#i have no explanation for this colour scheme

[trashyshrew]

[vaguely-concerned]

having emotions about the headcanon that ingellvar left all their gold jewelry (I think emmrich calls it a watcher's 'grave dowry' which they accumulate and wear through their lifetime in preparation for their eventual burial which like. god I love these goth freaks) behind when they left the grand necropolis because as far as they're concerned they're being sent into exile and it doesn't seem right to bring it with them........

[vasyandii]

💡RAM & CAM⚒️

Included are my headcanons of AM's Older Brothers, and some explanations of their designs! (I took big inspo with CAM's design from @kibutsulove so please go check out their design as well!) Yes this pertains to VernonAM, No I can't shut up about them.

RAM (Yaroslav Machavariani)

Physically 53, around 6' (182 cm) in height.

Greying hairs, scaring around the cheek area.

Colour palette is blue leaning.

His Emblem is Я (Ya) for the Russian word "I", "I am"

RAM can speak with his mouth, however, his hearing is subdued (Think "Hear No Evil")

Because he can't hear that well in his physical form, he's extremely loud. To the point his jaw almost fell off, hence the scarring.

Perpetual smirk, as if he is scheming something.

Despite his looks, he is not the oldest Mastercomputer.

"MY LITTLE BROTHER FINALLY GOT A GIRLFRIEND!! THANK GOD, I WOULD BE SO EMBARRASSED TO BE RELATED TO A LOSER!"

CAM (Shengli "Samson" Min)

Physically age ambiguous (55), 5'10 (178 cm), still taller than Yankee AM

Monolids/Epicanthic folds, mole near nose

Colour palette is red leaning

His Emblem is 是 (Shi) as in 我是 (Wo Shi); "I am."

CAM is unable to use his mouth to speak, often having difficulty with his mechanical jaw. (Think "Speak No Evil")

He relies on his omnipresence or hand gestures to convey his messages. His hearing is extremely good, unfortunately.

Extremely observant. Sick of AM and RAM's shit, still gets them out of trouble.

The oldest brother, he's so tired, let him take a nap. Please.

"Look at her. Am I crazy, she doesn't look well adjusted. She- she's trying to eat the slug. Okay. Fun. Happy for you two. Fucking freaks."

((their mechanical designs totally aren't political/government commentary COUGH COUGH, if you don't see me in 5 days assume I've been killed and replaced by a body double))

[cable-salamdr]

Yes hello I am here to further spread my evil Arin propaganda (so much for that wholesome pride march drawing). This time it’s outfits + some Jordana crumbs (I have never drawn her before this in my life her design might still change ngl)

Specific design explanation underneath!

I wanted to keep a bunch of the stuff Arin has on his usual outfits, so for example the dragon (claws) motif or him wearing fingerless gloves (at least, in my design). And, of course, him keeping his waistband and mask in order to create a mockery for the other ninja (and it fits very neatly into the colour scheme)— with a lil green triangle! Yk! For Lloyd :]!!

[beawhatchumean]

IT IS HE!!

back to shimeji making and with the white hons himself

LMK AO LIE SHIMEJI VER 1.0!!

Just click on the big words and ya can download, ye :D Contains 2 zipfiles: The normal version and less frames version

Read down below for explanations on that

if got any problems launching and stuff, dont be afraid to message me, i'll try to help ya out :>

OR you can join my Discord server for easier help (will explain more down in the post)

but as seen in the quick lil poster i made there, it says extra animation + more, more info about that underneath the read 👇

from the top,

EXTRA ANIMATION

like my previous Shimejis, this one has unique frames for each action of the Shimeji. best example is the walk, run, dash actions seen below

there are other actions that have unique frames like these, but that's for you to find out yourself sksks

CUSTOM ACTION NAME

As per usual, some actions are renamed to better fit the character. Here is a guide for what they do:

Fall Over = Ao Lie falls down in a silly way and sits up again

Suprise From Behind = Shimeji breeding 1

Invite In = Shimeji breeding 2

disclaimer, I still have not done the full action guide list but I have listed a few renamed actions in guide.txt for referencing. Stay tune when I finally make that ref list

CUSTOM ACTION

Just like SWK & Mackie, petting is enabled here too!! So pet Ao Lie's little head to your heart's content hehe (credit to Kilkakon for the original script)

ALSO, the pet action is now fully animated!! However, the animation will keep playing even after you're done petting him

as seen in this gif :3

Steps to do this action is as followed:

Make the shimeji sit down (any surface is okay, ie work floor/window top)

Move the cursor to the shimeji's head

Make sure it is a hand cursor and not an arrow cursor

Pet away!!

If you want to pick up the shimeji without prompting the pet action, just move the cursor lower until it turns into the arrow icon

NON-SYMMETRICAL SHIMEJI

Like Macaque, Ao Lie also has non-symmetrical frames. So his collar will always shape a "Y" anywhere he goes!

Same as before, Ao Lie needed much more frames than he needs to get this effect to work. But, it may make some devices lag me thinks. So, there's 2 versions to download. One with symmetry and one without

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE LESS FRAME VERSION TO NOT FRY YOUR PC'S!!

COLORED SETTINGS

Oh yea one thing I am excited to announce. The settings for the shimeji are now coloured!!

this has been a feature since long ago in the program but there was a bug. But now, it is fixed and now I can customize the colour scheme whenever and whatever I choose so >:3c

If you would like to change the colours yourself, just head into the "Theme" tab and change the colours there.

