#2024 blogiversary

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

Welcome to Ballonlea~☆

Ballonlea Stadium is the fifth gym in the galar gym circuit, first in fairy type mastery across the globe ~•°☆

Nestled deep within the Glimwood Tangle, our gym tests challengers' mettle through perplexing puzzles topped with a punch of pink power! Our aim is to provide a strong core for our little town and bring out the full potential of any trainer we are graced to meet. I, Bede, our new gym leader, look forward to capturing the hearts of many as I ascend to the top of Galar's competitive league~

The purpose of this blog is as follows:

Provide trainers an opportunity for open communication with Ballonlea Gym- comments, questions, and concerns have the potential to be addressed here. Please do not hesitate to send an ask, and I will get to it as soon as my rigorous training allows.

Allow us to easily make announcements concerning current events or gym goings-on. Ballonlea Gym is an institution for the community and, as such, may hold events during the off-season. If you would like to hold your own performance or exhibition on the stadium's esteemed stage, reach out and we will see what we can arrange. There is also the potential for small tournaments or pokemon showcases. Do keep your eyes peeled.

And, of course, to educate the public on just how astonishing fairy type pokemon can be!

Further questions can, as stated, be answered in the form of asks~

I thank you all for so readily accepting me as your new gym leader. As an elite trainer, I'm sure I'll have no trouble proving to you that your faith was well-placed!

---------------------

Pokemon registered to Gym Leader Bede:

Hatterene - F

Duosion - M

Gothitelle - F

Rapidash (Galarian) - M

Sylveon - F

Mawile - F

Gardevoir - F

Vulpix (Alolan, Shiny) - "Cupcake" - F

Budew (Shiny) - M

Inkay - F

---------------------

Pokemon registered to Former Gym Leader Opal:

Alcremie (Ruby Cream, Strawberry Sweet) - "Ruby" - F

Weezing (Galarian) - "Virida" - F

Shiinotic - "Truffle" - F

Mawile - "Missie" - F

Togekiss - "Patience" - F

Flabebe - "Lapis" - F

[warrenwoodhouse]

Milestones: 23rd Blogiversary

23 years of blogging!

On this Day, 8th July 2001 at 12:30 pm, I created my first ever blog and website called woodhousegames on Piczo, which the service closed down in 2012. My blog is still going on Tumblr and includes photos, links, videos, artwork, music, fonts, files and more. Let me know what you think in the comments.

[maxhpart]

Blogiversary the Sixth

Happy 6th anniversary to my art blog! 🥳 It’s been a bit of a slower, stranger year for me in terms of art, with notably fewer new pieces overall, and a higher proportion of them being original/non-fan art. But I was busy with other cool milestones in my life, and I still got to do some big and exciting new things with my art, like expanding beyond static images a bit more.

So, here’s some of my art highlights in 2024:

contributing to three zines, including one where I dipped my toe into the horror genre and another where I tried my hand at…

…creating another two-cel gif! And then later I made a short, looping animation by hand!!

making timelapses to see how my art process looks when sped up

designing my own chibi style, which I played with more in…

doing Art Fight (so many defenses this time! 🥺) and a more laid-back, vibes-based Inktober.

(oh, and crafting another D&D character! I only shared sketches on my AF account, and I’m still not done with the visual design 😓)

Once again, I had a fair number of pieces get left behind as WIPs simply because I couldn’t spare the time and energy to complete them. —Gosh. I just went back and counted: 12ish things this year that didn’t get posted, whether for privacy reasons or incomplete status. Maybe I’ll share a few that I can in the next couple months while I’m otherwise busy with a big logo design project and holiday stuff!

For the farther future, I hope to do a little catch-up on stuff I’ve wanted to accomplish for quite a while (I see you in the corner, set-of-things idea, figure-studies idea, and illustration-style-test idea), but I also want to keep trying new things, as always. Maybe I’ll even…try out adding a new platform again. Who knows?

Thank you to my 164 followers, my commissioners and clients, and those who have encouraged me! You make the difference. May we wield hope as a discipline in 2025.

