#but i know i use a lot of TP so I'm trying to at least be kinda envir conscious

[ihopesocomic]

That anon is baffling to me bc out of all the xenofiction I've seen, IHS is one of the best with how you use different face shapes and body silhouettes to distinguish characters that are the same species. Whereas a lot of anthro animal art just relies on fur/eye color or maybe a few "quirks" slapped onto otherwise identical models (cough cough, My Pride, and a lot of Warrior Cats official art, etc.) I think you're especially skilled at showing characters are related tp each other without making them look identical, which can be a hard thing to balance with animals that are hard to tell apart IRL. You're the best I've seen at that, genuinely.

Thank you! I haven't read enough xenofiction web comics to say what the best is, maybe Golden Shrike but I'm biased LOL

There's also just. A ton of details on a lions' face that I would've loved to include to make it more diverse, like unique whisker patterns. But its not necessary. No one's confusing anyone for anyone in our comic, at most they get names mixed up. If I were to one day up and decide to make the comic all greyscale, and take away everyone's mane, I'm confident enough in my abilities that readers would still be able to tell who is who. Even the ones who are related. (Plus we try to personalize their dialogue as well, so even if the characters aren't on-screen, you should still be able to tell who's speaking to who.)

That was one of our biggest criticisms of MP's character designs, no one looked related to each other, least of all any siblings. Which is a weird problem to have since COTW didn't have this problem? And its not like having characters with the same or similar eye color would've fixed or hindered the designs in any way. And yet the "solution" they had to making sure the males didn't look the same was giving them varying degrees of ridiculous hairstyles. One shouldn't have to rely on hair shape and accessories to make sure two characters aren't confused for each other lol

MP didn't even have the foresight to have a character Bible so you could know how big characters are compared to each other. Sometimes Hover is twice Nothing's size and other times she's the same size. But as I've said before, this wouldn't even be a problem if they built character models in Toon Boom lol you know, like what that program was made for. - Cat

[strawberry-cowmilk]

voicemails

-> mc is back in the human world but didn't pick up the phone, so the brothers leave a voicemail

-> brothers x mc

mc's gender is not mentioned, not proof read also kind of trying out a new style hehe

content warnings: kind of angsty maybe, alcohol use, gambling mentions

-----

Lucifer

'good evening, mc. it is a fine evening here in the devildom, I hope it's the same case with you. I have just returned from a meeting with diavolo, we've had... quite the demonus. however I am by no means drunk. anyways I have actually been listening to the record you got for me, a thoughtful gift indeed. I just have a feeling that... it would sound lots better with you in the chair next to me. (he chuckles) well, there's no helping it. perhaps I have to bring you back to the devildom myself?'

'I was hoping to hear your voice, too bad you didn't pick up the phone. are you perhaps asleep, mc? in that case I shall leave you be. sleep well, mc.'

Mammon

'yo mc, why are you not picking up your phone? I just snuck away from home with mine to talk tp you, you know? ugh... that cocky lucifer and his stupid rules. like what do you mean we gotta take turns calling you? no way, I ain't waiting so long to talk to you! just cause he's the eldest he thinks he's all high and mighty!'

'okay anyways, on with the important stuff! so listen up I called because I scored HUGE at the casino today and you know how I won so much huh? I bet on your favorite number, y'know... cause I miss you and all... (he suddenly coughs) ah wait no what I just said ain't true! I bet on your favorite number cause... well... that was my battery percentage or something...'

'okay anyways mc, you better visit the devildom soon! bye bye! have a good day!'

Leviathan

'um hi what's up? how's the human world? did you get the games and anime I asked you to get yet? I totally can't wait to see what kind of stuff you got over there! oh and I can't wait to show you the newest releases here in the devildom! the latest season of 'I went to the fair a 6km distance from my house with my best friend and pet dog but the manager turned out to be my online gaming buddy' came last week and I binged it all!'

'um (pause) but look I kind of called to tell you... well... you gotta come here fast so we can share the stuff you know? ahh it's no good I can't say it! um well look, I miss you!' (he hangs up suddenly)

Satan

'hello mc, I see you're not picking up your phone. are you busy? listen to this voice message any time you'd like then. I hope the human world is treating you well, it's so different from the devildom after all. well at least you won't have to worry about anyone stealing your soul.'

'exam season at rad just ended, I'm satisfied with most of my scores. I am a little disappointed because of my spells and potions grade, a 83 isn't good enough to me. could it be I was distracted because I miss you? (he sighs) well, one more reason for you to hurry back here. everyone's been fighting over who gets to call you first and all that, it's pissing me off. but I get it, I love hearing your voice. well mc I guess this is it, goodbye for now.'

Asmodeus

'hi mc! finally it's my turn to talk to you, but what's up with not picking up hm? well as long as you promise to call me back later, I don't mind leaving a voicemail for you! did you do anything fun recently? I attended some parties but well, they were kind of boring. or was I just... not feeling it? whatever that doesn't matter, I just wanna see you again! how much longer are you going to stay in the human world? I miss you so so so much!'

'I hope you miss me too. do you miss me? when you call me back you have to answer that question, deal? and if yes you have to visit. there's so much I want to talk to you about, so much I wanna show you! like I made into a magazine, you just have to see it! call soon, okay? I love you.'

Beelzebub

hell's kitchen is having a sale. when you but a cheeseburger you get a second one free. of course I took advantage of the deal and got a lot of cheeseburgers. you should visit soon mc, I want to share my food with you. it tastes better like that.' (you can basically hear him smiling through the phone)

'anyways, everyone misses you. sometimes my brothers get really sad, it's kind of hard to watch sometimes. of course I really miss you too. I think about you every time before I fall asleep. it makes me have good dreams. also my team won another game last night, I wish you could have seen it. well, next time right? bye mc, I hope to talk to you soon.'

Belphegor

'hi mc. how are you doing? I hope you're good. listen I'm on the balcony right now and there's stars in the sky. ugh I hate to be that one cheesy guy in your average romance movie but... the stars look like you. I can see your face in them. nevermind just forget what I said that was really sappy.'

'anyways please call me back, I get that you're probably busy or napping right now but I want to hear your voice. I want to hear how you've been there in the human world, hopefully your weather is nice.'

'well I'm running out of stuff to say, bye mc. call me back.'

