#because of the Bigger Picture(tm)

[puwumats]

the wine's got me fucked up thinking about the keyleth/orym parallels. something horribly tragic happens to people you care for. it was a deliberate, and callous act, and killed innocents for no other reason than to further the one responsible's goals.

and now, due to world-ending circumstances beyond your control, you have to sit at a table with your friends and that very same evil and talk to them like they are your equal. some of your friends even want to side with them, however temporarily, for some higher goal. but you can't stop thinking about all those that you lost, because of this person. and the anger bubbles and boils away right underneath the surface of your usually-sweet demeanor, until you explode or die.

"you called a hit on my family. a successful one - fuck you" and "call me child one more goddamn time" are the same frustrated and bitter cry, just in a different key.

[lisbonsteresa]

oh god

[liesmyth]

TLT thought of the day is that more posts about John Gaius should engage with the fact that he's explicitly an indigenous man. Especially content about pre-Resurrection John and his backstory, intentions, politics, ambitions etc. He's a product of an environment that Tamsyn goes out of her way to describe.

This is noteworthy, because TM doesn't give much thought about race when it comes to the rest of her characters. It's not a key aspect of the present day side of her worldbuilding; see the sparing physical descriptions, her 'take it or leave it' Word of God on the matter. It's not something that she makes a priority to communicate to the reader, and clearly not a big deal for any House or BoE characters that we've seen.

This is what makes John's backstory VERY noteworthy by comparison. Or, rather, the care Tamsyn put into it.

Compare that one GtN character description post — “Judith is Pasifika and Isaac is Chinese and Magnus is Samoan and Abigail is white, but this mostly in my head and you can picture them as monitor lizards if you want” — compare that to the way she really goes out of her way in NtN to make sure that the readers know that John is Māori, and it's something that absolutely shaped his 30-something years on earth.

Like, it's spelled out multiple times, it's not something for the keen-eyed repeat reader to puzzle out. He's explicitly referred to as Māori; Tamsyn specifically namedropped Dilworth; she sketched an underprivileged background for both him and G. lot of John's obsessive attitude about his world-saving project — no compromises and acting now and nobody left behind — it echoes the concern that small island nations have repeatedly expressed towards the climate crisis, and predictably bigger rich countries don't give a shit about.

IDK where I'm getting at! But I think it's a fundamental part of his character that we sometimes overlook. We all live in a society etc, and the society John created is very very different from the one he grew up in — but it's the latter that shaped him.

[featureenvyproductions]

here’s a bird’s eye view of my comic Eyan Eternal

For people who don't know what it is. Bc I think some of you might find it's right up your alley. Well this is an updated one anyway. I do actually have a volume of this out in print right now, but the low def, basic version is online and complete, and tbh, I just want people to read it. I took almost two years to complete this and quite literally poured every waking moment (after work and when I wasn’t fixing stuff in my house) into this to try and finish it.

Ahem

Here is one of these at a glance things! 

If that’s enough to intrigue you, take a look at my chapter masterpost which has convenient links to every chapter post so you don’t have to go figuring out where they are and what order they go in!: https://www.tumblr.com/featureenvyproductions/717516139934154752/eyan-eternal-tumblr-chapter-masterpost?source=share

If you like it and want to support me you can also buy a copy of the first print volume, which collects chapters 1-5 and has a smidge of bonus content (only available in the US right now, but that’s not going to be forever, and I’m working on an e-book as well): https://www.etsy.com/FeatureEnvy/listing/1447399615/eyan-eternal?utm_source=Copy&utm_medium=ListingManager&utm_campaign=Share&utm_term=so.lmsm&share_time=1683565699335

And now here is a more detailed break down if you need more info than that...

*Jonathan Frakes asks you things meme voice* have you ever wondered what you’d find if you REALLY lived forever?

Well, meet Eyan, an immortal vampire.

He’s slowly finding out the answer to that question...

...And it appears to be unbearable isolation.

Eons into the distant future, when most stars have faded in the night sky and the cosmic event horizon has confined any remaining beings to an isolated pocket of the universe, Eyan roams interstellar space in a repurposed generation ship in search of anything that could be considered alive/sentient in the way he is.

So far, he’s out of luck.

That is until he runs into an unexpected former rival on a remote planet - Zero, a sentient android he never expected to be the only other person left alive.

Well. That is, if either of them can really be considered “alive”. What does that mean anyway, when the humans who defined what it means to be alive are all gone?

This is something they’ll have to explore and define for themselves as they attempt to set aside their myriad of differences and try to work together on one of the few ways left to escape the dark fate of ultimate isolation - The Grand Encoder, a machine that can upload minds to a special medium - if it even works for them anyway. In the process, they slowly come to accept that maybe they’d had each other all wrong and weren’t seeing the bigger picture.

You may not find any action-packed Star Wars like escapades here in this sci fi drama. You also won’t find ponderings about the origins of vampires or what gave rise to robot sentience - It’s integral to the plot that these things just ARE. But you will find a thoughtful exploration of identity and how it can cause us to define ourselves and relate to (or abandon) each other depending on the framework within which we are doing that exploration and within which we are compelled to exist. It asks the question, what if the frameworks within which we defined our existence and purpose no LONGER existed...Where would we go from there?

And as two immortal guys who are the only folks left in the universe (as far as they know), Eyan and Zero are just the right people to mull over that.

There is both textual and allegorical queerness in this story - both main characters should be considered gay men, even if it’s The Future TM and terms/exact scopes of identities may not be EXACTLY 1-1 with today’s...But I want to be perfectly clear that it was my intent to make them gay because I wanted to see more gay guys in sci fi and I don’t want anyone erasing that. As for the allegorical stuff - I myself am a trans gay man in my late 30s, so this act of re-exploring and re-framing myself and evaluating how and why queer folks interact with each other the way we do is something I’m very familiar with, and I feel like other folks might relate. (I also peppered in some neurodivergent-person-in-a-neurotypical-world moods tbh.)

Of course it’s not all serious. I do have a bit of fun with some old school vampire tropes, tossing Eyan around and putting him in Situations.

Anyway if this all sounds interesting to you, take a look at my tag and site (above)! I’d appreciate it! I also like to hear from people and see if there’s anything about it you related to! :)

I also do everything. Every last monotonous step (well, aside from literally loading up a printing press to churn out volumes lol - BUT REST ASSURED IF I HAD $10K TO PISS INTO THE WIND I WOULD DO THAT TOO). So if there’s ANYTHING you want to know about my process, I’m happy to tell you so please ask, especially if you’re like trying to get started on your own comic or trying to go to print :) 

Edit before I go ahead and blaze this: I want to say, to be honest, the creation of comic was initially motivated almost entirely by the isolation/loneliness I’ve felt in my life. It’s not as bad as some folks’ and I know that, but it is a really prevalent thread throughout my life and sometimes is almost unbearable, and my comic began as an exploration of that loneliness, as well as a narrative exercise to try and express the depth of it at its worst point. I’m putting this out here because ultimately I don’t know...maybe someone will catch my drift and understand the feeling I’m trying to illustrate, and maybe they’ll want to see the plot that came of those feelings. I am not above the need to feel seen lol, especially if other people out there feel like they can resonate with this experience as well.

