#i was browsing reddit and came across THIS

[simplydnp]

hey there!

I kind of consider you the resident dnp expert (at least in dnp culture) so I wanted your opinion on a question that's been building for a while now.

What are the boundaries for dnp now?

There are so many things that I feel have changed even in the last four years: writing smutty rpf was Gross and Weird, along with art along that line, speculating about their relationship was ABSOLUTELY a no-go, all things that I see happening on Tumblr now. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing!! I'm just acknowledging things have changed over time. They're different people now and so are we, and the "we know you know" era is lots of fun.

I was browsing reddit today (bad idea, do not recommend) and came across a post from a new Phannie asking if DnP were in a relationship. And while I agree that we cannot say for absolute certain that they are, the responses had a VERY different vibe than on here, emphasizing how bad the speculation was (true) and essentially saying "don't even think about that, just enjoy their content." (or something to that extent.)

Which... is very different from this here website in which we joke about them being horney for each other constantly lmao.

Being a very rules-driven person, I like expectations to be made abundantly clear for pretty much everything. So that's why I want to ask: Is there a line here? Are we crossing that line? How defined is that line? (All of this, of course, I recognize is your opinion and yours alone, and if this is posted I encourage anyone else to share their two-cents in a respectful way.)

Obviously, trying to find out where they live/things like that is very clearly crossing a boundary. But is there some sort of limit or boundary I (and tbh the rest of the phandom), in your opinion, should be keeping in mind?

thanks xx

hi!

'resident expert' is a hefty title, i'm just here trying my best!

'what are the boundaries for dnp now?' is really a great question. cause the thing is, we used to know. there used to be a fairly well-defined and mostly agreed upon line, and ever since the dapg revival in particular, the line keeps moving.

i'll be honest, i never really saw phanfic as rpf, even though it is. my stance on phanfic is the same as dnps: it's a beautiful expression of art and creativity and is so, so important. they've always been pro-fic (even though we subjected them to some absolutely horrific crack fics), so i don't think 'smutty' fic has ever been gross or too far. they've given their blessing, and, as the conversation has been in fandom communities the last few years, rpf isn't 'for' the people in them, it's for the fans. so i digress.

art is much the same way. they love art! they even included art of them kissing in a tumblr tag video back in the day, so to say that's not allowed especially after they're out is kind of crazy to me.

i think the line with stuff like that was showing it directly to dnp--tagging them in explicit stuff, that kind of thing. but creating it? go for it! it's always been a green light. (i think fans have previously overpoliced this and we lost a lot of great fic, art, and community members over it)

browsing reddit is always a Choice. i've never participated on dnp reddit before but i am aware that it is an entirely different space than here. something that's important, i think (and i think you think this too as you're asking about them), is to respect the fandom rules of the place you partcipate in. tumblr is generally one of the most phan-positive places on the internet, especially publicly facing. we make a lot of relationship jokes, particularly because we run on the assumption it's already true, based on what they've both said publicly (mostly dan).

i won't comment on reddit specifically just because i'm not a part of the community there, but the speculation about dnp online was a Lot for a long time. but the worst part of it was the stalking, the digging into personal lives, the contacting family members--that is what was bad. dnp have always had a connection--and, honestly, they kind of love flexing it and kind of always have. they absolutely play into things now, but they certainly did even way before coming out too. i think a certain level of speculation was to be expected, especially in that era of online fandom. but it wasn't just the 'teenage girls' who cared, the media did too, and so did many others.

i think one of the biggest differences now is 1 the awareness of 'our' past and trying to make up for it, and 2 the broader societal conversations about parasocial relationships.

you see this reflected on the snippets ive seen from dnp reddit and dnp twitter. they tend to be Very 'cautious' about the words they say, often undercutting perfectly reasonable statements with 'but whatever their relationship is'. on one hand, they don't want to cross a line, and i can respect that. on the other hand... it's 2024 babes. they just put out merch of them holding hands. dan's directly, intentionally, and explicitly called phil a bottom on dapg. they reacted to all of the pinofs, made jokes about 'theyre touching', and even joked about the tackle being 'wrestling 👀'. dan posted half-naked catboy pics and showed us phil was taking them. the 'watch your step babygirl' tweet & their reactions to it. phil is credited in WAD. they're making threesome jokes about themselves as a unit. i could go on and on.

to me, there's a few things that have 'moved the line' for us, so to speak.

1 - DAPG returning. for the last few years they specifically were not a duo (for projects) anymore. (and no, not because they hated each other). they just weren't. they wanted to focus on their goals and projects. they didn't have to resurrect dapg, but they chose to. marketing and money aside, they knew that if this went over well, it would well and truly revive the 'dan and phil' brand again. it would be specifically returning to being a duo in the public eye. (however they've also fully embraced this in all aspects, including merch, videos, and general attitude)

2 - pinof reacts. even though they'd been out since 2019, we hadn't had regular joint content from them since before that, therefore, while they had become more comfortable with themselves and their 'outness', we hadn't (in terms of them making explicit gay jokes together). so i really think dnp had to de-fang a lot of the 'theyre touching' of it all, because we didn't really know where we stood on it anymore. i think they succeeded, too. we couldn't be here, with the content of the last 3 months, without them tackling it head on (well, as head on as they're want to do).

