#i think you'll like it more later

[pennumbra]

Pin journey update! @xannerz and I were super happy with the response towards the Cass flame design I posted earlier, and we're thinking that it would actually be the best pin for our first project! With that said, here are some other designs we've also been playing around with- perhaps ones to revisit or follow up on in the future. ✨

The hand/moonstone design is the simplest, but it might be my favorite.

[faaun]

the way that diff languages sound r so fascinating they're all different and all so vivid

[sashisuse]

something something taking suguru's glasses off mid conversation and cleaning them for him and then putting them back on something something he doesn't even blink when you do it anymore something something this is second nature for you two. something something.

[e-adlirez]

The art style of Cloud Castle is absolute ass bro why are their eyes so big

Idk man it just looks.... off

I wish they brought back the og art style like Blue Scarab Hunt because that was gorgeous

Well if you’re referring to the book's artstyle as a whole, then calm down buddy the illustrations as a whole are pretty good all things considered (believe me some of the illustrations in the later books are waaaaayyyyy iffier)

But if you are referring to Danilo Barozzi’s illustrations in the book then uhhhhh… yeah I don’t blame you, I didn’t like the big anime irises either, she didn’t cook with this one,,,

The interesting thing is Barozzi also did pieces for Secret of the Snow and those looked fine (she did well enough that I have to squint to determine which ones were done by her). My guess is either she did a lot of the illustrations for the latter half of SotS and we just got used to it, or it’s because the artstyle of special editions 2 and 3 were more… experimental? Books 4 onwards developed a very specific… look for the artstyle that adhered very closely to the main book illustrations of Spanish Dance Mission onwards, thus the illustrators had to follow suit, resulting in whatever looks off to look especially off.

(Even with this set of pictures, I’m only about 70% sure these are Barozzi’s because of how alike yet different the styles are from each other in the book. The first one could be Barozzi’s, but it could also be Giuseppe Facciotto’s, since he also did illustrations for SotS and his stylization means he sometimes puts the eyes really close to each other in a way that’s weird but still makes sense somehow.) On the contrary, books 2 and 3 (and I would probably even include book 1 there) had a more experimental look to the illustrations, which seems to be based more on (and this is just a theory of mine) Giuseppe Facciotto’s iconic work for the covers of Mouseford Academy books 2-12, 14, 15 and 17 in the English books (he did waaayyy more covers for the Italian Mouseford books— he was basically the cover guy for the Mouseford books for a WHILE) as well as the books from Spanish Dance Mission to Lost Letters. If you’re wondering why those covers go as hard as they do, then now you know why.

(These aren’t all of Facciotto’s works for the covers we know in English but you can see that he popped off <3)

But yeah as you can see with special editions 2 and 3, the art direction seems to be heavily inspired by Facciotto’s artstyle.

However, when Barbara Pellizzari’s works became the aesthetic poster child of the books’ brand, that was reflected in the illustrations and how their aesthetic changed, as seen in the main books and how they look currently, special editions 4-9, and the Treasure Seekers trilogy.

This new profile thing of the girls? This was done by Pellizzari (coloring was done by Flavio Ferron), and thus it became the main reference for how the girls look in the book’s illustrations.

And it’s not just in the general direction to the artists for how to draw the Thea Sisters, but also in the direction given to the colorists. Alessandro Muscillo was the colorist for the special edition books since book 1 and the Treasure Seekers trilogy, and you can see that the direction for the style varied through books 1-3, like maybe direction was experimenting with the mood the illustrations were to convey, beginning with the cartoony and bright colors of book 1, easing into the more grounded and layered palettes of books 2 and 3

Then book 4 was when they transitioned to using digital art /j

I jest, but seriously book 4 was the debut of the coloring style we end up keeping for the rest of the special editions and for all of Treasure Seekers, which is very… bright :D

(I would show more picture examples but I manually took pictures of my physical copies for the Cloud Castle and SotS illustrations and gwuh I’m too lazy to grab my entire collection just to take pictures,,)

