#i was gonna actually draw this normally and put effort into it but after i scribble that second gannon i LOST IT

[thapunqueen]

yeah basically

[lunarleonardo]

Alright, I promised myself I'd do this when I finished Love Letter.

Everyone, I present: The Love Letter art I, the author, have created. ohgod im nervo us AAAH

Alright lets start with art I put legitmate effort into

This comes from Mickey Darling's feed my ego. I was gonna do an animation with it but I was really unmotivated at the time QwQ so this is what we get instead. I made it with the base idea of chapter 23 in mind ^^

This one was a scrapped concept for the start of chapter 14. Read left to right.

Here's a few doodles :p

The last one I actually mixed up which eye got injured >_> figuring out my lefts and rights was a CHALLENGE for this entire fic I cant even begin to explain how much I was struggling x"D

ok so apparently you can only add 1 video file per post but i am NOT making another one to show yall all three animations so ive found a workaround

This is Lost Kitten by METRIC. This is the first Love Letter animation I made because I am not normal but also because I got a HUGE inspiration burst xD i hate tweening so much

In Fact (demo) by Gregory and the Hawk. Did this one very shortly after the completion of chapter 23 ^^' not much to say about it i was just feeling emotional

Nails like God by mccafferty . i drew this in ibis paint in the car xd every time i draw shuichi i swear his hair gets bigger

alright thats it I think. Im tired qwq it's time for me to take a break. and by a break i mean working on the TWO projects ive got going on! thats right baby lunar's writing two things at once this could not possibly go badly

[inoreuct]

Since it’s spooky season, may I request a demon Sanji offering Zoro some food?

i was supposed to post this for friday the 13th, but it got way more dramatic than i planned… thank you for the ask!

Y’know, when Sanji became a demon, he hadn’t expected to have to deal with moss infestations. 

He is aware that that sounds rather ridiculous and makes little to no sense. The long and short of it is, he got himself cursed. Dumb, yes, he’s aware of that too, but how was he supposed to have known that the rare herb garden he’d stepped into was guarded by a territorial (and rather unhinged, in his humble opinion) occultist?

But as far as curses go, this one really isn’t so bad. Sanji had just sort of… accepted it, after a while, and it certainly hadn’t hurt that the whole becoming a demon gig came with its own massive underworld castle filled with invisible servants. He shudders, peering into a mirror and brushing an invisible speck of dust from his horns. He could have been turned into a goat, or something. How the hell would he cook if he was a goat?

Back to the topic at hand, he has a visitor. A human, of all things! Wandering about the underworld! Sanji’s scrying bowl had offered him a view of short green hair and three swords hanging from a belt, and honestly? He doesn’t know what to make of it, and now the man is hovering in his entryway, poking at a 6th century vase that Sanji is fairly sure holds some Roman emperor’s dead body. He checks his reflection one last time, sucking at his teeth before he phases into shadow, hovering just outside the edges of the foyer. The flames of the candelabra flicker in an invisible wind and the man whip his head around, looking for a threat that isn’t there— 

And Sanji coalesces right behind him. “Hello, little huma— Ack!” A sword swings for his neck in the space of a breath and he leans back on instinct, not putting much effort into it—

The tip nicks his throat and draws blood.

Sanji’s eyes go wide. Oh, this just got interesting.

Regular blades can’t hurt him. Can’t even touch him; they pass right through his form like he’s made of liquid shadow, but he feels this cut. The faint sting, the hot trickle over his tendons, the smell of his own blood thick in the air. He hadn’t even heard the sword unsheathe.

The man is backing away, eyes wild; Sanji huffs a laugh and melts into the shadow again, reappearing just in time for the man to bump into him with a loud swear. Sanji needs to stop calling him The Man. “What’s your name?”

The Man scowls as he holds his sword ready, and it pulls at the vertical scar over his left eye. “Like hell I’ll tell you. I’m not gonna let you use me for whatever— witchy shit you wanna do.”

Sanji raises an unimpressed brow. “First of all, I’m a demon, not a witch. And second, it doesn’t work like that. You need my name for spells and such.” 

“Which is?”

“Now why would I tell you?” He grins, sharp and sweet like the song of a blade through the air. “You’ll know mine when I know yours, Marimo.”

“Marimo?” his visitor scoffs, and Sanji shrugs with a genial smile even as Marimo bristles. Better than The Man. 

He turns around, gliding through the foyer more for the sake of having something to do than actually trying to go anywhere, and of course Marimo follows. “Don’t you have anywhere else to be?” he sighs, side-eyeing the man as he squints warily at a bust of some sort of cat with seven eyes. 

“Nope.”

“What’s the deal, then? A human all the way down here? Hell isn’t exactly the most popular vacation spot, y’know.” Sanji pauses and gives a pointed look to the weapon that had drawn his blood. “And that is not a normal sword.” 

Marimo’s eyebrows twitch, the only sign Sanji gets that he’s surprised. “Cursed blade,” the man grumbles, rubbing a thumb over the hilt. “And I’m looking for someone.”

“…In Hell.” Sanji’s skeptical.

“My best friend got himself kicked through a portal, alright?” Marimo protests, lip curling in irritation. 

“Ha! Good luck with that,” Sanji huffs, walking again. “Nobody new’s been down here except—” Wait. He spins on his heel, and Marimo narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Dark hair, chatty as anything, about… yea high?” he asks, lifting his hand as an estimate, and he lurches back when Marimo leans all up in his face with his eyes like sharp granite.

“You know something.”

“One of my… acquaintances said something about it, yes.” Mihawk had mentioned a guy suddenly popping up. Monkey something-or-other. Loofah? He opens his mouth to speak right as he hears an odd growl, and Marimo pulls back with the tips of his ears turning red. A huff of a laugh slips out without Sanji’s permission. “Alright, come on,” he decides, creating a shadow door and waiting for the other man to follow. “Can’t find your friend on an empty stomach.” 

They walk straight into the kitchen, and Sanji gets to work whipping up a plate of omurice. He was a chef before, and he still is one; he’ll feed anyone who’s hungry. He might not be human or alive (or is he? He still isn’t sure) anymore but he refuses to let go of the values that he’d lived and breathed by, no matter how… questionable his unexpected guest may be.

He is done in a matter of minutes. “Eat.” The plate scrapes as he slides it across the countertop with cutlery, but Marimo just glares. “What? Don’t like eggs?”

“Isn’t there some rule about getting trapped here if you eat?” 

Sanji resists the urge to roll his eyes, because Hell’s bells, this man is stubborn. “Look, that’s all bullshit, alright? Eat, or I’ll make you. This is the only place around for leagues that has food you could possibly digest. Or would you rather go hunt for elephant scorpions?”

The man recoils. “The fuck are those?”

“You don’t wanna know.” He nudges the fork and spoon closer, crossing his arms with an expectant eyebrow.

Marimo raises one right back, but he hesitantly picks up the cutlery and digs in. “…So you eat human food,” he mutters after a while, and Sanji looks up from where he’s washing the dishes.

“Yes? Why wouldn’t I?”

“Dunno,” the other man muses, taking another bite. The dim light of the wall sconces makes his three golden earrings gleam, highlighting the gnarly scar across his chest. “What with the whole demon thing.”

“Not all of us have a taste for mortal flesh,” Sanji sniffs, examining his cuticles coolly before getting back to scrubbing. 

He’s feeling a little strange. Maybe it’s the human interaction after so long of being down here with just his invisible friends and other demons for company, but it’s making something hurt right behind his ribs, where his heart beats more slowly than it has any right to. He’d missed this. Cooking for someone else. Banter. Companionship. 

He takes a shaky breath and plunges his hands into the water, grabbing a frying pan and scouring it viciously. No use reminiscing and chasing pipe dreams. 

“Oi.”

Marimo’s voice catches his attention, and he rinses the sponge. “Hm?”

“How’s the—?” The man gestures vaguely to his neck, and Sanji’s fingers fly up to his throat to feel for the cut.

“Oh, that.” It’s already mostly healed, and he tilts his jaw to the side to show it. “S’fine. See?”

Marimo grunts, turning back to the last bites of his food. “Sorry.”

Sanji stills, something wild flaring hot in his ribcage before he mentally wrangles it into submission. He wouldn’t have expected an apology from anyone— much less this man. “It’s no big deal.”

“Still,” Marimo says gruffly, sliding the plate back over, the ceramic scraped clean. “And thanks.” He blinks for a second before nodding to the empty plate, as if it isn’t clear enough. “For the food.”

What the fuck. Sanji takes it, feeling like he’s in a bit of a daze. Marimo had seemed like a bit of a brute at first, with his scars and his close-cropped hair and his physique and the stupid shirt that was open halfway down his damn chest (Sanji, don’t look, it doesn’t matter how many muscles he has), not to mention the three swords. He’s bullheaded but obviously skilled, and— who the Hell is this guy? 

“Who sent you,” Sanji breathes as he sets the plate down, something sinking in the pit of his gut. He readies one hand behind his back. There has to be a catch.

Marimo frowns. “Nobody sent me, I told you I’m looking for my—”

He lunges. His claws are around the man’s neck in less than a second, digging up into the soft part of his throat. Marimo’s Adam’s apple bobs against the pad of his thumb. “Who sent you,” he hisses again, and it comes out less steady than he likes.

Sanji doesn’t know why he’s affected. It shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. He has not fallen so far that the thought of this small bit of— of courtesy, of company, being a farce should feel like such a betrayal. 

