#i like a lot of the stuff i do 😆 even if they're not the highest quality stuff

[matchalovertrait]

It’s that time of year where being reflective seems to happen as the new year awaits. 

What’s one thing you’re proud of? It could be sims related or personal you decide 😌

Hello hello my friend 😌 thank you for this ask <3

Hmm, that's pretty hard to answer because there are many cool things I've done here that I never thought I'd be able to!

Probably one of the big things I'm proud of is being able to invoke emotion? I'm not saying I'm amazing at it, but the fact that I'm able to do it even a little is crazy to me 😂 Someone said recently that my sims have made them laugh and cry—like what???? You're pulling my leg!

Anyway, I'll name some of my favorite moments in the Alegría Legacy that got strong reactions lol.

Erick possibly cheating on Noemí???

Dulce comparing Hilary to a booger.

THE newspaper issue.

Noemi comforting Dulce after being bullied at school.

Diced Junior!

Dulce filming and posting the Alto exposé video.

Dulce and Alex's breakup.

Alfonso Alto's arrest.

Alex taking Dulce to prom.

The bittersweet ending of Generation 1.

Dulce and Caruso's rivalry arc.

The entire trip to Scotland.

Dulce moving out of her childhood home.

Cosita's adoption!

Caruso's backstory.

All the cool crossovers I've been doing with my mutuals :)

The launch of Dulce's first cookbook!

The marriage proposal rejection.

Caruso's stupid video.

Antonio's existence.

Alegría v Caruso.

Operation Fox.

[yumeka-sxf]

I'm finally home from my vacation and able to discuss the latest SxF chapter...all I can say is, I have a lot to say! I'll start with funny stuff first before I move on to analyzing...

Anya was especially hilarious in this chapter - where do I even start with her gremlin-ness? 😂 First off, there's her calling the butlers "henchlings' henchlings" (in the Japanese version, I believe she's using some mispronunciation of 弟子, which means "follower")

Then she calls out Twilight for being, well, Twilight, even giving his behavior its own acronym 🤣

She feels bad for George because his family isn't important enough for Twilight's aforementioned Twilighting 😅

And this doozy of a nickname for Bill!

In the Japanese version, she calls him something like "old man bully who hits people with balls" 😆

But joking aside, we get these profound words from Jeeves that seem to resonate with Twilight.

His words remind Twilight of the hypocrisy of his position: on the one hand, he agrees with Jeeves and wants the children to be able to grow up as they wish, without being burdened by the expectations of their parents. But that's exactly what he's been corralling Anya towards this whole time...doing whatever's best for Operation Strix, regardless of what may be best for her.

This scene reminded me of his musings when they first took Bond to the dog park; another case where he's aware that the morals he believes in are the opposite of his actions and yet...he continues with the mission.

I also think it's great that the other parents thank Anya for her bravery during the bus hijacking. Even if their kids don't act grateful, the parents should be on their behalf. Perhaps seeing this praise for Anya right before his eyes is what made Twilight feel even more guilt upon hearing Jeeves' words - he's seeing more and more what an exceptional girl she is despite not having the perfect traits for his mission, and yet he's still manipulating her (not realizing she's aware of the mission and wants to help).

But on that note, it's nice to see that George's dad and Becky's mom somewhat agree with Jeeves. As of now, I'd say out of all the Eden kids we've gotten to know, George and Becky seem to have the most decent families. I especially like how Becky's dad is adorably doting, to the point where he gets crushed when Becky asks Yor for help instead of him 😅 Also Martha having to reel him in, lol.

But despite being an overbearing dad, at least he isn't quick to jump on Loid supposedly "seducing" Becky 😂 He seems to not take it seriously, which is good since Becky is the one making the moves with her silly little girl crush.

Also Emile thinking Yor is pretty~ I'm surprised he had something nice to say about anyone connected to Anya, lol. I really want a chapter where Yor takes all the Eden kids on a playdate and they start thinking she's awesome like Becky does, even Damian.

Speaking of Yor, just when I thought she would be demoted to "background character" for whatever arc is coming, the last few panels give the impression that she'll have her next moment in the spotlight soon! Is she just destined to always catch Melinda when she falls? 😅

Not only are we getting more Yor/Melinda interactions next time, but also (hopefully) more of Anya reading Melinda's mind. I know there's theories floating around of how Donovan may be able to read minds and is possibly the one behind the experiments done on Anya, and that Melinda may have some psychic abilities too. Also some relation to that Arnold Crowley character introduced several chapters ago. I'm not good at theorizing, so I'll leave it to fans who are better with that kind of stuff 😅 But I think they're all good theories and I'm keeping my fingers crossed we'll get more insight into Desmond secrets very soon!

...but unfortunately the next new chapter won't be until November 25th, so we'll have to be satisfied with theories for now!

[bob-artist]

Just found you via your funny dream comic. Good stuff 😆. Definitely gonna read the rest, and I was surprised you had your own website. Looks good on mobile too. I’ve got a comic that some friends keep trying to build me a site for but I’ve been telling them no because it seems like between webtoon and social media nobody is interested in personal sites anymore.

Have you noticed an uptick in engagement from your site? Would you recommend going that route? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

I’m also interested in how you decided to build/host it, if that question isn’t too lame.

Anyway, glad I found your comics!

Ah thank you for checking out Into the Smoke's website!!

Oh, I have SO many thoughts about independent webcomic sites and why people should have them. I have so many thoughts, and I'm so so sorry.

Why did I decide to have my own webcomic site?

First of all, this is not a lame question and I wish we could all have this conversation more often, so I could maybe write just a paragraph instead of this whole dissertation!

1. Because I lived through webcomics history.

I launched my first webcomic in 2011. I watched the webcomics scene shift over the years from self-hosted sites to third party sites, and I saw what it meant for independent creators. We lost vital infrastructure, relationships, habits, and control over our own work. I think self-hosted sites are an important backbone for creators, even if/when their largest *numbers* come from a third party site.

We’re all supposed to be helping each other, not fighting each other to satisfy the algorithm. Our early tools (webrings, link trades, comic databases, sharing each other’s posts) were small but meaningful, and they also helped us maintain a community mindset in a long and sometimes lonely line of work. When we started leaning on hosting sites, we let a lot of those tools and relationships decay. And now a lot of people are locked into imbalanced relationships with hosting sites that leave them with very little agency and control over their work and how it’s shared (or isn’t shared).

Hosting sites are great for removing barriers to entry (cost/time to build a site). And a lot of them have large built-in audiences. But the big ones aren’t run by people who care about creators. They’re designed to extract the maximum value from your work while giving you the least they can get away with. Use them if you want (I do), but don't be dependent on them.

2. Comics are the main thing I do for a living, and a website gives me the tools to promote my work and build relationships with my readers.

Most apps and third party sites actively prevent or suppress these things. On your own site, you can share all the info you want about your upcoming Kickstarter, your tradpub book release, your merch, etc. You can collect email addresses for your newsletter. You can literally just talk about your weekend, and you’re not gonna have a 150-character limit.

Yeah, not everyone wants to read a wall of text (ha ha...), but acting like a person reminds readers to treat you like a person. This is one of my main gripes with the apps and social media - they suppress human connection and present you like a cog in their machine that only exists to churn out free content.

3. I have a consistent home base and full control over how my work is displayed.

I don’t have to fight against an app that’s trying to direct my readers toward whichever content is most profitable for them. On an app, the readers “belong” to them, not you. (Who has their email addresses?) So if I'm putting effort into promoting my comic, I'm promoting my own site. (oh look, I just did it.)

Hosting sites/apps aren't designed to showcase your work. They showcase the app’s collection, and they're designed to keep readers on the app, jumping from creator to creator. This can help readers find you, but it also devalues your work and dilutes its impact.

And the app might not show your work to anyone anyway. Tapas is a great example; they recently redesigned their site to prioritize their Originals, and independent creators are hidden away in a “community” tab with barely any discoverability anymore. This is always the struggle on a third party site.

4. I hate censorship.

Into the Smoke is Teen 16/17+ and Demon of the Underground is R/18+. My comics aren’t even explicit, but I still can’t post my true, uncensored vision for either story on third party apps governed by Apple’s App Store and Visa/Mastercard’s tight content restrictions.

If webcomics exist exclusively on apps with heavy censorship, we’ll never have the diversity of storytelling and freedom of expression that’s necessary for groundbreaking or subversive art to happen. And that’s bad for everyone.

Adult brains need to engage with adult concepts. Difficult and triggering topics need to be explored in creative spaces. Artists need freedom to stretch their creative muscles without falling into the damaging patterns of self-censorship that come from having to tiptoe around arbitrary platform rules.

We can’t let the rules of like 3 American companies dictate what every webcomic reader around the world is allowed to read.

5. An independent website can’t easily be taken away from you.

Just make regular backups! You can always move to a new web host and redirect URLs if needed, and you won't lose your readers. On the other hand, you can easily lose the bulk of your audience on a third party site based on circumstances outside your control.

