#anyway i'm just trying to find ideas to finalize some character designs and every time i have to suffer once more

[possumkingluca]

me when i'm able to find decent references for women's fantasy outfits/armor (<- i had to scroll through multiple pages of softcore porn for this)

[notebooks-and-laptops]

Just realised the reason I'm not getting that cool Bellara outfit with the tiara is because i won't encourage her to destroy the archive. Which is really annoying, because I think destroying the archive is a decision neither she or Rook should be making and really puts the nail in the coffin for me on this game just not caring at all about the elves and especially the dalish at all. Like. Bellara could GIVE IT AWAY but to destroy it is to take history and knowledge away from so many people who are desperate for such knowledge. The game basically only brings up the dalish if they're victims of the gods they worshipped in this game (or worse, when the writing tries to force white guilt onto a group of people it makes no sense to have white guilt). And then to just decide suddenly that all these clans who have worked so hard to try and restore some history, the VEILJUMPERS themselves...just. don't get a say in this?

Like. Think of Merrill. Merrill would LOVE to get her hands on that archive. And yes Merrill can destroy the mirror at the end of her questline but if she DOES it's a huge emotional beat in which she believes that she thinks she was wrong and it got her keeper/clan killed. It's really done more out of anger and pain than anything else (the bit where it shatters chills me to my core every time). It's during the rivalry path and it's like, she believes she is so so so alone at that point and that the mirror took it all away. It's a really good character beat and I think maybeeeee they were trying to replicate it here? Because Bellara is also grieving and her brother was taken from her.

But it just doesn't work because it ends up as rooks decision and it ends up being like a methodically thought out one where we're just taking history away from all the dalish clans that they may want or find useful? And it also feels less done out of grief and more a reference to the previous white guilt convo that Bellara has about the Gods and it's like????? It makes me feel so icky to have to make that decision. It's NOT OURS TO MAKE. I just. Bellaras final beats they had so many options it could have been like; her becoming a spirit again or not, her following Anaris or not, her saving her brother or not. If they really really wanted to make it about like elves past Vs their future (false dichotomy but go off I guess) they could have had her find a way to remove her Valislin and whether or not she takes it (also I love the design but give her one we recognise and maybe make it one of the gods we are fighting to give it extra oomf?? I mean I like the idea of different clans having different designs but this kinda falls flat when she and Cirian are the only ones who have different designs?) because at least that decision would only affect HER and not you know. All the clans that constantly have their history erased and desperately want to hold onto it????

Anyway. I don't want to destroy the archive.

But I want the tiara. I want it so bad.

[anbaisai]

Finally had time to sit down and write, but honestly there’s not much to be said other than thank you to everyone who wrote a message on my tree! I really enjoyed reading every single message and screenshotting to save them into a folder for when I need a lil boost ww (including one from Mr. Viper himself above that got a laugh out of me, thanks Jamil really appreciate you thinking I’m cool)

Some sappiness under the cut:

I never expected to receive this much support for my silly yume/oc ship content when I began posting, and I really don’t have the words to express how grateful I am. I’ve met many wonderful people through this fandom, and also just had lots of fun in general making art. I mean it when I say I genuinely never had this much motivation and inspiration to create for any fandom (or original content) in the past. There was a long, long period in my life during which trying to find even a crumb of motivation to draw felt impossible. There was always some reason that I couldn’t - be it school/life being too busy, feeling too tired, having other stuff to do first, etc. I thought I’d never rediscover my love and passion for art, until I finally pushed myself to design my Yuu for real (instead of just thinking about it) and then everything just snowballed from there. (For context, I began playing TWST in 2020 and, despite being very much in love with it, only began drawing anything for it this year.)

I have such a massive list of ideas that I still want to draw (plus several asks that I want to answer that I just haven’t had the time to yet), so I’m certainly going to be kept busy for a while. After previously making every excuse possible for not drawing, I’ve learned that yeah, once you really love something you will squeeze time out for it no matter how hard things get, because it kills you not to. All those times when I wondered when I’d ever be able to draw as much as my favourite artists now feel like a distant relic of the past, and I have Twisted Wonderland (especially Jamil) and this community to thank for it. If anyone reading this is going through something similar, I promise it gets better - you will need to put in the effort to make it start, but you will get there.

There’s also my past experiences of being in fandoms that, well, did not welcome yume/self-shipping type content. If I so much as thought of creating any, the fear of being ridiculed would make me back away from the idea immediately. I’m glad to see that sentiment seems to be no longer the norm, but also the TWST fandom has been one of the most supportive of yume content I’ve ever seen. To everyone wanting to participate but has been hesitating, you absolutely should! My only regret is not starting sooner, seriously. In a sense I feel like I'm fulfilling a childhood dream of mine, and all of my past hesitation and anxiety just dissipated once... as cringe as it sounds - once love took over. So go pour your love and passion into that character you adore, they deserve it.

Anyways, wishing everyone a happy holidays and happy new year! Here’s to another year of enjoying TWST and creating for the things we love ❤

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I don't get why people hate on different fire emblem games. I've had a lovely time with every game I've played, even fates, which people for some reason insist sucks? It's so good. Here's my favorite things about each game I've played just cause. I am very sick so no one can criticize me btw.

Binding: obviously goes for all gba games but the battle animations are so!!!!! Lovely and charming. Roy's just a silly guy, Lilina :], the cast is excellent, everyone from the most insignificant playable characters to the nastiest of villains like Narcian and Jahn is just so fun and nicely written.

Blazing: I LOVE THE ELIBEAN LORDS SO MUCH THEY HAVE MY ENTIRE HEART AND SOUL. I think fe7 has my favorite cast. Everyone is awesome like in fe6 but cranked up a notch. And I quite like how this game isn't about war!!! Lyn's just trying to save her grandpa and Eliwood is searching for his dad. There's some hints of civil war here and there but ultimately less war than usual which is quite fun and interesting.

Sacred stones: I adore how the game is like. almost horror. In my ideal fe8 remake they would lean into the horror aspect a more and maybe have a higher age rating. I really love how it starts out like any other fe game then you start to see monsters and then there's the necromancy and characters like Riev who worship this vile demonic thing. And the art director for this game was Wada Sachiko! She was such an excellent choice for the art director because her style leans into the darker feel than fe6 and 7. Also I'm a Christian so I do really enjoy L'Arachel's character where she's obviously inspired by Christianity but not in an offensive way. She's a nice god(s) (?) honoring teenage girl full of whimsy and optimism!!! Also I love Eirika. Did a cosplay of her once and gotta say, I felt drop dead gorgeous in it lol.

Path of radiance: I have yet to finish this one but oh MAN do I love the artstyle and combat and character design. Not a single bad character, they're all nicely written. Except Devdan but he's not real if we ignore him. I love how believable Ike and Mist are as siblings and I got say I actually find the bad voice acting to be charming, especially in that opening cutscene where Mist says something like "you're finally awake! 'bout time!" like she's so silly and cute I would die for her. I also really love how Ike is not royalty, he's just some guy!!! With autism!!! Like for a while my view of Ike was kinda skewed by looking at super smash bros content of him so then playing the game and discovering he's such a kind, reasonable and autistic dude was a very pleasant surprise. Seriously though this dude NEEDS to get assessed. Anyway I quite like the laguz too. Reyson, Tibarn and Caineghis are my favorites and I'm excited to see more of Kurthnaga because he's got such a pleasant design. Also just. Caineghis is probably one of my top favorite character designs ever, like top 20. It goes so unbelievably hard.

