#capitalism is actually the secret final boss of the comic spoilers

[caffeccino]

Heartbreak begins ✨

You can read my new comic Mundane Magical Girl on Slipshine! 💖

Sunrise has to try to figure out how to manage her broken heart and late stage capitalism while saving the city as a magical girl!

[dyed-indigo]

please tell us more about your oc(s)!! 👀👀👀

aa alright so, this might be a long post 

i’ve got 2 main universes that i’ve developed (+a few characters that i haven’t put anywhere), but i haven’t fully planned any of them out so all of this is subject to change (please note that literally most of this is developed in daydreams)

universe 1 is a kind of fantasy type thing with 2 main protagonists, icarus (formerly known as idly by before i changed his name haha) and adelheid. basically icarus is an amnesiac that adelheid found in the forest after he fell from the sky. this universe i’m thinking of making a comic but i literally have basically none of the story actually planned haha. i know bits and pieces of what i want the plot to be and i have the character backstories mostly figured out though, so hopefully i can actually. try to plan out the story haha. (i know i posted a comic page a while ago that i wanted to be the first page but i have reworked what little i have of the plot so much since then so it’s not really accurate anymore.) icarus i’ve drawn a lot (i’m actually working on one of those art style challenge things with icarus but i’ve been “working” on it for over a month so who knows if i’ll actually finish it haha) and i know i have some drawings of adelheid that i posted a whiiiile back but i haven’t posted any of her recently because i’ve been wanting to redesign her but i cannot get her color scheme right. other major characters with designs personalities and backstories include eden, dante, and rosie (there are definitely more and i know i’ve posted drawings of them before but i need to plan them out a bit more before i’m comfortable sharing about them aaa)

in this picture, from left to right, we have icarus (pre-amnesia, you can tell because he got the glasses after the amnesia), eden, and dante.

eden and dante were icarus’s friends from before he got amnesia, however their friendship might not have ended on the best note. they’ll show up again later in the story, i just don’t entirely know how (i used to but i spend so much time reworking this story that it wouldn’t make sense any more i have reworked these characters to such a degree that they may no longer resemble their original forms). rosie was also someone who knew icarus before, but their relationship is somewhat more complicated. i don’t actually remember if i’ve posted any drawings of rosie though? i miiiight actually need to redesign her haha

a big worry i’ve had for this universe is that i’ve spent too much time developing icarus and not enough time developing adelheid. i’ve got adelheid’s backstory down, but it’s a lot simpler and i haven’t even given a name to literally the most significant character in adelheid’s backstory so. and adelheid’s personality has really fluctuated over time so maybe i should actually get that nailed down as well. 

here’s how much these characters have developed! eden used to have short hair, dante used to be a conspiracy theorist, adelheid used to be an elf, and icarus’s design was repurposed from a sona i tried to make (the design was repurposed because i wanted to show it off but like the sona was a dude and i wasn’t actually out to anyone yet so i was like “alright he’s like a fantasy secret agent now code name: idly by”. as you can tell i changed quite a bit about him)

universe 2 is... actually i don’t know genres well enough to confidently say what it is. it’s dystopian? kind of? it’s got a fallen world type deal, but it’s also kind of fantasy? but like, sciencey fantasy. it’s something. magic is science is magic type deal. the protagonist here is nebulous. not nebulous as in the word, nebulous is literally the name of the character (i just don’t want to capitalize it haha)

this image is a biiiit long but this is nebulous! 

i used to post tons and tons of art of nebulous, but i’ve been drawing him less lately because i’ve been drawing another character. 

anyway so, nebulous actually does not look like this for most of the story, he actually looks like a normal human being in the beginning and then he kind of gradually becomes what’s in the drawing, but this version of nebulous is a lot more fun to draw haha. he’s supposed to also have an actual human name too but i am. so bad at naming characters

basically the main story of universe 2 is that there was like a crisis 17 years ago and the world has fallen into ruin and for that entire time nebulous’s mom literally would not let him leave the house so nebulous is basically that one gif that’s like “they’ve never been outside” (i don’t have it saved so i can’t add it to the post haha). his mom just leaves and never comes back one day though so nebulous does leave the house and when he does he finds out that the town has been kind of ensorceled by...

this dude! (this is kind of an old drawing but i still like it so it’s here)

this dude doesn’t have an actual name yet because, again, i am awful at naming characters, but one of my friends has dubbed him “the wretch”.

basically the wretch can’t like, mind control (listen i’m still working on the terminology here) nebulous so he kind of bullies him into working for him until nebulous finds out that if he touches the ensorceled people they go back to normal and then after that nebulous literally forces the wretch to have a redemption arc (i’m planning on having it go on for most of the story and i’ve literally spent soooo much time planning this out in my daydreams)

after that nebulous and a few un-ensorceled people have to figure out what caused the crisis 17 years ago and how it relates to both the current happenings of the world and nebulous himself. i plan on this universe having more of a video game like structure, i may actually make it a video game if i ever learn how to make a video game haha. 

