#anyway i still search for my artstyle

[im-ono]

Vote reigen because it'll be funny guys

The fact that Night Vale fandom got resurrected because of fucking sexyman pool is also pretty hilarious

[acid-ixx]

They aren't finished but I wanted to give you these! They're all WIPS so so far. Some are a bit older and you can tell what the newer ones are that I just made right now.

Thank you for posting a new chapter. It was an amazing read and I just loved it so much! Still trying to find those song references 😂

chapter spoilers and drafts (again &. again)

— masterlist ! ; chapter 4 ; ash's commisions

OH MY GOD THIS IS SUCH A BLESSING??? BANGER AFTER BANGER AFTER BANGER I SWEAR 💞

ash, you have always provided my little fanbase for my series so much food for thought, this is absolutely beautiful in every way. i literally don't care if they're wips or unfinished because either way you always make do with what i write, descriptive or not. i love your artstyle and how soft you draw the mc and how handsome conner is (i literally showed your art off to all my friends). you're so talented and i wish to reciprocate all the efforts you've done for this series 😭

i'm serious. from your portrayal of the mc, to them flying with conner, you never once disappoint anyone.

because of this, i'd like to leak some parts of my story from chapter five and beyond 💕! thank you so much for this, and i hope my yapping below suffices.

major spoilers below the cut!

the graduation photo! i have something planned with that, and i'd delve so much deeper (soon) with just how much a single photo can influence bruce's line of thought once he discovers that picture frame. love how happy mc is in the photo because, for me, it symbolizes them growing up (quite literally) and acknowledging a new path in life, alongside only finding alfred as their only father figure compared to bruce.

you consider yourself reserved, and prefer your life living within the confines of privacy and protection from media exposure. your mother always told you: better safe than sorry once; right after you've asked her about why you can't seem to find personal information about your father when she helped you search him up occasionally.

all the questions you ask her about the lack of your father's preferences — because you merely wanted to know more about him beyond the stories she told you! — she rebutted with a soft smile, a kiss on your head, and an explanation.

she'd warn you about the dangers of media exposure, about how your father and her prefer to keep their relationship a secret, and how too much cameras and paparazzi flashes can blind you.

she said that someone's perception of another person could be ruined once their deepest secrets are revealed. that's why your papa isn't seen beyond the doors of the manor he resides in; because people are attracted to mystery and allure.

hence why she'd restricted you from the usage of any devices within your household during your childhood, other than the excuse of having no money to afford it.

and you always abide by that principle of secrecy; especially right after alfred had saved you from... whatever happened years ago in elementary. from when that man... no, those men knew about your identity...

so, safe to say you were an introvert, at least when it comes to social media. the concept of the fear of missing out never once rattled your brain, no matter how anxious you are whenever you're with your friends; scared that you wouldn't fit in. but they never cared and accepted you with open arms, so it doesn't really matter, no?

you're safe now that you're at metropolis.

and like she always said, better safe than sorry! keep it within you and never out!

so why?

why is it just right after you've opened your twitter app— why is it that your face is plastered all across news accounts?

anyways, the second and third images are so romantic!!! and cute, and cured my depression i swear. i showed this to my one friend and she told me that conner's hand size compared to mc's is straight up hot, and i agree! i love the hand placement, and the way conner holds the mc so softly! yes, i too, would love to touch his man-tits beyond his impeccably tight shirt and play with his hands!

and the cute little panel with him squishing their face and desire their confirmation that, they do, in fact, think they're hot. he's a very insecure man after all, and his self-worth would revolve around your perception of him. he doesn't see you as god, but he doesnt see you as his everything. every opinion matters from you, and that's what makes the green flag part about him.

fun fact about him in the series! he loves to moisturize his hands with lots of skin care products because he read from an article once that some people prefer the feel of soft or moisturized hands. he definitely did not wait for the moment for you to touch him for the first time in forever since he first saw you! yeah, he's a bit more freaky than i let him out to be. the more you're exposed to him, the more you'll learn just how obsessed he is.

as for all the people asking if i'd write more about him: the answer is yes! he's a vital character, so don't worry because he'll appear in many scenes either way. for those concerned about why he didn't save the mc— well, chapter five will explain soon 🩷

and this art perfectly portrays it! it's seen from an outside perspective and they look very pretty, yet from what they see with their eyes is a different thing. the longer you stare at yourself, the more your image is distorted. i intentionally added the flower analogy because flowers are portrayed as pretty, no matter the size and shape. even as they wilt or sag, they still retain some color and a semblance of what was once a history of their prime.

then lastly! the mirror scene. it all returns to chapter three, chapter four was a sequel of their breakdown containing mirrors. reflections and the perception of one self is an important aspect of my series because it reminds me of myself, so them nit-picking each and every insecurity whilst staring at the mirror; that's a scene i wrote based off of a real life experience of mine. having both attractive parents, or those acknowledged as conventionally pretty, whilst being in an environment filled with as equally smart or attractive people, comparing yourself to them all the time, is a struggle.

the only way to make flowers 'ugly' is by destroying them, by stepping on them, ripping them apart, never once caring for them. i think that's very crucial because people do see anything destroyed or stripped away from its foundation a mess, or so. but there's always beauty in everything and i abide by that thought!

again, thank you so much ash for drawing this and bringing my story to life! you, alongside many other users who send in their fanarts, are always such an inspiration for me to write! you guys are the backbone of my series and i stand by my sentence!!! may you get plenty of commissions and plenty of money to support you <333

also, the FLOWER BOTTLE AND THE CAT PAW REFERENCE! i love how everyone accepts that we have a canon cat now based solely off of this. i think that's precious, and having a feline pet is a great little choice for my own plot (just to lessen the pain of the angst).

i hope you enjoyed this little mess rant!

(as for the songs, don't worry, the lyrics become more prevalent for chapter five! chapter four doesn't have any explicit lyrics contained in them, only implications.)

[doodledrawsthings]

you. Oh my god, you. (Positive)

listen. Before I had internet access, all I had was 1 hour of allotted browser time, bing image search, and a single dantdm play through of a hat in time that never got finished. I googled fanart and got pretty much nothing, I googled fancomics and got pretty much nothing, but you know what I did end up finding?

your art.

from ages 11-14, my goal in life, in art, was your art. I can’t tell you how much I loved finding random screenshots of your posts, because I was always just so impressed by how clean and consistent your sketches are, how the characters always stay on model, the shape language, how you could somehow sketch a character in like 20 lines when it took me 50 to draw sans in my little spiral notebook— like! Holy shit! For years I have looked up to your art! There’s still a photos folder on my dads old huge-ass 12 inch work iPad labeled “holy crap” and filled with your art. Because it inspired me so much. It’s become an undeniable part of my artstyle, now — I still have fanart I drew way back in the day of Hattie and the rest, I didn’t even know anyone’s names because I couldn’t play the game, but you’re the reason I eventually did play the game. Your coffee shop au and different versions of the prince— one of those ieterations inspired the main character of my novel! Well, novel that I tried to write, I was 13 so it was eh, but I tried!!

I’m submitting this on-anon because I don’t want to out my age on the wide internet (I like my privacy) but. Your art has really meant a lot to me. It’s the reason I played hollow knight, and it’s the reason I kept trying to develop an art style I was happy with. You’re the reason I started scribbling comics in my notebooks. Being 13-14 was pretty much the worst two years of my life, but I had Bing image search and the occasional glimpse of your signature, and I’d be so happy every time I found a new (if crusty) three-times screenshotted jpg. You literally introduced me to the concept of polyamory and nonbinary-ness with the coffee shop au. I had no other access to that in my household, and. Yeah. It meant a lot to me.

