#esp my Mike design. Love that guy.

[rhythm-tengoku-gold]

Now that I’m thinking about the home series I dug up some old art from last year (2 seem to be lost) & man I ought to redraw these because honestly they still hold up for the most part & were fun to do- like, I should see what they’d look like with my improved art y’know?

[reel-fear]

Genuinely so curious who Mike thinks is gonna be buying The Cage or the new DCTL GN bc with the way he tweets as far as he's concerned, it's not gonna be:

The queer people he has actively admitted he will never show any representation of in the games.

2. The POC he has actively fought against representing in his franchise. [Who he also mocked for thinking they would be represented in his franchise]

3. The Bendy fandom which has always been concerned with topics of diversity esp in the sense of queer people since its creation. Who he has responded to really poorly esp in regards to the GN.

4. The fans who critique him. [He blocked me for doing so lol]

5. His fans in general who he tweets about like this currently. [He's being vague about why people were mad at him or sent him 'nasty messages' because if you actually looked into why you'd see he was in the wrong. Either way, a very hateful way to speak abt ur own fanbase.]

Reminder while Mike is trash talking his fans he has always treated them rather poorly. The fans who won the fanart contest for Chapter 5 never got their posters actually in game due to it being rushed. Not only was chapter 5 a big slap to the face story wise, but it was literally so rushed he couldn't be bothered to add in the art his fans gave him for his game FOR FREE. [Meatly blames this on a crazy timeline, reminder him and Mike are the literal ceos of this company. The proposal of future updates here is also pretty cruel considering Mike nowadays happily admits he corrupted Chapter 5's source code and therefore literally can't update it At All currently. Because he is a moron]

At least they got to be in Boris and the dark survival, and by that I mean that was the Only game they got to be in so far, isn't that just treating your fans like you love them? Shoving their hard work into a spin off game almost nobody has played or addresses much. [Hell, who knows if with the Lone Wolf rebrand they'll even stay there. In which case they'll be in None of the games, only in the credits of BATIM]

6. The Bendy fans who just generally disagree with him on stuff. Like the new ink demon design where there is literally a public poll showing people generally prefer the old one.

7. The Bendy fans who can see he is actively lying to them. To their fucking faces.

He says this has always been the case, but screenshots and links to tweets regarding the books being canon prove it was not. Does he really think bendy fans are stupid or something? [Unless he's admitting here he lied to Kress when he told her the books were canon which sounds worse!]

8. Anyone who doesn't like the idea of giving money to a guy who laid off tons of employees then afterwards thought it was a great idea to express his anti-union views! Also brag about how good of an employer he was, according to his employees, he was not!

So in summary; Mike is an awful person who has not learned anything from the awful things he did. I will not be purchasing The Cage because, combined with this and his absolute refusal to take any kind of critique or see any differing interpretation of his franchise, I have no reason to think my problems with the franchise will ever be addressed or fixed. I probably will pirate The Cage along with any future Bendy Products [Including the movie] and will do my best to avoid giving it any kind of monetary support. Unless this changes any time soon, I can't see myself making anymore positive Bendy posts soon.

Mike has just managed to make it so hard to speak positively or optimistically of this franchise when he's so willing to broadcast how little he cares about it or its fans. I'm at the point where I refuse to pull any of my punches with my problems with it. What's the point of trying to play nice with my critique when either way the people creating it don't care?

So with this post, I want to invite anyone who feels similarly about the franchise to tell me, make a post or send an ask talking about how all of this makes you feel. It may not change how things are, but genuinely seeing other people share my feelings of anger makes me feel better. It feels nice to see when other people share our same concerns and worries. I'd also love to know if anyone else thinks they'll be avoiding purchasing Bendy products over this.

I'm not forcing anyone to participate in it nor trying to say anyone who doesn't supports mike but genuinely maybe if we can collectively decide to boycott things like the movie, graphic novel and The Cage... It might at least make the bendy devs acknowledge how much they have destroyed their own fandom's faith and trust in them.

The way Mike tweets about his actions like he had no control over why people were mad at him at least proves to me he takes NONE of it back nor regrets it. If you didn't know about his actions and only went off his tweets, you would be led to believe Mike has been needlessly picked apart by fans over things he couldn't control [or in his own words, had his words twisted and taken out of context]. That is not how you speak about your actions if you have actually learned better from them.

anyway, that has been my bendy dev callout post. This is an open invitation to anyone feeling similarly upset about the way the franchise is going to talk about it. It's genuinely nice to see how people feel about this and the more we talk about the more it's likely the bendy devs are forced to address our concerns. I don't think they will but hey, that's why I'm not gonna support them with my money anymore nor am I gonna be nice to them in any content I make critiquing Bendy. I mean I'm also basically making this post just in case anyone asks me Why I feel this way towards to bendy devs/as a way to respond to anyone who thinks I am too harsh in my critique in the future.