ALTERED SOME ACTIONS

There are now a few actions that will happen by itself, without you needing to choose in the "Set Behaviour" list.

Like the previous dash action, and now the daggling legs action that can happen when he sits down.

UPDATES WILL HAPPEN!!

Like the rest of my shimejis. UPDATES, UPDATES, UPDATES!! honestly, for Ao Lie I cant think for much updates besides software updates. For features and what not, he probably is going to have the least features update. But if yall have any suggestions, drop me a message or in my discord server

oh yea

I HAVE A DISCORD SERVER NOW!!

So after releasing the Shadowpeach Shimeji, so many people messaged me questions and needing help on how to work the shimeji and other stuff. So far, people only contacted me through dm's on tumblr, instagram, and just using Patreon's comment section.

Honestly, worse way to communicate since some issues I needed pictures and long messages to help out. So, discord server it is. Here's what ya can expect

Shimeji stuff (questions, wips, FAQ, etc)

Alerts on my posts and streams

Space for arts (any arts, not just drawing :>)

Share anything ya want (shitposts, current fixation, info, etc)

Just socialize and make friends :D

Ya can read more info in the rules & directory channel when ya join

So if ya interested, just click the link below

DISCORD SERVER: BEA'S CHILLAX HOLE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

but for now that will be all for ver. 1.0

many thanks to anyone interested in this project and of course

BIGGEST THANKS TO THOSE THAT HELPED BETA TEST THEM

for privacy reason they shall stay anonymous but

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ >:3

PLUS EVEN MORE HEARTS!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

ACCEPT MORE HEARTS HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

okay bye

[continuouscurriculum]

day 22: birds

read below for choice explanations

Some explanations for choices:

overall, i chose most of them to be birds you’d see in neighborhoods/around humans

liam - i thought that the fancy pigeon kinda fit with his round silouette + the backpack part is based on war pigeons and how they’d equip them with cameras to spy on the opposing soliders

bryce - i thought crows fit, not much to say. I think his silouette being much more sharper than liams is a nice contrast plus they keep their height different slightly

amelia - basically chose a blue bird, and i think one of the smaller birds fit better. actual finches don’t have like iridescent feathers like she does but uhh creative liberties

charotte - i wanted to give her a more imposing like height compared to the others, so i thought a duck would fit. taylor - i thought the colours matched pretty well :)

charlie - i was most familiar with baby robins since they’re pretty common where i live, so i just chose that.

airy - i wanted him to be like really tall compared to the others who are relatively small/medium birds, and I thought cranes just fit. finding one that kinda fit with his colour scheme sucked tho 😭 the blue of his head/neck was supposed to be like the glass

[esoteric-chaos]

What are Infused Oils?

What are they?

Infused oils are herbal components or spices placed in a jar of carrier oil like Olive Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Avacado Oil, Jojoba Oil, Coconut Oil, etc. Can be used in cooking, herbal ailments and skincare.

Are they essential oils?

No. Short answer, no. Long answer? I'll give you an explanation. Essential oils are distilled using Steam Distillation, Solvent Extraction, CO2 Extraction, Maceration, Enfleurage, Cold Press Extraction, and or Water Distillation. Lotta words huh? It takes a lot of work to make essential oils. Unfortunately, it also takes quite a bit of that plant to make even those tiny 10ml bottles you purchase. Of course, each plant varies. However, it still can lead to a larger environmental impact.

For instance, one pound of essential oil can be extracted from approximately 250 pounds of rosemary leaves, or from 150 pounds of lavender buds, or say 50 pounds of eucalyptus leaves. This is why you see some as more expensive than others. Unfortunately, you can see where the problem lies in plants that are more threatened or endangered. If you must use essential oils, source responsibly (and not from a Pyramid scheme but I'm not opening that can of worms)

Can I use infused oils in my practice?

Yes! Absolutely! All these oil recipes you see for spell oils are exactly that. You can even use the elemental correspondences of the carrier oils you use for spell oils. As an example Olive Oil is traditionally known for the fire element and Coconut Oil is water. The possibilities for your personal correspondence are endless!

Now I'll stop rambling. Here are a few methods I learned to infuse oils in my courses and through self-herbalist study.

Method One:

The Folk Method - The most common

Directions

Place DRIED herbs in a clean, dry jar. Leave at least 1 to 3 inches of open space above your herbs to cover with oil.

Fill the remaining space in the jar with the oil of your choice, making sure to cover herbs by at least 1 inch or more. If the herbs emerge above the surface of the oil at any point while infusing, pour more oil on top to ensure the herbs remain covered.

Cap the jar tightly and shake well.

Place the jar in a sunny, warm windowsill and shake once or more per day.

After 2 to 3 weeks, strain the herbs out of the oil using cheesecloth or a mesh strainer. Or you can leave it in but straining is recommended if you are using dropper bottles as it clogs the caps.

Pour into clean glass bottles.

Remember to label your jars with the date, type of oil, and herbs used! You WILL forget! Trust me.

Store in a cool, dark place. The oil may keep for up to a year.

Method Two:

The Heat Infused Method - Quick Infusion

Directions

Place herbs in the crock pot or double boiler. Cover with extra virgin olive oil (or other carrier oil of choice), leaving at least an inch or two of oil above the herbs. 

