#i love the little character design traits that make them unique

[eeldritchblast]

I love Astarion's eye bruises... I love Gale's grey hairs... I love Karlach's freckles... I love Lae'zel's scars... I love Shadowheart's messy makeup... I love Wyll's prosthetic eye... I love Halsin's forehead wrinkles... I love Jaheira's jowls...

[anim-ttrpgs]

my friends and i are making characters to play in a Eureka! campaign. the rulebook advises players to not corroborate to make characters—at least not on a mechanical level—as party balance isn't an issue

however, one of my friends brought up a concern: in a system without classes (which btw, i love the trait and skill system and how it essentially allows completely freestyle classes in a fully character driven manner), what makes one character stand out from another?

they brought up that in Eureka!, a monstrous PC could have all the skills of another player's mundane PC, as well as additional monster abilities and weaknesses. especially in a party with more than one monstrous/mage PC, the mundane PCs could have little that sets them apart mechanically if players don't discuss what stats or traits they're taking.

in a balanced class system, each PC stands out as they have a skillset different than the other PCs which forces them into the spotlight when their class features are necessary. obviously, mechanics are far from the only thing that makes a PC unique or otherwise stand out, and i think an interesting character arc or personality makes them just as interesting and unique

but if mechanics are half or even a quarter of what makes a PC stand out/unique from the rest if the party, how do you suggest making sure none of the players feel that they get lost in the shuffle of the party/plot?

There’s quite a few complex answers to this question but I’m gonna give it my best. I think your friends might be thinking of the “composition” of the Eureka party a bit too much like, say, an Overwatch team comp. gotta have tank, DPS, healing, etc., and they worry that if they don’t collaborate then they’ll end up with too many DPSs and not enough healers or whatever. That shouldn’t be a concern at all.

Firstly, at the time of writing this, Eureka has about 60 Traits, and PCs have 3-6 each. I find the likelihood of two characters in the same party having all the same Traits to be pretty low. Plus there’s 21 Skills set between -3 and +3, and a Tiers of Fear chart, and all that is before you even get to the Truth element, which is so freeform that I have a really hard time believing that two PCs in the party will have the same one. All of these mechanical elements of the PC make up their personality and background, and those are the things that make a character. So I think it’s overall really unlikely that two PCs are going to end up too similar.

Another thing is that Eureka isn’t really about archetypes, it’s about people. What makes two people in real life stand out from one another? “Everything” and “nothing” are both correct answers. The difference between two Eureka characters probably won’t be something you can tell just from the silhouette of all their signature tactical gear and weapons and clothing, they’re just guys. It’s much subtler, and Eureka gameplay is designed to bring up those subtle nuances of which makes two normal people unique from each other. And the fact that supernatural characters can also be normal people is very important. If a vampire ends up being “just like you or me,” well, that’s good!

As for “spotlight” and making sure players don’t feel like their PCs are lost in the shuffle, refer back to the Overwatch team comp. comparison. One of the reasons we made it a rule that you don’t collaborate on party composition is because we don’t want you to have a “balanced” party. We don’t want Eureka to be played with a video-game-y “party balance” mindset. People in real life aren’t balanced. Eureka parties aren’t expert teams of specialists assembled to complete a mission, they’re random guys who end up getting themselves into trouble. Grab 5 random people off the street, or grab 5 people you know personally, and you’ll find that they probably don’t make a very balanced party if you were to translate their real life skills and traits into a Eureka character sheet.

And this is good!

Let’s say you end up with a party where nobody has any good Interpersonal Skills(very common occurrence when we play Eureka), and that party comes to a situation that would be very easily handled with a very obvious solution if they had good Interpersonal Skills. Well, the “easy” course of action is blocked off to them. Now, they have to really get creative, or maybe just lose and die.

If this were a video game, this would just be a softlock or a game over, if your character doesn’t have The Skill, they can literally not complete this objective, but it’s a TTRPG, and that’s the strength of TTRPGs over video games.

In a TTRPG, the full range of human possibilities are available to the PCs, and a defeat/loss/death can be more interesting than just “Game Over.”

[descendant-of-truth]

If I may throw my hat into the ring here, I think the source of a lot of problems in the writing of Miraculous can be boiled down to its confusion over its target demographic.

There are two very clear audiences the show is trying to cater to:

Grade school girls around 5-10

Teens/young adults around 15-20

And this results in some. unique conflicts in the show's internal logic.

Because it's a superhero show for little kids, it's full of fun, bright colors, wacky villain-of-the-week designs, and the characters are all very straightforward with exaggerated personality traits. The cheerful, clumsy, scatterbrained girl protagonist, her utterly charming and goofy (but slightly clueless) love interest, her cool best friend, her mean bully, etc.

This extends to the romance; the show is so comedic that Marinette's nervous crush and Cat Noir's flirting are played up for laughs. Their more "problematic" behaviors read as cartoon shenanigans first and foremost, which I do think was the intention - they're both shown as being more than a little ridiculous for acting this way, so they're not exactly trying to encourage people to emulate them. They're allowed to be genuinely wholesome, too, because it's nice to give the kids something to go "aww!" at, but it's not meant to be more complicated or deep than that.

And of course, it's gotta follow a sweet and simple episodic formula! A conflict in Marinette's civilian life, an inciting incident to get a side character upset enough for Hawk Moth to turn into a villain, Ladybug and Cat Noir show up, there's fun banter, Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm to figure out a wacky solution to the problem, and boom! The day is saved, Marinette and/or someone else learns a moral, and we get a cute little end screen showing all the key players of the episode.

The one aspect of the show's setup that's a little more serious is the fact that Adrien has a super controlling and distant father, but even this is something that doesn't necessarily break the kid-friendly tone for the first season or two. Superhero shows in particular like to put in some stuff that's a little more emotionally challenging for the viewers, even when they're mostly comedic, so it's not totally out of place here.

For example, while they tend to have more grounded tones overall, Spider-Man cartoons are aimed at kids and regularly keep the conflict between Harry Osborn and his father, Norman, intact; often including the plot point of Norman being the Green Goblin, a notorious villain. It's a similar deal with Adrien, and his dad secretly being Hawk Moth.

You can easily anticipate drama coming from this, but the show primes you to expect it to work out fine in the end because every other conflict so far has been wrapped up in a nice little bow once the episode's over. Though I will say, the choice to have Hawk Moth be Gabriel instead of his own, separate character is perhaps the first sign of the tone shift to come.

And, uh. it sure is a shift.

See, Miraculous does not start out with what you'd call a... plot. It vaguely alludes to there being more going on behind the scenes, but the only thing it really tries to get you invested in is the Love Square dynamic. Marinette and Adrien dancing around each other while fighting crime IS the plot, and it's clearly going to end with a cool final confrontation with Hawk Moth.

You expect it to end like... well, like the movie. Identities are revealed, Gabriel realizes the error of his ways when he finds out he's been fighting his son this whole time, and they may or may not make up but he almost definitely gets arrested. Marinette and Adrien kiss, roll credits.

This is not what happens, because the plot the writers actually had in mind is complex in a way that I would argue is meant for the same audience as YA novels. And with that plot comes a lot of darker, weightier traits to these otherwise silly characters.

