#i'm super interested in how other people read it

[runawaymun]

so.. reading and looking at your fics and art kinda makes me wanna try my hand at some stuff too (they are just so beautiful and elicit so many feels), but. you seem so knowledgeable and familiar with tolkien/elves lore (and so does everyone else i've started reading in this community of elf-lovers on tumblr haha) and i'm most assuredly not. i don't get so many of the world-building allusions authors make about the history/culture/magic, which is easy enough to deal with when reading, but do you think i'd be able to write anything good with such limited understanding of the world i'm writing in? i'm not even confident enough for modern au's because idek that much about the character's relationships/connections with each other, y'know? but what do you think? would the holes i have or straight up inaccuracies rly weaken the story and interrupt the reader's connection to the world/character's, or could i still get by? tolkien's worldbuilding is so intimidating lol

Oh my goodness, this is such a sweet ask.

I'm really glad that you love my art and writing so much, and I consider it SUCH a huge compliment that it inspires you to make your own! That's what it's all about, honestly.

So first off I just want to address the anxiety around the lore-knowledge and the Tolkien fandom because listen listen listen, there are people of every level of knowledge creating art and fics here. Let me just say that when I first published And the Stars Shine the Same three years ago, I was mostly working off of film knowledge and some vague book knowledge, and I was petrified to post it because of how intimidating the Tolkien fandom seemed. I was so worried about getting this wrong and making mistakes -- so know that you're not alone in that, and it is a very common anxiety in this fandom. The thing is, when I posted that fic I found that people loved it, and that everyone was so nice, and really I have not had anybody (save maybe...one person off the top of my head) get very nitpicky about the lore/language/etc. Everybody else was very nice, loved the fic, and super receptive and friendly.

I promise you that there are so many lovely people in this fandom and that, while they're extremely knowledgeable they're also so friendly. Nearly everybody I know would be delighted if you came into their inbox and asked them a question about their specific area of interest with regards to the Silm and LOTR. There are amazing resources in this fandom, and everybody is very happy to help when asked. When I was getting started I mostly talked to friends, looked at other fanart (because honestly there is a LOT of information packed into how people portray characters in fanart for this fandom), and when I wasn't sure on something I just checked the wikis. I believe Tolkien Gateway is one of the best resources, though I also use The One Wiki to Rule Them All, and this is one of the best resources I've found for just a quick look at common Sindarin phrases, and for everything else I use Parf Edhellen which is an incredibly comprehensive dictionary for Tolkien's various elvish languages. And if you're not sure on something, just send a call out into the void because there are dozens of besties on Tumblr who are happy to offer suggestions for names or phrase translations. There's also so much information on Youtube.

I didn't even get around to reading the Silm and rereading LOTR until I felt like it. Honest to god I looked at the wikis and asked friends for most of the stuff I needed.

And I know how intimidating it can be to build your own story within Tolkien's world, but for me what I liked so much about his work is that--- while he is specific on some things, he's also very vague on others. There is a lot of room for interpretation and your own headcannons and worldbuilding. That was part of why I chose the historical spot I did for Stars and Boundless Sky, because it was sort of "dead space" so to speak with regards to Tolkien's own worldbuilding, and so I was able to play around and do my own thing without worrying too much about stepping all over lore.

But okay, all of that to say: yes you can write good stories without being super knowledgeable. Please believe me you can. You can write whatever you want, so long as you love it, and it is yours. If you have a story you want to tell in Tolkien's little legendarium then please, please do. Tolkien's legendarium is a mythology, and mythologies are meant to be retold and reinterpreted. Tolkien's canon is incredibly loosy-goosey. There are parts of unfinished tales where Christopher Tolkien wrote: "I really couldn't make sense of my dad's notes, so here's everything. Knock yourself out ig" (notably, "Of Galadriel and Celeborn").

And Peter Jackson was fairly faithful when it comes to the og trilogy. Like there are things that I take issue with that are pet peeves of mine, and I know that's the same for a lot of people as well. Everybody has their things they take umbrage with and things they like, but generally if that's your base for knowledge you're going to be just fine to start writing fic. If you decide you want to research more, then that's up to you and the story you are trying to tell! If you're working off of the Hobbit films, that's a little different, but in general the Hobbit fandom is pretty chill when it comes to that. I would suggest reading the book if you can find the time to. It's an easy read and short, and it is very, very different to the films.

With the LOTR books...I know a lot of people are book purists and that's okay, and a lot of people go "oh you really SHOULD read the books", but tbqh as a lover of both, I think the films do a good job of telling you the heart of the story (barring a few characters like...uh. Elrond, whom PJ absolutely butchers, but I digress sorry sorry). The books do add a lot and deepen the meaning for a lot of things, and flesh a lot of characters out (and they're just fun to read), but again... yes you can write good stories without being super knowledgeable. I will say that over and over again nonnie I am grabbing you by the shoulders and looking you dead in the eye: please write your story if you want to. Please do not be afraid to just give it a stab. If you find that your lack of knowledge is holding you back for some reason, just ask! So many people will be happy to answer your questions.

Fanfiction is for everybody. Tolkien is for everybody. You do not have to be the most incredible skilled writer or know the lore really well to be able to write it. Please believe me as a person who was scared to write for the Tolkien fandom and then fell in love: people really do not gatekeep much, and if they do they're assholes. I have met so many lovely, friendly, genuine people by creating stuff for this fandom. You will be okay.

So...ough this got long, sorry. But TLDR: Yes. You can write a good story. If you are worried about holes/the story/characterization getting weakened, try to find a beta reader. They're absolute life-savers. Barring that, start posting, find a friend who as insane about your blorbos as you are, and then share snippets and plot ideas with them and within that kind of community you can get a feel for what's working in your story and what isn't. All of my best friends I have made on here are people who read my fics and have been so helpful in offering suggestions.

There are many resources, everybody is friendly, it is not as scary as it looks. The most important thing is that you have fun. Write what you want to write. It doesn't have to be good. All that matters is that you enjoy it.

