#i could design that .. i have the power ...

[wanologic]

and they were roommates

[hinamie]

took 3 tries but i think i am finally free of korra plagiarism in yuuji's water tribe design

jjk atla!au with @philosophiums

[vela-pulsars]

not enough stonjourner art out there

[puppyeared]

meow

[pbnmj]

i deserve a spider-woman nepal..... miles doesn't have to be the only teen spider with a terrible bisexual mentor (enter my own sketches of the world's most annoying spiderperson, who i fling towards pavitr, complete with a design that's subject to change)

[feroluce]

So I spoke somewhat about my thoughts on Emanator Sampo here, but I never really thought of it from a design point of view or what kind of powers he would have until just recently. But I actually kind of love leaning into it from a "stage hand" perspective?

Because like. Aha's body in THEIR official art is completely black, giving attention to all the fun brightly colored things around THEM. And that's so fitting for Sampo! He usually prefers to be a side character. He likes to act from the shadows. His is a much more subtle hand.

So I wonder if as an Emanator, a lot of his clothes are actually very dark? Not necessarily plain, still extravagant and needlessly detailed in things like cut and quality with lots of different fabrics and textures and ornamentation, but dark. Or maybe even his skin itself becomes blackened further down his body; his hands in particular are dark, as a sort of sleight of hand reference.

The motif of a lot of straps wrapped around him like in his canon design is still present, but they're all loose and flowing off of him like paper streamers now instead of restraining him or holding him together. He is no longer contained! Or maybe they're still a bit more rigid/heavy, but just draped more like red stage curtains!

And this is like. Fully self-indulgent, but I love inhuman designs, and there's nothing in canon to say I can't do this, so screw it! Go for broke!! Maybe it's not visible to normal people, but Sampo having a second set of arms would be really cool, as further sleight of hand reference. One set is almost normal looking, but his hands are a bright, attention-drawing white, and the other is dark, set almost in the shadows of the first arms, to act less noticeably.

He also has something of a broken heart design to him in canon (the front of his black shirt with its jagged shape down the middle; his coat looks like a full heart shape in the back), and I actually like him keeping that element as an Emanator, because I think it suits him. Sampo says his taste in aesthetics and views on Elation involve human dignity,

and the story he helps create in Belobog involves the long and winding road of resistance and survival and eventual triumph in the face of some very adverse, oppressing odds. (I'm pretty sure I heard he once called Wildfire "artless" though, plus the man acts like he thinks Shame is some kind of dessert, so like ndkdjzjskkd) But the point being!!

I think Sampo is someone who can appreciate heartbreak and angst and tragedy in a story, because it makes the victory at the end all the sweeter. And this would be another thing he shares with Aha, because I think THEY did bless the Mourning Actors partly just to be a little shit, but also because Aha does recognize tragedy as part of THEIR Path, too, and you can see it in some of the game. So a broken heart motif can still suit him, and I like him having elements of both comedy and tragedy. Like his clothing having a happy sun/sad moon (like the moon in Aha's art) or him having both of the traditional comedy/tragedy masks in his design.

And as Emanator, Sampo can maybe play with the stage settings environment, too. Like lights sometimes behave strangely around him, appearing blindingly bright to someone or dramatically dark. Sampo wills it and suddenly there seems to be a metaphorical spotlight right where he wants everyone to look. And when he doesn't want to be noticed, his face seems to be cast in shadow, he seemingly just fades into the background, no one notices or recognizes him and he sneaks away easily. He can create smoke or fog literally out of thin air without his bombs now, too, the air will just suddenly thicken until his stage is obscured, and Sampo can set the scene as he pleases or disappear without a trace.

And in line with being a stage hand, Sampo can direct attention like no other. He was already extremely good at this as a normal mortal, and becoming an Emanator only took it up to 11, past human limits. Sampo points, and all present feel compelled to follow his fingertip. He looks away, and they all follow his gaze. He can even affect the mood of an audience; he can influence everyone to be calm and placid or he can whip them into a feverish frenzy. Sometimes a crowd will start to become unsettled, agitation stirring until it boils over, until it incites a full on violent mob.

And in the middle of all that chaos will stand one perfectly calm figure, face cast in shadow, until they quietly slip away out of sight.

