authoratmidnight

[authoratmidnight]

Mow

#dungeon meshi #her!

[authoratmidnight]

[authoratmidnight]

hiiii it's me! devin! ur favorite!

maya is still banned from doing big business things on social media while she takes time to rest and detoxify from the poison that is running social media full time for ten years. everybody clap! yay!

i'm here to share some info on our button-up shirt and dress preorders!

as many of you already know, i lost my anti-preorder campaign due to the high minimum per design. there's been some confusion and uncertainty. carsyn's doing her best but preorders are overwhelming and i have some time today

SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS:

how close are you to hitting the minimum goal for the button-up shirts and dresses?

not close lol. as of 4/26 we're at about 8% funded. i refuse to panic until after may 3rd

why the funeral design?

the funeral design won our design poll

initially we were going to run preorders for two designs: funeral as well as astronauts. when we got news that the minimum would be 400 garments per design (we're able to spread that across the button-up shirts and dresses) we decided to cut back to one design. we're really not big enough to expect 800 orders on an $80-90 item

why not another design?

another design did not win the design poll

what would have been chosen other than funeral or astronaut?

deadly florals, hiss from a rose, microorganisms, and hands were all the top placers in the design poll after funeral

can you do solid color?

yes

why didn't you do solid color?

you can buy a solid color button-up shirt or dress from anywhere. the plan has always been to introduce these garments in solid color after their initial introduction

...so can you do solid color?

we will consider doing solid color preorders if these preorders bomb

how much would solid color cost?

probably the same. it's not much cheaper. it's faster to make tho

how much would the ecovero viscose cost instead of cotton?

maybe like $10 cheaper

it's really soft tbh but it's a different weave from the viscose for the skirts. it's my number one fabric for the button-ups but alas the cotton fandom won for now

what happens if preorders bomb?

we cancel and refund all preorders.

maybe we'll try again with a different design or with fewer features after we have some time to decompress from the nightmare that is running preorders (can you tell i hate preorders). if they bomb bad enough we may completely nix patterned button-up shirts and dresses. we don't know yet!

does that affect the picnic top?

the picnic top is completely separate. since it's made out of a different fabric it has its own minimum, so it will not be affected by button-up shirt and dress preorders

and like, to be totally honest, it's way cheaper to produce. we can eat some of the cost and just make them. they're small enough to store easily and they're at a lower price point so we can expect to sell them after we receive them, like the wrap tops

btw, we have other ready-to-ship things already in production. we've been working on a whole secret project. surprise!

why did you launch preorders for the button-up shirt/dress at the same time as the picnic top?

the picnic top sample came in with the button-up dress sample and it needed very little alteration. also maya liked it. also we may be developing an entire line inspired by the picnic top so keep an eye out for that next spring

why is the new button-up shirt more expensive than the old button-up shirt?

it's more expensive to make

why is it more expensive to make?

this is a different factory from the one we used before. it's more expensive because they pay their staff a higher wage and likely have other costs

this is a different fabric from the one we used before. it's a stretch cotton with a GOTS certification

this is imported from a different country from the one we used before. turkey has much higher import fees to the US

what is a GOTS certification?

the short version is the fabric itself is more environmentally friendly and produced with more fair labor practices than standard cotton

you can read the long version here here

can you do fulfillment from somewhere other than the US?

we're working on it. it probably won't lower prices tho, since fulfillment centers also cost money

anyway...

none of this is to shame someone for not preordering. groceries are expensive and things are tight, plus it kinda sucks to spend on a tight budget and not get what you ordered for a few months

(can you tell i hate preorders)

i think there's a lot of surprise since we've never done preorders on a single design before, and that's fair! we debated on doing a kickstarter but a) i hate doing kickstarters b) kickstarter takes a percentage of sales and our profit margin on these is already lower than we'd like it to be

i'm tired and i can't remember anything else i wanted to say. i may answer any additional questions from my own tumblr (@punchyemblem and now i'm gonna get a notification that i'm gonna be jumpscared by) but carsyn will be handling most questions

also don't worry, when you say nice things we still show maya. also she's fine, she's just in her (forced and highly necessary and possibly permanent) limited social media era

[authoratmidnight]

>especially lesbian pride items, which at the time meant using the ugly-as-sin, hard to make stuff with, made by a racist "lipstick pride" flag that was actually just stolen from a joke "cougar pride" flag made by a morning radio show

And then the one got really popular (i don't remember if it was the version w/ the orange stripes or one of the variations made from it) was made by an open ace exclusionist and everyone was just, ok with that apparently. Like, way to just exclude a section of your community guys, can't imagine it's a nice feeling, being an ace lesbian and having to live with your community's flag being one made by someone who thinks part of your identity doesn't *really* count. Yikes.

I literally ended up having to unfollow and block someone cause they just, started down this whole ass aphobic rabbit hole one day? And I would keep seeing these posts right before going to work and it would fuck me up all day cause it would just, leave me upset. And I realized 'hey that's not good' and the content I had followed them for was not worth this.

But like, it sucks.

I don't think younger/newer users fully grasp the shit show that ace discourse was around 2014-17

It was so hostile that, to this day, discussions that begin to derail just enough can make me physically nauseous, some specific mockery trigger crying sessions years later. We lost most accounts with any sort of ace positivity. There was no information, no support, and all this damage was done predominantly by other queer people.

All this to say that you, however you identify yourself, should be engaging with aphobic comments the same way you do any hate. We don't sugarcoat or try to be comprehensive with people who are blatantly racist, homophobic or terfs, so why give it a pass just because it's coming from a queer person? I see how this tolerance goes and it's done enough damage as it is.

