#i know some tweaks i want to make but saving those for editing

[akiuge]

anyone here a fan of both lovely runner and alnst??

As I was watching Lovely Runner, i was inspired to make an AU of it catering to ivt mainly due to it being my current fixation rn

i don’t know if im gonna continue making content protruding this idea — but if i do i’d probably tweak a lot of things so it’s not completely mirroring the drama itself

for those who haven’t watched it, here’s a summary for the drama:

a woman finds comfort and the strength to go on through an idol after he gave her some words of affirmation; this was especially touching for her because she had just gone through an accident that left her disabled (she could no longer walk). years later she would find herself as a devoted and loyal fan to him (nothing of a stalker, don’t worry). unfortunately, he would pass away as a result of severe depression. she gains the ability to go back in time to stop this from happening through a watch she auctioned which had originally belonged to him.

through this, she is also able to stop the accident from happening that had also left her disabled but… it also turns out that there was more to this accident that her memories had suppressed. she’s also finds out that there was a previous connection between her and this idol. anyways, to end this, she makes multiple attemps to save him but he keeps dying in different circumstances no matter what. she’s comes to a conclusion at some point that fate does not want them to meet.

oh and im editing this because i realized i forgot an important detail that made me think of ivt, be he was actually in love with her for 15 whole years lol. so cliche but i’ll eat up anything,,

ahh ^^ if anyone wants to lmk what they think of this it’d be appreciated ~ thank you

[secret-third-thing]

17! tell me everything 👀

God fears me for my process is fucking biblical.

Also link to post if people want to play <3

Please note this is for fanfic. My original fiction process has EVEN MORE STEPS AHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA.

Step 1: Be absolutely overwhelmed with an idea. I know an idea is worth writing when it pesters me enough that it intrudes when I'm doing other things or writing other stories. If it doesn't, I send it to the plot bunny graveyard. Get fucked.

Step 2: Let it cook. That's right. Every idea has to cook a little bit. It decides when it's time for plotting. Sometimes it's an immediate plotting situation, sometimes it cooks for a year or two.

Step 3: Write down some key points. What do I wanna have happen? This is to help me figure out scope. I am much better at looking at an idea and sussing out how long it's gonna be. I categorize it into one of the following categories

Baby (under 3k)

Big Baby (3-5k)

Solid Oneshot (5-10k)

We're pretending this is a one shot (10-17k)

Normal Mult-chap (17k-50k)

Danger zone (50-80k)

Chonky Monster (80k+)

Absolute Unit (150k+)*

Someone help me I've fallen (200+)*

*my pet peeve is fics that go on forever when they should have just ended. YOU NEED TO PLOT BETTER. jk it's fanfic do whatever you want.

This step is done partially for fun and partially because it helps me figure out how many beats and scenes I need.

Step 4: I decide on a target word count (I'm good at guessing. I'm usually within 15% of my est wc when I finish) and then I fill out my math sheet that I made while I was bored and unemployed last year. It basically estimates how many scenes I need assuming scenes average at 1200-1500. And then it divides those scenes into acts and then it tells me how many scenes per point in the save the cat outline. 😂 If people want it they have to slide into my dms and ask me nicely + compliment eris and/or beron. Ideally both.

Step 5: Time to fill out the main beats of the outline! Yay! This takes X days, which is to say it takes the time it needs.

Step 5b: If I have multi povs, I do this process for every pov

Step 5c: Then I weave the povs together - which beats can be shared? etc

Step 6: Write out every scene I plan on writing 🫡 I know exactly what's happening and the intended outcome. Yay!

Step 7: Work on something else. This story needs to cook a bit.

Step 8: Come back and see how I feel about the story. Then I do this scene analysis thing where I ensure that my scenes are covering different elements of craft so we are as efficient as possible. If a scene does not accomplish a goal, I yeet it. This is KEY. I'm not gonna type it all out here partially because it's long/complicated and partially cause the mentor who taught me it, asked me to keep it vague since she's worked hard to cultivate her mentorship guidance and process.

Step 9: I make scene tweaks. If my outline has gaps, I cry about it and then radically accept it'll come to me later.

Step 9b: Sometimes I shop the outline around and make revisions based on feedback.

Step 10: Draft. But only when I want to. I don't brute force shit anymore. (I've been writing the full fic first before posting this time around) But yes. Write the full damn first draft. This takes however long it takes.

Step 11: Set it aside and do anything else, ideally not writing related. Watch movies, play games, go to an art museum.

Step 12: Revision time!!! YAY! Read through the entire fic. Write down allllll my horrible little thoughts about it. teehee.

Step 13: Re-outline. Really see what the story actually is. Decide if I need to rewrite anything.

Step 13b: do any necessary rewrites. cry about it1!!

Step 14: Revise POV/ Voice

Step 15: Revise Character

Step 16: Revise Plot again if needed

Step 17: Scene level edits (world building, descriptions, dialogue, details whatever)

Step 18: Now it's time for beta!!! Please cry clap. Depending on the posting situation (event week vs whenever) I may just do one chapter instead of the full fic.

Step 19: NOW do the edits! Again!

Step 19b: Send to betas again for feedback. Edit again. Repeat indefinitely.

Step 20: Grammar pass!!!

Step 21: Beta pass 2 (usually just a sign off that im not insane)

Step 22: Dark Night of the Soul. I grieve. I wonder if this is any good. And then by the end of brooding, I'm feeling a little evil.

Step 23: Post and give very little shits about kudos etc because they mean nothing and I know I'm fucking awesome. (you are too btw.)

Step 24: Kill God.*

Step 25: Become God.*

*Sorry these last two steps are for me only.

Hope this helps!

[remnantsofthepast-if]

Update - Chapter 9 (Act 1 Finale)

Chapter 9 – According to plan

Everything is ready to set sail for your destination. The cycle is ending and it's time to say goodbye, but a certain individual might have something to say about it.

---

Finally, the last chapter of the first act of Remnants Of The Past has arrived! I think back now, and it almost feels like yesterday when I started writing this story. It has certainly grown much more than I initially thought, and I am grateful to all those who have reached this point ^^.

Returning to the chapter itself, besides the final stretch of the story, I also bring some good news that I've been wanting to share for a while! As you know, I've been editing the entire story before finishing it, adding things, tweaking others, and removing some that didn't quite convince me, but there were two things I didn't want to mention until they were completely finished.

Firstly, I've added a friendship route! My idea has always been to make a romance story that accompanies the adventure, so I quickly dismissed the option of making a separate route without any romance (I'm a romantic, I can't help it), but this was when I planned to lock the romances at the end of the act. However, the flow of the story decided that it would be in Chapter 4, and I understand that some may find it harder to stick with one so soon, so I started thinking about adding an alternative route to enjoy the story without MC having a romantic interest, and here it is!

But this doesn't mean that the story will be shorter or less enjoyable if you choose for your MC to remain single! The scenes with the ROs have been adapted to this route, and you can spend time with the characters in a completely platonic way. Sometimes you'll be able to choose who to hang out with, and other times the encounters will be random.

