#I love ​how the panels overlap and progress

[yumeka-sxf]

Spy x Family volume 14: bonus chapter and official timeline translation

Volume 14 was just released and it included a ton of great extras, including an extra bonus chapter and a timeline of events! Firstly, here's my translation of the 4Koma (4 panel) bonus chapter!

Lol at Anya telling Yuri to go to work 😂 I also love how Anya has a teacup once Yor is home ❤️

Next, much to everyone's surprise, Endo provided an official timeline...sort of. It doesn't have specific years and a lot of information is redacted, but it's something! Sorry for the sloppy editing, I pasted an excel sheet over the original text since that was much easier. Also, the letters in the "Character Age" column refer to the first letter of the character ("L" for Loid for example).

Did I forget who "Coco" was or was that never actually in the manga?

Even though much of the timeline is redacted, it does confirm a few things, like how old Henry and Martha were during some past events, and in the present, as well as Loid's age when he joined the army. I also find it interesting that Anya is included even though this timeline is about the wars...was the facility she was at involved with the war somehow? 👀 Were the experiments on her related? But it also includes Franky's breakups, so who knows, lol.

Next, a bonus illustration of Damian picking his outfit for the gala, just like Jeeves mentioned in the latest chapter. Ewen is telling him to pick black since it looks more more cool and mature. But Endo says that the overlapping patterns make it hard to see, so he should pick white. Obviously being the creator, whatever Endo says goes 😅

Stella progress illustration. Anya is the only one with tonitrus...

And lastly, the main cover and inner cover featuring young and old Henderson (maybe Martha for volume 15?)

[thedustyleaves]

Do you have any tip (or like a book rec) for composition and/or perspective? I'd like to improve that skills but I dont even know where to start 😭

Oh boy, I'm not sure if the way I do it is the best way 🥲. I avoid studying art like the plague in the traditional sense. I don't look up tutorials, read art books, or use grids for perspectives because I straight up don't understand them. That way of working, where you break down the steps in such a methodical way, doesn't work for me. The few times I've tried to use a grid, it ended up looking so wrong to me, and I couldn't make it work, hah! Whenever I've tried to take a 'study' approach to my art, it has stunted my progress and taken the joy out of it.

I wing it a lot. Sometimes I take photos of various items like cups and books and use them as perspective lines because I like a very tactile and hands-on approach to feeling out the composition in real life. The same goes for reference photos for anatomy —I try to understand it in a physical way by moving around myself and sometimes filming or taking photos of myself, but most of the time, I just wing it!

For this piece, I just closed my eyes and prayed. One of the easiest ways for me to build up a composition, is by stacking things and avoiding the floor (it's basically cheating, hah). It makes it look like you know what you're doing when really, you don't. I stacked the front of the boat in front of the mast, which is in front of the tentacle, and so on. Then I just gradually made things smaller as they moved further away until it felt right, rather than being accurate. And if you tilt the composition a bit (this one tilts a bit to the left) and make the characters overlap, then BAM, it looks like it's all intentional.

For this one, I took a picture of the bottom corner of my shelf with a wide-angle, to get the floor right because my brain couldn't comprehend it 🤔

I do study art somewhat by actively observing and breaking down pieces I love that are made by other artists. For example, when I started drawing my comic, I read all of One Piece and Fullmetal Alchemist and took my time to understand their panelling and the tricks they used. I'd stop and look at a page, really taking my time to understand how they were telling the story. I was surprised to find that sometimes they barely drew anything at all for several panels, yet I was never in doubt about who was talking and where they were.

I think, by looking at my art, you can tell that I grew up with Oda's illustrations. I still love how vibrant and well-composed they are, especially how he plays with perspective until it feels right and looks amazing, even if it doesn’t always make anatomical or logical sense. That's the vibe I'm going for as well—just mashing things around until I feel good about it.

One thing that really helped me was letting go of the idea that it has to be perfect or always make sense. For example, this Halloween piece is one of my personal favorites, but if you look at Dakon's foot for too long, you can tell that it's way too small and doesn't match the perspective at all. However, I was satisfied with the overall feeling of the piece, so I just left it.

The only time I've ever "studied" anything art-related was when I went to film school for animation and learned how to animate in 3D, and let me tell you, what a fucking scam. You can learn all of that, and more, just by watching YouTube videos (which I did, lol).

I feel like that wasn't very helpful at all 😭 Is there a particular piece you're curious about, maybe? I'm always ready to break down my pieces and explain how I go about composing them!

[drunktuesdays]

I sent an ask earlier and I’m kind of regretting the way I worded it! I put like for the love of god please write such and such fic, and I meant it to sound playful and like I’m excited for the fic but maybe it might have come across a bit dickish! And like demanding, when that’s not what I wanted to convey, I just wanted to like express how much I love your fic. I hope it didn’t come across badly :/ :)

oh no babe please don't worry. you were actually very complimentary in a way that i loved because i needed kindness from someone who's not contractually obligated to be nice to me today. i'm having some real Winter Blues this....day....week....month......and i could not have appreciated it more.

i'm probably unlikely to actually write syracuse, because it exists as a playground LNN and I can return to over and over again whenever we need to, and say to each other--what if when Jim got to Syracuse, he found a boyfriend? what if before jim left, he actually told dustin more clearly that he was at a crossroads? oh, have you listened to brian dunne's don't give up on me because it is a SYRACUSE SONG! what if we told it from jim's point of view? if we did, taylor swift's better man would be that version's song. hey, what if dustin got to syracuse and jim opened the door, and dustin just bullied his way in there and kissed him? what if dustin got to syracuse and realized he had no idea what to say, and faked it for awhile? what if dustin was mad? what if jim was mad? what if jim was PREGNANT?

that said, i wasn't going to reply to your ask because i wanted to save it for if/when i was in a mood to make some low pressure no forethought art. i sometimes save asks from all you guys as prompts for when i feel like i need to make SOMETHING but i can't make progress on any of my wips. my inbox is full of great ones. i have an ask that just says "explain what you mean by body betrayal" and i NEED there to be that very sexy and special overlapping moment where i'm ovulating and feeling talky because that's going to be a repulsively yet horned up one to me to dig into.

anyway, i wanted to answer this because i didn't want you to think i wasn't answering because i was offended. instead, i read it and thought very tearfully about those japanese students learning english who added captions to dinosaur comics panels and one just said "people is sometimes kind" which is what i said to myself when i read your nice ask! people is sometimes kind.

[10dance]

The end of this chapter certainly took a very different approach! From Nino's speech to Fabio's ad, there's so much to unpack here...

I liked how Nino just kept talking while Suzuki was still in his angst phase, haha. It's rewarding to see Nino so determined to get Suzuki on the world stage after dismissing Suzuki's skills for so long.

(Both Shinyas look so hot in this update, so here's a nice Suzuki panel)

And I wonder if Nino will figure out that the Shinyas love each other romantically after he sees Suzuki's reaction at the mention of his name? He already concluded that Sugiki is into Suzuki to go all this way for him, but he didn't know that it was reciprocated... And like Suzuki, I wanted to cry a little when Nino flatly admitted that Sugiki was a victim in all of this politics. After so long we finally see the fruits of Sugiki's labor: Suzuki officially has Nino's blessing to compete in the 10 Dance. With this statement, I feel that the story has progressed into the final arc, and I'm so excited to see what Inoue has to offer.

Next up we have Fabio's ad. It got a little confusing because Nino's whole speech on the origins of dance overlapped with the imagery in the ad, but I know that's Inoue's intention, and overall it had a very cool effect of being half-tied to the current plot, but also leading us to the big reveal of the ad being played on the billboard in a busy part of Tokyo.

I'm surprised how heavily Aki is featured in the ad considering that most of the focus with the patron and the whole "Suzuki Shinya Project" was on Suzuki, but I love that we got to see more of Aki. The contrast between lightning and flowers is an interesting choice too, especially when we've seen lightning being more associated with Suzuki (because of Sugiki's imagining of him as the Santeria/Yoruba deity Xango). And it's so cute that Aki can be a menacing force while also fangirling about Nino Zolche in a corner, she can do it all!

The story shifts focus back to Sugiki and Max who are drinking even more alcoholic beverages lol. Once again, like back in chapter 30, the two are having another negotiation, on Sugiki's conditions this time. Max seems ready to give Sugiki everything he has, but Sugiki is still playing hard to get lol. He's going to help his loved one in his own way before learning what Max has to teach him...

I have to say that Sugiki's hotness was off the charts this time (it usually is already very high). His disheveled hair, his glances... He even called Max "Papa"??????? I really have to know if they'll keep it as Papa or change it to Daddy when the English version comes out, because I have seen it localized as such before. Either way, Sugiki is killing me.

Finally, this is my favorite page from this update. Nino says (or thinks) to Suzuki "you are the future", with both Shinyas being drawn from the same angle as if mirroring each other. I like to think of it as meaning that they're both the future, as well as they are each other's futures. And it makes me emotional to think that Sugiki could see a future in Suzuki's dance all this time and that's why he's spending all his efforts on him. It gives me the feels.

The end of chapter 40 was certainly not expected, I didn't know how to react when I first read it. But as I went through it more times and discussed it, I really like the direction the story is going in! We don't know when the next update is coming (might be very long since the exhibition is going on right now), but we'll all be waiting!

10 Dance - chapter 40, part 3 summary

Nino talks to Suzuki about the current state of the dance industry, and speculates about how he could change everything. Meanwhile, Max tries to convince Sugiki to accept his offer.

Full summary and highlight images under the cut

Chapter 40, part 3: Come On-a My Life

Published online on September 1st, 2023, available to purchase on Comic Days, or rent for 10 days on Yanmaga.

