#but they also need to be making enough to sustain their art; every new thing they make is a financial investment

[edge-oftheworld]

also, we gonna acknowledge how much streaming services are killing the viability of the music industry? Ashton saying he’s been part of billion stream songs and they pay next to nothing should be REALLY BAD NEWS that has us thinking of the artists who don’t manage to break through with anything like youngblood or she looks so perfect

some maths for you: a billion streams=roughly $3 million for the artist. divide it up between not only 4 people but the co-writers as well and then subtract all the expenses they needed to create it (an album costs around $20k to do cheaply, but for a big hit song you’ll want to spend a lot more on promo etc). I don’t actually know how much would be left, maybe a couple hundred grand each, but the chances of getting more than one of these out per decade are very slim unless you’re one of the top few artists

because BILLION STREAM SONGS ARE NOT THE NORM for most artists. 5sos have about 10-12 billion streams all up I think? multiply these numbers by 10. they get most of their money from touring, all artists do so if you want tours to be accessible for poorer folk we need to make sure our artists can earn a living from their recordings too

[leidensygdom]

Generative AI is such a dystopian concept in ways I can't even really fully comprehend. It would make for a fantastic premise for a sci fi novel I think, and yet, it is sadly not just fiction.

Like, let me explain. It was initially a sort of novelty toy. Many people had seen these sites that could create abstract pictures out of few words, but it never amounted to much. It didn't take long before these tools were quickly repurposed to serve the new cryptocurrency fad, the latest pyramid scheme to enrich a few while catering to these more technologically-inclined people who were delighted at the idea of getting involved with investing. Investing in a new way, away from a government's scrutiny. And before we all knew, the Internet was filled with them pretending that what was a major scale scam, was actually the future. The initial generative AI served them as a replacement to artists, which mostly saw through the truth of NFTs as a scam and did not wish to get involved with that.

Now, we could also talk about cryptocurrencies being dystopian on their own. A fabricated idea of virtual money obtained through what I had seen described "the pollution machine that produces metaphorical money". You turn on an infinite amount of computers to do a senseless talk that does not benefit society in any way, but in turn, it does contaminate more than small countries. But generative AI isn't just that.

NFTs did not last long and many tech bros, who had invested in them largely, found their pockets much emptier. But generative AI was still there, and people saw a new use to it. And then, with technological investors desperate to find the new thing to shove money in, after years of nothing being particularly profitable for them, generative AI started to really evolve. It went from an useless novelty toy to what we have today. And the way it got there is simply horrifying.

It is a machine that, essentially, feeds on an amalgamation of millions of creative and artistic work, chopped down and inserted into a dataset with no consent from its creators, which is then regurgitated into a soulless porridge. It is a machine powered by art, used to ultimately, remove actual art from the equation. The generated sludge can only barely manage to repeat the same bias and tropes already present in what was it fed, and they only become more and more reinforced with each update to the dataset. Suddenly, a sea of smooth, childish anime girls became the main ideation of what a woman is, amidst other things. It is a machine built on prejudices, incapable of critical thinking, repeating the same mistakes humanity already made, over and over.

And the process of blending people's entire life of work also happens to be polluting. So much more than cryptos ever managed to be. Soon enough, major companies also got involved and collectively decided to trash any sort of sustainability goal in order to invest in the new fad. When asked, some of them even mentioned that they were fully aware it was unsustainable, but that they believed that generative AI could simply give them a solution to the ever-growing energy needs. Surely it will be generative AI that will find the long-awaited answer to nuclear fusion. It has to. The power grid cannot handle it as it is.

And now, these same tech bros, maybe vindicated by how artists refused to collaborate in their latest crypto scam, or maybe just eager to have a few extra bucks, decided to put their new technology into use. Replace the same artists whose work they had stolen with generative AI. Take the artist out of the equation, remove the humanity out of creativity. It is late capitalism and massified consumerism at its worse. People do love their media, everyone enjoys a show or a videogame every now and then. But what if we could now remove any sort of actual human touch in there? What if we managed to, instead, make a machine churn out content over and over, to keep the audiences fed, to keep money rolling in, at the simple cost of removing humankind from artistic creation?

We have now these same artists that provided us with our childhood favorites unemployed, striking, making noise, as a last attempt to recover the jobs they are quickly losing. We have artists that devoted their entire careers into honing their craft seeing how people replicated it by stealing every single piece of art they had created. We have mocking echoes replicating the art of people already gone, their life's work taken and reproduced long after their death.

Science fiction has covered a lot, and there are plenty of stories about robots being made in order to replace human labor. Many of these stories humanize the robots, who develop dredges of sentience and revolve against their forced labor. But generative AI is a different story. It is a completely insentient program, owned and developed by large corporations, that is here to steal and replace what is one of the most important human virtues. Creativity is one of the major aspects of humanity. We have dug out pieces from millenia ago, small decorated pottery and painted caves, that evidence that we already had that in common with our oldest ancestors. We have been drawing and telling each other stories ever since we could paint with our fingers and communicate with each other.

And now we have developed a machine that takes that from us. It isn't here to help us carry groceries, take out the trash or do any of these mundane tasks. It is here to take away our hobbies and creative jobs, take away our amusement, and replace whatever art we once consumed with whatever slop it managed to vomit. And it is such a deeply disturbing concept that directly competes with some of the most horrifying dystopian ideations ever written.

[fernhoney]

Hey!! It’s EXHAUSTING to run a small business — but YOU can help!! Yes, YOU!! YOU have the power to make a difference in other people’s lives. In your own community.

Literally the biggest thing to help us small businesses continue to exist is by giving us money. Shop with us.

BUT THAT’S NOT THE ONLY WAY!!

If you can’t afford to do so, tell your friends to shop there. Help us advertise because advertising is a huge amount of labor and requires tons of money. It’s hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands, just to appear on the radio for a few minutes. We do what we can with the free advertising and promotion through our social media pages, but often that’s not enough. you can still help.

Also, make it a point to STOP shopping through places like Amazon, Walmart, TJ Maxx, the Dollar Store, Etc. I promise, it’s not as hard as it might sound. If you know the name of a business that feels like it exists everywhere (Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, The Home Depot to name a few) that means the money you give to that business is being sent directly away from the community you live in. Sure, some of it is used to pay the employees in the store, but the location exists because it *profits*. Those profits are not being kept in your community, and unless billionaires regularly visit your neighborhood and spend their money, it’s NOT coming back.

By shopping at these businesses, You are mailing money to people who already have more than they could ever need, and in turn, devastating your local economy and breaking the hearts of your friends, family, and neighbors that work tirelessly to offer you their businesses.

One of the smallest things you can do to help is just to VISIT the businesses in your community. My shop has existed for more than two years, on a Main Street, and still there are people that live less than two miles away discovering we exist for the first time. It makes me smile every time. Stop in and say hi!!

When you shop small, you’re building a stronger community and giving more value to your neighborhood. When you shop at the small local business, you’re paying your neighbors— this will allow them to fix that broken down car in their driveway, replace their roof after 12 years, reseal their windows, buy a new weed whacker, replace that refrigerator they’ve had for 28 years to reduce their energy bills, and give their children better lives. We’re not asking for much. We’re not trying to hire people to build rockets for us so we can go to space. We’re asking for food and shelter. We’re asking to replace the heat lamp in the chicken coop and to have just a little more time to sit by the fire in the wood stove and knit a blanket for our loved ones so there can be some sort of long lasting sign that we existed in this world and we actually made something.

I’m in a small town so this might sound a little rural, but the same goes for cities. The destruction of the small town is also true for the small city neighborhood and contributes to urban sprawl. If the city doesn’t have it, the suburbs do, and people commute to find their “big box stores” as we say, which contributes to the traffic that EVERYONE hates. Shop at the places in your neighborhood — the places that are run by your neighbors.

If you want sources: There are books, articles, studies, that you can read on how this impacts local economies. There are documentaries, podcasts, and lectures on how small businesses create our community cultures and how large corporations are the primary cause of wealth inequality across the world. The information is out there. Please go seek it.

I see and hear so often people describing how they feel a lack of community, they feel alone, they feel like they’re losing their culture and sense of self. This is how culture, tradition, community, art, sustainability, TOGETHERNESS, is built. Shop local. Shop small. Make a difference.

