sometimes I wait so long to return back to that specific work that I totally forget/don't understand what the bullet points are saying, which sucks.

For time, I would say it takes me somewhere around 3-4 hours to write each profile if I'm really focused, but the total time (including brainstorming) is probably averaged more around 5-6 hours. The nsfw ones have less content so they take less time, but the general ones are the ones I have to really think about and analyze, which often tends to require watching a few more episodes with that character in it just to get a good feel for them as I head into writing. (Unfortunately, haikyuu has become virtually impossible to find for free nowadays, so for all my haikyuu works I'm mostly just working off memory. I'm a little worried they aren't super accurate to the characters, but the show must go on.)

I don't really have a favorite thing I've written! Occasionally I'll look through my blog and see something I posted and go oh really? Was that me? Did I post that? I don't remember most of the details of things I post, so it's actually kind of a treat for me to go back and reread my work because it's like I'm reading a brand new fic. (Aside from all the grammar errors I suddenly find. Ugh.) I will say that all the Feitan stuff came much easier than I thought it would - I was kind of dreading writing for him because he's so popular among the fans and is kind of difficult for me to grasp, but once I started it just kind of kept coming. So if I had to choose, maybe his profiles!

Thank you for all the questions - self reflection is always a good thing! And thank you for sending in this ask - the little rush of serotonin I get whenever I see a notification that something new is in my inbox is crazy.

[jumpscaregoose]

ok I'm finally doing it I'm finally drafting up this post. if you've spoken to me about shaman king literally ever or even followed this blog for more than two days you know this one

goose's Renmei Thoughts™ aka:

(thanks @gelatinous-jellyfish for making me this wonderful image a while back)

(quick explanation for everyone unaware, renmei is the canon relationship between iron maiden jeanne and tao ren from the sk sequels. I never explain this in the post but if you want to read it and don't know that's what this is. also I mention this takei guy a lot he's the mangaka)

so pov you're me circa feburary 2022, currently unaware of the kzb manga ending or sequels because you got into sk 6 months ago and the 2021 anime isn't over yet. you're innocently googling your girl jeanne for idk drawing references or whatever and BOOM autocomplete drops the most confusing spoiler of all time on you

that's how I remember finding out renmei exists, and at the time I'm pretty sure I was like "oh this must just be a popular het pairing from the Olden Days or something it'd be ridiculous if that was-" it was it was canon. cue a terrible amount of suffering april 21st 2022 when episode 52 of the new anime aired and it was what it is

of course I was upset but in an attempt to not be That One Annoying Fandom Person I sat down and thought about it and gave the concept the benefit of the doubt for a bit and now I have a pretty solid idea of how I feel about it. my renmei thesis is basically:

well that could have been a good idea but wow did takei completely fumble it

part a why it's not conceptually terrible: this one's really simple it's just that they're both similar characters. I'm anticipating you the reader have actually read/watched shaman king so I'm just gonna present you with the chart I made a few months back

murderous child -> oh shit -> what now it's quite similar

btw this file was named "the.png". that is such an unhelpful file name I had to DIG to find it. wtf past me

basically if it was actually written properly I think we could have gotten some cool things out of a romantic relationship between these two characters. however

part b: we didn't

my favourite way to describe renmei is that it just wasn't written. because it wasn't. across over 300 chapters of mainline and spinoff manga they have maybe four interactions, three of which were after they were already a couple (and the fourth one is that time she raised him from the dead and they didn't speak. does that really even count?). and those three actual interactions were flashbacks and not... actually important. I think one of them was just about cheese. as a reader your experience is

2 characters who never interacted -> literally what the fuck when did that happen -> she's DEAD???

when my friend was reading the manga I had to tell her to reread a scene because the panel where they explain it is such a blink-and-you-miss-it moment

literally the same pacing and payoff as CANON DESTIEL.

their entire actual relationship happens during the downtime between the main manga ending and the sequels beginning. and I'm going to bring osp into this because I think this graphic is helpful

(side note as I was scrolling through this trope talk I noticed a problem red brings up that does apply to the sk sequels but that's for another post...)

this is from the osp trope talk on sequels, and it shows the difference in Stuff Happening levels between plot time (red) and down time (grey). the issue with renmei is that it is an IMPORTANT PLOT EVENT (two characters with little interaction having an entire love story) that happens during DOWN TIME, when the audience only sees things through flashbacks in snippets. and it doesn't help that we never get any flashbacks to before the event happened, before they got together. it's jarring because the ENTIRE THING happens during down time. plot time 1 (the main manga) ends with no interactions between them, and ONE scene that's supposed to set ren up for getting Straight Married that in my opinion didn't work. because it is stupid. plot time 2 (every sequel manga) starts after jeanne's death. it's literally the inciting incident for red crimson. their entire 7+ year relationship is encapsulated in foggy down time, and we're expected to care.