Gently heat the herbs over very low heat (preferably between 100° and 140° F for 1 to 5 hours, until the oil takes on the colour and scent of the herb. Some recommend heating the oil for 48 to 72 hours at a controlled temperature of 100° F. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool. I personally prefer letting it sit in a crock pot for 72 hours as I feel like I get all of the benefits out of the herb.

Once oil is cooled, strain using cheesecloth.

Bottle in dry, sterilized glass bottles. LABEL your bottles with the date and contents before storing them.

Store in a cool, dark, dry place for up to six months.

Best herbs to infuse in oil

There are a countless number of herbs, spices and resins that can be infused into the oil. Please make sure these herbs are free from pesticides and chemicals (not found on the roadside). Dried herbs work best as you don't want your mixture spoiling sooner. Here are some great examples of herbs to use.

Pine needles

Calendula flowers

Chamomile flowers

Lavender

Lemon balm

Peppermint leaf

Rosemary leaf

Thyme leaf

There you have it! Now have fun and source responsibility.

Happy witching!

Want to read more?

On sustainability and impact:

Links:

Dangers of essential oils and pets:

Link:

Want to check out my other post? Look at my Masterpost

[beacedocrime]

Art of the characters from @basilthesnakingthing 's Monstrous Children AU. Check it out!

Close ups and explanations of my thought process for some of my decisions under the cut

First of all, Victor Frankenstein. His physical descriptions are sparse, except for how ill he looks. I tried to give him a slightly sickly looking skin tone, but skin in general isn't my forte, so I'm not sure how much I succeeded. Other than that, I always imagined him with black hair and green eyes, and as having somewhat sharp features.

For the colours, idk, I just thought purple would look on him. I wanted the vest to have simple gold detailing on the lapels, but the watercolour wasn't really obvious, and I couldn't be bothered to search for my pencils. He's never described as wearing glasses as far as I'm aware, but I liked how he looked with them better.

After inking him, I could tell there was something I didn't like about his face, but I couldn't pinpoint why. Later, I realized his eyes weren't spaced correctly. I made a quick little sketch to correct this.

Basil said the gravedigger guy was gonna be inspired by some other classics character, but she hadn't given an example and I didn't have any ideas so I decided to make him as generic as possible. I thought he'd look funny among all these fancily dressed children.

When I drew these, I hadn't been told that in this au Jekyll and Hyde would be their first names, so I drew Victor calling out to 'Henry' with Jekyll in mind. However, since this isn't possible in this universe... thoughts on Henry Clerval 👀?

Jekyll! Drew him slightly sleep deprived and did not make good decisions about that vest. Fixed it later. Like Victor, not a lot of physical descriptions, so mostly going off of how I imagined him- brown hair and brown eyes, softer features.

Debated a bit on the colour scheme, before deciding mellow browns and yellows would be a good fit. Don't know why his sleeves are rolled up other than I thought it looked nice.

Not much else to say about his appearance, I was fairly satisfied with him (other than the vest). Though his jawline came out a bit uneven, and the shape of his pants look weird (I was not inking this on a table like a normal person and he slightly suffered for it)

Basil mentioned once that this version of him and Hyde also have the talking in the mirror thing, so I made a small doodle of that.

Hyde! With a quick bonus Dracula.

So, just to say this quickly, I did not think at all about Dracula's clothes, it was just a quick sketch cause I really wanted to draw this scene. Also his proportions are weird, and his skin not pale enough.

Hyde! Similarly to Victor, I did not like something about his face in the first inked version, so I fixed it in a quick sketch. This time it was his chin. His face felt too long, and I wanted it to be rounder.

Like the other two, Hyde doesn't have a confirmed hair and eye colour as far as I'm aware. His descriptions are along the lines of 'pale and short with bad vibes'. I imagined him with reddish brown hair, and the same colour for eyes.

I didn't mean his vest to be pretty much the same colour as his hair, but it happened, and I like it, so. I made his vest the same kind as Jekyll's, just on the other side. He doesn't have a necktie because things around my neck give me sensory issues, and I'm projecting. His button-up is pink because, like many other design choices, I thought it would look cool.

The sharp teeth were one design choice that the creator of the AU wanted him to have.

Other stuff- they all have coats/jackets (not sure which one is the correct term) that I haven't drawn here. I tried to give the colours a slightly washed-out look to fit in with how the creator described the setting to look, though I'm not sure how successful I was. I wanted Creature to be bigger, but by the time I'd realised that it was smaller than I wanted, I couldn't really go back.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I do suspect the eye colour changing thing was literally nothing more than a stylistic decision for the big vampire reveal and nothing more than that. Theories are fun and all but sometimes fandom gives the writers greater intentions than were ever actually there. Like I honestly don’t think Rolin Jones cares less that book Daniel has violet eyes for a start. I don’t think it’s that important.

I do also think Eric’s throwaway comment about falling for Justin Kirk/Raglan James has also been given far more weight than it actually deserves. It wasn’t a spoiler, it was just an actor talking like an actor tbh.

And finally…the whole Daniel body swap thing is such a massive change from the source material that I truly can’t see them going down that route. Changing a characters eye colour is one thing, but to body swap a character such a thing never happens to is a massive rewrite and would be very out of character for the show. Idk, it just would be a huge disrespect to the source material and to a character people love. I get people just don’t want David Talbot in the show, but in all honesty I hope the show never even adapts that particular novel as it’s just not that good.