Marinette isn't just scatterbrained and nervous, she has debilitating anxiety and an increasing need to be in control of everything due to the stress she's under. She has panic attacks on-screen. She's not just great at strategizing, she also knows how to manipulate people, and does so with increasing frequency - and to Cat Noir at times, no less. Her positive traits haven't gone anywhere, she's still loving and creative and sweet and doing her best to help everyone she can, she just. has all of that other stuff going on, now.

Adrien isn't just a charming, goofy, clueless love interest with a gazillion skills and a controlling father, he's like. actively being abused, and in some cases straight-up mind controlled. His tendency to heroically sacrifice himself so that Ladybug can do her Cool Protagonist Thing is gradually but unmistakably reframed as being a sign of suicidal inclinations. He has identity issues out the wazoo and he doesn't even know he's an artificially created human yet, because everyone in his life is keeping secrets from him and/or lying to his face about crucial information.

Information like, uh. how his dad died???

Yeah, so we're at a point in the story now where there was no satisfying conclusion to the Gabriel plot, no team-up, no moment where he realizes he's been fighting his son, none of that. He still has something akin to a change of heart, but he also still kind of gets what he wants - the Miraculous of the Ladybug and Black Cat, which he uses to rewrite the universe with a wish. It's just that instead of reviving his wife, he trades his life for Natalie's. Of course, he was already dying anyway, which was his own fault but he did force Cat Noir's Cataclysm onto himself, so, that's another thing poor Adrien is going to have to deal with at some point.

And because there's all these astronomically messed up things in Adrien's life, and Marinette's the one who got to learn about all of it before him, she decides that maybe it would be better if he just. didn't know about it. Which is understandable, if I was 14 and had all this information about my boyfriend's life that he didn't, I wouldn't know how to begin telling him about it, either.

But. can you see how we've maybe lost the plot, here?

Here's the thing: starting with a simple framework and gradually getting more complex and subverting the audience's expectations for how the main villain is going to be dealt with is not a bad thing. The fact that it gets darker over time is not an issue. I actually think that all these developments are, themselves, pretty cool! I'm a sucker for angst and complex character dynamics and the show is absolutely giving me those things.

The problem is that it didn't just start with a simple framework, it started with the framework for a different demographic entirely, and perhaps just as importantly, it never actually... stopped.

For as much complexity and intensity they're injecting this story with, they're still working under the logic of it being "for young kids." We still get goofy villain-of-the-week designs with equally goofy motivations, and the supporting cast is stuck remaining two-dimensional no matter their circumstances. Chloe is the most blatant example of this - she was made to be a simple bully first, so no matter what else they do with her, she has to remain straightforwardly evil.

This, I think, is the reason that Gabriel is a more nuanced and "sympathetic" antagonist than her, and why so much care goes into Adrien's character as a victim of abuse while Chloe is just a Problem Child despite suffering similar neglect; she wasn't made to be interesting, and so the show is resistant to changing that. Gabriel and Adrien, however, were already made with nuance in mind, and so they're allowed to develop as characters. And at the same time, it's a kid's show! We need to teach the kids what kind of behavior is acceptable, and Chloe's home life isn't an excuse to treat people badly, so--!

...Oh crap we're supposed to be teaching kids about acceptable behavior. Uh. Um. Quick, bring back the ice cream akuma who cares way too much about his ships so that Cat Noir can learn about consent! Uhh, but don't change his character too much afterwards, he's only marketable because of his silly flirting, and we can't lose that.

Yeah, remember when I said that the romance having problematic elements to it used to work well enough because it was clearly just exaggerated cartooniness? It wasn't free from criticism or anything, but you could see how it was intended to be endearing and silly, right? You were supposed to point and laugh at Marinette's convoluted plans to spend time with Adrien, at Cat Noir's dramatic flirting attempts that Ladybug herself fondly rolled her eyes at.

The tonal shift into deep character exploration kinda paints the previous stuff in a worse light, and to an extent, I think the writers know that. It's hard to laugh at Cat Noir being flirty all the time when he's also supposed to be taken completely seriously, and the more Ladybug rejects him, the more it turns into harassment, and it. kinda just stops being funny, even with the comedic framing.

It's also hard to laugh at Marinette's crush being so all-consuming when they try to tell us (in what I can only assume was an attempt to get people to stop complaining) that she's like this because it's fueled by an event in her past, one that made her so scared of loving the wrong person that she now needs to know Everything about them before asking them out. Her cartoon antics aren't funny under that light, it's just concerning, but they're dedicated to keeping it up anyway.

The show runs on straightforward cartoon logic where you're not supposed to think about it too hard just as much as it runs on grounded, closer-to-real-life logic where people are messy and complicated and actions have consequences. It's so divided that you can hand-pick parts of the story that are influenced by one or the other pretty easily, and depending on the episode you can find instances of both in the same 20-minute time span. Maybe even multiple times!

Neither thing they're trying to go for is bad, and neither is a better approach than the other, but forcing them into the same show makes both sides suffer.

It's not just hard to laugh at the parts I mentioned earlier, it's hard to take Gabriel seriously as a villain whenever you rewatch an episode and remember that he has a once-per-episode pun-based speech that he says so self-seriously that you can't help but laugh at. It's hard to take him seriously when you remember that he repeatedly akumatized a Literal Baby and practically threw a tantrum every time it didn't work, or when he randomly steals (and enthusiastically performs) his nephew's musical dance number, or something similar that you would only do for a cartoon villain aimed at five-year-olds.

And I can only imagine this whole show is a marketing nightmare, too. Hey, little girls, here's your cool role model! She's cute and smart and talented and powerful and can fix anything by shouting the title of the show! Hope you're having fun watching her tell her boyfriend that his newly-deceased father (who used deepfakes of him to sell merchandise that's built to enslave the population and then locked him in a solitary confinement chamber in another country) was actually a hero who sacrificed himself to stop the main villain instead of, y'know, being the main villain! Aren't you excited to watch her wrestle with the guilt of this lie for the next season or so? Doesn't it just make you want to buy her merchandise??

Like. what is even happening right now. what am I watching. how did we get here and why did we start where we did if this was what the story was going to be about

[katapotato55]

how to make your writing be remembered forever and possibly be well loved.

(incredibly stupid and silly fanfiction line at the end of this post) I know that title is incredibly daunting but listen, its very simple. you ready?

MAKE STRONG CHARACTERS

"but kat! surely its not that simple! " nononono listen. bear with me. I want you to think of your favorite thing. Now ask: what do you remember the most about the thing you love? I will go first:

I love team fortress 2. and guess what: this game has been around since 2007, and was in development hell since before I was even born. The game has been around for 16 fucking years. And guess what? in the strong year of 2023 team fortress 2 Is STILL getting memed about. and do you want to know the crazy part? the character designs to the naked eye are not special at all. ok sure from a designer standpoint, these are very well designed characters made so that you can easily tell who they are based on their silhouette. but from the average joe.... tf2 is iconic but overall it looks ok. it doesn't seem special to a stranger to tf2. look at this completely random and arbitrary example of a game in the same genre:

I don't know shit about the characters in overwatch. Yeah i have a BASIC idea on what their personality is like based on voice lines and some videos i guess... but in-game they just exist. these characters are brightly colored, they have beautiful unique designs, hell they have even more diversity such as robots and people from other cultures! but i don't remember shit about these characters. Maybe I remember the ice lady and tracer, but nothing else. and yeah part of overwatch struggling right now is incompetant development, BUT: The characters in team fortress 2 are SO remember-able because the characters have such a vibrant personality. I am an orange box owner, its been a decade and a half and I am still remembering this game and enjoying art about it.

