#and it was messing me up proportionally

[baby-prophet]

some anatomy sketches from class

[dr-gaytorius]

i understand that the experience of feeling like a prey animal is very common on this website but i just am not very sure what you all mean. you're an apex predator? your body is a weapon. you can kill the vast majority of living creatures with you bare hands. what are you afraid of? i hope one day you realize how easy it is to make people blush

[technicallyfriendly]

I feel like due to his mother dying to protect him, Ichigo developed a trauma that keeps him from depending on people in fear that they'll die too.

In the winter war arc, especially in the beginning, he keeps telling everyone to stand back and let him handle it while he is really going through it with losing control of his own powers. It's pretty unreasonable, but he would rather die himself than ever let anyone else die for him.

Him continually reaching out to Kisuke to ask for help when he can't do something himself is huge in Ichigo's book.

His unwillingness to trust others to have his back and not get hurt rises proportionally to how overwhelmed he himself feels. In the very beginning, he was quite comfortable to trust Chad to have his back fighting gang members and high-school punks even in Soul Society Ichigo had some degree of trust that Chad could make it by himself despite feeling a little worried.

But then he sees his friend struggle once, and Chad immediately gets reclassified, especially since Ichigo himself feels out of his depth, and Chad ends up in the class of the people to be protected before they sacrifice themselves for Ichigo. Only Ichigo is allowed to do that.

This is also why he never goes to his father with that mess. He does not see Isshin as someone who has a fighting chance. He only goes to adults he believes can A) look out for themselves and B) have proven trustworthy in the past (and that only leaves Kisuke).

It kinda bites him later after he loses his powers because his friends also develop this kind of trauma because of him. He keeps sacrificing himself and almost dying in front of them, so now that he is weak, they have to keep him away from even the possibility of him attempting that while powerless and they pull an Ichigo which just makes everyone even more unhappy.

It makes me tingly about how little everyone in bleach respects other peoples' agency and all because one too many people died/almost died/came back wrong protecting them.

[arminreindl]

Pachycetinae: The Thick Whales

Oh look I'm way behind not only on my work with wikipedia but also in regards to summarizing it on tumblr. Good thing, three of the pages I've worked on these past few months can just be summed up in one post because they are all one family.

So Pachycetinae, at the most basic level, are basilosaurid archaeocetes, the group that famously includes Basilosaurus and Dorudon. Reason I've picked up the articles in addition to my usual croc work, basically a friend and I noticed how lacklustre many pages are and stupidly decided to start revising all of Cetacea (pray for me).

Currently theres two genera within the group. Pachycetus aka Platyosphys aka Basilotritus, which is a whole mess I will get into at the end for those interested, and Antaecetus, which I'll just call "the good one" for now. Among those are three species. Pachycetus paulsonii (or Basilotritus uheni) from continental Europe (Germany and Ukraine mostly), Pachycetus wardii (Eastern United Staates) and Antaecetus aithai (Morocco and Egypt)

Picture: Pachycetus and Antaecetus by Connor Ashbridge

So the hallmark of Pachycetines, as the name would suggest, is the fact that their skeletons are notably denser than that of other basilosaurids. The vertebrae, the most abundant material of these whales, are described as pachyostatic and osteosclerotic. The former effecitvely means that the dense cortical bone forms thickened layers, while the latter means that the cortical bone, already forming thickened layers, is furthermore denser than in other basilosaurids with less porosities. The densitiy is increased further by how the ribs attack to the vertebrae not through sinovial articulation but through cartilage, so adding even more weight to them. Overall this is at times compared to manatees, famous for their dense skeletons.

Pictured below, the currently best preserved pachycetine fossil, an individual of the genus Antaecetus from Morocco.

Now there are some interesting anatomical features to mention that either differ between species or just can't be compared. For example the American species of Pachycetus, P. wardii, shows a well developed innominate bone, basically the fused pelvic bones. This is curious as one would think of it as a more basal feature, with derived whales gradually reducing them. The skull is best preserved in Antaecetus and has a very narrow snout. One way to differentiate the two is by the teeth. Pachycetus has larger, more robust teeth while that of Antaecetus are way more gracile and is thought to have had a proportionally smaller skull (in addition to being smaller than Pachycetus in general).

All of this has some interesting implications for their ecology. For instance, why the hell are they so dense? Well its possible that they were shallow water animals using their weight as ballast, staying close to the ocean floor. This would definitely find some support in the types of environments they show up in, which tend to be shallow coastal waters. There are some Ukrainian localities that suggest deeper waters, but that has been interpreted as being the result of migration taking them out of their prefered habitat.

Now while pachycetines were probably powerful swimmers, their dense bones mean that they were pretty slow regardless. And to add insult to injury, they were anything but maneuverable. Remember those long transverse processes? Turns out having them extend over the majority of the vertebral body means theres very little space for muscles in between, which limits sideways movements.

From this one can guess that they weren't pursuit predators and needed to ambush their prey. What exactly that was has been inferred based on tooth wear. Basically, the teeth of Pachycetus show a lot of abrasion and wear, not dissimlar to what is seen in modern orcas that feed on sharks and rays. And low and behold, sharks are really common in the same strata that Pachycetus shows up in. Now since Antaecetus had way more gracile teeth, its thought that it probably fed on less well protected animals like squids and fish.

Below: Pachycetus/Basilotritus catching a fish by @knuppitalism-with-ue

The relationship between pachycetines and other basilosaurids is wonky, again no thanks due to Pachycetus itself being very poorly known. Some studies have suggested that they were a very early branching off-shoot, in part due to their prominent hip bones, but in the most recent study to include them, the description of Tutcetus, they surprisingly came out as not just the most derived basilosaurids but as the immediate sister group to Neoceti, which includes all modern whales. Regardless, in both instances they seem to clade closely with Supayacetus, a small basilosaurid from Peru.