Raglan James was a character that needed to be introduced, Daniel needed a reason to have come into possession of the trial script. The Talamasca got to edit Daniel’s book and remove anything they didn’t like. I really think that’s all there is to it.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the fans will theorise all sorts of grand schemes, but the writers inevitably come up with the simplest, most obvious explanations.

Rolin Jones is on record saying he wants to do TtotBT, and Sam and Jacob have both commented on it.

As such I see it hardly as a far reach that they will go there. And it is a logical step after Akasha, too. I personally like the book a lot, it deals with body dysmorphia, suicide, crippling depression and guilt, so I get it's not for everyone, but it has some incredible Loustat scenes, among other things.

I don't think Raglan James makes much sense if you do NOT want to go there tbh. If they'd just wanted to open the Talamasca connection up, they could have used Aaron Lightner, or even Jesse Reeves.

So. *shrugs*

For now I'm taking it as a hint.

[anti-tenten]

TW for fictional nazis I guess???

Low quality scan of Rip is the only one I could find

Explanations under cut

Why two of them specifically:

Looks like a roach or a mosquito (therefore an insect (obviously))

Real treasure if you're into annoying stupid cocky bitches

Blue hair + ahoge

Nazi (adjacent)

German (adjacent)

Skinny bitch (gets called a man way too often)

Ranged weapon

Artificially buffed by a bloodthirsty boss

horny??? (not sure about Rip but there's something sus about her. Giselle is out of question here, cmon)

Fights a protagonist who is also a major cunt

Probably fun to draw but if you say you like them you will get a major side eye

And their dead set fans ARE really weird...

Rip Van anti/propaganda:

Pros:

Cultured

Can sing

Hirano put his entire ass into her design and it's noticeable

Satisfying death

Here to make Alucard look scary and she succeeds

Very androgynous which is uncommon in (semi-) mainstream anime (although seinen surprisingly has more diverse female designs overall in my experience)

We need more freckled characters ngl

65% legs which is funny

Cons:

Very much a real nazi. Like that's her fucking job description. Not some imaginary evil empire inc. A nazi that killed people during ww2 within hellsing universe

The singing gets annoying as fuck

Ugly ass outfit, sorry

Way too loyal to her shitty boss who's even more annoying and even more of a nazi. Sacrificing your life for white supremacy is fucking embarrassing

Giselle anti/propaganda

Colour scheme works well with the rest of her group

Part of a unique to bleach mean girl group dynamic

Interesting powers, especially the Vollständig design and the maho shojo transformation

Indestructible eyeliner

Indestructible herself, only killed at the last moment by a literal son of god (her boss)

Sometimes has funny moments that have nothing to do with harrassment or abuse of anybody (the keyword is sometimes)

Possibly bisexual???

Silly hat, comfortable outfit, the boots are very nice

Helps protagonists to kill her boss later

Regeneration abilities that work on herself and others

Cons:

Necrophile

Traitor. Both to her boss (based as fuck) and to her friends (gross)

Turned her friend into a zombie slave, sexually and physically abused her

Sexually harrassed protagonists

The childish behaviour mixed with very explicit sexual remarks are straight up revolting. Okay Belle Delphine

Smells bad according to one of said protagonists (possibly, maybe it was just to be mean and not true at all)

Loses most of her powers after getting debuffed.

No satisfying defeat. Fought by a creep who is just as bad as her and implied to be killed by her ugly ass boss

Only exists to make trans women look creepy and gross

[shattered-reflections-au]

Fluffvember 28, Inside joke // “I definitely missed something, didn’t I?”

--- --- ---

After Red's initial explanation to Blue, the colour got in on the joke. it wasn't anything bog, he just understood the goofy pet names Vio and Red called each other. Berryheart, Violetshadow, and other, even more outlandish amalgamations of two words that somehow had to follow a naming scheme? Blue couldn't make sense of it, but he was in on it.

though, he had played with the rules a little.

"good morning LemonCardboard."

"good afternoon SharkPencil."

"evening, TomatoClock."

Green was used to being left out of the context of things, but this was getting out of hand. His brother and two of his roommates had started speaking in the most confusing code imaginable, and he wanted in.

Green finally cornered his brother one Thursday night.

"what the fuck is going on?" he asked Blue as he was putting away the pots and pans from tonight's dinner.

"whatever do you mean, GrassSpatula?" Blue said simply. Green groaned.

"that. what does that meannn???" he begged.

"i have no idea what you mean, LavenderCutlery." Blue continued, smirking.

"Green can't have that one!" Red called from the living room. "lavender is purple."

Blue nodded.

“I definitely missed something, didn’t I?” Green asked, looking to Vio as he came in to put his plate away.

"it's just something from a book series Red and I used to read." he explained coolly.

"right," Green muttered, "you're calling each other "StrawberryPotato" and stuff like that because of a book series?"

Vio shrugged, "pretty much."

Green shook his head, defeated. "weirdos,"

[dalooneylass]

A personal tweak to the Zelda Timeline

So basically I’ve been thinking about LinkedUniverse and been doing some sorta LU fanart and THAT had me thinking about the Zelda Timeline, and more specifically how it would make more sense if Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures swapped Timeline placements. And that’s what this post is about.

Why I feel FS would work better if it came after FSA in the Timeline and vice versa.

