#especially because i FOR SOME REASON decided to add a silly little hat to every drawing????

[asexualbookbird]

im actually glad october is almost over bc let me be honest im running out of doodle ideas

[theminecraftbee]

On the subject of modpack recommendations, I made a custom one for myself a little while ago and i've been playing it nonstop since.

It's very chill, and lighter on the mods so my silly little laptop can run it without crashing. I put it together cause most modpacks are so complex and overwelming to my lil brain. I've found it a good mix of still feeling like minecraft, but having the benefits of the 'more' from the mods.

The lineup is: Create, Farmer's Delight, Sophisticated Backpacks, Waystones, Comforts (the sleeping bag mod), an animals mod called Naturalist, Xaero's Minimap/Worldmap, Decorative Blocks, Macaw's Doors/Trapdoors/Lights & Lamps/Bridges/Paintings for some more decor options, and Simple Hats (I wanted to wear a fox hat on my head. sue me). There's a few basic quality of life mods too, like AppleSkin and JEI, and some compatability add on mods for Create and the waystones to the maps, but that's it.

It's worked really well so far, and i haven't crashed at all-- though i have fallen victim to the massive sinkhole in the neighboring savannah I've been using as my strip mine and tree farm. I put keep inventory on, it's fiiiinnnneeeee-- I never like having stakes for death anyway, makes it too stressful. Let me throw myself from build height to bedrock without having to do the walk of shame for my stuff--

My game chugs a touch with Create, but all I had to do was turn down my graphics and be VERY careful to not dump out thousands of entities at once But that's just Create, really

oh, this can be a really great approach to playing modded too, especially if you personally know what mods you like and don't care about stuff like recipe compatibility! the main advantage of a 'true' modpack is normally that the good ones balance the recipes of the different mods to each other, and also i really prefer modpacks personally that have quest systems. but if your goal is to "play with mods" mostly, or, say, like you, you have a computer that can't handle heavier modpacks, or you just wanat a few things you like, this is a path that is DEFINITELY an option for a chill modpack!

i will say for those new to modded, here are some mods i recommend everyone include of the QOL variety, even if they're otherwise not doing many mods:

some variety of mimimap; xaero's is the one i'm most familiar with but choose your favorite.

if that minimap doesn't come with waypoints for some reason, get yourself a mod that adds waypoints.

quark. i never play modded minecraft without quark, if only for the rotation lock feature alone (never worry about which direction you're facing while placing a block again). you can go through quark's website to decide which features you'll enable and disable, and this is possible to do through an in-game gui, so even people who don't want to touch .json files can easily configure what quark features they do and don't use! it just adds... so many little qol things.

appleskin. this just makes the food bar more useful and shows you saturation. i don't know why vanilla doesn't do this.

jei (just enough items). you will ALWAYS WANT JEI WHILE PLAYING MODDED I CANNOT EXPRESS ENOUGH HOW HANDY THIS IS. a searchable list of every item in the game, which you can click on in order to see their recipes, and even automatically transfer items from your inventory to a crafting grid for that recipe! it's in every modpack ever for a reason! the larger the modpack, the more you're gonna want this!

a performance mod. personally i'd recommend not using optifine, as optifine is a mod a lot of other mods note break them, but if your particular pack is optifine compatible, go for it! most packs i've seen go with either sodium on fabric or rubidium on forge, but there are also other options! i'd just include at least one.

any other convenience you've ever had in another modpack that you want! personally, i need something like tom's simple storage network, drawers, or both to want to play a given modpack, because i get sad without storage, but maybe you only want to play packs with a variety of crops! maybe you think sophisticated backpacks or sophisticated storage are a requirement in your mind! maybe supplementaries or other decorative mods are a requirement to you! the world is your oyster! add whatever of those!

[raeynbowboi]

The Character Forge: How to Play as Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl in DnD 5e

This is a rather unusual build option, as these aren’t technically characters in the Yugioh series. However, I consider it a fun and unique challenge to try and build them. Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are the ace cards in the deck of Yami Yugi. Though in season 5 the anime decided they were the spirits of the Pharaoh’s high priests trapped as duel monsters that still serve their king in death. So that’s a fun thing to think about the next time you play one of these cards.

A Heroic Spirit

What race you choose is probably going to depend on which version you want to play. If you want to play who they were before they died, Mahad and Mana were ordinary humans with no superhuman abilities beyond the study of magic. So normal Humans works for who they once were. If you want to play as the duel spirits they became, you could choose Kalashtar because the Dark Magician is the bond of the high priest Mahad with the Illusion Magician spirit. Kalashtar is a race whose body is split between a host and a dream world spirit. Dream world, Duel Monster Spirit World. Close enough. They are also tasked with guarding and serving the Pharoah loyally, which has lowkey guardian angel traits, so Aasimar is a possibility. It’s a bit silly, but they are synthetic beings. Just holograms really. They could be Warforged since they aren’t actually real or alive. Just computer code and projected images of light as duel monsters. They could also be Variant Humans because they’re Shonen anime characters, and the spirits of former humans.

Honestly, they have no alignment and little personality. Make them however you want and go from there. I have never actually seen season 5, so I don’t know the personalities of Mahad and Mana.

For background, Mahad is a high priest and Mana is his pupil. Mahad and Mana are both Acolytes. Dark Magician is the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense, so Sage is appropriate, while the obscure (but I think it’s legit?) Student of Magic is great for Dark Magician Girl. 

Powers and Abilities

The Dark Magician’s primary spell is the Dark Magic Attack, and the Dark Magician Girl casts Dark Burning Attack.

As Mahad, he had the ability to summon duel spirits to fight on his behalf, conjuring them through large stone tablets. Mahad also possessed the Millennium Ring, which points you in the direction of whatever you’re trying to find, and lets you place and remove souls from bodies.

Support Cards:

Dark Burning Attack: Destroy all enemy facedown monsters Dark Burning Magic: Destroy all enemy cards. Dark Magical Circle: Add other Dark Magician support cards to your hand. Dark Magic Attack: Destroys all enemy Spells and Traps Dark Magic Expanded: one monster gains +1000 ATK and ignores enemy spells Dark Magic Inheritance: Banish 2 spells to draw 1 DM support card from deck. Dark Magic Twin Burst: DM gains ATK of all DMG on the field and in Graveyard. Dark Magic Veil: Pay 1000 LP to summon a dark spellcaster Dark Renewal: Sacrifice enemy monster and your caster. summon dark caster. Illusion Magic: Sacrifice your spellcaster. Add Dark Magician to your hand. Magic Formula: DM’s Spellbook. Increase DM or DMG ATK by 700 points. Magical Hats: Dark Magician becomes hidden beneath 1 of 4 magic hats. Magical Objection: Counter enemy spell, trap, or effect and destroy that card. Magician’s Circle: when foe summons, you and foe can summon a caster Magician’s Defense: Take half damage while you control a spellcaster. Magician’s Navigation: Summon DM from hand and dark caster from Deck/GY Mystical Box: Dark Magician trades places with another monster. Thousand Knives: Destroys 1 enemy monster

Other Common Cards

Change of Heart: Take control of enemy monster for 1 turn. Dark Hole: Destroy every card on the field. Dian Keto, the Cure Master: Gain 1000 Life Points. Magic Cylinder: Bounce enemy attack at enemy’s Life Points. Magic Jammer: Counter 1 enemy spell card. Mirror Force: Bounce enemy attack, destroy all ATK position enemy monsters. Monster Reborn: Summon 1 monster from either Graveyard. Mystical Space Typhoon: Destroy 1 Spell or Trap card. Negate Attack: Portal sucks up enemy attack, opponent battle phase ends. Raigeki: Destroy all of your opponent’s monsters Reverse Trap: Buffs and Debuffs switch. Buffs weaken, Debuffs strengthen. Spellbinding Circle: Enemy monster -700 ATK. Cannot attack/change positions. Swords of Revealing Light: 3 gleaming swords, enemy can’t attack for 3 turns. Trap Hole: Create pit trap. Destroy monster with 1500 ATK or more.

Class is in Session

Cleric     Arcana: As Mahad and Mana were priests, this is a way to incorporate that religious background with their current powers.

Sorcerer     Divine Soul: Similar to Arcana, Divine Soul blurs the line between magic and religion, and allows Dark Magician to pull power from the holy spirit of Mahad residing within him. Since both Dark Magician and Dark Magican Girl float, the wings this subclass gives at level 14 could be flavored as simply allowing these duel spirits to fly/float without the wings being visible.     Shadow: They are the DARK magicians. Their signature spells are DARK Magic Attack and DARK Burning Attack. Pretty self-evident.

Warlock     Celestial: Again like Divine Soul and Arcana, this option connects Warlock with religion, but the subclass has some Radiant flavor which is a little unusual for the DARK Magicians.

