#and fear that would ruin the actual artwork enjoyment

[namu-the-orca]

So, I'm just cleaning up my art folder now... I hope you like seeing the old stuff I pull from there lol. I think this is one of the first animations I tried? Or at least one where I tried a more simple scheme. It worked cause it's shit simple but I do think it's cute. Also the file is literally called "super cool bee-eater" so it has that going for it.

[slipping-is-doing-things]

Behold! My version of Gaster

I finally written it all out because I can't draw but certainly can write myself into an hole. Haveing been in the fandom for more than six years I supposed it was finally time I share my version of Gaster.

Word count : 3.7k

Warnings : Self destructive behavior, self harm, depression, implied dissociation, smoking

Fandom : Undertale

Please feel free to draw him, I would cry if anyone would

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General

Gaster's name is actually Wingdings Aster rather than Wingdings Gaster. He never had the heart to correct the king and queen about how his name is actually pronounced.

Gaster isn't related to Sans and Papyrus, he is friends with Sans and resultingly Papyrus.

Wingding's has a sweet tooth though he doesn't openly admit such things. At the same time he'll never turn down sweets.

Gaster's an boss monster. His level of violence sits at five, very close to six from the war, he was only a late teenager (17) when the monsters were sealed underground. His LV is only that high from needing to defend himself.

Dings has had mental health issues since the war, depression and anxiety hung around long term which greatly affected his self worth.

His right eyesocket has always been deformed in a permanent halfmoon. Due to the deformity his sight out of that eyesocket don't work properly, once the crack forms in that eyesocket he loses full sight out of it. Due to what caused the one crack his equilibrium is distorted though most wouldn't notice this.

Before the CORE accident

He used to paint frequently but he slowly stopped doing so. He lost enjoyment in the activity years ago but never could bring himself to get rid of his equipment to paint.

The cracks on his face were not always there and rather born from a mix of stress and a repercussion of a failed experiment. His hands were his own doing as well but that isn't to be spoken about. Visually his hands even with being healed have permanent cracks that break off from the holes in them, they don't fully go through the bone but can be felt and seen.

His smoking habits were born rather innocently at first, he simply wanted to understand why cigarettes were labeled as addictive for humans. Turns out skeletons can become addicted to nicotine much like humans. (Or at least for Gaster)

Post CORE incident

After haveing been in the dark for an intangible amount of time he's grown an intense fear of the dark, artificial or otherwise.

Under stress his full body becomes more melted in an similar manner an wax figure melts under heat. Stressors can be from outside forces or lack of sleep.

Due to the incident his magic isn't what it used to be. His magic being rather erratic even by his standards, he only has the use of one set of extra he can depend on while useing more then one set can become risky.

With his major fear of the dark his sleep schedule is ruined. The doctor sleeping during the day while staying awake at night to make sure this tangible reality doesn't disappear around him.

Detailed appearance

Before his fall Gaster was an skeleton fully. Sadly he had the same deformities his mother had in her own bones. Due to this his appearance is as such before he gained the cracks. Sadly I don't have any commissioned artwork of him without any cracks.

After the incident the Royal scientist takes on a more heavily melted appearance. His upper and lower arms missing with his hands intact, the rest of his body having a more pure black appearance than don't show any shadows cast onto it. His physical bone structure ends at the spine vertebrae L3 with the black goop that's replaced his legs starting at L3 almost L2 visually. The image provided shows both an idea of his stable and unstable appearances.

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Music playlist

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Artwork credits

Puzzle kick - Unknown, I couldn't find the artist with this artwork posted. If anyone knows the true artist, most likely under new handle, please let me know.

Unknown - due to this being a commission I got done on Amino I sadly lost the handle of the very kind individual who drew this for me I sadly can't share who did this. If the original artist sees this please let me know so I can give you the credit you deserve.

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[ardenttheories]

The issue with “Dubiously Canon”.

“Dubiously canon” was a term used by Hussie to describe both the Homestuck Epilogues and Homestuck^2. To his mind, this meant something very simple; in the greater canon of Homestuck - that is, the story it tells and the actual events that happen in its timeline - whatever happens in this continuative media paradoxically is and is not relevant. 

It is a term that allowed Homestuck to continue without actually being “Homestuck”; to carry its name without supposedly tarnishing its branding. It was used to posit a very simple question, and one that is actually fairly interesting to ponder: what is canon? 

This, of course, comes from the background of Homestuck’s community. Homestuck has thousands of fanfiction pieces, thousands of AUs, thousands of posited artworks - everything which is non-canonical, because it did not happen in the core story of Homestuck. 

Hussie, with the suggestion of “dubiously canon”, offered his fandom the choice of pseudo-canonicity; Homestuck is over, and anything that comes after is just one in a series of potentials that might have eventually happened. A piece of fanfiction detailing the life of John as he struggles with depression and eventually finds solace in Dirk is as potentially canonical as a fanartist’s design of Rose wearing her Seer uniform and becoming an actual goddess. 

Nothing is true, everything is permitted, to copy from a rather famous game’s quoting. Homestuck has no actual “end”, so everything we create is as real and unreal as anything else. 

This, of course, is a perfectly valid and reasonable claim to make. Dubiously canonical content allows the fans to be validated and recognised in the context of Homestuck. It’s saying to us, quite simply, that we have been a huge part of the creation of Homestuck - and from here on out, we are as real as Hussie is as authors, as creators for Homestuck. 

What causes it to fail, however, is when Hussie himself then makes a continuation. 

Hussie is the author and creator of Homestuck. In the grand scheme of things, he is the word of god, the lore creator, the one who envisioned it. If Hussie recognises something, it automatically stands out above the rest. It is inherently more canonical because Hussie, as the creator of Homestuck, has looked at it and said, “hey, this is something that could probably happen in Homestuck”. 

