#We have something for that it's called WATERMARKS

[tetranymous]

So immature of websites to not let you right click and open the image in a new tab. "WAH no! What if people steal my image?!?!" Well what if I wanted to look closer at the full resolution to see all the details huh? Betcha never considered that.

[ai-art-thieves]

Hey, am I overreacting or do some of the videos on the youtube channel @/FactsByBriggs contain ai generated images?

Here's the link to the channel if you need it: https://youtube.com/@factsbybriggs?si=QC-lGMhM9239_g5C

I don't usually tackle cases that are on youtube, but for the sake of investigating whether or not something is ai generated I'll do it.

(FUTURE A2T HERE: THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE.)

Aaaaand right out of the gate I see AI.

However, I can't call this ai trash just because they generate art from ai.

The real deciding factor would involve a few things:

Does this channel tell people that some of the pictures are ai generated?

Does this channel credit any images they use online?

Are they using ai to mislead and/or farm content solely for monetization purposes?

Only one way to find out.

Ok, so right out of the gate, we don't see any links to images.

This guy also has a lot of socials.

....And a LinkedIn for some reason.

Let's put a pin on that for now.

What do the videos have to offer?

Ok. So we got an ai voice, an avatar that reeks of content farm garbage, and an image that has not been credited.

We're off to a good start. (in case you couldn't tell, that was sarcastic.)

What they didn't do is crop the url that is above, so we know the art got taken from somewhere.

Luckily, we have Google Lens.

That image is from @yuumei-art.

They took that image and did not credit where the image was from.

But, it gets better. IT'S NOT THE ONLY ONE.

There's even some where they even left the artist's signature! Not once, but twice.

And to answer your question, fellow anon, yes. They do use ai generated imagery as well.

This channel is generating images or taking images from the internet for their videos.

No, this is not me hypothesizing. This is what they are actually doing.

I know this because in one video, they use a stock image with the watermark still intact.

But let's take a step back for a mo'. We need to investigate that LinkedIn account.

I have no idea why they have this account here. Like, at all.

LinkedIn is a job hunting website, not TikTok!

The link they have goes back to their Linktree.

Another thing to point out is that they have a Kofi page.

Well, BuyMeACoffee.

Same difference.

There doesn't seem to be anyone supporting that page.

Looking at this channel some more, this doesn't seem to be a content farm.

It has the stench of one, for sure. But it's also responding to comments.

Feeling like I've hit a dead end, I dropped "Facts by Briggs" on google.

That's when I learned that Facts By Briggs actually has a tumblr page.

....It's just not advertised on the Linktree.

And they have their own tumblr domain.

....wait, tumblr domains cost 22 bucks (18.02 pounds sterling in the UK). Isn't Briggs struggling with financial stuff?

...Something's not adding up.

They reblog posts from a London Hip-Hop DJ and Rapper by the name of CANMKING.

I was going to let this fact pass. But...

And yes, he is a real guy.

But let's get back on topic.

What's even stranger is that Can isn't the only one of the usual suspects that replies.

ctkvi, the people that made an album cover for Can.

They too have a linktree and a tumblr domain.

They also do ai video and music work.

And upon investigating those guys...

"Instagram Growth Service"?

Ok, the LinkedIn accounts are starting to make sense.

Let's tackle that monstocity another day, because it looks pretty daunting.

As for the avatar...

Google Lens saved me again, and that led me to Adobe Express.

And lookie here!

It's Briggs!

And considering that its a part of the Adobe Express ecosystem, I can probably infer that the whole video is made on Adobe Express.

Along with some of the other projects that CANMKING has done.

"Riley Frankcap"

Yes. This man made another one.

Better yet, Can has a total of 6 accounts.

And they reply to all of his stuff.

ongawdclub is the oldest of the alts, going as far back as December 2021, but Can has been on tumblr since 2011.

...

Huh. Looks like this case does involve this fellow hellsite after all.

Ok that's enough rabbit hole digging for today. Also I've hit the image limit on this post. Needless to say, there's a whole lot to unpack.

TL;DR:

Yes, Facts by Briggs is a content farm.

Yes, it uses ai art. BUT...

It also uses images off the internet and doesn't credit artists.

Briggs himself is not an original creation, but an avatar that you can easily use on Adobe Express. It's probably how most of the videos were created.

Facts by Briggs has a lot of social media accounts, as seen on their Linktree, including one on LinkedIn and one on a Kofi-like site.

What Facts by Briggs doesn't have on the Linktree is a tumblr. One that has a domain. This goes against what was said in the Kofi, which states that they are struggling with money.

Facts by Briggs reblogs posts by a London hip-hop dj/rapper named CANMKING.

CANMKING replies and reblogs numerous posts by Facts by Briggs, along with five other accounts (reallysmalls, ongawdclub, needgoodgraphics, ctkvi, and rileyfrankcap (A news based content farm). Facts by Briggs also replies to posts made those five accounts. CANMKING is the oldest account out of the total seven, so we assume that the six are sockpuppets that astroturf his tumblr posts.

ctkvi deals with ai video and audio, and needgoodgraphics has a service that, and I'm probably guessing here at the moment, artificially boosts your instagram account by astroturfing it.

TL;DR for the TL;DR:

CANMKING is a rapper/dj from London who uses sock puppets, astroturfing, bots, content farms, and straight up kofi scams to gain success.

...and he made those content farm videos all in Adobe Express.

To prove it, I reverse engineered a Facts by Briggs video.

Mostly.... I know Facts by Briggs uses ai voices... but I don't want to make another account just to access the ai voice add-on. So I used the legendary "Why You Lying?" instead.

I only found one post that talks about CANMKING's scamming efforts, but they've only scratched the surface.

If any of you have any more info about CANMKING that's not listed up here, do let me know.

[trigun-manga-overhaul]

TRIGUN RED - RELEASE IN A WEEK!

Trigun Red is a more recent but very rare booklet. It was released hand-in-hand with a second booklet called Trigun Black, both with similar content.

Trigun Red contains 56 pages of unreleased sketches by Yasuhiro Nightow himself. These sketches are of various art pieces he made over time for magazine covers, merch, volume covers, and pages within the manga itself. There are also sketches of art that never came to be, giving us a glimpse into the creative process.

The booklet also includes various handwritten notes on some of the sketches. We haven't translated these, but it's something we might look at in the future.

We're still looking for another copy of Trigun Black that we can scan. I personally already own one but our scanner doesn't, and it might get damaged in the scanning process.

We're happy to be able to be the first to offer full scans of the entire book! As per usual, we have not added any watermarks to our pages, as we'd rather not put any claim to content belonging to Nightow. Because of this we ask you to always leave credit when posting our scans, and to not repost the link to the files outside the release post we'll be posting next Friday.

See you guys next week!