And lastly, the second thing I've added, which excites me more than I thought, is that the mysterious individual is officially an RO! I know some of you were eager to give love to this character (or at least try), and I'm not going to be the one to stop you! However, this RO will be very, very different from the others. Much slower, and with details that I can't mention because they would be severe spoilers, but the option will be there for those who want to take it. To do this, you must choose for MC to remain single for now in Chapter 4.

And that's not all, this character now also has a female version! How cool is that? :D The downside to this, though? All of you who use a save file prior to this update will see the pronoun variables and encounter several inconsistencies that will take you out of the story, because in that save these variables do not exist, so you'll have to start from the beginning.

IMPORTANT NOTE!! This complete first act will be completely free for one week.

On Wednesday, April 24th, the free version will be replaced by the demo that will cover up to Chapter 4, and the purchase version will be available on both Itch.io and Patreon for all those who cannot purchase it through Itch.io.

I hope you enjoy this chapter! I've revised everything as thoroughly as I could, but I may have missed some things. If you see anything strange, don't hesitate to contact me or submit a report here!

[tacoma-narrows]

Twenty (Three!) Years of Humanistic!

Abandoned Pools' first album, Humanistic was released 23 years ago today, on September 25th, 2001! For anyone who doesn't know, Abandoned Pools is my all time favorite band! I found them through Clone High in September of 2020 and immediately connected with a LOT of their songs, and in that time, Humanistic became my all time favorite album! A spot that it still retains to this day hehe.

So when I found out that the following year, almost a year to the day from when I started listening to Abandoned Pools, was Humanistic's 20th anniversary, I knew I wanted to make something big for that occasion! I ended up making a drawing based on each song in the album! This is similar to what I did for Owl City's album Cinematic later on, which I posted last year.

This is also sort of a look at proto Let's Get Back! in a way! I made this when LGB! was still just a duo act with PB and Shep, since Rye and Pumpernickel didn't join the lineup until I was about halfway through the project, and the band wasn't officially named Let's Get Back! until February of 2022 lol. The cover image here is based on the actual album cover for Humanistic, and I edited later to say "Covers by Let's Get Back!" to make it consistent with the rest of my LGB! art :3

Each piece in the series is below the cut along with the song they're connected to and some explanation about each one. Again, these pieces are three years old at this point, so some of the art is a bit wonky looking and some of these piece I'd do differently if I were to do them today, but most of them still hold up pretty well I think! :D

1: The Remedy

I based this one on the line “save your breath, your soul is hollow” and wanted to do something simplistic but still interesting! According to my friend who also likes the song, this is “exactly how that song feels” lol. It was fun working with silhouettes here, which is something I've done here and there in the time since.

2: Mercy Kiss

I decided to not actually draw them kissing bc the song says “I don’t need your mercy kiss” haha. Wanted to capture sort of a defiant attitude for this one. Posing is a little off here, and I've tweaked some minor things abt their design but overall one that I'm still pretty happy with :]

3: Start Over

I was SUPER happy with the posing on this one, I love the sense of motion it has. Basically, I wanted to express being stuck in a cycle and just wanting to go back to the way things were, which was something I was REALLY feeling at the time, but is still sort of applicable today.

4: Monster

Another one I REALLY like, with this one, I wanted to show that I can be a force to be reckoned with when standing up for myself. Or at least that’s how the song makes me feel. It’s a good rampage song too. This is another case where I really like how the pose came out. As you can also see, this is the only piece without PB since I wasn't sure how to incorporate him into this idea, but I’m sure he’s still involved somehow lol. Also this is the best song called Monster, I do not take criticism at this time.

5: Blood

Blood always feels like a sort of gloomy, spiral-y type song, so that’s what I went for. The line “we watch it burn, and we never learn, this can’t be what you’re waiting for” was really the focus for this one. A neat vibe with this one overall I think that I'm pretty happy with.

6: Suburban Muse

Suburban Muse makes me think of like, a fake sitcom town where things look normal, but things aren’t as great as they seem if you look a little closer. It even says “cue the canned applause” at one point. Also, those sort of, weird reality dreamscape neighborhood liminal space images like this where you can see where it's coming from but they just feel, off y'know

7: Sunny Day

This one is kinda weird because Sunny Day is kinda weird (though in like the best possible way, I love it). I couldn’t quite come up with a solid idea for both my OCs here, so I based them on two separate lines: “my head is inside a cloud” for PB, and “get off the bathroom floor” for Shep. In hindsight, I don't think the two separate lines approach really worked here since it feels more disjointed and not really representative of the full song, but I still like it well enough.

8: L.V.B.D.

This one was hard to come up with something for. I’ve never been super crazy abt L.V.B.D. since it feels, Very Hetero™ and I’m not about that. But it’s still sounds great and I’m definitely super glad it’s part of the album. Went for drawing Shep and PB here as little stuffed dolls, which is related to the acronym in the song’s title (which stands for Little Virgin Baby Doll) and I couldn’t think of anything better aha. I should draw plushies more often though

9: Ruin Your Life

Important: Shep and PB are only upset with upset with each other for the sake of this drawing, as I refuse to let anything bad happen between them for real. Anyways, the expressions were really fun in this one, and oh boy does this song feel very relatable over the last year or so.

10: Never

This one is very similar to Ruin Your Life for me, where it’s a sort of comforting during a dark time kind of way. Just crossing the days off hoping that things will get better soon, that’s what I went for here. The calendar is listed as 10/12 since this is the 10th song out of the 12 on the album, and the image is a reference to a previous drawing I had done of PB and Shep together :3

11: Seed

Personally, Seed is my least favorite song from the album as a whole, for similar reasons to L.V.B.D. but in a, more gross kinda way that conflicts with my ace side. The song still sounds great musically for sure. Even tho I’m not super crazy abt the song, I actually really like how this drawing came out, in fact it might be my favorite out of the whole batch, ironically enough lol. The boys are looking down into a hole from the line “there’s no more grace to fall from, there’s nowhere left to go but down” and I'm really happy with how the perspective turned out!

12: Fluorescein

Finally, Fluorescein is my favorite song of the entire album, and my favorite song in general! It’s so aggressive and loud, I love it. I decided to draw PB confronting a giant Shep bc the song makes me feel like I can take on a huge adversary and win >:] Although I do like what I chose to do here, I kinda wish I had come up with something better to represent my all time favorite song lol

So in conclusion, like I said, Humanistic is my all time favorite album and it means so much to me. Really all of AP’s work really means a lot to me, but Humanistic in particular. I found the band through watching Clone High and I am all the better for it. So thank you to Abandoned Pools for making something that I’ve gotten so much out of and I absolutely cannot wait for the sixth album coming at the end of next year!! :D

So I hope you guys liked this little trip down memory lane with me, and if you're also an enjoyer of Abandoned Pools, please let me know what you think of these and what your favorite AP songs are! I'd love to know! And if you don't listen to Abandoned Pools, I highly recommend their music if you can't tell lol. If you enjoy early 2000s alt rock sort of stuff, there's a solid chance you'll enjoy Abandoned Pools :3

[thisaintascenereviews]

