Let's Try This Again

i love this little game <33

while drawing this i ended up subconsciously taking way more inspiration from this work than i expected, so you should go look at it bc it rocks

Beautiful

OMG http://andrewryanart.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=0

Kirkwall

That was part of commish for one DA fan. I was inspired by image of this mighty city from DA:2, towering on a great mountain, at the foot of which splaches Waking sea...

For future reference

My All-Time Top Ten Favourite Fanfics

I’ve thought about doing this list for quite a while now. Let me tell you why. 

Being part of a fandom is, for the most part, quite awesome. However, being a fanfic writer can be quite daunting and discouraging, especially if you don’t get the feedback you’re looking for. As a writer myself, I just want to spread the love and point people towards some amazing, amazing works I’ve loved and have been inspired by since I was a mere thirteen year-old discovering ff.net for the first time. I really, really hope you guys check these stories out. In my humble opinion, they are even better than some original novels that have been published over the years. (*cough* Twilight *cough*) 

At the end of the post, I’ve tagged TEN people here on Tumblr. I hope these people who are tagged will share ten of their all-time favourite fics and tag ten more people, and hopefully, we can keep this whole ‘support for fanfic authors’ thing going for a while yet. Fingers crossed! :) 

—-

1. The Life and Times (Harry Potter) by Jewels5 ( @itreallyatemyhand ) - The story of James and Lily’s sixth and seventh year at Hogwarts, and how they fall in love. This fic remains THE fic for me; it is practically canon in my mind.  If you’re a long-time Harry Potter fanfic reader, you’d probably have heard of TLAT. This fic has its own fandom, for God’s sake. (It’s even been mentioned in a Buzzfeed article? Whattt?) But if you haven’t heard of it, START READING IT NOW. I can’t gush enough about how well-plotted and well written this story is. It has inspired my own writing throughout the years and I’ve reread it more than five times. It physically pains me that it might never be finished, but don’t let this stop you from enjoying these 36 chapters. They will make you laugh, they will make you cry, they will make you fall in love, and trust me when I say - you won’t ever be disappointed. I still come back to this story every now and then, and every time, I fall in love with it a little bit more. - Multi-chapter on ff.net

2. The Queen Susan in Tashbaan, Part 2 of the Stone Gryphon (Narnia) by @rthstewart - The Pevensies aiding the British war effort in WWII. If you’re a history lover and a Narnia fan, you MUST read this story. The amount of history woven into this series is simply awe-inspiring. The plot still floors me, even after all these years. And the characters - both the canon ones and the original ones - are written and expanded so beautifully. Not only that, there is a lot of heart to this story and a very real, very palpable sense of bittersweetness to everything. - Multi-chapter on AO3

3. A Sea of Golden Sand (Narnia) by Andi Horton - The events of “The Horse and His Boy” through the perspectives of the Pevensies. This is everything - I repeat - EVERYTHING you’d want from a Golden-Age Narnia fic. This story chronicles the events leading up to the final battle at Anvard, from Rabadash’s visit to Narnia to Aravis and Shasta coming to Archenland. It is incredibly, incredibly well-written, filled with humour, heart, and amazing characters. And although it was published in 2007, most stories in the Narnia fandom don’t even come close to this level of badassery! Edmund, one of my favourite characters ever, is pretty much swoon-worthy in this. I’m legitimately in love with this version of Edmund. - Multi-chapter on ff.net

4. Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops (Narnia) by Francienyc - The Pevensies navigating life in England after they’re not allowed to go back to Narnia. Lots of sibling bonding in this one, but by God, the simplicity and the subtleness of their pain! It has been years, but I still think of this fic every once in a while, and it still chokes me up a little. - One-shot on ff.net

5. Hung Out to Dry (Narnia) by @rthstewart - Jill/Eustace but with an angsty, heartbreaking twist. Despite how short it is, it is still one of my favourite things I’ve ever read. The aesthetics, the silences, the unrequited love - this story has it all. Every time I read it, I find myself still getting emotional by the simplest of sentences. In short, just exquisite. - One-shot on AO3

6. Fools (Harry Potter) by lyin’ ( @thegirlwholied ) - The First Order of the Phoenix, with the Marauders, the Prewett twins, and Marlene Mckinnon. I remember crying my eyes out the first time I read this story, years and years ago. Yes, there are a ton of First Order fics out there. But please trust me when I say - none of them is quite like this one. This story will undoubtedly shatter you, but in the best of ways. - Multi-chapter on AO3

