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darkmatters-ghost · 7 days
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Fandom: God there’s like NO content anymore. I wish we could get more art and fanfics :(((
Someone: Hey, I can’t draw anything digitally, because I can’t afford a tablet, but here’s a pen on paper drawing that I spent a lot of time and hard work on. Also, I took a shot at my first fanfic and I’d really like some feedback or at least some kudos if you enjoyed it :)
Fandom: Oh... yeah sorry no... not you. We actually meant writers that are already well known and popular to produce MORE content... I mean, if a popular blog shares your work then maybe. And we don’t really like pen to paper art. We just don’t think it’s professional or even looks good :/
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darkmatters-ghost · 11 days
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IF YOU ARE A SONIC FANARTIST!
Ok, so I WAS going to contact artists individually and privately, but that was before I realized there would be literally hundreds of artists.
The Youtube channel Super Hedgehog Bros is reposting and monetizing art from HUNDREDS of Sonic artists. In 3 videos alone, all posted within the last week, they have used art from over 100 artists. Their channel is monetized, they are making money from views.
100 artists from 3 videos. The channel has over 400 videos posted. They have over 60k subscribers.
If you're a Sonic artist, especially if you make comics, and you don't want your work reposted for someone else's monetary gain then you should probably have a look and consider if you want to do a copyright claim. Maybe let your friends know too, if you know they care about this sort of thing.
It's literally impossible for me to contact everyone about this, I just need to hope this post finds at least some of the people it matters to!
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darkmatters-ghost · 30 days
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Okay as someone with severe comment anxiety this is an absolutely perfect basis for the way I receive comments too. You'll have to do something truly special to piss me off and all I want is to know I made people feel good :)
(I know the difference between "wary" and "weary" but my subconscious and phone don't seem to know and my brain never catches it ever when spell-checking and I live in fear)
not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…
‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.
‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.
even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.
I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.
fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.
idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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Only Iblis ones. Hence the lack of obnoxious purple Lazer Llizards.
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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I headcanon that it'd be very annoying to be Shadow the hedgehog.
You go to the DMV and get your driver's license thanks to technically being 50 years old
Then you go to the bank and they refuse to do anything "without a legal guardian present" because technically you're only like 4 years old
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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I'm reading a simplified version of Journey to the West (Chinese mythology that created the Monkey King) and I'm having so much fun with it. Chinese isn't my first language, so the version I'm using tries its best to keep the vocab to a 1200 word limit. The goal being to help people improve their reading. And it's totally working, but the real intriguing part is the story.
The story is just so engaging and funny, and the characters, as flawed as they are, are really endearing. Like, it's clear why this thing became Chinese mythology in the first place.
But because it's written in an easier way to read, my brain puts into a "kind of made for kids" category, and having that mindset makes the things I'm reading all the crazier and more hilarious.
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Like, of all the things I expected to read in my second language, this was not one of them. 😂
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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Speaking of AI in fandoms, I'd love to bring AI Fanfiction to the discussion. Because that's been eye opening. (I'm also too stupid at art to really understand how much work goes into one image.) It's serious theft, it's a robot puking back up what it's seen before and you can feel it in the writing it makes. It claims in the narration that the characters are feeling things and learning when that isn't what's happening. Nothing real is going on. And you can feel it in Every. Single. Sentence. It's honestly horrible, and I've been against it since its creation. But recently I noticed something absolutely insane and disheartening.
I'm a senior in highschool (17, going on 18), and all of the new sophomores are using AI. All of them. These 15 year olds are openly talking about their use of AI fanfic and AI fanart. And listening to them rattle on and on about how cool it is to have a way to bring these things to life via AI made me realize something. These kids aren't trying to be thieves. It's not that they lack morals, or are lazy. They haven't thought about the full implications of it, sure, but there's an underlying issue here.
They're using AI because they don't think they can make anything worthwhile themselves. And that makes my blood boil.
Something about AI is making these kids think that the only way to enjoy fan content the way they picture it in their head is to have something more "qualified" to do it. AI is telling these kids that they suck at art. That they suck at writing. And that there's nothing they can do about it. And they're just young enough to accept that.
And y'know what? They probably do suck. But that's a good thing! The best thing about fandom is the way it uses people's passion for their favorite things and turns it into skill.
We all sucked at what we do when we were younger. I sucked at grammar when I started writing. My concepts were killer but my execution was just abysmal. But my love for the original content fueled me to keep going. To keep trying and I'd say that now my writing is pretty darn good. I see such talented people draw wonderful things because fandom made them practice. Fandom constantly brings out the best in people. We're really good at these things now. We don't need a dumb robot to do it worse.