Anyway. I’m so glad I’ve finally tracked you down (in the most non-ominous way possible) and I’m so glad you’re still active— Please never stop making art. Your art is incredible, and amazing, and also you never know who’s out there on Bing image search. Thank you for creating for as long as you have. You’re pretty much the reason I’m shooting for an art degree (Wish me luck!) so just…Thank you.

(Also I had no idea you were a professional storyboarder, which is insane because that’s what I want to be when I’m through college. Hey, maybe I’ll end up storyboarding a remake of something you’ve storyboarded! hehehe)

Hi anon!

So right off the bat, I gotta tell you that this message made me start bawling when I woke up and saw it. Like I had a full-on cry session while reading your message and lying in bed for almost an hour. I am crying as I am typing this response, on my phone, still in bed. It’s 11am and i woke up at 9. So I hope it turns out coherent.

The last two years have been. weird. I say that a lot because I wanna say “rough” but that still doesn’t feel quite right. I’m almost hyper-aware that there are so many people that have it worse than me rn, so it feels hard to even acknowledge when I’m going through anything, myself, sometimes- REGARDLESS, it’s been kind of an all-time low for my mental health. There was a point within in the last year where I just HATED drawing. I struggled to bring myself to work, I struggled to bring myself to even draw for fun. It felt like I was posting just to post, trying to keep people aware of my existence and it almost felt physically painful to force myself to sit down and do it, sometimes.

I’m getting better now, I think, but. Yknow.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the “oh I can make money off this,” “oh I can get attention off this,” “oh I can prove myself a functional person in society with this,” of it all. I forget why I actually do this, sometimes, or if I even enjoy it. And then I get messages like yours, about the kid with limited internet access looking for A Hat in Time fan art on Bing image search, and I get taken back to when I was a kid scrolling Google images and deviantart for the same thing.

I don’t mean to like. Foster some kind of parasocial thing with you or any one of my followers. There’s a reason I’m saying all this, I hope it ties up in the end.

We don’t know each other. I’m not some mysterious legendary artist, or whatever. I’m a person who gets burnt out, and jealous, and insecure. I need inspiration to function, just like you, and when I don’t have it, I get art block. But I also really like to draw fictional characters kissing and hanging out. I like coming up with comics and stories and playing out dramatic and funny scenarios in my head like I’m mashing Barbies together. And when other people tell me they enjoy the stuff I put out when I do this, it makes me really, really, really happy.

I think I needed to read your message, probably. With the state of… Everything… Right now, especially recently, I feel like a lot of artists are also struggling with a sense of purpose, pride, and reason as the world makes it harder and harder to even BE an artist, these days. And when I read this message it was like Anton Ego at the end of Ratatouille, I got taken back to when I was a kid looking at my favorite artists and studying their style and striving to be better and better at it over years of my life. Not just because I wanted a job for it or cuz I wanted to be a famous Disney animator or whatever, but because it was fun and I just liked doing it.

Thank you, SO much. I say this in the most genuine and earnest way I possibly can possibly express. I wish you luck on your own path in art and art school. And if you decide that animation industry is your thing, then I wish you the best in that endeavor, as well. I think I will keep making art for a long time.

Peace and love on the planet earth ✌️✌️✌️

[cat-webp]

etiquette for using & crediting art

right, well, I'll get straight to it instead of messing about like in my other tutorials. editblr has a serious problem with people not crediting artists, we all know that, I don't need to talk much about it. but I figured instead of just making one of those posts, I'd make one explaining the etiquette for such things and how you can appropriately use fanart in your edits. oh, and also what could happen if you refuse to offer those credits

contents table:

stop letting them use your shit to train ai models

why credit is important, and what lack of credit could potentially do to your account

how to source your fanart

how to differentiate fanart from official art

how to find credits for art blatantly stolen and reuploaded to pinterest when all the caption says is "credit to the artist!"

knowing and understanding artist boundaries

how to give appropriate credit

alright, cool, let's talk about it

— stop letting them use your shit to train ai models

if you've been on tumblr for a bit, or have just gone through the general settings, you'll probably have noticed that in the visibility tab there's this not-so-fun setting automatically turned off:

yeah. that's fun, isn't it? since you're using fanart, and most artists don't support nor engage with ai, it's basic respect to opt out of such a thing.

settings -> visibility -> bottom option

— why credit is important, and what lack of credit could potentially do to your account

I feel I shouldn't necessarily have to explain why credit is important, but I will anyway. in the plainest terms, they made it, it's theirs, so credit them. it's a simple concept, no? hm, but I know that doesn't sound important to some people, so imagine if someone stole your edits and reuploaded them onto their own blog, but in the caption all it says is "idk who made this originally, sorry" or "credits to artist".. I bet you'd feel pretty pissed off about it, right? your hard work being stolen by someone you've never heard of, who didn't even bother putting in the effort to search for you.

another thing: credit is still important when they're a figurehead in the community you're editing for. yes, their artstyle may be familiar to you and the others in your fandom, but to an outsider it's just another piece of fanart that remains uncredited.

if you use art that doesn't belong to you, and the original artist finds it and doesn't want you using it, you could face a takedown. of course, most artists are kind and would send you a polite notice first, but there's always that chance they could send over a takedown request to your post and therefore your blog with zero warning. three of those, your blog gets deleted. they're incredibly easy to send off, and afaik tumblr gets to them pretty quickly.

oh, and also people typically don't look favourably on those who can't be bothered to credit artists, so you'll end up losing connections with other editors as well, if you care about that.

— how to source your fanart

stay away from pinterest. I cannot stress this enough, I understand that pinterest is by far one of the easiest platforms to find fantastic art on, but having proper credits is more important than the 5 minutes of time shaved off by stealing a reupload.

twitter, instagram, tumblr, pixiv, and deviantart are all good places to search. though, do make sure to check for ai on deviantart especially, it's like a rat infestation over there.

— how to differentiate fanart from official art

fandom wiki. I know, we all hate fandom wiki, but whether your media is popular or unpopular it's likely to have a fandom wiki dedicated to it, and people will archive all official art there. if you're unsure, cross-examine the potential fanart piece with the archive.

if you hate fandom wiki that badly, there's also archival accounts scattered across different platforms, so you can use those.

if the art is official, then for company-ran medias it's normally okay to just add "all art is official" or leave it uncredited; though that's also somewhat of a dick move. but for smaller things like web-comics and games that aren't hosted on any big site, and have no huge monetary support, it's nice to include the name of the artist and/or creator.

— how to find credits for art blatantly stolen and reuploaded to pinterest when all the caption says is "credit to the artist!"

reverse image search, that's my simplest answer. with chrome at least, it comes with a built-in reverse image searcher called google lens. it's normally highly efficient, so for most art pieces it'll pick up on the artist pretty quickly.

but what if it doesn't? what if it just links back to the original pinterest post instead? well, the weird thing about google lens in particular is that it initially retrieves one post it thinks it could originate from—probably the post with the most traffic going to it, but it then also features a "see exact matches" option underneath that first photo.

if you click it, it'll show you a whole lot more examples of the art being used.

normally, you can use that to figure out who made the art, since it'll show you similarly popular recorded instances. however, there are also times when even that fails to grab a source, and you're left only with confusing results. what do you do then?

well, you can either resort to clicking on random sites until you find a username, or you can give up and find a different piece of art to use. it's really just a process of rinse and repeat until you find something usable.

