#I used to be a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan as a kid and drew a shit ton of art for it

[autobot-ratchet]

E1 Rewind for the expression game? or Drift if the "doesn't really have a face" thing is a little too impossible, haha

also hi I think you're cool :)

what if I do both lmAO

and thank yooouuuuuuuu 🫶

[taglegend]

Tag Fact #3 -  I’ve come to realize I’ve always been a fan artist more than I thought. so here is a timeline of influences that shaped my childhood to now. from nostalgic times, to sad changes, to great loss, to strange rises to fame and phases, to stepping stones and finally a laughing place. all the things that make up your favorite fan artist Tag.

1. Rayman (bumped into this in the year of 1999) was actually the first fandom (with crossovers) I bumped into when I was 9. although the internet wasn’t available at the time it was still fun to dwell in home amusements. I remember the storylines and the OC’s I made but they’re kind of embarrassing and it’s probably a good thing there was no internet. I’ve done fanart and comic crossovers of Rayman with Calvin and Hobbs and Nights Into Dreams, spinoffs of Sonic the Hedgehog OC’s, Yoshi with Pikachu, and the Pokemon/Digimon craze with OC’s and other Nintendo comic shorts. but the drawings and comics are long gone and disappeared in the garage in a backpack due to suspecting my sister’s dad accidentally throwing them away. years later towards the year 2018 (now 28), we decided to move to North Carolina and it was my chance to find them again. unfortunately the backpack was gone just like I suspected (my main stuff), but for some reason I found my Pokemon/Digimon fanart, a good batch of Super Mario drawings (vaguely remember doing these), my sister’s drawings and some other neighborhood kids’ drawings in a dirty box. I was partially happy I found something at least but it was the backpack I wanted the most. sometimes I regret not looking for the backpack (’cause I was too busy being a kid) but it’s alright, noone needs to see that shit anyway, ha ha. anyways, I recall being a fan of Rayman from 1999 ‘til 2002.

2. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (bumped into this in the year of 2003) my second fandom I bumped into when I was 12 going on 13. at the time, my sister and I both liked the Sonic The Hedgehog Franchise based on the Battle remake and ended up making our own secret fanart club that consisted of only us two members. she liked Sonic (and that was her boyfriend, ha ha) and I liked Knuckles (and he was my boyfriend, ha ha) and we were crazy in love about Shadow’s backstory. we listened to the game’s soundtracks as we drew fanart and comics after school and man, those were good times. however, as we grew older towards the year of 2005, we ended up having separate rooms and I believe it played a part in disconnecting on the same interest. then one day, I asked her why she wasn’t into Sonic anymore and she replied, “Because I grew up.” I was sad after that and slowly observed that she was influenced by the emo culture and the new friends she’s made. I was the only member of our little club for a little longer...but eventually I moved on too. I still have some surviving fanart we did together but it doesn’t mean shit anymore since she turned out to be an abusive mother from the last I’ve heard of her. 

3. Gorillaz (bumped into this in the year of 2006). as the Sonic years were at its end, I first heard the song “Feel Good Inc” on Music Choice and seeing the first image of them as displayed on this post (except the fan-made background doesn’t count since I can’t find the original artwork). this was my third fandom and later had proper access to the internet to the website I still currently use called DeviantArt. at first I liked 2D but eventually fell for Murdoc and developed a spiritual connection towards the character as obviously seen in my old fanart and rare photos of my devotion shrines on Valentine’s Day and his birthday every year. for the longest time since being a permanent fan from 2006-2017 (11 1/2 years) I had no knowledge that it was a political propaganda band and other realizations I don’t want to talk about. I only followed them because it was a cartoon and not the bullshit behind the musical project. the world I’ve built and support for them for all those 11 1/2 years shattered the fuck out of me and I just wanted to be left alone to find myself again, somehow. activity stopped on all my profiles, the flow of fanart stopped since I now cringe from the fan service and felt I was used for my talent. I didn’t want to be reminded of it all so I took down all my Gorillaz fanart and archived them for old followers’ nostalgia but also in the hopes they’ll be forgotten in my timeline. I ceased to exist in the fandom for huge personal reasons but it’s best to not say why. I know for sure that the fandom wonders what happened but it’s none of their business. THE END.

4. Waluigi (although I knew he’s been around since 2000 during childhood, I took deep interest once I revisited the character again in the year of December 2013). as silly as this sounds, when I revisited him again, the character was so bizarre that I ended up staying up 3 nights and 3 days in a row just looking all over the internet on everything about him and the questionable “hush-hush” absence of a backstory. despite there being no backstory he slowly gained a cult following and in many ways it’s a good thing. however, since the early 2010′s tension has been building up between Nintendo and its fans about him starring in a main game but everyone hasn’t fully gotten it in their heads that it’s not gonna happen. as long as Nintendo is in control of that, the fandom will not win, I’m sorry to say. on the other hand, if it’s going to be this way, then that’s what fanart and comic projects are for. as for me, I am doing my very best to get my comic project “Waluigi Land” going. again, I apologize if it’s taking very long to get Chapter 2 going if you’ve been keeping track but aha moments need to develop before I start permanent drawing (since concepts, character design and storyline needed improvement badly). as of right now I am still a Waluigi fan and I will not quit on him.