And now for the part that is the most tedious. Taxonomy and history.

Remains of pachycetines have been known for a while and were first described as early as 1873 by Russian scientists. To put into perspective how old that is. The material's history in science predates both World Wars, the collapse of the Russian Empire and even the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. Now initially the idea was to name the animal Zeuglodon rossicum, but the person doing the actual describing changed that to Zeuglodon paulsonii reasoning that it would eventually be found outside of Russia (something that aged beautifully given that Ukraine would eventually become independent).

And this is where the confusion starts to unfold. Because at the same time people unearthed pachycetine fossils in Germany too, which would come be given the name Pachycetus (thick whale) and be established as two species. Pachycetus robustus and Pachycetus humilis, both thought to be baleen whales.

Pictured below: Pierre-Joseph van Beneden who coined Pachycetus and Johann Friedrich Brandt who described Zeuglodon paulsonii. Beneden easily has the better beard.

These latter two names however were later rejected in 1935 by Kuhn and lumped into other species, whereas Zeuglodon paulsonii was elevated to a full on new genus by Remington Kellogg in 1936. For those curious, Platyosphys means "broad loin", in combination with the species "Paulson's broad loin" to the amusement of some friends of mine.

And then people stopped caring and we have a nearly 70 year research gap. Eventually Mark D. Uhen found fossil material in the United States, but interpreted those fossils as being part of the genus Eocetus, naming them Eocetus wardii, a move that many following researchers disagreed with.

Then in 2001 a new species of Platyosphys, P. einori, was named. It's bad, moving on. More importantly, we got the works of Gol'din and Zvonok, who attempted to bring some clarity into the whole thing. To do so they rejected the name Platyosphys on account of the holotype having been lost sometime in WW2 and picked out much better fossil material to coin the genus Basilotritus ("the third king" in allusion to Basilosaurus "king lizard" and Basiloterus "the other king", isn't etymology fun?). They erected the type species Basilotritus uheni and then proclaimed Eocetus wardii to also belong into this genus, making it Basilotritus wardii.

This move was however not followed by other researchers. Gingerich and Zhouri maintained that regardless of being lost, Platyosphys is still valid and can be sufficiently diagnosed by the original drawings from the 19th and early 20th century. And to take a step further they added a new species, Platyosphys aithai (weird, why does that name sound familiar).

Then Van Vliet came and connected all these dots I've set up so far, noting that the fossils of Platyosphys are nearly identical to those of Pachycetus. This lead to the fun little thing were "paulsonii", applied first to Zeuglodon in the 1870s, takes priority over "robustus", coined just a few years later, BUT, the genus name Pachycetus easily predates Platyosphys by a good 60 years. Subsequently, the two were combined. Platyosphys paulsonii and Pachycetus robustus became Pachycetus paulsonii (simplified*). Van Vliet then deemed humilis to be some other whale and carried over Basilotritus uheni, Basilotritus wardii and Platyosphys aithai into the genus Pachycetus. *Technically Pachycetus robustus was tentatively kept as distinct only because of how poorly preserved it was, making comparisson not really possible.

Then finally in the most recent paper explicitly dealing with this group, Gingerich and Zhouri came back, killed off P. robustus for good, sunk Pachycetus uheni into Pachycetus paulsonii for good measure and decided to elevate Pachycetus aithai to genus status after finding a much better second skeleton, coining Antaecetus (after the giant of Greek myth).

And that's were we are right now. Three species in two genera, but only one of them is actually any good. So perhaps at some point in the future we might see some further revisions on that whole mess and who knows, perhaps Basilotritus makes a glorious comeback.

To conclude, sorry about the lack of images, despite the ample history theres just not much good material aside from that one Antaecetus fossil and I didn't want to include 5 different drawings in lateral view. Obligatory Wikipedia links: Pachycetinae - Wikipedia Antaecetus - Wikipedia Pachycetus - Wikipedia

Ideally Supayacetus will be the next whale I tackle, distractions and other projects not withstanding (who knows maybe I'll finally finish Quinkana)

[bonefall]

Why exactly are you collecting a folder of Moonpaw incest comments and post? Is it just to have proof against ppl going " Well I'VE never seen it happen so- " or? You don't have to answer I'm just curious.

It's primarily because I don't like making claims I can't back up, even if I never have to cite them. "Shadowboxing," when you make up a guy to get mad at and then fight him, is something I actually try to avoid for my own mental health. If I'm angry, I want to be angry at things that I know to be real. If I say this fandom has a problem, I want to call out the fandom for problems I have evidence it has.

That is one other reason, though. "I've never seen it happen" is something easily fixed with a screenshot.

I also pull them out when I'm talking to friends or on a more personal basis, like in a discord or a groupchat, so that we can mock and comment on it. Makes me feel better.

Sometimes I also do that therapy technique where I show a screenshot to a friend who isn't involved in WC, and ask them, "IS this a messed up thing to say? AM I overreacting to this?" to try and make sure I remain grounded. I've had anger issues from a young age and one of the ways I've learned to manage that is by checking with others, to make sure that my response is proportionate.

TL;DR Several reasons.

[laudanine]

How to make a back-patch: Hancock edition

Hey guys! So the tutorial for the Hancock patch is here! So the standing rule on this patch is "you can use my art and make your own, but you are not permitted to make money off it." But man, make your own, go nuts!

Steps 1 to 5 are mostly about how I made the image itself. Steps 6 to 9 are about making a patch once you have your final image. Skip ahead if you need!

So here's the supplies I personally use for these patches -

Tulip fabric paint, black and white

Talc powder

Charcoal powder

Tracing paper

Paintbrush

Fine-tip squeeze bottles

Fabric

My computer

Tape

A thumbtack

A pencil

And to be clear, these are NOT the only options. I've done this with black or white acrylic paint instead of fabric paint, it works fine. If you don't want to bother with the squeeze bottles you can use a paintbrush instead. If you don't have talc powder, cornstarch would work. If you can't find powdered charcoal, you can crush some up like I did, or use graphite, or literally whatever. You get the idea.

