#meta posts

[thewertsearch]

[S] Sally: Return.

The rumors are true - TheWertsearch returns on April 13th!

I'm refreshed, well-rested, and eager to get back to the liveblog. I'm also in a much more sustainable position at work, and I plan to be a lot more active than I was throughout most of 2023. My goal is an update schedule comparable to the 2022 Hivebent era, but we'll play things by ear for a while.

Also! In light of Tumblr's continued decline, I'm considering crossposting the liveblog to other platforms. I've received multiple farewell messages from followers who've quit Tumblr in recent months, and it feels like a shame for them to miss the rest of the blog. Plus, I should probably maintain a presence on at least one other platform, just in case Tumblr really does evaporate one day.

The first port of call is probably Discord. I'll post a link to the update sever when it's ready, but it won't be for at least a couple of weeks, since I'll have to figure out how Discord actually works, first. I feel like I'm the last programmer alive who doesn't use it.

Anyway, it's good to be back! The liveblog's starting to warm up again, and we've got an Act to finish.

#meta posts

[smilepebble]

one thing i haven't seen talked about regarding tressa is how anxious of a character she is. she is, of course, very spunky and outgoing, but she also worries a lot about being a burden or just causing trouble for other people.

this is especially highlighted in the short story from [eight travelers, four side roads], as a big part of tressa's arc here is about her gaining confidence in herself as an independent person, while still learning to accept the help that the others offer to her.

her biggest moment of anxiety in this story, that being when she learns of the extremely powerful monsters that lurk in undertow cove, is especially telling of how she sees herself in relation to the other travelers at this point.

the most important thing here to me is the line "If Cyrus were alone, wouldn't he have turned back the instant he saw these huge monsters?". here, tressa is comparing the current situation to a hypothetical situation in which she hadn't come along with cyrus, and decided that the latter would have been both safer and more convenient for him. she's decided that her and cyrus being in danger was caused by her being too excited and childish and that, as a result, she's greatly inconvenienced him.

of course, soon afterwards cyrus reassures tressa by telling her how glad he is that tressa came along with him, and in doing so, manages to bring tressa back down to earth. this and a few instances in travel banter from the game itself show that the other travelers are most often the ones to help tressa when her worries threaten to take over.

this is a very interesting part of tressa's character to me, and i think it adds quite a bit of depth to her as well! i also just love how close the main characters are in these games and how they're always willing to help each other.

#op #octopath #ot1 #meta posts #ot1 spoilers #<- sniffles as i put down this tag bc one of my friends hasn't gotten to tressa ch4 yet #anyway i didn't have screencaps of this so i didn't really touch on it but she also spends a good amount of her ch1 just being so #anxious and unsure about what to do with the whole pirate situation. aagh tressa my best friend in the world..... #tressa

[jojolightningfingers]

No see but Hit is so anomalous stacked up against the majority of Dragon Ball’s cast. Every other person in opposition to Goku/his friend group who is A Killer in has this element of. I don’t know what to call it. Self-aggrandizement? Superiority? They think they’re better than whoever they happen to be facing and they flaunt it. Vegeta with his ‘super-elite’-ism and Freeza with his ‘I only need half of my power to destroy you’ and Cell with his Perfection. They’re Villains, capital V, they’re The Trope. All with the speeches and the theatricality of demonstration because there’s an element of narcissism and sadism to it, they want to see their opponent break. Raditz had this, Piccolo and King Piccolo both had it, even earlier minor baddies like Taopaipai had it.

And Hit... doesn’t. He only has half of the Villain qualifications, if you will. He kills people, but it’s literally just a job to him. Clock in, stop someone’s heart, clock out. That’s his nine-to-five. And while that’s not unique to character-writing in general, it is rare, if not unique in Dragon Ball’s universe(s), where killing is so inextricably tied up with making it into a production.