"but kat! that is a comedy game! Overwatch is a very serious game! are you saying comedy is needed to make a character more noticeable?" no. though I think allowing your characters to lighten up every now and then would humanize them. Not full on goofy, just give them something that makes them likeable. and if you cant do that, you can STILL make a compelling character even though they are mostly seriousness. I have an even more awfully thought out example:

kung fu panda is a masterclass in making a serious comedic movie somehow work. Master Oogway.... he isn't a comedic character at all. Yeah we made memes about him, but ignoring that, he is a wise and resourceful person. He is at calm and has faith in this intuition. there are a lot of characters like this. What makes Oogway stand out is that he is also a little bit kooky and sassy.

this youtube clip sums up what I mean. It is a funny line, it fits the character, and It doesn't ruin the seriousness of the moment. Some of the most successful series in history have something about them that has appealed to people. In my opinion: characters with strong personality and interesting traits is always a good way to ensure your writing is successful. The second most important is the characters bouncing off of each other in terms of their chemistry with each other. There is a reason why I spent years playing the first Destiny game and all of the DLC, but I remember fuck all about the characters. I think I maybe remember the bootleg star lord robot guy.

A writing exercise

here is an exercise to get you in the spirit of character making. step 1- get a random character from a random bit of media. In this case let me bring you master Oogway. Step 2- Get a completely different character from a completely unrelated series. I am going to give you Scout from team fortress 2. step 3- write a random ass thing about them interacting. Think about how the characters would react to each other and why. Think about each characters values in life and think about how they would bond and conflict with each other. Think about characters similar to the character they met in the past and how they reacted then, and if they have never interacted, make something interesting with it. Step 4- keep experimenting. Once you get into the spirit you can apply this to any new character you could want to make anyways thats it byeee- "arent you going to do that ?" do what? "make a writing thing about oogway and scout. " ........

Scout: let's go turtle you got nothing on my speed- Oogway: The one who first resorts to violence shows that he has no more arguments. Scout: that sounds like chicken talk! come on tough guy let me have it- Oogway then proceeds to make scout eat shit before vanishing in a cloud of cherry blossoms and dust from the desert. If this post isn't popular I want you to know my dignity was lost for nothing.

[comicaurora]

thoughts on Castlevania: Nocturne?

HO BOY WHAT A RIDE

ok to start off, the short list of things I wasn't a huge fan of

The dialogue was a little bit wack in places; Richter's extremely badass "there's something you've forgotten about belmonts, I'd forgotten it too" line fizzling out into "ok I was gonna do a one-liner but eh fuck it" was a pretty representative example. Kinda snapped me out of the scene when I was otherwise hella invested

Erzsebet's dumb onion haircut

this is a nitpick but solar eclipses are only visible from very small areas of the earth because the moon's shadow is much smaller than the earth so even if Erzsebet is magically holding the moon in place it'll only produce eternal night in like a third of france

castlevania let even one mom survive a season challenge 2k23

On to the good stuff!

Every character, even the nastiest antagonists, being clearly and consistently motivated by core traits that sometimes lead to them switching between opposing and helping Team Good Guy, I lost it when Olrox smoked his way into Casa Good Guy to give them a plot device in the most unnecessarily threatening way possible

Love that Richter's brand of snark is a blend of Trevor and Sypha's, he's just as sassy as Trevor but all his quips show Sypha's chipperness. Also love that he copes with the Belmont Trauma by constantly deflecting and light-heartedly downplaying The Horrors until he finally cracks

Maria's cute lil pokemon

Richter getting his magic back!! What a beautiful scene, what good animation, what powerful shots

Richter's unique fighting style! As soon as his magic comes back it's All Throwing Hands All The Time and I really appreciate how anime protagonist he is about it

ALUCARD'S RETURN

Edouard's singing being so good it keeps giving people their souls back, also one of the most gorgeous night creature designs ever put to paper

Annette's entire deal is so profoundly powerful and I love how they're using her ancestral magic to expand on the ramifications of Castlevania's "all legends are true" undercurrents

This show feels extremely focused on the specific political landscape of the historical period it takes place in unlike Castlevania's more loose historical setting

The THEMES of colonialism and vampirism being one and the same

Olrox being like "oh you want to make a new world empire of absolute conquest? heard that one before" and somehow none of the other bad guys pick up on the subtext of "and it was FUCKING BAD"

Sekhmet-Erzsebet's cape shoulder-halo thing being the Egyptian sun-on-a-boat symbol is subtle and it slaps

"who's dracula" lmao

[the-nerd-beast]

I believe Carmilla Carmine to be a fallen angel

As well as the fact that she has daughters when sinners can't reproduce there is an important detail I can't believe no one has brought up.

Look at her, I mean really look at her, what is something you might notice? Other than her stunning beauty

An amazing lack of features she has. She has no wings, no shark teeth, no monstrous/bestial features, no horns (I was surprised to learn that her buns weren't wrapped around horns), no inorganic parts like Vox or what have you and she shares this trait with her daughters Odette and Clara. The only arguably inhuman trait are her large hands, which are not exactly a very defining trait especially since they moved away from her pilot design of having claws.

Look at the denizens of Hell:

They are incredibly diverse in form, having taken on features influenced by personality, sin, time period and cause of death. Even most "basic" sinners still look like generic devils.

(I used Mrs. Mayberry from Helluva Boss because she is the best shot of a "devil" sinner but they are seen often as background characters in Hazbin Hotel as well).

Now there is an exception to this though: Velvette

Now with her, I believe that is less a lore reason and more an artistic design choice since it is apparent her outfit and hairstyle is going to be different in every appearance she has so they left out any extra features to make that easier for the animators.

She is essentially a blank canvas for the animators to play dress up doll with, but she does still lack a nose which makes her a little less human looking than Carmilla.

Now getting back to Carmilla's daughters, even if Odette and Clara also died at the same time as Carmilla which is why they are together in Hell, the chances that they wouldn't have enough variables to have any unique features of their own feels slim, did these three really have so little variation in personality and sin one of them wouldn't look a little more monstrous?

Some have pointed out the horns they have are probably fake, with Odette's being her hairband, which with Carmilla's hair buns seem to almost be an attempt to "fit in" with the sinners.

Overall as many have brought up, the Carmines have more in common with Vaggie design wise with how few unique features they have, and we all know what Vaggie's deal turned out to be.

Anyway that's my two cents and I'd love to know your thoughts if you have any.

[axenyan]

Hey!

I hope my ask won't come off as mean, I am coming here with genuine curiosity and love!!

I personally never saw the appeal in Ritsu and feel SUPER curious to see how other people (esp. ritsu enjoyers) see him! :0 What is it abt ritsu that makes him as appealing to you as he is! I have a hope that maybe reading someones enthusiasm and love for a character rambled on in text will help me find affection for the character too! :] (Happened with Leo.. tumblr made me a Leo enjoyer 😔)

- A huge kaito and zenji enjoyer

(Feel free to ignore this ask! I'm just curious <3 and again, sorry if this comes off as mean in any way ;;)

Hello!!

