#I could not decide on which colors I liked better so here is both versions

[tiny-brass-bot]

Hi! I saw a post where you had a game made in godot with old school rendering, do you maybe have any tips on how to make godot render a game like that instead of its normal rendering method?

I'd be right happy to!

I'll try to make this concise lol, I always end up overexplaining and then getting lost in the weeds. Buckle up, it's a loooooot of little little things that all add up.

First off, you should decide which look you're going for. N64 and PS1, the two consoles I'm emulating, both had drastically different specs. (plus, there's plenty of other early 3D systems I've not even touched!)

The N64 had texture filtering (textures were interpolated aka "blurry"), it had floating point vertex precision (points moved correctly), it had perspective correction on its textures (no warping)

The PS1 had no texture filtering, no floating point vertex precision (vertices snap and pop around), affine texture mapping (textures warp weird). I also think the color space they operate in is different? Don't quote me

So you can go hard one way or another or pick and choose what you think looks good! We don't have anywhere near the hardware restrictions they did in the 90s so go nuts.

RESOLUTION

To get a low resolution window, I set the window size of the game and the window override size to different amounts

In green is actually how big the window is on my screen (4k monitor) and in red is the retro resolution I want. If you set the stretch mode correctly (an option a little further down the Window tab) then it'll make the pixels big

COLORS

Now the PS1 had the capability of showing you over 16 million different colors, but it could only display 50,000-150,000 at a time, so in order to get more fidelity out of it, the engineers implemented a dithering effect to better blend the otherwise sharp edges between colors.

I used this shader to achieve the dithering effect. If you don't understand shader languages, that's fine. There are a few different pre-built ones for looking like the PlayStation 1 out there.

TEXTURES

Textures for the PS1 could be as big as 256x256, but they were typically 128x128. And they would squish everything a model needed into there usually, at least with like player models and objects and such.

As mentioned, if you're not good with shader language don't worry. There are countless resources out there that people will either let you use or teach you how it works. But I'm gonna touch on it a little bit here.

PS1 textures had no pixel filtering, so you could see individual pixels.

This is what determines that in the shader code. If you want it to look like the N64 (blurry lol), the proper hint is "filter_linear". Note that it won't be 1:1 with N64, cuz they used bilinear filtering (which kinda sucks and causes weird quirks) whereas now you'll only find linear or trilinear filtering. It's a negligible difference imo.

PS1 textures also were only saved using 15 bit color. I'm told that Photoshop's "Posterize" filter set to 32 can achieve this, but don't use photoshop if you can help it. I use GIMP, and while a newer version might have a posterize filter, or there may be a plugin out there, my version doesn't so I cluge it a little.

Change your color mode to "indexed", set color dithering to how you like it, and the number of colors in the palette to a number to get a good result. Usually I'll do 16, 8, 32, but occasionally I'll cheat and do a non-multiple-of-8 teehee >:3c

You can change it back to RGB after to make further editing easier.

LIGHTING

N64 and PS1 both implemented vertex lighting, as opposed to the more modern and (now) ubiquitous per-pixel lighting. Godot as it is right now (4.2 i think?) claims it has vertex lighting that you can set as a shader property but they're lying and it doesn't work yet.

The old consoles could only handle like, 2 lights though so it doesn't matter much.

The real star of the show, and in my opinion the one thing that makes a game most look like the 90s is the inclusion of vertex colors.

By multiplying the color of your texture by its stored vertex color, you can do all the shading yourself!

Plus you can reuse textures like crazy just by coloring them differently. The N64 also made heavy use of vertex colors by forgoing a texture on models entirely and just painting them using verticies. The only textures on SM64 Mario are his eyes, stache, hat emblem, buttons, and sideburns. Everything else is done with vertex colors.

Here you can see this level from my Crock Land with no vertex coloring, with some of the vertex colors only, and then with the two combined.

Rare loved this. Look at how colorful that cliffside is in Jungle Japes. It makes it so much more interesting than just a brown cliff face. Plus you can see the vertex coloration instead of textures at work on DK and the Gnawty.

My go-to example for PS1 is always Spyro, what a gorgeous game. All of those colors there are not made by a light or an environment. They're hand painted babey! Also! With spyro! The skyboxes are actually just huge domes made up of vertices that are colored in different ways! That's how they can look so colorful and "hi-res".

There's plenty more you can do, like adding a CRT filter or a little bit of chromatic aberration which I haven't gotten into yet.

The way I've learned all this is just by being curious as to how the old consoles did their thing, and slowly accruing the knowledge over time. There's still infinite stuff I don't know too.

I hope that helped! And wasn't too longwinded or confusing! Like I said, it's all about piling up tons and tons of little things, small details, weird graphical quirks that really bring out the retro 3D feel for me.

And I didn't even get into the modeling side of things! That's an entirely different "color-of-the-sky"-sized post though.

I'd be happy to re-explain or explain more about any of this!

[hotpinkstars]

hello hello! for the reqs, how about helping kafka get ready for one of those fancier missions? just some sweet intimacy (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

FANCY! - kafka x reader

- helping kafka get ready for a more fancy mission.

- I LOVE TJIS GN. i'm so crazy about kafka i need her to have a rerun rn!!!!! anywayssss this request is so fluffy i love it sm. thank u anon, and enjoy!!

- slight mentions of murder and theft, besides that pure fluff. wc 970

It was, once again, time for Kafka to leave off for a mission.

You’ve gotten used to this schedule, but you got to keep her a little later today. She didn’t have to be at the banquet hall until 9:00 at night, giving you two the whole day. When the clock hit around 8:00, she hurried into your shared room to put on her dress of choice. 

It was a plum colored dress, very similar to her hair. Instead of the updo her hair was usually in, she decided to leave it down, but she wanted help styling it while she did her makeup.

“Dearest, would you come here?” She called, your footsteps taking you from the other room into the bedroom.

“Yeah? What's up?” You asked, tossing your phone onto the plush bed before standing behind her. “That dress is gorgeous. Suits you well.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I just need help styling my hair for tonight. I don’t know if it should be flat-ironed or curled.”

You hummed, going into the bathroom to grab some supplies. You grabbed both the curling iron and the flat iron, taking some heat protectant so her luscious hair doesn’t fry. 

“How does flat ironing sound? I think it’ll look nice with the dress style. Pair it with some gold eyeshadow and gold jewelry, too,” you stated, running your hands through her hair, applying heat protectant.

She nodded, applying a light coat of foundation while keeping her eye on the time. “Straightening it sounds fine. I barely do it, anyways.”

So you got to work, taking fine care of each strand and going over them a couple times to make the look perfect. She was applying makeup, occasionally chatting with you about little things, or joking about her look. 

You were going over her hair a second time, making sure that all ends and pieces were not missed. 

“So, what's this mission even about anyways? Or is it top-secret?” You smiled, lightly prying. “I won’t tell a soul about it, I swear on my whole life.”

She giggled, looking at you through the mirror. “Jail worthy, as usual. But I won’t get caught. It’s to steal a jewel that Elio needs and wrote in the script. I know exactly how to be successful.”

You nodded. “As long as you don’t kill too many people… but anyways, who’s going with you this time? This seems too nice to have Silver Wolf assist you. Is it solo, or is Blade going with you?”

“Just Bladie. He’s going to be there for a distraction, anyways. I’ll throw him in the middle so everyone will pay attention to him,” she joked, pulling a laugh from you. “But, in all seriousness, he’s necessary to complete the job.”

You were still paying attention to her hair, careful not to leave any strand under the heat for too long. 

“Which gold would look better? The one from this pallet, or this one?” She held out two pallets, one with a more glittery gold, and one that’s a lighter, more toned down version that doesn’t have all of the sparkles. You took another look at her dress before picking which one would look the nicest. 

She nodded, applying the shade of choice. You liked times like this- times where you both could be with each other without conflict waiting to arise, times where she’s not trying to keep away from bounty hunters, and times where there's no tension or anxiety coursing through her veins. This was a moment of peace, where you could both drop your worries and relax for even just a few minutes (in this case, a system hour). 

“Finished! How do you like your hair?” You stepped back, shutting the flat iron off and unplugging it from the side of the wall. She ran her hands through the strands, nodding in approval before smiling at herself through the mirror. 

“It looks nice. It goes well with the dress style. Good call.”

You smiled, happy that she likes the look. You put everything back, allowing her to finish up her makeup. 

When you re-entered the room, you pulled out a couple pairs of high heels for her to pick from. There were varieties of colors- white, nude, silver, gold, black, you name it. She stood up, looking over the selection.

“If you’re going to wear gold jewelry, and you have gold eye makeup on, wear the gold pair of heels. Trust me, it will balance out everything just perfectly!” You advised. You sounded so passionate, leaving a gentle smile painted on the stellaron hunters face. She picked the heels up and put them on, spinning around in the mirror to make sure they fit nicely and feel good to walk in. 

You took some jewelry out of the jewelry box, presenting her with a couple of nice gold necklaces and rings, topped off with a pair of pretty earrings that match the same theme. She chose one of the necklaces and two rings, sliding the rings on and having you put the necklace on. She put the earrings on before toying with her hair, throwing it over her shoulders to hang off her head, spilling onto her back. 

“You’re beautiful, Kafka,” you mumbled, in slight awe of how gorgeous she looked right now. She giggled. “Thank you, dear. I wish you could come with, but it’s too dangerous. I wouldn’t want to risk you being kidnapped, hurt, or killed.”

You nodded, sitting down on the bed. The time hit 8:45, and she walked over to you.

“I better head out now, but I should be back by tomorrow morning,” She said, smiling. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Kafka,” you replied, giving her a long kiss on the lips before escorting her out the door.

[generouskittentidalwave]

Astro boy reboot, oh boy

So news of the new Astro boy reboot series broke out like WILD FIRE and as I predicted the fandom that has been waiting so long for it is very worried of how it'll turn out

But honestly

I'm actually quite hyped for it.