Let’s talk about Smack Jeeves, a formerly popular webcomic hosting site that was bought out and then shut down, leaving lots of cartoonists homeless. Or we can talk about the Tumblr NSFW purge of 2018, where I lost a huge chunk of my first webcomic’s following and most of my webcomic mutuals, even though my own account stayed within the rules. Or Musk buying Twitter, the platform where I once found my literary agent through a publishing event but now get no traction at all.

Have I noticed an uptick in engagement from my site?

I don’t have analytics on my site yet. But, up until a few days ago, that's where people were reading, thanks to my own efforts and the support of my comics friends and all of y’all who shared my ITS posts. (THANK YOU ALL!) I didn't have any discoverability on Webtoon or Tapas yet.

I got 10-15 new patrons between May 25 and June 5. Up until a few days ago, I even had more ITS newsletter subscribers than Webtoon subscribers.

What happened a few days ago is my Webtoon mirror suddenly blew up with 100+ new subs a day. I don’t know where I’m being featured, but I know I’m only getting those readers because Webtoon suddenly chose to grant me visibility. That can end just as instantly with an algorithm tweak or them deciding not to show my comic anymore. (When my first webcomic was in one of their pay programs in 2018, I went from $300 or $400/month to $0 overnight due to a policy change.) So I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, but I won't de-prioritize my website.

The new Webtoon readers are awesome and supportive, and I’m 100% thrilled to have them. But the Webtoon influx isn't resulting in a Patreon influx like my website launch did. I wouldn't expect it to, this early in the story. But it's consistent with my past experience polling my patrons: even when 50% of my readers came from the apps, 90% of patrons read on my website. (Your audience may vary.) And since I depend on crowdfunding for my comic, that's important to me.

Would I recommend going the route of having your own site?

For anyone who’s just testing the waters with webcomics, it might be overkill.

But for anyone who’s committed to their webcomic, I recommend having your own site AND mirroring on every third party site you can, provided you’re cool with their terms of service. It's important to meet readers where they are. Let those hosting sites lend you their readers. Some readers will even want to visit your home site where they can read ahead, read the uncensored version of your comic, get more info, or sign up for your newsletter.

Just remember, no one will discover your independent website all on their own. They’ll only find it through the work you put into promotion. But the reader that cares enough to come to your home site is a special type of reader.

So how do you get readers to visit an independent webcomic site?

Find your allies

These are people who work in similar areas as you who want to help you succeed, and whom you want to help succeed. Chat with each other, help each other, promote each other, boost each other, link to each other (psst, my links page just went live!), be there for each other - behind the scenes and in public.

God, I am SO bad at approaching people, but this is important, and not just for comics.

Be part of a community

Really, this is an extension of the above point. It's easier to find your allies if you're part of a community.

I’m a member of the Cartoonist Cooperative, and they’re a GREAT group of talented people all across the comics industry. The mission of @cartoonistcoop is to help create better conditions for comic workers through cooperation and collective action, and I’ve found so much help from them with Into the Smoke and comics as a whole. (JOIN! They're great!!)

The goal of the co-op isn't to drive traffic to your website. But being part of it has helped me at every level of crafting my comic, including promoting it and making it good enough that I can take pride in promoting it. And it's helped me ground myself as part of a community after I lost so much of mine in past years of burnout and platform enshittification.

Another option: @spiderforestcomics is a great webcomic collective full of supportive creators, and I believe they’re open to submissions till the end of June! They also have an awesome collaborative community mindset, and I've known some of their members for years.

Direct readers to your RSS feed and newsletter

Getting readers to your website is great, but they need to keep coming back for future updates, and it’s hard to remind them without an app notification. You may need to teach younger readers what RSS feeds are. Inoreader is a great RSS reader for the 2024 era.

The dreaded SEO

That’s Search Engine Optimization - optimizing your website so that people can easily find your comic via search engines. That’s a topic for another day, but feel free to research it!

Paid promo

This can be tricky, and I really only recommend spending promo money if you’re making a comic on a professional basis, because then it’s an investment you'll make back.

That said, Comicad.net is a great independent site where you can buy banner slots on other creators’ sites. I just ran small campaign myself. (And no, I won’t ever be offended if you outbid me!)

I haven’t bought any Tumblr Blaze slots, but I got BOPPed (blaze other people’s posts; apparently that’s what it’s called, lol) once on this account and once on a side blog, and both were highly impactful. (Thanks, friend!!) So I consider it a solid option, and it looks really cheap compared to other social media sites. (Never trust Meta.)

And where can you learn more about building a webcomic site?

I know you didn't ask, but if I'm gonna share all this, I might as well give folks a starting place to actually do the thing.

Now, I’m *bad* at offering cheap and easy web solutions. My specialty is hard and expensive. But my one piece of advice: PLEASE make your webcomic site mobile friendly for the current generation of readers! When we talk about barriers to entry, remember that more people have phones than computers, and many can't afford computers.

Anyway, here's some webcomic website resources from OTHER people!

The Cartoonist Co-op has LOTS of great resources on building webcomic sites! Several of them! Check them all out!

@screentonescast has a podcast episode on webcomic web design and one on RSS feeds!

@jeypawlik also has a great comic about how RSS feeds work.

So, congrats if you made it this far. Go make a website, y'all! And if you read any indie comics, go visit the creator's website!

[genericpuff]

You probably don't want to talk about 'Kaos' anymore so you don't need to respond to this, I just want to tell my thoughts

At first I thought that "Hades and Persephone love each other", "Demeter is a helicopter mom" and the famous "Hades is misunderstood and the least bad of his brothers" 🙄 good thing I was too shy to say those thoughts on the internet

Ironically, thanks to "Lore Olympus" I realized the altered perception that almost everyone has about this couple and poor Demeter (now she is my favorite goddess ♥️). The clearest example is that pretentious webcomic.

When I saw the HxP version of 'Kaos'... I liked it

I feel like it's because I don't really see them as Hades and Persephone, I just see an old couple who genuinely love, respect and support each other and not a bastardization that only exists to fulfill a twisted fantasy (*Cough* LO *cough*)

I've only seen up to the beginning of chapter 6, but so far I like this version of Hades, he's not a hypocrite who feels superior to Zeus, he genuinely cares about his family, he doesn't want Zeus' pride to destroy it and tries to warn him and that went very wrong 😞

Well, that's all I wanted to say, bye 👋

I actually don't mind talking about Kaos at all, it was a great watch!!!

I was a little sigh when Persephone was like "ACTUALLY I went down WILLINGLY" but I'm glad at least that so far that it was more so just a brief, inconsequential mention and nothing that seemed to imply toxicity between her and Demeter. That said, there's still clearly meant to be a second season (whether it gets renewed is a whole other issue) so I'm reeeeallly hoping it doesn't go "haha psych!" and pull the rug out from under me with Demeter slander, but we'll see.

Again, thankfully it wasn't too major of an inclusion that it doesn't ruin the overall presentation of H x P in the show, the casting is genius (I hadn't even realized at first the actor portraying Hades was David Thewlis until my husband pointed it out and that made me love him even more hahaha) and the dynamic between Persephone and Hades is very fun as they're both clearly on the same playing field in terms of age and life experience, Persephone never seems like she's just an accessory to Hades and if anything it's Persephone who's often having to run the show (but it doesn't ever put Hades down either, he's just overworked and tired and his wife is trying to make him do self-care aahah)

And yeah, I mentioned this in a previous unrelated ask but I really feel like there's too much focus around teenagers / young couples / May-December couples (i.e. "old guy x young girl") in a lot of romance these days so seeing Kaos' depiction of H x P as a middle-aged couple who are clearly in love but also have a lot of burdens between themselves and their responsibilities was very refreshing and needed. I know a lot of romances are centered around younger couples because then they can play on the whole dramatic, "whirlwind romance" trope, but people older than 40 can have great romance stories too! And frankly considering how many romances are centered around the "first love" couples who are just constantly making out / flirting / having sex / etc., it's weirdly fun to watch a couple who are clearly past that puppy love stage and are now just working together as a unit the way experienced couples would. The love has moved past the short-term excitement of kissing and sex and moved into the long-term strength of simply committing yourself to another person and tackling life's problems together.

That's not to say that young couples can't be depicted in that way, either, but again, a lot of it often gets thrown to the wayside in favor of the more "exciting" stuff like the "will they won't they" trope and the love triangles and moments of "firsts". Ironically, those moments of "firsts" aren't so special when every romantic couple in media is having them 💀😆

Sooo yeah! Hades and Persephone in Kaos are very fun and endearing to watch, they genuinely feel like two people committed to both each other and their responsibilities as rulers of the Underworld and it shows in both their actions and how they behave together while standing against Zeus. I really hope that it gets a second season, and that whatever is contained within doesn't fall into the same "Demeter was the villain" shtick. I don't see what's so difficult about having Persephone choose to go to the Underworld without it being at the expense of her mother, it's wild how so many stories can't seem to play to both sides of the myths.

