#it's kind of fanart lbr

[izzenithal]

this is a robin hobb callout post

#Robin hobb #fitzloved #rote #realm of the elderlings #like lbr robin #look at your boy and look me in the eye and tell me he is straight #also i emerged from a nyquil coma to draw this pls appreciate #books #fanart #kind of? #my art #comic #queer #queer studies

[cescalr]

the brainrot is continuing. im making sims now. nobody would like to seem them though i’ll probably showcase them at some point anyway. when i like them. when they pass the vibe check 

#i have made a few. wil q sap karl tommy tubbo nikki and puffy. im in the process of making techno #bc he's the next easiest on the remaining list (ive got all the cc i need) #(and yes somehow with a hold on #187 - jesus fucking christ - GB mods folder i don't have everything i need. next will be... ranboo... probably. and i'll finish manifold #once i get a pair of white 3D red blue paper glasses which are really really hard to find #jsyk. and that's annoying but whatever. after that i guess its a dartboard. not dream. he's so specific how am i going to make that skin. he #doesn't even have a face. wil was hard enough with his blank stare and no mouth but dream??? he's just GREEN #anyway. ive also made hannah #antfrost literal cat man kind of impossible. way down the line that one #badboyhalo probs not too difficult. maybe him after ranboo. #eret soon. eret asap #also yes i keep spelling niki wrong im sorry. #oh ive also done schlatt. hm. purpled and punz don't seem too difficult #finding a mask (ski mask? balaclava?) for ponk will be like impossible that's a very specific pattern #skeppy is gonna. need a lot of fanart references. yeah. #slimecicle the beloved will be when i feel up to the daunting task of making my blorbo #sam is. horrendous. how do i make a creeperman in the sims #phill is just that guy from bleach his sim probably already exists lbr #michael hbomb eryn boomer idk who you are so they'll be later on when i do know who they are #same for tina. #connor's full legal name is ConnorEatsPants so im. not. making him. sorry. get a better surname i don't have to see in the sims Mr. EP #as for dream xd md and drista... probs only drista #if i feel like it #idk them either though. so. when i know them. maybe then. #md wouldn't be difficult. i've already made quackity lalksdjf;alsdf #i forgot to close a bracket somewhere in there. oh well. better late than never) #dsmp #for my own later finding. hopefully that tag is buried enough not to end up maintagged oh god

[memorymessage]

since i've cracked the dam of finally talking about my perhaps not-so-publicly-palatable tolkien pairings, well...

finwë/fëanor is indisputably the most excruciatingly and painfully dear to my heart. bonus points for au female fëanor where finwë names her as his heir regardless of gender—defying tradition, the valar, and indis altogether. (definitely not inspired by house of the dragon.) honestly, a bit of redemption for finwë's character, if you ask me.

do i even need to explain why this one is so imbalanced and painful in the published narrative? what can i say, canon fëanor loves daddy (for all the wrong reasons), and daddy is a bit selfish and self-centered, and satisfies his own interests regardless of who it hurts (or condemns to eternal death), but also, hypocritically, loves fëanor just as much as fëanor loves him.

how was i not supposed to latch onto that one? i love pain!

and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth?

All his love he gave to his son; for Fëanáro was like his mother in voice and countenance, and Finwë was to him both father and mother, and there was a double bond of love upon their hearts.

on fëanor's banishment:

Thither also came Finwë the King, because of the love that he bore to Fëanor; [...] [...] but Finwë came not, nor any others of the Noldor of Formenos. For said Finwë: ‘While the ban lasts upon Fëanor my son, that he may not go to Tirion, I hold myself unkinged, and I will not meet my people.’

after learning of finwë's death:

Then with a cry he ran from the Ring of Doom and fled into the night, distraught; for his father was dearer to him than the Light of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands: and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth? After him Maedros and his brethren went in haste, dismayed, for they had not known that he was present when Maedros spoke; and now they feared that he might slay himself.

celegorm/curufin is a persisting pairing interest i've had since even my early involvement in the silmarillion, because- well... they're quite codependent and scarcely (never?) are they mentioned separately in the published work. i recently wrote about them a bit here. also, bonus points for female curufin in the same au as female feanor (can use pronouns interchangeably throughout this whole post, because the ideas don't change based on genderswap au). the narrative of mirror-image-child should persist, regardless of au. in any case, celegorm/curufin stands the test of time, until they die together at menegroth. this is possibly the most self-explanatory pairing i've got. the book did the heavy lifting.

maedhros/fëanor: i've written about what i think the familial relationship of maedhros and feanor would be, and that still remains true. i like to insert this pairing as a semi-onesided, semi-unrequited dynamic alongside finwë/feanor. i don't think maedhros would approve of their relationship at all, because he recognizes finwë as the largest stressor in fëanor's life.

fëanor would acknowledge and sympathize with maedhros' feelings for him, and though he's loathe to ever withhold something that his sons want, he finds it imperative to do just that due to his own unhealthy experiences with finwë. fëanor is well aware that finwë and his actions are fëanor's main cause of discord and unhappiness, and yet can't help but find validation in finwë's attention anyway, which only grows the unhealthy, desperate attachment between them. and fëanor would never want to contribute in such a harmful dynamic with maedhros.

maedhros argues that it's different and that could never possibly happen to them, because their relationship was never built upon fear of abandonment and replacement, unlike fëanor's with finwë. maedhros always had the assurance of love and support in his upbringing—he argues that this transformed version of love for fëanor is born because of the stability and equality in their relationship, not the lack thereof.

