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Reiko’s battle armour is... quite something. He loves pink and he loves cute stickers. No wonder he has disadvantage on stealth checks.

Reiko the space dork, under his helmet.

Rozen, a pyromaniacal half-demon wizard with a good set of horns, a *very* spooky eye and a hat that’s constantly threatening to fall off because it’s too damn large. That’s what Mage Hand is for.

Rounding out the R crew, Remy is also here. He seems vaguely happy so he’s probably thinking about mechs.

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man I fuckin love LOGH tbh

Julian is bestboy, fight me

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s’more DnD characters I’ve made over the past few months. Starting at the top;

Reiko Langemayer - anarchist, self-styled space ronin, and general all-round good-for-nothing dork with a mechanical arm. Comes from a cyberpunky Shadowrun-esque planet and is determined to tackle the megacorporations that run it, one petty act of vandalism at a time. Also shirtless because I’m a lowlife.

Sienna, an AI persona designed after a famous MMO character by a reclusive scientist to keep him company. Played her in Eclipse Phase once - she managed to make herself permanently unplayable by the end of the session by striking a deal with an Oracle AI which gave her the means to ascend into a true, fully realized AI which then broke free and escaped into the wider galaxy. Programmed with an addiction to hugs. I guess she’ll be hugging people’s brains with nanobot swarms now.

Rozen, an only *slightly* crazy wizard who is not pyromaniacal at all nope not even a bit. Don’t look at my spell-list dummkopf, zere is nothing incriminating zere! The little sun on his lapel changes expressions, but only into more unsettling ones.

Marcus, a good-natured puzzle-loving... well, not quite sure what you’d call his profession. Hypothetical thief? He likes the figuring out *how* to steal something part a lot more than the actual stealing, and would rather spend his days chatting with street-sweeping zombies than doing anything quite so risky, but a man’s gotta make a living somehow.

Remy, another space-dork from a matriarchal society of mechpilot warriors. Son of a famous mechpilot, ran away from home and pretended to be a girl to go to pilot academy. Got busted and ran away even *further* to end up stuck crashlanded on a backwater scrap-heap of a planet without space travel capabilities, working as a courier for a local university and trying to figure out a way to get back into space. Stole so much money in his very first session by faking purchase receipts for a hoverboard when the university told him to get one for a special mission.

Augustus, a changeling playboy priest who made a deal with a succubus so he could live the good life. Absolute selfish bastard who would - and did - sell his own family out if it made his life easier. Played him in a fun little murder mansion one-shot where we had to attend a party, with each player having their own assassination target to eliminate before the evening was over.

Edward is also here, cosplaying as Shiny Chariot. After much complaining in the group about clerics, I respecced him from a Light Cleric to a Wizard and now he turns people into dinosaurs.

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expressions practice with one of my DnD characters, Edward the Light Cleric

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Top row: full body doodles for my two main DnD characters, Edward the cleric and Lina the paladin. Don’t let Ed’s sparkly uguu eyes deceive you, he’s an actual battlefield monster, Light clerics are disgusting. Lina, on the other hand, is an intrepid hero and punching bag, though with her brand spanking new plate armour she’s been spending a lot less time KO’d, and a lot more time kicking ass.

Bottom: Evelyn, a half-elven Archfey Patron warlock I made for a little mini-campaign a friend is running at the moment. In a world of spoopy Arthurian dickhead elves, half-elves are generally treated less than kindly; many, like Evelyn, are left in the woods as babies. However, whereas as one might imagine, most such cases tragically perish, Evelyn was lucky enough to be discovered by a kindly old woman who lived deep in the woods, in a house on a chicken leg. His childhood was spent happily playing with the will-o-the-wisps that circled round their home, and entertaining his mother’s many guests - some of them goat-headed monsters, others luckless travellers who, in Evelyn’s own words “went. Sometimes they went in the swamp, and sometimes they went back on the road, and sometimes they... went!”

