#bootleg universe

[bearwildered]

[imadititom]

The End of Pokemon (A Bootleg Universe Fan Trailer)

[anonymouspuzzler]

in the world of Villain Coded, are there still superhero comics? Leaving aside 'creepy promotional comics about real life people'.

oh there's absolutely still fictional superhero comics. they probably fill a little bit of a different entertainment niche than in Our universe - the vibes are wildly different but I imagine VERY roughly analogous to how, say, something like Columbo exists as a story and character even though he is Not a real human live detective. or maybe as an even more fictionalized version of something like True Psychic Tales (stuff like True Psychic Tales where it's sensationalized versions of Real Hero Exploits also definitely exists, but that's a different question). (god the in universe discourse about Superhero Comics As Propaganda is probably rancid)

this is tangential to the original question but thinking about it also made me realize there's probably a HUGE underground/indie comics scene around both real and fictional superheroes/supervillains. "supervillain as the protagonist" indie comics are probably a particularly big niche and probably just as controversial as a lot of Underground Comix of the real life Back In Da Day, especially if your Evil Guy Of Interest is inspired by/actually Is one of the big heavy hitter evils. anyway all this to say if you go looking I'm almost certain you can find at least One zine about The Invincible Bulkhead that's pretty openly Comic By and For People Who Like Bears

[allwayswildchild]

I somehow suck at expressing the right emotions when I'm drawing and somehow I keep making funnier faces that seem like it would be a hilarious scene

[tineni]

au where everyone but timothy is a muppet. yes, they still have to face unimaginable horrors.

[tigirl-and-co]

lookit these fuckin white ass bitches. 2000s band looking motherfuckers

[mintytrifecta]

Okay. Okay. So. I’ve seen you tag so many posts with code name:Lenore and for the longest time I thought it was a piece of media I just happened to not have heard of, but somewhat recently I remembering you saying it was your original project and jfjddkdkdk okay pls do not feel pressured to answer if you don’t feel like it or anything but if you would like to share I’m asking, I’m asking SO LOUDLY about it cuz the little context clues I think I have picked up the vibes make it sound SO NEAT so yeah if you would like to share anything about it I would love to hear :3

DUUUUUDE I'D LOVE TO TALK ABOUT IT HELL FRICKIN YEAH!!!!

SO Codename: Lenore is a hypothetical novel I'm developing!!! Right now I'm just in like the plot development and worldbuilding stage so the story isn't fully concrete ^^; HOWEVER I DO HAVE SOME LORE >:DDD AND ITS GOING UNDER THE READ MORE CAUSE I HAVE. A LOT. SSNSGHND

Lenore is a robot built of embossed brass that's long been oxidized who wakes up in an unknown era in an unknown, tiny spaceship with only one universal truth present in her head.

She has a mission to find and record every folktale she can, before time runs out.

She doesn't know why, or how, or where this idea came from, nor does she know why time is running, but she knows she has to do it.

It's lonely, at first. Every planet she visits locally in her crumbling ship seems... empty. Devoid of any life. She spends who knows how long going to whatever area of a planet seems the least in ruins and tries to grab whatever she can but there's not much. There's barely one full legend anywhere and everything she finds she has to fill the blanks in. Although, a lot of them do seem to have the running theme of light in them. Light and grief and storms and anguish and so much pain with no real explanation.

It's only after she finds this pattern that Lenore notices the space around her is just as desolate as the planets she visits. Barely any starlight around and what little does show up is red and flicker. Finding this out, Lenore goes to a nearby star to investigate, one that barely has any shine to it.

As soon as she gets close enough it explodes and sends her unconscious and flying back who knows how far.

Next thing she knows Lenore wakes up on an unfamiliar ship with three people staring at her waiting for her to wake up.

Lenore is, understandably wigged out.

But they smile at her anyway and introduce themselves as the Lightspeeds!! A group of Star Hunters and Speedship racers who've been tracking the stars in this piece of space.

The "leader" of their group is the speedship racing pilot herself and head of navigation is Mairin!! Hothead, spirited and quick to make friends but prone to impulse. She welcomes Lenore to their ship with open arms, exclaiming how relieved she is Lenore is alright.

The engineer and head Mairin's partner lurking off to the corner is Khyun. He's closed off and cool but not neccesarily snappy. He's the one who got Lenore back up and running, claiming that they're lucky he likes history as much as he does, or else he wouldn't have recognized any of how Lenore's systems work.

Lastly, the botanist and head of oxygen and survival resources is Elise. She smiles, claiming she's the one who found Lenore's ship careening out at insane speeds and got everyone to help rescue her.

They explain that as Star Hunters, their mission is to find, record and track live stars and ghosts in the universe so that anyone else who's ship-born knows where's safe to stay for a while and what volatile spaces to avoid.

Speedship racers are a bit of a niche sport/subculture for Star Hunters. They compete in laps around stars of different sizes to see who has the fastest and smoothest ship and he winner gets to claim the biggest star found for their Star Hunter team and put it on the map under their name. To enter a speedship race you have to fill a certain quota of living stars found around a specific area and chart them under the name of your team. In this case, the Lightspeeds.