[theredkennedys]

my au my rules. this au is literally called Chucker Spiderverse AU in the archived discord thread so be warned oooOoOOoooOo . gay men OoooooOo

writing out the backstory that me and my friend Donut have been working on for the better part of a year, most of it was inspired by the new itsv movie that was released then. and because I don't plan on writing anything huge for this I'd like my brainstorming to have a wider audience.

All art posted is most likely @franklindonuts , aka Donut the cocreator of this shit,,,hey buddy😆 go show him some love pleeeease

you can see my art of this au here

this will 100% be somewhat incomprehensive but hey I'm just a fag having fun and I was born yesterday🧚‍♀️

**

Tucker is the spiderman in his universe with Church as his "guy in the chair". (Putting it out there that this Church is Alpha, which is significant later on.)

They both share an apartment, I don't think I ever specified why but probably for school reasons. They're both young adults, I want to say around 19-21, similar to their Blood Gulch years.

Tucker loves being spiderman. He loves helping people, being almost an idol for people- a lot of jokes were thrown around about that:

Imagine Tucker after he got his sword. He has a genuine purpose now and he's going to be good at it.

but goddd Tucker is Tucker and is stupid and reckless. being spiderman doesn't make him invincible but he loves to think otherwise. he pushes himself too far too often because he knows if he doesn't he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if someone got hurt when he was taking it "easy". Church knows this but he's still pissed off when Tucker comes back bloodied and bruised from a Villain of the Week that he shouldn't have taken on :/

(Donut art)

mental illness

It's literally just the Spiderman Effect. No one will Ever be able to understand what it's like to be spiderman but other spiders, regardless of how much you tell them or show them, they won't get it. and Church doesn't Get it. He's not stupid, he understands WiTh GrEaT PoWeR y'know but there's a mental toll that can't be communicated in a way that makes sense :/

regardless, Church hates it but he also hates how much he cares about Tucker. Cocreator said that he figured they were both close and willing to become A Thing but the time was never right, and Tucker was scared of liking a dude, etc. Normal stuff between these two. But they're insanely close, I'd like to think even moreso after Tucker's whole spiderman thing and the fact that Church also has to realize that Tucker is not invincible.

(despite them not being A Thing, Donut art of The Spiderman kiss and other gay shit)

Now this is the kicker of why I said to take note of the fact this is Alpha Church specifically.

Now I'm aware of the clowning on the whole "canon event" thing and some people's opinion on it (mostly that it's dumb and cliche), but I find it a very unique and convenient way to give a character a significant plot boost.

That being said, Tucker's "canon event" is Church's death.

I don't ever think I solidified how/why he dies, moreso that it's just a wrong-place wrong-time type of thing. Some brainstorming from Donut about it:

but i never asked him for elaboration so I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. anyway

Tucker finds Church similar to how Miles found Peter in the first Spiderverse movie. He doesn't know what to do. He's frantic and scared and horrified that his best friend is coughing up blood with raspy breaths.

(Alpha s10 parallel with tex lalalala)

Obviously. Obbbviousllyy Tucker is distraught and inconsolable. Something something he has the Worst depression of his life. He doesn't know what to do with himself, the one person who knew about everything is gone, and I'm sorry (not) lol but it's not like in rvb where Church revives 8 times before dying like a normal person.

Church was always there for Tucker and he's at a loss of what to do now because, despite the threat of it, he should've never died. It wasn't even a concern in his head ever because it seemed so unlikely.

Tucker doesn't know what to do with himself, he wouldn't have gotten this far without Church. But really, it was All Tucker. All Church did was give him little tech bits to help him function better but it was All Tucker. But he isn't able to realize that through everything and it ruins him.

I will have to make a continuation post because I love adding images and Just hit the mobile limit🧚‍♀️

thanks for reading if you got this far

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Party Of Your Lifetime

Man I'm so happy to have one more video to visually dissect and delve into before the year ends! I really do enjoy making these posts!

VoicePlay's cover of Party Of Your Lifetime was released on the 13th of December, 2024 (or the 14th of December if you live somewhere like New Zealand, or Australia like myself). This was done in collaboration with the developers of the videogame Warframe, who reached out to VoicePlay after seeing and loving their cover of Sleeping In The Cold Below, another Warframe song. This song, however, is not a space shanty like SitCB was, but instead a song "performed" by the in-universe 90s-style boy band "On Lyne", whom VoicePlay are basically portraying for this video!

Many other things to say, (and if you wanna wanna hear my thoughts on just the vocals/arrangement/music, go HERE), but it's time for me to rewatch the video and start grabbing screenshots! Lets Get Into This!

I wasn't prepared for the "ad" at the start, ngl 😂

(Also in case you don't know the On Lyne band members, Geoff is Zeke (and Zeke is Geoff), Eli is Packet, Layne is Harddrive, Omar is DJ RoM, and Cesar is Drillbit)

"BIG BYTES PIZZAAAA!" (god they're such dorks, I love them)

Actually I might as well spend a bit of time talking about their clothing now, since there's gonna be even more costuming (and makeup) stuff to talk about quite shortly.

Geoff is wearing a key around his neck again! (Idk whether it's got any story significance or just meant to be a 90s fashion thing, but this is like the third or fourth time Geoff has worn a key necklace for a video if you count both VoicePlay's channel and his). Eli's got glasses on again! (First time since 2022 if you don't count Jingle Bell Rock or the Jump In The Line Mini). Also I like Cesar's necklace! (It's part of the character look)

(Also I kinda love the "a memory in every byte/bite" tagline)

I'm a little sad that the CDs they're using have the original On Lyne visual graphics, i.e. before Zeke's design got updated (to look more like Geoff), but oh well.

...I'm Sure It's Fine. Nothing to worry about, guys!

(Also fun fact: part of that was done in editing of course, but part of that was also just done by Kathy off to the side flicking the light switch off and on again! 😆)

Now we get to the bit that was seen in the teaser video! (And man I hope I don't hit image limit!)

It does bug me just a tiny bit that there are four spotlights in the back and not five, but oh well, teensy nitpick, it's not really that big of a deal.

Actually, while I'm talking about lights, I gotta shoutout Eli as usual, but also a guy by the name of Anthony Baldwin for both working on lighting design!

Lights up! I'll get to costuming again in a moment, but let's talk about set design!

I didn't actually fully register it until I was watching the BTS, but the floor is wet! (Or like a thin layer of water mopped over it anyway). Like with VP's Running Up That Hill video, it gives a cool (and even creepy/otherworldly) vibe to the scene thanks to the reflection effect, but I guess it also helps with some of the footwork, like doing easy spins and stuff (but be careful not to slip!)

There's also empty pizza boxes strewn around (shoutout to Kathy for doing a lot of work with those!), and there's even a metal lighting rig(?) thing at the back left of the shot that's tipped over in a way that implies that stuff has been wrecked!

(Oh boy getting clear screenshots from this is gonna be a Challenge huh).

Okay so like all of the guys' outfits are visibly dirtier and "tattier" than they were in the intro clip (more indication of whatever infection/infestation they've fallen victim to). But like while the others have clothes that are like moth-eaten, or have small holes, or rips in the hem and sleeves and stuff, Mister Geoffrey Castellucci has now had his shirt ripped open all the way down to his midriff/stomach area. I literally had to pause a couple of times to be like "wait are my eyes deceiving me?" No. No they were not. (definitely a "new record" for a YouTube video!)

Anyway the design thing on his forehead is cool, if you look past the fact that it makes it look like he's got no eyebrows!

Oooh I like this shot. Also maybe the four background spotlights are alright after all without needing a fifth.

This video was directed by both Layne and Tony (Tony helped out a lot with choreography and stage direction during the shoot), and Layne also did the arrangement for this one (though Eli is also credited with "additional arranging", funnily enough)

Even when infected/infested, Cesar continues to slay! Love the lipstick, love the fishnet arm thing! Also his left eye looks kinda purple in this shot and I'm guessing it's just the lighting, but it could be a contact lens, idk

Look how cool Eli looks! He had a relatively simple outfit compared to the other guys, but I guess that just means more to work with for the "post-transformation" stage! Look at the things on his shirt! (Claws? Plant tendrils? Alien things? Idk!) And the designs on his head!

Here's where I give credit where credit is due to Rick Underwood and Renette Feren, but also a woman named Jacqueline Coleman, as all three of them helped with makeup and prosthetics for this one! And of course Rick and Renette always do a stunning job.

The very first hint that any of us got pertaining to what VoicePlay was up to was when Omar posted on his Insta story when he was getting this makeup/face stuff put on him! Some people thought it looked kinda dragon-y, and yeah it still does! Like half a face of dragon scales! Cool!

Cool brief black-and-white "glitch" with distortion effect!

Okay but why does that picture low-key have such a vibe to it honestly

And can't forget a couple shots of Layne! He's got a kinda sorta "dragon-scales" thing on his face too, but yellow and wrapping from one cheek to another, up over his forehead (and blocking his eyebrows like with Geoff's face thing)

Oh I like that shot actually

(He's not getting a "he's so pretty" for this one, but I will give a heart emoji! 💜)

"DJ spins the track!"