No no no, this didn't come off as mean! In fact, I'm super happy I received this ask🥺 I need more people to know how baby he is.

I'm not good at analysis, and English is not my first language, so this is just me rambling about why I love him. I also apologize for the grammatical mistakes I may have made >_< hopefully I can still get my points across!

Alright, let's go~!

I haven't posted the full pic of this art anywhere because it's an eternal WIP.

∘₊✧────────✧₊∘ How it all started ∘₊✧────────✧₊∘

A friend showed me Ritsu's introduction post because she thought Ritsu looked like the type I would fall for in terms of design, and she is absolutely right.

However, upon reading his quote, I was unsure if I would like his personality, so I took my friend's recommendation with a grain of salt.

∘₊✧──────────✧₊∘ Getting to know Ritsu ∘₊✧──────────✧₊∘

At the beginning of Sinostra chapter, I was still 50/50 about him because he is, ugh..... 😭 We never met him before, and yet he already had our info?! Not just ours, but everyone's?

Plus, bro keeps yapping and is also a bit forceful... That's annoying as heck. But then I remembered I have another favorite character with quite a similar personality: Sebek Zigvolt (Twisted Wonderland).

I tried to see if they had similar traits, and apparently, they did.

Apart from being in their first year of high school (baby!!!), they are resilient, pay careful attention to their appearance, talk a lot, and are keen on achieving their goals... but they're also a little obsessive about it, and the way they do their things could come off as annoying for other people.

And I was like... oh, hm. I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Then I continued reading the story and noticed several moments where Ritsu got flustered, for example, when Taiga called him out because of his handwriting.

It's one of the points where I realized he might be my next mistake... because I like characters who are difficult to handle and get flustered when being teased or when things don't go their way. 😭 Those characters make me say "I love you, you are so cute, but why are you like this??!" 😭 I feel like I can freely pinch their arm when they start being silly. 😭😭😭

After reading Sinostra chapter, I paid more attention to his campus dialogues and home lines. I had a discussion with my friend, and we concluded that he actually has good intentions, but the way he does his things is unusual. I think that's what makes him unique (albeit creepy at times 😭).

I'll take his affinity lv2 home line as an example:

“You’ve lost your notebook? Just a moment. …At 9:04 AM, it was inside the photocopier. Yes, I do have that information recorded.”

I mean, who the hell does that? I appreciate the help, but why does he know the location of our missing notebook just from his recording? Why?😭

∘₊✧──────────────────────────✧₊∘ Moments that make me go uefhuehgfu💞💞💞 ∘₊✧──────────────────────────✧₊∘

Being a little twerp aside, I like how he can be understanding(?) and open to new things.

He has a line like this. This is from the summer lines.

“You want to go and watch the fireworks? A rather childish request, but all right. So? Where would one go to view them?”

He thinks our request is childish but he agreed to go!!! Usually, a prideful character like him would just brush us off, but he didn't...

Another example is his ramen talk with Ren in episode 7. It seems he isn't used to eating food like instant ramen because he's been eating ramen at an actual ramen shop, but he is willing to try it. He even did his research before buying. 🥺

∘₊✧─────────────────✧₊∘ How I personally perceive him ∘₊✧─────────────────✧₊∘

Now that I've learned more about him, I think he is:

A good boy with a clear goal but a questionable way of executing his plan.

Adorable and round... I want to poke his cheeks.

Inspiring! I like how studious and organized he is. I even started writing more in my journal because of him.

Willing to try new things! I admire this about him!

Cute-- wait, I've mentioned that. Okay, he is silly. Please look at his action in episode 8 where he was mostly with Taiga. He did his best to keep a watch on his captain, literally doing everything he could, like using his stigma to be a doorstop 😭

In short, I find him endearing. I want to slap him at times but I still find him endearing. I don't know if it's a suitable word to describe it, but it's how I feel about him. `(*>﹏<*)′

Again, this is my very personal take on his character so I might be biased at some points, but I hope this could help you find a thing or two about Ritsu!

[thecoolerliauditore]

saw you mention gender for a bit - i wonder why grian is feminized so much? it's of course because of the feedback loop of fanon but how did it snowball so much? it would be funny if it's from him using the alex player model

I'm probably not the guy to ask for this just to be clear right off the back. I love observing fandom trends but I'm just not keeping an eye on Grian stuff more often than not. Grain (lol) of salt, blah blah blah.

So first off I think we should tackle what "feminized" means in this context because I can see that argument being made for both the default-ish generic young anime guy grian I have in my head when I think "fanon grian" and. well. arianna griande and the like (I'd argue cuteguy falls into this latter category)

I'm gonna start with the first one and use my own Grian as an example because I think he's pretty much as standard as you can go in the former category, and that's more or less on purpose. Pictured here in all of his tiny anime twink glory (next to Joel and Cleo who are also meant to be pretty short!)

So while I can't read the minds of other Grian artists, I can offer what went through my head when I designed mine and try to have a guess at how much other people thought the same.

First things first I do think this specific brand of Grian is "feminized" -- if you compare him to the CC. The goal at least for me was more to communicate youthfulness than femininity, but those traits tend to go hand in hand with male characters due to them having pretty much the same features (no facial/body hair is a big one).

Artists in this fandom tend to swing on the younger side, and people tend to base their designs unconsciously (or consciously tbh) on themselves or media they like, the latter being very likely to be media aimed at their age group and thus having a cast of characters around their age. Doesn't help that most popular animated things are made for younger audiences, so chances are most people are basing their art styles in media where the casts age range is 12-25.

For me I do think most of my designs have a little bit of added in youthfulness/femininity unless I Really want to get across age/masculinity. It's a lot easier to separate the 30 year olds from the 40 year olds if the 30 year olds look a bit closer to 20, doubly so when most of the stuff I like (and thus reference from purposefully or not) has casts full of 15 year olds. Alot of this also applies to the other younger men in my designs aside from Grian, like Joel who's next to him.

But Joel is still drawn with stubble and a bit taller than Grian, so what gives about Grian specifically?

For me personally, I draw everything with the Life Series in mind, especially Third Life in Grian's case. And the character who Grian plays off the most in that series, especially in Third Life, is Scar.

While I do think the aforementioned age factor also impacts a lot of Scar designs (as well as younger artists' tendency towards shyness when drawing muscles), I think most people see Scar's masculinity as a key trait of his. I think I'm kind of unique in that I take descriptions of their appearances ingame as somewhat canon (e.g. Scott being canonically referred to as "handsome") but Scar really lays it on thick with "Hot Guy" and the abs and so on that it's pretty much screaming for acknowledgement when you're designing him.

Grian is also short irl and this even gets mentioned by Joel in the first WL episode, so it made enough sense to me that should be something exaggerated with Desert Duo's designs to make them look better next to eachother.

This is also maybe getting a bit into headcanon territory but when I think Grian I don't necessarily think predator or brute force, I think of him setting his traps and giggling maniacally and manipulating what he wants out of people with his words instead of his sword. And him just being like. a little gremlin thing compared to his Big Strong Man partner in crime whilst also, actually being arguably the more dangerous of the two feels harmonious.

