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kukuandkookie · 2 months ago

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So the donghua, To Be Hero X, is now officially out at long last, huh! 😳 🙌 💕

And since I know a lot of people are only going to be watching the Japanese or English dubs, I would like to showcase the original Chinese VAs as well using this post I once wrote as a reblog!

Definitely really looking forward to this one because I’ve always felt like it’d be a feast for the eyes, but Li Haoling has also proven with his older work that he has an abundance of cool, pretty unique ideas, and even recently proving with Link Click and Ringing Fate that he can tell a good story with pretty strong emotional beats. 👀

The Japanese side for this one was more active at first, but that seems to be just how the donghua industry can be lol. They only occasionally release tidbits when they have something to share, and info on plots can be scarce, and info on release dates even scarcer—like I think Aniplex and Crunchyroll are the ones that revealed it will release in April 2025. x’D

That being said, I do have some stuff about it that might be new info to some people!:

When we all first heard of it, most of us assumed it would have a connection with two of Li Haoling’s earlier donghua (also co-produced with Japan), To Be Hero and To Be Heroine.

But even from the first trailer, my assumption was that the connection will be in name only—or that at most, we’ll maybe see a reference/cameo/Easter egg from these other two similarly titled series SKFSJJS. The former is known for being kind of crude, while the latter is known for being kind of chaotic at points. But both had some solid animation, and the latter also interestingly had a Japanese and Chinese combo for just the Japanese dub?? (it’s technically a transmigration story and the new world is in Japanese while the real world is in Chinese. Some anime fans find it jarring, but I think it’s a neat experiment). Iirc though, the Japanese version of To Be Heroine did kind of butcher it by splicing it up weirdly, but the Chinese original is quite hard to find outside of China??

Anyway, the reason I think the connection is in name only is both because we haven’t seen any sign of a tie-in in the promotional material for To Be Hero X, but also because it seems to be a “proper” and “dignified” animated series with its own set world-building and rules that don’t really intersect with its predecessors. Specifically, said predecessors were known for their slightly more indie but also bawdy presentation, as both kind of…focused on underwear (?) a bit more.

That probably sounds really weird ALDJSKDJ, so to try and explain a bit: in To Be Hero, the main character gains superpowers that turns him “unattractive,” and he himself is kind of vulgar and to top it off, he even befriends a perverted older man KSDGFJSD, while in To Be Heroine X, the main character enters a world where there are near-naked superpowered babies and her different articles of clothing can turn into warriors if not on her body.

…Yeah, okay, maybe explaining only made it weirder. 😂

But now you may see what I mean about To Be Hero X appearing to have its own self-contained lore! Not that To Be Hero or To Be Heroine were ever even that closely connected either ahaha. Maybe the connection here is just that Li Haoling likes exploring the concept of superpowers and how that can affect humanity, both in terms of the population and our humanity as people??

Speaking of To Be Hero X’s lore though, I can talk a bit about the premise!:

I got this information a while back and it is in my donghua recommendations list, but we also did get a new tidbit from the OP uploaded by Aniplex. 👁️

So in To Be Hero X, superheroes obviously exist, but only via trust. The more trust you have, the more powerful you are (and what I read back when the first trailer came out was that trust points are displayed on one’s wrist, but I’m not sure if this still applies), and it also means that if you lose the people’s trust, you will lose your powers. And the strongest one of all is the titular X, with his ability to change reality at the snap of a finger. And now the Aniplex trailers have led to me finding out that apparently a tournament—perhaps a bit similar to the one in Ringing Fate—is also held every two years to determine the rankings of top heroes, so I assume the donghua itself will follow one such tournament or something similar as we see heroes perhaps try to challenge X’s spot. That, and some character-driven stories about humanity in general, because that seems to be what Li Haoling likes to explore. 😆

And speaking of exploring…

X’s superpower is evidently a great reason for the really cool blend of both 2D and 3D animation!! 🔥

I’ve seen people claim it’s obviously received influence from Into the Spider-verse and even Arcane (which did work closely with China, it seems), and while I can’t confirm it, I can potentially see it. There does seem to be a rising trend in experimental 3D, which is very fun to see—and while I’ve enjoyed more hyperrealistic CGI donghua too, in Shaonian Ge Xing, The Island of Siliang, The Young Brewmaster’s Adventure, Ling Cage, Slay the Gods, etc, I do really like the experimental ones like Rescue Eternal Desert, No Doubt in Us, Chen He Ti Tong, and You Yao!

So speaking of animation, the studios we know are involved are:

Studio LAN—already famous for Link Click but also an old household favourite for their work with Li Haoling’s studio Haoliners, including some of my favourites like Beryl and Sapphire:

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And I guess as this photo from their office showcases, they really do work so closely with Li Haoling, as this banner features quite a lot of his studio (Haoliners)’s donghua, including Beryl and Sapphire. 😳

Paper Plane Animation Studio—which I think have only worked on a few projects, but they may be doing a lot of the 3D CGI scenes, since they’re most famous for this League of Legends short:

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Pb Animation Co., Ltd—another one with not quite as many works under their belt, but a bit more than Paper Plane. They’re listed as having been the driving force for Daily Life of the Immortal King season 2 and 3, but also for Light Catcher, one of my favourite donghua shorts of all time that is meant to showcase the beauty and growth of donghua overall—and with a 白鲨JAWS song too!!:

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If the above video shows anything, it’s that we can obviously see a pretty solid blend of animation styles too, so that should contribute nicely to To Be Hero X!

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And oh boy, putting all these together, I do in fact see the pattern of how we’re probably also in good hands action-wise, as all of these donghua studios have done some form of “superpower-based action donghua”—although I guess a lot of donghua in general place an emphasis on strong action sequences. 😆

For To Be Hero X specifically, we can also see the behind-the-scenes locations and distributions of work in this video from Aniplex:

youtube

I do have the social media links in my donghua recs list, but I’ll leave them here too for anyone who wants it:

Official Chinese Twitter account

Official Weibo account

Official Japanese Twitter account

Li Haoling’s official Twitter account

As you can see from the Chinese Twitter account, it’s mostly done promotional and celebratory artworks for like…holidays and stuff, which does seem to be how donghua prefer to promote their stuff?? That’s why we see new illustrations every major Chinese holiday, yet the Twitter account isn’t nearly as active as the Japanese Twitter account in posting actual introductions to the characters and voice actors ALDJDKS.

