#i still have to finalize character designs but. i really want to start it 🥺

[kokoasci]

im going to try to start my oneshot this summer would anyone read it 👉👈

it’s pretty much a victorian style steampunk isekai think like the hollow knight aesthetic meets genshin character designs

[judgedarts]

after 1 billion years.. my shop has finally been updated!!

⭐shop link⭐

i'm most excited to debut my ygo plush coin pouches and liquid shaker charms! the coin pouches have been in development for quite a while and i wanted them to be 1000% ready before showing off any photos 🥺 thank you so much for your guys' patience, and i really hope everything is to your liking!! <33 you can read further below for some thoughts for future products:

thanks for clicking! this year has been really challenging trying to balance cons and finding a routine, and also trying to update my store so i really appreciate you guys for sticking around and being so patient regardless :,) and speaking of the plushies, they genuinely did take 1 year from initial sketches to final product development @_@ this was my first time attempting plush, and i unfortunately chose to do incredibly complicated designs haha.. the amount of back and forth i did with multiple suppliers, trying to fix minute details, all the late nights and frustration was still worth it, because i think they came out really phenomenally 😭❤️ill also be attempting to create samples for a joey, kaiba, jaden, and yusei coin pouch. im honestly a little scared of the yusei design i came up with, but i have a vision that i want to achieve despite the challenges i see up ahead 🫡 ive also been meaning to expand my ygo crossbody bag line this year, but the plushies genuinely took up so much of my time that i couldn't allocate more time/energy into starting them. i already know what i want the GX and 5DS bags to look like, so please stay tuned! im aiming to have preorders for them ready by early 2025. i want to rep a jack atlas bag SO bad i will frow up!!!! i also wanted to try out these liquid shaker charms! ive always wanted to make something like this so im really thrilled with how they came out - im planning on adding more characters to this lineup since they're i can draw the little chibis pretty fast! for non ygo fanmerch - i would love to phase out some jojos items and make merch for some nostalgic video game/anime i enjoyed growing up!! as for comics... please also stay tuned! im really looking forward to prioritizing some sequential art going into 2025. i hope yall will also look forward to my shortbox comic T_T<3! thank you if you read all of this, it really means a lot!

[coffincestuous]

december devlog!!!

the devlog can be found here!!

look at themmm!!! cutie pies!! this has instantly made its way to be one of my favorite pictures of them!! 🥺

the background here is so so pretty!! if it weren’t for the red leaves on the ground and the broken path, i would’ve thought they were in the real world!! idk, maybe they are… maybe it’s like minecraft? lol. i believe this is the tower we saw in the previous devlogs/progress reports, maybe the one with the unreachable stairs, but definitely the one with the handsome fellow:

no andrew to be seen in these pictures, but he’s around somehwere. doing… stuff?

next, nemlei describes the process of creating tcoaal!! copied and pasted:

For a few years before The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, I had been dabbling in making visual novels as a hobby by entering visual novel jams. These were month long jams with no specific goals other than to create a visual novel from start to finish. I entered maybe once a year for... uhhh?? four years? I don't remember, and you don't care. My point here is that it was enough so that I noticed a pattern...

If a jam allowed additional gameplay in the visual novel, the entries utilizing it were often among the most played ones. "Huh." thought little ol' me, and schemed a wicked scheme. The next jam that came around (and I had time to enter) was Nanoreno, and time had come to test my hypothesis.

I only had a month, so I knew from the start the story had to be a "bottle episode", as in the whole story must be contained within one location to save time, and limit how much art I needed to make.

So who were the characters, why were they there, and why wouldn't they switch locations? The easiest answer was the classic "they're locked in and must escape" which is a story everyone and their dog has written at some point. Whatever, it's just a game jam I thought, and carried on.

Then came the characters, at first Ashley was going to be a silent protagonist named Player (yeah, you read that right). I wanted to toy with the idea that players tend to do the most unhinged things when allowed. So there'd be the Player, and one support character whose sole purpose was to spout exposition, and react to the player doing player things. Oh, the humor that would ensue.

There is one small remnant of this idea still in the game. It's at the very beginning when the player wakes Andrew up. He explains something, and "Player" responds with an emoji bubble thing, and Andrew then says "Quit your complaining!" despite the fact that Ashley hadn't really complained out loud. Now, imagine if the entire game was like this........... It would've sucked so bad. I dropped the concept pretty much right away.

This original concept is also why the narrator addresses "you" (the Player), instead of being in pure third person or first person point of view. I did enjoy this game master type format though, so even after making Ashley an actual character, I kept it.

Since Ashley was now a character, she needed to have a story. Cue the whole childhood incident (again, generic, but whatever it's a game jam). This also elevated Andrew to a character status, rather than a mere exposition spouter. Great! Now I knew who they were, and had a story to tell other than "unhinged room escape". (Which is a game I'd still want to play, as long as it isn't made by me.)

This is the first ever sketch I made of the two. Almost final design straight out the bag lol.

This was me still figuring out the UI. I don't remember what was the idea behind having the names off to the side, but thankfully I decided against it.

I drafted rather lengthy character sheets for the duo, as the more I wrote, the more they revealed themselves to be curious little jerks, with a lot going on between them. The story formed almost on its own after that. I knew I couldn't go too in-depth though, as the game jam imposed a hard time limit. So I shelved most of it thinking "well maybe I'll tell this story later on my own time", and left a sequel bait at the end of the story, to give myself an opening to get back to it "one day" that I assumed would never come. And also to give myself time to see if there really even was an interesting story to tell, or if this was one of those "really cool idea!!!"s that emerge out of the blue, but rot away as soon as you sit down to write them. If you're a fellow storyteller, you know what I'm talking about.

Leaving an "in" to continue later is something I've done plenty before. I might very well get back to my other game jam novels one day, which is part of the reason I took them down. For now though, there is no room for such endeavors, as The Coffin of Andy and Leyley must be completed, and will remain the sole priority until then.

Back to my "visual novels with gameplay perform better than pure visual novels" -hypothesis! I entered the game jam with my corny-ass bottle episode organ harvesting edgelord romp, and lo' and behold!!

It did gain more attraction than my other (gameplay-less) visual novels! In fact, it gains enough momentum to leave the visual novel scene. The new influx of people turns my data useless, and the hypothesis goes out the window. So in the end, was it the gameplay that attracted people? Or was it purely the oh, so scandalously unhealthy relationship the duo has? You tell me.

Somehow the game got caught in a shitflinging contest between the self-appointed morality police, and the people sick and tired of being told what kind of fiction they're allowed to read.

Suddenly, life gave me two choices, much like a visual novel would.

Do I take the game down to appease the people telling me to kill myself?

Or do I create the story I already wanted to create and get paid for it?

Boy oh boy, what a dilemma. I contemplated it for all of two nano seconds!

I dug out all the stuff I had shelved, and soon had the draft of the full story all ready to go. I went over it a few times, deemed it to be a lot of fun, and begun production of the full game. Episode 2 released on Steam in October 2023, and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley wrecked havoc across social media! And I thought there was a shitstorm before? HAHAHHAHAHA!!!!

And here we are now.

I want to thank you, my dear audience, for all your support. And I also want to thank the people who tirelessly pissed and moaned about some crappy indie game for months and months and months, helping it gain popularity beyond my comprehension. I would've never, ever gotten this far if it wasn't for you! The kinder thanks goes to the audience though, obviously. Thank you for weathering the storm with me, I hope you'll like the terrible little story you've helped to subsist.

The development continues, unchanged. I can't wait to show you the next episode. It's just awful, I really like it! Hope you will too.

Have a wonderful end of the year,

- The Author of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, Your Least Favorite Person.

[cicadadust]

I promise I'll get back to drawing canon characters soon. But woo- took me three days to finish. But my boi Kaiba is complete! This is probably the most cluttered ref I've ever made haha.

Potential Rakuyou arc spoilers ahead so be warned:

Originally he was inspired by a post where someone mentioned the artist phenomenon of a canon character basically turning into their OC after awhile.

And it all started with well, I love Kamui. And I love his first official appearance with the bandages obscuring his face - maybe I could work with that. But then I shoved so many of my AU things and other ideas I enjoy into this character that he's mutated so much that he barely has any trace of Kamui left in his character. Definitely not story wise, nor personally, maybe a few elements design wise still along with the fact of being a Yato. Kaiba actually ended up being much more like Kouka story wise than I intended though (*cough* probably because Kaiba was mainly based on my AU of Kamui being the sole Altana mutant on Kouan instead of Kouka *cough*) but eh, I'll live with that.