As the author, his word is miles above our own. He wrote Homestuck. He made a series of decisions that created Homestuck; without him, it would doubtlessly be completely different from what it is now, if it even existed at all. If Hussie says, “this is Homestuck”, then it simply is - because that’s what being an author means. You create the lore of your world, and anything that you recognise as part of that world is immediately brought into the canon. 

So, of course, the publication of the Epilogues and of Homestuck^2 is a significant issue. This is canonically Homestuck; this is how Hussie has determined that Homestuck would naturally continue. It’s obvious enough with how he described the Epilogues as Homestuck’s “drop-off” point; you can see the Epilogues and turn back, stay with the original story of Homestuck and all of its fanon content, or you can progress into Homestuck^2 and the story Hussie - the author - wants to tell.

By putting his name on it, posting it on his own website, and adding his own thoughts and ideas to it, Hussie has completely negated the point he was trying to make with “dubiously canon” content. Canon is canon because the author decided what is and is not part of the original universe. Whether Hussie wants to recognise it or not, he has declared that the Epilogues and Homestuck^2 are the actual continuations of Homestuck. That this is how Homestuck ends, and carries on. 

Another part of this issue is that Hussie’s name makes it official. Even if this was truly dubiously canon - in a paradoxical place of being both canonical and noncanonical - Hussie’s name and the fact that it’s being written by authors chosen by Hussie, that Hussie is paying to write the content, slaps an incredibly blatant “official” sticker on Homestuck^2 and the Epilogues that can’t be ignored. Money is changing hands. Several voices have been picked out of the crowd and one story has been chosen among thousands to be the Hussie mandated continuation. These are the official people and the official words of Homestuck - and with official branding comes canonical privillages.

Nobody is going to look at a work of fiction on AO3 and say that it has the same weighting as Homestuck^2 does. Nobody is going to look at a fan-made AU and say that it is as canonical as Homestuck^2. 

People already see Homestuck^2 as canon. Not as something that is dubiously canon, but as canon complete. June should not be lauded as a canonical figure, and neither should transmasc Roxy, because in theory they have the exact same canonicity as transmasc John and transfem Roxy - but by being in Homestuck^2 specifically, by being acknowledged by Hussie, the fandom sees them as more canonical than other fandom headcanons. They’re not just headcanons anymore - they’re real. But, in all technicality, they shouldn’t be if Hussie’s ideology is true. 

None of the events of Homestuck^2 should be seen as any more viable than any written fiction by a fan - but even the authors of Homestuck^2 see their word as law, their choices as canon, and their headcanons as the most legitimate. It is impossible to dismiss the canonicity of Homestuck^2. 

It is not the same, does not hold the same weighting, as a piece of fanfiction that maybe went down a route that we didn’t like. It isn’t something that can be brushed off. This isn’t an unknown author making a work of fiction for a piece of media they like; it’s Hussie’s official team, Hussie’s official word, making the official continuation of Homestuck. 

“Dubiously canon” cannot work when the author continues his story. It is no longer “dubious”, it is outright canon. It no longer allows for the fandom to be validated, to be as genuine, as he intended for them to be. Through the sheer effort of writing Homestuck^2, Hussie has completely devalued the entire basis of its literary theory. 

There is, of course, yet another issue, and a fairly significant one at that: the profitisation of the Epilogues. 

The point of the Epilogues was that they were meant to replicate AO3′s fanfiction format. It was meant to show that they were as fanon as any other piece of fiction, and that they held no bolder position in the grand scheme of Homestuck than any fan’s work. 

No fan can profit from their work. No fan has the capacity to publish their fanfiction, to have it sold in stores, and set a price for it. Legally, they cannot get away with doing anything of the like - because they do not own the rights to Homestuck, and their publication could pose issue for Homestuck if casual readers mistake it for an actual piece in the canon. Donations are the best a fanfiction author can hope for, or perhaps Patreon subscribers. 

The point of fanfiction is that it is done for free. The enjoyment of something enough to create for it - and to create something that can never be achieved in the same way official content can - is what makes fandom and fan content what it is. You physically cannot profit from it because it is not your story to profit from; not your character set or your universe to claim. If profits can be found, it is through legal channels that VIZ and Hussie have explicitly allowed, such as commissions. Individual basis, rather than mass-production.

You can likely see where I’m going with this. 

The publication of the Epilogues completely ruins its fanfiction format. It is no longer a piece of fanfiction, styalised on the internet and mirroring what fanfiction authors do every day. It is no longer hosted in that category of fan work. It simply can’t be, because to be published, paid for, stocked on shelves - it has to be canonical, has to be written by the author, or at least endorsed by him. 

To have it published directly separates it from every piece of fanwork it was trying to celebrate. 

Their format was originally designed to emphasise the fact that it’s as non-canonical yet as relevant as other fan works post Earth-C - and is only one variant of the End-Credits continuation. Publication instead emphasises that the Epilogues are the official and canonical ending - because it’s the one that the unknowing public will accept, because it has Hussie’s name on it, and because it is no longer a replica of fanfiction but is instead on par with the other published Homestuck books. 

Yes: publication of the Epilogues puts it in the same place of canonicity as the canonical story of Homestuck, likewise published by VIZ. This is no longer a “drop-off” point; it is what bookstores genuinely cite to be the “long awaited ending to Homestuck”. The issue being, of course, that the Epilogues aren’t an ending; they’re a beginning - one that leads directly into Homestuck^2. Which, by proxy, provides canonicity to Homestuck^2. There is nothing dubious here. 

The problem being, of course, that as an author you cannot claim that your piece of media is meant to validate fan works by being in the style of a fan work, and then actively monetise and profit off of it. You cannot put it into bookstores with your name and your copyright and still claim that it is exactly the same as fanfiction. It just isn’t. It hosts a series of legalities that differentiates it completely from fandom.

