#Anyway that's a post for another time methinks

[saints-who-never-existed]

Least favorite change from book to show?

A few things spring to mind for this one!

Full answer under the cut as I suspect it's going to get spoiler-y.

So, I understand completely why, with budget and time constraints, changes had to be made, and I think the show is visually stunning just the way it is.

But with that said, there are several scenes from the book that would have been absolutely fucking spectacular to have seen realised on screen and it does make me a little sad that they were omitted or changed.

-

There's the scene where Irving follows Silna down to the hold where she's created a living space for herself, only for him to find that someone or something has torn clean through the ship's hull - nearly a dozen layers of the hardest woods on the planet - to create a private tunnel out into the ice and up to the surface. Seeing that amount of physical power before we really see the thing that has exerted it is properly spine-tingling.

And speaking of tingling spines, I would love to have witnessed the scene where Tuunbaq makes it onto the ship and down into the hold and lower decks where it wreaks bloody havoc. It's a scene of utter chaos that plays out in almost complete darkness - the men have so little idea of what's even going on or what might be lurking in the darkness beyond the light of their own woefully inadequate lanterns. Chilling stuff! There's also fire, unspeakably gruesome physical injuries, and some lovely, lovely character beats between Fitzjames and Goodsir.

And perhaps the pièce de résistance, the crown jewel of absolutely wild scenes I'd love to have seen brought to the screen, is the grisly death-by-Tuunbaq of several major characters including Little and Peglar. They are tricked into following a lead in the ice and ambushed, and when the rest of the men follow after them, they find that the lead opens out into a huge lake that has been turned entirely red by the sheer amount of blood in it. Just imagine that! Imagine the shot panning up and over, the men and their boats tiny specks in an expanse of white and made even more insignificant by the staggering scale of the massacre before them!

-

I have some more in-depth thoughts about Crozier and Hickey's relationship and the way the book in many ways treats morality and cannibalism differently than the show does. But this post is already long enough! :)

[muninnhuginn]

Writers tag game

Prompt: share some writing

Thanks for the tag, @miyamiwu!

So, I'll be honest, I don't actually have any WIPs I'm intending to do anything with, but I have some oldish abandoned stuff I managed to relocate. It's back from 2021 so in my Untamed era and this bit was specifically set during Fatal Journey*:

Nie Huaisang woke blearily, cold seeping into his clothes from the floor. It was dark and it took several seconds to remember where he was. He could hear the muffled sounds of clanging and voices. As he lifted his head off the ground, they slowly resolved themselves into the clash of swords and yelling. [...] He didn't know what to do. What would his brother do? Xichen-ge? San-ge? He had his flute with him– he could try Cleansing. This was what it was for, right? Before he could doubt himself further, he started playing, pouring all the qi he could muster into the tune. He'd practised for hours the night before, long after San-ge had left, but despite that, he hadn't truly thought then that he'd need to play so soon. Was that so naïve of him? As he watched, Da-ge began to slow in his movements and Nie Huaisang felt himself start to relax. He kept his lips to the flute, trying not to let his relief fool him into making mistakes. Still, he knew he only had to play a little longer and then they could all escape. Him, his brother, his cousin. They could flee far away from the darkness that haunted these halls. And then Nie Zonghui's head hit the floor. He stopped playing.

And then I had this other bit:

He'd messed up. He must have played a wrong note. Maybe he'd misremembered the entire thing? And now Nie Zonghui was dead and his brother - what looked like his brother - was stood, Baxia dripping blood to the floor. [...] The sword was pointed at him. He tried to hold himself steady as he looked down the blade. Tried to blink away the tears that kept escaping without his permission. He could tell he was failing, unable to stop the trembling, but he forced himself to meet the eyes at the other end of the sword. He couldn't die here. He refused to die here. After all, he was the only family his brother had left.

*(it was meant to be part of a short time travel fic where post-canon characters went back not long before NMJ died. It would've had flashbacks to Fatal Journey interspersed with the "present" up until the point at which future NHS tipped off past NHS about the poisoned music. I actually got as far as figuring out where I wanted all the characters to be at the end of it, but I ran out of motivation pretty quickly so there's only this WIP stuff and the intro part written in the end.)

Ahh not sure who to tag when it comes to writing stuff. I know @roseofcards90 and @floofiestboy write some stuff? And anyone else who sees this who writes, feel free to consider yourself tagged ^^

[hajihiko]

I've seen a few people talk about how much smoother things would have gone for the cast if they had A Mature Conversation about things, but like. they're teenagers. Not only that, they're all gifted kid teenagers who also have Issues (except Hajime who only has the Issues). How capable do you think they are of going 'alright now boys we need to talk about your misogyny' or somesuch

[hamletshoeratio]

The difference in how Hen and Eddie's cheating is treated/being treated by the fandom v how Buck's is... I wonder why...

[darkartistyt]

i think they'd be good friends

[omarwolaeth]

Thinking about Yuuya's pendulum and Yuuto's lock necklace currently, and brain immediately went (with reference to how the bracelets work... kinda) somewhere between "that's where Zarc's soul is for them" and "if you held onto the pendulum or lock itself then it would cause them pain on a soul level"

[probably-cringe]

Sleepover

The quality ended up being terrible in all of the images (thank you so much, Krita), but i still wanted to show these anyways

[Without the weird circley things [and a lighter background for some reason]

Theoretically, they should be bickering like cats n dogs, but Fuyuhiko's busy eating [COOKIES!!!!!!!], Drew's getting his ass kicked at *insert game here*, and Chuuya’s enjoying spending time with his friends while he still can [I'm so sorry, Chuuya]

[hadischara]

Time for some Lyney funnies, methinks. Lyney intends to propose to you in the most over-dramatic, over-the-top manner. But every time he tries, he keeps getting interrupted by someone or something.

