#...but the inspiration for several things definitely comes from this and a few other comics

[blacknedsoul-blog]

A detailed explanation from my headcanon that Annabel has ADHD

So I had this six fucking hour trip. On a bus. Alone. And I was bored out of my mind, because sitting around being bored is as close to mental torture as it gets for me.

Fortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel: I was inspired. Away from the burnout I have with fanfics, I remembered that I've mentioned this headcanon several times on Nevermore's Discord and just thought, what better time to talk about ADHD than when I'm having a pretty ADHD moment?

But before I start, there are a few little things that need to be pretty clear on the table:

I'm being a bit hypocritical here: in general, I'm deeply against diagnosing fictional characters for two reasons: first, it's an impossible task to distinguish between character traits and symptoms to such an extent that you can go around forever without coming to a real conclusion unless the author of the work confirms it, and second, even if you have the disorder you're talking about, you can fall into the trap of perpetuating stereotypes or generalizing, thereby invalidating other experiences. So even if the tone of this review sounds very assertive, it is because of my writing style. I am in no way diagnosing Annabel; this is an analysis of her character through the lens of a possible disorder.

In relation to the above, where I point out an event in the comic that can be read as a symptom, I am not reducing it to "this only happens because she has ADHD". You CAN'T reduce a person's personality to "they has a disorder," and when I point out these examples, I'm not doing so with the intention of denying the background behind it, but rather pointing out how, under the magnifying glass of having it, it might exacerbate that behavior.

I am NOT a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a neurologist: I am a woman with ADHD. One who has done a lot of research on the subject, been in therapy with a psychologist who specializes in the disorder, and talked extensively about it both with friends who also have it and with professionals. But I don't have a career in mental health, I don't pretend to, and everything you'll read below is a mixture of research and personal experience.

You're going to see a lot of "we" or "those of us with ADHD" because, as I said, I have it too, but this is all a generalization made for the sake of flow. The symptoms of this disorder can be expressed in many different ways, and not everyone has all of them (for example, there are some that I don't have, but it would be strange to change the voice of the text just because of that, it makes it harder to read). If you have ADHD and read a symptom and think "hey, I don't get that", that's perfectly normal. Your experience is valid and I don't want to pass it on. But it would be exhausting for me and for the reader to use tentative phrases all the time.

If this text resonates too much with you, I strongly recommend that you see a professional, if you're able, and not self-diagnose: ADHD has many symptoms in common with autism and other neuro divergences, don't risk misdiagnosis.

If you have a different opinion than mine on this subject and want to share it with me, I'll be happy to read it, if I don't answer it's because I forgot (forgive me?). But you can be sure that I will read it.

Anyway, let's get started.

What is ADHD?

According to the NIH (National Institute of Mental Health) website, this is the definition of ADHD:

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. People with ADHD experience an ongoing pattern of the following types of symptoms:

Inattention means a person may have difficulty staying on task, sustaining focus, and staying organized, and these problems are not due to defiance or lack of comprehension.

Hyperactivity means a person may seem to move about constantly, including in situations when it is not appropriate, or excessively fidgets, taps, or talks. In adults, hyperactivity may mean extreme restlessness or talking too much.

Impulsivity means a person may act without thinking or have difficulty with self-control. Impulsivity could also include a desire for immediate rewards or the inability to delay gratification. An impulsive person may interrupt others or make important decisions without considering long-term consequences.

Here is an impression that needs to be clarified: ADHD is more about an inability to regulate attention than a lack of it. A neurotypical person may choose to focus on a task to get it done, we may procrastinate to death because even if we want to, we can't focus on it, or stand there absorbed in it ad infinitum until the house falls down around us (and we may still have trouble noticing). This is understood, Understanding all this, here is the list of Annabel's behaviors that could be interpreted as symptoms.

Hyperactivity

One thing that not everyone knows is that hyperactivity is not about running around like an uncontrolled animal. It can manifest itself in many ways, and there are many types: physical, mental, and even emotional.

In Annabel's case, she seems to be the first two types.

Perhaps due to her difficulty in expressing emotions, it is quite obvious at this point in the comic that her moods are made explicit through gestures: playing with her rings when she is happy or nervous, touching the ribbon around her neck in moments of anxiety, or playing with her hair almost as a default state.

Annabel.

Doesn't.

Sit.

Still.

Never.

It is also clear that Annabel is always planning something. Always.

This can be read into the logic of mental hyperactivity: when you have it, your brain just doesn't stop. Ever. And that's something that resonates with this lady.

Emotional Dysregulation

The part of the brain that regulates our moods works…erratically. Not to say it doesn't work at all.

This leads to a painfully common problem in women with ADHD: lack of emotional regulation is seen as drama, and instead of being taught tools to deal with it, we are taught to repress and bottle up emotions.

Annabel has highly internalized this as a defense mechanism. But here's the thing: if repressing emotions instead of learning how to deal with them in a healthy way is harmful, being biologically unable to regulate them can be even worse.

It touches the right nerves, and if you catch us flying low, it can cause explosive outbursts.

Possibly violent reactions to feeling offended or uncomfortable.

Or completely over-the-top reactions that we can't control.

And it's not just anger that's affected, it's the whole emotional spectrum. Another emotion that is very noticeable is fear. If we don't develop tools to help us calm down, we don't get scared, we panic.

If this happens too often, we can become prone to developing severe anxiety or frequent attacks.

We may also have great difficulty dealing with frustration. Our brains love rewards, and feeling that we're not getting them because of our own inability to do something can be downright annoying. And if we don't have the tools to express our frustration appropriately, we can have quite childish reactions, ranging from temper tantrums to…pouting.

I find it funny how several of these pouts are caused by Lenore, a bit like "Oh, come on, honey, what are we talking about?"

Another important thing to note here is that one of the most fucked up and notorious symptoms of this lack of emotional regulation is RSD, short for Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, defined as "a problem that interferes with your ability to regulate your emotional responses to feelings of failure and rejection. While rejection is almost always unpleasant, people with RSD experience overwhelming levels of emotional pain. This can lead to long-term mental health problems, fear of failure, and behavioral changes that negatively affect them throughout their lives."

Rejection and fear of failure are a problem for us. So much so that we may seek strategies to avoid it as much as possible, even when it causes us problems (such as not completing a task for fear of doing it wrong). This is an issue that can tear us apart emotionally.

Annabel is terrified of being rejected or despised. Her whole life has been built around appearances and getting the right people interested in her. If she can't do that, what good is she?

And that's something that comes up a lot in her relationship with Lenore. Repeatedly, in fact, but my favorite has to be this one:

Annabel thought it would be the smart thing to do to break that bond because she knows they're never going to see each other again. But the look on her face when Lenore calls her a "damn liar" is just painful to watch. I think ripping her heart out with a rusty spoon would have hurt less.

Finally, on the subject of things that aren't so funny: that thing Annabel does about biting her fingers when she's in a critical situation is something I used to do, too (only I'd bite my knuckles or palms).

My psychologist explained to me that when you feel like you're losing control, you immediately look for something to ground you, and unfortunately, physical pain is often a quick (if damaging) way to do that.

Codependency

Okay, here's a thing: it's not that we have a tendency as such to codependency, but this is a situation that can occur due to bad practices within a relationship. Especially a couple one.

As it stands out, people with ADHD can have a lot of problems with micromanaging ourselves, remembering things, dealing with our emotions, etc, etc, etc. And it is natural for close friends, family or our partner to help in those processes.

The problem arises when that help starts to become a parentification process where the partner who is providing support starts to do this on behalf of the other person, infantilizing them in the process.

This is a cocktail for resentment on both sides: the party calling the shots can easily feel that the other is putting a huge burden on their shoulders and not trying hard enough, while, on the other side, no one likes to feel like they are being treated like a child. Let alone that the person doing it is your partner.

But at the other end of resentment, there's codependency.

The constant feeling that you are a burden, insufficient or even disposable.

And that means you have a lot to make up for. On a regular basis. So much that you put yourself in a situation where you have to make horrible decisions so that someone else doesn't have to because somehow you owe it to them, who hasn't had that happen?

What I mean is that yes, Annabel feels like she owes this to Lenore because she only remembers the part where Lenore came kicking in doors to save her from a marriage she didn't want. And if she can't do this for her, she doesn't deserve a relationship.

Feeling inadequate, that your partner is doing you some kind of favor by tolerating you and ending up idealizing their in the process is obviously not unique to the neurodivergent experience.

But we try, we try really hard and, like anyone else, we like to feel that the effort we put in is seen and valued.

If we are not careful about that, we do indeed fall into the risk of becoming codependent. The desire to feel loved or valued becomes a constant hunger for validation from which it is difficult to escape because we are aware that our brain will never function in a different way. And if that is mixed with RSD, it can become an even bigger problem.

Novelty, games, challenges, and rewards

Producing dopamine on a normal basis is one thing our brains aren't very good at (one of the reasons we can be prone to depression, for example), but you know what they love? Challenges and rewards.

New things feed our endless curiosity, but for some reason unknown to me, our brains really love challenges and dares. They give us dopamine like we're on a high.

So much so that some people use it as a tactic to perform tasks they don't like: "How many dishes can I wash before my dinner is ready?", "If I can finish this in less than 30 minutes, I can go get chocolate."

One medium we may like very much for this reason is games. Board games, card games, or virtual games. It doesn't matter. Games provide a very good balance of challenge and reward.

