"It sure would be nice to get away from the endless discourse and ragebait that pops up when I look for fandom artwork on social media sites. I wonder what new art is on DeviantArt?"
After seeing the app Gogh recommended in the YumeshippersUnite subreddit, I've been trying it out for the past few hours.
It's a focus and productivity app. You create an avatar, pose them working on something like what you're working on, then set a timer.
The intent is that the avatar represents yourself as you focus on your task, but this user had created their avatar in their f/o's likeness for study motivation.
This morning, I woke up much earlier than my usual time, and I really didn't feel like getting up. But I still felt like I should do something useful. Something I had the time for, that I couldn't normally do. I figured I would try lucid dreaming. I'd seen it recommended on various yumeship subreddits as a means of feeling closer to your f/o. And it wasn't quite as high-stakes as stuff like soulbonding or tulpa creation.
(I used to think that stuff was outright crazy. But my opinion on it has softened. My sister is psychometric, and has had a number of spiritual experiences, and I trust her immensely. Not to mention that I've heard of geriatric nurses having paranormal experiences with dying patients, and that's the field I'm going into, so I'm starting to wonder if there's something to it.)
It's only now that I'm making a mood theme for myself, that I see how uber-comprehensive Dreamwidth's mood list is. To the point of possibly being a bit redundant.
Like how do you "feel" sympathetic as a mood? The first thing that comes to my mind is a judgment someone would make about you, rather than something you'd feel yourself (Unless you are posting about someone else's bad situation, which...I would tread carefully on sharing.)
My mood theme is not very good yet btw, and definitely not something I want to put out for public consumption yet (ever?!), but feel free to have a look. It's a Surge the Tenrec centered mood theme, which I thought would be fitting for my journal.
I'm having a hard time finding panels where Surge both feels and looks visibly sad, haha. She seems to mask that particular feeling with anger pretty well. Usually if she's frowning, it's out of boredom, annoyance, or fear. If I were trying to make this for public consumption for a community like moodthemeinayear, this would probably be a bigger hurdle to overcome. But this theme is just for me, and I don't really make "sad" posts as of now.
I was inspired to create this theme after seeing similarly-sized 100 x 45 Sonic X mood icons on user carriepika's page, which I found while surfing old Sonic Livejournals. (For whatever reason I cannot access the site now, so I'm not sure there would be much use in linking it.)
The mood theme consisted of screencaps of Sonic making various facial expressions with a little border around them. Though I had a paid account for awhile, I only made a mood theme after seeing that and realizing I didn't have to become a pixel art master and make a huge sheet of unique expressions from scratch.
Text reads "Surge my beloved", referencing that heart locket GIF meme.
My sister is so lucky; she can find no shortage of stuff for her fictional crush.
But there's such a dearth of stuff for Surge! But I still came up with something! I commissioned a locket with a custom photo and engraving on Etsy. I showed it to my sister, and she thought it was cute!
I've been wearing it every day. ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝) Super sappy, I know, but it makes me feel more confident, having a bit of her with me.
Every time I see someone announce their "hot take" on Sonic 06, saying that they like Princess Elise for her "great potential", then go on to say that her romance/crush on Sonic is "questionable" and should be removed, I roll my eyes so hard.
LIKING ELEMENTS OF SONIC 06 FOR THEIR "POTENTIAL" IS NOT A HOT TAKE. Not even remotely so. I see a take along these lines about as often as I see outright hate for Elise; it's become a cold take by now.
Now, for my (actual?) hot take: I really don't think these fans like Elise that much. They often don't even bring up what gives her potential in the first place. Is it her emotional discipline keeping a god under lock-and-key for half her life? The power Iblis brings her in gameplay? Her stoicism, humility, and selflessness? Those traits are subtle, but still there. See, it's always about removing something, not expanding on the so-beloved traits that are already there.
Her feelings for Sonic being romantic in nature arguably further characterizes her as being relatively sheltered from things that could potentially bring her grief again. Not to mention that friendships can also be poorly written; changing the nature of their relationship won't change the issue that the dialogue gets stale at times (Sonic doesn't display much of his usual lighthearted/jokestery tone around her, feeling a bit excessively polite for my taste), and the constant abduction meant they didn't get to know each other that well before the Last Story.
I converted a screen capture I took of a Surge emote in Sonic Rumble into a GIF. (For a post I'm drafting for the mobilegames community). But after seeing it looped about a hundred times, I notice you can see her neck as she tilts her head back.
It's rendered as black, just like her shirt, so kinda looks like she's wearing a turtleneck.
Which is funny, because that's an article of clothing commonly associated with nerdishness, and she's openly expressed dismissiveness/contempt towards "brainy types" in canon. ꉂ(˵˃ ᗜ ˂˵)
I had already read this volume from the library via Hoopla. I had so much fun with it that I bought a physical copy of the book when I went on a birthday outing last month.
