#few years ago did a lot of comic stuff with some discord groups but nothing id feel comfortable w posting here

[missusruin]

Are there any specific projects you're currently developing, like a mini-comic or graphic novel? Just out of curiosity, I know some people prefer to play around with world building and character ideas on their own, but I was curious if anything in particular was in the works.

Working on doll project rn that ill need tumblr folks' help with soon. Other than that, mostly been busy with commissions.

[captainmazzic]

Happy Halloween.

So it’s about time I gave a real fucking update instead of just dicking around being cagey about shit. I’ve mentioned a new project repeatedly. So let’s sit down and actually talk about it, friends. Pull up a chair, grab yourself some hot cocoa and strap in. Welcome to Sarc’s emotional roller coaster.

Bear with me. This is hard to talk about for so many reasons, but mostly because I’ve been belittled and ridiculed so many times in my life for liking “cringy” things or wanting to do things that other people think are stupid or childish. I hear the voice of my father telling me to “make something of my life” and “don’t squander your talents”, I hear the voice of my mother telling me I have “so much potential” and “one day I hope you get some ambition”, I hear the voice of my ex telling me to “stop wasting time with stupid shit” and “nobody is interested in failures”. I hear old teachers telling me honor roll students should go to college and study high-demand majors and anything else would be lazy and detrimental and won’t contribute anything worthwhile to society.

It’s the same shit that prevented me for a long time from posting art online. From posting writing online. From making ocs and showing them to other people. And now it’s preventing me from starting this project, and I’m so, so tired of it.

My biggest fear right now is that once I start talking about this project I’ll lose this tiny little community of people vaguely interested in my stuff that have somehow stuck around. External validation and sharing the things I love are my primary motivations with everything I do online, and while screaming into the void is all well and good, I need feedback and interaction and community. I need it so, so badly. I wouldn’t post jack shit – ever – if I didn’t need that, to be honest.

So anyway.

When the pandemic kicked into high gear earlier this year I got laid off for a few months. It gave me a lot of time to think about who I am and where I wanted to be in life, what mattered to me, what dreams I still had and which ones had fallen by the wayside.

Some of them are huge – once upon a time I was very religious. I went through seminary, got my minister’s certification, and was slated to be an associate pastor in a mega-church and rake in a six-figure income within 3 years. But I lost my faith and couldn’t stand the idea of being disingenuous.

And there was also a time when I received a full-ride scholarship to a very prestigious university that would have spanned a 12-year program and resulted in me having several doctorates and masters degrees by the end of it, in the fields of geology, palaeontology, and cladistics. But the scholarship program that was supposed to sponsor me went bankrupt the very semester I was supposed to capitalize on it. I was still accepted into the school, but the $1.2 million price tag would have all been out of my own pocket. So obviously that didn’t happen.

Those were the “acceptable” dreams. Those were the ones that parents and teachers and the general outside world approved of and thought were worthy goals. But neither of them panned out, and all I have left are the cringy ones. Like homesteading and sustainable living (can’t start without land, can’t have land without money). Like making comic books and doing art commissions for a living (it has to be steady to support myself, and I’m far too slow an artist for things to be steady). And like… playing video games.

Ha.

What’s funny is I can already envision the eyerolls and hear the snorts of laughter. What kind of dream is that? Only a handful of famous youtubers and twitch celebrities play video games for a living, and breaking into a field like that is pretty much impossible unless you already have friends in famous places.

Yeah, but… it would be so much fun. Right?

It WOULD be fun. I don’t have to become a super popular celebrity for it to be fun, right?

I don’t have to make it my day job and rake in piles of cash for it to be fun, right?

… I don’t have to actually be successful for it to be fun… right?

… Right?

:/

… I love video games.

I’ve loved them ever since I tried and failed so many times to win The Empire Strikes Back on Atari 2600. I’ve loved them ever since I played Mortal Kombat with my cousin in his basement with the sound down super low because it was ultra-violent and I would have been in so much trouble if mom caught me playing it. I’ve loved them ever since I tried and failed to finish Strife and Hexen and Heretic without the computer crashing and rebooting to DOS. I’ve loved them ever since I had to cheat-code my way through Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II just to get past the first boss fight but then no-clipped through the wall and died anyway. I still love that game.

But I stopped playing video games for a very long time. I was intimidated out of them by an ex and a somewhat toxic friend group who were Real Gamers™. I was brought to LAN parties but not allowed to play, because I slowed down the team and didn’t know the controls. I was banned from commenting on other people’s moves or cheering people on because it was distracting and I could cost them a win. I was even kicked out of their online D&D campaigns because I couldn’t be serious enough or roleplay well enough for their standards. Even if I was playing a game on my own, I couldn’t play with anyone else in the house because I’d be ridiculed for dying a lot, or for going the wrong way, or for picking the wrong game because only certain games are “good” and most of the ones I wanted to play were “stupid” or “trash” or a “waste of time”.

That kind of thing sits with me for a very, very long time. I didn’t really play games at all for over a decade. Even after I ended up on the opposite side of the country, with a new circle of friends, I couldn’t bring myself to play much of anything.

And then I had an extended visit with a friend of mine, and he introduced me to an early version of a ridiculous little game called Minecraft. My friend was an avid gamer but also a very kind one. In the ten years before this, I had told myself that I just preferred to watch other people play games instead of playing them myself (a lie. I mean, I absolutely adore watching other people play, but I also want to play too lol), my friend saw through that and very gently encouraged me to take a stab at playing Minecraft myself. He moved his laptop over to me, and I played a whole ten minutes with him watching before my nerves failed me and I promptly died. But miraculously it wasn’t a big deal to him. It was just a game. I might have cried in relief, I don’t remember.

After my visit I shelved playing video games for like another year, despite buying a whole mess of them because other friends online loved certain titles and wanted to talk about them with me. (I never played them, just bought them. I couldn’t even handle the thought of playing by myself in my own house). But for some reason I mentioned to my brother-in-law my old visit to my Minecraft-loving friend, and he just… up and bought the game for me. My brother-in-law is also an avid gamer with a lovely and patient disposition, and he suggested I just play in creative mode and build things to start. So I did that (behind a locked door in the RV that I lived in by myself, with the lights off and the sound down low) and Minecraft was my sole video game for another several years.

Then a couple years ago another friend of mine (hi Char) introduced me to Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I fell in love. It sparked a renewed interest in video games that I thought I would never really have the opportunity to satisfy, because games were still intimidating.

Let me clarify: I… SUCK. At video games. I’m terrible at them. Learning controls is a nightmare and a tunicate evolving its own brain would learn faster than me. If I’m aiming, I can’t hit the broad side of a barn. I have the direction sense of a whirligig beetle on the back of a drunk pigeon. I die fast and I die often. I can count the number of games I’ve actually finished on one hand. Even less if we don’t count the ones I had to use cheat codes to get through. But none of that diminishes my love of experiencing them, and over this whole pandemic and quarantine thing I’ve had a lot of time to unpack and mull over my thoughts and feelings and passions about them.

… I moved my RV to a new spot literally the day before the lockdown in my state first initiated. Before this I was in a spot that had no internet other than what reception I could get on my phone, with severely limited bandwidth and patchy, unreliable service. The new spot has a steady wi-fi connection, and while upload speed is utter shit, downloading and streaming video are just this side of manageable. So I spent the first three months of the quarantine lockdown doing pretty much nothing other than watching Jacksepticeye, CrankGameplays, and Markiplier play video games on YouTube. (I honestly had no idea before this that people even did let’s plays. My internet access/speed has been shit for so long I’m totally out of the loop).

It… for fear of sounding utterly stupid yet again, it inspired me.

Like. These people really love what they’re doing. They just. Play video games and have fun with it, and I mean yeah they make money hand-over-fist doing it but the main thing is they HAVE FUN doing it. They have fun! Playing video games! In front of people! It’s wild. And the thing that REALLY got me was… they have feedback on it too. They have a COMMUNITY. They have people they can talk to about it. They have people that they can play games WITH, even, who don’t yell at them or tell them they suck every five minutes or tell them they can’t play with them because they’re worthless as teammates. They can fuck up in a game and their friends are laughing along with them on Discord instead of screaming at them to get it right or get out. They can play games by themselves in their house and then upload videos on the internet and then they can talk to other people about it! They have fun! It’s awesome! They have fun!!

I just. It meant so much to me. It meant so much to me to see these videos of these three, and then another dozen or so that I’ve followed since, play all these games and have such a good time and also be such a positive and kind and encouraging source of energy.

I know all of this is not exactly about video games specifically. It’s about coming to terms with how I’ve been treated as a person and as a friend, about how other people respect someone’s interests and passions, about how it’s okay to share your interests with other people and it’s okay to like things that other people might not care about or think are important.

And I’m so, so tired of not doing the things I love because I’m afraid of what other people will think.