After a bit of talking they strike a deal with her. Lenore gets to help them find stars and work during their races and in return they help her search for folklore on any system-stars they come across.

A while passes and Lenore's officially a member of the Lightspeeds and she's building up a considerable portfolio of folklore. They haven't stopped though, with the theme of grief and stars, which is kind of suspicous to Lenore. They've traveled pretty far from where she was originally at and she gets that similair themes can occur in different cultures, but this is way too often to be mere coincidence.

Then it hits.

The stars are dying. They're dissapearing faster and faster than they can keep track of. The universe is collapsing in on itself with barely any time to preserve everything that's still here.

Lenore and the rest of the Lightspeeds have their work cut out for them.

That's the synopsis and a little bit of the plot I guess gshsnsn I've got more but if I kept going this would be too long so uuuh I'll leave it at this:

In the story there's a lot of themes and allegories to ghosts. Pretty much everyone in the story is haunting or is haunted in one way or another, narratively or not. With all the stars dying, their light still remains, all the planets are gone but stories they've made get to live on, Lenore is a robot, built and decorated with a story so personal to a society long, long gone. Isn't that a ghost?

Well yeah there's metaphorical ghosts but there are also literal ones >:))

See, sometimes when a dying star sends out a solar flare or explodes in a supernova, it'll reach people living on nearby planets. Caught in that light, they die, but their bodies last second absorb that light and essentially become it. Living afterimages of the people they were made out of pure light. They keep "living" for ages after, holding onto themselves as much as possible, but it doesn't always last.

If you're made of light, it's easy to forget what it was like when you were more then that. It's easy to lose memory. Lose shape.

As time goes on it's harder and harder to keep a solid form and idea of who you are. As this happens, as you slowly fade, your light... shifts. Less solid, blue glows become yellow. Slightly transparent and with some strange shifts of appearance, sure, but you're still fine. The real danger starts when you begin to shift red.

Closer to red means closer to dead. You begin to become transparent, unable to be seen under harsh colored lights. Your memory isn't what it used to be and now that you can barely see yourself its hard to hold shape.

Thank goodness none of our cast is that right :)) Thank goodness nobody in the Lightspeeds is hiding this in any kind of shift from yellow to red right :)))))) We certaintly wouldn't want our resident botanist to be hiding something like that from their friends right :))))))) Wouldn't want our resident folklorist android being an amnesiac of one, her creator, stuck in a metal shell with no way of knowing what she really looked like and who she was before she was :))))))))) Wouldn't want a group hellbent on desperate survival and worship of gravity and black holes to force people into becoming those to praise the gravity of a singularity and turn into light as a way to live as one with a decaying universe :)))))))))))))))

[theoriginalmeep]

Bootleg Crystal Gems (And Gravity Falls for some reason xD)

[tusktrek]

the buckingham/nicks songs/recordings on spotify are so crusty lmfao they sound like they could be the subject of a lost media youtube video essay

[undertaletwo]

if paneton plush was real i think it'd be treated like sorcerer mickey

[tnperkins]

New bootleg superhero sketch up at thomasperkinsart.com/shop

#penandink #sketch #artforsale #characterdesigner #tnperkins4 #thomasperkins #spiderhero #offbrand

[steelajeeg]

Frankenstein (Frankenstein's Monster)

- from ReAction Universal Monsters

- by Super7

Quick Shot

A very quick one today. Busy season is still upon us, unfortunately.

And we're also in the middle of an algorithm slump over on Insta - with our posts getting recommended less than usual, and engagement down as a result.

So what better way to combat that than posting something that traditionally doesn't do great!

But I don't care. I love these little figures. And the bootleg-inspired colorways on these Universal Monsters are right in my wheelhouse.

These toys scratch a similar itch to mass-retail Sofubi for me - simplified designs, creatively designed, and fun colors - the purest example of what makes a toy.

[Instagram link for this post]

Full disclosure- I hate the way these pictures came out. This was from the last shoot I did before I bought the new lights I showed off back on [May 26th] - The lighting in my apartment gives my shots this awful green and yellow tint.

Usually I can combat this with creative lighting angles and post-processing. But this one wouldn't budge. And all the digital editing on the world couldn't save it.

But now that's a thing of the past. Two multi-colored fill in lights have made this prices so much better. I can't wait to show those new shots!

[poke-poke-poke]

pls remember to water your goomy

(... yes, that is a bootleg lotad watering can---)

[visionthefox]

you know that moment- when you just too a character you made for a fandom? then you left the fandom or the hype calmed down? then you see the desing and think ".. I can make you better- and make you my own thing" and you do! and is the best things ever!! I see it happen with my fav artist- and better! my besties! and is so inspiring!! so I now look at my old fandom character- and think "how can I make you better?"

[neonpelt]

pix, the bootleg virtual assistant/mascot of sonpix software :D

(dm for character.ai link ^_^)

[satanholes]

GRATEFUL DEAD X MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE X MAGIC : THE GATHERING, tell me what more awesome than this?. should i made some merch of it? 😂