They removed the Miraculous creator from working on it which is a great start in my book THANK THE HEAVENS. Secondly I don't mind Astro having a girl he has feelings for at 9 as that happened in the 80s version and it was genuinely very sweet (ya know until she was found out to be a bomb and the two had to heartbreakingly seperate by her needing to be taken apart which destroyed the fandom's hearts). And he had plenty of crushes over the years so I'm not phased by it.

The only thing I hope for is that they don't make her human, because the problem with a robot child being together with a normal human child is the fact that she can age and he can't as he is permanently stuck with the mind and body of a 9 year old, so OOOO THAT RELATIONSHIP WILL BE *BAD* IN THE LONG RUN IF THEY MAKE THE RELATIONSHIP A PERMANENT THING AND NOT TEMPORARY.

Now to talk about some other things, I am actually really excited for the plot. It's a very slept on plot on the idea that Astro has to keep his robot identity secret from others to blend in as human and sometimes not even discovering he is a robot himself till later as usually unless told or shown otherwise Astro is mistaken to be a normal human child. That idea of self discovery and finding about who you are, who can from, and who you decide to be is a core trait for Astro and I find the plot as a cool way to show that.

And speaking of which, the elephant in the room. Tobio. By the looks of the plot it makes it known that Astro is gonna have the hero name be Astro when he is fighting and will most likely be called Atom by others AND I HOPE I PRAY TEZUKA GOD OF MANGA YOU BETTER HELP HERE I HOPE that they actually keep in and address the fact that Astro/robot Tobio is a robotic replacement by a father gone mad of his 9 year old dying in a tragic car accident as it's a CORE part of his character. The implication that robot Tobio has been living as a replacement in this series and is discovering himself and who he truly is by becoming Astro would be SO COOL

Lastly, the cgi, ima be honest it looks pretty decent. I like the way it looks as we could've gotten something so much worse if it was animated like Miraculous believe me. It looks bright, cartoony and colorful which ppl associate with it causing stir for it being aimed towards kids but the original Astro boy was also aimed towards kids in that same goofy cartoon style. What made it memorable was the story, the meaning, how a goofy and silly looking manga who could hold such darkness and truth and bringing to light deep societal and human issues while dealing with the inner turmoil of a boy trying to find out who he truly is beyond what he was made for. That he isn't a replacement, that he isn't just a robot. So as long as they are able or atleast TRY to hit that mark, then that's what matters to me more than the style.

In conclusion, it's just the pitch idea mind you, just a summed up concept. Everything is subject to be changed and tweaked as things get made and processed. For all we know it could end up being something completely different. The fandom has a reason to be on edge but we should be atleast a bit more open minded towards it until we see it in action it might not be another 2003 but it's definetly no 2009. And as for the ones working on it with both Tezuka productions and the fandom holding them at gunpoint over a series we've waited nearly a decade for, that better encourage them to give out one hell of a series.

Also Tenma and Oshan better be the same divorced science dads we all know and love or I swear to god-

[usagii-bun]

𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐓𝐇 ( NAMOR X READER ) PT.3

in which you find a child floating in the water and you save them only for your acts of kindness to get misinterpreted by the father who is also the king of an underwater civilization.

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST : this is a story i am writing on wattpad but my wattpad version is more in detail, slightly different and has an oc ( alora ). It has 6 chapters thus far and still work in progress if you want you can check it out with the link below or use the linktree link in my bio to access wattpad but if you feel more comfortable with x reader I'll try and get all the chapters I have currently published over here in a few days

hiraeth ( namor ) wattpad | oc version!

PART 1 , PART 2 , PART 3

TAG LIST:

@kpopgirlbtssvt @lazyassfinals @ilovehobi101 @f1uveryys @r3dc4ndy @puzzlemastersworld @namorlover @happycupcakeenthusiast @kakimakiloh @glaciuswduo @disaster-in-waiting

I hope I tagged everyone! also tysm for the support , pls do like, reblog and share ❤️

THE SKY WAS A PEACH color in the early morning. The ocean was calm, the sun that was slowly getting up from its slumber greets the ocean with its rays of light causing the ocean to twinkle and sparkle like stars.

Your eyes were still fogged with sleep but when the first ray of light entered your room, your slumber was broken— your mind instantly telling you to get up and check on Huracan.

"Hura.." you mumbled out, voice still laced with fatigue when you entered the bathroom to find that the young child was already up— gaze was lingering at the window that was across from him, staring at the sky that was slowly turning from a shade of peach-red to a blue.

"You're up, Good Morning." You say, your voice was calm with a subtle hint of fatigue , Huracan turns towards you — a lopsided smile plastered on his face, he seemed to be much better then before.

"Good Morning" the boy says out in english, his words were thick with an accent but it did surprise you, that he had picked up on basic greetings.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise." You state heading towards the side of the bath tub to check on Huracan's wounds. The boy adjusted himself in the water so that you could check his wounds, when you had peeled off the last bit of bandages a gasp leaves past your lips— the bite mark from the shark was completely healed just leaving behind a scar—such healing would take months, maybe even a year but Huracan was healed in a weeks time.

"It's gone.." you mumbled out, gazing back up at the boy that smiled at you.

 

˖࣪ 𓇬   ˖࣪ 𓇬   ˖࣪ 𓇬

After getting ready for the day and feeding Huracan and yourself, you decides to take him out— deciding that it was now time to let him go.

Your time with him was short but it was also worth every moment you spent with him.

The air was warm today, the ocean was calm— it was a perfect time to send him back. Your hand held onto his as you both walked towards the ocean, the sun being the only witness to know that you had helped and saved the prince of the ocean.

Huracan stared at the ocean, the place that was his home but he didn't want to go back yet, he really enjoyed the company you gave him— you gave him affection he lacked, even though back at home, everyone in Talokan including his father showered him with love and affection but the type of affection that you had given to him, made him feel even safer and calm— it was motherly affection that he lacked and unknown to you, you gave him that affection for the short time you have known each other.

Suddenly, Huracan let's go of your hand and runs instead towards the direction of the tidal pool— your brows knitting together as you follow him, he turns back towards you and suddenly hugs your waist— shocking you.

"Hura, what's wrong? Do you still feel pain ?" Your voice laced with worry, the boy understood the word 'pain' and could sense the panic in your voice, hugging you tightly.

"D-don't want to go back yet, stay with you for a bit." the boy stammered out in english causing you to look down at him, shocked that he could form a sentence in english and also feeling relieved that he didn't want to leave you yet, a smile forming on your face as you softly placed your hand on his back and hugged him back gently.

"Okay, I won't let you go until you feel most comfortable to but if I see that the surface is affecting you really badly, I'll be forced to send you back— okay?" You say in a soft tone, the boy understood you slightly and nods his head, letting go of you and then pulling you with him into the tidal pool causing a laugh to escape your parted lips.

This was the first time in years you had felt genuinely happy.

Little did the two of you know, that you were being watched from somewhere in the ocean— eyes trained on the both of you in worry, anger and panic.

"We should go and take him now, Namora." Attuma insists, anger boiling in his blood at the fact that you , this surface dweller had taken the young prince— after days of searching for Huracan, they finally found him.

Huracan had snucked out of Talokan— the young boy was curious about the world beyond the uderwater city but that curiousity had lead to him getting lost and also being attacked by a shark resulting in him being unconscious and floating up to the surface where Alora had found him.

The dispearance of the young prince, left an enraged king— who didn't blame anyone but himself, he was so wrapped up around the issue of the surface dwellers finding out about Talokan along with the tension that was between Talokan and Wakanda that he didn't have time to see to his son— this was his biggest regret.

Namora surveys the behavior of you with Huracan, she notices that you was not being hostile with the young prince rather you was playing around with him but something also told Namora that you could be using a façade.

"The surface dweller does not seem to be a threat , we can't just go in and kill. We must inform K'uk'ulkan first before we do anything else." Namora states and submerges into the water, Attuma was in disbelief at her words as he gives one last glance at the prince and you, a venomous glare being thrown at you before he submerged into the depths of the ocean.

˖࣪ 𓇬   ˖࣪ 𓇬   ˖࣪ 𓇬

Talokan was in despair after the disappearance of Prince Huracan. The young boy was the King's only son whom he treasured with his heart and soul, now the king was anguished in despair at the fact he may have lost his son forever.

He had sent his top generals to go and seek for the young boy one more time, in hopes of any sightings before he went on a rampage in finding his precious son. His generals were back , his heart ponding as he sees no sighting of Huracan.

"K'uk'ulkan" they both said in unison, doing the hand gestures towards their king who returned it back.

"anything?" the king's voice was rasp, his tone filled with hope and a mixture of sadness. Attuma steps forward, pressing his spear into the ground.

"We have found sightings of Harucan." Attuma states, this causes the King's body to jerk up— his heart beating faster and hope burning through his veins.

" than where is he ? "

"However, we have found that he was on the surface with a surface dweller." Attuma said, voice monotoned.

These words made K'uk'ulkan's blood boil, his face that was perceived in a calm manner twisted into an enraged one, he gets off his thrown in anger.

"What ? And did you two not think of retrieving him back?" K'uk'ulkan angrily asks, trying to push back his anger that he didn't want to throw at his people, for this anger was towards himself and the surface dweller that took his son from him.

"They don't seem to be hostile with Prince Huracan but we can not be slow as we do not know the true intentions that this surface dweller holds." Attuma states, voice gravel with caution and stoic as their King's blood boiled in anger as to what this surface dweller might do to his only heir.

"We shall leave now to retrieve him." The king announces, the two generals follow behind their king— who's mind was now only focused on the safety of his son.

PART 4

[kajilychnis]

Skrael and Mythology and Legends inspirations

Yeesss I did it for Bellroc, I'm going to do it for Skrael now! Well... we all know who Skrael is, he is a primordial demigod of cold, snow and icy winds and storms. He is sadistic and ruthless, he is a great manipulator, cunning and observant and strangely patient. He has the ideal qualities of a final antagonist, but in the series he comes across more as Bellroc's right-hand than anything else. There are several mythologies that may have influenced the creation of the character.