Eli going over to Layne as Layne imitates being a "disc jockey" and doing the kinda record-scratch movements was honestly kinda cute? Also funny because the "DJ" of the group is DJ RoM, who's being portrayed by Omar, but of course Layne is your best bet for being able to make all those turntable noises by himself!

Omar does a very smooth spin on "the boys are in sync...", and in fact you can briefly see a bit of water 'splash' out from his feet as he does so!

A better shot of the side of Cesar's face! Also lighting colour change for the bridge(?) section!

Omar still has his portable CD player that he had in the intro clip, love that.

Also this is a better shot of some of the dirt, rips, and tears in some of the guys' clothing (but no one got a super low v-neck except Geoff, pfft)

...Alright fine, he's so pretty!!

I guess once you've seen videos like Thriller and Classical Chaos and Kidnap The Sandy Claws and stuff, makeup looks like this really aren't too hard to "get used to". (Also is it weird of me to say that the yellow-green stuff on his forehead kinda brings out his eyes a little bit?)

(And I can tell by the glimpse of the two necklace chains I see here that Geoff is, as always, still wearing the necklace that he always wears as well as the key necklace! <3)

Okay that's definitely a coloured contact lens

Does this count as an old-timey video effect? I think it does - I'm gonna have to start a running tally for VoicePlay videos honestly (and/or an idea for a new screenshot compilation maybe?)

Wait is Geoff doing air bass guitar?

And the screen closes back in for the end pose! (Also rip Geoff being the one most in shadow)

And that's Party Of Your Lifetime! Honestly it's just a really fun video with a really upbeat, energetic song, and I'm so happy for VoicePlay that they got this cool opportunity! They deserve all the recognition and more!

Got plenty more stuff lined up for this blog before Christmas, but in terms of visual analysis, that's it till January at earliest! Until next time!

[bigchumpus]

your pirate au is everything, I just discovered it and. my heartttt </3 /pos your art style is incredible too, the way you draw hair and your design for Pearl's wings are both just. woah. mind blown. gorgeous.

Just want to point out a few things I love!! :)

The quotes from the sketches page: "how do you reunite with someone you thought was dead" <- MY HEARTTTT "almost died" "wings are clipped"

That one instance [screenshot from this post below] of Grian's eyes being depicted as purple after he joins Scar's crew (and presumably whatever incident left him almost dead/"injured and unconscious"), as opposed to the brown they were as a kid? The strong implication that something (or someone? the watchers perhaps? I'm assuming it's something to do with the old crew that took them in as kids) were responsible for it.

"...one day things go awry"

And excuse me again for taking a screenshot [from this post], but the one image in which Grian's eyes are obscured by a bandage, complete with a watcher symbol and a glowing purple eye?? And Pearl's eyes being purple too? And they're both dressed in purple robes... just. insane /pos

The watchers are typically depicted as an oppressive force, and yet they both look happy. IDK. Something something juxtaposition, childhood innocence versus the purple symbolising something that's very widely regarded as cruel or even evil.

All this is to say I really really love it so far!!

and also... absolutely zero pressure at all! but would you perhaps be willing to share some crumbs on the story? :)

SEFJJRHPORDHJ Awww gee! You've made my day! :D Never thought people would really notice the little details

I'm not very good at detailing moth wings which is why I went for more of a starry feel, so I'm glad you like it 😆

And since you've asked so kindly, I could share some ideas rotating in my head,

When you're a kid, I don't think you realize as much the cruelty adults are capable of. Especially when they've been treating you kindly for the most part, and the progression to harsher conditions and punishments is slow. (Pearl would've been the first to notice.)

Grian and Pearl were already stealing to survive, having nothing but each other, so when the given the offer to be spared from their decimated town, and leave as a pirate, they took it. Grian would regret that a lot later :D

I've also been pondering over the idea that no one, including Grian, realized he was an avian, because he wasn't born with wings. So was taken from his nest by hunters who'd thought he'd been stolen (hybrids aren't always treated well, and sometimes hunted down in this au, though by the time they're adults that seems to change a bit), and then taken to an orphanage (which he'd run away from) when they couldn't afford to raise him for very long.

On the other hand, Pearl was born with her traits and would live in hiding with her parents for the first few years of her life, before it'd just be her mother and her, and then just Pearl as hunters had gotten to them.

So when the two met, Grian would often use the fact that they look similar to his advantage, like "Well I'm her brother, do I seem like a hybrid? Then neither is she!"

I think in return for certain protection, Pearl would've taught him some of the basics of the alphabet and reading,

And later when they're recruited to be raised as pirates, maybe Grian would be better at the magic stuff, whereas Pearl would be better at the fighting aspect. Idk I just like the thought that they'd cover each other's bases :D

And during the beginning of the period of time where they're separated, I think there would be mishaps where they expected the other to be there, the way it'd always been.

Something something, survivors guilt and Grian maybe not being as kind and trusting as he used to be, and never making promises. Still loyal although all his presence has ever achieved is death.

Something something, Pearl still clings to the feather he'd once given her, keeps searching because she knows he's alive - he has to be alive, still wonders about if she had just been stronger—

and maybe Pearl sees a bit of her old sun in Gem, and maybe Grian learns to trust in others and himself again with Scar.

Iwouldrambleabitmorebutwe'rekindofinapickleatthemoment-

[mysticgeekzartz]

Lydia Spellman

Another OC post so after my last post with my introduction of me getting back onto Tumblr and starting a new on here I decided to post my second OC on here which I'm also very proud of I can't wait for you to get to meet all my OCs because I put a lot of love and work into them and they're very special to me and I can't wait for you guys to get to know them more Well here's the second OC I have ever made for welcome home

Meet my second OC that I've ever made for Welcome Home Lydia Spellman this is Evelyn's girlfriend She is an English puppet woman I imagined her being like in the welcome home version of the UK but she came to welcome home one day She also is very posh very soft-spoken and very smart She is also a witch and she likes to collect herbs in the forest and stuff to make potions to help people even though sometimes for magic can lead to wacky situations especially her potions not doing what they're meant to do sometimes a little bit of a klutz when it comes to that but sometimes potion making isn't a perfect science lol That's actually how she met Evelyn (Eve) and the forest one day exploring for herbs and stuff to help with a potion and she bumped into her because Eve likes to live in the forest she has a deep connection to the forest and has special forest abilities because she's a Forest elf which more on that later I will go into more detail in a separate post about even Lydia's relationship but that's about it that they really hit it off Because of their boho beliefs and really in the nature and stuff and care about the animals of the forest so that led them to being girlfriends and eventually wives but like I said that's for a future post (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

(also the version of her and the red dress is actually one of her original designs I mean she actually does still wear this outfit The current outfits that you saw my ocs are actually their summer outfits because I like playing around a fashion when it comes to my characters lol)

( I do not know how to draw hats at all I tried drawing it on my own but I had way too much of a hard time to do it I know I need to understand hats better but thank you Marceline the vampire Queen for helping me out lol ✌🏼😆)

[moonfromearth]

My Top 24(-ish) Screenshots of 2024!!

Thank you so much for the tag @salemssimblr!! I thought I wouldn't even find 24 screenshots to post but turns out I had more than I thought 😅

January

Me Before Looking Through Archive: I haven't been playing or posting that much so nothing really changed in 2024.

Me After Looking Through Archive: What do you mean Thunder was still a foal in January?? 😨

So this is about when I realized that I had done more during the year than I thought 😆 This tag was actually really good because I've felt bad about how little I did but looking back we actually made a lot of stuff and now I'm happy! 🥰

February

February was a slower month (and about when I started stalling on a big HR edit that didn't get posted until the end of the year 😆😅).

However, I did finished these sims to submit to @bunnithechubs and @butteredfrogs and I still think they're adorable.

March

I was so sad because I thought I didn't do anything with Corey this year but I forgot about the trading cards I can't believe that was just in 2024!! 🤩🤩

Credits to @squea and @butteredfrogs for the challenge and template it was a highlight of my year. So much fun to see everyone's cards and I learned some new editing tricks making them that helped me later in the year 😉

April

I made up the entire cast of the book I was writing that month (to procrastinate working on said book) and I'm so proud of how each of them turned out! Originally I had all of them in here but I ran out of image space so I had to narrow it down 😢

Anyway, the two on the left are the main characters and they look exactly like they do in my head which is so cool. Also the other character on the right turned out awesome. This year I downloaded a lot of wrinkle details to make better adult/elder sims and they look so good I'm so happy with them now and I've even gotten better at using them throughout the year than even here (sorry that was long lol).

May

Thank you again @havenroyals for putting together the simblr MET gala because it produced some of my best screenshots of the year!! 🤩 It was my first time experimenting with deco sims which was fun and I had an amazing time dressing my sims to theme. And giving them after party looks was the best.

