#I still at some point really want to go through and redraw a bunch of the female characters in one piece

[otaku553]

Other than ASL, which characters do you like in One Piece? Whether it’s design, story role, personality etc.

I have SO many favorites in one piece it’s kind of difficult to choose lmao

Storytelling wise, outside of ASL and the main crew, I’ve really enjoyed Bonney and Law! Bonney especially with the recent arc in the manga :’) she’s so loved…….

(We don’t talk about Bonney’s canonical design. Or, at least, I won’t. Also whoops I forgot law’s other knuckle tats,,,, ignore that)

Otherwise I also really enjoy Robin (but I’ve drawn her already for another ask hehe) and Koala? But completely for story reasons. I would say there’s probably not a single female character in one piece whose design I fully enjoy just because at times I am convinced that Oda has never actually seen a woman before. But their stories are so incredibly compelling,,,,,,

Visual design wise I kind of enjoy Koby and Helmeppo and how they’ve changed over time! And I absolutely adore Jinbei and Brook and Chopper! Design wise I actually probably most enjoy brook and jinbei, and maybe post time skip zoro? I just think they’re really neat,,,

OH. AMD GEAR 5TH LUFFY. I CANNOT BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT GEAR 5TH LUFFY. that is just. Chefs kiss. EXCELLENT DESIGN

I think probably part of the reason I enjoy sabo so much is that he’s the only character design that just like. Fully appeals to me. Like I love his character design soooo much it is unreal. But also because he’s such a unique design among the characters (being about the only character with as much screentime as he has that dresses up as a noble) it’s difficult for me to find other characters that I enjoy so much visually. As reprehensible as nobles are in the story of one piece, I tend to especially enjoy characters that are more formally dressed,,,, honestly if they extended that sort of aesthetic to the entirety of the revolutionary army I would probably have a lot more favorite characters lmao

[remxedmoon]

so all you need to do right now is disappear.

HHHHAPPY ISATVERSARY EVERYONE. here’s redraws for every single battle cg in the game. 36 drawings this time around, with 11 of those being custom (though admittedly a good portion of those are edits). combined with the portrait redraws i made back in september, i’ve made 114 redraws for this project! jesus christ! just like those redraws, these are completely free to use!! as long as i’m credited and it’s not for commercial purposes, go wild!! do whatever you want!!!

no i didn’t make these for isat’s 1 year anniversary this is just wildly good timing.

i genuinely can’t fit all of these cgs in one post even with the 30 image limit on browser, but i’ll still try to fit Most of them below the cut (without making this post horrifically long), along with some notes that might be important 👍

okay! once again, i labeled all of the custom art as such in the drive(UPDATE. NNOT TRUE ANYMORE. reformatted file names to be easier to mod in auau. apologies!), but if you want a full list, the customs are hatless siffrin jackpot, bonnie jackpot, bonnie special attack, bigfrin attack, and a bunch of alts which are definitely not related to any projects i’ve been thinking about don’t worry about it. and out of those customs, only like. 3 of them are actually completely from scratch.

while i did my absolute best to keep the aspect ratios completely the same as the originals, there’s 3 exceptions that i just couldn’t get to work.

isabeau’s hair in his special attack cg wouldn’t fit in frame if i kept things completely accurate to the og, so i moved his cg down a bit. it shouldn’t cause any issues with modding or anything, it’ll just appear slightly lower than it does in game. alas…

isabeau’s sleeve and mirabelle’s hair made their jackpot sprites a little larger than the originals? i’m hoping this doesn’t have too much of an effect (since the jackpot sprites have inconsistent sizes) but i can’t test this myself unfortunately. aaa feel free to let me know on discord if any problems arise!!

i managed to fix these, so they aren’t going to cause problems now, but my original drawings for mirabelle and siffrin in the final attack scene were a pain in the ass to fix. mirabelle’s sprite was slightly too talk to fit in frame and siffrin’s hat whacked bonnie in the face while i was editing everyone together. i’m only mentioning this because it took like an hour and a half to fix them and finish the scene.

all that aside, these were a fucking BLAST to work on. apparently this ended up taking 57 hours over exactly 10 days. which is a little worrying if you do the math on that but somehow i have not burnt myself out. i will be doing enemies at some point!!! but probably not for a little bit. i think my friends will actually kill me if i don’t take a break.

once again, happy birthday isat. you’ve ruined my life and i wouldn’t have it any other way (silly).

also, on an actual serious note, this little timeloop game has genuinely changed my life for the better? you guys are probably sick of hearing it at this point (or maybe not, i don’t talk about myself That Much. i hope), but i was practically a ghost for about 2 years before joining this fandom. it’s a little surreal to suddenly have friends (plural!!!) and people who Care about me, or even know i exist, honestly. it’s weird!! in a good way!!!

i don’t think i would’ve ever come back to social media if this community wasn’t so welcoming. i’ve met a lot of really great people through this game!!! so, uh, thank you isat, i guess. here’s to another year.

[disposal-blueeee]

stuff i never finished and why

hello and good night . i'm just gonna ramble about stuff so yeah

swings

oh man i really loved this drawing . but it was a PAIN IN THE ASS .

i had a bunch of problems with this one . i spent an embarrassing amount of time doing the line . then after i started painting it on Ibis paint i realized that i should've done the line with a textured brush .

then the background . i really couldn't make it look nice even if i tried . i spent so long just trying stuff and searching for references but i just couldn't get it right . the colors and the lightning kept looking weird .

and just when it was looking decent , oh no the file is corrupted !!! and if i wanted it back i would have to go through a speedpaint of a drawing that took me 28 hours ( i actually tried it 😭😭 but it was taking so long and after some time the app crashed )

so , i decided to just give up . i was already fed up with it . maybe some day i'll try to redraw it or something

edit : oh wait a second . this drawing makes no sense without the background . edgar looks like that because there's supposed to be a puddle under scriabin's swing and he's trying to get edgar wet with it

otgw x chapter 20 / 21

i just said i loved the other one but THIS ONE . this one is SO PRETTY and i was so excited to try some new brushes and overall just finish this . excited enough to start painting edgar without even finishing scriabin's line .

i was using a small tablet my friend let me borrow . it was actually so helpful because i could draw on my phone with it !! i used to work on this when i was at school .

then i started having problems with the background . again

then my friend told me that his mom didn't agree with him giving me the tablet and that he should give it to his sister instead so i had to give it back . great . at that point i didn't feel like finishing it so

random reference i found in pinterest

this is like a month old maybe ???? i just thought " oh this would be such a fire pfp " and after finishing the sketch i was like " alright i'll finish this tomorrow " ( i never finished it )

mostly didn't finish it because i didn't have any idea to make it look lifeless and tragic . oh well . maybe i'll try it someday i still think it's cool

papa's cheeseria

this one isn't really unfinished . i just wanted to make a doodle sheet but never drew anything else so now he's just there . alone in a blank space . poor guy .

so yeah . everytime i play papa louie's games i always make the workers look like edgar and scriabin . i thought this default outfit looked pretty cool so so i had to draw it

[leonenjoyer69]

I really love your art and your artstyle!!! I'm trying to learn to draw and I'm struggling to find a way to draw faces and especially eyes that I like, could you maybe share some tips on how you draw faces because omg I am so in awe of how cool your art looks! :D

FKEKVKKEKD OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH 🥺🥺 I'M SO HONORED

Honestly, the best advice I can give is to study tf out of art styles you like, bc that's exactly what I did with TGS. The amount of pages I just stared at and tried to lowkey memorize is ungodly, and once I started drawing the characters and trying to emulate sage's style, I kinda just kept getting better from there. My ability to draw poses and full body stuff also got exponentially better VERY quickly, TGS is just magic like that, I swear.

Also, for eyes specifically, referencing each characters eyes and testing different expressions is kinda the way to go. I use my physical copy of Vol 1 a LOT for referencing (especially for Hyde and Lanyon)

(A LOT more under the cut lmao)

Also, just drawing headshots of the characters over and over helps too, especially in pen! I have literal DOZENS of random 5- 10 minute pen doodles. The nice thing about the pen stuff is that, yeah, youll mess up a lot and not be super satisfied with most of them, but it forces you to be a bit more careful about how you place things and steadier with you hand, at least in my experience.

(The sillies)

See? Most of them really suck, but they made me pay a lot more attention to what I was doing and what I wanted to do. It also helped me grasp quirks of the characters and drawing expressions a lot better. Plus, this isn't even all of them, I've got a bunch more in a little envelope I made.

Also, looking on Pinterest for pose references probably would also help, or taking pics of yourself for reference, but I'm built different (stubborn and lazy) so I rawdog my anatomy and poses 🗣️🗣️

Otherwise, I can also give a little doodle example with Whole Jekyll on how I currently draw in pencil and such :3

Start with circle, then give it a nice center line and chin

Then I throw in the neck and shoulders (which tend to change a decent bit bc anatomy is hard), the eye line, which goes through the middle of the circle, and then I like to do a line down the chest to figure out which way I want him pointing, since he's at a tilt. I also change this quite often, along with where I want the face pointing lmao. Once I've figured out direction, I draw the nose starting at the bottom of the circle and up to the eye line. I also then draw the top of the eyes first. The eye line (and apparently the center line 💀) is of course a suggestion, and I tend to mess around with the eye shape until it looks mostly right.

Then the bottoms of the eyes and the pupils get thrown in, which I have to redraw pretty often to try and make them match better. I also usually leave the eyes blank bc I'm lazy af and can't draw pupils too well, I will shade them tho and that makes them look better.

Then bbg gets ears (which I usually start around the corners of the eyes and go down to just above the little curve of the jaw), eyebrows (also just mess around with these til they look right) and a mouth (I HATE drawing mouths 😋😋), then they get their hair (also have to redraw a bunch)

Also, to show Whole Jekylls other eye, I pinned his hair back, so there's a treat, Whole Jekyll enjoyers <3 bbg can fully see 😍 (Mind Lanyon probably forced him too)

Then I shade his eyes, give him clothes and fix up any quick things that were bothering me (in this his nose) and go back with the edge of a rectangle eraser and get those guidelines and extra lines out (sometimes they're still a little visible, but maybe just don't draw them as heavy handed as I do 💀) and Bada Bing Bada boom! Doodle done :3 of course its not the best, but it doesn't have to be, thats the joy of doodles

Heres another good pic to kinda show how I use my guidelines (and how messy my doodles usually are, it's part of my charm guys, I swear--)

Otherwise like, my progress shots for drawings look goofy af lmao, like--

Messy af, incorrect proportions, wrong anatomy, eugh. just takes time (and a lot of redrawing) to get to the final pieces.

But yeah!!! Eyes are annoying, it just takes a lot of tweaking and repetition.

Like, I redrew some of these eyes a decent few times and some of them are still off, like cmon Lanyon, why you gotta be so hard for me to draw 💔

Anyways!!! Thats probably the best I can offer right this second lmao, sometimes I kinda wish I could record drawing and stuff but I don't do stuff purely digital often enough to. I do have a full speed paint for that drawing of Jekyll in Hydes mind clothes tho, so idk maybe I'll share that if anyone wants me to lmao.