Despite being a yato and Altana mutant...I may have taken a few creative liberties design wise. But I have my excuses! One thing is, I absolutely love Yato- but wish they had a few more I guess inhuman traits. Like please give them larger canine teeth and reflective pupils please🙏🥺. I thought the reflective pupils for Yato would be really cool, or funny, if Kagura had em too. So I tossed those traits into there. And I know Yato are supposed to be fair skinned- but I had an idea! Since Yato seem to be able to build up a slight tolerance to sunlight, like with Kagura being able to be out in broad daylight, while Housen who hasn't been exposed in a long time immediately started dying. I figured what if during Yato disopra, one of the groups of survivors who had fled Kouan ended up on this sunny desert dwarf planet... probably not by choice. Though there, the survivors perhaps started to build up a higher tolerance to the sunlight. But yet they're still not immune to it. And could have been the downfall of the few generations that had managed to survive for long enough. Kaiba was from this specific clan of Yato that had settled on the dwarf planet. With a slightly higher tolerance to sunlight than the typical Yato, and with the combo of being an altana mutant. Kaiba was free to enjoy the sunlight for much longer before feeling the effects of it, allowing him to gain more of his tanned complexion. Also just shares the same reptile brain as me, with the desire to just lay out in the sun on warm rocks. Though if he's an altana mutant, how come he has a scar? That should just heal right? ... Well, I have absolutely no excuse for that for now! I just wanted to reuse a scar design from one of my older characters because I thought it'd look nice on Kaiba 👉👈.

Now to get a little more into his story and such. It starts off similarly to Kouka's. As again Kaiba is the last member of his clan surviving alone on his birth planet due to him being a mutant. The forgotten dwarf planet, which I've named Ardoros, is covered in reddish orange sands, stone, and a whole bunch of space junk wich collects on its surface. With so much metal and scrap around, Kaiba developed a skill in metal working. And even managed to find a junked ship one day. This was obviously very exciting as he managed to get it to function- just barely. With many days having spent wandering Ardoros previously, he had already discovered one of its altana crystals. Albeit small, he fashioned it into an earring to serve as a battery in a way before he finally left. But being the absolute hunk of junk it was, Kaiba's ship broke down when he managed to land on another planet. And with no money or anything to fix it, he's began relying on hitchhiking. Traveling all over the universe with the aid of strangers. This got to go on for years, exploring new planets, trying new food etc- he absolutely loved it. But, the crystal he wears is almost depleted along with his own altana energy. He continues to hitchhike, yes. But now determined to find his way back to Ardoros before it's too late. Thing is - he's never been skilled at navigating, always leaving that up to whoever he was traveling with. He has also encountered no one else who's even heard of Adoros, no one else knows it's location either. And currently his latest stop during his attempts to get home, is on earth.

[ninjababypowpow]

Hi there !

So. You said something about A DETROIT BECOME HUMAN AU ???? AND A SPIES AGENCY AU ?????

Tell me everything you want to share please please please !!

I'll buy you in cookies in exchange 🥺🥺

*cracks knuckles* BUCKLE IN CHUCKLELOVE

The Detroit Become Human AU (Words in the Heart, bc I am pterry trash) borrows liberally from the gameand also a bit from a tv show called Almost Human, which is VERY GOOD and it has Karl Urban in it. Basicallly Bacara is Hank, more or less, without the sad backstory, he's just a grump who doesn't like androids. Obviously, he gets assigned a new partner, who is an android. Prototype Model CC-1010, who is at the same time exactly and not at all like Bacara expected. TOGETHER THEY FIGHT CRIME They eventually stumble upon a string of murders done by androids who then...basically committed brain suicide? They deleted their own memory core and programming. (During this they meet a host of supporting characters, like Android Rights Activist Maul Opress and his brothers, who specializes in being an asshole to humans and nice to androids and who may or may not run a scheme to smuggle androids out of the country to more openminded ones, rookie!Cop Rex who once almost puked on a corpse and is forever on Bacara's shitlist for that, pleasure bot Cody who may or may not be leader of an extremely subtle revolution and many more! For you, a snippet!

The drive to the scene was awkward as shit. Bacara kept glancing to the man - machine - sitting next to him, who kept staring at him. Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore. “What?” “Nothing, Detective.” Bacara ground his teeth. “You���re staring at me.” “Yes, I am watching you.” “It’s fucking unnerving. Stop it.” “Would you like me to close my eyes?” “What? No, just - just look out the window or something. Jesus Christ.” The android turned his head and began staring out the window. The ride returned to the previous awkward silence. “What’s your name anyway?” Bacara finally asked, prompting the android to look over at him again. “My designation is CC-1010, Detective.” The duh was not spoken but heavily implied. “That’s a fucking mouthful to say. Don’t you have a name I can call you?” The LED flashed yellow, whirring for a long time, then very abruptly turned red and stopped completely. The android’s face remained completely passive throughout, but when it turned red he frowned for just a moment. Then the LED returned to blue and his face smoothed out. “You may choose whatever alternate designation you wish.” Bacara huffed. “I’m not naming you like you’re a pet or something. Pick your own damn name.” The LED went yellow again. Back to blue. “I…will think about it, Detective.” The android looked at him for a moment more and then turned his gaze back out the window. Bacara grumbled. Leave it to Androids to make everything complicated.

woooohoooooo

THE SPY AGENCY AU (Who Wants To Live Forever) features the good guys, FORCE and the evil organization SITH feuding against each other for years when SITH send their currently best asset, one of KaminoLabs most successful trainees, Cipher Nine (also know as Fox), to "defect" and thus infiltrate FORCE. Fox does this, thinking it will be easy. And it really is, too, these agents of FORCE are so soft it's kind of embarrassing SITH has so much trouble with them. And then Fox becomes part of the squad. And experiences what living is for the first time, instead of existing. But he is still technically a double agent, even as his loyalties slowly, but inexorably shift... This one borrows a lot of Marvel stuff - SHIELD and HYDRA and so on. Fox is Black Widow completely with the Red Room (here KaminoLabs) Another snippet!

Time to start acting.  It really didn't take much. A few faked moments of vulnerability here and there, carefully avoiding civilian casualties, handing coins to a few homeless kids. Acting reluctant to kill the agents during an encounter. "You're Cipher Nine, right? We saw you were on a mission here." A show of hesitation. "So what?" Fox let a slight tinge of curiosity into his voice. Hook… "We saw how you avoided harming innocents." Innocents, Fox rolled his eyes mentally. "I…" another hesitant pause. "I achieved the mission goal." "Yeah, sure. But you don't really want to do these things, right?" "I don't have a choice. SITH doesn't tolerate failure or…disobedience." Line… "We can help you. You can leave. FORCE would take you in, I swear." Fox let relief show in his eyes, along with a heaping dose of tentative hope, and lowered his gun. "Really?" He asked with a wavering voice. He could almost see Agent Lightning puff up in morally righteous protectiveness. "Really. Just lower your gun and let me bring you in." Sinker.

they are both really big projects and are mocking me mercilessly, but I love them. They're both Foxcare, too, though Fox has to die in the spy au first before something really happens there. (Also, Ponds gets his leg blown off, sorry Ponds)

I really, really appreciate your excitement and love! It makes me smile so wide and really fires me up to write more, even though I am currently in MtaS porn hell.

[]~(￣▽￣)~*

[wonderousmonarch]

Kamen Rider Wizard Thoughts 7

through the power of food and dragons we can save the day

Episode 18

- there's a new gay boy in town

- I'm more impressed that Kosuke can spin a mayonnaise bottle around like that

- the dubious sogman

- this phantom looks like corn on the cob

- I love these two.

- his driver needs to spell Lion because he'll forget it

- the day they convince Haruto to try a new donut is the day Haruto unlocks his final transformation

- bros name is NOT mayonnaise

- ooh backstory time

- I hate it when I'm doing archeology in collect and then the horrors happen

- "this ring... it looks so... collectiblr and marketable"

- he was one ruin over from the stone mask

- just let Nitou finish off the phantoms

- Wiseman is making more appearances outside of his little cave

- I feel like more people would notice if there was just a guy swimming through a river

- IS THAT JK FROM FOURZE

- Nitou is intimidated by evil woman

- uh oh she rizzed him up :(

- Rock Magic Stone??

- the twink who delivers rocks

- bro just wants to sketch

- soggy wizard. wizard who sings

- they really just looped the dramatic part of the song over and over again there

- BUFFA!!! LIKE FROM GEATS

- the boys are fighting. he was convinced by a pretty girl to kill

- at least he's giving them a chance to convince him again

Episode 19

- STOP FIGHTING!!!