Seeing everyone's sims attending the event was just such a good time and a great moment in the community this year 🥰

June

I almost forgot about the music tag that went around this month and these have to be some of my best of the year 😆 It's some of the most editing I've done and I love how they turned out!! These two especially were the best because they translated from concept to actuality so perfect and I can't wait to actually post the stories they're from 🥰🥰

(there are too many good screenshots from this month I didn't even get to the Edgewave submission!! 😭)

July

July I had several sim submissions I did, but this sim for @thebramblewood is my favorite! I finally got to use some of the historical cc that I download once in a while, plus her cane and personality were so clear and I love her (also the post she featured in was amazing thanks again bramblewood!!).

August - September

I moved during August and apparently forgot how to post because it took me forever to get back into it (and I'm still working on consistently posting but that's a problem for 2025 😆).

October

October is my favorite month for posts because of my beloved Slashed challenge by @folkling. I'm too much of a baby to even watch slasher films but these are some of my favorite characters and I have so many scenes with them that I will finally make one day!!

Unfortunately I couldn't fit all of their 2024 makeovers here, so just a few favorites. Carrie our final girl is iconic as always. Her design has been so consistent since I made her the first time with only a few upgrades in skin/blood details. Also Keaton the hunter got a major glow up from his first edition, which I liked the concept of but wasn't in love with the execution of. And Alicia is still one of my favorites she's so cool 😆

Also included is my experiment with my Rose gen sim from the Not So Berry Challenge in a move that re-inspired me to work on the challenge again (coming some time in 2025 😉). I literally went into cas just to put her in these two cc outfits and got totally invested in going back to the challenge 🤣

November

I finally decided to make myself finish the screenshot retakes I'd been putting off since January and I'm so happy with how they came out. So much had to get done for those scenes, from building the competition grounds from scratch, to retaking the screenshots three times, to editing this article about our favorite mysterious benefactor (who I can't wait to write more of)!!

Even though there's some things I'm still not totally happy with, I'm so glad I finally posted it, and proud of the skills I've learned over the year that made it possible (like the trading cards, which taught me new editing tricks that I used in this and some future websites and articles that you'll see next year 😉😉).

December

Aaaaand theres's nothing except this for December (oops 😅).

This reflection actually turned a bit into a gratitude post because I tagged so many people who used my sims or who's challenges I loved (sorry hopefully that wasn't annoying!!). Given how little I worked on my actually gameplay/story this year, it was the challenges made by other talented people here that really kept me involved with the community, and who made all of the creative screenshots I took this year possible. So, thank you to the simblr community for another amazing year (I'd list you all individually but I'd run out of space 😆).

Anyway, a final thank you to anyone who read this, which turned out way longer than it was supposed to be, and turned into a vent about how happy I am that I had more screenshots than I thought (seriously thought I'd only have two months filled in I posted so much more than I expected 😭).

Happy holidays to anyone celebrating and see you next year! ❤️

[fanfic-the-wish-your-heart-makes]

Gotham Characters Going to a Winter Market with the Reader ☃️❄🐧🤍

Reader: no named gender/religion Warnings: short alcohol mention (in Harvey's part) & mention of canon murder (in Oswald's part - no spoilers though👍) Setting: probably the first season (I'm new to the fandom :))

Edward Nygma: Are you allergic to something or is there something that you dislike as much as he dislikes onions? He probably checked beforehand - which means that there will also be related riddles 😁 He also made sure to check the weather forecast, and pack accordingly. It would do him so good to be in a public space with someone he loves who's not afraid to be seen with him.

Barbara Kean: You'll definitely spend a lot of time on preparing, helping each other pick cute winter outfits, and making sure that they're warm enough for a long time. You two have some shopping to do🤗 She'll buy you anything you want. Food, clothes, accessories, you name it. If you aren't looking for anything, she'll make sure that you're included in her process of deciding what to buy. Which is so difficult: she looks good in anything - and will happily take that compliment ;)

Oswald Cobblepot: Oh no, this poor guy will probably be freezing by the end! When he does shady business, he's got a quick tempo, and meetings outside are usually for killing someone quickly, not for for walking through a big market twice to make sure that you haven't missed a booth, and certainly not for standing in the cold waiting for your food! Oswald's a quivering mess when you're on your way back. I guess you'll just have to...huddle together like penguins ;)

Jim Gordon: He had to reschedule so many times, it's a wonder the market is still there 😂 When he does finally have time though, it will be the most relaxing thing he's done in a long time. You'll often look towards him to see him smiling, body relaxed - save for the parts of him that are cold. I've never seen this guy wear a hat 😆 "Are you sure you're warm enough, Jim?" ("Do I need to warm you up?")

Harvey Bullock: Now him I can imagine with a hat 😄! Comfort's important to him, and that counts for his as well as the comfort of people he loves. He might not have lots of warm clothing articles on him - after all, he takes great care not to pack stuff that might slow him down on his job and in consequence keep him from spending time with loved ones - but he would be more than happy to hug you tight, and maybe buy you something like warmer gloves or a nice warm cap. Other than Jim, he'll also actually show up on one of the first tries. "To hell with the criminals! Let Santa deal with that during winter!" So you might even have time to go there together for more than once 🤗 The two of you will have a great time, just make sure that he doesn't drink too much mulled wine ;)

[squeamishnerd]

I'm Kinda New to Simblr

Lately, I've seen a lot of people who are new to Simblr presenting themselves. I'm not new to Tumblr, I joined in 2019, I think, but I was only lurking and not on the Sims part of Tumblr at all. I didn't start to post my Sims stories until September 2023. At the time it was only to archive the stories that I posted on Twitter.

Now I've been here for a while, and I know that there's a Sims community here, but I don't feel like I'm a part of it, and I want to become a part of it but I don't know how.

Wall of text (not kidding 😅 I can't keep things short) below the "keep reading" cut.

TL;WR: I'm Kats, I play The Sims and I post two Sims stories, which can be found in this master post. I also build and renovate.

Presentation starts further down, you can skip this part if you only want to read the presentation

So, the thing is that I don't have time to read more Sims stories than the ones I already read (several on Twitter, two here), and most simmers here seem to post stories, so therefore I don't interact with people that much, and with the way the comment section works here (for example that comments aren't nested and there isn't even a function to click 'like' on comments) it makes it more difficult to interact with people, at least for me. That's why I don't know how to become a part of the Sims community here.

The thing I feel like my feed lacks the most is pictures of Sims pets. Doesn't matter if it's CAS or live mode, I just want to see more pixel pets 😊 Recommendations are welcome. Don't feel like you have to follow me back if you recommend yourself and I start to follow you.

So, anyway, I thought I could present myself and my Sims stories, in case anyone's interested 🙂

Presentation starts here, if you want to skip the stuff above

Hi, I'm Kats! I started to play The Sims in 2000, and while I mostly play The Sims 4 nowadays I still play The Sims 1 from time to time. I haven't shared any of my The Sims 1 gameplay here (Maybe I should do that?), but I've done so on other social media. I also used to play The Sims 2.

I'm in my 30s and I live in Northern Europe. I have a partner and a cat. I'm a biotechnician and a certified sex educator, but I currently don't work in either of those fields. In my free time I like to play The Sims (obviously 😆), watch TV series, hang out with friends, play board games, take walks in the forest, go on hikes, and travel.

I post two Sims stories on social media. Neither of them are legacies, they're just stories, you get to follow the characters at a very slow pace throughout their lives (I'll probably end the stories when the characters are in their 40s, they're currently in their 20s). The two stories take place in parallel universes, but if you're interested in reading you don't need to read both stories to follow along, even though there are sometimes references to the other universe.

The master post for the stories can be found here. It's also pinned to my profile. My other social media can be found in my Linktree.

The story that I started to post first is called The Brights

This story currently focuses on university students, it has some sci-fi themes with sentient bots, such as servos (called "simoid bots" or just "bots" in the story), utilibots, and robots. The main character is Beren Bright, who grew up in a small, isolated village. He was homeschooled until he was 16, and then went to a regular high school. When he turned 20 he cut all ties with his biological family and all of his friends, changed his surname (to Bright), moved away, and started to study physics at university.

The other story is called The Original Ahriman

I myself think it's a bit of a silly name for a story, but it was the best I could come up with, and it makes sense from the 4th chapter. This story is about a chaotic, evil, mischievous, and very powerful spellcaster, who is trying hard to abide by the rules of society, in a society that doesn't even have very strict laws and rules to begin with. They mysteriously spawned in The Magic Realm as a toddler and was raised by the three Sages.

In both stories I include a lot of pre-made sims, and original characters are introduced little by little, so it should be relatively easy to get to know my OCs.

The things I've seen others say, and also are things I strive for, when it comes to what my stories include over all, are characters with diverse personalities, lots of foreshadowing, jokes sprinkled everywhere, both wholesomeness and drama, funny intentional tropes, and, especially, detailed worldbuilding. I LOVE worldbuilding!

I've noticed that readers on twitter think that I plan everything for my stories, but I both plan things or go with the flow, I let my sims decide more than it seems, and I often let them change my plans because they have a tendency to do very fitting things that I didn't even think of myself. Either way, I always make sure that whatever I include works with the worldbuilding.