[nompunhere]

preach the words of treasure planet vore I must here

okayokayokay, so

[warning for major T/reasure P/lanet spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it, it's really good, gotta be my favorite didney movie. great animation, great character design, excellent characterization, wonderful plot, the whole shebang]

Silver, he's a big bad pirate, probably no stranger to eating his enemies as a threat, to keep them quiet, or, y'know, silence 'em for good, if you know what I'm saying

Same with Scroop, same absolutely goes for Scroop, hell he'd probably get pretty sadistic with that shit. But I won't go into too much detail on that lmao bc that's not the type of vore I write about on this blog

Silver's stomach is probably pretty cushy, and loud, with a big, strong heartbeat and whooshing breaths, but also, more subtly, mechanical whirs, maybe some beeps and clicks. Especially when he moves. Could probably tell if there's something wrong with his prosthetics from in there, if you hear creaking or grinding, though I'm sure he can also hear/feel that himself anyway. And if he has to use his arm cannon, oh gods, cover your ears. At least it's somewhat muffled, but it's still in point blank range

Scroop's? Cramped, uncomfortable, you can hear all his clicking and scuttling, he probably has pretty crustacean-like innards. Heart(s) in the back, nerve cord in the front, maybe a crop? 99 times out of 100, though, you're uh. probably gonna die;;

I imagine Mr. Arrow would have a pretty rock-solid tumb (ba dum tss). Still some amount of give to it, though, like just a really firm mattress. Not too loud in there. He's very professional, and would probably only eat someone to protect them, but he does have his soft moments. He probably would've eaten Captain Amelia at least a few times in the past, if she were injured/incapacitated in combat, but maybe also sometimes as an act of platonic bonding?

Doctor Doppler, 100% a nervous pred, constantly fussing over his prey, asking them if it's alright in there, comfortable enough, checking if they need anything, etc. Very soft and cushy in there, mans is not a fighter lmao. Stomach probably grumbles a lot from all his nerves

Now, Jim, perfect prey material. We know he overworks himself when he's trying to impress Silver, or when he's. ridden with guilt. Perfect opportunity to give that boi a forced break (and/or comfort him for the latter scenario)

However, I have like. one solid TP fic idea, and I don't know if I'll ever write it and you know I get way too eager to share my fic ideas and WIPs, so here's a summary

The scene where the pirates are all discussing the mutiny, and accusing Silver of going soft, but Scroop successfully finds Jim and pulls him out of the barrel. Silver, panicking a little, swipes Jim away, and to prove he's not "gone soft," gulps the terrified cabin boy down.

Jim, of course, is scared, and angry, and betrayed, and genuinely thinks he's going to die. Silver's not helping at first, playing it up, going into how the boy means nothing to him and soon he'll be "taken care of," gone without a trace, maybe slapping his belly for emphasis

And then as soon as all the other pirates are out of earshot, he's rushing to tell Jim he'll be fine, Jim is obviously not having it, and Silver's like "Jimbo, stop strugglin' lad, they need ta think yer dead, I've got a plan. Trust me. Please."

What happens from there? Phuck if I know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm sure it would throw off the whole plot though

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

Sexual and irl vore/weight gain blogs DNI and all that

[all-hail-trudos]

The way Zelda redditors behave like BotW is going to be the template for future titles is absolutely hilarious. They are convinced that Nintendo is done with classic Zelda elements forever. TotK proves it! Never mind that they can barely agree on whether this even deserves to be called a new game or overpriced DLC. Or that Nintendo themselves have said that this was a very big experiment, where they let a team comprised of mostly younger devs run the show, and the director of BotW has actually left the company to go work on Infinity Nikki of all things. I don't know what the future of Zelda is going to look like. I can't see Nintendo just walking back everything they did in BotW. (And they better not. Skyward Sword is the worst mainline Zelda title, and BotW was the exact opposite of the hand holding the series had gotten really bad for). However, we can guarantee one thing for sure. The open-air game concept that specifically defined Breath of the Wild and its direct sequel Tears of the Kingdom is not simply going to be the new template for the series.

I could leave it there with a "because Nintendo said so" but it's midnight and I'm already making bad decisions, so I'm going to go one further and back this up with a second supporting argument. That's not how Nintendo as a company works. That's not how they've ever worked. They stopped doing rational, clear iterative upgrades when they followed up the Gamecube with the Wii. The Zelda series itself has constantly been one of self reinvention. Ocarina of Time is incredibly special in that Breath of the Wild is the first time they've so clearly broken away from the model it set. But when you look at the rest of the series, it's obvious BotW was the biggest experiment, but not even remotely the first. Majora's Mask turned the main gameplay concept on its head by putting everything on a Very. Tight. Timer. When you hit midnight of the third day, that was it. Rewind or die. All your progress was reset except for your sword (iirc), your masks, and your rupees if you put them in the bank (because the banker was a time traveler?). Wind Waker flooded the whole continent and had you sailing around on a boat, using a proto-physics system to fill your sails. The wide open world of OoT was gone altogether, and Princess Zelda didn't show up until halfway through the game (we won't talk about what they did to Tetra). Twilight Princess made the game super linear and made Zelda herself almost secondary to the plot. Actually, TP almost feels like the most direct callback to OoT with the doubling down on horse mounted combat, an art style that looked more like it next to whatever WW was doing (but which would ultimately age a lot worse), dungeons that also felt more directly inspired, and a combat system that was a little less fluid and reactive. But it also had Link temporarily become a werewolf, and gave us an egregiously underappreciated Spaghetti Western shootout that came out of nowhere and was all together too brief. Then Skyward Sword came along, which was the least reinventive of the bunch mechanically, but which did at least try to turn the classic narrative on its head. Also Zelda went from being barely there to being a driving character in the narrative. And she walked so BotW Princess Zelda could run. That said, imho, you can see why they leaned so much harder into experimentation with their next game that nearly skipped a whole console generation, because by SS the series tropes were getting a little too strong. The series was actually drifting into iterative territory, and that's not the typical Nintendo way. Especially not with one of their two core in-house franchises.

(Please don't bring up Pokemon here. I know it's Nintendo's third core franchise. But please remember, Zelda and Mario are solely owned by Nintendo, while Pokemon is at this point is at the center of an entire corporate conglomerate, which Nintendo is only part of).

I get that some people didn't enjoy BotW. I can sympathize with the people who did not want more like it and who were consequently less than thrilled by TotK's arrival. But bemoaning the fall of the franchise and saying Nintendo is going to be like Ubisoft, EA, and all the other trend chasing studios out there is really going too far. Nintendo has spent too many years baffling investors to start doing that now. Yes, Tears of the Kingdom exists. No, it's not proof of the trend. It was a planned sequel (itself an enormously rare concept in Zelda history). You can't make a planned story and gameplay sequel to a game and just throw away the concept you're following up on. That would be an enormously bad idea. (Worse, even, than trying to make your sequel game stand on its own for new players and erasing nearly all memory of Link from the same people he helped save. I love TotK so much, but I am not blind to its flaws, what few there are).

ALSO yes Echoes of Wisdom has Zelda stacking beds into a diy staircase. NO that doesn't mean we're seeing a return of this apparently beloathed systems-based physics gameplay in 2D fashion. If there were physics, the beds would have fallen over. That's like calling Minecraft or Dragon Quest Builders a physics based exploration game just because they have objects you can stack. That is the dumbest take I've seen come out of a community that is profoundly skilled at coming out with dumb takes.

[vro0m]

Seeing how confident McLaren is about their car and their drivers makes me nervous. I saw that Toto extended his contract at Merc through 2026 and it just feels like same sh*t, different toilet. I think Toto should just be satisfied as the owner of the team and step aside and let another TP come in and change the culture at Merc. I think that could potentially attract new engineers that could help with the development of the car.