So reason number one is how Vaati is characterised in FSA & MC vs how he’s characterised in FS. In the former games, Vaati is shown to be power hungry and Cunning, like when he imprisoned and then impersonated the king in order to both find the Light Force, and stop Link in MC. And while he’s not the MAIN villain and is being manipulated by Ganon in FSA, I think it’s save to say that he’s still in control of his own actions, and was likely scheming up his own plans independently of Ganon, and I might add that in never of theses games has he ever shown interest in Zelda, never even called her pretty. Then we get to FS and suddenly Vaati has gone insane and is suddenly girl crazy and wants to marry Zelda, like, do I need to say more? He goes from Intelligent & Power Hungry, to Insane & Girl Crazy, and then back to Intelligent & Power Hungry. This Sudden change in character makes a lot more sense if FS came after FSA, as then he would be going from Intelligent & Power Hungry in MC, then staying that way in FSA, only to go mad from being sealed in the Four Sword for so long that he can’t even remember who he used to be in FS. Plus the new Timeline placement means that the fairytale mentioned at the beginning of FS suddenly becomes a reference to FSA, in which Vaati is partially implicit in Zelda’s and the Shrine Maidens kidnappings.

Reason number two is how the Gerudo are characterised in FSA vs OoT & BotW/TotK. Again It’s the issue of them going from Fierce Warrior Women in OoT, to Peaceful Desert Dwellers in FSA, and then back to being Warrior Women in BotW / the ancient past of TotK. This would, again, make more sense if FSA swapped Timeline placements with FS, because then the Gerudo are going from Peaceful Desert Dwellers, to Warrior Women, and then staying like that for all their later appearances in the Timeline, and since Twinrova is at least 360 year old, they very well may be the reason for this shift, as they have been manipulating the Gerudo tribe for a long time. This would also mean that FSA is now the game in which Ganon gets his Trident weapon that he uses in most of his future appearances.

And speaking of Ganon the third reason is Ganon’s reasoning for invading Hyrule + Shadow Link’s actions in FSA. In the Hyrule Encyclopaedia, the reason given for Ganon’s invasion of the kingdom of Hyrule is that he’s bitter over his defeat at the hands of the Hero of Twilight at the end of TP, and that Shadow Link, is a being born from that bitterness and brought into the world using the Dark Mirror. Now this is, in my opinion, kinda stupid. Cuz not only is the Ganon from FSA a different incarnation of Ganondorf than the Ganondorf that appears in TP and therefore shouldn’t be able to recall those events, but Shadow Link, (a being born from Ganon’s resentment) actions in FSA don’t really lend themselves to this explanation ever. Shadow Link, or I should say the Shadow Links in Four Swords Adventures only attack Link in certain stages, and when they aren’t doing that, their off harassing the citizens of Hyrule, smearing Link’s good reputation in the process. To me, if Shadow Link was born from Ganon’s resentment of being defeated in TP, then Shadow Link should be more focused on defeating the Colours, and not off tormenting the rest of Hyrule. Shadow Link’s actions DO however make a lot more sense if Ganon is invading Hyrule for similar reasons as to WW Ganondorf. That being he resents how the people of Hyrule get to live in a fertile, prosperous land, while the Gerudo have to endure living in the harsh, unforgiving Gerudo Desert, and want the kingdom for himself, this makes Shadow Link’s actions in FSA make more sense, since in this instance, Shadow Link is born from Ganon’s resentment of how easy Hyrule’s citizens have it, thus Shadow Link spends most of his time giving the people of Hyrule a hard time. And making FSA come before FS makes this explanation make more sense.

I feel like there’s probably more I could go into, but these are the 3 main points I wanted to talk about. I hope I’ve explained my reasoning well enough and that you have a nice day/night.

[cryptocism]

how long did it take for you to come up with the designs for the clones?? did it come naturally or did you have to do a lot of thinking / concepts?

hm im having to go back thru my memories for this one bc it was a while ago... but iirc i had a handful of specific ideas for some of them: Three essentially as Bart with blue eyes, Five as an older clone, Seven as a robot, Nine/Nathaniel not having powers. And then i had a thing with their colour-coding which used to be more significant than it ended up in the actual story, along with the roman-numeral incorporation a la the movie Stardust.

the rest i pretty much made up on the fly when i drew that first comic, and its wild that their designs have stayed pretty much the same bc i was fully expecting to overhaul their looks once i actually nailed down their characters.

a couple details have changed since that tho. Six's cybernetic eyes came later, along with Eight/Jude's heterochromia and birthmark, and now Seven tilts more into the mech direction. I also hadn't figured out what Five's face would look like under the mask yet, and Nine/Nathaniel's hair being bleached was basically an afterthought that I decided to come up with an explanation for later. (iirc I didn't want Three to be the only brunette, so I debated Eight and Nine having brown hair. Pretty sure i made them blonde and bottle blonde respectively purely to have Three stand out more in the foreground for that one panel lmao)

also because I had vague ideas on their internal relationships I put a teaspoon of thought into their jumpsuit designs and how they relate to each other. Three and Five have the same earpieces and a black/white/accent color scheme. Eight and Nine have a black/grey/accent thing going on. Six's suit is a step removed from the rest of them with only black and blue happening, and the hardware around his face/ears matches Seven's design.

but yeah basically some stuff i had ideas for and planned out and other stuff i came up with after the fact, and a lot of stuff i threw in there and then came up with an explanation later lol

[ashtxeman]

WHY I LIKE GLASS JOE A LOT

I promised a lot of information about why I like Glass Joe so I wrote this in an hour with no plan, no proof reading, completely improvised. If I planned this it would probably be WAY longer lol but I'll spare you all the pain of that. SO. ENJOY MY REASONING.

