[bogreader]

language learning is easy you just learn words... and then you keep learning more words... and even more words... and then maybe in 10 years you'll be somewhere

[kesselshpil]

It was just a bad dream after all

Have you heard about that terrible story in the Good Omens finale? Ugh, I know, right? Scary.

#GoodOmens3 #aziracrow

[jolzr2]

[jolzr2]

[jolzr2]

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

My thoughts about the Good Omens Finale

Note: I do not wish to convince anyone of my opinion or be convinced of theirs, I just want to write down how I feel about the finale. Also, I've heard that the creators are getting some hate messages, omg? Please if you have a slightest inclination to do that or to be mean to someone because you disagree with them then log off the internet and go for a walk... try to find a rainbow, feed peas to a duck ❤.

Simply put... I hated the finale. During while some things felt quite rushed I was thinking that it's because of the 6 episodes to 90 minutes shortening and even if it won't be perfect it will still be worth it because of the ending. And then came the scene in the bookshop with God and Satan and our ineffables after which they... died. And then we saw some two human clones who looked like them ending up together.

...

Crying, I couldn't have believed my eyes. The finale killed Aziraphale and Crowley and all the characters we came to know and love and replaced them with some random people who looked like them and we are supposed to care about?

Have I really just watch Soho struggle, learn that Mutt have died, Nina and Maggie had to leave, and people there were barely hanging on to be given a bit of hope by Jesus so they would be erased and this wouldn't matter at all?

I can't even start to begin to describe how much this is not Good Omens that I love. My words fail me and I am left stuttering and waving my hands erratically.

Not starting again but fix what we have has been an important point of Good Omens. Same as Job and his wife don't want some new children but the old ones. But somehow replacing the Earth is the ideal ending now?

The finale is trying to convince us that it's better because now there won't be any Hell and Heaven with their influences, but the big part of Good Omens was always that the humans do have their free will unlike most angels and demons - and all the big events on Earth like World Wars or Spanish Inquisition are created by humans, no matter how many coins Crowley glues on the pavement. If this was truly a problem then even a God's edict that from now no direct influencing people would do (not that we have that much reason to believe that there was that much influencing going on in the first place - most demons and angels kept to their dominions and Aziraphale and Crowley had The Arrangement), Aziraphale and Crowley could have been left on the Earth to make sure no such things was happening. But no, let's throw this all out, kill everyone and start over with real dinosaurs this time because it will surely be better... or will it? The humanity without Hell and Heaven seems the same to me in the ending. Hmm.

The whole scene with the God and Satan (what happens to him? who knows) where God calls Aziraphale lazy felt very very weird.

My brain is completely baffled why I should care about some random two men that look like Aziraphale and Crowley when I just saw my ineffables die. It's not them. It's like someone killed me and cloned me. I would not be very happy about it. And I know that some people like to say it is at least an imprint of them because they created the universe and they find each other in every universe over and over but nothing like is stated there, it is just wishful thinking of a broken heart imho. Aziraphale and Crowley are dead after Aziraphale spend years trying to make Heaven better and Crowley spent years in depression...

...which is another thing of itself:

Crowley is an optimist. (so seeing him in the finale makes me want to put the gif of from The Godfather: "look how they massacred my boy" here :D)

I hate this trend where you have an uplifting funny movie/season/book/something and you see that it is successful and people love it because it gives them comfort and hope and you go "oh but what if we make it drama where suddenly our characters full of hope and energy are depressed and see dying as the only option because surely that is what the fans of the original material appreciate". Fuck that.

I can't help it but the finale doesn't feel like Pratchett. At all. Perhaps there is a reason for that:

I have decided that I will consider only the book and S1 the canon in my head (perhaps with occasional visits from Bildad, Muriel or Furfur ;)). But I simply can't take this ending into my heart.

I have been waiting for the Finale to find out if it rekindles my passion for Good Omens, which sort of died away after the info about NG came out. I'm afraid it hasn't and I don't plan to update this blog much more anymore, perhaps sometimes if I see something that I want to share but I am not sure how much. Thank you for following me all these years, it's been a blast ❤.

(I still love Good Omens. I am going to The Ineffable Con 7 and I will look forward to meeting you there or at another opportunity. ❤❤❤)

[kalianos]

[slightlydysfunctional]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone talking about God yelling at Crowley that she doesn't owe him more after the story is finished. It felt very pointed and very much like Neil Gaiman is mad at us. Like he didn't make the decision to continue the story on his own.

