#also did you know if you're bad at something and you look up tutorials instead of stubbornly insisting you can figure it out on ur own

[emieclat]

front and back

(blue hydrangea from animal crossing)

[reginalusus]

Retro tutorial?

Disclaimer: Tumblr, for some reason, likes to dullen the colour of the screenshots, just know that they're actually a bit more saturated and brighter than how they appear here.

So, after posting my recent retro drawings on Reddit, and getting some comments that genuinely made me cry (/pos), I noticed I also got quite a few comments asking me how I actually do these drawings.

Er, I'm not the best teacher, really, and honestly, there's probably an easier, faster way to do it. But, this is my way of doing it, lmao. I work on a Gen 2 iPad Pro with a Gen 1 Apple Pencil, just in case you're wondering.

Firstly, here are the four apps I use for this kind of drawing:

From left to right: Sketchbook Pro, Pixlr, Photoleap and CapCut. Sketchbook Pro is what I use to draw everything. You could honestly use any drawing app though. We will talk about the other three when we get to them.

Step 1: draw whatever it is you want to draw.

I'm going to use the first drawing I did in this style to help me explain: my simpy Spamton drawing! Firstly, basically draw whatever your little heart wants. Get your sketch layer down. Here's what my sketch layer looked like:

Looks bad, no? Lol, it always starts that way. Just get your drawing down first. I rely heavy on references for clothing. I found this particular pose on Pinterest. Pinterest is great for finding references.

Notice that I have some spaces filled in with the word 'black'. This is literally just to remind me that the particular space will just be filled with a solid black.

This particular pose and setting is tricky, I'm just using it as an example and because I still have the original files for it. I recommend maybe starting with a portrait or a face first.

Step 2: fill in and clean your lines. This is important, especially for the anime look.

When I do linework, I tend to make the lines thicker wherever they meet one another. For this style, it doesn't really work, and I had to train myself to stop doing that.

As you can see, I made some changes along the way, such as making Spamton's expression softer and making him grin instead of smirking. How do I know when to make something solid black? This is mostly for clothes. If you are following a reference, and you notice that some of the shadows are darker than others on the reference, make those darkest shadows your solid-blacks.

So, here we have the finished lines! Remember: no making the lines thicker where they meet! Keep the lines thin all around. If you're wondering what brush I use in Sketchbook for the finished lines, it's this one:

This is the ONLY brush I use for the retro drawings, besides a pencil for the sketch layer. It provides a nice, solid, thin line.

Step 3: Filling Flat Colours.

The easiest step IMO. Choose your colours, fill those babies in.

Unfortunately, I think I deleted my flats layer (I have no idea why, but I cannot find it, lmao), so I don't have an image to show for this step. But, it's self-explanatory. Just colour it in with your flats.

You can choose saturated colours if you wish, but we'll be editing that sort of stuff later.

Step 4: Shading.

Ooh, the tricky stuff. But this is what will make or break the look of the drawing. Besides lines, shading is important as fuck for this style. I recommend pulling up some screenshots from actual 80s/90s anime. For this Spamton drawing, here's some of the ones I used as a reference:

Remember to make your shading on separate layers! You may want to change their tone and opacity later, as I did.

The shading in old anime is usually done with one colour, which is cooler-toned than the flat it is based off. Remember to keep the shading as simple as you can if you want to actually make it look like a screenshot from an anime or cartoon.

For shadows, I used the multiply tool or the overlay tool. You can mess around with these to see which one suits your drawing best. It mostly depends on the colour.

For 'lights', I used either the soft glow tool or the overlay tool. However, I don't recommend spending too much time 'lighting' your colours. Retro anime tends to focus more on shadows rather than lighting (obviously there are exceptions).

As you can see, the only 'lighting' I used on Spamton was a small section of his hair, and a shine on his suit. The rest is either shadows or flats:

For clothing, follow a reference or follow where your light is coming from. For this, I followed the reference.

Step 5 (Optional): Adding Gradients.

You don't need to do this, but to help with the 'mood' of the drawing, I added a gradient over the top of the layer. I chose a dark purple/blue to give that city vibe, then I used the darken tool and turned the opacity down. So, it looks like this:

The difference isn't much, but it will add a lot to the vibe!

Step 6 (Optional): Backgrounds. *Shudders.*

I'll be real, I can't do backgrounds for shit. Well, I can sort of do them, but I definitely don't enjoy it. If you can do your own backgrounds, this will probably come easier. I have a sneaky, maybe cheaty method, however, to make it look good.

Firstly, make sure any 'windows' or areas in your drawing that you want to add a background to are empty. The windows in Spamton's car here are transparent. You'll want to put your background layer at the very bottom, behind everything else.

Firstly, I choose a solid colour and fill the entire layer. I chose a navy/purple for this one, since it's always dark in Cyber City.

Then, and here's the cheat part, I find a stock image of a city skyline. I deliberately picked one that had sort of 'basic' buildings. Put this on top of your solid colour and use the hard light tool.

The hard light tool tends to focus on the lights and basic outline of the image. I did do some smudging and added some lights to give it that 'retro' feel. The lower quality it looks, the better. So then it looks like this:

But the car needs windows! Easy. I chose a blue colour with the soft glow tool and added them like so (on top of all the background layers):

Step 7: Editing in Pixlr.

Now, this is my favourite part: the editing to really make the image pop! Firstly, we are going to use Pixlr, so save your image and open it up in Pixlr.

So, in Pixlr I only do two things: choose some overlay editors and up the saturation. Firstly, the overlay editors. The ones I choose for the retro look are:

Antonio - this blurs the lines somewhat, and makes it overall darker/softer. I obviously do not use it to its full capacity (there's a slider you can mess around with under each tool to find your desired effect, though I recommend using Antonio only a little.)

Hagrid - this will make it look slightly more saturated and sharper. It also adds a sort of 'burn' effect on each outline of the colours. Again, I use this one only slightly.

Ivan - One of my favourites for Big Shot Spamton. Again, I only use it slightly. This one will add an orange effect and 'fix' some of your shading. Though, it only works to its full potential if you have your shading as best as it can be.

Sara - Another really good one for retro anime. It's sort of like Hagrid, but softer. Depending on your colours, it will also add a soft 'glow' effect. Because of this, I only use it a little, as older anime does not have the intense glow you see in more recent anime, in general.

There are lots of other options. You can play around to see which one will suit the vibe you're going for best!

Then, we go into the general menu and up the saturation if needed!

Step 8: Editing in Photoleap - then back to Sketchbook!

Why the fuck do you use two editors? Simple - Photoleap has some cool options that Pixlr does not, and vice versa. We won't be spending as much time in Photoleap compared to Pixlr.

Now, Photoleap does NOT allow screenshots within the app, so I just have to explain it without any images.

In Photoleap, we're only going to be doing two things, and one of those things are optional. Firstly, using the grain tool. This will really add to that 'old' look. Don't go too hard on it!

The optional thing you can do is add a red chromatic abberation. It's under the 'effects' tab in Photoleap. However, sometimes this will take away from the retro look, so use it carefully. I only used the tiniest amount for this drawing to make the lines look 'cleaner'.

Once I'm done in Photoleap, I save the image and export it back into Sketchbook. This is where I'll add/fix some things, such as adding a shine in Spamton's eyes, a shine on the car window and the smoke coming from his cigarette. I also bring the gradient layer back up and mess with the colour a bit (optional).

Have you noticed the large, black border to the right of the drawing? Yeah, that'll be cropped. I decided to make the overall image smaller and, unfortunately, Sketchbook Pro does not allow you to change the canvas size once you've started a drawing (please add this option, Autodesk!)

Step 9: CapCut Editing.

This will seriously be the cherry-on-top to actually make this thing look like a screenshot. Save your image and open it up in CapCut.

Firstly, you'll want to add an 'effect' to the photo. Under 'retro', I personally choose 'frosted quality', because it adds a moving grain and gives an 'old cartoon' feel, which is what I'm after. There are lots you can choose from, it's up to you to play around with it! You can also adjust the effect as you wish. I tend to turn the blur completely off.

Then, the last step in CapCut: adding a caption, if you want. I make the text yellow and add an italic effect to make it seem like an actual subtitle.

Step 10 (Final): Exporting.

That's us basically finished! I'll export it as a video from CapCut, crop it using my iPad's default editing software in the gallery, then export it as a GIF. Exporting it as a GIF lowers the quality a tad further, which is a bonus for this type of drawing. Viola! You now have a retro-anime-inspired piece!

Final Notes

Again, I'm not a good teacher and this is kind of all over the place, lmao. But, I hope it can guide those who wish to try this style!

If you do try it, maybe tag me and let me see if my tutorial worked for you? Or maybe you were just curious, lmao. There's a LOT of steps here, lol, and I'm not a professional artist by any means, so...

Anyway, that's all from me for now!

[bnnuy-wabbit]

PIN TUTORIAL.

So. You want pins of your favorite band/cartoon/oc/funny thing to put on backpacks/jackets/pants BUT you're broke and/or have no means to Acquire Pins. You find yourself thinking must Man do i need to make these???? And the answer is yes. Sadly, one either needs to purchase items to have items or make items to have items. I know, i know. It's unfair. It'll be alright, though. Fear not, beloved internet user, for i have The Easy Solution to Your Problem. For thee. Let me hold your hand passionately.

What you'll need is:

Safety Pins - you can buy them for hella cheap in packages with Many Of Them. I'm probably not from your country so you'll have to look for them yourself online or in a store) Pair of Scissors - for cuttin' Plastic - Any kind as long as it's thick enough. reutilize something that would go to the trash, if you can. I'm using an old fanta bottle i stole from dad's pepper pot from the garden. you could also used those hard ish plastics from boxes too or packages. It doesn't have to be transparent, but that's recommended. Some sort of Glue - I recommend hot glue. I did not, however, have hot glue, so I used a two-part resin for fixing pipes instead. If it works it works. You can use anything as long as it secures the safety pin to the plastic. The Pin Content - I'm using STICKERS. i bought 200 6 months ago and have many left overs. You could also use a drawing you made or a cutout from a magazine and tape it to the plastic with transparent packaging tape.

That's all you need. However, if you'd like to make your life a bit easier, it'd be nice to have in hand:

tape - for tapin' razorblade - for scrapin' pen - for Penin'

See. easy. doesn't need a lot. I must say that since i'm a craftsperson i have More Materials laying about than the average arguably human population, but that's pretty much it.

tutorial with pictures continues under the read more. selfie under read more too with them on a cool jacket. here are the results so you know what you're getting into. Ooooo you want to make pins so bad oooooooo

TLDR: glue Pin Content onto the plastic, glue the safety pin to that next. Pic IDs added.

STEP 1.

Stick the thing you want to pin on the plastic. I'm using stickers, but you can use the non adhesive stuff. You can tape a piece of paper to the plastic with transparent duct tape. Just make sure to leave a margin on all sides.

STEP 2.

turn the plastic sheet around. Mark where the Up part of the sticker is and where you want the safety pins to go. This part is optional, but it helps making sure you're not going to put the pins in the wrong position. I didn't do it on my last batch and they turned out fine.