Glass Joe. Glass Joseph. Fragile Joey. It’s a name that’s been uttered for centuries in many different forms, given many different explanations. Critics, theorists, philosophers alike have carved away at their lives trying to solve the answer to the universe's greatest question. And that is:

Glass Joe, good why?

I can answer that, absolutely.

HEY I LOVE GLASS JOE A LOT IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT ALREADY JUST GOTTA ESTABLISH THAT HAHAHA OKAY LETS GO. SHOUTOUT TO THE FUCKING RTGAME PUNCHOUT VIDEO YOU DID THIS TO ME.

POINT 1: HE IS HANDSOME.

I swear to God this man was hand-crafted by the hands of an incomprehensible deity because HOW is he this flawless. He’s 5’10, great height honestly I’m 5’3 I don’t want to be dating a skyscraper you know. He’s a skinny bastard but that’s okay, more on that later. His hair, oh my goodness gracious, lord above, help me Jesus. HIS HAIR. IS SO GOOD. If you put that skateboard ramp ass hairstyle on literally any other character they would look like a dumbass, but here, on this man alone, it’s the most delicately poised series of ginger strands I ever did see.

His hair looks SO soft. It’s unbelievable. It’s such a lovely shade of auburn with hints of burgundy. It must smell like cinnamon. He must take great care of it. A real Head and Shoulders, coconut oil, double wash kinda guy. A real bougie kinda guy. Yeah he’s not great physically in SPORT terms but in PUBLIC terms he’s absolutely stunning and stronger than anybody else. I wanna run my fingers through his silky locks so bad it’s insane and to understand this desire I’ll have to be strapped down and operated on. DONATE MY BRAIN TO SCIENCE GO AHEAD. THEY NEED IT. 

Not to mention it is SO fun to draw. SO SO SO FUN. Maybe I’m just lucky it’s such a wacky and dynamic hairstyle it transfers quite well into my artstyle, but it’s so fun. It’s easy, it’s fast, it creates an absolutely iconic silhouette, I love colouring it because it’s so damn pretty and ginger/red is such a broad colour scheme that can be put into a gradient so well (i love doing gradients with hair cause i hate when its just a block of colour). Nobody could understand the sheer joy i get putting that dumbass ahoge between the bridge of his fringe and the rest of his hair. That little ‘ right at the top ITS SO FUN. i love him his hair is great.

His face. Carved like the works of the finest artest. He’s a canvas of quality that can rival Van Gogh, for god sake. He’s got the jawline of a man on a lifelong mewing streak, STOP IT HE’S SO GORGEOUS I CANT EVENNNN. He is seriously so good looking. His eyes, the little pink-tinted eyebags that show he doesn’t need sleep because he’s so hardcore on caffeine, his gorgeous big ol nose i wanna kiss so bad, his super dynamic chin i wanna kiss so bad, his face i wanna kiss so bad. I wanna kiss him so bad. He is genuinely such a beautiful man its stunning, im literally a lesbian but if they somehow brought glass joe into the real world looking exactly how he does in those GOD DAMN CUTSCENES OOOOO i’d be bisexual so fast it’s crazy. He’s just that great. He’s got that power. I love his nervous little grin and the little creases on his face, cause he’s OLD AND SENILE. He’s 38 for god sake he shouldn’t look this good and sure, you can see his age slipping in a little with the eyebags and the wrinkles but that only ADDS to how stupidly divine he is in appearance. Stop that handsome man officer!! He’s breaking the laws of BEAUTY. GIVE IT TO MEEEEE. MEEEE.

His fashion sense although odd (ive never actually seen anyone wearing red trousers) just works. It wouldnt work on anyone else but it works on HIM. this is a theme. THINGS DONT WORK ON OTHER PEOPLE BUT THEY WORK ON JOE HE’S SO COOL LIKE THAT. his turtleneck kills me its so good it highlights what little figure he has and it contrasts his red hair so well cause its a really deep blue. SIGH. i wish. I have a turtleneck thats exactly the same but let me tell you i dont even breath the same air of fashion that he breathes. He’s so far ahead of the game he’s on an entirely different runway. He is not gonna sashay away anytime soon. On a constant shante. Unstoppable.

POINT 2: HE EMBODIES HIS CULTURE WELL.

Cats out of the bag, joe is a french stereotype. But. and dont quote me here. I find it very admirable HOW he is a french stereotype. Because he kind of.. Isn’t? He uses the characteristics of that stereotype sure, but he doesn’t engage with them the same way an actual french stereotype would. He likes coffee, he likes bread, he loves France like its his child, sure. But he doesnt have a twirly moustache, he doesnt wear a beret, he doesnt galavant around in black and white mime clothing. Even if that would be funny yknow it just wouldnt be as good. 

