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celepeace · 3 years

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A monster-taming game recommendation list for fans of Pokemon

Whether you're a pokemon fanatic obsessed with all things pokemon past and present, or a veteran fan disillusioned with GameFreak's recent adoption of monetary philosophies and strategies reminiscent of other major game publishers, or looking for a monster-taming fix as you await new Pokemon content...

I'm compiling here a post of little-known games in the genre that Pokemon fans are likely to enjoy!

Under readmore cause long, but some of these games really don’t get the attention they deserve, so if you have the time, please read!

(I am also likely to keep updating and editing this post)

First up is Temtem!

Temtem is a game made by and for Pokemon fans, from the spanish indie developer Crema. Temtem is currently in early access on Steam and PS5, and is likely to remain in early access until sometime late next year. Full launch will include a Nintendo Switch release, too. Despite this, it has plenty of content to explore before full release. The developers are active, release new content on a semi-regular basis, and are responsive to the community as a whole and individuals if you happen to come across a bug you want to report.

Temtem boasts a wide variety of monsters to collect and train. It takes place in the Airborne Archipelago, a system of floating islands that orbit their star, the Pansun. The monsters inhabiting the archipelago are called Temtem, or tem(s), for short.

As far as game mechanics go, it has many similarities to Pokemon, but also many important distinctions. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that the element of chance has been removed from battle entirely. Moves cannot miss, have the same power constantly, and status afflictions have an obviously displayed countdown to when they will wear off (for instance, sleep lasts as long as it says it will last. Not 2-4 turns). PP does not exist, either. Your tems can battle for as long as their HP holds out. In place of PP, a new system called Stamina exists. Stamina is an individual stat, like HP and Attack. Each move costs a certain amount of stamina. If you go over the amount of stamina your tem has, the deficit is detracted from your health instead, and that tem cannot move next turn. Stamina passively regenerates a certain amount each turn, and items and moves exist that can heal stamina. All battles are also double-battles, you and your opponent will typically have two tems on the field at a time. This is just a few of the differences Temtem has from Pokemon, but they're some of the biggest ones.

Temtem is also a massively multiplayer game. You complete the storyline independently (or with a friend through co-op!), but in the overworld you can see other, real players moving around and interacting with the world. There is also public and area-specific chat you can talk to other players through. Despite this, all multiplayer functions are (currently) completely optional. You do not need to interact with others to complete the game.

Overall, Temtem is suitable for the Pokemon fan who is looking for a more challenging experience. Temtem is not a walk in the park you can blaze through with a single super-strong monster. For one, individual tem strength is more well-balanced than it is in Pokemon. There are very few (if any!) completely useless tems. Even some unevolved tems have their niche in the competitive scene! Aside from that, enemy tamers are scaled quite high, and you typically cannot beat them just from the exp you get from other enemy tamers. You have to do some wild-encounter grinding if you want to progress.

Temtem is a very fun game and I've already gotten over 100 hours out of it, despite only 3/5-ish of the planned content being released!

However, I do feel obligated to warn any prospective players of one thing: the current endgame is quite inaccessible. After you complete what is currently implemented of the main storyline, there is still quite a lot left to explore and do, but much of it is locked behind putting a lot of hours into the game. You kind of have to get perfect temtem to do the current PVE (and this is also somewhat true for the PVP too). By perfect I mean you have to breed a good tem and then train it to get the preferable EVs (called TVs in temtem). This takes... well, for a whole team... tens of hours. Of boring grinding. Some people enjoy it! But I don't. Regardless, the game was still worth buying because the non-endgame content is expansive and fun.

So overall, pros & cons:

Pros

Battle system is more friendly towards a competitive scene

Cute monsters

Lots of gay characters, also you can choose pronouns (including they/them) independently from body type and voice

Less difference between the objectively bad tems and good tems than there is in Pokemon

Lots of stuff to do even in early access

Most conversations with dialog choices have the option to be a complete ass for no reason other than it’s fun

Having less type variety in your team is less punishing than in Pokemon due to the synergy system and types overall having less weaknesses and resistances

At least one major character is nonbinary

Cons

Falls prey to the issue of MMOs having in-game economies that are only accessible to diehard no-life players

Related to the above point, cosmetics are prohibitively expensive

Endgame CURRENTLY is inaccessible to most players unless you buy good monsters from other players or spend tens of hours making your own. However I must add that the grind is great if you like that kind of thing and is quite easy and painless to do while watching a show or something.

Here is their Steam page and here is their official website.

Next is Monster Hunter: Stories!

This is a spinoff game of the Monster Hunter franchise released for the 3DS in 2018. If you're anything like me, and you've played the core Monster Hunter games, you've often thought "Man, I wish I could befriend and ride these cool dragon creatures instead of killing or maiming them!"

Well now you can! In Stories, as I will be calling it, you play as a rider rather than a hunter. Riders steal monster eggs from wild nests to raise them among humans as companions and guardians. And yes, egg stealing is a whole mechanic in of itself in this game.

This game works pretty differently from most monster-collecting games. You do battle (usually) against one or two wild monsters using your own, except you fight alongside your monsters too. With swords and stuff. There's armor and weapons you can smelt to make yourself stronger. Type match-ups also kind of don't exist in this game? Except they do? But not in a way you'd expect?

The vast majority of attacking moves you and your monster use fall into categories reminiscent of rock-paper-scissors. Moves can be categorized as power, speed, or technical. Speed beats power, technical beats speed, and power beats technical. The matchup of your move vs your opponent's determines how a turn will go down. If one move beats the other in matchup, then the winner's move will get to go and the loser doesn't get to do anything. If you tie, you both get hit, but for reduced damage. There's also abilities and basic attacks, with abilities basically being the same as pokemon moves, and basic attacks just being "I hit you for normal damage within this category". Also, you don't control what your monster does all the time in battle. You can tell it to use abilities, but what kind basic attacks it carries out is determined by its species' preference. Velicidrome, for instance, prefers speed attacks, but Yian Garuga prefers technical. Stamina also exists in this game in a very similar manner to Temtem.

Overall this game carries over a lot of mechanics Monster Hunter fans will find familiar (how items and statuses work for instance). You don't have to have played a core Monster Hunter game to enjoy Stories though! It's fine and is easy to understand as a stand-alone.

The story has some likable characters and is rather long (it was actually adapted into an anime!), for those of you who enjoy a good story.

I'd really recommend this one especially. If it sounds fun to you and you can drop $30, just do it. I bought it on a whim and I got a few weeks' worth of playing almost nonstop out of it, and I didn't even get to do everything! (I got distracted by Hades, oops)

Stories is also getting a sequel later next year on the nintendo switch! How exciting!

And yes, you do ride the monsters.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Large variety of cool monsters to befriend and raise

Pretty lengthy story

Every tamable monster is also rideable

Deceptively simple combat mechanics, easy to be okay at, hard to master

Incorporates some mechanics from early turn-based party rpgs like Final Fantasy for a nice twist on the monster collecting genre

Cons

Many monsters are objectively outclassed by other ones, making what can be in an actually good team more limited than you’d expect

3DS graphics inherently means the game looks like it was made 7 years before its time

Here is the Monster Hunter Stories official 3DS product page.

And here is Monster Sanctuary!

Monster sanctuary is a game that just had its 1.0 launch- meaning it was in early access and no longer is! Although the devs say they still plan to implement a few more things into the game in future updates. It is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.

Monster sanctuary is a metroidvania twist on the typical monster collecting game, meaning it is also a sidescrolling platformer in which you use abilities you gain throughout the game to explore the world around you. The abilities in this case are the monsters you get! Every monster has an ability that helps you traverse the sanctuary.

Speaking of the sanctuary, the game is set in one. The monster sanctuary is a magically shielded area, cut off from the rest of the world, created by an order of monster keepers, people who befriend and protect the mystical monsters inhabiting the world. Humankind encroached too far on the natural habitat of monsters and were hostile to the native wildlife, so the keepers created an area of varied environments to safely protect and preserve the remaining monsters of the world.

Unlike many other monster collecting games, this game only has 5 types: fire, water, earth, air, and neutral. However, the types themselves do not possess resistances and weaknesses. Instead, each monster has its own assigned weaknesses and resistances. And yes, this can include things like debuffs, physical vs special attacks, and the typical elemental types.

All battles are also 3 vs 3! And unlike in pokemon, where you can only hit the enemies nearest, all monsters have the ability to hit any opponent they want. Turns also work a little differently in that speed doesn't exist, you just use 1 move per monster in your turn and then it goes to your opponent's turn. Your monsters hit in whatever order you want them to.

There is also a quite important combo system in this game, where every hit builds a damage multiplier for the next. Moves often hit multiple times per turn. Healing and buffing actions also build this combo counter. So what monsters you have move in what order really counts!

But the main mechanical difference between this and other games in the genre is how it handles levels and skills. Instead of learning a set move at a certain level, this game incorporates a skill tree, and you get to allocate points into different skills as you grow stronger. And jeez, these skill trees are really extensive. Monster sanctuary is a theorycrafter's dream. Each monster has a unique, specially tailored skill tree, making every monster truly able to have its own niche. You can make use of whatever monster you want if you just put thought into it!

And like Temtem, this game is not made to be beatable by children. I'm sure a child could beat it, but it's not made to be inherently child-friendly like pokemon. It's honestly quite difficult.

On top of that, you are actively encouraged to not just be scraping by each battle. Your performance in battle is rated by an automated system that scores your usage of various mechanics like buffs and debuffs applied, type matchups, and effective usage of combos. The rating system directly influences the rewards you get from each battle, including your likelihood of obtaining an egg from one of the wild monsters you battled (no, you don't catch wild monsters in this game, you get eggs and hatch them). If you're not paying attention to how the game works and making good, effective use of your monsters, you'll have a hard time expanding your team!

The music is also really good, it's made by nature to be able to play over and over and not get old as you explore each area, and the composer(s) really did a good job with this. Some area songs, namely the beach one, I especially enjoy, so much so I've actually played it in the background while I do work.

This is a game I would really recommend. If I made it sound intimidating, it is by no means unbeatable, you're just gonna have to put some thought into how you play. At no point did I actually feel frustrated or like something was impossible. When I hit a wall, I was able to recognize what I did wrong and how I could improve, or I could at least realize something wasn't working and experiment until I found a solution. It's challenging in a genuinely fun, rewarding way.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Extremely in-depth combat system

I genuinely don’t know if there’s an objectively bad monster in this game

Evolution exists but is completely optional, as even un-evolved monsters can be great

Entire soundtrack is full of bangers

Large and diverse variety of monsters to tame

Cons

Story is a little lackluster, but passable

That’s the only con I can think of

Here’s a link to their Steam page and the game’s website.

A kind of unorthodox recommendation is the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series!

Likelihood is that everyone reading this has heard of this series already, but just in case anyone hasn't, I thought I'd include it! I would categorize this as a hybrid between the mystery dungeon genre and the monster collecting genre, because you recruit pokemon as you play and can use those pokemon on your team!

If you're unaware, the mystery dungeon genre is a small subset of dungeon crawler games where you progress through randomly generated levels called mystery dungeons. Throughout the dungeons, there will be enemies to fight and items to collect. The challenge of these games is mostly due to the stamina aspect of them, in that you have to manage your resources as you progress through the level. If you go all out in each fight, you will inevitably lose quite quickly. You have to learn to win against enemies while balancing your use of items and PP, so you have enough for the next fight, and the fight after that.

Pokemon mystery dungeon in particular is famous for its stories, the likes of which isn't seen often in Pokemon games. They are hugely story-driven games and are notable for the emotional depth they possess. It's pretty normal for the average player to cry at least once in the span of the game. There's lots of memes about that specifically.

This entry in my list is also unique for being a series. So, which one should you play first? It actually doesn't matter! Each storyline is entirely self-contained and requires no knowledge of prior entries. The quality of each entry varies and is a point of contention among fans. I say you should play all of them, because they all have their merits (though some more than others.... coughgatestoinfinitycough). They're mostly distinct for the generation of Pokemon they take place in. Rescue team is gen 3, Explorers is gen 4, Gates to Infinity is gen 5, Super Mystery Dungeon is gen 6, and Rescue Team DX is a remake of a gen 3 game but has the mechanics and moves of a gen 8 game.

My only real caution is that you play Explorers of Sky, not Darkness or Time. Sky is basically a combination of the two games with added items and content. It's an objective upgrade over its predecessors, and I honestly wouldn't waste money on the other two.

I’m not going to include a pros and cons list for the PMD series because I’m incredibly biased and it wouldn’t be an honest review.

Next is Monster Crown!

Monster Crown is a monster collecting game that seems to take heavy inspiration from early-gen Pokemon games in particular. It is currently in early access on Steam and is not expensive. I learned about it through the developers of Monster Sanctuary, when they recommended it on their official Discord.

The game has lots of charm and interesting creature designs, and an entirely new take on monster typings as well. Instead of monster types being based off of natural elements like fire, water, electricity, etc. Monster Crown uses typings that seem to be influenced by the personalities of the monsters. For instance, Brutal, Relentless, and Will are all monster types!

It also captures a lot of the charm many of us look fondly upon in early GameBoy-era games. The music is mostly chiptune, with some more modern backing instruments at times, and the visuals are very reminiscent of games like Pokemon Crystal in particular. Monster Crown is definitely the monster collecting game for fans of the 8-bit era!

The thing that stands out the most to me about this game is the breeding system. Instead of one parent monster passing down its species to its offspring, you can create true hybrids in this game.

However, it is very early access. I would consider the current build as an alpha, not even a beta yet! So temper your expectations here. I have not encountered any major bugs, but visual glitches here and there are quite common. The game also could definitely use some polish and streamlining, and is quite limited in content currently. But the dev(s) seem quite active, so I fully expect these kinks to be worked out in time!

The reviews are rather positive, especially for being in early access. I'm all for expanding the monster collecting genre, so if you're looking to expand your horizons in that sense, I would recommend you at least give this one a look! I personally had quite a bit of fun playing Monster Crown and am going to keep an eye out for updates.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Charming artstyle, appealing monster designs

Faithful callback to a bygone era of gaming

Controls are fairly simple and easy to get the hang of (and are completely customizable!)

Cool breeding and hybridization mechanics

There's a starter for each monster type!

You can choose your pronouns, including they/them!

Cons

Inherent nature of being very early access means can be clunky and unpolished at times

Also not much content as of right now, see above

User interface could use some redesign in places

Here’s their Steam page and the official website!

Here’s an oldie but a goodie, Azure Dreams!

This is one I actually haven’t played, mostly because it’s really old and therefore only practically accessible if you play it on an emulator, unless you're one of those old game collectors. Azure Dreams was developed by Konami and released for the PS1 in 1997. My impression of it was that it either didn’t sell well or only took off in Japan, because it’s actually really hard to find any comprehensive information about it on the internet.

Azure Dreams is a monster collecting - dating sim hybrid. You can build relationships with various characters and can pursue some of them romantically, although that isn’t the main draw of the game. There is also a stripped-down version that exists for the GameBoy Color, which forgoes the dating portion of the game entirely.

Azure Dreams is kind of like a mystery dungeon game in that you progress through a randomly generated, ever-changing tower using the help of the familiars you have accrued throughout your adventure. Similarly to Monster Hunter: Stories, you yourself also take part in the fighting alongside your monsters. Each time you enter the tower, your character’s level is lowered to 1, but your familiars keep their experience. Thus, progression is made through strengthening your monsters. To obtain monsters, you collect their eggs, just like in Monster Sanctuary (which, turns out, was at least partially inspired by this game!)

Due to this game being very old and on the PS1, the visuals leave a lot to be desired... but if you can get past that, Azure Dreams has lots of replayability and customization to how you play the game. To this day, it appears it has a somewhat active speedrunning community!

If you don’t mind the effort of using an emulator, and like old games, Azure Dreams just might be that timesink you were looking for in quarantine.

Honorable mentions:

Pokemon Insurgence (or any Pokemon fangame/ROMhack, really!) is a Pokemon fangame that introduces Delta Pokemon, which are really cool type-swapped versions of existing Pokemon. It’s sufficiently challenging and has a lot of variety in what you can catch in the wild, so you can pretty much add whatever you want to your team! The story is quite good, and the main campaign is multiple times longer than a typical Pokemon game’s campaign. Download it here!

ARK: Survival Evolved is NOT a monster collecting game BUT you do get to tame and fight alongside a lot of really cool extinct species, including but not limited to the dinosaurs we all know and love. This game is genuinely fun as hell, especially with friends, but I must warn you: never play on official servers. I highly recommend singleplayer, playing on a casual private server, or making your own server. Here’s the Steam page.

#pokemon #temtem #monster sanctuary #monster hunter stories #monster crown #azure dreams #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon alternatives

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ct-multifandom · 4 years

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Picking apart the yttd painting gallery

Personally, I think this room is the most informative thing we’ve been given in 31A. There’s a lot to look at, and a lot to think about when you start digging deeper.

I’ll start with the most glaring details: the character death portraits. From left to right we have whom is safe to assume as Kugie, Nao, a girl dressed like Hinako, Megumi sprawled at Keiji’s knees, Kai’s bloody hand, and Joe. Notice how four of these six are noncandidates?

I didn’t even consider this before we brought up this room in the theory chat, but someone must have made these paintings. I doubt they’re photos printed onto canvases. How did Asunaro know exactly who would die so far? Do they have paintings in the back for every possible execution and first trial loss? I doubt it.

My theory is that these six deaths specifically were expected from the start. Let’s talk about the noncandidates, who are all currently supposed to be dead. Notice how the sacrifice card has only ever gone to noncandidates: Joe and Nao? I believe this was on purpose. Maybe the purpose of the card’s existence is to 1) bump off people who can’t win or might get in the way of others’ chances 2) emotionally harden their candidate allies who must watch them die 3) cause an easy win for their +1 if they get voted for. It’s very unlikely that any of the noncandidates would choose another noncandidate to escape with due to always having stronger personal connections with specific candidates.

How did Asunaro rig something seemingly random? While Gashu’s actions in chapter two surprise the player, I doubt Meister found them unpredictable. He was probably relying on Gashu to rig the role. Joe picking up the card seems random, but I don’t think it was. We still don’t know what he and Kai were talking about on the security footage, but it’s odd that the mysterious secret conversation revolves around two noncandidate characters who ended up getting voted off. Maybe Meister could count on Joe to pick up the sacrifice and for Kai to take the sage to protect others (Sara), or maybe there’s even more to it. (A plot twist)

I don’t want to spend too much time explaining why Kugie’s death may have been rigged because we’re all aware of how Kanna’s trial room allegedly didn’t have sandpaper in it, and how her key fit into the box without being sanded. One of the two was set to be killed on those beds, and it’s easy to predict that Kugie will want Kanna to be the one freed.

Here’s where things get interesting. Megumi Sasahara is not only a candidate, but she has a (4.9%) chance of winning the game. So why do I suspect she was intended to die? Wouldn’t her chances be zero then? My theory is that during the simulations, first trials were swapped between characters to create different combinations of survivors, hence why the dummies and Megumi have percents. Meister probably wants Sara to be the winner simply based on his memorandum, so he probably tried to calibrate a combination of living characters who make that the most likely. Megumi’s presence lowered her chances, possibly by changing Sara’s relationship to Keiji which has helped her thus far. She knew his backstory and maybe even more than the player does, and could easily harbor distrust. Or maybe she’s just a major snake in the main game.

