#hopefully the design not outdated..

[jadecantcreate]

I FINALLY DREW @girlkissergideon ‘S SONA!!! on this night we rejoice <3

[weekdaysend]

I finally finished my oc party-lineup! “The Fruitful Five” finally have updated character sheets after a bajillion years!

[sesamenom]

his ambition is so astronomically high it wraps around to the other end of the scale where he corrupts the Ring instead

[everestgale]

Whatever you're trying to do right now, you don't have to do it alone.

------

Happy New Year's Eve, Slay the Princess community!

A long, long message and credits to the designs are under the cut.

[Please excuse any awkward sentences, weird repetitions, and grammatical mistakes, I've been awake for 20 hours or so]

I cannot describe how much joy I feel right now, finally getting this drawing done. I feel nothing but joy when I think about Slay the Princess, and I feel nothing but pure adoration when I think about and spend time in this community. This game and this community truly brought a lot of happiness to me and made this otherwise unremarkable, maybe even depressing, year that much brighter. I wish I had more and better words to describe what I'm feeling right now! Genuinely, I don't have words to describe how much gratitude I feel right now.

And so for my final piece of 2024, I wanted to make a thank you drawing to this community and hopefully express the fraction of love and gratitude I feel right now. And I decided to make that drawing a group photo of 30 different Heroes! It ended up being 29 Heroes and one Opportunist, but I promise there is a reason for that-

If I had more time and energy, I would've included even more people, there are so many skilled artists, writers, and wonderful people in general who ended up excluded, especially due to this drawing being a voice-centered piece. But I'm glad I at least get to highlight some of the wonderful creators and artists in this community! Please check them out and support their work! They are all amazing <3

If you wanted to know who is the author behind each design, I made an annotated version! Sorry if the text is too small, I tried my best to write it as large as I could T-T

------

Now onto the message to the people in the drawing:

First! I sincerely apologize if I missed some details with your Hero design, or if I used an outdated version of it. I wanted to keep this a surprise, and for some of these, I had to dive into the depths of Tumblr to find (hopefully) relevant references. And yes, if you've received a DM from me about your Hero in the past few weeks or so, this project was the reason why! And if you've received an anonymous ask about your Hero, there is a quite good chance it was from me, too <3

And second! I have a message for each and every one of you:

@acethekenku: Your designs are so well-made and awesome! Especially adore your Broken and Contrarian, there's something about them that just immediately catches my eye! Your Contrarian's fashion and DIY skills are also immaculate :]

@artificial-radiance: Your art is absolutely wonderful, whether it's Slay the Princess, Destiny 2, or sonas! I wish I had a better word to describe your art, but the best I got is "delicious" /lh

@beartitled: I adore your StP comics! I adore your drawings of male!Princesses! I adore your non-StP work! Everything you make is so charming, and it's always a joy to see your work <3

@bubblybloob: One of my favorite fanart memes, to this day, is your old "I do not control the speed at which princesses die" meme. I still go re-read it sometimes when I'm not feeling great, it always puts a smile on my face (yes, this is my kind of humor). Though, your new voice designs are SO creative and unique! Love the fluffy Para and the prophetic cage Skeptic especially, but they are all so good <3

@coldranger: Your lads! So simple and yet so well-designed and expressive! That roadrunner Hunted you shared yesterday is so adorable, I can't with him! It is always wonderful to see more of your drawings. Also thanks for gushing with me over mod Owl's designs <3

@cookiealchemieart: I recently mentioned that you are one of my first Tumblr follows, and it's for a good reason! You made a lot of wonderful illustrations, and your three fan princesses are some of my favorites of all the ones I've seen before! And your voice designs, gosh, I am hugging your Contrarian-

@dampfur: Your art is unbelievably charming! And when I saw your Burned Bridges post with redesigns for Cold and Smittten, I absolutely fell in love with them. I will use this space to gush about just how simple and yet adorable and recognizable they are!

@glitchh1337: Always love seeing what you are up to on Discord! Whether it's design concepts for voices or little pixel art animations, they are all wonderful :]

@justcherryqwq: Your animations!!! Cherry, your animations are pure gold. The way you draw voices as little guys flying around the scene/the Long Quiet is just too perfect. I am also grabbing and petting your Paranoid, gently, of course!

@occatorcreator: You have one of the most unique voice designs/representations I've ever seen! Especially in that one post where you drew voices taking over Long Quiet's body, the way you drew the "possession" is just... so unique, so cool! I wish I had better words!