to this, fëanor concedes, but not joyously. he regrets some aspects of their equality, because it led to maedhros' own discontent on fëanor's behalf. if anything, fëanor never wanted to pass down his struggles to his sons—he never wanted his hurt to be so palpable that his family would take on his personal burdens as their own—quite the opposite, he wanted them to never experience such upsets, not even vicariously.

but maedhros contends this, even, with his own free will and autonomy—there is nothing fëanor did to facilitate maedhros developing his own resentment of finwë. it was his own opinion established upon his perception in observing finwë's actions. after all, it is because of finwë that maedhros and his brothers will never meet their grandmother míriel.

to which fëanor concedes again, but says maedhros might have developed misguided feelings for him because of maedhros' strong sense of protection for his family, or because he sees himself as a better alternative to fëanor's predicament-

and maedhros finds this absolutely ridiculous and can't believe his astute father would even propose this argument, completely unlike his usual self-

but fëanor is simply desperate in his attempt to be unlike finwë, who pursued feanor despite knowing the damage he caused to fëanor's life, and how fëanor would never want to damage maedhros similarly-

and then it goes back and forth so on and so forth, and never seems to lead anywhere. is fëanor doing more harm than good in denying maedhros? or is he sparing maedhros from future hurt and regret, like he thinks?

which leads me, deviously, to...

celegorm/maedhros/curufin, because... well, curufin looks like daddy, doesn't he? and maedhros has a certain pining for fëanor that seems like it shall remain agonizingly unresolved, so celegorm and curufin invite him to find temporary relief in joining their trysts.

at first, maedhros has a lot of pride over this invitation, and is spiteful about his feelings being so cleverly dissected by his brothers, which he previously thought to be rather well-kept and hidden.

a lot of forced, contrived insults on maedhros' part, while donning a facade of a disgusted disapproval at celegorm and curufin's relationship. celegorm gets whiplash at this, not expecting maedhros to have such a cold and judgmental character. a rejection, he had anticipated—but a hypercritical confrontation, he had not. he had never suspected maedhros to be of such nature, especially not in being so close to their father.

celegorm is usually quick to anger and even quicker to retaliate, but this time, all he feels is disappointed detachment. defending himself from maedhros, he deems to not even be worth his time.

curufin, however, feels a deep and stark sense of betrayal at maedhros' ruthless criticism and judgement, and is poised to argue and fill in the retaliatory response that celegorm leaves lacking. ultimately, celegorm is the one having to drag curufin away from the fight, reminding his brother that they don't owe an explanation to anyone, and this argument is not worth the energy spent.

and, after all that, maedhros is only left feeling regret. that argument held no conviction, and those weren't his true beliefs. if they had been his beliefs, he would be nothing but the truest form of hypocrite. he had acted superior out of his own insecurity, and says as much to celegorm and curufin, explaining his foolish behavior and asking their forgiveness.

celegorm forgives him well enough that night, stroking maedhros' wild russet curls—maedhros sleeping peacefully with both arms tight around curufin's waist, curufin's head tucked beneath maedhros' chin, while celegorm presses himself to maedhros' back.

as for the other feanorians...

i used to be extremely fond of maedhros/maglor. but, if i'm completely honest, i'm not as passionate for it these days. regardless, i did write a maedhros/maglor fic, and used to write about them quite regularly. i still like it, i'm just not as enthused about it anymore. i honestly couldn't say why. i guess i find maglor too much of a peacekeeper character, which doesn't attract me as much as it used to. i like the fiery spirits. the spirits of fire. the fëanors, one could say. but the coupling of maedhros and maglor within the silmarillion narrative is so frequent it does almost rival that of celegorm and curufin. so it's still an interesting topic to ponder.

...not me now envisioning maedhros/maglor as a stable, supportive, and yet very access-convenient based relationship during their duration together in himring, and then, later, in-walks celegorm and curufin, post-beren and lúthien saga. and maedhros immediately has a guilt-ridden draw to seek out reigniting his time with celegorm and curufin, only to be quietly elated at discovering that there's discontent between the two, meaning he can seek personal time with curufin without celegorm's involvement.

what can i say, i love a bit of an angsty love triangle- or, uhhh, square? pentagon? hexagon? love hexagon? because finwë/fëanor, but also unrequited fëanor/maedhros, which becomes celegorm/maedhros/curufin, but there's already well-established celegorm/curufin, and, later, there's maedhros/maglor, but maedhros really wants that maedhros/curufin, but celegorm also kinda liked the celegorm/maedhros/curufin thing, and maybe if maedhros/curufin happens in himring, there can be a revenge!celegorm/maglor. oho!

couldn't everybody just get along and share? well, yes. but also, no. because that's happy and not painful. and, as we established at the very beginning by my favorite pairing being finwë/fëanor: i like pain. i like conflict.

which brings me to my newest pairing of interest:

turgon/aredhel. which i just extensively wrote about. question no further.

and to think, when i was first discovering my footing with the silmarillion—a lore-lacking, unread whelp—i entertained normie braindead ships like maedhros/fingon and morgoth/sauron.

now i'm enlightened brain meme with my unforgivable amount of fëanorian incest ships.