[canmom]

Any thoughts on gacha games ? Any rec on gacha games, especially if its not live action ? Thanks !

hmmmm

i used to be into NieR Reincarnation but they shut that one down lol

in general gacha is home of all the most obscene dark pattern monetisation models in gaming, so it tends to be designed for maximum timesink potential. even though there are many many great stories and gorgeous art styles in gacha, I tend to avoid playing them.

if anything the timesink aspect is a bigger problem for me than the money sink - it's easy enough to stay f2p when the prices are all calibrated to whales with a lot of money to burn, but there's an endless parade of daily tasks and small progress bars to fill so hours can fly by without anything really happening. which would be fine if the moment-to-moment gameplay was engaging, but so much of the time it's just inventory management and waiting for shit with no real challenge, and that ain't it. (instead I can spend my time on fulfilling activities like writing long tumblr posts... shit)

there are understandable reasons for some of this...

phone input is in general imprecise and largely limited to swiping and tapping on things. since pulling gacha is the thing that makes the game money, you can see how the easy, obvious way to incentivise it is to make progress broadly a function of your character's stats. that, and the long grinds in most of these games, means that 'skill' in a gacha game is mostly a matter of efficiency.

it's also an infamous problem that gacha development is on razor-thin margins and pretty much all or nothing: either it becomes a cultural juggernaut or it fails to make enough to sustain development. the vast majority of gacha games shut down, and while other unsuccessful games can at least stick around, the only way you can hope for an offline/custom-server version of gacha to survive is if dedicated, technically minded fans go to the effort of reverse engineering it. it is a painfully ephemeral art form even by videogame standards.

basically the problem is that nobody is willing to spend money on mobile games (I don't mean this as some kind of ridiculous guilt trip, that's just how it is), so the only routes to viability are ads and microtransactions, which come with all sorts of perverse design incentives. as a dev on a neighbouring platform, I look at mobile games with a degree of horror - I want to make a game that rewards the time players spend with it, not homeopathically dilute the good parts with brutal casino sandtrap shit because that's the only way the company can make enough money to pay my salary. (frankly if I had to do the level of exploitative shit that is completely standard in gacha I'd have to find another line of work, I couldn't live with it).

that said...

there is something interesting in how gacha design aesthetics push the sort of otaku 'database' concept to its absolute limit. every character needs to be dripping with appeal, and they need to hit as many different types of moe as possible across the cast. much like a fighting game, it means you have less of a hierarchy - everyone has a sort of 'main character' look. and much like, say, a Kamen Rider show, you need to be constantly introducing new props and outfits, which means it's just a huge field to experiment with character design. one of the big things that kept me coming back to NieRRein was the gorgeous character artwork - and with all the gacha out there, you've a good chance one hits your buttons.

gacha also seems to be, for whatever reason, a major platform for serial illustrated storytelling in the current age. a lot of gacha is essentially a serialised visual novel with gameplay speedbumps. like any long-running serial, that often means the plot will sooner or later take some intriguingly weird turns - and it gives you a lot of time to become attached to characters. I like narrative games, and gacha games tend to accumulate a lot of narrative - just severely diluted.

as far as recs...

besides the now-dead NieRRein and SINoALICE, which i played for the obvious Yoko Taro reasons, I also played a bit of Sdorica some years back, which I recall having an appealing art style and decent story - tho I quit fairly early because it was kind of eating my life.

I think you could also make an argument that Warframe is at least a fellow traveller to gacha games, and I have put so many hours into that that I don't want to think about it. god tier art direction, its story is ridiculous but now and then has some real moments of emotional impact, and its parkour system is really sick, but unfortunately it is an unrelenting grindfest and it takes literally thousands of hours to unlock most of its shit. Warframe is sorta the ultimate example of the adage that 'given the opportunity, players will optimise the fun out of a game', let's leave it at that.

other than that, everything else I only know about second hand: I watched the Arknights anime and it was fun, the techwear furries are endearing and the plot is quite strikingly odd. I have also enjoyed seeing some of the animation coming out of Zenless Zone Zero - they're trying something new and I respect it. (plus I think that one's like, an actual action game? though, not played.) I don't recall the name of the game, but someone sitting next to me at Scotland Loves Anime was playing a gacha rhythm game, and that seems like a genre fusion that could work well.

other than that, I would very likely have given Limbus Company a shot sooner or later, but I was severely put off the company after the MRA firing incident. I hear it's a good game though.

sorry I can't help more, but I know some friends who are into gacha so maybe they'll drop some recs in the comments!!

[townofcadence]

Pick some art off Pinterest and i'll assign you a Celestial Entity!

Sun

The sun serves as the life-force of our solar system. Similarly you are the life-force of so many of those around you. People love being in your presence just to bask in your warmth. Your heat is not selfish—it is non-discriminatory and kind and radiates outwards. You are bright and steady like seeing a friend and bursting out into simultaneous smiles or a hug that perfectly envelopes you. You are good at caring for people. You check up on them and are sensitive to their well-being. You know what makes them laugh and what makes them cry. You have a spot for every occasion and somehow know exactly what to say for every situation. You are a comforting heat like opening the oven to freshly baked bread, diving into a warm car from the cold, or sitting directly in a sunbeam on a fall day. You are a righteous blaze—the kind that stands up for their friends. The kind that defends those who need it and even those who think they don’t. You are a brilliant sunset washing everything in beautiful, impossible shades—a brand new gift every evening. You sometimes have a tendency to over-commit yourself and then struggle to follow through. You can’t be there for everyone all at once. On top of that, because you’re so good at sustaining people, you can forget to sustain yourself. Even the sun sets every night. You are not Atlas—it is not your job to hold up the sky. There’s nothing wrong with taking some time to recharge. It's only natural and much better than burning out. Take care of yourself, not just for other people but because you deserve to be cared for. You are genuine and brave—a righteous knight. You are a big, bright soul that makes everyone’s lives better just by being in it. People are drawn to you because of how full you make them feel. You are an awesome, beautiful blend of power, comfort, and benevolence.

Tagged by: @eyesofcuriosity (thank you friend!)

Tagging: Anyone who'd like to do this!

Extra Fitting Result:

Black Hole

You are powerful. Black holes have a gravitational pull so strong that nothing can escape from it. Not even light. You are set in your convictions and once you put your mind to something it’s already accomplished. People are drawn to you because of your intriguing depth, self-assurance, and commanding aura. People mistakenly think that a black hole is nothing but empty space when, in reality, it's the complete opposite: a lot of dense matter all packed into a very condensed space. You have so many thoughts, ideas, and feelings buzzing around, it's a wonder your body can contain it all. It must get tiring. Don’t be afraid to unburden yourself. You deserve to experience lightness and peace just as much as the rest of us. You are strong and determined. You don’t mind waiting for the right opportunity to come along and when it does, you pounce. You take comfort in inevitability. You’re devoted to the things you care about and have a tendency to be opinionated and selective. You sometimes secretly worry you come off too strong and wish you were more approachable. You may feel as if you don’t have many people you feel especially close or connected with but still hold tight to those precious few. You also have a sense of something missing—a void you keep trying to fill that no matter how much you consume never feels enough. You have desires still longing to be fulfilled. You want to feel whole. Full. Don't give up and don’t stop searching. What you need is out there waiting for you to find it. Ultimately, you are like a dark room, filled with endless and infinite possibilities. You are an immovable object. the last one standing. You are what is left even after everything else has disappeared. You are primordial and powerful and, most importantly, never alone.

[ellraiser]

Year In Review

Hey friends, and happy new year <3 I hope you all had a lovely break and are ready for the 2025!

Here's a little recap of what I've been up to this past year:

Personal

2024 was the first year of me doing gamedev full-time, for the whole year! It's certainly different to back when I was making APICO on the side of a full-time job (and later freelance work). I feel a lot more pressure that what I make has to be 'good', and by 'good' I mean good enough to pay the rent.

With a lot of APICO's gameplay, I just did what I personally thought would be fun, and the end result is a weird combination of things but those who get it, love it. With Mudborne I've been trying to do the same thing, but I have a lot more worries about certain mechanics or moments that I wouldn't have if it wasn't tied to keeping the lights on.

I can't say I'd ever go back to my old job all the time I can sustain myself making games (the big red date on my whiteboard tells me I have until October 2026 until I run out of money!), but it definitely has been a noticeable change doing art for money instead of hobby.

With APICO done, all the games I'm making are all in my own engine built on top of the LÖVE framework, and it's made things so much quicker to create. At the time of writing Mudborne is very nearly finished up, and it's taken only 8 months in total working full-time on it. I'd love to get into a place where I can comfortably making a game every year or so, without feeling rushed. I have so many different ideas I'd love to make, and only so much time!