Hi, sorry for the late post. I had a few things to do.

But I'll happily write this now.

My oh so sweet patience

It wasn't the first time this week and it surely wouldn't be the last. It was so frustrating but yet he couldn't blame it on the people doing it.

He had tried to propose to you for the fourth time this week and he was interrupted once again. This time in the restaurant, from one of the servers themselves! Couldn't that guy wait for 3 minutes and ask the table besides the two of you?

Well seemingly not. And you we're there expecting something since he said he'd tell you something very important. "What did you want to say Lyney?" "It's alright my dear. I forgot it anyways, but how about you tell me how you got that beautiful? "

The next time it happened it was Lynette. His own damn twin. And it was the worst moment too. He was just about to go down on one knee before Lynette burst in and said it was an emergency.

Turns out, no emergency but just Freminet with a scratch on his upper leg. Lynette couldn't see blood, but this was or had to be a joke. The scratch wasn't even bleeding!

After patching the blonde boy up Lyney returned to your room only to find you napping. Well, maybe another time.

Unknown to the magician, you had already seen the little case with the ring multiple times and were desperate for him to finally ask. If it continues like this, you might just take matters in your own two hands. After all, why shouldn't you?

You did however find it pretty amusing how he was making it dramatically only to be interrupted and searching for an excuse why he was nearly on one knee.

"No,no. I just thought I had seen something shiny. Maybe it was just your beautiful eyes though."

"Hm? Oh I uhhh. Just wanted to ehhh pick this rose for you. "

Some of those were better than others. But you still loved him with your whole heart. No matter how long this proposal might need.

So, how was it? It wasn't too long but I hope it was alright.

Cya ✧(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

[alianoralacanta]

i've seen a lot of speculation surrounding charles being told to lico and ferrari's intentions behind it. historically ferrari's PU doesn't perform as well in mexico, i think the whole point of telling charles to lico was so they could prevent a problem. also, carlos had a misfire in the beginning if i am not mistaken.

a lot though are saying that ferrari told charles to lico so they could create that 8s gap and sainz could make a safe stop, since he complained about charles who was gaining on him, so sainz could have an easy win. but this made charles vulnerable to norris. maybe ferrari misjudged the pace of norris otherwise they wouldn't have built that much of a gap to carlos, but then again charles was also in management mode. i would like to know though why sainz wasn't told to lico as much? was charles' PU just more vulnerable or something? i remember for a couple rounds straight in the first half of the season he was always switching back and forth between PUs bc there was always something wrong. i think it was miami where both ferrari drivers changed PUs, then for like three (or four?) weekends in a row after that charles was switching back and forth between PUs.

Firstly, a definition: "lico" in this anon means "lift and coast", which means taking the accelerator off later and starting braking later. This leads to periods of time when the car is running on inertia, changing speed slower than usual. It saves the engine, fuel and in some cases tyres. However, it is not the fastest way to do a lap and can also cause other problems, some of which were apparent in Mexico for Charles Leclerc.

I think Charles was more vulnerable in general because he'd had such a disrupted practise and had made less of the practise he had obtained than Carlos Sainz. From the post-race interviews, I get the impression Ferrari worked out early in the race that P3 was as good as it was going to get for Charles, so there was no point stressing out the engine for no reward. After all, the same engine will be needed for other races that will hopefully be more rewarding.

Charles also has a driving style that uses brake/throttle overlap in an unusual way. It's not clear why it works for him but it seems to help him manage tyres, and when he's not allowed to do it, he's more affected by that than other drivers would be. However, in a car and engine that's being preserved for another race, the tyres might not be generating enough heat for Charles' usual style to work anyway. So Charles was getting more wear and less speed from his tyres than usual, which made the P3 something of a self-fulfilling situation. Even if Charles didn't want to get the memo if his defence against Lando Norris was any sample!

I can believe Ferrari's power unit being less reliable at high altitude than others', it has had unreliability in Mexico before. I only got highlights and Carlos' misfire wasn't mentioned, probably because it was an unusually short slot and it ultimately didn't tell Carlos' race story efficiently. It would, however, make sense if the misfire had occurred and then cleared.

The unreliability from earlier in the season will definitely have been on Ferrari's mind. Charles probably has less margin than Carlos - and he certainly has more motive than Carlos to look at the 5 remaining races as a unit rather than as 5 separate possibilities of individual good results. (Charles' title chances may be poor but Carlos' are non-existent). [Edit: excised "almost" because as @things-methinks indicated, he lost the ability to win the title at Mexico. There are now 118 points on the table and Carlos is 120 points away].

[no-higher-thought]

said you wanted to talk about 2bhank on your last post... well i'm all ears.

oo Wait fr ??

Oh my goodness gracious youve no idea what you just released anon FUCK you for making me write all this down /lh

Very unorganised thoughts cause i had like 12 pages worth of ramblings in my notes and had to cut it down. It was borderline just nonsense, man. Im losing it. Sorry if words don't make sense.

First off, they can and have hurt eachother. Hard not to, in a world as fucked up as theirs. Hank is someone who only knows violence, and doc is far too used to manipulating people and circumstances to gain the upper hand. In combat, in business deals, sieges, all that jazz.