- FALCO! "Personally, I prefer the air"

- mayonnaise wizard

- oh yeah. Koyomi and her piss rock

- bro is yapping to a painting

- :(

- oh he didn't know the phantoms kill people

- damn this "selfless vs selfish" shit is compelling. It feels strange to throw in a character with super selfish motivations into this cast of people who are doing things because it's the right thing to do, but I like how it changes things up. idk basically I'm in love with the inner conflict that Beast has to face

- uh oh. the sogman appears

- oooh Land Dragon time... cheese wizard

- hey it's that place from Ex-Aid where Gemn uses Hyper Muteki

- the soggy ghouls

- LETS GOOO BEAST

- "Ghouls, attack!" me too

- also I didn't comment on it earlier but "it's lunchtime" is so silly

- wait beast can also go into the underworld? I was gonna ask

- I mean it makes sense but like still

- oh this thing is icky

- Koyomi with the cheese ring delivery

- oh this is probably my favorite one

- "no turning back now" what do you mean by this you rock twink

- is Beast going to be able to eat a phantom inside of an underworld?

- GRAVITY?

- DAMN THE FUCKING BEAMS

- he's gonna throw a big rock at him

- the CLAWS

- goofy aah run cycle

- the letter 🥺

- oh? this isn't going to work is it

- oh bro

Episode 20

- damn episode 20 already

- the fucking typhoon has rolled in

- new rings :)

- the spell that gets you gussied up

- "when are you gonna use that" oh Koyomi. you're in a TV show dear, the opportunity will present itself

- the steroid spells

- hi wisemannn :) I like his design

- damn Phoenix just fucking boxed those guys

- bro is having one of those "conflicts" we hear so much about

- beast in the intro :0 that goes so hard

- Peppa pig ass house

- another musical monster. they should all get together and start a band

- I feel like everyone knows who this fucking wizard is they could totally track him down and like. pipe bomb the antique store

- Beelzebub??? yeah looks about right

- oh I love them

- bro got the drip ring

- "Violence isn't the only thing I know, it's just my favorite thing to do!" oh phoenix

- man let Shunpei dance

- oh Beelzebub is using her friends against her :(

- oh yeah and Rinko is tracking down Pheonix's old identity but Beelzebub's plan is more interesting

- OH MY GOD he's fucked up and evil

- I think Rinko is about to fucking die

- he's got a nice apartment for someone who died in an eclipse

- goddamn this is so fucked up

- he's going to "ask" him. politely convince him via gunpoint

- "Hold on Shiho, these backflips are important to defeating the Phantom"

- Strong Wizard....

- BEAST TIME

- Now we're thinking with Portals...

- GOOFY freeze frame

Episode 21

- Can't wait to see how Haruto fucks this one up

- bro said "wots all this then?"

- yeah I saw that one coming

- holy shit it's that other wizard

- killer queen act 3

- his says "NOW" while Haruto's says "PLEASE" like Haruto has to ask to tap into some power while this big wizard commands it

- oh yeah Rinko is fucked

- she doesn't know he's Phoenix lol

- I like Phoenix alot

- they brought Haruto to the fucking Cathedral of Shadows... they're gonna fuse him into a more powerful demon

- oh wait they have the dragon rings on pedestals. they might actually be fusing him in the cathedral of shadows

- bro's got cybermites

- "Warn him not to let me devour him" oh Haruto you are in for a bad time im sure of it

- they're eating donuts together :)

- where the fuck is Beelzebub's base. why does he have a fucking aquarium

- oh he's still in control....

- they NEED a different clip to show other than Phoenix just fucking screaming

- mmmhmmmhmm I don't trust him

Phoenix seems super sus rn

- oooh... dragon ring

- HE'S COUNTING IN GERMAN ON HIM

- fuck yeah Phoenix. RISE! RISE! WHERE IS YOUR ANGER!

- Haruto's flashbang technique

- oh boy haruto LOCK IN

- OH IT'S A GAUNTLET! THATS SICK AS FUCK

- IT MAKES CLONES???? THIS IS SO COOL

- the fuck force 4 has arrived

- wait this is just the Four Sword from Zelda

- holy shit four dudes one dragon

- the four different "fwee"

- man someone get Beast something to fucking eat. he hasn't been able to get a meal in so many days :(

- also Rinko is fucking dying. she may have made a mistake telling Phoenix to do whatever he wants

things are heating up and I don't mean because Phoenix is freaking out. very excited to see where this goes

[marvelgirl123]

Rating Hazbin Hotel songs

So a friend of mine recently got me into Hazbin Hotel and while I haven’t watched the whole series I love it. I love the designs of the characters, the voice acting is incredible, and the little theater kid in me loves the music. I think the soundtrack is filled with absolute BANGERS that had no reason to be as good as they are. I’ve seen a lot of people rating the songs so I thought I’d do the same and before I get started these are just my opinions that you are welcome to disagree with. As long as you respect my opinions I’ll respect yours. Anyway let’s get into it

Hell’s Greatest Dad - This is actually the first Hazbin song I listened to and I love it. I think the banter and fighting between Lucifer and Alastor is hilarious and I can’t hold back a smile whenever I hear it. The song really makes them look like two divorced dads who are fighting over their daughter who doesn’t want them to fight

Respectless - I won’t deny that Velvette is a bitch but she’s fun to watch and I love her song. I think her voice actor did an amazing job with it and Velvette actually is one of my favorite character designs. She kind of reminds me of Cersei from Game of Thrones in the aspect of she’s a bitch but she’s a great and entertaining character

Stayed Gone - I love the back and forth between Vox and Alastor here and I once again think the vocal talent is great. Vox makes me think of a teenage girl who’s obsessed with the boy that turned her down at prom. The song also makes me wonder what could have possibly happened between Vox and Alastor to make them absolutely hate each other now so I hope we get some insight on that in season two

You Didn’t Know - I love the part when Emily and Charlie sing together. That harmony just scratches my brain the right way and I love it. I was also definitely not expecting Vaggie to be a fallen angel and seeing Charlie’s reaction to it broke my heart. I also loved hearing Lute sing and even though she’s a bitch I think her voice actor is really talented

More Than Anything - I love Charlie and Lucifer’s relationship and kind of envy it (daddy issues if you can’t tell). I love the “I’m grateful you’re my father/daughter” part and it always hits close to home. I also really do think that Lucifer does his best to be a good dad to Charlie and I hope we get more of him in season two

Poison - Angel Dust is one of my favorite characters so hearing this song makes me feel so bad for him and makes me hate Valentino even more. I want to hug Angel so badly whenever this song finishes and I was definitely not ready for that episode

Loser Baby - I love Husk and Angel’s relationship so much and I need to see Husk battling Valentino for Angel is some way in season two

Hell is Forever - I hate Adam and his song had no right to be so good but it was. I also love Alex Brightman and think he did an amazing job throughout the entire show even though his character is an asshole

Out for Love - This one is usually higher on people’s lists but there are just songs I’d prefer to listen to before listening to this one but still think it’s really good

Happy Day in Hell - I think Charlie is adorable and I think this one is usually further down on people’s lists but I really like it. No hate pls 🥺

Ready for This - Honestly I think Alastor and Rosie carried this whole song. I adore their friendship and hope that we get a lot more of it in season two. I need to see them hanging out and talking shit about other demons and overlords

More Than Anything (reprise) - Really cute song and I love Charlie and Vaggie together

Finale - It was a nice way to end the show but there are just other ones I like better than it. Also someone please go help Alastor, my boy needs it

Whatever it Takes - It’s a good song but it’s not really my cup of tea but I do love Carmila’s voice actor and I think we need more of Vaggie singing because I love her singing voice

It Starts With Sorry - I think this song is cute but that’s about it. Other than that I don’t have much to say on it

Welcome to Heaven - I hate this song and I think it’s pretty much just the angels flexing the whole time

And there you have it, my ratings and opinions on the songs from Hazbin Hotel. Like I said before, if you disagree that’s totally fine all I ask is that you respect my opinions. Have a great day or night and hopefully I’ll post again soon (it’s the middle of the night for me and this is what I’m doing)

[hydrate-or-diedrate]

DAY 4 OF READING HOMESTUCK WE STARTING ACT 3 BABEYYY

According to the thing I'm looking at this act is about 400 pages so we'll see if I finish it in one day or not

Oh hello! Jade is a new name :0 that's someone I haven't even heard of from general fandom nonsense! So this is the little Fiver, huh?

Forgetful and too many interests to keep track of? I vibe

She plays the flute I can't wai- oh dear god

Her garden is lovely, at least

Casual teleportation okay- ah my apologies, casual transportalization

:0 Bassist? Hewwo? I wanna see the silly little girl play a sweet bass riff hewwoooo

"Pet and best friend named BECQUEREL" what you're just not gonna specify what he is? Ominous

Ahhh so she's a furry? Good for her

Ah not a furry

I-irradiated?? Steak??

