#i drew the comic right after finishing that episode

[teshiee]

unbelievable!! its been a full year since i made this blog

i commemorate with grian art i never posted 🎉🎉

[kabr0ztrousers]

Kabr0z Writes Episode 3: A very bad idea, part 1

Find yesterday's entry here

CWs: usual gratuitous sex scene; demon summoning; serious dubcon, probably noncon when you think about it; heavy cumflation; horror themes; hyper-genitals; it's a lot today, folks

Author's note: Jesus H Christ this one got away from me. It gets good after about halfway but I feel like I spent too long setting up. Ah well, live and learn. I'm also trying something a little new where I'm linking the next few episodes together, so this one, episode 4, and episode 5 will follow on from one another.

There's basically no plot, so do what you want with that, but it's a fun thought.

With that aside, enjoy!

##########################################

It was a bit of a tradition now, whenever Heather was in town you'd get the lowest-rated book on a topic from the internet and take the piss out of it over a few bottles of your favourite red wine. Well, this week the wheel had spun, and landed on Demonology as a topic.

You thought about just saying screw it, and choosing another, but as you browsed the web for a terrible book, you saw it: "My First Book of Shadows" by Creedle and Crabnuts. The store listing alone was comical, from the pictures it looked like it had been printed out at home, badly trimmed to size and haphazardly stapled together. It was perfect. Two minutes later, and £5 lighter, it was on its way, predicted to arrive a couple of nights before her.

You leafed through the book when it arrived, barely a magazine really, and saw it contained what purported to be step-by-step directions to call forth a denizen of Hell, including a list of materials and guides to pronounce the chants.

Something about it... It called to you.

You don't know what came over you, but before you knew it you were walking around the high street, gathering incense sticks, candles, chalk, and a razor-sharp knife.

Heather arrived at your door on Friday evening, you had the house to yourself until at least Sunday afternoon and so we're busy in the living room. Your hands were covered in chalk dust in shades of white, blue, purple and red. The incense smoke was already filling the whole house with heady aromas of bergamot, cloves, camphor and myrrh.

She knocked again, snapping you out of your reverie. Still dressed in your dressing gown (robes are expensive, it turns out) you flung open the door and hugged your friend tight. "I have a surprise for you!"

"What? You've had the place fumigated?" Heather laughed, her voice lilting and sweet in the chill of the fading light.

"Better, come and see" you grabbed her by the hand and took her into the room where your circle lay, half finished, on the laminate floor

"Taken up a cult?" Heather's laughter hadn't stopped yet, then she saw the book open on the floor "Or started without me?" Mock-pouting now as she opened a bottle and started to pour the wine

You lent Heather your other bathrobe and as she pulled it on you couldn't help but see a small pile of her other clothes in the corner. Was she wearing anything under there? You guessed it fits the theme, and you'd been half hoping tonight would take that turn anyway, so you didn't say anything.

Together, you worked on the circle, both on hands and knees to trace the delicate runes and lines onto the ground. A few times Heather's gown rode up and the sight of her pink lower lips told you that, yes, she was completely naked under there.

You finished up, and knelt at opposite sides of the floor, gazing into the circle you'd drawn. Maybe a little smudged in places, but you weren't expecting anything to really happen as you recited the chants. The unfamiliar words felt strange to get your mouth around. As you came to the last few syllables you could have sworn the candles flickered, the incense grew more intense, the chalk lines began to smoulder. You raised the knife in your right hand and drew the point across your left.

That's when you realised your mistake.

The first drops of blood began to boil on your palm. The room became hot, and dry, like a desert wind blowing in your face. Gone were the scents of the incense, replaced with the smell of hot metal, searing meat, ozone, blood.

A noise, somehow the opposite of a bang. A dazzling flash. The guttering candles now ablaze and belching thick, black smoke that billowed down their sides like tar. You could see the fear in Heather's eyes, but neither of you could move. You were transfixed by what had appeared in the centre of the circle.

Too tall, too skinny, it hovered 6 inches off the ground. Spindly legs, 4 spindly arms, pencil-necked and sharp faced. Bald and with curved metal shards forming a shattered halo above its head. It blinked its four angular eyes and spoke with a voice that somehow echoed before you heard it

"Hail! I am Simizel! Viscount of the pit of Ashen Despair, Lord Commander of the seventeenth regiment of the Damned. Who are you to call me?"

You struggled to make any noise, throat dry and gasping for air. Simizel looked around at both of you, then down at the circle below him. "Wait, that's not right" he mused, "That's nonsense, that's spelled wrong, that's right, but in the wrong place, and..."

He looked at you

"It's a little irregular to ask, but what binding spell did you two use?" He was still looking at the ground quizzically as you rose to your feet

"Binding spell?" You croaked, eyes streaming

"Yes, to bind me, you know, so I don't just kill you both and go home?"

His eyes widened and his mouth grew into a wide smirk as he realised what had happened. He reached for the crumpled and charring pamphlet on the floor and skimmed it.

His smirk turned to a chuckle, then a laugh, then a cackle

"By my name! Someone thought they were very clever, didn't they?" He either couldn't disguise his mirth, or wasn't trying very hard "You just copied out any old rubbish and slit yourself open!"

A wave of his hand. You and Heather were floating in front of him now. "I haven't been amused like this in centuries. For being such fun, I'll give you girls some gifts"

He flicked his wrist and both of your gowns burned away, leaving you naked and glistening with sweat and fear

"First, if you want to try this again in the future, do it properly." He gestures at the book and it burns away, replaced with a wax-sealed scroll "That will summon an old friend of mine, just break the seal, read the words, and out he will come"

"Next, I'll make sure I don't leave behind any cambions" His clawed fingers etched patterns into your and Heather's skin. You tried to struggle against the pain, but your body was under his spell. In a few moments of etching, he had carved glowing sigils into the flesh just above each of your pubic bones.

He smiled, almost warmly, "Knowledge, and a boon, normally gifts like these would cost a soul, but I feel generous tonight, so I will simply take my fill of your bodies."

The spell keeping you aloft broke, and you dropped to the floor in a heap. You looked up at him and wondered how you could have missed it: between his pale thighs hung a pendulous, rapidly hardening cock. Your belly began to ache and your mouth water. What had come over you?

You started to crawl over to him, dimly aware Heather was doing the same next to you. Reaching up for this amazing rod as it grew longer and thicker than any human would have, flared at the head like a horse's and knotted at the base. You weren't sure how it was going to fit inside you

You knew you were going to make it.

You started kissing the end, as Heather began sucking on his gravid balls, each one the size of a grapefruit. Simizel cradled your face in his hand, fingers still bloody from marking you, then lifted you up with a gesture.

Upside-down now, you could see a rope of glittering precum hanging from his cock as it pulsed against your lips. You held out your tongue to try and taste it.

As soon as your lips parted it was in your mouth. You felt like your jaw would break. You didn't care. His tongue was at your pussy, licking your clit furiously and making you shake. You tensed up as you came, hips bucking against his face.

He pushed you down. The too-thick cock forcing its way down your throat and making you gag. You couldn't breathe. You still didn't care. You didn't care as you felt somehow even more tongues at your clit, invading your pussy, pushing into your asshole

He started thrusting. You felt as though you could split in half. Some dark power was keeping you conscious as you felt the end of his cock moving up and down in your belly. The thrusting got harder and faster until the knot was driven past your lips and started swelling in your mouth.

His tongues were still at your cunt. Your body squeezing against him as repeated orgasms rocked you. You could feel yourself squirting fluid into his face as he fucked your mouth open even wider

His cock must have been in your stomach now, bottoming out and stuck in you. You could feel it pulsing and could see his balls pumping in front of your face as your belly began to swell with the volume of fluid gushing into you. You tried to scream, in pain, in ecstasy, you're not sure, but the vast mass stuffed inside you prevented any sound escaping.

Heather was still cradling his balls in her hands as she kissed you, licking the base of his cock where it was jammed into your face, tasting where his fluids were leaking out of the sides of your mouth. Her eyes were empty but for lust as she rubbed her hands over her clit, her hips bucking erratically

The knot began to loosen and pull away from you. You felt hands on your hips lifting you from the demonic shaft as it pumped ever more into you, until it slipped free. You saw it hang, still pumping potent demon-seed and painting your friend's naked body in sticky, viscous white as she screamed her way to another full-body orgasm.

The world came back into relief and you realised you were panting and moaning, the tongues bringing you to your peak again and again. Pain rocked your body in between waves of pleasure as you came over and over, cum leaking from your mouth and throat as Heather stood below.

The demon wasted no time, repositioning himself under the two of you on the floor, one pair of impossibly strong hands on your hips as you rode his face, the other positioning your friend's ass over his impossible cock, still leaking and pulsing.

