#finally....finally its done...haha...ITS FINALLY DONE!!! /ref

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

CH2-13 Thoughts + CH2-14 Predictions

Hello DRDT Fandom! CH2-13 came out about four or so days ago as I'm posting this, and I finally mustered up the energy and mental strength to write down my overall thoughts, and also general predictions for what I think is to come in the next episode. A lot happened in this episode and we have a lot to cover, so let's get started! Before we do though, I think I should give us a reminder of where we currently are in terms of the swear chart and the bingo card, as of CH2-12 Swear Statistics

Bingo Card

Just like the last post, I'll be separating my talking points into character categories, so let's jump straight in with the big man himself...

Levi

Quick Disclaimer: I myself am still trying to unlearn the mindset that having low or no empathy is in any way a moral failing. If I say anything wrong or rude, please politely correct me. Remember kids: Your feelings, thoughts, and emotions, what you feel and how you feel them if you do at all, do not have any moral weight, they are simply aspects of your brain and you cannot control your brain. The only thing that has moral weight is your actions.

So as we learned in the previous episode, Levi has the murderer secret! And as we learn in this episode, he apparently killed four people, one of which being his father. DRDT continues to take Danganronpa's standard tropes and incorporating them in unique ways, in this case Levi represents the trope of the Chapter 2 Serial Killer reveal (Genocide Jack, Peko, Maki). I love that DRDT keeps doing this and I hope it keeps it up You know what else is staying consistent, though?

(x) Levi: That incident happened when I was in my junior year of high school. Levi: My junior year was also the year that Hope's Peak scouted me as the Ultimate Personal Stylist. Levi: To my understanding, it would've reflected poorly on Hope's Peak to recruit a murderer, so they pressured the court into not pressing charges.

US-HPA being morally corrupt as all fuck, that's what! Like no, seriously, it makes more and more sense as for why Xander David and Mai were most likely forming a revolution against this damn place, cause wow. The choice to scout out Levi during his Junior Year, when he was still in high school, is...interesting. Given that this Hope's Peak takes in College-aged students, why not just wait until Levi has graduated high school? In fact, that probably would've been even better because by then Levi definitely would've perfected his skills in styling by then, and thus would further justify him being enrolled in the academy. We don't know whether or not Levi was scouted before or after his incident, but given how Levi explains the events, I'm willing to bet this was after. Which...makes thing especially strange. But I'm sure it's no big deal. I mean, it's not like we have any evidence of US-HPA preying on vulnerable childre--

(x) Min: The Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students was made for a very specific target audience. Min: Those children who had no talents, who would consider spending their entire lives preparing for one single test for even a chance to become an Ultimate...

Oh. Well isn't that funny, huh?

Part of Hope's Peak's branding in general is the promise of a better future, which is something that Levi clearly wants. So I can most definitely see why the idea of being enrolled in the academy appealed to him. Levi being a delinquent in his teenage years definitely tracks, given how we know that his family was full of bad influences (including himself more than likely). And I am absolutely not surprised that Levi ended up killing his father. I think a lot of us theorized for a while that the person he killed was linked to his family.

I'd absolutely adore to learn more about Levi's family situation and what exactly their relationship with each other was, because "We were bad influences on each other" can mean a lot of things. Given the fact that not even the police cared about the death of Levi's father, I'd be pretty willing to believe that Mr. Fontana is a wanted man who has done a lot of criminal harm to others. That might even be where Levi formed the mindset that people are defined by their actions. Maybe, that's my best guess and it doesn't even include his mother and brothers, lmao. Anyway, that's enough of Murder, Corruption, and Daddy Issues. Let's talk about the other thing that was revealed about Levi this episode, or more-so put into words. His low, if zero empathy. Firstly, those who are headcannoning Levi is ASPD, I see you and I love you. So much. But I would be lying if I didn't admit that my first thought upon watching this scene was "Levi is so Autismcoded" lmao But in all seriousness, I absolutely adore this side of his character. In general something I've always loved about Levi is the fact that he, to put it bluntly, does not know how to act. He's constantly seeing what others do and copying them, and asking them for guidance when he doesn't know what to do. His first appearance shows him using Xander and Teruko's appearances to wager what kind of person they are, which is more than likely how he got into styling in the first place. He's basically masking and trying to appear as what he views as normal because he's aware that his lack of empathy is not something most humans possess. And his actions reflect that of what he thinks a good person would do in these scenarios, whether that be your friends not inviting you to an event, or someone profusely bleeding from their neck. To put it in simple terms: He's masking. I love that. It really reminds me of the experiences had by my neurodivergent friends, and even though Levi is not canonically neurodivergent, the fact that so many people headcannon him with ASPD or Autism really goes to show how DT-Dev nailed that kind of experience, and how well they wrote Levi's low empathy in general. Well-done, DT-Dev :D ...Also I think it's safe to say that Accomplice!Levi is not happening. Damn it, I really liked that theory lmao.

Ace

[not even three minutes later]

...See, this is why I always believed Ace was telling the truth about David and Arei's conversation, because wow this man is competing with the former in the Shitty Liar Olympics.

If Ace's sense of security around Levi wasn't already shattered, it sure as hell is now. Which is very upsetting to see, but also very entertaining to me as an aficionado of toxic yaoi. I was never really an Acevi girl, it was just never something I was attracted to (probably because for a majority of CH2 Part 1's airing I really didn't like Ace lmao), but this combined with the Other Thing I'll talk about later has definitely sold me on it. I hope they get worse.

I can't remember what post it was, but I remember seeing someone talk about Ace very much projecting a friendship onto Levi that was never really there between them, and looking back, I absolutely agree. I mean, where the two of them really friends? I do think that Levi does, or did, genuinely like Ace. I don't think he would've been hanging around him in Chapter 1 if he didn't. But it was simply just that, he liked Ace. Ace loved Levi, and saw him as his lifeboat in the midst of this scary unfamiliar situation. Even if everyone else either was annoyed by or straight-up disliked Ace, even if he could die at any moment, he could still rely on Levi as a presence of safety and security, but that all came crumbling down.

ace can you please change your sprite

The fact that Ace, the man famous for jumping to conclusions, not thinking anything through or in depth, and switching his opinions on others on a dime, is even asking for Levi's defense at all, is proof enough to me that even after everything Ace still wanted to cling onto the fantasy of their friendship he had built up in his mind. But upon hearing that Levi never cared about what happened to him, he can no longer do so. ...And why do I think Ace got attached to Levi so quickly?

(x) Ace: I was totally right all along to burn our friendship--No, I can't even call it it "Friendship." Ace: There's only one person in my whole life who I've ever been able to call my friend. That I ever thought, even for just a short time, that you and I were "friends" is an insult to his memory.

Yeah it's time to talk about this.

So for those who are not in the know, DT-Dev confirmed in a now-deleted ask that this friend of Ace's is named Taylor Riley.

(thank you to @/nicohakobyan / weightedblankett on twitter for providing this screenshot)

We know very little about this man other than his name, his gender, the fact that he was Ace's friend, and that he's dead. We don't actually know that fourth one, but I think "insult to his memory" speaks for itself lmao. As such, we do not know the details of his relationship with Ace... But I've made more out of less before, so let's get to talking. Here's what I think:

I think that Taylor was a presence in Ace's life much similar to how Levi was to him in Chapter 1: A strong protective figure that helped to make the scared-of-everything Ace feel a sense of safety. And then some form of incident happened that resulted in Taylor's death, leaving Ace alone, heartbroken, bitter, and terrified. That sense of security he once had was ripped away from him, and without Taylor, he doesn't know what to do with himself anymore.

And then in the killing game, he meets Levi, who provides him with a similar feeling of safety. Immediately he begins to project the memory of Taylor onto Levi and as such becomes attached, quickly considering Levi a friend because of it. And I'm not entirely pulling this idea that Ace was projecting Taylor onto Levi out of my ass, either.

Ace: dark blue/purple (reasoning: refuses to provide reasoning)

When we first got this answer, most people assumed this was referring to Levi, but I honestly think it is more likely that this is referring to Taylor. But those colors are still part of Levi's design, which automatically sets up a parallel between both Levi and Taylor Ace projected his relationship and the memory of Taylor onto a man he barely knew, and when that man lost his patience with him, his fantasy was swiftly kicked with the steel-toed shoe of reality. Hell, Ace's reaction after Levi snapped at him may had been due to his illusion of safety crumbling beneath him, but going down the road of this theory, Levi snapping at him might've been the first time Ace truly saw Levi and not Taylor. He had been giving this man a script and a role to play, and Levi responded by tearing up the paper and telling him to fuck off. In a sense, you could say that in that moment, Ace lost Taylor a second time.

Since I don't think Ace is going to be the killer as he was knocked out and thus did not have any knowledge of the murder mechanism (at least not including the theory that he tried to kill himself, which... Is a possibility, but I don't think that's the case). And if he does live past his chapter, I honestly think Chapter 3 will mark his breaking point. Any fantasy of Levi that he was clinging onto with his pinky has now shattered into pieces ten times over, the person who tried to kill him is still alive and for all he knows, could do it again whenever the hell they want to and people will take their side over his own. Next to no one in the cast likes him and they make that explicitly clear, and worse of all, he will still be trapped in this godforsaken...whatever facility this place is meant to be. So to cap off this section that got way too long, Ace Trauma Dump is on my Chapter 3 bingo card, and if we get to see Taylor and his design includes dark blue and purple I will actually become spaghettified. Please survive Ace, you are finally starting to become not C-Tier

Hu and Veronika

Lumping these two together because I have about the same amount to say about both of them and their secrets were revealed together. Hu's secret is the Hopeless Child one, and Veronika's is the Self Harm one. I think after CH2 Part 1 most of us predicted as such, but it's still very satisfying to be right. What I'm more interested is this supposed pact that they made off-screen. I have to assume that Veronika went to Hu pretty quickly to reveal her secret to her given her general disinterest in topics of suicide and self harm. So I'd wager this pact was probably made at around CH2-5. Not that that really tells us much about the actual conversation, but it's nice to have a time-frame for reference.

