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The Back of Beyond is on pause until 2025-thanks for your support here on Tumblr! <3

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Meow meows

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My cat sounds just like this and I love her so much

She’s a squeaky squeaker.

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I miss waking up early in the morning and walking to this gorgeous park in Australia. I miss people walking up to me and asking how I am doing as a hello, the genuine warmth I felt from both the Sun and from people I've only met once and I fear I will never meet again. I miss being free to be myself, no questions asked, just a bit of snarky humor thrown my way and gentle acceptance from those I encountered.

I miss going to Australia Zoo. And the Koala Sanctuary. And getting lost all the damn time, because I couldn't take my meds and travel sickness meds at the same time...lol. I hate getting lost here in SoCal, it's a matter of life and death. But in Aus, it was all part of the adventure. In Australia, I felt for a brief moment like I was living. It was surreal.

It's funny. I brought my Darren Hayes pony to his home months ago, and now, I am fully entrenched in his book, Unlovable. And I've loved Savage Garden since the mid to late 90s, and now I see Darren for who he is in full, his facets beautiful despite the darkness he endured, and damn. (A review on said book is forthcoming, as it is it resonates so strongly with me that I'm not quite finished with it...but I will finish it, because Darren? You can write. Please keep going, please don't stop being a voice for people like me.)

I sit here in my dark apartment with my beloved cat and I collapse inside. I'm burnt out. I've been teaching for over a decade--nearly two!--and my heart is no longer invested in the people and places it used to be.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist. I was privileged to be given that chance. But I also wanted to be a musician, an artist, a writer. I loved playing the violin, I was good at it. I was given a scholarship to college for it. I turned it down and I think, all these years later, I made the wrong choice.

Some mornings I cry walking to the bus stop or waiting for my ride to/from work, wishing it was the violin case in my hand instead of my rolling backpack handle. I want to sneak my art supplies to work and just draw all day while my students discuss their assignments, but then, that's unprofessional and besides, my free time doesn't exist when I am at work. And my heart aches for being a kid again, free to create despite the chaos around me at home and at school and at work...

I wanted to be a creative writer. I dabble in fiction, in fan fics. I'm self published, with Iara's Crossing, a book I started as a kid. But my heart yearns for another path, while being myself in the country I live in is as dangerous as hell. Christ, what is this, 1984? Fahrenheit 451? Handmaid's Tale?

Anyway. I promised myself I would try not to become a complete misanthrope. I'm doing my best to be better inside, damnit!

At any rate, I ache to return to Australia again someday. I wish I had the courage that Darren did, to tell his story in full, with brutal detail and beautiful unmatched prose.

In the meantime, my goofy comics and fan fics will have to do, to fill this void.

Until the next post,

~DLP

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I drew this *20 years ago*

That's it, that's the Tumblr post

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Reminder.

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We'll Always Have Sonic

This combo of a Sonic fan comic and the Back of Beyond was doodled the other afternoon at a local coffee shop. The gloomy weather, theme of the shop, and my recent pull back into the world of the Blue Blur/Edgy the Hedgy in anticipation of the Sonic Movie 3 made for the perfect storm of concepts.

Phil the Possum is a huge Sonic fan. He visited Seega World as a joey and tried to play competitively for a prize. In this comic, he wears a Sonic and Knuckles tee. Selma the Tassie Devil also loves Sonic games, and is suspicious of Phil's adoration of the Sonic x Shadow ship…could this be a subliminal hint toward Phil's preferences? Only time will tell… :)

Also yes Phil stole Selma's Sonic figures, lol

Since this Back of Beyond mini comic includes Sonic fan art, I'm sharing it here without the usual pay wall on my Ko-fi page--feel free to bring down that wall by donating at least $1 USD one time to get access to locked posts and art for 30 days! :) 

Enjoy! 

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(and by the above GIF I mean xoxoxo lol)

he panicked

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Selma is Burnt Out...

...and in technicolor! :)

Want to see more of my in progress original comic series? Feel free to send a Ko-fi my way! :)

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Look At These Weird Dogs

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This post was made available to Ko‑fi donors before everyone else on Tumblr--please spread the word about The Back of Beyond comic and donate if you'd like access to posts first!

Constable Heliodoro Sunstone wasn't always an uptight, law abiding and enforcing police officer...oh no. 

