#i love how drawing so many different animals gives me a great reason to go through all of procreate's brushes

[bluishfrog]

I've returned to request armadillos again 👬(there's no armadillo emoji :()

@ everyone: Send me your favorite animals and I draw them as dnf :D

[eiks1997]

It's My Birthday! 🎉

So I thought this would be the perfect time to do a drawing challenge that says a lot more about me! I found this one about favourite characters, which I thought would be perfect! This was honestly so much fun to do! Who doesn't like to draw their favourite characters? It also allowed me to practice. I was worried that apart from the colours, my faces were starting to look all alike, so this was a good practice to try and draw each character differently. I'm so happy with this! 🥰

Unfortunately I couldn't find who created this challenge, so if anyone knows who to give credit to please let me know!

Give it a try yourselves! Its great drawing practice! Also, I'd love to see which characters fit in your boxes! 🤗

Want to hear my reasoning? Have a read! 👇

😍Current Favourite: Twilight Link. Zelda TP has always been a favourite of mine; but recently I've been reading the Linked universe comic created by @linkeduniverse , and it's only made me love him even more! If you haven't read it please do, it's a wonderful series! Currently been reading and loving each moment. So Twilight here fits the bill!

❤️‍🩹Comfort Character: Ichigo Kurosaki. I tend to always go back to Bleach when I'm feeling a little low and need comforting, it only makes sense Ichigo is this character! I think I've drawn Ichigo the most and I've definitely read the most about Ichigo. I will always go back to Ichigo, I've literally grown up with Bleach. So Ichigo can only be my comfort go to!

🎨By Design: Loki Odinson. Honestly there where so many people who could fit this character. But if I look back , when I first watch Loki in Avengers it honestly stood out so much to me. Tom Hiddleson managed to held himself in a perfect manner that made him my favourite charter in the @marvel Universe. And so, for his incredible style and swag, Loki must be my favourite designed character.

📖By Plot: Caleb Widogast. Deciding a character simply based on plot was hard. With how many stories our there, how can you pick favourite? Then I realised, it could only be Caleb. Not only does his story have it all, angst, love, triumph; his story was also basically created as the campaign went along! Watching @criticalrole C2 was fabulous and Liam O Brien just got it right. Caleb's story is the best plot out there!

🥂Guilty Pleasure: Darkiplier. I don't like to say 'Guilty' but still Dark kind of fits this category. Considering how much little official content there is around Dark, I basically claw at any I can get! Even if Mark mentions anything about Dark, my ears perk up! @markiplier does a very good job at acting and creating such a good story. I've watched WKM, DWM, Damien, Space and any other Dark related content so many times. This must be why Dark is my Guilty Pleasure!

👑All Time Favourite: Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. And finally, the Favourite! How can anyone not love this man? When Grimmjow was first introduced, I remember thinking that yes. This will be my favourite. He's clearly an ass, and I can see why people wouldn't like him, but not for me! It is literally mind blowing to me seeing how when we first saw him in 2005, and now in 2024 he has returned in a new animation. It's all I could ask for! (As of this moment, Grimmjow is my Icon because I love him so much.) He could be the only one who is my favourite character!

But that's all for this one! If you like my art and want to see more stick around! 😊

I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS!

Creation of these characters goes to the respected authors, sending all my love! ❤

Program used: Clip Studio Paint

Date: 2024

Find me on Instagram:  #EIKS1997

DO NOT REPOST - Reblogs Appreciated.

[nateconnolly]

I made a Patreon lol.

Here's the free sample post:

THE CREATION MYTH OF KILL 6 BILLION DEMONS

INTRODUCTION

I love fantasy religions. I love it when fictional humans try to understand worlds like Brandon Sanderson��s Cosmere and Tolkein’s Middle Earth through a religious lens—especially because in those books and in many others, the fantasy religions are somewhat true, and somewhat false. It’s really fun to look at a fictional universe through the eyes of a character who might not see things objectively. Religion usually plays a role in that. But, if I’m being honest, a lot of fantasy religions are just Christianity wearing a fun hat. Don’t get me wrong, I am fascinated by Chrisitianity, and I really enjoy a lot of fantasy versions of Christianity. But it’s a great special treat when a fantasy story goes the extra mile and portrays another concept of the divine. That’s one of many reasons that I love the webcomic Kill 6 Billion Demons. The webcomic’s fictional religion Atru has parallels to Taoism, Gnosticism, Advaita Vedanta, theothanatology, Biblical divine nomenclature, the list goes on. I just threw a lot of big scary words at you, but I promise, this is a beginner level essay. I’ll break everything down into bite-sized pieces. I just wanted to list out some of K6BD’s religious influences to show that they are complicated, and diverse.

This is specifically a essay about the creation narratives. K6BD is an amazing comic—later on, it tackles questions about time, free will, and optimistic nihilism, but I won’t dig into that stuff here. Those things would require their own essays. Here, I’m going to try to explain how the seven-part world came to be. More specifically, I’ll examine the stories that White Chain, Cio, Michael, and the old devil’s tale tell us; then I’ll look at fictional holy texts found in the Concordance.

I’ll also compare and contrast with a lot of real world religion and philosophy. I want to be clear that the creator Abaddon and I have never spoken. I don’t know where he got most of his inspiration. I’m not revealing any information that wasn’t already available, I’m just compiling it and offering my own thoughts. Unless I specifically quote Abaddon, assume that I’m not even talking about his inspirations. I’m drawing parallels because it’s fun, even though it probably won’t give us new insight into how the text was created.

I promise I’m not trying to convert you! I genuinely don’t want to make other people believe the religion that I believe—or any religion at all. I’m just trying to show you how understanding some real world religious and philosophical concepts can deepen your appreciation of K6BD. Obviously, there will be tons of spoilers, so go read the webcomic if you haven’t already. It’s absolutely genius.

Lastly, I want to say I will discuss suicide and murder.

Ok, let’s get started.

PART ONE: THE FIRST AND GREATEST DIVISION

Let There Be No Genesis

White Chain begins the history of the universe with the words, “Let there be no Genesis,” closely echoing the in-universe fictional Psalm I. “For indeed, there was [no Genesis]. God has always existed and has never existed.” As White Chain tells her story, we are shown the god YISUN. This figure is sometimes described with it/its or she/her pronouns, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to follow the example of the fictional Psalm I, and use he/him. I might call him “YISUN” or “God” with a capital G depending on the context.

YISUN was eternal, and the “undisputed master of the entire omniverse.” He predates everything else, and without him, nothing would exist.

YISUN has at least twelve bodies, probably more. Some are smiling, some look mad; some resemble insects or animals; most hold weapons; and all are different colors. The central white body has four arms. Abaddon has said that YISUN’s appearance is directly inspired by the Hindu god Vishvarupa.  Hindu gods are frequently depicted with multiple body parts, an artistic tradition that Doris Srinivasan calls “the multiplicity convention.” She explains some of the religious and artistic reasons that many Indian gods have multiple body parts in her book “Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art.” The tradition of Hinduism is long, and diverse, so the multiple limbs in one text can mean something very different from the multiple limbs elsewhere. Srinivasan closely examines a vast expanse of Indian history, and I don’t have time to present all her ideas. I would like to specifically focus on the interpretation that multiple limbs represent the manifestations of a singular godhead.

Srinivasan writes that “Multiple versions of a myth are facilitated by the idea that there exists multiple aspects or manifestations of a godhead.” Think of the difference between Greek and Hindu goddesses. Bruno Snell suggests “that these four women signalize the four aspects of all womanhood,” but Srinivasan qualifies his interpretation. The Olympian women “are not multiple forms of [one] Divine Woman, as is the case in Hinduism.” Artemis and Athena are different people who are both women, plural. Parvati, Sati, and Uma together are Woman, singular. Zeus, Demeter, and Poseidon are gods, plural. Shiva, Vishnu, and Krishna are God, singular. That’s not how all Hindus see things, but it is one Hindu perspective that I find especially comparable to K6BD.

Similarly, the multiple bodies are only manifestations of a single God: YISUN. All of his bodies are a single person. In Hinduism, the plurality of the divine can be seen as empowering and liberating. Multiple body parts signify that the god is a well-rounded entity. But Abaddon makes it look like a curse. He turns the artistic convention around. Using the same symbolism and metaphysics, he tells a radically different story. As White Chain says, “Being was only circular.” “YISUN had no equal… It was a wretched life, without meaning or perception. Imagine infinite stories to tell… and nobody to tell them to.” Perfection is lonely. At this point, YISUN is the only thing that exists, and that can’t be fun. All those arms and heads cannot satisfy YISUN’s need for companionship. It’s fascinating to me that when White Chain says YISUN had no one to whom it could tell its stories, Abaddon chose to illustrate multiple heads right next to each other. Even if those heads told each other stories, the speaker and the listener would still be the same person. Dissatisfaction with isolation is why YISUN created the world.