Hinako. What is up with her. Is the dummy Keiji has the honor of partnering with the same person as this girl? The one who would do anything to survive vs the one who thanks Rio Ranger for her death? Either she went through some crazy life changes between doll updates or these two are different people. I would like to add that in Hinako’s victim video we can only see her feet and Rio, deliberately obscuring her face and even hair. Kai’s emails make it hard to believe that one of them is a kidnapped noncandidate, as well as how Kugie didn’t have a victim video but the dead candidates did, but the possibility exists.

The girl in the painting died in the lower locker room from hanging like how Gin and Hayasaka got trapped. It’s very likely that Alice was upstairs, and his cowardice in running away caused her to die, probably due to failing a trust/cooperation game. I’m fairly convinced that they are not the same person, though. Maybe Dummy Hinako is a human from Asunaro meant to rile up the other dummies? Maybe the black haired one is on the hospital bed? (I can give evidence for the hospitalized figure being like 5 different characters though). I honestly am lost beyond creative speculation because we just don’t know that much about this.

Some miscellaneous closing details:

Perhaps this gallery was supposed to be Mishima’s memory room if he made it this far? The paintings are obviously different but maybe it’s styled like a museum he worked/studied at.

There are some odd miscellaneous paintings. The landscapes might be filler imagery if not some weird, incredibly niche foreshadowing.

There is one to the top left of Hinako that shows three objects on a school desk. Could this have been a first trial in Sara’s memory room? What are those things?

I wonder why Shin’s portrait is there. Maybe Midori insisted?

#yttd #kimi ga shine #kgs #your turn to die #yttd theory #yttd spoilers #your turn to die theories #yttd chapter 3 spoilers #long post

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queenofallwitches · 3 years

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an update and primer:

so the last winter was weird. I had a complete breakdown, went into psychiatric hospital for 40 days in total. two seperate times.

learnt a heap of new things, met a tonne of cool people and had amazing conversations and few fights but overcome my own demons by that.

brain speaking-I have a scarred brain stem and neurological disorder is not a mental diagnosis, but a neurological disorder, proven by MRI scan, ADHD.

also damage to my basal ganglia, and prefrontal cortex.

neurological diagnosis means ADHD is not a "mental" health issue, as some believe, rather a neurodevelopment disorder caused by structural differences in the ADHD brain.

other neurodevelopment disorders include: Tourettes, Autism, Cerebal Palsy, Dyslexia and other Motor and Intellectual Disabilities. (Which recieve, in my view, a lot of insight, media information and stigma reduction by the advocacy networks surrounding these types of disability).

Over the last few years Autism has been over everything, I've seen mainstream media cover Tourettes and yet ADHD is still HUGELY misunderstood, misconceived and misrepresented in media, be in from the angle of documentaries, personal insight of a "typical" case, films, tv, and other media.

one of the first things my dr told me was "in females it rarely presents as hyperactive red-cordial OD child"

which is what my mother BELIEVES, that is because I have an adopted cousin with the ADHD dx who was that growing up, but the representation I'm told is also divergent for women with a higher IQ score than the average IQ. I come in around 142 and tested 123 at age 3 when I was unable to focus, pay attention and had severe trauma. I tested 142 in grade 8.

I'll share my experience as a female who is intellectually gifted, with higher IQ than average, and an adhd brain:

I've been told gifted and talented "genius" children are harder to diagnose because the symptoms present differently, we hide it better (camouflage) and our focusing can be "faked" by mediocre efforts of academic success.. this is true, I would do the assignment the Sunday night hours deadline, last minute, or have my parents half do it for me, plagiarise it (fuck I've killed my whole academic career now) copied but changed my words

from old 1970s encyclopaedias I KNEW they couldn't cross reference (I went through 15 years of school never studying doing homework or assignments and still had top grades).

I literally did not listen, and spent my classes planning the end of the world survival strategies with my GT friend who, basically helped me with my calculus and hard fucking maths, which was the ONLY 50 minutes of the day I put attention into my work.

now I'm going to be heading back to full-time study in the coming months, I get anxious as the pressure of a Bachelor level degree, and the pressure it takes me to perform, is enough to break me down. I've been advised it might be wise to start light (like a basic vet style diploma) and then build up, which is logical, but I keep thinking I'm meant to be doing my thesis by now. which is the kind of pressure one gets as a kid who is told repeatedly, "your intelligence is exceedingly the average and you can do ANYTHING you want"

I wanted to be an astronaut, a storm chaser, and an architect, a town planner and then a journalist. I always held to being a "FBI agent" or spy (I wonder why). so when I found psychology is really a blend of all these things, I kinda found a niche in a psych and social science double degree. but I'm thinking my academic career is LIFELONG, and due to the fact I also want to work in my field alongside my many written thesis coming, I'll be in academics for a long time. I may fail a few things, which I have to come to terms with. I do not fail easily, or readily, but I'm a perfectionist type-a academic who will put my whole life on the line to achieve "merit". I get exams, I get assessments, I read journals super-easy, I talk the talk and walk the walk so well psychologists who are at masters level compliment me on my "knowledge".

when it comes to mental health and trauma, I will always have the personal attachment, called lived experience, which will make failure and burnout, 100 percent realistic. I have to boundary up, bootstraps on, and prepare that yes, my personal "bias" will probably be entwined in this.

which is why I'm looking at the social science for the statistics and thesis writing side of things, and the counselling for the trained therapist side. either way, the degree of counselling requires so much self-insight, and then the social-science will back me away from personifying it. the other choice is criminology, which leads to forensic psychology, which is eternally fascinating. my main concern is the pro-pedophile content Ill be up against, which will look at the anatomy of a shoplifter akin to the devil, and leave the pedophile in the DSM-5 dx "paraphilia" box.

I'm not joining or jumping to anything.

either way I've got 2 year of credit, a heap of pathways and a lot of "academic momentum" from all my life being aimed to be "academic powerhouse". I went through my files and found a lot of awards I'd won in my high school, and top place in the competitions we would be entering in. I remember feeling so sad if I had a "credit" vs a distinction or high distinction, only to see now, a credit in university maths in year 9 is a skillset I don't have anymore so, good on me. or a credit in English, or Science at that age was pretty impressive, considering these tests were random and not studied for.

just a general skills assessment only the top 30 kids in the year were to take on a year by year basis and put out to vet from the top universities and taken by other kids in the same grade around the state.

it puts so much focus on my intelligence, because it's primed to be that way, I know that is true. I know I feel good being academically successful and it gives me a feeling of "achievement" but is it really for me?

I also found 2 letters from my local politicians offering me job placement, work experience and I was 1/4 kids in my 10th grade graduation tom get the letter, and due to my behaviour I pissed ALL the idiots who bullied me off. I was "too pretty to be a nerd" "too smart to be pOpUlAr".

so I made a group of misfits, who are all highly intelligent, creative and my group had the ONLY gay male in the school AND THIS IS BEFORE YOU FUCKING RETARDS MADE IT "COOL". he was bullied badly, so fuck you, you fucks claim "liberalism" but I bet you were the type of idiot who bullied guys like him in high school while you pretended to like my chemical romance and fake cut yourselves. I hate you all, forever.

my grade was full of idiots who were fake emo, who left the scene the moment the scene changed to dub-step and club music. I was there, watching you all, like sonny Moore, went from FFTL to that dubstep skrillex shit he started in 2009.

I dated you, hooked up with you and I went to your gigs. I know who was real and who was fake. I met some of you years later and realised the more emotive ones were the less "alternative appearing".

I can say 1/10000 emo guys from the 00s were genuinely Into the music and scene for the right reasons based on my dating history and this can and will be analysed statistically using SPSS one day to prove a lot. I've had too many relationships from each sub-culture and I have had 4-11 males at a time per public "output" of my energy pursue me over life.

I'm not being cocky when I say I have a long line of "suitors" and its banked back about 50 men. it's been a thing I've avoided as it seems to grow based on my body shape, attitude, appearance, so I am currently out of touch with dating scenes, no interest to try that ANYWAY, given the fact that I have had so many LONG TERM relationships ANYWAY. I can't see another one going well, and at this case, I'm living with an ex but we never went on conventional and now our families label this 3 things: "asexual", "polyamorous" and "open relationship". I'm also "bisexual" but this all to humans outside, looks ridiculous on paper. (wild orgies and lots of swinging or some stupid sex magick probably is what J brother literally thinks we do).

bc humans are intrinsically designed to need to label things they don't understand. we share a lease, not a relationship, and fucking polyamorous, I WISH. there are no girl-girl-guy 3 some, or orgies, or sex magic parties.

this has changed the attitude and perception of this "relation' which Is non-romantic, non-sexual. he can date and likely, will, as can I , and I likely won't date.

I would say 14/15 have had ADHD, or other mental illness and or trauma. which means to me, nothing at all.

I think this "open book" non romantic relationship style of "friends and roommates" not sexual.

attachment is misunderstood by others but works well fro my adhd, meaning I'm not expected to marry, or be a wife in any capacity. he is free to do what he wants, as I am, and open communication is a novel frontier I brought into this in the start, and stayed with for the duration. we fight, but I fight with a lot of people in my life over many petty things. also down to my adhd, I believe, I have rejection sensitive dysphoria, which makes me hypersensitive to rejection, perceived or real.

im not sure if this is trauma or adhd or both. but

I have used sexuality as a weapon in many relationships but it cannot or will not be used here, so I have had to resort to uncovering parts of myself which I never knew, which will stay with me even if he decided to marry and wife up in 5 years, which I'm okay and expecting him to do, and I would much rather that then be trapped in a situation where I cannot be that "wife/mother archetype" as I'm too "femme fatal/other-woman/sex-laced seductress and siren" a "FWB, unicorn, drug buddy, hook-up where im a therapist" or "intellectual and cognitive mind-bender work-study obsessed woman".

both at once and many types of human, including one who is a full-time ceremonial magician of 7 years. I will drink, drug, fuck, fight like males and still be more feminine and high maintenance than 89% of women. I grew up a tomboy and don't mind getting into fun, adventure based situations, like hiking, or anything adrenaline, I would only be reluctant to eat weird shit.

I also have many "neurological" issues including ADHD, and trauma which causes a rupture in the average human and I dating.

I'll tell you how many men have said "you are the unicorn" and then realised what that means, I went as far as canvasing the PUA world back in 2014 after reading the game, a book on PUA, which is essentially, pick up artistry, based on NLP and hypnosis. I did this after reading the copy my ex in 2008 handed me before we dated saying "I gave this up for you". it took me years to open the book, buy when I did I truly believed the only way I would fall in love again, was through PUA. that failed in so many ways but gave me a training foundation for men who were candidates for that, I have trained up J, and the way that sounds is BAD. I know, but I got a lot of value myself, I just don't see it how I wanted to see it.

but that was my original intent, and I achieved this he knows that, knew it was happening and evolved for the best self.

I am thinking we can modulate this into a business model for how I was operating in the BDSM world was mainly psychological, not physical.

I get told all of is incredibly intimidating (I am told) to women and men.

I don't really care anymore, because people have always seen this part of me in the wrong way ANYWAY, but I own who I am NOW. which is what I needed ANYWAY. so it cannot be stolen again, and sexual healing has come from abstinence ironically.

I also don't care what or who is trying to tear up my relations, toxic or not toxic, all people around me will be on a healing journey by default, or cut out of my life, for I am radiating that energy so brightly its impossible NOT to feel that pull.

I will drag your shadows into the light, and make your secrets spin from your lips into my consciousness. its not what I do but its what is design.

I make your weaknesses mountains to climb over. you cannot hide from these in my presence, I won't be this controlling or obsessive female who wants 24-7 attention as I have a life full of meaning without love or sex. I don't want to be wined, dined or expensively gifted, unless specially requested.

I don't want love letters or romantic declarations, this isn't some femnazi bullshit, but it triggers me. I appreciate the efforts and won't make you feel bad about your insecurities, for mine are probably 30 x more pronounced.

I appreciate small things, that most males won't or don't know how to do. like remembering things I've said and being thoughtful. or knowing my silence isn't personal, or a game, but a protective wall. I've had songs sung too me, guitars played, songs written, or things made in ways that are heartfelt. but I've always had them used against me too. so it is the context. I value time, energy, conversations of depth and reciprocal exchange. I also value trauma understanding, my alters and fragments being accepted and valued as me as a whole and a person who is not afraid, or scared of stupid stuff like sensitivity, emotions, feelings as raw as my own. men feel intensely too, lol.

but will only give oral sex 100 times before I don't recieve it, I can communicate now so that wouldn't happen.

but I won't be a bitch about this stuff. I am extremely feminine and care in ways other people, do not, I forget nothing people tell me, so it can be a reward or reverse uno card pull in a fight, but I am not evil or deviant in my relations. I react, depending on how you treat me. I don't need your money, or providing source of income to be okay as I am my own queen, however sharing resources is okay to build something. I don't need to be seduced, but will need to be shown a person is trustworthy.

few cross that.

that will always be time-endurance and testing. there are ground rules I don't play with, or play games. or like being forced or forged into something I'm not. I know abusive and I know safe, and I am a psychology expert, trained psychotherapist and study humans for fun, so I'll always be analysing things.

and I know red flags and I know ego, I know how to placate and please and pleasure, but will only do so, for a bigger and better reason than the mere act of seduction. which is without value and transactional to someone like me, I won't lie.

and I know every tactic in the book, for the book was written by someone like me, many lives ago, and my karma is being burnt for that book.

in terms of walls, I have many, may it be called a maze. or labrnyth.

I will teach you things you never thought you'd know, and change your life in ways you won't ever be able to go back to before. I will blow your mind, sexually, emotionally, intellectually, on all levels, and I'll make your friends and family love me.

I'll bring your walls down and you won't be able to understand this, because you don't understand me, and thats ok.

but I'll always understanding you and make your life better because thats what I do anyway, and people talk to me about things I will never share, as I keep secrets. I am jealous, of everything but, only because I am attached in a disorganised way, and working on that.(I won't even mention how man women or men don't know basic psychology of themselves). I also am a therapist , for my friends and family too.i should not be , but I am. I care, I listen, If you think I'm not listening, I'm still listening. sometimes I interrupt, because I have ADHD and I am horrible at resolute planning, or being "normal". but I don't want to be normal anyway. I need you to recognise and understand my shit, for that is what I do for everyone in my life, and I have helped more than I receive.

I'll probably accidentally give you therapy, but thats fine, because you will uncover your depths and find meaning in this. it's not something that goes bad unless you are fundamentally, evil, even the most abusive relationship I was in, was benefited from this process. yes he's still narcissistic, but he is self-aware. and did I benefit, never, just know the anatomy of self-proclaimed narc and I still can't hate him. will get my civil claim one day.

I will fuck your mind without meaning too. but thats because I fuck my own mind. but the meaning is made in the man- some find this highly offensive or personal (its not). I fuck minds by my own overthinking, or over perception on many levels of reality. so join the ride, or don't come along at all. because once the rollercoaster is in motion, I have no control of what may or may not happen. it's purely experimental.

I am experimental.

and the women who are judging me, are not any better.

look within, and shut the fuck up. self-improve and quit this jealous divide and conquer bitchiness. I HATE gossip, bitches, snitches and fakers.

I look to other women who are intellectually, physically and spiritually "individual". and find value in superior status to my own, which is something my narcissistic ex taught me.

I look for mentors, and teachers and people who will teach me how to improve myself, which I am fearful to reconnect after something is amazing and I can't give anything back of positive value. I am sorry I am working on that.

I won't devalue those below me, but I also need to be mutually benefiting from a relationship.

I dont drag people down, I may disappear if I feel I am doing this by mistake. I am flakey as fuck, and sorry for that. its anxiety and lack of perfectionism, so I am wrong and bad for this. I can change. will change.

if you can find value with my relation, personal professional or romantic, we can move into a symbiotic beneficial agreement based on mutual "terms". but many won't or cannot see this, nor do I impose my bullshit into the lives of randoms at this age.

I don't care if this is cruel, it's real.

I value loyalty, compassion, self-insight/awareness, someone who understands all parts-spirituality, metaphysics while still having intellectual & logical & analytical brain-sight.

I enjoy music, magick and learning new things.

I do not care about appearances I dont think ive dated based on one time. I do value connections and chemistry which is far-few between, I hate fakers. I smell insincerity miles away. but I do respect women who are well-presented, or beautiful, with hair beauty and makeup, I can't do this shit well, so I look up to those who are in professions who do it like art. I find them to be genius level queens who scare me.

I call out bad behaviour and make people uncomfortable if they are repressed. I will change you without even meaning too, I don't even need to date you. its just my presence, over time, amplified by the intensity of the dynamics.

I don't want simplicity, but I also don't need over complexity.

I value passion, independence, creativity, curiosity, problem-solving, deep-disscussions, shared adventures and some occasional risk-taking (lol), sensuality and sexuality for a common cause beyond physical pleasure. I like being taught but not micromanaged. I need my own independence, and need to be trusted with that. I hate being scolded for that like a child, or being pushed to change my ways to conform to societal values. which I will push back and refuse to do. which is not healthy. I don't adult like many others do, but I try to proceed in other ways. and learn to adult like normal people, accept me.

I also value myself, and how I can be celebrated, enhanced and improved vs. the opposite.

I give space, and have boundaries, and understand human psychology, sexuality and relationships in ways few others unless they are trained, can do.

I value MY time. so you can have space to value YOURS. I dont need to be in anyones pocket for a long time. I love being alone, and being around people who are stimulating, but draining people will be drained out of my life quicker than I intend. I am sorry for the people who felt I disappeared, when I was only trying to be 'fair', if I feel I'm a bad influence, I will work on myself until I'm not. I'm still working on it.

I also use this psychology awareness, to enhance communication, connection. you may or may not become an accidental guinea pig. I will be upfront that I am experimental, but that is part of the buy ticket and take the ride. lets work together. not apart.

I am coming from a place of love, and love is what I feel for my animals, which you will be adopting as children.which I want to stop experiments being done on. I love love, in all ways, but hate cruelty of animals and children, violence and suffering. I dont advocate justice, because I find life is fucking cruel, unfair and unjust. by default, so I focus on myself. what can be changed, and what I am able to do in my own locus on control. I will always find myself drawn to the outsiders, the misfits, the vagabonds, the misunderstood. I want to help people who are society, or socially, disadvantaged by trauma and mental illness, but only when I have ability to help myself.

it's a journey.

I will not date anyone who is cruel to animals, outside of specify magical sacrifice, there is not any place for that. nor will I date or fraternise with anything or anyone linked or associated with pedophilia. I won't judge anyone on anything that are outside animal cruelty and pedophilia. I don't and haven't. I keep on good terms with every ex, bar 1 whom I only apologised too this year. it felt good to do that. I change my behaviour.

I am open, but also highly attuned to both logical, factual, empirical , scientific worlds, and spiritual, intuitive, psychic and the "collective unconscious". I walk in both these realms, and I am "conventionally attractive". which puts a lot of pressure on me, to be "stupid". I am always dumbing myself down to fit into normality, but I look ridiculous if I do that so I peacock my intellect.

only to be misconceived.

I give up because I no longer care how anyone but MYSELF can see ME. I won't dumb myself down , but I can enhance you UP. prepare yourself for graded education, evolution and self-growth on mass scales.sorry not sorry.

that sucks for the people who want to be living vicariously through me, for making up to lost trauma years, for family who sold me out for the success I'd bring home, or fake trauma enmeshed friends, or whatever they want or need from me. I value my time and energy, and have given that in abundance, and if you want to be with nut only "one part of me that is alters". I can't provide that now. not sorry.

I have to work on something or not be in a dynamic at all.

I no longer can switch on demand to adapt for you, it will not be effective and that upsets a lot of people. especially now I'm sober. harder to handle this, as I see the world for its ways and why it is, more vividly. I haven't had alcohol for almost 2 months, although, I could drink, I haven't.

