#admittedly some of the changes might just be because of the art style and the fact one of them is 3d

[rosemaryreality]

I was curious about the changes between designs for jester sonic, se here you have the same guy with the different costumes

[foone]

Speaking of the zeldas: of the Zelda game, I'm a bit unsure of the cat(as in girl)suit power up.

Because on the one hand:

Nintendo? You put an equipment item in your First Zelda-Lead Adventure that puts her into a catgirl costume?

It just feels a bit like... Nintendo, have you at least heard of gender stereotypes in storytelling?

Because I'm not saying you're wrong, necessarily! Maybe it's an innocuous choice amongst many other costumes, or there's some cultural differences, or whatever. It just seems to be the kind of thing that you'd at least consider, before you put this in your game.

Especially because this is your First Zelda Adventure #feminism.

But on the other hand, see:

The game's art style is so cartoony that it comes across as more "adorable!" than "sexy!", I think*.

But it's Really Adorable. Cute as hell, it looks almost like claymation**, I love it.

On another finger of that second hand:

I demand equality. Hashtag Put Link In The Cat Suit Too 2024.

On a second additional finger of that second hand:

Actually Nintendo you know what? Fuck you. I am a Reverse Engineer and Game Hacker when not a somewhat stoned letsplay watcher, I'll do it my self. You build this game on the same engine as Zelda: Links Awakening (2019)? I'll extract the models out of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and inject them back into Zelda: Links Awakening (2019)!

Bam. Link in the catsuit! The world is better place.

On another finger of that first hand, that is, the post has gone non-linear oh god:

Does it make it worst that it's explicitly a costume? As in, this is clothes that Zelda is magically quick-changing into. Zelda, the Hylian woman, has changed out of her Ninja Cloak into "Sexy Catgirl Costume Like What You Buy From Halloween Store".

She's not, for example, just turning into a different species. Which is something that's been one of the primary gimmicks of least... Two? Three? previous Legend of Zelda games!

Although reconsidering in light of footnote one, it's it's possible that they DID just mean it to be sexy, but most other people might have Opinions about the relative sexinesses of "woman in catgirl suit" versus "catgirl, as in member of species: catgirl"***. So I am maybe off base?

* I am admittedly possibly a very Spiders Georg in the area of "sexual attraction".

** someone please do this in some future game: take the style of this Zelda subseries and make it like, 25% more claymationyier. That wouldn't be to hard to do with some minor graphical design differences and shaders, and it would make these admittedly already pretty adorable games even more adorable!

*** This is presumably a continuum with "no costume but acting like a cat" further back on the "woman in catgirl suit" point, and it then continuing on past "species catgirl" to "catgirl (furry)" and "cat girl (cartoonish bipedal cat)" to "quite realistic to nature cat (who is incidentally a girl)". I mean hypothetically you could find a point that could be MORE CATS THAN ACTUAL CATS THEMSELVES ARE... But I'm not getting laid**** enough to engage in that kind of advanced recreational furryism.

**** holy typoing fuck I meant PAID! I'm not getting PAID ENOUGH! I'm dying.

[1moreff-creator]

Now that you've had some time to cool down from the Fuckfest of Friday Night, I'm a little curious on what you think of MonoTV's whole deal, because I haven't seen anyone actually talk about it much and that makes me so upset because wow Dev somehow managed to get me to care about this piece of steel

Spoilers up to the end of CH2

Hey! Yeah, MonoTV, huh? With everything else going on, this thing kinda got pushed aside, but there's been some really interesting developments indeed. I agree though, it's genuinely pretty incredible dev managed to get me to care about what up to this point had been nothing but a device for plot and humor.

You know, I originally wanted to keep this brief to give my full thoughts on the full part 2 analysis I'm working on, but maybe it's better if I just talk about it in full here and just link to this post from that one. Let me start by the theory side, because that's easier for me to write about :v

While MonoTV's creation being connected to XF-Ture Tech was always a very real possibility, the confirmation that at least its personality drivers come from them is nice. And there doesn't seem to be any type of repurposing going on:

MonoTV: Whenever I make a decision, ultimately, I must make the choice that fulfills my purpose [to run the killing game until the death of every participant]. After all, that was why I was created.

While we don't fully understand how this all fits together yet, I'm glad XF is being brought up because that might mean Min content in the future? For me, please? :,D

Anyways. Having a clearly stated goal for the killing game (killing all the participants) is also pretty useful for theory-crafting purposes, so look forward to seeing that line referenced in mastermind discussions moving forward. Not to mention, the secondary purpose of MonoTV playing the villain, with the reasoning:

MonoTV: This so-called TV show is more about appearances than you'd think.

So... ignoring the weird phrasing of "so-called TV show" as opposed to just "TV show," because I will go crazy if I look too deep into that, the confirmation that the appearances of the killing game are important seem to confirm a suspicion Teruko had back in CH2 Ep2.

Teruko: And also, [MonoTV is designed the way it is] as a way to reference that "past killing game," right?

Assuming via context that she's talking about THH, MonoTV being specifically created and programmed to look and act sorta like Monokuma could have some interesting implications moving forward, especially given things like Duke Spurling being alive to see the Tragedy and maybe wanting a recreation of the THH killing game. Thankfully there's no character with a talent for recreating things, such as art, an art forger of some kind, because if there was this could realistically point to them as the mastermind. :)

Final note about theories: I... called it? Sort of?

[Extract from Vivisection of the David MV] What I think is the best idea [regarding the multi-colored "original"] is that all the characters [which includes MonoTV] got the word. [...] I think it makes more sense to relate them to the meaning of "original style" under my interpretation, where "original style" means a change of heart.

Well, MonoTV sure had a change of personality, albeit briefly, now didn't it? (Please ignore the fact that I dismissed the possibility of MonoTV changing in the lines following that one :p) Admittedly "characters in DRDT will have character development" is possibly my least wild theory ever, but a W is a W (?).

Alright but screw theorizing that's for insane people. Let's go for character analysis, because the fact that MonoTV has become a genuinely interesting creature to study is possibly even wilder than the XF-Ture Tech name drop.

Now, a lot of what we hear character wise is similar to stuff we heard in MonoTV's previous character building moment; CH2 EP3.

MonoTV: Does a toaster know why it toasts? Does a calculator know why it adds and subtracts? They are simply machines that do their job without needing to understand why. To that end, I don't know who made this TV show and why. All I do is carry out the directives programmed into me.

MonoTV: I have no conscience, no sense of morality, no will at all. I am merely a robot, subject to the laws of my code. I have no choice but to perform the actions that my creator dictated I must. [...] All the decisions I make were already decided by whatever entity created me, because I am a robot.