Although not all Hindus follow the school of Advaita Vedanta, in this case, I think it will be helpful to compare and contrast with Advaita. As Ram Shanker Misra writes in “The Integral Advaitism of Sri Aurobindo,” “Brahman [ is] perfect, absolute, infinite, need[s] nothing, [and] desir[es] nothing…” Brahman is full of all perfections. And to say that Brahman has some purpose in creating the world will mean that [Brahman] wants to attain through the process of creation something which it has not. And that is impossible.”

But that’s exactly why YISUN created this world. He wants to gain something that he does not have: companionship.The universe is God’s escape from himself. There was no Genesis, but there was “the first and greatest division: division of self”: “God committed holy suicide.”

2. The Divine Suicide

White Chain’s story is similar to Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous claim that “God is dead,” but Nietzsche did not mean God was a real entity that had literally died. He meant that intellectually, it was impossible to continue believing in God, and that all intellectual achievements founded on belief in Him had to be abandoned. Nietzsche’s claim is a famous example of a philosophical school of thought called death of God theology, also called “theothanatology,” which means “the study of God’s death” in Greek.

“Death” can mean a lot of different things in this context. Sometimes it’s metaphorical, sometimes it’s literal, and usually, it’s a very confusing mixture of both.

Nietzsche proposed the death of God as a social claim about humans. He’s talking about what we can believe, what we should do, and what we need to accept. God never really existed, but as religion loses followers and influence, even the idea of God has begun to “die” because it no longer has power over the real world.

“Death” can also mean God exists, but in a way radically different from what people usually mean when they say “God.” The Rabbi and philosopher Richard L. Rubenstein thought God exists as a “ground of being,” but not as a supernatural entity that made a covenant with Abraham. Rubenstein proposed the death of God as an intellectual change in what humans think the word “God” means.

And, finally, “death” can just literally mean “death.” The Protestant theologian Thomas J.J. Altizer wrote “we shall understand the death of God as an historical event: God has died in our time, in

our history, in our existence.” This isn’t a social claim about humans—it’s a metaphysical claim about God.

Death of God theologians usually mean more than one thing when they say God is dead. Nietzsche wasn’t just trying to convince Christians to become atheists; he was also trying to convince many atheists that they disbelieved in God in the wrong way. Altizer had radical thoughts about what human beings are able to believe.

White Chain means that God is dead in the literal sense. She is proposing a metaphysical belief that God, as a historical figure, chose to actually kill himself. White Chain is not rejecting or critiquing religion—she’s asserting that her religion, in which God has died, is fact.

You can see slight parallels to Nietzsche, Rubenstein, Altizer, Hegel, Zizek, and Blake in White Chain’s version of the fictional religion Atru. But there is no better comparison than the king of sad philosophers Philipp Mainlander.

Mainlander was an atheist—but not in the sense that people usually mean when they say “atheist.” Mainlander believed that there was a God at some time, but that time is now over. There isn’t a God anymore. Mainlander is pretty unique among death of God theologians because he explicitly describes God’s death as a suicide. Whittaker explains that Mainlander thought “[a]ll things have their origin in what may be called… the ‘will’ of the absolute being… to annihilate itself.” Essentially, the cause of the universe is God’s suicidal desires.

God was a “real unity,” but his death caused a “collective unity”—that’s the universe where we live now. God had been a total and undivided One, but now the universe is made of distinct parts. God cut himself apart into the pieces of the universe. God created the world by becoming it, and he became the world by dying.

Mainlander said “the knowledge that life is worthless is the flower of all human knowledge.” He thought suicide was desirable, and ultimately, he put his money where his mouth was. The biggest difference between Mainlander and White Chain is that she doesn’t seem to think ordinary people such as herself should follow God’s suicidal example. Even beyond the views of a specific character, the story of Kill 6 Billion Demons reads as an affirmation of life’s beauty and value.

But the webcomic clearly argues that making a better world is a bloody project. So it should come as no surprise that making the world itself involved bloodshed. First and foremost, the blood of God. What’s so interesting to me is that both White Chain and Mainlander equate God’s suicide to the creation of the world. Our life comes from God’s death. Creation and destruction aren’t opposites—they’re different ways of looking at the same process. At the end of Book 2, Allison destroys Mottom’s evil tree and a lot of her palace—but this destruction is also part of the creation of a more just and free world.

So, what did God’s destruction create? What came after YISUN?

3. The Duality of Un and Yis

The destruction of the total unity creates duality. I know that’s a little confusing because YISUN had many faces, but remember that behind all of those faces was one God, and only one. Not anymore. “From division was birthed duality. White Un, Lord of empty and still places, master of all that is not. Black Yis, infinite mother of the rampant flame. Master of all that is''

I cannot avoid comparing the White and Black gods to the Yin and Yang—a spinning black and white symbol usually associated with the religion Taoism. Yin and Yang represent a cosmic duality. Yin is associated with femininity, darkness, passivity, and even numbers, among other things. Yang is associated with masculinity, light, activity, and odd numbers, among other things. Mainstream Taoist philosophy asserts that the universe can be understood through duality. So, why are these pairs important? And why do things get paired together in the first place?

As is written in the foundational Taoist text the Tao Te Ching, “Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other.” What’s so interesting about the pairs is they “create,” “support,” “define,” and “depend on” each other. Black can’t exist without white, and white cannot exist without black.

As the Encyclopedia of Philosophy puts it, “...yinyang is emblematic of valuational equality rooted in the unified, dynamic, and harmonized structure of the cosmos. As such, it has served as a heuristic mechanism for formulating a coherent view of the world…” Essentially, neither of these opposites are “dominant” or “truer.” Choosing one side won’t help you understand the universe because the universe is their partnership. Their equality gives “structure to the cosmos.” That structure is order, not chaos, but it is differentiated. There are two different things: Yin and Yang. They contradict each other, but at the same time, they make the universe. Yin and Yang are a productive paradox.

I’d like to return to the notion that “being and non-being create each other.” At this stage of creation in K6BD, UN and YIS could not exist without each other. Their very existence is the fact that they are not a unity. If there was only one of them, then there wouldn’t have been a division—and they are nothing more than the product of division. Just like how being and non-being create each other, the Master of All That Is and the Master of All That Is Not create each other. YISUN was characterized by his totality—he was the total sum of the omniverse, there was nothing else. After the division, Un and Yis experience otherness. The first otherness in the omniverse. It’s difficult for them to find balance—in fact, they immediately went to war for seven years. At the end of their seven-year war, Un and Yis made love for seven days.

I want to be very clear that this is not a depiction of actual Taoism. Yin and Yang are not gods with faces and minds. Notably, the Tao Te Ching asserts that yin and yang are “older than God.” so make of that what you will. But I think Taoism is thematically relevant to this era. Two opposites have to come into balance with each other. The whole universe is a duality of interconnected forces.

K6BD repeatedly emphasizes the need for community. As Allison says at the end of King of Swords, “I couldn’t have done this without any of you… We make mistakes. We learn from each other. We all still have so much to learn. Once I saw that as a weakness, now I’m certain it’s not. Someone who lives still thinking like that… struggling to do everything themselves… I can’t help but think how alone they must be.”

YISUN had to do everything all by himself, and we saw that Allison was right—isolation was a struggle, even for God. But the struggle is over, and in its place is duality. Partnership. The first community.

These are the first four parts of a fourteen-part critical essay. You can read the rest here.

Bibliography is on the free Patreon post.

[captainjacklyn]

Another DOL post..I'm never stopping with these, it's just fun for me to share my characters which I am disappointed to not be able to draw. My art skills can be easily bested by that of a six year old's hand paint.

He indeed identifies as a male though if you saw the previous post about him (the first post about him really) Elias can change his genitals, due to his human DNA being mixed with several different animals.

Degrees of Lewdity :

ReLaTiOnShIpS :

ROBIN

"Robin? You better be careful with him, if I find out that you're planning something- Uh? Oh, you just want to get to know him? Very well, I guess that's alright, I'm not even sure why I got worked up. It's his fault if he gets into trouble...doesn't mean I wouldn't go out of my way to protect him."

Looks after Robin.

Acts like a mother for him, highly strict and demanding when interacting face to face but behind the scenes, he does everything he can to look after him and make sure he's safe.

The only one Elias genuinely cares for.

*pat pat* you stay there and play games while I sell my body to take your debt okay?

Good.

