#i think the background is too dark WHOOPS

[vnillatree]

Another Dandy's World OC of mine, Graham :]c he can be a grumpy old man sometimes but on the inside hes very sweet and cares a lot about his kid

The kid in question is Boxten btw

please reblog so my art reaches more people!

[pucksandpower]

He Wins in Monza

Charles Leclerc x Norris!Reader

Summary: in which Charles wins his second home race, kisses you in front of thousands of people against his better judgement, and pisses off your brother (again) in that order

The roar of the crowd in Monza is a force of nature, a living thing that pulses with every heartbeat of the race. Charles can still feel it vibrating through his chest, even though the race is over and the engine’s been cut.

He won.

He won in Monza.

Despite starting fourth, despite all the odds — he’s done it.

He throws himself at his team, elation pouring out in yells and whoops as they crowd around him, slapping his helmet, hugging him like they never want to let go.

He doesn’t want to let go either.

This is what they’ve all worked so hard for, what they’ve poured countless hours and sleepless nights into, and here it is — the reward. The trophy is almost within his grasp, and for a moment, it’s all he can think about.

Until he sees you.

You’re standing just outside the McLaren huddle, clapping along as Lando reluctantly acknowledges the crowd from his P3 position. Charles sees it, the way your eyes shine as you watch your brother, but there’s something else there too — something that makes his chest tighten in a way that has nothing to do with the win.

You’re proud of Lando, sure, but when your gaze shifts and locks with his, it’s like the world stops spinning.

His breath catches. It’s the same look you gave him last night, when you whispered “good luck” in the dark, your fingers tracing the curve of his jaw like you were trying to memorize him. The same look you gave him when you first admitted that maybe, just maybe, you were falling for him. The same look you gave him every time he stole a glance at you during those secret moments, hidden away from the world.

It’s too much, too fast. He should be thinking about the podium, about the ceremony, about not giving anything away, but the way you’re looking at him — he forgets all of it.

Before he knows what he’s doing, Charles is pushing past his team, the thrill of victory still pumping through his veins. The only thing he can think about is getting to you, of pulling you into his arms and kissing you senseless in front of everyone because what does it matter anymore?

He won. You’re here. Everything else is just noise.

“Charles!” One of the engineers calls after him, but his voice is drowned out by the crowd. Charles is barely aware of the weight of his helmet in his hand, of the sweat still cooling on his skin. He’s aware of you, only you, and the way your eyes widen just a fraction as you realize what he’s about to do.

“Charles, don’t-” you start, your voice barely audible over the chaos, but it’s too late. He’s already there, his free hand finding yours like it was made to fit, and he’s tugging you forward, into him.

The world tilts, and suddenly, you’re chest-to-chest, his breath mingling with yours as he leans in. There’s a moment, just a split second, where everything hangs in the balance, where he could still pull back and save you both from the fallout.

But then your fingers tighten around his, and he’s gone, lost in the warmth of your mouth, in the softness of your lips that taste like everything he’s ever wanted.

The kiss is electric, a jolt of pure, unfiltered joy that sparks from his lips and spreads through his entire body. It’s the kind of kiss that makes time stop, that makes everything else fade into the background. The cheers, the cameras, the thousands of eyes on you — none of it matters. All that matters is the way you’re kissing him back, your hands slipping up to cup his face, holding him close like you’re afraid he might disappear.

When he finally pulls back, it’s only because he has to breathe, his forehead resting against yours as he tries to catch his breath. “I couldn’t wait,” he whispers, his voice rough with emotion. “I had to … I had to …”

You’re looking up at him with a mixture of disbelief and something else — something softer, warmer. “You’re an idiot,” you breathe, but there’s no heat in it, just affection, deep and unshakeable. “We’re supposed to be keeping this a secret, remember?”

“Can’t,” he says, shaking his head slightly, his nose brushing against yours. “Not when you’re looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m the only one in the world.”

You huff a laugh, but it’s shaky, like you’re holding something back. “Charles, you just won in Monza. You are the only one in the world right now.”

“No,” he says, his voice soft but certain. “No, that’s not it. That’s not it at all.”

Your eyes search his, and he knows you’re trying to figure out what he means, trying to understand why he threw caution to the wind. He doesn’t know how to explain it, doesn’t know how to put into words the way you make him feel. How you make everything else fade away, how you’re the only thing that matters in a world that’s constantly spinning out of control.

“Charles,” you start, but the sound of Lando’s voice cuts through the moment, sharp and incredulous.

“What the hell is this?”

Charles stiffens, his hand still wrapped around yours, and he turns to find Lando staring at the two of you like he’s just been slapped. There’s a mix of confusion and anger on his face, his eyes darting between you and Charles as he tries to make sense of what he’s seeing.

“Lando, I-” you begin, but Lando’s not having it.

“How long?” He demands, his voice tight with the effort of keeping it together. “How long has this been going on?”

Charles opens his mouth to answer, but you beat him to it, your voice steady even as your hand trembles slightly in his grip. “A few months,” you admit, and Charles can feel the weight of those words, the way they hang in the air between the three of you.

“A few months?” Lando repeats, incredulous. “And you didn’t think to tell me? Either of you?”

“Lando, I wanted to, I swear, but-”

“But what? You thought it’d be fun to keep me in the dark?” Lando’s voice rises, and Charles can see the hurt behind the anger, the betrayal that’s twisting his features. “You’re my sister. And you-” He turns on Charles, his eyes blazing. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”

“I am,” Charles says quickly, his voice earnest. “I am your friend, Lando. This … this wasn’t meant to hurt you.”

“Then what was it meant to do?” Lando shoots back, his frustration palpable. “Because right now, it feels a hell of a lot like betrayal.”

You flinch at the word, and Charles feels it like a punch to the gut. He takes a step forward, his free hand reaching out toward Lando. “Lando, listen-”

“No,” Lando snaps, stepping back out of reach. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear any of it.” He runs a hand through his hair, his chest heaving as he tries to get a grip on his emotions. “I just … I need a minute, okay? I need to think.”

There’s a moment of silence, thick with tension, and then Lando turns on his heel and walks away, leaving you and Charles standing there, the weight of what just happened settling in.

Charles squeezes your hand, his heart pounding. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs, his voice raw. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“I know,” you interrupt, your voice soft but firm. “I know.” You turn to face him, your eyes searching his. “But we have to deal with this now. We can’t just … ignore it.”

He nods, the reality of the situation sinking in. The euphoria of the win is fading, replaced by the cold, hard truth. Lando knows. The secret’s out. And now, there’s no going back.

“What do we do?” Charles asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

You take a deep breath, your hand slipping out of his so you can cup his face, your touch grounding him in a way that nothing else can. “We talk to him,” you say, your voice steady despite everything. “We explain. And we hope he understands.”

Charles nods again, leaning into your touch, letting it soothe the anxiety that’s bubbling up inside him. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “Yeah, we’ll talk to him.”

You smile, but it’s tinged with sadness, and it breaks his heart a little. “This wasn’t how I wanted him to find out,” you admit, your thumb brushing against his cheekbone. “But we’ll get through it. We have to.”

Charles closes his eyes, letting the warmth of your touch chase away the cold fear that’s gripping him. “I love you,” he says, the words slipping out before he can stop them.

He feels you freeze for a moment, and his heart skips a beat as he realizes what he’s just said. But then your hand tightens on his face, and when he opens his eyes, you’re looking at him with a softness that makes his chest ache.

“I love you too,” you whisper, and it’s like everything else falls away, leaving just the two of you in this moment, in this space.

He leans in, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to your forehead, his heart swelling with emotions he can’t quite name. When he pulls back, his eyes search yours, and he finds the strength he needs there — steady, unwavering.

“We’ll get through this,” you say again, your voice a quiet promise.

He nods, his heart settling back into a steady rhythm. “Together,” he whispers, a small, determined smile tugging at his lips.

You smile back, and in that moment, with the chaos of the world swirling around you, Charles knows one thing for certain: as long as he has you by his side, everything else will fall into place.

[cat0901h3]

Goosebumps Books 1-10

Can't believe that it took me nearly two years to just do 10 covers for the books. Will be posting more Goosebumps in the future, along with other stuff.

Read more to know my personal opinions and critiques on my fanart for each book:

Welcome to Dead House: I wanted to make the house look alive like Monster House, so I gave it more human characteristics (ie: the people in the windows to form eyes, or the finger-like branches.) Also paid homage to a horror film by styling it after The Amityville Horror house.

The Benson children themselves look a bit depressed, that's because the first book is actually more scarier than the rest of the series, so they're a bit angsty.

Stay Out of the Basement: This one killed a lot of my green markers lol. I tried to make Dr. Brewer as menacing as possible while still showing that he is a father with the photos, There were going to be more plants reaching out, but I decided that the leaves hidden on him would be enough.

Though I have to admit my disappointment with the lighting. It still looks a bit too bright, and not dark enough. That's just my own critique.

Monster Blood: Honestly, pretty mixed about this one. While I'm proud of the bubbling ooze that looks like a skull, which is outlined by one of my colored pens. I'm not proud that everything else is so muted with brown. Almost all of Jacobus' works are vibrant and saturated, so it being dull in colors feels like a disservice to him.

Also, Andy's last name was made up by me, she apparently just doesn't have one. It's inspired by Stephen King. Btw, hope you love banana and strawberry dyed hair, you'll see more of it soon in future batches.

Say Cheese and Die!: One of my favorite books, and of course it gets the best fanart imo. The screaming skeleton form of Greg Banks with red bg in the polaroid, contrasting with the dark background is just super cool, coolest shit I've ever done. Though I might be biased, I really like skeletons. Like Curly.

I actually made concept art for a Say Cheese and Die! graphic novel, which includes drawings of the photos and Spidey! Let me know if you're curious.

The Curse of The Mummy's Tomb: Not much to this one honestly. Just a mummy casually busting down a wall filled with hieroglyphics. Though I will say, I was experimenting with shading with purple and blues like Jacobus. As you can see, didn't stick for long.

This is also the book that I discovered that if the protag doesn't have a last name, then there is an official one either in the Presents novels, the mobile app, comics or other.

Let's Get Invisible!: This was pretty tricky to draw. Drawing someone turning invisible maybe easy in Photoshop or Procreate, but this was traditional art. Sure Jacobus did it with airbrushes, but I all had were pens and markers. But I somehow managed to pull it off, which is insane that I even managed that in the first place.

Night of the Living Dummy: Ah, the infamous Pamela Vorhees book, where the main antagonist isn't the mascot, but instead some other puppet lol. I've seen a lot of fanart of Slappy, but never of Mr. Wood. So I wanted to do justice for Wood while still showcasing Slappy. While I am proud for how it mostly turned out, there are two things that bother me. 1. This is the night sky that is black, the rest are either blue or purple. 2. I forgot to add the lines that make the jaw on Mr. Wood, whoops.