I can't do it, anymore. it, being, faking, my selves fronting to impress. I can't. I have no more left to give, and I'm expected by everyone to be a way I can't do it in the way they want.

I will go to another year long outpatient DBT, followed by 10 weeks of A-C-T therapy, and however many ECT OR TMS may or may not help. I'm told it won't (ect) work. but TMS, is something I am open too. but I am telling you, none of this psychotherapy, that will be based on dbt skills, day therapy, intensive skills training, recommencing my studying, and resuming "life worth living" will or can wipe the traumas I've "recovered" memories for.

I will also shut the fuck up, and tell nobody about this if you leave me alone, I told that to my family, and this is open letter to the watchers, stalkers and perps who read this openly as I track the hits on here and have 200+ visits a day every day for the last month. globally. no idea how or who you are but I think its the same people who called the police for the "ayreon song lyrics" seen to be a suicide not last October.

thanks for that wake up call, I have shut the fuck up, since December, more so now. I will burn the journals, or lock them up.

my recovery is not linear, not yet fully integrated and I trust nobody so I don't think my psychotherapy will be deep, I focus on things like ADHD AND my EDNOS. and dbt skills. I won't be talking about sexual traumas.

enjoy the update, and thanks for the "attention".

I have my goals, my work, my meaning and what my life should and could and will look like, but I will not share that with anyone. that means everyone right now.

I've been tested, traumatised and terrorised to the point of not-tolerant of anyone who may bring that back, and banish the fuck out of my sphere every moment I need.

take me as I am, or watch me as I go, which I will go, where I am not wanted I will remove myself, but I will find where I am celebrated because I create that.

I will rise up against all adversity every time but that is survival and that created a resilient and brave woman, in me. who will not be destroyed or decomposed by humans who are fundamentally fucking evil.

I gift you my truth, in progression, and give up the pain of the past.

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twixtandshout · 3 years

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Tagged by @pidgeonpostal! And not tagging anyone else because I have SOILED the original template (soiled it!!) in deference to my [brushes off skirt] mostly clean public-facing appearance.

...I’ve been making a lot of Spongebob memes lately for someone who has not seen Spongebob.

How many works do you have on AO3?

71!

What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

...306,834. Jesus.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Uh. Many! I do a lot of one-offs (and/or start long things I never finish) in many different places. My top three fandoms by fics written are RWBY (29), Undertale (25), Gravity Falls/Transcendence AU (4).

Bet you can’t tell where my hyperfixations have fallen.

I’ve also got some Pokémon and Sonic the Hedgehog fics back on my ff.net account, or I think I still do, anyway, but let’s never go back there pls

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Sweeter Than Honey (Undertale): Taking a Completely unsurprising first place, with over 600 more kudos than the runner-up, the haphazard Underswap fic featuring a post-college self-insert I wrote just after high school! I shake my head some at how overblown and ridiculous the gap between this and all my other stuff is (c’mon, guys, I’ve written way better fics), but this is also the fic which prompted me (and at least one other person!) to start using they/them pronouns. I’ve gotten a lot of really sweet comments about how seen and appreciated it’s made people feel, so I can’t get down too far about it.

2. To Be A Hero (BNHA): I don’t count myself as part of the BNHA fandom, for a number of reasons, but for something that’s arguably the main motivation for the entire plot, Midoriya’s quirklessness is something I’ve never thought has been handled well. This fic marked the first time I (somewhat tentatively) claimed the disability label (thanks again to Sweeter Than for prompting that realization) to hold that lens over canon. It also really shot up my chart, dang! It’s the only thing here I’d consider “recent.”

3. Three-Sentence Shipping (Undertale): Self-explanatory.

4. Brothers Beyond Bonedaries (Undertale): Ah, the way-overcomplicated AU³ I got nowhere close to finishing. One of the things I really like about Undertale is the interface screw, how Toby Fox uses the medium of the video game to pull off crazy things and enhance his game, but most of the fic written for the fandom seems dedicated to explaining it away, grounding it, rather than taking it to the next step and messing with the medium of fanfiction when you keep the story going. I tried to do something cool like that here, playing with questions like narrator and authorship and breaking the fourth wall, even taking the “final boss” fight to a “totally separate” fic reached through the first by link – but, well, then I never finished it, which probably didn’t make anything less confusing for the poor folks who missed the intent.

5. Spirit and Such (Gravity Falls: Transcendence AU): A whole fic written to line out a particular image I had, which, naturally, never made it to the page. I consider it a bit of a cautionary tale for myself when it comes to writing (near-)original content; there’s a lot I look back on and cringe. I still love the characters, though – well, the important ones – and I think just stepping away from the tried-and-true Mizar formula nets it a star sticker here.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

>w>; I try, but a lot of the time I just don’t have anything to say? Like, oh, you liked it? Neat. There’s not much to respond to in comments like that, and then I’m weighing falling down on an ~obligation~ to respond to every message in my inbox vs annoying people with copy-paste fluff responses all down the page. Plus I know I make more of an effort to comment on things that didn’t get the attention I feel they deserve, so if I’m driving up my own comment count with nonsense, am I preventing myself from being in a position to receive more comments later? And then if I do comment, am I being too effusive or running people’s ears off explaining things they don’t actually need to know? Sometimes people just want to express interest or admiration and don’t necessarily want a whole peek and guided tour behind the curtain.

Can you tell I have anxiety? x3;

Anyway, I do respond when I can. And I keep most of the comments I’ve gotten to go back and reread.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hm, hmm. Lots of stuff in the TQ Nonsense series would probably qualify! I’m thinking of Unfixable, Wolfsong, and Ethanol. And there’s Bursting Through A Blood-Red Sky (I Can Live, I Can Breathe), of course, but that was always intended to have a fix-it epilogue. It’s just that I wrote it in a couple of hours day-of, stared at it, and decided I didn’t wanna just then. But now that’s As Long As You’re Still Burning Bright (I’m Still Awake), and that’s probably the best romance I’ve written, so that one worked out.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Now and then! When the urge strikes. Uhhh, I’ve got a series of Doctor Who x Undertale crossovers I actually made a whole dang verse for that never made it to print. Get a couple great comments on that every few months or so. I think the World Trigger x Undertale crossover is probably weirder, though, by virtue of WT being a very small fandom. My enthusiasm kinda sputtered out on that one.

Mostly I just daydream crossovers with whatever happens to catch my eye at any given moment. I have a lot!!!! Though odds are out on whether I manage to remember any of them once the initial thought’s passed, lol.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Gotten a couple eyebrow-raising comments, but I think mostly I’m just too small a writer to draw that kind of attention.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t? think so? Think my tastes are a little niche for most people to bother ^^;

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had someone apologize once for any language mistakes in their comment cause they had to run it through a translator! That’s not what you asked (the answer is no), but it’s very flattering to think that someone liked my fic enough to read and comment despite the language barrier.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! :D @pidgeonpostal was gracious enough to agree to co-write Five Nights at Denny’s with me off an idea about shoes. This has fulfilled a long-held dream of mine (collabing with someone, not the shoes) and also introduced me to some lovely people.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Who has time for just one? ;3c Honestly, I care more about the characters and how the relationship – any relationship – between them changes them than I do about ~A Ship~ as a solid, bounded noun-object. I’ve got characters I like more and less and feelings about who does and doesn’t have chemistry in which directions with whom, but finding anything that agrees with those preferences is hard, harder when you take alloromanticism into account. I’ll play in any sandbox with cool toys, especially if other folks have already built sick sandcastles there.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

[kicks every single unfinished fic further under the bed] What nooo no WIPs here, everything on my account is either finished or does not exist

I’ve got a couple extra chapters of Sweeter Than floating around unposted, but 1. that fic’s a mess 2. high school Twixt and post-college Twixt are different people and trying to contort myself into three other me-shapes just cause people Like this fic is not something I’m super interested in 3. it’s headed for an emotional dip and I’d rather leave it where it is than post two chapters, stall out again, and leave folks with a bad end.

As for other fics... it’s looking more and more likely that v7 of my Yellow Brick Road AU will never actually make it out. >w>; I’ve got some really great ideas, but not enough to make me feel like I know what I’m doing, and that’s a big roadblock. Plus trying to engage with RT’s Atlas-Mantle worldbuilding in any serious capacity is... a headache. I can’t recommend the Happy Huntress Cinematic Universe enough, but it leaves some pretty big shoes to follow! And I’ve got small feet. <w<;

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue’s fun, probably as an extension of characterization. I love tearing into what makes people tick, especially against the backdrop of their environment, the story they’re in, and the people they’re up against. Voice is a double-edged sword; I’ve been told my writing is really recognizable and individual, but on the other hand, I’ve been growing frustrated with with the limits of my narrative ability. There’s a strong rhythm I keep when I write (you might notice it here, even) but that leaves me feeling predictable and stale. I’m not sure I’m great at setting as a matter of course, but I’m pretty good at describing setpieces where the need comes up; that comes from my background in poetry, as does the fun I have with sublimating and abstracting complex imagery. And I think I bring some needed nuance to the universal. For good or ill, I don’t do what “everyone else” is doing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Well, writing, for one thing. If I don’t know how something’s going to go and don’t have the urge to write it, it isn’t getting done, which means there’s a billion things that will never see the page and a few hundred more that are never getting finished. I lose momentum easily and have a hard time getting started, and I put way too much standing on finding a foothold with other people; as critical as I am of my work, I have high expectations for the stuff that passes muster, and it never seems to measure up. I’m also really uncreative. Yeah, I can mix up elements and extrapolate events, but coming up with things wholesale is really hard, which is why I avoid it wherever possible and steal/reskin stuff from other places instead.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Something along the lines of “Hoo boy, I am Not qualified for this but hopefully it’s decent anyway.” Maria’s Spanish lines haven’t been a big deal – I’ve used it sparingly and, as a Latin language, it should be easy for English-speaking audiences to pick up on the gist – but I’ve had a harder time with Tai’s Chinese, both because I have Even Less background there and because it is, of course, an entirely different language system. If I write it out in English or Romanized italics, am I colonizing it or changing the meaning? If I write it out in the presumed-original characters (presumed because it’s Google Translate and who knows if I’m even barking in the right forest), am I confusing or alienating my presumed-majority-English-speaking audience? Where should I put the translations? Should I put the translations? And for Frisk’s sign language, thinking back, are the brackets I used instead of quotes alienating/infantilizing? I like that different characters give the text between a different feel, but I’m not an ASL speaker – and I’m pretty sure the word is “speaker,” which would only reinforce that that demographic would rather I didn’t do that. It’s important for all these characters, I think, that they use non-English language where it makes sense; it’s part of who they are. But as a white monolingual English-speaker, I don’t think I can really weigh in.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Thaaaat’d be Pokémon, followed closely with Sonic the Hedgehog. Whether those fics are still on my ff.net account or not (pretty sure I’ve purged them, but you never know) I’ve still got a couple saved to a folder on my current laptop, ostensibly so I can look back and see how far I’ve come and more practically to allow for the possibility of furthering group cohesion through public shaming.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I still like the idea behind The Man Who Is Atlas, and Burning Bright (Still Awake) gets props for being my current fic, though it’s currently in that spot where I’m excited to get new chapters posted but also quietly marking everything up in red pen. I think Harbinger gets the crown here, at least for now.

#answerin' stuff

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4dorks-1windmage-1shadow · 4 years

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The Links as D&D Characters, Part 5: Shadow Link

Inspired by a question I saw on @hauntinghyrule ‘s blog. My character analysis and thoughts on what character class the boys would be if they were D&D characters, and why. Also! @atinybitweird has been drawing the boys D&D designs, and she’s doing really great! I’ll link to her posts on the individual analysis as well as reblog them here so look out for those : D

Green / Red / Blue / Vio / Vaati / FS Zelda

As a preface, there won’t be any doubles on classes except in the case of dual-classing, and in those cases the first class I talk about my justifications for will be the primary class (i.e. the class they would have chosen at level one). My choices will be based on the character theming and personalities, even though at a base level it would be easy to say “they’re all paladins, duh” because of the implied “holy knight chosen by the gods to eradicate evil” concept. For Shadow, there are plenty of shadowy-themed D&D subclasses to choose from. Kaenith mentioned Way of the Shadow Monk in his initial answer on his blog which is actually not a bad pick for him. However, I wouldn’t initially say that Monk is the class for Shadow, because he’s shown relying on magic much more than martial arts (like a Monk would) or even swordplay (like the other Links). He has a sword in the manga, but I think it’s mostly for show- a visual parallel to Link, who does use his sword to fight. This is just a small part of the big reason why I’ve chosen the particular classes and subclasses I have for Shadow, so lets look at the reason as a whole: Shadow’s origin, and how it ties well into the Sorcerer class.

The Four Swords manga and the Four Swords games don’t give us a lot of information about how Shadow Link was created (if he was born vs conjured like Dark Link) and also what exactly the Shadow Realm is. We never actually see the realm that Shadow came from (except for the Erune arc in the manga, and only a small town) so we have no idea if it is a true shadow version of Hyrule, like the Dark World/Lorule (if you believe they’re the same place) are. Furthermore we don’t see any evidence that there are others like Shadow Link, like we do with Lorule with Ravio being a parallel to Link and Hilda being a parallel to Princess Zelda. There’s nothing pointing to the idea that Shadow was born and raised the way a normal kid would be, and so the most logical conclusion canon-wise is that he was literally conjured from Link’s shadow. Magic would be weaved into every fiber of Shadow’s being, and we see this evidenced in the manga because he wields it naturally and easily against the Links. Sorcerers in D&D can be born as well as made, but the key thing that separates the magic sorcerers use from the magic used by wizards, bards, druids, clerics, and warlocks is that a sorcerers magic is innate, often carried through a bloodline or via transforming from the latent energy of a place. In this case, Shadow was literally made with the arcane magic he controls. Xanathar’s Guide to Everything introduced a Sorcerous Origin called Shadow Magic where the arcane magic is sourced from the Shadowfell (i.e. Shadow Realm for authenticity to Zelda), either through being exposed to and transformed by the energy of the place or from being descended from a denizen; neither of these situations are applicable to Shadow BUT I think being created from the source magic should and does count. The majority of Sorcerer abilities come from their Sorcerous Origin, but there are two features that all sorcerers regardless of origin gain that I think fit Shadow based on his story in the manga. Font of Magic and Metamagic can be linked to the Dark Mirror being Shadow’s source of life and magical power because of the abilities that Shadow is able to display while being linked to it. Font of Magic gives Shadow access to Sorcery Points, which he can spend to create new spell slots, or sacrifice spell slots to gain more sorcery points which effectively translates to giving himself more power to wield in battle. Metamagic lets him twist the magic of his spells to suit his own needs, using sorcery points to do so. It can let him double the range of spells, double the spells’ duration, potentially do more damage on a hit and target more than one opponent with a ranged spell that normally only targets one creature. I’m choosing to translate this as him getting a boost in power and flexibility that he normally wouldn’t have without the power of the Dark Mirror (though depending on your interpretation of post-manga shenanigans he could have these abilities anyway because of whatever method brought him back allowed him to have them). Back to Shadow Magic though. Thematically it makes the most sense: Shadow Link is created from shadow magic and thus is a Shadow Magic Sorcerer. But the abilities here are what we want to look at to see if it really fits. At 1st level, Shadow Magic gives Shadow a darkvision range of 120 feet, and the Strength of the Grave ability means he can charm his way out of death. That’s not entirely accurate- the actual text says he can take a Charisma saving throw and attempt to equal or exceed a target number equal to 5 + [amount of damage taken], and drop to 1 hit point instead of 0 if he succeeds. I think this makes sense- if he’s a shadow, he’d be able to slip out of battle or narrowly avoid life-threatening attacks just by the art of deception; this isn’t necessarily supported by the Sorcerer class itself, but if you mix the game canon into the manga canon, Shadow can technically clone himself and use those copies to his advantage. At 3rd level, he learns the Darkness spell without it counting against the amount of spells he knows, and he can cast it with either sorcery points or a spell slot (he can see through the effected area of the spell if he casts it using sorcery points). At 6th level, he can spend sorcery points to summon a shadow creature that effectively acts like an attack dog, which he can sic on a creature within 120 feet of him. Shadow is shown leading an army of monsters in the manga, so the Hound of Ill Omen feature actually lends itself well to that image- maybe one of the creatures he used to attack Hyrule Castle was his magically summoned shadow hound. It isn’t that far-fetched of an assumption to make. Shadow Walk lets him teleport through darkness and dim light up to a distance of 120 feet, which is an ability he already portrays in the manga and in the games. The only Shadow Magic ability he doesn’t get to benefit from is Umbral Form, and that’s because I want to call a parallel to Link that I think is fitting for Shadow’s role as his foil in the story. Shadow is not a copy of Link- I don’t want anyone to get confused by what I’m saying. However, he is still Link’s shadow, the reflection of everything Link could have become if he wasn’t the hero, didn’t grow up with all the people around him who loved him and supported him. Shadow’s main motivation in the story is loneliness and the desire to be recognized, but who is going to recognize him if he doesn’t make himself recognizable? I talked at length in my analysis of Green’s class about how Paladins take oaths that serve as pillars for their conduct and core beliefs as paladins, but what happens if you don’t have any of those beliefs or you did have them but chose to cast them away? In the Dungeon Master’s Guide, it describes a class option for Paladins called the Oathbreaker: essentially a paladin who has abandoned or broke their sacred oaths. Shadow probably never had any oaths to begin with, but he wanted to be recognized the way Link was, and so I think he chose to take the mantle of Paladin without really understanding what makes Link (Green) a true Paladin. He has to take at least 3 levels in Paladin to subclass as Oathbreaker, and that unlocks light and medium armor, shields and all weapons for him to use in combat. It also unlocks spells like Hellish Rebuke, Inflict Wounds, and if he takes up to 5th level in Paladin, the Crown of Madness spell. He still gets all of the normal Paladin abilities, but his Channel Divinity options are kind of the opposite of Green’s: He can control undead creatures with it, or use Dreadful Aspect to create an aura of fear around himself with a radius of up to 30 feet. Depending on how you look at the option of Shadow being redeemable, there is an option for Oathbreaker Paladins to “atone” for their evil actions as an Oathbreaker. They lose the Oathbreaker features and gain the features of a Sacred Oath, and I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to his character journey than him becoming an Oath of Vengeance Paladin from the Player’s Handbook. It lets him fill a different niche of paladin than Green does, and takes his character into account in regards to the Tenets of Vengeance: Fight the Greater Evil (Faced with a choice of fighting my sworn foes or combating a lesser evil, I choose the greater evil). No Mercy for the Wicked (Ordinary foes might win my mercy, but my sworn enemies do not.) By Any Means Necessary (My qualms can’t get in the way of exterminating my foes) Restitution (If my foes wreak ruin on the world, it is because I failed to stop them. I must help those harmed by their misdeeds) Taking Oath of Vengeance in this way would replace Hellish Rebuke, Inflict Wounds and Crown of Madness with Bane, Hunter’s Mark, Hold Person and Misty Step, and the Channel Divinity features include Abjure Enemy (inflicting fear on a targeted creature) and Vow of Enmity (basically pointing at an enemy and saying “I choose you” and then he gets to attack them with advantage for a minute [10 rounds of combat]). In conclusion, Shadow ends up as a dual-classed Shadow Magic Sorcerer/Oathbreaker Paladin (later changing to Oath of Vengeance Paladin to account for character growth).