But honestly, considering everything ? Their relationship is definitely among the healthiest, most stable in all of Nevada. Mostly cause the bar is all the way in The Nowhere but. y'know.

Both see it as VERY transactional, which, i mean. It is, first and foremost, a business deal so like. Fair i suppose. Hank is very good at their job of killing, and doc is very good at pointing them at nice targets. A sort of  "ah shit they didn't slam the door this time guess i gotta be extra careful pulling all the shrapnel out of their abdominal cavity."

There was never any moment one could consider "feelings realization" or whatever. They're simply incredibly close as a result of just how LONG they've worked together. Neither is particularly keen on asking somethn like "what are we to eachother?" Because it just. Doesn't. Matter to them.

That and like. I am very aroace. Hank is canon aroace. Saw doc fanart with ace ring once and have been rotating it in my brain since. Big fan of non-traditional relationships, man.

It's mostly convenience, methinks. Hank may not need doc to bring them back to life, but it sure does make the process a lot shorter and less painful. Doc doesn't need hank, he has plenty of money and access to many of Nevada's most feared mercenaries. He could find someone else to do his dirty work, if need be.

And yet.

Every moment they spend together is a moment of putting their life in the other's hands. Hank trusts him not to staple their legs on backwards, and doc trusts them to not dome him the moment he turns around. Don't get me wrong, it's not trust in the other, no. It's trusting that the other isn't dumb enough to get rid of a valuable asset.

But frankly, to someone used to nothing but pain and violence, a simple lack of it might as well be a loving embrace.

Theirs is a relationship built off of many years of contracts, of shared goals, of depending on eachother, expecting the other to catch them when they fall. When they crawl back battered and bloodied. When they pass out from overworking in front of their computer for the upteenth time this week.

They'd share a bed simply because both have horrific waking nightmares and huddling together on a shitty moldy mattress helps. A net positive, mutualism. They might seek some affection from the other, but its always self-serving.

Still. Neither of them are sentimental. If the machine took them on different paths, or hell, if they had to kill the other (for one reason or another), i don't think either of them would mourn.

Simply fill their time with the next mission at hand.

Doc could kill hank. They've been under his knife often enough. It wouldn't stick, sure, but he's very much capable of sending them back to the Other place, at least once.

Hank could absolutely kill doc. There's very little stopping them. All it would take is a single hand around his neck and one good squeeze.

But they don't.

They don't, and neither does he. Because at the end of the day, both of them benefit more when the other is alive.

Mutualism.

... Anyways uh hank is a cuddler. With how fucked up their nerves must be, i bet most of their sense of touch is straight up just pain. Which would be be a bigger deal, except. Doc has access to heavy-duty painkillers. How can you not, in some odd way, love the guy that makes the pain go away, even for a bit ?

[gwenphobic]

i just read your gwen x catwoman reader post and i am having a meltdown in my room. please, i need more. it was just so cute to see gwen worrying about the reader, and even cuter to see her falling hard for the reader. we all need more of that

— SO SUDDEN AND NEW

— gwen stacy x black cat!reader

a/n, posting this felt like doing the walk of shame 😞… i haven’t posted in so long. no warnings methinks besides the fact that this is extremely short.

GWEN doesn’t know what’s happening to her. She can’t think properly when she’s around you, and her stomach always hurts. Not in the way where she thinks she’s about to puke, but in the way that she thinks everything feels like way too much.

IT doesn’t help that she’s picked up the new habit of smiling like a complete loser whenever you talk to her or make some really shitty quip. It’s like— She doesn’t even know what it’s like but it makes her feel like a complete dork.

IS this the most appropriate thing to be thinking about while she resting on the wall in an alley way while licking her wounds until the next unfortunate fight? Probably not, but she’s doing it anyway.

“HEY itsy bitsy,” a voice greets out of nowhere. Gwen doesn’t jump because she had sensed it, she jumps because she sees who it is. You stand before her in all your external glory. A smile falls to her lips, and she feels lucky for the mask. “You look rough,” you tell her.

“THANKS, I always appreciate it,” Gwen says dryly, but she really does. She appreciates all your stupid stupid jokes. She could listen to them forever over and over again. “Have anything planned tonight, kitty?” she asks.

YOU step closer to her. “If I did, I wouldn’t tell you, now would I?” you say. Gwen ignores the way her stomach internally explodes. “Guess not,” is all she can manage. You stop walking just before your and Gwen’s noses can touch.

“I really appreciated what you did for me a few weeks back,” you say, “taking me to that hospital. It was nice of you.” Gwen swallows, exhaling a shaky breath. “It’s my job,” she murmurs. You roll your eyes in reply.

“EITHER way, can I give you something to.. display my gratitude?” you ask. Gwen feels like she can hear her heart just pick up a beat and then another beat. At this rate, she feels like her heartbeat is at at least 300 beats per minute. The thumping sound rings loud in her ears. “I— I wouldn’t mind that,” she says.

YOU grin and take something out one of your pockets. “I know a big time hero like you would expect more,” you start as you take her hand, “but you’ll have you suck it up.” You slip a sleek black necklace into her hand.

GWEN stares at the necklace, swallowing. She asks, “Did you steal this?” You roll your eyes. “I bought it, matter a fact, but if you don’t want it—,” you say before Gwen cuts you off, “No, I want it.” She says it softer and more kind than she intended. She stares at you in your eyes while she says it. It makes your heart stutter for a second.

