#backgrounds my beloathed Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[catman-draws]

Chapter 6- Page 7

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[shoot-the-clown]

Attack for @ivoryplants on artfight!

[100frogsinatrenchcoat]

A detective, and a mysterious woman in red.

[mugwot]

someone

[zu-is-here]

Satiated ✧ Chapter 16

Dream & Nightmare by jokublog

Geno by loverofpiggies

Aftermare Week by @bluepallilworld

[mochiiniko]

commission for @sirwow :>

rotating these two in my head i love them sm 😭

[felinae-felidae]

I've had artblock for at least a week now so, have a wip I haven't been able to work on

[quacaserous]

i’m feeling devious

you're looking glamorous

let's get mischievous

and polyamorous

wine and women and wonderful vices

welcome to the cult of dionysus 🍇

my part of an arttrade with @bembq, featuring her absolutely GORGEOUS boy viggo <33 hes got such a fun vibe & once again i love working with purple hues so this was a pleasure to work on, tysm for trusting me with him and for trading with me!!! :3

[cxstellation]

Post-case celebration !!

[tales-of-green-hill]

Digitized!

Original Comic

[namazunomegami]

Rest in piss Sigmund Freud, you’d have loved House of the Dragon ss2 ep5 because even after 85 years you’re still FUCKING GETTING AWAY WITH IT!!!

[lanternlightss]

Ooooo puppy :D

And AU stuff?? 👀👀👀🐝

ouppy…!!!

ahsjsjsjsj and yeah!!! been working on a reversed fates fic >:D it’s currently at 5,000 or so words lol

also tried working on the archon nb au XD i have found that i hate drawing pillars and arches.

[thecoolerliauditore]

Interesting perspectives.

I'm a big baby who mostly just dislikes LL for being the "meanest" season, with everyone backstabbing each other, no compelling dynamics as well as some of my least favourite dynamics in the whole series (truly it was the season that belonged to my beloatheds), and too many big groups (not fond of groups larger than 3, more than that makes interactions get lost and alliances weak in an uncompelling way. a duo/trio can realistically trust each other and have a personal dynamic, a quartet+ are just early episode roommates (this is a problem that is a result of the length of the seasons, I think if they were closer to 12+ episodes larger teams would work better, but I also think if a season stuck around that long everyone would be sick of it)).

And also yeah if you ask me to remember much of anything that happened in the last 2/3s besides an unrelenting wave of betrayals and abandonments I'd be hard pressed to think of anything. I can't even remember most people's last deaths. The map was also the most Eh map in the series, never knew where anything was, was all just ambiguous forest. Session 2 was good, though, entirely because of Lizzie. And, I also watch things as casual entertainment first and foremost, so most of my first watch enjoyment is "did this pov make me laugh/cheer on their antics". LL very rarely made me do either.

I waver back and forth between it and 3L being my least favourite, though, cause 3L was genuinely just kinda boring unless you cared about either desert duo or renchanting. And I kinda liked both but I didn't love either. People weren't as funny and didn't know each other well so they were awkward, they still didn't know what they were doing, and the map outside the desert was wasted (a particular quality of each season that people don't talk about nearly as much I think, setting quality). I can only enjoy it casually as background noise, I rarely get pulled in.

I know this one is an unpopular opinion because the last two seasons can't go a single episode without some controversy by monday, but to me the life series generally is one that gets better every season. Though I think SL was its peak even if it didn't have any particularly compelling teams, the gimmick was the best and everyone was at their funniest and enjoying themselves the most, the gimmick lent itself to being bent to the needs of the game such as lightening the blow of the wider gap of final deaths by having Jimmy return as a ghost, or giving the reds tasks to do damage. It was good at creating both personal moments and server-wide moments.

Double life is my favourite though, because no objective qualities can beat out favourite characters and first entry bias. Also the small amount of deaths and inherently having someone to share it with made every single one memorable, and it had one of the best maps with the ancient city and canyon. And every single team memorable and well-utilized base, as well as being the season that finally forced everyone to get to know each other which the later seasons benefited from greatly.