Fall Out Boy Ranked: 2025 Edition

Fall Out Boy is my favorite band, and you know something I haven’t done in maybe a decade or so? A ranked episode with them! I ranked their discography many years ago, and I had a different perspective on their music back then. Over the past decade, I’ve been at odds with the pop-punk scene. Whether it’s the misogyny that ran rampant in the early 00s, or the predators that ran rampant in the mid-2010s, the pop-punk scene has only now started to get better. Fans are holding these artists responsible for their actions, and the bands themselves are becoming more diverse, unique, and interesting. It isn’t just the same runaround of four pasty and skinny white guys whining about how their girlfriends broke up with them. I’ve reexamined a lot of albums from my adolescence and from the past decade, and I’ve been able to look at them in a new light. A lot of albums are a product of their time, but context matters, especially if something was “acceptable then” but not anymore. When it comes to Fall Out Boy, I’ve grown to love and appreciate all of their albums in some way, shape, and form. I went through a period where I wasn’t a fan of their first couple of albums, but I also went through a period where I wasn’t crazy about their last few albums, either, but all of these albums are interesting in their own way. I wanted to rank them again, because it’s been so long since I’ve done that. I think it would be fun to look at their albums again, both because I haven’t done this in awhile, but I also don’t really have anything new to talk about. Not much has come out in the last couple of weeks, so I’m able to rest easy and listen to whatever I want.

Before we start off with the list properly, I wanted to mention a couple of things. I won’t be talking about any EPs, so their acoustic EP, the PAX AM Days EP, and the Lake Effect Kid EPs aren’t going to be talked about. They’re great little doses of their music, but I don’t need to talk about them. I also won’t be talking about their “debut” album from 2002, entitled An Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, because that’s an unauthorized album that was put out without their consent. It was mainly put out to capitalize on the success of Take This To Your Grave, but that’s neither here nor there. We’ll just be strictly talking about everything from Take This To Your Grave to So Much (For) Stardust, so strap in, folks (I also wanted to omit their greatest hits albums, because why would I talk about those). It’s going to be a wild right down memory lane. I’m excited to talk about these records for the first time in a long while, because Fall Out Boy is the first band I fell in love with growing up. I had listened to stuff before, but nothing hit me as hard as Fall Out Boy did. I’ll save my nostalgia for later on, because I can talk about the records themselves, but Fall Out Boy is a band that means the world to me. I grew up with this band, and as I got older, so did they. Their music changed and grew just as I did, so I love it when that can happen. The bands you love grow with you, and you can watch their growth along with yours at the same time. I also wouldn’t say that I dislike any of their music, so there’s nothing here that I’m going to say is bad, mid, or anything like that. All of these albums are solid in their own way, especially having plenty of time to sit with these. 9. Make America Psycho Again (2015)

Like I just said, there’s nothing outright bad in their discography, but I would easily say my least favorite record from them is their 2015 remix album, Make America Psycho Again. That title hasn’t aged well for obvious reasons, but this album was a cool idea. Fall Out Boy was fresh off the heels of American Beauty / American Psycho, and they remixed the whole album to feature rappers on each song, as well as tweak the production ever so slightly so it has a hip-hop / R&B sound to it. Honestly, it’s a cool idea, but too bad the rappers they picked make this album dated as all get out. None of them are outright awful, but who remembers OG Maco? How about Azealia Banks? I thought not, but you did have Migos, Juicy J, Big K.R.I.T., and Black Thought on songs, too, so the album isn’t half bad. Mostly everybody is fine here, but I think the production is the best part. Fans hated this thing when it came out, but I thought it was a very neat idea that no other rock band has really done since. The production is the best part of it, but it’s not an album I would necessarily go to bat for, especially these days, but it’s not half bad. 8. M A N I A (2018)

I hate to put 2018’s M A N I A so low, because this is a really good record, but the more that I think about it, the more it should be towards the bottom of the list. I was a staunch defender of this album when it came out, and I still think it’s a good (almost great) album today, but I do admit that it has some problems. For starters, this album is their most self-indulgent, mainly for Patrick Stump and his love for pop music. This album went very hard into pop, but it also had some cool experiments within Afrobeat, doo-wop, soul, R&B, and more traditional pop-rock. A lot of fans argued that the band “sold out” with this one, even more than their last two albums, but you could make the argument that they did in 2008 with Folie A Deux. This record has some of my favorite hooks from the band, including “Wilson (Expensive Mistakes),” “Bishops Knife Trick,” “Hold Me Tight Or Don’t,” “Champion,” and “The Last Of The Real Ones.” It’s clear, however, that their creative juices were starting to run dry. Pete Wentz’s lyrics weren’t on their A-game here, but there’s nothing outright awful. Maybe “Young & Menace” is a pretty weird song that I still enjoy, despite going into this strange EDM / dubstep kind of thing, but it’s an album that showed the band experimenting more. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, because people wanted the band to do something different, but when they do, they complain that they want the older stuff again. They were never going to do that, but they made a compromise for So Much (For) Stardust, their comeback album, and fans still hated it, so what can you do? 7. Save Rock & Roll (2013)

Fall Out Boy’s 2013 comeback album was an event. You just had to be there. It was such an exciting time to be a fan, because they first denied any rumors of them coming back, only to randomly say “psych” and drop a new song with the announcement of a new album. “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light ‘Em Up)” is one of my favorite Fall Out Boy songs, and the rest of the album is quite good, too, but it’s definitely a product of its time. You could argue that most of their albums are, but this one is very much a product of 2013, because some of the sounds are very much something you would have heard in that time. A few of the guests are artists that were popular in that time, such as Big Sean and Foxes, but Courtney Love and Elton John being on the album is really cool. This record has some of my favorite songs from the band, but in terms of a comeback album, you can tell that they were having a bit of an identity crisis still and testing the waters for what worked. The album shows the band very refreshed and energized, but each song has its own feel. It’s not a bad thing at all, as the album is very memorable, but it does feel like a collection of ideas that came from different places as opposed to a unified vision that they had. 6. American Beauty / American Psycho (2015)

The band’s second album post-hiatus is a bit better, because it has more of unifying sound, but they really leaned into what worked. This record is known for the songs “Centuries” and “Immortals,” but like Save Rock & Roll, it’s a product of its time by having a sound that a band like Imagine Dragons popularized just a couple of years beforehand. They brought back a modern-day “arena-rock” sound by having huge hooks, big riffs, and lyrics about being determined and being champions (which they would have a song literally with that name a few years later). This record has lyrics about being “remembered for centuries” and “being immortal,” so there’s a loose theme of being remembered. I would also argue that the band helped to kickstart a trend, for better or worse, in pop music, where artists would interpolate popular songs, lyrics, or melodies to complement their own songs. “Centuries” is a good example of this, because it features an interpolation of “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega, versus an outright sample. “Uma Thurman” features an interpolation of The Munsters TV show theme, and that little surf-rock riff is so awesome. I always love hearing that song mainly for that part specifically. It seems like that’s been a trend for artists to do now, but it usually doesn’t end very well. American Beauty / American Psycho shows the band firing on all cylinders again, as well as having a loose theme, versus just sticking ideas to the wall to see what sticks. Sure, this album is also of its time, but I would argue it’s held up well. The songs are catchy, the vocals are great, and while Wentz’s lyrics lean into overly inspirational, cliché, and bland, there are some worthwhile moments in there that keep me coming back. 5. From Under The Cork Tree (2005)