Nino starts explaining to Suzuki that the ballroom dance industry is in decline; it’s been a long time since dancing was used primarily as a means of communication between young men and women. The industry is currently being supported by old people who were young long ago when dance was flourishing, and since that affluence keeps the industry afloat, that’s the sort of audience it attracts. Suzuki internally wonders what Nino’s getting so worked up about, and thinks about him saying that he wanted to become his coach. Nearby, Norman notices the pair talking, and thinks that maybe Suzuki has finally won him over just as Sugiki planned. Nino continues on, saying that the bigwigs in the industry who reap the benefits may have once been dancers themselves, but now all they care about is fighting for their positions. Suzuki holds his head and internally thinks that his mind was just full of thoughts about Sugiki and he doesn’t get what Nino’s talking about. Nino states that Sugiki is a victim of this current system, which Suzuki reacts to strongly enough that Nino wonders what he just felt (This also sets off a visual sequence that starts running simultaneously as Nino continues talking, which I’ll describe after each paragraph to keep the summary less jumbled). Nino says that he’s going to grant Sugiki’s wish, which causes tears to start pouring from Suzuki’s eyes. Nino asks why he’s crying, and whispers that he’s going to make sure he can compete in the 10 Dance even with his D rank classification in Standard. He says that just being the 10 Dance champion isn’t the height of what Suzuki can do, and there’s much more that lies ahead for him. He can become a superstar, and has the power to transcend the limits of competitive dancing.

The visual sequence starts with imagery of prehistoric creatures up to the evolution of humans, with an image of Suzuki dancing and narrative text about an undulation manifesting from one’s DNA. It says that dancing is not about the movement of one’s legs, or the steps that are performed, as the running legs of both a large cat and human are shown. The moment before each step is taken, one absorbs power from the earth, the floor. Aki appears, and her hair turns into flames.

The scene moves over to Max and Sugiki, where Max has fixed him another drink. He says that he uses drinks like this highball to measure the sense of distance between himself and the person he’s talking to, similar to how the Japanese or British might use talk about the weather to gauge the other person’s state of mind. He thinks it’s a smart way to not close the distance too suddenly. Though right now is more the time to attack directly, as he’s looking for a successor, yet no one accepted the role. Sugiki asks if he’s saying he doesn’t mind the Muldaur family’s special training being utilized for the dance industry, and Max says Sugiki is free to use it to help the one he loves. He leans in closer and says Sugiki could even learn how to seize control behind the scenes.

Back to Nino’s speech (which now in addition to the fantastical imagery is also accompanied by scenes of people gathering around a street corner to look at something high above them), he says that Suzuki has a powerful ability to transmit to people; in fact, it’s more like an infection. He can excite people who have no idea what ballroom dancing is and make them want to dance. In ancient times people communicated through gestures, songs, and dancing, to the point where children might learn to dance even before they could walk. He says Suzuki unconsciously awakens these memories that still lurk in people’s DNA. The people who want to dance because of him will shout his name to the whole world. The dancer named “Shinya Suzuki” will become known the world over, much like how people who know nothing about basketball still know the name Michael Jordan.

The imagery continues with Aki appearing to be underwater moving among various sea creatures, and the narrative text says that electricity flows through the earth we stand upon. Suzuki appears surrounded by flowers and the text says that amid the wind and waves a fluctuation appears. Absorbed into the rhythm, dance is life itself.

Sugiki asks Max to confirm that he’s not thinking of actually formally adopting him, to which Max replies that he is correct. Sugiki says he has some conditions to lay out, stating that he has his own plan to see to completion, so he won’t take on any guidance from Max until that’s done, and also Max can’t interfere in any way with what he’s doing. If he can’t grant him that, then he should find another successor. Max asks if he has any idea how many other people he’s considering for the role, and says it’d be best for him to decide now. Sugiki gets up from his chair and says he’ll be taking his leave now, thanking Max for the things he’s done for him. Max wonders if he’ll give an answer to his proposal as he offers to have someone take him home, but Sugiki says he’ll go back on his own. As Max keeps wondering, Sugiki says he’s in no hurry to give him an answer and calls him “Papa” as he walks out. Max feels like he may have just sold his soul to the devil.

Nino declares that Suzuki can fulfill the world with his rhythm, and that he is the future. The narrative text says that dance is the heartbeat, and that it has no need for costumes, showing an unclothed Suzuki and Aki standing next to each other. It’s revealed that the dramatic imagery and narration from the chapter was from a large video ad for Fabio Schiaparelli’s brand playing on the side of a building, which many mesmerized passersby stopped to watch.

Previous chapter: #40 part 2

Next chapter: Currently, there is no information on the date for the next update.

[greenhappyseed]

Things are getting dark in the BNHA manga, so I wanted to return to brighter times and do a post on Inko Midoriya and her many parallels with All Might. Their interactions are some of my favorites in BNHA, not as a ship (although I am multi-ship friendly) but as two adult humans with little in common and no overlapping life experiences that nonetheless become co-parents because of deep empathy and one determined kid with a knack for bringing people together. The canon Inko-All Might interactions are short, but they occur at critical points in the story and touch on almost all major themes of the series.

The main chapter where All Might and Inko meet starts with them depicted as adversaries, facing off for a fight. #1 hero vs mama bear! Except...they don’t actually fight. They talk through what they each want for Izuku and come to a mutual understanding. These characters really see and trust each other in a way that contrasts with the Todoroki “watch me” story. Before I dive deep, check out the difference between the beginning and the end of Chapter 97, because this art is everything:

Ok, now for the good stuff.

1. In a story about succession and what we owe future generations, Inko is All Might’s predecessor with respect to Izuku. If Nana Shimura gave him OFA and made him a hero, Inko gives him a second life and unofficially-but-actually-officially makes him a “dad.”

2. Much like how All Might can’t be the sole pillar supporting society, Inko can’t be the sole pillar supporting Izuku. The difference is that we watch Inko arrive at this conclusion in the span of one chapter while All Might and, uh, society, aren’t there yet. When Inko truly sees how much Izuku is driven to become a hero, and how much he NEEDS something she can’t give, she starts to back down. Unlike Endeavor, she knows her son’s future is not about her.

Izuku wants this so much he won’t stay with Inko and will “go wherever”.... and it’s almost like All Might will follow to help Izuku be that hero...

3. Speaking of, allowing Izuku to move out at 15 and having All Might “raise” him is an incredible sacrifice on Inko’s part. She’s unexpectedly “retiring” as an active day-to-day parent and letting go of the one thing she spent her life building and protecting. Trusting your life’s work in someone else’s hands is really, really hard, but she does it. (Can All Might?)

After the Overhaul arc, we see Inko acknowledging the progress Izuku has made, which includes All Might by extension (because she’s clearly thinking about him too). Seeing how Izuku can grow without her, Inko is slowly getting comfortable with her decision to “retire.” (Can All Might?)

4. Inko’s weight gain parallels All Might’s weight loss in that both characters neglect themselves to help others (parenting and hero-ing) and they PARTICULARLY ignore themselves when worrying about Izuku.

5. Izuku, Inko, and All Might all seem to know when people need a little saving. Starting with Inko...when All Might flexes into his iconic muscle form and performs dogeza (and then poofs down to his true form), he’s not merely apologizing — he’s showing deference to Inko. She has power over All Might AND she’s not sold on the bloody reality of her son becoming a hero, even if she supports his dream. From here, she could block the next symbol of peace. She could take away the child All Might loves. She could extract whatever she wanted from the longtime #1 hero. Just think about what some other, less charitable characters might do.

But Inko doesn’t take anything from All Might. Instead, Inko sees how much Izuku and All Might need each other (I mean, LOOK AT THEIR FACES when they think she’s saying no!!!). She moves to reassure All Might that Izuku needs him, that she doesn’t hate UA (even though she railed against the school minutes earlier), and that she doesn’t want an big, heroic sacrifice. Inko trusts he will help Izuku “walk a path” different from his bloody one. She just wants a happy child, and All Might is integral to that because these 2 boys are a bonded pair. Izuku lives for All Might and All Might lives for Izuku. All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall. Inko sees how deeply All Might respects and cares for Izuku, to the point that the next symbol of peace is secondary (unlike Endeavor, who is invested in Shoto carrying on his legacy above all else).

Oh hey, 200 chapters later, it turns out All Might IS willing to follow Izuku anywhere, because he just can’t be apart from his boy. And, after Inko and All Might built mutual respect in Chapter 97, we see in Chapter 309 that All Might is not afraid to cry in front of Inko and show his real concern about Izuku. (He doesn’t cry in Chapter 97, but he readily lets the waterworks flow in Chapter 309.)

Now, we don’t see Inko’s reaction to All Might beyond the second panel below, but we know she previously decided to trust the boys despite her own fears. It’s not out of character for her to trust them again. In fact, it’s kinda sweet to see them both reassure her [while still clinging to their dumb plans, sigh]. Izuku makes clear he’s not intending to sacrifice his life, and All Might won’t let Izuku go alone. Of course, both of these promises will be...challenged...in chapters 310+, but the intent is there and that’s all Inko can ask for (I mean, that was all she originally asked of All Might in exchange for her consent — no sacrifice + “look after” Izuku.)

Finally, note how All Might stands throughout the scene, projecting a large, protective presence because it’s his turn to give back. Izuku extends his hand to his mother; All Might extends his height above them both. For all of 309 he’s high above Inko and Izuku; in 97, he’s shown equal to or below Inko except the brief moment he looms over them just before kneeling to the floor.

6. Inko and All Might only interact twice in the manga, but both times are critical turning points between acts AND both times are shortly after encounters with villains — Shigaraki/AFO in particular. The first is in the immediate aftermath of Kamino and All Might’s retirement (literally, All Might retires at the beginning of Chapter 96 and he meets Inko at the end). The second Inko-All Might interaction is in the immediate aftermath of the war and jailbreak (Chapter 309). At a meta-level, Inko’s character page is at the end of Chapter 94, right after we see Izuku & Shigaraki with AFO saying “it’s your turn.”

Interestingly there are TWO earlier near-interactions in canon. The first is in the School Briefs light novel, taking place just after the internships/Stain arc and before final exams. TL;DR: There’s a Parents Day at UA that involves a villain kidnapping 1A’s parents (spoiler: it’s really a rational deception by Aizawa and the parents are in on it). But things go awry and Inko nearly falls into a fire pit for real. A playing-the-villain-but-actually-in-his-true-form All Might swoops in to save her, of course! Afterwards, Inko runs over to thank him, thinking she’s talking to a local theater actor. :)

Lastly, in Chapter 70, right after Izuku runs into Shigaraki at the mall, Inko and All Might are both near Izuku at the police station. However, neither one speaks to or acknowledges the other, and the art doesn’t even show them together. The closest we get is the bottom right panel:

Despite both All Might and Izuku knowing about these two near-meetings, neither one tells Inko. My head canon is that they do this to avoid embarrassing her — she’s obviously terrified when All Might visits her home, so All Might saying, “we’ve met but you didn’t know” would be impolite. Likewise, if she at all remembered All Might from the police station, she doesn’t say so. Kindness all around!