Aside from that, I hope guys like that Misfits poster in the background and Kris's cool hair cut. The green was inspired by the comic adaption not 2015 Jacksepticeye.

The Girl Who Cried Monster: Please forgive me for the small thumbnail, I wasn't using a ruler at the time. The design for Mr. Mortman wasn't much of a challenge. I loosely based it off of the French rendition of the cover and gave him a large leech-like mouth.

In my headcannon, the teeth spin like a garbage disposal, making easy work of the turtles.

Welcome to Camp Nightmare: Another one of my favorites, and I think I did a decent enough job, too. The lighting is perfect, the clouds look alien enough, and you can just barely see the screaming campers inside the tent. I do have one issue though, and that is the size of the monster, Sabre. In the original sketch I did, he was supposed to blend in like a bush, but instead he looks like Sasquatch Sr. Oh well.

While they did give Billy a last name in the Presents books, I had to make up one for Dawn. Just based it off Gwen Stacy lol. Also, hope you enjoy the little bonus pictures down below.

The Ghost Next Door: The original Jacobus art was perfectly vague enough to keep the twist there but not spoil anything. Of course to do the same thing, but with a twist of my own. The "ghost" shadow that you see in the street is the Dark Figure that follows Hannah around or when Danny is near. I wanted it to look like it was constantly on fire, since SPOILERS: someone in the book does die in a fire.

Another headcannon is that the Dark Figure isn't actually a ghost or whatever, but instead the embodiment of Misery.

[i-heart-slashers]

You Smell Like Trouble

𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌: David (Lost Boys) x Reader

𝖘𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖞: You meet David, with his predatory charm on the Santa Carla boardwalk, and a thrilling, tension-filled night ride leaves you craving more of his dark allure.

𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙: 1.4k

𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘: suggestive themes. sexual tension. implied danger.

The Santa Carla boardwalk is alive with chaos—neon lights flickering, the air thick with the scent of sweat, sea salt, and cheap cotton candy. Laughter and screams from the roller coaster mingle with the crash of waves in the distance.

You weave through the crowd, your sundress catching the warm breeze, feeling the pulse of the night like it's a living thing. You're not here for the rides or the games. You're here because something in this town calls to you, a pull you can't explain, like a moth drawn to a flame it knows will burn.

That's when you see him.

He's leaning against a sleek black motorcycle, one boot propped on the curb, a cigarette dangling lazily from his lips. Platinum blond hair, leather gloves, and a long coat that shouldn't work in this heat but somehow makes him look untouchable. His smirk is sharp enough to cut, and his eyes—god, his eyes—are locked on you like he's already decided you're his.

The boys around him, all leather and menace, are watching, too, but they fade into the background as the two of you gaze at each other like your eyes are locked and unable to look away.

Your feet don't stop as you walk toward them, almost floating through the crowd with only one destination in mind. The blond's smirk grows when he sees you slowly walking to him.

"You're not from around here," he says, voice low, a gravelly drawl that slithers down your spine. He doesn't move and doesn't need to. The words are a hook, and you're already caught.

You stop a few feet away, tilting your head, a grin tugging at your lips. You've never been one to shy away from trouble, and this guy? He's trouble wrapped in leather and moonlight. "And you look like you bite."

His eyebrow twitches upward, a flicker of surprise in those predatory eyes. The cigarette glows as he takes a drag, exhaling smoke that curls in the air like a warning. "Only if you ask real nice."

The boys behind him snicker, their laughter rough and wild, but you barely hear them. Your focus is on David and the way his gaze burns gold under the streetlight like a wolf sizing up its prey.

You should walk away. Every instinct screams that this is a game you don't know the rules to, that he's dangerous in ways you can't even fathom.

But you've never been good at listening to instincts.

Instead, you step closer, close enough to smell the leather and smoke clinging to him and feel the heat radiating from his body. You tilt your chin up, meeting his stare head-on. "What if I like danger?"

The air between you crackles, the moment stretching like a rubber band pulled taut, ready to snap. His eyes darken, pupils dilating, and for a heartbeat, you think he might lunge, close the distance, and devour you right there.

Instead, his gloved hand shoots out, wrapping around your wrist firmly but carefully, like he's testing how easily you break.

"You're riding with me tonight, sweetheart," he says, voice dropping to a near-growl. "Don't ask questions you aren't ready to answer."

Your pulse hammers under his grip, but you don't pull away. You should. You know you should. But the thrill of it, the way his touch sends electricity skittering through your veins, makes you reckless. You flash him a defiant smile. "Lead the way, then."

His smirk widens, dangerous and approving, and he tugs you toward the motorcycle. The boys whoop and holler, their voices fading as David swings a leg over the bike, pulling you onto the seat behind him.

The leather is cool against your thighs, but his body is warm and solid as you press against his back. Your arms slide around his waist, fingers brushing the taut muscle beneath his coat, and you feel him tense, just for a second like your touch surprises him.

"Hold on tight," he murmurs, and the engine roars to life, a growl that vibrates through your bones. The boardwalk blurs as he peels out, the neon lights smearing into streaks of color. The wind whips your hair, stings your cheeks, and you laugh—wild, uninhibited, the sound swallowed by the night.

You don't know where he's taking you, and you don't care. The Santa Carla coastline flashes by, cliffs and ocean blending into a dark, endless expanse.

David's laughter, low and rough, cuts through the roar of the engine, and you feel it in your chest, a dangerous harmony to your own reckless joy.

Eventually, he slows, pulling off the road onto a rocky overlook perched above the sea. The bike rumbles to a stop, and the sudden silence is deafening, broken only by the distant crash of waves. You slide off the seat, legs shaky from the ride, and turn to find David watching you, one arm draped over the handlebars, his gaze unreadable but intense.

"Nice view," you say, gesturing to the ocean, but your eyes stay on him. He's still straddling the bike, all sharp angles and coiled power, like a panther deciding whether to pounce.

He doesn't answer right away.

Instead, he climbs off the bike, slow and deliberate, and steps toward you. The space between you shrinks, and your breath catches as he stops just close enough for you to feel the heat of him again. He's taller than you realized, his presence looming, and his voice is a low, dangerous purr when he speaks.

"You smell like trouble," he says, echoing the vibe of that first moment on the boardwalk. His gloved hand lifts, brushing a strand of hair from your face, the leather cool against your flushed skin. "And I'm starting to think you know exactly what you're doing."

Your heart skips, but you don't back down. You never do. "Maybe I do," you reply, voice softer now, laced with a challenge. "Or maybe I'm just curious how much trouble you really are."

His lips twitch, not quite a smile, but something darker, hungrier. He leans in, close enough that you can feel his breath against your neck, cool and teasing. "Careful, sweetheart," he murmurs, and there's a hint of something sharp in his tone that makes your skin prickle with both fear and want. "Curiosity like that can get you in deep."

You tilt your head just enough to meet his gaze, your lips inches from his. The tension is a live wire humming between you, and you're not sure if you want to close the gap or see how long you can make it last. "Good thing I want that."

A low chuckle rumbles from his chest, and for a moment, you think he's going to kiss you. His hand slides to the back of your neck, fingers tangling in your hair, and your breath hitches. But then he pulls back, just enough to leave you wanting, his eyes glinting with amusement and something far more dangerous.

"Not yet," he says, voice rough. "You're not ready for me yet."

The words are a promise and a threat, sending a shiver down your spine. You want to argue and push, but there's a small, quiet part of you that knows he's right.

There's something about him, something beyond the leather and the smirk, that feels like it could unravel you completely.

He steps back, releasing you, and the sudden absence of his touch leaves you unsteady. He jerks his head toward the bike. "Come on. Night's not over."

You follow because, of course, you do.

The ride back is quieter, the tension still simmering but softer now, like embers instead of a blaze. Riding through Santa Carla at night on the back of his bike felt like a fever dream.

When he finally drops you off at the boardwalk, the crowd has thinned, and the neon lights dimmer. He doesn't get off the bike this time; he just watches you with that same unreadable intensity.

"See you around, trouble," he says, and the nickname feels like a brand like he's claimed a piece of you without even trying — without even asking.

You watch him ride off, the engine roar fading into the night, and your heart is still pounding, your skin tingling where he touched you. You don't know what he is, and you don't know what you've just stepped into, but one thing is sure.

You're already in too deep, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

[gsweazel]

your work is so beautiful!! can you share a little bit about your process when working with gouache and india ink?

thank you so much! and of course I can!!!

it’s a long one…details below!

I use gouache just because it’s what I have to hand, but watercolour would work well, if not better.

I start with a sketch, then a wash of the blue, covering the whole page - it can be messy because most of it will be covered with the black ink. at this point I like to go over the shapes with the blue just to vaguely define the forms.

I like to start with the darkest areas! usually this is around the studs, or the ‘seams’ (if there are technical names pls let me know 🙏). I try not to focus on one area too much at once just to keep everything proportional and remind myself of the overall form! India ink is fab because it dries so quickly, and as far as I’m aware it doesn’t lift once dried, so I can go over the fine details to add reflections and shading! when I do the shading, I treat the ink like watercolour - I dilute it heavily, going from light to dark. you can always add more pigment later!

I always forget to take photos as I go along, but hopefully this kind of illustrates what I’m yapping about

I was very silly and forgot to take my brushes with me to uni… buuuut from memory, I think it’s a ‘round’ brush? it can carry a lot of ink but tapers to a very fine point at the end, allowing for the teeny tiny details on the armour, as well as the larger washes of pigment. this is a4 paper for scale (I think that’s around 8.5 x 11 inches!) I use a bigger round brush for bigger areas! I also loosely sketch out the details in pencil before painting but the drawing is usually more ambitious than what I can realistically achieve at this scale - the squiggly lines were the hardest! I tended to depart from the reference at this point and make up some organic shapes. basically the smaller scale means it’s no biggie if you do make a mistake!