Their sophomore album, From Under The Cork Tree, turns 20 this year. That’s another big milestone, and this is also the album that broke them out into the mainstream. They signed with Island after their debut came out, and they put this out in conjunction with Fueled By Ramen. This is the record that started it all for them, minus their debut, but this album has their two biggest hits – “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” and “Dance, Dance.” This album isn’t quite my favorite, though, but it’s because this album has a transitional energy behind it. It reminds me a lot of Save Rock & Roll, where they had their feet in two different doors. They had foot in the door of pop-punk and another in pop-rock. They wanted to stay within both worlds, but they couldn’t find a happy medium between the two. It works well, and there are a ton of songs on that album that I really love, but it feels a bit rough around in the edges in spots. They want to be more of a catchier and pop-focused band, but they don’t want to fully commit. The balance worked, because those two songs did very well and brought them a lot of attention, so I can’t fault them for that. I still enjoy this album quite a bit, so it’s worth hearing, nonetheless, but this is my least favorite in terms of their early material. That might be a hot take, just because of how popular this album was, but I still enjoy it.

Take This To Your Grave (2003)

Take This To Your Grave, their debut album, is a record that I’ve had a complicated relationship with. I went from loving it a decade ago to not being crazy about it about five years ago to loving it again. I didn’t really love the subtle misogyny that some of the lyrics have on it, but context matters, and you have to understand that the scene was rampant with that at the time. That doesn’t excuse it, but these guys were in their late teens when this record came out, so it makes sense that the immaturity is there. It actually makes the album a bit more charming and endearing, and the language used isn’t that bad, so it doesn’t make me cringe as much anymore. Some of it still hasn’t aged very well, but at the same time, the songs are iconic and catchy. This is a pretty scrappy and rough around the edges record, especially Patrick’s vocals coming into their own. I’ve said it before, but this album sounds like a hardcore record trapped in a pop-punk record’s body. It has the makings of a hardcore record, but it has a catchy pop-punk sound. It makes sense, too, because the band started in the hardcore scene. I’ve grown to really love this album now, especially after going back to it many times over the last handful of years, so it’s easily one of my top favorites from the band now. 3. So Much (For) Stardust (2023)

I’ve made it no secret that I love Fall Out Boy’s second comeback album, 2023’s So Much (For) Stardust. It’s crazy to think that this album turned two this year. I can’t believe it’s been out for a couple of years already, but I was extremely excited for it. It absolutely delivered, as this record was a nice compromise between their pre-hiatus stuff and their post-hiatus stuff, along with adding some new ideas to the fold. There’s a definite pop-punk and emo sound here of the first two albums, but you can hear the echoes of Infinity On High and Folie A Deux, as well as the more contemporary sounds of their post-hiatus material. There are some traces of funk and disco here, too, which is a lot of fun. I’ve talked about this album many times over, but it was my album of the year for 2023. I wouldn’t have put it there for no reason, but this record absolutely exceeded my expectations. For being my favorite band, I was hoping this would be good. It’s not just good, but it’s great. The band truly feels like they’re firing on all cylinders, whether it’s Pete’s lyrics being some of his best in years, the instrumentation being really solid, and Patrick’s vocals sounding out of this world. It’s not an album that I totally expected, but I love that. 2. Folie A Deux (2008) I just wrote a lengthy piece on this record, so I won’t talk about 2008’s Folie A Deux too much, but I love this record. This album is easily my second favorite of their discography, because of how this record defined my taste. I feel as though this album influenced a lot of other bands from the era, especially the neon pop-punk bands of the mid-00s and early 2010s. It influenced myself, too, because I really enjoy catchy, fun, energetic, and pop-focused stuff, especially in the pop-punk and alternative vein. Those are the types of pop-punk bands I enjoyed the most, and even now, those are types of bands I like in the genre. State Champs, in particular, is a band that I feel as though has picked up the mantle of having a strong pop-focused pop-punk sound. Fall Out Boy went fully pop-rock with this one, and despite the fan backlash, it works wonderfully. This album is extremely catchy, fun, energetic, and infectious. It has some of the band’s best hooks, best vocal performances, and best riffs. The lyrics are great, too, and the band took a risk with the lyrics being less personal and more about the world at large. I really do not get why fans disliked this album originally, maybe the pop-focused sound, but even then, it doesn’t sound too far different from a lot of other bands at the time. A lot of the neon pop-punk bands that were popular at the same time as this record coming out were even more pop-focused than this record, so what gives? I’m glad it’s getting the flowers it deserves, but even so, it shouldn’t have gotten that backlash to begin with.

Infinity On High (2007)

Infinity On High is my favorite Fall Out Boy album. I’ve talked about it a million times, so I won’t say much of anything here. Although, if you are new, I’ll say a little something. This is the album that got me into music, so I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for this record. This album has my all time favorite Fall Out Boy songs on it, although every album has some of my favorites on them, but this has the best of the best. This is one of those albums that I can listen to and immediately be taken back to that time in my life. I remember when I got it, when I first listened to it, and I remember spending a lot of mornings in 8th grade listening to it on my old CD player before school. I have memories playing this album over and over again, but I’ve grown to love and appreciate this album in different ways over the last 18 years that it’s been out. This is easily my favorite album from them, but it’s the album that made me fall in love with music.

[folksaga-if]

SO.

it's looking likely that chapter 1 is going to come in at about...60k words. roughly. that'll put the prologue + ch1 at 80k, which is. longer than planned, but not wildly so? and that's good! i'm staying mostly on my target.

however the choices that account for the really different narrative experiences in the first chapter take place in the first ~40-45k words - this is where the chapter splits into 3 distinct branches with 3 very different interactions before converging later on.

so slight change of demo posting plans: to save myself the headache of having to do bigger alterations to those portions later on, i think i'll probably end up posting the demo as the prologue + those 3 routes, ie. prologue + 2/3 of chapter 1, about ~60-65k words total. it'll make it easier for me to gather more feedback on those sections, as they're the bulkiest code-wise and will be the hardest tackle later on.

which means! the demo may be posted sooner than i initially thought :) i'm going spend this week tweaking, editing, and re-writing, and will hopefully have it up sometime next week!!!! i'll give more concrete dates in the future, just wanted to let you guys know that we're in the home stretch before you have some actual game to play!

[chevvy-ryder]

WIP WEDNESDAY

got tagged by @aggravateddurian ! <3

again only writing:

Cyberpunk 2078 — Pandemonium:

Technically I can already start layouting the 2nd chapter as the written part is 100% done, but I am still missing some VP where I have to place Hizumi, Vijay and Ryder in the Afterlife and, ofc I am either too lazy to do that or I just forget about it bc I distract myself with other stuff (that also wants to be done). But as soon as I get to it you can expect the 2nd chapter! At least for those who are interested in it.