Yeah, in my head 3L and LL are slightly like test runs and DL is where the series really got on a roll. Grian said they didn't even know what they were getting into with 3L and I think you can tell that by the over-correction into DEATH game territory LL did before DL reeled it back in and they found more of a balance for the rest of the series.

(Actually "5th is the best, 3rd is my fav" is the exact same opinion I have about pokemon, funny enough. Maybe its something)

But I also think that comparing seasons is a bit like comparing apples to oranges since every single one is so different besides the base 'death game' concept. Like I like 24L and WL equal amounts but also they don't have a single thing in common so I find it hard to even put them side by side. And, of course, RL is just... its own thing entirely.

This is why I rotate stuff like the funny evil bdubs interpretation chart/cycle so much because essentially all the reasons you listed for disliking 3L and LL are reasons they're my favourites e.g. the awkwardness, the distrust you could feel in larger groups, the overall meanness, so on.

They felt absolutely like. the most DEATH GAME out of the series, DL still felt like a death game to me albeit with a slower pace and much more focused on conversation and drama than action. LimL marked a very distinct shift in tone for me although that was also the first one I watched as episodes were coming out so that might've been a factor. SL and WL so far feel more like Mario Party than Death Game with maybe the exception of the very last episode of SL feeling much more like something that should've been in an earlier season due to the lack of tasks.

I think we're all biased towards our own fav seasons but tbf I think the "controversy" with each new episode of WL is more. me being grouchy than any real significant drop in retention? You can correct me on this I am absolutely not watching the numbers but I've definitely seen people like the direction the series is taking which is honestly cool w/ me cus I feel like Grian knows that in competitive situations with time it either goes the funny minigame RNG route or the sweaty min-maxxer route and I and most people I feel like would much rather watch the series go more in the direction of funny RNG than Last Life 2 where everyone employs the smajor strategy of not making enemies, making a base in the corner of the map, only teaming with 1-2 people, etc. Plus it's going to be kind of hard to fish back the distrustful atmosphere of 3L/LL when it's six seasons in and pretty much the entire cast are friends.

Anyway yeah the apples and oranges thing is very correct, it's more or less a different vibe completely and why death game stories that are intended as death game stories usually don't rerun the same cast lol <-- although the "they are stuck in a horrifying death game loop forever to the point where they dont care anymore and find it kind of fun" angle is something I find really cool to think abt with this series.

One of the reasons I like LL over 3L actually (other than the very strong first season I watched bias) is the fact that 3L was a rare situation where I felt like there was a very clear A plot/B plot that emerged with main and side characters. Bdubs' POV in his last episode was literally just brewing potions in his house whilst a million death messages flooded the chat lol.

I still think 3L might be the strongest narratively and its "b plots" although not as flashy as desert duo vs dogwarts have some really cool stuff that have left me fucked up forever mentally (flower husbands I'll never forgive you) but yeah. Compared to LL and the seasons that come after it does feel like the one where all POVs are equal but some POVs are more equal than others. Especially when LL was a massive fucking mess in terms of its alliances where every single team had some sort of massive dramatic moment.

Thinking about it now I think I like the life series for the same reason I like those. "100 player battle royale" videos where I more or less look at it from an angle of an unethical psychologist. Holy shit okay um I was about to make a joke about how I would be Zimbardo instead of Freud if Zimbardo was dead and I didn't think this would be the way I found out Zimbardo died last month holy shit post cancelled I feel bad now

[stormage-writes]

ALRIGHT ITS TIME TO SPECULATE WILDLY ABOUT A GAME THAT ISNT EVEN OUT YET!!