Awakening: THE TRAGEDY. THE TRAGEDY OF EMMERYN'S DEATH. UWAAAGHHHHH. I love LOVE how Emmeryn is written, how you can't save her despite Lucina being able to time travel, how you're given the options "save Emmeryn? Yes or no?" and it doesn't matter if you pick yes cause she dies anyway. The cast is not quite on the same tier as fe7 or 8 and there's certainly some characters I do not like but my favorites really are just so wonderful and lovely. I'd kill and die for Henry, Maribelle, Libra, Gregor and like 5 other people. The child unit mechanic is also very fun! It's such a clever idea for a time travel game and it gives you so much control over how your units end up. The self sacrifice ending also makes me feel sick. /pos "there's better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know. Here, give me your hand" and then Robin reaches out to Chrom and the symbol of Grima is gone and when he pulls them in closer, he says "it's finally over." just. Ahdhdjsjsjsj!!!!!!!

Fates: now, I've only played birthright but it was a very nice experience. I went in expecting nothing and had my socks blown off. Combat is fun, characters are so silly billy and it's got such a nicely done representation of a broken families. It's nice. The characters and supports are nice, even if I do feel like we could've had a few less support chains. And idc if I doesn't make sense story wise, bringing back child units was fun!! Again with the unit customization but also it's so fun to give your favorite character a teenage/preteen kid that they have to deal with. Azama and Mitama's supports are peak silly. I think people would enjoy birthright more if they took it a little less seriously. It's full of whimsy and people ignore that in favor of comparing it to more serious games which I think is kinda unfair.

Shadows of Valentia: oh MAN. I LOVE THE TWO ARMIES MECHANIC!!!! And bangin' cast! Absolutely adore almost every single one of those gay bitches!!! The artstyle is so gorgeous and I hated the combat at first but grew a soft spot for it, it's so strange and I like it!!! Also the game is less hefty so my computer had an easier time running it than POR, awakening and fates which is quite nice too. I love Berkut's character (I won't defend him, he's a son of a bitch) and MAN Ian Sinclair really went HAM on that voice acting!!! Also Zeke and Tatiana feel handcrafted for me specifically. Angsty married couple? Where one has amnesia?? And the other is worried he'll leave her if he remembers another woman he was dating??? And they're voiced by Patrick Seitz and Cristina Vee, two of my favorite voice actors ever??????? SIGN ME UP!!!! I'm excited to eventually play the Marth games and see what else is up with Zeke :] also adore Celica, Silque, Jesse and Boey! Very nice, solid characters.

Three houses: different routes! DIFFERENT ROUTES!!!! You get to see all sides of a war and it's so fun piecing together the history of Fodlan and nature of Rhea's character as you play each route. And again, excellent voice acting!! And it was fun being in the 3h fandom when it first came out and seeing all the silly things the VAs did together. I've got like 400 hours on this game and it holds a special place in my heart cause it was the very first game I finished without help from siblings and it was my first fe game. Also banging soundtrack, fun and unique combat (LOVE battalions) and amazing characters.

Enage: now I'm only 8 chapters in, I think? Haven't been able to play it recently. But it's so fun! Before getting it, I hated the bright artstyle and character designs but they've grown on me and I have been enlightened so I now know that f!Alear is a cutie patootie and I love her. I love the mechanic of adopting animals. Like I am quite happy recent fe games have, in some aspects, become more a little more lighthearted and silly. I love variation in game series' and when the devs aren't way too formulaic!!! That being said I also love the archetypes!!! I just really love fire emblem :]

I'm excited to finish engage and POR and play more of the games :]

Sorry about the long ass ask, I'm full of love and I want people to know it because I wish other people could learn to be a little more positive and focus on the aspects of fe games that they like instead of being hardcore haters. Okay now everyone say thank you Senri Kita (fe9 art director) and Wada Sachiko

.

[yanaleese]

BAUEHEISUWUJEJEHE HEEYYYYYYY I'M THE DEATH WITCH ANON AND I JUST HAVE TO SAY I'M FREAKING OBSESSED WITH THE OUTFIT YOU GOT FOR HER AND THE KARMA SKETCH AND THE LITTLE STUFF LIKE THEIR INTERACTIONS BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY THEIR DYNAMIC AND I HAD TO REVEAL MYSELF TO SHARE SOME ART BECAUSE SHE....SHE!!!!!!! AND HE!!!!!!

I just let out a small scream when I saw the drawings....I love them so much. Thank you so much it made my week. I had work so I couldn't answer quickly to your post but holy moly.... I love the death cult uniform you got for her and I'm obsessed.

Anyway here's my oc!! Her name is Lenka.

You almost got her right! Scarily almost, I probably should get better at designs....

But in a way her outfit has a lot of floral theming and based upon Czech Kroje dresses. It's mostly because it's in line with her lore and what the coven is. But I love the dress design you made and the outfit you gave her. Got me out here weeping over it, she would totally wear it. My shayla....my shayla....

But that death witch Karma....ahem. AHEM. *looks over there 👀👀👀

Serious note he looks really cool😭 I love the design so much.

(I just ramble about Karma and Lenka's first meeting, or what I think their first meeting would go so it might be OOC)

I also find the idea of Karma meeting her mid ritual more in line with her character. Mostly because it's funny as shit to think about.

Lenka is trying to capturea large amount of souls at some apartment, something about ghosts lurking around and it being a 'good opportunity to stop doing contract work' and then she turns around mid ritual to see, in her own words, "this doofus of a man" watching her because Karma thought someone was outside, stalking him, when it's just her doing witch stuff.

They both just stared at each other like a deer in headlights.

Karma probably thinks she's doing this to kill him, but after she told him to gtfo of this place or else he's going to get possessed/cursed/killed, despite the ritual asking her to stay in one place so it won't have any consequences on ber body, they kind of snowballed from there, going from decent friends to a romantic relationship.

Lenka is 50% sure Karma is probably someone important in the vampire world. Considering what kind of deals her coven makes, I think in the context of your oc world, she'd hear his name floating around, but never really dove into who or what kind of person he is because she's just doesn't care about who the coven's clients are connected to (not like they have regulars since well, the prices are really heavy).

But he's the first person that didn't manipulate her into doing...whatever her family's been doing to her for years, so she's looking away from most red flags, which will most likely cause some problems in the long run! Denile is a river in Egypt and she is a frequent visitor.

ANYWAY. That's the end of my brain rot. Love the blog, love the art, keep it up. I'm going to bed now. Have a meme for the road.