SWEET BASS MUSIC YEAHHHH

Oh holy shit this lunchtop is gonna give me a headache

Oh lordy more midnight crew? Violence? Heck yeah

BEATDOWN (STRIDER STYLE)?

YEAH KILL THAT PUPPET MURDER HIM FUCK YEAH

Oh uh oh Dave sweety you seem to be getting beaten by the puppet actually

Goodness Cal is truly horrific

I love how sweet Jade is 😭

I'm sorry Rose, are you leaving your mother to burn up there? Hi??

OH GOSH JOHN IS GETTING MERCED

Thank God for nannaquin, if she offered me a cookie I'd take it despite my hatred of clowns

You know what while the captchalogue stuff bores me after a while I can respect that the author put so much effort into designing it, this is a lot of detail

Punch card calculator? Oh I so need to abuse this immediately

Nevermind I actually don't want to deal with images right now lmaoo

Having fun with the chess board imagery, eh, Andrew?

Oh Jade's grandpa is the collector of all collectors I see

Worm

Fuck carcinoGeneticist all my homies hate carcinoGeneticist

THEY ARE SQUIRTLE GLASSES

These brothers are really on their mall ninja shit

One of my friends called Dave's older brother "fuckable" and I'm judging them hardcore rn

YEAH JOHN AND NANNA FUCK EM UP

I respect the Peregrine Mendicant

Tea set? Ah tea set

KITTY

Oh my God this kitten is so cute

Into the room? 👀👀👀

INTO THE DAD'S ROOM

Aw fine, into the foyer

Oh my gosh Jade's grandfather is so silly looking and oh my gosh he's a statue??

Oh he's DEAD

I love the kitten so much it's not even funny

Oo time to feed the beast!

THE SHAPE

At last we are in the father's room

Aw man it's boring business guy things

John's dad is a badass look at he go

Finally a modus that doesn't make me want to die

Oh no it's gotten worse

HE GOT A LITTLE SUIT WHAT A LITTLE BUSINESS GUY

I am living for John's mental breakdowns

THE SHAPE OF THE GUY! BEC! THE BEAST THE GUY THE DUDE!

Arf

Yall it is so hard for me to not binge this entire comic since I have free time, I didn't expect to enjoy it this much

Bec is a very good boy

Damn Rose is in hot water. Well, hot not-water. Fire she's on fire

DREAMBOT?

VODKA MUTINI

MOVE THE FUCK OVER SERENITY MUTIE IS NEW BEST CHARACTER

Mr Mayor 🥺

Fuck it were shotgunning all of act 3 in one night because I have no self control right now

THE WRINKLEFUCKER

AT LAST THE PUPPET IS DEAD

Bec in da lava

JOHN AWAKENS

These trolls are absolutely going to be plot relevant later too, damn. It's such a funky mix of "every single thing is important" and "this is for a visual gag"

And now the Aimless Renegade

Is this guy a cop? He seems like a pissy little cop so far

"YOU ARE THE LAW WHOOPS" this is a great comic

THE BUTTERFLY WAS INNOCENT

Baby Jaaaade 🥹🥹🥹

Hey Jade this temple looks really ominous

Is he gonna drink the piss

WIZARD CAAAAAAT

And that's the end of act 3 now we got Rose in here babeyyyyyy

I can see why this story used to be so popular and is still loved to this day this is so damn fun :)

[shivunin]

gently tosses you Fenris and Sebastian for the character meme

Carefully catches them both, but Fenris is kinda prickly and I fumble him a lil bit.

(Thank you for asking! c:)

(Character Ask thing)

Fenris

First impression: oh fuck did he just rip that dude's heart out through his back 😳(i am absolutely projecting this reaction onto Maria haha)

Impression now: I mean. there's no going back at this point lol. Dude altered my brain chemistry permanently. He is an asshole, he is deeply flawed, he is so hurt and angry and funny and so shockingly poetic. He is gorgeous and so unsure about anyone caring about him (platonically or romantically). He is loyal to a fault. He is still figuring out how to be his own person. He's the reason I got back into reading fic, and thus the reason I started writing fic and participating in the fandom at all. I don't even know what my opinion is anymore because that is how much I have thought about Fenris. I am rotating him in my mind at shocking speeds.

Favorite moment: It's a tie between the moment after he rips out Danarius's heart and turns to look at Hawke like 🥺-and- his final monologue. I also think his conversation w the mabari is really sweet. Or lol his "I was just glad. To see you. That's all." from the Legacy DLC

Idea for a story: *gestures to fic idea mountain* haha. But as for ones I have not written, my favorites are my "worst road trip with my future sister-in-law ever/fenris gets kidnapped" story (which i am writing very slowly rn) and one where there's some sort of double of Hawke and he has to determine which is the real her (I love this trope)

Unpopular opinion: Oh man. I have no idea. I guess that I enjoy the Bitter Pill -> Questioning Beliefs quest order version of the romance scene, but I also like the other one. There are painful pieces to both of them and that's what it's all about for me.

Favorite relationship: Fenris and Isabela. I love that they're constantly needling each other.

Favorite headcanon: The bodies in his foyer are practice dummies dressed in robes.

As funny as "Fenris lives in a literal mansion of corpses is," that level of squalor does, in fact, make you sick. Also...after six years, there are no signs of decomposition? With how many rats are sure to live in Kirkwall? I don't think so.

I like to imagine someone broke in at some point, saw the corpses on the floor, said "oh, no thank you, actually" and dipped, and Fenris went "Hmm. Now wait a moment, maybe I'm onto something."

So: that's my headcanon. The bodies are fake and he lets everyone think they're real/everyone jokes that they're real because it's a good bit. Now, does he leave his bedroom a hot hot mess always just because? Yes. But I think the bodies are fake.

Sebastian

*With the caveat that I have only started one pt with Sebastian because my console hates me (has to be plugged into an internet port directly to run the Exiled Prince DLC and there isn't one in the room with the TV) and most of my initial information was based on the fandom:

First impression: Ah, he must be the designated Religious Character for this game as a counterpoint to the dude who hates the Chantry. Got it.

Impression now: I am shaking him in a jar. He is such a wild study in contrasts?? When you do the quest in the Hahriman's mansion and one of the dudes is getting with the maid and Sebastian apologizes to Hawke for exposing them to it---I said "Excuse me, sir???" out loud. Like what? In a ~dark fantasy~ game, this guy is apologizing for you seeing some slap and tickle?

I think he wants so badly to believe that the world is black and white so he can do the right thing, and when confronted with all its variegations instead he creates exceptions. Lots of other characters do this, too (see: Fenris and Hawke/Bethany being "good" mages because they are stronger than the others and thus not tempted by demons/blood magic) but I think Sebastian particularly plays in the grey spaces in an interesting way.

Also, I think the running theme of him wanting vengeance/wanting to not want vengeance is fascinating in the light of that final scene at the Chantry. He's talked about trying to forgive before, but when it comes down to it he wants to kill Anders or march on Kirkwall if you won't let him. That is fascinating to me. I do really want to finish this playthrough with him so I can see the rest of it play out, but...we will get there.

Also, I think it's a bummer that he frequently gets left out of companion round-ups and lists. I get that he comes from a DLC, but love him or hate him he's a really interesting character in 2.

Favorite moment: I don't have a favorite, but anytime he's talking tbh. He has a really lovely voice

Idea for a story: I have a half-written thing about Sebastian and the role that faith plays in Hawke recovering from Leandra's death. A lot of it is coming to terms with the fact that Hawke doesn't really believe in Chantry doctrine...but it does genuinely help her to know that someone who shared Leandra's faith is praying for her in the way she would have wanted. He also does the service for Leandra even though Elthina offered (it was like. the only thing Hawke asked for: Sebastian has to do the service).

(A lot of this is inspired by the fact that he is one of the few companions who has lost his parents---not "never knew them" or "hated them and now they're gone" but actually lost them, complicated as their relationship was. And I think it's something that would help her in that moment)

Unpopular opinion: I liked bringing him on Anders' act 2 quest. Not only because of my own internal narrative (Maria asks Sebastian to kill her if it seems like the templars will take her because she is terrified of being made Tranquil and because she knows he'll do it if she can make him promise; all of which I find delightfully angsty) but because I think the conflict between Anders and Sebastian is exceptionally interesting if you've taken them on this quest together.

Favorite relationship: Sebastian and Fenris. I think they each challenge each other's ideas about the world and I like the way Sebastian treats Fenris. It feels nonjudgmental to me.