Which really drives home the feeling of "You know what? Fuck it. Fuck these characters, fuck this universe, and fuck you too" that the finale gave me

[sighed-the-snake]

Frankly that line is so on the nose that I suspect Gaiman did not write it. I think "a story doesn't have to go beyond the last page of its book" might have been added by someone who wanted to make a point of how unnecessary this all was because the Good Omens book was complete and did not require expanding in the first place.

[jolzr2]

GOOD OMENS S3 SPOILERS!!!!!!

I'm still trying to process the ending. To be honest, I enjoyed the episode a lot, but I do have mixed feelings about the ending.

As I'm still trying to take it all in, I wanted to share a thought.

So, I was kind of disappointed with God, because I expected her to fix everything. I mean, couldn't there have been the option to keep everything the way it was, including Aziraphale and Crowley, without an Apocalypse happening? Or something that would make humans suffer less in the afterlife? Or change the rules about who goes in hell and who in heaven?

But then, I realized that perhaps they had Crowley and Aziraphale sacrifice themselves because sacrifice has always been part of God's plans in GO. Jesus had to sacrifice himself, Job's kids had to be sacrificed, the flood sacrificed many people, etc.

Everything came with a price, and I believe it's always been about sacrifices. So, perhaps, it's inevitable that if they wanted humans to be saved from eternal punishment, God would have them pay a price.

I don't know if this is true and I'm not saying that it makes the ending good or bad. All I'm saying is that I've noticed that God has always required sacrifice.

Now, in Job's case, it was just about a bet. So, I guess it's pretty much possible for God to require sacrifice without caring too much about saving Aziraphale and Crowley.

This is the only thing I can think of, that explains why this couldn't have happened any other way. We've seen Crowley and Aziraphale criticize and defend sacrifices that God said had to be made. Sacrifices in the form of lives being taken. So, yeah, I can see why God would only allow it to happen through sacrifice.

(And this is the same God who wanted to kill Job's kids, because of a bet with Satan. Who was also laughing with Satan in the scene in the bookshop.)

I think I've overused the word sacrifice, but everything's a mess in my brain right now.

[livelovelaugh-777]

[daisydeclosetfied]

I don’t think people were listening to our English teacher so let me spell it out:

NOTHING.

GOOD

STARTS

IN A GETAWAY CAR

Call me when TNT blows up 🧨 and don’t act so surprised as if this wasn’t spelled out for you in EVERY album and in music videos and onstage in front of audiences night after night.

HEY KIDS! Spelling is…

clearly hard for some of you :)

[transformativeworks]

OTW Signal, February 2026

In February’s OTW Signal we highlight a university fanfiction club and an essay on the preservation of fandom + tips for you on contacting staff! Read more at https://otw-news.org/59knsmvs

[transformativeworks]

AO3 Spam Bot Update

Date Posted: February 8, 2026

A wave of spambot guest comments claiming to be AO3 volunteers has recently been made across the site. They claim that there has been a data breach and that fraudulent password reset emails have been sent out. In addition, the harassment spambots are now accusing users of being sex offenders.

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These comments copy existing AO3 usernames in order to make their accusations seem more legitimate. They may also try to lure people onto other platforms, similar to the art commission scam.

AO3 volunteers will never communicate with you through guest comments on your work. All important communications from AO3 about your account will be sent via email. More general announcements will be posted on our official social media accounts or published as news posts on AO3 or OTW.org.

If you want to make sure you're doing everything possible to protect yourself and your accounts, our Policy & Abuse volunteers published a news post earlier this year with advice about internet safety best practices: Protect Your AO3 Account.

As always, we recommend that you do not click on any suspicious links or give your contact information to scammers. Instead, simply mark the comments as spam or report them so that Policy & Abuse can remove other comments left by these spambots.

If you aren't sure how to mark guest comments as spam, learn how to handle them below the cut!

As these comments have so far all been from guests, our advice is to flag them as spam to better filter them out. To do that, simply follow the instructions below:

If the comment is on your own work:

Go directly to the comment on your work, either by clicking on the link in your email or in your AO3 inbox.