I don't expect the actual conversation to be shown because from what we currently have it doesn't really add much of anything, but it would definitely be cool.

(x) Hu: I've been quite selfish this whole time, keeping my secret because I didn't want you all to think less of me...

I've said this before in this post, but I absolutely believe that David eventually coaxed and pressured Hu into revealing her secret to him, as well as why she kept it for so long. And I also think David implanted, or I guess more accurately watered the seed in Hu's head that she was inherently selfish for not sharing her secret. That, I think we would benefit from a flashback, but maybe I'm just biased because I desperately want Hu lore. Please DT-Dev, I'm on my knees Hmm... what else?

(x) Veronika: After all, my own so-called secret isn't even the worst thing I've done. Isn't that so utterly disappointing for this motive?

Oh yeah there's that. What the fuck, Veronika? Like, I feel like this is something I should've expected this, but for some reason I didn't. I'll be honest here, I really have nothing right now. But whatever Veronika is referring to here, I feel like it has something to do with her 'dearest friend' mentioned in the CH2 Q&A (who's name is Alyssa Belyaeva.) What Veronika actually did? I do not have the slightest clue, you can never know with this girl. But no matter what she did, I will probably love her even more for it. Glad that DT-Dev seems to agree with the precedence of supporting women's wrongs.

Teruko

...So I'm glad to see we're all in agreement that that is not her fucking secret. I mean, I'm sure it applies to her. She is an orphan, her parents are out of the picture, and though we don't know the whereabouts of her brother and neither does she, she most likely assumes he's dead as well. But honestly, given the fact that again this is not her fucking secret, I'm starting to wonder if that's really the case... Can Teacher Tawaki theory still live on? I'll save that for another post.

Anyway what was I talking about? Oh yeah, that is not her fucking secret.

And this little bitch knows that for a fact.

I won't go too deep into this because there have already been people discussing it better than I could, but this silent agreement the two of them have to not share Teruko's true secret is so palpable and interesting to me. David knows that Teruko's secret isn't that, but for whatever reason, he is keeping his mouth shut. And he just gives Teruko that shit-eating smirk. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Teruvid? I fucking love Teruvid. But yeah, I still think 100% that Teruko's secret is that the killing game is all her fault. It just does not make sense for Xander and Min's secrets to belong to anyone other than each other as they are dead. And in general it just makes sense for Teruko's character and her role in the story. And I can't help but feel like Teruko's actual secret will be revealed at the end of the Chapter.

Eden

... I mean. Do I really need to say more? I swear I made this exact joke in the previous thoughts post, but I can't help it. It applies perfectly to this CG. When this CG, this fucking JUMPSCARE of a CG, popped up on my screen, I'm pretty sure I ran around in a circle screaming in my room for a total of ten minutes. The first of two times I would do that during this masterfully crafted scene. I want to think of some kind of insightful analysis, but the truth is basically in your face. Eden was the one who gouged out Xander's eye. Why did she do it? Where does this fit into the overall lore? I DON'T FUCKING KNOW What the fuck am I supposed to say? This CG is basically all we have, and we'll definitely have to wait for more information. Especially since Eden is totally the culprit, but we'll get to that in the predictions section. (yeah if you can't tell my writing juice is starting to run out, but if I get this out any later than today I will kill myself)

David

(...for a scumbag, he's kinda cute.) So first of all, David is slowly becoming the funniest character in the cast in my opinion, which is a huge achievement in a cast full of very funny characters. And in general I think as a character he perfectly captures DRDT's general tone of half-and-half both silliness and angst, like yin and yang. Secondly though, the big thing that David did in this chapter (besides keeping Teruko's secret and being funny) is lying to Eden about the rest of the conversation he had with Arei. Ultimately, I think David himself saw that action as a good deed.

Think of it from his perspective: This is a man who has had hope and change presented to him on a silver platter multiple times, and then had it violently ripped away from him. And the most recent example of that, Arei, presented him with a better future and the possibility of change only to be killed upon trying to act on said change. If he told Eden that Arei still had hope, that she still wanted to change, it would aspire Eden with that same hope that in his eyes is destined to crash down on her. So instead of inflicting that same pain onto her, he instead chose to say nothing at all Maybe I'm giving David too much credit, what he did was still at the end of the day, incredibly dickish. But that interpretation is what makes the most sense to me personally. That's all I really have to say in regards to David... So, let's move onto what was, in my opinion, the star of this week's episode.

Arei

Arei Nageishi.... Ohhhh save me Arei Nageishi.... Arei was already one of my favorite characters in the cast due to her personality, design, voice acting, and most of all the character development she had throughout the course of Chapter 2. But this episode, this scene... It cemented her a well-earned spot in my top four, sitting only behind Whit, Teruko, and David.

The flashback scene of Arei and David in this episode is honestly up there with some of the best scenes in the whole show to me, almost solely because of how it caps off Arei as a character postmortem, and the story that she, along with Chapter 2 as a whole, is meant to tell. This whole chapter has been themed around the idea of what classifies a good person, and this flashback scene provides such a great payoff to that theme and it is everything I could've ever wished for. The message I got from Arei's story is that, ultimately, the idea of a "Good Person" and a "Bad Person" are nothing more than just that. Ideas. And in being ideas, they are above anything else, arbitrary, subjective, and at the end of the day, incredibly meaningless when it comes to discussing actual human beings. Insistence on categorizing yourself and the people around you into boxes of "pure saint that can do no wrong" and "irredeemable demon who will burn in the pits of hell" is a fast track to viewing a complicated, colorful world into a few shades of black and white. That's how David views the world, and has viewed the world probably for years. And I'm going to be honest and say that I think before being confronted with the truth of David's actions, Arei was heading right down the same path that he had headed.

(x) Arei: Of course I wanted to change myself. Who wants to be a grab-bag of negative personality traits? There's not even anything positive you could say about me. Arei: Still, for the longest time, I thought it was stupid to even try. I'm rotten to the core, and I might as well be a different species from saints like Eden and you. Arei: A pig never hopes to grow up into a human, because it knows that such a metamorphosis is impossible.

And this is the line that really, really makes me think that. She calls David and Eden saints because (up until this moment) she viewed both of them as the ideal of what makes a good person, similar to how David views Xander. And on the contrast, claims herself to be rotten to the core, ontologically evil with no redemption in sight. She's even performing David's habit of self-dehumanization, likening herself to a pig in the same way David likens himself to a cat in the LGI video, which goes to show how this mindset of black-and-white is, above all else, a dehumanizing view on the human race that relegates people into cardboard boxes with the flaps taped shut. If she didn't find out the truth of David's actions, I am confident that she would've done down the same path that he did, becoming convinced that she will be a terrible person until the day she dies because she cannot reach this worthless standard of a good person that she has set up in her head. But we know that's not how it goes. Arei does realize that the man she once thought of as a saint might be, in his words, a lying manipulative scumbaggy piece of shit. And upon realizing that, the second half of the message unlocks itself. There is no such thing as irredeemability.

Change is a part of being human. Humans are not built to run in a hamster wheel for the rest of their days, reliving their mistakes over and over again wallowing in their self-hatred and guilt. Eventually, they have to get off the wheel and start taking the steps necessary to grow, change, develop and flourish to properly better themselves. (This applies to yourself just as much as it applies to the worst, most depraved individual you know by the way) The alternative is living in a four-by-four black box of self-loathing and relentless stagnancy, which is not productive for the person or the people they've hurt. It is only when you reject these black-and-white categories of "Good Person" and "Bad Person" and accept that no matter what you've done, you're capable of becoming better, that you can achieve true growth and change. The way this message was executed, especially through a character that dies before the halfway point of the story, is something that I marvel at as an aspiring storyteller. DRDT's beating heart will always be its character writing, and this scene is one of the primary examples of that. Thank you, DT-Dev, for making Arei Nageishi and the rest of your amazing cast of characters. :D

Extra Thoughts !!! - FURUYA FANDOM (me) THE TRACK PLAYED LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO!!! - I am very excited to find out more about Nico's attempted murder given all of the questions surrounding it. If the method of murder really was replicated, and Nico wasn't the culprit themself, you guys should take a wild guess who that implicates. (this is probably obvious by this point, but I really don't believe in the theories that suggest that someone other than Nico was responsible for Ace's attempted demise, be it Hu or Ace himself. I feel like it doesn't line up with the current narrative direction that Nico seems to be going in, the physical evidence of them stealing the turpentine, and...I'm gonna be honest, I just don't like it lmao. I'm sure DT-Dev would do it well, but just as a premise I do not favor it. Nico's attempted murder + subsequent regret from it felt like such a big moment in the chapter's narrative in relation to the themes of All That Glitters and the cast revealing sides to themself that weren't as prevalent before, as well as the themes of change and moving on from the past littered all throughout the chapter. I think if Nico's attempted murder was responsible by anyone but Nico, it would just dampen the impact of their overall story for me. That's just me though.) - WE FINALLY GOT ANOTHER NONSTOP DEBATE LETS GO BOYS!!! Nonstop debates I MISSED you - "Hey why does Whit know so much about hangi--" Look. This man is so unbelievably suspicious in every single way that for the sake of my sanity, I'm just gonna assume DT-Dev chose a random character to give the hanging explanation. It is the only way I will survive this chapter - But hey, at least we got this

- As always, I adore the new sprites we got this episode, especially Ace's new ones. It's probably the first sprite of his that actually appears emotionally vulnerable when he's not bleeding profusely from the neck. And of course, I loved David's shit-eating grin towards Teruko, I hope he never changes. - Speaking of Teruko, us getting Tutor Teruko was lovely. She is perfect, she is a little bit of everything all of the time.

