#background characters i care about

[kald-dal-write]

BTS photos of the besties 🫶

[sevenines]

i saw this tweet and found it interesting for two reasons. one is that some people base how good cartoon network would be to toh by how it treated su, and despite the fact that su’s treatment by the network was considered poor at the time, now its thought to be exceptionally good in comparison to modern shows.

two is how exactly su got impacted by a limited budget. a common criticism is how characters like connie, peridot, and lapis are left out of missions. but balancing a lot of characters is not only hard but also costly (extra animation, extra voices—it’s been revealed that the show is limited to a set number of characters per episode otherwise they’re over budget). animation mistakes are not uncommon since retakes cost extra. the entire reason the original show got cut short was due to loss of funding!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

thinking about Eddie & hyacinths again

[regheart]

there's something i find particularly annoying in this fandom and it's the way purebloods are written as highly sophisticated extremely rich and straight up a rip off of regency period novels

i understand the choice of this specific portrayal, i can see it as an approximation to historical drama, where the social restrictions are compelling and are relevant to the story, and a good writer can make any concept believable and good

HOWEVER as much as the worldbuilding on wizarding costumes (and a lot of other things) is extremely inconsistent and gets progressively worse towards the later three books, the implications that i see don't point towards this version of a sophisticated performatic elite who interacts only with itself

while i tend to see the blood status in the harry potter universe as a distinction of class and not at all a distinction of race, i don't think the difference is, in practice, as marked as it is in real world contexts, mostly because of how numerically small and insulated the wizarding community is

this post is part of my personal vendetta against purebloods as charming aristocrats & what appears to be the necessity of writing each and all of them as so very well spoken and politically savvy and never-caught-dead-speaking-to-a-half-blood

for once, the sacred twenty-eight is extra canon information and is disputed IN UNIVERSE, because it was anonymously published and received backlash for the inclusion (weasley, ollivander) and exclusion (crabbe, goyle, potter) of certain names

the malfoys are the only extremely rich family we see in canon. extra canon information tells us they made money before the statute of secrecy by trading with muggles

compare that to the potters who are also very rich (there's no scale to tell us who is the richer family), but made most of their money from the invention of sleakezy in the 20th century

the blacks are also implied to be wealthy: sirius manages to live off his inheritance after buying harry an expensive broom, and he says his grandfather likely paid for an order of merlin

there's a lot to be said about the blacks (e.g. they should have at least a couple more properties other than grimmauld place), but the big picture and the similarity with the gaunts (not about the incest, stop fixating on that) suggest they were a family in decadence by the time sirius was growing up

i believe that the implication is that neither of them had a proper job, which creates a similarity with gentry, but gentry lived off rentals and while it is possible they had a country state i don't think grimmauld place was making a lot of money

lucius malfoy also didn't work and spent a portion of his time being a school counselor (and obviously not being paid for it, as it was a way to exercise his political power over the main learning institution in his community)

it's also extra canon that the nott family had equal footing with the malfoys, so we can assume that crabbe, goyle, parkinson and bulstrode were slightly beneath them, either in social standing or money, despite the later two being part of the sacred twenty-eight (or it could appear to be so because pansy and milicent are girls)

the weasleys are obviously the main example of a poor sacred twenty-eight family, as were the gaunts

the crouch family was most like rich (they could afford a house elf), but it's likely that most of that money came from mr. crouch having a high level ministry job. his family and connections were probably an advantage to getting the job, but it's possible he wouldn't be able to maintain the lifestyle without work

longbottom, prewett and macmillan are families that appear to be very traditional, but not remarkably wealthy

other working members of the sacred twenty-eight are: horace slughorn (school teacher, but it can be argued that teaching hogwarts is a prestigious position), garrick ollivander (wand maker and shop owner, but, again, the only wand maker, which holds a certain prestige in itself), mr. burke (shop owner), arthur weasley (ministry employee), frank longbottom and kingsley shacklebolt (both aurors). amycus and alecto carrow are also temporary hogwarts teachers