@orcatnip: I cannot describe how much delight your sketches bring me whenever they show up on my dash! And the way you wrote about voices appearing as fractures in Long Quiet's soul! Oh! Genuinely obsessed!!!

@pareidolla: Your voice designs are very pretty and very adorable! As you can see, I immediately had to try drawing your current iteration of Hero because he is SO PRETTY! I couldn't help myself. Sorry if I was too hasty in my decision to include an in-progress design, but I wanted you to be included here-

@remaking-machine: Rema!!! Your voices!!! They are so precious and charming! Love your Cheated, love your Hero, love your Skeptic! You were one of the first people I found & followed on Tumblr, and it's been such a joy to see what you're up to <3 [Also, I still would like a tray of Hero cookies-]

@salty-an-disco: Your writing, at least from what I've seen of it, is awesome! I genuinely wish I had the attention span to read your Heathens AU because whenever I see you talk about it, or draw anything for it, I love it a lot! Hopefully one day I will, but for now, I am here to admire your art :]

@sorry-not-feeling-it-right-now: Hey, who let this bird-fox into this gathering of Heroes-

Jokes aside, I am absolutely obsessed with your voice designs, and I really, really wanted to include you in this drawing, despite the fact that you are still working on your Hero design. Thank you for letting me include your Opportunist in this drawing, I cannot WAIT to see your Hero design <3

@tai-janai: Your drawings are so delightful, and I love the way you draw your voices! Your voice shipping sketches are also so adorable, and your HeA-inspired ParaHero sketch sometimes decides to show up in my head and not pay any rent (I love it a lot)!

@voiceofthebroken: Remember how I mentioned that your Cheated post inspired one of my upcoming projects? Yes, it was this one. You are responsible for this /lh

Don't want to repeat myself too much from the ask I sent yesterday, but I will once again say that I love your voice designs, and I will once again compliment your Cheated and Hunted. They are precious! <3

@wysteriaisapenguin: Your art is so charming and so recognizable! Your most recent HeA drawing is absolutely stealing my heart in a way that I cannot describe!!! I also really like your Hero design, he was an absolute joy to draw <3

------

Oh look, there's more, too!

@sonjalikestodraw: Sonja! Oh Sonja, everything you make is just SO PERFECT, your pieces are always so stellar and carefully crafted, and your voice designs are so thoughtful and so iconic, I love it every time you make a post with a little write-up of your design notes! It's always such a joy to read!!

0th: To say that your designs and your writing inspired my own would be saying nothing at all, they were some of the first I've seen! They will always have a special place in my heart as "the designs" that greatly contributed to my own final designs! And your Swap AU still is one of my favorites in the whole fandom, love all the unique designs you made for it!! Noble my beloved <3

@itsonlypolite: The way your voices ingrained themselves in my brain, I cannot describe it! Your designs are truly some of the most unique, most recognizable designs in the fandom. You deserve every single positive comment and compliment on your art and designs!!! I also love how you reply to people's asks with little drawings of your own. It's so charming and welcoming <3 It's also always pure joy talking to you!

@cammie-yammie: I am very glad that I got over my anxiety and started talking more and hanging out in your thread! I love your art, always so charming, so distinctly you, just such joy to look at, and I'm glad I got to engage with it more, and with you as a person!!! Damn, these sentences are confusing lol Long story short, love your art, love talking to you, and it's just pure joy either way <3

@lavb-b: I am not kidding when I say that your Businessman animation rewired something in my brain, whenever I watch it, I cannot stop myself from laughing, even though at this point I've seen it like 20+ times already. Besides that, your art in general is just such high-quality work, and I love talking to you on the Discord server! Welcoming you with open arms to EG's Yap Central Station /lh

@phantasmatoucan (mod Owl): OWL HOW DO YOU KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS- You have no idea how obsessed I am with your art, you have SUCH a distinct, awesome style, and the way you designed your voices brings me so, so much joy. And not only are you a skilled artist with amazing voice designs, but you are also just such a positive person, too!!! How is this possible!!! What's your secret!!!