(x) Whit: If you're so inclined to complain, Sir Light Pollution, why don't you try and think of some good evidence? Charles: Light pollution? Whit: You know… Cuz he had stars, and now he doesn't, and light pollution makes stars disappear… or… or… something….. Charles: I am truly impressed…by how bad that was.

- I love these dorks so much. I can tell DT-Dev has a lot of fun writing them.

- Teronika Consent animation! I guess after Acevi's Soap Opera, DT-Dev decided to feed the yuri crowd as well. Love it when we get to see those little sprite animations, too.

Predictions for CH2-14 - The episode is 40 minutes long, the longest episode we have had so far. (40 minutes of DRDT content... I'm excited just thinking about it!) Because of that, I think I will just start with my biggest prediction: I think we're getting the culprit reveal this chapter. I don't think that just because of the length either. When you really look at it, we have basically used every piece of evidence at least once with the exception of three: - The conditions of the gym (which I assume will be discussed next) - The scuffs on the ground - The ball of starchy clothes All three of those pieces of evidence I think can definitely be cleared up in the span of 40 minutes, especially since full focus is now on the murder case. I don't necessarily think the trial will end in this episode, but I think we have at least one more trial episode to go before the post-trial + execution + ending of the chapter. - And as the culprit reveal is approaching, I have formulated a tier list of who I think is least - most likely to be Arei's culprit. I will provide my reasoning for each.

No. 17/16 - Xander Matthews + Min Jeung I mean, what it says on the tin. They're dead, and thus couldn't had committed the murder. No. 15/14 - MonoTV + Arei Nageishi There are explicit rules against them being the culprit. Rule 8 and Rule 11 in particular. No. 13 - Teruko Tawaki She is the protagonist. Didn't stop Kaede, but I highly doubt that's where DT-Dev is going. No. 12 - David Chiem Other than the previous five who I've all disqualified from being the culprit, David is probably the character I suspect the least. He has an alibi for the time of the murder, getting breakfast with J and Veronika, and thematically...well, he's basically being set up as the antagonist. I don't think we'll be rid of him this early lmao. No. 11 - Charles Cuevas Charles has a fear of blood and dead bodies, and though I wouldn't say that completely disqualifies him from becoming a culprit in the future, in a case like this with such a complicated mechanism like this where he'd have to be in very close proximity with the body at all times? I highly doubt it. He also has an alibi for the fish (He was with Whit). No. 10 - J Rosales J both has an alibi for the fish (Arturo following her around), and an alibi for the morning (getting breakfast with David and Veronika), and both of those alibis can be confirmed. I don't think she did this. No. 9 - Veronika Grebenshchikova I'll be honest, I really don't see Veronika committing a murder at all. She clearly wants to see this through to the end, and killing someone would come with the risk of her being executed, which I don't think she would see as a satisfying conclusion to her story. That, combined with the fact that she has an alibi for the fish (bothering Teruko) and an alibi for the murder (getting breakfast with David and J) makes me think she didn't do this. No. 8 - Nico Hakobyan You might think it's weird to place Nico this low on the overall tier-list despite them not having an alibi for the fishes, and their morning alibi being...somewhat flimsy but I'll get to that with Hu, but here's my logic. Nico was driven to attempt murder from very specific circumstances. That being, Ace's relentless bullying and abuse towards them. Nico has said before that they'd understand murder if the perpetrator didn't like the victim, and while I don't think they exactly liked Arei, I do not think they harbor the same animosity towards her as they did towards Ace. I truly believe that Nico would only ever resort to murder if they truly despised the person in question and saw no other solution. So that is why I feel comfortable placing Nico at eighth. No. 7 - Hu Jing Hu is also another character that I think some will be surprised to see so low, but I don't think this was her doing. She has an alibi for the fish (cleaning up with Eden), and though again her alibi in the morning is very flimsy (having tea with Nico in the morning,) I do believe she is telling the truth because if she was lying about her alibi, I think the brutally blunt Nico would call her out for it. I'm sorry, I just simply cannot imagine Nico letting that shit slide regardless of how many theories I read. Not to mention I can't really think of a motive for why she would kill Arei specifically when, if she really did want to kill someone, Ace is right there. No. 6 - Whit Young Whit is supremely fucking suspicious and a lot of his behavior in the trial is literal shenanigans, even more so given the fact that he doesn't have an alibi for the actual murder. But he does have an alibi for the fish (again, he was with Charles) which is the main sticking point of Whit!Culprit. His other sticking point is his lack of motive, both in terms of the secrets and Arei specifically. I don't know like- just look at this man, do you think he did this? /joke

No. 5 - Levi Fontana The number one suspect in the fandom for a while, and he's only at number five. He ultimately lacks an alibi for the morning, and his alibi for the fish was that he was doing his laundry... With no one else around. Shady as fuck. But I think given his principles discussed in this episode ("it is a good thing to make sure someone else doesn't die"), and the genuine desire to be helpful he has expressed throughout this trial, I think him being the culprit is unlikely. That's why I was adamant on him being an accomplice for a while because I still thought he had some role in the case, but oh well. No. 4 - Rose Lacroix I'll be honest, Rose is only this high because her alibi situation is worse than Whit's and Levi's combined. Both of her alibis are that she was sleeping in her room, which cannot be proven and can be very easily lied about. But other than that, I don't think she is the culprit. I think this case requires too many physical maneuvers for someone as lethargic as Rose to pull off successfully, and if she were the culprit I don't think she'd bring attention to the missing grippy tape at all. No. 3 - Arturo Giles Arturo does have an alibi for the fish (following J), but does not have an alibi for the morning. Unlike basically every other character here, something else that puts Arturo above them is that he was capable of overhearing Eden and Arei's conversation and forging the note. But there is also a discrepancy present that is also present with every character here, and that is the fact that Arturo did not witness Nico's attempted murder or the condition of Ace's body and the gym, so there was no way he could've replicated the murder method used for Ace on Arei. So though logistically he is a more likely possibility, I don't think it was him. No. 2 - Ace Markey Ace, to me anyway, is the second most likely candidate to being Arei's killer. He does not have an alibi for the fish and could've very easily grabbed them after David and Arei left the Relaxation Room, and he doesn't have an alibi for the morning either. He has a very clear motivation for taking a chance at killing someone, of "someone literally sliced my neck open not two days ago and I know I am not safe here I need to get the fuck out." If you choose to factor in strength, Ace is one of the strongest members of the cast and would be more than capable of the physical maneuvers made to kill Arei. Though I personally don't believe in this theory, if you think Ace attempted suicide instead of Nico trying to kill him, he has the murder method down lock too because he tried to commit it onto himself. He has been shown to be nosy, so it is not improbable that he listened in on Arei and Eden's conversation. And lastly, he is one of the only two suspects who was capable of stealing the grippy tape that was used in the murder. All of the evidence is practically stacked against him... But there are a couple of problems. One, if you believe that Nico did try to kill Ace, than the point about Ace knowing the exact method of death goes out the window. He was knocked out by the turpentine, and woke up in extreme pain in a blinding fury of rage and bloodlust, I don't think his surroundings would be the first thing on his mind. But a much bigger issue we have is the question of... Why would Ace take the tape? Following this theory, his murder plan wouldn't had started until the day after Nico's attempt on his life, it would make no sense for him to take the tape then. These two sticking points are why, though a likely candidate, I do not think Ace is the culprit. That award of main suspect goes to...

No. 1 - Eden Tobisa Yeah, if you've spent any time on this account you probably know I'm an Eden!Culprit truther. There are many well-written posts about this theory that I'm sure you've seen so I'll try to keep this short, but though the theory does have a few flaws to it, the big one being Eden's alibi for the fish that she was cleaning up with Hu, I think Eden being the culprit makes the most sense from an evidence, thematic, and motive standpoint. I know some people have dropped the theory upon the fork reveal, but DRDT is not unbeknownst to killing off characters with certain mysteries left unanswered. That is basically all for my predictions related to the culprit, but I still have some predictions for the overall episode. - Nico's gonna get placed in the hot-seat, obviously, which will definitely cause a reaction out of both Hu and Ace. And I honestly feel like the two of them are going to keep interrupting Nico until they eventually snap. And I hope that happens honestly because unless you count the "I'll kill you" line, we have yet to see or hear Nico when they're actually angry angry. Nico obviously doesn't like conflict, but they might have to get over that if they actually want to defend themself knowing the other two. - I'm still holding out hope we'll get a Random Guess segment lmao - And lastly: I need Whit to break the forth wall at least once I didn't put that on the bingo card for fucking NOTHING

Conclusion I'm gonna be completely honest, I do not have the energy to write anymore and I just want this out lmao. But overall, this was one of my favorite episodes in the whole series. I loved the Levi and Ace stuff, I like that we now have all the secrets, and like I said, the scene with Arei is probably one of my favorite scenes in the show. CH2-14 is going to be a wild ride I can already tell, and if we do find out who the killer is, you will see me screaming. Regardless of if it's Eden lmao.

UPDATED SWEAR STATISTICS CH2-13

UPDATED BINGO CARD

[wrenkenstein]

OC creation musings + Juno retrospective

I was rewatching this video by Rea, and it struck me that this exact phenomenon happened to me in 2022, with the first inklings of Juno's design - back when I couldn't decide on whether or not her name would be "Juno" or "Kite", and desperately trying not to make her a scientist. She's obviously come such a long way since then, having now become a very well-known character in the fandom, but I often think of the fact that had she not become on of my artistic passions, I probably wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today.

Juno is absolutely everything to me. She is a representative of my passion for storytelling, and she connected me with so many of my now closest friends - one of which is currently living in my house! How crazy is that, man! All of which I can attribute to simply becoming so fixated on my own OC that I couldn't stop thinking about her, or drawing her.

Of course, that's come with some highs and lows. She's getting a professionally done cosplay, a 3D model and potentially a Battlefront mod - but she also has her own dedicated group of haters who think she represents the 'wrongs' of fandom, lol. I certainly have recieved my fair share of 'Juno hate' in my 3-4 years here, but the positivity and support make it well worth dealing with a few rotten apples. It's radiant and outpouring, like a warm ray of sun, and it keeps me going deep into the night.

