#color palette from Screamer

[catofaurora]

krill kid and manta plush get~

[doodledoesthing3]

CHAPTER 3 IS FINALLY HERE🗣️🗣️🗣️

Finished reading the new chapter? Lucky for you, I got some treats for ya!

CHARACTER SHEETS FOR THE NEW CHARACTERS AND CATNAP‼️‼️‼️

CatNap, the used to be sleepy critter. He’s now a leader of new group, the Sun Screamers! He may not look like leadership material but he learned from, what he claims to be, the best leader that he knows.

Meet Harper Barker! Sassy, rude, and serious is how most critters describe her. She’s the Captain of the Ratto Mafia Guards and takes her job very seriously. She refuses to rest until she catches CatNap. She reeks of bleach due to her fur being dyed so much, what’s her real fur color? No one knows but her girlfriend does!

Fun Fact: I inverted one of the Smiling Critters and gave them to Harper. Can you guess who’s inverted color palette I gave her?

Crashing through your door is Topaz! He’ll cheer you up no matter what! This Spiny Mouse always gets himself hurt in the weirdest ways possible, but that doesn’t stop him. Luckily he has his friends to patch him up!

Fun Fact: Topaz was one of the first Sun Screamers that I designed, that’s why his color palette is a bit more unique than the others.

Cold and Serious…. Calico! Some say he lost his eye to a monster, some say that Tony ripped out his eye, but CatNap thinks that he’s just a big softy inside. This orange and white fawn variegated rat will protect his friends no matter the cost.

Fun fact: Calico was going to be named Patches (kinda like a pirate) but I changed my mind and gave the name Patches to the stoner rat at the beginning of Chapter 3!

The Sun Screamers’ number one fashion designer, Diamond! She’s makes new accessories for her friends as her way of bonding with them. This white dumbo rat is known for her huge ears, she’s always wearing different earrings everyday. She cares for her friends deeply and will drop her nice girl act to throw hands with whoever hurts her friends.

Fun Fact: I imagined Diamond with comically large ears at first, but I wasn’t able to draw them so we got somewhat big ears Diamond! She also used to wear so many earrings but I didn’t know how to draw them so any kind of earrings on Diamond is perfectly okay with me.

This scene mouse is Lucy! This Australien long coated mouse is the most shyest girl you’ll ever met. CatNap and the rest of their friends have tried to get her out of shell, but it usually never works. It’s rare to see her yell or be angry in general.

Fun Fact: Lucy was going to be emo, but I changed her to be a scene girl because it fits with the times! (the fanfic takes place in 2005)

Yuck, what’s burning? It’s Ash making a new invention! This cotton mouse tends to have a short temper whenever things don’t go his way. Sometimes his inventions work and sometimes they don’t, he tends to have backup plans upon backup plans for everything.

Fun Fact: When I was designing Ash, he went through so many phases! First, he was brown girl mouse named Goggles. Then he got changed to a boy and his name was changed to Ash. Then he was light grey before I settled on dark grey.

What’s that growing from that ground? It’s everyone’s number one spooky boy, Fungus! He’s one of the oldest children among his many siblings. This brown satin rat is normally busy talking to his dead siblings or learning a new spell, but you’ll see him around the valley’s graveyard most of the time.

Fun Fact: Fungus’ book was going to have a pentagram on it instead but I thought it was an overused idea so I replaced it for the eyes!

Yeesh! I thought we were done, but what’s that bright light? Is it god? No you sillies! It’s one of the angels known Cat-Bee! Always ready to help her friends at the ready, but don’t let her carefree nature fool you! She’ll get protective of her friends if she senses danger. Nonetheless, she’s one of the people that helps keep CatNap sane.

Fun Fact: She was originally going to be disguised as a capybara instead of Ash with another toy angel disguised as a capybara beside her. But I thought that was too many characters for one chapter so you’ll see that other angel in a later chapter.

If you’re up for a puzzle based on this fanfic then check out this puzzle that I made! (Light mode is highly recommended.)

If you’re stuck, there’s a hint in this chapter that can help you complete the puzzle! :)

SEE YA IN CHAPTER 4!

[transingthoseformers]

Thinking back to the AU where TC and Warp spark up Megatron and Impactor whilst disguised as Starscream. The one where they have to go on the Jerrycan Springer show to get the paternity test to proove Screamer's not the sire. Only they have to get Conjuxed or be sent to a penal colony for back child suport.