#this got huge but I am very passionate about this #nonnie i love you and i am gently holding you in my cupped hands #please go write your fic just for the hell of it and have fun #that's what I did and it literally reminded me why I liked writing #and I have made so so many friends in the process #<3

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/752012756722614272/some-people-seem-to-have-something-against?source=share

I think a lot of people justify to themselves because there are gay people who have histories of dating the opposite gender before coming out, and there can be a weird reductive attitude fandom can take that anyone who has had relationship with people of multiple genders who doesn't meet a minimum level of "trauma" cannot be anything other than bi. Something that I can't stand as a gay person who fits that bill (had relationships with men before coming out as a lesbian, wasn't traumatized by them but just realized I wasn't into them in the way I was with women). But like, again, as that type of gay person, I think that's a ridic response by those other people in their fandom to what anon is talking about because:

there's a big difference between doing that with CANONICALLY bisexual characters - and let's not pretend that writers having characters casually talk about exes of the opposite gender from their current love interest the way people usually talk about their exes (NOT indicating some change of identity with it) isn't in fact signalling that - and doing it with a straight/unmarked-but-clearly-we-want-you-to-assume-they're-straight-by-default character. The latter I think are fair game for queer fandom to read however, and that's where I get irritated when well-reasoned meta for gay headcanons from people who clearly aren't uncomfortable with bi headcanons for other characters they like (and are often bi themselves) gets conflated with biphobia. But with the former.... idk, the idea of taking away representation from another marginalized group just really does not sit right with me, and I'm going to be more inclined to read that in a negative way and wonder WHY they're inclined to make that argument

Let's not pretend there isn't a whole lot of biphobia in the gay and lesbian communities and that a lot of justifications that people come up with are not in fact designed as a smokescreen for that. Like if they keep making this same excuse for EVERY character I'm really going to at some point suspect it's biphobia. I've seen people I gave the benefit of the doubt to the first time but it was the same arguments for EVERY character where that was ANY possible reading and like after a certain point you've just gotta wonder!

I also just think it's worth asking what a specific label or another gets you in these cases. There are some different experiences that gay vs. bi people have but it's not worlds apart in the way that some people talk about it, and I'm not sure why in the vast majority of shipping and romantic fanfics you necessarily need to establish that someone is JUST gay and has NO interest in the opposite gender, as opposed to just interested in this particular person (and the rest of their attraction just isn't mentioned because it's not relevant). I feel like so much of this shit in fandom these days from people who do the sort of thing this anon was talking about other people doing are from these young lesbians who are very online and buy into terf-adjacent shit about lesbian culture and experience being this super special separate thing from bi woman culture and like, girls, it's not true. If you go into any real life "lesbian" space you'll meet a ton of bi women too and that's how it should be! Because it's just a "women attracted to women" space and we have that in common. The idea that they're two separate non-overlapping communities is so online and is rooted in biphobia (and often other shitty bigotries like transphobia)

--

[frankenfossil]

for the space related asks, ⭐️ & 🛰?

whee!! thank you!

⭐️ Star - Do you have a favourite character? If so, why are they your favourite?

Oh no a very hard question actually... Probably the answer is evidently Emily and Dee since I spend more time thinking and writing about them than any of my other characters. POSSIBLY if I had to choose out of the two of them I'd pick Dee because I am kind of a sucker for a sad sack loser with emotional problems and I deeply enjoy thinking up situations to make him happy and/or traumatised. I also enjoy overthinking his powers and what kinds of things I have to tweak about physics for him to exist with the functions I've given him. (Such as recently I've thought of new objections to the plausibility of time travel but I think I've also thought of a way to resolve them storywise which I personally think is very funny, but if I learn more about physics before it comes up it might change.)

I love Zoe a lot but she is much harder to write and to draw for some reason? I feel like she is clear in my head but never comes out right somehow. It's weird.

I have other characters from other stories that I love too... another favourite who is unrelated to this story is a guardian angel whose first guardee died prior to the story beginning; clearly the angel fucked up a bit with that but gets a second chance, but then is pretty lousy with the second person too!! Trying to push them to fill the shoes of the first person.

Recently I found out that the person who inspired my first 'canon nonbinary' character (I didn't know that was a thing at the time tho) has since come out as for real nonbinary, which obviously makes a lot of sense lol. It was mostly about this one very cool jacket they owned. But that character was a strong fave for a long time... the story was terrible and really problematic lolol but ah well. Probably all the good parts of that character have gone into Dee and Zoe anyway.

I LOVE THEM ALL ;_;

🛰 Satellite - Do you have a character who is very dependent on another character? Is it healthy or unhealthy?

WELL. Again... Emily and Dee are each other's most emotionally intimate relatinship... Dee again is more dependant on Emily than vice versa, and less healthy about it, although I would say it's overall good for them both (but I would say the healthy/unhealthy balance varies over time and may be affected by external factors...).

Zoe is still on the periphery a bit but.............. well there are/will be some dynamics of questionable health there. She doesn't have particularly healthy attachments and is still not exactly over her previous friendship dynamic of being the second best friend of two besties who were shitty to her, and is still kind of stuck in the mode of 'trying to be exactly what the other person wants so they will like me'. Which Emily is not really aware of because she doesn't ever do that. Although the kinds of things Zoe plays up to try to be friends with her probably aren't as bad as what she has done to get OTHER people to like her, and she's relatively confident that Emily isn't going to use any of the stuff she knows against her.

Again, in terms of OTHER characters I have a couple where they are both disabled in various ways but one has more problems with mobility and communication than the other, and also had to be rescued from a kind of slavery by the other, which naturally gives the rescuer some pause for thought about the power dynamic there and whether she's ~taking advantage~ by falling in love with her at the same time (I mean by the time she even gets aware enough of her feelings lolol, gotta sort of pine without realising first!!)... but I'm trying to write that one as pretty healthy tbh, they're just trying to support each other through a difficult world yknow. And anyway the one who used to be a slave deliberately tried to square that debt immediately so it wouldn't be hanging over them both and is now mostly consumed with a quest for revenge lol. But also love.

I am going to.... stop rambling for now lol!!

#ask games #tysm for sending me some!! #sorry for late reply i tried answering on mobile desktop but either tumblr or my phone doesnt work very well #or a team effort to make me unable to type #so had to wait for laptop time #fun fact i looked up codependent because i always thought i knew what it meant but suddenly was like 'what if i've been using it wrong' #and SURE ENOUGH the definitions that came up did uhh... not align with how i thought it was used!!!! #i don't know if people want to hear about my other stories; gappy plotted and unfinished beasts that they are #anything i write outside of a given story text is subject to change #also tbh my 'word of god' doesn't even really count... this is like. my reading of the dynamics and what i'm more or less aiming for but #i'm super interested in how other people read it #they all live in my head full time i don't always have the clearest perspective #like when people were like 'that was a huge dick move for dee to not tell emily that markus liked her' #rly interesting to find out what other people make of their goings on!

