#Originally i was gonna try doing an animatic as well...

[leohnoz]

Punishment Game

"Punishment game, buts its a total plot twist!"

Just some deputies having fun ;) Video, extra, and @'s below!

TW for flashing, flickering, and eyestrain!

.

.

.

Top Left - Fennelwater from @duskclangen

Top Middle - Foxspeckle from @sporeclan

Top Right - Basseye from @cricketclan

Bottom Left - Moorsnow from @splinterclan (she won)

Bottom Middle - Tanglevalley from @hushedclan

Bottom Right - Snakevalley from @vespidclan

.

.

[celtrist]

MIXING/AUDIO MAY BE HARSH ON THE EARS. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THAT

Of course, credit to the original vocalists (Hailey Lain & Croven Majo).

So I've had this mix on for like a year or so now and honestly have no idea if I'm gonna get around to doing the animatic idea I had for it. At the least, maaaayyybe not before season 2. Of course, if I do some sort of animatic with this... I would not use this mix. It is just not very good haha, and I'm not trying to be self-deprecating. It's just I tried very hard to make Majo's cover work because I reeeeaaallly liked the voice (and how he said somethings) and thought it fit Alastor super well. But his cover is on an entirely different beat so it's not exactly easy to listen to.

But y'know, I tried my best when I did the mixing, and was the first time I was playing with audio of my own free will rather than for classes. It's the thought that counts... maybe. Still thought I'd share.

[feelo-fick]

Au where eating the demons desire makes Laios immortal

Demons Curse

—

WHYYYYY WHY WOULD YOU SAY THIS TO MEEEEEEE WHYYYY SNIFF SNIFF IM SO SAD. IMS O SAD. I DREW THIS WHILE FALLING APART AT THE SEAMS. uaogh okay let me get my thoughts out about this

i originally was sorta happy in a bittersweet way cause i thought, well at least marcille has company, they have eachother to lean on now!

...but then i realized marcille isnt immortal. shes gonna live LONG, but shes not immortal. AND I GOT SO EXTREMELY SAD

can you imagine, trying to convince your friend not to extend everyones lifespans to a scarily long degree. and then having to help her deal with that fear and grief of losing her loved ones. AND THEN REALIZING YOURE IMMORTAL AND OUTLIVING ALL OF YOUR LOVED ONES INCLUDING HER. imagine being marcille as she gets older watching laios experience the same exact fear and grief she knows so well and knowing she cant do anything other than reassure him itll be alright. imagine being so scared to die and now suddenly you know someone who CANT die and realizing thats SO MUCH WORSE paces in circles. AAAAAAUGH

additional thought of this au, what if this was part of the demons curse to never allow laios' greatest desire to be granted? i mean laios is a very simple guy with simple wants, he wants to be loved, to eat good food, to study monsters, to be around his friends, and generally just live a normal life. being immortal would definitely complicate things... he'll be able to see and experience so many things but he wont be able to do it with his loved ones, not for long.

and also, being king, he'd probably be in that position for a long long time - maybe he'd willingly retire at some point but even after that where would he go then? what would he do? he cant go and find monsters to study, they all avoid him. i guess, explore the rest of the world? watch everything move on without him?

speaking of, imagine if he lived up until a time like modern day. so many years so many friends (gained and lost) and so many changes... that would be insane. THIS IS SPIRALLING INTO ME JUST GOING "WOULDNT IT BE FUCKED UP TO BE IMMORTAL" AJDNSJXBAH

anyways, final note, im reminded too of this "hand my my shovel, im going in!" animatic that haunts my mind forever AUGH its so good, and captures my immortality thoughts perfectly

[mijetboi]

i did an art for once whaaat

in the past few months, i've really gotten into hermitcraft and life series, and scar in particular has become one of my favorites. very inspired builder, extremely genuine, and quite funny.

but i also couldn't help but notice his vast collection of skins that he's worn throughout the many series he's been in, and my artist brain couldn't help but get inspired.

and i know i'm not the only one, because i've also seen many other stellar scar designs from the wonderful artists who've made animatics. so, i've decided to throw my hat in the ring, stretch the ol' character design muscles, and draw my take on mr.goodtimeswithscar.

okay now i'm gonna do a deep dive on my thought processes as i worked on this design, so read on if you like, but from here on out it's silly autistic ramblings :)

during my first attempt in drawing scar, i was extremely torn between the many designs. originally, i was just gonna draw swaggon scar from season 8, since that was the first season of hermitcraft i watched (and that outfit is the first outfit i think of when i think of scar), but i also wanted to draw a season 9 scar since that's my favorite season, but then i'd also started watching season 7 recently... ughhh it was a whole ordeal.

instead, i decided to draw a sort of baseline "greatest hits" scar if you will. in hindsight, i did kinda lean towards swaggon scar quite a bit when it came to his outfit, but i tried not to favor it too much.

my main goal with this design was to give off "rugged adventurer" vibes, since scar's building style is very natural-based and terraforming is a big component of his hermitcraft builds, but also because that's often the vibe his character gives off when he plays in the life series.

so, to convey that, first and foremost, i decided to try and stick to very earthy colors and tones most of the time, which actually worked out really well for me, as greens and browns are pretty commonplace in many of scar's skins.

at the same time, though, i also wanted to give off those swindling snake oil salesmen qualities that he often plays with in series, and his swaggon character is the epitome of that personality, which is why this design takes heavy cues from that design.

of course, another iconic scar scam was the magic crystals in season 7, and i knew i wanted to reference that too, but i didn't exactly know how until much later in the design.

from the beginning, i knew i was gonna have scar with a cane, because i LOVE when artists design scar with a cane, since on one hand, it very much fits in with the swindling (HUGE grunkle stan vibes), but on the other, i think it's a very respectful and creative way to represent his disability.

at first, i was just gonna give him a kinda generic looking cane, but i randomly came across that cane from jurassic park, and immediately, i knew what i wanted to do; i wanted to give scar a magic staff and cane hybrid inspired by his season 7 wizard skin, and i think it came out really well.

it was a bit harder to represent season 9, but i knew i wanted to represent it somehow. although i'm a little sad i wasn't able to incorporate more season 9 stuff, i think the pins/buttons on his hat was a pretty smooth way to do it. the quiver on his back is also most definitely a hOtGuY reference, but i'm also just generally impressed by his bow skills, so i wanted to give him a quiver.

also yeah i included my hand references alongside the design references because... yeah stereotypical artist thing here but DRAWING HANDS SUCKS!! and, y'know, i just wanted to be honest lol

i know there's some stuff i've probably missed out on with this design; like, i haven't gotten to scar's seasons 4, 5, 6, or 10 yet, for instance, so perhaps there are some references there that i could have included, but... hey, what can ya do.

well, that's pretty much it! this design took me a few days to figure out since i hadn't done much character design stuff in a good bit, but i'm proud of how it turned out!

if inspiration strikes, i definitely want to draw more designs of the hermits/lifers. grian, mumbo, joel, jimmy, etho, gem, impulse, and skizz are definitely on my list!