But yeah! Thank you so much for the ask and the kind words, I hope this helps! or is at least entertaining lmao

[cherubinym]

im curious abt how you interpret eden and the creation sisters, considering we hardly know of those four at all! (by the way i really loved your contributions towards spacea and tiempas redesigns, that art looks really nice :D). what are their personalities like?

First of all thank u qvq

I really like designing,,, and for fun facts the original concept designs were actually just redraws of fanart I did for them like a couple years back. At first anyway jhbsjbhsbjhsj

---

Eden first, since they're rather simple.

In the Timebreak rp scene? There's a severe Lack of Kieran and Clear (we've had players of them before but they've disappeared or gone inactive/haven't been involved in the main au.)

How it goes is; they've managed to 'recreate' well- at least an Eden lookalike. Data and such wise, this Eden basically has to start from scratch with collection, save for whatever was still in the system. "Memories" for them are limited. Save for a friend's OC whom is also a MysFigure.

They're very friendly, in an unnerving way. They have such a peppy and happy attitude to the point where some can say it feels unnatural. Pokemon especially with good intiuition; (ex. Delpha), can see through this facade.

Until they can 'recreate' their partners, they're basically forced to solo-handle a lot of the MF main story stuff. Very charismatic, very good at manipulation.

Their disguise is as a Professor at Axis High, in which they use their position to monitor the students and alumni that are league leaders + have secure access to the Axis High Labs and Platinum component.

... The Puppet Master thing in this AU seems very complicated and probably would have its own post if anything jbhsjbhsbhjsbj.

They prefer to get literally any work or situation done with any means But fighting. The more compliant the person they need is, the easier it is. The less risk taken, the better.

(Sylveon, Lucario-Mega, Leavanny*, Blacephalon, Crobat, Silvally-???)

---

Now the Creation Sisters--- WELL. A lot of their (Spacea and Tiempa's) stuff is referenced from canon events, of course. But I also took a bite out of the Wispy Ruins Chest Quest + Lost Castle Lore and used THAT in a bunch of stuff.

Griselda is still a worm, just as in canon. That much is fair lol. Unlike her sisters, she can't really turn "human" again yet, but I do have a human design for her (based off her ingame sprites.)

The key difference here is that she is still PRESENT with Geara past Valor-- in her own way anyways. She's still doing whatever the fuck she wants. But this makes things... hm. Fun I suppose. She purposely interferes with stuff Spacea and Tiempa try to do-- mostly out of spite. She does a lot of things out of Spite, actually. Like adopting a new family because her old ones poisoned her. Normal Thursday, you know.

Speaking of that, she has her own Pokemon team... even though she's one herself. Her Mega is a Gengar, which is the evolved form of the Gastly from the Wispy Ruins Chest Quest, whom is her daughter who was turned into a Pokemon as punishment.

( GMega Gengar, Mimikyu, [GIRATINA], Beheeyem-Crest, Dusknoir-Crest, Spiritomb-Crest, Dragapult (LAUNCH THE CHILDREN.))

So yeah. She's still very snappy, even towards those she "seems" more compassionate about. On the Geara part, you're best bet is asking Geara's mun for that side of the story <3

... Now considering this place is called TIMEbreak, Tiempa has her hands full with Many things. The Stormchasers are certainly still a thing, and oh boy is shit going to go down later. We're still in like, late Chapter 9, or early Chapter 10 time wise I think. Their time will come soon.

Yeah, Spacea still exists too. Same vein of stuff. Those two pretty much have the same personalities as ingame, except now they're more pissed off with how much stuff has been going off the rails.

Tiempa is the quiet mean one. Spacea is the loud mean one. What more can I say without spoiling PLANS

(Chat they still don't know Jenner is alive again-)

[braintapes]

Sketches 2022 part TWO!!!

September 30:

Around this time I got to thinking about Madam Hotel/the Hotel Herself as sorta like Walpurgisnacht from Madoka Magica. I’m not...really sure why. I think just the aesthetic of that witch, with all this buildup and grandiosity. The fact that she represents futility and helplessness. Her laugh. Her fucking cool as hell design. That she’s a witch conglomerate, formed from the amalgamation of TONS of witches...just good stuff.

October 3:

I really wanted to draw the Bellhop staring down into a bucket with bits of Manager in it, mocking and laughing. I couldn’t figure out the perspective though so it never came to be.

October 4:

More Bellhop. I think going forward I wanna draw her more like this. I’m honestly disappointed with myself that the painting I did of her was so blank-faced when that doesn’t capture her personality at all. I wanna redraw the Bellhop and the Concierge soon to just. look way better and more accurate to their personalities.

October 7:

October 8:

Plans for another big piece. I wanted to focus on doing it across October, November, and December and thaaaaat.....fell through pretty hard. Ah well. I’ll try and pick this up at some point this year. Though tbh what I’d love to do now is a biiig big collaborative illustration with a bunch of people featuring like, a bunch of doors/rooms with various interpretations of the staff behind them or something.

October 30:

October 31:

Around this time, I switched from drawing in a file created for each day (so, say, all of January 3rd’s drawings would be in one CSP file labelled 1-3-22), to creating a file to paint in for the whole month. It just...made things a lot easier with painting as opposed to sketching. The canvas setup is different from my daily files and quicker to get right into.

Consequently, though, while I start strong in keeping everything in those month files labelled and divided into folders for each day, uh...that falls apart by the end of the year...

November 1:

November 12:

November 14:

November 19:

November 28:

I really like drawing screaming faces. I don’t do it nearly enough

December 2:

December 3:

Desperately trying to find an animalistic pose for a Manager drawing. I tried this across several days and could not put together one I was happy with.

December 6:

December 8:

December 11:

I still need to play the Ib remaster. I wanna draw a cool piece with Mary sitting under the Fabricated World painting. She’s a character I relate a lot to, at least from what I can remember about the game.

December 13:

December 15:

December 17:

Attempting to draw lamprey hotel herself and struggling a lot lol. Terrified Judy Blashy. I wanted to make a comic of them having a conversation as like. a peek into what they were doing while the entire New Crew and Old Crew conflict was happening. It was going to go something like:

The Hotel Herself, absolutely cosmically massive, with Judy Blashy resting on her, positively tiny in comparison. The Hotel Herself is rambling, monologuing about how charming human sayings are - out with the old, in with the new, for example, while musing about endless cycles and arbitrary new years.

Judy Blashy is trembling, terrified, crying, of course, and the Hotel reminds Judy that she’s lucky to be getting this much up-close and personal time with Her, so could she at least try to be a good conversation partner?

Judy whimpers and tries her best but, like, clearly is not much at all. It’s still enough of a response for the Hotel Herself to start monologuing again. Meanwhile, in the background, everything from the New Crew’s introduction is going on, speeding by. The Hotel Herself is remarking on how she’s looking forward to seeing how everyone plays together and gets along, and what kind of new year they’ll ring in. The Crews are in an active battle to the death as she says this. She looks to Judy for a response, but despite her best attempts, Madam H is unimpressed.

She gets bored with Judy and lets her know it. In fact, she gets so bored she decides to toss her back out, deciding that she’s not even worth a death. It just wouldn’t be satisfying. Alone with Herself, She sighs and remarks that she misses having someone around that was “good to talk to.” She decides to check in on the staff, only to find the aftermath of their big fight.

Her form coils and winds in a way that suggests a big smile as she laughs and laughs. She says something about sayings, about how “some things never change!” and “alls well that ends well!”

I was still sick with covid enough that i did not have the energy to do all this but i still like the idea

Aaand finally, my last drawings of 2022, on December 29/30??? (I stopped labeling at this point):

Yahoo!! I’m excited to keep drawing more and more cool stuff going forward. I wanna try a whole lot of new things and improving at drawing all different kinds of character designs and compositions and learning perspective stuff and just. Idk where my art will end up but I’m eager to see where!!! Thank you again if you read through this :-)

[panvani]

Mochizuki Jun The Case Study of Vanitas Anime da Vinci Interview - pt. 2 -

An interview conducted by Anime da Vinci with mangaka Mochizuki Jun regarding The Case Study of Vanitas. Part one of my translation is here. I said it was going to be two parts there, but I’ll be releasing it in 3, sorry.

In summary: A more in depth description of how Vanitas and Noé were developed, how Mochizuki wants to represent their relationship, Mochizuki’s feelings on “evil,” and how she wants to incorporate death.

Includes translation notes.

Initially, Vanitas was the vampire, and Noé was the human.

- The way Vanitas and Noé are depicted within the story is quite charming. How did those two come to be as they are? With that, how would Mochizuki Jun-sensei go about introducing “this person is Vanitas,” and “this person is Noé (a vampire)”?

Mochizuki Jun: Initially, Vanitas was the vampire, and Noé was the human. Drawing from Sherlock Holmes, Vanitas took the role of Holmes and Noé of Watson. But, no matter what I did with that concept, my boss would look at it and go “I mean, looking at this, the feeling I get is just... well, isn’t this kind of ordinary? In my opinion, it’s just... not interesting,” when providing consultation. Then, I got the advice of “hey, what if the vampire and the human roles were switched?!”  I was like “huh? A human Holmes and a vampire Watson? Wait, that’s- really extremely super cool!!” And it felt like I was suddenly looking at a completely different landscape. Vanitas’ prominent canine teeth are vestiges from those drafts.

MJ: A different friend of mine criticized my design for Vanitas, which is how he ended up developing those two-level side bangs. Noé’s design completely changed from the first drafts to serialization. Originally he had glasses and was more of the straight man of the comedy duo. I was forced to part with those and other ideas.

MJ: If I were to introduce them with a single phrase, it would be like:

Vanitas - A self loathing deviant.[1]

Noé - Body of a man, spirit of a maiden!

- Speaking of those two, even though they’re always butting heads, they still choose to be alongside one another, and end up fighting together to cover each other’s backs. That relationship is so endearing. In what manner does Mochizuki-sensei mean to depict the two of them?

MJ: They’re not friends, and their goals don’t exactly align[2]. Sort of contrarily, they always fight like dogs but still feel a mutual draw to one another. There’s not enough room to cover it all here, you know what I mean? Noé’s naivety frustrates Vanitas, but his foolish earnestness makes Vanitas harbor a desire to be close to him. Noé sees the light of Vanitas’ power which can do things far beyond Noé’s ability, and feels an attraction to the darkness that lurks in Vanitas’ shadow.

- The characters of Vanitas, especially in the case of when a depressed disposition shines through a carefree countenance, always have such impactful expressions. Please tell us if you have any points of fixation when it comes to drawing expressions.

MJ: I don’t have any specific points of fixation when it comes to expressions, but I usually end up redrawing the expression several times when I make a new panel. Whenever I draw a character’s face I end up making the same expression on my own face, so I leave a really bad impression when I draw in front of other people...