@hello-universe-lovers: Your reblog comments always make me happy, and I absolutely love chatting with you!!! The little interaction you wrote between our Cheateds brought me so much joy as I was finishing this project <3 And even besides that, your art is so charming, and also apparently you are a wizard who draws everything with your finger- I cannot understand such witchcraft /lh

@neverpathia: You are the reason I QPR-ship ParaHero! You got these birds in my brain, and I can't get them out, how dare you (/lh). Jokes aside, I really like your writing, especially the way you write voices, and your art is also very pretty, I love it a lot! It's also such a joy to have you hang out in my art thread, thanks for doing that :]

@disarraydoodlez: Jam! And Kiri! Your art is so iconic, Kiri's desire for perfection never goes unnoticed, and Jam's chaotic silly ideas are always such a highlight (I'm still waiting for you to finish that one Den idea. The one we kept laughing about for like 30 minutes. That one). Thanks for inviting me to the PotC one-shot, I had a lot of fun playing it, and I'm glad we still hang out and chat sometime! Love everything you make, regardless of the fandom, and I can't wait to see what you both will make next <3

@s3viien (they mostly exist on BSky, check them out there!): Sev! My partner in crime! One of my biggest cheerleaders, you have no idea how much how dearly I appreciate it. I love sharing all my random ideas with you, and I love hearing about all of yours! Your art, your videos, and your music are all PEAK, and I'm always happy to see what you've been up to! To our friendship for as long as it lasts <3

@inkedout: And last but certainly and absolutely not least, Ink, my friend, you are one of the big reasons why I feel as comfortable writing all of this right now as I am right now. I cannot put into words just how much I appreciate you as a friend!! it is always such a joy to talk to you, whether it's about StP, or ATR, or a different fandom, or just life in general! I love seeing all your art, your OCs, and anything else you might have <3

Also voice shipping. There are certain ships, you probably know which ones, that are now stuck in my head because of you. I blame you /lh

-----

I believe that should be all I have to say! Happy New Year's Eve again, and I will see you all in 2025!

[swiftyangx12]

Continuity Crossover!

[D/N] = Designation (Your name)

Cybertronian![Reader]

TFA!Optimus Prime: What’s it like working with other me?

TFP![D/N]: He’s someone who carries the weight on his shoulders. A bot who wants to bring not only justice; also wanting peace return back after the war between Autobots and Decepticons. Especially while we’re trying to revive our Cybertron back to life.

TFA!Optimus Prime: “Hm. Hopefully, that’s possible for my universe.” I don’t want to bother you with more questions about your leader, but what was he like before the war?

TFP![D/N]: Well, he was similar like you. He was able to laugh, smile, doing anything before receiving his title and the Matrix. I still remember times we hung out together after finishing the breems of our old jobs. One time, my Optimus was nervous asking me out.

TFA!Optimus Prime: Ask out you? You two courted.

TFP![D/N]: That sounds outdated, but yeah. Then, rest is history.

TFA!Optimus Prime: *Sudden realization* Wait a nano-klik, are you two…

TFP![D/N]: Conjunxed? Yes. Some don’t know but others knew. We try to be discreet with our relationship and still find ways to spend time together (via missions and stuff). Don’t you have someone waiting for you?

TFA!Optimus Prime: Not really. Not since I came to Earth with my team.

TFP![D/N]: Then, if you happen to see another me in your universe, don’t be afraid to connect with them.

“I’m sure they’ll find you charming.”

[Back on TFA Cybertron]

[Finally, TFA!Optimus found TFP![D/N]’s variant.]

TFA!Optimus Prime: *Feeling a little nervous* Hi, I’m Optimus Prime.

TFA![D/N]: Oh! You’re the one who’s been protecting Earth. Heard you kicked some serious aft against the ‘Cons.

TFA!Optimus Prime: Yes, that’s true, but I’m not the only one. I have a team where we help people and stopping the Decepticons.

TFA![D/N]: Hmm…Honest, polite, and you seem to be the rare type of mech I’d like to know more about.

TFA!Optimus Prime: Really? I mean, this seems too fast and I don’t want to make this awkward.

TFA![D/N]: It’s alright. We can take things slow. How about we share comm links, if that’s alright?

TFA!Optimus Prime: Yes, that would be wonderful.

[The two share each other’s links.]

TFA![D/N]: I need to go somewhere. Contact me when you want to hang out.

TFA!Optimus Prime: Yeah, I’ll stay in touch.

[Another pair forming…]

[(A/N)]: I don’t know what I wrote, but I needed it out of my system.

[awsumsas]

Did someone ask for the overused outdated trend? Aw fuckit, it's fun and it's always goofy to overlap hyperfixations :P

Explanations for each:

Luz (Normal/Fairy): She's a human with magical powers. Normal fits the human bill, and considering how affiliated she is with the light glyph in particular, the fairy type felt the most fitting.

Amity (Poison): Abominations are very clearly sludge-like. They're probably not raw poison but the type in the games usually has various sludgey tropes. Just look at Grimer and Muk.