[dictatortirah]

Hey! I just saw your art today and started looking at your Gleamfolk city stuff and it’s so fire!

I’m an aspiring indie show creator as well (though I’m too scared to share a lot of my art lol) and I just want to say the art and lore and concept for your show is really amazing, I’m invested.

I’m a minor and I have no professional experience (just a bunch of OC animatics, dnd campaigns, and a dream) but if someday in the future you get this amazing show off the ground and need help with voice acting or storyboarding or writing, I’d be honored to help out.

And while I’m here: I want to get my indie show started as a comic, but I’m not sure what to do, and I’m scared my stuff isn’t good enough to share. Do you have any tips?

Took me a while to actually respond to this because of how much it meant to me and I struggle to respond to things like dat MSMS

Thank you sooo much!!! It always feels great to be reminded that people are actually into my original projects!!! Even though Gleamfolk City is probably still far away from becoming into a big hit series, I'll try to remember! I know for sure I'm gonna need a lot of help (especially writing since I can get ahead of myself sometimes)

Anyways about starting an indie show- I recommend just posting art of your characters interacting, promo posters, etc... art that piques the interest of viewers and introduces them the characters, so they'll know what to expect when you do start the series!!! And the best way to get them hooked! Feeling nervous at first is normal (I still feel it from time to time), but just doing it little by little at first should do the trick. If you want your art to really capture people's attention, dynamic posing and color will always help out!

[angryplebianart]

I don’t wanna sound rude at all but I am genuinely curious as to why you ship 2doc? I’m not trying to like target you in particular or anything I’m just wondering in general why do people like it

This is gonna be a long one lmao

A little backstory: When I first got into Gorillaz I really hated Murdoc. My sister showed me a playlist of all the videos in order. The whole playlist I kept going on about how I didn't like Murdoc and my sister was like "well, just wait." By Lost Chord I was a bit sympathetic and beginning to like Murdoc, I loved seeing that he was helping everyone else escape before he did and I really liked seeing 2D save him despite everything.

I've always been a sucker for relationships with drama(even platonic relationships), for one, for two I love when characters have chemistry (even platonic chemistry) because of what they've been through together if that makes sense.

This was before I really knew much about the band at all besides what was shown in the videos and the first time I heard about 2doc I was confused and kind of weirded out that people would ship such a toxic and dysfunctional couple. As I learned more about the band and the characters, though, and as I dug into the lore, I found Murdoc to be a much more sympathetic character than I had originally seen. A flawed character, deeply flawed, but sympathetic nonetheless and with the inkling of a redemption arc forming. I also found it interesting that even after all that had happened, 2D and Murdoc still had this indescribable bond (that a lot of people label as Stockholm syndrome but I do not).

I was on twitter one day and stumbled across a discussion about the song Souk Eye and heard that in the live shows, every time the line "I will always think about you" was sung, Murdoc's face was up on the screen. I dug into the lore for TNN album and became even more intrigued with the ship. I saw a Souk Eye animatic that depicted 2D having these battling emotions over Murdoc being gone. That he really missed him but still resented him as well and by this point you could say I was dipping my toes into the 2doc waters.

I started looking for other signs that maybe it was implied to be a canon thing and found so much stuff thanks to a couple "2doc Daily" accounts on twitter (that really just regurgitated the same things the other account said, to the point that I didn't realize it was two different accounts for a couple months lol) that only posted canon evidence.

Maybe it's silly and a lot of people don't like it, but I really do like it. It's so fun to headcanon about the ship and their dynamic.

It really seems like 2doc has been somewhat implied since the beginning in the lore and some interviews, and even some of Jamie's art (them wearing each other's clothes, 2D with Murdoc's monogrammed razor hooked on his necklace, them sharing accessories like the little crown necklace and them sharing hats on PB, the original storyboard for the newspaper comic in Do Ya Thing, there's more examples but those are the ones off the top of my head rn).

Regardless of the ship's popularity, I've come to really like it and it just adds another layer of enjoyment to my love for the band! 🩵💚☺️💚🩵

Thanks for the ask! Sorry if this is rambly or doesn't make a lot of sense, I'm writing this right before bed lol

Edits: I separated this long ass wall of text into digestible paragraphs 😛

[musicalmoritz]

I saw your post about giving tbhk characters songs and I noticed a bunch of them were musical theater and they fit so fucking well??

Like waving through a window for Sousuke and dead mom for Kou?? Unlikely lovers?? Music of the night??? Your mind omg.

I was wondering if you had more musical theater to tbhk characters stuff because id definitely like to hear them lol. It's totally fine if you don't have more, in case not, you could give more non musical stuff.

I’ve been behind on my asks so I’m trying to get caught up and this seems like the best one to start with, musicals have been rotting my brain since the eighth grade. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t remember every song I listed in the original post so I apologize if some of these are repeats!!