Of course, I'm going to talk about his Wendigo influence first because it's the most obvious and observed one. There are several similarities to the Wendigos and Skrael, firstly his black cloak which appears to be torn at the end of his cloak and with a long horned animal skull worn on his hooded head. The typical Wendigo appearance we all know, except Skrael has more of a humanoid appearance, the skull could be a wendigo he killed (potentially). But the animalized appearance of the wendigo is a creation of Algernod Blackwood in the 70s (thanks Until Dawn for this information). The true legend of the wendigos comes from the legends of the Anishinàbemiwin tribe, in these legends they were much more humanoid, skeletal with grey skin, bald, sharp teeth, terrifying and bloodthirsty/anthropophagous creatures. Which could explain Skrael's appearance under his cape and without his hood and his animal skull. However this is only physical, what could approach Skrael that is outside of physical appearance would be the fact that wendigos are associated with the sins of gluttony, greed or excess of any kind. They are never satisfied after killing a person to devour them, and they are constantly looking for new victims. You see where I'm going with this? Skrael is also power hungry, he wants more and more, he wants the world all to himself. He is also very sadistic and he likes to torment and torture mortals especially humans. So the wendigos fits him well. Aside from the fact that he seems to be a more civilized version of what a wendigo is… probably because Skrael is not just inspired by the legend of the wendigos...

This is where we come to the second part, the legend of Jack Frost. Another one that seems obvious, but I decided to start with the most obvious to the least obvious. Jack Frost is another legend that may recall Skrael, although his interpretation varies greatly between cultures and eras. In European and Anglo-Saxon legends, Jack Frost embodies the spirit of winter and frost, a mischievous being, capable of transforming landscapes into icy expanses and drawing frost patterns on windows. However, Jack Frost is not as jovial as some modern versions portray him, he is often a mysterious character, a capricious and sometimes cruel spirit, indifferent to the effects of his frost on human beings. Jack Frost is often depicted as a small elf, fast, mischievous yet innocent with a childlike character. He can also become dangerous and freeze people on the spot, if they anger him. His physique can have winter aspects: white hair, his eyes of the color blue, ice on his clothes. The two characters are very similar, much more in personality than physically. Physically we find the gel on the clothes, the blue icy eyes, the young appearance (most of the time Jack Frost is young in representations), the pale blue skin (yes Jack Frost has pale skin that looks almost blue) and the albino side that Skrael has but only on his eyelashes which are white. In terms of personality, they both are mischievous, they don't care how others might feel and they think ice/snow is better than anything. In folk tales, Jack Frost is a spirit who acts according to his own desires, without respect for humans. This indifference to the suffering of others is also found in Skrael, who sees cold as a means of purifying the world.

For the third part, I placed it here randomly, but I wanted to talk about Ymir even though there is very little to say. As we all know, Ymir is a primordial frost giant from Norse mythology. Ymir is described as one of the first beings in the universe, born from the meeting of the fire of Muspellheim and the ice of Niflheim, and he is the ancestor of all frost giants. This ancient and primordial nature is reflected in Skrael, a guardian who embodies an ancient and immutable force of winter, a power that seems to have been there since the beginning of the world. Norse mythology tells us that the gods killed Ymir and used his body to create the world: his flesh became the earth, his blood the oceans, his bones the mountains, and his skull the sky. I see this as some sort of proof that Skrael's titan is his true form and his first form, his separation from his original body makes him less strong. The giant that is Ymir must have been a potential inspiration for Skrael's titan, the fact that he is a primordial giant like Skrael is a primordial demigod titan. And the fact that they were both separated from their bodies as well, shows some resemblance between them.

Finally, I didn't think to add it in my "analysis" but… I will finally talk about Khione. Why Khione and not Boreas, the god of the north wind? Because apart from their title, their cruelty and their power I found nothing else to say about this charlatan who definitely does not know consent. To make the rest of my analysis more meaningful, I would like to warn you that I am talking about Khion from Rick Riordan's books. Like Skrael, Khione is a snow goddess, she masters snow, cold and ice. She is able to create storms, freeze objects and manipulate temperature, and she also likes to turn people into ice statues… like Skrael. Both share this feeling of indifference to human and other creatures, they are devoid of empathy, they are implacable deities, detached from human emotions and indifferent to the suffering or destruction they inflict. This lack of pity or empathy reinforces their merciless nature, each imposing cold without a soul. In Riordan's works, Khione aspires to power and the reign of winter. She is ambitious, seeking to dominate or make winter a supreme force. In a similar way, Skrael embodies this vision of eternal winter. Both want the cold to reign supreme and do not want a natural cycle where spring would return, but rather a world frozen forever under their icy control. Khione and Skrael are both beings of solitude. Khione, like a goddess of the icy heights, is distant from the world of humans and rarely interacts with them, preferring her solitude. Skrael, is a spirit isolated from any attachment and emotional warmth, he shares the same thoughts as Khione, he does not want to interact and mingle with other creatures and even less humans. There is also the connection between Khione and Gaia in Rick Riordan's universe and between Skrael and Nari which can present interesting parallels. In Heroes of Olympus, Khione allies with Gaia, the Earth Goddess, for her own ambitions of power and to bring about eternal winter. Khione sees Gaia as a primordial force that can help her impose her rule. Similarly, Skrael allies with Nari to wipe humanity from Earth and bring about eternal winter (although this is not explicitly stated in the series). Khione, though independent and ambitious, knows that Gaia is a greater power than she is, a primordial entity that surpasses other natural forces. She acts to serve Gaia's interests, even if she hopes to profit from them. Skrael and Nari are equals compared to them, but what does not change is that Skrael takes advantage of Nari, in order to achieve his goal.

The name of "Skrael" comes from Norse culture. The Vikings used the term "Skræling" to refer to the indigenous peoples they encountered in North America, including the Inuit and other indigenous groups of Greenland and "Newfoundland". In Old Norse, Skræling means "weak" or "barbarian" or "foreigner", with a connotation of "skin" or "bark", which could indicate a pejorative view. The term was often used to mark the perceived difference between the Vikings and the peoples they encountered. It is also possible that in "Skrael" there are cold or icy sounds. For example, "sk-" at the beginning of the name (like "skeleton" and "skull") may have a visual sound associated with something hard, bony, or cold.

Finally, to conclude, Skrael is an interesting antagonist even if we don't know much about him. He is ruthless, reckless, observant, sadistic and patient, the perfect antagonist inspired by legends and myths.

[immortalarizona]

“They say looks can kill, and I might try.” — Taylor Swift, “Vigilante Shit”

an outfit for my beloved Wanda if she ends up going to the 2024 Hellfire Gala (if there is one at all tbh)!! I wasn't personally a fan of her 2023 look, so I decided to try my hand at designing a look of my own despite knowing jack shit about fashion. design breakdown, inspiration photos, and just general rambling under the cut :)

main inspo:

top row: left by REEM ACRA, right by unknown

middle row: sketches by Kevin Wada

bottom row: garments by Zita Moldovan (website)

--

hehe, this is the part where I ramble about my design process!! I will confess, it took me four full sketches before I finally managed to purge the "high fantasy fairy queen dress" brainrot from my mind and arrive at a concept that actually felt like Wanda. given that as of her 2023 solo run, she's a self-employed business owner, a twist on a suit felt appropriate!! it's elegant, it's dramatic, it's sexy, it's powerful, and it's also a garment that, like, real people could wear?? which, I know this is a comic book and she also has magic, but, like. girl deserves a fit that's also reasonably comfortable. girl deserves pockets (I didn't showcase them, but the pants absolutely have humongous magic pockets.) talking fabric, I will confess that I really don't know much, but I picture the red fabric being pretty thick silk and the black fabric possibly being velvet? the shoes are beaded pretty much all over with the same crystal material as the crown.

as I continued to refine my concept, I looked to Kevin Wada's 2015 redesign for Wanda's last solo run for more inspiration. that's how I arrived at concepts such as the use of beaded accessories, floral embroidery, and especially the plunging neckline. I also knew I wanted to pay homage to Wanda's heritage without being stereotypical, so I decided to look to Zita Moldovan, a Romani designer whose site is linked above, to see how she incorporated her culture into her work. (as an aside, there's this other dress from her Romany Dreams collection that I would LOVE to draw Wanda in at some point, but that was not this project. maybe soon.) the dress I included in my (very, very trimmed down) inspo board was my primary reference as I drew the pattern for the pant part of the pantsuit. (I attempted multiple versions where the pattern was in color, but it wound up looking really muddy, so I opted for the slightly more subtle version you see here.) the pose for the final piece doesn't showcase the epaulette well (or the crown pin, which was another reference to the Kevin Wada design), so here's a bonus sketch that came out of the "design" part of this whole project that shows them both better:

anyone who has followed my art knows that I generally draw my Wanda with a high ponytail, but I decided to spice things up and draw her with a half-up like she has circa Uncanny Avengers #27 (this is when she and Jericho are being so very sweet together). the golden hoop earrings are another thing I carried over from my general Wanda design, and the makeup is just a quick thing I came up with on the fly. it's not the spiciest, I know, but I decided there was enough going on elsewhere that she didn't need a crazy makeup look as well. the full-finger ring is specifically a reference to her very first appearance in X-Men #4, where she calls upon her power by pointing her right index finger. I thought it would be cool to accentuate that finger as a result!!

and there you have it--a tribute to Kevin Wada and Zita Moldovan from an artist who knows nothing about fashion but does have severe enough blorbo brainrot to attempt to design an outfit regardless :D

shoutout to @jookpubstock for once again enabling my shenanigans :)

[gattnk]

Arkan and Temptel embody everything a guardian should be.

Here they are, everyone's favorite teachers! Hands down the most iconic and beloved adults in both the comic and series, and with good reason: this pair is perfectly balanced in terms of design and personality, so I had to do them justice with my redesigns. I'm super proud of how they came out :D

My first step was comparing the comic designs to their show counterparts. The biggest difference for Arkan was his age: he was visibly older in the series, and I'd argue this decision was made so his character design would reflect his wisdom and authority better, and I'd focus on reflecting this notion. Meanwhile, Temptel saw little to no change, and I couldn't agree more with this decision made by the show staff: don't fix what ain't broke!

