#high quality characters low quality icons

[w-ico]

[dyellogin]

Eltingville Club, but... Gen Z

A dumb idea I laugh at, so I draw it out. It's not big on being a "fan" like OG E.C., just annoying internet extremely online users I've encountered as a Gen Z who has been on the internet for more than a decade.

BILL DICKEY

Username : @discardedmrtyr // Bill

Favorite shit : (anime harem), politics, reading, doing reviews, internet drama, leaked content (porn, mostly), shooter games, pepe reaction images.

Occupation : Substitute teacher while in college

Blackpilled anime enthusiast and notorious troll, Bill spends his days spreading hate online while using pepe reaction images because he’s upset how soyjacks are tainted with normies. He’s a vocal critic of all things progressive. He frequently targets minorities, celebrities, and content creators. Bill finds joy in provoking outrage. He’s loves shooter games. He's a Belle Delphine supporter on Onlyfans even when she hasn't uploaded anything. At work as a substitute teacher, Bill abuses his position to indoctrinate impressionable high school students. Off work and college, he gets very active on forums like Lolcow and Kiwifarm. He actively feeds drama with his leaked/stalking finds. In his spare spare time, Bill enjoys reading fanfics and making movies and books reviews that he keeps to himself.

JOSH LEVY

Username : @IHrtSeal // @SealLover123 // Seally // J-Chan

Favorite shit : seals, art, fan content, lost media, roleplay, Harry Potter, Steven Universe, Homestuck.

Occupation : NEET

Autistic Deviantart kid, Josh is similar to Chris Chan, where he has a tendency to fall into rage baits. Josh spends a significant amount of time online since his early childhood. He’s active on Deviantart, Twitter, Tumblr, Discord, etc. Josh customizes his profiles that fit into his aesthetic. His texts are roleplay-like, dramatic, with excessive emojis+emoticons like ♥️♥️♥️(>_<!!!). Josh has a strong interest in fan-content, mainly fanart, often commissions fetish arts from various artists, he commissioned Shadman once. Josh is also prone to harassing others over OOC and selfships. He treats the internet like a safe place diary where he publicize his suicidal ideations and meltdowns. He shows unwarranted sexual behaviors towards strangers online. He is a fan-writer. He writes a lot for character wiki pages and has proship tags in his AO3 works.

PETE DINUNZIO

Username : @VmP175 // @vAMPiro // Ambrose // Leech

Favorite shit : analogue horror, gamemaker games, obscure horror games, illegal/banned medias, true crime reality

Occupation : Cashier and weed dealer

Degenerate loser, Pete accesses the dark web and those Telegram groups daily. He mainly seeks porn of anorexic girls or girls with self-harm scars (prefers it fresh). Self-proclaimed sex icon, Pete would larp as big bad hot alpha men, thirst post on TikTok, showing his muscular body while wearing classic hot men horror masks. He only replies to mentally ill girls.

Dirt poor, with a shitty laptop that can only play roblox and low-quality gamemaker games (always pirates it). Pete is a skilled coder, and he attempts to create games independently. Very huge relation, very socially active. Doxx people online. He uses a lot of AAVE (the white kid with the baggy clothes who's talking like he’s black). Pete has parasocial relationships with content creators. He will defend his favorite creators even after they’re outed as a horrible person. Groomed by a creator he looks up to when he was a kid but feigning ignorance. He does a lot of edgy jokes.

JERRY STOKES

Username : @lv8ryu // リュウ // ryuuuu!

Website : Voidspeech.net // anon

Favorite shit : art, music, memes, brainrot content, cute girls, cute things

Occupation : University student

Leads a double life, Jerry going through University as a rich nepo baby while maintaining his sona online. Jerry fakes an Asian identity. He pretends to be Japanese, using Google Translate. Jerry has an art account with a decent following, where he focuses on his passion, keeping things vanilla and drama-free. He hates seeing reposts of free palestine, blm, etc. Jerry shares his art on Twitter and Newground, usually just girls or softcore porn. Jerry runs a website called Voidspeech, where he posts NSFW political edgy weekly webcomic (and remains anonymous). Pete finds out Jerry is behind the website and manages to get in contact with him. Jerry would send memes and brainrot content in the group chat. He rarely ever talks on group voice calls. Instead, he uses his customized soundboards to show reactions or just quote one of his brainrot content. Jerry would make shitty music he laughs at and forces his friends (especially Pete) to listen via Discord voice call. would say “I get lesbians!”

Bonus (concept design)

I didn't really like Pete's design, so I redesigned his outfit.

[annesboloser]

‘soda you’re this family’s heart and soul’ - jason schmidt as sodapop curtis

low quality images of a high quality man

PLEASE send requests of any characters you want to see icons for!!

please like if you use!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

What is the difference between urban fantasy and low fantasy?

Using the Fantasy Fiction Continuum, urban fantasy is closer to "reality" in comparison with low fantasy. But also consider other elements that further distinguish both of these fantasy subgenres.

Urban Fantasy - fantastical characters and concepts are placed in a real-world urban setting, often in the present day; also sometimes called "Modern Fantasy"

Low Fantasy - set in the real world, and includes unexpected magical elements that surprise ordinary characters

Urban Fantasy can also be split into 2 distinct subgenres of its own:

The fantasy elements are out in the open

Or they exist in a kind of a shadow society, with the rest of the world operating normally, generally unaware of its existence.

Elements of Urban Fantasy

If you’re asking yourself “what is urban fantasy?” think of it this way: Imagine a book that combines the dense worldbuilding of fantasy and science fiction with the gritty grounded reality of contemporary novels set in New York City, Chicago, or other iconic urban locales. That’s the urban fantasy genre. Here are some key elements of urban fantasy novels, short stories, and films:

Fantasy tropes: Urban fantasy storylines combine the real-life grit with of modern world with fantastical worldbuilding.

An urban setting: Although small town urban fantasies do exist, most take place in present-day major cities.

Magic: Supernatural elements, sci-fi technologies, fairy tales, and folk mythologies are all found throughout urban fantasy novels.

A noir aesthetic: Urban fantasies lift genre conventions from noir and gritty police procedurals.

Mythical creatures: Urban fantasies are populated with supernatural creatures including (but not limited to) undead zombies, vampires, werewolves, druids, demons, shapeshifters, and perhaps a mage or wizard.

A protagonist with a foot in both worlds: The main character of an urban fantasy is typically savvy to the real-life ways of their urban environment yet can also wield or exploit magical powers.

A young protagonist: Relatively young characters who practice wizardry or witchcraft are common in urban fantasy series.

Elements of Low Fantasy

Low Fantasy is a catchall, and inexact, term for secondary world (i.e., a constructed world; a completely fictional setting, rather than our world) fantasy.

The designation is not a description of the quality of the work, but rather the prevalence of fantastic elements.

Tends towards less “traditional” (simplistic) morality.

Sometimes comedies are also excluded from the genre, but either way the works that remain don't have a natural unity.

However, while there is no complete list of defining features, there are features and tropes common to many Low Fantasy works that can help distinguish them from other fantasy works; each tends to be the opposite of one of the defining features of High Fantasy. Examples:

Magic: While Magic is prominent in High Fantasy, it's generally rare if not non-existent in Low Fantasy. What magic does exist is complicated, ambiguous, reserved for a very select few and/or has specific scientific rules. It's also likely to be dangerous, corruptive, or difficult to control, and magic-users are likely to be distrusted and often genuinely untrustworthy sorts.

Heroes: Usually normal people that have taken up a cause rather than The Chosen Ones of High Fantasy. It's not uncommon for them to be an Anti-Hero of some kind and/or have non-heroic motives (e.g. they take up a cause for personal ambition, for vengeance or just to survive as opposed to doing it for the 'greater good').

Shades of Grey: While High Fantasy usually features Black-and-White Morality with clear-cut heroes and villains, many Low Fantasy works have Grey and Gray or Black and Gray. More importantly, the success of the victor often has no bearing on their motives or honor.

Methods: Victories are usually achieved through physical combat and cunning, not magical battles and certainly not by moral superiority.

Scope: Down to Earth. Tends to focus more on the survival and tribulations of one or a few individuals rather than the whole world.

Examples of Urban Fantasy Works

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher (2000)

The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch (2011)

The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (2007)

The Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton (2000)

The Hollows series by Kim Harrison (2004)

The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs (2006)

The Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter (2009)

The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris (2001)

Moonheart by Charles de Lint (1984)

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (1987)

Examples of Low Fantasy Works

When the plastic figurines come to life in Lynne Reid Banks’s The Indian in the Cupboard (1980).

A Song of Ice and Fire is a generally low-magic setting, with a cynically pragmatic worldview and a focus on political maneuvering between rival factions who are all at least morally gray; however, the politics spans two continents and reaches epic levels on its own even without more traditional, stirring High adventure elements. However, because The Magic Comes Back slowly over the course of the story, the fantasy does get progressively Higher as the series goes on, even though the general tone remains Low in nature. The magic and other mysteries are treated as ambiguous, yet highly dangerous, potentially world-changing and complicating factors in an already combustible political and social situation.