Willow (Grass/Fighting): Grass was inevitable, she's practically the poster child for the plant coven. Fighting was a bold choice to add on, but given her fondness for sports, I figured it was a good pick.

Gus (Psychic): This was harder to pinpoint. I tried to not just slap "the magic type" onto each character but I struggled to find anything else that worked for Gus. I'd say illusions make most sense with it though.

Hunter (Normal/Ghost): Caleb was originally a human, so I decided to apply Normal here again. The Ghost part is probably controversial but considering the whole Grimwalker thing, I think it makes sense.

Edalyn (Flying/Fighting): The Clawthorne sisters each have a very strong bird motif, so Flying was inevitable. I decided to give Fighting to Eda specifically because of her rough and tumble attitude.

King (Dragon): He's a titan! What better of an explanation could you need? He'll eventually grow up into a gigantic monsterous creature with incredible strength. He's basically a fluffy dragon!

Lilith (Flying): See Eda's explanation. Lilith has the same bird motif that her sister has going on, but the lack of a Fighting type is due to the lesser emphasis on her beast form.

Hooty (???):

Vee (Dragon/Psychic): This one was the hardest to pinpoint. In the end I figured she's a serpentine creature who has the ability to absorb magic, so Dragon and Psychic made the most sense.

Camila (Normal): She's just a lady.

Belos (Dark/Poison): The Dark type should hopefully go without explanation but also his monster form with the green sludge is probably his best design so I had to reference it somehow.

No Raine unfortunately cause I RAINE out of room on the canvas but maybe if this blows up I might do the coven heads and maybe some more too.

[giddlygoat]

i wanted to experiment with dave and buck fits and how they might dress if they didn’t have a dress code. some thoughts on the design process below :’D

i want to keep dave’s rose motif going strong in my art bc i feel like the rose at the end of his cutscene is really important to his character. the music note pin on his lapel is based off my chum @megalophobic-astronomer’s headcanons :]

he also has a big, bold zoot suit because i feel like it represents him very well. the butterfly collar is always a must and a staple of my design for him lol. golden box chains around his neck and hanging from his waist are mostly me projecting my taste upon him but i think he would wear chains and jewelry pretty regularly!

buck is all over the place bc i wanted to incorporate a bunch of different styles into one mess of a fit. my main inspirations boil down to Punk Butch at Poker Night lol. i think buck’s taste extends far past this look, and we know he wears a suit well, but i think he would be very adventuresome in his style. at the end of the day, i want him to look rambunctious, jagged and fun.

along with the built in chip dispensers in his arms, he also wears a vintage coin dispenser on his belt, card pouches organized by suit on his thigh, and fuzzy dice for luck on his key ring. this guy jangles! oh, and i’ve had lots of hcs about buck’s body for a while but haven’t drawn them too much yet. here’s a kind of outdated ref that still stands

he has a [convoluted and under-referenced] card shuffler in his chest and a roulette wheel in his belly because i said so <3 the gold trim and detailing is inspired by vintage slot machines and i wanted to give him a kind of cheap tin look.

i don’t have all my hcs for dave’s body drawn out yet, but i’m thinking of giving him accordion bellows in his lower torso and i know for sure he has radio dials on his forearms along with more speakers on the top side. i want to cram as many musical motifs as possible into his design and hopefully i will come up with more ideas for buck too!

[simdulgencemods]

SimplePenis 2.0

SimplePenis 2.0 is here! This update is the first in a series of anatomy updates that aim to improve shapes, textures, bending, and more across all of the SimpleGens family of body parts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: SimplePenis 2.0 features a number of improvements, fixes and changes that necessitated creating a brand-new file. It is NOT a replacement for SimplePenis 1.0, and your sims will not automatically be equipped with the new version.

