#Also anime figures specifically how do different versions of the same figure feel about eachother

[frobby]

my hypothetical pitch for a toy story 5 would be to center it around toys made for adults and how they feel. Toy story 2 kinda touched on it with woody being a rare doll but he was always MADE to be played with whereas collectibles are usually fragile and ment for looking pretty and posing. Do toys made not for play want to be played with? How do they feel knowing they will most likely never feel the love of a child. Do figures kept in boxes lament their prisons? Are they jealous of child's toys? I need to know

[vegalocity]

I’ve binged your Princess silk au and it’s like perfect.

Ok but Xiuying you mentioned her being spiderized too. Which is such a mood. Especially if it’s in the Princess silk au because in spider queen’s mind “the scientist can’t always watch her heir. And she’ll obviously need another female role model in her life”.

First off, thank you for liking it! ^.^ I always love exploring those kinds of what ifs so I'm glad its been well received!

However, I don’t remember saying that actually? I remember implying that in the Princess Silk AU if she could manage to kill Spider Queen in a one v one she might accidentally ‘right by conquest’ take over depending on how the clan ACTUALLY handles a power vacuum (an implication i put there only for the mental image of a human pushing 40 with a hand axe challenging spider queen to a duel for custody of her brother and niece and coming out of it with a murder charge and two tag-alongs she didn’t want)

But the thing is Spider Queen didn’t actually make Minyi into Princess Silk to be her heir, thats only the cover story, she tracked down Syntax’s daughter specifically to turn her because the difference that jumpstarts this AU is that his body hasn’t been fully acclimating to the venom so she figured giving him back his kid but in a format thats inextricably tied to serving the clan would keep him from becoming a rogue element in a situation where she really can’t afford to lose anyone.

So she probably would turn Xiuying for similar reasons. Though the reason she would give would probably be more like ‘I needed another woman in this clan whose not literally a toddler or i will actually go insane’ (RIP to Spindrax for not being canon) which also brings the mental image of Spider Queen pushing spider-fied members of Syntax’s family towards him with a stick like how one would offer a food bowl to a wild animal

(for a Spider Name I’m gonna go with Recluse since I don't see Xiuying as a particularly social person granted she used to live alone in a cabin in the middle of the woods.)

But that also brings up an interesting question in regard to Recluse’s dynamics with the other spiders. One can assume that that same instinct that made it easy for Syntax and Little Silk to latch onto eachother has a similar version with Recluse wherein she’d probably easily fall into the same dynamics she has in the normal timeline with her brother and niece. That might be nice for Syntax as a ‘another side of the coin’ from his and Huntsman’s rivalry to have another Spider about who is only antagonistic through a technicality and is actually… quite nice to hang out with. He probably was a little worried that the only person in the clan who was comfortable around him was the Princess, so having Recluse around would probably inherently make him feel like he’s finally got someone in his corner (and not because of 30 or so years worth of memories of a strong older sister who always was in his corner to inform that sense of course) And Little Silk similarly would instantly latch onto ‘Auntie Recluse’ with the same vigor Minyi has toward Xiuying.

But of course the interesting thing is where the others are. I think Xiuying and Huntsman are always destined to hate eachother because the second Recluse is around and has latched onto her brother she’s instantly gonna be on hyper alert for the others bullying the seemingly weakest member of the clan. She’d been beating up bullies for her entire adolescence so there's no way he DOESN'T immediately raise her hackles

But Recluse and Goliath would be a very interesting dynamic, since the only reason Xiuying kept him at arms length was that she was doing it for all the spiders, so without that they’d need an actual like… dynamic.

And... I think they might just hit it off? Like, Honestly Goliath is already more chill than the others already, so he's not gonna raise Recluse's hackles any, and he'd probably respect her rough and tumble nature, and she'd respect how important it is to him to keep an eye on everyone. They're both very protective people I think, so I could see them teaming up often to take care of the others. And the spiders do seem to be inherently a bit more rural than most of the other demons we've seen in the show, the only one 100% techie is Syntax himself. So I could see them adjourning to someplace a bit more quiet and just talking a lot about things.

