#fatphobia in character design is real

[starrjoy]

it really bothers me how little variation there is in sonic character body types…we really gotta change that…

[homoquartz]

this post is not gonna be well put together but i am having feelings

mean girls is trending right now because the musical movie just came out and i feel insane. idk why i do, it was stupid of me to think that most people Got It, no one ever gets it, it was always about the memes and the aesthetic.

the first mean girls movie was based on a nonfiction book called queen bees and wannabes. it interviewed and discussed the social hierarchy system in teen girl friendships. how they hold each other to these insane standards of heternormative femininity out of sheer terror that they won't meet those standards themselves. the way they leverage their relationships for some small degree of power in a world designed to strip them of it, even if it drags other girls down.

the "you can only wear your hair in a ponytail once a week and on wednesdays we wear pink" speech was not an original creation for the script. it's a QUOTE from a real teenage girl. those were REAL RULES.

then the musical came, and it was one step removed from the intended messaging of the film. OG mean girls was not perfect (and was extremely racist), but it said what needed said. the musical leaned on the comedy more, but still left a heartfelt undertone, and still critiqued the systems in place. of course no piece of media is going to be perfect, but it was about the conversation.

then this new movie comes out and it is washed over in the veneer of white hollywood feminism so thick you can't see anymore. the problematic aspects of the original movie are taken out to avoid "offending" when the offense was the point. it becomes toothless, it becomes some other thing entirely. they changed karen's line "i expect to run the world in shoes i cannot walk in" to "watch me as i run the world in shoes i cannot walk in." because choice feminism is in vogue, suddenly this character whose entire point is that she doesn't think deeply about WHY she does anything is suddenly hip to the fact that the world is against her.

i think of sokka losing his misogyny arc in the new atla. i think of the Heathers remake casting the bitchy, identical heathers as queer and hollywood-fat outcasts. as if the story, the meaning, the allegory is hidden in the sets and the jokes and the music. it's a whole new thing now, and it's a thing that means nothing in particular.

the plastics should not wear jeans. they should not have curves. their queerness should be suppressed, painful. their sexuality is not a slay, it's the only thing they think they have of value. the santa dance isn't sexy, it's shocking, it's mortifying - they are children.

they're not mean because "we are all mean." they are mean because they are girls in a world that brutalizes them and crushes them into a standardized shape. they are mean because the world is mean to them. they are mean because it gives them some power back. they are mean because it's the only weapon they have.

the landscape of femininity today has shifted to camera-ready makeup at the age of 10, stringent performative hygiene standards, and avoiding being caught on film while having a genuine emotion. the consumerism, the fatphobia, the racism, the classism, the homophobia remain. We could have had a conversation about that.

[luciferanalyzestar]

Live reaction to Mastermind, ughhhhh.

Spoilers of course.

Gross.

I like this design; she's cute. Shout out to the character designers.

Satan's design is like whatever. Those imp-like horns on the top of his head looks silly. Just more fucking red on top of red. Loveart23's Satan design for her re imagined is peaked.

This shit is fucking gross, please STOP!

This design is bad too and Ozzie's outfit is hideous.

Bee's outfit here is 100% better than her main one.

See Mammon, no one wants you because you are fat and that's gross!!!! >:(((((

Notice that Mammon is the only sin that is overweight and the only one confirmed to be on the asexual spectrum. Levi's design is horrible. Those colors do not go together.

This line would be amazing if Loona wasn't a whole ass adult. This is so melodramatic I am giggling. "I love you guys." Yeah, you threaten to sexual assault them both to Mooxie and stalked them back in season 1. These characters are not "found family". This is the quality of this show now, just ass.

I skipped the song; I'm not listening to that shit. I'm tired of hearing Stolas singing about Blitz, This is a small smile on my face, you know why just look like my username.

YES SATAN!! This shit got me laughing, why he is crying over Stolass?? Fuck him, he is a fetishizer.

This is the FIRST time Stella and Via have interacted....we are at the end of season two. Look guy, she's being EVIL!!!!! and doesn't care about her daughter at all. *eye roll*

What does Stolas even do?? We never seen him do his royal duties, just fucking around with IMP or he is in his mansion.

You want to fuck your sister.

GET IT!! HE EATS A LOT!!!! MAMMON IS FAT!!!!! ISN'T THAT GROSSS!!!!!???????

I WANT TO PUNCH A HOLE IN MY WALL. Viv will never beat the fatphobia allegations. Let fat character exists without doing shit like this.

I notice that all or most of rail thin characters are rarely seen eating food but Mammon and Adam who are fat eat food on the regular.

I'm sending the fandom there too. My new favorite minor character! Thank you, janitor imp. You're a real one for this.

She better not assault Blitz every again.

Why is Blitz bathing him??? This is giving me bad vibes like why????

DROWN!!! Please do us a favor and DROWN!!!

Rating: 2/10

I don't care about Blitz, Stolas, and their relationship. It is boring and bland like dry moldy toast. It being the main "appeal" to Helluva is an awful choice, no one can tell me otherwise. This is why the views have been dropping since the released of Full Moon. The shippers are this show's life support and if they ever become unhappy, this show is tank.

This episode barely kept my attention unlike the previous one. I even paused it to eat some Hawaiian Rolls, and I had more fun eating bread than watching this episode.

The only thing that kept me interested was the small mentions of Lucifer. If did not have a hyper fixation on him, I would probably not finish the episode.