the blacks married out of the sacred twenty-eight many times (max, gamp, crabbe, potter)

all of these people and every single muggleborn goes to the same school, buys magical supplies at the same place, drinks from the same pubs, etc. that alone should serve as evidence that there aren't many exclusive pureblood hangouts around

the only place that seems to attract the malfoys (arguably the richest and most important pureblood family in the 90s) and not most other people, is the knockturn alley, which is hardly a high brow sophisticated spot

except for malfoy and flint, no slytherin quidditch player during the 90s is in the sacred twenty-eight, so that's hardly a criterion for making it into the team

mulciber is not a sacred twenty-eight name, they could very well be half-bloods

tom riddle and severus snape were half-blood students who formed ties with purebloods while in school and held blood supremacist views, assimilation to a certain level was possible

[chill-vibes-but-rainbow-panic]

Finally back, with a lil more of Chill's Artist Admiration Sketchbook; making fanart for blogs I like :D

@kingspacebar

Accessoires and colours my beloved <3 <3 <3

[thunderboltfire]

I have a lot of complicated feelings when it comes to what Neflix has done with the Witcher, but my probably least favourite is the line of argumentation that originated during shitstorms related to the first and second season that I was unlucky to witness.

It boils down to "Netflix's reinterpretation and vision is valid, because the Witcher books are not written to be slavic. The overwhelming Slavic aestetic is CDPR's interpretation, and the setting in the original books is universally European, as there are references to Arthurian mythos and celtic languages" And I'm not sure where this argument originated and whether it's parroting Sapkowski's own words or a common stance of people who haven't considered the underlying themes of the books series. Because while it's true that there are a lot of western european influences in the Witcher, it's still Central/Eastern European to the bone, and at its core, the lack of understanding of this topic is what makes the Netflix series inauthentic in my eyes.

The slavicness of the Witcher goes deeper than the aestetics, mannerisms, vodka and sour cucumbers. Deeper than Zoltan wrapping his sword with leopard pelt, like he was a hussar. Deeper than the Redanian queen Hedvig and her white eagle on the red field.

What Witcher is actually about? It's a story about destiny, sure. It's a sword-and-sorcery style, antiheroic deconstruction of a fairy tale, too, and it's a weird mix of many culture's influences.

But it's also a story about mundane evil and mundane good. If You think about most dark, gritty problems the world of Witcher faces, it's xenophobia and discrimination, insularism and superstition. Deep-seated fear of the unknown, the powerlessness of common people in the face of danger, war, poverty and hunger. It's what makes people spit over their left shoulder when they see a witcher, it's what makes them distrust their neighbor, clinging to anything they deem safe and known. It's their misfortune and pent-up anger that make them seek scapegoats and be mindlessly, mundanely cruel to the ones weaker than themselves.

There are of course evil wizards, complicated conspiracies and crowned heads, yes. But much of the destruction and depravity is rooted in everyday mundane cycle of violence and misery. The worst monsters in the series are not those killed with a silver sword, but with steel. it's hard to explain but it's the same sort of motiveless, mundane evil that still persist in our poorer regions, born out of generations-long poverty and misery. The behaviour of peasants in Witcher, and the distrust towards authority including kings and monarchs didn't come from nowhere.

On the other hand, among those same, desperately poor people, there is always someone who will share their meal with a traveller, who will risk their safety pulling a wounded stranger off the road into safety. Inconditional kindness among inconditional hate. Most of Geralt's friends try to be decent people in the horrible world. This sort of contrasting mentalities in the recently war-ridden world is intimately familiar to Eastern and Cetral Europe.

But it doesn't end here. Nilfgaard is also a uniquely Central/Eastern European threat. It's a combination of the Third Reich in its aestetics and its sense of superiority and the Stalinist USSR with its personality cult, vast territory and huge army, and as such it's instantly recognisable by anybody whose country was unlucky enough to be caught in-between those two forces. Nilfgaard implements total war and looks upon the northerners with contempt, conscripts the conquered people forcibly, denying them the right of their own identity. It may seem familiar and relevant to many opressed people, but it's in its essence the processing of the trauma of the WW2 and subsequent occupation.