— knowing and understanding artist boundaries

artist boundaries are typically easy to see and simple to understand. they're normally just in the bios of the artists, which is super helpful. however, sometimes they're kept within links placed on the accounts instead. if you can't immediately see a list of boundaries, then instead start looking for (typically) a link to one of these sites:

carrd

rentry

strawpage

lit.link

skeb (though skeb can sometimes block itself if you have parental controls on, so be aware of this)

scour through them, and you should get an understanding.

right, and for artists who have bios in foreign languages; just translate it, it's not as if google translate or deepl are impossible to use. not knowing the language isn't an excuse anymore.

however, if they still don't have one available, you might have to start searching keywords on their accounts. of course, such things aren't really possible on da or instagram, but on tumblr and twitter, search up these keywords before giving up on an art piece:

credit

pfp / icon / profile picture

use

your art

on tumblr especially, most asks are tagged with something or other, so you can scroll through and check to see if there's anything there too.

and if there's still nothing.. well, just ask the artist about it. if you don't want to do that, then it's not a good idea to use it, and it's back to the drawing board for you.

— how to give appropriate credit

by including "art credit - (username)" in the description, ordinarily. however, you should note that most people who use rentry graphics don't care for art credits, and won't include them if they're using said graphics. so, that's why you put a watermark on it, so it's basically like forcing credit to be given. it doesn't have to be anything big or flashy, but it does need to be readable, so simple fonts work well.

oh, and ideally there should be a direct link back to the art piece, so if people want to use it also they don't have to scroll through someone's entire account trying to find it.

anyway, hope that helped somewhat. if it didn't, then pop into my askbox and I'll explain things further.

[colonelpancakes]

Watching The Dragon Prince Season Six Part Six! Moment of Truth. Under the cut as per the usual! This episode will reveal my habit of using more pet names for characters the more distressed I become!

I’d just like to say that every time the intro plays, I experience a few seconds of intense fear as I wait to see if it’s Callum again. They've done it twice now I am fully expecting them to do it again.

Oh dang, that is a beautiful opening shot of the sunrise. Absolutely stunning.

Ohh, Callum honey. I know the feeling, it sucks.

Aww, Raylaaaa. I love her trying to cheer Callum up with the crown, it's so sweet…

Ohh... poor Callum... Yeah, that would be a blow to anyone’s self esteem. Especially when we know from The Frozen Ship that Callum's been struggling with the idea that he had already permanently ruined himself by using dark magic.

(Also again, the voice acting is amazing.)

Oh, you know, that’s a good idea! Since they don’t really need to kill Aaravos they just need to stop him from being freed and the main threats to his status as imprisoned are Claudia finding the pearl or Callum getting possessed. If it’s in the Starscraper being guarded by Celestial Elves, then that’s both problems solved! Claudia doesn’t know where it is and it’d be pretty difficult for a possessed Callum to go get it, especially not before anyone could stop him. Good thinking Rayla!

OH GOD.

...On the one hand that’s really bad and a serious problem but on the other hand that is so fucking funny. The magic prison you've been carrying wrapped in an anti-magic blanket through the freezing cold is a giant M&M. Sorry. There is no good way to deliver the news, huh.

Oh, Callum… The way his voice shakes and he sounds so out of breath like he’s having a panic attack. Poor baby.... 🥺

Oh, Honey…

And of course it makes him feel worse because to him, if it really was Aaravos influencing Callum without him knowing, then it’s confirming that, not only is there the possibility that he could one day become a threat to his friends safety, he actively is a threat to them. And if it was simply an accident, at the very least, there’s something he can do to prevent another accident. If it's an accident, then it's something that he did and something that he can make an effort to not let it happen again in the future. Whereas if it’s Aaravos, there’s nothing he can do. The thing he could have done to prevent Aaravos possessing him is not use dark magic but that ship has sailed. He’d be entirely helpless and it’d be his own fault.

Also, it goes without saying but I’m going to say it anyways: Give Callum’s VA an award, the voice-acting is so good, the franticness, the hyperventilation. It’s so good.

Ooh, I love this style of flashback. I love the way that it’s the same artstyle as the credits and how it makes perfect sense since in-universe, Viren’s writing all this down on a piece of parchment. Also, I think that this is first time we’ve heard Lissa’s name in the actual show! I love how you can already see that Claudia got her hair-texture from Lissa while Soren got his from Viren.

Soren with his little dragon plushy!!!! I'm going to start crying...

Hmm. I know it’s probably just coincidence, but the fact that Soren seemingly had a terminal respiratory disease makes me wonder if maybe he had the same condition as Callum’s father, since Callum said that Damian had “some sort of terrible breathing sickness.”

THE QUOTE FROM HARROW!!!! OUGH! “Claudia and I are still searching for a creative solution." "Call it what it is. Dark magic." vs "I found a creative solution. I suppose I should call it what it is, dark magic." The growth.

Oh?? I’ve always been curious what it is about the staff that enhances dark magic since it doesn’t come from a specific primal source. Usually, it comes from taking the life force of living things, but how does a staff help with that? Hmm…

Okay, I’ve questioned this before but. What is up with Kpp’Ar’s arm? It’s clearly injured… Is he using his own blood for spells? It feels like such a random detail to add without explanation. I wonder if we’ll find out...

Ah, so Harrow isn’t king yet. Interesting… I guess that makes sense since Kpp’Ar doesn’t appear in any of the Magma Titan flashbacks.

I think I remember Kpp’Ar having given up dark magic from The Puzzle House (please forgive me if I'm wrong my memory is shit), but I wonder what could have happened to make him veer away from dark magic and the staff to the point where he won’t consider using them to save a child… The royal family doesn’t have Aaravos’s mirror yet so I don’t think it could be that. I am so curious about this man...

KPP’AR MAN, COME ON! I get that you’ve seen some things but you could at the bare minimum be a LITTLE more tactful than that! If there’s some reason that the staff can’t be used, you could, I don’t know, EXPLAIN IT to Viren? Instead of just leaving him sobbing in the room with no explanation as to why you are letting his son die? ...I see where Viren gets it from.

Sksfjalkjslkf  I forgot about the monochrome so when the scene switched back to the Starscraper I was like wait what the hell is happening?

Kosmo, man, I’m not sure this is helping, but also, Callum petting Sneezles for emotional support… I love themm…

Callum, honey… Ough... I am going to cry I love Callum so much. Sweetie…

Ssakljfsalkfj Rayla trying gently elbow Kosmo away from Callum.

Callum, honey, sweetie, darling, sweetheart, love… The fact that he’s just utterly given up on himself and on his ability to continue. That he thinks he’s just too far gone, that there’s nothing left so there’s no point in even trying… Ough. And the implications of refusing to get rid of Aaravos’s control considering the fact that he made Rayla promise to kill him if he ever got controlled again and she did. Oh, honey… Callum’s arc this season is repeatedly punching me directly in the stomach.

Plus the voice acting, again. The way he sounds so dead and empty and almost apathetic, like it’s already over, like there’s just no point to anything anymore. AHG.

Once a dumb sibling always a dumb sibling.

“Truth is everything. But before you give it to another, ask yourself, are you giving them clarity, light, and purpose? Or are you shifting a burden to someone who needs all their strength?” I really like Astrid and I like how they're not going the "lying is always bad, telling the truth is always good in every situation no matter the context" route and instead acknowledging that it requires more nuance! Also, I love how Astrid is animated here, her body language is very expressive and fun.