Teaching is all about theory and practice: knowing the rules and testing them out. I wanted Arkan to embody theory, and in turn Temptel would represent practice; it aligns with the role of angels and devils perfectly (who in turn represent "thinking slow" VS "thinking fast", respectively). As such, I decided Arkan would look more austere and grounded compared to Temptel's impeccably chaotic fashion.

Arkan's new outfit is based on pilot uniforms to evoke authority and discipline. The trench coat, foulard ascot and Oxford dress shoes override the military coding and turn it into classy and elegant. The reading glasses convey he's prepared to observe and learn. I wanted to convey experience, wisdom and authority without incurring on the old mentor trope. In character design, there's many ways of relying the same message!

"Spooky chic" came back with a vengeance! I love me some "spooky chic", which is definitely a staple of devil fashion at this point. I synthetized the shapes and details as much as I could for the sake of serialization: if this character had to be drawn over and over again in a comic or cartoon, a simpler but iconic design would make a big difference on the long run. I know I'd be grateful ;P

Arkan's color palette is a more desaturated version of Raf's, sans the red. I added warm brown tones and a bright orange (same color as Temptel's eyes!) to contrast all the blueish grey. I chose to make his cardigan a very muted color so it would complement the lighter tones much better.

Temptel's colors are a mix of her two palettes: her skin, hair and physical features take after the comic, while her wings, horns and dress are more purple like in the show. Her silver jewelry is a callback to Sulfus as well. Lastly, Temptel's makeup is the same blue as Arkan's eyes, but with the saturation value cranked up to the max.

Random tidbits that went into the design process: despite being younger than his show version, I wanted to keep Arkan's hair color light to complement Temptel's more saturated and darker colors. While I don't think he counts as an accurate representation of real albinism/achromia, I definitely coded him that way. As for Temptel, I thought sneaking in a little treat for her was appropriate, since she's the type of teacher who mixes work with fun: it's also a nod to her sweet tooth in the comics.

I believe this will be my last redesign duo this year since I want to focus on commissions and the holidays, but I'll definitely continue working on the rest of the Golden School staff. Wish me luck and let's see what the future brings :D

I'll Fly With You (rewrite fic) Art masterpost

[wauzmons]

Please read and cast your vote!

So it's been 1.5 months now since I started migrating to the new render pipeline and I'm starting to get sick of this. I just can't seem to make Elysian Eclipse look good and consistent with how it was before the migration. This post will be a summary of the issues and a general comparison between the BiRP (old, on the left) and URP (new, on the right) version of the game. At the end you will be able to vote how we should proceed.

First we have the title screen. I think we all can agree that the old one looks much better. I already tried to make the new one shinier with a bloom effect, but it didn't make it better, just brighter...

Next we have the cell stage. I personally prefer the new one here, mainly because of the new water shader. However we can theoretically port back the new water to work with the old pipeline.

The aquatic stage has the most problems even if it's not obvious at first. In the new one, the caustics on the floor are missing and the light rays contain weird artifacts. There are pulsating ovals in them, which isn't really visible in a still image. The shadows of the kelp start to break, if you get close for some reason. I also feel like the crabfish is too saturated. Again the water (surface) looks better now, but that can be ported back too.

The creature stage looks fine in both versions imo. The sky has a glow effect, but that can theoretically be enabled in both versions and is not dependent on the render pipeline.

The color grading in the space stage looks prettier in the old one, I think. Otherwise there isn't much difference. I wasn't able to get the same planets on both screenshots, because they are random...

Oh boi. I think this one turned out really bad. The contrast seems too high and the creature looks less lively. The nugget literally lost the sparkles in its eyes... The text is also pretty fucked up. If you zoom in, you can see that all the text is really jagged in the new version...

So to summarize: The URP version has a lot of issues and even after 1.5 months of work, I wasn't able to resolve all of them. I don't even know where to begin fixing all of this and it's stressing me out.

We now have two options:

Revert back to BIRP and port back some of the improved effects like the water and skybox glow, so its available in the old version. There's also a risk that Unity won't support the BIRP in future versions. They said they will continue to support it for now, but I don't really trust them with this.

Keep trying to fix all the bugs in URP and further improve the visuals of the new version. This could potentially take months, because I have no idea how to resolve all of this. The performance also is slightly (~5%) worse for some reason.

I have been breaking my head over this to the point where I had problems to sleep. But in the end it's just a silly creature game, so I'll let you decide how we proceed with Elysian Eclipse. Please read and look at everything carefully, before >> voting here <<

[arielluva]

my creeproduction ghoulia arrived today so i decided to do a little comparison to the 2010 version!! the comparison is under the cut if you would like to read it :3

i will say that the repro is very faithful to the original, theres only a few minor differences here and there. the main differences i noticed are that the new ghoulia has saran instead of kanekalon, her cherry bralette is slightly longer, and her bag's strap is a little shorter. also i noticed their stands are slightly different colors! they are generally the same color, but the repro's stand is sliiiighty more pink-toned. sir hoots-a-lot is also less yellow-tinted now, but that could be due to age.

also! since the repro ghoulia is new, her joints are stronger and able to hold a pose better than 2010 can (since her joints have weakened over time, as well as having elastic). you can see this is the main picture, as my 2010 ghoulia's arm cant hold a pose very well. i noticed the new ghoulias knees were actually pretty stiff which is nice to see!

her bangs also are not tied down on her left anymore! both sides of 2010 ghoulia's bangs were tied down in the back, while on the repro, only her right side of the bangs are tied in the back, while the left side is free

also a face comparison! 2010 ghoulia has the looking in two directions thing the og dolls all had, and her eyes are wider and more rectangular in shape. repro ghoulia's face just looks like a more refined version of the original, no major changes :)

overall she is very faithful to the original and improves on the original doll in a good way, with better hair and better joints! very happy to have a ghoulia i feel comfortable taking off the shelf without fear of breaking her :33

[xerith-42]

I decided to watch Void Paradox

I'm about five minutes into the first episode and I'm still not entirely sure if this is a good idea or not, but Laurance has already spoken like three lines of dialogue and I felt my heart wrench at just one of them, so clearly I'm in too deep now.

This post serves as my live tweeting/mental break down that I am currently having as we speak. It is very incomprehensible because it is literally just my thoughts as they happen, and given how much I have to say, I'll probably make proper posts out of a lot of these points once I finish the series.

This mess is just giving you a taste of the madness I truly posses.

I am only three minutes in before I have to pause and feel the urge to scream about how bad the dialogue in Aphmau series can be. Like this series is fairly okay, especially based on the standard set by her other shows but man... something is just not working here. The whole thing feels very clunky and while I can get the gist of what Jess is going for, the execution of said gist is leaving a lot to be desired.

[Laurance shows up]

nevermind Laurance is on screen and fully voice acted everything is better

Literally nobody talk to me I need to scream about Laurance Zvahl because he is EVERYTHING in this series. The way he very softly says Aph's name when he sees her, the immediate instinct to hug her because he's so relieved to see her, the fact that you can hear the smile in his voice the minute he registers that she's there and alive!! AUGH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!

And I literally screamed when he revealed that he was transported to this AU right at the end of season 1. Oh my Irene, I screamed. I collapsed. I was truly defeated by a single line of dialogue. I don't know where this series is going to go but I am here for it. And the fact that he knows Garroth did it and hid it from her???

I can't overstate how genuinely healing it is to hear Laurance fully voice acted. I know Sebastian Todd is retired from voice acting, but when he retired, he took down all his posts, including what I considered to be a comfort video. That video of him reading iconic Laurance lines from before he was in mcd/lines he just didn't act? That video was my everything when I was trying to hold onto this version of the character I knew I loved who was different to what Jess made him. When that video got taken down it was a major cowabummer bc there's so little properly voice acted Laurance content that isn't mcd Season 3 or My Street stuff (and I can't stand My Street like 80% of the time)

Hearing his voice, hearing him get to be properly expressive, it's just doing things to me man. I missed this character a lot. I've mostly been enjoying him through fan content or my own work. It's nice to say I enjoy a piece of canon content involving him, at least so far.

Still not sure how I feel about literally anything else. The whole relationship between Aph and Tommy feels very... weird. She describes herself as "basically his mother" after she's left with him, and treats him like it in the opening scene. But then when he's mocking her for being attracted to Laurance (so relatable), it seems really weird for a [checks wiki] 14 year old kid to be calling out his mom for finding someone hot. Feels a lot more like sibling dialogue to me? Which I guess they could be seen as siblings, but the series explicitly stated that she views it like motherhood??? But I don't think Jess is even thinking that deeply about it, I just over analyze her work for fun at this point.

Okay what the actual fuck is going on with the inside of this house???

Why is the color scheme purple and yellow? And not in any kind of flattering way which is possible with opposite colors, it just has both of them. The wallpaper changes when you get into the living room except not entirely on the windows, and in an earlier scene it looked like it wasn't even put onto all of the walls. And the wood that she used as supports just does not compliment either of these colors as they are. Just make it all purple, you know you want to Jess.

Also is the texture on the table and the glass the same??? I don't know a damn thing about modding or making texture/data packs for minecraft but that just seems. odd.

Laurance: mentions the nether Me: [screams just a little]

Tommy: shows up and gives a random ass lore dump Aph: Kay thanks go back to your room

"I don't know what I can do to help."

"Just be there for me. I just need someone to ground me right now."

I literally want to shake Laurance around like a rag doll and give him a stupid kiss on his stupid fucking face UGH why can't I be normal about this block man and his stupid feelings?!?! The way his voice breaks as despair sets in?? The fact that he's no doubt pieced together that Garroth probably stole the amulet and plans to use it to hurt Aph and he can't do anything about it?? I'm literally losing it.

How did I not watch this series before.

Literally about to cry over him just calling Aph "M'lady" out of pure instinct. He didn't consciously do that. He just misses her that much.

oh no spooky evil alternate Laurance or whatever--

MAN I'm so happy I decided to watch this series. This was probably a mistake though :)

[lizard-shifter-noms]

Still Subject to Change Chapter 27 (NEW)

——————————————————————————-

Hello everyone! i decided to repost arc 1 of SSTC

(the chapters were way too long and had a bunch of typos but hopefully this will make reading easier)

this Story contains Vore, Dont like dont read.

if there are still any grammatical errors i’m sorry.