So why does it?

He tightens his grip, gaze boring into eyes that have gone granite-dark in the low light, and yet Marimo does not pull away. The man tips his chin up, allows the point of Sanji’s claw to dig just beneath his trachea. “Nobody sent me,” he repeats evenly, chest rising and falling with his breaths, and Sanji holds back a snarl. He has been alone for too long for some human to come waltzing in and fucking up his life with— whatever this is, only for him to get butthurt because it wasn’t real. It’s not even that big of a deal and he feels fucking ridiculous. 

“If you’re lying—”

“I’m not.” 

And it seems like he really isn’t. Marimo’s pulse is rock steady, his gaze unflinchingly neutral, tracking Sanji across the room even as the demon slowly pulls away. 

“I’m sorry,” Sanji mutters, leaning back against the sink and pressing a hand over his eyes with a tired exhale. “I apologise, I— I lost myself.” 

“S’okay,” Marimo says cautiously. His swords clatter against each other as he stands and pushes the stool in with his knee. “I should… get going.”

“Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, Sanji shakes his head a little and smoothes his hands over the front of his blouse. He snaps his fingers, and a shadow door materialises in front of the other man. “This will take you to the acquaintance I was talking about, Mihawk. He’s your best bet at finding— What’s his name?”

“Luffy.”

“Luffy. Right.” 

Marimo hesitates, and Sanji feels like something’s gotten caught in his throat. 

“It gets lonely here, doesn’t it?” the other man asks abruptly, turning to face Sanji properly.

He swallows. “…Sometimes,” he concedes, keeping his tone light. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Marimo gives an aborted jerk of his head, like he hadn’t been able to decide whether to nod or not. “Luffy’s appetite is crazy. He’ll be hungry when I find him.”

Sanji can’t help but laugh. It seems to be becoming a recurring problem. “You asking if I’ll feed him?” 

“Yeah. Because I think you’ll say yes.” 

A smirk pulls at Sanji’s mouth, and he lets it lean sharp. “Do you have a death wish, planning to come back to a demon’s castle?”

“Maybe,” Zoro mutters, but he matches Sanji’s expression tooth for tooth. “But the food’s good, and the company’s… decent.”

Sanji really does roll his eyes this time. Unbelievable. “You’ve got some nerve, Marimo.”

“Zoro.”

Zoro. It echoes around in his skull, sets something sparking up under his skin. “Zoro,” he tries, cocking his head before he nods to the shadow door. “Get going, idiot. That isn’t going to stay open forever.”

Zoro takes a step backwards. “You haven’t told me your name.”

Sanji purses his lips to hide his chuckle. “Come back with Luffy, and maybe you’ll find out.” 

The last thing he sees is the swordsman’s grin before the door dissolves, leaving him alone in his kitchen with a feeling in his chest that he hasn’t felt for ages. Fuck, this Zoro is trouble.

Sanji drags his hands over his face and groans, but he’s smiling. 

All he does in this damn castle is laze around and cook for himself. If it means cooking for someone else, and decent company… Well, a little trouble couldn’t hurt.

[incorrectmlpstudentsixquotes]

Gallus: Happy Father’s Day.

Grandpa Gruff: I beg your Krispy Kreme fucking pardon?

Gallus: (hands Gruff an envelope) This is your gift.

Grandpa Gruff: For…

Gallus: Father’s Day. Well, belated Father’s Day. I feel bad for having missed the actual day.

Grandpa Gruff: The fact that your emotions got out of bed for me at all is actually insane.

Gallus: Well, you’ve been really trying lately, so this is for you.

Grandpa Gruff: I am incredibly touched and also deeply suspicious.

Gallus: Don’t be.

Grandpa Gruff: This feels like a trap.

Gallus: It’s not.

Grandpa Gruff: Why do I feel like this is going to be something horrendous or disgusting?

Gallus: Could be both, but it’s neither.

Grandpa Gruff: The fact that you volunteered that it could be both fills me with no confidence.

Gallus: But I said it was neither. Just open it.

Grandpa Gruff: Well, on the off chance that this is actually genuine, I just want you to know that I’m incredibly touched by this is a penis.

Gallus: (flipping him the bird) Got ‘em.

Grandpa Gruff: You drew a picture of a penis.

Gallus: (double birds) You’ve been got.

Grandpa Gruff: You put hair on it.

Gallus: (cranking the bird) Sucks to suck, doesn’t it?

Grandpa Gruff: Veins, too.

Gallus: (slingshotting the bird) Which you do, you suck.

Grandpa Gruff: All things considered, you actually put a lot of effort into drawing this very detailed penis.

Gallus: (magician reveals the bird) It’s a self-portrait.

Grandpa Gruff: You’re going to have to explain that.

Gallus: (Naruto hand signs the bird) You of yourself.

Grandpa Gruff: Oh.

Gallus: (throws the bird up into the air, catches it, then screws it onto his hand to flip him the bird) You are the ‘self’ I portraited when I drew that penis.

Grandpa Gruff: Got it.

Gallus: I’m trying to say you’re a penis.

Grandpa Gruff: Gallus, your intentions could not have been clearer.

Gallus: Good, I was worried I was being too esoteric.

Grandpa Gruff: Don’t be, you’re fine.

Gallus: Happy belated Father’s Day. Bother’s Day. Because I bothered you. After Father’s Day. We’re going to do this every year. I’m gonna bother you because you fathered me. And you suck.

Gallus: (half-hearted pelvic thrusts) Bother’s Day….. Okay, I’m out.

Grandpa Gruff: Well, at least he remembered.

——

Swift Foot: (handing a package to Diomedes) This is for Bother’s Day. It’s ticking for normal reasons.

[inchidentally]

please tell me your parasocial theory about the lando effect on his teammates i'll shrivel up like a raisin without it actually

god. I'm gonna try and keep this coherent and not TOO weird. obv this is completely without knowing any of these people personally and it's just me theorizing for fun without any actual private knowledge etc etc !

(I've had to edit the hell out of this bc I don't want to like outright offend anyone since this isn't meant to be super serious at all but I'm mortified at how long it is anyway lol)

so we all know that Lando has always had the whole main character fairytale prince/princess quality that started from taking so incredibly long to finally grow up right up to his version of grown up vacillating between devastating fuckboy to coquette fetish sweetheart. and we all know that Lando is fully aware of how he looks and how he's perceived bc of visible social media presence and interactions and also just being around mirrors. he's stunning and charismatic because he makes no effort to be and there is an aura of destiny and magic around him with whatever he does. but he's always seemed like someone who needs to know what exactly he means to his close friends, mainly guys. in a way that's almost like 'yeah you have a girlfriend but does she accept that I'm ✧Me✧ and not just a Normal Blokey Friend?' or 'will your friends accept that I'm ✧Me✧ or will I have to put up a front?'

the reason Lando's so magnetic to people is because he's a ✧Me✧ but also because he's a ✧Me✧ while being a guy which guys aren't usually secure enough to be ✧Me✧. a lot of guys dress up or play up acting like one but Lando's authentically a ✧Me✧ and not to be classed with guys who are Normal Bloke or Normal Friend. they are very very rare.

to expand on this further and because I have insomnia let's take a walk through our perceptions and occasional facts of fandom observation over the years...

I feel like somewhere in the process of his first few years of F1 Lando went from awkward paddock baby who was probably a fall risk to realizing how incredibly adorable he still was even as a pro racing driver. he was literally everybody's baby (and honestly still kinda is). he was thrown into F1 so young it's not surprising.

I am a diehard carlando fan here so please understand that I'm switching to speaking in real life and not fandom terms (and I prefer fandom terms lol) real life Carlos is 100% hetero to me. my family and friend group are sort of UN levels of diverse and what seems like fruityness in non-American or sometimes non-British men is completely standard for straight dudes outside those countries. straight euro guys in particular flirt and get physical with their bros one way and then have an entirely different type of flirting and physicality with women they're attracted to. I don't think this is the case with Carlos at all but a LOT of these euro dudes can even compartmentalize so well that they're actually homophobic while fully kissing and cuddling with their friends. like I say Carlos doesn't seem at all homophobic but there have definitely been tiny, subtle moments with other drivers or during social media challenges where he's been like 'okay that's far enough for me'. which imo is him drawing boundaries and is totally fair.

AND YET WITH LANDO? Carlos has had a verrrrry hard time classifying Lando up until recently I think. for a while after signing to McLaren it was clear he viewed himself as protector and big brother/uncle to a very skittish and weird child/toddler/pet. then when Lando started to build his F1 personality around Carlos and was able to do some give and take with him, Carlos started to see Lando as a fun little satellite buddy and we got some of their silliest most adorable moments (the squawk laughing and the horseplay etc). but Carlos very much still viewed himself as the superior and Lando was just happy to have someone patient and considerate of him rather than a serious competitor.

to me Carlos and everyone else in F1 shifted how he saw Lando around the time of Daniel showing up on the scene (and Carlos' shock at how upset Lando was when he went to Ferrari). Lando got a LOT more confidence on and off the track from here on and he absolutely saw Daniel as a competitor and gave as good as he got off track too (in a fun way). he was never a satellite of Daniel's like he was with Carlos. he also physically started to grow and appreciate his own beauty and sexuality (not as in his identity but his effect on others sexually). he started dressing more consciously and mixing flirting with cuteness to win people over and play the media. youtuber/streamer Lando began to merge with F1 paddock darling Lando into something new between having Carlos and Daniel as teammates.