if it was a video game, the final boss would be...

the king of rot! (this is reeeeeeallly old but it’s literally the best picture of the king of rot that i have because i hardly ever draw him so this is my second most recent drawing of him, my most recent being him from behind.)

i honestly kind of feel apprehensive about sharing anything about this dude, because his whole backstory and motivations are one big spoiler for the story as a whole and i don’t wanna share too too much about it in case i actually do something with it. sorry if you were looking forward to that premium king of rot content, though i can tell you that he is also supposed to have a human name but i don’t feel bad for not coming up with it because that would also be a spoiler haha.

anyway whereas universe 1 has a bunch of underdeveloped characters for me to work with universe 2 has a character deficiency. if i want to develop any new characters i first have to create them *shudders*. this universe boasts a total of 6 characters so far, and 2 of them i literally created yesterday. those 2 are wayyyy underdeveloped because they’re so fresh, but there is one more character i can show you from this universe

this is dr. alexander petrov, he’s actually a repurposed character from another universe that i kind of dissolved because i didn’t know what i wanted it to be aside from this character and 1 other character (who i may repurpose for this universe as well i haven’t decided where he would fit best yet though)

i’m still working on repurposing his backstory properly (because i need to make it fit better with the world he lives in) and i mayyyy have to make him older (i really need to practice drawing older characters though) though i’m still not sure yet.

anyway aside from my 2 main universes i also have a bunch of assorted characters that i don’t know what to do with haha. i’ve posted art of most of them before, but i don’t really want to put it on this post because it’s already really long haha.

anyway that’s it for now i’m really tired so i’m sorry if i got a bit rambly haha

[ramblesandmumblesofanerd]

Batman: Arkham Reviews Part 1 - Welcome to The Madhouse!

Warning: Lengthy Post Which Contains Spoilers

So far on this blog we have talked about how awesome comic books can be for one franchise and how damaging movies can be for another. Now, we comic books and movies are the tip of the iceberg for a franchise, there is another popular form of media a franchise can capitalize on: video games. I have adored video games for quite some time, from the interesting stories of the Bioshock trilogy to even the admittedly simplistic indie-horror franchise Five Nights at Freddy’s, which I do want to discuss more about another day (after actually getting passed Night 3). However, amongst the first person shooters, horror games and simulators, there is one series of games that I have adored for the longest of times which was part of a sub-genre once thought impossible; the Batman Arkham trilogy made by Rocksteady studios.

For those not in the know, superhero games, let alone Batman games, were once thought impossible with the exception of some NES and Lego titles. This could have been due to poor gaming mechanics, glitches making the game unplayable, or other unexpected variables occurring behind the scenes which renders the game lackluster depending on who made the game itself. Even more modern games were plagued by this almost curse-like cycle, with titles like Iron Man and Thor taking hits, and even the Batman has had a fair share of bad games, with the most infamous being “Batman: Dark Tomorrow”. This is where Rocksteady Studios comes in, with their 2009 Playstation 3/XBox 360/PC Title, Batman: Arkham Asylum, the first in a series of games that have cemented their spot as the best superhero games of their respective years if not of all time.

Arkham Asylum takes place in the mental institution of the same name, where Batman has taken the Joker after a failed attempt to kill the mayor of Gotham via a bomb. After escorting the clown through the building, he breaks free to reveal that getting captured was part of an elaborate plan to take control of the asylum, and now Batman must fight thugs, super criminals and much more for an entire night to stop the Clown Prince of Crime from throwing Arkham into chaos.

Already we have a promising premise, as fans of the Batman series have never had an in depth look at the institution the Batman rogues gallery has festered in for countless years in numerous iterations. Now, while playing the role of the Dark Knight, players will get a chance to see where the madmen of Gotham go, and it is fittingly abysmal. The building look uncared for and unattended in spite of all the upgrades that have been made. There is also an ominous feeling creeping up on you as you travel down dark hallways and decrepit tunnels, as if the spirits of the many inmates who have died in the asylum within the previous years will spring out from the shadows.

Speaking of the inmates, while there are not as much as one would like, there are plenty of classic villains in this asylum one can expect to encounter. There is about six in total including the Joker and his gal-pal Harley Quinn, who will be taunting you throughout your journey through the looney bin. And while you won’t see either Harvey “Two-Face” Dent or Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin until the sequel, you will get other classics like Poison Ivy and Killer Croc. And, of course, there are hundreds of lesser criminals armed to the teeth and ready to defend themselves against the Bat before you encounter the super criminals. From bare fists to blades and guns, these thugs will keep fighting until you knock them out in either a straight up fight or the always satisfying stealth fights.