5. Turbo from Wreck-It-Ralph (although it debuted in 2012, I watched the movie two years later into the year 2014). for some bizarro reason, I had an unhealthy obsession with this character to the point where I dressed up as him for Halloween 2014. only 2 fanarts of him and the Turbo Twins exist on my profiles, mainly because my mind was more focused on just ‘thinking about him’ or ‘being him’ rather than drawing physical drawings. luckily, this supposed alleged fandom didn’t last long a little after Halloween so I chalk it up as a very short phase. to this day I don’t know what has gotten over me about him. the only thing I can think of now is that I think it’s because the character had yellow eyes and teeth but I don’t know. now that I think of it, that little fucker was ugly as hell and I STILL don’t know what had gotten over me. one day, my brother mentioned what that was about, and I said to him, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

6. Undertale (although it debuted in 2015, I later took interest in it in 2016). It was all about Sans and Papyrus. I couldn’t get enough of the skeleton bros. eventually Toriel and Mettaton EX became my favorites but it took a long time to draw more of all 4 of them because I had other important things to do in my life plus I was still waiting for the next Gorillaz album to revive my imaginative juices (or so I thought). I really want to have this as one of my frequent fandoms but I just don’t have time for it anymore. it’s still in the back of my head to want to draw them but at this point I still have other better interests to be in. and besides, I’m lazy just like Sans.

7. Cuphead (June 28th, 2017 was the official day I called quits on the British-based band Gorillaz due to the bullshit behind it. since that date I was lost, had no inspiration to look forward to and no cartoon guy to make me smile...but lo and behold of the same year, I took an interest in playing the game Cuphead and man...that shit was a frightening exaggerated metaphor for being on that one drug (forgot the name though) and having sex at the same time but man that was the best fun I’ve had in years. I mean, it’s like, enemies are just so happy to murder you and that scared the shit outta me. and the facial exaggeration?....I think I should stop, ha ha. anyways, the Moldenhauers saved my ass from spiraling down, they have no clue. anyways, eventually I became a permanent fan of their work so to ease the hurt and erase my past from the G-fandom I had to re-wire my brain into a different cartoon category that’s a rather more American, so anything Toon related like Roger Rabbit, Felix the Cat or another favorite that’s a western-based cartoon makes me feel better, especially my new man .......King Dice <3 <3<3<3. however, there was something about this new fandom category I still didn’t quite understand until the date March 14th, 2020. I finally understood what it was but I feel I shouldn’t bring it up. anyways, Cuphead and anything western or rubber hose is my last stop in inspiration for the remaining years of my life. many say never say never but I believe I’ve found my laughing place and that’s all that matters.

[cgmayra]

Sonamy Week Promo- Theme - Superheroes (August 3rd)

With special permission to promote the upcoming themes, here’s something to inspire you!

Prompt:

The tingles spread throughout her body.

She stared with sparkling excitement in her eyes up to the screens where the three heroes fought the evil mustached man.

She wondered if they could make it as her fists scrunched together even tighter. Her heart raced with each of their movements, trying to track them on the screen.

“He’s gonna die.”

Amy glared back at a kid the same age as her.

“Nuh-uh!” She cried back, looking to the blue one. She pointed very proudly to her favorite, “Heroes don’t die! Especially not my Sonic!”

“Your Sonic?” The boy looked confused, before mocking her and shaking his head. “Hey guys, get this! This girly has a crush on some loser!”

In that instance, before little Amy could say anything back, a large explosion went off and Amy’s attention was once again glued to the most important thing in her life.

First a red one, then a yellow, each descended from the explosion and looked out towards where they had escaped from…

But where was her hero?

Where was Sonic?

Her feet inched closer towards each other. Her nerves flooded tears to the back of her eyes, ready… just in case the worst was to befall…

“Heh, told ya he was-“

Then Sonic burst through the explosion’s ending flames, and in his arms, was a few flickies he released. Eggman was slung over his shoulder and back, looking like a pouched prize before Sonic dropped him off and let him roll to his back, coughing smoke out for a second.

He dusted his hands off as the flickies rejoiced with thanks and flew off. He waved and looked surprised to see a camera.

Amy waited… she knew what was coming next, and her whole body was ready to cheer.

He curled his lips into an infamous smirk that drew her breath to a mild still.

He threw up his hand into a thumbs up, matching how her fists came up to cover her blushing muzzle.

Then… a sly wink.

The crowd around her burst into cheers, and she herself sounded out the loudest.

“I’m gonna marry you, Sonic!!!” she cried out, jumping for joy and springing her arms up, out and wide.

The boy and his gang of no-do-gooders tsked.

He walked up and put a hand to her shoulder, stopping her cheers. “Marry? Haha! You couldn’t even meet the dude!” he pushed her towards the wall as she stumbled, her feet coming up a bit behind her.

Her hands braced the wall to diffuse the impact, before she turned around with offense in her eyes. There was now a fire from all the energy around her, and her mind wasn’t thinking very kind thoughts…

“What’s your problem!? Jealous?” she turned back around as his friends called out ‘oohs’ and challenged their friend to fight her back.

“What’s to be jealous of? If you do marry him, at least he’s thinning out the ugly runts for us.” He looked back at his friends who laughed or seemed to have to loop the sentence in their minds before getting the joke.