If you see that Annabel seems overly interested in how this works, it's because there may be a part of her that thinks "aside from the deadly situation we're in…this is like the most hardcore escape room ever" and inevitably there's something here that stirs her bug.

It may be something she loves about Lenore. As a good hypocrite, Annabel despises the rules she knows so well, so when Lenore comes along with this gimmick and completely changes the paradigm of what she knows, there is inevitably something that appeals to her. Others who are good at the game look down on Lenore's disdain for the rules, to Annabel it is fucking appealing because it offers a range of unexplored possibilities that she fucking loves.

Erratic Communication

When our brains are running at full speed, communication can become a challenge, and we tend to exhibit erratic patterns.

One of these is info-dumping. Touch a topic we know about or are interested in and it's like stepping on a landmine: we explode talking about it. Non-stop. You'll have to hit us to shut us up.

Another thing is that we can have a bad habit of interrupting. A lot. It's not malicious, it's just that we're really into the conversation and want to participate as much as possible.

That said, even if we're extroverts, it can be a nightmare to withhold information or participate in a conversation if it doesn't grab our attention. It's not that we want to be disrespectful or anything, it's just that, again, we have no control over our ability to pay attention and we're swimming against the tide to hold on to whatever it is you're telling us.

This scene is something I've seen in friends with ADHD and have been told I do: stare at people while doing your best to do the hamster run to remember what they're telling you because you know it's important, even though your brain is putting it together with junk information because it's not engaging your attention in the right way.

Ignore the murderous stare part, it's not that common - at least I hope not.

Drinks that are like a pill

Our brains are not designed to produce certain hormones naturally or, in some cases, they produce them under other circumstances. For things like that, we can take pills, develop strategies to help our brains produce hormones.

And drink coffee. Lots of coffee.

Caffeine can be extremely relaxing for us because it can actually help our brains keep functioning, you know that stereotype of the highly coded ADHD character who drinks coffee like it's his life? Well, that's because.

You know what other beverage has a similar effect? Tea. Theine is also a natural activator, perhaps less aggressive than coffee, but it can have a similar effect.

If you're interested in describing this topic in fanfic or touching on it in fanart, tea should have a relaxing effect on Annabel and even help her concentrate.

Boredom

We get bored. A lot. And we get painfully bored. Here's what happens: boredom is caused by a lack of stimulation, and our brains aren't stimulated just because we can't regulate our attention to seek out that stimulation.

Add to that the fact that when we are bored, without dopamine hitting our receptors, our executive functions diminish and we function like shit.

Boredom

Is

Fucking

Murder

Because our brain starts desperately asking for dopamine and we can fall into really unhealthy behaviors like fighting, being chronically online, or eating because we can't find anything better to do. This also contributes -again- to our depression or anxiety.

Conclusions (and if I don't make the joke, I'll die)

In the book ADHD After Dark (a study of ADHD, relationships, and physical intimacy), Ari Tuckman draws some interesting conclusions, one of which is that on a statistical level, people with ADHD seem to be more likely to have what he calls "sexual eagerness": kinks, fetishes, a tendency to be adventurous in bed, and the like. Again, our brains love play, and both intimacy and flirtation can involve a lot of it.

So…

Um…

…well, I think Lenore will be happy. Good for her.

Anyway, this has been a seriously long explanation. Thanks for reading this far.

#nevermore webtoon #annabel lee nevermore #lenore nevermore #white raven #annabel lee whitlock #lenore vandernacht #annabel lee x lenore #lennabel #nevermore webcomic

[plantsjustwannahavefun]

Theories on how Izzy lost his leg

Okay so we're all very interested in Izzy's leg, obviously, but so far everyone else seems to assume it was caused by his toe getting infected. I don't buy it, though, for several reasons.

For one thing, I'm not a doctor but is this really how infections work? How would a toe infection spread so far and so quickly that they had to cut his entire lower leg off? Yes, we know Izzy isn't inclined to accept help or allow himself to appear weak or sick, but he's not stupid either. He's an experienced pirate, he must have seen enough amputation or deaths from infections to know what's at stake. He's much too practical to let it get this far without seeking medical help or at least getting it amputated sooner so that he only had to lose a foot and not his entire calf or even his knee (can't tell from those few frames in the trailer yet).

And besides, we already saw his foot get better at the end of S1, it seemed like several weeks had passed and he was walking just fine, wasn't even using his cane anymore. From what I know, if a wound gets infected, it typically happens within the first few days of an injury. In several weeks it would either have got infected already or healed enough not to be a problem anymore. For much of the S2 trailer Izzy is seen taking part in attacks, with his leg still whole, so it seems like he only lost his leg in the second half of the season. We don't yet know what sort of timeline the season follows, but it's safe to say it's going to take place over a period of at least 3 weeks. So that's several more weeks. That makes it even more unlikely for Izzy's toe to suddenly get infected towards the end of the season after all this time.

And secondly... it would just be a bit boring from the narrative perspective. Losing the toe was already punishment enough. Even if it had healed fully with no physical consequences at all, the whole experience of being woken up in the middle of the night to the pain of having it sheared off and then forced to chew and swallow it is was definitely traumatising enough not to be forgotten that quickly... This show doesn't shy away from graphic injury and violence, but it's never gratuitous. That's why that toe cutting scene was so powerful - it already stood out as one of the most seriously violent moments in the show. Adding more to it would only diminish its impact rather than strengthen it.

Now you might want to mention Lucius losing his finger, and the way it didn't happen immediately and went from a minor injury played for laughs to a serious infection with a significant time gap, but that's a very different case. There was a comedic contrast here, a very minor injury that happened in comical circumstances (Buttons accidentally biting Lucius's finger) unexpectedly turning into something serious. But Izzy losing his toe was taken seriously from the very start, there was nothing comical about it. There already was an expectation that it could turn into something worse... but it didn't. And Lucius having his finger cut off wasn't portrayed as a punishment, just bad luck, a realistic moment on a 17th century pirate ship. It led to a cute and significant moment between Lucius and Black Pete, but other than that it could have happened to anyone. And he only lost that one finger. If he got a finger bite and ended up losing his whole forearm, that would have been way too cruel and out of character for this show.

So, what's my take then, you ask? Well, I don't really have anything concrete. Except, we know that the real Blackbeard shot Izzy in the knee. I know OFMD isn't trying to be historically accurate, not when it comes to the characters at least, but they could still use that bit for inspiration. Maybe Ed does shoot at Izzy. Or maybe Ed tries to shoot at Stede, but Izzy gets in the way. Or maybe Stede does something really stupid and Izzy gets shot or injured trying to protect him - no really, think about it, they're practically glued at the hip in the trailer. They're having a friendly banter. They're gonna be friends. Getting himself injured while trying to protect Stede would be a major milestone in Izzy's redemption arc. It would even explain that bit in the trailer where an already peg-legged Izzy punched Stede in the gut. It wasn't a hateful punch, you could tell he wasn't really trying to hurt Stede. It looked more like punching your buddy out of anger when they did something really, really stupid that got both of you in trouble.

Honestly, I'm open to pretty much any theory, except the toe infection because it's boring af and makes no sense.

#izzy hands #ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers

[luthwhore]

Lena was a prominent figure in the comic, Superwoman. I think Lana was Superwoman in it. I was wondering if you’ve read it and what was your thoughts on it? Specifically the character, Lena

The few things I know about her is she’s a wheelchair user and one of the few people Lex Luther calls his equal, True Equal (not really sure about this one fact). It would also be appreciated if u could refer to a post talking about her in the lens of a disabled person, I’m (kinda?) sure there was one and i didn’t reblog it

Sure! So, I referenced by dislike for the Superwoman (2016) comic in my Lex comic rec list, but I haven't really gone into it on its own before, mostly because at the time I was reading it I was still getting into comics and hadn't really started doing a lot of liveblogging or commentary at the time.

I also want to preface my feelings on the ableism around Lena, both in this comic and in general, by saying that I am not physically disabled myself. I have several close friends who are, including a roommate who is an ambulatory wheelchair user, so disability representation is something that I try to be very aware of, but I am not of any kind an authority on disability issues.

Also, I'm talking about this arc mostly from a Doyleist perspective -- i.e., focusing less on the culpability of the individual characters and whether I think their choices are understandable or justified and more on the choices made by the real people writing the arcs. This is not a condemnation of Lena's actions; this is a criticism of the writing choices made around her.

Putting this under a cut because I realized this is getting very long.

For a bit of backstory, Lena had been ill as a child -- with what, it's never specified, but the implication is that it was something chronic -- and that in an effort to "cure" her when he was a teenager, Lex had inadvertently paralyzed her.

This is actually something that was introduced by Geoff Johns' during Forever Evil, and other than the kind of dehumanizing language of calling her an "invalid" (which will be a recurring thing), I don't hate it. Lex does clearly see his inability to cure her as a failure, but it presents him coming to terms with it and realizing that he wants to rekindle his relationship with Lena, presumably for the first time in many, many years.

I don't have a major issue with this writing choice, because prior to Forever Evil, n52 hadn't really broken much with the unambiguously evil version of Lex that had been presented since Crisis on Infinite Earths, so the idea that he had neglected Lena out of shame that he couldn't "cure" her doesn't seem terribly out of place, and it presents a nice moment of character growth for him.

Justice League (2012), also written by Geoff Johns, is the first time we actually see Lena. When we see her here, she's shown in a wheelchair, and sees to be working for Lexcorp.