[returnofahsoka]

the solum civil war will still happen

or why i think this is a predestination time loop instead of an alternate timeline

short answer: because gwyn's still here

long answer under the cut because we might be here for a while

reason 1 – the classic grandfather paradox, or "cLeArLy YOu NeVEr ReAd TeMPorAl MeChaNiCs 101"

so, the protostar never going back to tars lamora caused gwyn to never be born and the timeline to unravel. pretty straightforward, huh? but the civil war not happening and the diviner never going back in time to destroy the federation somehow... wouldn't result in the exact same thing? that's weird. i can't be the only one who thinks that's weird.

we are told that changing the little things does not matter as long as the big things stay the same (this is a very common principle in time travel scifi, like doctor who's fixed vs non-fixed points in time). such "big thing" or fixed point is the protostar ending up on tars lamora in the past regardless of how it was sent back or by whom. yet, on a peaceful solum with no civil war and a good relationship to the federation, ilthuran has no reason to become the diviner, to go back to the past and have a daughter there. gwyn still wouldn't exist. the paradox would still be in effect.

because it is not, we must assume that gwyn is still born in this reality, and the only reason she could be born is because the diviner went back. the bigger picture, in the end, is still intact, the flow of time is back in its correct course.

and i think wesley knows this. he knows the war will still happen, maybe some time later or maybe it will go down differently (again, little things) but it will happen and the end result will be the same. he doesn't say, becuase his goal was never to save solum, his goal was to save The Universe(tm), and for that, the fall of solum needs to happen. and wesley was willing to let voyager and the crew suffer great casualties because of asencia's attack, because it also needed to happen. so he doesn't say, becuase they don't need to know this yet, because they cannot know. because if gwyn knew, she would stay on solum and try to fix it and they would not be together.

reason 2 – ouroboros, or who dropped their commbadge on the protostar's bridge?

it was dal. it was always dal. the first time around when he and rok find the protostar, the badge is already there, placed perfectly in position on the bridge. (ever wondered in season 1 why there was a commbadge randomly on the floor?) because that the kids were always the ones sending the protostar back to tars lamora. to save themselves.

again, if this was an alternate timeline, if the civil war had been truly prevented, then why does the ship need to go there? who would find it if the kids weren't there in the first place? for that, they need to be brought there by the diviner. and they need to be together. not only in the future that wesley was referring to. in the past as well. because time is a funny thing.

also, talking about wesley, he very clearly says that the timeline the show takes place on is the prime timeline. the protostar going back to tars lamora/the diviner following didn't create a new timeline diverging from an alternate previous one. only the absence of these events did, resulting in the paradox that they're trying to fix, and by fixing it we return to the prime timeline.

so instead of alternate timelines looking kinda like this (forgive me for the very heavily stylized ms paint diagram)

it's a loop and it looks more like this

reason 3 – hints in s1, or why this was always meant to happen this way and why is the diviner called the diviner, really?

the funniest thing is, we were told all this from the beginning. kind of.

bear with me for a second and imagine that ilthuran, ever curious astronomer and actually decent father, becomes the ilthuran who trusts and supports the federation. they saved them after all! his daughter is one of them! and maybe he supports them too loudly, urging an alliance too quickly to prevent what he knows happened on another timeline. and maybe the voices who supported asencia are becoming equally loud too. maybe the war still breaks out, despite his - and gwyn's - best intentions. and the federation doesn't come (they have a lot to deal with, okay?)

ilthuran would have all the more reasons to become jaded and bitter and resent them for refusing to help. but he would know this isn't the end yet. he becomes the diviner because he knows the future. because gwyn told him. not the whens and hows, not the details because that part's complicated, but the big things.

in preludes, as asencia is trying to nudge the diviner's memory back to working (one of our two main accounts in s1 of what happened on solum, the other being what the diviner tells gwyn in moral star, which admittedly, is pretty questionable. asencia however, at this point, has no reason to lie to the diviner so i am tempted to believe she's telling the truth) she describes the protostar's arrival as the return of "the hope of solum" and the diviner, suddenly remembering, says this: "they called it an accident. we knew it was fate." and what if he really did know? in the brief flashback following this exchange, we see chakotay sending out a distress signal immediately after the protostar passed through the wormhole, while already being invaded by drednok units. as if the vau n'akat were prepared for their arrival.

and when the order is formed, not one of the other 99 vau n'akat ships can the find the protostar. (like, you would think they have some way of tracking the ship or the living construct itself, but they can't. evidently, asencia has to infiltrate the federation and use them to find the protostar.) but the diviner spends 20 years in one place, mining, because he knows it's worth it, instead of searching the wider galaxy, and turns out he was right the whole time, because the ship is actually there.

and we learn that he defied the order by making a progeny. but why does that rule exist in the first place? a dying species hell-bent on surviving at all costs, and they're not allowed to have children? or it's just him who's not allowed to, just gwyn who cannot be born? the girl who made first contact? right in the first episode, the diviner tells her "whatever future our people hold will be up to you." he knows who his daughter will become and he wants to save her from the federation. he didn't raise her so she could finish his mission when he's no longer able to – he didn't raise her to hate the federation from childhood, he raised her to not even know of the federation, and to never learn because he will destroy them before she can be corrupted by them. "history can be rewritten," he says in moral star and i believe he's not just talking about solum. he's talking about gwyn too.

[m4gp13]

Okay time to talk about Al's hero complex and Ethan's martyr complex more in-depth because I love it so much <3

Al's hero complex is pretty obvious. He thinks he's Katniss Everdeen fighting a valiant battle against the Capitol because no one told him he's not the main character. He sees himself and those who agree with him as the Heroes (tm) while any who oppose them are the Villains of Unrivalled Evil because obviously his people wouldn't be fighting them if they were anything less. Al definitely has the overwhelming optimistic approach of a heroic paragon who believes it's impossible for him to fail because he's the good guy and good guys always win (Ladies, Gentlemen and Assorted Genders I would now like to direct your attention to "heroes never die, right?"). Which is how he ended up getting the remainder of his army massacred because he wouldn't accept defeat and pushed them on for a last-ditch attempt at victory. He's willing to sacrifice his people for the greater good, and in this way he and Percy are like the inverse of "Villains will sacrifice the world to save their loved ones, heroes will sacrifice their loved ones to save the world."

Al was the most powerful child of Hecate and as such was chosen to lead the rest of her children into battle. For such a young guy, this probably gave him a sense of grandeur, importance and self-respect which translates well into him seeing himself as the hero of his story. He had Luke and his propaganda to look up to, Mt Othrys to run things from and the Princess Andromeda to help things along, as well as a swarm of younger demigods who saw him as a hero. Now I'm not saying it all got to his head but that is pretty much what I'm saying. There's also Hecate, who is a pretty loving mother all things considered and was helping and supporting Alabaster and her children all the way through the war. With her encouragement exacerbating Al's self-righteousness instead of giving him a reality check, his hero complex could only grow until it made the Al we see in Son of Magic. He has lost everything and has never been in a worse place but he is still so sure of himself and his own moral superiority.