Wizard    Conjuration: When Mahad lived, he used his Millennium Ring and magic powers to conjure the spirits of Duel Monster tablets to play shadow games.     Lore Mastery: He’s “the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense”. It stands to reason that his understanding of magic would run so deep that he could alter and bend it to his will. Especially to turn any spell he casts into Necrotic damage for his dark magic attacks.     Theurgy: Mahad was the high priest. So, he could have been a wizard who had studied the religious magic of his day to obtain his powers and to cast both Cleric and Wizard spells with one stat.     War Magic: The ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense is probably going to be extremely powerful in a fight, so having a build that’s made to fight is right up his alley.

How to Play as Yugi Mutou

Before making this post, I’d tried to make Yugi as a potential build. However, an obstacle I encountered was that I had Yugi as a Conjuration Wizard, and there simply weren’t enough Wizard spells that summoned creatures to fight on your behalf. However, if you combine that summoning focus of Yugi with the magical capabilities of Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl, and treat them as his Deck Master, they can work together to fill out Yugi’s spell list with DM and DMG spells and fight side by side as effectively one character.

Stats and Proficiencies

In order to be the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense, Dark Magician needs the absolute maximum Intelligence and Constitution stats. He needs to be able to deal serious magical damage and shrug off enemy spells. During Yugi and Joey’s duel against Para and Dox, the Dark Magician did a front flip in what seems like medium armor. That shows quite a bit of Dexterity. Beyond that, fill out the other three stats or dump them as you see fit. However, I will admit, the Dark Magician Girl does seem more charming than her mentor, and could be a Sorcerer who casts with Charisma instead of Intelligence.

Arcana Insight Perception Religion

Name: Mahad, the Dark Magician Race: Variant Human Background: Sage Alignment: Neutral Class: War Magic Wizard (20) Base Stats: Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 17 (+3) Constitution: 20 (+5) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 8 (-1) Charisma: 8 (-1) Saving Throws: Strength: -1 Dexterity: +3 Constitution: +5 Intelligence: +11 Wisdom: +5 Charisma: -1 Combat Stats:  HP: 182  AC: 13  Speed: 30  Initiative: +8  Proficiency Bonus: +6  Passive Perception: 15  Dark Vision: 0 feet Proficiencies:    Arcana (Sage)    History (Sage)    Insight (Wizard)    Religion (Wizard) Skills: Acrobatics: +3                  Medicine: -1 Animal Handling: -1          Nature: +5 Arcana: +11                      Perception: +5 Athletics: -1                       Performance: -1 Deception: -1                    Persuasion: -1 History: +11                      Religion: +11 Insight: +5                        Sleight of Hand: +3 Intimidation: -1                 Stealth: +3 Investigation: +5              Survival: -1 Equipment:    Arcane Focus: Staff

Spell Slots 1st (4) 2nd (3) 3rd (3) 4th (3) 5th (3) 6th (2) 7th (2) 8th (1) 9th (1)

Dark Magician’s Spellbook

Cantrips                    3rd Level                                 6th Level    Create Bonfire           Call Lightning                           Arcane Gate    Eldritch Blast             Counterspell                            Globe of Invulnerability    Firebolt                      Dispel Magic                          7th Level    Mage Hand               Fireball                                      Conjure Hezrou    Mind Sliver                Magic Circle                              Mord’s Sword    Minor Illusion             Summon Lesser Demons      8th Level 1st level                     4th Level                                     Antimagic Field    Detect Magic              Arcane Eye                               Dominate Monster    Hex                             Banishment                           9th Level    Mage Armor               Conjure Minor Elementals        Prismatic Wall    Magic Missile             Conjure Shadow Demon    Shield                         Leo’s Secret Chest    Witch Bolt                   Locate Creature 2nd Level                      Phantasmal Killer    Arcane Lock                Summon Greater Demon    Crown of Madness   5th Level    Flock of Familiars        B’s Hand (Arcane Hand)    Knock                          Conjure Elemental    Locate Object              Dominate Person    Magic Weapon            Infernal Calling    Mirror Image                Legend Lore    Misty Step                   Planar Binding    Shadow Blade             Synaptic Static                                        Teleportation Circle                                        Wall of Force

Features:

Arcane Deflection: When attacked, as a reaction, add +2 AC or +4 saving throw, but cast only cantrips next turn. Arcane Recovery: Once per day, after a short rest, restore 10 or fewer level 5 or lower used spell slots. Deflecting Shroud: 3 creatures take 10 force damage after Arcane Deflection. Durable Magic: +2 to AC and saving throws when concentrating on a spell. Magic Initiate: Learn Eldritch Blast, Mind Sliver, and Hex. Cast with INT. Power Surge: You have max 5, each surge adds 10 force damage to a spell. Researcher: You always know where to find information or who to get it from. Signature Spells: Cast Fireball and Dispel Magic without using a spell slot. Spell Mastery: Cast Magic Weapon and Mage Armor without using a spell slot. Tactical Wit: Add your INT mod to your Initiative.

keep in mind, the spell list is not conclusive, it’s a personal choice. I chose to have Dark Magician learn all the spells of the Arcane Cleric, and just tried to pick the standard magic spells, especially about anything with Arcane in its name. Because both Yugi and Mahad summon monsters to fight for them, I decided it was appropriate to give Dark Magician a lot of conjuration spells, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the Deck Master Yugi/Dark Magician build I suggested where Yugi does the summoning and Dark Magician handles everything else. It’s not a perfect build, but then, I never expected it to be. Still, I hope you guys found this to be a fun, quirky DnD concept. Let me know if you’d build this character differently than I did. And as always, thanks for joining me in The Character Forge, where heroes are made.

[niftybottle]

Hey @tulipsandsake, I’m your @bering-and-wells-exchange person. I saw you reblog D&D and Critical Role stuff, so I thought I’d do designs for Myka and Helena as D&D characters. Helena is a half-Drow multiclass Bard (College of Glamour)/Artificer (Battle Smith), while Myka is an old-school (2e/AD&D/Baldur’s Gate era) human dual Kensai->Mage. (I don’t have races/subclasses for everyone, but Artie is a college of lore bard, Claudia is an Artificer, Pete is a fighter, and I’m not sure what Leena is). Helena is very much a “seduce anything that moves” ~D&D Bard~, while Artie is very much not - he leans hard into the collection of lore/jack of all trades angle, and while he can play music very well he borders on anti-social. This is the source of some of the tension between them, with his distrust for her Drow parentage occupying most of the rest.

At this point I’m going interrupt to give a blanket apology if I explain something you already know - it’s hard to judge knowledge levels with a gift exchange without ruining the surprise, so I’m going to err on the side of explaining things just in case.

Helena is a bard to capture the importance of her novels, but novel-writing isn't the most practical in a fight or as a live performance, so I gave her an instrument. I chose the hurdy-gurdy, which is a (real) instrument with a very silly name. I picked it because it is very complex and mechanical, like something she might have invented or cobbled together. It’s kind of like an automatic violin or fiddle - rather than being plucked or bowed, a crank on the side is rotated, which moves a wheel across the strings. Rather than frets there are keys which hold the strings at certain points when pressed. There are also “drone” strings, which play a given note (that can be adjusted using a tuning peg) whenever the wheel is turned. You can technically “play” a drone string by holding a sting as if a guitar string as the wheel turns, but that isn’t traditional. Both drone and melody strings can be adjusted using tuning pegs, and apparently you can adjust the exact note the keys play. Some hurdy-gurdys (but not Helena's) also have additional strings not played by the wheel that can be played like a guitar. Hurdy-gurdys do not have much standardization, and the number/presence of all the different kinds of strings can vary.

Helena's bard college I went back and forth with - the college of glamour is about charming, as in the magic, which does suit her, but the college of lore would also be good. Ultimately I decided that college of lore would be better for Artie. Battle Smith, her artificer specialization, I kind of chose to make the character a little more practical to play - artillerist might have suited her character a touch more, but not too much more, and the battle smith's ability to use intelligence for (magic) weapon attacks/damage reduces the important stats to two (int and cha) rather than three (adding str or dex for weapon rolls). Helena's Steel Defender is Dickens the Mechanical Cat, and he can turn the crank for the hurdy-gurdy, letting her play it with one hand.

I don't have her backstory completely pinned down; I feel like her Drow parent escaped to the surface rather than being a functioning member of Drow society, if only to reduce the sketchiness of the alternative method of conception. Christina is definitely a valid "reason for adventuring", but Endless Wonder or fleeing the consequences of a lab accident or charm spell wearing off are also possibilities.