FEATURES & DETAILS: 1)3 penis sizes (Sm, Md, Lrg), 2 scrotums, (High, Low), 3 foreskin styles (Uncut, Retracted, Cut). 2) Improved meshes for better quality anatomy, including updated shapes for the glans, shaft, testicle, buttocks and groin. 3) Improved textures offer a more realistic appearance and better seams. I've improved seams between the scrotum and anus, and used a new method to minimize seams at further camera distances. 4) Better bending and movement in a variety of animations, especially focusing on the inner thighs, buttocks, hips, and legs. 5) Color overlays are better organized and offer more options. I separated the glans overlay from the other overlays, to allow for more customization (you can pick a glans overlay and any other shaft/scrotum overlay) as well as reduce the number of overlays required; I added 12 new swatches to each overlay to better match a variety of skintones; and I moved the color overlays to the Body Skin Details, to free up slots in Face Skin Details. There are now 5 overlays with 20 swatches each. 6) Small textures allow for better compatibility with CC skins. 7) CAS penises are more compact and easier to navigate. I've combined multiple penises under a single catalog entry, which greatly reduces the number of penises you have to scroll through in CAS. All penises in CAS are now categorized into 4 entries based on scrotum style and erection state: High Scrotum/Soft, High Scrotum/Hard, Low Scrotum/Soft, Low Scrotum/Hard. Within each CAS entry, penises are ordered by size and foreskin style. 8) More scrotum and foreskin options offer customization last seen in RealGens. I added the higher testicles and retracted foreskin options back, to offer more choice for your sims' genitals as well as (hopefully) convince more players to switch to SimplePenis 2.0. You can keep using RealGens, but it's outdated and won't receive new feature upgrades. 9) Eight optional testicle overlays for greater body customization. I added eight texture overlays that let you change the appearance of your sim's testicles. These can be used alone or layered with the color overlays provided for more varied looks, and are compatible with the 2.0 Simple Penis as well as 2.0 Simple Penis Exclusive designs. The overlays can be found in the Body Skin Details section of CAS and are categorized as Body Freckles.

I've really tried to improve on every aspect of the penises, from appearance to movement to CAS options, and I hope you feel that SimplePenis 2.0 is an upgrade from previous versions! There are quite a few pictures in the post, but I encourage you to check them out to see all the improvements - or better yet, download them and give them a whirl in your game!

INSTALLATION NOTES: Files included are separated by folder into required, recommended, and optional.

simdulgence_SimplePenis2_Base (REQUIRED) Contains all base male 2.0 penises. Also includes a CAS default (cut medium high scrotum), which will appear when you remove lower clothing items in CAS.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: 1) Will you add other sizes? Not immediately. I know I will be asked about this, and it's not a firm no, but I intend to complete other anatomy options and updates (vaginas, unique penises converted to 2.0, werewolf penises, etc) before adding any other sizes. 2) Will there be animated orifices in SimplePenis 2.0? I've been asked about this, and I'm not opposed in principle, but it's not the top of my priority list right now. Like with the sizes, I want to complete other updates first. 3) Are these penises compatible with SimMotion? Yes. 4) Are overlays from previous penises compatible with SimplePenis 2.0? No. Part of the improvements for textures/overlays included mapping the penises in a way that means 1.0 and 2.0 overlays can't be used on the other penises (eg you can't put a 1.0 overlay on a 2.0 penis, or a 2.0 overlay on a 1.0 penis). 5) Are these available for female sims? Not yet, but a female version of SimplePenis 2.0 will be added in the future! Link to SimplePenis 2.0: http://simfil.es/4746141/ Link to updated Condoms: https://simfil.es/4746142

[zenala-art]

Do you have an infodump on your captain Agent 4?

Firstly, thank you so much for the ask and interest!!

Secondly, I sure do! Conelia's my first and main Splatoon OC so she has. a lot. of lore, and I'll gladly infodump some stuff :D

Let's start with her general reference sheet! I think it makes for a nice introduction:

I think the first thing anyone asks (reasonably so) when I tell them that she's the captain is "Why not Agent 3?" In my agent story, Agent 3 is completely MIA since the end of Octo Expansion, and even without taking that into account, Conelia spends a lot more time with Marie and Callie than he (being very introverted) ever did, and she's definitely more dedicated to being a good fighter. So, when it came to choosing who's going to be the next captain, she was a very clear choice.

Being one of the captains of her competitive team, she was already used to this sort of responsability, too! The NSBS sure can sponsor her dream of being a professional competitive player, and this just meant more time to be spending with the Squid Sisters, which can't be a bad thing in her opinion.

Here's an overall of my (active) agents:

Asra and Radish are a bit outdated since I've added more interesting things to their lore since I made this picture, but the rest pretty much remains the same!

Conelia really enjoys Asra's company as her first pupil, being much more proactive and giving more pieces of random advice than we see the Captain do in the game. After the events of ROTM, the two of them very often communicate mostly through sign language, since it usually feels more comfortable for Asra (who is mostly nonverbal due to some circumstances in their life, but with Conelia they sometimes speak). She's super excited and wants to teach Asra everything she can, acknowledging that they "have a lot of potential".