Ethan's martyr complex is a little more subtle but it's there if you're looking. My guy sacrificed his eye to his mother and was A-Okay with the arrangement. He was asked, from a very young age, to go through a lot of short-term physical pain with the result of a long-term disability in order to make a change in the world, which he agreed to. So he already doesn't think too highly of himself which is a great start! His mother uses him as a vehicle for her goals and he is aware of this and consenting to it. He has already relegated his own life as a tool for someone else. And then there's the arena battle in the labyrinth where he was very quick to offer Percy his own head on a platter. He was thinking very pragmatically at the time. He didn't seem to care much about "holy shit I'm going to die" and was instead just thinking "If he kills me then I die but if he spares me then we'll both die 2-1=1 so if we go with the first option then that will be one less death" HE DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK. His own life is something he can step back from, view in the context of the bigger picture and figure out how detrimental the loss of it would be to everything else going on around him. And then to further prove my point the last thing he ever does in the series is actually martyr himself to stop Kronos from ruining his mother's plans. Way to make it easier for me buddy.

As for how he ended up like this, his mother is fucking Nemesis. A hero complex and a martyr complex run antiparallel to each other with the key difference being that a hero will do whatever it takes to succeed while a martyr is all too happy to throw their life away for The Cause. In the eyes of a young child desperate to please his mother who is known for harshly punishing the prideful and arrogant of the world, being a hero who desires personal success and glory would be far too egotistical, and in order to be a hero his mother would approve of, he must be entirely selfless about it. She would despise anything else.

[wooglebear]

Everything's Better with Triplets AU

Aka, a full rundown of my ideal Black and White anime, now as its own post on the Main Tag(tm).

-The first five episodes go the same as canon, but episode 6 has a twist.

-When Cilan decides to go on the journey, his brothers Chili and Cress decide to go, because they don't want to see their brother get up to shenanigans

-This annoys the Rocket Trio ("oh god, now there are FIVE twerps!")

-Cress and Chili's presence makes a bigger difference than one might think. There is a reason this AU is called Everything's Better With Triplets, after all

-For example, their presence effectively means that the events of any episode with Striation Gym as the focus don't happen.

-Cress and Chili get their aprons back, because they deserve it!

-My goal is to give Cress and his brother actual arcs and roles while keeping their core characters the same

-My version of Cress is basically my own headcanons (he can read auras) mashed up with elements of Cress in the anime, Cress in the Adventures manga, and the version of Cress we saw from Pokémon Black and White

-Cress can read auras perfectly, to the point that he can understand what his Pokemon are saying; this, in turn, has allowed him to come up with some pretty good battle strategies

-this will be relevant later when Team Plasma arrives

-Cress gets possessed by the Yamask in that one episode because… why not?

-Let's just say Cress took the aspects of Cilan's anime arc related to Burgundy, while Chili has a crush on Georgia

-In addition to his canonical Panpour, Cress gets a Floatzel, a Combee, a Lillipup, and a Manaphy (though this particular catch wouldn't be on purpose). However, said Floatzel ends up being killed via stuff in Elesa's gym. Thankfully, Cress replaces the Floatzel with a baltoy.

-Speaking of Cress's Floatzel, it… talks. It sounds like Sean Astin. He nicknames it Cash.

-Chili also gets his canonical Heatmor, but also gets a Cubchoo and a Litwick to mess with Cress due to his brother developing a phobia of the Litwick line during "Scare At the Litwick Mansion!". In Alola, he even catches a depressed-sounding Wimpod (which can talk) and an Alolan Sandshrew.

-Also, Cress grows a bit of trust issues. Because it wouldn’t be an AU of mine if someone didn’t have at least some angst, not even the water type gym leader is safe from me

-He also has a number one fan. None other than Faba from Sun and Moon. Yup, didn't see that coming?

-i imagine him as someone who's come from Alola to do research on someone (Cress).

-This Faba is basically an unholy mashup of both versions of him. Much like in the anime and USUM, he is a nasty piece of work without alien toxins. Don't worry, he isn't going to be a one-to-one carbon copy of his anime and USUM incarnations. Because I and many others don't like how Faba was depicted in the first few episodes of the anime, completely destroying any arc that he might have had in the post game of Sun and Moon, let's just say he gets his want for respect back.

-Also, his appearance would be similar to that one picture in the Sun and Moon anime of young Aether

-Faba is the reason why Cress tells Chili to tear off his sleeves.

-Cress and Faba then have a subplot where Cress tries to tell Cilan and Chili about his "fan" but gets interrupted by smth more and more ridiculous every time, until the episode where Faba steals Cress's body.

-Cilan adds a talking maractus and a Solosis to his team, because... why not? And then in Alola, he catches an Alolan Raichu.

-Not much changes with Iris and Ash.

-Team Plasma are closer to their Black 2 and White 2 characterization, but Ghetsis still wants to rule Unova with an iron fist.

--Ghetsis does get arrested at the end

-Also, there's a FOURTH triplet in this AU, called Crispin. Yup, that Crispin.

-He's their younger brother

-He used to cook for their restaurant. Used

-He ran away after he saw the Shadow Triad and had a freak out

-Team Plasma took him in

-He was raised as a member of Team Plasma

-His Team Plasma name is Major Blanc.

-He shoots his brothers with paintballs like a maniac

-He thinks Cilan, Cress, and Chili are secretly the Shadow Triad!

-He even has a bandolier

-Ghetsis's former right-hand man.

-As Major Blanc, he wears a gas mask. For clothing, he's wearing what looks like a standard uniform of a Canadian army commander, complete with the hat and dark uniform, emblazoned with the emblem of Team Plasma on the left. Over his hands he wears white gloves, and whatever his feet look like are obscured by boots as well.

-As Crispin, he probably looks mostly the same as he does in canon SV! Well since this AU more than supports the headcanon of Crispin being related to Cilan/Chili/Cress, he wears their waiter uniform, but with a peach bow tie. He tears off one of his uniform's sleeves so that he can look different

-As Major Blanc, Crispin has Cubone, a Banette nicknamed Chrysocollas, Dusclops, Chandelure and Zorua. When he eventually shows his true colors, he ditches his Pokemon in favor of a conkledurr, a heracross and keeps the Banette as a symbol that he is restraining himself but is free to act like a villain because everyone knows the truth about him. In Alola, Cress even convinces him to catch a passimian, shiny scizor, and alolan exeggutor.

-The brothers didn't get along at first, given that Crispin was a former member of Team Plasma. And because of this they would often bicker with each other. However, after a while, the brothers warmed up to each other

-I’d imagine he'd be voiced by Tom Wilson

-In Alola, Crispin gets recruited by the Aether Foundation! Too bad a certain someone has a rule that interns must be heard and not seen instead of the other way around. so Crisp just kinda slinks around Aether in the shadows a while until Cress eventually stumbles upon him one way or another

-His outfit as an intern is basically the standard Aether uniform, but with his bow tie.