Cheers, and stay hearty! 💪💚

[withleeknow]

lmao thank you for sharing your microwave-daylight savings-dream TMI 👀☁️ what if I told you that same night our 🐈‍⬛ popped up in one of my dreams? (my TMI: I'm the type of person who has countless dreams but the second I wake up they're usually lost to the ether like i couldn't tell you what our rockstar was doing but I'm sure it was a fantastic dream)

in continuation of our miffy saga: the same SIL made this beauty for my bday last year - we.tl/t-cg4Pq7vIJM - and there's this pop-up in ldn rn and the temptation vm.tiktok.com/ZGd8bqeXW/

a very happy very very very belated mimo/ksj1 day (let's brush past the fact it's literally d+7) ♡ our moon has been booked and busy - thoughts on I'll be there? she's like super tuna's less chaotic, more demure, gentle dopamine release cousin 🌕

oh oh and happy blogiversary! thank you for existing as you do and nurturing this blog ♡ [sidebar: october 23rd? fantastic gift for mimo day. I love your longer works/series but sometimes, your angst hits different in these oneshots- the closeness and vulnerability in lost cause has my head fucking spinning.] I didn't enter your inbox thinking we'd be sharing what feels like a single braincell with our constantly overworked microwave and now I've come to realise how big of a part you've played in my kpop resurgence this year and now I'm rambling ily- it's been a while since I've dived into the skz rabbithole: they're all looking like greek gods this tour PLS vm.tiktok.com/ZGd8bBCaH/

+ for the kpop ask game: 14 and 49! 👀

i don't usually remember my dreams that well either but that morning my bladder woke me up and i really did NOT wanna wake up bc it was such a cute dream so i tried to fall back asleep. it was SO cute, we were in a ♡△ with mimo 🤣 crazy that the microwave is even haunting our subconscious and on the same night no less. red string >:)

the cake is ADORABLE you have the best sister in law omg, and she MADE that?? 😭 and the pop-up oh my goddd please tell me you're giving in to the temptation. if i had a miffy pop-up near me i would be on a MISSION to put a dent in my wallet. i need everythinggg 😭 (also, foul of you to include a sneaky microwave attack while i was going all uwu over miffy)

'i'll be there' is so on theme with his solo releases so far. while everyone else is getting naked ("cHaPtEr TwO iSn'T aBoUt TaKiNg OuR sHiRtS oFf 🤥) he's still all "i love youuu 🥰 i'll be there for youuu 🥰" and i love it so much lol and i love the song 😭 she really is super tuna's cousin lollll. have you watched this yet? seeing him with his pink mic is just so... :((( he really is back our seokjinnie 😭

thank youuu and thank you for reading 🥹 i do be pretty self-indulgent lately 🥸 no but seriously, you've been so important in my skz journey too. i never really branch out in kpop fandoms and i mostly just keep to myself on tumblr (which erhm is admittedly a little lonely sometimes but whatever lol) so honestly i am so glad that you somehow found your way here :( i must sound like a broken record atp bc i say it every couple weeks but it's true !! years later when i think back to fangirling over skz in my mid 20s i will remember an 🍙 that made the experience so much more enjoyable :') <3

the whiplash of going from this ^ to this good lord. the way my eye twitched watching that. he is AWFUL he is DISGUSTING 🫠 and FELIX, the way my eyes widened and i literally said "oh my god" out loud lmao

as for the ask game heheh

14. name 3 idols you'd want to accompany you during a zombie apocalypse

mimo for sure. and not bc i am heavily biased 🤣 i feel like he would be resourceful and at least have some survival instincts lol. second pick jay 🥰 imo he's pretty similar to mimo so having 2 of them can't possibly be the worst thing 🤣 third pick probably jungkook bc let's be real among the tannies he's the most capable of keeping me alive lol but i KNOW his annoying ass would get on my last nerve

49. your favorite kpop songs from this year (2024)

^ the 2024 extended version counts !!!

(does the txt one count if it's japanese lol)

[mechanimereview]

8th Blogiversary Reflection and Ambitions for 2024

A Personal Reflection of 2023 On a job front, compared to last year I’ve just been pretty stable. I still have my job as a Quality Assurance Production Planner for over a year and that means that the amount of money I’ve earned for this year is somehow significantly larger than it was for the past couple years. So I’ve been donating a little bit more here and there to creators and other things…

[maxhpart]

Blogiversary the Fifth

Hiya, folks! It’s that time again where I reflect on the past year’s ups and downs and oddities.