I use bristol paper - super smooth surface that holds the ink really well!

it’s a little different for my first knight though (below)! still started with the blue gouache wash, but I used fine liner pen. I think it’s either 0.5 or 0.3 - leaning towards the latter just because of the smaller details! this is a less forgiving medium imo, but super satisfying. I used black gouache to fill in the background for this one - I didn’t have any inks at this point. I’m working on a5 paper here in a moleskine notebook, so it wasn’t really meant to be damp.

also I am still bad at taking photos of my art - but I am getting better! I scanned the painting, then adjusted the shadows (just using the photos app). literally the only edit is turning ‘shadows’ down to -100, but you can see how much of a difference this makes! I’m including this because it’s always so disheartening when the camera doesn’t pick up the artwork properly. something I struggle with when using ink is getting an even surface with large areas of undiluted black, which is why I tend to adjust the contrast. if anyone has any tips on this I would appreciate it!

apologies for the very long post - if there’s anything else I can clarify please let me know!! I’m quite new to tumblr so sorry if the formatting of this post is a little off.

unfortunately I have just gone back to university, so it will probably be a while before I have some art to post - I also left all my art supplies at home… whoops! maybe this is a chance to improve my digital art!!

and thank you so so much for all the notes on my previous post! I read every tag on reblogs and they always make my day <3

[piyo13sdoodles]

day 28, chapter 76:

At the expression on Quintus' face Cliopher could take no more. He started laughing before he made it out of the room, though the loudest whoops came after he'd reached the hallway. He did not get far along, just sank down at the top of the stairs so he could try to muffle his mirth with his hands. ~ "Your family seems somewhat perturbed," Rhodin observed after a few minutes.

and bonus gallery shot + musings under the cut because it's been exactly 4 weeks now:

fun to see what kinds of patterns intentionally or unintentionally crop up... or also which days i can tell i was busy vs which days i had time or worked in advance to dedicate more time to the piece. if anyone's curious, on average one of these might take me 2-3 hours to complete! more detailed ones like october 23 i think probably took me closer to 5 hours, simpler ones like october 9 maybe 1.5h.

i am both sad and glad it's almost over--i've definitely lost a fair amount of sleep trying to get these done in time (usually i work a day ahead so i can post at a reasonable time, but that hasn't always worked out, especially in the final stretch here), so this pace does become untenable on top of work, but it also is really fun to make so much art! and to always have something to work on rather than becoming trapped into that idea of 'what should i do, too many choices, can't decide..' the answer is always inktober!

in any case, seeing the gallery like this is also interesting to me because it really helps me realize where i could have/should have pushed the ink a bit more--working in ink is (to me; this is definitely not gospel, just how i consider ink work) an exercise in controlling contrast. you don't have colour to drive edges or cool/warm tones, so the only value you have is the light-dark contrast, and in my mind at least, good use of contrast should carry across to a smaller format. for example, zoomed out like this i can see that october 11th really needed more contrast in the feathers--they blend too much into the background in a way that doesn't really work to emphasize that ludvic is standing in front of the candles there. otoh, on october 5, i think that one's fine because what i wanted was for the moon to draw the eye first, and THEN for you to notice HR sitting there.

overall, also, i want to keep these interesting--if the compositions are always the same, then it can become repetitive or boring, so i wanted a good mix of light and dark compositions, and a good balance of tone across all of them. which so far i'm pleased with! and this year i let myself use pencil undersketches and do thumbnail planning and everything (last year i really wanted to get better at visualizing the piece in my head so i set the challenge of just committing straight to paper... i'm still happy with last year's but you can tell i took on much more challenging compositions this year lol)

anyway!! much to think about, so much to learn, i wanted to work a bit in advance again so i won't be putting tomorrow's up almost at midnight again but alas i think it was not meant to be, so i'm off to bed and if you read this whole thing, congrats, have a cookie *hands you a cookie*

[daisies-daydreams]

Alright, on to the actual song request.

I can’t actually link the song anonymously so here’s the name: Those Eyes by New West. It’s just super cute and soft and I have a craving for domestic fluff and awkward, goofy, lanky punk boy.

-🪶 (also I’m 19)

Those Eyes (Hobie Brown x GN!Reader)

Pairing: Hobie Brown x GN!Reader Category: Fluff (Slight Angst) Tags: Mentions of Drinking/Smoking Weed, Depictions of Post-Sex (No Smut), Swearing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Reminiscing, Depictions of Injuries/Trauma (Brief) Word Count: 1k+ A/N: Omg I listened to this song for the first time because of this request and it's literally so sweet. 🥹 Flashbacks/Reminiscing scenes are in italics. Also I'm so so sorry it's taken me this long to finish your request, but I hope you enjoy! Song: Those Eyes by New West

You smiled up at Hobie as the two of you were tucked away beneath one of his bedsheets. He grinned warmly and pecked your lips, his mouth lingering against yours as he sweetly cupped your face.

"You got such gorgeous eyes, y'know that?" Hobie rumbled quietly. You felt your cheeks grow warm as your heart skipped a beat.

"H-Hobie," you flushed. Hobie chuckled as he peppered your face with kisses.

"It's true. It's the first thing I noticed when we first met," he sighed.

༺♥༻

Hobie blinked when his hand slipped against someone else's in the back of the cab.

"Whoops. Sorry 'bout that, love. Didn't know this cab was taken," he shrugged before glancing up. Hobie felt his heart stop as he gazed upon your face. To anyone else, you were a mess: your hair was tousled, your lips parted and breath pungent with alcohol (granted, he probably looked the same way after just stumbling out of the pub a minute ago).

But to him, you were a divine being shining before him.

Your hiccup drew him out of his trance.

"D-Do you come here often?" you slurred. Hobie cracked a smile as he chuckled.

"Not this particular cab, no," he hummed. "Where you headin'?" Hobie added with a concerned look. You gave him your address, your eyelids fluttering as your head rolled towards him. He smiled as he let you rest your cheek against his arm.

"That's not too far from my place," he murmured.

It really was, but he couldn't let you travel alone in this state.

༺♥༻

You grinned that sweet grin of yours, your eyes sparkling like two pristine diamonds. Hobie chuckled as you leaned up and captured his lips in a tender kiss, your fingers playing with his dark wicks. A smirk crossed his face as he heard you squeal when he playfully flicked his tongue along your bottom lip. He sighed as the two of you parted for air, your chests rising and falling in unison.

"I swear, I could get high off of your kisses," he cooed while cupping his sharp cheek. You smiled before giggling. Hobie chuckled. "What?" he asked before pecking your lips again. You bit your lip.

"Nothing," you shrugged. Hobie raised his brows as he shot you a lopsided grin.

"You sure? Doesn't sound like nothin'," he said as he playfully kissed along his jaw. He grinned as he heard you squeak, knowing his feather-light kisses were tickling your skin.

"O-Okay, you win," you yielded with a laugh, holding your hands against his taut chest. Hobie smirked and pulled back, his brows raised as he expectantly waited for your answer. You took a deep breath.

"My comment just made me think about...well, that time I called you from the phone boxes," you muttered sheepishly. Hobie furrowed his brows before his face softened, a chuckle escaping him as he remembered that time.

༺♥༻

"Babe?" Hobie asked, his face scrunched with worry. It's been hours since you went out with your friends, the dead of night having already crept over Camden town. He heard you gasp on the other end.

"Oh my God, Hobie! Hi! It's you!" you squealed. Hobie's expression shifted as he cracked a smile. He heard your friends laughing and snorting in the background.

"Guys, stop! I'm talking to my super-duper hot boyfriend," you drawled. Hobie huffed out a quiet laugh.

"Yeah, it's me. What's goin' on, sweetheart?" he asked as he shifted his phone to his other ear. He heard you giggle.

"D'aww, you called me sweetheart!" you cooed. He heard you gasp before a scraping noise was heard. Your friends cackled in the background like a murder of crows.

"(Y/N), you alright?" he asked, worry quickly rushing back in. You huffed and nodded.

"Yeahhhh, I'm great babe. Baby, baby babe," you babbled. "My friends and I are just hanging out by the river, smoking...stuff," you added. Before Hobie could offer a witty remark, he heard you groan. "Oh shit. Why's Kool-Aid coming out of my knees?" you said. Hobie sighed and shook his head.

"I'll come pick you up, yeah?" he said. He heard you make a strange noise on the other end.

"Mmmm'kay. Love you," you said in a sing-song voice. His heart skipped a beat at your words. Despite the two of you being together for about a month, it was the first time those words left your lips. A warm smile grew over his features as he nodded.

"Love ya, too, babe. See you soon"

༺♥༻

Both of you laughed as you two recalled that night.

"I've never seen you that out of it. Though I have to admit, you were pretty adorable," he said and playfully poked the tip of your nose. You rolled your eyes and snickered.

"Being high is 'adorable'?" you asked. Hobie grinned and tilted his head side to side.

"Well, not really the 'high' part. More like the part when you refused to let go of me once we got home," he smirked. Your eyes widened as you looked away.

"Don't remind me," you whined. Hobie smirked.

"'I'm never lettin' you go, Hobie. Never never never'," he recited your words teasingly. You groaned and hid your face in your hands.

"Seriously, how much pot did I smoke that night?" you asked. Hobie pursed his lips as he hummed.

"Enough for the police to not find any evidence," he smirked. You groaned again and shook your head. Hobie chuckled and leaned his face closer.

"Lemme see you again, sweetheart," he murmured. You made a small crack between your fingers as you looked up at him. He caught a small sliver of a glint in your eyes. "C'mon. Lemme see that beautiful face I love so much," Hobie said in a low, husky drawl. He felt you relax beneath him before you fully withdrew your hands from your face. He smiled. "There you are," he said and gently pushed some hair from your face.

That soft expression you were giving him, it was the same one he'd always remember whenever he was on a long mission.

 ༺♥༻

Hobie panted as he crawled through a cracked window on his canal boat. He grunted as he gripped his side, the previous battle with Doc Ock taking a larger toll on his body that any other villains he fought. He took several deep breaths as he pulled off his mask. His nostrils flared as he could still feel his heartbeat inside of his ears, his blood pumping rapidly.

Images of the battle flashed in his mind: every dip of Ock's tentacles, every punch thrown, the metallic taste filling his mouth.

His heart began to race as he tried to steady his breath, his ribs aching with a sharp pain as he pinched his brows together.

But then, in the midst of the images of fists flying and bodies being thrown...your face appeared. Hobie's eyes shot open as he saw you in his mind cupping his face, your smile warming him from head to toe. He saw you dancing to a song playing while the two of you strolled the city streets. His heartbeat began to slow as he sucked in a shaky breath.

Hobie smiled as he remembered the way you looked wearing his t-shirt during a lazy Sunday afternoon, or all decked out in punk gear at one of his shows. He sighed and closed his eyes as he sat back on his couch.

His expression relaxed as he remembered all the little things you did... and how each one made him fall completely for you.

----

Thank you for reading! ❤️

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[bellatrixobsessed1]

Pandora Paradox

Summary: Bloom learns that her girlfriend might be autistic when she asks about her favorite movies. 

AN: Bestowing autism upon Icy because I have autism. apologies if thus one isn't as quality as some of my other fics I typed it on my phone at an airport after pulling an all nighters. Whoops, no braincells.

Will post this on Ao3 when I am not on my phone.

Icy likes to sit on the left side which is a fine enough arrangement because Bloom preferes the right. She had tried to mix things up once and Icy had left the restaurant; Bloom supposes that she should have known that, “Bloom if you don’t let me sit in that spot right now, I will walk home” was not a bluff. Icy has always been pretty damn stubborn.

And so Bloom takes her spot on the sofa’s right cushion. She imagines that Icy will be even more particular now that they are in her apartment.