So I, uh. I invested all of the stimulus money I had into a new rig and equipment like a camera, lighting, acoustic panels, all that shit. I dug out all the games I bought but never played, I made accounts on all the big gaming services like Steam and Itch.io and GoG, and I made a YouTube channel. And I’m going to be making my own let’s plays. And it will suck, and it will be cringy and awkward and badly done, and it won’t make me money or be a valid career option or be anything but another very expensive hobby, but it will be mine, and it will be something I can share with people and (hopefully) have fun with, and it will (hopefully) be an avenue for some of this positive social interaction I’m craving.

I know YouTube can be toxic and super negative and full of trolls and cancel culture fanatics and people just waiting to find something to tear you down for, but like. Come on, y’all. I’m posting this on tumblr dot com. Toxic is everywhere anyway. I just want to try, you know?

I just want to love video games again.

Someone famous that I look up to so, so much told me – without knowing that I was even listening, without even knowing that I even exist – that if I enjoy doing something, to just go for it. To just jump in and do it, and if it works then it works, and if it doesn’t, what have I actually lost?

And I’m lucky enough to have four whole offline friends that I’ve mentioned this idea to, and each of them has said encouraging things like I’d have a good voice and face and style for making let’s plays. I honestly don’t know how true that part is, but on my good days I believe them. And they also said that I should go for it, to just try.

So that’s… that’s what I’m doing, I guess. I just want to try.

I know it’s not Star Wars fanart. I know it’s not Star Wars fanfiction. I know it’s not Star Wars meta or essays or ranting about the Sith and the Jedi and the Force. I know it’s not what y’all want from me. And that’s utterly terrifying. I’m bracing myself to be alone on the internet again, because I know that when I dive headfirst into this thing, it’ll eat away into the time that I normally might be spending doing writing or art, and it’s going to be something no one else wants to see and no one signed up for. And that’s partly why it’s taken me so very, very long to get started.

The other part is more physical. Of course as soon as I decide that I’m going to put my face on a camera is when my entire face goes to shit. I’m currently waiting on a potential diagnosis for mouth cancer, while already dealing with a severe jaw infection that’s causing my teeth and gums to rot inside my mouth. They already took part of my jaw, I’m missing teeth, others are turning black, if I open my mouth even just a little it is so obvious and I look like a very, very literal zombie. I have never been more grateful that masks are socially acceptable. I have a series of twelve appointments scheduled to treat this shit now that I have dental and health insurance (goodbye paycheque), and I might qualify for reconstruction surgery too. But that doesn’t really help how I look right now.

So I just can’t bring myself to start this project just yet. I’ve been sitting on it for months now with all the other pieces in place, but I just. Can’t. Start. It’s driving me crazy, because I want to start so badly. I feel like I’m wasting time. I feel like I’ve already wasted so much time, because I haven’t even done anything else in the meantime. I haven’t done hardly any art or fanfic, nothing. My anxiety is spiking so high right now because I have all these expectations of myself, but I can’t do anything about it. I’ve been told that I could just start without a camera or wear a mask on screen, and I’ve actually done some recording doing exactly that, but I just… can’t seem to make anything I want to finalize.

It’s also frustrating because I have no way of uploading anything at home. I’ll have to go over to my partner’s house which is nearly an hour’s drive away in order to get internet good enough to upload videos, which means that upload schedules are going to be shiiiiiit and that’s also frustrating.

But. But. BUT. I want to do this.

I want to do this so badly. I want to share let’s plays and experience a love of video games with other people. I want to actually play games with other people too. I also just acquired a piano keyboard, and I want to play again on the regular because I miss it so much. I used to play piano for hours every single day, it’s so relaxing and fun, maybe I can post that too. Maybe I can post let’s draws or something, where I ask y’all what to draw and then make a video of me drawing it while bullshitting to the camera I don’t know it sounds like fun. Maybe I can post videos of my cooking because the shit I make seems to be everyone’s favourite thing on instagram, and maybe I can take my camera with me when I go to the ocean or hike up into the middle of nowhere in the mountains and film how beautiful everything is up there. Or maybe I can do none of that and just focus on one thing, I honestly have no idea what I’m doing or how to do it, but I just… I want to try. I just want to try.

I don’t know where any of this is going anymore. I’m sorry I haven’t responded to messages, or opened up commissions. I’m sorry that this isn’t what y’all wanted. I’m still going to continue drawing and writing, I’m still going to be around, I’m not going anywhere, but I have no idea how prolific I’m going to be and I have no idea even when I’ll start uploading videos, to be honest. But I just. I’m just gonna try. It might still take me a while but I’m gonna try. Wish me luck. I love y’all.

[ravenwolfie97]

2020 Art Summary

Yep, it’s 2021 already. 2020 is finally over. It felt like it lasted forever, and it felt like the end would never come, but here we are. Crazy how the time flew by.

I felt like I didn’t get much art done this year because of Current World Event, but I made a lot more than I thought I did. Even some of my new favorite pieces came out of this year, so I think that’s worth celebrating and looking back upon!

I was insanely productive during the first month of 2020, and looking back I was surprised at all the stuff I did, but then I remembered that that winter season was actually one of the best times of my life! I started being more socially involved, and I think my newfound drive at the time translated into all the art I pumped out this month. This is just a small fraction of what I made in January, but I only have so much space. Quite a few complex pieces in both style exploration and polishing my own style.

Apparently February was a rather intimate month. Things began to slow down in terms of my own art here, with me spending more time in social settings and school work ramping up, I didn’t have as much time to coop up in my room to draw. I did wanna do something for a friend’s Valentine’s Day OC art challenge, so I drew my lovey-dovey couple from Dance of 1000 Words havin’ a dance. Nothing actually came of that challenge, but it was fun to do regardless.

One of the things I was most proud of in the winter season was making more friends, and one of the closest friends I made was completely coincidental. I met a person named Kiri on the bus one night I decided to volunteer somewhere by myself, and we ended up chatting and getting along. They quickly told me their tumblr username, and I shot them a message immediately after they left. A couple days later, we met up for brunch, and we started becoming really close friends and creative partners!

Not much else happened in March cuz that’s when Current World Event started becoming an issue, but Kiri and I still kept in close touch and we randomly started developing a concept for a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Galar Edition. These are a handful of characters we thought up, with Skipper the Scorbunny and Dross the Dreepy as the main characters, Morgrem as the main antagonist, and some shopkeepers such as those of the Greedent Bank and the Indeedee General Store. This was also my first time drawing all of these Galar Pokemon (except Scorbunny, but I also made Skipper a bit more unique than a regular Scorbunny).

Lots of events happened this month. First of all, Steven Universe Future ended, one of my favorite and most influential shows was no longer continuing. I had to do something as tribute, both as a send-off to one of the greatest cartoons in the world and as a cathartic release for my feelings towards it.

A while later, I got the opportunity to start playing an MMO in beta called Fer.al, by the same people who made Animal Jam, which coincidentally I had also beta tested for back in the day. I ended up getting really attached to my first character, a Senri I named Sasha, and though I’ve made more characters than them since, they’re still my absolute favorite. Though I haven’t touched the game in a few months, I was really engrossed for a long time and enjoyed playing through the beta and early access phases.

At the end of the month, some friends of mine invited to a roleplay group with some mutuals, and we all played characters in a crime syndicate. Just a bunch of ragtag thieves and criminals who ended up together in order to protect an artifact called the Crown of Thieves, which was essentially a flag to be taken by other groups to prove that they are the best thieves in the land. My character was based heavily on my sona (if it wasn’t obvious) and was also influenced by Cloud Strife, since the FFVII Remake had just come out and I was super into watching the cutscenes at the time. My character’s (code)name is Valkyrie, and they are a mercenary, going between multiple different employers to carry out whatever duties they need to do. They have a more complicated backstory, but presently they were recently hired by recommendation of their friend Shark (played by @shmoots-universe​ who is also My friend now ily maya) who works with a group called the Court Cards who are currently in possession of the Crown of Thieves. Valk never really had a place to call home, but staying with this group of people had to be the closest they could get to that feeling. They still sleep with a knife under their pillow because of trust issue but that’s okay.

Okay, so technically these examples started in April, but I continued making content with them in May, and the month was just pretty void of art in general, so here I am addressing them.

There were two main things I worked on this month: a Steven Universe AU of my own and the whole #sixfanarts thing that kicked off around then. Let’s start with the fanart bits. I did two and a half of them (six in April and nine in May), and it was so much fun to be able to draw stuff I don’t normally do! My personal favorites are shown here: Blake Belladonna from RWBY, Roll from Megaman, Yuki Konno from Sword Art Online, and Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The other thing I’d been planning for a while was a Steven Universe AU, probably to cope with the show being over but also because I was inspired by a lot of those SU AU artists I started following at the time. I won’t share the details here because it’s gonna have its own blog at some point, but the example I’ve shown here is of a comic I made loosely in order to introduce a divergence in the plot of the story as well as introduce a character unique to my AU. It was a lot of fun figuring out how to draw the characters and get a feel for the style.

