iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Daniel Fliederbaum

✰ nae ✰ VGen comms open!! @naeriie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Hey guys!! I'm opening comms over on VGen so I can afford some things after getting sick + get verified there. I tried to include some cheaper options as well so I hope theres something for everyone. If you can't afford anything, a repost is super appreciated too! [ #commission ] vgen.co/naeriie

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Reposted by Daniel Fliederbaum

Circ @tinyicecat.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This news is important because all the fucks out there actively attempting to wreck the world want you to think that the work is hopeless and just mitigating the worst case scenario. It's not. Fucking keep going.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Hold up, I think she's cooking on this one. Narnia's already Furry Jesus children's fantasy. what could heighten the camp inherent to epic fantasy more than a rock opera? Plus, if I'm wrong about it being good, it still sounds like it'll be memorable! 😁

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Reposted by Daniel Fliederbaum

valkylander.bsky.social @valkylander.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I don't think you can argue kid fiction is less worthwhile than adult fic if your argument hinges on asserting any worthwhile story can't be for kids. Utena is absolutely for kids. It was made for kids to watch and enjoy and understand. It covers heavy topics for the benefit of kids.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Didn't know avignon90 was a man, for one thing.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hell yeah! Love me some TFiOS, my problematic fave~

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The Spectre Of Communism 👻 @cyberstalin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

writing for children is actually pretty difficult, a lot of ppl take childrens lit classes with this mentality and realize its not that easy, cuz children are a very different audience than adults

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yeaaaah, fair enough. I looked at the TL after my initial response to that account and noticed how uh, you-focused it is. I'll cop to that being my bad.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Shoot, seriously? That's a shame. I liked The Hades Calculus.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

She Ra 2018 was inspired by Utena.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I'm shocked you think Saionji was having sex with her at all. Beating her, yes, but where is it implied he raped her, too? Give me an episode number.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I am aware of the horrors of Anthy's abuse. She's literally shown being beaten by her classmates from the word "go." How do you get that she's being *raped* by the entire school as well? By her brother, yes, but the WHOLE school? Is that hyperbole, or did YOU not watch RGU?

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Not in the slightest. You asked me if I would show a ten-year-old RGU. Whether or not a ten-year-old specifically should watch RGU doesn't change that it's aimed at a non-adult audience.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Fair enough! Then yes, a writer can learn from analyzing ATLA. They might ask, how does the show get me to root for Zuko's redemption? We only see one game of Pai Sho, so how did they signal it was NOT a normal one? Why did the writers wait until season 2 to introduce a main character? etc. etc.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Depends on the 10-year-old! Different kids can handle different things. I watched movies and read books for adults when I was younger than that.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yes. that's why both examples I gave are American books for children. That doesn't answer my question, though.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

It's about systems of power, especially patriarchy, and how they insidiously traumatize, warp and stunt all who they touch. There's more to it than that, obviously, but that's a damn good overview.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Genuinely, how do you define children's media? Childhood encompasses a broad range of life stages. Pinkalicious is as much children's media as Moonwalking by Lyn Miller-Lachmann and Zetta Elliott - radically different books for radically different readers. Both children's literature!

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yes. Several times. I literally named my debut novel after it.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Also, yes, the RGU manga and anime have different writers - who collaborated with each other as they produced both stories simultaneously. Arguing that one has nothing to do with the other is just plain counterfactual.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

In this case, the magazine IS an indicator of intended audience. Ciao serializes shoujo! Audience demographics aren't immutable, prescriptive boxes, but again, that's my point! Stories made for one age range employ techniques you can use writing for another.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Yeah, Revolutionary Girl Utena definitely isn't for the same age range as say, Miraculous Ladybug, but it's shoujo. Teen and children's fiction can and does tackle dark, complex subject matter, and saying otherwise is painting it with one broad stroke at best.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Ack, sorry for my lack of clarity! I was asking if you thought they were acceptable points of comparison for me to argue children's shows can be complex. That said, you kinda led to my point: Utena IS aimed at a young audience. The manga ran in the same magazine as Hamtaro less than a year apart!

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I can see that, for sure! I've personally had success applying what I've learned about storytelling from TV shows, though yeah, without also reading short stories/novels, I wouldn't have all the craft tools to express it in prose.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Mamoru Oshii GiTS is still on my watchlist, but if we're using classic anime as a benchmark, would Revolutionary Girl Utena or Neon Genesis Evangelion suffice?

