#going back to my original style when i first got into the fandom

[vladdyissues]

Screencap redraw

[factual-fantasy]

Back in 2020 when I first got into Transformers: Prime, I had this thing where I drew the transformers as animal crossing villagers.

This was because I was also into AC:NH at the time and bots were realllllly hard to draw. Drawing AC style characters was a piece of cake though. So the crossover was born! XD

A few years later and I'm being dragged into the fandom again 💀 I think my art skills have greatly improved since then and I'm a lot more confident in my ability to draw bots! So I thought hey! Why not go back to one of my AC comic thingies and try to draw them as ACTUAL transformers? :00 This was the result!

I couldn't help but laugh when I got to that last panel. I forgot I had originally made Ratchet a Rooster XDD It took me a long time to decide what animal he should be. First a Rooster, then a goat, then a sheep, then back to goat, then lastly I settled on a grumpy owl XDDD

The bots are still hard to draw, but I've learned to just trust the process and not take the anatomy too seriously. It doesn't really matter if they couldn't really bend like that or that body part is kind'a the wrong shape. As long as the pose looks decent it'll be ok XD

I'm considering going back and finding more of those AC comics and redrawing them, I never ended up posting 90% of them.. But then again the transformers take soooooo looonnnggg to draw😫

Idk, I guess I'll see how feel tomorrow 😅

[vintagegeekculture]

I remember a friend of mine had some LPs that were Star Wars themed disco albums, and it brought back a very weird memory from back in the 70s (yes, I'm old!) of listening to a Star Wars disco mashup on the radio. What was all that about? I also remember something like that for Close Encounters, too.

You remember correctly, and this went on for a long while. In 1983, disk jockeys around the country played a record that involved an Ewok rapping the plot of Return of the Jedi in Ewokese. This made it to #60 in the Billboard Top 100.

This is hard to explain to people who weren’t there….but in the wake of Star Wars in the late 70s and early 80s, scifi was so beloved and mainstream that the orchestral music for nerdy scifi and fantasy movies about outer space were remixed and sampled into Giorgio Moroder-esque Italo-Disco dance numbers. And the most astonishing thing is, instead of being consigned to convention acts the way “horse famous” Brony dubstep acts are, this received national airplay on the radio, reached the pop music charts, and were played in discotheques. And incredibly, this continued for years and expanded from Star Wars into Star Trek, Wizard of Oz, Black Hole, Close Encounters….

All of this was the work of one specific person: Meco (or Dominico Monardo). The term “ahead of their time” is thrown around a lot, but Meco really was: a combination producer-songwriter and Italo-Disco pioneer in the style of Giorgio Moroder, he did several things that are now absolutely standard: he used remixes and sampling before hiphop made that standard for musicians, he wrote “fandom music” on a Moog synthesizer decades before Bronies turned their conventions into cringey dubstep concerts with songs like “Everypony Dance Now.”

It's stunning to me that Meco has not been rediscovered, considering every single trend in the culture essentially went his way.

The most startling thing about Meco’s Star Wars disco album, the one that got the ball rolling on this trend, is this: I always assumed it was some kind of cash in created by a record label mandate, a label executive’s completely cynical choice to hop on a hot new trend. That isn’t a crazy thing to think at all, since Star Wars is and always has been the most merchandized and sold out scifi property ever. But it wasn’t! You see, it was all the product of a single man’s specific vision: Meco had to convince his record label to make the record because they were skeptical.

When Meco went to see Star Wars in 1977 on Opening Day (what an experience that must have been) with his friend and fellow Italian chest hair/gold medallion enthusiast Tony Bongiovi, he was already an experienced producer-songwriter who had worked with Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross, and formed DCA, the Disco Corporation of America. If you've ever listened to Diana Ross's "I'm Coming Out," Meco actually played the trombone solo in that song. Seeing the Star Wars movie for the first time, though Meco thought the movie was nothing short of a religious experience. Originally, he wanted to do Star Wars music as a b-side on a Gloria Gaynor album, but expanded the idea into an entire album.

In Meco’s own words:

"When I think about what I did, nobody came to me, nobody said 'Meco, why don't you do this.' Nobody says 'Here's some money go make a record of this movie.' It was just my own... It was magical, it was just out of this world when all that happened."

Not only did this album hit platinum, not only did it actually outsell the Star Wars soundtrack, his remix of the Star Wars theme also went to #1 in the charts. It’s actually the best selling instrumental single of all time. A record, that, incidentally, it holds to this day.

Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand, had this to say about Meco:

"In 1977, Meco Monardo accomplished something no one else has ever done to the best of my knowledge. He was the first one in history to out-sell the soundtrack of a motion picture with his own distinctive version of a film's music. The music was totally danceable, and broke new ground. It's no wonder the STAR WARS THEME went to # 1. I loved his treatment of music from THE WIZARD OF OZ. Again, Meco created something innovative. The fun and the excitement gave a whole new feel to that totally familiar and well-loved music."

Like a lot of studio producers, Meco had an insane work ethic and hit when the iron was hot: he did an album about Close Encounters that exact same year, but also did a Star Wars Christmas Album, one of the strangest pieces of Star Wars kitsch around.

One of the most interesting things about the Star Wars Christmas album is that one of the songs, “R2D2’s Wish You a Merry Christmas” is the first professional vocals by John Bon Jovi, who was Meco’s friend Tony Bongiovi’s seventeen year old younger cousin (he was initially known as John Bongiovi). It's incredible to hear a squeaky voiced teen Bon Jovi on a kitsch album about a robot Christmas.

1978-1979 was really his best year. Meco made an Italo-Disco remix album entirely devoted to Superman, and at this point, Meco had the pull to get access to John Williams's sheet music for the score before the music even came out. In my personal opinion it's the best of them because he has to recreate it entirely with his own instruments, leading to a very unique sound.

He also did an album based on the Wizard of Oz:

And a combination album of Star Trek/Black Hole. It's probably the earliest remixing date of Goldsmith pieces of music: the Motion Picture Theme (which is now associated with the Next Generation - hearing it done in Italodisco is uncanny) and the Klingon Theme:

Incidentally, I think the design here of the Meco Enterprise, which had to be modified for legal reasons, would make a wonderful canon starship if anyone wants to be inspired by it. It reminds me of the same concept that would be used in the very next film for the Reliant-class of ships.

Meco eventually retired from music in 1985, but unfortunately he is no longer with us, as he passed into the next dimension in 2023. I think he showed us that creativity is often about transformation, and was inspired to make his art by a legitimate awe of space, the cosmos, and human imagination that the scifi movies of the 1970s and 80s provoke.