(Please ignore the low effort. It's 12 pm.😭)

BWAHAHA I FOUND YOU~~~~~~~~~~

But you know every single time I go in the inbox, I am always happy to reread the asks, including this one. I must say I laugh every time I see the Denile joke + the meme upon my re-reads. You along with my followers, makes my heart flutter with joy when you tie your OC with Karma's backstory. I am beyond honored that you guys are still with me 😭

Also when I first saw the design, I was like :00000000000000000. I love the intricate flowers and the Czech patterns. She gives me immense magical girl but death vibes hahaha

And as for Karma's...ahem.... "hot" Death outfit.....yeah. He is fine I ain't gonna lie. Just SAMESIES

As for the meeting, that is 100% Karma. Karma would just watch and wait and be like "ok let's see if I die" even though he fully knows he's gonna die and suffer for the rest of his life 🤣🤣🤣🤣. If it means he gets to see your face in his final moments, he would!!!!!!!!!!

Also OOH! 50%! Mwahahahaha. Karma in that case would sign serious deals with the cult, so he can just watch you in action and save it on his phone. I'd imagine he'd share it with José and be like

"look at my bbygurl, look at her cute cheeks when she fights. And the way she stares into the deepest parts of my heart...mmh. Did you also hear the way she was like "I have a man to get to"?!?!?! THAT'S ME, JOSÉ!!! THAT'S FUCKING ME. I'M HER MAN. I AM THE MAN. THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY FUCKING LIFEEEEEEEEEEE"

J: "Karma. I asked for a pizza delivery not an entire statement bro"

Another thing is that I imagine Karma manipulating the cult to his own benefit. Puppeteering, in a way. Make Lenka feel like she's in control of her own life, when he is the one making it happen. This would happen as the relationship deepens down the line, where he becomes more possessive and obsessive of her.

I'm pretty sure there's a lot more things he'd do but at this point bestie idfk it's almost 2 AM 😭😭😭😭

Finally, thank you. Thank you for loving the blog, the art, and the shenanigans that happen on this blog, including the lack of updates. I've just been heavily burnt out so seeing these messages, no matter how small, really mean a lot to me. I cannot express my gratitude and enthusiasm for having you guys around during my burnout. I truly love each and every single one of you guys and the time you take to look at my stuff.

And so guys, feel free to share your OCs and their stories. I may not be able to get through them all, but know that I read, re-read, and continue to re-read. I love your little guys, just as much as you love my little guys. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Lastly, my apologies for taking so long to respond.

I hope this gift is acceptable to you, bestie.

With love,

Yanaleese

(P.S. - can I crop that image of Karma crying in the meme? I'd love to make it my pfp hahahaha)

[glitch-pep]

I made an UnVale account! ✨

Over there I basically transferred all of the oc info and art I already posted about on this blog, to have it all in one place. I also added some new stuff, but I put the new stuff under the cut.

(Also check out the Traits pages for everyone.)

Charlie doesn't have a page because her design and the info I wrote are so outdated that I'll have to wait until I remake her.

Anyways, stay swag! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 ;D

[Intro Song Lyrics for Sunny's Segment]

Have you ever woken up, not knowing what to do?

Have you ever wondered, what is best for you?

Well luckily, Sunny is here every day,

to take your hand, and guide you on the way!

Through a morning routine, for everyone,

you'll be ready for the day, by the time we're done!

Mina related episode/scene ideas that could actually happen in the show:

1.) A scene where Jonny refuses to do something and Mina is like "Well, Karma said that you have to!", to which Jonny is like "No she didn't, cats can't talk!" and then, Mina looks Jonny dead in the eyes and for a whole, 3 unusual seconds the show is dead quiet as Mina quietly looks at Jonny, and afterwards Mina just says "You're lucky I can't curse in a different way." and walks away leaving everyone just frozen at their spots for another 3 seconds, to which Eddy finally breaks the silence by going "That was something. Anyways-" and the plot continues as if nothing had happened.

2.) ( @breadinvader came up with this one! ) "So, Mina spreads a rumor that she has a cursed eye that can turn everyone who sees it into stone. She's very happy with the newfound peace, but her mom schedules an appointment at a hairdresser without telling her because she believes Mina is bothered by her bangs so she should cut them. Mina doesn't like this because if everyone finds out about the cursed eye being a fraud, they might start suspecting that the entire witch rumor is a lie and never leave her alone again. So she makes an alliance with the main characters to avoid this. And hijinks ensue." - What my friend wrote. Also, I'd like to add that I can imagine Ed Edd and Eddy accidentally seeing her with the new haircut and then she basically has no choice but to ask them for help. But, also, they'd still be indiferent about the whole witch thing even after this episode.

3.) An episode where the Kanker sisters hear about the whole witch rumor and then they try to make Mina into the 4th forbidden Kanker sister. Mina is NOT happy about this and she starts hating the Kanker's more than she hates the other kids after this episode.

4.) An episode during the school portion of the show where Mina gets a higher score on a test than Double Dee which has never happened before to him, he usually always has the highest score in the class, so he tries to figure out what went wrong throughtout a lot of mental breakdowns and then just ends up begging her for help. It turns out that the teacher just accidentally forgot to check one of the tasks which Mina points out, to which he thanks her and is like "Is there anything I can do to show my gratidute?" and she's like "Yes. Leave me alone." and he actually listens to her and leaves her alone from then on as much as possible.

5.) An episode where Double Dee realizes that Mina has actually never fallen for one of their scams before, to which Eddy makes it his mission to prove that he can make ANYONE fall for his scams. A bunch of scams ensue and Mina ignores and avoids all of them to which Eddy is literally like "Let's just bother her and call it a scam and she'll have to pay us to leave her alone." and after a while of that Mina is like "I don't even have any money." to which they're like "Don't you get any allowance? For candy?" and she's like "No, I don't even like candy." to which Eddy is like "A kid that doesn't like candy? Now I'm actually starting to believe you're a witch." and she probably takes advantage of that statement to scare them away.

6.) An episode where Mina has to go to another one of her aunts weddings and so she's all dolled up in a fancy new dress. Someone drags her outside and Ed ends up getting a stain on the dress. Mina is mad because her mom is gonna be mad about the stain so they now have to help her get it out or she'll curse them. The rest of the episode is the Ed's struggling trying to get the stain out and other characters also try to clean it but nothing works. Eventually Rolf gets his turn he does some weird crap with it and the dress is spotless, it looks even better than it did before. Mina never ends up going to the wedding because it got cancelled last minute and they're just like are you kidding me.

Random Mina facts I added:

Mina collects DVD's. Her house has a full shelf of them in the living room. She always picks out a movie for the whole family to watch on Friday, since Friday is movie night. Sometimes Jonny's family joins in.

Mina's favorite characters in movies or cartoons are always cats, and no one else.

Mina's favorite food is her mom's lasagna, which is a reference to Garfield.

The other kids in the eene universe all have the inside of their mouths colored in anything but the normal colors because of the candy they eat. Mina's is actually the only one which isn't colored in any special way, because she doesn't like candy.

Random Milo facts I added:

Milo drinks his coffee with exactly 3 teaspoons of sugar, and a specific amount of milk and coffee. He's the only one who can get the amounts right. If they're incorrect, he won't drink it, but he can make it correctly in his sleep at this point. If someone put something into his coffee, he'd know immediately based on the smell, the weigh of the mug, the color and the taste if you somehow get him to actually drink it.

Milo has insults that can shatter the self confidence of anybody that hears them, he chooses not to use them, but he does come up with them just in case.