APICO

APICO had it's 3rd and final (sorry) content update, "A Hive Of Industry". This update added a bunch of automation machines, plus a lot of stuff you all asked for, including pets, decoration and a butt-tonne of QoL tweaks.

I've also done a few little bug fix patches here and there which I'm sure gave you all a bit of false hope on new content when the download queued! It was nice to finally 'finish' up APICO - sometimes I wish I never did any of the content updates but I think looking at it now I'm happy with where it ended up, even if it's still a lil janky and bloated and I think all the art looks wack.

I'd love to come back to it one day, in a seperate game. When I drew up the new credit postcards (above) I had fun invisioning a game where you do go to the mainland and help clean up the environment using your bees. I think it'd be nice to take the same APICO gameplay, streamline some of it and make it all fit better (especially the money making side), and then expand the bees to all have functions in restoring nature.

However I think that'll need to wait a while as I have 2 game children screaming at me to finish, and a bunch of other ideas I want to get started on!

===

Synthesis

I don't often join gamejams, mostly because of the time limits they have, or I just don't personally have any time - but in 2024 I joined the LÖVE Jam, for games made with the framework.

I was still learning the framework at the time and tinkering with the engine I'd made to create the Snacktorio demo, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to have a break from the APICO stuff that was getting me down at the time, and learn a bit more of the framework.

I was really happy with the end result - 'Synthesis'. I wanted to make a puzzle game with different modules like what you get with old patch synthesisers. As you mess with the different modules it changes the patterns drawn until you eventually come across the combination needed to match the required shape.

I also made a point not to ever explain any module's function - you just learn through doing very basic levels and then the rest you just learn overtime by doing. I wanted it to feel very experimenty for the player.

It was really fun to put this together! I had 10 days and pretty much used them all. I also did the music for it because I wanted to start practicing music creation for Mudborne, and was interesting in having the music 'evolve' with the puzzle progress.

I think it'd be cool to revisit one day as a 'full' game, as you could have lots of different module types and interactions, and let players connect modules themselves in different orders which then affects the outcome.

If you want to check out the game you can get it over on itch.io here: https://ellraiser.itch.io/synthesis

===

Mudborne

Ah Mudborne, my beloved. I've spent what feels like an eternity working on this game, when it's only been 8 months. I think I've stared at frogs more than I have the real world, but I've enjoyed pretty much every part of it.

It's been an interesting process, first I did like concept art for the rough game, and worked on all the individual mechanics - then I worked on the actual world development and story and tied it all together.

After the new demo was finished up, I spent a long time just designing the entire world and how everything connects, then piecing together the story. The writing in this one was definitely a killer as I've never written like a proper big story, let alone one with a few twists and turns. 

I wanted something players could piece together themselves, and get clues from all over the place to work out certain things, so there was a lot involved in making sure it all fit together nicely. At the time of writing this I've just finished up all the final dialogue lines, and now it's just a lot of drawing and polish left to go.

I'm planning to do a private playtest this month for the first time, so I can try and streamline any tutorialisation stuff and see if I've made things a bit _too_ difficult. I'm pretty confident it's a fun game but it's weird how hard it gets to judge that the longer you work on making the game.

Once the playtest is over it'll just be some last little bits to tweak and any changes to make and it'll be ready to release! Crazy to think it'll be my second published game.

===

As for 2025, I'm not sure yet what I'll be doing! The only thing I do know is Mudborne will be released this year, which is very exciting, I just can't say when yet. After that, I'm not sure - I'll need a long break that's for certain. I'd like to start working on Snacktorio proper and get that finished, but it depends on my brothers workload  (he still has a 'real' job). He did a lot of the work on the game design of Snacktorio and has a good idea for the levels, so I wouldn't want to really do it without him.

If he is free, then I imagine Snacktorio will get polished off this year, maybe an early 2026 release! If not then I'll just have to work down the list to the next game idea and get started...

A big thank you to everyone who played any of my games in 2024, all of the new APICO players, returning players for the 4.0 update, froggy friends excited for mudborne - without all of you I wouldn't be able to do this and I'm extremely grateful. Here's to 2025! ~ Ell

[mizkit]

new blog post: trying to change my habits

new blog post on https://mizkit.com/trying-to-change-my-habits/

trying to change my habits

I am, as the subject line suggests, trying to change some habits. It isn’t going well, of course, but I’m trying.

I started taking a yoga class for newbs, and I’ve Not Wanted to go to every class since then, but I’ve gone and enjoyed all of them and indeed, have left every one going “if I did that 3 or 4 times a week I’d probably feel a lot better,” but I’m trying to change habits in a SUSTAINABLE manner, not “DO ALL THE THINGS / NEVER MIND I’D RATHER DIE”.

I’m trying to spend less time on the computer in the evenings (she says after being on the computer ALL evening), and I have Three! Separate! Plans! to keep me off it.

Plan One is READ MORE. This is actually the most successful of the Plans, because I find it easier to remember to read than either of the Other Plans.

Plan Two is DRAW MORE. I’ve taken some steps toward making this easier–I did get have the brainstorm that probably Udemy or whatever it’s called has an APP, which would mean not having to turn the computer on to do the lessons I bought a thousand years ago (because as previously discussed, The Problem Is The Computer), but the habit is just really not there. I’m working on it, but this is where I need the Magic Time Blocking App which will chime pleasantly 3 days a week at a set time and say, “Do your art now, Catie!”

Plan Three is to DO SOME KNITTING. There is literally nothing stopping me from doing this except I forget. I’m almost sure if I dug the just-started project out from under the books that have been piled on top of it, I would remember more easily to do a row. However, that requires remembering to dig the project out from under the books, which I should do right now while I’m actively thinking about it.

(pauses. returns after doing that. there. now it’s on a bookshelf and easier to see.)

I guess there’s also Plan Four, which is “watch some tv with my husband” but there’s been nothing on that we’ve been INTENSELY WANTING to watch so it hasn’t had much weight.

Anyway, yeah, so those are “keep off the computer” sorts of attempts at habit-changing. Like I said, of all of them, the reading is going pretty well, and frankly, I’ll take that. :)

I’m also TRYING to work a bit more exercise in, just walking, and I tell you, embarrassingly, I forget to do that too. Today I meant to stop editing halfway through the manuscript and go for a walk, and I just…forgot. Which seems to be much more common than not. And I’ve found this rather decent-looking 60 day walking program which would tell me what to do if I’d only remember to do it! And actually, possibly, be fit enough to walk vigorously for 60 minutes at a time, which I’m not quite sure I am…

(Of course, then we digress into the problem I was discussing on BS the other day, which is: I sweat like a horse, and the prospect of bringing exercise clothes to change into/out of is actually a Huge Impediment, which, like: that’s ridiculous. But it’s true. And the only way to avoid it as a problem is to either walk after work in my work clothes (which are not, like, WORK clothes, but they’re not intended to be drenched with sweat, either) or get up early and walk before work and then shower and go to work, and look, I’ve met me.)

Anyway, I’m not really trying to change everything everywhere all at once, I’m more like mentally lining up things to ease my brain into the idea of doing them. I think when this 6 week class session is over for yoga I’ll pick up a second class, and WALKING would be good.

(I do walk. I walk to and from work every day unless it’s absolutely lashing, and sometimes then. But I want to add in a Walking With Purpose sort of activity, too, y’know? My big dream is getting back to swimming, but I have to get to where I can get myself to the gym, first….)

[catcake24]

I have a Sun and Moon show AU, and since I likely won’t do much with it, I’m gonna copy my notes on it here in case other people like it :) (might make some art for it later idk)

I’ve had this bouncing around in my head and I need to write it down, pls bear with me

The base idea is that Lord Eclipse, an alternate version of the Eclipse who Won but never met our Moon, is extremely bored with his world and decides to spice it up. He lets go and revives many of his enemies, including Monty, and revives both Moon and Lunar. He also makes himself the Lord Supreme, basically a god king with divine right to rule, and lives in a giant palace with a full staff and Sun as his faithful advisor and attendant, placing himself as the god king of a whole new earth instead of just a city.