There is a lot to look at here; the walls are covered in horror movie and band posters. She recognizes some of the movies but almost none of the bands. There are figurines to match those movie posters and a pretty dark blue guitar that Bloom isn’t sure Icy can actually play as well as lots of ice sculptures, decorative skulls, and incense burners. There are other trinkets too; bones, old looking keys, mini-cauldrons, what appears to be a handmade broom, and a few crystals that may or may not be authentic. 

“Hey so, it’s kind of cold in here.” She remarks of the temperature.

Icy nods. “As it should be.” 

Bloom blinks. Icy stares back. Bloom coughs. Icy stares. “Um…?”

“Yeah?”

“I said that it’s cold in here.”

“And I replied that that’s how it should be.” Icy nods and takes her spot on the sofa. 

“I was hoping that you could get me a blanket or something. You do have blankets for guests, right?” Why does Bloom get the sense that she does not? Probably because witches aren’t exactly known for their hospitality. 

“I have blankets for Darcy and Stormy.”

“Can I borrow one?”

Icy shrugs. “At your own peril.” 

“I’ll take the risk.” Bloom decides. 

Icy gets up and tosses her a blanket. If the storm clouds with the angry faces on them are anything to go by, this one belongs to Stormy. She sits back down and pulls out her phone. Usually she texts Darcy and Stormy, sometimes she plays games. The sort of games that have plenty of blood and parental advisory warnings. Bloom tells her about her day and inquires about hers. Icy doesn’t even pretend to be invested in Bloom’s story and replies simply that her day was ‘uneventful’ and ‘pretty boring’. 

“Well are you enjoying the weather? Winter is almost here.”

Icy nods. “I guess. Yeah it’s fine.” 

Bloom sighs. She swears that, somehow, Icy was a lot easier to communicate with when they were taunting and insulting each other across any given battlefield. She is starting to think that the witch doesn’t know how to communicate in any other way. Small talk seems to agitate her but how else are they supposed to get to know each other?

A lot of the time Bloom wonders how she’d managed to start a relationship with Icy when she doesn’t make conversation easy. She thinks that it is nothing short of a miracle that the two of them have made it three months now. 

“Soooo-o…what movie is that poster for? It looks interesting.” 

Icy looks up from her phone to see where Bloom is pointing. 

For the first time in about a week the witch’s eyes light up. “Oh that. That’s a limited edition print of the third unreleased poster for the first Thorn Noose movie. It was the image that they were originally going to use for the 1992 release but they scrapped it for the version of the photo where the noose is simply hanging in the background rather than around Sybilla’s neck. It is signed by several of the actresses, including Sybilla’s, and the film director.”

“That sounds like it was hard to come by.”

Icy nods. “Darcy, Stormy and I spent the night at the theater so that we could be first in line on the premiere date. The first thirteen people in line got to meet the cast and some crew members. I have the meet and greet photos, they’re in that album on top of the decorative box. The one between the two rows of DVDs. It’s a prop box from the Pandora Paradox franchise.” 

Bloom nods along. “And what’s that movie about?’

“Thorn Noose or Pandora Paradox?” She doesn’t wait for an answer. “Thorn Noose is about a woman who was hung using a thorny vine. She was killed after being falsely accused of murdering her own children. She haunts the forest that she was murdered in. She usually takes the form of a raven.” She pauses. “The Pandora Paradox franchise is a bit more complicated. It’s more of a psychological horror film. One of those where you have to pay attention to every single detail and moment or else you will be completely lost. It’s sort of like…” She hums to herself. “We should watch it today. This is a movie that can’t be explained it has to be watched.”

She makes her way around the room, pointing at poster after poster and sharing how she had acquired the poster and what movie or band it is for. The largest band poster is, apparently, a band that had made the soundtrack for a movie called ‘Dread Knot.’ The movie had been named after the band too.

And that’s how Icy is sometimes—grumpy and untalkative until the correct topic is brought up. Bloom doesn’t mind letting her ramble. Not at all, it is rather charming really. Even if Bloom struggles to get a word in, it is rather nice to see Icy in a more chipper mood. 

She pulls a prop dagger off of the wall and lets Bloom hold it. And she lets Bloom look through her CD collection. 

At least now Bloom has a good idea of how to make conversation with her. It’s a start but she would like to be able to talk about their days and silly things like favorite foods and colors. For the time being she continues to ask Icy questions about each movie and band. She probably won’t remember all of it, but she can’t imagine that Icy would have a problem talking about it again. She has a whole lot of opinions about a whole lot of characters and about which sequels were necessary and which ones were just awful. 

It is, Bloom decides to herself, rather precious. She will never say it out loud, lest Icy never show enthusiasm about anything ever again. Regardless, it is up there on her list of things that are kind of cute.

And then they are watching Pandora Paradox and Bloom, despite giving it very intense and undivided attention, has no idea what is going on. Which is fine by Icy who rather enthusiastically takes her through every plotpoint until Bloom, after several yawns and a few glances at the bedroom door, mentions that she is getting sleepy. 

.oOo.

Sometimes she lies awake and overthinks things. It is fairly easy to do. The day had gone well enough. But she thinks that she has gone overboard again. She doesn’t particularly like bringing people over to her apartment because her apartment is comfy. And when she gets comfortable she lets her guard down. And when she lets her guard down her facade starts to crumble. She has worked rather hard to build it up. It is fairly effortless to keep it in place, usually a good glower coupled with a standoffish demeanor does the trick but Bloom has gotten used to that demeanor and tends to just ignore it. She takes disgruntled and aggressive expressions as some sort of challenge. 

The fairy in question is snoring quite loudly next to her and Icy finds herself gritting her teeth. It is such an ugly, grating sound.

Icy rubs her hands over her face. Just as she is about to give the fairy a good jab Bloom's eyelids flutter and she stretches her arms. “You're still awake?”

“You snore really loudly.” Icy mutters. But that isn't the only thing that keeps her awake tonight. 

“You could try a silencing spell.”

“Yeah.”

She casts it less for the sake of ceasing the snoring and more for the sake of evading the questions that Bloom comes to ask the next morning. 

The interrogation begins innocently enough. With a batting of her lashes and a. “why don’t you talk about the things that you enjoy more often?”

Because once she starts, she usually never stops and people at Cloud Tower don’t take kindly to that. She only gets away with it when she slips up because she has the right interests this time around.

Icy shrugs.

“I hear witches talk about things they like all the time.”

B“Yes well…” They don't talk the way that she does. 

“Well what?”

She offers only another shrug.

“You are really mysterious all the time and  for no reason.”

“I have a perfectly good reason.” It is the reason that she has had for as she can remember. Mysterious is cool. It is dark and alluring. 

It keeps her safe.

A nice little mask to cover all of those traits that witches torment fairies and nerdier witches over.

“And what's that?” Bloom tilts her head.

She really ought to tell her the truth. But she hasn't even managed to admit it to Darcy and Stormy. 

To herself even.

“Are you actually secretly a really nice person?”

Icy scoffs. “Don't be ridiculous! I am not a nice person.”

Bloom hums, “if you say so.”

“If you're not a nice person then what are you?”

Icy gives a slight grimace. Sometimes she does feel like a what rather than a who. Sometimes she hates the human body and all of the sensations it comes with.

Sometimes she feels like a witch's body doesn't suit her at all. But she is nit like Mirta, she is no fairy. She is no specialist either. They are all human in shape. Sometimes she feels like a void or a black hole swirling with snowflakes. Sometimes she thinks that that form would better match whatever she has going on in her mind.

That thing that she tries so hard to keep in her head.

That thing that comes out when she gets too comfortable.

Bloom's face falls. “Careless question?”

“Maybe.” 

.oOo.

Getting her to talk is damn near impossible. Bloom supposes that she shouldn't be surprised, Icy isn't exactly forthcoming, especially about things that embarrass her. 

And Bloom can always tell when she is uncomfortable; she stops looking at her, starts tapping around on her phone instead. 

“You're hiding something from me.”

It isn't a question.

“Yes.” Icy replies simply. She frowns slightly and mutters, “from everyone.”

“Everyone?”

Icy twirls her hair around her pointer. She likes to do this, usually when she is bored. Sometimes she braids and I braids her hair just to braid it again.

“Well what is it? Why aren't you telling it to anyone?”

“Because it…I need people to see me as I like to be seen. I don't need you looking at me differently.”

“You stole my magic and tried to very aggressively take over Magix. I don't think that anything you can tell me will change the way I see you.”

“Actually it will.”

“Icy, I've seen Stella stuffing her bra with pillowcases. I don't look at her differently.”

This does not draw the laugh that Bloom had been hoping for. Instead she swears that she sees the witch bite lower lip.

“I'm autistic…” she puts a greater effort into staring at her phone screen. She looks up for a moment. “You don’t look surprised.”

 

“Because I'm not.” She shrugs. “You have this sort of energy. Musa would call it a vibe.”

“A vibe?”

Bloom nods. “I've never met anyone like you before. It's kind of refreshing…even if I do have to put up without particular eating and sleeping habits and I suppose I will give you a pass on you offensive dislike of cheese pizza.”

“Right. Well, most people don't find it refreshing they find it aggravating and ridiculous.” Icy folds her arms.

“So what? You just act aloof, mysterious, and mean to keep people from judging you?”

Icys face seems to falling Bloom cringes. She had always imagine there would be at least a slight sense of triumph in hurting the witch’s pride but the look on her face blows away the last lingering embers of resentment that Bloom had for her.

“I get it…” Bloom mumbles. “It's easier to do the judging and mocking than to be on the receiving end.” She pauses. “Well I guess that I don't get it because I kind of always let people say what they wanted to me. I would tell them to leave me alone and stuff but that never worked.”

“Yeah.” Icy mutters. She is quiet for a good while before confessing, “I used to be pretty open about it…the autism thing.”

“But then…”

“People are assholes so…” she shrugs 

“You became the asshole.”

“I prefer ‘bitch’ but ‘asshole’ works too.”

Bloom breathes a small sigh of relief. There's the sassy, sparky Icy she is so fond of. “You don't have to do that around me though. Or Darcy and Stormy for that matter.”

.oOo.

Icy swallows.

It does sound nice.

To be herself without so much polishing and refining.

Without so many restraints.

She hasn't had that in so long. 

“I don't think that Darcy and Stormy will take so well to that.”

Bloom quirks a brow. “Well I think that Darcy and Stormy have known you so long that they've already figured it out and they just don't want to make it weird.”

“Glad that you have no such restraints.” 

“You should be!” The fairy declares boldly. “It's liberating. Soon you'll have no problem being all kinds if dorky and…”

“Now your pushing it, pixie.”

Bloom raises her hands. “Or you can continue being g a super grumpy menace to society that is too cool for activities like roller disco.”