His admiration of coffee and bread is so relatable cause hell, I LIKE BREAD AND CAFES AND STUFF! He needs that coffee to keep him going you dont understand. If he misses a dose of caffeine he’ll deflate like the pyramids did in despicable me 1. He’ll be a puddle on the floor, he’ll quite literally cease to exist. Coffee is his golden idol, his hand of midas, his treasure. He has great willpower (more on that later) but coffee is that secret weapon he uses to push him just a little bit further. Plus he just thinks it tastes good and is happy to express that, you cant blame the guy for that. A good drink is a good drink. Even though i dont like coffee he’s so happy with it i respect it. He makes things i dont like respectable. Thats whats so real to me. What a goat. As for bread, bread is just great. Baguettes are yum. All the french bread i know about is usually close to white bread and autism behold thats like the only bread i can bear to eat so its alright with me man. You can go to joes house and he will have one of those fancy bread cupboards. He’ll pull out baguettes like he’s at a renaissance fair and they have a sword shortage. He’s on the case. You will NOT leave his house on an empty stomach. Like a very caring grandma, he will get you fed with the most immaculate 5 star meal you ever did eat. French food is great and theres no doubt about that, thats why he loves FOOD. I TRUST HIM. HE KNOWS WHATS GOOD. if mr glass joe turned around to me and said ‘broken glass is good food’ you bet your ass id be smashing windows and munch munch crunching all day long. 

Maybe his admiration of his country is a little over the top to some. You know the french landmarks in the back of his cutscenes, the ‘vive le france’ and singing the national anthem. But no. i dont think its excessive, i think its passionate. This is undeniably a man that is SO passionate about his culture and the lifestyle he’s grown up around, he’s not afraid to express it to other people until they cant stand it anymore. He’ll take as many hits as he needs to in the name of france. He is an embodiment of everything endearing about being foreign, honestly. An extreme love for the things his country has: food, landmarks, fashion, language, culture. EVERYTHING IS ON HIS LIST. NOTHING IS LEFT OUT. HE LOVES FRANCE AND I LOVE HIM. YES SIR!! VIVE LE FRANCE!! YES!!! 

Also he single-handedly convinced me to start learning french. I seriously didnt care about it before but after i started to like him more and really get into punchout i downloaded duolingo and i still have a streak going AND im actually convinced to try hard in my french lessons and exams because yknow.. I want this fictional french guy to be proud of me. :] 

POINT 3: HE IS DETERMINED.

OHHHHHH BOY. okay right im gonna get inspirational here. Play some dramatic orchestral music or something. 

The thing about Glass Joe is that he never. Gives up. Never. There is nothing in the world you could do to this man that could possibly stop him from boxing. They call Kaiser a fighting machine but boy have they not seen Joe. once that man stepped into the ring for the first time, he’d found a second home, and i think thats evident. 100 times this man has fallen down, brushed it off and gotten right back up. He’s had hardships, ups, downs, tumbles, falls. But everytime, no matter what, he’s back on his feet and ready to try again. And there is something so admirable and inspirational about that kind of approach being written into a CHARACTER THAT IS MEANT TO BE A FRENCH STEREOTYPE. ‘GHHHH FRENCH PEOPLE ALWAYS SURRENDER ACSHUALLY’ SHUT UP!! NOT THIS ONE!! I like to think Joe’s motto is ‘never surrender’. Yes he’s a little self aware how ironic it is thats hes french and doing all this but shhh. He knows whats hes doing and he’s happy to do it. Because like ive said again and again, theres nothing that can stop him. 100 kos, 200 kos, 300, 400… you keep cranking that number up and he’ll keep cranking the punches. Keep those lights up, keep those gloves on, you knock Joe down and eventually, no matter how long it takes, he’s back for more.

Now dont misinterpret that, he’s not a masochist like aran ryan, no sir-ee. He doesnt enjoy losing, nobody does. But the thing is he pushes past that disappointment and those hardships because he knows that eventually, if he keeps on going, things are going to change. He knows that if he lays down the gloves and walks away, there’s no possibility of succeeding. You could drop Joe off on the other side of the world and just like that immortal snail, he’s gonna find a way back. Even if it takes forever. Cause he is weak but determined, he isn’t threatening but relentless, he is stoppable but unstoppable. Glass joe has the strongest will out of any character i know. Cause if any of my other favourites went through 100 whopping losses like he did, they’d retire on a tropical island and never interact with the world again. But not joe. Never joe. My king.

POINT 4: HE IS ENDEARING.

THIS GUY IS SO DAMN CHARMING IT MAKES ME WANT TO EXPLODE INTO CONFETTI AND GLITTER AGHHHHH.

Come on. How can you look at his smile, his lovely little, subtle smile with those shy old eyes, and not immediately fall in love with him. He’s got some many little subtle things. Like the way his pupils dart around or his little sway back and forth when he’s knocked out or the way he bounds back and forth on his legs like an old-timey guy about to have a squabble. The way his mouth goes :0 so very subtly when he’s breathing. The way he always looks either shocked beyond repair, completely zooted or very confused. It’s all so perfect. IT’S ALL THESE THINGS THEY MAKE HIM BRILLIANT.

Im seriously looking for scraps here but i love finding meaning in otherwise meaningless things. I love analysing every detail until there is literally nothing else i could possibly say about it. He is perfect for this.