If Milo was allowed to swear by the laws of his universe, he definitely would, but it would depend who he's around.

If Milo would ever play the Roblox game Dress To Impress, he'd roast everyone there to crisps, and he'd develop anger issues. But hey, at least his avatar would slay every round.

(Without VIP, he can make it work even without special items.)

Random Molly facts I added:

Molly gave the sheep on her pajamas a name, it's Uno, because Molly only has to count one sheep to fall asleep. It's in Spanish just cuz it sounds nicer.

Molly wears boxers with a Mr. T. Bear pattern on them.

[falciesystemessays]

So I beat the RPG Maker cult hit Helen's Mysterious Castle today! I could heap a lot of praise on this game, from the innovative combat system to the storytelling by implication to the sheer technical wizardry required to make this game in RPG Maker 2000. It's a well-designed game with a lot of good ideas.

But I actually want to talk about a subtler aspect of its design, one that solves a problem I've had with RPGs for a long time. It's the game's approach to grinding and character progression, and how the difficulty is always in the player's control.

So, let's set the stage here. Let's say you're playing a new RPG, and you find yourself loving the combat system. So many people have said that RPG combat is boring, but you've known that's never been true. It's so good that you end up playing it for its own sake, just doing whatever random battles take your fancy. But each fight you win gives you experience points, that gradually make you stronger until you're vastly overleveled for the area. The game has interpreted your love of the combat system as a desire to grind, and now the game is significantly easier, permanently.

You can see a character's level as a kind of inverse difficulty slider, one that can go easier, but never harder. The only way to preserve a sense of difficulty is to play the game less. This deeply annoys me, and has given me an adversarial relationship with leveling systems on the whole. Some games have cool solutions to this; The World Ends With You lets you level down at any time, and rewards you more per battle if you do so. Rereleases of Final Fantasy XII come with a New Game- mode that prevents you from leveling entirely. And indie RPGs like Cataphract OI ditch leveling altogether. That last one comes with a unique advantage, because it allows the designer to precisely design encounters around specific stats. I'm a fan, as you can hopefully tell.

But Helen's manages to compromise between traditional leveling and player choice, letting you decide your difficulty but never forcing it. And here's how: Every increase in stats is voluntary.

Let's start with EXP. First of all, EXP only goes to upgrading weapon stats, and you have to choose to do so. You can grind all you want (and I have), but your stats won't increase until you say so. Moreover, you have a lot of choice as you upgrade. You can hold 8 pieces of equipment at once, and each one serves a distinct purpose. So maybe you want a quicker heal, or a more defensive sword, or a stronger bow. These weapons have a cap of 10 upgrades, and many powerful weapons can't be upgraded at all, so there is a hard limit on how much you can grind. This allows Helen's Mysterious Castle to have a clear minimum difficulty that can be designed around, and I personally found it satisfying.

But here's the other touch that I think is truly inspiring: The steaks after you fall. Essentially, every time you're defeated, you wake up in your room or an inn, so you have to do a lot of the dungeon again. But, each time you wake up, someone leaves a steak on the table. Choosing to eat this will increase your Max HP by a very small amount. This lets you subtly decrease the difficulty if you want to, but only after failing a challenge. The fact that the increase is small encourages you to try again anyway with a new strategy. What this does, in practice, is give you the sense of constant forward progress while making it clear that your skill is what will decide the fight. Helen's Mysterious Castle is a very tightly-designed game, but loosening the grip just a little bit helps the game not feel cold to the player. Also, there is a cap on how much HP you can gain this way, and lategame will set you to that automatically, so it's not possible to simply cheese the game by dying over and over.

RPG Maker, for a while, has been known as the engine of narrative and aesthetics, for making cool adventure games but not so much cool RPG's. Recent years have seen a change in this paradigm, with several developers (including myself) seeing this engine as a valid tool for RPG game design. It's a common beat in game reviews that RPG combat is inherently boring, but we know that isn't true. And it's cool to think that small developers in a maker engine are not just making games that are Pretty Good, but actually making clever choices that solve real problems in the genre.

[honeyhonest]

About Snow White! Sheeee's not my disney princess obsession (Cinderella's shimmery sparkly magic dress... all those night scenes..!! She's so pretty qukjbqz) but yeaah she's the most well thought of one regarding her design and the layers and layers of symbolism (nature, innocence, moral good...) and the overall intent of the movie. Anyway, I make illustrations obviously I'm an animation history nerd.

And I too am very curious of what twst will do with RSA!! So far the whole point of this game has been that villains are humans, that when their evil scheme fails, they lose but they very much have to keep living (as losers), and that though they don't magically become good people in the aftermath and keep failing and enduring humiliation over and over, they still can find ways to grow (mostly out of spite and snark) and keep going despite their issues never really being solved. And just. How do you fit RSA in this? How can you make them as interesting and well, humans, as the villains when what they incarnate isn't failure, humiliation, dishonesty, fear, pride... (very human things) but being perfect little rays of sunshine whose only purpose is to represent the unattainable moral ideal meant to be protected, adored, and endangered by the big evil bad thing. It wouldn't make sense to learn to know them in book 8 and gratuitously give them flaws/complicated emotional distress just to try to make them as interesting as the villain cast, so I'm not convinced they'll ever really center an entire book on them (without the actual point being to confront the villains to their counterparts and yet again get humiliated/hurt and grow from it). I've no idea why I write so verbosely in english, so different from my french

I LOVE CINDERELLA. my parents hate it because I used to watch that VHS every day for HOURS. it's such a beautiful movie. and I love snow white. I forgive walt for making them redesign her 10 million fucking times because the final look is just precious. she has human proportions! don't let disney marketing make you forget that she's flat and doesn't have a tiny waist! her contemporary design has curves (ugh), but the original looks like a human being! and the palette... fuck you disney marketing I hate you so so much for taking away her pastels. the bright yellow/teal is awful. awful! that's obviously a pale, almost white yellow, with navy, and some red, and it's a beautiful contrast! look at what they've done to my girl.

anyway

there are flaws in every character! the only problem with RSA is that their flaws would be of a much different variety than NRC. naive, melancholy, clumsy, stubborn, etc

I think I would just like to see neige resemble snow a little more. the tragic backstory isn't enough!! make him boss around the others a little

[dancer-nguyen]

Why artist should write?

Why tho?

Because I hate my art most of the time, and I think you hate your art most of the time, too.

Stress, pressure, self-doubt, comparing to others, all these stuff fill my mind when I try to draw something. "I must make something good, I have to, as good as the 5000 pins I saved on Pinterest".

These thoughts overwhelm your mind, basically.

Arts are supposed to make us feel better, they are supposed to be our instrument of expressing our thoughts and clear the burden in our mind. So why are we, artists, always filled with negative thoughts?

Have you ever felt this way: constantly changing the sketch, fine-tuning the smallest pixel of the lineart while thinking that this piece will go nowhere and you are a terrible artist, and finally you block down some color+shadow and whoaaaaa it suddenly clicks: "I actually feel something from this piece"

The "click" is something I would like to call "the-stage-which-your-art-begin-to-express-your-ideas-and-feelings". Until we reach this stage, we cannot express our ideas, gestures need to be drawn, line art needs to be polished, colors need to be blocked, shadows need to be shaded, and I-don't-know-why-but-it-looks-good filters like grain and chromatic aberration needed to be added.

