mythical-song-wolf

[mythical-song-wolf]

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

#ask me stuff

[mythical-song-wolf]

[mythical-song-wolf]

Fanfic Thieves on YouTube: A New Grift

So one of the content farm channels stealing fics has an ao3 now and last night they commented on Butterfly asking to make money off it while paying me in exposure.

I confronted them on discord and asked how they had the audacity to ask the people they stole from to use their hard work to line his pockets without even apologizing. Long story short, I gave them an ultimatum to post a public apology on their youtube channel to prove they actually care about doing the right thing and aren’t just a grifter telling me what I want to hear for money. And they asked me to write the apology, TO ME, for them.

I should have asked if their mommy still wipes their ass for them too.

Anyway, DNWhatif is a lazy grifter who has not changed their ways, the only reason they’re asking permission now is because all the DMCA strikes on stolen content have started eating into their revenue. Don’t let them profit off of your work as a writer. And if you have to interact with them, tell them to go fuck themselves.

#this is important to me because I got a comment from them and only just found out #I'll still keep an eye on them in case they still got my fic read on their channel #edit: upon further personal inspection #its seems they're targeting fanfics with kudos 10k and under #probably believing that the author has low enough self-esteem or is riding the new high of the kudos on their fics to want more exposure #because I don't see a SINGLE popular mha fic on there #probably because the author told them no #(I told them no as well and will be deleting the comment they sent me once they reply)

[mythical-song-wolf]

I got a comment like that too. I replied 3 days after it was made, so I hope they actually waited for my reply

got another bot-spam comment on ao3, but this one is extra weird. let’s do some investigating!

for those not in the know, The Haunting is my dark whumpy “todoroki gets adopted by aizawa” fic. it’s also 60k words long. so right away i’m doubting this person read it. that plus the generic vibes? bot comment. but i’m also pretty sure i’ve heard of this channel before, specifically because it wasn’t crediting authors. hm. so i go check it out: http://www.youtube.com/@DnWhatIf

first of all, these are the videos i’m greeted with:

now, i don’t want to bash anyone’s taste, but this is so extremely not my thing. nooooo way. some of these read more like crackfic, which is fine, but tonally the difference is SO much. and just makes it even more glaringly obvious that they aren’t reading the fics they’re spamming or even giving them a cursory once-over (or putting strong filters on the bot? i’m not clear how bot comments work)

because this is the first thing you see about The Haunting:

i’m guessing, if it wasn’t completely random, it’s the fact that i tagged izuku as a character. and really it’s just lazy, the whole thing. it’s all bots. ai art in the thumbnail, ai voice reading the fic, bot making comment spam for you. zero respect. if this was an actual podficcer i would consider it! hell, i might even accept ai voice readings (MAYBE), if it was obvious there was a human person who cared behind them. it could certainly be a tool for good, since podficcing isn't very common (we love you podficcers. if i had a little bit more confidence i would be one of you).

but anyway, hang on, lets back up a step, because the whole reason i looked into this was the credits issue. the video “what if deku became a teacher at ua” (ugh) (i hate the title gimmick also) is going to be my guinea pig.

so in the little intro (also done by ai), it says “all credits to their respective authors” which, yikes. however, they do link to their permission statement and the fic in the description, so it….could be worse. but also, these are the comments

(and it continues like that for a bit)

the channel name also has a 4.0 after it [edit: it did when i started this post, then i got distracted for two days, and now it is gone. hm], which implies they’ve had a lot of trouble with keeping it up. so it seems likely that this is the channel i heard about stealing fics, they just finally learned to get permission and give credit to try and keep it up this time. the permission statement on this video is real (i wondered if they would just link to something else and assume no one would check), but even THAT author references being “freaked out” (positive?? unsure) when they heard of people finding their story on youtube. before giving permission to upload with credit. so that’s not great

also this sludgepit of content is absolutely the thing that attracts people with no patience clamoring for updates literally one day after the video goes up. go figure. bad vibes all around.

also, if you’re wondering about the quality of the reading (i’ve stumbled on some pretty good ai voices as of late!), it’s, uh. i don’t actually know about how all this works, but i feel like when you pick a voice to read a story it should at least be able to approximate character name pronunciation. and flow.

but alas.