I don’t know if it’s likely, but I’m really hopeful that a “found family” with most (all?) of these characters will happen in the end (maybe with Shigaraki too??)....I enjoy them way too much!!

[brawltogethernow]

Opinions on hair clip!Gwen vs MJ bangs!Gwen?

(Personally I think that the hair clips give off some kind of vibe and I don’t know what it is but it’s definitely there)

Very niche topic you were correct to guess I would have involved, impassioned thoughts about.

(Quick visual rundown of the history of Gwen’s hairstyle for the normal people out there:)

Aesthetically, of course the bangs are superior. At least some of why the headband and bangs look is iconic is because it’s a Look™. But that’s not...the point.

Copying MJ’s hairstyle - and then immediately needing to return to having something holding her hair back and experimenting with how to do that with short bangs for a while - is one of those little things that makes Gwen feel like a person despite her comparatively minor volume of appearances. It’s just such real social circle of 17-19yos behavior. Her smiling on the outside despairing on the inside face when Harry points it out??

Agonizing. I love it.

(Digressing but the panel immediately before this where Harry is like, “Peter, in my unprofessional opinion I diagnose you with Every Single Disease.” I love this era.)

Simultaneously, the vibes of Gwen stealing her hottest friend’s look? Her hottest friend who her other hot friend is clearly attracted to’s look?? Girl was really going through it. [Here I tried to casually insert a bi flag emoji, but there isn’t one.] Every leg of this love triangle-cum-OT3 is real.

So I love all of that, and you sacrifice all of it when you act like Gwen was born with a black headband fused to her skull divorce the bangs from their context. Having her already sporting the hyper-recognizable fringe look in high school is my sole critique of what we got of the Gwen Stacy solo title. (Marvel, please? The rest? I am but a starving Victorian orphan--) I was rooting so hard for acknowledging her awkward high school senior hair.... Like to a weird degree probably. I was texting people updates about the projected likelihood of the established hair continuity being adhered to as new promotional art dropped.

Because the clips are valuable shorthand to convey what era of Gwen you’re looking at! The sharp corners and exposed widow’s peak and old fashioned bit of curl tell you right away you’re looking at a less settled Gwen, someone with only one firm friend who, for all she’s remembered as a bookish sweetheart, did very much and by her own design hook up with Peter via an enemies-to-lovers route.

Gwen was MEAN when she was introduced! You can’t use the clips without remembering Gwen being mean, which honestly I think everyone writing her should take a couple of minutes a week to do, for health reasons. (Sometimes it’s for reasons of my health, as a reader.) I talk about how Peter/MJ is bitch4bitch and the poetry of two liars being honest only with each other, but Gwen and Peter? Very much united by a shared passionate drive to deck the world hard in the face and watch it bleed. And also science or whatever, I guess.

I don’t read Gwen as becoming a less intense, angry character through the different micro-eras you can mark by her hairstyle, but she gets more comfortable with the rest of the core cast while also picking up a thread of melancholy. (Okay sometimes...you have to read against the text a little to reconcile it with itself.) The sum effect of this mix gets flanderized into characterizing Gwen as a Good Girl, and when creators go with the headband look for periods where Gwen-the-character would be wearing hair clips, you know that even if they’re writing good content they view Gwen as a Good Girl who was Too Good For This World who would never ever start a petty feud or or insult someone who doesn’t deserve it or escalate a situation into minor violence. (Because, you know, women must not cause narrative drama by wanting things, only by being wanted.)

...More charitably, it’s just not going to hit the same, because it’s a sign the team is working with the concept of Gwen without either enough affection for or knowledge of her personal history to adhere to it. If you keep snipping bits out of her like this, you’re going to run out of girl pretty fast.

The silver clips anchor things in an era where there’s a greater discomfort with themselves in the whole cast and they’re all taking it out on each other. THERE IS DEFINITELY A WHOLE VIBE.

Also the style is actually very fun to draw, in my experience.

I’ve been sort of talking around the Doylist angle -- I think it’s excellent how much the progression of Gwen’s hair works from a characterization standpoint, given how every single minute change is very clearly a creative team shift thing. Horror art style to romance art style followed by whatever Stan Lee was doing to whatever Gerry Conway was doing had an effect on how the first stretch of Spider-Man reads you just. Could not bottle. Most of Gwen’s look shifts are very blatantly an ongoing series of nudges deeper into Romita Sr.’s favorite things to draw -- which incidentally looked excellent, so who was going to complain?

Of course, then if you continue with a meta lens beyond the JRSr era...the bangs look depreciates considerably! I was originally planning for that infographic at the top to do much harder double duty as a joke, with more images in between the last two. Death! Every single clone! Spider-Gwen! Flashbacks set before the bangs! But it’s like! How much effort do I really want to expend just to lampshade that her style has been frozen for 45 years!? Also it wasn’t going to be worth it without the skeleton as the punchline, so I had to go get that first because it was the only one I hadn’t actually seen personally, and finding it really sapped my energy for balancing good-natured ribbing with deep appreciation for a topic. I was kind of hoping people on Twitter had made that up!

Like. God damn. It still looks good, but the overlap with not really empathizing with this character or getting into her head is intense. Every day I thank Into the Spider-Verse for its bid at unfreezing Gwen’s hairstyle for the first time since 1973.

So like, yeah. I like looking at the bangs look slightly more, but adhering to them fanatically is refusing to use all the weapons in your arsenal. And to all the Marvel writers using the bangs while simping for either side of the Gwen vs. MJ thing: That’s MJ’s hairstyle, and that’s a little gay.

[muwur]

haikyuu x otome: masterlist |  prologue

» synopsis:  a haikyuu x reader au where you, the player, are bound for university in a metropolis several hours away from home. hope and excitement are replaced with dread as you come to realize that juggling life as a student and a part-time employee takes a toll. from demanding classes to a ruthless manager, life just can’t seem to give you a break. that is, until you meet a certain someone who reminds you how to live and follow your dreams. somehow, when you’re with them, time stands still. maybe things are finally starting to look up. if only you could stay in those moments for just a little longer. 

» disclaimer: i do not own haikyuu or any of the pixels in this post (i simply made collages out of them)

edit: it’s been brought to my attention that another HQ writer may have written something similar to this idea in the past and I was unaware. Though I haven’t seen this particular type of thing written yet, I don’t mean to claim this event idea as my own bc I feel a lot of events that ppl put up may have some overlapping themes n such (tho this idea would def be more specific and be cause for concern of plagiarism) and bc I would never want to steal ideas/not ask other writers first/not credit other writers (that’s not cool fam). If you have any issues with this event, pls bring them up w me, and if you know any other writers who’ve done smth similar, pls share w me their URLs! thank u for ur understanding :) I hope u can still enjoy haikyuu x otome :’)

» how to play:

I. you can refer here for the general rules of my blog. also, for this event (and it’ll say in the descriptions below), i’m only accepting one character per request. also the word count limits i wrote here may change as im getting started on actually writing requests lol

II. essentially a collection of x reader one-shots, drabbles, and smaus in which you are a busy college student whose only break seems to be spending time with friends who actually get you or the 15-minute lunch break during which you get to ignore annoying customers

III. since this is otome-inspired, i have several options you can choose from. these options are essentially types of requests:

» everyday is a new start 

» drabble about how you meet the character of your choice  

» it is not guaranteed y’all are gonna gel (get along) when you first meet,, warning: if the character is usually a bitch, i may write them as one LMAO jkjk but fr

» usually light, fluffy, and/or silly

» hmm tbh,,, idk word count,,, probs anywhere between 700-1k words (i edited this word count after writing my first thing bc HNNN)

» the only characters you can’t request this for is yamaguchi, tsukki n hinata,,, bc you meet them in the prologue AHAHA sry it’s nothing too spaicy since it’s just in the intro

» it’s all in the little things

» one-shots about normal, daily interactions with the character of your choice

» in other words, these include what can go on in a day in the life of y/n and the character of your choice (after they’ve already met). in the city, the possibilities are endless

» give me a word (or several, cuz writing is hard lmao. also legit any word, like ‘orange’ or ‘nostalgia.’ i may choose only one or do a combination from your list :3) as a prompt and ill somehow make something of it lmao

» medium relationship development + exp

» 700-1.5k words

» hmmm what should i get today?

» very short drabble with a character of your choice about various scenarios and thots i have in my head

» a complete surprise, totally random, may have no context

» may be serious, fluff, crack, etc. 