The info on Chinese VAs does seem to often be delegated to Chinese social media mostly, as seen by Hoyoverse games like Genshin Impact. x’D

Hell, Crunchyroll has such a bad habit of completely snubbing and/or forgetting to promote the Chinese originals of donghua they have—like how Aiyou’s Secret Room aka X&Y was only promoted on Crunchyroll Brazil or All Saints Street is only promoted in Japanese because of Crunchyroll’s ties to Aniplex and Sony... Tian Guan Ci Fu is the luckiest odd one out, but a lot of its marketing on Crunchyroll still focuses solely on its English dub. So the fact they have To Be Hero X and now Mo Dao Zu Shi too, we may soon see more ignoring of Chinese VAs even in official material because they have the Japanese dubs (at least Mo Dao Zu Shi’s Chinese cast is already well-established!) otl.

Apologies to rant a bit there, but with that out of the way, I’m petty about Chinese VAs not getting enough attention—to the point it is technically a pet peeve of mine for them to be completely ignored; although, in my defense, sometimes the ignoring does stem from sinophobia or ignorance (eg those not realizing a donghua is a donghua, especially with anime looks and Japanese voice acting)!—and since I can be the one who shares their Chinese voices...let’s do it! This is for them, but also for everyone who wants to appreciate the Chinese VAs to have easier access to this info. 💪

My information on who the Chinese VAs are comes from this Weibo post, at least for the 10 characters we know most about right now—the top 10 heroes in To Be Hero X, both in people’s trust of them and power:

10. Nice (奈斯 (Nài sī))—VA: Gu Jiangshan: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Gu Jiangshan (谷江山), as confirmed via Baidu:

Yuan Yang in Beloved Enemy aka Tit for Tat

Huiyu aka Raven in Beryl and Sapphire

Jin Zixuan in the Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua

Xia Mingxing aka Jesse in Light and Night

Wangquan Baye in Fox Spirit Matchmaker

9. Hundian (魂电)—VA: Yang Kaiqi: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Yang Kaiqi (杨凯祺), as confirmed via Baidu:

Geely Shrimp and Lamb Paomo in The Tale of Food

Elysium in the Chinese dub of Arknights (lmao you know what, I always struggle to find the Arknights Chinese version and this video is titled “I won’t allow anyone to have not heard the Chinese voice acting for Elysium!!!!!!!!!!” and I’m just like, “You go girl (gender-neutral); what a mood” DGJDSD)

8. A-Hu (阿虎) (literally the diminutive prefix “A-” plus “Tiger”*)—VA: Zhang Fuzheng: character song PV on YouTube*, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Zhang Fuzheng (张福正), as confirmed via Baidu:

Xue Yang in the Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua

Sikong Changfeng in The Young Brewmaster’s Adventure

Diting in You Shou Yan aka Fabulous Beasts

Jayce in the Chinese dub of Arcane

*I explained his name since I think official English content will just translate it as “Hu” (or his Japanese name) without the “A-” in front… Oh and I’m crying lmao; Aniplex YouTube forgot to add A-Hu to their To Be Hero X playlist so it took me a bit longer to find it KSDHGDS

7. Xingyu Qing (幸运青) (literally Lucky Green/Blue)—VA: Zhang Shuang: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Zhang Shuang (赵爽), as confirmed via Baidu:

Xiaoyao Xinghe in Wo Jia Dashixiong Naozi You Keng (if not sure which girl she plays, it’s the one with blue hair!)

Sapphire (female form) and Flax in Beryl and Sapphire

Dongfang Qinlan in Fox Spirit Matchmaker

6. Loli (罗莉)—VA: Qian Cheng: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Qian Cheng (钱琛), as confirmed via Baidu:

Furina in Genshin Impact

Robin in Honkai Star Rail

Bu Suantian in Wo Jia Dashixiong Naozi You Keng

Little Spirit (Xiao Jingling) in Beryl and Sapphire

5. Xiao Qiang (小强)—VA: Jinli (Koi): character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Jinli (锦鲤), as confirmed via Baidu:

Kong Hongjun in Tianbao Fuyao Lu, both the donghua and audio drama

Lyney and Freminet in Genshin Impact

Lan Sizhui (voice only) in The Untamed (for those who don’t know, cdrama roles can get re-dubbed by not the actor for a variety of reasons, such as vibe, accent, and/or background noises because many dramas film in the same giant area at the same time)

Yue Zhishi in Lovely Allergen

4. Mosha (默杀) (literally “silent kill”)—VA: Chang Wentao: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Chang Wentao (常文涛), as confirmed via Baidu:

Jin Chenyu in Inferior by Nature (goes officially in English by The Selfish Gene on MaoEr FM, but that’s confusing because the author has another novel that translates more accurately into The Selfish Gene—anyway, I recommend this audio drama a lot!!! If anyone’s unclear, Jin Chenyu is the arrogant-sounding guy who shows up partway through, gets called “Gege” by the little boy, is eventually yelled at by the little boy to leave, and laughs at the little boy, aka his brother lol)

*Sadly a lot of his roles do not seem big enough so far for fans to have clipped them, so I only have this one sample!

3. Lianglong (梁龙)—VA: Chenzhang Taikang: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Chenzhang Taikang (陈张太康), as confirmed via Baidu:

Lan Sizhui in the Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua

Hua Cheng in the Tian Guan Ci Fu audio drama

Xiao Xingchen (voice only) in The Untamed (same deal as with Jinli for cdrama voice dubbing)

Lin Yutong in Don’t Say You Love Me (yes, I subbed this clip lmao. No, this role of his isn’t actually on his Baidu page, but I’m biased because I enjoy this manhua/vomic so I’m including it anyway hehe)

Wei Yanzi in I Ship My Rival x Me (Bilibili version here)

Gong Changsheng in Wo Jia Dashixiong Naozi You Keng

Jiaoqiu in Honkai Star Rail

*Sorry for adding way more roles in here than necessary lmfao. But again, I am (very) biased here!!! He may be most famous for Lan Sizhui and Hua Cheng and Jiaoqiu and arguably even Xiao Xingchen, but I love him—and first fell for his voice acting—for Wei Yanzi, Lin Yutong, and Gong Changsheng ehehe. 🥺

2. Queen/Nüwang (女王)—VA: Liu Xiaoyu: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili

Other notable roles by Liu Xiaoyu (刘校妤), as confirmed via Baidu:

Tushan Susu and Tushan Honghong in Fox Spirit Matchmaker

Kang Jinlong in Black Myth: Wukong

Caitlyn and Jinx (see second half of the video; the first half is Jinx’s voice in the League of Legends game) in the Chinese dub of Arcane

1. X—VA: Wei Chao: character song PV on YouTube, character song PV on Bilibili*

*This song was one of the first things to come out of this donghua, so it is out there and it is definitely catchy!!