i also don't want to bash the authors in question but the truth is from the very minimal poking around i did (not giving this channel any more of my time than absolutely necessary), the writing featured is....mediocre at best. which is fine and good for the fandom ecosystem and i will NEVER be anything but happy that people are writing and posting less-than-perfect works, especially since some of these premises are pretty unique and i think it's better to have the fic than not. we all start somewhere, fanfic is an excellent way to practice and get feedback at the same time, etc.

but these channels, these kinds of operations, they're going to prey on new and young authors and that's who is going to be saying yes to them. because they want the exposure, they want to be told their work is good enough for someone else to care to record it for youtube, they haven't been around long enough to recognize this for what it is: someone taking extreme shortcuts to get views and likes and a bit of notoriety off of other people's work. and that's shit.

and remember that youtube videos can be monetized!

now, i doubt this channel in particular has been monetized, although it does meet the minimum requirements as far as numbers go:

it shouldn't meet the requirements for the monetization policies, specifically these ones:

especially with the disclaimer in the beginning that the content is not their own--which might be why previous versions of the channel did not give credit. who knows.

however, youtube DID just have some scandals about people making videos that were pretty much entirely plagiarized, which were monetized, so i don't have the highest hopes in the world. still, it doesn't seem monetized, so no strikes against this particular creator for that, at least, but defo something to look out for if anyone ever brings up hosting podfics on youtube.

so yeah, bot spam, not a complete scam this time but definitely really sketchy, bad vibes all around. and i still kind of want to give them permission to use my fic just to see what would happen, lmao

[mythical-song-wolf]

#if I had to get called out sO DO ALL OF YOU

[mythical-song-wolf]

Finally a serious discussion about this episode 🙏

this is so important ‼️

[mythical-song-wolf]

“Is it okay if I draw fanart of your fanfic?👉🏼👈🏼”

My brother in Christ we shall have a spring wedding

#please please please

[mythical-song-wolf]

WRITE IT!!! WRITE THAT SELF INDULGENT SHIT!!!

[mythical-song-wolf]

Wish Rewrite: Some Worldbuilding & Magic (A Chaotic Ramble)

note: probably what I'm saying here will contradict the Characters post I made, but that's because another deleted scene has been found and I intend to incorporate the information from those deleted scenes as best as I can

Wishing Stars & Wishes

Wishing stars gain their power from wishes fulfilled and wishes granted. While granting a wish takes some of their power/energy, the return is more than enough to compensate the loss.

Depending on the age of the wishing star is how far its limits are. Their ages vary specifically on how long they've been wishing stars and not just regular stars. The two oldest wishing stars are the two stars, with the elder between the two being the second star to the right.

Aster is around Asha's age as a wishing star, and thus his power isn't that great. He can't grant as many nor as powerful wishes as his parents. He can't make a wooden doll into a living person. He can't grant blessings to protect people. And something his parents insisted he can't yet with his abilities, is become mortal and then come back to being a star after death.

Now, onto wishes themselves. The wishes that grant the stars power and the orbs Magnifico steal are made from one's true desire deep within the purest part of their hearts. Wishes are made from the strongest magic of them all, love.

When one has their wish taken/given to someone in the case of Rosas' people, it's like taking out their heart. An empty void is left where their wish once was, where their passion and love once was.

In history, people only gave such vital things to them to someone they love and loves them in turn as a sign of their bond and love for each other.

When a wish is removed from a person and they change because of it, the negative magic released from the void in their heart makes others not see the change. At least, not fully. They don't know what causes it, but they also don't believe it to be the wish removal in the case of Rosas, its because of something else wrong with them. For as people have the capacity for both good and evil, the purest wish in their heart is the deepest concentration of that good, and removing it disrupts that balance within them.

Asha has always been able to sort of see how having their wish taken away changes people in ways that others just can't. The only people that were ever the exception were ones who wrote their wish on a Wishing Tree, because the memory of their wish isn't confined and hidden away, it's constantly bathed and seeing starlight. The stars see their wish, but without the magic words, the stars cannot grant them.

Those magic words?

Star light, star bright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, Have this wish I wish tonight.

World building/A History of Rosas???

Rosas is by no means an old kingdom, but nor is it that old. It's 6 generations of Royals looking after, protecting, and offering refuge to all those who seek it. The royals use the magic power they have to better their home and aid their people.