——————————————————————————

The last thing Oakley pulled out of the bag was weirdest of all a glowing roundish crystal.

This one actually made sense seeing as he would need light and at least that thing did not emit smoke.

I wondered if it emitted any heat though, I hoped not much.

“Hey where did the other two go? I wasn’t away that long, was i?”

Robin clumsily climbed over my arm again which wasn’t exactly necessary since he could have walked like four steps around it.

“Rikaad went back to sort paper stuff and Arthur is somewhere around the tower just looking how run down the thing is.

The winged man nodded.

“I see, and the little ginger decided to use you as a mattress I guess?”

Robin just stuck his tongue out at him.

“Eh maybe, don’t really care about that, also how the hell did you fit that much stuff in such a small bag?”

While I spoke Robin went over the said bag and peered in before managing to stick his entire arm in up to the shoulder.

“Why is it like this? There so much room? But the bag is small? Oakley?”

Him sticking his entire arm in had startled me but now he said that the inside was bigger than the bag was? How was that possible?

“Well you see, a little bit of magic woven into the fabric allows for quite a lot of storage!

Sadly it’s the only one i have as it’s quite expensive to make”

A magic bag, of course that’s what it was, Did he own anything normal?

He took the bag from Robin and stuck his tail in to rummage for something else.

Using his two pronged tail for that did make sense seeing as how wings would have trouble fitting.

It was interesting to see how he had adapted to the fact that he couldn’t do everything with his hands like most people and had instead found a way around it.

He pulled out something that looked like an oversized glass jar that was halfway filled with something teal colored and seemed to have the same viscosity as honey.

What the fuck did he need that for? Was that just medicine?

I never heard of bright teal medicine.

Robin also pointed at the jar confusedly.

“What’s that? I do like the color, what is it for?”

Oakley raised the container in the air so we could see it better.

“Basically a disinfectant, among other things, and i agree teal is a nice color”

He put the jar next to his bag and then took the rope to tie it around himself.

That confused me a bit, he probably knew i could get people out without help so why was he tying himself to a safety rope?

He must have noticed my confused stare as he told me what it was for.

“The teal stuff is basically a stronger version of what i gave Arthur, mixed with some other things as well, it WILL make you numb enough to not have control over the affected muscles for about four hours so i do need the rope”

Oh, yeah that made sense, but that meant someone had to stand at the other end of the rope to get him out, well both Arthur and Robin were here, the first of which was just coming back from exploring the tower and full of dust.

“Oh hey Oakley!”

He waved to the winged man who stared back.

“Perfect timing! I will need your help! You just need to hold the other end of the rope here!”

He tossed said end to Arthur who scrambled to catch it out of reflex.

He looked thoroughly confused.

“Wh- wait what do you need the rope for? The hell are you going to do?”

Oakley wasn’t really paying attention to him though and instead picked up the stuff he needed which included the glowing crystal, the weird box and the jar with the teal stuff.

While Oakley did that Robin was messing with the bag by sticking his arm in again, likely to test how deep it was.

After that he even stuck his head in, probably to see if he could make out anything visible.

He pulled it out quickly though and I wondered what else was in there that he had that reaction.

Maybe he saw something spider shaped and noped out.

Then Oakley had everything ready.

He was holding the glowing crystal with his tail and the rest was secured in either his pockets or his hands, The cloak he usually wore was abandoned off to the side.

So that meant the only thing to do now was-

Eugh, my least favorite part of this, Oakley had wings, and a tail, What if I damaged them?

What if one of those appendages got snagged on my teeth?

Oakley didn’t seem to have any concerns though, he was just standing in front of me expectantly.

My brain blanked on what to do for a second before i remembered, right, Oakley was gonna fix the stitches and to do that he had to get to them.

But I wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed, he was only mostly human shaped and I didn’t know what to do with the wings.

Should I tell him to tuck them close?

Or to have them spread out at his side so he’d be slimmer?

At this point he seemed to know what to do better than I did as he tucked his wings very close to his body and wrapped his tail around one of his legs.

“Well, open up big guy, no use wasting time now!”

My brain was still blanking on a lot of things but I simply did as told.

Lowering my head to the ground I opened my mouth wide enough for him to fit, and to my surprise he climbed right in, no fear or hesitation whatsoever.

Also having someone willingly climb into my mouth like this was extremely weird and i was not sure if i liked it.

And strangely enough he tasted of sawdust which did not make it better, At all.

Overall it wasn’t awful but i couldn’t say that i liked it either, frankly i just wanted this all to be over with.

Oh, wait, technically I had to swallow now but my mind was still a bit slow.

That changed when Oakley punched the dangly bit over my throat, the Uvula was it called? Causing me to swallow against my will.

Apparently he’d gotten impatient with me and decided to just go ahead.

At least he didn’t have feathers.

Yeah, now I was sure I didn’t like this, at least not when it was Oakley.

I just about stopped myself from coughing and instead swallowed again, feeling the safety rope that Arthur was holding slither over the groove of my tongue.

That was an uncomfortable feeling as it was like there was something stuck in my throat when it wasn’t.

At this point I just wanted it to be over with as fast as possible so I swallowed again and again till the odd shaped lump was all the way down to my pouch.

Oakley ‘dropped’ in with a weird squelching sensation and then I could feel him right himself, wings relaxing a bit and tail unfurling.

I kept as still as possible and was only breathing shallowly so I wouldn’t disturb him.

I still didn’t know what exactly he was going to do or what he needed the box for when he had the teal stuff but i was not about to fuck things even more up by moving.

So I sat still except for one of my paws which opened and closed repeatedly and dug grooves in the ground while Oakley seemed to get ready to do whatever it was he planned to do.

Arthur was just silent, holding his end of the rope and staring at the ground while Robin had started making flower crowns again with the daisies that grew around the tower.

Then there was an awful sensation, like Oakley had just ripped one of the stitches out by force.

“YOWCH! Oakley! What the hell was that?!”

And my pained shout Arthur almost dropped the rope and Robin did drop the flowers he was working on.

Then Oakley answered with a mildly muffled voice.

“Just as I thought! The flesh around the stitches started to grow over them! the sooner i remove them the better”

Grown over the stitches?! Grown OVER the stitches?! What the fuck!

I didn’t think that could happen, or at least not so fast.

Ughh why me? I only tried to help and now I was stuck with a possible infection risk and the stitches literally melding into the lining of my pouch.

There was another painful twinge that signaled Oakley had just ripped another stitch out and I dug the claws of my free hand into the ground.

A smaller hand suddenly grabbed my paw and I looked over to see Robin holding onto my fur.

I relaxed the tiniest bit until Oakley ripped another one out and I growled in a low tone.

The sound surprised even me as i didn’t know i could emit such a noise, And it had been completely involuntary too.

Worried that the sound had scared the smaller men, I looked at them.

Arthur seemed to just be surprised and Robin moved to hug my hand.

Well, it was possible that they had mistaken it for a sound of pain.

It kinda was if I was honest, and as long as they weren’t scared I could deal with it.

Oakley yanked another stitch out and since Robin was hugging my hand I couldn’t even dig grooves into the ground anymore to distract myself.

And I didn’t dare move the other arm out from underneath me.

There was the sound of a quiet and dull impact behind me as well as signals sent to my brain that indicated that my tail had hit a tree.

Since I couldn’t use any other limbs to fidget it seemed my tail had just started to swivel from left to right like that of an agitated cat.

Sure, whatever, I could deal with that, and there was at least one limb I dared to move now.

Robbin was still hugging my paw in an attempt to be comforting.

It kind of was even, his hands were warmer than the ground so that was something better to focus on than Oakley doctoring around.

I managed to just about contain a flinch when Oakley ripped yet another thread out.

How many were even in there? He had to be done soon right?

Another was ripped out and the hair on my back stood up.

Robin had at this point started to absentmindedly pet the upper side of my paw, it was strangely soothing, and way better than whatever the fuck Oakley was doing.

He had to be done soon right? I wanted him out of there, also-

“Oakley didn’t you say that the teal stuff numbs?

What the fuck are you doing?”

He answered almost immediately while ripping out yet another stitch.

“Well yeah, the ‘teal stuff’ numbs but it also accelerates the healing process by a lot, so if i put it on first the stitches would get stuck more and you don’t want that”

Oh so that was why, fuck me then, just sitting here with a weird Fae fucker abusing my insides even more.

I let my head sink onto the ground with another pained sound as he ripped yet another string out.

“How many of those are even there? Please tell me you’re done”

There was a brief weird numbing sensation that spread from where ever the fuck he applied the teal stuff.

“Almost, this one is done now to the other stab wound!”

The other one? Ohh nooo come on, How many stitches had Rikaad put there in the first place?

At least one was done now, and numb as fuck which i was actually glad for.

“Oakley? How many stitches are there anyway?

Please tell me it’s under ten”

“Well the first one had six, this one has four, So brace yourself, I’m going to remove them now!”

As soon as he said it he ripped out a stitch in the other place that got stabbed.

This time, now that I had a warning, and being used to it from the other stitches he pulled it was a bit less awful.

Still horrible and painful though.

While I tried my best not to move Robin had slunk away from my hand and was now next to me.

He ended up hugging my shoulder a good bit away from my throat or anything connected to it.

“Are you okay? What’s Oakley doing?”

”I’ll be fine, as soon as Oakley is done ripping the stitches oOOUT, Dammit Oakley, give a warning!”

While i Answered Robin Oakley had ripped another stitch out, catching me by surprise.

I really wanted this to be over with but at least there were only two more to go through.

I huffed in displeasure and glanced at Arthur who had sat down on the ground and was fiddling with his end of the rope.

I wasn’t the only one that wanted this to be over with apparently, He looked bored and unsure of what to do.

Well he couldn’t exactly help Oakley or me with this stupid situation.

The best he could do was keep holding the rope and then do whatever Oakley said.

Which was hopefully soon, I wanted him out of there and the rope hanging down my throat did not make it any better.

On top of that the stupid rope tasted like dust and I really wanted to spit it out.