Bright as in like… the colors are very defined and saturated. I dunno how to describe it, but when you see it, you get what I mean. It’s very bright and pretty and colorful and it stands out. There are still variations that happen on occasion (Star Fairies in particular uses a good dose of airbrush for the lighting and shadow effects, and Crystal Fairies looks like someone had a bit of fun using sparkle brushes), but other than that, it’s very bright. I don’t hate it, but I do acknowledge that yeah, if I was introduced to the series when it had fully transitioned to the new style, I never would’ve gotten into the series in the first place, because the older books had something that didn’t make it feel specifically catered to girls. The colors were bright, but not too bright. Colorful, but unified. They weren’t that complicated, and they didn’t have to be because the colorists (plural, there were at least 3 per book once upon a time) were popping the hell off with the colors they were given. But y’know, the newer books’ consistent style did give me a good spot to practice drawing mouse furries so I’m not complaining too much about the newer style, haha.

(Tiny baby E’s (it’s literally from 2020 what’re you on about mate) her first mouse Violet drawing using Barbara Pellizzari’s artstyle in Treasure Seekers 1 as an anatomy guide!!)

With that said tho, yeah I miss the old books -m- dunno if it’d fit the aesthetic of the special editions but m a n we could’ve had it and it probably would’ve looked cool

Also the illustrations go way harder in the older books, like Prince's Emerald? I've talked about Prince's Emerald and how it goes hard before, and I still stand by it and say that it does in fact still go hard

Maybe it won't fit the uh splash of color they gave the hardcovers, but imagine they grabbed Giulia Basile's coloring work for the graphic novels and used that as sort've a basis for the coloring style of the hardcovers. Not exactly the same-- would probably still add a touch of whimsical watercolor and/or paint to the very cel-shaded style, but we could've had something pretty dope -m-

Anyway that's my ramble simultaneously defending the hardcovers' artstyle and reminiscing on what could've been haha

[izloveshorses]

Oh, we could make a good thing bad.

[donnyclaws]

Not posting abt tiger crawl home as much bc I'm having fun with my little scratchings and updates but it's so going somewhere rn

[peridots-pixiwolf]

[Start ID. A dark, warm-toned drawing of Tundra, a robot with bladed legs and mechanical hands both lightened by frost, and a face like that of a fencing mask. She wears a blue jacket with a fluffy white ruff and pockets on the shoulders and chest, a long green skirt with tassels and pale wavy lines at the border, and a brown belt with a pouch at the side. She's shown from the right, leaning back on a stack of pillows and a wooden wall as she looks out to the left, disregarding the open book in her hand, her legs bent in front of her. Under her is a yellow and red rug which pads gritty flooring, over her are series of low, round string lights, providing soft lighting in a room that's partially open to the night sky.]

it's a friend's birthday today yet again... in honor of the occasion here's a Tundra for @automatonknight :]

[kaurwreck]

Hello, i feel like you'd be very interested in this topic---i just wanna say, the real Yosano's life was quite bitter and very dispiriting, T- T she was exiled from infancy and was only removed from the prison of neglect when her father mistook her large forehead as a sign of intelligence (her father, was apparently an ardent believer of eugenics and wanted to produce superior human beings) and she was sent to school only @ the age of three.

It kindaaa made me think of how BSD Yosano was drafted from the candy shop because, too, of a sign of something valuable and special---the real Yosano was only noticed by her father when she seemed indicative of intellect while BSD Yosano was chosen specifically due to her potential to be of use i am biting my fist!! i am about to SCREAM!!

Also her father (the real Yosano) inherited a confectionary shop and i think it was mentioned in the manga that she (BSD yosano) was drafted from a candy shop, so i guess it's not too far fetched to assume, if we try to parallel them, that the candy shop BSD Yosano was taken from to serve the military was actually run by her family---she was taken from her family, however, the author Yosano didn't have a particularly strong familial love due to the neglect and indifference of her family and servants to her so it made me think that BSD Yosano saw being chosen by Mori as a chance to finally be acknowledged and be seen as someone who is capable of something bc the real Yosano's father looked down on her because she is a girl and even left their household for a week upon knowing that the child Yosano's mother gave birth to was not a boy AAAAAAARGHHH am only at the beginning of this biography book (Janine Beichman - Embracing the Firebird_ Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry-University of Hawaii Press (2002)) but AHH it's making me feral!!