[triviallytrue]

I see the benefit in “was able to follow along each step and check for myself that the stated claim was true” but I’ve also seen people say the private vetting process can include things like “had a phone call with them where they fluently spoke the Palestinian dialect of Arabic” that can’t be checked by everyone, or “privately showed me their ID/birth certificate/bank info/official documents”, which probably shouldn’t be publicized. if these sorts of things (which seem fairly reliable if true) are indeed being involved in the process in at least some cases, how do you think people should vouch for that beyond a “trust me it’s vetted” without further clarification, or is it impossible to do so from your perspective since they could just lie?

so my suggested solution to these would be:

post a recording of the phone call, so that other Palestinian Arabic speakers can also attest that it's true

post redacted, watermarked versions of official documents

but you're getting at a very big problem: it takes a lot of information to vet people. the post i reblogged was only able to vet that one fundraiser because she's a PhD with a linkedin, instagram, tiktok, and pictures of her on a scientific organization's website. most people won't have that.

at a certain point, it also becomes a nightmare for the vetters (all or almost all of whom i suspect are just people trying their best in a horrific situation). if it takes an hour (or more) to fully vet one single gofundme, there are a single digit or low double digit number speakers of Palestinian Arabic on here with blog histories that stretch back before October 7th with the ability to vet people, and hundreds of gofundmes... well, you do the math.

this is the kind of work that is normally done by people who are paid to do it full-time, in a centralized fashion, not ad-hoc on the internet. amateurs are going to make mistakes - i've seen blogs successfully filtering out unsophisticated scammers, but this current discourse has already rooted out at least 3 scammers who made it onto the vetted lists. it's asymmetric - scammers can do this full time, hone their methods, figure out what exposed them last time and fix it, and overall iteratively improve the credibility of their scams, but vetters can't really keep raising the standards with the time and resources they have access to.

so unless we make the standards so high that they exclude many actual Palestinians (standards like the ones used in that ask), i think there will be some risk of even vetted fundraisers being scams. how big? 1%? 5%? 10%? i don't know, but it's definitely nonzero, and based on the uncovered scams so far, they are diverting thousands of dollars (possibly tens or hundreds of thousands) away from actual Palestinians.

which is why i think people should just donate to the UNRWA. there's a 100% chance your money will go to helping real Palestinians, and while it won't be as impactful for an individual as getting them across the Rafah crossing, that's only an option for a very small percentage of Palestinians anyway. as said before, there are 800,000 Palestinians in Rafah, something like 500 of which cross each day. those that can't cross and the Palestinians in other parts of Gaza deserve aid as well. people are at risk of starvation and have very limited access to medical care. donation to the UNRWA and organizations like it doesn't free anyone, but it does keep them alive, and the money doesn't end up in the pockets of corrupt Egyptian border officials who will wring every penny they can out of Palestinian refugees.

people are, of course, welcome to do whatever they want with their money, but those are my 2 cents.

[bizarrelittlemew]

hello ida!! I love your gifs and I find the info and resources you share really helpful, especially in terms of gifmaking. I was wondering if you would mind sharing what the correct etiquette is for when we spot a stolen/uncredited gif come across our tumblr dashboard? I don’t like/reblog posts if I suspect the gif is stolen, but I wasn’t sure if there’s something more you (or gifmakers in general) wish people would do to help.

if you can’t or don’t want to answer this that’s completely fine! just if you had any tips :))). thank you for all the gifs you make for us!! x

hi anon thank you for this lovely message and great question!!

first, some tips for spotting when gifs are stolen/uncredited: (it sounds like you already know this anon but i've been asked before so i might as well include it)

if the post has several gifs and they are different sizes/dimensions - this is the easiest one perhaps. gif makers usually put effort into layout. if the gifs are weirdly cut off because they're not the same height, it's definitely suspicious

if the gifs are different quality - some grainy and/or choppy, some crisp and smooth

if the gifs use different fonts for subtitles

if the gif(s) are posted alongside unedited stills/screencaps

this is more difficult, but if the coloring styles of the gifs are different. things to look for are: saturation/vibrancy, the amount of contrast/light, the colors of the shadows, whether a particular color is very prominent/emphasized

if it's an account you don't know makes their own gifs and they suddenly post some, or if they post a lot of gifs that fit the above and from many different scenes

obviously, if the gif is watermarked with a different username that OP has never used, or if they say something like "i found this gif" or "someone posted this gif to discord"

if you actually recognize the gif(s) and know that it's made by somebody else/from a different post

these are just some things to look out for. if i see some of these signs, i usually investigate: does OP usually post gifs that you know are their own? do they have something on their blog stating they make them (like e.g. a link to their gif tag, or if it's mentioned in their bio)? of course, if it's one of the very obvious signs, like i recognize my own or a friend's gif, and it's uncredited, then it's directly to...

what to do when you spot a stolen/uncredited gif: (aka your actual question anon <3)

this is unfortunately a little more difficult since you can't control how people react to being called out for not crediting properly. luckily, most people just genuinely don't know how much work goes into giffing (i wrote a little more about this here) - they will usually be receptive and add credit to the post. but some people will be dicks no matter how kindly or even just neutrally you go about it. just remember they are the ones breaking etiquette, not you.

anyway, some things you can do if you spot a post with stolen gifs are:

don't like or reblog (as you already mentioned) - in order to not spread the uncredited version further

in a reply, ask for the source of the gif to be added to the main post. i usually mention that making gifs takes work and skill, and seeing them reposted (re-uploading to a new post, not reblogged) without credit is incredibly demotivating for the people who spend their time making them (or some variation of this)

that said, what i have sometimes done is reblog with the addition of a link to the original post(s) and asking them to not steal gifs in the future. but this is mostly when it's my own gif(s) lol

i sometimes link @saltpepperbeard's excellent post about giving proper credit

i hope this is useful/helpful and again thank you for asking <3 i'm always happy to answer questions about gifs!! 🫶

[idontknowreallywhy]

Resurface 33 - Restless

What went before - Tumblr / AO3

Previous chapter

It’s fine it’s fine it’s fine.

ALL FINE.

Honest?

💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚

The first time Scott listened, thirteen people died.

John was waiting in the lounge.

He often did after the more disastrous mission failures. It was good for them to be all together at those times. Physically together.

Scott knew this.

Scott himself had strongly encouraged it in the past. So strongly, in fact, nobody needed to suggest it now - John would just appear and when Scott got back upstairs from the hangar, John would have made them both a coffee and he would sit and watch Scott pace the floor and not much would be said but they’d be together. And together they’d wait for Virgil, the Tinies, Kayo… for everyone to be back before events were discussed.

But Scott didn’t want to see John.

And he definitely didn’t want to see Virgil who was chasing him home as fast as his unopened cargo ship could travel. So he skipped the shower, changed straight into his running gear and headed out via Two’s hangar entrance before the green behemoth was even within sight of the island.

A beast of a storm was brewing, but he could get a couple of laps in before it landed.

💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙

Virgil didn’t need to look at the barometer read outs. The colour of the clouds and the niggling pressure in his head told him everything he needed to know as soon as he approached the Kermadec Ridge.