“YEAH, well, don’t get used to me being this nice,” you replies after a moment. Your cheeks feel hot. Gwen laughs quietly. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” she replies. What is this feeling?

YOU both just stare at each other for a moment before Gwen sighs. “Well, um, I’ve gotta get going,” she says. You nods quickly and add, “Me too. Crimes to make and places to rob.”

Gwen looks at you once more with soft eyes that are hidden beneath the mask. “Right,” she replies, “see you then, Cat.” You blow her a kiss. “Cya Spider.”

[dcfanfictioncatalogue]

do you know any good steph and damian fics? they were such a good dynamic duo in batgirl 2009. or any duke and damian fics? whatever you like, you have fantastic taste!

I went a little too wild with the "whatever you like" bc I saw batgirl 2009 and blacked out. all of these fics are set during the dick!bats batgirl!steph robin!damian era and consist of some overlap of the three of them -- I know dick was not mentioned in this ask but he crept in there my apologies. at least two of these fics are exclusively steph & damian so I fulfilled some level of this request methinks. duke is not here I'm sorry but I can potentially try to find some of him and damian at a later date if you would like to send in another ask <3

3:16, by partingxshot ( @wufflesvetinari ) . 70.7k, T, gen, 45/?. summary: with faltering steps, dick and damian become batman and robin. notes: as the summary suggets, this fic IS mainly based on dick and damian, but it's incredible, and ties in both steph and some other characters and plots from the dickbats-era comics. I found this while I was searching and HAD to rec it given that it's currently my absolute favorite batfam adjacent fic.

&&

the gentleness that comes (despite the violence), by cherrystainedknuckles ( @cherrystainedknuckles ). 3.7k, T, gen. summary: or; how steph and damian sleepovers became a regular occurrence. notes: this is my fic lol but hey it filled the prompt! if you think I have good taste you will potentially also like my writing here's hoping. it's steph & damian and set nebulously during batgirl 2009

&&

Put All Your Faults to Bed, by hauntedlittledoll ( @hauntedlittledoll ) . 1.7k, G, gen. summary: steph is the unofficial wayne family counselor, and her hours are late. very late. notes: damian and steph are flawless here and despite its short length it manages to (in my opinion) capture damian and steph very well. mentions of steph as batgirl place this solidly during batgirl 2009 as well !!

&&

prove that i'm worth something, by Hinn_Raven ( @secretlystephaniebrown ). 5.2k, G, gen. summary: dick grayson has never had much time for stephanie brown. but when the two of them find themselves stranded without a line to the outside world, he finds that they might have more in common than he thought. notes: this is stephanie and dick centric -- though they both mention damian and steph's little mini adventures. this seems to be set post batman: the return, given that dick is still batman but bruce is alive. anyway, I LOVE this I love steph here, I love the way these two see each other, it's just really neat

ask box is open for requests ++ find my fic rec libraries organized here

[culpeppercheckers721]

Turn Week 2024– Day 4: Set It To Music

Get ready, this is gonna be a really long post methinks!! 🤠 Also I just rewatched the last two episodes of Turn and am still in emotional shambles from that, so please bear with me.

AS SAID: I warn you that this is a very long post with lots of links, and also that this turned out way less hinged than I mean it to jfc (then again being unhinged was my whole goal on here so) 😀

Since I am such a degenerate for setting the things I love to songs, I believe that I shall break this up into odd little sections:

Songs for certain scenes:

The Night Boat

Though this may not be incredibly specific, every time I hear this song, I can picture so clearly every scene by the dark, blue waters of frog’s cove, and can see Caleb approaching in his literal, well, night boat ;) Also if you know me well enough you may already know I have a weird thing when it comes to Turn & Duran Duran— their music is excellent for creativity for me (and also, as much as I love the original version of Night Boat above all, here I use the Danse Macabre version as it’s simply spookier, and better for this vibe ;))

Fuel to Fire

Alright, a little bit of canon, and a little bit of AUs all in one. Though there is already a song playing in this overall scene, some individual moments from it, and just Abe & Townsend’s energy around each other this season in general just screams this song to me. If you recall season one of Turn, you may remember a montage of Simcoe terrorizing Setauket in Against Thy Neighbor while a rendition of a song called Katie Cruel played in the background, sung by none other than Agnes Obel, so she already has Turn vibes considering her music has literally been featured in the show! And even if she hadn’t, the lyrics and the energy of this is so unshakable to me, I cannot imagine ever listening to this song and not thinking about Abe & Robert or at least Turn in general, and not to mention, as some of you may be familiar with, a literary masterpiece by a similar title (Like Fuel to the Fire, I beg of you go read it).

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Ok I know this is even less historic-feeling than the ones included so far, but here me out. I can’t exclude this one because of how much the end of the Nightmare intro, when Abe goes “it’s rainin’” makes me think of this song every time. This scene and this song alike both contain the rain symbolism, they’re both about mourning a father, and ALSO Jamie Bell literally stars in the music video of this song which I find very ironic!! So no, I could not exclude this one. 💕

Songs for specific characters:

Right Where You Left Me

Annlet shippers, I am not trying to hurt y’all, and I know everyone uses Taylor Swift for everything but uh. As arbitrary as most of these lyrics are, for some reason I can picture either of them just sitting in Rivington’s, frozen and thinking about one another and what they’ve done, to this song. And it is depressing but kind of intriguing. So if I hAVE TO THINK THAT SO DO YOU.

