bedes: Fanart of Click Clack from Great God Grove, talking and typing on their typewriter. (clickclack)
Challenge #4: Rec The Contents Of Your Last Page

Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!

The last website that I was on was TheFanlistings.org! You might recognize it, as it's been around since 2000 as a directory of approved fanlistings.

What's a fanlisting? In the words of the site itself: "A fanlisting is simply an online listing of fans of a subject, such as a TV show, actor, or musician, that is created by an individual and open for fans from around the world to join. There are no costs, and the only requirements to join a fanlisting are your name and country. TheFanlistings.org is the original (but not only) web directory for fanlistings, dedicated to uniting fans across the globe."

Basically, it's an old-fashioned way to connect with other fans of a subject, by listing all fans who sign up in the same place for easy searching! They were popular in the early internet, when social media wasn't as prominent, so fellow fans were harder to find. They're making a comeback, thanks to the revival of the indie web, though!

If you want to join some fanlistings, I recommend browsing the approved fanlistings of TheFanlistings.org (as previously mentioned), and their partner site, AnimeFanlistings.com. You can put your Dreamwidth journal in the "website" space, so other fans can find your journal!

If you want to look through some fanlisting collectives (which is a website where somebody hosts their fanlistings), I recommend browsing through EPHEMERAL, which is a directory for exactly that! I have a fanlisting collective myself, as well. It's very small for now, and I aim to keep it that way.

I really like fanlistings, because it means that I don't have to put my stake in search engines and unreliable algorithms to find other fans. Plus, it doesn't have any requirements that you sign up to anything, unlike social media! You can find any fan across the whole, wide internet.
bedes: An icon of Kabru from the Dungeon Meshi manga, smiling bashfully (kabru)
Challenge #3

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

I hate to use the exact same fandom twice in a row, when I am a multifandom girlie at heart, but I feel like this couldn't be for any other fandom but Pokemon. You'll understand why thanks to the contents of the letter itself.

Dear Pokemon,

Letter under the cut... continue? )
bedes: An icon of Marina from the official Hana vs Dango Splatfest art (marina)
Challenge #2

Pets of Fandom: Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

This is the perfect opportunity to talk about something I have spent far too much of my life thinking about... If I had a Pokemon, what Pokemon would I have? As I have always thought that, if I was in the Pokemon world, certainly I wouldn't be a battler. Any Pokemon I had would be my companions! Pet Pokemon!

For those not aware, my favorite Pokemon is Celebi, with Zorua following close behind... but, I don't think either would be my partner. Celebi is, of course, a mythical Pokemon. I think that, if given the opportunity to, I wouldn't want to capture a mythical Pokemon in-universe. It would feel disrespectful, you know? Especially since Celebi is something as important as the protector of forests and time! And, as fun as Zorua's shapeshifting is in concept, I would find it to be rather difficult to manage in real life.

I believe that my partner Pokemon would be one of my other favorites: Sylveon! It actually seems like a perfect service Pokemon. As stated in its Pokedex entries, it likes to wrap its feelers around its Trainer's arm, and walk with them. These feelers can also emit a calming aura, and can be used to read its Trainer's emotions. It's also a surprisingly large Pokemon (please see its official life-sized plushie, pictured below), which is great, because I love big pets the most!

I have pets in real life, as well! I have 3 dogs in my household, one of which is my own. My dog is named Sammy! He is my beloved, retired service dog. He's a rescue mutt, and is the sweetest guy ever. I love him so much, it makes me feel like exploding!!! He's pictured in his Christmas vest below. Isn't he handsome?

A photograph from the promotional shoot for the life-sized Sylveon plush, showing a woman taking a selfie with the plush. The Sylveon plush's head is bigger than the woman's head, and the bow on its chest is around the size of her hand. This is to say, the plush is surprisingly large. A photograph of a dog wearing a green vest and red collar, sitting and looking up at the camera. He has brown, tan and black coloring, and a graying muzzle. He has a big head, and ears that fold back like a bulldog's.
bedes: Icon of Kangel from Needy Streamer Overload whistling (kangel)
I saw this being used by [personal profile] tinkaton and thought it looked fun! I love statistics.