It was going to be a doozy. The kind of storm where it seemed the very sky would crash down upon the trembling Earth below and all the Earth could do was absorb the fury and wait… and hope… for it to pass.

Virgil knew how it felt.

“Scott’s not here?”

“Running.”

“Ah. Did he say…”

“He didn’t come up.”

“Oh.” Virgil eyed the large blue cup of stone-cold coffee on the countertop then picked it up and drained it in one. “Right.”

“I’ll make you a fresh cup.”

“Thanks, but it’s fine. I had one in Two.”

John raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the empty mug Virgil still clutched.

Virgil looked down at it.

“Oh… well… we can’t leave it sat there to… to fester… and it seemed a waste to just...” he gestured vaguely with the mug by way of sentence completion before striding over to rinse it in the sink. A quick wipe with the tea towel and he placed it back in its spot by the coffee machine. Next to the green one.

Frowning slightly, he bent down to buff a watermark from the handle. Then glanced back at the man observing him from his perch at the breakfast bar.

John had his concerned face on.

“I’m alright, John.”

“Sure you are.”

The air was so thick Virgil felt he was swimming through it. He massaged his temples. Come on weather, just break already.

“I need to show you something.” John tapped at something on his tablet and brought up a schematic of the scandium mine.

Former scandium mine.

“Can this wait? We should wait for Scott.”

“You need to know you made the right call.”

Virgil lifted his fingers, one at a time, from the counter top and noted the sensation as each set of ligaments stretched. Maybe he should play a little piano, take his mind off things…

“Virgil.”

“I do. I know I did. It was too risky. But I’m not the one needs convincing, John. He’s never going to forgive me…”

“Virgil!”

He looked up at his brother who swiped through a series of animations modelling l the sudden shift in the underlying geology that had caused the mine to entirely collapse in on itself in the space of less than seven seconds.

“If you hadn’t stopped him he’d be gone. There was no way out of there, no time for a warning. 100% certainty.”

Virgil wasn’t sure how this was meant to help. He’d already pictured it a thousand times on the agonisingly long journey home - the dark tunnel disappearing with his best friend inside. Over and over. He’d felt his own ribcage cave under the pressure of those rocks as he lost hope...

“They aren’t even contemplating any attempt to recover the…”

“Enough.”

John paused then conceded with a slight inclination of the head. Virgil gave a small smile of gratitude and went to observe the gathering storm from the balcony doors.

“Virgil?”

A breath. He tugged on the lever to open the vents, to get some damn air in the room. If anything the outside air was even more soup-like but now they could hear the faint rumbling in the distance. It was coming.

“Yes, John?” He knew his voice was higher pitched, tighter than usual and he also knew John would see that for the warning sign it was, because John did the same and both brothers knew each other well enough to know when they needed each other to leave well enough alone.

Which made it particularly surprising that he walked right over to where Virgil stood and spoke again.

“I don’t know what you said to him, but whatever it was… thank you.”

Virgil didn’t answer, he was watching the palm trees bend and sway in the gusting wind. John slipped his hand into Virgil’s and they stood together as with the sound of a thousand needles the clouds finally burst and rain hammered against the glass, blurring the trees to grey.

💚🧡💚🧡💚🧡💚🧡💚🧡💚🧡💚🧡💚🧡

Next chapter

[pippin-katz]

Some Thoughts About Queer Platonic Relationships In Dead Boy Detectives

So, something that a lot of fans have been talking about is whether or not they think/want Edwin and Charles to be dating, or be queer platonic friends.

Side Note: it’s refreshing to see something like this being talked about by fans in a respectful and chill way. I think it’s because there’s no “loser” or “bad” option out of the two.

It’s been on my mind, and I wanted to share an idea I had! I would personally like to see Edwin and Charles become lovers; I’m just a sucker for pairs that are so devoted to each other like they are. But I wouldn’t have a problem with them being queer platonic friends either, especially since there’s less representation of those in visual media.

That’s when I had the thought!

I’ve been blabbering to my parents and friends who have seen the show that I really want them to bring Monty back if we get a second season. It would be so fun for him to turn back into a human and join the gang permanently now that Esther’s gone, but that’s a separate post.

But the concept of having Monty back opened a whole new door in my brain.

Bring Monty back, and make him and Edwin queer platonic friends!

At first I was like, yeah that would be cute, but then my brain did some more turning. I realized that it’s actually a brilliant, perfect idea for them.

Monty was a crow. He’s inexperienced in the human world aside from what he learned to blend in. Edwin is the first human being he genuinely connected with, in any capacity. Edwin is as much his first friend as he is his first love.

Monty was going along with Esther’s plan after he thought Edwin didn’t care, but as soon as Edwin says that he genuinely does and that he is his friend, he crumbles. Monty can’t do it.

Look at me, making my own GIFs with a little watermark and everything :3

He’s willing to directly betray Esther by getting Edwin out of the forest. Even if the Cat King hadn’t shown up, he was screwed. There’s no way she wouldn’t have found out if he had literally helped them escape her plan rather than complete it. It took Monty only a few seconds to decide, and his decision was a death sentence. He knew that, and still tried to get him to safety.

Monty then betrays Esther a second time after she kidnaps Edwin and Charles. He hears Edwin’s screams, sees Charles struggling, and chooses to help. Who knows how long it would’ve taken Charles to get his backpack by himself?

Since Crystal apparently couldn’t just fucking hand it to him, but that’s also a separate post.

All this being said, Monty does care about the squad. When he confronts Esther, he says, "You didn't tell me that mushroom thing was gonna completely eradicate them."

Key word: them. He could've said "him", referring to Edwin since he's the one Monty's in love with, but he says "them", as in both Edwin and Charles. He doesn't want to see that happen to either of them. He also asks Esther about her plans for Crystal after she's gotten the ghosts, showing thoughtfulness rather than ignoring her fate entirely. So, he would make a believable addition to the group outside of his crush on Edwin.

Speaking of his crush on Edwin, Monty knows that Edwin is in love with Charles. He knows that he and Edwin aren't going to happen. He knew that even while he tried to get Edwin to safety, but only brought it up when Edwin accused him of pretending to care. He's freaking out and terrified, but it doesn't feel like he brings up Charles out of malice. He seems genuine about it, almost as if he's trying to help Edwin realize it. Monty knows that he's struggling with his feelings; that's what they talked about on the swing set.

Honestly, I think he only runs away because Edwin lashes out and calls him a crow, like an insult, like just being a crow is unforgivable rather than him being Esther's crow. I don't think Edwin actually cares about him being a crow since he's not literally a crow after being turned human. If Monty had gotten to talk to him again after the forest before he was turned back, I think he would've forgiven him. Plus, he's fine with the Cat King and his ability to shift between the two forms, and with Tragic Mick, who once, was a mighty walrus, king of the deep- sorry, couldn't resist.