» if u choose this u basically told me ‘surprise me’

» 100-300 words, depends on my mood

» when i see your name pop up on the screen, i can’t help but smile 

» short smau with a character of your choice 

» fluff or crack, ur choice or leave that up to me (if unspecified, ill just flip a coin)

» you can either give me a word(s) as a guide or leave the topic of convo up to me

» 2-4 panels

» you’d be surprised how much can happen in a day 

» BMO has nothing to do with this, i just found a cute pixel of him

» spaicy relationship development, the scenes in which you actually make progress in the game

» one-shot with a character of your choice

» order from the following:

» macaron: when they realize they’ve fallen for you

» banana bread: when you realize you’ve fallen for them

» iced americano: when they feel a tinge of jealousy 

» hot chocolate: when they see you crying  

» matcha latte: when they have a longing to be around you

» cupcake: love confession (may be intentional or accidental)

» major relationship development + exp + sometimes confusion

» 1-2k words

» these will probs take me longer

» all good things must come to an end

»  not as angsty as those bolded words above sound,,, unless you want it to be >:)

» drabble or one-shot with a character of your choice. the final interaction before finishing the game

» you have three options: good end (fluffy, romantic & the like), bad end (angst), or crack end (surprise)

» word count will be super variable, from 300-1.5k words

IV. this forces me to write one-shots, drabbles, anything but hc’s, and also forces me to limit my word count. that said, this will take me a hot minute, y’all. word counts may change too bc i am,,, indecisive n untalented AHAHA

V. search for ‘haikyuu x otome,’ ‘haikyuu x otome special,’ ‘haikyuu x reader otome’ tags! i will tag each work under these c:

got it? have a request for me? send me an ask or submission! 

request example: ‘start new game with akaashi’ or ‘love challenge with yachi in the empty lecture hall at night’ or ‘continue story with noya. words: tired, mangoes, music’ 

feel free to ask me if ur confused about anything and have questions! thank you so much for reading <3 im excited for this heh

inspired by recent haikyuu otome teasers i keep seeing online and the fact that i dropped my summer class and am taking on personal projects (like painting my room LMAO i gotta manifest my inner buff daddee ushi to move shit in my room bc i kid u not everything is rlly heavy in here. and i also delved back into otomes on my phone,, does anyone else play midnight cinderella or mr love LOL talk 2 me)

haikyuu x otome masterlist

[huntervids932]

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[paigenotblank]

Fanfic Author tag game

Tagged by: @onthedriftinthetardis - thank you for tagging me, friend! 

Tagging: @gingerteaonthetardis, @lotsofthinkythoughts, @lizann5869, @blueboxesandtrafficcones, @chocolatequeennk, @skyler10fic and my brain went blank on who else writes...I am sorry if I forgot you but consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!

Ao3 name: LadyPaigeC

Fandoms: Doctor Who mainly with a bit of dabble in Teninch (Broadchurch, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Takin’ Over the Asylum, Hang Ups, etc)

Number of fics: 82 (including a couple of drabbles) plus an additional 10 headcanon asks

1. Fic you spent the most time on: Well one of my current WIPs (loosely titled The Journey’s Beginning) is actually the first thing I ever started writing in DW fandom and I’ve yet to complete it, so...🤷  However, in terms of actual writing time, I think it was probably The Age of the Wolf. I did a lot of reading up on the Time War and Expanded Universe storylines and spent a lot of time working out how to make the overlapping episodes play out together.

2. Fic you spent the least time on: Hmm. I think it was either Moonlight Rendezvous (Ten x Rose), A Death Defying Romance (Nine x Rose AU), or His Beloved (Twelve x Rose) (which was totally written out of spite for a 12 x Rose anti). All three of those were written very quickly and seemed to come to me easily.

3. Longest fic: The Age of the Wolf (Eight x Rose; Ten x Rose, Eleven x Rose) at just under 40K words.

4. Shortest fic: Atomic Blonde (Ten x Rose) which was a dwsmutfest 69 word “drabble”

5. Most hits: The Age of the Wolf with 5600, but for a non-multi chapter fic it is A Little Bit of Hope (version 2) with 4630.

6. Most kudos: The Age of the Wolf with 522

7. Most comment threads: Accidentally Ours (Ten x Rose) with 117

8. Fave fic you wrote: Oh goodness. How do I pick?!?!? They are all my children! I will say that I am amazed at how well The Age of the Wolf came together in the end. It was so difficult to write and I struggled a lot with it. Honestly, I’m just proud to have finished it. Penance and Pain (Nine x Rose) is also another one I have a soft spot for. One because I love poor Nine still hurting from the repercussions of the Time War and two it was the fic that introduced me to so many of my friends in fandom. 

9. Fic you want to rewrite/expand on: Hmm, I have a few that I want to tie up in regards to the series. Specifically my Embracing Life (Ten x Rose) series. Hannah Baxter - Sex Surrogate also has another adventure coming for sweet Martin. 😏 😈 🔥🔥🔥

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning:

Oh gosh I have so many WIPs that I’m working on. There is the Martin and Belle one I referenced above; a Hardy and Hannah fic where they have a one night stand before Hannah is thrust back into his life after becoming embroiled in a murder; Walt (from Camping) meets Angel (from The Calcium Kid) while trying out roller derby; Rose and Ten get pulled into a circular paradox that forces them to live through the early 70s and help out the Third Doctor at UNIT; a Sam Tyler and Annie Cartwright fic where instead of working for the Manchester police department, they work for Torchwood and Sam is the son of Nine and Rose; a Sally Lockhart AU where Eleven x Rose run into a fobbed!Ten while trying to sort a mystery; a Tentoo x Rose x Thirteen OT3 fix-it; a Nine x Rose Vampire AU; a Ten x Rose’s daughter meets Nine; a Crowley x Rose fic for @doctorrosetennant; and the other one I referenced above - The Journey’s Beginning - which is a alternate version of Doomsday, where Doomsday still happens, but the Doctor and Rose are never at Canary Wharf. Here is a sneak peak of that one:

Rose sat on a relatively bare part of the control panel, legs swinging, while the Doctor was tinkering under the console. “How much longer, d’ya think?”

The Doctor popped up and dusted off his hands. “Done. Glad I thought to recalibrate the directional unit, she was about 4 time zones off. Now that could have gotten us into a bit of trouble.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

Rose grinned up at him. “Oh, so now we’ll be trouble free, will we?” Her tongue poke out the side of her mouth. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“Why Rose Tyler! I always knew you were jeopardy friendly, but am I to believe you actually court danger?” The Doctor looked at her with an exaggerated look of surprise.

She giggled. “That’s me. Danger’s my middle name.”

The Doctor placed his hands on either side of Rose and leaned in giving her a heated look. “That so?” Her gaze dropped to his lips as she wet her own. “Well, Miss Rose Danger Tyler, where to next?”

Rose brought her eyes back up to meet the Doctor’s and just as he began to move toward her, Rose’s stomach let out a growl.

He jumped away from his tempting companion and a manic smile broke out across his face.

They had been playing this little game for a few weeks now. Heavy on the flirting and innuendo, a few stolen kisses, but every time things seemed to be progressing towards more, something interrupted them and the Doctor pulled back.

[olderthannetfic]

It’s International Fanworks Day and also the 30th and final post in this series. If you follow my tumblr, you know that my true fandom isn’t buddy cops or Highlander or any of those things. No, my true fandom is...

WANK

No matter which bitchy piece of fujo-course nonsense you’re looking at on tumblr, no matter which debate about WNGWJLEO or women in slash or fanfiction vs. media you're reblogging, your grandma was having that fight in a zine somewhere in 1985 and at Escapade in the 90s.

Here’s a vid review from 2002:

"History Repeating," [...] was an Amanda vid. In-fucking-credible. Who knew? Who knew I could like Amanda? Who knew there were fresh HL clips I hadn't seen a thousand times before in HL vids? (Of course, as someone pointed out, she had her own spin-off.) This rocked--sharp, fast cutting and pretty, pretty shots, with a hot bisexy vibe running through it. And, you know, people like to say that there's all this self-hating misogyny in fans--you know, that women hate shows about women, hate women characters breaking up the OTP, etc. But when you see a femme-centric vid like this bring down the house, you really have to wonder. Is it misogyny, really, or is just that we usually see a bunch of crap representations of women in media and resist them?

So on the theme of There Is Nothing New Under The Sun, here is a selection of past Escapade panels on gender, representation, and problematicness:

1993 - Anti-Feminism in Slash Fandom (Or, how 'it was never this good with a woman' syndrome... where are the women, and why do we care?)

1995 - Why Lesbians Read Slash - (What's the attraction? Why do they care? Why do they write it?)

1996 - Character Bisexuality: Convenient fiction or character trait? (Is this a good compromise between "We're not gay, we just love each other" and "I was gay all along and just faking it with women"? Or is this too easy? Special mention for the stereotypical bisexual villian who's evil, sexy, and can come on to everyone.)

1996 - Female Heroes: Female Empowerment, or male power in women's bodies? (Give a woman a gun and make her really tough. Wow, cool! yes, or no? Are we celebrating women, or are we merely putting breasts on male action heroes? Heroines under discussion may include (but not be limited to) Sara Connor, Ripley, Vasquez, Thelma & Louise.)

1997 - Gender Astigmatism (The Gender Continuum: in what we read, in what we write, and what we are, there is always a connection with a point on the gender continuum. How do our definitions of "feminine" and "masculine" influence our creativity? Where do bisexual characters fit in? (besides there, you dirty-minded person!)

1998 - Xena: Does Girl-Slash Get Us Going? (Xena is the first show with a feminine couple to be really popular. What kind of slash fans are interested? Does gender orientation matter? Or do slash fans love slashy couples regardless of their gender? Can m/m fans be 'converted' to f/f fans?)

1998 - Bastards & the Women Who Love Them (When Methos says, "you live to serve me," any normal '90s woman says, "I don't think so!... or does she? A happy contemplation on the virtues of handsome thugs.)

1998 - Slash: a Continuation of Women's Writing, led by Constance Penley (In case you didn't know, in her recent book NASA/TREK (yes, the slash is intentional), she addressed slash as a continuum of women's writing, combining women's romance, and the male quest romance. Join her for a discussion of slash -- where it was, where it is, where it might be going.)

1998 - The Trauma of Slash Fans in Het Fandoms (Or, what to do when find women doing all that cool, tough-guy stuff you love.)

1999 - Male Slash Fans - Welcome Voice, or Infringement? (Slash is written by women for women — or is it? The Internet has attracted new fans, including the "male slash fan". Who is he? What does he think of what "we" do? Do we care?)

2002 - Femslash (General discussion on female/female slash fiction. If Buffy wanted something cold and hard between her legs, why didn't she just choose silicon?)

2003 - Slash: Feminist political act or really good porn?

2005 - Where have all the lesbians gone? (When some slash lists explicitly state m/m only, where do you go for femslash? Are there any hot femslash couples? Pimp your femslash fandom here, or bemoan the lack of strung female characters in the current conservative social climate.)

2007 - Femslash: The Other Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name (Femslash. It's a work that makes some of our hearts leap for joy and inspires complete and total disinterset—or even dislike and disdain—in others. Where can we find the good stuff? What makes it good? And what's up with the haters?)