It's stated in a much more melancholic tone, given the music in the background, the sprite pose, and the generally less silly "default personality," but it's nothing really new. MonoTV is a machine, it follows programming.

Except.

MonoTV: Even if I feel pain or guilt, I cannot stop. That is the fate that I have, to make others suffer. And there is no diverging from that fate.

Hey MonoTV what the fuck does this mean.

"Even if I feel pain or guilt"? Instead of "I can't feel pain or guilt"? The choice of wording here is very interesting, because it seems to imply that MonoTV does feel pain and guilt over the killing game, regardless of how impossible that should be. The "fate" drop is pretty huge for thematic reasons, as I'm sure you're aware; Teruko explains her own feelings about it in the rest of the scene, there's Xander's speech to Teruko before he attempted to stab her, Ace talking about how he was too much of a coward to fight his fate, Arei actually defying a similar fate in a way, David with the LGI lyrics, Whit and J and Rose and so many other people, all interconnected by this damn concept. I think it'd be fine if this is all we hear about MonoTV in relation to it, but there's definitely fun parallels to explore regardless.

Given how little we have of these particular character details so far, there's not much I can say about it other than I love the concept of an AI being forced to do something it doesn't "want" to because of code, and I'm interested to see if MonoTV will act differently in the future. It's supposed to reset to its previous personality in the full reset, I imagine, but it's not like we can just ignore all the shit it said here. I'm very curious to see where dev takes this.

That said, I also wanted to point out how this vague allusion to feeling pain and guilt and possibly hopelessness against fate aren't the only feelings MonoTV exhibits. Because for some unfathomable reason, it seems to care about Teruko to an extent?

MonoTV: Is something the matter, Teruko? Everyone else has already left.

Like, maybe I'm misreading because the personality change is fucking with me, but this feels like a concern more genuine than I would expect from pre-2-16 MonoTV. And...

MonoTV: You have to decide the answer for yourself.

This, along with the little speech about Teruko's humanity that precedes it, again comes off as MonoTV genuinely trying to help her through her emotions. I don't see how this correlates with its purpose, unless it somehow "believes" that giving Teruko advice on this will somehow lead to Teruko killing someone or something to that effect, which makes no sense.

If it doesn't help kill the participants, isn't necessary for the killing game, and doesn't make MonoTV seem like a villain, then it's not related to any of its purposes. It isn't code making MonoTV say this things. It's MonoTV's... consciousness? I guess? It's very, very interesting.

I am genuinely super interested in where dev is taking MonoTV, and if you told me that was a sentence I would unironically type before this episode, I would have called you insane. The writing in this series is genuinely immaculate, I can't believe we're getting genuine basis for MonoTV angst and it's compelling. Dev does it again!

Thanks for the ask, this was fun to ramble about!

[2d-dreams]

The Arts of Being, rewritten

The Depths of a Bidimensional Existence, Unravelled (because subtitles in books are fun!)

hey! Remember that novel I wrote? And that I said I'd maybe rewrite sometime?

Well it's gonna happen for real this time. I'll give more detail as I get the time (and I don't have much time to write currently with a job/community service, another job, and school, and therapy, and finally getting that autism diagnosis! Yay!)

I'm a bit inspired by VAS: An Opera in Flatland, which I admittedly havent finished reading because I once again was disillusioned with the humanized flatlanders, the women-not-being-lines and non-bidimensional perspective and stuff.. but I find the visual style interesting - I might make a special edition with similar additions, but as of now the rewrite is simply text, possibly with the addition of the encrypted texts/3d dialogue like the original.

My goal with this is more bidimensionality (dwelling more into the 2d life and perspective and the jarring transition to 3d) maybe i'll try to tackle some theme throughout, and change details like Bill and Liam because 1. i dont like flat dreams at all 2. i dont like possibly getting sued.

My goal is to make something I'm even more proud of and that I can publish - my dad told me I could self-publish through amazon, I think (I may give out free digital copies to the OG flatlandblr crew if anyone wants to be my beta-readers?)

However running it through my dad would mean removing (or making very implicit..) a lot of the queer things of the book. The disability commentary will remain (even more now that I'm making changes to "Bill", if you've seen my recent reblogs), the relationship between Pol and The-Now-Unnamed-Equilateral will continue to be very deep, plus A. Shape will retain its pronouns, but I'm unsure and scared of what would happen with the other details.

The novel will possibly be a bit lengthier, obviously written with more thought and detail I hope - I can't promise the perfect work as I'm just some 17 year old kid.. but I have a lot of love for this flat world, as I hope you guys know, so I will try to do it justice in all its flat glory.

If you have any comments or questions, (or ideas on what to call Bill.. honestly, I might change all the names to non-human-sounding ones.. but I'm not sure?) I'm always open! You guys are the biggest reason I want to do this.

Sorry by the way if I havent answered to anything on my inbox (especially requests for 2d-world info) - life has been a whole tumble lately.

[cozylittleartblog]

Just wanted to mention this to someone who does art and get their opinion on it:

Sometimes I see some artists do redraws of their old artworks or characters and think "Wow, uh... their older art looks better." Sometimes it's only mildly better, but other times it's vastly better. Like the Upgrade, Go Back! meme.

I understand that art skills are supposed to develop and change, hopefully for the better, but sometimes it just feels like they got... worse? Somehow? Idk. Maybe it's because they were copying another artist's style while finding their own, and it's their own style that doesn't vibe with me? Just curious what your thoughts are about this.

Also, your art has consistently been great, so this isn't directed at you.

I do see this on occasion yeah! usually (in my experience anyway) its because people take a sharp turn towards a stylization that either isn't to your or most people's tastes, or that they don't understand or are still developing. switching up how you stylize your art is like starting over in a sense, you're changing from what you have practice with and that's always going to cause you to revert some as you have to re-learn things you understood in your previous style. i had a pretty big style shift in 2014 when i took up the basis for how my art looks now, and i remember feeling like some of the stuff i was drawing might have looked better if i was using my older style instead. that's something artists just have to push through and figure out, and they'll likely come out of it a better artist than they were before. constructive critiques are a good way for them to figure out why their art might not be as "good" as it used to be, if they're open for those.

art is not always a linear journey, and i would also say things like passion and motivation have a part in it too. feeling inspired sparks you to make something the best it can be, if you're not feeling it (and esp if that feeling lasts for a long time) it'll leave you making decisions you otherwise would not have let fly, and that can result in worse art. and some of it is just personal preference! it's not that their art is better or worse, it's just different now, and maybe that doesn't vibe with you the same way their old stuff did. and that's fine 👍

(thank you! :3 i admittedly struggle a bit with Not Feeling It sometimes like i just described, so it's nice to know people still enjoy what i make when that feeling hits.)