His fucking VOICE. OHHH MY GOD. it was so damn funny the very first time i heard his voice, because honestly it feels deliberate how they put his humble cutscenes before his first bit of dialogue so you expect this soft-spoken kinda light-voiced french guy only to be greeted with CHRISTIAN BERNARD’S DEEP ASS VOICE. OHHH KILL ME HE SOUNDS SO HANDSOME I WANNA SINK INTO THE FLOOR AND CRY WITH JOY. i wouldnt even mind if he was a soft-spoken light-voiced french guy but they really had to amp it up a little and give this lowly frenchman the most eloquent unnecessarily deep and silky voice ever. HE DIDNT NEED THAT. BUT THANK YOU FOR GIVING HIM THAT NINTENDO CAUSE ITS ONE OF HIS GREATEST QUALITIES. Plus french is just a really fun language to listen to. I could honestly sit listening to joe’s voicelines on repeat for hours on end and be fine with it. They’re so good. He’s so beautiful sounding. Its absolutely hilarious considering his voice in comparison to appearance. COME ON!!! AAHAHHGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHAGHGHS I LOVE CHRISTIAN BERNARDS VOICE I WISH I COULD HEAR HIM SPEAK IN ENGLISH. I NEED MORE OF HIS VOICE. AGGGGGHHHHH. 

POINT 5: WHATEVER ELSE

I erm i erm i just wanna say i love joe so much. The way he’s constructed, appearance, personality, physicality, dialogue, culture inspiration, story. EVERYTHING about him is just so cool and fun to think about and in my head it all weaves perfectly together to create the best character in all of fiction. It has now been over 2 unapologetic years of me yapping on about this guy. Whether it be his canon self and the things he does or the fanon version of him thats ive sourced from other peoples awesome HC’s or forged from my own lore. Any excuse i get, i talk about joe. Because it is so utterly fun. Yeah, he’s not the only boxer i love!!! Not at all!! I have several other favourites persay, but on the punch-out tier list joe is so good he has his own category thats about 4 ranks higher than what S rank is. And that is deserved. 

He loves his culture, he never gives up, he’s arguably a weakling and an absolute screwup but he never lets that get in his way because of her persistent he is, he’s gorgeous, he’s cool, he’d be a great friend, dad, boyfriend, husband, EVERYTHING. He’s got a weird hairstyle and weird fashion sense but somehow he looks great with it. He beat NICK BRUISER CANONICALLY?!?! He’s french, he’s ginger, which in a joking sense makes him the worst but against all odds he is the best. The french are lucky to be represented by him because he’s so utterly and unapologetically awesome and cool and fun and nice and inspiring and all that jazz. There is not a single thing that could stray me away from the path of Joe. my lore for him is SO deep. My admiration for him is INFINITE. Ive read through his wiki a pagillion times. Ive beaten him over 80 times in-game simple because i like seeing him so much and.

Well. i have entire shrine dedicated to him. let me know if you wanna see that....

[muaka-safari]

So @crystaltoa 's post about the disparities between the metrus got me thinking, and it's kinda hilarious how the world building makes complete sense if you look at it from a toyline pov, but the moment you start delving any deeper it becomes dystopian

Like, sure, the elemental factions offer an in-world explanation for why you can buy the same toy but in different colour schemes (hey kids, why don't you buy the same toy SIX TIMES) (still a more honest approach than blind bags, but I digress) and giving each metru its own characteristics based on their element is more lore than a toyline ever really needed

but then you get this society with strict expectations of your career/home based entirely on something you cannot change, with extremely limited mobility. Even if you do carve out a life in a different metru, you'll likely be viewed as an outsider/oddity

I mean. Avatar did a similar thing with the four nations, but the main differences there are a) they are much more geographically separate, making it much more difficult to have that cultural overlap and b) it was framed as a destructive trait, caused by war and isolation and nationalism that the show dismantled throughout its run

And I know bionicle has Unity as one of its virtues, and it was a toyline first, story second yada yada yada, so it wasn't gonna go as hard as avatar did, but sometimes I do wonder how intentional the dystopian aspect was – esp because even after the Toa Metru forge the koros of Mata Nui, the villages and their inhabitants are still pretty socially isolated from one another. Takua's willingness to travel between villages is unusual enough that the turaga make use of that repeatedly

Idk, it's just interesting that we never really see the Toa Metru go "yeah metru nui's system was a little fucked up" or look too closely at their original home's flaws

[o4ktree]

Hi! I have a question I been having trouble with oc designs how do you create the oc designs??

oh jeez, i am not good at explanations…

BUT i will try my best to share how i design OCs in a way that makes sense.

Usually, before even picking up my stylus, I try to answer these questions in my own head or go searching for some, whether that be scrolling through Pinterest or looking at other OCs that may be similar. They do NOT need thorough and super smart answers though, even silly ideas can create well thought out characters that look cool.

I’m only talking about this because it is a lot harder for me to design characters when I don’t think about these things beforehand. Personally, I find it important, and like I said, you don’t have to come up with thorough answers for any of these questions anyways.

These are my BEST FRIENDS IN CHARACTER DESIGN!!…. even if I don’t really focus on shape all that often.

Shape and colour really helps people with their first impressions of your OC.

This can be as little as the OCs body shape, colour scheme, and outfit.

Here are examples!! vvv

Do these have to be super well thought out too? Nah, not really.

Most people don’t search up what we associate what colours with every single time they’re creating something of course, and sometimes making something look more square or more triangular makes it look wonky. So don’t worry too much about it unless you find those things to be really important to the design.

It’s not gonna look super good the first try all the time.

You can ALWAYS go back and redesign, change some of the colours, maybe fix that wonky looking eye.

I hope I was at least a bit of help? Thank you for sending the ask!!