2007 - SGA: The Women of Atlantis (What do we like about how the women of SGA are written and portrayed, and what makes us wince? What do we think about how their issues are being woven into the show's narrative?)

2008 - Gay is Not Slash (...even though slash is sometimes gay. The current argument about m/m romances by women as taking recognition *away* from male gay writers, depends on m/m writing being intended as gay lit. And slash, for one, isn't, even if there can be overlap. What overlaps? What doesn't? What examples do fans like?

2009 - Female Character Stories: Halfamoon, Full Moon or Just Moony (F/f slash, and other stories centered on female characters, are gaining visibility in fandom. Are there things fens will write about women that we won't about men? (Given MPreg, *are* there?) Should f/f be like m/m, or is it unavoidably different?)

2011 - My ***** is Not Ideologically Driven, But is it Homophobic (Slash fandom often sees itself as a mostly liberal community. IDIC, right? But recently there's been a slash backlash: it's anti-feminist, a 'symptom' of internalized misogyny. We're 'erasing' the women characters after all. Is slash homophobic? Does slash fandom appropriate gay culture? Is it awesome and ennobling as it makes us happy in our panties, or is all that self-hatred bubbling just beneath the surface of our porn?)

2012 - Natural Woman (We've lamented the lack of strong, believable female characters (who dress appropriately). But now we have them: Gemma Teller and Audrey Parker; Salt and Haywire; we've got Bechdel-passing women who look like they can throw a punch. Still, most of them are in the sci-fi or action genre, so are we really seeing progress? And what are we doing with them, as fans?)

2012 - Don't Call It a Bromance (It's Just Canon) (TPTB are increasingly aware of slash, and bromance is regular fare on TV canon these days. Does overt bromance make the fic and art hotter or just vanilla? Is there an anti-slash backlash in our shows? Is the emphasis on men's relationships making women disappear? Inquiring minds want to know. If you have answers, theories, or just want to squee, join in the fun!)

2014 - (The End of?) Ladybashing in Slashfic (Slashfic used to regularly feature bashing of female characters. Now, blatant bashing seems less fashionable. If you recognize this trend, let's talk! Were most ladybashing fics ones for juggernaut pairings in megafandoms, or were they everywhere? What's causing the change: more women in leading roles/ensemble casts, fic writers being more conscious to avoid bashing ladies even if they're not their favorites, more willingness to blame show writers' bad writing (instead of the character being just bad/evil/stupid) for bad female characters, or something else entirely?)

2015 - Fifty Shades of Fandom (Fifty Shades of Grey has become the representation of fan fiction in mainstream culture. It’s bad fan fiction, and it’s being used to ridicule women while making millions off women readers and viewers. Can we connect with these women: proto-fans who would love to read, and maybe write, great fan fiction if they found it? Can we use the FSoG phenomenon to expand our community? Does keeping our doors closed and our mouths shut perpetuate both monetization of our fan culture and misogynist scorn?)

2016 - Who Are We? (How do we define ourselves in this age of so many OT3s and team orgy pairings? Does m/m/f count as "slash"? Is slash-only space slipping away? (And would that be bad?) Do m/m and f/f belong together more than they do with m/f? Is "Media Fandom" a valid term any longer? Who are we if we start shipping het?)

2016 - Ladies Loving Ladies. (There would seem to be enough queer women in fandom to write/want more f/f. Do lesbians write f/f, m/m? Both? Do straight women? Or are we still missing the iconic female characters and relationships that create a great slash fandom? Did they figure out the answer to this question at TGIF/F and if so, what is it?)

2016 - By Us For Us (Fic, even kinky slash, is practically mainstream these days. The ebook revolution puts publishing within reach of almost anyone. Sundance hits have been filmed on iPhones. So why aren't fangirls making more media? Or is it happening right under our noses? Is this a place where our women's gift economy does our community a disservice? Discuss what's out there, what we'd like to see, and what's holding us back.)

2017 - LGBTQIA+ in Slash Fandom (Queer fans have always been here. In a subculture often defined as "for" straight women, what do we as fans have to say about non-straight, non-cis, and non-conventional sexuality and gender in fanfiction, in fandom, and in the larger culture?)

2018 - Confronting the Tensions Between Slash and Queer Representation (Slash fandom thrives on homoerotic subtext. Many queer fans are unwilling to settle for this quasi-representation. Part of every slash fandom seems loudly invested in their ship becoming canon. Some are queer fans who want actual textual representation in their favorite shows, and some are fans using queer politics to fight ship wars. Then the “slash is not activism” posts make the rounds. Is slash activism? Is advocating for slash ships in canon the same thing as advocating for queer representation?)

2018 - Representing Slashers (What does "representation" in the media mean to us? We know what more gay or POC representation means, but what about slash fandom, which is largely female and focused on bodies that don't resemble our own? Would better female characters in media better represent us? Or male characters written for a female audience? Come talk about the intersection of slash, personal identity, and media representation.)

2018 - Anonymity in Slash Fandom: Choosing to Hide (Why do the majority of slash fans hide their hobby? Is it fear of blackmail? Embarrassment? Fear of losing employment? How does this affect your happiness? How does this affect your security? What would an ideal world look like? Who would/have you told about your interest in slash? Who would you never, ever, tell?)

2019 - Fandom Post-Slash? (In an era of "ships" and #pairing #tags on Tumblr and AO3, has the "slash" label lost its meaning? Same-gender pairings are as popular as ever and fans still ID pairings with a virgule between the names, but how many fans still call m/m and f/f slash or femslash? How many fans identify as "slashers?" Het and slash were opposing binaries which few fans crossed. Are these barriers breaking down? What purpose has the term "slash" served? Has fandom moved

past it and, if so, what does that mean?)

[considermadness]

A montage in a manga

This is my first manga, friends. And I'm so amazed at how I'm seeing a montage here. Am I too imaginative? 😂 But see, this page really plays out like a montage. You start with a setting and a narration, then the two bottom panels sort of flow into each other. It feels like that because- Okay. Wait, how do I break these two panels down. There are three elements:

1. The tournament or battle chart (help idk what it's called 😂)

2. The words yay and hooray

3. The action shots

So the chart with the thicker lines are meant to indicate that there's movement or progression of the tournament. Like our competitors are winning. I guess it's an extension of the setting and it really makes me feel like Krillin and Yamcha kicked their way to the top. So you know, not just progress but actually, it shows victory.

And then, there's the two words yay and hooray which sort of float over and overlap through the panels. This gives me the impression that these two panels really just flow into each other.

And what I find really amazing, really, really amazing is that these words are not the sound effects of the action shots. I'm not even kidding, I'm mindblown. This is not the sound a kick or a punch will make, it's more a narration or the audience or the characters celebrating victory. And because of that one small difference, it really feels like a montage. It really signalled that the action shots we see here are not a one time thing.

So basically, the action shots are made to feel like a peek into what went on as the characters celebrated, progressed, and topped their respective blocks in the tournament.

Anyway, I have no technical terms for manga writing or whatnot. But this is lovely. Are all mangas like this? Can you refer great ones like this? I've lined up Shaman King, HxH, and One Piece on my reading list. Anywho, I am so amazed at how artists are able to convey these kinds of things through seemingly simple illustrations. I dream of making a comics even if I have the drawing skills of an average 5th grader.

[eddycurrents]

BPRD: The Devil You Know ~ Ragna Rok - Chapter One

Story: Mike Mignola & Scott Allie | Art: Christopher Mitten & Laurence Campbell | Colours: Dave Stewart | Letters: Clem Robins

Originally published by Dark Horse in BPRD: The Devil You Know #11 | December 2018

Collected in BPRD: The Devil You Know - Volume 3: Ragna Rok

Plot Summary:

The sad fate of Rasputin’s bastard daughter, Varvara, is revealed. Mega-Rasputin raises the Ogdru Hem and drowns New York City. And more fall.

Reading Notes:

(Note: Pagination is in reference to the chapter itself and is not indicative of anything found in the issue or collections.)

pg. 1 - I’ve said before that I love Christopher Mitten’s layouts. I’ll say it again, because I love Christopher Mitten’s layouts. They remind me a bit of how Mike Mignola himself approaches a page, in regards to the tiers and break down of the columns and panel progression, but with an added little oomph on many pages with the grid overlapping an establishing shot that often bleeds to the edges of the page. It just looks amazing.

pg. 2 - There’s kind of an interesting turn here for Varvara’s adoptive father, first noticing that he’s relatively humble, happy, and accepting in his lot in life. His love for his family and so.

pg. 3 - Also, this flashback tends to reveal that Rasputin was an asshole long before he was hacked to pieces, shot, and drowned.

pg. 4 - Here’s the start of the turn for Yuri. When he finds out that Varvara’s real father is Rasputin he starts mulling over the fact that he could possibly get rich from this. It almost seems like the mere idea of Rasputin is enough to infect and corrupt people.

pg. 6 - That’s further reinforced by the fact that he’s taking his sick wife and daughter through the cold Russian--not just Russian, but Siberian--winter to see the mad monk. Who does that?

pg. 7 - This just seems incredibly poorly thought out.

Although, an odd bit that could just be due the fact that many artists utilize similar faces, but did you notice that Yuri kind of looks like some of Mitten’s depictions of Trevor Bruttenholm. It may just be me reading way too much in to things, but this could be the genesis of why Varvara has at least some kind of affection for Bruttenholm later.

pg. 8 - Again, Rasputin is an asshole. His complete disregard of his daughter is kind of nasty.

pg. 9 - That’s got to be terrifying to witness. Also, there’s kind of a parallel here of Rasputin giving Varvara his father’s bloody coat with him doing similar with Crimson Lotus and her father’s armband.

pg. 11 - The happenstance of Yomyael coming across the ruins of Varvara’s family and jumping hosts is interesting.

pg. 12/13 - And we’re back in to the present day fight, picking up right at the end of Pandemonium. These pages are just gorgeous. Laurence Campbell is a master at portraying the sheer immensity of these events.

pg. 15 - ♫ The frogs are back in town. The frogs are back in town. ♫

That it has to be Hellboy to face off against Rasputin, even as Rasputin seems to be embodying the negative energies of the Ogdru Jahad, seems to bring destiny full circle. Their fight was one of the things that kicked off the plague of frogs, what will happen when they have to fight again? Or does it even matter now, is everything screwed anyway? Like with the demons being supplanted again by frogs, it gives the appearance that the end of the world by Ogdru Hem was fated. Their defeat by Johann really was just a stopgap for survival.

pg. 17 - The rest of the BPRD continuing to try to keep of the crickets almost feels futile.

pg. 18 - Scheduling a full retreat seems like the only thing that makes sense. Though it looks like we’re losing Nichols and another agent to the floods of New York here.

pg. 20 - Another quick death for one of the longstanding characters. Both Von Klempt and Kroenen seems to be wiped off the board arbitrarily. And confirmation that the demon Liz was fighting did get done in.

pg. 22 - It almost feels like the death of hope.