3 - dapc. genuinely another big shift. they did this for the real fans. purely a passion project, and a specific choice in doing the handhold. they know what we're like. and this wasn't a brief, unplanned, unscripted moment. it's a specifically blocked out scene. they know it's opening a door, and they chose to. this is doubled by the fucking iconic merch selling, and furthered by phil's twitter likes of arguably romantic phanart, and then dan's full straddle like.

even throughout the current 6 months of revival, the line has moved. i don't know where it will settle. dnp keep moving it, in my opinion, and, genuinely, i don't think it's going to leave much to the imagination. as you say, obviously not the stalking or the contacting, but beyond that? especially here on tumblr? i wouldn't get too worried. obviously people will have their opinions, but as long as you're generally respectful and recognize that humans will see your posts and humans interact with them, i think you're good.

my rule of thumb is anything they intentionally put on the table, we can joke about or at the same level. but in terms of art/fic? go off, live your dreams. dan and phil would want you to.

#i didn't include a cut because people don't always look under them and this is generally a whole statement. feel free to add things. #there's specific discourse i dont partake in. doesnt mean you have to avoid it entirely. but just dont bring it up to dnp and you're fine. #dnp #dan and phil #phan #<- for the fandometrics #c.text #answered

[ewokmurderbear]

okay so i was browsing on reddit and came across THIS

i haven't seen it on here yet and it was posted a couple years ago so I thought i might share. amazingly smooth transition from ezra to kanan, kudos to the creator CaptainAshtro. I love rebels so much because there is so much more emotion, more silly moments between characters that I feel other sw shows lack... which makes it hurt even more.

full credit to the creator of this, CaptainAshtro on reddit. link: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/u2d8gk/hey_star_wars_reddit_let_me_just_break_your_heart/

#ezra bridger #kanan jarrus #star wars #not mine #star wars edit #swredit #star wars rebels #sw rebels #s04e10 #jedi night #s04e16 #reddit #rebels

[gabessquishytum]

I was browsing The Poke today, and came across this post; https://www.thepoke.com/2024/01/15/unusual-relationship-dilemma-all-responses-deserved/

(man asks reddit what to do when his partner makes her vulva talk to him in a silly voice).

And my first thought was 'what would @gabessquishytum do with this?' so I had to ask!

I. I'm so incredibly flattered that you read this and thought of me. Genuinely. Ohhh my god.

I feel like this is incredibly Hob coded, ok. Dream will come home from work and Hob will be there wearing a big t-shirt and nothing else, and he'll have this big grin on his face... and Dream will watch in fascination and horror as Hob uses his outer labia to make a little... mouth? And make his vulva say hi to Dream. "Hi Dream! You look handsome" or "Hey babe, I missed you!"

Dream is completely thrown off guard by this but Hob doesn't stop. Every other day he'll make his pussy say hello. Not usually during foreplay, but sometimes Dream will try to distract him by initiating sex... he just doesn't know what to DO.

He gets drunk with Delerium and brings it up, and she's like "oh my god??? you idiot, you obviously have the best boyfriend in the world. just make your dick talk back!!"

So he does. He starts whipping out his dong and making it answer back. "Hello Hob, I missed you too." He'll say, in a gruff little voice. Hob smirks a little, but apparently he's committed to the bit. Their genitals have full blown conversations, and Dream gets used to it.

Eventually (and I mean like. YEARS later) Hob explains that he was just trying to feel more at home/accepting of his body and he came up with this way to combat dysphoria by seeing his genitals as like... a little person? A little person that he shouldn't be mean to? And he only realised that it was completely insane when Dream started whipping his dick out and talking back.

And Dream is like "I love you and your talking vulva so much but you are actually insane." Then they have sex. And the next day, Hob buys a massive quality of googly eyes.

Dream is so glad they're spending the rest of their lives together.

#the sandman #dreamling #nsft #trans hob

[asdear]

Came across this post when browsing Reddit...

I don't know why I'd pick one...

Gladly would pick both ngl 👀

#also its past 6 am here and i havent slept yet #i sometimes get in a simpy mood when im tired lmao #john marston #arthur morgan #rdr #rdr2 #rdr john #rdr arthur #red dead redemption #red dead redemption 2

[lo-calistro]

Why Duncan is always horny

When browsing the Community Reddit page to read about Duncan, I came across a DVD Commentary Observation post on the S1E05 'Advanced Criminal Law'. Source of the Reddit post is at the end. To cite Dan Harmon:

"Andrew [Guest] and I wrote a lot of this episode on the set. It went through a lot of changes. Originally, Duncan had just published a paper called “Born to Leave” about how women always left men."

It's implied that the break-up he suffered left a lasting negative emotional impact on his view of relationships and love in general. He holds bitter feelings enough to write a paper on it. This could translate to a fear of commitment stemming from the heartbreak of a relationship failure. This is also aided knowing his turbulent upbringing under an abusive and absent father.

Thus, Duncan's fear of commitment is what drives his desperation for sexual attention without emotional attachment. This is said in relation to how he is often normally portrayed as only being interested in hooking up with women he finds sexually attractive or appealing, notably Britta and Slater.