Prime 4 is gonna take place on a single planet

Based on mostly the end shot with the view on the massive forest planet, I’m willing to bet Prime 4 is going back to the roots of the series and keeping to one planet. While I personally liked hopping between planets in Prime 3, it did make the game feel less…connected. Like in Prime 1 and 2 all the individual areas connect to each other, and there’s plenty of paths you can take where you’re suddenly back in the starting area, or the back half of an area you passed through briefly, and it was part of the charm.

The planet is gonna be another Chozo planet

I know, shocking, the Chozo were on a planet and maybe influenced it if not lived on it fully. It’s a staple of the series, but there’s more reasons than that. One, a prevalence and respect of nature is part of the Chozo’s whole deal, and I think that last shot is hinting towards that with that absolutely massive tree in the background (maybe something akin to the impact crater in Prime 1, at least in relevance to the plot?) Two, with Sylux having the hatched Metroids seemingly under his thrall (something the Space Pirates could never really accomplish without hijacking Chozo shit) it seems like he found something to do that. And Three, related to the Metroids, you know how their whole deal is they only go through their whole life cycle while on SR388? Well, what if it wasn’t? Sure, the Metroids were eventually sent there to deal with the threat of the X parasite, but what if the Chozo wanted to test them other places? A large, temperate forest planet might be good for that.

Prime 4 is going to be more like Prime 1 and 2

Okay, so, based mostly on the small hints of UI that we get (with the missiles being a specific selectable option as opposed to fired with a separate button press or combo of buttons) I’m willing to bet any beam upgrades will be switchable (plasma, ice, wave in prime 1. Light, Dark, Annihilation in Prime 2). This is a good thing, cause, even though I’m a massive shill for Prime 3, the beam swapping is a much better mechanic, it adds a bit more depth to combat and puzzles as opposed to “oh, new upgrade, now your beam can do everything”

Sylux is going to be a repeated boss fight, but not the Final Boss.

Considering his prevalence to the story, I think it makes sense that he shows up multiple times, like Dark Samus in Prime 2. However, I don’t think he’s gonna be the Final Boss, that just seems…too easy?

Phazon is gonna make a return/will be part of the actual Final Boss

I know Phazon was “technically” destroyed with the destruction of Phaaze at the end of Prime 3, but hear me out. The Galaxy is a massive fucking place, and the lore for the Leviathans (the things that get launched at planets to corrupt them) says that they get launched every 100 years, and that countless planets have probably been infected. Phaaze may have been the head of the snake, but we’ve seen how Phazon is literally alive, so who’s to say there isn’t a proto-Phaaze still out there? Maybe that’s why the Federation is out there in the first place, they discovered this planet is a proto-Phaaze, or is in the process of becoming one, and they’re researching it?

Prime 4 will cement the Federation as bad guys, if not wildly incompetent

So, we’ve gotten that theme in Other M(my beloathed), Fusion, and Dread now, and it kinda lingered in the background of the Prime games as well. The Federation is often messing with shit out of their ability to control, and Samus usually gets called in as clean up crew. Their fighting over Phazon with the Pirates is what leads to the events of Prime 3, their research base on Aether is the reason Samus got called there, and now she’s heading to another Federation facility that’s under attack. I would not be surprised if the game, and Sylux specifically given his hatred of the Federation, starts pointing the finger at the Federation for all the shit they’ve done.

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Laws of Attraction ep 3

I might redefine my colour theory as I go...and just from the first minute I'm wondering if the red is actually Charn's connection to his mother and therefore revenge (rather than the law)...(also, something something the blue flowers covering the red of his mother's shirt).

And flashback to happier times (hence the yellow shirt, I guess) with Charn's mother in pink again and wearing the ring on her necklace.

So Charn fought government officials (above the Mayor) to help the people keep their land but the powerful didn’t take kindly to his actions so killed his mother as a backlash?... I don't think we've got the full story here but this could be why Charn doesn't care much for the rich and powerful (despite him saying he likes money and power - but that's probably only because he needs both to get revenge).