Anyways. Total tangent. Want to see all her design iterations? Yea you do ;) Here's the first ever Juno ref!

I made this on my phone in 2022, at the tale end of watching TCW and back when TBB was just one season. You can definitely see that the idea was always there, just a bit disjointed in its application. That gas mask on her helmet ended up causing a lot of confusion, so I removed it in later iterations - but to this day, I think this one picture is what really captivated me. Something about the aura, man,, she scary lookin

Then, of course, I had to draw what her face would look like - if it hadn't been for a RP, I don't think I would have.

Woah - she's like a whole different person! And you can see the beginnings of her white hair streak, though back then, I wanted i to be really subtle. And I was soooo adamant about this lol. She also was almost beat for beat Ellen Ripley, and you can see me paint over a picture of Sigourney below with her OG faceclaim haha.

Then we have the Juno-ing... part two. Where I went darker!! Both in themes, and in her color scheme. This one still has so much personality, and I remember being obsessed with how I drew her eyes and face back then. Nowadays, I think it's hideous. xD This was also around the time I was phasing out her gauntlets and oxygen mask, but both still remained for practicality purposes, even if they didn't serve anything to the design. Oh, and the hair streak. Now it's a Thing :tm: but it isn't really flowing well with the design - not yet, anyways!

We finally get to a point where I, begrudingly, accept the fact that her white streak is going to be her facial focal point - and at this point I'm laughing about how much I tried to avoid it LOL. But here, we also see her get more and more refined. Her face is still a bit wonky, but the stern vibe and posture are starting to come together and tell more of a concrete story, even if the reference doesn't have as much color or personality as the last one. I also did this one for my senior year of college!

I even designed her some totally BS civvies - and I gave her a s2 paint job, which admittedly looks hideous LMAOOO but we ball regardless. The second design was scrapped anyways almost immediately. The civvies stayed!

And then, of course, THE FINALE! Her face went through so many iterations with her current ref, but thus far, it's been the longest standing and most accurate one. It atually started out just as me goofing off with a marker pen in CSP, that quickly changed to "hey... this could be something good." And I was right! This is the Juno that's currently circulating today, and I've been polishing and refining her as I go, since I still feel as though I could perfect things.

And then, of course, her various outfits, which I posted about a while back. Oh - and have you seen Baby Juno?

Well now you have. :)

I think it's so cool to see how someone can fixate on a character and pour so much love and thought into them, that this character becomes their entire brand. Juno inhabits every part of my brain space and is what I think about 24/7. I'm so proud of how far she comes, and she reminds me about how incredible fandom can be and continues to be! Something about her is just so intoxicating to me. I can't get enough of her, and I can't wait to keep developing her over the years to come.

Which then begs the question - what is your equivalent to this entire thread? Do you have an OC like Juno, who you're fixated on and who dominates your creative pursuits? Do they have multiple artistic iterations? Because if you do, share them!! I WANNA SEEEEEE.

Anyways, that's Wren's Ramblings for today ~ I got bored haha

SHARE YOUR OCS!!!! >:0

[monstersandmaw]

Stark trying so hard to be Big Mean but only coming up with Big Soft is killing me.

Also I have a question that you're free not to answer but how long of a time span is there between Big Red's story and this one? And how long do not-yautjas live? Asking for no particular reason...

Hehe, Big Scawy Stark thinks he's So Mean and So Angy, but he's really just So Protecc (also of himself) and that comes across as So Snappy haha. Sometimes the Biggest Softies have the toughest outer shells though. It's how they stay Big Soft inside, after all.

I'm imagining it's set before Big Red's story. I think I said in that story that contact had been known between them for about five years at that point(?), so maybe it's about two or three years before Big Red's crew arrived on Earth? It's all a bit hand-wavy though 😅

Not-yaujta can live for a really long time, but they also mature a lot more slowly than humans do, so a not-yautja wouldn't be considered a full adult until they're about fifty Earth years old. Elder is probably around five or six hundred years old. Runt and Alchemist are probably around sixty, with Cannon and Stark around 100, give or take.

Again, I did not intend for this to take on such a big life of its own when I started it. I was just gonna write some reverse harem smutty scenes with some 'legally distinct, definitely-not-yautja' aliens and be done with it, but the darned thing sprouted enormous great plot legs and ran off with me still on board, with the bit firmly lodged between its teeth, so to speak... 😅. It was actually inspired by this very old drabbly prompt thing I wrote ages ago with some character names the same but slightly different natures/personalities. It also (very briefly) features a female not-yautja captain called Boxer. Maybe she can get her own story and reinvention in a future story too...

Reader's POV is up going shortly, and it's finally got a smutty Runt scene :). Elder's POV is after that...

(Catch up on the series here (free to access) on Patreon)

Here's the very quick comparison doodle I shared on the Patreon Discord for height refs and colours, btw:

[desire-mona]

heard we were making house ocs and ive had a dingus floating around in my head since january so i FINALLY got around to actually making a proper ref sheet. i present my silliest

Dr. Nanette "Ninny" Amesbury :3

more under cut !

big warning lore n backstory n stuff is very bare bones and not all the way there cuz im #lazy

birthday is vague but lets go with ~35 circa s2

if i had a nickel for every oc i had who had absent parents and was raised catholic by their grandparents, id have two nickels. unintentional that it happened twice i sorta forgor the other one's lore for a bit and now its stuck so ummmmm sorry laney. wont be going into childhood bc i havent come up w that yet and honestly i dont care to!!! yada yada yada catholic guilt but not in the chase way bc she hasnt left the church n likely never will

ummmm relationship chart + template

lets just quick go over some relationship highlights cuz some are def more important than others

wilson: mr president a 4th ex wife has hit the james wilson. when were they married? ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 😁

but they were married for like. 3 years? YES it ended bc he cheated but nin also wasn't the best either her ass was literally never ever there she was ALWAYS at work (like more than normal doctor amounts of at work - only came home to sleep and even that was only 4x a week(also worked at a different hospital))

tw suicide for next part bee tee dub

a big part of the beginning of their relationship was (big surprise) wilson's attraction to what he THOUGHT was neediness but was literally just nin wanting (and trying) to kill herself lol. once the magic of all that went away (perceived independence thats rly just #bottling shit up) he was just kinda like oh :/ its not cool to have a mentally ill wife anymore :/ i was expecting ramona flowers :/ or whatever. so infidelity impact font, hijinks and moving away for [amount] years ensue before nin being hired at ppth as the head of pediatrics. brief fwb situation w wilson Again b4 she finds out shes a lesbian at the end of like. s2.

oh yeah she also tries to kill herself again once she figures it out (see catholic guilt mention) but its cool she lives

cuddy: GAAAAAYYYYY GAAAAYYYYYYY GAY!!!!! DR AMESBURY WANTS TO FUCK THIS WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its one sided tho boooooo cuddys briefly like Wait ? just b4 nin moves away at the end of s6 roughly but shes already. thats done its not happening.

kutner: dont even fucking talk to me. i dont wanna talk about it. im gonna talk about it.

so kutner (like the slut that he is lowkey but society isnt ready for that) asks nin out just after he gets hired and shes like ermmmmmmmmmm! but sensing his loser aura she (still deeply closeted) is like hey haha i dont swing that way sorry !!!!!!! but its ok they become super mega best friends and get nerdy together

i like to think they listen to weird al together OH YEAH NINS THE BIGGEST WEIRD AL YANKOVIC FAN IN NEW JERSEY

and then nothing bad happens!

if youve seen this post about the little writing things kutner got after he croaked then hooray here's nanettes

they make me so fucking upset.

anyway as i stated above nin moves away after s6 for a bunch of reasons. 1) thanks obama 2) a big part of what contributed to her suicidal ideations n such was the fact that deep down she didnt ACTUALLY know what she wanted to do w her life. u may be like she doesnt. want to be a doctor ? NO she doesnt thats just what she did to get money to eventually do what she wants. whatever that is. something something feeling lost in life and unable to reach a goal when u dont even know what the goal is something something. also persistent depressive disorder but like spoon in kitchen.

idk what shes gonna end up doing after she moves but id imagine she shows up for house's funeral so i cant just be like lol nobody gets to know! im thinking painter but idk IDK guys her lore is ROUGH

thats it if u have questions ill answer thanks

[memberment]

good morning everyone!

I have ruined my sleep schedule. Someone save me LMAO

(10:00) as I reach the end of what I've written for morning glory, I grow tired. I need to take a nap. Will I finally finish this Fourth of July chapter today?? Perhaps.

But no one and I mean NO ONE is allowed to let me forget I need to incorporate the mostly bit at some point. Like there are so many canon refs in here it's SCARY. I NEED THE MOSTLY BIT IT IS MY FAVORITE CARTMAN BIT. NO ONE LET ME FORGET!

(6:11) this is my third good morning of the day, second on record good morning, first on record crying over my writing.

LIKE WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE GONNA DIE I'M GONNA THROW UP

(I'm literally not okay I need to stop writing tragic creek)

(7:04) Guys I'm almost done with my morning glory reread and when I tell y'all I just nearly died from shock bc Craig casually mentioned he 'Doesn't believe in coincidences.' Like, it's such a benign statement but after WRITING his storyline in Genesis and randomly seeing something like that in the wild that I totally forgot about almost just took me out.

(10:20) Guys after I reread this Genesis chapter and code it I AM OFFICIALLY WORKING ON MORNING GLORY AGAIN LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOO (This Fourth of July chapter will get finished tn I SWEAR TO HECK!!!!)