[raising-harmony]

You did say that we are welcome to share our concept arts for the littles one's costumes, so that's what I'll do;

Now I wasn't quite sure what to do originally for Concordia's, Bunearies are indeed very adorable, however it doesn't offer much in regards to designing. So i leaned heavily into the soft and cute style of a Buneary, would've loved to incorporate a sort of royalty feeling to it like N's, however I couldn't get a design I liked with that idea to stick.

As for N's, I'll admit I had a bit of fun designing it, Zoruas have so much to work with. So I went with a more ripped and teared look to it, to support the wilderness feeling to both him and Zoruas alike, it also makes sure that if N does chew on the cape (which I'm assuming he will) it wouldn't ruin the outfit too much. Of course I had to add a shoulder cape, as it is benefitting of a prince, however if he wishes to be a Darumaka I have no issue in designing one for him.

Now for Anthea's, which is not included. I originally had a few designs based after Pokémon in mind; Gothorita, Pichu, Togepi, even a Woobat. Though in the end I decided that it is best to wait for her to make that choice on her own, I'd hate it if I made a concept design for her and she felt compelled to chose it out of pressure.

But of course these are merely concept arts, anything that is particularly disliked can be changed.

Admittedly, I didn't anticipate receiving a response so fast, but these designs are wonderfully done. You clearly put much thought into the both of them. I don't suppose you might be a seamstress of sorts?

I went ahead and showed these concepts to both of the children. Concordia was beyond thrilled with what you came up with. She quite likes the little clips and the fluffiness of the outfit, and asked that we make her costume as close to what you provided as possible. She immediately showed off the drawing to just about everyone in the vicinity.

As for N, I enjoy your efforts to make him look like royalty. The emblem is a nice touch. Personally, I wouldn't have chosen to dress him up to look so ragged, but you are right that the appearance is befitting of a zorua. It's only a costume anyway, and looks nice nonetheless. He seems to like it as well, because he keeps asking to look at it again. He's all star-struck.

It was considerate of you to not want to pressure Anthea into a single design before she chose an idea. I believe she may decide to match with her siblings in some way, given that both of them are opting to dress as pokémon. The three of them try to match whenever they can- like their shared bracelets, for example. It's their way of being family.

Anyway, pichu and togepi seemed to catch her interest. She considered gothorita, but felt as if it wouldn't fit in as well with a buneary and a zorua, so she narrowed it down to those other two suggestions.

[asha-mage]

WoT S2 Premier - The Good, the Interesting, and the Messy

Now that I've had a chance to sleep on it and become half way coherent again, I want to say that I really really liked what their doing so far in season 2. You can see the seems of course, the places where COVID era production and changes had to shift things around, but the show is continuing it's central ethos of adapting the heart of the series and characters, even while having to shift the details to suit their limitations and medium, and that to me is far far more important then one-to-one accurate book scenes.

I don't have anything bad to say about the show, so instead I am going to split up my more general thoughts into three broad categories: The Good (stuff I adored), The Interesting (Things I'm very very curious to see where they are headed), and the Messy (the places where some of their working within limitations has created complex problems for further down the road, or might inform certain things more directly).

The Good

Every actor so far has knocked it out of the fucking park. I have to give special shout outs to Rosamund Pike, Joshua Stradowski, Zoe Robins, Natasha O'Keeffe, and Ceara Coveney for really clearly managing to convey the nuances and complexities of their characters in ways that just blow me away. The show's writing continues to get these characters on a fundamental level and every actor is turning in a performance that conveys their heart so well.

The visual look of the show still rules, but channeling especially has taken a huge step forward in how it's depicted. I didn't mind the way it looked in season 1 the way some did, but I appreciate that they've decided to hew to something closer to what the Darkhorse Comics did, especially as we have so many characters now trying to figure out how to actually channel the One Power.

I also like that we're seeing sharp differences already in the different groups channel, just visually. The Aes Sedai use sweeping graceful gestures, the damne sharp, short gestures, with little wasted energy, all clearly rehearsed as if drilled into the military style.

In other ways the visuals of the show, especially in it's art direction, also rule. The way Cairhien has a mix of Versailles era France and Han Era China in architecture and fashion. The way the Seanchan feel alien, strange, and other, and yet how key parts of their Empire's culture come through even as their conquering and destroying.

The use of the Texan/American accents hits the PERFECT balance I was hoping for to add to that level of strangeness. It's not heavy enough to be a joke, but it's so stark in comparison to everyone crisp vaguely European accents. On that note- the sheer brutality of the village's subjugation, this tiny nowhere village probably somewhere on Almoth Plane, just one ant being smushed by the huge fingers of the Empire. Talk about effective introductions.

The Interesting

I was admittedly a little skeptical of the choice ot have Rand working a asylum but having seen the show I'm glad I reserved judgement because it fits in perfectly with hie Messiah vibe. Here is the savior of the world, and is he staying in palaces and toppling cities? No (well not yet). He's spending his time caring for the sick and the mad, doing menial back breaking work for those society rejects and wants to forget. And of course, it's more complicated then simple altruism: Rand is being driven by his own fear of going mad, his own desire to know what he's facing, and yet that compassion still shines through.

I also really like that, since Rand can't be Lan trained in the show, they decided to do something very Jordan: take a classic trope (cooky wise old master) give it a shine of realism (he's got dementia and PTSD from being a vetran soldier) and dig at the humanity underneath (Rand is letting the old man train him as much to help the man as to learn the sword).

Liandrin is a character I'm shocked by how much I am enjoying her in the show. The decision to explore her depths more, to dig into her anger, her arrogance, her desire for control and power, is fascinating, and her relationship with Nynaeve and Egwene even more so. Her scene with Nynaeve where she gets Nynaeve to channel (an adaption of Siuan scene from the books) especially kicks ass. It's got the same fundamental point as the book: Nynaeve is limiting herself, holding herself back, but the show lets it be starker, crueler, because it IS Laindrin, not Siuan.

The choice to have Perrin be solo with the Shienarans, even if was basically forced on the writers by Barney Harris's departure. They don't waste any of that time, using it to explore Perrin's growing sense of isolation, his grief at Lalia, his relationship to Loial, and his growing fear of the wolves. I've always felt that Perrin, who is very introspective and quite, was the hardest of the main heroes to adapt, and the ways their bringing his conflict out and literalsing continue to be very smart.