STEP 3.

Secure the plastic to your work surface using tape to keep it still while you work. Again, optional, but it'll help keep the thing straight if your plastic is bent like mine.

STEP 4.

Scratch the surface of the plastic so whatever gluing method you use actually works. The surface shouldn't be smooth or else it'll be hard to glue. You can use anything to scratch it. I did a criss cross pattern as shown in the picture.

STEP 5.

Glue the pins to the scratched surface.

In my case it was done in two steps since the resin needed time to dry. I made a hard base to secure the pin and waited for two hours for that to dry. Then i put a small layer of resin over the part of the safety pin that doesn't open and waited for it to dry again.

This would be miles easier if you used hot glue. Just hot glue the pin to the plastic, making sure to keep the movable part free.

STEP 6.

Cut the pins! If you taped them to the plastic instead of using premade stickers then make sure to leave more plastic to the sides. so it doesn't fall off. They're done. You now have pins.

If you want to go above and beyond, you can cover the pin with a thin layer of clear nail polish to make it impermeable and more durable, but i'm all out of clear nail polish, so i didn't do it.

RESULTS PART 2.

That's it. That's all. Have fun!

[allthecastlesonclouds]

i am thinking about your dance au. it has lived in my brain rent free always. love it. so good.

i am also always thinking about them. i'm so glad you're also enjoying them and i'm taking this as a prompt to make more of it (i want to so bad)

if the teacher has to leave the classroom, they'll most often put kristen or adaine in charge. with adaine everything goes fine. with kristen it's chaos incarnate that somehow (*riz) turns into them being productive by the time the teacher comes back

the kristen-and-fig combo has gotten at least 4 teachers fired.

they're not always trying to, but they pretty often are

fig specifically gets A Lot of spotlights in dances because she can be very Loud and Personable, but she has also had these spotlights taken away many times (she simply begins improving shit)

she got a solo this year because aguefort was a little bitch, knew gorgug wanted a solo, and so offered it to his best friend instead of him

ayda did not know this was her father's reasoning.

she just thought if was because fig's a good dancer (she is)

fabian and fig are The Flexible Ones™ and aren't. vocal about it, but they certainly aren't subtle, either. teachers have had to tell them to not make their splits too good.

riz is also pretty flexible, but his stature makes it less obvious. when your friends are all at least 2 feet taller than you your grande battement doesn't look as good.

fabian drags fig in early one day and asks her to do some improv with him bc he wants to try out for a swing dancing tournament, they have the time of their life.

gorgug and ayda often practice two different dances in the same room at the same time.

adaine and riz are the best technically, but they do struggle a lot with the acting part of it. walking into a class you'd expect the most awkward to be gorgug, but they were both trained on ballet-smile-fixed-on-your-face-at-all-times and so any acting at all is. extra practice for them

speaking of gorgug he's so quietly good. he can act and he knows the steps and he has good balance and good flexibility so. he's just good. but he's not loud about it, and the teachers don't often point it out

he writes the steps down before practicing throughout the week

riz makes tutorial videos for kristen (or for anyone if they miss a class) to help her learn and remember the steps. he says he likes doing it. nobody's 100% sure on that's true. (including him)

aelwyn and baron dance at the same studio (across town)

penelope originally danced at both and then she had a little scandal where she was blackmailing a teacher and she couldn't dance at either bc her father couldn't pay aguefort to cover it up

aelwyn starts working at aguefort's but refuses to teach anyone besides the ages 9-13 because "they're little shits and i need someone to tell me just what they're thinking, adaine."

zayn is inexplicably sometimes where ayda is. they're never in the same place at once but zayn just. appears. when ayda needs/wants to go do something and rawlins for some reason isn't there.

garthy runs an swing dancing studio that is also a pole dancing studio! bob does swing dancing trixie does pole dancing

[20dollarlolita]

Machine embroidery tutorial: Shaded pointe shoes.

I know from working in a sewing machine store that a lot of people are intimidated by machine embroidery. So, I made this pattern the other day, and let's go into how I stitched it out.

Embroidery does not need to be this hard. If you've never used the embroidery part of your sewing machine before, stick some cheap stabilizer in the hoop with some fabric, grab a random pattern from inside your machine, and run all or part of it. Once you do this, you will be much less afraid of it. Some brands of machines will include some stabilizer and fabric for you to run an initial test on.

So, let's get into something more complicated. There's a few things that we're going to do to make this more complicated. The first is the surface that we're embroidering on. I'm using a dress from Five Below, which is made of a knit fabric without a whole lot of stretch. The surface that you embroider on does impact how you want to set up the design. I also want to do the embroidery very close to the bottom edge of the dress, so it's won't fit in the whole hoop. The third difficult thing about this design is that there's a machine applique in the very start. This applique will let you embroider this on a fabric that isn't pink, and the shoes will stay pink.

Regarding the applique, I've been told that it's small enough that you could cut up an actual pointe shoe and use the satin from that, if you want to. I don't have a shoe on me, since I don't dance (I just do the costumes). But, if you're making a gift for someone who dances on a level where they're throwing away dead pointe shoes instead of keeping them in a memory box, it could be a fun addition. Here is a template to show you how big the pieces need to be. Important: do not cut out the appliques using this template. The machine will cut them out for you later. You can use this template to know if the pieces of fabric you are using for your applique will be big enough. You want your pieces to be larger than this template, but they don't need to be significantly larger.

The first problem that we're going to deal with is the fact that the dress has a small amount of stretch in it. We don't want the section of the dress that has our embroidery to stretch at all. At best, it'll look bad, and at worst, it'll destroy the whole embroidery. To stop the area with the embroidery from stretching, we're fusing a fusible non-showing mesh stabilizer onto the area to be embroidered. I'm doing this design in 6x6 hoop, so I got a piece that was about 8x8 and fused it on the area.

When you're using fusible stabilizer, you want to iron it on from the fabric side. Some nylon meshes will melt if you iron them, but most importantly you want the face of the fabric to be perfectly smooth.

When the design is done, this stabilizer will remain in the design forever. This stops the design from stretching, even when the garment is worn or washed. The mesh is light and flexible enough that it doesn't drastically change the way the fabric moves.

The next thing we need to do is add stabilizer to the hoop. Embroidery machines put a lot of stress on the fabric, and so it's not usually possible to embroider without stabilizer. In this case, we're also using the stabilizer to hold the fabric, since we can't get it in our hoop.

This is two layers of soluble tear-away stabilizer. If I'm using tear-away, I always use lightweight tear-away. Using multiple layers of tear-away will put less stress on the stitching when you rip it away, because you rip one layer at a time. This requires less force than ripping a thicker layer away all at once. We're using tear-away because we don't want to keep all this stabilizer in the design. The specific one I'm using is a tear-and-wash stabilizer, where the extra bits of tear-away can be washed out of the finished design.

The other thing that I did while the iron was still hot was to press the pink satin that I'm going to use for my applique. Applique is much easier if the fabric you're using isn't wrinkled.

We're going to pop the hoop into the machine. Now is a good time to go into your machine's manual and find out where the basting line setting is. Bernina, Viking, and Pfaff all make this super easy, and Baby Lock and Brother do not. For Brother and Baby Lock, it's often in the "embroidery edit" mode. If it really gives you trouble, tell me what hoop you need it for, and I'll make you a version of this file with a predone basting line.

Some people like to spray-baste into the hoop. I do not like this, because it makes your hoop and your machine all ugly and coated in spray shit. If you are one of those people who likes spray, 100% take the hoop outside to spray! It's not good for your body and you'll get overspray glue all over your shit. If you're not a person who spray-bastes, do not become one.

Some people like to use tacky or sticky tear-away for this. That's a completely fine and valid option, but that shit is expensive. Basting line is cheap. A general stabilizer rule is that you can cheap out on tear-away and cut-away, go mid-price on fusible, and buy a good brand of tacky or wash-away. This is because it's pretty hard to fuck up cut-away stabilizer, but also pretty hard to make a good stabilizer that's also tacky and n'gones when you need it to. Since I have 200 things I'd rather do with $86 than buy a roll of stabilizer, I just use the basting program for 99% of my embroideries.

Before you run the design, flip through your color blocks. Make sure that your design starts with five blocks of the same color. If your machine decides to "help" you and merge the color blocks together, this won't work properly.

Now, put your fabric in the hoop, wherever you want the final design to go. I lined the hem up with the bottom of my hoop. Run your basting line, holding your fabric flat on the hooped stabilizer. You might need to pause and unpause the machine several times to move your hand and keep the fabric flat. Remember that as long as your hand is flat on the fabric, and you have a presser foot on your machine, you can't hit your fingers with the needle. Despite what this image shows, I often hold the fabric down with my whole hand in the center of the hoop.

Floating the fabric like this, instead of hooping, also allows you to line the fabric up very precisely. It's hard to hoop something 100% straight, but it's pretty easy to float it 100% straight.

Another advantage of floating with a basting line is that the line will show you exactly where the design is going to go. If you don't like where it's going to go, you only have about 50 stitches to rip out so that you can change the location. You'll know that your embroidery unit will have enough space to move. All hail the basting line.

The machine is going to sew an outline, and then stop. This is showing you where to place your applique fabric.

A good general rule is that any time a pattern sews an outline and then stops, you're supposed to put fabric down there. If your pattern does this, and you're not sure why, see if there's any instructions that tell you what applique fabric to use where.

If your machine sewed this outline and then kept going, make sure you have color block merge turned off, and that you're not in monochrome mode.

Just like when you were basting your garment onto the hoop, you're going to hold the applique fabric over the outlined area, and keep it there while your machine runs the next color.

Once the machine has sewn the applique fabric down, you'll want to trim away the excess. I use some very small curved scissors for this, since the curve lets me get very close to the stitching line. Generally, you want to be as close as possible to that line.

Once you have your applique fabric sewn in, you can more or less just watch the machine and change the colors when it asks you to. You'll see that I have a bulge in my applique fabric on the lefthand shoe. This isn't ideal, but since this design has so much stitching, it all got flattened down in the end.

You'll see that there's a lot of crosshatching on the surface before the colors go on. This is to stabilize the fabric and keep it in place when the big feathered stitches start. These stitches also sew the stabilizer to the back of the fabric, which means that if your fusible mesh starts to lose fusion, it'll still be completely sewn down.

If your machine has manual tension, you'll want to lower it after the crosshatching layers are done. You can change it after color block 5.

The reason that you're lowering your tension is that these stitches are particularly lorge and lomg, and that means the machine can pull just a bit harder than normal when it moved form place to place.

If your machine doesn't cut jump stitches (the long stitch the machine leaves when it jumps from one section of embroidery to another), you will want to trim them between color blocks, instead of waiting until the end.

If you're watching this stitch out and going, "Wait, I was told my machine embroidered at 1200 stitches per minute! This isn't going at 1200 stitches per minute! What gives?" well, I'll tell you. Your machine's stitch speed was rated by the absolute fastest that the machine head can go. It doesn't actually take into account how fast the embroidery unit can move. Since these are longer stitches, the embroidery unit can't move fast enough to keep up with the machine going 1200 stitches a minute, so the machine has to slow down to deal with the e-unit's speed.