Favorite headcanon: Sebastian wanders Lowtown trying to help people in his off time. I refuse to believe that he actually hangs out in the Chantry all the time, and it seems like something he would find noble. I like to believe he spends time with the refugees after befriending Hawke, trying to connect them with the resources they need to find stability.

[grokebaby]

Hiiii Me again <3 Could we have crumbs of Grandefel maybe 🥺👉👈 would love to know more about herrrrr. Angle of all time. Id like to know anything tbh but just as a prompt to get you started, how did you come up with her design ?? Its super interesting and I really love the colorssz

Hiiiii<3 (twirls my halo) she is so THE. My poor.. Intended protagonist girlboss..

Oh boy her design? Let's say she really grew into it. Like the earliest art of her I have is sso ugly I'm sorry Grande but I did not have a handle on that thang. She had such Pug vibes. I think this'll be an interesting post?

This is the beginning of it all. Unfortunately I don't have a super insightful answer to how I came up wi her, bc the Og* angels were literally me going HeeHoo with a pencil. (*Certain specific angels I designed in relative succession to each other before I had a handle on how I want to design angels. The so called Ogs are Lamera, ZZZ, J'aimekiel, Grandefel, Kxxxtr, Ngah and Combfa. Everyone after this was designed a notable amount of time later and with much more "process" to them)

I have some thoughts but it's fuzzy and vague? Okay. So I thought I should definitely do one lion (esque?) at least bc *points at old religious art of angels* and they just have those Vibes to me, ykno? I associate angels with certain things that I try to employ in the story's characters (to an extent). Grandefels vibes were.. Guardian, maybe a tad like a sphynx, just ykno, a huge feline statue like entity who guards something and is like a scary immovable force ig? I wanted some ethereal aspects to it, and lots of teeth (hers aren't visible here but the whole underside of her body opens up to a huge ass mouth with teeth everywhere). Now, initially I was gonna have her hair be lilac but turn bright blue in some situations but I WAAAY preferred the blue on her. She's supposed to have Blue flames mixed with galaxy vibes. Like if blue flames were a puddle and that puddle was a lion's mane. And it was all. Cool and semi-physical

Onto how her design adjusted overtime.

I think most firstly I stopped drawing the grooves on her body that would open up to reveal the Teeth, I mean I do still allude to them vaguely but I figured the way I was doing it at first looked kinda.. Eugh? Another thing I quickly started changing was her hair texture. Originally I wanted it to be completely straight and smooth and flowing but it looked way more interesting and more galaxy esque with it being bubbly and cloudy. I guess my initial thought was that I wanted it to look like it was flowing out of her head? Like some water?

^water vibes

Getting there

Galaxy vibes^

(This anthro drawing also demonstrates the way I nowadays moreso "allude" to her hidden mouth but the anthro version here isn't too close to Canon otherwise since I gave her face an actual normal mouth too lol)

Oh yes, and the crown is another major change!

I think my first notable adjustment was made here (note also the flowy hair). If gotten an amino commission (No money, just amino coins lol) of her and really liked the way the artist drew her crown so I took after that and started slowly changing it. It took me a while to be satisfied with, though. In the very beta version, it was supposed to be like a ring/circle. If you look at the older drawings up there, you can see that one horn is meant to be drawn on the "front" and the other behind. It's like if you looked at her from straight up, you'd see the three dimensionality of it, being more like an actual halo instead of one solid headgarment. I do still really like this idea, however I just think it looks better as it is now. I also had a fair bit of finagling with the side horns, frankly I always found them ugly so I'm finally happy with how they look (just realising I haven't drawn her in a bit, so, the anthro pic is the most accurate to her current design if we ignore the uh.. Anthro-ness lol)

One more thing! You don't see her halo too often in these, but it's intended to be drawn tilted. It's not straight (just like her), and tilts a bit down on one side. In universe this is kinda viewed as an imperfection and she used to be ashamed of it. The irl explanation for it was that it couldn't fit straight between the horns, with the way I'd formed the crown, and so I kept it that her halo just is that way! It fits oddly between her crown and I think that's neat!

Apparently on that last picture I decided to draw the halo straight, though? Cringe... :/

Now if you'll excuse me this post made me want to make more art of her

[undertheknightwing]

I have to ask gar

I already did Gar but I can do him again no problem >:)

First impression

THAT'S MY SON. I first saw him when I found clips of Titans on youtube and Beast Boy has always been my favorite so when I saw him in Titans OH MY GOD my heart EXPLODED. I fell in love immediately 💚 He's the only reason I started watching the show and he's still the only reason I go back and watch it.

Impression now

Even though he's treated worse than a side character, what little they did with his character is everything I wanted from Beast Boy. Even as a kid I got bored with Gar being the "stupid one who eats pizza and says dude" and wanted more darkness to his character, and Titans gave me that.. in like tiny amounts but still! I got angsty shit to work with. Other than his character being upgraded, can we acknowledge Ryan Potter for a second because his performance was utter perfection 🤩 Gar probably wouldn't be as great of a character as he is if Ryan didn't get casted as him. Ryan's Gar will forever be my go-to version.

Gar is my special boy who's constantly spinning around in my brain. Whether it's strictly Titans!Gar or my own version of Gar, he's always up there 💚

Favorite moment

Other than the ones I mentioned in my other ask, I really like the scenes where Ryan actually got to have emotion, like when Gar finally snaps and yells at people. A scene from s3 where Gar is yelling at Dick to stop his lone wolf bullshit and starts to beast out is sooo good. And for the same emotional acting reasons, the scene when he tears that dude apart and is terrified afterwards in "Asylum" is heartbreakingly amazing.

Idea for a story

In the show, I wish they actually did something with the Red. They made it seem like it was gonna be important to the main story but it wasn’t, it could have been cut out of the plot and nothing would change. I would have made it way more important to the season, like use the comic storyline it comes from. Brother Blood wants to resurrect Trigon but can't without the Red so he goes after Beast Boy to use him as a sacrifice since he has a connection to it.

In Titans it would be Mother Mayhem but the same idea, she wants Gar because he has most powerful connection to the Red anyone’s ever seen and then cue all the angst of Gar realizing it's him who's a part of a world ending prophecy this time. Plus we'd learn much more about the Red that way.

Unpopular opinion

I said it once and I'll say it again: I don't care for his suit. The design is just weird to me and looks extremely out of place next to to the other Titans' suits. Also what's the point of giving him a suit that shapeshifts with him when he rarely ever shapeshifts?? And by the end of the series he's living in the Red dimension and isn't a superhero anymore.. so??? It was just a check box thing I think, no real thought put into it other than "we gotta do this before the show ends".

Favorite relationship

Besides Rachel, Gar's relationships with the others is very surface level and can be boiled down to one thing. No one shares any deep connection or has any meaningful scenes with him (again, besides Rachel), it's mainly mission related or to set up a joke when the others interact with him. I can not think of a single scene where one of Titans had a regular conversation with him. So I'm going with his relationship with the Red, it was super cute and it's a fact it cares a ton about him. It changed it's color for him because he likes green that's so 🥺 he's the favorite child fr and he deserves to be.

Other than Titans, I greatly enjoy writing my Gar's relationships in Escapism obviously lol

Favorite headcanon

A universal one I use for my fic is that he does have pointy ears, fangs, and claws but learned how to temporarily shapeshift them away so he could blend in with other people and explore places outside the manor without unwanted attention. And I imagine he can have a tail too. His human form is just that, another form he can shapeshift into. It's a disguise to look normal enough so he can exist around others without feeling like a monster.

[theteapotofdoom]

Hello, Miss Teapot! Idk if you remember me, but I was the John chan anon from way back when (still miss him so much🥺), and I finally got a tumblr of my own! I saw that you're a fan of Lackadaisy, which I'm about to start reading! What are some of the things you like most about the comic?

JOHN CHAN ANON!!!! So good to see you :D

I'm glad that you made your own account, I hope that you're having fun here on Tumblr!!! (and I still miss our best boy too .......)

I'm a HUGE fan of Lackadaisy! It's a wonderful webcomic that has been deserving hype and attention for a decade and I'm so glad the pilot is doing numbers on youtube! And super happy that you decided to read it, you're gonna have so much fun!

It's going to sound like a cop-out, but I honestly love EVERYTHING about Lackadaisy. It's hard for me to tell if I just watched at such a formative age that it shaped my taste for the rest of my life OR if it just so happens to check all the boxes for me.