Tangled has very little magic — with the only source of it being Rapunzel's hair. Besides the animals being somewhat more intelligent than normal, there's little else. The protagonists are all human, and the story is mainly Rapunzel's journey to the kingdom. The antagonist is said to be a witch, but she has no powers other than knowing how to activate Rapunzel's magic. As far as Grey-and-Gray Morality goes, one of the lead characters is an unrepentant thief and various side characters are implied criminals with Hidden Depths.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Do go through the sources for more details and examples. Hope this helps with your writing!

[felassan]

Dragon Age™: The Veilguard - Patch 4 Release Notes

"We have a patch to celebrate Dragon Age Day, as well as more goodies to come. In Patch 4, you will find a great new tool to take photos of our amazing cutscenes, and 20+ bug fixes."

Rest of post under cut due to length and possible spoilers.

"Hey everyone, Happy Dragon Age Day! First things first, we have our 4th patch out today, and we’ll have even more to come throughout the day to celebrate this yearly tradition. Thank you for being with us on this journey! New Content:  - Dragon Age 2 Hawke’s Iconic Outfit (Armor, Body Paint, Face Paint) - Qunari Complexions (Two new complexions for the Qunari lineage)"

"Quality of Life Changes:  - In Patch 3, we introduced a line on screen showing where a Photo Mode screenshot was saved. In Patch 4, we are reverting that change due to a safety concern brought to us by some content creators. PC players can find their Photo Mode screenshots in Documents/BioWare/Dragon Age: The Veilguard/screenshots - Added an in-game Setting to turn off Bloom.  - Added a “Hide/Show UI” button on the pause screen to better take screenshots on Console.  - Added a “Take Photo” button on the pause screen to take screenshots during conversations and cinematics on PC."

Bug Fixes:  - Fixed an issue that prevented some saves from loading properly. (PC Only) - Fixed an issue that was preventing the Frame Rate Limit setting from being saved.  - Fixed an issue with Rook’s face and hair changing drastically when a save is loaded. - Fixed an issue with certain longer hairstyles that floated above Rook’s chest and shoulders.  - Fixed an issue where two Neve characters could appear in the Fire and Ice quest.   - Fixed a rare issue where Emmrich did not lead Rook to the next task in his recruitment Where the Dead Must Go quest.  - Adjusted the spirit guides in The Warden Vault quest.   - Fixed an issue that caused the Ultimate Ability to swap to the default Ultimate.  - Fixed an issue where the Ultimate Ability Icon was not displayed after Bellara is recruited.  - Fixed an issue where the first hit in a Warrior Rook’s shield throw may miss the target unintentionally.  - Fixed an issue where the Slaughter of Pillars Revenant had no health bar.  - Fixed an issue that caused Achievement Progress to reset when a new Rook was created. This will not restore Achievement Progress that was overwritten, but your Rooks will no longer compete with each other for who can kill more High Dragons.  - Fixed an issue with the camera in The Demon’s Bargain quest when playing on an HDD.  - Fixed an issue with the camera in the Sea of Blood quest if Rook backtracked too far.  - Fixed two instances where Viago was clearly talking to Rook but was too absorbed by Teia’s beauty and staring at her instead.  - Fixed an issue with Photo Mode screenshots appearing slightly blurry for some players.  - Fixed an issue where taking a screenshot with the space bar in Photo Mode also toggled the highlighted setting at the same time. (PC Only)  - Fixed an audio issue that caused battle music to stop playing while Rook was still fighting darkspawn in A Warden’s Best Friend quest.  - Fixed an audio issue that prevented music from playing during a conversation with Lucanis in the Lighthouse.  - Fixed a rare lighting issue in the One Last Breath quest - Fixed a blocking issue in the Fire and Ice quest when returning to the Lighthouse.  - Fixed a blocking issue in the Blood of Arlathan quest if Rook backtracked too far. - Fixed a UI issue that caused the “New Item” highlight to get stuck on an item.  - Fixed an issue with the In Lost Friendship codex that was mentioning events out of order and possibly with the wrong companion.  - Fixed an issue that was causing the male British Inquisitor (Harry Hadden-Paton) to be pitched too low.  - Updated several German voice line instances with corrected translations."

[source]

[lilyofthevalleyys]

just wanna say i have wind breaker brain rot right now (the manga)

10/10!! highly recommend reading/watching it!

i’m hoping that i can find the manga but i dont have high hopes. some merch maybe? the chance is probably really low too though :/

more photos under the cut! + me talking about them

also i really want suo’s earrings but they’re impractical so i probably can’t get them 😭 maybe next time 😔

also please tap on the photo for higher quality!

also x2, there blood in the second photo, not a lot but just a warning!

LOOK AT THEM

i haven’t watched the anime on my phone to screenshot yet so i don’t have any good pics but KIRYUU <33 he’s the longish haired person. can you tell he’s my favourite. and Nirei being best supporting character <33

i had mixed feelings about kiryuu at first cuz i was uncertain about his vibe BUT HES AMAZING

kaji is a favourite too!!! his headphones, lollipop and hoodie is so iconic. i also love his parallel to sakura! sakura has someone to ask advice for who’s similar to him :))

introducing the four kings of furin/bofurin!

MOMOSE, the zojo king (the guy with a hood and sweater paws) we don’t know much about him yet (i hope we get more) but i just like him so he’s a favourite! so my top three are kiryuu, kaji and momose, in no particular order

tsubakino, the jikoku king (the one in the second frame)! the way the whole town just accepts them!! and their crush is treated like any other normal crush! they’re so older sibling vibe i love them so much

hiragi, the tamon king (the one in the third frame)! the dad of the group and the one who pops those stomachache pills/tablets like it’s nothing. tbf having to deal with the leader of furin, who legit yells into the broadcast mic thing, isn’t easy 😭

mizuki, the komoku king (the guy in the first frame)! nothing much is known about him either but he’s seems serious and is the strategy person of furin. also he takes off his glasses when he fights which is just really cool

also i realise i haven’t said this but the one with dual colored hair (kinda like todoroki shouto) is the main character of the manga, sakura, who’s goal is to be at the top of furin! he’s got ✨ trauma ✨ but he’s slowly learning to accept and rely on people :)) he also blushes at any kind of romance (and also when he’s shy or embarrassed), even hand holding. i don’t know how he’s gonna date people honestly

and of course, the leader/representative of furin, hajime umemiya! he’s really just like an elementary school kid, as Suo says. hes the sunshine character who you wouldn’t wanna piss off. he’s also the one who united furin with the four kings when they used to be a dog-eat-dog kind of school, so major respect to him!

(the next one contains a bit of spoiler on suo?? idk but just a warning. it’s more of a mini analysis)

a more formal introduction of suo and nirei, sakura’s vice captains and the supporting characters! nirei is good with people and collects information on people in his notebook. he’s the sunshine in the trio, and the other two are the sunshine protectors! suo is a joker, but don’t let that kind face get to you. he’s like the main instigator of most of the (harmless) shit that goes down in 1-1. he’s also mysterious with little information about him. oh and he doesn’t eat?? not in front of other people at least. i really wanna know his backstory tbh

but also:

suo. hes mostly easygoing with a smile on his face all the time. but also freaking scary when pissed off like if someone was looking at me like that i’d run and never look back. yes sakura is right, that’s not the face of someone who’s kind, not in this case. i’ll make a post psycho analysing him later

but he takes fourth on my favourite character list! then tsubakino, umemiya, nirei, hiragi, tsugeura, kusumi, suzuri, choji, togame, the twins etc. the list goes on.

point is: wind breaker is great and i highly recommend reading/watching it.

thats all! imma go make a post analysing suo later, because seriously he’s so mysterious. thanks for reading!

[mspaesthetic]

Tidbit: The “Posterization” Effect of Panels Due to the Consequences of GIF Color Quantization (and Increased Contrast (And Also The Tangential Matter of Dithering))

There’s this misconception that the color banding and patterned dithering found in panels is an entirely deliberate, calculated effect Hussie manipulated the image into looking with some specific filter, but this isn’t the case, exactly. It wasn’t so much a conscious decision he took but rather an unavoidable consequence of the medium he partook in: digital art in an age where bandwidth and storage was at a premium.

Not to delve too deeply into the history and technicalities of it, but the long and the short of it is back in the early nineties to late aughts (and even a bit further into the 10s), transferring and storing data over the web was not as fast, plentiful, and affordable as it is now. Filesize was a much more important consideration than the fidelity of an image when displaying it on the web. Especially so when you’re a hobbyist on a budget and paying for your own webhosting, or using a free service with a modest upload limit (even per file!). Besides, what good would it be to post your images online if it takes ages to load them over people's dial-up Internet? Don't even get me STARTED on the meager memory and power the average iGPU had to work with, too.