Go to your Works page on AO3, look at the tags, and see what the answers to these questions are. (Or any other site that has tags)

Continue? )

That ended up... a lot more reflective than I expected it to. Stars, I have GOT to shake off this perfectionism and just WRITE MORE!
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, smirking towards the camera. (bede)
Incredibly niche pet peeve but I cannot stand when people make Confessions of a Rotten Girl about yuri, but ONLY!! because it is always done so half-assed. Confessions of a Rotten Girl, down to its very base concept, down to its name, is meant to revolve around BL fandom culture. You can't just swap the boys out for girls and expect that to be an accurate representation of himejoshi culture.

My dream "Confessions of a Rotten Girl But Yuri" song is one where the concept is completely reworked. Of course, the structures would be paralleled, but it would be much more of a sister song than a "cover" or such.

Here's my pitch: "rotten girl" comes from "fujoshi", so we would replace that with "princess girl". And, since "confessions" ties into the whole theme of shame/self-indulgence, it would be changed to something more fitting of a princess. Decrees of a Princess Girl, perhaps.

It could lean into the ideas that are present, not only in real-life culture, but in many early yuri works, as well: that an interest in other girls is something that young queer girls will "grow out of". The main character (himedere-ish in nature) leans into this idea to try to act like she doesn't really like it, but her true fannish tendencies can't help but show through the cracks. ("I'm just collecting all this stuff because it's, like, super trendy right now, and I deserve whatever I want! Also, it'll probably resell for a lot, because I got the special rare edition from a super-exclusive meet-and-greet!!! KYA") The final version of the chorus would have her walls of "ironic/casual enjoyment" break down.

In my ideal world, the MV would also contain references to World is Mine, as another himedere-centric Vocaloid song.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
The first appearance of The Fount of Knowledge, who wears long religious robes The second appearance of The Fount of Knowledge, who wears a skin-tight bodysuit

So, Shadow Milk Cookie's corruption involved ripping off his flowing, religious-coded robes, revealing a skintight bodysuit underneath. A skintight bodysuit that, mind you, he looks much happier in.

I’m stuck between wanting to commentate on the inherent queercoded nature of this, and just wanting to call him the word.

NSFW joke under the cut... continue? )
bedes: (ivan)
Do you ever see a piece of fiction that you wish you had gotten into as a kid? Like, you love it Now, but you wish you had the experience of enjoying it as a child, too? Although I often wish I could experience pieces of fiction for the first time again, too, so I suppose the grass is always greener.

I guess what I’m saying is that, in a universe slightly to the left from ours, a tweenage Azure became SICKENINGLY obsessed with Riku Kingdomhearts. Just an absolute BLOODBATH. Because if I have one thing in common with my tween self, it's undoubtedly that we both love mean queercoded characters who experience SHAME πŸ”₯πŸ”₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸΎπŸŽ‰πŸ”₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸ’₯πŸŽ‰
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
Finn's physical degradation is being paralleled by the degradation of Fionna's moral backbone.

She's losing herself. She agreed to work with her friend's abusive, power-hungry mother (thus pushing him away), and is obsessively chasing this fantasy with Phelix despite him having a girlfriend. She doesn't recognize the effort her friends put in to the event. She is single-mindedly chasing this fantasy of being a hero, while, in reality, she is hurting those she is trying to "save".

The threat looms — both of a physical death (Finn), and a symbolic death of the self (the "Fifi" future).
bedes: (ivan)

I can see the parallels between Marshall Lee writing a song about how Gary is like his mom, and Woke Up.

Specifically, I can see Marshall Lee’s song ending up leaning more heavily into addressing his mother, since Woke Up can easily be recontextualized into being about their relationship, ESPECIALLY if Marshall Lee finds out that his mom has been stalking him. ("I'm sick of livin' under your thumb!", "I should say / That you're kind of a dictator, in a way / You're to blame / You're a constant source of misery and pain! / What a shame / That you're so stuck up, I know you won't change / Out of frame / No, I don't believe you cared about me! / 'Cause you left me drowning”) Which Gary could then misunderstand as being entirely about him.