The point of “dubious canonicity” is tarnished because of this. No fan author will ever be able to get that level of validation to be published above any other work. No fan author will be seen as that canonical to be praised as the “ending to Homestuck” by book stores. No fan author will receive a penny for the works they create on a similar scale. 

The Epilogues are Homestuck. By profiting off of it, they have explicitly stated that this is how Homestuck ends. They have made it clear that this is part of Homestuck’s canonical story.

The point they tried to make - both in regards to what canon is and how canon and noncanon works in Homestuck^2 - simply can’t exist with the way they have created it. “Dubiously canon” is a contradictory statement, one that doesn’t work for an official piece, and especially is lost when that piece is then profited from. Had it been left as a hand-off to fans, this would have been completely different - but the moment an author then continues to write, dubious canonicity hosts no meaning. 

[suddenfossilfightersheadcanons]

Bullwort and Bandits - Origin and Ending

Bullwort grew up the eldest son amongst five children, forever fighting figuratively and literally to get his way. This propensity for provocation proved dangerous when his father demanded his son study medicine or law, for Bullwort started a fistfight for his right to do art instead. Though he won, his was a Pyrrhic victory, leaving him certain that others couldn’t be trusted, and that exhibiting weakness was nigh-fatal. Thanks to this philosophy, a background noise of aggression and anger haunted him throughout his degree, by the end of which he had collapsed into a solitary, depressed squalor. He exhibited some artworks to apathetic crowds, and lived off dirt and water for a few years. His burgeoning rage manifested in stringent Cubist jawlines and oversaturated backgrounds in his paintings – to most, these seemed ugly and obscene. But to a fellow struggling artist named Lynette June Miles, they were gloriously creative. He adored her paintings in return – but by ’94, it was clear they’d both have to turn to other professions to make a living.

Bullwort retrained as a policeman, granting himself a means of physically expressing his incessant infuriation. But his pleas to Lyn not to throw away her talent proved futile by the end of ’95, when she opened her retirement with a long, long holiday to stay with her boyfriend, Russel Richmond, on Vivosaur Island. Russel was the son of the island’s owner, who was beyond keen on fossil fighting, frequently sending his son to explore the island and discover new dig site ground. However busy he was, Russel was jovial and sweet – the perfect antidote to Lyn (and Bullwort’s) consternation – and he married Lyn on Greenhorn Plains over the spring of ’96, inviting Bullwort as best man.

Whilst on the island, Bullwort met Mr. Richmond, who encouraged him to join their police force. Desperate for job security and a giant salary, he accepted. Lyn, meanwhile, took to exploring with her husband, reapplying her artistic skills as a cartographer. The map of Vivosaur Island visible when travelling in-game is her most famous piece, but the artworks in Bullwort’s office are amongst her best.

However much Richmond’s fervour helped fossil fighting to thrive, it was deleterious to other businesses on the island. (Were it not for Bullwort’s dogged determination, the police would have all but imploded in all but name; meanwhile, almost no non-fighting related trade brings in considerable revenue. It’s quite worrying to consider what would eventuate from a major dino medal provider’s collapse.) Worse than the price paid by the police and people, however, was that paid by Lyn and Russel. Four years after the 1998 birth of their daughter, Rosetta, they were assigned a new mission. Diggins and Richmond had just discovered the Secret Island via radar screening, and were salivating for information. The couple left on Tuesday the 9th of July, and after sending confirmation of their arrival on Wednesday night, sent back nothing. Richmond distracted himself from his accumulating consternation by organising a search party for Monday. Bullwort, insomniac and distracted with deep, deep dread, bullied Diggins into admitting the location of the Secret Island on Saturday night, and left the next morning.

Bullwort quickly found his way to the ruins of the Starship. The entrance had caved in, and beneath the rubble... Two long, limp, rotten objects…

Russel and Lyn dead too soon. He took them back to the mainland and sobbed all the long night and all morning. To honour them, he returned to the island two days later, and cleaned up the collapsed doorway with Amargo’s power scale. When he did, another chunk of land thundered down, striking him in the middle of the back. He returned bitter over both the deaths and the injury.

Richmond was horrified. If he’d been a little less callous, his daughter-in-law and son would still be alive. Now, here they lay, six feet beneath his heels. Grateful to Bullwort, he promoted him to police chief on the 20th. Then, as if the newly declared sergeant regent hadn’t cleaned up the Secret Island, he barred it to all visitors, insisting that the Starship was too sensitive a matter to be known to the public. Bullwort’s ephemeral pride vanished. In its place, loathing sprung up. His promotion, he decided, was for arriving too late to change what mattered most – in other words, for being weak. This wasn’t honour – this was humiliation, and all because of Richmond’s shallow love of dino medals. That man could not be fit to rule. Bullwort could. He maintained a veneer of cordiality with Richmond, but from July 20 onwards, to him, their relationship was well and truly in livor mortis.

Bullwort founded the BB Bandits as the anti-Richmond mafia – everything they did was to disrupt fighters wherever possible. They began as a lucrative fossil black market trader, dealing in rare vivosaurs and miraculous/wondrous fossils. By legal standards, the prices were ugly, but compared to other vendors, they were beyond lucrative. (Saurhead was infamously intercepted mid gold head fossil transaction – but while the press censured him, the public couldn’t help but empathise.) These operations briefly drove Vivosaur Island’s economic growth into the ground. Unfortunately for Bullwort, Diggins responded with two initiatives which have made the Island the richest Fossil Eden worldwide: Establishing fighter levels and level-up battles, and found the Donation Points scheme. The former fuelled tourism while allowing Diggins to bar dangerous and archaeologically vulnerable dig sites to the public. The latter meant that fighters could obtain vivosaurs such as Stego, Spino, and Compso for no price but an annual fee.