Amy’s face flushed as her once innocent enthusiasm turned into bitter rampage.

Her shoulders hunched up, her teeth bore fierce walls against the growls that were swallowed in her throat.

“What’s that? Can’t take the truth?” The boy turned back, smirking.

His smirk… was nothing like her hero’s.

He was just a stupid kid!

“You’ll never be what Sonic is!” she cried out, letting her chin stick out as she let the full width of her mouth elongate the sentence out. Her body lurched forward and she summoned her hammer. “Just watch! I’ll be a super hero too and make him respect me!”

“You don’t even have our respect!” the boy spat back.

“…I will.”

Her demeanor suddenly became very scary.

She smiled a wicked grin and gripped both hands to her hammer, lowering her eyelids as the boys suddenly hushed up and took a step back.

“W-wh-what’s with this atmosphere… all of a sudden..?”

It was only a matter of seconds.

A few grunts and some hard PIKO hits, and the boys were scurrying out from among the crowd, crying or looking terrified. Some called for mommy and some just stated she was crazy.

It wasn’t long before Amy started her own career of crime fighting…

Not long after getting a reputation, Sonic and the gang arrived to see Eggman trying to recruit young and stupid teens to his causes. Making empty promises that would ensure their swift sign up to slavery—I mean—Employment.

Amy was the first on the scene, taking out his robots, and showing off a great deal of combat strength.

Immediately, the Sonic gang looked to each other, and thought her skills would be an asset to the team.

But Sonic hesitated.

“What do you mean, she’s too aggressive?”

“All I’m saying is we should scout her out. Feel what her motives are. After all, you can’t just sign someone up for the business.” Sonic had recently taken out the rest of Eggman’s forces and driven him off the city, but Tails and Knuckles still wanted to recruit the young hero.

“Hey, if she can deal out her hits as well as she did those robots—” Knuckles unfolded his arms and tried to make a plea in her case, but Sonic continued to relax back on the side of the building they were hanging out on.

“And what? Find out that she can’t hold them back?”

The two suddenly stopped their persistence and looked to one another.

“You want to test her morals?”

“Exactly. You can’t be a hero if you’re just throwing punches without good reason.”

“We mostly fight robots. There’s no need to-“

“There might come a day where there is, Tails.” Sonic got up, cracking his knuckles and smirking. “I’m gonna find out what her motives are. See if she has any class. If I find she’s worth the venture, I’ll offer her a place on the team right on the spot!”

Knuckles smirked, “A friendly test of one’s righteous causes, eh..? I’m in!” he punched his fists together, as Tails twirled his twin namesake’s skyward and looked up.

“She’s mostly known for protecting the weaker guy… If we set something up to test what she’ll do, we’ll have to make sure she can’t recognize it’s a test.” He was very logical in his thinking, but Sonic wasn’t thinking of a set-up…

“Oh no. We’re not playing any of those mind games.”

Tails looked confused, “Then… how do we know if she’s good or not?”

Knuckles looked off towards a pile of robots that scrap-heapers were still trying to clean up.

“I’ve got an epiphany!” he smiled.

The two looked down from the building at the place he was staring at, and both smiled as if getting the same thought.

Amy Rose was a small-town hero waiting for her chance to properly introduce herself to Sonic and his gang.

Mostly Sonic.

She had trained and challenged every mediocre bad guy that came bounding around the corners of her metropolitan home.

They never stood a chance to her Piko Piko Hammer, but the second Eggman showed up, she knew Sonic would be hot on his trails, and had seen him in action for the first time with her own eyes…

Now… she was finally going to impress her hero.

She put her hands together and took a deep breath.

“Okay…” she summoned her hammer.

“HELLLPP!!!”

Amy looked down to see a strangely clothed child rushing away from a robot chasing after him.

“I thought we said no mind games?!” Tails whispered back through his disguise, turning to Knuckles, crammed inside the husk of the robot.

“Shut up and say your line!” he swiped the mangled arm, but it fell off and he freaked out, having his eyes go white with the illusion breaking and quickly pulling it back up before the red of his arm could show through.

Amy, from so far up near an apartment complex’s rows of thin, steel stairs off the sides of the building, couldn’t see the malfunction in disguise and quickly went to the scene.

When she was just about to make her move, Sonic spin dashed into Knuckles, causing him to fall over as he saluted to Tails to head off.

“Woah! It’s Sonic!” Tails faked admiration like a fanboy, and then waved him off before heading away. “Thanks, Super cool, Superhero, Super Sir!”

Sonic sweat dropped, freezing in mid-motion to show his awkward reaction to Tails overacting his improv.

‘A little much there buddy…’

Amy held her breath again…

Her feet inched closer.

Her fists covered her muzzle.

She waited for it… the signature flare she loved so much.

Turning his head, he prepped himself before firing off a smirk, a flick of his nose, a finger wag that transformed into a thumbs up.

But where was..?

Then he winked.

“Awwhhaa-haa-haa..” she melted at the sight of it being so real in front of her. Immediately she strode out, “Sonic!”

He turned, having already seen her coming, and smiled. “Well, if it isn’t Amy Rose.” He held himself confidently over the robot, as Knuckles angrily wondered when he’d finally get off of him.

She stopped a bit in her tracks and stared up at him in amazement. “You… You know my name?”