In terms of the illustration itself, I tried to balance bard flamboyance, artificer practicality with a touch of mad science, and Helena's canonical slightly Victorian elegance. I definitely needed the fancy bard hat, because I am of the firm belief that every bard needs a fancy hat. She's wearing a cute pair of overalls (and I now have "stylish overalls" in my google search history), but they got covered by Dickens :( . With the more muted browns inspired by the artificer half as well as her canon style, she was looking a little drab for a bard, so I added a little cape. In terms of skin/hair/eyes and being half-Drow my thoughts were kind of: leaning in to the purplish/blue/lavender skin thing some illustrations of Drow have, because between the inherent problems of the evil elves having black skin and wanting to stay fifty feet away from anything that might come close to being a race-bend I wasn't going to deal with having her skin be darker. I think it turned out OK? For some reason Helena's eye color is significant to me, so they stayed brown rather than Drow purple or something, though they wound up a bit brighter thanks to my attempts to add a little purple. Jaime Murray's hair is iconic, but more for its smoothness and luster than its color, so I was fine making it white as long as I kept the style. The hurdy-gurdy was a bit of a nightmare (twice over, since I had to ink it), which isn't surprising - I kind of cursed myself with that instrument choice, but it was so perfect ;_; . In general, and especially in comparison with Myka, Helena's illustration fought me the whole way down. If you watch the time-lapse, you can see some of the references I used, but far from all - I streamed so much hurdy-gurdy playing youtube is still confused, and the pose went through some shenanigans.

Now, to Myka. Thinking of her pre-med before pre-law before secret service vaguely remembered quote, I thought of the old Baldur's Gate fighter(kensai)->mage cheese build, and thought it might be a good way to capture that simultaneous indecision and discipline/intelligence.

Going very briefly into Baldur's Gate/2e: Kensai, in BG, is a Fighter kit. Kits, in BG and 2e both, are a little like specializations in 5e, in that they are a kind of further customization beyond the class itself. The difference is, not every character has a kit - there is a base class (fighter) and a kit is a set of trade-offs, taking away base class features in exchange for various benefits. So fighter, the base kit, is pretty similar to the fighter in other editions - good at using weapons and armor and attacking a lot. Can equip the best stuff, and use it well, but doesn't get a lot of bonuses apart from that of equipment. Kensai (in BG), on the other hand, trades the ability to wear armor (and use non-thrown ranged weapons) for scaling bonuses to to-hit and damage (abstracting some things for you), and a minor one-time bonus to natural armor, as well as the Kai ability, which temporarily maxes out damage on successful attacks, usable a few times a day, depending on class level. In short, they trade off the armor portions of the Fighter class for additional weapon bonuses.

In Baldur's Gate, if you want to build a dual fighter/wizard, kensai is a great pick for kit, since wizards can't cast in armor anyway, but they can cast spells to boost their AC, mitigating some of the disadvantage of the kit. Mage is a base class and basically what would be called a wizard in later editions. Mage kits, with the exception of wild mage (in BG), which is a whole thing I won't get into, are pretty much picking a school to specialize in - they get bonuses to spells of that school, but there is an "opposing" school which they can't use at all. I wouldn't be terribly interested in those specializations even if I could use them for Myka, but I couldn't, because of how dual-classing works.

Dual-classing in BG and 2e is one of two methods to have more than one class on a character. Which one you can do depends on your race (as does a lot of things in 2e). If you're human, you dual-class; if you're not, you multi-class. Multi-class characters are more what you'd expect from multi-classing in other editions - you have two classes, you gain levels in both. There are differences (exp is divided evenly between classes, rather than choosing what to level, class and combination restrictions), but most relevantly, you can't use any kits with multi-class characters. So, we want to dual-class, not multi-class, so that Myka can use the Kensai (BG) kit, which makes her human, which is fine.

Dual-classing, compared to multi-classing, is weird. Basically, you start off in one class, with a kit if you like, and level normally in that class/kit until you decide to switch, at which point you are done with the first class and can't level in it anymore. Then you *start over* in your new class (which cannot have a kit), as if you were a level one character in that class, without (effectively) the ability to use anything from the previous class (except hp). This continues until the number of levels in the second class exceeds that of the levels in the first class, at which point the character regains all the qualities and abilities of their first class. Dual classes can wind up quite powerful, but they require both planning and a willingness to be weaker for a time to be more powerful later (which I feel suit Myka well - she's a planner and has the patience and discipline to accept temporary weakness to be stronger later). So, given that we want to use the Kensai (BG) kit, Myka needs to start with it, and then switch to mage later, since the second class can't have a kit.

At this point I want to clarify why I keep specifying Baldur's Gate and/or D&D 2e for things. Turns out, Baldur's Gate does use D&D 2e as a base, but makes some modifications. One of the changes it makes, which I didn't know when I started this, is the Kensai kit itself. Kensai is not officially a 2e kit, and technically isn't in 2e at all. There is a (fighter-ish) class in the "Oriental Adventures" book for first edition, but it isn't quite the same, more it's own class that happens to share some tables with fighter. Since the end goal is character design, not creating a legal 2e character, I won't go too far into it, but I did create both a (cheated to level up) Baldur's Gate kensai -> mage and a (1e-ish)Kensai->(2e)Mage, using the rules from 2e for most things not directly in the Kensai class description (and ignoring the stat requirements for dual-classing since I didn't roll any 17s); screenshots of both should be in the supplemental reblog, in addition to a link to Helena's dndbeyond character sheet.

Fortunately for me and my lack of foresight, both BG Kensai and 1/2e Kensai have similar flavor: a heavily "eastern" inspired warrior with even more discipline and asceticism than standard fighters, focused on their weapons and unable to wear armor, with a restriction to either lawful (1/2e) or at least not chaotic (BG) alignments (if this sounds a little monk-ish WotC agrees - kensai is a monk specialization in 5e, being a monk that can use a not-monk weapon). Also fortunately for me, mage is wizard is mage, regardless of edition. Magic from book learning/intelligence. Not too complicated.

In terms of character narrative, in canon, I feel like coming to the Warehouse was a significant breakpoint in Myka's life and worldview. Not being a writer, this small essay notwithstanding, I'm going to sum it up as a break from tradition and from seeking the approval of her father. Where joining the Warehouse crew was for canon Myka, I want dualing from Kensai to Mage to be for DnD Myka, with reaching the point where she can use Kensai features again representing the peace with her past she eventually reaches at the warehouse in canon. What I'm picturing is: Myka is from an isolated and very traditional mountain village where the kensai tradition (and 2e mechanics) has been preserved. Myka is trained in this tradition, and has both the mental discipline and physical capabilities to excel. The people of this village are purists and don't believe in using magic, especially in conjunction with being a kensai. Somehow (at this point my having thought this through starts to fail) Myka gets ahold of some spellbooks, and with her love of books and curiosity, begins to read and reread them, until one day she casts some magic. This is against the rules, and she's kicked out of the village for "corrupting" their traditions, and now she has to make her way through the world with only her fledgling mage talent to rely on.

Talking about the illustration/design itself: given the heavily eastern vibe, I'm trying for a samurai/ronin style based on my recollections from my weeb phase. I wanted in particular with the robe/kimono to make something that would be in between the plain practicality of Myka's kensai kimono and the flashiness of wizard robes (if you watch the timelapse, you may spot the part where I accidentally took a left turn into fallout's vault boy coloration before tweaking it a bit). I also wanted to have her using magic, and I think the magic effect turned out well. Really, this illustration just came out really easy. I was just … drawing hands. If you watch the timelapse, I even saved a third hand for a while because it was so nice (but at the wrong angle). I don't know what happened. Really the only snags were the aforementioned Vault Boy Moment and coloring Myka's hair (although I did decide to leave her face as a sketch rather than try to ink it).

I think maybe I've babbled enough for now. I'll reblog this in a moment (since tumblr hates links) with character sheets, timelapses of the drawings, and a bonus doodle that came to me reading the artificer specializations.