MJ: Aside from that, when I read manga by other people I’ll often go “oh, that’s a really good expression!” In those cases, I’ll try to analyze what about the drawing communicates the right emotion, follow that as closely as possible, and keep it in mind when I increase the stock of my own drawn expressions. I wanna get good at drawing...

Try to contain meaningless death within The Case Study of Vanitas.

- Though there are even humans who regard vampires as enemies, neither seems to be “good,” nor does either seem to be “evil.” Please tell us about the feelings you held when you decided to depict neither side as an axis of good or evil.

MJ: Simply rewarding good and punishing evil is bad storytelling. Those easy to swallow “I’m looking for world domination!” type characters always make me ask “Why’s this character want world domination?” “How do they intend to achieve it? For what purpose?” “What about their history led them to that conclusion?” “In the first place, when talking about evil, how was it that what we’re calling evil was decided to be evil?” It’s a really obnoxious way to get my head spinning with ideas as I try to look for an answer I can accept. Before I know it, that “easy to understand enemy” doesn’t really exist to me, no matter where I look.

MJ: Since I wholeheartedly reject “evil,” I think authors who create antagonists whose feelings you can see and relate to are extremely admirable.

- That monologue which began in the first chapter’s finale seemed to contain all sorts of foreshadowing. Has Mochizuki-sensei already envisioned the plot all the way up to the final chapter?

MJ: I haven’t firmly decided all the way to the end yet since I’m the type to not know what she wants to draw, but I’ve pretty much got the rough outline until the story’s conclusion. On my way to that final station called “the story’s end,” there are some stations at which I’m absolutely, inevitably going to have to stop. Still, I feel like it’s up to me as to which route I take on my way there.

MJ: For he who may have stuck with me since my previous works, I’m trying my hardest to work my way up and make the railway line of this current story feel more like a roller coaster.[3] Since in my previous work, Pandora Hearts, I wanted to make a bunch of distinctive events on their way to the last scene, which was supposed to be the highlight of that character’s arc. Because of that, most deaths in Pandora Hearts were made to be cathartic. In The Case Study of Vanitas, I think I want to try to include completely meaningless death.

---

[1] The word Mochizuki uses is 自分嫌い天の邪鬼. 自分嫌い is pretty directly just “self hating,” but 天の邪鬼 literally means “demon from heaven.” In speech, it’s used to mean “pervert” or “contrarian.” The manga translates 天邪鬼 (the same word spelled differently) as “bad tempered,” which I don’t like.

[2] Since I saw another translation for this part: Mochizuki specifically says 仲間とも違う, nakama to mo chigau, which means more literally “[their relationship] is also a different thing than a comrade.” 仲間 is sort of an infamous word among Japanese translation circles. It frequently implies “friend,” but is closer to “person with whom one finds commonality [in faction, ideas, goals, etc.]” Another translation might be “kindred spirit.”

[3] Yeah she starts using a train metaphor it wasn’t fun to translate

-

Part 3 here.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Ik this maybe sounds kinda random but I have a feeling you're latinoamerican Idk why.

Also what are your thoughts on the anime? I really liked the CGI I think it looked very cool and clean!! A-1 pictures did a good job 👏👏 I know it just started but I really hope its successful in japan, so maybe one day we could see Osaka and Nagoya animated :')

That’s probably because I am and am fairly vocal about it.

I live in the US and am racially pretty damn white, but my mother’s family is from Mexico. (Sorta. They’ve been in the US for a while now, and we’re not exactly sure who came across the border when because most old Mexican men can give Gentarou a run for his money when it comes to telling mentiras.) I was raised speaking both English and baby Spanish, but I lost the opportunity to practice it all that often when I was pretty little and as such forgot almost all of it, hahaha. Still, I can understand most written Spanish and a fair bit of common spoken Spanish, and I speak Spanglish with my mom. Growing up mostly white is pretty weird, since I don’t feel Latino enough to fit in with my own family (but they ARE my family) but also not white enough to fit in completely with my white peers. They don’t get how enchiladas are comfort food or how the words “mijo” and “mija” are love incarnate. They don’t get it why my parents have three bags of tortillas in their fridge at all times (it’s because I keep stealing them whenever I run out at my house) or the importance of owning a big-ass olla. It’s like... I don’t want to intrude in spaces where I don’t necessarily feel I have the right to belong, but I also want to acknowledge the struggle of my grandparents who worked as migrant farmers instead of going to school and gave up everything they had to give their kids a better life. I wonder how well I can do that, having forgotten their language and living as so much as a product of “American melting pot” culture. It’s... tricky. Identity is tricky.

Point is, I want to see Dice casually calling Otome “vieja”.

ANYWAY. Anime thoughts. I’ll put them under a cut for anyone concerned about spoilers.

The little kick the Buster Bros did in the opening on “buttobasu” (send ‘em flying) made me involuntarily laugh out loud. So dorky. Love them for that.

I was not sold on the opening back when I saw it in the previews, but I actually liked the full version quite a lot. The rap bits are a lot more impressive than the sort of generic chorus.

Love how it opened on TDD. I hope other episodes will follow suit and give more TDD backstory, because I think it delivers the best emotional impact when you know the reasons the anime boys are duking it out with one another.

TDD Samatoki has giant eyelashes even in the anime. Jesus christ.

TDD Ramuda appeared for about three seconds, and I was appeased.

The Buster Bros bit didn’t interest me too much, personally, but I thought it set the tone for the series really nicely. I also thought that a bunch of random dudes ganging up on these children and being like, “Heh heh, bitch, whatcha gonna do? We have microphones!” is hilarious.

BB rap was fantastic. I appreciated how much of a mix this was between the ARB and manga styles in terms of the way the raps appeared. Having the lyrics on screen was a GREAT thing for me as well. I also really enjoyed the moment where Saburou pushed Jirou out of the way and Ichirou stopped Jirou before he could retaliate. It wasn’t a distraction from the song at all but also characterized the familial interactions so clearly in just a few seconds. Kudos.

My VPN connection died during Ichijiku’s first talk with Otome, so idk what went on there.

I know Samatoki is supposed to be taken seriously, but for the life of me, I really can’t. I kept on snickering the whole time he was talking to the yakuza NPCs and acting tough. All his posturing is ridiculous to me.

Loved that MTC rap, although I kept laughing at that too. MTC is overkill.

I have a love/hate relationship with Samatoki’s speaker ever since I had to redraw part of that motherfucker sometime last year, but it is really damn cool looking. The animation for it blew me away. LOVED THAT.

Riou was there :)

I finally understood the significance of the cigarette kiss between Samatoki and Juuto. It’s to symbolize the whole “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” professional relationship they have, but I did think Juuto was leaning in for a kiss for a really bizarre moment.

Riou showing up to offer food :)

Eat Riou’s fucking food, Samatoki :)

I think Ramuda is a bit smaller than he should be as compared to the other cast members, but I will let it slide

Ramuda’s office is absolutely awful in color, but I will also let that slide

The Fling Posse interactions were a huge hit with me. I love seeing them hang out with one another and horse around the way that they do. Like the BBs’ scene, this was a great establishing shot for them.

I love how Dice rolls with Ramuda’s gratuitous English without missing a beat.

FP song wasn’t as hardcore as some of the other ones, but it was executed very well. Love the wordplay with the end of Ramuda’s and the beginning of Gentarou’s verse.

THE HIGH FIVE AT THE END OF THE SONG... HOO HOO!! NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT, BABY! NOW THAT’S FRIENDSHIP RIGHT THERE!

Hypmic NPCs lowkey piss me off, especially all the “Kyaaa~!!!!” female NPC types. I get that they’re not supposed to be thought about all that much, but seriously...? Why is running from fangirls a plot point that keeps on being revisited?

They left Dice’s money behind... Bruh.......

Love how Doppo and Hifumi barge into Jakurai’s office nonchalantly.

The bit with the nurse establishes Hifumi’s character very well, although I still think Doppo’s being kind of an ass when he pulls Hifumi’s jacket off.

The whole fucking “terrorists on the roof” bit made me laugh again. Some of the Hypmic plot points are so contrived that I find them funny. It’s all silly good fun.

Love that rappers show up to push past the bumbling security guards/police. Excuse me, please, let me through... I’m a rapper.

Jakurai’s speaker was very well animated, but the way it appeared made me think of the Lionsgate logo. The mic animation was pretty cool too.

JAKURAI’S RAP ACTUALLY BLEW ME AWAY. I’m normally not a fan of Jakurai raps, but god DAMN was that cool.

Hifumi and Doppo didn’t drop the ball either. Fuck it UP, Matenrou.

I can’t believe they dropped lightning bolts on two people... especially when one was holding someone else hostage. Is that woman okay? Did she get fucking vaporized? I’ll never know.

Otome’s character model moves pretty stiffly, which I think actually helps her character because of how stoic she tries to act overall.

Ending song was dope. I wonder if they’ll feature other divisions in the endings of other episodes.

Ramuda leaping a good 3 meters in the air in the final shot is funny as fuck.

[seeminglyseph]

little bit of a redraw/redesign thing. I wanna shade it but also I spent multiple hours zoned out drawing her hair. I like feel super cringe showing the original but like it’s clear I used no reference, was more interested in silhouette than pose dynamics (I’m even being generous and cropping it, my ability to know what’s important to a picture is non existent) and also learned exactly how bad it looks to shade with grey. I did not use a reference and did not have the time or discipline to do the details I’m managing now...

I have this group of OCs I keep meaning to write... something about. I’ve been playing around with designs for a while (and not been very great at it, honestly looking at the old designs. They’re either really really bland or my concept of design and anatomy... can we just say I’m improving? That was meant to be lipstick but it was a bad choice and I definitely see it. I’ve also experimented with makeup in drawings. I don’t know how to mix it with the cel shading. I tend to make solid blocks of eye shadow, but it doesn’t work good for the really blush heavy looks. I’m trying to give her that like e girl style heavy blush and highlighter. My idea is that she’s like an anime and games youtuber/streamer? Her name is Tamara and she has two love interests and originally it was a werewolves are a found family story but idk if I have anything remotely werewolfy for them to do. also I don’t wanna draw wolves. I was gonna say ‘I just want werewolf dynamics without having to draw wolves’ but that’s just abo fic. which I am not above, I do love some mate bonding and like packs. it’s about a bunch of queer kids coming together and like doing stuff. when I was designing them I was super into Wet Moon by Sophie Campbell? So I was like thinking of just some just like intense character based journeys. Really original, “hello I would like to write queer found family personal drama?” groundbreaking. I wanna though...