my apologies to caranthir and amrod and amras, the fëanorians i just...do not care as much about. sorry. not really a surprise, given the text doesn't seem to care about them that much either. and while i do like the fëanorian OT8 thing, i just like the interpersonal 1:1 dynamics that cause emotional pain way more. guess i'm smooth-brained for that one.

however... a musing i have for caranthir that is without ships, is that he is the closest among the siblings to finwë (perhaps even in resemblance, too.) i had a thought that maybe cracks began to show in fëanor's marriage around the time when caranthir was young, and so fëanor would seek more counsel and support from finwë, often times bringing young caranthir with him. this would be an unusual deviation from how the rest of the children were raised.

this idea heavily furthered in the female fëanor au, where she is possibly already pregnant with curufin at this time, and needs even more support due to being pregnant. cue my degenerate 'finwë as a stand-in husband for fëanor and dad for young caranthir' thoughts.

i don't imagine any of the siblings to have outright resentment for finwë like maedhros does, but i don't envision any of them being particularly close to him, or even having a standard grandfather/grandchild bond with him. more so a distant and respectful relationship. kind of a "i see you a few times a year for birthdays and celebrations, and i call you 'my king/my lord' and not 'grandfather'."

caranthir, however, does call him 'grandfather' and even 'grandad' (what are the quenyan equivalencies there). while in the closer proximity of formenos, this might cause a little conflict. what with finwë getting a happy reunion with fëanor and caranthir, and maedhros having to witness it and bear the distaste.

#i'm coming out as deplorable #i was going to post this on my old blog #but i got too scared #also i officially dub my old blog as my tolkien blog now #sometimes i remember just how many people i knew on that blog #and although i never talked about my deplorable ships #i wasn't exactly secretive about it either #what with the kind of fanart i reblogged #but talking about it is still too forward for me - too blatant #and yeah all the friends i had on there are almost all gone now #but lbr it's literally me judging myself for scenarios that will likely never happen #tolkien posting

[buckevantommy]

i support tumblr blaze because fanwork creators need it. 

other social medias and those goddamn algorithms don't give fanwork creators the exposure we need to get our work seen - especially if we're new or little-known creators or creators for small fandoms. tagging our creations appropriately, reblogging our own stuff, promoting upcoming pieces, and crossposting across multiple social media accounts does far less these days than it did in tumblr's heyday ie. a time when users actually engaged with posts rather than just mindlessly scrolling by (we've all seen the posts highlighting the decline in user interaction and how it will be the death of fanartists and therefore fanworks). it's not enough. 

but tumblr blaze allows creators to pay a small one-time fee to (temporarily) share their art with a wider audience (ofc the problem with this is we are all poor starving artists but the option is appreciated nonetheless). i've done it with several of my spn fanart pieces - one of the biggest fandoms on tumblr - and the report that comes after the blaze period unfortunately highlights the sad reality that people just don't engage like they used to (eg. my pieces received thousands of 'impressions' - meaning they were on that many peoples' dash, but with 'engagements' ie. likes/reblogs/replies averaging out at a few dozen, with 80% of those being Likes - which we all know does nothing to boost post circulation). 

what's worse is that these stats aren't that different from my non-blazed pieces. (blaze saw a few of my posts reach above 100 notes in a few days which was amazing, but my stuff usually averages out around 100 notes anyway even if it takes a few weeks). 

it sounds bleak, i know. why pay to promote something that's not going to get a significant amount of notes - preferably reblogs - or engage any more users than if it weren't blazed? 

the answer is: because it reaches users i can't. blaze reaches users who don't search the tags i use or don't follow my blog or my mutuals. sometimes that means reaching fandom folk who wouldn't have otherwise seen my work, and sometimes it means reaching folk who aren't in fandom at all. one of my fave engagements from blaze was someone seeing one of my castiel pieces and thinking it was an awesome scifi movie poster, then realising it was spn but loving it nonetheless. my art never would've reached that person without blaze and it may be a small win but it makes me smile. 

because that's kind of the point of art. these days people Don't interact far more than they Do, and it sucks but it is what it is. but the reason i like blaze is it gives me the stats of how many people saw my creation. knowing thousands of people laid eyes on my work is pretty cool (like seeing view stats on youtube or ao3). maybe they didn't interact because they hate tumblr being monetized and users 'forcing' their posts onto the dash (lbr though: it's no worse than pickachu man) or maybe they don't like the fandom i'm in, or maybe they're lurkers who don't interact with posts they actually do like. but they still saw my art. 

it's like hiring out a massive blank wall on a busy sidewalk for a few days and getting to paint my art there for people to see. some walk right by it, some stop and take their photo with it, for some it sparks thoughts/feelings/ideas, some even stop to write a little note about how much they liked it. but it was there for all to see, and i love that. 

i love knowing that so many people saw my fanart because that alone makes it worthwhile. as an artist that's what i want: to reach people with my art whether they interact or not, whether they like it or not, at least my art was given the chance to shine, however briefly. 

but yeh. if users stop interacting with fanworks then fanartists have to resort to paying to get their stuff seen.

#fanart #fanworks #tumblr blaze #support your creators #.txt #thoughts #i know this probably comes off as vain and problematic to some like i'm forcing my art on people who didn't go looking for it

[north-park]

Kyle fanarts discourse is always a treat to me specially in non-western spaces because those people are generally raised on shojo/josei animes where the characters designs don't really go crazy beyond the "this guy is really pretty and has short black/blonde hair" trope which means most SP male characters that requires a MODICUM of creativity (aka everyone beside basic designs like Craig/Stan/Tweek/Kenny lbr) gets sorta ignored for because being fat or black or disabled is just Too Complex To Properly Draw Sorry Guys XOXO

But Kyle? The character based on the looks of a real jewish and is supposed to have stereotypical jewish traits? and is the BEST character in the entire show and everyone love him?