-He wouldn't look like this for the entire Sun and Moon anime, though. He changes back into his waiter uniform in episode 64 of SM (yes, that episode about Ash and the Passimians is going to be skipped and replaced with one about Cress)

-Crispin is basically the sixth Ranger of the gang!

-and it wouldn't just be Unova these four brothers would be travelling with Ash in. They're going to be in the Sun and Moon anime. The triplets are gonna get a makeover in those seasons

-In Alola, Cress gets an Alolan Grimer (which evolves into an alolan muk later on). Contrasting with Cilan's Alolan Raichu and Chili's Alolan Sandshrew (later Alolan Sandslash).

-During the magical girl episode, inside of Lillie and Mallow and Lana, the triplets get chosen!

-Cress has a bit of a running gag where he face plants in the dirt

-During the haunted house episode, Chili ends up with Mallow's group, Cilan ends up watching the puppet show with Ash, and Cress gets stuck by the wayside with Lana

-Becomes friends with Lana. They bond over their shared love for water types and Cress is surprisingly adept at giving Lana advice.

-Plumiera debuts earlier this time. She debuts after the Mother Beast arc of the anime, during the Ultra Beasts Arc.

-Plumiera is even worse here than in the anime and games combined. She's basically canon Plumiera, if her bad qualities were amped up and the positives were removed.

-when Plumiera shows up, Chili and Crispin compete to ally with her (Crispin even develops a crush on her), and Cilan develops a rivalry with her.

-And hoooooo boy, would Cress cause all kinds of an uproar towards her.

-Plumiera's first battle with Cress basically destroyed any semblance of standing she has with Cress and Cilan. The latter, especially, has a long standing grudge against poison type Pokemon (his grass types are weak to them) and won’t hesitate to call Plumiera out on it when she’s around.

-Team Rocket and Plumiera end up forming an alliance later on. She isn’t a permanent fixture of the group. Too bad Plumiera is also trying to steal Pikachu, developing even more of a fixation on the mouse Pokemon than Jessie, James and Meowth.

-Plumiera is hellbent on seriously injuring or killing Cress.

-Many of her later battles with Cress incorporated her attempting to kill him right in front of his brothers and acting like there’s nothing personal about it much to Cilan and Chili's horror.

-Crispin still has his crush on Plumiera, even after she tried to kill Cress in their first battle and that knowledge was made known to Cilan, essentially driving her off from Cilan and Cress

-In one of their later battles, Cress gives one heck of a zinger to Plumiera.

Cress: You pigtailed demon! You're not a person! You're horrible! You're an irredeemable monster!

-Plumiera does get her comeuppance when Chili performs Inferno Overdrive, burning half of her pigtails off. Cress points out that her mile long pigtails wouldve gotten her ass yoinked from behind and killed long ago.

-Cress is part of the Ultra Guardians in this AU. His uniform's highlights are silver.

-His ride Pokémon is a Mega Gyarados.

-I feel like the idea of ​​Cilan knowing that Cress is part of the Ultra Guardians but Chili not knowing would be fun.

-Sadly, this means that Plumiera would find out about this and blackmail Cilan into an alliance.

-Cilan does not become a full fledged Team Skull member, but he's just under her thumb. Anyway, this is a horribly one-sided alliance.

-Cilan wants to leave the alliance but is unable to due to the fear of her wrath.

-Plumiera, knowing that Cress is part of the Ultra Guardians, intervenes if they start losing. She wants to take him to the "house", if she fails to injure or kill him.

-Chili finds out (later in the anime), and so does Crispin. And while Jessie, James and Meowth do find out the Ultra Guardians are a thing, they have NO CLUE that Cress is apart of them for a good while and (thanks to Faba) they eventially start realizing that Cress is a member of the Ultra Power Rangers, which throws them for a loop for a good while of the story.

-It's gotten to the point where Cress wishes where the UB battles were actually serious and there was no Team Rocket mucking it up.

-In the Necrozma Arc, Cilan, Crispin and Chili tag along with Faba and Kukui

-Cilan names three of his Pokemon after flowers. Chili names every Pokemon save for his Pansear after different gemstones (Ruby, Pearl, Jade…)

-Cress isn't the type to nickname his Pokemon, but nicknames his Floatzel Cash Networth and his Alolan Grimer Seashell.

-Crispin as Major Blanc does not believe in nicknaming supremancy, save for his Banette. Reformed Crispin nicknames most of his pokemon after playing card suits.

Cilan, Chili and Cress's teams (* designates Evolution):

Cilan: Pansage, Crustle, Stunfisk, Sakura the Maractus, Rose the Solosis*, Minty the Alolan Raichu

Cress: Panpour, Cash Networth the Floatzel, Lillipup*, Combee*, Manaphy, Alolan Grimer*, Baltoy*

Chili: Pansear*, Ruby the Heatmor, Sapphire the Cubchoo*, Pearl the Litwick*, Jade the Alolan Sandshrew*, Amethyst the Wimpod*

-Cress uses French, or words that at least sound French, sometimes. Revealing that off camera during all three seasons of the Pokemon XY anime, he briefly studied in the Kalos region, given that it is inspired by France (cut to Cress on the floor of the Santalune Gym frantically trying to finish his biology homework while Lysandre tries to obliterate Kalos)

-Hobbs, Lillie's butler, takes Crispin as a protégée after seeing his skills in baking. This was because the opportunity is so good. i mean, Crispin is a former member of Team Plasma and he is in need of a decent/solid adult figure in his life!

-Cress starts having nightmares about Ghetsis, Colress, Faba and Plumiera. He then starts having nightmares about a horrible alternate timeline where Ghetsis is ruling Unova with an iron fist.

-In at least one of these nightmares, Unova was destroyed.

-Cilan does try to help Cress get over these nightmares, but it goes sideways in some way

Feel free to ask about this AU!

[acoolka]

I now have a Euclidian sona to project onto because I am obsessed with how their anatomy is

So this is the ref and an extra explanation of how it works

This is all i could draw today due to circumstances-TM

This is an angel-demon thing due to being inspired by angel bill art:

INFODUMP BIG LORE WARNING TEXT

Their story is that instead of destroying euclidia - while bill was in the process of “freeing them” - he miscalculted and what happened instead was he was pouring his life force into turning euclidians into 3d beings. Obviously, rewiring the whole being of, like, millions of shapes took much more energy than he expected; which he only realized about quater way in. Which was already way too late to change anything as he was being torn asunder into thousands of pieces.

The result of that was about a thousand of mildly empowered and very disoriented euclidians floating in the middle of space-nowhere, with only, like, a couple of them knowing vaguely what happened (due to listening to bill’s crazy public rants).

It took the survivors an unknown amount of time to gather together and compile a comprehensive picture of what happened and what to do next. [Insert massive timeskip here]

Billions of years down the line the now re-established euclidian society knows of the The Catalyst Event as such:

The legend goes: Once upon a time, when we lived in a world much more simple and pleasant. Sometimes - a shape with mystical powers was born. Some had unnatural strength - to lift things much bigger then themselves, some could bend light to their whims. Such things were very rare, and Cipher was one such shape. His ability most unusual of the rest: he could see into another world. Built so unlike our own - that it was impossible to conceive, nevermind describe. In our native world - the concepts he brought up - such as stars and “up” were considered immensely absurd; And thus he was known as the crazy councilman’s son.