First of all, I love the art. Tracy Butler is an incredibly talented artist, she absolutely slays every page of the comic. The scenery, the characters, the atmosphere ... it always hits! I think she worked as an animator for a long time and you can really tell because the characters are all incredibly expressive and all have very unique and distinctive designs. And you can really see her art getting better and better as the story continues through the years. The first few pages are already really good, but when you compare them to her most recent chapters it almost pales in comparison! She actually did a lot of very fun art tutorials on Tumblr where she explains her creative process and how she designs characters. I used a lot of these to learn how to draw when I was younger, and even if you don't want to get into art there are still very fun to look at. My personal favourite is this one about how to draw expressions. But they're all very good so here's a link to the list. Honestly, I just recommend checking out both the official website and the official Tumblr, because Tracy shares A LOT of behind-the-scenes content and answers a lot of fan questions, and also just posts a lot of little side comics with the characters that have nothing to do with the main story.

And like I said, the comics simply check all the boxes for me. I love the period, like a lot of people, I have a huge fascination for the 1920's both aesthetically and historically. I also love gangster stories with a bunch of chaotic morally grey characters. The scenery, the costumes, the atmosphere, the music ... I love it!

The characters are by far one of the biggest strengths of the comic (with, you know, everything else!). It hits that perfect spot of "characters first appearing bigger than life and stereotypical but slowly showing more cracks and nuances". The characters are full of well-known tropes that really work: the crazy one, the shy one, the big muscle guy, the femme fatale, the cold calculating killer and his chaotic sidekicks ... they are colourful and bigger than life and it's highly entertaining! But in some ways, these tropes are masks that they were to stay alive in this crazy world. And like I said, as the story goes you get to see little cracks forming and you learn more about who they really are deep down.

And also, you know, I just really like cats and this is a fun story about crazy cats with guns :)

I'm sorry if this was a whole lot of rambling, I'm just really emotionally attached to this webcomic and I'm happy to see it getting so much attention :D

[the-kings-of-games]

Hi! Just wanted to say helloooo and that I only recently started shipping Kizuna (I hadn't met Crow yet and I am still on season 1 *sobs*) BUT THEY ARE SO CUTE RAHHHHH I love seeing your stuff pop up on my dash, makes me smile! So yeah- *awkwardly runs away* Ok ok, and I gotta ask a question. Was Kizuna your first-ever ship involving one of the bois or did someone/something change your mind about them??????

ASDAFHLAGDSAFDSAFDSASADRYWASDA I'm so elated to have you in my inbox and to answer reply, @bibookdemon.

Firstly, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. :D I'm so glad that you ship Kizuna too, omgssssssssss. I've been here so long, and a new Kizunashipper around is just great. (New friend maybe???) I'm always excited to interact with a familiar reader and a Kizuna fan. QwQ Just knowing you exist makes the past three years in rarepair hell worth it. So thank you so much for reading my fics, whether it's a dozen or just one!!! And I'm glad to see you in my notifs tooooooooooo, omgs. \(^3^)/

Second, to answer your question: Kizuna was not my first 5D's ship because as you pointed out, Crow doesn't show up yet until halfway through S1, so my first choice was Kingcrab because I love childhood friends to lovers trope very much. Also, I love their dragons and how much they contrast each other; the details in the character design makes me melt. I love Jack and Yūsei; however, when Crow finally showed, I just went THAT ONE, lmao. My favorite type of characters include tough redheaded characters with happy-go-lucky attitudes who wear headbands (shout out to Lavi Bookman and Kyan Reki!!! And also Kagami Taiga because I love him too!!!)

The thing was though, even when I first saw him and got into him (immensely), I was actually on the fence about adding him with Kingcrab. I think it was because I only had a little experience with polyshipping prior, but the love was growing quickly. My first few Kizuna fics were actually gen. Whatever their relationship is like they are definitely cute and they love each other!

Then I had this epiphany and created the headcanon that Crow is a genderfluid he/him dfab, and then I wrote a Kizuna smut piece and then I wrote ~100 Kizuna fics and now we're here. I dropped through that pipeline fast and hard. That headcanon is my most favorite YGO headcanon, and it really opened a lot of door for exploring Kizuna and their relationship. My Kizuna fics have some of my best writing currently, lmaolololol, because I just wrote so much for them. (When you write a bunch, something is bound to be actually good, you know?) And the thing about that Crow headcanon? People actually like it. :) That makes me super happy.

Though I only have a handful of regular readers, I very much appreciate them all and recognize most of them. ^^ What more, I had two people reach out to me because of my writing, and we became good friends. 🥺🥺🥺🥺 I'm think I'm doing pretty good with Kizuna.

Third, thanks for asking, and for reading my fics!!!! I hope to keep reaching out to people to spread the Kizuna love! I hope to keep seeing you around!! Feel free to come talk to me if you like. I'm also shy, it's okay.

[xf-cases-solved]

below the cut are my answers to the poang secret santa gift exchange questionnaire. if you follow me and have no idea wtf i'm talking about, feel free to ignore this 😘

okay, my adhd meds are at their peak atm, so i will try very very hard not to ramble for 84 years 😬

*update after completing: i failed. read my answer to number ten tho, if my inability to stfu is incredibly intimidating

The following questions are designed to give your Secret Santa more insight into the things you like so that they can try and tailor their gift more specifically toward you. You can put as much or as little detail as you wish. It is also not mandatory. If you’d prefer to just be surprised with whatever your Santa comes up with, that’s cool too! This questionnaire also doesn’t guarantee a specific gift. Look at it as providing a guideline for your Santa, but not a rigid set of rules, yeah? Cool. Let’s get started:

1. Starting broad, tell your Santa about your relationship to The X-Files. This could be how you got into The X-Files in the first place, what the show means to you, or just general information you think might be relevant for your Santa to know.

due to questionable parenting decisions on my mother’s part, i started watching the x-files in 1998 when i was approximately five years old. consequently, i quite literally grew up with the show, and sort of absorbed it into my soul so that it became an integral part of my personality and general sense of self. so it’s fairly meaningful to me, lol. it’s never felt like “just a tv show” to me, if that makes sense. it’s cornball af to say, but when i watch it, i get a sense of calm, like i’m coming home

that said, since i was a fucking baby when i started watching, and the only person i knew who also watched it was my mom, i didn’t really have a fandom experience. it’s only now, with the pogang, that i have finally felt like i am a part of the x-files community 🥺

x-files has been there for me through some incredibly difficult times, and this year has been very hard. so hard, in fact, that i purposefully triggered a hyperfixation. i was unbearably overwhelmed with life, and i literally thought to myself “if i start an x-files rewatch rn, i know i will become insane about it and it will distract me from the Everything™️,” which like, is that the healthiest choice in the world? mb not, but it led to me finding x-files friends for the first time in over 25 years, and that’s invaluable to me. so in terms of unhealthy coping mechanisms, i am giving myself a pass on this one

fuck, i’m already writing too much. why am i the person that i am…

2. Tell your Santa about your favorites! Favorite characters, favorite moments, favorite episodes, favorite seasons, favorite ships, etc.

so i’m all about simping mulder. to be clear, not me simping over mulder, but mulder simping over scully. from the jump, i have always been obsessed with mulder’s love for scully, and how batshit insane he is about it. the feminist in me is ashamed, bc i have always loved the episodes where scully gets kidnapped or injured (and there are A LOT of those), bc it meant mulder would lose his gd mind. fwiw, it’s mulder’s suffering i like here, not scully’s. (that probably doesn’t rly help my case, huh? oh well.) i love mulder worrying about her, searching for her, becoming unhinged about her. i love it when he’s jealous. i love it when he looks at her like she’s the most beautiful, precious thing in the universe. basically i want my mulder to be a sopping wet pathetic puppy attached to dana scully’s hip and entranced by her magic thrall. i want him to feel both eternally blessed and completely baffled by the fact that she loves him back. i’m pretty gay for gillian anderson/scully, and as i’m typing this i wonder how much of this is projection. let’s… not examine that

in terms of other favorites (oh my god why am i still talking??) you have to remember that i was a literal child when i developed my opinions about the show, so some of them are… bad, lol. (for example: i think “first person shooter” is a good episode, sue me. imagine how fucking cool it was as a little seven year old to see scully kick mulder’s ass at video games). consequently, “milagro” is my favorite episode 💀. i also really love “all things” 💀. i have good taste, too, tho. other faves are “detour,” “never again,” “memento mori,” “redux ii,” “irresistible,” “jose chung,” “clyde bruckman,” “triangle,” etc. given my mulder confession above, cancer arc is obviously what i assume they would put on loop for me in heaven. for no discernible reason, i have always had alex krycek as a favorite character, which baffled my mother a lot when i was little. the lone gunmen are also choice as hell. but at the end of the day, it always comes down to my favorite two agents. they’re the heart of the show, and the heart of my heart, or something ❤️