It becomes a way for him to avoid deeper emotional involvement whilst also seeking temporary relief from the pain of navigating post-break up loneliness. In other words, he chases sexual attention as a means to cope with his crippling loneliness and low-self esteem, which is demonstrated by his tendency to use self-depreciating humour in his interactions with Jeff.

It explains why he focuses on the superficial aspects of women rather than being interested in forming a meaningful relationship and emotional connection with one. He may feel inadequate, and seeks external validation in the form of casual sexual relationships to compensate for it. Subsequently, his abuse of alcohol may in turn be a method of numbing the pain he feels of a life devoid of love.

#this man just keeps getting sadder #poor guy #he couldn't keep his bitches #and i thought he was just a loser #fanfic writers better get on this #duncanposting #ian duncan #professor duncan #professor ian duncan #community #community tv #community tv show #community show #nbc community #community nbc

[max1461]

Ok then, if we're talking new social media to replace tumblr, I've got a few ideas. This is all a pipe dream of course, I don't have the tech skills to make any of this.

The core appeal of tumblr to me, as someone who came from reddit, is its personality-focused nature. You don't go to subforums for specific topics, you go to people's pages where they post about whatever interests them. So you get to know people and form relationships and have conversations, and that's great. The downside of this though is that I do think lacks some formal characteristics that are useful for keeping track of complex discussions, namely: I often want to be able to keep track of all branches of some discussion simultaneously, but the way posts are structured makes this hard to do (unlike reddit's threaded comments, which work great).

I thus propose a hybrid system. I'm not sure how it should look, like, what the client should be like, but I have opinions about how it should be structured.

Everyone has a page (equivalent to a blog) on which they can host various content.

When you make a post, you can make it in reply to any number of pre-existing posts. This has the effect of organizing all the posts on the site into a giant DAG. Maybe the posts you're replying to appear in a little bar across the top of your post, or whatever.

Actually no, scratch that, it should show you the graph. Like when you pull up a post, the post should be on the left and the graph, showing the relative positions of the post you're reading and the posts it's replying to and so on, should be on the right. I do have opinions about how this should look.

You can hover over a post in the graph to see it, click on it to go to that post, etc.

There's also an option to just browse the (probably disconnected) graph of the whole site.

This is strikingly similar to the "ideal social media site" I came up with a few years ago even though I'm coming up with all these ideas new right now. Guess I have similar tastes.

So, pages. On your page you can host all the posts you make. That's how I want to conceptualize it. And maybe it should be framed as like "hosting discussions" or something like that. And you can rehost other posts by other people that strike your fancy.

Ok structurally this is now identical to ideal social media site I came up with before, I think, although presented in slightly different terms.

We should just do that.

#navel gazing

[newsmutproject]

When meeting other pre-transition trans women in online spaces, I kept coming across a common theme. I’d be browsing a trans message board, or even a Reddit forum and I would see the very same words from my internal dialogue popping up in many posts. “Too fat,” “too bald,” “too something” to be a pretty woman. Always pretty or cute or beautiful. At that point, someone who had gone through their transition already would ask, “Would you rather be who you are now or an ugly woman?” I would see this question over and over again and each time, in my head I would answer “not a man.” From then on I spent a lot of time studying the women around me. Most of them had some masculine features and they all had unique body shapes and sizes. I came to realize that I envied all of them, not just the pretty ones. I would trade bodies with any woman that I came across. This led me to see just how much pressure society places on the appearances of women. Society demands that women look a certain way or else they are excluded. When society at large shames fat female bodies, all women are negatively affected by it, trans women included. Skinny women are scared to get fat, fat women are depressed by being constantly told that they are not worthy. That fat women are not worthy of love, of affection, or of respect. Not only was I stuck in the wrong gendered body for myself, I was also stuck in a body shape that has been deemed unacceptable by society at large.

-Katelyn Burns, "My Intersection with Being Trans and Fatphobia"

#fatphobia #transphobia #changing the narratives #sexism

[acorpsecalledcorva]

The neuroplasticity (or lack there of) of CDDs is really interesting in how it manifests over time. Because in so many ways I really am still a 5 year old child quietly crying myself to sleep, or a 17 year old girl desperately trying to establish an identity of my own in a world that feels like it has no place for me awash a sea of hormonal changes (second puberty really hits so different and yet so similar). But it also really does afford the room for real growth and change.

That change comes at a cost though, which is that I constantly feel alienated from my past selves. I cannot remember what I used to think, or why I thought it, only what I did and said and maybe what I was interacting with and try to work out my thought process from that. It's like most people are playdough, constantly being reshaped to a lesser or greater degree but still containing all that they were, while I'm Lego, I can be disassembled and reconstructed, but the pieces are solid, adding new bricks as needed and discarding those that are not (or putting them in storage at least).

We are also, of course, products of our environment. When your life is marred by identity uncertainty, we look to our surroundings to give us clues of who we might be. When I was on Reddit and browsed /r/all I would see the occasional tumblrinaction post about the plural community, fictionkins, and IRLs and think "well that's definitely not me. Discovering I was trans and coming to terms with being a marginalised identity, it was discord communities that taught me what that could mean and what I should be ready to fight against. On twitter I was lucky, I found the traumacore/empty spaces community that helped me to process the images I saw in my head that I didn't understand, and use my trauma as a tool of creation.