Other notable roles by Wei Chao (魏��), as confirmed via Baidu:

Lan Wangji in the Mo Dao Zu Shi audio drama

Wangquan Fugui and Wang Fugui in Fox Spirit Matchmaker

Qiongxiong in Tianbao Fuyao Lu, both the donghua and audio drama

Wang Jiexi in The King’s Avatar

*Fun fact: I didn’t list all of them, but while checking everyone’s Baidu pages, I found a surprisingly high amount of Fox Spirit Matchmaker. 👀

I would playfully suggest you take a guess/make an assumption as to the number, but you may spot the answer down below lol. And well, it is definitely a very long donghua with a giant cast, but I was still taken by surprise! Because 8/10 of the top 10 heroes in To Be Hero X also share a voice with Fox Spirit Matchmaker characters!! 😆

Anyway, I think that’s everything I know—and everything I’ve learned while writing this post!!

I hope it was insightful, and I’m sorry for how long it is...! Of course, I could put it under “read more,” but also...I spent so long on this (to the point I discovered a Tumblr limit to providing external links before the draft would stop saving lmfao oops) and I’d love for everyone to know more about this donghua, especially of the Chinese VAs, so...I’m going to be obnoxious and leave it as KSLDGJDSH,,, double sorry!! 🙈

#to be hero x #donghua #anime #chinese animation #mo dao zu shi #black myth: wukong #arcane #you shou yan #kuku88 #kuku rambles #Youtube

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atlastseason · 3 months ago

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Original post from my patreon post; Read free!

Hi Everyone! It's me, atlast. Today I want to talk about some complicated stuffs.

I just moved to my newly, and not finished, built house for about three weeks now. Things are still moving in places but my budget are running low as well.

So, my immediate goal right now is to secure some fundings to be able to clear my statement that had been used on buying things around the house.

I want to take this opportunity for whoever is out there that are willing to support this little artist that has to take care of himself and his family (also his cat). So I can dedicate my time to fully work on the creative stuffs and not worry about the debt that has been creeping towards me every week.

More details in each posts.

I will link the support channels that you can use to help me below.

Thank you for your supports, truly. I'm really grateful for you guys!

See you around, you beautiful people!

atlastseason, the green dragon from page @greendragonbluecat

This is all my monthly bills and spendings I need to fulfill, for myself and my family. My house isn't finish yet, just livable inside but the outside are still a construction site with no fences and no kitchen as well. I need to save some more to be able to afford them all but for now it's still work in progress, I guess. I try to remove some extra spending but still not enough. I'm still worried whether I could afford a commute and upcoming hospital bill. I could use some loan but it's not a good place to rely on.

These channels are my main focus for work.

Patreon

For posting all my works, arts, animation, learning, anything that's related, with no watermarks, some behind the scene and thought process about that piece for fully experiences and getting the whole picture of my work. I'm holding a monthly activity for my member so if you're interested, join me and be a part of my green army!

Starting 3 USD a month. https://patreon.com/atlastseason

Twitch

Live on Tuesday and Thursday, 20:30 UTC+7. I'm trying to be on schedule so you can reliably find me when you're free. I mainly speaking Thai there but I could do English as well if there's more international audiences. I first started with daily drawings, some events or fanart of something then I talk about my experiences on my life with art and creative work that I've gone through. I'm doing some emotes and stickers so if you want to be able to use them, consider subscribe to my twitch Channel to be able to use it, when it's fully finish!

Commission

Starting at 45 USD. You can get a nicely, clean drawing for a single character. You can read more about it here on my website! https://blog.atlastseason.art/blog/2025/february-commission/

Like, Share and Follow

I know this is kind of a stigma to be said but it can help me in the long run! In this world of algorithm and engagement farming, my little art account can't keep up with that if there's no traffic around them on those platforms and I totally get it and I don't blame them on how they operated. I'm trying to be authentic and true to my goal of becoming an artist that is truly love to do his own craft with his audience waiting for him. Money is not the first things I'm after but it's needed for me to be able to live normally. So I'm just trying to reach out to those who truly want to see me thrive and grow as an artist. Please make sure to spread around and hopefully, they can find me in this vast sea of all the world wide web.

Discord

I also have a Discord Server for all the enthusiastic friends that love to talk with art related or just something else, like gaming or music or FURRY (Especially Furry :3)

So, you're all invited! https://discord.gg/adZMQ4uDKu

I have been thinking about this subject for sometimes but can't find the right word to say. I've stumbled upon this article that might convey what I'm trying to say.

In 1872, George Sand, a French novelist, wrote that the artist has a “duty to find an adequate expression to convey it to as many souls as possible.” To put it more succinctly, art needs an audience.

Quote from Jeff Goins on his website https://goinswriter.com/art-audience/

Hope you have a fantastic day.

See you around!

#atlastseason #มังเขียว #มังกรเขียว #life update #living situation #funding #support #need help #food

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lazytitans-world · 1 year ago

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My research findings on the production of Wish

Never have I seen a fan community do so much with so little than I have with Wish. And to start off, I want to say that you should watch the movie first before going into this and the Starboy fandom as I believe it to be important on forming your own opinion before moving on as I find most of the fandom to have a negative view of the movie, one I do not really share. I found Wish to be fine. I did not hate it, but I did not love it like I do other Disney animated films. But the many rewrites, drawings and animatics featuring character designs that did not make it far in production have become icons in this community inspired me to do a deep dive to see if I could find where in production these concepts died and why.

To save you a read, this production was a victim of simplicity. I feel that many concepts and story ideas were tossed away due to complicating the story, which was always going to focus on Asha trying to save the wishes of her fellow kingdom citizens with the help of a wishing star. I have read many articles and watched a few deleted scenes from the home release and here are my findings.

Starboy never got far in development as the book states that the team went down "a few blind alleys" that lead them to star having a human design for a period. This is probably the period in time where all the Starboy concept art came from and where a potential romantic subplot with Asha was kicked around. It was.

What did Starboy in was the team's choice to make them a shapeshifter as the team thought the character was way overpowered and thus the story lost a lot of dramatic tension (a choice I kind of agree with). It was here where the design team decided that Star needed an overhaul and brought the Story Development artists in and this is where Starboy died and plush Star was finalized.

There are no official storyboards that feature the Starboy designs.

At the start of Wish's production, Frozen 2 was entering it's final stage of production (this would be either late 2018 or early 2019) and was obviously the main focus for Disney animation not to mention projects like Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and Encanto were entering their mid development stages before the shutdown.

The effects of the global shutdown were not mentioned in the book, but I would not be shocked if production was affected by it.