OH? Oh that explains why it was monotone I had been thinking that it was just like, a sudden style change to portray the emotions or something skjfaslkj. That make a lot more sense.

Also, I like the clarification of how the future-sight works! It seems kind of like Clearsight’s ability in Wings of Fire where she can see all of the possible futures that diverge from her decision. Kosmo can see the possibilities that arise from his decision of whether to tell the truth or not and then pick the best option once he’s seen the diverging paths. It’s probably my favorite form of “prophetic” ability and I especially appreciate it being used here since it lets Timeblind elves like Kosmo exist while still holding true to the themes in the show about the nonexistence of destiny and how the choices you make impact the future.

Okay, I still feel like being Timeblind would suck. I can only imagine Kosmo feeling super awkward repeating what he said in the vision and like. I don’t know but I feel like it’d be creepy to have the people around you constantly parrot what you’ve already heard them say like they’re reading from scripts and you know what they’re about to say and the exact tone they’ll say it in a second before the words come out of their mouths. That would entirely creep me out.

Self confidence restored!!

Continued in reblogs, curse the tumblr image limit

[wilhelmina1233]

This is Mina, she used to be my first OC ever

I drew her for the first time in two years...the last time I did draw her was when I made a comic with her, the comic was about insecurity but I lowkey don't mind showing it, anyways. Mina is the first OC I ever made. At first her only name was Mina, but I added a last name for her called "hats", so Mina Hats, her full name changed to Wilhelmina Hats in 2022, but usually she's called Mina. She used to be a kemonomimi...lol...But I changed it since...it started to be cringe for me.

I still have some old drawings of her from...2021 I think??

This was her reference sheet😭😭....if anyone even NEEDS it I GUESS

I am searching for a drawing I did of her in 2023 which is in a much better artstyle then in these drawings.

[wanderingmind867]

I want to put more games on my christmas list, but videogames are a hard thing for me to think of. I'm usually very bad at them, honestly. There's a reason I mostly watched playthroughs as a kid. It's because I'd get so stressed with a real game that I'd have an anger flare-up. But I still want to try and think of more games for my Christmas list (even if just to fill space). Shame there wasn't a new Kirby game this year, as that would've helped fill space. I would put a Pokemon game, but I haven't really played any Pokemon games in a few years, and now i'm too hesitant to jump back into it. But the only console I really use is the Nintendo Switch, but maybe occasionally I'll dig out my old 3ds.

And although I've tried some harder games like Octopath Traveler before (I loved the artstyle and the characters), the game felt too damn hard. I couldn't finish it. Most of my games end up like that, lying unfinished because I have no patience or calmness. I don't even have the patience to search for things, and I'm often too picky anyways. If I think something looks ugly stylistically, I'll be hesitant to try it. So these things all make for a difficult experience when it comes to trying to find stuff. So that's why I'm asking for help. For someone with my temperament and impatience and love of lighthearted games with great stories and/or relaxing time killers, what would you recommend? Just no horror games. That's an immediate no.

[peculiar-potato]

Among Us animated series trailer analysis post!

(+ a theory on who dies first and who the impostor might be!)

here’s the trailer if you want to watch it yourself :)