The majority of recruitments into the Bandits were black-market based: if one was caught trading one time too many, it’d be easier to join them than to face an absurd jail sentence. The fear of the authorities bred a culture of paranoia and despotism amongst the grunts, meaning that Bullwort could easily ask one of his flightier underlings to carry out some deranged measures. Medal-stealing wasn’t uncommon, but occasionally, grunts turned to attacking fighters with a mind to kill. Beth infamously had her shoulders and her clavicle broken by a BB Bandit intent on murder – ever since that incident, Diggins has pressured Richmond into increasing dig site security. All male BB grunts must shave their heads, and all grunts, regardless of sex, must don the oppressively drab uniforms. It’s meant to prevent police from recognising individuals at a distance, but it’s despised – Snivels was never actually promoted, but gained valence amongst his peers for refusing to obey the dress code.

Most non-black market Bandit operations involve defacing dig sites in degrees ranging from graffiti to arson. Bullwort drew the line at cave-ins – that would be too painful after Lyn and Russel’s deaths. The majority of his most dramatic stunts were executed in Knotwood Forest, where he terrorised the residents and chieftain into directing him to Frigi, vandalised the Digadigamid, and stole numerous artefacts. Whilst the BB Bandits never traded the latter, they did steal particularly beautiful relics from dig sites all around, with Bullwort typically hoarding them.

The Bandits’ market operations, led by Vivian, made Bullwort rich very, very quickly. As he’d never had an awful lot of money prior to this, he quickly became drunk on cash, exchanging his morals for avarice and deluskon. Bullwort had always planned to obtain Frigi to stage his coup in the Guild Area – but after twelve years of Cain-raising, he built up a capacity for spite and pettiness that hadn’t been present initially. Originally, he wanted to covertly control the islands. By 2014, he’d given up on them, and thought he’d be better off as a glorious dictator than a fool attempting to save a hopeless slab of land.  

Bullwort’s arrest didn’t collapse the Bandits, but currently, they’re nothing more than an economic nuisance dominating the black market. Sometimes, they engage with the other two B syndicates to spread chaos. But ever since the Caliosteo Cup, Joe’s made it nigh-impossible for the Bandits to access miraculous/wondrous fossils as before, which has driven away most of their clientele who weren’t lost to the DP scheme. Vivian’s considering moving the Bandits into more general illegal trade, such as drug trafficking – however, since Bullwort’s departure, her conscience has inflated, making that difficult to consider. It’s likely that after she leaves, the Bandits will simply pack up and go home to their wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, grandparents, children, sisters, and brothers.

However momentous Bullwort’s arrest was, Vivosaur Island’s citizens paid dearly for it. Thanks to his iron grip on his men, almost all crime on Vivosaur Island other than disruption to fossil was eradicated. Without him, the forces have slid back into incompetency. Bullwort could likely break out if he wanted to, but ever since his wife donated an easel to his cell, he’s been quite content to paint behind bars. As long as they don’t give him carrot sandwiches, there’s no point for him in escaping – for wherever he goes, he’ll face poverty, ignominy, and dissatisfaction.

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Thank you so much to @biblical-mythconceptions for requesting this topic! I’d never really considered the BB Bandits before, so this was huge, huge fun! I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. 

And as these asks are so enjoyable to answer, please send some in! I can’t guarantee I’ll respond quickly, but I promise I’ll put in all the effort I can.

[yellowfoot-06]

Why you should read Cucumber Quest

      So it is currently 2 am in the morning and I decided to write an essay. I may put this in draft form and continue if I get too tired. This will probably be less me trying to convince you to read it and more me gushing about Cucumber Quest. This is also just me distracting myself from what is happening with it right now.  There will be no pictures but just me referencing pages of it because I am on the computer so it is hard for me to put in pictures compared to Mobile. More under the cut if you care for this and link if I was somehow able to convince you to read this underrated comic.

https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

Main Details

      This section is just a simple overview of the comic and I will elaborate more in the Character/Story section. The comic is about a little flat planet called Dreamside. The pancake planet is inhabited by bunny people and like, some pigs in one country/kingdom. An alien named Queen Cordelia has taken over the Donut kingdom and is trying to collect the Disaster stones to summon the Nightmare Knight, an ancient evil that used to destroy Dreamside 500,000 years ago (And the Dreamsiders somehow haven’t technologically advance in half a million years using the theming of two characters) Anyways, now it is up to Cucumber and his sister, Almond, along with two other characters to help defeat her and save dreamside! You should probably read Cucumber Quest and come back after reading the prologue and Chapter 0 (Also the beginning of chapter 1 for good measure) because there is some suspense there that is hard to not spoil when talking about the story and characters.

Art Work

        Anyways, here is an entire section about the artwork and designs alone because of how beautiful it is. The artwork is probably all you need to know before reading the comic. Page 804 is probably a good non-spoilery example of the artwork. You can also see the gradual improvement in the artwork if you compare the artwork from prologue to (currently the latest chapter) chapter 5. It makes sense to see the artwork progress because it is 9 years old (since I’m writing this) and it is still going on. In the printed version (which only goes to chapter 3 for now) You might notice that the artist/author, Gigi D.G., Redrew some of the pages. The printed version also has some exclusive stuff in it if you want.                                                                                                                         

        The character designs are another plus. Now they are very visually pleasing because of the colours used for them. They all have nice and soft colour schemes. Most of the characters also all are the same species say for the antagonists and some other characters. This kinda separates the villains from the protagonists (The antagonists also have different speech bubbles and some of them have this thing where the style slightly changes when they come on screen with the protagonists). The setting kinda makes everyone's designs unique yet fitting (There is literally a character that is just a giant black circle and she somehow fits). On the side note of unique character designs, even when the color schemes _and _outfits change on the characters change, you can still see that it is them based on the designs and personalities. Pages 346 and 349 are good examples of this yet slightly spoilery. Other good examples are basically the entirety of chapter 5.