You get the sense that in spite of genuinely loving Lena, Lex has a tendency to be far too over-protective of her, often keeping her in the dark about things, which is a dimension to their relationship I really like! Geoff Johns is known for taking inspiration from Smallville in a lot of his Superman comics -- there are a LOT of nods to the show when he writes Kon -- and this, to me, feels very much like Smallville-inspired characterization.

One thing that DC does, that tracks across Geoff Johns, Dan Jurgens, and Phil Jimenez's writing of Lex and Lena, is really, really focus on "curing" Lena. In spite of what he says to her at the end of Forever Evil, he still ultimately sees her disability as his fault, and therefore, sees her as something to be fixed.

You can definitely put this off as a character flaw of Lex's, and I'm definitely not arguing that it's not in character for Lex to want to do so -- but it IS worth noting that this arc was happening at the same time that DC was leaning hard into erasing Barbara Gordon's disability as well, so this not an isolated incident of DC treating disabled characters like they need to be "cured".

For context: Barbara Gordon was the first Batgirl, and after being paralyzed by the Joker, then took on the identity of Oracle and ran The Birds of Prey. However, after around two decades of her acting as Oracle and being established as a hero completely separate from Batman, DC aged her down, erased her disability, and relaunched her as Batgirl with the start of the n52. (Recent years have tried to walk this back a little, but there was almost a decade of her being written as having miraculously healed from her disability.)

(It also does make me think a little of the "Lexmas" episode of Smallville, where Lionel is willing to put Lex through a surgical with a very low survival rate rather than accept the prospect of his losing the use of his legs. This isn't relevant per se, but I do think it's an interesting similarity.)

Toward the end of Justice League (2012), there is a scene in which Lena, while in possession of a Motherbox, pulls a gun on Lex and tries to kill him, and it's left unclear whether she was being influenced by the Motherbox or acting of her own accord. This is technically the start of the arc that gets picked up in Superwoman (2016).

Afterward, she ends up in a coma from her use of the Motherbox, with Lex once again swearing to find a way to heal her.

We also get a really touching scene of Lex talking to Lena at her bedside and admitting that part of the reason he has decided to be a hero now is that he wants to make her proud, and he knows she wouldn't approve of his past actions. This feels in line with the characterization established in Forever Evil; Lena is Lex's only family, and she's the only person in his life he can earnestly say he loves.

So, this is where we are at the start of Superwoman (2016). Lex and Lena have recently reconnected, and Lex is trying to be a better person in large part because of his love for Lena. Lena tried to kill him, which Lex believes was due to the influence of the Motherbox, and Lena is put into a coma.

It does seem like Geoff Johns was setting up Lena to become a villain during Justice League, or at least the potential for it, which I have... kind of mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I do think there is an interesting tension there, because Lex kind of expects to just pick up his relationship with Lena where they left off, and I think using her as an antagonist for him could have been interesting. On the other hand, with how the previous several arcs had set up Lena as the entire reason for Lex's redemption arc, it seems like an odd choice?

However... that's not quite what they do. While getting revenge on her brother is clearly a priority for her in Superwoman, she also... just kind of wants to take over/destroy Metropolis? For reasons?

In Superwoman (2016), we find out that Lex had tried to heal her by experimenting on her, and that when the experiment didn't immediately work, Lex abandoned her. (I personally find that really out of character, given what we were shown about their relationship prior.)

And we are once again treated to a character in a wheelchair being cured of her disability. This time, specifically as part of a villain arc. Which is... a choice, I guess. If they were going to use her as an antagonist, I really wish they would have done so without erasing her disability, but that's DC for you.

I also feel like a lot of her emotional complexity is stripped out in favor of making her like... a #girlboss villain, which is pretty par for the course for something that came out in 2016. The characterization here just... doesn't feel congruous with the Lena we were shown before.

I personally think, whether they wanted to use Lena as a hero or an antagonist, it would have made for a much more empowering arc not to heal her of her physical disability and instead have her seek to prove to Lex that her disability isn't something that needs to be "fixed" and that she's still fully capable of operating on his level with or without the use of her legs.

I also think the choice to use her as a villain who just wants to take over Metropolis (ig as a way to prove that she's better than Lex? by succeeding at something he failed at?) was a mistake, because one of the core conflicts with Lex and Lena in Justice League (2012) was that... Lena disapproved of a lot of Lex's actions?

The message in the comic re: Lena's disability also just feels. Really muddled? Like. It almost says something important here -- the "I knew my body meant nothing to you if it wasn't a perfect reflection of your fantasies of what it should be, but it was mine" line is good!

I think in better hands, it could have been a really powerful story about Lena's bodily autonomy, and how no matter Lex's intentions, he was still ultimately making choices that should have been hers, to make, but it just got buried in the mess of her being a generic scenery chewing supervillain, and I think that message would have hit a lot harder if they hadn't "healed" her, and if they had focused more on giving Lex and Lena and emotional arc instead of just... having her do a bunch of villain monologuing before having Lex defeat her.

Anyway I hope the "Ultrawoman" arc gets retconned out at some point because this really felt like a waste of potential for Lena and I think she deserved better than just getting turned into a supervillain before being written out of the canon.

#briar answers #lex luthor #lena luthor #comics meta #lex meta #anon i spent like four hours rereading bits and pieces of these comics and trying to organize my feelings #thank you for letting me ramble 🙏 #this is so long and i suspect VERY few people will care enough to read it #my meta

[mmollymercury]

I'm coming here to bother😇😇

How are you?

Do you have any artwork you think is underrated?

(So we can reblog)

AHHHGGG THATS SO SWEET😭‼️‼️‼️💖💖💖

Sorry it took me long to answer this! Life has been kinda busy lately. I've been preparing for uni and I'm in the process of applying to some now.

I'm doing pretty good today💕 one thing I'm glad to be relieved of is worrying abt getting encanto big bang stuff done. Thankfully the date was extended, yay!!! I'm really grateful because I want my work to be the best it can be x I'm so excited to see everyone else's finished pieces💗

The artwork question is such good idea!! So cute!!😭😭😭

Here's some art accounts I think all of you should check out! They're are primarily encanto fanart lolll... but check out the og blogs and look at their other stuff too x

With this list I'm trying to add ppl that I don't see talked abt that much, but really deserve the opposite💖

Let's get self promo out of the way first: here's some of my original character work, if you're interested: 💗 💕 💖 (I'm gonna be making a new pinned post soon, thats gonna catologe all my original work and fanart stuff, because I know original stuff gets lost in all the fan work.)

✨My OCs~~The Yvette-Verse✨

Yvette-Verse character lineup🌤

Yvette comic💫

~

My bestie isn't really active on tumblr, but you should all definitely check her out. She's got more stuff on her insta too:

Her tumblr▪︎@valentineee

Her insta▪︎Main- TrappedintheMorgue

Side- LazySlug

AS OF RN ALL THE ART HERE HAS UNDER 100 NOTES. PLS SHOW THEM LOVE, THEY DESERVE IT💗💗💗

~

YOU @lilrobinbird

Post link💕

It is insane that you don't have more eyes on you IT IS ACTUALLY CRIMINAL😤😤😤. your style is so intricate and painterly, it reminds me of old master's paintings. The way you draw features is so unique and cute, its so cool💕💖

@emi-g

Post link🐀

Look at this. The story, the detail, THE RATTIES

Their art is legitimately so gorgeous, sometimes, I can't believe it's traditional!

@azucareraart

Post link💫

Just... look at this art style, it literally always takes my breath away ITS BEAUTIFUL. So expressive and unique, I love it sm. They also have an encanto fanfiction too, it's set a few years in the future and is Mirabel x oc, I would never usually look for those stories on my own, since I'm not really into non canonical ships, but the art they made for it intrigued me and although I haven't read it in a while, from what I did read it was amazing. Really well written and descriptive!

@tortillafish

Post link🐁

Gender bent Bruno has my whole heart!! SHES SO KIN WORTHYYY😭 plus their style is so expressive and BEAUTIFUL💞💞💞

@kafeino (they don't want their art to be reposted, so I decided to just add the links x)

Antonio and his birdie😇 ▪︎ Camilo looking like a menace😈

They have a few encanto fanarts, all of them are so good and colourful! Like, look at the way they draw hands.... omg. But these ones are SEVERELY UNDERRATED. As of rn I think the Camilo one has 72 notes and the Antonio one has 47?? THATS AN INJUSTICE WTFFF????

@rats0ut

Post link🕯🕯

Post link🐉 this has 19 notes are you HAVING ME ON!!???

ALMA LORE!!! PLUS ANTONIO WITH ELDRITCH HORROR BEAST AND HES SO NONCHALANT ABT IT??? YESSSSSSSS. I really love their simple yet effective art style, it really inspires me to experiment with my style a bit 🥰🥰🥰

@fruit-goose (they don't want their art to be reposted, so I decided to just add the links x)

Queen Isabela🌸

This style... the colouring... the lines... no words, how does this only have 70 notes?!??😤😤😤😤😤😤😤

@camilleisdrawing

Post link💋👂

HOW THE HELL DOES THIS ONLY HAVE 20 NOTES???!!! WTFFF

The colours, the proportions, the expression, HER, I literally love it so much it makes my eyes happy. Op's style is so cool, I literally love it so much, so inspiring, makes me want to paint and experiment 🤩🤩💗💗💗

@summersofsalt (they don't want their art to be reposted, so I decided to just add the links x)

Pepa being badass🌩⛈

This style is just so cute, yet it can convey such strong, angry emotion. The colours and movement, PEPA’S EYES, it reminds me for some reason of lino printing. It's so cool!!