I didn't use mods for the first 28 chapters of The Brights and the first 14 chapters of The Original Ahriman. I do use mods today, but only the pose player and bug fixes. Even though I use mods I'll always have the back of those who don't, no matter the reason, because it's really silly how some people (especially on Twitter) act towards simmers who don't use mods. Let people play their game however they want. I'm also WCIF friendly.

I've also created two machinimas, they're part of the stories, so they contain spoilers for chapter 14 and 29, respectively, of The Brights. But if you're interested and don't mind spoilers, or just don't plan to read my stories at all, you can find them here and here 😊 Watch them with sound turned on.

Btw, this thing with being a certified sex educator kinda led to including quite a bit of woohoo education in my stories. At the beginning I was planning to not do this, but it just kinda happened 🤷🏼

I also build and renovate, but I only post builds on Twitter and Bluesky, but here's one of them, a winter themed cottage in the woods, you can find it on the gallery.

And here's a renovation of Elixirs and Brews, which can also be found on the gallery.

I think that's all I wanted to say. Ended up being a lot though 😅

Questions are welcome 😊

[genericpuff]

Not related to lore Olympus but this discussion seems a bit uhh strange. Some of the comments are calling Mattie bites a right woman hater. If you don't believe me,check this out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/webtoons/s/4zaDi6fWos

god okay I feel like I'm opening Pandora's Box with this shit but I have lots to say about it so... yeah fuck it, let's do this, I'm brave-

So I can absolutely agree with OP's sentiment that BlackLightJack's content has become uh... more aggressive and mean-spirited , and don't get me wrong, that was always sort of his vibe, but now it feels like he's straight up just weaponizing his fanbase and like... y'all know how curt I get about LO here, I can be a real asshole about it, even I think what BLJ is doing feels really shitty, immature, and frankly just uninformed? Because most of his videos are just him pout-screaming profanities into the microphone, like I know this is gonna sound nitpicky and petty but I can literally hear it in his voice that he's enunciating his words the same way an 8 year old would so that spit would land on the person they're yelling at ("STOOOOOOOOO-PPP-UHHHHH") and lately his content just feels like what it used to feel like being in CoD lobbies back in the day. Him having the name 'webtoon killer' just gives me such a sour taste in my mouth. Like... this feels like some kind of Batman villain in the making LMAO

But maybe no one wants to hear that opinion from someone like me who's literally called themselves the "far superior off brand" as a gag LMAO and that's fine honestly if you think I'm full of shit, this is also just my opinion!

But like... and I know I'm being an asshole going 'b-but-!' but... BLJ is also building an entire ass monetized platform off his vibe and using that platform to specifically go after Canvas series and creators. And let me tell you, while many would argue "well it's just the webtoons that are grossly negligent / breaking Webtoons' ToS / etc.", his fanbase is also constantly just sending him new comics to read and trash on and I feel like it's only a matter of time before he goes after a completely innocent creator whose only crime was being not great at webcomics which... shouldn't be viewed as a default crime punishable by pitchforks. That sorta already happened with the Fulcagay situation, I don't know Fulcagay and he almost definitely wouldn't know me, but he's a fellow Canvas creator who I've run into and shared a space with, and BLJ's original comments about him just felt incredibly off-base and volatile without giving even a shred of benefit of the doubt. I get the sense BLJ doesn't know about Hanlon's razor ("Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity") because EVERY video he does about every comic and creator he's addressing assumes maliciousness always.

This is the same shit we got with Youtube creators like Leafy who became infamous for just taking the piss out of everyone until they took it too far. Like, take it from me, it can be VERY easy to get so entrenched in being an asshole and taking the piss out of everything that completely innocent people get hit with splash damage, and if you're not willing to take responsibility for that, then you're gonna look like a bigger dick than the people you were aiming for. This pee analogy working for y'all? 😆

As for what Matty Bites has to do with that, I don't really get it? Like maybe I'm just misinformed here, maybe I haven't watched enough of her stuff, but she's never given me anywhere near the amount of red flags I get off listening to even one episode of BLJ. Matty feels like someone who actually reads and analyzes and researches the stuff she's criticizing in a way that's relatively harmless with her own flair sprinkled in (and her humor is hilarious btw, her opening skits are great LOL); BLJ meanwhile feels like he's constantly one opinion away from starting a #victimofcancelculture campaign because he's just trying to be as edgy and angry as possible LMAO (and ironically they're both often criticizing the same thing, but it goes to show how delivery makes a hell of a difference when it comes to dishing out criticism)

All that said, if there is something with Matty Bites that I'm missing here, I'm fully open to being informed because I haven't watched many of her videos and there could just as well be something that I've missed. But I don't think she's anywhere near as hostile as BLJ tends to be, I don't think Matty Bites' comedic video editing and sassy commentary has ever resulted in creators actually being attacked and bullied like BLJ's have.

Overall I think anyone who builds a platform or audience off criticizing content (and this includes me!) needs to practice responsibility and accountability in what they put out and what they choose to focus on and criticize. It can be really easy to accidentally use "criticism" as a get-out-of-jail-free card to just be a bully. It can be really easy to wind up leaving your criticism so unrefined and surface level without any deeper reflection that you never actually open your mind to anything and you just end up echoing out hate speech without even intending to. And it can be really, really easy to ruin your own palate from willingly consuming nothing but shit all day.

Just to quote some very famous words from a fictional character that absolutely apply here:

[yourpalmickeymouse]

Hi Mickey😊

Tell us about your nephews, please. How did you meet them when they were born? Have you ever had to babysit? What is your relationship like with Morty and Ferdie now? Any funny stories about you and the twins?

Hiya mafik-sun,

Oh boy, I would love to talk 'bout my nephews.

I still remember the time when I was in the hospital waitin' for them to be born. Gosh, I was so nervous and pacin' so much I swore I wore down the hospital floors 😅. But then it finally happened. They were born and I finally was allowed to go in and see 'em. Golly, they were so cute, I remember havin' a hard time containin' myself. I think the best moment was when I got to hold Morty... Or was it Ferdie... Ah well, it was kinda hard to tell 'em apart back then, but it was still a magical moment.

Afterward, I definitely volunteered to babysit whenever I could, which I'm sure my sister greatly appreciated. I really wanted to have a great relationship with the boys. I have to admit though it ended up bein' a lot harder than I thought. I thought we'd just be playin' all the time, but even as babies they were a handful... still are today😜. Though, maybe it is payback for how I used to be, ha ha. I wasn't an angel as a child either.

I remember one time when I was watchin' 'em for my sis, they were just learnin' how to crawl. 'Cause of that I had to keep my eye on 'em the entire time, but the second I looked away due to a phone call they vanished... and my front door was wide open. I still remember the fear I felt as I raced 'round all of Mouseton wonderin' where on earth they could be. I had no idea how they could disappear so fast, by just crawlin'. Eventually after searchin' everywhere, I had to face the music, head home, and tell my sister that I lost the boys 😞. So I went home and for some reason Goofy was there. I was really confused why, but then immediately he started scoldin' me for leavin' the boys home alone. I felt real guilty especially since it seemed like word of my failure spread around town. But then it hit me. Wait! Home alone 😲? It was then that I rushed over to their cribs only to see that they were sleepin' the entire time. Gosh, did I feel silly 😓. In retrospect, it's kinda funny. But at that moment it was definitely not, ha ha.

Honestly, I'm really proud of the relationship I have with Morty and Ferdie, especially, now that they're back in Mouseton. I feel like I can really catch up with 'em and be in their lives. Honestly, somethin' they don't tell ya 'bout bein' an uncle is how much fun stuff you can get to do when ya have your nephews with ya. I mean, I get to go trick or treatin' with 'em. I get to spend an entire day at an amusement park with 'em. Plus If I wanna get ice cream for lunch and play video games all day, I'm not an irresponsible adult wastin' time, I'm a cool uncle hangin' out with my nephews, ha ha. Plus if they get sick from all the sugar and games, I just drop 'em off at Felicity so she has to deal with it, ha ha. 😆 I'm jokin' of course... Well kinda... I do try to be a fun uncle that takes 'em on excitin' trips. But I also try to teach 'em to be responsible and good citizens. It's a tough but rewardin' balance and I think they're turnin' out great. I couldn't ask for better nephews. 💞

Thanks a bunch for the question. I hope I see ya real soon.

- M.M.