But fandom has changed. Now there's an easy way to create something without becoming a creator. These insecure kids are entering fandoms with that concept in mind. And when they see that they suck, they hit that ever present roadblock of worrying you won't get better. But now they have an out. While we all had to figure out how to get over said roadblock, they just pressed the skip button, because it was there. They skipped the most important thing you could possibly learn in life, because some a-hole made a skip button.
It's like they're sequence breaking life, missed a power up, and feel like the only way to succeed is to keep using the cheat code that got them stuck in the first place.
These poor kids, man. AI isn't just the death of creativity, it's the death of ambition, and self-esteem. These kids aren't the problem, they're the victims. Victims of this toxic mindset that AI put into their heads.
I'm starting to see AI art in fanart tags and even when they are tagged as AI art, people in the reblogs tagged it as fanart.
Let me just say this once. I don't believe AI art is fanart. The way things are, it's theft. It doesn't count. The effort that fan artists put into their works cannot be equated in value with whatever an AI generates. The works with hours of applied skill and originality and love put into them are the works I want to praise on this blog.
So that being said, if I ever reblog "fanart" that is ai generated, please send me a message or an ask and let me know so I can delete it off my blog.
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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So…sonadow generations am I right
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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Is literally anyone going to be upset if I heavily base Silver's powers on Project 06 instead of the original?
Like I highly doubt anyone who even cares will end up disliking it (I mean, I have yet to be called out on my descriptions of his magic matching p06 more than the retail), but I figured I'd ask. It's not going to change very much, like at all, but I significantly prefer it.
For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about:
youtube
It would have all of the specific attacks and the updated glow and stuff.
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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I definitely had a serious struggle switching from Wattpad, where people seemed to constantly care about your fic and you a lot to ao3 where everything about it was better and bigger and more professional...
But no one seemed to care.
Even if they did care, it didn't feel like it because I was never given any feedback. And if I'm going to be perfectly honest, the crisis of not knowing whether the hundreds of hours I've spent on something actually positively affected people is hitting me all over again. And it feels a lot like the isolation of quarantine leaking into my escape circles. Except this time, I sunk hours and hours and my whole heart into trying to reach out and enjoy things with others only for the response to be silence.
No one reblogs on tumblr anymore.
No one leaves comments on Ao3 anymore.
Seriously people the lack of fandom interaction these days makes me genuinely depressed, it never used to be like this, makes me wonder what's the point of coming online to do anything anymore.
Reblog a post so other people can see it.
Leave a comment so the author doesn't feel like giving up.
Fandom cannot live on Likes or Kudos alone.
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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What's currently happening:
I kinda went silent in here for a bit, oops. I just did a bunch of holiday stuff and it was utterly exhausting.
I wanted to reblog more stuff, but I don't want this blog to get all cluttered so a have another Tumblr for reblogs specifically:
I also posted chapter 4 of Psychic and Empathetic! Pls check it out! <3
I'll keep you updated if anything changes
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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Hi hello chapter 4 of Psychic and Empathetic is finished so here's a update/sneak peek/whatever the heck this is going to be.
Alright okay so in this chapter, 6yo Silver and Shadow make things out of play-doh, because Shadow's a good dad who Parallel plays with his son! It was getting a little hard to describe the play-doh things, so I thought "hey, can't I just make these things? I mean, it's not like Ao3 can't have pictures!" So here's pictures of some of the things they make.
I didn't actually have play-doh, so I used my own weird undrying clay, and I'm NOT an artist, and my wrists identify as Jello, so this isn't the greatest art project in the world but I did the thing! So I win! I guess!
Exhibit A
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Silver makes a play-doh birthday cake, and its candles are described as looking like limp noodles, and falling off. This is exactly what happened when I tried to recreate it irl, but believe it or not, the super limp one was actually the most stable for some bizarre unfathomable reason
Exhibit B
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Silver also makes a turtle! I think this one came out really well–aside from the face. The face isn't supposed to look like the creature from Garten of Banban 2 or 14 or whichever game, but apparently cute faces are beyond my skill set.
Exhibit C
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This is what Shadow makes, and this is why I decided to do it irl. Try describing this. It's supposed to be fire... I mean, you can't really tell but that's what it's supposed to be... Anyway, imagine this but like waaay better
I hope you all enjoy the chapter when it comes out! <3
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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Hey guys, you'll never guess what I'm working on!!!