TW: Brief mention of suicide ideation for one of the songs/characters

• Idk how much you’d count this one as a musical song but Once Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty makes me think of Mitsukou/Soukou (especially in the context of the new timeline)

• I have to apply Dentist! from Little Shop Of Horrors to every sadist character so it’s going to Teru, maybe he can do that if he ever smartens up and quits exorcism (I would give it to Kou but Teru is like. wayyyy more upfront abt his sadism lol)

• Tango: Maureen from Rent except every character in TBHK besides Mitsuba and Mei is lowkey bisexual so there are so many ways it could go. Hanako and Aoi about Nene. Teru and Aoi about Akane. Mitsuba and Nene about Kou. The possibilities are endless

• Popular from Wicked with Aoi and Nene…because yk we always see Aoi giving Nene popular girl advice. I am aware her character goes deeper than that I’m just being silly

• Love Me For What I Am from In Trousers with Nene but just for the “I met a man in a can” line. She did, in fact, meet her boyfriend in a bathroom

• Helpless from Hamilton with AoiAoi and then Satisfied with Terukane. I think I’ve seen an animatic for this but there are a lot of Hamilton animatics for different fandoms so I could be mistaken

• Alyssa Greene from The Prom with Aoi

• And on that note, The Lady’s Improving with Yako or Sumire (Sumire bcuz you can add in Hakubo for the romantic context). Quite honestly I love The Prom sm, it’s very overhated imo bcuz the songs are all bangers

• Portrait Of A Girl from Bare: A Pop Opera with Aoi and Akane before their development

• More with Bare because I love queer musicals, Role Of A Lifetime with Mitsuba in the context of Mitsukou. They can’t be together forever and Mitsuba knows that so he’s confused on what Kou wants…see the vision

• Seventeen from Heathers with HanaNene but bonus points if it’s Picture Perfect Amanene when they tried to run away together

• There’s A Fine, Fine Line from Avenue Q with Nene…possibly after Nakahara rejected her

• I feel like the concept of She Used To Be Mine from Waitress could be applicable to so many female characters because context aside, it has major theme of going from girlhood to womanhood + overcoming a lot of trauma, so it’s hard for me to nail down just one. Perhaps yorishiro Sumire? Could also apply to Nene

• You Gotta Die Sometime from Falsettos with Mei (my sister and I quote the opening line to each other every time one of us is sick…but also oof this song hurts me)

• This one is a bit nonsensical but I like to imagine The Worst Pies In London with Teru and Akane since yk Teru is terrible at cooking. Or with Ghost Hotel Kou and Nene (not in a ship way tho)

• The Ballad Of Jane Doe from Ride the Cyclone loosely makes me think of Katakuri bcuz of the whole deal with the kannagi losing their memories

• In the Same Boat from the Lightning Thief demo with any of the trios tbh, mainly the Broadcasting Crew because Sakuhiko fit the Percabeth dynamic so well and Tsukasa as Grover is just yes (in the context of this song specifically lol). For the others tho it would be Terukane as Percabeth and Aoi as Grover, then HanaKou as Percabeth and Nene as Grover…or HanaNene as Percabeth and Kou as Grover. Another one with lots of options

• Red And Black from Les Misérables with Teru and Akane bcuz of the whole Enjolras caring abt war and Marius being all head-in-the-clouds about Cosette…very Akane coded in general

• Meet the Plastics from Mean Girls with Teru as Regina, Akane as Gretchen, and Aoi as Karen

• On that same note, WORLD BURN WITH TERU. HEAR ME OUT.

• I want to bring up Spring Awakening just to bring up Spring Awakening tbh so Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind with Aoi and Akane (?) or Teru maybe. Tbh I’m struggling on who could do Ilse’s part but Aoi fits Moritz (my boyyyyy) very well with how she wants to “go somewhere far away” aka take her own life due to the pressure she’s under. Could also be with Mitsuba or Amane as Moritz but NOT Kou because we all know Kou isn’t actively suicidal right?? We’re all on the same page abt that?? Good

• I could also picture Those You’ve Known with Kou and his dead ghost friends at the end of the manga. Specifically Hanako as Moritz and Nene as Wendla but you could substitute either of them for Mitsuba if you want

• I feel like Wait For It from Hamilton could fit Tsuchigomori

• No Me Diga from In the Heights makes me think of Aoi and Nene and their rumors. Bonus points if Akane is the one Nene teases Aoi about with the “just wanted to see what you’d say” part

• Mister Cellophane from Chicago with Mitsuba

• Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again from Phantom Of The Opera with Teru mourning his mom…we don’t really get to see him talk abt her in canon so it’s a cool concept

• More with Teru, I’m Not That Girl from Wicked. I’m thinking within the context of TeruAoi but feel free to apply it to Terukane

• When He Sees Me from Waitress with AoiAoi or Mitsukou…Aoi and Mitsuba singing ofc

• I’m Breaking Down with Aoi during the Confession Tree chapter when Akane started dating Lemon

Okay I’m capping myself off there, hope you liked this!! And thank you for the ask :)

[coolingrosa]

Hi omg hi I don't know if this is too long sorry I'm gonna rant but: Ur RoseVerse is literally so inspiring u urself are literally so insanely inspiring. I'm sugarcoating it when I say what you're doing in RoseVerse is revolutionary for this community, I love every single bit of it so much, and you've inspired me to expand and change things for the better with my own upcoming utmv series for an original multiverse. Haha ok now on to an actual question: Was Killer aware of the Multiverse before Nightmare brought him in? It kind of seems like it since at one point he complains about how Nightmare tells him about the date/time, like it's obvious how you don't use a mortal system for it, or how when they first met Killer was all like "I know you're a killer, you're a bad person" etc etc.

Hello!! This is one of the sweetest messages I’ve ever gotten, and please don’t ever apologize for the length! I LIVE for asks ns every time I get one, no matter the size, I get giddy. Messages like this motivate me to push through the monster that is chapter four! (I’m trying my best to get it out fast, but that thing is 20k words rn and only at the climax, so it’s gonna take a little bit longer! But I swear to you all you’re gonna love it! I’ve been putting my college writing classes to work, and I’m already preparing the accompanying animatics to go along with it!)

I’m so glad my work can inspire you to create and make wonderful things, as I believe that the Undertale multiverse is something so fun to mold into whatever you want. My friend Null, the official VA for Orchid Frisk (who will be used in memes and promotional material), has equally amazing multiverse and the ideas spanning in that is awesome.

Don’t ever give up on your creation, as I’m sure it’s going to be other people’s comfort someday too. People out there may read your fics on a bad day and feel utterly warm. I had that with FTFOS, and now I, glad to hear I can do that with others with my own content.

As For Your Question….