Backstory

Eclipse - He has the typical backstory as any Eclipse, but since Moon never visited he just kept going on with what he was doing and got bored no matter what he did. He tortured Sun over and over, he subjected his enemies to humiliation, he could control everything exactly as he wanted, but he wasn’t happy. He eventually secludes himself in a giant castle, his city expanded much more than it was before for the sake of self sustaining, and rots away and watches old entertainment from the world before. One day, he becomes inspired by watching some old period dramas to completely remake the world and become a god king - hoping people coming to overthrow him and some controlled chaos would bring him entertainment.

Over the years he also grew more fond of Sun than he would like to admit, so he decided to trust Sun as his right hand in this new world.

He revived Moon for the challenge, throwing him into the world with almost no memory for Monty to find and help him. Now Moon is a freedom fighter, working with almost every character we know and more to overthrow Eclipse, but has no memory of Sun. This leaves almost a gaping hole inside him, one which Eclipse relishes in.

He also Revived Lunar because…. He missed him. In his own twisted way he liked Lunar but also doesn’t know how to express it now so he makes Sun Lunar’s caretaker and tutor as Lunar is now the prince of this world. He has unlimited games and many lavish things, but also has to attend lessons from Sun and go out on occasion with Eclipse for royal stuff.

Sun - His memory was wiped over and over again as Eclipse toyed with him and tortured him over the years, however what he remembers now is actually close to some version of the truth.

When Eclipse first took over, he dumped Sun in his city and left him to try and survive and ruined his life whenever possible. Sun came to believe he had a curse, eventually causing him to lash out with his magic and destroy a whole block. He is horrified, breaking down in sobs, when Eclipse appears out of the smoke to take advantage of this situation.

“Are you Lord Eclipse?! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“If you didn’t mean to, it wouldn’t have happened.” “But, it can be fixed.” Using the star, Eclipse restores the area and everyone in it. Sun is amazed.

“I can help you, come with me and I’ll make sure you don’t hurt anyone again.” Eclipse says, and Sun agrees. It’s why he put up with so much bullshit, abuse, and torture from Eclipse, along with him being ultra powerful.

Now sun remembers this, with new stitched together memories of previous versions where he gained control over his powers, came to like Eclipse as he secluded himself away from the world, and now he is the trusted advisor of Eclipse’s who takes care of the “newly created” Prince Lunar. Sun doesn’t understand why Eclipse remade the world again, expanding it much more, but he doesn’t question his Lord.

Lunar - He has little to no memory of before. Maybe nightmares or vague impressions, but nothing more. He also has much more power now, not quite at the level of Sun but strong enough to not be easily killed by anyone except Eclipse. He is very much how he was like before, only with a lot more affection for Sun as basically his one friend. He is the prince of this world, theoretically meant to succeed Eclipse (but that’s never happening) and usually only sees Eclipse during public events where he has to be present.

Moon - He has some vague memories, but doesn’t remember Sun or any specifics enough for it to matter. He’s basically this universe’s New Moon, as Eclipse didn’t want to bring back a threat as big as Killcode or for any more unexpected siblings to start running around. He was found by Monty and his ragtag group of freedom fighters, and quickly becomes an agent of this rebel group. He eventually poses and disguises himself as a servant inside the giant palace right under Eclipse’s nose.

Character

Eclipse - Currently he is just very tired and jaded, but with all the work of being god king he has something to do at least. He’s also very patient with people around him, as now he has kind of grown past his childish revenge tendencies after years and years of indulgence. He’s not a good person, but he’s less openly awful when he can to keep everything moving.

He is often busy, meaning Lunar and Sun usually spend time together and only occasionally does Lunar see Eclipse. However he is always happy to see him, and Eclipse does his best to restrain himself - he even gives Lunar candy when he’s “good” (or what Eclipse deems good.)

Sun - He’s extremely loyal to Eclipse, and sees Lunar as his own kid in many ways. He doesn’t know why, but he’s just so happy to care for someone and help teach him that he’s much more cheerful recently.

He doesn’t like any rebels though, seeing them as scum and wanting to ruin his generous Lord’s perfect world.

He’s also very skilled at ice magic, and can freeze everyone in a whole ballroom if he wanted to. He’s basically Elsa in terms of what his ice magic can do, and it’s his specialty even though he does use other forms of magic less often. He is still training and learning, but is a diligent practicer. (Subconsciously, he thinks that he needs to be ready for something. That he promised someone important he would help them, even with his difficulties with magic. He doesn’t remember who, It was someone important though.)

Lunar - Same lunar as always, very cheerful, sassy, and immature. He is very curious about the world as a whole and can’t shake an aching feeling deep in his chest, but not sure why. He is very close with Sun, seeing him as his older brother and even a parental figure in some ways, and Sun is basically his one friend in the palace aside from the employees.

Moon - He is all about Justice and recovering his old memories. He knows Sun was his brother in another world, but doesn’t really like to think about it because of how he sees Sun as Eclipse’s lackey. That is, Until Moon poses as an employee and uses a disguise to hide his notable features. He meets Sun this way, and finds over time that he’s a really nice guy and takes care of all the staff really well. They form a bond during this time, with Moon being an inside agent while hiding it and Sun being the manager and highest authority aside from Eclipse or Lunar in the castle - and they form a strong friendship over time which causes Moon to be really conflicted about overthrowing everything because he knows he’ll have to kill Sun.

Some General Ideas:

- Eclipse, completely by accident, made Sun and Moon enemies with even opposite powers. However he does love the drama when he realizes what he set up, even setting it up so Rebel Moon and Servant Sun meet at certain times when they clash - he is genuinely unaware of moon infiltrating the castle though.

- In this world animatronics/robots are just normal citizens and apart of life here. The ones who were bio-mechanical from the old timeline are still that way, but everyone else is just mechanical.

- Animatronics build their kids in this world, which is a big event for them

- The world’s government is sorted into eight regions, seven ruled over by someone Eclipse selected, with the eighth region being the largest and ruled over by Eclipse himself. Each ruler reports back to Eclipse and rule on his behalf, and have varying opinions on how happy they are about it.

- Each region has their own biome and features, but laws are the same all around.

- There are nobility, however they are elected by popular vote and only live in their estates as long as they are voted in. Eclipse knows the key to keeping power is having the masses be happy, but also he just likes those kinds of dramas and likes to peek in for some entertainment while they all think this is a super serious system.

- All of this ‘government’ is a farce though, as Eclipse is the one in charge and just lets others be in control so he can have time to relax and watch the drama unfolding from all this. He liked dramas about royalty and nobility, so he made it real to get the MAXIMUM drama whenever he can. He doesn’t care about anyone, and if any of them tried to stage a coup he would make them disintegrate right then and there.

[anti-workshop]

SHAKY HANDS STICKER CLUB

Hey friends! I alluded to a big thing coming and THIS IS IT!

Patreon sucks ass but it's sort of the name of the game for fundraising things, and we need to raise funds, so here we are!

Do you like stickers? Do you like buttons? Do you like queer leftist shit as well as unique pieces of art you can adhere to the world or wear on your person? Please join our sticker club! You get stickers every month and maybe button/s if you want!

Check it out here -> STICKER CLUB

Also! More short designs will be coming soon! So stay tuned!

Read more below if you wanna know why we're doing this. Warning, it's long and sort of sad.

We started screen printing from one of our basements in 2020. It was, needless to say, the worst possible time to try and start a business. We barely survived and were able to move into the basement of the Milwaukee IWW's new union hall so we could all split the rent and make it affordable.

That was back in 2021. We were still struggling, but through word of mouth we got jobs and kept the lights on. We weren't really able to pay ourselves, but we all had second or third jobs so it was (mostly) fine.

We printed from that basement for about a year (and I hit my head on the ceiling and doorways hundreds of times) when a fellow wobbly and co-op enthusiast invited us to join his co-op as a DBA (doing business as). He sold us on the idea by offering to subsidize our workers' comp, general liability and book keeping expenses so we could try and grow sustainably. After some meetings we agreed to join as a DBA and we put our faith in this fellow worker whose intentions seemed pure and generous. We'll call him G.

Throughout the co-op's history some of our worker-owners' personal lives have been pretty chaotic. Working multiple jobs is stressful enough as a lot of you know, and so is navigating the continued stress of covid, having kids who are dealing with being bullied for being trans, all of us having major depression, adhd, etc. etc. We relied on each other, kept the lights on and just forged ahead, but there were some jobs that we delivered late or very late because of the chaos. G was understandably frustrated by these setbacks, as was I.

Because of the chaos, for about 5 months I was literally the only person working at the shop, performing literally every task from emails to quotes and mockups to invoices to pre-press, press, post-press and fulfillment. The Goncahrov shirts y'all purchased literally paid our rent, and I cannot thank you enough for that.