If we do a layer deeper into headcanon land, I've also always seen him as more frail and physically weak due to Martyn's concern for his safety and his own more anxious nature in 3L as one of the first players to really consider having to defend himself -- if you're dropped into a death game arena and you're the smallest one there, you would naturally be a lot more nervous than the big guys and come off as more "insane" for wanting to set up seemingly unnecessary defenses or striking first. (<-- this is why I don't talk about Grian much btw all of my thoughts regarding him are seeped in headcanons lol)

Alot of Grian artists are also Desert Duo artists and while they might not be operating by the same logic I am I have to assume there's some common points.

I've seen this meme used a lot when people make fun of other peoples DD art and it's almost always people with very little self-awareness. it's funny to me (and this probably could be its own discussion about queer tropes and xenophobia, but whatever haha funny it's literally them so true so true.)

One final note on this is I think this specific brand of twink Grian might be dipping in popularity? I've been seeing a lot more Grians that are chunkier or entirely throw out his anime-main-character-ness by making his glasses or curly hair heavily exaggerated. Which is cool I especially loveeee the more cartoony puff ball grians that have gotten more popular. Idk if it's necessarily in response to the anti-twink-propaganda or if it's just a new stage in Grian design development as we get further away from the Third Life Desert Duo meta, but it's fun and I think speaks the feminizing not really being an intentional trait and more of a consequence of other things.

As for CuteGuy/Griande I can't really offer as much insight since I don't really get the appeal either lol except that I think it's fun in the way drag is fun.

I think what a lot of people need to remember when they ask for more masculine designs is that masculinity irl is often synonymous with less customization. Alot of it is practical (like short hair obviously you can't style like long hair) and especially outside of queer circles a lot of it is just gender roles -- alot of men will refuse to wear literally plain mens t shirts if it's an eye-catching colour.

There's a great Derek Guy interview where he talks about how men tend to misunderstand what "fashion" is and how most cishet men actually care deeply about fashion. He makes the example of offering two pairs of jeans -- one is a regular pair of blue jeans that costs fifty dollars and another is free of charge but happens to be pink, and how most men despite "not caring about fashion" will go for the fifty dollar blue jeans.

If you want an example of mens fashion and its "boring" aesthetics made more to fit into a crowd than to stand out, just go on instagram and look at pictures of the Empires CCs together and watch the guys get absolutely mogged. This isn't me calling the men badly dressed (in fact I've actually noticed before that CC Joel is like. super well put together) but more of a statement on how womens clothing is designed vs how mens clothing is designed.

I know where my eyes go first, at least. (self indulgent note: Pearl is kind of an exception to the rule for reasons but I cannot say lest I betray my own moral code. however my eyes go to her first anyway because she is stunningly beautiful she could wear a potato sack and it'd work)

And while I don't agree with this sentiment (I actually loveee menswear deeply it's. a thing), in the world of fandom artists who typically are big fans of the gay gay homosexual gay and more into high-decorative, sexier stuff, clawing at any ounce of femininity that these men exhibit is probably an opportunity hard to pass on. This also happens with Jimmy on occasion I think, with stuff like the maid dress. And Ariana Griande is like Drag Drag, not just a dress but a whole persona, so that in combination with feeding into yaoi tropes for popular ships like Scarian and Grumbo, I'm not surprised there's such a gap between actual screentime and fanmade content.

Also is Griande even like. That popular anymore? I also don't think I've seen CuteGuy all that much unless it's DDVAU stuff specifically.

I'd be interested to hear my artist friends comment on this too since again I feel like I'm not the right person to ask lol. Take this as an invitation to yap I would be fascinated hearing your perspectives.

I also think his popularity and younger audience might be playing a big part in this especially in conjunction with the first point about drawing characters younger-looking but this is getting fairly rambly already lol

Go follow the menswear guy (@/dieworkwear) on twitter if you're interested in menswear btw he's very insightful and funny

[novlr]

could you maybe do something on characters becoming serial killers? I’m was originally going to have some sort of characters going insane thing, but I think that the whole “insane people killing” is a little stupid and borderline dangerous (saying that insane people kill all the time) so could you give me some pointers?

How to Write a Serial Killer: A Quick Guide for Writers

Crafting a convincing serial killer requires a lot of research, imagination, and an understanding of the genre. Let’s dive into some quick tips to help you create a serial killer who is gripping, unique, and emotionally complex.

Develop their backstory

The key to crafting a convincing serial killer is in understanding their past to shape their present. Explore their backstory in detail — were they subjected to abuse or neglect? Did they endure a life-altering traumatic event that set them on this dark path? Developing a compelling backstory is essential, not only to justify their actions but also to cultivate a degree of empathy, allowing readers to connect with the character on a deeper level.

Give them unique motivations

Serial killers act based on what drives them; they commit their crimes for a reason. This reason could be a need for control, a hunger for power, or a wish to spread chaos. By connecting their reason for doing things with their unique personality traits and backstory, you can create a well-rounded and consistent character.

Include misdirection and plot twists

To maintain suspense, make use of narrative devices like red herrings designed to divert your reader's attention. The clever use of these diversions can delay the unmasking of the killer, increasing tension and anticipation. Additionally, unexpected plot twists that abruptly shift your story's trajectory can not only alter your reader's perception but can also reconfigure their theories keeping readers on their toes.

Draw parallels with your protagonist

Creating a unique perspective by establishing similarities between your serial killer and your protagonist can add multifaceted layers to your story. This might involve drawing connections in their backgrounds, aligning their motivations, or uncovering shared personal struggles. These parallels not only make the plot more engaging but also heighten the intensity of the conflict between the two characters.

Use foreshadowing

Foreshadowing serves as a powerful tool in constructing suspense and subtly hinting at future events in your story — carefully place clues that can suggest the identity of the killer or indicate their next victim. But remember to maintain an air of mystery by not unveiling too much prematurely. The goal is to keep readers engrossed, continually making and remaking their guesses about the unfolding plot.

Include an emotional subplot

Adding an emotional subplot in your narrative significantly enhances the relatability of your serial killer. This could range from them harbouring deep-seated love for someone, to grappling with a fear that surpasses the dread of getting caught. These contrasting aspects of their otherwise sinister nature serve to give the characters greater depth and dimension, thus enriching their complexity.

Did you know we have a Spotify account with lots of great playlists for writers? Here's one to inspire your next serial killer novel!

[djsherriff]

I’m making a Laserhawk swap au called “Captain Shauni: A Domz Blood remix”, with Jade and Dolph being the first two designs I’ve finished. I don’t have any plans besides doing the cast’s designs , maybe redo the original Laserhawk poster with them. I do however have ideas for this au and how everyone’s roles play out (Elements are subject to change depending on what happens in season two)

In this au Eden is set on Dimension X with The Board of Directors replaced with the The Council of Teensies, this au is not set on the Glade of Dreams however as this is still a sci fi focused setting. Unlike in canon hybrids are not lab made, instead being native aliens of Dimension X along side Rayman characters (and go by different names, maybe their species name based on beyond good and evil game lore?)