[djpachipikachu]

doodle dump of unreleased aus that r still actively in my Brain Often but i dont post shit about them

⚠️warning for old art and blood and injury drawn and death mentions⚠️

———

magic lily au:

main theme -

summary is that leo is transported to the samurai rabbit universe instead of his family’s arms through a trifecta of his ninpo, mikey’s mystics that begged for him to be safe, and the ki stone sensing a hero in need

when leo lands in the world, he doesnt know any japanese aside from simple phrases he grew up with; “thank you”, “please”, “excuse me”, “help me”, “i love you”, etc

him and yuichi fall in love and he remains there for a few years ! however . theyve all known since the beginning that the ki stone would take leo back once he was healed. she was clear on the fact he was only there to be helped , not to live there . so yuichi and leo hold off the inevitable, despite leo missing his family horribly and knowinf they think hes dead , despite knowing how selfish it was to have one more day with each other , they avoided the ki stone until they go to the temple together and leo is ripped from the world without even a chance to reallt say goodbye to everyone

uhhh etc etc they were their first and last loves as they were both on the aro spec and didnt have a need to find that kinda love again they just . wanted each other and blehhh

i have a playlist for it as well ! my oldest au , started since i got into the fandom

UUAU:

[temp name]

my original usagi/tmnt iteration with miyamoto usagi as the main protag ! i still want to create a comic and really officially send this out so i wont spoil a lot, but !

the basis is that usagi lives in a post apocolyptic solarpunk society and is forcibly sent back in time to a cyberpunk city where the seeds of a war have begun to sprout, dropped in the middle of the highest tensions between three turtles and their eldest brother who is on the enemy side

doomed siblings, doomed toxic yaoi, doomed Everything, its inspired by idw and 2003 so what else is there to expect

only showing the beta design for usagi ! i have a lot of other drawings for this but again, spoilers

historical graves au:

this one is the most recent of the bunch, just putting my version of yuichi for rise into a more usagi yojimbo styled setting ! the story is entirely different from the fanfic and im still working on it But

yuichi is the great grandchild of miyamoto usagi instead of a distant ancestor , so the debt of the shogun’s assassination is that much heavier and Far more dangerous to hold. yuichi and his adoptive little sister, hana, have recently escaped the mass murder and pillaging of their rabbit village (the same one that mariko and kenichi and usagi grew up in) and are on a journey to find their aunt for sanctuary

along the way, they run into a lot of familiar faces, such as the hamato clan , who has karai as their jōnin ! also yuichi gets possessed by jei at some point

hes trans too so he “disguises” himself as a boy to be more hidden as they travel

ive got one more original iteration but theres like . nothing i want to share from it rn lmao

SOOO THATS IT basicallt !!umm if anyone wants to know more about any of these aus id be happy to answer ! u can request doodles of them too !

if u read this far ily and im kissing you

[8-0mph]

Hello! First of all i just wanted to say im a huge huge fan of FD and all of your art, you are immensely talented and are feeding the WordGirl fandom so good, we all thank you

I just wanted to ask for some clarification on the comic’s timeline. I know maybe establishing this is not a huge priority, I just wondered if you could clear some of my doubts

We know the comics goes, in chronological order, from 9.5, 8.5, then 1-9 (at least currently). In ch. 1, it states there is a 5 year time skip, presumably from the final episode of the original airing, in which Becky is 11. Chapter 1 is the “present” of the story, and while we could assume Becky is 16, later on in a post you reveal she is actually 17, and Tobey is 18. The difference is only one year and it doesnt really matter much, i just wanted to point this out because I wanted to ask from when does this 5 year time skip take place?

Another moment I wanted to point out is the timeline of Tobey’s situation. We see that inside the alleged 5 year time skip, at least 2 years(?) before Ch 1, Ch 9.5 takes place. We still don’t have the second part but from what I understand, something happened which changed Tobey’s behavior dramatically, back into his old villain habits, and thats Ch 8.5. The thing is, Tobey then spent a year in jail and went back to school after Becky’s letter. That’s the closest point in the past that we have to the present. How long were Tobey and the whole gang friends as seen in Ch 9.5? How long has it been between Ch 8.5 and Ch 1 (starting after he went back to school)? Is the timeskip of 5 years potentially relative to some other event we are yet to see after the original airing but before Ch 9.5?

Also, how old are Becky and Tobey in Ch 8.5 and 9.5, respectively? Tobey states in Ch 5 that Becky and he were never really friends, and later states in Ch 8.5 that she probably hates him. I understand that Tobey’s head is kind of screwed up big time and he’s probably got a distorted view of what’s really going on, but did they maybe have a falling out or something of the sorts before Ch. 8.5 and the present? If the answer is yes, I understand you’d probably not reveal anything because afterall you’re still writing the comic so It would just be revealed later when you wanted to reveal it. Still, I can’t help but ask.

Also this doesn’t have anything to do with the comics but I gotta ask. Your line work is phenomenal, how did you learn to draw like that? Are you self taught or had classes/went to art school? I know this is a really bothersome question for lots of artists, but I’m just so fascinated by your art, I was wondering if you could talk a little about your art style, it really is captivating how well you draw these characters, how emotional all of the panels feel

Excuse me for any mistakes, I just really like your art above like all things in my life right now, just wanted to clear some things in my mind. Again, absolutely love your work, thank you for it all

This is long one.

I will try to cover everything. My headcanon is that Becky was 12 years old at the end of the main series.. In theory she should be 17 in a 5 year time-skip.

However.. When I wrote chapter one I was going to have them all be 17 years old like Invincible in Season one. I changed this because I want all of them to be out of high school now that they are fighting crime. It would make no sense for them to still be in school. Invincible had all the young characters balance senior year and crimefighting but I just wanted to scrap all that.

Chapter 8.5 happens after the events of Chapter 9.5. Here is a timeline:

(Prequel) Chapter 9.5: Becky and friends are sophomores in high school. With the release of the full chapter you already know how Tobey and Beckys friendship started and ended (15-16 years old).

(Prequel) Chapter 8.5: (End of the chapter) One year after sophomore year since Tobey spent one in jail.. Skipping Junior year. They are now seniors. Tobey has returned from jail and under house arrest still dealing with the consequences of his crimes (16-17 years old).

Chapter 1: Close to the end of senior year of high school. Becky is attacked by Rex in a misunderstanding. Tobey visits Beckys memorial when she is thought to be dead. They have not spoken since the night in the park when they were sophomores (18 years old).

Tobey is insecure and doesnt believe anyone would actually be friends with him. With the discovery of Beckys notebook attempting to “fix” Victoria, Eileen, and Tobey he doesnt believe she ever cared about him (Cough the letter at the end of 9.5 says otherwise). Despite this Tobey still believes their friendship was a sham. He was also never close with Scoops and Violet as they never tried to connect with him out of fear. They are right to be though. He is/can be psychopathic.

I am self-taught and my work really isnt all that. But I appreciate it and am happy to hear. I am inspired by animanga. Sorry if the timeline was confusing as well. I never expected to write much of this comic. There are some plot holes and retcons most people have not even mentioned yet.

[voltaridylla]

Hi Volta! What are your top ten fic recs (any ship, any length) ?