My favourite case are the nonhumans, because their treatment is in a sense a reminder of our worst traits and the worst sins in our history - the regional antisemitism and/or xenophobia, violence, local pogroms. But at the very same time, the dilemma of Scoia'Tael, their impossible choice between maintaining their identity, a small semblance of freedom and their survival, them hiding in the forests, even the fact that they are generally deemed bandits, it all touches the very traumatic parts of specifically Polish history, such as January Uprising, Warsaw Uprising, Ghetto Uprising, the underground resistance in WW2 and the subsequent complicated problem of the Cursed Soldiers all at once. They are the 'other' to the general population, but their underlying struggle is also intimately known to us.

The slavic monsters are an aestetic choice, yes, but I think they are also a reflection of our local, private sins. These are our own, insular boogeymen, fears made flesh. They reproduce due to horrors of the war or they are an unprovoked misfortune that descends from nowhere and whose appearance amplifies the local injustices.

I'm not talking about many, many tiny references that exist in the books, these are just the most blatant examples that come to mind. Anyway, the thing is, whether Sapkowski has intended it or not, Witcher is slavic and it's Polish because it contains social commentary. Many aspects of its worldbuilding reflect our traumas and our national sins. It's not exclusively Polish in its influences and philosophical motifs of course, but it's obvious it doesn't exist in a vacuum.

And it seems to me that the inherently Eastern European aspects of Witcher are what was immediately rewritten in the series. It seems to me that the subtler underlying conflicts were reshaped to be centered around servitude, class and gender disparity, and Nilfgaard is more of a fanatic terrorist state than an imposing, totalitarian empire. A lot of complexity seems to be abandoned in lieu of usual high-fantasy wordbuilding. It's especially weird to me because it was completely unnecessary. The Witcher books didn't need to be adjusted to speak about relevant problems - they already did it! The problem of acceptance and discrimination is a very prevalent theme throughout the story! They are many strong female characters too, and they are well written. Honestly I don't know if I should find it insulting towards their viewers that they thought it won't be understood as it was and has to be somehow reshaped to fit the american perpective, because the current problems are very much discussed in there and Sapkowski is not subtle in showing that genocide and discrimination is evil. Heck, anyone who has read the ending knows how tragic it makes the whole story.

It also seems quite disrespectful, because they've basically taken a well-established piece of our domestic literature and popular culture and decided that the social commentary in it is not relevant. It is as if all it referenced was just not important enough and they decided to use it as an opportunity to talk about the problems they consider important. And don't get me wrong, I'm not forcing anyone to write about Central European problems and traumas, I'm just confused that they've taken the piece of art already containing such a perspective on the popular and relevant problem and they just... disregarded it, because it wasn't their exact perspective on said problem.

And I think this homogenisation, maybe even from a certain point of view you could say it's worldview sanitisation is a problem, because it's really ironic, isn't it? To talk about inclusivity in a story which among other problems is about being different, and in the same time to get rid of motifs, themes and references because they are foreign? Because if something presents a different perspective it suddenly is less desirable?

There was a lot of talking about the showrunners travelling to Poland to understand the Witcher's slavic spirit and how to convey it. I don't think they really meant it beyond the most superficial, paper-thin facade.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

If I could write stories as quickly and vividly as I can envision them, I would have written at least three lovely novellas in the last week. Two of them this morning.

[your-fave-is-christian]

hey idk if you knew this but one of the characters you posted [angus bumby] is a child predator and sold children into prostitution + is actively abusing the mc during the events of the game

Thank you for sending this! I didn't see him when I was just looking through the tag, so maybe the other mod took that one down already.

Asks like this are appreciated if you see a character like that. I'm trying to do a least a little background check on the characters I post right now to filter out malicious trolling like that, but I am not familiar with most of the characters being sent in to be able to really know what's genuine or not.