We do not know much of the in-between time, but those who saw it say: “For long he talked about made-up things in the middle of the street, most of us thought he’d been on drugs. However we hoped he might’ve calmed down after not being seen for some time. And the next thing I know - the image of him is superimposed all over my vision. It was everywhere. I could not look away. I think i understood in that moment what he meant by “up”, and yet at the same time it was incomprehensible. Everything swam, but everything was on fire. Blue fire that flowed like the ground and like the people around me. Their organs dripping out of their body through the holes that arent there. Their screaming was all I could hear, but mine too, joining them in the neverending chorus… And through all of it, him, the crazy councilmans kid, he was in “the up”, screaming with us, breaking into pieces. I was more, I was cold, I was burning alive. There was something inside of me that was foreign, it was taking up the space that I didn’t have, too much, too much. I couldnt handle it, i screamed and screamed, for that was all I could do, hoping that would be enough, that if I flailed a bit more - the visions would take pity on me. But I was too numb, I couldnt think, I couldnt bear to move, praying to the unmerciful triangle that his apparition kills me sooner than later… And I woke up. My vision hurt, however strange that sounds. Couldnt feel anything in my body other than that. Only me that did not feel like me anymore, And an infinite void, sparkling with something, and my thoughts. It hurt to think too, for a while.”

Needless to say, we dont tell this part to kids.

After The Event - those of us who survived (and kept most of their mind intact) - did their best to find each other. We found almost a thousand, if there are more - they would be very lucky to be found in this infinity. We did our best to organize ourselves and make plans to rebuild whatever we have left. Nothing good came out of that mind you, travelling together as a monolith kind of group was unsustainable at best and a horrid idea in general; And we had no base to build anything anywhere, as our memories and bodies were all we had left. We were also all different people, too different, and keeping any sort of communication is impossible out here, with nothing to make, and the only way to communicate being face to face - to the disappointment of many - the only way we could progress and survive is either in small groups, or alone. Going to explore the nothing for any news and help at all, hoping we will find each other and reconvene once again in some future.

And so it went. The multiverse became familiar with a new nomadic species - weird flat shapes with stick-like limbs, that had various magical abilities: some more powerful than others. They were categorised, and labeled a bland name, “Shape demons”, for how they are shapes, for their disturbing shared ability to be summoned as if corporeal spirits, and for being able to forming binding magical contracts. Each of those creatures has an different affinities and power, so it would be wise not to mess with them and be specific when negotiating.

It is happy that some were able to come across and pass on a terms of infinity communication; so while not all, a lot of us formed a sort of disjointed community at last. A social media for the lost; Looking if there is a place to make a home.

So much time passes, none alive could measure it. And yet we live and we remember. Searching for nobody knows what. However only but three human centuries ago, just one square, certainly smarter than most for sure, found a place to rest on a plane inhabited with very complicated and gross creatures. But only after a bit discovered that they couldn’t leave a small village, prevented by a barrier. Of course, asking the locals proved futile as neither understood each other, and the creatures with houses were either fearful or hostile, never-mind the aggressive fauna and flora! The smart square was very fortunate to have found one resident that is quite reasonable, and it was smart too! Together, the genius minds taught the other their language, and worked towards many great things. The pair built a portal into the multiverse for easy access to resources and contact with other shapes, then, with other found alien minds to weigh in, they figured out how to break the wretched barrier. It was not considered, then, that such action would also let out the hostile and difficult to handle flora/fauna - that, as it turns out, did not exist on the rest of the planet! That was a mess and a half to handle, thats for sure.

In “modern” times however, humans have worked hard to acclimate to the onslaught of the supernatural. A shaky truce was established in the last 50-or-so years; non sentient creatures handled by a special task-force, the sentient ones have forced through a negotiation of “human” rights (they worked, and still work, for freedom alongside the marginalised and dehumanised groups of humans. Who surprisingly, for the most part accepted their aid). Shapes that have decided to settle on Earth of this universe are… very few. It is a rarity to see one, usually an occasion of seeing a shape demands a selfie and a blog post at least.

As for Euan, their story is not complicated.

A travelling Shape demon couple had an unintentional offspring. They travel a lot, and frankly - care not for wasting time and energy on raising a whole new person. Earth-08356 came up on their radar, a fine place to look for any bleeding-heart creature who longs for a young of their own. A spiritual human was recommended a ritual by a friend of a friend, for a guardian spirit - that, for a price, can grant any wish. The woman couldnt carry one of her own, as a miscarriage too many made it too dangerous. She partook to many religions in search of an answer, a cure, but despite the supernatural and the weird now permeating the planet - there were none. The ritual was supposed to be one of many, yet it became a solution. The shape couple answered the summons, ‘perfect, just what is needed’. The never yet mother begs for a magical cure, for fertility and health to carry a small one to spread her love and want that she could not contain. The Demons respond, ‘ you will recieve a young all of your own, to love and raise, and it will love you in return. We will not demand payment, yet for a neglect of some of your wish. The child will not be of your blood. It will not bleed red, nor be a human child at all. Your want is of a mother yearning for a helpless little person to love without condition. So the deal is such: You will gain an offspring of your very own, it will love you eternally, you shall teach it all you know; But can your love be pure? To love still, an alien so far removed from any creature you have seen? It will love you for as long as you love it, yet it will be hard, many do not like that which is different. Will you accept it? Can you protect it?… Will you? ‘

And thus a human gains a child. It is cute, it loves, and it is loved. The demons did not lie, Euan was a challenge after challenge. In fact, the challenges do not seem to stop. It is hard, and very taxing on every resource she has. The child is good and full of warmth, but by the infinity do they not fit into human society, no matter how hard they try or what is done - the only saving grace is that mental illness is similar in such different beings.

—

That is all lore-talk for now, now onto more technical stuff:

Their parents’ ability is to make ones body into liquid, and the other ones is to fall apart into smaller copies of themself/ or grow when enough energy is consumed. Euan, thus, can usually shapeshift their body like a constructor of two triangles, and manipulate their facial features and limbs to a disturbing degree. Yet they’ve always felt dysphoric for… something.

I have not yet figured a way to do this, but I planned for them to somehow get infused with a copious amount of energy (like, idk, spontaneous wormhole be upon ye) - and unlock like, near infinite shapeshifting. Or something along the lines of danny phantom aka unhealthy amounts of multiverse magic radiation exploded with them in the middle and now they can walk throughwalls disappear andfly- take any form and rip space matter apart due to being everywhere and everything all at once.

-

Extra ref with the infinity bag and some glitches?? not sure where I was going with this…

[qcomicsy]

Duke was a robin because of the we are robin group he joined, but he was never given the title by batman or anyone. It was arguably the point (stepping up when no one else will n all that)- but in later issues he repeatedly mentions that he’s not The Robin (tm) to the other batkids, and Bruce, when questioned about the “new robin”, says he’s trying “something different”. So I guess it very much depends on your take on his characterization, how much weight the events of we are robin and robin war still have and wether or not he’s outgrowing that title!