As always, it seems the best part of Bendy isn't actually anything about canon but about what the fan's are creating with the ideas Bendy failed to do anything interesting with.

Also the books, the books slap.

[omegalomania]

FIRST NIGHT OF TOURDUST AT WRIGLEY

im writing down all the stuff that i remember so i dont forget!! obviously the big ones were GINASFS LIVE?? HELLO??? i was very unspoiled for the setlist so every song was a huge shock

tai as openers got a hUGE response. and it was great!!! im thrilled to report that bilvy is still a whore <3 he was playing submission games with mike and sisky the whole set, did snakes on a plane, doing high kicks and draping himself all over his bandmates as god intended

i mean it probably goes without saying but i need to shoutout the set design for this tour. oh my god it was SO beautiful. there were no big screens behind them, instead there was a big round screen mounted over the stage and it would play funky videos during all the songs. one half of the stage was this gorgeous blue wrought-iron looking thing with stars and monsters and a clock. the other side was glowing gold, so it was like a night/day dichotomy

there were big red curtains behind the guys and they would sweep shut for a few songs and when they opened again there'd be a new setpiece behind them. like a physical setpiece!! the first one was an anchor, the second was A MOVING DOGGIE HEAD, the third was a huge tree with owl eyes. they were fucking gorgeous

the pink seashell monologue played w/o any instrumentals before love from the other side kicked in

joe has a new guitar! it's like...green and super detailed, it's seriously so fucking fancy i need hq pictures of that thing stat

joe vocals were SUPER LOUD AND PROMINENT my god it was a blessing

patrick was KILLING it the whole concert. i was floored. fob songs are NOT EASY TO SING esp love from the other side but he was impeccable pretty much the whole night

he did fumble the lyrics to centuries tho dlfdjkjf looked like something was up with his soundboard around that time

they hit us with a triple-punch of chicago is so two years ago, calm before the storm, and then where is your boy, all in a row. patrick talked a little bit before where is your boy to be like "yeah so this was forever ago...i was jogging..." and pete chimes in "imagine us jogging"

patrick also talked a bit before they rolled the piano out. he was like "hi guys!! :)" and talked about how the set design was all pete's idea and it was super fucking fancy and he was floored by it. he said that pete suggested he play piano and then was like "ugh i dunno im not GREAT at that" (you fucking liar) and then that led up to the medley that closed with don't stop believing and the rest of the band joined in and AGHHH

i was not prepared to hear headfirst slide and disloyal order in the same night.

i was not prepared to hear HEAVEN IOWA that night. of all the stardust songs i did NOT EXPECT THAT ONE

for those who were involved in the stardust project, it went off really well the first night! i got my pink seashell and during fake out i looked behind me and the whole stadium was lit up pink! after it was over, pete was like "wow that looked amazing guys" so the band definitely noticed!

pete did the baby annihilation monologue live! he seemed kind of nervous he had his hoodie pulled up and everything but he delivered it very different from the studio version and when it was over he pulled a big black curtain over himself and then disappeared when it fell

save rock and roll live is always a treat but my god when the camera pulled back and i saw that all four members of fall out boy were smiling while they sang OH NOOO WE WON'T GO. my god. my heart.

they did not do a proper encore because they didnt want to tread into curfew, so we did not get a picture with them

OKAY THATS ALL I CAN REMEMBER FOR NOW. ILL ADD TO THIS IF I REMEMBER ANYTHING ELSE <3 THIS WAS A STELLAR START THANK YOU FALL OUT BOY I LOVE YOU FALL OUT BOY

[castlebyersafterdark]

why do you think the top/bottom debate for byler is so intense and polarized?

I think it's just so common in any fandom with a gay ship. I'm really not sure what the obsession over the debate is from but I have theories? I've never been involved in any anime fandom, but throughout the years, those fandoms dominate the internet sphere and (even if you have zero connection to any anime/mange media, the fandom trends in those spaces do infiltrate and influence the nerd/fannish corners as a huge factor, even along the far-away edges). Top/Bottom is a huuuuge fight and designation in a lot of those stories like as a trope (ooh I forget the terminology! i know there's something specific it's called!). But then, people want to apply that tropey mindset to fandoms and characters where that's not applicable at all? I was in the IT fandom for a little while and oh my god, this argument happened constantly and it was honestly super annoying! (At least in the IT fandom though, when I was there, there wasn't this anti-sex mindset for the characters, so the top/bottom debate feels quaint compared to byler haha. Maybe it was because the source material... well... iykyk).