So if you see a character you ARE familiar with that looks like a bad faith request we missed, please do point it out!

[nebuladreamz]

Thinking about Fleshtakers again......

[inkspottie]

Do you think its bad that I am still mad they made Zerum x Sebastian canon even though it won't make sense in the Pressure story?

Nah, it’s valid to be upset. Considering how the lore is, it just seems weird.

It wouldn’t have been much of a problem if Zerum was introduced from the start? Kinda like with painter and what not. Just as an NPC that you’re oh okay they’re together.

Idk what her lore is, but having them be a married couple from the start seems interesting and ima tell you right now a company like Urbanshade who kills people if they aren’t profitable so they wouldn’t have him wear any thing that is remotely from their past. (Aka the ring or like any piercings or anything like that)

But! That being said you can be angry but you need to be respectful. Zerum is a human being, and she did create Seb so whatever they say goes. So we need to be mindful, and kind. Don’t attack her cuz she made him married.

That’s why fanfiction exists. It’s not canon, and we can play with their toys but we also have to be respectful of these toys. Okay?

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Outdrawn

f/f contemporary romance

two cartoonist who’ve been rivals since uni, and now have competing webcomics online, have to work together on the relaunch of a cult classic at the comic press they both work at

they both struggle with art-related physical and mental health issues, and complicated families

[bonefall]

BB!Houndstar

An ancient leader of ShadowClan, who saw Darkstar's Commandment be added to the code following the death of Mapleshade's kittens.

[ID: The Better Bones version of Houndstar. She is a brown-and-white molly with smooth fur and amber eyes. She has a brown hood, fingerless 'gloves,' and cape, a flopped ear, and a beauty spot under her eye. There is a resin star in her claws.]

Clanmew Name: Bayaoshai (Bayao = A gigantic, baying dog + Shai = Star)

Alignment: ShadowClan

Children: Batear, Mousewing

Time Era: Chivalric Period

I just think she's neat!

Houndstar inherited ShadowClan from Marshstar, who was thrust into power when Ripplestar's rebellion ended in disastrous failure. For his entire reign, Marshstar resented the circumstances that gave him power and only did the bare minimum to keep the Clan together. Once the ambitious Houndfang became deputy, he simply allowed her to run things how she pleased.

And when she took power, Houndstar decreed a new age for ShadowClan, one of renewed honor and glory. She became known for being one of the most ferocious leaders in modern memory, launching vicious, brutal attacks on the other Clans and laying claim to anything she could win. Houndstar was a notorious kitten stealer, even claiming two for herself!

So, when Darkstar and Oakstar were commanded by StarClan to amend the Code, that all kits should be protected regardless of their origin, Darkstar knew that Houndstar would be an opponent. The fearsome leader was only cordial at Gatherings, a sacred time of truce.

But in the end, Houndstar's ferocity was only outmatched by her piety. Her tune changed as soon as Redthistle, her loyal cleric, advised her that this truly was the will of StarClan.

Bonus trivia below the cut!

Batear was her son! It did not help him after Palefoot's mysterious disappearance. Houndstar did not need direct evidence, she knew Batear did it.

It was only by the grace of being her child that she offered him the ability to escape exile by telling the Clan where Palefoot's body was.

Unfortunately, he's just as proud and stubborn as his mother.

Houndstar's reign ended about halfway through the Crusade Era, she jumped on board with Oakstar's idea in a heartbeat.

ShadowClan was full of enthusiastic Crusaders, and she herself lost several lives and a deputy in the raids.

She chose Cedarpelt as her third deputy, a practical and organized cat, to run ShadowClan so she could spend more time fighting.

Canon!Houndstar is a tom but I said no. ShadowClan needs more female leaders.

The little resin star is the closest I can get to a valuable in-universe cross. For the record, Clan cats don't have access to true amber (a type of fossil), but they can make resin (which can become amber over a few million years of heat and pressure)

Houndstar owns a few religious items like this.