Surrounding Rosas are various hamlets not governed by the kingdom, but friends to them nonetheless through the hard work the royals and their heirs put into fostering good relations with them. Many of the hamlets request that their location be kept secret as both a form of respect and a safety measure should Rosas' crown ever land on the wrong heir.

King Magnus "Magnifico" De Rosas was only twenty when he was crowned king, due the unfortunate passing of his father, mother, and siblings in an attack from one of the neighboring villages.

On that day, Magnifico claimed all those neighboring hamlets as traitors that conspired together to eliminate the royal family. They had come across dark magic that lets them take away people's souls, and without the rest of his family by his side, Magnus has not the power to stand up against them. His people offered their aid in any way, but he insisted that the only way would be something lost to time and never done before. The people didn't listen and insisted.

In the end, that's how the people of Rosas started giving their wishes to the king once they were of age.

It wasn't a complete lie from Magnus.

The magic inherently within those wishes act like wireless charges for him. The more he can use to power up, the stronger he becomes.

The royal family was killed and the hamlets did betray the king.

Magnus was the reason for his family's demise, because his parents saw the darkness in his heart and knew he could never be the heir nor even considered it. Regardless of if something happened to the eldest, Magnus would've been skipped over for his younger siblings. Magnifico didn't like that and orchestrated their death.

The neighboring hamlets are in contact with each other, and one of the villagers who was foraging at the time saw the assassination go down and immediately went back to the village and warned the others. The hamlets are against Rosas' crown, but because the king that wears the title is a false one.

The people of Rosas never had much reason not to believe the royal family, and those who did voice suspicion would be ousted as a traitor and mole. In the end, any who do know better than to speak on it, for there are ears listening in the walls, floor, maybe even in the dresser of that inn you're staying at in an attempt to have a secret meeting to discuss such speculations

It didn't help the fact that more people flooded into Rosas in the following years due to a period of turmoil in the world causing many to flee their homes, and thus the only word and story can they hear of is of the king who's housing and protecting them without requesting any charge.

Lady Amaya was not one of those fleeing, but rather simply looking to move. The daughter of two incredibly successful merchants, who's business ventures have ran dry due to the aforementioned turmoil. She's a well educated woman, skilled and knowledgeable on potion making and alchemy, her family was hoping to find new ventures in the King's court as the royal potion maker.

Magnifico was stunned by the beauty before him when he first met with the wealthy family. He would've rejected their proposition if not for how gorgeous their daughter was. As a show of loyalty, from a citizen to their king, they would give up their wishes. Individually, and in private.

The moment he saw Amaya's wish, he knew that no other woman could ever be his Queen. Thus began their courtship, and while Amaya first did it for the wealth and power that comes with being Queen, she, too, fell for him.

The young couple confirmed their love and devotion to each other in a wish exchange ceremony in private. Magnus gave his wish to Amaya, and she did so in turn. He confessed that he fell in love with her the moment he saw her wish, and when she saw his, she said that it only made her love him all the more. That night, they announced their engagement to the Rosas, only so they can finally tell the world that they have each other's hearts (though the people may never know the true extent of it).

As the years went on, the evil couple destroyed the "traitors" until one hamlet stands. Magnifico would often keep "traitors" for his beloved to use as lab rats for her experiments, and in turn Amaya graciously allows him to hear them scream.

The two would use those innocent people as ways to keep a more youthful look or to power their magic. Children for youth, and those with the ability to use magic as power-ups. Others were expendable, nothing more than chew toys at that point.

Naturally, once the "traitors" severely dwindled in numbers, Magnifico no longer had a reason to hoard the wishes without potential uproar. So he started granting some of those wishes as a thank you from his beloved people, and that became a tradition that lured in more people to come and live in Rosas.

#disney wish #wish rewrite #wish magnifico #wish amaya #magnifico x amaya #(this has been seeing in my draft for like a week because I'm currently distracted by stardew valley 1.6)

[mythical-song-wolf]

Wish Rewrite: The Somewhat Organized Version

Characters

Simon

Terrible insomnia that leaves him perpetually sleep deprived

Doesn't dream big

Deeply cares for the people around him

Thus, he wishes for the strength to be able to protect the people he cares for

Due to his insomnia giving him an awful sleep schedule, he never bothered to ask his captain of the royal guard father to train him (the royal guard thing is inspired by @annymation who has a full-on written Wish Reimagined fic that yall should check out!)