She also has a long friendship history with both Agent 3 and Agent 8, but they might not be super relevant to the conversation at hand? I do have this relationship chart from some time ago that could be a fast, superficial view however (don't mind the old designs, drawings are a little old, but the info is still correct):

So yeah, if we talk about the general character, Conelia has most of the attributes usually associated with Agent 4 (the excitedness and general perceived vibe, the "always busy with school" aspect of it, living far from Inkopolis or Splatsville, etc). The most important aspect of her personal life that I feel affects how she handles leadership (and therefore her work as a captain) is having inattentive parents who forced her to be independent since way too young.

It took her some convincing from the Squid Sisters to accept recruiting a new agent, even though 8 is mostly not working with them anymore - she just wants to do everything herself all of the time, even though she knows that workload would be too much for her.

I won't go too far into detail on her personal life right now (or I'd make an actual essay here), but hopefully this infodump was interesting to you :D once again thank you for the interest and the excuse to dump about my ocs in public

[jrwiwikiarchivists]

Major Updates + We Need YOUR Help!

Archivist @blue-b1rb has been busy these past few days.

If you've been looking at the JRWI Fandom Wiki recently, you may have noticed organizational changes to major pages like Chip, Jay, and Gillion. Note: a majority of these design features do not work on Mobile, with the History subpages currently being completely dysfunctional. The admin team is aware and will hopefully be able to correct it soon.

Categorization of all pages has also begun in an effort to evaluate wiki needs and projects.

This is where you come in!

Help out the wiki admin team by adding the "Inaccurate" category to pages. Or, submit an ask to this blog.

Other categories include: Outdated, Incomplete, and Review

If you have time and want to help improve some pages, check the "Critical Condition" category for pages missing significant sections. If you don't know how to format your contribution, look at some other pages for guidance.

The wiki is dependent on contributions from the community, and even small levels of participation like repairing typos or pointing out errors is a huge help.

Thank you JRWieners! -Blue_B1rb

[d-criss-news]

See an exclusive first look at Darren Criss’ return to Broadway in Maybe Happy Ending

The "Glee" actor stars as a Helperbot named Oliver, opposite Helen J. Shen making their Broadway debut as Claire.

There’s nothing new about an awkward meet-cute turning into a love story… But what if that love story is between two robots?

That’s the question posed by Maybe Happy Ending, a new musical coming to Broadway this fall, starring Emmy-winning Glee and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story actor Darren Criss. The show also marks the Broadway debut of Helen J. Shen (The Lonely Few) and Dez Duron (The Voice). Featuring a book by Will Aronson and Hue Park, with music by Aronson and lyrics by Park, Maybe Happy Ending is helmed by Tony Award winner Michael Arden (Parade, Once on This Island), with scenic design by Dane Laffrey (A Christmas Carol).

Ahead of its debut, Entertainment Weekly has your exclusive first listen to the show, with a music video of Criss and Chen’s emotional duet, "When You’re in Love.”

Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen in "Maybe Happy Ending". MAYBE HAPPY ENDING THE MUSICAL/YOUTUBE

The musical — a big hit in its native South Korea, winning six 2016 Korean Musical Awards and the Richard Rodgers Production Award for the English-language version — made its American debut at Atlanta’s Alliance theater in 2019. Now the show is coming to the Great White Way with Criss and Shen as Oliver and Claire, two outcast HelperBots whose initial awkward encounter evolves into an unexpected relationship.

“There's a real pathos that kind of snuck up on me with these two,” Criss told EW of the HelperBot romance. “You think, 'Oh, cute, like androids falling in love, that sounds sweet.' But there's a lot more to that when you start to examine what it is to not only love something or someone, but the inexorable, unavoidable back end of love, which is loss.” Oliver is living the simple life of an outdated HelperBot when the story begins, tending to plants and listening to jazz in his one-bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Seoul. Then Claire comes by to borrow a charger, and changes everything. The video finds the HelperBots united by emotion, yet far apart as they process the swirling feelings of being in love for the first time. “When you’re in love, you’re never satisfied,” they lament. “The thing you want is always out of reach.”

By the end, they’re piecing together both the joys and painful realities of their newfound feelings. They sing, “Now I’m hoping that you feel all the things I feel / Wishing that you want me to sit beside you /Wanting now to learn all the things you are / Waiting for a chance to invite you in my heart.” If the prospect of seeing two bots find love isn’t enticing enough, Criss jokes that empathizing with the characters will at least give audiences a leg up in the AI apocalypse. “If there's any incentive to come see the show — other than a wonderful theatrical experience with a lot of beautiful universal themes and all that great stuff and fantastic music, and hopefully good performances — if not that, it's at least to soften the punishment and wrath of the AI takeover,” he laughed. Maybe Happy Ending begins previews at the Belasco Theatre on Wednesday, September 18. Tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning on Thursday, June 6 at 10AM.