You heard her gasp and call out as it entered her ass, stretching her out and filling her immediately. Again and again he pushed in, her belly growing larger and larger with the size of him and the fluids he emitted. Your orgasmic cried mingled as your mind blanked and you passed out.

You don't know how long it was having its way with Heather, but when you came to you were lay on the floor watching it pull out of her pussy, her ass and throat leaking fluids and her gurgling moans of pleasure filling your ears.

Simizel looked at you and you wordlessly rolled onto your back, legs opened for him. He strode over to you, leaving your friend lying on her side in a pool of his semen and her own squirt.

He loomed over you and pressed himself against your aching hole. You gasped as it pushed in, stretching you around its immense girth. He was at your cervix already, and showed no signs of stopping. You screamed out as it pushed deeper in, lubricating its movement with a neverending stream of thick cum. Your eyes rolling as your orgasm rocked you again and again until he was again at the hilt. You weren't sure how much longer you could take it as he pumped litre after litre into you, the fluids spraying out of you even despite the knot holding him into you.

You passed out again.

This time you woke up and he was gone. Heather was where he left her. Sunlight was starting to eke in through the drawn curtains. You felt your belly, round and full, it sloshed around as you moved towards the bathroom to expel as much of the spunk left in your ass and your cramping womb as you could.

As you stood you felt the mark he left on your skin, it wasn't glowing now but still remained, red and cauterised by the heat of his claws.

You heard movement, Heather was awake and groaning. Her eyes met yours. They were still empty, there wasn't anything there but lurid desire. Your heart dropped as you lamented what he had done to her, before you realised where she was moving to

The scroll

She broke the wax and opened the paper before you could reach her on your shaking legs. She read the words and the walls began to shift.

A purple light suffused the room

You weren't done yet.

[twiniverse]

So here's the thing.

I'm jealous of other creators. Surpassing me in likes, comments, follows... getting recognition, getting all kinds of kick ass fan projects... and I hate being jealous, because there's no reason to be. All of my issues boil down to 'I would be more popular if I tried with my art and posted more often.' That's 100% on me and has nothing to do with other creators!

That's it. That's all I have to do. And I would like to begin actually trying on this comic more after. But now we get to THE THING. The early comics are bad. Like, really bad. Because I didn't care! I just wanted to get the story out and move on. But the beginning comics are supposed to draw in your audience. Seeing just a bunch of blobs with no real effort put into them... that's a turn off. I wouldn't read a comic like that!

SO. I'm going to be redoing a lot of them. Maybe all of them, maybe not Mirror Gem and Desert Dance because those are both decent... We'll see. I'm still going to try to do actual story updates. If all goes to plan I will alternate between an actual new episode and redraws of the old ones. Of course some of the old ones are really small updates, so I can knock out more of those in a shorter amount of time.

I'm just asking that you all bare with me here. I know this is frustrating, waiting all this time between updates just for me to go back and redraw a bunch of stuff I already drew... but I think this is what I need to do to be happy with myself. Because right now, I'm not. I'm disappointed. I know I can do better, I've been proving that for years with various other works I've done. And Twiniverse deserves better.

So, yeah, that's the thing.

I hope you all keep sticking around, and I'll try to be more attentive and definitely try to update way more often. I know it doesn't seem like I've been working much, but I've actually been finishing the references for almost every major non-human character. Gonna do the humans, too, at some point. So I've been hardcore focusing on the designs. I know you don't get to see them yet, but I just need you to know I AM working on this comic all the time in various ways.

I'm also jealous of Chekhov's dog. I love Wensy so fucking much.

[flymetosnarryland]

I am miserable, lol 😵

Some time ago I started writing story for a comic. I drew couple pages, couple are wips and waiting for being finished. However, in the process of planning next events I found out that I want to do something more with it. The story slightly changed. A week ago I woke up with new idea for the part that was missing and the story turned a bit darker. I liked it.

Yesterday, after sleeping (for the first time for a long time, gosh) twelve hours, my brain decided to bless me and gave me that insane kick to write almost whole outline. I continued today but, imagine this, I am suffering after looking at the end result, lol. It's... what. the. fuck. I wanted this story to be angsty and bloody. Paritally I think I managed to do it, although there are parts that... I just can't cope with my brain, shite. There are moments which gives you the feeling of a comedy. Like... I mean... I just… I CAN'T THROW THEM AWAY. Just can't. It's so stupid. It's such a potato story. It supposed to be good written scenario and, you know, serious and all, but it's damn stupid. I like it and I don't like it. I feel like I should delete it and forget. This mix of trauma and bad shite sprinkled with fluff and episodes that makes me laugh is something that shouldn’t work together. But on the other hand... I never thought I will write something with "powerful" Harry. I like him being normal, you know, “just Harry” not the bloody (and I mean the real blood) Master of Death, whose life changed from one day to another and he is helpless and… sweet but tormented in a way? This is fucking ridiculous. I can’t. This story is a Frankenstein. Post-war, VampireAU by the way (because I always wanted – very discreetly – write something about freaking vampires, fuck). Last assignment evolved into weird shite.

I really feel like this pic right now:

Thank you, brain, very much.

[latibulater]

The Venture Bros Rewatch Notes: the terrible secret of turtle bay

The art style is just different enough to be really weird yet interesting to watch

I honestly hadn't finished this episode till today bc I couldn't get over how bad the writing was for the opening scene in japan

Doc pops pills ALL the time it's practically a conversation closer for him

The intro to Brock being framed like how Dr. Girlfriend is framed in the yard sale episode: as sultry sex appeal - whoever drew that had an understanding. Also his tiny little jean shorts? Jesus

Brock really just not giving a shit and not caring what Doc is telling him is so funny. And between the mummy and the gator just how easy is it to

I love his little green shirt I think it's cute. Also the way this show is SO OLD the lines honestly look a little glitchy

I seriously don't understand how the Monarch can afford all the henchmen and the cocoon and everything like ik they say he had the fitzcarraldo trust fund but how much fucking money was in there? a hundred million in 80s money?

Between the U Ray and removing all of Scamps skin....which......BARF..... Doc seems to be, not smarter, but actually accomplishing things? he doesn't seem as adrift and like he can't finish anything

Billy Pete and Richard are all at the UN why are Billy and Pete there besides to look gay

The comic book 60s batman affect of brock punching people is hilarious and so old school

I loved the gag of the henchmen in the fake meteor getting trapped and dying on the lawn. Honestly the Monarch was so funny he shot the cabbie, the cop, and when he was out of darts he responded totally normal like to the homeless man. And his wings getting stuck in the train was so funny

The sex worker honestly was hilarious she was so nice and the scene at the end between her and brock is actually really charming

The ninja ceo being a technology fetishist is hilarious

INCREDIBLY racist episode overall somehow it has a gift in being able to pack the most offense into a single line, so even though the racism only is blatant a few times it does set the tone for the whole show. Makes me remember how in the butterglider episode brock is leading black pirates in chains. And the fact that the episode right after this is the one in Mexico? Like, hammer and publick reeeeally went hard on using racist tropes as comedy in the beginning huh

[phoenike]

ao3 meme

Thanks for tagging me @natsora, I'm going to try and answer this to see if it cheers me up a bit. Don't feel like much of a writer right now tbh. To start with a sob story, I've been super sick with the worst flu in at least 30 years, nearly sent me to emergency when the pain in my throat wouldn't let me drink. After 10 days I'm still feeling rather weak. Add to that how an old friend of mine passed away about 6 weeks ago, and it's safe to say I haven't felt very creative as of late.

I really don't feel like bothering anyone by tagging them. Whoever sees this, please consider yourself tagged whether we're mutuals or not, and do tag me back if you'd like.

How many works do you have on AO3?

A grand total of 23. Over time, I've orphaned and removed a handful of stories.

What’s your total word count?

539,434

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Size of Perfection (Captain America) 4019

The Leonardo Effect (Assassin's Creed 2) 2421

Unresolved (Mass Effect Andromeda) 1080

That Which Remains (Detroit Become Human) 768

Fragile (Mass Effect 2) 712

Do you respond to comments? Why/Why not?

I respond to all comments left on works in progress. Feedback is so incredibly precious at that point. It's a bit more difficult to find the spoons to reply to comments left on older works, but they still mean a lot.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

A couple of my fics (The Leonardo Effect, Fragile) have epilogues that make the endings bittersweet. My current WIP The Edge of Memory is going to end bittersweetly as well. But I don't think any of these can be called angsty or unhappy in a real sense.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have what I consider HEAs? I suppose I like to instill a little more realism than some other writers. Still, people do get together and the implication is that they stay that way. (Incidentally, I'm still sad that I never finished the wedding epilogue I had in the works for That Which Remains.)

Do you write crossovers?