We have to go through everything so that our art becomes "something". Until that something appears, our mind just keeps filling with our own negative thoughts to the point that it is overwhelmed. I give up most of the time before my art actually becomes something. Thousands of sketches and line art are wasted just because I cannot push myself a little bit more.

But hey, who said the only way to dump our negative thoughts is by pushing ourselves to finish the piece?

The way I choose is writing

(ironically, another form of Arts).

Writing is a great way to express yourself! Unlike art, where the learning curve can be tough and a bit discouraging, writing is more forgiving. All you need is the ability to write, and you're good to go.

Don't be afraid of writing. It's a personal medium, so there's no need to polish your writing to the same extent as you do with your art. It's like sketching - just put your thoughts down on paper. However, not all artists can express themselves through sketching alone. So while telling them to "just sketch and don't worry about how it looks" may not create any more negative thoughts, it may not necessarily get rid of existing ones.

I have a notebook where I write every thought in my head down. And so far it has been filled with neat writing, bad writing, skeletons, nude figures, random shaded spheres, letters I want to send to my favorite YouTuber but I just don't have the courage to do so, and so so much more. And so far, it has been nice. Sometimes I'm just too tired to write (literally every day lol) so I just flip back and forth and see all the things I have made, unpolished, unaffected by my crippling perfectionism. And oh boy after that I just had more motivation and ended up writing anyway.

You can just journal random stuff that pops up in your mind, both negative and positive, no need to polish anything. And done, your mind is clear now and you can focus on the piece of art yayyyyyy.

Actually you're just gonna fall into an endless cycle of being stressed, finding something to relieve it, pushing yourself to finish the piece, being happy after completing it, and finally being stressed about the next piece.

But the thing is not about the endless cycle of pain, it's about how we deal with it. After all, living itself is painful, but by dealing with the pain and finding ways to enjoy our lives, our existence becomes meaningful. P/SS: Writing is actually really good for noting down inspirations and composing your future pieces. Sometimes I just write prompts for my character designs or environment designs because I don't wanna sketch them out. Later I will re-read the prompt and imagine all kinds of different stuff I can make. (I learned this from that chapter of Bakuman, when the illustrator tells the story writer to use only words to describe his ideas instead of using sketches, the illustrator can have more freedom in designing the pages)

[angelshizuka]

Is there anything at all that you actually like in F2? Mostly plot-wise, maybe outfits, if you must. I'm not counting songs bc I must admit they're pretty good (not my favorite though). Im asking bc I'm not a fan of this movie either, but I'm trying to find some positive aspects, waiting for the unevitable F3...

There are definitely things in F2 I actually like, but that's also part of the problem for me. The puzzle pieces were there, but holy hell did they fail the landing...

Basically, I do like the designs and visuals. Aside from a few details (since nothing's perfect) I genuinely love the outfits, animation, the locations and new characters (though underdeveloped). I love the songs out of context, but in context almost all of them suck and I still find it hard to even listen to them (not you TNRT, we're happy to have you here! <3)

I honestly don't even hate Ahtohallan and Northuldra in concept, it's just the excecution I think is godawful.

Though, there is one thing I still have a problem when it comes to Ahtohallan, even in concept. Iduna is the one who preformed the good deed that gave Elsa her powers, yet she was punished with death for daring to seek answers after watching BOTH her children suffer for a decade and just wanting to help her child who's literally terrified of this "gift". And just in general the idea that Elsa got rewarded for something she had literally nothing to do with, but still gets praised to hell and back for it like she deserved it, despite all she did was be born...

Anyway, it's definitely my Anna bias, but she's the character I hate the least in this sequel. I definitely hate the "haha look how crazy she is" type of writing when she's experiencing 100% valid paranoia in a dangerous sitiation she was literally told beforehand Elsa could die from if gone wrong. But besides that it's actually nice seeing Anna mature after having her naivety slapped out of her by reality at the end of F1. Her arc to becoming queen was basically non-existent (because everything had to be about Elsa, even Anna becoming queen was more about Elsa than it was about Anna), but as a concept I love it.

I also liked seeing more of Iduna, but once again comes with the problem that thanks to the narrative it comes across like Iduna heavily favors Elsa. We literally see Anna being forced to sleep instead of being allowed to hear the whole song like Elsa... There was literally no valid reason for this (especially when you consider this is the night of the accident and Anna wakes up again later, so yes, she was forced to sleep when she wasn't ready yet). And then it's once again Elsa getting the "special moment" with Iduna in Ahtohallan, while Anna's literally down in a ditch.

Speaking of, F2 has felt "off" to me since the first time I watched it, but I couldn't really put my finger on why, so just shruffed it off. But then they released the "Her love could hold up the world." deleted scene (basically giving Anna an Iduna moment like Elsa got) and that's when my downward spiral of hating this sequel really started. It made me realize how with every change they made, the worse it got.

TNTR is my favourite scene in the entire movie and it makes sense when you consider it's one of the very oldest concepts that made it into the final cut (it's confirmed the oldest song). But yeah, that's definitely another positive, I genuinely love the part of the movie when it's just Anna. It's not just my Anna bias, it's just that Elsa in F2 pisses me off any time she's on screen, because of the way she's written, voice acted, animated ect.

I didn't mean for this to turn out so negative, despite me genuinely liking some things in F2, it's just so mixed in with all the bad stuff it's hard not to mention it.

Also, general reminder (not aimed at you, Anon): My F2 rants aren't an inviation to argue with me.

[nightmares-and-stars]

How I met the love of my life <3

Oh wow another long post from Starry! hehe

So I made a post about how I found out I was ficto, but I wanted to make one for how I met the most amazing girlfriend ever, my beloved Fade.

I had first started playing Valorant (the game she's from) in January of 2022 just after Neon was added to the game. Being one of my first fps after leaving Overwatch a while before that, I was going into the game by myself, learning how to play and dealing with other players who already knew the game. Being very anxious I would play only occasionally, trying to get used to it because it looked fun, but also nervous to do good every match so I didn't upset my team (thank goodness I don't feel like that anymore haha)

Anyways I had played off and on for a few months until a new agent was added near the very end of April. Fade. I had spent some time trying to unlock her, because I was immediately drawn to her character design, the sort of goth aesthetic, her pretty blue and brown eyes (I've always had a thing for people with heterochromia funny how Fade just so happened to have it hehe) and all the little cat details in her design. I'm the kind of person in games to pick characters to play solely based off how attractive I find them (not based on how well I think I'd play them haha oops)

So about halfway through trying to unlock her, I hit a bit of a burn out on Valorant. I'm struggling with the gun mechanics, not making any friends, and its just too much. So I take a break.

I can't quite remember when I actually started playing actively again after that, but I wanna say it was maybe a few months before I tried again. I slowly started getting better, enjoying the game more, and making more friends. And more importantly, I had finally gotten Fade unlocked, and oh my goodness. She was so much fun to play as. Her abilities were fun and useful, and she wasn't all that hard to get good at.