and this especially doesn't work because we aren't set up to care. again, 1 interaction in the main manga, where they don't talk (but I will go to bat for the inherent intimacy of raising someone from the dead like we could have done something there). it's pretty clear to me from rereading the manga that takei didn't know these two would get together when he was writing it. that one scene I mentioned where he tries to set up ren getting Straight Married? if you've read it you know it's incredibly vague and with how takei wrote literally everything else it sure doesn't work as intended. or I'm too aromantic and yaoipilled to understand his literary genius idk. it's clear from some other missed opportunities that the jeanne part of the equation wasn't exactly planned from the beginning. which is even more insulting tbh

part c jeanne character assassination: out of the both of them jeanne really got the short end of the stick in terms of characterization in the sequels. I say this because I actually really like ren in the sequels I like the way takei took his character, so holy shit does sequels jeanne look even worse in comparison. the whole housewife thing is eeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh, not really a fan of that but I'm also not mad enough to comment. her death I do have some thoughts about. conceptually the beheading herself with shamash thing is BADASS AS HELL and I do like it conceptually, I also know like, the themes. yeah remember that time "atoning for your crimes with your death isn't the right thing to do" was an important part of the plot. TWICE. FUCK THAT I GUESS. there is some equivalent exchange bullshit happening with these two and the continuation of main manga themes and I want it to stop please

part d tao men: one thing I've thought about a lot is Why. why fumble this so badly. why do this at all. what do we get out of this. and the answer is an inciting incident and tao men. and the fumble bag continues because tao men deserved better this is a tao men appreciation account. we could have done some cool shit with his revenge thing but nope fuck that I guess. poor guy

part e contrast: so the sequel manga where renmei is most relevant is red crimson. I absolutely love red crimson I recommend it to everyone. and that's because of jun and pairon (and chapter 9 full transparency). jun and pairon in red crimson have one of the most beautiful relationships I've ever seen. they have an established dynamic and baggage to work through and that's what the manga focuses on. and it works it works really well. however this is also the Renmei Manga, and having most of that stuff right next to jun and pairon just makes it look worse

those are all my renmei thoughts I remembered while writing this post, I think that covers most of it but I may reblog this later with stuff I forgot

[epickiya722]

Random ask....Do you think anime like Free, Sk8, Jeweler Richard and Yuri on Ice are queerbaiting or at least have semi canon couples? I mean I love those anime series and my fav otps are from those series, but what do you think? Also, why do you think shounen series like bnha, haikyuu, and naruto has the largest shipping fandom compare to canon romantic BL series?

Hmmm...

Okay, off bat, I'll say that "queerbaiting" is a lose term to me. People use it so much that most of the time I feel like they say it just to say it. (Not directed at you, Anon.)

And I actually never watched Jeweler Richard. I've heard of it, but I didn't watch it... because I forgot about it. I also, never watched all of Free!

Now to answer the first bit... I'm leaning towards "no" here.

Queerbaiting to me is if the promise of some queer rep happening is marketed just to draw in the audience and then the people who made said show switches it up at the end like "oops sorry, actually these characters are totally straight and they're dating people of the opposite sex" and erase all that rep or just never touched on it.

Yuri On Ice, I wouldn't consider it queerbaiting because we get some same-sex romance. It happened. Even if the gay romance in there was used in marketing, it still happened. Sure, it did lure in the audience, but promises were not broken. Yuri and Viktor are a thing.

Same for SK8, I don't consider it queerbaiting either.

BONES never promised us that Reki and Langa were going to be a thing by the end of season 1. We also gotta remember that SK8 isn't a strictly romance. It's a SPORTS anime just like YOI. So the show focused more on skateboarding and the purpose of it for the characters than actual romance because it's not necessary.

It's why I really disliked how some people treated the ending as if it was the worse thing in the world. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't get mad at it because I just wanted my boys happy and skating together again.

Just because Reki and Langa didn't kiss, it didn't mean that we were queerbaited. They weren't promised to be a couple. Surely implied, maybe yeah, but explicitly promised? No.

Also, just because a couple doesn't kiss at the end doesn't mean they're not canon. A ship doesn't have to kiss to be canon!

Kida and Milo didn't kiss at the end of Atlantis: the Lost Empire, but guess what? People were aware they're a couple by the end of it. They held hands and that was it.

Kissing isn't the only romantic gesture. There's hugging, cuddling, holding hands, words and even jumping in front of someone to protect them.

And just like how all that can be romantic, it also can be platonic, too. It depends on the context of how that action or those words are being used to show romance or just platonic feelings.

We really don't know if a relationship is a canon romantic one unless it's confirmed.

Back to SK8, at best, the relationship between Reki and Langa is an explicit close one. They trust each other, they want to skate together, they're comfortable around each other, they are friends.

And with a season 2 apparently coming, Reki and Langa may just happen. It was probably built up the way it was for a chance to make it canon, just in case they could do a second season. But just in case they couldn't, they ended it on a safe note, let the audience interpret how Reki and Langa feel about each other but made it clear that they are indeed close.

Now for the second part!

I think those animes have the largest shipping fandoms over BL series because they are some of the most popular animes. A lot of romantic series slide over the radar because series like BNHA and Naruto have a wider reach. There's games, cons where the VAs show up, movies, collabs, etc. They're also the "less risky" series.

People wouldn't clutch their pearls if someone says "Oh this anime is about superheroes" or "this anime is about ninjas".

However, if you say "Oh, this is about a romance between two boys", you're probably going to get someone homophobic.

I also figure because even without gender or sexuality involved, people don't care for an actual romance anime. With a romance, it's like... because it is a romance you know who is going to be with who. You can be happy with the choices, but maybe the thrill isn't there. You know the clichés and whatnot. The characters are the same characters you see in any romance.

However, let's say with BNHA. There's a thrill to shipping... I'll take DabiHawks off the shelf for this. There's a thrill because DabiHawks, it's a variety to it. You don't get the "boy next door" or "the better guy but not the choice". You get two enemies that fans turn into lovers in their fics. People dig the enemies to lovers trope and characters like Hawks and Dabi have fans drawn into the series. They're "cooler" than the male love interest of a romance.

And fanworks are there to create something that you can't possibly get in canon.

Some people may feel this: what's the point of writing a fic of a ship that is already canon?