Touchy Feely Fool

Wow so much Abraham. Call me what you will but the FIRST time I heard this song I thought about Abe. I cannot help it. It’s hard to explain it, but this just. Reminds me of him so much. Especially when you think about his relationship with Richard, juxtaposed with “maybe someday when I’m older, I’ll be better off like you, I’m better off a stick, I’m better off a stone, I’m better off a jerk, I’m better off alone…” etc. I know I am FUCKING INSANE BUT THE ABE ENERGY IS UNSHAKABLE TO ME. HAHSHAHS. Anyways, attached is an extremely shitty old edit I tried to do for him with it, once again feat. copious Townhull vibes. As you can see it did not go well, and many things went wrong, but now’s as good a time as any for me to post it. As another wise Turn fan once put it: I may be fucking crazy, but I am free.

Songs for AU shit:

Familiar

More Agnes Obel for you! I know this is really unoriginal, I’ve seen a few people relate this song to Townhull in the past I think, but like. I just love it so much, and I can see the vision lmao.

Love Like Ghosts

Keeping with the weird-ass ghost motif, we end, for now, with another song that has the right vibes for a Townhull AU of mine, specifically when it comes to the events of Mended, I think; time for some good old Lord Huron. I hesitated to put this on a playlist for them at first because I really wasn’t sure if it actually fit, but for vibes alone, and this particular scene in such a plot… yeah. ;) If nothing else, the “spirits” that follow Abe could be that of his brother’s memory, and plus, the title and chorus— “love is like ghosts”— is simply hauntingly poetic to me ;)

Was really hoping to get this post up before midnight, but alas, here we are. Anyways, happy late 4th of July to all those celebrating, and even if you are not celebrating, I still hope you have a wonderful evening!! ❤️🤍💙

[nickmaghighlights]

Nick Mag Highlights - Nick Mag Presents: Danny Phantom (Fall 2005)

Well, well, well, fancy meeting you here. Welcome back to my blog and the words that inhabit it. Today, Halloween comes early this year when we read through another exciting issue of Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, this time all about Danny Phantom. Boo! Trick-or-Treat! Deck the halls!

And not only is this edition of Nick Mag Highlights spooky, it’s also… pretty chill. Y’know? Just takin’ it easy, reading a handful of comics and probably a crossword puzzle or something. As much as I love researching the kind of stuff Nickelodeon Magazine includes in its articles, sometimes it’s nice to sit back and take things at face value and just see what the state of Nickelodeon was like at any given time, and these short-and-sweet issues of Nick Mag Presents are the perfect venue for just that.

But why exactly am I tackling this purportedly Halloween-themed issue in August? Well, mainly it’s because that new Danny Phantom graphic novel just came out… two weeks ago (oops). And I really enjoyed it! So I’ve since been in a big Danny Phantom mood lately. I even ended up re-watching the whole first season and had a blast doing so. This show was a real obsession of mine as a kid, so maybe this blog post is also a way for me to give it its dues.

This issue can be found online here, read along… if you dare!

Another Nick Mag Presents, another humorously wordy introduction. If you’re unfamiliar, basically all these Presents-styled issues have a panel on the first page with a character essentially advertising the book to you and talking about all the comics and activities included inside. This one here features Danny and an understandably perturbed ghost, for example. 

Since these issues were usually sold in stores as opposed to through a mail subscription, I suppose this is the issue’s way of hooking you in and explaining to you why you should buy it. I think a kid would probably be more inclined to just flip through the book and arrive at the same conclusion, but I guess this approach doesn’t hurt anybody.

But anyway, let’s see here… aw, only two wholly new comics? The Fairly Oddparents-themed issue I took a look at previously had five original comics. That’s a bummer, but at least we’ve still got variety… SpongeBob, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and The Wild Thornberrys, oh my! Even Tak makes an appearance here, two years before the premiere of his actual Nickelodeon cartoon, meaning this was an attempt to interest readers in the then-recently released video game: Tak 3: The Great Juju Challenge. Not sure if that worked.

And if you’ll take a look at that yellow, spiky bubble with words on the right there, this September 2005 issue is meant to coincide with the then-upcoming two episode-long Danny Phantom special, “The Ultimate Enemy”, which featured Danny taking on a more powerful version of himself from the future. Seems like the included removable poster is even themed around that very episode! Let’s just hope that poster is still left intact, eh?

So first up, we’ve got a page to get you up to speed on the main cast if you’re new to the show. It’s even got some new factoids for the already familiar superfans! For example: Did you know Sam is into anime? I sure didn’t.

Oh, and if you’re wondering where series villain Vlad Masters is, don’t worry, they go over him later on in the book.

On the right you’ll find an easy if not slightly amusing word puzzle, which tasks you with solving questions where each answer contains the word boo. Simple enough for a kid while still being worth the time, methinks.

Although all the stock ghost art on the page gets me wondering, how come most of the ghosts in the show manifest as typical-looking cartoon ghosts while others manifest in a human form? I guess maybe it comes down to the strength of your spirit. Who’s to say?

You’ve met the characters, now it’s time to meet the voices behind them! I’ll always take a side of interviews with my Nickelodeon Magazine, and this is no exception. The questions are cute, and I had fun reading them. Not much to say.