Dude I have so many recommendations of fics that have like… changed my life. Like it’s dramatic but I reread them and I get filled with so much nostalgia and love for them- sometimes the second read is better than the first and you spot the details of characterisation and easter eggs!! So allow me to just ramble my appreciations for these fics (I go on tangents a lot whoops)

So I feel I must mention this first but

1) Bloodlust - Libbywednesday

This fic got me back into the fandom when I saw the animatic on youtube!! I was hooked and read it in a day. I loved the grittiness and the slow burn aspect of it, the characterisations were also amazing!

2) The Thief Trilogy - Wintergrew

I read this fic straight after I completed Stick of Truth!!! MY GOD… it’s amazing. It’s a favourite Creek fic of mine but it wasn’t just the romance, it was the action and the amount of world building that went into it that truly made it spellbinding. I read it in like five days and it has one of my favourite characterisations of Tweek to be honest!!! This fic was also what made me get an ao3 account.

3) Stan Marsh and the Lost Lyre - Alottodix

Okay- this was the first fic I read when I got an ao3 account and I am in love with it!!! I may not have read Percy Jackson or know much about it but this fic made me WISH I did. It’s amazing, the narration, storytelling and the characters are so well written and it brings me so many feelings of how it felt when I first read fantasy as a kid!! Like it’s just so cosy and the found family dynamic is just SO good. Also @alottodix has the best characterisation of Cartman, rereading passages gave me a deeper appreciation!!

4) Chaos Plan - Helioleti

THIS FIC MADE ME CRY. BAWL. SOB. Like I was crying at 2am even though I had a shift next morning LMAO. This is such a good fic, it’s quite dark with themes and it reads like a suspense/mystery. It reminds me a lot of the film ‘Brick’ with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I love that aspect of it- solving the mystery and the characterisation of Kenny is so fucking amazing. I highly recommend reading the Chaos Plan extra - I read it because I needed more Chaos Plan content and it was so worth it.

5) I Will Make of You - Purplepeptobeismol

This fic also made me cry- but happy tears this time lmao. As you can tell I’m just very emotional. This fic is one of the best for original character at the centre but still weaving it into canon- I LOVE COOPER MCCORMICK!! Reading this was a blast and I loved the amount of research that went to it such as time travel and all that (I’m not gonna spoil the rest but just AAAA) it’s so good and the writing is so good and I found myself emotionally invested.

6) Top 3 reasons to not open a multidimensional time rift: number one will surprise you - Clearly_Nonsense

THIS FIC IS SO GOOD!!! It has the zaniness of South Park and it’s done so well, I found myself laughing out loud at some passages!! I loved the multidimensional aspect and how characters from FBW/SOT/SP would interact in these different settings. I also love Tool Shed <3 he’s my favourite character in this fic (Brazilian Tool Shed FOR LIFE) !!! I also need to mention the art work that’s in the fic is AMAZING- it captures the scenes so well. It’s so good and y’all should follow @up-side-in-side-out for their art!!

7) The Gods Watched Over Us - Ursamajorstories

AAAA if you love Atlantis and Road to El Dorado this fic is for you!! It has incan Craig/explorer Tweek and it’s so good. I loved the characterisations and the writing was IMPECCABLE. Like it was so vivid with imagery and it’s like a comfort read honestly. I also loved the world building as well and it was another fic I read when I first got my ao3 account!!!

8) Groomsmen - Apricotkittycat

I LOVE THIS FIC!!! I love their take on style in this fic and Stan and Wendy’s friendship <3 I also love Ike and Marjorine in it too. The concept is kind of like Slice of Life-ish but then BAM there’s a whole mystery to solve. It’s a great spin on things. The narrative is great and I love so many scenes that I can’t say for fear of spoiling but I highly recommend it- I read it in a day!!

9) The Perks of Being an Eldritch Abomination - PheonixKenny

I know I mentioned it earlier but this fic is AMAZING!! I LOVE cthulhu Kenny and this fic did so much effort with the body horror aspect of his curse taking on physical form - also there’s a lot of comfort so it’s really sweet and I loved the friendship dynamics. Really good- I love it!!

10) I saw the Stars in Your Tail - Craigtuckeradvocate

I will always love this fic. I read it when I was 12 or 13 and it has such a special place in my heart (I’m also a sucker for mermaid AUS.) THIS WAS AMAZING - I loved the romance between Craig and Tweek and it’s stays with me ever since. I’ll probably cry reading it because of nostalgia and how long time has passed. <3

Sorry this took forever but here are fics I LOVE and am obsessed with forever <33

[zepskies]

hey love!! so in awe of your writing & writing style and i wanted to ask which fic of yours is your favorite?

Well hey there, my lovely!

Oh wow, you're so kind, thank you!! 🥰💜💜 That is a tough question... So I'm going to cheat a little bit and give you my top 3:

3. Smoke Eater (Firefighter!Dean Winchester x Reader)

Summary: Dean Winchester is the cocky, but well-respected Lieutenant at Firehouse 25. He leads by example, but he’s also known to break a few hearts. He’s starting to crave something he’s never had, though. Something stable. Something real.  That’s when he meets you, on a truly terrible day, trapped in a rickety old elevator. 

This was my first full AU series. It came from my love of Chicago Fire and medical and cop procedurals like it. Throw in a murder mystery, arson, former playboy Dean, and other angsty storylines in the middle of a whirlwind romance, and you got yourself a firefighter AU! ❤���‍🔥

2. Break Me Down (Soldier Boy x Reader)

Summary: You’re a private investigator by trade, but now you happily sit at a desk — leading a surveillance team at Supe Affairs. After managing to end Homelander in New York, Soldier Boy escapes custody. You are recruited for the manhunt, joining Butcher’s team.

I feel like most people would expect me to answer this one for number one, but it's still very close to my heart. It was my first real foray into the complex, lovable asshole known as Soldier Boy (Ben).

And it was my attempt at creating a redemption arc for him through an "enemies to lovers" story, edgier than anything I'd done previously, thanks to the grittiness of The Boys world.

I've continued writing far past the original series because I just can't quit these two, and this version of Ben.

1. Midnight Espresso Series (Dean Winchester x Plus-Sized Latina Reader)

This is a collection of stories in the SPN fandom, and it's very personal to me! (I'm plus-sized and Latina.) Though I tried to make it so all readers, regardless of race/ethnicity or otherwise, could enjoy those stories as well.

It gave me the chance to pair Dean with a reader character who is also a giver like him, who looks out for and cares for him in the same way he cares for others, all while being a badass hunter herself.

From dramatic and angsty hurt/comfort to fluffy smut, I've tried to explore many facets of their relationship, while utilizing both my heritage/culture and my personal experience with body insecurity, body shaming, etc. Like BMD, this is a series I can always come back to and write more stories for. 💜

Bonus: The Honorable Choice - (Dean W. x OFC)

Summary: June 1872. Captain Dean Winchester of the U.S. Cavalry is tasked with one job: break a wild mustang. He just didn’t expect the woman who infiltrates his camp, intent on freeing her tribe’s horse.

I haven't dropped this one yet, but I'm mentioning it because it's currently one of my favorite projects that I've worked on so far!

⬆️ Part 1 coming on 11/03 (Read it on Patreon now!)