Okay yeah it's that same dadow fic that went silent for half a year too long. But! I am working on it. Chapter 4 currently.
It's almost finished, not quite, but almost. I just want to assure you guys that I'm not ditching it or anything. Chap 4 was just a significantly more ambitious than I realized when I first decided to go the direction I did. I don't regret it at all, I think this chapter will turn out great, but it was quite the steep incline in difficulty.
If you're like me and want more Shadow as Silver's dad then please, please go check my fic out! I think it's shaping up nicely, and if it's not your cup of tea then no hard feelings!
There will be more explanations of why I disinte-vaporated for months in case you care
So my health is quite the rollercoaster, it's constantly up and down and the answer to "how are you?" depends on what day or week or hour you're asking. But generally speaking, things are getting way better. I can eat, I can sleep, I can go to school consistently, so my disappearing can be attributed to a thousand different things at any given point, but one of the more recent/significant ones is just burnout.
It was just really bad story burnout.
I dream almost every night. And every night there's a new story. My mind is so overflowing with story concepts that my subconscious leeks them into my dreams so that I feel like I told the story I want to tell.
One of my dreams was about a creature that showed up one day on national geographic and as time went on they got more prominent and started attacking the city Godzilla-style.
Another one featured a little girl who was given a locket with a vengeful spirit inside, and she must try to contain it by fighting her curiosity.
One was a Journey to the West style story, with similar writing cliches and story structure that was built to mimic the Monkey King's episodic adventures. And it worked. It felt like it could've been ripped straight from the book I grew up on.
Horror game type stories, musicals, apocalyptic survival circumstances, dating Sims I can sequence break. So when my dreams up and ghosted me, it was terrifying.
Apparently the spotty sleep and constant studying was rougher on my brain than I thought, and I just had to give it a rest. So I gave my mind some space, a couple weeks, and it recovered exuberantly.
I still don't fully know what the deal with that was, but I'm going to work with it instead of against it.
So I'm back! My fingers aren't malfunctioning, my brain is back so get ready for some more dadow fluff!!!
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darkmatters-ghost · 3 months
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Just some wholesome non angst sketches
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darkmatters-ghost · 4 months
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Write Your Story
I just showed my 11-year-old son how many coffee shop AUs there are on AO3.
Why?
He sat down the other day to write a Minecraft story about three kids who go through a portal in their back yard and end up in the world of Minecraft where they have to battle all the big bosses (I didn’t even realize there WERE big bosses in Minecraft but that’s beside the point). He wrote three chapters with a little input from me – his first beta – and y'all?
He was fucking excited. To be writing a story.
Today he came home from school and seemed a little down, so I asked him about it only to find out that some little asshole at his school told him, “There is already a Minecraft story.”
Me: Okay? So what?
Lucifer: If there’s already a story, no one will read mine.
Immediately, I dragged him in and pulled up my AO3 account. My boys know I write fanfiction, so I showed him my account and how many subscribers I have. Then I showed him how many Teen Wolf stories there are. And then, because it seemed like the perfect analogy, I said, “What if I wrote a story where two characters meet in a coffee shop and fall in love? No werewolves, nothing at all to do with the actual Teen Wolf universe. Just Stiles and Derek meet in a coffeeshop and fall in love.”
He laughed.
I showed him Mornings Aren’t For Everyone. Showed him how many hits it had, how many kudos, how many lovely comments.
Then I said, “So do you think, if anyone else wrote a story about those exact same characters meeting in a coffee shop and falling in love… would anyone read it?”
He laughed and said, “No because you already did.”
So I clicked on the Sterek tag and refined to coffee shop AU. His mind was blown to see that they ALL had thousands of hits and kudos and comments. Then I clicked on JUST the coffee shop AU tag and showed him all the fics across all the fandoms written by countless different people.
I’m going to tell you all now what I told him because it applies to everyone.
Write your story. It doesn’t matter that someone else has written a story about that subject. They didn’t write YOUR story. Only you can do that.
And I want to read your story.
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darkmatters-ghost · 4 months
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I don't know why I feel the need to share this, maybe it's because it's been on my mind and it's 2:41 am and it's currently the "time is sludge... Again" part of the insomniac experience, but I want to talk about this. (This talks about my experience with happy stimming under the cut)
It was several years ago when I saw this comic of someone's happy stimming. She, like, waves her arms around and builds up this lovely yellow hue, and it's sparkly and then she expels all of it as at once and- it's truly a wonderful comic. I don't know where it is now. But it really captures the right feeling. And it was so cool... But I was kind of... I feel bad using strong words like "mortified" but that's the best way to say it.