No

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Years ago I got some not so glowing comments about consent issues in my fics, despite always picking the "author chose not to use archive warnings" category. I've gotten more careful about tagging since then. But the only true hate I can recall receiving was from a certain rather infamous character on ff.net who 'reviewed' TLE and basically accused me of pedophilia because a 17-yo apprentice had a one-sided crush on Leonardo. It was what finally made me stop posting on ff.net.

Do you write smut?

Against my better judgment, yes.

Have you ever co-written a fic?

No

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Whatever I'm currently writing for.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish don’t think you ever will?

My only ever AU, Innamorarmi (AC2), which I finally deemed perpetually unfinished last year and concluded with a chapter that contained an outline for the remaining story.

What are your writing strengths?

This question reminds me painfully of being in a job interview, but I've gotten some nice feedback over the years about my dialog, characterization and descriptions.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Simply getting the words out. Other than a passing episode of inspiration every once in a blue moon, I've always been a slow writer. Also, I tend to put characters in situations that don't create a lot of forward momentum. Mostly they just sit around and talk.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

The occasional expression or short sentence is fine. As long as the writing flows, I don't think the reader always needs to understand every single word.

What’s the first fandom you wrote for?

I wonder if the Donald Duck comics I drew as a little kid count? I suppose the first real piece of fanfic I wrote was for Polidori's The Vampyre in the 90's, it's actually up on AO3. Another really old one was for Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock, on AO3 as well. Whether these can be considered written for a fandom is a different matter. The first 'real' fandoms I wrote for were Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet, but want to?

There have been some characters I desperately wanted to write for but never found an idea that would have kept me going past the beginning. The latest one was The Emperor from Baldur's Gate 3.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written?

My favorite tends to be whatever I'm working on at the moment, but if I had to choose between finished stories, I might pick That Which Remains and The Offer, possibly for no other reason than that they are more recent than others and my skills as a writer have improved. I've gotten a bit better about feelings of crushing self-criticism towards finished stories, but it's something I still struggle with from time to time.

[fantasy-drawings-ra]

Here are some miscellaneous fanart sketches I’ve made over the past few months some dating back to November. (I might post all the oc art I’ve made over the same amount of time hopeful soon.)

I hope you like them!

Drawing description with bonus notes: (all of them are in drawn in pencil. I thought I should also mention that as well. ☺️)

Image 1 - is Princess Peach from the new Princess Peach Showtime sporting her new ribbon instead of her crown looking to the viewer at a 3/4 angle and shot. She is turned to our left and has her hands pushed flat together up in an excited or hopeful manner with a warm smile. She’s also in her signature outfit. (I’ve just been really excited for this game and wanted to draw her I tried swordfighter peach first and then normal but neither looked as good as I was hoping. But I’m happy this one at least looks nice! ☺️👍)

Image 2 - Is Mitsumi Iwakura from Skip and Loafer where her eyes are looking over her shoulder at a 3/4 angle headshot in the direction of our right. With a big smile wearing her uniform.

(It’s a really cute show and has made its way up to one of my Favorite shows to watch now. I would really recommend it!)

Image 3 - Is Lotte Jansson from Little Witch Academia. Where she is looking over her shoulder with her head fully turned to the right and her body slightly to the left. It is a headshot at a 3/4 angle also wearing the robe from the show.

(Also a very fun and a comforting show to watch especially with some episodes being really enjoyable to rematch and two special/movies? I wasn’t sure who to draw at first and maybe I’ll draw the rest of the cast in the future but I remember drawing this after rewatching it and feeling comforted when I was really feeling down a few months ago.)

Image 4 - is based on the Steven Universe comic draw your comfort characters meme with Descole and Kuromi I drew a month ago. Where Descole is looking down to our right downtrodden in his full Descole outfit (cloak, boa, hat, mask), . 3/4 angle with Kuromi looking vaguely into the distance with her little hand on his arm. Her height is about around his upper arm. The caption is:

Kuromi “I think we’re going to kill this guy Des.”

Desmond “Damn!”

Image 5 - is of Zelkov from Fire Emblem Engage. It isn’t much just a 3/4 angle shot looking to our right with his eyes slightly down with a neutral/ slightly curious expression. From head to the neck. I might finish it at a later date.

(But I wanted to draw him after seeing a funny out of context Zelkov moments video on YouTube and then all of his supports with the characters and just really liking his character. Like what a funny guy and his line deliveries are just ✨👌 extraordinary!)

Image 6 - is Clark Kent from My Adventures with Superman. He is looking hopeful with his head facing to the left over his shoulder, he’s stops from walking to the right. From head to waist shot, 3/4 angle. Wearing his sweater vest and shirt combo and his signature glasses.

(Drew this back in maybe December? When I watching this and it was a really cute show, it was a nice superman adaptation and I like his dynamic with the cast so I tried my hand at drawing him.)

End of description

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 2 Ramble#6 - Just Jump In! ver.2

This month’s episode is about Shueisha publishing company's JUMP magazine line. you can use the link above or check the link in my bio to listen on other platforms 🍻

first some bare bones Jump basics:

What is JUMP? - JUMP is a magazine line with hella content for hella demographics and for the record they're not all comics, shueisha is actually a pretty diverse publishing company

Today though, we'll only be looking at two of their products. the Weekly Shonen Jump(WSJ) magazine, in print since 1968 with a main target audience of young boys, shonen literally being japanese for young boy, as well as their SHONEN JUMP+ app, which first launched in 2014 and has a main target audience of older adolescent lads.. The original + app is in Japanese as far as I understand but they released a follow up in 2019 simply called MANGA+.. also even though they have "main" target audiences they both have works that try to appeal to wider demographics + things sometimes move between lines or even appear on both at the same time.

This month I purposefully read manga from different time periods which gave rise to one mini section and three main sections which i’ll describe as I get to them

NOW JUMPING RIGHT IN!

New Manga Read This Month

mini section

Was this axed? Why was this axed?:

top 1

Magu chan: god of destruction(Kei Kamiki, 2020, 78 chapters)

this story follows the main heroine ruru after she finds and accidently unseals the now weakened god of destruction mag MENUek. not the best art or really the deepest characters but it's a gag manga. actually didn't think I'd enjoy this at all but it's pretty funny, got a lot of genuine hearty laughs pretty much every chapter... (pretty decent run at 78 chapters but after I finished I couldn't believe it got axed, definitely would've liked more but ironically it probably got axed because of folks like me...)

honourable mentions:

hell warden higuma, ginka & gluna, neolation

Ok so "main" sections now, starting with

Way Way Back (1960s - 1980s):

top 1

Mazinger Z (Gou Nagai,1972, 33 chapters)[Devilman Crybaby]

The story here is our mc, KOUji KAbuto, has a genius grandad who built the most powerful robot ever, Mazinger Z, but he dies in a sudden devastating earthquake before he can teach him how to use it. The only thing he's able to tell him before he passes is that with the robot comes power and with that power comes a choice, to be a god that saves humanity or a devil that destroys the earth.

Right off the bat the art wasn’t anything great or even particularly good but with really old stuff, especially things aimed at children, I think simpler art styles are to be expected. I did really like the robot designs tho, nothing too slick or fancy but they had an old quaint vibe like awww look at what grandpa drew…

The characters weren’t much either, as I said stupid simple story, giant robots doing cool giant robot stuff, so most of what would be the story of most characters was already in their designs like you see the main character and know they're the main character because he has that cool spiky cyborg 009 hairstyle etc.

not much more to say, kinda funny, surprisingly bloody given my perception of the time period and what I thought their perception of media was, especially media intended for kids.. but yh,, the whole manga can be summed up with giant robots have always been pretty cool… grain of salt though for those who plan to check it out, yes I thought it an enjoyable read but it was really only my top 1 because I could pretty much only find two things to read from this time period as the older manga are almost impossible to find on the internet.

honourable mention:

Dr.Slump (Akira Toriyama , 1980, 236 chapters)

Wasn't That Just The Other Day? (1990s - 2010s):

top 1

Bakuman(Oh! Great, 2008, 176 chapters)

Actually not my first time trying this, started back in hs but stopped for reasons I can't recall, I only remember thinking it was excellent which makes it all the more confusing but in any case I started over from the jump and I'm really glad I did.

This is a manga about making manga. I'm telling you man these Japanese dudes will make a manga about anything. trust.. Anyways the story here follows two main characters Mashiro and Takagi, and starts with them about to enter highschool. Takagi is the smartest in school since day one, expected to excel in life, and Mashiro has nothing. no goals or ambitions. he's just trying to come to terms with the mundane normalcy of life and society's expectations of what that should looks like. one day Mashiro leaves a book at school and Takagi, who unbeknownst to anyone is an aspiring writer, finds it full of amazing art and begs him to team up and make manga… Will they make it? and what exactly does it take to make it anyways? what even is "it"? (find out next time on read the manga and see!!)