[accirax]

Nene’s Role in Wonderlands x Showtime

The release of The Miniature Garden’s Coral seems to have confirmed some things I’ve recently speculated might transpire in future Wonderlands x Showtime events-- namely regarding Nene and how she may actually be the most important member of the troupe-- so, let’s talk about them! I’ll be using zui’s lyrics video for my translations, so hopefully they’re accurate.

With the past couple of WxS events in mind, it’s easy to see that this 3DMV is also about endings. While the MV begins in a sunny blue afternoon light...

...the characters and set eventually bask in a beautiful sunset orange, signaling the end of the day. The lyrics even mention being “between the end of the blue sky and the beginning of the night sky,” further emphasizing that we’re in the middle of the story. When the sky is blue, the troupe expresses uncertainty: Rui mentions that he feels lost, and Tsukasa, scared. But eventually, Nene admits that, in this beginning period, she was “spoiled by the sound of the waves,” AKA that the commotion surrounding WxS’s formation led to a troupe that became a source of comfort for all of them.

Once the sun sets, there are a lot of “even ifs.” Nene sings about how she’ll continue to sing this song, even if things are starting to look unsteady and she’s not sure if she should proceed. However, by the end of the song, she resolves to "still sing this song” while keeping up a smile.

I think that the fact that Nene says she will sing this song is incredibly important, because, as established, this song is about endings. Meanwhile, back in Mr. Showtime, Tsukasa firmly didn’t want WxS to end, and was holding out until closing time. Rui’s What Sort of Ending Are You Wishing For? and Emu’s Starry Sky Orchestra seemingly both acknowledge an ending as well, but it’s not at all easy. Rui seems to fall into a resigned depression at the thought, keeping a whimsical facade up when the very thought of separating kills him inside. The thought haunts him, MV riddled with hourglasses that he can’t get out of his head. Emu can only tolerate taking the first step towards a breakup with tooth-rottingly sugarcoated promises of eternal togetherness and literally holding hands as they go (I love her btw this is not Emu slander). She never even says the word “end,” only “tomorrow.”

Rui, Emu, and Tsukasa are basically Denialx3. Rui tries to deny his emotions regarding disbanding, Emu tries to deny that the ending is coming at all, and Tsukasa tries to deny that there’s nothing he can do to keep them from inevitably drifting apart. And that’s where Nene comes in again.

Rui’s dream is to perform technically complex shows that will resonate with an audience. He can do that from Phoenix Wonderland. Emu’s dream is to keep the Wonder Stage up and operating forever. She has to do that from Phoenix Wonderland. Tsukasa’s dream is to become the number one world star and make everyone smile. While this would likely take him away from the park, in another story, I could see it being possible that, in the end, Tsukasa decides that making the people in his local community happy is more important than trying to change the entire world. Thus, he could also follow his dream from Phoenix Wonderland, even if it’s not ideal.

But then there’s Nene. Her dream is, and always has been, to perform in Broadway musicals. Broadway is a live performance in New York City. There is no possible way for Nene to get what she wants while staying in Phoenix Wonderland. And that is possibly why Wonderlands x Showtime’s ending is the easiest for her to process.

Now, I’m not trying to say that Nene doesn’t love her friends. She adores them. Her three previous commissions have proven that. It’s the amount of love she has for them that will propel her to make what is actually the best choice for their dreams. Nene is the little mermaid, both when swimming freely the oceans with a beautiful, unstoppable song, and when enduring pain herself to stand with and for the ones she loves. Her friends, in this situation... are coral.

Remember that coral, “blurred” and uncertain in the water and “stained orange by the setting sun”? The miniature garden is Phoenix Wonderland; the coral is Emu, Rui, and Tsukasa; and that coral is stained orange by its desperation to keep rereading the final chapter instead of closing the book for now and putting it away to revisit in the future. Coral, while a beautiful living organism, is also completely static.

Static like stone statues which, at least by my interpretation, is what the rest of WxS turns into at the end of the 3DMV. The three of them (and Kaito) are paralyzed with the fear of the suffering an ending would bring. Only Nene is alive and human to be the one to show the group the benefits it can bring as well.

There are a lot of aspects of this song and Nene’s entire personality that lead me to believe that she will be the one to bring about change in WxS. First, she most often “has the braincell,” so to speak. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she performs this song with Kaito, the most mature of the WxS vocaloids, either. During April Fool’s 2023, she was put into the Solid Heart class. One might think that troupe leader Tsukasa should be the Solid Heart, and that shy Nene should be the Cautious Heart, but they (accurately) sorted it the other way.

Nene is a very strong-willed person. In other stories, it might be seen as a negative that Nene is always the most hesitant one to get into shenanigans, or that she would even dare to be the one to suggest a WxS split in the first place. What an ungrateful wet blanket Nene is, willing to throw away her friends for the sake of her own selfish dream. But in this story, staying at Phoenix Wonderland isn’t really what will make Rui or Tsukasa happy, and even Emu may have to graduate to focusing on the entire company instead of just one stage someday.

Nene’s friends brought her out of the darkness and into the light of day, and she is so grateful for that. She knows how amazing they are, which is how she knows that they can make more friends and continue to do even more amazing things in the future if they can bear to leave their high school part-time jobs behind and enter the real world, just like her.

So, Nene’s role is to be Wonderlands x Showtime’s guiding light. She’ll tell Rui what sort of ending she’s wishing for, and then console him when he can’t repress his tears. She’ll be the one to hold Emu’s hand while they take that next step into tomorrow. Her three best friends helped her to grow from the loner who operated a robot from the theme park bushes, and she’ll help them step out of that theme park and be who they truly want to be.

There is one other thing I wanted to mention, though...

Tsukasa.

As I mentioned previously, while all three of Rui, Emu, and Tsukasa are in denial, Tsukasa is the most actively in opposition to an ending. He’s also the troupe leader, and the sole creator of the Wonderland Sekai. If someone is going to actively try to stop Nene from suggesting separation, it’s definitely going to at least start with him. But as Nene has already stated in The Miniature Garden’s Coral, despite any opposition that makes her question whether or not she should proceed, she already plans to continue singing her beliefs about a bittersweet yet timely goodbye.