(And then I get to read my fav once its like 5am bc I can only read my fav fic at like 5/6 when the sun is just coming up and my room is perfectly cold and I'm almost ready to go to bed but not quite the vibe is JUST RIGHT here's to praying to the gods we don't believe in I get blessed with an early chapter(bc I have literally been trying to space them out and save them and sometimes I do get lucky and get to read two at once and it's literally the best istg))

(11:17) I forgot to reread said chapter and quit at some point but tell me how Morning went from 84.6 (?? ish) to 86.1k?? LIKE HELL YA LETS GOOOOO WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS!!!!

(11:29) It's not, like, haha funny, but I find it so painfully hilarious that I keep going back and forth between writing like fun wholesome dirty mountain kids figuring out life creek and then like them literally DYING for each other with the most gut wrenching dialogue surrounding it all. My brain needs to be studied, I fear.

(3:28) I just spent like the last 30 minutes being a fucking lunatic BACK TO MORNING GLORY!!! We're at 87.1k ... Which like, honestly, for me on hiatus??? I'm kinda impressed. Kinda proud of myself. (Not to mention the other shit I wrote that is not Morning Glory today, because I did write some of the most gut wrenching shit for Revelations just because I felt like writing angst LMAO)

(5:14) I know I've said this before. And I'll probably say it a million times. Jack stands on business and it's so FUCKING FUNNY. Like 'killing him won't solve anything'

'yeah but it'll feel good!'

LIKE OKAY DAMN LMFAOOOO

(6:27) and tonight I shut down with 89.7k

Which like, holy shit, yippie. 4th of July is done, they're doing powerpoint night, and I am just that much closer to being done with summer.

[experiment-tzt]

✨Meteor Shower🌠

So there used to be a trend on Insta faaaaaaaaaar before where you ask friends for a silly doodle of stars and youll show it off with the song. I wanted to do it, didnt have time, then forgot about it. BUT one day i wanted to fix my old render and lineart, and so i decided to try something new and got inspired then hop on drawing. In the end i finished other drawings with this new style but not this one(yes the artfight ones and my ref of delta oc), but now is finally done! ✨💜

So what i mean is thank to most of my friends i wouldnt have done it without them, heck i even give thanks to random internet people who inspired me to change my artsyle a bit more lmao (submas fandom go brrr🚂) Anyways i finished this on friday but ill upload this on Saturday just to give its own space🌌(haha get it space...okay ill see myself out)

[gothicskies90]

"Little Flirt..."

Eyo, I am back, honestly very happy with it.. the hair shading is the best I have done, with refs being used, I finally got something I'm truly happy with.

This is different from my normal drawings cause albeit these are my usual storms (Kat, Maria ect.)

Its an AU, where they are all human (Or mostly human), so I can play with the romantic relationships, (Even if i MIGHT let the avrions have romantic relations as well.)

Katrina (Black hair) and Maria (Ginger hair) have a Lappland and Texas relationships (Or Enemies to lovers for better terms)

When Maria started to fall for Kat, Katrina initially was indifferent, and usually tried to keep her distance, but eventually started falling for her as well.

Expect this AU to be a regular, it also lets me learn on how to stylize the face and how to shade it..

Ah, and the two on the right are Emily (Top) and Rita (Bottom)

I hope yall like this drawing, and the detour it has from the usual Avrion stuff.

I'll cya in the next drawing! :D

(Alt with just Kat and Mari haha)

[dangerous-advantage]

you know what actually. i'm not done. here are my rise-specific thoughts on how things would play out:

the one who gets got (cursed) is mikey. this is bc i headcanon him as knowing like the second-most japanese (still not a lot tbf) and is also the youngest, so angst opportunities there.

also like the dynamic of stumbling upon your older brothers' not-bfs' idol/ancestor and only vaguely knowing about them but still trying to make friends with a very basic understanding of their language is very funny to me.

(imagine the misunderstandings. the confusion. the shenanigans. it would be so stupid, but i would have such a great time writing it.)

plus he is the most arts-and-crafts-oriented out there, and if this is following the movie, his difficulty with folding paper (bc of his mystic-hands-related injuries) could be a good emotional beat to work with (love yourself! accept yourself! /ref)

meanwhile in the real world, since we're dealing with so many characters, i'm slicing them up into groups (:<

the a team consists of raph and casey sr.

raph is outwardly acting fine, but secretly, has taken it the hardest. he keeps preaching about moving on, but after one-too-many crumpled and confusing origami cats appearing in his room, he enlists the help of the one person he knows who's both far enough out of the scope of grief, but also might just be able to help him:

cassandra jones B)

their focus: what exactly happened to mikey, and if they're right, and he isn't gone... how do they get him back?

raph isn't the only one doing detective work, though.

that's right: the b-team. donnie, april, and yuichi.

ok hear me out. yuichi and casey and coworkers. leo and yuichi are friends (lol), so yuichi is friendly with the rest of them. when he starts receiving vague dreams that may or may not imply mikey isn't actually gone, he tries to reach out

however, with leo and casey not answering his messages (casey never answers, its leo who's silence is worrying), he goes to donnie (who's been having some doubts about this whole thing himself, if he's being honest.)

april ends up getting pulled into the mess on virtue of them needing university library resources, and she's all for it.

their focus: so mikey might not actually be totally gone... but then, where is he?? and what's up with all the weird dreams yuichi's having???

not to mention all the somewhat-rabbit-shaped origami notes that keep appearing (sadly, they're rarely helpful)

and ofc (finally): leo and casey.

aka: leo's villain arc.

lots of ideas for this one, but in case i ever do write this, i'd rather keep most of them to myself haha (for now....)

the gist of it is: leo's intent on a revenge quest, and casey jr's coming along for the ride

their focus: who did this to mikey, and how to make them pay for it.

I don’t know much about rottmnt but origami ghost au? Do tell!

(for context: this ask is referring to this post.)

this was actually an idea recommended to me by (i think) @noodlenoodlenoodlenoodle, so credit where credit is due.

the basic premise is pretty angsty (paraphrasing what i remember):

one of the (rise) characters gets hospitalized, and all the others make little origami animals (one per day) out of little notes they write for when said character wakes up. (they don't wake up.)

now, i do like me some good ol' angst every once in a while, but i could not help myself with this idea. hurt/comfort is my specialty.

so, if i ever do write this, i think I'm gonna twist it around a little to be something more... convoluted.

one of the characters gets sleeping-beautified (ie put in a coma by magic means) and it is assumed they will never wake up again. meanwhile, said sleeping-beautified character wakes up in what appears to be... 16th century japan?? with a limited vocabulary, they must fend for themselves while figuring out wtaf is going on and how to get home. cue shenanigans as our real-world companions start to get "signs" that something is amiss. in order to not cause false hope, they keep it to themselves but begin their own, separate investigations. they learn that, through vague notes folded into terrible approximations of origami art (in their defense, origami is a bit harder with three fingers), they're able to communicate. but they have to hurry-- time is running out, and if they don't figure it out fast, our cursed character might actually never wake up again.

[ambered-glazed-sheep]

today in: i spent the whole day starting to construct a spaceship in minecraft

[moiloru]

Kuroko no Basketball Review!

Today is anime review time, and we have a great one today: Kuroko's Basketball! Some of you might know that I played ten years of basketball before an infamous c-virus struck, so this was an anime I was really looking forward to watching. And to put it simply, it didn't disappoint.

Kuroko's Basketball is composed of three seasons of twenty-five episodes each (not counting the OVAs, which are definitely worth watching), plus a 90 minute-long movie. I'll go into more detail later, but what's remarkable about this anime is that it constantly gets better. It starts off really good and it ends up being absolutely incredible.

Season one introduces most of the main cast, and as you'll see in the character tierlist below, they're almost all either good or great. Some dynamics begin to take shape between the different players and teams, and you're left waiting for more.

I found season two to be way more focused on character development. The remaining main characters are introduced and the main dynamics from the first season are deepened. Talking about dynamics, new rivalries are introduced in season two and give the deuteragonist most of his development. In my opinion, season two is slightly better than season one thanks to its more intense games and amazing rivalries. Also, it's important to note that this anime excels in creating assholes that make the "good guys" appear much better. It makes it clear that these "good guys" are rivals, not enemies.

Season three starts off by giving wonderful development to one of my favorites. Then, the next two games are definitely two of the best in the three seasons combined. It's a joy to see the main characters have fun and give it everything they have. Also, one of the strengths of this third season is its flashback arc, which is done masterfully well. It leads up to an incredible final game that concludes the anime nicely...

But there's more, actually: the movie. To put it in only a few words, it's the perfect combination of fanservice and character development. You can feel they made this sequel to please the fans, but they did it well. The movie's animation is stunning (not Demon Slayer level, of course, but still very pretty), the content is entertaining, and the ending is emotional. This, concludes the anime nicely. You're left to make many theories about what happens next, and while you're sad that it ended, you're also glad that it happened.

The games are all entertaining and intense, every player gets his chance to shine (sometimes multiple times), and the writers found a good balance between realism and entertainment. This anime's main strength is how good its main cast is and how excellent its dynamics are. It also has a nice touch of humor that will sometimes catch you off-guard and make you laugh a lot.

Overall, this anime is definitely worth watching, especially if you play(ed) any sports. You'll find the competitiveness that justifies going through countless hours of practice. You'll also find yourself attached to the characters' antics. I know I did, haha.

Just below are the tierlists for this anime! One for characters and one for ships!

(link: https://tiermaker.com/create/kuroko-no-basket-characters--320933)

(link: https://tiermaker.com/create/kuroko-no-basket-knb-ships-551757?ref=button)

[littleshinyelf]

Some of you were interested in seeing the process, so here it is! I’m not quite sure if there is anything useful in here but i’ll try to explain how i worked on this the best i can, and if you have any specific question, feel free to ask it /o/

This was the basic sketch for this commission. I used an oval hardedge brush with some transparency to it (depending on the pressure of the pen) on a new layer (drawing directly on the background color would only bring problems later on).

I knew that character would have blue skin and was not really sure what “blue skin” would actually look like, so i started with some black and withe values for her face (new layer in Normal mode, same brush).