Mousewing's daughter was Foxheart, whose son was Wolfstep, whose son was Badgerfang. The line named their children after animals, until the horrible death of Badgerfang when Wolfstep decided to end the practice out of grief.

Her flopped ear is actually because of an injury. There's a hole in the middle; it is not a feature she was born with.

I'm unsure of who Mousewing and Batear were stolen from; but I have half a mind to make them the stolen siblings of Perchshine from RiverClan. Darkstar's nespring. More reason for Houndstar to accuse her of just trying to make a commandment for sore losers.

After her death, she's one of ShadowClan's favorite War Patrons. Skystar is more popular across the Clans, but Houndstar is more personal to ShadowClan specifically.

She's also sometimes invoked for faith in StarClan.

[leona-florianova]

What I miss in Stampede and I miss it more and more with each episode... are all those people who are just surviving on Gunsmoke, while trying to make the best of it..those people who usually appear only for a moment, but make the place feel much more lively..Living their own stories...They are also a reminder for who its worth surviving and fighting for... All those random, yet charming individuals like: shopkeepers, round grandmas, sheriffs and their deputies, majors, hooligans,  little kids n their parents or guardians, bus drivers, shoemakers, plant technicians, bartenders, fellow travellers, doctors and nurses, postal workers, rude gawkers, soldiers, drunkards, clerks, sandsteamer workers, and gangsters who could change their ways. A WHOLE WORLD OF INTERESTING PEOPLE.

TLDR: I just adore interesting background characters and there are almost none in TRISTAMP

**under the cut is my compillation of some of the background characters from both the manga, few of the 98 episodes.. and like.. most of the background characters from first 7 episodes of stampede..

meanwhile trigun stampede is like

most of the background characters, even the more important ones, who drive the story forward, are either amalgams of many different people from the manga and 98 anime or they are quite bland and too characterless..reduced to parts of the background or collateral... and the world feels much emptier for it. (my love goes to those 3 insect hunters, those guys were great and what i want more of..they were also 2D animated) ...

And not to mention there are only about 8 models of basic citizens with two different skin tones of white, extreme same face syndrome, and most of them are thin except one slightly rounder fella..

there are also only about 2 models of goons for different factions, just with different clothes (the sandsteamer workers are all also the same guy...)

and they all are kinda quiet and vacant... except the masked ones, cause nobody had to animate their lips moving and faces emoting...and except those two ladies who got shredded by knives..

While even more barren world can be charming too, this...

This..this saddens me..

[midnightclover]

puts bocchi under ur pillow

What's that I see?

My, my. How did such a cute little thing get in here?

[canisalbus]

Your work is incredible and inspires me to create more!

What is your least favorite animal to draw? Or, what aspect of drawing have you struggled with? Thanks!

Thank you!

Least favorite... this is a cop-out but I think it'd have to be people. I feel like over the years I've slowly reached the point where humanoid anatomy isn't that much of a hassle to deal with anymore, but as soon as it comes to human faces, I just lose all interest, I'm sorry. I admire artists who excel at depicting humans but I just haven't found an enjoyable way to draw them.

For actual animals, I'd say horses. I've mentioned this before but they're just not for me.

I think my biggest enemy continues to be backgrounds and scenery. I've never managed to get the hang of them (and never will if I keep on avoiding drawing them). I try to tell myself that I used to struggle the same way with hands, perspective, poses, clothing and fabric folds and eventually regular practice made those easier, so why backgrounds would be that much more insurmountable.

I also don't enjoy realistic shading that much and usually try to weasel my way out of having to do it. I think my style might've developed into it's flat and lineart-heavy form as a result of shading evasion, at least in part, and I'm just wishing and hoping that my lines are strong enough to pick up some of the slack and convey form and volume even in the absence of true rendering.

[gemisbored]

OH MY GOD?!?!?!??!!? BACKGROUNDS ARE REAL?!?!?!???