He’s weird in other ways too that are strangely compelling to me, taken together with this. He’s the only member of his race that we know exists. He’s old as shit (third oldest mortal after Moro and Turtle) (I’m assuming Moro is mortal but he is also like, ten million years old, so maybe not). Nobody except the Angels and the Kais possess powers over time that bear even a passing resemblance to his. His pride reads more like a complete and matter-of-fact understanding of his own ability, accumulated over centuries. There’s nobody else like him.

#hit #dbs hit #dbs #dragon ball super #dragonball super #meta posts #bizarre adventures #dbz

[spicypussywave]

The urge to rewatch the show I'm hyperfixated on because I cannot get through any other shows even though they might actually be good. I wanna pause and watch every tiny detail that may have been missed, whether crucial or not.

But at the same time I don't want to rewatch because I wanna forget about it a bit so that the rewatch after the series ends will be a treat after all that wait.

#dangerous romance #I'm active on tumblr bcs of DR #tumblr users posts makes me appreciate it more #meta posts #details posts #memes #everything #i appreciate every (positive) posts on DR #dangerous romance the series #perthchimon #they stole my heart

[unexpectedgeese]

I love you kudos I love you second kudos I love you keysmash comments I love you ‘<3’ I love you guest accounts I love you worldbuilding questions I love you comment spam from new readers I love you bookmarks with summaries of the plot I love you ‘to read’ I love you ‘fave’ I love you Artists who draw scenes from the fic I love you discord proofreaders I love you beta readers I love you Inbox (1)!!!!! You are the beating heart of the Ao3 community and the world is better with you in it!!!

#my posts #Ao3 #Ao3 comment appreciation #fandom #fanfiction #meta posts #fanfic #archive of our own #just leave a comment fest #my favorite compliment I've ever recieved was a bookmark #that just said 'fascinating'. #idk something about the knowledge that a person read my work and liked it so much they felt the need to note that down #not for me not for anyone but themselves... it gets to me man #also this post isn't a dig at lurkers ily too #but if you don't usually engage with the stories you like consider starting to do that #comments are easy to leave and there's nothing quite like the feeling of the author replying to you #next time you read something good leave a comment for me. nothing big if that's scary just like #good fic #or #the worldbuilding is cool #or like #im reading this at 3am and i love it #little things #they make the author's day and it feels really nice to be a part of something

[someguyinc]

meta posts i need (want) to make n putting here to remind myself:

gwen unironically being the most powerful character in bbc's merlin

mordred merlin and arthur being mother, maiden, crone

gwaine being the most observant character in the show (n how he definitely knew ab merlin's magic n probably mordred's too)

#some guy talking #bbc merlin #meta posts

[falling-akiangels]

no, because this man was the epitome of 'doomed by the narrative' in the first part of the manga. no one can undo the tragedy he did upon himself, the regret and grief he feels to the point that he's discarded his life and used up all his years. himeno opened his eyes to a world of possibilities when she closed hers. when it is revealed he only has two years left then it being shaved down by a year and ten months, we know he's going to die. even the future devil said so himself. he's going to die in the worst way possible. he's become so embedded in revenge, in his desire to kill the gun devil that he doesn't see the world around him- only in a straight line towards his goal. when himeno, a part of his life, dies in front of him, he starts questioning his goals for revenge. how he has become so unrecognizable because of his desire. aki knows he is going to die, but he doesn't care since he knows he is going to, at least he'll kill the gun devil. then himeno died, he has two years left, and he feels as if he's so far away from his goal.

#csm #aki hayakawa #meta posts #csm rambles #i don't like himeno but you have to agree she was integral to aki's life #r: sweet revenge! #anyways first time making a long meta post I pulled out of my ass please be nice 🫶🏽 #i'm just thinking about my man again

[silalcarin]

#17 and #18 need to stop being referred to as "Androids" or "Cyborgs"

It's been over 30 years since #17 and #18 made their official debut in the original Dragon Ball manga (1991) and its anime adaptation in Dragon Ball Z (1992), yet people are still referring to them as "Androids" or even "Cyborgs". However, the manga and its anime adaptation, the Daizenshuu guidebooks, and Toriyama's own statements all clearly prove that neither term is correct.