If you did this correctly, the back of your embroidery will not be sewn to the front of your embroidery, and you'll have something that looks like this.

You'll need to cut your bobbin thread about every 10 stitches in your basting line. This is pretty easy, because the stitches are so big. I do this from the back side because the stabilizer protects the fabric from my scissors.

Then, flip it over and rip out your tear-away, one layer at a time. You'll notice that my back side is really ugly. This is because Viking and Pfaff don't cut the bobbin thread between jump stitches. In the old days, this meant that they jammed and locked up significantly less than other brands, but now there's things like wiper feet and tail-clearing programs that work a lot better. No, there's no way to activate bobbin jump cuts. If there was, I'd have done it by now.

Now, using your iron if you need to, peel back the extra fusible mesh and trim around your design. You can get closer to it than I did here. I'm just lazy.

If you're using polyester embroidery thread, you get some pretty good results by sticking a press cloth over the design and ironing it. This will make sure the threads line up and stay extra shiny.

And that's important because polyester thread already doesn't have the same luster as rayon thread. It's more sparkly than lustrous. However, some brands of thread are just easier to work with. When we're testing machine problems in my store, we test with isacord, since it's the least likely to have problems, so we can rule out thread problems. But man, I just think it's so ugly. I used polyester for this design, because it's long stitches on a garment, and I need that strength, but I'm not happy about it.

Anyway, there you go, that's the basics of a somewhat complex machine embroidery pattern.

I'm considering making a separate blog for embroidery stuff. I'm really tired of the embroidery industry charging for tutorials like this or instructions on the embroidery software (looking at you, Floriani Total Control University DVD for $218), but this blog isn't really for my vendetta against the embroidery industry.

[a-pale-azure-moon]

Random TotK Thoughts #3

How am I supposed to save Hyrule when there's so many distractions? I'm only now starting another regional phenomenon (the Gorons) after activating all but one of the towers, doing all the Great Fairy sidequests and doing more of Penn's sidequests. I'm up to 56 shrines completed and over 100 Koroks found. It's impossible not to get sidetracked in this game and both I love it and hate it. xD

I also collected the next three Dragon Tears. (I consulted a spoiler free guide to make sure I got them in order, if you're curious.) And wow...I sure got my wish for a demonstration of Rauru's powers, and I was not disappointed.

-I've found a couple of those "Eventide" shrines and yikes are they a pain. Two of them weren't that bad, but the one I found where it was pitch darkness? A very bad time! Took me three tries. I can't wait to see how much worse they get. /s

-I much prefer how they handled the Great Fairies in this game. I didn't get to the 4th fairy in BotW until very, very late, since she was way in the desert and cost 10,000 Rupees. The sidequests were fun and they're easy to do even with minimal health and equipment.

-I want to explore the sky more, but it's too hard to get around between islands. I guess this is my enticement to go into the Depths so I can upgrade my batteries (which is a priority but again....too many distractions!)

-I resent that the game made me hold the idiot ball when "Zelda" was kidnapped, and then the disguised Yiga mocked me for falling for it. [eyeroll] Nintendo does love to troll players that way.

-Ditto for the "Zelda" we see with Yunobo. It's a little insulting how the game is trying to convince me she's turned evil when it's also shown me that she's thousands of years in the past. The present day Zelda is clearly an imposter, either another Yiga or something similar.

-I love how Memory 4 starts, giving us our first look at non-mummified Ganondorf looking menacingly at Hyrule and declaring that he will make it bow before him. His design is awesome, and I especially like how he contrasts with Link. Ganon's just huge, a tall and broad wall of muscle, and Link's a tiny little shortking. Who will soundly kick his ass.

-I also love how the generic soldiers and Zelda are (rightly) freaking out about a swarm of Molduga, and Rauru barely moves faster than a brisk walk as he approaches the ledge. And then he wordlessly fires off his Holy Hand Grenade and obliterates all the Molduga. You can tell even Ganondorf was impressed.

-I guess that scene also definitively answers my question about how Rauru's third eye works.

-Memory 5 was a nice callback to Ocarina of Time and I appreciated the homage. I was also deeply relieved that the writers didn't make Rauru suddenly hold the idiot ball and instead made this more of a "keep my enemies closer" situation. It comes across as mildly arrogant or naive at worst, but it doesn't make Rauru look outright foolish.

-I enjoyed Ganon's passive-aggressive "compliments" and how Rauru gave him an almost bored brush off.

-So the Zonai are already nearly extinct, with just Rauru and Mineru left? What happened to the rest of them? Did they really come from the sky originally? How long had they been living on the surface before Hyrule was founded? (The ruins in the present suggest a long time.) Where do their Secret Stones come from? I want to know all of these things!

-It was completely unsubtle how the camera lingered on the Secret Stones, particularly Sonia's. I'm sure that's not significant.

-Memory 6 was so wholesome. Zelda was so cute with the way she gushed over Link, and Sonia and Rauru both sounded like amused parents teasing her about her very unsubtle crush.

-It's also a nice callback (call forward?) to what Rauru's ghost said to Link at the end of the tutorial.

-Finally got a clear shot of the cool Triforce tattoos on Sonia's wrists too. How does the Triforce fit into this continuity anyway? We know it exists because we saw it when Zelda used her powers in BotW, and there's Sonia's tattoos and the conspicuous triangle pattern on Rauru and Mineru's shawls (and the fringe on nearly everyone's clothes as well). It's so weird how neither of these games have mentioned such an iconic object in the Zelda mythos by name, and have only made vague visual allusions to it.

[imminent-danger-came]

This scene drives me up the wall.

The framing, MK being in between Wukong and Macaque, both of them looking at MK like what he said is unbelievable yet remarkable, looking at this kid who represents the both of them in different ways.

And then there's the transition to Macaque's face right on "we're heroes! It's what we do!". Mei screams, and Macaque gives into his fear and leaves right afterwards, he "runs-off", he's cowardly. MK, in quite the contrast, then turns around in motivation (vs 2x05 and 2x10 when he turns around in fear), then unabashedly running towards Mei to save her.

Like, this scene is truly the turning point for Macaque, and he's finally able to see the situation outside of himself and Wukong. So then in 4x14 when they find themselves in similar circumstance (someone exploding with uncontrollable power and threatening the world), the fact that he chooses to stay is so significant.

Look at Mei and Tang's faces. No one thought Macaque would make the final stand this time, but he did. He chooses to stay and help until the end (unlike Peng lol), and he's practicing what he preaches to MK in 4x10—he's "doing something else!". The choices aren't stay and die or run and live, there is a third option here, even if that third option is both the scariest and the one that requires the most effort.

MK: "Remind me how this, 'game', is supposed to convince me I'm not destined to turn into an evil demon monkey thing again, cause, every option I pick takes me to this! Same! Screen! Macaque: "Hey, you're finally getting it! No matter what options it's giving you, you're always going to end up in the same spot."

(4x10 The Jade Emperor)

-

Macaque is a character who is very experienced with inevitability. I think he viewed Wukong's "abandonment" as inevitable after the fact (also believing that MK, like Wukong, was going to eventually, and inevitably, "abandon" his friends"). Throughout s3, his part in fulfilling "destiny", or rather being a piece in the Lady Bone Demon's game, was also inevitable.

Macaque: "Alright misery kid, you were supposed to realize by now that the choices the game's giving you, aren't the only choices you've got. Life isn't some pre-written thing like a video game where you have to do what the tutorial says."

The choices the game's giving you aren't the only choices you've got.

In s3, Macaque's only choices weren't the false dichotomy he made up in his own mind. It wasn't "Help SWK and die" or "Use the samadhi fire to escape and live". There were other options, like there always are—however, because he only saw those choices, Macaque inevitably ended up "in the same spot". Danger, death, loneliness—the options he kept picking took him to the same final screen.

AND, because of MK, he saw those other choices.

I've mentioned this before in my Hero & Warrior meta (which I think I might rewrite/add to sometime), but Macaque is essentially repeating back to MK what MK taught him in s3, both in 3x10 and 3x13:

MK: "Ugh, STOP! You keep playing at being this bad guy, acting like you're just in it for you! But I know, deep deep down, you're not that guy. Help us, make it right." Macaque: "I'm not a hero bud-" MK: "-then be a warrior."

(3x13 Time to Be Warriors)

-

Like, again, I'm on the FLOOR.

The options aren't "hero" or "villain", there's a third choice: to be a warrior. Instead of "helping SWK and dying", Macaque can "aid MK and live", if that makes sense. The game's rigged and the options are limited, so you have to "do something else", something destiny, or anyone, doesn't expect. You have to make you're own options, you're own choices, you're own fate. And MK as the "plan man", is in the perfect position to do just that.

But he's also in the perfect position to make and be caught in his own game.

But, that's beside the point.

The point is that Macaque see's MK as someone who manages to win unwinnable fights, who manages to do the impossible and avoid the inevitable. And maybe, MK is the person he viewed Wukong as a long time ago.

anyone else up thinking about how macaque was soso wrong abt who mk is as a person in shadow play and went through all of s3 assuming mk was just Wukong Part 2 RIGHT UP UNTIL he refuses to abandon mei in 3x10. and then he just looks at mk like

^ this is the face of someone who just had his whole worldview rearranged in the time it took mk to say “i’d never abandon her when she needs me!” suddenly, mk isn’t just wukong 2: electric boogaloo anymore, he’s something Else to macaque. the Hero… isn’t abandoning his friend when it benefits him? even with all this power, even when no one could blame him, he still turns around and fights for his friend? who is this guy?

macaque’s spent this whole season wanting to get the hell out of dodge without getting LBD mad at him. he wants to free himself and then he wants to fuck off until this mess blows itself over. that was his plan, and he’s free now. he finally has the chance to do that, to make a clean getaway- but for the first time, he sticks around. he’s curious. who is this kid? and that’s why he goes Back towards the lady bone demon, and why he’s there to bail mk out when wukong gets possessed.

like, mac only starts being helpful After the samadhi fire. he saves mk, delivers the mayor to the gang, lets himself get tied up, and gives the gang valuable intel on LBD. he easily could’ve freed himself at any point, gotten the drop on them, and gotten away again. but that’s not what he wants anymore. why does he stick around to let mk convince him to fight? because he’s curious. he wants to see where this is going.

and then macaque, the guy who has never entered a fight that he can’t win (or at least escape from easily, which is still a win in his book since he survives the fight), the guy who fights dirty and stacks the deck in his favor, agrees to a completely unwinnable fight. there was no world where macaque beat wukong on top of that mech. mac knew this, and agreed to do it anyways, because mk asked him to. because mk’s smth macaque hasn’t seen before, and he wants to see where this goes. and i’m really really normal about it

[xinnabon]

happy is you.

IDOL AU #xiao x gn!reader [confession]

cw! swearing.