Taking part in the system community, it was the older focused communities that helped me to understand myself. I honestly don't know what my syscourse stance was back then, if I even had one. There are aspects of the wider online community that just don't vibe with me, some were a little damaging, others were simply incomprehensible to me. Joining Tumblr definitely shoved it in my face though.

The only thing I can imagine is that I must have thought that endogenic plurality was this "other" thing, I knew about DID, what switching and fronting and host and protector and system meant in that context, but endogenic plurality was something else that didn't concern me and I hadn't really come across it yet. So I was absolutely confused as fuck when I came here and saw people using all those "DID" words to mean something else. When anti-endos said "you can't form a system without trauma" that made absolute sense to me at the time because system meant DID and that's caused by trauma, why are people claiming to have DID things and using DID words while also saying that they don't have DID? Actually I do still kinda think the terms should be separate but it's not a battle I can be fucked to argue about anymore.

Because the point is that while online spaces might not change all that much, and there will always be people who join those spaces and be influenced by the culture in them, there are always other spaces that will influence them differently. So while it's absolutely frustrating as fuck to see anti-endos repeating the same horrible origins discourse, and endos saying fucking awful stuff like "I think traumagenic systems cling to trauma as a cause because they feel insecure about being a system", we need to accept that it will still keep happening while the spaces exist and remember that the people from those spaces are the ones with the opportunity to change. To learn, to see things from a different perspective, and most importantly grow.

And if they refuse to? If they keep spouting the same points over and over and over again, refusing to back down or learn, reigniting old arguments and digging stuff up from the past because they just can't let go of it? Just leave them to it I guess, we'll all be off making ourselves and each other better ^^

#syscourse

[sometimes-men-need-help-too]

Let’s talk about body shaming

This is a topic that is almost exclusively talked about in reference to women; now, this does happen, women are body shamed so it’s not a bad thing in itself to discuss. However, the problem I have is when people either refuse to acknowledge that it happens to men as well or they try to say that it isn’t as bad for them and not on the same level than it is when it happens to women. 

But they are body shamed. They do deal with hurtful remarks. We just don’t always acknowledge that. We tend to look at these things differently. 

So I want to discuss some things that men are body shamed for. 

- Their penis 

It’s an infamous example. I’ve talked about this before, I’ve said how wrong this is. 

It’s not hard to find a comment (and I apologize for the language) that say, “this has little dick energy.”  You’ll typically see it if a guy is saying something a woman doesn’t like or what he’s saying is actually rude or if there's a post/video that’s showing some poor behavior on his part. And instead of criticizing the behavior, the attitude, they go right to body shaming. 

And it’s considered funny. It’s considered clever. But there’s no real reason for it. In spite of that, people will try to justify themselves. I’ve seen comments of people saying that if the guy is acting like a jerk then it’s okay. They aren’t going to care about his feelings. 

On the surface, it might seem reasonable. But it’s not. It’s not reasonable. It’s not acceptable. 

When you body shame, even if it’s towards someone that isn’t a nice person, you’re perpetuating the idea that whatever you’re shaming him for--in this case, his penis size--is something to be ashamed of. 

And you can’t act like it’s not a big deal because you’re not directing it towards anyone else--that doesn’t matter. Realistically speaking, it’s going to create doubt. It’s going to worsen someone’s image of themself. 

Maybe that guy on the internet is saying things he shouldn’t. Maybe he won’t care what you have to say because he’ll just brush it off. But what about the teenager who is browsing through the internet and sees your comment, sees the attention it gets (laugh reacts, people agreeing). He’s young, he’s in puberty and just starting to express an interest in dating.  The guy who struggles with insecurity about whether his own is too small or worrying about what girls will say about it does. The guy who has experienced someone making a remark about his size.  They care. Other people are seeing those comments. They’re absorbing them. 

Think about the guys who do have a small penis. What about them? They see and hear this kind of thing being mocked over and over which in turn makes them view it as something to be embarrassed about.

You know, I recently came across a reddit post that was basically asking why don’t more guys speak about this (penis shaming) if they want it to stop. The thing is, people (usually online) will take that (you speaking up) as you having a small penis yourself and then they get mocked for it, whether they have one or not. 

 - Their height 

Here’s another big one. Shorter guys have to deal with a lot of crap, maybe not all of them but many do.  And for something they can’t even control. They’re not even “allowed” to feel insecure about their height without being mocked for exhibiting ‘fragile masculinity.’ 

For instance, a guy might be dating somebody taller than him and he might feel a bit uncomfortable (for a lack of better wording) by it, especially if they’re wearing something like heels. They’re just kind of expected to not care and in a perfect world, they wouldn’t. But we live in a world where we’ve created that insecurity but we won’t own up to it, if that makes sense.  

Compare it to when a girl feels insecure about her weight.  For most people, they would try to assure her that she is perfect just the way she is, that she is beautiful and society needs to redefine its beauty standards. 

It’s not the same with a short man. It’s not that nobody cares, it’s that we don’t really look at in the same way. We more so view short men who are dealing with insecurity over their height their own problem. Or something that only men care about. 

- Their hair loss 

This is especially true if they’re starting to lose hair but it’s not completely gone. 