“Sure do.” He held a kind tone and then stepped over Knuckles, having a faint ‘OFFPH!’ come from within the metallic hide. “I’ve heard a lot about the beauty of the city, but even more so about a young hedgehog who takes after a certain well-renowned hero we all know and love so much.” He lifted a hand up to explain before striding over to her.

His eyes had her fixated and she gulped, not even having enough seconds to prep herself—that is, mess with her dress and bangs—before he was standing directly in front of her.

“I was just wondering when I’d get to meet the lovely rising-star of the generation.” He tilted his head down and folded his arms, sticking a leg slightly out to balance and still holding himself with high prestige.

Amy stumbled on her name, before finally shaking her head, “O-O-Oh no! I meant, I’m Amy Rose and I’m a huge fan!”

“I can see that. The Newspapers leave no stone unturned.” He winked.

She fawned again.

“Is all he doing is talking?” Tails peered from around the corner, tossing his getup and unclothing himself from the disguise as he did so. “Geez… it’s like all he wanted to do was flirt with her.” He looked awkwardly afraid that he was right, but his eyelids lowered to annoyance. “Humph.” He fanned out the clothes and put them into a neat pile by the side of the alleyway. “I never took Sonic for a Casanova... Yet, here we are…” He muttered out, clearly frustrated at Sonic’s apparent ruse. Though Sonic’s intentions were clearly not so… Tails wondered how ‘not so’ they really were…

“So why do you do it? Why do you fight?” Sonic got right down to business, tugging on his gloves to keep his attention elsewhere.

He didn’t want her thinking he was interested… not just yet.

“O-Oh… T-…To get closer to-“ she stopped herself suddenly. She looked down at the ground.

His ear twitched and he looked back to her. ‘…Did she really only do this to get close to her idol?’ he looked a bit disappointed, and thought this was all for naught.

Before he could bail out and reject her, she suddenly took a breath and quickly spoke out.

“I wanted to make what was unfair… fair again.”

He stopped from his momentary retreat.

His head turned slightly back to her, wanting to hear what she had to say.

“There’s too much ‘justice’ in a world of unjust men.” She held a hand to her heart, “Sometimes… it’s so inspiring to see someone stand up for the little guy… like you do. When you saved all those critters from becoming energy-food for robotic takeovers! Or-or..! That one time! When you fought that robotic double-ganger and even tried to save him from that lava!” she began to grow excited, and her passion moved Sonic to turning around and fully back to her.

“I just knew there was a thing as true justice! Because I saw you extend mercy… not just once, but countless of times! You weren’t holding yourself over men, like some judges do… you were… equal and knew you weren’t any better… But what made you better was that you had the courage and strength to do the right thing! More than anything! That attracted me to doing the same thing in my life!” She became more bolder and stepped up.

Her sudden shift of character allured him to fixate his eyes upon her shining expression, the look of pure hope and admiration in her eyes…

Her voice was sweet… “Heh, thanks for the flattery, kid.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head down, rubbing his nose. “It takes a lot for someone to commit to doing the right thing like that.”

“I don’t just do it for myself.”

He looked up again, once again taken back slightly by her boldness.

“I do it… to serve others.”

He found himself staring at what seemed like his younger self… his ideals and dreams… before smirking and nodding to her.

“I must admit, I’m impressed.” He walked back towards her. “Usually,… these hero wannabes just want the fame and glory… no redeemable qualities about ‘helping others’ unless it’s all talk and no real heart.” He stopped, toe to toe with her, before tending his hand.

“Wanna prove it?”

She looked at the outstretched hand.

Suddenly, Knuckles was tried of just laying down and doing nothing!

He rose up with fierce anger at Sonic ignoring him.

He pretended to charge up a laser, even making a sound effect.

Sonic thought it silly, turning around to him but Amy seemed to believe it and jump towards him.

“Look out!” she fell on top of him.

“Quick! We can take him!”

“W-wait! Hold on!” Sonic’s hand was immediately taken, but so… was his surprised heart…

She hoisted him up with a powerful swing of her arm as their hands stayed gripped together. “Spin me around! Like you do with Tails!”

“O-o-okay..!” Still stunned by her forwardness, he spun her around like a flicked coin, or looking like a spinning top as their blurred images formed a similar blue and pink pattern to one.

They bashed against the metallic coverup, but Knuckles held his ground and fought against the grinding sensation coming from her hammer.

“Nn…nnnrrrg…nnrraaAAHHH!!!” he flung them back, as Amy skidded on the ground and launched Sonic at him.

“Now! Spin dash!”

Sonic smirked from within his ball, seeing her passion wasn’t all just talk, but she was truly ‘throwing herself’ into the fray.

He took down Knuckles with multiple pummels. “And stay down… don’t mess this up for me, buddy.” He whispered down to the metallic carcass, stars in Knuckles’s knocked out eyes.

He raced back to Amy, but she leaped into his arms, surprising him and his heart once again.

His eyes grew wide as Amy celebrated.

“We did it!” she moved her head to look directly up at him.

The world seemed to glimmer and glow as she gave him a genuine smile.

“My dream came true! I was able to help you!”

Immediately, Sonic was taken off by her over-eager imaginations to go out on a ‘first’ date with him. Dragging him stupefied as she showed him around her beloved city, introducing him to the sights and delicious tastes of her city’s proudest creation- The Chilidog Dog.

