Work Text:
Title: awakened what’s beneath (again)
Number of Correct Guesses: 5/19 (26%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: mumsy, pennamepersona (3)
Correct Author: SeraphStarshine
From the author:
I decided to write in past tense instead of present tense in an attempt to throw people off.
Slip's comments: I guessed SuperLinh, mostly because of the bottom Dimitri and I felt like this wasn't mumsy. I was so, so wrong.
Mumsy's comments: I want it to be known that I took notes this year. I picked a previous fic in everyone's profile under 2k words to read, trying to find little tells in everyone's writing, looking at how often people wrote for certain ratings, and I tried to sus it out from there. I took these notes and it failed me on almost every fic. Thought this was fisque. Thought wrong.
Mikan's comments: I picked Starr mainly from the title (and a lot of assumptions on my part LOL): I was like, hmm, Sleep Token lyrics… and Starr has written a lot of fics for MCR… that's kind of related, right? I guess that gamble paid off in the end!
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Title: Blind Boxes
Number of Correct Guesses: 8/19 (42%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: SeraphStarshine (3)
Correct Author: CieloBello
Slip's comments: I went for Cielo mostly because it felt like a topic they would write about. The turns of phrase also seemed like them!
Mumsy's comments: I felt this would be Starr based on how many G fics they have written (and of course, they wrote the above E fic, their second most written rating). So I screwed that up.
Mikan's comments: The domestic setting made me guess Cielo!
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Title: boyfriend tee (but it's actually a hoodie)
Number of Correct Guesses: 5/19 (26%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Blazing VanP, nikkiRA, pennamepersona, SeraphStarshine, SuperLinh (2)
Correct Author: mumsy
From the author:
I just closed my eyes and let the hornt take over. I'm quite proud of how filthy it is, haha.
Slip's comments: I BET THIS IS MUMSY PLAYING IT STRAIGHT (yes I got it right)
Mumsy's comments: it me. 🤪 Honestly, I didn't even try to hide my identity this year (I didn't actually try last year, either. 2nd person pov just worked out in my favor, haha).
Mikan's comments: The very babygirl Dimitri was a big clue for me this was mumsy, lol. That and certain stylistic choices for sound effects.
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Title: covenant
Number of Correct Guesses: 5/19 (26%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: financedsquash0, nikkiRA (3)
Correct Author: pennamepersona
Slip's comments: I guessed Vane because the style and characterization seemed like them (I was looking at the Felix characterization) but I was soooo wrong.
Mumsy's comments: Thought this was Nik based on omegaverse and content. But, of course, I was off.
Mikan's comments: I also guessed Nik from the omegaverse tag, generally bittersweet tone, and the way they wrote Dimitri… but alas.
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Title: Fealty
Number of Correct Guesses: 5/19 (26%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: mahima (3)
Correct Author: EtherealWill
From the author:
I had just finished reading The Wolf and his King, which used second person. Anyone who knows me knows I usually really dislike that POV but Finn Longman used it so effectively I wanted to try my hand at imitating what they'd done. Longman also does a wonderful job of conveying yearning which I tried to mirror in my own style. I don't usually write from Dimitri's POV either, so that was another way I tried to switch things up. Lastly, the characterization is just a little to the left of how I write them; usually I don't write Dimitri as being so forward—though I can at least let him blame that on the alcohol—or Felix as so suave, haha. (Dedue, however, is always that funny.)
Slip's comments: I guessed this as Starr because I really had no idea anymore who might have written this (given where I placed all my other guesses). Then found who this was and was like I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, the tells were everywhere (Seteth, Dedue, Annette appearing most especially).
Mumsy's comments: You know what sucks? Looking back in my notes, EtherealWill was one of my possible options here, and I didn't stick with that guess.
Mikan's comments: Lucky guess!
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Title: Heir to the Shield
Number of Correct Guesses: 3/19 (16%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Blazing VanP (4)
Correct Author: Ezra
Slip's comments: I guessed pennamepersona cuz Vibes (and seemed like would be a Star Wars fan). Was proven soundly wrong.