Ariana DeBose has said that Wish did not need a love story as she said that,

“I think we live in a time where things are cyclical, right? And so, it’s good for variance and perspective. Not every female Disney character needs to have a go and ambition of simply finding a man to love her. There are more stories to tell.

"And especially in the world we live in today I think something like Wish, that has a broader outlook that talks about community, is just as important as talking about love. And there are so many different ways to love."

"You do see familiar love, love of friendship" in the movie, including the relationship between Asha and Star. Star and Asha have this beautiful connection with each other and so I think it’s good reminding people that not only we can tell different stories, we can also talk about love in different ways.”(source: Exclusive: Wish’s Ariana DeBose defends lack of romance in recent Disney movies (yahoo.com)) whether Ariana had any say on story or character development is unknown.

7. From what I read from the Art of Wish book, the story was always meant to be about Asha defying Magnifico to fight for the people of Rosas and their wishes.

8. As it pertains to "At All Costs", a song that many are saying was meant to be a love song between Asha and Star, in an article by Variety(Julia Michaels Wrote 'Wish' Theme Before the Script Even Existed (variety.com), it states that a love song was not in the film at the time of production and songwriter Julia Michaels "wanted to write a song that as a standalone sounded like a love song that could be played at weddings."

Michaels would go on to say, "How cool would it be if we wrote a song that if you listened to on its own, it sounds like a love song, it could be something you could play at your wedding, or be a lullaby to your kids, just something really beautiful, but when you watch the film, it’s the heroine and it’s the villain.” She continues, “You realize they’re coming about this both from various points, one from a very selfless standpoint and one from a selfish standpoint.”

9. In the same Variety article, it was revealed that for some time in 2020, no script existed for the movie, but Julia Michaels was asked to be the songwriter for the movie and that is where she pitched "This Wish" which would go on to be one of the first songs revealed for the movie.

10. the Variety article also had Jennifer Lee, head of Disney Animation and one of the writers on Wish, say that she wanted a song that showed "it felt like to hold someone’s wish in your hand. How do we viscerally understand that when you’re with them, you feel like you’re holding someone’s raison d’être?” that song would end it being "At All Costs"

11. September 9, 2022, D23 Expo in Anaheim California. This is where certain members of the public got a glimpse of the production of Wish. Jennifer Lee, writer and director Chris Buck, and co-director Fawn Veerasunthorn spoke about the movie and showed the first look of the finalized design of Star which ended up being the mute plush model that ended up in the movie. This means there was a 3-year gap where Starboy and the romance side plot were discussed then shelved.

It was also during this show where the public would learn that Ariana DeBuse would voice Asha and that Alan Tudyk, a staple of past Disney animated films, would have a featured role in the movie as Asha's pet goat Valentino, who would be able to talk thanks to Star's magic. It was also at that show where DuBose came out to sing "This Wish" but at the time the song was called "More for Us".

Magnifico was not revealed at the event but was teased as "one of the most formidable foes in Disney history" which is debatable to say the least.

12. 5 deleted scenes in total appear on the Wish digital and disc copies each introduced by head of story Mark Kennedy where he would describe why the scene got cut. One scene shows Amaya assisting Magnifico in his plan, tying into an early concept where she was a villain alongside him.

Another scene had Asha, Star (who in this scene could shape shift and talk) and Valentino try to sneak into Rosas before being spotted and chased by Amaya, once again acting antagonistic to Asha.

A scene had Magnifco gather the people of Rosas to demand Star be given to him, as he had never seen Star in this version, and Asha her friends try to distract him by having Valentino, who in this version had a more Steve Carell like voice, pretend to be Star while the real Star, who was voiced in this version and was designed as ball of light with eyes and mouth, was trying to free the captured wishes. This scene was changed because they wanted Magnifco to be more threatening and instead of asking the people for Star, he would capture Star. Kennedy would go on to say that they wanted Asha and Magnifico to be smart and that Asha would not do a plan that silly, and they wanted the climax to be Magnifico and Asha alone, so they set it on a platform high above Rosas.

The next scene featured an ally of Asha's named Flazino that was cut out in order to shrink her friend group and tied the group back to the seven dwarfs from Snow White.

Finally, there was a scene where Asha and her grandfather scaled a wishing tree with her grandfather Sabino that showcased their bond but also Sabino's insistence that Asha take down Magnifico.

Each of these scenes felt completely different to the movie that ended up being released.

13. It should be noted that Wish released only a short while after the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes, which meant that for most of the summer and fall of that year, the actors could not do any press for the movie and all marketing was done through ads, trailers and merchandise.

14. As revealed in an article for Disney twenty-three, a magazine for gold members of the Disney D23 Fanclub, in the early visual development stage, there was a test scene that Asha was briefly transported to the village from Pinocchio. This was done to see how the 3D character designs would match with the hand drawn, watercolor backgrounds of classic Disney movies.

15. In that same article, Chris Buck said that in regard to Magnifico's character development that they wanted the audience "to see the evolution of a villain, so he's not a monster from frame one". From what becomes of Magnifico I get what they tried to do, they wanted to show how a character falls into villainy even if they're intentions are good. It also stands with the modern writing style of Disney animation films trying to update classics, this time by having audiences start off by kind of liking the villain through their personality alone.

18. The article also briefly mentions that Star "went through many iterations" another hint of Starboy being considered as a final design.

19. In the Art of Wish book, there is a page that shows the script where Asha meets Star and Star is described as a "cuddly, 3D, five-pointed star." This would indicate that the Starboy concept never got to the scripting stages.

20. In Art of Wish, the reason why Star does not speak is because the film makers wanted to stick to a tenet of film making, show don't tell.

21. Star's face was inspired by the mask like face of early Mickey Mouse cartoons.

22. From all readings, it is safe to say that Asha was NEVER considered to be a princess in any of the iterations of the story as some writers felt it to be too safe of a choice and liked the idea of an ordinary citizen going against the established power of the king.

23. During production, the Disney CEO position changed twice as Bob Iger left the company in early 2020 and named Bob Chapek as his replacement before returning to the company in mid 2023. It is unknown if these changes had any effects of Wish's production as it was it stated development as Iger's first tenure was ending but took place during a majority of Chapek's time.

24. When Angelique Cabal, who voiced Amaya in Wish, first auditioned for the role the character in 2022 Amaya was written as a villain while Magnifico was supposed to be the good king. It was when she returned for the callback that Amaya was changed to what she ended up being in the movie. Source https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/how-one-character-disney-wish-completely-changed-during-production

In closing, for fans of the Starboy concept, it saddens me to say that it looks the idea only made it as far as concept art as at the time of writing this, no animated sequences, scripts or storyboards have been released that had Star in a human design or discussed a romantic relationship with Asha. I believe the writing team found a romantic relationship between Star and Asha too complicated for the story and decided to simplify the relationship and design of Star to better suit the plot of Asha going against Magnifico. I am disappointed Wish did not go with the more interesting concepts but maybe down the line we'll get that cosmic Disney romance and a villain couple, it just has to work with the story.