I'm only posting this now, but better late than never!
As I mentioned in my last entry, I only read the first issue or two before skipping all the way to here, but it was easy enough to get the gist of the prior plot thanks to my sister explaining the gist of the plot prior (and Sonic's inexplicable bird-expositioning in the first page).
I really liked Rough and Tumble, the villainous skunk brother duo. I feel like the fandom sleeps on these two! I never see them as a focus in fanfic or fanart, or even widely shipped with other characters, but they are so funny! I especially liked Rough's "tragic backstory". The way he talks constantly about having lost his tail makes me feel like he's trying really hard to be one of those sympathetic villains everyone roots for. My favorite is definitely Rough. Yet I wouldn't want to go without Tumble. Somehow, them being a duo just makes the whole thing.
Part One of random, headcanon-adjacent details to include in Sonelise fics. Because it feels like a lot of the fics out there don't have as much development of Soleanna and how it may impact the characters.
When they first meet, Sonic assumes Anna is Elise's maid, as opposed to her lady-in-waiting. When Anna sternly corrects him, Sonic corrects himself—then he shrugs it off. He figures that's like the top maid, right? Sonic doesn't mean any harm by it. But Anna takes her duty to the princess — and formality and respect in general — very seriously. She has a bit of a one-sided dislike of Sonic from that moment on.
I myself only learned the difference between a maid and a lady-in-waiting relatively recently. Funnily enough, the wiki actually refers to Anna and her counterpart as "maids" in the opening cutscene.
I haven't played the mission where Anna appears, so to my knowledge she doesn't get much development in-game.
According to the wiki, she is knowledgeable about Soleanna and its history. She also gives guidance (like any good NPC) to Sonic.
I've only read two fics where she actually plays a significant role in the plot. In the first, she was characterized as cruel and conniving towards Elise, and in the second, she was stern, overprotective, but ultimately caring.
The latter interpretation could serve any narrative really well. Control doesn't always come in the form of harsh intentions, but it can stifle nonetheless.
After learning there was a lot more to the Precure franchise than the two series that got English dubs, I've been on a quest to find the ideal Precure for me. I read a few Reddit threads that felt a bit vague in their recommendations, then I watched a video where a woman was recommending Precures based on their tones and story elements.
I was midway through, but I got a little impatient, and decided to look at the Precure wiki to see a full list of Precure season summaries to see which ones jumped out at me. It was a well-made video though. I'll have to keep watching it later, and see what else I can find.
I saw Star Twinkle Precure a bit further down the wiki's list, and one thing that stuck out at me was its space motifs and 80s inspired bright aesthetics. I really loved the old mecha shows from the 80s and 90s, and that vibe in general, so I was immediately intrigued.
I watched the first episode of it the other day. I liked it so much, I figured I should write my thoughts on it now while my first impression is still fresh! (I had watched a bit of Princess Precure, I may have to give my thoughts on that one as well).
It focuses on Hikaru, a teenage girl who loves astronomy. She accidentally summons an alien when she draws a constellation in her magic notebook. which sets off a chain of events that leads her into outer space to protect the creature, and become a legendary Precure!
There was a fair bit of high-pitched screaming/squealing in the first few minutes of the first episode, when the cute magical sidekick, in typical anime fashion, slams into the protagonist's head. There's some more of that sprinkled throughout the episode, but it didn't feel too excessive. And if you can get past that, it looks like a very promising show! I love how it leans heavily into sci-fi elements while still having unapologetically girly, cute aesthetics. Both appeal to me, but it feels rare for shows to combine the two.
In addition to being bright and engagingly animated, the theme song is also an absolute banger! I've had it playing on loop, alternating between other Precure songs for the past few days!
If you find realistically written preteens annoying, this probably isn't the Precure for you. Though Hikaru (the main character) was a little annoying, for me it was in an endearing way. Her exuberant energy and nerdishness reminded me of myself when I was around her age.
Though it's clear the showrunners care more about her characterization than flattening her into a pure "genki girl". You see Hikaru stopping for about a minute to speak with her parents, even bowing when told to, so you can see that she does have a more respectful side to her.
I also loved the way she didn't freak out when meeting the aliens, but instead geeked out. Even at the villains! You could just tell she had been waiting for something like this to happen her entire life. The fact that this is exactly what I would have done at that age in that scenario! The more I watch the episode to grab screencaps for this review, the more I see that she's practically a self-insert of myself from my preteen years, help!
Though I like Hikaru, it's hard to say who my true favorite character is yet, as I usually only decide my favorite character after I've had time to see what each character contributes to the plot.
But I did like that poor jellyfish alien! When Lala (alien girl Hikaru meets) was too shy or surprised to say anything to counter Hikaru's recklessness, he had to step in. Or at least do his level best.