The crew hyping up Vassago by putting him in that pride parade print and other merch is funny because he does nothing. He has no personality out of being Spanish. If something is hyped by Viv or anyone else, it's going to be lame.

We know season three will have more focus on Ars Goetia so he will probably be Stolas' future Latin lover or even worse, a love triangle between him, Stolas, and Blitz. Vassago and Stolas should get together, they both have "ass" in their names.

Viv said this episode is one of her favorites and is self-indulgent. Self-indulgent where??? This is just your standard season two epsiode of Helluva. I thought it was going to be more of a musical episode.

Anyway, this episode is bad in my opinion.

[nekropsii]

What a about Caliborn makes him so cool in your opinion?

Go keep track of his progression as an artist alongside his development as a character and think about how these are intrinsically linked. Ponder the fact that he is both at his most obnoxious and at his most amateur when trying to ignore his unique style explicitly brought on by his canonical learning disability and mimic others rather than truly be himself. Consider how his explorations of art are genuinely cool, not a bad thing, and how we get some really neat multimedia stuff out of it.

Caliborn may be a shitty little teenage wretch but the way he is portrayed as an artist and as a disabled person is both really good and very real. It comes from a place of love. His learning disability is handled with a degree of gentle care that you would not really expect from Hussie. The place Caliborn's art style ends up in is so fucking sick and I actually unironically love it. The technique he uses is really interesting. It's intentionally reminiscent of an Etch-a-Sketch, and I'm a little obsessed with it.

This is so fucking good. I mean this seriously. He's right - that is some Pure Art Skill.

I just love the way art is employed as a necessary component of his character arc. It's so neat. You don't see visual cues that intricate too often. Usually it's just in character design, but watching his entire art style and even his medium of choice change several times over is fascinating. You can really tell Hussie had a lot of fun with him. He's also just really, really fucking funny. Just about every sentence that comes out of his mouth is Grade A Absolute Fucking Gold, and I'm honestly obsessed with his dynamic with Dirk. This may get me thrown to the wolves, but I personally think Dirk and Caliborn have way more chemistry than Dirk and Jake. Maybe that's because we actually see Dirk and Caliborn interact on screen... Lmao.

Necessary Topic: I don't know why people hate him so much. Like, I understand hating his misogyny and fatphobia, sure, but those are deliberate character points and not just Hussie-isms. I see people act like Caliborn is indicative of Hussie, as if Homestuck-era Hussie wasn't, like, famously really fucking good at writing female characters and absolutely not a misogynist. Caliborn's a parody of Homestuck Anti-Fans - which is a term we really ought to bring back, god, anti-fans are absolutely still a thing and good lord they're everywhere - who really were just shitty little bigoted haters. Calliope, the opposite side of his coin, was representative of, essentially, "the best kind of Homestuck fan" - an ultimately sweet young teen girl who willingly dedicates almost all of her time to this piece of fiction she loves so, so much, who draws a lot of fan art for the joy of it all, has OCs that don't fit any of the design conventions in Homestuck whom she pairs with the characters in it for innocent fun. Someone who has a lot of theories and analyses, writes a lot of fanfic, and is genuinely just having a lot of fun. Everyone loves Calliope. Even the characters in Homestuck love Calliope. They just think she's the cutest, sweetest little thing they ever did see. Caliborn was the worst kind. He sucks on purpose. No one likes him. He is a total nuisance to characters he is by all means trying to impress. I love them both.

It's also just funny that he's a canonical Intersex Transmasc who is probably Gay and this has, like, no relevance to anything about him, really. So no one really talks about it. Gender Hilarious, Gender Nefarious.

[psiirockin]

anyone who gives you hate for drawing chubby mike is stupid. chubby mike is so real and huggable. they just can't handle his chubby autistic swag. (In all seriousness, you're probably one of my favourite fnaf artist because of how unique your designs are. you're the first person i have ever seen draw the afton siblings chubby and they all look so cute like that. your artstyle is so good i just want to eat it. the way you color is so nice and the way you draw hair makes me want to explode. it's so so good)

I really do appreciate this + all of the other love I’ve gotten for my Aftons (and other chubbies!) in my asks + elsewhere. It does mean so much that people find them all appealing and beautiful. And some can even feel represented.

I get a VERY excessive amount of hate, for all of the Aftons being chunky but especially Michael. Other characters too, but the Aftons and Michael get the worst of it. I think it’s because they don’t find it attractive, but that doesn’t really matter to me. I think chubby children are normal, and fat men are normal & attractive.

I mean, he’s really.. average fat anyway? Like normal average body type so I dunno why people rant about me making Mike “obese”. My William is actually obese, which isn’t an insult. That’s just how big he is. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but I do find it strange how they think an average body type is so massive? Like really, what is midsize to them if they think that is obese.

Fat is normal, all bodies are normal in fact. And they are just drawings after all, so the amount of disgust & hate I receive for it— specifically on Tik Tok of course— is so laughable. All the support and love really is so encouraging though and overpowers any discomfort the fatphobia causes, so thank you everyone!!!!

[perfectlyperverted]

I dont want to text post too much on this blog because the whole point of this blog is for me to make drawings even if theyre crappy, so that I dont ramble, because rambling is one of my compulsions. But I dont have time to draw today and Ive been thinking:

I'm really happy that I am finally open/semi open about what I like sexually. My friends all know and joke with me. I tell people about my fat preference if it comes up, and I don't worry that I'll "look creepy" when I bring up characters that I have crushes on in group conversations anymore.