~

I really wish I could add more! This community is so talented and amazing💞 so feel free to add onto this post and @ some of your severely underrated faves💕💕

#encanto #encanto fanart #art appreciation #bruno madrigal #pepa madrigal #dolores madrigal #félix madrigal #isabela madrigal #antonio madrigal #family madrigal #underrated #ask game #fanart #💖💖💖💖

[boxfullaturtles]

Now that we're entering into 2024, I'm asking some artists and writers that I follow:

1) What is the one piece you're most proud of from this past year?

2) What are some pieces that you would have liked more people to see? If you can include links, I'd love to go check them out!

3) What were your top three favorite pieces (art, comics, fics, etc) that someone else has made this past year?

(As always, no pressure to respond! Feel free to just ignore, or let me know if you'd rather I not send you these kinds of asks in the future.)

Oh man, let's see...

1) I think my fave turtle art I've done is this Residuum fan art. I mean, it's my banner haha. But the art overall that I am most proud of that I did this year, is this art of one of my friend's Splatoon OCs. I drew WATER and it turned out so friggin awesome! When it comes to writing, I'm just really happy with Mortal Shell! Really honored to work with two super awesome artists and I had a blast working on it!

2) Well I'd always love more attention on Adagio in Green heh,,, It's my post-movie recovery fic and I've put so much love into it. These boys are basically getting everything except a space arc lol

3) Only THREE!? Dang. Okay. Uh. Hm. Okay, first three that came to mind, in no particular order: Of course there's Residuum. Residuum, my beloved. Residuum, whom I dream about. Residuum, whose hand I ask for in marriage. Residuum that delights me so much, I cannot explain to you how much I absolutely LOVE Residuum. I am gay for Residuum. In the same vein, The Lemonade Leak occupies my mind so much, the terror of it consumes me. The storytelling and the twists are phenomenal and it drives me insane. Drives me absolutely mad, it's so damn good. Shit. Just picking three is too hard. I can't just pick three. There's so much I love that this fandom has created... Fuck it. We ball. Here's a handful of creators that make some REALLY awesome stuff that I love!

dandylovesturtles - writes awesome fics and has spectacular ideas! intotheelliwoods - delightful art style and 2 Arms Left has left me with severe emotional damage abbeyofcyn - the art the aaaarrrtttt oh my god, the expressions and use of color! and Krang Infection is phenomenal, I love it so much venelona-turtle-den - made the wonderful Ghost Leonardo, which ended with me having to explain Rise TMNT to my therapist lmao turtlesoupswimmer - The Lemonade Leak. I don't need to say anything else. I am inspired and I am wrecked. thedawningofthehour - The Dawning of the Hour series is slow burn torture and is one of the few things that have made me shout "FUCK YOU" and slam my laptop closed. sassatello - gorgeous art, love the style, love the colors, love the line art! I'm saving for a commission :3

And a special shout out to tmnt-event-blog for the Halloween event and the Window Decorating event! Looking forward to what other fun stuff they host!

anyway, i've definitely forgotten to mention some stuff but! this is the stuff that i thought of off the top of my head lol

happy new year everyone!

[goodfish-bowl]

EctoberHaunt and Ectober Week 2022 Master Post

Happy Halloween! Here’s my complete collections of prompts for this month. Big thanks to those over at @ectoberhaunt and @ectoberweekofficial for the prompts! All fills should be correctly tagged, fics contain summaries and AO3 links, and please do mind the warnings if they’re there.

All my Ectoberhaunt22 fics can also be found here on AO3

Ectoberhaunt22

Day 3 - Order: Order to Entropy (poem)

Day 3 - Chaos: Refraction Chapter 3: Break to Build (fic)

Day 4 - Box: All Boxed Up (art)

Day 4 - Staff: Spirit of Rock (art)

Day 5 - Wraith: Paved with Good Intentions (fic)

Day 5 - Banshee: The Last One (art)

Day 6 - Burn: Fevour (fic)

Day 6 - Freeze: A Mercy (fic)

Day 7 - Purify & Infect: Detox(ic) (art)

Day 10 - Hunger: Taste Test (fic)

Day 10 - Harvest: Harvest Moon (art)

Day 11 - Drown: A Nap with the Fishes (fic)

Day 11 - Thirst: A Craving to be Sated (fic)

Day 12 - A Way of Life & Cause of Death: A Way of Death (fic)

Day 13 - Restored: Humanity Restored (comic)

Day 13 - Abandoned: The Haunting of Amity Park: Part 1: The Neon District (fic)

Day 14 - Haunted House: The Haunting of Amity Park:Part 2:  FentonWorks (fic)

Day 14 - Costume Party: Double Trouble (art)

Day 18 - Eyes: A Trick of the Light (animation)

Day 18 - Teeth: Teeth Bared (art)

Day 19 - One & One Hundred: Hall of a Hundred Eyes (art)

Day 21 - Coronation: The Dragon Queen (art)

Day 24 - Future: The Price of Knowing (art)

Day 24 - Past: Too Dead for This: Chapter 1: Seven Years is a Long Time (fic)

Ectober Week 2022

Day 26 - Six Feet: I’ll Come Home if You Call (poem and art)

Day 28 - “Psst, you’re dead. Pass it on.“: Two Paths (animation)

Unprompted

Cosmic Perspective (art)

Dead and Gone (transparent art)

Squeaky Toy (animation)

Ectoberhaunt21 Master Post

Commentary Under the Cut

It has been supremely challenging and fun to do all of these prompts! I know I’m not a super prolific author and artist, but I really enjoy events like this. While it’s been hard on me to produce this sheer amount of content, it was engaging and active, giving me something to do and has motivated me to put out more content in a month than I would normally do in a year on my own. I also love seeing the improvement in my content from this year to last year, when I first took part in this event, along as throughout the event itself, I noticed improvement. While I might not have been able to fill all of the prompts I had planned to do, I also did much more than I originally planned as well, shooting to fill all of the prompts, both for each day. But with 29 fills, 3 of which have no prompt at all, instead inspired by other things throughout the event, I’m satisfied.

I’ve had so much fun throughout this entire event, from planning my fills, to the story line made up by the Ectoberhaunt crew, to drawing and writing my fills themselves. But of all of them, I do have some favorites.

I found my trend of horrible angst holds true, with some of my most severe fill, at least in my opinion, being Paved with Good Intentions. Vlad’s perspective of Danny’s grief was definitely something I found fun to write.

I noticed I used a lot of Outside, or limited perspective, especially with The Haunting of Amity Park, where you only get the perspective from the camera, so it ended up being mostly descriptions and dialog. The morticians perspective in A Way of Death was also amusing to write.

I tried out a lot of different art techniques this year as well. I messed with my style, bouncing back and forth between a more semi-realistic style and then a more cartoon-esque style for the more humorous fills, and then the simplistic style for a few other ones. I definitely think I’ve improved over the past month, just due to the sheer amount of art alone. The animations were fun themselves.

My ask box is always open if you want to talk to me about a particular piece.

See ya around!

#danny phantom #goodfish writes #goodfish draws #ectoberhaunt22 #ectoberweek2022 #master post #links #goodfish was here #i’m going to go sleep for the next week now. have fun going through everything

[clownculler]

ok so I think I’ve got a new idea as for what a mage is. the way I’d define it is one who is haunted by their aspect.

now, obviously, it is incredibly difficult to work with just two data points, a fact that has plagued homestuck classpecting for years, but if we look at what we know about heart and doom from dirk and mituna respectively, we can draw a few conclusions.

the heart aspect, in its simplest form, deals with one’s identity. for dirk this was a tendency towards self-destruction, and for nepeta it was a feeling of inadequacy with herself, and subsequently leeching off of other characters’ personalities (or physical form later on in the comic.)

the doom aspect is difficult to work with for the same reason as mage is, but we can actually gain quite a bit of understanding through mituna. as the heir, he inherits his aspect, much as egbert inherits breath (freedom and inspiration) and equius inherits void (emptiness and irrelevance). if we view doom through that lens, mituna’s story reveals doom to be, in it’s simplest form, misery and misfortune.

looking at sollux, we see that he is plagued constantly by both misery and misfortune, and yet it never consumes him completely. any relief from these things also quickly reveals itself to be temporary. alternia sucked hard for everyone. this is irrefutable and would serve as the definition if planets could have such things. sollux specifically suffered through more physical pain on a daily basis than any other character as a result of his migraines. it’s never explicitly stated how severe they got to be, but it is entirely possible that they got to be debilitating at times.

now, while characters such as tavros and terezi display that disability is not 100% a death sentence on alternia, especially since the twelve are cosmically destined to survive at least until the game begins, but the threat would have been constantly looming over his head. but it never comes.

not until the vast glub, and at that point feferi has the opportunity to save him. he never complains about his migraines after this point, which leads me to believe that his dream selves don’t have the same brain mutation (it should be noted that psychic abilities are tied to the spirit and not the body) and offers him relief. but it does not last, as the session eventually stagnates.

this theme continues for quite some time, with sollux consistently being offered relief in one form or another, only for old arms of misery and misfortune to pull him back. he wait to die on alternia, he waits for them all to die in sgrub, he waits for the universe to collapse in paradox space. he is unable to heal and unable to die. he is perpetually tailed by his aspect like a shackle.

meulin has less evidence going for her on this front, as she is almost completely irrelevant by the time of the comic. but from what we do know, she is acutely aware of the personalities of everyone around her. she understands them to the point of being able to effectively play matchmaker. and yet she cannot have this for herself. she is noted as having terrible luck in her own relationships, and even kurloz is using her to an extent by the time we see her. she finds herself unable to find fulfillment in her aspect, and unable to escape. in this way her ability to understand others acts not as a a boon, but another layer to her aspect’s hold over her.

in closing, sollux, the mage of doom, is haunted by misery in it’s various forms throughout the comic, and meulin, the mage of heart, is haunted by her own and others’ self actualization throughout her (un)life. neither can escape, and neither can reach their full potential because of it.