Was it because he was with her? Or was it the amazing food?

Either way, Sonic had never felt so powerlessly helpless before.

He didn’t quite like it. It was too strange for him. And he couldn’t just pull away…

Tails and Knuckles would watch silently from afar, eating the delectable chilidogs, and just contently keeping tabs from far off.

“You think he’s going to invite her to join the crew again?” Tails said with a stuffed mouth, sauce sprayed across the sides of his face.

“…Eh, he looks kinda jaw-struck.” Knuckles formed a frown to the side of his face, pouting almost at how utterly exhausted and mesmerized Sonic was acting.

Tails knew he meant awestruck.

“…Mwaybwe hwe’s swmittwen.” Tails commented as he shoved the last piece of the bun into his mouth, chewing.

“…Smitten? By that pink thing?” Knuckles turned to Tails, raising an eyebrow. “You think he’s in to tough girls?”

Tails swallowed, wiping his face with his arm. “Or sweet, endearingly passionate girls who domineer his every move.” He wagged his feet off the side of the building they surveyed the interactions on. “Either way, I think he’s just surprised he impacted someone’s life so much, you know?” He turned back to Knuckles, “I was kidding about the smitten part.” He sweat dropped, seeing Knuckles squint his eyes as if trying to see something he couldn’t from the two…

“Yeah… smitten…” Knuckles didn’t hear a word he said.

“…Knuckles…” Tails looked annoyed he was being ignored, before Knuckles swung a fist out and started shouting.

“OH YEAH!? Well if he thinks he can swing a girlfriend by on MY TEAM. Why I outta…”

“Sonic and I made the team.” Tails side-commented, looking at him but turning his face away before smiling down at Sonic. “I hope he doesn’t see her like that. It could be problematic… but either way, I’m just glad someone’s able to entertain him for so long.” He mused, before yawning. "Well… he’ll find us when he’s had his fill of this… New Girl. Let’s just find somewhere to sleep, okay?”

“Wait till I get my gloved, mitteny little hands on that-!”

Tails just sighed and dragged Knuckles by the scruff of the back of his neck, pulling him away from the two.

[heroesofcrash]

10/26/19 - #Halloween2019

TheHeroesOfCRASH.com

Miss Sunflower makes rocket boots look easy... But to be fair, she's not quite so... *ahem* top-heavy.

Sugar Rush is dressed as Akko from Little Witch Academia, an anime series that's part Harry Potter (focusing on a predestined kid and their two best friends at a magic school) and part Kiki's Delivery Service (anime witch girl whose magic serves as a metaphor for art and creativity). I thought this outfit was a good fit for her, as both Akko and Sugar Rush are both super-excitable and a little impulsive. Her comment about zombies making everything better is inspired by a friend of mine on whom Sugar Rush is based; said friend is a huge fan of zombies.

Dino-Mo is dressed as the title character from the Shantae series of video games. I tend to use her and Enticia's Halloween costumes to show support for POC in media, and this year is no exception. Granted, Shantae - a belly-dancing, hair-whipping, shape-shifting genie who fights pirates and monsters - likely has her origins in the nation of Turkey (based on analysis of her belly-dancing style), and Dino-Mo's nationality is half-Mexican, half-Native American, but I felt that this game series deserves some recognition, and I don't have any characters from Turkey. Drawing this costume was a bit tricky; I've never shown this much of Dino-Mo's skin before, as she tends to prefer t-shirts, so I had to decide how to draw her chest and musculature.

Titanium Maiden always dresses up as a redheaded character each year, but this Halloween she's dressed up as two! In the first panel, she's dressed up as the shy Sakura from Zombie Land Saga - a bizarre, funny anime that I don't want to give too many details about. It's one of those shows that defies the genres it's associated with, so I don't want to give you any notions about what it's supposed to be, because it's so much better than it sounds as a concept on paper. It's a short anime at only one season (for now) made of 12 episodes, so I recommend giving it a look. There's a bit of language and a small bit of body horror/violence, but it's mostly comedic, with one episode about midway through that makes everyone cry. Just trust me, and watch it.

After the Steven Universe movie and the initial series ending, I couldn't resist dressing Enticia as the beautiful and stoic Garnet. If you've been sleeping on this series, watch it NOW. This show has deep characters that evolve and change over the course of the series, and their growth feels natural as the series delves into the mysteries and lore of this world, exploring darker and darker themes. Heck, the first episode has Steven upset over his favorite ice cream being discontinued, then five seasons later he's on trial for his mother's war crimes. I said it before, and I'll say it again: Just trust me, and watch it.

Belt Boy dresses as a superhero every Halloween; it may be a BIT of a stretch, but I think that K.O. from OK, K.O.! Let's Be Heroes counts as a superhero, in that he's a hero with superpowers (he just happens to be in a world where almost everyone's a hero and has powers). Another great Cartoon Network series, OK, K.O.! is - much like my comic - a love letter to 80s/90s cartoons and video games (even featuring cameos from Captain Planet, the students from Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School, and Sonic the Hedgehog!). I was originally going to show this series some love by having Cannon dress up as a helmeted side character, Sparko, but I decided against it, as it felt like whitewashing a POC character. So, I wound up dressing Belt Boy as K.O. instead.