As the year progressed, my amount of art I made per month began to dwindle, this time mostly because school was kicking my ass especially hard with finals. However, I took what time I had to get some backburner pieces finished, like the Tigerlily picture which I sketched out a couple months back, and the Gunvolt picture which I started working on SIX YEARS AGO. I don’t quite know why I got the urge to work on it again after so long, but it was nice to finally realize. The other drawing for DOTS was done in the dead of night but I was really happy with how it came out.

Despite only having two summer classes left of school, this month was really rough because they demanded a lot of my time and attention. I did not have the gumption to do anything digital, so I stuck to my sketchbook to get out what I felt like getting out.

My friends and I did a stream of the game Helltaker, and I really enjoyed the concept, so in following my friends I made my own Helltaker demon OC named Raksha the Ravenous Demon (it’s a pun but also got mythical insp). I also got super into Hazbin Hotel at this point, mostly because the Addict music video dropped and I couldn’t get enough of it, so I doodled Angel Dust cuz I felt like it. The other drawing I did was actually a free commission I gave a friend of mine as a prize for a trivia game show I ran back in June. He along with a couple other friends got some free drawings from me for getting the top three scores, and this one in particular was fun because of how interesting it was. He wanted me to draw a video game reviewer called the Irate Gamer from a specific moment, and I decided to go ham and just make it as dramatic as possible.

University classes finally wrapped up and right after that I was in the process of moving out of my apartment and getting adjusted to living with my parents again. I did a couple of agg.io drawing sessions with my friends from the Court Cards group as well as a new Dungeons and Dragons homebrew group I had joined. I drew some more of Valkyrie and came up with a design for my DND character Qakuqtuq (or Kai for short). He is monkey grandpa and I love him.

My main focus was on finishing a polished piece for my friend Cake, whose birthday was in the upcoming month. I wanted it to be as amazing as possible, so I put a lot of time into getting more detailed and making them look good. In addition to that, I did a few TOME doodles just for fun. The creature on the bottom was for this month’s art challenge on my Discord server where we made original TOMERPG monsters, and I created Hundylow, a Crystal-element monster based on the Grindylow from English folklore.

This month was a lot more productive than the past few had been. I tried to do a 31-day art challenge called Creatober but failed to get past the third prompt because I was still swamped with other work. I’m still happy with what little I did, including the piece with my characters Kyle and Guarudan from DSWD.

I don’t remember how, but I also suddenly rediscovered an old Flipnote Hatena series called Tales of LostClan, a Warriors fan series that I would say was the most obscure thing I’ve ever been super invested in. It was what got me into the actual Warriors books, and I liked it so much I redrew the animations into a comic... twice. Didn’t get nearly as far the second time but clearly my love for this little fanfiction had not waned after nearly a decade. I felt like drawing a book cover/movie poster for the series, just to get it out there and see how much I’ve improved over all that time.

Also I felt like making a vampiresona just before Halloween because I never dress up for Halloween in art (or real life anymore, for that matter), and I wanted to do something like that for once. It was short-lived but I really liked the design!

The focus of this month was definitely on Pokemon stuff. As per usual I contributed to the current Gotta Draw ‘Em All collab, and I was tasked to draw Regieleki. It was really fun to figure out how to make it stand out and look like it was made of electricity.

I also committed a lot of my spare time to my Fakemon Gym Leaders, as I had been working on bringing them to life in the past year or so now. As of this post, I’ve finished rendering their full body poses and gym badges, but I’m still working on completing all eight VS portraits, the first half of which are shown here.

I... didn’t draw anything this month, actually. What I’m showing here was worked on in the last few days but has actually been in progress for a couple of months, and I just finished it earlier today, in 2021. But I needed to show something off, and it’s also about time I mentioned it.

Back in October, I kept seeing people rave about this game called Genshin Impact, and I was interested but not so much as to start playing it... until my friends started playing and I was like “fuck it, let’s download it”. Since that day, I have been super immersed and in love with this game, to the point I came up with my own canon based on my gameplay experiences. This also included the creation of an original player character: Astra, the non-binary Traveller. And now, I’ve finally drawn them and brought them to life.

It has been one hell of a year. I had some of the highest highs and lowest lows in 2020, lots of changes, and I have now officially moved onto the next chapter of my life now that my time at university is finally over. I’m very excited for what 2021 has to offer, and I’m going to go forward with great ambition.

[eldritchsurveys]

420 (ayyyy).

Hello :) Do you like to use a lot of smiley faces online? >> Not a lot, but I do use some.

Which instant messaging service do you use, if any? >> Discord. Tumblr also has an IM feature, but it’s not very good IMO. I hate that tiny little window.

What are your opinions on Justin Bieber? >> I don’t have any opinions on him. He rarely crosses my radar.

On December 21st 2012, if the world starts to go down, what will you do? >> I don’t remember what I was doing. I was in Colorado at that time, and that’s really all I remember.

Do you Facebook creep / Myspace stalk? >> No.

Is there a celebrity you're obsessed with? Who? >> Not really. There are celebrities I like looking at and ones I like watching in movies and such, but I’m not obsessed, just interested.

Do you look at yourself in any reflective surface you pass? >> Usually.

What theme is your calendar? >> I don’t use calendars. 

Is there anyone famous born on your birthday? Who? >> Most certainly, but I don’t know who.

Do you have a background on your cell phone? Of what? >> My lock screen is this Gunship album cover because it looks so fucking cool, and my home screen is a shot of Quentin Oliver Lee as the Phantom of the Opera.

Have you ever watched the clock tick a full minute? >> Yeah.

Is there anyone you know who kind of looks like you? >> No.

Do you wish you had a twin? If you do, do you wish you didn't? >> No.

Which lollipop flavor is your favorite? >> ---

Do you still enjoy coloring with crayons? >> I never enjoyed colouring with crayons.

If someone came up and randomly hugged you, what would you do? >> Flip my shit and probably hurt them.

Are we really getting lazier with all the technology advances these days? >> Possibly. But I can’t be bothered to care about that.

What was the last movie you saw in 3D? >> Probably a Marvel movie, I don’t remember now.

1-ply 2-ply or 3-ply bathroom tissue? Or does it matter? >> 2-ply seems sufficient. I hate the really soft stuff (it leaves particles behind, for one, and it’s bad for the plumbing, for another) but 1-ply is a little too spartan.

Have you ever tried out products at a kiosk at the mall when they ask you? >> No. I avoid those kiosks with the ruthlessness of someone who’s lived in a big city and knows how to avoid canvassers and panhandlers and everyone else who wants my attention (and money).

Do you ever wish you got more actual letters in the mail? >> I don’t really care. If I wanted to get letters that badly, I’d find a penpal and start sending some.

Have you ever knocked/rang the doorbell, then ran? >> No.

Do you take the bus often? >> Not often, because I don’t go out often, but I usually take it whenever I go out by myself.

Do you like serious people or ones with a sense of humor? >> I like people who can do both.

When you read a happy scene in a book, do you find yourself smiling? >> I mean, sometimes, probably.

Have you ever went to the movie theatres by yourself? >> I often do.

Is one of your main reasons for going to the beach to check people out? >> No.

What food do you absolutely despise? >> Bananas.

What is your favorite genre of music? >> I don’t have one.

Do you shave? >> No. I trim occasionally, but that’s all.

What is your opinion on the Twilight saga? >> I think people should feel free to enjoy it without being ridiculed by people with superiority complexes. Also, lay off the fucking author already.

Which celebrity will you always think is good looking? >> I don’t know, tastes are always liable to change.

Do you use twitter? Do you twitstalk a lot of celebrities? >> No.

Have you ever taped your fingers together? Doesn't it feel weird? >> No.

Do you like the squishy feeling of clay or mud beneath your feet? >> No.

What is one habit you wish you could cut? >> Picking at my lips. I’ve tried so hard to stop but nothing works.

When was the last time you used the bathroom? >> About an hour ago.

Do you have an accent? >> To someone, I’m sure.

Do you clean your house? >> I clean part of it.

How many tabs do you have open right now? >> Four.

Is wearing a lot of makeup being pretty or cakefaced? >> ...

Do you care about the Olympics? >> I don’t.

Do you ever wear headphones but then don't listen to anything? >> Yeah, when I’m using them to block out environmental noise.

Do you have a Youtube account? >> I have a Google account, which automatically is a Youtube account.

Do you know anyone who collects pins? >> No.

Do you enjoy taking pictures? >> Not as a hobby.

Do you ever video chat with people? >> No.

Have you ever tried Chatroulette or Omegle? >> I think I tried them once, but it didn’t interest me.

Are you a sports fan? If so, what sport(s)? >> No.

When did you stop trick-or-treating? Or do you still go? >> I’ve never done it.