Manipulates this one like crazy, "I'M DOING ALL OF THIS FOR YOU HOW DARE YOU TALK BACK TO ME-"

His words not mine.

SYDNEY

"He's my partner if that's what you were wondering, I've spent quite a good amount of time with him. Don't fill his mind with too many lewd thoughts if you plan on seducing him, his purity is rather useful. He even gifted me a dress last week..Mhm? Yes..I am fond of Sydney."

Elias doesn't particularly understand his own emotions.

He just likes having Sydney since his privileged life/status makes it easier for him as well.

Did go out of his way to spend time with him at the beach, proceeded to question every single idea which led him to do so.

WHITNEY

"Whitney tried to use me for quick money making on multiple occasions, you ram your knee in the balls and run, he doesn't take hits there very nicely."

Yeah no.

They don't get along.

Elias just ignores him whenever he tries to interact, will dismiss him when the time comes.

I've tried to allow it, but from the shaming to the constant abusive scenarios, there isn't much to allow.

KYLAR

"He got his ass thrown into prison, and for all I know, he just belongs to the asylum. I assure you that I attempted to aid him, he wasn't treated very kindly so I assumed to have found someone I can understand and relate to. Turns out he was a perverted psycho...Oh really ? I'll give you this one fact, Kylar never loved me, he just wanted to keep me as a possession."

Dismissed Kylar.

You think this guy wants to make out with the equivalent of a pathetic wet rat ? He doesn't even know if he likes the librarian who treats him with kindness.

Nuh-uh.

Nah.

Stans are coming after me, but my boy openly defended a dude who decided to stalk him in response.

BAILEY

"...What about Bailey? He has done many things for me as a child, I know that our hearts have never been one, I see that now. But if it means seeing her again..I'll pay him off, I'll pay Robin's debt along with my own and we'll run from this god forsaken swill of a town."

The first reason as to why Elias is so hardworking is because he believes that once his debt is fully repaid, he'll be able to see Monika.

Otto Hightower and Alicent toxic dad and daughter~

Woohoo and the line of trauma doesn't stop there cause Elias also treats Robin like SHIT-

The pressure of needing to save those he cares for is so great that it causes him to install his own suffering on them as well.

You're stronger than you think Elias, you're strong enough to stand as a wall between Robin and Bailey, between Sydney and Himself, between the Orphans and this Fucked up Place.

Burn your feelings to the ground and carry on.

Woah too emotional on the last one chill-

[jelleefiish]

Need to write this down somewhere so:

Fairy Tail and Gender

A self-indulgent Essay on why I enjoy Fairy Tail!

[Before I get into this, would like to say this is mostly personal opinion and I will not be debating anyone :)]

So, this all began when I had begun to wonder, "Why don't I enjoy One Piece when I love Fairy tail?". They both stem from pretty similar themes and plots, and I admit that One Piece is a good show! It's just not something I could bring myself into for some reason.

And it gets me to thinking, objectively Fairy Tail is pretty not great. The writing can get repetitive, arcs are forgettable, and just overall it's kinda mediocre. But nonetheless, I ADORE it! It could be partially due to nostalgia, yet around the time I started Fairy Tail as a kid, I had also picked up and dropped One Piece, so what stopped me then?

It all came back to one thought! Treatment of different genders.

Of shounen anime, I can't think of many that make female characters on equal power standing as male characters (never mind even having them as main characters).

As great as One Piece is, their treatment of women in story and relevance is something that always draws me away from it.

Fairy tail is very good at making women who are equal power standing to the male characters, with some of them being even stronger! Not to mention the story treats them with equal relevance and gives them the same amount of depth that the male characters get. Lucy, Erza, Gray, Natsu, (and the many side characters that I adore) all have rather equal amount of back story. Though there is some power gaps, for the most part these characters are all really strong, and grow with each other as well!

Now let's get to the part we are all thinking about and why Fairy Tail has its reputation: The fan service.

Fairy tail had an ABUNDANCE of fan service and raunchy humor, but one thing I can admire on this subject is they acknowledge it! 90% of the show's fan service consists of characters knowingly making raunchy jokes, and this goes for both genders!

I will like to clarify that they do go into some pretty strange territory sometimes, and there is no excuse on that but for now i'd like to focus on the more comedic bits.

For example, every joke about Lucy is usually balanced out with a joke about Gray! Any fan service with the women characters as subjects will then often be turned over to the men ALSO being subjected to fan service!

This essay is getting messy and unorganized but idc its a tumblr ramble.

My other point I really appreciate is the women are very self aware! The show doesn't write the fan service as "oh this helpless and cutesy girl doesn't know shes teasing men by existing with big boobs :(". The women are well aware of their surroundings(for the most part) and will joke about it themselves! The women who are used mostly for fan service do it of their own will, rather than it being an accident of some sort? MiraJane chooses to model for sorcerer weekly, Lucy purposely uses her "womanly charm" and so on! It's all things they chose to do and not pushed on them!

Overall I just think that the show is pretty good at its gender balance and keeping the men and female equal. Whether it's on power levels, intelligence, back story, social consciousness, and yes, even fan service.

So as bad as the writing can get for main plot, the vast amount of well written characters with varying experiences, as well as how the characters are treated balance it out for me!

[pastelwhile-art]

it'd absolutely make my day too some makokuu from you (i loved that illustration of them im insane about them)

what about some domestic makokuu 👀 them spending time together at home :3 no pressure ofc

Help I know I asked for saiki k requests TWO months ago and I had a really fun idea for an illustration, but my brain is a smooth cube. so that idea stays up in the air.

For now take a really quick silly crack doodle about one of the many possibilities I think Kusuke/Makoto telling Saiki/Teruhashi would go. Spoiler alert: it’s hilariously horrible.

(Saiki thinks they’re messing with them and Teruhashi is seething. Are they pranking them? Who knows.)

And ya know what? Beneath the cut take my redesigns of these guys and my notes for them because I made several months ago ‘cause I haven’t touched them since :(

Warning: I talk a lot.

A quick note! These designs aren’t meant to say ‘fix’ the original-they’re just for fun! Even if I think elements of mine look better, clearly the original works and are well loved. Also I’m not especially fond of these anyways JAJSJANW

Saiki doesn’t change much other than his palette is a more balanced. Also I really like designing hair, and wanted the idea that Saiki really tries to sleek it down to something very generic and unassuming, but the hairpins get stuck in the way and his hair sorta moves outwards from there. Continuing the idea that his powers make him subtly less normal. It also accidentally made him look A LOT more like his parents, oops.

Also I drew a comparison from his canon hair to his redesign, because I didn’t think it was particularly clear until side by side.

Also I actually gave this one a proper illustration lol.

Teruhashi’s design was actually partly inspired by @lu-kario’s human mlp designs because they’re really good :^ She’s also pretty standard except her hair and color (which I’m not too satisfied with.)

I like the idea of the Teruhashi Siblings being a bit supernatural, so along with weird shine effects, they also get constant wind effects! Like in all the anime where they have flowing hair at just the right times even though it wasn’t windy at all before? Yeah! Except that’s more Makoto’s thing while the shine stays Kokomi’s.

Also what ethnicity are these characters now? To me they’re still Japanese, but I think people don’t ever use a range of skin tones for the same ethnicity. But really these are just fun designs I didn’t really think too hard.

Kusuke! He was the first one I did and an absolute PAIN. He was also the reason I did this, because as much as I love Saiki K and respect the author, I just got to know what is going on with his debut clothes.

Well not like I did that much better… Kusuke is stuck with four alt palettes because I can’t decide which shade of weird yellow and purple to make his head and gown (I’ve resolved to draw his hair a different shade of yellow in every drawing.) His eyes also match Saiki with purple eyes, because I think they look better lmao.

Also, that’s his Cambridge gown he’s wearing. And fun fact-they have a great amount of rules on what color does gowns get an accent of based off what subject people are taking! I decided to not think too hard on that and just gave him a better looking gown.

And I really like the hair I gave him, the original to me just lacks a bit of anime shape style. Also his headgear is shaped like a graduation hat now lol.

He also has a silly little doodle for what he’d look like with his lab coat. It’s not here, but I like to think he always puts a ponytail up!

Last and also least xp, Makoto! He’s uhh about the same with the points I said with Teruhashi. Just very angular now. I swear I tried to design a better fashion for Makoto but I just ended up with the same.

I tried to style his hair how Japanese celebrities would, but I don’t know if I succeeded. His hair as I said is constantly blowing to the left lol. Also he has a hair clip now! In my head Kusuke gives him a telepathy canceller disguised as a hairclip.