The Messy

Some of the merges have caught me off guard, even though I knew they where coming. Elays and Hurin makes a great deal of sense. I have a strong fondness for Hurin, but I can admit he's an easy cut. It does raise the question though of how they are going to incorporate the element of noblesse oblige, which is an important part of how the series explores it's themes of government, nobility, responsibility, and duty. Of course, even if they had kept Hurin the party splitting means he'd probably be no where near Rand right now, so this was almost certainly the right choice.

Nynaeve's Acceptatron Test. Having sat with it, I still like it a lot, and I understand the choices they've made. I wish it had been a little bit more clear that her decision to go back in the final arch was her decision, having a scene of her forcing the arch to appear with the Power, but overall I think they had a good job otherwise. The first test was always going to have to be different since they've cut Aginor and Balthamel from the show, and the important part was Nynaeve choosing to go back over her own anger and desire for revenge, which they kept. The second arch probably would have required half the run time of the episode if they wanted to do it in full, so I don't mind them condensing it down, and again the important thing is that Nynaeve choose to leave the role of Wisdom behind for good, to seek the power to truly make a difference in the lives of those she cares about. The third arch is the big one, and the point of that sequence was always Nynaeve rejecting paradise in order to go back and protect those she loves. She is offered everything she could possibly want, but it isn't enough because her friends, those in her charge, are still at risk, and nothing has changed. She has to go back to save them, because that is the essence of who she is. The show takes the plank of showing that paradise would be hollow anyways, doomed to fall apart because the world needs Nynaeve, she is called to duty, and she can not reject it. It's....actually moment very reminiscent of Rand's Portal Stone journey/his arc in TGH which makes sense since they've always been parallel characters, and the closest thing to a male and female lead the series has.

Verin being merged with Vandene. This is one that it will take far more for me to decide on. On a very practical level it makes a lot of sense, but it has long term implications for Verin's arc in the series that wont be apparent for a very very long time. How will Adeleas factor into Verin's scheme? Does she know? Is she in on the plan to bring down the Black Ajah? Is she ignorant and Verin has been carrying this off in secret while her own sister had no idea? A lot of how this merger goes hinges on how those questions swing. Also, there is Adeleas's murder to consider. It's likely to be kept, but the circumstances being different, and Verin being Verin, the vengeance she seeks will likely be a great deal more dramatic and direct then what Vandene could do.

Past that though I mostly just have gushing and nitpicks, and far more gushing then nitpicking all things considered. Overall....another banger start. I probably liked the opening to season 1 a little bit better, but I suspect season 2 is going to go to some Interesting Places that I am Ready For.

[yolowritter]

A few other lucky accidents in MLB I have noticed:

Nora is a kickboxer, wears those weird armbands, and insists to be called by her ring name. To a martial arts buff, that means she practices Muay Thai and got really serious about the culture, that includes those armbands (called pra jiad) and immense importance for the ring name (in Thailand a Nak Muay will often change their legal name to match, and will ALWAYS include their training camp in their name). It also explains why a bulldozer like her has a trickster name: the ring name is given by fans, and whoever gave it must have decided she looked like a deadly spider but didn't know Anansi is a trickster.

Marinette's grandmother is named Gina Misurati. Because in neither Italy nor France one changes their name to match their spouse (mrs. HUSBAND NAME is a courtesy title), and her bike, a Moto Guzzi V7 Sport (it's identical), has written Misurati on it (it was obviously a reference to Maserati, but they stopped making motorbikes in 1960, and none of their bikes looked like Gina's anyway).

Diplomats have horrible working hours that get worse with higher rank, and diplomat kids are often "weird" and forced to grow up too fast. By happenstance, Lila's first mother is barely home, and Lila shows surprising maturity at the oddest moments (like when she flat-out told Marinette that a boy wasn't worth fighting over and offered to help her with Adrien in exchange of friendship).

Paris didn't have their own city police until 2021. Roger is from the NATIONAL police, meaning he shouldn't answer to the mayor... But he does, so SOMETHING must have happened to cause this transfer of authority.

Felix' outfit is identical to Eton's uniform minus the ridiculous hat and overcoat. I suppose it fits his social standing.

Sabine can use her spatula as a weapon. That spatula is nearly identical to a Monk's Spade, a weapon used in Shaolinquan.

Speaking of martial arts, in Chameleon Lila uses actual MMA techniques to overpower Ladybug, and Felix' claim of using Karate points to Wado Ryu thanks to those dodging moves of his.

And the big missed chance: Savate. Not only it's France's national martial art, Paris is where it was improved in the street fights of the Belle Epoque... But nobody in the show practices it. The old non-sport style includes the ancestor of Parkour, cane fighting (now mostly practiced separatedly as La Canne), garrote (the contribution of Paris' gangs), throws (already present in Paris, where Greco-Roman Wrestling was born and practiced before being rebranded), and elbow and knee strikes. It would be perfect for out heroes, both of them... Yet they don't practice it.

Yeah, it's honestly such a shame that these awesome details/references are just either never used or a one-and-done deal just to make a cool easter egg. And sure, Gina's bike for example could be just that, a cool little character detail. Maybe while the bikes did stop getting made in the 60s, she got herself an old one and re-vamped it as the years went by. Adds flavor to her character. Admittedly I don't know enough to talk about the model, but I trust your skills when it comes to identifying the make. Also, I was always sure that changing your last name to a spouse's (like mrs Dupain-Cheng) is optional, like a courtesy as you said. I don't know enough French people to tell if it's a rare occurance or otherwise, but still a nice tidbit of info I'll file away.

Nora is honestly another prime example of wasting some awesome character building because they can't bother to do the research behind the design. Sure, she looks cool and somebody might have said "give her wrappings on the arms, that's awesome" and the designers went with it, but we clearly see that she is a Martial Arts buff even in the way she talks to Alya and co. Why they never bothered to lean in on that even as a background detail, I'll never know. I know it's unreasonable to expect any group of writers to focus on every single character beat, and that Nora doesn't appear enough to really warrant the focus, but it still would be cool to see even through like, one or two lines from Alya. A reference to the Anansi metaphor you mentioned or a word from Nora about the cultural inspiration. It would have been cool.

Continuing down the martial arts road, I did notice Lila's MMA moves in Chameleon, but it seemed more like a case of the writers/animators deciding on cool moves than them paying proper attention and using the correct style of fighting. Sure, they might have and in that case kudos to whoever greenlight that decision, but it always felt a little accidental to me, just for the sake of the action scene itself, you know? At least with Felix we get a proper explanation, and it does honestly build up his character with a cool detail. Not sure if Karate was the best fit for the reasoning here, but any explanation is a step in the right direction at least.