I can just tell you right now that a dude like Carlos would have ABsolutely no idea how to classify what Lando was becoming at that point in terms of their friendship. Lando was too pretty and still too small to be considered a Dude and apart from on the race track Lando doesn't have the natural douche-ness of Dudes. but Lando also had an active sex life and women were already crazy for him so he wasn't a child anymore either. since F1 drivers literally for bodily safety reasons can only identify as straight Carlos couldn't even class Lando as a rainbow guy.

personally I think that's when Carlos elevated Lando to Hot Bitch/Great Dude status. Lando can still take roughhousing and stupid jokes but he's also got this intense genderfluid glow that poor straight man brain have a tough time with. so Lando's this still confusing hybrid but one that Carlos accepts and loves.

in such a short time Lando went from notice me senpai over Carlos as a teenager on twitter to showing off how they exclusively hang out outside race weekends and he can breeze into the Ferrari garage like he owns the place. one teammate down :)

obv this whole time Lando has had Max F in his life and I think they've known for a long time that they're the sort of best friends who are also common law married. their gfs have always seemed really good natured about it. (**this will be relevant when Oscar comes up later) before Carlos, Max was very clearly the stronger public personality Lando had latched onto as a kid and stayed that way until about 2020/2021. since then I feel like Max is watching Lando in a kind of proud wiping away a tear and claiming that it's raining way. he was down before he probably knew it :)

honestly I'm not a big fan of Daniel Ricciardo for specific reasons and I've chosen to just edit out what I'd written about him and Lando since I truly don't want to piss anyone off over this pointless post lol. it's enough to say that for all Daniel's cockiness making gay jokes etc I get a lot of joy from the fact that Lando has ended up combining Lewis Hamilton-gender norms are for losers attitude with his own genuine rising stature as a future WDC and basically blew Daniel out of the water in every way. they're absolutely still good buddies but damn, Hot Bitch Lando had Daniel stuttering and staring with how little effort it took for Lando to outshine him, on and off the track. Daniel is usually the one in charge of his F1 relationships but Lando got him fucked. up. and begging.

another teammate down :)

do I even need to go into detail about Oscar . we know so incredibly little about Oscar's real personality yet we fully know that he's been replying to Lando's tweets and watching Lando's content since boarding school in the UK. you can take a tour of just the McLaren youtube content from the 2023 unboxing onward and watch Oscar go from dazed and stumbling over himself to not look a tool in front of Lando to Prema-era humor Oscar being able to banter with Lando.

here's what's different with the Lando/Oscar friendship tho. Oscar came in weirdly grown up for his age bc he'd left home so young and went from boarding school to being set up in his own flat by Mahk Wibbah. he already had a long term girlfriend and after waiting a year for his driver's seat he'd made the extremely ballsy move to publicly decide his own fate in F1. Lando was probably expecting to have a typical rookie on his hands but instead he got someone who's already more emotionally mature and responsible than Lando's other two teammates combined. then Oscar is so incredibly talented that he's pushed Lando to such a massive new level that P3 and P2 and (currently) 4th in the WDC are already losing a bit of their shine. Lando wants the whole thing and in a way he never has up til now. Oscar is a not insignificant part of that.

Lando suddenly has an equal! their age difference is negligible and their competitive level is the same. the fact that Oscar's racing mentality is so vastly different to Lando's is perfect because there'll never be a Lewis/Nico situation. Lando needs to stay within his own head to a certain degree for race weekends and Oscar looks forward to his next opportunity as soon as he's done with one. Oscar even has a much more laid back Max F style sense of humor which means Lando doesn't have to play up and perform as much as he used to for social media shit.

then there was the awful start to the season followed by Lando definitely being shook up by how hot Oscar came in as a rookie. AND YET Oscar has always gone out of his way to celebrate Lando's successes literally no matter how his own performance went. he's never once opted to peace out until needed for media or pictures (or straight up left) after a DNF or finishing poorly. there's this moment from the Dutch GP that breaks my idiot fandom brain bc Lando had just qualified second and Oscar (Q8) is shaking his hand and congratulating him and. idk it feels like one of those 'oh!' moments where Lando realizes Oscar is rooting for him even when they're competing and it's not a one-off nice gesture or bare minimum effort

(which honestly that bare minimum is totally fair in racing and I don't judge drivers who need to lick their wounds, it can take a lot to come out of that adrenaline mindset and be happy for your teammate who is also your competitor).

and that's the thing, Oscar came in already won over by Lando. he simply expects them both to do their jobs well and whatever Lando has to offer outside that is cool with him because Lando is ✧Lando✧. if Lando wants to bring him more into his non-F1 life at some point that would probably be great but Oscar's also got his own stable non-F1 life so it's fine either way! if Lando has other commitments and Oscar needs to step up more with the team then that's fine! I know I've been superlative with this post but like, Lando never needed/needs to do anything at all for Oscar to like him and accept him and root for him. Oscar clearly doesn't feel the need to prove anything to Lando or force the relationship. everyone else is dazzled by Lando or watched him/helped him grow up but Oscar just really Finds Lando Neat and Wants to Be Around Him. he seems to like being bossed around by Lando but he also likes when Lando is being really cool and when Lando is quiet and moody he just waits until Lando wants to be around people again. he's like a cat that proves their devotion to you by remaining in proximity rather than meowing or shoving their face in yours.

so like, part of me feels like Lando saw his new teammate having this whole life(**girlfriend?? but does she accept me as ✧Me✧?) already before even meeting Lando and had no idea how they'd develop a relationship. both Carlos and Daniel had (and still have) very bachelor style lives where a relationship with the current teammate is top priority and everyone else in their life has to deal. work comes first, then work friends, then everything else until the babies are made.

but then Oscar just shows up all content with his grown up life and smiles at Lando all the time and doesn't take anything for granted and respects Lando's space within F1 and McLaren and never complains even about doing things he doesn't like and Lando's like oh! I've already got this one down for the count and I didn't even do anything! nice :)

anyway thank you for asking and I hope this was remotely worth reading aakfgsjgfjgafagla

[ask-trialtale]

Ouuhhh, do you happen to have tips for how to make comics or share your experience and how you managed to get things done, please? I love the way you draw, especially amazing knowing it's a speedy process for you. (You don't have to answer here if you'd rather keep things UT related. I've followed your blogs for years and I have never achieved much or anything. 😔)

UMMM. okay first of all, like, thank you whoever u are! it’s always amazing to me to find that people from long ago are still on this site, even after everything. it’s lovely to have u here muah!

second of all. lmao, I should expand on what I said before: what’s quick and easy for me are these low-effort, imperfect lil doodle comics on this blog. the actual, polished comic-making process is excessively tedious and long for me ANJDNIS. ive been working on the same D&D comic for over two years now, and im only just beginning to finish it. even that is taking, like,,,, all of my willpower lmao. can’t begin to imagine how some people do this for a living, bowing down to them rn fr.

so! im far from an expert, and im still learning a ton. so idk what kind of advice to give other than like. the first comic u will make, putting ur all into it, ur gonna absolutely hate every bit of it, even after u finish it. and that’s actually such a normal thing to experience. it means that ur artistic brain is developing and protesting against its past skills. don’t ever go back and rework anything, either - if you constantly redraw your comic, you’re never gonna finish it. just keep in mind what u want to improve on, and try to accomplish that moving into your next project. better done than perfect muah.

that’s just my general tip, from where im standing at rn. if u wanna learn about anything more specific, lemme know! I’ll do my best to share my experience or process <33

[slaaverin]

I find tarot fascinating but also scary at the same time. For example, I don’t understand how the things tarot readers draw out play out in reality.

As in when you read Blue Moon Punches 2018 reading for Jimin and Jungkook it sounds horrendous. Like they hate each other, but that wasn’t coming across on screen if you like, so the reading was done June I think, but bv3 was filmed in 2018 for example and it was like they were on honeymoon. 4th muster and the ring mystery, and this was after GCFT in late 2017?

I guess my question is how it manifests in the physical realm, if the reading is so dire and negative, and she said it was messy and nonsense.

Thank you

Thank you for your ask anon,

I confess I do not have past readings completely in mind, however in the years of reading bluemoonpunch I never and I say never understood Jimin & Jungkook to "hate each other". I believe it was a bit more nuanced than this.

What she focuses more on is energy and how it works. It's never gonna sound like "and then they went to eat ice cream!" or something.

Also keeping in mind that she said multiple times that the further people are energetically, the closer they can be consciously.

So it's more a peak behind the curtains so to speak, but we are not going to get a specific recount of events or how it plays out in reality, because it would simply be a breach in privacy, you know what I mean?

Jimin & Jungkook are not all aware of everything that is going on on an energy level. Are you for yourself? We can have intuitive knowings but a lot of it is subconscious.

So that's why we always need to take the readings with a grain of salt, especially since a lot of them are depicted in a more conceptual metaphorical way.

I recall that those readings were a bit complicated yes, but I never saw anything as truly and completely negative, only that they went through a lot of progression with different steps. Which is like, normal?

You know to find balance within a relationship sometimes there must be a lot of tweaking, it's not all perfect from the start.

I'm sure even on a conscious level Jimin & Jungkook must have made a lot of adjustements for their relationship to work. They both grew a lot individually and with each other.