Yeah his mum is a proper spooky fey entity which, happily enough for the world at large, cannot leave the fey woods to which she is bound. As such, and needing some magical groceries from the wider world but with no means to fetch them herself, she gave Evelyn a shopping list - his Tome of Shadows - and a friend - Bernard the weasel, who lives on his shoulder or sometimes inside his hair; and then she set him on the road, to document as many rituals and collect as many seemingly random magical odds and ends as he could manage. He quickly learned humans weren’t particularly friendly to his kind, and so by this point is well-versed in lying his way through everything and anything with blissful innocence (his Deception modifier is +10).

Half-Elf is a hell of a drug.

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Boy it’s been a while. And boy does it bring out the sameface when I put lots of pics together like that.

Bit of a DnD dump to show what I’ve been up to in my absence in-between dealing with starting a PhD and a whole boatload of mental health problems! From top to bottom:

Edward Edeling, Cleric of the Light with ridiculously high rolled stats. While he’s a prodigous arcane user (18 INT and 20 WIS at level 6, what the fuck god of dice), and could *probably* lay waste to a countless many abominations, Ed is above all a man (boy, really) of peace - and a massive coward who’s much happier to hide behind the party Monk and Fighter than actually going out there and being the front line. Said monk makes a habit of casually bullying him endlessly and treating him like an item in her inventory; he gets manhandled a lot.

Sister Ephania, Monk/Life Cleric, a silly character I made for a one-shot. She was the old teacher of one of the other characters in that same one-shot, and treated him as you might expect: lots of thwacks to the back of the head, a few pointed pieces of advice, and a lot of more-or-less covert worrying about his and his boyfriend’s well-being. She officiated their wedding, which was one of my favourite pieces of RP in DnD to date.

From the same campaign: Penlan the berserker on the left, and Lotta the storm sorcerer on the right. I started out playing Lotta, who was a bundle of joy and completely obsessed with storms, storm elementals and stormy weather (having worked as a glorified weathervane and ship’s cat on a boat for most of her young life). The person playing Paladin dropped out, however, leaving us very short on frontline fighters, so I’ve since switched characters to play a berserker shunned by her warband-tribe for her boundless enthusiasm for violence, and generally an all-round classic barbarian. She derives altogether too much joy from patting other people on the head and making fun of their smol weapons (both of the literal and muscular variety), and can generally be a bit of a bully - but it’s all in good fun... she thinks, anyway. Crucial detail: her warband didn’t exile her; she pulled the classy old “You can’t fire me, I QUIT” manoeuvre before they could.

And finally, two bonus doodles of Lina the Changeling Paladin, who is my favourite DnD character to play bar none. All she does is rush headlong into battle to try and protect her friends from any and all damage, which means she spends a lot of time knocked out; but it’s all fine, as long as everyone else gets out unscathed! That’s what a knight is supposed to do, after all, and Lina’s been absolutely *obsessed* with knights since her youth (pictured on the right, twelve and beyond precious).

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Coloured and cleaned up: Lina the Changeling (wannabe) Knight, as she appears on her Roll20 token.

Being as changelings in her campaign’s setting are humans who sold their souls to a demon, this is as close to her original human appearance as she can get. As far as her changeling abilities go, she’s not actually horrible at it, but there are definite limits to what she can do. Her eyes always stay exactly like that, and she can’t do masculine features - though hilariously, she can do a beard.

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oh man it’s been a while since I’ve drawn anything. Turns out writing a dissertation really has a way of eating up your time.

About to embark on my second DnD campaign, this time as a Changeling courtesan-turned-fighter because she wanted to be a knight (being a lady didn’t work out). She is good for taking a big ol’ beating, and not much else, but TIME WILL TELL how our hero fares in the great wide world.

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So I watched Rage of Bahamut over the weekend and

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Zoe the Zombie Alchemist, now level 3 and some shopping later. She is indefatigable team mum, and spends most of her time making sure everyone’s topped up, buffed up and ready to go. Also surprisingly proficient at picking locks (she had a wild youth).

The front of her pavise shield is painted with political carricatures and a variety of catchy slogans advocating for charter rights (basically job contracts) for the lawfully raised dead. She calls it shieldtagging (after the tags she used to paint on the front of government and guild buildings when she was an unruly young - and living - guild apprentice involved with some radical political organisations).

shieldtag down with the necromancerie

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Something not animu for once (well, I say that...): I’m about to embark on my first DnD campaign! I’ve tried other tabletop systems before, but never DnD itself, but now some of my bestest friends are starting an adventure and I’m super looking forward to it.