I really used to think that if anyone realized I had a preference, that I would be feared and exiled. LMAO. (Especially as someone who is a serious sfw artist trying to become a professional). After that fear went away, I was still obsessed with proving I was "good" (only liking the finest art and characters, checking myself 24/7, never admitting I enjoy kinks/kink art). I get OCD still, but I'm realizing all my fears made no sense.

I feel guilty and embarrassed, because this fear and OCD is a product of fatphobia I absorbed -- meanwhile I'm relieved yet saddened because it doesnt seem like I'm the only one who has had these feelings.

I'm glad that when I'm not paralyzed by OCD, I get to be myself now. It sounds dramatic if you can't relate but being sexually repressed and secretive for 20 years has been MESSED UP. (and it gave me OCD).

I'm glad that I get to design/write cool fat characters and not just say "oh yeah representation is important to me...thats all..." like some saint, but now say "representation is important to me and Im HORNY" like a real human person.

Hopefully draw something more about this later.

[thenixkat]

It's still just wild to me that between

-> the setting (fantasy medieval-ish europe-y place where it's established that sometimes folks don't get to eat between lack of funds and bad harvests)

-> the worldbuilding (stuff like heavier adventurers likely being more skilled/too skinny means risking being unable to be revived)

-> and the themes (having a healthy relationship with food)

you would think that Dungeon Meshi would actually be kinda fat positive. But no. There's an undercurrent of fatphobia that runs through it that feels so jarring that once you notice it it's hard to stop seeing it.

And it's not just the two really blatant places that it happens in the manga, like characters deciding to insult the only fat noble/rich person in the setting on their weight (which never gets counterbalanced by any character like complimenting a fat character on their figure in the whole manga) or our main characters going 'oh no he might get fat' about the hero gaining what is effectively a disorder (that could very easily kill him due to accidental self inflicted injuries due to no longer being able to feel certain physical sensations) from the defeating the biggest bad in the setting.

But also the smaller stuff like the gag about Izutsumi being shocked to see the fat-looking succubi after it was drilled into her head that the things are mindbreakingly hot. (Hmmm)

Or how you see folks point at characters like Nemari, Dia, Senshi (and Leed) as examples of positive fat rep but like. If you actually pay attention to like the examples of fat dwarves in the extras or in a few minor characters, what they look like if they were turned into tallmen (more or less if they were built like real world humans), you'd notice that they aren't fat at all. They're just muscular and not dehydrated, much like how Laios isn't fat just built and not starved.

Or even looking at like Leed and Zon (named and important) compared to the unnamed background orcs after the artist changed their orc design by the second time orcs show up in the story. And you just notice how much thinner Leed and Zon are compared to every other orc in a scene.

(And of course, the extras that reveal that orcs and dwarves actually have a lot less body fat than it looks like they have b/c they are *literally just big-boned*. They are leaner than a irl human would be at their height and girth due to literally having thicker and broader skeletons.)

Or the whole thing where apparently fat elves just... don't exist. Not even fat civilian elves or fat adventurer elves. Like we know that there's fat half-foots even though none of the half-foot major characters are fat b/c being able to do their job in a dungeon means they have to be as light as they can to not set off traps. but we at least see some thicker half-foots. But elves? Apparently only come in noodle.

[helluvaartcritique]

Gonna slide here real quick

One thing that bothers me is that Viv has NO clue what clowns and jesters are.

While, yes, they are similar (bright clothing, makeup, tend to exaggerate) they are NOT the same

Clowns typically use slapstick humor to entertain, typically making a fool of themselves for shits and giggles

Jesters are entertainers who's jokes are at the expense of the audience, mocking them, ridiculing them, and typically improvise.

A clown makes a fool of himself, a jester makes a fool of the audience.

In Loo Loo Land, Robo Fizz would typically slide into the jester role. Making fun of the audience (calling the children ugly in his son, and mocking Blitz for his trauma and past with Fizzarolli.)

It was interesting parallel and idea to Blitz being a clown, while Fizz got the attention, Blitz got none. What is a clown if it has no one to perform for?

Mammon, however, bothers me SO. MUCH.

Jesters are usually the only person able to mock the King and not get his ass beat by it. So I was wondering if Mammon was gonna mock Lucifer (he has a crown in his design. I'm calling him a King.)

And since he's the king, he can't lash out unless he wants to be seen as a weak king.

But nope! He's just the ruler of greed, and exists for no reason just to be a fatphobic stereotype rather than an interesting character with potential.

If you want an actual good story with a jester character mocking the ruler/king figure, go play Super Paper Mario and look at Dimentio/Count Bleck's interactions. They didn't let Dimentio's design just be there for fun; it's a part of his character because he is A JESTER. THAT'S HIS JOB.

But Viv is saying that clowns and jesters are the same thing, which NO

Sorry for the rant. Just wanted to yell about this

- Jester anon

No need to apologize, Jester Anon!

It is something that bothered me about Mammon, design wise. Asides from being the only 'fat' character Vivziepop has drawn, (with her saying Mammon is ugly and that he's shown eating food disgustingly like "Hey look at this fattie who loves to eat and is evil!" That's just sickening. It's fatphobia, plain and simple.) Mammon doesn't even resemble a clown (since that's his whole deal.)