That's why now they seem so peaceful and at ease, I believe they both put a lot of effort for it to be this way.

It's for you to draw your own conclusions upon them, and not take everything at face value. Understanding the tarot cards might help. Because tarot cards in themselves are concepts, with a lot of different meanings, so in truth it's more of a feeling, an energy, than actual physical events.

But it's up to us to make the correct links from what we actually observe physically.

I hope you understand a bit more?

Thanks and take care anon ���

[urfavflyingfish]

What is GOODY my gang, here be a wip for a big illustration I’m drawing for Bedroom Community. This is just the first half but I’m REALLY proud of the poses. Since I’m planning on this to maybe be the cover for the completed comic I wanted to simply talk a bit about the actual story and characters. I’ll talk about all the other characters when I draw the second half !!

From left to right the main trio of the story are Paulina “Paula” Patranowska, Mika Łudź, and Saanvi H. Patel. All three live Nowhere, also known as Somewhere and Anywhere, a mysterious city made up of miscellaneous architecture and mysteriously abandoned buildings that doesn’t seem to work under normal conditions. It’s a colourful, confusing and complicated place that the main cast have to live in daily, and as everything progresses, they must manoeuvre best they can and make sense of everything.

Mika and Saanvi met first at a group art therapy session, before both bumping into Paula at a hectic party. Later, Mika and Paula met at a ceramics class at uni, and afterwards mika introduced Paula to Saanvi and her brother, Julien, at a concert. Music is a VERY big motif throughout the entire story so all the main relationships either bond over music, during music or somewhere where music is played. Each character has a very different music taste and style, however through music, they’re all able to realise that they’re not as divided as they think.

Stfu corny ass BOOOOO anyways time to get into the individual characters. Paula is an intense, yet highly creative young person who came to Nowhere as a young teen. She sings and plays rhythm guitar for her band. No one, not even her closest friends know anything substantial about her past. In a way they’re all slightly scared to ask because of how much it’s seemed to affect her. As a character she’s agential and very independent, blunt, impatient and has a habit of either speaking too much or not making sense of what she’s saying. She’s prone to sounding cryptic and sometimes unconsciously rude. She IS the Weird Girl. like.I’m gonna have SO much fun visually illustrating how her mind works because she’s REALKY not having a fun time sometimes. Like, she’s whimsical but also has plenty undiagnosed issues ykwim? Paula has the ability to see into people’s minds,and. i mean I gu e s s you can call it mind reading if you want but it’s very much not that simple. She has the power to see people’s thoughts, feelings and memories and that DEFINITELY doesn’t have major links to the bigger picture that’s happening simultaneously alongside the actions of the story. This tends to take a toll on her and gives her The Horrors, so. There’s LOTS of intricacies I can’t really get into rn because this post is already gonna be SO long. She also loves stars, crafts, crafts involving stars and bossing people around.

Mika is witty, slightly sarcastic and literally doesn’t know who they are sometimes. They play bass. They also like to play a very specific front so that people see them as this super-sexy-party-crazy-girl, but in reality their having a crisis about their self worth half the time. They came to Anywhere after finishing school in Poland and lying to their family about going to college and having a career plan. Personality wise they ARE witty, but are always putting up walls so that they sometimes come across as dismissive or slightly arrogant. They like to play into what others see them as, which can have a toll on any legitimate relationships or friendships they cultivate. A big thing is they tend to run away from issues instead of acting or facing them head on. Naturally because I love a good cliche from time to time, they only ever properly get to be themselves when they’re with the gang, in which they come across energetic, idealistic, talkative, and very sensitive, thought they make an effort to hide that bit as much as possible. Their weird freaky ass ability is electricity!! Or energy, more energy because they can convert one source to another, such as electricity to light or sound to kinetic. They do be ballet dancing.

Lastly Saanvi is SO unserious. Just, unbothered king. Sarcasm extravaganza. Okay ACTUALLY being serious now. Saanvi is the smug joker who plays lead guitar for the band. She came to Somewhere with her brother, Julien, after making a deal with (antagonist which I’m not name dropping yet because spoilers) and running away so that he couldn’t find her. She VERY much finds it difficult to communicate verbally, and I mean all three of them do but it’s most noticeable with her. Saanvi has a tendency to ignore her problems for as long as she can before they catch up to her, which tends to reflect how she goes about heart-to-hearts, or should I say, how she doesn’t. To most people she comes off as smug, passive aggressive, and often stand offish, but her friends understand that she has her own, minute way of showing affection and care to those she really loves. Either way, Saanvi’s often uncommunicative approach to life and her relationships sometimes cause rifts between herself and others. For her weirdo-ability she can control and create fire, which takes on different colours depending on what’s happening around her. Shes secretly a whizz at math and physics. And she love dinosaurs.a l ot.

Theres lots of stuff that I don’t want to fully reveal until I start releasing the finished story so I’ll probably just be posting small tidbits about characters and story heats instead of lore posts, because I have a feeling people should go into the lore of this world COMPLETELY blind. Or maybe I’m wrong idk. like wnd subsrinbe

also some closeups of the gals 🫶

[genericpuff]

Alright, update on the tablet situation, I do NOT have good news but there are some silver linings.

First off, thank you all so much for your patience. That one week I took off to relax seemed to be an invitation for the universe to fuck with my shit because my tablet literally chose the worst time to get on my nerves ( This is totally not something I'm gonna bring up with my therapist as proof that I'm not allowed to rest /s) I've tried just about everything to get it working again, I got a replacement 3-in-1 cable and even that didn't do anything, so I've ordered in a new pen, but that's not due to show up for another week or two.

However, I do not want to wait a week or two on the off chance that a new pen even solves the problem.

So the GOOD NEWS in all this is that I do still have my iPad. It wasn't setup with Clip Studio Paint because I own a perpetual license for my PC, but seeing as how now I can't use it on my PC (at least not with my tablet pen) I've gone ahead and setup the mobile version on my tablet, thankfully I got a discount because I already own a perpetual license but it's still gonna cost me $10/month so that's yet another subscription to slap on the 'ole credit card.

Now that does mean I have to go through the painstaking efforts of moving everything from my PC onto my tablet, but thankfully that issue is easily solved with cloud backups and transferring. Really all I need to be able to do is draw, I can still do speech bubbles and text input and texture overlays and all that post-production stuff on my PC, but anything that requires actual drawing I'm gonna be using my iPad for. So please, don't mind if you notice some weird little art differences between Episode 30 and 29, I'm adjusting to a new workflow! It shouldn't be too bad because I'll still be using the exact same brushes and textures and all that fun stuff that I do on my PC, it just comes with the adjustment of drawing primarily on iPad, which I don't normally do (I usually only draw on my iPad for tattooing and that's in Procreate which I still suck at using outside of lineart LMAO)

This is a very stressful situation that I'm hoping will only be temporary until I get that new tablet pen, and if THAT doesn't solve the issue, then I'm gonna have to start shopping for a new tablet entirely, and that's not something I can do immediately because I'm already starting to struggle financially due to the slow season creeping in at work and I'm still paying off that new PC I put down on layaway (which I'm regretting already). All that said, if you want to help a pal out, please consider tossing a dollar or two at me on my Ko-Fi, it's all gonna go towards a new drawing tablet if I need it (and if the pen solves the issue, then you'll be helping me stay afloat so I can keep bringing you guys the good shit LOL)

What's wild is that in all my Google searching, I found a thread from two months ago with literally the EXACT same issue, under the exact same conditions, in which OP's tablet pen unexpectedly stopped registering with their Huion Kamvas 22 Plus that they had owned for two years. According to them, it did start working again, after resetting the PC and re-installing the driver over and over again, but I've already done that myself a ton of times and I'm tired of being let down and that doesn't seem like a "real" solution beyond luck, so I'm gonna take a break from doing that while I get my iPad set up. I have the sneaking suspicion this might have to do with some recent Windows updates that just rolled out, my PC had definitely gone through a couple leading up to the malfunction. This wouldn't be the first time Microsoft has fucked with my tablet functionality so I literally wouldn't be surprised if it was something like that. Either that, or the '2' in Kamvas 22 stands for "will only last for 2 years before stopping entirely" LOL

Anyways, that's all for now. Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding through all this. While I don't want to have to reduce the quality or frequency of what I put out for you guys due to technical issues, I also don't want the comic to stop entirely, so if this turns into one of those desperate situations where I'm delivering you guys episodes of Rekindled drawn on a Nintendo DS, so be it. I'm not gonna let this beat me.

[spanner-in-the-cards]

Hello there :) I'm flora 🌺 I would like to ask you what do you see if I start my own business as a nutritionist? Like I wanna know how it goes after I start my own business you know i appreciate your effort and time and thank you! 🫶🏼🌴🌸

good day flora! really brave of you to want to get out there and pursue your goal of starting up a nutritionist business, i'm just gonna say this now. get out there and slay!!