Titanium Maiden's original costume is that of David Fleming's Ms. Rocket. David's my giftee in the Collective of Heroes Halloween art exchange! I had sketched TM as his comic's title character, Ms. Rocket, as thanks for his birthday fan art submission earlier this year. I loved the pose I drew her in, and couldn't get I this filler's visual gag out of my head, so I decided to put it into this year's Halloween filler. If you want to check out his comic, The Adventures of Ms. Rocket (Which has a girl with rocket boots as she begins her career as a superheroine), visit my Links page. And if you want to see his submission to my birthday fan art contest, visit my newly updated Fan Art page!

Have a happy and safe Halloween everyone!

[jillmckenzie1]

Critic & Son – Star Wars Edition

You shouldn’t expect your kids to be into the same things you are. It certainly wasn’t the case with my father and me. Bill was a World War II veteran, a lover of big band music, and a guy with the kind of effortless charisma that made him likable to everyone he came across.* He was also a casual moviegoer. I remember him laughing himself into a mild asthma attack during The Naked Gun, and I remember us seeing both Goodfellas and The Silence of the Lambs theatrically.

However, I should emphasize he was a casual moviegoer. Did he care about the works of Altman and Kurosawa? Nope. Not even a little. Movies were strictly for entertainment, full stop. For some odd reason, I dove into movies far deeper than he ever did. Along with my desire to visit Loch Ness and my wish to make a pilgrimage to the grave of John Belushi, obsessive filmgoing was one more piece of evidence to my father that his son was defective, perhaps fatally so.

With my son, Liam, things are different. At twelve years old, he’s already developed strong opinions of his own regarding film. In between snickers, the mother of one of his friends told me about Liam critiquing their video library. He’s said, “I love Sonic the Hedgehog, but it’s not a good movie.” He’s a perceptive kid, and like just about everybody else in this time of plague, he’s bored to tears.

For the last couple of months, I’ve gotten numerous comments from Liam that were variations of, “Can I help write a review? Please? Please?” In the interests of familial harmony and for my own physical safety, we’re going to have a recurring feature around these parts  On a semi-regular basis, Liam is going to join me in ranking the top five picks of franchises and genre flicks to you, our discerning readership.** We’ll begin with our Top Five picks for Star Wars Visual Media:

  Liam’s #5 – The Last Jedi: My reasoning for placing this here is that The Last Jedi chose to experiment with the mythos of the Star Wars universe. It made bold moves, took characters in unexpected ways, and had the coolest space fight of all time, even if it came out of nowhere. There could’ve been more brand-safe plays, and a heck of a lot of people disliked this movie for said bold moves, but this is the movie from the sequel trilogy that I re-watch the most.

Tim’s #5 – The Mandalorian: Maybe all this time Star Wars is better suited for television? As the crown jewel (and virtually only series of note) on Disney+, The Mandalorian follows the adventures of a taciturn bounty hunter tasked to take care of an alien infant that’s both Force-sensitive and cute as the dickens. It’s essentially Lone Wolf and Cub with spaceships and blasters, along with some interesting ideas about parenting and nature vs. nurture.

Liam’s #4 – Rogue One: The best way to fill a plot hole is to make a feature-length movie about it! Rogue One is a smart, witty, and brutal Star Wars movie. It introduces a cast of fun and intriguing characters and then kills them off in a variety of ways. It features cameos from C3PO, The Ghost from Rebels, and the best scene of Darth Vader ever, which really makes his next duel look sad in comparison. A solid war film, and the best prequel movie from Star Wars.

Tim’s #4 – Rogue One: For a minute there, it looked like we’d get a series of self-contained Star Wars movies that had nothing to do with the Skywalker Saga. Then Solo killed that idea stone dead.*** Before that happened, we got Rogue One, an honest-to-Tarkin war movie about a suicide mission to swipe the Death Star plans. A game cast and director Gareth Edwards’ intense sense of scale took an idea that was unnecessary and transformed it into an engaging piece of entertainment.

Liam’s #3 – Revenge of the Sith: I know I called Rogue One the best prequel, but it isn’t my favorite. Revenge of the Sith is the movie that makes the prequels feel important. It shows us Palpatine annihilating four separate Jedi Masters, we finally see Anakin become Darth Vader, and we see the decimation of the Jedi through Order 66 in what is, in my opinion, the best half an hour of Star Wars.

Tim’s #3 – The Last Jedi: If I’m being honest with you, I have to admit that I kind of hate the sequel trilogy that kicked off with The Force Awakens. Both that film and The Rise of Skywalker look gorgeous, have fun action sequences, and rely almost entirely on nostalgia to push the narrative forward. The polarizing middle chapter The Last Jedi took big chances, including a grizzled Luke Skywalker who’s given up being a hero due to a moral failing. Writer/director Rian Johnson had very little interest in catering to fans. That’s a good thing, and I prefer having my expectations subverted.

Liam’s #2 – The Mandalorian: In easily the best piece of Star Wars television, The Mandalorian shows us what it is like to be a bounty hunter after the fall of the Empire. We see a cast of colorful characters interact with the bounty hunter, we get Taika Watiti as a murder droid and, most importantly, Baby Yoda. It is breathtakingly beautiful and has some of the best writing in Star Wars.