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

tbh i think that even unwinnable fights should be winnable. some of the BEST fights i've ever run as a dm were ones i built kill the players (in a fun way. I had some cutscenes prepped so even the loss would be a different flavour of win)- but then they were clever bastards and managed to either win the fights or pull themselves out of trouble. I think it's perfectly fine to plan for a fight that players aren't supposed to win, but you need to let them. if they can't win, they can't lose, and the meaning of that encounter is diminished. do that too many times, and they stop trusting you to give them roleplay prompts and start expecting to sit there waiting while you drive the story for them.

but if they can win... if there is always the chance to win, no matter how impossible the odds, then they ALWAYS have hope. they always get invested. they feel the big emotions of success or the big emotions of failure, and you fucking Win as a dm/roleplay prompter/lead bastard.

[al-luviec]

These are going to be very inconsistent ...

[elv-arts]

(ID in alt text)

Just some doodles of an attempt at a gravity falls transformers au thing.

Notes from my notes app under the read more

Stan + Ford emerged on pre-war cybertron and were originally trained by mentor Fibrick and his assisstant + conjunx Caryn as merchants/factory workers?? Shermie was another trainee who was pretty close to them, but at a different point in training.

They were almost identical. Stanford was created with a "defective" protoform. As a result his hands each have 6 fingers. While they could be replaced, they are otherwise pretty good quality so it would have been a waste of resources.

While the Stan twins were young, they found an old crashed ship and dreamed of fixing it up and ditching their home planet to explore the galaxy.

Ford gets noticed by an actual prominent scientist, who might actually give him a chance to move up in the world if he pulls off his current project. We know how that works out.

Stan gets caught up in shady underground shit + off-world criminal circles trying to figure things out on his own. Once the war started, made enemies with rogue cons. Remained a "neutral" party - enough bots + cons wanted him dead already. Went through so many identities + alt modes.

Ford manages to squeeze his way into a not-so-prestigious school of sciences. He's hard headed and argued pretty well for the benefits of a specific course in his line of work. Meets Fiddleford, a scrap processing bot from off-world in a similar situation, pursuing engineering. Immediately become friends + have eachother's backs. Keep proving themselves again + again, climbing their way into areas of study they were told they'd never touch.

Fiddleford becomes a successful engineer and settles into his new role.

Ford continues his studies, but the war starts and things are really heating up. Eventually heads out to a distant planet with organic life and some weird phenomena to conduct research, and winds up in gravity falls. Fidds leaves his conjunx and apprentice to help Ford as soon as he calls. Understandably they're not pleased given the circumstances.

And the rest is history.

Dipper and Mabel are young and emerged on a recovering post-war cybertron(?). One of their supervisors was mentored by Shermie so heard about Stanford's upward success back in the day. Pulling old favours, sent them to "Stanford" on earth to learn from him for a short while. Thought it would also be a good opportunity for them to see more of the galaxy + gain experience while still having someone keep an eye on them.

[cowboyskeletons]

[**VINE BOOM**]

[potatobugz]

important development: horns and tails

[zecoritheweirdone]

eyyyy,, guess who's been drawing more of that hc x msa au?

been making a lot of scene redraws/edits for the past few days,, buuut i'm not quite done with them yet,, so i'll prolly share them another time. until then- here's a lil pearl design! mostly made these to finalize her design,, since the next scene i'm doing involves lewis,, sksnsks.

[agentc0rn]

Interesting character parallels in designs...

I shared a story on insta about some patterns I noticed in the designs of characters I like, one of which is based on their hairstyles covering one of their eyes; this can be usually be seen as a visual hint to their secrets/hidden lore, which then my wonderful mutual @//dorianbrightmusic noted that:

"It's always a combination of them having seen too much and them having something to hide from the common view - skeletons in the closet. The characters always seem to be leaving something supernatural and once beloved - for Volo, the celestica clan + heritage; for AZ, his royal power; Arven, his connection to the professors. The covered eye (almost) always symbolizes a change of life direction".

I told my mutual that I never thought about the having seen too much part before in relation to their designs. Subsequently, I added that all of these three characters are wearing pretty big and heavy bags/backpacks, which implicates the heavy weight of the burden they bear hidden from plain view both in literal and figurative terms. Additionally, two are shown with one hand grasping the straps, suggests, espeically once you learn their story, they cling earnestly to something of significant value they had lost/seek to find, or alternatively, not being able to let go of the past that haunts them.

Now, putting a quick disclaimer, this is just our interpretations and not some confirmed, "objective" statements and such.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

gonna need a shaker charm of erik in the plastic cube actually

[frankenfossil]

you're never going to be the most popular magical girl when your colour is orange

cassidy from sleepless domain

[bassicallymaestra]

My Hogwarts Legacy MC ✨Serena Kosmos ✨