Once i had my basic values i was able to work on the color without worrying too much about the volume of the face. The way i brought that color in was actually a mess... i created a variety of blue layers and then played with their blending mode until i met a result that was not terrible. I then created a new layer (normal) and painted on top of this result to bring back some of the values that had been lost during this. This was by far the most chaotic part of the process and only luck made it work in the end :’)

CTRL+SHIFT+E gave me a new flat image with everything i had done until now (i had the background color in this too because i f* up but i would recommand not to do this haha). I worked on top of it on a new layer (normal) and started painting the wings, casting strong shadows under each layer of feathers to make them pop more.

i used the lasso tool to create those sharp edges, either painting the shadow or filling it in with the color gradient tool. Nothing incredible and i’m not a fan of those tools, but they ended up being very useful here to create a good base for the painting

To bring some light to the side of the character I created a new layer (put it in Color Dodge blending mode), chose a light redish color and painted with a very large and soft brush on the edge of the cape.

The brown/orange feathers and blue skin created a strong contrast that i liked, in some ways, but it also made them feel like they didn’t really belong to the same image, so i brought some of the brown from the wings on the living algas of her dress. (yep, they are alive. i took some liberties with the design compared to the ref i had. I didn’t want them to look like “a dress made out fo alga” and more like alga clinging to her skin and taking that shape from its own will? Sort of.)

Next step is really just painting on a new normal layer with the same hard-edge brush as always to create those details and textures.

I used a “black and white” layer to verify the values and this was way too “flat” for my taste so i created a new Multiply layer to create some shadows and volume:

So that’s what i ended up with and i was happy with it so i just painted in the last details and objects and i was done! (if anyone is wondering, the scribles on the foot say “REF” because i realy needed a photo reference to paint this nightmare body part.)

Final one, tadaaa. Now that it’s done i’m a bit ashamed that i didn’t have more useful things to say about that process haha :’)

The main thing i learned from this one was to always keep a “Black and White” layer on top of everything, so i can check my values from time to time.

[fart-gate]

SG1

Season 4 episode 21

"DOUBLE JEOPARDY"

Notes by me

- uh daniels hair is long again???

- when the guy says that he knows them. My kids got a rep ayyyy 🤙

- bro I doubt theyve met you

- Jack just gets up and walks away and nobody notices????

- tealcs cheek muscles jumping out of pure rage

- daniels hair is bothering me. Doesnt he have it short for the rest of the series??? Why would they have it long for one ep

- this guy has the BIGGEST crush on cronos and his wife is literally helping the rebels

- DIRECTED BY MICHEAL SHANKS

- "he called me major" ????? Is this another dimension of sg1 wheres shes still a captain??? She did say the realities overlap

- cronos looks like my homophobic aunt

- uuhhhh he brought up killing tealcs dad thats it someone hold my beer

- hello what the hell is going on

- he gives Jack a lil shake of his head. I'm going to jump off a cliff

-uuhhhh Daniel just got his head BLASTED off????? and he closed his eyes to accept it

- FUCKIN!!!!! ROBOTS!!!!

- that makes sense actually. He said there were two of them and Sam said something about 8 hrs earlier and i remember they cant leave the planet for a very long time

- ALSO this means I was right. Robot Jack didnt bury the gate and someone owes me MONEY

- I guess the robot duplicates are in trouble this should be fun! TWICE the fun haha get it

- actually now that i think about robot Daniel accepting death is really on point for the character bc he would be really depressed about not being able to go home and continue his work. Plus he would have all of OG daniels mental health issues. Maybe he felt there was nothing to live for...no sha're.....lost all his research.....all his possessions.....his house.....his job. I'm depressed now

- KOMTRAYA

- jacks like no please anyone but him

- "what are you" robots!!!

- Sam said she built a portable charger for the robots in their chests but then why did robot Sam say they only had 8 hrs?

- "what is it that you do?"

PLEASE TELL ME I NEED TO KNOW

- they ignored the question and im about to throw my phone out the window

- what do they have on their resumes??? "Space Shit"

- "your robot counter part is equally as good at following orders as you are"

- daniels not in this one I guess. Michael shanks had to be behind the camera the whole time to Direct

- they're not gonna HELP?? Arent you guys suppossed to protect the planets you liberate or do you just drop them when your done with them? Bitches

- P3X729

- Jack taking them down from the bushes likes a ninja

- "your the Other PAL"

Jack on Jack violence

- robot Jack sad about robot Daniel :(

- whos this lady in all black with the worst lipstick

- "what the hell you think your doing?"

"What you do.....only BETTER"

Robot Jack petty as fuck I love him

- confirmation Jack gets embarrassed when he does something wrong

- "come on fly boy!!" Guys....guys this isnt gonna help *scuffling in the backround*

- Jack 1 has Jack 2 in a headlock, ref is starting the countdown

-

- "sirs!" Sam is done with your SHIT

- who would win a fight. Jack or Jack

- "its not like you havnt lied to yourself before" ooooooohhhhhhhh snap

- "I so own you" aldjsjdjdjd

- FINALLY they are saving the planet like they SHOULD

- daniels lovely decapitated body on the table is a bit unappetizing

- this is like the 3rd version of Daniel that is dead btw

- "this kinda thing happens to us all the time" Sam has had a rough life

- they can communicate with their brains??? You cant tell me they didnt fall in love and become poly

- "its simple....." I seriously thought she was gonna finish the sentence with You shove it up your ass

- robot Jack can take a hit!

- several hits

- is he dying

- "got gas" has just gonna let one rip and he'll be fine

- robot tealc came here to FIGHT

- shooting him not gonna work you gotta get close and rip his arms off

- its always fun when they listen to me

- robot Sam starting a bomb like a bad bitch

- ah for fucks sake when will cronos DIE

- TEALC TEAM WORK

- "for our father"

- and all the robots are dying ??? This isnt fair

- robot Jack is the last one left oh god

- "are we still so far from real to you?"

"No......i guess not"

- he gave up. U know he probably didnt think there was any point in living if he didnt have his team with him

-this ep ripped my heart out I'm prepared to sue

~

Robot tealc whump: hands tied,manhandled, forced kneeling electric pain?, shot, noises, fought, death

Robot Jack whump: shot by zat, passed out, shot in arm and leg and side, "bleeding" out, death

Robot Sam whump: hands tied,manhandled, forced kneeling, electric pain? , forces hand thru force shield (painful), cut on cheek revealing circuitry, death

Robot Daniel whump: hands tied, manhandled, forced kneeling, executed, decapitated by staff blast, death

Original tealc whump: staff blast, fought with cronos

🤓no glasses!Daniel for about 15 minutes up until robot Daniel dies

🎶listening to 10,000 Weight In Gold by The Head And The Heart🎶 "it never feels like treasure, til you lose it all" thinking about how they lost everything when they had to stay on the planet and how they wanted to keep fighting and do the right thing. How much they cared about each other. Im spiraling

[comicteaparty]

May 6th-May 12th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from May 6th, 2020 to May 12th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following  question:

What’s a detail in someone else’s comic that few people notice but deserves praise?

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I have a couple. For @Eightfish (Puppeteer)’s webcomic I like how the style in general reminds me of a notebook. The font, the pen used to draw the line art...makes me think of a diary/journal and as a result it sucks me into the story. @Deo101 [Millennium]’s webcomic that I like is that the way the dark past of the characters are revealed naturally through dialogue. Instead of being spoon fed exposition I was treated to sage in the shower, depressed and with bloody holes. You feel emotion for these characters and as a result it’s more immersive.

Finally, for @LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)’s webcomic I liked the horrific implications of her world under a veneer of bright strong colours and characters. While it may seem like a world you want to live in, you are constantly reminded that it is NOT safe and there are monsters around. I liked that it was fun to read, but I loved it even more when Claire wasn’t afraid to shy away from the more menacing, gory details.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

Not a lot of people gush about this, but I love to see the setup of their sites, specifically the cast pages of comics! One of my absolute favourite cast pages is Black Out Citys. Jay did an old school video game aesthetic mixed with 80's pink vibes, and it's so so beautiful! Layouts on comic sites specifically dont get enough praise, like how there is hover icons that tie in the comics aesthetic, headers that draw intrigue, font that just clicks- all details that usually aren't a point to be discussed when praising a comic but definitely should! Another is the way Giselle does StarTrip lore at the end of each chapter- they way they render each planet and have these tidbits are one of my favourite details in that comic.

Miranda

I just gotta say, I love how Ghost Junk Sickness does the little bio blurbs about every character. They are informative and don’t interrupt the story heavily, and the Interests sections are hilarious

Elliot

Oh, I’ve been meaning to read that one!

I always love the expressions in Sunny and Rainy. The main characters are real, chaotic people.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Something I just noticed in the most recent chapter of @keii'ii (Heart of Keol)'s Heart of Keol was how gradually Ethan has been improving at speaking the language. Such a subtle detail that I love.

RebelVampire

Archive pages. While many comics have them, few comics actually take the time to make good archive pages. I think weve all been there where we want to ref a specific page/event, but heck if we remember if it was page 26 or page 100. Some archives though really put in that extra effort. For example: http://www.phantomarine.com/archive/ and http://sarilho.net/en/archives which use thumbs to make it visually easy to spot a specific page or https://moonslayercomic.com/archive/ which besides being a well designed archive visually includes little tidbits about what happened in each chapter without spoilers. Overall, good archive pages make life easier when talking about them.