Watch the "When You're In Love" music video above and read more of Criss' thoughts on the HelperBot romance below.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Can you start by telling me a little bit about Oliver and what's at the core of this character for you? Well, I'll tell you what, this is the first time I'm ever really doing any kind of talking about a show that I haven't had much familiarity with yet. And I'm not saying that to avoid talking about it so much as to highlight the unique nature of my involvement in this show because, at least if we're talking about the theater, specifically Broadway Theater, every show that I've ever done came with something of a legacy and was a show that I would have been very familiar with, and I think audiences at large, for the most part would've had a history with it.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was my Broadway debut, massively popular, classic Broadway show, people knew it. Second one was, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I grew up as a teenager loving that show. And then the revival of American Buffalo, that's now a standard contemporary American classic and studied that in drama school and yada yada yada. So when talking about the show, I had a really good handle because the show had lived with me for most of my life. [Maybe Happy Ending] is a brand new show, which is wildly exciting. But I have yet to figure out that answer. I can tell you what his core is on paper, which is that Oliver is a Helperbot, something like a hundred years in the future where our technology helpers — in the way that we have our Alexas, and our Siris, and our digital systems, and our smart assistants — have evolved into more humanoid representations. He is a Model 3 in the world of Model 5's and is very much outdated, and kind of running the last of his powered up life in the world that we're watching him and coming to grips with the things that left him behind.

We got a little taste of it in the music video, but what do you think it is about the Oliver and Claire relationship that people will respond to? Or what did you respond to? There's nothing like being able to look at ourselves by looking through the eyes of things that aren't us. I find the most I'm ever moved about the human experience comes from animated films where you have non-human characters trying to figure out human emotions. It's a really great way for audiences to subconsciously look at their own experience objectively. It's funny that it takes inhuman characters to examine humanity in a way that feels somehow accessible. If you see yourself up there, it maybe hits too close to home. But you might think about it a little differently if you're suddenly looking at things through the objective lens of a true outsider — be it a cartoon fox or a mermaid wanting to be human.

So having said that, this is a story about two HelperBots, two robots “falling in love." Of course, they're not human, so they can't physically, literally intimately actually fall in love, but they have to sort of figure out what that means by way of how they've experienced human beings themselves, by cues they've gotten from their own owners and from the world around them. And when you start examining things like love, things like loss through the eyes of non-humanoid things that are trying to computationally analyze and synthesize those things, you sort of start to look at them in a different way. There are many things about the show — the premise was very interesting, and I think the design is exquisite, it's a wonderful theatrical experience. Getting to work with a longtime friend, Michael Arden is such a joy, and there's so many things about that that make this appealing to me. And of course the music is fun, and it's cute, and funny, and charming. But there's a real pathos that kind of snuck up on me with these two. You think, 'Oh, cute, like androids falling in love, that sounds sweet.' But there's a lot more to that when you start to examine what it is to not only love something or someone, but the inexorable, unavoidable back end of love, which is loss. And how do we deal with that? How and why do human beings willingly enter this contract if we know that on the other side of it, there is something that will hurt and that can hurt because love does come with loss, whether it's loss of self, loss of wholeness.

And this show really shows a really beautiful balance of these beings trying to suss out thousands of years of human meditation — of all the hundred thousand songs and poems and stories that have tried to help us understand this balance of love and loss, and the highs and the lows of it are pretty profound. er. In “When You’re In Love” there's the sentiment that being in love is the loneliest you can be. Is that something that you immediately connected with, or was that surprising?

I think that song's very interesting because it's them putting the pieces together. Many lines in the song that talk about how being loved does just constantly leave you with a sense of longing. Which I think goes back into the main thesis, which is love in many ways is loss. They kind of coexist in this yin-yang. It's just one's much more fun and more accessible to talk about, but they kind of come hand in hand. Again, the systematic exploration of all of the ones and zeros of what love is — it's a lot of ones, but it is also a lot of zeros, and one of those things is being lonely and the feeling of not being whole without a certain thing. Which I think is a really good connector to what this show talks about, which is the function of the things in our life that we lose. It is funny that we are getting closer and closer to the realities of what this show presents and suggests. The idea that Siri could be a person in a hundred years isn't absurd, it's not a crazy idea. Even talking about things like robots or artificial intelligence, it's an immediate thing that is part of the cultural fabric and a continual discussion about how and where and why it's going to be part of our life.