It could just be an unfortunate side effect of short-sighted fandom people having to force gay ships into what they feel are m/f roles in the bedroom because that's easy and familiar to them. BUT ALSO gay culture surrounding sex does often fall into strict top/bottom roles. Like it is a pretty big deal for a lot of people. There's a lot of guys who only ever perform one role during sex and honestly, they're content to never switch it up and only want it one way which is super realistic and totally valid. But there's plenty of vers folks here as well 😉

The problem I find is that these debates happen around fictional characters who are usually not shown having sex and if they are, are not depicted with a set preference. So why are we fighting about it in fanfiction? It's not real. You can literally make your argument and write what you want and people don't need to get that upset about it. It's not about designating top and bottom and having a preference - it's the fighting on and on about why one would never do it a certain way or one has to be something. Just write your fic. Make your head canon posts. Read what you want.

Byler itself??? I've seen folks plead their cases for each iteration of Will as a top/bottom and Mike as top/bottom and honestly - if you write them well and make sure their characterizations and personalities are accurate, you can do whatever you want or like. I personally do have my preferences, but I read every combination and love reading every combination. I think it's kind of odd when folks get upset about a piece of fanfiction and won't even entertain reading a certain position and get angry that it was even written (and esp when they decide to tell the author? Like it's not that serious, please be kind).

Sometimes I've seen folks really try to 'over-correct' when it comes to both characters. Like with Will genuinely falling into a few 'gay stereotypes' or having trauma, he's portrayed as a top to challenge or compensate for these things. And I don't think depicting Will as a top is a bad thing, I just think for those reasons and those alone it's kind of not interesting to me. Same with 'Mike has to be the bottom because he's a brat and he needs to be put in his place and submit' which - several things to unpack I disagree with there. So, Will can be 'stereotypical' and that's not a bad thing! In several ways he is! And that's awesome. And maybe Mike wants to be the one to bottom but I don't think it's because his personality needs a subversion? If that makes sense.

Regardless, every fandom has this problem. And it's not something that I really think the show is going to clarify haha. So read what you like, write what you like. And be kind about it.

[microsofttothemax]

tagged by @clickergossip for top five tv shows!! you can be surprised at my answers lol most of them are cartoons

rise of the tmnt: you can pry this show from my cold dead hands. i love these boys so much and you can fight me on that. the show is v funny (even tho its a kids show technically JANSNSJSJ) and overall the characters are so shape and well animated. esp leo, his design kills i love it

stranger things: okay the show kinda bombed for s4 for me but i still love it. the characters are so complex and real and their CHARACTER DEVELOPMENTS??? LOVE THEM. also love ronancy v much im currently pushing them together like barbie dolls. lumax is adorable, mike kinda sucks, and hopper is so dad-shaped

the owl house: longtime followers of mine know this one was gonna show up 💀💀 i LOVE this show so much and was v emotional and meaningful to me. i kinda found it when i was questioning my identity and this show somewhat helped me find it?? idk its weird but anyways. hunter is lowkey ftm coded, lumity is so cute and well-developed (and raeda ofc) and i absolutely love willow and lilith. overall a great show and im hugging it close to my chest rn

arcane: okay yes i love caitvi v much but i mainly only watch it to enjoy vander parenting his kids for the first 3 episodes. this show was awesome and i love it dearly. spiderverse-style animation, the fighting and combat in this is SICK and so pleasing to look at. definitely one of my fav shows and im already ecstatic for the 2nd season

gravity falls: im rewatching it rn 💀 but anyway i love it and all its silly stuff. love dipper and mabel, true sibling core, and i still vibe to that intro bc it goes HARD!!!

i think you’ll find that im a big animation guy now!! WHOOPS

tags (bc i forgot WHOOPS)

@lauronk, @bearrycool, @jinxedgods, @st4rgems, and anyone else previously tagged or whoever wants to join!!