New pinned post coming soon:

I am about to make a new pinned post, yes it will be a brand new post but contain more or less the same my current one has. I just wanted to refresh my boys profiles, tweak the formatting a little and make them a bit better readable but they won't differ much from the current ones. I'll exchange the profile pics with given time tho as I'm not satisfied with most pics but have no time to throw each after another into the game just to get the perfect pic for it.

About Blorbos:

I am trying to sort out/clean up my boys' wardrobes. E.g. I noticed Thyjs has too much stuff and from every piece like up to 3 versions. I force myself to get it down to one piece, which doesn't work all the time, but I slowly get there. When he's done I'll have to do the same with the other boys thow Ryder is the most unproblematic of all as there's only one iteam in black for him in the first place of most mods.

I don't want them to wear all the same clothes unless it's basic stuff or shoes. I also try to get rid of most replacers unless it's stuff that hasn't been made as xl yet or need to be kept for color reasons and what not. It takes me so long because I also clean up my folders where I storage their original files as well sorting out those I have taken out. You know each of my boys has their own save file. I am also renaming some files to have a better overview as bru I tell you thjys is close to 300 mod files.

Chrome Chamber Rave concept:

Prepared some posts already but I am hesitating to push the post button bc my brain is stupid telling me shit I shall not listen to.

that's all for now. I promise next wip post will contain some pics or sth cooler than just text! I don't like it either.

tagging:

@astarionhistears, @nervouswizardcycle, @gloryride, @elvenbeard, @heywoodvirgin, @rosapexa, @streetkid-named-desire, @therealnightcity, @wanderingaldecaldo, @koda-shoulda-woulda-but-didnt, @breezypunk, @ouroboros-hideout and anyone who wants to or has to show something. No Pressure and if tblr mentions don't work, I'm not even trying to edit it as I am tired of it not working properly.

[captivemuses]

(How do you make your icons? Do you have any tips for beginners? What program do you use?)

@honkai-star-fun

First off hello! For once I can put my icon knowledge to use lol. But my icon process on how I do them is probably a bit more time consuming than it needs to be just from the sheer amount of steps there are but I'm too set in my ways to change.

First I'll take crops from the actual caps of whatever I want to make icons of, then I use a free program called Photoscape to resize the icons down to the standard 100x100 size that all my icons are (I know that I'm able to do that step in Photoshop but I never learned how and again too stubborn to change my work process lol). Then I go over to Photoshop to clean up all the icons (things like sharpening the image, cleaning up any backgrounds, tweaking lighting to the icon is more visible, things like that. Then the final step for me is actually putting my PSD over the icon I'm making (if it's not an icon for someone else that may or may not be edited with a border or overlay on top).

I premake all my borders ahead of time so when it comes time for the editing process I just slap them right on top of the icon and adjust the image as necessary so it's centered and make sure everything looks good. You can find pirated versions of Photoshop out there if you look enough I'm sure, but I personally just pay for an Adobe subscription every month so the software gets updates and I just do any icon work I can to justify the cost, whether it's just making a bunch for myself or making icons for friends who ask me to. But there's also free online alternatives to Photoshop that I've had to use in a pinch in the past. For me they're not the greatest for doing icons in bulk simply because I don't think you can mass upload files like you could on a legit version of Photoshop, but if you're really desperate it can get the job done. You'd just have to Google search like 'free online photoshop' or something along those lines to find a webpage for one.

As for the caps themselves that I use, a friend of mine does all my capping for me in exchange for me making icons for her own use because I've never been able to get the hang of using capping software, but if you search around on Tumblr and Google for caps blogs you can find a lot of free to use caps to make icons and graphics from or find people that do commissions for caps. It's also possible to find free to use premade icons if you search around Google enough (search things like 'Honkai rp icons' and you'll often find Tumblr posts that have free to use icons for the general public, or you'll find people that have some available for purchase through a commission like I do.

My biggest tip for a beginner is there's no shame in using free for public use icons if you just don't have the time to make your own from scratch. Do what you have time to do. I personally have been making my own rp icons from scratch for over 10 years now, but that's purely a personal preference of wanting complete control over how they're cropped and how they look and I'm willing to put in the time to make them look exactly how I want. Icon making can be really time consuming if you're making a lot of them or are icon'ing a character that shows up in a lot of their source material, so it's totally fine to do what you can to try and get through the process faster. And if you think just commissioning someone for icons to save yourself stress is a better way to go, it's totally fine to just spend a bit of money if you have the disposable income.

Anyway hope all that helped and if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask!

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

Just to be clear, will the old version of Fae Tales remain available on ao3 or will it be replaced with the newer edited versions?

I'd appreciate knowing so I'll know whether to download the older versions before their replaced.

Thanks x

Hi anon,

I've talked about this a lot over the years. But basically I have actually edited and tweaked all of my stories many times over the years firstly, so that's a thing that does happen and it's worth backing up versions (if you want to keep the typos and some of the continuity errors x.x)

Secondly, I will save the 'references to SAL' version of Game Theory, so that this version is always available. I'm still on the fence about whether I'll make the AO3 version fully original, I always said that I would, but that was before I made the decision to actually try publishing, and now I think I could probably keep both.

However, even if I do that, I get a lot of people saying they find Game Theory confusing - why was Augus defeated? What did he do wrong? What's the difference between Seelie and Unseelie fae? Etc. etc. Questions that got answered in SAL for some, and certainly get addressed in COFT and TIP, never get addressed in GT, and that's kind of an issue for a free serial that is meant to help people get interested in my writing.

Some people overcome that (or have no issue with it), but it really is the biggest barrier to folks picking up the series.

In that sense, I have considered adding extra scenes, and also removing the scenes that have been completely OOC for over 8+ years, like Gwyn masturbating early on in GT, or the spanking scene later on. Neither one fits Gwyn's character, and it's very quickly established after that - and then maintained for almost a decade afterwards - that they really don't fit his character.

Those inconsistencies might be charming for some, but they're actually really frustrating for me! I haven't been able to reread Game Theory for enjoyment for like 4+ years because of it.

So, will I fix those things to make GT have decent continuity of character and add new scenes to GT on AO3? Maybe. Will I keep the references to SAL? Maybe! This one's more likely, especially for the folks - the many of us - who love fanfiction and love AO3 and came to GT (including me) from fanfiction. There's always a transitional story for people who need it.

My biggest stumbling blocks are the character continuity issues.

Also for those who probably don't know, I've made some actually pretty big edits to SAL for character continuity re: Gwyn and Augus. Augus, in particular, has had some major reworking in that story (like 4-5 years ago).

Every single one of my stories gets edited over time, especially if I do rereads. Most don't get new scenes, but like... oof I'd say there's about 2000 extra words on Gwyn and Augus in SAL, and I remember I did an edit about 6 years ago which easily removed about 12,000 words.

No one's ever brought it up, so ideally the edits felt smooth and just made the reading process more enjoyable.

But yeah if you want old versions of anything I write, anon, save/download them.