Two things initially pulled me all those years ago, one, was a morbid curiosity, like I just couldn't fathom a manga about making manga being good in an entertaining way. like yh it's probably mad educational and it was, but as much as you can learn from any media the main reason I'm reading manga is to be entertained. two, oh! great did death note and again I just couldn't fathom the jump from mystery thriller about police vs death gods to this but man did they pull it off in style

First thing first the art was phenomenal as those familiar with oh! great works would expect. and I have to be clear, when I say oh! great does great art I mean Takeshi Obata does great art. oh! great is a duo between him and Tsugumi Ooba who did an equally good job on the story. like he basically showed us how the proverbial sausage is made without making us disinterested in the sausage. It actually instilled such a deeper appreciation for the process that I feel like all manga I read after this will be that much more enriching. especially shonen as the different creators in story debate and create what they think the genre should look like.

Great cast of characters, funny, serious, rivals, people you hated, people you loved, great sub plots that had them all interacting in a nice dynamic way, like it didn't feel like the two mcs were the cause and effect of everything. Great pacing as well as we get to see their journey from just trying something in highschool to getting their foot in the door in later years and so on. didn't feel rushed or dragged, it was nice to see a lot of the little ups and downs of life instead of just a cycle between highlights and rock bottoms.

I have to give fair warning and say it's pretty text heavy. even for something that's not kick and punch cause most of the time they're plotting out some manga or something but Obata really does a great job here making good use of panels and even speech bubble placement so it never really feels crowded unless it's meant to illustrate something like an argument or so. it also helped that despite his usual pretty realistic art style, he allowed characters to be toony when needed to lighten the mood or heighten some expression in just the right way

Honestly it's still so crazy that they pulled it off and pulled it off so well. I think ultimately it was the humanity of it that really tied everything together,, like yh they're manga artist but they're human first, and it's their human experiences that in the end feed into the art.

Talked a lot on this one.. that's why it was top 1 ig.. as usual I don't think I can speak enough to why exactly it's so great but yh… definitely highly recommend even if only out of morbid curiosity like you're thinking,, no way a manga about making manga is good. it is.

honourable mentions:

level e (Yoshihiro Togashi, 1995, 16 chapters),

Cowa!(Akira Toriyama, 1997, 14 chapters)

Hoshin Engi (...lol not that honourable ig)

...also just want to squeeze in that I actually tried bobobobo and wow… my brain may never recover…

What's Up Today? (2010s - present)

top 1

Astra Lost in Space (Kenta Shinohara on story & art, 2016, 53 chapters)

9 kids are brought to a nearby planet for a routine unsupervised camping trip as part of their highschool graduation. The future is wild. As plot convenience would have it, something goes wrong and they end up stranded in space. A rough enough situation on its own, but to make matters worse, the group finds signs that what happened was no accident and that the perpetrator is still among them..

Honestly a simple setup and premise, literally Lost but in space… not that I've actually watched lost but yh. anyways for as simple as the plot is the entire story wrapped up in 53 chapters anyways and they honestly squeezed every drop out of it that they could. What really stood out to me was how balanced it all felt.

As in the premise of being intentionally stranded is by no means unique but I feel like a lot of the media I've consumed around that tend to lean into one aspect more than others, like it becomes mostly about the mystery trying to find "whodunnit", or the focus becomes the sense of adventure, exploring the unknown and all that oor,, how it goes more commonly, in my experience at least, is a portrayal of the harshness of survival in the physical or mental sense.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that btw, the premise of being lost is used in many genres and it's up to the author to decide how much they want to lean into any genre. for example drifting net cafe, suicide island and dragon head are some lost horror type beats I've read, enjoyed and would definitely recommend.

In any case as I was saying about Astra lost in space, cause that's what I should be talking about here… is I loved how balanced it all was. Yes they're stranded and have to survive but it's not so overbearing that we can't take in the adventure of the unknown and yes we're seeing all these cool sights and different hypothetical evolutionary paths in space but also let's all be aware that one of us is probably plotting a murder yk? what tied this all up were the characters themselves like they felt really natural, yh a lot was going on but they're still just kids and they were sent out for a camping trip in the first place so come hell or high water they were gonna have some amount of fun or die trying. not that everyone was always on the same page and they didn't have disagreements and drama and so on but their individual quirks and character traits converged and diverged masterfully for a beautiful dynamic between the cast amongst themselves, and between the cast and their environment.

great cast and direction as I said, pretty standard art, nothing too crazy but it did what it needed to do, I also liked the little 4 panel bonus comics they did every now and then as well, all in all a pretty great read with some pretty neat twists I won't even allude to for fear of spoilers, especially for how short it was but yh, astra lost in space top 1 new read this month…

honourable mentions:

Akane Banashi(Yuuki SUEnaga doing the story & Takamasa Moue on art, 2022, ongoing 71 chapters)

'Tis time for "torture" princess ( Robinson haruhara on story and hirakei on art, 2019, ongoing 196 chapters)

Sakamoto Days(Yuuto Suzuki , 2020, ongoing 128 chapters),

ok now we're heading into

Manga Read Before This Month

(here I'll give less detail cause I would have mentioned a few of these repeatedly before + I want more of the shine on newer stuff tbh)

mini section

Was this axed? Why was this axed?:

top 1

Psyren(Toshiaki lwashiro, 2007, 151 chapters)

people are going missing and a secret society called psyren seems to be responsible. won't go farther than that but will say it's held up as one of the best shonen works I've ever read since the first time I read it in like 9 or 10th grade. still in disbelief that it was canceled cause you can barely tell when you read it. it's only after I finished it and was looking into some things I realised.

honourable mentions:

ayashimon, phantom seer, black torch

main sections

way way back (1960s - 80s):

top 1

Dragon Ball(Akira Toriyama, 520 chapters,1984)

don't think I need to say much here but I mention the sandwich of technique in the episode.

honourable mentions:

JJBA part1-3, Saint Seiya, city hunter

wasn't that just the other day (1990s - 2010s)

top 1

Rookies(Morita Masanori, 1998, 233 chapters)

delinquent baseball, real heartwarming story, great art cast and pacing, masanori really takes the cake when it comes to the delinquent aesthetic but yh… was my #2 in s1 ramble 12 & #3 in s1 ramble 1

honourable mentions:

eyeshield 21, slam dunk, Yu yu hakusho

what's up today? (2010s - present)

chainsaw man (tatsuki fujimoto, 2018, 137 ongoing)

look at the title lol

honourable mentions

fire punch, Tokyo ghoul series, My hero academia

other folks to check out on twitter:

https://twitter.com/KushiKuritikaru?t=2Tn-79ub0XyUqWM3XgEFWA&s=09

https://twitter.com/manga_crash?t=FzKQrpvb_rFwxHIe13Sqbw&s=09

then as usual I do a little part 2 where I ramble a bit 😅

thanks for reading so far, hope there's something that caught your fancy 🍻🍻🍻

[the-gifts-he-has-given-me]

A little comic I drew (but never actually finished, sorry) several years back, right after I realized that Melchior in "The Star" was totally based on Bernard. And since that episode is literally made for Epiphany, I figured I'd go ahead and post it!

Also, that album was, like, MASSIVE content with these two, and not just them as them either! The friendship dynamic between them of "I do not like you, but I will help you with this, and okay maybe I like you a little, shut up" carries over into so many episodes. Whether they're being them, or they're playing characters in a radio production, or one of them is literally somebody in the past and/or Whit's program. They are friends even when they're not both them, and I love it.

Transcript (and some expansion based on what I was planning on doing) after the cut:

Panel 1: Eugene (in his Biblical attire) giving a sideways glance to Melchior, who is looking the other way

Panel 2: while Melchior inspects a scroll or other parchment, Eugene gets this look of slightly annoyed determination

Panel 3: Eugene whips out his glasses while Melchior shields his eyes and stares at the sky

Panel 4: Eugene puts on his glasses and peers closely at Melchior, who (still shielding his eyes) looks straight ahead and frowns

Panel 5: (M) *wheeling on the startled Eugene*WHAT DO YOU WANT?!

Panel 6: (E) *looking remorsefully embarrassed (and much too short, sorry) while Melchior folds his arms and scowls* Nothing, Melchior. I-I apologize if I distracted you.

Panel 7: (M) *pointing to his own head and throwing out one arm* "DISTRACTED"? You were staring at me as if the Star itself had sprouted on my forehead! (E) *chuckling as he does, still looking too short* Oh, no, no, perish the thought!

Panel 8: (E) *gesturing in explanation, now the proper height* I was merely attempting to more clearly assess your features, because-- (M) *unimpressed* Because what?