Also anyone can draw or get inspired by these designs if you wanted lol Though I don’t really like these, I still use these hairstyle for drawing them cause I think they look cool lol.

[kokusfluffyhair]

Tahomaru Modern AU Headcanons

Someone on here (you know who you are) got me into Dororo 4 years too late and now I'm obsessed. Let's see if this reaches anyone from the probably dead fandom of this underappreciated anime.

I really got captivated by Tahomaru. I probably see too much of myself in him. I can't stop imagining him in the modern world now.

(In this Modern AU, Tahomaru and Hyakkimaru grew up together as brothers and there was no contract with the demons.)

Tahomaru is a minor, so I will only write SFW headcanons.

+ He's gone through a lot of different style stages, from preppy (to look like the good boy to impress his mother) to sporty (trying to seem more athletic to impress his father) and found himself switching up between emo and luxury streetwear.

+ He really likes Italian designers like Gucci and Versace. (His parents are rich, so why not) Yes, he thinks he looks cool in those flashy, overly-printed items.

+ He either wears those clunky trainers with 'BALENCIAGA' written on them or DocMartens.

+ He is probably damaging his hair with the amount of product he uses in it. That hair's gotta be SPIKY.

+ The reason why he's so into his style is because it helps him to hide from his low self-esteem.

+ He compares himself to Hyakkimaru a lot, especially when it comes to their appearances. Tahomaru is bulkier/bigger-boned than his older brother and has a rougher-looking face. Hyakkimaru always got more attention from girls, which Tahomaru blames on his appearance.

+ He complains that he's fat (even though he's not) but he loves fried food and won't give it up.

+ He tries to make up for what he's lacking by being loud and overly-extroverted. But it seems to backfire.

+ He once tried to trim and groom his eyebrows, thinking it would make him more attractive, but he ended up trimming them too much. His mother giggled at him. His father got angry and insulted him.

+ He tries to spend as little time at home with his family as possible.

+ He has trouble making friends and often ends up pushing others away by being a brat.

+ He's gone through the phase of picking up skateboarding.

+ He's gone through the phase of trying to learn the guitar but smashed it out of frustration because it was too difficult for him.

+ He's also gone through the online gamer phase, but it was short-lived after he got into fights with too many people on the internet.

+ He tends to get into trouble. He doesn't shoplift or anything like that, but he would skateboard where he's not supposed to, loiter where he's not supposed to, do something stupid like knock over a bin on the street when he's angry.

+ He does okay in school. He doesn't fail anything but he doesn't get great marks. (Neither does Hyakkimaru, though he does better than his younger brother does.)

+ He once tried going to therapy, ended up doing some extreme trauma-dumping on the therapist that led him to burst into tears, and then refused to go back out of his own personal feeling of shame.

+ He acts tough, almost like some wannabe gangster, but he is really sensitive, hurt, and broken inside.

+ He does all he can to avoid having to face and deal with his own shit.

+ He likes to draw, and he's pretty good at it. He has to hide it from his father, who thinks art isn't manly enough of a hobby. His mother isn't very encouraging either because no matter how brilliant he is, whatever Hyakkimaru does is better.

+ The first time he had a crush, he spent hours writing a love letter in beautiful, calligraphy-like handwriting. He was brutally rejected.

+ Now whenever he tries to confess to someone, he does it through these cocky, lame pick-up lines that get him laughed at, and also rejected.

+ The worst time was when a girl agreed to go out with him just so she could get closer to Hyakkimaru.

+ Whenever Mutsu tries to give him tips on talking to girls, he doesn't listen.

(I wish I could write something more positive for him 😭)

[gardenofsubjectivity]

READ BEFORE INTERACTING

Hello! This is my intro, FAQ, and DNI. Please respect that when viewing my blog.

Name: Just my username or an abbreviation. I have no interest in getting close or forming friendships with anyone online- just to share ideas and opinions I have. So, a nickname is unnecessary.

Age: Adult, but not comfortable giving personal info.

Pronouns: I don’t care.

DNI

Do not interact if you are a minor. At all. I discuss and reblog adult topics and don’t want minors exposed to it. Please respect this.

Do not interact if your intention is to bully or harass. I am totally up for disagreements and discussion! That’s how the marketplace of ideas works! I just don’t want to waste time with unproductive conversations. Thank you.

FAQ

Are you a paraphile?: No. I’m not diagnosed with any paraphilias or paraphilic disorders, nor do I identify as one. I am a kinkster but not a paraphile. I just find the attitude society has towards them to be very unempathetic and want a space to show that even non-paraphiles can have compassion for those who are different.

Do you think children, animals, or dead bodies can consent to sex?

No. I do not. I personally find it morally wrong to engage sexually with any of these groups. The idea heavily disturbs me and I do not advocate for the “liberation” or “freeing” of these groups sexually. Children are not mentally developed enough to consent, and there is documented tangible harm caused to them when this happens. Animals are not mentally developed enough to consent, and there is documented tangible harm caused to them when this happens. Dead bodies have no ability to consent and having sex with them brings great harm to the family/loved ones of the deceased- not to mention it can cause great mental harm to the living, as the vast majority of people don’t seem to like the idea of being touched once they’re dead. It can make dying an even scarier experience. It’s also dehumanizing to reduce dead bodies as objects, as I’ve seen a few people say.

Again, no. I don’t think they can consent and they shouldn’t be victimized by anyone- paraphile or not. (And, yes. Non-paraphiles can sexually abuse these groups. Whether that be for the feeling of power, ease of access, etc.)

Are you proship?: If I had to be labeled as one or the other I’d be considered a proshipper. I use the proshipper tags and interact with the community. So, if you want to label me as a proshipper then that’s fine. However, I don’t personally identify myself under that label. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but it would be too long to type out on an already large introduction post. So, I’ll just say my beliefs on the subject.

I do believe that art is a place that’s meant to explore complicated feelings and the human condition. That includes dark things and aspects of life that make us uncomfortable. Unless there are tangible victims (such as published sexual art depicting real life identifiable children, art that is purposefully meant to be a threat to someone else ((even implicitly)), drawings that use things like CSEM for reference/tracing etc.) then it’s morally fine imo. No one, and I mean no one, should ever be harassed, doxed, or otherwise harmed because they made art that is simply offensive to someone. This applies to things I’m even offended about, like certain political artists or particular fetish art.

What is your contact stance?: Certain paraphilias and/or paraphilic disorders can’t be explored to its most literal extent without a victim being involved. For example, ped🅾️philes can’t have sexual relations with children without creating a victim. Obviously I am against that. However, they can explore this part of themselves via ethically-made art, an adult partner in consensual sexual roleplay, etc.

Honestly, I would much rather people have an outlet for their desires rather than let them build and build and build until it becomes an issue to not just themselves but others. I mean, how many times are we going to see anti-gay politicians for example turn out to be gay? (1, 2, 3) And no, I don’t think that paraphiles or people with paraphilic disorders are inherently LGBT, nor do I think there should be paraphilias added on the LGBT acronym like “LGBTP” or “LGBTZ”. I am simply saying that repressing one’s sexuality is unhealthy imo.

Said opinion is based off of data. For example, there have been multiple studies showing that countries with easy access to pornography of any kind have significantly less sex crimes committed than countries who don’t. (1, 2) (And no, I am not a supporter of CSEM being legal or anything like that obviously. I am simply presenting data to show the effects of pornography and outlets. Instead of these countries allowing the victimizing stuff, I think they should only allow victimless forms of it.)

So, I would say I believe paraphiles should be able to have contact with consensual adults, art, etc. as an outlet for their desires. But now with the real thing unless it is a victimless paraphilia like plushophilia or objectophilia for example.

Are you pro-recovery? I find this to be difficult to answer because there are certain implications with the question I don’t agree with. This would be like asking “Are you pro-recovery?” in reference to someone with an anxiety, depressive, or schizospec disorder. I want people to have easy access to resources if they’re struggling, and let’s be honest, almost all paraphiles are struggling in one way or another. At least from what I’ve seen. But what I hear when seeing “pro-recovery” is “Do you think paraphiles should be ‘cured’?” You can’t “cure” paraphilias in the same way you can’t “cure” the disorders I listed above. You cant “recover” from them because they aren’t going anywhere. People recover from events that happen to them, people recover from trauma, people don’t recover from things hardwired into their brain. (1)

Do you believe everyone who consumes “problematic”/taboo fiction (sexually or otherwise) wants to do those things in real life?