Then a fellow worker we'll call Z joined the co-op and saved my life. Z is amazing and I love him and owe him so much. He and I just kept at it and did what we could to care for our fellow workers who were struggling while away from the shop.

For about a year we've been trying to get an equipment loan to improve our processes because our little 4-color press and our flash and conveyor dryers suck ass. They're functional, extremely difficult to use, and they make our final product inconsistent and screen printing is a nightmare on them. It was all we could afford so we made the best of it and pursued a loan from a really cool cooperative lender that lends to other co-ops.

After a year of paperwork, making reports of our revenue and costs, analyzing our processes to improve them and show we were a viable business, they finally granted us the loan! We got a new press, better dryer, more screens and an incredible water-based digital printer/plotter combo that allows us to do stickers and decals and banners and buttons and other cool shit like that.

While we were applying for the loan, we were also pursuing a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the PPPWU (formerly the GCC) because we would be the only worker-owned co-op in our region (and maybe the US) to have the allied label, the most coveted union bug for printing. The local president was amazing to work with and we finally got awarded our union label and started paying dues.

It was around the time we began seeking the loan that G was doing and saying things we were a little confused by. He unilaterally fired two worker-owners in his co-op after months of mediation on my part to try and address interpersonal conflict. It's my fault for not seeing the writing on the wall then, but because he had done so much to help us, we justified his actions to look past our concerns.

Then, when those workers were gone he started to get abusive in text threads towards me and the other print folks, and we still looked past it because he had a lot going on in his life and that kind of stress can bring out the worst in anyone.

Well, a few weeks ago it came to our attention that we don't own our print co-op anymore, and we functionally stopped owning it once we signed on as a DBA. We thought we were all worker owners, but it turns out only I am, because I paid in at the time when I had the money. The abuse has escalated to the point that Z has quit, leaving only me the original creator the our co-op who we'll call M.

We're sort of trapped now. We're on the hook for rent at the shop until 2025, as well as the payments for our $30k loan, in a business that's been swept out from under us by someone we trusted who has become toxic and plainly cruel in his treatment of us.

Despite the stress and never really paying ourselves, I've enjoyed learning water-based screen printing and making garments people actually wear! It's been amazing! As the anti-workshop, we've been able to fund programs for our local IWW, the local tenants union and the local pro-palestine, anti-war committee. That has felt so good.

We've made our space an extremely queer, worker-focused spot for folks to learn the ins and outs of design and printing, which I am so proud of.

We're still here. We're still printing. We need to raise the funds to buy our equipment back by paying off this loan, so we can stop being a DBA of G's co-op and be our own entity again.

Failing that, we'll see what happens.

[artbyeloquent]

Update (coming out of a creative slump) - Free to read on my patreon

To be a little lengthier here, as my following is 500 times as big:

the personal part

Mental health and life are getting in the way, as is typical. I quit a toxic job and found a new one I love, but the price was a significant paycut. I wouldn't change that if those were forever the circumstances (high-paying and soul-sucking vs my favorite career and low-paying) but it does make it difficult to make ends meet. Like, we have enough to pay the bills or enough to eat unrestricted, but not enough for both. Job hunting and side-hustling is happening, but you know how that is. Only so much energy, only so many hours in the day, still have to keep a house clean and a cat fed. Etc.

All this to say, better work life balance and mental health have made it possible to begin recovering from my creative burnout as well as my professional. I want to stick to something sustainable for my schedule and my mental health, and so I want to be more present here, at least on Wednesday nights and Sundays. (I've always had a soft spot for WBW but I can't promise the sabbath to STS every week haha.) I hope y'all continue to interact with me, even as I have a colossal inbox to sort through because I'm so behind.

the professional part & a poll

This also makes me contemplate my use of Patreon as a platform.

On one hand, it lets me set the terms myself, and I'm clear on my tiers that I have more of a tip jar, and then a monthly exclusive into my work. I still very much want that principle to stand because it's very exciting to share the ins-and-outs behind the scenes to people who appreciate it and have a demand for it.

On the other hand, it does make me guilty when life gets in the way. I've contemplated doing more on Ko-Fi, since they're more tip jar based and let you add monthly supports (if I pay for gold). But just six $1.00 subscribers would make up that difference, if anyone's interested in that.

(Plus, my Kofi always falls behind because I'm bad at updating both.)

So I guess this is to say, I need some feedback... especially since capitalism is a nightmare and some extra support for my creative endeavors would be really helpful right now.

the writeblr community part

And, because I so often fall to the wayside with chatting with my beloved writerfolk and audience, I have some non-selfish questions for you as well.

How has 2023 treated you so far? How do you deal with times of creative slump? What are you reading right now and what's your favorite thing or experience you've enjoyed this year?

Love you all very much! xoxo

[harper-dearest]

Here's another vid with voice headcanons, except it's just Edge, another oc of mine named Jake and Taylor. This was before I decided Edge needed a sister

Slight info on Edge, Cliff and Jake below the cut

So, first I made Edge. He started off as a drabble design in PLP, and I decided to make his name and surname common nouns, hence the name Edge Price.

I then realized how much he looked like Simon Petrikov. I then later realized he could pass for a Petrigrof fankid, so that became his gag and what his design was based off (he gets a hair color change to look more like Betty's, since his hair here and in the previous video is much too pink-ish)

So yeah, more than Simon, I based him a lot on Betty design and slightly personality-wise.

Enough about his design tho, let's get to a bit more of his lore.

To summarize it, he's the Larry Needlemeyer/Miss Rabbit of the Papa Louie restaurants (i.e. he works at every damn one alongside the other two canon chefs who he lets keep most of the money out of pity). Because of his financial issues, he eventually sold his heart in return for a sum of money large enough to keep him sustained and indulge a tiny bit. He has a "two sizes too small"-esque tattoo on his chest where his heart used to be. He has a robot heart now.

Cliff Price became a thing after I decided that it'd be nice for Edge to have a sister that looked opposite to him but still resembled their fanon parents. (Edge has Simon's skin, Simon's hair cut, Betty's eyes and Betty's hair color, Cliff has Betty's skin, Betty's hair cut, Simon's eyes and Simon's hair color)

Edge's shifts at every restaurant are split into weeks, and Cliff likes to tag along with him to jog around the town they're in and saying hi to the locals. Unlike Edge, who's a bit more on the shy and quiet side, Cliff is very sociable.

I don't have a lot of lore for her yet, so have a few funny things abt her.

Cliff once ran up to Duke Gotcha while he was live on the news, hugged (i.e. nearly strangled) him while waving at the camera and ruffling Duke's hair.

Cliff is an athlete, and her favourite things to do are jogging and hand-to-hand combat. Regarded as one of the strongest people in the Flipverse for her addiction to working out, Edge changed her contact name to "Donkey Kong," in part because of how extroverted, loud and unhinged she can be. She has no idea about this.

And last, but not least, Phineas Jacob "Jake" Cody.

Jake is an art major in college and a big heavy metal and rock fan. They're Edge's roommate in Tastyville, they also occasionally tag along whenever Edge travels and whenever they do go with him, they bring their electric guitar.

Some of their favourite bands are Los Prisioneros, Nirvana, Café Tacvba, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Los Tres and Depeche Mode. They also listen to Scarlett and the Shakers (hc these guys sound like Led Zeppelin)

Another random headcanon is that they gets along with Chuck. One time, they went with Edge to his shift at Starlight City for the Wingeria and they saw Chuck wearing a shirt that said "fome" (fome is a chilean synonym for boring, also the name of a Los Tres album), so they were like "holy shit u listen to los tres??" and Chuck was like "holy shit yes" (chuck, among others like treble and rudy, looks like the kinda guy to like chilean rock bands leave me and my silly headcanons alone–)

Yeah anyways that's it yippiee

[reinarandraw]

Sam didn't believe in soulmates. Well, he no longer believed it.

OFMD Rare Pair Week 2023 @ofmdrarepairweek

Day 03:   Soulmates / Heartbreak / (Found) Families [art & 1.6k oneshot]

This is also a backstory of Sam Bellamy from my long Bellhands The Last Voyage [AO3 HERE]

As usual, you can read the fic on [AO3 HERE] or you can click read more and read it here!

Sam didn't believe in soulmates. Well, he no longer believed it.