Panel 9: (E) Because... *glances down, now mouthless for some reason* Well...

Panel 10: *looks up with a shrug and a little smile* ...Because you remind me of one of my closest friends.

Panel 11: (M) *closeup, looking (I hope) particularly like Bernard* ...Oh?

From there, I'd planned on having Eugene attempt to explain what he believes the situation to be (with Mr. Whittaker's programming of the Imagination Station), while Melchior is... very confused. But despite Eugene's half-monologue, he's grumblingly friendly and offers to help him mount the camel. Maybe Eugene starts to thank him, but he's like, "ah, no, you can express your thanks by not expressing it." At which Eugene kinda smiles (sounds familiar, huh?). In the last panel, Melchior would yell from offscreen, "And you can show me how those ocular devices work!" or something like that.

It's kinda funny, honestly. A little different than how I'd write it nowadays but I had a bunch of that kind of thing in my church bulletin doodles, back in the day.

[ownerofthisaccount]

Hello again everyone! This was probably not the next part you hoped for but I hope I can explain well.

@raisans-art has made some really good AUs, such as the Human Illusion Au. One of them is the Chimera Emmet Au where Emmet is captured and experimented on, turning him into Agee after being fused with his Pokémon. Those who watched episode 4 of Fullmetal Alchemist are getting flashbacks

Well, they made a quick sketch of if Ingo was the one turned, called Chei, and I made a drawing for that afterwards because I have enjoyed both designs. As a child I loved transformations and stories of experiment or body horror, so that’s probably a factor. I later drew a mini comic for it detailing how the first night would go down, as well as a side comic of ghost Emmet. I made hints that a part two would come, and even released a WIP of one of the images. Well…I can’t say it won’t ever happen, perhaps months later, but I don’t think I will finish it right now(most of the betas were deleted anyway, either on purpose for space or by accident because of fat fingers). I have Aspergers, and I can hyperfixate on things. This can be for weeks, months, years, even forever in a couple cases. Chimera Emmet happened to be one of those(the twins are still an interest, but I got into several AUs based on them because of it) and I been seeing it since it’s early stages when Emmet was still himself in there. I just didn’t have the courage to fanart it till Chei came out as I love both but lean more to drawing Ingo. I have really enjoyed drawing the two and seeing their interactions, how this bad end line would go, and mentally thinking up things. It was also nice to see other people’s excitement over this and sees their asks created more drawings and pieces. Not recently I’ve been feeling the start of the interest drop. I hate when this happens because you love the thing but you can feel yourself slowly drift from it and it…sucks. I have the outlines ready to be draw but not the push or energy to complete it. I did managed to finish one, being a drawing of the remaining four Pokémon and Pels going to Juniper and Drayden, but unfortunately this was one of the ones that got accidentally deleted and I can’t recover it(which was possibly another push). On top of that I have actually started doing commissions, and being these and the two projects I’m working on(my graphic novel and my favorite list), Ive been a bit drained myself. I have betas for a couple though that were detailed enough to be salvageable, so I won’t put them to waste.

This was supposed to be Chei reading the floor apology made by Agee, anxiously waiting for a response.

This one was supposed to be Ingo’s spirit sensing something wrong, while Agee comforts a weakened Chei while they think of a way to escape.

And my personal favorite, Ingo’s spirit panicking while Emmet’s spirit starts trying to piece together what happened while wishing he was still alive because Chei and Agee would make for an interesting double battle duo(even in death he thinks of battle strategies)

It saddens me to not have full pictures to share, but I won’t leave you empty handed. I’ll share what I was thinking up if I made the final two parts: so after the first night, Chei wakes up to find a poorly drawn apology on the floor from Agee, who still feels guilty for hurting their friend(and shocked when they see Chei is healed) by accident. Though not fully forgiving yet, Chei accepts the apology and slowly starts being less cautious around Agee. Eventually this comes to head when Agee protects Chei from a threat(most likely the scientists) which fully gains the latter’s trust so the two begin to become friends. During this the remaining four mons meet up with Pels(given this Au has mostly the same beginning, Pels still tagged along and escaped the scientists during the chaos that was capturing Ingo) and reluctantly decide the best course of action is to try to tell others, as they feel with Pels with the they could possibly convince someone. Ingo and Emmet’s souls are in limbo, not having moved on due to the circumstances of their deaths(I headcanoned in my ghost Emmet comic that he couldn’t move on until he knew that Ingo was alright and moving forward, so here the two likely wouldn’t till they both pieced together what happened and got justice for the experiments) watch as time pass and the fusions truly become family. However Ingo senses something is amiss and sure enough Chei is growing weaker. Unlike Agee, Chei is an unstable fusion due to the damage before the experiment. Agee colors dull in these bad conditions but Chei’s body and especially souls struggle to handle it, and start to unravel. Agee refuses to let his buddy die and decide to work with Chei to try to escape. That would’ve been part two. The final part would’ve been Chei and Agee combining their moves(multi train style) to break through the glass and begin and escape. They start breaking out everyone and fighting back the scientists when Chei grows too weak to fight and Agee protects him. Before they can be detained, Rescue arrive with the remaining Pokémon, Pels, and the humans fighting to incapacitate the scientists. Chei is wary around them since trust issues, but Agee is grateful for their help and lifts Chei onto his back to carry him. Once the scientists are defeated. The others help Agee out getting everyone outside where the chimera lays Chei down. The fusion would’ve curled up under a tree with Agee and the others by, leaving it ambiguous if Chei was getting better and healing, or peacefully passing away in a nicer area that wasn’t a cell. The final frame would’ve been the twins, now satisfied the experiments were freed and given justice, walking off into the afterlife together. Not a perfect story but I had fun with it. Now…I did prepare something to give you a nugget anyway:

And here it is! Marshrill design was recently released and as someone who loves and theorize the twins becoming Pokémon, this was certainly up my alley and I had to draw at least a quick sketch. Hopefully it makes up for no huge comic update.

But anyway, final huge props to @raisans-art again and I hope you all still enjoyed this. Thank you all, and have a great rest of your day

[mrfandomgage]

So, way back when in 2015, Undertale came out, right? I was 13-14, but if I remember right, I was in Middle School, and one of my friends made an OC for it. I didn't know what it was so I asked about it, and I vaguely remembered Markiplier's first 2 episodes on it, before the fans harassed him into streaming the entire game. I wondered why Mark didn't play it, but I heard JackSepticEye played it, and because I was a kid without money, of course I watched him play it.

After watching Jack's playthrough, I fell in love, and basically watched everything I could about it. Learning all its lore, watching fan dubs of comics, wondering why Sr Pelo made that April Fools Genocide route (this is before I knew how Subtitles worked, and JFC when I learned that a lot of content creators were being harassed I got upset). I joined fan groups, joined Amino (hell hole), drew shitty art (I do leagues better than my old art, still shit tho), and because I loved AUs and lacked art skills, I started writing more often because of it. Hell, "Mr Fandom" was a name I made up because I was into Undertale, FNAF, My... that one I don't like talking about, but I wanted to express my interests in everything and embrace it. Gage Fandom as a name and character came later.

I have so many positive experiences with Undertale and its community, not to say it's all sunshine, but it definitely helped me out a bit. So why am I tired of it? Simple. I was obsessed with it since I was 13-14. A lot of my thoughts and ideas were about Undertale, I am 21 now and edging towards 22. I once was talking to my little sibling, and they called it a Hyper fixation, I found that wrong, because this wasn't a short term thing like those can be, I've been into this thing for nearly 9 years now. I'm just growing tired of thinking about it all the time. Don't get me wrong, if you wanna know anything about Undertale, one of the many games in my life that made me a furry, I can still recall most of it's lore, if something is only fanon or canon, if it's a myth, or even those messages Toby Fox made for when people inevitably shared them on the internet, good going Toby, you made a game interesting that the secrets that say people wouldn't be impressed with if they were put on the internet, people were legitimately impressed and made animations about that, good on.

I will tell you, Undertale is a fantastic game, it inspired me to write stories and even to an extent practice drawing (tho I definitely started drawing more when I got into HomeStuck around 2018, and I definitely started taking my own artwork a bit more seriously after accepting I'm a furry). I may have a hard time ever finishing a story I write, but I got into it because of Undertale and its writing.

Oh, and let's not forget Deltarune. I love it for some of the same reasons I do Undertale, Character writing is one of my favorite subjects (this is Kinda why I like Homestuck, a lot of characters are well written, even if also as much aren't, lol). Yes this is why most of my writings on this blog are of characters talking to each other, I'm primarily practicing Dialogue and trying to get to a point where it feels natural.

I love Undertale. I do not want to think about Undertale for a while.