SUM. you're so inlove w/xiao. and pretty much ask him a question at 3am in the morning and worry about so many stuff. YOU WANNA KISS HIM SO BAD in a sfw way pls.

part two but its angsty lol

taking in requests! info about taking in requests from me and etc. is right here! thanks again!

a/n school orientation starts in at least 8 hours for me and i thought, "why not write something nice after pfftt-- more than a week i haven't wrote anything??". but i'll try to take in requests if i have some and pretty much do it whenever i have spare time. also i really would love the fact to just be madly in love with someone. don't know how tho lol

it's 3am. staring at a dead end ceiling while you're all laid out in your perfectly warm mattress. blinking a few times, thinking about all the cute things you can ever do with xiao. my god, were you thinking about him-- no... missing him?

it felt like you were going into so many notions. this wouldn't really feel normal to yourself from way back but... is it that lovely? you just want to see him, hear him, hold his hand, and just see his confused face when he doesn't know what you're talking about.

you two already went out on dates together at least 6 times, won't you just shoot your shot already? no. at this point, you're feeling like one of those people that say "what if he doesn't actually like me and just came with me just not to embarrass myself?" no. that can't be right?

thoughts races as long as you'd like to. assuming this or that but i'm pretty sure he got it all figured out with his feelings for you these past 6 dates-- i mean. 6 dates.

not to mention, you really loved when he tried to relax himself. catching a few glances of you here and there. was it really that cute.

no. you can't go up changing your thoughts with new ones of him thats-- weird.

you let the mattresses take you aside and consume yourself with the bed and just groan on over. taking your phone and opening it up with barely any stuff. one of your notifs was youtube suggesting "how to cook an egg" kind of tutorial.

reading back conversations you had with xiao. it feels like you're talking to him again just... not actively? there's that one feeling inside you that just lets the world aside and it's just you two, you two alone, entertaining each other, go all stupid. that felt like you were only the one he needs. you do respect him with other people as well but that sort of thought really sounds nice.

fuck. you felt like a teenager. it felt like inserting a literal sentence to your head saying "CRINGE LORD" with pretty much all capital letters, on a bold font with a bright red. but the thing is, he was talking to you. putting up with all of your nonsense. it made you feel dizzy.

you always thought that there was just random people, not just perfect just a normal and average kind of type. after breaking up with a certain person, you can just wait on for someone else to walk by and get asked out anyway. but this. this was different other any ordinary thought you thought of just like before.

it was him. no. for sure he was the one. that, HE could ever fill the dream aside to somewhat reality. instead of letting it aside and let them ask you out, it was just you. you were all left that's behind this and now... you're head over heels for him.

the bright light goes against your face. its ringing. fuck no, no... did you want to see him that bad? you should end the call you're just disturbing him--

fuck. he answered. the silence was going on and eventually asked you why are you calling him at 3am in the fucking morning. fuck this wasn't supposed to happen but. you wanted to get things out.

"what... are we?"

the question left to entertain him. yet continues with the sudden dull silence. fuck you sounded so stupid too. by the looks of his voice, he sounds stunned. did you say something wrong? panic rushes through yourself and you wished you haven't "accidentally" pressing the call button.

"i think you're... unique. i'm not saying i don't take in interest in you but, i do know is that i want to be with you. we aren't... what you say, official? but... i'd like for us to perhaps-- be. that."

holy shit. oh my god fuck. FUCK. okay. pull yourself together. the atmosphere felt so awkward. you ended up flushing your face deep down to the pillow. okay. proceed.

"hah... well. take me out in another 6 dates, then? as lovers of course! ah, shit, wait... no, no. do you even want to be labeled as lovers-- god i messed it up again."

"uhuh. another 6 dates. as 'lovers'."

the call ends and so is the night. you probably took time just to see what the fuck actually happened? is this finally the fantasy you ever seek for? you couldn't believe it. you had someone to love. YOU actually have someone to love now?!

[onlyseokmins]

I had a dream where Jeonghan was doing my make up and he was just so good at it, like... So professional. And he did a great job so now I'm wondering how all the members would do if they were to put make up on their partners ashshdhdk

This is really a cute dream <333 I'm still sleepy here tn so I grouped them together and it's a short one but I still hope you enjoy it and continue having sweet dreams 🥺

Seungcheol & Vernon

Good enough that they know what applications and brushes to use

Bad enough to not do anything too fancy or outside of just making you naturally prettier than you already are

Familiar with products and things either from their female siblings back in the day and/or from watching you fondly do your routine

Kind of protest because you're already pretty and don't need makeup

A very domestic activity

Jeonghan, Joshua, & Minghao

Very good at applying makeup

They have a sort of delicacy in their hands that allows them to adeptly and deftly apply it evenly and smooth

But they're good enough that they also can really do a bad job on purpose or something silly like cute cat whiskers if they're feeling mischievous

Which is quite often

Great for Halloween parties fr they religiously watch tutorials for the weirdest, most complicated ones to try

You are their muse and empty canvas

Junhui, Hoshi, Seokmin, & Chan

Please don't put them anywhere near makeup

They're very confused — what does what, what does this do? No you can't eat that!!

Might accidentally break something too

But they really try, they're just confused

They love to watch you in awe

Wonwoo & Jihoon

Kind of forget they're supposed to be putting makeup on you because you'll demonstrate on their wrist or something and then they're applying it all over their face instead out of curiosity

But you're both giggling and having a good time and that's all that matters

They know what to do but they're very stiff about it

You're too pretty so up close and personal it flusters them

And highlighting your best features only makes them more nervous because EVERYTHING about you is just so pretty

So they just kinda stare at you

Especially if your eyes are closed, lips pursed as you wait for them to apply something

Only to open them and they're suddenly super close and jump away like they totally weren't entranced and trying to kiss you

Mingyu & Seungkwan

Fabulous, the only men you can truly trust

Actually have skincare routines better than you so they make sure to have you do them too

They really like when you ask actually

It's like a 2hr+ ritual but you definitely feel fresher afterward and look bomb af

Your skin actually glows

Best looking couple

Prolly setting all the trends tbh

You get all the latest samples and best products because they advertise for everything and get all that sponsorship privileges

[kunikinnie]

you impulsively decide to cut your hair at 3 am

featuring: some Port Mafia

a/n: guess what happened today :) tried writing for PM becuse why not HAHA hope they're not too ooc

Note: It is assumed that the reader is living/sleeping beside the characters here

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke

"Why"

That's all he says, thinks, and feels

Not angry, not thrilled, not even annoyed - just confused

Okay he's slightly annoyed because you had to do it at an ungodly hour

He'll be mildly worried tho if there's a heavy reason behind it. If you tell him your feelings expect just a little bit of soothing strokes (more like slow tapping on the back or shoulder tho) from him

If it's for absolutely no reason at all, he'll stare at you and contemplate his life choices

Nah just kidding he'll just let you cut your hair so you guys can get some sleep

He might even offer to cut your hair for you (with Rashōmon ofc)

"You might cut my neck instead :<"

Cue blank stare number 3

He's surprisngly good at it tho. It comes out really nice whether you guys follow a tutorial or not

"You should be a hairdresser for your day job!"

He'll reply with a mild scoff, but deep inside he's very proud of himself and very happy to hear that you liked it

Higuchi Ichiyō

She's also probably doing impulsive things at 3 am - perhaps even more frequently than you

So when you tell her your plan, she'll be a bit shocked but will 100% support you

Will ask you what style you're going for. She'll help you out, if you want

Yk how enthusiastic she can get, no?

Although honestly I think you should be ready for the worst

"W-wait what was that last bit-"

Yeah, her frantically holding a pair of scissors near your eyes while trying to rewind the tutorial video is definitely terrifying in itself

I can imagine both of you screaming whenever she's about to snip something off

Actually, even if you're doing it by yourself and she's just standing there as moral support, you'll both still be screaming before each snip

If it comes out decent, it's a miracle you will both have a mini victory dance in the bathroom

If it doesn't, she'll feel really guilty about not being helpful to you

Reassure her it's okay and probably even just laugh it off. You had some fun doing something together, right?

Ofc you go to someone who actually knows how to cut hair

Nakahara Chūya

Now he'll definitely be the most annoyed out of all of them - not angry, just annoyed

First of all, did you have to ruin his precious sleep for this? Even if you don't wake him up on purpose he will feel your absence almost immediately

But the main reason why he's against it is because he's someone who absolutely cares about looking good. he'll try to dissuade you from messing up your hair

If you want to have something done, have someone professional do it for you. It's a common sense thing that applies to just everything or so he says

But if you insist ofc he won't stop you

I doubt he'll offer to help you cut it because 1. his pride won't allow it (he's trying to get you to do otherwise, remember?) and 2. he doesn't trust his cutting skills

If he knows you're decent at this kind of thing, he'll eventually leave you alone

But if he knows you're not - well, he will "assist" by telling you if a section looks wonky

Like a hands-off Remy from Ratatouille but with half the skill on both sides lol

If all goes well, he'll be pretty surprised. Seeing you happy and proud of yourself makes him happy too

If it doesn't though, expect a "told you so" and prompt scheduled visit to the salon the next day

Ozaki Kōyō

She's probably the most against it, imo

Not in the "annoyed" way, more of "please consider your life decisions more carefully" way

Like Chūya, she cares a lot about fashion and style, so expect an eloquent but very lengthy explanation as to why this is a bad idea

If there's something behind it tho, she'll soften up and try to comfort you

But she will reiterate that if you have a problem, cutting your own hair is not the solution

Have it professionaly cut like a normal person!

If you actually get a pair of scissors or a razor near your hair, you'll find a longer and scarier blade at your neck appear out of nowhere

"Dear, enough of this nonsense. Please."

No matter what you do, you won't be able to cut your hair then. She'll bring you back to bed and make you sleep. Her arms will be around your waist the entire night.

But if you're still adamant about it, cut it during the day! She'll be horrified when she sees that you did it

If it turns out well and you're happy about it, she'll rub her temple and sigh. Whatever shall she do wih you?

If it turns out badly - as she said it would - she'll either take you to the hairdresser right there and then OR shave off all your hair. There is no in between with this woman

Tachihara Michizō

The chillest out of all of them

It's your hair after all, so why should he bother? You're mature enough to know the possible consequences to your actions

Tho he's lowkey worried ofc. It's 3 am and who knows if you're actually sober rn?

"Eh? Right now?" Is the most you'll hear from him lol

Whatever the reason, he'll totally be okay with it. He'll be more than glad to lend an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on if you needed it

If you need an assisstant he'll be there with you. He might try to use his ability to help you cut better

Otherwise, he'll just go back to bed and wait for you to finish (if he doesn't fall asleep first, that is)

He'll genuinely be surprised if you do well. "Damn, didn't know you were good at stuff like this"

But if it looks terrible, he'll laugh. Like, uncontrollable cursed gremlin laugh that will make you want to throw him out the window

"Come on it's not that bad!"

He'll apologize once he's calmed down tho, especially if he hurt your feelings

You're just so cute regardless of what your hair looks like

[frenchbreads-writing]

If you're not too busy with requests, could I ask for a Enji Todoroki x male reader where Enji adds on to the reader's bad day and he makes up for it somehow? Love your work 😁

Hi y’all it’s been a minute, sorry this took so long I’ve been h*ckin busy lately so I hope this can make up for it a bit<3

I hope you enjoy!