[charlieslowartsies]

Hi i have 2 questions. Number 1- do you have any fnaf fanfic recommendations, because i have been, no joke, rereading yours, the upon series, olf, and a smattering of one shots for the past 4 years whenever i get into a fnaf kick and im desperate for new material but slogging through the ao3 tag makes me lose faith in humanity. Number 2- why did you draw your mike so good looking, I Dont Appreciate It (/lh i love the design) i always imagined him looking like a scruffy college dude in like worn out sneakers and kinda baby faced and hes Not hes So Not That

1. hi! Here's an ask with a handful of fnaf fic recs (apologies if there's some you already listed in here) Iii actually don't read much fnaf fic these days, so if anyone has any suggestions for anon, def chime in guys! (Can't Go Home Again is a monster of a series, that might be fun to read if you don't mind Mike/Mari. And in any case there's never anything explicit, it's romantic slow burn.)

2. LMAO well tbf he DOES start out scruffy mess...I mean if you go back, his early designs/drawings are like that. Devil's Spine he's DEF a raggamuffin man. As the knight guard grew, Mike def took on a life of his own and the more I wrote him the more he changed in my mind's eye. I kind of cobbled together Mike's characteristics from lots of sources. Ahh let's see: young Alan Alda, Roger Radcliffe, Milo Thatch, and David Hasselhoff during his Knight Rider days. (Actually tbh that's MOST of Mike personality and visually, esp his height.) Though the fact his bangs always make a 'M' is kind of a 'him' thing he developed on his own. He used to have the Freddy's security hat but I dropped it when I decided his fluffy messy hair was more fun to draw and that Mike doesn't like wearing hats because of his hair XD damn character's, coming to life and dictating their needs. I'm glad you like him tho 8< I sometimes worry how 'my' version of Mike Schmidt works/comes across, if he's accepted or not...

[ulyssessklein]

Doug Aldrich of The Dead Daisies Discusses New CD – Burn it Down!

By: Robert Cavuoto 

Doug Aldrich

The Dead Daisies are Doug Aldrich and David Lowy on guitar, John Corabi on vocals, Marco Mendoza on bass and newest member Deen Castronovo on drums.

The Dead Daisies new CD, Burn It Down is set for release on April 6th, 2018 via Spitfire Music/SPV. The band is re-energized and coming out swinging with their heaviest and most powerful CD to date. The first three tracks on the CD are monstrous; “Resurrected,” “Rise Up,” and “Burn it Down;” and the CD only gets better for there with a ballad “Set Me Free” which is rich in guitar tone and texture.

The closer, “Leave Me Alone” is hard-hitting, as the band never takes their foot off the gas! The band will embark on another World Tour in April with shows in Europe, Japan, United States and South America.

I caught up with Doug while the band rehearsed in New York City to discuss the making of Burn It Down, Brian Tichy’s departure, and what fans can expect from while on tour!

******

Robert Cavuoto: I think Burn it Down is The Dead Daisies best CD to date. It’s a heavier CD than previous CDs with no filler. Did the band have any discussions prior to writing the CD in terms of overall music direction?

Doug Aldrich: That’s really nice of you to say, as I’m happy to hear it. We had a good time making it, and I think we were a little more focused on this album in what we wanted to accomplish. I’m happy we were able to add some different colors as not to remake the last album.

We talked about making this album a bit heavier. After touring in support of the last album for a couple of years, we found that “less is more” with the The Dead Daisies. That simpler riffs with more straight-ahead groove songs resonate with our audience, especially at festivals.

A song like “Make Some Noise” always works, so we tried to go for some big riffs like that. Our producer Marti Frederiksen was a huge part of it. He was involved at the writing stage, and we used some vintage gear as well. We definitely talked about what we wanted to achieve.

Robert Cavuoto: Are you more comfortable songwriting now than when you first joined the band?

Doug Aldrich: Maybe a little bit.  We got some good songs last time we just didn’t talk about what we were going to do beforehand. Playing together for as long as we have doesn’t hurt, also knowing each other’s strengths so we could hone in on them.

Robert Cavuoto: How did the making of Burn It Down differ from the making of Make Some Noise?

Doug Aldrich: One of the main differences is that Deen came into the band and took over on drums. Brian is on one of my best friends, and I always miss him when he is part of something then goes. I thought Deen was the perfect guy to come in and step things up for the band. Aside from that, the other difference was we wanted the straight ahead kick in the teeth sound; guitar-wise, on the last record but with more of a vintage tone. We used some fuzz boxes, and I sometimes recorded through a Leslie cabinet as it has a vintage 70’s vibe.  The sound on this album was Marti designing. When we told him our vision and he said he could do it, but we would have to give him total control and couldn’t change our mind mid-stream. We gave him control, and he designed the sound the way he saw fit. It worked out really well.