That all being said, Edwin is the first human being he's truly connected with. He really likes him and enjoys spending time with him. He also knows his romantic feelings are one-sided, but that doesn't stop him from being his friend (after he gets his hurt feelings out of the way).

I think it would be incredibly sweet if Monty got turned back into a person, and now that he's free of Esther's control, join the group, and be besties with Edwin. This little crow-boy who's new to humanity and freedom, truly getting to learn and experience the world, with the help and guidance of the first person he ever connected with?

Tell me that's not the sweetest thing ever! That would be the my preferred QPR 🥹

(ko-fi)

[just-some-random-blogger]

Since there are quite a few award shows going on, what are your thoughts on a fic about Ewan and reader at the awards together and they are being so flirty (trying and failing so hard to hide it) in the background that even the cast are teasing them. Meanwhile it’s all going viral? As always, this just an idea, no pressure to write it or anything! Hope you have a lovely day :)

Secret Hand Holding

Ewan Mitchell x Reader

Summary: "YALL AINT SLICK, IVE GOT 20 LOW RES SS OF YAZ HOLDIN HANDS AND IMMA BOUTTA THROW HANDS"

Word Count: >600

Warnings: gender neutral!reader, use of y/n cos 🤧 tis unavoidable, crackfic, fluff, typos, etc.

A/N: I need a breather cos i got this commission and i'm panicking over it. i did change some stuff about the req nonnie, so i hope ya still like it <3 also the gettyimages watermark HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Tagging: @pinksirensong @aralezinspace @sloanexx @deniixlovezelda @risefallrise @slavyanskiyahui @antisociablewallflower @lxdyred

Now Playing: ewan and [y/n] moments that are TOO SUS to be a ✨nothing✨

à la ai generated voice: Hello, Every [...] one i have been thinking about iwan- - - why did he say it like that- IWAN -- YOUWAN- And [...] y/n,,, ever since they did the house of the dragon press thing [...] and [...] i have not been able to get this

[SHAKY EFFECT] [LOUD BG MUSIC] [PHOTOGRAPH OF YOU AND EWAN]

à la ai generated voice: out of my head [...] So [...] here are a few moments during that event where i think it's just [MAX VOLUME] TOO SUS [NORMAL VOLUME] for them to not be [...] [...] idk horn dogging behind the- [CUT NOISE + WHITE SOUND]

You were posing for some pictures. Ewan just came in, chewing gum. Your name was begin called by the photographers and, quite frankly, you were serving like rent was due. You were giving. That in and of itself deserved its own edit (which it does-- it has its own edits).

Your expression was mostly stoic and your hands were relaxed upon the front of your thighs.

Then came Ewan, ready to pose for the carpet, and as he did so, the paparazzi called out his name, making you turn from your side, and immediately break character.

Your otherwise blank face morphs into a wide grin and you gather yourself, walking over to Ewan, though he was at a side where you had just finished posing. The moment you are remotely close, Ewan turns, and his own poker face twists into a pursed smile. He reaches out for you and gives you a hug.

You kiss his cheek and a lipstick mark stays on his skin for a good unknowing 6 seconds.

[loud bg] THAT SIX SECONDS IS WELL-DOCUMENTED.

From the moment you two pose next to each other, the different fan cams and multiple angles wherein the kiss mark and your smiles are visible, to the moment you turn and gasp, reaching out to wipe Ewan's cheek, it's all very much well-documented.

Ewan glances at you as you rub his cheek with your thumb. You're holding back a laugh as you mutter something that makes him thin his lips and mutter something back.

à la ai generated voice: GIRL WE KNOW 😃😃😃😩😩😩😒😒😒🤮🤮🤮 WE KNOW double yew double yew double yew double yew double yew,,, sigh [...] [...] now onto the part that went [...] [DEAFENINGLY LOUD] VIRAL

You were mid posing for the carpet right.

Ewan turns to you. He mumbles something that makes you turn over to your right and break into a laugh. You wave at someone (no one knows who to this day), and with a toothy grin, turn back to Ewan. The arms you had by each other's back slowly glide down against each other as you pull away and tell him something that makes him smirk and nod.

And then, your hands are by each other's wrists, dangling beside each other. Next thing that happens, you're holding hands and you're pulling him away.

Ewan follows you with no fuss. [EDIT IN SCREAMING SOUNDS] As you lead him off, you stop and await him to your side. Once he's close enough, you turn to him from over your shoulder and say something.

In reaction to whatever you said, Ewan smirks and shrugs. He points to the distance and, for some reason, you laugh really hard at that.

[REALLY LOUD GROANING, GROWLING, RABID NOISES]

à la ai generated voice: What the,,, [...] [...] [monotonous but loud] FUCKINGSHITFUCKINGFUCKFUCKINGFATHERFUCKINGFUCKERSHITCUNTRATGREMLINAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA [...] [...] did you just unleash upon this cursed land question mark (?)

[kermahillway]

[Pinned] Intro

Yo, call me Kerma! I'm a Norwegian artist who enjoys drawing stuff and things More info:

Important info: Content Warnings or CWs will be used for my gore art however I usually don't go into specifics. The tag I use is "Gore" or "Gore Art" If you'd like for me to use any other tags for specific, do let me know as I'd like for my profile to be approchable! :D I use every tag under the sun so you'll probably find what you may be looking for if you search it up on my profile. Boundaries: Do not sexualize me or my sona! It makes me extremely uncomfortable... Ask if you want to draw anything like that of my ocs. Do not repost/reupload my art anywhere without permission! This also goes for attempting to steal my art. All of it is watermarked, don't try anything, Bucko... What I will permit is if you use my art to create something new, again with credit. Ex: Voice dubbing, animated edits, etc You are allowed to draw fanart if you wish, I am down to see it! Drawing gore of my ocs is on the table but ask first! I don't care what pronouns you use for me. I'm not a woman or a man, for all you know I could be the rat living in your floorboards... Please no random DMs unless it is really important, we are moots, or if you have asked first! (I will update this post as I go along... I'm out of time sadly. I just really needed to get this out ASAP) Commissions/More info: https://kermahillway.carrd.co

[nothingkillsyoulikeyourmind105]

“Chaos Was Her Name”

Chapter One Chapter Two

Pairing- Konig x reader *call sign (phantom)*

Summary- König has been going to therapy for his depression and self isolation. That lands him in the therapists office when one mission goes wrong. But his whole world is gonna be turned upside down. Recently joining the 141 Task Force he keeps to himself. But things are gonna change.

TW-Mentions Blood, Death, Unprotected P in V Sex, Size Kink, Fluff, Pining, Some Angst, Lack of Sleep, Comforting, Praising Kink. Obsessive! König!

A/N- artwork credit to @ave661 . Watermarks are present in the artwork. Floral dividers are from @saradika

“How long are you gonna wait for her?”

Therapist glances to König.

“She told me she didn’t like me back. I cared so deeply for her and she pushed me away and left me”

“It’s been 5 years since she was declared dead”

“Nein, she isn’t to me.”