You see the problem with Kyle is that he is too popular and well liked across the entire globe, most SP fans have him as their favorite character and has Some Kind of opinion on how he acts or how he is supposed to look like, his design is really, really pretty and unique and you can see some fans really try to use this at their advantage and make Kyle look KYLE BROFLOVSKI in all his sillyness and hypocrisy; others give up halfway and make him a Kenny colorswap and it makes people so fucking mad lmao

That said: stop shitting on artist for how they draw fanart it's a fucking South Park egg baby character he can look as you want

#my post #stuff for me

[ajwildes]

Drawtober day 15 : Outpost

My friend @mvvartworks did a 3D model of an outpost and I'm sorry but I physically could not refrain from drawing it.

#drawtober #inktober #drawtober 2020 #inktober 2020 #outpost #watchtower #tower #ink #traditional #original #but also #fanart #it's kind of fanart lbr

[hopefulcanary]

shore leave

GOD i can't wait for summer

slightly inspired by laughter_now's McKirk fic, Beach With A View (nsfw!), which got me thinking of, well, the beach 🏖 and a good reason to practice with light and work on my weakass landscape skills, whew.

#leonard mccoy #star trek #star trek aos #star trek fanart #lbr jim's offscreen hunting for those adorable yet hideously alcoholic tiki cocktails #risa #i mean yeah sure let's say it's also risa #get that vitamin d sir #both kinds hue hue #my art #art inspired by fic #shore leave #beach bum #no lie he was gonna be nude but honestly i find the shorts hotter

[buffyandwillow]

i drew buffy & april for an exchange this summer! full piece on ao3 here if you feel like leaving kudos 💛

#buffy fanart #buffy summers #buffy femslash #kind of #i mean april is a robot but i am still down to ship them lbr! #mine #posting art to ao3 is so weird but that's where i'm at

[eye-of-the-hawk]

AU where Moira is a sexy, hardened badass..??

#moira odeorain #overwatch #i donno man #i just rly wanted to make 'give' and 'take' tats on her fingies tbh #everything else just kind of came after that #did i get carried away? yes #ragretz? no #and yes i put mercy sprays on her arms too bc im moicy garbage #also i know shes beat up but you should see the other guy #drawing this was complete daydream indulgence #moira #moira overwatch #moira o'deorain #fanart #ovw #my art #I say AU bc she would never in a million years win a fistfight lbr

[sheepandpencils]

Have you guys read this fic by @kyluxtrashcompactor because it is brilliant. It’s such an interesting inversion of the high school trope, where Hux gets to be the rebellious kid instead, and Ben is the straight-laced one. It’s masterfully written, and works wonderfully well. I highly, highly recommend it!

#kylux #kylo ren #ben solo #armitage hux #star wars #fic rec #fanart #like the more i think about it the more i think that this is how it would go in a modern au tbh #i mean consider ben's parents and the kind of media attention he would have gotten #the kind of pressure to excel he would have been under #and han and leia would be decent parents lbr #without snoke there to fuck with his mind ben would probably have been a good kid #and hux??? #without having to be on the run due to a fallen empirre #dude is going to try to rebel #esp with a dad like that

[alleyskywalker]

I posted 798 times in 2021

128 posts created (16%)

670 posts reblogged (84%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 5.2 posts.

I added 1,059 tags in 2021

#asoiaf - 255 posts

#theon greyjoy - 190 posts

#game of thrones - 144 posts

#op - 123 posts

#fanart - 81 posts

#asked and answered - 62 posts

#meme - 61 posts

#theon x robb - 51 posts

#cute - 46 posts

#meta - 46 posts

Longest Tag: 61 characters

#Мой мальчик 😢 как же тебя угораздило втюрится в этого….волка

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I was reading a forum thread that was like “if Theon had returned to Robb instead of defecting what would his position have been in Robb’s forces?” and the overwhelming majority of replies speculated a rather…bleak future for Theon. The most pessimistic suggested that Theon would basically be a POW, either literally or effectively (i.e. with limited movement potential, always watched, never fully trusted by anyone or with anything important). (I’m excluding the couple of grim outliers who suggested even that Robb’s bannermen would demand Theon’s execution and Robb would do it.) The most optimistic ranged out to him having a fairly high ranking post (Captain of the archers or Master of ships if the North got a navy)  or otherwise a (puppet) Lord of the Iron Islands, installed after Balon’s defeat/death, but having little respect for the Northerners (because lbr he never had any and was unlikely to gain any) and would be despised (understandably) by his own people. Also probably looked down on by everyone everywhere for turning against his blood family because these people tend to be these kinds of hypocrites. Some in-between things were suggested, including kind of humiliating things like being relegated to Robb’s personal guard but not really having independent command due to lack of trust, etc. (We’re not even touching the personal toll on Theon re: going against his own family/people.)

 And the thing is…I don’t really disagree with the overwhelming majority of these opinions. There are literally zero good options for Theon in this situation, and going back to Robb is something that would have pleased the audience, not something that would have objectively been good or easy for him or obviously the right choice. And, as we see, people actually understand that (even if they refuse to admit it when asked directly).