[ladyofpurple]

here it is: the post Literally no one was waiting for. i'd put it under a read more thing but i'm on mobile and can't be assed to get out of bed so fuck it. we air our dirty laundry on main for the world to see like men.

so waaay back in february or something, i started seeing a psychologist again. i'd been seeing a psychologist for a while last year, but she had a private practice and got too expensive over time, so i had to stop. now, however, i finally got a referral to the public mental health offices in my county. which is nice, because norway has this neat thing that means when you go to the doctor, public health care facilities, refill prescriptions for medications you have to take daily, etc, the money you spend on those things gets recorded and after you've spent like $260, you get a free card that gets logged into your medical records and you don't have to pay for any of those things for the rest of the year.

anyway, i mentioned a couple of years back that i finally got put on antidepressants for the first time. they helped a lot, but then i just... stopped taking them. there wasn't a reason, really. i just forgot to take them one week when i was stuck in bed with a headcold, and then it was hard to get back in the habit again. i tried to get back on them off and on for a long time, but i'd inevitably just forget again. until, like, i wanna say november/early december last year? i started taking them again. there were still some slip-ups every now and then, but for the most part i took them almost every day. any gaps were no longer than two, maybe three days at the most, and those gaps were maybe once a month or so on average. averages aren't really useful in this context, but i hope you get the idea.

anyway, i finally convinced my doctor that, no, seriously, i really need to see a psychologist, i've always needed to see psychologists my whole life, seeing psychologists help me, i can't afford a private psychologist so i need a public one, and after a lot of begging and insisting on my end and a lot of hemming and hawing on her end she finally agreed to refer me. except she forgot to actually send the email she'd been typing in front of me, and then she quit, so there was a lot of confusion and time spent sorting things out until i got my first appointment.

i didn't like my psychologist at first. she was way older than i'm usually comfortable with (that's a personal me-problem that i know is irrational, and i'm not gonna go into the why but yes i'm working on it), and very blunt in an exasperated sort of way. she made me angry sometimes. she made me feel like i wasn't trying hard enough. but she helped me get shit done, so i guess she was doing something right.

in june she called in a psychiatrist to help adjust my medications, so i started taking zoloft in addition to the other medication (remeron, aka mirtazapine) that i was already taking. the mirtazapine was helping with my depression, but my anxiety was still pretty bad. the zoloft helped.

by my second appointment with my psychologist, she asked me whether i could have adhd, or if there was a history of it in my family. now, i have a lot of family with adhd (how closely related we are by blood is a bit of a mystery to me, my family tree is more like an overgrown hedge and who knows who fits where), and my grandma used to joke that the women in our family "all have a little bit of that adhd brain in us", but as far as i knew, nobody in my immediate, direct bloodline had such a diagnosis. i had my suspicions about myself, of course — i knew that not every focus or attention related problem necessarily has a specific attention disorder source, but i also knew that what i was experiencing couldn't be "normal," in the sense that if i walked into a room with 100 people in it, 86 of those people wouldn't necessarily look at a list of my symptoms and go "oh same hat." i've had add on my about me for a while now. maybe that was silly of me; i hadn't been diagnosed with it, and what i knew about the specifics of it were picked up piecemeal off the internet. you know, that super-reliable place where everyone is honest and factual all the time?

anyway, this began the process of investigating the merits of such a potential diagnosis. research was begun. questionnaires were taken. my mom was invited to one of my sessions, in which she revealed that, oh yeah, bee tee dubs, she's always suspected i have adhd. did she mention that she has also apparently always suspected ocd and that i'm autistic? no? whoops, well, she has now.

end of june i was referred to the neuropsychologist devision of the public health care place. over the course of a little over 6 weeks i went in for 2 interviews, in which i answered several questionnaires, talked about my life and childhood and traumas and what my mom had told me about her pregnancy and labor, every possible symptom i'd ever had, and was sent home with even *more* questionnaries. in addition to these, i went in for two rounds of "testing," in which i was tested on my memory, pattern recognition, reaction time, impulse control, and probably a dozen other things. i was nervous. it was exhausting. i wanted answers but was terrified of what those answers would be.

end of august, my mom came with me for the big reveal. and guess what? she was right. primary diagnosis: adhd, special emphasis on the attention deficit part. bonus diagnosis: asperger syndrome. surprise! i'm autistic, i guess.

it was hard to come to terms with. which sounds really silly, since i wouldn't have even been taking those tests if i didn't think the outcome was a possibility. and it's not like the diagnoses were surprising either. the adhd part was easier to accept, mostly because i already felt pretty confident i had it. but the asperger diagnosis was harder. having to unlearn all those ingrained ableist stereotypes and social stigmas is hard, especially when you had some you didn't even realize were there. it's very surreal to think a thought and be like "no, wait, i do that. that joke is about me." it's a very surreal and slightly upsetting experience to realize how biased you are as general rule, but especially about a facet of your own identity you weren't aware of. and the feeling of everything and nothing changing all at once. i've always been like this. a doctor telling me i have two cognitive/developmental disabilities isn't an event that magically gave me these disabilities. my brain has always worked like this. the only difference between me now and me a year ago is that i have an official, medical reason for Why now.

that's another thing: coming to terms with the idea of being "developmentally disabled." it's not like i'm suddenly a different person — i have to constantly remind myself that my brain has always been like this. but having a piece of paper confirming that i am legally entitled to special allowances in the workplace or at school because i have not one, but two "disabilities" is absolutely buckwild to me.

it makes me reevaluate my life and my past. how many situations did i make worse because i did not have the capacity or knowledge about how my own brain works to self-reflect? was i high-functioning in the past because life was simpler? was it because i subconsciously had a better handle on what works for me and what doesn't, and somewhere along the way i lost that? or was it simply because i didn't have the option to be anything other than high-functioning? it's confusing.

i also lost my spot at college. i can still reapply next year if i want, but at least now i know why i was failing out lmao

anyway, by my birthday in september we started the process of adjusting my medication again. upping my zoloft, getting me off remeron, and as of 6 weeks ago or so, beginning ritalin.

it was a rocky start, but i'm up to 60mg now. two pills in the morning, one in the afternoon. i have a goddamn alarm for 8am every day, even weekends. my sleeping is still wonky, but at least im genuinely tired by 8pm every night. the psychiatrist still wants me to try melatonin for a month (even though i told her multiple times it has never worked for me, and my problem has never been "i'm not sleepy enough"), so i'm on a whopping 2mg of melatonin for the next 30 days. norwegians are fucking WEIRD about melatonin, don't even get me started.

a slightly unexpected side-effect (on my end) of these medication changes: remeron made me gain weight. like, a lot of weight. and i was constantly hungry all the time, overeating to ridiculous amounts. why did nobody ever tell me that weight gain and metabolism changes are a side-effect of anti-depressants? i was more active this summer than i'd been in, like, three years and i just got fatter. which was incomvenient because i kept outgrowing my clothes. anyway, a side effect of ritalin is a loss of appetite and general weight loss. the combination of regularly taking ritalin and dropping remeron entirely? i eat a fraction of what i used to before, i've almost entirely stopped snacking, and i've lost 15 lbs in less than a month. i've already noticed my face is slightly slimmer now. maybe by christmas i'll be able to fit into my old tshirts again.

anyway, my psychologist quit, so i have a new one now. i've only seen her a few times, but she's veeeery different from my old one. i can't decide if i like her or not.

in the middle of all this, i've been going to the social security office as well to kind of get some of my own money, possibly help me get a job at some point in the future. my caseworker is super nice. if she's over 30 i'd be shocked. i relate to her really well, she's very helpful and understanding, and she's very patient with me and my bullshit. she's the kind of person where if we met at a party or something we could probably hang out.

anyway, she's helped me get out of the house sometimes. she introduced me to this youth club volunteer group thing called the fountain house, designed for young people who've dealt with or are currently dealing with mental illnesses and such. i hung out there yesterday and the day before and did some basic office work. it's nice. and then there's a work placement place that can either give you a job on site in one of their four departments, or help you get a job at an actual business elsewhere with more support and leniency than you might get if they just hired you off the street. i'd start in their second hand store. they clean and restore all donations they recieve, and they're super fucking cheap. i treated myself to my literal lifelong dream of owning a vintage typewriter (!!!!!) yesterday, because it's almost christmas and goddammit, i've been doing so much shit the past couple of months i deserve it. do i have space for it? not really. do i have a plan on what to use it for? no. was it heavy and miserable trekking through the snow and rain yesterday back and forth? was it worth the backache in the morning? fuck yeah it was.

a fucking lot of things are happening all at once. diagnoses, medications, lifestyle changes, work placement, social clubs, dealing with bureaucracies on all sides just so i can feel like a person again, not to mention juggling hobbies like writing and drawing and maintaining my irl friendships. i'm getting as many balls rolling as i can while i have the opportunity and mental/emotional capacity to, but i'm worried i'll burn out again. i'm stabilizing and slowly building my life back up, but jesus christ it would suck if this stupid house of cards collapsed again. but i'm tentatively optimistic. who knows, maybe it's not to late to course-correct my mistakes.

so long story short, that's why i've barely been active on tumblr for months. that's why i haven't been writing, drawing, or reading fic. it's coming along, but it's slow.

i guess the most important thing is that it's coming along at all.

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “The Blossom Files”

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Caitlin Vanarsdale, Angela Zhang

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

The truth is out there...and you're not going to like it.

The episode starts with Bubbles, Buttercup, and Barry recreating a portal to space from a magazine to find out the truth about the aliens from some distant galaxy. Blossom shows up, and she is annoyed at all of this. Not because this gate to the stars is clearly made up of cardboard, appliances, and Blossom's toothbrush randomly put in the shape of one, though it probably doesn’t help, but because...

