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kedsandtubesocks · 1 month

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your favorite kryptonite

Comic Bookstore Owner!Dieter Bravo x F!Reader

summary: you think it should be illegal for someone this hot to work at your favorite comics & fandom shop

warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY, MDNI. non canon AU. Dieter as a big fandom nerd (affectionate), brief one sided annoyance to lovers, mentions and discussions of various medias including marvel, video games & anime/manga, light use of gendered language, moment of harassment from a creep, Dieter cosplaying surprise, spicy themes, reader wears Dieter’s robe but no physical description is mentioned, light drug use (marijuana), silly chaotic but sweet!Dieter

word count: 4.3k

a/n: So I’m back with another wacky AU LOL this is my love letter to all things wonderfully nerdy & to nerd Dieter who in my heart i believe is totally a Kakashi and Goku fanboy lol the biggest thanks go out to @perotovar & @burntheedges who helped championed this and gave me the power up strength to continue, so grateful for y’all babes! And to you reading this thank you so much ♡

The new mecha anime figurines immediately draw your attention. Their sharp beautiful sleek designs stand impressively and although you might not be a huge fan you admire the striking style.

You’ve been coming to Atomic Planet Shop since your best friend dragged you here in high school years ago. Containing a wide range of things like a whole area to flip through comics, to a wall of Japanese manga - it’s a nerd’s paradise.

Currently you search for a birthday gift to get your best friend and maybe snag a treat for youdelf.

“Oh, a fan of Gundam I see.” An eager and new voice calls from behind.

Turning back you discover someone slinking out from behind the register. Normally Raymond, the sweet older man who runs the store, would be here. But now someone new stands in his place and you’re stunned.

The guy emerging from behind the counter is gorgeous.

Scruffy beard, fluffy hair, wearing earrings and rings on his hand, he’s hot. The shirt he wears says “Wolverine Call Me” in a heart shape. His deep chocolate even eyes seem to dance curiously.

“Uh, just looking.” You politely reply.

“Whatcha looking for?”

You explain how you’re here looking for a birthday gift for your friend.

“Oh nice.” He nods appreciatively.

While you’re turned, giving this new worker your attrition, you finally notice the glass shelf behind the register.

Your eyes go wide fast at what you spot.

“Is that a new Stardew Valley cookbook?” You can’t even process the words, you’re still in awe at the sight. Precious little drawings fill the space to show familiar dishes, like pink cake and lucky lunch, from the game. It’s gorgeous and so unique.

“Oh hell yeah, you a fan?” The mystery man exclaims. “You know we have a whole little-”

“Video game section off to the side. Yeah.” You warmly cut him off.

Originally the store had been very comics and graphic novel focused. However over the years it’s evolved to add more fandom-like elements and now there’s even a small but impressive video game focused area.

A sweetly surprised look falls over the guy’s face and it paints him utterly charming.

“So who’s your go-to spouse in SDV?” He asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

You tell him and he nods sagely.

“I always go for Krobus. Gotta respect our cute sewer dweller.” He says.

While you laugh a flutter scurries across your heart.

A ring at the door chimes in breaking your sweet conversation and a cluster of guys walk into the store.

“Guess I’ll get back to birthday gift hunting.” You smile at the cute worker then return to the comic stacks.

Flipping through the different series and passing through many fun options, you catch the conversation off to the side.

The pack of young guys that walked in seem to know the cute worker and snicker with him about something.

“Oh yeah man, so I was rewatching Endgame the other day and the part where Scarlet Witch goes one on one with Thanos? Unrealistic!” One of them cackles and you pause.

Did they not even see or know about how powerful she’s confirmed to be in the other MCU projects? Even then, in the comics Scarlet Witch flat out changes the trajectory of reality. If anything Thanos is only strong because he got lucky.

But you hold your tongue and continue scanning through the comics.

These guys are probably just punk ass kids. You don’t want to waste your energy on these guys who probably also hate on other characters like Shuri and Carol Danvers.

Now the cute store worker scoffs amused but doesn’t correct them. Your face scrunches up.

You thought he was charming, maybe a bit eccentric, like a 90’s vibrant Lisa Frank vibe. Yet now your skin crawls just a little bit thinking he might be one of those unfortunately toxic gatekeeping jackass guys.

You decide to leave now. You still had time to look for a birthday gift for your best friend. So you’ll just come back later. Without a second glance to the cute worker, you slip out and wonder about maybe checking out another store.

Of course, you’re too tired to actively look for another store. The next time you return to Atomic Planet, you pray Raymond is there.

You’re excited and almost relieved to see the familiar eccentric older man smiling toothy at you from behind the counter.

“Well, you’re a wonderful sight for sore eyes!” He greets you and happily you catch up and chat with him.

Suddenly a chaotic bang clamors in. The handsome worker from last time tumbles out from the back room into the front as if he tried to rush over.

“Dieter man, what’s the rush?” Raymond laughs.

Dieter. So that’s his name.

The guy, Dieter, this time wears a Naruto shirt under a sleepy and cozy green robe. His hair is still fluffy and you don’t miss how wide eyes stare at you.

“Hey.” You politely but curtly reply.

“Hi.” Dieter waves and you hate how cute he looks.

“By the annoyed look on your face, I take it you’ve met this new headache.” Raymond chuckles and embarrassment rams into you knowing your annoyance is that obvious.

“Don’t worry, he’s harmless.” Raymond waves. “He cries when he watches My Neighbor Totoro.”

“Hey what the fuck!” Dieter cries and you press your lips together trying not to laugh.

“Just ignore him, honey.” Raymond winks and you grin wide.

After thanking him, you head back to the birthday gift search. Searching now through the manga selection you notice something moves by the corner of your eye.

Turning to the side, a large Totoro plushie floats beside you obviously being held up.

“Please don’t be mad at me.” A high pitch tone acting as the adorable creature's voice speaks out and your lips twitch.

From the side Dieter pops his head out.

His hair, rivaling a bird's nest, creates a cloud around him and his wide doe-like eyes peeking out are so hard to be fully annoyed at.

“You know,” he now fully speaks in his voice, moving to hold the large adorable plushie in his arms. “Never got your name.”

“You have my full permission to beat his ass if you need to, dear.” Raymond yells dully from the cash register and Dieter squawks horrified.

You laugh bright. Turning to the side you see Dieter already holds his hand out. The half crooked grin on his face paints him so boyish.

“Name’s Dieter.”

You shake his hand, finally giving him your name.

“So, do you really think Scarlet Witch can’t take on Thanos?” You offer light.

Dieter sighs loud. “I knew those guys and what we were talking about might’ve pissed you off.”

So he was watching you. That brings in a curious warmth that courses through you.

“Well I do apologize.” He bows his head a bit. You at least appreciate that.

“I bet those guys are the same ones that don’t like Carol Danvers either or even know that Squirrel Girl defeated Thanos.” You add a bit snippy.

“You know your shit, I like that.” Dieter replies proud and the way his voice drips out smooth does something dangerous to your heart.

You shrug but fight off the smug grin threatening to mirror his.

“Maybe you need to go Gandalf on my ass and teach me a thing or two, like maybe over coffee?” Dieter offers and you’re knocked out.

So he feels this spark, chemistry or whatever it is, between you too.

“Maybe,” you reply back with a grin. “For now I gotta get back to gift shopping.”

“You still haven’t found your friend a gift?! Geeze, what kind of bestie are you?!” He cries out teasing and you roll your eyes.

It’s getting harder staying annoyed with him and not taking up his offer to get coffee.

You eventually decide on a comic art book for your friend and then spot the assorted mystery box trinkets to maybe snag a few for her and even for yourself.

“I know everyone says Goku would beat the fuck out of Thanos, but you know who else would too without breaking a sweat?” Dieter’s voice again arrives at your side. He’s rather persistent, your cute, slightly not so annoying gnat.

“Sailor Moon.” He answers himself sagely.

“Yeah, you’re right.” You snicker amused.

He practically beams besides you when you agree.

You ask if he’s a fan.

“Oh hell yeah! Sailor Venus is my fav.” Dieter cries. “I can sing the entire song theme opening for you if you’d like. Not to brag, but that and the second Naruto theme opening are my go to karaoke songs.”

You laugh, feeling it deep into your bones. He’s chaotic, but unbearably endearing.

In a blink, a rush comes in all at once. The fun sweet bubble you had been cultivating deflates and you hate how disappointed you get seeing Dieter scramble to try and work.

When you go check out, you’re surprised he’s the one at your register.

Even though he’s focused on working you don’t miss the way his eyes flicker up to you shyly but with a confident smirk. He turns to fully gift wrap the items knowing they’re going to be a present and you thank him for that.

When you grab your bag he gives you a smooth wink and you playfully glare at him.

Later at home, when you unpack everything, you find an extra surprise in the bag.

It’s a small box of strawberry pocky snacks you know you didn’t buy.

There’s a sticky note attached to it.

A sweet treat for a sweet customer! ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈ ♡)

Call me if you ever wanna get coffee or just talk nerd shit and make me absolutely fall even harder for you

Underneath the message, he left you his number and you can’t believe it. After squealing about it with a few of your friends, you text him.

Dieter replies back quick with the funniest excited cat reaction meme and you realize you might be in the best kind of trouble with this guy.

— . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.—

You didn’t expect the convention to be this crowded. Chatter fills the air as cosplayers move all around.

The booths stretch endless with countless tempting merch.

Your best friend tried to get you to plan a fun cosplay with her. However neither you or her could decide on what to pick in time. Now you're gladly comfortable in an everyday outfit and simply allow yourself to be in awe at the intricate lovely costumes.

While scanning the convention and taking in the beautifully controlled chaos in, you also hope to catch sight of someone in particular.

“Dude, stop trying to look for your hot nerd boyfriend.” Your best friend snorts and your heart trips over itself.

Embarrassed, you chide her and remind her that Dieter isn’t your boyfriend.

“Oh yeah because texting a guy everyday for the past month and going to cute cat cafes with him isn't dating.” She deadpans with a smirk.

You playfully glare at her.

It’s not official and you don’t want to rush whatever this is with Dieter. You haven’t even been to his place yet. You don’t mind though. You’ve just been enjoying getting to know him more.

You learn Dieter’s favorite video game is Hollow Knight and his favorite anime is Neon Genesis Evangelion.

His favorite comic book villain of all time is the Condiment King.

Matcha flavored Kit Kats have become his newest obsession session.

He saw all the Lord of the Rings movies in theater and can practically quote The Two Towers. Still has the comic book his best friend in middle school gave to him. Also refuses to let any of his Animal Crossing villagers leave because he’s so attached to them.

Dieter had made you laugh more than you can count, but he can be a bit ridiculous.

Like when he called you after he got off a late closing night shift to ask if Pacific Rim was real did you think the Kaiju monsters would maybe stop attacking if they found out how much he loves them.

Dieter does have his headache moments, but he’s an endearing kaleidoscope of a soul.

Earlier this week when you visited him at the shop, he said he was going to be here at the conversation. But with how bad the convention center’s wifi is, you haven’t been able to contact him.

“He even said he was coming in cosplay just for today right? Any ideas what he’s showing up as?” Your best friend wiggles her eyes while you and her stroll down an artist alley.

“No!” You huff still upset. “He said he wanted it to be a surprise.”

While you appreciate him wanting to wait for a dramatic reveal, you wanted to know what his outfit was from the minute he told you.