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[teeny-tiny-revenge]

It's home cinema manufacturing time! 🏴‍☠️ Gonna put my pirate show on my shelf! (I'm doing an Arts and Crafts Project and I'm making it everyone's problem.)

After seeing how much they cost, I abandoned the idea of getting a Blu-ray writer for now. For the time being, good old DVDs is what it's going to be! My TV is old and not very big, so DVD resolution is gonna be fine.

It's been ages since I last burned a DVD. For the full experience, I'm gonna create nice menus and pretty sleeves for the boxes. Graphic design is my passion! Um.

Well. First needed to find a program to do stuff with. I'm a Linux guy, so I'm using Devede. (Which is free, btw. In case someone else wants to do a low cost spot of putting pirate show on the shelf.)

DVDs fit a maximum of 120 minutes of video. So, four episodes, I thought. But after a quick attempt, the program refused to do more than three (maybe because of the menu also taking up space, and four episodes cutting pretty close to the 120 min mark?). Anyway, three episodes per disc it is. It's a pretty nice runtime for watching the entire disc, IMO. An hour and a half, and then you can return to reality to realise you should probably eat something, or go to bed because it's midnight.

OFMD with its current two seasons has a total of eighteen episodes, which is divisible by three. You get the following setup:

Disc 1: Pilot, A Damned Man, The Gentleman Pirate - That's pretty good, Stede's introduction to piracy all on one disc!

Disc 2: Discomfort in a Married State, The Best Revenge is Dressing Well, The Art of Fuckery - All bangers. Great to watch together, our boys meet and shenanigans happen!

Disc 3: This is Happening, We Gull Way Back, Act of Grace - Many romantic moments, lots of great scenes, shit hits the fan at the end there. Alright!

Disc 4: Wherever you go, there you are, Impossible Birds, Red Flags - ... Pain and angst! What have I done!?! The disc of horrors. Gotta make sure to have tissues at hand when I watch this. But hey, it also has messy bun Ed! Small mercies.

Disc 5: The Innkeeper, Fun and Games, The Curse of the Seafaring Life. - Another disc with all winners. I love all these episodes so much! (You can watch this disc to recover from the trauma of the previous one!) But seriously, this one slaps.

Disc 6: Calypso's Birthday, Man on Fire, Mermen - Great combination again. Season finale! Love and excitement!

... Honestly, except for the psychological damage of putting all the most painful episodes together, this is coming out pretty cool. Says a lot about how good the show is. I actually really love all the episodes (yes even the painful angsty episodes of massive depression). Thinking about this little project really reminded me how much I love this entire show.

So, we got a tracklist, now menus, then we can burn this stuff!

I did the menu backgrounds in GIMP. Realised I have a big folder full of screenshots I took myself, screenshots someone else took and posted on Tumblr, official promo pics for the show, and I have no idea anymore where most of them are from, because I named the files according to what's on them. Which is useful for when you want to find pics (Need a picture of cursed suit Stede? I have files named that, easy peasy!), but not so great if you wanted to give credit to whoever took a given pic you used. (It's probably @sherlockig or @ofmd-ann or @blakbonnet. Please feel credited, your beautiful screens and gifs brighten my day, and some of them are now probably part of my DVD menus. Shrunk down and cropped, but, yeah.)

I originally wanted to structure my menus as having the title of an episode, then some pics from it, then the next episode, then pics from that, and so forth, but I couldn't convince the program to give me the necessary padding between the menu items, so I ended up just putting the episode images below the menu. Still like it.

Anyway, DVD menus can also play sound! Behold a crappy video of my beautiful creation (provided entirely for sound):

It plays Gnossienne N°5!

More crappy pics of my other disc menus:

Gonna make them some nice sleeves next. Some day. Gotta make sure they all work properly first. So. I'll be on my sofa, watching my DVDs. With menus!

[teeny-tiny-revenge]

Piracy update! I made sleeves and labels for my DVDs, so now they can look super cool and pretty while living on my shelf.

I made different covers for all of them, with pictures of some of my favourite moments from the episodes that are inside. I'm super proud of how they turned out. The blending especially on the fronts of the first and second cover went really well I think, also some of these pics are Aaron's official bts photos and they so good. The mermaid picture was honestly a bit of a dick about blending, but it's The Mermaid Moment, I couldn't make a cover for this episode and not have The Mermaid Moment on it. Several other things were a given as well. The Ed on the third cover is my favourite pic of him, look how happy and at peace he looks. Also gotta have cursed suit Stede (kudos to @sherlockig for both of those, they are some of the few pics where I'm sure who uploaded and edited them, and they're the best).