And yet, everyone then turns around and bitches about how awful Theon’s decision to defect to his family was. How it was such an obvious choice to stay loyal to Robb.

I can’t tell if I want to cry or laugh more.

124 notes • Posted 2021-04-11 11:09:29 GMT

#4

See the full post

174 notes • Posted 2021-04-07 09:11:55 GMT

#3

See the full post

188 notes • Posted 2021-08-10 09:38:49 GMT

#2

Same energy, frankly...

209 notes • Posted 2021-08-09 06:03:26 GMT

#1

See the full post

320 notes • Posted 2021-06-14 09:08:55 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #tumblr #fandom #meme #kinda? i guess? #idk what to tag this lol #all the asoiaf/got stuff - i guess we know what i was obsessed w/ this year #the throbb stuff reigns ahah #i'm glad y'all liked my jeyne edit #can you believe tumblr wouldn't let me post this yesterday? #stats #fandom stats #not really but ok

[cyanide-latte]

I think part of the reason that so many in my generation who grew up with H*rry P*tt*r struggle so much to move on and let it die out, why we take the old TERF's actions so personally, is because it feels like the worst of betrayals.

Not necessarily because it was a cultural phenomenon (it was lbr,) not necessarily because it really did do more to help with American child illiteracy than NCLB (it did, again lbr,) or even that it was so intergenerational in its appeal that it became a bonding point for kids and parents (jury is out on that one I think,) but because the author did something rather unpredictable for the fandom landscape at the time.

She directly engaged with the content her fans made.

This goes back to the dark days of fanfiction. You know the ones. A good many of you have been spared living through them, even if you see the remnant disclaimers on old fics (and maybe even some newer ones) about how the intellectual property belongs to the original creators. Creator engagement with fandom isn't new, and it wasn't entirely new back then, but it was limited. You heard about authors receiving fan letters and answering fan questions during interviews or panels. But that was said to be where it began and ended. [I've personally no doubt there were authors who did engage more than that, prior to all this, but it likely wasn't widely-known.] Mostly, what you saw was either polite neutrality, or the shit that people like Anne Rice and Robin Hobb pulled.

If you don't know what I'm referring to there, do a web search about Rice and Hobb filing lawsuits against fanfic writers (and fanartists) for making fan content of their works. Don't be shocked when you stumble across the quote from Hobb equating fanworks for her stuff to "raping her intellectual property." (I know, I know. It's gross, and it's the reason I refuse to ever read her books.)

Then along came H*rry, and in fast pursuit, the explosion of P*tterfic. And it rocked everyone back on their heels when the author not only acknowledged that she knew there was a lot of fanwork for her books, but said it was cool, that she liked seeing it, and even encouraged the more anxious fans to not be afraid to share their fics and fanart. Hell, I may be remembering wrong, but I think for a while on one of her personal websites she would even give shout-outs and recs to some fans and their creative works? Someone feel free to fact-check me on that one.

But the point is, that was huge, ESPECIALLY when you consider how the books exploded with fame and she was thrust into a giant spotlight. I don't think it was solely her doing that caused creators to become more engaged with fan content, and we all need to grow the hell up and admit [that for all her flaws] Stephenie Meyer did make herself personable to her fans as well, but this was still pretty tremendous and caused a ripple effect.

Also, a lot of us were young when the first book came out, being around the age of the protagonist, roughly. And I think we can all admit without beating ourselves up over it that there were plenty of things we weren't going to recognize as problematic, as classist, racist, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, hypocritical, or even just as bad writing. A lot of the recognition and understanding of those things wouldn't come for a lot of the readers until they got older, and at that point it becomes very hard to admit to yourself that something you found fun, comfort and community in could be so uninclusive and bigoted and hateful when some of the core points of the book preached the opposite so loudly.

Honestly I'd almost equate it to someone on an abusive relationship of any kind struggling to recognize some of the more abusive behaviors. It certainly felt that way to me after the first time I finished reading book 5.

The first major thing I remember that happened to betray the fans was the author declaring anyone who was classified [through online quizzes] or self-identified as a Sl*the*r*n was clearly a bully and an abuser by virtue of belonging to the house associated with ambition. For a lot of us (me included) that was enough to disenchant and make us begin the lengthy process of divorcing from her and the books. Why should ambition be solely classified as ugly and wrong?

The next huge one I know of is a bit of a divisive split and it really shouldn't be. The stage play fanfic cast a black actress as one of the most beloved characters. When many fans complained, the author's initial response was fine, stating the best actress was chosen. When other fans spoke up asking or debating about the character's canon race, the author decided to give herself some clout by stating on Twitter that that character's skin color was never specified or stated. This was considered a huge victory and a great thing by many POC and ally fans, because didn't the author just state that that meant the intention was always for H*rm**n* to be WOC, and that the fans interpreting her as such was right all along?

Except. No. Not really.

WOC H*rm**n* has always been a fan concept and one of my favorites and yes, the author made a statement that amounts to allowing fans to interpret her as such. But the author has ALSO stated multiple times in interviews over the years that H*rm**n* is supposed to represent her as a girl in school, and what her school experience was like. And I (and many others) don't buy for a second that the author's original intent for a self-insert like that, was to see her as anything but a lens for her younger self that other girls who were bright and bullied could relate to. And what is the author? White. She wrote the character from her own experience as a white person. Let’s not fool ourselves: she was giving herself clout publicly because she knew she was falling out of interest, and it was a calculated move to stay relevant. (Funny thing that, coming from the same woman who damns such behavior in anyone associated with Sl*th*r*n.)