So we’re finally here at the first comic of the issue, and… not really a fan of this one! Yeah, sorry to start this retrospective off on a sour note but this isn’t really doing it for me. The main villain of this one is Youngblood, who already isn’t exactly one of my favorite villains from the series. But here they’ve got him and all the other characters stuck in a pretty by-the-numbers plot where Danny and co. get stuck babysitting the brat while he tries to maim them, with them of course unable to fight back lest they face the wrath of his parents (who are humongous lizard monsters, for some reason). 

If you’re even a little familiar with cartoons you’ve probably already seen quite a few takes on this formula already. And even if you like Youngblood as a character they don’t have him doing his usual pirate shtick he’s remembered for, so I’m not sure what anyone is getting out of this, really. What's especially not helping is that this goes on for ten pages, further dragging out an already tired concept. 

So there you have it, I guess. Done-to-death story with accordingly done-to-death jokes, a lame villain, and about two pages of action. I will say though, Danny and Tucker’s babysitting poster on page 2 did get a smile out of me, at least.

You’ve met the characters, and you’ve also met the voices behind them, now it’s time to meet… the rest of the characters! The villain ones! These guys really made the show for me, cause the team behind the show really just seemed to understand the assignment and made all of them really unique and memorable.

So we can see they’ve been ranked in terms of how dangerous they all are, which is a fun idea. ‘Course you’ve got Vlad at the top of, but then there’s Technus just behind him? I can’t say I remember him being notably more dangerous than any of the other baddies, I’m fairly certain he gets swept up at the end of his specific episode just like all the rest. I’m pretty sure Valerie gave Danny a bigger run for his money, and she’s down at #3.

Woah now, I’m starting to scrutinize the power levels of cartoon characters. Cartoon characters from a show I haven’t even fully watched all the way through since I was a kid, no less. Better put a stop to that before it gets ugly.

Cool little cartoons on the left there, that one on the top right is properly devious and I’m all for it. All the art is quite lovely too.

The right is… well, it’s Mad Libs, there’s no other way around it. Y’know the Mad Libs website refers to itself as “the world’s greatest word game” but I seriously think they need to take that up with Scrabble, or hell, even Hangman. Yeah I was never a big fan of this kind of fill-in-the-blanks stuff, but I guess it’s a pretty inoffensive activity to include.

Check out Danny’s dad rocking that emo hair.

And now we’ve made it to the second and last new comic for the issue, and unfortunately it’s only a two-pager. But hey, if my thoughts on the previous ten-page comic said anything, it was that I prefer quality over quantity. And this one is… okay. It’s funny enough, does what all it needs to with the concept, and it definitely doesn’t overstay its welcome. I’m again surprised by the lack of action in both of these comics, considering Danny Phantom is an action show, after all, but it’s not like the show wasn’t a comedy either, so it’s not that weird.

I guess while we’re here I could nitpick it a bit. The lineart here courtesy of series creator Butch Hartman* is a bit wonky at times. There’s the aforementioned emo hair Danny’s dad is wearing, but my main gripe is that dog robot just doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the artstyle. It being the only new original character design for this comic as well doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me. I guess the team was fine with whatever Hartman drew because he made the show after all, so surely he knows what he’s doing, right?*

*Insert obligatory comment about how much of a loser Butch Hartman is here.

Just want to give a shoutout to this pretty creative puzzle here. It actually stumped me a little when I first read it! Those monster designs are pretty entertaining too. Solid activity overall.

Next up it’s an installment of Sam Shade, which was a short-lived recurring series in Nickelodeon Magazine. Apparently the series ran from 2002 to 2005, so this may be one of the last times a Sam Shade comic was ever printed in a Nick Magazine. 

These comics mainly consist of the titular Detective Sam Shade trying to solve some mystery, sleuthing around the area in a series of detailed, wordy scenes. Likewise, you as the reader are as well tasked with scouring the pages for clues to help deduce the culprit. Each panel here smoothly moves into the next, making for something like a Where’s Waldo puzzle but with an actual narrative. It’s a really good idea! A shame this series didn’t last longer.

Hey, is that Carl from Jimmy Neutron on the bottom right there?

Pretty nice My Life as a Teenage Robot comic here. Although that’s kind of unfortunate in a way, since that means I haven’t got much to talk about! It’s pretty much a 1-to-1 translation from animation to comic here. The artstyle and writing are both on point, it’s all just in a shorter, more paper-y format.

I wonder why the aliens’ speech bubble has flowers in it. Is that a theater reference, maybe?

The design of these fiery aliens are particularly awesome - simple but effective. I’m surprised they used such a cool design in a comic that was going to be seen by way less people as opposed to using it in the cartoon. Man, this show is so cool, even its supplementary media is stylish!

But anyway, do you want to know how this story ends? Read it yourself!

Ohh man, I distinctly remember this comic. I don’t remember what issue of Nickelodeon Magazine this one is sourced from, but whichever one it was, I had it. The story’s nothing to write home about really, It's another take on the age old tale of “Squidward yells at SpongeBob and Patrick for doing something annoying, so they inadvertently ruin his life”. Squidward must have a really good lawyer for him to be able to bounce back from all the crap SpongeBob and Pat get him into.

This version of the usual story has S. Bob and P. Rick making a cake in Squidward’s image. Mr. Krabs ends up mistaking it for the real Squidward, bringing it to the Krusty Krab, and having it run the cash register, obviously to disastrous results. It’s all pretty par for the course, and there’s some funny lines to be had.