“Roller disco?”

“Slap on a pair of roller skates, dress in your favorite brightly colored nylon attire, and skate around a roller rink.”

“I'd rather let Clout Tower students take a guided tour of my apartment and…”

“Yes! That's right! Embrace your quirks!”

Icy sighs.

“Make Cloud Tower students pay you money to talk about your favorite subjects!”

Icy sighs again and flops back onto her mattress faces down.

“Just talk until you feel the shame vacating your body like your chance to take over Magix did!”

She holds up her middle finger. Bloom takes her hand and gives her finger a little kiss. 

“Or I can just be so whacky and unpredictable that nobody even pays attention to your bitterly disappointing aversion to pizza.”

“Don't make me regret confiding in you, pixie. I promise that you will rue doing so.”

“You won't regret it.” Bloom smiles in earnest. “This will be good for you. Trust me.”

“Maybe it will be.” She murmurs. She can’t say that she as truly tried to be unrepentantly herself. It would be nice, she thinks, to have a real sense of confidence instead of a false bravado. 

Witches are known for their quirks and oddities anyhow. She takes well to that crowd for exactly that.

She opens her mouth but ‘thank you’ sits so strangely on her tongue. Instead she says, “your advice was surprisingly unshitty today.”

“You're welcome!” Bloom pecks her on her cheek and her face flushes lightly.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Gachi-Bachi: A Tale of Two Roads to Success (A Discussion)

Back again with another think piece on this blog. And while the last two came from an inspiration of topics that I had floating around in my head for awhile, this one came about from me scrolling on twitter (I'm not calling it X) recently and noticing the in real time evolution of two of the arguably biggest battle shonen releases of the 2020s. That would be Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi.

However, this isn't gonna be a simple compare and contrast of the series as works of fiction as I personally feel each one has different qualities that really distinguish them from each other in a way that doing a comparison wouldn't be too interesting. Rather what intrigues me is how they are a fascinating study in how series become big so to speak and despite the overlap in fans, there's actually some pretty key differences in their success stories that highlight greater things in the manga industry in particular. So let's ask ourselves: how did we get here, what role has fanbases played in it, what role has their respective magazines played in this, and just how truly successful are these series?

Background and Rise

Now for those who are just not initiated, I'll briefly explain the premise of these two series.

Gachiakuta by Kei Urana is a series set in a dark fantasy world where an orphan named Rudo is banished to the trash filled abyss after being framed for the murder of his adoptive father. In the Abyss Rudo discovers he has the power to use his magic gloves to turn objects into weapons, which he uses as a member of the Cleaners. He fights trash monsters and criminals in a journey to get back home and take revenge on the one who framed him.

Kagurabachi by Takeru Hokazono is an urban fantasy series set in contemporary Japan that deal with Chihiro, the son of a mystical blacksmith who had forged six magic swords. Chihiro's father is killed by a group of magical mobsters and his swords taken from him. Chihiro, armed with a secret seventh magic sword, will cut a blood path through Japan's criminal underbelly and take revenge on those responsible for his father's death.

I know Im grossly summarizing both works because I'm focusing not on the series themselves but rather the things surrounding each of them. So if you wish to know more, please check them out yourselves and see if you enjoy them. And just for transparency's sake, I have made multiple posts on this blog about Gachiakuta so I think its safe to say I enjoy it quite a bit. While my relationship with Kagurabachi is not that intimate as I actually don't read much Weekly Shonen Jump anymore, I did at least read the first volume just so I can say, I totally see why this got a following. Also just for clarity as I know the internet can flatten time in many instances, I want to point out that while I'd call these series contemporary, its worth noting that they're not exactly same time rising stars. Kagurabachi came out this year, in 2024, while Gachiakuta came out in 2022. A whooping two year lead. Hot did Kagurabachi get so hot? How?

Well if you're familiar with Kagurabachi in even a tertiary form you probably remember this meme.

This was a piece of promo art used by Jump along with a brief summary of the series before it was publishized. Now for a little context, at this time, two of Shonen Jump's biggest action staple series, My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen, were in their twilight stages. And at the time the shonen jump magazine had an interesting assortment of genres probably more than the last two decades. However, while One Piece would still be evergreen and their were action series such as Sakamoto Days and Undead Unluck, there was a hunger for a new battle series. And not just a new battle series, a long term investment battle series.

So when the news came down that WSJ would be releasing a "urban fantasy revenge sword battle series" with an accompanying art that definitely would fit alongside the heroes of the 2000s like Ichigo Kurosaki or Death the Kid, there was a reasonable excitement. Course there was also a bit of an over enthusiasm. Now like I said in my 2000s anime nostalgia post, I don't think this definitively means anything deep that there are just people who got into anime around the 2000s who just enjoy that types of series they were introduced to and were excited for more of that. However, over enthusiasm on the internet, is always prime material for ribbing.

So a lot of people on Ani/manga twitter saw slews of people posting this, and I mean this with no disrespect, kinda bored looking guy drawing his sword and being excited for a series that hadn't come out. This lead to of course memes. Lots of memes.

That this was the best jump manga of all time before a single chapter came out. It even lead to a bunch of people redrawing this promo image several times with different characters each with the same kind of expression. Now of course, this did ignore the fact that there was at least a translated one-shot released by Hokazono that people could at least check out to see if they enjoy his work. As well as the fact this kinda happens everytime there's a new jump rotation. Its just kinda in fan nature to get hyped for something even if all they have is a simple description. But lots of memes tend to flatten out context.

And so it seemed like that was that, the set up for the ultimate punchline. People had some genuine excitement, a bunch of guys on twitter made a mountain of ironic excitement, and now all the series had to come out and not live up to that hype. But then Kagurabachi did come out and the chapter was good. Sure it wasn't change your life spectacular or anything, but for a first chapter of a brand new series, it did exactly what it needed to do: Clearly introduce the stakes of the world, who the main character is, what their motivation is, mixing in some action set pieces, and leaving a little room for intrigue to watch the series grow. It hit the emotional points it wanted and hit the action beats it wanted. The end. That wasn't bad at all. Quite the opposite.

So here we are, left with what was essentially a free marketing campaign for people who probably expected it to get the shonen jump axe like a lot of new action series tended to get and instead they got something pretty okay. If there was ever a group of people vindicated it was those guys excited for Kagurabachi for the start.

Yes I know, meme popularity can be dumb or annoying. And some super fans and hype beasts who want to be there on the ground floor can be kinda cringe, but there is no doubt this was one of the most successful social media campaigns ever for a series that actually was managing to justify it. And for the next few weeks it would keep going and irony was almost completely replaced with sincerity.

The fact this was actually getting Shueisha's social media to acknowledge twitter hashtags and release a promotional trailer for it in English was such a first. Even if you don't like Kagurabachi or are indifferent to it, there is no denying this was unique.

But I've spent all this time reminiscing about Kagurabachi's social media rise. What about Gachiakuta hmm?

Well Gachiakuta was a series made by Kei Urana who had served as an assistant to Atsushi Okubo on the Weekly Shonen Magazine series, Fire Force. Fire Force itself is an odd beast we don't have the time to fully get into, but it was pretty popular for a non jump series and featured Okubo, a creator who has possibly one of the most devout fanbases ever, striking it big with many people's formative anime, Soul Eater. Urana herself was a massive fan of the series and if you've read Gachiakuta you can see the inspiration. However, when it was time for Fire Force to come to a close, WSM had announced that a new series by Okubo's assistant would be starting just before its end. And people were excited right? Well not exactly. Cause you had to be looking in the right places to even notice this announcement.

At the time, WSM series were mostly readable on Azuki. However, there seemed to be a weirdly non commutable relationship with Azuki and WSM's publisher Kodansha. As such it was kinda a gamble if a new WSM series would even show up on Azuki let alone simelpubbed. So it seemed like whatever Gachiakuta was would be Japan exclusive. But as if by miracle, the translation group, Pair of 2+ came in and dropped an English version of the chapter on release. The first chapter of Gachiakuta was pretty strong though mostly for Urana's incredibly striking artstyle. Made even better by the fact that the world of Gachiakuta was a fantasy world. And not fantasy in the way a stereotypical isekai is borrowing from romanticized European fantasy. But rather this sorta grudge world that was capable of having what looked like modern convinces, but there was things like a mysterious trash pit, a bunch of soldiers who dressed in ostentatious uniforms and a ginormous and intimidating trash creature.

I know it might seem kinda like a broken record now, but a big thing in the 2010s era of action manga and anime was a move towards more grounded and contemporary setting with stories. Juxtaposing supernatural or spectacular elements with the modern day Japan structure and order. Plenty of series were popular with this such as My Hero, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, hell even Demon Slayer does the same though set in a turn of the century version of Japan. These certainly have an appeal and obviously they're not going anywhere, but there was a growing perception that fantasy worlds in manga were kinda fading. We weren't really getting a bunch of One Pieces. Were were getting stuff closer to Bleach. So of course, deny someone something long enough and they become enthusiastic for the tiniest taste of it.

So with all this, how was Gachiakuta's first few weeks. Well outside of some territory nods and the obvious "This manga is trash" jokes. It kinda stayed low key. With people relying on scan groups to handle it, there was really no guarantee of consistent momentum. Sometimes it'd take two weeks to get a chapter out in English while the Spanish versions were available. sometimes another scan group may come in a drop a chapter, making it harder to find the series in one place. However, all of this really did end up benefitting Gachiakuta. Because when you remove convenience you end up creating your strongest soldiers. If you were actively looking for Gachiakuta and not just waiting for an app update, that meant you were committed. And committed people had to use word of mouth to get this out there. If there was a moment of big promotion it would be when AniTuber Gigguk's Trash Taste podcast had well know Vtuber (Full disclaimer I know almost nothing about Vtubers or Hololive. I'm sorry in advance if I'm not going into greater detail on their significance) Mori Calliope discuss the Next Manga award winners and give Gachiakuta a shout out.

So, we had Bachibros and the twitter take over, while we had Gachibros and their slowly growing cult classic. Both methods ended up creating some real die hard fans, but the visibility and promotion of both series is very different. And ties into...

How Each Series Respective Company Has Handled Them

So before I start this section, I know I've made social media a big reference point for the success of these series. I want to make it clear that social media popularity isn't a full story. Something may be popular on twitter or YouTube but not necessarily be successful. I think social media can be a good barometer of the actual interest of a series, but not its end all be all for its results. And I think no series really knew this better than Hunters Guild: Red Hood.

For those unaware, Hunters Guild: Red Hood was a series that released in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2021 and was a big darling with Animanga twitter. Its art style, its premise on western fairytales, going for a more traditional dark fable vibe, and of course attractive characters. It was easily the series a bunch of people were calling the next big thing. And then it flopped. It was regularly last place in the popularity polls and its Japanese volume sales were really unimpressive. So it got axed by Jump.