If you're going to be using the fine-tip squeeze bottles, now is the time to put your paint (fabric or acrylic) into the bottles and thin them with water to your level of comfort. You WILL need to test the paint on some fabric first, to be sure you can apply it evenly and that it flows well. If you're going to use acrylics, I highly suggest you add a drop of retardant to the mix ALONG with water.

2. I find my images for the figure I'm drawing. Yes, we're tracing: this ain't fine art and we're not gonna be snobs. Here we have John Hancock from the game and John Hancock IRL Danny Shorago.

3. I trace my images! You may notice my two reference images are the same pose! I'm gonna trace the first one by taping my paper over my computer screen and drawing LIGHTLY.

When I had the basics for Danny's proportions down, I left the paper where it was and moved the image of Hancock underneath the paper and traced what I needed from that image. That gets me this double-layer image.

4. I decide which of these lines I want to keep. Even with the faces for John and Danny lined up proportionally the shoulders and neck length of the two figures are pretty different. I decided that I wanted to go with narrower shoulders, and free-handed in the ruffles for his shirt.

5. Now I merge the two faces. I have to get the skin texture from John onto the face I have, which is mostly Danny. I kept up a whole screen of reference images for this process so I could decide what I wanted to pull from where.

And I leaned hard into the skull for his cheekbones and nose. You can see I actually used a colored pencil to outline those skull-like elements before I chose my final lines, and used another piece of my own darn art to add a chin scar I just really like. It is NOT a bad idea to trace a SECOND COPY of this image AT THIS TIME. Your image will be getting really dirty and messed up in the future, so unless you want to start over, you should make a spare copy (spoiler: I didn't do that and had to do this whole thing a second time to make a second patch...)

6. Align your fabric and your tracing paper up and tape first the fabric down THEN the paper on top, separately.

7. Poke holes! Use your thumbtack to poke holes along the lines you're trying to transfer. The way I'm doing this patch most of the image is white lines on black fabric, with SOME black lines on white for his face, neck, and shirt. For that reason, my transfer process is gonna be in TWO parts, one to lay down the white portions and then later to put the black lines ON TOP of the white areas as needed. I don't have a photo for this step: poke holes, you know how to do that.

8. Apply talc/powder to the image and use a paintbrush to gently brush the talc over the surface. You can use the brush perpendicular to the surface to GENTLY push the powder into the holes from the thumbtack holes.

9. Peel off the paper GENTLY. As you can see, I didn't even poke holes for the lines in his face, just the outlines for what's going to be painted in white. What you have is a little connect-the-dots to apply white paint to.

10. Apply white paint and allow to DRY COMPLETELY.

11. Once the white paint it TOTALLY DRY you're going to repeat steps 7 to 9, poking holes in the locations that you want to have BLACK lines appear. For me that's the details on his face and shirt. Instead of talc, the powder I used was crushed vine charcoal. You can see I'm starting to apply the black paint along the lines of black spots of charcoal.

12. Add, like, words and stuff! Also clean up, and fine tune, etc. You did awesome, and if it didn't turn out, well you DEFINITELY made a spare copy like I suggested you do in step 5, right?!?! Right.

Some notes:

This process also works on tee shirts if you want, but definitely use the fabric paint and not acrylics or the paint will flake off when you wash the clothing. Instead of taping the shirt down, I suggest you thumbtack it to a board or to some thick cardboard to keep it still while you work.

If you don't have a computer/screen you can trace on then print the images you want to work with and tape them to a window to use as alight-box.

You don't need to use the charcoal, honestly. If the design is simple or you're feeling like a BAMF, you can skip the black paint and the black powder and just use the negative space of the black fabric instead.

Tracing, and I cannot say this clearly enough, is not cheating when you're not tracing someone else's art. Trace a face. Trace a figure. Trace a landscape. I don't care. If you're tracing any image, you're going to need to do a lot of work to make your shitty traced image (my step 3) into something that looks like art (my step 5). That act of work, that's making art. Congratulations.

If you made it this far and REALLY want to donate money to me over this, don't! Maybe donate to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund instead at pcrf.net because that'd be SUPER cool.

Hope some or all of this helped someone somewhere be a cool punk badass like everyone's favorite Mayor.

[chaotic-scraps]

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

The Beast (Part 4)

The soft hum of cooling fans and the clacking of keys were the only sound in the small and dimly lit room. A CCTV feed trained on a small kennel displayed on a screen in the far corner. The villain glanced over at the first sign of movement.

Their patient was waking up, but they would have to wait. The villain was on the verge of a discovery.

Their patient's blood had been genetically modified. Expertly, gorgeously. Though the effects seemed to be leveling out over time, their muscular growth was abnormally rapid. Any small injuries showed accelerated healing.

The growth affected their larynx, unfortunately. Given the patient was able to preserve a certain level of cognition, other organs adjusted appropriately...

Loss of speech was a... Strange side effect.

The bones and muscles were proportionately mutated, practically symmetrical. Organs matched the rapid growth of the body. Their patient grew into a theoretically sustainable form. The fact that they survived at all was a miracle.

Their patient might not be so lucky if they attempt to revert back.

Whoever was responsible did not stop at one. The mutation was much too precise and refined. This was a team and decades of research. Money.

So, who had the resources for this kind of human experimentation?

The MRI offered something of a clue. A small device, implanted at the base of the patient's skull. Whoever set this transformation into motion expected the patient to roam free. The villain extracted the device too late, well over 24 hours. It was active.

Someone would come to collect their experiment soon.

The villain best prepare for their guest.

-

The hero paced the kennel with growing panic. They had misjudged the villain's capacity for harm, clearly. They kept running their hands along the stitches on the back of their head.