7. In Their Autumn Beauty (Harry Potter) by lyin’ ( @thegirlwholied ) - The teenagers of the First Order of the Phoenix as seen through the eyes of the much older, much more jaded Dorcas Meadowes. This story is only 2,000 words long, but it has stayed with me for years and years. It is so, so beautiful. Please. Just read it. I beg you. It’ll take you only ten minutes, maybe. You won’t regret it. - One-shot on ff.net

8. Joy in the Mourning (Narnia) by Andi Horton - The Pevensies during the Blitz in London, after they’re not allowed to go back to Narnia. I also remember crying when I first read this. (Yes, there really is a pattern here; I do cry a lot.) This story really captures what the Narnia books are about: finding joy and hope amidst despair. - One-shot on ff.net

9. The Death of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire) by La Reine Noire  ( @poorshadowspaintedqueens ) - The events leading up to and of Robert’s Rebellion through the perspectives of the Dead Ladies Club, primarily Lyanna Stark, Ashara Dayne, and Elia Martell. Usually, I’m not a fan of fics about Robert’s Rebellion; I find most authors’ take of the events hard to believe and the characters not well fleshed out. This story, however, is EPIC and SO well-written, you’d think it was canon while you’re reading it! I cried buckets at the end, of course. If you’re a fan of the ASOIAF books, definitely give this one a try. - Multi-chapter on AO3

10. Corellian Gin (Rogue One) by guineapiggie ( @ruby-red-inky-blue ) - Jyn/Cassian surviving Scariff, with bits told through the eyes of Bodhi. Of course, I had to squeeze in a Rogue One fic somehow, but I really had a hard time choosing ONE story from my old writing partner, guineapiggie. I nearly chose “The World Through A Scope”, “Beinahe”, or something from the series that we wrote together (”Happy Endings”/ “Where’s My Love?”), but I settled on this one instead because it is one of the first Rogue One fics I read that made me tear up. I LOVE a bit of well-written romantic angst, and this story has it in spades. - One-shot on AO3

.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS (because I can’t quite help myself):

Harry Potter - Anything by lyin’ ( @thegirlwholied ), especially Brackets (Sirius/Marlene), Stray Thought (Sirius/Marlene), and the No, Nay, Never series (the First Order of the Phoenix). 

Narnia - Firstly, anything by Andi Horton, especially King’s Champion (Edmund-centric) and The Better Part (Pevensies bonding). Secondly, The Delight of My Eyes (Aravis/Shasta) by Francienyc. And lastly, Rat and Sword Go To War (Pevensies in WWII) by @rthstewart , as well as the rest of her The Stone Gryphon series. 

Rogue One - Resistance is Built On Hope (WWII AU) by ChronicOlicity, Floating, Sinking (fix-it fic) by @shu-of-the-wind, the violet hour (Jyn/Cassian modern au) by caramelle or @mellamymake, the road that sets into the sun (a beautiful Jyn/Cassian in the SW Legends-verse) by lyin’ ( @thegirlwholied ), and all the angsty Jyn/Cassian stories by guineapiggie ( @ruby-red-inky-blue ). 

TAGS: Now, to join me in this venture of spreading fanfic love (yes, I’m perfectly aware of how weird that sounds), I’d like to invite these ten awesome individuals who I have interacted with here or on AO3: @ruby-red-inky-blue, @operaticspacetrash, @yavemiel, @rxbxlcaptain, @rapha-senna, @thenewleeland, @pingou7, @jeroncassianandor, @lclrgsl and @rebelcaptainfics. And don’t worry! You guys don’t have to write these long reviews for each of your recommendation like I did; I was simply bored and overzealous! :) 

If you’re not tagged, but have seen this on your dash and want to jump in on the action, please feel free to make your own list and tag ten more people. Let’s show appreciation for fanfic writers who put so much work and time into writing these stories we love so much! <3 

The CABINETS ONE. I am CRYINg

BBC Class + The Onion Headlines (1/?)

idk if anybody but me on my dash knows what any of this means and idc

Vorkosigan Saga Characters As Onion Headlines, Part Two

Piotr

Man’s Relationship Advice Same As His Hunting Tips

Report: More Americans Relying On Grandparents to Help Fuck Up Their Kids

Miles

Somebody’s Got To Save This Country From Certain Doom, And Let’s Face It, That Person Is Me