#sollux #meulin #nepeta #mituna #classpecting #dirk #godddddddd i've been wanting to properly unpack my thoughts about sollux for a while #i tried the fanfic route but it didn't really work out the way i was hoping #anyway i'll probably dig deeper into the doom aspect at some point but i'm writing this at 11:30 and i need to fucking sleep #also if the mage class sounds objectively depressing (even more so than page which at least in theory has an arc) that's because it is #they just don't get bullied as much by the author #also hot damn i managed to go an entire speculation post without looping back to gamzee #technically i still have a makara (and thus a clown) in there but fuck you fight me i need and escape #wait #my oc's canon is that she maid of rage. but i'm now realizing that by my own definition. i'm the mage of clown #fuck

[tplambies]

(context for this post can be found in this masterpost under communications re:boot!)

The actor who plays Frances (I’ll be calling them by their roles, not the names of the actors- too confusing) has played a lot of big roles since her involvement in Number Street and is a very well known actor! She's almost like the Meryl Streep of this au, being very versatile and having a lot of famous titles to her name. Her performance as Poppy went pretty under the radar, seeing as the show wasn't super popular and had a small budget- at least until the announcement that she would be returning to play Frances in the COMMUNICATIONS reboot of the show. Her hardcore fans started circulating clips of her as Poppy, several of which were meme'd and made into tiktok audios (as you do). This brought hype for the reboot that wasn't there previously, seeing as the fan community for the original show was fairly small.

A few interview quotes from Frances!

Q: What were your thoughts when you found out Poppy was cut from the reboot?

A: “I’m sad to see her go, at least for now. No spoilers! However, I do enjoy the new dynamic the Elsner family has now that they're child-free. Platonic marriage isn't typically explored in media, it was a very interesting direction. So as close as I hold Poppy to my heart, I’m willing to let her go to explore new scenarios with the rest of the family.”

Q: What inspired you when playing Frances?

A: “I was a little out of my element at first. I mean, there was no Frances last time I was an Elsner! But then on my first day on set, somebody asked me if I’d read ‘the comic’. And I went, ‘what comic?’, and they said ‘oh my god, the comic!’ And so they showed me this insane, crudely drawn comic about extreme versions of the Elsner family with time travel and psychics and spirits, oh my! It was the craziest thing I’d ever read. I'd have to credit the mind of that author for inspiring me. Beyond that, there were a lot of other actors I looked up to…”

Q: Will you be coming back for a second season?

A: “Unfortunately, I don't think Frances will appear in the second season, but I would love to come back as another character if I was asked. It seems the second season is going to defy all expectations.”

Q: What was your relationship with Henry off set?

A: “It’s quite funny, actually. I’d always apologize to him after dramatic scenes, as he really looked that scared! Henry is an excellent actor, and it was a pleasure to work alongside him. I can’t say much about our relationship off set, as we didn't often hang out outside of cast dinners and such.”

Q: And what about Nancy?

A: “Oh, Nancy is such a joy! I like to think I took her under my wing during this project. She has such raw emotion in her acting, I almost didn’t believe her when she said this was her first lead! She acted quite nervous around me at first, a bit intimidated I believe, but we warmed up to each other and became quite good friends. She asks me for lots of advice, always striving for perfection. Such a hard worker. She's precious.”

Q: And Ray?

A: “Oh my, he makes me feel old and young all at once. He wrote 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss’ on my mirror in lipstick a few days into filming. I had to ask him what it meant. I thought it was quite funny, although it is apparently outdated now. Times change so fast. To get back to the topic, Ray is an incredibly talented young actor with so much potential! He truly transforms into his character, it’s almost scary sometimes on set. We’re not in any scenes together, unfortunately, though he’s told me if we were we’d be an unstoppable “male and female manipulator duo”.

this definitely needs some more editing but I wanted to share the scraps lol

#we got all our paragraphs this time? #if anything randomly goes missing again i'm deleting everything I quit goodbye #communications re:boot #ones n zeroes #ghost and pals #communications ghost

[societysonlooker]

2) What is your favorite fic of yours?

3) What fic of yours do you think is underrated?

6) Do you outline your fics? If so, how?

8) Do you take inspiration from real life? If so how do you incorporate it into your fics?

Oh hey anon!

2) So, while I don't really have any comfort fics, but one series that lives rent free in my head is Caged Robins by independent_variables. Here's the description:

Caged Robins don't sing, they beat their wings against the bars.

Or:

Jack Drake meets Robin.

And another favorite of mine is 16 November 1581 by DairyFarmer. If you like Good Dad Bruce fics and you like hurt/comfort, this is for you. It's just, a stellar fic all in all. Tw for child abuse, though. Description:

Bruce blacked out. He wasn’t sure what happened after those words left Jack’s mouth. All he knew was that the next thing he remembered was being pulled off of Jack Drake by several police officers.

----

Tim goes missing and there were times that Bruce wished he wasn’t such a good detective.

There's a lot more fics from a few different fandoms I could rec if people were interested, but these are ones I've remembered and read Recently. shoutouts to

the ENTIRE Where's My Goddamned Dinosaur series by njw (18+ yall)

Loading and Aspect Ratio by JUBE514

M&M by Impravidus

The Entirety of Liminal Spaces by Calamityjim

Worlds Finest Three by SuperRobinSmash (18+ yall)

Whatever Happened To Tim Drake? By TinHatFlash (READ THE FUCKING TAGS YALL). I frankly consider the best example of an honest to god Greek tragedy that I've ever seen in modern writing (and I WENT TO SCHOOL FOR THAT SHIT) because every "mistake" the characters make is an action that have no choice but to make because they are who they are and they're trying to do the next best thing in a horrible situation and it is an ever-evolving downward spiral. Seriously, I cannot sing enough praise for this fic.

Additional shoutouts to Heartslogos, Petra, and Teland, who's fics dragged me, joyfully, into this fandom, what with my then-limited-to-Teen-Titans-Cartoon knowledge of dc comics, and honestly so many others who's names I recognize, but can't pull from yhe top of my head right now.

Ok ok,

3) so, the first thing is I actually have irl friends who follow this account, so on the off chance they see this, I'm not gonna talk about my own works, *but*, I do think that one of my short-story/longfics is over-rated. It's got 2 chapters, is unfinished, hasn't updated in years, is full of mistakes and stilted sentences, is frankly a longfic i didnt commit to and need to seriously rework before i continue, and it has as many kudos as all my other works. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for all of them, and I'm really happy that the story made so many people happy! I just think it's definitely one of my rougher pieces, and hopefully now that my schedule is even-ing out i can finally dedicate some time to working on that.

6) yes and no, sometimes I get an idea and inspiration for a short fic and am writing whatever comes to mind in a matter of minutes, and finish it in a caffein induced haze within the week. Sometimes I write a full NotFic (a beat sheet, if you will) and never write a full story. Sometimes I write a notfic, edit it a couple of times, then write a fic. Sometimes I copy/paste the thing into a new doc and just restructure the sentences into the right perspectives, paragraphs, and descriptions, and Bam! Story. And sometimes I do an actual point by point outline of "these are the beats I want to hit, the how doesn't matter, just figure out the details as you go and Get To This Place, and that's the kind of thing that usually leads to my fics that deal more with emotional trauma than anything else, I want the characters to feel a certain way then interact with each other, and I ask myself how I can bring them to that point. The story usually builds itself after that.

8) Oh yeah, all the time. I started writing by writing poetry to express myself, and the media I consumed was, generally, along the same vein. As a kid I liked pieces that were both escapism, and something that tackled my day-to-day problems. So give me magic and dragons, but give me academic pressure and strained interpersonal relationships, too. To this day, that is still my taste in media. I use fiction-writing as a way to vent my own thoughts, emotions, and traumas. I'm always inspired by the world around me, in that sometimes i see a pretty dress and have to think "do I want to wear this dress, or do I want to see a pretty girl in this dress?" And then write both. Sometimes I go "man, that was fucked, Imagine if I made a fictional character go through that too?" And then make the character go through something infinitely worse, yet still come out on top. In that sometimes I find that I'm writing a lot of a trope I enjoy, and then I start examining what about the trope i like, and nine times out off ten some other long-forgotten trauma comes flying out of the woodwork. When I'm writing, I'm doing it to tell a story, yes, but also to examine some aspect of people. Their inner thoughts, the way we interact with each other, our wants and needs, how we treat each other in a society l, and why some normal human things are taboo when the same society allows atrocities. I don't necessarily think stories need to so much have a progression as they need to simply convey something to the reader, much like poetry, and I think that really impacts my writing.

Anyway, sorry that was so long! I have a lot of feelings about fanfic 😂 thanks for the ask nonny!!!