Not to mention that it dug into the groove of my tongue uncomfortably.

Oakley ripped out yet another stitch, making me lash my tail against the trees behind me.

One more to go and then I was done, at least I hoped so.

By now the numbing effect applied to the first wound had helped a lot even if it did feel weird.

Or not feel? Whatever the case I couldn’t feel anything there right now, no pain but no touches from Oakley either which was kinda eerie.

He said it numbed for about four hours right?

Well I could deal with that as long as it was healed afterwards at least.

Finally Oakley ripped out the last stitch and then applied more of the teal stuff, now making the entirety of my pouch numb.

It was clear why he tied the rope to himself for this.

I couldn’t feel anything in my pouch anymore and I wasn’t even sure if my muscles would obey me now.

Yeah, the rope was a good call on his part.

As uncomfortable as it was for me it did serve a purpose.

Said purpose being that Arthur could pull him out with it.

“Heya! I’m done, so tell your blonde friend to tug at the rope and get me out!”

Finally! The entire ordeal had been awful and I was glad it was bound to be over in a minute or so.

“Hey Arthur?-

He looked up at me.

“- Oakley wants you to pull the rope and get him out, just please be careful that thing is literally IN my throat and having rope burn there is not something i want”

He gave a thumbs up and gripped the rope.

“Sure, brace yourself i’m trying to go slow, if you want me to go faster tap the ground or whatever”

I nodded and then lay down again to make my throat as straight as possible and minimize the choking risk.

Robin ran up to be behind Arthur and grabbed the piece of rope that was splayed on the ground behind the blonde man.

Then Arthur counted to three and started pulling.

It wasn’t fast but it wasn’t agonizingly slow either, It was a steady rhythm of pulling the rope and then gripping the bit in front of it to tug more out.

At first it was just more numbness but the more they tugged Oakley out the more I could feel that there was indeed something in my esophagus.

At this point instead of gripping more rope as he went he was just walking backwards, likely to avoid the parts of rope that had been drooled on.

I wasn’t really to blame for that one though, having something dry in your mouth just gave that response, not my fault at all.

Oakley was at this point halfway up and blocking my windpipe.

Good thing I had remembered to take a breath beforehand, and that I could hold said breath for about five minutes.

Feeling the wet form of Oakley slide into my mouth I wasted no time in leaning forward and letting him drop to the ground.

I immediately began coughing as the rope had irritated my throat the entire time and I was really glad that it was finally over.

Even if it felt weird to - well not feel i guess?

True to Oakleys word the entirety of my pouch was numb and would stay as such for about four hours.

Well, still better than before, and Oakley had brought all of his stuff back out so I didn't have to worry about that either, I flopped to the ground where I was and ended up kind of on my side but not really on my side.

Robin immediately took advantage of that to bury himself in the exposed fluff with an adorable squeak.

Glancing over to what Oakley was doing I saw Arthur handing back the slightly damp rope and Oakley tossing said rope into one of the broken windows of the tower.

Well that was one way to get it dry, probably.

whatever, not my problem.

Now I barely had any problems anymore, sure there was still the Fae hating thing, but Rikaad was working on fixing that.

For the first time in forever there was nothing wrong and I could just relax.

That was weird as fuck.

I decided to enjoy that blessing for now.

Just then Oakley came over, ughh, was there something else i had to do now?

“Say how are you? It is numbing as intended right? I just want to make sure i used enough and that there’s nothing else wrong now”

So he was checking up on his ‘patient’, well That was nice of him.

“It’s numb as hell, I don’t feel anything there so I’m pretty sure you used enough of that stuff, though it’s eerie to not be able to feel a part of my body.”

He just nodded in acknowledgment.

“Well if you need anything else i will sweep all the dust out of my new house! You might want to move though unless you fancy a dust shower”

A dustshower was not something I wanted, and I could somehow imagine that Oakley would use his wings to blow the dust out of his house like some oversized bird.

He was an oversized bird, at least in my opinion.

I ought to get a nice and shiny rock to test just how birdlike at some point.

I stood up which felt a bit weird due to the numbness in my core but since i didn’t fall over i didn’t care.

Oakley was now dusting his new place, So where else on the castle grounds could we go?

Aside from the shed and the tower I didn’t know any places, if there even was more aside from plants.

Eh, I could just chill between some of the plants then, as long as I didn’t destroy them I doubted that anyone would care.

Maybe Barsen, but he was who knew where right now.

A tiny hand grabbed at the arm that had the bracelet and I looked down to see a mess of red hair.

Robin was tugging me in a random direction, Well exploring was also something to do.

So I started to slowly walk in the direction he wanted so as to not trample over him.

Maybe we’ll find something cool?

Arthur joined us even if he didn't hold onto my arm like Robin did.

“Well, where to? Just randomly walking or?”

He shook his head.

And while passing the tower I looked into one of the windows and saw a familiar compass laying on top of a broken branch.

Rikaad must have returned the one Oakley gave us while he was here.

“I wanna go along the cliffside!

Like why don’t they have a wall there? Maybe we’ll find out why!”

“The cliffside? You sure? That seems dangerous, and i’m not keen on falling off of THAT”

Arthur interjected, and to be fair he was right.

It might very well be that there used to be a wall but it just fell down into the ocean.

I wouldn’t get too close to the edge in case the ground there was brittle.

Falling to my death after all this would be really fucking dumb.

“I mean we can look but i’m not sure how stable the ground there is, What if it breaks off? As Arthur said i’m also not keen on dying”

“We don’t have to get close! I just wanna look! Like the window in the castle!”

For a second I could have sworn that Arthur’s face went a bit green.

Well, not my problem if he had vertigo, poor Arthur though.

“Well I think that’s fine? But i’m not going to get as close as you are, Im bigger so the floor might just break off”

“Yeah, Donovan’s right, don’t get too close!”

Robin stuck his tongue out at Arthur and then kept dragging me as best as he could forward.

“It’ll be fine! I’m not gonna fall, I promise!

I’m not gonna stand directly on the edge! I'm not that dumb!”

I hoped he was right, but it was just for the sake of curiosity so what’s the worst that could happen if we were being careful.

As long as we kept a safe distance to avoid falling it should be fine.

Somehow I had the feeling that Arthur wouldn’t get anywhere close at all.

Oh well, then i had to make sure nobody got too close to the drop then.

Ducking under a low hanging branch we breached into free space.

Yep, there was the aforementioned drop down to the ocean.

How tall was it anyway? Then I saw something that made my heart, the working one anyway, stop for a second.

Barsen was plucking out weeds and the like while only holding onto a branch from a walnut tree.

He was basically hovering over certain death and did not even blink.

Did that guy know what Fear was??? By the looks of it not.

Still, screaming at him to get away from there might startle him into letting go.

So talking normally would have to do.

“Barsen? What are you doing?”

The other two seemed to only now notice there was someone else and gave surprised and worried noises.

“Oh what the hell man, get away from there! You’re gonna fall!”

Robin hid behind my arm again as if that would help the situation.

Barsen just looked up and waved with a handful of weeds while hanging on to that one branch.

“Hello! Don’t worry, I’ve done this a thousand times before, I’m not going to fall! I'm almost done anyway”

He stuffed the plants into a pocket of his work pants and climbed up the walnut tree’s roots back to safe ground.

Brushing Dust off he walked over to us.

“Nice to see you are all well! What do you think of the garden?”

I just stared at him for a few seconds as he acted like he hadn’t just hung over a multiple hundred feet high drop to death.

Then his question registered in my brain.

“Oh, I think it’s really pretty!

It doesn’t seem to cluttered with random flowers either i like that”

That was true, the noble gardens I had seen before all seemed to be stupid tryhard in comparison to this one, This was more subtle and not filled with eye bleeding bright flowers next to even more oversaturated stuff.

PREVIOUS / NEXT / OVERSIGHT

[bonefall]

just read that briarlight from your rewrite doesn't only have her thing with Millie and her inappropriate behaviour (at least from what I got) BUT also has strained relationship with graystripe,which I think is interesting concept 👀 could we get more detail on that ?

Sure thing! I don't plan to completely eliminate Millie's inappropriate behavior, but her abelism is treated as abelism by the narrative.

Graystripe is not allowed to get off blameless here; he should have protected his daughter. But he didn't. Briarlight has complicated feelings towards the fact that her dad didn't help her when she really needed him.

I actually really like Graystripe as a character so this matters a lot to me; the narrative treats him like he's a perfect being when he's an extremely complex guy. Graystripe does what he wants to do, and is a passionate and loyal person, but how would he decide between telling his mate to back off, and protecting his daughter?

I don't think he can decide. Siding with one could mean losing the other, and after what he's lost, he can't do that. So instead he does nothing, trying to play 'Both Sides', and just ends up alienating both.

Briarlight

Around the time of Bramblestar's Storm, ThunderClan is working on a better mobility device for her that will allow her to get out of camp, on more types of uneven terrain. I plan for Jessie to actually be the one who finally figures this out, a proper kitty cat genius of engineering, using that blanket they salvaged to help prevent chafing.

Here is a mouse drawing in paint lmao, it is a modified version of @cryptidclaw's Briarlight design, which I asked for their permission to use!

[ID: A drawing of a paraplegic cat, Briarlight, from Warrior Cats. She has a furry 'mullet' mane and a mobility device in three colors. There are green rings around the neck, hips, tail and back legs labelled 1, a blue blanket stretched over the belly labelled 2, and a red bark sled under the immobile legs marked 3]

The rings are made of twine of some sort, with the blanket sewn into the ones on the neck and legs, with the ones on the hips looping around the sides of the bark sled

The blanket prevents thorns and rocks from scratching her body; very important because if they were caught under her legs, she would not feel the pain to know it needs to be removed else cause infection

The bark sled is the only part that touches the ground, to prevent wear to the blanket and prevent it from getting ripped up too quickly. (oops I drew it too short lmao it should reach as far back as the paw)

This version is an improved model of the one that Wildfur used and made the entire TNP journey with; his would look very similar to Cryptidclaw's initial design (For the record it is the best mobility device for a paraplegic warrior I'd ever seen and they deserve a ton of credit here, I just improved some technical aspects of their design!)