I want to say thank you for those that made it to the end, this movie has been on my mind for quite a while and seeing all the re-writes, drawings and animations people have done for Starboy and Asha has been amazing to see. These works have inspired me to rewatch Wish at some point to see if Starboy could have worked in the movie with the story as is, and even share how I would have changed a few things in the story to fit the character and a romantic subplot with Asha plus an idea on how to bring in Starboy while still staying true to the established cannon.

I do hope others watch and enjoy Wish as from what I have read the team did put a lot of effort to makes this movie worthy of not only the high standards Disney animation has set, but as a piece of the 100-year story telling of the Walt Disney company. Film making is already hard enough as it is, especially in animation, but having to make a movie with an original concept and characters that still pays tribute to 100 years of storytelling is a daunting task and I understand and respect the choices they made when making the film and you should as well.

#disney #disney wish #asha x star #starboy #wish reimagined #wish rewrite #wish 2023 #wish #disney star

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darkmaga-returns · 4 months ago

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Saturday February 15, 2025 Truth Bomb

Karen Bracken

Feb 15, 2025

Doge update from President Trump and Elon Musk - I can see why Trump likes this man. No matter what you think of him he is doing good things - 30 min. VIDEO

Louisiana Department of Health to end mass vaccine promotion after RFK Jr confirmed - let’s hope other states do the same - my issue with the decision is WHY did it take RFK Jr. to be appointed the head of HHS for this guy to do this? He must have known these shots were dangerous long before RFK Jr. was confirmed. He needs to be questioned about his decision and why didn’t he do the right thing long before RFK Jr. came along. ARTICLE

Overreaching Judges Face Impeachment For Blocking DOGE - The US Constitution calls for only ONE Supreme Court. All inferior courts are created by Congress. And Congress can shut them down and THAT is what should be done. So as you can see there is no need to impeach judges on the inferior courts. Inferior courts are bought and paid for and no longer non-political or unbiased. Perhaps the President should read the Constitution and work with Congress to get back to one Supreme Court in DC. Just like the WHO, UN and so much more they are have been corrupted and because they can be shut down they should be shut down. - ARTICLE

DOGE Findings: Funding Steroid Hamster Fighting, Cocaine's Effect On Beagles, "Racial Aggression" In Mice, Russian Cats On Treadmills, Parrot Romance, And More - ARTICLE/VIDEO

Exit The United Nations - there are several quick and easy actions you can take. SHARE - ARTICLE

After delay, CDC releases data signaling bird flu spread undetected in cows and people - understand this has nothing to do with health and everything to do with land. THEY WANT THE LAND. They want mass depopulation. These animals take up A LOT of land. They want to end private property. The Global Biodiversity Assessment Report clearly states they must end all large hoofed animals, irrigation, paddocks, fences, modern agricultural machinery. It is cows and chickens today but it will be sheep, pigs and horses in the near future. Remember the words of the man that invented the PCR, Dr. Kary Mulllis. If you cycle PCR enough times you can detect whatever you want. Notice they stated in this article they found immunity to bird flu which means they were infected at one time. He also said PCR cannot be used to determine that someone is actually sick with a disease. Cycle PCR more than 25 cycles and it is useless. During COVID the US was cycling PCR 35-40 cycles which means most of the PCR tests were a fraud. People being told they were sick when they were not just to pump up the numbers and the fear. DO NOT TAKE ANY PCR TEST OR VACCINES. Get healthy. Lose weight. Exercise. Eat real food. ARTICLE

Secret US Document Exposed: Freedom From War - I just happen to have saved this document back in 2007 - this video is from 2018 - 6 min. VIDEO

Freedom From War Disarmament 1961 24pgs Gov

2.08MB ∙ PDF file

Download

War on poultry - this article is long but important. I suggest watching the first video (18 min.). He mentions Kissinger……did you know Kissinger wrote a report in 1974 about reducing the population? I had shared this report several times. It is NSSM-200. Part of the UN Agenda 21 is to reduce the population by huge numbers. ARTICLE/VIDEO

Mayorkas’ FEMA Caught Red-Handed Misusing Millions for Migrant Luxury Stays! - NOW, WHO IS GOING TO PRISON? - ARTICLE

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inkednotebook · 4 months ago

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Writer ask tag

Thank you @mjparkerwriting for the tag!!

Doing this for my queer romance Icing Waved Off.

What is the main lesson of your story? Why did you choose it?

Hm. Self-acceptance for queer folks can be a lovely, but messy thing. There's no straight line (heheh) to it, and everyone's journeys are different. But no matter what your journey, or when you embarked on it, your feelings are valid. You are valid.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding?

The NHL. I mean, it's set in modern day North America within the league, but with made up teams. I used games and interviews I've watched, and articles I've read to help me piece together the behind the scenes of the game.

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, or help the reader grow as a person?

It's dual POV, so there are two answers. Teddy is trying to achieve an understanding of who he is and learn to accept that his life might not be what he had envisioned. James is trying to achieve a life where he doesn't have to hide who he is.

I think I'm trying to achieve a few things with them: learning to forgive myself for things I thought I felt or wanted, to help share queer stories and queer love, and to shine a light onto the toxic culture of male hockey.

I'm not really sure what I want to do with this story in those regards. Inspire other queers for sure, but... I don't know. I wrote this for myself first and foremost, so honestly was not thinking of the lesson or whatnot it might have.

How many chapters is your story going to have?

It's sitting at 26 right now!

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Ehh. Like I said, it's based on the NHL, and I'd be lying if I said fanfiction didn't play some role in inspiring me to write it, but it itself is all original content.

When did you start writing?

When I could write coherent sentences lol. I used to write little stories about talking animals and teddy bears, then it grew into Star Trek fanfiction when I was 14ish which sparked a love for longer stories.

Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers do you follow?

Write what you love, not what you think will sell!

If you can't afford to take creative writing workshops or post-secondary classes, try to see if your local library has any creative writing books! Seriously, the tips they can give you are amazing.

For writeblr specifically, I think just don't be discouraged if your posts don't get a lot of engagement. I've been on Tumblr a loooong time, and I get how disappointing it can be when you post creative content and it gets few reactions. But just keep at it - limited social media engagement does not mean your writing is bad or that you'll never make it as a writer.