Lewis is struggling with his qualifying times and George is overconfident. At this point, it's starting to feel like Merc is just not that girl. Why are they starting all over again with their car? I'm fairly new to f1, but I thought it takes years to develop a championship-winning car, yet they're developing a brand new one over the winter? That doesn't feel right to me.

Also, I didn't understand TeamLH bragging about Lewis retaining Monster as his sponsor, when Monster jumped ship from Merc to McLaren. Isn't losing sponsorships a bad thing, since the team is losing money that it would likely use to develop the car that would help Lewis win his 8th WDC? A loss for the team is a loss for Lewis..unless I'm wrong.

I truly hope Merc proves me wrong, but something's gotta give. I just don't have confidence in them.

Do you think that Merc needs a major overhaul or do you think they're going to make progress continuing on the path that they're on?

Okay i was gonna answer this in the morning but i can’t sleep so here we go, sorry if it’s a bit unhinged.

Here’s the thing. In my book, the second rule of F1 is never ever listen to a team principal. (The first rule being, of course, you always, always have to do better than your teammate.) So I’ll believe McLaren’s confidence is warranted when I’ll see it. Hell, I’ll believe they really are confident and it’s not basic 101 PR when I’ll see it. And mind you, Toto seems pretty confident too. (The only thing I’m happy about here is that he also said they’ve been working on their pitstops but due to Rule 2, I’ll also only believe it when I’ll see it.)

They’re starting over with their car because, as you noticed, the past two cars were Not Working. So no real choice here but to get back to square 1 rather than spend a third year trying to make a car that doesn’t work, work. Building a championship-winning car is less a matter of time (I mean especially nowadays with the costcap and windtunnel allocation etc. it’s getting irrelevant), and more a matter of getting it right. RedBull got it right and they won. The problem is : the others need to develop to catch up to them because they didn’t get it as right as RB, and that takes time and resources and is very complicated. And if you have a bad starting point, it’s that much more difficult. Basically there were too many things that needed changing with this car concept anyway. So they’re starting over. But it's also not like they don't have data and experiments from the past two years. They know more about these regs and cars than in 2021. Are they gonna win the ‘24 championship with the W15? No. But they weren’t gonna win by keeping the last, dysfunctional car concept either anyway. At least now they have a chance to develop in the right direction.

I did not read anything about the Monster sponsorship because i really, really don’t care. I didn’t even know that was a thing. I don’t think Monster leaving Mercedes is gonna make a dent in their budget. First of all, there’s a costcap now, so they can’t throw money at a bad car to make it good anyway. Second of all, they have a lot of other sponsors. Third, they’re the second most expensive team in the paddock. And fourth, their parent company is worth 85 billions of dollars. Lewis’ 8th has pretty much nothing to do with Monster or any sponsorship.

To answer your main question : no, I don’t think Merc needs a major overhaul. Given that you’re fairly new to F1 I concede it might not look like it in the current context but changing TPs is actually Not All That. And it generally doesn’t really solve anything. If anything I’m against major overhauls. Imho a stable ground is the best ground to build up on. Toto is... Toto. But he’s not the reason why the car is bad. It’s a whole team. 2’000+ employees. You can’t pinpoint any of the problems they have on one singular person. I mean Ferrari has had 5 different TPs in the last 10 years and that has solved exactly zero of their problems, and they still haven’t won a championship since 2007.

They are making progress. All of them are. It’s just, it’s F1. We’re talking about such tiny tiny differences in performance now, millimeters off of a piece of carbon fiber, milliseconds off of a time sheet. The time the pecking order could be turned upside down from one race to the next has been gone for decades. It’s all about the long game when the differences are so subtle. Even more now that they, again, can’t just throw money and wind tunnels at issues. It’s frustrating when it’s not your driver/team on top but success is mostly cyclical in this sport. Right now it’s RedBull. Next who knows. Merc is just not that girl, at the moment. It is what it is.

ETA : btw I think firing Toto would really throw Lewis off so. Another reason not to imo.

[luimagines]

Hyrule can be medieval, but there are a lot of lost civilizations, so we can say that maybe even if the civilizations are lost, some habits survived the passing of time.

The sheikah (in the sanctuaries or even Vah Ruta) or zonnan, for example, have their own devices that their main function is to throw water. These could have served the purpose of agriculture and to clean.

Hyrule is medieval with lots of advanced civilizations, but that doesn't mean that all of their devices or habits are gone, we can still find the temples or tracks that they were once there.

Considering that there are old people in Hyrule and that they are still alive (taking for reference the medieval era in our world where a 30 years old was considered a elder because of the life expectancy), we have two options: hylians don't get sick often or people have a good hygiene.

Some of the habits that survived were the ones about hygiene, and we can even speculate that the devices are still in use even if the people don't know their origins.

Besides, Hyrule has a rainy climate that creates rivers and lakes, and it has lots of mountains (that contribute to the water cycle).

In conclusion, there are a lot of facts that say that the boys are clean (or at least they try to be (catching a cold in an era where penicillin doesn't exist is a game over and the heroes mustn't die before completing their purpose (being TP the only game where a doctor exist (we exclude the cientists in other games because they are cientists not doctors))). Problem solved.

But I can't defend Wild or Twilight because in an interview with Aonuma and Fujibayashi, they said those two were the ones that stink the most.

And I can't defend all of them after a battle, but I tried my best.

-💠 (aka "I don't know why I'm doing analyzing this topic")

I fully agree with this except for one crucial point.

This is under the assumption that there is a civilization. Which is all fine and dandy. I like to think that Wild actually has a bathroom/shower at the back of his house in BotW- you know that one door that's just there for no reason?

But they're in the middle of no where. No plumbing. No water. No soap- unless they brought some. But they're gonna run out at some point.

And again, teenage boys just stink. End point. It doesn't really matter what they do. If they're active, they smell. ^.^*

I think most of them would jump at the chance to take a shower when the opportunity arrives. Warrior and Sky I think are at the forefront, but how many times is that going to happen?

How many of them are willing to jump into a freezing cold river?

[shadowsageingempress]

You've mentioned that you don't like TP Zelda, I'm curious if there are any particular reasons why?

Oh, I have a few reasons that I don’t like her.

1. She doesn’t have a character

It can be a bit understandable that the different versions of Zelda don’t have their personality. But even with their limited screen time, you could determine what kind of people they were based on how they interact with other characters and incantations of Link. Tetra is the most obvious example, with her brashness and snarky attitude that hide a kind heart. Skyward Sword’s Zelda is sweet and encouraging, but isn’t afraid of confrontation. Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom’s incarnation of Zelda may be the most complex out of all the Zelda incarnations, with her being an intelligent and friendly leader, but also having insecurities about her power. Even in Ocarina of Time, Zelda can be assumed to be a caring and brave person.

Twilight Princess Zelda doesn’t have that. She hardly interacts with anyone, and even when she does, you can’t discern any real personality or motivation from her. She isn’t a character, she’s just a name on the title screen.