You wanted to maybe try dedicatedly searching for him, but you get completely enthralled by the mass amounts of merchandise delightfully distracting you.

You spot incredible fan art pieces, adorable handmade keychains, and very expensive but beautiful figurines.

It’s like a mini wonderland.

Checking out the cute earrings at the stall you’re at, you lose sight of your best friend. When you turn to excitedly talk with her, that’s when you spot it.

She’s a few steps away, very politely trying to inch away from a guy, dressed in a Deadpool suit without the mask on. He’s talking way too aggressively and getting way too close to your friend.

Immediately you rush over and happily jump in.

“I gotta show you this!” You thankfully have the best excuse to pull her away.

But the guy only takes it as an opening to instead follow you both now.

“Just ignore him.” Your best friend whispers to you.

You and her continue to stare at the jewelry. Yet the guy remains. He continues his discussion and seems to get upset that you or your friend aren’t replying. It’s creepy and persistent especially with how he refuses to budge or take the hint.

You try lightly deflating the situation by apologizing and saying you and your friend just want to enjoy shopping.

“Oh, is shopping all you two came here for? You know, you fucking losers aren’t even in cosplay. Fake ass fans.”

Now he gets really aggressive.

The air and tension shift. The poor cute shop owner in her adorable R2D2 dress even reacts getting upset.

“Look, we just wanna enjoy the con.” Your best friend replies sharp with a hard scowl.

“What in the fantastic fuck do we have here?”

Suddenly Dieter’s voice rings out excited and bright and you almost sob.

You whip your face around to spot him.

Except it is and isn’t him.

His hair is slicked back, gelled and curled. Thick gray colored hairs line his temples. It even looks like he shaved a bit.

He’s dressed as Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic himself.

The outfit looks based on the classic 1960’s first comic book released aesthetic and it compliments Dieter’s frame gorgeously. His shoulders look unbelievably broad and his even arms seemed bigger in the tight soft baby blue material. You’ve never seen him in something so form fitting and it has your throat drying up.

You’ve even momentarily forgotten about the guy bothering you and your best friend.

“You bothering these two, ya fucking creep?” Dieter says with a nudge of his chin.

It’s hot as fuck.

The guy stunned gapes like a fish and stammers, but no words come out.

“Beat it before I shove a lightsaber up your ass.” Dieter replies bored, but it adds a sense of deadliness to his words.

The Deadpool cosplayer turns on his heels and immediately scrambles away. Your knees almost buckle overwhelmed.

Your best friend and even the stall owner cry out wildly excited in a bright neon awe of Dieter. You swallow back a sob as you turn to embrace him. His warm large hands pat you comfortingly.

“You saved us.” You teasingly sob, but truthfully you know he did.

“I’d been looking for you for a hot minute and was about to make some sort of raptor call noise to get your attention until I saw that shit going down.” Dieter explains.

“What a hero.” Your friend jokingly adds, but you hear it in her voice how grateful she is.

Dieter snickers.

“Guess you could almost say I was fantastic… mister fantast-”

You cut Dieter off with a quick kiss to his cheek before he can make the pun and your friend along with the stall owner laugh.

Gingerly, almost tentatively you move to intertwine your hand with his. He reacts immediately pulling you to his side.

For the rest of the convention Dieter stays besides you, walking hand in hand with you.

Even when you arrive at the booth for Atomic Planet, the real reason why Dieter was here to help work, Raymond waves him away saying to enjoy the convention with you.

Your heart flutters and Dieter squeezes your hand excitedly.

The rest of the time is a blissful geeked out dream. Dieter buys you a few keychains, even treats you and your best friend to a bite to eat.

You came to the convention with your best friend…

But you leave with Dieter.

Especially when your best friend urges you to go home with him and enjoy his hot cosplay.

You give her a look when she cheekily tells you that, but she isn’t wrong. Even when you grabbed the quick bite before the night ended, it was hard trying to ignore the amount of people turning to stare at Dieter with wide curious eyes.

And a little twinge of something faintly possessive bubbles in you.

That’s why when you slide into the passenger seat of his car, your heart drums loudly in your ears trying to fight against the urge to just suck his cock right here in the car.

“So uh…” Dieter begins cautiously and even a bit bashfully. “I don’t wanna sound too aggressive and you can tell me no, but can I kiss you-”

You don’t even let him finish before you’re sliding over the seat to him.

He scrambles and immediately pulls you close as his lips become a magnet to yours.

This is the first time you’re really truly kissing Dieter. You’ve kissed him gently good night before. He’s been cute with leaving kisses to your cheek or even against the back of your head like a Victorian gentleman. But now it’s a raw unraveling getting to tasting him from the source so greedy.

You won’t dare admit it outloud, but the soft feel of his lips, the scrape of his jaw, the smell of his delicious cologne, and how warm he consumes you -

It’s pretty fantastic.

— . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.—

Dieter’s room is a treasure trove.

Framed posters of Pacific Rim, AKIRA, The Iron Giant, and the original Pokemon Kanto generation line the walls. His bookshelf is filled not just with comic books and manga, but various impressive graphic novels.

A mock infinity gauntlet sits beside his television. So many anime figurines, including a really nice Goku one, stand protecting his reading collection.

What surprises you is his expansive and sleek gaming corner which includes a striking computer set up.

“You look hot as fuck standing in my robe and knowing I just came in you a few hours ago is even hotter.” Dieter says from his bed in the most sinful but half groggily asleep voice.

You smirk and continue to soak in his room.

“So do you get good discounts from the store?” You ask.

“Yeah, but it also helps that I co-own it.” Dieter casually tells you. You hear him shifting among the seats then catch the flicker of the lighter igniting.

However your eyes go wide realizing what he said and you whip back around to him.

“Wait?! You co-own the shop?”

“Well yeah, Raymond, that old fuck, is my uncle.” Dieter coughs out as he exhales from the hit he took off his weed pipe.

Dieter even explains how, because his uncle is starting to get a bit older, he decided to step in to help run the place.

“Besides, how else could I show off my extensive knowledge of elvish language other than at the shop?” He says proudly.

How did you just now learn this?

Dieter reminds you of a rubik cube you think you’ve finally figured out, think you found a groove for - until one out of the corners a jack in the box pops out.

Before you can even ask him about the shop or about his uncle, Dieter’s phone goes off.

The loud ringtone sings into the room and your eyes go wide hearing it. Dieter checks who’s calling then denies the call muttering out about how spam scam callers need to be fed to a sarlacc pit.

“Wait…is Cascada’s ‘Everytime We Touch’ actually your ringtone?” You ask, still not believing it.

“Fuck yeah it is, baby! That song is untouchable!” He cries and you can’t help but laugh.

Dieter smirks then pats the open spot on the bed where you had been resting before. Sliding back into the warmth with him, he gently pulls your face to him and kisses you softly.

The taste of the smoke lingers on his lips, but it’s still him beneath it all. You eventually wind up in his arms, cozy and warm in his embrace.

“I noticed the nice audio and mic setup.” You comment while his fingers draw aimlessly against your skin. “You trying to maybe go the YouTuber route?”

“Nah. Maybe. Who knows.” He shrugs. “It’s mainly for something else.”

Now his voice grows a bit distant.

You gently ask him what that something else is and Dieter fidgets

“Don’t… don’t laugh okay.” He mumbles adorably.

You reassure him earnestly you won’t.

He sighs.

“So I’ve been wanting to get into voice acting work.” Dieter reveals with a mutter, even sounding a bit embarrassed

However, you perk up so bright. Turning in his arms you eagerly smile at him.

“Di, that sounds amazing!” You mean those words.

You can’t help but ramble about how great he would be for that. He has the personality for it and he’s told you how he’s done some stage acting work. Plus, it just fits him. You think of all the silly voices he does and you hope now he can make this path a reality.

Dieter’s handsome face falls a bit and you stop. You wonder if you’ve scared him off, or maybe he thinks you’re possibly making fun of him.

You’re about to apologize when Dieter swiftly moves to kiss you feral and fierce. His tongue slides into your mouth with a moan you greedily swallow.

The conversation is put on pause when his hands slide up your thighs, straight to your core, and you fall apart with him once again.

Basking in the afterglow you rest against his chest now feeling sleepy, not even knowing what time it is. You realize being with Dieter is like existing in a realm a bit separated from reality sometimes and it’s beautiful.

“I don’t wanna be that lame guy,” Dieter begins. “But shit, I already really really kind of like you a fucking lot.”

Your lips fight back a smile you can’t beat. You turn to bury your face against his warm bared chest.

“I really kinda like you a lot too.” You admit.

“That’s unfortunate.” He replies and you snort.

“It’s okay. I only want the good discount on merch at the shop.” You reply cheekily.

“Aw! You don’t even want me for my body? Just my discount?!” He cries hurt and even jokingly moves to shove you off.

“Well.” Then he pauses. “Guess I could call my dick a discount, but then again… there isn’t anything short about that-”

You cut him off with an eye roll and he snickers wildly amused.

His fingers move to tickle you, to corrupt you into his same fit of giggles and you wheezing trying to squirm away from him.

Dieter’s hands eventually snake around you and draw you back into his chest. You melt against him willingly and even sigh comforted.

“Next time if we go to a convention, if you feel comfortable with it, you should cosplay.” He comments.

You admit that you’ve thought about it and list a few ideas you’ve had. But mainly, your mind thinks about the different outfits Dieter could go as.

The thought of him now as Doctor Doom instead of the heroic Reed Richards is a glorious thought.

But of course there’s so many other incredible options.

Dieter as Harvey or even Marlon from Stardew Valley.

Even a few anime characters that would fit him so well come to mind.

Specifically Kishibe from the series Chainsaw Man, with his striking cut across his mouth and incredibly lazy hot older demeanor, just fits Dieter so well it stirs something in you again.

“Maybe next con,” Dieter offers and pulls you from your thoughts. “I’m thinking about going as Tuxedo Mask. Do you wanna be my Sailor Moon?”

A couples matching outfit.

You didn’t even think of that. That’s what he was nudging towards.

You didn’t even think of that. But just getting to be beside him is something sweetly moving.

Then thinking about him in the sleek tuxedo outfit, in the white mask, is a dangerous thought you already ache to maybe see come true.

“We’ll see.” You hum with a smile, but when you go to kiss him it feels like a gilded warm promise.

“Never mind. I want us to go as Undertale characters and I wanna be Sans.” Dieter says suddenly and you snort against his shoulder.

This time spent with him, and the promise of maybe something more, is sweet starlit bliss.

#I blame this on wanting another anime tattoo so I’m sorry I’m here to spread the nerd Dieter agenda lol #comic bookstore owner!Dieter #nerd!Dieter #dieter bravo #dieter bravo x reader #dieter bravo x f!reader #dieter bravo x you #pedrostories

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mostofthingsmostofthetime · 19 days

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I just finished the first episode of Heartstopper, so here are some of my thoughts in no particular order.

The opening song is cool (will probably look up the shows soundtrack like I did with XO, Kitty).

Why did the camera focus so much on Charlie's bag & Elle's drink? Is it product placement?

Wow, no hate to the actor, but Charlie's eyebrows are THICK!!!!

Tori is beautiful but also kind of looks like a ghost (I think she’d be great for the role of Violet Baudelaire from A Series Of Unfortunate Events) & why was she so pushy about the "dream guy" thing? Like let the poor boy breathe.

Is Nick's actor that much taller than Charlie's? I hadn't noticed.