Big Gentle Giant Vibes

Gabo

Still grumpy af but more in the "I love you so I will bully you affectionately, but I do have lines I will not cross"

Simple wish, to be able his friends, only once, that he's happy to have them and that he loves and cherishes them

Only once though because he knows they're going to be insufferable about it (not that he minds but y'know, he has a reputation lol)

A bit of a Mr. Captain Obvious, but his blunt nature makes it so that someone says what might need to be said

Safi

Parents are librarians (maybe the royal librarians?)

Due to his parents he is the most intellectual of the group, but emphasis on book smart

Is allergic to mainly dust

Has a deep fondness and love for animals, and the animals are the same with him in turn

If he were to ask for a wish, it would be a cure or medication for his allergies

But the wish in his heart is to be able to tell his parents that he doesn't want to follow in their footsteps. That, despite loving them so and being ever grateful for them for giving him this life in Rosas with so many opportunities, he just wants to be a simple farmer surrounded by animals

Because being outside with animals doesn't leave him in a building with dust collecting at every moment

Dario

Most emotionally intelligent of the group (again, shout out to AnnyMation), but struggles with school-smarts

Doesn't desire much in life because he is happy with what he has

But he does wish to be able to articulate what he wants to say better, because he knows what his friends need to hear but he doesn't know how to say it in a way that'll truly reach them at times

Hal

Extrovert-Incarnate

Bubbly, cheery, energetic, and social

The textbook definition of an extrovert

Despite that struggles to really gauge on what others are feeling if it's not on a more positive scale

Has a crush on Bazeema (taking the idea of the two of them being an item from RaisorBlade on youtube)

Her wish is something along the lines of wanting to be able to confess to her crush and that if it goes south, their friendship doesn't change because of it

Bazeema

Gay af

Introvert Supreme

Has a dozen little secret nooks around Rosas where she goes to hang out when her social battery runs low

Sometimes its in the forest and some of the animals tend to recognize her after a while of visiting a certain spot

Has a crush on Hal

Wishes she was a bit more social and confident because she wants her and her friends to be able to hang out at Kingdom events and such a lot more and she wants to be able to tell them more often what's really on her mind than back tracking because she's afraid she made things awkward or it would upset them (is this projection? possibly)

Dahlia

As people who read the Unorganized Version, I didn't really write much on Dahlia because I was struggling to think of something for her at the time of that wave on inspiration

The Ride Or Die Bestie to Asha

Interested in potions, but is not a potion maker

Love baking and cooking as a hobby, Simon helps her when making bigger batches for events or if they both just want to surprise their friends with something nice

Most well adjusted and well-rounded of the group

Does wish that she didn't have to use a crutch because it makes doing some parts of her hobbies a bit harder

Asha

Leader of her group of friends

Level-headed and serious (was once a bubbly, starry-eyed girl who wished to make people happy)

There is not much of a shine in her eyes

Sorcerer's apprentice to Magnifico

Her father died when she was 12 (concept art notes)

She became Magnifico's apprentice a year and a day after her father passed

Her mother was never the same after her father died, like a lot of the light in her eyes was gone

Magnifico and Amaya, as guilty as she is to admit it, are sort of like parents to her after her father died and her mother changed

She could always... sense that something was just wrong with people who got their wishes taken away, something that no one could see or if they did they didn't say

But she could always tell, she sees how there's this lost look in their eyes, or the energy they once had is lost, or any passion they once had for things they loved is gone (especially if its something that could've been their wish, but that's speculation on her part)

Not too fond of the wishing system as a result, but she knows better than to disagree with the King and Queen

As Magnifico's apprentice, she's gotten to observe the wishes granted a lot more closely than others outside of Queen Amaya. She has a few notes: 1. Materialist wishes are much more likely to get granted Examples: A man once wished for the head of a magnificent beast to be mounted on his wall as a sign of his many accomplishments as the greatest hunter A woman wished for purple glass slippers that never break nor hurt her feet 2. If the wish was already in progress of being granted by the person's own merit it's also "granted" Examples: as a young girl, Asha knew a talented and hardworking chef wished to own a successful restaurant that everyone from all over the world would come to. Magnifico only "granted" the wish by magically doing the complicated process of the paper work of opening said restaurant a young couple wished for kids, as their dogs just had some pups. Magnifico "granted" their wish but the truth is that they had already conceived by then