And, their conflict is something that’s basically been foreshadowed from the beginning too, right? Nene has always roasted Tsukasa, giving a counterpoint to his blindingly bright worldview. In upcoming chapters, however, I believe that may start to transform from simple fun banter into a genuine conflict with clear sides drawn...

And THAT’S why ColoPale gave them Childish War.

Nenekasa nation get ready, ‘cause I don’t think this is the last Nene and Tsukasa fight we’re going to see.

#project sekai #pjsekai #nene kusanagi #tsukasa tenma #rui kamishiro #emu otori #wonderlands x showtime #as always thank you so much for reading!!! #i can post things about the rest of wxs too not just tsukasa i love all of them #on that note though i was reading something lately about angstkasa #and how a lot of the people who haven't read the source material mischaracterize him (and others) #and uh well. i haven't actually read much of the source material #so i'm SUPER sorry if i'm mischaracterizing him here it is not at all my intention #i just hear a lot about what happens on JP and have thoughts and feelings about it so i post #my theories regarding sekai are always meant to be a best case scenario #where the stories are as interesting and the characters are as deep as possible #i fully acknowledge that what i wrote here might not actually be true #i don't want to get anyone's hopes up about something that i have no guarantees will actually happen #i just want to have fun while we're all here y'know? :) #that is all. i can't wait to see where the story goes from here #my theories #WXS

[ghost-of-someone]

literally just saw some radfem bullshit on my dash, & then when I went to their blog to block them not only was it full of anti-trans half arguments & accusations of other people being childish, but one of the very first posts was about how a certain show would be better if one of the main characters was a young woman instead of an old man because they "don't like old people"

#there is no point to this other than i'm pissed and tired of having terf bullshit pass my dash #i feel like i'm gonna have to get that eye thing because i don't super vet the blogs i interact with casually #so as long as they're not immediately anti queer i usually don't notice #and then i've got fucking radfem shit in my 'based on your likes' feed #all because i interacted with feminism stuff that - without the anti-trans lens - seemed totally fine #& like terfs are already shitty people but i feel like the anti older person sentiment just further highlighted the fact that #terfs are just shitty hypocrytical people who play the 'poor me boo hoo you're all childish' card & act like they're so fucking superior #& that any trans folks are terrible #and then turn around and spout all kinds of bigotry #but it's okay i guess because they've got a vagina <3 (& experience the exact same kind of misogyny that tons of us do but they're special) #ALSO #I learned what 'moid' means and you guys are fucking assholes #men are not just mindless sex freaks you fucking cunts #& the fact that you think that just shows how warped your sense of the world is #you 'hate the patriarchy' but aren't interested in actually dismantling it #how could you when you don't even view half of the people involved as really human! #fuck off #terfs and radfems aren't welcome here and you can all kick rocks #i try my best for this to be a queer friendly space and i want that to be clear right fucking now #if anyone who follows me has bothered to read this please let me know if i've accidentally reblogged something from the 'drop the t' crowd #i am not the golden standard queer or whatever the fuck the term is #but i dont ever want someone to think that i'm part of that crowd

[airenyah]

Sex scenes don't bother me as much as kiss scenes. When the characters are making out in a way that indicates it will lead to sex, I'd scream at the screen "Just take off your pants and start grinding under the covers already!" because I cannot watch them mash their mouths together for another second.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of sex scenes because firstly—I can't take the movements seriously, and if there's sound effects, there's also a high chance of me laughing. Secondly, the squishiness of the human body is another thing I can't take seriously. When I first watched the Only Friends trailer, and I saw that scene where Sand thumbs Ray's tattoo, I thought it was a butt tattoo because of the way the skin bounced in slow-motion, but no, it's actually a hip tattoo; the human skin is just that springy on every part of the body. While everyone was going crazy because of the tattoo-touch, I'm laughing because the bounce was so pronounced.

Basically, kiss scenes ick me out while sex scenes are comedy.

omg that sounds like such a fun way to experience sex scenes tho!! i wish my reaction was more like that rather than convulsion. i'd much rather experience a comedy show tbh dfjkkdgj

also interesting point you bring up about the human body being so squishy. i never really thought about it but yeah. human bodies are just so weird?????? actually, only the other week i was talking with another friend (who's likely also ace-spec) about just how humans (and tbh even animals) will just have things dangling from them?? whether it be genitalia or boobs or whatever. like, those body parts are just... hanging there?? and technically even your arms but at least you can control those. meanwhile my boobs will just bounce depening on what movements i make and i can't control them and they're just hanging from my chest while i go about my life. like, why?? i want dog boobs where you mostly have just the nipples and they only really get big when i have an actual child to feed (i know human breasts also swell when they fill with milk during a pregnancy, but why do i have to have two balls of meat hanging from my chest even when i'm not pregnant?? who thought of this design??). coming back to your point of the human body being so squishy and actually yeah, i'm realizing now that i can't take it seriously when people talk about how hot boobs are precicely because boobs are so squishy and also so wobbly and just. how is this not funny to people? dkdfjdjfk

and lmao i remember everyone going crazy over the tattoo!!!!! i realized right away that it's on the hip but maybe that was bc i remembered the placement of it from the eclipse. which is also why that scene didn't make me laugh, i was actually too busy trying to read what it said bc in the eclipse we never got to see that tattoo up close enough in order to be able to read it. so while everyone was freaking out i was just sitting in my corner like "omg so the tattoo says 'beautiful'???" i'd been wondering about it for a year ever since the eclipse, so i was just excited to finally know what it says bc i'm a nosy ass bitch lmao

anyway, i love hearing about your experiences. it's so fascinating how varied the ace experience can be and how specific things affect everyone differently. and i think it's also cool to hear what things other ace people pick up/focus on while the allosexuals are busy drooling over whatever is happening on screen dkjkdkjg

the kissing... idk, i can't tell you why it doesn't actually bother me that much or why i might even enjoy it. although i do have to say, the act of kissing does look extremely weird. sometimes (usually during longer kiss/make-out scenes) i'll be sitting there and suddenly it'll hit me that "actually kissing looks SO strange, whose idea was it for kissing to be a thing??"

sometimes in my head the kissing just conjurs up the image of a fish opening and closing it's mouth, like so:

except, you know, kissing involves two people so in reality it's more like:

#i hope you don't mind that i'm publishing this on my blog again! #i'm just thinking it might be interesting for other people as well to read about our varied experiences #do let me know if you want me to go private (or just hop straight into my dms <3) #asks #actually a random memory popped into my head while i was writing this #remember how in my other reply i said kiss scenes sometimes bore me? #actually in the first and only relationship i've been in i actually would sometimes pretend to be asleep #(even though i struggle with sleeping and can fall asleep during the day ONLY when i'm sick or under a serious lack of sleep) #i pretended to be asleep to avoid my then-bf turning the cuddling session into a make-out session #bc making-out just bored me so much as an activity lmao #(it didn't necesserily bother me or gross me out but yeah i just thought it was insanely boring) #(i still went along with it the way you'd sit through your friend's fave movie even tho you personally find it super dull) #(bc i didn't have the heart to tell him i wasn't all that into it dkfjkdg) #(actually he once made a comment how ''the two of us couldn't go a day without kissing each other!!'' and out loud i agreed #but in my head i was like ''oh i EASILY could 🤭🤭🤭'') #(again i didn't say the truth bc he was a really sweet guy and i just didn't want him to feel upset at my lack of enthusiasm about him) #to this day i have no idea if the guy was the problem bc i didn't have strong enough feelings for it or if it was bc of my asexuality #i didn't know about asexuality back then but if i'd known i might have figured it out right then and there that i was ace lmao #(it took another 2 years until i got there)

[godofsmallthings]

ultimately being able to compartmentalize my swiftieism and learning to separate my music/cultural critcism brain from my swiftie brain has been the most useful thing i have ever done for myself

#obvs it'll always be a work in progress i'm a person with feelings #i have a lot of thoughts abt that article i posted a snippet of the other day (a super interesting read btw. i'd highly recommend bc it's #really interesting especially from the current knowledge we have of how things in the pop sphere have progressed) #but anyway all this is to say that i think there is inherent value in albums like reputation or midnights which speak directly to a fanbase #vs albums like 1989 or folklore that speak directly to the human condition #and obviously the latter are (and should be!) more widely regarded as Good music #but people's emotional connection to music is only tangentially related to what is regarded as Good #(kind of.) #anyway i need to do work and not be talking in circles about this but i think being able to walk both sides of that perspective is really #valuable #vi is typing...

[swordsonnet]

.

#ive tried multiple times to write down my thoughts on this but my brain is just too scattered and it comes out all jumbled #but here's another attempt i guess #so yeah ive read the medium article about rusty quill. i'm absolutely gutted. #i suppose it's not super surprising but still. i hadnt expected it to be this bad #ive never really cared about rq as a company tbh but i do care about tma! a lot! #its been my special interest for almost 2 years now and if you're not autistic #(or hell maybe even if you are autistic - everyone experiences autism differently ofc) #i dont think you understand what that means. its not just a show i like. its like a part of my identity #its helped me through some really tough times and i can't begin to describe how happy it made me #when a continuation was announced just as i was once again going through some bullshit #i really want to still be excited about tmp because it really is so important to me #and tbh i dont think there's anything wrong with still enjoying tma/tmp? you can like sth and still be critical of the company behind it #and tma was written and created by jonny and not alex so i do sorta see it as its own thing and not just sth made by rq #but i keep seeing people on here acting like you have to boycott tmp (or even tma) now and that just makes me really upset #ill cancel my patreon and withdraw my kickstarter pledge and all #because i dont want to financially support rq unless they make some significant changes and commit to them #but i still want to engage with my special interest! need to really because thats just the way my brain works #and sticking to fandom content wont work for me because a lot of tma fandom stuff just... isnt my cup of tea #i'll take it as an addition to canon but not as a replacement #maybe i should just stop listening to what other people say #but its really difficult to deal with all this negativity about sth that means so much to me #might take a break from tumblr for a while for the sake of my mental health #i feel silly for being so upset about this but it is what it is #sometimes i do wish i had a different brain #anyway sorry for the rant #if you read this far: i love you. have some flowers 🌼🌻🌺🌹🌸🌷💐

[glassphinix]

[ID: the “touching grass is not enough” meme of text over a flowery field that has been edited to read “touching grass is not enough, i need an update about the edge of sleep tv series.” end ID]

#the edge of sleep #teos #literally ive only listened to the first three episodes bc i struggle to find an excuse to listen to an audio drama #i dont really listen to podcasts. i turned on distractible while i was cleaning my aunts house cause it was good to have as background noise #but teos is a work of fiction it's a thriller/mystery/horror story that i want to give my undivided attention #and thats hard to do because my brain Refuses to stay on track if listening is all i'm doing #when i was into bmc i had to be reading the script while i listened to the audio bootleg or i wouldnt fucken stay concentrated #i only listened to it initially during a shift w a disability support worker bc we were driving and we had fuckall else to do #but 1. i dont always have the same worker and it feels rude to keep listening to a story halfway through with no context for them #and 2. from my understanding shit gets decidedly fucked up from ep 4 onward so its probably super not appropriate to listen to #in somebody elses fucking car #but i wanna finish it SO BAD i wanna be able to pour through the teos tag and talk about it with other people without getting spoiled #ive gotten spoiled on a Lotta shit just from reading the tvtropes page #auauufah im so torn between figuring out how to listen to it as a podcast or waiting for more info on the tv show #fellow autistic people do you ever do that thing where ur special interest is always some form of media but its prone to changing #so like every few months youre defined by a new fucking show or game or film or whatever #but Every So Often when ur between big interests u have a very short-lived (hours/days/week or two) but INTENSE obsession w something niche #yeah its like that #my brain is that little ms paint creature thing on all fours with pointy teeth and red eyes biting something in its mouth savagely #and the something is teos #internal monologue

[heloflor]

Something random I find interesting about Bowser is how his “modern” personality was actually there very early on, but it took forever for it to become a thing in the games.

(Tl;Dr is basically the last paragraph)

Like, when the first Super Mario Bros came out, Bowser was shown as a conqueror, destroying the Mushroom Kingdom and turning its inhabitant into blocks just because he could, only kidnapping Peach because she had magic that could counter his. All in all, he was nothing more than a monster.