And then of course, the major final straw that broke nearly everyone’s back: all of her openly transphobic behavior on Twitter. If you weren’t already disenchanted, that’s what did it. For a woman who loves to virtue-spotlight herself as a feminist, this sort of thing just drives home how exclusionary her “feminism” is.

But even so, it’s still going to be hard for a lot of people to let go. It’s hard, when so much love and self-identity and sense of creativity and community could be wrapped up in something like this. So many people didn’t realize the problematic shit until they got older, and for a lot of people it took more than one instance of the author’s shitty behavior in the open to drive home the issues. I feel like there’s so much of a push or some sort of perceived pressure within fandom and bookish spaces to denounce H*rry P*tt*r, and while I think more people than not want to, it’s not easy to overcome the sense of betrayal.

So many people felt like the author had given them the greatest validation a creator can give...and then it became clear that her validation only extends so far. A door was opened and people felt welcomed, and then it was slammed in their face. It takes time to heal a wound like that. Please just be patient with one another, and with yourselves.

#long post #really long post #sorry for going off #might delete later #Harry Potter #anti rowling #anti JKR #Rowling rant #Rowling discourse #fuck rowling #fandom history #fanthropology #Cyanide speaks

[dnfshmeeneff]

Dream liking dnf fanarts, now reading dnf fanfics... what is happenu?

he's literally insane 😭😭😭

this is his indirect way of asking for some dnf fic recs i guess

okay but in all seriousness i am in equal parts horrified and appreciative lmao

on the one hand fanfic is ours and for us and i really don't want ccs invading that space? but on the other hand if it's anyone invading that space i'm glad it's dream bc i feel i can trust him to treat it with respect.

fanfic has always been viewed by everyone outside of fandom (and even some in fandom occasionally) like a complete joke or even straight up some kind of fucking perversion, and i'm glad mr. "fan art is the backbone of the community" is showing so much appreciation now. because tbh, imo, fanfiction is just as much the backbone of any fandom as fan art is, and as much as fan art can inspire fanfiction sometimes, often fanfiction inspires quite a bit of fan art too. but in comparison it always receives little to no love because it's written word, not something you can look at easily and quickly, and because lbr, it can be very gay and homophobia still exists unfortunately.

but dream is a writer himself, he wrote his own fanfic (without realizing it was one lmao), so i feel like he really gets it, y'know? this is really sweet of him and while i do think he might have some ulterior dnf-related motives, for the most part i see this as him showing his support and appreciation and i'm very moved :')

#i'm a writer so i'm quite passionate about this #i don't write fanfic anymore-i'm focused on my own original fiction #but it played a huge part in my life for so long and it helped me hone my writing skills to an incredible degree #(that and online rping lmao but that's a story for another day) #so seeing it finally get some praise after being something you used to have to hide that you enjoyed?? #monumental #this is such a weird and fascinating situation tbh haha #i'm very much interested in seeing how it all plays out #and seeing which fanfic dream chooses as the winner #(it's going to be cdnf or xdnf lmao) #ask #answer #anon #you probably weren't expecting this rant #i'm SORRY

[gra-sonas]

Ok thank you to Danny for all that info!!!! I also hope that gives some comfort. I saw after s4 got announced some worried the show would then put off malex longer. And while I didn’t think they’d do that no matter what, now it’s even more clear that they’ve been done with the writing of the season for a while. Maybe final editing sure, but this season has been done being planned out (and written) for a while.

It’s nice that we finally got some kind of explanation why the RNM Writers Room account on Twitter’s pretty much dead atm. Although it doesn’t explain why they stopped posting in November already. 

At the time the writers were not on hiatus yet. I get that they are all very busy people, but you can’t tell me that out of the 10,080 minutes a week has, none of them found even one minute every two weeks to tweet a pic of a new script??? Initially it was also Chris’s assistant who tweeted stuff. 

Oh well, at least I won’t expect more coming from that account any time soon.

As for Malex in S3 vs dragging Malex out until S4

If the writers had never talked to any of the actors EVER (esp. Jeanine, Vlam and Tyler), and would actually be that clueless and incapable of “reading a room” [during and after S2] that they’d delay Malex until S4, then the show’d deserve to tank and never be heard of after S3. Bc that’s what would happen if it’d be yet another entire season of them getting nowhere. 

Ratings (live TV ratings anyway, 3+ and 7+ streaming ratings will hopefully improve the numbers at least a little bit) this season will be abysmal either way  bc airing new episodes during the summer months is just the most ungrateful thing, but fandom would most certainly be dead after another “fruitless” season. 

Bc lbr, it’s not “casual viewers” who have made Vlamburn’s MalexForever merch the most successful drop yet. It’s not “casual viewers” who tweet or post about the show on Tumblr or IG Every. Damn. Day. It’s not “casual viewers” who interact with the cast and the occasional official social media posts.

WE are the people who keep that tiny flickering-for-dear-life RNM spark alive during an endless hiatus. WE are keeping fellow fans entertained and rope in new fans by creating gif sets, drawing fanart, or writing fanfic. 

I know, we’re a laughably small group of people (compared to many other fandoms), but man, we’re drumming up interest and we are the people engaging with the content for longer than just 42 minutes a week while the show’s on air. They can’t afford to completely ignore us.