This is going to be pretty long, whoops.

~~~~

Firstly, overall impressions on the tone/artstyle!

I mentioned a lot about the art style and everything in my first analysis post, but I just want to reiterate that it’s fun and I like it, and I like seeing how they take details of the game and translate them into the show.

From what I can tell the tone seems pretty lighthearted, well, as lighthearted as a murder mystery can be. It’s a little silly but in a charming way- but with a slight hint of dread. Kinda what I expected.

I think there’s still probably a little way to go before the show is ready considering there were no voice lines in the trailer, and it seemed more like “these are the characters look how fun they are” then actual plot/scenes, but that’s okay I actually really like that we’re not really seeing any glimpses of the plot or voice acting yet!

Anyways, now to the actual trailer!

So opening shot here is The Skeld. We already kinda knew it was going to be set there, but confirmation! At the moment I don’t think the planet/moon/asteroid thing behind them is important, it’s probably just to fill up the background, but who knows, it could be something!

Maybe impostor(s) come from there or something… or maybe it’s just a rock in space.

(My theories get better I promise)

With this image, we finally have an answer to my question from last time- what kind of pizza do the beans eat?

I noticed immediately that there was prosciutto and arugula (a specific kind of bitter lettuce) on the pizza, and with a little googling and a few subsequent suggested searches, I managed to find recipes for fig and prosciutto pizza with, you guessed it, arugula and cheese. (There were multiple kinds of cheese it could be- goat, gorgonzola, mozzarella to name a few)

So those round things are figs. Who would have thought?

Next up we see our first glance of the additional room they added to the Skeld for the show- the kitchen! And the first glance at a depiction of an impostor!

Yellow and Brown seem like good buddies. I wonder how long that friendship will last when impostor stuff starts happening.

My guess is the depiction of the impostor here is a bit more figurative- Nobody really notices them (expect one bean, but we’ll get to that later), and they just kinda seem to be lurking around being scary. Feels more like, idk the idea of an impostor than the actual impostor? I don’t know if I’m explaining that super well.

Maybe this is like the impostor checking out the crew before they start actually impostoring. Idk.

Also, seems like one shadow (although who knows honestly). Maybe it’s a sign of there just being one among the crew? …or maybe I’ve flipped the other way and am interpreting this too literally now.

Regardless, the impostor(s) do/does certainly seem very alieny.

(Alternate impostor conspiracy theories- impostor switches between crewmates/they’re all impostors (which would kinda defeat the purpose tho) or everyone’s just paranoid and there is no impostor (I feel like people would get disappointed by that though so they wouldn’t do it)).

After that we head to navigation.

Here, Red is slacking off playing video games (oddly enough with a human in them- as someone pointed out in the Innersloth discord server, which has some interesting implications. To expand on that myself, it seems like a kind of ancient-civilization human, which is interesting. I tried to figure out what game this is with a reverse image search but I couldn’t, I wonder if it’s a real game or something one of the devs made or something else.)

Anyways Red receives a call from a shadowy figure, presumably a boss of some sort, and scrambles to look like they’re doing what they’re supposed to. The image looks kinda similar to how they’re animating the impostor, but this could be an intentional red herring or just how they’re showing an unrevealed character or an “everyman” type being. Regardless, vaguely ominous.

As for navigation itself, I like the vibes honestly. I want to go there. I love the little headslug bobble head and a lot of the details in the background. Can’t assign everything there directly to a task, but it does have the three consoles and the chair. Also I noticed the bright yellow sticky note- like the “dum” visor cosmetic! I wonder what those papers on the floor say.

Next we’re in the cafeteria. (You can tell by the coloring of the wall, this is probably the vent near weapons)

A couple things I noticed here!

First of all, everyone’s very nonchalant about Lime venting. That seems to mean it’s established that Lime is an engineer like the role in the game (honestly I’m a little surprised a new role was included here!) and that the crew knows this and doesn’t think Lime traveling though vents is a big deal. Will this extend to other crewmembers? Will this put suspicion on Lime as things progress? Who knows!

Also, small thing here, but Cyan signs Orange’s waiver (on the clipboard they seem to carry with them everywhere) simply as “Cyan”. I assumed they would just be going by colors the whole time and not have names or anything, but this kinda confirms that.

(By extension, maybe colors aren’t even codenames or anything for them lore-wise, maybe their names are literally their colors. Also makes me think there may be just one of each color in the entire series if they sign simply as a color. Then again, here I am over analyzing small details again.)

We follow Lime through a vent and into the reactor, which is being watched on the cameras by Purple.

I don’t have a ton to say about Purple, they just seem to be doing their job here. I do find it interesting that the shadow blocks out the reactor camera and then makes it malfunction (is something going to happen in there?) but it may just be a kind of moving the trailer forward type thing.

Also, side note, what’s Lime’s deal with the reactor? They run up to it and snuggle it with hearts floating above them. Engineer really loves their engine I guess haha. I know people have to have already been meming this.

Next is a scene in the medbay.

They do seem to have the medical scanner in the background there, so I wonder if that visual task will ever come into play.

Also I see the MIRA logo on a poster in the background, so my guess is they are somehow under/related to the MIRA corporation.

Green is blushing as Blue checks their reflexes. I remember Blue’s character being described as very attractive, so it could be possible that everyone gets that way around them, or it could just be Green. Idk I’m not here to navigate the minefield that is shipping beans.

White is busy swirling around wine(?) until of course, the impostor shadow thing creeps in as with all the other scenes.

This time, however, someone notices. White.

My guess is White is going to die, and they’re going to die pretty early on.

I was already kinda suspecting White was going to die first simply because of how their character is described. Rich, here because they won some kind of contest, seems to be a bit of a jerk. Feels like the kind of person who would die first idk, just a vibe I’ve had for a while.

Also, I was thinking that 11 is kind of an interesting number, especially considering there were 12 original colors. (Side note, my guess is they’re waiting to include Pink alongside Coral and Rose as “the pinks” or something if they add the new colors in a later season). I feel like maybe they wanted a main crew of ten (because that is what the original lobby size is and thus what a lot of people associate with the game), but needed someone to die early to set up the plot so they needed up with 11.

Now, White being the first and only one to notice the shadow creeping around, and to immediately look terrified and be overtaken by it on screen? My guess is they’re the first to go.

One could also argue that this is an indication of them being an impostor, but idk that feels too obvious of a way to reveal that. (Also I have a different theory as to who it could be). My guess is we won’t know who the impostor is as the audience for a while.

Finally we have this image. I have quite a bit to say about this one!

First of all, I just love this image in general. Makes me so happy to see all the beans!

Anyways, the impostor shadow thing comes in and covers the “not” in “we’re not dead” and I love that I think that’s fun. Also, again, love the falling apart blinds (why are there blinds on a spaceship?) and the balloons duct taped to the window.

We also see them eating the aforementioned fig and prosciutto pizza. There are also a lot of red spheres on the table, which I haven’t quite figured out yet. Fruits of some kind? Or decorations perhaps? Maybe all red gumballs? Whatever they are, Orange is holding one. There’s bologna or summer sausage or something near Brown, and a gray disk in front of it. Not sure about that either, looks kinda like a giant coin, or one of those round lights you tap to turn on and off. Red’s reading what seems to be a rule book (they really don’t seem prepared aha), and there’s also an image of a crewmate on the other side. I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be Pink or Tan.

Blue has a piece of paper with a skull on it which looks pretty ominous, and Brown is holding a knife, but I think those are just red herrings related to their professions. Blue’s a doctor and Brown’s a chef, and Yellow is also holding a cooking implement.

Also, once again, no sign of an emergency meeting button. (Unless the weird gray circle is related somehow?)

With that I was almost ready to wrap up the analysis…

but then I noticed something.

Idk if it’s just me but this image is giving the vibe of the Leonardo Da Vinci painting The Last Supper. I don’t know where my mind pulled this from, but I just kinda looked at it was like… wait this looks familiar. At first I thought it was just my brain making connections, but when you look at the two images right beside each other, it seems like a pretty deliberate parallel.

If it is intentional… Orange is in almost the exact same position that Judas (the betrayer) was in in the painting.

Just saying ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maybe the red gumball thing made them an impostor /s

Also, just spitballing here, not really part of the theory, if Orange is working against the crew (either as an impostor or an accomplice), and they’re apparently affiliated with HR… what kind of implications could this have for the lore as a whole? Red’s probably just talking to their boss or something, but it feels ominous- what if MIRA (assuming that’s who’s in charge here) is in on the whole impostor thing?

But again, this is also kind of obvious of a hint, so I’m slightly skeptical of it.

Anyways, lots to think about with this, as you can tell I’m pretty excited.

[azz4me]

K.I.M J.O.O.N.G.O.O

I love him. No new news. But I fucking love him. I love that adorable little fluffy haired bastard more than words can explain, more than I can talk, more than my entire life. I use pictures because I can't find the corecct words to use most of the time and expressions are the only thing i could show. OK.

Starting from his first appearance

I CAN'T- I-😭😭😭😭😭😭😭twink I don't remember what I exactly thought of him when I first saw this, probs some lanky guy gonna solo some side bitches and save vasco buttt

this pannel

I fucking loved vasco, ok? I loved little vasco and his backstory I am a fucking sucker for gap moes BUT THEN! GOO CAME WITH THIS GOOFY ASS LINE AND I WAS SOLD. SOLD MF. Srs who wouldn't, look at that goofy ass smile, with goofy ass eyebrows, with goofy ass glasses, with goofy ass hair and then that twink ass bod. But this face fr be the I pull when I am with little kids.

I am honestly crying and dying looking at this😭😭😭😭Look at him pull some karate kid move and he is so kjgwbdvk happy and smug😭? HIS HAIR!! HIS HAIRRR💀💀IT'S FUKING GLOWING AT THE BACK LIKE BITCH HE IS MFING GLOWING anddddddd he looks so little here ahkjsgvsgvc

this. I love this. Pookie showed up for the first time and already cracked some eggs. Who wouldn't love him???? First impressions are important. And Kim Joongoo slayed it🦅🦅👄

and this is one of my fav pannels of Goo.If you understand you understand, if you don't then try harder to understand. Because LOOK at that hand, that pose? that smile? like????😭? GAWDDDDDD I WANT TO SQUEEZE HIM SO BAD AND SHAKE HIM LIKLE A MILKSHAKE👹👹👹

currently break dancing to "She's crazy but she's mine'', thanks to hamburger

ANYWAYS i still don't know if I should lable this nightmare or best dream of my life if I saw this on my dream

he still cute tho<3333 but I wouldn't dare go near him, jut a little pat on the head wouldn't hurt tho ;P

that chair was actually me ya'all, he was throwing me😋😋

proof👆

but srs I love this pannel so myuch like he is throwing chair while saying carrying knife is cheap??? mhm Such a cutie pattootie💗💗💗skhdikvckvbsh simply truly adorable you know muy baby😭😭

yes love break all his fingers, break his skull too, break him💓💓💓 how dare that thing touch you. nothing much for me to add here. Slay.

if any one of you dares to say he looks weird. I will come for your throt even tho you are correct but you will be deemed wrong because I said so. ok? lets just all agree he is stuill cute here '3'

And this. Good loard. If this didn't make you stan goo then I don't know hat else will. He looks so chill and goofy eheheheh I love him so much ❤❤ Look at him just munching on snacks while he gets 'accused' my lil meow moew <33333

You might be thinking to just not talk about this, letting it pass as PTJ's old artstyle but NO. He is Kim Joongoo and we love kim Joongoo in amy form of matter or shape. NO KIM JOONGOO PANEL SHALL GO UNLOVED UNDER MY WATCH. Comeon he looks like he might bite but I swear he doesn't. He is just a little silly that's all🥰🥰

coming on to his second appearance

OUR FASHION KING, OUR MESSIAH, OUR BABYBOY, OUR BABY ❤❤❤👄👄💟💟💟❣❣❣💞💞💞💞💞 he was born to slay, if you don't agree go argue with a wall. That long coat >.< i have never seena man wear that long coat and when I searched it, it specifically showed just for women only, baby boy is rocking with that striped socks💞💞💞

understandable I love deadpool and spiderman too<333333

That little heart could end me in less than a second. So if he did talk like how deadpool talks playfully...I am a dead man. I could not be under the influence and still think I would survive a nuclear bomb dropped right above me but this? THIS?? Neh eh I could never survive if I hear him talk like that. I would be a dead piece of meat INSTANT. Gone like the dinosaurs in an instant.

AHHHH PLEASE I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AHHHHHHRFEBETNRYJN😭😭😭😭😭😭 PLEASEEEEE GODDDDDDD

i miss these type of lips not that I am saying the ones we get now are bad but these are just a whole different typr of beasts compared to now. Look at his lips, i want ti pinch it and then apply lip balm to it the wipe it off and apply lipstick on it. Look at them It's so glossy and juicy like for who did he get his lips so plump for WHORE🤨🤨??

silly goo doing silly stuff<3333

sksksksksk I love how his hair looks here. Reminds me of Donald Trump's hair or is it wig idk but I love how Goo looks here

ew.

seeing this bitch made my mood sour. I will continue the ramble later.

[mcsm-confessions]

Saw someone mention their favorite mcsm artists, and I wanna do the same except I’m rambling about it and also including mcsm editors from tiktok :))

My favorite minecraft story mode content creator is Enden!! Something about his art perfectly captures the little block characters even in a more ‘realistic’ artstyle that still contrasts well with the cartoon-ish artstyle. In my perspective, every artwork he has created is perfect :] Along with his fics and AUs too!! Definitely my favorites.

Some other artists I absolutely love are Sopuu, Fruut, Shelly, Batunatu, etc!! Every mcsm artist on every platform is amazing, and I’m so surprised but grateful that such a small fandom consists of many people who hold great talent. Sopuu’s cute art style and champion Jesse au had me so happy the first time I saw it, and their art in general has this comforting atmosphere that I absolutely adore. Fruut’s origin au + designs are amazing, plus their jesstra art?? I love!! I don’t know how they’re always so creative when it comes to colors and designs, but I’m not complaining. Shelly’s art is so amazing too, her coloring and artstyle is so yummy in the best way possible!! Also the way she draws Aiden is gorgeous, despite him being my least favorite I absolutely love and WILL consume every Aiden art from her. And I LOVEVE Batunatu’s art style, art format, coloring, and quite literally everything?!!? I fall in love with every drawing I see from their account.

Editors now yippee!!! Mcsm is such a small fandom, especially on tiktok, so most of these will be recognizable. Some of my favs are Nancy/Beacontowner, Vui/Vuixyii, Cosmic/Cosmiczbomb, Ava/Ocelotvsp, Silky/Silky.rainbow, Zizi/Strawbzizi and a lot more that but these were on the top of my head. All of the edits these people made are amazing and i hope you guys know i search up mcsm edits every day

Anyways I’m so sane about mcsm content haha. now give me more