I follow many writers, but I'll just tag a few if they want to do this: @kaylinalexanderbooks, @willtheweaver, @aalinaaaaaa, @theeccentricraven, @cc-writes-stuff, @bardic-tales, @write-with-will, and @illarian-rambling

#writing community #writers on tumblr #writeblr #tag game #writing tag #about the author #icing waved off

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featheredenby · 4 months ago

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Epilogue

Written by: FeatheredEnby

Word Count: 1,170

Final Part of: Show Your Fangs

A Superhero AU of Empires SMP/Hermitcraft/The Life Series

Read On Ao3

Gem stands on the small stage they’ve constructed in front of the new museum on the day of its grand opening. People stand in a crowd formed around it and reporters and news outlets try and get the closest to get their questions heard. Sitting in chairs behind her are Lizzie, her legal advisor, Scar and Tango, the heads of landscapes and architecture, Katherine, who recreated all of the destroyed costumes, and Martyn, who wrote all of the descriptions.

Gem looks down at the reporters and points at Grian, who has his wings out for once, and Joel, “Any questions?” The other reporters make noises of distaste at not being asked first.

“Yeah,” Grian says he opens a notepad and starts writing on it, “What are you doing in regards to the identities of the people this museum is about? Are you revealing them?”

Of course he already knows this but the other reporters don’t know that, “I left it up to them to decide who they want to know about their identities. Everyone who was a hero, vigilante, or villain knows the others’ identities. The people who were willing to have theirs revealed were Hotguy, the Huntress, the Wolf Spirit, Canary Call, Slay, Cuteguy, Cromia, the Mayor, Owenge Juice, the Red King and Red Hand, and the Time Witch.”

Grian nods and writes what she said down while Joel starts talking, “What will you be doing in regards to the villains and possible prison sentences?”

Gen screams internally as she was sure that Lizzie told him that and not to ask it but fine, “As you know this is a government organization and we have the say over what happens to the people we take into custody. We have made the decision to grant them full pardons as long as they don’t go back to their old ways.” Gem checks her watch, “Well it looks like we don’t have time for any other questions. You can all go into the museum now, plus there’s a surprise due to it being the grand opening.”

Lizzie sprints to the museum’s employee entrance and grabs her bag from where it’s hanging on the wall. She quickly changes into her vigilante costume. Lizzie then sprints through the halls, waving to her friends as she passes them, and stands next to her exhibit right as a group of reporters, led by Joel, enters the room. Half of the reporters almost drop their cameras, microphones, tape recorders, and notepads.

Lizzie waves them over, “Hi there! Welcome into the museum, I’m the Mayor but you already know that! However, what you don’t know is my real name.” Lizzie pulls out the mask she wears normally, “My name is Lizzie Shadowlady, I’m a lawyer. Very boring job in comparison to fighting crime while committing one.”

One of the reporters shoves a microphone in her face, “So you admit to being a criminal?”

She chooses to use them to demonstrate her powers, “Now my powers aren’t much but one of them is mind controlling animals along with animal mutants and hybrids.” Lizzie snaps her fingers and the reporter steps back, “Ta-da!”

As soon as the rest of the people from the Hemit Times and other papers head inside Grian whispers a quick spell and is in his Cuteguy costume. He then darts through the rooms of the museum to where the cases displaying him and Scar’s costumes are. Scar’s sitting in front of his own case while smiling brightly. “Hi G!” He calls once Grian enters the room.

Grian skids to a stop in front of his case and waves to Scar. “Excited?”

“Yep! I’m thinking about the best way to reveal my identity.” He explains, “What are you gonna do for it?”

“I’m planning on talking about how one of the reporters always seems to have better articles about me. Then point out that I’m missing.” Grian glances at the door as it opens, “Speaking of which, it’s showtime.”

Scar waves at the reporters, “Hello, hello, hello! How are you on this fine day?” There’s a few muttered answers from the group, “I see… Well then the question is which of our identities do we reveal first?”

Grian nods, “Let’s do my identity first.” He scans the reporters, “I can’t help but notice that one of you is missing, well two but we all know where Joel went.” Grian slips one finger under his mask, “I happened to notice that the person who always writes the best articles about Hotguy and I is the one missing.”

“What does that have to do with your identity?” A tape recorder is thrust into Grian’s face, he promptly pushes it away as hard as possible while still seeming polite.

“Well, I happen to know where he is. He’s right,” Grian pulls his mask off, “here. You can ask questions later. Your turn Hotguy.”

Scar clears his throat, “Good people of Hermitopia, I’d like to thank my roommate Grian for that amazing performance which happened before mine.” He pulls off his visor, “It’s me, Scar Goodtimes. Hi!”

Throughout the day Grian keeps one eye on each of his friends, it is exhausting and he knows that at least three would yell at him for it but he wants to know how things go. Eventually crowds die down and they all leave to go home. As he and Scar go through the door to their apartment Grian starts thinking. “So, what exactly do we do now that people know our identities? I want to keep doing vigilante work, but the only identity I have that’s not widely known now is a world famous pop star.”

Scar shrugs, “I’m not sure, I want to keep doing it too though, just not for the government. What if we keep the basic design elements of the Hotguy and Cuteguy designs but change some of the colors and shapes?” Scar pulls out his sketchbook and starts doodling costume ideas.

Grian leaps down from the utility pole he was sitting on and glides onto the roof next to it, he lands next to his new partner in stopping crime. Scar’s sitting in his new costume, a dark red shirt, with purple accents, and pants with lighter shades of red forming the Hotguy symbol but one half has the design that it’s covered in poppies. He has a red mask on and a poppy design scattered around his purple mechanical legs.

Grian’s outfit matches in a way. It’s a dark purple tank top and shorts paired with red gloves and boots, the Cuteguy symbol is under the hole for his wings. Similarly to Scar’s Hotguy symbol it’s been recolored to shades of purple with lilacs on one side.

“Hello there, Poppy.” Grian greets Scar, “Funny seeing another new vigilante around here.”

“Very funny.” Scar stands up and holds a hand out for Grian to shake despite this being all for show in case someone is watching. “Should we be partners this time, Lilac?”

Grian shakes Scar’s hand, “Partners.”

#fanfic #fan fiction #show your fangs #life series au #feathered writing #desert duo

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u2fangirlie-blog · 9 months ago

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Book Club Introduction

Recently, I was invited into a book club on Facebook. A friend asked me to join with other friends she knows. I know two out of 30 members. How are people supposed to introduce themselves and get to know each other in FB groups, particularly book clubs? I have no clue! The book club creator and moderators all follow BookTok and have To Be Read lists. I don't do that. It's all new to me.