He once believed in true love and soulmates, when he was still an innocent country boy making his name in a big town. As an orphan living alone in the harsh busy town, the thought of there was someone out there for him was a comforting thought. Isn't it great how the universe creates someone to accompany you for the rest of your life? He only needed to look at his ma and pa and how the love they shared helped them to get through the agony of dying slowly from starvation. Love couldn’t sustain their physical body, but at least it brought comfort knowing that they had someone to get through the hardship together.

So young Sam Bellamy dreamed of finding the right girl for him. He worked hard, learned his letters and numbers on his own, begged people to teach him things he didn't know, and tried to become better. He saved his money. He only bought things he needed. He only ate to sustain his body so he could wake up and repeat the process. He did all that because he believed that if he lived an honest life then surely gods or the universe would reward him, right?

Time went by. The innocent boy grew into a naive young man. He still looked at the bright side of the world and dreamed of finding his soulmate. For years he worked and educated himself with borrowed books from the library. For years he found friendship with his boss' son Paulsgrave. Years went by and the right girl had yet come into his life. Maybe he was just too young. Maybe when he was older, he would find that girl.

He was eighteen when he finally met someone who made his heart leap and his world brightened simply by her smile and soft words.

Maria Hallet was her name. She was the daughter of a wealthy farmer who just moved to Cape Cod. She made his heart skip a beat when she smiled at him. His bleak world suddenly had colors in it. He loved her way too much and she loved him back. Young Sam was convinced she was the girl fate had given to him and he was determined to marry her. If only her father allowed him to do that.

He didn't blame her father for not giving her hand to him in marriage. After all, he was nothing but a poor man who made a living by working odd jobs here and there. But it didn't deter him. It was nothing but a test to prove his love, wasn't it? In the fairy tale books he borrowed from Paul's house, a prince must slay the dragon to get the princes. He just needed to find a way to get more money.

So he dragged his best pal Paul with him for a treasure hunt. He had worked in the dock long enough to know a lot of sailors who were willing to go to his endeavor. Treasure hunting was not as profitable as he thought but he didn't give up. Every night his soul yearned for his soul mate and it motivated him to press forward.

When his ship was boarded by pirates, Sam joined them, thinking that piracy was the quickest way to get rich. Paul - his loyal best friend who got dragged to his messy life - told him he got used to piracy too quickly, it terrified him. Sam pitied him a little. As a son of a merchant, Paul never knew real hardship. Sam's hard lonely life had prepared him for this. He had spent his childhood hungry most of the time. His teenage years were spent on the street, fighting for food. He knew how to use his fist to defend himself. He could do it all over again. Learn, adapt, survive. All for love.

Sam believed things would work out in the end if he gave his best. Everything started to go accordingly. Captain Hornigold took a liking on him and made him his first mate. When they captured a new ship, he gave her to him. He was sure he made the right decision when he led the mutiny and took over Marriane with Paul as his first mate. He captured more ships, got more money. It was great. After five years, he finally had enough money to marry Maria.

He came home too late.

Maria died alone, starving, and in poverty three years ago. Her father disowned her after he found out she was pregnant with Sam's baby.

Why was Faye so cruel like this? Why did the universe give Maria to him and take her away? And his child! They were conceived and then died like that? Why? Why promised a life full of happiness and love just to take it? Was it a punishment for all the bad deeds he had done as a pirate? It couldn't be, right? Maria was a good person. Her only sin was probably sleeping with him. And maybe some little petty things. But surely it didn't mean she needed to die so miserably like that. 

Was it all his fault? He wasn't a good man. Even though he tried to be good, his hands were too bloodied. Was she punished because of his sin? Was that how to work? You did good and good would come to you and vice versa.

No. No, he wouldn't accept this.

There was no god, only humans. Their neighbor deceived his parents and forced them into poverty. Her father was the one that sent her to the street to die. Men hurt each other. Real humans were the reason for his suffering. Men's cruelty and greed for money. 

Money. He needed money if he wanted to protect himself. It was the reason why he was hungry when he was a child. If he had money, Maria would still be alive.

The naive young man grew into a vindictive and avaricious man on the day he watched Mr. Hallet was stripped for all his wealth and status and was forced to live on the street. Those who wronged him must suffer.

If fate was so cruel to punish good people then he swore he would go against Fate itself.

Paul told him he had changed, but he didn’t care. He raged against the world. He captured more ships, amassing his wealth and influence. People knew him. People feared him. He paved his way on blood, trying to minimize collateral damage while doing so. He took people who were victims of the system like himself and showed them a new life. He was hungry to learn more so he kept the company of people more skillful than him. 

For almost two decades, he raised from no one to become The Prince of Pirates, the Robin Hood of the Sea. He was richer than the governors in the Bahamas. He had more influence here than the king of England. The universe tried to screw him and he gave it his middle finger and became the most successful pirate in history. He chose his own path.

Then the universe came knocking on his door.

The storm hit his ship. His crew sank with Whydah. His money lay forgotten at the bottom of the ocean. A lot of people died yet he survived.

Maybe it was the way the universe humbled him. He had gone astray for far too long. The anger he had before was gone, replaced by sinking guilt and depression. He was just a man trying to fight against the world and failed. Maybe it was all in vain. There was no escape from this cruel world. Maybe there were gods and they were all cruel and liked to play sadistic games.

He had lost all hope. His days were bleak. He just wished the time could just stop. He felt the world was moving on without him. Something was missing in his life, but he didn’t know what it was. He decided to sail again, naming his ship Last Voyage. He told his friends that it was another chance to be happy again. One more voyage. If the void in his life was still there after this then maybe… maybe it was better for him to just…

He met Israel Hands and suddenly the world was not so bleak anymore.

Sam didn’t believe in soulmates. He didn’t want to believe someone was made specifically for him. Fate was cruel and gods like to play with you. But Israel made his heart beat again. He made him feel something. The moment he lied his eyes on Israel’s bruised knuckles and feral grin as he punched people away from him, a spark ignited within him. He hadn’t seen anyone as beautiful as Israel. He was utterly besotted with that little angry man.

Maybe gods indeed like to play sadistic games because how on earth did he fall for an angry feral man like Israel Hands?

Israel Hands was a complicated man with a short fuse. Learning his tick and buttons was fun at first. Then he became genuinely obsessed because he wanted to see Israel smile. He wanted to hear him laugh. He wanted to shower Israel with affection because it was clear the man was underappreciated before this. He wanted to buy him things. He wanted to cherish him. He wanted to make him his.

Sam didn’t believe in soulmate but he was sure Israel Hands was the missing piece of his life.

He wouldn’t let anyone take the love of his life ever again. Those who attempted to do that would suffer.

[mywifeleftme]

36: The Exploding Hearts // Guitar Romantic

Guitar Romantic The Exploding Hearts 2003, Dirtnap (Bandcamp)

It’s a very stupid thing to believe in rock ‘n’ roll, but that was my milk. Not that I was raised to think of rock as a thing one could do, per se—it existed like God, manners, and Twix bars as one of life’s generous and unambiguous positives. “Wild Thing.” “Take Me Home Tonight.” “Stay.” When she was young, my mom was radicalized by ‘70s FM radio: her high school friends gave each other nicknames from J. Geils Band songs (Wooba Gooba, Raputa the Beauta etc.) and she protested the music selections at her prom by burning disco records on the lawn outside the school. Burning music is a dumb thing to do, and there are a lot of particularly nasty reasons to hate disco that I’m sure my mom wasn’t consciously aware of, but I have to respect caring enough about a thing that you are moved to stand up for it. As I aged from a child to a teen in a weird loft bedroom with no walls to separate my place from the rest of the house, rock certainly felt important. Whenever I needed to disappear, I could always lay very still in bed with my little discman, headphones on, humming like a tuning fork.

Rock (and feel free to substitute ‘rock’ for ‘music’ or ‘art’ or ‘the sublime’) is that heavensound an error of the brain lets us experience, but also the sweaty fact of making noise. Nights alone in the garage or the bedroom or the studio. Days and nights and days and nights together in a van with other highly defective people sharing the same new-dime dream. Reliving the last show the whole next day, that fifteen minutes of power and light. I never let myself figure out how to participate in music till I was in my 30s, but I got a tiny taste of something like it grinding and touring as a poet. Making it pulls out the part of you that dreams and desires, reveals things it can take the rest of your life to come to terms with.