But if I make big structural changes (removing scenes / removing chapters), I will make a back-up copy myself and host it on Dropbox or something for folks to download going forwards. But hopefully they try the edited version too :)

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Writing: Getting the (Arrow) Point

I’ve been editing an archery scene. This is interesting (heh, you know, in a bit of the curse sense) for two main reasons. First, I thought this scene was going to come a lot earlier in the story, which means various things about characters, time, and place need to be tweaked to account for everything that happened between where I thought this scene would be, and where it actually ended up.

That’s the relatively easy one. The second reason?

...I imagine a lot of readers are not archers, and so may not grasp some of the fine points. Heck, I’ve had to work out what a lot of those fine points are - I’m not an archery expert, I’ve just read up!

So far the best idea I’ve got to work around that is by using the right POV to compare “what just happened” to what “regular” archers normally do. Someone who has to evaluate archers, because knowing what your men can and can’t pull off when chasing monsters is kind of important. Someone who’s just seen a thing no one he knows has ever seen done before....

And it’s his job to not just see and evaluate the skill level, but to also figure out how can this be useful?

Short answer: Oh boy incredibly useful but will need to be learned by the rest of his men, and deployed carefully. Because it will raise questions. The kind of questions that get angry court ministers breathing down your neck. “Oh, sure, save lives of the common people - but do it without threatening our power!”

(Narrator: You know, guys, that’s really not as much of an option as you think.)

So... hmm. Looks like this could be a subtle lead-in to what I hope to set up in later stories: If you want regular people to have a chance against monsters, you have to make them more capable of handling... other violence. And that has consequences.

As it definitely would, in Northeast Asia. Because societies there (to be fair, societies most places on earth in the 1600s) are built on a monopoly of violence. In Korea and China in particular, which put scholars and mandarins on top, the people who had the monopoly on violence weren’t actually the ones doing the violence. Which arguably made things worse. It’s one thing to fight when it’s your neck on the line, but horrible, horrible things can happen when someone can just order armies to go out and eliminate whatever without having to face grieving relatives and your own people burned alive in sieges. On the other side, if your army knows they’re shafted no matter what happens... exactly how well will they fight?

If you teach people to defend themselves, they might defend themselves against “the wrong people”.

This is going to have ripple effects.

[hungergameshyperfixation]

Trick or Treat!!!

YAY

To top off this year’s Halloween, I thought I’d share a fun little idea I had and give a tutorial.

~~

How to make a “Victor Poster” on Picsart

(^^Example image)

Ignore the way it looks 💀 graphic design is NOT my passion (/ref)

This is not revolutionary information. I’m aware it’s fairly simple and basic enough that most anyone could figure it out on their own, but I still wanted to share my version regardless.

I made a few of these in 2023, with my dogs, OCs, and people I know LMAO so I won’t be sharing those. But it’s basically like a mock-up poster, could be used for Tributes or Victors (or anything really).

I personally would like to suggest creating these with your OCs or pets!!! I’d love to see more dog ones. I was tempted to share mine but I’ll save that for another day maybe. I still prefer this blog to be somewhat anonymous.

Down there is a video showing the entire process—I sped it up a lot for time’s sake but hopefully it doesn’t obstruct what I’m doing too much. I can and will elaborate on this if anyone wants/needs.

Here are the (basic) steps:

(I procrastinated finishing this so I’m sorry that it’s basic. I’ll plan to edit it if prompted—I wanted to post before Nov 1st LMAO)

1. Choose your background. I’d recommend being content with how the background looks but not editing it too much unless you’re okay with it looking like a “separate” image from your subject. For example, adding “noise” or a static effect on the background first might make it look worse when you get to the final steps. “Visual cohesion” and all that.

2. Choose your subject/character. Simple enough! I’d recommend dogs. Or OC/character drawings. I just used Katniss for the example.

3. Edit and place your character on the background, make some minor edits for visual coherence. You can put a slight filter on and just mess around, but once again I’d recommend just tweaking things before making it “the final look.” Like if your final image is going to be Black and White, I personally would recommend waiting until getting all the visual elements on the image before playing around with that.

4. Add text block. Can be done with just straight text or (my preferred way) using the shape tool and writing text within the shape.

5. Add title text at the top if desired.

6. Add and play around with features like shadows, drawing, other visual elements.

7. Edit the entire image for visual coherence. Add things like visual noise, adjust brightness, put filters on, etc.

[shinysamurott9]

Alright so now that it's been a day and I've had some time to collect myself, I want to give my thoughts on Xenoblade X Definitive Edition.

Holy. Fucking. Shit. How is this real.

Ok so, I'm a pretty big fan of Xenoblade X, though I wasn't as much when I first played it in a Xenoblade marathon in the months leading up to 3. I didn't think it was bad or anything, it just didn't click with me the way the rest of the trilogy did at the time.

That is until I played it a second time roughly a year later alongside Xenogears and Xenosaga leading up to Future Redeemed. Before I got to it, I had made an effort to try and figure out the game and avoid the mistakes I had made in my first playthrough.

And I loved it.

Compared to the first time it was crazy, I didn't want to put the game down at all. Naturally after that, I really wanted to see some kind of follow up or for X to get some kind of second chance. Being a late Wii U game in a series that was at the time quite niche meant not a lot of people have gotten to play it. So a remaster on the level of Xenoblade 1's Definitive Edition felt like something X sorely needed as a way for more people to have a chance to play it and as a way to follow up on some of it’s infamous cliffhangers. People have wanted it for years for those reasons as well as the prospect of having the entire series on Switch.

And then Nintendo decides to come in on a random Tuesday out of nowhere and just drop the insane bombshell that a Xenoblade X Definitive Edition is real, is coming to the Switch and seemingly doing all of the above. I genuinely did not think it would ever happen. Monolith have put out statements before talking about how difficult and costly porting X would be, understandably so given how demanding that game was for the Wii U. Between that and just how late we are into the Switch's life, I felt like X on Switch was a pipe dream at best. Plus with the supposed Switch successor rumored to be a notable leap in power, I expected that if an XDE was on the table it would be saved for that to take advantage of the improved hardware.

But, here we are, Monolith have pulled out something I never thought possible. So far it seems like the graphics aren't overhauled as much as 1DE, which is fair, X holds up way better, especially in comparison to Xenoblade 1. But of course there are obvious changes to the character models and geaphics overall, so far everyone is looking pretty good so I'd say I'm already pretty happy on that front. There do also seem to be some minor tweaks to character designs, nothing major for the most part namely Lin only has one Monado hairpin instead of two.

What may be the most notable thing here is that finally after nearly a decade, they are finally following up on some of X's hanging threads with confirmed new story content. We can also see here the character people have called The Black Knight up until now. We never get anything close to a proper look at them in game but datamined models have shown us his model from the ending cutscene. He's we can already see he's been pretty heavily changed from the datamined model which makes sense. That model uses recolored grenada armor with a hood added so it was probably more of a placeholder than anything. I am very much looking forward to seeing where this goes.

What I am most curious about though is how this game will perform on a technical level. The original version was already struggling to run well on the Wii U even after the 15GB worth of performance patches, so I can't help but wonder how this game will turn out on the Switch. There's really no way to know til people get their hands on it.