About Savate...it honestly would be an awesome inclusion. Sure, the heroes fight with their superpowers and weapons most of the time, but some the close-quarters moments like the rooftop scene in "Ladybug" was the perfect chance for Adrien to bust out a good throw at Hawkmoth. Speaking of, one might make the argument of Gabriel using La Canne moves, (and I honestly haven't seen enough to dispute that), but to me it looks like he handles his weapon more like a sword? Sure, fits in nicely with Adrien's fencing allowing him to fight back in a 1 vs 1, but we already have quite a few characters who swordfight this way. Tomoe and Kagami do, as does Adrien like I mentioned. It would have been much more visually interesting to give Gabriel a separate style of bladework, especially since his weapon is in the name. In general, I'd love to see a good knee-cracking kick from Ladybug, so I totally agree with you.

I do love Felix's outfit though. It's a cool reference to those who get it, but also stands on it's own as a cornerstone of his design and adds more to his character and personality. Especially with the entire fandom (me, I'm the fandom) writing about him habitually keeping wrinkles off his suit at all times and staying perfect. I refuse to believe Colt Fathom did not do a number on this kid. But yeah it's also just a cool outfit to put him in, and I appreciate that!

In terms of Roger and the police...I'm going to be frank with you, the show handles that aspect horribly. Sure, you could assume that they answer to Andre because he's the immediate authority figure and also a corrupt politician, but that's first of all not even remotely possibly without serious internal corruption of National Police, and second of all completely unreasonable! The police force's reaction to Akuma attacks used to be a big thing in Season 1. In Origins, they tried fighting Stoneheart on their own. And in Copycat, they try to apprehend "Chat Noir" for stealing the Mona Lisa. There's the seeds of an interesting dynamic between the heroes in masks and the boys in blue! But in Rogercop, they're being made into utter fools! Andre is very obviously under duress when he tells them to apprehend Ladybug and Chat Noir, and they just...start listening to the villain like mindless drones? In Maledictator I can excuse it, his whole powerset revolves around making new "laws" that those he blasts have to follow. Makes sense that Roger and co. would be the first responders and get beamed in 5 minutes flat. But in any case where an authority figure is forcibly giving orders, there is a protocol! A procedure to follow! A plan to be made! But...nothing! The show does absolutely nothing, and then beyond this point the vanish apart from another 2 or 3 times where police officers show up in the background somewhere, or as Akuma goons because we need grunts for an action scene. As much as I love "show don't tell", in this case I'd be happy with tell! A comment from a news report about how police have been instructed to stay out of the Akumas' way and help civilians evacuate is so easy to add, and it would change nothing except making Roger and his team actually usefull! As it stands, the entire concept of a police force exists only the few times Astruc needs it to. And don't even get me started on Chloe's coup of the Captial City of France!! I'm convinced this universe has no goverments, no presidents and no first responders for any situation, I swear...

About Lila's mother, yes! Finally somebody says it! Lila's mother is obviously overworked, she clearly does love her daughter but is physically unable to make time for her! This could be such a cool dynamic to see with Lila's home life, and like you said it perfectly explains why sometimes amidst her psychopathic tendencies there's a moment of unexpected maturity from her. Exploring this even gradually, even with us literally being drip-fed information, would have made Lila a much better character! There are so many layers here that remain unexplored, and I can smell the good content like a bloodhound! Sure is a shame that Thomas never bothered to include any of it... I swear, every fault this show has goes like this:

Cool Idea + Good Introduction + (Botched Everything-Else * No Follow-Up) = Miraculous Ladybug

Can't believe the writers made me do math for this show...or that when S6 releases we'll be able to make the "Six seasons and a movie" joke from Community. At least that's a silver lining...

P.S: I love Sabine's spatula. An elegant weapon, from a more civilized age...

[mantisgodsart]

With the @bug-oc tournament still ongoing, Round 2 drawing to an end in favour of Round 3, another handful of bugs are knocked out of the competition, who will of course arrive home safe and...

Well, differently-shaped. Marigold's been busy! An unusually fast round, here, we got a decent burst of inspiration while procrastinating on packing chatting with some friends and - what? Other contestants? What other contestants? You must be mistaken, of course there were only seven bugs lost this round. It's not like we would lie about that, right? Clearly, if anyone else was transmuted, you'd see them right here. With the rest of Marigold's successful experiments. It's not like we've got any more to do... right?

(Names and owners of transmuted OCs below the cut, in order of pictures here - no group picture for this one, sadly, since we still have more to do here. Hopefully, we pass Round 3 - we really want to draw some transmutations for the other bugs in this round, and the narrowed competition means we can bring out some of the fancier paper we'e got rattling around! Vote for Marigold so we can do more of these - and, of course, for her many natural good qualities.)

First up is Fahris from @tetraterantula, as a Kingsmould! Though tampering with Void isn't precisely advisable, and going from a normal bug to an artificial one is jarring at the best of times, he at least has hands - better than most of this batch can say! This one was fun to do, and we tinkered with a lot of things - the side effects being, of course, that we're tinkering with things we don't already know how to do well. We did make some mistakes here - we are not, admittedly, an expert in humanoids, and long straight lines are the absolute bane of us, but we did our best!

The dark gray used here is starting to fray, which we can unfortunately do little about, as we're out of replacement nibs for our pens at the moment, but which might have caused some interesting texture. We defined the boundary between the lighter cape and the darker one with a white gel pen because our black and dark gray proved to be a bit too close in color to tell at a glance - the pains of traditional art, we suppose. Still turned out fairly well! We wonder if the color palette would interfere with his ability to stroll into the White Palace...

Next up is Cici from @mimicspider, as a Giraffe Weevil. Probably not doing anything for her clumsiness, and definitely not doing anything for her number of hands - the neck is a lot to get used to, even without getting into the whole set of bauplan changes going on here. At least she's probably faster like this? Once she gets used to the legs, at least.

Though we've technically already made her into a Lightseed, double transmutation is fair play... probably? Lightseed Cici was less than a centimeter of our paper, so obviously we had to do something bigger. We modelled this one in particular after the Grimm Troupe steeds - the clown theme fits, and we wanted to toy with the... cloak-looking bits? The polka-dots were a fun challenge, and we definitely think the abdomen came out well. One of the more successful transmutations here, we'd say!

Next are Willow and Lily from @razs-archetype, with Willow as a Moss Knight and Lily as a Belfly. Y'know when you take just a few seconds to yourself, take just a quick nap, and next thing you know you've woken up and the moss has grown over you and your hands have been turned to strange talons reminiscent of a god's dream? Yeah, happened to us too. Awful time. At least their partner's here to- ah, shit. At least this one comes with flight? Probably a damn hard sell of a consolation prize, but...