(Future reading standard disclaimer: the cards that end up being drawn are random, and I cannot guarantee I'll get cards that'll show a completely accurate picture of your future, I can only read them cards and try my best. In any case, if the cards simply do not fall in a way that vibes with you - get out there and make the future you want to see. I love you. <3)

Reading below the cut:

usually i'd just draw them cards and dive right in, but this question looks like it's gonna need some more structure in the answer to help ya better.

spread:

challenge (one of the main challenges you'll probably face along the way)

advice (in general - not specific to the challenge stated earlier)

future experience (well, at least one aspect of it anyways)

challenge — 10 of wands (reversed): this card represents giving oneself too many responsibilities and/or tasks to handle, and the need to let go of those responsibilities and let other people handle tasks. this could suggest that a future challenge of yours in your business might be learning how to not put so much stuff on your plate, to the point of being burned out - you might constantly feel you're not doing enough, or you might simply not have the people around ya that you can delegate responsibilities to, and that's how you overburden yourself with handling your business, is what the card's sayin'.

advice — ace of swords (reversed): oh interesting! this card's about lack of clarity and dishonesty, which does often lead to miscommunication. card's a reminder that such failures of communication are quite common, especially when starting up your own business, and the best thing you really can do about all that is having understanding and patience - talk things through with people, clarify doubts (both your own and others), and remember to be transparent in your own intentions - this is how you attract similarly like-minded, honest business partners, and how you gain customers' trust and loyalty.

future experience — wheel of fortune (reversed): this card's about misfortune, setbacks and delays - pretty normal when starting up your own business actually, from what i've heard. card's suggesting that you're gonna go through the works when you start up your business as a nutritionist, and the whole process might be a lot tougher than you're anticipating. might even feel like your business is getting out of control, sometimes. sounds fucking daunting, but word of advice? do it scared. take it easy, but take it anyway, because the setbacks won't last forever - as long as you get up off the ground and try again, as long as necessary, until you come out the other side. take heart, let failure be your mentor, and keep going!! your dream is worth it as long as it still means something to you.

[abarbaricyalp]

Hey! I absolutely adore your fanfics and I've started to come up with ideas for my own fics but somehow I'm stuck at actually writing them down in a fully formed version, I just have vague plot ideas and moments I want to happen in the fic but actually transforming it into a fanfic feels impossible to me -- I have a few lines here and there written out, but those are just tiny scenes. Maybe I just lack the creative drive and I'm simply not a writer. Still, I wanted to ask, do you have any advice for anyone who wants to get into fanfic writing? Where do you draw inspiration from?

Thank you so much for such kind words! I'm so glad my stories resonate with you! ❤️ And it's so exciting to hear that you're venturing into your own story making 🎉🎉🎉🎉

I've been thinking about this question since I saw it and I think my answer boils down to "you have to train your brain to be open and be thinking constantly." (Of course, by constantly, I don't mean you have to be taxing and straining yourself every single moment) Being a writer feels like a full time job (or hobby!) sometimes because my brain is always going. Does that streetlight inspire something? Is that weird tree a candidate for a new character? Was that joke funny enough to use in a fic? Do I wanna set something in an antique store just to include this weird timelessness vertigo I have? I'm gonna take a picture of that "cow crossing" road sign to use later.

I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I have distinct memories of being five years old and squirreling away stories in drawers all over the house. I've always been a voracious reader. My inner voice never stops. And my imagination has always been stronger than my attention span 😄 All of this to say, it feels like stories come pretty naturally to me, but that's because I've been making them up my whole life. I'm very sorry if this is not so helpful.

One starting point I've often come back to (even as a long time writer) is to WRITE stories the way you TELL stories. How do you talk to your family or friends when you're recounting an event? That's telling stories. How would you explain something you saw to someone taking a statement? That's telling stories. How do you recap an episode of TV or a book you read? That's telling stories. Sure, it's not as flashy and verbose as some written fiction, but it's still telling stories. And you may find that that is a voice you relate to as you're writing. Plenty of authors have a straight forward style. The more you stretch that story telling muscle, the more likely you are to find the rhythm of the story and your voice. If you're finding it difficult or daunting to write down a whole idea at once or you can't find the link between A and D, write down how you would describe it to someone. Nothing ever has to be a final draft, certainly not a first draft.

Similarly, start small. I can't tell you how many of my stories began as single lines of dialog or a quick scene image. It's totally fine to write 50, 100, 200, 300 words because that small aspect interested you. (It's fine to post that! If that's all you want to say or share about it!) I have a whole file of small moments like that, which I go through every now and then to see if the rest of the story has found me yet. Quite often, I think you may find that as you sit with a line or an image for a while, something else is going to slot into place. Maybe not the exact next line, maybe just a plot idea, maybe a character dynamic or new relationship. Let these things come to you. Or write down your idea and then just keep typing, even if it makes no sense. Writing is kind of like fishing sometimes. I just keep casting my hook out and waving the pole around until it catches on something. (You know, how normal people fish) Inspiration is important, but it's not the be-all and end-all of writing. Unfortunately, it's usually just the bait on the line. Writing can be a bit of work. You have to put in the effort after an idea grabs you and you have to keep writing on your own. There is, unfortunately, no divine delivery most of the time.

Inspiration is one of those things that you have to train your brain for. (Seems counterintuitive, I know) But hear me out: in any given day, an author will experience the same sights, sounds, news, movies, songs, and phenomena that every else around them does. Any of those things can trigger you into saying, "wait, this could be a story." I have plenty of posts on here where I talk about AUs based on movies or songs or video games because at the moment it struck me that this situation could be repurposed for a fic or a story. Interacting with other art in the world and learning to recognize tropes, emotional triggers, arcs, plots, conflicts etc etc and then how to play with and break them is definitely one way to train yourself to be open to Inspiration and new ideas.

Once you do have an idea, write it down. I promise you will not remember it, no matter how cool it was. Keep some paper or a designated notes app for these things. Be as thorough or vague as you like. I have so many random lines, character names, AUs, plots, and images saved. Ponder these things, especially if you're really grabbed by one. Think about what you would like to see with it. Who else is filling out the space? What is the end goal? Writing is full of big questions that may be answered easily, may need to be forced through, or may need to sit back and rest for a moment. I wish I had better advice here, but it really is just that sitting with your inspiration for a while can help your ideas so much, especially if you're stuck. Ideas want to talk to you. They (you) just need to find the words.

So inspiration doth strike. Now what? Like I said, now is the work. A whole fic will likely never come to you all at once. Take what you know of the fic-- your lines, your images, your trope etc-- and write them out. Then begin making the connective webs inbetween. This where the verbal story telling comes in. Quick lines often blossom into full scenes. Even if they don't, no biggie. You're learning the story here. You're getting to know it. You wouldn't expect to understand a person fully upon just meeting them. I've even created outlines before with my big ideas, then just kept getting more specific in the subheadings until much of the full plot was there and waiting.

This takes practice. Finding (and trusting) your creative voice is a skill that can be worked out the same as any muscle, but you do have to put in some hard work with slow results. Don't be afraid to backspace or go in a different direction. I can't tell you how many of my stories were supposed to be one thing but ended up going in a completely different direction to great results. Tell It To The Bees was supposed to be a quick, goofy Three (or five) And One story about Bucky getting caught talking to the bees, very silly and light, but once I started writing it, it became such a different story and I think it's so much better for it. Inspiration, imagination, interest, and desire are all working in tandem (or fighting) as you write. Along with learning to be open to inspiration, you must also learn to listen to these instincts as you write. Which really just takes practice and trust. I'm sure you are already in tune with these things inside of you. Let them roam as you write too.

It sounds like your creative voice is awake and kicking! Now it's just about putting in work-- pay attention to the world and art around you, write often and badly and slowly and smally, and figure out what connective webbing looks like for you. Stories really are living things. You have to give them the space, attention, resources, and love to grow, and you have to help them along. Don't be discouraged that you're just beginning this journey but can't sprint to the finish line right now. Writers are also living things, who need space, attention, resources, and love to grow 😊 Just keep writing and taking risks and you'll see a pay off.

Oh! And READ! READ EVERYTHING. Creativity rarely grows in a vacuum. You have to see good art to make good art. You won't know what possibilities are unless you're out seeing what other people are doing. A certain turn of phrase, a camera movement, character interactions, descriptions, these all can inspire you or just give you the knowledge and confidence to grow as a writer. Read everything you want, watch everything you like, listen to music and pay attention to the lyrics or the instrumentals, devour podcasts and news stories, go to art museums and make up stories to go along with the pictures. The whole world is there to teach you and help you grow.