Killer was unaware that the theories of a multiverse existing was true. He had heard his father speak about it, and also dug into some of the studies he did, but he never got to have the standard lab experience most Sans’s do since he was so young. Therefore, he never got to dive too deep into the findings and make his own theories. However, Killer isn’t stupid. He’s only seen as the least smart in the gang because he is the youngest with the least experience in school. The others have college level knowledge while he only has highschool, so naturally, he’s unable to be as aware as the others. He is incredibly emotionally smart and perceptive, tho. He plays his own game that will be covered more in chapter four, and once Nightmare brought him in, he could put two and two together that Nightmare being gentle towards a mass murderer didn’t bode well for his own past. People like that don’t look such dark individuals in the eyes with confidence unless they have blood on their hands too.

As for the time and date, Killer was more annoyed that they didn’t HAVE that system. He understands why they don’t, and it makes sense given what they have to work with, but he’s still peeved about it because he’s peeved about EVERYTHING at fifteen LOL! He’s bored out of his skull and a rebel teenager! Give him at least a solid clock to track his days for Fate’s sake!

[paging-possum]

pls do talk about your projects if you so wish

YOUVE UNLEASHED A BEAST. hold on I'm going to bullet point this because I started paragraphing it and it was literally unreadable.

the big one that I should be working on is Milwaukee protocol (duh) (deadline of expo in April that I applied to and hopppppefully will get to table at but we'll see! it is ever so slowly getting sketched out and I like how it's going so far!! but im shoving those guys out the window right now because they'll get their time.

I'm getting back into animatics (evil decision) partly because I LOVE MUSIC and I love DRAWING PICTURES TO MUSIC and because I need to practice use adobe premiere in a way that does not make me rip my hair out aka by putting together videos of my favorite fictional gay people. anyways.

I'm planning out an animatic to the other side of paradise for naddpod rn....it was originally gonna be like a lyricstuck comic but given the beat it feels like it'd work better actually set to the music...it is giving me grief a little bit since there's a lot of naddpod and I haven't listened to it in a while and it doesn't have a central theme which is usually pretty big for putting them together....its definitely going to have more emphasis on Bev and Erlin (sorry if I just start saying naddpod names at you LMAO) (it's very good though. one of the best ttrpg podcasts out there imo) but I do want it to be about the others as well :] they all get their time. The bridge is the most planned out part (heavy on the hellfire chronicles/chosen saga, those who Know can probably figure some bits out but I will say there will be some stuff with the wraiths) and I want the beginning to be a brief rundown of the earlier parts of the campaign but idk, I might lean into it being heavier on the later half for ease. also realistically it does not have to be entirely linear (guy who is coping) but oughhhh. it feels wrong for it not to be. I'm also hoping to mess with color and style a little bit with it since I'm no longer constrained to flipaclip! I want to get neon with it!! I would like to put a little more movement in it and overall make it a little crunchier and crispier and mess with camera movement maybe. it's very much a fuck around and figure things out project which is nice...

that said I do play favorites I am chipping away at erlin animatic mostly since it'll be easierrr and good practice with adobe in the meantime! who am I if not a guy who draws the kindleafs two billion times everyday. it does feel very repetitive though so I'm trying to change some stuff around (naddpod relisten is helping a bit) and it's getting there!

other smaller projects here and there...I need to actually lock in on my portfolio...if I don't post some muscle/bone/nerve diagrams and maybe a short comic about joints or something in the next month everyone needs to yell at me.

[mgfanfilm]

Welcome!

Welcome to the official Tumblr blog for the Mean Girls fanfilm!

"What is this?"

MEAN GIRLS is a fan-made film adaptation of the Broadway musical by Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, and Nell Benjamin, based on the 2004 film by Tina Fey.

"Why?

The people behind this project are huge fans of the MEAN GIRLS musical, and we wanted to pay tribute to the show that we love.

"Wait, wasn't there already a MEAN GIRLS musical movie? It released just this year."

Yes, and that's currently my fourth favorite movie of all time. That being said, however, it does make a lot of changes from the musical it's based on, so we wanted to make a version that's a bit closer to the stage musical. This includes restoring songs like 'Stupid With Love' and 'I See Stars' to their original musical versions, as well as bringing back cut songs like 'Where Do You Belong?' and 'More Is Better'.

"So you think you can do better than the 2024 movie?"

Oh, absolutely not, and we're not really trying to. This fanfilm isn't meant to replace the 2024 film or discredit the magnificent work done by everyone involved in its creation. As I mentioned earlier, I absolutely adore that movie. We just wanted to see what a version that resembled the stage musical a bit more could look like. I think the two can co-exist as two different takes on the same source material (with one being a big-budget Hollywood picture and the other being a fan film by a bunch of students).

"Is this just going to be an animated version of the Broadway script then?"

Also no. While the primary inspiration for this film is the Broadway show, we're also bringing in aspects of the original 2004 film, the 2024 film, the West End production, and a few original ideas of our own. This fanfilm is a love letter to every version of the story.

"Wait a minute, your artstyle feels a bit familiar. Aren't you the person behind Beetlejuice & Lydia?"

Yes I am. And don't worry, that fanfilm isn't going anywhere. I know there haven't been many updates lately, but we're working steadily behind the scenes. In fact, we're gearing up for the release of our first voiced animatic of a scene from that movie!

So don't worry, MEAN GIRLS isn't going to replace Beetlejuice & Lydia or anything. The two are gonna be worked on side by side.

"Are you seriously going to try juggling two fanfilms based on Broadway musicals at once?"

Yes and no. Beetlejuice & Lydia is a project I'm leading myself, as I wrote the screenplay and will be directing the movie myself. However, for MEAN GIRLS, partly due to the fact that I'm already taking on another fanfilm, this movie will be co-directed by a very good friend of mine, Cass! (@thetheatergremlin) She is one of the coolest people I know and the person who got me into Mean Girls in the first place, so there's no one else I'd be happier to share my directorial duties on this fanfilm with.

Beetlejuice & Lydia and MEAN GIRLS are both being developed by Showtime Studios, a group me, Cass, and two other friends of ours, Carrie (@hollowisthyname) and Alex (@ticklemewiggly), have formed to develop fanmade adaptations of beloved stage shows. There's so much more we want to do if our two current projects are received well, so we hope you'll stick around to see what we do next!

So with all that being said, I hope you're all looking forward to MEAN GIRLS! We already have a finished script and some cast members we're excited to announce soon, so I hope you'll stick around for more updates as we bring this wonderful story of Art Freaks and Plastics to you all!