(god i’m sorry this is already too long and this is only question two aaaaa)

3. Tell your Santa about your LEAST favorites! We all love our show, but it also sucks sometimes. Which parts suck the most for you?

this show is very good at being very bad, i agree op! i cannot handle mulder/other (i feel the reasons are clear, given my simping mulder manifesto above). diana can get eaten by a flukeworm. s9 doesn’t exist, and s8 only exists when i’m in a particular mood. only parts of the revival exist, mainly the parts that involve rhys darby. i am very “deny everything” about the things i don’t like. mulder is gone for scully’s pregnancy? denied. brain disease? denied. divorce arc? denied. mulder is red/green colorblind? that makes no fucking sense, he’s an fbi agent, i’m pretty sure that would disqualify him, and also: denied.

you get the idea

also, and this is kinda weird, but bc of bad timing in terms of release date, “i want to believe” is intimately linked to some really bad personal trauma for me, and so i can’t watch it or even really engage with it. that’s the only x-files thing that i can think of that’s an actual trigger instead of a coping mechanism

4. Tell your Santa your favorite tropes and genres! Only one bed? Friends to lovers? 5+1? Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort? You get the idea.

i am open to many things. off the top of my head: first time, hurt/comfort (guess who i want to be hurting and who i want to be comforting; see #2 if you’re uncertain). angst (with a happy ending) is always choice. idk, it’s probably easier to list the tropes i DON’T like rather than the ones i’m chill with, which is convenient, given the next question

5. Tell your Santa about tropes you tend to avoid.

so glad you asked! again, not a lot i will write off immediately, but i do have a weird complex about 5+1 fics. i have no idea why. i think they remind me of doing annoying, structured writing exercises in my creative writing classes. there are many wonderful ones out there i’m sure, but i wouldn’t know, bc i don’t read them. au is actually usually one of my favorites, but with x-files i tend to lean more toward a preference for canon divergence than au, i say, having written two different x-files au fics

hard no-nos for me are: spanking; any sort of spit/scat/piss play; D/s unless it’s extremely mild; and i can handle dubious consent if it treads the line veeerrry carefully, but no explicit non-con plz&thnx

6. For your Santa, but also just for fun, describe your ideal X-Files episode. Is it mythology? MotW? A literal porno?

my favorite episode would be a MoTW, which is full of a lot of whimsy and flirting, but also at some point mulder is very concerned about scully’s safety bc -gestures at #2-. then it would end with them sort of solving it, but probably not actually, and then they have a heart-to-heart, and since it’s my imaginary dream episode, they have their first kiss and then fuck nasty all night, god bless and amen

7. Speaking of pornography, tell your Santa what your spice preference is, using the following scale:

Salt only⁠ ⁠— No spice at all please! I.e. General audience rating.

Black pepper ⁠— A hint of spice. I.e. Teen rating.

Chili pepper ⁠— There’s a bit of a kick! I.e. Mature rating.

Habanero ⁠— Definitely spicy, but most spice lovers can handle it. I.e. Explicit rating.

✨Ghost pepper✨ ⁠— Only for the spiciest of spice lovers. I.e. VERY explicit/kink/POANG rating.

i tend to loiter most around the chili pepper to ghost pepper range, but good fic/art/whatever definitely doesn’t have to have smut for me to appreciate it, so no pressure, secret santa, if smut isn’t your thing. (if it IS however, well then, by all means, go to town)

8. Those are the most important things, but I want there to be ten questions because it’ll look better, so tell your Santa what ONE song you would pick to describe MSR. (Or if you’re not into MSR, pick a song for your favorite ship, or for TXF as a whole.)

why the fuck did i ask this question when i knew i would struggle for an answer. my automatic response is “blue skies” by noah and the whale. i think the lyrics are fairly apt, but i also just listened to it on repeat a lot when i wrote my multi-chap txf au, so i might just associate it with msr in a like, pavlovian way. whatever

9. Almost there. Pick your favorite TXF quote.

too many, so let’s just go with “i’d do it all over again,” bc you bet your sweet ass i would

(oh, and also “you made me a whole person” bc what the fuuuuuuck, that’s the most insane, romantic thing to say to anyone, but especially your “platonic” coworker, jfc)

10. Aaaaand, ten. And the last question can be open ended: Is there anything else you think is important for your Santa to know? Put it here!

hooray, you’re free from my rambling! in all seriousness, what i want to make ABUNDANTLY CLEAR here is this: i clearly have a lot of thoughts and opinions about my our show, but the idea of someone taking time to create something for me, especially in this fandom where i have felt very lonely for a very long time, outweighs all of that shit. i don’t care if you’re newer at writing, or y⁠our artwork isn’t at a level you want it to be at, or your gifs are glitchy—i don’t care about any supposed flaws. whatever you make me, i will cherish. i can talk 5ever about x-files (believe it or not, i actually held back up there, isn’t that unhinged? i am broken), but i want to see x-files through your eyes, too. there is no pressure at all, friend, so please don’t worry about getting it wrong. you won’t. i promise ❤️

finally shutting up now! inbox is open if you have any questions. later, friend

-diz

[zehecatl]

2024 media thread PART OCTOBER

2th October: Sonic The Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island

so i've never, in my entire life, read a Sonic comic- even though i've been eyeing them for literal years at this point, i just. never got around to it. and i remember when this mini-series dropped, i was like 'oh? 👀' because i am nothing if not weak for (vaguely) spooky settings, so at some point or another i bought it, didn't get around to it for a bit, and then, finally- sat down and read it today

and yeah. yeah. i like this. i would, literally, die for Mecha Sonic, and i guess? i have to buy the IDW Collections now??

it's kind of hard to judge all of Sonic (IDW) comics just from one mini-series, but it did very much pull me in, and the art was genuinely gorgeous- like, woah! some of those scenes! i especially like the indoor scenes, really leaning into the spookiness there, and also i really like how the scrapnik looks... funky little friends 🥺

funnily enough, i think the character i liked the least is Sonic, but i'm kind of compelled by that? like, i'm nowhere near as deep in the Sonic hole as i want, but i kind of like the fact that he's a bit of a jerk. it adds charm <3

also i love Tails. like. i absolutely adore Tails. he's my sweet baby boy, and i can't wait to see more of him (since i likely won't see Mecha...), he is literally perfect

anyway, uh. good comic! yay! :D

5th October: The Amazing Digital Circus 3

man, TADC really just keeps on putting out bangers, and- in my humble opinion- this one is the best one so far

like first of all, love the setting and genre use here. it's not too spooky or anything, so people unused to horror can still watch along, but it's still really well done horror, and it's perfectly balanced with TADC's usual comedy. also the monster design- chef's fucking KISS. love the reveal at the end, it's so fun

secondly, rather obviously- THE KINGER FOCUS. god damn, they really hit it out of the park there- he's very obviously In Focus, but he doesn't overtake Pomni's spot as main character, and i really like how we're learning about him with Pomni. it's very charming, and really centralizes her as the main character. like. we are on this journey with her

also i just love him. like let me make that clear. Kinger i love you and i would kill for you

Zooble's wasn't as focused on, which is kind of sad, since they likely won't get an episode to themselves, though we can hope for more focus. on the other hand, i really like the dynamic they had with Cain, and using that as a way to let us see more of Cain was a real treat

it's honestly just such a good episode. like. TADC continues being nothing but genuine peak, and i cannot wait to watch more of it! good fucking show

9th October: Dome Keeper

oh Dome Keeper, i wish i liked you more than i do. there is, for sure, a really good game here- it's not very positive on steam for nothing, after all- but i simply did not click with it

like, i did put 30 something hours into it. i absolutely got my money's worth. but i'm already starting to forget about it entirely, leaving only vaguely bored memories of it behind... quite honestly, i just don't think i was the target audience, here

i do wish i liked it more, though. lovely atmosphere, mining is rather chill, and the base defending -while not a genre i particularly like- was a good enough combination of chill and tense. it was just not meant to be 😔

10th October: The Boy and the Heron

thinking back on it now, writing this after like, twenty days, the Boy and the Heron truly didn't hit as hard for me as i wanted it to

it's not a bad movie- it's a great movie, even, because it is nothing if not a Ghibli classic, and i think anyone who likes animation should watch it, immediately, but... i don't know. something about it makes me wrinkle my nose a little, looking back. it almost feels too busy, too full of its own ideas- none of the relationships between Mahito and the others really hit, not even the one that truly should have, no matter what. i liked the characters, i loved the world, but somehow it just.. didn't hit me

plus, the ending left me feeling kind of flat. like, i get what they were going for, i see the vision, but it personally just... didn't accomplish what it meant to accomplish

haha, i feel like i have to reiterate- great movie. like, it's Ghibli. as much as i'm nitpicking at it now, it was a great watch, and definitely one that's going to be remembered, down the line. just not a personal fave