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I agree that reading widely and thinking critically about what you've read is vital to developing ability as a writer, but dismissing kids' media — cartoons, YA/MG novels, etc. — simply because it's FOR children does a disservice to new authors by closing their minds to a wealth of material.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Additionally, you didn't specify that this was about learning to write for adults, just about learning to write. It's true that writing for children isn't exactly like writing for adults, but it *is* writing, and the skills you build writing for one demographic often carry over to others.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Prose, no, but plenty of tools of craft translate between screen and page like character, plot, stakes, etc. and to say that kids' cartoons as a whole have "dumbed-down themes" is as overgeneralizing as saying all adult novels are nuanced and complex.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Agreed that much online writing advice is bunk, but children's media absolutely provides examples for aspiring writers to learn to write well.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

If sleep hygiene so important, why writing get so easy at bedtime?

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Reposted by Daniel Fliederbaum

moss 🍀 @softbluedot.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Reminder!!!

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Me, before bed last night, in all my terrible hubris: Oh boy! I'm going to go to sleep early and wake up refreshed to write on my day off! My sleep apnea, a force of Olympian divinity:

static.klipy.com

John Cena Are You Sure About That Meme

Alt: John Cena on a green screen asking "Are you sure about that?"

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Reposted by Daniel Fliederbaum

Predatoria @predatoria.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Another dragon sketch from the Axtara dragon books! This one is a scene we all really wanted to read that did not actually happen in wording, but is canonically implied. #AxtaraSpoiler, glad yall are liking my daily dragon sketchy arts.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

It's giving "Shut up and dance with me" and I am SO here for that 😍

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Divorced from context, this is kinda giving "I demand to speak to your manager!" Come to think of it, that isn't NOT what actually happened, is it? Lol! Great picture! :)

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Agreed. A story doesn't have to be good to make you better, but real people's safety is more important than even the world's best book.

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Flawseer @flawseer.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

"Spider" Based on a conversation I had 2 years ago. The title is "spider" and there is discussion of a spider, but no actual spiders depicted in the comic. Can never have enough Qibli/Winter domestic scenes. #WingsOfFire #wof #wofQibli #wofWinter #wofMoonwatcher #dragon

A comic featuring Qibli and Winter. Winter wakes up a sleeping Qibli, who groggily wonders what's happening. Winter then informs him that there is a spider in the bathroom. Qibli doesn't know what he is supposed to do with this information. Winter explains that he wants him to get rid of the spider, saying that, as a Sandwing who eats scorpions, Qibli should be able to deal with this problem. Qibli angrily refuses to eat the bathroom spider, to which Winter says he doesn't care how Qibli disposes of the spider, as long as he does so somehow. Qibli then walks into the bathroom, intent to see the spider and making fun of Winter. He then looks at something off-panel (implied to be the spider) and falls silent.

Smash cut to both Qibli and Winter now waking up a sleeping Moonwatcher. As Moon gets up, Winter explains that there is a spider in the bathroom, while Qibli sheepishly says "It's a lot bigger than I expected."

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

No joke, the whole time I was watching High Guardian Spice, I was SO confused why a very slightly above average cartoon got dogpiled so bad... Then the teacher got to casually drop that he's a trans man, and it all clicked into place. Weirdos really hate when you're openly LGBTQ *and* happy.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Dragons riding a horse-drawn carriage, eh? There's a joke about Cinderella's coachmen mice here, but I'm not sure Axtara's enough of a Rodgers and Hammerstein fan to care 😂

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Reposted by Daniel Fliederbaum

Predatoria @predatoria.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Another daily dragon practice sketch I did that I got carried away with. This one ended up taking me a few hours to do, but it was a fun one to make. It's another picture of Axtara the dragon banker. I've been having fun drawing scenes from these books. The poor horse.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

"Destroy the WORLD-EGG 🥚" Hmm... that tagline wouldn't happen to have anything to do with a certain 90s anime about roses and swords, would it? 🤔

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Reposted by Daniel Fliederbaum

Flawseer @flawseer.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Smaugust 2026 - "Quest" Winter and Turtle hanging out, a rare sight indeed. Also featuring the Zelda, a game some might have heard of. It turns out he is not very good at it. #WingsOfFire #wof #wofTurtle #wofWinter #dragon #Zelda #OcarinaOfTime

A comic featuring Winter the Icewing and Turtle the Seawing playing The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time. Both of them are seated with their backs to the camera, while a TV with a dragon-version of Link standing in Hyrule Field sits in the center of the frame. Turtle explains the heroic, high-fantasy themes of the game while Winter observes that the protagonist is green. This flusters Turtle. He continues to explain facts about the game, mentioning the hero's father is a tree, there is a princess inside a big fish, and at night zombies come out and kill you. He then, without warning, hands Winter the controller and tells him to try it himself. Winter grabs onto the three-pronged controller with three talons. He looks very tense doing so, and mashes buttons. A yelp is heard and Turtle observes that Winter has somehow killed Navi the fairy, despite that supposedly being impossible to do.

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Daniel Fliederbaum @fireandpaint.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

There's a "Just Monika" joke in here somewhere...

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