He may be made fun of if he tries to something about it (like wear a toupee). He may deal with snide remarks when he tries to date or from his own S/O. He may deal with jokes from his friends that hurt more than he’d like to admit. 

It’s another instance where he doesn’t really have control over it. It’s embarrassing for anyone to deal with. It can really shatter your self confidence, especially if you’re pretty young. 

Or maybe they have something like alopecia

- Their weight 

Generally, we think of body shaming as something that only happens if you’re fat (aka fat shaming). It does happen. People will make them feel like crap for their weight. 

They also get shamed for being too skinny. They might not have a lot of muscle to them. And we generally don’t take skinny shaming as seriously. Gosh, I saw this one post about this topic and a lot of people found it funny. They said they wished they had that problem. 

Someone might point it out to them a lot (that they’re skinny/thin). They might get told they need to eat (like a cheeseburger). They might be told really rude things. And it’s just as hurtful. Maybe you’re someone that has dealt with people giving you crap about your weight, telling you that you need to do this or that. You might very well be upset by it just as skinny people are upset by it too. Put yourself in their shoes. 

- Their teeth 

They might have braces. Or broken teeth. They might have problems because they could never get to a dentist. It might be discolored due to medication. They might have buck teeth (where the front teeth is sticking out further than the bottom ones).

- Not being able to grow facial hair 

I don’t know if men have been made fun for having facial hair but I’ve definitely heard about men getting shamed for a lack of. 

Not every guy is able to. Not every guy wants to. And yet, it seems to be one of those things that you might get teased for--because a real man would have facial hair 

These were some examples that first came to mind, Feel free to add more

Men and women are guilty of this. They might not even mean to do it, it might just be a joke to them but to somebody else, it isn’t. Or it was meant as an insult because that’s how our society is: if I don’t like you then I can say whatever I want to hurt you but I’m not being hypocritical because I think you’re a bad person 

No, it is. If you believe ___ shaming is wrong but okay in some instances, you are a hypocrite. It shouldn’t be this way. If someone’s behavior/attitude is not okay, then focus on that. Call them out on that. Don’t stoop so low as to make fun of their appearance 

Furthermore, what does that teach kids? Doesn’t that contradict how we tell them that bullying is wrong? 

This needs to change 

#mens rights #body shaming #double standards #misandry #anti misandry

[theausspideyguy]

First artwork to show off! The very first ever art pieces I had ever gotten of Leo, and the official moment I considered myself a Furry. ::3

"Who says a Spider cannot be of presentable taste? Leo certainly aims to prove that theory wrong." ::B

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

(Originally uploaded to FA on the 12/10/2018)

These were done by my friend SwirlwindSilverstar! You can check them out here over on their Twitter through this link here! ---> https://twitter.com/WindySilverstar

Though I don't think they really use it anymore, unfortunately… ..w..;;;

Admittedly they are someone I haven't spoken to in a very long time, so I hope that they've been doing okay and still doing art cause they do some great work. ^^

This'll be the first of many more art pieces to come in the next few days! ::3

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

But anyway! To provide some context behind these pieces and how they came to be. Some of yous may have heard this story before, but to explain it for those who may not know…

Back in 2018, I was already starting to feel a slow attachment to furry stuff. I had a lot of sympathy for furs cause of the bs that they would deal with from arseholes and the like, and just how extreme it got (Most notably the hotel gas attack at Midwest Furfest in 2014.).

Soon enough I came across the subreddit r/Furry_IRL back when I use to browse reddit pretty regularly. There I saw what appeared to be this sort of self-awareness and embrace of cringe, which included heaps of irony in the process. It made things a lot more charming cause it felt as if Furries were getting a lot bolder despite the years of attacks, harassment, etc. They dealt with it, and at the same, there was a vibe that made me feel people were more accepting, no matter how weird you got. At the time I was pretty alone, got bullied a lot, and in typical fashion, this was the group I gravitated to more over time.

I should add I do know now the more negative connotation that subreddit gives, and honestly, I have a lot of critiques as well. But at the time, this was just an important thing for me where I felt like I had no other group to be with.

Around October, I was in a voice call on Discord with two friends which included Igloo9201 (Nickname them Iggzy. ::B) and Silverstar. I believe I was sharing some of the memes I came across, and we were all joking about becoming furries and all. I had no plans at that point, but we were all poking each other and being dorks about it.

I was eventually asked the inevitable question though that changed the course of my life by Silverstar…

"Hey TAGG. If you had to pick a sona, what would you choose?"

I had to think! Spider wasn't my first thought at the time, and I was actually thinking at first a Kangaroo, just cause it was a main Australian animal, but at the same time I was reading this Manga called "I am a Spider, So What?", with a main character with a very self-explanatory thing about them. ::B

As you can see from their design, I found them extremely cute and at that point, I hadn't really seen any designs of spiders like this that weren't just meant to be evil. So it felt like it could be nice to go for a species that you probably wouldn't expect, even if it was a contribution to the #1 phobia that people have. ::B

I think at this time I was also getting interested in Peacock Spiders, I was fascinated by their peculiar dance-y behaviour. Obviously was meant for mating, they still had such an interesting personality that it really grew on me. Learning how basically they were all harmless on top of that really made them jump in my mind especially.