13th October: The Wild Robot

man. this is such a good fucking movie

like. i knew it was gonna be good- i ended up going to see it specifically because everyone was gushing about it on the twitters, but, like. man. this is such a good fucking movie

i honestly don't have a lot to say about it, other than, like. this is with a family (animated) movie should be. it's such a perfect example of a Good Movie, with such genuine heart and so much love poured into it, and just. yeah. that's the good shit

i know some people wasn't overly fond of the ending, but at least personally, i think it was the right ending. like, it felt very fitting for the story, and could lead into a sequel. which isn't something i'm personally hankering for, but the book does have one, so, hey, that could be fun

but other than that, yeah, i don't have a lot to say? it's a really good movie

19th October: Niichan (by Harada)

i'm kind of waffling about how to properly talk about Nii-chan, because it is very much a manga about the relationship between an adult and a child, but it's also very much outside of reality, like. it's not unrealistic, exactly, but the ending is very much a fantasy, and one i really rather like, but at the same time, it does address the grooming aspect rather realistically, at least at first, but also, just. it's a yaoi. hmm

i do really like this short series. i like how it starts, and how it develops, and i like how it ends, and yes, it's fucked up, but that's the charm of it- the fact that Yui (the child) falls in love with Kei (the adult), and gets to stay in love with him, would in reality be beyond fucked up, but in the realm of fiction, it's. sweet

i saw someone interpret it as more of a work about the 'specific agony that comes from being considered “disgusting” to society, especially the disgust shown to direct or indirect victims of abuse who behave deviantly', and i do think that's more accurate than taking it Deeply Serious as a work about grooming. even if i did not read the actual essay lol

OH, ALSO. DEEPLY IMPORTANT. there's a really charming and delightful female character in this, and i love her so much; the way she sticks by Yui even as she finds Kei disgusting, is so very cute, and i'm deeply enamoured with her. Maiko <3 you are the queen of this whole story <3

i do wish we had a proper translation for this one, since the one i read was... messy. and it's a great work! as much as it touches on deeply taboo subject, i think it's fascinating, and extremely well-written, and also the art is a treat

19th October: Tenchi Muyo OVA series 1

i don't really like harem anime. like, i don't hate the genre, but in general, i find it deeply boring and bland, and unless an anime sounds really interesting, or i've heard amazing things, i am just. not going to watch it

and yet. Tenchi Muyo

at some point not too long ago, but still far enough back it's probably been at least a year, i watched a video on one of the anime series. and said video had praise. and despite myself, i was interested- so fast forward to now, more or less, and i decided- hey. there's a six episode OVA. i could watch that

and oh boy, am i glad i did, because Tenchi Muyo slaps

it is, genuinely, such a great little series- the animation is nice, the writing is surprisingly good, the characters are great, and despite feeling a little bit all over the place, the plot is interesting and engaging. like, it's no wonder this was such a hit back in the day, because i am charmed

and despite being a harem, it barely feels like one- Tenchi isn't a pervert, and is instead a surprisingly normal guy, who has just found himself in the most bonkers situation, and is doing his best to handle it- like, he's nice! he's endearing in his normality! i would pet him gently on the head!! and while there is a whole lot of women around him, none of it feels forced, or particularly in your face

also, the only real romance genuinely seems to be between Ryouko, Tenchi, and Ayeka, despite what Mihoshi and the branding would have you believe. and i'm pretty sure those three will eventually figure it out and kiss about it. they got those poly vibes

also, importantly- the female characters. like holy shit, i love these gals. i am genuinely, still, surprised at how well-written these girls are. they're genuinely such great characters, and i am really looking forward to coming back to them, at some point down the line

like Tenchi Muyo is just- it's just good. it's definitely one of those classics that shouldn't be forgotten, and deserves to be remembered, because they were cooking some good fucking food, here. it's great <3

30th October: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

i did not mean to take a month to finish this dang game, but such it is, and, unsurprisingly- it's good

like. it's Nintendo. it's Zelda. of course it's good. it's charming, it's fun, it's got an interesting gameplay mechanic at its core, there really is not much else to say

i do think i would have personally preferred a more typical Zelda, but that's not really related to anything other than personal preference. i like stabbing and slashing and jumping around, and while i think the mechanic is neat, it's not one that personally appeals

i do think it's a very smart take on a playable Zelda, because it's unique (and therefore gives us a reason to actually play as her, outside of 'i would like to') and does fit into the whole. wisdom role. she has. i do wish the menu was. better. because holy shit, it's so bad, but apparently TOTK (<- has not played it) has the same problem, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

there's obviously not a lot of story or anything, it's a Zelda, but it's got the usual charm and energy, and i really liked the characters. it's such a joyful little world to explore, and even when i was forcing myself to Lock In, i was very much having fun. also i would kill an entire nation for Condé

31th October: Late Homework

a little horror snack! for my Halloween!!

genuinely a fantastic little game that i had a great time with, even if it wasn't particularly long or difficult. like, it's just a good time! a little spooky! amazing atmosphere! absolutely fantastic lowpoly graphics!! there is nothing here NOT to love, and i definitely don't regret buying it for a second

there's also a bunch of costumes to find, and some score chasing you can do, including an option for a harder difficulty, so there's definitely a little bit of replayability here! it's generally not my thing, but maybe i'll do it with this one... it's such a neat little game :]

also there's a bonus secret folder in the game that shows you low res cat pictures, and i think that's the most genius idea i've ever seen. please. devs. do more of that. i wanna see your cats (other pets also allowed)

[crystallizsch]

Hello! ♡

I hope you're doing well!

For the character ask game, I would love to know your thoughts on number 12 and number 25 with Jamil please!

Thank you! ♡

AAH hello again!! thank you so much for being the first ask, i hope you're doing well too!! 🥺💖

hndfsjkllkds and of course of course, these are good questions aaah

━━━━━━✦ 12. What's a headcanon you have for [Jamil]?

Sooo despite my apparent oc x canon stuff, my headcanon about Jamil is that relationships (partners specifically) will be the last thing on his mind. His focus will be on himself which, like, good for him! he deserves to finally do what he wants without restraint.

I remembered his wish from the wishing star event that he wanted to travel alone where nobody knew him and i was like yeah you go king, just relax by yourself. Relationships are overrated (jk jk).

In the story he's pretty good at acting and hiding his true emotions so i imagine when he does get feelings but refuses to act on it, no one would realize. Unless someone really knows how to read people (like Leona for example when he sussed out his intentions with Kalim in one of the vignettes).

━━━━━━✦ 25. What was your first impression of [Jamil]? How about now?

Okay so, the progression of what i thought about jamil is so funny to me. I'm never gonna be over it.

When i first played the game i DID NOT care about him whatsoever (mostly because i hadn't gone through book 4 yet). Nothing about him particularly stood out to me ;;; (The others have overshadowed him 😔)

I started playing twst when the EN server released (i was a leona simp🧍but i broke up with him and moved on to riddle). Honestly i only played because of the hype around the idea of disney characters being turned into anime boys, so i lost interest after a few weeks.

I only came back last year when a friend showed me that there's actually interesting story aspects in the game so i gave it a chance again. I barely even remember the game when i came back and for some reason i had Jamil's dorm SSR along with my main SSRs at the time (Riddle, Leona).

I was like "bruh who dis" and promptly ignored him. Even when i got to finishing book 4 i was like "alrighty that's another traumatized teenage boy down" and forgot about him again ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (it also didn't help that i wasn't big of a fan of his overblot design)

This might have been the turning point but the scalding sands event was one of the first events that played when i came back to twst. Najma specifically had a HUGE impression on me because i thought "omg female sprite, Jamil's sister????" I was surprised the characters were like "they don't look alike" when they clearly do??? Anyways they are the siblings ever and i just fell in love with them.

After that I was still pretty neutral about jamil. During the event I was just casually pulling for cards without expecting anything (just the SRs). And guess who showed up. Jamil's event SSR.

it's so funny to me because i was still like "oh cool another SSR" AND THAT WAS IT. Literally only used the card because it was useful because i didn't have any good water-based cards (jamil my beloved im so sorry).

I know this is a bit anticlimactic but i'm not really sure the exact moment when jamil finally got the chokehold on me afterward🧍

So, to answer that question, my impression of him now is completely normal and unbiased (i am obsessed with him).

link back to ask game!