Also, I have played Super Paper Mario! I played it recently as I found my old Wii, I genuinely recommend the game for both the story and the unique game play (I find it a lot of fun, although it is different from the previous ones.)

[dazai-fan-page]

I know it's not my fandom of choice but since it's animated I dub it close enough, Hazbin Hotel people can y'all stop hating on Valentino stans and fan content? The character's an ass and I don't like him much bc Angel, however you have to remember that he's not real. If you don't want to see anything about that character, block people and tags don't start being a dick to real people because they think a character is fun and you don't.

I am in no way saying that Val is a good guy, I am saying that Hellverse is 18+ so you could at least act like adults. And to those like me who ignored the age thing, you chose to do that so now you have to be mature about what you found, fiction isn't real, what someone likes in fiction has nothing to do with what they like or support irl ok?

Next, the fatphobia surrounding "fixing Val's character design" trend is not it, what the fuck guys? Abusers, especially ones who run entertainment businesses, are very likely going to be conveniently attractive or charismatic. Val's a moth bc it makes sense with his character, he's supposed to be attractive for the same reason. So doing redesigns where y'all make him "ugly" is usually just making him fat.

I don't really care what vivzi did or didn't do so if you want me to elaborate on anything, I don't know about what she did I haven't looked into it. I mostly just watched the shows and fandom to fandom, y'all need to chill out. In fighting sucks and none of us are getting into the cool kids clubs so we could at least treat each other decently.

I'm not sayin roll over of someones a dick I'm saying that if you see something you don't like you can ignore it. You don't have to be the dick in the situation.

I try to tread lightly in this fandom bc it's a lot of NSFW and a lot of adults don't want to deal w/ minors seeing their shit and I don't want to make anybody uncomfortable by being around. But holy fucking shit I can't go anywhere without someone trying to say that you a real person are bad for being entertained by a fictional character created to be entertaining, it's stupid.

Also Huskerdust gives me major Skk vibes and I love it tbh. There's the Dazai part of this

[frickfatphobes]

Was wondering what your thoughts are on having more fat representation in childrens media? Specifically representation of larger fats. I feel like a problem that a lot of childrens media has with body positivity is that they'll often only use slightly chubby characters to tell kids that it's ok to not be skinny. I'm worried that this may create a blind spot for larger children and leave them feeling like they're too fat for body positivity.

I agree with this, absolutely! Of course I'm happy when shows have small-fat characters, but all bodies deserve to be represented.

I know it can get complicated when you take art style into account (assuming it's not a live-action show), because animated shows are really really good at making average-sized characters look like twigs and making fat characters look like average people from real life. (I think that fuels fatphobia more than people realize.) I think many artists and designers could absolutely benefit from drawing or modeling their fat characters even a little bigger, to combat that.

Media representation is so much more important than many people realize!!

[homestuckreplay]

Webcomics at Day 100 #7: Achewood

Pages read: 10/1/2001 – 12/5/2002 & 4/13/2009 – 12/5/2009 (about 370 strips)

Reason for selection: Achewood is the webcomic that cultural institutions took seriously. Celebrated by Time, The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, the comic was wildly popular in the 2000s, with some of its strips – such as ‘Here Comes A Special Boy’ – still passed around the internet today without context.

Current status: Originally ran from October 1, 2001 to December 25, 2016, beginning with updates every weekday and becoming more sporadic over time including multiple hiatuses. Returned in 2023 and currently updates every Friday only for Patreon donors. Creator Chris Onstad is experimenting with use of AI in the artistic process.

Content warnings: frequent sexual content, heavy alcohol and drug use, slurs (especially the R slur), anti-Chinese racism, gender essentialism, occasional homophobia, sexism and fatphobia, suicide jokes, Harry Potter.

In 2002, Onstad states that his wife is Chinese in an effort to justify a strip that makes fun of a Chinese speaking character’s accent and name, suggesting that even in 2002 he already faced criticism for this portrayal, or felt he might.

Overall thoughts:

Achewood’s opening strip perfectly establishes the comic. It looks professional from day one, with crisp lines, recognizable character designs and an art style which would stay remarkably consistent throughout its run. But the humor of ‘Philippe is standing on it’ with its straight-faced delivery and lack of a punchline is really the defining feature of Achewood. It’s a type of humor that’s massively influenced the internet and persists to this day – some Achewood strips from 2002 feel like they could’ve been written this year.

The first few months of Achewood detail the lives of four of Onstad’s real stuffed animals in a fictionalized version of his own house, ’62 Achewood Court’. While they have remained major characters, two cats from the Achewood neighborhood, Ray and Roast Beef, became the true leads in 2002. Clicking ‘New to Achewood?’ on the comic’s website leads to the strip from March 21, 2002, but the site doesn’t make it clear that this is not the first strip. However, it is a good jumping in point – characters Téodor and Roast Beef state their names in this strip, and it comes shortly before a strip where character Mr Bear discusses his background as a children’s book author, which is the first time a character has had an in-depth backstory. It’s also partway into the comic’s first continuous story arc, the 26-strip ‘The Party’ arc – so it’s a time where Achewood is beginning to take itself seriously.  