I’m sorry, but knees are so weird to me lol. Also obligatory, 🎵 she's a runner she's a track star🎵.

Wait, is that PE teacher that will later interrupt the team theorising about Nick & Charlie's relationship? It's crazy how they’ve found actors who look so much like the characters in the graphic novels (other casting directors should take notes).

Ok fair enough about wanting your team to be good & wondering if the quiet, skinny, nerdy, boy is even into sports but the shit about him being gay is so stupid (bet it was Harry that said that).

Glad Charlie didn't get injured learning rugby, lol.

Nick's shorts seem a lot smaller than Charlie's ones do, but maybe that's the costume designer's way of helping Charlie’s actor look more skinny?

Omg Stephen Fry, what are you doing here lol?

Wow, people weren't kidding. Olivia Colman really did show up just to say one line. What a legend, lol.

Ben, did you really make Charlie walk all that way for such a lame ass kiss? Also, let him talk about his Christmas, you jerk!

I don't think that Form tutor is very good at his job (while Nick thankfully turned out to be nice) it’s usually not a great idea to put the skinny, gay, nerd that has already been bullied with the bigger, popular, seemingly straight, athlete, especially at an all boys school!

Ben, you dick. Like I get wanting to keep your relationship secret, but you did not need to pull the 'who the hell are you!' card. All you had to do was say hi in a confused/uninterested tone (then apologise later). If anything, your reaction came off more weird than what Charlie did.

I'm sorry, but I don't get the leaf animation. I mean, I GET it, just why leaves? Why not flowers or hearts or something? It just doesn’t seem that impactful to me, but maybe they have a deeper meaning that I'm just not grasping yet? If so, please let me know.

Ok, so I'm torn over the gay teacher. Like artistic? That's cool. Those glasses? Cute. Him giving Charlie a safe space to eat lunch? Great. Him being worried over Charlie potentially being bullied again? Awesome (take notes, Form guy), but his advice to Charlie seemed slightly lacking. Obviously, honesty & communication are important in relationships, but I'm a little surprised that possible safety concerns weren't addressed at all, especially from a fellow gay guy. Like I get that he doesn’t know the kind of guy Charlie's "dating" & that just because someone doesn't want to come out yet doesn’t mean they should be labelled as dangerous but internalised homophobia can make some people lash out & after everything Charlie's been through his clearly more likely to be vulnerable to situations like that.

Nick is a golden retriever in human form, they're 100% correct 😊.

Isaac? What happened to Aled? I hope he still shows up. He may be quiet, but he was so cute during Charlie's 15th birthday in the graphic novel.

Interesting to get to see Elle's time at Higg's (fuck that transphobic teacher & whoever was throwing sandwiches at her). Sad she doesn’t have any friends but I'm sure that'll change when she meets Tara & Darcy. Wow, is it strict over there, though, like you can't even be on your phone at lunchtime? Damn! Surprised they did it this way, though, as I was assuming they'd just make Truham co-ed so all the characters could be in the same place.

Tao, my guy, the drink thing is sweet but that hair is.....certainly.....a choice 😅.

The shots of Charlie looking at food, without eating, make me ☹️.

I gotta be honest, the montage of Nick & Charlie saying hi to each other was a little cringy to me compared to how it came across in the graphic novel, but they're meant to be teens, so I'll let it slide. It's also an effective way to highlight how differently Charlie's "boyfriend" treats him compared to an acquaintance.

Ben's hand covering up Nick's smiley face got me like ☹️/😠. They're not even together yet & I already felt like telling him to get off Charlie, like that boy is not for you! It’s ridiculous, lol.

Ben what you did was fucked up but it's hard to be scared of someone who looks so much like a meerkat in a wig (no hate to the actor) also did it seem like he just....skidded away when Nick pulled him off Charlie? Like, was the actor wearing Heelys lol? Or had someone just mopped the floor without telling anyone? Also, it's lame to wear a coat when you're cold? What in the toxic masculinity are you fucking on about Ben?

Omg the bathroom scene was so adorable, but I wanna know what kind of pen Nick was using because being covered in that amount of ink is crazy 😆.

Overall, it's very cute. I like Nick & Charlie. It’ll probably take a bit longer for me to really care about the other characters. Ben can catch these hands! And I’m looking forward to watching the Narlie relationship develop.

So while not overly ground breaking (though obviously important for LGBTQ+ rep) it's definitely enjoyable in a comforting sort of way which (considering medias fascination with marginalised suffering) is obviously important for queer youth but also must be quite healing for queer elders. Because you deserve wholesome, cheesy, romance just as much as anyone else.

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dnpanimationstudioclone · 1 year

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Self-Reflection🪞

Day 25 & 26, Blame and Fic Switch

Aftermath of my Sidney Rewrite Episode. Danny’s in his room, reflecting on what happened and the things he wished he could’ve done. I dont normally do fics so I hope I atleast got a clear message in this.

TW, mentions of blood, violence and death.

Here's a link to my Rewrite Episode and take on Sidney design, character and how he died

“I’m sorry Sid”, Danny said to himself solemnly, in his room holding Sid’s broken glasses, they got fairly damaged from…the incident. After the traumatic experience and damage caused in the school, the students were sent home for at least a week. While ghost attacks became a common thing, especially at Casper High, this one was especially frightening, no one, especially Danny saw what Sid did coming. He can still remember being chased like a little bug, seeing the fear in his own eyes from Sid’s giant reflective form, when he saw Dash's face get-he shakes his head, trying to get those horrific memories out. He can’t deal with those graphic details today. He’s just too tired, laying himself on his bed, he stares blankly at the ceiling.

His friends, his family, even Lancer tried to assure Danny none of it was his fault, how could he have known it would all end up like this, how could he have been able to save Dash from something like that, he wasn’t even anywhere near the fight(or so his parents and teacher believed). He even tries to reassure himself, he shouldn’t blame himself but deep down he can’t help but wonder constant what ifs. What if he didn’t let or had been more careful about letting a ghost help prank on Dash and the other mean kids, knowing his backstory, what if he had listen to his friends sooner when they were worried he was getting carried away, what if he had tried talking to Sid better when he did wonder that himself. What if he didn’t let things get so out of hand…he couldn’t fix things.

Flashback of Sid and Danny talking. Sid’s dialogue, the darker words:

“ What do you mean this is getting out of hand? Not like anything’s being tied back to us, right?”.

“ I know, I know, Sid. It’s just some of these pranks have been pretty mean, even for them”.

“ It’s called giving them a a taste of their own medicine Danny. If it was the other way around, you’d think they’d be worrying about being too mean with you? They clearly haven’t thought that to begin with”.

“ Yeah, fair point. It’s just my friends seemed pretty worried and-

“ Ah you’re friends are just being brainwashed by flowery fables that those stupid teachers and the school tell you like “be the bigger person” or “being mean to them makes you just as mean” and other crud ike that. They just teach you to be as worthless as they are”.

“Hey, my friends aren’t worthless! And I get a lot of teachers can be jerks but there’s also plenty that at least try to help(thinks of Lancer). I like to think so.

“ I’m sure that’s what he'd tried to tell you, along with one of his dumb book swears. Seriously most haven't even heard of those books in years, especially not kids-he sees Danny becoming really uncomfortable and starts regulating himself.

“ Sorry, sorry. I'm sure the people you're talking about truly mean well. I was just getting a little heated over there(brings back bad memories) I just know when you try to be nice and let things go, they usually don’t really care and just go back to their old nature. I just wanna make sure they learn their lesson for good. You know I’m just trying to look out for ya, right?

“ y-yeah ofcourse. You’re not wrong, it’s just not sure how long we can keep doing all these pranks, I am pretty busy with other stuff”.

“ Then maybe we should do one final, epic prank! The ultimate prank to teach all the mean kids you don’t mess with nerds! Revenge of the Nerds!

“ YEAH! though Def no revenge of the nerds 80′s style, those guys went WAY too far”.

“ Well it’s a good thing this Daddy-O’s from the 50′s! So I’ve been thinking what if-

Back to the present:

As Danny remembers that conversation, he starts to realize he missed certain red flags such as Sid's growing mean streak...and the little cracks he was trying to hide on his skin. And then, there’s Dash, he got it much worse, being the main target for Sidney’s revenge hunt. Had to be sent to the hospital to get treatment for his injuries and stitches for that bad cut Sid’s pincer left on him, still remembers when the blood spilled on- Danny shakes from that experience. Good chance that mark will stay for a long time.

He wishes it didn’t take him having a full emotional breakdown from all those brutal revenge pranks they pulled and almost dying trying to protect him(Danny) from Sid’s wrath to realize that for all his many, many faults, he’s not really a bad person and didn’t deserve to almost die. He can't even properly apologize to him, not without risking his identity being exposed.

Danny lays back on his bed, breathing out a sigh of guilt and exhaustion. Part of why he wasn’t more willing to acknowledge and try to talk to Sid more was because, outside of Sam and Tucker, he doesn’t have a lot of friends. Then he met Sid who not only understood his problems but enjoyed hanging out with, sharing each others different time pleasures(like Egg-creams), talking about sci-fi films, when they did harmless pranks...at first. He was so worried about losing a new friend, he ended up losing him anyway, the worst way possible. In a way, he made a similar mistake to what the people in Sid’s life made. They ignored him and his problems until they became too big to fix. Thinking about it, Sid’s first failed plan in a twisted way, might've worked, in terms of making his bully regret everything. Doubt he had it easy after being known as the guy who accidentally killed one of his fellow classmates.

As he takes his eyes off the rotating ceiling fan back to Sid's broken glasses, seeing his own reflection from them, he starts to consider. He can’t reverse what happened, but he can atleast make sure what happened to Sid is better acknowledged rather than just try to forget what happened like they did. Regardless of what was and what wasn't his fault, he still wants to make things right. Or atleast try to.

He props himself up to go check some stuff on his laptop such as memorials and finding perhaps some flowers and a card to send to Dash at the hospital. After what happened, it’s highly doubtful anyone would want to use that locker anymore. But maybe it could be used for something else, to remember Sid's story in a clearer light. Give his friend some peace.

As he looks at pictures of locker memorials, he calls Tucker, holding Sid’s broken glasses

“ Yeah I’m doing good too, thanks Do you know how to fix up cracked glasses?”

The End.