[zhuhongs]

hhhhh so im on a ridiculously long ride home and just my phone so tumblr diary entry time lol. if you have my instagram this will make more sense but yk. anyways. so yesterday was the last day of the semester and i was tbh pretty normal abt it. but leading up to it i was a mess and tbh i think my stomach issues actually came more from the stress of knowing im leaving but the alcohol seemed plausible enough an explanation so i ran with it. but nah i was just. hhhh overwhelmed. bc anytime i was out with ppl it disappeared and as soon i was alone and not busy i was like. oh theres the stomach pain. LOL. but yea. so i decided my going away present to everyone would be a drawing of them plus a message bc like. i always said i liked art but never rlly showed my classmates my art so i was like. welp lets go out with a bang. and it felt good bc i really wanted to do smth like this sooner. my initial plan to make a good impression was to print stickers of my art and put my IG on it and get close to ppl that way. but i was just far too stressed and thought itd be weird. so i just. Didnt. and i regret not putting in enough effort at the beginning. but i also feel like its okay, especially given my upbringing. i needed that time to myself to figure it out, and now i really know that i can just. talk to ppl. and not be afraid. bc the ppl i got closest to were the one i swore would judge me most bc of my own preconceived notions, but i told the the parts of me i hid the most and they accepted it. and could at least sympathize and actually relate and i just. why was i so silly. why was i so mean to myself to be convinced that i was so unacceptable that no one except for those who already knew me could accept me and enjoy my presence? i was so silly. i wont do that again, but if i do, it will still be easier than doing it this time bc I'll recognize the patterns and quickly snap out of it.

in a way, i really do feel like i needed all this time alone to process myself and rlly look myself in the eye and recognize the ways ive lived that i can just stop doing now that i have the freedom to be free of my past. and part of me feels like I'm saying that as copium bc i didnt connect sooner and i possibly could have also had a better time with others and still have come to realize the same things and more through the help and company of others. but i also know that i cant live life always thinking so much. so i just need to live and let the regrets be what they are, and move forwards. but the regrets do indeed linger. like i made the decision not to stay in taiwan. bc of well A. money and B. i felt like if i had more time I'd just fucking waste it like i wasted the first 4 months. i might as well force myself into a corner and see if that would make me do things i was too scared to do otherwise. and like, it worked! i did say fuck it and rlly just let loose bc i was gonna leave but now its worked too well. and like i wish soooo bad that i had those 3 months to fully enjoy every chance working out. Part of me says that its best to leave with that hope. rather than have taken that chance and it fizzled out. the thing keeping me from extending the most was honestly knowing I'd have my birthday there. and i could not take the possibility of spending my birthday alone... i legit couldnt stomach it. in the past i used to spend every bday alone but in recent years ive had a mazing friends that actually made my bday special and i just. I'm so used to having that day be nice that i really couldnt take the possibility of it being awkward. but now i realize that it wouldn't have been like that. it couldve been wonderful. but thats okay, in another life. or maybe a few years. who knows. im considering doing smth like this again in like 2 years after I've worked a bit. i have nothing but time. but man. sometimes i just wonder yk.

and last night i had a rlly good one on one talk with my classmate and that was amazing, but i got home and checked IG like a dumbass and say another group of classmates partying til 3am and i was like.... man i should've done that. but like, logically no. i had a great night regardless and i partied with those classmates last week. ive had my fill, and i had things to do today that i needed to be coherent for. but i couldn't help but thinking what if. and i know its not so easy to kill that voice inside my head. its always gonna be there. its not just me, thats the devil of SNS like instagram. bc you see the best parts of everyone's lives at all times and feel like you're missing out but you're not. you only see a sliver of what it really was..but yea. its okay. I'm still so very young. and i just need to treasure now and take whatever chances i get to nourish the connections i have right now and put yourself out there to make new ones when the chances arise. its okay, there is not life that can be lived without saying goodbye. but damn, yesterday at the school gates two of my classmates hit me with the さよなら and that. man i felt it in that moment. theres so much i wish i couldve said in all that time we had to spend together but i just held my tongue bc i was scared. but this was really playing social interaction on hard mode, like the cultural differences, the language barrier, the introversion, the fact it was my first time on my own fr, just, there were soooo many factors working against me specifically. and fuck man, i still did it. and i am still so young, i really can do whatever i want. it feels so weird. ive only been here 6 months but in a way it feels like this is how its always been. like the fact that im going home feels so strange. like i havent been there in years, i honestly cant fully grasp that im gonna be in a place where i speak the language fluently and am fully aware and familiar with my surroundings. like, why does that feel so odd. it does, i legit dont even know how to feel besides strange. i just have a strange pit in my stomach. but its okay. it will pass as everything does. but these days will always live on inside me as everything does. even if i can't fully recall it. so i just have to keep going as always. god. life is trippy man. but yea. Yea. thats it. i think

[autobot-ratchet]

MTMTE 41-43

MTMTE 41

oh right I forgot about Thunderclash's death scare

Nautica with an entire gaggle of freaks in her room, just freakin it up

“Why is everyone being silly today?” Today???

hdfjsk I forgot that Brainstorm doesn't know how money works

aww Swerve misses Ratchet...

we did it, we finally made exactly one (1) step of progress in the actual quest what with the knights and such

oh right, Roddy's desk doodles that turn out to be a copy of the map that the matrix had, if I remember correctly

oof, Nautica and Firestar are making me have high school flashbacks lmfAO

oh, Thunderclash was also drawing the map. The same map, or part of the map and Roddy's got the other half? Fuck I was almost proud of myself for remembering a minute detail lmfAOsjadfk

I barely remember what these weird little parasite things are, I just remember that they feed of charisma and die immediately when Roddy and Megatron walk into the room lmAO

MTMTE 42

“Oh, and First Aid's there too- the poor man's Ratchet-” don't be fUCKING RUDE, SWERVE LEAVE HIM ALONE

I do find it unbelievably funny that the best way to deal with the Gender Conundrum that Simon Furman forced upon this transformers continuity is to just. Downplay it as much as possible and not make a big deal out of explaining why the robots use more than one set of pronouns, especially since the entire fucking reason we have this problem in the first place is because Furman could not stop himself from making a big deal out of it and creating a lore explanation instead of simply being normal about it lmfAO that's honestly why it matters so much that Anode's explanation for going from he to she was just “I found out that girls exist and thought they were pretty neat,” like that was truly all it took this whole time and Furman never had to do All That Shit

Skids is real sweet with Nautica

Jesus, rip Skystalker. Poor Firestar has clearly never had to deal with this kind of gore before lmAO

Thunderclash's speech here is simultaneously funny because of how overly heroic and perfect he's being and also genuinely touching lmAOgdfjks I am not immune to Thunderclash's pull... “For every act of aggression there are a thousand acts of kindness, for every hateful word, a million declarations of love” is hitting me particularly hard after having been on Twitter for the last few years. Like yeah yeah bird website bad (or I guess it's the letter website now but I'm gonna be real I'm calling it Twitter forever) but like actually, I'm not just dunking on it for laughs, it is a website designed to thrive off of negativity and it is also unfortunately the best social media platform available so it's the only place you can reliably find everyone from all over. So for a lot of us, our only option for keeping in touch with a lot of our friends and peers has just been forcing the most soul-draining bullshit in front of our eyes for years and it's hard not to start thinking that the world is just an inherently awful place, but it's not. We're just being shown so much of the bad at such a constant rate that we forget that there is just as much good, the good isn't an outlier, it's just getting buried by algorithms. It really doesn't help how much other websites are also going down this road of “all attention is good attention and making people upset gets the most attention so we'll just constantly churn out rage bait so our funny little engagement number go up”

like. I'm reading all this explanation on “personality ticks” and thinking back to Ratchet checking everyone for “super scraplets” and First Aid being like “really? That's the best you could come up with?” as if it was too stupid and yet here we are dealing with this

I do love how it was a group of nobodies who saved the day from the charisma-eating parasites, good for them, good to know if all our showoffs can't handle a situation, team nobodies has still got us covered lmAO

aww good for Firestar and Nautica for starting to put in some genuine effort in their relationship

oof hgdjfks and on the other hand we've got Cyclonus and Tailgate not quite putting in enough effort, Getaway has thoroughly sunk his grimy little claws into Tailgate's heart at this point, noooooooo

ooh Swearth is next hell yeah

MTMTE 43

I said it before but I'm still so glad for the new holomatter avatar designs lmAO granted not all of them are winners, I'm gonna be real Rewind's avatar is kinda boring, but they're still leagues better than the old designs

“Bluestreak said you don't look very twenty fifteen-y.” casually crumbles into dust lmfAO this DID come out in 2015 huh... that's almost a decade ago........

this fuckin rendition of the Cheers theme, fuck off lmAO

oh that's right, First Aid had to go do combiner shit for a minute lmAO

it's weird seeing all the human-sized holomatter avatars next to Rodimus, I frequently forget the robots are giant since it's mostly just them interacting with each other

I do think it's interesting that Swerve's avatar gets split into three different facets of himself, I've said “we stan a multitalented king” but I guess we're taking that to its extreme here huh lmAO

god. I hate that I still find Roddy's holomatter avatar hot lmfAO I am forever afflicted with this curse. I wanna run my fingers through his stupid mullet

gonna be real, Bluestreak is kind of a random pull for this issue but I appreciate it nonetheless because his avatar is very cute

aww Skids... come on buddy it's not your fault you couldn't have known anything was wrong

man, poor Swerve. I fuckin get it though, I didn't quite get as bad as almost dying, but being covid-conscious plus a bunch of personal losses and tragedies have left me rotting in my house for years and all that lack of self care left me with three kidney stones, one of which was so intensely painful it traumatized me into taking better care of myself last year and the other two I've been battling as I've done this reread. Shit's rough and it is so easy to not take proper care of yourself when you're too physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained

still so funny that all the Swerve recap pages were just canon, like no this is plot relevant, remember these

something something meta commentary on how MTMTE, much like the sitcoms Swerve loves so much, is also a story about misfits and failures who are trapped with each other and get on each others nerves but they overcome various obstacles and, in the end, they come to like each other. I don't have the brain power right now to do it justice but yeah, that is absolutely what this comic is to me, same hat Swerve

I really do like that Cyclonus likes Swerve, I definitely noticed at least a couple little background moments throughout the comic with them interacting and I love that it culminates into this moment where Cyclonus can just come out and say it

uuuuuUUUGHGFSND that little group picture with Ambulon, Ratchet, and First Aid still kicks my ass

oh shit that's right, the bullet that was a message from Dominus, I completely fucking forgot

[doomhole]

Day 1: Sisyphus, meet Boulder.