[stopmyhearts]

Don't know if anyone wants this but I finally got a chance to relisten to fractures and edit my notes :) So here's my (sort of) liveblog

oh the theme tune is a little different i like that

oh opening narration that's cool

this civil war does seem interesting

oh poor Romana she knows those numbers by heart

takes it all completely on herself

I feel like there is a lot to be said about those tactics and what they mean

Romana puts lives first before anything and that is an interesting psychology

and I'm pretty sure she was a historian, wasn't she? So she knows precisely what she's destroying

and good on her for preventing this from becoming a time war

she is so ruthlessly tactical and I love it

I wonder what it did to Romana's mind to be imprisoned again

ugh there is no honor I love her

love Narvin and Leela working together

they were a very good team last episode

yes it pleases me I love Leela doing violence :)

this is so much more Leela's territory it's interesting how she seems so much more comfortable with a purpose

oh shit

that's bad

oh I do love Mary Tamm

oh Romana worrying 🥺 she does care

I think it's really interesting psychologically to see Romana without power

oh he is suffering <3

wonderful

I cannot see anything that pain in her voice

oh Leela

oh shit is that when that happens

I knew she goes blind at some point

oh no poor Leela

she really is desperate love how she says that

it's so interesting how they're really two sides of the same coin

using nearly the same arguments

similar tactics and manipulation

just that Pandora has no morals left

Oh yes Narvin is suffering

I love that Leela is so capable

and standing up for herself

even as she's clearly denying the reality of the situation

Leela take my hand 🥺

I love Leela going for Narvin

and Romana counting on Leela so completely even in this situation

they should always be holding hands

evil K9 is kind of cute

I love getting glimpses of Romana's childhood

is this another suicide plan

desperate situation, desperate measures the situation really doesn't have to be that desperate for Romana to start doing stuff like this

it's really cool how Romana knows all of gallifrey's secrets

I adore that even the evil ones know how loyal Leela is

oh he is indeed good at moaning

I think it's very interesting how Leela approaches the idea of more invasive medical treatment

these Time Lords are really kind of useless

okay now what is Darkel's situation here

oh Leela 🥺

I love her

that is wonderful

even in his sleep Narvins must correct me😆

I am pretending wonderful

that is actually a really interesting narrative choice for Leela and I hope it'll be explored properly

and Gallifrey has been dark for her for a long time so having that be physical is so good

Romana is kind of paranoid

the savage has more lives than a Time Lord😆

oh that is good

very good

oh I love that even so injured he thinks of Romana first

interesting stuff with that vault

love that they can apparently just do surgery on time

that doctor is really mean

she is not fucking stupid

oh I want to kill him

Narvin being the only one remotely trusted is interesting

is it a prison

oh what the fuck is that

compelling

this political maneuvering is interesting

Leela sounds so heartbroken

and I still want to kill that doctor

oh I love that view on the war

oh fuck

Leela 🥺

it should be forbidden to make her cry that is heartbreaking

high contender for most heartbreaking moment of Gallifrey

god she cries in the same way I do as quiet as suppressed as possible that's horrible

now Romana are you going to make more fucked up decisions ? 👀

the little fool love the Romana/Pandora dynamic even in the distance

oh Romana is scared

I love that Narvin has got his priorities down now

Her safety be damned I can't allow the thing in there to possess a Time Lord president that's his moral core

you're gonna regret saying that I am laughing and in pain

he's got integrity gotta respect that

I shall take her at my leisure why did that sound so sexual

she will be quite quite mad adore that

alright you can guard me 😆

oh Leela pleading with K9

oh K9 is fighting for her

my heart

Brax mention!

Leela I love you

I see Narvin is feeling better

no one will ever laugh at me yes Leela kill them all I love you

I love K9

he is better at lying than anyone in this show

I love how all the things Pandora does are the same sort of things Romana would do just more intense

K9's little trembling voice 🥺

Romana you do not know what you are doing

oh fuck this is tense

it's like this episode was written precisely for me

Leela is so worried for Romana still

Narvin really gets put through the wringer

too many Romanas ? 👀

oh Romana's noises

her gasping

she is also very good at suffering

love that it's Leela who gets through to her

lots and lots of good screaming and moaning and gasping in this chapter

oh is Romana hurt

an identity crisis for Romana? 👀 love that

that's narratively very cool to use the academy

oh she's going to faint

that was good

this stuff was like psychologically written for me

[amethystfairy1]

So I know in Traveling Thieves, avians are meant to forget their loved ones & their names from the colony when they're sold off, including forgeting their own name as well and not using it (tho so far all avians we've had the pov of have been seen defiantly holding onto their own name at least, even if they don't give it out). And we've seen a lot of it from the main 3 avians how they'll be thinking about their cousins but the names would be struck out and such, presumably to symbolize either fuzzy memories or trying to block the memories out. But I'm curious about how successfully they've managed to actually block out those memories. Is it truly from purposefully trying to forget because of the rules, or is it just from how long it's been that they've genuinely started to lose memories?

These question may be answered when we eventually get the big meet up of all the different groups, so feel free to ignore this if the answers would give spoilers, but what would happen if two hypothetical hybrids who knew each other from their colony later met in the old continent? Like, I know they probably wouldn't say anything out loud about the recognition because they aren't allowed to, but would they still refer to them by name in their mind when thinking about them? I imagine it would be an internal battle between the rules that they were raised on, which state they should forget their past attachments and therefore consider the other a stranger, and the other part of them that remembers and can't close off those memories.

And I know the situation would be probably very different for our main 3 avians versus any hypothetical ones, what with being family and also Grian & Pearl having masters that are actively trying to help them unlearn the rules of the colony and how the rest of society treats them. But I assume we'll eventually see how those 3 react in that situation anyways further along in the series, so I'm more curious how it hypothetically would work for avians who maybe weren't like super close or anything, but they did know each other enough to remember each other's names. Do typical avians make themselves forget just because they're following the colony's teachings, or is it more about potentially trying to distance themselves from those memories so that they don't hurt them further by reminding them about when life was a little better and they weren't slaves yet?

Sorry this got really long and rambling. I'm just having lots of thoughts

Don't apologize for rambling! I love the rambles!

Ok, as you said, some of this is spoilery, so let me try to explain this the best I can without spoiling anything 😆

They are not actually forgetting anything. They are trying to repress those memories as per the rules of their conditioned headspaces. When they are sold from their colonies and collared, their ties are cut, which is something they are raised knowing about. They know what it means, and therefore when they are sold, they've been so heavily conditioned and trained into these headspaces that they immediately begin repressing those memories.

In your hypothetical scenario, where two avians who knew each other in their colony but perhaps weren't super close ran into each other out in the Old Continent, they would most certainly recognize each other.

Again, I want to stress this, they are not actually forgetting anything.

There is no erasure of memories, no supression so intense they genuinely forget stuff, none of that. They still have all their memories, they just compartmentalize them and do not address them.

So if I were writing from the perspective of one of these avians looking at the other avian, I would probably have them refer to the avian by name, but struck out like you mentioned I do with Grian, Pearl, and Jimmy. It would be the same thing. And of course they would never say each others names aloud, and would give no outward indication that they recognize each other.

Hopefully this makes sense! I know it's a bit of a confusing concept 😅 if you or anyone else have any more thoughts or questions I'd love to hear them! I have a ton of fun world building, after all!

[aliceinclockland]

Cardcaptor Magicians and their Ceremonial Clothings

Welcome to Episode one of my random Cardcaptor Blabberings (or blabblecaptor— it's a working tag title), a "series" where I talk about random Cardcaptor things without doing that much deep diving because I hate too much research.

Since I'm notorious for starting things and not being consistent to the point of not even continuing what I started, let's see how this one goes. 😆 I'm also bad at words so wish me luck.

I'd like to start this off by saying 2 things:

this all started because I saw Sakura's pointy hat and got reminded by Kaito's ceremonial robe... then got reminded of Eriol's robe right after.

this isn't a serious analyzation of their outfits, given the reason i wanted to blabber about this is their pointy hats. also I'm more of a Nadeshiko when it comes to fashion: so far from the word 💀

Lastly, take this as a silly post while I try to learn how Tumblr works. I don't want people to use this as a source (or anything similar) because at the end of the day, this is all just silly typings of someone who excels in associating the most random stuff with each other without being able to explain why.

With all of that out of the way, Let's get started!

lold what i said earlier, the moment i saw Sakura's color page in Chapter 74 my mind went straight into Kaito's robe, and when my brain went to remind me of Kaito's ceremonial robe colored page, it immediately went to Eriol, and then started to compare the three, asking myself about their similarities aside from the initial idea of this entire post, the pointy hats.

starting off with the robes, all 3 of them have their attires in the color black. idk why it's like that, but it makes the gold in their clothing shine more i guess 😆

the patterns the clothings have also are (mostly. just in case if there's a part where it's not) symmetrical, visibly seen within the designs on the torso parts (in this case, Eriol & Sakura's chest (?) part, and Yuna D. Kaito's back). I could say it's the magicians' insignia but just in case it's not I'll just say symmetrical symbols 😅

but, surely that's not the only similarities, right?

well, aside from the pointy hats™ and the color scheme & patterns their robes have, I also realized that they're also all powerful magicians~

Eriol is Clow's reincarnation, and according to various Cardcaptor characters, he (Clow) was the most powerful magician to ever exist (but also the most fucked up one as well, i guess.)

Given that Clow's reincarnation were 2 people (he thought he could divide his magical abilities between them), Eriol still (unfortunately) got all of the magic, and most of Clow's memories, literally passing down his title of being the most powerful magician onto Eriol.