Blossom: There’s no such things as space aliens! How do I know this? Because there’s absolutely zero proof! If you can’t see it, there’s no proof!

No, not just the specific aliens they're talking about, or the methods they're doing to get those aliens to appear, but to Blossom, aliens don't exist. Because it's not like Blossom has even seen an alien, never mind fought them. Especially not broccoli aliens. Especially not aliens that can predict their every move.

And especially not transforming alien crimelords. For the record, this episode did air in other countries before Never Been Blissed. Those other two examples came from the original; the reboot still can't decide whether or not that show happened.

Still, the Powerpuff Girls have fought giant monsters, super-powered vikings, ghostly Elvis supervillains, the devil, and magical extra-dimensional twerking pandas. The possibility that something around the billions of suns in this universe is alive should not be too hard to believe. This could be irony, but the episode does nothing to suggest that was intentional.

As those silly alien believers activate their gate to the stars, a surprise visitor emerges and asks them to take them to their leader! Buttercup tries to act like one, but the alien immediately tells her she is not a leader. A good tie in to the personality of who this turns out to be.

Of course, it’s just Blossom doing a prank towards the people she loves. Well, maybe not Barry. I hope. She's the bad guy of the episode, after all! She continues to mock the alien believers, knowing this will in no way blow up in her face like that kid who cried wolf.

I could see where they're going with this. Bubbles, Buttercup, and Barry are doing this unbelievable action to find some unbelievable creature, and Blossom, the super-smart one that knows everything, is the one that’s the down-to-Earth science believer that mocks them for it. The alien believers even put on tin-foil hats in the previous scene to secure their placement in this stock plot original storyline.

At night, Blossom gets up to get a glass of milk. Strawberry milk, to be precise. It’s almost like that old Got Milk commercial Blossom was in, except without all of that pesky crime fighting it came with. Clearly, we just needed more Blossom thinking her sisters are buffoons for believing in aliens.

Speaking of which, the fake gate to the stars starts flashing, and Blossom goes out to investigate, and to stop the gate from wasting all the electricity. Struggling to find the off switch, something pops out of the portal and steals her strawberry milk.

Specifically, a baby octopus-looking alien named Chiru. Clearly, it must be an alien; it can only say its own name. If it was an animal in this reboot, it would be talking and giving Bubbles less of a reason to exist. I'm surprised that they decided to avoid Blossom trying to rationalize what she's seeing, one look at this alien is all it takes for her to become a believer.

Blossom follows around Chiru throughout the night, as it takes her on a journey throughout a forest and a lake. It uses its powers to grow trees and generate fireflies, giving Blossom some great scenery to be in awe at. I actually really like this scene; it eschews the reboot's focus on dialogue and humor and focuses more on building a dream-like atmosphere.

I could imagine this whole scene being a dream, and I was dreading to think they were going to just smash cut to Blossom waking up. However, the way they cut from this scene made me feel like they're leaving up to the viewer if it really was a dream. It made me more interested in watching the rest of the episode to see where it was going, which should be a standard.

We fade to Blossom waking up the next morning on her couch after supposedly laying in the middle of a grassy field grown by Chiru, and immediately wakes up her sisters to tell them all about her adventures with the alien. Buttercup thinks Blossom is playing another prank on her, but she drags them outside to see all of the wacky stuff the alien did. To her shock...

There's only an adorable raccoon, according to Bubbles. Much like a lot of episodes in the reboot, there's very little to seperate Buttercup and Bubbles other than Bubbles' actions being sillier. I will give this episode a point for having a joke that implies Bubbles can still talk to animals.

Blossom desperately tries to point to where all the alien plants were, but they're gone, too. Bubbles gives the most down-to-earth explanation that she dreamt the whole thing, while Buttercup calls her a nutbar. Blossom is not willing to let her beliefs be challenged by what are surprisingly believable explanations from the airhead and the rascal, so she decides to do a plan.

The next night, Blossom decides to set up a photo camera, draw a few crop circles in the ground, bang a gong in the middle of the night, and laying out a glass of strawberry milk, all to lure out Chiru. Blossom doesn’t even put on her pajamas before this, but neither do Bubbles and Buttercup when they come up to ask why Blossom is doing any of this. See, the tin-foil hat has turned; now it's Blossom being the wacky alien believer this time!

I should point out that even though Blossom is acting like the pinhead this time, even if she might be right, they decide not to do any wacky face jokes with her. In fact, the only real wacky face jokes is Buttercup's face shrinking when she goes "ooo-ooo-ooo" when talking about aliens. This is one inconsistency I can appreciate. With Bubbles and Buttercup on the side of the non-believers, who can Blossom turn to?

Enter Barry Macherbacher, who just decided to show up in full Men In Black gear. He is less willing to consider Blossom a nutbar, but he denies Blossom's claim because the alien she's describe doesn't sound anything like the aliens in his big red book. As soon as he reveals this picture, Blossom points out something behind him.

Well, so much for the “what if she really was dreaming” possibility, as we suddenly see a giant, tentacled alien coming out of the portal. It's rather sudden, though I do appreciate that they chose the ending that makes sense in this universe.

The Powerpuff Girls could easily take this monster on with all of their ultra-super-powers. They're not going to be instantly tied up in the alien's tentacles, and be helpless to the point where they need a raccoon to save them.

They instantly get tied up in the alien's tentacles, and Bubbles attempts to get a raccoon to save them. They do not even try to fight this monster. No eye lasers, no super strength, no aura powers, as far as this plot goes, they may as well be ordinary human beings. Bubbles doesn't even attempt to speak raccoon; it could have reminded me this was not meant to be a plot to a different cartoon.

(The racoon leaves)

Bubbles: Ah, Waterloo all over again.

Oh yeah, Blossom dressed that racoon up as Napoleon because...I have no idea. It is the one thing that seems to be consistent with what we've seen in the reboot so far: Blossom still doesn't know who won the Battle of Waterloo.

Suddenly, Chiru shows up in full view, and does some sort of wave attack. This causes the tentacle monster to go back into the portal, letting go of the Powerpuff Girls. Chiru also destroys the portal and Blossom's camera, and then just leaves. Yes, mark this as yet another episode where the Powerpuff Girls have to be saved by the character of the week.

The episode ends with Blossom gloating that she knew she was right all along about Chiru, and does a victory dance out of screen. The only real punishment she gets for essentially bullying her sisters because they believed in aliens before is Buttercup calling her a nutbar again. The episode suddenly cuts to black, with no real resolution. Well, I guess this is supposed to be like the X-Files.

Does the title fit?

They were going for Mulder and Scully, in both ways.

How does it stack up?

I try to find some positives with every episode I review, and it was easy to spot here. I was intrigued when I saw Blossom flying around with the alien in the dream-like forest, and it's sad that the rest of the episode does not live up to it. It's good to see Barry in a major role, too, even if he doesn't really do anything funny.

Other than that, I could not get into this episode. Your mileage may vary, but this flying object is best left unidentified.

Next, PPG 2016 tackles the timely pop culture sensation that is Survivor!

← Man Up 3: The Good, The Bad, And The Manly ☆ Aliver →

[r95irth]

Here is the (late) oc presentation time ! And this week I present you Kyouji Kamino !! 

Before reading it, I want to add that Gunni gave me two new ocs (and adorable ones) so they are put in the classes now =) Here is the uploaded document that recap classes / characters : 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1acW4wZqcFobpi7CzRArJazrgfi4K1BSeiBeAp8wKAAg/edit?usp=sharing

Again if you want to send me your OC just ask. I only have two places left for 1A and 1B but I can put your OC in the class 3A so they can be the mentors ^^

Kyouji Kamino

Writer comment about his development : One of the very first that i created and barely changed since then. He is one of the few with a very sad backstory -well some has xD)

His character in five words : influenceable, emo, honest, sociable, playful.

His quirk : Kyouji awakened his quirk at the age of 4 during an accident. His parents were beginning to think he was quirkless but the boy didn’t have the time to worry about it. Kyouji’s quirk is called spectral projection, because you don’t know if it’s an astral projection or something more complicated. The fact is that his consciousness has an image he can manipulate at will and can travel through matter. Solidifying this astral body to touch anything with it requires him an enormous amount of energy so he tends to avoid that at all cost, (except for his wearing his hat) keeping physical interactions to the bare minimum. It took him years of training to be able to be seen by others and even more to be heard, while being on astral projection.

His power has a lot of downside, for example he doesn’t know how to stop the spectral projection (or is afraid to) so he never actually sleep or eat. He can get very tired but it’s a mental exhaustion when he has trouble to focus, move, speak or understand simple things. He does meditation to get better.

Sometimes his spectral projection “buzz” as he said, like old tv which couldn’t receive a signal. This is really bothersome.

Despites those, he is probably one of the most skilled of both classes when it comes to mastering his power.