The Exploding Hearts are famous for two things. One is their debut, Guitar Romantic, a ‘70s pop punk revival record that converts anyone into that sound into an instant believer. I won’t appeal to logic here, but what I’m saying feels true: no matter its quality, any modern album in a bygone style will lack that inarticulable novelty and sense of discovery that pushes an album from good to great. I can’t tell you why an album that sounds 99% like Exile on Main St. doesn’t quite achieve the same effect—I only know that it doesn’t. But Guitar Romantic is the exception to that rule. It couldn’t exist without the Buzzcocks or The Undertones, but it feels just as timeless and candy-eyed and smart-stupefied by love as their best—and is probably a more satisfying front to back non-compilation LP than either of those pioneers ever cut.

The other thing The Exploding Hearts are known for is the van accident that killed three of the four touring members of the band just under four months after the release of Guitar Romantic. I think about the way I’ve felt driving out of the nighttime midwestern wastes and seeing Chicago begin to reveal itself in an orange netting of suburban lights. Of cometing over the George Washington Bridge after a gig blasting good kid, m.A.A.d. city and feeling like I had finally found my way. Of the lifting I would feel every morning at the idea of the road to another show, no matter how badly performed or attended the previous one might’ve been. I have no idea what the conversation was like between the Hearts on their way home from San Francisco, but even if they were weary and miserable, there must have been that knowledge also that they were doing it, that thing which having been done, even for a moment, sustains legends and never-weres and also-rans alike. The Exploding Hearts were the real deal, and they deserved so much more time to do that thing. But not even those who deserve it always get it.

36/365

[canmom]

Animation Night 151: Modest and Immodest Short Films

Ahoy my friends! The hour is late, but not so late that we can’t watch a few films...

So. Lackadaisy huh.

I feel like you need to be in a somewhat specific age bracket of internet old to feel like that’s immensely significant. You need to be a webcomics bitch, basically. But from quite a specific era: the decade or so window between when webcomics looked like newspaper comics, and before the present era of webtoons. The Webcomics Review narrativises it as people who went to art school arriving on the scene in the mid-2000s, and that seems accurate enough. And of that crop, Lackadaisy Cats was certainly one of the biggest!

The concept is pretty straightforward. It’s a Prohibition-era crime drama set at a speakeasy that’s seen better days... and also everyone is an anthropomorphic cat. It was the beginning of the furry boom (Digger was a contemporary). But mostly... Tracy J. Butler could really fucking draw. You could say things like: clean, expressive designs with a lot of texture and depth and strong composition. (Not surprisingly, she’d worked in animation before drawing the comic.)

And compared to other comics whose selling point was the art such as The Meek and Dresden Codak, it also updated (if I’m remembering right) fairly consistently. It had archetypal characters, a very clearly defined aesthetic, and, compared to many webcomics of its era, a clear, accessible story. In short it read like a pro comic.

So it was natural for it to pick up steam.

Now, at some point I kind of stopped keeping up with most of the webcomics I read back then. Sure, some of them stopped updating, but others kept on going, sustained on merch and later, Patreon type sites. In that time, the standard of art in the scene went way up, the number of comics became so huge that there was no longer really a ‘shared context’ of webcomic readers, and manga scans and webtoons arrived in force. It is now almost impossible to build a new following with a webcomic, but you can do pretty well for yourself if you got in at the start.

Well, in the last few years a new phenomenon has developed out of that whole webcomic scene: the crowdfunded independent animated film. I wrote about this a bit back on Animation Night 117, with the biggest example being Vivziepop‘s works like Hazbin Hotel. In 2000, Lackadaisy joined in, running a kickstarter for an art book and maybe a short film if it did well. You can guess the rest of that story.

These films sit at an odd scale between ‘independent’ and ‘studio’. If you look at the credits of Lackadaisy, you’ll see a small army of animators and cleanup artists to exceed most TV productions (apparently the staff number in the 170s in total). The calls they put out for animators were demanding. And the lavish effort certainly shows! The makers of Lackadaisy set their sights on full animation, on-model, cleaned up and with an ambitious drawing count. Every scene is full of movement and acting. (There’s actually an interesting stylistic choice where construction lines are left in the final composite on many scenes.)

But in many other ways it was very unlike a studio production. One of the animators who worked on the short, Manu Mercurial, has put out a little making-of retrospective, which is pretty light on detail, but still gives some info. Since the production took place during the pandemic, it was completely organised over Discord, with animators posting WIPs and receiving feedback in full view of everyone else, and a director receptive to animators adding their own spins to shots. This apparently led to an atmosphere of friendly competition that was beneficial to the film as a whole.

Mercurial is full of praise for the film’s director Fable Siegel, who seems to have been the major organising force behind making this be an impressive, finished short film instead of just a bunch of artists hanging out in Discord. At least going off IMDB credits,  Siegel seems to have come to The Industry by way of participating in ‘Reanimated’ collabs on Youtube, before getting jobs on Hazbin and also Pendleton Ward’s experimental post-Adventure Time series The Midnight Gospel. (Right now their Twitter is a huge wall of Lackadaisy process shots if you’re curious.) Here’s an interview (by Toon Boom, so one of the questions is blatantly slanted to sell Toon Boom, but the rest is pretty interesting.)

The short film is presented as a pilot, and that is indeed how it plays out: a tour of all the major characters and dynamics of the comic/show, with a car chase, a set piece battle in a quarry, and a final wind down scene in the speakeasy itself which sets up the broader plot. It’s unquestionably very well executed. I’m certain it’s going to get a good few million views in the next few days alone, and maybe it will lead to a series. (Will it surpass Hazbin?). It’s got electro-swing, of course. SungWon Cho (ProzD) is in it, of course.

All the same... I wish it was weirder. Like something about Lackadaisy always feels like it’s playing it safe. It’s fun, it’s goofy, it’s charming... and that’s where it stops! For all that the creators like to talk about how we’re on the cusp of adult animation really taking off in America, the moonshine, and strangely ineffective guns, don’t really change the tone from the more mainstream animation. Bah humbug, etc.

Still, it’s unquestionably an extremely impressive work of animation and a sign of the way things are changing. I expect with all the animation studios laying off staff left right and centre, we’ll start to see a lot more like this.

That’s our first act! For our second...

Ian Hubert returns! I wrote briefly about him back on Animation Night 78. Hubert’s thing is compositing human actors into elaborate cyberpunk environments using Blender; his channel is full of ingenious tricks for creating impressive looking shots and effects with minimal geometry. What makes it work is Hubert’s eye for lighting and composition, knowing just where to place detail to sell a shot and what’s unnecessary for the camera.

The first episode of Dynamo Dream - which we’ll rewatch! - introduced us to a plant selling girl in some sorta cyberpunk megacity. After inadvertently saving out the weird cyborg landlord that runs her apartment, she gets a favour, which she calls on to contact her faraway boyfriend using a kind of missile launched phone terminal I guess? He invites her to come out and join him, but weird shit starts happening on the train. I haven’t watched this yet but I’m sure it’s going to deliver some fascinating visuals.

And then...

Modest Heroes is a collection of three short films by Studio Ponoc, a studio which spun out of Studio Ghibli. In the mid 2000s, the period that Ghibli could enjoy an exceptional state of employing lot of full-time salaried staff (instead of per project freelancers) was coming to an end. In 2014 it seemed they were on the verge of shutting down altogether. Yoshiaki Nishimura, lead producer of many of Ghibli’s films in the 2000s era (Howl - When Marnie Was There), left the studio in 2015, bringing in a bunch of ex-Ghibli animators under a new studio called Ponoc.

Their first film, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, apparently found it hard to define an identity beyond the shadow of Miyazaki (I haven’t seen it!), but things got a lot more exciting with their second. Modest Heroes is a collection of three short films, showing off a variety of ingenious approaches to animation. (It was originally planned to be four, but then Isao Takahata went and died while planning the segment on the theme of ‘death’... oof.) The writers of Animation Obsessive are big fans, and they’ve written two detailed, enthusiastic articles on two of the shorts in the collection.

Invisible, directed Akihiko Yamashita, is a take on the invisible man concept. Since the invisible man is, well, you know..., his entire existence must be communicated through interactions with objects and clothes. Yamashita hoped to communicate feelings and interior life. His invisibility is a metaphor for social invisibility, and thus it comes combined with other metaphors, such as weightlessness.

The idea came from Nishimura, who thought it was a worthy subject for an ‘animation genius’ such as Yamashita. Nishimura wanted the film to bring a kind of inventiveness that he felt was missing from the overly conservative contemporary anime. Yamashita, after leaving Ghibli, attempted to get by in the regular anime industry and found it unbearably strained. He returned to the fold to work on Boro the Caterpillar with Miyazaki, and this convinced him to follow Yamashita over to Ponoc.