#I like the fact that paladin has the option to go apeshit and evil #and likewise change from evil and apeshit to following some sort of moral code #none of the other classes have that distinction #i mean i GUESS you could change your wizard school if you thought that Divination wasn't working for you but you'd like to try Illusion b/c #that's basically the equivalent of changing your major #but you couldn't do that with sorcerer #i think it would only work if you and your dm really hashed out WHY said character would make such a huge choice to switch patrons or gods #or fighter types or whatever else #but with paladin there are actual rules #sorry im gay for dungeons and dragons #four swords #shadow link #character analysis #dungeons and dragons

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toaarcan · 5 years

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Scourge the Hedgehog: The Bad Fanfic Apotheosis

Y’all are gonna hate me for this one.

This is something of a followup to my previous post, Fiona Fox: Depth vs. Prominence, and inspired directly by the discussion I had with a friend in the comments section of the DA upload of it.

Part 1: Fanfic vs. Canon- Genesis of the Recolour Elements of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic have long been compared to a bad fanfiction, particularly the parts of the story written by Ken Penders, though other writers like Bollers, Chacon, and Flynn have drawn that label too. I'm one of the people that's done it, and that's largely because I hold fanfic and official material to very different standards. There are certain things you can do in fanfic that you can't do in official material, especially with franchises like Sonic, and especially with more niche parts of said franchise, like a comic series. Of course, there are also certain things you can do in both, but you probably shouldn't. And Scourge is one of them. What exactly the process behind Scourge's creation was is something that's been debated. For a lot of people, he's considered to be a parody of the then-rampant "Sonic Recolour" fad, wherein fans would take screenshots of Sonic X, and other official artwork, and then edit it in Microsoft Paint, or another similar program, to create their own characters and stories. Now, this was long decried by other fans, myself included, as incredibly lacking in creativity and originality. It also had an "Ew, cringe" reaction, due to the often-shoddy editing, text-to-speech voices, and usually some top-tier mid-2000s Nu Metal for the music. These days, it's much easier to look back and say "These were mostly made by kids who were just having fun, and it's completely harmless", and it becomes apparent that a lot of the people that were making fun of them and criticising them were grown men, at which point you kinda realise that this "internet fad" was basically just bullying a bunch of children for not being up to the creative standards of some adults. Everybody was looking for the next Chris-Chan, but Chris-Chan is a near-unique entity, as only one other person alive has ever managed to combine that sheer void of talent with a monumentally repulsive personality, and that person is Ken Penders. But Sonichu is the least interesting thing about Chris, and Chris became the laughingstock that he is because of his inability to avoid posting his entire life on the Internet, which was something of a rarity in those halcyon days before the rise of modern social media. Sonichu was a gateway to the actually interesting content also on his channels, whereas these recolour-creators didn't have anything like that, just endless Windows Movie Maker slideshows. And, like, Chris was in his 20s when he became the Internet's punching bag for the first time, and while he's a horrible person, so were the people that dedicated their time and effort to trolling him- His story is fascinating, but it has no heroes. And into this collective cocktail of grown men shitting on preteens, so Ian Flynn introduced Scourge the Hedgehog. Is Scourge a parody of Sonic recolours? I sincerely hope not. The reason for that is twofold, and I'll discuss how his portrayal generally doesn't seem to be mocking those tropes further down the page, but the second issue with the idea that he is a parody is best explained by Sir Terry.

Parody can never punch down, and as a then-24 year old man writing official canon for a franchise, mocking a bunch of 10 year olds on the Internet for making bad stories would definitely be punching down. And, as I said, nothing about the way Scourge is written is in any way poking fun at the tropes of these fancharacters and stories. It's pretty much all played completely straight. So not only do I hope Ian wasn't trying to mock these fancharacters, but there's also little reason to believe that he actually was. He's not a parody, he is a send-up. And on the one hand, it's kinda nice to throw a bone to those kids. But on the other hand... is Scourge really the character you want to represent your part of the fandom in official material? A cruel, violent, abusive, vicious monster that spends his time palling around with a girlfriend that the writer reforged to be the most unlikable character in the entire comic? Yeah, can't say that's what I'd want if I were one of those people, but he seems to be popular enough, so maybe I'm in the minority there. But now we get to the meat of the problem. You see, the way Scourge is written is one of those things that you can do in fanfic, but you shouldn't do in canon. Part 2: What is a Mary-Sue? The term "Mary-Sue" gets thrown around a lot these days. It's gradually lost all meaning, and has slowly become a term for "Female character that I don't like," mainly used by whiny, easily-offended Broflake Youtubers, who get all pissy that Star Wars films aren't specifically catering to them, to the point that you only have to make a girl be good at something in a movie and these pissbabies lose their shit. I liked Episode VII and VIII more than I, II, or VI, get fucked. But what, then, is a Mary-Sue? And why is it relevant to Scourge? The answer to that first question is a lot more complicated than it might seem. Not just because there are now several different varieties of the trope, but also because the trope itself evolved as it began to be applied to non-fanworks, and additionally because the name itself is somewhat non-indicative. A male Mary-Sue can exist, though these are normally referred to as "Marty-Stue" or "Gary-Stue", or more cynically "The Protagonist". Check out the average Batman comic these days and you'll see what I mean. Originally, the term applied only to a self-insert character in a fanfic, that was an overly-idealised version of the author, dramatically overpowered, hugely popular, normally dating whichever member of the cast the author wanted to bone, or sometimes multiple partners at the same time, along with a few other traits. It's actually pre-Internet term, originating in a Star Trek fanzine when "Mary-Sue" was created as a parody of other fans' similar characters. Over time, the trope evolved to the point that, while the "author avatar" feature is still a pretty big indicator, it's not really necessary. So while there are probably plenty of people out there who want to be Batman, not every character that is a Mary-Sue is someone for the author to project themselves onto, and not every author avatar is a Mary-Sue. Generally, the important features of a Mary-Sue are now: 1) Receives a great deal of favouritism from the author 2) More powerful than the rest of the cast, often to the point of absurdity 3) Faces zero consequences for their actions. 4) Liked by characters that have no reason to do so 5) In a relationship with a character that has no reason to date them, previous relationships be damned. 6) Most importantly, the story will bend over backwards to give them easy wins, even in situations where they logically should struggle. You're probably starting to get where I'm going with this, and if you're not... Part 3: Creator's Pet Scourge is a Creator's Pet. He gets shown a fair bit of favouritism from Ian Flynn, primarily the guise of how much focus he gets. Scourge is the most prolific villain in Ian's run, aside from Eggman himself. While other, better villains like Mogul and Naugus were being imprisoned repeatedly until one retired and the other became a dog, and a huge chunk of the comic's remaining antagonists were being subsumed into the Eggman Empire, Scourge was only moving up, not only being the villain of Ian's first two issues on the book, but continuing to make sporadic appearances for the next twenty issues, before appearing as the new leader of the Destructix under Finitevus in the Enerjak Reborn arc, followed swiftly by a stint as the Big Bad in Bold New Moebius. Does he actually deserve this level of importance? You be the judge, but personally, I don't think so. Even within those stories, Scourge gets special treatment, the biggest and most obvious being Metal Scourge. Now, personally, I think Metal Scourge was a better character than Scourge himself, but the fact that, of all people, Scourge got a Metal counterpart before anyone else, including Knuckles, who had such a counterpart in the games for over a decade by that point. Especially since, well... Metal and Mettle is a fun story, but it doesn't really do anything for Bold New Moebius as a whole, does it? It's basically pure filler, only really serving to add another dead Metal Sonic to Ian's list and stall the plot out for a bit longer. And, of course, the most clear indicator of Scourge's favouritism is that he was he first Archie character to receive his own Sonic Universe arc, and the only one to do so without needing two or three SEGA characters also making up the rest of the lead cast. "Lockdown" isn't a particularly good story, but its existence speaks to not just the insane popularity that such an unworthy character received, but also Archie's willingness to indulge that. Sonic Universe was largely intended to tell stories revolving around the members of the SEGA cast that, for whatever reason, weren't able to regularly appear in the main book. This... frequently got broken, with Sonic, Tails, Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, and Amy all taking centre-stage in the book before obvious candidates like the Chaotix got a look in, some of them twice over, but Scourge was the only time they were willing to try a story based entirely around one of their characters, and they gave it to the already extremely prominent Scourge. It's pretty clear that Ian loved using this character, and did so as much as possible. YMMV on whether that's good or not. Part 4: Scourge OP plz nerf Let's be real, he's overpowered as fuck. Now, overpowered characters aren't necessarily bad, but it's significantly harder to write an OP character than an on-average one, and Scourge didn't work out so well. From the moment he turns green, he's basically unstoppable. The one time he actually seems to remotely struggle is actually in 161, where he looks ever-so-slightly winded after curbstomping Sonic and Shadow at the same time. From then on, while he does start to slowly even out with Sonic, he also continues to utterly demolish basically everyone else, especially his easy conquest of Moebius. It's been suggested that conquering Moebius should be easy, because the big threats are all good, kind people there, but that somewhat ignores that there are anti-versions of the heroes kicking about too. All the (Mostly) benevolent rulers of the Primeverse should be tyrannical despots there, and there are excessively powerful entities like the Anti-versions of Merlin and the Guardians, not to mention whatever horrors Anti-Gerald would've unleashed on the world, and that's without the Suppression Squad themselves. While the comic has generally treated Sonic as being able to stomp the entire rest of the FF, well, who says it has to be a fight? Why the fuck doesn't Patch just poison him? I mean, the obvious answer is "Because then Bold New Moebius won't have a main villain", and sometimes contractual villain immortality has to be a thing, but a good writer should be able to avoid putting the characters in that position. Following on from that, Scourge gets to fight basically the entire FF and Suppression Squad at the same time, (Sonic and Amy are absent and Fiona is on his side), and he's winning until Sonic shows up. Then directly after that is the hedgehog brawl, and despite Sonic managing to get everyone against Scourge, he easily manages to escape and break out his Super form. Even after spending his time in the No-Zone completely powerless, Scourge manages to break out the moment he gets his powers back, despite the prison being full of characters who should be equally or more powerful than him, and the police force that caught them all, basically unchallenged. Scourge never faces an actual challenge in the comic. He never struggles, and the one time he actually loses? Ian makes up some new lore on the spot, which is contradictory to SEGA lore from the same year, and then uses that to have Sonic trick Scourge into depowering himself. Not only does Scourge never struggle with anything, but he also never actually loses a fight. Part 5: When will you learn, that your actions have consequences?! Probably never, because Scourge's actions never have consequences. Throughout his entire run, Scourge gets to go wherever he wants, do what he wants, with or to whomever he wants, and he never has to deal with the fallout of the decisions he makes. Absorbs the energy of a matter world into his antimatter body? He's better than fine, it only made him stronger. Turns up in Knothole with his secret girlfriend's hated arch rival by his side? Never mentioned again. Blows Fiona's connection to him, costing Finitevus' operation a potential spy in Knothole, where Knuckles is? Not even considered a factor. Ditches Finitevus to go and make Moebius into an egopolis? Finitevus isn't bothered, and supports Fiona's efforts to rescue him later down the line after than plan backfired on him. Blinds Patch in one eye out of jealousy/spite? The guy that poisoned Armand and Max, took a torch to Antoine's personal life, took advantage of Sally's frayed mental state, emotionally damaged Bunnie, and tried to assassinate Elias to get what he wanted lets him get away with it. Openly announces that he's going to destroy both worlds? Conveniently does it when he's alone with Sonic so nobody can tell Fiona what she's letting herself in for. He eventually does get sent to jail, but he breaks out with ease the next time he turns up. Because, y'know, that's just what we want to see. Villains never having to deal with karma. Part 6: What does anyone see in him? Scourge doesn't quite get the "everyone loves him" treatment, but he still gets a whole lot more respect than he's ever earned. Both Sonic and Zobotnik are portrayed arbitrarily deciding that maybe there's a shred of good in this monster, and this is the part where I stress that he's abusive again. Maybe if I repeat that enough it'll sink in. Despite knowing full-well the sort of person Scourge is, Sonic's response to Scourge's crappy cribbing of the "One Bad Day" speech is to try and turn it around and claim that Scourge only needs a tiny bit of decency to be a good person, and this is outright untrue, and given what we see of Scourge later, I'm frankly disgusted that Ian tried to pull this with a character he'll pretty much unambiguously portray as an abuser. Zobotnik's case is even more baffling. We're introduced to the guy in the Lockdown arc, and it's implied that he's effectively a tyrannical warden, ruling over the No-Zone with an iron fist, taking an almost sadistic delight in punishing the inmates. But yet, for whatever reason, he decides that it's a good idea to try and rehabilitate Scourge, for no adequately established reason. Even on the other side of the morality line, we have Finitevus, who apparently respects Scourge enough to not just make him leader of the Destructix during the Enerjak Reborn arc, despite him very clearly not being a leader, and not being liked by any of his comrades except Fiona, but then when he promptly ditches the whole plan toward the end, Finitevus apparently decides that he not only wants to get him back, but is willing to go to great lengths and risk losing the only team of mercenaries dumb enough to work for a guy who is quite open about his intentions to "purify the world with Chaos fire" in order to do it. And speaking of, the most egregious case of this comes again in Lockdown, where the Destructix all end up siding with Scourge. Across the second half of the arc, Scourge learns his new team's backstories, and despite them clearly showing traits and beliefs that should make them respect him less, this somehow works in his favour, and he manages to wrest leadership of the team from Fiona. Especially galling is that it appears that Fiona loses their respect early on because of her faith in Scourge, who to them, looks pathetic, but then they end up supporting him anyway, despite doing nothing to earn it. But wait, one's missing... Looks like it's that time again. Part 7: Oh right, he's an abuser. It's time to talk about Fiona. Fiona's heel turn is really, really effective at selling you on the idea that Fiona is a vile, cruel, and selfish person. It's a dramatic, "big bang" moment that, in basically a single panel, got an entire fandom to hate a character. Now for some it was more of a "Love to hate" thing, but there are plenty of people out there who just really hate Fiona for this single moment. And when you're introducing a new major villain, maybe that's what you want to accomplish. What it doesn't do, however, is sell you on her motives for taking that course of action. Fiona, for the rest of her existence, mainly antagonises Sally, whom she has no worthwhile connection to on either side of her turn, other than being the evil Sally to Scourge's Evil Sonic, and stands around or clings to Scourge's arm, looking smug about her abusive relationship. And yes, it is abusive, verbal abuse is still abuse, and the implications that he's physically abusive are present too. I know this is something that Scourge's fans don't really want to accept, but it's true, and we're going to get into that later. For now, what matters is that this character's run as a villain mainly consists of: Fiona: "Hey Sugar-Queen, look at how much my boyfriend yells at me and insults me, and probably beats me when he's angry. I make smart decisions and you suck." We never come to understand why this character, who is so motivated by her belief that everyone will eventually double-cross her that she has decided to start lashing out at people before they can turn on her, is willing to put her faith 100% in someone so repeatedly deceptive that he first approached her by pretending to be someone else. Like, in terms of bad first impressions, that's up there with arriving at a job interview in full clown regalia. The comic makes no effort to show why these characters like each other. Scourge allegedly likes her because she chooses to turn evil and join him, rather than being born evil, but this clashes with not only the fact that Fiona is a genuinely good person before this, who makes a solid effort to stay loyal to her friends first, and is lured into villainy by him, but also the fact that she blames everyone but herself for her current situation, but especially with the fact that all of the foreshadowing for Fiona turning evil consists of people not trusting her because she has a shady history. Scourge claims to appreciate that Fiona is a good person that chooses to be evil, but the narrative has a clear message of "If you started evil, it doesn't matter if you try to become good, you will always revert to type." Which isn't exactly a good message, Ian. In return, all we get from Fiona's side is that Scourge "has no expectations of her and just wants to have fun", which clashes entirely with how we see them interact in subsequent arcs, where Fiona frequently looks disturbed or apprehensive, or just bored, while Scourge yells at her and threatens her for not meeting his standards. Seriously, why do people ship this? But okay, okay. Scourge is a good liar, and Fiona's established paranoia and history do make her vulnerable to manipulators like him, so maybe she falls for his lies and gets taken for a ride. That could happen, sure. Doesn't really explain why she becomes a horrendous person all of a sudden, but whatever. Maybe he convinced her to do it as a sort of hazing, and a means of ensuring she couldn't go back. That fits with his abusive nature (You might also notice that this the explanation I used in Revival). But why does she stay? And why does she refuse every out she's given? Why, after everything that pulled her to his side has turned out to be bullshit, does she remain devoted to him? Now, you can argue that due to the abuse and the manipulation she's suffered, she believes she has to stay with him, and that's a fair shout, but her appearance in Journey to the East is kind of a stumbling block for that theory, because we're shown a Fiona who is fully capable of functioning without him, and even after making efforts to establish herself... the next time we see her she's gone back for him. And now... well, it's time to talk about that "A" word I've been bringing up a lot in this section. Scourge is abusive. I've frequently referenced that he verbally abuses Fiona every time she displeases him across the book, but the most telling scene is this one from Issue 190.

"You do not want to be sent back with me." Translation: "If I get sent back, and you're sent back too, I'm going to beat the shit out of you." Fiona (With her invisible left arm) isn't excluded from this threat. Fiona isn't surprised by this threat either. Nor does she not take the threat seriously. She looks like she's expecting to be struck. He beats her. And please, nobody say that "he's just angry", that's apologism. Now, I dunno if this was in the script, or if Fiona's face was something Yardley did on his own, but given that this arc ends with Super Scourge announcing his intention to destroy both Mobius and Moebius, simply because he can, regardless of the collateral, I'm willing to bet that this relationship wasn't a happy, stable one. But, unfortunately, this element was never made clear enough. Now, your mileage may vary on whether you think Sonic the Hedgehog comics are the appropriate place to discuss abusive relationships or not, but we've got one now, and Ian dropped the ball. This wasn't a Joker/Harley, where the pairing was clearly abusive but also sold DC/Warner millions of dollars worth of merch, this wasn't a RWBY, where Adam took three years to show up and had already won a huge number of fans from his admittedly cool design and powers, so people already liked him before they even knew what his personality was like. Ian had full control over this, no merch to worry about, and Scourge's prolific appearances gave him plenty of opportunity to make it clear that this was an ugly, repulsive thing that Fiona needed to get out of ASAP. And he didn't. Because panels like this, and all the yelling, clearly weren't enough for the fandom. No, you point this detail out to them and they'll make excuses, try to pretend it didn't happen, or just get offended, or worst of all, outright say they don't care and still ship it. We have fanartists who became real official artists creating stories where this garbage-fire pairing is used for sad feels, not because Fiona got stuck in a relationship with a controlling, violent monster, but because oh no they really loved each other and now Fiona's dead isn't it tragic don't you feel sorry for Scourge? No. No I don't. I feel sorry for the thousands of teenagers who support an abusive relationship because Ian was too cowardly to make it clear that the relationship in question was just that. Now, do I think that Ian is an intentional abuse apologist? No. Do I think he wimped out of taking the necessary steps to make it clear that this was bad because he didn't want people to dislike his shitty pet villain? Oh yeah, I do. Scourge's reputation was more important to Flynn than appropriately and sensitively portraying a destructive, damaging relationship between a woman and her monstrous partner. Well, I say "Woman", let's not forget that Fiona was meant to be sixteen, and realistically if you take her timeline into account she's more likely to be about fourteen. Real fucking classy. Part 8: Effort? What effort? So, now we get to our final criteria. And frankly, it's the easiest one to cover. From the moment, Scourge turns green, his life becomes a cakewalk. Everything he ever wants is handed to him with zero actual struggle on his part. Wants to be stronger than Sonic? He is. Zero side-effects to using a Chaos energy form from a mirror universe, or having a Super transformation interrupted, he just seemingly gets to be half-Super forever. Wants another leg-up on Sonic? Here's Fiona, sans personality. Sonic says he's just a lame ripoff of himself? He conquered a planet in a week, look at how cool he is. Also his team all roll over and make him their leader even though they hate him and they could easily kill him. He gets to walk through the entire FF/Squad teamup, and the Hedgehog teamup, and then when he gets to the No-Zone, Zobotnik, who has kept far smarter and more dangerous characters locked up for decades arbitrarily decides to reform him and gets completely suckered by him. The Destructix fully throw in with him, despite him never actually earning their respect. He never loses a fight where he wasn't depowered first. You know what the irony of this is? Ian has a character whom he is contractually obligated to never have lose for longer than an issue or two. And honestly, he wasn't awful at disguising that. Sonic gets a few wins that feel too easy, but for the most part, the issues with this rule mainly manifest in Sonic's limp responses to the tragedies happening around him, and a sprinkling of minor failures and pyrrhic victories ensure that the rule looks more like shoddy writing in a few places unless you're explicitly told about it. And even then, he still manages to make it look like Sonic struggles to attain those victories, that he has to actually put his back into it every time. He is challenged. Scourge isn't allowed to be challenged. That's the irony. Ian has a protagonist who he is not allowed to have lose, and Sonic still manages to be avoid looking like a boring invincible hero, while Scourge just never faces anything that can actually pose a threat to him. Powerful opponents crumple before him. Characters' personalities and development shift to suit his needs. The plot warps to benefit him. Because heaven forbid Scourge actually have to work for his wins. Who needs stakes when you can have the writer on your side! Part 9: In summation... I think you should've all twigged where this is going by now, so let's wrap up. 1) Does Scourge receive a great deal of favouritism from the author? Yes. 2) Is Scourge more powerful than the rest of the cast, often to the point of absurdity? Yes. 3) Does Scourge face zero consequences for his actions? Yes. 4) Is Scourge liked or respected by characters that have no reason to do so? Yes. 5) Is Scourge in a relationship with a character that has no reason to date him? Yes. 6) Most importantly, does the story will bend over backwards to give Scourge easy wins, even in situations where he logically should struggle? Yes. According to these criteria, Scourge the Hedgehog is almost a textbook example of a Mary-Sue. Which is probably why something as disgusting as him got away with so much. I guess, then, that his role in Revival, and a lot of the stuff before that, is the unfortunate reality of a Mary-Sue who suddenly has to deal with the fact that they're no longer getting that special treatment from the writer. That now their actions have consequences, that now the universe doesn't shape itself to their desires.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic #Ian Flynn #Scourge the Hedgehog #Fiona Fox #Evil Sonic #Critical #CW: Abuse #TW: Abuse

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discospinach · 5 years

Text

Mighty Nein Live Action Cast

Cause what the fuck else am I gonna do at 4am.