Now, me being me (and mind you at this point I still had no idea I was ficto) I had a tendency to make up scenerios in my head about dating the characters I was attracted to. I remember officially (kinda) back somewhere around Sept-Nov of 2023 I had started making these scenarios in my head about dating Fade. She even joined me on my 21st birthday trip. Month and months go by and I'm still thinking about her consistently. There's a couple other characters who pop up for a bit, but for the most part she just keeps popping up.

Its not until the last week of september 2024 when I eventually bring up all these feelings of being in love with fictional characters to my therapist. (I go more in depth on that in this post if you'd like to read! https://www.tumblr.com/nightmares-and-stars/782371308884344832/how-i-found-out-i-was-ficto)

And that's where I came to the idea of being fictosexual. And I had realized, maybe I didn't actually need to make up scenarios, but actually get to bring these to my own life.

That's when October 3rd, 2024 came. I spent the day hanging out and spending time with Fade, and had a plan to make us a nice dinner (it was a homemade pizza in the shape of a cute ghost because it was October hehe) and while we were getting ready for bed, I asked her if she would like to officially be my girlfriend. (she just laughed and said yes ofc <3)

And it has been an amazing few months since then! I still can't believe how blessed I am to have a girlfriend like Fade. The years of struggling, and loneliness are finally feeling so far behind me, and I cannot wait to see where life takes Fade and I in the years to come <3

[peemanne]

Resident Evil (2002) Review: Five. Hundred. Door Cutscenes.

Don't tell anyone but I finished this review a day before I actually beat the game. That's right. I'm drunk on power. Which one of you is gonna stop me? Anyway, sick ass game. I'm gonna go order a t-shirt with the PS1 logo on it and bold text that says "I HEART TANK CONTROLS"

This review contains MINOR SPOILERS.

Reviewed on January 7, 2025 Last completed on January 7, 2025

Completed on PC (Remastered)

Rating: 8/10 (4 Stars)

About half a year ago now, I checked out and eventually beat the Resident Evil 2 Remake, making that my first actual horror game sans some silly sessions of Lethal Company with buddies. For my first, I think I picked a really good one to set my standards to! RE2R’s got tight moment-to-moment gameplay that strikes a sense of panic between ammo/health management and careful routing, a delightfully eerie atmosphere thanks to strong setpieces, and an eye for attention to detail to wrap everything together. It’s an almost airtight package that I had an amazing time with. Now, a bit of a self-report here, but I used to wince whenever I saw as much as a FNAF thumbnail a few years back. While I’d like to think I’ve gotten a little braver since then, historical cowardice tends not to go well with someone trying out their first horror game. I’d get jumped, retreat to a safe room, retreat again to Discord, and type out something stupid like, “I HATE THIS GAME!!!!!!!! I JUST GOT JUMPED BY LIKE 5 DOGS!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS WAS DESIGNED EVIL PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!”

I think Resident Evil (2002) actually was designed by evil people.

The zombies are one thing, right? Now you’re also fighting against the camera. You’re always wrangling with the tank controls, be it from the get-go or for the final hours of a playthrough. You're going to miss the zombie 2 feet in front of you because the camera angle won’t let you see it. You're going to go back and forth in the same room while getting chased down by a dog you’re trying to zigzag around. You will get annoyed by it. You’re also going to have to fight your inventory– or lack thereof, on the regular. I was waiting for Jill to find a fanny pack in a safe somewhere to upgrade the little space that I had, only to be graced with the knowledge that it’ll only get worse if I decide to go back for a Chris playthrough. Your weapons take up slots, of course separately from its ammunition. Then you have to stash up on healing supplies as well, right? How about the space for the keys you need to get around? The gemstones, medals, and weird cranks? Oh, who even knows what those things do, keep them in the box. What if you need them? That’s an annoyed backtrack for future you. Finally, you better keep one slot open for your precious, precious ink ribbons! It’s the only way you can save any of your progress, also you need to haul ass over to a save point to do it, and also it comes in limited supply. Joy.

I’m kind of amazed at how much I enjoy this game. There’s no “regardless” or “in spite of” at the end of that statement. Every aspect of this game just effortlessly comes together for a uniquely engaging experience. The incredible atmosphere for one: a haunted mansion might feel like an overdone concept, but this game features an almost flawless execution of that idea. There’s an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia, and yet a sense of scale remains throughout the game. From the cramped, cobweb-filled residence to the labyrinth that is the mansion itself, Resident Evil does a great job of inciting dread that never quite leaves, even when you’re completely safe. A lot of this praise can be owed to the look of the game. A reminder that this was on the GAMECUBE. The backgrounds are gorgeously pre-rendered, and it only pops out more thanks to the fixed camera angles. You open a door and you’re typically met with your character starring in a cool-looking shot. The fact that the backgrounds are pre-rendered also lets them allocate resources to the stuff that does move, so you have your character and monster designs looking just as sleek as the sets that they stand in.

The gameplay is stressful, and again, so many factors lend a hand to let that happen. There’s the expected gambles between health and ammo. Do you shoot down the zombie in your way, potentially burning through multiple bullets of your handgun, or do you shoot a much more valuable shotgun or grenade shell? Will you have to go back and burn the corpse, otherwise risking an encounter with a significantly deadlier Crimson Head if you ever do return later on? Do you just run past the zombie, keeping it a threat on top of the possibility of getting grabbed anyway, requiring the usage of one of your precious herbs? At the back of your mind remain your ink ribbons. Should you run back and use one of them now, or do you keep going so as to not waste resources? Are you sure you can evade death long enough until you absolutely need to save, or are you going to be met by a pack of undead hounds in the very next room you enter, sending you back minutes or even hours of progress? The tank controls further add to the stress. Going in circles in an empty room is one thing, making sure you don’t slip up while being chased down is another. Careful route planning, keeping everything steady and getting out of danger unscathed despite my panic rewards me with an incredible sense of ease that I don’t think would be there without all these layers I have to constantly keep track of. Naturally, the stress only spikes with the variety of monsters the mansion holds. I’m not going to dance around it, I was utterly TERRIFIED at some of the freaks proudly on display here. I think this game sparked an arachnophobia in me I didn’t know I had, and I think I finally understand Jaws. The controls, the enemies, the map and its maze-like layers, the puzzles, and the limited resources all make you feel completely helpless. Conquering that helplessness and fighting the horrific odds anyway feels euphoric, to say the least.

Was it intentional? Obviously, some of it can’t have been, but it would be outright ignorant to think Resident Evil isn’t meticulously crafted. I’m very much hesitant to use the term as it might demean or devalue a game when it really doesn't deserve it, but I find it difficult to skirt around. Resident Evil is jank. The controls are jank, the inventory is jank, and the camera is jank. It’s not going to be for everyone, that much should be clear. If you can not just stomach, but embrace that “jank”, though, then you’ll find a supreme horror experience in Resident Evil.

[ RESULT ]

unsandwiched. unstoppable. unburdened. free

(also, i picked the middle option at the beginning of the game thinking that'd be the normal mode. what do you MEAN i was out here fighting for my life on EASY DIFFICULTY)

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I finally finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore, and it only took me barely less than two years to do it. Woo.