What do u think? I'd love to know💖

#Danny phantom #dannyphantom #dannymay #dannymay 2023 #dannymay2023 #phanfic #dp fanfic #dp fic #my fic #Sidney poindexter #dp sidney #sydney poindexter #tw dark themes #day 25 blame #day 26 art/fic switch #art/fic switch

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endcant · 11 months

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sometimes i see ppl my age genuinely talk abt tiktokers/zoomers looking stupid in y2k playstation looking outfits and i’m like. so u didn’t grow up looking back at media from ur very early childhood, knowing ppl looked super fucking cool for like A Brief Minute, and wondering why no clothes that look good like that are available. maybe i just spent too much time with DDR and JSRF. i guess older millennials didnt have to wonder why bc they understood why but also like… idk it haunted me.

it sucks that clothes like that r only being explored again now that i’m both responsible for paying bills and also old enough to be expected to “know better” what if subcultural fashion werent solely seen as an expression of teen angst in america society what if fashion was also an expression of looking fucking sick as hell for no reason at any time anywhere.

maybe its shallow to care about clothes so much but i literally got into graphic design seriously bc i wanted to make my own graphic tees in like 2016 so it’s just part of the shit i think abt.

it kinda makes me pissy when ppl act like the kids look too silly and i’m like… really? in the mallgoing early 2010s my mainstream options for clothes to pursue as a fashion-aware aspiring guy were literally like that haunting Nerd Inspired shit, and neon athletic wear, and Swag™️, and the only alternative was wearing a black graphic tee shirt from hot topic with ur skinny jeans instead of a swagful graphic tee with ur athletic clothes.

says this gazing forlornly upon my wardrobe that still contains the windbreakers and snapbacks i purchased with my coffee shop job money way back when and then a bunch of office boy clothes from college and then a bunch of cozy clothes i bought while on that broken leg drip. i have not ever been satisfied with what i wear since like 2016 when i could reasonably spend all the money i earned buying things from tumblr artists’ merch stores. ofc those clothes were either cheap and didn’t make it to today or they were good quality and are still with me today but are a size too small. abcdefg

#draftsposting

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kustas · 1 year

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obligatory disclaimer of “i read this two years ago and cringed so hard throughout i blanked most of it from my mind” therefore don’t remember much details

from what i remember: it’s a mass of easy clichés that does nothing well.

nothing, NOTHING stuck out to me in monstress from the story to the artwork, and the litte merit i fought to find was stuff i had seen better executed in other places. the only two things i remember liking was some character designs (especially female characters) and the overall aesthetics of the fantasy art of the world. for the first: while a few had memorable designs, the mass felt like faux-anime prettyfaced potatoes with too complex outfits. reminded me of final fantasy MMO characters and i mean this in a derogatory way, where the only design elements characters are allowed to have are so kewl flourishes on an instagram model base. regarding the art, i gotta put a nerd hat on for this but i mean the direction taken for in-universe art forms and styles and the cultures and context around them. i remember little cultural variance but the artwork itself, if not that original, had the merit of trying instead of stealing RL artwork like most fantasy series are content to do. unfortunately as these are my opinions i happen to find it kind of ugly.

as for the art, in general. BOY is it bad - i know it’s a webcomic and have respect for that and how intricate the artwork is for such a format but I also do think it looks like ass. too much complexity with little regard for hierachisation of buisiness for readability purposes. the volumes are disastrous where characters have little shapes especially in difficult angles. this i would not care for had the artist not went for half assed realism. a potato face can look great but not if you try shading it realistically. and realistic shading often has to be polished if you want it to be readable.

plot wise: things sure were happening in the most boring way possible. “protagonist possessed by a sort of monster god thing” is as tropey as can be, the political going-ons and emotional drama i did not find a way to give a shit about because you did not spend enough time knowing about the world in a meaningful way to understand its politics (or care), and no characters were endearing. layers upon layers of the pointless shock and sad violins my meanest brain pieces imagine is what bad angst fanfic reads like.

it’s just bad!!! everything about it felt edgy and amateur.

i’ve read enough weird, wild & touching comics to know how hard they can hit even ones rougher around the edges and have so much love and respect for them as an art form but monstress promised little from it’s premise and delivered even less. maybe i’m not the target audience but who even is? it has the maturity and edge of something for older children but too much graphic content for that especially given how harsh US publishing is with sex. it’s too complex for casual fans and imo too shallow for hardcore fantasy nerds. i don’t want to say this because i’ve met people I know who liked it who have wild culture and are smarter than I am but had I not I’d have told you “monstress has fans because a lot of people have not read good comic books in their life”.

found some live texting i had while reading it with an equally hateresque friend who is a comic author themself and who’s name i gracefully have censored.

worst comic book i’ve read ever for real

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justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms · 10 months

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Hey, it’s been awhile since I last did this, but I decided to go for as returning to Tumblr felt like a bit of a small nostalgia trip for me, so why not get back to one of my favourite MHA fan writers for old times sake and beside, a lot has changed since last time so why not….

Well anyways, as for the idea I’m going with, I am thinking of going with a remake version of my first Match-Up of an My Hero Academia and Genshin Impact Match-Up, if that is cool with you?

Things That Remained The Same: Of course, my name is still Mason, my zodiac sign is still a Taurus, as well as I still consider myself as He/Him and Straight, along with me having dark brown hair and brown eyes. I also still consider myself as a full blown nerd towards the things I am interested in, although now I am a mix of being a Marvel and DC fan as of currently, I’m still a fan of My Hero Academia though I left the fan base altogether because “MHA Fanbase being MHA Fanbase,” currently I’m looking for different shows that could peak my interest (Such as Zom 100 and maybe RWBY, although that’s because of one RWBY character I like and ticked that the writers killed her off kinda got me into the whole “I like this character, now I’m obsessed,” that being Penny Polendina.) I still do Graphics Designing although I mostly post on Deviantart rather than Tumblr lately, I still have trust and communication with my autism although thankfully it isn’t as bad now of days, as I am a bit more confident with my social skills but mostly towards the people I considered as friends. As of currently, those are all the things I would say that mostly remained the same, as while I get curious with different series and all that, the basic tropes I have such as being a Nerd who loves to do Graphics Designing remained the same. (Oh, and I’m also still doing the best person I can be, though now there are times when I questioned about the goal, but I still follow it as I believed it’s the right thing to do.)

Things That Changed: Alright, now we are getting to the nitty gritty on the things I considered to be pretty changed, I retook the MBTI Personality quiz and I ended up getting a mix of ISFP and ESFP due to the “E” and “I” being 50/50, and while I consider myself more as a ESFP lately, it could depend on my mood depending on the day. I unfortunately shrink down to being a 6’2, I’m planning on trying to get back to doing Voice Acting though I am planning on getting my main PC fixed before I pick up the prices for the plan, while I’m using my laptop to do the graphics designing while I’m waiting til I get the computer fixed up, as well as taking a similar path to trying to get back to writing. I’ve also been watching a lot of Instagram Reels just for laughs, as well as opening a new Instagram account for my graphics designing uploads, as well as moving to a new Photo Editing engine with more features that helped improve on the way I work on my Profiles and Thumbnails. I am also currently doing a bit more hard work to lose some weight, as someone I know personally ended up getting health issues and I didn’t wanna become like him, so I’m trying to be more active and trying to eat a bit more healthy, though it’s hard since I’m someone who likes food in general. And lastly, I am actually planning on growing out my hair to bring out more style to it, with a hairstyle similar to Diluc’s ponytail from Genshin Impact being my go to style if I reach to my satisfied length and width.

Overall, I think that is all the info I have for this one, this might be my biggest info dump I have ever given, as there are some that remained the same along with new things added and somethings changing in my life. I hope you enjoy and remember that you’re always a beautiful on the inside and outside!

Hi Mason! It's good to hear form you again. Getting an updated mutchup is something I think more people should do. Thank you for your request! I hope you like your matchups!

In My Hero Academia, I match you with...

The first matchup change. Although Uraraka would still be a close second, I think Tsuyu would better match you now.

I see Tsuyu as someone who would be surprisingly good at voice acting. It’s not so much that she can do lots of really different voices but she’s passionate and really good at putting emotion into her voice.

Enjoys working out with you. She always finds it more enjoyable when she’s got someone with her. That way they can hype her up and she can hype them up.

Very supportive of your efforts in trying to be the best person you can. Whenever you have moments of doubt, she’ll listen to your worries and give you her honest opinion.

Tsuyu is a firm believer that everyone should be the best person they can be. And she’ll do whatever she can do to support you in that.

Absolutely has one of your graphic designs as her phone’s lock screen. She likes how it looks, as well as how it reminds her of you.

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

Yes, both of your matchups have changed! Collei is pretty similar to Amber so there not a while lot of difference in your relationship.

The main change is that Collei is significantly more reserved than Amber. While she opens up around people she knows, she’s pretty quiet around those she doesn’t know well.

You can both work on your communication problems and social skills together.

Modern au Collei definitely watches anime. I can see her as a fan of classic shows like Sailor Moon but she would also be into newer shows like RWBY.

Sends you so many Instagram reels. She’s on there all the time and loves watching anything you send to her.

Really good at knowing dietary tips and tricks so Collei is definitely the person to go to for information about eating healthier. If she’s not sure about something, she’ll ask Tighnari, who is sure to know the exact benefits of almost any kind of plant or animal you could ask about.

#writing #fanfic #matchup #matchup request #request #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #tsuyu asui #genshin impact #collei

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6loodlvstt · 3 months

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I usually play videogames with no audio cuz when I have it on I get easily bored. For example last month I started pokemon sword and tbh never played it with vol on and when I did that for the first time I was like “? Why the sounds are so annoying?”. Idk probably I’m weird but I get easily overwhelmed with sounds. It’s kinda funny because when I listen to music I listen to black metal/rock in general. But when I’m busy drawing things I like to listen to true crime podcasts. Yeah I’m one of those obsessed with serial killers cases.

And yeah, fear and hunger is just straight up hard. I was surprised the first time but I’m still trying to finish it (I want to die/hj). So far I’m loving sm hades! The character designs are so pretty? Ofc I like Dionysus the most, he was and still is my favorite icon. Just to ask, who’s your fav greek mythological figure? I’m curious. Personally I’m also extremely into the myth of Hyacinth the most. Probably I read too many graphic novels about him ahah. And! Are you perhaps also into egyptian mythology? Since I was a kid I was so obsessed with mummies and the first time I saw one I was so anxious lol.

When I was in school I also had problems at school, mostly because at the time I was the only emo kid and all my classmates were… normal? I liked to dress black, enjoyed spending time writing horror stories and I was a major creepypasta lover. But I genuinely sucked at oral tests. Probably you only had some random quizzes but where I live we also have oral ones. And I fucking hated to speak in front of people. So drawing during classes was a sort of stress relief to my anxiety! So I completely get you :(

This is funny but I always was extremely talented at singing, although at some point I started to find annoying to perform in front of people. And in general the idea of studying in theater looked “uncool” in my teen years. Now I completely changed opinion and I’m a musical fan lol. My family always tried to push me into trying this world in some ways through the years and only some months ago I finally decided to open up. It’s scary tho. You shouldn’t gave up your dreams. Realistically speaking you can start studying in the future if you really want to pursuit violin! ^^

What are you doing now? I hope everything’s going well! <3 -🩹

i always play with audio on since a lot of games i play have audio cues into it, but i understand sometimes the game sounds can be annoying

god me too, to all of the music and the true crime; i mainly liten to true crime at work tho or when im playing minecraft for some strange reason

it sounds like a pain but i so get that,,

my favorite always has been aphrodite and always will be <3

i used to be kinda an egyptian myth nerd but i would have to relearn a lot tbh

sometimes we had presentations tests so i think thats as close to relating with the oral tests but the rest i totally understand

my family is kinda controlling of what i do, if they dont like that i picked up a hobby or something they let me know, like cosplaying for example i find it really difficult because my dads a little creepy and my mom refuses to acknowledge or be arpund me if she notices that i am and its to the point that it becomes a really big problem in my house so now ive got like really expensive cosplays and o barely do it anymore to keep some peace in my house ueue when i move out ill probably pick up a lot of my old hobbies like cosplay, art, streaming, and music stuff maybe ill even pick back up baking who knows!

im still playing dead space tbh,, its so fun but i just asked my brother a steam question and he closed out of dead space so i just lost a good chunk of progress sigghhhh, i hope your days been going well too though :D tell me if you do anything fun <3

#⋆ ♰.˚🩸⌗ d a r l i n g s ˎˊ˗#╰┈➤ 🩹 anon

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crymeariveronceagain · 3 years

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mha characters’ college majors(because im in college)

Izuku Midoriya: Psychology, minor in Mathematics. No, Kacchan, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with that.