[bvannn]

Weekly Update December 20, 2024

I don’t know how I’m doing, I’m all over the place. I’m still trying to get work done but I’m not really adhering to a schedule. I’m also a little drunk right now so can’t really summarize well anyway. I’m gonna throw a cut on this one because I’m probably gonna ramble. I did a lot of work though!

Music: the main thing holding me back on music is getting visuals done, and my patience for vocaloid tuning. This week I drew assets for BATB’s visual, so theoretically I can get a lyric video for that ready and release it some time next week. Will I? Depends on motivation. I do still have a finished lyric video for the Blow Off Steam re-edit, but I want to release one more original before I post that. Either BATB or LF. I did the bulk of tuning for LF today, the main challenge is probably going to be getting the growl to work. That’s going to depend on which voice I use, since the Kagamines growl just fine, but right now I’m honestly thinking about sticking with VY1. The version of VY1 I have is VY1 lite, which I don’t actually know what version she is, but I believe she’s based on VY1V3, because I can’t hear her growl. So I have to use vocascreamer. Good news is I found a way to sidechain it, so I have more control over it, which is great.

I also got past a really big roadblock on the runner-up cover, BGCS, and am now getting a VSQX made, that will probably be a Wil song. The VSQX will take a bit longer than the others since it is a Japanese song, so I don’t know which syllables to drop. The last of the three covers from the poll, CM, also had its MIDI recorded, so I will finish that once BGCS is done.

Last notes on music in addition to getting the BATB visual mostly finished I also got thumbnails sketched for a couple others, including some instrumentals. I have a few miscellaneous ones I wrote on whims that I might release all with the same art as like an anthology ‘album’ or something. The big thing as far as visuals go is I *believe* I have finished the visuals for that little animation one I was working on, so I can sit down and plug those into animate and after effects any time and get that done. Again it depends on my patience. Anyway point is lots of things are coming to fruition or close to coming to fruition.

Comic: was not as big a priority this week unfortunately, I meant to do all the sketching for page 15 tonight but only got around half done. It should be a quicker one, though. Fortelling has been wonderful for writing on other things that needed to be taken care of, O’Malley almost has all 16 episodes synopsies figured out, with episode 2 outlined and episode 3 about half outlined. Backstage is also finally shaping up in terms of structure, with more scenes and ideas actually forming into episode concepts finally, and the pilot 2/3 outlined. Speaking of Fortelling…

I don’t remember if I mentioned this last week or only started this week, but I do have a script going for an epithet erased TTRPG character building tutorial video. Right now I’m aiming for 20-25 minutes, which I think is pretty reasonable, and right now I’m on course for that. I do need to edit down the blurb on all the settings, and write the example characters segments, but I think it should be pretty quick. Especially since I can use visuals from the show and wikis and can limit my own drawings.

And also on the topic of the epithet erased TTRPG I finally sat down and did more map stuff. Drawing objects, especially in pixel art, is really annoying so I’m kinda procrastinating on it a bit, but I finally made and decorated the last stage 1 map, finished up the assets for the stage 2 maps and started making those. I was a little ambitious with some of the ideas I had for maps and tokens, some of which being partially animated, but I believe I have figured out how to get the animated map I want working for stage 2, and got an animated token for stage 2 done. I haven’t been doing tokens chronologically, so once I’ve finished off the ones I have sketched I’ll try to go back to the list and get the rest of stage 1 done. With maybe a fun one from a later stage every once in a while as a treat.

The other thing I’m messing with a little bit is some more animation things. Therunawayguys are back, and I’m considering doing a little animation, now that I actually know what I’m doing in flash, but the first order of business is fixing their gross suboptimal rigs. I opened up Tim’s rig to show it to a friend and explain how it worked and all the things I’d change, and some of that linework was *disgusting*, he had visible seams everywhere, and I think his proportions might’ve been a little off even. And I remember Tim being the ‘good kid’ between the three of them. It’s not a big deal, though, I’ve learned a lot over the past year and can fix them up no problem. Even if I wanted to redo them from scratch it wouldn’t take that long, although I don’t expect it to come to that. I also have an idea for how to do a ‘quick and dirty’ TRGA, and anything is worth animating in the Wonder LP, I can get something out quick. As soon as I saw they were back I went out and bought supplies for that so I could get it done quick. I’m not planning to mess with the rigs until I have LF’s vocals done and BATB’s video done, and maybe the other animation project as well (which would be called LW per my music naming scheme). A quick and dirty animation would be done as soon as something warrants it, though. Although maybe ‘animation’ wouldn’t be the right word… Hmm…

Lot of progress being made a lot of stuff to do. I still feel burnt out, but my boredom will outweigh my burnout since I don’t have anything better to do at the moment. I may be returning to work pretty soon, so I will likely have less time to work on stuff, but it’s good for me so it’s fine. And I still should have a good showing of projects pretty soon no matter what. Right now it’s coming down to energy/patience, so the most I can say is *something* should be posted next week. Some music thing will be posted, idk which it will be, but something. Thanks everyone for being patient, I really hope you like whatever I get finished this week!

[a-not-so-sure-artist]

With inspiration from the above post by the coolest person (@Buttercup-barf) I drew the gang dressed as detectives from the 1920s! (1930s? I dunno, somewhere around that time period)

It’s the episode where they teach Bf how to…uh…I dunno, use his thinking skills..? (If that’s the case I don’t think it worked ‘cause look at the current O.G Boyfriend XD)

I wanted to fit in a design for Alex but I ran out of room on this page and got caught up with the following comic.

Maybe I’ll do so sometime later, but for now join the trio as they search for Bf’s missing microphone!

They may be immortal, but smoking’s still a big no-no!

(Second panel: “STOP THAT BOY!” “But I’m stressed—” “THAT DOESN’T MATTER!”)

Oh gosh it looks like I’m only allowed ten images per post so I’m gonna have to make a part two right after, so…

To Be Continued!

[peony-pearl]

I really wish I could go back and experience Avatar with fresh eyes. But I’m also glad I was exposed to it when it first aired.

I vaguely remember some advertising for it’s premiere and, at the time, I know I was in deep with my Kingdom Hearts hyperfixation. The first Avatar episode I saw was the day after prom in my Junior year when a girl in the friend group I was in turned on a rerun in April or May 2005. For some reason my mind is convinced the episode was Cave of Two Lovers, but it hadn’t aired yet. I’m not surprised I can’t remember the episode because at the time I was eyeballs deep in heavy OCD symptoms and kind of in the early stages of a huge mental breakdown haha. I’d had visible OCD symptoms for years but had no idea I had it; then barely a month later I was hospitalized and diagnosed because of my intrusive thoughts and ruminations. It kinda sucked lmao.

Over the next couple of years I was exposed to Avatar mostly because of my Uncle. He adored the series. He was an avid cartoon fan who loved art and comics and drawing and had the bones of one of his own comics but became ill and passed away before he could finish it. I appreciated Avatar for what it was, but didn’t really have the heart to get invested. There was a point that I did make an oc and drew some art and wrote a bit but it lasted like maybe 2 weeks tops. 2005-late 2007 was a minefield period of time that was mixed with me trying to reconfigure my whole personality (right around the time I turned 18 so THAT was good timing) and trying to enjoy the things I loved before my breakdown. I was desperate to be who I was before everything happened.

However, I did keep up with the series after moving to another state and the third season began airing. I remember watching Day of Black Sun and then the finale. I just kept up with it out of interest. Then years went by and I finally started moving forward. I found new interests that helped me become creative again, all while making the painful realization that my mental health was a permanent thing after believing I had ‘conquered’ my OCD. I also unknowingly had ADHD, which I was finally diagnosed with this year, which exacerbates my OCD and intrusive thoughts and ruminating.

Years went by, I went through college, I’ve had so many different jobs, I paid off my student loans late 2020 and then in 2021 my mental health got so bad again I finally sought out therapy for the first time in ten years. I started taking medicine for depression and mood swings. Almost all I was doing was working. I lived with my parents, which wasn’t a bad thing; but the strict schedule and my night shift meant I had little chances of doing much, and I gained weight from stress eating for dopamine.

Then almost a year ago I moved out for the first time; hence my DBZ hyperfixation. I wanted some nostalgia, and I’d had a 2 year period where that series was my bread and butter in 2002-2004. However, I moved again earlier this year, and at first it was all about adjustment; but I was beginning to realize I just didn’t do anything. I still have that issue. But in trying to wonder what it was exactly that I wanted or didn’t want, I started to realize if I’m going to live, I may as well start seeking out things to do.

I was tired of just existing, so I finally set up violin lessons, and I’ve been attending them weekly (save missing one here or there) since April. I’ve learned what I have the power to do, even if I often lack the motivation and drive. I’m becoming more and more content, even if there are the off-times when things are iffy.