~~~

[ithinkdogshouldvote2]

Hey, just wanted to say that I thought you handled the whole Terry Jr being black post very well and very civilly. Even while faced with backlash about your design, you responded politely and respectfully.

I also didn't know it was confirmed on the aftershow that Terry and Samantha are black, not having access to the patreon, though I happened to headcanon them as black beforehand anyway. Personally, I think it's unfair to expect someone to know what has or hasn't been confirmed by the creators when the information is behind a paywall.

Also, there's nothing wrong with having different ideas than what "the fandom has decided". The whole point of fandom and diversity means people interpret things differently. While I understand how your designs along with the character's individual stories could be easily misconstrued, and that should definitely be taken into account, you haven't done anything wrong by interpreting a character a certain way, especially when they barely have any confirmed physical appearance on the show itself.

You said you're working on a redesign for Terry, but you shouldn't have been bullied into it. I understand that the original post was mostly a vent about personal experiences and feelings, and that's valid. There was probably a more respectful way to handle to situation though.

To end this tirade, let me just say that I think your artstyle is adorable

Thank you, that's honestly very gratifying to hear. The whole situation was unfortunately pretty stressful, maybe just because I'm a very anxious person, but it was really eating away at me.

I said this before in the post, but my first experience with a podcast was the adventure zone where designs were fully up to interpretation, so it was maybe my bad coming into dndads with that attitude. I've seen fanart of pretty much all the character in all different races, including Terry jr as white, so I kinda just took that as confirmation that this was the case.

The thing is with the patreon paywall is that I AM a patron, so I would totally be able to look up the talking dads episode if someone directed me to it, but no one has yet. and the op never responded to my request for it. Even though I will be changing Terry's design regardless, I would still like to see what Anthony said since I've never seen someone say it was confirmed before.

I also fully agree about not loving the whole "the Fandom has decided" thing. There will always be exceptions to the rule. I've seen plenty of people draw the characters in plenty of ways and that, to me, the fun part of podcasts. That there is no ONE design. And mine was just an ingredient in the pot of the Fandom. People who don't draw and just enjoy fanart have the ability to basically shop for what designs they like best. They can choose one person's Lark and Sparrow designs, and another person's nick design. It was maybe small minded of me to assume that people would just keep scrolling if they didn't like my designs. The op called me a popular artist in the post and I've never been a popular artist before, so it's also possible that my work might me kinda hard to avoid if it's near the top of searches. Especially with how much I DO draw Terry and with the unintended message of "good dad = white guy" which was obviously never something I was trying to convey.

In regards to changing my terry, I do have to admit that I am sad to see the old design go, and I don't feel awesome about how we got here, but I do really like the new design and hopefully you guys do too. I didn't change too much since I still like alot about the old design and changing how i see him in my head isnt gonna be a fully new design, just necessary tweaks on the template, but it'll hopefully be a good change.

I never imagined I'd be at the center of something like this, and it really didn't feel great, haha. Especially when looking at the comments on that post of people saying they've been avoiding my art because it makes them uncomfortable, something I NEVER wanted to happen. I just really hope I can turn it around and the people who avoided me before will understand that I really didn't mean any harm.

But genuinely thank you for this, sorry I'm kinda just using it to get out the rest of my feelings regarding the situation before moving past it. It feels a bit better to know that people like you had similar feelings to the situation as I did as the whole thing felt a bit isolating. Obviously it was probably also stressful for the op so I don't want to insinuate that I'm the only one who was affected by this whole thing. I'm really thankful for the support. Or at least the reassurance haha

And thank you for saying my artstyle is cute! Honestly with all the crazy talented people in the dndads community I'm really thankful to have gotten the following and attention that I have. Despite this experience, maybe not leaving the greatest impression, this fan base is one of the most kind and supportive communities I've been in. =]

[ethubs-but-everywhere]

For the post asking us to send asks, have you heard of the dbhc au on here? The comic is really good *and* it has some great ethubs content *and* I love the artstyle :)

I would love to send you a link to it but for some reason this is now happening?