...

....

StrongAxeShipping?

[cremdotexe]

Rise of the TMNT review

Alright, So since I’ve heard that it’ll be a while before the next episode of comes out, I think this is the time to properly write my honest thoughts on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aka. TMNT 2018. Keep in mind that even though I will try to be as honest and clear cut as possible, these are still my thoughts and I meant no harm by it. Please respect that and read with a grain of salt. Thank you! The blog will go as follow

- Animation & Art style

- Storyline & Humor

- Character & Relationships

- Conclusions

The review will be under the cut

Animation & Art style

This. THIS. I personally think is one of the best thing about this new show, the animation is absolutely beautiful and fun.  With the use of bright colors and solid black shading, this art style have a comic kind of vibe to it. (Which is very appropriate, considering the show’s origin.) And while the character design did not sit right with me at first, It actually looks pretty great in motion.

What I like about the character design in particular is how different they are. You can tell right away who’s who right from the silhouettes, and that is absolutely key when it comes to character design because it sets the sense of individuality. Even though you might argue “Same silhouettes gives them the sense that the are a team.” and while I do agree to some level, I also think that this is not a bad thing either.

The best part though, is the animations. Specifically, the action sequences. I honestly didn’t expect this show to be that good but my jaw DROPPED when I saw the first action sequences. It’s so smooth and energetic just like how you expect an action cartoon to be. (Pause, yes I do realized that this is a comedy show, but it’s TMNT. obviously there will be fighting involved.) I mean, just look at the intro for example.  You can’t tell me that isn’t good quality animation, because it IS good and that is one thing I think most of us can agree on.

Storyline & Humor

The story is definitely on a weaker side when comparing this to the previous shows, The one shot story can be a hit or miss to some (For example, For me personally the hit was Down with the sickness and the miss was Repo Mantis.) There isn’t much going on for plot as of now. BUT the show have already shown itself to have continuity, although not big. Plus, This is only the first few episodes of the first season. There are many other shows that starts to pick up on plot later in the season or after the first season.

The humor though, is a different story. I like the humor of this show, I find it entertaining without feeling like it was forced. I find the dialogues and timing to be one of the best when it comes to this topic and probably why Leo and Donnie are my favorite characters out of the cast, Leo’s one-liners never really felt out of place, It’s light-hearted the the humor comes from the aftermath such as the reaction he gets. Donnie’s on the other hand is some what darker and cruder, flat humor if you will. His ‘jokes’ are never really jokes but his dialogue are naturally funny without anyone really reacting to it. Sadly, While Raph and Mikey had some moments to shine, I didn’t find them as ‘funny’ per se.

Characters & Relationships

For this section, I’ll talk about the main characters individually and how I feel about them THEN a summary of their relationships, Here we go.

Raph: The Leader of this new show, Or more so the automatic leader due to him being the eldest of the 4. Raph in this version doesn’t seem to have any anger issues and instead act like the strong leader figure for the rest of the team, He’s shown to be very kind and supportive. (And he loves small animals like c’mon.) All I could really say is I like this version of Raph as of now, I think he’s an overall good character.

Donnie: This is the character that I would go up and ask “What happened to you.” Because he isn’t the gentle being that deserved better like in the 2003 or 2012 version and instead, he’s basically insane and I mean that in the best way possible. His dialogues is one of the best in the cartoons that I’ve watch and his over the top vibe of “I will kill you with zero hesitation” is very entertaining and the timing is almost always perfect. He is the funniest (for me) for sure.

Leo: I will say it now, Leo is my favorite of out the whole cast. Not for the humor, but rather how complex his character actually is when you look into it. He isn’t just a comic relief, Leo had proved himself to be more intelligent than he had let on. He had shown multiple qualities of a natural leader AND a good ninja such as quick-thinking skills, motivational and fast reflexes, and he said that he doesn’t even train. He can be the leader, but he doesn’t want to as of now and I think that aspect of his character is very interesting.