Yeah, exactly!

I was thinking more of "the robin" mantle, as in "working with Bruce in this weird job/mentorship/vigilante/internship thing". I see as the "robin" title of the "We are Robin" as much more a symbol than anything.

It's like Robin the job and Robin the symbol, wich intertwine themselves depending on the narrative.

(which could be debatable since I haven't read the issue yet).

I see Duke as a character as someone who's not afraid of doing things different and in his own way. Even though he has his doubts (as a vigilante and as part of the Batfamily) he still stands his ground and makes his own path along side the others. It's different and exciting, the kid is making his mark himself and I really love that about his character. He admires Batman, but doesn't come as the kind of worship you can see in other characters (like Dick, Tim and even Jason in his own contradicting way), which is not better or worse, it's just a different (honestly refreshing) take.

He does things in his own way and he navigates the vigilante thing and being part of the batfam in his own way too, and I've been really wanting to highlight that when I'm writing him.

But thank you so much you and the other anons who reminded me about his robin! Because, yeah, seen it in a bigger picture it is a Robin! His own Robin, made it from hope and desire to make it change. To help people, to do a work and help Gotham and what is more robin than that?

[margindoodles2407]

ALL OF THEM!!! GO!!! :DDD

oh gosh cheeto. why would you do this to me. i love you my friend but whyyy (light-hearted)

alrighty let's go

----------------------------

1. what medium do you use most (if applicable, what software)?

Graphite, ink, and/or colored pencils. Occasionally watercolors, but that's usually for my bigger pieces that I don't often post online.

2. most popular piece?

This one, apparently (yeah i'm still really proud of it though. it held up well. canNOT say that for some of my old star wars doodles.)

3. your favorite piece(s)?

In Chronological Order: Dryad!Deku Tree, Arwen, Hero of Winds: Conductor of Tempests, Twilight of the Republic, Evil Artsyle Challenge, Philomena, The Best Captain Rex I've Ever Drawn, Shinies, Sacred Heart, Experience, Fives and Echo Number ???, and Necrosis

4. piece you wish got more love?

In Chronological Order: Ninety-Nine and Hevy, Sun-Dragon Heart, Ahsoka and Shaak Ti (for #jedi june), and We're Going To Kill Dracula

5. how would you describe your art style?

Hmm. I guess... "Stylized Realism" might be the best way to describe it. I'm big on realistic proportions and detailing, but it still betrays the influence animation and storybook illustrations have had on me.

6. favorite thing to draw?

...take a wild guess (it's the clones)

7. easiest thing for you to draw?

People!

8. thing you struggle to draw?

Anything other than people!

9. whats something you always come back to when drawing?

Ahsoka Tano. She was one of the first characters I drew when I was getting back into Star Wars, and I literally measure my art progress by how she's changed in my style. I guess you could say she's my comfort character to draw.

10. how do you deal with artblock?

I don't.

11. do you listen to anything while drawing?

Yes! Actually I kind of need background music or noise of some kind while I'm drawing, otherwise I've found I just can't get into the groove. Mostly I listen to my various character playlists.

12. describe your process while drawing

I am granted a Vision (tm), I get my materials, I tear my hair out because my picture is not exactly how it was in the Vision (tm), and then I redraw it over and over until it slightly resembles the Vision (tm).

13. talk about a wip you like!

Oooh, okay! Right now I'm in the process of painting a watercolor of... Ahsoka... for my High Fantasy AU, and the drawing actually is turning out great! I just haven't had time to paint her yet.

14. whats your favorite thing about drawing?

I like to make stupid memes in my overly elaborate style. I think it's the best use of my gifts XD

15. least favorite thing about drawing?

I can only really draw when Inspired (tm), meaning I can go days or even weeks without anything getting put on the paper.

16. how do you motivate yourself to draw?

I sit and yell at myself in my mind. Just kidding. But again, I do have to have an inspiration for anything to actually happen; I can't just go in cold.

17. what is something youre confident about in your art?

I can draw people, and especially everything above the knees, really well. I know a lot of artists struggle with people.

18. something you feel like you need to work on?

Lower-leg anatomy, and literally everything other than people. There's a reason I usually draw memes.

19. where do you find inspiration?

Things I like, my faith, the world around me, and music especially. And memes.

20. is your workspace, digital or not, organized (not neat, organized)?

In a manner of speaking. Everything has its place, and I have a system for the order in which I draw.

21. what do you think your artstyle would taste like?

Well, @luke-shywalker once described it as looking like it would taste like candy. I personally think it would taste like. Woodsmoke. Or something like that. Maybe like,,, the smell of sawdust. If that makes sense. I dunno.

22. do you have a favorite color palette to work with?

Rich but muted colors. Or like, blacks and whites with a single splash of highlighted color. You know? Like this one.

23. how many artstyles can you work in confidently?

At least two: one that leans more towards realism and one that leans more towards the cartoonish side.

24. whats a compliment about your art that has always stuck with you?

I've often been told that my drawings look statuesque, like they were hewn from marble, but in a good, regal way. This is my favorite compliment to get.

25. what size canvas/paper do you use?

Literally all of them.

26. what do you physically draw with (pencil and paper, tablet, etc)?

Mechanical pencil or like, a very finely sharpened traditional pencil for all my sketches. For my more formal pieces, I usually go over the sketch with micron pens.

27. do you ever have multiple wips going at once?

All the time every day.

28. whats a piece you would like to redraw at some point?

THIS ONE :D

29. do you use a lot of references while drawing?

No. I have most characters committed to memory and I can usually figure out poses. That being said, I do use references for difficult poses or when I can't figure out what exactly to draw.

30. whats something youre proud of about your artstyle?

I alluded to this earlier, but I'm happy that I can have a realistic but still stylized art style. And I like how I draw faces.

31. which fandom have you drawn the most for?

Uhhhh I think it's Star Wars at this point. However, I did draw a lot of Gravity Falls art back in the day, so between that and The Legend of Zelda I think it's pretty close.

32. have you done a lot of collabs?

Unfortunately no :( If anyone would like to rectify that, I'd be more than happy to do stuff with you!

33. have you taken a lot of classes for art?

I am mostly self-taught, but I did take art classes from preschool all the way through eighth grade, and Intro to 2D, Painting I and II, Intro to 3D, and Ceramics I in high school.

34. whats something you still like from your old art?

I love my vivid colors (this is mostly in my old, unpublished art). And I think back in the day, my poses were much more dynamic.

35. if you had one piece of advice to give your younger artist self, what would it be?

Don't beat yourself up over your art not "being as good as everyone else's". I promise you, you'll get to their level someday. Just have fun and keep working hard. Also, your drawings aren't cringe, and you shouldn't be afraid to show them to the people you love.

OUGH that took. So long. But thank you! I genuinely appreciate it so much!