Katsuki Bakugo: Chemical Engineering, no minor. Just a lot of electives, and he’s all over the board on those. He wants to be really good at almost everything.

Shoto Todoroki: Literature, minor in History. His dad wanted him to go into Law, but Shoto detests law. Always has. You know what he likes? He likes to read. He’s one of those nerds who will randomly just carry around “War And Peace” and read it smack dab in the middle of the quad.

Tenya Iida: Pre-Law, minor in Chemistry. He’s had his heart set on Law School since he was a wee lad.

Occhako Uraraka: Chemical Engineering, minor in Women’s Studies. Bakugo and her take a lot of the same classes.

Asui Tsuyu: Biology, no minor. She takes a lot of dance and theatre and writing classes for her electives.

Toru Hagakure: Women’s Studies and Marketing double major. Professional Writing minor. No one knows how she balances that work load. No one knows.

Momo Yaoyorozu: Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Civil Engineering. No one knows how she balances that class load, either. Uraraka looks on in awe.

Hitoshi Shinsou: Criminology, minor in writing studies. He wants to write books about serial killers.

Kyoka Jirou: Music major, Chemistry Minor. Denki jokes that she’s going to write songs about test tubes. She told him to screw off. He told her he’d listen to her music no matter what it was about. Everyone but Bakugo ignored the fact that she blushed for the next twenty seconds.

Mina Ashido: Art and Fashion Design double major. She’s gonna make the best dresses, and she wants to be the most badass fashion designer on the face of the earth.

Eijirou Kirishima: Exercise Science(“THAT’S A FUCKING PSUDEO-SCIENCE, SHITTY HAIR--”). Or Women’s studies. Or Marketing. Or maybe Literature??? Oh, and he’s also been seen taking engineering classes. He’s still undeclared, and no one knows what his minor is. Least of all him. He needs a solid talk with his advisor.

Denki Kaminari: English, minor in Exercise Science. “Bakugo, I promise, I’m going to write a book on getting freaking swole--” “Pikachu, if you don’t stop talking about that book you’re never going to write, I’ll shove the very non-real idea up your a--”

Hanta Sero: Chemistry Major, Biology minor. He has no clue what he’s doing, but he likes pouring stuff into things and the watching things explode part. He’s doing amazingly well. Professors have written him stunning reccomendations. He doesn’t know how it’s working, but he’s enjoying it.

Tokoyami Fumikagi: English and Literature double major, Forensic Criminology minor. He is going to write even longer, darker books about serial killers than Shinsou is.

Yuga Aoyama: Theatre Major, Fashion Design Minor. He and Mina wind up in a lot of the same classes, and Tsuyu is always in his theatre classes.

Mashiaro Ojirou: Mechanical Engineering, minor in Psych. He really enjoys making stuff, and also knowing way too much about how people’s minds work.

Koji Koda: Environmental Science. This wasn’t even a choice, it’s just what he’s doing. He’s also super involved in like 30 different clubs, from the sustainability club to the dog-walking club.

Rikido Sato: Graphic Design Major, Professional Writing Minor. He uses Comic Sans unironically, though, and his teachers always look pained during his presentations.

Mezo Shoji: Business major, Marketing minor. Approaches college with the idea that he wants to get his money back. Very much. But he also doesn’t wanna go to med school.

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mayyourshipsbewithyou · 3 years

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Things I loved about In the Heights

-The sounds of the city are part of the music of the opening song

-The frame story is the only way this story should be told; the story only works if it shows the results of Usnavi's decision to stay

-Anthony and Lin shaking hands

-Yay to random mixed race couple asking for directions

-“I hope you’re writing this down I’m gonna test you later” only makes sense with kids

-Showing different residents of Washington Heights provides scale

-I’m not sure about the decision to cut Camila, but if it means less Nina drama, then I love it

-I love how Usnavi has his friends’ orders all ready to go

-LOVE how Usnavi announces Benny’s entrance

-Everything about Vanessa in this movie is perfect=> she’s given so much more depth, her beauty is downplayed, she’s kind of a nerd, but has a beautiful smile

-Nina’s heels=> metaphor for her reaching for the stars

-I love the actress that plays Nina; she’s the right age and her singing voice is so sweet

-Nina’s hair is straight when she’s at school; as soon as she comes home, it’s curly=>she can be herself at home

-When Nina turns around and sees the crowd of people counting on her=> I felt that

-I love seeing Nina get her acceptance letter; I remember what that was like for my brother

-Camila must have died while Nina was at college in this version; Nina lost her mother recently which helps explain her different reason for dropping out; she feels lost

-I don’t know why Sonny is using this deep voice, but I love it!

-Whoever decided to have 96,000 take place at the pool is a genius

-The graphics at the beginning of 96,000 are good for helping regular people understand the rap

-Pete just put his arm around Sonny=> are they dating?

-Sonny yelling 96,000 as he enters the pool=> the sound design

-Pete nodding along to Usnavi=> sucking up to the family

-Usnavi is such a proud cousin-uncle during Sonny’s part in 96,000

-Vanessa making her “I'll be downtown” walk down a ramp

-The dancer doing flips is now a diver doing spins into the pool

-On stage, the lighting was dark; in the movie, it’s underwater

-The circles of people in the pool reflect the zeros in 96,000

-Lin and Chris being rivals is perfect; their bromance is everything

-Nina and Benny being together before the events of the movie means they are the beta couple and have less drama than Usnavi/Vanessa which is how it should be

-Benny joins in during “on that fire escape”=> like West Side Story

-Benny’s “Let me in” against the fence is hilarious

-Nina and Benny are FUN, not angsty like in the original

-Nina following the little girl=> following herself, following her dreams which eventually lead her to the sea; all of this is done while she’s talking about her past

-Nina and Benny instrumental™ part 1 in the middle of “When You’re Home”, Benny interrupts=> their story isn't complete yet

-Benny says he believes in her without discounting her feelings

-Everyone loving Nina=> I finally get it

-Nina is home geographically and with people who love her

-Benny is Nina’s home

-In the Heights is about how dreams are great, but the life you have now can be so beautiful

-Nina’s hair during the dinner/club scene is great

-Usnavi is wearing his dad’s hat for his date with Vanessa; he knows that she is to him what his mom was for his dad

-Family dinners are the same in every culture

-Awkwardness of long-time friends going on a date

-Vanessa offers Usnavi his first drink of the night; he thinks that’s what she wants; because why would she want him and only him?

-Usnavi whispering in Vanessa’s ear is so sexy

-Love that Benny is on Nina’s side instead of being mad at her

-I wonder if they thought 5 years of Benny working for Kevin was too much or too little since they changed that line to "all these years"

-Benny’s reactions to Vanessa dancing at the club are hilarious

-Vanessa laughing at Usnavi dancing with someone else

-Nina is always smiling and laughing at the things going on around her; not as self centered

-Nina and Benny dancing at the club=> all of the yeses

-Usnavi is too nervous about being alone with Vanessa that he un-dated himself; he wasn’t quite ready

-Love that they consciously cut all the “Usnavi, help me” parts=> Vanessa is not a victim

-Fireworks are a romantic setting for Sonny and Pete, just saying

-Usnavi/Benny/Nina talking about the fourth member of their square gives me feelings; I need more of these four in fanfic, my dreams

-“I got to wait for Vanessa”=> the stuff dreams are made of

-Benny is such a good person; he’s even better than the original which is what he deserves

-Usnavi is relieved to have Vanessa call his name

-“Don’t walk away from us tonight”=> great addition

-To give Usnavi and Vanessa some of Nina and Benny’s original lines is to see the face of God

-The first time I saw this, I’m ashamed to admit, I thought Benny was going to steal money from the dispatch; I was a fool

-Dancer with fireworks on his shoes

-Benny is smart and good; he isn’t doing this for Kevin or Nina but for the people of New York

-Abuela was able to see stars again on the last night of her life

-I’m sad Blackout isn’t exactly the same but the orchestral parts that cover up what is unsaid is so beautiful it makes up for it

-Abuela’s family is her “fireworks”; they are what light up the Heights

-Sonny came to Usnavi instead of being with his dad during the blackout; his real family

-Abuela’s smile as she looks at her family while reflecting on her childhood is the most beautiful thing there will ever be

-Paciencia y Fe as a dream sequence is how it was meant to be

-The transition on the subway from reality to memory

-Paciencia y Fe is a mixture of cultures; like Abuela’s memories

-“Wide awake”=> stepping off the subway

-The same actress played Abuela on Broadway and in the movie

-Abuela may be in a musical, but she’s still an old woman

-“As I feed these birds”=> back to the present

-Calor means heat in Spanish but in English it sounds like color

-Abuela dying during the night of the blackout is perfect

-Usnavi saying “she was just here” twice: when she was literally just there and many years, maybe a decade, after the fact

-Usnavi’s daughter is the life that goes on after Abuela is gone

-Usnavi and Nina crying together

-Those closest to Abuela are inside and everyone else is outside

-Iris was sitting on the outside and now she’s in the middle; needed comfort from her friends

-“Should we take a break?”=> we’re past the point of an intermission

-“No daddy, keep going”=> does this look like a stage production to you? It’s a fucking movie

-There isn’t a clear point for an intermission; the action stays strong over where the intermission should be; this is a movie, not a play, and movies don’t have intermissions

-Everyone’s holding candles; like the stars Abuela loved so much

-Iris called Usnavi Daddy for the first time because that was the point in the story where he needed to hear that the most

-“I thought about the people I care about the most, I thought about you”

-Anthony makes Usnavi sexy in a way Lin never could

-So many people love Vanessa, but no one better than Usnavi

-Abuela paid to have Camila's napkins cleaned after all

-Usnavi is the kind of parent that doesn’t sugarcoat life

-Vanessa listed no emergency contacts even though she had people

-“That’s senorita to you”=> yes girl, get it

-Love Daniela for getting everyone out of their asses

-“Tonteria” means foolishness=> the more you know

-How fast Carla says no to “ask me why” shows how quickly she wants to please her love

-Usnavi’s Nueva York t-shirt=> I need it

-Daniela’s first effect being on a woman whose hair is terrible

-Carla pushing that man away from her woman with a bullshit excuse

-My friend was laughing at the parts that were meant to be jokes

-Usnavi’s entrance being announced in Carnaval del Barrio; just like Benny in the opening song

-“There’s nothing holding me down”=> assuming he was rejected

-The different communities dancing with their flags

-Nina being part of Carnaval del Barrio is great

-Even Kevin, kind of an old man, can get down

-Since Nina and Benny sex scene wasn’t shown on screen (praise Jesus), I have to assume Nina told Daniela even though she knows she’s a huge gossip

-Everyone stops because Sonny, a kid, starts singing

-Vanessa and Sonny are so powerful together

-Vanessa’s hand on Sonny’s shoulder

-A kid providing Usnavi with the “flag I’ve got in my hand”

-Usnavi and Vanessa dancing together is muy romantico

-Everything about Nina’s appearance in “When the Sun Goes Down”

-“Let me just listen to my block”=> peak Nina

-Abuela wrote “for Usnavi” on her lotto ticket 😭

-They cut so many songs but kept Champagne=>I love their priorities

-The pause before “you outta stay”

-Everyone has such great chemistry; especially Usnavi and Vanessa

-The choreography in Champagne is what I’ve always imagined

-Usnavi didn’t have time to cash in because Vanessa came over

-Vanessa and Pete friendship for the win

-“Best days of my life” is said thrice=> good things come in threes

-Usnavi staring at the room where Vanessa kissed him

-Iris knows he stayed; she loves her dad so much

-Usnavi looking out his window in Washington Heights and seeing his friends on his dad’s beach

-When Usnavi talks about Kevin at the dispatch, the camera flashes to an abandoned building

-“Vanessa at the salon”=> Usnavi sheds a tear

-Vanessa being front and center during Usnavi’s decision to stay

-Hearing the sounds of the beach during the unveiling

-It’s all about Vanessa=> perfection

-Lin being at the ending is perfect no matter the context

-“Say it so it doesn’t disappear”=> the sad reality is your neighborhood probably will disappear

-Usnavi telling his daughter “you’re it” is everything

-Iris understanding all of the little details of her father’s store now that she knows his story

-Iris is the goddess of the rainbow like the light that appears when water appears on a sunlit day

-“Man, you talk forever”=> that’s so “How I Met Your Mother”

-Iris has a necklace of seashells, like the islands

-Vanessa would sooner get wet than let go of Usnavi’s hand

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katyobsesses · 3 years

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Katy my darling <3 I have a very fun ask for you!! What method of arts do each glee characters prefer and what is their favorite thing to create?

oooooo this is a fun ask!