On the subject of combat, the mechanics for thug fights are very fluid and seamless. Batman will not stop hitting any thug standing until you deliver the finishing blow to the last thug you incapacitate or until he gets hit himself. Thankfully, Rocksteady gave Batman the ability to counter incoming attacks, much like his comic book and film incarnations. If Batman is attacking one thug and another wants to attack him from behind, if the player presses the counter button Batman will block the attack and deal some damage before resuming business as usual. The player can also unlock special moves that allow Batman to gain the upperhand in any fight, such as the ability to throw inmates at each other and critical finishers. There is also the stealth mechanics, which make you feel all the more like the Dark Knight. Batman will be in a sealed room with about five to seven thugs, all armed with either assault or sniper rifles, and it will the be player’s job to take them out as silently as possible without being noticed. The room will be the best defence and offence the player can use, and they can grapple to a nearby ledge or the gargoyles, hide in a floor grate to surprise or hide from thugs or hang them upside down from the aforementioned gargoyles, the possibilities are endless so long as you can be stealthy, as being caught will result in getting shot.

But, the environment is not the only tool Batman can use, as the Caped Crusader is nothing without his sophisticated gadgets. The player starts with the ability to throw one iconic Batarang and walks out at the end of the game with a utility belt practically bursting with all kinds of useful gadgets and upgrades the player will need throughout the game in numerous situations. For example, some of the walls in the asylum are more fragile than others, thus the Explosive Gel Batman picks up early in the game will come in handy for breaking these walls down. There are also doors and electric barriers the cannot be opened or deactivated without passcodes. Enter the Cryptographic Sequencer, a device that hacks into the devices keeping the door shut by having the player move the joysticks to find the right wavelength. This device is especially handy for what I’m going to talk about next; the secrets.

As one can expect, Arkham Asylum on it’s own has its fair share of secrets only the most dedicated of people will find through perseverance, but another Batman villain has ensured that not only will you have to find those secrets but his as well. I am of course referring to the Riddler, a man with an ego the size of Gotham City who wants to somehow prove that he is better than Batman in every respect concerning his intellect. Not only does he hack into Batman’s communicator in his cowl, taunting him from afar, but he has hidden two-hundred and forty secrets throughout Arkham Island, including trophies and riddles for the player to solve. Some are easy to find and require no gadgets while others require a little more thought and effort even with the vague maps the Riddler left around the island to taunt you with. In the end, it is very amusing to hear the smug puzzler go from proud and taunting to bewildered and angry as you solve his riddles, collect trophies and discover secrets all the way to the end.

Speaking of the end, there is one thing that must be discussed that does have spoilers. Since this game has been available for eight years now, I feel I can discuss it freely, but if you do not wish to be spoiled please skip the following bracketed portion now. [ The final boss of the game is the one any fan of Batman has been waiting for; The Dark Knight versus The Clown Prince of Crime. Batman has stopped all of Joker’s plans, which revolved around obtaining a chemical similar to the one Bane uses to become a hulking berserker, but more potent. So, in a final act of insanity, The Joker injects himself with this chemical and becomes a giant, mohawked version of himself, which results in the final battle being very simplistic and formulaic. Avoid Titan Joker’s attacks, fight his thugs, pull Titan Joker back down to attack him, repeat. This is unfortunate because the game has been building up to this encounter in it’s entirety, and the payoff very weak and unsatisfying. Even recognizable YouTubers like JonTron have commented on this finale, saying it is one of the worst boss fights of any video game. Thankfully, future games have made up for this flop of a finale by showing the consequences of Joker’s choice. But that is another post for another day.]

All in all, while not the best in the Rocksteady trilogy, Arkham Asylum is a very impressive game that showed the world it was still possible to do superhero games right. The setting and tone is fitting for the iconic location, giving off a spooky, sombre atmosphere. The roster of villains, while not as large as anticipated, is satisfying with the array of classic villains that is presented, all of whom are portrayed very well, especially the maniacal Joker, played by the always wonderful Mark Hamill from “Batman: The Animated Series”, who plays off Kevin Conroy’s Batman all too well. The combat and stealth mechanics are spot on and make the player feel like they are the Batman, as they can walk out of a room of armed henchmen with minimal injuries if they think fast. The gadgets are impressively useful and do not feel unnecessary, as the player will need them to traverse the game in either the main story or when collecting the secrets of the Asylum, which are always fun to find. And while the ending is a tad disappointing, I cannot say I do not regret playing the overall game one bit, especially when I discovered a sequel was on the way. But again, that is a discussion for another day.

Until then, never stop rambling,

TM