No. I don’t. As much as I think more people are interested in taboo art than many would like to admit, I don’t believe that is the only reason why someone would be into the “weird” stuff. There are many reasons. Trauma, neurodivergence, early life experience that weren’t necessarily traumatic, things you’re just born with, and many other reasons I don’t even know. It’s a complicated topic, but I think art is not always literal and two people can look at the same piece of art and get two completely different experiences and interpretations of it. In the same way playing violent video games doesn’t make you violent, but violent people may gravitate more to those games; consuming taboo art doesn’t make you a paraphile, but paraphiles may gravitate more to those art pieces.

Do not interact if you are a minor. At all. I discuss and reblog adult topics and don’t want minors exposed to it. Please respect this.

[inganikki]

Out of curiosity, why do you hate One Piece? I know that the character designs for the women Aren’t Great and Usopp also has some unfortunate design choices, but other than that I haven’t heard many major complaints about the show/manga. However, I haven’t watched/read one piece so all the info I have is secondhand

Ok so this is my subjective opinion as a person who used to be absolutely obsessed with One Piece as a child. I still read it when I find the energy to do so and I've read up to volume 100. The reasons I dislike OP now are

Oda's misogyny, part 1: As you said, women's designs are Not Great. They've gotten boobier and more and more sexually exaggerated as the series goes on imo. OP does have cool female characters and cool female character designs, but when Oda wants to draw a conventionally beautiful female character, he just draws variations of the same woman. When it comes to conventionally beautiful female characters, I also struggle to tell apart who is who because a lot of them have the same face (and same body) syndrome.

Oda's misogyny, part 2: A lot of this comes up in extra-textual materials such as the reader Q&A sections he does in the manga volumes. I don't have these volumes with me at hand so I'm only paraphrasing what I remember but he's said stuff about how he draws OP for boys first and foremost, and how female fans just don't "get it" the way male fans do. This honestly broke my heart as I was the biggest OP obsessive when I was in primary school. I loved OP as much as any boys, but my passion is diminished just because I'm a girl? I cannot respect someone who thinks like that. (and unfortunately a lot of male creatives in Japan have said stuff like that). There's also some gender-bend art he drew that was pretty insulting. Also the time he drew OP characters as old people where male characters got to look like proper grandpas while female characters weren't allowed to show age. It's all so boring.

Racism, part 1: Yes you're right about Usopp's design (I love him though...). Also Oda does a weird thing where whenever he draws coloured artworks, he paints all the characters' skin in the exact same orange-pink tone. No one in OP manga has dark skin afaik because everyone has the same skin tone. I've always found that strange, especially when characters have all sorts of different hair colours and design quirks, somehow skin tone is the one thing he refuses to diversity. The anime improves on this at least by giving different characters different skin tones.

Racism, part 2: I hate that they retconned Nico Robin to be light skinned in the anime. Give us our brown skinned Robin back. Fuck.

Homophobia and transphobia: The usage of the word "okama" is a controversial one and I'm not in a position to speak on it as I'm neither a gender non-conforming man nor a transgender woman, but I don't think it's appropriate to use it so much in a manga meant for children. I understand that some queer people in Japan do self identify as okama, and Oda uses "I have friends who are okama" as an excuse but I still think the liberal usage of okama in OP a bad idea. Also one time Sanji got stranded on an island called Kamabakka ("full of okama") Kingdom and the joke is that all these caricaturized ugly cross-dressing men (?) want Sanji and he is grossed out by them.

The art style. I used to love Oda's simple, cartoony art. And it got more and more complicated and maximalist and again, modern day OP gives me a headache because it's like everything is going on eveywhere (all the time). That's my personal taste of course. I just find it to be too much. Also this ties in with my previous point of "too many characters" - new OP characters look more and more grotesque and monstrous because Oda needs to introduce a character who looks distinguishable from all the thousands of characters that appeared before (unless this new character is a conventionally attractive woman, then she looks the same). I just think it's ugly… I don't like it.

I also think it has gone on for far too long. It's gotten so sprawling and complicated that I don't find it fun anymore. Too many characters and too much history to keep track of. Whenever I read a modern OP volume it kind of gives me a headache while I try to understand who is where and doing what for what reason. I'm not invested enough to pour in the energy needed to keep track of everything anymore.

Nationalism?: I find it kind of cringe whenever a Japanese artist wants to insert their own version of Japan into their fantasy work (eg. Hiizuru in Attack on Titan) because those Fantasy Japan countries tend to be portrayed as a cool awesome place where you will find many strong honorable people yay <3 and I'm like "okay, Narcissist". The Wano-kuni arc felt so self-congratulatory. It was a bit painful.

This one is just petty stuff that's entirely my taste thing again but even as a child I found some of Oda's writing traits to be cringe lmao. Some of these attack names are so dumb (Zoro's onigiri, I get that it's a pun, doesn't work for me lol), and how different characters have to have their own weird laughs. Also OP never got me invested enough in the character of Ace so the whole Enies Lobby arc just bored me and sapped a lot of the interest I still had in OP. I just don't care anymore.

You asked a simple question and I'm sorry I wrote a long ass post but like I said, I used to be a massive fan so I just have... a lot of Thoughts. Thanks for asking.

[garaksapprentice]

A Brief Overview of Alpaca Farming in Australia

Originally posted at my blog: https://garaksapprentice.blogspot.com/2023/09/alpaca-in-australia.html

I went to the royal show on Monday, and I chatted up the rep at the Alpaca Association booth, and then I blogged about it. Enjoy.

---

The Royal Show is on this week. Being in need of free entry civic minded, I volunteered to help man the spinner's and weaver's guild stall.

This gives me half a day to wander the showgrounds, and half a day where I stand at the booth, spindle spinning for the public, and blowing people's minds with random facts like "This is how people spun thread for most of human history, the treadle spinning wheel was only invented in the 1500s" and "It took longer to spin and weave the sails for a Viking longship than it did to build the ship itself". Kids in particular love to see how thread is made.

My first shift this time was a morning one (I only slightly regret that choice, being that I Am Not A Morning Person). So of course the first thing I did when I knocked off was go and talk to the alpaca breeders. (They were easier to find than the sheep.)

I must have arrived at a good time, because I had a great chat with the rep manning the Alpaca Association stall in the building. I have a keen interest in the local fibre industries, for obvious reasons. So I always take the time to talk to anyone involved with it, in any capacity.

So how are alpaca doing?

While alpaca have only been in the country for 30 years or so, herd numbers have been growing dramatically in the last half decade as farmers start to focus on fibre production (and to a lesser extent, meat) as well as genetics. The rep (I regret not getting his name now) reckons some sheep farmers, who have traditionally been resistant, will likely start switching over to alpaca in the next decade or so as they start to realise the advantages alpaca have. (Personally I think integrating alpaca alongside other things is the way to go - diversity creates stability, resilience, and higher yields.)

One of the reasons for his prediction is that alpaca are simply better suited to large chunks of the climate here than merino sheep. (Merino are, to put it politely, too overbred for wool production to cope.) They're softer footed, for one. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but Australia's soils are ancient. They were absolutely wrecked within fifty years of sheep, cattle, and other hard-hoofed animals being introduced. Returning to soft-footed grazers, in conjunction with regenerative pasture practices, would go a long way to fixing the damage and sequestering carbon back into the landscape.

Genetics, fleeces and microns, oh my!

Many farmers are focussing their breeding programs on two things - extending the amount of time their animals keep producing a low-micron fleece, and improving the consistency of micron count across the fleece as a whole.

In "unimproved" animals, the fleece will be coarser in some areas and finer in others. Think about human hair - different parts of our body have coarser or finer hair, too. In alpaca, the finest fleece is found on the saddle and neck. The belly and legs are coarser, and have more guard hairs (they're the tough, prickly ones). Breeders have been working to bring the fleece as a whole closer to the same fine-ness for a couple of decades.

(Please forgive my drawing skills. I couldn't find a better, copyright free image.)

Fleece quality changes as alpaca age, too. Unimproved animals usually give a year or two of fine fleeces, and then the wool gets coarser with each clip. The rep I talked to said that his herd's animals now hold their fleece consistency to about 5-6 years old. (He has one dam that has held her fleece for 8 years - he's really hoping those genetics can be passed on to her young!)

Why is this important? Because finer, more consistent fleeces are worth more. (There's a limit to how fine you want to go, though - commercial machinery doesn't like extremely fine fleece, so the ideal is 18-24 microns. That's still next-to-skin soft, for most people.)

Part of the complexity of raising commercial alpaca fibre is the range of colours (there's two dozen recognised in Australia), that you then have to sort and grade by micron count (there are four grades used by the industry), into 150kg bales for sale. Most farmers choose to breed either suri or huacaya, not both, because of that complexity.