Achewood doesn’t have an overarching story, instead placing a group of well defined characters with distinctive voices into a sandbox for a variety of story arcs. Most of these characters grow older and reach life milestones, developing slowly and organically. The plot follows no such guidelines – in June of 2002, Pat the cat reveals his newly built rocket ship, even though it’s never previously established that cats in this world can have engineering knowledge or technology, and in November of 2002, Ray the cat sells his soul to the devil in exchange for piano playing abilities in a strip that comes out of nowhere and impacts the rest of the comic’s run. When violence appears in the comic, it’s similarly out of nowhere, and a character getting shot or getting into a car accident happens unexpectedly with no foreshadowing, which gives a real sense that anything could happen when scrolling to the next strip.

Despite occasional experiments with color and promises for one full-color strip a week, Achewood stays monochrome for its full run. Its black, white and gray palette might contribute to Achewood’s being seen as serious literature. The comic tries hard to be intelligent in other areas, too – it educates the reader on the Roman poet Catullus (March 8, 2002), archaic felted wool terminology (June 2, 2009), and plants that cause neurological damage (the comic’s title), drawing attention to its knowledge each time. Sharing obscure facts, and knowing a lot of obscure facts as a sign of intelligence, is definitely something I associate with the internet.

Given its acclaim, I was surprised at how little scholarly work has been written on Achewood. I did find one conference paper on multimedia masculinity in the comic, which feels appropriate, as it’s very much a story about men. The characters are stuffed animals, cats, robots and occasionally squirrels, but they are very pointedly almost all men, who recreate the ideas that men and women are two disconnected categories with almost no common ground. I do think the comic explores masculinity in interesting ways, such as when the spirit of Billy Idol enters Philippe’s body in July 2002. However, Onstad’s clear capability of taking an absurd character and giving them complex humanity makes me wish this was applied to a female character, too – it’s glaring that the strip’s first woman, Penny, is contrived to always be off screen.

Between 2002 and 2009, Achewood’s strips evolved from a few panels on average to a full page, allowing for more complex stories and art in each update. There might be three or four panels that show the minutiae of a character opening a door, which years earlier would have happened in a single panel. There’s more use of shading and dark colors, and a sense that Onstad is still trying to stretch himself artistically, working with more complex themes such as the karmic cycle (August 31, 2009) and the morality of giving modern technology to historical people (April to May 2009). It feels like Onstad is trying to make the Oscar bait movie of webcomics, while keeping the Internet spirit of nacho based humor. It’s a hard balance to strike so I’m really impressed that it works.

During its original run, Achewood featured fanart on its website, which seems relatively common for webcomics and highlights how the internet broke barriers between fans and creators from its early days. Onstad has also spoken publicly about creator burnout, holding himself to impossibly high standards of both quantity and quality, and experiencing negativity from a large internet fanbase.

Achewood has been very well preserved, with all its strips easily available on a fast loading, ad free, mobile optimized website. The site is very well made, but it does use infinite scroll, which didn’t exist during Achewood’s original run, can’t be turned off, and really changes the reading experience. The active choice to click to the next page is part of webcomics for me, it increases my focus and investment when I have to make that decision each time instead of letting the strips scroll past. Infinite scroll takes the old-internet nostalgia out of the experience, too.

Finally, I think Philippe might be my favorite character from any non-Homestuck webcomic I’ve ever read. He’s a wide-eyed stuffed otter who is eternally five years old and I would tear the world apart for him.

Relevance to Homestuck: [ooc – contains spoilers for Act 5]

Achewood experiments with the webcomic form and meta layers in some ways that are similar to Homestuck and some that are different. Andrew Hussie links to Achewood in MSPA’s ‘No Shortage of Good Websites’ section, so where Hussie employs the same techniques as Achewood, it could be direct reference or inspiration.

From the start, strips can be three horizontal panels, four panels in a square, six panels in two lines, depending on what the day’s story needs. More complex formats including strips of 12 or more panels and strips with differently sized panels appear intermittently. Onstad is aware that he’s not working within the constraints of a newspaper or book layout and is using that freedom.

‘Cutting Room Floor #1’ (January 18, 2002) contains six panels, each with no context, supposedly from strips that never materialized. They’re arranged as if scattered on a table, a visual move that Homestuck will directly replicate. ‘Bloopers and outtakes’ (December 10, 2001) contains alternate panels from previous strips where the characters made mistakes or forgot their lines. ‘The unfinished strip’ (December 26, 2001) has five panels of story followed by a final panel reading ‘The cartoonist is too tired to finish this strip because his inlaws’ sofa-bed afforded him no sleep on Christmas’.

‘An ad’ (February 15, 2002) is an Achewood strip that doubles as an advertisement for the comic itself, and ‘En Espanol’ (April 25, 2002) and ‘Auf Deutsch (April 26, 2002) are strips in other languages. Interestingly, the German strip includes a translation while the Spanish does not. ‘The Making Of’ (May 29, 2002) details Onstad’s process of creating an Achewood comic from start to finish, presented as a strip in itself. ‘Thanatos Has Left the Building’ (September 15, 2009) is a newspaper-style wrap-up of the most recent story arc, featuring ‘loose ends, unanswered questions & exciting trivia’ presented up front instead of revealed organically in the story; Homestuck will also use recap and clarification as tools. Achewood characters write both original fiction (June 30, 2009) and fanfiction (August 2005) within the story, paralleling (among other things) Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff.