Can you bake a good cake from scratch? >> I’ve never tried.

Can you bowl? Good? >> No.

Do you wish your life was like a movie sometimes? >> No, because that really wouldn’t make any sense.

Do you just smile or make silly faces/poses in pictures? >> Most of the time I don’t do anything, unless I specifically feel like making some sort of pose.

Do/did you ever like the books you have/had to read in high school? >> I only liked one -- Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Do you live in a small town or a big city? >> I’m not sure what Grand Rapids qualifies as. It definitely ain’t a big city, though.

What is your cell phone carrier? >> Boost Mobile.

Do you have any stuffed toys? >> Yeah, a lot of them.

What was your favorite childhood toy? Do you still have it? >> I don’t think I had one.

What song fits your mood right now? >> I don’t know.

Have you ever had a pet fish? >> No.

What internet browser are you using? >> Chrome.

Do you have a lot of bookmarks (internet)? >> Not a lot, but I have a good number.

Are you doing anything fun this weekend? >> I don’t know yet. Probably not.

Do you have any big plans for the upcoming summer? >> Winter is what’s upcoming, and no.

What did you do last New Years Eve? >> I don’t remember.

Plaid, stripes, checkers, or polka dots? >> Plaid.

Do you join a lot of fanpages on Facebook? >> No.

Can you curl your tongue? How about in a clover shape? >> No.

Is there any TV show that you get extremely excited about? >> Yeah, a few. I’m excited about The Good Place and Superstore coming back for their fall seasons.

What kind of lotion do you use? >> Aveeno.

Have you ever squeezed a zit and popped its nastiness everywhere? >> No, I hate the very idea of zit-popping.

Have you ever bit your cheek, and then bit it again in the same place? >> Yes, and god it’s awful.

Have you ever had a bath with a sibling/cousin when you were little? >> ---

Would you rather not eat or not sleep for 24 hours? >> Not sleep.

Do you ever actually take cold showers during the summer? >> No.

When was the last time you played on a playground? >> I don’t remember. At least a few years ago.

Do you like the really spinny rides at amusement parks? >> Not really.

What's your opinion on facial hair? >> I don’t have an opinion about that.

Have you ever gambled at a casino? >> No. I’m pretty sure just stepping inside a casino would send me into instant sensory overload.

What's your favorite thing to shop for? >> ---

Duz it bothar U wen Pplz tYPe Lyyk th!s ?!!one?!!?? >> People don’t really type like that anymore, so.

Do you know someone really thin who eats a lot (and doesn't puke it up)? >> No...?

Do you make a wish at 11:11? >> No.

What was the last present you bought for someone? >> I bought a couple of small things at Vault of Midnight (a comics/games store) that I thought would be good as stocking stuffers. I have a hard time with stocking stuffers so I figured I’d start early and collect things over time.

Aren't pad and tampon commercials just ridiculous? >> Most commercials are ridiculous, honestly.

Do you use a wallet or just put money in your pockets? >> I use a little zip pouch as a wallet.

Do you like your ID picture (whichever ID you have)? >> Not really, but it’s not a big deal.

Do you do online gaming? >> Yeah.

What was the last thing you put in your mouth? >> A toothbrush.

Who were the last people you hung out with? >> Some people from the West Michigan Geeks meetup group.

On a scale of 1-10, how attractive do you think you are? Honestly? >> No.

Do you think you have a good sense of humor? >> I mean, it works great for me.

Lmfao, Lmao, Rofl, Rotfl, Lol, Haha, Hehe, other? >> I use lmao a lot.

Have you ever tried to count grains of sand in your hand? >> No.

What does your ideal partner look like? >> ---

Do you ever have to write your name on food to keep it from getting eaten? >> No.

Do you have a friend you still hang with even though they're annoying? >> No.

What is one thing you've always wanted to do? >> *shrug*

[pepperstrawberry]

Update on all things Pepper...

Okay, so, the last 24 hours have seen me taking too many naps and not doing enough of really anything. Might be some of whatever hit me the other week still hanging in the air, or maybe that I’m just not eating well... but in any case, I’m going to try to force myself to crash fully before 4am this time at least, maybe see about getting my sleep schedule ready for things coming up.

Still plugging away at commissions, thank you to all of you still waiting for them.

Also, I -think- I might finally have a handle on the Patreon thing. There are several elements that I’ve been waffling on for a while that might be solidifying... though there is still a lot to figure out, but as long as I have a starting place, that is good enough in the short term.

In other news: For those waiting on ‘BxD’, it’s still being worked at, all be it at a much reduced rate. The starting stories are still solid in my head, which is more then I can say for a lot of my other ideas for the most part. But In case some folks missed it, thanks to a really awesome post recently by a really cool person, I was able to fully overhaul and power up my Transgender Super hero story, which is one that I’ve been working on for years and as been very close to my heart. I’ve always wanted it to be my first comic every since first coming up with the project idea back when I was working at McD like, 8+ years ago.

For those in the know about me: Why yes, I did indeed have a Trans-character 5+ years before I even realized myself. XD My creativity was telegraphic the move and trying to tell me something for years it seems.

If you want to know more, I have been and am posting things under the ‘Grip: the magical’ tag, so just search that on my tumblr and you will find everything so far.

Heads up on it though, finished work and newer news and elements are planned to be a part of the perks on my patreon. not that you won’t see that info here, just that first peek and newer things and higher quality stuff and what not are going to be there first and primary.

I am hoping to get the comic on Hiveworks or some other group, though that will make page previews a bit trickier when I get to them more actively. But I’ll worry about that bridge when I get to it.

Also, if any of you have a patreon, or have used it enough with comic artists and have suggestions, feel free to drop ideas for perks in my ask box.

On the subject of the playmats: Yes, Aminikhet as well as my Alesha/Forge mat designs are going to be sent to Inked gaming very soon. Like tonight/tomorrow morning soon. But I’m hoping to have one more design ready, Temurmaids. Though I’m having trouble with that one. Not so much in the fact of working on it (though I am going to be looking up a few tutorials I know of for underwater effects), but more in Nissa’s expression. The original sketch is a bit... suggestive. And I want to make a mat that you can just lay out at FNM without fear. So I’m either going to change the expression, or make to versions with each expression... still debating on it.

And then there are mugs and sticker minis. I’m working on that. Second they are available, I’ll let you all know.

In other news: I got my old job back. I’m sure some have heard, but I’m making it known here. So back to the grocery store with me for a while. The good news is its going to be part time in the short term (depending on needs and what not, can go up and down), AND I get my fridays totally off.

.... So, I’m totally open for things to do on Friday, depending on stuff. I do want to make it back to FNM again, but that depends on a lot of factors as well as money... but if not FNM, I do want to see about maybe joining a dnd/rp group of some sort. Though I would prefer IRL, I wouldn’t mind a skype/hangouts/discord group either.

Another thing I want to still do now and then is working on my silly fan fics, if nothing else, then as a venting thing... allot myself a certain time in the week to work on them.... But I’m wondering should I still post them here or make a new blog specific for it? Mmm.... I dont want to run too many blogs, but you guys are mostly here for my actual comics, magic, and mini stuffs. Since I only to Ranma/Sailor Moon/Kamen Rider based stuff for fan fics, I’m not sure how much I want to post here about it. Any thoughts are welcome.

Anyhoo.... if felt like outside of silly reblogs, I haven’t been giving much update, so here we are. XD

[cornerverse-mlp]

So I noticed that the rest of the season of MLP has leaked. I haven’t watched them but I’ve seen bits and pieces and I...... I just.......

I’m tired my dudes. I’m done. I have an entire world of headcanons set up in an ongoing continuity of stories and a lot of characters OCs and half OCs(my interpretation of a minor/background character) I’m attached to, but this just kind of tosses it all down the crapper. Like, the only thing I can say it helped was my conspiracy theory about Hearth’s Warming, since Starswirl was supposedly dead/out of this dimension by the time the Hearth’s Warming story happened yet we see him here with a group of friends that aren’t Unicorns. Side note: If they kept to Hearth’s Warming existing, Starswirl probably would’ve been very racist. Like, very very racist. Everything else just killed it. 

So, no, I’m not even going to try and merge my headcanons here. They literally cannot be merged. So, while I’ve always said that @cornerverse-mlp is ‘Canon Divergent’, this is the biggest split. It’s more than just adjusting small things like actually utilizing the Elements of Harmony, or adjusting half-given and subject to change lore to say that Flurry isn’t the first naturally born Alicorn because Cadence wasn’t Ascended, or even taking the emptiness of Sombra’s backstory and creating the tragedy of Obsidian, Emerald and Autumn. It’s ‘I have already established a lot of this stuff in stories and/or headcanon posts and it’s vastly different than what the show is now putting out’.