While on that note…

2. She fails at her main purpose

I’m not just talking about her failing to protect Hyrule from Zant and Ganondorf (although that’s another can of worms). I’m talking about her purpose in the narrative.

I feel like they were trying to make this version of Zelda a sort of oracle, so to speak. Someone who provides exposition and guidance. And there are plenty of characters in Twilight Princess that do this well, like the Light Spirits, Sages and even Midna. But all of what Zelda says will either be told to us later or it’s almost too late for it, which I will get to soon.

The one thing that she says that is helpful is explaining how Zant took over Hyrule, which is a good scene that displays just how intimidating and dangerous he can be.

3. You can’t really care about her

In every Legend of Zelda game, Zelda gives us something to work toward. She serves as a bit of a guide, providing you with lore and sometimes things you need to continue your quest. Even in games where you don’t see Zelda all that often, she’s part of your motivation. She drives you forward, if not directly, then by knowing that you have to help her. You want to save her, not just because you need to save Hyrule, but because you are emotionally invested in her.

But in Twilight Princess, it’s impossible for me to feel attached to her. As I said earlier, she isn’t a character as much as a vague collection of lines held together by spaghetti and silly string, and she doesn’t give us anything to work toward. Sure, we’re saving the world, which is great, but that’s because I like the world that the game sets up. Helping Zelda is just an added benefit. Even after the whole “emotional sacrifice,” an event that is apparently important enough to make Midna want to save Hyrule, she only gets brought up twice, once before and once after the second to last dungeon of the game. Months could have passed, and Zelda wasn’t even a thought.

When she gave up her soul or whatever to save Midna, I was happy. Not just because a better princess and character could live, but because I wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore.

4. She doesn’t seem to care about anything

A lot of bad things happen to Hyrule throughout the story of Twilight Princess. An evil king from another world invaded the kingdom, the land is plunged into twilight, people get turned into spirits, the hero and his companion almost die and a demon is resurrected. Even one of these things happening is enough to make anyone feel bad, especially if you were in charge of the kingdom that was being fucked.

But not for Zelda. Not only does she not seem upset in the least, she doesn’t even seem to care about anything. It doesn’t matter if it’s her home being taken over, having to give up her life for someone who’s fixing her mistakes, being brought back from the dead or having to say goodbye forever to someone. She just has the same blank face.

The only time I can think she had somewhat of an emotion is when she sees that Ganondorf killed Midna. Obviously this is an emotional moment, so it makes sense that she would be shocked. But the fact that I can only think of one example of her feeing something isn’t a great look.

Contrast this lack of expression to Link. He doesn’t say a lot, but he has a ton of expressions and ways of showing his emotions. Whether it’s the small smile he has when he picks up a dog or cat, the anger he shows when he sees that his friends are in danger, or the looks of pure adoration and love he gives to Midna (he even has a unique sound when he sees her break the mirror at the end of the game), he is a very expressive character that players can easily get attached to.

Meanwhile, Zelda almost always looks like this.

Now I know that having a woman appear as emotionless or aloof is often seen as a way to make them seem dignified or powerful. And I do think there are cases where this works. But this is not one of those cases.

5. Master Sword tomfuckery

In most Zelda games where the Master Sword, you can’t just get it right away because there is something blocking you from it. In OoT, you had to get the spiritual stones to open the door of time. In WW, you had to gather the goddess pearls in order to access the Tower of the Gods, and by extension, sunken Hyrule.

In Twilight Princess, there’s no reason that you couldn’t have just gone to get the Master Sword after finishing the Forest Temple. The entrance to the Sacred Grove is right next to the temple, so you could have just walked a bit to the side and picked it up before heading to save Eldin.

But nope, Zelda waits to tell you that “oh hey, there’s this thing that can help you save the world, and it’s right by where you start” until Link has been cursed and Midna is fucking dying. Like don’t you think that would have been nice to know earlier? Maybe if you’d said something, then Link wouldn’t be stuck as a wolf and Midna wouldn’t be passed out on death’s doorstep.

There are a few other minor gripes I have about how she was brought back at the end for no real reason, but I’ve gone over all my major points.

Now, there are a few things that I don’t hate about her. I’ve seen a lot of people say that she has the best design out of all the Zelda incarnations, and yes, I do think she looks fine. But I definitely wouldn’t say that she looks better than the others.

Twilight Princess’s incarnation of Zelda doesn’t shine at all in what little screen time she had. But I don’t think giving her more time and interactions would have helped her. She could be there for the entire game, have a line about everyone and everything you see, but she still wouldn’t have a personality.

I’ve tried to fix a lot of these things in Nocturne of Shadow by giving her more of a backstory, motivations and making her a proper character. But as she stands in game, she’s pretty much just a bad guide and a name on the title.

[linked-history]

September Question Responses

All my responses from the @linked-maze discord server Questions Game channel from the Month of September. I'll try and update with pictures for the questions at later dates

How old is OoT Link Kiri?

I haven't really thought about it but Malon and Ahgin have been trying to help me figure it out.

What we figured out so far is that I started when I was 10, pulled the sword and spent 7 years with captain, took maybe a year or 2 going back and fourth to save Hyrule and Zelda. Zelda seems to know about another timeline that I lived in but I guess something happened and she doesn't talk about it. In the end we figured it's just easier to go with my "biological age" so im about 15-16, at least by our estimates.

What is BotW Link's Hermit's/Calamity's favorite food?

Hermit: I don't remember any dishes from before I woke up and have found a lot of recipes around Hyrule though my favorites are the village dishes, ones that are passed down through generations and tie with the villages history.... since I can't really remember my own.

Calamity: My favorite has always been apple pie, specifically my family's recipe for it. I've shared it with the other champions on occasion. Really, any excuse I could use resulted in me making the dish.

How does ALttP Link Prince feel about his Rabbit form?

Honestly I don't mind the form too much, I've found a bunch of pros to the form. I feel it's really good for sneaking in and around the palace, and the agility is great. My biggest complaint is that it's bright pink.... though I guess I can ignore the color cause Stylla likes it now that she knows about the form.

Has TP Link Beast reunited with Midna?

I... I try not to think about her much. Though I'm working with Shad to try and find a way to reconnect the two worlds but it's really slow going. There isn't much information in Hyrule and the Twili weren't really Shad's speciality.

What is SS Link's Loft's opinion on Ghirahim?

I didn't know what to think of him at first. Yeah, he was weird and honestly creepy. But it seemed like Fi knew him, like she was close to him at one point.

Since I defeated Demise, I've been trying to find his sword so I could maybe bring him back to Fi, but so far, I haven't had any luck.

What does WW Link Gull think of the Kingdom of Hyrule?

It was really cool seeing the castle and portion of it that I could during my first adventure, but I never had the chance to see more of it until meeting Zeila and the others.

Now I'm just trying to take it all in and wrap my head around the fact that Kiri's Hyrule later floods and becomes mine, though it's cool seeing what it looked like before flooding

[yogfan14]

What are your thoughts on Ganondorf in TotK?