Weirdly though, unless I’m blind, I can’t seem to find any credits for this one. Not in the comic itself or at the back of the book. I’m pretty sure the artist(s) behind this one did more SpongeBob SquarePants comics though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same writing team had a hand in them too. I distinctly remember one where all the characters turn into desserts. Or maybe it was an alternate universe where they’re all desserts? Something like that. Maybe I’ll find it and cover it on this blog someday!

And up next, it’s a Wild Thornberrys comic of all things (said with feigned surprise, having read the table of contents moments ago). And I’m just now realizing none of these comics have anything to do with ghosts, or horror, really. Quite the magazine you’ve got just in time for October, Nickelodeon!

But hey, it’s not right to judge a piece of art specifically by the context in which it is presented. Especially when it was originally published in a magazine that likely came out years earlier, probably not even around the month of October. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that, even when it comes to filling the pages of a magazine.

This comic is especially cool, anyway, as you can no doubt tell from its distinct shakeup in style!

The story has Eliza receiving some gifts from her Japanese friend, Mayumi (who was probably in the show, presumably), one of those gifts being a homemade manga. And while I’m not exactly an expert on the Japanese arts, I certainly find this art convincing and really appreciate the attention to detail. I bet any kids that were fans of manga around this time must have felt pretty seen to have one of their hobbies referenced in a rather unlikely place, and with such attention to detail no less.

One thing I can also appreciate is that this story really isn’t something they could have pulled off in the show itself (unless they studio really wanted to have an anime-themed episode and go through the undertaking of doing an episode in an entirely different, foreign animation style all on their usual budget), so overall this is a really fun idea done quite flawlessly. My only gripe is we don’t get to see a manga-styled Nigel Thornberry, but what can you do?

Oh boy, the Tak comic, cool. Now, I know these games have their fans, but I can’t say I’m one of them. I did watch the show a bit though, but I’ve heard it has nothing to do with the games, so I guess that makes me rather unprepared to tackle this two-page comic on an intellectual, researched level. I will say though that I think the Sam Shade comic from earlier pulled off this style of free-flowing, no-panel storytelling to a much greater effect. The amount of Taks they threw around the page makes it feel really busy and cramped, and they had to essentially remove the second character Tak is traveling with from the story since I guess they were strapped for page space.

But yeah, the colors are nice at least, and Tak media is especially hard to come by nowadays, so I suppose if I were more into the property, I might be more into this.

Last comic of the day, and it’s Jimmy Neutron. At least this one kinda fits the theme, I mean, aliens are almost in the same horror-league as vampires, zombies, ghosts, and all that. This is a pretty quality one to end off the book with, and in regards to Jimmy Neutron, this is one of the better ways these characters have been translated to 2D. Although the incredibly warm colors and harsh shadows throw me for a loop. Pretty good overall!

Before we wrap things up, I would like to mention that advert for The Nicktoons Film Festival on the right. I totally forgot these used to be a thing! From 2004 to 2009 Nickelodeon hosted a film festival and let viewers vote for their favorite animated short, along with letting proper animation people who know what they’re talking about vote on their favorites, too. Lots of great up-and-coming cartoonists took part in these festivals. This one in 2005 actually featured a short by J. G. Quintel that eventually was used as a basis for his own Cartoon Network show, Regular Show! You can check the short out below:

Neat bit of history there, yeah?

Even though I’m still a bit disappointed this issue didn’t include more original content, I still think this ended up being a fairly entertaining walk down memory lane. And hey, I hope you had a good time too. I’m doubly disappointed, however, that the archive of this issue didn’t come with that tear-out poster! Now we’ll never see it in its full hi-def glory.

As always, thanks for stopping by and checking out another bit of Nick history with me. Have yourself a good one, and I’ll see you all next time!

[peachyanime]

appears looking at you with autism creature eyes. hello @sangerie your vs bros fankids (one of which i had a hand in making bc. glances at the reblogs/notes in @loopyarts post. i have confessed there fskakfafsga) are really really neat .u.

SPEAKING of loopyarts ty for allowing me to take inspo for nijis kids raid suit fit!! i really liked the softer yellow and the thicker lightning bolts on his pants you gave him so tysm for letting me yoink it <3

uh uhh individual pieces and also design/character rants under the cut bc. i wanna.

RAID SUIT RAMBLING TIME bc i spent the most time on those. also you might be asking 'why is only their hair rendered in those pieces?' well the answer is because i am Lazy. moving on . (/HJHJ i AM lazy but also rendering it further would mess up the colors and i didn't wanna do that lmao. carrying on..)

Ichiji's daughter i am so SO proud of her fit. i did not look up a reference or even inspo ideas at all, that all came from the ole noggin baybeee. anyways she is obviously based off a magical girl(s) fit bc she wants and DESERVES to be. also since Reiju doesn't have any kids of her own (based wine aunt) i also decided to let Little Red have some of her motifs instead of just purely Ichiji's!! primarily the 66 on her pants but also all the pink on her instead of just red :) and obviously she has her dads number and while she DOES have a (white? bc like daddy shes a special little princess /aff) cape i didn't include it here bc it looked reallly bad lmao. but she does have one tucked into the bow probably!! there she is, Sparkling Red Neo!!! (get it.. sparkling instead of sparking... bc magical girl.... im funny i think.) onto Little Ocean Boy