Mikey: How I will describe Mikey is that he is like an innocent child with good heart, He’s the heart of the team for sure. While I do really love Mikey, I don’t have much to say about him because sadly, he didn’t stand out as much as say Donnie or Leo did. He seems to be more of a follow the crowd kinda guy and that’s hard for me to analyze.

April: I like this April, I like her head-strong personality and her pure energy almost shot through the screen. April can pull her own weight while still knowing how to work as a team, She isn’t too over baring but not too bland. I find her relationship with the turtles to be natural and I like that she doesn’t feel like she’s just there for the sake of existing. She’s definitely one of the best April out there, for me.

Splinter: Lets be honest here, does anyone expect this to be all positive? I’m sorry but he’s my least favorite out of the main cast. I simply don’t like how he is portrayed: child-like. I think he should atleast be more mature, HOWEVER, I will give it to him that he clearly have a close relationship with his son. You can say he’s a bad teacher, but he certainly isn’t a bad father.

How I would describe the relationship between the brothers is: 2012 TMNT is the sibling relationship you have and the 2018 TMNT is the sibling relationship you WANT to have. The brothers clearly care deeply about eachother in both version, sure. But the 2018 cast actually express it and I find that very admirable, You can clearly tell that while they’re different they really do love each other like a family.

In conclusion

While I don’t enjoy this show as a drama/action show like I did with the 2012, I absolutely enjoy it as the comedy/action this show is clearly aiming for. There are some things that still bothers me like the current absence of deep plot, I genuinely liked the change and I admire the fact that the writers had the balls to write something different for us to enjoy instead of going the safe route. I think if anything we should support that, I really do. I love this show so far and if you don’t, That’s fine too! because all of us will enjoy different things but that doesn’t mean that we have to go hate on the creators because we don’t like it or say disrespectful things to people who doesn’t enjoy it because we liked it. So please, respect each other. That concludes my rise of the tmnt review, thanks for reading and peace out.

[oleanderblume]

Okay. Time to talk about it.

For reasons.

So, as anyone who actually pays attention to the posts I make knows, I have DID and right now things aren't going so great so I'm just gonna scream into the void about it. Tw: csa cp sa and other not fun stuff.

So. I'm writing a book series, and at some point while I was writing my books, the main characters of the series ended up being introject alters in my whole ass head.

I didn't want that. Or ask for it. It just happened.

The reason I don't want that is because it makes me not want to write anymore because now those people are literally walking around in my head and its not fun. Also they are kids and my brain is not kid friendly. Or me friendly.

I don't know how they formed but I do have an inkling as to why, my theory is 1 and 2

1. The alters already existed but wanted an easy face so they took the ones I already made and rolled with it

2. The alters hadn't been formed yet but due to exterior stresses they DID form and now I've gotta deal with that.

The first theory is the most likely tho.

Anyways, this happened, I am upset by it. I am in a bunch of groups on fb for DID so I post about it (vaguely because I genuinely thought that this was sort of common but apparently it is NOT) the group i posted in had some assholes 8n the administration as well as.members who took it upon themselves to take my rather vague post about introjects and turned it into a huge mess,.claiming that I was faking having DID and that I was just making up imaginary friends. Despite the fact that the post itself alluded in NO WAY that I genuinely wanted this to happen.

I wasn't given an opportunity to explain myself, and the admin kicked me from the group. So I made another post in the sister group EXPLAINING why I was upset and what was going on and I STILL GOT MADE FUN OF, ridiculed, and my experiences invalidated. Even when I told them that I work for 11 hrs and don't have ample time to dawdle on fb groups. The admin offered to let me back into the other group but I decided to leave both of them because it is simply ridiculous that I should be completely ousted for not fitting into their idealized version of what DID is when it is such a subjective experience for everyone with it. Also one person was just a major fucking asshole to me for no good reason and I wanted to get away from them.

It was a waste of my time and added stress I really didn't need, and on top of that, it gave me LITERALLY NO ADVICE OR VALIDATION for what was ACTUALLY stressing me out.