Happy October 3rd!

[mad-raptorzzz]

MUFASA SPOILERS BELOW

Gonna be talking about major plot points so if you are at all interested in the movies, come back later.

Lion King 1 and 2 are some of my favorite movies, ever. Certainly lots of nostalgia there, but they are also wonderful. Lion King 2 is definitely the best direct to video animated showing from the mouse. So I was delighted by the Lion Guard, a cannon lion king show, making Kiara cannon. (I have lots of thoughts about this show, but all in all for being a disney preschool show they really snuck in some heavy themes, especially in season 3). Even more delighted when she was set to show up in the Mufasa movie. So I had to see it.

And overall, it was pretty good. Nothing stellar, I think they had a few chances to make it stellar but couldn't quite stick the landing. Dope that they kept Taka's name from the books! I am actually ok with Scar and Mufasa not being blood brothers, because that was never officially stated. They were always just called brothers, so you can interpret that however you want. And it gives some context for why Scar was so obsessed with having a 'good' and 'strong' successor that may not necessarily be his blood, aka Kovu. He has seen first hand how blood can destroy you, and would rather have a strong moldable chess piece than a weak heir (like himself). I enjoyed all the small bits of Kiara in the movie. I liked how it was almost Lion King 1/2 esque with Timon and Pumba interruptions. That was fun. The songs were all right, except for Bye Bye which absolutely slapped. I would have appreciated the scene it was sang during to be a bit more dynamic. Honestly, Kiros singing it as his pride stalks Taka and Mufasa in the woods (like that one cool animatic you can find on YouTube) would have been dope. A little bit of fog and the white lions blend in and can pop in and out. It's also cool that we got context for some of the outsider hatred. Sarabi was cool, wish she would have gotten a good fight scene for herself because in the original movie I always liked how calm and poised she was, but you could tell she didn't take nobodies shit. And I thought her falling for Mufasa was nice and not super rushed.

Loved Kiros, he was a delight. Big fan of how he stretched with pleasure every time he was about to kill someone. This is just a guy who loves to do evil guy things. Let him live his truth. I liked his evil henchwomen too, the two main lionesses who gave him information and hyped him up.

I think they did Taka pretty well. I liked that they referenced the flinging off the cliff scene twice. The first time, when they were cubs, me and the rest of the audience audibly gasped. It was great, and I thought that would be it. But when it came around again, it was a delight. Because that means... third times the charm. It was tragic to see how much he wanted a brother and that he let Mufasa win the race to get him to stay, all to eventually kill him and try to murder his son. His song also is pretty cute, but also shows that he was fundamentally set up to think he was better than the other animals and better than Mufasa. I at first didn't like how quickly he went to Kiros to plot Mufasa's death, it seemed a bit rushed. But, they saved it by having Taka flip flop again after his temper cooled. You can tell he knows he made a mistake. And then I remembered, that this is functionally a teenage boy. Teens do all kinds of crazy overdramatic things, especially regarding love and romance, so it actually makes perfect sense. I am happy that it wasn't Mufasa who put the scar on Taka's face, because I thought I could see it going there for a second. Especially with Scar's 'I wouldn't dream of challenging you again' quote from the 2019 movie. (More on the scar later)

Oh and most importantly, speaking of the 2019 movie, they gave the lions emotions. They have much more expressive faces now. I think they made the eyes of the cubs specifically much larger and allow them to use their ears to show sadness and anger. It works so much better. For a great exampled, watch the stampede scene in the 2019 movie. Keep that in your brain when you watch the flood scene in Mufasa. Look how much more expressive baby Mufasa is!!! Simba doesn't look fazed at all compared to the terror on Mufasa's face. They sacrificed some realism for sure. But this is a movie about singing lions. It was never realistic to begin with!

Overall, an enjoyable watch. I was for sure cheering for Mufasa with that final roar. Now for the critiques.

The theme of all the animals coming together could have been stressed a bit more. Ideally, they should have had Mufasa's adoptive mom teach him a bit about talking to other animals. Have a scene where Mufasa talks to a baby gazelle or zebra, and Taka comes over and says how weird it is because they will eventually eat them, then he jumps at the prey animal to scare them away. And Mufasa laughs with him, but has a thoughtful look. Then maybe when they are first running away in the woods, Mufasa tries to ask for help from some forest dwelling animal. But they turn him down because 'what has a lion ever done for us anyway?' Chase scene ensues. They find Sarabi, who's family evidently employs at least birds, which I would love Sarabi to mention in passing. Like 'oh yeah, Zazu is just my scout, my father had a host of vultures, hawks, parrots, and oxpeckers who would all report to him. In return, they got first picks of roosting trees near our den and first pecks at the food after we finished.' So now Mufasa knows it can work. Then Rafiki joins as expected. And maybe after the elephant stampede, where Mufasa again tries and fails to get help, there is a trapped baby elephant they have to save. And they save it and the mother comes over and says something like 'Why would you do that, you're starving and exhausted yet you risked yourselves for my child, you could have just waited for her to die and had an easy meal.' And Mufasa says 'something something heroic something something. It wasn't here time in the circle of life.' And shares a quick glance with Rafiki. The mother elephant gives a nod and says 'thank you, if you ever need an elephant's help again, you'll have my herd.' And then, in the final battle, we now have Mufasa with some experience asking for help, and an elephant who will vouch for him. Maybe even that gazelle/zebra from all the way back? And there's a bit more context of all animals fighting to help? I don't know I just wanted more of why the animals want to live in the Pridelands if they just get eaten.

I also wish they would have hit just a little harder with Taka being compared to and then turned down for over Mufasa. Emphasize it a bit more with his mom. Maybe has a bit more with Taka's dad fully accepting Mufasa right before they get yeeted out? Then have Taka try and fail a few more things that Mufasa gets right. Just to really let it all fester a bit more. And then you can have Kiros really ham it up, call Taka his son and say how proud he is of Taka realizing how evil Mufasa is, etc etc manipulate the child. I just wanted more angst.