Tamara’s kind of a sheltered baby of her family, she’s trans and her parents got a little hover-parent over it. She started her transition in her childhood so she was on puberty blockers and the whole thing, she was kind of a shut in because she’s shy and a nerd and didn’t get out much until she went to art school and the story starts. So she’s a shy lover of anime and cute things and she wants to be a manga artist and art school is going to be very hard because like why write a story about a thoroughly uneventful time? like I said I have no idea where the werewolf shit would fit in. I gotta admit this started focused entirely on the other main character Jon who has been through many incarnations but when they started being werewolves was like an uwu omega special werewolf mage.. so like there’s a confused disconnect between what was clearly self indulgent spank bait and what was supposed to be a lot of character drama.

which I suppose isn’t to say intense character drama can’t be spank bait but I think probably not with abo dynamics lol. though it would be interesting to play it straight and see if I’m a good enough writer to pull it off (I’m not) I do hears that there’s a market for it in the world of self publishing lol I just wanna write like batshit insane drama like a soap opera. I think part of me still misses the high of being into Teen Wolf, I just want extreme relationship drama and love triangles and found family and one night stands and shit combined with like monster of the week supernatural garbage. “Hi we’re a bunch of queer college age werewolves we solve ghost crimes” I want that. if teen wolf could get away with some prosthetics and eye effects, I can too. please don’t still be reading this I put it under the cut because I knew I was going to end up talking too much. I have to either say nothing about a drawing or explain my whole thought process, there is no in between.

Cutesy e-girl weeb goes to art school and maybe does supernatural adventures but definitely ends up the focal point in a love teetertotter between her best friend since childhood who went to college one year earlier and got like suuuuper attractive and it’s a little weird but she honestly couldn’t love anyone more, and the hot nonbinary fellow art student with like... depths. I know it doesn’t sound like it should be much of a fight but like just because a relationship is new it doesn’t make it less good. and theoretically the hot nonbinary artist is very hot so don’t give up on him yet. Though childhood friend is also theoretically hot. Everyone is theoretically hot because I wanna make them hot.

[milstrim]

Strong Words of Encourage-Mint!

"Okay, you win," Tony conceded, pointing an accusing finger at the kid walking next to him, "This is the best sandwich I've ever had. But don't let it go to your head."

Penny took a bite of her own sandwich, polishing it off and throwing the wrapper at the nearest trash can where it landed perfectly in the hole. She flashed him a cheeky grin, "Never. Nothing goes to my head. Ever."

"Uhuh."

Tony took another bite, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. Today, they served more than the purpose of carrying around his own personal badass AI, but actually blocked the bright New York summer sun that bounced and glared off the windows of buildings and nearby cars. Heat passed through the crowd like a dusty wind, hanging onto him and letting go just as quickly as a new wave took its place. He licked his lips at the heat, hoping that whatever Penny's trip through the city had planned was prepared for a water break.

"So, where to, kid?" he asked, throwing his own wrapper in a trashcan, though he begrudgingly admitted that it was much less cool than the kid's shot, "'Cause I don't know if it can surpass the best sandwich in Queens."

"It's gonna be great, Mr. Stark!" Penny chirped, ignoring his comment and bouncing forward a little. He smiled. "There's this really cool tunnel thing that turns into an arcade. It just opened last week and the graphics are so good, it's like it's actually real! They also have an escape room if we wanted to do that too. It's supposed to be the hardest one ever, no one's cracked it yet!" Tony smirked. Between the two of them, it'd be done in ten minutes tops, "Oh! And there's this cool, like--it's like a superhero store? They have a bunch of really cool Avengers merch and there's this life size Captain America plushie that's like three hundred dollars and it has the funniest sayings ever. You've got to see it!!!"

"Sounds like a full day," Tony commented, wondering when life had ever become this carefree. He was spending the day discussing afternoon plans with his intern, just for fun... No, not his intern. More like his kid. He couldn't help himself as he gave the girl a fond look. It'd been two years since they'd met, she was almost eighteen, and she changed so much, yet her bouncy childish joy still hung in a bubble beside her. Tony took a breath, surprised to find his breath taken away with the thought of how much she'd grown, "So, where to first?"

"Where do you wanna go first?"

"Nope. Your day."

She bumped into him playfully, sticking her tongue out at him. He blew a raspberry in her direction, dragging a delighted, crinkling giggle out of her.

"The arcade is closest," she said.

"Cool, let's go do that first. Which way?"

"Um, it's a couple blocks over," she started, stopping, much to the chagrin of the bustling crowd. She stepped away from the stream of traffic. Tony followed, "We can take some shortcuts, though."

"Y'know, you're pretty impatient," he teased.

"No! I'm just showing you my amazing street cred of knowing the streets."

"Okay, Underoos. Lead the way."

She shot him a look, but still led him through the alley. And then another, and then another. The first two were completely fine. No surprises, no boogy man jumping out of them. Nothing other than the toxic smell of a dumpster. By the third one, everything went downhill.

Now, Tony didn't have a 'spidey sense' or whatever she and her friend called it, but the moment he stepped on the street, the feeling of wrong overtook him. Maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was the way Penny had slowed down, her body language reeking of fear. Almost against his will, he took a step further, reaching out for Penny in an attempt to pull her back.

He'd barely reached her by the time something clattered at their feet. It was small and round, barely bigger than a bouncy ball, a sickly gray color shining dully in the darkened alleyway. Before any movements could be made, it stretched, revealing a clear vial.

Smoke began dispensing from the ball, billowing in thick clouds. Extremely thick for how small the thing was. Tony's breath shortened immediately, and before he clamped his mouth shut, stuffing it into the crook of his arm, he shouted to Penny, "Don't breathe, kid, just run!!"

Surprisingly unaffected, he moved forward, gripping Penny's hand as he did, but he was stopped short, almost falling with his cut short momentum. He whipped around to stare at Penny, his eyes widening with horror.

She was rooted in place, her eyes dreamy and droopy, as if she was nothing more than a vacant shell. She swayed. Her legs shook. She fell.

The man rushed forward, barely managing to catch her, and feeling like someone would have to catch him soon as well. His vision swayed dizzily from the lack of air, and Tony couldn't stop himself from taking a breath in at the sudden movement. He expected something bitter or tasteless, and for him to faint immediately if it had already taken Penny out so quickly, but instead, he was fine. Nothing happened save for the burning of peppermint on his throat and burning his nose.

Peppermint.

He cursed. Penny was dangerously allergic to peppermint, a fun little gift from her spider powers. Whoever had done this hadn't come for him. They wanted Penny, and they knew just how to do it.

With that horrifying thought, Tony ran. Or, well, he tried to run.

Scooping up Penny, he began to stumble out of the alleyway, only to be met with a wall of people. There were three of them, all with guns in hand. Waiting. He turned on his heel, only to discover the other end was surrounded with three men as well, as dangerous and formidable looking as before. He spotted a red octopus on their jackets.

He hugged Penny tighter, and held out a gauntlet covered hand. His glasses lit up, Friday already calling a suit.

A man took a step closer, his gun held aloft. Tony took a step backward, his eyes dancing around and looking for an escape. Penny couldn't stay in this cloud of peppermint for long. As if hearing his thoughts, a rack of coughs shot through Penny, who buried her shaking form into his shoulder. He had to get her out.

"Hand over the girl," demanded the closest man. The group closed in, but remained wary of the weapon gripped onto his palm.

"Not happening," he snapped, "I think you know what happens to people that mess with me. So why don't you just go ahead and keep moving?"

"You know it's already too late for that."

"I don't think it's ever too late for anything."

"I do," the man responded, and that was all he had to say.

The men rushed forward all at once, a tidal wave. Tony fired immediately, but was only able to fire out one shot before they were on top of him. He kicked out violently, but was horribly unbalanced by the girl he held in his arms, limp and unaware of the world.

A punch landed to his face, knocking him backwards and the glasses off of his face. Assumingly distracted, he felt arms grip around his kid, tugging painfully at her, but he managed to cling on. In his desperate attempt to keep the kid with him, however, he found himself defenseless.

Another fist. Another kick. Tony felt his nose snap and his arms bruise beyond belief as he was rammed against the dumpster, arms worming between his, digging and tugging and tearing. But Tony refused to let go, unable to do anything else. All he could do was shield Penny from being hurt and taken.

But all he could do wasn't enough. Tony's legs wobbled, his body shook, and Penny was torn away. He reached out immediately, struggling to force himself up only to be met with the butt of the gun against his face. He went down like a rock, his head tearing against the concrete painfully.

Tony Stark had never been one to give up though, and this was a moment he was determined to not let pass by. Even if it killed him.

The sound of a car screeching to a halt is what managed to stir him to his feet, throwing away the dizziness that faced him and instead running towards the group of kidnappers. No longer encumbered with a child in his hands, he held out his wrist gauntlet. The first two missed, but the last hit the man holding Penny. He dropped to the ground just outside a gray van, Penny tumbling with him.

Another took his place, hooking arms underneath the limp girl and attempting to herd her back into the van, but he rushed forward. Anger burned in his eyes and leapt from his palm. Now close enough, he hit the man picking up Penny, forcing him to stumble back, and knocking him down with a swift shot.

Tony couldn't stop to make sure Penny was okay, instead swerving back to face the rest of the group, who were sprinting forward and redrawing their guns. The first slammed up to him, clicking his gun and ready to fire. Tony grabbed his wrist as he approached, clumsily twisting and placing his armored hand over the barrel, only just able to stop the metal that bounced against his hand painfully.

He took in a wispy breath, adrenaline pumping. He threw the man into the next one, forcing them to tumble to the ground, not that it would keep them down for long. He turned to the next one, firing two quick excessive shots that blasted the gun out of his hand and sent it clattering on the pavement. Tony punched him, his metal hand swiftly knocking him out.

Three down. Three to go.

The two he'd shoved to the ground earlier had stumbled back up, and now all three surrounded him, guns drawn and pointed at him. Tony pointed his gauntlet, gasping for air and refusing to move from where he stood over his kid protectively.

"Give it up, Stark," the tallest man demanded, a trickle of blood running from a cut over his eyes. Tony glanced around harriedly, desperately searching for an escape, for something to use. The sound of whooshing let him know he didn't have to.

"I've never been known for that," he snarked back, ducking and swerving for Penny just as the suit clanked down in front of him. Tony didn't even have to watch the fight, though he would've preferred to see the way their faces widened and whitened with fear, instead kneeling beside his kid.

No longer in direct contact with the peppermint bomb, the swelling had receded, and, when he placed two fingers to her neck, he was relieved to discover her heart was beating normally. Her breaths were a little shallow, but she'd live.

Penny blinked awake, her eyelashes fluttering open. For a moment, she looked lost, unfocused and unseeing, before they shifted and locked onto him. Immediately, a look of trust washed over her, and it made Tony equally terrified and fond. He'd barely saved her, yet she still held out a hand and gripped his fingers as though he would protect her forever.

He would try.

"Are you o'ay?" Penny mumbled, her words heavy as she began to regain control of her body. Tony wanted to scoff, but he was sure he looked like a bruised and horrid mess. His eye was bruising, his nose tender and broken, and trickles of blood escaping from given cuts.

"I'm great, kiddo," he responded instead, "But I think our little playdate is over, so why don't we go home?"

"I wanted you to see the Captain America doll."

"We'll go another time," he assured.

"Really?"

"Really."