And I like my versions better, for many reasons including attachment to characters and stories. So I’m going to keep them and toss the rest. Because you know what? There’s multiple Universes where things are different, so this is just another one. Even the show has multiple universes. I mean, not only in the whole EQG thing and Starlight’s fuckery with the Timelines, but the fact that the Comics have different events. So I’m just going to make my own Universe officially its own Universe. And like, things that don’t conflict will be the same, but this is just...... ugh. I never thought I’d have to deal with anything solid on Starswirl the Bearded, so I was cool with making headcanons about him. 

Okay, to recap: I have my own continuity of stories and headcanons that now exist in their ownUniverse that is Canon Divergent from the show, but as it’s part of it’s own Continuity established before some episodes and not a complete AU that could be summed up in one sentence, it does not need the ‘AU Tag’. That said, I will try to enjoy the show on it’s own terms, but not in terms of trying to merge it with my headcanons, because that’s the only way to do this without feeling like I’ve wasted a fuckton of time and driving me insane trying to fit one of those jumbo kids’ toy puzzle pieces into my 1,000 piece jigsaw. 

So, on to the ‘me being salty af’ part of the post, have some ‘headcanons’ about how Starswirl appears/exists in the Cornerverse-MLP Universe. 

Starswirl is actually very short. Like, not ridiculously so, but typically Unicorns are shorter than Pegasai or Earth Ponies, so he’s shorter than most of the Mane 6, especially Twilight as she’s giant for a Unicorn

Twilight never actually thought about how tall Starswirl would be, so while she never meets him, the height difference would shock her if she did. 

Other than the height thing, his physical appearance is similar to his various looks in the show and comics. Unicorn, gray, curly mane with a fantastic beard. However, his mane had been brown when he was younger, it just turned white as he got old. Also, his eyes have Heterochromia, being two different colors. One is brown, and the other is blue. 

There actually exists paintings of him without the beard. He didn’t start growing it until he was in his 20s, so there were a hoofful of years where he either had no beard, or it wasn’t yet in the ‘magnificent’ stage. 

While several ponies tried to say he was a dignified Dumbledore-like pony, he wasn’t. He was an absolute dork, had several off-the-wall ideas, and honestly liked fucking with people. The dude’s signature outfit was a hat and cloak festooned with bells that would honestly have a cacophony of noise every time he shifted. You don’t wear an outfit like that without liking to fuck with people. 

Okay, I already made the Harry Potter reference, but tbh he’s not Dumbledore. He’s Fred and George. Brilliant as hell but loves fun and mischief. Still, he did some very brilliant things. 

Starswirl was part of the first Ponies. They literally popped into existence at the beginning of the world, 2000 some odd years ago. That’s one reason he was so influential. Not that he wasn’t brilliant and would have done amazing things had he been born a few centuries later, but it’s easy to create spells that are still used years later when you’re one of the first Unicorns and someone has to invent anything more complicated than levitation. 

He totally had friends. Plenty of them. In fact, he and his closest friends were the brilliant group to craft the Elements of Harmony. Well, the Elements are a naturally occurring thing, but the jewels were crafted to help ponies wield them easier as a conduit, and it was quite a task considering that the raw magic power of the Elements shattered most Gems. 

This team also created a Prototype Crystal Heart, but the full version wouldn’t be complete for a few more centuries. 

Okay, I have to address the ‘Starswirl is Discord’ theory(even though the show disproved it, but this is Canon Divergent so it could still happen). 

Starswirl and Discord have no relation. Well, at least as far as ‘being the same person’. They absolutely knew each other. Very well I might add. No, you know what? Fuck it, I’m not going to be subtle. They were together romantically for a time, a few hundred years before Discord going nuts and being a statue. I guess you could call them ‘exes’, but there wasn’t a concept of marriage or monogamy at the time so the only reason they stopped seeing each other is because Discord is Immortal while Starswirl isn’t. That said, Discord still has a thing for dorky Unicorns and mischievous, off-the-wall weirdos. 

As for other Romantic endeavors, again the concept of ‘marriage’ didn’t quite exist yet, but the closest thing to a wife he had was an Earth Pony mare named Frosted Cake that he had two daughters with. 

Said daughters are Clover and Smart Cookie, who would eventually be known in the Hearth’s Warming story, but they have pretty much no relation to the story because I have conspiracy theories that are explained elsewhere.

Clover and Smart Cookie were the first ponies to be born normally. Remember what I said about everyone else ‘popping into existence’? Yeah, no parents were involved there. Clover and Smart Cookie were the first to be made by two ponies doing the do. (Clover is technically first, but they were twins).

Starswirl’s encounter with Sirens is not with the same Sirens as the ones in RR. Both trios had similar stories though. 

I go into this more in a different headcanon post, but Sirens are usually normal and nice like anything else, but they have a Berserk Mode similar to Dragons. Except Berserk Sirens are 1. more coherent and 2. activated by Desire instead of Greed(Technicalities on what is what)

The Dazzlings had no connection to Starswirl, and all of them are still in their teens, having only been in the Human World for a few years. Celestia sent them there as a last desperate way to possibly break them out of Berserk Mode(since cutting off Magic can stop it), but.... okay this is getting long and is covered elsewhere so I’m stopping here. 

The Sirens Starswirl dealt with.... didn’t go to another Dimension. They were Berserk and Dangerous, but I’m debating over whether he managed to calm them back to normal, or if he ended up having to kill them to keep them from harming everyone else(which would absolutely fuck him up btw, but still). Either way, history adjusted the story to “oh, he, uh, ‘sent them away’! Yeah, that’s it! They’re in another dimension!”

Starswirl died about 1,900 years before the events of Season 1. It wasn’t some grand adventure or anything magical. He was just old and had to die eventually. He died happy, probably peacefully in his sleep or something. Idk, I’m not going further into it because if I do I’ll make myself cry. 

Editing to add some more: 

If diners and jukeboxes existed back in the day, Starswirl and Discord would absolutely have pulled the Salt and Pepper Diner thing. 

Starswirl is actually younger than both Celestia and Chrysalis, but older than Discord and Luna. 

Starswirl had nothing to do with building the Mirror Portal. It was actually a Time Traveling Flurry Heart creating a way to Anchor herself to her Home Dimension. 

Speaking of the mirror portal, squishing the timeline to happen in a Mortal lifespan is a pain in the ass. But Human!Starswirl is also dead, but he died much younger because, again, condensed timeline.He did go to CHS with Celestia, Luna, and Discord, but that was nearly a decade before. They all went to Prom together, where Starswirl wore the Human version of his signature claok and hat.

Human Starswirl and Discord 100% did the Salt and Pepper Diner bit. 

[recentanimenews]

INTERVIEW: Roland Kelts On Fantasy Worlds And The Impact of Streaming

  Roland Kelts, half-Japanese author of JAPANAMERICA: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S., has made a name for himself covering the unique nuances of American and Japanese cultural-exchange. Kelts recently presented a talk titled "Anime and Race" with Arthell Isom for this year's Virtual Crunchyroll Expo. We had the opportunity to ask Kelts a few questions about the impact of streaming, adapting international webcomics, the appeal of isekai, and of course, Twitter.

  English-language and Japanese-language editions of JAPANAMERICA

  With Crunchyroll hitting three million paid subscribers as of July, it’s evident that anime streaming is thriving, especially with young adults. Simulcasts now allow essentially anyone access to the latest hours after airing in Japan. How have you seen this constant finger on anime’s pulse change how fans engage with Japanese pop culture, versus the heavily curated experience of exclusively watching whatever made it to American television networks?

  Everything’s faster. Fans I meet from Boston to Kansas to Los Angeles now ask me about shows that were just released months or even weeks ago on my TV in Tokyo. And simulcasts have also made the US fans hungrier, more demanding, sometimes even whiny. (“Why don’t we have this yet? When’s this coming out? Where’s that title?”)

  At the same time, it creates a zone of delusion, a kind of third universe between the US and Japan where fans think they know everything that’s happening in Japan and what’s right and wrong about the anime industry and how it works just because streaming media delivers the entertainment they want when they want it. 

  I still call that third universe JAPANAMERICA, neither here (Japan) nor there (US) but some kind of hybrid space, and in some ways streaming has only expanded its borders. 

  Image via Netflix

  Anime produced and released for streaming services have seen major cultural impact lately. In 2018, Netflix released Devilman Crybaby to critical acclaim, and more recently Crunchyroll has begun streaming its own originals shows like Tower of God in 2020. In previous interviews, you’ve described younger animators butting heads against the old guards in Japan’s traditional anime industry, compared to other industries like games or design. Nowadays, you have younger studios such as Studio Trigger and Science Saru signing streaming deals to distribute their shows to a wider demographic. Do you see this pivot to web-original anime as a way for younger animators, producers, and even veterans to exercise new ideas they may otherwise not be able to explore?