Elliot

^I tend to totally reread long comics every time I need to go looking for a specific page, good archive or no, but I’ve definitely had a few friends give up on reading comics I love because they couldn’t navigate the archive pages. It means a lot to some people.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A thumbnail archive is so convenient both as a reader and a creator. And it’s really fun to see a whole swath of pages that you’ve done, all in one place. It acts as its own motivation! I think I understand if more ‘daily-strip-like’ comics have only text archives, but for narrative comics, I really love visual archives. I absolutely had to do one myself.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I can't imagine a thumbnail archive working smoothly for comics with 500+ pages... but I do appreciate a functional, existing archive page. Simply having one > not having one.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

True. I use an image gallery plugin that's convenient for a lot of images. I just swap out the 'expand image' code for 'go to page' code, and voila But I've only got 98 pages posted, so... once it hits a couple hundred, I'm not sure how it'll run

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(ooo 100th page celebration coming soon?)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

(more or less, haha! the page itself is its own celebration)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(my favorite type of celebration TBH)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yokoka's Quest (https://yokokasquest.com/) does a really fun thing to go along with every chapter - character status pages! It treats the comic like an RPG, with party stats and inventory slots and HP/MP gauges. I really like it - gives it an extra fun flavor.

Miranda

Oh that's clever!

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

Ohhh love that!!!

eliushi [a winged tale]

I don’t think it’s something few people notice but I absolutely love the paneling in Kochab comic by Sarah Webb which simulates architecture. https://www.kochab-comic.com/comic/page-67 The painterly look and fairytale aesthetics are chefs kiss

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Oh my... Those are beautiful panels!!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

One thing that some comics do that I quite like are recap episodes. Some comics can have stories that are quite long and convoluted, with a non-linear narrative, and it can be nice to get a recap of the events from time to time. Especially if the comic's updates are infrequent and/or irregular. Example: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/scoob-and-shag/recap/viewer?title_no=210827&episode_no=84

[cow-legs]

Girls Night Out

I wanted to practice writing something in a script format which I’ve never really done before in any serious capacity, so I asked people on twitter for random Pokémon characters to use (which ended up being Gardenia, Sina, Valerie, and Mr. Backlot) and with those I wrote....something. Enjoy??

HEARTHOME CITY - NIGHT

    [Gardenia, Valerie, and Sina are sitting in a booth in a small restaurant - Valerie and Sina sitting on one side, and Gardenia across from them. Each are just finishing up their respective meals, and are mid-conversation.]

VALERIE: I must say, [She pauses to wipe her face with a napkin] I am very happy that you two are getting along so well!

    [As she speaks, she slides her long sleeve back down to its usual length, as she had it rolled up further than it could take as to allow her to actually use her hand for eating, but was now finished]

GARDENIA: Well, thanks for bringin’ us all together! It’s been a while since I’ve had a good night off.

SINA: Same. If it weren’t for you bringing me with you here, I’d probably be back at home reorganizing like dozens of research papers for the fifth night in a row, so chilling with you and Gardenia is an alternative I’d take like, any day.

GARDENIA: Aww~

    [Valerie chuckles, pleased with the situation, Sina takes another sip of her drink.]

SINA: How’d you two meet, anyway? 

GARDENIA: Oh, well, years back all us Sinnoh leaders went up to Kalos to challenge the leaders there.

SINA: Oh!! Oh, yeah, Arceus, I remember that! I REALLY wanted to see Fantina's matches, but I had just started working for the professor at the time so I had wayyy too much work to do...

GARDENIA: Ooh, Fantina? Are you a fan of hers? She's in town, I could probably introduce you!

SINA: Oh Arceus, no, haha! You really don't have to.

GARDENIA: Aaaalright, she's probably asleep anyway. [Laughs] But anyway, me 'n Val got paired up for our first match, and we became friends pretty quickly. I won the battle, of course.

VALERIE: That's strange, I appear to remember differently.

GARDENIA: Hey, you and the ref can keep saying that, but we all know that I was the clear winner there.

VALERIE: Funny, I don't recall you having such an attitude when I completely destroyed your roserade.

[All laugh.]

GARDENIA: Anyway, how do you two know each other?

SINA: Well, you know I work under Professor Sycamore, and he usually, like, sends me and Dex to do a lot of his errands all over the reasons, because Arceus knows he has way more work than a man like that should ever be trusted with, so there was this one time I had to go to Laverre City to take care of some stuff,

VALERIE: I was doing a show at the time and was a touch short on hands, so I ended up plucking her up off the street and using her as a model! [Laughs] Thinking back, I feel it was a bit rude to ask on such short notice, but now I am glad I did, as I would not have met her otherwise!

GARDENIA: Oh man, seriously? Lucky!! I don't even like dresses, but I'd seriously kill to wear one of Val's.

VALERIE: [Shocked] Truly? You mean it? Well then, [Claps her hands together once, happily] I will have to make one for you someday!

GARDENIA: REALLY? Fuck yeah!! You're seriously the best, V--

[Waiter walks past, setting down the check in front of Gardenia]

GARDENIA: Oh, thanks. Hey, we can ditch whenever you guys want. [Shoving the change in her pockets]

SINA: We might as well go now. I wanna take in as much of The Sights (TM) that I can before I gotta go back home

[Cut to the girls walking outside of the restaurant. Valerie notices something out of the corner of her eye, and stops.]

VALERIE: Oh my, is that...Amity Square, was it called? 

GARDENIA: Huh? Oh yeah, I forgot that was in this city.

VALERIE: [Excited] Oh, I have read all about this place! I was very sad to learn that Sinnoh has such strict laws about having trained pokémon out in public, but then I found out about this! [Quickly turning to face the others] May we go there?

GARDENIA: Why not?

SINA: Sure, sounds interesting enough.

[Valerie spins around again to face it and begins walking towards it. Gardenia and Sina follow behind.]

VALERIE: Wonderful! My little mawile will have so much fun~!

[At the mention of mawile, Gardenia freezes, dawning horror spreading across her face as she realizes something]

GARDENIA: [Nervous] Uh, Val, actually I uh, don't think this is such a good idea.

VALERIE: Whatever do you mean? [She does not stop walking]

GARDENIA: [Very nervous] I just, uh, well they're REEEALLY particular about the kinds of pokémon they let in, so--

VALERIE: You mean the rule about cute pokémon? There is no need to worry, Gardenia, my lovely little mawile is the cutest pokémon to ever live~! [She gets gradually more excited and her pace quickens with it]

GARDENIA: [Extremely nervous] W-well that's the thing, Val, they're really-- 

[She stops as Valerie has walked through the entrance and Gardenia realizes it's too late. Sina gives her a look of confusion and worry before the two follow after her. Inside, Valerie is speaking to the receptionist.]

RECEPTIONIST: Okay, please show me the pokémon you'd like to accompany you.

VALERIE: [Excitedly hands the nice lady a heal ball] Here! My beautiful mawile!

RECEPTIONIST: [Pauses, before promptly giving it back to her.] I'm sorry, ma'am, but mawile is not one of the pokémon accepted here.

[Valerie, still smiling, blankly looked at the woman. Gardenia cringed, knowing exactly what she feared was soon going to follow.]

VALERIE: Excuse me?

RECEPTIONIST: Here, [She hands Valerie a large laminated sheet displaying several pokémon] this is the list of pokémon we allow inside the square.

[Valerie searches the list, happy expression fading as she cannot find mawile on it. She pauses for a moment, before looking back up at the receptionist with a new polite smile, though this one is clearly forced.]

VALERIE: I am sorry, but there must be some sort of mistake.

RECEPTIONIST: [Shaking her head] I apologize ma'am, but I'm not allowed to let a mawile in. If you don't have any of the accepted pokémon, I'm going to have to ask you to leave.

VALERIE: [Clearly getting more angry as she speaks] Are you not an establishment centered around cute pokémon? How do you have any right to judge my mawile without even seeing her? Only allowing specific species without accounting for any individual pokémon’s beauty is--is--...is criminal! 

RECEPTIONIST: I really am sorry, ma’am, but there really is nothing I can do about it. The owner is very strict on what species are allowed in here, and there’s nothing I can do to change it.

VALERIE: Of course you can! You can just let her in!

RECEPTIONIST: I’m sorry ma’am but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

VALERIE: Wh--Why you--

    [Valerie moves forward as if she’s about to jump over the desk and attack, but Gardenia and Sina quickly move in and each grab an arm, restraining her. They begin pulling her back towards the doors. The receptionist sighs with relief.]

VALERIE: You savages will pay for this--this--villainy!! The authorities will surely hear of your crimes!

Gardenia: They absolutely will not be hearing about this, I’m so sorry for this.

Sina: Have a nice night!

    [The two successfully pull Valerie outside. They finally let go of her after she has had time to calm down.]

VALERIE: [Calmly before growing more aggressive] I...I apologize for my outburst. I simply cannot believe the nerve of that--! 

GARDENIA: [Nervously and hurriedly] HEYY, how about we go for a nice long walk through Route 212 where you can have your mawile out and we can all calm down.

SINA: That sounds GREAT, COME ON VALERIE LET’S GO!

    [Sina grabs Valerie’s hand - well, sleeve - and they hurriedly head south toward Route 212]

    [Cut to the girls walking along Route 212. Valerie’s mawile has finally been freed now that they are in the wilderness, and is holding onto her sleeve as they go.] 

VALERIE: Okay, alright, I believe I have truly calmed down now. I am very grateful for you two keeping me in line.

GARDENIA: Just don’t do that again and we’re cool. I don’t think I have the emotional energy to prevent another murder.

VALERIE: [Clearly shocked and saddened by that comment] A--Ah, no, I would never do a thing like that! Did it really seem like that…?

GARDENIA: Ah--No, it was a joke, sorry.

SINA: At least one good thing came out of this, this’ll be like a really funny story to tell. 

VALERIE: P-please do not tell anyone about this.

SINA: Aw, alright fine, our lips are sealed.

GARDENIA: Hey, I don’t speak for me. I’m not making any promises. [Grins]

SINA: Hey!!

    [Sina jokingly slaps her on the back of the head for this. They all laugh. Mr. Backlot appears in front of them.]

MR. BACKLOT: Well! That’s a fine mawile you have there! 

VALERIE: Oh? Yes, she is my absolute pride and joy! [She picks up mawile, clearly pleased to have been complimented on her.]