And we’ve been VOCAL about being TIRED and FED UP with all of this BULLSHIT. S2 was a disaster (and not just in regards to Malex), and they know it.

There’s also Tyler, who’s been VERY clear about what he wants to see in S3, and there’s Vlamis, who’s BURNING to see Malex happen (and who’s also a writer himself and clearly sees that Malex are the Golden Goose of RNM - no offense to Echo, they are great, but lbr, they don’t create the same kind of “buzz”). 

He wasn’t kidding here. Not really. 

Since I don’t deem the writers (and especially Chris) morons, I doubt that they will ignore ALL of the above. Maybe The CW or some higher ups at WB would’ve wanted to drag things out, but I’m like 99.999999999% certain that we will get Malex this season.

Not right away, but around halfway through the season. That’s my prediction at least. Maybe not full on relationship yet, but there’ll be something, and I’m fairly certain, that they’ve already kissed at least once. 

I mean, could I be absolutely and completely wrong about this? Sure. I just don’t think I am. Maybe I’m wrong about the “halfway through” thing. Maybe I’m wrong about the kiss (at this point). I’m still convinced that we’ll definitely get Malex this season.

The misery driven show runner’s gone and the dude with a romantic heart the size of New Mexico’s taken over. There’s a bunch of queer people in the writers room, one of the actors portraying half of the ship is queer. Jeanine is ROOTING for Malex, the entire cast is rooting for Malex. 

Dragging this out any further would cost them so much more than it would gain them.

Nah, I believe in Malex happening in S3 (and I say this without any 🤡 make up or costume on).

#rnm speculation #rnm spoilers #nonnie asks

[sheikah]

favorite darklina moments?

Anon I’m so sorry because you did not sign up for the crazy long post you’re about to get but..HERE WE GO! (The “read more” no longer functions on mobile and I’m SO sorry to everyone this annoys.)

uM??? Soft. Literally the moment I knew I was trash. He takes his glove off to touch her??? Romance???

Okay so a few things here. 1. This is just my stupid emotions clouding my judgment but I think that if Alina hadn’t cut and run after Baghra told her the truth about him, she probably would have been able to convince Aleks not to expand the fold and instead to destroy it. Why? Well, I know he is playing her throughout the first book but he’s showing a lot of self-awareness here. Knowing he’s the only Darkling means he’s calling his own deeds greedy and evil. I think he might have been convinced to right those wrongs under the right circumstances and I like the vulnerability of this conversation for that reason. In R&R he tells Alina that he only decided to expand the fold and force her to take the stag’s amplifier after she left and “chose…” (clearly meaning chose Mal). Is that a viable motive for the murders he committed afterward? No lmao but I’m trash. 2. Alina is literally 24/7 checking him out. This is her POV. She is constantly calling him “perfect” and other very complimentary things 🤣 3. The inherent longing and romance of that last line. I’m sorry but that’s Good Shit and I love Alina’s dubious response as much as the declaration itself lol. 

I just love the cute lightheartedness of this scene and also the fact that he has taste. I mean we been knew because of The Aesthetic, but still. He knows garish when he sees it.

This whole scene because reasons. Idk man it’s just hot. It’s a YA book so we aren’t going to get the kind of smut I crave but the pining that results from this moment being cut off early is MY SHIT and I love the unexpected soft politeness of what he says before he leaves…

Bitch!!!! Say yes!!! 

This!!!!!! I wanted powerful and uninhibited Alina SO BAD. And obviously, so did he. (And lbr, so did Alina herself lol).

Idk I just love the angst of this. This is a clear admission that just like he was playing her, she was affecting his judgment too. He was a fool. A fool in love maybe??????? Lol ignore me.

On one hand, this is a bit creepy and possessive. But on the other hand I fucking love it. They’re both deeply lonely and at the end of the day? That’s the kind of tragic OTP I thrive on.

And see, THIS is why it’s so important that we get the story in first person. Because while the Darkling IS very problematic and I can see why people who hate the ship are squicked out to some extent, what matters is that we know that Alina still struggles with her feelings about him throughout the whole trilogy. After everything he has done a part of her still wants him and a part of her still acknowledges that he accepts her power in a way no one else really does. Also, lol at her once again commenting on how good he looks.

What can I really say? I live for this. My favorite moments in Alina’s story are ones where she allows herself to confront, if only in her mind, her own desire for power (”I was eager”) and I love that even while she just admitted to loving Mal, she can’t help herself with Aleks. “I could drown in it.” Bitch, me too. 

Just the way this is worded idk. She’s literally killing him. He’s been evil and conniving af. That’s not lost on me. But Alina doesn’t hate him. There’s no, “Just a little longer so I can kill this asshole” or “Just a little longer so I can send this monster to hell where he belongs.” No. She’s sending him “to the next world” and she’s gonna follow? Ok. Nothing to read into that at all.

Everything about this!!!!! “I respect your ruthlessness”??? A line that would work on me lmao. Also I live for hurt and vulnerable Aleks showing this bitterness. He’s allowing her to see that she hurt him, you know? Also love that it’s honesty when she says she wanted to see him. There is so fucking much mutual pining in this ship it’s torture. And even after everything they’ve done to one another they’re still like this!! How dare they! Let me live!!!!