(These are just four of the colours alpaca comes in. The top two fleeces I bought from different local fleece farmers. (The grey in the upper left is from dirt trapped between the fibres - the whole fleece is actually the same light, smoky grey.) The bottom two came from friends of friends who own hobby animals or livestock guardians - you can see how much dirtier the non-commercial fleeces are, compared to the commercial ones. (Yes, the bottom right fleece came off one animal - piebalds and spots are recognised alpaca colouring.))

Alpaca fleeces that only have two grades of fibre, or even one, are quicker and easier to sort at shearing time. That means less expense for the farmer, and a better profit margin. 

Another way farmers cut the complexity is to focus on breeding specific colours, such as pure black, that are in high demand from the fashion industry.

Shearing and staples

Alpaca, like most sheep breeds, have lost the ability to naturally shed their fleeces. They must be sheared regularly to keep them healthy.

Shearing season in Australia is usually an annual event, due to cost. It starts about now (September) in the greater Adelaide region, has been going for a month or more up in Queensland, and the highlands here and in NSW/Victoria won't start until October or later. Every animal gets done at the same time, starting from about six weeks old. That way the animals are happier over summer, and it keeps their fleece quality higher.

Part of that fleece quality is the length of the wool, or staple. The ideal staple length for fleeces is 80-120mm - that's the sweet spot for both commercial processing machinery and handspinners. While handspinners definitely have the capacity to spin short fibres, most aren't interested in a fleece with less than 80mm staple. (I am an outlier in that if a fleece is nice, I don't care what staple length it has. I will find a use for its yarn.)

Another factor is the amount of VM (vegetable matter, such as grass seeds - clover burr is a particular problem) and dirt in the fleece. You can't do much about the dirt - alpaca *love* to roll, it helps to keep their coat healthy - but farmers do their best to keep VM low. Commercial buyers and handspinners alike appreciate it. (The example fleece the booth had out for touchies had too much VM in it to sell to handspinners. It didn't look like much to me, but again, I have lower standards than many of my kind.)

Personally, I love spinning alpaca. I find it easier to process than sheep since it doesn't need scouring. Dirt falls right out as you're spinning, and in the washing of the yarn (I spin it unwashed in the traditional Andean way). The natural colours are gorgeous, and it takes dyes well. The one downside for me is that it's so much warmer than sheep. Great for the being outside in the depths of winter, not so good for the rest of the year.

Overall I'm excited to see where the local alpaca industry heads over the next decade. I think there's great promise for improving the sustainability of our fibreshed, and for alpaca farming to be integrated into broader regenerative agriculture practices.

[evelhak]

Old art #12: Fate/Once Upon a Time

Some more ancient history. I used to be obsessed with Fate/Stay Night and could not swallow the ending of the Fate route of the visual novel/2006 anime when I was in high school, so obviously I drew several hundred pages of fan comic to fix it. I used to post it on DeviantArt, but life got in the way back then, so I left it in like chapter 3. (Yes it took like a hundred pages per chapter because I'm me). And I had something like 52 chapters planned, I think. I still pretty much remember the story, so I've been considering reposting the pages somewhere with a summary of how it would have gone, to give closure to people who loved it back then, even though it's very late, and it's pretty unlikely anyone from that time would stumble across it anymore.

At least I had been able to draw and post the whole reason why I began to make the comic, by the end of chapter 1, so I wasn't completely torn about it when I wasn't able to continue. Anyway... in case anyone was curious, this is kind of where I come from. This was my start in fan works. It was a fix-it comic that consumed my life for a while. (Two years, I think.) I could not stop, I was drawing every minute I could. I remember carrying a folder with me everywhere, not only was I drawing on breaks at school and secretly in class, literally even during my folk dance groups' training camp I was already in some corner drawing if we had a five-minute break, same at backstage while someone was braiding my hair for a performance. I could not waste a minute. (My days were full already.)

This was the first long story of mine that had readers I didn't know, who left comments and begged for me to continue. That was really something. I bet that really marks a turning point for a lot of storytellers. I had had ideas for fan works before, but I had always resisted because it "isn't original". Fate/Stay Night was the first time my need to create was too strong, it made me throw that philosophy out the window for a while. (I'm glad it did, obviously, even though part of the reason I quit was because I decided I had to focus on my original fiction at the time.)

My English was still not great, and I had even more problems with anatomy than I do now, but this project definitely made me develop both of those skills a lot. It's always the uncontrollable need to create something that makes me get better at things, because there's just no other way to accomplish what I want than to acquire the skills I need for it, and my brain just doesn't accept not succeeding. If it weren't for this fan comic, I probably wouldn't have done a lot of things I have since then. So I feel like I owe a lot to Fate, and I have many fond memories of this project.

Obviously, I also got mansplained a lot, since it was a pretty male dominant fandom. Guys who hadn't even bothered to read my story yet came to me like "Uuuuh do you have a clue how Fate works, I bet you don't so let me go on paragraphs of monologue" of things that I of course knew just as well as them. Or telling me that my story wasn't even possible because X, Y and Z problems would need to be solved before there could even be another Grail War as the Grail was destroyed... like, really? You thought I didn't think of that? You didn't even consider that maybe I actually have a brain and came up with entirely new concepts that don't exist in canon? (Not to mention, a gigantic franchise with multiple contradictory routes for the same story is a really stupid place to start telling people what is or isn't possible, geez. Why so small-minded?)

Or they were just dismissing me because my story "looked like a shojo manga". (Lol, I know, and that's not an accident. That's what's so great about it, actually. When you combine the high stakes and suspense of shonen with the aesthetic and emotional expression of shojo, how can you lose? When you combine conventions from two different sources, you'll always end up with something that doesn't exist in either of them. A union, a synthesis, is more than the sum of its parts. That's my philosophy, anyway...)

And appearances can be deceiving. Once these guys actually read my story, they told me I was "so good at creating suspense!!!!" and the emotional catharsis of a particular scene had them writing to me that I made them cry. Hah. In your face. (I certainly thought that, even if I had too much manners to tell them.) Don't you just love changing people's minds?

Anyway, looking back at this more than a decade old thing made me quite emotional.

Shiro x Saber forever. 💙💙💙

[danikatze]

How about B, I, K, M, N, O, U for the alphabet ask thing?

Alphabet Asks

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

hahah well TJ.. as you know you've been very influential when it comes to ships - especially for Naruto. First one that comes to mind is KakaGai, but there's also YamaSai and KankuSai and ShikaCho. All of them I still love <3 Also, thanks to you I shipped GaraShir before I even watched the show. And there are just countless ships from other fandoms that I'm not (really) a part of that I have a soft spot for, because you sell them so well :))

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Errr I guess you could say HP? But that's not Tumblr's fault - all it did was share the messed up things Rowling said and did and gradully all of the moments HP got tiny kid me through rough and lonely times started feeling like a very big lie and I can't even think of it fondly anymore.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Oh gosh, so many, but let's go for Fjord from Critical Role. All the little and big steps he takes towards learning to accept himself throughout the campaign and the way they don't come all at once but are spread out over like a hundred plus episodes, including inevitable steps backward. The strength it took for him to walk away from the one who gave him conditional power and to accept unconditional love that is extended by his friends and the Wildmother. His arc just makes me so emotional and happy every time I think about it. I love him and I love his journey and I cannot wait to see it animated.

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Yamato from Naruto seems like a perfect friend. He's kind and loyal and usually a reasonable, level headed person who can calm you down in stressed situations. But he's also someone you can have fun with!

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

For Saraiya Goyou: 1) anyone other than me making stuff for it lol. Usually I don't mind it so much, but sometimes I almost desperately wish I would see the tag update and it's not something I made. 2) drawings and fics from the past are mostly for Yaichi and Masa. I'd love more art and writing for other characters and pairings (romantic or otherwise) 3) sneakily shared fan translations of the prequels and spin-offs would be great lol. They're never going to be translated officially, but scans are taken down immediately as well. I bought Futagashira but I have no way of reading it unless I learn to read Japanese myself ^^;

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Shuffle produced Pulling Teeth by Green Day. "I'm all busted up, broken bones and nasty cuts, accidents will happen, but this time I can't get up." That's definitely Meg and Zagreus from Hades. They beat each other up on a regular basis lol and I was so bad at this game in the beginning I got Zag killed by her a lot (sorry Zag..) Not top 10 ship for me, but I like them well enough!