[bluejayblueskies]

ten thousand flowers in spring | bluejayblueskies

[ID: Three photos of a hand-bound book from different angles that show the front, side, and back respectively. The book has dark green bookcloth, a decorative red and gold ribbon along the front cover and a black ribbon along the back cover, and a gold painted cherry blossom design on the front and back covers. The title and author name are also in gold on the front cover and spine and read, "Ten Thousand Flowers in Spring" and "bluejayblueskies." /End ID]

Last November, I got a Silhouette cutting machine for Black Friday. This weekend, I finally got the chance to use it for a bookbinding project! I bound my fic ten thousand flowers in spring as part of one of my Fandom Trumps Hate typesetting gifts, and I had a lot of fun going all-out with the flower iconography.

[ID: Two photos of the interior of the book. The first is the title page spread of the book, showing a pastel-colored painting of a cherry blossom-scattered hill with sheep and a shepherd that spans both pages. On the right page, there is the title "Ten Thousand Flowers in Spring" and the author name "bluejayblueskies" in a sans serif font. The second is the colophon (left) and table of contents (right) of the book. The colophon has details about the binder, the original fic, and the fonts and image sources used in the book. The table of contents has each chapter title and corresponding page number listed in a grid format with flower icons above each chapter title. /End ID]

Each chapter is titled after a flower that has a specific meaning that ties into the chapter content. I decided to style this bind after old botany books. Along with the cover, which is inspired by the covers of old botany books, each chapter header has an image of the titular flower pulled from public domain botany book scans, along with the flower's name and meaning below it.

[ID: The inside of the book, showing a page of text on the left and the chapter header on the right. The chapter header has an old-style image of blue salvia on it, with the name "blue salvia" and the meaning "friendship, family, thoughtful gestures, thinking of you" beneath it. /End ID]

Each chapter also begins with a faux-excerpt from the book Jon is writing throughout the fic:

[ID: The inside of the book, showing the introductory faux book excerpt on the left and the beginning chapter text on the right. The faux book text has an image of a flower beneath it; the beginning chapter text has a drop cap with a floral design at the beginning of it. /End ID]

Some more notes and pictures on process are below the cut!

The binding style of this fic is sewn boards binding, which I like for thinner books as the spine is much less fiddly to work with. It's also a really nice binding style in general because it eliminates my least-favorite part of the binding process: casing in. When casing in a regular case-bound book, you construct the entire case separately from the text block and then attach the case to the text block via the endpapers. Inevitably, I always end up just a little bit crooked, and because my brain currently refuses to let me try using paste instead of PVA, it's very hard to fix once the endpapers are pasted down.

With sewn boards binding, the boards are attached to the text block via an extra signature of folded cardstock on the ends of the text block. The case is then constructed directly onto the text block, and glueing the endpapers down is very, very easy and near-impossible to mess up.

The ends of the boards do end up exposed with this binding style. The first time I did it, I covered them with paper. This time, I painted them gold to match the cover:

[ID: A side view of the book, showing off the exposed boards near the spine which are painted gold. The front cover of the book can also be seen at an angle. /End ID]

I plan to experiment more in the future with potentially adding endbands to this binding style, as that's one thing I wish this book had that it does not.

For the cover design, I first cut out the stencils using my Silhouette:

[ID: A cutting mat with white vinyl stuck to it that has been cut and weeded to expose the backlit cherry blossom design. The title "Ten Thousand Flowers in Spring" and author name "bluejayblueskies" can be seen in the designs for the front cover and spine. /End ID]

I'd heard a lot of things about weeding, positive and negative, but I actually enjoyed doing the weeding on this 😂 it was like doing a puzzle in a way. I think I would like it less if I had to keep all of the tiny little pieces and make sure they looked nice, but as it was, all I had to do was remove them and it didn't matter if they got bent in the process.

The fabric paint I have dries very quickly, so I got very little bleed on my stencil and was able to remove it almost right away:

[ID: The back cover of the book with the vinyl stencil stuck to it, painted over somewhat messily with gold fabric paint. /End ID]

Overall, I was very happy with the stenciling process and will probably continue to do stencils as opposed to heat transfer vinyl unless I want to do some bigger, blockier designs in the future.

[bunniboiz]

i got my order from hobonichi today and i've honestly never been so hyped up about fandom merch before... tl;dr i'm very happy porky minch is finally getting so much love lol so i thought i'd show some of it to the three or four eb fans still alive who might be reading this

below: detailed unboxing + some peeks inside the artbooks ✰

the Pollyanna books are official anthologies featuring the works of 75 eb-loving creators, while everything else is from the new pork parco city pop-up event in shibuya last year <:)

can you even believe this little thing. the packaging has his most moemoe line about being nervous he might be one of the chosen ones. my heart isn't broken or anything

speaking about heartbreak: i was so surprised official merch has been made with the specific purpose of being devastating for porky fans (me) the Friend Yoyo's box has porky's original magicant dialogue on the side, about his low self-esteem, how he envies ness for being a good person, and wanting to be friends forever. the english translation really toned down that one- while the japanese original is very genuine, and makes a big difference in tone... in my opinion

not to be cheesy but seeing so many different people drawing&writing over 400 pages about their love for the series really moved me. the crazy variety of art styles make it all the more impressive.

the comics go from lighthearted silly comedy to existential dread much like the series itself does. if you're interested in throwing yourself into the same emotional roller-coaster, hobonichi is right here and i truly think these are top tier anthologies. seeing so much love for such an old series is so heartwarming. i'm especially happy that it has nothing to do with the general sentiment the mother fandom had back when i first played the game in 2010, which was general massive disinterest in porky- while i really felt (and still do) like he's the most important & most interesting character in the series lol... seeing him be a central character in these projects is so cool. pollyanna2's intro is a little letter from itoi about him. anyway,

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

the way i gasped when i see you have obey me! as fandom you follow is so dramatic, no but i swear I gasped dramatically pinky swear!!

Your headcannons for Yan! Solomon because he's my husband. I love his enigmatic style and how he has "oops! just created another disaster but hey i also have the solution" energy and on the serious note that despite knowing he had very less chances with MC in original timeline he still had their back everytime. I love my Shady McWizardson so much i cannot explain it to you. When NB came i was like 'this is it. this is solo stans era and we are living our dream!' How they'd play house with each other has me kicking my feet!!

Alsooo,, who's your favourite OM character 👀

-🌼

Yandere! Solomon

GIRL I AM ALSO IN LOVE WITH SOLOMON HE'S SO SHADY AND LOWKEY YAN. Although he DOES need to lay off the kitchen like stop going there bbgirl-- ALSO, favorite OM character? With the brothers, it's Beel. I love my big boy, my himbo, my everything. Jealous and clingy Beel is a blessing that comes once in a blue moon and I thank last year's valentines event for that. Outside of the brothers, it's ironically Solomon and Barbatos LOL FAIR WARNING THOUGH, I'm not that far yet in Obey Me Nightbringer. I did complete the original Obey me up to 80, but that's it. SO THERE WILL BE DETAILS THAT ARE WRONG!No nsfw for this one hehe

You know how everybody says that no things and events are coincidences?