#societysonlooker's asks #just tagging so i can find it again if i need. i do a lot of revlogging

[pokimoko]

For the ask game May I ask: 18, 22, and 35? Love u bird overlord you make me toss my marbles into the sea everytime I read one of your creations💖

Hello my favourite bird underling! Lovely to see you pop by. :D Let's answer some queries! 18. Do I enjoy research? DO I ENJOY RESEARCH???? YES! I love researching! I will spend hours just researching for fics (even if, ahem, that researching is just watching movies and shows that relate to the fic's concept) because I like using those little details to enhance the story itself or alternatively as a source of inspiration. As for which story required the most research, that would definitely have to be I've Heard That Song Before. For that one fic, I ended up researching *deep breath* Hungarian geography and history, 1940s culture (predominantly music), Marvel comic lore, WW2 history, 1940s military letters and equipment, baseball, national parks, swing dancing, Russian poetry and history, Pluto (my beloved), Jewish culture and writings, Roma culture, Greek mythology, and just a whole bunch of other things. I ended up having History Notes at the end of every chapter because of all the research I did for that story, because I just wanted to share all the cool and important things I learnt during the writing process. So yeah, research is a friend of mine. I think every fic deserves at least some research. 22. When do I title fics during the writing process? Hm. It depends. I usually have an idea in mind before I start a fic, and sometimes that sticks for the whole thing (like perilune, which was a word I'd been wanting to use as a fic title ever since I discovered it) but I usually go through several variations throughout the writing process until I end up with one I like and that I think fits the story best. For example, In Your Absence (Rebuilding the Memory of Goldfish Dreams) had several names, in terms of the bracket bit. It started as In Your Absence (I Will Try to Stay Present) to IYA (I'll Find My Way Back to You) to IYA (All That's Left is The Ghost of Me), which is was for a few weeks before I decided to lean on the fishbowl metaphor (and the dialogue: "I wonder what fishes dream about") and switched to IYA (Seeking the Memory of Goldfish Dreams) until finally landing on the title it is now. In the Absent Place (Listening to Silence on the Radio) started as The Absence of Others (and Why We Pretend That’s Okay), then The House We Call Home (and Why We Must Keep It Spotless), then This House of Ours (And Other Things That Don’t Exist) and quite a few other variations of these until a line of dialogue from the show 'Legion' (from 2x05: "I was in the absent place, and then I just…There she was, in the mirror, looking back at me.") inspired the first part, and the game 'Oxenfree' (which involves radios and ghosts and is just amazing) inspired the second part of the title. So to answer how I come up with names, it's a lot of experimentation and outside inspiration. 35. Can't believe you're making me decide on one fic as my favourite. Cruel of you, don't you know all of them are my babies (*pointedly not looking at my pre-2019 stuff*). I think I'll go with The Absence of Fear simply because I am so proud of how it turned out, and because of the fact it kickstarted my Moon Knight writing (and the ESOTAM series which I have loved making so much). It'll always have a special place for me for that reason. Also I wrote that baby in like 3 nights and god, I don't think I've reached that hectic pace ever since. I was a writer possessed for that story and that story alone. Ask me fanfic questions!

#ask #beloved mail #fanfic stuff #once again showing everyone how much of a nerd i am by ranting about how much i love researching stuff #but this is old news and i did warn you in advance about me rambling #i writes fics as an excuse to research stuff you heard it here first #(like how else will i gather random knowledge about pluto which was discovered on the 18th of february in 1930 and publically--) #(*shot immediately before I can ramble any more*) #pizzee beloved thank you for your sacrificial offerings #you chose such good questions!! I finally had an excuse talk about the inspiration for in the absent place's title #that's right i stole it verbatim from a tv show I haven't even finished #it was definitely one of those *head snaps eyes gleaming red* moments when I heard that piece of dialogue in legion #perks of google doc version history is getting to see the evolution of fic titles in motion #in the absent place had so many i didn't even list them all here #little guy almost ended up as In the Absent Place (And All That Lies Underneath) but Oxenfree and the phrase 'radio silence' changed that #perilune and the absence of fear are essentially the only ones that i was like 'this is the title' and actually stuck with it #anyway beloved hope your seatossed marbles return to you so you can toss them right back in

[the-eldritch-sorcerer]

💙 ((Hello - I'd like to thank you for your initial ask, and for the embrasive, supportive tenor I see you are meaning to set for anyone interested in role playing with you. I definitely want to pursue further interaction [including a continuation of our current thread] but I need to let you know a few things before we go on.

First, I'm a writer of Romance at every opportunity, so that your characterization of Stephen is right in my wheelhouse. I've been roleplaying on and off for several years with @doctorstrangeaskblog, and had in the past with a couple of others, though they didn't last beyond several months each. Our characters had been 'exclusive', but recently that Mun opened up to possible relationships with other characters, stipulating that all such threads [including ours] would be closed. They also indicated that I should feel free to play with other Stephens, if I so wished. I didn't expect to encounter another Stephen, but I'd like to jump on this opportunity.

However, I'm incredibly invested in my Beauty--she's one of my dearest OFCs--and I find that I'd like to continue with her in your universe, if possible. I'd make some changes to her history, career, etc [like a true multiversal Variant] but her basic characteristics would remain, with perhaps her poetic, romantic tendencies given greater play. If this works for you, please let me know. In addition, I feel an obligation of sorts to run this by 'other Stephen's' Mun, before we commence. I plan to ask them once I hear back from you.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying reading your threads with others, and find them a wonderful appetizer to what might create together.

One last thing- tumblr has me on shadow ban currently [damn that logarithm!] which presents communications challenges, but I've figured out a few back channels. I look forward to hearing back from you and planning out something fun and creatively satisfying!))

Thank you for reaching out to me with these informative pieces of information.

I am glad that my version of Stephen has appealed to you in such a strong manner. I had every hope when I started this blog that I would succeed in making at least one person happy with my take on his personality. I tend to play him a little more softly than most, leaning towards his comic persona mixed into his MCU version played by Mr. Cumberbatch who is a huge inspiration to me. I am sorry to be hearing that your relationship with the other blog owner is coming to an end; it seems like such a waste to put all of that work behind them and you. But I pass no judgement, as it's not my place to.

I was told by my moderator @purplefeathersandblackleather that you were actually looking for a Stephen Strange of your own and that was what led me to reach out to you. I am interested in seeing where your new version of Beauty and my variant of Stephen venture together. As I've said, the thread with you - which can end at any given point - is your own Multiverse, different from anyone else who reaches out to me. If you need to exchange information on my variant's background and your new variant of Beauty before we move forward, I am very happy to get in touch and do so. I understand your hesitation and I am very respectful of your steps, so with any luck, I have said something in these last two paragraphs that have appealed to your creative side.

I see from some of your posts that Tumblr has made you a victim of the Shadow Realm (sorry, I make obscure references behind the persona haha) before we met. I hope that we can continue to stay in touch and keep going from here. I hope to hear from you soon, for I am truly sorry this has happened to you, and I look forward to hopefully continuing to help you with the struggle by giving you a creative outlet. Do take care!

#Ask Answered #Speaking Into the Multiverse #sobeautifullyobsessed #Doctor Strange #Stephen Strange #Romance Blog #A Beautiful Stranger #I look forward to continuing this

[maiji]

Cultural influences/mashups and shenanigans, and an alternate reading for Hokushin

I have been lit with inspiration to work on North Bound again (thank you @tv-writes-ff​) and today my subconsciousness worked out a several-years-long narrative issue I had that was preventing me from continuing one of the stories and popped it out to my conscious brain. Feeling excited and optimistic! ...depending on time and energy, hahah. 

As I started scripting and going through my old North Bound notes, I found some past musings and observations that really struck me about fanworks and cultural influences in general and Hokushin in particular, so sharing them here!

On cultural influences/mashups and shenanigans in fanworks, and an alternate reading for Hokushin

Something that’s always fascinated me when reading fanfics is the cultural aspects that a writer brings to their interpretation or extension, even without realizing it. For example, when reading English Yu Yu Hakusho fics written by fans from North America, I often encounter Western/North American customs colouring interactions and environments that feel somewhat out of place for an East Asian cast or setting in general, or 90’s Japanese middle school teenagers in particular (or, perhaps, ancient demons from Japan, though who’s to define their cultural norms…). 

I want to be clear: this is not necessarily indicative of how technically well-written the fic itself is. There are degrees of this, and many of the finer ones being things that a reader may or may not notice depending on their cultural familiarity and personal experiences - or even the language they’re thinking/working in. 

I’ve definitely done it myself. Here’s one super simple example: In the Loyal Retainer series modern era stories, there are several instances where I’ve written characters shaking hands in a formal or business-type interaction. It sounds totally natural in English, and you skip over it in less than a second. But it’s a little odd when I reflect on the setting and the scenarios, which is modern day Tokyo. Why are they shaking hands instead of bowing? Not to say people would never shake hands in Japan, but I’ve made arbitrary decisions here and there, both consciously and unconsciously, as to whether characters bow or shake hands, based on whatever I was aware of and felt natural when writing at the time. Rereading now I often question my decisions.