Also, it made me mad and then Jodie fronted and it was just a big pain in the ass for no real reason.

But the thing is, I still have the same problem. Two fucking kids are running around my head in danger of being caught by a persecutor and being harmed and *I* have to figure out how to wrangle them up. Well, turns out ONE OF THEM IS A MAJOR FUCKING ASSHOLE. Which is my fault because I technically wrote him as an asshole and so his personality reflects that. And also he's 14 and 14 year olds are just a big bag of ducks to everyone. But it gets WORSE. Because he DOESN'T KNOW HES IN A SYSTEM.

So I have a 14 year old jackass running around, with no fucking clue whats going on or where he is, being actively pursued by a persecutor who wants to fucking hurt him >:(

Well, I find him, and he is pissed and won't fucking talk to me because HE doesn't want to be here EITHER. No shit Sherlock. It fucking sucks I know. But he WILL talk to my friends, when he fronts which is WHENEVER APPARENTLY. So he talks to my friends and gradually figures out sort of whats going on but THEN the persecutor (I have named him Bastard for now) gets a hold of him.

Now here is where the trigger warning stuff comes in so don't read this if you don't want to be completely skeezed out.

So..our persecutors have a nasty habit of forcing alters into co-con so they can hurt the body and make *them* feel it. Its really hard to combat and trust me, I'm working on that okay?

They do this to trigger flashbacks and panic attacks and the like because idk, that's probably their fucked up way of saying "hey here is something important you need to know" while also being incredibly fucked up and psychologically damaging to whoever happens to be the target.

Well, Bastard does this to my boy, and here is where things really get into the nitty gritty. So please avert your eyes.

A little backstory. On my trauma (or what I know of it so far cause this shit is like a 3d jigsaw puzzle)

From what I KNOW, and what I've been told by other alters, there is a huge chunk of information missing from when I was about 4-12 (cause my earliest kid memory is from like 12) and that is when I think a lot.of the particularly bad stuff happened. Except we have been trying to figure out what it was for quite a while.

We know it has to do with child pornography. Because Acey, who is 5 has memories of that and Destiny, Siren and Syn all have memories that very specifically depict incidences of cp.

Destiny has memories of being r*ped with coke bottles, and being locked in a bathroom that was converted into a dark room (we think that's how The Other One was formed, from the reflection you saw in the mirror) we know this because she kept a detailed journal of when the first persecutor showed up, Fear, and he did that thing i was talking about earlier.

Another thing about Destiny is that when she first started fronting, she was 100% certain she was not Destiny, and was *deadname*. Fear was the one who named her and only ever referred to her as Destiny.

I'm not sure about Syn because they are a cat and only talk in third person with rudimentary English, but they fucking HATE men. And Siren is a fallen angel that very explicitly talks about being too "impure" for God.

And Acey has memories of being drugged and assaulted. (Her name is literally short for Acetaminophen so...)

At this point (around sophomore year) the picture we have is that there was some csa and cp, but no perps.

However, we gained two alters at some point that could have clued us in on stuff.

Eleanor, a little who is about 4-5 years old has memories of being told to play faries with an older person, and to build her own imaginary world. And then Mockingbird. An alter who purposefully mimics other alters and lives in annual hospital.

Thing about mockingbird though, is that she has a phone in her room that is ALWAYS ringing, but whenever she answers it, the voices on the other side are unintelligible. And so is she, when she talks at least. Most of the time. She only sounds like a regular person when she pretends to be a different alter.

BUT the thing is, there had been a bunch of other stuff that hadn't correlated to this, at first we thought it may have been some sort of ritual abuse? Because in like 2017/18 an feral alter (and I mean completely animalistic, growling biting and clawing at stuff) surfaced that only spoke backwards and was also named Satan. They looked like a typical humanoid goat demon ram person thing (?)

SO to figure shit out, we send Anon (short for Anonymous) to look around the mindspace and figure out what the fuck is going on. They find this WALL. Its a huge ass brick wall, at the edge of the garden, and it circles around the entire northern hemisphere of the planet (our mindspace is a planet)

And it has a bunch of paper plastered over it saying "the rules" of the system. But no one can fucking read them. Yay. Also, Esz did some investigating of the wall himself and that's how he got caught by Controller and made feral.