ANYWAY back to discussion of abelism

So around this time, Briarlight finally sets a hard boundary with Millie. Her mom can't respect her, makes her feel horrible about herself, can't appreciate this incredible new mobility device, so finally Briar says, "Do not talk to me until you understand that my life isn't a tragedy!"

I think this actually does make Millie reconsider what she's been saying and doing to her kids, but fixing the relationship from this point is slow and gradual. Graystripe also gets caught in this; I'm thinking it was a sort of, "honey please speak to your mother," "Dad if you keep that up you're getting cut off too" situation.

Thankfully there's going to be plenty of time to do it since I'm not letting Briarlight die in AVoS. She survives AT LEAST until TBC, where her outspokenness against Bramblefake is going to put her in danger.

[1800naveen]

Fancasting.

Me when I see mfs fancasting Henry Cavill to play Rhysand (leave that white man alone😭):

I was scrolling through reels a couple of weeks ago and saw this lady doing a interview with him and she mentioned that he's "popular" as a fancast when it comes to booktok and apparently, he knows it and doesn't see to mind it? (I'm trying my best to recall it so bear with me)

He has good book recommendations (saw this Tik Tok of him talking about Brandon Sanderson so I can trust him on that, heard nothing but praise when it comes to Brandon) and I doubt that Sarah is a genre for him. Anyone can read what they want but he doesn't give that vibe to me, y'know? I could be wrong but eh.

He's also a smart guy and seems to have critical thinking. So imagine if he decided to pick up Acotar, reads the first book, and go "what the fuck? And people root for this guy?" Just to find out that he's a popular fancast for Rhysand.

What's the chokehold this man has on booktok? I can't lie because he got me in one to (he can literally choke me- I'm sorry y'all)

I've seen fancasting him for Rowan Whitethorn in Throne of Glass which I don't mind but what I do mind is when PEOPLE TAKE GERALT AND CIRI TO FANCAST AS ROWAN AND AELIN!

YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT, LADIES AND GENTS. @viktoriaashleyyx I don't know if you're aware of it but if you are now, sorry you had to find out this way🙏🏾

THE GIANT ASS AGE GAP BETWEEN ROWAELIN IS WILD BUT AT LEAST, THEY'RE BOTH ADULTS. YOU ARE TAKING A FATHER AND DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP FOR YOUR FAVORITE SHIP?

Have y'all even watched the witcher or read the books because it's clear that you haven't.

Here's the wiki for Ciri (Netflix's version)

I can understand why people would take Ciri/Freya Allen and cast her as Aelin.

Ashen-grey hair

Emerald green eyes

A princess and heir to her kingdom, Cintra

Aelin:

Golden blonde hair

Turquoise eyes ringed with gold

A princess and heir to her kingdom, Terrasen

But there's a catch. Take a look at the family section of her wiki.

You get why it's weird and (let's be honest) controversial to fancast these two as a couple in another series?

Now, I can't talk as I take Geralt as a fancast for Maegor Targaryen (The Cruel) but they do fit. White hair, big, buff, and tough warriors, mommy issues (Sorry Maegor), and they're infertile (Maegor isn't confirmed to be infertile but he always failed to have a kid so....). The only difference is that Geralt is a good lover (If I can recall correctly) and has a kid despite not being his own flesh and blood. (Hell, I might use Yennefer as a fancast for Ashara Dayne.)

And can you imagine how some people will react if a white guy was casted as Rhysand?

Can you imagine how some people will react if a man of color was casted as Rhysand?

Either way, it's a shitstorm. The better and possibly the safest solution is casting a Mediterranean actor.

Anyways, I made this during the night and now, I'm tired. Take care and don't take this post to heart or take it too seriously✌🏾

(Share your thoughts if you like but no arguing, fighting, etc).

[unrepentantgeek]

So we all agree Wish is awful and the original concept would've been leagues better. There are probably dozens of posts and video essays talking about it from every aspect about the things wrong with the writing, AI graphics, & music. All probably from a proper, professional &/or academic viewpoint. But here's my two cents on what's wrong from a viewer's perspective of the story.

A large part of it is pacing. Right from he beginning whoever decided to nix the original concept got that wrong.

First, it went straight from the opening song to the talk with the Asha's friends before her interview. No proper introduction to the city/island, no showcasing of Asha's ambitions or their origins. No hinting or foreshadowing that something was wrong. During said talk, the lack of focus or comparison- not even with a flashback- made the bit about how the friend who's turned 18 changed fall flat. Heck, as far as I can see they tried to play it off for laughs as if they wanted him as comic relief.

Jumping a little here. First, they could've been more clear about why Asha was so shocked her family wasn't on her side and why they have more faith in their king than her. Then there's the musical number "you're a star" and its scene don't fit in at all. They match the tone the goat sets once it starts talking but it's so out of phase with the rest of the movie it's like a fever dream that just doesn't fit and tries and fails to be a proper Disney style musical number.

Then after that once Magnifico has realized something is up. He was pretty close to going from 0-180, or flat out did. They fail to really portray why he's the way he is, why he's so angry, why the star is such a threat to him. They didn't even really show or say why the citizens would continue to believe in him or why they might believe Asha or at least take Magnifico's side of the story with a grain of salt. Also there's no evidence showing that Asha is right, and the first real sign Magnifico really is a villain is his use of the dark magic book and stealing people's wishes for power.

For the final pacing issue, making Asha heck fairy godmother was kinda out of the blue even looking at the scene in the forest for her ruse. And I'm not sure it made sense.

But the most problematic, damning pacing issue of all is actually the second one- the interview and wish granting ceremony. You can't make Magnifico the male lead for a platonic "At All Cost" scene/musical number, two seconds later make him seem unclear and petty in his reasoning for not granting Asha's grandfather's wish and failing to emphasize where the problem or lack of problem lies in granting wishes. Then make him petty and passive aggressively full on secret villain in the wish granting ceremony scene and have Asha desperately basically straight after. (My solution? Either be slower and more clear in showing Asha Magnifico is a villain, or make him the opposite of her expectations right from the start.) Honestly making Magnifico the male lead for the At All Cost number at all is a mistake unless he's not a villain at all; a 'slow reveal beyond the audience being in on it' villain, or a twist villain you spend at least half the movie trusting.

On a similar note, there are inconsistencies which could have been solved by choosing solidly between making Magnifico a twist villain or making him an obvious flat out villain. The latter can be done while still having shock at the display of the villain's true colors, but instead it kinda seems like they tried to make Magnifico both kind of villains at once.

None of this is helped by how ever since the bigwigs killed the 2D animation department after Treasure Planet and Atlantis Disney has had a habit of mocking or flat out insulting nearly everything that used to give Disney movies their magic.

All in all, I'd say there's three versions of this story. There's what we *did* get, a soulless cash grab. There's the story I bet Disney *meant* to tell, which could have been compelling with better pacing and writing. (I give some insight and hintson how this could've been done in my views on the pacing) Then there's the original concept, which I bet could've truly been a tribute to what made Disney movies great.

[bluegekk0]

26, 24, and 23 for holly + fpk

i'll go in order

23. Favorite picture of this character?

hmm, are we talking in game picture or a drawing i made? if it's the first one then there's not much to choose from, especially for pk (hell, since this is about fpk specifically, then that doesn't really exist haha)

so i'll pick something from my art folder i guess. i hope it doesn't reach self-absorbed territory, i'm always a little afraid of that

for holly, i think i'll have to go with the modern au pic (and also the reference sheet drawing since i reused the pose)

i'm very happy with it cause i think it really fits them. relaxed but slightly hunched over, as if the head is too heavy to hold it up. for the modern version specifically i'm just really happy with the outfit, once again i think it suits them and i like the colors i picked

for fpk, it's gotta be one of these two, i can't decide which one i like more but they're very similar in concept

something about seeing him on tree branches scratches my brain in just the right way. i still like the way i drew his tail in the first one, and the second one is just the right kind of aesthetic for me. i often see similar photos to this, with the moon behind a silhouette of a wild looking animal, and i want to draw something inspired by it. but then i have to remind myself that i already did haha

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

i'll start with fpk cause it's the easiest one for me. both the doctor and rory from doctor who give me fpk vibes very often. rory especially with his awkward tired personality, it's the main reason why i picked him for fpk's voice, it just fits. the doctor, specifically 10 and 11, are a bit more complicated. the autism coded traits they have are very fpk, though a lot of the more emotional moments related to losing others, living for so long and loneliness are a lot more grimm core to me. so i guess rory would be the more obvious one here

holly... yeah i don't know, really. they're a very unique type of character, and i can't think of a single one that reminds me of them 😭 i'm sorry

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

oh uhh. i guess that means i can talk about anything i want? hm

i've been thinking about the little speckles of void in fpk's blood and how that could relate to holly. i guess it all depends on whether it would leave his system after some time, or remain there. i'm gonna go ahead and say that it stays there, but the amount of it is so tiny it doesn't really impact him in everyday life. maybe it could amplify his negative feelings? though since there's very little of it in his body, maybe it wouldn't be enough. but i do like the idea of it making him more responsive to holly's void, in particular the noise it makes. he'd already be able to hear it better than others since his hearing is very sensitive, but maybe the void in his organism would make it even more obvious? like, maybe there are certain frequencies only he can hear because of it? i'm not sure how that would work, or if it's even going to be a thing i nthe au, but i figured i could share my thoughts anyway

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

Observations on the Hollow Mind Portraits

Rebecca Rose has answered my wishes today by releasing HD versions of the portraits used in Hollow Mind. Here are some things I noticed:

They're churning butter <3 This is one of the pictures we saw more clearly, so there's not much to say here. Liddol bois <3

Another picture we've seen pretty clearly in the episode. Someone's already noticed that the rope trap Phillip sets to catch Caleb looks kind of like the one he set in Hollow Mind to catch the palisman monster. Parallels, I guess.

Here the boys are getting ready for a witch hunt. Again, we've seen this. The expression on Caleb's face seems more aggressive than Phillip. Guess he's older and therefore understands what the witch hunts mean better.