Alright fuck it. These are some choices I've made for what actxs I've chosen to represent the Mighty Nein. This is just for shits and giggles, and I'd love to hear some more ideas from other people.

Caleb - Daniel Brühl

I've chosen this picture because of the facial hair. I think it's perfect for Caleb. Brühl has almost everything I want. Ability to use a thick German accent, capable of praying more thoughtful low key characters, and solid general facial construction. The one thing I'm missing is the red hair, but that's an easy change. Plus finding a different suitable German actor who also has red hair wasn't super easy. I'm not trying /super/ hard here.

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Nott - Pixie Davies

I had a lot of... choices... to make here. I'm not incredibly familiar with child performers, so I just had to look at lists. My first immediate assumption was Millie Bobby Brown, but I think I'll save her for Twiggy, if I ever do a side character version of this post. I considered also just using very short adults, but it was difficult to find anything under 5 feet. I really wanted to hit that 3-4 foot mark, and I think it's insulting to just exclude child performers. I couldn't find Pixie's exact height, and I felt kinda gross looking for it. This was just an odd experience. Anyways, I watched a couple interviews. She's pretty well spoken, and seemed to be able to joke around enough. I only hope she'd be comfortable cursing and portraying an alcoholic.

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Beau - Karen Fukuhara

This was hands down the most research I did. Trying to find Asian actresses that a) had martial arts training, b) spoke English, c) were in their mid-late 20s, and d) had a relatively similar skin tone to Beau want easy. Karen fits all of these, other than being born in Los Angeles, and I think it'd be silly to be that elitist. She also seems to be a little paler in every other photo besides this one. As a side note, I had another really solid choice, Rina Takeda, who also fit all of these except one. I could not find any records of her speaking English. No interviews, no imdb, no Wikipedia. I thought she at least deserved an honorable mention.

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Fjord - Idrissa (Idris) Elba

Did you know his first name was actually Idrissa? I didn't. I don't know if this is the case for him, but I really despise when people are forced to "Americanize" their names for Hollywood. Or any reason I guess, if there are other reasons. Anyways, holy shit I love this man, although this role almost went to Daniel Kaluuya, who's another actor I love. The main reason I chose Idrissa though is the accents. According to articles on the internet he's an incredible accent actor. I wouldn't know, I don't actually watch a bunch of movies hahahaaa.... Considering he's playing a character with *spoilies* two accents, I think that's incredibly important. He's also buff as fuck, and has solid facial construction for the role. My only issue with this pick is his height. He's 6'2". I wanted him around 5'11", since Daniel Brühl is only 5'9", and the actress I chose for Yasha is only 6'. I don't think Fjord should be taller than Yasha, but I also think the performance is more important, so here we are. To be fairly honest I could've looked harder for someone who fits that description, but did I mention how much I love him?

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Jester - Nikolina Dobreva (Nina Dobrev)

Yay another case of Americanization. I chose her because she's Bulgarian, and I find Jester's accent closely related to Bulgarian, or maybe Slovenian accents. Now just because she's Bulgarian doesn't mean she can do the accent, I don't actually know if she can. Searching up "actresses that can do Bulgarian accents" is pretty niche, ya know? I decided it'd be better to just shoot for national accuracy, and hope for the best. Also, she's pretty funny. She's 5'7", so she matches up pretty well with the other choices. She also has a solid face for the character, and in this specific picture has Jester-esque hair. Cool? Cool.

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Yasha - Claudia Katz Minnick

While for the most part I've been looking for people who match nationalities, I couldn't reeeeeally do that here? I prioritized height and face over nationality. I mean I'm sure I /could've/ pulled it off, but again, I'm not trying super hard. That being said, if there's any of these choices I'd say could benefit the most from a second look, it's this one.

Pardoning that intro, I actually love this choice. She's 6', and it's pretty difficult to find actresses past that. I strongly considered Gwendoline Christie, but she doesn't really have the sharp jaw that Yasha has. I think with some more muscle, Claudia can pull off the visual easily.

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Caduceus - Jeff Goldblum

This might've been my favorite character to do this for. Searching for male actors above like 6'4" is NOT hard. I had a lot of options. I considered Jason Momoa. I thought Joe Manganiello would be funny because /critical role/. I thought Dwayne Johnson would've been HILARIOUS. However, I needed someone who was way skinnier than that. Eventually it came down to Armie Hammer vs. Alexander Skarsgård. I ended up going with Armie Hammer because he had an easier time pulling off Cad's deep voice. It was only then that the holy light of the Blum shown upon me.

If the pure memeage of having Jeff Goldblum playing Caduceus isn't enough to sell you, I'll give some more details. He's 6'4", which is two inches taller than the next tallest on this list at 6'2". He's lanky as all fuck. He's got the perfect personality to play such a casual weirdo. His voice is also perfect for the role. Good enough?

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Lastly:

Molly - Colin Farrell

Seriously why the fuck would I not choose Colin Farrell.

#mighty nein #the mighty nein #critical role #critters #nott the brave #caleb widogast #beauregard #fjord #yasha #jester lavorre #cr mollymauk #mollymauk the tiefling #mollymauk cosplay #m9

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fortunatelylori · 5 years

Note

1) I’ve been really enjoying all the anons and your responses on the potential kidnapping of Sansa. I’d like to add something else that may be significant. There is one scene in the dragonpit, when Jon stares for a long, long time at Pod and Bronn that really struck me. Jon seems really suspicious, and on the walk to the dragon pit, he could have been in earshot of Bronn telling Tyrion he was okay with setting up the meeting because he was bringing two traitors heads to Cersei.

2) I’m wondering if this means something for season 8. I don’t know whether Jon will no longer trust Brienne and Pod to guard Sansa because he saw Pod with Bronn or whether Bronn will manage to get important Winterfell intel from Pod during their drink. Kit had joked that Jon doesn’t like Brienne. Could Jon move Sansa somewhere or even fake kidnap her away like Bael the Bard and put her in danger accidentally?

3) Also, I’m not sure how all this plays out with the broken tower scene that I’m sure is coming as Rose of Red Lake and others have speculated. I think the broken tower scene will fulfill the HOTU prophesy “From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire.” I also think the description of Sansa turning into a wolf with bat wings (similar to dragon wings) is foreshadowing something going down at the broken tower with a dragon.

4) Finally, I really hope and I see some signs of it in the show that Cersei and Sansa may come to a grudging respect at the end, although I still think Cersei will die. If Cersei loses her baby, Sansa will be the last “child” she semi-raised left to her. The show has given some little indications that Cersei likes or at least hates Sansa less than anyone outside her family. For example, Shae says this at the Blackwater. I would love to know what you think. Thanks for your great posts.

Hey, nonnie!

This kidnapping plot has really taken over my blog. lol Not that I’m complaining, mind you. It seems I have found my niche! :)))))

I have to say I didn’t notice this particular visual cue of Jon looking at Pod and Bronn suspiciously. I always assumed that for one, Jon is trying to figure out how Brienne and Pod got there and whether Sansa is with them. I don’t think he’d like Sansa to be there because he’d be worried for her so he’s looking out to see exactly what Brienne and Pod do. I also think Jon is just generally concerned and for good reason. He’s about to walk into the Lion’s den and have a meeting with the people that are directly responsible for most of the pain and tragedy that has befallen his family. This place is not a happy place for Jon and I doubt he would have ever set foot in it if D*ny hadn’t practically whisked him away without so much as a warning.

My immediate reaction would be that we’re reading too much into it particularly since the whole Bronn/Pod exchange was supposedly done to explain Bronn’s absence from the talks in the Dragonpit, which has to do with the fact that Lena and Jerome can’t be on the set at the same time. However, nor am I willing to just dismiss it off hand because this show operates so much with foreshadowing and seemingly unimportant details making a play later on that there’s always a chance that this could actually amount to more than I thought previously.

Could Jon be suspicious of Brienne? He could and there would be reason for him to be … The thing with Brienne is that she commits the same mistake when judging other people that others might commit in regards to her. She is suspicious and angry that Jon keeps Davos and Mel in his council because of their role in Stannis’ campaign and Renly’s murder. She fails to see that in the conflict of Stannis vs. Renly, Renly was the usurper and Stannis was actually in the right to go to war with him. Of course, Stannis ends up killing Renly in a dishonorable way but Brienne has a very black and white view of the whole conflict and one that is tilted unjustifiably in Renly’s favor because of her own personal feelings for him. What she doesn’t seem to take into account is that other people might have the same sort of reservations about her. She is, after all, buddies with Jaime Lannister, the man that went to war with Robb Stark and she walks around carrying half of Ned Stark’s sword, a sword that was melted and reforged on the orders of Tywin Lannister. We know that Brienne’s intentions are honest and that her relationship with Jaime is based on Jaime’s good traits but people, Jon included, could be excused for doubting that. There’s a reason why, in the books, Brienne is almost executed by Lady Stoneheart and she now has been commissioned to lure Jaime to his death. This is a relationship that has positive effects for both Jaime and Brienne personally but affects Brienne negatively in terms of her relationship with the actual people she wants to protect. So I could see Jon being suspicious of Brienne.

However, could that result in Jon fake kidnapping Sansa a la Bael the Bard? No, I don’t think so. For one, I don’t think the Bael the Bard story will feature in the show. To my recollection, there’s been no mention of it so far and while they could bring it up in season 8, I don’t see any reason why they should. The other important aspect would be that in order to fake kidnap Sansa, Jon would actually have to forcefully take Sansa away (since she would object to it and also point out that Brienne can be trusted). Considering Jon’s character and his knowledge of everything Sansa has been through, do you see Jon Snow putting Sansa through the traumatic experience of an albeit fake kidnapping? Because I don’t. For one, he would never hurt Sansa in that way and for two, he respects her too much to do something against her will. I mean not only does he stop himself from hurting Theon but he also tolerates Littlefinger around Winterfell even though he doesn’t like or trust him. He talks to Sansa about it and then leaves it up to her, to decide what to do with Littlefinger. He never steps over her or robs her of agency. Which is a testament to how much he respects her and her decisions. I don’t see that changing.

However, I agree completely that the Broken Tower will play a big role in season 8. They’ve made sure to bring it back into play time and time again, most recently at the end of season 5 so it will definitely be a place to watch out for in season 8. People, myself included, have speculated that this is where the Jonsa reveal will happen and that in a parallel to Jaime/Cersei in the 1st season, someone will see Jon and Sansa kissing or engaging in other extra-curricular activities. The main suspects so far seem to be Jorah and Tyrion. I think either way, that would play nicely into your HOTU prophesy speculation as well as the foreshadowing of Sansa with bat wings.

As for Sansa and Cersei’s meeting … I have to say I’m not at all comfortable with people attributing this mother/daughter relationship to Cersei and Sansa. I understand that people see the toxicity of it but they also seem to give Cersei far too much credit in relation to her feelings for Sansa. Cersei abused, tormented, bullied and physiologically scarred Sansa. She’s the evil step-mother from hell and her feelings for Sansa are not maternal. She disguises her true intentions under a veneer of motherly love, much in the way that Cinderella’s evil step-mother does, but Cersei’s continued fascination and torment of Sansa stems from her narcissism, as does everything having to do with Cersei, and also from her desire to exert power over people. Her narcissism is triggered by the fact that she probably recognizes something of her younger self in Sansa but that’s not really a good thing because Cersei is also riddled with self-loathing for having been born a girl at the mercy of the patriarchy. Her bulling is explained rather easily because she feels she has no control over her own life, where her son is stepping away from her influence and her father is still treating her as a broodmare, but she can always satisfy her ego by hurting and tormenting Sansa who is powerless to stop her. So grudging respect is not what I want out of the Sansa/Cersei interaction. Cersei is a fascinating character but she’s not worthy of anyone’s respect. She’s bitter, she’s cruel, she always picks on the weakest prey, she’s lonely and isolated and she lashes out in the worst ways possible. I want Sansa to succeed over Cersei by being the exact opposite of Cersei, not gain some sort of misguided respect for the woman that orchestrated Ned’s death, bullied and humiliated her, endorsed the murder of her brother, was involved in the almost killing of her other brother and, not to mention, in this scenario, kidnaps her in order to make her pay for the supposed murder of her psychopathic son.

Thanks for the ask!

#sansa stark #sansa x cersei #jonsa

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thesportssoundoff · 5 years

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“There’s stuff here, you just gotta look for it.” The UFC Fight Night From Rochester Preview

Joey

May 12th, 2019

A rather blegh month of May continues onward with a rather blegh fight night out in Rochester! If we're being 100% honest, this is absolutely not a bad card. It's got a bevy of action fights on the card, some pretty intriguing main card fights and a potential barometer for how yet another top 10 LW can do sans a killer weight cut in the main event. If WMMA is your thing then you've got fights at both bantamweight AND the first official featherweight fight of the year on the card. There's even some old dudes slopping it out in the mid life crisis division 205 lbs if you're that kinda dude. It's not a bad show in the slightest; it's just a filler show. It's the sort of show where you hope for it to be a) quick enough that it doesn't take up too much of your time and b) violent enough that the time it does take up isn't wasted.

Fights: 13

Debuts: Austin Hubbard, Felicia Spencer, Charles Jourdain, Michel Pereira

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 1 (Elizeu Zaleski vs Neil Magny CANCELLED)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 6 (Neil Magny, Kevin Lee, Rafael Dos Anjos, Zak Cummings, Charles Oliveira, Patrick Cummins)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 4 (Rafael Dos Anjos, Julian Erosa, Patrick Cummins, Ed Herman)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Will Lentz, Charles Oliveira, Vicente Luque, Davi Ramos, Mike Trizano, Trevin Giles)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 31-11

Rafael Dos Anjos- 3-2 Kevin Lee- 3-2 Neil Magny- 2-2 Vicente Luque- 4-1 Aspen Ladd- 2-0 Sijara Eubanks- 2-0 Ian Heinisch- 1-0 Antonio Carlos Junior- 3-0 Charles Oliveira- 5-1 Nik Lentz- 3-2 Davi Ramos- 3-1 Austin Hubbard- 0-0

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Welterweight- 3 (32) Lightweight- 3 (33) Middleweight- 2 (17) Featherweight- 2 (23) Women’s Bantamweight- 1 (6) Light Heavyweight- 1 (18) Women's Featherweight- 1 (1)

Women’s Strawweight- (12) Women’s Flyweight- (14) Bantamweight- (24) Heavyweight- (15) Flyweight- (7)

2019’s Records We Keepin’ Track Of:

Debuting Fighters (13-31): Austin Hubbard, Felicia Spencer, Charles Jourdain, Michel Pereira

Short Notice Fighters (14-17):

Second Fight (33-7): Grant Dawson, Ian Heinisch

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (10-20): Trevin Giles, Antonio Carlos Junior

Undefeated Fighters (17-22): Trevin Giles, Aspen Ladd, Felicia Spencer, Mike Trizano

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (6-7): Ed Herman

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (14-10): Kevin Lee, Sijara Eubanks, Mike Trizano

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- So dig this, this is the THIRD card in a row with a women's bantamweight fight on it. To find the last time you had three straight cards with women's bantamweight fights? You have to go back to late February of 2018 when the UFC had three bantamweight fights from February 18th to March 3rd. Maybe this will spark some life back into an otherwise sleepy dormant division. March 3rd by the by was the last time the UFC had a featherweight AND a bantamweight fight on the same card as well.

2- Keeping with women's featherwieght, is this going to actually be a thing? We don't get a lot of non-Cyborg fights at 145 lbs and even less non Holly Holm fights so this Felicia Spencer vs Megan Anderson fight should have a bit more interest behind it. It would be easy to look at the planned Cyborg (rumored to be in late July) and Anderson fights as just wrapping up some contracts and going through some details but the UFC has apparently been signing a few 145ers on the sly and Anderson has mentioned there's a bit of a commitment to keeping up with the division. Dana White has also said that they're actually going to TRY to rematch Cyborg vs Nunes depending on whether they can get a longer commitment from Cyborg so if you're a fan of women's featherweight, there does seem to be something resembling a commitment. I just have my doubts about how committed they are to the commitment.

3- It's not the 165 lb class he's been clamoring for but we are FINALLY going to see Kevin Lee trickle up in weight with a potential long term move to 170 lbs. By this point, the story of Kevin Lee's career has been pretty easy to figure out. He starts out quick, puts out a tremendous pace early and then his lack of defensive chops and his questionable cardio lead to collapses in big fights. Kevin Lee is a high quality front runner but maybe that's just due to the beast of his weight cut. Perhaps more than any division, there IS a track record of being able to go from 155 lbs to 170 lbs without losing much of your game as evidenced by Rafael Dos Anjos, Benson Henderson, Donald Cerrone and most recently Anthony Pettis. Let's see if Lee can fit into that mold.