I'm gonna do S2 New Directions for now, but may add S3-6 ND or other characters later 💛 (warning... this is LONG)

Artie: Film. 100% film. He loves using visual media to tell a story, he also really gets into the sound design side too when he learns it in College. He loves making music videos and after Uni that's mostly what he does. He also directs a lot of movie musicals and musical TV shows. Basically he loves making visual media for songs.

Blaine: Performing - mostly singing. He also love writing songs, which we never see in the show but I can imagine him learning about songwriting in NYU and loving it as a way to express his feelings. it's like a step up from using someone else's words to express them.

Brittany: Obviously dancing! I like to think that after marrying Santana she either goes to college for Dance, or maybe owns a dance studio/goes on tour with Mercedes a lot (with Santana as a guest singer) She really loves teaching little kids how to dance, she knows how to interact with them on their level and the kids love her.

Finn: Singing? I honestly can't think about what he likes. Like singing is the closest thing. He sings in the shower a lot and obviously he loves singing on stage. But he's not that much of an art person outside of that. He likes consuming it but not making it.

Kurt: Sewing, obviously, as well as sketching clothes. He loves making accessories for friends - scrunchies for the girls, bow ties for Blaine, a dog bandana for Sam's golden retriver (because you know he gets one) etc. - but he also loves designing and making costumes for small productions. Maybe he volunteers/works with a small theatre troop and makes & designs all of the costumes while also performing.

Mercedes: Mercedes likes making cards for everyone for Christmas and Birthdays. It started because she'd forgotten to buy a card for someone but had some card and pretty pens on hand and it spiralled from there. She now owns a fancy die pressing kit and lots of card toppers and pretty glitter pens and washi tape and all of that. She has a small kit she brings on all of her tours, it helps relax her after a show - making cards for the crew as a thank you/maybe selling some for charity because she makes so much? When she finally gets back together with Sam they both work together to make Christmas cards from them with cute pictures of themselves in terrible christmas jumpers and their golden retriver in a Kurt made bandana and later their kids in matching outfits.

Mike: Like Brittany he's a dancer first and formost. That's his art. He later goes on to be a professional on Dancing With The Stars where he reconnects with Matt on set (maybe they even get together in the end and the DWTS fans love their relationship and their jokingly competative instagram stories) He loves creating a story with only movement and music. Mike also really likes doodling.

Puck: Photography. I don't know why but I see Puck loving to take pictures of places he visits in his travels. He also scrapbooks but only Quinn knows that - he has a whole scrapbook of pictures of Beth that Shelby sends them and later makes them for all of his other kids too, and he has, like, travel journals and scrapbooks of roadtrips he's been on. Basically he's a Bullet Journal guy. He really likes washi tape and pretty papers and stickers and what-not. He will never admit this.

Quinn: Quinn's a writer. In my head she goes on to write a book that's losely based on her high-school years and it becomes a best seller and is later adapted into a Netflix series directed by Artie. I just like the idea! Maybe Rachel plays, like, the Miss Pillsbury character... or Terri! Or maybe Shelby? I dunno one of the adult characters.

Rachel: Obviously her art of choice is performing. It's singing and acting and standing on a stage or a set and making the words in her script her own. Also scrapbooking/moodboard making.

Santana: Santana likes knitting. She won't admit it but she likes knitting little plushies for Brittany, her favourite is a little bi flag coloured bunny. She makes knitted plushies and blankets for all of her friends when they have kids but she never tells them she made them - everyone knows though, they're too perfect for the couple/person (a cat in a scarf or a toy poodle in a bow tie for Klaine, a teddy adorned with gold stars for St. Berry etc. etc.)

Sam: This could be an essay for me (and kinda is opps). Sam is the Art nerd of the group and tries every type of art he possibly can. Macaroni art, illustration, digital art, traditional art, crafts, pumpkin carving, glass blowing, handlettering, graphic design, knitting, crochet, rag rugs, sewing, card making, pyrography, etc. He will try everything he can in terms of visual art. He doesn't, however, write because dyslexia, and he can't wrap him mind around, like editing and film stuff - he does try though because why not. He also really likes songwriting and music arranging.

All of this i'm trying to do as close to canon as i can but going off of canon let's say Sam goes to Parsons for illustration because he's so good at art, he stays with Mercedes in her brownstone and they never break up, after graduating he becomes a comic book illustrator (which i believe is literally a minor at Parsons, so let's say he does a Major in Fine Art/Illustration with a Minor in Comic illustration) and illustrates a run of Young Avengers comics and becomes a fan favourite artist.

In canon, however, he loves teaching the new generation of New Directions but he misses art because he doesn't have that much time anymore (because being the teacher of the new directions is a full time job, apparently, judging by the lack of adult friends or hobbies Will has lol) he loves loves loves arranging music, however, and that becomes the type of art he does the most. He does doodle a lot during faculty meeting (also he does a music teaching certification during his first few years of coaching the nNDs) and goes all out with pumpkin carving at Halloween, and loves decorating his apartment and the choir room at Christmas. He loves doing sets for the musical (and has a lot of fun staging it too) and helps out with the decorations for Prom.

Basically Sam loves to be creative in any way he can. He loves making things, whatever they may be.

Tina: Tina writes fanfiction and draws fanart. She's a nerd 100%, she watched Supernatural, she was a SuperWhoLockian, she loves Merlin, she's loves Twilight but more ironically than, say, Mercedes, and prefers books like Morganville Vampires or PC Cast's series that I've forgotten the name of. She loves the Hunger Games and Firefly and Star Trek and Star Wars. She definately has a tumblr. She mostly writes all sorts of fanfiction and is a huge name in the Supernatural fandom. Only Sam and Blaine know about all of this becuase they found one of her Star Wars fanfictions and in an authors note she said something that they recognised - idk she ranted about Santana or Rachel or something.

This was so much fun omg, thank you for the ask Myle 💛

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kmclaude · 3 years

Note

Forgive me Father, I have no awful headcanons for you, only a general question on comic making. How do you do it, writing-wise/how do you decide what points go where, how do you plot it out (or do you have any resources on the writing aspect that you find useful?) Not to get too bogged down in details, but I attended a writer’s workshop and the author in residence suggested I transfer my wordy sci-fi WIP into graphic novel script, as it might work better. (I do draw, but I don’t know if I have it in me to draw a whole comic—characters in motion? Doing things? With backgrounds? How dare, why can’t everyone just stand around looking pretty)

I was interested but it quickly turned into a lot of internal screaming as I tried to figure out how to compress the hell out of it, since novels are free to do a lot more internal monologuing and such compared to a comic format (to say nothing of trying to write a script without seeing how the panels lay out—just for my own sake, I might have to do both concurrently.)

As an aside, to get a feel for graphic novels I was rereading 99RM and was reminded of how great it was—tightly plotted, intriguing, and anything to do with Ashmedai was just beautifully drawn. I need more Monsignor Tiefer and something something there are parallels between Jehan and Daniel in my head and I don’t know if they make sense but it works for me. (As an aside, I liked the emphasis on atonement being more than just the word sorry, but acknowledgment you did wrong and an attempt to remedy it—I don’t know why that spoke to me the way that it did.)

I thought Tumblr had a word count limit for asks but so far it has offered zero resistance, oh well. I don’t have much else to say but on the topic of 99RM, Adam getting under Monsignor’s skin is amazing, 10/10 (about the Pride picture earlier)

wow tumblr got rid of the markdown editor! or at least in asks which means the new editor probably has no markdown....god i hate this site! anyway...

Totally! So first, giant thank you for the compliments! Second, I have a few questions in turn for you before I dive into a sort of answer, since I can give some advice to your questions in general but it also sounds like you have a specific conundrum on your hands.

My questions to your specific situation are:

did the author give any reason for recommending a, in your words, "wordy" story be turned into a graphic novel?

is the story you're writing more, like you said, "internal monologuing"? action packed? where do the visuals come from?

do you WANT it to be a comic? furthermore, do you want it to be a comic you then must turn around and draw? or would you be interested in writing for comics as a comic writer to have your words turned into art?

With those questions in mind, let me jump into the questions you posed me!

Let me start with a confession...

I've said this before but let me say it again: Ninety-Nine Righteous Men was not originally a comic — it was a feature-length screenplay! And furthermore, it was written for a class so it got workshopped again and again to tighten the plot by a classroom of other nerds — so as kind as your compliments are, I'm giving credit where credit is due as that was not just a solo ship sailing on the sea. On top of that, it got adapted (by me) into a comic for my thesis, so my advisor also helped me make it translate or "read" well given I was director, actor, set designer, writer, editor, SFX guy, etc. all in one. And it was a huge help to have someone say "there is no way you can go blow by blow from script to comic: you need to make edits!" For instance, two scenes got compressed to simple dialogue overlaid on the splashpage of Ashmedai raping Caleb (with an insert panel of Adam and Daniel talking the next day.) What had been probably at least 5 pages became 1.

Additionally, I don't consider myself a strong plotter. That said, I found learning to write for film made the plotting process finally make some damn sense since the old plot diagram we all got taught in grammar school English never made sense as a reader and definitely made 0 sense as a writer — for me, for some reason, the breakdown of 25-50-25 (approx. 25 pages for act 1, 50 for act 2 split into 2 parts of 25 each, 25 pages for act 3) and the breaking down of the beats (the act turning points, the mid points, the low point) helped give me a structure that just "draw a mountain, rising action, climax is there, figure it out" never did. Maybe the plot diagram is visually too linear when stories have ebb and flow? I don't know. But it never clicked until screenwriting. So that's where I am coming from. YMMV.

I should also state that there's Official Ways To Write Comic Scripts to Be Drawn By An Artist (Especially If You Work For A Real Publisher As a Writer) and there's What Works For You/Your Team. I don't give a rat's ass about the former (and as an artist, I kind of hate panel by panel breakdowns like you see there) so I'm pretty much entirely writing on the latter here. I don't give a good god damn about official ways of doing anything: what works for you to get it done is what matters.

What Goes Where?