You know the revolution is planned around the kitchen table to protect the winglets from Functionism. Cause those bitlits are gonna have weird altmodes. Maybe be tripple changers like Blitzwing and Astrotrain. Or extra large heavy seekers.

They get involved with Orion Pax and Ratchet because Ratchet was the only doctor competent to deal with the bitlits who was trustworthy. Also the clinic was free and the household is broke AF.

Okay but that'd be so cool, like actually the trine and their babymamas starting the revolution is interesting. Definitely will influence some of the decepticons' future ideals and how their run. Would it be accurate to say Megs is in a better state of mind / place than he was in canon during the start of this revolution??

Yes, yessss those kids are gonna have interesting altmodes! (As well as color palettes, they're gonna turn out pretty babies). I'm favoring the idea of extra large seekers, lighter built grounders / treaded vehicles, or maybe even shuttles on the small side? Triplechangers definitely on the menu considering how Megatron is a Greenspark and that's gotta have interesting genetic influences

honestly I'm inclined to say that Ratty is involved in a similar way as he was in [Echoes of Messatine], through Meggsie being a medical student because don't think I forgot about him still training to be a medic in this

oh Primus the medical student loan debt has gotta be so harsh, oh our dear grounders exactly need their attached trine to help pay for stuff.

Ori is just along for the ride because Ratchet dragged his aft into this (... Maybe if this stays a no war au Ori and Megs end up on the same side like the entire time?)

[brightbeautifulthings]

Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle

"'Why does your face malfunction? Request mutual limb enclosure.' 'Permission granted. You are absorbing my face fluids.' 'Let me absorb. Let me absorb.'"

Year Read: 2020

Rating: 3/5

Thoughts: This is pretty much exactly what it looks like: a cute collection of Pyle's comics, which show an alien race approaching everyday human-like things from their own perspective. It's often cute and funny, with a chill pastel color palette to go with its benign, well-intentioned characters. However, it's very much a product of its origins (an Instagram devoted to the comics), and it's clear that they were written as a series of independent little scenes. There's no overarching narrative that connects them, despite some efforts to categorize them into chapters like "young beings" or "recreation." For me personally, this made it difficult to remember more than a couple just days after I read it.

But just because something doesn't work like a novel doesn't mean it's not good at what it does. Many of the comics consist of aliens using cute, descriptive names rather than obvious nouns to describe ordinary things ("rollsuck" for vacuum cleaner, "hot danger screamer" for smoke alarm, "leafbucket" for salad, etc.). They're cute but a bit wearying on repetition. The best of the comics are the ones that make us look at our own culture in a new way, that age-old literary strategy of making the familiar unfamiliar. This happens in the popular one about "star damage", where an alien with a tan makes others envious (like... why? why is tanning, which is literal skin damage, so attractive?), or a funny sequence about sporting events that ends in, "I feel undeserved pride" and "I regret emotional investment." Fans of the web series will certainly want to pick up a copy.

[bots-and-cons]

hello. may i have a request? is it possible to do a human S/O with Knockout, Bumblebee and Starscream who's a designer (fashion or industrial). maybe they design some sweet upgrades for them (if they're industrial) or they design their holomatter avatar (if they're fashion). maybe they seek comfort from their giant robot S/O because something isn't working (broken computer, ripped fabric, 3-d printer won't work, broken sewing machine etc.) or they need muse for their next project.

I picked fashion designer and they designed their holoform. And if you wanna see some great Bee and Knocky as humans (and I think they have some Screamer too), check out @milagrosen

~Starscream~

•He hadn't had a holoform, because he never needed one before

•But when he started spending more and more time with you and you wanted to go out, he let you design him one

•He is a good source of inspiration, because I mean look at him, all those shapes and curves and the color palette

•Starscream isn't really one for physical affection, at least not very often and he absolutely sucks at comforting people, but you can get a few head pats from him if something goes wrong

~Knockout~

•Oh he is all over you about designing his holoform

•Because he wants to go out with you in a human form, to restaurants, and to the movies and everywhere normal couples go

•He will definitely have a red leather jacket

•Black, red and gold are the primary colors of his outfit

•And Knockout definitely has those curves too

•His altmode is a great source of inspiration too I feel like

•He is always there to comfort you and shower you in affection when you need it

~Bumblebee~

•Black and yellow jacket, probably with the autobot symbol on it somewhere, on the back or shoulder maybe