Characters/ Story

       I mashed both the characters and story section into one because the characters are the ones moving the story along and it is kinda hard talking about one without talking about the other. Anyways, let’s talk about the protagonists, Almond, Cucumber, Sir Carrot, and Nautilus. You can also put the antagonists in the protagonists territory because of how well written they are.                           

       Cucumber is a great main protagonist because of his ideals. His character is slightly cliche, you know, the nerd preteen (At least I think he is that age range) has to now save the world and he doesn’t want to do it. Now there is no real “Oh, I don’t think he can do it” in there but he does have an idea of pacifying the antagonists and everyone thinks that is a silly Idea except for Nautilus. Now, Gigi puts a twist on the second part by making him slightly possessive of this idea. So much in fact that he kinda ignores the people around him. He tries to pacify the Nightmare Knight in chapter 3, it was working until Almond comes along and ruins it. Now, the Nightmare Knight scares them with a near-death experience. They talk about it now shook, and Cucumber now sees Almond crying and realizes that she was just trying to protect him. From the outside view, it seems like the antagonists are awful monsters, so it looks like Cucumber is needlessly endangering himself when the better answer would be to stab them all to death. I just love this twist and how he becomes more insensitive to others when trying to sympathetic to the antagonists. The end of chapter 5 is also a good part of Cucumber’s ark when he believes in an assumption and starting less to believe in his own cause.                                      

              Almond also has a great story ark in this comic. In the beginning, she is cocky and believes that saving the world is just gonna be a nice adventure like in the tv shows she watches. She is actually the main reason they are on the adventure, to begin with. Her stubbornness and cockiness starts to dilate the further she is on this adventure and when she sees the real danger that is happening. In chapter 4 this is brought up by Cucumber. She still has some of her beginning ark in her but now it seems like it is a mask that she puts on.        

           The other two protagonists are Princess Nautilus and Sir Carrot. Sir Carrot came into the story before Nautilus so I’ll talk about him first. Sir Carrot is just a simple knight that wanted to help two bakers out. He is not really interesting compared to the others. At the beginning of the story he was scared by everything but you can really see a reason begin to form in chapter 3 and onwards. He has a really interesting dynamic with the Nightmare Knight and with some other characters. The final protagonist in the group, and my personal favorite, is Princess Nautilus! She is probably the funniest and most comedic out of the three. Her comedic shenanigans make me laugh a whole lot. There are only two characters that make me happier when I see them. She hardly changes in the story, the only real changes that happen is that her comedy starts to dwindle as the story progressed. A big part of her ark is a little eel named Liquus. They have such a cute dynamic together that started to dwindle more after chapter 3.                                                                                               

       Now, time for the most interesting characters, the antagonists. The first villains we see are Queen Cordelia and Peridot (pronounced Peridoh). They have a nice and cute familial connection. Cordelia is stubborn and confident. She is a cat from an alien planet that came to conquer Dreamside with the help of the Nightmare Knight. When Cordelia summoned the Nightmare Knight, her confidence starts to break as she sees his power. She seems to be a powerful conqueror with confidence in her actions, so seeing her in fear is a slight surprise as summoning the Nightmare Knight in the first place was her idea. When she interacts with Peridot, she is calm and motherly, another thing that separates her from her average personality. The Nightmare Knight is also very intriguing because he is basically stuck in a place he can’t escape from as both sides are antagonizing him and he has this cycle but it can’t keep going on forever and with fears of what happened before and-                                             

         Great, now that we got all the other characters off the plate (except for the side characters) now we can talk about the best characters (in my opinion) the Disaster Masters! This is where the gushing really begins! They are the most interesting when you think about the logistics of each character and the cycle they have been. I can’t talk about every character since there are 8 and this section is already extremely lengthy. So I am speeding through each of these. Splashmaster: adorable but not really interesting. Ya Boi: great and the first example to show that everything is not completely what it seems. Mutemaster: probably the most forgettable and gets over shined by Ya Boi. Rosemaster: Oh ho ho! This is where the story starts to turn darker and she is a really good character, her chapter might be one of the best. Thebestmaster: Name says it all, he is the best and if you say otherwise I will personally stab you through the screen. Quakemaster: Same as Splashmaster, except replace adorable with menacing. Mistmaster: Terrifying and even more so if you think about what happened to him. Glitchmaster: You know about the circle I talked about earlier? Yeah, that's her. She is a lot more spooky with context.                            

         Woohoo! This is (hopefully) the last paragraph of the section! The side characters are where the comedy mainly lays on. These characters are very wide-ranged. You have characters such as psychopathic 10-year-old, realistic Rabbit, and a bunch of crabs. These characters are normally comedic and a great part of the story. Some characters are more important like Cosmo, the psychopathic 10-year-old. Other characters are just jerks jokes like Cucumber’s father. Even though some aren’t important, all of them are likable/enjoyable.

Final

     Finally! If you read the entirety of this, then uhh, you read it! Here is a link to  a Youtube video that is a lot shorter and more concise than this essay, and the link to the comic again: 

Video: https://youtu.be/4uiO9ZKj2HE

Comic: https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

[anchoredtether]

Still Got It

<– Inspired by honestlyprettychill’s beautiful Fault in Our Stars artwork –>

Title: His Driving is Comparable to a Disneyland Ride

Author: AnchoredTether

Rating: T [mild swearing, dark themes]

Pairings: Plance [Lance x Pidge]

Series: Still Got It

Chapter: 2/?