But even without talking about those sort of more sci-fi leaning things, technology is in many ways, like people in our life. I mean, people treat their phones like babies. We have attachments to our phones and the way that we need them in our lives and the way we care for them and the reliance we have on them. And the idea of shelf life and things being outdated, we're pretty comfortable with. It's more comprehensible with tech and objects. But it's funny that we have this cognitive dissonance between that and the idea of things being outdated and out of its prime is harder to grasp and a harder pill to swallow with people, and it's a harder journey to go on with people. But what happens when our objects become closer in likeness and experience to people? How are we going to wrap our brains around that and how will they wrap their brains or their programming around that? And how will they feel? Will they feel at all? How will they feel about their impermanence as it relates to ours and vice versa? So there's a lot of really, really nice questions being asked in this show.

Are you finding that it's changing your relationship to Siri and Alexa and your technology? As of now, absolutely not. Well, maybe in the future. Maybe. I'll bite my tongue… In a few years, who knows? She's listening. I'll be nice to you Siri, I promise. As long as you're nice to me when you decide to take over the planet. Well, after you've played a Helperbot, you've got an in. Hopefully that'll soften the AI takeover, they'll let us loose. If there's any incentive to come see the show — other than a wonderful theatrical experience with a lot of beautiful universal themes and all that great stuff and fantastic music, and hopefully good performances — if not that, it's at least to soften the punishment and wrath of the AI takeover. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

[bunnygirllover45]

First of all love your art it makes me happy whenever I see a piece from you. Secondly have you ever played Amnesia Memories, if so what were your thoughts :3.

What a coincidence I just finished playing Ikki's route for the first time a few weeks ago. I quite enjoy Amnesia Memories, it was one of the first visual novels I played when I started to get into the genre. I remember learning about the game thanks to the anime, I wouldn't recommend watching it tho, it's not a good adaptation. The game overall is quite good, it's pretty obvious that one or two things are outdated at this point but I think that adds more to the charm of the game, the design of the MC is very cute too. Shin is my favorite in terms of design (Also he's voiced by the same guy who voices Scaramouche on Genshin, isn't that crazy?), but obviously Toma is my favorite route, he's a fun yandere, not specifically my type of yandere, but he's cute. Ikki has a yandere ending too, if you're interested in that. I haven't played either Kent's or Ukyo's routes yet, but I'll get to play them soon enough hopefully. If any of you are interested in a pretty good otome game with some crazy guys sprinkled here and there without them being too crazy, go ahead and buy it, It's on Steam in English, I wish the other releases were in there too. That's it. Thanks for asking <3

[alexmey-does-an-arts]

Squinkytober Prompts

i'm late lol but i decided to make one of those october art challenges for squeakers. they're very small and simple to draw, so hopefully this one won't be very hard :)

while this list is designed with my usual 10th doctor squinkers in mind, squinkies of anything are great!

tag with #squinktober 2024 and please mention me on them I wanna see them

Prompt List:

n/a (first 2 blank bc i started this late)

n/a

squeak

sleep

consume

jump

watermelon

afraid

fall

cuddle

large

flower

bite

hold gently

spores

friend

banana

roll

angry

picked up

anatomy

fight

play

berries

grow

egg (interpret this however you wish.)

love

violent

kitty

spooky

squinkypocalypse

Alternate Prompts:

gift

stare

touys

miniscule

bug

Squinky information and guides under the readmore:

Squinky Anatomy

Squinky Life Cycle

Squinky Drawing Guide (somewhat outdated, mostly applies to adult squinkies)

[vampierium]

I returned with more redacted designs (OUTDATED, CALLER SPECIFICALLY, I DONT LIKE HIS DESIGN!!!)

I gave Regulus his weird little nervous system thing because I heavily associate him with like nerves, sensory, and touch! And in honor of our lovely caller getting another audio, i tried working on his design! As of now I don’t know what he is, like if he’s an empowered human or a daemon (maybe he’s like Regulus), and I don’t have any good theories, so I just defaulted with a human ! Hopefully we’ll get more of him so I can update the design!

Also are we still naming the caller “John” or what

[kheprriverse]

Hero! A bit messy until I’m able to finish it later. By then it'll hopefully be a clean fullbody and a little more of a detailed page like usual.

At this point I've made him 3 refs that are all now outdated over the course of 2023. But doing so lets me figure out his design (and story) so I'm alr with it :)

Previous Hero WIP

[crilicinks]

Some art I did of @mozzaremi's lil tomato lover- bc I love their style and designs- (It's a little old since I died and kept staring at it BUT- yeah hopefully its not too outdated or inaccurate!)