Pairing: Todoroki Enji x Male Reader

Words: 2.5k (2,548)

Warning(s): Suggestive themes at the end

Requests: Open

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up, you gently wriggled out of Enji’s arms to get ready for your day of patrol. You quietly got dressed in your hero uniform and packed yours and Enji’s lunch.

You kissed Enji on the forehead before leaving the house, walking to your agency.

The day was nice, the sun was still rising and the light that shone over the horizon reflected beautifully off of shop windows.

There was also a chilling breeze that made you glad you wore extra layers underneath your costume.

The day was beautiful and you had a good feeling for the day ahead of you.

And that good feeling lasted about an hour.

Getting to the agency you were barely able to put your stuff in your locker before you were approached by a sidekick and ushered back out of the building being handed your pager which was buzzing nonstop.

A villain was wrecking a part of the city and you had the means to aid in capturing him.

After that, you were called again and again.

You could barely make it a block before getting a buzz in your pocket.

It was noon and you practically sprinted back to the agency for your lunch break.

You slumped down next to your locker and held your bag.

You couldn’t wait to eat the lunch that Fuyumi had made for you.

You opened your bag and saw your bento box was missing.

It took a moment for the confusion to set in after that you dug around and looking into your locker just to make sure.

You were sure you packed it.

You always triple checked before you left the house and you made sure to place it at the top of your bag this morning, so it guaranteed that it would be the first thing you saw when you opened your pack.

You sighed and closed your bag, hoping whoever took your food would enjoy what Fuyumi had prepared.

A growl from your stomach reminded you that you had a limited time to eat and you had already wasted a lot of time trying to make back to the building in time.

So you stood up and opted to just get a snack from a nearby vending machine.

Just as you finished your snack yet another buzz came from your pocket.

This was going to be a long few hours.

Constantly being pulled in several different directions now with civilians calling out to you in the street for your help you were run ragged.

Now you were sitting in the empty break room getting a much-needed moment of respite from your labor.

Pulling out your phone you thumbed through your contacts before pressing Enji’s number and calling him.

It rang a few times before Enji’s voice came from the other side.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Firefly! How’s it going?”

“(Y/n)? I haven’t heard from you all day are you okay?”

You chuckled.

“Yeah I’m good it’s just been really busy today.”

Even though you tried to hide it, Enji could still hear the tiredness seeping into your voice.

“You could have called and I would’ve come in.”

“Ah, no, today’s your day off I could handle it.”

He opened his mouth to say something when a voice interrupted from your end.

“U-um pardon the intrusion Mr.(H/N) but two sidekicks are physically fighting in the locker rooms and you’re the only hero here right now.”

You let out a sigh.

“Hey, I have to go now, love you.”

Enji didn’t get to respond before the line clicked and the call ended.

He already knew that your agency was being slammed with calls the entire day and if seeing you all day on the news meant anything, it was that you were taking the brunt of it all.

Enji looked down at his phone to see a message from you.

“I’ll be home later tonight to make dinner <3”

He decided that he was going to be a good husband and make dinner.

After all, you did it all the time so how hard can it be?

It was a disaster.

He usually had Fuyumi and more recently you to prepare his meals for him.

He was internally panicking when the sound of the front door slamming shut made him jump.

“Enji, I’m home.”

‘Shit shit shit.’

He didn’t know what to do.

The closer your footsteps got the more he panicked.

“Hey, what’s that—“

You dropped the bags you were holding.

The kitchen was a mess.

He had managed to burn a pot of rice, some meat on the stove were charred a pot of noodles somehow were also burning even though they had been in the water.

Enji expected you to yell at him and scold him for being an idiot.

But instead, you quietly walked over and ushered him out of the way, turning off the flame, and simply dumping all of the unusable food into the trash.

He felt guilty you haven’t even changed out of your hero uniform and you looked so exhausted yet here you are cleaning up his mess as he just stood there.

When the kitchen was left with no trace of Enji’s cooking disaster you wiped your brow and sighed.

“I’ll start dinner when I get out of the shower.”

You walked upstairs without another word leaving Enji alone in the kitchen.

He felt like an idiot.

Instead of helping you feel better he just made it worse.

He looked down at the bags you dropped on the floor.

He stepped closer and kneeled down, opening them revealed that they were full of ingredients for Enji’s favorite kuzumochi.

You came home from a rough day and we’re going to do something to make him happy?

You were the one who needed to be happy not him.

He placed the bags softly on the counter feeling dread in his chest.

After your shower you proceeded to make dinner, now the two of you sat silently at the dinner table.

Enji didn’t know what to say. He already knew how your day went and judging from your expression you didn’t feel like talking.

So he continued to eat glancing at you from time to time.

“I’m finished, I’m going to bed now.”

You stood up and started gathering your dishes.

Enji jumped up.

“I’ll do the dishes.”

You paused and looked at him. The look in his eye told you that he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“Okay, goodnight.”

He watched you once again walk away dragging your feet as you went.

He cleaned up the area and washed the dishes before he followed you upstairs.

When he made it to the room you were already fast asleep.

He climbed into bed and held you close.

The next day, you woke up sore but pretty rested. Which was pretty suspicious.

You stretched your stiff limbs until you heard the satisfying crack.

Rolling over, you landed on Enji’s side of the bed.

It was cold.

Of course, he had patrol today.

Speaking of hero duties you looked over at the bedside clock and gasped.

It was 10:30 am.

You jumped up from the bed but your foot got caught on the blanket which sent you sprawling out on the floor.

Cursing, you jumped up and rushed to the restroom and rushed through your morning routine, skipping steps as you went.

You rushed out of the room with your hero costume halfway on and ran down the stairs but halted when you heard something from the kitchen.

Enji should be at his agency and Fuyumi didn’t say anything about coming over.

So you peeked around the corner to see Enji standing at the stove, staring very intently at some eggs cooking on the stove, lips in a pout, and a YouTube tutorial on pause on his phone next to him.

He was also wearing a pink apron that you bought for him that he said he would “Rather die than have to wear.”

You couldn’t help the snort that came out.

Enji turned his head to see you with your phone out and snapping a photo.

He growled but didn’t stop you.

“What’s all this Enji? Also, why aren’t you at the agency?”

He didn’t turn around as he answered you.

“I called in and took another day off. I also did the same for you so you can change out of your costume now.”

You stood there confused.

“Not that I’m not grateful but why did you do that?”

His brow twitched.

“You over-exerted yourself yesterday so it wouldn’t be practical to do that again.”

You went to retort but Enji cut you off.

“Even if you say that you’re fine—“ he narrowed his eyes at you. “—I know better.”

You closed your mouth.

“Now change out of your hero suit or you’re not getting any.”

You wanted to help Enji with finishing the food but he placed his entire hand over your face to silence you.

He ordered you to sit at the table and you refused.

Enji leaned down and whispered in a raspy voice to change and sit.

Now, here you were sitting at the table in your pajamas blushing with a pout.

He walked in and placed a plate in front of you with a hash brown, eggs, and bacon.

He stood there and watched you expectantly.

“It looks good.”

You picked up a fork and took a small piece putting it in your mouth and chewing.

Enji sighed in relief when your face lit up.

“It’s really good Enji!”

You took a larger bite and Enji served himself.

After breakfast, he helped you with chores around the house that he usually wouldn’t do.

You had to monitor him and show him how to do some stuff but he caught on quickly and soon enough he shooed you away and finished everything up himself.

At lunchtime, he helped you prepare the food but he wasn’t allowed near the stove at all.

He was fine with that.

He watched as the day progressed you began to relax more and more.

The crease in your brow disappeared and the tension in your shoulders lessened.

When all of the chores were done, the two of you went out to pick up more stuff for dinner. When you passed by stuff in shops that you liked Enji insisted on buying it.

Even if you refused Enji just said that if you wanted it. Get it.

When you hesitated he just proceeded to grab whatever you were looking at and some other stuff you’ve been eyeing and brought it to the counter and just bought it all.

“Enji, You don’t have to spend money on me!”

He looked at you as he placed the bag in your hand.

“But I want to.”

For the rest of the store trip, he bought anything you were interested in.

What was supposed to be a quick grocery trip turned into a shopping spree.

You knew Enji felt bad for what happened last night and you weren’t mad or anything but you knew he wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t do anything to make it up to you.

Now, the two of you were in bed, bags of stuff on the floor, surrounded by a whole bunch of soft pillows, and blankets. Enji sat behind you massaging your shoulders while watching your favorite show and eating some snacks.

You snuggled closer Enji pressing your back into his chest.

He stopped massaging and wrapped his arms around your waist, kissing the nape of your neck.

You giggled and turned around, leaned in, and pressed a kiss to his lips before turning back around and continuing to watch the show.

Enji pressed his face into the top of your head smelling the shampoo that you always used.

It was calming and seeing you enjoy yourself as you watched the tv made his guilt from last night go away.

Both of you are usually really busy, so days like this were rare.

“Hey, Enji?”

He lifted his head off of you and hummed.

“You know, if you still feel like making it up to me—“ you turned around to face him. “—I have an idea of what you could do.”

His eyes widened and he sat up straight, listening.

“Anything.”

Enji watched as you stood up from the bed and walk over to one of the bags on the floor.

You rummaged around and took something out holding it behind your back as you stood up.

“You said anything right?”

He nervously nodded wondering what you were planning.

You held up what was in your hands for him to see.

Enji choked on his saliva.

You held up a maid outfit.

His flames roared as his face contorted.

“What in the world is /that/?”

He said through gritted teeth.

You smirked.

“I think you know exactly what this is.”

“I am /not/ wearing that.”

You crossed your arms and pouted at him.

“But you said you would do anything.”

Enji silently cursed himself.

He did say that he would and seeing you pout so cutely he couldn’t resist.

He growled and stood up snatching the outfit and bag from your hands and stomped towards the bathroom.

“I love you!”

He grumbled as he opened the door.

“Be quiet.”

You grinned and sat on the bed.

This was gonna be great.

It’s been 30 minutes since he entered the bathroom.

Around the 15 minute mark, you flopped onto your back.

The sound of the bathroom opening made you perk up.

You let out an exaggerated sigh and sat up on your elbows.

“Finally Enji, what took you so lo—“ When you sat up, your jaw dropped.

Enji stood in the doorway, arms crossed, the maid outfit was nearly bursting at the seams.

The cloth over his chest was stretched taut. Going lower you see his thighs bulged through the thin fabric of the kitty thigh-highs he wore.

But what really caught your eye was the way his too short frilly skirt barely covered anything.

Enji swallowed the lump in his throat as your hungry gaze raked over him.

You motioned him over with your finger.

He walked until he stood right in front of you giving you the perfect view of the lace panties that barely contained what was hidden underneath.

You licked your lips and reached up wrapping your hands around his waist and pulling him on your lap.

The bed dipped from the weight of both of you on the edge.