•Bee is great at comforting people, and if you have a problem he will try to help you fix it

•He loves going out with you and holding your hand like a normal boyfriend

•You want the holoform to be a surprise, so you don’t let him see it before you’re totally finished

•Bee loves it

•I think he still can’t talk though (or maybe he can, Idk how holoforms connect with their users)

[doomedandstoned]

Album Covers That Blew Our Ever-Lovin’ Minds in ‘17

~By Billy Goate~

For The Love of Fantasy

The doom-stoner scene has long had a love affair with album art, much of which could be traced back to the thematic link between song lyrics and the fantasy and science fiction literature (indeed, Book of Wyrms directly alluded to these roots in January with the title of their debut, simply titled ‘Sci-Fi/Fantasy’). The animated features like Ralph Bakshi's Wizards (1977) and the Rankin/Bass television production The Hobbit from the same year, proved extraordinarily influential to artists of all stripes, whether their instrument of expression was the brush or guitar. And, of course, there was Heavy Metal (1981). Iron Maiden both fascinated and repulsed with their recurring figure of Eddie and Megadeth captivated imaginations with apocalyptic landscapes strewn with the horrific wreckage of what was once mankind.

I think we can agree that a milestone was reached for the doom-stoner genre, however, with the release of Sleep’s Dopesmoker in 1999. Arik Roper depicted neither gore nor violence, yet the landscape felt decidedly post-apocalyptic. More than that, it told a story -- one that was certainly complimented by the lyrics of the San Jose band’s seminal work (even inspiring fan fiction in the form of the short-lived Creedsmen Arise, half of would later form Vokonis). Dopesmoker was a turning point for album art, indeed, after which point commissions for album covers and even concert posters multiplied exponentially. We’re talking some high quality strokes to match the intensity of the riffs we were hearing and the quality bud that was perhaps being smoked to max out the experience. This was art you could really get lost in, hearkening back to the dime store novels and Golden Age comic books that have been a part of Western reading for over a century.

In the decade of the 2010′s, one David Paul Seymour would dominate as the most recognized and celebrated artists for bands and fans alike. He was certainly not alone. We must also give props to the art of Skinner (a Mastodon go-to), Rob Leecock (Monster Magnet), John Dyer Baizley (Baroness), David D'Andrea from Samaritan Press (Sleep), Kiryk Drewinski (Liquid Visions), Paolo Girardi (Lycus) Nick Keller (Beastwars), John Santos (Torche), Adrian Baxter (Alunah), Mark McCormick (Witch Mountain), Zé Burnay (Space God Ritual), Pig Hands (Dopelord), Dominic Sohor (High Fighter), Colin Bolger of Dabulga Design, Antoine Defarges of Headbang Design, Goatess Doomwych, and many more. Of special note is Adrien Dexter (featured in the spread above), who has been the Elder album cover artist of choice record after record. Adrien went for a particularly striking color this year that was quite effective in breaking out of the drab palette we’ve become accustomed to (and complemented the music surprisingly well).

Doomed & Stoned

Artist of the Year

Most recently, another artist has taken the art of the album cover to another level altogether -- the Portland-based artist Adam Burke of Nightjar Illustration. Using oils to pain vast canvases of fantasy, Adam made a huge impression on bands last couple year with his album covers for Ancient Warlocks, Bright Curse, Great Electric Question, Pastor, and R.I.P. His powers of light and dark landscapes hold true to the fantasy genre that precedes him and takes the medium to bold new places. Not surprisingly, his project plate was full in 2017. Adam Burke gets our most approving nod for Artist of the Year! Here are some of his album covers -- all of these in 2017, mind you:

ARTIFICIAL BRAIN

‘Infrared Horizon’ (April 2017)

ATTALLA

‘Glacial Rule’ (March 2017)

BASK

‘Ramble Beyond’ (2017)

CLOUD CATCHER

‘Trails of Kosmic Dust’ (March 2017)

DESTROYER OF LIGHT

‘Chamber of Horrors’ (July 2017)

ENTOMBMENT

‘Entombment’ (June 2017)

FIREBREATHER

‘Firebreather’ (February 2017)

GATECREEPER

‘Sonoran Depravation’ (October 2017)

HÄLLAS

‘Excerpts From A Future Past’ (October 2017)

HORRIFIED

‘Allured of the Fallen’ (September 2017)

KOOK

'Kook’ (April 2017)