Not as much to say with the choices here - the Moss Knight felt like a natural choice, and the Belfly just... clicked? We had fun with Willow's moss - the highlights here actually use the same white gel pen as was used with Fahris, since it's got a nice semitransparent thing that we particularly like. We think the style conversion for Lily's face worked out particularly nicely, here. The piece as a whole turned out as one of the best of the batch, as far as we're concerned. Was nice to draw them!

Next, of course, are Drya and Tel from @enbeemerang, with Drya as a Tiktik and Tel as a Nosk - we predict strange waters ahead for them, relationship-wise. Two bugs, and not a single pair of opposable thumbs. The economy is clearly in shambles. At least they've still got each other?

Tel here specifically is actually inspired by a fic that Cog himself wrote - would it surprise you to know that we know them outside of this tournament? They've actually been handed over to us for transformation practice once before, in a sequence that we... might post as propaganda, later. Drya, we deliberated on a few options before settling on a Tiktik - it just seems to fit!

Last but not least, Sehra from @shiningnightstars as a Hive Soldier. It's probably better than it could be, here - at least bees are a bit familiar to Bugaria! This particular variant, admittedly, might not be. Again with the hands, and this time with the looking like an unawakened bee - it might mean a bit of trouble for her, but we're sure she can power through.

The wings here were particularly fun to do - again, we're doing blending tricks here, and we think that the purples turned out particularly well! Sehra's palette is quite pretty, and the gel pen on the eyes wound up looking amazing. Though "soldier" probably doesn't fit too much for what Sehra... is, it felt like the closest to her as far as aesthetics go. The Hive Guardian is a bit too big for a moth like her, the Hiveling feels a bit too far in the other direction, and the Hive Knight... we're actually avoiding bosses and more sapient-looking folk here when possible. Hopefully, it's to your liking!

[silvercrane14]

That helps a ton !! Unfortunately im a horror manga fiend so that does cut out a lot ToT

I'll start with some recs that u might have already read and go from there.

For some reason I always group Land of the Lustreous/houseki no kuni with WHA. Theyre not like. similar at all really but I feel like theyre just. in the same group.

LOTL has a really unique style- the mangaka used to illustrate those two-toned high-contrats instruction pamphlets which is where it derives from. At the beginning it kinda feels like a fighting manga but pretty quickly it proves otherwise. Its really beautiful both in art and story, I would highly suggest it.

Why I think you would like it: very interesting characters. Large cast !! VERY compelling plot and lore of the world.

Frieren: Beyond Journeys End - Frieren is an elf who helped a group of adventured defeat the demon king many years prior. As elves are incredibly long-lived and feel little desire to pursue interpersonal relationships, she viewed the years with them originally as just a small blip in her many years of life. One of the members of the party asks her to take Fern, a young child, as an apprentice as he (being human) is old and will not live long enough to do so himself. She agrees and does so. She also begins to realize that she does care for the rest of the group, and regrets not adequately spending her time with them. Explores character and regret.

Why I thunk you would like it: Similar to WHA in its fantasy aspects, and very character-driven. Both the manga and the anime are beautiful. Tragic relationships (bittersweet)

Dungeon Meshi - I dont. think I really gotta explain this one but maybe im speaking from bias bcs my dash is filled with it lmao. I couldnt do it justice explaining so look up a summary if u dont know 👍 sorry im a little tired (writing this out of order so this is like my seventh one)

Why I think you would like it: Fantasy aspects similar to WHA. The characters have very strong. character. and the art is BEAUTIFUL. Very enjoyable way to portray many species' in a story

The Horizon - two children find themselves stranded in the midst of a war. Having nowhere to go, they decide start walking down a road, towards the horizon

is a manhwa but it has the same page-style b&w format as a manga. Also nite that while it does take place during a war, its not like. A War Manga about fighting or anything. its Really Sad and if u decide to read it and have any triggers or sensitivities to certain things lmk and I can give u some warnings. ITS REALLY GOOD THO. I say sad because. it is. but its also kinda bittersweet. It'll make you cry but at the same time.

Why I think you would like it: Looks into how the characters deal with the loss of their normal lives, how experiences change people, and goes deeply into each character relationship.

!!! I really appreciate these, so sorry for answering these like two days late oops. Anyway

Land of the Lustrous I've heard of but I've never actually read! So I might look into it ^^

Frieren and Dungeon Meshi I've read, although admittedly I didn't finish Frieren (forgor) so I might pick that up again,,,

The Horizon sounds really good!!! I love bittersweet stories,,, I'll check it out!!!

[davekat-sucks]

this might be a very, very unpopular opinion here but personally I do like some of of these “headcanon” art stuff. Don’t get me wrong I completely understand why they can be a problem but personally I kinda like the designs of some of these tumblrified characters. Cringe for sure but some of them are admittedly, pretty. For me, as long as they don’t have a shown cannon race it’s kinda free game.

Hey, that's cool, you do you. I do as I do. We don't all have to be the same. Try to not say something you like is cringe though, as that takes away a bit of credibility or like you don't agree with yourself. Also genuine question, which scale are we using here, rcdart or vivziepop or twitter pinkie pie?

call me woke or whatever but it’s just my kind of cringe that I personally like. It’s stupid, it’s silly, and it’s even ugly, but I guess it just fun to see how people could change one character so much that it ends up reflecting them or whatever while still trying to somewhat look like the character they buried in a thousand “headcanons”. Plus, it’s good character ideas (as in appearance.)

I won't call you anything, you seem like a nice and polite anon that has a different viewpoint than me, that's okay. I will say though, at that point, why not make ocs instead? Being honest, I want to steal some designs from homestuck because Hussie sucks and the characters had potential, but if the objective is to make them look like a reflection of the artist or only for personal use, why even re-imagine a particular character in the first place? In my opinion, it's because deep down it's been proved that that kind of art usually doesn't sell very much, so it's the original IP attached to it that gains traction.

Think of how many reboots are created nowadays, and how every one is worse than the last, if it didn't have the OG IP attached to it in the first place, I doubt anyone would have even looked twice at something like the PPG from 2016, Tiny Toons (they made two characters who were lovers become siblings) or even Velma.

overall, I like some of these tumblrised designs. They are kinda charming. Maybe cause I’m more “left-leaning” or something but it’s just a guilty pleasure of mine to just look at designs I think are nice no matter how ugly they are to others. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Amen, brother, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But also, I think it's a slippery-slope, because remember HONE? How the same people that draw these characters as FAR AWAY from the original design as possible criticize her so much when she actually was the one drawing as similarly to the original comic style in the first place? Some people try to virtue signal with their designs to be "inclusive" so much that they circle back to being actually unironically racist because they insult a japanese artist because of their art style.

and personally I do feel bad for liking stuff like this. Like I agree with some of y’all’s points here but I don’t know, I think I’ll just put my opinion over this issue.