For my art, 2023 ended up having a heavier emphasis on fashion, dreams, and expressionism, which was fun. This year’s notable art moments included:

designing a couple more OCs for D&D and updating an old one

the sales of a few more charms

my Art Fight 16-character mass attack (plus a small last-minute one), and receiving a precious revenge of Rill

a big-for-me hit with my Barbie/Matrix crossover piece, crossing 1k notes for only the 4th time ever on this blog

overall playing around with style a bit, especially when making more of my smaller, looser art like feelsposts and dream outfits, the latter of which I did in a bigger way for Fashiontober

participating in the 900 koroks project and more AGE projects, which led to...

...finally making it into the CR fanart gallery for the first time!!!! And then TWO MORE TIMES after that!!

I feel like I scrapped a lot more things this year—I have plenty of unfinished WIPs sitting around, for one reason or another. And oddly enough, zines weren’t really a thing for me this year (until this month), but AGE scratched the “big group project” itches nicely :) And I’ve literally been hoping to get into the CR fan art gallery since I started this art blog—back when the gallery was still a reel in the streams!—so to gain that honor thrice in one year is a dream come true in triplicate. (Looking back at last year’s blogiversary post, I see where I had specifically wished for realized dreams for us all this year. How fitting! I hope some of yours materialized, too.)

I don't quite know where I want to go from here, but I think I’d like to tackle some more art style and anatomy studies. I’ve also got an art series/merch idea from last year that I never made and would still like to bring to life, so perhaps I’ll take time for it soonish. In any case, I’ve got a couple commissions I’m working on now, and we’ll see where next year takes me!

Thank you to my 138 followers, the lurkers (hi, you!), and all the others who believe in me. Let’s use 2024 for a fresh start and try some new things!

Cheers, and stay hearty! 💪💚

[maxhpart]

Tag List Master Post

Looking for something specific on this blog? I generally tag everything, so here’s a helpful list I’ve compiled! I’ll edit to add any new ones later.

Basics:

my art – for all my art

fan art – whether for myself or others

original art – for non-fan art

my oc – for my original characters

commission – for the art posts of commissions

art request – for the art posts of requests

portfolio – for my portfolio pieces only

merch – for my merchandise

i’m in this! – for posts by other people about projects I’m in

zine project – for zine work (whether art or not)

sneak peek  – for previews

zine piece – for final zine art

year in review – for each year’s art summary/overview

not art – for anything that is not (primarily) art

commissions – for the opening/closing commissions posts

art requests – for the opening/closing requests posts

maxhpart answers – for my public ask/request responses

blogiversary – for my blog’s anniversary posts

tag list – for this very post!

Specific fandoms or topics:

dnd – all things Dungeons & Dragons (except the media below)

critical role – Critical Role

taz – The Adventure Zone

taz amnesty

taz balance

taz graduation

fantasy – stuff that’s mythical, magical, fantastical, etc.

fashion – looks designed by me and/or by others

fmab – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

lgbtq – queer stuff, pride month, and beyond

loz – The Legend of Zelda

botw – Breath of the Wild

melody of light – my 2019 Linktober Quest AU

totk – Tears of the Kingdom (and botw 2 for before we had the title)

mcu – Marvel Cinematic Universe

pokemon – Pok��mon

sdv – Stardew Valley

spop – She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

star wars – Star Wars

tdp – The Dragon Prince

ygo – Yu-Gi-Oh!

Art challenges & art memes:

art challenge – catch-all for smaller/one-off art challenges

ask meme – catch-all for various ask memes/games

inktober – for all Inktober posts

inktober2023 – colorful fashion illustrations

inktober2022 – painted Roll-A-Monster D&D creature designs

inktober2021 – black & white linework and shadows

inktober2020 – painterly surreal/fantasy card deck

inktober2019 – simple, stylized, single-color character art

inktober2018 – fantasy worldbuilding in ink

mermay – for all Mermay posts

mermay 2021

mermay 2020

mermay2019

art fight – for all Art Fight posts (attacks and defenses)

art fight 2024

art fight 2023

art fight 2022

art fight 2021

My OCs:

yaretzi luna – moon elf warrior NPC and Izel’s QPP

izel the druid – dwarf desert druid in D&D 5e (previous)

mushroom mage – fashionable Funguary druid?/necromancer?

rill the rogue – tabaxi swashbuckler/bard in D&D 5e (current)

damien choux – my stylin’ Pokémon Shield trainer

ferron the artificer – warforged alchemist in D&D 5e (previous)

oriata lazrak – air genasi Sun Soul monk in D&D 5e (current)

harriet copperkettle – stout halfling “witch doctor” in D&D 5e (concept)

farmer violet – my sweet, purple Stardew Valley farmer

shestendeliath zorix – bronze dragonborn sorcerer in D&D 5e (previous)

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

🐚 raihan

((I really really adore concepts that I see of Raihan and Iono collaborating on a stream or what have you. Really really really good.))