#flag creator was also an exclusionist on the he/him lesbians and mspec lesbian front as well but this is about ace stuff #idk why ya'll wanna use a flag from such a hateful person #and GOD it felt like most of the people being aphobic were from the lesbian side of things #probably cause it went hand in unlovable hand with terf stuff idk #but it was always 'no you're not oppressed WE'RE oppressed you don't count' and coming from ppl w/ the lesbian flag in their icon or name #so unfortunately i have nothing good associated with any version of the pink/pink and orange flag #b/c it was always being used by people who hated me for existing

[authoratmidnight]

[authoratmidnight]

before the poll, a quick definition of terms:

"mutual" - you found this post from a mutual (on their blog or your dash) "following" - you found this post from someone you're following, but who isn't following you "random" - you found this by scrolling through someone's blog, who you don't follow. this includes people following you "For You" - you found this on the For You page "recommended" - you found this in a "Check out these blogs" popup, or a "recommended" post when looking at a different post "other" - you found this post some other way. comment how? "reblog ✅" - you're going to reblog, queue, or schedule this post "reblog ❌" - you're NOT going to reblog, queue, or schedule this post

with that out of the way:

[authoratmidnight]

I’m so emotional about dinosaur stuffed animals,,, there are these creatures, extinct long before any of us were alive, but we found their bones and their eggs and their footprints. And we made drawings and models of what they could’ve looked like. And we made them into stuffed animals so we could hold them. We made them soft so we could love them. I’m sobbing

[authoratmidnight]

[authoratmidnight]

its important to do this every time a museum or school thinks this is a good idea

[authoratmidnight]

[authoratmidnight]

animal biologist laios touden!

#dungeon meshi

[authoratmidnight]

okay i’ve had most of my life to steam on the ending of princess tutu and i’m only just now peeking in on the fandom side of things. and i love all the post-canon stories where ahiru gets to be a girl again!! but there’s another side there where i think we are missing the potential comedy of fakir’s girlfriend literally just being a duck. he starts taking the train to the city outside and taking university classes to hone his writing. he doesn’t really make friends with anyone else but he seems nice enough and he sometimes likes going to watch the ballet students. he has very strong opinions on the works of drosselmeyer. he talks and dresses like he’s from the 1900s and he’s obviously never used a computer before. it’s probably because he’s from that weirdass, walled-off part of the city where nobody ever returns from. he really likes ducks. and apparently he has a girl back home but he won’t ever talk about her.

then one day he starts bringing a duck to his lectures. an actual fucking duck. well, she’s a very well-behaved duck, and fakir seems much happier when he brings her so everyone just kind of accepts it. oh yeah, fakir, that’s the duck guy. he writes about ducks and he has a duck named duck. she’s a very friendly duck, and he lets her waddle off to hang out with other groups or to swim in the fountain. sometimes she perches on his desk in class and watches him write as if she can read the words (and he still uses a feather quill and ink. weird). sometimes after the lecture he’ll sit outside and explain everything to his duck like she could actually understand, and everybody just figures that’s how he processes, like a programmer with a rubber duck on their desk, except with a real duck instead. he writes about ducks too. lots and lots of ducks. he is, inexplicably, the duck guy.

their university has a small ballet major. anyone is free to use the practice rooms. one of the ballet students swears up and down she once saw the strangest thing through the window one night—fakir and his duck, dancing a piecemealed pas de deux in the darkness. the duck was standing on a little stool so she could reach his hand and she was on the tips of her feet, as if trying to dance en pointe. and fakir was laughing. nobody had ever really seen fakir laugh before. it was almost as weird as him dancing with a duck who had somehow gotten ballet training. the student told all of her friends about this strange sight, but nobody believed her—���that’s crazy,” they said, “you must be dreaming up fairy tales.”

fakir is kind and mysterious and offputting and quite the loner. but everyone mostly likes him because he is the duck guy.

#princess tutu #aww

[authoratmidnight]

I can't not draw them in gold lighting 😩

#princess tutu #fakiru

[authoratmidnight]

Diamond Firetail (Stagonopleura guttata), drinky drink, family Estrildidae, order Passeriformes, northern VIC, Australia

photographs by Rodger Parker

[authoratmidnight]

Yeah, like I said if it fits, then it fits, and honestly that does sound like a titan to me tbh (it evokes images of how Disney portrayed the titans in Hercules. ). That sounds very cool and I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors o7

And I feel you on gnome, it too is the bane of my existence for names for earth elementals. Cause all I can think of it like, lawn gnomes/the tiny kind of gnome. All these cool names and then just. gnome.

Also this suddenly reminded me of the other term I was thinking of for 'giant monster made of stone/mud/clay/etc' (esp if it's meant to be really big).

Colossus.

I am in complete agreement with you and, from what i understand to be, basically every jew on the planet that the creatures called Golem in dnd/ttrpgs/gaming/etc are, generally speaking, very much not golems. I say "generally speaking" because i am aware of a few ttrpgs that are jewish and are using the term to specifically refer to the creature from Jewish lore. I think those are valid exceptions? Although it would be more accurate to say that my word choice has more to do with not being an expert on the topic and wanting to avoid saying anything that i am not 100% sure of. All that being said though, the proper naming of those creatures in dnd is something that borders on being a special interest of mine and woefully i dont know anyone that actually cares enough about the topic to discuss it with me irl. So my question is this. Given that 1) we are both in agreement that those creatures are not golems. And 2) You at least appear to be at minimum somewhat knowledgeable on the topic. Would you be willing to discuss what the proper name for that kind of construct should be instead? I habent been able to come up with a name i like and i would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter. If not, then thank you for your time.

There is no discussion here. They’re called homunculi. It’s that simple.

[authoratmidnight]

Cat incubating eggs and raising chicks

(Source)

[authoratmidnight]