Mumsy's comments: Ezra, you bamboozled me!! Nice job!! I also thought this was Pen.
Mikan's comments: I guessed this was Fisque because I genuinely didn't know who this could be, lmao. Thoroughly bamboozled indeed!
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Title: Journal of an Ancient Spirit
Number of Correct Guesses: 6/19 (31%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: CieloBello, EtherealWill, Ezra, financedsquash0 (2)
Correct Author: Blazing VanP
From the author:
I basically tried doing something I hadn't done before for the first time. And I'm kind of hoping that the fact that I'm relatively new in the fandom will help me hide xD (But I also think that's my greatest weakness).
Slip's comments: God I have no idea. It seemed like something Em would write and do to misdirect which is why I went for her. Then I was proven horribly wrong FHDSJKF. I was really thrown off because I'm more familiar with Vane's Felix POV!!
Mumsy's comments: As I mentioned earlier, I took notes on previous fics in everyone's profile and it failed me so bad. BUT. I was able to figure this was Blazing based on their use of single quotation marks when writing dialogue. So huzzah to me! The only fic I guessed correctly other than my own.
Mikan's comments: I also took note of the single quotations, and from past work it seemed they liked to write high-fantasy-inspired fics!
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Title: Mile Marker 10
Number of Correct Guesses: 3/19 (16%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Ezra (4)
Correct Author: financedsquash
Slip's comments: I guessed Fisque (correctly!) because the Felix sounded like theirs!
Mumsy's comments: I thought this was mahima cuz the girls. Wrong.
Mikan's comments: Definitely one of my last choices I had a hard time on. I picked Ezra as my Hail Mary guess.
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Title: The Future Killer of the Prince Whose Body I Time-Travelled Into Is Proposing To Me???
Number of Correct Guesses: 2/19 (11%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Ezra, mumsy (4)
Correct Author: SuperLinh
Slip's comments: The formatting was so different but this felt like something Ezra would write! The title was also so whimsically theirs! And I was proven horrifically wrong.
Mumsy's comments: The vibes of this fic and the title told me it was Ezra.
Mikan's comments: Another of my last few choices I genuinely had no idea for. I guessed mahima because I thought body-swapping might be a trope they'd write about, but I was wrong!
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Title: The Great Repression
Number of Correct Guesses: 7/19 (36%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: CieloBello, EtherealWill, SeraphStarshine, SuperLinh (2)
Correct Author: mahima
Slip's comments: mahima!! It's mahima to a T. The cadence of the fic is a complete match to her usual writing.
Mumsy's comments: I think I was overthinking this one, especially with regards to the use of embedded images. Thought it was EtherealWill.
Mikan's comments: The embedded images also threw me off, but that led to me guessing SuperLinh instead. I was seriously scrutinizing everyone's use of divider lines for a while😂
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Title: Unwritten Rules
Number of Correct Guesses: 5/19 (26%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: SuperLinh (6)
Correct Author: nikkiRA
Slip's comments: I first thought this would be a ballsy move if it were Em but my radar eventually pointed me to nikkiRA due to the similar style and vibes to their other E-rated fic.
Mumsy's comments: This was my process of elimination guess. Linh was the only writer I hadn't guessed at this point.
Mikan's comments: Omegaverse made me think it could be pennamepersona, plus the overall tone of the fic.
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Title: #1
Number of Correct Guesses: 13/19 (68%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: May (2)
Correct Artist: DimensionSlip
From the artist:
Seeing Fox fill out that permission form was the push I needed to go out of my comfort zone and try out copying a style wholesale instead of simply adapting parts that I like to my existing style. It was a really fun exercise! A bit tricky because Fox's rendering is more complex than mine, but I think it's passable enough!
Slip's comments: IT'S ME. I was so confident I had this in the bag but apparently something about this submission was still obviously me???? Crying, my hubris. (I'm one of the most correctly artists in this event, more on that later.)