This sorcerer definitely and deliberately got you transported back in time to solo you.

You don't need to know that though.

At first, he indeed got a bit guilty from isolating you so suddenly and without a warning from your beloved demon brothers.

But the more he saw the beauty of you and him living like a domestic couple together?

It eased his guilt almost immediately.

Back then in the original world, he spent most of his time gazing at you from afar. Wishing that it was he who was closest to you.

Not those demon brothers that he can't seem to shake at all.

Sure, he became your master/mentor, but that's it. You never saw him more than that.

And it frustrated him greatly.

So he had no choice. I hope you forgive him for that :(.

Solomon definitely got more closer to you once you went back in time.

But it was still hard not to frown when he sometimes hear you cry in wanting to go back to the present.

So, he does his best to distract you from everything.

Solomon definitely manipulates everything to his whims if it means getting closer to you.

I can also see Solomon being nicer to you and a distant coldness to him when somebody speaks to him that's not you.

Two-faced Solomon is a thing i've been thinking about for quite a while, and it fits him so well.

If he had a choice, he would just keep you from rekindling flames with the past brothers at all.

But he's too nice for that.

That, and he can't afford your image of him to break at all.

People will warn you about him and how he's shady.

But you know him best! He would never force a demon on a pact at all! All of these demons only knew the sorcerer Solomon, and not him.

Oh he would definitely use tears also. He will not hesitate to do so once he knows tears are your weakness.

He will build an image of a mischievous but good sorcerer in your eyes.

And he will not hesitate to eliminate those who threatens to break that image at all

Both of you are human! Only you and him are all the both of you got. The others cannot be trusted that much.

Even the brothers! They're not your demon brothers that's for sure.

So only rely on him.

And only him.

Let's just say it was a bad day for Solomon.

He went back to the present and he can hear the present demon brother's bemoans of agony from not having you.

They were about to tear the whole devildom apart trying to find you.

Oops, Solomon didn't tell them. His bad, really.

The sorcerer society also decided to pester him greatly.

Then, there's Barbatos in both the past and present to bring you back to the present to not mess with the timeline anymore.

But Barbatos foresaw this already. So what's the point?

This only made Barbatos frown and say "He's gonna regret that."

Eh. He won't.

When Solomon went back to the hall, he realized you weren't there.

Strange, you're usually home by this time.

He asked the demon brothers, nothing.

He asked Simeon and Diavolo. But nothing also.

He even went as far to ask Thirteen, only to get a face full of octopus.

He's getting frustrated, not until he saw little Luke acting fidgety.

Oh. He knows where you are.

Unfortunately for him, you ran away from the hall because you figured out that he deliberately transported you here.

You screamed at him, asking him why.

And you started to question everything about him. About how if he's really as nice as he is, as to why he's so adamant on helping you, on how he knows every solution to everything!

Solomon can feel his whole resolve crumble. All his hard work down the drain.

Last chance to make this right...

He got on his knees, hugging your legs and crying his eyes out. God knows how desperate he was for you to believe him.

"NO! Y/N I SWEAR I DID IT FOR A GOOD REASON I CANNOT SAY!"

He made it seem like the time travel was necessity for your safety, that something will happen if he didn't do it.

The waterworks, and his heartfelt confession of finally admitting his feelings wholeheartedly, and that he never lied to you... It felt genuine (It's not).

And you, ever so soft on him, decided to forgive him that easily.

And he smiles, for he knew he got to you.

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

CON UPDATE YAP- And I mean Y A P

MY HAUL!! :DD from someone with only half decent impulse spending and too much disposible income rn.

SO I started the day waking up stupid early to finish up my cosplay (Robin for those (prism) who asked) it was originally Tim Drake because I had my camera. But well- I ordered an uber and while climbing in my camera buckle broke and it fell. Already rough start, but I assured the driver all was well.

He asked me about Cosplay and while not quite understanding he vehelementry preached that "art should always have community, be proud, and your community will come" which damm okay man. Otherwise ride over was nothing special, arrived at like 8:30 when nothing OPEN opens until 10.

Right outside I ran into this dad and daughter, she had on a frilly skirt so I said she looked amazing and the dad beamed and started saying "I told you-" about her being fine dressing up. We chatted for a bit, showed off eachothers cameras, debated about old cameras vs new cameras etc (while I remained oblivious to my plight) and then I quickly chowed down a shitty granola bar and went in.

Inside said goodmorning to the workers who helped usher me upstairs to where I needed to pickup my badge. I spotted a hijabi girl who fashioned it in a way to cosplay red hood and we talked while getting lanyards for a moment before parting ways.

Off I went to find a bathroom to piece together the last bits of my cosplay (shitty wig and 3d printed mask I got off etsy) but after getting situated I wore the wig for a total of ten minutes before going "fuck it" and I was now Steph.

Meandered for a bit, just people watching- took a few peoples pictures. And thus where I encounted my FIRST dillema. My camera that I dropped? it was NOT fine- a plastic chunk that secured the lense when screwed in had completely snapped off and now unless I held it in a VERY specific way, it would not register it and would refuse to work.

Finally I ended up BACK in the registration area and got in line for the artist alley cue (early entry at least) and was the last person before they roped it off and opened another line to filter people through. Family of three were entertaining their baby who I showed off some bubbles too, and the guy next to me had a ton of lord of the rings barbies to be signed and we talked for over an hour.

Mostly about old vs new fandom, comic to movie adaptations, the pros and cons of each spiderman actor in this day and age, and the horrendous reality that is the green goblin costume. Then a kid next to me got my attention and complimented my costume, she was in a half fursuit so I of course returned the compliment and we chatted about creating our own suits and I congratulated her on attending her first con.

Finally a large chunk of time later- VIP is let in, and an even LONGER chunk- were let in. I bid farewell to my line buddies and begin exploring. I spent a good while wandering, almost got some comics but they had a minimum "25$ card requirement" so I passed. My first purchase ended up being from a sweet couple who sold tons of nature style earrings and had a mini gumball machine full of even minnier frogs! I bought two tokens and won a lil green and poison dart frog, chatted some more, they gave me a batman bookmark for free, and then I left. Also got a horn headband to match stephs lil devil horns.

Next group I ran into were historic reinactors, in a sense that they were part of a whole society dedicated to the "medieval lifestyle" and preserving the art of creation in such a way. The guy I chatted with was happy to show off his historically accurate and handcrafted costume which was part of his collection over the past 15 years. Ended up taking a group photo for them and still need to check my computer to fix up and give them.