Likes : cartoons, radio and music.

Dislikes : Being alone or ignored, when other people are sleeping.

His family : Kyouji lost his parents when he was 4. They were rather ordinary, both officials that met while being at work, fell in love, married and decided to have a kids. They were planning to have a second child when they died. Kyouji remembers his mother’s hair, not their color but a bit of her scent. He also remembers being carried on his dad’s back and how he used to roll his shoulders as he walked. It saddens him to know so little about them and it scares him a lot : you can disappear from the world and no one, absolutely no one remembers you, not even your own child.

Kyouji had a grandfather too, but the man died from old age. Since then Kyouji is considered as a pupil of the state, like 6 other children in the same case as him, and took the name of Kamino. A name he absolutely despises.  

Secret past : Kyouji is one of “the orphans of Kamino” a bunch of kids who lost their parents during the Kamino accident. He was buried under the rubbles of his parent’s flat and was the only one that was still alive when they extracted them. He was sent to the hospital immediately, but got into a comatose and till today he still is. He didn’t wake up. Well, not physically at least. But for him it’s quite the contrary, he felt like he never fell asleep at all! He remembers being buried and screaming for help, he remembers getting out and crying to talk to policemen and doctor where he was, but that no one could see or hear him. Only animals -especially dogs- reacted to his presence which helped him keep any sanity and not think he as just plainly dead. Even today Kyouji tries really hard not to think about this period, since it was awful. He was small, and alone, and no one could hear him, even less comfort him. He didn’t get what was happening to him and how to end it.

It took him months before understanding that he could interact a bit with the world around him, if he focused. He found out by accident, as he watched his grandfather talking to his “body” and crying. He wiped out his tears.

Happiest memory : The day he managed to be visible by other human, and especially his grandfather. The old man was so happy he gave Kyouji a hat, that the boy still wears everyday even if it asks him a lot of effort for that. It helped him train to be not only visible, heardable but also has physical grasp on things when he focus.

Saddest memory : Well all the memories related to the accident and the months he spent thinking he was some kind of ghost. He is absolutely terrified about the idea of dying or worst reverse to this state. The reason he wants to be a hero is not out of kindness, or for revenge against All might (though he does not like the hero), it’s because he wants to be famous, to access immortality thanks to fame. Knowing that if he manages to be a hero, no one will ever forget him make the possibility of dying more bearable.

Best friends : Kino Mirai is his very best friend, for strange reasons. At first Kino scared Kyouji because, well he basically said that he couldn’t see Kyouji’s future, hence that Kyouji might have none. But the more he spent time with the boy the more they became close. They don’t share a lot of interests yet they always find something to say. Plus the very protective behaviour Kino shows toward Kyouji moves him a lot.

Strangely, Lazare is also a good friend of Kyouji, again a strange friendship no one seen coming. Lazare tends to be hurt -almost dying- often, then regenerates fastly thanks to his quirk. This ability fascinated Kyouji yet made him a bit jealous (he kind of wised he, or his parents, had the same). But getting to know Lazare made him see that every ability has downsides and that you can’t be summed up by your power alone. This idea allowed them to become really good friends.

Kussan, Kubo and Ume are his other friends, since they all loved a grampa or a grandma in their lives and they can share a lot about those moments with them they hold dear.  

Other than them, he spends most of his time with Takashi and Kahei, watching them play video games, Tsubaki when he plays music or, Satoru.

Max is also a good friend he spends time with, especially when he is with Sei, Lazare and Hide. They always do ghost prank, or horror movie pranks together. Once they managed to make Mahô faints and that’s really something to be proud of !

Get along well with : Kyouji likes loud, energetic and lively people the most, so he usually tends to go see them first when he needs something, as he knows that it will be done with them. So he likes Mahô, Yuu, Riku, Riichi, Koyuki, Chiori,, Yosuke, Yume, Reika.

Doesn’t get along with : Kyouji is not hard to be friend with, but there are three persons has has trouble to get along with for personal reasons. First is Ryota, because the boy is calm, quiet and prefer to be a witness of the agitation rather than part of it It’s almost the same reason why he has trouble to stand Yule, the girl tries very hard to be part of the action, he sees that, but she is tends to step back and hides everytime it asks her too much effort and that annoys him a lot. Kyouji has enough of being a witness of action and so people who doesn’t react get on his nerves easy. For a very petty and silly reason )he is aware- Kyouji doesn’t like Goro ; the boy has a big and loving family and Kyouji is very jealous of that.  

Crush on : Kyouji might be really mature for his age (the good side of not being able to sleep) but love stories? Romance? He’s stuck at a 4 years old reaction to this. Basically he just say “yerk” and runs away every time he sees people kiss. This is not his priority at all.

Conclusion about his relationship in class : Kyouji is very mature in a lot of ways, but sometimes you can still see the childish side that he never could get rid off. He likes everyone at first, and tends to get influenced by those he likes (changing opinions and taste, not by hypocrisy but because he didn’t had one in the first place so aligning with other’s doesn’t bother him). Thanks to that he manages to be friends with almost everyone. But when he doesn’t like someone he just can’t hide his unfriendly opinion. He has no filter over this.

-Evaluation of his teacher Aizawa Shouta-

Potential as a hero : Kyouji is a bit of a tricky question, sure his power offers a lot of potential for lot of jobs, but offensively speaking? It takes a toll on his body -the real one- that i do not approve. I would rather him focusing on healing and waking up from his coma first, before trying to be a hero.

Weak points : The downside of the spectral projection are not healthy. He lacks offensive power most of the time that he manages to cover with his skills but that won’t always be enough.

Strong points : He is very powerful and skilled when it comes to use his power, and he always does his part of work, at the most of his capacity. He is a reliable ally.

Commentary : I was against his admission into UA from the begining, i only accepted him in my class so he wouldn’t be in All might’s (it would have make a bad atmosphere in the class). But he proved me his dedication and motivation. I have yet to find a reason to expulse him. It’s like having a second Midoriya, another kid who doesn’t seem to get that he will live up to 50 years with this body so he has to take care of it, and i’m not enjoying that.

[mahousparkles]

Character Design in Magical Girl Raising Project: Arc 1

One of the things that immediately caught my attention about MGRP was the character design. The outfits don’t go together as a lineup in the way traditional magical girl outfits do, rather they exemplify each individual character’s abilities; this allows the viewer to learn a great deal about the character just by looking at them.

I’m sure other people have made similar posts, but as a passionate character design enthusiast I’d like to discuss my personal thoughts on the character design in Arc 1. I’ve tried to keep everything as spoiler free as possible. And yes, I do plan to do the other arcs, so stay tuned!

Snow White - 7/10

I actually like Snow White’s design, but with all the competition, I need to be a bit strict. Her outfit may not be as interesting as some of the other characters’, but that seems pretty intentional; Snow White is *supposed* to be the cliche, idealistic magical girl protag, so the artists didn’t have a lot of wiggle room with her design. Considering that, they at least managed to give it some unique elements. I especially like the bows on her boots and the ribbons on the front of her top that look like suspenders.

Ripple - 5/10

Ripple’s design has always been confusing to me. I don’t hate it per se, I just think there’s a little too much going on in it. It’s supposed to look like a cross between a kimono and a bathing suit, but really it just looks like a bikini with some fishnet accents and... pom poms? That’s at least one too many things for an outfit. I do like the scarf though, and the shuriken shaped hair accessory.

La Pucelle - 9/10

La Pucelle’s design was the first one in the series to get me really excited. It’s a simple and expressive costume that represents her personality and motifs as a magical girl. It sticks to two central themes, dragon and knight’s armor, and doesn’t have any unnecessary elements that stray from this theme. The frills add a splash of femininity without being overwhelming, and the muted, earthy colors are pleasant to look at. Altogether, La Pucelle’s design just seems very... cohesive. It’s well thought out.

Cranberry - 8/10

When I first pulled up this image, I planned to give Cranberry a 7, then it changed to a 7.5, then to an 8. The more I look at her design up close, the more I find myself liking it... but that’s kind of the problem. The fact that I didn’t take notice of the interesting parts of her costume until I sat and stared at it for five minutes means that her design is a little too ornate to appreciate at a glance. I think the main culprit is the huge purple roses; they grab your eye, and that’s the only thing you notice. I consider the jacket and tights to be the most fun parts of Cranberry’s design, so it’s a shame that they aren’t more noticeable from the get-go.

Ruler - 10/10

I consider Ruler’s design to be one of the most successful ones in the entire series. It sticks to a single theme and it’s immediately recognizable, but at the same time, it has those subtle, unique accents that make it fun to look at. The little diamonds in her hair and on her ears. The vertical stripes on her tights and bows on her shoes. The black lace adornment at the bottom of her dress. Every detail comes together perfectly to encapsulate Ruler’s vision of herself as royalty.