I had a shower-thought I pitched to the GM as a character idea (”man zombies’ skincare routines must be hell”), and since he was super cool about it I ended up rolling a Human Revenant zombie rights activist (her Revenant goal that she’ll not rest before fulfiling is EQUAL RIGHTS FOR EQUAL LABOUR, which is going to take some doing). She’s an artificer who makes her coin by selling alchemical unguents and concoctions for skin and hair-care (clearly a lot more successful with the latter than the former), and in this is essentially a traveling snake oil peddler. Though she’ll have you know her products are totally legit and safe for everyday use.

Why does a zombie need coin? Firstly, to print pamphlets and manifestos concerning the abominable state of undead rights in the necromantic empire of Lenth. Secondly, to pay off a stonking 215 years’ worth of monthly guild payments that she racked up while being dead. It adds up to something like 13k gold.

I’m sure this is exactly what the Revenant rules were meant for.

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pyjamas cardboard cutout Ryuuko is best Ryuuko

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somebody once asked me

which Gainax/Trigger animus I enjoy most. I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed (but I made a list anyway). Some spoilers I guess, so beware. Also quite a few personal opinions, so beware of that too; I’m a horrible fanboy, especially when it comes to Imaishi’s work, and this list reflects that in its disgusting positivity. Anything not on the list I simply haven’t watched, off the top of my head it’s missing Kiznaiver but I’m sure there’s other stuff too; I’ve actually only been watching animu for a year or two, so lots of catching up to do.

1. FLCL - pride of place. I think there’s literally not a single scene in the whole of it that I’d dislike; as far as I’m concerned, it’s a tightly packed bundle of sheer fun, entirely not bothered by constraints of form, substance or style. And it only gets better with rewatches. Also, dat OST hnng

2. Kill la Kill - this is kind of a contentious one for me, because I actually don’t know if I’d put KlK or TTGL first; both are a case study in why I love, aye LOVE Imaishi as a director. I suppose it’s a question of how much I love ensemble shows done absolutely right (KlK) versus a sheer emotional rollercoaster ride (TTGL). At the end of the day, though, while I’d say KlK has the less impactful plot structure (scissor sisters ending WHEN - you don’t just have a weapon broken in two, and two sisters, without having both of them at the final confrontation), I am a sucker for how it handles characters and characterization; just taking tropey archetypes and turning them up to 11, and giving everyone a chance to show off and do their thing. If FLCL doesn’t have a scene I’d hate, KlK is the same for characters. It helps that it’s also phenomenally directed and so very imaginatively animated (making the budget cardboard cutouts episode actually one of the best and funniest imo was a masterstroke), and that Ryuuko is basically just my favouritest trope done right.

2.5 Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - it should by now be clear I am a huge sucker for INTENSE HOTBLOODED ACTION (which is, again, one of the reasons Imaishi is my spiritual liege). In my opinion, TTGL has an overall weaker cast of characters than its scantily clad sister series; Kamina overshadows absolutely everyone in the first part of the series, and Simon takes up the mantle soon afterwards (with a slightly awkward gap in between), giving precious few chances for the rest of the cast to shine. Nia also never sat right with me, feeling a little external to the cast, which meant that one of the emotional hooks for the second cour didn’t work as well on me as it could’ve. On the other hand - the pacing is insane in just the right way, and like I said earlier, it was much more of an emotional rollercoaster for me than KlK (many tears shed over episode 8). If I was in a slightly different mood, I might rank it over KlK - that’s how close they are in my mind, and frankly I adore both of them.

3. Inferno Cop - I unironically love it, so sue me. To me it’s why I love Trigger as a studio; it’s such a glorious shitpost, it pretty much feels like something they did for their own fun rather than to get viewers. Also, the sheer fact that this was the first thing all these incredibly talented animators did after leaving Gainax never fails to make me laugh. Bring on season 2.