Asha's loyalty lies with her Kingdom

Magnifico

Just pure unadulterated unapologetically evil

Loves his wife dearly

Made a fake-tragic backstory about how his kingdom was ravaged by thieves as a child and destroyed and how he built Rosas so it would never happen again

It's actually a tragic backstory of someone he probably backstabbed

Has a powerful magic book in a really nice shelf, because magic gives and takes in equal measure and thus the book contains equal such knowledge

A damn good liar and actor

Dramatic mf too

So charismatic that you'd think it was magic

Hates birds

Sorcerer

Uses staff to channel and focus his magic better but can use it without it

Hoards the wishes for control and another reason

Only got an apprentice for one of two potential things 1. Someone to mold to continue his and Amaya's work 2. A living magical battery to keep him and Amaya living longer

Vain as can be

Amaya

Also pure unadulterated unapologetically evil

Loves her husband dearly

Keeps her backstory close to her chest but acts all distant and weepy when citizens ask

No actual tragic backstory, she's just like her husband, pure evil for no reason

A scarily amazing actor

Potion maker that refuses to take apprentices

Vain

Has a cat named Chaor (concept art/deleted scene, can't remember where)

The cat is also evil

Cat eats birds that harass Magnifico

Can't have children, a lie she tells the people as to why neither of them have produced an Heir

In truth, her selfish nature makes it so she doesn't want to ever bare a child and raise an infant because it would ruin her figure and rob her and her beloved of their beauty sleep

Starboy/Aster Earendel (first name is fanon, last name is would've been canon)

Adventurous, silly, fun, naive

Lives and breaths magic, literally

Can shapeshift

His parents are the two stars in the sky, with his mom being the second star to the right!

His parents' names are Ray and Evangeline

The form that saves him the most magical energy is the little plush star form

Was summoned down from a wish in Asha's heart and a wish from her late father

Can see the wish in someone's heart, even after it's gone

Can see the void in someone's heart from where their wish would be (from the "broken wish" animatic by sarah's work)

Seeing the voids makes him so sad because he's a being made of and for wishing

A bit of stardust from him gives them the same life back as to what they were before their wish was taken

Is a firm believer in that people can grant their own wishes, and rarely do humans ever need the aid of a star in granting many of their wishes

Due to his age his magic is severely limited, as a regular star in the sky he's pretty old by human standards, but as a wishing star he's around Asha's age

He can't be on Earth forever because his time there slowly drains his powers, and while he can sort of recharge at night, it's not enough to sustain him forever, it just buys him time

He can also sort of feed off of magical energy Asha gives him

Wishing stars get their power from wishes fulfilled and wishes granted

But due to the wishes of the people of Rosas being taken away, granting them doesn't restore his energy unless it's a wish they still possess, which few do

#wish rewrite #wish star #disney wish #wish asha #wish simon #wish dahlia #wish dario #wish safi #wish hal #wish bazeema #wish amaya

[mythical-song-wolf]

[mythical-song-wolf]

Part 2

Now we briefly got sidetracked due to my friend wanting to suggest potential "new VAs" for this rewrite but that's not how I roll, I will say though This version of the villain song by grant.stellar.music on Tiktok is my sort of reference for the villain song, at the very least Caleb Hyles is the singing voice for magnifico

Wish Rewrite: The Unorganized Rambling To a Friend in Chat I made at 1am (there's more I wrote when I was more lucid in the morning)

[mythical-song-wolf]

Wish Rewrite: The Unorganized Rambling To a Friend in Chat I made at 1am (there's more I wrote when I was more lucid in the morning)

Part 2 in the reblogs btw

#disney wish #wish rewrite #wish asha #wish star

[mythical-song-wolf]

[mythical-song-wolf]

im so dead tired of self aware genre fiction. i dont want the snarky knight or the brooding spaceman to joke about how overplayed something is. gimme back unashamed affect. gimme dudes speaking in thees and thous and starship captains making poignant speeches and shit and stop fucking worrying about being seen by critics or the general public as shlock

[mythical-song-wolf]

[mythical-song-wolf]

I write for myself

*checks AO3 every few hours to see if I got any new kudos, comments or subscriptions*