Mumsy's comments: It was the objectification of Felix that did it for me. But I see where you were going with in copying Fox's style! I could still sus out your Felix, though.
Mikan's comments: I did do a double take at first because I didn't recall Fox being in the participant list, so good job on that loll. But there was just something about the vibes that led me to believe it was Slip's…
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Title: #2 - The King's Sword
Number of Correct Guesses: 12/19 (63%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: May, mumsy (2)
Correct Artist: EtherealWill
From the artist:
I used textures and brushes I don't usually take advantage of and a less saturated color palette. I also added text which I don't normally do because I suck at graphics. But I tried to mimic those old pulpy romance novels because I thought it would be funny. Overall, this pushed the abilities that I had at the time and I hope to one day redo it and maybe make it more convincing! (Would be fun to write a fic to go along with it, too, maybe with a collaborator?)
Slip's comments: I immediately pegged this as Em because the shading (especially on the limbs) is very similar to how she does her other pieces! Also, the faces are very much hers! I only noticed later on the other tells like the Cichol Press logo and sense of humor.
Mumsy's comments: The Cichol Press logo on the bottom definitely gives this one away.
Mikan's comments: The shading style was a big giveaway for me as well! Plus the general lack of lineart on the body, except for the facial details.
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Title: #3 - dmlx 5ever
Number of Correct Guesses: 8/19 (42%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: mumsy (3)
Correct Artist: May
Slip's comments: I howled when I saw this among the submissions. Then realized I have no freaking idea who it is then guessed May because (1) nothing in the pile looked like her art style (2) the way the alt text was written is similar to her submission from last year. Number (2) saved my life. Also there was something about the Dimitri that just seemed like May's…
Mumsy's comments: Process of elimination helped me to officially ping this as May, but none of the other works matched her usual style so it made the most sense that this was her.
Mikan's comments: One of my last guesses I couldn't decide on, but there was a certain moeful charm in their faces that felt like it could be her. lmao
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Title: #4
Number of Correct Guesses: 7/19 (37%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Aloys (4)
Correct Artist: mumsy
Slip's comments: Really neat comp!! I was torn between Aloys and Mumsy but the way Dimitri and Felix were drawn did not seem to match up with what I saw in Aloys' samples so I went for Mumsy!
Mumsy's comments: I tried art this year, yay! I ended up using gradient mapping because I realized that I always use the same exact color palette when drawing Dimilix and needed to find a way to cover that up.
Mikan's comments: The composition stood out to me as being similar to her past works—it really feels like it could be a poster! That and also color choices. Lots of soft gradients.
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Title: #5
Number of Correct Guesses: 10/19 (53%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: cyranonic, May, syneuro (2)
Correct Artist: Aloys
Slip's comments: THIS WAS HARD. I had to go for process of elimination for this. Great job Aloys for recreating the style we see in the game!
Mumsy's comments: I felt some of the style reminiscent of Aloys' other works.
Mikan's comments: The bold, solid linework reminded me of their style, as well as the facial proportions!
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Title: #6 - beyond the veil
Number of Correct Guesses: 10/19 (53%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: mumsy, Nat (3)
Correct Artist: cyranonic
Slip's comments: At first I was like, who this?? Then I saw the Dimitri and was like, "ah must by cyranonic" and everything else fell into place
Mumsy's comments: Cy, I knew you would kill us with angst and you DID and I loved every painful moment of this. For me, it was the texture of your rendering that gave you away.
Mikan's comments: This was my last guess a la process of elimination lol
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Title: #7 - fairies
Number of Correct Guesses: 13/19 (68%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Aloys, May (2)
Correct Artist: syneuro
Slip's comments: I found this tricky and almost guessed wrong, but the facial proportions on Felix were screaming "syneuro" to me so here we are.
Mumsy's comments: The profiles gave me the impression this was syneuro!
Mikan's comments: I had some trouble with this one since it didn't match most participants' styles, but +1 on the proportions as well.