Robert Cavuoto: How many songs did you write for Burn It Down?

Doug Aldrich: We wrote almost 25 songs; some without lyrics but with the structure intact. We narrowed it down to what we liked and then Marti selected the ones he wanted to focus on which were the 11 songs on the CD. We had the two covers; “Bitch” by the Stones and “Revolution” by John Lennon.

Robert Cavuoto: The band writes such great songs why do you still add the cover songs now that you are established?

Doug Aldrich: It’s something the band has always done. When people didn’t know the band, the covers really helped with their exposure, but we continue with it because we really enjoy adding them. “Bitch” is such a great song that we wanted to reintroduce it to our younger fans. The song has some great riffs, and we put our spin on it. Even though we are getting to a point where people know our stuff, there are still people who don’t know us, so these covers help establish ourselves.

Robert Cavuoto: What guitars did you use on the CD?

Doug Aldrich: Primarily I used my Gold Top Les Paul for a lot of it. Also, ESP built two Telecaster customs for me that I really love. In the past, I used to have a ton of guitars for all these different parts in order to get additional color. For example, when I was working with Whitesnake, it would be an acoustic day, and I would bring ten different acoustic guitars and put ten different microphones in a circle around me. I would then record each guitar using a different mic looking for the best sound.

You can spend an entire day doing it and by the time you are ready to record you don’t even want to play. [laughing] This is what is different about the Daisies, we just knocked it out! That’s what we do!

For the upcoming tour, I have a John Suhr single cutaway guitar called the Ora, which is insane. It’s similar to a Les Paul style with some cosmetic changes to the design and improvements to the intonation. I still have to break it in, there is a video of me playing it on my Instagram account, I barely warmed up, and the guitar played itself. I’m also going to take a Gibson double neck out on tour as well. Some of the songs have more flavor in them and need a different treatment live.

Robert Cavuoto: Tell me about Brian Tichy’s departure from the band.

Doug Aldrich: It was amicable; it would be more interesting if it weren’t! [Laughing] It came down to him wanting to accomplish some things on his own and wasn’t sure what his schedule would be for the year. He decided with management to get someone in his place for the album and the tour, as it would be difficult to find someone who would play like Brian for a tour after the album was made. Brian supported Deen joining. Whenever you change a member the sound changes. As long as it’s going in a good direction its fine.

Robert Cavuoto: Was Deen selected because of your connection with the Revolution Saints?

Doug Aldrich: Marco had known and worked with Deen in a band called Soul Circus. Everyone really knew him. Deen had taken some time off to get himself together. He did a phenomenal job on the Revolution Saints record, but he really wanted to get back on the road. He is recovering and sober for three years. He is the best “Deen” he has ever been. He is full of energy, positive, and happy to be with the band. We flew him to the writing session and got it right away. He can play anything, but with the Daisies, it’s important to understand the simplicity that we all keep in mind, and he got it after hearing the demos.

Robert Cavuoto: You have an upcoming European and US Tour, what songs from the new CD can we expect to hear?

Doug Aldrich: “Rise Up” for sure will be a big one live. I hope we do the ballad “Set Me Free,” as I love the version on the album, but it sounds more expansive and emotional live. We’ve relearned and rehearsed the entire album because we don’t know what is going to work and go over the best. We will swap different songs in and out of the set list to see what works.

Robert Cavuoto: I’m going to put my three favorites in the ring, “Rise Up,” “Resurrected,” and “Burn it Down.”

Doug Aldrich: Those three will be in there for sure. “Burn it Down” we are going to expand it live and “Resurrected” is such a kick-ass track.

Robert Cavuoto: I didn’t realize that you were in House of Lords for a period of time.

Doug Aldrich: Gregg Giuffria and James Christian formed the band. They did the first record with Lanny Cordola on guitar and not sure what happened with him departing. I had played on some demos for them, and they loved it. One of the demos was “Can’t Find My Way Home” by Blind Faith. They loved it so much they wanted me to do the album and join the band. I was in Hurricane and just finish an album and videos.

I couldn’t leave Hurricane to join House of Lords as I had too much invested. They got guitarist Mike Guy. When they rehearsed for the tour, I think they were overly sensitive about making the guitar part sound exactly as I had recorded on the album. Mike and I both play differently, both are good. They wanted him to sound like me, and that was probably putting pressure on him.  They decide it wasn’t working out and asked if I would do the tour. I was free, so I did the tour. After that, I was done as I was doing other things. I really liked playing with the guys. Gregg and I really hit it off.

GALLERY