Idk I love this because they’re such opposites in everything from appearance to ideology but they still have this pull on each other that drags them each nearer the middle. He brings out Alina’s ambition and she brings out his softness. Also, “I had a taste for you once” is probably my favorite line in all their interactions. I know everyone else loves “make me your villain” but this line is just sexier somehow and it comes from Alina! Alina toying with Aleks’s desire?? MY SHIT!

Give me dark!Alina! GIVE IT TO ME!!!

SO MUCH in this passage. This is in R&R so by this point the damage and history and pain in this ship is off the charts and Alina is still sitting here thinking about how she wants him. “I didn’t want to go …  I wanted this whispered confidence.” We love to see it. And then there’s his name. I actually love his name. It’s my husband’s name lmao (though he spells it with an x). And I agree with Alina that it’s kind of laughably cute that the big, bad Darkling has such a common (but pretty!) name.

More than that, I feel like a lot of people overlook the significance of this moment. In “The Demon in the Wood” we learn that Aleks was on the run for basically his entire youth. He’s gone by fake names since he was a child. That story is so heartbreaking, being in his head while he’s coaching and drilling himself to adapt to these false names and identities in a convincing way. He couldn’t share his real name with anyone. But what must that have done to his sense of self? Especially being so young, his ability to develop an identity like a normal person was taken away. He must have wanted, for years, maybe even centuries, to be able to be his real self. But he’s clearly never trusted anyone with the truth. Until Alina. And this isn’t soft, naive S&B Alina. This is “ruthless” book 3 Sankta Alina, his enemy in every sense of the word who has multiple times left him for dead (he deserved it but that’s not my point). And he trusts her with this and shares this intimacy with her and it makes me weep ok?

This is sexy. What else can I possibly say? It’s hot. My favorite piece of Darklina art is from this scene lol but I wish there was more fanart of this moment that actually depicted them as they are, with him basically sitting and Alina all up in his junk between his legs. I accept the Darklina isn’t canon but there are no other shippy scenes in the trilogy that match this one imo. THEIR POWER. It’s so good lol.

She literally killed him lmao. She was literally the one doing the stabbing here. She ended his long life and he’s still being sweet with her?????? The last thing he wanted to hear was her voice and his name???? Ok thanks.

K the funeral scene broke me but I am glad they gave him a proper funeral. But what I’m really here for? Alina Starkov’s last line of dialogue and last thought in The Grisha Trilogy is about Aleks and no one can take that away from me.

Anyway sorry for the giant trashy post I just have a lot of feelings about them. This is almost every scene so I failed to tell you my favorite moments rofl. They’re all my favorite. I guess if I had to pick three? The Winter Fete scene, Alina trying to kill them both in the chapel, and “let me.” Oof. 

Thanks for tolerating my insane and overwhelming love for this ship!!!!!

#sry for anyone on mobile i tried so hard to use a cut #darklina #alarkling #answered

[abschaumno1]

12,16,24 for fic ask post?

Thank you for asking! ❤

12: Why did you choose to write [insert fic]? How long have you been working on it?

Since I haven't gotten clarification from anon we'll just go with all of my four multichapter WIPs, I guess?

Trials and Decisions started way way back not too long after I started An Unexpected Journey I think. There was a fanart of Tango in a fancy mask and it made me think about masked balls and things escalated as they usually do. And then half way through the story I realised that I was only half way through the story so what was originally planned as one fic (Choices and Paths) became two. The actively putting words on a page part started in January of this year.

You Got Me Feeling Some Kind Of Way hands down started with Impulse calling himself the master stripper and talking about making his money by stripping and nailing things while he was stripping logs on stream with Tango and once I had calmed down from my laughing fit I went on discord and went "okay but what if?" And then i rewatched Pretty Woman because I like that movie. I had also read Janet Mock's book Redefining Realness not too long before that where she talks about her experiences as a young trans sex worker among other things. That was last November I think?

Drawn to the Flame is... okay this may sound a bit odd but my good friend @red-devil23 sent me a blurb of a book she had found. Something about a popular girl with a baking blog getting paired with the only dude in her high school who doesn't like her or her baking and she finds out the dark secret why. And we thought it sounded very boring so we started coming up with reasons for why he acted "hot and cold" towards her somehow ending at "what if he's half vampire?" And then I went off the rails and started coming up with concepts for vampire/werewolf stories I'd like to see and then I went even more off the rails (lbr I was barreling at full speed through the woods at this point) and added the a/b/o aspect and at that point the metaphorical train turned into a submarine and plunged into a deep lake and dredged up the idea. All of that in the span of like one or two days back in June.

For Your Love was loosely inspired by a friend's au concept. It's essentially smut that grew a smidgen of plot and a world and here we are. Also started back in June.

16: Do you stick to canon when you write characters and fics?

Sometimes. I generally like my AUs because I love trying to figure out how characters would fit into different settings. But I tend to stick to canon for smaller oneshots and such, if only because it means I don't have to think too much about world building. But for bigger things it's just fun to throw characters into completely different settings and figure out how to include elements from their world into that setting in a way that makes sense. And if I'm at it sometimes that other setting profits a lot from adding in OCs, if only because there may be reasons there are no characters to fill their roles in canon but they may be important to the story in some way.

24: Which fic of yours do you wish people would ask about more? Why?

Fantasy AU probably. The fics for it pretty much just scratch the surface of what I have. Either because there's just no time or space to include it or because it's not super relevant to the story currently.

Though honestly I'd just be hapoy if people asked more about my fics in general. 😅 (they're all icebergs to some extend)

Fic ask game

#anonymous #scummy replies