And since they started fronting AFTER Esz came around, we figured oh, something is up here?? Because Esz is also a demon alter.

Well, uh, turns out there was another persecutor (aptly named Controller) in control of Satan and they were targeting Esz this time around, and the two of them integrated. Esz is still around, Satan is basically no more. Well, not really. Because now Esz is also fucking feral. Which was really stressful because having your primary protector and system manager be a fucking screeching demon beast is uh..not fun. We luckily got that under control tho (thank fucking god) but now Esz has these memories of being r*ped which is great because he is the epitome of masculinity (I jest the boy eats fucking vegan chicken with spicy ketchup wtf) but this time we get some sort of insight into Satan's (and probably Esz's) creation cause the memories involve this random ass fat guy (don't recall them mentioning seeing his face) but he was this tail kink or some shit and had a really long tail but plug and made Esz act like a literal animal to get is nasty ass rocks off.

At this point, we aren't 100% sure what's going on. Because we've got these two very conflicting narratives and one of them has what we think are religious undertones while the other has obvious cp.

And now that Esz is (as far as I'm aware) back to normal, he knows more information because to make him feral, Controller had to bring him BEHIND the wall.

So Esz informs us that the wall has a bunch of layers, and there are a shit ton of other alters back there but none of them have faces. AND there are OTHER PERSECUTORS back there, who all work in tandem with eachother in some sort of hierarchy. All led by someone called The Puppeteer.

Thats all the information we have on anything past the wall :/

BUT THEN somewhere down the line, we get another little, and their name is Penut. Which is IMPORTANT because that was the nickname we had as a little kid by our NEIGHBOR Beverly. And Penut has some unpleasant csa memories FROM BEVERLY.

At the time, we just thought "oh great, so we can add that to the stack of BULLSHIT" and didn't think much further on it.

BUT ALSO, this was around the time our sister (bio sister) came into the picture and learned about some of the stuff and she very VERY specifically says that she thinks Beverly had a major role in us developing DID. Again at the time I'm like "well yeah, if Penuts memories are true then she definitely had a role" but none of us are really even venturing further on the topic. Because we are sort of distracted by having TWO persecutors and A FERAL FUCKING PROTECTOR ALTER.

Obviously though, things cool down a whole lot more. Its good, things are great.

Until Oliver pops up.

SO NOW WE ARE BACK AT THE PRESENT MIND YOU.

There is another persecutor, he is really annoying. He is hurting my newest/possibly older but only recently resurfaced alter. And GUESS WHAT HE MAKES HIM SEE.

☆this is legitimately disturbing so please be warned☆

Bastard does his thing and Ols has a very visceral flashback- i know what happened in it because he literally wrote about it because he was convinced it was important, which it IS.

In this flashback, he is obviously me, being r*ped. But this time for some reason, the person doing the r*ping is making him look at him, so he sees this guys face. Which has never EVER happened in a flashback before. Especially to the point where you actually REMEMBER WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE. The guy has green eyes, and a beard, like a scruffy longer one. And while this is happening, at some point, Ols overhears ANOTHER PERSON in the room. A woman. And it's Beverly.

I know it's Beverly because he mentions in his recount that she called him Penut.

And she is working a hand held camera, and there is another one on a stand that is like, hooked up to a television, replaying what is being recorded.

At some point he's made to face the TV, like sitting on beard guys lap or something to watch and Beverly is just casually talking to beard guy, literally telling him to hurry the fuck up because there's gonna be another "session" after this one.

They start talking about what they are going to do next (with me/Ols) and mention the next "client" and then using a tail and making me act like an animal, and then other things like using laxatives, other kinds of drugs and even using other kids. They talk about how the video won't have sound, so none of what they are saying is going to be recorded too. Beverly at one point walks up to him, close to the end I think, and is like really close to his face, and this is when she calls him Penut, and talks about how much money she's going to make (or something like that, Ols is giving me the details as I'm writing)

Then beard guy makes him come and moves him again so he can't see the TV or Beverly and then beard guy finishes his shit and Ols overhears Beverly say that they next person is almost here and he needs to go now.