And it’s not just with “North American” experiences. Quite a few decisions I made throughout North Bound and Loyal Retainer, for instance, are influenced by my personal experience with Chinese/Taiwanese culture/history/media. Not necessarily particularly extensive or well-thought out/researched experiences - primarily a lot of osmosis from childhood to shake off. Sometimes I’d manage to catch myself doing this, and then struggle to course correct through what little research I manage to work in during my spare time. I’ve mentioned it a few times throughout my “please don’t take any of this as historically accurate” disclaimers and commentary. One immediate example that comes to mind is the story Quick Thinking, where in the author’s notes of the original post I go on about my struggles with the “market thievery” idea that is the core of that comic. There’s some convoluted mashups and mixed up relationships too, like how in A House That Holds Long Limbs my inspiration for Raizen playing the gambling game Cho-han is thanks to my memories of Suikoden, a Japanese RPG series that is heavily based on Chinese culture - the famous wuxia novel Water Margin.

Anyways, just a really interesting thought! This is primarily a “I’m really fascinated by this” observation about how we colour interpretations and craft things based on our cultural experiences and influences, not to make people go “oh my god I will never get it right in my fanfic” (because believe you me, as I’ve pointed out a few in my own fics above... I’m sure for every one thing I point out, there are numerous others.)

And as promised/on a related note, similarly there’s something funny about Hokushin’s character that I’ve never really focused on. Nor does practically anyone else since he’s not really a character of major focus in the fandom… but interesting food for thought.

Here it is. Hokushin may not actually be a Buddhist monk. 

I mean, he’s obviously not literally a Buddhist monk, but he also may not necessarily be a Buddhist monk in core inspiration. It’s clear that Raizen’s actual story is heavily imbued with very overt Buddhist symbolism and references, and this is the road I elected to go down for North Bound for many reasons, including thematic ones. 

However, the first time we actually get a formal introduction and specific description of Hokushin is during Yomi’s board meeting. While they’re evaluating the opposing kingdoms’ forces, Hokushin’s picture comes up on screen, and Yoda says (in the Taiwanese translation I grew up with) “雷禪的第2號人物是仙術道士北神”. Which is, roughly: “Raizen’s second in command is the Taoist [Daoist] mage Hokushin.”

This is literally one line and it never comes up again, and I didn’t pay much attention to it as a kid, thinking “yeah yeah, whatever maybe some cultural translation convenience” etc. 

But many years later as an adult I came across an English Yu Yu Hakusho TCG card that read “Hokushin, Paranormal Taoist”. In that moment my brain did a doubletake, and I was like “...Oh! I guess that was an accurate translation of the original Japanese??” 

Continuing the cultural mashups theme: Taoism or Daoism is an indigenous belief system of China. Buddhism’s main inroad to East Asia was via China, and spreading further to places such as Korea, Japan, Tibet, Vietnam and so on. In China it encountered Daoism, and so many Buddhist concepts were actually parsed through a Daoist lens and language. The translators of the time resorted to using Daoist terminology to render some Buddhist ideas, and as a result Mahayana Buddhism in general and Zen Buddhism in particular have many close linkages and entwining concepts with Daoism. And it seems “道士” in Japanese could technically also be rendered... Buddhist monk. (Albeit not really as a first choice translation...)

So anyways... if somebody wants to write a Daoist immortal interpretation of Hokushin’s backstory and character, that would be super interesting!

One final thought on cultural interpretations. I was super tickled for multiple reasons earlier this year when Maji Battle released the Matsuri outfit for Hokushin (here it is for reference: https://maiji.tumblr.com/post/692874568188248064/i-completely-forgot-that-a-million-years-ago-i)

One of the reasons is his necklace. In the original manga and anime, the pendant on the necklace is actually quite horizontal in orientation, like this:

As far as I’m aware, it’s primarily a decorative element of his character design; likely a last-minute addition to add some details, and nothing further to extrapolate from it. For the purposes of North Bound, I called it a magatama in Mirror Most Dark, taking advantage of creative license and the fact that some ancient magatama were more roughly shaped and horizontal than very comma shaped, and carrying this interpretation through the rest of the North Bound stories. 

It seems the team/artist on Maji Battle made the same natural stretch, because it’s very clearly been rotated and shape-changed in his official Maji Battle art to become a full-on modern magatama:

I think it’s a very natural assumption or adaptation/evolution to make, because of how prominent magatama are in Japanese culture. At the same time, I was super amused and pleased!

#yu yu hakusho #fandom #buddhism #daoism #hokushin #thinking about culture and cultural influences and cultural mashups #fandom essays #yu yu hakusho 100% maji battle

[ghostoftheyear]

It occurs to me that I’ve never really talked a lot on here about the Felids despite sporadically posting art of updated designs and mentioning a “series”, so I thought I’d ramble a bit about it for those who might be interested. I’ll keep it under a cut so you can scroll on by if you want.

So, the Felids! This is a project that started way back when I was in my early teens, inspired by -- you might have guessed -- the Thundercats cartoon. The original one, mind: I am very old. Marvel’s junior imprint (Star Comics, I think?) ran a series that expanded on the universe a bit and included some new characters, and I was so enraptured by this that I started creating my own. The first was Siam, with her tragic backstory and twin children; after them came Tigreer, and then I started making more in earnest. Marx and Daman were soon created specifically to be Tigreer’s mates; I remember I was penpals with someone at the time who was also doing the same thing -- I might even have written to her from a letter in the mailbag column of the comic? At any rate, polyamory somehow because established in my head as a natural thing from a far too early age, even if I didn’t have a word for it then. But that’s beside the point.

At some point I realized I had to make these characters their own original thing (aka their own property, though I wasn’t thinking in those terms) if I wanted to ever actually do anything with them, so they became Felids -- Homo felidae, to give them a proper classification -- and for a time I fannishly placed them in the Marvel universe, though they were definitively not mutants but their own thing. I had kept creating new characters to the point where many were just a name and a costume, but I wanted to do something with them, so I decided they lived in a secret compound in the Colorado Rockies named Sanctuary. This came into focus in college, when my RPG group had adventures set in the far flung future of 2003 (I told you I was old; I started as a freshman in 1990). We had a superheroes game and Sanctuary turned into part of that, with my explicit permission. A former friend who is no longer with us did a lot of creative work with various Felids, though it never came to fruition; I still appreciate the stories he came up with.

Many of the roster of Felids are also creations of friends, from that group and later on. The idea of Sanctuary became more fleshed out as a place where Felids lived in peace, safe from the world that mistrusted and hated them. A few safehouses appeared here and there, with missions going out to rescue Felids who had been identified as endangered. Some actually chose to stay where they were, feeling safe in their communities, while others mistrusted Tigreer’s ideal of keeping every Felid safe.

Eventually, I established a history for them. Felids were randomly born to standard humans all over the world, but very rarely -- or at least very rarely known of -- until the 1990s or so. Tigreer, whom I’d decided now was the leader of the community, wanted nothing more than to bring them all together. She’d experienced violence and danger herself and didn’t want any other Felid to have to go through that. Eventually she’d come across first Marx and then Daman -- each one of them taking on a name for their society as it was established, rejecting or at least leaving behind their time in the human world.

That’s pretty much as far as I’ve gotten in terms of story for them. Most Felids at present live in Sanctuary; Tigreer is the leader, but the governmental system is pretty ad hoc (needs work) and she delegates responsibilities to quite a few people who are in charge of departments such as sanitation, child care and education, medicine, weapons and defense training, and so on. Mostly it’s just a place for them all to stay right now. The webcomic I started putting together several years ago has about five pages done and a bit more script written, but I got stuck on an action page and have yet to do more with it. Someday, I hope.

Anyway, that’s basically the rundown. I’ve never really had a clear idea of what I want to do with these characters, but they’re always there in the back of my mind, waiting. Watching. Getting the occasional short story. And getting art, bit by bit.

Oh and when I’m referring to the “Felid series”, what I mean is the collection of drawings/portraits/designs or whatever you want to call them. I did one run-through between like 1997-2001 or so, and then later thought I’d do one more final set. Ahahaha. There’s something wrong with me. I started this new “series” in 2009. 2009. When I started, I was using colored pencils and ink on sketchpad paper. During that time I’ve transitioned to sketches on paper-->scan-->ink and color in Photoshop, then to full digital art, beginning to end. It’s been a journey. One I am never doing again.

#felids #homo felidae

[aspiestvmusings]

Find the M 

WandaVision screencaptures

Episodes 1x08, 1x05, 1x06 

#SPOILER #WandaVision #WandaVision spoilers #WandaVision spoiler #MCU #Wanda #Vision #Wanda Vision #Wanda Maximoff #Wanda x Vision #M #HOUSE OF M #Im still unsure how much of the comics they'll copy exactly on the show... #...but the inspiration for several things definitely comes from this and a few other comics

[fantastic-nonsense]

so my general almost non-spoilerish review for The Batman:

best depiction of Batman we've ever gotten on screen; he actually acted like a real detective and had a fantastic character arc. Some of the fight scenes were a bit awkward, but that was also clearly a purposeful choice made to highlight the fact that this is Year Two Batman, who's still figuring things out

It was extremely clear which comics Reeves took inspiration from. The movie is very clearly a love letter to Batman, the fans, and the comics people have spent decades reading, and you can tell. If anyone's interested, the most obvious inspirations were Year One, Long Halloween, Ego, and Zero Year, with some elements from Batman: Earth One thrown in as well.

I personally thought the core themes were woven through the main plotline well. There were a couple of instances of clunky dialogue, but overall, it was fairly effective at getting across the points it wanted to

Bruce's opening/closing narrations were A+

the opening scene (y'all know the one) was excessively long. That shit could have been effectively told in 2 minutes tops and it went on for 5-6. There were a couple of other scenes that felt like they needed editing down too, but that was the most obvious one

Generally, I wish Pattinson had emoted a bit more (both as Bruce and as Batman). He had some fantastic moments, but I just wanted more from him. I understand that it was a deliberate acting choice that he didn't and I understand why Reeves and Rob made that character choice, but there were several points throughout the movie (particularly during his talk with Falcone and a few of his scenes with Selina) where I was just like "come on Rob...give me something here!"