To say this caused an outrage with people would be an understatement. This caused a trend of people really trying to find "the answer." Try and make this seemingly senseless action make sense. Well tragically if you are a manga industry watcher like me you know that this isn't actually all that unique.

For a lot of non Japanese fans, particularly Americans, we never had the accessibility of the Shonen Jump app or the Manga+ app in the 2000s-2010s. If you wanted manga, you were using MangaStream and MangaPanda which had focused on basically the biggest series in the industry. While countless series that have run in jump and other magazines have just been ended after 20 chapters. But that information wasn't available to us in real time the way it is now.

If you're around my age range and know about the shonen jump ranking system, you were probably introduced to the concept through the series Bakuman, manga about manga that was really the first popularized look at how the sausage was made in the Shuiesha offices. A big thing that was a point of tension was the rankings. If a series fell low consistently in the ranks of readership surveys filled up by the ones who purchased a copy of shonen jump and submitted it, then it would be cancelled by jump. Now its important to remember, Bakuman was a dramatized recreation of how Shueisha operated. Things were exaggerated in the name of making an entertaining and tension filled series. In reality, the ranking system is important, however the editorial department of Jump weights multiple factors when making this judgement: what is in the magazine at the time? Is something ending so we can risk having this run longer? Is there a new batch we want to role out soon so we need to free up space? How are the volume sales doing? And has this carved out a viable niche for itself?

While yes its a good rule of thumb to say something in last place is generally in danger for not maintaining interest to keep it around, its not a simple yes no.

Thanks to Shueisha's Shonen Jump App we now get everything as it comes out. We get the future best and the future failures and there really isn't a way to control it. So to see Red Hood a series with some very vocal fans, it was always at the whims of Japanese customers who seemed neither interested in voting for it over other series in the magazine or purchasing its volumes as they came out. It is a hard pill for people to swallow, to have something that they like, that they want to be invested in and tell its story to be cut short.

But I would say that in this day and age while it is hard to witness this, the benefits of the SJ app are phenomenal. The SJ app is a convent subscription service at a reasonable price that offers the first chapter of a series free as well as the latest three chapters free. So even if you want to not subscribe you can still keep up on an official platform. And Manga+ being similar and not region locked. Thanks to this any new series debuting in Shonen will have the eyes of the world audience on it. When there is a new batch of manga that enter the series, it feels like an event. It really is a high risk high reward situation-you run in WSJ and you have the opportunity for everyone even beyond Japan see your work simultaneously, however you will still have to fight and maintain interest and hype for your series on a weekly basis.

As previously stated, Kagurabachi absolutely benefitted from this. And while yes some it was ironic, the fact that the promise of a new battle series was going to be on everyone's screens and have the biggest reach to find an audience is good. Now of course, we have to remember that WSJ still doesn't let non Japanese voters participate in polls, so while you can find a foreign audience it might not be what gets people excited in Japan (Although there have been instances of foreign fans purchasing Japanese volumes). Well jump may have gone an extra mile with this one. Kagurabachi would actually really early into its run cycle be given a recommendation by Gege Akutani author of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Now for those who actually don't know, in Japan, some manga are printed and packaged with a recommendation band that acts as an extra form of promotion. Siting a famous or well liked author giving a series a recommendation and a little image of the series they worked and sometimes a quote.

Obviously getting an on the cover cosign is a bit more prestigious than say, going to your Barnes and Noble and an employee has written why you may enjoy this series. And not just any mangaka, Kagurabachi was getting props from one the biggest mangaka in the magazine with a pretty ravenous fanbase. But for me a big thing that got my attention that showed how much jump was investing was the previously mention Kagurabachi PV trailer. A simple YouTube animation to get people to check out the work, plenty of series get this. But Kagurabachi's was the first to have it in English. A Japanese company acknowledging the server of the global audience is huge and I'd say this already seemed like it was hyped up enough, but then you have an editor of Jump+ openly acknowledging the "#BachiFlex" in an official statement. There's no doubt there is a fanbase and Jump is absolutely aware of that fact. And of course you can't forget those color pages.

So that's how Kagurabachi was doing, how was Gachiakuta doing? Well first we need to talk about Weekly Shonen Magazine and get something out of the way, they do not have a ranking system like shonen jump. Weekly Shonen Magazine actually seems to operate more along the lines of volume sales. waiting for a manga to hit print and see that actual tangible interest of the people who buy it. Because of this, you can see that WSM has actually a much lower turn over rate than WSJ. And that when there is a new series its usually only one or two at a time in a year. So if the series hinges on sales, it should love having a massive reach?

Well sadly, WSM and Kodansha have been pretty poor when dealing with the global market. I mentioned earlier its relationship with Azuki getting official scans out but there was also the deals it had made with Crunchyroll to have a reader for their work. Both services were not the best received, so wouldn't it be nice if Kodansha had a web service like Jump? A simeulpub on the international market. Well enter K Manga and possibly one of the biggest fumbles ever.

I mentioned before that the SJ app was made with the mind as a subscription service, this was done with awareness of what western audience were willing to financially invest in. Well, Kodansha instead responded with a resigned version of their Magazine Pocket app that included a frankly confusing points and ticket system with just straight up micro-transactions. If you're keyed into the Webtoon scene you probably know this type of weird gamification of a service is done in Asia.

Im sure you've heard the famous quote about how piracy is a service problem and not a pricing problem. People would be perfectly happy to spend money on an official release if the way to access it was ultra convenient. And making Americans learn things like 24 hour tickets, and daily prizes, and just having you pay for each individual chapter. Its just really cumbersome and I'd rather get back to reading scans instead. Also to add some insult to injury it is region locked so even if you wanted to purchase this in countries like Europe, you can't.

I will at least say some positives, I think K manga has a much wider range of series available than the SJ or Manga+ apps. As it takes from Kodansha's many different manga magazines like Weekly Shonen Magazine, Weekly Young Magazine, Monthly Afternoon, Monthly Morning, Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, and Magazine Pocket originals. And Gachiakuta was part of the first few titles at launch and it was some good promotion as later that Fall, Kodansha USA would release the English print copies. But promotion through an app a lot of people weren't really happy with.

Speaking of the print side wasn't doing so hot either. As this may be a surprise to some, WSJ is rare in the fact that it makes manga a real center focus of why you should purchase the magazine, meanwhile many other mags use covergirls.

Look Im not gonna say Shueisha doesn't do this, their Weekly Young Jump covers are really raunchier than this with their cover girls. But yeah not exactly the most bright thing for a series when its being paired against glamor girls and quite literally pushed into a corner.

But it wasn't all bad as Urana would actually end up promoting the series through other means. As mentioned before, a pretty popular Vtuber had already devoted time to promote it of her own free will, Urana herself would even be commissioned to draw cover art for them. Urana would do the same for Jpop band cvlte. We'd even have Kodansha ambassador and professional skateboarder Yuto Horigome have Urana in for a session to talk about art and just recently, British rock band Bring Me The Horizon was promoting the series.

Now its my opinion that no series deserves success or deserves failure. It needs to stand on it own merits and the ones interested will come to it. However, I do find it interesting how Kodansha as a company has chosen to promote their work. Even when its going harder (especially post anime announcement) it feels weirdly word of mouth. Getting all these guys from different subgeneres to talk about it while internationally having such a mixed roll out. But maybe that close inter-personality is what makes the Gachiakuta rise story more unique. Sure it doesn't have the same all eyes on me as Kagurabachi has gotten, but in a way its kinda made this more intimate whether once again cultivating fans who are really really faithful to Gachiakuta's success. This comes to a head in the 101st chapter of Gachiakuta with a color page, Urana thanks her friends in it fitting several graffiti names of people who have supported her and the studio that will be making this a reality.

And hey, while I've definitely been critical of Kodansha, there's no denying that, but hey they agreed to give this series an anime so that must mean its a success. Right?

Success?

So I've been mostly talking about aspects of Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi's more social and industrial significance. How they became popular and how they're been treated by their respective companies. But what about results? Why bore you all with all this hot air when I can just give you cold hard facts? Well by sales-yeah Kagurabachi is a hit. Like there's no other interpretation. It is a hit. It debuted at number 4 on the manga sales chart, by two volume on the market it had hit 100K copies in circulation, and is receiving reprint after reprint.

Also this is a bit tacked on because this happened while I was editing, Kagurabachi just overwhelming won the Next Manga Awards print category. By a huge margin and being the second highest number of votes submitted for a series after Oshi no Ko. Like I don't really have much to say but like... Congrats to Takeru Hokazono. Like there's not denying this is a hit. Like I read the acceptance tweet, he knows. He knows people have been gasing him up as "the next big thing" like. I have nothing else to say this is a success.

The Kagurabachi train is a rolling and knowing how hotly people are anticipating it to fill the shoes of success like MHA or JJK, its showing the results to back up those expectations. In fact, this has actually been one of the few times I've seen a lot of anticipation for a series that doesn't have and anime and that anime is probably off for quite a bit. As of the time I'm writing this Kagurabachi sits at 46 chapters.

As for Gachiakuta this was actually the most surprising for me to actually see the Japanese sales figures.

So for all the anticipation its final result is... okay. Like yeah these sales are fine. There's no way it be in danger of being cancelled and like any business would look at this and say its steady. But that's kinda all it it, steady. I always kinda hate talking about sales that are kinda just doing okay. Cause no one ever wants to be told that its not exceeding expectations, but there's no like rubbernecker cratering that can be entertaining. Its doing just fine. And that's really all there is for a series that's manga only for now.

Obviously the anime is announced. Its coming and it will likely get a boost in audiences interested in it (Know if it doesn't get stuck on like Disney+ or Amazon), but that's kinda why I wanted to get this blog post out before hand. Cause I wanted to compare these series as manga. Now of course you have to remember these sales charts are accounting for Japanese sales on debut. So its likely that there is longer tails than we know of for each series. However, its kinda funny seeing Gachiakuta's figures and remember how it won a Next Manga Award in the category of "Global Special Prize." So its not too much of a stretch to say in Japan Gachiakuta is still pretty punk and underground and the value is definitely in that global market. Though I have to have a bit of laugh now a how much that's been a pretty hit or miss effort.

So Gachiakuta is a success story, but its that sort of "A first party Nintendo switch game sold over a million units" type of success. That's good, but its not like making those Mario numbers.

Conclusion

So I'm sure you're asking what was the point of all of this? Why did you spend so much time of comparing the rises of two shonen action series that outside of probably their hardcore cheering section don't really think about their success stories?

Well to me, I'm of the belief that the ultimate goal for a mangaka (And really any creative professional) at the end of the day is to be able to tell their story, entertain people, and make a comfortable living while doing so. The end goal may be the same for many, but the paths to how we get there can vary greatly. If you made it there by blockbuster success or by underground hit. And the fact that those paths can be so varied by factors ranging from independent social media movements and the actions of making a piece of media even available for an audience you want to reach.