[pixies-and-poets]

peeks in

I feel a lil embarrassed coming here to dump these thoughts bc they're not related to one AU in particular but more a concept a friend and I came up with? and it's Woodrow related and you are kind of the ultimate Woodrow person /pos

I had the idea of all the wardens having gone through some kind of ceremony in the past for each of them when they began their wardenry. and bc I'm a sucker for this trope, I like to think that through some old magic they were each given one (1) special power in order to keep their planet safe, unique to each of them. Of course by the time we see them in SOH, their planets were still overrun bc Cursa was just too powerful.

But it got me thinking (of course) about what Woodrow's power could be. And my friend and I started thinking about things like controlling storms, shadows, stuff like that...

But me being me(tm) and loving monsters and characters transforming into monsters, I settled on: giant crow beast Woodrow.

This is sorta something I talked abt in a post of mine under different contexts but I LOVE the idea of Woodrow's name being short for Woodland Crow, referring to this monstrous form he can take when necessary. I imagine he's at least three times his height like this, winged and all, but still awkward and gangly, just even more unsettling.

I think it would be cool if he had storms somewhat under his command like this - somewhat because Woodrow being Woodrow, his luck would probably not always have it work out.

Also uhhh final thought is. I imagine him being even bigger than Phantom in this form so! for the first time ever Phantom gets cuddles from someone bigger than him :]

TDLR: Woodrow has a special warden power and it's turning into a giant storm crow

Aww that's very sweet of you!! I never think of myself as the ultimate anything, haha. I'm always happy to hear people's Woodrow ideas :3 I've said this before, but I love how he resonates with people. Not just me. I don't think I've ever seen the idea of an artist/writer who struggles with acceptance, both of themselves and their work (because for many of us those two are essentially the same thing), and yet KEEPS GOING despite all setbacks, portrayed in such a powerful way that is equally blunt and whimsical.

This is a super cool idea about the wardens. And for Allegra it happened in reverse: they KNEW she should be the warden/melodist becuase she could do the rituals on her own. I'd love to hear ideas you have about the other wardens!

Picturing him as a giant crow is so cool, and YES... he can bring Phantom under his wing... or sit on him like a big egg sadjfl;kaj. And yeah, maybe due to his bad luck, the transformation would not fully work sometimes, and he'd end up as some kind of rabbid harpy thing with talons and wings but the rest of his body being normal...

Y'know, it would be fun to imagine SoH characters as other animals than rabbi(d/t)s... Woodrow would be a crow, no doubt about it! I think Phantom could be a very fancy pampered cat or something, lol... but I'm going off on too many tangents now!!

Thank you for sharing your idea, I love it :D

[quecksilvereyes]

im so angry at my mother i cant even put it into poetry. in 2010, we went to the cat shelter and came home with a very sick, very sweet cat who was just. so cuddly. so lovely. she lay down in my lap and purred for an hour. we had to keep her in a different room for like 3 weeks and give her a whole bunch of medicine and love and attention to make sure she'd make it. she was estimated to be about 10 years old at the time and had ended up in the shelter because her previous owner died. i fucking loved that cat. she was gorgeous, she was one of the cuddliest fucking cats i've ever met in my life and she was just so sweet. all she wanted was nap in human lap, eat cat food and be babied.

i moved out of my mom's flat in 2016, and she was already old by then. one of my mother's other cats, who is over double her size, way younger and a fucking bully to boot (he slashed open my sibling's cat's stomach and was the direct cause of her having to live in my sibling's room with no access to the balcony until we moved out. my sibling's room always smelled like cat litter. that cat was understimulated and incapable of being alone. fuck you, mom) started to, predictably, bully the aging cat, cutting off her access to food and water whenever he could.

in addition to this, her vision and her ears started to get worse, so she lost a lot of weight. i was starting to get worried (tm). this went on for a couple of years until, in late 2021, she started deteriorating really badly. she lost her sight, she lost her hearing, she lost a lot of teeth. and a lot of weight. she could no longer groom herself.

my mother refused to put her to sleep. she was an estimated twenty one years old. instead, my mother got another fucking cat. a massive maine coon she doesn't brush. great. thanks.

for two years, i have watched this cat get worse. and worse. and worse. i have watched my mother drag this poor cat to the vet, pumping drugs and money into her. i have watched her justify putting this poor cat through all of this by claiming that she is not in pain. she was shivering constantly. her pupils were huge at all times. she was fucking skeletal, her fur had a thin film of grease on it. she could no longer use the litter box because her hips were so stiff, so they put her in diapers.

i have watched my mom's other cats (three now! all bigger and stronger and younger!) bully her and steal her food. whenever you walked into that flat, she would lie in the exact same spot on the sofa or in the bed. not even offering my hand for her to sniff stopped her from flinching when i tried to pet her.

she finally died yesterday. on her own. alone. my mother didn't have the fucking decency to put her to sleep before her body gave out on her. she told us by sending us a picture of the dead cat on whatsapp. no warning at all.

when we didn't respond, she was surprised.

i am SO angry.

[saveraedae]

Sorry if this question is strange but I have wondered this after seeing Mark's old design. Why/At what point did you start drawing Mark as an overweight character?

Sometime in... 2017 I think?? I was really inconsistent with my art back then because I was 14, and apparently at one point I drew Mark looking just SLIGHTLY bigger than the others in a picture and people thought it was funny so it became a meme back then to call him 'thicc.' (throwback for all the old people out there lol)

But like, I kinda liked that concept, so ever since then I ran with it and tried to actually portray that accurately and consistently in his design. I think it was a really slow and gradual change.

Nowadays though I try to give more variations in TMS character's body types and such, I was just super bad at drawing for a long time and when initially designing most of the characters years ago lmao.

[and-i-will-stab-10000-times]

Cross-Stitch Kit Review (Pusheen Mini Kit)

Alright, so I didn't plan on doing this until I actually paid far too much money for a kit that is..... bad.

Alright this is about the Pusheen(tm) cross-stitch kit that is made by running press and the Hachette Book Group and can be found in all manner of stores like Barnes & Nobel, Amazon, Target, etc.

Here is what it looks like, it is $9.95 usd where I got it at Barnes and Nobel, around 10$ online and in other stores from what I could tell by googling.

My final rating for this kit is 1/10. Do not waste your money. And I would assume to not waste your money on *any* of their products of a similar "mini cross stitch kit" set. No matter the ip. Maybe the bigger kits are fine but these mini ones are garbage.

Deeper explanation for why this kit is terrible is under the cut.

Okay, so the kit contains 3 pieces of 4"x4" Aida cloth, 2 needles, 1 3" hoop, and the instruction booklet.

The Aida cloth is fine, but it does not specify the count that the cloth IS, but it looks like 14 or 18 count Aida. It is.... fine. It's a little stiff but all new Aida is. It claims to be cotton, but I don't know.

It's only the only decent quality thing in the whole kit and for 10 dollars I could buy *sheets* of Aida cloth.

The hoop is an embarrassment. Decent embriodery hoops have a front and back parts of the inner hop to show which side should be pushed through, usually indicated by a lip around one side. The inner and outer hoops are completely smooth. That lack of lip not only does not dictate the indicated front or back, but it also means that the Aida cloth slides around and has nothing harsh to actually grasp onto or keep it in one place. The lack of ridge or locking divot or anything means that the inner hoop, even with it tightened, can be easily pushed out from the outer hoop.