In this au Earth was destroyed by unknown forces (idk what yet) and humans had to take refuge in Dimension X. The social system of Eden is swapped in this au , making it so humans are seen as below hybrids/aliens who are average citizens , but Eden is still a dystopian society which naturally comes with lots of issues

While some older humans such as Pagan and Sam (who swap with Rayman and Marcus respectively) were alive during Earth’s destruction and remember life on humanity’s former planet, a majority of the human population weren’t even born when it happened, such as the two pictured above

Dolph Laserhawk takes Jade’s place in this au as the enthusiastic , young and athletic boy toy friend of Alex Taylor. While people give judgemental stares at their way due to their age gap, Dolph pays no mind as he both adores and idolises Alex. Being an abandoned orphan on the street Dolph didn’t really have anyone on and after Alex fixed him up with some prosthetics , Dolph couldn’t imagine being happy without Alex. (Just don’t tell him Alex’s dirty little secret). Being practically raised on the streets of Eden, Dolph is incredibly skilled with parkour, a deadly match with his laser pistols

Captain Jade Shauni is swapping with Dolph. Daughter of the famous pirate Captain Dakini, Jade was taken from her mother by Eden after Dakini was arrested for her piracy. Upon inspection it was found that Jade had unique biological traits, making her a suitable host for experiments with Domz DNA. Her Uncle Pey’J would later rescue her from a life of being Eden’s lab rat and the pair would go on to rebel against Eden’s cruel system , Jade even adapting the Captain title in honour her mother

Jade’s preferred weapon is a Bo staff , being more skilled in hand to hand combat than with long distant weapons. Jade also carries a camera with her , recording both Eden’s injustice during her rebellion stunts and as a way to remind herself of her own personhood that Eden desperately tried to strip from her

Being one of the few people who knew her mother, Jade was incredibly trusting of Pey’J and ignored many of his more unsavoury traits. Jade’s trust in Pey’J however would shatter during one mission where Pey’J would confess to being in love with her and urged her to marry him. Naturally disgusted in the proposal, Jade refused the offer even after Pey’J attempted to reason that marrying him would give a Jade more rights in Eden society. The next thing Jade knew, she woke up in a cell, with a creepy little frog telling her he put a bomb in her head

[tiasha-sims]

🌳 Creating a Family Tree | TheSimsTree

Keep your family history and precious moments!

ㅤ

If you're a dynasty lover who cares about your sims, you’ve probably been looking for a way to recreate your family tree in digital form.

Today, I am with the team want to share a young project called TheSimsTree, which has been a real lifesaver. We genuinely recommend it based on our own experience 💫 ㅤ

ㅤ

🌿 TheSimsTree.com

This site will become your go-to helper for creating and managing your family tree. It makes it easy to save and visualize the stories of your Sims, share them with other players, and enjoy a ton of unique features and customizations that will make storytelling even more fun.

💌 And if you’ve used PlumTreeApp before, you can import your family tree with just a couple of clicks, so you won’t lose any precious progress.

We’ve shared with links to our family trees ⇣

🐇 Tosy | The story of a little green one sim

🐾 Slooo | A dynasty by chance

🥐 Cladkaya_bulka | The Lauder dynasty

━━✶━━

The main features of the site are available for free, which is great and doesn't feel awkward like when payment is forced on you.

If you genuinely want to support the project and enjoy some premium perks, you can sign up for a subscription. The team has offered a really sweet bonus for our subscribers as a token of appreciation :3

⭐️ The promo code TIASHA gives you a discount of 4$ on an annual subscription!

━━✶━━

Site features:

✍🏻 Creation and management ° A multifunctional family tree that lets you go both up and down. No limits on characters, pets, or generations. ° Displays relationships, allows you to highlight the heir’s line, and even add your partner's family for a complete picture. ° Personality traits can be entered manually, allowing for custom traits. There are also icons for occult affiliations. ° The parent function highlights only the specified parents on the card if the child has different parents. Biological parents won’t be shown in cases of adoption. ° You can keep a personal diary for your sim, adding photos, stories, and details. Uploaded avatars are saved, which helps track the character’s development throughout their life. ° Markers show the completeness of the diary and the avatars of each sim.

🎨 Customization ° A creative space for crafting and designing a unique vibe. ° Lovely wallpapers for every taste, including custom ones from your favorite simmers. ° Dark mode for the interface, along with photo and text editors. ° Options for fonts, colors, tables, lines, highlights, and other elements. ° You can share your social media links in the author’s profile and add a video widget for YouTubers.

💭 Community ° Several privacy settings and the option to share your family tree. ° A public gallery where you can read others' stories and find your audience. ° The ability to like and comment on diaries. ° A blog with articles where you can publish and share your own stories.

━━✶━━

It's clear that the team puts a lot of heart into their work and listens to player feedback, constantly making improvements. It's a wonderful and responsive project that truly deserves support! 💚

[p0uncivall]

Moominvalley season 4 spoilers!!!

Okay ignoring what was pretty much queerbaiting and the weird lack of Snufkin

I literally couldn’t be happier about Joxter as a character. I’m so bummed about him and Snufkin not meeting, especially when they were teasing that the whole episode, but I loved everything else about him for every moment he was on screen.

I love that he wasn’t just sleepy Snufkin. He had this proper stoner thing going on which genuinely feels like appealing to the amount of weed jokes the fandom makes lmao. This dude is the guy supplying the hattifattiners what they need for their dubstep con raves.

His design has so many cool unique elements, with the darker nose and his more cat shaped eyes. And I love the new details like the patches on his coat.

And the songs he sang? Oh my god. The fact he wrote a song about mymble. Made me think of that one animatic with the song I love you too much.

I like that little my wasn’t made to have a moment where she forgave her mother or everything was sorted out, she’s never made to think that how her mother treats her isn’t unfair.

I said I was going to ignore the queerbaiting but I find it very funny that the first closest thing to an explicit gay relationship in modern moomin was Sniff and Stinky and Mrs Fillyjonk and Mymble. As much as I like Snufmin I never actually thought they’d make it canon as much as it would be nice, I just hoped we’d get more resolution with how Snufkin and Moomin’s relationship was progressing, even just as friends.

It felt like they still very much had the issue of Moomin being too clingy and not understanding Snufkin’s boundaries, and Snufkin trying to push Moomintroll away in response. They just kinda left it there with that. It’s like they feel they got enough Moomin and Snufkin last season so now it’s time to ignore them.

I very much liked how much Snork was included and that they continued to show his neurodivergent traits without it becoming his whole character.

This is a very out of order rant because I’m tired but going back to Joxter and Snufkin not meeting, and Little My basically figuring it out. It’s at least nice to know they’re not just completely ignoring the family thing, and that all of them just had no idea. And I imagine their plan is to keep things like that for future series. The thing about Moominvalley is that one of the things drawing viewers back is the inclusion of references and the returns of old characters. And the Moomin franchise is so huge that they’re sure to make another show that they can save those moments and characters for.

I guess my take away is it’s not all it could have been, but that very well could be on purpose, and I’m not afraid that we’ll never have a chance to see these things again.

Implied aromantic Mrs fillyjonk was also wonderful

[femminger]

Art practice by trying some other artist's styles that I'm a huge fan of!

From Top Left to Bottom Right:

@ghostishere0 - the original reason I started this doodle, as I wanted to draw a "shepherd lovers squad" and their OC (who I don't know the name of F) was the perfect fit for it.

@luminesparkz - the best interpretation of Pom pikmin. If I were Mr. Nitendo, I would make them the official comic creator along with the manga comics.