He rested his weight on his knees as to not crush you and placed his hands on your shoulders to brace himself.

“You look even better than I imagined firefly.”

He looked away face burning brighter.

“Tch, are you happy now?”

You hummed.

“Very.”

Your hand went lower making him shiver.

But he yelped when the sting of your hand coming down on his ass with a loud smack.

He growled at you but you just gave him a sweet smile.

You began massaging his ass gently making him whimper.

“Y-you’re enjoying this too much.”

You chuckled.

“Well, the fun has only just begun.”

Enji shuddered at the look in your eyes and bit his lip.

This was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{Tag list} If you want to be added to the tag list, send an ask or look at my pinned post!

@lotsofrandom @your-strangelove @yumeneji @kaiwai @dumbass-calamari  @naonaocat @tamakiwithcrab @delightfulcupquakequeen @brithedemonspawn @chatnoirfangirl1624 @redsharksimp <- Sorry anyone who isn’t tagged properly but I wasn’t able to tag you!

[masterprocrastinatortm]

Yo!

I've been a regular follower for a while, and your uni looks beautiful and so modern (or post modern idk), and it just looks great.

But

How is the course, law I think?

How's uni life?

How's it all!

I wanna know cos imma be doing uni in 1.5yrs, and I just really am interested in it all

Thanks!!, FeS2

Hey! I am very happy to answer this!

This is a very long answer, so TLDR; University is different from school, I like student life, law is hard but you can do it if you want to.

I go to University in Aberdeen, Scotland (not sure where you're from but I know there are like three Aberdeens in the world...) and I really love it here. The University itself is a combination of really really old (Kings College was built in 1495) and really new (like the SDR library and some of the lecture halls and buildings).

I think any course in University or college will be very different from what school is like, just from my own experience. Especially if you go overseas (which is what I am doing). I think regardless it will be quite a big change. Personally, a good change - but it takes time to adjust.

When I came here I found it really difficult to acclimate to how the focus of learning here is very much memorization-based - remembering rules and names and dates, etc, whereas I was used to having a lot of open-book exams and application of rules that you could look up in the book.

My boyfriend is currently doing his first year of University, and he is finding it quite hard to get used to how to write in academia, compared to how it was in school or day-to-day as a standard working adult. There is a lot more referencing and you have to be quite critical of which sources you use - and it's a lot more stressful than what he thought beforehand.

this is why it's so important to choose something you are actually interested in, not just something that will give you a good job for the future - because going to University is like having a full-time job and a half, and a lot of people don't necessarily know/understand that

As for student life, I really liked my first few years. I was assigned 5 random flatmates for the first year, and it was a very eclectic bunch. I was very lucky and liked all of them, but they did not like everyone, and some of our neighbors really hated their flatmates. My best friend (and used to be library buddy) is actually one of those randos

We were a bit of a party flat the first few weeks, but after a few months together and some drama, we opted to go out instead so we didn't have to deal with the arguments that cleanup brought.

I think a lot has changed now though because of how society has adjusted to the panoramic. It hit while was on my year abroad - and honestly, it really affected my grades. I'm pretty sure most courses now have no in-person lectures, only online ones. And only some lucky courses have tutorials and seminars on campus (that you can also attend online). The same is true for socials. A lot of student societies (I could not recommend enough that you join some while in uni) have had to cut down on in-person events, or at least limit numbers, and has had a lot of online socials which personally I find almost more isolating than not joining any at all.

Law itself - would not recommend unless you hate yourself. But also, if you really want to do it, you are fully able to do it.

Our lecturers are like any other place, some good some bad. Aberdeen uni is very international so we have lectures from all over the world, and honestly, I still find them so interesting.

Studying is a lifestyle. It is very hard, but once you kind of crack the key for how to do things it does become easier. Since I'm in my last year and doing honours courses it's a lot of self-study, and very little anything together with lecturers or tutors, which personally I struggle with but is also fine if you set some good boundaries for yourself - and keep some good habits (I dont lol). This is where any friends you have from your course is good to have (i was lucky and made some friends in my first year who are still around this year)

[leagueofidiots]

Shigadabi, tad bit of angst but it's brief, death in game, set in current manga time for once lol

Based off of this post: https://leagueofidiots.tumblr.com/post/190065984843/leagueofidiots-lunarapocolypse

"I don't understand why you can't just play with Spinner," says Dabi. "I'm probably gonna suck at this."

"Never know until you try," says Shigaraki, starting the game up. "Besides, I trust your abilities. And even if you do suck, it'll be nice to spend time together for once." 

Dabi nods. "Fair enough." Since joining the Paranormal Liberation Front, their moments alone had been few and far between because of Dabi's habit of isolating himself when stressed and all of Tomura's new responsibilities. "What's this one called again?"

"Minecraft. It's pretty simple. You just try not to die and make stuff." He grabs his remote, prosthetic fingers clacking on the plastic. "Basic controls: mine, place, motion, direction, crafting menu, pause, map, jump," he says, pointing at various controls.

Dabi nods, catching about half of the instructions. "Yeah, okay. Uh...die how?"

"Just zombies and stuff. You'll figure it out." He quickly makes a world in normal mode instead of hard, per Dabi's request, named "my bf sucks", and starts up the videogame.

Once making it through the tutorial segment for Dabi's sake, Dabi says, " Okay, so first we should probably make a better shelter, right? I don't want to stand in a hole in the side of a mountain again tonight."

Shigaraki shrugs. "You can handle that if you want, I'm gonna go do something else. Meet up at this ugly tree at sunset, I guess?"

"Yeah, sure, okay." Dabi almost argues that building a proper shelter in one day should be a two-person job, but reminds himself that out of the two of them, Tomura's the gamer and definitely more experienced.

It does turn out to be simpler than he expected, not much more than digging down a tree for a door and digging up row after row or dirt. Suddenly he hears a wave of pathetic "meows", and glances in alarm at Shigaraki's side of the screen. " What are you doing?!?"

Shigaraki's hot bar is full of stacks of spawn eggs, which are rapidly being thrown down into a deep pool he sits in, the resulting cats floating up to a stone roof and slowly drowning. "Being more fun than you."

"That's not 'fun', you NEET, that's useless murder! Where did you even get those?!?"

Tomura chuckles. "You think I've been playing this long and haven't learned the cheat codes? Besides, you're the one that goes into alleyways to set stray thugs on fire, not me. At least mine's just pixelated cats."

Dabi rolls his eyes. "You could at least help me with the shelter here."

"It's a fifteen-by-eight two-story dirt palace, I don't think you need any help. Besides, it's a game. It's supposed to be fun. You're making this like one of Kurogiri's old---" He cuts himself off at the mention of his father figure.

Dabi glances at his boyfriend, slightly concerned, though he'll never show it. "Fine, keep drowning cats, see if I care. But at least come back with beds if you can generate stuff."

He nods, shooting off another few eggs. "Dabi, do you think we're ever gonna win this thing?" he asks, leaning onto Dabi's shoulder.

The man stiffens a little, but lets Tomura stay. "Yeah, I'm sure we can at least get something done. We've already had an influence, haven't we? I mean, All Might retired, there's been a resurgence in thinking like ours, and I don't think it'll just die down even if we do all end up dead or in custody. You've done good work," he says, continuing to place blocks onto their house.

"I hope it's worth it. I mean, yeah, we've done good things, but...I mean, first it was All for One. Then Magne died. Now Kurogiri. I'd hate to have to make any more sacrifices is all." 

He shoots another stack of spawn eggs down, then turns to his boyfriend. "How have you been since your fight with that Geten freak?"

Dabi groans. "He sucks. I'm fine. Burned the side of my face a little, but nothing so bad that Ujiko couldn't fix it."

Shigaraki nods. After a moment, he says,"How would you feel about a magma floor? It'd keep mobs out, might kill us if we're not careful though." He summons a stack with the press of a few buttons.

"Only if you let me place it. No offense, but I'm not sure you're exactly worried about survival based on the way you were murdering animals instead of helping me." Dabi says, finally done with their shelter.

"No, I wanna do it."

"Fine, I'll go get food. You could have at least drowned cows for food or something, geez." He was glad to have moved on from the heavier topics. Sure, it was kind of nice to have people to talk to about things like that, but he also didn't know how to. He doubted Tomura was any better at it, anyway.

"Alright, knock yourself out. Step carefully once you get back." The second Dabi passes over a hill on his quest, Shigaraki grins, and presses a few buttons in rapid-fire, the sky darkening instantly.

"Creep, I swear, put the sky back!" snaps Dabi, gently bumping Tomura off of his shoulder.

He snickers. "You were gonna have to deal with the mobs at some point. Don't worry, you're only about a minute from home."

Dabi huffs, and begins his return to the shelter. He cuts short when he sees a tall, black figure in his way. "What is this and how do I get rid of it?"

"Oh, that's an enderman. Don't worry, all you have to do is look at it right in the eye, it'll teleport away."

Dabi recognizes it as the thing Kurogiri was often compared to by both Tomura and Suichi, but decides not to bring it up. "That seems easy enough," he mumbles, adjusting his cursor to meet its purple gaze. There is a short yelp as the enderman nears to murder poor, trusting, innocent Dabi; and Shigaraki falls to the floor, cackling. Dabi was never playing this again.

[championfrita]

Pokémon Sword and Shield Review

So...I've taken some time to fully play Pokémon Shield. Now, I know this is pretty delayed, and I got the double pack so I wanted to play Sword first to see if how I felt was really accurate or if I was being too harsh. That said, let's talk about my experience with the Galar Region.

Initial Impressions

Overall, I was excited to play Shield at first. Everything was bright and exciting and the characters were easy to recognize and not overly generic.

The first few hours of this game, well it's a slow burn. And I do mean SLOW. Even with the text set to Fast and me taking things at my own pace it took me at least a good couple hours to reach the Wild Area. Furthermore, this game has an infernal amount of handholding, even when given the option to say "I know all this already" it still gives a brief explaination for almost anything and STILL makes you sit ALL THE WAY THROUGH the catch tutorial.

It's 2019 and older players still don't get the option to skip this. Come on GameFreak.

That said, the longer I played the more I began to notice...how should I put this? Blatant laziness?

The Wild Area

Now, the CONCEPT of the Wild Area in theory is amazing. It's still not too bad as is, but there are definitely flaws. For starters, the same tree has been copy pasted all over the place to make up 90% of the foliage.

More than that, though, despite the Wild Area having a good selection of Pokémon and a fairly varietied environment (desert, lakes, forest) it feels oddly...empty. There are no real secrets to speak of, no hidden areas, no easily missed items. Everything is all right out there to see and spread pretty far apart. I don't know if it's a lack of Trainers or the fact that I don't have an Online membership so I played alone, but the Wild Area feels like it just needs something MORE.

Dynamax Raid Battles, even when done alone, are fairly fun and sometimes challenging with the turn limit. Radiant AI Trainers spawn in to assist you if you're playing alone so there's no worries about having to take one on with just one Pokémon.