As a result, my answer was obvious. Cut to some time into the call, I am surprised by the drawings Silverstar did, and on the same day, I ended up making a Furaffinity account with them.

At that point, the rest was history!

It was a fun end result of everything, I love seeing how much Leo evolved from here. There hasn't been too many obvious changes, outside of him eventually being more based on the Sparklemuffin Spider I soon discovered some time after getting Leo.

The biggest differences that do stand out at least is his body being more like a harder looking shell, compared to the fur covering him all over. His abdomen is a lot more flatter than more rounder in shape. There's also a lot less head hair as well, and most notably his the number of eyes were the biggest change as well, which you will see in a lot of these art pieces I like to call "The Prototype" versions of Leo. ::B

I do feel like I need to do more stuff with Leo in a suit, it was a fun thing I miss doing especially since it tied with the intended "He will get in whatever fit if it means he will get to dance" characteristic I thought up at the time. It was also kind of a thing that was a reference to one of my old as heck usernames, which was on a bit of the embarrassing side, but eh, got to repurpose through this. XXD

I still really appreciate Silverstar for the art, I still hold these pieces fondly in my heart, and grateful of both them and Iggzy for what they did on that day that got me into being a furry and getting my spidey self! Heck they probably are the reason I kind of found out a lot more about myself, being asexual/panromantic, finding new folks, etc. A true butterfly effect. ::P

Here's to many more years ahead! ^^w^^

Also, bonus rough sketch that Silverstar did before getting the final art pieces done. A lot more Miss Muffet from Undertale inspired here. ::B

#Leonardo Spinnington - The Sparklemuffin Spider #art I got (Commissions|Gifts|Trades|Etc.) #spidey ramble moments

[simplykhan]

came across ur tumblr blog while browsing reddit migration posts to see how yall were doin (10+ yr tumblr vetern here. Oof). Idk anything about miniatures but your stuff is cool. this reddit migration is enlightening me to many subcultures ive never heard of b4. I hope reddit eventually pulls their head out of their ass, but i hope u have a good time here in the meantime. cheers.

Well, I actually migrated here like one or two months before the first big twitter migration, i got my account suspended by getting in a fight with a fascist and refusing to delete my posts when i got reported. But yeah, I've carved a small space for myself here and I'm quite comfortable. I'm still hoping we don't have to let Reddit go, we would be loosing an stupid amount of information if we have to do so.

And hey, thanks!

[gemsofthegalaxy]

Browsing reddit as I do nowadays, I came across a post of a 23 year old woman asking if anyone thinks having saggy boobs is "okay", and I just gotta say that this is so sad to me that we even have to ask that question

I remember a few years ago, I was really genuinely not sure what "natural" boobs looked like, I'd only seen a few pairs in person, and I was thinking mine were abnormal/I was too young for them to start to look "like that" but uh

Nope. Gravity does not just suddenly hit at 30 or 40 or something.

And it's wild to me that I had this experience and so did this other woman, we were so genuinely alienated from what an adult human body looks like naturally that we thought something was wrong with ours? That's just. Disheartening.

#body posititivity #body image

[greywindys]

G-fans don’t care about football soccer, but I feel liking mentioning the tenuous connection to Gorillaz Lore™ anyway. For those of you who don’t know, Messi is a famous soccer player, arguably the GOAT, who played his last world cup this year. Often, when famous players “retire” they’ll sometimes play for smaller teams/leagues, presumably for a more chill atmosphere. This is sometimes the MLS, but can be anywhere (from what I know from my superficial knowledge).

ANYHOW. I was browsing reddit, and came across a few commenters joking about Messi playing for Stoke. I wanted to know if this was serious or not, so I googled it, and found this article, “Who first asked if Lionel Messi could do it on a wet Tuesday in Stoke and Messi's answer.” It’s nothing serious, and I doubt a trade like that would actually happen, BUT I learned that apparently, the weather in Stoke can really suck sometimes, and affect the playing ability of those not prepared for the climate:

“Stoke had been a physical test for some of the world’s best teams in the Premier League for two-and-a-half seasons by that point – and, yes, the wind did whistle and rain, hail and snow did bluster through the open corners of the then-Britannia Stadium. There had been six evening kick-offs on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Stoke in that time and Stoke had won five and drawn one.”

I’ve done some research about Murdoc’s home...area, but I wasn’t aware of this running joke about the weather. It adds some nice additional context to how I view him. Hooray for unexpected, but useful research!