Final Thoughts:

The opening chapter to this third act is stunning. Easing us in with an explanation for who Varvara was initially and how she came to be possessed by Yomyael is enlightening and tragic, beautifully delivered by Christopher Mitten and Dave Stewart. Mitten’s style serves as a nice contrast against the feel of the present day art through the series from Laurence Campbell and Sebastián Fiumara, while also giving a bit of visual consistency out of Rasputin: The Voice of the Dragon.

And then we get the blockbuster action of the rise of Rasputin in the present day with some of the most incredible artwork in the Hellboy story to date from Campbell and Stewart. The fall of New York while the agents attempt to flee is immense. Even after the ruins that the city has come to under the Black Flame and then Varvara, its fate can still be worse. And it just makes you wonder, what’s left?

d. emerson eddy does not recommend drowning.

[sokumotanaka]

Last train home: An ode to Rwby

It’s over...it’s finally over.

Prepare for a long and tired final post.

Look, let me say this;

RWBY volume 6 is a mess and I think that's the most charitable thing I can say after spending several years of being invested in it’s crumbling world.

Maybe it was laziness, rushed or sheer incompetence that made this season crumble, so in my final review on rwby as a whole I may have to do some guess work at points; and after several wasted years, I’m not in a position from this point on to be charitable.

I gotta tell you, volume 6 tricked me, hell from what I seen it tricked alot of us, it started off good, we learned thing we should of learned volumes ago. But then I soon realized that this volume was; damage control. We learn of ozpin origins with salem only to not get to absorb it cause we soon learn through obvious reasons that maria was a silver eyed warrior and when ruby finally starts training, we meet one of jaune’s sisters, also pyrrha’s statue is there, but also neo is back, but so is adam and cinder, also mercury has no semblance, tyrian has a new tail-

see what I mean? before you could absorb one thing, two more pop up in its place and there’s such a lack in structure in the world, characters, their growth, development and their dimensions. The magic and power system that rwby has is just a mess that gets increasingly worse as it progresses, they take one step forward only to stumble several feet back and fall on their ass. And maybe one of the problem is I listen to writers commentary; to someone who doesn’t they won’t see as many problems as I do with the series, but when you actually listen to it you see the many problems it has with how this series is handled.

A reboot is at this point completely necessary and needed for this series to make even a semblance of sense. Semblance, Aura and Dust are so poorly handled and explained that they changed at several points to the point of being contrived.

Semblance was originally something you could use when your aura was completely depleted before requiring aura to use.

Except when it’s not but also when it can be, it changes at the drop of a hat, we see yang use her semblance with no aura in her vol 5 trailer, then sun in vol 4 loses his semblance when his aura is depleted.

despite miles changing it almost instantly afterwards...

When I started rwby I was optimistic it could be a great show probably not spectacular or amazing but great, and while it had it’s flaws and potholes at the time they were relatively small at first, but they just kept growing and more issues popped up and...christ if you like rwby and notice it’s flaws that’s fine, but I can’t say the same for people who outright ignore the flaws people critiquing the series bring up to get mad and preach about how only positive criticism can save the show.

Look as a person who started off with positive criticism I’m not saying it has no place, but you also can’t say critics be it negative from your perspective, is objectively bad or unneeded. Sometimes a firm but fair hand is needed.

Ruby’s issues are like a small flame building up, you can close your eyes and ignore the problem but sooner or later if something’s not done your house is gonna be completely on fire, and you don’t know how that may affect your surroundings, for all you know ignoring the issue caused the trees behind your house to catch fire, maybe one toppled over and landed on a neighboring house and now it’s spreading. The bottom line is weather you can get past the issue to find the things you like isn’t the problem, it’s ignoring them in the first place, if you aren’t willing to help something growth and change for the better with non rose tinted criticism then you’re not offering any help at all, you’re hindering it because you yourself refuse to change and that can be just as harmful if not worse to coddle something.

Rwby increasingly became more unhinged as a series, the flaws turned into overlapping problems, this went from a world that felt had love and care crafted into it to a plot and world with more holes than swiss cheese, which is why so many people felt disappointed and rightfully annoyed, could you sit there and tell me if I made a series and told you one thing yet showed you another only to tell you “yeah that’s not what I meant.” in post that you wouldn’t feel even the slightest bit of cheated, lied to or had your time wasted? If not do I have a camel to sell you among other things!

As a person who sat through so many lovely crafted media; I sat through paper mario and it’s whimsical tale, I watched avatar and fell in love with it’s amazing characters, world building and music, same goes for things like steven universe, final fantasy 6 (a game ironically about togetherness) ff9, the persona series, hunter x hunter, soul eater, gravity falls, Disney flicks, the dragon age series every super giant game, all these and more were handled with so much love and care and hold their structure throughout.

I.  LOVE. MEDIA.

I spend most of my time absorbed in their stories worlds and characters, laughing and crying and growing with them to the point I studied it, twice to get two separate degrees in it because I wanted to write at a time. So when I critique rwby, call out it’s flaws and so on, it’s not a personal attack on you if you like it, but I also can’t be satisfied with where the series has gone, not because it’s not ‘my’ take but because I enjoy narrative flow, I find interest in the characters if the plot isn’t too good and vise versa, media can touch on so many amazing things and I felt at a time...that miles and kerry could do well if they tried, if they applied themselves, before becoming such mean spirited, greedy and unwilling people, and this was long before I came into the picture, long before rwde no matter how much you disagree or what to place blame.

Cause trust me I seen rwby stans (fans unwilling to hear criticism out and will display many hypocritical and messed up tendencies over a cartoon)  not only ignore issues, tell people to kill themselves over a typed critique of a series they like, be irrational, sexist, racist or just plain stupid at times, you realize soon that the rwby tag is a cesspool of horrible people mixed in with a minuscule amount of fans willing to discuss the issues offer fixes and healthy non annoying chats on what they like and dislike.

Which confuses me as an individual cause I feel personally you can and should review rwby without threat of an anonymous person telling you to die over your opinion or one of the writers telling people to...enact physical violence on fans who don’t watch the supplemental material they hide, don’t promote to a casual audience and contradict and retcon on a constant basis. And sometimes it’s through a panel or a tweet, a casual rwby fan wouldn’t even catch unless they constantly follow the writers around or have someone dedicated enough to do so.

And all the stuff I mention and want isn’t impossible or asking too much honestly, I’d like the writers to be honest and fair to their fanbase, like anyone would, I’d like them to listen to actual critique and hire someone who can guide them so it doesn’t turn into one big “damage control” arc, The characters need more substance and need more screen time to grow as characters and fighters, when your fans excuse character growth with “Well animation is hard, not everything could be onscreen it could happen offscreen.” you have a problem, can you imagine ed just showing up with alphonse and it never being explained and I go “well animation is hard.” yeah that goes without saying but at the same time there are writers, creators and so on who get paid less, have smaller teams and sometimes just teams of two people to work hard on their craft, amazing teams with money, production and care like supergiant games get overlooked, so never EVER excuse jump cuts and lack of characterization, structure and development when better writers are out there busting their asses.

Do not be that guy.

*sigh* I been sitting here thinking how how I could end this, how after several years of a fast decline in quality, what’s something I could possibly leave this on? What can I say past this point? I been actually sitting in stunned silence trying to mull it over. I guess all I can say is, if you like rwby fair, fine, despite the major holes I discuss fixes with the series, I draw characters, try fixing the crumbling road of rwby trying hard to understand it, make no mistakes that when I critique it it’s not coming from a place of contempt for the series, but of disappointment in how far it’s fallen and how it could have been good if miles and kerry took the hand offered, it wouldn’t lead them down the most comfortable road, but they’d gain experience from it and could fix the series possibly for the better, and if you again like rwby, do not allow rose tinted goggles to blind you from the issues of the series, the ever growing problems with the series and the unwillingness for the writers to change and grow, do not allow more writers to turn into david cage, M Night Shyamalan, or stephenie meyer.

If you want the best for the rwby series and the rwby brand then you cannot accept mediocrity, you need to be vocal otherwise the writers won’t be incentivized to do better. And it doesn’t have to be straight up criticism, you can word it your way as long as it helps the writing grow, but at the point we’re at and how nice or not miles and kerry take current criticism rwby will continue to plummet and honestly that’s a disappointment.

To all fellow rwde and non rwde who have supported me thus far? Thank you, this has been a wild ride and while we possibly haven’t seen eye to eye I enjoyed and learn alot from watching you over the years, and now I think it’s finally time for the vet to retire and give the reins to new people, I received alot of kind messages from this and they touched my heart, take care rwby critics, it’s been real.