So; this is day 1 of me putting in *some* effort towards improving my art. Decided to do one of those figure drawing exercises where they show you photos of people and you have to sketch them in 30 seconds.

You know how people often say "oh, I cannot even draw a stickman!!" and it's meant as a vaguely self-deprecating hyperbole?

Yeah.

I cannot even draw a stickman. Not a hyperbole.

Now, if I was fully dedicated to displaying art misery and *only* art misery, I would end the post here and just... not confess the following bit of embarrassment. But after 15 minutes of torturously trying to sketch things in 30 seconds, I... discovered that this website had a tutorial. Where they explain you what the actual goal you should accomplish in a 30 second sketch actually is.

Are my stickmen still bad? OF COURSE. DUH. YES.

But with the tutorial guidance, the exercise felt less like waterboarding myself and more like just... a normal level of being bad at something. Like, knowing what I was *supposed* to accomplish actually helped, not to make my sketches better, but to make making them just a little less of an exercise in pure masochism.

Will this make me a better artist? Let's be real here, probably not. It takes about 30 years of regular, daily practice to become an artist, and that's assuming what I'm doing *counts* as practice.

I'm about 20 years behind on most people who do art in my age group. But here's the thing. Time is gonna pass anyway, and I'm gonna be miserable about not knowing how to draw anyway. I might as well be miserable about my art skills *while drawing* so when people ask me "but have you practiced?" I can go YES, YES, FUCKING YES!! LOOK AT THIS ARCHIVE OF SHIT AND DRIVEL! I'VE BEEN PRACTICING FOREVER TO NO EFFECT, PLEASE JUST LET ME BE SAD OK??!!

You could say that this elaborate self torture is an investment in future pity parties. Anyway, have a final shitty stickman.

See you tomorrow, I guess?

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Alright, @lavose asked, so allow me to elaborate, here goes.

First a little context: At my school what they call a “focus” in Rainbow High, we called a “specialty”, so I’ll probably use the two more or less interchangeably. I personally started out as a video arts specialty and then switched to theater arts from junior year on. There was no such thing as a double-focus at my high school.

For my privacy, I’m not gonna give any details like name or location of the school I went to.

Also, I’m ignoring the stuff in the show that obviously wasn’t meant to be realistic, like the multiple elaborate scavenger hunts, and artistic feats that defy the laws of physics.

With that out of the way, I’m gonna start first with what they got right.

(Continued below the cut ‘cause I have a lot to say)

1) The student aesthetics.

I know the reason is because it’s based on a series of fashion dolls, but actually the wide variety of unique and specific fashions the students of all focuses wear is definitely accurate to arts high school. Not only with their clothes, either. At my school, more students had dyed hair than didn’t (mine was, and still is, bright red), so the wild hair colors and makeup designs are very accurate to a real arts high school.

Usually you’d notice it most the first couple of weeks to months before the burnout started to set in and people didn’t have the energy to put more effort into their appearance than jeans and a hoodie, but there were always a handful of kids that were really dedicated to upholding their aesthetic throughout the year. You also start to notice a lot less makeup and a lot more roots showing by the end of first quarter. However Rainbow High is a boarding school, so the students there packed only their best and favorite clothes when they went to live at the dorms and were probably regretting the amount of effort they inadvertently forced themselves to put in by the end of first quarter lmao.

2) The waitlist

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the waitlist was huge at my school. There was usually only about three or four students across all the specialties that were able to transfer in after the school year started because someone moved unexpectedly or had to drop out, or just decided they didn’t want to go anymore. I don’t think it was ever because of an expulsion though, not while I was attending, at least.

I was never on the wait list (mostly because video didn’t get as many applicants as other specialties), but my older sister went to the same school as me, as a digital arts specialty, and she was initially waitlisted, although she got off the waitlist before the school year started and was thrilled. She ran all around the house, absolutely giddy, when she got the letter saying her enrollment went through. She was normal about it by the time the school year started, but the handful of waitlisted students who got in after the school years started were always just super happy to be there.

However, I still don’t really get how a set-design student being expelled resulted in a fashion design student being bumped up from the waitlist, since the vacancy would have been in the set-design class and not just in that particular fashion show project group, but whatever.

3) Student art displayed all over the place

My school had murals, painted picnic benches, all the pillars were painted, chalk drawing on the sidewalks when the visual fine arts students did their chalk art unit, student-made posters hung all over the place. It was a very colorful place.

Whenever a students art was featured in a magazine, showcase, newspaper, community performance, &c., there was something about it up on the billboards. The school love to take credit for our success by showing it off, even if it had nothing to do with the school lol, but it was cool to see how many students were doing cool stuff.

4) Students working in the halls during class

I don’t think any of the arts classes even used hall passes, certainly neither of the ones I was in did. In video, if you wanted to leave the classroom, whether it was for a project or not, all you had to do was check out a camera and go. In theater, as long as you had a script in hand and were muttering to yourself you wouldn’t get in trouble. None of the teachers would stop you if they saw that you were carrying art supplies—camera, sketchbook, script, drawing tablet, what-have-you.

We took advantage of this regularly. Oftentimes we were actually out of the classroom to work on projects, but just as often we were ditching, and having a camera and tripod made us immune to consequences.

5) The pressure

A lot of the time, arts high school was fun and chill, but when crunch time came, the pressure was ON. For visual arts students, it was approaching deadlines. For performing arts students, it was tech week. But no matter your specialty, you were not exempt from the pressure of having to complete and polish a massive artistic project.

6) The football team hasn’t been good in 20 years

I don’t think I have to explain this one. Art students suck as sports. When they were talking about the school’s team not winning a game in 20 years I genuinely laughed so hard I teared up, that’s so accurate and so fucking funny. I don’t know why we even had sports teams.

Section 2–things that weren’t at my school, but that I can totally accept as differing school managerial styles and the fact that Rainbow High is a private school that obviously has a vastly higher budget than the arts high school I went to.

1) Integration between focuses

There wasn’t a lot of mixing specialties at my school. It wasn’t unheard of; for example, when I was in video, we did a joint project with the dance specialty where we filmed dance music videos to teach us to properly edit video with complex motion and rhythm. And in theater, we had the digital arts students design all our posters (although it was an optional extra-credit assignment for the digital arts kids).

At Rainbow High, the students have projects that integrate all of the focuses, having them contribute their specialties toward that project which is actually really cool, and doing that by dividing the students into dedicated groups with which they will do all their integrated projects throughout the year is a good way to do it.

2) Fashion design, accessory design, set-design, and cosmetology focuses.

If there had been a fashion design specialty at my sister would not have applied for digital art lmao. Because of the aforementioned “not as much funding as Rainbow High” thing, the school I went to didn’t have as many different specialties as RH has focuses. And none of them were explicitly fashion related. Set-design was enfolded within the theater specialty as was costume design, which is kind a like fashion design.

Personally, I don’t see why fashion and accessory design are separate focuses in RH (like I said, theater arts was also costume design and set design, and it was stage-lighting and sound design. Also, video arts was script-writing, set lighting, and sound-mixing, in addition to video editing and special effects. Photography also taught staging, and digital arts was also photo-editing and animation. I don’t really know about the other specialties, but I’m sure they taught beyond their individual scope). I’m willing to suspend my disbelief, however, considering it’s a show based on a line of fashion dolls.

3) Students actually caring about school publications

I don’t think there has ever been a high school where the students have two shits about what was printed in the school paper. I’m willing to ignore that because the RH school magazine is apparently circulated outside of just the school, and notably to RH alumni, many of whom are purportedly wildly successful in their respective artistic fields, so I guess I can understand how a student might be excited to get a feature. With the “no photographing student work” rule, being featured in the school magazine may be the only way for them to be considered for third-party opportunities. (But I’ll get to that later)

4) Double-focusing

I mentioned this earlier on, but my school didn’t do double-focusing. If a student wanted to take on another specialty, they would have to quit the one they were currently in. RH is much better funded and managed, though, so it makes sense that they would give their students the option to do that if they felt up to the challenge.

Now for section three—Things they got wrong

This is where it gets sort of critical, so if you only want to read me singing RH’s praises, read no further.

1) They apparently don’t know the distinction between categories of art.

In the very beginning they say that it’s specifically a “visual arts” high school, but there’s a music focus and a theater focus even though those are performing arts??? And Fashion design, which seems to be their main draw, is a textile art???

It hasn’t been mentioned to the point where I’ve watched in the show, but the doll I have is apparently a creative writing focus, even though that’s also not a visual art, it’s a literary art. But she’s technically Shadow High so maybe it’s different. (Side note, my school also didn’t offer a creative writing specialty, but if it had, that’s the one I would have applied for from the get-go, that’s part of why I wanted that particular doll so much—that, and she has safety-pin hair clips, which is just too cute)

2) Their use of the term “mixed media”

The thing about that is… mixed media is not a type of art. It is a method by which you can do any kind of art.

For example, a live-action video that incorporates still images, animated VFX, and background music is mixed media. A painting that uses a mix of watercolors and acrylic paints is mixed media. Literally every musical is mixed media because it combines both acting, dancing, and music/song.

In fact, students learning how to use various mixed-media techniques within their own specialty was like, one of the biggest parts of what we did in arts school. So I was very confused when RH referred to having a mixed media specialty because??? Almost everything these students do is mixed media?????