4. Little Witch Academia - talking TV series here. I can’t really neatly slot the OVAs into a list together with episodic things, it feels like cheating because I adore the animation in both the original and Enchanted Parade so much (yes I know, FLCL was an OVA too, but shhh). If I did have to rate the OVAs, I’d put both of them very near FLCL, they’re masterpieces in animation, distinctive character design and compact storytelling IMO.

The series was a little weaker, which is natural given the differences in the two forms. If I could rank the two cours separately (and in many ways they feel like separate shows to me), the first cour might even rank above TTGL/KlK - but maybe that’s just me being an enormous sucker for slice of life; either way, and even though it stuttered in a few places, I felt it was closer to the original spirit of the OVAs and just an adorable, comfy ride throughout, with a cour finale that was basically... the Enchanted Parade but better? I’d say the second cour felt more awkwardly paced, maybe because it was (I think anyway) Yoshinari’s first time as a director for a full-length series. The plot came at the expense of any screentime whatsoever for Lotte and Sucy (and a lack of Sucy is an inexcusable crime in my eyes), Diana was properly introduced too late for me to really appreciate her at all, which meant her prominence in the climactic scenes (Akko coming to terms with her loss of magic, and the final missile fight) likewise struck me as awkward, too forced. Some episodes made me wonder if they shouldn’t have just made a separate series about Croix and Chariot (as they seemed to want to), who had probably the best and most dynamic relationship out of anyone in the series - but also struck me as a bit... tonally inconsistent with the rest of the series? On the other hand: I nitpick because I love it enough to constantly think about it, and the final episode was hands down some of the best animation I’ve ever seen. Also I love all these little witches too much.

5. Neon Genesis Evangelion + End of Evangelion - I’m not at all versed in mecha animu, so I didn’t appreciate the deconstruction as much as I might’ve otherwise. Still, it’s something of a seminal piece, isn’t it; even if plagued by budget issues (hello elevator scene, hello final episodes), I found it a gripping piece of storytelling, just... emotionally draining - which was rather the point, I guess. It’s actually a fairly deep work (though I hate using that word, being firmly in the ‘style over substance’ camp I don’t see how being shallow is at all a bad thing - if you do it right, it can be just as gripping, after all there was little revolutionary or especially ‘deep’ about TTGL or KlK but both are among my favourite things ever, ditto with Redline). That’s rare enough that I have plenty of love for Eva (+ EoE, I’d say you can’t really separate the two).

I’ll admit though, I originally watched it just because of dankest Cruel Angel’s Thesis memes.

6. Space Patrol Luluco - as with Inferno Cop, I unironically love it; secretly, more so than many serious and renowned animus I should, by rights, appreciate more than Luluco. It made me laugh until I cried, it was chock-full of shamelessly overt references to some of my favourite Gainax/Trigger shows, and the OP is catchy as fuk. Also, “the most worthless thing in the world - a middle schooler’s first love” remains a staple joke with my best friend.

7. Panty&Stocking with Garterbelt - the fact this is so low on the list is more testament to how much I love the other Trigger/Gainax series, rather than any failing of its own. I can see why it’d be hit and miss for some people, but as far as I’m concerned, Panty&Stocking was a hilarious, irreverent, sometimes (most times) giddily stupid ride, and the fact we’re not likely to get a second season is a crying shame.

8. NinjaSlayer from Animation - “but wait, you loved Inferno Cop, why isn’t NinjaSlayer higher then?” Well hypothetical reader voice, while I found swathes of Ninjaslayer to be hilarious in their own right, I couldn’t help the feeling that - unlike Inferno Cop - it sometimes overstayed its welcome, and wasn’t quite as punchy as a result. Maybe that’s a fault with the source material, who knows. Still, something about the fact that this is basically the only adaptation Trigger has done (I think so, anyway - something else might’ve slipped by me) tickles me the right way.

I’m not a very serious person, if you couldn’t tell yet.

Whew, that got much longer than I expected it to. I guess it’s good for finally getting my blog on brand, there hasn’t been a single ramble on it (reasonably priced or otherwise) since I started.

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yet more doodly Ryuukos.

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Trigger fangirling continues. Doodling Ryuuko today (where did she get a sword and where’s her scissor)

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ten thousand years later, still doodling precious little witches

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Little Witch Academia doodles