((Also fsr I get the vibe that Raihan could tell you a lot about the lore and history of a lot of different places, especially when it comes to battling. He thinks any innovation to make battling new and exciting and flashy is awesome. He'd really like to try battle royales in Alola someday.))

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

🐚 allister!

((One time I saw a post that said he has a YouTube channel/streaming channel where he just shows off his favorite haunted locations and gives tutorials on caring for ghost pokemon, but he always stays behind the camera. It's just his soft voice doing a voice over. I thought it was a cute concept.))

((Also I think he could destroy a bowl of hot/cooked cereal. Like oatmeal with a little bit of honey and cinnamon in it? That's his jam))

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

Trozei - What's something you want to see more of in Pokemon IRL?

((Umm... talk about the existence of contests, maybe? It's such a cool facet of pokemon but I've never seen any blogs really try to flesh it out, you know what I mean?))

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

//OOC Aww, thank you so much for tagging me. That makes me really happy. I'm glad you like my blog <3

- Luna Mun of @zap-the-raichu-hero

((It's no problem at all!! :DDD))

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

Any future plans for your muses? If so, do you mind sharing a bit about them?

((Okay so like. At one point, anons suggested that Wyverlyn of @/dragon-tailz and Bede had crushes on each other. We both shut that down quick, and I was thinking like "can't a girl and a boy just be friends??" And "we haven't given any indication that that might be the case!" But over time I looked over their interactions and I went ah. Ehm. Hm. So I spoke with the mun, and we agreed that there's some mad chemistry there. Eventually I would like the two of them to get into a formal relationship :) but like. First Bede needs to realize he has a crush. And he's very against the idea so it might take some explaining/convincing. Thats why i thought disclosing the plan might be good so other people could help the plot along?))

((My big problem is that I'm a firm believer in the idea that if a person says there's not anything romantic about a relationship that they should be believed. But also Bede quite literally is clueless about his emotions and situation. Idk how to reconcile that.))

((Overall I think Bede is demi with no particular gender preference when it comes to relationships/attraction. In case anyone was curious. :) ))

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

What's your favorite piece of Pokemon IRL fanon?

((I think the whole "rotumblr is multiversal" thing is such an awesome and elegant solution to conflicting canons between blogs. It's just!! So perfect!))

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

🐚 Chairman Rose

((The reason Rose gave Bede permission to borrow his beloved Copperajah in the first place was because he was under the impression that Bede would use its overwhelming strength to steamroll the remaining gyms in the gym challenge. He wasn't above a *little* cheating to get what he wanted. His ultimate goal was for Bede to win the championship and dethrone Leon, as Leon was beginning to grow older and change (as in think for himself) and he felt the need to put a more obedient puppet champion in Leon's place. Part of the reason Rose's plan over the course of the game felt sloppy and rushed was because when Bede made such a public stunt at the mural and forced Rose to disqualify him it really sent his plans out of wack. BEDE was supposed to be champion and a willing participant in quelling Eternatus. Why else would Rose arm him with so many psychic types if not to eventually combat the poison/dragon type?))

((Also, he wears very woody-scented cologne.))

((I've thought about making a Rose blog before... I think I could do it well, but I also think all the (deserved) hate and negativity that it would attract would be too much for me lol))

[ballonleastadiumofficial]

Detective Pikachu - What's something you're looking forward to doing with one of your Pokemon IRL blogs?

((OKAY SO. Once I get a little less Big Sad and can properly write again @/rockstar-roxie and I are going to finish up with the Galarian Zigzagoon Catching Adventure- at which point Roxie will FINALLY be released to go back to Unova. However. They'll take Bede with them! That's going to be lots and lots of fun, especially since it finally gives him a chance to battle Grimsley like he's been crowing about for Ages. Hehehe.))

((ALSO! I want to flesh Opal out more as a muse on this blog! I want to explore her inner self doubt more! And her Strangeness! And her backstory! Everything!))