HOUGH okay

I'm gonna be honest, TotK stresses me tf out when it comes to the lore and Ganondorf himself as well. As someone who tends to read the lore a lot more and a lot deeper than normal fans of the series do, I have a lot to say lmao

TL;DR: phenomenal design, character writing is not as shitty but still shitty

I don't wanna take up y'all's entire dashboards so feel free to keep reading if you wanna hear me ramble

So first off, I do genuinely love Ganondorf's new design. Honestly, I just love the fact that he's back at all. We haven't seen Ganondorf in a mainline game since 2007, with the Wii release of Twilight Princess. Honestly, the only complaint I have about TP Ganondorf is the hairstyle, like what was bro thinking. Otherwise he was downright terrifying, loved his overall design, and how he linked back to OoT so well.

In 2013, we got the spinoff game Hyrule Warriors, which introduced to us the fan favorite long-haired Ganondorf (that, let's be real, we all just willed into canon for TotK), and honestly my favorite design of him thus far. I mean, look at him. He's slayin without even trying.

But the one thing that bugs me about them is that their designs don't feel "Gerudo". Definitely speaks evil, King of Demons, the whole shebang that is, y'know, his entire theme. But while there are a few obvious references to it, it doesn't really speak Gerudo. It doesn't actually feel Gerudo, it feels like he would have grown up outside the culture when he probably didn't see the grass of Hyrule field until he was at least mid to late teens. The only things making him Very Obviously Gerudo are the dark skin and red hair.

TotK Ganondorf broke that cycle.

In TotK, Ganondorf actually feels Gerudo. His overall design is V E R Y reminiscent of his culture and background and I actually like it. He doesn't feel like this Guy who just happens to share traits with the other Gerudo. All of the stylized jewelry, the sweatpants, the hairstyle, even his robe actually screams Gerudo. He actually feels like he belongs to the culture.

And that's just on his design. If you really pay attention in the Dragon Tears memories, he's actually given a bit more character than normal and possibly motives outside that of just pure power and greed. Which tbh I'm fucking bored of in regards to Ganondorf but that's for another rant on another day.

In the memory where Ganondorf and his people meet up with Rauru, Ganondorf mentions a key bit of information that I don't think many people noticed.

"Allow me to offer you my deepest apologies on behalf of the Gerudo for taking so long to accept your repeated invitations."

That last bit right there, repeated invitations. This line alone implies that the Gerudo as a whole probably weren't on board with the idea of coming under Hyrule's guard, but more importantly, that Rauru wouldn't take no for an answer. As the leader of the Gerudo at the time, Ganondorf probably dealt with letter after letter after letter of Rauru trying to get them to join Hyrule, when it's likely that the Gerudo made it very clear that they weren't interested and were satisfied just vibing on their own. So, right there, that gives Ganondorf reason to dislike Rauru greatly. I know I would in his position.

While it is shown that Ganondorf most certainly still has that hunger for power, his people were backing him up for the most part. They probably wanted Hyrule to leave them tf alone too and thought that the attack memory was their way of saying "hey, we're fine on our own, fuck off" (at least that's the vibe I've gotten from it). Ganondorf definitely still wanted power, that much was obvious, and it probably wasn't obvious to his people until he started conquering everything after Sonia's death and his takeover of the kingdom. He actively betrayed the trust of his people and everyone who looked up to him. Which he did in OoT too, but you had to do a little more digging on that one.

While I still have my complaints about his character, at least he feels a little more fleshed out in TotK. Granted that I haven't finished the game yet; I'm taking my sweet time just exploring and causing problems and riding the dragons for hours at a time. I may be missing some key details as a result and if anyone spoils me I'm going to hunt you down and eat your toes

I'll go on about the overall lore around TotK and why it hurts my brain so much another time bc this post is already absurdly long but uh yeah lol

[thelampisaflashlight]

i want quincy to be happy, i want him tp have a good connection with mountain, they're making my heart HURT UGH I BARELY KNOW THIS GUY

When I was plotting out how I wanted Quincy to interact with Mountain after the poll I did on the Faith fic, I tried to imagine how someone like Quincy would react to someone like Mountain.

Like, Quincy used to be a bartender, he's had to deal with all kinds of people, but that doesn't mean he's used to them making him uncomfortable, nor should he be.

He has thicker skin than some, but he's been through a lot over the course of, well... he's been through some things lately that are making him a bit more defensive.

The least of all being the fact that he's adjusting to his new job and his kind of sort of co-workers.

I mean, yeah, he has Brother Elijah... but he doesn't really have anyone else.

Which is also why he's a bit dubious of Mountain's intentions saying he wants to be his friend, but treating him the way he has so far.

Quincy is understandably a bit put off by his... everything.

On Mountain's end, though, he's not sure how he's blundering this so bad.

He's genuinely having a hard time reading Quincy, and it has him feeling less than confident than usual.

Like, he wants to get to know the new guy!

But he keeps accidentally scaring him or making him feel upset, and that's not what he wants to do at all.

They're both very bad at this.

But that's sort of the angle I'm working with while developing their friendship.

When you're both socially awkward nerds trying to work around someone new, you're bound to experience some hiccups on that front.

[inflame]

yellowjackets au.

she's #3. if i made a list of all the untaken numbers and then read about soccer positions DO NOT worry about it. that is not your business. i still will not be pretending i know anything about sports, but i wanted a number for the bit 🫶

(i think that also puts her as playing defense specifically opposite laura lee, which is just funny to me, but whatever.)

so. as we all know, it is very difficult for me to take laura out of tp, so i have not put a lot of thought into anything that would be Pre-Crash. i've just kind of transposed the towns on top of each other and am handwaving the inconsistencies. most of what i've written and discussed has been wilderness-focused, and it will likely stay that way, but at least she won't die first. or second. which is an improvement (i'm definitely open to letting her live, but i'm not gonna cross that bridge unless i come to it naturally through plotting, etc.).

i don't want to write too much of her own Psychic Woods-Adjacent crap into this because i don't want to, like, make it about her, but 1. she will be having visions and trying to keep them to herself (like always), 2. she will be sleepwalking (also like always, and also like taissa: maybe they can share some dirt), and 3. she will PROBABLY be doing some dream-sharing with the other like, intuitive and/or paranormally vulnerable girls. that could be fun to play with, i think. she will be journaling obsessively (like always), but hopefully hiding that a little more successfully than shauna.

now. on a practical level. laura is a caretaker. i don't mean she's "the mom friend" --- she most definitely is not that --- but in any world where she lives, she ends up a home health aide / something generally nurse-adjacent, and she's been inclined that way all her life for. reasons that don't belong here. my main point is, she'll be right up there with misty in terms of "i took the red cross babysitting training class! twice!" and she's actually got a bedside manner. so that's useful. she is also incredibly used to being in the woods. i always joke that she bullied her way into being a boy scout and i'm always, well, mostly serious (and she had a lot of help from margaret and hawk). she's knowledgable about edible plants, shit you can make medicine from, how to build impromptu shelters --- all that kind of stuff. she can sew, too, so that's at least two people who are capable of stitching someone/something up.