“König, when you received the news you were there to view the body. Is that right?”

“Ja.”

“And you made a positive I.D on the body. You did let your superior know that the person they brought back from the field was her.”

“Nein, I didn’t make the call. One of the TF guys called it for me. I- I uh I couldn’t cope with it. I dream of her. I see her around base she runs and hides from me.”

“When I wake up she’s gone. And everyone keeps reminding me she’s not real.”

“I could never be more alone without her here”

“Her name was Sergeant Sarah Smith”

“Don’t say her name”

“When I dream of her she runs away, but the moment she sees me she’s scared of me.”

“König your obsession with Sergeant Smith was something we discussed before her untimely death.”

“Ja”

“Your obsession with Sergeant Sarah have they been laid to rest since her passing”

“Ja”

“So I heard there are new recruits coming in from another private military base”

“Just three people their from Kortac the private military company I use to work for.”

“Okay have you met them yet. Remember we’re to work on our social skills and interactions with other members of the team and your superiors.”

“Ja, I remember”

König fiddle with his gloves looking down at the hem of his mask. Picking at the loose thread that dangled. Pulling on it his mind wondered. Thinking about Sarah and how she looked at him when he confessed his love to her. The look of disgust and rejection written on her face. That hurt more then anything.

König avoided her after that incident. Thinking about the day she was KIA out on the field. He did shed a few tears but his heart hurt. The feeling of rejection was all too familiar for him.

Thinking back when he was a child in Austria. The way everyone bullied him for his face and height. He did have one friend but that friend moved away to the states leaving him alone.

König as a child often sat alone on the playground watching the other children play and giggle on the school yard.

Watching all his classmates playing with one another but his heart long for the girl with the bluest eyes like the ocean. Her golden hair that was split into two braids that framed her pretty freckled face.

Watching her from afar made his little heart flutter.

König would pick flowers for her on his way to school and leave them on her desk in the morning. He wait around the corner waiting for her to see the flowers.

The way she smell them and smile made his heart skip a beat. He would write little notes with poetry and leave them on her desk. Watching her read them she would smile and run to her friends holding the flowers and notes.

Watching all her friends gather around her smiling and giggling about the notes and flowers. König wanted to confess his love to his crush. She made his cheek burn so much he had to hide his face in the crooks of his arms.

But his moment was ruined when Hans ran over to his crush tagging her back and running off with his friends.

Hans was König classmate that bullied him often. He tried to be his friend in the beginning but Hans always made fun of his height and called him nasty names.

König kept his distance when it came to playing outside on the school yard. He would sit under the trees watching everyone play and socialize.

He longed to be included on the games. The only time anyone would talk to him was the bullies.

They would throw rocks at him when he walked home. Never fighting back he simply ignored it walking home. The name calling hurt him the most. When arriving home he dust himself off before walking inside to greet his Mother and Oma.

König fathers was a Colonel in the Military but he sadly passed away while on a mission when he was only 9 years old. König always looked up to his father although his father was very tough on him. He admired his father accomplishments. He often daydreamed he would one day become a Colonel just like his father.

“Hallo Mutter, wo ist Oma?”

“Mein Schatz, du bist zu Hause, wie war die Schule? Oma ist im Garten.”

“Gut"

König nodding his head to his mom holding his school bag storing it away wiping the dust from his cheek. Walking to the kitchen he kissed his mothers cheek, smiling to her taking a Apfelstrudel from the counter taking a bite, thanking his mother before walking out the back door.

Walking past the rose bushes his mother planted, to find his oma sitting under the tree his opa planted for his oma.

Sighing with a heavy heart he put on a fake smile walking over to his oma. Before he could say anything she already knew he tried to sneak up on her.

“Mein kleiner Bär, komm raus, ich weiß, dass du zurück bist.”

His Oma already knew König was sneaking up behind her. She smiled and waved to him to come over to her.

König walked over looking down at his leather brown shoes.

“Sind es wieder die Tyrannen, mein kleiner Bär?”

König nodding his head in shame. Sighing heavily he bursted into tears hugging his Oma tightly. Wiping his face into her blouse and cardigan. His small cries and whimper’s muffled in her chest.

“Oma why am I different?”

“You’re special my little bear. Your grandfather named you my little king. You’re a special kind young boy that will grow into a wonderful young man.”

“Oma, there’s a girl I like in my class I want to tell her but I’m scared she might get scared of me.”

“König, one day you’ll meet a special girl that will love you for you. If she can’t see the sweet loving boy I see now then she isn’t one.”

Those words echoed in his memories of home. All throughout his teenage years König was faced with rejection. The memories of the disgusted look on all their faces made his heart break. All that was left was the shell of the sweet loving boy that his mother and oma saw. König often paid for sex when he was off duty.

Meaningless sex meant nothing to him. Keeping the hood on often made the sex workers nervous of him. He pay them and lay in his bed unsatisfied with the sex. He wanted someone to lay with him to hold his heart and hopefully one day take the mask off.

He often found himself longing for a loving warm embrace. He would often watch the new recruits walk around base. Somedays he would often jerk off in the showers thinking of some of the female recruits awhile they exercised. After squirting the walls and his hands with his thick ropes of cum. Looking at the water washing away all the cum off his hands. The shame would overcome him.

Finishing up his showers he would walk back to his room his head hanging with shame.

“König?”

“Ja”

“Our session is finished for today. Would you like to schedule another session for another day next week?”

“Ja”

“What day will work for you?”

“Can I get back to you on that Doctor?”

“Sure König, my door is always open and give us a call as well we can discuss more over the phone if you like?”

With a smile the therapist clicked her pen and closed her notebook. Walking to the door she opened it for him allowing him to leave her office. She sighed as he left. Exhausted for the day and all the sessions she had to take on for the day. König was a very unique case.

Clicking her pen she takes a seat looking out the window jolting down her notes.

König had developed a obsession with one of the new recruits that had an untimely death. This loss had thrown him off his feet landing right into my chairs. He’s being put on temporary leave for the time being. His superiors put him on watch for the first few nights. Looking over his record on the field he has never failed a mission nor lost anyone. But this one particular mission that ended with 5 soldiers killed on the field under someone else command made his mind wander off. He started to self isolate and fell into a deep depression. I’ve seen this a few other times but König is a Hound of Love. Something in his childhood must’ve started this conquest of searching for love. He looks for love in the many faces of his fellow comrades. This is something he has acknowledge and he is willing to work for the time being. But we are making progress on moving past this grieving period. And coming to acceptance with Sergeant Smith death. He’s starting to share a bit more in our therapy sessions.

I will make note to his superiors that König is cleared for active duty in a few days. After our last meeting which is next week. He will be cleared to go back out on the field.

A Few Days Later

“König wheels up in 20”

One of the privates knocked on his door frame.

Nodding his head he stood up from his bed sighing looking at his gloved hands reaching down to pick up his gear bag. Walking out with his weapon strapped to his chest and his side arms all in there holsters. Listening to Price and Ghost talk about the mission. The operators they we’re receiving from his old employers were sending over three operators to assist in this mission.