And the big thing. The scar itself. For those not super well versed in the Lion King lore. There are now three semi-canon-ish ways that Taka has gotten his scar. First is the least canon version, as Disney themselves has proclaimed them 'semi-cannon' or 'loose cannon.' There were books published after the first movie where, in The Tale of Two Brothers, Taka gets his scar from a water buffalo after trying to get Mufasa hurt. In the book, Taka is already a right dick before the scar because Mufasa is the favorite child. The movie people must have at least known about the books because this is where the name Taka comes from. I'm neutral about this method of scar delivery. It's fine, but the book really just sets Taka up to be the evil little brother. I think you can read between the lines and see him as someone who has always been looked over and passed over and pushed aside for perfect big brother Mufasa. But again, you have to imagine that yourself. Method two is from the Lion Guard. Here Scar gets the mark of evil from a snake bit after a strange lion tricks him. It is implied that the snake venom makes you go crazy and become evil. Mufasa then nicknames him Scar because of the mark. Kion then gets the same bite and the same mark and has to deal with almost becoming evil. I like the journey that Kion has to go through because of this, but I don't like the magic evil snake venom thing for Scar. I don't want him to be evil just because of magic evil snake juice. I want angst and miscommunication and festering and eventual snapping. And the third way is here. After betraying Mufasa, he has another change of heart and jumps in the way, taking the killing blow meant for his brother on his face. Now marked forever by his betrayal but also by his saving of the very lion he would continue to try and undermine for the rest of his life. Now that is angst! Again, very happy that it was not Mufasa who gave him the scar. And I like that he even names himself Scar. A bit of agency to the lad. All in all, I like the fan adaptions of Taka's younger life and method of scar acquisition more. But this movie has my favorite canonical method. And you can even argue that the Lion Guard may still be cannon. As Scar could very well be lying to Kion about the snake bite to get into his head and mess him up mentally.

I wish they had said that the cub at the end was Kion. I am choosing to believe it is Kion! And with all the mention of outsiders. It makes me wonder if they are planning a theatrical adaptation of the Lion King 2.......

I would recommend the movie to any Disney/Lion King fan. It's not horrible and was entertaining!

[modern-inheritance]

WIP Game Response

Buckle up buttercups!

@demiaseranmage tagged me in the game below, and I didn't want to clutter up the thread it was in so I've plopped it all here. And when I said it's gonna be messy, I just meant there would be a lot. It's actually really a good thing for me to scroll through everything and see what's been left on the backburner! So thank you for the tag!

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

Here we go. In NO particular order, but grouped by the variety of docs I contain them all in…

Shorts 2:

Denial (requires a better title but I enjoy thinking about Egypt when I tinker with it)

“We’re finding workarounds, focusing on healing things to the state they are now rather than a full renewal. That’s not caused problems yet, but it’s…trial and error.” “Oh?” “...He thought he killed me the first try. Both of us had a bit of a breakdown.”

Short Shorts:

Again! (a frequently revisited concept that has never born actual full stories or shorts)

Voluntary Recall

Vanir

Nerves (kinda abandoned ages ago)

Standalones/Standalone documents w/ a single concept:

AXF First True (the spicy!) DONE!

Wardbreakers

Invaders Story Bits (the animatic which had to be abandoned due to file loss!)

EXA Attempts (continuously revisited as the fancy strikes)

For a Future Story

Debrief

Escape pt 2

MIC Gil'ead Bits (frequently revisited, where I keep all the actual Gil'ead stuff and concepts rather than the flashbacks and Recall episodes)

Short (this is just a random collection of bits and pieces of the time directly before Arya leaves, drawing in Brom, Oromis and Glaedr and later Rhunön to the family drama)

The Meadow (I’m not sure I like the direction this was going now that I’ve looked at Arya and Fäolin’s relationship again, but it’s a concept I will revisit I’m sure)

Fireside (holy shit I forgot about this one it’s just bits and pieces of dialogue from what I wanted to do for the MIC version of the fireside chat Eragon and Arya have in Brisingr surrounding Fäolin, her experiences in Gilead, etc. and I’mma have to look at this again later.)

Things not yet in a document:

Arya vs Unkie KiKi

The origin of Arya’s stomach scar, and the potential issues it brings up with a LOT of things but I need to do more biology and healing research

The joke of how Arya got her eyebrow scar, because hell if I know where she got it, and she ain’t tellin’ ME either!

Glenwing’s encounter with the Forsworn trained group that left him his facial scars

Eragon’s first facial scar and him wanting to keep it

Haircuts. Soooo many haircuts. 

What happened in Thornwell/Brom’s rages

So. Many. Magic system. Concepts!

The Wolfcats/Squaddies and the adventures Arya has learning to adapt like the humans do

Arya, Squaddies and The Tank

Sabotage Runs/No Man's Land Hauntings

A subset of dwarf music that is musically similar to our Bluegrass but with a bit more rough Appalachian style (thinking ‘Devil Wears a Suit and Tie by Colter Wall) and the pop of a lil bit of rough swing (‘Old man of the mountain’ by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy) and instead of being called ‘Bluegrass’ it’s a genre called ‘Slate.’ Because blue slate, bluegrass, slate is commonplace in some metamorphosed areas in the mountains…. Look I have a geology degree, I need to use it for bad jokes sometimes, and I’d love to see if this wild mix of styles would fit together musically one day.

So many interactions between Arya + Fírnen and Murtagh + Thorn. 

JEsus chrIST, Arya’s buried self hatred and guilt issues, especially surrounding Selena’s boys and their dragons

Brom’s own feelings of guilt around Arya’s imprisonment despite both of them knowing full well that he couldn’t have done anything but put himself, Eragon adn Saphira in danger if the ‘rescue’ went any other way.

‘Suffering’ from EPIC the Musical being inspiration for Arya having an induced and influenced hallucination by Durza ending with a similar vein of ‘[Arya] Fine, but only if you answer a question or two/ [Durza!Glen-Fäolin mix]: of course!/  [Arya, with a bared tooth smile] What’s my name?’

THERE ARE SO MANY MORE I PROBABLY CAN’T EVEN REMEMBER I HAD

There is so, so much of MIC that is never shown to y’all because it is never developed past the concept or in-the-brain stage, or it just falls apart, or I hit a wall, or the mojo disappears and i’ve lost the spark for that idea and can’t bring myself to just word vomit it out into the blog because I had/have a decent story set up and waiting. 

I don’t really have anyone to tag really. Not right now, but I’m definitely saving this for a new thread one day to ask all my friendly chatty people. Y’all can ask me about these, literally ANY of them. Because if you don’t there’s a fair chance they won’t ever be completed lmao.