she has no leadership skills, however. i am sorry. the irony of putting laura in this situation is that i think she would be GREAT at team sports, but otherwise she is not much of a team player --- she's an only child, and a creative only child, at that. it's not that she's opposed! she will do her best! she's just used to going her own way, and that's a hard habit to break. she loves feeling useful, so she would be happy to teach anybody anything she knows --- but it probably won't occur to her to offer. she will be nicer to lottie about her premonitions than a lot of the girls are (not least because she will remind her of her mother), but she also will not be comfortable answering to someone else's intuition. she doesn't know how to operate that way. the cultish aspects of the [gestures] everything will be distressing to her, though i can't say she'll be entirely immune, especially if joining in seems like the only way to survive (we are already all too aware that laura perceives herself in fragments). i just think she's primed for resistance in a way most of the other girls aren't, and she'll actually be sleeping for the first time since she was twelve. so in a weird way, she'll be in her element.

dot-connecting tidbits: 1. we know fuck all about laura's dad's family by design, so she and van could be related, but i'm only bothering to develop that if somebody writing her Wants To. 2. laura's 'homecoming queen' rep is wholly contingent on her graduating class having like, 15 people in it, so i do not think it is relevant here. 3. her parents have run a [summer] community theater venture since she was a toddler, so it would not surprise me if misty and co. knew her from her growing up around that. 4. she's dated the same guy all through high school [bobby]. he's allegedly the quarterback of the football team in-universe, so i'm assuming he and jeff and all those guys would hang out. tragically. 5. donna, her best friend since kindergarten, would probably end up being like, academic rivals with shauna. which is just a funny thought to me. 6. for all the talk of laura's 'double life', she is a terrible liar (and mostly doesn't even bother), so the other girls probably know AT LEAST that she parties hard. it would not surprise me if jackie/anyone berated her the same ways they do nat. but we cannot go putting those two in the same room more than we must. nat deserves a break.

okay. i'm tired.

[aamethyst000]

Feeling more productive, everyday (May 6,24 - 7:19pm)

Ever since i bought this laptop, i have been noticing that i am a little more productive in the house hold. i'm getting up a lot more easier to do my chores (altough i'm still bitchy about it but i'm still doing said chores while being bitchy about it lmao), i actually drew something on my laptop! not to mention i am actually cooking dinner on time......ish. its still better than starting at 9pm to finally cook dinner. Anyway, my litlle brother and i are going tp head up to the store in a bit to grab some ingredients and snacks for tonight. i am making meat loaf and rice tonight!~ I do want to mention, that i am still struggling with my sleep schedule, going to bed at 4-5 in the morning, then getting up at 2-3 the next day, rinse and repeat. i dont know how i'm still functioning right now. At the moment, i'm running on 2 cups of coffee and one meal, i call that a win in my book. I'm still debating on whether or not i really want to buy the boox palma when i can do the exact same thing on my phone, just with a different screen and no texting. The boox palma runs on android, thank god. I think that why i want it so much, is to have a seperate device to read on. now that i have a different device to write my journals in.

8:17pm - my little brother and i just got home from the store, now i am going to start cooking our dinner tonight and watch some shera on netflix! then i think im going to play conkers bad fur day after supper <3

9:37pm - Dinner is almost done and i washed a few plate n forks that we need, now i am just watching shera while dinner is cooking. i'm on my third cup of coffee and i have been yelled at by my uncles cat ever since i came back from the store, poor thing lmao he just wants my attention. only in my room though, it doesnt seem to be the same im im in the kitchen or in the living room. it doesnt make sense to me but it does to the kitty, so i try not to fight with him, its hard to do so when i have stuff to do throughout the day. My kitty was the same way ysterday, all clingy and shit, not that i minded, i really love it when they are like that. it cheers me up.

honestly though, this feels so much better writing my journals here than on paper. at least this way, my laptop has a passowrd that no one in the house can get into. though it kind of sucks that it is a requirement to change my password every few months. why they even set it up like that is beyond me. i wonder what it'll be like if and when i actually go to a cafe and type out my journal entries there. its noce to imagine, but at the same time, the crowd would overwhelm me lmao then again, it's something i should get used to if i want to go back to work again. i just wish that the places i work at dont fckn ghost me, if and when they decide to let me go. that would be nice fir once. especially if i did something wrong to be let go like that. like, why are they even allowed to do that? but when the employees do that, just up and leave the work place or quit on the spot, we get go on the list of "do not hire"? kind of stupid isnt it?

i think im about to go on a rant in a sec, so i'm going to do something else, see if i still feel the same way about it later on. if i do, i'll talk about it here lol

9:56pm - now that i got that out of my system, i still feel the same way, i just dont feel the need to rant about it. i think ill just sit on this feeling and think about it. considering that there is nothing that i can personally do, to change said circumstances. anyway, change of subject, im finally listening to audio books now! since it got onto spotify, ive been taking advantage of it and i am so happy that i am! i think thats part of the reason why i have been feeling a little motivated today. i think im starting to love audio books now, im thinking of dowloading the app later on, or as soon as i can get a stable and steady job again, cause this is getting ridiculous, even for me.if i was living on my own, id either be on the streets or back to living with my mother again. reality sucks but oh well, what can i do other than look for another job. the village sucks for job hunting, especially if its just the canery, brighter feature, and assistant teacher. 2 of those i do not like because it involvles interacting with kids, which i am not used of. the other involves 12-14 hours of just standing there or stacking. not a lot of choices for me to choose from, thats for sure. i used to work at the clinic but they havent called me back in nearly a year. same with the school, after the pandemic started, i was never called back. hence why i wanted to rant about the whole " work places just up and ghost you" bullshit. stuff like that really annoy me so much. which is why i am so worried about moving, what if pg does the same? i look for a job for months, never get hired, be expected to pay rent each month i am unepmloyed AND buy myself groceries. not to mention the transportation, the area id live in and if every single one of them just fucking ignore me. since ive been planning this with my best friend, i told her about wanting to save up enough to pay 3 to 4 months of rent, have enough for groceries, and a few furniture if we find a place that needs it. she took note of it after i told her my olfer brothers experience and mine. it can be really stressful when no one hires you. it really makes you think if any of that, is because of whats on your resume, or what i say in most of my interviews, i dont even feel comfortable lying to them, just so i can get the bloody job and start making and saving money. like ive been planning for so many years. i just wish that adulting is so much easier. but that would be too much to ask of our prime minister. selfsih piece of shit. Anyway, dinner is nearly done cooking so i am going to go back to watching shera and enjoy our late dinner, again. i like that i started typing a lot more here than i did on my phone. i love it, i almost dont want to stop, almost.