The original comic strip's resolution was a little more than halved and saved as a GIF rather than a large PNG. That's about an 82.13% reduction in filesize!

So in the early days it was very common for people to take their scans, photographs, and digital drawings and scale them down and publish them as smaller lossily compressed JPEGs or lossless GIFs, the latter of which came at the cost of color range. But it had a wider range of browser support and the feature to be used for animations compared to its successor format, PNG ("PNG's not GIF").

You'd've been hard-pressed to find Hussie use any PNGs himself then. In fact, I think literally the only times he's ever personally employed them and not delegate the artwork to a member of the art team were some of the tiny shrunken down text of a character talking far in the distance and a few select little icons.

PNGs support semi-transparency unlike GIFs, which is why Hussie used them to preserve the anti-aliasing on the text without having to add an opaque background color.

While PNGs can utilize over 16 million colors in a single image, GIFs have a hard limit of 256 colors per frame. For reference, this small image alone has 604 colors:

For those who can't do the math, 256 is a pretty damn small number.

Smaller still were the palettes in a great deal of MSPA's panels early on in its run. Amazingly, a GIF such as this only uses 7 colors (8 if you count the alpha (which it is)).

Not that they were always strictly so low; occasionally some in the later acts of Homestuck had pretty high counts. This panel uses all 256 spots available, in fact.

If he had lowered the number any smaller, the quality would have been god-awful.

To the untrained eye, these bands of color below may seem to be the result of a posterization filter (an effect that reduces smooth areas of color into fewer harsh solid regions), but it's really because the image was exported as a GIF with no dithering applied.

Dithering, to the uninitiated, is how these colors are arranged together to compensate for the paltry palette, producing illusory additional colors. There are three algorithms in Photoshop for this: Diffusion, Pattern, and Noise.

Above is the original image and below is the image reduced to a completely binary 1-bit black and white color palette, to make the effect of each dithering algorithm more obvious.

Diffusion seemingly displaces the pixels around randomly, but it uses error diffusion to calculate what color each pixel should be. In other words, math bullshit. The Floyd-Steinberg algorithm is one such implementation of it, and is usually what this type of error diffusion dithering is called in other software, or some misnomer-ed variation thereof.

The usage of Pattern may hearken back to retro video game graphics for you, as older consoles also suffered from color palette limitations. Sometimes called Ordered dithering because of the orderly patterns it produces. At least, I assumed so. Its etymological roots probably stem from more math bullshit again.

True to its name, Noise is noisy. It’s visually similar to Diffusion dithering, except much more random looking. At least, when binarized like this. Truth be told, I can’t tell the difference between the two at all when using a fuller color table on an image with a lot of detail. It was mainly intended to be used when exporting individual slices of an image that was to be “stitched” back together on a webpage, to mitigate visible seams in the dithering around the edges.

To sate your curiosity, here's how the image looks with no dithering at all:

People easily confuse an undithered gif as being the result of posterization, and you couldn't fault them for thinking so. They look almost entirely the same!

Although I was already aware of this fact when I was much younger, I'm guilty of posterizing myself while editing images back then. Figured I may as well reduce the color count beforehand to help keep the exported GIF looking as intended. I view this as a complete waste of time now, though, and amateurish. Takes away a bit of the authenticity of MSPA art, how the colors and details are so variable between panels. As for WHY they were so variable to begin with, choosing the settings to save the image as requires a judicious examination on a case-by-case basis. In other words, just playing around with the settings until it looks decent.

It's the process of striking a fine balance between an acceptable file size and a "meh, good enough" visual quality that I mentioned earlier. How many colors can you take away until it starts to look shit? Which dithering algorithm helps make it look not as shit while not totally ruining the compression efficacy?

Take, for example, this panel from Problem Sleuth. It has 16 colors, an average amount for the comic, and uses Diffusion dithering. Filesize: 34.5 KB.

Then there's this panel right afterwards. It has 8 colors (again, technically 7 + alpha channel since it's an animated gif), and uses Noise dithering this time. Filesize: 34.0 KB.

The more colors and animation frames there are, and the more complicated dithering there is, the bigger the file size is going to be. Despite the second panel having half the color count of the first, the heavily noisy dithering alone was enough to inflate the file size back up. On top of that, there's extra image information layered in for the animation, leaving only a mere 0.5 kilobyte difference between the two panels.

So why would Hussie pick the algorithm that compresses worse than the other? The answer: diffusion causes the dithering to jitter around between frames of animation. Recall its description from before, how it functions on nerd shit like math calculations. The way it calculates what each pixel's color will be is decided by the pixels' colors surrounding it, to put it simply. Any difference in the placement of pixels will cause these cascading changes in the dithering like the butterfly effect.

Diffusion dithering, 16 colors. Filesize: 25.2 KB

This isn't the case with Noise or Pattern dithering, since their algorithms use either a texture or a definite array of numbers (more boring nerd shit).

Noise dithering, 16 colors. Filesize: 31.9 KB

Pattern dithering, 16 colors. Filesize: 23.1 KB

There's a lot more I'd like to talk about, like the different color reduction algorithms, which dither algorithms generally compress better in what cases, and the upward and downward trends of each one’s use over the course of a comic, but since this isn’t a deep dive on GIF optimization, I might save that for another time. This post is already reaching further past the original scope it was meant to cover, and less than 10 images can be uploaded before hitting the limit, which is NOWHERE near enough for me. I should really reevaluate my definition of the word “tidbit”… Anyway, just know that this post suffers from sample selection bias, so while the panels above came from an early section of Problem Sleuth that generally had static panels with diffusion dithering and animated panels with noise dithering, there certainly were animated panels with diffusion later on despite the dither-jittering.

Alright, time to shotgun through the rest of this post, screw segueing. Increasing the contrast almost entirely with “Use Legacy” enabled spreads the tones of the image out evenly, causing the shadows and highlights to clip into pure black and white. The midtones become purely saturated colors. Using the Levels adjustment filter instead, moving both shadow and highlight input level sliders towards the middle also accomplishes the same thing, because, you know, linear readjustment. I'm really resisting the urge to go off on another tangent about color channels and the RGB additive color model.

Anyway, there aren't any examples in MSPA that are quite this extreme (at least in color, but I'll save that for a later post), but an image sufficiently high in contrast can be mistaken for being posterized at a glance. Hence the Guy Fieri banner. In preparation for this post, I was attempting to make a pixel-perfect recreation of that panel but hit a wall trying to figure out which and how many filters were used and what each one's settings were, so I sought the wisdom of those in the official Photoshop Discord server. The very first suggestion I got was a posterization filter, by someone who was a supposed senior professional and server moderator, no less. Fucking dipshit, there's too much detail preserved for it to be posterization. Dude totally dissed me and my efforts too, so fuck that moron. I spit on his name and curse his children, and his children's children. The philistines I have to put up with...

In the end, the bloody Guy Fieri recreation proved to be too much for me to get right. I got sort of close at times, but no cigar. These were some of the closest I could manage:

You might be left befuddled after all this, struggling to remember what the point of the blogpost even was. I had meant for it to be a clarification of GIFs and an argument against using the posterization filter, thinking it was never used in MSPA, but while gathering reference images, I found a panel from the Felt intermission that actually WAS posterized! So I’ll eat crow on this one... Whatever, it’s literally the ONE TIME ever.

I can tell it's posterization and not gif color quantization because of the pattern dithering and decently preserved details on the bomb and bull penis cane. There would have had to have been no dithering and way fewer colors than the 32, most of which were allotted to the bomb and cane. You can't really selectively choose what gets dithered or more colors like this otherwise.

Thank you for reading if you've gotten this far. That all might have been a lot to take in at once, so if you're still unclear about something, please don't hesitate to leave a question! And as always, here are the PSDs used in this post that are free to peruse.

[smallvictorianchildwhofoundwifi]

Okay I can't get this out of my mind so I'm going over who I think is in the top 10 on the hero charts (at least for some time) MANGA ENDING SPOILERS

No. 1: Lemillion

The icon of the hour, Togata ranks in the top 10 since he was 19, just barely missing Hawks' record and being the second youngest hero to reach top 10

No. 3: Ryukyu

Ryukyu DESERVES to be top three hero, she is literally always standing on business. I don’t have much else to say since she’s already top ten in canon

No. 4: Nejire-Chan

My favorite in the big three, a sweet talkative hero with a bomb ass quirk and a low property damage rate, her popularity is through the ROOF. She works a lot but her constant team-ups with Lemillion and Suneater make all three of them really popular which gets her in the top ten at around 23

No. 5: Uravity

My queen, I think she ranks in the top ten in her late twenties. In where the timeline is in my head where these are the current rankings, she has been in no 5 for 2 years- it only took so long because she neglected her hero duties for a bit to start up the children quirk therapy thing, and when it started up and she was the front and center face of it, Uravity's popularity rating shot her up the hero rankings real fast (plus she could finally focus on her hero duties)

No. 6: Phantom Thief

Canonically placing high on the hero charts, I believe he first placed in the top ten when he was 21- quite young but not the youngest. Amazing crime solving rate but held down by people who think his quirk is scary. Not my idea but he has an agency with Shinso that scouts heroes with "villainous" quirks. He shot up to the top ten after a particularly stressful fight and the publics opinion on him finally flipped

No. 7: Shoto

The ice prince of UA makes his appearance! He solves crimes quick and easy and has a pretty face to match his stellar performance- however early in his career he got things done a little too quick at the cost of quality and his ice and fire made a mess. He's gotten way better at it over the years though

No. 10: Mudman

ALSO canonically placing high in the hero charts, I think Honenuki would be at no 10. He's quite popular but the damage sometimes caused by his quirk is... annoying to say the least. He hung out in the teens for a while before finally making 10th place as of this year (in whenever this takes place)

The other places are people we don’t know, no canonical characters or just I can’t think of any other characters that would be in top ten.