I’m gonna cross my fingers and hope that Gary's secure enough to take it in stride, especially considering it was his suggestion. Woke Up: Good End, mayhaps.

bedes: Art of Mikuo, the genderbend of Hatsune Miku, in the outfit and stylings of Project Voltage's Fairy-type Trainer Miku. He has a small ponytail, and is holding up his pillow to rest his face against it. His eyes are sleepy and half-lidded. (mikuo)
I looove that Silent Salt isn’t able to see White Lily as separate from Dark Enchantress. It reinforces the flaws that were already established previously, via his treatment of the Virtues.

His beastly traits are that he is ruthlessly unforgiving, and that he dehumanizes others. Silent Salt sees others as their duties and their duties alone — their struggles do not matter.

"A Berdly"

Oct. 29th, 2025 05:48 pm
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
It's funny that "a Berdly" is now used colloquially to mean "a character who is obnoxious in a funny/silly way, used affectionately", because for those first few weeks after Chapter 2 released, the vast majority of people were saying Berdly was transphobic and lesbophobic and killed their grandmas. The Weird Route’s discovery did insane PR work for him. Crazy what almost dying can do for an autist!
bedes: An icon of Marina from the official Hana vs Dango Splatfest art (marina)
You know what they say about three times making a pattern. So, if every trial 3 song is going to close with addressing/referencing another character, here are my predictions for who shows up in whose MV:

Kazui: assuming that the addressees are limited to other prisoners, Shidou — but if not, I could see him addressing his wife or the man he was interested in

Amane: Shidou and/or Fuuta — if Kazui's ends up being Shidou, then most certainly Fuuta

Mikoto: John

Kotoko: Es, Jackalope, and/or the audience — most likely Es
bedes: An icon of Kabru from the Dungeon Meshi manga, smiling bashfully (kabru)
I am extremely cross with the MILGRAM translation team for translating "可哀想" (kawaisou) as "baby", when Muu refers to Haruka. "Kawaisou" is a word that means someone who is pitiful. You use it in order to express sympathy with someone who is in a sad situation. It does not imply age.

"Poor boy" would be a much more accurate translation. And it doesn't have the unfortunate side-effect of infantilizing an intellectually disabled character, and implying motherly feelings on Muu's end that she pointedly does not harbor. (Haruka saw her as a mother, but Muu viewed Haruka as a friend.)

I will ALSO say, though, I 100% commend the English translation team for localizing that one line as, "I won’t stop hurting you, ‘cause I’m a mean girl."

They seemed to understand the weight the phrase "mean girl" holds with English-speakers. The blonde girl, the "rich bitch". These ideas, these stereotypes internalized as facts in English-speaking audiences due to misogynistic teenage fiction, have been held against Muu from the release of her very first MV.

This is the idea that they invoke as they humanize her, show her trauma, show her love for Haruka.

"You thought I was nothing but a mean girl. That’s why you chose to punish me, even when it came at the cost of someone else's life… So I will become the villain from the PG movies of your past. I'll flatten myself into someone so 2D like that, as long as you apologize to him."

It turns the mirror back on the audience, and shines a light the misogyny Muu has been facing from the very start. I've said it many times, and I will say it again: Muu Kusunoki, they could never make me hate you!!!
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)
Information on the Fount of Knowledge is 110% being purposefully obscured.

In Beast Yeast 11, all mentions of Fount are avoided. His name is only brought up once — to refer to Shadow Milk as "fallen Fount". Fount doesn’t have a pre-corruption sprite like the other Beasts. We have "Strong Flour Ridge", "Garden of Delights", and "Land of the Spices", but only "Fount of Knowledge's domain." While minor characters refer to the other pre-corruption Beasts as "selfless" or "kind" or such, there is nobody who mentions Fount. We have no idea what he was like. It's almost as if he never existed.

Only one question remains: is this choice Devsis trying to keep the mystery up until the big reveal? Or is it a narrative choice? Is the big reveal about Fount, in part, that he has been forgotten or erased?
bedes: Fanart of Natsuki from Doki Doki Literature Club, holding a cupcake up to her mouth and smiling widely, about to take a bite (natsuki)
God, I love the Beasts. Wretched little creatures. Fallen angels who have been abandoned by God. Objectified at every turn as solely their duty, even by one of their own — being called Beasts when they fail at their job. Presumably having very little contact with each other (or Silent Salt would have known more of their plights), leaving each individual Virtue feeling isolated and uniquely broken. And then, their bodies are shattered.