I was absolutely not expecting my re-introduction to Avatar to be a gifset of Iroh threatening Zhao in the Spirit Oasis; a scene I was unfamiliar with. I think I had watched the series on Netflix some years ago, but again, I’ve lacked the commitment to it. The punch of that scene with a character I had associated with benevolence after being lukewarm towards the series intrigued me, and I fell down the rabbit hole lol

And I’ve realized that, after getting older, the show is actually a lot more meaningful; and after stumbling upon a gifset of Iroh’s quote ‘Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not’; that hit me. That was exactly what I’d started trying to live by over the past couple of months. Zuko’s strive to figure out who he wants to be hits home too, as I often struggle, even at 34, with what I want or who I want to be. (granted, I need to find a new therapist but that’s another story lmao)

After seeing all this merch pop up and be like ‘oh yeah Avatar that’s a good show’ and being disconnected, I now adore it. I know the bones of it but I’m still learning all of the smaller details and worldbuilding and lore. I’m a newbie but at the same time I know what it is and watched the premieres of The Awakening, The Day of Black Sun, and Sozin’s Comet.

I’ve always appreciated the series for it’s creativity and how it avoided talking down to it’s audience (yeah it had kid moments but it was a Nickelodeon show). And even as an adult so many messages ring true. I definitely  put it on the same page as Gargoyles (because 1. I’m biased and 2. both are intricately woven stories that treat it’s audience as adults; I wish Gargoyles had gotten the same closure Avatar did, but for what it is it’s still an amazing show and I’ll always adore it and I’m so glad a show like Avatar did get it’s story completed for the most part)

And yet it’s Iroh’s line ‘whatever you do to that spirit, I’ll unleash on you tenfold’ is the one that kind of brings tears to my eyes; because it rings of conviction and fortitude to do the right thing, and is what brought me back to a little piece of fandom that, even if I already know all of the twists and turns and spoilers, was there for me to pick back up on when I needed it and to help me continue to move forward.

[lokiondisneyplus]

Holy crap. Look at Kate Herron's shirt. When the Loki director pops up on Zoom, she's donning the most glorious image anyone will see since we laid eyes on Alligator Loki: A Teletubby wearing the Loki horns. Are the Teletubbies Loki variants? Sure, why not!

"I got it on Instagram," Herron says. "There's an amazing comic book artist and he designed it. He made it into a T-shirt for me because I saw it and was like, 'That's incredible. Can I get it for the press junket?'"

Herron, no big deal, just pulled off an MCU miracle. Entering a mammoth franchise with, notably, some of Sex Education's best episodes under her belt, the director deftly brought a plot involving multiverses and Richard E. Grant in a cape and superhero mumbo-jumbo to brilliant, beautiful life. Following Loki's tear-jerking, mind-bending finale, the series has been dubbed by critics and fan's alike as one of Marvel's best efforts—which is no small feat. Of course, we needed to ask Herron how she stuck the landing. Following the most epic finale you, me, or any Teletubby can remember, Herron talked to Esquire about the Miss Minutes jump scare, filming the finale's introduction of He Who Remains, and why she won't return for Season Two of Loki.

ESQ: How are you doing?

KH: I'm good. I think I feel very relieved that I don't have to sit on the secret of He Who Remains anymore, It was a very big secret to hold, but for an important reason, right? Because it's such a good character to be launching. So yeah, I feel good.

ESQ: Loking back at your old interviews, you have such a good poker face when you're avoiding spoilers, but you're also incredible at giving aggregator crumbs.

KH: I play a lot of board games, so you need to be quite good at strategy and poker faces so people can't always read your hand. So I think weirdly board games have prepared me more for working with Marvel than anything else.

ESQ: I have to start with the Miss Minutes jump scare. What went into the decision to make her a memeable, creepy apparition in that moment?

KH: I love horror, and my executive, Kevin Wright, knew that. Me and him were talking about Episode Six and I remember that he was like, "Oh, maybe you could do something creepy of Miss Minutes." And I immediately was like, "We have to do a jump scare!" Because I haven't got to do a good jump scare in anything yet and I really wanted to, because a lot of my friends are horror directors. I was like, "I can't let them down." So I was really excited to have a shot at doing a jump scare. And Miss Minutes, it was really fun testing it because we'd kind of bring different people into the edit, me and Emma McCleave, the editor, and we'd just play it for them, watch them, and check that they were jumping when we cut it.

ESQ: One thing that I think is getting missed in all the craziness is that we see a peak moment of the love story between Loki and Sylvie. Where does the finale leave the companionship that they found in each other?

KH: When I started the show, that was always in the DNA of it—that Loki was going to meet a version of himself and they were going to fall in love. And that's honestly what drew me into the story, because I directed Sex Education. I love stories about self-love and finding your identity and your people. Loki is such a broken character when we join him, and seeing him go on this amazing journey with all this growth and finding the good points of himself in seeing her—I think that was very beautiful. It's also paying respect to the fact that Sylvie's in a very different place to him. She hasn't had the Mobius therapy session. She even says, in Episode Five, "I don't know how to do this. I don't have friends." You really feel for her because she has been on the run and her whole life has been this mission.

It's almost funny because these characters are thousands of years old, but it's almost teenage the way they both talk about their feelings for each other. I think everyone can relate to that, right? In any new relationship, there's always that kind of awkwardness and like, "Oh God, am I too keen? The important thing was the hope—like when Sylvie and him kiss, I think it is genuine and it is coming from a place of these feelings they have for each other. Obviously she does push them through that door, but for me it was a goodbye and it was with heart. But it's kind of a goodbye in the sense of like, I care about you, but I'm going to do my mission because that's where I'm at.

ESQ: I would pay for you to direct the Sex Education episode where Otis falls through a portal into the multiverse, into the main MCU.

KH: He really looks like a Loki as well, which is so funny. I always thought that. I was like Asa does look like a Loki. It didn't come to pass or anything, but it would be interesting to do a Sex Ed-Marvel crossover. I wonder who all the different characters would be within the MCU, but it would be quite funny.

ESQ: You're right, he could pull off a teenage Loki.

KH: Yeah, like a teen or a very young ’20s, maybe. But it was just funny because I was like, "Oh yeah, he looks a bit like Tom." I wonder how they could do it. I'm sure they'll find a way to do a crossover anyway.

ESQ: Can you just take me back to filming with Jonathan Majors? And you capturing him in such a compelling, quirky, scary way—I'm sure your direction was such a big part of that.

KH: I was just so excited because Jonathan is an actor that everyone was so excited about. He's like a chameleon in everything he does and he's so talented. I just feel as a director so lucky to have worked on this because I feel like I've got to work with some of the best actors out there. And when you're with Jonathan, you know you're in the presence of just someone really magnificent. For me as a director, it's giving him the space to play and feel safe. Because we filmed it all in a week, but it was a lot to film in a week. So I think it was really about creating a space where he could have fun and find this character because he's going to be playing him for a long time.

ESQ: What went into the decision to introduce us to the good guy first?

KH: I remember in the script, he comes up the elevator and it was so casual. I was like, "Oh man, that's so fun." And then Jonathan, when he plays it, he's relaxed. And I the thing he used to talk about a lot was that this is a character who's been on his own for a long time. Because at the beginning, we introduced him in a space in the universe that feels like this very busy, loud place, but actually, when we see the Citadel, he's surrounded by the Timeline and he's very isolated. Even in his costume with [designer] Christine Wada, for the idea of his outfit, he's a character who's existed for multiple millennia. So it's like, OK, let's pull from lots of different places so you can't necessarily pin down which time or which place he might be from. Also the fact that his clothes look comfy. They were like pajamas because he's living at home. He loved the idea of the office [being] the only finished part of the citadel and that the rest of the citadel was like this Sunset Boulevard kind of dusty, dilapidated space. And just again showed that he probably just keeps himself to his office. All those elements definitely fed into Jonathan's performance in terms of balancing the extrovert, but also the introvert of someone that would be living by themselves and only talking to a cartoon clock.

ESQ: It really is incredible how you pull a nail-biting finale with this battle of wits and dialogue.

KH: It was really exciting because I feel like Episode Five was a lot of fun because we got to play into all the joy of the different versions of Loki, but also just the fact that it was our big usual Marvel third act, right? Like it was where our big spectacle was as they were fighting this big monster. But I love that our finale bookends, right? We began with a conversation and we ended with one.

ESQ: I also loved that there was no end-credits scene—I think it makes the ending that much more impactful. Was there ever an end credit scene on the table, or any kind of a stinger?