@marblyso - If I was a little more unhinged and made a shrine to Erma Shepherd, it would be mostly marblyso's art of her, it's my absolute favorite Erma depiction <3

@rexscanonwife - another OC that I don't know the name of, but she makes such a cute pair with Shepherd and has such cute art that why not, let Shepherd have multiple canon wives at this point.

@citruscrisp - I think this is secretly Alph in an alternate universe where he makes comics about himself, because citrus has Alph's character SPOT ON, and also loves to put that boy in a situation (which I am happy for, I enjoy seeing that boy in a situation)

@daisythecomic - oooaaaaaaaaaa they look like little mice people they look so soft and sweet I love them so muuuuuuuuuccchhhhhhhhh

@louie-posting - I can't not include actual Louie Pikmin on this list.

@kiwilittle - the soft, the sweet, the one who makes the best family style art, really making me wish I was an inch tall so I could go to holidays with the olimar family, also their wife design is so cute that if Olimar didn't already get it I would shoot my shot for her m a a m

@pikbugz - really nails the soft aesthetic that makes pikmin such a calming series, and their coloring style is so soft and good that it gives me the ratatouille nostalgia flashback moment.

@splitster - more than just the wraith au guy, they are the one who makes incredible and funny comics; I've seen so many fics with the rescue corps where I can pick up that yes, this trait came from a splitster comic, and that's a GOOD thing. Made me actually LIKE Dingo, the nerve.

@diesaur - I can't do diesaur's incredible, unique art justice, they are amazing at using geometrics and have the best charlie (his little teefs...)

@solluxander - Cars, one of my favorite pikmin Ocs I've ever seen! Collin deserves a slightly unhinged sentient fluffball boyfriend, and I always love seeing the new ways Cars will interact with him.

@sillypikmin - all hail the best pikposter, who I'm still convinced is an actual leafling living on actual pnf-404, literally every time I have a bad day I look at drawings of Moss and feel better.

@eggpathy - thank goodness they came back to give us old man yaoi. I keep their drawing of olimar kissing the pikmin good night on my phone and look at it before I go to sleep and so far I have yet to have a single nightmare.

@the-knife-consumer - the only person I trust with Louittany, toxic yuri my beloved, I just adore their beasty brittany design so so much, I wish I could have a small brittany to live in my house...

anyway they have the best headcanons for our beloved blorbo hamster people

@natibranch - there's a voice line of Louie going "wa-ha!" in this really cute sing-song voice and every time I see any art by natibranch I hear that sound in my head as a little burst of serotonin, they just nail that exact feeling so so well.

@pikked-min - Another of my favorite Pikmin OCs, Yuva! A really interesting and unique character concept with a lot of thought put into the worldbuilding, followed by a strong unusual personality that had me looking at the pikmin world through a new perspective entirely. Please, someone, give them some sunglasses. Read the fic it's so good

@ssserf - artistic and deep while still somehow looking like official nintendo tm art, genuinely the best at the pikmin proportions, how could I resist trying my hand at the classic amazing beautiful Brittany Fruit Sweater moment, literally SO iconic

@kashi-pon - while I was working on the part of this that was just kashi's various highlife dresses there was a part of me that wanted to dedicate the rest of the space to paying homage to the joke comic of Louie lifting his skirt to show Olimar that he's wearing shorts, except this dress....well......

@diamondwerewolf - the reason we got louie in a little bunny outfit anyway, and thus why we got kashi's dress version. you single-handedly turned Louie into a tumblr sexyman, how could you

[jacarandaaaas]

opening random encanto yt videos’ comments section is like staring at the waking storm you’re about to plunge into and knowing it’s not gonna be pretty and you’re probably not getting out of it unscathed (aka calm/happy fine—also sorry pepa oof—)

god the amount of misinterpretations people have with the movie, with so many scenes is insane, i’m about to go even more insane myself than usual

it’s so frustrating and i want to throw my phone every time AAAAAAA

but anyway yes, i wrote this ask in the first place to ask about your thoughts on different details and plot points and just general stuff of the movie that you noticed and really love, with any/all of this helping you appreciate the movie more? just anything, really, your choice on whatever you wanna ramble :3 (also to make up for how my last question had stopped you from rambling AHAHAH)

because i know you have so many good ideas and thoughts, so i’d love to hear it hehe :>

hope i made sense with the question, just a bit sleep deprived rn haha, but yes, ty!! <33

I totally relate to this feeling😭 except instead of YouTube comments it’s like almost every platform💀 and thank you for the ask!!

I could rant forever about all the details in this movie honestly!!!

The foreshadowing is SO good in this movie!! waiting on a miracle and the family madrigal being obvious ones but did you guys know the order mirabel sees the doors flicker when she sees the cracks is the order they lose their powers in? Isa + Luisa first because that’s who’s powers act up first dolores + camilo + antonio at the dinner scene and alma last because she was the last one willing to admit the problems!!

I love the character design!! I’ve rambled about it many times but it’s just !!!

I love how despite mirabel being our protagonist they show when she’s wrong and other characters call her out! She’s not a perfect protagonist she’s a flawed teenage girl and that just makes her more endearing

I love that they didn’t make Mariano a mean character just because isabela didn’t want to marry him. The problem isn’t Mariano it’s isabela feeling trapped!! Mariano is also shown to be considerate!

I love that most of the focus is on the female characters (if only the fandom would do that) I love seeing a multigenerational cast of women all flashed out with their own unique traits

about the misinterpretations i completely agree. I feel like this fandom has a “fanon” problem. especially with the most developed characters! surprisingly the ones with the most screen are the most common mischaracterised. I really dislike how encanto as a movie went to such an effort to give every character such a variety of traits and nuance only for the fandom to continuously reduce them down to one singular trait. It almost feels like reinforcing those stereotypes the movie was so set on breaking. As well as this continuously ignoring some of the best canon traits each character has. They feel so far from the original you might as well consider them ocs at that point.

I love the animation on Bruno’s vision shards (they look edible), I love the little details in mirabels room like her outfit sketches being hung up on the walls! THE BUTTERFLIES!! this movie has so many hidden butterflies it’s so fun to spot them!!

the soundtrack obviously but also the score!! only recently discovered that “the house knows” is a reprise of “the cracks emerge” it blew my mind!!!

One thing I really love about encanto is the expressions! they can convey so much with so little and the little subtleties it adds to each character is just incredible to me!!

SKIRT ANIMATION. it’s like hypnotizing to see how the skirts flow in this movie I am glued to the screen every time.

the dos oruguitas scene is gorgeous and so incredibly important to the core message of this story! As well as this scene the fall of casita is another incredible one!!

the songs feel like full blown fantasy musical numbers and I don’t know why people consider that a criticism of the movie is about MAGIC I want to feel that magic in the visuals of the song. So each musical number was like the most incredible experience!!

I love how waiting on a miracle starts off as a reprise of the family madrigal before changing to 3/4 time to show how mirabels out of place

the line “how far do these roots go down” hits so hard and I cant explain why

Felix and pepas love is so real and pure

julieta and agustín are incredible parents

dolores entire design

the fact luisa wasn’t reduced to a stereotype and was allowed to be flawed

mirabels voice!! it’s so unique and recognizable like I love it sm

the way felix sings “no clouds allowed in the skyyy”

I love that the characters actually look their age!

almas room being a replica of her old home showing how metaphorically and physically she’s stuck in the past

“I was thinking of my daughter!!”

