Darkforestdreams - A Wannabe Creator

I love how the first time Stolas says "look my way" it's a plea to Blitz to give him another chance...

... and the last time it's a promise to Blitz that he'll take the imp's emotions seriously, and he will help him through his pain. :')

VIVZIEPOP IM TIRED!!!! 😭😭😭

Ahem-

The cruelty towards sharks and... honestly a lot of marine wildlife has always horrified me. Not just shark finning and slicing whale sharks from the tail up, but people having ENTIRE RESTAURAUNTS dedicated to killing and dicing up STILL LIVING FISH FOR SHOW is just...

I'm sorry, but if you actively defend this horrid stuff you MUST know it's wrong. You KNOW that these fish can feel pain. You KNOW it's an inhumane thing to do. Stop it.

What? Some animals play with their own prey, too? THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S OKAY FOR US TO DO IT!

Let go of some of your leisure and denial and give something good back to the ocean, why don't you? Have some empathy! Have some gratitude for the home of these creatures that keep your stomach full!

You can still eat fish and be okay, but give your respect to these animals and DO NOT LET PEOPLE GET AWAY WITH TORTURING THEM, PLEASE.

Fully agreed. I love both Revali and Teba as characters, but their roles are scripted and only essential to the story and, sadly, they aren't able to escape their roles in the rest of BotW.

When I play the game I'm legit always happy to see Kass pop up! The sense of being alone in BotW is there big time, even when I encounter other NPCs and salespeople they just don't... I don't really feel anything.

Kass is different, though. He's a traveling bard that plays a role to help bolster you on your quest. He's adventurous, he's friendly, and he SHOWS these qualities rather than just saying "I'm the adventurous type" and nothing else happens. Plus, if you somehow want this, he is entirely optional to interact with (unless you play the Champion's Ballad but that's beside the point). So, whenever you see him, your emotions can range from indifferent to ecstatic instead of annoyed.

Part of me wishes there were more characters like this in games, but that might take away that warm happiness an NPC like Kass can give.

... I miss him...

You know, I've always found it weird how Kass is EVERYWHERE I go lately in my circles. Kass here, Kass there! People on my twitter timeline sharing Kass pics, People on my Discord sharing Kass art. Everyone always goes on about how he's so handsome and cool and everyone seems to forget that he has a wife and children, but why? It makes you wonder how he got so popular while Revali/Teba are often forgotten about in comparison. I know Revali is dead and all, but still. Is Kass simply Immortal?

Revali and Teba, while distinct in their individual personalities, are still effectively “moments in time” of the adventure regardless; that means they are met, experienced, assisted, and then moved on from in order to seek what else exists in the land.

To my knowledge, Kass is not limited by this - he is an active role in the player’s entire adventure, offering knowledge and input on ALL of the Champions (and even the DLC challenges!) as Link continues to grow and explore. The player comes to expect - even anticipate - future meetings with Kass, which creates a sense of need and attachment.

With this in mind, it doesn’t surprise me at all that the Rito who we spend the most *active* time with also ended up becoming the most loved.

You've got to be kidding me. Did shit like this happen so often in the 2010s, or have people just gotten more fucked up?

I've been wanting to write for LEGITIMATELY OVER A DECADE, but I struggled heavily with my autism, chronic anxiety disorder, and depression over the years. Have I actually missed my chance?

The amount of disrespect to creators and their hard work always appalled me, but I never felt unsafe at the thought of putting a story I write online. That's sure changed since last year...

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!