I took a lot of extended breaks from it because I kept getting burned out on it, but the stuff I liked I liked enough to eventually make it through the rest. The game probably would've been better and I probably would've needed a lot fewer/a lot shorter breaks if it were like 20 hours shorter (it took me about 80 to do almost everything you can do on a single playthrough), which would've been really easily doable with a few QoL improvements and slightly better design decisions with stuff like combat and the dungeons, all while still keeping all the story/character stuff that I genuinely liked and never had a problem with.

The two biggest problems I had were the dungeons themselves and the lack of useful guidance/direction/tracking for a lot of the side content.

Dungeons first: they're just too long. Make more of them but have each one be smaller, or keep the same number and make them a bit shorter. I always was like "are we there yet?" by the time I got to the end of them, and they really started to drag. The unique gimmicks for navigating each of them were mostly fun the first time through, but some of them suck suck suck every time you have to go back there for a character's side quest or a request or something. If I ever have to even look at Illusory 106 again I'm going to hunt down the person who designed it and bludgeon them with a Wii U gamepad.

Quest tracking second: it's mid at best and nonexistent at worst. Doing everything through an in-game phone UI is a fun idea, and it works pretty well for some stuff. The organization of it for quest info is not the best though, and having to reread a bunch of text messages to hopefully find the info you need is not great either. The worst offender is the requests though. Hi, sorry I didn't play your game for like five months, but I have no idea what this dingus wants me to do because I can't use the notes app my phone doesn't have to write it down apparently, and they'll only repeat a single sentence to me that doesn't have any useful information for me to figure it out.

Sometimes even when they do tell you and you don't stop playing the game for months in between the information it gives is pretty vague and makes it hard to figure out where to go and what to do too. Cool, I have to get...a thing? And it's in this idolasphere...somewhere? Is it on the ground? In a chest? From an enemy? On the third floor? Near the boss? Oh, I'm just supposed to run around for an hour until I stumble on it (or look it up online)? Cool and good, fantastic way to respect my time. I don't need a glowing line on the floor or anything, but give me something to work with at least.

Anyway, I liked most other stuff about it. The combat system is fun, even if I did get a little tired of it by the end because of the overly long dungeons (also not being able to permanently learn skills and swap them in and out of your loadout whenever you want is a dick move, no one wants to spend multiple hours relearning everything just to try a different setup) and each attack takes like twice as long as it should even with quick session on.

I still think it's one of the better looking games on the Switch. It's not super technically impressive or anything, but the art style and character designs are fun and colorful, and thank you for not trying to push the hardware beyond what it's capable of. Slightly lower detail and simpler lighting but native(?) resolution and a mostly steady framerate will do wonders for image quality and let people actually enjoy all the fun stuff your artists did.

And the characters and story were all surprisingly fun for me. It definitely came out better than a lot of actual Fire Emblem stories, and they really leaned into the shonen anime in a fantasy version of the real world vibes and made it work while still incorporating a bunch of FE stuff while they were at it. I actually ended up liking pretty much all the characters and the way the developed and grew across the story and how that tied in with their FE counterparts too. And they really did just go for it and turn Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light into Shadow Dragon and the Opera of Light, because sure why not?

Kiria's probably my favorite, which isn't super surprising because I also really liked Tharja when I played Awakening (so many people seem to like her because she has female mages aren't allowed to wear clothes disease or hate her because she's a bad parent, but they're both wrong and the real most important thing about her is that she's a snarky bitch in a cast full of people trying to use the power of friendship to save the world). I actually found Itsuki pretty relatable though, which surprised me because usually generic dude main character is completely unrelatable to me in stuff like this. He's just a decent guy who learns that the thing he's best at is helping the people around him feel better about themselves and support them doing their own things, which like yeah me too buddy, if only I'd learned that when I was 18 too.

So yeah, pretty good game that I mostly had a good time with, even if there were a few moderately big issues that frustrated me more than I would've liked (see also: holy crap the amount of time I spent going through the menus just to upgrade weapons must be measured in multiple hours at this point, please streamline stuff like that). I think I liked it more than maybe half the Fire Emblem games I've played and every other MegaTen or adjacent game I've tried too, so that's something.

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Pacific Rim Uprising - Gipsy Avenger (PRU) vs Obsidian Fury (PRU)" on YouTube

Gypsy danger is the Jager that our friend here started with the design of the all of them are designed after it but practically it's a massively powerful weapon system you have no idea what it's like some of you have fought them and you got it and the new version is designed like this but it has more power no it has a stronger endoskeleton it takes a lot of hits and he added it to that we added it to this one and it is unstoppable you don't understand this man and we do and you're pushing him and pushing him for what now you're going to see what Jason is kedro around with chasing these kids around trying to stop them from ruining everything and his brother is involved somehow and may have made the devil himself and his wife Lilith that's incredible

I'm going to war with you people and you don't know what you're doing still

Tommy f

I was mentioning it but we sort of have to you're flying over us with a 100 and it's illegal and we can't breathe people are dying because of the electrical current and it's not going to be great okay you're trying to kidnap him with it and it's obscene but we do see why that creature isn't possibly huge and me and a man oh man deadly it is 2 miles long which is fairly large and we've seen sharks that are much bigger but that thing will go right through a shark and it's vicious and very fast and I tell you what it can lift its weight 20 to 100 times or more I've seen it live some Folgers watching it boulders and it was video someone took and there I don't understand he says underwater it's not as heavy firstly and that's true and secondly he's using a fulcrum and but really it's bug like and they do it all the time and we do see that this thing is incredible the power of this thing hasn't is intense is armor is almost in perishable and Tommy f has been holding them off of humanity to a degree it's not the greatest job it has been doing it and now it's time for us to see what's going on and what damage there is and this is going to be hell and we're going to have to make these and you can see that we pick it up

Mac

So I was trying to say they're trying to ruin the manufacturing so you can't make Jager and other things you need they're in better weapons and so on

Thor Freya

The whole world is electrified finally it's going to be freedom for myself and some people here our friend won't be so stressed it's ridiculous answer all these dumb questions making them look bad I'm sick of it I won't have it anymore

Mac

We have to stop because we're going to stop it's ridiculous somebody ships came out we counted 2,000 a minute and it's rising now it's like 2500 minutes but it's coming up the coast this is serious it's going to be global meaning right now it's just higher up so no and they were shocked appalled and frightened and scared and I mean of every group they're horrified this guy is dealing with it and his clothes are nuts and the giant kid he is just as strange as they come I mean he's like an alien talking to them all sorts of weird things are happening he says nobody is holding him off and the clans were doing it and their experts and you have to look at their documents Max and leave me alone you'll see that you're not doing the job at all for the most part they're in their houses the vanderbilts and the Rockefellers the rothschilds and all those names that you discount all the time veneer Bush and the bushes ghwb that's one of his characters and you'll find that he was the rocket Man and world war II anyway the v form I mean there's also a lot of they have mansions and castles the castles have ancient stuff with these demons in it the writings I don't know what you guys read comic books or not even you're eating the Wall Street journal and you don't even have that much stock and he says all that that whole paragraph and I do understand it sounds true because it really is and a wimpy little shield might not work at all in these things and he says it won't you going to get them angry and they can all float up to see you and go through like donuts is what they were saying my people are saying about Scott McCracken who is possibly Dave next door and now it's time to see something you couldn't figure it out and it looks crazy and his hair's out and you understand what it means people calling you the monchichi and he looks like it float in almost anything so now we get it okay it starts happening with it and we're going to look pretty bad if we zap him the cracking any of them actually so it's going on now we're starting to pay attention

Macs

Olympus

[shytulipartist]

First sketches of Ms. Orange

What is this?