Because Stimming was one of the many, MANY things I have in common with our lovely autistic community. And we're entering a world where people are starting to be able to be who we are and act how we feel, and I knew from the moment I saw it, that something was wrong. I didn't have a happy stim.
Most people who stim are forced to stop because humans are so bad at appreciating the abnormal, and that never happened to me. I'm lucky! But I didn't have a happy stim. And I knew I was supposed to. I immediately knew that. Knew it about me, me as a person. I knew it. There was a hole in me that was taken and I didn't know why! And it was terrifying.
And I kept thinking, And and I kept digging.
I knew about physical stims. With your hands and your feet and your hair. Most of my stims were those. I'd bounce my leg under a table, I tap the pads of my fingers together with my thumb if I was a specific kind of anxious, I move the bones in my wrists back to where they're supposed to be to try and fix things instinctually.
All of those were to get less anxious though. And my mother was always so open to things like that. So willing to learn about every diagnosis and piece of information that needed researching.
I knew about vocal stims. While most people were forced to stop for more crummy society reasons, that wasn't the case for me. I just... Didn't have any? I enjoy talking, I enjoy singing but they weren't... That comic. They didn't have the yellow feel-good-ness. They didn't have The thing.
I like swinging on swingsets. The momentum is nice. I think that counts as a stim but I usually did it to help, wouldn't-cha know it, anxiety. Help me sleep at night. It wasn't the thing.
In my house, you didn't listen to songs on repeat. My mother would lose it. You didn't loop songs in the car, it'd drive her batty. She'd probably have a panic attack. So I never thought of it as a thing? It didn't occur to me. When I got my own pair of headphones, I wouldn't drive her crazy by listening to anything on loop, I could go forever if I wanted. But I didn't. It wasn't a thing and I was apprehensive about it, that's not a thing we do. Don't to it. Even when my mind got loud about playing things on loop, I tried not to let it overcome me. That's not a thing. People don't do that. And I'd long since settled with the dismal answer of never knowing what the stim was. I hadn't even thought of checking because sounds like asmr hurt like sandpaper on my brain.
But recently, I don't know, something changed? I reeeally needed to hear this song again. So I went to the instrumental. And it was great there. I went to the vocal only, it was just the goodest sound. I went to covers and back and eventually I just let it play. I really let it smoosh into my head and memorized the instruments and felt them. It was like following a groove in a table by tracing your finger across it. It was just. The thing. I actually lost sleep because I was enjoying myself so much. I was so happy!
I talked with my mother about it. "I dunno, I really really wanted to hear that song over and over? it has a BAGPIPE in the second verse! Who wouldn't want to hear that!?"
"yeah, I could never do that. I guess my misophonia is too strong for that."
It was so eye opening. Misophonia. It was her misophonia, she'd never used that word before. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. Listening to this song on loop isn't bad, it's just a me thing.
And that's when I realized that I'd found the thing. I'd finally found my happy stim. I've decided to not cry about it, but this was such wonderful news. It's needlessly specific, and I don't know why my kid mind had labed "no looping" as Gospel? I mean there's a button for it and everything. But it's my thing.
I may never have some visible stim that people will see but I have my thing and I'm so beyond society possibly judging me.
I am on ADD meds, have overstimulation issues, anxiety, truly frightening physical disabilities I fight all beneath the surface. And I play the songs that have the thing about them on loop for five hours at a time. And I think I love me for it.
Whoever you are, you're you. You're more you than anyone else. That is something beautiful. You like Fanfic, go for it! You like art? Go for it! You like flapping your hands? Go for it! You like judging Disney for its questionable decisions as of late? Try not to kill them too much. They only mostly deserve it.
Being you is a gift that you should cherish, and reward yourself by being you. Not someone else.
For those that read this whole thing, the song in question is I've Had Enough of You from Billie Bust Up, a video game musical that's currently in development. Listen to all the stuff that's out so far, every song I've heard knocks it out of the park. Listen to it on loop if you want! I think we've established that listening to songs on loop does not, in fact, summon Satan.
Happy Stimming! (why does that sound like a holiday now?)
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darkmatters-ghost · 4 months
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@irresia I haven't watched all of s3 yet, so there's probably more, but I went to watch it in Mandarin Chinese, and Sonic says, “我不知道你喜欢抱抱, 啊。” bào (抱) means cuddle, and if you say a verb twice, it makes it informal and cutesy. Basically, he said, "aw, I didn't know you were such a cuddle-bug!"
no bc im losing it
so in english it's "I never knew you were a hugger" which is incredibly painful and all that
and so I went to check out the norwegian dub for shits n giggles and to laugh at the voices and mf sonic says "I KNEW you were a hugger!"