Also if this ends up being annoying or something ur not interested in please feel free to ignore my ramblings/gen issoki

This isn't annoying at all! Nurture your heart and tenderness towards Yosano Akiko as you move through her life; there will come a point at the very end where it may feel like she's betrayed you (or at the very least, she may leave you feeling conflicted). But I think compassion can (and should) remain constant, even where our opinions, complaisance, and favor need to be pliable and subject to revision.

I didn't know much about her early life before, so this was really informative and well received. Her parents' neglect and abandonment contrasts starkly with how fiercely she loved and supported her own children. I think, knowing this, I have an inkling of understanding into how the principles she held at the end of her life could have become so different from the principles that defined her early career.

Those are also very on-point parallels to bsd!Yosano, and add nuance to the circumstances that brought her to Mori. I agree that the parallels really emphasize how important Mori, his affection for her, and his faith in her competence were to her; which is why he was so capable of destroying her sense of self when he prioritized her skill over her humanity.

Thank you for sharing the title of the biography you're reading; I look forward to seeking it out!

[goldkirk]

.

[stardestroyer81]

Upon finding myself in the midst of hyperfixating on Looney Tunes thanks to my bestie @shrimpuufriend, I noticed that there's a distinct lack of sheep characters throughout the series' multi-show run.

What say I fix that with a new S/I? 💙✨

[saints-who-never-existed]

Rereading The Terror

Chapter Fifty-Two: Goodsir

The first thing I think it worth noting about this chapter is that I believe it's the first of Goodsir's to be written in the third person and not as a diary entry from the man's own perspective - "...the surgeon had no stomach for keeping his diary. He tossed the stained leather book into his travelling medical kit and left it there." I find that shift fascinating and think it very much speaks of hopelessness and resignation on Goodsir's part - with death so imminent, after all, what story is there really left for him to tell in his own words?

He reflects a little on the short time that's passed since the great reckoning with Hickey's mutineers. They've divided up what little food remains, equally and scrupulously, no man really trusting another anymore. A representative "of each class of man on the ship - officers, warrant officers, petty officers, able seamen" share the task of searching out food from every remaining nook and cranny in camp while the rest of the men watch them do so. I find that a very interesting detail - in real life, in the book, and in the show, so much comes down to class divides and decorum and that's always worth talking about more.

Goodsir also reflects on his own grisly monologue vis a vis proper human butchery: "...while he was giving Hickey... the anatomical details of carving up the human body to serve as sustenance, Harry D. S. Goodsir had been horrified to find himself salivating." (Horrible From Supper, baby! Horrible From Supper!)

The three men who intend to set off across the island back to the ship have already departed carrying almost nothing - not even a tent. In contrast, Hickey and co. have loaded their boat down with all manner of random and useless bits and bobs: "Men all over camp...had been abandoning useless items - hairbrushes, books, towels, writing desks, combs - bits of civilisation they'd hauled for a hundred days and now refused to haul any farther, and, for some inexplicable reason, Hickey and his men had loaded as many of these rejected pieces of junk into their pinnace..." This is another thing I find utterly fascinating and can't quite parse all my feelings on just yet. What does it mean to reach that breaking point and to finally abandon, to reject those 'symbols of civilisation'? And what does it mean to take up those same symbolic items that others have abandoned?

Goodsir watches Hickey's group depart the camp and all he can think about is the trail of now-frozen corpses they've left behind them, sure that Hickey is counting on finding those preserved bodies for his groups' survival. "I just hope they do not find the subordinate officers' steward's body. I liked John Bridgens. He was a dignified man and deserves better than to be devoured by the likes of Cornelius Hickey." We have a few other specific characters mentioned that also break my heart. We hear that Jopson will be dead from scurvy within a couple of days, and that Tom Hartnell, acting as Goodsir's new assistant, has volunteered to stay behind with the ill men and face certain death himself. :(((