More interactions included but were not limited to-

The sally face cosplay kid whose dad was very excited over having a picture to remember the con

Woman who I bought just about every bird sticker she had (as well as pigeon print) and proceeded to show me videos and pictures of the actual pigeon they were based on that visited her apartment

Native woman who we had a long talk about her culture in her art and whales spiritual meaning (got the sticker from her)

Lady who makes MLP classics, I bought Pinkie Pie on the Odyssey and she signed it for me- and we raged about toll scams and her friend went "May you never fall victim again to such bastards" which I appreciated

Man who wrote a book about a girl battling leaprecauns to rescue her estranged father (got a bookmark), and gave a mini history lesson about the timetravel arc

Sweet person who I got the bumper sticker from and suggested I name my car "Franny" or "Gladys" and said "You picked a good one baby :)" when I was checking out

Couple from Atlanta area who were very pleased I knew their hometown and handed me their card while we talked about region culture in media

Artist who was very sympathetic to my plight of picking which of her trinket trays I wanted- and whose friend kept making niche wii spots or adam sandler movie quote jokes in the background

Yet another artist who was VERY happy I "understood the assignment" when asking if her mermaid comic book series was sapphic and murder filled (got some zines from her)

Deadpool Robin who recreated the spiderman meme with me

Daftpunk duo shows up again (ive seen them at just about every con now) and started boogie-ing to their own music- idk where their speaker was

Trio of guys who were DISTRAUGHT they had not remembered Steph as robin and asked if I would accept their apology "to women everywhere." Which I did, they were sincere.

Girl who while I asked for "One of each of the titan stickers" met me with an expression of pure panic and tried to slowly get out her phone. Which I quickly learned was the vendors little sister left in charge and didn't know wtf she was doing- vendor returned pretty quick after

Overheard friends who were debating on if pokemon were real, how many ER related injuries would be tied to "my litten became a man, still thinks hes a lap cat"

Girl who we chatted about PC's and the new repo game- showed off a few doodles and I got a Pim blind bag from

Friends who one was lamenting their sympathies while the card reader wasnt working, and the other who kept being playfully pessimist. So it was a constant string of "Oh my god im so sorry the wifi is shit dont worry its so fine thank you for waiting!!" "No this is all your fault, you've cursed us- I hope you're happy."

Woman who happily offered me the fancy custom print bags from her shop after noticing I was struggling with too-much-shit-syndrome, I was a fan of her daughters work and bought a ton of shit as repentance

Older Gentleman outside the plaza while waiting for my uber that began donning layers of woven admission badges like war medals, which I praised him for and he happily showed off

Guy also outside playing on makeshift drums who complimented my "drip" when I gave him the rest of the ones I had left in my purse

Family that thanked me like id just saved their newborn child from a burning car after telling them where to find the express food center instead of dealing with the hour long lines

Fellow fan who was holding armfulls of Red hood comics and begged me to say which booth I got the red robin comics-

Guy dressed like Kronk who helped me pick "Only the finest dabloons" and gave me the "guess ill die" ribbon for free after I said he had "good vibes"

Watched a guy chase his kid through the foyer with a prop chainsaw, he was doing that kid "giggle screech" as he ran and hid behind someone dressed like Bucky who didnt hesitate to throw his arm out to "stop the chainsaw"

Felt like I was dying for a bit, and purchased my one regret whcih was a 40 dollar cup for unlimited soda which was ass- but in the moment I didnt care. Then almost left, only to find the express food and absolutely destroy a ham hogie and some grandmas oatmeal cookies. Went to wait for my uber and had my one and only slight neg experience which was a guy acting like he was taking a pic of my bag only to step back and very obviously go into frame- which was, fun. But then I had old guy and drummer so my mood improved.

40 minute uber later, I laid out my haul, organized my shit- and then began writing this post before heading to dnd (which im at rn and will likely last from when we started over 2 hours ago, to like 2am)

[arcane-vagabond]

Hey.

Go ahead and get settled because this will be...long, in true Liz fashion.

So, by now I'm sure most of you have heard what's happened. If not, you can search this blog for some answers or others for more.

I joined this fandom offiicially at the end of September after being a long time lurker. I had just lost my job and times were uncertain for me. I felt inspired to write, and as someone whose formative years were shaped by the fandom experience, I wanted to feel that sense of belonging again - to feel like a part of a community. I've talked about it on here before, but I started my fandom days in the original Hunger Games fandom when the first movie had just come out, and then I shifted gears towards the SuperWhoLock fandom. If you know anything about SuperWhoLock, then you know you had to have pretty tough fucking skin to be a part of any of it.

Of course, this was back in the day when fandom was an actual community and not authors having to beg for scraps of engagement and people thinking its a numbers game. I was a fairly large blog within the SuperWhoLock community (Waywardly-Carrying-On was the username), but I left fandom for a few years because life got hectic and I felt like I had outgrown the fandom itself as I was no longer watching any of the shows. As the years went on, I started to yearn for the fandom experience again, which is how I found myself dipping toes into several different ones.

I was so excited to publish my first fanfic. I had convinced myself that I wasn't a good writer (much to the chagrin of my irl friends), and I had put a pause on writing my original story. I wanted to write this idea about a cowboy and a girl using characters that I had grown to love like I did way back in my older days. So, I started posting, and I was so excited for the story, that I kept posting almost daily. MamaMay was one of the first people to embrace not only my story, but me as a person into the fandom. She made me feel welcomed and wanted.

Pretty much right off the bat I was already getting anons telling me that I was being too much and that I needed to calm down with all the posting. I was confused because...this is Tumblr. It's literally a blogging website? Why wouldn't I post? I decided to ignore the mean words (not before giving my opinion, of course) and kept on doing my thing. Well, the anons got continually worse and worse. I had a suspiscion as to who the anons could be, but I never had concrete proof. So, I experimented with blocking suspects until finally it worked. I'm not naming names because that's not my style, so don't even bother asking.

The fact of the matter is, some of you have entered fandom spaces for the first time, and you don't know how to act. You don't care to learn fandom etiquette as you've made abundantly clear by calling fandom olds every name under the sun while utilizing the anonymous feature. Newsflash, you're part of the problem. You're the reason why authors don't want to publish anymore. You are the reason that something that's supposed to be fun is starting to feel like a goddamn chore.

How many times can authors on here say that we aren't machines? We have lives outside of this website: family, friends, jobs, school, etc. Some of you really are just hellbent on making everyone around you miserable, and it's sad. You can't just leave well enough alone and let people enjoy something, no you feel like everyone has to enjoy it the same way as you.

Some of you go after authors on here because of some weird sense of jealousy too. I don't know why my shit blew up, babe, I really don't. But I started out with no followers and no support just like everyone else. I'll tell you what helped me though: following fandom etiquette and reaching out to other creators to build an actual community. None of this "I've reblogged three of your things and now I'm messaging you so that you return the favor." No, I reached out to make actual friendships which is what fandom is SUPPOSED to be. If someone was clearly not interested, it was fine!! I backed off and kept doing my own thing.

Some of you think being mean on the internet makes you big and bad. Guess what! It doesn't! It's loser mentality and I feel genuinely sorry for you. I'm sorry that people in your own life made you feel so small as to feel like you had to lash out at strangers on the internet who are just trying to have fun.