Summary: “Everyone is useful in some shape or form, at some point in their life, to an insurmountable number of people. Everyone’s existence affects the fabric of space and time whether they realize it or not, and this reality as we know it is affected by your very existence. So…” I waved a hand dismissively as if I just explained something rather simple. “Like I said… no one is useless.”

Lance was dumbstruck for a moment, his jaw slightly slacked and his eyebrows lowered. “Holy crow.” Then his bewilderment slowly turned into a wicked grin. “Aren’t you something else.”

"Okay I just have to warn you… riding in Red is an… experience."

"Red?" I had just made it down the last step with my oxygen tank which I insisted I carry. "You named your car after its color?"

Lance made a strange sound while he bit his lower lip. "Wwwwwell… sorta." He jerked his head towards the street where cars were parked along the side. "Mine's the Jeep."

I looked and although I didn't know cars all that well (Hunk was a bit of a nerd when it came to those kinds of things - he was a mechanic after all) but I did recognize the old, beat up Jeep Cherokee. Except it was a faded blue, not the cherry red I was looking for.

"Are you colorblind?" I knew reds and greens were easily confused for those who were colorblind (heck, Matt was slightly colorblind, I had to sometimes give him pointers on his wardrobe) but I had never heard of anyone confusing reds with blues. "Your car is blue."

"Yep."

"…soooo why do you call it Red?"

He let out a small laugh that held the hint of a snicker, as if he were trying to hold back his laughter. "So, the local ad for it said it was 'red.' But when I actually saw the car it was this hideous shade of orange, like when you grab the crayon you think is red but it's the 'red orange' one and then your picture is completely ruined. So I had my car painted and apparently red is a super expensive paint color so I went with blue instead. But I was already set on calling my car 'Red' so it stuck." He shrugged his shoulders, as if it made complete sense. "Besides, my cat's name is Blue so I couldn't name my car the same name."

"Your cat's name is Blue?" I let out a playful scoff. "I worry for your future children, Green and Yellow."

He laughed and the sound was music to my ears. When we reached his car he opened the passenger door for me, his hands offering once again to take my tank but I shooed him away as I pulled it in myself. He held up his hands defensively before closing the door and I thought it was the most endearing thing. He kept wanting to help me and normally I would have gotten more annoyed by his persistence, but despite his desire to constantly help he also allowed me to do it myself. Most guys would have insisted and grabbed the tank from me despite my protesting. Lance always offered a hand but also gave me the choice whether or not to take it.

That may have been part of the influencing factor to inviting him over.

When he got situated in his seat he turned to look at me, his blue eyes serious. "Have you ever been to Disneyland?"

"Yeah?"

"Been on the Indiana Jones ride?"

I didn't like where this was headed. "Yes?"

"My driving is like that. Kinda jerky and terrifying and you may fear for your life sometimes, but otherwise compleeeeetely safe," he said with a reassuring hand gesture.

While I wanted to believe him, I still made sure my seatbelt was tight and secure. He ignited the engine and the car purred to life. He hit on the radio and immediately started belting out to the song that played. It caught me off guard at first, especially when he jerked the car out onto the road, but as I watched him move his lips to the tune his energy was contagious as I formed a smile. I began to sing along with him, although not nearly as well, until I half yelped half screamed when Lance jerked the car to a stop at the red stop sign and it was so hard I thought we hit something.

"Sorry. I can't exactly push the brake gently," he said while pursing his lips together and making a popping sound. "I have no idea where we're going. Well I know we're going to your house, but I don't know where your house is."

"Oh! Right." Lance started to turn the car right but I quickly yelled, "Nonono! Straight! Go straight!" The car flung back on course and now I was starting to understand why he compared his driving to the Indiana Jones ride. I could start to feel my lunch work its way back up. "I said 'right' as in 'of course' or 'gotcha,' not the direction."

"Gotcha," he smirked. "Good thing no one was around to see that, right?"

"Right."

"You mean, of course."

"Right." Lance started singing again but I had to yell "RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT!!" when he almost missed the turn. "I meant the direction that time!!"

He let out a wheezing sound. "Just point with your fingers from now on."

~ ~ ~

I don't think my mom has ever been so ecstatic in her life.

Not only had I made a new friend (wasn't even sure to call him that yet), but it was a boy and I was the one to initiate inviting him to dinner. I was surprised my mom didn't accuse me with the 'who are you and what have you done with my daughter?' line. Honestly, I was still trying to grasp the fact I invited a stranger boy over for dinner.

I'd never hear the end of it from Matt.

Despite the dread and anxiety I felt crawling up my stomach at the thought of Lance meeting my family and my family reacting to me inviting Lance (and the feeling in my stomach wasn't just from his driving), seeing Shiro answering the door somehow made everything more bearable. The man was practically another brother of mine.

"Hey!" Shiro greeted us with a welcoming smile. "Lance, how's the leg?"

"Still kickin'! How's the arm?"

"Still hanging!" They both laughed and did the classic bro hand grab pull-in hug thing. I shook my head with a smile as I entered the house to see mom and Matt beaming with enough energy to rival the sun. I wanted to groan out loud but I tried to be on my best behavior, if not for Lance's sake, for Shiro's.

Oddly enough, the dinner discussion flowed more smoothly than I could imagine. My family only asked about Lance (and nothing too touchy concerning his leg or his cancer) and Shiro told some funny stories and my dad went on this long tangent about Godel's incompleteness theorems. It wasn't until I blurted the question that was gnawing my mind did the evening take a turn.

"So is your prosthetic trans-tibial or trans-femoral?"

"Katie!" My mother had a look that was a mix of shock and disappointment.