But my favorite example of playing with form is ‘Roast Beef’s Tone Poem’ (April 20, 2009), a 20-panel monologue from character Roast Beef with the alt text ‘Mix and match any four panels for instant *almost-works* inscrutability!’ I love this mix and match, create your own comic strip ethos, so I decided to create my own tone poem by rolling 4d20. Here’s the result.

Achewood quickly expands beyond the confines of the strip, just as Homestuck does. Achewood begins employing alt text on every strip in January 2002, with Onstad pretending for some months that somebody besides him is writing the text. Sometimes, the text announces what the comic will feature tomorrow, which is generally a lie – for example, alt text for May 30, 2002 reads ‘Mr. Bear tries to play chess with Todd but Todd has a cocaine problem – TOMORROW!’ while May 31’s strip does not feature Mr. Bear, Todd, chess, or cocaine. Alt text for September 8, 2009 reads ‘Meanwhile, even though he is supposed to be asleep, Philippe is using a flashlight to read a slender volume entitled, How Come a Bird Can Die?’ Philippe does not appear in the day’s strip, but we still get his story. Including a side story outside of the main panel is another technique Homestuck will use.

In a notable difference to Homestuck, alt text for September 30, 2002 reads ‘To-day is the 364-day anniversary of Achewood!’  while alt text for October 1, 2002 reads ‘I finished my soda!’ The true first anniversary is not acknowledged within the strip, and any celebration of it has not survived. This appears to be Onstad’s trolling, as future anniversaries do have dedicated strips.

On July 2, 2004, Onstad launched nine Blogspot blogs, eight for the comic’s main characters and one for himself, all of which received regular updates for the rest of Achewood’s run. Six zines, two novellas, a cookbook and an advice column all add new material to the canon, and it seems that Achewood outgrew the webcomic format altogether, as its final entry on December 25, 2016 is not a comic strip, but a post on Onstad’s blog. It includes the line ‘The blogs are where I personally think the heart and soul of that universe live… in words I haven't had to maddeningly jockey into tiny speech bubbles.’

In a final and wonderful parallel, for a brief period in 2009, Achewood becomes an adventure game. While nothing is interactive, strips from October 9 to November 7, 2009 are mostly written in Homestuck’s command-narrative text format. In the final adventure game strip, we even see the mechanisms behind the narrative prompt, a complicated system of pulleys and levers hooked up to a reel of paper. This is shown in three dimensions while other, two-dimensional Achewood panels happen around it. It’s one of the comic’s most experimental strips, and would not feel out of place in Homestuck.

Continue reading? Yeah, I had a blast reading this. I can imagine wanting to check this every day in 2002 for a momentary bright spot during work, and in the modern day, infinite scrolling the Achewood archives is probably a more enriching way to spend time than infinite scrolling on social media. Because of its sprawling format, lack of plot and current paywall, I don’t feel like I need to ‘complete’ Achewood, but I definitely want to see more of it.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group C Round 2: #C5 vs #C8

#C5: A bunch of teenagers are forced to share pain

#C8: Government employee and his white cat boss

Details and poll under the cut!

#C5: Kiznaiver

Summary:

Katsuhira Agata is a quiet and reserved teenage boy whose sense of pain has all but vanished. His friend, Chidori Takashiro, can only faintly remember the days before Katsuhira had undergone this profound change. Now, his muffled and complacent demeanor make Katsuhira a constant target for bullies, who exploit him for egregious sums of money. But their fists only just manage to make him blink, as even emotions are far from his grasp.

However, one day Katsuhira, Chidori, and four other teenagers are abducted and forced to join the Kizuna System as official "Kiznaivers." Those taking part are connected through pain: if one member is injured, the others will feel an equal amount of agony. These individuals must become the lab rats and scapegoats of an incomplete system designed with world peace in mind. With their fates literally intertwined, the Kiznaivers must expose their true selves to each other, or risk failing much more than just the Kizuna System.

Propaganda:

Kiznaiver is an extremely underrated work of Studio Trigger’s and is definitely one of their bests. Not just for the animation, but for the impactful story as well. The characters just feel so real, and this show just makes you think about human connection and how much we might care for each other if we shared our pain. Although it can get a little confusing at the end, the sheer raw emotion is what makes up for everything. Every single one of the characters gets developed in ways that made me smile like an idiot.

Very good but severely underrated anime! Would recommend! :)

Trigger Warnings: Emotional Abuse, Fatphobia, Disordered Eating, Implied Sexual Assault (maybe).

The fact that Yuuta is formerly fat is constantly mocked throughout the series, which leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth as a fat person watching the show personally. Yuuta, to maintain his thinness, engages in disordered eating by simply eating a small cube of food every day. Said character is also the subject of an attempted sexual assault by a female character, but I don’t remember correctly if that actually happened or if I just got triggered by the way the scene was portrayed.

#C8: White Cat Legend 2020 (Dali si Rizhi)

Summary:

Chen Shi, a young man from the countryside, journeys to the capital in search of his missing older brother, whose existence he only knew about upon his mother’s death. He knows neither the name nor face of his brother, and after finally arriving at the capital, he runs out of money as well. One thing led to another, and he finds himself employed at Dali Court, where he works for Vice Minister Li Bing, a large white cat.

On the other hand, Li Bing is of royal blood who was imprisoned because of his family’s treason. Now, he has to work in the government to atone for the crime. As for why he is in cat form? That’s for you to find out.