Here's this observation by Bulma when she and Dr. Brief are looking at #17's blueprints that were found in Dr. Gero's laboratory basement.

Dragon Ball Chapter 365, Page 12, official Viz translation:

Dragon Ball Z: Episode 145 — "The Secret of Cell's Birth! What Lies Below the Laboratory?!" (1992):

^ It's stated point-blank in canon that #17 and #18 are human-based. They were originally human before Dr. Gero found and kidnapped them. When he forcibly remodeled them, he did so with organic components, and it included reconstructing their existing organic matter (as confirmed in Daizenshuu 4). Essentially, he did NOT 'create' them; he modified them.

Therefore, #17 and #18 are still considered humans even up to this point. A better term to use for them would be either "super human" or "enhanced human" or "modified human" — but NOT Artificial Humans (which is translated from the word "Jinzoningen" in the Japanese text, and that term is used for literally all of the Red Ribbon 'Androids'), NOT Androids (mechanical-based, which is what #16 and #19 were), NOT cyborgs (which is what #20 was, since he was actually Dr. Gero but with his brain in a jar), and NOT robots (which is what Arale from Dr. Slump is).

[Side Note: I didn't include #8, because his exact type is inconsistent. According to Daizenshuu 7, he's human-based. However, according to a Q&A with Toriyama in 2014 (in Dragon Ball Full Color: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc), he's mechanical-based. I wouldn't be surprised if Toriyama simply forgot the previous information, considering he has a frequent tendency to do so.]

Anyways, #17 and #18 actually being "super humans" or "enhanced humans" or "modified humans" was reaffirmed later on in Dragon Ball Super, both the manga and anime, during the discussion of who will be recruited to Team Universe 7.

Dragon Ball Super Chapter 30, Page 27, official Viz translation:

Dragon Ball Super: Episode 83 — "Field the All-7th-Universe Team! Who Are the Mighty Ten?" (2017):

[Side Note: Sadly, though, finding "Number 17" and "Number 18" in the tags here on Tumblr is much harder than if you search for, say, "Android 18" or "Cyborg 18", at least in my experience; hence my inclusion of those tags in this post.]

TL;DR — #17 and #18 are NOT Artificial Humans, nor Androids, nor cyborgs, nor robots. They are NOT mechanical-based in any way, shape, or form. Based on both canon and Toriyama's statements in Daizenshuu 4, Daizenshuu 7, and Dragon Ball Full Color, they are actually "super humans" or "enhanced humans" or "modified humans", because they were originally human to begin with and all Dr. Gero did was upgrade them at the cellular level.

#number 17 #cyborg 17 #android 17 #number18 #cyborg18 #android18 #dragon ball #dragonball #dbz #dragon ball z #dbs #dragon ball super #akira toriyama #toei animation #meta #dbz meta #meta posts #long post #my post

[love-triangles-au]

Hi! Just so you guys know, we're implementing a new tag for spicier posts, for fun and because the sexual aspect of their relationship is actually kinda relevant to the story. There probably won't be any outright explicit stuff on this account, Da Rules and all, but y'know. Curation!

So, if that's something you're not comfortable with, block the tag #extreme geometry and you'll be able to keep browsing the blog SFW no problem!

Thanks for the support!

~ Mod Emily 🦇

#mod emily #meta posts

[its-your-mind]

aroace culture is tagging any and all your gifsets and fanart and meta posts that involve two+ characters with the ship name bc you don't necessarily know what counts as good ship content but you do want your fellow tumblrinas who appreciate the nautical aspects of fandom to have enrichment in their enclosures and it makes them sososo happy to see their blorbos together in one place

#aroace #asexual #aromantic #aspec #fandom culture #fanart #gifsets #meta posts #fandom meta

[thewertsearch]

Hate to say it, but I'm going to have to pause the liveblog again :(

I won't be able to continue for a while, due to various life circumstances - including, frankly, career burnout. Several recent liveblogging sessions have been interrupted by out-of-hours work calls, and I've had to take this week off due to fatigue. On-call work is decidedly not for me, and I'm planning on changing roles.