Breath in. Breath out.

They needed a plan of escape.

The floor and walls were solid concrete. Thick iron bars reenforced the door. There was a small gap between the door and floor. A much larger gap between the iron bars and the ceiling. Not large enough to squeeze through.

The first rule of imprisonment, find your captor's motive. Their eyes flicked to the CCTV trained on their kennel. There wasn't enough room to escape, but their inhumanly long claws could reach the camera.

They smiled devilishly. If their captor wanted to spy, they'd have to work for it. They climbed up the iron bars and reached for the small camera. Their claws clamped around the device, and they yanked.

Wiring crackled as the connections snapped.

They threw the camera on the concrete as hard as they could. Surprisingly sturdy.

Good.

They grabbed the camera and beat it against the ground, over and over, until it cracked into was a mess of circuitry and plastic. They imagined the villain's skull.

Shouting down the hall, followed by a loud THUD.

Silence.

The hero readied themselves to lunge, but they stopped short.

Their breath caught at the unexpected figure before them.

"Hero, it's me. I've come to save you."

The hero sobbed in relief.

Superhero.

AN// Thank you so much for reading and asking to be tagged @sausages-things @whump-till-ya-jump @jumpywhumpywriter @galaxysmask !!!

[the-s1lly-corner]

TADC cast x short and fluffy reader? (Maybe the reader has an extra fluffy tail)

TADC cast x short and fluffy!reader !

Ooo I wanna make brioche, but I also wanna make macarons... but I also wanna make scones... OOOOOO but I also wanna make butterscotch haystacks (having a crisis) (this is totally unrelated to the ask I just be yappin)

CAINE:

Now to be fair, you didnt specify how short you are so to Caine you're probably just normal sized/j .. absolutely loves your fluff, probably runs his hands through it every chance he gets, regardless of if its hair, feathers, or fur! Since you're on the smaller side he can pro comfortably hold you in his arms while flying around! Loves showing you how the grounds look from above, I think!

No thoughts only Caine taking you up to fly over the grounds while its nighttime and you see all the lights down below and everything looks so pretty!!

He wont drop you I promise

POMNI:

You're normal sized in her eyes/j

Keeps her hands to herself but if you offer to let her pet your tail! Good stress relief, I think! Pomni never really initiates it before you offer, though, since she doesnt really want to invade your personal bubble

Please communicate with her that it's fine and it's not something you mind!

RAGATHA:

Occasional pets! She kind of lies somewhere between pomni and jax in terms of how much shes going to pet you without any prompting! More so a head pats person than a tail.. stuff?? Trust me the "tail stuff" makes more sense when you read jax's part..! Doesnt make fun of you for your height, i just cant see ragatha doing that. I was originally gonna say she would make petnames for you based on it, but I'm not actually sure she would.. has probably made bows and stuff for your tail!

JAX:

(Bumping my fists on the table) jax fidget hc jax fidget hc !!!!! Messes with your tail when its within reach; usually just messing with the fur or lightly bapping it around and watching it instinctively move around in response! He would already tease you for being shorter than him... but if you're actually below the average height (or at least, the average within the digital world) then hes gonna lean really into it! Makes a show of getting something down for you, probably overstretches himself and gets on his tip tops to sell the point (he, of course, not needing to do any of thst thanks to his height)

KINGER:

The "how to talk to short people" meme but hes on the incorrect side by crouching down to your height/j he doesnt mean anything rude by it..! Sometimes likes to mess with your tail by petting the fur when you guys cuddle inside the pillow fort! Honestly I can see him with a fidgeting habit, too, like jax! But I think his is less intense and he has a little more restraint.. that said once you give him the go ahead hes gonna be constantly petting your tail if it's long enough

ZOOBLE:

(Watches your tail swish around) "oh... cool.."

Zooble doesn't exactly feel this way or that about your tail, however I will say you extra fluff makes cuddling with them more enjoyable since they look like they're made of hard plastic (Zooble I'm sorry I love you)

Probably lightly teases you for your height; not to the extent jax does it but they probably let out a flat "haah.. short.." when you briefly struggle with something non important

GANGLE:

Short person x person who can (physically and emotionally) be knocked down easily; you guys both have your own struggles/j

Would never ever in a million years make any mean comments on your height, and this includes teasing and nicknames; she doesn't have the heart to even lightly poke fun at you

Petting can be a little weird, since gangle doesnt exactly.. have hands.. I mean she does, but they're like the ends of ribbon; she doesnt have palms or fingers, nor can she put the most force behind her touches (at least that's my personal hc, she doesnt strike me as someone who's. Strong... or even proportionally strengthed? Idk shes ribbon)

Very silly she loves it when your tail starts swishing around when you see her!!

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Answer to this: If you use a phone, which usually have a wider lens, the doll will look off because wide lens (less than 50mm) distorts things. In this case try to put the doll in the middle of the photo where the less distortion is.

Don't use phone flash or built in camera flash, that's the best way to make your doll look like a creepypasta. You can use camera flash if you put a white plastic cup over it, it will soften the harsh light, and you can fill the cup with white papertowel or put white paper outside, you can experiment! Be careful of lights in general, if the light hits directly the doll's face, the sharp contrast will make the portrait look harsh.

The eyes should be placed carefully, to look alive, you can achieve that usually if the pupils look slightly up and they are symmetrical. Side-eyeing in different ways can look very natural too, looking forward can be cute or intense, depending on the doll's vibe.

If the wig is too shiny or too messy, that can be off-putting too. An obviously fake fur or plastic wig will always look unnatural. You can style fur wigs with a toothbrush or wet your fingers and gently make the hair looks like an organized mess, not a tangled mess. You can make very shiny wig look less shiny if you don't use an artifical light. I know that with heat you can style plastic wigs as well, like boiling water or a hair dryer, but look up the technics and be careful with you and your doll, heat can damage the resin as well!