-A past fan of rwby

[cosplayinamerica]

At the time when I was in the planning stages for Azura, my partner was playing an outrageous amount of Fire Emblem Heroes. Though I personally only picked up the game on rare occasions, I eagerly followed his progress religiously because I was obsessed with the character designs. I just fell in love with Performing Azura's look - the lines were so elegant - and in all honesty, I am a sucker foranything purple. Azura was actually made last Spring and debuted at AnimeNext where she won Best Overall Craftsmanship in the masquerade. I drafted all of the sewing patterns myself, and constructed the garments out a variety of different types of silks (faille for the skirt, dupioni for the skirt lining, shantung - oof - for the criss-crossing lavender straps, crepe for the head scarf, and gazar for the veil), beaded poly lace (the skirt overlay), brocade (the bodice and sleeves), and spandex (stretchy panels built into the sleeves, and the slightly unconventional one-legged legging). I also hand dyed lace to match the crepe of the head scarf (I think it took about 11 tries to get it right!).The skirt is a half circle skirt gathered at the bottom to give it Azura's characteristic billow. The bodice is 16 panels, and is fully interlined, lined and boned in accordance with corset construction techniques even though it is technically not a corset (it doesn't cinch). Throughout the build I really wanted to highlight both aspects of Azura's character - fighter and dancer. So, I designed the bodice and sleeves so that the petals inherent in the character design are created out of overlapping panels of fabric to evoke an armored effect. I used a variety of different techniques for Azura's detail work. I had received a new embroidery machine for the holidays last year just before beginning work on this costume, and I incorporated a lot of embroidery. I digitized and embroidered the flowers at Azura's hips, center chest and arms, as well as a blackwork flower pattern on her headband. I am especially proud of the applique and embroidery on the veil which posed a particular challenge to a novice digitizer, because of the sheerness of the fabric. No thread jumps would be possible because anything on the back would be visible to the front, so I really had to consider the actual construction of the embroidery for the cleanest possible stitch-out. In addition I 3D modeled, printed and then gilded the gold hair baubles, and sculpted and resin cast the pendant. One of my favorite elements of the costume are the gold coins on Azura's anklet, thigh band and headdress. Since Azura is a dancer, I wanted them to jingle in rhythm with her movements and felt that only metal would give me the effect I was seeking. So I learned how to do electrolytic etching (also known as galvanic etching) to create the convention circle designs on brass stamping blanks. 3/4. Azura always gets a very warm reception when I wear her at cons because Fire Emblem has such a broad and passionate fandom. I love chatting with other Azura cosplayers to compare notes on construction, and discuss the different ways we tackled the tricky bits. It's also pretty awesome whenever I encounter a Fire Emblem meet-up group shouting for Azura to come join them from across a hall. Cosplaying has impacted my life in such a positive way. As a cosplayer, I think I learn something new every day, whether its a new sewing technique, a way to up my game as a 3D modeler or embroidery digitizer, or different techniques for mold making and casting. Cosplay has also brought me new challenges in terms of project planning and time management, two skills that I can definitely generalize to my non-cosplay life! But most importantly, cosplay has brought me into an amazing community of makers, and even better yet, friends. I have always been a relatively introverted person. I'm often reluctant to stand out in a crowd and making friends has often been slow and difficult for me in the past. But since starting to cosplay, I feel like I have a vehicle for my unique style and voice through my craft, and I have connected with a fantastic, open, supportive, creative group of local makers who I am proud to call friends both in and out of costume. ---- https://www.instagram.com/pitchforkcosplay/ Photo : https://www.instagram.com/jordanyew91/

[spring-emerald]

Hello!! love your fics so much, thanks for sharing them. is it okay to ask for Tsukikage with the cold prompt? Tsukki seems to be weak to cold so 💕

Hello, anon! I’m not sure if you’re the same person, or a different one, but just in case, here’s the second part! 

Thank you so much for your patience! 

heart melting (pt. 1)

heart melting (pt. 2)

Tsukishima’s anger athaving to brave a snowstorm immediately fades when he sees Yachi crouching nearthe kitchen fireplace, arms around herself and shoulders shaking from otherthan the cold.

“Yachi?”

Yachi flinches, headsnapping up to look at him. “T-T-Tsukishima,” she sniffles, hastily wiping hertear-stained face as she offers him a shaky smile. “Y-you’re early.”

The scathing remarkat the tip of his tongue forgotten, he strides to Yachi, who stands up inwobbly legs, squaring up her shoulders in a weak attempt to look alright.

“I-I’ll call Sugawara-”

“What’s wrong?”Tsukishima frowns down at her.

She whimpers butshakes her head. “I-it’s nothing.”

A shrill, angeredshout coming from the living room didn’t sound like nothing to Tsukishima. Hepulls off his thick scarf and coat and deposits it on the table on his way out,ignoring Yachi’s pleas to stop.

Tsukishima walks inon a literal cold war.

The temperature inthe living room is more frigid than the winds outside the manor. Vastlydifferent from the warmth of the kitchen. He already has a hunch that the Kingis acting out again what with the annoying snowstorm, but he didn’t think it’s this bad. The wooden floor panels and thewalls are covered in thin ice, the windows are frosting and there’s a layer offog suspended in the air.

The only heat in theroom is Hinata’s glare at Kageyama, enough to burn the cinders of the dyingflames in the fireplace back to life.

“Kageyama, you ungratefulbastard!” Hinata snarls, pulling on Kageyama’s collar, bending him down to hislevel.

Tsukishima had seenHinata annoyed-riling him up along with the rest of the other hot-headed guyshad been his favorite pastime as of late. But he’d never seen him truly angry.As much as Tsukishima likes to annoy the living daylights out of him, he didn’tthink that the small fry would be capable of it.

Perhaps the King doesbring out the worst in people.

The King, who justlooked on and met Hinata’s glare with a distant, unperturbed stare. Indifferentto the chaos he’s causing.

Tsukishima glares atthe expression, unconsciously clenching his hand to a fist.

“Hinata, that’senough,” Sugawara wrenches an arm between them but more pushing Hinata awayfrom Kageyama.

Hinata ignores him,pulling and pushing Kageyama, shaking some sense into him. “I’m so tired ofpeople excusing your behavior just because you have a heart that’s frozen. Youdon’t get to treat us like this!” Hefinally pushes the taller one away, but maintains glaring hurtfully at him.

Kageyama stares himdown. “If you’re so tired of it, then you’re free to leave. No one’s stoppingyou.” Casual, unfeeling.

Yachi gasps besideTsukishima.

“Kageyama, please,”Sugawa pleads.

Hinata stares up atKageyama in shock, and the latter takes this moment to remove the shorter one’shands on his clothes and brushes it off like nothing.

Hinata snaps inattention again, glare returning fully. “You know what? Fine.” He stomps to theother side of the room, grabbing his coat and scarf, ignoring Sugawara andYachi calling after him and he storms out, the sound of the door banging echoedaround the still, cold room even after he’s gone.

Kageyama glances atSugawara. “That goes to everyone.” He turns and walks away, brushing past asobbing Yachi as he retreats back to his room upstairs.

Sugawara’s besideYachi in an instant, rubbing comforting circles on her back and hushing her,assuring her that everything’s going to be alright, that Hinata’s going to befine.

“I’m sorry you had tosee that, Tsukishima,” he sends him an apologetic look and tremulous smile,which Tsukishima returns with a glare.

“Why are you lettinghim do this to you?” he demands, without meaning to. He doesn’t want to beinvolved in their issues, but being sent straight in the middle of it kindles aprotective feeling towards them and something else that can be easily mistakenas anger and annoyance but not quite at Kageyama.

“Tsukishima-”

“Hinata’s right youknow. His condition doesn’t give him the right to be an asshole.”

“Tsukishima, please. I’m sorry you got caught up inthe middle of that, but… but you shouldn’t concern yourself about it.” Sugawaraurge Yachi and leads her back to the kitchen.

Tsukishima scoffs.Yeah, right. There’s nothing he wants more than to be completely uncaring aboutthis whole thing, but he just isn’t. He can’t detach himself from this like he’swont to do with other troublesome things and damn if he knows why. Maybe is theweekly meeting that fostered a reluctant friendship with them, or maybe the waythey don’t treat him as a stranger which he basically is.

Maybe it’s the way hecan’t keep the vision of Kageyama’s cold eyes in his mind’s eye and justitching to make it look other than that.

But whatever it is,Tsukishima, fueled by a surge of indignation, does something that he’s neverdone before. Instead of following after the two to the kitchen, he turns and stompsupstairs.

He’s going to demandan audience with the king and he better listen to whatever Tsukishima is goingto say or so help him.

—–

Tsukishima finds himon his first try, opening the first door rather roughly, not noticing the wayKageyama startle at his arrival. “And here I thought your exile have taught youa lesson. But I guess once a tyrannical king, always a tyrannical king.”

“Don’t call me that,”Kageyama replies and turns away, the lack of inflection contrasts his words.

It’s not the reactionTsukishima’s aiming for, so he pushes on, digs deeper.

“Why not? It’s whatyou are, isn’t it?” He walks around Kageyama until they’re facing each other, somehowdelighted to find the difference of height in his favor, the carefully craftedcruel smirk and the look of disdain he has pat down since a teenager-one that neverfails to irritate people-gracing his face. “It’s no wonder your people rejectedyou, even before this whole curse thing. They’re probably grateful you gotcursed because it made it easier for them to oust you. They’re better offwithout you.”

Tsukishima’s barely finishedhis sentence when cold hands fist the collar of his clothes, not unlike howKageyama was with Hinata earlier.

There’s a flash ofanger in Kageyama’s blue eyes, alighting it and making it alive than how he’dseen it previously. Any lesser man would flinch, but Tsukishima counts this asa win. ‘His heart isn’t completelyfrozen.��� Sugawara’s words echo in his head. ‘Someone to challenge him, huh?’

Well, Sugawara didn’tsay that his method should be conventional. Tsukishima managed to get throughthe cracks and anger is way better than nothing. Besides, anger, especiallydirected at him due to his own nature, is an emotion he’s familiar and knowshow to deal with. Let the King mouth off at him, he can handle it.

But Kageyama lets himgo instead, without even saying anything. The brief emotion in his eyes startto simmer to something defeated. He pushes Tsukishima away weakly, turning hisback from him. “You’re right. They’re better off without me.”

Tsukishima breathes indeeply and releases it in slow, steady breath. He reflects on everything that heknows and has happened so far.

‘Our companionship is keeping it at bay.’

‘If you’re so tired of it, you’re free to leave.’

‘They’re better off without me.’

He frowns at theslightly slumped shoulders and hanging head, can’t help but see a slightlytaller and blond phantom image overlapping the King’s visage.

Realization dawned onhim.

Oh.