Listening to the briefing again he board the plane storing his gear away. Taking his seat looking down at his boots and knees he looked around staring at all the soldiers who sat in silence. His mind often wandered to love.

“Was he not capable of love?”

“Why did all his past crushes all repulsed by him and especially when they asked about his face and hood.”

Lost in his thoughts hours had gone by and the turbulence of the plane jolted him up from his dark thoughts. But his mind often wander to Sergeant Smith.

The way she looked at him when he admitted his feelings to her and the flowers she stepped on before crushing his heart.

His heart broke.

All those sleepless night thinking of her.

“Why am I a hound for love. I search and search for it and come up empty handed.”

As the hatch opens the rush of cold air chills everyone to the bone. But for König his heart was already broken and cold. His cold lifeless eyes burned with bloodlust. Gathering his gear he walked out sweeping the area waiting for everyone to get into position.

The rumbling of the aircraft lifting away rumbling his chest and awakening his inner beast for bloodlust.

Listening to Ghost mission objectives. König couldn’t focus enough looking down at the ground covered in snow. Flipping the switch on his radio the static came rushing through and the sounds of a women singing softly piqued his interest. Looking up and listening closely to his radio he confirmed his suspicions.

Ghost listened to his radio.

“That’s our sign let’s move”

Moving as one they made their way around the buildings that were left in ruins. The smell of smoke and gunpowder filled his senses. Watching the snow fall to the ground he didn’t see or hear someone get the drop on him.

Falling forward to the ground he felt a cold sharp blade pressing against his mask on his neck.

“Scheiße!”

“Move again and that will be the last thing you do”

“Phantom! Let him up”

The familiar sound of the deep voice resonated in Königs mind.

“Aksel”

“König!”

König stood up dusting himself off he walked over to the large man hidden in the shadows. Aksel emerged from the darkness hand extended out. König grasped his hand aggressively the two men laughed and smiled to each other.

“It’s been too long Brother”

“Ja, too long Tor”

“I didn’t know you were coming here. Captain Price informed me that you overseas busy with another mission.”

“Nein Brother. We finished early”

“Let me introduce you to my fellow operators. This is Sebastian and this is (y/n).”

Emerging from the darkness stood Sebastian and by his side stood a goddess.

“This is Krueger and I’m Phantom”

“Aksel we don’t go by our formal names!”

“This is König”

Aksel chuckled at her little outburst and brushed it off as he continued his conversation with his friend König.

There she stood the goddess that graced him with her spitfire attitude. She had a covering that covered her face. Her eyes sparkled under the moonlight she looked up to him holding a rifle on her back that was almost as big as her.

“Phantom back to your position. Krueger go with her we rotate in 3 hours we leave at dawn. The snowstorm is supposed to hit in a few hours.”

“Come inside brother we have much to discuss.”

König walked beside Aksel but he was so enamored by her the way she sighed and rolled her eyes. Her spitfire attitude made his heart flutter but his cock quiver.

Krueger was quick to notice the way König was staring at her as they walked away. Krueger laid his hand on her back as they walked away. König clenched his fist swallowing harshly his cock quivered more leaking precum from watching her walk away and the way Krueger laid his hand on her back as they walked away together.

“Phantom, but her name sounds so sweet rolling off my tongue and lips (y/n)”

König listened to the conversation but his sight wandered to her small form as she sat by the window. The cold winter breeze chilled her she shivered slightly. Keeping her rifle next to her she felt someone presence behind her before she could react she felt someone drape a coat over her back.

“Oh?”

“It’s okay, I’m fine.”

“Nein, it’s freezing tonight. It’s a bit hot wearing my jacket too.”

She looked back into the street and keeping her gaze out there she smiled to herself and pulling his jacket more closer to herself. Inhaling the smell of his jacket was very pleasant. It smelled clean with a hint of floral scent. She smiled slightly.

“Thank you”

She whispered to him as she shifted slightly in her position. König smiled under his mask and stood up leaving her alone on watch. Walking back to Aksel he looked at him shaking his head walking back to the fire sitting beside him.

Aksel glanced at him. Giving him a smirk. König scoffed at him and pulled a cloth from his chest pocket and started to clean his gun. Glancing at her every so often she stayed perfectly still with his jacket covering her. It warmed his heart. But deep down his cock throbbed for release. Shifting himself as he sat trying to sit comfortably while watching his goddess stay warm under his jacket.

That’s was enough for him for now.

A/N-I do not claim credit for the artwork. I do try to credit the source. I do apologize in advance if I offended anyone. I am so sorry to whoever I offended. I will do better for the future.

[ghosts-and-glory]

Master post / bio n whatnot It’s kinda a wip for now.

Call me Malachi

They/Them/He | Aromantic & Queer | 21 | Canadian

My Carrd

The Disease Machine Master Post

Bottlenecked Master Post

COTL No Devotion AU Master Post

I do art and writing. Mostly for comics and animation about sci-fi and horror. I have crazy pipe dreams.

Commissions: Soft open. My commission page and prices are a wip, dm if interested.

Dms and asks are open. Please send me asks I love them <3

PROSHIP AND TCEST DNI. I will block you, I will not debate on this.

I’m the art director on the fan made rise project, feel free to ask me questions. Just keep in mind I’m one person on a big team and this is my blog not the project’s.

FAQ AND MY OTHER SOCIALS ARE UNDER THE CUT

Follow my other accounts

@demons-and-diatribe

On other socials

Instagram main: ghosts_and_glory

Instagram side: demons_and_diatribe

TikTok: ghosts_and_glory

AO3: ghosts_and_glory

I do horror. This includes surrealism, unreality and gore. I believe that a main pillar of good horror is consent, I try and tag and hide anything that may be upsetting, please let me know if something accidentally gets through.

I have ocd. This means I never post cognito hazards like reblog for good/bad luck, even if the original is a joke. At worst I may mention one in reference to media but it will be tagged.

I don't interact with people under 16. I may reblog or leave comments but I won't take dms or any other remotely long term communication. This is for both of our safety.

FAQ

What programs do you use?

Usually Photoshop. I animate in Adobe animate and 3D models are done in blendr. I draw on a Wacom Cintiq 22” her name is Gertrude after Gertrude Robinson. I edit video with Capcut and audio with Audition.

Can I use your art for a wallpaper or pfp?

Yes, I ask you don't remove my watermark or claim it as your own.

Can I repost your art?

God please no. A, even with credit, it creates a barrier between myself and my art and B I don't want people to be confused on what is my own post or account. The only acceptation is transformative works like edits or comic dubs. But I ask again, don't remove my watermark, provide credit and only use fanart, not my ocs or work I did for others.

How long have you been on Tumblr?

Since like 2016? 2017? Idk a while. I use it like a idiot and like never posted or reblogged anything so that’s why my account is kinda empty. I go through phases of like scrolling it everyday and not touching it for months. I’m bad at social media.