Yunael and Minael - 4/10

My favorite parts of their designs are definitely the speech bubble halos. It’s a cute idea that combines two aspects of their characters in a simple and effective way. Which makes it all the more disappointing when the rest of their designs are fairly, well, dull. They’re not bad, they’re just nothing very new. It’s also annoying how I can never tell them apart.

Tama - 7/10

This one boils down to personal preference; I’m not a huge fan of animal-based costumes, and I’m not really a dog person, so I didn’t love Tama’s design at first glance. But for what it is, it’s actually very well put together; the crop top and leg warmers are cute, and it follows my rule of sticking to a central theme. I respect it as a design, and don’t really have any formal critiques, it’s just not my thing.

Swim Swim - 5/10

I really feel like I should hate Swim Swim’s design. A swimsuit, headphones, bat wings, and whatever those weird tentacle things are? In one outfit? I mean, I know that 5 out of 10 isn’t a stellar ranking, but someone who breaks all my rules of good outfit design should at least be below Ripple, right? But oddly enough, I don’t mind Swim Swim’s design. Maybe it’s because the color scheme is consistent enough to tie together the unrelated elements. Maybe it’s because Swim Swim is actually a little kid and it makes sense for her to design a Mary Sue OC with bat wings as her avatar. Or maybe I just think that little garter on her leg is cute.

Hardgore Alice - 8.5/10

I couldn’t figure out whether to give an 8 or a 9, so I finally said fuck it and brought decimals into this. I’m sorry. Truthfully this design is a 9 in my book, but I’m afraid I may be letting the fact that Hardgore Alice is my favorite character in the series affect my review of her design. So I had to knock her down a peg. Well, half a peg. Anyway, despite pretty much looking like something I could pick up at any gothic lolita store, I like this design a lot. Is it just because I like Alice in Wonderland? No. Well, maybe. But I also like the muted colors and overall simplicity. And the bunny, of course.

Calamity Mary - 8/10

Whatever your opinion of her character may be, Calamity Mary’s got style. The fringe on her sleeves, the holster at her leg, the giant spurs on her boots; Calamity Mary is a cowgirl, and you can tell. The wild-west attire looks modern without being overbearing, there isn’t too much or too little going on. My only complaint is that I wish the hat was bigger and more pronounced! The hat is such an important part of an outfit like this, and I feel like it gets kind of lost with its size and shape as is.

Magicaloid 44 - 6.5/10

I have very mixed feelings about this design; all in all, I think it was the hardest on this entire list to rank. It is unique and relatively centralized, but it’s also kind of... clunky. Looking at it, it’s hard to understand what’s going on, and that’s a problem. Are those spiky things supposed to be her hair? If so, why do the bangs look so out of place? What’s up with the crown icons on her arms and legs? Is her skirt poofy or flat? I can’t help but overthink everything when I look at Magicaloid’s design, so although I don’t hate it, it kind of irritates me.

Top Speed - 9/10

Top Speed has another one of my favorite character designs in the show. Her design is a seamless combination of magical girl and witch, all in warm Halloween colors. I love her chunky braids and cape, the lace around her hat, and the frill on her sleeves. She’s immediately recognizable as a witch, but these little feminine details also help her fit into the magical girl ensemble.

Weiss Winterprison - 3/10

Um... yes. That’s a coat. Okay, next.

Sister Nana - 7/10

It’s hard for me to decide whether or not I like Sister Nana’s design. Impulsively, at a glance, I’d say I like it, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. The religious motif isn’t really my thing, but the simple black and white colors with a splash of red in the shoes pleases me. I also think the cross shape is used very creatively, especially with the neckline. I can’t really tell what those cushion-like things on her legs are supposed to be though.

Nemurin - 10/10

Maybe I should have given this one a 9.5 because I think overall I still like Ruler’s design the most, but Nemurin is certainly a very close second, albeit for very different reasons. Nemurin’s design isn’t as straightforward as Ruler’s or Top Speed’s are, mainly because “pajamas” is an incredibly broad category, and the artists have more room to be creative. Despite this, her design is wonderfully balanced, it doesn’t seem stuffy, and the colors work nicely. The long, dragging pigtails, the little clouds in her hair, the uneven socks; everything about Nemurin’s design tells us that this is a girl who likes to sleep and dream all day.

Thank you so much for reading my silly post, I hope you enjoyed it or it at least gave you a few things to think about. Feel free to tell me what your favorite design is in the tags!

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Gacha Gacha crate March 19

Here I am, ready for the next review! We’re getting really behind and I know I have to kick it up a notch; but good news, I’ve played so much Yoshi’s Crafted World that I almost have it 100% beaten : D I’m kind of sad about that, but I had so much fun playing it~

For this month, the booklet wasn’t as interesting- unless you really like Sumikko Gurashi like me x3 it features 2 pages with information above the characters and series, along with the Gacha Gacha Community page (the one I usually show at the start of the entry) like usual.

Anyway, I don’t really have anything else to bring up, so let’s get started with the review!

Banana Animals

So as you can see, the idea behind this one is to make banana look like cute animals... and a beetle.

You see where my finger is on the booklet?

I got the beetle T_T

Now, yeah sure, I’d really have like the seal- but I’m terrified of bugs, I would have preferred ANY of them. I was so shook by it that I was afraid to even open the capsule and couldn’t even stand to touch it. Even now I still can’t, but I was trying to overcome it considering I know it’s not actually a bug. It’s just a rotting banana that resembles one...

Rating: ♥ ♥

I loved everything in my box, except or this. This is the only thing that I didn’t like, which is a shame because the concept is super-cute. The figure quality as far as I can tell is really nice; and if you actually like bugs or beetles, this could be a fun addition to your collection.

Sumikko Gurashi Chokonto Mascot

After that traumatic experience I needed some cuteness to help me recover ;3 and lucky me, this was just the ticket! I love Sumikko Gurashi- especially Neko~

This is the second Sumikko Gurashi item we got in this brand (and my second Neko from this brand). Besides Neko, one could also obtain Tonkatsu, Shirokuma, Tokage, and Penguin? Each mascot is super-soft and plush, and they come on a rubber band-like piece. They all have really cute, thin “3D-esque pieces“ and are very accurately detailed.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

This almost reminds me of a plush, non-squishy squishy because it’s so soft. It’s also really cute and I love playing with it. I also think these would be really cute accessories for dolls if you didn’t want to use it for it’s intended purposes.

Neko Kaburu

Is it me, or does this kitty look a bit strange....?

Wait, I think it’s beginning to move. Now it’s... taking off it’s head?!

Oh, it’s a penguin!

That’s right guys, once again or this month we’re treated to disguised animals pretending to be kitties! We’re getting a bit of repeat this month in terms of “concept/ideas“, but at least they’re cute!

For this series, there are 6 available animals. Besides the penguin, there is a bear, a panda, a red panda, a koala, and a seal. Each with it’s own cat hat/head colorized to match it.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Besides just being adorable, these figures are extremely well made. The figures are made of a really good plastic/material (I can’t describe it, but it makes a really good, solid sound when tapping it), the paint is accurately applied, there’s no flaws. Honestly, you could just get it for the animal if you were collecting them and just wanted a nice figure to add.

My only itty-bitty problem is that I noticed it’s a little difficult to keep the cat head on for this one. It wants to keep sliding or spinning around, like “exorcist cat-penguin“. But there is a little notch, and it’s not impossible to use it, so it’s not a real problem.

Luxury Chocolate Mascot

To celebrate White Day, we got these adorable chocolate mascots by Toys Spritis :D There is 7 to collect ranging in various brands, including a really cute heart-shaped box I wish I got. But I think this one is plenty cute too.

There’s also something special about these....

It opens! And the little chocolates can be removed, the only way this could be any better would be if they’re scented (they smell like plastic but that’s it). If I somehow could, I’d definitely pick up the rest of this series ;3

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This is the perfect play or re-ment accessory, it’s so small and cute! I can’t stand it!

I have a concern with these, or at the very least this specific one. Because of it being a little sliding box, I’m kind of worried about it sliding open and everything falling out. See, the ball chain is on the red portion of the box, where the chocolate is. It doesn’t super-easily slide on and off, but it’s enough to concern me a little bit...

Chokotto Home Party

This our next fun item, a cute chocolate-based game series! These little games use all sorts of chocolates, like cookies, actual chocolate, donuts, ice cream. They’re ultra-fun and so cute and little~

These are by Epoch, and each one costs 200 yen.

For this game, the goal is to keep stacking the donuts until someone knocks it over. Whoever does that is the loser. It’s a very easy game to understand, but the included booklet does include instructions (in Japanese) to help you understand the game further.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Again I say, it’s super cute and little, and again, perfect for re-ments, doll houses (sylvanian families especially, which I’d like to use mine for when not playing with it), and it’s just really really fun to play with. I wish there was a way to store the pieces, but I mean, if you keep the capsule it’s fine.