12:07am - we have just finished having our supper and MY G O D was supper ever so yummy~ i couldnt finish my plate so i think im going to give the rest to my little brother, but at the same time. i want to keep it for myself for when i get hunry for it again. i think im going to go bath tonight and then set up my trans tape for tomorrow. ill be buying more i think next week wen i have more money in my bank. which, btw, i need to go down to the band office and take out cash again. cause honestly, i want to stop myself from spending so much money in one go. i want to get better at that, i will acknowledge, though, that i have been doing really well on not spending so much. i managed to save more than enough after the rupert trip with my littlw brother. im really proud of that <3

12:36am - i am going to get ready for a bath now, had my 4th (forth) cup of coffee and 0 (zero) cups of water. i gotta catch up on that one. i used to be able to keep up with my water intake. well, except for when i was a teen, i hated the taste of plain water, so i remember avoiding drinking water unless absolutley necessary, which, at the time, was kind of rare for me to do. i was drinking one to two cups of water every other day. i was an absolutely stubborn child, i hated being wrong lmao i still kind of do, actually. im just not as stubborn as i was before, at least not to the point where im putting my health on the line. so yeah, i guess i still hate being wrong most times lmao

should i bring this up in my therapy appointment? i think i should. or rather, i feel like i should, but i dont want to. i just want to make the appointment again, and just fckn rant my therapist ear right out. maybe ill feel better afterwards and be better on my own time schedule management with my friends and family. i was so afraid to become that adult who is almost never home, drinking and doing ddrugs a lot, to the point where someone may take advantage of me at my lowest. however that may look. that i stayed home way more than a normal person considers "normal". i dont know how else to put it. i just know that my best friend is very sick of it and so am i. im 25 going to be turning 26 this year and i should and want to act like it for once in my life. i know that, physically, im no longer a teenager anymoe but in my brain, im jumping from 14, 16,17 and18 all in one go it seems. but i think ill save this topic for another time. kekekekekekeke

good night, readers! <3

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Anybody else feel like there's going to be a major shakeup on the grid for next year? I say this now and guaranteed the grid will be identical to this year but anyways 💀💀 here's my predictions as we get closer to silly season;

Red Bull; Max for definite ain't going nowhere. Now Checo I feel like it's make or break from here until the summer break. Either 1 he's there for another year or 2 he's choosing to leave the red bull umbrella or Helmets demoting him to alpha tauri. I don't see any other way. I could see Yuki getting the call if the seat becomes available and he's definitely earned that phonecall from his work with alpha tauri. The lastest video red bull posted of him and Max racing each other could be them trying to soft launch it and trying to test the waters of public opinion but they have had Yuki and Max do media videos just the two of them before. Daniel's been mentioned but I'm not sure if I see that happening, alpha tauri seems more likely, I do see Helmet using him as a threat to Checo similarly to how Toto used talks with Daniel and Esteban to push Bottas to sign quicker (the talks were never serious on mercs end, resigning Bottas was always the main goal up until and including when he made the decision to leave the team and go elsewhere in 2021) but Helmet Marko is many things, predictable, ain't one of them. The tests at Silverstone will be interesting though. I wouldn't be surprised if the seat becomes vacant and they try to get Alex back, he definitely impressed a lot of people with his performance at the last race and his work over the last two years with Williams and he did so much work to help red bull develop two championship winning cars. Alex has recently said that's not the plan in the short term so I think his position with Williams is secured for at least the next season but who knows what might happen when silly season kicks off properly. Prior to Charles' contract extension news, I could've seen red bull also pursuing him, they've talked a little too much about him and Ferrari recently for it to be accidental (Helmet going from "he's inconsistent" to praising Charles for taking risks in order to bring the best performance possible out of an inferior car... Interesting) so maybe in the future they'll try to bring Charles onto the team. I do genuinely think GP would recommend Charles as a possible new red bull driver purely so that he knows Max will at least get to race Charles and then have less time to talk to him on the radio to distract himself lmao.

Alpha Tauri; I'm sorry but unless Nyck completely turns his season around from here to Abu Dhabi, I don't think he has a chance in hell of getting a contract renewal from Helmet Marko. There's a lot of talk about Daniel coming in, which I do get them wanting an experienced driver given the issues alpha tauri has had the past two seasons but I do admit, despite my love for Daniel, I'm setting the nostalgia glasses down a second, I would be a little annoyed because that's another year alpha tauri, one of the few teams actually set up for developing young drivers, doesn't bring up one of said developing drivers. But do I see it happening? At the moment I do. It's also important to note that as Alpha Tauri is losing Franz Tost as tp, I do see how having an experienced driver at least for the new tp's first year would be beneficial. I mentioned Checo possibly being demoted above but I wouldn't be surprised if Checo simply walked from the red bull umbrella entirely rather than go to alpha tauri. Yuki and the team work so well together so I don't see him leaving for another team unless he gets the red bull seat, he could maybe be pursued by other teams such as Alpine or Aston but I don't see why those teams would change their lineups as of now. If Yuki moves up to the main team and Nyck loses his seat, Liam Lawson should definitely at the very least get a call. I wouldn't put it past Helmet to try to offer the seat to Mick either (there's multiple valid reasons why I think Helmet might pursue him but the funniest and pettiest reasons why I see him doing so is just so he can piss off Toto and to try to lure Seb back into the fold and work with the team bts, two birds with one stone lmao).

Ferrari; I don't see Carlos leaving. Before this year and last year I would've laughed at the possibility of Charles leaving Ferrari and while I don't believe he'll leave them anytime soon especially not with the new contract extension, Ferrari is his dream and he wants a championship with them, but it's been shit show after shit show for so long now. Ferrari desperately needs to get their shit together and reward the trust and faith he has in them before they push him into pursuing the championship with someone else because that is what will end up happening if they don't make some positive progress.

Aston Martin; no changes unless Fernando Fernando's again lmao (arguments against him doing that; good relationships with team, his teammate, he's been in the podium places pretty consistently and he might get to battle for a race win at some point this year. arguments for him doing that; his contract history, Aston is going to be getting a Honda engine). If Fernando does that, Felipe will probably get the call.

Williams; I don't have any particular feelings regarding Logan but I don't see them changing their lineup next year. Alex's work has definitely impressed so I do see Williams may have to fight to hold onto him but I think his seat is secure for at least 2024. If Alex is successfully pursued by other teams, then maybe Mick will get a call but I think Williams' lineup is settled for next year.

Alfa Romeo; Bottas and Zhou are a good lineup together so I don't see any immediate changes here but given that audi will be taking over Sauber in 2026 and Alfa Romeo will effectively be no more, there's a possibility that either Bottas or Zhou or both could be replaced by a driver line up backed by Audi in preparation for that but I would think that they would want to hold on to ar least Zhou and I think any changes are more likely for 2025 rather than 2024. There has been a lot of discussion about Mick being in contention for a seat since the Audi announcement.

Alpine; I don't see any changes for next year. So far Esteban and Pierre have worked well together and as yet they haven't had any major issues such as infighting so I don't see why there would be any changes.