Fuwa is especially cute too. Perhaps my sense of humor is broken or irony poisoned or something, because during the flashback, when those older-looking Precures told the little puffball alien that she was "their last hope", and she was just like:
...
Fuwa? (A cute, blushy sheep face kaomoji) F u w a ? ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა
I burst out laughing!
I dunno. Maybe "Fuwa" is my favorite. She is awfully cute. I was literally almost tearing up from how adorable she was when Hikaru was teasing her with the donut she was eating. Her increasingly delighted squeaks as Hikaru kept moving the donut closer to her face...they just have to be heard to be believed. .·°՞(¯□¯)՞°·. Maybe she'll turn out to be the god of the home planet, or a secret monarch the whole time, or something funny like that.
Just this evening, when I went to check this site, I got a weird error page, telling me that I was being geoblocked due to age verification laws in Mississippi.
I was using Dreamwidth earlier today without any issue, and I was definitely not in Mississippi. Multiple reloads later, and I was still geoblocked. It became obvious I'd have to download a VPN to get on here again.
I went with Proton VPN due to how often it appears in Best VPN lists (usually as something like, "Best Free VPN"). My relief was palpable when I was able to access the site again. The server randomly chosen for me was in the U.S., so I was a little worried nothing would change, but it must have been far enough from Mississippi to not be an issue.
I was concerned about the privacy implications prior (because you KNOW these companies that collect ID scans don't provide this service out of the goodness of their hearts). But it hadn't occurred to me how prohibitively expensive age verification would be for smaller sites that run on donations.
These fuckass age verification laws had better not come for my state.
Current Mood:bitchy
Current Music:Random conversations in a restaurant
I can't say if I'm proud or ashamed to say that I started reading the IDW Sonic comics just so I could learn more about Surge the Tenrec. Most of what I learned about her is secondhand/thirdhand. Skimming wiki pages, hearing other fans talk, that sort of thing.
Funny thing is, I wasn't even intending to read the IDW Sonic comics. My sister had been trying to convince me to read them for quite some time, but usually when she talked about them, she was venting about how woefully OOC Shadow or Amy (her main Sonic blorbos) are. I don't feel quite so strongly about those two, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. Epecially when I saw how Silver was portrayed as an adorable, happy-go-lucky cinnamon roll. (He may be naïve, but he would never grin ear-to-ear like he does in the comics! Just look at 06! He is a brooding, rude, and desperate antihero! 06's reset be damned, if you're going to make him that different, just make an original character!)
Resists the urge to slap him repeatedly into a normal face — oh what the heck, then he would probably cry, which might be even more annoying.
She did have a lot of good things to say on Sonic's characterization though. And Sonic is probably my favorite character across all Sonic media. His stoicism, smiling for his friends even in the face of the Metal Virus, especially sounded interesting.
As a Sonelise shipper, I like the idea of Sonic also powering through his negative feelings with a smile, and if the comic leans into that, I'm all for it.
I've heard some mixed reviews on the way Sonic's morality is handled (framing his repeated fights with Eggman as a result of mercy, as opposed to circumstance or the Egg's ingenuity), but my sister thinks some of this is overstated.
But what really cemented it for me was when she told me about Surge's introduction. For my sister, Surge was just "Oh, okay, another villain.". But she knew I would adore her. I've always loved characters with tragic pasts, who have been manipulated by authority figures, and are forced to carve their own (ethically dubious) path. And — this is the juicy bit — make their trauma EVERYONE ELSE'S problem. Surge does all this and then some.
So I decided, what the heck, it's time I read it already! And if Sonic is mischaracterized, at least me and my sis can commiserate over the butchering of our blorbos!
I'll have to see how much of the online takes on Surge are fair, and how much of it is ignoring context/telephone gaming others' takes. I see mostly positivity regarding her backstory and personality, with some critique pertaining to her inconsistent badassery/woobification and redemption arc. But honestly, if I can enjoy Elise in spite of her flawed writing in 06, there's no reason why I cannot do the same with Surge. If we can hate without reason, can we not love? (This may come as a surprise, but I hated Elise at first!)
For Surge, it was love at first sight really. Lol! She is unbearably cute though.
One thing that I frequently find maddening as a fan of Princess Elise is when people confidently spread misinformation about her, parroting takes that strip nuance.
I don't like the idea of doing one of my pet peeves with a character, even if it would be positive. There's only so far you can get in fandom by regurgitating other peoples' takes. Even when it comes to material that diverges heavily from canon, like AU fanfiction. Yet another reason to get into Surge's source material.