KH: I think no, because weirdly, we never went after the kind of mid-credit sequences. I think we always just were thinking just of the story and where we knew we wanted it to end. For example, Episode Four, originally Loki was deleted and then we went straight to him waking up. And it was only in the edit I was like, “I think it'd be really cool actually. We should move that scene to mid-credits because then we'll really feel like Loki has died." Because if I watched that moment and then it went to the credits, I'd be like, "What?!" And then when we were talking about the best way to talk about Season Two, we were like, "Okay, well, let's do that like a little mid-credits at the end because that is exciting to confirm it in that way." I'd say we found both of those in the edit just because we wanted to kind of do it right and have a fun nod to something that Marvel does so well.

ESQ: Is there anything you can tell about the future of the story you've told here—or even where you personally would like to go with the studio or otherwise going forward?

KH: Yeah, so I'm just on for Season One. So I'm so proud of the story we told. I mean, it was amazing getting to set up the TVA and take Loki on this whole new journey. And I mean, I think we've left so much groundwork for his character, and as people see in the comics, there's so much more to be delved into. And I just am excited honestly to just see where all the characters go. Like, who is B-15? What did she see in those memories and where did Ravonna go and where is Loki? I think for me, we've set up these questions and I look forward to seeing them being answered as a fan in the next season.

ESQ: Absolutely. Well, can we please work on the Asa Butterfield Loki?

KH: I will call him and I'll be like, "You want to do some crazy Marvel crossover?"

[nyxocity]

Fic Writer Questions!

Thanks to @redmyeyes for the tag!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

82, although that's not even close to my actual total. There's a bunch on LJ that have never been transferred (all shorter works)

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,780,805 (over 2mil on LJ)

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Mostly three, plus a couple dips into a few other pools. X-Men Comic Book fandom, Buffy & Angel fandom (they kinda count as one since it's the same universe), and Supernatural & SPN RPF. Dips have included Dragon Age, Firefly, a tiny bit of TVD, a Sons of Anarchy crossover.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

This is tough if I go by numbering. Homework Verse has the most kudos scattered across all parts, but Stranger Than Fiction has the most as a single story. Anyway...

Homework Verse (J2 RPF, 200k+ words) - My very first RPF fic, Supernatural or otherwise. Two of my online fandom friends basically TOLD me I was going to write Teacher/Student J2, and I kept protesting that I drew the line at RPF. They didn't care. 200k later, here we are. This story was a game changer for me; it made me fandom famous. I still love those boys with my whole heart, and they still talk to me sometimes.

Stranger Than Fiction (Sam/Dean, 50644 words) - This story idea took root immediately following the episode The Monster at the End of This Book. I quit the Big Bang I'd already begun writing for that year (which was Who Watches Over Me, which I finished and posted for BB the following year) to write this story. It just took hold hold of me and took over. I wrote it in 6 weeks and it was easily the most fun I ever had writing anything--I cackled like a madwoman most of the time.

Who Watches Over Me (J2 RPF, 96591 words) - This story was, at the time, the toughest thing I'd ever written. Little did I know that would become the norm and not the exception, as I began to write more complex stories. It was by far the longest story I had ever posted all at once in its entirety (rather than chapter by chapter) and I had no idea if people would like it. Fortunately a lot of people did.

Like Staring Into the Sun (Sam/Dean, 23243 words) - Ah, my very first hardcore Wincest fic. I remember writing the first chapter of the story (meant to be a one shot honestly), and just sitting there, at 5am, being terrified to post it. It was twisted, dark and intense and SO porny I was scared people might think I was weird. There wasn't anything like it out there at the time. As it turns out, people loved it so much I ended up writing eight more parts.

Like a Fish Out of Water (Sam/Dean, 59498 words) - I have a lot of love for this story. It didn't come to me easily, but it was fun to write. I remember smiling a lot and just having a nice, warm cozy feeling the whole time. I had no idea if anyone was interested in reading this many words of what amounted to a dramedy curtain fic

Of course there are other stories that I feel deserve love, but I can't argue with these.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do. And by that, I mean I try. I don't always succeed in answering them all, but I answer as many as I have time and energy for. Life is busy and there is writing to do as well. I read every comment I get (multiple times) and I feel guilty for all the ones I don't answer, because they mean SO MUCH TO ME. Like you took time to leave this beautiful, well thought out comment, or even a keysmash, or a heart, in response to something I wrote. That means the world.

I WISH there was a reaction function for comments on Ao3, so I could heart things, or laugh in response. Replying with emojis without words feels weird. So yeah, a reaction function would be amazing. But in the meantime, I do my best.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmm. Probably A Touch of Evil. Interestingly, it's also a HAPPY ending, so there you go lol. It's a serial killer love story with a happy ending that comes at an exorbitant price.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I'm not sure why the OG post skips from 6 to 8 lol . So, yes, I have written a few minors crossovers. Mostly Faith in the SPN verse with the boys, nothing too crazy, because she fits right in. But for long stories, I have written all of ONE crossover. It's Dean Winchester/Jax Teller (SPN / Sons of Anarchy). My crossovers so far have tended to make sense to crossover, so I don't think any of them are crazy.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes. I got some hate on a Buffy/Xander fic back in the day. I got really excited and had fun with it. Like yeah, now I'm SOMEBODY! You're no one til someone hates you lol Most of that was people who were haters of the ship, or were like, gross, they're like brother and sister (they weren't, they were FRIENDS). I've gotten nasty comments here and there on some of my SPN fic. My favorite was the person who accused me of having a "Top Dean Agenda". I STILL laugh about that one. I don't respond to that crap.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Have you MET ME? LOL If I ever post a story without smut just put me out to pasture, because I'm done. And all kinds. Het, Gay, PWP, Plotty porn, mostly super kinky but some vanilla (but intense). I used to challenge myself regularly to see if I could up my kink game--like hmm, but could I write THIS? I haven't written really kinky sex in a long time, though. Might be time to do that.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Several times. Who Watches Over me was stolen by someone and converted to One Direction Lourry fic. Literally just did a name change. Someone else stole a bunch of my one shots and passed them off as their own. I know there were a couple other instances but I only vaguely remember. I never got too deep into it, most of the time the people who discovered the theft already told everyone else too, and the plagiarist had been hammered by them so hard that I didn't have to step in before they took it down.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes. I used to get requests so often that I just posted my usual response in my profile for people to read instead of replying. Definitely into Russian and Chinese for most of the stories listed with most kudos above.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times on one shot fics. SO MUCH FUN. I love co-writing with people.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

Sam/Dean. Easily. Hands down. I just love their unique relationship, bond and love so much.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Well I finally finished A Touch of Evil after posting 3 chapters in 2009 and never touching it again until 2017. And I never thought I'd finish that. So never say never, I say. That said, there's the third and final part of my X-Men comic book epic that remains unfinished by about five (shorter) chapters, and it HAUNTS ME. But I don't think I'll ever finish it.

16) What are your writing strengths?

NOW we get to the hard questions. I'm really good at dialogue, bouncing banter back and forth between characters, and I have a sense for how long a scene should be. I just KNOW when it's going on too long, even if there's more that needs to be said, and I try to tighten it up in that case.

A friend of mine once told me "Porn is my gift". I don't write as much of it as I used to, but yeah, I shine in that area.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

So I always reach a point after writing so many words in an unpublished fic where I'm like, I have no idea if this is even any good/makes sense/hangs together etc. Beyond that, I've been writing for so long that I've had so much practice that I've strengthened a lot of my weaknesses. I'm sure I still have some, but I don't FEEL them like I used to anymore. That said, there are things I simply will not write. Like historical pieces. Because I would research the fuck out of every detail trying to get it perfect and then I would still doubt myself completely.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I mostly try to avoid it, because there's no way I would ever get the language correct. I usually write it in English and then explain that they're saying it in another language. Like, "What are you doing?" the man asks, speaking in Chinese. Then reiterate in the continuing dialogue in various ways that they're speaking in Chinese.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

X-Men Comic Book fandom. I was reading a lot of Remy/Rogue fic back in 1996-1997, and one day I was like, you know what? This person did a pretty good job on this story. It's not great, but it's pretty good, and if they can have the guts to put it out there, then I can do it, too.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

This is a tough question. I don't love all my children equally, but I love them all a lot in different ways lol

Remembering favorite is different than which one I think is BEST... Homework Verse is probably my favorite. I was learning so much about writing then, I was really growing, and discovering, and pushing my limits. Those characters lived and breathed in me, I swear they spoke through me from some alternate universe. They feel so REAL to me. There's so much of what I've learned in life in that story, like really, big, life changing ideas and understandings that happened to me that I put into that story. There's so much of me in that story, and yet there's so much of THEM, too. It's their story, but it's also mine. It's raw and not entirely perfect and it feels like home to me.

--

So that's it, that's my piece. I feel like EVERYONE has been tagged since it took me 3 days to have time to do this, but I'm basically tagging any of you writers out there who haven't done this yet!