To be honest, I probably returned too early after I had Covid. I really haven't enjoyed the slow, inconsistent liveblogging pace of the last few months weeks, and I'd prefer to wait until I can post as regularly as I did last year - even if that won't be for a while.

I don't have a return date, or even an estimate, because the whole point is that I'm going to take all the time I need. I'll be back when I'm good and ready - and when I do, I'll announce it a week or so in advance.

See you in the future!

#meta posts #edit: just realized how funny the previous post has now become. accidental foreshadowing

[smilepebble]

not to suddenly and randomly psmd sadpost but i really think that mew was not in a good place, mentally, after the original dark matter fight. their plan involved them being reborn into a child fated to shoulder the burden of the whole world and their only reward for that would be death. it feels like a plan made by someone whose lost all faith in themselves and sees no reason to want to live.

but while psmd partner is mew's reincarnation, they also.... aren't mew. they have a deep and profound love for the world and those around them. and when mew's plan is fulfilled and they begin to disappear, they make it pretty clear: they didn't want this.

in a way i feel like it's mew saying, "this is what you wanted. you understand, right?" and partner responding, "no, i don't."

#op #pmd #super #im literally always thinking about the psmd ending. good fucking lord #meta posts

[jojolightningfingers]

the hell of vegeta swearing to never fight again is that he actually follows through, at least in the beginning.

there are seven years between cell and buu. in every version of the media i’ve gone through--english manga, uncut dub, uncut jp, kai dub--bulma says that vegeta has trained the last five years before the tournament. which can only mean that there was a two year gap right after the cell games where he didn’t train at all.

and like. can you really blame him. his purpose in life has been cut out from under him not once but twice, first by goku attaining super saiyan and avenging their people by killing freeza, and then by goku’s decision to stay dead and deny him the opportunity to surpass him. his strength has proven insufficient time and again no matter how hard he works, overshadowed by a boy half his age. his pride hinges on both of those things and even before that was mercilessly trampled on. he dies on namek crying at the feet of both of his bitterest enemies, begging one to kill the other for his sake, after being thoroughly thrashed in front of an audience of people weaker than him (no basia, i won’t get over this). he has no people. no planet. no purpose, power, or pride. i really do think the only things keeping him going by this point are inertia and spite.

what he does have is has seven years to gnaw on a question that will not let him rest. why is goku so much stronger than he is, being what he is? why is he so inadequate? almost without doubt, this is the absolute nadir of vegeta’s existence: at least, the nadir for the man he thinks he has to be, or can’t reconcile not being. if he has nothing, if the last things tethering him to his supposed innate nature (to borrow a turn of phrase from @kanthia, shameless plug,) are torn away from him, what is left for him to do but accept defeat and submit to change?

what he doesn’t know yet is that that’s okay. he doesn’t know yet, but the seven years that goku is no longer a presence in his life is perhaps the best thing goku could have possibly given him. there’s space for new things to grow where his animosity and aggression burned holes in him. even if vegeta is still focused on nursing the embers of that blaze and ignoring the encroaching growth as hard as he can (bulma mentions to gohan that he’s dead set on making trunks stronger than him, and why would he care about that goal specifically otherwise), he is still beginning to care about things that the old him wouldn’t.

and then.

and then all of a sudden, goku is back in the picture. there is now a window, fleeting as it may be, for vegeta to get some answers he probably thought he’d never get. there is now the terrible possibility that he can put things ‘right’. and goku’s willing to let him take that shot and get those answers, right up until the whole business surrounding buu disrupts everything and then he isn’t anymore.

because the thing is, they were scheduled to fight each other before anybody else. vegeta was not supposed to see the gap between him and goku until he was experiencing it for himself, and then his only recourse would be to demand answers from goku--who would surely give them, to the best of his ability!--or to come to his own conclusions and act from there. instead, he's given time to realize that he’s still inferior, he still doesn’t understand why, and most importantly that babidi is an option. there is a way, at the cost of his will.