Don't use props that are proportionally too big for your doll, or put them next to too big items (like a real car) if you want it to look realistic, but you can embrace the doll's doll-ness as well and put them next to human-size stuff. I personally don't care very much but the most life-like doll photos are very careful with any details. Same goes for the doll-clothes, it will only look very life-like if the accessories, stitches, buttons are not too big. If you don't care - like me - that's fine too, this only applies to those who want the most realistic photos.

Be consistent, decide what effect you want to achieve and avoid very fake and cheap looking things. I hope you will find it somewhat useful, if so, I can collect some more stuff. I use a camera and different lenses so if anyone is interested, I can give more tips for beginner camera photographers :) (I'm not a pro myself, but I have a passion for portrait photography and I am doing it for like 8 years now)

~Anonymous

[masquayla-the-splendid]

Okay I didn't expect this post to be an essay, but here's my Fnaf 3 9th anniversary drawings, with very extensive detail into my thought process.

Love me some gore explosion Springlock failure, but realistically, the suit would just soak with blood, and William would be a pathetic gurgling mess. (Like the movie. Took it like a champ, too.) I know it's because the minigame shows it spewing everywhere, but I'm pretty sure it was it's way of telling you that that man is finished with the hardware limitations an Atari or a super early arcade cabinet would have.

The springlocks depicted as Frankenstein's monster lookin bolts, and the flies with dot trails is my favorite part. Also, the hole in his chest is vaguely heart shaped. I saw it in a video redesigning Scraptrap and thought it was genius. But that was so long ago icr who did that video. :')

I rarely ever draw Springtrap, and it think it's because how humanly proportionate he is, which is hard to toonify. The weird withering patterns don't help either. I looked at Kosperry's design for extra guidance.

⬇️Kosperry's Springtrap⬇️

(oml I love their art so much gggGGzv)

For being right-side up trapezoid shaped, upside-down isosceles triangle in a buff fashion works really well for him.

And the best part, I color picked and drew some inspiration for Spring Bonnie from this suspiciously shaped robian from Sonic SatAM. (Left)

The backgrounds of Robotnik’s lair gave me major Fnaf 3 vibes when I came back to that show. Probably because it's so "polluted green," and might as well smell putrid.

[david-bearman]

a broken bauble with gewis?💞

okay this went a lot longer than planned, I had many things to say about them at Christmas time <3

---

George cannot describe how wonderful it feels to be on holiday with Lewis. To be finally truly alone in a place hardly anybody recognizes them, in their own little cabin surrounded by crisp fresh snow.

It had maybe been a bit unconventional, but he had insisted to the rental services that he wanted to decorate the Christmas tree present in the cabin himself. And so here they were, Lewis and him, unravelling the provided tangled lights.

Lewis looked so warm and cozy in his bundled layers, thick socks around his feet and an old sweater that looked like it had been loved for many years.

"If you hold it, then I can reach the top," George suggested.

Lewis easily complied as George stood on his tippy toes to reach the far end of the tree that had been provided.

"Be careful, love," Lewis said to him as he balanced on his tippy toes, the tree even a little big for him to reach comfortably.

He managed without any accidents though, as they finished wrapping the string of lights around. George lost himself in arranging it all so it was proportionally distended.

"I'm going to make some hot chocolate. Do you want some as well, Darling?"

George looked up to see Lewis facing him with one of the softest smiles directed at him. He blushed under Lewis' gaze, the pink creeping up his cheeks.

"I'd love that, thank you."

Lewis nodded and headed into the kitchen, leaving George to unbox all of the beautiful baubles, red and silver glistening under the lights. Meticulously George picked one up and placed it where he deemed it perfect. Slowly getting into a rhythm of picking one out before placing it in the tree.

He was so in his head he did not notice Lewis coming back with two cups of hot chocolate.

"There you go, love."

Lewis set down the cup on the lounge table, startling George and causing him to drop the glass bauble in his hand on the stone floor. He stared at the minuscule glass shards all around him, silver glistening on the floor instead of the tree.

Lewis moved fast, "Do not move, do you hear me George? You are in socks."

Lewis rushed out the room as George felt an embarrassed flush creep up his cheeks. His partner came back rushing in on slippers, with a hand held vacuum in clutched tightly in his hands. His knight in shining armor George thought lamely.

With extreme focus Lewis cleaned up the mess around his feet as George stood still like a statue.

When Lewis finally deemed everything safe he pressed a kiss to George's lips, "Let's take a hot chocolate break first, then you can finish later."

"I'm sorry," George said softly.

Lewis expression softened even further, "Oh love, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's not Christmas without at least one broken bauble!"

Send me a number and a ship and I’ll write you a little something!

[randomness-is-my-order]

one of the main reasons for why the gods as as they are–largely selfish, unfair, immature and insular–is because they don’t operate on the same power levels as humans do. their influence is unfathomably immense and their power is hugely unchecked. their responsibilities aren’t a marked thing, either, so shirking them doesn’t always promise proportionate consequences. they exist in this limbo of otherworldly power that is beyond human grasp and thereby their behavior appears so erratic and absurd and full of bullshit to us. that’s why there’s a constant affirmation of “well, don’t try to understand what the gods do, it’ll drive you crazy” in the show itself.