That's about all we know for certain til we hear more, but there is a fair bit I would like to see from this game, a lot of it being general qol stuff, such as let me change my party or the time of day on the fly, give me better inventory management stuff like that. More options to customise my character would be nice too but given the precedent set by 1DE more armor pieces is probably a given. I would like it if some of the outfit pieces that differed between genders became available to both just to have more options, especially in regard to casual wear.

The biggest thing that I hope they implement though, that personally I think is borderline required for this game is some actual explanation for how the game mechanics work. The main reason I had such a hard time with X the first time is because most of its mechanics are never properly taught to you and they're just not intuitive enough to figure out on your own. Most egregiously this includes Overdrive, not just the cornerstone of X's combat system but an incredibly fun mechanic unique to X that not a lot of players got to fully appreciate because they didn't understand how it works.

I know the Wii U digital manual explained some of these things but people weren't really reading manuals in 2015, much less digital ones that are somewhat disconnected from the actual game. As far as I'm aware the Switch doesn't even have digital manuals like the Wii U so actual tutorials maybe something they need to add if they want any of the presumably many new players to figure out how to play the game.

Other than that though I'm very happy with what we've seen so far. I'm really looking forward to playing this game again with hopefully a much more active online playerbase for things like squad missions or nemesis battles. Will certainly make getting reward tickets much easier and more fun.

[an-act-of-will]

Random tidbits of advice no one's asked for about writing but I've learned over the years

In no particular order:

Don't worry if your first draft is messy. That's what editing is for.

You won't learn anything from nitpicking the same story for years. End it and then edit.

Between edits, take a break of a specified time so the work can breathe. I do one to two months. You might need only a week or three days.

Don't be afraid to experiment, in your writing or routine. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the way to grow.

Don't worry if you can't pinpoint a precise 'routine.' I don't have one and I've written for almost a decade.

Let your characters speak, but don't let them monologue. You will need to play God to wrangle them into place. If you can't get them to behave, you might need to make a new character.

Don't delete anything permanently. If you really like a scene/chapter/character/whatever else, but it doesn't work in this story, put it in a separate document for future inspiration. You'll be surprised when you can re-use it with some tweaking.

Number your drafts. Please. Just do it.

Back up your work.

Back it up again.

Save your work before you close the program if it doesn't do it automatically. If it does, save anyway, then refer to previous two pieces of advice.

Don't be afraid to try silly writing 'hacks'- the 'writing in comic sans' one works well for me.

Get someone else to read your work and see where it needs some love. Prepare specific questions for them so they know what you want from them.

If you've been stuck for quite a while, the problem is in your last sentence. Don't delete it- I put it in brackets and move on as if it doesn't exist. You can also turn the text white on a computer, or cover it in a dark highlight color on the computer, or cover it with your hand if you're writing longhand.

If you write longhand, I salute you.

If you think the problem is in the last sentence, it might be the last scene. Do the bracket trick and move along.

Momentum is key. Don't stop to research when paper clips were invented (1867, for those wondering, by a gentleman named Samuel B. Fay. They were originally used to attach tickets to fabric.). If you know you need to research something later, put the item to be researched in brackets. Something like [CHECK DATE OF INVENTION OF PAPER CLIP]

Don't feel bad if you can't think of a specific or common word. I've forgotten the word 'lunch.' It happens. Put the approximate definition in brackets like [WORD FOR MIDDAY MEAL] (As you've noticed, I use a lot of brackets).

When it's time for editing, read through it first and take notes either on the manuscript or in the document. I color code mine, then include a key because I'm forgetful. For example, green is often a continuity error, red is something that can be cut, blue is where a scene can be added. I use changing the color of the text, highlights, and adding notes in my writing document.

Don't shell out money for expensive writing tools if you're not sure if you'll use it. Free word processors and office supply store notebooks are fine.

If you're well and truly stuck, move to the physical world and write longhand, even if you write digitally the other 99.99% of the time. I've found that it almost 'unlocks' parts of my brain that are understimulated.

If you do take the physical world approach, school notebooks and index cards are your friend. The notebooks are great for rambling and figuring things out, and index cards are amazing for writing short descriptions of scenes and physically moving them to see where they fit best.

If those don't work, you can always try the rubber duck technique I've heard coders use- use a rubber duck (or a stuffed animal, or a picture, or anything else) and talk your problem out. You'll probably see the solution once you articulate it. I use a wolf stuffed animal and record on my phone. You'll feel ridiculous, but it works.

Don't be afraid to feel ridiculous. It's a hobby that takes you down rabbit holes.

When I'm done with a chapter, I often use my text-to-speech function on my computer and listen to my story. It helps me catch typos that are other words. For example, 'bed' typed as 'bet' instead.

Your word processor isn't perfect. It will miss mistakes, and it might make new ones. To, too, and two and your and you're can be tricky for them.

Research your made-up names thoroughly to make sure they don't exist as other things.

If you have an idea unrelated to your current session, make note of it. You will forget it and you know you will.

Don't forget to take care of yourself- drink water, eat, and take breaks even if you're worried you'll break your groove. The words will still be there when you get back.

[mariska]

nobody asked but i am Making A Post About It Anyways Because I Asked Myself If She Wanted An Update And They Said Yeah I Want An Update Thanks For Asking, Me. and i said No Problem, Me.

a lil update on my new baldur's gate 3 dark urge drow character Zore (pronounced 'Zor-ah' i always feel the need to include that alongside her name lol) that i made a post about the other day!

so i had mentioned previously that i'd had a specific like, purple/blue/pink kinda general color scheme in mind when i was first making her in the character creation screen pre-gameplay and that, because i can't play on a fancier more modern type of TV that has those super hd/more detailed color/resolution etc. type of options, the way colors look on the 10+ yr old regular flatscreen Living Room Family TV are pretty different than how everything looks in screenshots i take on my ps5 and then save to my camera roll or any other non-ps5 device. and because of that, Zore's skin tone (which i had attempted to make like a light blue with a lil bit of a grey undertone) just looked completely grey in pics i've been taking of her even though on my screen it was much closer to that blue tint i wanted her to have.

anyways i used one of those magic mirrors in my camp to go back into the character creator and made some tiny tweaks to try and fix that with.....Limited Success? she is still showing up pretty grey in certain environment lighting especially in screenshots, on my tv screen shes like undeniably light purple or lavender, but. frank sinatra voice Thats Life ! comparison of how her skin tones looked in screenshots before and after adding more purple:

this was the original one (Wisteria Tone 4), looked like much more of a subtle blue/purple overlay on my tv than how grey it is in the screenshots,

this is the newer color i ended up going with (Violet Tone 1), obviously shows so much more of that exact kinda blue/purple/slight grey undertone in screenshots that i was going for originally and looks like a brighter blue/purple on my tv....idk why she's still kinda showing up as mostly grey in so many of the actual gameplay screenshots i've been taking of her but i think its probably just certain areas of the map with bright daytime lighting that wash the non-grey colors out or something, its annoying. LOL. especially since i think the newer violet tone rly compliments the pinks i used for her hair and eyes and makes those pop a lil more and its very pretty, maybe once i get to a spot in-game without the light of 1000 suns hitting her directly she'll actually look purple/blue in more of my screenshots of her fnsjsgssgsgshshsf