4- What's interesting (or perhaps even fun) with this fight is that both guys are sort of kind of the type of fighter that the other guy hates to see across from them. Both hate pressure fighters to varying degrees; RDA hates the sort of guy who can pressure him and make him fight the kind of fight where consistent takedown attempts and top control force him to get taken out of what he wants to do (which is also use pressure and consistent takedown attempts to set up his striking). Kevin Lee hates THAT kind of guy; the sort of versatile, all three phases threat that doesn't get tired and will force him to back up. If he can't take you down then he's going to tire himself out attempting to take you down and as such, an RDA type who can stifle 99% of fighters against the cage is the worst possible outcome for Kevin Lee. It's a compelling fight on paper that could figure to be a pretty dull one over the course of 25 minutes.

5- Was anybody calling for an Aspen Ladd vs Sijara Eubanks rematch? Or Lentz vs Oliveira 3 for that matter?

6- There's an under the radar tie in between this main event and the Pettis-Wonderboy fight; both of these fights came together due to Santiago Ponzinibbio. Ponz turned down Wonderboy which opened the door for Pettis to get the fight and the UFC yanked Ponz from the running for the RDA fight due to him backing out from the Wonderboy fight.

7- Neil Magny was originally scheduled to fight a violent under the radar Brazilian who can win fights on the ground or standing up and whose only losses have been to his style of fighting. He is now scheduled to fight a violent under the radar Brazilian who can win fights on the ground or standing up and whose only losses have been to his style of fighting. Dread It. Run From It. Destiny Still Arrives.

8- What do we make of Charles Oliveira at this point? I mean the run he's on at 155 lbs has to be considered a real thing, yeah? Wins over Jim Miller, David Teymur and Clay Guida are all absolutely legitimate and the way he's winning these fights is cause to believe that he might actually be making the turn from fun finisher to potential top 10 lightweight. He's still not even 30 yet despite having over 35 pro fights and holding the UFC submissions record. I kinda don't think we're going to learn anything vs Nik Lentz but for a guy who has been accused in the past of wilting under pressure and looking for an easy way out of fights, this figures to be at least something to keep an eye on. At the very least Oliveira is turning into a must watch can't miss attraction at his new weight class.

9- Julio Arce vs Julian Erosa is buried on this card as the show opener which is a mistake because on paper it's better than about 8 fights ahead of it. Erosa is more than likely going to find himself in a similar niche to Kurt Holobaugh; guys who really are better suited for testing fighters trying to get into the UFC than anything they could do inside of the org themselves. That said he was a fine test for Grant Dawson in his last fight and I get the feeling that Erosa is going to give the hittable yet insanely good Arce a fine test. Watching Julio Arce on offense is a masterpiece and even coming off a tough loss to Sheymon Moraes, he more than had his moments in a bloody violent back and forth fight. This will be worth your time if you get there early.

10- Charles Jourdain is making a relatively short-ish notice call up to the UFC but he's a really solid Canadian out of TKO. Another dude a la Marc Andre-Barriault who maybe isn't quite UFC ready yet but figures to be intriguing as long as he's around. Unfortunately for him, I just can't think of a worse challenge to face in my debut ON short notice than a guy like Des Green.

11- I don't know what I am to expect out of Michel Perreira vs Danny Roberts other than to let folks know it'll be a madhouse.

12- Patrick Cummins vs Ed Herman. No me gusta.

#MMA #UFC #RDA #Kevin Lee #Rochester #Fight Night #Sijara Eubanks #Charles Oliveira #Nik Lentz #Neil Magny

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mooneyedandglowing · 5 years

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self-publishing vs small press vs the big five

I’ve been seeing some things on my dash over the last week containing some confusion regarding publishing + the multiple options, so I’m going to do a fast little write-up that shares what is essentially a major part of what I do. While I am an editor, part of the service I bring to the table is guidance in publishing. I have walked authors through self-publishing, as well as walked them through the journey of submitting to small (also known as indie) presses, or aided authors in finding an agent who can pitch work to the Big Five. There are considerations for all of these forms of getting your work to market, + the considerations are also financial. Self-publishing is a greater financial risk, but it is a fantastic option if you have the money, time, + motivation to build a brand---a name. I usually only recommend it for books that are either very niche (to such an extent that I do not see the book appealing to presses) +/or authors who already have a platform to launch from. Considering self-publishing always circles back to finances + time. You can save money by creating the book’s layout design yourself. You can save money by creating the cover, spine, + back cover by yourself. These things take time to learn (+ you also need to know how to save + then upload things correctly into websites that offer printing + distributing services), but there are free programs that can help with all of it. E-books will require different formatting than the physical books, which is another consideration as making sure things translate + look nicely across the board is important. I do often offer to do the book design + covers for clients who are interested in self-publishing because I already have those skills in my toolbox. But, it’s an added cost to hire someone to do these things for you. But, if you want to have them done correctly, hiring help is often an easier, less-stressful route to self-publishing. There is also how you are going to distribute your book, who will you choose to print it, what markets will carry it, marketing, so on + so forth. The main issue is always financial risk. You can put a lot of money, time, + labor into self-publishing + see very little return. Most self-published books will receive no more than 250 downloads. While some authors are very successful at self-publishing, many, many, many are not. It requires an added layer of labor. If your goal is not to have your books sold, but to merely publish your book for yourself. Self-publishing can also be quite apt in those situations. There is nothing wrong with publishing as a pet hobby. Self-publishing can also be an attractive option for people who are uncomfortable with giving up creative control, but my advice is still to always hire an editor at the very least to do substantive edits. These edits are in-depth, story-level edits that can be expensive + take a long time depending on the complexity of your text + the length of your manuscript, but they are worth it. People who do well at self-publishing will push self-publishing, but be mindful of what it has taken them to do well + consider if it is truly your best option. I like self-publishing, but there are too many options in publishing to say that one is objectively better for every author + every book. Small presses come next in the hierarchy. Finances do come into play here as well, but in a different way. Some small presses have open + free reading periods, but many small presses require a reading fee to sustain their business + pay their staff. You can make the contest rounds by submitting to the annual contests hosted by small presses, but these always require a reading fee + it is usually somewhere between ten to fifty dollars depending on the press + the type of work the press is considering (an average number for poetry manuscript contests is around 20 bucks). You will want to have already hired + worked with an editor before you begin seeking publication with small presses. Your editor, depending on their qualifications, may be able to help steer you toward the presses that they think will have the most interest in your work. I would suggest finding an editor who can do that, because there are many small presses + some are better than others. It’s difficult to wade through them all yourself + try to pick the ones that would be most worthwhile to pay to send to. Small presses will often combine some of the pros of self-publishing with the pros of publishing with one of the Big 5 houses. How much they offer does depend on the press though. Some will create a cover to your specifications (that also suits them) while others will give you four mock-ups to choose from while others will say “this is the cover.” They may also suggest, or require, further edits to your work. After acceptance, the cost of printing + marketing falls mostly on them, but you will likely still have to do some of the marketing legwork on your own + out of your own pocket. Payment will vary depending on the press. Some presses buy a manuscript out right. Some presses pay only royalties. Contests often offer prize money + royalties. It is dependent on the market + the press. With all things considered, small presses are a good option for many authors (+ you can see some very big names publishing with these smaller independent houses). You will often have more control when working with a smaller press, but they will receive a cut of the book’s earnings (which you would not have with self-publishing - well, depending on how you self-publish). For most authors + most books, I prefer the small press route seven times out of ten. You may also still need to consider an agent for this route, but it isn’t as automatically required as it is with one of the Big Five. Small presses, with how many there are, present options within the option. In the terms of considering publication with one of the major presses (penguin etc), this is something that is difficult to attain. I rarely suggest it to authors I work with (+ the ones I do suggest it for have written something I know is extremely marketable). Nonetheless, I have helped authors through the process. You will very likely need an agent unless you somehow already have contacts within one of the houses (so it’s good to have already edited your manuscript with a professional before shopping it to agents). Agents will want to be paid somehow. They will also only take you on if they feel confident that they can place your book somewhere (because they want to be paid). I suggest agents that work on commission + not ones that want a flat up-front fee for exactly that reason. Agents that take up-front fees are more likely to take any book whether they think they can place it or not. Major press houses offer the big book deals. These deals can be a lot of money or hardly any money at all (some people walking away with checks of only 12k for a book that sat on the bestseller list - make sure you have an agent who will fight for you in this regard). Books that can become series are often very attractive to the major publishing houses + those can see deals of 100k + a percentage of the royalties for three books.

One of the Big 5 will rigorously edit your book + they may want to take out something you think is vital to your story because they think the removal of this element would make the book more marketable, more entertaining, more successful, etc etc etc. They also might want you to add something. I’ve known of writers of series replaced with ghostwriters because the original author did not want to budge on a major edit. This is where creative control can be lost. This is where books become a serious business with all the cutthroat qualities of business to go along with it. Your preexisting social platform as an author still applies as much as it does to the first two options (+ can make you more or less attractive to publishers), but you will also be automatically better placed to sell books because of who your publisher is. With existing platform in mind, you’ll still receive more publicity + marketing help from a Big 5 house than any of the other options. Unlike with self-publishing + small presses (although some do get their books into stores so this is also dependent on other factors, but the distribution will not be as wide as with a major press), a Big Five press will place your books on the shelves of physical stores. Don’t get me wrong either, because I wouldn’t mind + even have interest working for one of the Big Five, so all of this is said without a negative bias toward them. What they do + how they operate as entities is simply specific. This really only covers some basics, but there ya’ll go.

#publishing #publication #self-publishing #small presses #editors on tumblr #this is rambly but the main point is that there is a lot to consider + i prefer small presses most of the time ha #self-publishing second #+ then the big five for special cases of high marketability #even fifty shades was published via small press #initially before vintage books picked it up

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binkywinky · 5 years

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hi! Comics rec anon here! to answer your question, I'm not entirely new to comics, have read a few but not enough to say I have a specific type. The first series I read was all the jessica jones comics which I really liked, also the miles morales series which i enjoyed and the spidergwen series which was cute but the art was kinda annoying lol. i also like a couple of dc ones like mister miracle. so i think i prefer a general rec from you since the comics world is so big. thanks in advance!

Got it. Hmm… let’s see. It’s probably easiest to break it down by publisher then. I’ll try to give a mix of ongoing, finished, and “classic” stories.

Fair warning, I read a lot of comics (probably about 60 per month, and that’s not including manga), so even though this may feel like a long list, it’s short for me.

Marvel

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man - Relatively new series, and it’s been fantastic so far. Great art, and a bit more grounded than the Amazing Spider-Man run (which is also great). Stellar art, too.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man - A little YA-ish at times, but overall enjoyable. You get to see a lot more of Miles’ personality in this one, which is always fun.

Superior Spider-Man - Because nothing is more fun than seeing a semi-reformed Otto Octavius try to be a hero.

Captain Marvel - Kelly Thompson does a phenomenal job with this series. She has a great hold of Carol’s voice. Would highly recommend Kelly Sue Deconnick and Margaret Stohl’s previous runs to give context (Captain Marvel 2012-2017, Mighty Captain Marvel, and The Life of Captain Marvel).

Jessica Jones - Not sure if you’ve read Kelly Thompson’s recent run or just Bendis’, but hers is definitely worth a read.

Avengers (2019) - actually a solid run. I would check this out if you’re more into crossover, large-scale storytelling. They’re in the middle of War of the Realms, though… so maybe wait until like August or September?

Immortal Hulk, Daredevil, and X-23 - also good. I read them off and on (not really my fave characters to read on their own, I enjoy them in ensembles), but the stories are solid.

Rogue & Gambit - mini series that I absolutely love by Kelly Thompson (she does great character work) that came out last year. Mr. & Mrs. X is a follow-up to it and also tons of fun (nearing its end as well).

Runaways - I fell off of this when Brian K. Vaughn left, but I can say up through his run ended is well worth the read.

As far as classic stories, Infinity Gauntlet, The Dark Phoenix Saga, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, Secret Invasion, and Secret Wars would be my first recommendations.

I would’ve recommended Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider, but maybe wait on that. It’s about to end soon and transition to just Ghost Spider (where she leaves Earth-65 and comes to Earth-616 where Peter and Miles are). Same for X-Men. I’m currently reading Uncanny, but X-Men is about to be overhauled soon. So probably hold on that front.

DC/Vertigo

Honestly, not the biggest DC fan (I lean more towards Vertigo actually), but there are a few that I enjoy.

Action Comics (starting at #1000) - I am not a Superman fan, but I enjoy this series, which says a lot. I enjoy what Bendis is doing with him in this run.

Naomi - a new series, also by Bendis, following the story of a young Black girl who is investigating the circumstances around her adoption. Don’t want to give too much away, but probably my fave DC run at the moment. And Jamal Campbell’s art is fucking gorgeous.

Dial H for Hero - it’s fun. It’s weird. Not for everyone, but maybe give it a shot.

The Flash and Batman, New 52 runs - New 52 gets shit from fans a lot, but I thought these runs were awesome. Very good story-telling.

Dark Nights: Metal event - Probably one of the best things DC did in a long time. It’s a massive event that pretty much reworked the DC universe and all the characters. Enjoyed it immensely.

Heroes in Crisis - this miniseries ended very recently. It’s a story focused on a major event that happens at Sanctuary, a rehab for superheroes suffering from mental health issues (e.g. PTSD after doing something that nearly killed them). Not your usual superhero story, which I liked.

American Carnage - very gritty story focused on a white-passing Black man who infiltrates a white supremacist organization. It’s really fucking good.

High Level - I picked this book up randomly because the cover looked cool. I’ve been reading it ever since. I would say it’s weird sci-fi/fantasy/cyberpunk adventure. A little strong on the language, but very interesting story and great artwork.

Birds of Prey - awesome series with the DC women. A little shaky sometimes, but Gail Simone does really good character work. Her run is probably the only one I’d bother reading.

Deathbed - miniseries by Vertigo that ended maybe a year ago. It’s so bizarre and hilarious and out there. I loved it.

Batwoman (J.H. Williams run) and Batwoman: Rebirth - Kate Kane, my favorite lesbian superhero. Williams did a great job in his run (and the art is to die for). Don’t read the back half, they change writers and it’s a goddamn mess. But then Marguerite Bennett (a queer woman) picked it up in Rebirth, and it got awesome again. Also, shout-out to Greg Rucka for officially making her queerness canon in 52.

Wonder Woman - Wonder Woman’s my fave of DC main characters (along with Martian Manhunter and Wally West I & II), and my favorite run for her is Greg Rucka’s. He does a surprisingly good job of writing women. The run is over at the moment, but I’d check it out. Good stuff there.

For classic stories, Kingdom Come, Watchmen, Flashpoint (precursor to New 52), and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman are some of my faves.

Image

Image is probably what I read the most. Definitely has the most diverse pool of comics to choose from.

Saga - My favorite comic series of all-time. I’ve gotten so many people to read this and they love it. It’s weird - really weird, actually - but the storytelling is phenomenal. And it’s on hiatus right now, so plenty of time to get caught up.

Ice Cream Man - This series is so fucking weird, but I love it. It’s sorta like… Tales from the Crypt? Different stories (mostly horror) that all feature this demon ice cream man.

The Weatherman - This series is such a goddamn delight. I don’t want to ruin the plot but just… yeah. Read the first issue and it just goes crazy from there.

Man-Eaters - Sort of a niche story. Basically, this takes place in a society where when women get their cycle, they turn into giant cats and maul men, so they’ve given them pills to keep them from menstruating. Sounds weird? Wait until you read it. Probably a highlight series of the year for me.

Black Science - You might not like the art in this one, but maybe give it a shot? These scientists are trying to solve the problem of limited resources on Earth by hopping across dimensions for new ones (infinite dimensions, infinite resources). Only problem is, their machine got damaged so now they hop uncontrollably to whatever dimension it chooses for however long it decides. It’s a wild ride.

Middlewest - An interesting take on parent/child relationships and how the consequences of abuse, anger, and depression can manifest in dangerous ways. Sounds more bleak than it is - the story actually has quite a bit of humor.

Excellence - Very new series, but with a PoC lead, about PoCs, with mostly PoC creators. A story about a secret society of Black magicians and a son whose next in line to take on the mantle, and it’s pretty fucking cool. Issue 2 comes out this week - check it out!

The Walking Dead - I don’t think I have to explain this one, do I? Zombies.

Lazarus and Lazarus: Risen - Sci-fi story set in a dystopian society where the world is ruled by like 15 or so families, and they each have a Lazarus to fight for them. This is told from the perspective of the Carlyle family’s Lazarus, Forever.

Die - If Dungeons & Dragons and Jumanji had a baby, it would be this book. Sounds weird, but once you read it, you’ll find the description to be accurate.

Anything from Brian K. Vaughn - I have yet to read something from Brian K. Vaughn that I don’t like. Saga, Paper Girls, Y: The Last Man, Runaways, Barrier… his shit’s always good.

Independents / Not Marvel, DC, or Image

Some of these are nostalgia-based, so fair warning.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BOOM Studios) - very new series that’s out. Great art. If you were a fan of the show, I think you’ll like it. It’s a re-imagining of sorts. There’s also an Angel series that just started.

Nancy Drew (Dynamite) - Listen… I could not stand Nancy Drew as a kid. Never got into it and thought it was boring as hell. But I really loved this miniseries (another Kelly Thompson run). It’s maybe 5 issues?

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and Go Go Power Rangers (BOOM Studios) - Honest to God, if you had told me 3 years ago one of my fave comics would be a Power Rangers one, I would have laughed in your face. Both of these series are really good and provide the continuity, nuance, and characterization the show lacked. Fan of the show or not, I’d say it’s worth checking out if you enjoy the teenage superhero genre. Also, just some really amazing art and world-building.

Anything from Jinxworld - This is Bendis’ own publishing company. He’s put out Cover, Pearl, Scarlet, and United States vs. Murder, Inc. All of them are really good.

Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse) - This is the series the Netflix show is based off of. Right now, they’re doing Hotel Oblivion in the comics, but start with Apocalypse Suite and Dallas.

So, there you go anon. There are FAR more I would recommend, but I tried to give a good range of books for you to choose from without (hopefully) overwhelming you. And if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to talk about any of them.

#binky answers anons #binky talks comics

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taz-writes · 6 years

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WIP questions tag

i got tagged by @eff-writes and I haven’t actually participated in a tag game in like 10 years, so here we go!

1. What is the working title of your book?

Book 1 is called The Beginning. Boring, I know... The series as a whole is called Feilan! It used to be The Feilan Chronicles but then I decided that was stupid.

(book 2 is The Queen of Feilan, book 3 is Storm and Shadow, book 4 is Liaea. 2 and 4 are literally perfect but 3 is Bad and needs replacing when I finish the manuscript.)

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?

It’s based on a recess game I used to play with friends in elementary school. You know how basically everyone was involved in that stupid Boys Versus Girls war in first and/or second grade? I was the leader of my school’s stupid Boys Versus Girls war, it was centered around “Fairyland,” and my friends and I all had these overly complicated self insert characters that we LARPed as during recess. Over the years, the boys vs girls thing faded away, but we kept playing fairies and developing the ~lore.~ When I got to sixth grade, I decided to write it all down for posterity, and that’s when the first concept of Feilan came into being. I wrote the first legitimate draft in 9th grade, after spending a few years developing the characters and world into something that could exist without relying on bad self insert Mary Sue logic.

There were a couple specific scenarios that we always wound up playing, and those are what the books’ core plots are about. Book 1 is the game we played at my house in the woods, usually searching for treasure. Book 2 is the ice skating rink game where we rescue Violet from the Frozen Isles, fused with the swimming pool game where we turn into mermaids. Book 3 is the one we played at my friend Emily’s house, where we built couch fort “prisons” and tried to escape without making enough noise to bother her dad. If we knocked too much stuff over, he’d come up and lecture us for interrupting his Warcraft game, so avoiding him became part of the LARP. Just typing this is bringing up vivid flashback-style memories.