But then one year later came the 1986 anime movie “The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach”, and for this movie, Bowser was completely revamped. Suddenly he became a hopeless romantic who kidnaps Peach to marry her, tries to comfort her at two instances which shows some level of being genuine in his feelings, and is a bit of a dumbass at times. It’s actually pretty funny to see the contrast between Bowser in this movie having done terrible actions (which we see through Mario and Luigi’s quest) but then when the focus is on him, he’s kind of adorable actually. Also there’s that post credit scene with him working where the brothers used to early on that shows him as nice.

And the funny thing is, that new side of Bowser that this anime brought actually stuck around…in everything except the games. In the following games (Mario Bros 2 Lost Levels, 3 and Mario World), Bowser is still the same monster who’s destroying things and kidnapping Peach for the heck of it. But outside of the games, we see that softer/goofier side of him shine. Or at the very least, in instances where he’s still pretty horrible/doesn't show that softer side, his motivation remains to marry Peach instead of going back to him wanting power first and foremost. And even then his defeats have some comedy to it.

It’s especially visible with Mario World and how, while the game doesn’t expand on him, there’s an interactive anime where he mentions wanting to marry Peach, and the Manga Super Mario Kun version of this game shows him to be a lot like in the 1986 movie, at least in his first appearance (I only found the first few chapters of this comic translated in english so I don’t know how he acts past that scene where he gives Peach an oversized ring; wouldn’t recommend those mangas btw, unless you like absurd humor with a plot that goes nowhere and wastes your time on stupid stuff). Same for the “Super Mario Adventures” comic where’s he’s yet again both a softie and a moron.

And outside of Mario World, there’s also a commercial for the very first Super Mario Bros with Bowser giving Mario flowers with no evil intention to it, or those three very badly made retelling of stories with Mario characters, two of which have Bowser wanting to marry Peach (for those wondering how the hell did I know about this compilation, I found a reaction to the 86 anime and the channel also had a reaction to those, so it was through sheer luck ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

So overall, Bowser being more comedic and endearing through being an idiot + having romantic feelings had been a thing since pretty much the beginning, Nintendo just took a while to put it into the games. And even then, from my understanding, the first show of Bowser’s softer side was in the RPGs, with Super Mario RPG having him as part of the team and Paper Mario 64 apparently being the first time his crush on Peach was put into a game (for context I know very little of both of these games so I don’t know exactly how they portray Bowser, I just know RPG has a crying sprite + he’s a team member and Paper has him crushing on Peach). So it basically took a good decade for it to become his game personality.

(Note that him becoming a playable character as early as the first Mario Kart and remaining playable in most sport games could also be a sign of Nintendo wanting him to be seen as less threatening, but those games don’t exactly have a story to truly showcase it so I wouldn’t exactly take them into account)

As for the mainline games, we had to wait even longer to see that side of him, up until Super Mario Sunshine in the early 2000s. And funnily enough, Nintendo has ever since been much more open about taking Bowser a lot less seriously in mainline games (Mario Galaxy ends with the group waking up at Peach’s castle and Bowser seems rather chill in that moment, New Bros Wii and U have funny cutscenes at the end, same for 3D Land, New Bros 2, his losing animation on his car + him in the credits in 3D World, and Mario Odyssey also ends on a comedic note for him).

And since I’m talking Sunshine which showcases his softer side through his kid, that’s also a good show of how long it took for him to be like that in the games. Bowser had been a father since Super Mario Bros 3 with the introduction of the Koopalings, yet neither this game nor Mario World show the kids interacting with their dad. We had to wait until New Bros Wii for that to happen in a mainline game (the ending cutscene). And while I wasn’t born back in the 90s so I can’t fully back up this claim, from what I’ve seen Bowser in general mainly interacted with the Koopalings outside of the games, like with the Adventures comic (tho even then it’s minimal) and the US cartoons which focus on him as a dad.

So yeah, all-in-all, I find it interesting how Nintendo had clearly always seen Bowser as more of a comedic character, mostly through being a hopeless romantic and a dumbass with a soft edge despite his horrible actions, but for the longest time they put this wish to the side. It wasn’t until the RPGs that this side of Bowser came out, and it took even longer for it to become a thing in the mainline games. And while of course this makes sense given Nintendo is known for not having stories in Mario games, meaning there’s no point in making Bowser anything more than the bad guy, it’s still funny how, the second they gave Bowser that comedic edge in one mainline game, it was the push they needed to run with it and never look back. As a result, nowadays, even in the instances where Bowser is at his most dangerous/intimidating like Galaxy, Bowser’s Fury or the 2023 Movie, there’s always still at least one moment where he’s not taken that seriously.

(Last second addition : I guess it is worth pointing out how Bowser being less threatening started with his romantic feelings, with his role as a father not being that important; but nowadays it's sort of the opposite with him being a parent first and foremost while his feelings for Peach, though still very much core to his character, take a bit of a backseat at times, or at least him having Junior and parenting him is brought up more often than his desire to be with Peach)

#Super Mario #Bowser #King Koopa #Flor talks #long post #not as long as other ramblings but it takes a good 3 scrolls to go through so I'm putting it under read more #for those asking why I'm linking some things and not others; it's because of how obscure the ones I'm linking are #meaning not everyone knows about it and might be curious but not know where to find it #also guys PLEASE watch the 3 terribly animated shorts(?) ; they're SO bad it's hilarious ! #btw this post was 100% made due to seeing some people talking about how Bowser mellowed out as time went on #or seen some say Bowser liking Peach wasn't a thing until Paper Mario #he's actually always been like this guys; it just took a while to see it in games #then again I'll take any excuse to ramble anyways #and I do find it very interesting how it took one little year for Bowser to be like that; and two more small years before he became a dad #idk the fact that Nintendo wanted to soften him up this early into the character's existence is just interesting to me #and it's interesting how for a long time they didn't fully commit to it; but once the door was open they went full into it

[soultoken-archived]

american comics are wild, man.

#𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐲.「 out of character. 」 #hope you're ready for me to ramble in tags because OOOH BOY. i'm waving at my comics academy diploma. #of course let me start by saying that i don't mean it for every single american comic. i'm not here to generalize and lemme tell ya #some italian comics sometimes tend to do the same of what i'm about to ramble about. staring at some dylan dog comics i have. #but sadly it's also a thing that happens a lot in mainstream american comics (meaning marvel and dc) and that i even studied #and it's called ✨BODY PROPORTIONS✨ and how they are absolutely butchered to make a cool panel or just. ignored because BUFF 'EM #i'm specifically talking about a deadpool comic at the moment because that's what i was reading #and i swear that deadpool's proportions kept changing panel to panel. not to mention his body was 'perfected'? like #yes he keeps regenerating but he's supposed to have a body consumed by cancer. why does he look like hulk then. #and it's not only marvel doing this - once again i'm staring at dc and at my biggest problem with constantine's comics #which is that they have hinted (actually more than that) to his eating disorders - not to mention alcoholism and general lack of self care #and he's also a sorcerer and supposedly the anti-hero which is not super muscolar and has no incredible physical strength #yet how many freaking comics i've seen of him where he's just. SO buff. his body super perfect. WHY. #at the same time though so many people draw comics to put them out as fast as possible that i can see why they just *draw it* #and have no particular references for each other so when they're asking you to draw a thing fast you tend to draw what usually works #that's a whole other discourse that i even had experience of during academy. might make an actual post for that actually #because i've been thinking a LOT and throwing thoughts out might be interesting. BUT STILL. PROPORTIONS. #not to mention the choice of the frame to make panels look cool but you just *can't get what the bloody hell you're looking at* #three years i've spent in an academy learning what NOT to do when making comics and then i read these that do exactly all of the do not's

[sabraeal]

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

If You Dare! My hakizana fics are not usually SUPER popular, but they tend to garner at least a little interest, but that one didn't even get a blip 🤣Too bad, that one was going to get smutty in the next chapter or two. ONE DAY.

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

That would be To My Esteemed Enemy with three whole kudos, which is both surprising and not, because it's a fic with a pairing that is more popular than my main ship in that fandom, but it 1) doesn't have any ship content in it yet, 2) is using canon characterization of Kazama, which displeases the people who want him to be a sexy villain and also the people who want him to be a uwu good boy trying his best. It's easy to say something nice about this, because I spent HOURS poring over Hakuouki lore to get this into shape and was SO PLEASED with the results. It just needs a few more chapters to really find an audience, I think, but I don't have the time right now to put my effort into it.

#asks #meme #fic meme #my posting schedule was so regular over the last year that i really lost any sort of idea of what was popular at all #because i would post something and then everyone was so used to something being posted #that they'd sit on it instead of like...ravenously reading it and commenting in the hopes that I'd come back to it #so when stuff made no splash i wouldn't even notice until weeks later when I was looking through stats #usually just to find a fic i needed to reference #and i'd be like oh okay hm that's data #when not even popular stuff gets a lot of movement it doesn't hit you so hard when other stuff doesn't either #it's been weird this year because i haven't been able to post weekly due to life getting in the way #this is cold and snow season and it makes my writing days very spotty and i'm trying to just go with the flow on it #so when i DO post something there's like an EXPLOSION of activity #it's been interesting to see how when you regularly post no one say anything unless you miss an update #but when there's no promise of an update to come suddenly everything you post is much more valuable in people's heads #i have fics in other fandoms with SUPER rare pairs #and they really only get updates once every two months because i focus more on ANS #and like those chapters just explode on contact now. everyone comments and wants to talk about the characters and what's going on #and now that i'm really only posting ANS every 2-3 weeks it's starting to be the same here too #just SUPER interesting how the human brain works when it comes to this stuff

[tropical-lazor-beams]

[image description: black and white sketch. dangeresque, further in the background, points his nunchuck-gun forward in a wide stance. dangeresque too, in the foreground, leans back on his feet & points his own gun in the air. they both look seriously to the right at an unseen target. at the left are some crates in the background. the caption is red, blocky & curvy text, reading "you take the big guy". end image description]

i honest to god put more stock into the relationship between these double-fictional characters than sb & hs themselves sometimes

#the implications man the implications #i read that one comic yes and i think the honest to god nice level the dangeresque two's relationship is built upon is. so fun #i will analyze that in another post. this post is for me to say. i really like it #god what if i wrote a story. see i really like the idea of stories where sb has to confront the beings from his own creations #in a messy & extremely freudian manner #so one where he meets up with the cast of dangeresque would be fun to make. i can imagine it #if cutsey/sultry buttons craig & strong sad's misc brother characters are any indication there is a good deal of actor influence #in the cast's realization as characters. i mean like bubs & the kot & pom pom & the poopsmith play their parts pretty straightforwardly #but let's face it. sb can come up with very nice concepts but he can't do super varied character types. #the rest of the cast are responsible for much of the variety in the actual character trait department. he makes up the drama fine #okay i said i wouldn't do analysis in this post. my point is a fcusa/dangeresque cast meetup would be interesting #because some of them are direct strong bad products & there'd be some people dealing with #yep yeah i figured out that's how sb views me while i was playing that character. or even just yep i'm not like that at all #meanwhile others would be like man it sure is nice how i'm not actually like that but it kind of hurts how sb views me so #and yet others would be like say strong bad since dangeresque & dangeresque too are getting up to some stuff right now #wouldn't it be so cool if we also did something. so that they could see their progentitor-types have also got epic things going on #god ask me about this again at a time not so late at night okay. and also once i've had more time to think about it

[astrxealis]

head hurts a Bit rn but also no regrets

#⋯ ꒰ა starry thoughts ໒꒱ *·˚ #LAST NIGHT (super early morning) was so FUN #and also LAST NIGHT (last night) #i played songs the first few minutes tbh like. okay nvm i played songs until the speaker ran out of battery (under an hour!) #first song of the year was flow bcs hell yeah. timed perfectly so that it fits w the 'deep dark far away' and AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH #theres this gaming club im in right. for school. and we have a disc server where i lurk a lot and read basically everything #but usually don't reply GAJRHEJDJBFSJ ANYWAYS they called us numbers and integers and even anons in the chat wtf #kinda funny. took me back to when dad jokes to us abt being B1 and B2 (BANANAS IN PAJAMAS YOOOOO) #okay anyways. man i was really worried thisd be the worst (b)day of my life but so far it's been pretty great. man. #i'm not used to receiving gifts or nice words from others to be frank like uhh outside of the usual customary greetings #i am Also not used to others spending money for me. guhdkfbsjfb. considering i also don't even use it for myself or for others #BUT YEAH .... shocker morning and i think i was kinda hyper ngl. was gonna get a minion but i realized you cant do that anymore #so the minion i wanted was aerith :)) so then yk! i made a joke afterwards haha :))) rip #i'm EVIL. anyways love that friend he's really like a big bro and really fun to talk to and tease #interesting to think abt bcs idk if it's the same for him but! he is our only close friend w a twin. and so are we #and dudes not as close w his (older) twin so i think he and i kinda like. get each other. NOT THAT I'M NOT CLOSE W LUNE but yeah ?? #younger twin things! really coincidental tho fr... i even remember being Slightly annoyed by them first meeting. how things change #really glad w this last year tbh bcs i've met a lot of great people and grew more! lots of bad moments too ofc but i super love the good <3 #cheers to this next year being hopefully Great despite all the flaws <3 esp bcs uhm. it's. yeah KDHSKDBSK #being a teen is so PAINFUL ...... but it's part of life and a stage i am ever willing to walk ^___^ #BUT ANYWAYS LAST NIGHT (EARLY MORNING) THAT WAS SO FUN BUT FUNNY LMFAO #actually uh yikes what #okay something happened HELP i am a bit confused w my dad rn #kinda frustrating tho bcs Bro ... it is my Special Day ...... you cld. yk. be chill ant it