When writing this piece, I really got the sense of just how much bigger manga in particular is effecting the more broader ani/manga subgenre. Its not just that thing where only the best of the best we're getting English translation posted on scan sites, we've reached a point where now a global audience can have a series in their reach. Yet their reach varies.

We still don't have the chance to submit surveys in jump and we still don't have physical volumes of manga printed around the same time so we can take into account global sales, but we can hashtag. We can share these on live streams. We can have our own grassroots efforts that are actually having something resembling an effects on the choices of Japan. All of this change in practically a decade.

Will Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi go onto to be pillers of the anime and manga community? Mmm maybe. Their fans are super passionate and the great thing about fans is even though they can be loud, they are the ones helping make new fans. They're the ones making the fan art and fan fictions and reddit posts. For all we know when they get anime they'll pop off harder than before. Or maybe they'll get a bunch of normies who don't get or like them and will tell you how its secretly never good.

Still its interesting to see how despite these two series having so much of the same ground, both of their roads were so different. And that maybe you can't control how things will turn out in the world of social media and corporate management. Sometimes all you can do is your best and stand on your own merits and the people will find you.

Whether they run for 200 chapters each or 700 chapters each or anything down the middle. Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi, here's to you're accomplishments now and here's to many more successful years down your respective roads.

Anyway folks that's my time. I hope you enjoyed this think piece. If you do please drop a like or reblog. It'll really tell me if you're interested in seeing more content like this. And maybe I can share more and more about this industry that I'm passionate about.

[einsatzzz]

For the weirdly specific artist ask game, can you answer 3, 4, and 14 ❤️

Heewwwooo Butter!!! Thank you for sending this, yipeee!!! 🥳🥳💖✨ I rambled too much with #3 (What ideas come from when you were little), I'm putting it last.

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

I already answered this here, but I'll give you another. Lum/ine, Ae/ther, Ei, Xi/ao, Wan/derer and any of my other faves from any Mi/hoyo game that I play, because goddamn! Just look at their outfits! Back when I was still drawing fanarts for Gen/shin, I will die every time just from drawing the details of their clothing. But I was too down horrendous for Lu/mine to just give up on drawing her. So when I switched to drawing Sp/yFam fanarts right after, my art braincells are just "Thank God, this evil Gen/shin obsession has been defeated".

Not gonna lie, with them releasing Oro/ron and Sun/day so close to each other, I'm starting to feel the urge to draw them again...wtf djfbjsd Anyway, if anyone drawing Gen/shin fanart (specifically) comes across this by any chance, here's a lifesaver reference site that I used for their outfits. It made the experience slightly less painful.

14. Any favorite motifs

Motifs where there are opposites of light/darkness and sun/moon, but not exactly presented in a black/white way where you know from a glance which is the absolute good and which is the absolute evil. It's more of like ying yang, where there's "complementary and at the same time opposing forces" or that "in kindness, there's evil; in evil, there's kindness". I believe the gray blur where each of these sides converge is the best place ever to explore in fiction.

3. What ideas come from when you were little

The concept itself of making a comic! When I was around...I guess around 4th to 5th grade? Around ten years old or less? I remember drawing this comic of an original story I had back then. I think the setting is something like a historical drama in Ko/rea.

That's because even in the late 2000's and early 2010s, kd/ramas were popping off so hard in PH, almost every adult I knew were watching them. It would always play in the background whenever I'm doing homework or when my mother is tutoring me. The titles I can remember were Je/wel in the Pa/lace and Queen Se/ondok (<-OK I GOTTA CONFESS THIS ONE CHANGED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY).

Anyway, my younger self got so into this original comic story, I probably ended up drawing up to like half a ream of papers? sdjfbjshvfshd It's all traditional drawings with short bond papers with just a shitty ballpoint black pen. I was ten years old(?), so it definitely looked not so good. It's a secret project so I'm the only one who knows about it and I also hid it under our cabinet like it's some lemon fanfic hahaha (it's more action, tragedy with a bit of romance) I think it's because of that bit of romance that I hid it out of embarrassment, also the papers were actually supposed to be for when we need to print something for school projects, so I think I thought I was gonna get scolded for "wasting" them. I'm not about risk myself getting whooped with either a slipper, belt or broom bro 💀💀💀

I think what happened after that is for when your art perception improves but ur art skills can't catch-up, so I kind of had an art block and wasn't satisfied with it anymore. Then I ripped the pages and threw the entire thing away dsjvfhdsfvshdf 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿 I wish I didn't 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿 I have no start point to compare my current art with anymore and I can't even remember the story or the OCs that I had in there anymore.

Anyway, I'm making up for it now by making comics seriously fr fr and I won't be deleting it even if a ten-wheeler art block truck hits me and runs me over.

This question made me look through the oldest fandom account I can remember, for possible old arts and it's actually so funny/embarrassing how passive-aggressive 14 year old me is. Someone commented "I don't like this ship! This character is only mine!" on a rarepair ship fanart I showed to the group and 14-year old me replied "I understand your feelings, but you're not his only fan so keep that to yourself next time ^_^" ajvfsghdcghsdcds other interactions are also full of haterism energy it makes me go GHURL STOP!!! 😭😭😭😭 THAT'S SO MEAN!!! This 14 year old is a wholeass different person, who does this bitch think they are?!

[zutaras-where-its-at]

zutara prompt: au in which zuko doesn’t know how to swim and katara teaches him while she’s still unsure whether they can trust him (at the beginning of his redemption arc)

she hates him. really, she does.

he’s a no-good, lying, son of a bitch, and if he hadn’t betrayed them in ba sing se, aang wouldn’t have a scar cratered in the skin of his back. she hates him.

except—

he just looks so…pathetic right now.

everyone else is carving graceful arcs in the water, whooping as they dive headfirst into the frigid-but-still-functioning pool they found in the western air temple. even toph—who notoriously can’t swim and hates being in water—wades casually in the shallow end next to teo.

but zuko won’t even get in.

the heavy look of dread that muddles his sharp features and curls his proud shoulders inward is enough to elicit a stab of sympathy in her for the scorned prince, and katara wonders at the fact that sympathy and hatred are apparently not mutually exclusive.

it’s pity that leads her to brush past him with hardly a glance as she says, “if you don’t know how to swim, you don’t have to get in.”

“i know how to swim,” he snaps, then flinches when he sees who he’s speaking to. calmer, he repeats, “i know how to swim.”

she just ticks a brow speculatively. “you sure?”

zuko has tried very hard to be extra civil with her the last week, but now, she can see just how difficult it is for him to keep the glare off of his face. “i’m sure.”

there’s something there, then. something hesitant and anxious and dark that twists his mouth and keeps his eyes from really looking at her. and katara—observant as she is—recognizes it for what it is.

“okay. so you’re scared.”

he looks stricken, suddenly, adam’s apple bobbing once up and down in his throat. he still won’t look at her. “i’m not.”

it’s sharper now, sitting just under the surface, so katara sinks her talons into it and tugs—“you don’t like the water. you’re afraid of it.”

“i’m not afraid of the fucking water, okay?” he inhales and bites his lip and balls up his fists, “it’s just cold, is all.”

“cold?” she drawls disbelievingly. in the background, aang hollers loudly as he cannonballs into the deep end. “aren’t you a firebender?”

at that, his gold gold gold eyes finally find her face, and she’s startled by the raw panic she sees in them. after a long moment, he seems to make up his mind about something. she watches as he gathers his words properly in his mouth and confesses quietly, “i almost drowned. in the north pole.”

she puts two and two together in record time—because she’d always wondered how he’d snuck into the heart of the northern water tribe under such intense war-time surveillance, had always been confused and resentful of the fact that he’d stolen aang out from right under her nose when she’d least expected it—and frowns.

she thinks about her childhood, how hakoda taught them to check for thin ice, carefully pick their fishing spots, and above all, what to do should they fall in. it’s been drilled in them since they were young, that the ocean is no joke, but the poles are a nightmare should you step wrong. hypothermia, hidden icebergs, the disorienting dark beneath the surface—

katara hates him.

but it’s just so pathetic and sad the way he watches them all with lonely eyes and a fear anyone could see from a mile away.

because all too soon, she’s convinced aang that there’s absolutely no way he and zuko are strong enough firebenders to heat up the swimming pool, and surely zuko hasn’t taught him well enough that they could actually do it in under five minutes, and really, she doubts zuko even knows how to control the temperature so it doesn’t boil them.

she hates him, but maybe—maybe she doesn’t.

[32bitterra]

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror turns 20 today. I drew a little something to commemorate it.

Sentimental old person rambling under the cut.

Amazing Mirror is my favorite video game, and it is one of my earliest video game memories. I played it before my sister was born, and before I could even READ. I distinctly remember calling it "Rock Hat Game" (referring to the stone ability) before my mother corrected me. For those unaware, the unique thing about this Kirby game is that the game lets you explore the Mirror World and beat the bosses in whichever order you want. This game was full of mystery to me as a child. This was before I had internet so I couldn't just look anything up. I was always wondering what I would find next. I spent HOURS trying to find rooms I hadn't been in yet, believing they held the most incredible secrets (a child's imagination is very powerful.) I believe I got my first glimpses of the final boss when I was around five or six years old. I remember Dark Meta Knight frightened me because of how fast he moved, but I loved the music that played when you fought him, so I'd leave the game paused just to hear it (too frightened to unpause it or else Dark Meta Knight would whoop my ass lol. Does anyone else remember holding the GBA speaker up to your ear to hear the music? I remember listening to the Candy Constellation theme like this.) Something this game is infamous for are the NUMEROUS times you have to beat the final boss, Dark Mind. I managed to get to his second-to-last phase, the giant eye, when I was six or seven or so. If I had to beat his first form four times, I wondered just how far it would go. I distinctly remember having a dream that some sort of mouse boss emerged from the eye (funnily enough, I got Squeak Squad for Christmas when I was nine.) I beat Amazing Mirror when I was eight years old. It was a Friday afternoon, and I was so excited to finally beat the game that my legs went numb lol. Fast forward a little to when I was twelve or so, I started trying to get 100% completion. This involves entering every room and getting every treasure. I know this game like the back of my hand now. When I was thirteen, I wanted to see how quickly I could beat it after watching speedruns. I can beat it 100% pretty quickly now. It's a game I like to play for my friends because I can beat it quickly and without dying.