#personals. #tbh there are more difficult places to play the fame #like my home country hehe #or any place with above average elevation #also extreme heat #rain would def suck tho

[spadeuce]

So I was browsing through cute pictures of hyenas and came across this one Reddit thread and-

#hyena #hyenas are cute #hyenas #meme #funny #shady #comeback #spotted hyena #reddit #from reddit #random #shitpost #i am sobbing

[hoghtastic]

Hey hoghtastic I just recently stumbled upon your blog after browsing through Alex's fan pages. I just recently finished vikings and I became interested in Alex as an actor and person, and I was curious what he was up to. I became curious about his new project "call me dad" since he took part in coming up with the concept and it would be a new starring role for him after vikings. I noticed that he was dating his co-star from the show and seeing their pictures together as a couple I was naturally happy for them since Alex seemed happy with her, and he was never in a relationship publicly as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong). I became interested to know what other projects his girlfriend Johanne was in and I have to say that after doing some casual searching I immediately got a very unpleasant vibe from her, after watching an interview she did and certain expressions she made in some pictures my feelings became stronger. (I want to add that I'm not a stan or a rabid fangirl and I find it embarrassing and cringey when fangirls bash people linked to their celebrities, I'm also a hardcore feminist and body positivity supporter so I try to not judge or put down other women and I disliked seeing comments of people bashing her appearance). But anyway, at first I thought that maybe my first impression was not accurate since I didn't see anyone post anything negative about her until I came across your blog and another one (I forget their name), I am glad to know other people felt the same and got the same impression. I also want to add that I am currently studying psychology and I've been interested in learning about different personality types and disorders since I was young, particularly those who exhibit dark triad traits. (As a disclaimer I know that studying psych and being interested in human behaviour doesn't somehow make me an expert nor does it make me qualified to make an accurate assessment on someone's personality so this is purely speculation). with that being said, Johanne has given me haughty and domineering vibes from the very beginning. Through my own observation from studying body language coupled with her documented past behaviour, she appears to exhibit dark triad personality traits which consist of Machiavellian, Narcissistic, and Psychopathic subgroups and there is usually an overlap between these three. According to research done to identify employees with this personality trait(which I'll credit below) there are consistent behaviours documented to identify these individuals, one of them is being known to exaggerate and falsely take credit for contributions. to the organization; this fits with the post someone put about her falsely taking credit of someone's artwork and blocking them afterwards. Another common behaviour is "Actively promoting themselves', we can also see this through her instagram behaviour which you talked about below, another sign is 'Bullying or criticizing coworkers to distract focus away from tasks", this also fits with the several posts people left on DKgossip about her being a bully in school. I also want to add that the poster who accused her of bullying was deleted from reddit ( I would not be surprised if Johanne did the same thing she did when she blocked the fan on Pinterest and deleted their post afterwards) but there is still a post up where they said she was a known bully in two different schools, meaning that her bullying behaviour was a constant thing, from my experience people like that either get a big wakeup call and change but more often then not they just learn to hide their behaviour better, they will usually make excuses for their behaviour and try to do more good so you forgot about their bad behaviour, judging by her current demeanour this is. Another characteristic of an employee with dark triad personality is "treating valued members of the organization (trophy colleagues) better than those who don't boost their ego" and who do we know has been showing off Alex like a trophy and prize? (part 1)

oh and btw this is the link to where I found the information about signs of employees with dark triad traits https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amp.2017.0005.summary

Part 1 of 2.

(Thanks for the link and for sharing your thoughts! 😊 To answer your question, Alex’s other public relationship was with his now friend Rikke Westi, but it was a long time ago.)

#anon asks

[mysteriesofmarcy]

Mystery Monday #31: The Original Pitch

Today I was browsing Reddit and came across this post telling us about the characters in the original pitch for what was then called Amphibiland. So I decided that this week would be a perfect time to analyze what stayed the same, what changed, and whether I think it's better or worse.

It says in Anne, Sasha and Marcy's bios that they were a "terrible trio" that terrorized their middle school with pranks. Sasha was the leader, and when she found out (from Marcy's mother) that Marcy was planning to go to a different high school, she went off the deep end and devised a prank that was actually a plan to keep her friends group together forever. There's no description of what the prank actually is, but we do know that it was played at a school dance on a frog-faced girl named Geraldine. As punishment for this infraction, Geraldine sends the Terrible Trio to Amphibiland.

The rest of Anne's bio tells us the story of the girl we know. She's been separated from her friends and family, and now has to rely on skills she never knew she had. Weeks after her arrival, she has befriended a cute pink frog (named Weed in the original pitch). She then goes to work on his grandfather's farm and is provided food and shelter.

The only part that I'd say might not fit Anne's personality is the bottom line that says her self-confidence is her defining trait, her biggest strength, and her biggest weakness. But I'd say even that is true -- Anne is confident in things she probably shouldn't be, like her snail driving skills, and things she should be, like her athletic ability. And throughout the series, she remains self-confident, but she gets wiser about what she should and shouldn't be confident doing -- she is not self-confident enough to stand up to Sasha (and Marcy) at the beginning, but she is by the end of the first season. And she's confident enough in season 1 to take Sprig and the rest of Wartwood on epic adventures, but not confident enough to take The Guardian's job in the finale.

It appears the only changes made to Weed are his name, his appearance, and his exact age. Everything else -- his huge heart, his fascinations with Anne, with heroes, and with adventure, and his endless positivity remained the same. He still lives on his grandfather's farm and is its sole employee until Anne comes along.

Marcy changed quite a bit from her original pitch. Originally, her defining quality was her sense of humor, while today it is her brain. Originally she used humor as a way to rebel against academia; today she revels in learning and soaks up information like a sponge.

But she also kept some of her original personality. The sheet says "While she loves Anne and Sasha, she has found herself drifting apart from her friends as of late." It also says that she is going to go to a different high school than them (side note: what parents let their kid decide what high school to go to?), but hasn't broken the news yet. In canon, these ideas are kept and tied to her family moving away.