[senadimell]

ooooohhh dracula daily has made me ship something.

#it's been a hot minute since that happened #(it's jonathan and mina) #idk i always fail to find the words to describe how i relate to romance #but it's usually something about commitment that usually gets me #and i tend to prefer unlabeled relationships where the people are completely committed to each other #but it's not clearly romantic or platonic #because that's usually necessary to avoid The Tropes #but have to say. mina's commitment to jonathan and his to her is stirring #and i'm also probably an equal fan of mina and lucy's relationship tbh #but we have had the advantage of seeing Jonathan's mind and so the hurt/comfort aspect is stronger with jonathan #i just want to protect him okay? #and i have vague spoilery awareness that it's going to hurt to get too attached to lucy #not tagging this (sorry) because people actually read the dracula daily tags and a single post there can easily net 100s of stranger-views #(kinda weird and cool actually; it's like what DDD used to do and which unfortunately caused conflict in the snape fandom) #which. not saying that's a bygone thing to do BUT if you have a pretty curated dash then it seems you tend to go into tags only for newstuff #and i have mostly dropped out of tags on the daily because i don't have a super active fandom these days #(apart from the longrunning ones and i follow people who post about that to fill those interest spaces) #though i should probably drop into the hercule poirot tags sometime because i've very much been enjoying the 1990s series #with caveats obviously because it's the 90s adapting early-mid 20th century and certain prejudices go unquestioned #(casual anti-asian racism is not questioned so far. at all. very uncomfortable.)) #but yeah. tags. and shippery. what a time. feel free to message or ask me because i would like to chat!

[fiercynn]

on ao3's current fundraiser

apparently it’s time for ao3’s biannual donation drive, which means it’s time for me to remind you all, that regardless of how much you love ao3, you shouldn’t donate to them because they HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY AND NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH IT.

we’ve known for years that ao3 – or, more specifically, the organization for transformative works (@transformativeworks on tumblr), or otw, who runs ao3 and other fandom projects – has a lot of money in their “reserves” that they had no plans for. but in 2023, @manogirl and i did some research on this, and now, after looking at their more recent financial statements, i’ve determined that at the beginning of 2024, they had almost $2.8 MILLION US DOLLARS IN SURPLUS.

our full post last year goes over the principles of how we determined this, even though the numbers are for 2023, but the key points still stand (with the updated numbers):

when we say “surplus”, we are not including money that they estimate they need to spend in 2024 for their regular expenses. just the extra that they have no plan for

yes, nonprofits do need to keep some money in reserves for emergencies; typically, nonprofits registered in the u.s. tend to keep enough to cover between six months and two years of their regular operating expenses (meaning, the rough amount they need each month to keep their services going). $2.8 million USD is enough to keep otw running for almost FIVE YEARS WITHOUT NEW DONATIONS

they always overshoot their fundraisers: as i’m posting this, they’ve already raised $104,751.62 USD from their current donation drive, which is over double what they’ve asked for! on day two of the fundraiser!!

no, we are not trying to claim they are embezzling this money or that it is a scam. we believe they are just super incompetent with their money. case in point: that surplus that they have? only earned them $146 USD in interest in 2022, because only about $10,000 USD of their money invested in an interest-bearing account. that’s the interest they earn off of MILLIONS. at the very least they should be using this extra money to generate new revenue – which would also help with their long-term financial security – but they can’t even do that

no, they do not need this money to use if they are sued. you can read more about this in the full post, but essentially, they get most of their legal services donated, and they have not, themselves, said this money is for that purpose

i'm not going to go through my process for determining the updated 2024 numbers because i want to get this post out quickly, and otw actually had not updated the sources i needed to get these numbers until the last couple days (seriously, i've been checking), but you can easily recreate the process that @manogirl and i outlined last year with these documents:

otw’s 2022 audited financial statement, to determine how much money they had at the end of 2022

otw’s 2024 budget spreadsheet, to determine their net income in 2023 and how much they transferred to and from reserves at the beginning of 2024

otw’s 2022 form 990 (also available on propublica), which is a tax document, and shows how much interest they earned in 2022 (search “interest” and you’ll find it in several places)  

also, otw has not been accountable to answering questions about their surplus. typically, they hold a public meeting with their finance committee every year in september or october so people can ask questions directly to their treasurer and other committee members; as you can imagine, after doing this deep dive last summer, i was looking forward to getting some answers at that meeting!

but they cancelled that meeting in 2023, and instead asked people to write to the finance committee through their contact us form online. fun fact: i wrote a one-line message to the finance committee on may 11, 2023 through that form, when @manogirl and i were doing this research, asking them for clarification on how much they have in their reserves. i have still not received a response.

so yeah. please spend your money on people who actually need it, like on mutual aid requests! anyone who wants to share their mutual aid requests, please do so in the replies and i’ll share them out – i didn’t want to link directly to individual requests without permission in case this leads to anyone getting harassed, but i would love to share your requests. to start with, here's operation olive branch and their ongoing spreadsheet sharing palestinian folks who need money to escape genocide.

oh, and if you want to write to otw and tell them why you are not donating, i'm not sure it’ll get any results, but it can’t hurt lol. here's their contact us form – just don’t expect a response! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#ao3 #otw #archive of our own #organization for transformative works #ao3 is not your savior #and they don't need your money #otw finances