Take-Charge, Can-Do Guy Makes Terrible Decisions

Area Man Pretty Sure It’s Not Broken

I Shouldn’t Be Alive

27-Year-Old Lies About Every Single Aspect Of His Life To Keep Parents From Worrying

Elena

Area Teen Has Better Things To Do Than Kick Your Ass

Baz

26-Year-Old Feeling Self-Conscious After Seeing All His Friends Fail Slightly Less Than Him

Elli

Party Guest Hoping Birthday Card With Shirtless Hunk Taken In Playful Spirit With Which It Was Intended

Ivan

Man On Cusp Of Having Fun Remembers Every Single One Of His Responsibilities

If You Ever Need Somebody To Stand Around And Not Contribute, You Know Where To Find Me

Area Man Up For Anything Except Being The One Who Makes The Decision

I Fucked My Way Into This Mess, And I’ll Fuck My Way Out

Cousins Meaner This Year

Man Pushing Self To Point Of Effort

Gregor

Depression Symptom Checklist Speaking To Area Man As No Poem Ever Could

Last Male Heir To Bloodline Watches Movie Alone On Laptop

@chiaroscuroverse requested: i’d love to see Nine/Rose in your style, if you want :) :) (i tried to make it somewhat film noir, to go with the vibe of the episode. not sure if it worked ❤️)

You’ll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them.

beauyasha spin kiss, drawn as the april request poll reward for my patreon (link in my about!)

I just need to save this...

BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL!

Awesome followup comic from brainbubblegum, who always deserves to be pelted with cash monies.

This is one of the better reviews I've read I think

the last jedi. many spoilers.

Idek where to start with this one, I did enjoy it! But I was left very confused and conflicted my pals!! Gotta say it!! I’m going to give my impressions below, don’t yell at me

Things I liked:

- The 10 minute or so opening sequence was exciting and funny and devastating and kind of reminded me of the opening to Star Trek (2009). Except this ended worse for the rebels obviously

- Rose as a character was sweet and kind and brave and I liked her a lot, plus Kelly Marie Tran is pure sunshine

- Poe and Leia’s relationship, which was so clearly surrogate mother/son and very moving. He deserved her, Kyle did not

- I’ll just get this out of the way - Poe looked fucken amazing the whole movie, showstopping, incredible, I was blessed

- I loathe fangirls’ obsession with the whiny mediocre looking genocidal white man who is repeatedly called ‘boy’, like as a trope, but objectively kyle ron’s arc in this movie was actually pretty fascinating to watch! Very complex. Just remove the weird undertones in scenes with rey please

- Admiral Holdo was strong and clever and brave and I really, really adored her in this movie. Laura Dern is a TREASURE and further proof the women in this movie are ICONS. Flying through the Star Destroyer at light speed, jfc it was stunning, she was so selfless. I’m emo again

- Canto Bight looked poppin. Loved seeing the aristocratic side of the galaxy, even though it honestly felt like I was watching a different film for those scenes lol. The casino was very… familiar. Like as a setting. Idk if that makes sense it just wasn’t quite as kooky as I was expecting, they were even wearing tuxedos and clinking average wine glasses

- The salt plains were fricking GORGEOUS okay the battle of speeders and ships leaving what looked like bloodstains, it was such an extraordinary visual, especially because of the massacre of the resistance population. Honestly. Looking forward to the gifsets

- ‘Lifting rocks’ nice, NICE

- Luke dressed in black, slick as hell with that lightsaber silhouetted in front of a dying sun and looming AT ATs…. You better believe I shed a damn tear!!

- Rey and Kyle fighting the praetorian guard looked pretty sick, gotta admit that. Again, Snoke was ugly as hell but his whole aesthetic was *chef’s kiss*

- Benicio del Toro didn’t have as big a role as I thought, and it’s a pity, because he was great. Like, predictably villainous but hot asf and COOL. Hope he comes back. Unless he died. Did he? That wasn’t clear

- “You’re scum.”

  “Rebel scum.”

- R2D2 playing the Leia hologram message from the first movie. Oh boy. Everyone in the theater made sounds, we were shook

- That ending with Luke looking at the twin suns…. listen I’m a thug but my eyes leaked. That really was our lil farm boy who wanted power converters and who looked at Han with stars in his eyes and who wanted to make his sister proud and who loved a pair of sassy droids and who dreamed about leaving his nowhere town to be something great, and now he’s gone, and to that freaking score. I wasn’t chill.