LOSS

‘Horizonless’ (May 2017)

MOTHERSHIP

‘High Strangeness’ (March 2017)

NECROMANDUS

‘Necromandus’ (July 2017)

PAGAN ALTAR

‘The Room of Shadows’ (August 2017)

RUBY THE HATCHET

‘Planetary Space Child’ (August 2017)

SOLSTAFIR

‘Berdreyminn’ (May 2017)

SPACE WITCH

‘Arcanum’ (June 2017)

SPECTRAL HAZE

‘Turning Electric’ (November 2017)

SUMOKEM

‘The Guardian of Yosemite’ (October 2017)

TCHORNOBOG

‘Tchornobog’ (July 2017)

As is always the case with an Adam Burke cover, there is more than meets the eye...

WAR CLOUD

'War Cloud' (September 2017)

Adam Burke will be involved in the upcoming animated epic, ‘The Planet of Doom.’ The film is presently in the works, a production of Riff Lodge Animation. It's plot? "Halvar the Brave seeks vengeance aboard a witch-born chopper, journeying across a psychedelic landscape on a quest to defeat the deadly beast Mördvél for the slaying of his bride." The saga will play out in 14 chapters, with doom metal bands providing the soundtrack and today's finest album artists bringing the vision to life. Screenplay by David Paul Seymour and animated directed by Tim Granda.

Here’s one of the many landscapes from the forthcoming animated feature 'Planet of Doom' that he’ll be involved in, with a number of others.

Doomed & Stoned

Album Cover of the Year

Alright, as much praise as Doomed & Stoned is heaping on the esteemed Mr. Burke, there’s one album cover that absolutely stole away both heart and imagination this year and that belongs to Bell Witch, who commissioned Polish painter Mariusz Lewandowski to produce this mindfuck of a masterpiece for their Doom Charting record Mirror Reaper.

BELL WITCH

‘Mirror Reaper’ (October 2017)

Here’s the full panorama. The piece is titled ‘Esencja wolności.’ If you had to guess what that means what would you suppose? I translated it as “Essence Freedom” and asked one of our former contributors who lives in Poland for a more accurate one. “The Essence of Freedom,” she responded. “Now it’s correct.” This sheds a whole new light for me on the Bell Witch album, which speaks of the relationship between life, death, and loss (unpacked nicely by Jacob Mazlum in his review here).

While Mariusz may not the first to play with the idea of the interdimensional mirror, scarcely has it been depicted more effectively. In fact, it’s become something of a recurring theme in his oils. I enthusiastically encourage you to dive into this incredible artist’s work.

OTHERS WE LIKED...

ACID WITCH

‘Evil Sound Screamers’ (October 2017)

Artist: Shagrat

ALUNAH

'Solennial' (March 2017)

Artist: Adrian Baxter

BORRACHO

‘Riffography’ (December 2017)

Artist: Andrea Nakasato

DVNE

‘Asheran’ (July 2017)

Artist: Eli Quinn

DOPELORD

'Children of the Haze’ (2017)

Artist: Pig Hands

ELDER

‘Reflections of a Floating World’ (June 2017)

Artist: Adrian Dexter

FIRE DOWN BELOW

‘Viper Vixen Goddess Saint’ (June 2017)

Artist: Stash Illustration

FULL OF HELL

‘Trumpeting Ecstasy’ (May 2017)

Artist: Mark McCoy

GREENBEARD

'Lödarödböl ' (July 2017)

Artist: Antoine Defarges

KAYLETH/FAVEQUAID

‘Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter Six’ (July 2017)

Artist: Ghosttown Graphics

KING WEED

‘Smoking Land’ (May 2017)

Artist: Esra Røise

KING ZOG

‘King Zog’ (May 2017)

Artist: Dominic Sohor

MAHARAJA

'Kali Yuga' (September 2017)

Artist: Adam Eckley

MONOLITH CULT

‘Gospel of Despair’ (November 2017)

Artist: Dan Goldsworthy

MUTOID MAN

‘War Moans’ (June 2017)

Artist: John Santos

NAUTILUS

‘The Wrath of the Sea’ (September 2017)

Artist: Dabulga Design

NORSKA

‘Too Many Winters’ (May 2017)

Artist: Mark McCormick

PALLBEARER

‘Heartless’ (March 2017)

Artist: Chimère Noire

SATURNDUST

‘RLC’ (April 2017)