[moonlightguardianmoon]

The story of Nasir the Cat part 1

This is a drawing I did for Nasir... ya I know it terrible 😓 I haven't drawn cat's in a long time if anyone wants to redraw Nasir I give full permission as long as you follow the copy right and give credit where credit is due

Oh another thing Nasir is Arabic for eagle

The story of how Nasir became Altair's little furry partner in crime.

It was a Friday morning around 6;30. People were driving or walking to work, as the birds chirped and the eagles soaring through the open air, somewhere in the crowds of people, there was a blade walking among them, that blade was... Altair lbn-La'Ahad.

Altair was wearing his modern outfit, which was a plain white jacket hoodie, a black T-shirt underneath, navy blue pants, a leather belt, and black brand shoes. He was walking towards Mike's cafe, as he did every Friday and Monday morning.

The cafe bell rang as he walked inside, there at the cash register was Michael, wearing an open jean-jacket with some different pins on it, a red t-shirt, tan pants, and a red beanie hat.

Michael: yo! Altair! How's my main man doing?

Altair: I am doing well Michael.

The two fist bump, Altair and mike high fives from top to bottom then ending the handshake ending with them gripping both their forearm and shaking them. They both then let go and continued talking.

Altair: how have things been with you and the cafe?

Michael: I've been doing good, the same goes for the cafe too. So what can I do for my favorite customers slash good friend, today?

Altair: the usual Friday and Monday breakfast, please.

Michael: the butter coated croissants with a warm brew latte.

Altair: that would be it yes.

Michael: all right, and how many croissants would you like?

Altair: the usual five, please.

Michael: alrighty then, that'll be $17.99, please.

Altair: *hands him a coupon and three dollars*

Michael: Awesome, I'll get your drink and latte in a few minutes.

Altair: -nods-

A few minutes later Michael handed Altair his Latte and a white paper bag with the five butter-covered croissants inside.

Michael: there you go, a latte and five butter coated croissants.

Altair: *grabs the Latte and paper bag with the croissants inside* shukraan lak, thank you, Michael.

Michael: no problem man, hey you, Desmond, and Ezio are still going boating with me next week, right?

Altair: I believe we still are, yes.

Michael: right on dude! Well, I'll see you later then! *waves goodbye*

Altair: *makes a small wave back*

Altair exits the building and begins walking two blocks over to a bench that was next to an alleyway. Altair takes a seat on the bench, as he took a sip of his Latte.

Altair: ... *looks around to see if anyone was watching him* ... *turns around to the alleyway* *click* *click* Goldie~ come here Goldie~

Just then a large black cat came slowly emerging from the alleyway. The cat was a midnight black cat that had ember gold eyes just like Altair's eyes. The cat meows happily back at Altair when suddenly a large bulldog came around the corner and growled at the black cat.

Dog: GRRR- BARK BARK!!

Goldie: HISSSSS! *scratches at the air and towards the dog*

Altair: HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER!!!

Altair quickly got up and got in between the dog and the cat.

Altair: I SAID GET AWAY FROM HER YOU STUPID DOG! LEAVE HER BE!!!

Dog: *snarls and growls* BARK! BARK!

Altair: *gets in the dog's face* GRRRR! HISSSSSS!

Dog: ... *whimpers* *leaves with his tail between his legs*

Altair: Tch, stupid dog never learns! *sigh*... you ok Goldie?

Goldie: Meow~ *rubs her head on Altair's leg* Purrr~

Altair: Heh, I take that as a yes.

The cat smiles at Altair as it jumps on a few boxes and onto his shoulder, as he walks back to the nearby bench. The cat leaped off his shoulder and onto the bench and sat next to him on the bench. Altair pulled two butter coated croissants out of the paper bag and gave one to the cat.

Altair: one for you.

Goldie: meow~ *starts eating the croissant*

Altair: and one for me *starts eating his croissant* *pets the cat with his left hand* did you miss me, girl?

Goldie: Purrr~

Altair: Heh, I missed you too.

A woman came walking up to Altair. The women had a short dirt blond hair cut, wore black high heels, long light grey pants, and a fancy grey, open, button, jacket, and a white shirt.

Women: oh, look who it is. Tch, well I guess it is pretty common in New York to find psychopaths on the streets, so why am I surprised?

Altair: 😑 oh... Hello Linda... what brings you to the streets at this hour?

(Altair threatened Linda at a bar after she was being a jerk to Desmond)

Linda: *looks down at Goldie* What. Is. That? *points at Goldie*

Altair: *sarcastic gasp* Linda I'm shocked. Did your teacher not inform you about what a cat is?

Linda: -_- don't be a smart @$$ with me, you know what I meant... so is it yours?

Altair: sadly no, she is a stray.

Linda: gross. Why is it sitting on public city property?

Altair: uh... cause it's public and anyone can sit here?

Linda: ya, people can, not wild, dirty animals. I would say you're not allowed to sit there either, but unfortunately to the government's eyes, your a person to I guess.

Altair: really? Cause right now I'm staring at the likes of an old crusty dinosaur and I'm pretty those went extinct a long while ago.

Linda: *gasp*! Well I- HMF! Well doesn't matter cause I'll just call animal control if you don't get rid of it!

Altair: you're not doing sh*t, you sayidat majnuna! You're not gonna call them for sh*t! Goldie is-

Linda: he isn't legally yours! What authority do you have to stop me!? Hm? Tell me, what legal authority do you have that will prevent me from doing so?

Altair: ... (sh*t she's right for once) still, birds sit and stand here all the time! You gonna call them on a bunch of birds too!?

Linda: listen here alt!

Altair: Altair.

Linda: I don't care if your name was bob or steve! If I could I would, but those little rats with wings are everywhere! And I can't do much about them, but this I very much can!

Altair: so help me Linda you call them on her-

Linda: you have no control here!

Altair: *swiftly gets up* LINDA I WILL-

Linda: *she wags her finger close to Altair's face* tisk, tisk, tisk, now Altair. Wouldn't want to cause a scene in the public eye, would you now?

Altair: ... (I can't let them know, what I am... Linda already has enough suspicion on me and the family)

Goldie: mow?

Altair: *looks down at Goldie*

Goldie had gone ahead and pull out another croissant from the bag and eat Altair's half-eaten one.

Altair: ... *makes a small smile at Goldie and pets her gently on the head* (I can't risk word getting out and exposing us to Abstergo.) *looks back at Linda with a glare* I won't let you.

Linda: well if you don't, why not just adopt the thing?

Altair: as much as I'd like to, Shaun doesn't let us have pets in the house.

Linda: well what a shame... tell you what, since I'm in a generous mood. I'll give you till tomorrow to say your goodbyes. But by the time I come back, that chubby cat has got to go! Now ta ta, I'm about to be late for work.

Linda continues walking past the two, leaving a lonely Altair alone with his cat.

Altair: ... *sighs* *slumps back down on the bench* ... what are we going to do? ...

Goldie: meow? *nuzzles into Altair's side*

Altair: ... Heh *scratches behind Goldie's ears* don't worry Goldie, I won't let her take you away to some animal prison.

Goldie: mow~

Altair: *reaches into the bag and pulls out another croissant and gives it to goldie* here you go, my little qath saghira.

Goldie: Meow~ *starts eating the croissant*

Altair: *chuckles* ... maybe Linda is right, you are getting a bit big. *pets goldie* Maybe I should stop giving you so many croissants.

Goldie: mow~

Altair: you have been eating a lot more as of late, funny *rubs her tummy* it's almost like you're-... You're... *looks over at Goldie in shock* goldie... your... no...

Goldie: *happy Meow sound*

Altair realized that goldie was pregnant, as an assassin, he doesn't get surprised rarely, but when he does, it's quite the sight to see.

Altair: ... *chuckles* I can't believe this. *picks up Goldie in his lap* you are pregnant aren't you?!

Goldie: meow~ purrrs~

Altair: I'm going to be a grandpa! *chuckles* well I'm technically already am, but this is different. I'm so happy for you my little gold~ *chuckles* Eha... ha...

Goldie: mow?

Altair: ... I can't let Linda take you away, no less leave you here with that stupid mut! Lurking around every corner... I can't just leave you when your most vulnerable at this state, nor can I leave you and your kittens here, the streets are no place for you and your kittens.

Goldie: meow...

Altair: ... *sighs* ... you know what, screw Shaun's rules of no pets!

Goldie: mow?

Altair: *whispers to Goldie* I'm the leader of the assassins and one of the best according to history. *normal talk* I should be able to make my own damn decisions!

Goldie: Moew!

Altair: damn right Goldie! If Shaun has a problem he's gonna have to deal with it!

Goldie: MOEW!

Altair: *picks up Goldie and stands up* yes goldie! Let me hear you roar!

Goldie: MOEW!

Altair: THAT'S THE SPIRIT! WE-

Man: *clears throat*

Altair and Goldie: ...

Man: ...

Altair: *clears throat* ... how much of the conversation did you hear?

Man: ... just about how if this guy named Shaun has a problem with you and your cat that he'll have to deal with it...

Altair: ... oh.

Man: ...

Altair: ... don't you have work or something?

Man: don't you?

Altair: no.

Man: oh... lucky. *leaves*

Altair: ... *looks at Goldie*

Goldie: *looks back at Altair*

Altair: *chuckles* tomorrow Goldie, I'll take you home before Linda can take you away. There you can have your litter of kittens in the house and not out here in the streets.

Goldie: *happy meow*

Altair: *kisses Goldie's forehead* I promise, I won't let anything happen to you little one. I will take care of you and your kittens for as long as I may still breathe.

[Current] - [next]

Hoped you guys liked part 1 of How Nasir became Altair's fury little companion✌😸

[touchingoldmagic]

Comic Review

Okay first an apology. Due to COVID and then my own 30-day challenge, this review got very delayed. But here we go, let's look at the fourth and final issue of GB Year One! As always, spoilers under the cut.

As is tradition, we start the comic with interviews. But instead of minor characters this time, we have Janine, Ray, and Peter talking about Egon. Janine says he's hard to get to know but generous with sharing his knowledge. I think that's a really in character thing to say, I can definitely hear it in Annie Potts' voice.

We cut to Winston chaperoning Rebecca to the firehouse, where Egon is working. This takes place a few weeks after the end of the movie (as established by Dana in the first issue) so the firehouse is still blown up. I have to say I really like that they included this, we rarely get to see the firehouse with this much damage. There's a police officer stationed outside to keep looters away, which I also thought was a nice realistic touch.

I guess this is a good place to point out that I find Egon in the IDW comics to be written quite a bit differently than Egon from the movies (or from RGB/EGB). Even in GB1 and 2, where Egon was very reserved and deadpan, he never came across as unsympathetic toward other people. To me, anyway. In the comics, I feel like Erik Burnham always writes him as a man without any patience for "normal people." Even his comic bio states Egon is someone who "isn't interested in what you have to say." I dunno, I just never got that vibe from him in any other GB media and it bugs me a bit. -shrug- Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, Egon immediately tells Rebecca he's only speaking to her because it's part of the contract for them getting paid for this book deal, and they need the money to rebuild the firehouse.