BTW, the reason that Bakugo and Midoriya are not up here at all is bc at this time, they just were not in the cool kids top 10 😔 truly tragic. I think eventually the two would get up there, but with Bakugo’s anger issues that canonically affected his rankings pretty badly, and Midoriya joining the race so late- not to mention all the controversy that would surround a quirkless pro hero- they both stay in the lower ranks for a while.

[animespeakeasy]

Bleach: The Soul-Cleansing Classic That Never Fades

If you haven’t watched Bleach, you’re missing out on one of the most iconic shonen anime of all time. And if you have—well, let’s just say this series has a way of reaping your attention, one soul at a time.

Tite Kubo’s Bleach isn’t just another “guy gets powers, fights bad guys” story. It’s a stylish, fast-paced, and emotionally charged ride through the afterlife, wrapped in some of the slickest sword fights and character designs anime has to offer. But Bleach isn’t perfect—it has highs so high they’re practically in the Soul King’s dimension, and lows that make you wonder if you accidentally wandered into a filler arc. So, let’s break it down.

A Cut Above the Rest – The Story

At its core, Bleach follows Ichigo Kurosaki, an orange-haired high schooler who stumbles into the world of Soul Reapers (Shinigami) after an accidental encounter with Rukia Kuchiki. When she transfers her powers to him, Ichigo suddenly finds himself in the business of slaying Hollows—twisted, tormented spirits that feast on human souls. But what starts as an after-school job quickly escalates into a full-blown war between worlds.

From the sinister politics of Soul Society to the chillingly powerful Espada of Hueco Mundo, Bleach continuously reinvents itself with new threats, betrayals, and jaw-dropping power-ups. The narrative isn’t afraid to throw its characters into the deep end—sometimes quite literally, considering how many fights involve people falling off buildings mid-battle.

The strongest arcs (Soul Society, Arrancar, Thousand-Year Blood War) feel like pure shonen gold. The weaker ones (Fullbringer Arc, I’m looking at you) have their moments but can sometimes drag like a filler episode you accidentally sat through because you thought it was canon.

A Cast to Die For

One of Bleach’s greatest strengths is its characters. Ichigo himself is a refreshing shonen protagonist—he’s not chasing a dream or screaming about becoming the best. He fights because he has to, because people are counting on him, and because he refuses to let anyone suffer if he can help it. He’s stubborn, serious when needed, and just the right amount of sarcastic to keep things entertaining.

And then there’s the supporting cast, which is as vast as Soul Society itself.

• Rukia Kuchiki – The short, deadly, and emotionally complex Soul Reaper who steals the show every time she’s on screen. She’s not a damsel in distress—she’s a warrior with her own battles to fight.

• Byakuya Kuchiki – Rukia’s older brother, whose cold, aristocratic attitude could probably freeze Hueco Mundo over. Watching his character arc unfold? Chef’s kiss.

• Kenpachi Zaraki – If “fighting for fun” had a face, it would be this man. Unapologetically overpowered, he makes every battle a spectacle.

• Aizen Sosuke – A villain so smooth he could convince you the sky is green, betray you, and then still make you question whether you deserved it.

• The Espada – The Arrancars bring some of Bleach’s best fights and lore. Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, and Starrk? Legends.

There are tons more characters—some incredible, some… well, some that exist. (Looking at you, Omaeda.) But love them or hate them, they make Bleach what it is.

⸻

Animation & Soundtrack – A Feast for the Senses

If there’s one thing Bleach consistently delivers, it’s style. From the sleek black Soul Reaper uniforms to the unique zanpakuto designs, Kubo’s aesthetic sense is top-tier. And while the animation quality fluctuates (especially in filler arcs), when Bleach goes all out, it’s breathtaking.

The fights? Fluid, flashy, and absolutely packed with hype. Ichigo vs. Byakuya? Legendary. The final showdown with Aizen? A spectacle. Kenpachi going all-out? Pure adrenaline.

And let’s talk about the music. If Bleach was a meal, its soundtrack would be the seasoning that makes everything pop. From the iconic Number One (which makes you feel like you could take on an army of Hollows yourself) to the hauntingly beautiful On the Precipice of Defeat, every track fits perfectly. The openings and endings are bangers too—if you haven’t vibed to Asterisk or Rolling Star, you’re doing anime wrong.

⸻

The Good, The Bad, and The Filler

Like any long-running anime, Bleach has its ups and downs.

The Good:

✔️ Amazing fights that keep you glued to the screen.

✔️ A deep, well-built world with fantastic lore.

✔️ Memorable, stylish characters that stand the test of time.

✔️ A soundtrack that slaps harder than a Getsuga Tensho.

The Bad:

❌ The pacing—sometimes Bleach moves at lightspeed, sometimes it feels like an eternity (cough Hueco Mundo rescue mission).

❌ Some characters don’t get the development they deserve (Chad deserved better).

The Filler Arc Problem:

If you’ve ever watched Bleach, you know the struggle of realizing an entire arc doesn’t matter. The Bount Arc? Skip. The Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc? Actually decent, but still filler. Bleach has some of the longest filler stretches in anime history, making it a test of patience for any binge-watcher.

⸻

Final Verdict – Should You Watch It?

Absolutely. Even with its flaws, Bleach remains one of the most iconic anime out there. It has action, drama, incredible characters, and some of the best battles in anime history. Whether you’re a veteran otaku or a casual viewer looking for an entry point into anime, Bleach is a must-watch. Just… maybe keep a filler guide handy.

Final Score: 9/10

(-1 point for filler, because let’s be real, no one asked for the Bounts.)

[mr-orion]

Finally showing you my commission of Ray!

Orion Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ko-fi.com/halfbit

I got a steal for this but that's just because I think @halfbit enjoyed working on it. I'd say with everything done and that 3D background halfbit was so kind to throw in for me this all together would be $60-90 on the low end. No where near what I even paid! Very much worth noting that you shouldn't expect this if you are buying and paying the least expensive commissions in their shop, and that I very much recieved this because halfbit was being very generous and we have a relatively friendly relationship. If I had expected to receive this for what I paid it would have very much been robbery. This was halfbit flexing on me and experimenting.

I definitely do recommend checking out halfbits comms! Currently there is one thing listed but I'm sure if you're willing to pay for high quality art of another type you can definitely ask them about it. Currently there are $12 dollar icons with add on's and pay what you'd like! If you can pay more then you should. I'd value my profile pic icon around $30! I'd also value halfbits general style around $20 and think that is what you should be paying for the general icons.

⭐️Time taken on my commission was well paced for its quality.

⭐️I did not have to ask for WIPs and was shown them along the process.

⭐️Communication was stellar.

⭐️Very good artist if you know you want a commission of a character but don't know what you want.

⭐️You have non-commercial rights to your commission. Such as making the image into a key chain or buying a print just for your own use.

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 27/01/2025

Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix)

Season 5 No Album Release (Read More) Concrete Jungle (Concrete Man Stage) (Alpha Mix) - Mega Man 9

Ripper Unknown

Requested by fezaki! (Discord)

The big appeal of Season 5 of SiIvaGunner for me, four years after the fact, is that it contains so many gems that I'm yet to discover, due to my detachment from the channel during 2021. I've been the song and dance a number of times; despite a handful of cool happenings like the Masked Wolf / Yankin' rivalry covered on Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier, and the neat audio drama stories like what I discussed on Knowledge of the Depths, this was the year where the channel felt rather aimless in overall direction going forward. Without a huge investment in the ongoing story, I myself felt less engaged to want to investigate every uploaded rip as closely as I otherwise would have wanted to; yet despite lacking in overall direction, the production quality of rips had begun reaching previously unseen highs. Though the King for Another Day Tournament had ended two years prior, it felt to me as if the quality that said event promised had begun seeping into the channel's everyday uploads, as if the team had understood that layered, ambitious arrangements and mashups were just as appealing outside of events as they were as part of them. As a result of all this, Season 5 saw TONS of rips just like Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix); tragically underrated, largely divorced from the channel's goings-ons, yet OH so deliciously quality.