Anyways just search up the tag #dbhc au and you'll find it, sort by chrono and enjoy :D

YEAH I WAS OBSESSED WITH IT WHEN SHEP WAS POSTING IT REGULARLY!!! its still one of my favorites and its the one that really got me into ethubs community :]<3

i also recommend to take a look at the au to everyone who haven't seen it :DD

[charles-my-beloved]

March 23, 2024. Ever since I found out about Charles' existence, knowing damn well that he's a minor character, but i can't help it. I'm the type that gets hungry very quickly and eats a lot (about the fanart, fanfic, discuss thingy), and know that this bastard only appeared in less than 7 chapters, i searched all the social media i use, facebook (don't "HOW OLD ARE YOU???" me), tiktard, x, reddit, youtube, tumblr, pinterest, pixiv, every fucking where for content related to this asshole, I had to go to the Japanese side of X to find food about him, this bastard's name is pretty common so either write his full name or add another character's name, and Japanese side, his name gets mixed up with some game, artists and bla bla so i had to add the tag about Jujutsu Kaisen. Like hell, even just mentioning him makes me as happy as getting above average in math

Since he is one of the few human characters that has a standard appearance easy to draw that I like the most, I started drawing him, that makes all the sketchbooks or books in my studies that I don't use impossible without him, including the scratch paper from my entrance exam a few months ago, drawing this bastard constantly made my artstyle increase pretty fast, like, i can't draw a pointy chin with big round eyes on this bastard because it looks pretty weird (won't mind if someone fanart him with that tho :3). I'm glad he's getting some attention, 6 votes and 76th in the 3rd popularity poll, good for a character that appears in 3-4 chapters and 2 cameos. 2 votes and 132th in the 4th popularity poll, two is plural.

Pixiv he rarely gets tagged if the art mentions him, beg the people on there to remember his name and throw it in, like had to go looking for tags of other characters that Charles might have drawn in is a pretty new shit. I still can't forget how my brain short-circuited after trying to find food in the novels side and seeing two (I don't understand what they're write about) with "シャル金 ", fucking シャル金, unbelievable, I thought he was such a flop that there was no ship about him, yeah i know he's going to be shipped with bumkari somehow cause that's the only character he intracts on screen but i don't really think they will actually ship it. Anyway, thanks for the food on X (still can't believe there's a handjob fanfic). Still remember when I looked at the ship name, I followed the way of naming ships that the person at the top is the domination and the person at the bottom is the submission, I somehow felt a little awkard when I saw the ship name then just shrugged it off.

[roxtron]

uh uh for the character ask game, Pearl from splatoon! With the questions 2, 12, and 23!

okay yay uhh.. 2. favorite canon thing.. probably her personality and style honestly, I know she wasn't really popular when splatoon 2 came out but I've always kinda liked her and especially her style in the art books and splatfest art.. i'll probably go find some while looking for question 23 lol 12. I usually have a hard time coming up with headcanons but the translation error resulting in all the he/him idol memes is kinda funny to me, i never turn down a good trans headcanon lol, gotta project onto my favorite characters <3 so i guess if anything I'd probably see her as genderfluid or bigender or something like that, (not sure which label would fit best) which honestly kinda fits with some of her official art outfits tbh.. 23. ok time to go search.

ok i have finished searching. there's probably way more cool art of her I'm not considering but I was looking for like an hour already so.. from what I found I picked some of my favorites <3

i think this is one of my favorites probably just because of the upper half of the outfit and the pose (ik this was supposed to be some nike promo but I couldn't care less about that, I'm not a brand person and I usually only wear sneakers if I'm gonna be walking a while so my feet don't hurt lol.) But I might also have a bias because I liked redrawing some of the splatoon official art when I was younger and I really liked the way that drawing turned out. It was back when I did traditional art so I'm too lazy to go find it but, it was a fun way to practice and figure out my art style and stuff, I've definitely been inspired a bit by the official artstyle. Unfortunately Marina doesn't look the best in a lot of the official art mostly because lot of people have pointed out whitewashing which sucks :( but I can't be too surprised considering one of the official or brand liscenced plushies was so heavily whitewashed I'd have thought Marina was white if I didn't know anything about splatoon and saw that plushie lmao.. anyway i found more art i liked so i'm putting it here too

I like her more casual style in the majority of official art and I'm definitely biased considering I also wear really baggy t shirts and hoodies lol. with the mention of gender earlier ofc she can still be feminine and obviously clothes aren't inherently gendered and all but. I dunno I've always appreciated these outfits as more androgynous to me even before I realized I wasn't cis lol. whatever gender people hc pearl as we can all agree these outfits slay <3 it's very gender to me in a way I can't explain

[someonemultifandom]

My thoughts

Long text and it's just my opinion, xd, sorry for the writing, I'm not american

Well, it all started in January 2023, when Inside Job was canceled. I was pretty devastated and remained fandomless for like 6 months, until August 2023

Inside Job had a special place in my heart, the characters, the cast, the plots… Pretty weird I found it by searching Family Guy on Netflix. What pissed me off is that Netflix renewed it and then canceled it despite renewing it. It just makes me so angry. There was so much hype, so much potential… And it’s gone. Xd. Anyways, after seeing some fanart I found what I would consider my Inside Job’s replacement: Digman! I’m serious, this thing has somehow managed to fill that Inside Job hole in my heart, even though those might be shoes too big to fill for this series. Anyways, Digman! is what I would consider a mediocre series, which is way higher than promedium. Inside Job is an excellent series, where characters get developpement, plots work well and bring stuff to the story and the characters interact with each other since the main cast is quite large. In Digman! quite the opposite happens, the main cast seems to only be made out of the protagonist and the deuteragonist, like Inside Job but at least there Brett and Reagan talked with other people than themselves. In Digman! most of the time is either Rip or Saltine talking, also Saltine isn’t that much of a character since she’s so flat in terms of personality, like, you’re the deuteragonist, why don’t we know your family name. Reagan is so relatable at some point and she gets a great developpement through the series, even in the first part. Rip on the other hand get poor developpement and at last, he only changes a bit for the most stupid reason: he believes that anyone who bothers him is caring for him, which is kinda dumb to be honest since he’s literally told that he’s always wrong and others know what’s best for him. Now to the deuteragonists, there is Brett for Inside Job and Saltine for Digman!. Brett is such a loveable character that is so relatable, he’s a yesman, he’s hot, he has a tragic past, yet he’s still a nice guy. He got a great developpement through the show as he realized he doesn't have to change to please people and that his opinion matters, healing a bit of his family trauma at part 2 and learning to let go of his best friend just so she can be happy. Then we have Saltine, please what even are you. Saltine has by most people the most attractive design but according to them it is just because she doesn’t fit the artstyle and I don’t even understand what that even means. She’s such a flat character that even the support characters have more personality than her! She barely does anything on the series apart from saying the obvious, and triggering Rip’s traumas in ep 2 for some reason. The only time she played an important role was in episode 4 where she met Trisket, another archeologist assistant and they both became friends, which is nice and it was the moment where she had the most personality somehow. But overall, the only thing she does is state obvious things like saying that exploitation is bad and that snakes are dangerous, which is kinda pointless because there’s no need to explain that. I get why Rip seemed so bothered by her in episode 1 because oh my god, she’s kind of obnoxious. We don’t even know her family name! She’s the deuteragonist and we don’t know her family name. The only thing we know from her is that she's a bit of an inventor, she’s a college student, and her parents don’t support her choice of studying archeology, which I understand since what kind of horrible parents name their child after a cracker. This too few compared to Brett whom we know useless stuff about him that at least puts in value his past and personality. But I like both, Inside Job might be canceled, it might never have an end but at least I found something to replace it inside my heart. Something that brought me joy. Something that makes me hype for next season. Something. Digman! might not be the perfect show, but please, give it a chance. Also, whatever will happen in season 2, pls don’t be any romantic, Inside Job already traumatized me so much xd

[bylerschmyler]

Okay okay funny thing: I wanted to make a post about it but you came before me.