McLaren; I see zero changes for 2024. After the pr mess last year which harmed any progress they've made with their image post Ron Dennis, they genuinely can't afford to lose Lando who is a major draw in for the team, but I do see him at least entertaining other offers for longer than he has in the past given how much issues his latest cars have had. Every time Red Bull have had talks with him, he's then announced a contract extension with McLaren lmao but I don't see another extension being added this year, at least not until McLaren makes some headway with their car. Oscar has been performing well so I don't think they'd replace him but if I was Mark Webber/his manager I'd be pushing him in red Bull's direction (I blame whoever said he was red bull coded because that's all I can think about since) but I don't know if he'd take the alpha tauri seat and I don't think he'd get an immediate to ticket for the red bull one just yet, I think if red bull wanted one of the McLaren drivers for the red bull seat they'd pursue Lando first. All in all I don't think there's going to be any changes here.

Merc: unless Lewis pulls a Nico and unexpectedly retires, I don't see any changes. Could see Toto trying to pursue Charles and at least giving a call to Esteban if Lewis does pull a Nico but I don't think that scenario is likely.

Haas; unless Haas redos what they did at the end of 2020 to kmag (which would be doubly cruel) and Romain Grosjean or what they did at the end of 2022 to Mick, I don't see any changes.

[fallout-lou-begas]

How's the script project like for IKROAH? Is it difficult or quite easy? Did you learn how to write comic book scripts because of IKROAH, or had you done it before? What kind of format do you use? Did you have any advice for people in the writing process of creating a comic book? Sorry if this is a lot of questions at once, but I love getting an idea of an artist's creative process.

Whew! No worries anon, I'm also someone who loves to pick the brains of other peoples' creative processes.

The writing for IKROAH can be divided into two halves: the outline and the script. The outline is a big spreadsheet and it's exactly what it sounds like, and it looks like this, but for all one hundred issues. The outline is complete and I use it tp reference all of my scripting.

The point of this outline was so that I could write the comic before I had to actually write the comic, if that makes sense. It would be extremely foolish for me to try to write all one hundred scripts up-front, especially since so many changes to the outline and overall plot of IKROAH have been made during the writing process (though it seems totally settled now). This lets me strike the perfect balance between planning ahead and knowing what I'm writing toward, and still having some freedom with the direction of each individual script. As the outline goes deeper and deeper and I get to scripts that I haven't written yet, the "synopsis" gets much more detailed as I work in very specific ideas or visions that I have for that issue. They're not set in stone, but it's just stuff I don't want to forget to try by the time I get there.

The scripts, meanwhile, are all just on one big Google Doc that looks like this.

The format of each individual script can vary: sometimes, like for IKROAH #23, I very carefully plan for myself the distinction between text and action. Other times, it's basically all just dialogue, and I let myself figure out the action more so during the composition stage. But basically every comic follows this process:

First draft of the script and dialogue

Thumbnailing of the script as I figure out page composition and paneling

Revisions of the script and dialogue to account for page composition

Digital mock-up of the comic (drawing the panel borders to scale in a digital canvas)

Lettering of the comic (to ensure there's enough room)

Revising the script again because some lines won't fit in speech balloons right or something

Drawing the comic, then inking and scanning and coloring

Further revisions of the script as I letter it and realize some lines just aren't as good and ought to be punched up

The script for each issue is surprisingly fluid and the even though it's usually minor changes, dialogue can go through revisions very well up to the eleventh hour before publishing.

The script master document also contains a complete timelined biography of Agnes Sands' life, and a complete timelined chronology of the events of IKROAH where every single issue is given a date and a "Days Passed Since Issue #1" number for my own private reference. This very rarely manifests in the text of the comic itself but it lets me accurately make references or foreshadowing when I need to.

I would say that the process of writing a comic like this is not as hard as it is time-consuming. This took a lot of work up-front, especially amassing a library of midcentury song lyrics to peruse for stingers on each issue, but now the rest of IKROAH's production is basically on autopilot. It lets me just draw it when I want to without having to worry about writing or direction as much, at least for a while -- the outline is complete, but IKROAH's scripts are only written in full up to issue #50. After that, the're mostly written with a few missing ones up to #78, and then the rest is essentially unwritten except for #98. And of course, like I said, the scripts tend to undergo a lot of revision in the production process of each issue, but this is for the best.

The closest I've come to writing like this in the past is when I hatched an idea for a superhero comic in high school and made a similar outline for all of the issues I had planned, which villains would get introduced when, and so on, but that never came to fruition. The organizational skill remained though, clearly, lol.

And as for advice, my best advice is this:

Don't wait until you're "good enough" to make a comic. You don't need to earn permission from yourself or anyone else to just do it with the skills you already have.

The best way to improve your art and comic-making skills is to just start making a comic. Your art, writing, and process will get better over time.

You only need to be good enough at art to convey your subject matter and express your vision, not to replicate anything photorealistically or perfectly. This is why strong composition and paneling can work much better for a comic than very technically good art itself. Tails Gets Trolled is unironically a good example of this point, as is the art of One (pseudonym of the manga artist behind One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100).

For any kind of long-form work, I highly recommend this short vignette structure. It's more rewarding than making only one page at a time because each issue is still a complete story beat, but it also stops you from basically drowning in the total size of a long-form project. It used to be basically any webcomic on the internet started with totally shit art and you watched the artist get better and better over time, now the Webtoon Industrial Complex has already professional artists putting out extremely polished art from square one. That's bullshit. Reject it. Embrace your amateurism but also your ambition.

Fuck around and find out. Don't be "comic-core," just be on your comic book bullshit.

Read a lot of comics. See how great visual-sequential storytellers accomplish things with pages and panels, and adopt those tricks into your own toolkit. See how they draw things or color things and try to emulate that. One of my favorite ever art teams is the one on the 1980s The Question series, of penciler Denys Cowan, inker Rick Magyar, and colorist Tatjana Wood.

[bluesdesk]

Me 🤝 other anon about Zelda 2 and ss/the DS games

I‘m convinced a lot of people here will vote on certain games not because they actually played them and disliked it, but because they heard they’re bad and just believe it, or on the off-chance they did play it, already went in with those negative reviews in mind and so only focused on them while playing. I like to call it the water temple/MM3D syndrome XD

Anyways, got any predictions for the top games? Mine is that either botw or mm64 will be first place!

Yeah! I played MM 3ds and it was AMAZING. I can play the n64 version on nso (when I have some time) but didn't see anything wrong with the 3ds version.

The ds games are underrated. Spirit tracks is heavily forgotten or mistaken for a game featuring the same Link from ww (Wind for us LU fans), though they definitely aren't, a d the story is great! And playable Zelda! And zelink! And an enemy-to-ally ark!

As for predictions... I kinda got to know what the majority of people in the fandom "think". Some will make sure TP will be in the top 5 (it's a cool game but not my favorite), probably MM will be in the first 3 (and yes the 64 version because of the huge amout of hate for the 3ds version), I know some people will yeet sksw because of the "eww motion controls suck" or "linear story sucks" false beliefs when they haven't even played it ;) And of course some people who have only played botw will want to make it win, the same applies for totk.

I know the poll isn't going to be the most truthful because of these popular beliefs :( But at least I'm trying to get as many people to join as possible