[rebelrenee36]

hi! im a lil confused abt what some of these meant bc im an idiot who doesnt use his brain-

Music: like them listening to music?

Friends: brain no compute

University? like them in uni?

seasons: wut

little confused on wat to do for worldbuilding (bc everything is alr so amazingly built ofc)

and lastly the free day bc i dont know how to exist with freedom

SORRY IM SUCH AN IDIOT OTAY BYE-

And I am here to answer! You're not an idiot at all I promise

For music, that is an option! So could choosing song lyrics and drawing/writing based on that. Ariana Griande (Grian's drag persona) is another possibility. I'm personally trying to make my first ever animatic for that day if I can!

For friends I've answered that in this ask here!

University mainly refers to Grian and Scar's place of work. Originally the prompt was gonna be teachers, but we decided to open it up a bit more, so Grian's University days are another good option as well!

Seasons is just anything spring, summer, fall, or winter themed! Fun fact is that November is gonna be spring for the characters in DDVAU!

And worldbuilding I just went into further detail in this ask!

And for free day, I'm personally planning on drawing all the wonderful mods of the DDVAU discord to show some appreciation for them as well! Feel free to maybe pick a DDVAU Character you haven't drawn/written about yet before as practice!

[phlurrii]

Okay, so I had this thought back at the little animatic thingie from almost a week ago, trying to figure out why Noe was angry/bitter/jealous/whatever. There was more to it, but I want to focus on the "what if Giratina created Noe, not Meau or Areus" idea I had then.

Looking back at the the ask where you said that Noe is a Ghost-type as well as the family tree ask, they both show that Missingno has a kind of glitchy effect, a kind of distortion effect. Maybe, after Giratina's banishment (as recounted by Meau), Giratina made an ancient Mew in Meau's image (but slightly different, with the design differences). I know that Noe isn't a Distortion World counterpart to Meau because of this ask, but if instead of Arceus creating him, if Giratina made him, either to help populate the desolate Distortion World that he has to inhabit alone, or just for a familiar comfort (since Meau had a fond memory with Giratina, maybe it goes both ways. If Noe's origins are in the Distortion World, he might not be able to have a physical form outside of Meau's shadow (with a nice little parallel of Giratina being called Arceus' Shadow and the Pokémon of Shadow on Bulbapedia). Either way, we get half of an ancient Mew. Maybe, being created in the Distortion World limits what one can do outside of the Distortion World. Even Giratina himself had an origin outside of it.

Also this is just cool as heck so I wanna post it, I was gonna save it for later… but later really far away XD I LOVVVEEEE these theories, way too much, I hate that I can’t say anything regarding it. Cuz sometimes you get super close, but the wrong ball park, or the completely wrong idea, with details DEAD on. Also the crediting and sourcing is, muah, fabulous.

[aninklingof]

Okay so I’ve been trying to take a nap for the past 15 minutes but for some reason my brain has been hyperfixating on theorizing @covenofwives ‘s God-Sibling AU, so I’m gonna share my personal theories on it so my head will finally shut up.

Specifically these theories are focused around what happened to PunzOP and who or what Lanky Chompers is. I am convinced the two are connected, and my reasoning for that is simply Punz. So here are my theories:

A) Lanky Chompers is the Warden or related to the skulk in one way or another. My evidence for this is this drawing that Coven made, Lanky Chompers has the distinct cyan glow that the skulk also has, as well as his horns look suspiciously like the Warden’s frill-things. Either Lanky Chompers comes from the original dimension the skulk and Warden does or he is the Warden.

B) PunzOP’s dimension that he watches over is the Aether (the glowstone framed water like portal that was a mod in the early years of Minecraft and people thought it was an actual thing in the game. It wasn’t.) Evidence here is PunzOP’s color palette and wing-motif, as the Aether is basically heaven like the Nether is hell.

C) PunzOP was killed or captured by Lanky Chompers. Pretty self-explanatory, my only evidence to back this theory up is how both entities are related to Punz.

D) PunzOP IS Lanky Chompers. This one is a bit far-fetched, since I think that LC is related to Skulk and PunzOP is god of the Aether. But maybe he was like possessed or corrupted by the skulk like how the catalysts spread it when a mob dies near one in the game. This would explain LC’s connection with Punz though.

E) Lanky Chompers is just a spooky demon manipulating Punz and has nothing to do with anything I just said and I’m simply leaning into my crazy conspiracy theorist tendencies.

F) 4K knows more about PunzOP’s disappearance than we as the audience are currently aware of. Evidence here is this animation Coven did to the Doki Doki Literature Club song, when the lyric “I wonder where Sayori is” (PunzOP was effectively Sayori in the animatic) the picture of 4K with a glitch effect and a censor bar over his eyes is shown.

—I think that’s it now for my theories, I’d love for y’all to share your own (If that’s alright with Coven ofc) and… yeah!

Thanks for listening to my crackpot theories and don’t forget to blow a kiss to Lanky Chompy on your way out! 😂❤️

[ghostenluvs]

secrets in stone

Chapter 2.1: the first of many such occasions

more shorter bits between major plot events! i love writing these i might just make an animatic bout some of these. :3

warnings: drowning, child endangerment, [not for very long and not violently]

The monkeys had been told to watch the kid.

And it was going great.

They’d already gotten to do so much more cool stuff than usual! Like the monkeys mostly let him practice doing somersaults without watching him like a hawk the whole time, so when he fell sideways instead there wasn’t someone right in front of him to see it.

And he learned stuff from them, too!

Like how the monkeys would hang upside down on treebranches!

He didn’t have a tail, but he had feets and hands and he could make do with that for now. He’d seen his gege change shapes all the time, so he could figure out how to do that later. Tails looked fun to have, and he wanted to be able to get back at the bigger monkey for all the times he picked them up with his tail and held them upside down.

One of these days… I'll be the one to flip HIM upside down. It’s gonna be so great.

But right now he didn’t have a tail, and he had a mission.

He slowly clambered up a tree that bent over lower to the ground than the others. [technically the ground underneath this tree was a pond, but whatever. Water is just wiggly ground anyways.] He used the many knots of the base of the tree to climb up onto the main sideways branch.