"Oh so that's your real name?" Lance asked in a muffled voice, his mouth full of food.

Mom rolled her eyes and I knew I was going to get a talk later. "She introduces herself as Pidge at the group therapy??"

"I figured it was a nickname," Lance shrugged, swallowing. "But to answer your question, I think trans-femoral. Does that mean my leg ends somewhere along my femur?" When I nodded (since my mouth was full) he continued, "Yeah they told me I have an AK which stands for 'above the knee.' Sounds like I've got a firearm for a leg, which is cool."

"Lance, sweetheart," my mom started, "You don't have to talk about your prosthetic if you don't want to. I'm sorry Katie brought it up."

"You don't have to talk about anything that makes you uncomfortable," my father added.

Lance frowned, shrugging once more. "It's fine. I'm fine. A month ago I probably wouldn't be, but… there's no point in avoiding it. It's a part of me now."

"That's the spirit!" Shiro said with a playful punch from his fake arm. "In time you'll hardly notice it. You're handling it better than I did - took me months to get used to it."

"Yeah but you lost your arm, your hand. Arguably you use that a lot more than your leg."

Shiro hummed. "Perhaps for more finite, dexterous movements. But unless you're vegging on the couch watching Netflix all day, you use your legs more."

"It's true," I pitched in. "Plus, a transfemoral amputee must use approximately eighty percent more energy to walk than a person with two whole legs. I'd say your adjustment is harder than Shiro's."

"Huh," Lance said, "I never thought of it that way…"

Matt side-eyed mom before he focused his attention on Lance. "What kind of hydraulics does your prosthetic use? Or does yours have a motor or microprocessor?"

"Uuuhhh…" Lance looked between all of us like we were speaking a different language. "I actually don't know any of that. I just do what the doctors tell me."

"You'd probably have to have some kind of microprocessing to keep the movements of the knee in sync with your left leg," I said, biting my lip as I thought. "Might even utilize myoelectric signals."

"How about I just show you my leg?" Lance suggested. My lips parted in an excited gasp but my mother cut me off before I could gush about how much I wanted to see the mechanics of his prosthetic.

"Absolutely not. Katie, I think it's time we served our guest dessert instead of examining him."

"It's fine, Mrs. Holt," he said with a lifted hand, "but I'll at least wait until we're done at the dinner table."

~ ~ ~

Despite the fact I never got to see his leg (whenever he tried to show me my mother interfered), we had an enjoyable time together. After dinner and dessert, Lance got to see the ugly side of my family as we played several rounds of Uno. Poor Shiro could never win at that game with his arm's lag. We played a few rounds of Taboo as well, something my father and brother were crazy good at. Lance was constantly surprised at how quickly they guessed the word when only a few clues were given. He had a nice energy about him - the way he smiled, the contagiousness of his laugh, the pleasant upbeat tone of his voice - all contributed to my inevitable falling for him.

When it was time for him to go, my mom sent him home with a bunch of leftovers and extra brownies. I walked with him out to his blue car named Red. The sun had already set but it was still pretty light out and everything was set into a hazy purple dusk. Crickets were chirping and a cool breeze graced the evening air.

"I hope my family wasn't too overwhelming," I said, almost an apology.

Lance snorted. "Your family, overwhelming? You should see mine."

I laughed but stopped short when I realized that his words could have been taken as an invitation. I idly wondered if he meant them that way, and if so, then we both had invited each other over to our families on the first day of knowing each other. Way to move quickly, Pidge.

"I'd like to see yours," I said, not even realizing how… cheesy that sounded. This was turning into some cheap romance straight out of a Twilight novel and I wanted to crawl into my bed and never see the light of day again. But at the same time… I meant it. "And your cat, who I hope isn't actually blue and you're just being colorblind again."

Lance offered me a smirk and it was a look I don't think I'd ever get tired of seeing. "How about next week after group therapy we have dinner at my place instead? You might want to bring earplugs, my family's loud."

"I'm sure they're fine," I scoffed, offering him a smile. "That… actually sounds like a good plan. Assuming you still want to come to group therapy."

"Are you kidding? I freakin' love Coran!" He chuckled. "And besides, I'd like to see you again. I know I already thanked your parents a dozen times, but seriously… thank you for inviting me over."

I felt my face grow hot and lungs tighten. I raised a hand to rub the back of my neck out of nervousness. "I… it's no problem, I mean… you're welcome." I finally gained the courage to lift my eyes to meet his gorgeous blues. The contact made me want to shy away once more but somehow I found myself entranced as my eyes stayed glued upon his irises. "I'm glad we were able to meet, since you were able to see Shiro again and all. It was kind of a neat coincidence."

I didn't think his smirk could get any more enticing but it did. "There is no such thing as coincidence, Katie." The way he said it was pure poetry and I almost converted to his philosophy on the spot.

I offered him a playful frown and my rebuttal: "There is no such thing as fate, Lance."

"We'll see about that."

[fictionstuff]

Status: played through in about 11-13 hours, guide was used frequently for story progression

Points: 3,5/5 [3,4375]

I never actually thought I would get the chance to play the first Final Fantasy game, but Pixel Remaster made it possible. I’ll also be more than happy to play II - VI as well. Hard to imagine that a fame game studio like Square Enix released this game when they were on the edge of bankruptcy while JRPGs were something super rare? Final Fantasy is probably one of the best selling JRPG series of all time and it all came to live with this first game. Visually it’ll be hard to compare it to modern games and even gameplay has evolved a lot since the 80s, but I can at least tell you the parts of the games I enjoyed and which seem a bit strange and old to me.