Rebecca asks why Egon got started in the paranormal, and Egon basically says he wants to explain all the things that mankind finds unexplainable, and ghosts were just the first thing he was able to prove. He'll move on to something else when he loses interests in ghosts.

Rebecca then asks why he built the Containment Unit so that it exploded when the power was cut. Personally I'm like "Wow rude much?" but I guess it's a legit question. Egon says it was because of the unexpected increase in ghost energy due to Gozer, and that he's going to rebuild it so it won't happen again.

I find Rebecca in this issue is a lot more antagonistic than she was in previous issues. I guess Egon pushes her buttons LOL.

When they start talking about their first case at the Sedgewick, Winston brings up the story that the green ghost escaped when they were putting it into the Containment Unit. Rebecca is very interested in hearing this other story of the Unit failing to work right, and Egon is not very appreciative of Winston speaking up.

Great lines: Egon: Thank you so much for bringing that up, Winston. Your memory is a real asset. Winston: Uh... I think I've got an errand to run. -leaves-

We jump to a flashback that takes place after the Sedgewick scene in the movie. The GB's return to the firehouse. Peter has a hilarious cowlick from the slime, which I love.

Ray and Egon go to the basement to put their first ghost in the Containment Unit.

But the button gets stuck and Slimer escapes. (His name isn't really Slimer in this universe, but I'm just going to call him that for simplicity's sake.) Slimer appears upstairs where he picks up a prototype proton grenade from Egon's locker and then... phases right through the front door, carrying the grenade?

I don't know if this is an oversight on the part of the comic or if they're trying to purposely show us that ghosts can take solid matter through other solid matter, but it really confused me. I mean, we don't see Slimer doing that in the movie. He drinks a bottle of wine and it goes right through him onto the floor, and when he goes through the wall dragging a food cart behind him, the cart crashes into the wall. So why does the grenade go right through the firehouse door? I have no idea.

Anyway, Egon and Ray run out after him to protect the neighborhood. (Peter and Janine apparently aren't there now to see this happen.)

Ray: Why would you store a prototype proton grenade in your locker? Egon: I don't feel as thought that's important right now, Ray.

Slimer zips around the streets, stealing people's food and brandishing the grenade. Egon cautions Ray not to take a shot at him, since their beams could make it explode. Ray runs off to a dumpster to find some food to bait the ghost, leaving Egon to stall him alone.

Egon: Luckily it was driven more by impulse than intelligence--sort of like Venkman in college.

And for some reason there's two times where the artist forgot to draw Slimer holding the grenade? It seems like an obvious mistake to make, so I dunno if they really forgot or if it was on purpose. The quality control in this issue seems to be lacking.

Egon tries to sneak up on Slimer, but the ghost sees him and clonks him with the grenade. He then gets distracted by a pizza and drops it. Egon ducks, but the bomb fizzles out, a dud. (How anticlimactic.)

With the spud distracted, Egon fires his thrower and catches him. He compares reeling him in to a memory of reeling in a fish as big as he was when he was a kid. That was a cute reference, at least. I'm trying to picture tiny!Egon and his reserved father on a fishing boat.

We cut back to Egon and Rebecca as Egon wraps up his story. Here he says that this incident proved to all of them that they should never take solo calls, ever. That comment felt weird to me because... nothing bad happened? Egon was able to wrangle Slimer by himself just fine. How did this incident prove that? But I guess the writer just wanted to slip in a reason why we never see the GB's going on busts by themselves, in any media. (As if it's not obvious how dangerous the job would be by yourself...)

At this point Rebecca is ready to leave when suddenly a red ghostly light swirls around her and she grows fangs and claws. I was super excited at first because I thought this was going to be a twist ending and Rebecca was going to be a ghost this whole time! Trying to get inside info on how to take down the team. How awesome would that have been!?

But no, Rebecca is only momentarily possessed by...something. Something that has a vague message for Egon that the Ghostbusters will be killed sometime, someday. That's it. I'm not even kidding, the ghost literally uses the words "Sooner or later, doom!" Like... yeah, buddy? That's just life?

The ghost vanishes and Rebecca is overwhelmed and quickly leaves. Peter shows up just as she's leaving, asking what that was about.

(Narrator Voice: He did not find out.)

So that's it! I'm a bit disappointed in this issue, I have to say. The story was okay, but there's a bunch of little things that don't make sense, things that look like drawing errors, and a weak ending. It all adds up to a disappointing feeling.

I think they are implying something about Afterlife with the ghost at the end? Is there going to be a ghost in Afterlife that claims to have been watching Egon since the founding of the Ghostbusters, and perhaps even eventually killed him? Man, I know ghosts can be patient but that's a pretty long stretch of time to wait before sealing somebody's doom.

But there we go, the four issues of Year One. I do think it's good to have oneshot stories. A comic series shouldn't be entirely made up of long storyarcs. I like a little variety. And I liked seeing some scenes that we only heard about in the past, even if it made the comic feel like a "clip show" sometimes, where they were just filling in things that were mentioned offhand in the movies.

I think the comic was strongest when it was giving us thoughts and motivations for our favorite characters and seeing them interact (like Ray training Winston for 15 min and calling it good, and Winston telling him how crazy that is). And I felt it was weakest when it was just redrawing screenshots from the movie or doing those interviews with minor characters at the start of each issue (I liked it at first but it got tiring quickly). All in all, I did like this series and I am really excited to see what is coming for the IDW GB's next!

[slowlymadeart]

After a month of making adjustments to the script and editing things out I’ve kind of lost perspective on how this can been seen from a stranger’s point of view.

(And may have over explained in areas just to make sure communication was clear).

All images are cropped to instagram size. (except the first one with the “critique” message).

Tried my best to jam everything into 10 panels.

Oh, and what’s happening in that last panel is me being arrested for spoon debt. 

Annnd to answer your question, yes. I do imagine a world in which “spoon court” and a “spoon bank”  is being run by utensils.

I know it’s weird. It’s the whole “Goofy is a dog with a dog (Pluto) as a pet!

but.. I think it’s kinda funny….or could be if I ever draw more. Just doing research on obscure and various utensil to make into characters? I don’t think I could pass on that.

Anyhow, here’s some thoughts and explanations you are free to ignore. Seriously. They might cloud whatever you thought of the comic before reading a backlog of thoughts…But if you wanna follow the thought train, hop aboard. 

1. Is “Well, You could just google it” too condescending or will the internet be okay with this? When it’s written in a post it’s fine, but in a comic? I just don’t want to push people away. Especially first thing. (After a month of rewrites and redraws is when I changed up that speech bubble and put that line in there, lol).

2. “Spoonie” comes with many associations with chronically ill/disabled communities. I tried to acknowledge as many points of view as simply as I could. Hinting at a bunch of perspectives from both the people who love it and reasons why people hate it. 

3. Also nodding towards the idea that “Spoonie” is easier to say than “Disabled”, and for some, the internalized “Disabled is a dirty word” has them opting to say “spoonie” instead. Often unintentionally. So I then tried to blur the distinction between the two a bit. Out of a desire to mae “Disabled” a more approachable word.

4. Alright, so the idea ”Spoonies are just one part of the disabled community.” I feel like I may have been able to communicate this, but when I drew the group image of various spoonies connecting from their beds, it might feel too “Any person with a disability can be a spoonie to some degree.” …..which makes me worried healthy people may eventually start projecting it onto people they meet with disabilities. Sort of a “I can help you somehow, here’s this info a about spoons! Did you know it exist yet? it could change your life!!” all while still disregarding the person their talking to.

5. The facial expression on my character for “My body is disabled and day to day living sometimes breaks my brain” -I could not figure it. For me, there’s a mixture of “slight embarrassment but I gotta say it” and “LET’S PRETEND YOUR ELSA IN “LET IT GO” AND YOU HAVE NO MORE FUCKS TO GIVE!”

or “calm. with no more fucks to give. A ‘deal with it’ sunglasses or vacant eyes and a slight smile situation”

then I’d go back to “Embarrassment, both crying and laughing from brain breaking, wants to have no more fucks to give but that’s just not true”

and I was worried that gave the wrong impression about being disabled. Yes, there’s absolutely truth to it. but after reading articles by some extremely well educated disabled advocate types, and a critique on the show “Special.” I wanted to try and set a good example- pretending I’m further along with coming to terms with what my life is than how I can be at times.

We’re allowed to feel like this is a mindfuck. It absolutely can be. But I don’t want to be seen as too whiny…

…. and I need to clean up my language so my 11 and 12 year old sisters can read. (Will be changing a couple words for the finished version that goes on instagram and webtoons).

6. Christina Miserandino seems to use to be very into tanning. When collecting photos, her shade of skin changed all the time. But it’s not “arianna grande” type stuff, just more so her genetic predisposition and past beauty habits conflicting with going through a lot in recent years and hasn’t been getting out as much, or caring about looks. I tried to capture a sense of her advocacy prime, with the purple, when she put a lot of work into her hair, her love of girlishness but with a slight edge to show maturity. Just going with a skin tone she’s had consistently in the past couple years- just because going darker would have been a lot more strange to those who looked into her now. (This one’s less of a concern and more of a…disclosure? Just felt weird to deal with).

7. I don’t know if any of you have ever looked through spoonie selfies, or disabled selfies. but we seem to LOVE DYING OUR HAIR. (It’s one thing we can change). Hair dye is having a moment in the world. So I hope the change of hair colors here and in the future is not taken the wrong way. It’s just really fun to use unique hair colors on characters. I will say, the reason the woman on the left side of the “Today a spoonie is” has blue hair, is because she’s Trans, it’s a wig. her hair isn’t where she wants it to be yet, she uses the hat because she couldn’t afford a lace-front wig. Yes, it’s hot on her head. but it’s easier than using energy to secure everything and make the top look nice. and it feels too fake looking when the top is not covered up……. And…yes, I realize this is all in my head and not conveyed or relevant at all- but that’s the backstory, lol. I gave her shirt the trans flag colors, but she didn’t seem like a pastel person and so I kept them darker, feeling like that’s what this character would like.

8. I included cutting scars on two characters because a few years back I had a friend who pointed out to me I always omitted drawing her scars. I wasn’t doing it on purpose, I just kept forgetting. But I felt bad. It seemed like including the scars was more empowering to her at that point in her life. That’s why they were included here. 

9.  I know some think “Spoonie” is just for those with Chronic illness. It can feel that way- it’s a large majority of Spoonies. But Christine herself said in an interview Spoon Theory can be used those with disabilities and Mental health conditions. Basically, whoever has a condition that causes fatigue. 

When put that way- well, the panel that reads “Perhaps detached enough for misguided normies to think” -could happen.

(All the more reason to blur distinction between “disability” and “spoonie”?…maybe. but, that could alienate neurodivergents. And the blurred distinction between “Neurodivergence” and “disability” is…exploding as a topic currently. And I don’t want to contribute to more people thinking neurodivergence means “disabled” and therefore “broken”- that’s the opposite of what I want to do).