  Definitely. Masaaki Yuasa told me that if it weren’t for streaming services, Devilman Crybaby would be an old-school OAD collecting dust in the adult video corner of Tsutaya that may have aired once in wee-hour programming on domestic Japanese TV. 

  Two years ago, Go Nagai, the manga artist who created the original Devilman in 1972, told me backstage at Anime Expo in Los Angeles that streaming was the only reason he’d been invited to Los Angeles. “Hey, I’m an old man,” he said, laughing.

  There were always innovative upstart studios like Trigger. The difference is that web-original anime and streaming platforms get Trigger’s works screened in major American cinemas by national distributors like GKIDS, and around the world online, and gets Trigger artists and people like Yuasa and Nagai the VIP treatment at overseas anime cons.

  Emilia and Subaru from Re:Zero

  One of the biggest trends in anime recently is the boom of a genre called “isekai,” i.e “another world” stories where average protagonists get transported into fantastical worlds. In the last ten years, isekai has already explored virtual reality MMO worlds like Sword Art Online to self-aware “Groundhog Day” stories like Re: Zero. Although portal fantasies have always been present in traditional Japanese folklore and a staple of global speculative fiction, why do you think this particular narrative may have gained so much traction with young adults recently?

  One of the trends I write about in JAPANAMERICA is how the constant presence of the internet in our lives can diminish our satisfaction with the real worlds we inhabit. 

  You’re right, of course: portal fantasies have long been a part of Japanese literature, folklore, fantasy, and spirituality. 

  But the world-within-the-world of the internet has arguably overtaken our realities. It’s not only ever-present, it’s superior: brighter, freer (we can click on anything and almost immediately see and hear what we want), and faster. It’s also portable and ubiquitous. 

  Many of us greet the morning not as sunlight through our blinds or the sound of birdsong, but as the OLED or LCD light from our smartphone screen. Our sense of “home” is the emails we recognize, the apps we check, our news, our weather, our sports updates. It ain’t called an “I” phone for nothing. Online, everything’s for me.

  So it makes a kind of sense to me that young adults might be kind of bored with stories that don’t feature immediate and easy access to virtual realities and other worlds and role-playing lives. Stories without isekai-type narratives might feel outdated, boring, even irrelevant to the way we all live now.

    Original creator comics, such as Webtoon series like God of High School, have recently been adapted into series exclusively streamed on Crunchyroll. Series like God of High School feature diverse characters from all across the world in a tournament set in Seoul, a setting we rarely see in television anime. Although many Japanese web novels and amateur projects have since been adapted into professionally produced shows, such treatment is less common for non-Japanese properties. In terms of broadening the horizons for intellectual property, did you ever anticipate the world of Japanese animation and international webcomics to cross paths? 

  I wrote about it in JAPANAMERICA and thought it would happen sooner, actually. On book tours at anime cons, fan artists and amateur comics artists ask me to sign JAPANAMERICA and hand me a copy of their own work in return. I’d read their work on the plane to the next city and sometimes I’d think, this might make a great anime series or feature. 

  But I couldn’t generate much enthusiasm when I got back to Japan. Part of the problem was obvious: language and culture barriers. 

  But also, the Japanese industry is sitting on piles of great intellectual property from decades of manga about every imaginable type of topic and character, plus all the great doujin fan-art that powers the record crowds at the biannual Comiket and fills the floors at Mandarake. Why would they reach overseas to work with someone who doesn’t speak the language and/or understand the codes of cultural and business behavior to take a risk on a property from a foreign land?

  Obviously, the increased involvement of non-Japanese producers like Crunchyroll and others are changing that. Also, newer generations of artists from outside Japan have an even greater sense of how Japanese-made anime works, how it gets made, and how to behave in Japanese business transactions. Plus, I do think online translators, as bad as they may be, have helped ease the transition between languages on both sides, Japanese and non-Japanese.

  Tokyo Big Sight during Comiket 96 last year (photo by Daryl Harding)

  Fourteen years ago, there was no such thing as Twitter. It goes without saying it’s huge now, especially among anime fans. With major events like Comiket canceled this year, alongside dozens of conventions in the states, more fans than ever are converging online. Nowadays, it’s not only incredibly easy to find anime, but also discover a whole community buzzing with activity regardless of what language you speak. How much of a role do you think social media has played in pushing anime from niche to ubiquitous, and what do you hope to come out of this zealous digital convergence for fans everywhere?

  I write about the importance of fan forums and chatrooms in JAPANAMERICA. Anime fans were one of the key drivers of Usenet groups and BBS sites back in the day. In a chapter I called DIY (“do it yourself”), I explain how anime fandom is a bottom-up phenomenon, fired by shared communal passion and the sharing of that passion. 

  But I didn’t know how massive social media platforms would become, or how crucial they would be for Japanese pop culture fandom.

  What sucks is that the discourse on social media is so coarse. When you go back and read exchanges between diehard anime fans on Usenet and old chatrooms and forums from the mid-2000s, they read like middlebrow literature compared to what you see on Twitter, Reddit, and Discord. So many social media posts are made just to get hits, not to communicate or share ideas, and the most provocative, cruel, or just plain daft stuff gets liked and retweeted a thousand times. 

  An ex-friend of mine once told me he was going to market his book entirely on Twitter. I said, well then you’ll get a bunch of responses from people who don’t read a lot of books. But he said he just wanted to sell a lot of copies. He didn’t care about the quality of the people who read them or followed him.

  But I guess that’s the state of most things in America right now, politics in particular. Mass appeal is all that matters.

    Roland Kelts' blog can be found here. Follow him on Twitter at @rolandkelts!

More information on JAPANAMERICA can be found here. A Japanese-language edition is also available from Kodansha.

      Blake P. is a weekly columnist for Crunchyroll Features. He is still thinking about Hellshake Yano. His twitter is @_dispossessed. His bylines include Fanbyte, VRV, Unwinnable, and more.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[blschaos3000-blog]

Its 12:02 am dark/cold/Pinky and the Brain

Welcome to “8 Questions with…..”

  I have been Twitter friends with our next guest,Dr. Evil for a quite a while now. Oh,did I say “Dr. Evil”,I meant Dr. Discord….seems that Dr. Evil went to a convention and discovered that a lot of copy cats had taken his name. Instead of unleashing his minions and hiring the cheetah to reclaim his title,he simply changed his name to Dr. Discord. A few months ago,the cheetah and I were guests on Dr. Discord podcast,”A Necessary Evil” and had a great time. In fact I loved it so much that I tapped into my former life and started to book a few folks on his show,I’m hoping to one day become a minion.   Kenny’s family is his pride and joy,whenever he mentions them,you can feel the love and devotion he has for them all. In fact his wife has been known to plan some good evil doings in her own right. Just think of them as the anti-Incredibles with a lot less monologuing.   The one thing I really love about Kenny is that he stays in character,he really is Dr. Discord and having discussions with him is quite a hoot. He is a very generous host,a hell of a editor and smart as a whip. His podcast is gaining some serious steam in terms of listenership and guests,during this COVID-19 lockdown,the cheetah and I urge you to check the good Doctor and learn to embrace your inner evil….links down below. But for now,lets go quiet as Dr. Discord answers his 8 Questions…….

        Please introduce yourself and tell us a little of your background.

  Hello, I’m Kenny Ketchens, although most people probably know me as my villainous alter ego , Dr. Discord.  I’m a proud father of 5 minions ranging in age from 24 down to 6. I’m a Data Analyst/RPA Developer for a 3rd party logistics company during the day and at night I educate the world on the finer points of being a villain.

 What was growing up in your home like? What are your three favorite memories growing up?

   Growing up we moved around a lot. I remember really enjoying how freeing it felt to be young and knowing ahead of time you’d be moving again soon. It really changes your perspective on things. I’d have to say all of my favorite memories growing up involve my father, whether it was helping him work on cars, or watching him make things from wood. It seemed like there wasn’t anything he didn’t know how to do and it inspired me to learn all I could and try to replicate that for my children. He always told me growing up to learn to do as much for yourself as possible. We’re human, specialization is for insects.

 How old were you when you became a fanboy and what were your three favorite comic books to collect and why?

  I was in my early teens when I got ahold of my first Comic, Green Lantern. I was hooked from then on. What could be more awesome than a power that would let you manifest whatever you could imagine into reality! Hal Jordan is the epitome of a hero in my eyes. Green Lantern led me to the Justice League which led me to Batman and by far the best assortment of villains in any fandom. I could really empathize with the likes of Joker, Penguin, and Riddler. They were just ordinary people that life happened to and made choices and stuck to their decisions. It really stuck with me that odds were that I could more easily become the Riddler than a member of the Green Lantern Corp.

 Why is evil necessary in today’s world?

   As cliche as it is to say, evil serves as a means to highlight the good. If nothing bad ever happened to you, would you ever really realize how good you had it? We need those lows to appreciate the highs, dark to notice the light, and so on. Our perception in general is based on comparing things to other things. So in a sense we’ll always need evil.