"Unnamed body" is that the bodyguard that Charn and Tin fought last ep?

(Sorry, I just need a moment to get over how beautiful Ploy's mother is... 😮)

There's so much red and green...this has to mean something. Maybe the green is for Tonkhao and the red is Charn and Tin's revenge...but that means I'm less certain about Charn and Tin themselves (unless they're lapis lads - both loyal blue boys - hmmmm 🤔).

We've found the toy! And it looks like it's going to disappear with Ploy!

Rose telling Charn he cares about Tin and his world whilst flanked by so. much. red and green (on the wall and the cushions). (also Organ is amazing. It's so good seeing her play a different character to Tanya).

Please! I adore all these *pikachu face* don't call me uncle! I'm phi to you conversations we get in qls. 😂

The toy dog recorded an incriminating conversation maybe?

Charn's face when he realises Tin is comparing him to the kids! And then Tin calling Charn luung! Love it!

And the blue is finally back! On both of them! (*chanting* lapis lads lapis lads lapis lads *fingers crossed for @respectthepetty*) and Charn tells Tin to take his blue denim jacket off to pretend to be something he's not to garner support from the public. Delicious if this is correct!

The red line of revenge joining them at their shoulders in the background.

Evil babygirl activated! I love Charn's face here.

"I don't know who taught him that" - comedian of the year award goes to Thatthep.

Oooo the green (of Tonkhao and what she represents to them) looming behind both Thatthep and Tanthai.

The 'anger management room' is fantastic. So, so deliberate to first smash the green vase whilst wearing a red jumpsuit (since everything else he smashed were big appliances) and then the tv afterwards (symbolic of the truth eventually being revealed to the public?).

I mean...I feel for Tanthai but he brought it all on himself (under the huge influence of his father but still...). I really want to know what that toy will reveal.

I wonder if Thee will be on Tanthai's side or do as Thatthep says...

I love how it goes from all serious 'we're being threatened' dramatic music to romantic music and 'you can talk to me about your troubles if you want'.

Ooof. That is not a healthy father-son relationship. I know they want us to feel sympathy for Tanthai, and even see a romantic connection between Thee and Tanthai, but I just can't until I know what Tanthai did.

I think Tin suspects Charn of starting the fire himself. Aaaaand yes he does.

SILVY! (in loyal blue. Loyal to Charn?)

So I'm leaning more towards Tin (and maybe Charn as well) being blue... Charn walks Tin backwards away from the blue window whilst telling him he can't be his righteous self, he has to go against his true nature to get ahead of their enemies.

It's interesting though that Thatthep and Tanthai also wear a lot of blue. More to ponder on for later eps...

Oh and the clenched-fist-shot-my-beloathed. I haven't seen it for a while. And I'd rather not ever again.

[elvenbeard]

Then and now - shippy edition! 💜

Enabled and inspired by @pinkyjulien @humberg @arcandoria @breezypunk @kharonion and everyone else who's done something similar XD My little VP and modding journey featuring Vince and Kerry over the last few months!

So, I figure, most of you can relate to my disappointment when I realized at the end of my first playthrough that there's so little interaction possible with the main NPCs outside of their respective questlines. The text messages your LI sends you are adorable, yes. Being able to sleep in their bed and then waking up next to them? A+ game design, 100/100, every game with romances needs this. But where is my option to hug, kiss, spend time with Kerry? Rude!!

Still though, I was undeterred to create some shots for my new favourite blorbos with my vanilla game (I had never heard of AMM then (or at least was too chickenshit still to install it)).

2023/Feb/06

Behold, my first attempts at creating something shippy (and I do still like these a lot) - title: Kerry meets Nibbles.

The idea behind this is probably kinda self-explainatory XD I had these as desktop background for so long, it feels so nostalgic to look back at them now. I think I have some slightly edited versions somewhere but cannot find them for the life of me, but there's no big difference really, just some slight colour/contrast editing.