((Thus why there’s info supporting the idea throughout the rest of the comic “Don’t fix it. work with it. My situation’s just different.”))

Maybe the panel isn’t needed, but that’s how/why it came to be.

10. If there’s unhealthy mentalities portrayed in the comic that don’t serve a greater purpose, let me know. Unhealthy mentalities are great for humor, and getting to let someone else who’s going through the same type of thinking at times have comfort- but what I’m worried about is anything that is problematic. 

11. If any of the terms I used are incorrect- such as places I use “conditions” to sum up- everyone who can be a spoonie. Let me know! It get’s really tricky at times when you have to make the statement as simple as possible to refer to a very diverse group with very diverse bodies.

12. I’m starting to put “mean stranger” type characters in colors without skin tones so that they can be applicable to more people, as being sick/disabled/neurodivergent is somehow in open invitation for the opinions of jerks. Drawing them all as Donkeys or “Asses” would be cool and clever, but too much work. 

13. Because of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia sitting with my legs down in a wheelchair is extremely draining, so I want to stop drawing that.

[theteapotofdoom]

Is critical role a game or show, because your rbs have me very interested

Weeeeeell, technically it’s both?

*cracks knuckles* let me explain

Critical is a web series that you can watch on Twitch every or on Youtube, and it’s actually a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons. I assume that you’re at least a little bit familiar with D&D, it’s tabletop roleplay game and so technically, the actual show Critical Role is just a bunch of beautiful people sitting around a table and improvising a story together.

One of the things that makes it so popular is that the players and the dungeon master are all very famous voice actors, writers, directors and producers (Travis Willingham Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Matthe Mercer, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffy, Ashley Johnson and Emy Winner Sam Riegel). So these guys are very familiar with storytelling and very good at roleplay. They know how to tell a good story and how to create compelling characters. And more importantly they have all been friends (and married for some) for years, so they all have incredible chemistry. So although the idea of just watching a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors playing around a table can sound odd, it’s truly as captivating as most of the TV shows I’ve watched recently (if not more).

I’m really trying to explain (and sell) the concept the best I can because I get how it may not sound very appealing, but it genuinely is one of the best things I ever watched in my life. Matthew Mercer, the dungeon master guiding them through the story, is absolutely incredible. He has a crazy sense of details, the worlds and characters he creates for them are incredibly dense, rich and enjoyable, but also knows to leave a lot of room for the players to chose their paths and he really let their decisions influence the world and the story. Everything has consequences for the best and for the worst. The players are nothing short of amazing, they’re all deeply committed to their characters and to the roleplaying, you can really see some of them physically staying in character even when they’re not talking (Liam O’Brien you mad man ...). But like I said they’re also all very close friends and even family at this point, and their main goal is to have fun, so they also often react out of character just like us when something crazy happens, they get super excited or worried when Matt describes something and they have amazing fits of laughter. 

Like my dude, this show made me cry and laugh SO MUCH it can be the funniest shit in the world one second and the most heartbreaking tragedy the next.

And honestly, the lack of proper “visuals” is part of the fun! There are official arts for the characters created by artists with the description and approval of the cast, but you can pretty much create and imagine whatever you want based on that! The fandom is incredibly creative and productive, people are always redrawing their favourite moments and characters from the show and because it’s only descriptions, there are as many interpretations as artists drawing them! There also many animations based on the audio from the show, for big tragic moments as well as for goofs and funny nonsense. And that’s not even mentioning the fics and the cosplay and all the other forms of art and content!

If you decide to get into it, I should still warn you that it’s very very long. There are two campaigns, the first one is complete with a total of 115 episodes of 3 or 4 hours each. Yes, hours you heard me. The second campaign is currently still going with currently 77 episodes of the same length, and new episodes every Thursday. I know it may sound scary, but I promise you that if you get into it, those hours will pass like minutes. It’s just ... so much fun!!!

Besides, they do a bunch of breaks every episode and so you can easily just pose the video whenever you want to come back later. Personally, I’m not at all caught up, I’m only on at episode 20 of campaign 2 and I haven’t even watched all of campaign 1 yet. So basically don’t stress out, it might seem like a lot but you can just casually watch at your own rhythm (and also just drop it if you decide it’s not for you!)

Personally, I started with Campaign 2 which has fewer episodes at this point and just a better overall technical quality than the first few episodes of Campaign 1. Many people who watched it all confirmed to me that it was a smart move and so I would advise you to do the same! Campaign 1 is amazing, but they had been playing it for a while before it became a web series so you don’t get to see the character’s introduction or to see them meet. I just feel like overall, it’s way easier to get into Campaign 2 from the start, and to then go back to Campaign 1 when you’re familiar with the cast! (Just my hot take anyway!) (Also Campaign 2 takes place 20 years after Campaign 1with completely different characters so you won’t miss anything except maybe some private jokes from the cast).

Basically, everything that I have been reblogging so far is from Campaign 2, so if that’s what got you interested in Critical Role I would HIGHLY recommend starting with this one. Especially if you wanna meet the pretty sad ginger wizard whomst I won’t shut up about. His name is Caleb and he has a cat I would die for him.

Okay but really I’m gonna shut up now because if you do start to watch Campaign 2 I don’t want to spoil too much, so I’m not gonna go into a big rant about each character to explain to you why I love them all so much. Just ... accept the fact that they’re all very very very hot. I mean look at them. The true bisexual agenda.

They’re all ... so chaotic and feral ... but also soft ... and accidental found family and shit ... fuck I love them and their relationships together. They’re so alone and broken and they’re GROWING SO MUCH okay I’ll shut up now.

Here is the link to the playlist of Campaign 2 of CR on youtube!

Here is the link to the playlist for Campaign 1 on Youtube if you still wanna check it out first!

They also have a show called Talks Machina, where after each episode some of the cast answer to fan questions!!! (It’s on their youtube channel as well!)

AND ALSO before you leave, I still wanna tempt you one last time by giving you the link to the official ANIMATED OPENING FOR THE SECOND PART OF CAMPAIGN 2 I’m sure it will convince you more than anything I wrote in this mess of a post! (Careful though, because they created this intro for the second part of the campaign there are spoilers implied, but since you don’t know anything about the story yet, you probably won’t pick up on much … it will be like cool foreshadowing!)

SO YEAH HELLO I LOVE CRITICAL ROLE A NORMAL AMOUNT and I’m glad me screaming about it on main got you interested!!!!

[iveonlyeverseenliketwoanimes]

How Horikoshi treats his female characters (Feat. How his ‘Fans’ treat him): A Rant

Something that has recently been popping up a lot in the BNHA tags, for me at least, is this idea that Hori is a “Lazy/Bad Writer”. It’s a topic that’s genuinely interesting to me and I would love to discuss it! After the reaction i got to my last post on discussing the fandom, i feel like this is a really fun topic for me to look into and i love having an open discussion with people. So just to let you know before we start, everything here is my opinion - feel free to respond with your own thoughts and i’d happily have a conversation with you about anything and everything! If you disagree with me then that's fine, if you agree with me then that's fine too! I'm just a person with a keyboard and an opinion and so are you! :)

So today i would love to discuss how people treat Hori in regards to his female characters and i hope you enjoy this 1500 word essay/ramble i did. (PS if you came from my last lil essay then this one is a lot less sarcastic because its a more serious topic and i don’t want to come across as too rude also i actually got sleep today)

Now, this was actually the first topic I came across when looking into the Hori tags. At first, I was on board with the general theme of what was happening. I saw some lovely artwork of Momo where people had redesigned her costume, they were very creative in how they did it and overall, I had no complaints – if the whole topic of this tag was about how people wanted to be creative and redraw characters in their own design then I’d 100% support it, but the more you look into it, the more…. Nasty is gets.

So, the overall theme of what I gathered from this little tag is that idea that Hori is some sort of [Word I really don’t want to type out but im sure you can guess what it is] because of how he draws his females, most of which are underage. So if you, as a consumer, are, well, consuming something, such as a TV show, film, anime, Manga etc. and you see something that makes you go “This is disgusting – I need to write a Tumblr post about this to warn other people about what's happening here” then I fully support you – please keep on doing what you’re doing. 

However, this isn’t what I see, what I see are posts going “F*CK HORI HE’S A [Nasty word] AND I HOPE HE D*ES – HERE EVERYONE I MADE AN ANTI FLAG, SHARE IT EVERYWHERE AND LET ME KNOW WHERE I CAN SEND MY D*ATH THR*AT TO” Meanwhile, when you go on this same persons page it’s all reposts of the characters and screenshots of the show, posts of them saying “Yo did you guys see the new BNHA episode last night?!?” and overall just very fandom-y stuff. I truly cannot comprehend this type of behaviour – you are so set in this belief that Hori is a [Nasty Word] and yet here you are, on the very same blog you use to slander his name, actively supporting him! Listen, if one of you Anti’s were to sit there and say “I wholeheartedly think Hori is a [Nasty word] and therefore I am no longer going to participate in this fandom or with supporting his creations” then, while I don’t agree with you, I support you in your decision as you have made a clear stance on something with both your words and your actions and I can truly respect that, and hell you would actually get my attention and I might read into what it is you’re talking about. I’m not, however, going to waste my time reading a piece of material written by someone who does all that nasty stuff I previously mentioned and take any of what they say seriously. Let me put it this way; you think Hori is a [Nasty word], you are supporting the show, you are therefore supporting a [nasty word], so why should I take anything you say seriously? I don’t want to see any more of this ‘One minute we love him, one minute we hate him’ attitude because when you hate him the things you are saying are some of the worst things you could possibly say to another person and its childish, disgusting and you’re giving this fandom a bad name.

Now back to the girls, I personally do find certain characters outfits a little distasteful, especially with how they’re done in the anime and how they zoom in on certain body parts, i also dislike how it’s ‘funny’ for characters like Mineta to get away with such disgusting behaviour. I do think that’s the biggest flaw I can find in this show – I don’t however 100% blame Hori for this. Now obviously at the end of the day, it is down to Hori what happens in his show, but can we all stop pretending that it’s just him that does this? When I think of anime the first thing that comes to mind is anime girls and their… attributes. It’s an industry issue and Hori is one of many people that partakes in it – so im not saying he’s not to blame, im just saying some of you are a little dramatic and need to realise if you truly want this behaviour to stop then you need to go after the industry and not just one guy.

Now this next point I want to make is something im sure might be a little confusing for most of you and something I can 100% see the other side of better than some other points ive made. It’s also kinda hard for me to put into words so please bear with me here.