Sometimes, the great appeal of a rip is understood right from just hearing the concept. Joke lists on wikis can't always communicate immediately the effectiveness of a YTPMV, mashup or arrangement, be it the inherent comedic sound to Slope Dude's mix of sources, the sheer audacity and polish of no more nuzzles in my skin, or the context that surrounds a meme as dense in history as Bottom G and Lagplane. Yet with Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix), after seeing it amidst my requests and searching for it on the wiki, it clicked IMMEDIATELY just why this rip was worth discussing. Soulja Boy is a character who's been around in ripping circles since the channel's earliest days, an icon prominent in the SoundClown shitposting scene that SiIvaGunner grew out of; and a single glance at Dr. Soulja should be enough to immediately tell you why. From the listener's perspective, its an immediately charming and funny source, be it from the iconic steel drums and finger-snapping percussion or how its paired with the dorky, almost pathetic attempt at coolness that Soulja Boy's performance in Crank That evokes. From the perspective of the ripper, Crank That is in the same category as songs like Space Jam discussed on Hoopache and the yet-to-be-covered Chip tha Ripper freestyle; As comedic rap music with 4/4 time signatures andimmediately recognizable, funny-sounding beats, they're almost comically easy to just drag-and-drop on top of existing 4/4 video game music with little to no tweaking. It was their ease of production, and how it led to an absolute overabundance of low-effort rips throughout Season 1, that resulted in the entire Mr. Rental storyline covered on Mr. Rental [B Side] ~ Out of Options; its this entry-level skill floor that makes rips like The Jamminest of All stand out immediately in quality; and, indeed, it's the knowledge that all Soulja Boy is good for is his funny sound on Crank That that makes Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) such an immediate stand-out.

Indeed, as you may well hear from just a few seconds of listening; Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) is far from your everyday Soulja Boy rip, reinventing the scene even after Season 4 Episode 2 had already done so a year prior through the Crank That revitalization covered on Koopa Street. It is, paradoxical as it may sound, a Soulja Boy rip *without* Crank That in focus; still filled with Soulja Boy's immediately identifiable, half-hearted attempts at self-confidence, but notably lacking in those immediately identifiable steel drums. They're still there, to be clear - they make an absolutely triumphant appearance midway through the song playing whats best described as a backing-instrumental solo at 0:44 - but a majority of the rip is instead spent covering the separate Soulja Boy hit Bird Walk. Comparatively, it's notably quite a louder song than Crank That; the vocals layered and reverberating make Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) sound almost oppressively excited, like you're listening to a group of cheering Soulja Boys in the stands, their cheering given amazing melodic direction through Concrete Jungle's fast-paced melody. Deeper in the mix, you can indeed hear that Bird Walk's lead vocals are pitched to follow along said melody in a way similar to rips like I will Never be a Redneck, yet its fittingly buried underneath the loudness of Bird Walk's vocals mashed up with the melody, the chiptune lead still also playing entirely unaltered right alongside it.

As someone completely unengaged in the larger Soulja Boy discography, the rip is a genuinely super fun listen in large part due to how familiar-yet-unfamiliar it sounds throughout. You hear bits and pieces of Crank That, you can identify Soulja Boy's unmistakeable swagger, and yet it never *quite* sounds like something you've heard before; which, honestly, makes it pretty funny that the rip is using music from Mega Man 9 in particular. The game Aiming to more or less be a spiritual throwback to Mega Man 2 in every way but name, the Concrete Jungle theme can pretty easily be compared directly to Wood Man's Stage theme in structure and the level it's used within; a comparison only made funnier given Wood Man's own high importance on SiIvaGunner itself as written about back on Nice, Slick, Blackness. In that sense, intentional as it may or may not have been, Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix) is almost like a bizarre, alternate-reality version of the kind of rip you'd expect to hear during Season 1 or Season 2; Soulja Boy and Wood Man, but it's not quite Soulja Boy, and it's not quite Wood Man, and yet its an absolute indisputable banger despite those restrictions. The, pardon the choice of words, uncanny feel of the rip is only emphasized by how, per the Wiki, two of the songs of which pieces of are used in the mix remain completely unidentified; nevertheless, they add to the cacophony in a way that still feels composed just enough to stay on track. Variety and escalation, like I've discussed on rips like Be Cool, Be Wild and Be My Girl, is the secret spice to making a SiIvaGunner rip truly memorable, and these little sprinkles keep the rip's energy topped up throughout its 3-minute runtime.

It's a damn shame that the rip's author remains completely unidentified, as there is tons of small little details in execution that I feel the need to commend. There's so much fun had throughout the rip, combining Bird Walk with whatever additional sources join the mix in ways both subtle and blatant, the aforementioned occasional but understated appearances of Crank That's steel drums, or, as also mentioned briefly before, how the rip still insists on having a quiet vocal lead pitch-shifted to Concrete Jungle's melody despite ultimately being secondary to the mashup playing above it. In particular, though, there's a moment right around 01:11, just a few seconds after the first unidentified source is added to the mix, where the progression of the song - its percussion, backing, melody, etc. - is halted for a split second, just to recapture a vocal quirk of the newly-added source. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, the kind of subtle tweak for flavor I otherwise associate with rips by recognized rippers like Eazystep or Sweatpants Select; and yet here it is within Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix), an album-less, less-than-20K-views, 4-years old uncredited rip that I only found out about from a chance encounter on my submission spreadsheet. And it's a rip that's not just well made, but one that takes perhaps the most played out concept in all of SoundClown history - 4/4ths rap mashups - and twists and subverts your every expectation on them in ways you never thought SiIvaGunner could do five whole years into its run. That right there is, once again, the absolute magic of Season 5 SiIvaGunner for me in action; that classics on the level of Concrete Crank (Soulja Mix), rips waiting to showcase the ground they've secretly broken in being conceptually genius and filled with quality in execution, could just be waiting around every corner.

[blacksapphicguide]

On The 12 Days of Christmas, BlackSapphicGuide Gave To Me..

A full list of winter holiday movies! (With black sapphics in them)

12. Silent Night

This movie is the first in our list because, it is Christmas themed (sort of), and it does have a black sapphic character (Alex) in a relationship. It isn't your typical Christmas movie and the sapphic couple is nauseatingly toxic (well, more so from the other's side) but I guess it's refreshing, even if stomach turning, to see a different dynamic between sapphics beyond the super healthy, super loved up couplings. For the little screen time Alex had, they sure seemed to treat her very nastily. The movie itself is very interesting and I enjoyed it throughout the confusion, but its strength as a contender in our list is very weak.

11. A Christmas In New York

This movie is low on our list because while it's cute to see a married black lesbian couple particularly in a Christmas movie, their story unfortunately had less screen time. They argued for most of the movie (which all couples did, but at least others had intimate scenes showcasing their connection to balance it out, and the fact that they were married should have counted for something more, right!?). The acting was a bit awkward sometimes overall and the movie was a solid average watch, but hey, black married lesbians who make up in the end and don't die? We'll take it.

10. Coming Home for Christmas

This movie was midpoint on our list solely for the reasons of the transphobia and disbelief in straight love shown by one of the main characters. Beyond that (and the slightly cringe acting in some scenes), this movie is a beautiful display of intentionally made family and togetherness throughout differences. It was lovely seeing a movie centered around a queer led household as well as the conversation of adoption so present. Though this film isn't the best quality, it has lots of heart and potential. This indie movie was brought to life by Onyx Keesha and B. Danielle Watkins.

9. Mixed Christmas

A hilarious movie based on the premise of a double-booked AirBnB, this Christmas tale was an enjoyable watch. Filled with an all-black cast, and a nearly all-queer cast at that, it felt right at home in this list. Navigating an engagement, and a college crush, the main storyline took a crazy situation and made it funny and entertaining. One plot among the gay cousins and friends of the main cast had me side-eyeing, and seeing as the groomed character left the relationship, all that left was a sour taste in my mouth. Throughout the face-offs, the pining and the jealousy, the crew finally put aside their differences, faced their own truths and desires in a grand conclusion of love in the holidays. This is another Christmas movie made by Onyx Keesha and B. Danielle Watkins, who I think are two icons in the world of black sapphic indie movie, this is one movie that fits right into this list.

8. Christmas With You

A rather fun movie, this film starts off with a very uncomfortable truth - that Kelsey was being cheated on while she planned to propose to her girlfriend. Hurt, and with the timely excuse of her father's passing, she escapes back to her hometown. There she reconnects with her mother, her high school friends and even her high school crush. Throughout the pain, and manipulation, Kelsey finally choose a new love to build with her high school crush who liked her back. A cute and cozy independent film, this had to make an appearance on our list.

7. Every Time A Bell Rings

A Hallmark movie has a 3-ingredient recipe: small-town charm, a coffee-shop or ranch, and holiday magic - and this movie fell right in line. Following 3 adopted sisters, we see them spend time together in remembrance of their deceased father and the Christmas traditions he did with them. Unfortunately, the sapphic romance has little screen time in comparison to the other 2 (though in fairness, it was fairly new), but it was still very cute. If you love yourself a Hallmark movie, be sure to check this one out!