Things I wasn’t so hype about:

- Finn was just going to ditch the resistance and POE to save himself and Rey. I get it, it makes sense, it’s an arc, Finn’s still my son, he’s heroic and he grows so much. But I’m a whiny asshole and it bummed me out lol

- Any hint of this godforsaken idea that is r*ylo just shortens my lifespan. I hated the bizarre shirtless scene. Their whole ‘connection’ led to good character development but I hated it happening. The resolution of her giving him the metaphorical finger from the ship of the father he murdered healed me though, fear not

- Phasma’s 15 minutes of fame was more like 30 seconds. Why bring her back at all, it was so brief. With gwendoline christie being in the press tour so much I just assumed she was going to ascend the ranks of villainy. Oh well

- Was it just me or was Leia like… diminished here? She spent half the movie unconscious. It makes me REALLY sad because I remember what the cast said about how the third film was supposed to be hers, like TLJ was Mark’s and TFA was Harrison’s. I wonder what they would have done to conclude the trilogy.

- The fact that there were like 20 rebels left at the end of the movie just made me so miserable. My god. All of the original films’ rebels and the Rogue One rebels and…. we’re left with barely enough people to make up two even volleyball teams. Like. Not a criticism of the film really but it just made all that effort in those movies hurt knowing that this was all they had to show for it.

- The imagery of Snoke manhandling Rey and making her ‘come closer’ fucking got to me, especially as it came on the heels of Kyle doing something similar in TFA. Must we do this, every time. Must we

- BB-8 was sort of… too useful, lmao how many times did he save main characters? Deus Ex BB? I love the little robotic football but it was convenient and after the third time, not very cute anymore

- Finn and Rose’s little side quest annoyed me, I’m gonna be real honest here. It just felt really, really weird, them (particularly Finn) being kind of swept away by the regalia of this casino and then ending up in a giant space goat car-chase type scene, meanwhile Poe and Leia have 5 hours to live and Rey’s being turned over to the First Order, you know? It seemed like they were filling time, or something… the movie felt like a 6-part TV series crammed into one movie, like there were a lot of things going on with different people and they all had different, kind of jarring tones. Like Poe’s in the trenches of a war movie, Rey’s in a psychological drama, Finn and Rose are in a comedy action heist caper ft. an adorable sidekick.

- I don’t get Finn and Rose together. I don’t. They had a sweet friendship, but I always assumed Finn and Rey would be the Couple (yeah I wanted stormpilot too but we live in a crap heteronormative world). Not sure what this means for Ep 9 since Rey didn’t seem bothered by Finn’s clear attachment to mah girl Rose…

- Poe, a queer icon, being portrayed as a straight in this film, irked me. You know what I mean, the gay vibes were not as potent here and it was really disturbing. Not sure what it means but it wasn’t good, I don’t like being patronised

- WHERE DID FINN PUT THE JACKET ONCE HE CHANGED INTO HIS FIRST ORDER UNDERCOVER GETUP. IS IT GONE, DO I NEED TO CRY

Things I’m neutral about:

- Rey’s parents being nobodies. I lowkey saw this coming, and it’s a pretty innovative idea, to have Kyle be the last Skywalker…. to end this dynasty, which has been fairly shitty. 2 out of 4 were murderous dicks. Not great stats

- Snoke could’ve been aunt beru in disguise and I wouldn’t have cared, honestly he was always just Snoke to me, no conspiracy

—-

This movie was dope. It did not fulfill my expectations, which I’m being told by multiple articles and tweets from film critics is apparently a super awesome thing. I too like critiquing film for being edgy and new and different, and in terms of artistic value it’s important - especially for a franchise so well known for tropes. But I’m a simple fuck who just finished exams and a stressful as shit year… I wanted to see Poe and Finn cuddle (platonic or not), Rey straight up kick the ass of Snoke and/or Kyle, Luke to lightsaber-battle someone with the wow-factor of Darth Vader at the end of Rogue One (which would involve actual contact lol), and nobody to die or be wrong, or like, straight

Anyway. A good film. Rian did a great job, and it doesn’t deserve all the vitriol it’s getting. I am fascinated to see where it ends up, I gotta say. Jesus what the fuck will I be doing in December of 2019 though, that’s the real question