Then the flashback is over and Bastard says "this is why you are here" or something along those lines, and Ols immediately (well, probably after a little mental breakdown) writes all this shit down and sends it to two of my friends in a message (im so sorry about that guys)

Then I find put about it, have a really bad time, but now I'm in puzzle mode and all the peices are starting to fit together.

So...from what we have of Oliver's flashback, Beverly is a main perp, and was basically pimping us out to folks for cash while taping it and putting it put for other folks to purchase.

Esz and Satan being feral are because the next "session" involved someone with a gross animal kink. And that can ALSO account for Syn, because she is a literal animal. Her mention of drugs can easily coincide with Acey's memories.

And Destiny's coincide with the cp in general as well as probably someone who was sadistic enough to shove fucking glass bottles inside people.

Im not 100% where Eleanor fits in, but it can easily be suggested that she came about when shit first started to get real bad. And Penut, well, I'm pretty certain that she was THE FIRST alter. And probably what gave Beverly the idea in the first place (I'm not sure because most of Penuts memories were when we had sleepovers at Beverlys but it makes a lot of sense if she were the first of us and her compliance gave Beverly the opportunity to take further advantage)

Mockingbird hearing voices through the phone could be conversations that Beverly and other people were having during "sessions"

And the persecutors. Are modeled. After the different clients (and probably Beverly too) that had come and gone.

And the wall probably has a metric fuck ton of other alters back there with other horrific experiences and memories waiting to be slowly leaked out along with this tier list of persecutors modeled after their respective abusers and the puppeteer is probably an introject OF BEVERLY.

WHAT THE FUCK.

Of course, this is all speculation and it can completely change course at the drop of a fucking hat but I have NEVER EVER been so certain in my LIFE that this is what happened. Like..it makes too much sense?!

[mikeyourownbusiness]

heyy, just curious, what are your all time favorite ships?

hmm.... its a hard question to answer and a little loaded too, but i think based on the ones i get mthe most enjoyment out of, id say trashstack (ben and richiiiee !) because its just. like its just soft. and theyre very complementary. i prefer to sorta mix all the canons with them, if that makes sense, theyre pure ok.  henpat because i am a SLUT For angst. but like i like it written angsty, and not many people seem to do that unfortunately.  at least not that ivve found, but thats liekly mostly bc im scared to look. Kasplon was like my first ship in the fandom even before it was more popular so its very near and dear to me HANZIER BIIITH I LOVE IT stanscom!!!! and hansbrak!!! are both super faves!!! they are so GOOD ugh i love. and then stanscombrak???  ugh iconic.  I love platonic and quasiromantic reddie. i know hat snot really much of an atypical ship OR Rare pair but neither is henpat. i mostly like reddie as brothers (platonic) but i also like it as a just nonconventional blundering over whats going on sort of thing, quasiromantic yknow. idk if im using that right but basically what i mean is like when feelings arent strong enough or QUITE similar to romance that theyre to be spoken about at all, but theyre enough to be like ???? aaaaa abt. and theyre not displayed in traditionally romantic means. i also like quasiromntic trashstack, on that note. stenzier*stan, richie, ben)  is GOOD and so is pretty much any three way ship involving any of them