Returning to the subject of cannibalism, we learn that Goodsir has decided already that he will never partake in it. Interestingly though, it's clear that he doesn't condemn the act outright: "Yet he would also never cast judgement on the men here at Rescue Camp or on the expedition south who did end up eating human flesh to last a short while longer. If any man on the Franklin Expedition understood that the human body was a mere animal vessel for the soul - and only so much meat once that soul had departed - it was their surviving surgeon and anatomist, Dr Harry Goodsir." It's a fascinating viewpoint, especially when considering Goodsir in the show - like, his actions there being indicative not necessarily of a disgust with cannibalism itself but more at the nefarious and underhanded way Hickey has gone about committing the act is not an unfair interpretation to consider, I think. ("You’ve murdered this man whom you now wish to eat and are unwilling to butcher his flesh yourself.")

Soon enough, he's summoned to a meeting with Crozier and the remaining senior crew. Contrary to their previous plan, it seems they cannot quite bring themselves to abandon the ill just yet and have resolved at least to wait at Rescue Camp a while longer. They hope that they still might be able to hunt game in that time, and that the ice may finally break up enough that they can all leave - the sick and the still-'strong' alike - in the boats. Again, Goodsir's reaction to this is very interesting: "Goodsir nodded slowly. He had been so reconciled to the certainty of his own death in the coming days or weeks that even the thought of potential salvation was almost painful."

Nevertheless, that plan is settled on. They'll all remain at Rescue camp for now, they'll keep an eye out for any more nefariousness from Hickey's mutineers, they'll hope for a thaw of the ice, and for game and fish to appear once they move on: "...but [we] may have to pin our hopes on catching fish... a real probability according to such as explorers as George Back and our own Sir John Franklin." "Sir John also ate his shoes." said Corporal Pearson. And if that rejoinder wasn't hilarious enough, the chapter actually ends on a positive note with a bit of gallows humour as Crozier himself jokes that the reason he brought so many spare boots along wasn't just to protect the men's feet on the long march but as a secret source of food. The absurdity of this has them all suddenly crying with laughter, poor sods. "Shhh!" Crozier said at last, sounding like a schoolmaster with boys but still chuckling himself." :')

[dootznbootz]

opinions on helen of sparta being compared to prey animals? blink blink

*blink blinks back* Then immediately sits like this because of the question.

It's a good question that I'm happy to answer! It just makes me mad.... I sincerely hate the wording of "prey" being used to describe her.

SHE IS A VICTIM! THAT DOES NOT MEAN SHE IS "PREY"!

I can...see how people in ancient times may have used that word and still meant it in how she is a victim... but modern-day English-speaking people calling her that??? (considering how in different languages the word "prey" could have different meanings.) I'll just say that as someone who has been "prey" herself at one point, I REALLY hate that word as a descriptor. Just say victim or survivor. 👍

Honestly to call ANY victim "prey" is so fucked up. "Prey" to me, feels like "it's meant to happen." "Prey" are part of the food chain and so that's what happens. And to compare that to abduction and SA? Almost as if "that's our place"? It also kind of implies something being "eaten" or killed... Helen SURVIVES. She's traumatized and definitely needs healing and support but it's not like she can't find joy or peace ever again. Prey just feels so fucking gross.

Also, if someone calls victims "prey", I hope they know that Moose, Elk, Boars, Bovine, ZEBRAS, etc. are technically "prey". And these are VERY aggressive animals while still being "prey" for some other animals. And also that doesn't mean that "Oh, they're powerful! Clearly they should've been able to stop it." That's victim blaming :P

She is a clever, determined, caring woman who was ripped from her home for YEARS because Paris was a dipshit who decided he needed the prettiest woman in the world despite already having a wife. He didn't care about the fact that Helen didn't want to be there and was already married. He is so selfish that he will not let her go back even when THOUSANDS have died in the war! EVEN HIS BROTHER HECTOR AND PRIAM DO NOT BLAME HER! Granted, we do not know if Aphrodite would have let him undo their deal of "I want the prettiest woman" if he DID end up feeling bad for Helen and he wished to let her go home (I doubt it based on his personality though).

"Oh, if she is so independent/strong, then why didn't she just kill Paris and leave?"