According to Phil, this dapple gray stallion loved to join in on his uni parties...in a rather unexpected way. For Heliodoro used to be...

That's right…Heliodoro was a male model in the past!

Heliodoro used to be quite the show off at parties, prone to over drinking and allowing the uni kids to play goon of fortune to their hearts' content (or until their livers gave out). Sometimes he'd arrive only to bail on the party an hour in, and bust some folks hours later in his day job uniform. 

Phil keeps Heliodoro's secret...it's a tangled web of blackmail and uni days intrigue that Phil doesn't dare let Selma know about...for now. 

Heliodoro isn't nearly as exciting these days...a confirmed bachelor who'd as soon rip you a new one for driving without a proper license much less under the influence, he's keen on pulling up in his car to give drivers side eye whilst in traffic. Sometimes he's even riding around Queen Street Mall on a motorized scooter, eyes narrowed in suspicion at those you'd least expect to be lawbreakers. Don't mistake him for your average Paul Blart--Heliodoro uses his stern, loud, Chilean-Aussie inflected accent to intimidate even the meekest of teens on a trip to Macca's. Most folks despise Heliodoro, but he doesn't seem to mind...in a twisted way, he might get off on it. 

More details on the characters and their backstories in the Back of Beyond comic will be revealed in later posts, so stay tuned!

Until then,

~DLP

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An endangered Greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) runs happy and free in the feral predator-proof fenced area in Pilliga National Park, northern New South Wales, Australia. (Larger 1, 2).

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Ugh the colors <3

Backroads

new_englander__

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A Short Sonic Appreciation Post

This isn't directly connected to the Back of Beyond, *but* Selma used to be a Sonic fan character sooooo....

I really love the Sonic movie franchise and I am very excited for Sonic 3. I've been playing the Sonic games since Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis and my fave modern Sonic game is Sonic Adventure 2, so I'm thrilled at the new Sonic merch and stories on the horizon! :)

I'll be developing a video essay on the blue blur and will release it on Ko-fi first...so feel free to donate to be there and hear me out before everyone else! :)

Also I made these trading cards in the early 2000s, oof

I cannot explain the above image at all, enjoy the Chao related cringe lol

More old art and Sonic musings will be posted soon, as will more of the original comic series that began with a Sonic spin off...thanks for reading and viewing my art! :)

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William R Wallaby-Backstory and Character Sheet

This post was made available to Ko‑fi donors before everyone else on Tumblr--please spread the word about The Back of Beyond comic and donate if you'd like access to posts first!

In the original storyline for The Back of Beyond, Will was more of the main character than Selma. William is a yellow footed rock wallaby--browsing and grazing marsupials that thrive in rocky fields, competing with goats and other livestock for food and space, and often killed by cats and foxes. They are currently classified as a vulnerable species on the Endangered Species List, and only two wild populations remain--one in South Australia and the other in New South Wales.

In the initial version, Will was set up to be the leader of his wallaby family tribe/clan. He rescues Selma from Tigeria, and Ophelia's necklace is part of the story from the beginning. 

Will in the reboot of the Back of Beyond knew Selma from joeyhood, both having played together as kids in primary school (Selma loses a necklace and Will finds it, similar to how Chilli returned Bandit's hat in Bluey, only to meet again years later...). They remained distant friends throughout those years. 

Will struggled in primary school, longing to return to the bush rather than study in a stuffy classroom all day. He often escaped during recess and was brought back time and time again. He met up with an older cousin one afternoon while on a walkabout, and discovered his calling--his older cousin had become successful in finance, utilizing his love of mining to help him find a niche field to work in. Will emulated his cousin and eventually surpassed him, becoming the CEO of the company his wallaby cousin founded decades later. 

Will's focus in life has been work. Definitely a workaholic, he can lean into power hungry motives, making his role in the story currently more of the rebel/anti-hero than the other characters we've met so far. One of his flaws is a propensity to overspend and gamble, and the other...? Well. That's where Selma re-enters the story...which you'll read more about in the first issue of Back of Beyond, due out next year! :) 

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into Will, the last of the three protagonists of the Back of Beyond, my Aussie creature slice-of-life comic I'm developing! Please spread the word if you can about it and thank you for supporting it!

Until next post,

~DLP

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