To start, I read through posts, liked, commented, and replied to interesting and relevant posts. I thought this would be a good way to get to know new people. Then I took a risk and wrote an introduction. The post was viewed by half the crowd. My friend H. replied, but there were no other comments. Just silence. Not even a clock ticking in the background.

The first book selected is Murder at the Book Club by Betsey Reavley. I want to stay, make new friends, and be introduced to new authors, but I feel like an asshole. My introduction to the book club was dead on arrival, so I'm going to delete it from the group.

Here's the introduction. I put a lot of thought and planning into it and don't want to see words go to waste. Someone might read it in the vast expanse of words on Tumblr.

Hi! H. invited me to join the group. She said you are awesome fun people. H., C., and I have been friends since elementary and junior high school. In the past, I've been part of reading circles where we read and discussed metaphysical books. This is my first online book club. Please guide me in what is appropriate behavior and social conventions for online reading groups. I hope to read books in genres I've never read before. I look forward to getting to know everyone here.

I just want to introduce myself a little bit to the group. I'll start with my reading habits and preferences.

I don't have a TikTok account, so I don't follow any Booktok creators.

On YouTube, I don't follow many Booktube creators. However, I do watch channels that focus on one author or genre. I like Quinn's Ideas. He's the go-to guy for Dune and A Song of Ice and Fire. He also discusses classic hard scifi and new scifi. I enjoy T.L. is Reading, who is doing a Discworld read-along. If I'm interested in a new book or TV series based on a book, I'll look on YouTube. I learned a lot about the Wheel of Time that way.

I prefer print books. My house is stacked to the rafters. Remind me sometime to tell you about the time a tree branch went through the roof, and instead of going to the basement for safety, I ran upstairs to rescue boxes of books from the rain.

I do read some ebooks, usually if it's a long series or older books that are hard to find in print. Discworld has 41 book, so most of my Pratchett collection is in ebooks.

Kindle Unlimited - I don't have it because of the cost of subscriptions. If I get a book, I buy it. One reason I prefer print books over ebooks is that having physical media is forever (exceptions of fire or flood). What's going to happen if Amazon loses rights to books or if there's a major technology failure? We the consumers will lose access to digital media we "own" and paid for and will never get it back. It's already happening with streaming videos. If the Big One happens and if we lose electricity and satellites and the internet and if electronic devices stop working, y'all can come to my house. I own all the books and DVDs. LOL!

Audible - See above. Cost of subs. Potential loss of access to digital media. I listen to bootleg audiobooks on YouTube. I have a few audiobooks on CD. I haven't got any new audiobooks in ages because they're so freaking expensive.

Genres - Sci-fi. Fantasy. Classic literature. Mythology. Metaphysical. Paranormal. Occult. Tarot. Non-fiction essays and articles. Encyclopedias and dictionaries. You read that right. I'm a sucker for an encyclopedia with pretty pictures. I have lots of specialized encyclopedias in mythology, symbolism, gemstones, animals, and plants. I love etymology and enjoy looking up word origins. Classic authors: As an English major, I read a lot of the classics. Jane Austen is okay, not my favorite. I have issues with the Bronte Sisters and other authors who introduced the bad boy lover and gave really unhealthy expectations to young people about relationships.

Authors - Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Frank Herbert, Diane Duane, George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Diana Gabaldon, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Laurel Hamilton, and Anne Rice (because smut is better with paranormal characters, and their vampires are infinitely better than Stephanie Meyers) J.K. Rowling (before she turned evil), and Neil Gaiman (Yes, I know about the allegations and am still processing how to respond publicly. His alleged behavior is horrible. The Good Omens and Sandman fandoms are fighting and ripping each other apart.)

First, full disclosure: I have a BA and MA in English, with a minor in creative writing and special studies in archetypal myth criticism. I don't write fiction. The creative writing workshops were difficult for me. My professors didn't inspire creativity, but instead they instilled critical analysis of writing, self-criticism, and self-doubt. My teachers critically wounded my desire to write stories, and later it just died. I gave up writing fiction a long time ago. No, I do not secretly want to write fiction.

My strong suit is non-fiction, including articles and essays. Mostly I write short humorous stuff for my social media and a captive audience of about 70 friends and family. Also I write in-depth analyses and criticism of books, movies, and TV series. And sometimes my friends get sick of my BS and think I'm too critical. That's just how my brain works. Analyzing something to the extreme doesn't mean I don't still enjoy it or love it. (Unless it's objectively crap. LOL!) I have a Tumblr blog for publishing what I don't want family to read.

That being said - When I put a lot of time and effort into writing a longer piece (for example an essay with photos) and people either don't read it or they only respond with a like, I feel frustrated and very hurt. I get it. People don't have time and are selective about what they read. I wrote a Tumblr post about it and will share it if anyone is interested.

For the past 7 years, I taught English comp and how to write research papers at a community college. I also ran the writing center with a staff of one (me) and helped students with their papers. If you need help with MLA and APA citations, I'm your girl! I departed for financial reasons. My past work experiences were in office/clerical. Recently, I started a new job in an office. It's good.

Finally, this is my binder full of maps. As an avid fan of fantasy and sci-fi series. maps are important to know where characters are located and the various cities and realms they are in. I'm obsessive. I'm a nerd and a dang weirdo (in the Muppet Gonzo sense of being a weirdo).

Here's a link to the binder of maps from fantasy, sci-fi, and history in literature.

#book clubs #booktock #booktube #book tumblr #facebook groups #book nerd

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volt-race · 1 year ago

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Hey, I actually wrote something!

I wanted to d a comic for Primrose, Jackie, and Keyson but that clearly wasn't happening, so it'll just be text.

If you wish to read these or any future ones, they will be under Read More blocks as they have a very real chance to be long (oops?)

With that said:

Still nothing.

A lone slime shuffles through the field under a starry night sky. Too far from home to wish to make the trek back, and so she settles upon just looking for somewhere to rest till the morning. Anywhere would do, so long as it was shelter, she thought to herself. She grumbles to herself, cursing the hero's name as she’s gotten into the habit of doing so. It’s been a year since said hero caused everything she knew to be turned on its head, disbanding the group she was part of rather forcibly by slaughtering their leader. Left adrift, trying to reestablish contact with the figures above. They never answered anymore.

The slime spots a farmstead in the distance. It’ll work.

She looks towards the farmstead’s house, the lights dark within and no signs of activity within. Sleeping, unsurprisingly. Instead of the house, she turns and makes her way to the barn. Easier to slip into for the night and be gone without anyone but the animals noticing. It’s not breaking and entering if it’s just for a nap overnight. She cracks the door enough that the broken mask hanging on her belt can fit through the gap, and squeezes herself inside before closing the door again with a gentle thunk. It’s dark, but her eyesight is decent enough to make out the bales of hay on the ground, and pens in the back with sleeping animals. The hay will do. Sitting herself down on a pile of hay, she throws herself back, staring up at the roof of the barn until eventually… she shuts her eyes waiting for tomorrow.