Once upon a time,Tsukishima had been jaded, betrayed by his brother’s lies. That had been awhile ago, and they have a better relationship now, considering the rebuildingthat is still in progress, but during that time, when he’s so caught up withit, he’d not been the best person to deal with. He pushed people away and notdare let anybody in and it took saint-like amount of patience and loads of careand understanding from the people around him, and even a heated confrontationwith his own childhood best friend, to help him see that.

This… the King’ssituation. Perhaps it’s not that different from that.

“Perhaps they’rebetter off without you… but you’re not better off without them,” Tsukishimasays.

It takes a moment,but Kageyama turns around to face him, and their eyes meet and they stay likethat, looking and studying each other until understanding passes between them,along with a sense of kinship.

Tsukishima is giftedwith the sight of Kageyama’s eyes alighting again in emotion.

“Hinata,” Kageyamasays, then looks at the window. When Tsukishima does the same, he notice thatthe snowstorm has stopped.

Kageyama rushes out,and without thinking, Tsukishima follows him, and they’re down at the livingroom and out of the manor, out in the deep snow and cold air, running to thepath that leads to the village, even though it’s a long way there.

They stop when they recognizea person walking towards them, the bright orange unmistakable in the expanse ofwhite.

“The snowstormstopped. Have you calmed down now, Bakageyama?”

He stops in front ofthem, scarf bundled up around his neck, coat kept close to his body.

Kageyama swallows andnods. “I have. I’m… I’m sorry. You… you’re my friend. All of you are, and don’t…Idon’t mean…just please…” he can’t continue his words, but years of friendshipallow Hinata to hear what he didn’t say.

Hinata beams up athim and slaps him hard on his arm. “Alright!” he chirps cheerfully, beforefrowning. “But you have to promise to treat us better, okay? Just becauseSugawara lets it slide, doesn’t mean you get to be mean at us. Just because youdon’t feel anything doesn’t mean we don’t either.”

Tsukishima speaks upbefore Kageyama can. “N-Now th-th-that’s settled down, c-can we g-go ba-acknow?!”

The two look at him,seeing how he’s shivering severely from the cold he’s not protected from likeHinata and obviously not impervious to like Kageyama.

“Ack, Stingyshima!”Hinata unwinds the scarf around his neck and wraps it around Tsukishima, whichhe hugs close to him as much as he can, while Kageyama wraps his arms aroundhim to keep him steady, his cold hands not doing much as it tries to rub someheat into Tsukishima’s arms.

“Hinata, go ahead soyou can prepare the fireplace and heat up the living room.”

Without needing to betold twice, Hinata bounds up to the manor, footsteps light even in the deepsnow, while Kageyama half-supports, half-drags Tsukishima back.

God, this is so pathetic. This isexactly why I don’t help people because it gets me into trouble like this.Tsukishima thinks, but finds that he doesn’t regret what happened, not really.Well, maybe aside from forgetting his coat and scarf.

“Hang in there,”Kageyama says, plowing through the snow, unaffected and looking every bit of ahandsome Ice King, with his pale skin and dark hair and determined blue eyes.

Tsukishima thinksthen that he’s delirious from the cold and that’s what caused him to think ofKageyama as handsome.

Sugawara meets themby the gates, a blanket in tow and helps Kageyama get Tsukishima inside, wherethe fireplace is stock full of fresh firewood, blazing and warming the placelike never before. They usher him to the couch moved closer to the source ofheat, where a spare set of clothes and more blankets are waiting forTsukishima.

Tsukishima’s already dryand well under at least three layers of thick blankets, nursing a steaming cupof tea, when Kageyama sits beside him on the couch and they both stare at the firedancing merrily.

“I-ah, I want to uhm…Thank you,” Kageyama says, voice soft and low, breaking the unexpectedly comfortablesilence that settled between the two of them.

Tsukishima scoffs. “AllI did was make you angry. It’s not that hard.” He raises an eyebrow at him, abit playful.

Kageyama looks at himin surprise and nods. “That’s true. But it’s enough to shake some sense intome.”

“Careful there, King,”Tsukishima says, sipping on his tea. “Or I might think you’re warming up to me.”Something unfamiliar flutters in his chest and it got even more when Kageyama’s lips lift up in a small smile, his eyes warmand Tsukishima knows it’s not just the effect of the fire.

—–

Somewhere in theenchantress’ home, encased in glass, is a magical replica of the Ice King’sheart, a third of which is covered in a layer of ice. Hairline cracks appear aspart of it melts, the water sliding down the slope until it reaches the bottomand drops.

[theghostpinesmusic]

Some Notes On Ride

As some regular readers might remember, at one point this whole recording project was known as Triptych. As I've said and written before elsewhere, the idea was to record three albums, forming the sonic version of a medieval triptych: three "panels," one story. The story would be the cycle of the seasons, literally but also metaphorically. There would be a folksy, acoustic album with a sort of spring/summer feel, a jammy, electric album with a sort of summer/fall feel, and then a darker, "winter" album to close things out. The cycle, of course, would move through birth, growth, death, and then rebirth: in nature, in individuals, in relationships, in the trajectory of human society. You know, relatively unambitious stuff. This sort of ended up happening, but got a little muddled along the way as I wrote more songs than I'd planned and struggled with the idea of leaving songs I liked unrecorded for the sake of some loose concept-album plan. In the end, I ditched Triptych and recorded everything I wanted to record instead, ending up with four albums instead of three. Wilderness Amen stuck around as the first album of the cycle, as I wrote a bit about in the notes for that album already. But, early on, Ride was part of the triptych's middle album, a double-LP called Maps. The first half of Maps was going to be electric, with generally big-picture, abstract lyrics, while the second half was going to be more acoustic, more reflective, and more autobiographical. Both halves of the album would feature songs that were more structurally complex and had more layers (overdubs, harmonies, etc.) than my recordings had previously had. If you've listened to both, you can probably guess that the double album got split into two albums and ended up being Ride and Maps, respectively. The writing and recording of these albums coincided with my recent fall into obsession with the Grateful Dead's songbook, and that influence, as well as the influences of bands I'd already listened to for years like Phish, Trey Anastasio Band, and Chris Robinson Brotherhood show most obviously in this album, I think. "Ride" starts the album with an opening riff and later overlapping guitars, "The Melody," one of my oldest songs, has a new, muted jam section that is one of my favorite things I've ever recorded, "Sometimes" has a pop sensibility to it right up until it takes a very Phish-y left turn at the outro, "Bright Girl" has an acoustic-vs-electric guitar duel near the end, and "Electric Dream" and "Invocation" both build up energy to a crescendo via guitar jams. I'm not as good at composing these kinds of guitar parts as I'd like to be, yet, but this whole project, and Ride in particular, helped me take the first few steps down that road. "I Love You (Or The Mountains)" and "Ways To Fly" stick out to me as slightly weird fits for this album, but they fit here better than elsewhere and I didn't want to leave them behind. "I Love You" was a song I wrote shortly after "Running," on an afternoon when I had a hankering to write a song that had some of the lowest and highest notes I could sing in it. I ended up with something that reminds me in a weird way of Michael Stipe's vocals, and then figuring out how to record the bridge of the song with a sort of Beatlesesque vibe finally brought the whole thing together for me. "Ways" is a much older song that has just never made it on an album, partially because depending on the day, the lyrics either hit hard for me or feel a bit trite or sophomoric. So, after singing this song a certain way for ten years or so, I rewrote about half of the lyrics during the Triptych sessions to be something I felt less ambivalent about, and it was the exact change the song needed. How you hear it now is, I think, how it was always supposed to sound. I just finally stumbled on the right words. So, the most fun part of writing the notes for Wilderness Amen was the random trivia section. So let's do that again! The subtitle of "Ride (Charley)" is another tribute to my dog, Charley, who passed away during these sessions. He was

actually laying on the floor in the studio on the day I recorded the demo of this song, when I was still trying to decide the name of the song's protagonist. He was such a good and quiet dog that I was able to record the whole demo with him in the room. Ride, Charley, ride. Once, while performing "The Melody" live, I mis-sung the line as "I woke from a dream to the sound of the melody / In a house full of dust, with a mouthful of cats" and it took me at least a minute to stop laughing hysterically and start the song over. I still worry every time I play it that I'll sing it backwards again. "Sometimes" was the result of my attempt to write a catchy, "disposable" pop song. It's as hard as they say! It was intentionally based on the outro chords to Phish's "Harry Hood," because of course it is. "Bright Girl" is a little hamfisted, maybe, but I wanted to write a song that was about wanting to fall in love outside of the usual hyper-gendered, codependent, typically toxic model of "love" that movies and music present us with. It's hard to think outside of those ideas when you've lived with them in your face your whole life, but I'll do a better job next time. "Ways To Fly" is a song about trying to find a way out of depression without taking advantage of others emotionally, and without hating yourself for being depressed. It's hard to do; fortunately, writing a song about it is super-easy. If you don't recognize the title of "Oread," you should read some of H.D.'s poetry. It's really good. And this pointed-pine-themed instrumental made a great segue into "Jeff Tweedy's 49th Electric Dream," which is a reference to Wilco's song "Bob Dylan's 49th Beard" and also to the fact that this song is basically the same chord progression as Wilco's "Handshake Drugs." Like "Bright Girl," this song seemed a little...unsubtle to me at first. Then, during COVID, my grandpa died and I had to watch his funeral over Facebook because I couldn't travel. It's as bad as the song makes it sound. How do we live lives with meaning when reality has become virtual? "Emerald Downs" is the name of the apartment complex I lived in for most of my 20s. I explained "Invocation" to a friend in an email this morning like this: "The original idea of "Mother Roads" as a sort of highway deity or demigod came about through a half-serious/half-joking conversation ["Neal" and I] had years and years ago while trying to drive from the Pacific coast to Ohio without paying to sleep anywhere (partially for the fun of it, but partially because at the time we had a combined $200 or so beyond gas money to our names). I think we were somewhere in Montana at the time, and I vaguely remember a campfire, and maybe a lake (?), but ["Neal"] had built this weird little pagan effigy and burnt it in the fire as a "sacrifice" to "Mother Roads" to guarantee our safety. It felt a little hokey, years later, to insert that character/spirit into a song in the form of a prayer, but once I sung it a few times, it felt right, so I left it that way."