I NEED TO BE SEDATED
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edit 2: NEW LANGUAGES!!! IT GETS CUTER FOR EVERY FUCKING DUB
@dykedandelion: sonic in french says "ON A JAMAIS ÉTÉ AUSSI PROCHE" which means "WE'VE NEVER BEEN THIS CLOSE"
I checked the swedish dub and sonic says: "TÄNK ATT DU KAN VARA SÅ KRAMIG" which means something like "TO THINK THAT YOU CAN BE SO HUGGABLE"=!"=)!)"!=
@lephalacat courteously gave me a heart attack by giving the korean dub, where sonic says: "너한테 안기는 날이 오다니" which means "I CAN'T BELIEVE THE DAY ARRIVED FOR ME TO GET HUGGED BY YOU"
with the combined effort of @wackyunicornart and @dykedandelion they've expertly deduced what sonic says in the dutch dub: "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU WERE SUCH A CUDDLER" i need aIR
@shadowthehedgehog swooped in with a delicious spanish one where sonic says: "QUIEN DIRÍA QUE TE GUSTABA ABRAZAR" which is "WHO KNEW YOU LIKED TO HUG" I NEED TO SIT IN A CORNER AND CRY
@luankuro in Portuguese sonic says something akin to "DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE SO AFFECTIONATE/TENDER" THIS SEASON HAS RUINED ME
@tenebraevesper graciously handed over both the croatian dub and the german dub; both of them just as DEVASTATING - in croatian, sonic says: "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU LIKE TO HUG", and in german, he says: "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU'RE INTO HUGGING" THESE HEDGEHOGS ARE GONNA BE THE DEATH OF ME
I will join @kyri45 in their several several processing business days after the italian dub was revealed to have sonic say: "I DIDN'T SEE YOU AS SUCH AN AFFECTIONATE TYPE"
@polaris-reblog and from the left field we have an INCREDIBLE Thai dub with sonic that says: "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU'D BE THE TYPE TO CARRY/PICK PEOPLE UP" CAN I GET A WAHOO
@windpolygon comes in with an absolute gem in russian: "DO YOU LIKE/LOVE TO HUG" SO WHAT IF HE DOES
@transgender-battlekukku runs in with Brazilian Portuguese that has sonic say: "EU NÃO SABIA QUE VOCÊ ERA TÃO CARINHOSO" which they so lovingly translate to "I NEVER KNEW YOU WERE SO LOVING/AFFECTIONATE" FELLAS WE DIDN'T KNOW EITHER BEFORE TODAY
the polish version, given by @hereissananxiousmess, has sonic being a sMARTASS, saying: "AH SO YOU DO LIKE TO HUG" JESUS CHRIST THIS GETS CUTER EACH TIME
the Galician version has me by the tHROAT okay @shadowthtrash so in this version sonic says: "Nunca pensei que me foses levar no colo" which means "I'VE NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD CRADLE ME AROUND" OUEGHR that's so cute
@mmiriozuzo turkish dub and sub is sO sweet honestly bc in the dub he says: "Sarılmayı sevdiğini hiç bilmiyordum", which translates to "I NEVER KNEW YOU LIKED HUGGING" while the turkish sub writes: "Sen sarılmayı sever miydin?" which means "SO YOU LIKE HUGGING?"
@ash-doodles-stuff went for my soul by revealing what the japanese and hindi version says; in Japanese, sonic says: "TO BE HELD IN YOUR ARMS" SONIC PLEASE - in the hindi version he says: "DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKED HUGS AND STUFF" OEURGH I'LL NEVER GET ENOUGH OF THESE
@sonicposting joins the bandwagon by announcing the romanian version has sonic saying: "n-am știut că-ți place în brațe", which means something like "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKE BEING HELD" although "it's hard to translate, but the way it is phrased implies that sonic didn't know shadow likes being held" THESE DUBS WILL END ME ONE DAY
@cosmicgirlypop runs in with the Arabic dub, where sonic says: "I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKE HUGS!" this is the yEAR OF SONADOW PEOPLE BC SHADOW SAYS "STAY WITH ME SONIC" AS A RESPONSE
suffice to say I think english is the glaring, obvious outlier here JHDJHDS
THE DUBBERS ATE AND LEFT NO CRUMBS BEHIND THIS IS TRULY THE YEAR OF SONADOW
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