I don’t think its necessary for Hori to develop his female characters as much as their male counterparts – now im sure that’s an odd concept but let me explain. As a child growing up in the age of great TV shows such as Hannah Montana, iCarly, Wizards of Waverly Place etc. I think ive spent a fair amount of time watching TV, my personal favourites as a child were Winx Club, BRATZ and W.I.T.C.H (Im from the UK so apologies if you have no idea what they are). Now all of these shows were ‘for girls’, they all revolve around a group of girls and their adventures in their respective worlds, they learn things along the way, because, even if you don’t realise it, these kids shows have hidden messages in them that are like ‘we should be kind’ ‘we should treat others with respect’ and all that jazz you need to know to be a decent human being. However, the one thing that these shows always lacked was any form of male presence. Now im not saying these shows had no males in them, that would be weird, but what I am saying is that the males in these shows were very one dimensional and they were always the love interest of one of the characters, or you might get the odd parental figure that would show up for one episode to be a motivation for a character. However with BNHA, a show that is specifically aimed at teenage boys, I don’t feel like they do such a disservice to females (AKA the ‘men’ equivalent of my other shows), sure they’re not treated great in certain aspects that I've already discussed, but look at their actual characters, Uraraka is the main girl, sure she very much has the same role as many of the men did in my childhood shows of the ‘love interest’ but her character is more than that and we see it in the sports festival as well as some of the more recent chapters (213-215 to be specific). Her character isn't just some airhead and neither are the other girls, Momo is literally top of the class in terms of written ability and she had her own little mini-arc around gaining confidence (which is still ongoing because guess what – people don’t change overnight), Mina has had some spotlight on her and is seen to be a very confident and skilled fighter, Tsu was literally described as the ‘perfect student with no flaws’ and is shown to be a badass on multiple occasions, Midoriya’s mum is even a character that’s had some form of arc with her learning to believe in her son and she's not some faceless character we hear about every so often when they need a plot device.

Now im not saying the female representation is perfect and it’s certainly not 100% equal to that of the men, but im saying it doesn’t need to be. This is a show for boys, sure girls can watch and enjoy it, but its made for boys in the same way my shows were made for girls, and the average boy isn’t going to want to watch a bunch of fairy princesses run around saving their fluffy little pets like I did (im sure a some of them will – and good for them, in the same way that some girls might want to watch superhero films, it’s not something im saying is bad, its just most people raise children into predetermined stereotypes of what gender roles they should fill and the media caters to that).

So what im saying is that taking a show aimed at boys and comparing it to shows aimed at girls and how each handles the opposite sex (we’re not going into gender here, that’s a whole other topic of diversity), I don’t think BNHA is all that bad. I guess if I want to be a little harsher in my approach, why is it okay to have a near-all female cast and not a near-all male cast? I understand a need for diversity, truly I do, but sometimes having a token character for each ‘type’ of person takes away from what the show is actually trying to convey – and in BNHAs case I think its trying to teach young boys that it’s okay to be emotional or vulnerable when you’re in situations that other shows teach you to ‘man up’ in. Not every show can solve racism, sexism and homophobia, I’m sorry to break it to you, but some shows are a little more basic in their approach to what it is they want to show and I think BNHA is a perfect example of that, it’s showing boys that you can cry, you can go through struggles in life, you can even come back from being a terrible person through growth and development, and I think that’s something boys need. A lot of people in this day and age want men to change (and I agree that there are a lot of things all groups of people can work on) and BNHA is showing boys how to grow up in a way that’s not this ‘tough guy that has no feelings’ and at the end of the day isn’t that something we want?

I do believe there are areas that BNHA really needs to improve in when it comes to it’s female cast, but can we stop with this awful hate? This fandom had such potential to be an amazing community of people who are skilled with art, writing, storytelling, cosplay, etc. but it seems like half of you just want to tear each other down and it’s sad to see such potential wasted because you can’t handle someone having a different opinion or view to you.

[patchdotexe]

Fix-it Leo: Katie / KG

welcome to something im tenatively calling “fix-it leo”, where i take my really old OCs and try to make sense of them! i’ve previously done this with Shadowy, which you can read here. seeing as im redrawing & “bringing back” a few other old ocs i figured id make this a series of talking about things! unlike the Shadowy one this doesnt have pictures beyond the initial ref bc i dont want to murder my hand and im also not sure how to draw some of this

today’s subject: Katie! also known as KG.

KG’s from 2010-ish, so some time after Shadowy but before the Shattered Worlds rework. to be as specific as possible, he’s from a RP setting that people that have known me closely have at least heard mentioned, if not seen snippets of it outright: KL, the massive crossover including any character and setting me & my friends wanted to RP.

as a self-insert character in crossover hell, Katie is VERY weird.

it was really hard for me to find info on Katie, because i actually had a bunch of OCs using that name that were my direct self-inserts for RP & story purposes both in and outside of KL. the unifying idea was that he was kinda just Me but in a fictional universe... and, apparently according to what info i DID find, all of the various Katies were. actually the same person, just in various conflicting situations with various conflicting backstories? so me stitching it all together got kinda weird. i did find a starting point though, so, uh... here we go!

as a general overview, Katie is pretty much just me. autistic, ADHD, likes videogames and art, bad social anxiety conflicting with desperately needing validation from everyone around him. he also has a very short temper and no volume control, which was usually a comedy thing but could also lead to him lashing out and doing/saying things he regrets, mostly hurting his friends. as a result he was kinda unpopular in his hometown... except for a small handful of friends he went to school with.

one night, he decides to go camp out with his friends to watch a meteor shower cause hes pretty fascinated by comets & shit like that. one of his friends, Elson, was acting pretty weird about it but Katie’s too excited to take much note of it up until the meteor shower “starts early” and Elson runs off into the woods. confused and startled, he gives chase. then, uh, the fucking apocalypse happens.

a lot of plot happens that im skipping over bc this is gonna be long enough as it is, but it gets revealed that Elson is actually an incognito alien named Elohim and an alien invasion is happening and wiping out civilization, and Katie is just. running out of sanity. being a main character SUCKS. he has a tragic backstory now, his friend (who he kind of had a crush on?) is an alien and is partially responsible for his tragic backstory, they join a rebellion after confirming “yeah your family’s dead as hell” and go to space, and finally find out that the leader of the aliens got a case of “jewelry makes you evil”.

they save the day obvs, with the help of some other people they ran into, and Katie has a moment of “well, fuck” bc his hometown is still extremely exploded and his family is still extremely dead and he’s like .5 miliseconds away from a mental breakdown. he then has a conversation that goes roughly like this:

person that helped them bust out of alien jail: hey, i think i know someplace you can stay katie: my house exploded person: cmon trust me

and then it turns out that that guy is actually Ninten and he’d just helped save the world with a fictional character, and before he has any opportunity to go “wait, what” he gets pulled through a portal by him and ends up somewhere totally different. more specifically, he’s now in the Earthbound universe, and his brain is going “[dial up noises]” a whole lot bc its not like his life was weird ENOUGH now he’s just... ditched his home reality??? with Ninten’s help??? and Ninten’s taking all of it in stride and ends up explaining the multiverse to him and that he’s one of the guys who ended up with the ability to worldhop and had stopped by Katie’s universe because he knew the possessed alien guy. he’s also apparently used to having to help people acclimate to massive paradigm shifts caused by multiversal fuckery.

so Katie’s just kinda trying to wrap his head around this, but takes Ninten up on his offer to go get to meet people and he goes to the Nowhere Islands! which was like, basically the hub location of KL. and then things get EXTRA surreal for Katie, because like... he used to write fanfic, and come up with story ideas that he daydreamed about a lot before everything exploded, and he bumps into Kurousu who is his OC. and there’s a lot of “UHHHH”-ing but he plays it off and befriends her, and its finally starting to sink in that yeah, he’s hanging out in this super weird crossover reality now, and he tries to make the most of it!

then some... weird things start happening. Tank, Joseph, and Vince make a jump to the Persona universe to do some plot stuff and run into Katie there, where he’s apparently joined SEES? except the last time they’d seen him, he’d been acting as a lackey to one of the arc villains because of a FMian from the Megaman universe screwing with him and taking advantage of his trauma to create a “new” Gemini Spark. and they start to write it off as “well i guess he’s like Tails where there’s some AUs of him running around” except... he recognizes them each time? but looks different and has different backstories and nothing really adds up. the next time a protagonist sees him, it’s Artemis post-getting turned into a Nobody finding Katie’s Nobody, Teixak, who apparently was very excited about getting to meet Roxas... despite, according to himself, having been living in Twilight Town for as long as he could remember. while also being very aware and very confused that that contradicts everything else about him.

teixak: eeee you mean i get to meet roxas?! he’s my favourite kingdom hearts character!! >w< rasemtix: ...you do realize you just told me youre from this universe, right? you were just explaining to me about how you lived here with leixand until the shadows attacked you two and stole your hearts. teixak: eh..? hm. ............Hm. but.... hm.

meanwhile on Katie’s end of things, he gets his heart stuffed back in his body and he reconciles with his externalized FMian-induced evil side and various other things from various other worlds, but everything feels weird and disjointed. he remembers attending school at Gekkougan, but also remembers living in Echo Ridge, but also remembers Twilight Town, but also remembers living in a boring world that got invaded by aliens where also all of this was just videogames and books and animes and OCs. and then things start getting weirder for him. he makes a joke to Artemis about “hey, remember when we got in a big fight cause i hit you with a sign?” and he doesn’t remember it. he teases Ninten about something personal and Ninten freezes up and asks him how he knows that, and Katie gets confused because he told him. he has an even more personal talk with T1, and then has  the same talk later but with slightly different words. and it’s starting to look like it’s not just “various Katies”, it’s Katie also dealing with various... varieties of everyone else, and he’s pretty much spinning a wheel on “what version of events am i in today?”

he finally gets an answer after a while-- something went really weird and really wrong when Ninten first brought him into the KL multiverse. the Katie that told Gomess about the Andromeda Key is the same Katie that joined SEES is the same Katie that got his heart stolen is the same Katie that got rescued from an apocalypse, but he’s sort of... existing simultaneously in different realities with slight “adjustments” to his personal history depending on what universe he’s encountered in. he also exists “outside of canon”, so some of the weirder memories he has are from rewrites or scrapped plotlines or noncanon moments that sometimes clip into canon when theyre not supposed to. apocalypse!Katie is the “primary”/original Katie, and that’s where all his weird meta knowledge comes from.

it’s... really confusing, and nobody really “gets” it, least of all Katie himself. he just knows that he’s ended up with a bunch of cool powers, although he’s not  really sure what he’s doing and has been a villain at least two universes. he also has a severe case of main character-itis (hence getting a Persona, getting his heart stolen, etc), and still isnt sure how to tell if he’s interacting with the “canon” versions of everybody or not. he’s at least unable to cause weird bizarre paradoxes by interacting with himself; trying to visit one of the universes he has an “echo” in just causes a perspective switch to the resident Katie. Katie also has access to all of his abilities as long as he’s not in a universe with a resident Katie; apocalypse!Katie has no abilities at all, starforce!Katie only has his FMian transformation, kh!Katie can only use his Keyblade, etc. this only starts being a thing after he “clicks” with his new existence.

he also has various outfits and aesthetics depending on universe, with the one i drew being his “outside canon“/default one. he gets cat ears! and Outsider eyes. Katie also has a bad habit of stealing things from universes he visits, and as a result has a collection of random things that he really shouldnt.