6. Last ExMas

It's always wonderful to see new films pop up with a sapphic leading couple, and for it to be Christmas themed, Canadian produced and have that quality aligned with that of bigger production companies. Last ExMas feels fresh but it does have classic elements like small town, high school romance, a snarky one-liner best friend who encourages the second chance at love, and one character escaping to LA and having a relationship with an artistic celeb. What's relatively new is our main character has a love triangle of sorts, but she also was embarrassed of her high school girlfriend, not because the town was homophobic, but because she was not cool enough for her friends. A cute and cozy watch, this movie had to make it relatively high on our list.

& now, our 5 golden ring recommendations!

5. Something From Tiffany's

This cute movie shows the messy intertwining of two couples and a mix-up that had crazy consequences. Our gorgeous resident black lesbian couple was personally the spotlight for me (along with the lead's daughter), as those two had the snarky, married banter down! Even though, for the purposes of this list, this movie did not center the black sapphic couple (who were mad adorable the entire movie!) it was still an adorable watch that definitely got me in the holiday mood! I'll urge anyone to watch this. The dynamic alone between our resident couple was enough to place this movie very high on our list!

4. Under the Christmas Tree

This made history as the first lesbian Christmas Lifetime movie and for such a feat, it brought a really cute holiday movie. One that incorporates the basic ingredients of a family friendly Christmas watch, this movie really sets the cozy, cute and flirty mood. Charlie had such a unique job so it was interesting to see where that plotline led. By the end, I was smiling really hard because finally, here was a cheesy, Hallmark-level Christmas movie for all to enjoy. This made it high on our list as it’s an easy watch, of good production quality, features a lesbian romance and it’s something appropriate for the whole family to watch together.

3. The Christmas Clapback

I definitely see myself watching this movie yearly now as this incorporates so many lovely things that make a movie great. From the family dynamics, to the varying love storylines among the co-starring sisters, this movie has something for everyone. I especially enjoyed the budding romance between our resident black sapphic couple, Tisha and Aaliyah (in my head they're both lesbians). We all love a good ol' competition, and this one was no different with its testament of love, family and community. Highly recommend.

2. A New York Christmas Wedding

Putting aside the weirdness of certain plot points, and the slightly awkward acting, I really enjoyed this movie. It has struggle, it has choice, religious elements, regret, family and most importantly, it has a wedding! An afro-latina bisexual lead on a movie like this was very important in many ways, and I adored how all aspects of her identity (both racial and sexuality) were incorporated into this.

1. The Christmas Lottery

A heartfelt story which captivated me from start to finish with a black family at the forefront? One which isn't homophobic? Or toxic? (I put that question mark there because they clearly have some issues with vegans?) A solid plot line and pacing? Every actor in this movie was solid and this movie had me shedding a small tear at the end for familial reconnection and the power of love. Diedre and Belinda are a gorgeous couple, and by the end, I was sobbing and wishing I had what they had. And damn, these sisters can sing! As the number one spot, I think this is a must watch annual film.

And that's all for now folks! Thanks for sticking around to read this! I hope you enjoyed all, or at the very least, one movie on this list this holiday season.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

[professorspork]

THE BIG RWBY BASEBALL POST

(previously on Leah Combines RWBY With Sports That Had Peak Popularity in The Early 20th Century: 2021 Kentucky Derby Horse Names as RWBY Weapons, Ranked)

Friends, it's that time of year again.

"Baseball season?" you ask. And I say: yes, but also.

"Oh. RWBY hiatus?" you groan, realizing I'm about to do something slightly unhinged.

Bingo.

To make a very long story short, I love these two things, and wanted to combine these two things, and have very strong opinions about these two things, so here we are: a post that makes a functional baseball team out of RWBY characters. True, the Venn diagram of people who like both these things as much as I do to serve as my audience is probably small. True, baseball positions aren't astrological signs and anyone of any personality can play anywhere, but lord knows there are Tropes and I plan to indulge.

SO. I give you the starting nine (plus some bullpen depth) of the Beacon Huntresses:

Pitcher: Weiss Schnee. Among several decisions that are no-brainers, this one is probably the no-brainiest. Weiss is a lefty (always highly in demand for pitchers) and her balletic combat movement style translates perfectly to a distinct delivery mechanic. Weiss is a high velocity, high strikeout pitcher who induces a lot of swings and misses with nasty breaking stuff that dances through the air and paints the corners. Because it brings me joy to think about, I'm going to say that Remnant uses old NL rules so Weiss has to bat, and I'll rank her at like a Cole Hamels-level "hey, that's not embarrassing for a pitcher!" career .400 OPS. Not afraid to sac bunt when she has to, but beats out the throw more often than you'd think.

Catcher: Jaune Arc. Yes yes get in your "White Knight real" jokes while you can about Weiss and Jaune playing as the regular battery. This one was also an easy selection; catchers are valued most highly for their strategic minds and defensive capabilities, with any offense added seen as a bonus. As the latest kerfuffle with the Cardinals blaming Willson Contreras for *checks notes* not being Yadi Molina shows, having trust in your catcher to call the game and be thoughtful in his pitch selection in high-leverage situations is paramount. That's Jaune all over. Probably not much of a power guy but has pop when it counts and is excellent at pitch framing.

First Base: Yang Xiao Long. Okay I promise I'll stop calling every decision a no-brainer but THIS ONE REALLY IS. Yang is your classic slugging first baseman, of whom there are literally too many examples to name-- including many righties YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE LEFTY TO PLAY FIRST OKAY. Yang's a Vladdy. Hits for serious power, but more than that embodies the quality that the best first basemen have: she's The Mayor. Truly iconic first basemen are fun to chat with! They are friendly to all their visitors as opposing players stop over on their way around the diamond; this is Yang to a T. Yang probably used to play center field in high school and got converted to 1B in the minors. Most likely on the team to induce very silly rundowns with goofy, clever, self-sacrificial baserunning. Has a penchant for always hitting homers the next time she faces a pitcher after she's been hit by a pitch.

Second Base: Blake Belladonna. She is all about those scrappy diving catches, and flipping to Ruby quickly so they can turn two (but I'm getting ahead of myself). Blake's a utility infielder who'd be comfortable anywhere but let's be real she likes playing the right field side because she gets sad when she can't easily make smirky meaningful eye contact with Yang at all times, so they keep her at second so she won't pout. Probably hits high average but low slugging. Most likely to volunteer to be a position player pitching during a blowout and then, like. Unexpectedly throw 93 with movement. Definitely steals a lot.

Shortstop: Ruby Rose. Ruby has the brains to be a catcher but to waste/ruin her speed on catcher's legs would be a crime; she's got zippy athleticism written all over her. She bats leadoff because she has excellent plate discipline; she's a hard out and gets on base a ton. Think a DJ LeMahieu or Bryson Stott at his best-- sprays to all fields, and sees pitches in the double digits like every other at-bat because she's happy to stand there and keep fouling it off with an infuriating smile on her face until the pitcher makes a mistake. Steals even more often than Blake does, but specifically is a tricksy little imp on the basepaths like Anthony Volpe-- like she would definitely induce a throw when she was already back at the bag because she dances around. (I s2g there's video of this but I cannot find it anywhere sry.)

Third Base: Penny Polendina. Fast hands, Gold Glove-level defense. Unfortunately she's built in the mold of an Adalberto Mondesi or Byron Buxton where it's like "no better player on earth when she's healthy but she's NEVER HEALTHY;" she's got glass bones and has had multiple weeks-long trips to the Injury List or needed season-ending surgery because something popped or snapped. The sort of player where it's like "god no you don't understand, the game is so much better when she's playing" and it's a heartbreaker because SHE KEEPS GETTING TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU. Once did a bat flip after a home run because Ruby encouraged her to and, like, the bat shattered on the grass somehow because she's that strong.

Left Field: Emerald Sustrai. Because if you ask her, her face turn was... out of left field! Eh? Eh??? Okay yeah sorry. To me Emerald is a 2022 Oswaldo Cabrera situation where they threw her in left because they had nowhere else to put her even though she'd never played it before in the minors but she was just. Instantly extremely good at it. Has great range for tracking down fly balls in foul territory. Very streaky hitter who either runs super hot and super cold with no in-between. Steals a lot but also gets caught stealing a lot because she's impatient (see also: streaky hitter, probably chases out of the zone and has really poor plate discipline). But she's getting better! Most likely to come up with cute home run celebration ideas and then absolutely refuse to take credit for them.

Center Field: Pyrrha Nikos. This is the last of the extremely obvious no-brainers. Pyrrha is your star franchise player in center field; she is your Aaron Judge, your Mike Trout. Hits for average and for power, pure athleticism and grace, the player everyone's heard of even when they don't give a shit about baseball. Also now I'm just thinking about how Mike Trout would 100% be like "actually that cereal isn't very good for you" and Pyrrha would 100% stay up all night riveted to the Weather Channel and then call in to compliment the meteorologist they are the same person. Her catches at the fence are so spectacular, you could swear her glove's magnetized.