Camping, which can be done anywhere but is introduced to the player here, is an absolute treat. Have YOU played fetch with a unicorn? I have, and I love it. The wide variety of curries you can make with different ingredients is nice, and your Pokémon even get EXP boosts if you play with and feed them while camping.

The Pokémon

Honestly, I'm really not impressed. The Galar Dex of new Pokémon feels painfully small, so much so that playing Pokémon GO and catching a few Unova Pokémon made me yearn for the days when we used to get regions completely FULL of new Pokémon. Remember when you had to wait until AFTER the main game to start catching Pokémon from past gens? I...well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I LIKED that.

That said, using a sparse selection of Galar Pokémon and Galar Regional Variants on my team definitely made the Gym Challenge more difficult. I picked Scorbunny, because Fire Types, and honestly didn't really care for it or its evolutions at first. Cinderace has really grown on me though and I like Pyro Ball as a move. It's flashy and powerful and that suits me just fine. Most of the new Pokémon's DESIGNS were good and I liked them, there just really weren't ENOUGH of them.

I'm fairly pleased with the regional variants as well. It was difficult to adjust to Ponyta and Rapidash being Psychic Type, but I really liked having them on my team. At the same time...Meowth not evolving into a Persian doesn't really sit right with me.

I'm all for branch evolutions, but Perrserker honestly just looks more like a giant Galar Meowth than anything. I played this with only the info given in the few scattered trailers I'd seen, so I was genuinely excited to see what a Galarian Persian would look like only to end up with Perrserker. The Typing is phenominal, and I think it's great to see a Steel Type Meowth for a change, but I just don't like where they went with it. Eh. Ces't la vie, moving on.

The Story

It's weak. Straight up, the story in this game is poor. There were so many directions they could have gone. I really liked the idea of Rose being this charismatic chairman hype man for the League and being the bad guy. I saw it coming, but it was a nice change to see just based on his personality. Still, it feels rushed. His motivations are really one dimensional and glossed over. Like, "Oh, here's the bad guy. Go get him." It worked in Gen 1 because Giovanni was a MOBSTER. He was MEANT to be a bad guy straight to the core in general, but Rose just doesn't have that vibe.

Not only that, but the "Bad League Members" are kinda meh. That feels REALLY lazy. They didn't even really get a decent uniform change when they started taking on the name Macro Cosmos in Rose Tower. They got black glasses. That's it. Just that. The fight with Eternatus feels painfully rushed and shoehorned in too, almost like they thought "Oh no, we need to give them a big nasty boss to fight! Let's just throw a random monster at them and say Rose summoned it. Seems like a solid plan."

I DID like the after story with Piers though. It really solidifies that older brother sort of nature with him, even if he tries to hide it most of the time.

The Characters

I liked Hop. As a character he's really fun and I like how they gave him this over excited very grand gestured sort of personality. He's really just happy to be ANYWHERE as long as it's with his Pokémon and you. His admiration for his big bro might come off strong and make him seem a little flat at first, but he's overall portrayed as a good kid and I like him.

Leon on the other hand...well I hated him for most of the game. His design is great and he looks fabulous, but he just has the most cocky, obnoxious, pandering personality 90% of the time. Still, I have to give credit where credit is due and recognize that he IS actually a multifaceted character. He showboats not just because he's too confident but also to give the crowd a show and put people at ease in times of danger. Not only that, but his recognition of his little brother's accomplishments and his graceful acceptance of defeat when you beat him reveals a really well written character.

I don't DISlike Sonia, and I have no problem with Prof. Magnolia sitting on the sidelines, but she can be a little...irritating at times with the way she speaks about and to people. The Gym Leaders, aside from Piers, feel a little...light.

I mean, most Gym Leaders don't have detailed backstories, but these ones feel paper thin personality wise as well. I had to look at the official GUIDE just to be sure what the relationship between Melony and Gordie even WAS because you only seem him in her Special League Card in Shield and that tells you nothing about him. The only real leaders that stood out to me were Piers and Raihan, and while I was iffy about his design at first I LOVE Raihan. He has so much more personality and ferocity than any of the other leaders. And the social commentary about him needing to constantly take and post a selfie, even after losing, is a nice touch.

The Galar Region

Is very linear. Like, VERY linear. Even when you take a branching path it either loops back around or gives you a free ride to wherever you have to backtrack to. I hope you like Hammerlocke, cuz you're gonna be visiting there several times.

I know that the region is based off the UK, and maybe my Americanized idea of cities is different (idk, I've never been to the UK), but a lot of the towns in this game feel really small. Like, almost smaller than some of the towns in Hoenn small. Maybe it's a lack of significant interactable buildings, but despite many of them having multiple floors you typically can only access one and that's kind of a disappointment. The hotel in Wyndon won't even let you get in the elevator, and while I get that Alola also did that, it's kind of jarring when the hotel in Motostoke WILL let you see other floors.

That said, I kind of expected more than ONE Wild Area. The one we DID get is fine, and I appreciate what it is and lets us do, but I honestly thought there would be multiple places to really explore outside the standard straight lines. Pokémon has never been a franchise to shy away from puzzles before so I expected this to not be any different. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Moreover, many of the environment pieces are just UGLY. A lot of the ground textures are reused 3DS assets, and those copy pasted trees I mentioned earlier? Also 3DS assets. How do I know? They're pentagonal instead of round. In other words, they have five sides. Why? Because the 3DS hardware couldn't handle complex environmental shapes that well so they could get away with it, but now that we have nice round berry trees the contrast becomes painful. The Wild Area is so ugly the first time you see it is at NIGHT. They were so aware of what they did they hoped making it darker would hide the lazy flop instead of showing off how bad it was.

It isn't like they COULDN'T fix it either. Look at Ballonlea and Glimwood Tangle. They're absolutely beautiful and very well done. The modeling with them is fantastic and I love the glowing effects. They absolutely could've made the poorly done areas look amazing, but for some reason they didn't and the game suffers some as a result.

Other Thoughts

The Gym Challenges...they were not fun. Like, honestly some were ok. Herding Wooloo was easy, but they really didn't feel like anything I would expect from a Gym. The water puzzle in Nessa's Gym was fine, and I personally liked the spinning cup ride, but the rest just felt like agonizingly long padding because they couldn't come up with anything. Look at Circhester's challenge. It's a dowsing rod gauntlet where you have to avoid falling in pits in an artificial blizzard. It. is. SO. SLOW. That said, Spikemuth having just a Trainer gauntlet instead was kind of awkward. I reached the end and asked myself "Was that it? Is this it? Is this all there is to Spikemuth? Just one giant alleyway and a Pokémon Center?"

Raihan's three trials of worthiness challenge? It was more difficult than the battle AGAINST RAIHAN. Speaking of, I beat Hop, Marnie, Bede, all the Gym Leaders, Rose, Oleana, and Leon on my first try every time. While it was more difficult with my specific Pokémon choices, it really wasn't much. And can I just say that the Gym Badges are kinda lame? I get what they were going for, but the designs of each piece could've been really unique and intricate and instead we got glorified stamps.

I liked a lot of the general features of the game. Camping, clothing shops, League Cards. I love designing League Cards, even if I'm the only one who's ever gonna see em. That said, the clothing choices were really narrow based on what we got in Sun and Moon. The variety of different items was pretty small, though I loved all the punk leather stuff but WOW IS IT EXPENSIVE. Like Lumiose Boutique expensive. AND WHY IS THERE NEVER A REDHEAD HAIR COLOR THAT ISN'T JUST AUBURN RED? There are actually A LOT of redheads with LIGHT RED hair (that's more a personal gripe than anything, I know).

A lot of the music felt almost like rehashes of older BGMs. Like, Postwick, Route 1, and Wedgehurst all sound like they have remixed Hoenn music. A lot of the other music tracks just don't feel fitting for the areas or for Pokémon games in general. I like parts of the Slumbering Weald music and I like the Gym Music, but the opening of Slumbering Weald feels awkward and like it doesn't fit a mysterious forest we're not allowed to be in.

I know I've complained a lot, but there were some things I genuinely liked. A lot of the Pokémon designs, place names, and other radiant decor and parts of the region are actually subtle and not so subtle references to cultural points of the UK. Skwovet and its evolution for example are a gray and red squirrel respectively and are a nod to invasive species, which is neat.

In Conclusion

Is Pokémon Sword and Shield amazing? No. Is it bad? No. Sword and Shield fall into that mediocre middle ground of being ok but nothing to write home about. Could I have done without them? Sure, they aren't some world ending imperitive must play. They're ok, and they make for a fine jumping on point and a fine little adventure if you have spare time. Have other mainline games done it better? Heck yeah, but that doesn't mean Sword and Shield haven't done a few good things too.

Overall, it sort of feels like GameFreak bit off more than they could chew, or were afraid to make changes because of unfamiliarity with the Switch's hardware and software limitations. Pokémon Let's Go had a lot more effort, but it also was much safer and had a much easier to work with art style to everything. Chibi proportions are a lot easier to fake than a more realistic counterpart. Things can be not perfect and it's less noticable than with more realistic proportions, and I think they were afraid to push back the deadline any further for the inevitable backlash despite that being what they likely needed. The DLC may change my mind, but as it stands, just the fact that they feel they can JUSTIFY their laziness with DLC packs really upsets me.

I give Pokémon Sword and Shield a 5/10.

It's just, OK.

[flannelshirtandjeans]

how do you ART so good? like i was trying to come up with an actual specific question to ask you bc you're The Good At Art, but i can't because, well, there's SO MANY things you do well and i wanna know ALL your secrets. well ok i don't actually want to steal your secrets because that would be rude and mean of me, but like, seriously, do you have any advice? regardless, thank u for taking the time to read this! & i hope u have a nice week!

OH FRIENDE. I don’t know! :D Or like I kinda know but also don’t, so hope you’re ready for some advice that won’t get anyone any kind of good quick but like. the ida way. (Also please do steal all my secrets please I’m not an art dragon who guards her secrets furiously I’m a giving dragon who wants art people to have fun and learn from each other.) I’m the kinda ‘make work fun’ kind of a person who grows slowly but has a lot of fun on the way. xD I’m the epitome of fake it till you make it.

So. what I kinda did was find that thing I love drawing (f.ex. my own ocs! or a npc from a vidya game!), and draw nothing but that same thing for like five years.

because you know. repetition is the mother of all learning or something. >___>’’’’’’ -sweats-

I also drew nothing but dogs as commission for like a year. I hated it. It didn’t make me a better artist, except maybe in the patience department.

Sometimes I sucked, and suck! I post it anyway because there’s such a thing as sucking confidently and learning from what mistakes you recognize you made! But also not letting them stop you from producing content that you can still slap somewhere visible and sometimes get nice validating words on! Or don’t! But don’t throw it away either until you have too many files or papers to comfortably store. You need it for seeing how far you’ve come! Sometimes you can draw that thing AGAIN later and it’ll be cool! Like so (even the newer version is a couple of years old):

I also do a thing where I just. look at things. Look at them real hard but kinda idly (without looking like I’m staring if it’s a person). Like I’d sit in the car and daydream about how I’d brush stroke by brushstroke paint (as if I’m that deliberate) that cloud that I see through the window screen for HOURS. Can I do it in practice? NO! But in my dreams it’s awesome and I did learn Something! Take photos to use for reference later and never use them! You just have lots of pretty pictures in your camera then!