 Who are your three most iconic villains ever?

The Joker especially the Heath Ledger Version of The Joker in the Dark Knight. Such a powerful and Iconic Character.

Dolores Umbridge From Harry Potter, I think we all know someone similar in our own lives who lets the power they have go to the head.

Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Having your fate decided on a coin flip is such a terrifying concept for me. No chance for bartering or pleading, just chance.

How did you get into podcasting?

   Great question!!! Minion #5 my 9 year old wanted to be a youtuber. So being the supportive father I set up a channel and showed him how to make videos. It was his idea so I wanted him to be in control. I didn’t want to do it for him. He quickly decided it was too much work to make the kind of videos he enjoyed watching. As we were driving in the car I was listening to a podcast and he remarked that we could do that instead. He said it had to be easier since it was just sound and I probably already had stuff for it from being a musician in my younger days. He came up with the idea that we would talk about bad guys. They were an underrepresented group in his opinion. The first iteration of the show we mainly talked origin stories, powers cool story arcs of comic book villains and then it gradually turned into what it is today a resource for creative people to flesh out their villains more and a way for people to embrace that villainous side that we all have.

 What do you look for in a topic or in a guest besides their being somewhat evil?

  I mainly look for an opportunity to explore something from a different perspective. One of my favorite episodes started on the premise of common themes of the supernatural in pop music and ended up in discussion of why vampires are mostly portrayed as sexy and not werewolves or other supernatural creatures. Often I have writers come on and give their advice on handling antagonists and I get to learn something at the same time the listeners do. It’s just about having fun and maybe learning something new at the end of the day.

 What three guests have impressed you the most and why?

   I am in awe of the prowess that Jabe Stafford has when it comes to writing villains. He has the best tips and tricks to getting the most out of your villains.Danny Decellis came on the show to talk about Villains in Medieval Literature, I was expecting monsters like Grendel and such but I was surprised to find out it was more long the lines of people with low morals. Cowards, traitors and the like. Ami Mercury is another favorite, She came on to talk about morals in relation to professions. I learned a lot from her. They were all wonderful to talk with and I hope they came back on the show again at some point.

 Can you walk us through on what goes into making a episode of your show,the nuts and bolts of it?

  For the majority it’s as simple as sitting in my chair, hitting record and rambling. Then cutting out bits that veer off and don’t go anywhere or that don’t fit the topic. Some have some research like I did an episode on villain trends in movies of the last 50 years. So I had to look up data from a lot of movies and compile the data and see what trends began to emerge. For interviews I try to just keep it casual and informal, more conversational than just Q&A and I feel it serves me well. It’s a lot of just winging it. I like to fly by the seat of my pants and see where I end up.

How do you define “evil”?

   Evil is quite a subjective term and the standard definition of being amoral doesn’t help much either. From my perspective evil is selfish. Doing things for yourself. Looking at things from this perspective shines an entirely different light on lots of things. People giving to charity just to boast about it on Social Media, Evil. Youtubers adopting disabled pets for likes and subscriptions, EVIL. Setting your kid down in front of a tablet so you can get things done or peace and quiet, EEEVVVVIIILLLL!

 If you could interview anyone,fiction or non-fiction…who would they be and why?

   Jensen Ackles because my wife absolutely adores him and I’d let her listen while I was recording but cut her mic so she couldn’t talk so i could gloat about interviewing him forever! How’s that for evil!

 The cheetah and I are flying over to watch your latest film but we are a day early and now you are playing tour guide,what are we doing? 

First, We are hitting the Amish Deli and getting fresh Sasparillas,  then we are heading to Gettysburg and taking a quick tour of the battleground. Perhaps even a Ghost Tour if you’re up for it. As the sun sets it’s dinner time at the Copper Kettle if your in the mood for something fancy or the Flamingo if you’re in the mood for a burger.

  I like to thank Kenny for taking time off his plans to conquer the world and talking with us. I’m including a recent episode of his podcast which Dr. Discord chatted with film director Brendan Steere and producer Jesse Gouldsbury of the kick ass film “The VelociPastor”. Plus there are 88 more top of the line episodes to listen to as well. You can find the website for “A Necessary Evil” here.

You can follow Dr. Discord on Twitter.

If you’re new to the blog,you can catch up on the “8 Questions with……” interviews by going here.  Feel free to leave a comment.

      8 Questions with……… Dr. Discord of “A Necessary Evil” Podcast Its 12:02 am dark/cold/Pinky and the Brain Welcome to "8 Questions with....."   I have been Twitter friends with our next guest,Dr.

[cornerverse-mlp]

I’ve mentioned my headcanons about the History in the Cornerverse-MLP world before, but I don’t think I’ve properly written it down. Well, I have but it was in a scrapped fic that was also an AU verse due to a mary-sue oc. So ‘Cornerverse-MLP’ is canon to ‘Cornerverse-MLP/Feria’, but ‘Cornerverse-MLP/Feria’ is not canon to ‘Cornerverse-MLP’. Squares and rectangles and all that.

Side note: Comics are not canon to Cornerverse-MLP, and neither are storybooks. EQG is 99% canon.  As the lore of the show is kind of contradictory, I’ve decided what to put in and what to ignore, mostly anything past the first few episodes of Season 5 are ‘pick and choose’ canon. Not just events, but the lore that is revealed(if you want to know why, send a message because that’s a different rant)  Plus there are some OCs I’m attached too so you can tear them out of my cold dead hands :)

Also, one of the ‘contradictory lore’ things is Hearth’s Warming, since it leaves out many things like, you know, Celestia, Luna, Discord, the Crystal Empire, etc. As such, I am going full ‘conspiracy theory’ on the idea of the whole story is a lie told to rewrite history. The ‘Founders’ were other ponies taken from History. Each was fairly important, important enough for history to remember them, but not for ‘founding a country’ or anything.

Anyway, let’s start at the beginning.

Origins:

Two thousand years ago, there was nothingness. Well, not completely. There was one thing, but he’s not yet important. But the world was cold and dark. Not even the night was as dark as it was, because there was no Night.

The First one, was Azura, an Alicorn of Magic. She came into existence. Just appeared from nothingness. The world was like an empty field. She had her magic. She could light her horn to see, not that there was anything to see. She could fly away, not that there was anywhere to fly.

The second was Mira. Like Azura, she just came into existence. She lit her horn, trying to give more light to the world. But as she did, a river appeared. Mira wasn’t sure how she knew, but she could feel more than one river. She could feel lakes and oceans far away but connected to the river.

The third was Flora. When she lit her horn, a forest sprung up around them. There were trees that bore fruit, and flowers that were just pretty to look at. Flora knew the differences. She also knew that they’d need more light.

Fourth was Sora. When she lit her horn, not only did she add her light magic, but she created a stormcloud. The lightning, while sparing, did give more light. The rain added to the river, and the wind felt beautiful in their manes.

The fifth gave them light. When she lit her horn for the first time, the Sun rose into a blue sky. Their world was full of light and warmth. Yet, after only a few hours she let the Sun go back down. They asked her not to let them go back to the cold darkness, and she did try to keep it up, but it was too hot. Her only explanation was ‘it wants to sleep’.

The sixth was a little different. While the first five were obviously ponies, this one looked just a bit different. Her horn was curved and her wings were translucent instead of feathers. The others waited to see what would happen when she lit her horn.

More creatures appeared. Unicorns, Pegasai, Earth Ponies , Crystal Ponies, and things that weren’t ponies like Dragons and Sirens and Zebras and Griffons and more. Six of each. There were even creatures that weren’t like them, not sapient.

The seventh one was even stranger. Unlike the sixth, he looked nothing like a pony. Well, maybe his face did a bit. Everything else about him looked as if he had taken parts from everyone else. He did not light a horn(though he had two). Still, they felt a change in the world. Maybe because he was the only one not afraid of the cold blackness that consumed the world when the Sun went down.

The Eight was another Alicorn, like the first five. She appeared just as the fifth was setting the sun. She lit her horn, and instead of being consumed by cold blackness, she created the Night.

Time passed. The creatures grew up and built their home. They called the castle Hearthstone.

Azura led a team of a few magically gifted creatures, including a Unicorn named Starswirl. They studied magic, experimented with it. They discovered the existence of the Elements of Harmony, and created gems that would channel the magic. They then began work on a bigger project: the Crystal Heart.

After years of it being only the Created ones, the first creatures were Born. They were the daughters of Starswirl and an Earth Pony named Frosted Cake. They were twins. Clover was first, soon followed by Smart Cookie.

As more children were born, they added more to Hearthstone. They also began to explore more of the world around them. They found more forests, but also fields and mountains. There were also oceans and deserts.

Eventually, as time went on, the Eight found out they were Immortal. As their friends aged around them, the only thing that changed about them was growing taller than most and magical manes for the six Alicorns. They buried their Family in what used to be Hearthstone’s garden.