How long have you been drawing for?

Got into it when I was 12 in 2016. Before that I was more into writing and I only started drawing because I wanted to draw my characters.

What is the best way to contact you?

Discord. I check my dms there most often. Other than that Instagram also works, I might ignore you on Tumblr on accident because my inbox is a mess.

Can I join the Rise Project?

For now we don’t have any team openings but you can join our discord. That’s the best place to get up to date news.

[catluniscia]

Okay I keep seeing the sadness of glazing and how you need a strong pc and just lot of you dooming over here. Going "Well I use an Ipad/phone" Okay folks I am gonna teach you all how to do a thing you can do on pc mobile what ever its called

MAKE AN UGLY WATERMARK

Now here is how I do mine when I feel like making water marks and not going through glaze. Now I have mine with my name and my handle, I also have one that is the same and has sample on it (those are for commissions)

Now I made mine as a material and use it on clip studio like this

Now you can also do like insignias, symbols what have you this is just a simple one for my sample!

Now next you make a layer over that and put colors over it use the gradient if you want put the colors in randomly via paint what ever go jackson pollock on it. Now I heard pastels really mess with the thing and also heard using more of a spray pain droplet like brush as well helps. If you want to do that or not up to you

Now here is what I do, so I like to use the distort filters now sometimes I use twirl some times wave what ever your heart desires, I use multiple ones multiple times just to make well this. Again we are hear to make ugly bright annoying watermarks.

If there is a large blob of solid color add anouther later ad some more then merge the colors okay next part, make the layer of pastel vomit as I shall call this into a clipping mask over the letters,

VOILA!

Now you can merge it all down and add like a stroke on it and blur it then you adjust opacity some set it to multiply I dont care do what ever feels right for you looks good and basically do it. And just change it up everytime to add some chaos.

So those of you who don't have glaze due to tech limits, do moblie, etc etc, Here this is a thing you can do, If you got an art program on your phone you can do this, Again doesnt have to be text could be just your signature, doodle of something, just do this, and just make different color layers every time so it screws it up.

Is this 100% protection? Hell no, nothing is lets be honest, but it will cause chaos. If you want some extra ounce of protection here and don't want to deal with Glaze due to what ever.

[guywrestlingaddiction]

Double Team Triumph: Donnie Drake v Chace LaChance & Brent Salvo (bgeast.com)

There's nothing like seeing an alpha wrestler in his prime and to prove this point, watching Donnie Drake take on two challengers at once is like watching an artist at work.  For today's Double Team Triumph, I bring to you that time Donnie crushed Chace and Brent.  

Donnie Drake v Chace LaChance & Brent Salvo (bgeast.com)

SPOILER ALERT: I highly recommend viewing this match in its entirety before reading this post.  

Note that all images are property of Bgeast - the watermark did not render on this video.  

The Backstory

We find said alpha wrestler, Donnie Drake, flexing and admiring himself in the ring.  Can anyone blame the guy for being proud of that build? The man is a gay wrestling legend with the body to match.  

He disarms his opponents with a charming and warm welcome before ... 

Donnie is well on his way to using Brent as nothing more than a speed bump on his way to wrestling glory.  Brent literally did not get a single shot in the entire time.  At one point Donnie simply toys with the jobber, stretching that body out and having his way; Brent was powerless to put up any resistance.  

The Double Team

A new challenger appears and what we're all thinking, is 'where has this cute and lean Chace LaChance been all our lives?'  Following that thought, the guy comes in swinging, giving Brent a small reprieve, only to be taken down by the mighty drake.  

Chace: You think you can take on two men? Donnie: As a matter fact, I can take on two men. I'm that good.

At one point, the pair finally learn they need to double team the big guy in order to stand a chance.  For the briefest of time, it looks like Donnie may have met his match. 

The Triumph

Can you call something a triumph if it was always destined to be?  Aside for a few seconds in the middle, Donnie owns the entire match.  The velocity of Donnie was simply too much man for these two men.  

The real loser (or winner depending how you look at it) however was Chace's abs - Donnie could not get enough of them throughout the fight.  Like a true alpha, he clawed, grabbed, squeezed, took whatever he wanted.  

But back to the double team...

And that's how one became greater than two. This match was really all about Donnie.  To quote the man himself, some guys are just "too big and too strong" for their combined opponents.  Now there are times when the two-against-one premise can be a bit flimsy, but this is not one of those times.  There are even moments in the match when Chace and Brent truly look sorry for ever stepping into Donnie's ring, despite the odds being in their favor.  Donnie takes on two wrestlers with ease and was simply "too strong" for both of them.  

Donnie: This is the best day ever ... for the best wrestler that ever existed! 

[enhypenet]

ㅤWhether you've been a K-pop fan for a shorter or longer time, you may be acquainted and familiar with fansites. They are well-known and common within fandom spaces, especially (but not solely) of Korean idols, and mindfulness when consuming content originating from them is something that we have already brought up a year ago, when ENHYPEN started to actually see a bigger influx of accounts actively dedicated to sharing HD content of them — be it for a specific member or the whole group — as they started their first overseas tour.

ㅤOur concerns back then were brought up because we wanted ENGENEs to be mainly aware of fansites that had malicious intentions — also known as sasaeng fans, or simply sasaengs. And being wary of the content we consume and who we engage with is important. ENHYPEN, through the short course of their 3 years of activity as a group, has already had to deal with several uncomfortable situations involving mobbing in places such as airports, stalking, selling of private flight and personal contact informations, and general innapropriate behavior towards them. In the most recent event, which took place on a Weverse live, Heeseung expressed discomfort towards unknown numbers — potentially sasaengs — constantly calling him as he talked to fans.

ㅤWith the strong sense of belief that we, as fans, play a big part on making sure the artists we wholeheartedly support don't have their privacy and personal space disrespected, ENHYPENET has curated a list with names and Twitter / X handles of fansites who we deem unsafe — fansites who have, in one way or another, disrespected the artists' boundaries. We have created a spreadsheet and a mobile-friendly list on our site, with the spreadsheet having more details about the users — from the basic information such as their names and handles, to specific details such as activity status, the member they are focused on, their watermark for easier identifying, to the most important: the reason why you should not consume their content.

ㅤThe list was created in mind mainly with our gifmakers in mind, as a guide to refer to when you decide to gif videos originating from fansites, but this list goes to and should be read by all fans, as we encourage. Our network will strictly not queue content that comes from the fansites we have listed, and our decision is final — meaning we won't be removing any names from there, nor will we entertain any conversation or messages in defense of any fansite we named.

SPREADSHEET (better viewed on desktop) ⁕ MOBILE FRIENDLY LIST

[lycanloc]

Something about Miss Circle

This was drawn by Kaaatie herself (the watermark being from the edit I screenshot).

Pay attention to her arms. Both of them are at full length and don't change until just a little before her wrists, kind of like gloves.