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Title: #8
Number of Correct Guesses: 13/19 (68%)
Most Incorrectly Guessed as: Aloys (2)
Correct Artist: Nat
Slip's comments: It's 100% Nat. And I think (almost) everyone else thought the same.
Mumsy's comments: Nat, I'm in love with how you draw Dimitri's nose. It's beautiful. It also gave you away (but don't feel bad about it, that nose is gorgeous).
Mikan's comments: Nat, no doubt. Thematically very similar to past work + similar posing!
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MISCELLANEOUS STATS AND COMMENTARY
Slip here, and I'm going to switch up the order of our miscellaneous section for this year!
Least correctly guessed writers:
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SuperLinh (2/19)
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Ezra, financedsquash0 (3/19)
Most correctly guessed writers:
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CieloBello (8/19)
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mahima (7/19)
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Blazing VanP (6/19)
The funniest thing for me to see was seeing Ezra go from most correctly guessed writer last year to (one of the) least correctly guessed writers. Look, that fic with the LN-like title seemed like something she would write, okay?? HFDJSFH
Some observations:
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This year, I think people had a harder time determining who wrote what! Like there's a lot of ties for "most incorrectly guessed" at 2 guesses compared to last year, where it only happened for one fic. Most fics also averaged 5 correct guesses or lower!
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Like last year however, the majority answers tend to be the correct author. The only exceptions to this are our top two least correctly guessed writers! Except for:
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nikkiRA's fic, which was often mistaken for SuperLinh's! It had 5 correct guesses, and 6 incorrect guesses as SuperLinh. Considering what SuperLinh usually creates, I was really surprised by these stats!
Least correctly guessed artists:
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mumsy (7/19)
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may (8/19)
Most correctly guessed artists:
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DimensionSlip (13/19) (what the fuck)
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syneuro (13/19)
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Nat (13/19)
Sorry I'm just. Still in disbelief at my poor attempt to hide myself. :notok:
Anyway, regarding art! I think it was a lot easier this year because most of the pieces had the artist's style and personality shining through! There were some confusing pieces still, but they felt more like coin tosses rather than wrong guesses causing a domino effect of wrong guesses. Like, even our least guessed artist had 7 correct guesses attached to them. May (second place for least guessed last year) was also so close this year to getting the top spot!!
Also, I don't know if anyone noticed, but the order for the art both last year and this year is based on submission order! For writing, it was randomized last year, and this year I went for an alphabetical order! Definitely changing things up for the art order if this event gets a third iteration.
Our Top 3 Guessers:
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EtherealWill (13/19). Who is also our highest scorer for the fic section with 7/11!
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mikan (13/19). With a perfect score in the art section!
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adamantine (12/19). One of our winners last year is back in the top three!
Close behind were Lyska, SuperLinh, Heiden with a score of 11/19! A shoutout to Heiden for the only one besides the mods to get a perfect score in the art section!
And I would also like to give syneuro a special mention as the only one who guessed our graphics mod correctly!
Our graphics mod, Mikan
I was laughing at the majority of the guesses we were getting for our graphics mod! I felt like many were going to guess May, but we left a hint that the person didn't submit art or fic, so I wondered if that blindsided some folks. Yet a majority still guessed Yan which was. Really funny to me.
But yes it's Mikan behind our gorgeously Blaiddyd blue graphics and most of our promo art!! Here's a message from her:
[Mikan commentary]
Hi hi, Mikan here! It was nice to participate in the event in my own way, and I'm pleasantly surprised I managed to go mostly undetected this year (as opposed to last time… ahem). I had a lot of fun with the graphics! I wanted it to still feel close to last year's theme, just with a twist.
For our basic graphic with the gold lineart, this was basically close to my usual style; I felt the need to provide some sort of baseline, especially since I wouldn't be named in the participants list.
The "submissions open" graphic was me attempting to go more shoujo manga-esque, and I just slapped a bunch of soft airbrush in there in hopes of hiding myself more…
... And for the final unmasking, I just went ham on the lasso and fill tools, lol. Congrats again to syneuro!!