Tim’s #2 – The Clone Wars: Hey kids! Instead of swashbuckling adventure, how about we spend time focusing on trade disputes and political skullduggery? We all know that the Prequel Trilogy, by and large, sucks. But showrunner Dave Filoni saw through the layer of anti-entertainment. It took some time to get going. Over seven seasons, The Clone Wars managed to make the fall of Anakin Skywalker tragic, managed to turn faceless clone troopers into mostly sympathetic characters, and managed to introduce Ahsoka Tano. She’s Anakin’s apprentice and her journey from an annoying sidekick to a hero with the courage to walk away from the Jedi Order is genuinely mythic.

Liam’s #1 – The Empire Strikes Back: In one of the best sequels ever made, Empire blows the original Star Wars out of the water with how smart the writing is, one of the best lightsaber fights of the series, and causing the heroes to lose by the end of the film. It made Darth Vader into one of the best villains of all time and caused all other Star Wars projects to feel meek in comparison. It’s no wonder that this movie still is one of the most impactful movies even after 40 years since its release.

Tim’s #1 – The Empire Strikes Back: We can all agree that Star Wars is one of the most important movies ever made. Its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, does what most sequels can only dream of doing. It takes everything that works about the first film and makes it better. The action scenes are more interesting, the dialogue isn’t as clunky, and the characters have arcs that are deeper and better defined. We have a hero who makes many, many stupid mistakes, making his eventual wisdom feel more hard-won. We have a plot twist that’s astounding. We have a Harrison Ford performance that’s charming and engaged. What’s not to love?

  *The racist Border Patrol agent that he got fired? Probably not a big fan of my pops. Buy me a beer sometime and I’ll tell you the story.

**Huge credit goes to film writer Drew McWeeny, whose outstanding column Film Nerd 2.0 examined his introduction of classic movies to his boys. It’s excellent writing and I’ve wanted to try something similar myself. His work is well worth paying for and you can buy their introduction to the Star Wars movies here.

***There was talk about a riff on Seven Samurai, in which a squad of Jedi Knights had to defend a small settlement from hordes of Imperial troops. I would have loved to have seen that.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/critic-son-star-wars-edition/

[theseventhhex]

The Koreatown Oddity Interview

Dominique Purdy

Photo by Theo Jimison

The Koreatown Oddity aka Dominique Purdy was born and raised in Koreatown, Los Angeles. His first hip-hop influence was his own mother, who made jewellery and hung tight with Ice T, the Rhyme Syndicate, and Grandmaster Caz. Purdy moved from corner to corner through Koreatown his whole life, drawing, writing, and developing his own brand of experimental hip-hop, fused with comedy, and impromptu performance. As The Koreatown Oddity, rocking a wolf mask he bought back in high school for 70 bucks, he's been doing captivating crowds constantly with his enthralling creativity and charismatic presence. ‘Finna Be Past Tense’ is Purdy’s latest incredible offering, a record oozing matchless dexterity and is based around a loose concept of Koreatown Oddity reckoning with life, death, and the passage of time… The Seventh Hex talks to Dominique about experiencing various cultures, video games and classic cartoons…

TSH: Is documenting time gone by still at the heart of your musical expressions?

Dominique: Yeah, totally. Sometimes I think what else is there to express, you know? Every single moment that I progress, things get a little deeper for me. I know that whatever I put out, it’s going to be out there forever. It’s not just about making a song that’s hot or something that people can dance do - if it comes out that way, then that was the right mood and the right expression for it, however, my music is simply documenting my time in life because it’s all personal to me. I’m not going to talk about things that I can’t relate to and I won’t talk about a bunch of shit that I know nothing about.

TSH: Is the vibe and pattern of a beat an essential aspect when you form new music?

Dominique: Absolutely. When it comes to my own beats I know exactly what type of pockets they are going to be in. Each beat always has a certain flavour and feel that allows me to know what to do with it. Also, at times, the beats are colours to me - I may have like a blue or a grey type of visual or vibe attached to a beat and then the words that accompany the beat just come out of me. Usually I just write in my head, because it stays in there better. I also like to come back and revisit my beats later in the day too, simply because something in the world that I see or experience will inform the words I choose to include on top of the beats. I just attach the words to the beats and everything goes hand in hand.

TSH: Having had a while to digest your excellent album ‘Finna Be Past Tense’. When you look back at this album now, what stands out most?

Dominique: For me, what stands out most when I look back at this album is that it’s something that’s real to me. I’m glad I can look back at it and that it reminds me of some meaningful memories. Also, knowing people have got something out of it - that is cool. I’m proud of that because every song and every detail on this record was super-important for me. I don’t say stuff for no reason. I use metaphors and punchlines, but I only insert them in if they are necessary for the point I’m trying to get across.

TSH: Was it a natural approach to delve into one’s reckoning with life and death with this body of work?

Dominique: It just made sense. To be honest, the title itself ‘Finna Be Past Tense’ is what everything will become. It’s not really hard for me to talk about death; it’s actually quite natural given my character. There’s a murky lifestyle that’s been embedded in me since I was a kid. I’ve seen people broken and lost, as well as near death type of experiences too.

TSH: Talk us through the incentives that you drew on for the track ‘Mood of the Grind’...