Artwork/Design - 3,5

There are many brilliant looking pixel games out there. Inmost comes to mind here and while the pixel art looks clean and sharp, there is not exactly a whole lot of variety as each town, each building and each dungeon look very much alike to each other. Not much of a surprise considering this was released like 35 years ago. Nonetheless the Pixel Remaster looks so much better than the original game and it’s amazing to think that such structures were possible 30 years ago. Most impressive might have just been the home of the elves where Link may rest in peace (what a disturbing coincidence?).

Enemy designs are also pretty top notch for such an old game, not gonna lie.

Story/Gameplay - 3

Last year I tried Dragon Quest, a game from the same era and it was incredibly confusing. I had the same fears starting with Final Fantasy I but it’s so different and soooo much easier to understand and navigate, which is practically already praise to the gameplay and story. Game styles have changed so much through time, haven’t they? Nowadays you even get a mark on the map or a sign on the screen on where you have to go and how far away it is, but in Final Fantasy it’s all about talking to every damn citizen, perhaps even taking notes because all of them have some small story to tell about locations or persons that all contain a certain role within the story.

Final Fantasy however has one of the most basic, most heroic, JRPG compliant settings. You control 4 characters who happen to be the 4 heroes of light. You may get to know that they’re part of a legend told within the world but why they are the 4 heroes, how they became the heroes or why they all even set out to save the world, we shall never know. Same goes for our main villain Garland. I suppose he’s evil, because Square Enix decided that he’s evil. We all need to have that main villain pulling the strings in the background in order for our JRPGs to become enjoyable… or something like that.

Without personalisation it becomes increasingly hard to actually feel anything for the characters, not to mention that they themselves don’t really talk either. They’re part of a legend which says to go and restore the crystals, so the upcoming doom (lands drying out, lands being flooded, lands being consumed by darkness and so on) doesn’t come to pass. You’re literally being sent from place to place by different NPCs as you journey over the map, visiting underwater ruins, volcanoes, different towns and villages to stock up on supplies, icy and cold areas, caves and mountains… Talking about travelling, there are quite a few methods that become available by progressing in the story: canoe, ship, airships. The last one is by far my favourite but also keep in mind that you can’t land on top of trees, which makes sense but is bothersome if you still gotta run over half a continent.

Through random encounters you fight a multitude of monsters in turn based battle. While random encounters can sadly not be switched off, I didn’t get too bothered by it. I thought the number was actually quite alright to manage the game without grinding more than 1 hour in total. Apart from that I did not understand the turn order in battle which happened to be completely random each turn. You can choose between 4 basic commands: attack, defend, magic, item. They’re all self explanatory. Equipment, Weapons, Items and Spells can be bought in towns all over the world map.

Besides that you get the opportunity to choose certain jobs/roles in the beginning of the game. The only disappointment here is that the roles aren’t explained. I only found out mid-game that the thief job is completely useless, there is no steal ability. That is truly disappointing but it doesn’t mean much combat wise. I still managed to beat the game after all.

Confusing to me was also the fact that visiting an inn is not enough to revive a fallen team member. You have to visit the sanctuary first and then book a night at an inn. I always forgot about that and had to spend money twice, but of course, that is me and my small brain.

Overall the game was great for its time, but leaves much to be desired from a modern perspective. It is also fairly short and storytelling is more of a necessary evil in order to provide interesting gameplay. Nonetheless I enjoyed myself and was happy to find out how the FF series came to be. It’s a good start to a beautiful series of games that have excited me every time a new entry was released.

Enjoyment - 3,5

[xxminchu-blog]

Death Note

Title: Death Note Genre: Mystery, Thriller PG 13 Aired: 2006 Dub Recommended Rating: 8.6/10 explanation: Death Note is a fantastic anime hah i even have a death note i write all my anime stuff in it x3. >>The overall story was suspenseful thrilling you never knew what they were gonna do next and that scene with light eating the potato chip #priceless. There were a few flubs like saying L had disciples out of no where that’s deux ex machina there throwing something in to keep the sorry flowing. But it wasn’t that bad just super sudden and wasn’t explained thoroughly. But i love how in this anime they actually (spoiler coming up) kill important people like when light killed his father. I’m not saying i didn’t get sad but when you kill an important character in an anime where death is what they fear most it builds up even more suspense and feeling towards what the “bad guy” can actually do. Even tho Light wasn’t really a bad guy but he did go a lil nutty in the end. I give this an 8/10 for story >>HOLY COW i love the art style of this anime it’s freakin beautiful especially the shinigami beautiful beautiful i can’t get enough of how they are at that point of if you saw their face in a dark space you’d fear for your life. There aren’t any fight scenes but there are scenes where the cenimatograpgy of how it was put together was absolutely frame by frame amazing. I bring up the potato chip scene where light is being monitored by the police officers and it shows how exactly he feels at that moment through the animation of how everything plays out. Again i can’t give a perfect score becuz still I’ve seen much better artwork and animation but i can give an 8.7/10 for animation >>The voice actors were decent like meaning they were pretty good but i can’t say they were fantastic. for both sub and dub they were pretty neutral but i do love the music of deathnote metal rock it fits great with the overall tone of death and despair within the story its a very eerie dark anime and having kpop music would ruin that so by using a more unique style of music compared to most anime fits great. 8 out of 10 for sound >>I give this anime some points for character like being able to create two people who are good yet also bad in at the same time is quite difficult. Their morals and thoughts being similar but opposing. Light and L fight against eachkther the entire time in an endless mind game never knowing when the other or themselves would collapse. They are amazing and the shinigami how they show ryuke a God of death bored and not caring of the human world messing with it and watching it turn to chaos and maybe utopia? Exactly what i think a God of death would do. I give and 8.4 for character >> enjoyment all i gotta say here 10/10 i enjoyed it so much I’m collecting the black edition manga for it so add it all together getting 43.1 divided by 5 getting 8.62 so a rating of 8.6