For those who have never seen my main blog, I'm writing my first novel and, so far, I have shared my progress rewriting some chapters.

But lately, I thought about drawing my characters and random scenes from the book, just for fun. I don't actually plan to use my drawings as illustrations when it gets published. I'll hire a professional because they will definitely know more about character design and drawing dramatic scenes.

Anyway, I wasn't sure whether to use my cartoon style or my semi-realistic style because both seem appropriate for the story.

On the one hand, the novel takes places in a cartoony world (this is more noticeable when you learn the characters' names) and my idea is to make the reader believe at first that they are reading a children's book, but then "SIKE!", they realize it is actually for an older audience (it doesn't have anything inappropriate or scary, but it has existential topics).

On the other hand, one of the main themes is reality vs. fiction. The premise is more or less that the main character (the one I drew for this post) finds out that she is lives in a fictional world and tries to stop the author from continuing the story. As you can imagine, no one believes her when she tells the other characters that they are not real. I'll go into more detail in a future post, but not on this blog.

In a few minutes, I'll be posting a poll on my main blog so you can help me decide which art style I will use to draw the characters.

That's all the important information I wanted to give. If you want to know more about the process for both versions of the drawing, keep reading.

Tell more about the drawings...

For context, both sketches are based on a scene from one of the final chapters. Without revealing too much, Orange is trying to grab the piece of paper that fell from "above" (there isn't a sky and she isn't inside a building). The background is supposed to be black, but I didn't colour it because it would have looked messy.

I wanted to draw the scene from a high-angle shot, but I struggled in both versions:

In the cartoon version, I had problems with the perspective because at first I didn't find many references with the angle and the pose I wanted (at the time, I put "image of woman in panoramic view", instead of "high-angle shot". My bad). Because of that, she looks more like a child, even though she is in her thirties.

Thankfully, by the time I started the semi-realistic version, I found some pictures.

However, I couldn't draw her left arm in a similar position to the one in the third image.

Despite these problems, I'm happy with the results. I finally had time to draw something.

Obviously, this isn't her final design. Once the poll is over, I'll try to give her a more interesting outfit and may redesign her appearance every now and then.

[failingradish]

Hello, I have just started following your blog and I really admire your work. I always wondered what all the past avatars had looked like since very few made an appearance in the series. Anyway, I just came across your team avatar drawings for when after Korra had died and was reincarnated. I always tried looking up what people's ideas were for the future avatar and your designs for this certain era just stood out to me. Now many people have come up with names for their Earthbender avatar oc, though I don't recall seeing a name for your avatar on this blog and would like to know more about him. He's so interesting and I love how he is accompanied by some type of goblin spirit? The animal familiars that you have made for each avatar are just breathtaking. I think you are a very creative artist and if you don't mind I'd like to know more about the next avatar after Korra if you'd share some information with me. I'm sorry if I bothered you and if someone has already asked you this question, though I am just really interested in your artwork and want to know more about your characters.

Hi thanks so much for your compliment- but WOW that's a long question, but I'll try to answer it anyway- 💕

Truth be told I haven't put that much thought into the single characters- because that's not really what I'm most interested in. But I have some specific concepts in mind that I'd like to see partially addressed by a next avatar series-/ how I would do it with my 5 braincells.

1. It's not the avatar after Korra, but the one another generation down (Water-> Earth -> FIRE)

I want to see a world that NEVER found the next avatar and let the next one after figure out what happened to the one b4 them- or even a couple of fake avatars be declared by diffrent nations, since as unbiased as the avatar may be being the nation with the avatar has some advantages especially in a time of political peace trying to enforce soft power onto other nations.

(Similar to what the Chinese government is trying to do- capturing the penchen lama, so they can declare their own Dalai Lama once Tenzin Gyatso dies :( )

2. The mystery of whether the main character is actually the avatar (did the Earth Avatar actually die already or are they just another fake)

Ideally this would mean that 1- this wouldn't take place too long after korra's death (like 30-40 years) and 2- the mc can't bend any element yet (or just 1 element but that's somehow more boring to me)

They could be running away from the people claiming they're the avatar, trying to find the real one- traveling the world is an important part of avatar and that would be the perfect reason.

3. Growing independence movements.

I really want to see diffrent cultures within the earth kingdom and fire nation strive for independence now that they don't need the protection of a bigger state anymore and nobody (idealy) wants to look like the big, bad oppressor.

Similar to what happened in europe post ww2

4. The current avatars main mission always seems to be fixing something the previous avatar failed at-

Like how Kuruk fixed Yangchens mistake with neglecting the spirit world,

Kyoshi uuuh not sure- did she fail at anything?

Aang ended the war that Roku failed to prevent,

Korra brought back the air nation after Aang couldn't

And Korra ofc lost the connection with all past their lives.

I actually don't want them to change that- stick with it.

But I want the mc to go on a journey to discover his predecessor in the first season (build the problem for the final season //point 5) and then a treasure hunt of sorts to discover all avatars that were "forgotten"- avatars from cultures like the ones from point 3- tying these points together and discovering the avatars and (more importantly) their peoples identity and how to move forward.

Let them write it all down too, so they won't be forgotten again.

5. Every avatar story needs a main antagonist, so that's where I put something completely wild but stick with me-

The Earth avatar that was never found was born into an underground kingdom that was founded long ago by powerful earth benders(/or spirits idk make it a legend) that in an effort to shield their people from the dangers of the surface submerged their city, isolating it from the rest of the world for hundreds or thousands of years. Over time they created an elaborate tunnel system- building more and more cities and creating an empire.

The new avatar would realize who they are at some point and seek to understand this world they supposedly were meant to protect. The avatar would then attempt to befriend the next in line to the throne in order to attempt to convince them to let their empire rejoin the surface world. A suggestion that would eventually end up getting them killed by their friend (you could insert a tragic lesbian couple here ❤)

So the new mc finds out eventually what happened but not who killed them- keep that part hidden for the final show down.

6. Spirit gaang member

I want them to do something interesting with the joined worlds concept- so give them a spirit that aids in the groups journey- my version is a time based spirit that gave the mc a old fashioned clock that'll help 'unlock' the stories of the past avatars. Could also be a mount. Pls don't let it talk. If they make a comedic relief spirit i might oof myself tho.

Also also. Kill them.

7. So that's about it ofc, my only other request is pls bring back proper character development for the side characters. Like mentally bolin and mako stayed the same throughout korra...

??? Idk storytelling really isn't my strong suit

(Not question related)

FOR FULL DISCLOSURE! I didn't completely draw all of the backgrounds for this ask- for a lot of them I used Photos to bring across what I mean better.

(And also this is an answer for a Tumblr question and I already spent way too much time on this I'm sorry djbdkdbdzk)

All of the images  I used can be found HERE- other apps I used were Prequel, CSP, Paint Tool SAI and Photoscape.

Thank you for reading this far.