OKAY LET ME TALK ABOUT THE MOST MINISCULE YET MOST IMPORTANT DETAIL TO ME AND ME ALONE FIRST. that being the symbol on the brats belt. it was actually inspired/based off of this post which really stuck with me with me after reading it which i later realized was bc the "that something has been completely reversed" REMINDED ME OF THIS POST OF YOURS. i don't think im especially good at theory crafting but. idk i think there could be Something about how after judge came and turned germa into mercenaries their symbol turned from what once symbolized 'purity' into the skull of war mongers and then BACK to purity after 0124 get germa on the right path... poetry or smthn. ANYWAYS yah shoe shiners got a pretty basic fit bc like i said in the og ask, hes a sora warrior of the sea fan, once he saw the raidsuits irl methinks he'd want to stay pretty close to the og design. HOWEVER he refuses to drop the hat (much to Niji's dismay) and i came up with a reason besides 'its one piece and therefore there's GOTTA be a kid with a weird hat that they're attached to': and that is the fact that it hides his eyebrows. Little Red has the curly brows, all of Yonji's cabbage patch does too, and the brats the only one without. even if literally no one else notices or cares, he wants to hide the fact that he doesn't have em because it Separates him. and he doesn't want that. at all. he really, Really wants to be a part of this family (oh no i made it. angsty). ANYWAYS UHH YAYYY HE HAS A TWO ON HIS HAT (that he sewed on himself which is why i made sure you can see the stitch-lines) BC NIJIS HIS DAD WAHOO YIPPEE :D:D:D Dengeki Blue Neo: little shoe shiner edition!!

UHH second image is just a refined piece of that first doodle i sent you. with lineart and a better color pallet and all. actually looking at it again now i realize i forgot little brats freckles and i am now punching the air bc its too late to fix. just act like they're there. please :,,,) edit: nvm its the next morning i fixed that kjahsdah

i don't even have much to say about the last two because i Think i am Rightgksfjgasjkfa but for the third i think the brats a bad influence on Little Red especially. ALSO FOR THE FOURTH NO I DIDNT FORGET ICHIJIS TATTOO. I AM JUST LAZY. (and I also forgot his tattoo :]) ANOTHER edit: i also. fixed this :]

CHRIST i am incapable of contacting you on Tumblr via any way that includes anything less than 250 words i am so sorry sangerie.. i hope you like these tho cause i really do tbh :3 (PS you have to take literally NONE of what I said here [mostly about shoe shiner] as like.. canon about them?? these are YOUR ocs obvi so please, change Little Red's raidsuit design if you find it unappealing!! make shoe shiner have a backstory of your own!!! i hope that isnt weird or rude to say, i just thought it was important too bc i threw sm at you so strongly ^^' okay thats all tysm for reading this it means to world to me byebye <3)

[clambuoyance]

Hi! Sorry for all the notification spamming, I just really really adore your art & the way you draw characters. It's so cool how recognizable all the characters you draw are, like their features/proportions/style idk its amazing. Do you have any tips for how to make a character consistently recognizable in drawings? Also, methinks Tim as Stray would be so much fun in a TimKon relationship, would you maybe pretty please consider doodling a bit of what you think that would look like?

Your brain is galaxy sized, your art is fantastic, and I hope you have a wonderful day<3

Ty! I’m just going to answer your first question, even though you asked forever ago 😭 I’ve drawn stray Tim before but we’ll see if I’m up for drawing it again

Anyways, as for making characters consistently recognizable, I think it helps to make character sheets.

Using my ocs for example, when I redesigned Rolin in my new style, I knew I wanted to have a very Shapey look, so I’d write notes on things such as: how the cheek should curve, what the nose shape is like or how many Fronds in his hair he should have lol

As you can see, I even have arrows indicating the motion of the lines. If you’ve seen some of my posts of my redesigns for the dc characters, sometimes you can see notes in them too. Sometimes I write them, and sometimes I just catalogue the set of “rules” I create for a character in my head.

So yeah, for further example, I knew keiko had to have softer shapes to contrast her with rolin’s personality. I can’t find it, but I have a page in my sketchbook just working out the shape of her hair, which was initially supposed to resemble a butterfly 🦋 but then I made it have boxy angles. Whenever I draw them, I guess I go through their Individual checklists in my head.

Like for rolin:

-more sharp eyes, in an almond like shape. Check

-cheek is curved but “steeper” and leads to a somewhat sharper chin. check

- I usually have to redo the nose a lot but once it’s in the right spot for me I check that off ig

Or for keiko:

- rounder, bigger, more oval like eyes. Check

- hair bangs should start a little to the left of the middle of her forehead line, then to the edge of her ear. Check

- her cheeks should be squishy and round, and she should have a smaller face with her features more closer together. Check

And so on and so on, and the character sheets help because then you get into the practice of doing those same lines over and over, and at different angles or expressions. So even though I want to stretch their face as they contort their facial expressions, I still follow the same structure and adjust accordingly to keep their form, if that makes sense, I’m not perfect at it but I like to think my designs are at least distinct from one another and consistently recognizable

And this is a recent example, which I haven’t posted on tumblr yet bc I have yet to color it, but this is me trying to explore barts design and making sure I could still make it look On Model despite the different facial expressions.

So in summary my strategy would be to

1. Sketch and explore the character design, write notes and study what lines or elements work or don’t work

2. Create a list or repository of the essential elements or a set of steps to recreate the same design

3. Practice and make a sheet where all you do is actually recreate that design over and over again, until your hand can just do it without your brain having to recall the steps one by one , if that makes sense

Of course, I like to redesign all the time as well but I try to at least capture the character’s essence 😗