I splurged on glossy photo paper for printing these out, and that was a great decision, the quality is so much better than anticipated. Looks super professional, really dark black, deep colours, super shiny. I'm so happy with them.

Here's a look at the spines. All of my piracy projects sitting next to each other on the shelf where they belong! Next to the one official fave show physical media I was able to buy lol. (Good Omens S2 DVD project post here.)

If you do something, may as well go all out: Disc labels!

Designing them was a blast. I reused the design with the ship I did for the on-screen menus, put the episode titles, and then added little Stedes and Eds. (Like with all the designs, I followed the rule that the pics on anything have to be from the episodes that are inside.) Look at the first case, they're looking at each other! In the second case they are not looking at each other, because this is the sad part where they aren't together. Little Ed is drinking. :( But in the third case they are together again! On disc five they are a united front against the drama lesbians, and yeah, I knew what my disc six pic of them was gonna be the moment I saw it first. They may have cut it from the show, but it'll be on my disc forever.

Printing the labels was a fucking nightmare. I had a few pages of premade disc labels (sticker paper with perforated circles of the right sizes, so no cutting, yay). Already printing the sleeves took a good amount of test prints and template tweaking; I don’t know why printing exactly to scale is still so difficult in 2024. I think Crowley was involved in designing printers. The things are definitely haunted. Printing a rectangle to scale? Difficult, but okay. Printing two circles to scale, in the exact correct position? Oh god I cursed so much. But look at them, aren’t they beautiful? Definitely worth all the sweat and tears.

[transformativeworks]

Harassment Spam Bot Alert!

Date posted: November 12, 2025

AO3 has recently seen a rise in guest spambot comments making false accusations about work creators or other users. For example, they may claim that a particular user is discriminating against minorities, trying to hide the fact that they use AI, or are at risk of having their works stolen or deleted.

These comments often copy existing AO3 usernames in order to make their accusations seem more legitimate. They may also try to lure people onto other platforms (similar to the art commission scam), or use fake links that actually lead to pornographic images.

As always, we recommend that you do not click on any suspicious links or give your contact information to scammers. Instead, simply mark the comments as spam or report them so that the Policy & Abuse committee can remove comments left by these spambots.

Learn how to recognize them and what to do below the cut!

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The comments are often pleading or angry, asking you to "stop lying to your readers", "don't remove the AI prompts from your work", or suggesting that you "consider adding more diverse characters" to "repair the trust you've lost with your audience".

So far, these comments have all been from guests. Our advice is to flag them as spam to better filter them out.

To help train our automated spam-checker to block similar guest comments in the future:

If the comment is on your own work:

Go directly to the comment on your work, either by clicking on the link in your email or in your AO3 inbox.

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[transformativeworks]

As of December 2025, bots have also left guest comments harassing users by:

threatening to report you/your fic to the authorities or your employers

alleging security concerns like your email being compromised or spyware on your computer

claiming that they know your address and are going to visit you at your house

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What these bots claim is not true. These accusations do not mean your work will be deleted or that your accounts are insecure. We recommend that you mark these comments as spam following the instructions in our previous post.

These examples also do not represent the full range of harassment comments that you may receive. We will continue to try and keep you updated about trends; however, please note that the exact wording the bots use will continue to evolve.

If you're not sure if something is a spambot comment, you're welcome to contact Policy & Abuse for assistance. Refer to the original post for more information!

[transformativeworks]

AO3 Celebrates 16 Million Fanworks

AO3 has reached 16 million fanworks! Celebrate this milestone with us, and learn more about the technical setup of the site at https://otw-news.org/s486vdeb

[republique-francaise-officiel]

avant les gouvernements s'effondraient avec un peu de style, du genre un ministre était pris en flagrant délit d'adultère avec la femme d'un journaliste, ou une esclave affranchie par un comte italian super shady témoignait devant le parlement qu'un général avait commis des crimes de guerre en grèce. De nos jours il n'y a vraiment pas de quoi écrire un roman