Propaganda:

White Cat Legend is a captivating blend of political intrigue, supernatural elements, comedy, drama, and action, showcasing a diverse cast whose allegiances are ever-fluid. It’s difficult to discern who’s on which side and why, since at any moment enemies may become friends, and friends may become enemies.

We have Chen Shi, who looks a lot like Tintin that it’s hard to believe he’s a main character. I think he’s more like the designated POV character, who guides the audience through the intricate political landscape. He becomes more prominent in season 2, though, when he is angered by how when those on top clash, it’s those below who suffer the most.

Then we have Li Bing, the white cat detective. When he’s not attempting paperwork with his inconvenient cat paws, he’s busy exposing schemes and conspiracies, yearning for the crimes to be judged fairly. But when the world is controlled by those in power, this is no easy task, not to mention that he also has to watch out becoming a real cat. 

Their colleagues in Dali Court are just as memorable. We have the shrewd Wang Qi whose luck is so good that it’s impossible to kill him, the runaway Arab prince Alibaba who wants to finally pass the Level 8 Mandarin exam so he can keep his boring desk job, the former soldier Sun Bao who’s afraid of ghosts, and the extremely unlucky Cui Bei who brings disaster wherever he goes that he’s just as effective as a nuclear weapon.

Outside of Dali Court, we have the ominous-looking General Qiu Shenji who is too sexy to be a villain, the cool lady General Lang Bailing whom even women would crush on, the cannibal demon Yi Zhihua who is too iconic to hate, the old as fuck Empress who somehow looks and acts like a child, and many more.

I’m making it a point to highlight the characters because the beauty of this show really lies in them. Whether they’re on the side of the protagonists or not, they’re all so loveable. They’re just different people, you know? Different people with different upbringings fighting for what they think is right, and sometimes their ideas clash with others. This is simply what divides them, much like relationships in real-life. White Cat Legend forces us to reflect on this.

Season 1 starts off light and hilarious as we follow the adventures of the Dali Court officials but gets heavier in later episodes. In Season 2, the humor is still there, but the overall mood is more serious. Both seasons will make you bawl your eyes out in their final episodes, so be prepared for that :)

The show also has exceptional animation, particularly during action scenes. They’re very immersive, made even more amazing with an emotionally-gripping soundtrack. 

I really hope you vote for this show, and if not, at least try watching it. It’s worth your time <3

Trigger Warnings:

Cannibalism - There’s a cat demon who appears in human form, and he eats humans (it’s not shown explicitly, though).

Animal Cruelty or Death - said cat demon also eats animals raw (again, not explicitly)

Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore - There’s blood and fighting, and somebody also gets tortured in season 2. But again, nothing too graphic

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how they’re presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

[morangoowada]

actually one more question because i’m curious: if you could change one thing and one thing only about trigger happy havoc, what would it be?

To be honest I'm not sure what I would choose because THH has a lot of problems and I can't just choose one to get rid of 😭 like for example there's the sexualized female characters, specially with Aoi because the fact that she's dark skinned woman makes it even worse, there's fatphobia with Hifumi because let's be real whoever made his design does NOT know the anatomy of fat people, racism with Aoi, Sakura and Hiro, so many characters and themes in the game could be handled better, there's also transphobia, misogyny, ableism and much more... There's so many wrong things with THH I don't know what to choose

[sirdust]

THOUGHTS ON THE FINALE?? bc it was a lot for suuree

| any thoughts on the last 2 episodes??? i sure do have mine i was like wth throughout the whole thing😭 |

apologies for the radio silence 🫡 i've been busy and also not very enthusiastic about discussing this show, lol. been in the process of packing up my autism and moving it over to transformers.

anyways sure i'll give my thoughts.

as my friend who i was watching the eps with said during ep7, "this version of hazbin hotel where women exist is a lot more interesting"

ep7 was probably the most tolerable character-wise even though it suffered from the same general pacing problems that we saw throughout the rest of the season. charlie felt like an actual character who experienced inner turmoil, and while i didn't like "out for love" very much as a song, the sequence itself was solid. carmilla badly needed more presence in the story for how much they treated her as an important character, though.

i'll also say that i think rosie is the most likable character in the show period. she has a cute design and a charismatic personality, and i wish she had shown up earlier. it was weird that she and alastor acted as if they had just reunited when they saw each other in ep3, though.

the final battle was disappointing all around for both obvious and non-obvious reasons. vaggie badly needed a big heroic moment, but she was fighting lute (who simply does not feel like a real threat) for so much of it that her actions during that part of the episode had very little impact. especially since she was the one to figure out how angels can be killed in ep7 (which was admittedly a plot point that did not need to exist, aside from it facilitating charlie and alastor's deal, but i digress).

i also am pretty miffed that charlie only got one or two good hits in on adam before needing to be saved by lucifer. it was like they couldn't decide whether they wanted to do a team-up or to give lucifer a moment showing off how powerful he is to be able to fight adam one-on-one.

i don't know if there's anything for me to say about what they did to pent that hasn't already been said. i doubt he's going to be relevant in s2, but even if he is, i really don't care. it's baffling incompetent to treat a character death as a comedy beat one moment and then dramatic the next. it winds up not making me feel anything at all. (and on a pettier note, i hate his redesign.)