The drawing above hardly begins to fully encapsulate how much I love the game, and I struggled trying to think of a drawing that could truly show my appreciation. In the end, I went for something rather simple. Emerald is my favorite spray paint color, but if you asked younger-me, I would have answered "Ocean." I was totally obsessed with finding all the spray paint colors, and I remember turning the game off and on to switch the colors to see how they'd look with the UFO ability. If anyone has read this far, tell me what your favorite spray paint color in Amazing Mirror is in the tags if you'd like! Also, the level backgrounds are absolutely beautiful in this game. They look like paintings, and I wonder if any high quality, non-GBA-compressed versions exist. The light blue Peppermint Palace background is my favorite (it's also my header.) Let me know what your favorite level and/or level background is as well. I'm gonna wrap this up because I've went on for too long blurting my guts out over a GBA game. I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface about all I love about this game. I will not be making this kind of long-winded rambling a habit though lol.

[unwhitewashthebadbatch]

Hello, really appreciate the work you're doing to bring awareness! I was wondering if you have thoughts/resources/suggestions etc. for fic writers who want to portray the clones well. I'm genuinely thinking that adding an author's note might be a good idea, but I'd love to have thoughts on respectfully mentioning the clones' appearance within fic itself. Thank you so much for all you do!

Hi, and thanks!

When it comes to writing, it's sometimes easier to come up with a list of "Dont's" than "Dos". This guide from NaNoWriMo is pretty straight forward!

Of course, there are some caveats: unless this is a modern AU, you can't directly say the clones are Māori because that term doesn't exist in Star Wars. However, this doesn't mean that their features don't! From another character's PoV, you could say they have even brown skin, dark eyes, and dark curly (not coily) hair with broad noses. You can tweak these for your level of prose, such as saying "warm" brown skin or coal-dark eyes/hair--but do NOT use food descriptions, as this is objectifying and dehumanizing. So no "chocolatey" (I have seen this) or anything like that.

Some authors like to code their characters as being from a certain culture, race, or ethnic background. Think of how Temuera Morrison portrayed Boba in The Book of Boba Fett and the Mandalorian, where he proudly put his Māori culture at the forefront of his fight in the latter show. I'm much less versed on the basics of Māori culture and ways of life than I am other cultures, so I personally don't know how to code the clones in the GAR as such. This is where research is important, both in terms of doing your own reading and reaching out to Māori cultural experts if they are willing to explain something.

One thing that I've seen that's quite popular in fics/art is Tā moko, which are the tattoos you may see some Māori with, like this:

However, Tā moko is sacred and, from what I understand, relates specifically to one's ancestors, whakapapa (genealogy, loosely), and rank within society. Non-Māori can use kirituhi. @/tu_edmonds on TikTok/Instagram is a Māori bassist for Alien Weaponry who has Tā moko and also has a video explaining the difference between that and kirituhi. He's also got loads of other good explainers for Māori culture and language.

Physically, don't be scared to make the clones short! Temuera Morrison himself is only 5'7". I don't know why they made the clones six feet. Morrison also has a stockier build, the way a lot of Māori do, so don't be afraid to describe them being bigger and less cut/lean than the 180 lbs they supposedly are in canon (although I refuse to believe that's true because that is incredibly thin).

This might be more than you bargained for, whoops! But these are the basic things I could come up with for describing clones in fics!

There are other ways to support #UnwhitewashTBB, if you like. I've been looking at and supporting @end-otw-racism (highly recommend you support them too!) and people will change the title of their fics or tag there works with #EndOTWRacism, as well as bookmark them/add them to collections? I'm not sure how exactly it works.

But if you or anyone else understands how this works, and your work is explicitly non-racist in nature (and focuses on the clones) I don't see why you can't also tag your work or write an AN that says #UnwhitewashTBB.

Hope this helps!

~ Mod CH

[fabled-table]

I FINISHED THE SHOES!

These are the shoes that made me wonder how much sharpie inhalation is too much before moving to painting them.

I really like how the turned out!

I also painted the Fears on the heels! (left to right: desolation, corruption, vast, web, lonely, slaughter, spiral, buried, end, flesh, stranger, dark, eye, hunt)

After I catch up on TMAGP (I just started!!) I will probably paint the soles TMAGP themed but for now we have this.

I had a lotta fun making these but i did get paint everywhere (whoops) and the right shoe still smells like sharpie (oops).

I think in the background are some pins im making as well (Bill cipher, the eye, and the jurgen lietner rant).

I also may clean up the paint off the rest of the shoe but for now, I am just gonna keep them as is :D

[just-a-casual-newtasaur]

Moonshine

Moonshine (Newt x Reader)

Word Count: 746 words

Warnings: kissing, drunken, alcohol, fighting, (the usual stuff)

Summary: when Newt catches up to you, you start to wonder how much he really had to drink.

you sit around the fire, flickering orange light, illuminating the boys faces. Gally was handing out bottles of his very own moonshine, not good but it’s the only alcohol they have here, despite it being requested to be sent up in the box, multiple times.

a book rests on your lap, with you not wanting to drink or join in with the boys fighting. a blond boy is fighting with a dark haired boy with Asian features. the others cheer and whoop, bursting out laughing as the boys wrestle with each other.

Minho and Newt, both of them obviously drunk, what with their jerky movements and goofy smiles on their faces.

a loud cheer rises as the Newt gets to his feet, grinning rather lopsidedly. Minho jumps up, brushing dust from his clothes, demanding a rematch.

you roll your eyes, and walk away from the group, knowing all too well that Minho would demand rematches until he won. which wouldn’t happen unless he took advantage of Newt’s leg, which you knew, no matter how drunk he was, he wouldn’t do.

the huts in the distance are dark, most of the gladers being at the campfire. you almost are at the huts when stumbling footsteps reach your ears.

you turn to see Newt, still grinning goofily. “Hey y/n” his words are slurred and his eyes unfocused. “Hey?”. you find yourself wondering how much moonshine he’d had.

“you look pretty”. you almost burst out laughing, his slurred, nonsense words and ever goofier grin, spreading across his face, was too hilarious.

“Easy there tiger”. he looks behind him,

“where, where’s the tiger?”. you really laugh now. “I think you need to get some sleep”. you hold onto Newt’s shoulder and steer him towards his hut, with him babbling the whole time.

he doesn’t look where he’s putting his feet and ends up dragging you down on top of him. his unfocused eyes narrow in confusion. “What are you doing down here” then the smile is back on his face, “you like me don’t you”

you laugh again as you pull him to his feet, keeping him moving towards the hut. the truth was you did like him, but what with him being completely unaware of what he was saying, on top of the fact he’d remember nothing of your encounter in the morning, it didn’t seem like a good time to admit it.

the door opens and you’re about to walk through when Newt turns to face you. “You alright?”. he doesn’t answer, just stares at you, looking like he was suffering with some painful internal struggle.

whether he was aware of it or now, you may never know, but before you can think, Newt is approaching you. “umhn”

you barley have time to say another word before his lips are pressed against yours. his breath smells stale and you can taste the alcohol on his mouth.

but, after the moment of shock passes, you find yourself kissing him back. swaying slightly on the spot. footsteps approach you, but you don’t care.

“Oi” Minho’s voice shouts from far away, slurred like Newt’s “Newt’s snogging y/n”. him and some other gladers start up a chant, over and over again “Newt’s snogging y/n, Newt’s snogging y/n”

but, unlike you would in any other time or place, you do nothing, glued to the blond boy before you. the chant fades into the background as Newt moves you both forwards into his hut and shuts the door with his foot.

you break apart, spinning around on the spot with your noses and foreheads touching. the boy drags you down onto his hammock, and sits you down, not letting go of you.

propping yourself up on your elbows as Newt climbs in after you, you find yourself not caring about the sloppy grin that spreads across your face.

the boy lays down, letting you rest your head on his chest, feeling the thump of his heart against your ear. his arms wrap protectively around you, one playing with your hair and the other holding your hand across your bodies.

Newt falls asleep almost instantly, with one last yawn and slurred string of nonsense.

you find yourself slipping into sleep moments later, your last happy thought being the imagined look of Newt’s face when he woke up, finding you two cuddled together in his hammock, and the few gladers who didn’t drink telling him of the nights events.

but you find, that you don’t care.

[hedge-rambles]

Terrible isekai guides you might meet

Ok I keep thinking about that post about someone not believing the stupid rules of the fantasy land they're in I reblogged the other day and I'm now trying to think of just terrible options for meeting your guide to this new world when you get isekai'd.

The conspiracy theorist: You've got no background here, so sadly it's not your fault you don't clock that the faun you met after walking through that magic wardrobe is actually a nutjob.

You're quite a way into your quest to defeat the dark lord before you find out he's really a duly elected politician and probably does not, in fact, keep a dungeon full of tortured gnomes beneath his castle.

"Yeah, if you believe the establishment" says the faun, rolling his eyes. With hindsight, you recall the fact he lived alone in a shack in the woods and how perhaps you should have thought more about that.

The helpful AI: You awaken in a futuristic looking facility, your last memory is of sticking a fork in the toaster like your mother always told you not to. There's a console to your right, and the text is in your own language! "Hello, how may I help you today?" the speaker announces in a friendly tone. You tentatively say "where am I?", but are still surprised when the voice answers.

They've clearly improved things a lot since your day, but it's still embarrassing how long, and how many failed solutions to problems it presented, before you finally twig that it's still just an LLM. They've got the voice tone right, and the speech is far more natural, but it's still basically a hallucinating predictive text machine. You begin to doubt everything it's told you.

The confident idiot: Look, it's not their fault they never got a decent education. Just like it's not your fault you don't know enough about this place to know how wrong they are. Maybe the moon here really is a projection on the sky? It's not, and they've clearly misunderstood something they once heard about how the light of the moon is actually reflecting off it, but you weren't to know that. I mean, you just saw a fucking unicorn, all bets were off.

Sadly for you, the helpful young man who found you lying in the middle of the road and nursed you back to health, is kind of an idiot. Helpful, has the best of intentions at heart, but still an idiot. And worse yet, he's just intelligent enough to make logical leaps from all the information he's misunderstood over the years. Everything he taught you is like 40-70% right, or close to right, and you realise it's probably going to take twice as long to unpick which of the things you learnt were true and which bits weren't.

It's five years later, and you're still stuck in that strange world, you're used to it now, this is your home. In the tavern one evening you take a moment to lean over to a trusted companion and utter the stupidest sentence you've ever said: "So, uh, weird question but...do unicorns actually have venomous horns?"

The cultist: Yeah so uh, listen they seemed so nice when they met you! The friendly woman in the shining white armour, who couldn't do enough to help this lost stranger in her land.

Later you learn the visual shorthand here is a bit different to the one you grew up with and you've joined the great war between Good and Evil on the side of Evil. Whoops.

The skull-helmeted warrior-priests of the squid god are the good guys. Actually, it makes a sort of sense when you think about it, that the guys with the lion motif on their breastplates are the bad guys. Lions will eat humans; squid are mostly just delicious. And of course a cultist is friendly to a lost person seemingly with no connections, that's how cults work back in your world too, dummy. Shame they want to "end the world in blood" and all that.