I also look forward to seeing Kitsunami the Fennec. I was wondering if a character whose existence is so closely tied to another's might be bland, but my sister has a lot of good things to say about him. Just hearing her talk about the selfless-but-villainous boi makes me want to give him a hug! And I've always been partial to fennec foxes.
A few months back, I had already tried reading the comics right from issue #1, but I got a bit bored. Skimming ahead, it looked like Sonic was repeatedly introducing himself to individual characters. Felt like it was written for fans who didn't know much about Sonic. So my sister, who has already read ahead to forty-something-ish, suggested I start off with Vol. 4: Infection, or the very start of the Metal Virus Arc.
I finally read it the first time around (thanks Hoopla!). I aim to read it again before it's due so I can organize my thoughts and make another, more in-depth post on it.
Word of mouth advertising is something else, huh?
Current Mood:optimistic
Current Music:Too-loud conversations around me in the libary
Yanno, the next time I go through a playthrough of Sonic 06, I'm thinking of pausing it on the prettiest shots, and going frame-by-frame to grab the best screenshots. Especially those with Elise and Sonic. I started awhile back, but never finished. I stopped at the point where Eggman was trying to abduct Elise in the opening cutscene.
I got into the habit of actually keeping an organized file of reference images of Princess Elise because I often looked for images of her online. And half the time I'd click into a screencap and it would have some dumb bashing like "Top Ten WORST video game girlfriends!". So rather than slogging through oceans of salt just to find references for Elise's hairstyle, I decided to finally get organized about my images so I wouldn't have to search the web for lost images. It was probably a good habit to get I into anyway. Before I did this, I would have a bunch of randomly-named images in my downloads, if I had even bothered to download the reference at all.
What I have in mind is an advanced version of that. Except instead of a low-res screenshot swiped from a clickbait article, these would be right from the source—the full frame, no downsizing, no nasty text attached, just pure aesthetic. I'd easily be able to make stamps, collages, etc, without having to remember exactly what point in the game a specific moment or pose was.
These are few screencaps I've already taken from the aforementioned cutscene:
Thank you for checking out my request letter! I hope some of the ships here speak to you! Any of the likes are purely optional, please don't feel like you need to cram every one into one work, especially if you're unfamiliar with the fandom!
General Likes
Fluff
Artwork, especially traditional
Light Angst
Awkward First Times (Kissing, Handholding, Sex, etc.)
Temporarily unrequited love
Feelings realization
Embarrassment over crushes
Height difference cuteness (Sonic standing on something to kiss or hug his gf, being lifted up so they can kiss, sitting in a partner's lap, etc)
Pregnancy
Hand kink, provided it's not laid on too heavy
Mundane AUs, provided the characters are still recognizable and have references to critical parts of their canon selves (If they have powers like super-speed, preferably they still have it but use it for a job other than being a hero)
Robot feels
Guys being simps!
General DNW
No violence more graphic than would be allowed in a PG film
Any fetishes or kinks not requested, including things like rape, incest, and dubcon
Another love interest arriving and fighting over a character, or shown being jealous
Making a relationship a result of cheating on a partner or otherwise bashing a rival love interest 'in the way' of a ship
Species changes that don't occur in canon (e.g., please don't turn Zelda into a Hedgehog "so she can be with Sonic")
Sonic being aggressively forward/flirty/objectifying towards a love interest
Poking fun at Sonic being attracted to a human(oid) character
Explicit works where the characters aren't aged up (though it's rarely brought up in canon, Sonic is 15/16 depending on continuity)
Trans headcanons that don't line up with a character's canon gender expression (e.g, trans male Sonic is fine, but no trans female Sonic)
Here are the ships listed in order of interest (though I will be ecstatic to receive something for any one of these ships! The number of times I've re-ordered this list lol...). Many of these relationships only appeared in a single episode or film available to watch on Youtube, and when this is the case, I will link to it! ( Read more... )
One of my pet peeves is when I come across a fanfic rewrite of an unpopular official work, and the summary is just...like...a combination of the author self-aggrandizing and/or talking about how bad the original is, listing all the things they didn't like, and then stating what they'll do to fix it. And their dislikes/fixes are things that many fans have proposed before.
I get being upfront about what your story will be about, but if they can't be bothered to make their summary a more interesting read than a random forum post fantasizing about a hypothetical rewrite, why should I be bothered to read it?
Each author is different. Each rewrite is different. But here they are, deliberately emphasizing the same-ness of it to other people's ideas, making it sound as cookie-cutter as possible!
I think the best summary is a coherent hook for a story that stands on its own, and, as odd as it sounds, doesn't rely too much on the idea that it's a rewrite. What I mean is, hypothetically, if the original work that prompted it were to vanish from existence, would the fic still sound like something worth clicking into?
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moodthemeinayear, this would probably be a bigger hurdle to overcome. But this theme is just for me, and I don't really make "sad" posts as of now.