I was always a bit bummed out by the fact that Kerry's default outfit for idling at the villa is the one with sunglasses on (while over the progression of his questline he wears it less and less as he gets to know V better, as if he is letting his guard down). But oh well! Also yes, that was and still is my favourite photomode pose for V really, because it is very versatile:

But that's... really it when it comes to opportunities for shippy moments outside of the quests.

2023/Feb/09

I was yearning for more!! As you can see, these are only 3 days apart. I had done some research and learned about the "[NPC] Interactions Enhanced" mods that I highly recommend for the options to kiss and hug your LIs alone :3 And! More shippy shot opportunities, because Kerry will finally be somewhere else in his huge-ass villa besides the sofa or the bed, and take off those beloathed sunglasses:

Hhhh.... I can't tell you how happy I was about this shot. I remember yelling to my friends on Discord about it half in tears (none of them really knowing much about the game yet apart from my occasional screaming about all the angst and plot twists). I think I described it as "Vince finally feeling some actual, real happiness, daring to imagine a future", just content and relaxed, having a late night talk with Kerry. I still like it a lot, and because of the mod enabling me to take this pic I still low-key wanna look into quest-modding some day and see if I can make something in a "romance-enhanced" direction. The "Kerry calls V and wants help with cleaning up the villa" quest we all deserve xD

2023/Feb/12

Another couple of days later, and with one toe dipped into modding now, I finally installed AMM (I think, since this was around Valentine's Day, this must've been when I saw a tutorial by @pinkyjulien on how to pose your blorbos for kissing poses with AMM, and my mind was blown XD). My first attempt to even get anything accomplished was kinda frustrating though (because I wanted to do too much too quickly). In a couple of the other "then and now" posts I saw earlier that the more common approach for getting into AMM used to be "swap your characters with NPCs around the city" and I was like.... "oh, yeah, that would've made things a lot easier" 🤡 Nope, I went right in with spawning them in and trying to squish them together with poses that somewhat matched XD

The following were my first AMM-posed screenshots that worked how I wanted them to, and aösdhfdsaf I am somewhat self-conscious about them still. What is a "look at" feature? What are expressions?

I never shared these publically before but hhhhh... this is it, this is the moment where the brainrot started. They're at Dark Matter, talking about V's childhood in Charter Hill, musing about how it's insane how they both occupied almost the same spaces for such long periods of their lives and only never ran into each other due to their age difference. I'm actually still (slooooowly) working on a little comic with this scene/story as topic, cause it is so essential and important to me (based on a random spontaneous decision I made about V's past before even knowing the Dark Matter existed... right across from V's childhood home asdöasdhfjds. Setting the whole "we were destined for each other" trope I have going on with them so much in stone ;A;). This is one of the shoots I'd also really like to redo with my current VP skills... maybe when I've finished my hand-holding poses, cause yeah... hand holding ;__;

Speaking of which:

2023/Jul/13

Five months later, still stupidly in love with each other, still regularly back at the Dark Matter because the place is so gorgeous and important to them. Kerry's getting some more outfits slowly but surely (even with sunglasses!), I have a much better understanding of AMM and the VP possibilities in general now. These two unlocked completely new ways of creative expression for me that I wouldn't even have dreamed of possessing or wanting to follow. VP has become such an amazing creative outlet, for creating all those little scenes I wish I existed in the base game, or which I'd love for them to have in their future.

Am I crying about fictional pixel men too much? Maybe. But over a short period of time they've become so important to me, and I got to meet so many cool and inspiring people in this community after not really feeling part of or even drawn to creating for a fandom for a long time anymore. Can't wait to update this post some time in the future to see where my and their journey will lead to!

I feel like my progress is kinda slow, and I wish I had more time to dedicate to them and all my creative endeavours, cause they'd deserve it for all the joy they bring me xD But alas... Fingers crossed for more spare time and better time management in my future! Thanks for reading this far and coming to my blorbo talk 💜