Submit the hospital and Arkham interrogation scenes to the Oscars for Pattinson's Best Actor nom. That's all.

Reeves made some interesting choices for Selina and I actually really liked most of them. I enjoyed how she was clearly the pathos and conscience of the movie, which we rarely get outside of Selina-focused comics

This is the funniest depiction of Bruce and Gordon's relationship we've ever gotten, and I'm actually obsessed with it

I'm ultimately still not happy with the Riddler. He was effective. He was smart. He had his riddles and his question marks and his obsession with Batman. Like Pattinson's emotions, I understand why Reeves did what he did. Dano's particular interpretation of Eddie just didn't work for me.

I can't believe some critics are calling this movie humorless. I was stifling laughs every time Penguin was on-screen, and there were some just Grade A-level puns baked into the script. I guess maybe they didn't like that it was tasteful, smart humor and wasn't just quippy one-liners every 5 minutes?

the soundtrack: A++++. Batman's theme was appropriately forbidding and it feels like you're watching a Big Cat stalking his prey every time it plays

if this movie doesn't scream "Harvey Dent will co-star in Batman 2" I simply don't know what movie you watched, but it wasn't the same one I did. Whether he'll appear as Two-Face or not idk, but Batman 1 was literally the perfect set up for Harvey's appearance and that's WAY more than I expected to get

Finally, fuck the critics who were like 'the third act is weak.' No, the third act was NOT weak, that was peak Batman cinema you cowards. The flare scene, my beloved...................

Basically, I have some issues with it, but overall, an absolutely solid movie. Absolutely thrilled to see where Reeves goes with Batman 2.

Also...get this absolute disaster of a man a Robin!!! If there's ever been a live-action Batman who desperately needs a Robin, it's DEFINITELY Battinson.

#the batman #the batman spoilers #(kind of) #the batman 2022 #bruce wayne #batman #dc comics #personal #bri's reviews #me pumping my fist in the air during the flare scene: 'THAT'S HIM! THAT'S *MY* BATMAN!' #I don't want to be TOO SPOILERY in this review but also.........the car chase scene............edge of my seat the whole time

[maxwell-grant]

If someone were trying to make a new character inspired by pulp heroes, but the new character had to be a teenager, what existing pulps heroes should they look to for inspiration?

I'm not exactly in touch with the yoof so I could be off the mark here, but let's talk about teenager characters for a bit.

Now, I could just tell you to look for characters that appeal to you and use them as a baseline and that's probably the best advice here, but if you want the essay and history lesson: American pulp fiction didn't used to market much to teenagers. Teenagers as a consuming market haven't always been the all-encompassing force they are considered today, and the pulps were largely marketed either towards young boys, or for working class men, mostly the latter. This is part of why teenagers tend to show up in these stories largely as sidekicks, which was something carried over to comic superheroes, and part of why Spider-Man was such a breakout hit, because he was a teenage superhero who was not a sidekick.

The biggest pre-1950s traditional pulp hero I can of who was a teenager would be Jack Harkaway, an 1871 penny dreadful adventurer who would go on to be published overseas, one of those characters who was big enough in his day to inspire imitators a plenty but didn't quite make it past a specific time period. Comic strips had plenty of kid or teenage protagonists who are a bit closer to pulp heroes, like Tintin or Terry Lee, one in particular I'm highlighting above is Ledger Syndicate's Connie Kurridge, arguably the first female adventure hero of American comics. Overseas you can find a couple of prominent examples of teenage adventurers published in what we call the pulp era, the biggest and most influential of which being The Famous Five, but as I stated in answering whether Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys were pulp heroes, these were not published in pulp magazines, instead their direct opposites in glossy and reputable paperbacks.

There are other examples of pulp heroes who were teenagers and not sidekicks, but nearly all of them are very obscure and you will probably not find much material for them. And the thing is, these characters were not made for teenagers. They were made, for the most part, by grown-ups, and for grown-ups, and I can't say any of them ever really grabbed a teenage audience. Usually, it's the 60s as an era that really starts to pander to and include teenagers at the forefront of storytelling, so a good start for you might be to look at what was going on in the 60s-onwards worldwide in the realms of pulp and pulp-inspired works, which probably means you're going to have to look outside of the US.

Another word of advice would be to look up characters that are beloved by teenagers. I don't think "teenager" is a great baseline trait to start building a character, but if that's the number one priority to you, then ideally you should look for a good baseline of what appeals to that demographic, what appealed to you at that age and why. You're probably going to wind up with a lot of anime anti-heroes in your research though, because teenagers are deeply miserable creatures and few things appeal more to them than characters who are miserable but they act cool and badass and edgy about it. Teenagers are forced to live with the miserable reality of being teenagers with little to no upsides, so I think teenage characters could benefit more from being based on the kinds of characters teenagers would ideally want to read about.

So, "cool, badass and tortured character super popular with angsty teenagers", "rooted in and subverting older storytelling traditions for a fresh new audience", and "60s pulp hero". I think Elric is probably as good of a place as any for you to start.

Elric wasn't just popular, he wasn't even just popular with teenagers (boys and girls alike, which is also quite the feat), he was "cool". He was avant-garde, he was the hip new thing on the block. He wasn't Conan or Bond or Batman, and you'd hardly mistake him for a hero. He got the rock albums and fans tattooing him. He was penned by the guy who was openly called the "anti-Tolkien". Elric was Loki before Loki, the edgy anti-hero before them all. The emaciated warrior with white hair and black clothes and a demonic sword who suffered in a cool way, cool in his uncoolness. When I think of pulp heroes who achieved a substantial popularity among teenage audiences, Elric is definitely the first that comes to mind.

Another good example might be Captain Harlock, easily one of the premier Pulp Heroes among manga and anime due to how heavily Leiji Matsumoto incorporates pulp space opera into everything he does. Not only directly influenced by it, Matsumoto even has actual pulp credentials as an illustrator for C.L Moore's Shambleau, Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry. The space pirate, while not created in manga and anime, is one of Japan's premier pulp hero archetypes, and Harlock's as good of a baseline to work with as any.

The most popular pulp-inspired works nowadays among teenage or younger audiences are definitely the ones derived from pulp horror, several creators have been getting a lot of mileage these past decades out of plundering and remixing stuff from it. The big ones are Lovecraft and related works like The King in Yellow, but because they soak up all the attention, it also means that people are sleeping on authors like John W. Campbell, William Hope Hogdson, Clark Ashton Smith and Karl Edward Wagner, Nictzin Dyalhis and Olaf Stapledon, and many, many more, which gives you a lot of narrative real estate to work with should you take this direction.

Additionally, one thing that you could consider is that, for a very large portion of the history of pulp fiction, a significant amount of the most popular stories and characters were those that were based on celebrities and real life figures. The biggest of dime novel protagonists was Buffalo Bill, and following him was Nick Carter, a literary equivalent to Eugen Sandow (the Schwarzenegger of his day). Thomas Edison inspired an entire subgenre of dime novel fiction, even Jack the Ripper was a pulp protagonist in Dutch magazines, because sometimes the term "pulp hero" doesn't take the "hero" part much into account.

The precedent for celebrity stories is older than pulp fiction itself, but it was in the dime novels and novelettes and pulps that the idea really found it's footing. The Shadow's exploits took a lot from Gibson's own experiences with Houdini (who himself starred in fictional stories, one famously penned by Lovecraft). Doc Savage was visually modeled after Clark Gable and supposedly inspired on Richard Henry Savage. Eddy Polo, Charlie Chaplin and Tom Mix were the protagonists of several pulps and comic strips across the world, as well as Al Capone (who starred in pulp magazines in Germany and Spain), who fought Nick Carter in a Brazilian story guest-starring Fu Manchu (reportedly based on real figures Sax Rohmer claimed to have met) and Fantomas. Today obviously there are much greater restrictions at play concerning celebrity images, but if dime/pulp magazines were around today, we would have quite possibly seen figures like Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton and Lil Nas X either star in their own magazines or be used as models for rising protagonists.

So I guess one other way you could go on about creating a pulp hero, who's either a teenager or appeals to teenagers, would be the route of taking a look at some celebrities that either are, or appeal to those demographics, because if pulp magazines had stayed around unchanged past the 60s and 80s and whatnot you definitely would have seen the likes of David Bowie, Will Smith and Dwayne Johnson get their own magazines. I don't know much about what celebrities are popular with teenagers these days and I'm not about to start caring now, but you could take a look at some icons you like, or liked when you were younger, and think about what made them appealing to think about as characters, and how you could apply that to something closer to a pulp story.

A word of advice would also be that, if you want to make a character inspired by pulp heroes, if you want to create a convincing modern pulp hero, you might want to look less at the pulp heroes themselves and instead those that they were inspired by or working to defy and stand out when compared to. You take the building blocks and rearrange them in a different way. If you have a specific character you want to design yours in reference to, you can send me an ask or a DM about them and I'll dig into my files to give you a few pointers, and what kind of history or cultural predecessors they have that you could take a look at to make something more genuine.

#replies tag #pulp heroes #pulp fiction #jack harkaway #captain harlock #elric of melnibone #bloodborne #darkest dungeon