Right Field: Nora Valkyrie. Is there a very obvious "designated hitter" joke to be made about Nora "be strong and hit stuff" Valkyrie? Yes, of course. But I already said Remnant doesn't have the DH and let's be real, Nora's got a CANNON for an arm and thus belongs in right. Like I'm talking throws like this beaut from Hunter Renfroe the other day-- you do not run on Nora, because she WILL get you out on what you think is a routine double. Bats cleanup and probably has a whole Bash Brothers routine with Yang, including special handshakes. Definitely a pull hitter.

Regular starting lineup is most likely:

Ruby

Pyrrha

Yang

Nora

Blake

Penny

Jaune

Emerald

Weiss

Rounding out the team in the bullpen are:

Long relief: Lie Ren. When your starter melts down and you need someone to keep things calm and give you like four quality innings without giving up more runs, Ren's your guy. Also very happy to play setup man. Throws a knuckleball, says Nora taught him how, and refuses to give more details when people ask.

Closer: Oscar Pine. Admittedly probably more of a ground ball pitcher than a strikeout guy; he induces weak contact and is always going for the double play. I see him as a David Robertson or Kenley Jansen type who gets himself into jams and then gets out of them and like. Yes more often than not he gets the job done but sometimes he'll give you a damn heart attack about it. OSCAR WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS.

In the process of writing this post Helen asked me who the manager would be and noted Qrow would give absolutely adorable A League Of Their Own vibes. She also suggested that Ozpin (well, Ozma) probably invented baseball in the first place, so... more proof that she's funnier than me.

okay I've been thinking about and then writing this for almost five hours now I have to stop. should I have put some of this behind a cut? probably! but I think it's beautiful, so... sorry but not sorry to all your dashboards <3 I want you to know this included way more specific baseball player comps at one point but I took some of them out so you might have a chance of understanding this <3

[cinemaocd]

Jenny's ongoing list of films watched 2024

February

January list, here.

Inland Empire (2006)*** It took three attempts to get through this long, confusing film. Like Mulholland Drive or the Season Three of Twin Peaks, Lynch films improve on repeat viewings even if meaning remains elusive. That is part of the joy-- sometimes you just vibe with it.

Death of Stalin (2017)**** One of my favorite films of the last two decades. A harried farce with the bloody-mindedness of Macbeth. Like the Scottish Play, we know how its going to come out, but the fun is in watching the articulate villain, played with delicious malice by Simon Russell Beale being outdone by a team of bumbling, petty bureaucrats and one very bad ass soldier. The Boyfriend (1970)*** Ken Russell's surreal tribute to the burlesque musical genre makes the most of its setting in the 1920s by putting his star Twiggy in iconic psychadelic reiterations of the flapper dress. If you opine the fact that drop waist dresses come back into style every 15 years or so, then this movie is as much to blame as anything. Poor Things (2023)*** Emma Stone gives a wild and convincing physical performance as Bella, a baby's brain in the body of her dead mother and Mark Ruffalo as typical 19th Century Rake Getting His Comeupance iscasting I didn't know I needed. I loved the yearning Godwin (Willem Defoe in truly amazing Frankenstein's monster makeup) and though I haven't read the book, I was drawn into the grotesque, ai generated world of the film. The aesthetics of this movie are as engrossing as the story and characters. Adventures of a Dentist (1965)** The Soviet version of the live action Disney comedies of the 70s, where a humble person is given magical power. Here a dentist is given extraordinary, almost magical abilities to perform dentistry without pain. He becomes a celebrity and his fall from grace involves him giving in to the decadent trappings of being a popular dentist. The humor has a darker edge than Disney though I wouldn't go so far as to call it a black comedy. Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1973)** This Spike Milligan film plays like a double episode of Dad's Army, not least because of the presence of Arthur Lowe who plays practically the same character here as he does on the tv show. That is not the end of the world however and this is easy to like farce with Milligan's ascerbic, anti-authoritarian bent that is grittier than anything on the sitcom. The Master (2012)** I had high hopes for this, one of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's final films and his last collaboration with director Paul Thomas Anderson is loosely based on the origin story of Scientology. Joaquin Phoenix plays a shell shocked veteran who drifts into the path of the cult leader played by Hoffman. Amy Adams gives a chilling performance as his much younger, controlling wife who is the real power behind the cult. I think I would have an easier time with this film if Anderson hadn't gone around giving interviews saying that Scientology and it's founder L. Ron Hubbard had "helped a lot of people." Of course, this is PTA and Phoenix's character isn't helped at all and he makes the cult worse by being a violent enforcer for the leader's enemies. The levels of whitewashing involved in making a deeply misogynistic cult into a secret matriarchy is just...ugh. However, the homoerotic tension between Hoffman and Phoenix makes the film worth looking out. Murder of Quality (1991)** Made for TV adaptation of John Le Carre's second novel. Denholm Elliott plays Smiley as more doddering and anti-social than Alec Guinness' iconic version of the character. This early Smiley story is more a traditional English village murder mystery, ala Miss Marple, with Glenda Jackson playing Ailsa, Smiley's war buddy that runs a women's magazine. Christian Bale plays one of the students at an elite prep school that forms the economic backbone of the town. Le Carre is merciless in his portrayal of the toxic, petty characters, the wealthy and wannabe wealthy swamp dwellers who run rings around the local constabulary until Smilley steps in and withstands their slings and arrows long enough to solve the case.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)*** Sometimes you sit down to watch a movie with such low expectations that you are pleasantly surprised that it doesn't totally suck. The excitement of things not being as bad as you feared can blot out some of a movie's excesses. At the end of the day this is Billy Wilder, physically incapable of creating a boring movie throwing the whole bag of tricks at this faux biography of Holmes starring Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely. There's farce and physical comedy, verbal gymnastics and exotic locations. Holmes' possible homosexuality is tastefully hinted at and attempts to create a sensationalist account of his drug use, amount to little before the mystery gets rolling. One of the big delights is Christopher Lee as Mycroft whose scenes with Robert Stephens are bitchy queen pissing contests. Genevieve Page does a turn as a would be damsel in distress who turns out to be a worthy opponent to Holmes similar to Irene Adler.

Irma La Duce (1963)*** For some reason between this and Poor Things I ended up watching two movies about Parisian brothels this month. Billy Wilder based this pastiche of 1950s travelogue adventure films like To Catch a Thief and Charade on a French stage play. A strange attempt to weld the success of the Apartment with Some Like it Hot, reconfiguring a Marilyn Monroe vehicle as a reunion of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Like the Apartment, Irma LaDuce is tinged with melancholy while avoiding a lot of the cliches about sex work that wind up dating so many films on this topic. The main complaint I have about Irma LaDuce s that it's about 45 minutes too long, a common complaint about many films of this period. (Damn Lawrence of Arabia and all who sail in her).

Witness for the Prosecution (1982)*** A made for tv adaptation of the classic courtroom drama, which credits Billy Wilder's screenplay of his film version. Ralph Richardson and Deborah Kerr star in this remake and honestly their chemistry is just off the charts and we're left to wonder how they never managed to make a film together before. Wendy Hiller, Diana Rigg and Beau Bridges round out the amazing cast. Lacks the tension and edge of Wilder's film but I'm having too much fun with Ralph to care.

The Major and the Minor (1942)**: Billy Wilder's first film as writer and director has some of the hallmarks of his later, greater works: farce, trains, mistaken identity, and queer themes in the form of a lesbian coded sister of Ginger Roger's romantic rival. That all the fuss is about fairly bland Ray Milland is easy enough to overlook as Wilder makes the film about toying with Rogers image as sophisticated, sexy, dancer. Typical Wilder inside jokes about the film industry abound, such as a craze for Veronica Lake hairdos among the tween set and swipes at Hollywood actors like Charles Boyer Rogers' childish masquerade to avoid paying full adult fare is preceded by a series of calamities where she's pursued and objectified by a lot of nasty older men. Hoping to escape their advances as well as the ignominity of turnstyle jumping, she maintains the charade through a long weekend with a lot of handsy tween boys until Milland's fiancee is discredited as a controlling social climber. There is a bizarre side track into her home town where Rogers also impersonates her mother before revealing her grown adult self to Milland. No one ever accused Billy Wilder of being restrained I guess.