Teaser

No, this is not a Gacha toy called Teaser, this image is a teaser : D Because this is our first DIY gacha we’re receiving in this box, and for that reason I’ve decided to save that for it’s own post, because of the pic limit and all.

So if you’re excited to find out what this is, stay tuned for that review!

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Quality - 5 out of 5. Everything came fine and in-tact, I loved the detailing on everything and how clean they all look. They’re kind of small, but due to a lack of knowing the prices for them, I can’t really say if this is worth what we pay or not.

Content - 4 out of 5. I would have given this the perfect score if not for the fact I detest the one item- but the theme itself is still plenty cute, and again I’m sure there’s plenty of people who would love it regardless.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10 cuties. This is the first Gacha Gacha crate I’m almost, nearly completely in love with ♥  Not only were the details crisp and clean on every piece, but they were just lovely and a lot of fun- even if one terrified me silly. Out of every box in this brand so far, this would be the one I recommended the most! But for now, I recommend every single one of the gachapon within it, so if you can find them I suggest buying one :3 or joining Gacha Gacha crate!

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

(I left off the item I didn’t review for obvious reasons.)

1.  Chokotto Home Party - How could I not give this first place? We get a whole bunch of cute sweets to play with! The detail on every single one is also really nice, and just plain cute- I’d have loved any of them but I’m really happy I got this one~

2.  Chocolate Mascot - I’m a sucker for little foods, so of course I really loved the detail and overall adorableness of this one. I might not have liked it as much if we couldn’t actually open it and remove the chocolates, but the detail on the outside packaging is really nice too.

3.  Sumikko Gurashi Mascot - I love love love Neko! I always get so happy when I see it, and this one is ultra-squishy soft, I want to cuddle it~

4. Cat-Head Animal Figure - I really like it’s detail and sturdy build. The penguin is also kind of cute.

5. Banana Animal - I can almost guarantee this probably would have been my favorite item i I had gotten anything else...

[robert-cormack-posts-blog]

Do We Really Need Sensitivity Readers?

There was a post not long ago about publishers using “sensitivity readers.” I wasn’t familiar with this title before, but it’s very real, and it drew a lot of angst and anger—and some rejoicing—from the social media writer’s sites.

One woman was all for it, saying sensitivity readers would help writers “learn to characterize different cultural groups properly.” When someone claimed it was just another form of censorship and asked the woman what she meant by “properly,” she exclaimed “It means stop writing crass, insensitive stuff about people you don’t understand.”

I’m all for preventing crass, insensitive writing. I mean, just the comments alone demonstrated more crass, insensitive writing than I cared to read. But I worry about anyone having the title of “sensitivity,” especially these days when it doesn’t take much to offend somebody — even using the word “properly.”

Here’s my problem with “sensitivity readers.” First of all, “insensitive language” could mean anything. Consider the University of New Hampshire’s Bias-Free Language Guide that lists “senior citizens” as an offensive term, preferring instead, “old person,” or “codger” if you’re being funny.

Secondly, it gives inordinate powers to someone with no specific training. After scouring the curriculums and degree courses at twenty universities and colleges, I found nothing even closely resembling “sensitivity training” (except a veterinary course on how to keep cows calm during artificial insemination, a good idea since I wouldn’t be calm if I got artificially inseminated).

Thirdly, like anything else, it’s terribly arbitrary and, at times, hypocritical. Take the case at Bowdoin College, where students were put on “social probation” for having a tequila party with sombreros. Ironically, the same night, a Cold War party was approved, where guests showed up wearing fur hats.

Maybe it was the hats that bothered the university. It still shows how silly things can get when student councils and administration decide to be sensitive.

As humans, we like to complain, and it seems we also like to show we’re easily offended. Human resource departments are now full of complaints — and not just sexual advances or corporate bullying. Today it’s about perceived intent, meaning someone thought they were being offended.

This is a big problem for human resources today since they don’t have “sensitivity” degrees, either, and half the time don’t have a clue what the complaining employee is talking about in the first place.

Since we’re now talking perceived intent as opposed to actual intent, we’re dealing with a broader landscape. Without real qualifications, and perception being so widely characterized, where do “sensitivity readers” draw the line? I decided to ask a publisher, figuring I might as well hear it from the horse’s mouth (which will probably get me in trouble for calling the publisher a horse).

 “’Sensitivity readers’ would only be used if something concerns us legally or ethically,” the publisher said. I told him that covered a lot of ground. “Just stay away from stuff people find objectionable,” he said.

Boy, it sounds easy, doesn’t it? Only that isn’t how most of us write. There’s always one character who decides to shift his or her thinking, and suddenly you’ve got a Buddhist Democrat on your hands. That’s just begging to have a “sensitivity reader” breathing down your neck. Far better to keep politics out of the book altogether but, then again, what do you do with the Buddhist Democrat — and what does the “sensitivity reader” do with you?

The point is, some characters are characters because they don’t conform to unobjectionable rules. If Ignatius J. Reilly in Confederacy of Dunces wasn’t the deplorable individual he was, we wouldn’t have one of the greatest, most original characters in literature. Ignatius is entirely believable because he’s so unbelievable. That’s what makes literature unique. Same goes for Madame Bovary, Lady Chatterley — even Gigi.

Keep in mind, when these books were first published, there was an uproar. In D.H. Lawrence’s case, Lady Chatterley’s Lover was banned for years. The book survived because it ignored convention. That’s not to say Lawrence, Flaubert, or Colette were trying to upset societal norms. They simply did what every self-respecting writer does. They allowed the characters to be themselves. Unless you’re ready to teach Madame Bovary morality before the book even starts, you kinda have to accept she’s a bit of a Runaround Sue.

We can’t turn characters into puppets, we can’t censor who they are and what they do. Some characters — my own included — are simply flawed individuals. Removing those flaws is like putting Ignatius J. Reilly on a diet and giving him etiquette lessons. You simply don’t have the same character, and pretty soon you don’t have literature, either.

One writer in that social media discussion summed it up by saying “How can one person have the power to decide what’s okay and what isn’t?” That brought howls of indignation, with that first woman saying “If you read the article, you’ll notice the person is called a “sensitivity reader” not an “editor.”

How that makes a difference is beyond me. Whether you’re a “reader” or an “editor,” if the publisher is worried about ethical or legal concerns, the offending words or characters — or even the plot — is going to get seriously debated and likely changed. That’s where literature becomes pulp.

Admittedly, publishers have every reason to be worried these days, especially as more young readers are coming out of “sensitivity-enforced” universities. Will the day come when books are wrapped in plastic with the words “Some language and situations may be offensive to some readers”?

And will “man” one day be banned because it represents a domineering tradition made worse by the subjects eating food with their fingers? Before my first novel “You Can Lead a Horse to Water (But You Can’t Make It Scuba Dive)” was printed, the publisher worried about my main character being male (even though the heroes are female). He pointed out that 70 percent of book buyers are female, meaning male protagonists are risky unless they’re amazing husbands, self-proclaimed feminists, or so rich they use money for toilet paper.

It’s a tough game trying to please the marketplace these days. And let’s not forget how publishers complain about large overhead expenses. Add “sensitivity readers” to the staff, and you have more expense and even less going to the writers themselves. I’m surprised this never came up in any discussion, although one writer admitted he was broke.

According to another publisher, the idea of “sensitivity readers” is simply to “detect words and statements that may be offensive to some people.” I thought publishers had people who did this already — you know, editors.

Maybe I’m being overly sensitive here, but it seems to me we’re worrying over words. Words can’t hurt you, and they don’t go away. You ban some, others take their place. It’s a continuum that’s been playing out for centuries.

Some words are obviously better than others, just as some writers are better than others. We can censor and belittle words, but they win out in the end. Like one poetess said about Charles Bukowski: “The man’s a raving chauvinist, sexist and an alcoholic. But I can’t find a writer who writes more bravely.”

I think the operative word here is “bravely.” It sounds a lot better than “properly,” which is just someone telling us how to do things. Would you have read “Brave New World” if it was titled “Proper New World”?

It’s one thing to respect the needs and emotions of others, another to restrict creativity to the point where we bore ourselves to death. Maybe we all need to be a bit more brave and a little less concerned about sensitivities. Otherwise, we could end up with a lot of lousy book titles.

Robert Cormack is a freelance copywriter, novelist, journalist and blogger. His first novel “You Can Lead a Horse to Water (But You Can’t Make It Scuba Dive) is available online and at most major bookstores. Check out Yucca Publishing or Skyhorse Press for more details. Coming soon (hopefully), a collection of short stories called “Would You Mind Not Talking to Me.”