warning, bowers x losers hsips coming next, so if you don wanna read about this cockamainey bullshit dont worry about it honestly uhm... henrich has grown on me quite a lot, at first i waasnt really into it that much but ive grown to enjoy it much more. (2/3 canons have there being an only 1 year age gap, i go with that agewise, because otherwise its hmmm... not it chief) disclaimer, i mostly like these sort of henry x loser ships because they have a lot of different ways they could go, and because henry is someone who very much just kind of absorbs whatever environment he’s in. i like writing it angsty, fluffy, ect, i like all the different versions because i think its just interesting and generally fun to write. not because i think people should get with their old school bullies that theyre terrified of and that tormented them on that note, i also really like mike with victor! vicslon? crisslon? vike???  i feel like they have a lot in common that they can bond over, and also a lot to potentially learn from each other. i think maybe victor has more to learn from mike, but. (in 2/3 canons he is ALSO only a year older than the losers. 2/3 canons, the bowers gang are all like 12 and the losers are all like 11 when theyre kids)  also henry and ben, hanscom (flfuffwise) because of the specific ways in which they foil eachother. ben is very in control and independent of himself in some odd little core ways, but very dependent in odd little surfce ways, whereas in the very same ways that ben freely allows himself to be dependent, henry refuses to allow himself to be dependent, insists independence there, but in the ways that ben is independent, henry cannot for the life of him figure out how to be independent in. ben is both caged and free by his loneliness, and heny is both caged and free, in opposite ways, by his refuasal to be lonely. also henry knows how to fake it til he makes it in order to get confidence, and ben is just an inherently very inconfident person. in this version, they by far would not be getting together right away at all and itd be extremely slowburn, which is kind of why i like it this way.  also its amusing as fuck to think of that ben just annoys the fuck out of henry no matter whats going on but like in this version hes affectionately annoyed. these two r like married when its fluff ok.   more along the lines of like... dark comedy though i also enjoy it thinking of henry just giving him a dead animal as a gift and ben is just like. not here for it. ok moving on i admit usually DO write some sort of redemption arch for the bowers gang boys, including henry, (but not including patrick because hes just... far too gone man... like he became aware and decided to use his self awareness for bad, none of the other boys in the book had any chance to be self aware though.)  but this isnt because i think people like him would. its just because there are many things about him that are frankly pathetic and therefore make me want him to stop being pathetic this was probably way longer of an answer than you were looking for but here u go

[theodorasresearchjournal-blog]

Physical Computing Final Project // MVP

For my minimum viable product, I wanted to achieve linking some sort of spatial input from the audience to the neon wires, so that the viewer could interact with the light display and ultimately generate different imagery based on their interaction with the sensor. 

In order to achieve this, I initially experimented with a standard ultrasonic sensor, but found the values recorded by it to be quite jittery and the output with the light system was not as smooth as I would like it to be. I therefore decided to experiment with other options as well and looked into using the Adafruit APDS9960 Sensor to link my display to proximity and gestures.

For creating the lighting systems, I used 4 pieces of El Wire in conjuncture with the El Escudo Dos, a shield for the Arduino which allows for up to 8 strands of electroluminescent wire to be driven.

Here is a video of the light strands lighting up in accordance to proximity values:

And here is a video of the wires responding to gestures:

-left to right triggers and animated display, whilst right to left makes the wires light up but remain static

Circuitry:

- I am not sure why, but Tumblr refuses to save my post when I add the image of my circuit. A high quality photo of the circuit used in the above videos can be found at:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z30cum0d89rkceh/MVP_Circuit.jpg?dl=0

- parts: proximity and gesture sensor, electroluminescent wire, 3V inverter, El Escudo Dos shield

Conclusion

I am quite pleased with how the MVP turned out - the final product will essentially be a more elaborate version of this, running more strands of wire at greater lengths; it will also hopefully make use of another light system. The Adafruit sensor was definitely more accurate than the standard ultrasonic one I initially experimented with and allowed for smooth transitions according to the right proximity values.

The gesture feature was more of a test, but I really liked the effect and would like to implement such a feature, perhaps in conjuncture with strobing or a more dynamic approach to the wire - I have encountered a few problems when trying to run both the proximity and gesture features on the same sensors (they override eachother and only one functions in the end); due to this, my current plan is to implement either an extra time-of-flight sensor, or to fine-tune my ultrasonic distance one and have both gesture and distance as interaction - this additional feature will, of course, be time-permitting, but I feel strongly at this point that it is an extra implementation I could manage.