Dominique: I specifically like the darkness of that track. I felt like I was on a mission with that track in trying to get certain points across whilst also incorporating a specific state of mind. You’ll notice that this track has certain inflictions in the beat, and when I felt those infections it would make me say ‘now you feel me’. I said that line with so much conviction because the infliction of the beat made me do so and the raps perfectly fed into this vibe too. That track has a lot of levels to help you take it in and it’s not meant to fall on deaf ears. I felt like I was expressing gems that people had given to me and there are several point of views going at once with that song too.

TSH: What resonates with you most when you overlook a song like ‘Yesterday’s News’?

Dominique: That’s a track that will always have a place in my mind. For me, it’s a specific post-it note from my head about how I feel. A lot of the rhymes in that track are quotes from conversations that I’ve had with my dad. When my dad heard that track, he was really happy to see how I’ve documented our discussions - he knows I’m a deep thinker. My dad realises that when he talks, I take it all in and turn it into something that other people can get something out of.

TSH: The ethics, lessons and morals that your parents have instilled in you remain very beneficial to you?

Dominique: Definitely. I still live with my mum and see my dad occasionally. My mom and dad were never married and they didn’t live in the same household when I was born either. However, separately the morals that they instilled in me have been so valuable. My parents have never been liars; they’ve always kept it real. As a kid you don’t really think about it, but when I think about it now I’m so grateful for what they taught me. They never shielded me from anything that was supposed to be adult, which includes me driving around with my mom during the riots.

TSH: Your mother is also very influential when it comes to your hip-hop roots...

Dominique: My mum is from Ohio and she came out to California when she was 19 - she just wanted a better life so she moved to California to find better opportunities. Both of my parents are hustlers on their own. My mum had an entrepreneurial business selling to all the rappers; she sold jewellery and gear, so she was always coming up on hip-hop. In fact I know so much about hip-hop because of my mom.

TSH: Dropping knowledge is always in play when you meet your father...

Dominique: Totally. We don’t meet that much nowadays, but when we do, there is so much energy brought into that one experience. One day with my dad feels like half a year. My dad is a street dude; he didn’t have a father so he learnt through living on the streets.

TSH: Where you’re from there are so many cultures to experience: Ethiopian, Indian, Greek, Korean etc...

Dominique: I’m impacted greatly by my surroundings. I don’t even have a passport, even though I’ll probably get one this year. I’d like to go to other places in the world, but if it never happens, I won’t be disappointed. When I’m here in Los Angeles, I have pockets of all the cultures you can think of and I can experience them all. I stumble across other cultures all the time and I’m always learning about them.

TSH: Film also influences how listeners receive your words and sounds...

Dominique: You know, I like films from all eras, but I’m definitely into abstract and crazy type of movies. I especially love how movies back in the day were shot, including the unique things they did with the credits and dialogue back then - I’m into that. I recently watched The Hustler with Paul Newman - I’d never seen it before, but I thought it was great. I like movies from that era because you can tell the actors were serious about acting. The actors back then were not throwaway in any way. Today’s acting is a throwaway thing, people become actors just because they want to make money and be famous. Back then people were looking to make people feel something, they took it seriously. But yeah, film is a huge influence, which is why my albums tend to have a theme, much like its own movie.

TSH: Was playing and getting lost in videos games back in the day a special time for you?

Dominique: Ah man, I loved playing the NES, the SNES and SEGA Genesis. Back in the day I used to play arcades all of the time. We’d play games like Contra, Ninja Turtles, Double Dragon, Kung-Fu Master, Sonic the Hedgehog and all of the Mario games. Oh, and I’m a massive fan of Mortal Kombat too. I remember going to play it at my boy’s house when it first came out on a system because it was only on arcades before that. We’d always be trying to figure out the codes, there was no internet back then to rely on, ha! Also, I remember when Mortal Kombat II came out and my mom got it from work. I don’t know how she got it, but everyone was flocking to my house and playing until late in the night. I play video games once in a while now but it’s not like how it used to be. Video games are an influence on my music as well, especially the creativity of the gameplay and the music.

TSH: Judging by your Instagram, you also admire animation from yesteryear too...

Dominique: Ha, I’m glad you noticed that. Yeah, I love animation man. I especially love the older stuff because I came up on that stuff. I used to watch Huckleberry Hound, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. The animation of the old cartoons is so good because it’s so on point, even the music that accompanies it too. The whole Hanna-Barbera age is definitely a huge influence on me. I could just put that stuff on and watch it for hours.

TSH: What are your plans with your future musical ambitions?

Dominique: I definitely want to put myself on a bigger platform. There are a lot of unique personalities in hip-hop, but when you look more towards the mainstream and the bigger platforms, there’s only a certain amount of voices that are there. I feel like when I’m able to get to the higher platform, that’s when I’ll be able to do a whole lot more. I want people to know that when they come to my show they cannot be offered this kind of experience anywhere else, they have to get it from me. I want to be able to fully bring my mind out of my head and onto the stage for people to see. I want to bring audiences into my world, both on record and onstage. With my next record I want to take people on a journey with me and give them a further insight into my state of mind. Underneath it all, there’s a spiritual connection with everything that I do and I hope I can share this with the masses.

The Koreatown Oddity - “Fuck Dinosaurs”

Finna Be Past Tense