BUT while all of this may be true, i think the message of the books & show ultimately is that be it a mortal human or a centuries old god, your morality is something that should still be judged on the same parameters. just because you can control the sea or embody the essence of war or cause firestorms or bring on lightning showers doesn’t mean you get to hurt those who don’t deserve it, doesn’t mean you get to mess with the lives of those you deem “below” your status. if the king of gods is being a dick, you can call him a dick. if athena is an unjust prideful bitch you can call her out on it. if poseidon is deadbeat father you can say that with your full chest. you don’t need to contextualise their actions or justify them. rationalise them? yeah, maybe so, but not more than that because why tf is it the burden of the demigods to understand these ancient powerful beings when said beings never initiate constructive and emotionally engaged dialogue with any of them? why do they need to dishonour their own feelings of hurt to avoid disrespecting the gods despite them deserving a bad reaction (a recent eg would be annabeth thinking athena’s actions are a proper retaliation for a perceived “slight”, instead of expressing her own hurt at her mother’s betrayal)?

because isn’t that exactly the kind of issue we face in the real world? we can all logically infer that there is literally NO ethical way of becoming a billionaire, then, well, do you think there’s an ethical way of being a god–atleast a major one with a physical domain? an ethical way of having control of some major element and constantly meddling with affairs of the mortal world, while full well displaying a lack of understanding of humans? just the way the gods are in the books, in the show? yes the gods have feelings and yes they are allowed to make mistakes (and doesn’t this make me laugh, because to err is to be human and all) but their actions are also allowed to be called out by demigods if they’re being hurt. their whole relationship with humanity is a two-way street anyway.

and with all that said, i think percy is a very much needed kick-in-the-shins for the gods in the series, a young demigod who refuses to dance to the gods’ tunes and stands up to them and even calls them out and strips down this idea that godhood is something superior, that godhood frees one from scrutiny and criticism.

this is just a very weird ramble and i have way more thoughts on the matter but i’ll have to take some time and wrangle it all into coherence.

for now, to summarise: the gods suck and i love when percy makes them aware of that fact.

[nightfury-2001]

Now that it’s been a good couple of days since the trailer officially released, I think I know how I would alter Toothless’ design. For starters I would keep his anatomy and proportions closer to his model in the first movie, not the third. I’d make his head narrow and more streamlined, not blocky. I’d make his eyes more cat-like and more of an oval shape. I’d also keep his legs the same as they were in the animated movies. I don’t think the change in the live action was necessary.

I’d make his eyes less of an aggressive green. I don’t even mind that they wanted to make his eyes less pale, I just think the green they chose is too vibrant. I’d tone it down a bit.

I’d give him back his usual wing shape. It looks like they added a smaller digit on his wing for the live action? I don’t know, but it looks weird. I don’t think anything was unrealistic about his wing shape in the animated movies to warrant a change. Though I would keep the larger wings as shown in the live action. That actually does make sense. I imagine that dragons would be heavy. Their wings would need to be large in order to support them in flight.

I’d also keep the realistic scale texture the same and keep the third eyelid.

Yeah, I basically agree with all of this. It could have been worse but they messed up things I never would have guessed they'd mess up so I'm.....not happy with it, to say the least.

Changes I'd make/some of my own thoughts, putting it under a cut because this got really long and a lot of it is just me reiterating and expanding on changes you've already mentioned:

1. MAKE HIM PLANTIGRADE AGAIN! Making him digitigrade doesn't make him any more realistic (many real reptiles with similar bodies/builds are plantigrade!), legitimately ruins his shape language, makes his design much less unique and more "generic dragon", and makes it so much harder if not impossible for him to move in certain ways that either made complete sense for what he is (being able to tuck his legs in super close to his body to be more aerodynamic when flying, his lizard-like stances, etc.) or gave him so much more character (like during original Forbidden Friendship when he sat similar to a human).

2. Change his body/build to be more similar to his animated counterpart. Don't like the more.....dog-like or whatever build live action Toothless has. I mean I guess it fits a little more with him being digitigrade now but ughhhhhh. Don't like it, I miss his more barrel-shaped chest, the way his neck used to be, etc..

3. Give him his iconic wing shape back! Toothless' wings had such a cool design, really weren't all that unrealistic, and again the shape languageeeee........his new wings are much more generic and don't make me feel like this creature is the fastest dragon. All they had to do was maybe make them a little more muscular and/or larger/attach to even lower on his tail/body and like, it would have been fine?

Also was removing a wing digit/finger really necessary? Not that it would bother me much (or really at all) if they had otherwise kept his cool and iconic wing design, but like if they were trying to make his wings more "realistic" why not go even further and remove another digit or two and make his wings even more like a bat's? (That could have been kinda cool to see, actually!)

4. Change his head shape/face/eye placement to be more like his HTTYD 1 design. I knew it was probably going to happen but damn do I hate that they based his face/head more off his THW design. Remove the permanent eyebrows, move his eyes back a little and maybe change the shape slightly, and slim down his head pleaseeeee. His head also seems too big for his body for some reason? So definitely change it to be more proportionate as well.

5. Tone done the saturation of his eyes and make his pupils more square. I feel like live action Toothless' eyes are such a big part of why he looks so fake - NO idea why they chose to make them so neon and radioactive lmao. Also the square-ish pupils of HTTYD 1 Toothless are so iconic to me so I'd bring them back. Also also Toothless' eyes were never completely green, bring back the brown ring around his pupils!

7. Remove some spines and/or make them smaller/rounder. As said in HTTYD 2 and on the official website, Toothless is supposed to be Hiccup's age in dragon/Night Fury years. In-universe it's directly confirmed that he gained his little chin nubs from aging and out of universe it's confirmed that some of the changes they made to Toothless were to show that just like Hiccup, Toothless aged between the first and second film. Sooooo why does live action Toothless, who is supposed to be 15 or whatever, have longer and sharper head and leg spines very similar to his HTTYD 2/THW designs? Why does it look like he might possibly have his little chin nubs (though tbh it looks like they could be newly added extra ear plates)? And while I'm on the topic of his spines, why'd they make his dorsal plates/spines start further up his neck to where it looks like they might interfere with the saddle? Why slap on random extra spines to a dragon that's meant to be very sleek and built for speed???