Below I have added my notes on working with these materials, as well as useful links for quick reference for further down the line:

The Adafruit APDS9960 Proximity, Light, RGB, and Gesture Sensor

- a little breakout that offers quite a lot of possibilities in terms of interaction; I was very attracted to the idea of implementing gestural interaction into my piece as well.

- has an integrated IR LED and driver + four directional photodiodes that sense reflected IR energy from the LED

- four IR sensors means that it can measure the changes in light reflectance at each of the cardinal locations over time and turn those changes into gestures

- can detect directional gestures (left to right, right to left, up to down, down to up)

- a guide I found very useful for understanding how to make full use of its capabilities (particularly its use of I2C):

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-apds9960-breakout/pinouts

Notes on working with the El Wire

Overview

EL Wire, also known as Electroluminescent wire, is a stiff wire core coated with phosphor and then covered with a protective PVC sheath. When an AC signal is applied to it, it glows a blueish green colour. For it to appear another colour, it is covered in coloured plastic in order to achieve the effect. It is very bendable, keeps its shape and you can pretty much make any shape with it. Its not as bright as LEDs, but glows similarly to neon in a semi-dark environment - and uses a lot less power. To turn on, EL wire needs roughly 90-120 volts of alternating current from an EL wire driver. 

Here is a short FAQ from the Adafruit website which I found extremely useful:

EL is 'cold' - the wires generate no heat!

EL wire requires a driver/inverter that can provide 400-2000 Hz, 60-120VAC (that's RMS not peak-to-peak!)

Higher frequency/voltage results in a brighter wire

Running the wire brighter will lead to a reduced lifetime (how many hours it takes until its half-brightness)

Our high-brightness/long-life EL wire can be driven at 100V/2000Hz for 3000 hours before it is half the original brightness

EL wire is capacitive, and cannot be PWM'ed or easily dimmed (unless you can adjust the voltage/frequency of the inverter)

The more wire you connect to an inverter, the more 'loaded' it is and the dimmer it will be

Our AA pocket driver can drive about 2.5 meters before it starts dimming significantly. 2 meters is a good amount, 3 is OK but wont be as bright.

If you 'split' and connect more than one piece of EL to an inverter, count the total length of all the pieces

The AA inverter works best with fresh batteries, but you can use rechargables - it'll just be dimmer because the input voltage is lower.

The capacitance 'load' of the EL is required to stabilize the inverter so never run the inverter without at least 1 foot of EL attached!

Understanding how to work with the El Wire was a bit tricky in the beginning - for example, the standard JST 2-pin connectors they come fitted with need to be replaced with mini JST PH connectors in order to be able to link them to the board - the wiring of the El Wire itself was quite confusing at first; I could not figure out the polarity of the wires, until I read all the documentation on it and realised that, due to it being AC powered, I did not actually need to worry about polarity. 

I also practiced cutting the wire to specific lengths (which I will be needing for the final piece); this meant I needed to solder to it directly, a process that can be quite tricky. El Wire is made of three wires, one large middle wire and two very thin corona wires, which are wrapped around the core. These two sets of wires are the leads.

I found Adafruit’s tutorial on soldering to El Wire extremely useful:

https://learn.adafruit.com/el-wire/soldering-to-el-wire

+ Some useful overviews on working with the El Wire in general:

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/404

http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=2992

https://makezine.com/2010/04/27/programming-el-wire-fashion/

One piece of El Wire requires an inverter and a relay to be driven via Arduino. Wanting to create a display that involves at least 6 pieces of wire, I turned towards Sparkfun’s El Escudo Dos board, an Arduino shield created for controlling up to eight strands of El Wire.  The El Escudo Dos contains circuitry to safely switch high-voltage AC on and off.  It also requires an inverter (either 3V or 12V, depending on the total length of wire it needs to run).

These guides were essential for understanding what the components on the board do and how they all work together, as well as provided valuable information on how to select the appropriate inverter: 

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/el-sequencerescudo-dos-hookup-guide

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/353

https://github.com/sparkfun/EL_Escudo_Dos/tree/V_2.1

http://www.digitalmisery.com/projects/halloween/el-ladder/