Again, don't be ashamed of what you like, if it makes you happy, you find something of value in it and you're not harming anybody, what's the issue? I don't think you're like the same people that try to guilt trip others for not drawing like the "tumblr style", but the reality is that that sadly is way less common than you'd think.

[tobiasdrake]

This place is beautiful. I wasn't sure beauty like this could still exist on Mesa Island. I hope I get to meet the Butterfly Matriarch. She sounds pretty cool.

To be fair, she wasn't wrong. Shopkeeper said the contrast between time periods was pretty cool here. Credit where it's due, it super is.

OH MY GODDESS YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFUL

The little spots of turquoise on your give just the lightest splash of color contrast to the browns and yellows and EEEEEEEEEEEEEE

You are. I am at maximum jealousy right now. Envy levels through the goddamn roof.

I am about 80% sure you're actually a moth, not a butterfly. But I don't fucking care, because you are killing it either way.

With gusto. I--

Oh fuck me

Thanks, uh... Navi?

So the giant bat monster exists in the past but is temporally corrupting her here in the present, even though that one Messenger in the interim already slew it at some point in the interim. I have so many questions about how this works.

Time travel is so fucking trippy.

Oh, this is going to be way easier than I thought it would. I figured Firefly was going to zoom around and I'd have to attack only when the temporal bubble is illuminating your face.

But if we're just going to throw down trailer park-style, that's super easy. @ me, bruh; Let's fucking go.

Ha! Bat monster doesn't have shit. These screeches are trivially easy to dodge. What else have you--

Oh. Well. Uh. Okay. I'm sorry I insulted your--

RED IS DOWN AND UP IS LEFT

It's fine. It's fine. Just. Drugged. I can deal with this. Just have to stay perfectly still and wait for the nausea to pass.

TEAM EFFORT LET'S GOOOOOO

Nobody is ever prepared for the twirly-doos. Twirly-doo is the ultimate technique of the Messenger lineage. I'm a fucking buzzsaw in flight.

Thank you, Shopkeeper, for this wingsuit. It's so-so in mobility but crazy powerful as a weapon.

There's a lot of value in beauty. It gets the short end of the stick because the good parts of beauty are so immediately evident that it makes the bad parts more conversation-worthy. Not a lot of morals out there like, "Beauty is a great thing and you should appreciate it!" because everyone already does by default.

But it is complicated. Beauty is like a work of art. It takes blood, sweat, and tears to manufacture an aesthetic precisely to the (often unreasonable) standards of society - and once it's done, it has to be cared for and maintained lest it begin to degrade over time.

And no one appreciates it. They think it just happens. Like it emerged fully formed into the universe one day. It's easy to fall for a pretty aesthetic painted over a rotten core because we're already so busy taking beauty for granted that nobody ever engages with what it means in the first place.

...

So, I guess what I'm saying is: Sucks about the bat thing. Sorry you had to live with that. But also, I see you. The clean waters and vibrant grasses and towering, living trees are a testament to the volume of work you've put in over these last centuries, and I see you.

Oh, a time bubble firefly of my very own? Thanks! I'm sure she'll come in handy.

Hold up, your Messenger was MONKSHROOM!? HOLY FUCK. I know exactly what curse I want to lift.

What's up, best buddy? I brought you a friend! I think she can help with your, uh, condition.

Oh yeah, Navi is definitely going to sue someone.

You don't remember?

Shit. Well. Um. Short version: You're not expected to deliver the Scroll anywhere anymore. Missed the boat on that one. But I might have some good news for you. How do you feel about the color blue?

Inexplicably, negative some-odd hundred years. Not sure how or why you time traveled again after failing and getting cursed but it's temporal metaphysics. Shit's fucked on a good day.

Yeah, not gonna sugarcoat that one. You fucked this place up so bad that they changed the name. Which, admittedly, isn't hard to do when there's only one bastion of civilization left in the world and it keeps being periodically destroyed. Endlessly repeating incursions of catastrophic destruction make preservation of world knowledge difficult.

It's like having a library that self-immolates every 50 years. At some point, you get used to starting over from scratch.

Wear earplugs.

I'm sure. I'm just happy that she's finally rid of this curse. I've invited her to Game Night twice. Maybe this time, she'll actually come.

[inkofamethyst]

April 6, 2024

ROCKESTRAL.

That's my favorite music style ever (right now), it's called ~rockestral~. Coined (maybe?) by the Video Game Orchestra.

daylist: yearning cottagecore saturday night (musicals, broadway, bard, pining, songwriting, folksy) [heavy on the yearning sheesh (this might've been one of few that I didn't fully enjoy)]

I refuse to be a runner girl BUT with warmer weather and longer days, I might start hitting up the gym/fitness classes. Because there's no reason why my mid-twenties heart should be thumping hard when I run across a small street. That's simply not healthy. I'm gonna find me an anime (actually my photo-friend rec'd a kdrama and I might try it?) and only watch it when I'm on a treadmill or something.

I told my turquoise-friend that the middle-schooler inside me is a little bored. I'm not really as heavily "involved" as I used to be. Granted, I've more responsibilities these days. I have to cook for myself. Harder some weeks than others.

Okay so I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith and like,,,,, okay look. GOD I wish I was ignorant to Glover's fetish bc I would LOVE to celebrate the first? only? one of few? major television shows with an interracial couple where neither of the individuals are white. Unfortunately,,, that.. "appendage" exchange in episode three was just far more uncomfortable than it was funny. ASIDE FROM THAT, the show really started picking up at e5 and progressively got more fun. I think it was interesting how they tried to balance the slice-of-life romance with the spy stuff (it didn't always work, but I applaud the attempt). It dragged a tonnn in the first half of the season. That ending though... mm.

Progress on the hunger games cyoa: I've finished most of the basic game "loop" event functions (the ambush event is admittedly pretty basic, but balancing it is proving to be a tough task, so simplicity will have to do for now). Need to finish endgame then add supplementary functions ("saving" the game, skill challenges, random environment selection (some of these have been handwritten)). After cleanup, I might be able to work on the secret/alternate ending. But I'd have to add in a mercy/ally function first which will DEF shake the script up.

I met with my project "advisor" and they were... well honestly they were speechless at seeing how much I'd had done.