I love that with isas transformation it’s not her hating femininity but changing what her femininity means to her

I love how mirabels worst enemy is her own mind. the madrigals aren’t aware of how she feels because she never opens up and it’s just slowly eating her up inside. in the end mirabel needed to acknowledge herself in order to grow (I say acknowledge because I refuse to believe it’s acceptance and I think she would still struggle with her self perception post movie)

I love how the Madrigals use their gifts to help their community and not for self gain. It’s such an interesting twist on the classic superpowers story

I love that the Madrigals are just normal people who randomly got a miracle, nothing of status just normal people in a normal town who got gifted.

the way pepa kisses antonio and hugs him after he gets his gift !!!

the way isabela is the one to initiate the hug but mirabel is the one who snuggles into it

julietas smile

the entire animation is so gorgeous!!

antonio. just antonio if u hate antonio I hate u

I love how realistically written alma is and how her story is treated with respect and nuance.

how all the madrigals problems aren’t solved instantly but it’s shown in a montage that happens over large period of time

[threepandas]

ANOTHER~: YANDERE!AFO

(But first! Art link! I found the edited version. The ORIGINAL is better VVV)

OKAY, SO...

As I mentioned on my LAST Yandere!Afo? The person Afo most wants to fuck? Is HIMSELF. But NOT as his own equal. God, No. He'd kill that treacherous, no doubt attempting to usurp him, snake in the grass IMMEDIATELY. He's an awful and untrustworthy WRETCH. He would know.

No, no, the man AfO MOST wants to fuck?

Is a slightly to moderately YOUNGER version of himself.

Someone WEAKER. Someone he can OVERPOWER. Watch as they struggle helplessly in his grip. He wants a GAME. To watch them LOSE. See the realization in their eyes, that they've been outmatched all along. Played. That their stubborn pride means NOTHING before him.

He loves himself. Is OBSESSED with himself. But at the same time? Wants to break that other self down and make him? Helpless, pathetic, and dirty.

Submit to him.

Refuse him.

Show him your RAGE.

And? We can argue all day, about whether he is heterosexual, homosexuality, bi or pansexual. A raging narcissist (he is). If he's Ace as FUCK. But? For the purpose of THIS post and prompt? I am commenting upon his boner for himself. His Selfcest aspect. So we're all going to go with it.

He? Wants to Fuck This Man:

This one right here. Biiiiiit older of course, as this is baby faced Teen AfO. But? Twink AfO. Early-mid-late Twenties lookin, "I think I'm an adult but am wildly unprepared to handle the manipulations of a Seasoned Adult" baby faced, arrogant lil shit. Proud and sneering. Disdainful.

THATS the one he wants to slam full force, with super strength, not just down ONTO a flat surface, but THROUGH and right into the ground until it CRATERS. Hold him down by the NECK and choke him slowly as he takes his time. Make him watch as he destroys his precious little suit, his put together appearance, do as he pleases.

See the FURY in his eyes. The hatred. The kindling, obsessive, need for REVENGE.

You have NO idea how many times he's gotten off on that fantasy. Idly kept an eye out for Time and Reality Hopping Quirks. There is, after all, only so much relief quirks and his own touch can provide, in the end. He IS but a man. Even he gets... frustrated.

But? As they say? Every human on earth supposedly has 7 doppelgangers. Especially when you don't FUCKIN DIE. It was bound to happen EVENTUALLY. The right combination of genetics and Quirks. Lightning striking once again.

Perhaps they are distantly related through his mother's unknown family. Perhaps his father's. Impossible to tell. The traits were obviously VERY recessive. But? White hair, familiar eyes. A... "copy" quirk.

The young man is LYING.

Unlike himself, the younger man requires all five fingers touching. A variation of his own. Dressed sharply, he is a vicious lawyer. One with a preference for the poor, discriminated, underclasses. Those with DANGEROUS Quirks. Useful ones.

He greets everyone with a firm, American style, handshake.

AfO is ENTRACED. How many HUNDREDS must he have by now? A net, thrown to collect indiscriminately, until something useful appears? Does he piece them together? The weaker quirks? CAN he? Like AfO? Can only take or can he give as well? But, ah, why SHOULD he?

A little demon prince, pretending to be the benevolent hero. The white knight on shining steed. Here to save the day. How GREATFUL they all are! Afo laughs and laughs. Oh, how it takes him back.

And? They never see him coming. How could they? He is a ghost of a shadow, hidden in the dark. They think they are unique! Their own special brand of predator. Unaware there is something bigger, meaner, hunting THEM.

I imagine AfO has ALOT of fun.

But! That's for part two!

[miifu666]

Hi I’ve been replaying black myth wukong and rewatching the monkie kid show (as well as watched the other monkey king films XD)

I was wondering do you have any tips on making a oc ? (If not no worries hope your doing ok 💗)

Hii ♡♡♡

Omggg ive been binging Wukong films too 😭😭 unfortunately i lost all motivation for LMK cuz of college ARGHH ILL TRY TO GATHER MORE MOTOVATION FOR IT THOUGHT AAARGSHGS

Also i definitely can share how i make my ocs!! but im not a professional so gather as much info from others as u can too!!♡

Read as much information as you can around the main story that you want! Knowledge is power ofc, and try to make your oc relevant to it if you want! Irrelevant is also okay, theres AUs for that

Create your oc based on a few characters, aka make a moodboard about them!! Gather little ideas you have and write them down, doodle them, etc. Personally i like to create Pinterest boards and spotify playlist!

Making a shuffle/rough compilation of images to create how you want your ocs to look like also helps! Incase you cant draw!

Use the characters they're based on as a guideline on making your oc's personality! This applies if you've designed how they're going to be but have a hard time fleshing them out.

When drawing the oc, especially historic ones. Make sure to do research on the clothings, garments, cultural tradition, etc. This would help a lot in inspirative way and insightful way! Or if the main plot has a certain artstyle that simplifies every character, be sure to apply that to your oc!

Doodle your oc a lot, preferably their interactions with their s/o or the canon characters

If you're unsure with their design, you can do a "pattern" design or "silhouette" check!

Pattern - the oc has a certain pattern or motifs thats repeated in their design, like suklha having more sharp lines in her design or characters that has inward motifs tend to be introverted.

Silhouette - make sure to doodle your oc in a silhouette. Like a splash art for your oc, to see if they're distinguishable compared to others!

Make sure your oc isn't "perfect" a flawed one is more realistic and fun to do crackheaded memes on 🫣 also might be a good time to use your own habits and telepathically give it to ur ocs its fun i swear-

Lastly, dont be afraid to show others your ideas! There are people who would love to hear about their plots, ideas and personality! I was hesitant to share about suklha at first, but seeing people liking her made me happy!! Let us see the beautiful works that you've fermented in your mind 🥺💕

Also this is just MY preference, but i tend to like characters that have unique traits! Like color palettes, Attributes, habits, physical traits. I've created a few ocs that has questionable personality, but they're so fun! 😭 just be sure not to stray too far so others can imagine how they're like

I think thats all that i havee!! I hope i explained it properly! Thank you for askingg 🥺🥺💕💕 have a nice dayy anonn xoxoox