6. Bring the larger/thicker scales on his nose, between his eyes, and near/on his lips back. Those areas look so......naked on live action Toothless and it makes him look very fake. Oh yeah and tone down the pink around his nostrils/nose/eyes - original Toothless did have a pink-ish tone around his nostrils/etc. but it was darker, looked better, and made more sense. It's like they're trying to make him look more like a cute mammal or something and it just doesn't work and is completely unnecessary.

8. It's a bit too early to 100% tell but I don't think they brought his beautiful markings back. Please.......bring them back............please 🥺

With all that being said live action Toothless' design isn't literally all bad - it looks like they brought his original more blue tone back in some way, the nictitating membrane is a cool addition and something I've had as a headcanon for a while now, smaller eyes make sense for a more realistic take (and I usually like to draw Furies with smaller eyes than in canon), and the way his two sets of tail fins seem to "flow" into each other instead of having spines on the sides of his tail is kind of neat even if I'm not sure I prefer it to the spines. Other than that though? The design is a big miss that seems to misunderstand fundamental aspects of the character and why he was originally designed the way he was.

[adobe-outdesign]

Could you review the ixi?

Briefly limited edition for a very short period after their release, Ixi are mostly just goats, and there's really nothing fancy about them beyond being goats (unless you want to count the collars). They are pretty nicely designed goats though, with distinct eye shapes, lots of black accents on the hooves, eyebrows, and horns, and some nice markings around the face and muzzle that really help to break up the body.

I also like the personality Ixis have, being mischievous and sort of sassy. This was more obvious in their old circle art, but you still get it a bit from the converted version as well. It's fun and helps make them stand out.

This might be a controversial Hot Take(TM), but I'd argue that Ixis mostly benefited from customization. The old art was just a bit janky all around—the circle pose mostly looks good, but the default happy poses could look kind of off. The converted version cleans up a lot of that, removing things like the second fur tuft on the head that's too close to the horn to be noticeable, the unpleasant lines around the mouth, the shaggy fur lines, etc.

It also refines some aspects, like giving the lighter tail tip an outline to match the rest of the lighter areas and fixing the hind torso, which was all kinds of screwed up on the original art. It also improves the eyes so they're closer to being the same size (it still looks a smidge off to me, but it's at least better). The shading is also less messy (what was up with that pink reflective light on the tail?), the eyebrows have been thickened to match the other black areas more, and it's easier to make out aspects of the design.

Another benefit is that the collars can be removed. I do think Ixi collars look better than Aisha collars (mostly because they can be interpreted as chokers when anthropomorphized, and they at least match the color of the eyes), but it's nice to have the option to remove it if one wants to.

However, there were a few things that don't look as good—namely, the head is both a bit too big and too wide compared to the original, giving it a weird rectangle shape that doesn't quite feel right. Here's a super quick edit of the converted version to try to get the point across:

Also, for some reason the chest fur also stops below the collar instead of under it, and the red Ixi's mouth is no longer the lighter shade like it is on every other Ixi. The sideways hair ruffle at the top is also weird due to them adding a line underneath. So overall an improvement—but not perfect.

Favorite Colours:

Mutant: What a great color! It's just messed up enough to look properly mutant-y, with the fangs, mismatched horns and ears, bipedal stance, spots, and a long, drooping tail. The color palette is subtle and muted, and it's detailed but still completely coherent as a whole. This design also didn't change with customization at all, so it's still as enjoyable as it ever was.

Grey: I already covered this one a bit in my grey color review so I won't get into it much here, but this color is great. The customized version is so-so (good as a neutral base, but the eyes look a bit weird due to lack of top lids), but the UC version is beautiful with its forlorned expression, huge droppy ears, and pretty dull red accents. Even the collar is drooping!

Robot: Converted robot Ixis unfortunately aren't very good—yes, they have to proportionally match the default base, but the chunky round legs, overly large head ridge, and completely botched shading look pretty bad. It looks weirdly rubbery in a really unpleasant way. On the plus side, the unclothed version is terrifying, so it has that much going for it.

However, the UC version is fantastic! It has a super sleek design that manages to look unusually elegant and cute for a robot pet, with a subtle dark green and black palette and high-contrast red eyes. There are lots of good details in there too, like how the neck matches the legs and ears.

[a-5-m-0-d-3-u-5]

Hesitant Affection (Bowser x TransMasc/Male Reader)

Some feel good fluff with everyone’s favorite Koopa <3 This is kinda just ramblings since I couldn’t nail down a solid plot so forgive me if it’s a little chaotic. It’s a bit short and scattered so if you’d like something more specific just send me a request! The more specific the better.

Note: For things like this, I imagine Bowser a little more humanoid than his in-game model so this may come across in my writing but I do my best to kinda leave it up to interpretation. He’s still very tall and large, but more proportionate to human standards and lizardy in my mind. Also, unrelated because it doesn’t come up here but chubby Bowser > ripped Bowser, I will take no arguments.

CW: The level of transition for this reader character is unspecified. He/him pronouns are used here and there, but it's mostly a second person POV. A small part mentions the reader’s aversion to dresses and wearing them as a child, but is never forced to wear one in the present.

Requested by: anonymous

Word count: 615

Bowser. Praised by some, feared by many, and loved by a select few that he allows. Up until recently that list included only the Koopalings and on a good day, Kamek. But then this human, how curious he’s not afraid of the cruel King of the Koopas, wanders into his life and soon, he can't imagine his castle without him.

There’s a touch more life to the place, his subjects are happier with him around. He often helps in the kitchen or tidying up a mess. He hates to admit it, but this strange human may be changing Bowser too. He feels less of an inclination to cause random havoc knowing it would upset you, both to see him hurt but also others too (curse that large, kind heart you have).

He’s quite the textbook gentleman, holding doors and pulling out your chair. But get him to engage in romance outside of what he was taught to provide and he becomes a mess. A small kiss on the nose seemed to make his fiery hair steam while his face burned with uncharacteristic sheepishness. Insist on holding his hand and he won’t even turn your way, to hide his embarrassed face of course, all while extending his grasp to your much, much smaller hand because how could he say no to his beloved? Not when he asked so sweetly, too. You’d be the death of him, he always thought to himself, but he’d die happy at least.