one more 'character creator' screen view of her followed by an in-game pic (i think u can def see the blue and purple tones better than all my other pics of her in this one thankfully so thats why i feel like its probably just a bright lighting issue that sometimes turns her completely grey lol)

got to the area of the map where u recruit Karlach before i stopped playing last night (which i have been going back and forth feeling hesitant about whether i wanted to recruit her to my camp and/or party at all because she is my absolute fav companion and in my main save file shes my character's girlfriend so i KNOW.....that she has the sweetest most compassion filled heart of gold......and i KNOW my girl Zore will make so many decisions and actions that Karlach will absolutely not be approving of 😭 but i rly didnt want to leave any of the main act 1 companions behind so i'm just crossing my fingers that maybe if i have her stay behind at the camp most of the time she won't get so disappointed in me that she'll just leave all together 😭😭😭😭😭😭) and took a million screenshots of the whole introduction scene bcus i love Karlach so very much, so. please enjoy these two silly pics i edited of that scene as well

also accidentally took a pic of this dead npc floating in the air while Zore took his brain tadpole out for herself and it cracks me up so much, i was trying to take pics of Zore but the scene kept switching characters too fast it makes me giggle every time i see it

Rise.....

[insomniaccipher]

EDIT (24/3): so um, I posted this way way too early. In my sleep deprived state I guess I posted it rather than save it as a draft, since it's clearly not done. I'm not going to private it, people have already seen it so expect this to be updated with the remaining notes. Sorry and thank you for understanding!

(tw for mention of depression and a depressive episode)

After a few days of me being absolutely fucking drained and progressively chipping away at this, and having a surprise d3pr3ssiv3 episode

(seriously though, don't do what I did and work yourself into a depressive episode. I'm okay now, but I should have rested before I crashed.)

And I can finally present the original sketches, notes (internal dialogue included) and with additional notes provided by present me.

Thank you to the few people who showed interest in my little character for being patient with me, I know I wasn't super loyal with the time frame and kept having issues arise but here it is. I apologise for not having a full illustration of them, It's one of those things that I have to be 100 percent satisfied with and right now, it's not there.

Thank you so so much again and I hope you like them, please feel free to critique them or ask questions but try to keep it polite please. Love you all!

Page 1 (left) - Bits and bobs

- Originally I was thinking of giving Arc moving tattoos. This was because I wanted them to have a more clear connection to ink since they would already be around it quite a lot also I imagine it would have been funny for Arc, who is a very calm and collected person, to be in a frustrating situation but can't express it so their tattoos just fucking loose it showing that they are fucking fuming but looks calm as can be.

After I decided on the hat with a veil however I decided to scrap the idea, or at least save it for a different character, as I realized the character would feel too busy and between the two ideas I liked the hat and veil more.

- There was a short-lived idea of them having blackout tattoos but after a bit of research I decided not to ask I wasn't sure if they had any cultural significance, so better safe than sorry.

- Arc, as stated in the notes, is seemingly always calm. That doesn't mean they can't feel frustrated, sad, embarrassed it just means they can keep their composure and level headed. They're like one of those people that if you upset them they'll walk out the room yell and throw shit and walk back in calm as can be.

- Their role has by now developed more than just being an archivist, as now I see them as just a general records keeper. They find and keep old records and text organised, while also writing down new information and such. I'm not changing their name though, cause honestly I've just grown attached to their nickname.

Page 2 (right) - the first note and ideas

- Weirdly enough, the very first idea I had for this character wasn't their story or personality: but their hat and veil. Yup. I just liked the idea of a character with a big halo hat and a veil hiding their face.

- There was another character at one point or they might have been the same, I don't exactly remember and the details between them were similar enough that it's possible that they were just the same character just with minor tweaks. But that character was more connected to the band (again as in the personas/characters they play, not the irl people) while Arc is more of a solo unit.

Mentioning this other character is relevant because, and this is purely based on memory, I think the whole reason they were reworked/scrapped/whatever-the-fuck I did with them was because a hat and veil wouldn't be practical on stage.

- Anyway whenever they do take the veil off, either for more delicate work or they have to be in public, they'll put on a basic mask that covers the majority of their lower face.

- A lot of stuff I see, so forgive me if it's not actually a popular concept, seems to make the band members some form of inhuman. Which I fucking love, however to be honest the inhuman stuff was always kind of going to be part of them no matter what, even if I hadn't chosen the hat and veil concept (See top bullet point for the moving tattoos concept).

[therichantsim]

Come get to know me y'all! Thank you @cinamun for the tag.

1. What’s your favorite sims death? I cheated it but I had Peeping Tom die death by rabbit and Death by flies. I think the death by flies was hands down my favorite.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? BOTH! I consider my style Maxis Mix but I haven't added any alpha cc to my game in a very long time.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? Not in my gameplay saves but in my legacy save I usually don't play long enough for them to gain weight.

4. Do you use move objects? Absolutely I do try to remember to playtest though but sometimes I do forget.

5. Favorite mod? Wicked Whims, TOOL, and MCCC. Sorry, I couldn't pick just one.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? My first EP was City Living, GP Dine Out and I think my first SP was Laundry.

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? I say it both ways.

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Isaiah Blackburn. Although technically he was Obie Tremblay when I downloaded him from @budgie2budgie. After playing offline for a day or two I gave him a makeover. He has had several tweaks over time. I'm very satisfied with where he is now though.

9. Have you made a simself? Yes, and she is living her best simulated life.

10. What sim traits did you give yourself? foodie, creative, romantic, and neat.

11. What is your favorite EA hair color? Black and the cooler red. I wish the black was blacker though. It's still a bit ashy looking.

12. Favorite EA hair? All of the dread locs. Loc'd life forever!

13. Favorite life stage? Toddlers they are so stinkin' cute!

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? I am a builder at heart but I do enjoy gameplay for like two hours then I get bored. I am a storyteller and builder.

15. Are you a CC creator? I've done a handful of recolors and I have my own wall art cc.

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? I have mutuals and some of those mutuals have my contact info so I guess that makes them my friends too.

17. What’s your favorite game? The Sims 4 is the only game I have time to play.

18. Do you have any Sims merch? Nope.

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? Yes, but I haven't updated in a long while.

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? I don't think it's changed much except that I've gotten better.

21. What’s your Origin ID? TheRichAntSim

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? All of the ones that do it for FREE and for the love of the game.

23. How long have you had a simblr? 2018 but I have had a Tumblr forever.

24. How do you edit your pictures? Gshade, Photoshop, and Photoscape X Pro.

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? City Living, Seasons, and Cottage Living. Growing Together is so far so good.

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? I don't care to be honest I wish they would focus on fixing broken packs and improving others like they did Spa Day.

Tag: @trumpets0ng @glammoose @bobnewbie @ladybugsimblr @storiesbyjes2g @shesthespinstersimmer @sheplayswithlifee @shysimblr @eslanes @ellemant @haziewhims @hazelminesims

And anyone else who wants to play. Feel free to ignore if you want.