Anyway, this is my really long way of saying that I am taking a break for a little bit. I have no idea how long it will be - could be the weekend, could be a couple of weeks, could be forever. I need time to decide if this is something I want to keep persuing. If I come back, I don't know if I will remain a TGM blog or if I'll shift gears and hop into another fandom with a rebrand. Guess we'll just have to see.

To the people on here who have been a constant source of joy, laughter, and support: thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Your presence has meant everything to me, and I hope that my break sees me wanting to come back and giggle about the silly plane movie with you all again.

Nothing but love,

Liz 💛

[isaacz]

not a big piece but i really wanted to share my ideas/headcanons for omori character design's! (already apologize for any english errors, i'm writting this at 2 am on a school night help) -HEADSPACE- -My first idea was to have all of headspace characters to look like cartoons, with wompy anatomy and shapes, it's even the reason why i try my best to draw eyes in the omori style, normally i wouldn't but i think it has it's charm. If i ever animated them aswell they would just have very exaggerated movement and reactions, like old cartoons -All of the main cast has different shades of purple! except for basil and omori ofc, basil being shades of green/cyan and omori being shades of darkblue/blue (in game lore it makes completely sense why he doesn't have color but for painting+drawing purposes i made him shades of blue to make the illustrations more interesthing haha)

Might be obvious by now but the characters have lil stars on their hairs and tips of their body parts (props to the omori fandom you guys are creative af, and mostly zipsunz cuz i got it from him) omori ofc doesn't have that BUT he does have a lil shade of dark blue that goes all the way to the end of his hands, i wanted to do that to kinda make a ref to black space, kinda like he has a part of blackspace with him at all times (also yes that hair light is supossed to be something's eye)

-FARAWAY- -WEll if headspace characters are cartoony, then faraway characters seems more real (as real as it can get on my style at least), it's just omori characters in my original style that's it -For sunny i headcanon that he had to constantly cut his hair while in isolation cuz long hair reminded of his sister, so when i draw him i try to make the back look as shitty as possible, cuz let's be honest i don't think he would cut his hair properly... (this btw was completely taken from the amazing headcanon comic made by v3ratrix, i really liked the idea so i wanted to include on my own drawings aswell! thanks v3ratrix!) -i like to make kel's hair curly cuz.. i like him with curly hair, and since him and hero are brothers, i made hero with a bit of curly hair aswell! they also have opposite moles from each other :)

-Since i have no idea wtf happend for Aubrey's eyes to turn blue, i like to imagine that she has to use glasses but uses contacts most of the time

-I like to think Kel and Hero are hispanic, and Mari and Sunny japanese american ! (cuz it fits them and also KEL AND HERO SPEAKING SPANISH SUPREMACY!!) -Basil learns portuguese later on because he thinks it's funny that his name sounds like Brazil (ofc i'm going to have a self indulgent headcanon his name is literally perfect for it!) THIS IS IT FOR ALL OF MY HEADCANONS :D tysm for reading until the end, i appreciate people liking my ideas and i hope i can make proper pieces in the future, for now i'm procastinating on projects and drawings in general PLEASE make sure to check out both v3ratrix comic and zipsunz artwork that were mentioned in this post, they're very good and i don't want to take credit from stuff that i got from them alright buh bye !

[merulanoir]

Ghost's backstory

Ok so, I have wanted to write about this for months but my brain has been fighting a war called the end of the fiscal year, so I haven't had the time. But I desperately want to talk about the OG Ghost backstory. You know the one, with the hook and the cartel and the. Yeah, the coffin, and everything.

(For those lucky enough to remain in the dark uninitiated, the original 2009 Call of Duty character Simon "Ghost" Riley had a separate awfully bad comic that claimed to be his backstory.

The reboot version of Ghost (which is probably better known to most people by now) has a sweet fuck-all in his bio, but even so it sort of implies that the original backstory never happened to that guy. The fandom ranges from taking the full original backstory into the reboot dynamic to just ignoring it completely. It varies.)

Also, to be clear: I'm not saying my interpretation is in any way better or worse than anyone else's. It's just going to go against the grain of what the fandom has chosen to treat as canon.

Anyway, to summarize: the comics are a straight guy power fantasy framed interestingly: We meet Ghost when he's being held hostage in Ukraine. We later learn he let himself be captured to stall the terrorists.

We have the gist of it here, already! He's going to tell a story! He even claims it's not about himself, but an "old friend of his" "the baddest motherfucker on the planet" (I wish I was making this up.)

Now, here's where things get actually interesting. I'm going to claim that the Mexico/torture/brainwashing/whatever the fuck that was probably didn't happen like that. Hear me out.

Who does the framing of being held captive and telling a story remind me of?

Ghost is pulling a Varric! He's buying time. I have discussed this extensively with a friend (hi @sorrelchestnut) and the, erm, in-house expert we have on hand verified our theory: for special forces guys, creating a fabricated backstory is the norm. They train to do that. They keep names, dates, anything that can be fact-checked, and the rest is probably more or less lies.

Ghost tells the terrorists about the mission in Mexico, where he (allegedly) first met Roba and where he got captured. Then the comic's style changes completely and it cuts to him going back to beat up his abusive dad, then back to Ghost in Mexico. It keeps going back and forth between his time in Mexico (which is clearly Ghost telling the story to his captors, drawn in the same style as the panel up there) and his traumatic childhood (drawn in a completely different style):

All the parts about his family are drawn in that same, more classic comic-y style (Ghost beating up his dad, him helping Tommy get back on his feet, Tommy and Beth getting married, etc.) UNTIL we get to the part where Ghost comes back from Mexico (after being buried alive in that fucking coffin, yes).

Then, everything about him going to therapy (truly the most unbelievable aspect of the story, I agree), Sparks returning, his family getting killed on Christmas? Back to this style:

So, to recap: If we want to go this route, we could say that the family parts of the story, told in the simpler comic style, could be true. Those could be Simon's memories about his admittedly fucked up childhood (and which probably aren't included in the story being told to the terrorists and the other hostages). Everything that's in the more realistic, shaded style? His made-up story he's telling the bad guys in Ukraine.

But Meru, you say, what about the bit where Simon is bringing Tommy to rehab and his junkie friends attack him? Simon is imagining (?) them as having skullfaces! Your theory doesn't hold water!

Well, as the comics tell us later, there might be a good reason for Simon to have some...feelings about the skull motif.

That's his father speaking with their mother in the first speech bubble. The boy in the skull mask is Tommy, his little brother. What follows is the gnarly piece of story where Simon's father takes him to a punk concert and makes him laugh at a dead prostitute. The whole thing with the skullface ties pretty neatly into itself, if you ask me.

So, if Ghost telling the terrorists a story about Mexico and the cartel and his family getting killed by brainwashed American soldiers isn't all true, which parts are?

I don't think we're meant to know, at least in the way the story is told in the comics. So in a way, even though the comics are so fucking bad, I'm glad I read them (more than once, y'all can thank me later) because OG Ghost is fascinating.