Sometimes you can just paint a whole picture in your head if you feel like. It doesn’t make a picture on paper! But it’s still practice! Really weird practice but it’s also fun!

Speaking of references - references are great! Use them! When you have the patience! Otherwise use them and then don’t use them when you’d need them a lot. Look at people’s elbows or how their arms and legs work and stuff them in the passive reference bank. VISUAL MEMORY. Mine sucks, just so we’re clear. My horses look like cows when I use visual memory. My dogs look cats because I live with a cat. But that’s okay! They can be like that until I need them to look right and get the references I need.

I have. so many thousands of screenshots. for reference. I never use them unless I’m drawing a NPC I’ve never drawn before or can’t draw for the life of me without looking directly at them. xD Like Ellie!

Read advice. Think on it. Don’t implement it if it doesn’t feel like your thing or just because someone told you to. You’re allowed to throw away advice and tips that don’t work for you. Like for a long time I read about clean lines and line economy and how they’re superior and how THIS is how you make them, and just went ‘I like my chicken scratches thank you’. I did end up with a lot cleaner lines eventually but I got there MY way and found my way to enjoy them! Like sometimes!!! you’re not ready for a certain piece of advice maybe, like skill-wise, or maybe sometimes you just disagree, period? At the time I did not have the skill or something something for lines like I do today (which still! aren’t super clean! and that’s okay!)! And I still like the chicken scrithces a lot, like that’s a style on its own! Scribble away confidently! If you find a new way to do things eventually and evolve in your art, that’s great! 

Stabilizers are great! Like really nice!

Use colors that you like. Use colors that you like together! You’ll find the stuff that you think looks nice and will find new ways to combine them to make them EVEN BETTER.

Try out art tutorials sometimes just for the heck of it if you think they look promising. Sometimes you learn cool things!

Get ideas that are Ambitious. never doubt for a second your ability to at least TRY! When you go ‘I for sure can’t’ you stop trying things that seem to be above your skill level but may actually not be.

My art motto and motto in general is ‘of course I can’ in a lot of aspects. It sounds cocky but it also gets rid of the threshold where I teeter and just end up not even trying.

If something doesn’t work, try a different style instead of forcing it. When I get frustrated with lines, I end up painting everything. When “realism” (very loosely lmao) frustrates me, I draw chibis for three months. When you go back, you’ll find it tends to work better already.

Let yourself be lazy if you want to be and can be (i.e. are not working on a commission, for example). Everything doesn’t have to be super polished and correct when it’s just for fun.

OH! Important! FIND THE TOOLS AND PROGRAMS AND BRUSHES YOU ENJOY, but don’t be afraid to experiment! I paint in Medibang Paint Pro and use like THREE brushes, but mostly just two really. But also sometimes taking other brushes and seeing what they can do is super fun!

Also adjustment layers are your friend. I usually end up painting with too little contrast or too not saturated for my likes on the first try, and adjustments can really help with that! If there’s a tool for it it’s not cheating!!!

leaving something unfinishes is better than not trying at all

Recognize your flaws! Work on them when you have the time but you don’t have to become great at them right now immediately! There’s so many things to learn, it’s okay to take your time and do things in order that happens to work for you!

Um. idk that’s it? Draw a lot and have fun doing it and don’t feel bad when you don’t because progress happens even when you take breaks!!! I SWEAR. It’s called training your eye!!!

oh and also also: try drawing some moles or body hair or some stitches on a visible seam. I can’t even begin to describe how often that fools people into thinking that my art has more detail than it actually does.

Uh. If you want some more like. detailed advice just ask, I may know what I’m doing and have answers or may not. xD 

[betterbinderproject]

Hi, when you say that you understand completely the reasons why people don't like the better binder project you're being very presumptuous. It's not the same as well-meaning but ignorant abled people attempting to solve highly complex and expensive problems of access for disabled people. And furthermore, the way you talk about this is really condescending and frankly just...you make assumptions that you understand the intimacies of how people think and feel that are just not true or analogous.

Like I mean this in the nicest possible way, but cisgender people’s relation to trans people is just not the same, and it would be a lot less patronizing and transphobic of you to *not* characterize every possible negative and/or critical reaction to this blog as being a reflexive anger and automatic rejection instead of being a justified and/or reasonable wariness. Like I absolutely hope this project succeeds, but there’s no reason to think that you’re qualified to make it succeed.

I’m going to use this also as a way to respond to your post, which didn’t show up on my Acitivity, so I’m glad someone pointed me to it.

1. My ability to listen to criticism

For the last couple weeks, I’ve been monitoring the activity of my posts, especially looking for people saying things like, “This will never work”, “this is a bad idea”, “won’t work for me” and so forth. Then a lot of the time I’ve messaged them to say, “Hi, I want to hear about your thoughts and experiences, do you have time to talk?”. I’m in a little bit of a backlog with this because some really smart and informed people have been commenting on it but I’ve been busy. For example, if I got the chance to listen to @the-scottish-costume-guy at greater length and in greater detail in the next couple days, I’d be really happy.

So while some criticisms have been reflexive rage or despair, others have been completely on point and I’ve already integrated them into my design (for example, recommendations to slope the boning diagonally down and to the outside). And others have been logical on the surface, but don’t apply to the specific thing I am trying to do (eg. “corsets are expensive”)

2. My credentials

I’ve been sewing seriously for the last 20 years. In some of that time, I’ve been paid for my work. For much of it, I’ve both been reading academic sources on the topic, and sewing in the workshops of vastly more experienced sewists. Over and above all my other sewing experience, I’ve made and worn numerous corsets. There is no set certification for a “professional tailor” but yes, if I wanted to do that as a job, I do have the resume and portfolio for it.

Tailoring isn’t actually the field you want here, though. Since beginning this project, I’ve located and contacted several researchers in the fields of human ecology, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering, who have relevant expertise. None have yet gotten back to me, probably partly because it’s summer. If someone more qualified than me wants to work on this project, I am 100% willing to collaborate with them, or hand the project off to them.

3. My profiting from this project

I’ve already made some very particular and pointed decisions about this. If I wanted to significantly profit from this project, I would:

Keep my R&D process secret

Patent and license the design

Sell patterns of the design I made for individuals wanting to make their own, individual, copy

Sell binders I myself made, or possibly outsource their production and then sell the result

Send cease&desist letters threatening to sue anyone selling copies of my binder, or any other binder on similar design principles, or any pattern for such a binder

Demand that anyone wanting to profit from the use of my design principles pay me a licensing fee.

Meanwhile, my plan right now includes:

Publicizing my concepts and progress in a way freely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection

Maintaining a record of my progress to keep anyone else from claiming to be its inventor and licensing it in exploitative ways

Encouraging feedback from as many people as possible and seeking out trans, nb, and genderqueer perspectives 

Coming soon: Creating a survey about wearer experiences and health outcomes, asking anyone involved in this project to report back so the data can be disseminated and analyzed. If this project and my design are a failure, I will say so.

Making design concepts, and in the future, patterns and tutorials, freely available to anyone with an internet connection, and agreeing to their republication to reach other audiences

Only receiving donations from people who understand that this is an experimental venture, posed as the question, “What if I tried this thing,” and only profiting from items that I have ensured people could get for themselves some other way. (eg “Here’s a free tutorial on making this binder using items from the dollar store. However, if you want to buy a $20 kit of high-quality items pre-cut for your convenience, here’s my Etsy”)

Providing prototypes to their intended wearers for free in return for feedback about the wearers’ experiences, instead of selling half-baked designs for a profit

Openly encouraging other sewists to suggest design improvements, make their own versions, or make binders for other people without paying me

In the future, I’m very open to stepping back in my own role in this project, and handing it off to trans people who have taken the idea and run with it.

From a legal perspective, I have probably already ruined my chances of making big bucks from this project, and I did that on purpose. From the beginning, I realized that it is very possible for me to be exploitative in how I handle this project. 

I honestly asked for money because I can’t pay for medications, groceries and utilities right now. I got about $300, which was enough to cover most of my monthly medical expenses. Most of the clients I see as a psychotherapist are disabled, living on extremely limited incomes, and cannot pay me much more than the cost I pay to rent the room we meet in. I’m trying to survive and find a better job. If I had a full-time job and made a decent income, I would be funding this project out of my own pocket. I know how to market and monetize a project like this, and have, from the first, deliberately chosen not to, in large part because I’m cis and this isn’t my issue.

4. Binders over top surgery

This project has largely been inspired by a trans person with whom I have worked, whose parents were involved in a custody dispute beginning when they were 14. At 14 they realized they were trans, but they required the consent of both parents for medical procedures until the age of 18. One parent was extremely transphobic and would not consent to top surgery, although they didn’t see their child on a regular basis and didn’t know how they dressed and presented. During those 4 years, they used a binder as a way of dealing with the dysphoria that made them suicidal. Despite its negative physical health effects (pain, trouble breathing, rashes, etc) the binder was an essential aid to their mental health.

Yes, binding is a “stopgap” method compared to top surgery. However, one of my major areas of work is as a mental health therapist with LGBTQ people, especially teenagers. Not everyone can get top surgery, and not always as quickly as it is needed. Sometimes there is a gap you need to stop.

5. Why do we need better binders at all?

I didn’t go into this because I, frankly, had considered the need for improvements in binder technology so well-documented as to be completely obvious. Just today someone tagged this blog talking about how much they want it to work because “binding gives me rashes, makes my already shitty lungs hurt, makes my back hurt, and doesn’t actually work for me“ Would you like me to curate the research and accounts of people who have problems with the current models of binder available? Is that proof you in fact need?

7. Corsets are unsuitable/super gendered

Yep! That’s why I’m not making corsets. I’m trying to use the engineering elements from corsetry that would make the binder better, and make everything else as un-corset-like as possible. 

How possible this is is an open question right now. For example, corsets need to be fitted so precisely because they go from the bust to the hips, and therefore need the correct bust, waist, and hip measurement, and the correct height, and the correct ratio of all things to each other, and to have the correct vertical profile. My current hypothesis is that by making a binder that covers only the bust, I can eliminate many of these complexities. However, many informed observers of the project have told me that they think I’m wrong, and that the binder will need to extend to the waist to more evenly distribute the load of compression, and a garment that only goes around the chest will cause too much back pain over the long term. This is a question I think can honestly only be answered when I ship my prototypes to my genderqueer friend in Georgia, who shares my measurements and is eager to try each model out for hours/days/weeks and report back.

At present, I am experimenting with adaptations to sports bras, which I also know can be too gendered and induce dysphoria. I’m using them because my current project is aimed at people who have very little experience sewing, and therefore would benefit from only having to add a few elements to an already-constructed garment. After this, I want to see if I can transition those adaptations to something less gendered, like a tank top. After that, I can begin work on drafting a binder entirely from scratch, which, one hopes, I can make as ungendered as possible.

My askbox is open!