Her bio states that she is more independent than Anne -- and I mean, sort of. Marcy definitely had more success by traditional standards than Anne did (befriending the king tends to do that), but both were more followers of Sasha's ideas in canon (although Marcy was the one to persuade Anne to participate in Sasha's puppy dance party, and she did stand next to Sasha to watch Anne steal the music box). But at the same time, Marcy needed more help in the physical department, and was definitely more attached to the idea of her friends being BFFs than either Anne or Sasha.

The last paragraphs talk about Marcy's time in Amphibiland. She hasn't just survived since getting there -- she flourished. Sure, she landed with the king and was able to match wits with him instead of landing with a traveling performer troupe (a trait that was sort of recycled for Hop Pop), but she still lives the high life and is universally beloved due to bring overly friendly. And she still finds it hard to want to return home -- at least, without her friends.

Now we get to Sasha. Sasha's original self was raised by a single dad and had very little. Sasha's current self is heavily implied to be raised by divorced parents and spoiled rotten by both, in what I would guess is an attempt to bribe their daughter into wanting to stay with them over the other parent. The biggest change I can see made to her character is that she was initially meant to be the antagonist of season 1, where in canon she was little more than the final boss of that season. (In this metaphor, Grime was the boss when he comes back the second time and this time he's twice as strong.) And the last bit about her sending toads all over the countryside to bring her friends to her by any means necessary? That showed up a bit in Anne of the Year / Reunion.

Sasha is said to have dreams of being a princess. This is... sort of kept in the final product. She never uses the word princess, but she and Grime do end up ruling over the South Tower for a while, then over all toads who are part of the rebellion, and briefly over Newtopia itself. And she does invite Anne and Marcy to join them.

The next page mentions that Grandpa is suspicious of Anne for good reason. But the reason is not because he used to have a human best friend and is concerned that Sprig will go through the same stages of breakup that he did; it is that he, like the rest of the Amphibians, thinks this new creature will eat them. The page also mentions that he is called by a nickname. BUT it states a reason for the nickname: he shares his name with all his male ancestors (in canon his name is sort of the same as his father and grandfather).

Next we have Pollyannamarie. Polly's name was shortened in canon, but it was also used for Pollianna. The paragraph about her talks about her wisdom (which is 100% fictional), but nowhere does it talk about her realism and her aversion to drama. It does mention that she is confined to her bucket and can't wait to grow legs and explore the world on her own two feet, but it does not mention that she is prone to physical violence even without said legs.

The next picture says that Weed and Grandpa were having a very difficult time managing the farm by themselves when Anne came along. This surfaces in that the farm has been having financial difficulties (though this comes from exorbitant taxes, not Hop Pop and Polly's age). It is also true that Sprig has never known his parents and Hop Pop refuses to talk about them.

The rest of the page talks about Sprig's sense of adventure. He's fascinated by anything that's not his current life. Although it seems to be more present in Ivy than Sprig, he still is excited about the prospect of going to another world (both when he meets Anne and when he himself is in the same position), and at the entire trip to Newtopia. It says that Weed's biggest fear is living and dying on his grandpa's farm. It also says he is a master whittler. Both of these traits are reflected with his action figures of his heroes like General Bogbreath (and later, Anne herself), as well as the very end of the Amphibian portion of the series when Ivy invites him to come exploring on a new continent.

The next page talks about the cellar and Lilly-Paddington. There are three things of note here. First, "the cellar itself though is home to hidden passages and denizens of a large variety," except that it is the castle cellar this sentence is talking about. The second: "there might even be passages leading to a vast network of underground dwellings" -- as in, the Plantar family lairs and New Wartwood as of season 3. And then there is Lilly-Paddington, which obviously became Wartwood (although if Sasha's map is accurate, there is a town with that name in Frog Valley).

The last page talks about a character that didn't show up in the series (or did he?) called Eggbert. Eggbert lives in Anne's pocket and acts as a guide for her to talk to. He is supposedly imaginary, but can sprout a pair of eyes and speak in a soothing voice to reassure Anne (but he doesn't want anyone else to know of his existence, so this reassurance is only done in secret). The truth about Eggbert (SPOILER!) is that he was picked up in the Void (their version of the Nightmare Realm -- as in, the space between dimensions) and his two goals are to satisfy his own craving for any sort of action by following Anne's journey, and to track down all the other "Voidlings" in Amphibiland to make them return to their own dimension.

Now, I said that Eggbert "didn't make it into the series (or did he?)". There are three ways I can think of that he (sort of) did:

When living in a cave, Anne had an imaginary friend named Rocky

When hunting, Anne talked to a hallucination of Sprig

A bunch of small creatures with legs paraded in front of Bessie on their way to the Bizarre Bazaar

Overall, I think the original pitch would have worked, but not in the same way (and not nearly as well) as the final product.

I guess that's it for today! I was going to do a "How It Should Have Ended" post this week, but there just wasn't that much to talk about. That will probably come out later this week or next.

And Happy Thanksgiving to my American followers! Hope yours is filled with my favorite F things:

Faith

Family

Friends

Food

Football

(In that order of course)

#amphibia #mystery monday