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

1) Matsu from Saraiya Goyou: during my first reread the manga, after I learned that he loved Yaichi, I fell in love with him through his subtle and heartbreaking expressions. That's when I really got to know and understand him more. I love that he's charming as can be for his job, but doesn't know how to behave around his friends. He's so skilled and he knows it, yet has such a low self esteem. He's just a highly skilled, very pathetic little grumpy guy that deserves all the love in the world. And I give him as much as I can. 2) Caduceus from Critical Role: perfect, big, chill cow man who has the best advice and calming words for others, but can't recognise his own problems, let alone how to deal with them. He's so dumb and wise and I love him. 3) Gerry from the Magnus Archives: he's one of those people that seems to be full of contradictions. He's so bitter and stubborn and impatient and crude, but in a way that feels friendly? His life was so full of grief and horror from the moment he was born and he just wants a break from it all, but at the same time he can't stop himself from helping people who are about to fall - or have already fallen - victim to the horrors. The fear and defiance he lived (and died) with is heartbreaking and admirable.

[personalanonymousrants]

I'm in a weird place in life, story time.

Every hour in my day is spent staring at a screen while sitting in my couch. Studies? Online. (Currently in vacation so yeah, not even studying) Friendships? Online, and currently very few (2 to be exact). Therapy? Online, once a week. Mental stimulus? Reading random posts on all sort of subjects online. Do I leave my house for anything, ever? Very, very rarely. Irl friends/companies? My ex, only him (he's not a monster, I assure you). We see each other every weekend and occasionally after he leaves work on a weekday when I *need* to get out of the house even if it is for just one hour to grab a coffee and watch the street.

I feel like I'm floating in the void of outerspace, completely lost.

Recently, I've been bombarded by my own thoughts of projects I abandoned. If you're reading this, brace yourself, this gonna be long. From 8 years of age I took great interest on reading, writing, acquiring knowledge (not always useful), learning languages (here am I fluent in English now). 12 years of age, I absolutely loved writing on notebooks (I'd always carry 3 of them EVERYWHERE in my backpack, each for a different topic). I would also spend hours on end drawing anime/mangá style art. 14 years of age, I got my very first tablet and began trying digital art and painting, while maintaining all the rest. I carried on all of those interests and hobbies until my 15 years of age.

In between 12 and 15, my privacy was breached many times and I got bullied for my art, for my texts, for my attempts creative expression as a whole. I was not one to express verbally already (actual autism, selective mutism), because talking felt unsafe and bullying made that worse. Overtime, artistic and creative expression felt less and less safe.

Until by 15 years of age I got into an abusive relationship and dropped everything. I lost my voice, and what was left of my ability to express myself along with my dignity and self-respect. I just gave up for good on trying to express myself in any way.

Got out of that relationship at 17. Entered another one with an alcoholic, made some attempts at trying to start writing again, on private, password protected journals on a website I won't disclose. Again I was forced to let someone read my stuff and had verbal stones thrown at me. By 19 I left that relationship, and entered another one. Healthier one, but not perfect, still with some toxic traits because nobody is perfect he is unable to understand some things about me and is unaware of others, all he knows is I'm traumatized (got PTSD from the 2 previous relationships), mentally fucked and hard to deal with. [He also has untreated ADHD (which doesn't favor him being able to listen to my long explanations of what's actually going on with me), and a very critical personality (though he means to be constructive, he lacks sense. Both of us think he might be autistic as well as he does identify with it, but he can't focus on learning more about it as he can't for any other psychology or neurodevelopment/neuroscience topic, at least he tried).]

I again tried to recover my interests and means of creative expression through art and stuff, but as a critical designer he'd give his unsolicited opinion and again unknowingly take away my freedom of expression by accident when he was only trying to help, he was unaware on how his comments hit me in a very different way and I was unable to communicate that to him, explain, or make him aware. That relationship ended by unrelated reasons when I was 22, in May. Just over a year ago. It was very hard to deal with the breakup and he remains as my only in-real-life friendship/social interaction other than my mom and occasionally grandparents.

I am currently 23 years old, I want to try to recover/reclaim my life, my voice, my creative power, creative expression, writing, drawing on paper, doing digital art. I started by beginning in oil painting, my paintings are unfinished and have been sitting in my shelves for months now with no new alterations. I feel like writing and I know not what to write about because there is this huge block which is something in between a creative block and a sense of danger/unsafe in my chest.

I feel like drawing on paper but I don't even try all the progress I worked so hard on making in my skills between 12 and 15 was totally lost. I don't know what to draw anymore (nothing comes to mind) and when I try it feels like everything is too ugly. Digital art is even worst. It's worth mentioning I lost any precision I had with a pen or pencil (I also shake a lot due to Anxiety and PTSD). So I decided to focus on other areas of life, started college online in a unrelated subject, while pursuing this technical degree online I'm also trying entrance exams for another university in a totally different bachelor (psychology) to do both at the same time.

I made projects that would suit well this focus on other areas:

Finishing oil paintings.

Reading Tarot/Sibilla/Lenormand professionally.

Teaching English conversation.

I have not taken a single step forward in any of those. It's like I'm petrified into staring at the computer and doing the same things over and over again:

Studying

Talking to online friends

Browsing random knowledge

Reading random books

I have lost my capability to organize my life/tasks and move things forward, completely. The only thing I'm moving forward is college which is now on break.

The wish to express myself creatively is calling me constantly, yet the block still stops me. The biggest advance I made towards that is rambling about my personal life in this anonymous page which I'm constantly paranoid about being linked to my identity or figured out by anyone in real life (specially my ex who's my only friend, or the closest I got to one. He has my back in a lot of stuff) for no special reason other than the feeling of unsafe exposure.

I will keep on trying to improve my organization. I will keep on trying to regain my power of self-expression, be it artistic, textual, visual, and even someday verbal! I know this will be a long battle, and any support is welcome since I have no means to express to anyone irl (other than my therapist) that I need that support. I must not give up even if any drawbacks shove me straight back in my isolated cave. I hope someday I'll be able to produce quality art again, in texts or images, and post it here, and eventually somewhere not anonymous. If I get there, I will be proud. I just don't know how to start or what to even try first, but somehow I will figure, wing it! Any advice is welcome. If you read this far, thank you very much for giving so much attention to this fragment of the story of my life, that truly is much appreciated.

Thank you, Tumblr. This is indeed an amazing website.

[a-calico-rabbit]

…apparently, disturbingly similar to þe llama. I can’t feel my blood flowing (usually, and þat’s by choice—it hurts like hell), but i have great night vision, am fairly silent in my steps when I try (odd, given i’m 6’4 and 245 lbs) and can move many muscles individually—at random. I just occasionally remember how and suddenly i’m in absolute control, and þen it goes away after like a minute.

I am almost identical to my faþer and grandfaþer (we do not speak of him (grandfaþer). Please pretend he does not exist) in þat I can visualize anyþing, to þe point þat I can imagine myself doing someþing after having done it once, feel how it works, and develop þe skill by imagining myself doing it, which is how I practice most þings. Also, we’re all ADHD, Autistic, dyslexic, dyscalculic, hypersensitive to pain, have clicky joints (i.e. all our joints catch when moving, and can dislocate at random), and are inherently smartasses wiþ a penchant for crafting. We also all have chronic occular migraines, delt wiþ horrible growing pains, and a hell of a lot of oþer shit I can’t remember (oh! Bad memory) þat makes me þink my bloodline is cursed. We also all (all family sons) have þe middle name “keith”.

I am addicted to finding random muscles þat I don’t know how to move and repeatedly trying out different visualizations until I can get myself to move one. It’s fun.

I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of minecraft and can tell you almost anyþing, as long as it doesn’t have to do wiþ numbers þat aren’t obvious powers of two.

I can see in extremely fine detail up close, to þe point þat I can distinguish þings on þe edge of microscopic scale. But I can’t see jack shit at a distance.

I am hypersensitive to light, and color blind. I see very well in low light.

I’ve been playing minecraft since I was 5, and almost noþing else.

I love fermented foods, and have yet to find one I didn’t like. Except for alcoholic beverages, of which I only like ciders and sours (bitters are ok, but need sour). And I can’t stand sweets, to þe point þat glazes and frosting make me puke if I taste þem too long. I am hyposensitive to flavor and smell, but my hypersensitivity to touch means I have a great sense of texture, so most of þe food I make is spiced to þe nines and has unique and strange textures.

I love writing, but am absolutely terrified of it. Þis does not extend to drawing landscapes, but absolutely does wiþ animals.

I can speak in a robot voice by inhaling as I talk and modulating þe trill.

I speak and write wiþ my signature weird combo of sophistication and crass ass wording because I am very, very dyslexic, and forget half of my vocabulary at any given moment, so I have to change it on þe fly to come across at all. I also stutter and halt often. I also cannot memorize text. If i try to say someþing verbatim it will come out wrong, and I will stutter a lot. I can spell mostly correctly because when I was little I was obsessed wiþ doing so, and practiced a metric fuck-ton to get it right. I also didn’t understand academic writing rules because I couldn’t (and still can’t) remember þe words þat refer to þe parts of þe stuff, so I just read myself to an elevenþ grade reading level at fourþ grade and figured out þe rules þey used to sound good. To þis day I can’t write an essay for shit, because everyþing comes out like a story.