MR. BACKLOT: Hoho, indeed! [Walking closer to examine the small monster] At first I thought one of the pokémon from my garden had wandered out and found you, but I can see that it’s really yours! She even resembles you a bit!

SINA: Your garden?

MR. BACKLOT: Yes! My garden - over there, see? [Gestures to the nearby mansion] Pokémon from all over the world come here just to see it! Many pokémon not found in the region reside there even now! I’d be happy to let you all see it if you’re interested. [The way he says this feels very over-eager and practiced, as if he’s given this talk many times and was just waiting for the opportunity to say it again]

GARDENIA: Oh yeah, I think I’ve heard of this place. Sounds kinda sketchy, though.

MR. BACKLOT: [Noticing Gardenia for the first time] Oh! You are the gym leader Gardenia, correct? Excuse me, I didn’t even realize. I must insist that you come see it, it’s truly a sight to behold, and I’m sure you’ll find an exotic pokémon to fit even your standards!

Gardenia: Ehhh, I dunno, dude.

Sina: As weird as it sounds, the idea of non-native pokémon being here is definitely interesting… The professor would probably want to hear about something like this…

GARDENIA: Isn’t Sycamore into mega evolution? What would he want with some weird garden?

SINA: ...Okay, I want to check it out, are you happy?

GARDENIA: Okay, fine. It sounds more interesting than Amity Square would’ve been, at least. 

MR. BACKLOT: Oh, you know Amity Square?

GARDENIA: Yeah?

MR. BACKLOT: [Proudly] I’m actually the owner of the place!

    [Valerie, who had been calmly listening, suddenly looks alert and stares at Mr. Backlot, her grip on mawile growing tighter.]

VALERIE: You’re the owner of that establishment?

MR. BACKLOT: Yes, I certainly am!

VALERIE: [Taking a step closer] You’re the man who unjustly barred my adorable mawile from entering that place?

MR. BACKLOT: [Beginning to understand the situation] Oh, erm, yes? Oh--but that’s not to say that your mawile isn’t cute! We just, you know, have a standard that we want to--

VALERIE: A what?!

    [Valerie sets down mawile and starts moving towards him faster as he tries to back up.]

MR. BACKLOT: Well, you know, there is, uh, well, you see…

    [At this point he gives up on making an excuse, turns around, and breaks into a full sprint. Valerie gives chase, and Sina and Gardenia after her. Valerie chases the poor man deep into the woods, shouting at him, and the scene fades out as they all disappear from view.]

[emetkoto]

Full (+Unshaded and school emblem)

it may look like im some kind of a roll but really ive had Ryou done for like a day or two and just procrastinated uploading him so haha

aNYWAY here's Ruri finally!

I might do Yuuya next? maybe attempt Jou...we'll see

also if anyone is wondering why i put unshaded versions in the stash folders its for a clear color ref bc the fabric texture i overlay onto the sprites darkens all the colors

[altonadventures]

ALTON ADVENTURES BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

So...because its Friday and I usually update AA on Fridays, I figured it was time to make my big announcement! 

And that is...that Alton Adventures is changing. A little bit. 

Am I rebooted the comic again? No haha! Once I get back to it it shall continue as normal but some characters may look a bit different going forward. 

Who may those characters be?

Sir Gareth Nemesis 

Why is he changing? 

Sir Nemesis’ change is actually less drastic than one may think. For starters, he needed a design rehaul. I wanted his armor to be more simple, easier to draw but with still details that could tie him to Nemesis (the green eye, the arms, the light pink details instead of inconsistent tentacles). I also had an issue where his hair was too close to his skin color, so to combat this I turned him into a ginger! His eye color also changed from gold to green, another thing to visually tie him more to Nemesis. 

So yes, I changed Sir Nem’s design because I was unhappy with it. His armor was never drawn consistently ever, I was constantly changing the tone of his hair and his skin so that was inconsistent. I want my designs to be more consistent and polished going forward.

What else is different? Well, you can probably tell he looks much more serious, like in older pictures I drew of him. Why is that? Well, I was kind of..honestly tired of his role as the “dad character tm” that he kind of turned out to be. It almost undermined his true characterization and turned him into a typical over the top exaggerated hero character. And I started to realize how much I missed his original concept. A battle hardened solider that was filled with regret and remorse, who heavily sympathizes with the plight of the alien he’s locked in combat with. He’s still much a father however, as he has a biological son and adopts an alien who mimics his likeness (hence another reason he’s a ginger now as his Nemesis daughter always was one). He’s just returned to his roots as a character. Because I felt that characterization was a unique one for the Nemesis ride. And it was an idea I really loved. Sir Nemesis actually WAS one of my favorite characters...I wanted his role to be much larger than it is in the comics. I don’t blame anyone for him becoming a joke, I did initially kind of fuel the fire for it, I’m just hoping that its not to late to get back to the Sir Nemesis I originally wanted to write. And of course, all my characters are still meme and joke worthy. I just want to tackle much more serious issues with my comic and show the more serious side of some of my characters and don’t want there entire existence to be a joke Mr.S can’t have too many folks 1 uping him in the laughs department!  I guess to note with this change that his original voice claim has also been solidified as well. It’s a more somber and serious tone that I feel fits him as a character. 

Final Notes 

Sir Nemesis is a character that I have a lot of thought put into. His backstory is tragic, emotional, and his character is complex and he’s not the perfect hero people might image him as. I plan for his Arc to follow the Fireworks arc in the comic, as well as I am planning to start some more text heavy short stories about how the Secret Weapons became Secret Weapons (which I will likely call Secret Weapon Short Stories hehe) and will be writing his first. Also a very important thing i must address. Yes, the eye on his chest moves. (I have a gif but it doesn’t want to work on this post Ill have it up later ><)

Erica Annabelle Cloud 

ooof okay this is a huge one. Confession time. Erica was always my least favorite character. Why? She just had...no character. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with her, her design felt phoned in and there because I needed an Air/Galatica character, (yes, she is changing as her Galatica stage too). She was just. not well thought out. She had a dual identity but I think a lot of people didn’t pick up on that? She felt like a Rita 2.0 as just a nice and friendly optimistic person and literally had 0 backstory. Originally she was supposed to have had some sort of accident that turned her into Galatica and she had memory loss and forgotten about when she was Air, yeah it was a mess. That eventually just turned into Nebula Corona being a character she made up (bc her one trait was that she was into space and wrote a lot) that she played as when her rides themeing changed. 

She was just..barely a character and her design was abysmal (Her Galatica suit was okay but her Air outfit was an afterthought) She needed a massive visual upgrade. A sleeker flight suit that makes more sense (I used a ref or two for this design!) A different face shape to help her stand out more, my signature they wear glasses they have dot eyes look. Long, wispy, flowing hair to resemble those trails planes make. A bit more lanky and tall. And let me tell you I LOVE her design now. It looks so much more unique and you can just SEE she has so much more character now!  As for her characterization im going full into her being a nerd. A very tech nerd at that! She designed her suit to help her fly at her best, and eventually will be the one that designs and builds all her Galatica tech! Her Galatica design hasn’t been done yet, mostly bc I wanted to focus on her current comic canon design, but not much would change I feel with her upgrade anyways! She is effectively the brains of the group, and the others often turn to her for plans of attack when dealing with a situation, or innovative solutions to problems! I have yet to get a voice claim for her, but im sure one will come to me soon enough! 

Final Notes

Erica/Nebula was a character I struggled to connect with. Everyone else had Airs that were either super plot important, or just much more cool and creative in general. I felt, that with my Air/Galatica she was just there, and I wanted her to be more. So a full character rehaul was done with her and it makes me so happy. She feels much more fleshed out, better designed, and I’m super excited to do more stuff with her, and hopefully you will all see her much more now that I’m a lot happier with her as a character! <3 

Welp that's the end of the updates....wait. Hold on. I have something written here. What could this be? Oh! I remember now! 

Black Hole, AkA Beatrix, will be joining the MAIN CAST of Alton Adventures! 

When I drew my Black Hole design, I knew she was something special. She stands out compared to a lot of my characters, and her design SCREAMS main character. While the biggest main roles will still be held by Mr. S and Rita, I wanted to add another non SW coaster to the main crew, and because Canonically Corkscrew is MIA, Black Hole seemed like a fitting addition to the main crew! As she isn’t human, a species literally only referred to as Black Holes, I thought making her a main character and giving her a big arc would help flesh out the reality of non humans in Alton Adventures! Her powers and design and character and personality are just too fun to shove her into the background. I feel that adding her to the main cast gives them not only another character to support them, but a closer friend! You will all see her much more in the future for certain! 

Well that's about it! In terms of comic updates themselves...its still going to be hiatus as long as I’m being swamped with school work. I hope you all understand. I’ll try to squeeze in updates over the breaks I have IF im not working on assignments for class. As I also said, I wanna do short stories as well, to expand the world and explain it better, as a comic will only develop the world so quickly and lots of you have tons of questions! I also wanna do something animated at some point, that’s my dream. I’ve ALSO mentioned to some people about merch, likely going for making stickers first since that's simple. I got an excited reaction for that so I’ll come up with designs for them soon! I just wanna do a lot with Alton Adventures, because I know how much it means to people, and of course it means so much. Goodness I really need to actually get to this park, I look quiet silly constantly gushing over a themepark I’ve never been to all the time XP  That all aside I thank you all for sticking by me. I promise that even if I don’t do comic updates as frequently during the school year, I’ll still work to push out as much AA content I can outside of that! I’m always open to suggestions to what you guys want to see! ALSO, working on a big google doc spreadsheet with info on all the characters I’ll be posting when its more completed! So be on the lookout for that! 

Again thank you to everyone who’s stuck with me through this, Your support makes me feel nothing but proud of what I’ve created. These characters may have been created out of something some may consider silly or odd, but the only thing that matters to me if that I can make at least someone happy with what I create. 

Patreon (note that patrons got to see all of this content as it was being worked on!) l Ko-fi