But then we look at HER OFFICIAL REFERENCE SHEET

The claw extends to up to her entire elbow and her left arm cuts off at the compass! So this makes me curious on something.

First, there's the Miss Circle cat. While she has horns, not animal ears, we do see this image appear in Basics in Behavior.

Now, what does this have to do with anything? Well, at first, not much. It could be seen as a small joke thing. That is until we see the following post by Katie, confirming something vital about Miss Circle in this scenario.

Miss Circle is capable of changing her height. This, intentional or not, leaves an implication that Miss Circle is capable of shapeshifting. This would explain how, in the first shot I've shown, Miss Circle had both of her arms as well as more... skin than hardened skin? Hair? Whatever you wanna call the black part. There are other cases of Miss Circle not being on-model in Basics in Education as well, although the reference sheet was made after Basics in Behavior's publishing.

Or I could be entirely wrong and these are just animation errors or Katie decided to mess with proportions for either general visual appeal or for the fun of it

What do you guys think?

[gamesception]

Sception reads Batgirl (2024) #2

writer: Tate Brombal artist: Takeshi Miyazawa colors: Mike Spicer

Ok, so I'm done comparing this run to the Puckett/Scott Batgirl (2000) run. Got that all out of my system last time, this time we're just appreciating Batgirl (2024) on its own merits, and on those merits I actually like issue 2 a lot more than issue 1, so this time I get to be largely positive. No, entirely positive. I have a few minor complaints I could gripe about, like I think Brombal's leaning a bit too much into the faux-noire internal monologue that saturates so many Gotham titles, but whatever. I complained enough last week. This week I'll try to just focus on the things I like.

And the biggest thing I like by a wide margin is that the new team has started giving Cass her own supporting cast of original characters... or I think they're original to this book? If they were already introduced in previous post-reboot Cass stories than that's even better for finding and drawing on existing connections, which is something I wanted this book to do, but if they are original that's still great too. Either way, an excellent choice by Brombal and well implemented by Miyazawa, who gives Bà Bao in particular a super expressive and immediately memorable face.

Bà Bao is a fantastic character, serving a similar sort of character role to Jackie from the 'Shadow of the Batgirl' book, while also effectively functioning as Cass's own Dr. Thompkins in terms of convenient medical support. She's a trained doctor and experienced war veteran but makes her living running an ethnic restaurant in a way that feels pretty authentic to immigrant experiences in the US. And she can be a connection for Cass not just to a cultural heritage - albeit Vietnamese not Chinese - but more importantly to the people she's protecting in Gotham.

She's also already serving as Cass's own Alfred in terms of an older, wiser surrogate parental type figure able to offer advice, and already that's paying off with Bà Bao offering advice to Shiva on how to connect with Cass, advice that Shiva then sets her pride aside to take in, which is a great bit of subtle characterization showing how much Cassandra actually means to her.

Which is a nice bit of issue two carrying forward the one thing I really liked about issue one - the way it handled Cass & Shiva's relationship dynamic.

re: the watermark - I grab screencaps from the pirate site because it's more convenient than scanning pages myself, but I do buy my own copies and read the physical books first.

We don't see as much of the crew here as we see of Bà Bao, but I love this idea of Cass training her own little school of pupils in the back of her restaurant. I hope we get to know all of them individually as time goes on, see their lives, & struggles, get to know the city and Cass's place in it through them.

This supporting cast also gives Brombal someone Cass and thus the reader cares directly about that he can put in danger to highten the dramatic stakes, and on that note...

Later dialog maybe implies that the antagonist thinks he killed Bà Bao here, but I don't believe it for a minute, and if it turns out to be true I will take back every nice thing I just said. Not because dealing with loss shouldn't be part of Cass's stories, but because this character had way too much potential to kill her off in the same issue that introduces her. But yeah, I don't actually believe she's dead, so I'm not actually complaining.

But speaking of this dude, "Kalden the Unseen", yeah, we finally have an antagonist with a face and a personality. One issue late, but I'm not supposed to be complaining this time around. I just think these particular pages with him killing the firemen to cover his tracks but mourning them at the same time would have been better placed at the end of issue 1 rather than the start of issue 2. But whatever, he's here now, and while we don't know him well enough yet for me to call him a great character, he is immediately worlds better than the generic faceless ninja henchmen working for him.

And even they get a little bit cooler now that we see the gimmick that sets them aside from previous ninja clan Batman antagonists - a flower that gives them temporary mystical powers

though at the cost of their lives.

On the one hand, that downgrades them from 'faceless generic ninja mooks' to 'expendable faceless generic ninja mooks', but on the other hand it's a cool gimmick, so again I'm not really complaining.

And Kalden at least isn't faceless. His costume is a bit generic, but the facial scars are super distinct, and the Blind Master gimmick, while it can be a bit cliche, is a classic kung-fu movie trope for a reason. To the extent that this Batgirl (2024) has already been playing into that sort of thing he really fits the story he's in perfectly.

Brombal & Miyazawa also do a pretty good job of establishing Kalden as a real threat here, even to Cass & Shiva. Miyazawa in particular does a good job of expressing the pain Cass is in on her face.

The 'reluctant killer' thing is also a bit cliche, but again it's a well worn trope for a reason, and so far I think it works here, and works especially as a foil for Cass. A villain who agrees with her that killing is wrong, but is willing to sacrifice his own moral purity if he thinks doing so will prevent greater suffering is a strong challenge to her unbending commitment to her own no-killing rule.

So yeah, too soon to call this guy a great antagonist, we'll have to see how Brombal develops him, but the introduction at least is really strong, so there's a lot of potential here.

And we finally get to see Cass's face, as she's forced to accept Shiva's help and flee Gotham in defeat, abandoning her friends - and yeah the angst of all that does suit my preferences for Cass stories, so I'm ending this issue much happier than last time.

But in terms of Cass's face, Miyazawa does a solid job here. This is more recognizably Cass to me than she is without her mask in Birds of Prey. I do miss the bushier eyebrows, broader nose, and stronger jaw of her very early depictions, but those features had largely been lost years and years ago, long before the end of even her original ongoing, so their absence here isn't at all a complaint about Miyazawa's depiction.

..............

All in all, this was a really strong issue 2. It makes me sorely wish DC had opted to spring for a double-length first issue, because the two issues together would have been a much more effective launch for the new ongoing. Entirely apart from not standing up to Batgirl (2000) in my eyes - which no book really could, that comparison was inevitable but not at all fair - Batgirl (2024) #1 even on just its own merits felt incomplete. We didn't get a real antagonist, we didn't get a feel for Cass's life in Gotham outside of her relationship to Shiva, and we didn't get a strong breaking point to close out the first chapter - but these are all things issue #2 provided.

But whatever! It is what it is now. And as of issue 2 I'm actively enjoying this book, and really looking forward to seeing what happens next, so yeah. This is good. Hopefully I'll get another old school Cass review in this month, but if not I'll definitely be back for issue 3.