Artist: Mike Winkelmann (aka Beeple)

SQUALUS

'The Great Fish' (September 2017)

Artist: Aaron John Gregory

SKUNK

‘Doubleblind’ (April 2017)

Artist: Dmitri Mavra

TELEKINETIC YETI

'Abominable ' (March 2017)

Artist: Antoine Defarges

THE FLYING EYES

‘Burning of the Season’ (September 2017)

Artist: Kiryk Drewinski

THE SWILL

‘Master of Delusion’ (June 2017)

Artist: Dan MacDonald

THREE EYES LEFT

‘The Cult of Astaroth’ (October 2017)

Artist: SoloMacello

USNEA

‘Portals Into Futility’ (September 2017)

Artist: Orion Landau

VOKONIS

‘The Sunken Djinn’ (June 2017)

Artist: Tessa Najjar

[olivereliott]

MJR Roach: A turbocharged Royal Enfield Himalayan

Royal Enfield have made a habit of commissioning customs from top workshops. But they’ve got a big range of skills lurking in-house—and a whole lot of creativity, too.

This wily Royal Enfield Himalayan, dubbed ‘MJR Roach,’ is what happens when you combine a pile of leftover parts with a vivid imagination, over a series of caffeine-fueled late nights. It was built at Royal Enfield‘s Technical Centre in the UK, by the ‘Royal Enfield Custom Crew.’ It features a stretched swing arm, a manga-inspired livery … and a turbocharger.

It’s total overkill for the rugged little 411 cc adventure single, but that’s exactly what the Custom Crew were after. Drawing on influences like Mad Max, Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite, they envisioned a post-apocalyptic ‘future military’ vibe—and the Himalayan wears it surprisingly well.

Just about everything attached to MJR Roach was salvaged from within the Custom Crew’s workshop. They started with the motor from a wrecked bike, then dug out an intact Himalayan chassis to wedge it into.

The front forks were swapped out for a set of lowered and re-valved MX forks, mated to the original 21” front wheel.

It’s out back where things get really wild. A single-sided swing arm that had been gathering dust was sent over to the experts at (Enfield-owned) Harris Performance, to stretch. It’s matched to a rear wheel from the same donor bike, and runs with the stock Himalayan shock, which was also lowered and re-valved.

Up top you’ll find a factory-issue Himalayan fuel tank, held down by a repurposed parachute harness strap. This military aesthetic is carried through to the seat, where the team stretched leather over nylon webbing to create their own ‘gripper’ effect.

The arrangement is finished off with a custom-made rear rack, connected to the seat via one more strap and buckle.

Move to the front, and you’ll notice that the Himalayan’s quirky ‘fairing frame’ is still in play. Except now, it’s been modified to hold an insect-like cluster of four projector lights, with a repurposed Royal Enfield Continental GT fairing brace up-cycled as a token fly screen.

Just behind it is the Himalayan’s original instrument cluster, along with new handlebar clamps and a set of Renthal Fatbars. The kill switch has been swapped for a missile launch-style switch. Keen eyes will spot a custom-made bracket with a pair of extra dials … because this Royal Enfield’s been boosted.

Why add a turbocharger to a single-cylinder scrambler? According to the Custom Crew, “when the zombies are after you, a bit of boost goes a long way.” Sounds like solid logic to us.

The arrangement features a rear-mounted Garrett GT 125 turbo for a maximum boost of 1 Bar (about 50 hp). There’s an external wastegate and a custom-made screamer pipe, with Goodridge plumbing throughout. Naturally, the motor’s rev limit has been raised too.

Other mods include a K&N filter to replace the air box, and an upgraded fuel pump and regulator setup. There’s a new lightweight Lithium-ion battery, too, and the bike rolls on Continental TKC80 rubber for max dirt fun.

As for the white, turquoise and yellow color palette, that was reportedly lifted straight from a mange illustration. Royal Enfield’s in-house model maker mixed up the custom colors and laid them down, while their brand identity team cut and applied the decals.

And to drive the DIY point home, the protagonist and antagonist in the video below are guys that worked on the project, coming from RE’s Concept Engineering and Technical Administration departments, respectively.

So how does a turbocharged Himalayan with a lowered ride height and a stretched wheelbase ride? According the the Royal Enfield team, pretty wild, with plenty of slides.

The turbo and motor have taken a fair amount of abuse in their stride too, so the crew’s about to do the only logical thing: upgrade it for even more power.

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