Close as I can tell, what RH absurdly calls the “mixed media” focus is what we called the “visual fine arts” specialty, or VFA for short. VFA refers to painting, drawing, sculpture—basically visual fine arts refers to everything people traditionally think of when someone says “art” and doesn’t specify what kind. It’s also commonly referred to as “traditional art”.

3) General education classes

An arts-oriented high school is still a high school, and it’s still required to teach gen ed classes. RH probably left them out because they didn’t think math and history were interesting or relevant to the story, which I get, but they still gotta do PE.

The thing about gen Ed classes at an arts high school, though, is that they have arts integration. In my school it was only the humanities classes that did this, and math and science was boring and dumb. But history, English, and foreign languages all had arts integration. They would use visual aids, mixed media presentations and lectures, and many of the assignments including all the major projects and finals had an artistic element.

For example, we read Hamlet in my English class senior year and one of the music kids created an 8-minute score to represent Hamlet’s slow decent into madness for his final project in that unit. I did a dramatic reading of one of Hamlet’s monologues. One of the VFA kids did a series of story-board style illustrations of a scene. Another one did a single, movie-poster style drawing featuring all the major characters.

So yeah, I see why the omitted the gen ed classes from the RH show, but I need you to know that they are still a thing in arts high schools, they’re just better than what you had :P

4) “a bad rehearsal means a bad show”

The worse the last rehearsal goes, the better the first show goes??? Everyone knows that. I don’t know what they were on about when the teacher said this line. It was disproven immediately because their show went amazing.

5) “Everything I make at Rainbow High is student work, and photographing student work is against the rules” —character who later gets expelled for breaking that rule.

This just straight up doesn’t make any sense, logically or logistically. It’s completely ridiculous. And I am going to explain why in great detail. Starting with:

A) You’re telling me a “visual arts high school” doesn’t have a photography focus??? Because unlike fashion design, photography actually is a visual art, and if there is a photography focus then you absolutely cannot enforce a “no photographing student work” rule without completely stymieing that whole department. But maybe that’s why there’s no photography focus, which brings me to:

B) There is a video focus! You’re telling me Violet going around live-streaming 24/7 doesn’t count for some reason??? Even if she doesn’t film during class there’s no way in hell she’s not catching student work in the background of her shots in the hallways. I can think of like six occasions when she should have been expelled for “photographing student work” and I’ve only seen like six episodes so far.

C) The school magazine not only took a bunch of photos of student work, but also published them in a more-or-less publicly available format. What, that doesn’t count??? Bella got expelled over this, but it’s just fine for the school magazine to do??

D) The whole purpose of high school is to encourage students to succeed in the future and preventing them from sharing their work with third parties to get things like internships completely defeats the purpose of that. Like, I mentioned before about the billboards that always bragged about students getting featured in showcases, and landing rolls in community theater productions, right? That’s the kind of good press a school like Rainbow High would not only want, but need if it wants to maintain its prestige.

You don’t keep your enrollment up based solely on what your alumni do, you want to show that your students are achieving things even before they graduate. I knew a music student who, at seventeen, composed professional scores for an indie film studio. One of my friends in VFA was recently featured in a corporate sponsored showcase and made a good chunk of prize money from it. One of my video classmates had a successful YouTube channel with something like 100k followers by sophomore year, and he was featured in the school paper for it (not that anyone reads the school paper).

Basically like 10-20% of assignments (depending on the specialty), were specifically to create entries for art contests, or submissions for relevant internship opportunities. (My theater class won gold for a one-act we performed at a competitive theater festival).

It doesn’t make any sense for a high school to forbid photographing student work and in doing so prevent students from getting opportunities like that.

E) The rule is transparently based on the doll designers experiences working with exploitative capitalist toy companies, and the rocky origin of MGA (the company that makes Rainbow High dolls), and not based on any realistic high school experience.

If you didn’t know, MGA’s first doll line was Bratz, and the original creator of Bratz worked for Mattel before quitting to start his own company. When Bratz got popular, however, Mattel tried to sue him for the rights, claiming that he’d started designing Bratz while he was working for Mattel, and according to his contract, all ideas that he worked on as an employee of their company, even in his off hours, belonged to them.

There was a huge, messy court case. His original argument was that he worked on Bratz off the clock, but Mattel was having none of that and insisted that his work was theirs and him marketing and selling it without their say-so was illegal. Mattel initially won, if I recall correctly, and completely shut down the Bratz doll line out of spite.

But there was an appeal after he found proof that he had pitched the idea to Mattel before quitting to start his own company, and they had completely refused it, saying it didn’t match their brand or something and told him to stop working on it, after which he quit. Bratz dolls are now back on shelves, and MGA has also started to produce new doll lines, like Rainbow High, Shadow High, and LOL OMG dolls. (I’m recounting this all from memory so take it with a grain of salt, because I probably got some details wrong, and I can’t remember the guy’s name, either)

Finally, section four—nitpicky complaints.

This section is, arguably, overly critical, so if you don’t want to read your favorite show getting bashed, read no further.

1) Jade’s dress in the fashion show

I know I said I would disregard the artistic feats that defy the laws of physics but Jade’s skirt in that fashion show was NOT made of lightning, fuck you. Not only is that impossible but she would be so electrocuted.

No. Just. No.

2) They’re not graded on laundry

It was just one line, but one girl said they’re not graded on laundry and like… why not???

Especially fashion students. They could absolutely be graded on their ability to properly launder a variety of fabrics and garments without damaging them?? That’s like a major element of the job??

3) Violet is not an artist.

This one sounds really harsh, and I fully acknowledge that, but I stand by it. As a former video arts student, fuck RH, Violet is not an artist.

Filming everything you do and altering almost nothing in editing is NOT video art.

She’s never shown doing significant editing, adding music or special effects, or even doing anything remotely creative with her filmmaking at all. She doesn’t do stage lighting except for the single ring light on her selfie stick, she only uses one type of framing, which I shouldn’t have to tell you is absolutely pitiful from a filmmaking perspective, and she doesn’t even really use any cinematic techniques like camera movement, shot distances, or focus.

She just films. She doesn’t even demonstrate the slightest comprehension of how to film in landscape instead of portrait. Especially compared to the impressive feats her friends did to get into RH, she’s nothing.

If anything what she does is performance art, but tbh I don’t personally think what Violet does qualifies as a creative focus at all. She’s not doing anything creative, original, or even noteworthy and, in my opinion, she’s not an artist.

She’s an insufferable tiktokker taking advantage of her friends’ good will and kind natures. Shes obviously manipulative toward Sunny in particular, and she has no respect at all for her friends’ boundaries.

Recently got into Rainbow High for some reason and let me tell you, watching the show as someone who actually went to an arts-oriented high school in real life is fucking Wild.

[theminecraftbox]

ELABORATE ON THE CARDS

/dsmp /rp

(Based on this!)

“There’s—there’s nothing to elaborate on,” grumbles Dream. “I just think card games are dumb! What, am I not allowed to have opinions now?”

Techno, unruffled, shrugs. “Sure, man. Don’t see why you had to throw my whole deck in the lava, though. I spent ages drawing the queens, bro, ages.”

“They were stick figures! With triangles for dresses!”

“You’re forgettin’ the painstaking effort I put into the crowns.”

“Which were also triangles!”

“No, they were sets of three triangles,” Techno replies serenely. “It was a labor of love.”

“Whatever,” scoffs Dream, and he crosses his arms and turns away again, drawing his knees up to his chest and hunching his shoulders.

Techno isn’t the best at reading social cues, but he’d like to think he knows his roommate’s tells pretty well at this point—well enough, at least, to pick up on when Dream’s planning to retreat into his own head.

“Look, man,” says Techno, “not twisting your arm here or anythin’, but—I mean, I’m about to design my next tour de force. Are there other games you, uh, think are dumb? For absolutely normal and mundane reasons that are unrelated to any hypothetical trauma or traumas. Hypothetically.”

Dream picks his head up to glare at him, which Techno is totally willing to take as a win.

“What,” he snipes, “are you the—the games police now? Gonna interrogate me about all the, the—anything I don’t like?”

Techno wrinkles his nose. “Actually, and I don’t know if you know this, but I’m pretty anti-police. It’s kind of a whole thing with me, Dream. It’s kind of a whole thing.”

Dream makes a noise that Techno generously decides is a laugh. He buries his face again.

Techno takes a deep breath. “Bro, I’m not gonna, like, use it against you. You can tell me if you want, it’s fine.”

“Just tell me, it’s fiiiine,” Dream mocks. He stares at Techno venomously. “You sound like Sam.”

“That’s very hurtful,” Techno says mildly. “I’m hurt. Nay. Wounded.”

Dream stares at him a second longer. Sometimes, Techno thinks, dealing with Dream is like dealing with an injured cat: as liable to scratch as to accept help; as liable to run as to scratch. All Techno can do is extend the offer and see if it will be accepted.

“Dice,” Dream says, after a long moment. His hand traces absently at a ringed series of scars on his elbow. “I, I don’t—I don’t want to play dice. And no—no betting.”

“Pog, pog,” says Techno. He flips his book open to a fresh page. “How do you feel about… Scrabble?”

Dream groans loudly, dramatically throwing his head back against the chest. “Oh my god. You know how I feel about Scrabble! You know what—I take it back, I take it back, I want to play cards!”

Techno hides a grin.