They handled it differently. Some distanced themselves altogether, others threw themselves into what they had to do. The Mortals around them decided that the Immortals would be the Royalty of the land, as they were not only powerful, but also able to run a land for potentially forever, and would in time have the experience and wisdom to know what to do.

While the Immortals did live in Hearthstone, some had places they liked to visit often. Mira helped Sirens create a city under the ocean, and Sora helped create a city of clouds. In the year 500, Azura completed the Crystal Heart, and made an entire Empire out of crystals to use it to its full potential.

About seven hundred years after the beginning, something happened. Mira fell in love. It was a kind of love where she didn’t want to go on without him. So she didn’t. She gave up her Immortality for him. It was like time being unfrozen. But she was happy. Not only did she have her husband, but her daughter Platinum, a Unicorn and the first Royal Descendant.

Flora did the same soon after. She fell for a chef in the castle, an Earth Pony stallion named Puddinghead. Sora found two Pegasai lovers; a Guard Captain named Hurricane, and his second in command, a mare named Pansy.

The Sixth and Seventh Immortal both isolated themselves from the others, but in different ways. The Sixth left Hearthstone for a group of followers. The Seventh stayed, mostly keeping to himself and even boobytrapping his door should anyone try to get in.

Azura created a place to keep the Elements of Harmony safe, while still sending energy into the world. A crystal tree in the forest near Hearthstone. She designed a locked chest with no keys, putting a message of instructions inside should it be opened. Instructions to use the Elements without the Gems.

The Fall of the Crystal Empire:

Azura, like her ‘sisters’ before her, fell in love. She had a daughter, Lazuli, who took over as Princess of the Crystal Empire. Azura lived long enough to know her grandchildren, passing away after 900 years. It was less than a decade before the Empire disappeared.

That’s the version that was told for years. It’s not until five years after the Empire returns that they learn the full story. Though since this is chronological and stuff, I’ll write it here.

The story begins with three ponies. Obsidian and Emerald, the grandchildren of Azura, and Autumn, daughter of the Guard Captain. Autumn was a Crystal Pony, and Obsidian was a Unicorn, but Emerald was born not just an Alicorn, but a Crystal Alicorn. The three of them were close friends, always together.

They were close to Azura, especially Obsidian who wanted to follow in her hoofsteps in Magic experiments and inventions. When Azura died, her daughter Lazuli took the throne, and chose to have Emerald as her heir.

The trio found this a little strange, as they thought Obsidian would be a better ruler, despite not being an Alicorn. So they decided that when Emerald took the throne, they’d rule together even if she was the true ‘ruler’.

Unfortunately, things happen. Emerald and Autumn fell in love. While two mares being in love was a lot more accepted in Equestria than it is in our world, the ‘concept’ has had its ups and downs. It doesn’t matter if it was ‘up’ or ‘down’ now, as Lazuli was against it. She said that one of the Princess’s duties was to carry on the bloodline through legitimate heirs.

They wouldn’t let Lazuli stop them. The trio decided that they’d either convince Lazuli to make Obsidian the Heir, or find a way to let two mares have their own children. They worked at it. By day, Obsidian would excel at ‘royal duties’, while Emerald would purposely fail them. By night, the trio looked through all manner of magic books, including Azura’s personal collections. Obsidian pulled many all-nighters, since he was the only one of them who could actually understand the magic.

Two years later was their ‘cutoff’.  Once Emerald was formally crowned Heir to the Empire. Sure, they could look for spells even after, but still they grew desperate. Obsidian didn’t sleep at all leading up to Coronation Day. He spent the whole time in Azura’s workshop/personal library, only eating if Emerald had a free moment to bring him something.

He kept it up all the way up to the Coronation ceremony. It was then that he heard a voice whispering in his ear. It told him of ways to be the ruler Lazuli would allow, a way to get what he wanted. It would give him the power to do anything. All he had to do was agree.

In both desperation and sleep-deprived lack of judgment, he agreed. Obsidian blacked out. When he woke up, he was on the balcony. His parents were dead at his hooves. There was a crystal sword in his magic, it’s blade through Emerald’s wing joint. He was awake long enough to tell Emerald to escape.

Emerald ran, despite her wing hanging off her body. She didn’t know what happened to Obsidian, but whatever did that wasn’t him. She took as many Crystal Ponies with her as she could in her escape, barely managing to get out before magic sealed the Empire off. Unfortunately, Autumn was still inside.

They made it to Hearthstone, telling the Immortals of what happened. They left for the Empire, but came back with the news that the Empire itself had disappeared. Emerald didn’t know how she knew, but she was sure she’d never see her brother or her fiancé ever again. She never told anyone what happened to Obsidian.

Discord’s Reign:

Some do not handle Immortality well. The Seventh Immortal isolated himself more and more over the centuries. After Azura’s death, he only left his room to eat every few days. He didn’t even come out to help his ‘sisters’ fight for the Empire. He refused to sleep. The dreams of ponies long past were too painful, and the Dreamwalker herself would try to get through to him.

There was one who still managed to talk to him, though he didn’t realize it was an actual voice and not him talking to himself. The voice suggested things. Suggested giving up, faking the smile and laughter. Why not go all out? After all, Life and Death mean nothing in a world of Chaos.

Truly, what does one expect of the mental breakdown of a powerful, Immortal being whose magic always goes for the most Chaotic option?

Nightmare Moon:

There were only two Immortals left in Hearthstone. Four had died, one had disappeared, and one was turned to stone. The youngest Immortal was following close behind her ‘brother’.  Sure, she handled Immortality better, but there are other things to cause a breakdown.

A lack of respect. Her sister was ‘older’, so she must be ‘better’, even if their difference is less than a year. They began to fear her. They did not realize that when she entered their nightmares she was trying to help. They thought she made them. No one cared for the beauty of the Night.

Maybe that was the fault of the beginning. After all, everyone used to love the Night. It was the final freedom from the Nothingness. Yet only one who remembered the Nothingness was still fully with her.

That was a problem too. The Sun got all the glory, was loved by all. But most importantly, she ignored the Moon’s jealousy. She noticed, stars did she notice, but she didn’t think it would turn worse. She thought a few encouraging words of ‘you can come to me if you want to’ would be enough until she did.

Someone else closed the gap. Told the Moon things that were not completely lies. They loved the Sun more, and does the Sun not love the attention? Has she truly been by your side?

In the end, the Moon followed Chaos into madness. Hers was more literal, transforming into a Nightmare.

The next Thousand Years:

The Sun was alone. The additions to the castle in the last thousand years made it seem almost like a different place, even though the original castle still stood at its center. Still, that place held too many memories.

The forest around Hearthstone was becoming wild with magic. Then again, what did she expect? It was the literal beginning of the world, and the place where four Immortals were buried, residual magic infusing into the ground and making the forest stop listening to anyone.

So she left. She brought the more recent things with her, but she didn’t dare to move anything from the original Hearthstone. The only thing that ‘belonged there’ was her ‘brother’, still trapped in stone.

The forest had once been named after the castle, ‘Hearthstone’. Yet she felt it deserved its own name. It felt right. She called it ‘Everfree’, maybe as a wish for her ‘brother’ and ‘sister’, trapped because she could not help them.

And then she waited. It was all she could do. She waited a thousand years for a group of ponies to do what she couldn’t. To give her Family back.

Other notes:

Six Alicorns=Six Elements:

Azura-Magic

Celestia-Generosity

Luna-Laughter

Sora-Honesty

Mira-Loyalty

Flora-Kindness

Types of Alicorns:

Created- Alicorns that popped into existence. Essentially Magic given a solid form. Immortal unless 1. They give up their Immortality or 2. They are killed. Extremely difficult to kill.

Born- Ponies born an Alicorn. Must be a descendant of one of the Immortals. Might live longer than normal, but double a Mortal is the record longest. Despite their lineage, they won’t necessarily be magically powerful. (Side note of Alicorn Genetics: If you have a Created Alicorn Ancestor, you have the Alicorn Gene. It’s not really a ‘dominant’ trait, as the Gene does what it wants. It’s always passed down to the offspring, but there’s a 50/50 chance of it activating. If it does, then they’re an Alicorn. If it doesn’t, they’re whatever gene the other parent gave)

Crafted Alicorn: Ponies that were born something else and ‘ascend’ to an Alicorn. Usually magically powerful, as ‘ascension’ gives them more magic(in Magic Level Measurement, it gives a full level of Magic). Despite now being an Alicorn, their DNA does not register as ‘Alicorn’. They do not have the Alicorn Gene, and their offspring cannot be Alicorns.

Lineage: Because the other Royals are descenadnts of the Immortals

Cadence- Descended from Azura. Rightful Heir to the throne of the Crystal Empire(assuming Emerald’s Coronation happened before Lazuli died)

Blueblood- Descended from Flora.