AGAIN! Victim blaming!!! First thing, people who ask that have media literacy that is piss on the poor. You also have no idea about the political implications that would have happened if she DID kill Paris. She literally cries about staying there and argues with Aphrodite about seeing Paris, only to get strongarmed by Aphrodite as, guess what? A GODDESS WILL ALWAYS OVERPOWER A DEMIGOD. (This isn't Percy Jackson where he "killed" Ares as a 12 year old (Percy, you were my childhood, but that's bullshit.))

Even confined in Troy, she ARGUED with APHRODITE about going to see Paris! She is not some meek woman who just does as she's told with no pushback! She argued with a GODDESSS! Very few survive doing that!!!

She's not "Prey to fate", she's a "VICTIM of Fate".

[bumblingbabooshka]

Ok. Get closer why don’t you.

[daz4i]

how and why is there discourse about whether or not certain queer identities exist/if people should be allowed(???) to use them. why is "people know their own identity better than you ever could, and they're the only one who get a say on what they are" such a tough concept to grasp

i think if you find yourself offended by the label someone uses (especially if they're a stranger) or think it invalidates your own, it's a good idea to look inside yourself and question why that may be. more often than not, it's a result of insecurity or uncertainty of your own identity (or many other things, but i won't make a whole list here). whatever reason it is, until you resolve it, you shouldn't take it out on people for having an identity you don't understand

many have said it before but it's worth saying over and over. infighting only helps our oppressors. conservatives don't care if you're a cis gay or a xenogender aegosexual aplatonic lesbian, they hate all of us either way. trying to fit in by going for people who are easier targets for them isn't gonna help you, it'll just alienate you from your own community, and you're never gonna please them. the momentary rush you get from hearing you're not like "one of /those/ gay people" is not worth it and is gonna do more harm in the long run, i assure you

also, it is important to me to say this, but having some less than nice kneejerk reaction caused by confusion about an identity you don't understand doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything. as long as you aren't mean to that person, and you take a second to think smth along the lines of "wait a minute, this isn't any of my business" after having said reaction, you're good 👍 a lot of reflexive reactions we have to things are ingrained into us simply by. well. living in a society 🤡 and you're not terrible for having those thoughts. it's your actions that matter, and your second thought (the "wait, why did i just think that?") is more defining of your actual character and morals than your reflex. i know that having thoughts like this, even tho they're unwanted, can very easily make one spiral, so it's important to me that whoever needs to hear this knows this doesn't make you a bad person 🙏 you're good, keep taking actions to be good, accept other people even if you don't understand them, and you're on the right track :)

[skeletonlvr22]

Hey! I was wondering which state do the other skelies live in?Like Wine seemed really surprised when he found out that Coffee was in Indiana, so is Indiana really far away from the state that they live in? Where on the map do the rest of the skeleton bros live?

Hope this question makes sense. Love the fic BTW ❤

Hiii!!! This is actually such a fun question!

So, when planning the fic out, I wanted Mt. Ebott (both the mountain and the city) to be in a place that IRL there wouldn't be mountains (I think it adds something that there shouldn't be a mountain there, but there is anyway) but also a place that a fictional one wouldn't be too out of place.

So, strangely, I looked up where some of the Appalachian plains are! I figured it was in a close enough area in a semi-mountainous region that could theoretically house a mountain but typically doesn't.

Funnily enough, there is some in Ohio, so I choose that as their genesis, specifically somewhere in the southeast.

Plus, if magic and monsters were going to burst out of a random mountain anywhere in America, I believe Ohio is definitely in the top three areas, even if the closest thing to a mountain in Ohio is an overzealous hill. 😭 Basically, the skeletons are from Ohio because of course they would be.

Oh! And about Wine, Indiana isn't exactly far from Ohio (in my opinion lol), but to Wine it totally is especially in reference to Coffee. If memory serves correct, it's about a four hour drive from Ohio to Indiana. Realistically, walking from one end of the underground to the other would take maybe a few hours on foot and Coffee's driving. In contrast, it's a huge distance, and one that makes Wine feel wildly out of (control) reach.

Thank you so much for the love 💗 I really enjoyed answering this 😊

[ruvviks]

made the realization my vampire story would work best as a video game and now i can't stop thinking about it