There were two younger monkeys in the leaves on the end of the big branch, one hung upside down by their tail.

He waved at the upside down monkey, and sat down on the branch, making sure his knees hooked securely-ish on the branch.

Deep breath in.. and-

He flips upside down, making eye contact with themself in the water below. 

“Yes! Take that, not having a tail! Wheee!” they celebrate, flailing their arms about in triumph.

The momentum sends him a bit too far backwards though, as his legs unhook from the rough bark and he plummets for all of 0.5 seconds into the pond.

The splash hurts his eyes and he sinks like a stone. The water is colder than he thought it would be. He flails continually under the surface the way he’d seen the other monkeys doing, but to no avail. 

He knows you’re not supposed to open your mouth underwater, but they slip on a stone in the sand and they gasp.

This is bad. He thinks, tears welling up and escaping into the water around him.

—

Macaque has been keeping tabs on the goings on of flower fruit mountain more lately, keeping a metaphorical and literal ear out for anything that sounds like wukong trying something stupid.

He might also be a little bit curious about the kid, sue him.

He’s sort of zoning out, as he places his macaroni spirals in the boiling water. The sounds of various locales filtering in and out of his attention.

Then he hears something that could not possibly be good.

“Wheee-ACK-!” *splash.*

From FFM.

Of course it is.

When the splashing continues for a moment without signs of wukong interrupting, he drops through his shadow to check it out covertly.

He weaves around trees and cliffs, quickly reaching the origin of the noises, he pops his head out of the shadows of a bent tree.

Of course this kid would fall into water, of all things.

He takes a second to entertain the thought of being a horrible person like usual, making eye contact with a monkey on the aforementioned tree and deciding resolutely against it.

He pops fully out of the shadows and into the water, not even up to his waist, grabbing the child under the shoulders and bringing them up to safety.

The kid is coughing immediately, and also crying. Heck. 

How do you calm down a half drowned, soaked kid? Oh crap right-

He adjusts his hold on them, patting their back hard to get the remaining water out. They hadn’t been in there too long right? Just like ten-fifteen seconds? Ish???

They cough out what seems to be the last of the pondwater, immediately clinging onto his torso for dear life, still shaking and hiccupping.

Ok, this is no longer my territory. This kid is Wukong's problem. Wait- where is wukong? Shouldn’t he be here? He cannot seriously expect this kid not to die stupidly if left alone right?

He makes his way out of the chilly pond, shaking himself off a little before dropping back into the shadows, holding the child securely to himself. [not that the kid wasn’t doing half that work on their own.]

He deposits them both outside wukong’s shabby ramshackle cabin, walking up the stairs resolutely and proceeding to kick the door clean off with one foot, face in a very intentionally unimpressed glare.

Wukong yelps and falls out of the rafters. Like a startled ferret.

He spots macaque holding the newly-aware-of-mortality child and immediately straightens up from his spot on his back on the floor.

“WHAT- *ahem* What are you doing here? What- why do you have him?! You-”

Macaque puts a hand up, glaring still. Wukong shuts up for the moment.

“I’m gonna stop you there, were you aware that your kid was outside alone? Because if you were, I'm gonna consider giving magic CPS a call.”

“Eugh… well- there is a good reason. But first, why is he soaking wet?! What happened to him, did you punt him through the waterfall or something?!”

Once more, the unimpressed glare.

“He was alone outside, and he fell into a pond. I, merciful paragon of ethics that I am, made sure they don’t drown for you. You’re welcome. Don’t leave a baby alone outside. You peachbrained dipstick.”

“Oh.”

Wukong buffered for a second.

“Well in my defence I told the monkeys to watch him.”

“They watched him, all right. Watched him inhale a fishtank.”

Macaque semi-pried the shivering kid off himself, holding him out to the king, who stepped forward and took him, looking him over for injuries and holding them close.

“Now why, pray tell, would you leave them outside, alone-ish, next to a pond, on the edge of a mountain? I wanna see you talk your way out of this hole.”

“Well, i may or may not have… slightly misplaced a flamethrower somewhere around here and didn’t want him getting his little hands on that just yet, but yeah i see that the pond might have been maybe not the 100% best option but it’s where the most monkeys were when i put them down there.”

“A flamethrower? Seriously? Why is that even near your shack thing?”

“Well it’s one cave, there’s going to be some misplacement of stuff in the wrong places sometimes.”

“Well if you’re misplacing flamethrowers into your silverware drawers little what’s-their-name here is gonna have a rough childhood.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know, mr paragon of annoyance, that little what’s-their-name here’s childhood is going amazingly. Wonderfully, swimmingly even.”

Macaque raises an eyebrow.

“Okay so not that last one then, but still great. Isn’t it bud?” he gestures to the kid, who has been silent this whole conversation.

“I’m cold.” he whines.

“Fair enough.” wukong moves quickly to grab a blanket from the couch and wraps the kid in it like a bona-fide soaked toddler burrito, setting them on the couch and turning back to macaque.

“You should probably check the kid for a cold or something, I dunno what mortals do with cold water. I’m going home. Tell what’s-his-name not to do it again.”

He turns to leave, before stopping in the doorframe and turning back.

“What is this kid’s name, anyways, ‘little what’s-their-name’ is too many syllables.”

Wukong blinks.

“What?”

He blinks again, looking towards the kid again, seeming to realize something.

“What, you don’t trust the paragon of not letting babies drown to know the kid’s name? Wow.”

Wukong clears his throat.

“Yep, yeah that. I mean, you’re not planning on attending his kindergarten graduation or anything so I don't see why you’d need to know that.” he says quickly, crossing his arms.

I’m too tired for whatever he’s doing here. I just wanna go home and eat stupid processed pasta.

“Okay, yeah, you enjoy whatever it is you’re doing after this. And you know you can find the dumb flamethrower with your gold vision right?”

Wukong blinks.

“Ugh.”

Macaque drops through the shadows to go back to his dojo.

He pops back out of the ground in front of his oven, looks to check the timer-

That he forgot to set. Dangit.

Upon further inspection, the pasta is mush now. Oh well.

Guess I'm ordering noodles.

—

Wukong leans over the couch, watching the newly dried off kid as they downed their hot chocolate.

How on earth did he forget to name the dang baby?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

previous chapter | next chapter