3. What genre is your current work in progress?

High/heroic fantasy, with a drop of genre de/reconstruction added in for fun :)

4. Choose the actors for your movie rendition.

Lucy Liu has to play Lilac Ravenhart. I don’t care about anything else but she has to be Lilac, it’s perfect.

Honestly, if I got a movie, I’d want Sayara to be played by a total unknown because I feel like it fits her place in the story. She wants to be known as Sayara, the actor should want to be known as Sayara and not as whatever their last major role was. Plus I can’t think of any actresses who are short and buff enough.

5. Give a one-sentence synopsis of your book.

An ambitious illegitimate princess stumbles into a civil war and somehow manages to make herself a ~new legendary hero~, much to everyone else’s chagrin.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agent?

I’m not sure yet! It would be awesome to have an agent and be published with a legit publishing house, but self-publishing is faster and easier. Considering that I’ll be trying to market a debut novel with niche appeal and no romantic subplot to speak of, which also has three sequels.... self-pub seems more likely right now.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

The first first draft? I plugged that baby out in six months back in high school, because I didn’t have anything else to do with my life. It added up to over 150,000 words, so that was no small feat. It’s taken progressively longer to finish every new draft since.

8. What other books would you compare your story to?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (frantic googling sounds)

Honestly, I have no clue. I’ve read lots of books with similar concepts or characters, but I’ve never read another book that was enough like mine for me to want to make a comparison. I’ve taken some inspo from Game of Thrones, but deep worldbuilding lore and too many characters isn’t enough similarity to make a good comparison. Most of the fantasy I’ve read lately has been in a very different vein from what I write, because I’m trying to push my boundaries.

9. Who or what inspired you to write the book?

I got into this a little with the “where’d the idea come from” question! But mostly, my inspiration was spite.

The reason for making this particular recess game into a novel was, simply, that I couldn’t find a single book in YA fantasy that gave me what I wanted out of a story. I wanted strong female leads, who didn’t fall in love or have a LI, who saved the world without being questioned because of their gender or being outshone at the final hour by random boys. Do yall know how rare books like that were (and are) in YA fantasy? Full respect to paranormal romance writers, but your genre was the bane of my existence in high school, because the library would always label it as fantasy, and they always stocked twice as much of it as they did the actual fucking fantasy. Poor little naive Taz would pick up book after book about cool monsters and seemingly-intriguing plots, only for it to devolve into Edgy Boy Love Triangles. I didn’t care about the sexy demon/angel/whateverthefuck boys! I wanted to know how the girl who was supposedly the protagonist was gonna save the world!

Also, I was really into fairies, but the only YA-ish author I could find who wrote about them was Holly Black. Who is a talented writer and I envy and respect her success, but that just wasn’t the kind of story I wanted to read, yknow? She’s too edgy, and the love interests are... that.

I’d sat on “the fairy story” for years at that point, but this powerful rage was the kicker to actually get me started. I was bitter and salty and figured that if nobody would give me what I wanted then I’d just have to make it myself. I already had this source material that was funny and weird and deep and (as far as I could tell) totally unique, so I took it and ran with it! My friends gave me a lot of inspiration, because a few of them still remembered the fairy game, and they wanted to know when their characters would show up. So I’d send them chapters as I finished them, and we’d all get excited about stupid inside jokes and goofy names.

10. What else about your book might pique a reader’s interest?

I think the deconstructive elements are the core appeal in Feilan. I have a lot of the trappings of standard high fantasy--the lost princess, the return of the evil, the big war, the chosen one--but they’re used with the intent of picking them apart to see what makes them tick. None of the elements listed are played entirely straight.

The main cast is made up of mostly royalty, and their positions have Actual Responsibilities that motivate the plot and their character development instead of just being set dressing.

Female friendships and relationships are really important to the story, no boys will ever appear to derail character arcs at any point.

One of the main characters (Violet) is a trans girl and I know people appreciate queer content

(most of the main characters are actually under the queer umbrella but it doesn’t really come up in canon since i have a lot of plot to deal with)

Sayara is a relatively unconventional character type (especially for a female protagonist), she’s ambitious and mostly confident in herself, and her conflict comes from the way other people treat her more than how she treats other people. She’s not forced to learn “humility,” she’s not forced to give up on what she wants. Instead she learns how to handle responsibility and move past naivety to realistic optimism, and how to achieve her goals without hurting other people by it. I feel like that’s a theme that should be way more common in YA fiction than it is right now. teenage girls are right about things sometimes!

i have Deep Worldbuilding(tm)

The magic system has categories and you can sort yourself. because we all know what’s really important here.

I’m not going to tag anyone new in this, because I’m tired and I don’t have the energy, but if you want to pass on the challenge then feel free to say I tagged you! :)

#taz talks #tag game #feilan #i spent like a half hour fondly reminiscing on the fairyland LARPs halfway through this #what a time that was #i used to bring my friends over to my house and we'd carve swords in the basement out of scrap wood #and give them super dramatic names #mine were nightshade and maximinimum #ngl though maximinimum has a certain ring to it #and then we'd go out back and hit vines with the swords and get really excited if we successfully cut something #sometimes we colored on the swords with magic markers #i still want to know why we spontaneously decided we hated emily's dad lmao #it's not like warcraft was the problem #emily also played warcraft #and we did get really loud and obnoxious #but oh well #The Characters In This Story Bear No Deliberate Resemblance To Any People Real Or Imagined #except amalie and melalina. amalie and melalina are valid and i got permission.#oh also the recess game thing is why there are so few male characters #all the heroes are girls because it started as girls vs boys #and then when i developed the villains i replaced a lot of boring 2D male characters with more interesting complicated women #leaving behind just the handful of men who remain

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wickedbananas · 6 years

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How Much Data Is Missing from Analytics? And Other Analytics Black Holes

Posted by Tom.Capper

If you’ve ever compared two analytics implementations on the same site, or compared your analytics with what your business is reporting in sales, you’ve probably noticed that things don’t always match up. In this post, I’ll explain why data is missing from your web analytics platforms and how large the impact could be. Some of the issues I cover are actually quite easily addressed, and have a decent impact on traffic — there’s never been an easier way to hit your quarterly targets. ;)

I’m going to focus on GA (Google Analytics), as it's the most commonly used provider, but most on-page analytics platforms have the same issues. Platforms that rely on server logs do avoid some issues but are fairly rare, so I won’t cover them in any depth.

Side note: Our test setup (multiple trackers & customized GA)

On Distilled.net, we have a standard Google Analytics property running from an HTML tag in GTM (Google Tag Manager). In addition, for the last two years, I’ve been running three extra concurrent Google Analytics implementations, designed to measure discrepancies between different configurations.

(If you’re just interested in my findings, you can skip this section, but if you want to hear more about the methodology, continue reading. Similarly, don’t worry if you don’t understand some of the detail here — the results are easier to follow.)

Two of these extra implementations — one in Google Tag Manager and one on page — run locally hosted, renamed copies of the Google Analytics JavaScript file (e.g. www.distilled.net/static/js/au3.js, instead of www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js) to make them harder to spot for ad blockers. I also used renamed JavaScript functions (“tcap” and “Buffoon,” rather than the standard “ga”) and renamed trackers (“FredTheUnblockable” and “AlbertTheImmutable”) to avoid having duplicate trackers (which can often cause issues).

This was originally inspired by 2016-era best practice on how to get your Google Analytics setup past ad blockers. I can’t find the original article now, but you can see a very similar one from 2017 here.

Lastly, we have (“DianaTheIndefatigable”), which just has a renamed tracker, but uses the standard code otherwise and is implemented on-page. This is to complete the set of all combinations of modified and unmodified GTM and on-page trackers.

Two of Distilled’s modified on-page trackers, as seen on https://www.distilled.net/

Overall, this table summarizes our setups:

Tracker

Renamed function?

GTM or on-page?

Locally hosted JavaScript file?

Default

GTM HTML tag

FredTheUnblockable

Yes - “tcap”

GTM HTML tag

Yes

AlbertTheImmutable

Yes - “buffoon”

On page

Yes

DianaTheIndefatigable

On page

I tested their functionality in various browser/ad-block environments by watching for the pageviews appearing in browser developer tools:

Reason 1: Ad Blockers

Ad blockers, primarily as browser extensions, have been growing in popularity for some time now. Primarily this has been to do with users looking for better performance and UX on ad-laden sites, but in recent years an increased emphasis on privacy has also crept in, hence the possibility of analytics blocking.

Effect of ad blockers

Some ad blockers block web analytics platforms by default, others can be configured to do so. I tested Distilled’s site with Adblock Plus and uBlock Origin, two of the most popular ad-blocking desktop browser addons, but it’s worth noting that ad blockers are increasingly prevalent on smartphones, too.

Here’s how Distilled’s setups fared:

(All numbers shown are from April 2018)

Setup

Vs. Adblock

Vs. Adblock with “EasyPrivacy” enabled

Vs. uBlock Origin

GTM

Pass

Fail

On page

Pass

Fail

GTM + renamed script & function

Pass

Fail

On page + renamed script & function

Pass

Fail

Seems like those tweaked setups didn’t do much!

Lost data due to ad blockers: ~10%

Ad blocker usage can be in the 15–25% range depending on region, but many of these installs will be default setups of AdBlock Plus, which as we’ve seen above, does not block tracking. Estimates of AdBlock Plus’s market share among ad blockers vary from 50–70%, with more recent reports tending more towards the former. So, if we assume that at most 50% of installed ad blockers block analytics, that leaves your exposure at around 10%.

Reason 2: Browser “do not track”

This is another privacy motivated feature, this time of browsers themselves. You can enable it in the settings of most current browsers. It’s not compulsory for sites or platforms to obey the “do not track” request, but Firefox offers a stronger feature under the same set of options, which I decided to test as well.

Effect of “do not track”

Most browsers now offer the option to send a “Do not track” message. I tested the latest releases of Firefox & Chrome for Windows 10.

Setup

Chrome “do not track”

Firefox “do not track”

Firefox “tracking protection”

GTM

Pass

Fail

On page

Pass

Fail

GTM + renamed script & function

Pass

Fail

On page + renamed script & function

Pass

Fail

Again, it doesn’t seem that the tweaked setups are doing much work for us here.

Lost data due to “do not track”: <1%

Only Firefox Quantum’s “Tracking Protection,” introduced in February, had any effect on our trackers. Firefox has a 5% market share, but Tracking Protection is not enabled by default. The launch of this feature had no effect on the trend for Firefox traffic on Distilled.net.

Reason 3: Filters

It’s a bit of an obvious one, but filters you’ve set up in your analytics might intentionally or unintentionally reduce your reported traffic levels.

For example, a filter excluding certain niche screen resolutions that you believe to be mostly bots, or internal traffic, will obviously cause your setup to underreport slightly.

Lost data due to filters: ???

Impact is hard to estimate, as setup will obviously vary on a site-by site-basis. I do recommend having a duplicate, unfiltered “master” view in case you realize too late you’ve lost something you didn’t intend to.

Reason 4: GTM vs. on-page vs. misplaced on-page

Google Tag Manager has become an increasingly popular way of implementing analytics in recent years, due to its increased flexibility and the ease of making changes. However, I’ve long noticed that it can tend to underreport vs. on-page setups.

I was also curious about what would happen if you didn’t follow Google’s guidelines in setting up on-page code.

By combining my numbers with numbers from my colleague Dom Woodman’s site (you’re welcome for the link, Dom), which happens to use a Drupal analytics add-on as well as GTM, I was able to see the difference between Google Tag Manager and misplaced on-page code (right at the bottom of the <body> tag) I then weighted this against my own Google Tag Manager data to get an overall picture of all 5 setups.

Effect of GTM and misplaced on-page code

Traffic as a percentage of baseline (standard Google Tag Manager implementation):

Google Tag Manager

Modified & Google Tag Manager

On-Page Code In <head>

Modified & On-Page Code In <head>

On-Page Code Misplaced In <Body>

Chrome

100.00%

98.75%

100.77%

99.80%

94.75%

Safari

100.00%

99.42%

100.55%

102.08%

82.69%

Firefox

100.00%

99.71%

101.16%

101.45%

90.68%

Internet Explorer

100.00%

80.06%

112.31%

113.37%

77.18%

There are a few main takeaways here:

On-page code generally reports more traffic than GTM

Modified code is generally within a margin of error, apart from modified GTM code on Internet Explorer (see note below)

Misplaced analytics code will cost you up to a third of your traffic vs. properly implemented on-page code, depending on browser (!)

The customized setups, which are designed to get more traffic by evading ad blockers, are doing nothing of the sort.

It’s worth noting also that the customized implementations actually got less traffic than the standard ones. For the on-page code, this is within the margin of error, but for Google Tag Manager, there’s another reason — because I used unfiltered profiles for the comparison, there’s a lot of bot spam in the main profile, which primarily masquerades as Internet Explorer. Our main profile is by far the most spammed, and also acting as the baseline here, so the difference between on-page code and Google Tag Manager is probably somewhat larger than what I’m reporting.

I also split the data by mobile, out of curiosity:

Traffic as a percentage of baseline (standard Google Tag Manager implementation):

Google Tag Manager

Modified & Google Tag Manager

On-Page Code In <head>

Modified & On-Page Code In <head>

On-Page Code Misplaced In <Body>

Desktop

100.00%

98.31%

100.97%

100.89%

93.47%

Mobile

100.00%

97.00%

103.78%

100.42%

89.87%

Tablet

100.00%

97.68%

104.20%

102.43%

88.13%

The further takeaway here seems to be that mobile browsers, like Internet Explorer, can struggle with Google Tag Manager.

Lost data due to GTM: 1–5%

Google Tag Manager seems to cost you a varying amount depending on what make-up of browsers and devices use your site. On Distilled.net, the difference is around 1.7%; however, we have an unusually desktop-heavy and tech-savvy audience (not much Internet Explorer!). Depending on vertical, this could easily swell to the 5% range.

Lost data due to misplaced on-page code: ~10%

On Teflsearch.com, the impact of misplaced on-page code was around 7.5%, vs Google Tag Manager. Keeping in mind that Google Tag Manager itself underreports, the total loss could easily be in the 10% range.

Bonus round: Missing data from channels

I’ve focused above on areas where you might be missing data altogether. However, there are also lots of ways in which data can be misrepresented, or detail can be missing. I’ll cover these more briefly, but the main issues are dark traffic and attribution.

Dark traffic

Dark traffic is direct traffic that didn’t really come via direct — which is generally becoming more and more common. Typical causes are:

Untagged campaigns in email

Untagged campaigns in apps (especially Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Misrepresented organic

Data sent from botched tracking implementations (which can also appear as self-referrals)

It’s also worth noting the trend towards genuinely direct traffic that would historically have been organic. For example, due to increasingly sophisticated browser autocompletes, cross-device history, and so on, people end up “typing” a URL that they’d have searched for historically.

Attribution

I’ve written about this in more detail here, but in general, a session in Google Analytics (and any other platform) is a fairly arbitrary construct — you might think it’s obvious how a group of hits should be grouped into one or more sessions, but in fact, the process relies on a number of fairly questionable assumptions. In particular, it’s worth noting that Google Analytics generally attributes direct traffic (including dark traffic) to the previous non-direct source, if one exists.

Discussion

I was quite surprised by some of my own findings when researching this post, but I’m sure I didn’t get everything. Can you think of any other ways in which data can end up missing from analytics?

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samuelfields · 4 years

Text

How to Start a Blog

Key Takeaways

Find a niche and post consistently to see the best results.

Focus on quality, longer-length posts.

Use your content to build authority and monetize services.

If you’ve been daydreaming about creating a blog during yet another endless conference call, an excellent place to start is right here.

In case you haven’t heard, content is king. And there are plenty of full-time bloggers who prove it and make a living writing about hobbies, recipes, or workouts.

Writing with authority on a topic provides serious value in an internet landscape, often filled with subpar information.

With that said, starting up a blog doesn’t mean you can put in your two weeks as soon as you press “Publish” on your first blog post. Monetizing your blog and turning a profit takes hard work and dedication.

Like almost everything else in life, you get what you put in.

A great blog involves research, content strategy, and a fresh perspective.

So, if you have a story to tell or a niche to fill, it’s time to learn how to start a blog and unleash your creativity.

Step 1: Pick Your Blog Niche

Although you can simply start a blog based on broad topics, it’s smarter to narrow your focus. A unique point of view and a distinct voice are essential to building an audience.

There are two main questions you should ask yourself when setting up your blog and choosing your focus. The first is, “Do I enjoy learning about this subject?”

Good writing is infused with the passion of the author. If you’re writing something with thought and care, you’re more likely to benefit from actively engaged, inspired readers while building authority. On the flip side, if you don’t particularly like a topic, it’ll quickly surface in your writing and potentially turn readers off.

It’s important to be intellectually curious about the topic – otherwise, your creativity and ideas for new content might run dry.

Still not sure? Think about what your close friends and family come to you to discuss.

Do you know the best secret hiking spots in your state? Do your vegan recipes on Instagram get the most engagement? Let these answers guide your blog focus.

The second question you should ask is, “Does this already exist?”

You might think that a blog centered around crocheting crafts out of found materials is unique. Lo-and-behold, after a little Googling, you find a blog floating around focused on that exact niche.Although your blog will share space with similar blogs, it needs to be different enough for an audience to seek you out. You need to provide value – especially if you want to monetize your blog down the road.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has you worried about money, check out my free guide on Coronavirus-Proofing your Finances with the CEO approach

Step 2: Choose a Blog Name

Finding a name for your blog might seem intimidating at first, but don’t overthink it. Here are some tips to remember when you’re brainstorming your blog name:

Choose words related to your niche

Keep it simple and stick to one or two words

Don’t pick overly general terms like “travel”

Dotcom domains are preferred

Avoid hyphens or numbers

For a personal blog or branding, consider using a variation of your name

You can keep your domain name as long as you continue to pay your annual fees, which typically run $10 to $15 per year.

Step 3: Choose Your Web Host

So, you’ve chosen a niche around perfecting the art of macramé on a budget and named it. Now, what? The next step is to select your web host.

Web hosting is a service that makes your blog accessible through the web – it has a significant impact on your site’s overall functionality and its performance.

There’s a vast array of web hosts to choose from at all price points, from a few dollars to thousands. Above all, a good web host will walk you through setting up and launching your blog.

Hosted vs. Self-Hosted

You have two options here: hosted (Blogger, WordPress.com) and self-hosted (WordPress.org). “Hosted” blogging platforms, like Wix or Squarespace, offer a hands-off approach to your blog. You deal with one company, and all of your content and files live on the blog platform’s servers. These platforms manage data and web hosting, so you don’t have to.

Unfortunately, hosted platforms can be limiting and slow down the growth of your blog. Some might even put restrictions on how much money you can make from your content. Or you might be prohibited from monetizing at all.

“Self-hosted” platforms require you to install blogging software on your own web server.

Self-hosted platforms like WordPress.org allow you to set up and maintain your blog with a unique domain and web hosting. If you want to sell products, sell a service, or run ads, this is the right choice.

You’ve probably heard of WordPress’s blogging platform already, and there’s a reason for that – it’s easy to use and powerful. WordPress also delivers tons of free plugins you can leverage to customize and optimize your blog.

Step 4: Protect and Secure Your Blog

New bloggers may not realize they should protect their blog by doing some basic security housekeeping tasks.

Backup Your Blog

Backing up your blog should be one of the first things you do after setting up your blog. While it’s rare that a web host will lose or delete your site, it can still happen.