Holy emissaries filled with so much pain that they'll destroy what they were made to protect.
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, looking towards the camera. (bede2)
Honestly, I don't think that Kris being nonbinary invalidates the idea of the Weird Route being a metaphor for compulsory heterosexuality. Nonbinary people can play the part of binary genders, socially speaking, even if that doesn't match with their internal sense of gender.

Even aside from that, I also don't think that the genders have to line up with what you're commentating on in order to be effective commentary, either. Het couples can be queer-coded within their story.

Also the majority of people I see getting angry at people who interpret this NB/F relationship as a commentary on male/female relationships are the exact same people who call that same NB/F relationship "yuri" so, like. You can't have it both ways, you know? Either it's erasure to see Kris as a gendered figure for the sake of viewing their relationship with Noelle in a certain way, or it's not. (And saying that it's a comphet metaphor doesn't even imply that Kris fully is a boy, just a metaphorical stand-in for a boy.)
bedes: An icon of Marcy from Amphibia thinking (marcy)

I think it's interesting that the Beasts are conform to traditional gender roles, especially when compared to the Ancient Heroes. The warriors are men, and the women are in more nurturing positions. While Shadow Milk is far from traditionally masculine now, while he was still a Virtue, he was an academic – a position often seen as strictly for men. (And I feel it goes without saying that he almost certainly wasn't a shapeshifter until after his fall, given that his shifting is an extension of and aid for Shadow Milk's Deceit. That means no fluidity between masculine and feminine forms.)

Compare this to the Ancient Heroes. Pure Vanilla is an effeminate male healer (often voiced by women in different languages), and there are two strong warrior women. Dark Cacao and White Lily are the closest to being gender-conforming, but they still fall short, so to say. Dark Cacao is a strong king with a noted soft side, and White Lily is a delicate woman with a thirst for knowledge. (Remember: academia and knowledge are traditionally seen as men's territory.)

Furthermore, the Beasts have a majority of men, and the Ancient have a majority of women.

I like to imagine this is has to do with the fact that the Beasts were made for their roles, while the Ancient Heroes grew up as normal people before being gifted their sacred status. When the Virtues were hand-crafted, they were imagined up as 'suited' for their designated roles in every way. But, once these attempted manifestations of perfect ideals failed, it fell to normal people. And normal people are much more variant, much more diverse. But one can argue that it is also through the Ancient Heroes' upbringing as normal people that they are able to thrive where the Virtues once fell.

bedes: Art of Mikuo, the genderbend of Hatsune Miku, in the outfit and stylings of Project Voltage's Fairy-type Trainer Miku. He has a small ponytail, and is holding up his pillow to rest his face against it. His eyes are sleepy and half-lidded. (mikuo)
A scribbled/doodled comic of Siffrin and Isabeau. In the first panel, Isabeau is waving Siffrin over with a big smile, saying, 'OMG Sif come look at this!' Siffrin sits right next to Isabeau, shoulder-to-shoulder with a calm smile, and asks, 'What's up?' Isabeau says, 'Uh-', which transitions to the next panel, that shows him sweating and blushing. He's thinking, 'So close OMG they are so close OMG how do i react WHAT DO?' The final panel shows Isabeau sweating, blushing and panicking in silence, while Siffrin remains sat next to him, also blushing but significantly calmer. Siffrin is thinking, 'We're friends. This is friends behavior.'


Cannot stress enough how integral this comic in the artbook was to understanding Isafrin for me. So many questions I had regarding Siffrin's actions/feelings towards Isabeau can be explained by "We're Friends. This Is Friends Behavior. *blushing*"

"Why does Siffrin say he doesn't know how he feels towards Isabeau, despite his internal monologue showing that he does with decent clarity?" They simply believe that it is Average Friends Behavior. Thinking about Isabeau when shown a buff man in a romantic evaluation context? Friends Behavior!

This, of course, interacts with him saying that he hates that he feels romantic attraction. They don't want to experience it. So he tells himself that anything he feels isn't romantic; it's Friends Behavior!

TL;DR: me when I'm in an "avoiding confronting my feelings" competition and my opponent is Siffrin