On one occasion, an unexpected invite to the Mushroom Kingdom for a banquet found its way to your hands, Bowser insisting it must be a mistake because why would they invite him to such a thing?

The invitation was vague. Peach’s large cursive writing, in pink pen of course, simply invited ‘The King of the Koopas and one guest to attend a banquet at my castle in the Mushroom Kingdom.’ The date and dress code were detailed at the bottom. You hadn’t been to a party like this since you were very young, forced into an itchy dress that you didn’t particularly like for many reasons, more being added on as you discovered yourself further. While you had faith Bowser wouldn’t urge any sort of similar clothing on you, he still insisted on letting you know that wasn’t happening if you wished to go and you were grateful.

That night, all eyes were on the Koopa King and the human hanging off his arm. The princess greeted you cheerfully, inviting you both in and explaining the banquet’s purpose as a celebration of peace. She was grateful to Bowser for his change in behavior, and later to you when in conversation over drinks you explained you may have been the reason for it. You were introduced to the ever famous Mario Brothers, delightful duo they were, and found amusement when you caught your date for the evening glaring daggers at the mustachioed plumber in red.

I see you helping him with the Koopalings, Bowser Jr. namely, and him swooning. Watching you hold his hand in a crowd so you don’t separate from him makes his heart flutter, letting them help you in the kitchen to make his birthday breakfast and smiling (and almost crying but he’d never admit it) when he passes the cracked kitchen door.

He sleeps on his front due to his shell and sometimes, you like to stick cotton balls on his spikes while he dozes for no real reason other than the human fascination of having the ability to do so. It entertains you and when Bowser discovers it, he finds it cute. He also can’t get them off himself so be a dear and help him, won’t you?

[jluver]

ᰔᩚ𓂃 .. 𝑰 𝑮𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆 𝑰 𝑮𝒐𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒂 ᶻ 𝘇 𐰁

s: just some boyfriend!jay thoughts 💭 ╱ g: established relationship. tooth rotting fluff. itty bitty bit of angst if you squint ╱ p: bf!jay x fem!reader

ᵕ̈ ❥ boyfriend!jay who knows you so well he can tell something is wrong with you just by the simplest change on your facial expression;

“you ‘kay, darling?” he asked you as soon as he saw your face; your lips pouting involuntarily, and that frown on your eyebrows could only mean one thing. his question made the curve of your lips bend down even more; you shook your head ‘no’. jay immediately engulfed you in a tight hug, your head hidden in his chest. “oh, darling, tell me what it is, and i’m gonna make it all better to you.”

ᵕ̈ ❥ boyfriend!jay who knows you so well, you don’t even have to tell him what is wrong for him to know;

“it’s that… thing, again, isn’t it?” he didn’t even needed to wait for your answer to know that he is right. you looked up at him in awe, it never failed to amaze you how well jay knows you; how well he knows your heart. you may not be the openest book there is, but jay had read you enough times to be able to recite every single word from memory. not even the tiniest detail goes unnoticed by him. “you’re so obsessed. it’s like you have a crush on me or something..” you joked one time. “and can you blame me?!” he reasoned, “like it’s my fault you make every other human being on this planet sound boring compared to you!”

ᵕ̈ ❥ boyfriend!jay who knows you so well you can literally shut off your brain every time you are together, because he’ll do all the thinking for you;

you heard your name be called, immediately bringing your attention back to the present moment. looking to your left you notice one of jay’s friend standing there, “you want some beer?” he offered politely. you just looked at the boy sitting right next to you with a hand on your waist, waiting for him to answer the question. “she doesn’t drink, but thank you, heeseung” jay explained. soon his friend left, and it was just the two of you again. “i love you” you gave him a peck on the lips. “i love you too, babe. more than anything.”

ᵕ̈ ❥ boyfriend!jay who would do anything to make sure his girl is okay, but who also doesn’t hold back when he needs to put some sense into that stubborn brain of yours;

“that wasn’t nice.” “what?!” “you didn’t need to be so passive aggressive with the waitress, she’s just doing her job.” you took a deep breath, rolling your eyes in annoyance, “you’re never on my side, y’know that? i’m always the monster to you! why are you still with me if i’m such a bad person?” jay didn’t say anything, he knew that trying to argue with you when you’re hungry is a lost battle. you two ate your meals in silence, with each bite of your food the frown plastered on your face disappeared bit by bit. with your stomach full it didn’t take long for you to come back for your senses, “seongie…?” you called for him, your voice proportionally smaller than the shame you felt. he didn’t even looked at you, eyes focused on the road. “i’m sorry babe, i really am. it’s just… i was hungry and- well, it doesn’t matter. i am wrong, you do so much for me, it was completely unfair of me to snap at you like that…”

ᵕ̈ ❥ boyfriend!jay to whom it doesn’t matter how bad you mess up, he can never be mad at you for too long. he loves you too much for that;

“oh my god! y/n? is it you?! oh thank god you’re back! thought that demon was gonna rip my head off!” you rolled your eyes, failing miserably to convey annoyance. “you’re the worst.” “well, that makes two of us then.” he placed his free hand on your knee, squeezing it gently; you placed your hand over his and brought it to your lips, placing a kiss on his knuckles, “i appreciate your apology, darling. i also should’ve known better than to try to be reasonable with you before lunch, it won’t happen anymore. pinky promise.” he showed you his pinky, and you gave it a playful slap, making the both of you laugh.

ᵕ̈ ❥ in summary, boyfriend!jay is just the best type of boyfriend — he is the standard. he’ll always be there for you, for good or for worse, and he knows you’ll always be there for him too. i believe in bf!jay supremacy ‼️