The Children's Hour (1961)**** This classic of queer cinema was necessarily a scorched earth tragedy at the time of its release. William Wyler's dreamy, restless camera drags you into the warm, cozy life of this female partnership between Shirley Maclaine and Audrey Hepburn that seemingly has the potential to be a romantic partnership. When nasty gossips and spoiled children start a rumor that they are a couple, the scandal destroys their business and standing in the community. Terrorized by the homophobic townspeople, they are eventually "cleared" of the crime of being gay for each other, just when Maclaine's character comes to the brutal realization that she really is in love with Audrey Hepburn's character. It's hard to watch her grief and shame as she admits that the bullies have discovered a truth about her that she didn't know herself. A fact so many queer people can find relatable. The film is based on a play by Lilian Hellman which used the topic of homosexuality to expose the cruelty of female narcissists who bully their way into power. There is much in common with Hellman's The Little Foxes in that way, but the film, perhaps owing to Wyler's inherent romanticism has more of a Romeo and Juliet quality than the play. One feels that Audrey Hepburn has perhaps realized the truth in the lie, just a few moments too late.

Sweet Charity (1969)*** Directed by Bob Fosse, starring Shirley MacLaine and Sammy Davis Jr and Chita Rivera this classic musical combines the best of Fossee's signature choreography, sixties pop show tunes and the psychadelic aesthetics of the late 60s. This and the Boyfriend have a lot in common, though I think the music in Sweet Charity is more solid and the contemporary setting makes it a tad edgier. MacLaine plays yet another flavor of sex worker, a dancehall hostess and paid companion who seeks to be elevated out of her life into respectability through marriage. The fiancee here is uptight and lacking in appeal and when he finally just flakes out in the final reel it's no great loss to the film.

Thief (1981)** Atypical heist film starring James Caan and Jim Belushi, directed by Miama Vice creator Michael Mann. You can see the beginnings of that iconic 80s TV show, in this movie which favors long scenes of action being edited to music with sparse dialog. Caan squares off against Tom Signorelli a local mob boss who dares to threaten Caan's wife played by Tuesday Weld.

[venacoeurva]

I’m kind of low on energy, so I’ll be keeping the full blown tapestry style comms closed for now, but I’ll still be taking a slot of something in this style!

Around $40 for a full body that will be larger and a better image quality than these, it will vary depending in context, character design(s), any props, character amounts, etc. A bust like the Wren reading or thinking one will be cheaper (if you want a high crop of your character as an icon or something), but expect to pay around that amount in general.

If you want a doodle page like the left, it costs more but varies in pricing, it will depend a lot on amount and poses.

Keep in mind this style isn’t optimal for a reference to use—designs will be simplified and textures are applied.

No commercial or AI use permitted for your commission. It is not a full forfeiture of ownership of a piece to you.

Shipping art is fine (ocxcanon, canonxcanon, ocxoc are all cool—if I’m not comfortable with a ship I’ll tell you), nudity is fine but it might look a bit goofy given proportions and rendering style, body horror and light nonsexual gore is also fine.

Please provide visual references of any ocs and if it’s a screenshot, use neutral lightning.

Fantasy series only, please (dnd, tes, wow, similar original stories, for example). If it’s for a series I won’t draw, I’ll tell you.

Payment via Paypal invoices, so I’ll need your email associated with it—no paypal. me links.

[denimbex1986]

'THE GIGGLE IS GREAT ON SO MANY LEVELS!

Russell T Davies continues to raise the quality level of Doctor Who, something considered very low by both general audiences and fans of the show for several years. This new era of the show continues to build promise, and I am hoping general audiences feel the same and continue to watch the show with Ncuti’s first season when it arrives next year.

It is evident that the budget has been invested in full force into the final special The Giggle. Whilst the long corridor appeared to consist of repetitive, Volume-esque constructions, this week’s special, directed by Burn Burn Burn auteur Chanya Button sees a stark difference in VFX quality as well as the overall production quality we got a true glimpse of during The Star Beast. London in chaos, elements of the Toymaker and the introduction of UNIT’s high-tech facility all show just how far this show has come and the production team should be incredibly proud of the level of detail they’ve provided for the special’s many locations.

Murray Gold’s score is once again so good, with the creepy themes and palindrome which prominently feature in the episode being incredibly effective music. Another thing I loved was the subtle teases and inclusion of the Fifteenth Doctor’s theme, heavily western-themed and one I can’t wait to hear more of.

Something else we’ve all known to love is showrunner Russell T Davies’ reluctance to include subtle social commentaries throughout his story, have nothing to fear – with the chaotic opening act of the episode dropping hints at past real-world situations, aiming at clueless politicians, online addicts and plenty of other archetypes which can be laughed at. The introduction of the Zeedeck brings plenty of parallels to the COVID vaccines and the worldwide conspiracy around the use of medicine. Iconic news reader Trinity Wells returns to the show, now with her own Fox News-esque show calling out the reliability of the bands.

ENTER THE TOYMAKER.

Neil Patrick Harris is absolutely wonderful as The Toymaker, stepping into the role as if it’s always been his. The ease with which he can slip into character is mesmerising, showing off his talent by variating his demeanour as well as his outfits and accents throughout the special. His scene chemistry with Tennant goes incredibly hard and is easily one of the highlights of the episode. I hoped his portrayal of the villain would mirror his time playing Count Olaf in Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I was not disappointed one bit – so so good.

Having the seeds planted when the pair arrive at the emporium with Donna pointing out The Doctor is staggering along, upset he never tells the story of his companions. It was great to see this picked up, having the Toymaker put on a show describing the demise of Amy, Clara, Bill and the Flux. I also love in the follow-up scene which we seemingly get a tease for the show’s next big villain.

Similar to last week’s special, it was great to be watching the episode’s creepier scenes unfold. The scenes within the Toymaker’s realm with the puppet of Charles Banerjee interacting with The Doctor, leads to an even scarier puppet with David Tennant’s face digitally replacing the head. The Stooky family as they Mission Impossible their way from the ceiling of Donna’s room was just as creepy, slowly lowering from the roof – giving me endless goosebumps just thinking about it.

Whilst discussing Donna, I want to say what a joy it has been to see Catherine Tate embodying Donna Noble once again. Her character, just like herself is full of life, and excitement and will always be a unique companion thanks to the meta-crisis as well as the core relationship between herself and The Doctor.

Having The Toymaker reveal himself to UNIT with the use of Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life” was certainly an entertaining choice from RTD, bringing back the iconic needle drops that he does so well, and something which Chibnall nabbed for The Master dancing along to Rasputin last year.

WHAT A UNIT!

UNIT looks absolutely terrific for the duration of the special. From the Vlinx, the new city-centre location to looking like a very-prepared organisation or new spin-off materials… Some of my favourite set design originates within the glossy, new central London UNIT location – the Whoniverse’s very own Avengers Tower. I could spend hours discussing another returning face, Ruth Madeley’s scientific advisor Shirley Bingham who in her own right deserves a spin-off title.

Omitted from my initial preview of the episode was the special’s inclusion of Melanie Bush (played by Bonnie Langford). It is revealed that at some point between her appearance in last year’s centenary special Power of the Doctor and the events of The Giggle, Kate recruited her to come and work with UNIT. A very gracious touch, bringing yet another face from the show’s past into the present. We know Mel, as well as UNIT, will be back- and I appreciate this opens the door for more former companions to have new roles within the future of the Whoniverse – Martha Jones next, please?

Though I have no clue who he is, some lovely internet research clarified that Melanie mentions a Sabalom Blitz – a character from both the Classic show and numerous Big Finish audio adventures – nice to see even more connections to the show’s last 60 years of storytelling.

THE NEW DOCTOR

In a twist, The Toymaker decides to face the next Doctor for their third game, killing the Fourteenth Doctor and initiating a new concept to the Whoniverse, bi-generation. It was insane to watch and we are in for a treat with Ncuti Gatwa – we are in good hands, folks. I am so excited, especially after seeing him face-to-face with Tennant. An old Gallifreyan myth is RTD causing mayhem online and I cannot wait! It’s a shame the plot has been online for quite some time, but seeing it unfold onscreen worked so much better than it sounded in words.

His first set piece is a game of catch because of course it is! The most exciting thing about the Doctor’s first moments is the tease of the Master’s return, perfectly mirroring the end of Last of the Time Lords with his ring being picked up by Miss Trefusis to eventually resurrect him. This time around, it is the Toymaker’s golden tooth (which features The Master trapped inside) which is taken. With the Toymakers “legions” on the way, could this be someone we know is showing up in Ncuti’s Season 1? Perhaps Indira Varma or Jinxx Monsoon’s characters – who knows!

Fourteenth’s story continues following the events of The Giggle, with The Doctor finally slowing down and giving him a family in the Nobles. I can’t tell you how important this is for the character, and whilst I know people online are going to hate it – they should realise the Time Lord finally gets a happy ending, whilst also being able to continue on his adventures. “I’ve never been happier in my life” meant so much to hear – what a line that is! It also opens the door for Tennant to return to the show, something I know for a fact people want more of, and trust me it will happen!

The future of Doctor Who has never looked brighter!

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Giggle is easily the best of the three specials, marking an end for the show’s revival era and introducing new concepts as we embark on a new adventure with Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor. Neil Patrick-Harris in a one-off performance as The Toymaker was unforgettable, providing some great opposition for The Doctor and solidifying his status as a character actor. Roll on Christmas!'