So, is his family really dead? I'd say it's likely (see the part about keeping verifiable facts when lying to bad guys), but we can't know for sure. If we want to treat the comic-style parts as true within this mini essay, then the last verifiable thing about Simon's family is that Tommy and Beth got married. I can't be arsed to check if her name is actually ever mentioned in these parts of the story. Ghost certainly refers to his nephew as both Joseph and Jacob during the story-parts, so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Was he held hostage in Mexico? Who the hell knows. Judging by what the original MW games included in their storylines, I'd say it's possible. But we don't really know.

[master-ray5]

My Usagi x Mamoru Fanfic Recommendations

This post came from @maythevoidnotscreamback who asked me to take the time to mention some of the Usagi/Mamoru centered fanfics I have enjoyed over the years and give my recommendations.

First I’d like to give an honorable mention:  I have recently finished the entire Lunar Chronicles series by the fantastic Marissa Meyer and find her style to be captivating. For those unaware, she got her start as a fanfic author under the name Alicia Blade. I plan on dedicating my time in 2025 to getting through her stories. 

Next up: I want to make another mention for unfinished fics. I feel bad getting people addicted to stories which don't have an ending but I can’t help but want to mention them because they are so good. 

For the good of a Kingdom by Silent_Figure: I have skimmed this one for the most part but it has a lot of potential. It features a rift between Endymion and Serenity and it seems like the author is trying to get them back together. Until I see it though I’m hesitant. 

After All This Time by SunRedDreamer: The newest story on this list and I am hoping the author will be able to finish it. Mamoru awakens after Galaxia took his star seed only to find Crystal Tokyo has come and Usagi has become Queen by herself. It’s highly addictive and I can’t get enough of it. 

Sailor Moon X by Starling_Sinclair: One of the best re-writings of the original season. Usagi is an adult when Luna awakens her to being Sailor Moon.

Mine by PeachBunnyBaby: My first exposure to the Alpha/Omega/Beta style of writing and the pining between Mamoru and Usagi is palpable.  

At World’s End by Shnuggletea: After being defeated by a monster, Usagi wakes up to find the Dark Kingdom has taken over the world. From there she had to reunite with all her friends and connect with Mamoru at the same time. 

Now for the main list. I’m going to try and limit these to one story per author. There are a lot of  

Interlude by Sexylyon: The oldest story on the list and shows just how long I’ve been in this fandom. In a period where everything was tentacle stories and poorly written sex scenes, this small novella tugs at the heartstrings. 

Desperate and Divine by Antigone: Mamoru and Usagi’s time apart goes much longer than predicted. Unfortunately, Usagi feels like she’s wronged Mamoru in a way that is unforgivable. It’s an element  of their relationship I enjoyed someone tackling. 

It’s always been you by Beej88: Ever have a fic come to you at exactly the right time? I was just thinking about a story where Usagi’s family adopts Mamoru after his parent’s car accident. From there, its childhood friends grappling with the feelings of love they have for one another. 

R is for Reverse by Daikon1: Mamoru has to be the one to fight monsters during the Makai Tree saga. A look at the lengths Mamoru is willing to go through to make Usagi happy. 

To have and to hold by Lin_Lamont: Usagi and Mamoru are getting married. Not a lot of drama but a lot of great smut and loving between the pair.  

Poisoned Mind by Shnuggletea: A dark Endymion story where his need for Usagi remains despite the brainwashing. It features a lot of great action and even more intimate moments. 

How to love a princess by WildRIverInTheSky: Another Season 1 retelling but allows the Senshi to reconnect with their Shitennou lovers. At the same time Mamoru and Usagi are deeply in love. 

Shattered Pieces by Max333: Mamoru and Usagi are divorced but circumstances are bringing them back together. Not Rei friendly but the longing Usagi and Mamoru have for each other is palpable. 

The heatwave by Rei0ki: A great non-power story. A kiss leads to something more and the sexual tension between Usagi and Mamoru is high. I checked the websites regularly for updates. It was that kind of a story. 

Infidelity by Spinneroftales: This one has a special place in my heart. It’s a look at Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion’s married life. It (along with my own headcanon of those two enjoying a healthy sex life for their 1000 years of marriage) helped to inspire me to write my royal affairs series. It’s a great story and I highly recommend it. 

Check out these stories and happy reading.

[leoruby-draws]

Decided to add another member to the Training Wheels Outlaw team, Gillian Wahrman aka Wyldheart!

This spirited young girl is a very obscure character seen in Grant Emerson's 1994 book Damage! She's only ever seen in relation to Grant, and Grant's a bit obscure himself, so she has very little appearances in the comics.

From what little we saw of her, she seemed fairly nice and pretty naive, I'm guessing she was pretty sheltered in life. Her adoptive father, Abriam Wahrman , found her in a spacecraft as a baby, so she kinda has a superman style origin (in fact, I thought she could fit the team as the superman expy, but I ended up having other ideas...).

Her father is part of the organization that gave Grant his powers but are also trying to hunt him down. She and Grant ended up as friends, but are keeping their friendship a secret for now. For now it works, tho I doubt that'll stay the case. She and Grant get along very well, he helps ground her and tries to prevent people from taking advantage of her naivety. In turn she helps him lighten up a bit and have fun!

Anyways, when she learned about Grant hanging out with this strange group, she decided she wanted in! And so she did! Jason is amused if a bit overwhelmed by her positivity, he's not quite sure how to deal with her but at least he has fun with her. The rest of the team likes her cheerfulness, bit of a break from the more serious and 'edgy' members attitudes.

Here's a couple of extra doodles of Gillian meeting the others:

This last one is was a first draft of her, I'll be real her outfit is kinda strange, simultaneously both overly designed and yet super basic. I didn't really like it honestly, but I could see underneath all that there was a way to make it work. I'm not sure if I succeeded, might've oversimplified it but I tried.

Now I'm gonna stop right here and talk about something real quick. If you go over to the DC fandom wiki and go to Gillian's page, here's what you see in the sidebar:

Is this some sort of mistake? I don't know if I missed something, but in none of her appearances was she shown to be a New God or Genesisian. Was she planned to be one but the writers dropped that plot point? Or did they not get the chance since Grant's book got canceled? If not, why did the wiki put that in? I don't know man, but I really do like that idea, like a lot. In fact in my au, she is in fact a New God! Perhaps her parents got in trouble of sorts and maybe sent her away to protect her? I'm kinda wanna make up a story of the parents being on opposite sides and their Romeo/Juliet romance caused an uproar. I'm not too well versed in New God lore, so I don't if that would work but it's one idea at least.

Here's a page of Gillian finding out her heritage:

Everyone looks shocked! (btw that guy in the back is Iron Munro, who helps out Grant sometimes). If Gillian's a new god, what would she be the god of? Maybe something like Harmony or Joy.

Well I hope to draw Gillian some more, she's a pretty fun addition to the team, and I hoped you liked all this!

A correction! Gillian is a New God, it's explained in Damage #8!

This is what happens when you speed 'read' and completely look over the details. Sorry about that, I can be pretty spacey sometimes. Thanks to @isfjmel-phleg for the correction! Still isn't it cool and unique that Gillian's a new god? DC should bring her back!