i've never been huge on adam. his character had potential but was continually wasted in favor of being another shallow commentary on toxic masculinity (which is much too prevalent in spindlehorse shows, i'd argue. the issue isn't with the thematic choice but how vapid the execution is). i'm also hung up on the fact that he's clearly meant to look like alex brightman, but the writers have lucifer make a fat joke about his appearance. fatphobia in these shows has always been an elephant in the room but i feel that this crosses some sort of line.

i don't think i have much else to say? i could go more in-depth of course but i'd have to refresh my memory and i don't have the time or desire to rewatch any part of the season right now. i've gotten pretty much all of my gripes with the show as it stands out of my system.

this blog will likely continue to get some use in the future, but i'll probably be increasingly inactive on here. the silver lining of all this is that hazbin's success may, if nothing else, help pave the way for execs greenlighting more queer animation, but we'll have to wait and see. here's to better shows being made in the future though 🥂

ETA: oh and i've been calling twist villain lilith since 2019 but i have nothing else to say about that.

[a-dream-deferred]

so i started going to the gym for the very first time and i have some Thoughts to share:

for context physical activity has never been my strongest suit nor my cup of tea. the lowest grade i've ever received in my whole life (all 12 years of school and 2 years of uni) was in PE lmao

so naturally i was not exactly looking forward to being in a gym. but my mental and physical health has been suffering lately so you gotta do what you gotta do

suprisingly the gym was a much less intimidating environment than i anticipated. yes there were people who looked super buff and experienced, but there were also all other kinds of bodies and ages and levels of fitness. and no one seemed to pay attention to what the others looked like or what they were doing, so my social anxiety settled down and let me be

observation 1: it's amazing how music can make exercise go from pain pain pain discomfort embarrassment shame to pleasantly dissociating and imagining yourself as a fictional character of your choosing

observation 2: isn't it kind of dystopian that gyms are simulating the kind of physical activity that is normally meant to be done outdoors? running, walking, jogging, cycling, even rowing. if i could walk or bike to places instead of having to ride in a car i wouldn't have to resort to a gym in the first place, but the roads are not designed for that and the weather is too hot

this brings me to the reason i absolutely hate modern exercise--it just feels so fake!! and meaningless!! and aimless!!! rationally i knOw there are many benefits but it's like there's this primeval part of my brain that's like. if i am not escaping or hunting or racing, then why am i running? i am not even moving from one point to another, how strange. why am i squatting or bending over if i'm not picking something up? what are these weights that i am lifting - if it is not a jug of water or a sack of grain, then why am i carrying it?

afaik in pre-industrial times the poor got their exercise in the form of physical labor while the rich had their leisurely sports like horseback riding and archery. gyms on the other hand divorce physical activity from both usefulness AND entertainment, making it a very unpleasant experience imo. it takes a lot of mental effort to remember that exercising is going to help me in the long term when in the short term it just feels like time wasted on pain and getting nothing real done.

observation 3: i've seen many individuals who someone could easily look at and say "oh that person is overweight/obese, they must not exercise at all" but then you see them lifting heavy weights like it's nothing, doing intense workouts without running out of breath, etc. meanwhile i with my "normal bmi" am struggling to do basic stuff. so yeah fatphobia is definitely not about health or fitness or whatever

observation 4: the kindness of strangers <3 that's it that's all there is to say

[dreamieparadise]

👕 Appearance : 1 , 8 , 12 & 16

Welcome!! Btw, I hate how kissing is so linked with romance cuz I wanna shower you with kisses but it's always tender and slow, boooo!!! Next ask I'm sending you a sloppy kiss, deal with it. ┐(‘～` )┌

1☆. What is your character's favorite physical trait they possess?

Momina's favourite physical trait is her eyes! It's the thing she gets complimented the most on [if not that, it's her entire face] it slowly became her favourite physical trait. [Along with her face...she thinks she's a real cutie patootie thanks to being hyped up.]

8☆. Does your character have a physical trait that they're known for?

Uh...Momina has multiple physical traits that would have her standout on the streets of Namimori tbh. Her skin tone? Hair? [Mostly when braided.] Boobs?! I feel like if you ask her friends in Namimori it'd be her smile! Ask Colonnello and it's her buck teeth.

12☆. Has your character gone through major stylistic or physical changes?

Like me with Momina or did Momina herself? Either way I would say yes. For me with Momina, she has gone through changes! I do like the idea of her having weight fluctuations but I've changed her size multiple times lmaoooo. I go back and forth,back and forth. I have internalized fatphobia and other reasons go into this!

As for Momina's actual style. When she was at home, she dressed a bit differently. Cute and casual, I'd say but once she got to Namimori and had full control of her fashion and style she went extremely cutesy. Think lolita fashion, fairy kei. It didn't help she didn't know of these subcultures before coming here. She loves designing clothes too so Haru teaching her how to sew led to her creating clothes her style as well.

Oh, also her hair length went through changes as well! Settled on her having long and then longer hair, though.

16☆. Is your character's appearance more telling or deceiving?

Gonna be real with you, chief, I'm kinda not understanding this. I suppose you're asking if her appearance fits her personality or not? I suppose so! Momina is someone who is very honest, they don't like lying, doesn't lie well and gets anxious at the idea of lying because that involves having a good memory [in their head] which makes them panic because they're memory is dookie. They also look like someone who'd be like that so I suppose more telling!

Ask meme