These boys only have one shirt and one set of overalls. Judging by the rip on Phillip's overalls, and the fact that they each only have one strap, I guess it's an indication of how poor they are. How did they even manage to get a house on their own? I doubt little boy Caleb could have built it himself. Must be an already vacant house or the townsfolk did chip in because they can excuse hanging innocent women but god forbid these two boys be homeless.

The brothers are older in here. They still have similar hairstyles, but their proportions definitely look less "baby." Phillip still has the same overalls, but Caleb either got new ones or got a new strap for it at least. They also got new boots. While in the previous picture of a witch hunt, the brothers were playing with sticks while the adults did all the work, here the brothers have a torch and a pitchfork and are going with the adults.

We can't see Phillip's face, but it's notable that Caleb looks both excited and malicious here. It's not either of the brother's faults that they were indoctrinated into a puritan society where witch hunts are okay. But this does indicate that Caleb wasn't as horrified by the witch hunts as fanon makes him out to be. I like that. I like the idea that the brothers both started out as bigots, a byproduct of their upbringing. The difference between Phillip and Caleb is that Caleb decided to change when given the chance. Phillip didn't.

We also saw this one pretty clearly but here's some more detail. They look even older here. Phillip no longer has the buttoned shirt, I think? And if this takes place right before the next picture, then Phillip has tied his hair into a ponytail as well in this scene. Plus, Caleb was holding a torch in the last witch hunt, but now he's holding a pitchfork. So this is probably a different hunt. Moreover, Evelyn's fire looks like it has a purple-pink hue? Maybe that's just the color palette.

And here it proves that Caleb entered the Boiling Isles through the gate in the graveyard. From what I can see, part of it was also a lake back in the 1600s, though it was definitely more flooded in Thanks To Them. While Caleb is rushing in, (which is definitely reminiscent of the scene where Luz entered the portal door) Phillip seems to be lagging behind.

If this is the first time Phillip entered the Boiling Isles, then there was definitely a timeskip between this picture and the last. His hair is longer, he looks older, he has a bag and a journal, and he's wearing a whole new outfit. This looks like part of the outfit Phillip wore in Elsewhere and Elsewhen. He isn't wearing his brother's jacket, though, but he may be holding it with the arm that isn't shown well in the picture. I guess after Caleb ran through the portal, it closed and Phillip was trapped on the human side? And somehow, he managed to go through the portal again after a timeskip. He still looks young here. But more like in his late teens than early teens like in the last few pictures.

Not sure what order these pictures should have come in, but this happened a lot later than the last pictures. Phillip's hair is already fading from brown to blond. Perhaps a side effect of palisman magic? Or maybe he's just graying weirdly.

I've seen people point out this picture as Phillip misremembering "Luzura and Dirtrude" but now that we have more detail, they...really don't look like them. They're wearing nothing remotely similar to what Luz and Lilith wore in that episode. Plus, they both have their palismen. The only similarity is that one is tall with black hair and the other is short and has brown-ish skin. But they're both obviously demons. I assume these are just some followers he's trying to brainwash.

(Also, it's funny that they had black garbage bags even in the 1600s in the Boilins Isles lol)

Phillip is going Sonic the Werehog on Caleb and his wife! I guess this means Evelyn did have brown hair. Unfortunate, because I kind of wanted the Clawthorne sisters to have inherited their red hair from Evelyn. Also, it looks like both Caleb and Evelyn were in possession of The Hair Skrungly. I wish Eda and Lilith also had it.

This one's also really commonly talked about. Nothing much to add here just Phillip being outraged that his bro is slutting it up with a hot witch I guess.

This one's also commonly talked about. What I'm unsure on is when all this happened. Phillip's beard is around the same length in the last few pictures so I assume at around the same time. But then, what? Did he see his brother with Evelyn and get mad, making the curse flare up, and after Caleb hugged it all out of him he left, only to come back later to kill Evelyn? Or did his curse flare up during the fight? I love those angsty fanarts where Caleb's trying to hug Phillip only to get stabbed. Also, why is Evelyn facing her husband, not Phillip? This is commonly thought to be Caleb trying to introduce his wife to his brother, so it would be weird for her to stand like that if that's the case.

:((((((((( But also, where are they? Are they in Caleb and Evelyn's house? Why are they in a forest later, then? Maybe I just read too many comics of this scene where Caleb died in his house. They've probably been in a forest the whole time. But now that we have more detail, Phillip is very clearly not looking at Caleb, but to the side, where Evelyn would have been standing previously. Guess it's pretty much confirmed that Phillip wasn't trying to kill Caleb, but Evelyn. Also other people have mentioned this but Caleb fighting his brother to save his wife, using the knife he used to carve his brother's mask???? :'''''''')

Again, when did this happen? Looking at it again, I feel like Phillip isn't even cursed at this point. At least, the curse isn't flaring up here. He's not goopified at all like in the show. You can even still see his sleeve. I think here, and the other picture where he looked like this, are just him looking extra demonic bc of how much he wanted to kill Evelyn. The picture where he's charging at Caleb and Evelyn looks like the background is on fire. And the couple is even positioned the same as the picture where Caleb is trying to "introduce" Evelyn to Phillip. Phillip wasn't out of control due to the curse in here, I don't think. It's lighting, plus dramatic effect that he looks like this. He found out where Caleb has been, flew into a rage and tried to kill Evelyn, and Caleb tried to hug him and calm him down, because his brother loved him anyway...

...and in return, Phillip kills him. Caleb is posed the same way as the Boiling Isles is. Looking at the reflection in the knife, Phillip also hasn't been punched in the nose by Lilith yet, either. Guess those bones we see in Phillip's lab in Elsewhere and Elsewhen really were Caleb's. And also Phillip has already long since started his descent to madness by the time he met Luz and Lilith. Kind of weird to think that they may have run into one of Caleb and Evelyn's kids running around in that episode, if they happened to travel a bit beyond Bonesborough.

We've seen this picture too but goddamn, they really did this over Caleb's dead body. Before I didn't agree with the idea that Evelyn gave Phillip his curse, because of the pictures we saw of him in black and having glowing eyes while Caleb was still around. But if All That was indeed for dramatic effect, then yeah, I believe the theory now! Evelyn Clawthorne still fucking up Phillip 350 years after the fact.

So with Flora Desplora's appearance in Elsewhere and Elsewhen, her appearance here, and her name on the book Bill the titan trapper was reading in Edge of the World, I'm certain she was meant to be more important. Again, while I'm pretty sure The Shortening was announced after Eda's Requiem was finished, with how cartoons are produced, I wouldn't be surprised if they already had work done for episodes up to Reaching Out. It would explain the Azura B-plot in Any Sport in a Storm, the Edric B-plot in Reaching out when they couldn't give Emira a B-plot elsewhere to balance it out, the implication that Warden Wrath and other EC members were suspicious about the Day of Unity, and of course, Flora Desplora's existence. They probably established all of this expecting to have more episodes to explore it. But they got shortened and had to cut some follow up episodes. But they weren't given more resources to rewrite the old episodes to not include any plot threads they couldn't follow up on.

Flora Desplora didn't need a whole backstory and relationship with Lilith, as well as a whole character design, to serve her purpose in the plot. She just needed to be someone Lilith knew in the EC, who was doing better than Lilith was, and rile her up enough to do the whole time travel thing. Lilith already has a track record of mentoring multiple EC members-to-be. They could have had a character say they're her old student and accidentally rile her up. They could have done that with Steve. But originally, I guess they wanted to set up Flora Desplora to use her later.

We already saw this picture too, of Belos mutilating his ear to look more pointed. But now that it's clearer uh...that's...that's his ear floating in the sink right there! He's a lot more blond than some other pictures, so I guess this is later into his conquest. But the green streak across his face isn't as big so I guess it isn't THAT late? Also, the mirror and sink look pretty fancy, so did he already have a castle by then?

Here he is, carving some glyph combos onto his arm. He's bleeding green here, which I guess would be from Evelyn's curse? Either that, or the color palette, or the knife is rusty and Belos got tetanus after this. We never found out if the curse or these glyphs were responsible for his goopy appearance.

He's snorting a palisman! This is still pretty early on in his journey, since his hair is still brown and his beard is shorter. In fact, it's only slightly longer than it was when Evelyn cursed him. Maybe this is when he discovers that palisman magic can help his curse?

Ah, the Golden Guard graveyard. This was the guard in Belos's first flashback in Hollow Mind, where he blew up that town. Look at that collar. This Golden Guard's staff has been shattered, and he's probably being killed by Belos's own staff, red magic and all. Funnily enough, this Guard didn't have a staff in the flashback. Guess Belos made one for him at some point.

Here's Belos's lab to make grimwalkers. Notice the ribcage in the background, probably Caleb's. I guess it's confirmed that you can use fragments of bone instead of just one whole bone, since some of the ribs are snapped. Guess Belos really did do the Biblical thing like some people said, where he used Caleb's rib to make a grimwalker. In fact, based on his outfit, this may have been one of the first grimwalkers he made. He probably ran out of rib bones by the time Hunter came around.

People speculated that this Golden Guard was Darius's predecessor, who was likely petrified in the public ceremony that Kikimora mentioned happened 30 years ago in Young Blood, Old Souls. However, this Guard's outfit is the same as the one who was with Belos in the mountains. Phillip seems to have ditched his journal by this point, so Belos definitely knew the petrification glyph. This Guard also got a staff at some point when he didn't have on in the Hollow Mind flashback.

Yo it's the guy with the really wild hair! You know, the one we saw as a hallucination in For the Future! Not much to say about him. He looks polite. Maybe HE was Darius's predecessor. He definitely has the Clawthorne genes with how his hair looks.

Portal door! I don't think I actually saw this picture when I watched Hollow Mind? Guess I just missed it. Me and most of the fandom lol.

And lastly, another golden guard. He looks like he's from Gurren Lagann lol. Maybe HE is Darius's predecessor. He's also being killed by Belos's red magic, it seems.

I think that's all the pictures? Feel free to chime in with anything that I didn't notice. These portraits kind of recontextualizes some of the fanon around the Wittebanes, I think.