Like I said, 99RM was a screenplay so it follows, beat-wise, the 3-act screenplay structure (hell, it's probably more accurate to say it follows the act 1/act 2A/act 2B/act 3 structure.) So there was the story idea or concept that then got applied to those story beats associated with the structure, and from there came the Scene-by-scene Breakdown (or Expanded Scene Breakdown) which basically is an outline of beats broken down into individual scenes in short prose form so you get an overview of what happens, can see pacing, etc. In the resources at the end I put some links that give information on the whole story beat thing.

(As an aside: for all my short comics, I don't bother with all that, frankly. I usually have an image or a concept or a bit of writing — usually dialogue or monologue, sometimes a concrete scene — that I pick at and pick at in a little sketchbook, going back and forth between writing and thumbnail sketches of the page. Or I just go by the seat of my pants and bullshit my way through. Either or. Those in many ways are a bit more like poems, in my mind: they are images, they are snapshots, they are feelings that I'm capturing in a few panels. Think doing mental math rather than writing out geometric proofs, yanno?)

Personally, I tend to lean on dialogue as it comes easier for me (it's probably why I'm so drawn to screenwriting!) so for me, if I were to do another longform GN, I'd probably take my general "uhhhhhh I have an idea and some beats maybe so I guess this should happen this way?" outline and start breaking it down scene by scene (I tend to write down scenes or scene sketches in that "uhhhh?" outline anyway LOL) and then figure out basic dialogue and action beats — in short, I'd kind of do the work of writing a screenplay without necessarily going full screenplay format (though I did find the format gave me an idea of timing/pacing, as 1 page of formatted script is about equal to 1 minute of screentime, and gave me room to sketch thumbnails or make edits on the large margins!) If you're not a monologue/soliloque/dialogue/speech person and more an image and description person, you may lean more into visuals and scenes that cut to each other.

Either way this of course introduces the elephant in the panel: art! How do you choose what to draw?

The answer is, well, it depends! The freedom of comics is if you can imagine it, you can make it happen. You have the freedoms (and audio limitations) of a truly silent film with none of the physical limitations. Your words can move in real time with the images or they can be a narrative related to the scene or they could be nonsequitors entirely! The better question is how do you think? Do you need all the words and action written first before you break down the visuals? Do you need a panel by panel breakdown to be happy, or can you freewheel and translate from word and general outlines to thumbnails? What suits you? I really cannot answer this because I think when it comes to what goes where with regard to art, it's a bit of "how do you process visuals" and also a bit of "who's drawing this?" — effectively, who is the interpreter for the exact thing you are writing? Is it you or someone else? If it's you, would you benefit from a barebones script alongside thumbnailed paneling? Would you be served by a barebones script, then thumbnails, then a new script that includes panel and page breakdowns? What frees you up to do what you need to do to tell your story?

If I'm being honest, I don't necessarily worry about panels or what something will look like necessarily until I'm done writing. I may have an image that I clearly state needs to happen. I may even have a sequence of panels that I want to see and I do indeed sketch that out and make note of it in my script. But exactly how things will be laid out, paneled, situated? That could change up until I've sketched my final pencils in CSP (but I am writer and artist so admittedly I get that luxury.)

How do I compress from novel to comic?

Honest answer? You don't. Not really. You adapt from one to another. It's more a translation. Something that would take forever to write may take 1 page in a comic or may take a whole issue.

I'm going to pick on Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo spent a whole-ass book in Notre-Dame de Paris talking about a bird's eye view of Paris and other medieval architecture boring stuff, with I guess some foreshadowing with Montfaucon. Who cares. Not me. I like story. Anyway. When we translate that book to a movie any of the billion times someone's done that, we don't spend a billion years talking at length about medieval Paris. There's no great monologuing about the gibbet or whatever: you get to have some establishing shots, maybe a musical number, and then you move tf on. Because it's a movie, right? Your visuals are right there. We can see medieval Paris. We can see the cathedral. We can see the gibbet. We don't need a whole book: it's visually right there. Same with a comic: you may need many paragraphs to describe, say, a space station off of Sirius and one panel to show it.

On the flip side, you may take one line, maybe two, to say a character keyed in the special code to activate the holodeck; depending on the visual pacing, that could be a whole page of panels (are we trying to stretch time? slow it down? what are we emphasizing?) A character gives a sigh of relief — one line of text, yeah? That could be a frozen panel while a conversation continues on or that could be two (or more!) panels, similar to the direction [a beat] in screenwriting.

Sorry there's not a super easy answer there to the question of compression: it's a lot more of a tug, a push-pull, that depends on what you're conveying.

So Do I Have It In Me to Write & Draw a GN?

The only way you'll know is by doing. Scary, right? The thing is, you don't necessarily need to be an animation king or God's gift to background artists to draw a comic.

Hell, I hate backgrounds. I still remember sitting across from my friend who said "Claude you really need to draw an establishing exterior of the church at some point" and me being like "why do you hate me specifically" because drawing architecture? Again? I already drew the interior of the church altar ONCE, that should be enough, right? But I did draw an exterior of the church. Sorta. More like the top steeple. Enough to suggest what I needed to suggest to give the audience a better sense of place without me absolutely losing my gourd trying to render something out of my wheelhouse at the time.

And that's kinda the ticket, I think. Not everyone's a master draftsman. Not everyone has all the skills in every area. And regardless, from page one to page one hundred, your skills will improve. That's all part of it — and in the meantime, you should lean into your strengths and cheat where you can.

Do you need to lovingly render a background every single panel? Christ no! Does every little detail need to be drawn out? Sure if you want your hand to fall off. Cheat! Use Sketchup to build models! Use Blender to sculpt forms to paint over! Use CSP Assets for prebuilt models and brushes if you use CSP! Take photographs and manip them! Cheat! Do what you need to do to convey what you need to convey!

For instance, a tip/axiom/"rule" I've seen is one establishing shot per scene minimum and a corollary to that has been include a background once per page minimum as grounding (no we cannot all have eternal floating heads and characters in the void. Unless your comic is set in the void. In which case, you do you.) People ain't out here drawing hyper detailed backgrounds per each tiny panel. The people who DO do that are insane. Or stupid. Or both. Or have no deadline? Either way, someone's gonna have a repetitive stress injury... Save yourself the pain and the headache. Take shortcuts. Save your punches for the big K.O. moments.

Start small. Make an 8-page zine. Tell a beginning, a middle, an end in comic form. Bring a scene to life in a few pages. See what you're comfortable drawing and where you struggle. See where you can lean heavily into your comfort zones. Learn how to lean out of your comfort zone. Learn when it's worth it to do the latter.

Or start large. Technically my first finished comic (that wasn't "a dumb pencil thing I drew in elementary school" or "that 13 volume manga I outlined and only penciled, what, 7 pages of in sixth grade" or "random one page things I draw about my characters on throw up on the interwebz") was 99RM so what do I know. I'm just some guy on the internet.

(That's not self-deprecating, I literally am some guy on the internet talking about my path. A lot of this is gonna come down to you and what vibes with you.)

Resources on writing

Some of these are things that help me and some are things that I crowd-sourced from others. Some of these are going to be screenwriting based, some will be comic based.

Making Comics by Scott McCloud: I think everyone recommends this but I think it is a useful book if you're like "ahh!!! christ!! where do I start!!!???" It very much breaks down the elements of comics and the world they exist in and the principles involved, with the caveat that there are no rules! In fact, I need to re-read it.

Comic Book Design: I picked this up at B&N on a whim and in terms of just getting a bird's eye view of varied ways to tackle layout and paneling? It's such a great resource and reference! I personally recommend it as a way to really get a feel for what can be done.

the screenwriter's bible: this is a book that was used in my class. we also used another book that's escaping me but to be honest, I never read anything in school and that's why I'm so stupid. anyway, I'd say check it out if you want, especially if you start googling screenwriting stuff and it's like 20 billion pieces of advice that make 0 sense -- get the core advice from one place and then go from there.

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: many people I know recommended this. I think I have it? It may be in storage. So frankly, I'd already read a bunch of books on comics before grabbing this that it kind of felt like a rehash. Which isn't shade on the authors — I personally was just a sort of "girl, I don't need comics 101!!!"

Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate: this has been recommended so many times to me. I cannot personally speak on it but I can say I do trust those who rec'd it to me so I am passing it along

the story circle: this is pretty much the hero's journey. a useful way to think of journeys! a homie pretty much swears by it

a primer on beats: quick google search got me this that outlines storybeats

save the cat!: what the above refers to, this gives a more genre-specific breakdown. also wants to sell you on the software but you don't need that.

I hope this helps and please feel free to touch base with more info about your specific situation and hopefully I'll have more applicable answers.

#writing #making a graphic novel #writing a graphic novel #tutorial #writing tutorial

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feen-feet · 3 years

Text

Compounds

This is a fanfic based on Sleepless Domain, a magical girl webcomic by Mary Cagle. More Benzine fluff.

------

Steffi’s worst subject was Free Study.

It isn’t really a subject. Just blocks of time spent in the library, assigned for catching up on classwork you’re behind on. She had no shortage of that. The problem was, just… she was unsupervised! No one checked attendance! How was she supposed to concentrate when goofing off was such an easy option? How dare these teachers place so much… trust in her?

She sighed, cheek in hand, noticing she’d been doodling in the margins of her exercise book for a good five minutes now. She looked across the table to Benzine. She was head down, pen scratching away. A model student. Dork.

So bored. “Hey Benz, how did you do on that Outer Science paper?”

No reaction. Benzine’s head remained down. She scowled, scratching something out.

Steffi’s eyes narrowed. She brought her pen up, judged the distance and weight, then flicked it at Benzine’s head.

The gentle clonk got a sharp reaction as Benzine straightened. “Waugh! What? Nothing!” She seemed… embarrassed?

Further suspicion reduced Steffi’s eyes to slits. She glanced at Benzine’s exercise book. She had her calculus textbook out, but that didn’t look like calculus…

She returned her gaze to Benzine. “Behind you.”

“Huh?” Benzine turned. Steffi snatched Benzine’s exercise book away. Yeesh, she’s really off her game.

“HEY!” Benzine grabbed the book, yanking at it, but not before Steffi got a look at its content.

JULIE

RACHEL

LISA

MARY

SALLY

BERNADETTE. This one was crossed out.

Steffi met Benzine’s eyes. The yanking had stopped. Benzine's face was aflame. She dropped her hands, and face, to the table. A muffled explanation. “I need a new name.”

Steffi sat there, holding the book. “Oh. Oh, yeah. Was wondering about that. Are these… candidates?”

Benzine sat up, only to slump back in her chair, sighing. “Kinda? No… I dunno. I’ve been making lists for a while, but nothing feels right. It’s one thing being assigned a name by someone. Actually picking one out…” She trailed off.

Steffi cocked her head a little. “Have you been tryna' think of one from scratch?”

"No, I... hang on." Benzine dug around in her bag, then stood a dog-eared book on the table. 1,001 Names For A Bouncing Baby Girl.

Benzine stared at Steffi, dead-eyed. "Please ignore the name."

Steffi stared back, blinking. "Well, this is ridiculous." She pushed her chair out, standing up. "Wait here."

Benzine looked nervous. "Wait, where are you..." Steffi was already gone. She returned quickly, dumping thick textbooks on the table. One book faced Benzine. Bennett's Chemical Compound Guide.

"Wh... why are you looking in there?"

Steffi plonked into her seat, cracking one of the textbooks. "Because, Benzine, you've accepted you're a girl, but you are yet to accept you're also a huge nerd."