I'm not a doodler. Fine art isn't my thing. Tried it, wasn't for me. Which makes the fact that I have Hadestown-inspired doodles in my epigenetics notes even funnier. A red carnation, a red flower that doesn't look anything like a carnation, a dropping floor, an open door... That show changed my brain chemistry in ways I may never recover from.

Today I'm thankful that one of my favorite artists is coming to my city this summer!!!!! It'll be my first (non instrumental) concert which is pretty cool! I don't really know what the etiquette is like, how long shows typically are, what I should even wear... (a little annoyed because I had the website up when they were first released because I was curious but I didn't have my card on me so I ended up having to buy resale for over twice the original price, but now I know, buy tickets early (my music taste is not so niche that these things won't sell out)) But! should be fun!

[prismatoxic]

Your art has been improving, but you might benefit from doing mouth studies. Your mouths end up noticeably too big for the faces you draw and that's the only glaring issue any more.

i've been sitting on this most of today... i really, genuinely want to believe you had good intentions in sending me this. so thank you for that. but honestly, i didn't ask.

i'm not fully sure what standard you're holding me to, but i feel like it might be anime, because the big eyes don't seem to bother you as much as the mouths do. i'm not an anime artist, though. i consider myself "toony" in style, even if i don't push it as far as the really great cartoonists.

but i'm not making a mistake, is what i'm getting at. i draw mouths the way i do on purpose. if that stops being appealing to me, i'll change it. i appreciate that you think my style has been improving, but the thought that you've been silently critiquing my art and its shortcomings for some amount of time is admittedly a little disconcerting.

you don't have to like my art, and you can have ideas about how you personally might do things differently, but... that's not my problem. if i'm worried about some feature or another of my style, i'll ask for opinions, or do the studies necessary to flesh out my understanding. this just isn't that kind of situation.

[clouds-of-wings]

Concerning the long-term implications of AI “art”, it may be that things will develop into the same direction in which they went in a different creative field that has already been transformed by AI, which is translation. Now, everyone who isn’t a complete idiot knows that you can’t feed your website or book to Google Translate and expect a great translation. You need human eyes to make sure the robot hasn’t confused turkey the bird and Turkey the country again, though admittedly newer translation systems are getting better at that. But what is pretty standard in translation today is a set-up in which an AI translates and a human proofreads. That’s much faster and it uses the strengths of AI (speed, price) and humans (accuracy, common sense).

It also fucking sucks for the human.

I used to work as a freelance translator. I cannot begin to describe how absolutely mind-numbingly boring it is to proofread machine translations. Everything that makes translation fun and a labour of love gets obliterated.

See, when I want to translate something, no matter whether it’s for money or for free (which I still love doing), I usually read some paragraphs first that are written in the style I’m going for and in the language I’m translating into. For pro jobs that was generally German because you generally translate into your native language(s) exclusively, but I was also sometimes hired to translate into English. It’s important to get into the right frame of mind, activate the right style of language in your brain. Once you delve into the text, it becomes a self-sustaining momentum since your own output constantly re-trains you to stay in the same style.

But that also means that when you proofread bad prose for hours, your style becomes consistently worse. You eventually start to think the same way as the text you have in front of you. If the style is inconsistent, if there are often words that... you know, aren’t completely wrong but have the wrong connotations, if the style is just not great, then your style won’t be great either. And you will know, but you can’t really change it, at least not without constantly “re-setting” yourself by taking a break and reading something written by a good human writer, which is time-intense and no one’s gonna pay you for that. It happened to me sometimes that I read the translation first and then didn’t understand the original anymore because the translation was such a word salad. When I have translated a difficult and complex text on a topic I understand well, I feel accomplished and energized. When I have proofread bad prose on the same topic, I feel exhausted and annoyed.

Proofreading machine translations is a slog. It’s not fun, it doesn’t produce especially good output - it does produce ok output quickly and cheaply, which is usually all that the customer wants, but at the cost of the translator’s misery. Unfortunately, I can see the same thing happen to professional illustrators. They might routinely get some AI output and be told to “fix it”, make the faces in the picture not look like potato salad, paint over watermarks (lol). Which will be cheap, and convenient, and make artists miserable the same way machine translation is making translators miserable. Because there’s no creativity involved, no sense of creation, you just clean up after the machine, knowing full well that the output is mediocre at best. The dominant system seems to transform every line of work into a sweatshop somehow...

[solradguy]

So this will be an odd question, but I feel that you out of everyone would have the most insight. I very recently disposed of my beloved jacket, a cotton patchwork tie-dye thing I've had for about nine years now that had become threadbare (admittedly, partly because I was so attached and didn't want to replace it) and, to my dismay, I believe that by now the company that made it has discontinued the style, so I don't have much a chance of finding another one unless I get lucky with a reseller

How do you go about finding a jacket that you can become attached to and truly make 'yours?' Again, I know it's an odd thing to ask, but you seem attached to yours and have shown off the art and modifications you've made to them, and it's been a long time since I bought a new coat and I don't know how to go about finding one. I've tried looking around to find a new coat, but none of them feel quite right, and I'm not really sure how to approach this. I know it's an odd thing to get attached to, but like I said, I've had this thing for so long

It's not an odd thing at all. Before my black leather jacket that I painted all over (many, many, years before, actually lol) I was super attached to this green trench coat. It was my mom's but I ended up stealing it from her haha She was cool with it. It was made out of cotton too and eventually started falling apart faster than I could fix it and I had to retire it. I got another green trench coat after that but it wasn't quite the same. Between that second green coat and my black leather jacket, I tried a bunch of different jackets that I didn't really get attached to either.

I'm trying to think of what the similarities are between the first green jacket and my black leather one... They're both pretty heavy and have thick fabric with lots of pockets and they were both already kinda beat up before I got them (the black jacket is ~40 years old and I got it ~7 years ago). Maybe thinking about the features of your old jacket that you liked might help in finding a new signature jacket? Stuff like the material, cut/style, weight, color, etc.

When I started looking for a leather jacket, I kind of had an idea of what I wanted already: a classic black motorcycle jacket, and I got SUPER lucky finding this one on ebay. There's definitely an element of luck involved, I think. The second leather jacket I got that I painted red is a modern make of the same exact jacket as the black one but they changed just enough of it that it isn't quite the same.

If there isn't a specific style you want to look for, maybe checking out local thrift/secondhand shops could help get some ideas too? Maybe one of them will have something where you kinda like how it fits or looks but it's not quite there yet, though it still gives you some inspiration.

The loss of such a beloved piece of clothing will probably make finding something to replace it difficult too... Good luck! Hope you come across something that clicks soon ^^