But your site suddenly disappearing isn’t the biggest threat to your blog — hackers are.

Hackers and other cybercriminals can infect your site with malicious code.

If the worst-case scenario occurs, but you have a backup of your blog available, you can restore a clean version of your website.

Be Careful With Copyrights

Copyrights need to be respected, especially when it comes to the visual elements of your blog.

Small-time bloggers are often the victims of what is called “Copyright Trolls.” Well-meaning bloggers might accidentally use copyrighted images to add visual interest to their content.

Copyright lawyers can sue you for damages based on the use of a copyrighted image, even if the lawyer doesn’t own the copyright or represent the entity with the copyright. As a result, bloggers can be bilked out of money.

How do you avoid this? Never use copyrighted images for your blog posts. If you’re not sure, it’s better to be safe than sorry and choose an image you’re confident that you can use.

It’s actually very easy to find images available for free through the public domain or free stock photo sites. And on that note, it’s good practice to credit the website or artist (or both), however. A step above using free images you find on the internet is to use your own graphics. Smartphones offer basic but helpful editing tools, and you can get surprisingly high-quality photos. Websites like Canva offer free tools you can use to create blog header graphics and other visual elements you can insert into your text to make your posts look more attractive.

Opt for Domain Privacy

Besides securing your blog, you should also take steps to protect your personal identity. Your web host should offer a domain privacy service that keeps your personal information private.

Besides domain privacy, avoid sharing identifying details in your blog like where you live, your schedule, names, and other similar details.

Use Hard-to-Guess Passwords for Your Blog Login

Although this might seem like a no-brainer, there’s evidence that millions of people still using passwords like “password,” “abc123,” and other easily-guessed combos.

Here are some basic password tips to keep in mind:

Use 12 characters minimum

Include numbers, capital letters, lower-case letters, and symbols

Don’t use dictionary words

You can use a password manager like Keeper if you’re concerned about forgetting a complex password.

Bonus: Want to turn your dream of working from home into a reality? Download my Ultimate Guide to Working from Home to learn how to make working from home work for YOU.

Step 5: Design and Customize Your Blog

Now for the fun stuff. Installing a theme for your blog is a straightforward task, but it can take time to accomplish since there are thousands of free themes to explore. While it’s essential to ensure that your blog is attractive and user-friendly, it’s equally important that it complements your blog content. If you’re working on a WordPress site, look for themes that say “SEO optimized”, “responsive” or “fast loading” themes. Many free themes can make sites look odd when viewed on a mobile device, or make for increased page speed (aka the time it takes a page to properly load). For users on sites like squarespace or Wix, you shouldn’t have to worry about these potential issues.

For example, if you’re starting an urban photography blog, a theme emphasizing visuals is preferable to text-oriented themes.

To get more relevant results, you can apply filters while searching for themes like designs based around your blog subject, for instance.

Step 6: Add Basic Blog Pages

Before you start posting regularly, it’s smart to add a few basic, standard pages to your blog to boost your website’s credibility.

Create an “About Me” Page

Your “About Me” page should explain who you are and the focus of your blog. Spend time making it interesting and fun.

Readers are often interested in getting to know you and how you started your industry or niche. You don’t have to write an entire autobiography, just describe how you got to the point you’re at now. Over everything else, be relatable.

For example, show your readers that you’re a credible source. Why should they listen to you? What experience do you have that makes you knowledgeable on this specific topic? If you’re writing a finance blog, are you a CPA? If you’re sharing recipes, what do you bring to the table that will make your audience want to listen to you? A coupon-cutter, perhaps? Tell your readers how long you’ve been doing it, how much money you save, and why they can benefit from the information you’re sharing.

Add a Privacy, Disclosure, and Comment Policy Page

If you want to monetize your blog, you’ll need to make sure you comply with all laws regarding data collection, privacy, and advertising. Adding standard disclosure language is an essential step if you want to make money.

You should also note your commenting policy. For example, do you allow anyone to comment? Do you ever delete comments? Are there commenting rules?

Craft a Simple Contact Page

It’s important to make it easy for readers and businesses to contact you. Set up a dedicated page with an embedded contact form or just list out your email — speaking of which…

Step 7: Set Up a Custom Blog Email Address

Another step you should take during the initial phases of your blog set up is registering a customized blog email address. At the outset, this may not seem all that important to you.

But details matter — especially to your readership and people who might reach out to you for partnerships, content writing services, and other reasons.

A professional email that matches your blog looks professional, credible, and helps build up your brand’s authority. An email from an email address with tons of numbers and a mishmash of letters can look spammy. If you’re unlucky enough, any email sent from a suspicious-looking email can be automatically filed to the “junk” category of your recipient’s mailbox.

As a professional blog owner, you don’t want to be confused with a Nigerian prince who needs a one-time investment to set up a new school playground. An email that’s simply [email protected] lends polish to your brand and can help you monetize your blog later. Nobody wants to do business with [email protected].

Step 8: Register Social Media Accounts for Your Blog

When you’ve done all the hard parts on your actual blog, it’s time to branch out to the world of social media. Social media is another channel you can use to alert followers to new posts and attract new visitors and more traffic.

Many social media platforms also allow you to set up ads that you can use to extend your blog’s reach.

Have a post on your blog that is performing well? You may want to consider targeting ads for it to get even more people on the page. Or, maybe you have an underperforming post you revamped — you might consider sending more traffic to that post with social media ads.

Below are some basic social media tips and which platforms to target.

Twitter

Set up a Twitter profile for your blog. Add a Tweet button to all blog posts you publish on your blog so followers can easily retweet them.

Follow other big names within your niche and interact with people in the industry already. Tweet out alerts for new posts.

Facebook

Set up a Facebook page for your blog. Share your content on Facebook, schedule posts, and invite friends and families to like your page.

Instagram

Set up an Instagram page. Find compelling images and use tools that allow for longer, evenly spaced captions to publish snippets of full-length blog posts or even exclusive “mini-blogs.”

Although this is a platform for building a professional network, almost any blog can still be relevant to a professional audience. Obviously, a blog about marketing is going to be more relevant to a wider group of people on LinkedIn, but don’t write it off if your blog is more niche.

LinkedIn provides the ability to connect with other bloggers and thought leaders within your industry.

Bonus: Having more than one stream of income can help you through tough economic times. Learn how to start earning money on the side with my FREE Ultimate Guide to Making Money

Step 9: Optimize Your Blog

SEO or search engine optimization is crucial, especially if you want to monetize your blog. SEO helps improve your site’s chances of appearing high on Google’s rankings for relevant search queries.

Although SEO can be intimidating at the outset, WordPress actually makes it pretty simple – even for beginners.

One of the best ways to get started on your blog’s SEO journey is by downloading a plugin called Yoast SEO. Yoast can give you readability ratings, keyword density, and point out pages on your blog that need a little SEO boost.

If you want to do a deeper dive into SEO, you can also conduct some keyword research. In most cases, you’ll naturally be using keywords as a result of providing valuable content around a particular subject.

But SEO tools like SEMrush, for example, can suggest alternate keywords to incorporate. Just don’t get too hung up on keywords and stuff too many in your posts, because Google can penalize your blog for doing so.

Once you have the keywords you want to target, use them in your title, title tags, first sentence, heading, subheadings, and any anchor text you use (the text you link to related pages on your website).

You can also optimize your images for SEO. When you upload images to your blog, use keywords in the file name, and use the alternate text space to write a keyword-rich description.

Step 10: Choose a Posting Schedule and Write Posts to Build an Audience

In most cases, it’ll take a few years to build an audience. Yes, years.

Here are a few blog tips to help nurture a loyal blog following and audience:

Stay Consistent: Try to post at least once a week and try to avoid skipping weeks. You can write a few posts ahead of time and schedule them out if you wish. In an ideal world, you should aim to post two to three times a week.

Focus on Quality: For every post you write, push for quality. Google tends to rank longer blog posts higher on their results pages, but if you’re writing fluff — that doesn’t help anyone.

Observe Your Competition: What is the focus of other similar blogs? Can you do it better or answer a query more comprehensively?

To Thine Own Self Be True: Find your unique voice – are you funny, heartfelt, honest? Build your brand. Write as if you’re talking to a close friend if you’re unsure of the right tone to adopt.

Get Active in Related Communities: Facebook groups, subreddits, podcast interviews, and speaking engagements can be lucrative opportunities for publicizing your blog.

Tips for Keeping a Strong Content Flow

Not every blog post you write will be award-winning. There might even come a time where you feel like you’ve run out of ideas. To avoid frustration and creative dead ends, consider brainstorming smart blog post content ahead of time.

If inspiration for a new post doesn’t pop into your head and you’re stuck fighting through a severe case of writer’s block, you can choose from that list of vetted topics you’ve created.

Okay, but what if you’re out of topics, and now you need to create new ones from scratch?

Read Books, Forums, and Comments: Reading books about your niche or people within your industry. Forums and your own blog comments can also be useful sources of potential inspiration.

Leverage Google: You can mine Google’s “People Also Ask” sections or query suggestions that pop up when you type in a keyword for blog post ideas.

Travel: Some bloggers also find success in coming up with new ideas by traveling somewhere and getting a fresh perspective. A new physical environment might just open up your brain.

Interview Industry Leaders: Can you reach out to other people who can provide insight on a topic? Or maybe you can join a friend in the industry for a cup of coffee and talk shop.

Crowdsource Topics: Use your readership for new ideas. Ask what your readers would like to see with polls on your social media platforms.

Step 11: Promote Your Blog

So, you’re posting regularly, and everything’s set up. Now, how do you encourage people to visit and read your blog?

Create social media posts immediately after publishing a new post.

Since you’ve already taken the first step of setting up your social media sites, it’s now time to leverage them as the fantastic promotional tools they are.

By publishing immediate social posts promoting your new blog content, you can get immediate follows, shares, likes, and retweets that can build momentum, so your post to go farther.

It’s important to remember that your audience is likely to follow you on a few different social media accounts.

That means you need to customize each snippet or preview text you use when promoting a blog post.

What you don’t want to do is copy and paste the same verbiage repeatedly for each of your accounts — it comes off spammy and uninteresting. Optimize your messaging for each social stream and audience.

Re-promote Successful Content

Did you hit virtual gold with a blog post that went viral? Don’t be shy about promoting it again after some time passes.

Re-promoting content that didn’t do well in the first place might not be the best strategy, but posts that have strong stats initially can do well again in the future.

It’s a good idea to focus your efforts on creating evergreen content that stays relevant over time.

“Evergreen” is just a term that internet marketers use to refer to posts considered timeless. This type of content stays useful years after the initial publication because it tackles a core problem or subject. An evergreen post might be “How to Clean Your Bike Chain.” A non-evergreen post would be “How to Clean Your Bike Chain During a Pandemic.”

Spice Up Your Blog Post Descriptions

Are you only sharing a blog post’s headline through your social media channels and calling it a day? Well, that gets boring very fast. To keep the interest in your blog higher, change up the messaging, and get inspiration from your own content.

State the Main Takeaways: Was there a “moral to the story” that sums up your post? Use that to give potential readers a basic, exciting summary.

Reuse Your Meta Description: Your meta description is the preview snippet that shows up in Google search results. (Yoast, that plugin we talked about earlier, will prompt you to customize yours – if you don’t customize it, Google will simply pull the first line or two from your blog.) Reuse your meta description to sell your blog post.

Use Your Subheadings: Your subheadings help readers navigate through your blog post. You can mine these subheadings for copy that you think might attract traffic to your website.

Pull Interesting Quotes: Did an industry leader, influencer, or celebrity give you a quote in your post? Pull out any interesting, odd, or thoughtful quotes and tag the person who said it in your social promotion post.

Use Images: Posts with visual elements get much more engagement than those without visual elements. Don’t just rely on boring stock images. Overlay images with text, create your own memes or use GIFs to demand attention.

Use Hashtags: For Twitter, you can use trending hashtags to see what people are already talking about or focus on hashtags relevant to your industry. For Instagram and Facebook, you can take advantage of pertinent hashtags to your blog. Don’t be afraid to get super specific with your hashtags.

Use Social Media Regularly: Post at least once a week, engage with commenters, and answer messages.

Guest Post

Guest posting is a way to promote your blog by contributing to another blog within your industry. By providing a guest post to another blogger, you can help build your own website’s credibility.

Guest blogging can accomplish three different goals for your blog: showing others you’re an expert, pushing traffic to your blog, and building backlinks.

Quick Explainer on Backlinks: Backlinks serve as a “vote” for your site. But not all backlinks are created equally. Links from relevant, trusted websites pointing to your website can your site move up in Google’s rankings. But, if spammy websites are giving you backlinks, that’s a red flag that may result in a ranking drop.

To pursue guest blogging, you’ll need to find places to submit a guest post. If your blog is about bikes, you’ll want to search for similar blogs focused on your bikes and make sure the blog owner is active with an engaged audience.

You can also use a simple Google search to find blogs accepting guest posts. Just use a keyword relevant to your niche plus “submit a guest post” or “guest post guidelines” and other similar search terms.

Once you’ve found blogs to guest post for, you’ll need to pitch a few content ideas. Make sure you do your due diligence and research the blog’s tone of voice, type of audience, and other information you need to know. Pay attention to guidelines like the required word count.

Some guest post bloggers allow you to post links to your blog in the content itself, while others will enable you to post your blog link in your byline. Each guest blogging site operates differently.

Step 12: Monetize Your Blog

There are many ways you can monetize your blog, but the two you can most easily leverage are affiliate links and services.

Affiliate programs work through pushing links to products relevant to your audience. When your audience clicks through the link to that recommendation, they get a unique tracking code. If they end up purchasing, you’ll get a portion of the sale.

Another way to monetize your blog is to offer services or intensive information related to your topics of expertise or industry.

Depending on your blog’s focus, you can provide live workshops, one-on-one consulting sessions, or comprehensive online courses. Your blog serves as the jumping-off point, but your audience will only convert into customers if you’ve demonstrated authority and knowledge. Neither of which happens overnight.

Takeaways: Building a Blog, Step by Step

Creating a blog requires patience, strategy, and the desire to develop quality content. You don’t have to be a professional writer to create a successful blog. Plenty of everyday people have created a blog out stemming from a genuine interest that exploded into a successful brand. If you’re ready to try something new, blogging is a great way to flex your creative muscle and potentially earn some money.

FAQs: How to Start a Blog as a Beginner

Still, have a few remaining questions about starting a blog? Get answers to your blogging FAQs below.

Can I Start a Blog for Free?

While it’s true that you can, if your end goal is to monetize your blog and transform it into a lucrative side hustle, it makes more sense to pay to host your blog on your own server with your own domain name. Not only will this make your blog more “legit” from the outset, but it also gives you much more flexibility for monetizing down the line.

Is it Difficult to Start a Blog?

Yes and no. While starting a blog is a reasonably straightforward process, the key to creating a successful one is consistency. Consistency and developing a strong content strategy are going to be the most difficult parts of maintaining your blog, especially if you have other responsibilities demanding your attention like a day job, kids, or other obligations.

With that said, writing regularly for your blog is easy once it’s a habit, and you have a running list of future blog post ideas from which to choose.

How Much Money Can I Realistically Make Blogging?

It’s not unrealistic to make a range from just one cent to ten cents per page view through ads. If you get around 1,000-page views each month, you can earn $10-$100! And depending on the success of your blog, it can go up from there. Not everyone will be able to live off their blog income full-time, but there’s still the potential to make a good chunk of change.

Do People Still Read Blogs Anymore?

Yes! Blogs are still critical in the internet landscape. There are a few things to note about how people read blogs that have changed over time. For example, people are much less likely to read a blog post from beginning to end.

Instead, people tend to skim a post for the information most relevant to them. Keep that information in mind as you’re writing your initial blog posts.

Well-structured blog posts should utilize headings and subheadings so that information is organized efficiently, and readers can find what they need.

How Do I Make My Blog Stand Out?

Ultimately, you’ll need to provide value. Good information on a particular subject is the best way to set your blog apart from others. But a difficult-to-use site with a lot of great information is unlikely to garner much attention. First impressions matter, in real life and in virtual life.

Your site should be user-friendly, easy to navigate, and easy to skim. And don’t forget to integrate enough negative space to give your readers somewhere to “rest.”

Focus on making a site that even an older relative could navigate.

How Do I Stop Spam Comments?

If you allow comments, you need to be prepared for spammers and trolls. One way to deal with this issue is by turning off commenting altogether. Or you can also moderate the comments yourself or install plugins that can help reduce the frequency of spam.

How Do Successful Bloggers Monetize Their Blogs?

Bloggers may use their blogs to increase their authority within a certain niche or industry, sell things like memberships, sell digital products like e-books or courses, use affiliate links, or monetize with CPC or CPM ads.

FYI: CPC and CPM stand for “cost-per-click” and “cost-per-thousand-impressions,” respectively.

What Kind of Blogs Make the Most Money?

Before you get your answer, it needs to be said: don’t let the list of blog types inform the choice of your blog alone.

Why? Well, if you want to start a blog about newborns because that’s a niche that’s historically made money, you can only do so confidently if you’ve had a baby yourself or work with babies.

If you’re an 18-year-old single college student without a kid, it doesn’t make sense to start a blog about newborns. Keep that concept in mind before pursuing a subject simply because it historically makes money in the blogging world.

Top Blogging Niches:

Crafting

Parenting or newborn

Health

Lifestyle or family life

Budgeting

Interior Design or home decor

If your blog doesn’t fall under one of these umbrella categories, don’t panic. Ultimately, these are just basic categories that won’t make or break the success of your blog. Stay authentic to what you’re actually passionate about.

How Can I Better Analyze My Website Traffic For Free?

If you want to know what types of people visit your site, you have a few free tools you can leverage. Two of the best are Google Console and Google Analytics.

Both of these tools are easy to install and offer training so you can learn to use them. GC and GA can reveal interesting insights into visitor behavior, backlinks to your site, and other pertinent information about your site’s ranking for particular keywords.

How Long Should My Blog Posts Be?

While there isn’t a hard and fast rule about content length, if you’re trying to get ranked on Google, longer is better. Blog posts between 1500 and 2000 words seem to be ideal. Again, your posts shouldn’t be full of fluff for the sake of reaching those word count goals. Instead, try to create comprehensive posts that cover a particular subject in rich detail.

Will I Make Money Off My Blog Right Away?

While instantaneous success isn’t unheard of, you will probably need to blog for a few months or closer to a year before you see any revenue. Your initial year operating the blog should focus on analyzing what’s working and what isn’t working. Here are some questions you should ask (and know the answer to!) after your first few months to a year of blogging.

What are the most popular posts? The least popular?

What are the demographics of my blog visitors?

How long are people staying on my page?

Is traffic trending up, down, or is it steady?

Starting a blog isn’t going to be an overnight project, but with time and patience, you can turn it into a real side hustle.

How to Start a Blog is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Finance https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/how-to-start-a-blog/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

andrewdburton · 4 years

Text

How to Start a Blog

Key Takeaways

Find a niche and post consistently to see the best results.

Focus on quality, longer-length posts.

Use your content to build authority and monetize services.

If you’ve been daydreaming about creating a blog during yet another endless conference call, an excellent place to start is right here.

In case you haven’t heard, content is king. And there are plenty of full-time bloggers who prove it and make a living writing about hobbies, recipes, or workouts.

Writing with authority on a topic provides serious value in an internet landscape, often filled with subpar information.

Like almost everything else in life, you get what you put in.

A great blog involves research, content strategy, and a fresh perspective.

So, if you have a story to tell or a niche to fill, it’s time to learn how to start a blog and unleash your creativity.

Step 1: Pick Your Blog Niche