This manchild can do lots of things, and his memory of his past life helps him excel in some of everyday skills a "normal child" would struggle with (ie. baking, drawing, sewing, speaking a language, etc). But, no one knows that— not even Sakura until he told her that himself.

also I'd like to point out the fact that despite a lot of his robe's designs were in gold (color, who knows if it's really gold? I don't.), the lining of his outfit is in red.

not sure if Clow's robe is similar (if not the same) or anything but if it is, has his robe been passed down from generations before him? and if so, which side of Clow's family was the robe from?

Yuna D. Kaito is also a powerful magician— in fact, one of (if not the) highest ranks in the Magical Association. (that's the D. in his name— it wasn't his middle name and in fact, Yuna D. Kaito probably isn't his real name) He can do lots of things, but he specializes in Time Magic... which is considered a taboo since you'll get a fucked up alternative world when YOU fucked up using that kind of magic... and also a shorter life-span but let's not delve much into that so this post won't go to the depressing direction 😁

And in regards of his robe, one can argue that the robe isn't really exclusively HIS, since you can see in the picture I've used that there are other people with him wearing the same clothing (assuming it's his clan's) so i suggest burning their headquarters down to ashes to make it YDK's own robe 😆😆

note: a kind friend in the comments pointed out my mistake of associating Yuna D. Kaito and Lilie Shinomoto's clans as one: their clans differ from each other. Yuna D. Kaito's in particular are a congregation of magicians that aren't blood-related and are officially referred to as "Magic Association".

i have no idea what to call his or Lilie's clans yet, but for now I'll refer to those as their respective clans 😅

Now onto the main Protagonist of the series: Sakura Kinomoto. In Tomoyo's words, "The only Cardcaptor in the world"

Started as a girl that had little magic that managed to grew stronger and stronger, then now having one of the abilities Clow had— creating cards (or new magic) on her own.

Though one can argue that she won't be able to do that if Yuna D. Kaito wasn't pulling the strings in the background, keep in mind that Momo said she saw right past Eriol's magic protection [to contain Sakura's magic]. Plus, in the Sakura Arc (where she technically created new cards but under a "template"), Eriol was pulling the strings as well and yet her powers still managed to grow, probably beyond people's expectations.

Her ever-growing power might be hard to control for her, but she's doing her best to utilize it in protecting the ones she cherishes the most.

Now the upcoming argument about Sakura's"ceremonial attire"... well, technically Sakura doesn't have one, and you can't really call that outfit a robe, but most of the details in a ceremonial robe (at least CLAMP's robes) present: the neutral color, the symmetrical design, and the gold lining/design.

I like to consider it her own ceremonial robe— made in a very fitting and unique image of Sakura, that only she will wear.

speaking of different, there are other powerful magicians that doesn't follow the same "ceremonial outfit" pattern so I thought I'd show them too!

here we have the Shinomoto Ceremonial Outfit, worn by the beautiful Akiho Shinomoto in this color page!

sorry about the picture if it's not clean... i tried so hard to find a textless one (same as yuna d. kaito) but unfortunately I couldn't.

now about the details aside from the pointy hat: the neutral color + gold lining & symmetrical detail scheme is there, but the difference with the 1st three and their robe is that the neutral color used with the Shinomotos' were white, as opposed to the first three who used black.

i know you've seen this already but since I'm talking about Lilie here in specifics I'd like to put this here are well: a kind friend in the comments pointed out my mistake of associating Yuna D. Kaito and Lilie Shinomoto's clans as one: their clans differ from each other, and that Lilie's (though only officially referred to as "most ancient magician clan in Europe") clan is blood-related, as opposed to Yuna D. Kaito's.

again, no idea what I'll call their respective clans separately yet, so I'll probably refer to them as their respective clans for now— though i have a few ideas xd

another difference is that the hat may be a bit pointy, but it's not as pointy as the three, and that the hat has three pointy things instead of just one.... okay, maybe not that pointy, but, still pointy 😅

okay that's too many pointy, let's get back on track 😁

the difference is blatantly obvious about this one, and I really can't cross Lilie Shinomoto out from one of the most powerful magicians CCS has ever introduced, since she had strong premonition powers and she was also considered a very powerful magician that's feared within Yuna D. Kaito's Clan. I mean it would take lots of powerful magic to be even able to cross time and dreams for that long just to tell Sakura about the truth in their (now fabricated) timeline?

but i wonder why is their robe different than the others?

we'll get back to that later, if i remember it. 😆

speaking of pointy hats™, you know a magician who doesn't have a pointy hat?

He's none other than Li Clan's next leader and Sakura's most important person, Syaoran Li!

one can never talk about ceremonial outfits without remembering Syaoran's iconic ceremonial outfits! with S because he has two— 1st one (in the pictures) being the original clothing he has, and the 2nd one Tomoyo made for him that was inspired by the one he used to have.

our little wolf is special~ from being Sakura's rival in the Clow Card Arc to being Sakura's most important person? He has learned so much and grew stronger along the way.

now about the details: his clothing doesn't really follow the usual attire pattern: the dominant color of his robe is green, the designs are indeed symmetrical, but the linings are both orange and yellow instead of the usual neutral pallete... his hat also doesn't have a pointy thing on it and instead has a hanging detail on the back.

"what about the attire Tomoyo made for him? it has 2 pointy things!" yeah well you're right, and as much as I gave the effort to add his Clear Card arc ceremonial outfit, I'm realizing now that it's not really an official robe now, is it...

about the clear card ceremonial attire, one can argue the same thing as they thought about Sakura while reading this blabber (if anyone has gotten though this far), "That isn't even a ceremonial ROBE". and you're right, it isn't... since it was Tomoyo's work, inspired from the original one. 😅

so think of it the same way as Sakura— made in the fitting and unique image of Syaoran, that only he could wear.

I guess the main couple of the series have that one as a similarity in regards to this random topic I've thought about. 💚

sooooooo what does this mean? why is his so different than the others?

is he not as powerful as the ones listed?

well. probably.

but he's not entirely powerless— his entire bloodline is directly related to Clow, and in addition, his mother Yelan Li is also a powerful sorceress. So they're powerful.

I mean would the Li Clan even let someone not as powerful as Yelan to be the next in line to lead? Of course not, since being able to have magic and to be able to properly control it are probably some basic requirements to be even considered as a candidate.

But in CCS at the moment, his magic wasn't enough to turn all of the Sakura Cards into those little orbs he kept on his compass. He's even having a hard time converting just one. And if I remember this correctly, he was aided by her mother (by casting the magic he needed in the bears) when he snatched the Sakura Cards from their master.

I'd say he's not as powerful NOW probably because everything happened too fast, and that he didn't have much time to make his magic stronger to get at least within Sakura's power level. Besides, he has lots of potential, and we all know he's a strong one so it's about just a matter of time until he reach his full power.

Now this entire post got me thinking about things as I was typing it.

Mostly they're questions I had to ask, like "okay, now what?" "Why did I do this?" especially because the original plan i had was to only have Eriol, Yuna D. Kaito & Sakura here but I thought I'd be unfair to the Lilie & Akiho, and Syaoran since they both have their own as well...

I really didn't think that one through when I started typing, but the more I think of things to type, the more I asked myself, is the ceremonial clothing an indicator of how powerful you are?

and it's probably a "duh." moment, since the ones who have robes are part of clans AND are also powerful.

(note that Clow was from a union of a European Magician AND an Asian Magician so imo- technically he's still part of BOTH clans, if each of his parents were part of one)

it's probably more of "if you're in an association with lots of other magicians", considering the fact that some of the ceremonial clothings were passed down to the living blood-relative of the family— hence why Sakura doesn't have one and the rest has.

though eriol with that ceremonial outfit can be a bit questionable since he's a reincarnation n stuff, and so far I don't remember ERIOL (capitalized bc I've been linking him to Clow, but I'm talking abt him as JUST him) being part of a clan since he worked independently (as far as I can remember), from what I can recall it was mentioned in the anime that the ceremonial clothing resembled Clow's... correct me if I'm wrong, though.

with the additional input i got from Cinzia (the friend who also pointed out the difference between Akiho's & Yuna D. Kaito's clans),

I also now wonder if the colors used in their robes reflect their intentions? or, since Lilie & Akiho's clan has been around for ages, how long their bloodline has existed?

because if it's the former, then it really won't make sense for Sakura & Eriol (though Eriol is once again, questionable... since his previous body as Clow isn't particularly... good nor he is also evil— at least from my perspective), and the latter makes more sense in general.

another one question i have is the explanation for Meiling's ceremonial clothing? like do they give different styles of ceremonial clothes in the Li Clan based on your gender? your magical abilities? or how closely-related you are to whoever leads the clan? i mean, i know she's an anime-exclusive character but I still want to know because I'm curious...

lastly, i wonder if Nadeshiko has one... since she is also a powerful person (she really doesn't do much sorcery stuff as far as i can remember), though the extent of her magic is unclear like Lilie, it's clear that she's also powerful because she can still do lots of things even after life.

IF you're one of the few people who finished reading this i just want to say thank you, and i hope everything made sense since i am very bad at explaining my thoughts 😭.

I think that's it, my brain is tired now and i want to go back to sleep again so good day to everyone and until next time, if there will ever be a next time 😆

and, cut! 🎬