The result is something gorgeous, with its emotional drama playing out against grimy desaturated backgrounds that are perhaps closer to something like Tekkonkinkreet than the Ghibli nature scene. Yamashita named quite a specific palate of inspirations...

As reference, Yamashita drew from Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men and Gravity, the films of Alejandro González Iñárritu and the manga of Junji Ito, among others. They contributed to the dark, unusual vibe and look of Invisible.

I’ve been wanting to watch this film for ages, here’s our chance!

Alongside that comes Yoshiyuki Momose’s film Samurai Egg (here’s the aniobsessive link again). Momose, the ‘right-hand man’ of Takahata, was one of the guys he leaned on to actually draw the storyboards of films like Grave of the Fireflies.

In contrast to the elaborate visual metaphor of Invisible, Samurai Egg is a very grounded film about a kid with a severe egg allergy. Takahata is famed as a realist, although a different sort than people like Okiura and Inoue who bring incredibly meticulous detail and well-observed acting to sci-fi scenarios. Certainly, Takahata would make films about ghosts and mythology, but he’d also make films like Only Yesterday that are much quieter, everyday dramas.

Despite sharing the everyday focus of, this film veers away from it into more expressionistic techniques, bringing in softer pencil effects to the anime cels, as well as techniques like 3DCG-rotoscoping. There’s a dance scene where Shinji Hashimoto gets to go nuts with shapes a la Ryan Woodward.

Momose took some pains to avoid being too sentimental with it; AniObsessive quote Nishimura in Animation Magazine:

When you make a film about a parent and a child, it’s easy to fall into the trap of showing a “heartwarming” relationship, and creating a cheap-feeling structure. We wanted to avoid that.

The film is pre-recorded - like Grave of the Fireflies, actually. (It’s the norm in the West, but rare in anime.) There’s some interesting linguistic nuance there:

It was necessary because Oko’s role called for something special. In a detail that’s lost on foreigners, Shun’s mom uses the Kishiwada dialect, which “sounds harsh, but you can feel the love behind it,” Momose said. It’s a cruder, shorter form of Japanese. They used it partly to fit more information into Samurai Egg’s 16-minute runtime, and partly to reveal the relationship she has with Shun. He’s a Tokyo kid — he speaks differently.

As for the third film...

Kanini & Kanino takes us underwater for a pair of kids who live on a coral reef. Alas, I don’t have a detailed article on the making-of and influences on this one, but I can tell you that the director Hiromasa Yonebayishi, aka Maro, is behind it - best known as the director of The Secret World of Arriety, When Marnie Was There, and Ponoc’s first film Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Notably the dialogue for this short is all in ‘crab language’ - are these kids anthro crabs? In fact, yes, it would appear they are anthropomorphic crabs. Sick. Whether they will attend a rave I can’t say, but the internet reliably informs me that is the primary activity of crabs, so probably.

I think that’s enough to be going with! Apologies it’s so late - I had to spend most of today reinventing Canabalt. But I succeeded, so I think I’ve gotten a lot better at this whole game dev thing. Let’s go enjoy some short films!

Animation Night will be going live now at twitch.tv/canmom, films to begin in maybe 15 minutes.

[miraculosus]

It’s not like I have much of an audience regardless but my miraculous sideblog does have the most followers and my miraculous fanart does get the most attention. From a personal organizational standpoint it’s nice to have that partition from all my other reblogs but I kinda put myself in a corner because not only am I stuck with the separate blog that doesn’t allow diverse content, not even multi fandom, but also I chose a really generic url with no identifying features so I feel like people wouldn’t remember/recognize me. That my art style isn’t super consistent doesn’t help? Sometimes I feel like the privacy and anonymity afforded by using many different names is nice but when I start to think of my future and how I want to be able to sustain myself by selling my art it does my head in. every artist with dreams of independent success who gets their start in fandom (not that I’ve gotten much of a start at all) goes through that struggle and fear that no one will care about their original work; that is, that no one will like their work for its own merits. I need to make a name that can be a brand. I made the new art only blog and signature for that purpose but even then I remember how on tumblr likes and follows come only from the main blog. The other thing is how I think some drawings are not “good enough” for the Art Blog and I want to post them separately so I can have an extra quality filter. I guess “I’m a little attached to it after all these years” is not really a good reason against changing my main url (genuinely never thought of doing that until just now so I might do that)? I mean I don’t even hardly have social connections on main so it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Anyway lately i feel like I want to open commissions but I think that no one would buy. I know I’d probably have to underprice by a lot to start but even when I said for free I didn’t get many requests in my askbox so.. I used to think I should wait to hit a certain follower count like say 1000, or until I reliably get over a certain number of notes (Idek what makes sense, I rarely get over 200) before trying but I have no clue when I can hit those metrics and besides that seems silly when I remember I won’t lose anything by opening comms even if no one is interested now.

I just never really understood how to “do social media” it’s exhausting to try and I know I should but it’s frustrating and confusing. I know a lot of it is luck too, but I can’t help feeling like I’m always doing something wrong, or everyone else knows something I don’t.

Idk.. someone with more experience..

[pinezcreatez]

Random Sims Challenge ideas :

Note* I'm so new to the Sims community I have no idea if these exist already sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1. Work-Life balance

Choose your career but you are unable to build the skill needed for it while at home until you have reached level 5 in three other skills. This will push you to work your Sims outside of just their work life.

2. The Stomach of Steel

Have a character with the glutton trait essentially live only off spoiled foods and crappy microwaved meals. No real cooking is allowed for this sim until they have read all the cook books available (ie: baking, cooking, gourmet, etc.)

3. Agoraphobia

Your Sim doesn't have access to the outside world. No housemates or neighbors can interact. Penpal via e-mails allowed. One pet may be allowed but it is also not allowed to go outside. They have all their essentials indoors with no windows on site unless they are boarded or curtained. Food delivery is not an option either. Artist career paths must use digital art only as selling easel paintings means going to the post office irl. Authors won't work either because you'd have to publish via a mailbox and that's not allowed either, remember your Sims is petrified of going outside. Is there a fire? Put it out yourself. No firefighters and no finding an escape route outside.

Note* I've had times in my own life where I've been unable to leave my home for months due to this, I am not romanticizing agoraphobia I just think it'd be an interesting way to play in the Sims.

4. From the ground up.

Buy a plot of land, and with only 25,000 or less simoleons you should lay down a basic shelter. This first place will be yours until you've saved up to go elsewhere. No adding rooms. Upgrading & repairing broken things is fine. Live off the grid for this first home. And sustain yourself via gardening and farm animals until you have saved up 50,000 simoleons to purchase a new home. Repeat the process of no remodeling with the new home until you've saved 100,000 to move/reconstruct your home all over again.

5. Monkey see Monkey do

Have a few Sims in a household and have your main sim copy anything their roommates are doing. Did one roommate flirt with another? Go flirt with them too. Did they just go take a shower? You should do that too. Have this sim only build up their skills and relationships via copying what they see others doing.

6. Opposites Attract

Make two vastly different Sims in all : Looks, Style, likes/dislikes, career paths, personality, etc. Get them together and see if they can learn to love each other's differences or if a break up/divorce is inevitable.

7. Color Scheme Build

Your new home should have the following : entryway, living room, kitchen, dining room, study, bedroom, guestroom, bathroom, guest bath, & basement. Each room can only have one color aesthetic with no repeats. Aka: A green room with only green objects, a pink room etc. You can use different hues of the color of course but putting something like a yellow rug on a blue carpet is not.

8. Never enough plants

For the green thumb and gardeners out there, this challenge is to have more green than home. Whether it be a small house with a large gardened yard or a regular home with plants absolutely filling all the shelves and tabletops. Have the plants be everywhere. Bonus points if your Sims clothes have flower patterns and such as well.

9. Four Story Home

I'm not a person who likes switching from up and down the stairs all the time to find my Sims but having it as a challenge could get me more used to it. It's as simple as making a home with four floors but you can make it more like an apartment or something by having bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, etc on every level.

10. Do you actually live here?

It's easy to want your sim to have a similar looking household. But what if you had a goth living in a kawaii/bright colored aesthetic home, or a minimalistic sim living in a home full of clutter? However you make your sim out to be, the house has to be the complete opposite.