If I actually tried stitching on this, I have a feeling it would slide out or I'd end up adjusting it a million times because the aida would become stretched or loose in the hoop.

The needles they gave are... simply not cross stitch needles. They are regular... sewing needles.

Cross stitch needles are, largely, blunt tipped. And they have a large, long eye in order to make the thicker embroidery floss easier to put through.

The ones in this kit are not only very sharp, (and might I add the cross stitch needles only tend to be sharp if there's going to be a lot of half and quarter stitches which this kit has 0 of) but they have the very tiny eyes that are typically used for regular thread for regular sewing.

The thread given (4 skeins of floss) are actually pretty good in quality. It's no DMC thread, but it's a lot better than most kits. The colors are good (even if they aren't numbered or labeled in any meaningful way in correspondence with each other or the patterns on the kit) and it doesn't knot and fray and snap nearly as bad as most kits.

The largest, most massive disappointment that instantly knocked it all the way down to a 1/10 before i even saw the materials was the patterns and instructions themselves.

The instructions are fine, detailed in words with zero pictures about what to be expecting. I don't personally need a picture instruction but I know a lot of people need a frame of visual reference. If you don't know anything about it, it's not a bad way to have the motions explained.

They tell you how to thread a needle and start stitching, but there are 0 instructions for now to *finish* your stitch. They don't tell you anything, not to run the needle through the back, not how to tuck the tail, nothing. Fuck you, you're on your own.

And the patterns.

Oh my god the patterns fucking suck.

So. You got the pattern name (Literally Pattern 1, Pattern 2, and Pattern 3) and the thread colors (Color 1, 2, 3, and 4) and 2 of the colors are very similar on the page, so if you mess it up, get fucked there's no actual indicator of the color on the skein or the pattern. Oh, and there's no color blind friendly symbols to go over either. just colored Xs on a grid.

And that grid has no numbers, no segmentation, no counting, no indicated middle, no ruler grid line, nothing.

Literally.... pusheen.... pixel art.

That's what you paid 10 whole dollars for. PUSHEEN PIXEL ART!

I would show you pictures of the """"patterns"""" but I am sure they'd sue me for it! It's literally pusheen pixel art! You spend ten dollars for 4 skeins of decent thread, 3 4"x4" squares of Aida cloth, a DISPLAY HOOP, 2 SEWING NEEDLES, and some PUSHEEN PIXEL ART!

Do not buy this kit or any of the running press mini cross stitch kits if their quality is ANYTHING like this.

Ages 7 and up my ass.

[kradogsrats]

I need to find some time to rewatch s2e4-7 or so for reasons(tm) but also just because something that tickles my brain occasionally is the forcefulness of the parallel drawn between Callum finally opening Harrow's letter and Amaya cracking open the magma titan and awakening it, because I feel like I don't fully understand what it's trying to say. Which means either they actually aren't saying anything at all by juxtaposing those scenes/actions very explicitly and dramatically, or they're saying something that won't be fully clear until we have access to some bigger picture of the narrative.

I absolutely cannot shake the thought that there's something there, because it's so clearly a thing, to me? The episode is literally called "Breaking the Seal." Both moments are the final moment of their respective arcs for the episode. They crack open the magma titan to forcibly take its physical/magical heart, and Callum opens Harrow's letter to receive the freely-given words of Harrow's heart. The intent to kill the magma titan is an act of strength/violence that Sarai has already denounced, and Harrow will denounce the same in favor of love in the letter. The magma titan's awakening could be seen as the beginning of Sarai's death (essentially the last "point of no return" that all the subsequent events chain from), while Callum opening the letter is explicitly the end of Harrow's death--Callum literally says aloud for the benefit of the audience that the letter is the last piece of Harrow remaining to him, and once he has read it, Harrow will truly be gone.

Also just... seals. Things that are sealed. Opening/freeing things. Keys. The Key of Aaravos in the letter. The "freeing" of the titan's heart bringing both broad salvation and personal sorrow.

...

idek man my mind is a fucking colander in a centrifuge

[desidesidesi]

The first liveblogging of the excitement of The Box TM was getting out of control so I'm making a new post and sharing a new story.

So! My mother and her friends live in a poor backwater of Mississippi. Like we visited during Thanksgiving and the "City Square" which is the heart of the city was either cute, kitschy gift stores or buildings that are literal husks with caved in rooves. So they are permanently B O R E D and have picked up the art......... Of Dumpster Diving in the extremely rich college town north of them (not naming it cuz I don't wanna dox my mom or ruin their weird side hussle. @banahbanah you know where I'm talking about)

Apparently they heard tale that all the rich college kids and stores just throw out perfectly good furniture, clothing, anything under the sun at the end of the semester. Sure enough she's told me about a giant 65in TV that was "broken" (a 50$ repair got it working again) basically a new wardrobe, perfectly good food (Star Bucks throws away so much shit), Coach Bags, and knick-knacks galore!

This is all relevant because half of the stuff in The Box are goodies from one of her outings!

First pic!

In this picture (Professor Juniper for Scale) we have a Bento Box, a Tea Cup (which she worried would break but thankfully did not), and two different gift sets of tea (both thrown out well before their expi date) all gotten from the HomeGoods Dumpster in said rich college town.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Desi. Isn't this a little privileged and problematic that a bunch of Southern White Women can go around dumpster diving and basically not get in trouble with the police? And I say... Like, duh? But they kinda do a Robin Hood approach to their little operation and share with everyone in their friend group anything and everything they find! They're basically using their privilege to stick it to corporate America and even MORE privileged white people!

Also in this pictures are crystals from an old chandelier in my childhood room. Mom was replacing it and asked if I wanted it? I'm renting, I don't have any place to put it lol so I just said "Can I have the crystals to make Sun Catchers with?" She didn't quite get it, but she sent them anyway so yay!

And of course, my delicious Milex (powdered milk for those that don't know what the hell I'm talking about) 💖💖💖 I know I'm a weirdo for basically using it as a cereal additive by making things extra milk, but I fucking love it and it tastes of childhood. 💖 We have to get friends to "import" it from Honduras cuz the company that makes it doesn't sell online anywhere??? It's fucking wild how hard it is to find this stuff!!! Gotta ration better this time. I literally used the last bag she got me in a few weeks 😅

Also? Cute cows on the packaging!

And finally! The Purse-My-Aunt-Saw-And-Thought-I-Would-Appreciate-It-Best!

Look at this thing! It was "Made in Nepal" with "environmentally friendly products" and is bigger than my damn torso??? I can fit my full-sized sketch book in this dang thing lol! It's very... Hippy dippy lol. I definitely see why she got it for me 🤣 Will have to wear it around Colorado and see if I get any Crunchy Moms lusting after it.

BUT YES. I did an unboxing on Facebook Messenger with my mom and dad and it was silly fun. Hope this random hobby my mom has taken up nets me more random bullshit lol.