submitting to babidi to force goku’s hand and close the gap is the act of a man who knows that he is running out of time. vegeta’s pride would not possibly have allowed this unless he was so desperate for closure that he couldn’t see another way. for ten years he’s been trying to rebuild a sandcastle below the high tide line, and it’s not that he’s too stupid to move farther up so he isn’t freshly shattered at every pass--it’s just that trying to power through in the face of futility is literally all that he knows to do. he has been coming apart, stitch by stitch, his worldview and his preconceptions of destiny and self dissolving under his feet in slow motion ever since he met goku. this is the last chance he has, and he knows it. he knows he’s not going to see goku in the afterlife, even before he asks piccolo.

what the fuck else was he supposed to do?

the beauty of his sacrifice is that he still has the mark of evil on his forehead when he dies, even though he’s bucked babidi’s mind control by that point. he chooses to symbolically and very literally raze his old self to the ground for the sake of all that his new self cares for. WHICH IS WHY, his coming back to life actually narratively works for his character: new growth roots in ashes, phoenixes and sapling trees both.

#vegeta #majin vegeta #dragon ball z #dragonball z #dbz #meta posts #and i'm expected to NOT go apeshit over this? #i'm supposed to know this and remain cool about it? #and man don't even get me STARTED on what moro and granolah arcs do for him #super is good actually. fuck you. #bizarre adventures

[addershine]

It’s been one year since we posted our Warrior Cats Rarepairs Collection, and for its anniversary, @foxstride and I decided to post a meta update. This includes various statistics, including how many fics got posted in the last year, how many rarepair ships currently have canonical tags on Ao3, and which ships have graduated to not being so rare anymore!

The work is two chapters, and in chapter two you can see some of the nittier, grittier statistics.

If you want to check out our spreadsheet you can also take a look at ships that got newly wrangled this year, how many fics each ship has that are wrangled, and more!

#warrior cats fanfiction #warrior cats fanfic #warrior cats rarepairs #rarepairs #rarepair anniversary #anniversary post #warrior cats fan content #warrior cats #warrior cats shipping #shipping #ao3 meta #meta posts #statistics posts #warrior cats statistics

[mille-pso2]

pso2/ngs sideblog is here

side account for my pso2 twitter, mostly. longer form content and whatnot will go here when 240 characters just isn't enough. this is also for interaction with users that don't have an account on any social and just want to contact me for some reason.

further blog info below the readmore for brevity, this will be a pinned post.

my pso2-related twitter account can be found [here],

and my pso2ngs resources for gear comparisons can be found [here].

additionally, if you only care about my gear comparison sheets, you can follow this blog right [here].

finally, if you're totally unhinged and want to browse like twelve years of my old tumblr content, my "main" blog is over [here].

i will primarily be using the tags "pso2" "pso2ngs" and "pso2 ngs" on this blog with a side of "pso2 screenshots" as well.. maybe with the character's name as a tag too? we'll see.

i have yet to determine if i will post my spicier/provocative pso2 screenshots here. if i decide to do that, they will be hidden under a read more and appropriate warning will be given before clicking it so you don't have to view something you don't want to view.

#pso2 #pso2ngs #pso2 ngs #meta posts

[drswannbond]

Folks, please help a kindred soul in their quest for 00swann greatness. As a sideblog, how can I reblog content from other people? Posts I see on my dash look like they can only be reblogged from my main. And there's been so much interesting content to promote in the fandom these last few weeks (looking at you @swannscroft @milkwithginseng @mr-iskender) that I'd really like to be able to do something.

#also I'm going for a trip to Indonesia in the next two weeks but I swear that I'm planning to post more often #may even start using the queue function #having in mind fic recs #meta posts #analyses of Léa Seydoux' and Daniel Craig's top-notch acting and kissing techniques #there's just so much material out there it's indecent #hang in there fellow 00swann appreciators