I love cheese.

For some reason, no matter where I go, nor when, lights seem to flicker and burn out faster around me. Especially strange, given I usually keep þem off.

I have a gameboy, which I only use to play tetris.

I have a commodore 64 and SX-64 in my room—þe SX is my dad’s, but þe basic bitch is mine.

I, and my faþer, like many autists, can hear electricity running þrough shit, which is annoying as fuck.

I like oranges, and generally dislike beetles. Unless þey’re rolly-pollies. Love þose dudes.

Light makes me tired, but gives me bad sleep, and for good sleep I need absolute darkness, as a tiny bit of light will keep me up for hours. I also need enough noise to drown out my þoughts.

I love golf, but haven’t played in years—since my grandpa (þe good one) died, really.

I am sensitive to emotion, and can usually tell if someone is a good person or not based on vibe. Þis was best used when þe image of þe guy who was used as þe stereotypical discord mod/subredditer/neckbeard was going around. I just got þe impression he was nice, and was having fun being a dude in a suit in þose photos. Fuck all ya’ll þat gave him hate. Also, linus and mr. beast give similar, bad vibes.

I quadrice (at least) downed a þing of salt for a joke. I don’t know why I keep doing it. I hate it and it lingers but when I see a nearly-empty container of salt I judt get þis urge-

I like meat fermented and well done, or fresh and rare as þe day it was born. Þere is no inbetween.

I am in constant pain from my skin, joints, muscles, bones, eyes, head (have had one, long headache for þe past decade) etc.

I have an uncanny ability to find shit out about shit, and am very good at navigating caves. Þat comes from minecraft.

My hair color changes wiþ þe seasons, but is always some form of brown wiþ gold-red highlights, and silver strands (only ever one at a time þo).

Þat’s enough for now.

it's so weird to me that everyone on this website is a human person outside of their weird internet niche so rb this with a random bit of your lore

[hardworkandguts]

Cat's Eye

キャッツ♡アイ

(Anime + Manga)

Action / Crime by Tsukasa Hojo

Era: 1980s

Rating: B

Plot: The Kisugi sisters - Hitomi, Rui and Ai run the Cat's Eye coffee shop, but during the night they use that name in a different way - they are the highly professional art thieves known for warning in advance they're committing their high risk heists, to the despair of the Tokyo Police where Toshio, Hitomi's boyfriend, is a detective.

Length: 73 episodes, 135 chapters

Thoughts: Right after finishing City Hunter, I've found out it was Hojo second go at a series, Cat's Eye being the first. Loved it, made me get into Anri, who sang the intro, then it stayed relatively high on my chart. However, revisiting it after made me re-evaluate it a bit lower. I guess that's another reason I'm doing this.

So, let's start why. The capers, which range from using gadgets, and daredevil attempts to disguises and misdirections are still fun to watch, in part because they really mix it up. It reuses a bit of animation here and there and I don't feel the character design isn't fully in line with Tojo's style (particularly on the later half of the series, where it gets much better technically), and can look a bit wonky at times. The relationship at the center of the story between Hitomi and Toshio kinda makes me wonder if Hojo saw one of those drawings of Lupin and Zenigata kissing and thought "I can work with this". They had those in the late 70s, right? There's isn't much in terms in progression, but that's a theme here, you have all these heists of the sisters trying to recover their father's lost collection and get him back from hiding, but it a feels a bit.... inconsequential, maybe? Particularly when all those heists trying to get the attention of their father who's in hiding lead to nothing. We all expect these older adaptations to have a bit of a nothing ending, but if the adaptation ignored the source material completely by the second half, which finished early in the same year, then maybe it could have gotten one.

This time, however, I've also read the manga, and at the same time it makes the adaptation feel emptier, but it's fine because the missing regular and secondary characters add little and feel annoying anyway - the police is cut down to just Toshio, Chief and Asatani (who has less screentime and doesn't get the evolution she had in the manga, while Hirano, Takeuchi, Shige and Kizaki don't even get as background or one-off characters) while Kamiya is also absent. It's not exactly a *great* read given how uneven it can be, as about half-way it gives up on being a heist series and falls into more of a romcom with a lot of weird turns - lost count to the number of chapters Hitomi has a Normal One over believing Toshio is in love with one of her sisters (which is not totally out of character, she expresses doubts over her own commitment, and the whole double identity thing playing tricks on her own mind, plus one of her sisters is Rui after all and Toshio has wandering eyes for every pretty girl, but still weird), before picking up for the conclusion. Also unsurprising, the art at the start feels a generation behind of what Hojo would accomplish with City Hunter, Saeba even looks (and is) an evolution of Masato "Rat" Kamiya, even sharing the same Mokkori-man tendencies, and Kaori an older Ai, both being short haired tomboyish girls. With so many secondary characters out, particularly Kamiya, the stories in the first half of the adaptation often have the same beats and are resolved the same way, but different protagonists at each moment, while the second half is composed of completely new stories, fully suited to the existing cast. Also feels like cutting so much of the supporting cast may have harmed some of the flexibility they could have in having different stories - just from having Kamiya, for instance, could have helped with the occasional hint of a love triangle that is subverted at the end of each episode, a rivalry / partnership between him and the sisters or even as a way to Asatani to develop more as a character.

This is one of those shows I wish they gave the modern remake treatment and taking it a bit further, See, the fun of scheduling things is that days after writing this post (in Early November, and was scheduled to April) there's a new project coming up, nothing is known beyond the trailer, even of it's a CGI, or if like the new Lupin III it's returning to traditional animation, or even if it's a movie or a TV show. Anyway, we'll see when it gets there. As it is, the anime is a perfectly fine vintage heist show you can watch a couple episodes when you're in the mood for it.

Recommended to: fans of heist shows.

Plus:

The execution of the heists is always fun to see

The adaptation streamlines the cast quite a lot, mostly for the better.

Minus:

Oh yeah, this gets REALLY repetitive.

The manga is very unbalanced on the types of chapters it does

Feels like cutting Kamiya from being a recurring character was a mistake.

[camprell-art]

Oh by original I meant YOUR original approach before your redraw- The original drawing YOU did I mean- Yes, I DO prefer the original designs, but that's...Kind of a given because of the fact one seeks out fanart regarding the game looks for different interpretations of the media they're familiar with-

And fine, I'll refer to "semi realism" instead then. Apologies for this, I generally use the "anime" as a branched term to describe more anatomically proportionate designs, yet stylised, versions of non humanistic characters- I'll use the terminology correct in the future.

Have a good day and well done with your art! :)

Oooooooh I see!

Sometimes I have some favorites too, that one "recent" redraw had its charm before, I would do it how I did some years ago, but I was like "I colored them so nicely, I don't want to ruin that by making it monochromatic" anfjahf

There's also the thing that I started going farther than what the game is, I call it "my canon" for this exact reason, so there will be things that are very close to the game and others that will be straight up insanity, and designs also got more complicate with references to real fashion or outfits, like how Mimi wears only dresses and skirts, she should give this 50s or 60s vibe (I fail at this because I love to draw exxagerated and old timey clothes), Dimentio is a mix between 18th century and that other era with that things in the neck that I forgot the name, and O'Chunks is based on a samurai! This is actually canon! So I gave him accessories that would look like something a samurai would wear, like the shoulder things, but also trying to keep the gladiator theme he clearly has.

Thank you for your comprehension and compliment! I hope I didnt misunderstood what you said again, I read it so many times you have no idea. X)

And I do understand the anime thing, I used to think the same, but as a person that liked manga and anime before, I saw a difference between some styles and the usual form of drawing something with the intention of looking like Asian animation and comics, simpler noses, big, big eyes, very thin lips or no lips at all, and sadly, not much diversity of faces and body types, it's basically always meant to be appealing and that's kinda lame... But of course, every "bad" thing has its good side, I can't say that anime inspired style, being it intentional or not, is ugly and unacceptable, a lot of art makes me amazed with all the details, artistic choices, lighting, beautiful eyes, great comporal and facial expressions, and a lot more! But I also have so much hatred for the genshin design pattern for pure "uuugh, this is so made just for marketing, why are these designs so damn complicated and they still don't communicate anything??" like, there IS art there, I won't lie, but what are those outfits???? Anfjahf

Sorry for all that text, I'm so passionate about art, I just can't shut up!