Benzine wanted to argue. She really, really wanted to argue. But as she scanned the, uh... passionate graphic design on the cover, listing off names like Leucine, Thiazine, Ornithine, Simazine... the way they sounded. She had to admit Steffi had a point.

She really was a huge nerd. ------

Steffi drew her finger down the page. “Ooh, what about Chloe?”

Benzine's eyes narrowed. “Short for…?”

Steffi smirked. “Chlorine.”

The narrowing was followed by a roll. Benzine returned to her textbook. “What about penicillin? Could do Penny…”

“Bit mouldy, isn’t it?”

Benzine scowled. “I’m never sure which bits of science class you’ve paid attention to.”

Steffi stuck her tongue out in response. “How about Boron then? Short for boring moron.”

As Benzine snorted, the bell sounded. She sighed. “Maybe we need some second opinions.” ------

“What about Alkaline?” Techno asked. “You could shorten it to Allie.”

Benzine, in her Rock Blitz getup, sat on the park bench as the rest of Team Blitz perched on the fountain, poring over Bennett’s Guide.

Benzine pondered a moment before writing that down. “Yeah, that’s not bad.”

“Oooh!” Chandra cooed. “What about Strychnine? That sounds cool!”

Benzine smirked. “Keep reading the description, Swing.”

Chandra kept reading. “Oh. Yeh, maybe not.”

Steffi looked up. “What about Beryllium?”

Benzine’s face soured. “Isn’t Beryl kinda an old woman name?”

“You are an old woman.”

“Wh- I’m two months older than you!”

“Exactly, you need a walker.” Steffi went back to the book.

Chandra smirked. “Lookit this one! Asparagine. You could switch teams and be Outrageous Asparagus.”

“PFFFFFF” Benzine’s giggle was drowned out by the 10pm announcement. A mauve and orange barrier settled over the city. “Guys, the barrier’s up.”

The rest of Team Blitz remained focussed on the book. "Shush, Benzine," Techno said. "We’re busy." ------

There are diners and little cafes that stay open until 10pm, then open up again at 2am for a few hours. Some girls liked to wind down a little before going home, and the owners showed their appreciation for the City's defenders by keeping the lights on for them.

Tonight, Steffi decided to take advantage. Benzine was happy to call it a night, but Steffi insisted they spend a little more time poring over the guides.

Steam rose from Benzine’s mug, recently refilled. She had to stop sipping from it or she’d never sleep. “Hydrazine?”

Steffi grunted, face buried in Chemistry 201. That probably meant no.

Benzine yawned, scanning the index. Tryptamine. Auxin. Cysteine. Ferredoxin. Estradiol. OK, that one was definitely too on the nose.

She grimaced. She liked this idea. Hell, she’d been walking around named for a chemical all her life, thanks to her dork parents. But now that she was picking one out for herself… was it too much? Was this too ‘extra’ for her personality? Would people laugh?

Her worries were interrupted by an extended snort. She looked up. Steffi had crumpled over her book, overtaken by high-pitched giggles.

Benzine raised an eyebrow. “What? What’s so funny?”

Still giggling, face stuck on the table, she pushed her book over to Benzine. A finger stuck next to a chemical definition.

Arsenite.

Steffi could barely speak. “…ass… ass night…”

Benzine joined Steffi in her collapse into hysterics, the sort that only come at 3am. The two idiots called it quits soon after. ------

Benzine sat at a table outside Future’s Promise, resenting the morning. Yet more coffee cooled in a takeaway cup. She flipped through the baby name book idly, not really paying attention to it.

She sighed. The chemical thing was a nice idea, but after a day of searching, nothing had clicked. Ah well. She could keep going by Benzine for now-

WHOMP. Bennett’s Guide landed in front of her, open on a page. Benzine looked up.

A Steffi-shaped being loomed over her, bent and crooked, staring. Her face drooped, dark bags under her eyes. She did not speak.

Benzine eyes widened. “Were you up all night?”

Still silent, Steffi tapped the page insistently. Benzine looked where directed. A definition had been underlined, along with a few details.

ANILINE

...an electron-rich benzene derivative...

…primary component in the production of synthetic indigo (blue) dye.

Next to these details, scrawled in wobbly handwriting, was a nickname. ANNIE.

Benzine stared at it for a while. Aniline. Annie. She rolled them around in her head.

That was it. It fit. It felt right.

She looked up. “Steffi, I-“

Steffi held a hand up as she chugged a can of Raging Kiwi energy drink. A four pack had appeared on the table from somewhere.

With a pffhaugh, Steffi dropped the can on the table. “No talk. Thank me later.” She cracked another can, gulping it down.

#sleepless domain #fanfic #benzine #magical girls #magical girl #Transgender

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algernoninwonderland · 3 years

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The folks making Miraculous would rather make yet another anime reference instead of proposing an accurate depiction of a non-European culture.

Guess which one of these would require some effort and the hiring of specialists, and dare I say, maybe even Chinese and Japanese people to consult?

But no, let’s put what little budget we have into recreating yet another scene from Captain Harlock, a show none of the kids (the target audience) will recognise, that’s much smarter, it sells the idea that our lead character is a biracial kid much more efficiently... Right?

The people making this show do it for themselves (and for a living), and they clearly think indulging in their catboy bondage kink and nerd references is worth more attention and time than about anything else. And... Well, that’s really telling, isn’t it?

If you’re not willing to engage with what it means to be a biracial kid with a Chinese parent, just write your character to be white since it’s so much easier for you. If you don’t follow through with your creative choices, maybe don’t make these choices in the first place?

Let’s be clear here. The people producing the show are fine with how rubbish and (not so) low-key racist it is as long as merch keeps selling well and people keep watching, which is why we get such characters as “Mirror Sword” and her “woman” ring and Son Goku with a pizza Buster Sword. If the producers cared even a bit, they’d have asked the creative crew to rework the designs and writing again.

The people paying money for the show to get made and expecting to make more money in return are just as responsible for the final product as the folks doing the creating. They see drafts and boards and go “hmm the kids will love it, or at least they’ll watch it, I see no problem with this whatsoever, that’s worth my financial investment!”

TV networks go, “hmm, no explicit gays or graphic violence, the characters are wearing helmets when they ride their bikes? Great, it means we can air this, who cares what’s actually in the episode outside of that. Hope we’ll get some decent ad revenue!”

And if this isn’t the most unsurprising thing ever, I don’t know what is. Pure cynicism, the utmost lack of care.

I’m looking forward to the Brazil special, it’ll be a lot of fun hearing what a huge and vocal fanbase outside of France and the US think of the way their country and cultures get mangled on screen. Heh. I’m sure we’ll get at least a few One Piece references since Luffy is Brazilian.

#ml salt #ml writers salt #miraculous #that guy salt #ml critical

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yikesharringrove · 4 years

Text

Toy Box

Part 7

Read on ao3

“I don’t know what to do.”

Billy thunked his head on the table. Heather reached out, absentmindedly scratching the back oh his head before withdrawing, going back to typing away at her laptop.

“Just fuck him.” Billy sat up properly, staring at her, unimpressed.

“But we have to like, live together. And he already gets so, awkward with me, if we fuck and then, that’s it, he’ll get weird.”

“Then date him.” She hadn’t looked at him the whole time, simply tapping away at her homework.

“But, what if things go bad, and we have to live together, or, or he moves out or something?” Heather sighed, giving him a look over her laptop.

“Billy, either you make a move, or you deal. You’ve been whining for days.”

“Because the universe dropped the perfect guy into my lap, and I can do shit all about it.” Heather sighed loudly.

“You could.”

“I can not fuck this up though. He left his medicine bag in the bathroom this morning, he’s on some pretty hardcore anti-anxiety and antidepressants and shit. And, like, we got high together, and he was definitely drunk the other night, so I don’t think he actually takes them, which is, something I don’t feel is my place to bring up to him. I mean, we’re like friends? I think after last night?” Heather was still typing quickly. “So, like, if this goes south, it could go south.”

“Billy, as shitty as it sounds, you can not constantly be worried about everyone around you. And, what if everything goes well? You ever think about that?”

“‘Course not. I’m a pessimist by design.” Heather closed her laptop a little bit, taking him in.

“If you’re really worried about him, maybe you could talk to someone. Didn’t you say he has a friend he talks about a lot?”

“Yeah, Robin.”

“If you’re freaked but you feel like it’s not your place, maybe talk to her?”

“But they were drinking together.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know? Maybe he doesn’t like to tell people. Were they like, right there or did you go snooping?” Billy looked down at the table, tracing the wood grain. “You did not.”

“I noticed him putting the medicine bag in his backpack when he went to Robin’s yesterday, and then it was there and it was open, I didn’t have to unzip it.”

“That’s not better.” Billy shrugged. “You’re a freak.”

“I’m concerned.”

“Steve’s a grownup. And besides, some medications you can drink on. It’s not, like, recommended, but you can.”

“Heather, you know I barely paid attention in psych.”

“Yeah, you napped next to me everyday and then copied all my notes. And somehow scored better than me on the final.” Billy grinned at her.

“Cramming works. If you don’t mind forgetting the material the second you finish the test.”

“Yeah, I prefer learning.”

“Nerd.” She kicked him under the table. He pouted at her.

“I don’t really know what to tell you here, Billy. If you can find a way to bring it up to him, then do so, but if not, trust that he’s managing himself. If he’s on those, he has a psychiatrist, a pharmacist, and probably a therapist that have explained everything to him.” Billy grunted, leaning forward to plant his forehead back on the table.

“I just feel stupid. I’m getting all, all-”

“Boyfriendy.” Billy lifted his head a little bit to let it fall back onto the table. “You know it’s true. You always get like this about the guys you like. All alpha-male overprotective.”

“It’s not my fault I only like guys that are, needy, and reliant.” Heather stared at him.

“A psychoanalyst would have a field day with you.” It was Billy’s turn to kick her under the table. He sat back up.

“He accidentally called me daddy today.” She stared at him.

“How do you accidentally call someone daddy?” Billy shrugged.

“Steve found a way.” He sighed, flicking at his empty mug. “He said it was a joke with his friend. That whenever she gets bossy he’ll say yes, Daddy. Which, I told him to eat, and he said that.”

“Jesus, you both are analyst bait.”

“Stop saying that.” She rolled her eyes, pushing her laptop back open, looking back over her work.

“I had to jerk off after he said it.” She choked, thumping on her chest as she coughed.

“That’s so much.”

“Like, the second he said it? Hard as a fucking rock.”

“Billy, I don’t wanna know that.”

“What? You like dick.”

“But not your dick.” He huffed.

“Just ‘cause my dick doesn’t like you-”

“It’s less your dick, more the you that comes attached to it.”

“Rude.”

“You want someone to talk about your dick with, go find Steve. Stick it in him while you’re at it.”

“Jeez, Heather. Do you have to be so graphic?”

She gave him another unimpressed look. Billy checked the clock on his phone.

“Actually, I should go. Steve seemed kinda in a funk when I left. Probably from not taking his fucking meds. I was gonna bring him dinner.”

Heather rolled her eyes.

“Alpha-male protectiveness.”

“Sorry that I’m thoughtful.”

“Yeah, a real daddy.”

Billy winked at her.

#i wrote this while drunk #yikes writes #this story? getting plot? spoiler alert: absolutely not #toy box #steve harrington #billy hargrove #harringrove #zest of lemon

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