I do think that's there is the possibility of Mike singing and playing guitar in S5.

While yes the guitar stuff is only in the background of the scenes but it occurs more often than you think.

There are 2 more guitar referencing scenes that are blink and you miss it.

In S3 - while El and Max search for Heather at the pool - there is a cork board and on this cork board is a rip off paper for guitar lessons. This it obviously not really connected to Mike but I wanted to point it out anyway.

In S4 there is a second scene with a guitar and Mike.

When he throws El's "From El" letter in the trash in Jonathan's room, there is the corpus of a guitar visible behind the door. He throws the letter in direction of the guitar. This also what he does in E1. He throws Els letter in the direction of the guitar.

Both the guitar lesson thing and the guitar in Jonathan's room are are also acoustic guitars. This implicates that Mike isn't so much into heavy metal like the rest of hellfire but rather enjoying pop music more.

Saying Mike never shows interest in music is also not true. We have one scene where he sings along the song in the radio (I have no idea how it's called) but he get shut down by El. He also doesn't just hum the song but he is perfectly singing the lyrics while giving his own interpretation (messing with his singing voice so it's basically more growling). The scene is the make out scene in S3.

Also Finn Wolfhard can play "Should I stay or should I go" on guitar since at least after S1. There is a video of him playing it when he was asked by a fan on a livestream.

Obviously Finn might just like the song or thought it would be funny to be able to play it, but it's also possible that he had to learn it (The Duffers saying they had 10 times more ideas for S2 then they could fit in).

My personal interpretation of why Mike could possibly play a song for Will in S5 is that Wills art evolved to show us how he is in Love with Mike. We know he is an artist. But until S4 he only used pencils and crayons. In S4 he creates a real painting. His artstyle has evolved.

Mike is a writer. He already wrote a campaign for Will at the end of S1 (the comic books tell us that he wrote the campaign for Will to be the hero. It's only extended canon but still). He possibly wrote letters for him too. But for his character development matching Wills S4 development he has to evolve his artstyle (writing) too. So I think it's a possibility.

Lettergate and phonegate can support him or build up a Storyline in which he confesses his love to Will with a song that's referencing Mike's and Will's love language DnD.

I will hop under the shower and Will post a little more detailed.

The guitar(s) in Mike’s bedroom

I wanted to make a post about what the guitar(s) is Mike’s room could mean because quite frankly, I’m not at all convinced that Mike will play the guitar next season!

Set design says something about the characters and since this is Mike’s bedroom it obviously says something about him. But those props have deeper meaning than simply “they just like this”, like the ONE WAY sign obviously isn’t there to convey the message that “Hey, Mike thinks traffic signs are awesome”. The props in Mike’s room tell a story about Mike, something significant to understand his character and so having the guitar(s)‘s only purpose be that Mike likes playing the guitar doesn’t seem to make that much sense, especially because Mike has never expressed an interest in music ever. Now, you could argue that pre s4 Lucas also never expressed an interest in basketball and that he still likes it but basketball and the basketball team all played major roles in Lucas’ arc this season! We get introduced to Lucas being a part of the team and we focus on that throughout the whole season while with Mike they only really quickly show the head of an acoustic guitar and a completely blurry garbage pail kids sticker which features an electric guitar. It’s a blink and you’ll miss it kinda thing which is why I think it would be weird if it actually just represents Mike liking the guitar [especially because that interest in music doesn’t come up again for the rest of the season!] because you would actually have to look deeper into the set design and look for deeper meanings to actually catch especially the electric guitar on the garbage pail kids sticker!

I think it’s way more likely that we would get a love confession through something like a letter/letters (lettergate) than through a song because letters and especially Mike writing and not writing letters is a reoccurring theme in s4 along with Mike making phone calls (phonegate). It’s simply way more logical to expand on a topic that’s been touched on before than to just randomly add something new that’s never been shown/discussed beforehand. [especially because s4 and s5 go hand in hand]

And well….. I guess I’m gonna say it: Mike being really into music is fanon! Mike is a part of hellfire not corroded coffin! Yeah, Mike tries to be more like Eddie but he doesn’t do that because he genuinely wants to be exactly like Eddie. He does it because he doesn’t like being himself! Mike does not actually aspire to be just like Eddie and do everything Eddie does. There’s of course nothing wrong with headcanoning that he does but there’s nothing in canon to solidly back up that Mike’s really into playing the guitar/making music and therefore it is very unlikely to happen in the show and honestly nonsensical as well (imo). So Mike very probably won’t be playing the guitar next season because for the narrative it doesn’t hold as much value as a letter/letters or missed phone calls! Simply because we’re already familiar with the topic of Mike and letters/phone calls while the guitar and a song would come out of the blue and therefore doesn’t have the same effect as finding out that Mike did write letters to Will [or my personal fave: wrote a letter to Will in 1983 which is signed “love, Mike” which they’ll find in the ud in s5] and did try to call him! The reveal of that is just a better payoff for all their fighting because it directly connects to what their fight was about and clears up the miscommunication.

But the guitar(s) in Mike’s room still exists. There is something to it so what I did is I looked up some guitar symbolism (I only found results for what guitars in dreams represent) and I found some interesting things which I think fit extraordinarily well with what Mike’s feeling and going through:

There is also a theme going on with a lot of props in Mike’s bedroom primarily hinting at his sexuality/gayness, as does the whole scene. So I actually also visited a site which described the guitar as a masculine instrument and that the sound of an electric guitar is also very masculine (and passionate) so the guitar(s) in Mike’s room could of course also hint at the fact that Mike is drawn to masculinity/attracted to men which makes even more sense when we remember that the show has already touched on the topic of sexual electricity while both guitars are surrounded by electricity (= the garbage pail kids card features the image of electricity tightly and directly connected to the electric guitar and our attention gets drawn to the acoustic guitar by a lamp which of course works with electricity and actually doesn’t have any need to be on during the day).

If you’ve read my post about the other garbage pail kids cards you’d know that all of them reflect something that happened to their respective st character (though I’m still unsure with Steve) (I am however sure that all of the cards reflect something that happened to each character as well as something personal about Mike since this is still his bedroom!) so Mike’s card probably also reflects some event from s4 and I personally think it’s the monologue! I also found something about what dreams about getting electrocuted by an electric guitar mean and what I found fits pretty well:

“Live Mike” (name of the garbage pail kids card) is only one letter away from “Love Mike” and during the monologue Mike finally tells El that he loves her but he only does this because Will’s last minute encouragement lead him to believe that El’s live depends on it! So he just starts saying things without actually thinking about them in a desperate attempt to save her life which horribly backfires and only causes more problems in the end! (For this we have to remember that the garbage pail kid in the card literally getting electrocuted while playing the guitar is something negative which is why it works well with this interpretation but doesn’t really make sense if it was to reflect a love confession via song and guitar in s5). Someone also pointed out that “Live Mike” is of course a play on “Live mic” so by turning on the microphone (starting to speak) Mike gets electrocuted (something negative happens = the monologue). The monologue is also of course connected to Mike’s personal internal struggle with his self worth and sexuality/identity and therefore it also connects to the card’s personal meaning for Mike.