Morning comes a lot more abruptly than the slime anticipated, the hood of her robes being pulled upwards by a less than impressed farmer. Snapping awake, she pulls herself away with a star-bound hand, staring back at the farmer.

“Causing trouble again, are we?”

“You are mistaken sir. I simply came here to rest.”

“That’s what all you cult members say.”

She glares at the farmer with enough intensity it could slice him in half, when her attention shifts to the barn doors. Another figure stood behind them, mostly obscured other than their head and a pointed ear. Were they there before? From what little can be seen they look to be injured in some form, as bandages are wrapped around their face on one side.

“I’m not fond of being awoken by something other than the birds, missy, and your stunt bothered everyone else in here. Snakes shouldn’t be tryin’ to take a roosters role y’know”

They must’ve been in the barn too. How did she miss them? Stupid, stupid. The slime tries to relax as much as she can.

“Well, since it’s morning, you won’t have to deal with it. I’ll head on my way, you can tend your farm or whatever, and we forget about this.”

The farmer simply stares Keyson head to toe, before finally letting go of her robe. He points to the doors.

“Take her with you.” The farmer’s tone is cold, as he points to the figure at the door.

“WHAT?” Both the slime and the cowering figure exclaim in unison.

“You heard me. You and your cult caused everyone enough problems. It’s about time you started reaping the consequences of your actions.”

Well this day has already gone from bad to worse. Staring down the farmer, and then the figure at the door, the slime snorts, and heads for the door. “May the stars fall on your head.”

The figure that was hiding behind the door recoils as she comes outside. Seeing them in full, the slime understands more how they could’ve been missed in the darkness of the barn. A lamia, darkly coloured from hair to tail and covered in worn bandage wraps. The only articles of clothing being a worn out cloak and various cuffs. They don’t look like any you’d see on a farm however, so how or why she bore them was a mystery. The look on her face was one of fear, their one exposed eye darting between the slime she’d just been handed off to, and the farmer who is casting her away the moment he can. Neither of them like this arrangement that's been forced upon them. The slime groans with a sigh, and starts making her way back to town, motioning for the lamia to follow. She’s hesitant, but follows after the farmer pushes her in that direction, almost pressing into her back, she follows behind the former cult member.

What a bout of bad luck, the lamia thought to herself. She’s being recaptured.

#Volt Writing Hours #oc:Keyson #oc:Primrose #I don't have a name for this yet #but hopefully more in the foreseeable future

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kierancampire · 6 months ago

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I'm not saying this to be humble, but I don't think I'm a very intelligent person. I'm shit at maths, I suck at English, basically any school subject I can't do. I'm not super creative, I struggle to think up/do anything original, I don't do formal things or long words, I don't like/understand "artful" or complex things. I can be easy to confuse, I'm shit at reading between lines as I take everything at face value, many people have lied to me. Probably one of my most intelligent aspects is knowing I'm not, and I'm fine with that

However. The amount of times I've had to explain to other adults that things you see in videos/media are not an accurate representation of a whole community on a day to day basis. Like I just wrote out this message for someone who was being kinda mildly derogatory towards cats, a person who also said they've never had cats and haven't had pets for over 20 years, but just base their views on cats from TikTok videos. But I don't get why I need to explain this so much?

This time, sure it was cats. But the reason I threw in that part about black people in America, it's cause I have had to do it many times in that context too. Like the amount of times I've had to break down and explain, spoon feeding it to someone, that things you see in the news or videos about an individual in that moment, not representing a whole community as they live life. Like I said, I don't think I'm a smart guy, yet so many people need this explained to them and I just don't get it? It's like fucking Americans and "British food". I just don't get how/why people see a video or news article of something or someone, then decide that one thing represents that whole area on a constant basis for the rest of time. Maybe it's the life I've lived working with all sorts of animals and meeting all sorts of people, but that just is never a thought that crosses my mind, yet so many people seemingly do live like this

#personal

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brigittas-writing-nook · 11 months ago

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Writing Prompt Exercise: Encountering a Strange Creature

I wrote about my "writing prompt exercise" in my welcome post, and here is another one! Enjoy.

Writing prompt

Your character has always believed magic exists. They just didn’t know how close it really was.

Writing prompt exercise

There’s a creature outside my door. Not a weird animal. A creature. I can barely describe it. Slightly greenish skin covers a body that is about 2-3 feet tall and stocky in build. Brown eyes – not just the irises but the full eyeball! – stare out of a very round head that sits on and almost nonexistent neck. Short legs end in wide feet that move comfortably in the grass. Arms that are too short end in what looks more like pincers than hands – and then, not quite like pincers, either. I sit at my dining room table and stare. I can’t help it. I’ve never seen anything like this before! The creature stops walking – gliding? – across the lawn and turns to look at me. It pauses, tilting its head to one side, looking confused. Apparently it thinks I shouldn’t be able to see it. And I shouldn’t, right? Magic isn’t real, right? I mean, I have always believed magic was real, but a small seed of doubt lay nestled inside me, being fed just enough food to stay alive if not thrive. The creature glared at me. “What are you staring at?” I flinched. The voice came through the closed window. Oh crap! “Um, I’m sorry,” I said, flustered. “I didn’t know you were real.” “Of course I’m real!”

Purpose of this prompt I wrote about why I'm doing this exercise in a separate post. But what purpose does this writing prompt exercise serve? Well, it serves three purposes by: - Keeping me in the practice of writing. - Helping generate story ideas. - Offering you sneak peeks into what I might be working on next. This piece is raw and unedited. I have made no changes from the words I wrote long-hand in my notebook. Why would I do that? Because I want to show y'all that what you write doesn't have to be perfect the first time. Don't let perfect get in the way of getting things done. Listen to GraphicAudio award-winning audiobook entertainment including full cast dramatizations, cinematic music and sound effects

Got any ideas for writing prompts you would like to see me use in a writing prompt exercise? Drop them in the comments. I can always use new ideas. Also, if you want to support me, visit my Patreon or Buy me a Coffee. I like coffee; it keeps me going. Patreon That's all for now. Stay fabulous, y'all! Read the full article

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savefilescomng12 · 1 year ago

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Video of Furry in Background of Wedding Goes Viral

"This might be an original experience."

As a parent, I can confidently say I would much rather my children grow up to become illegal narcotics dealers than furries.But that's just my opinion, and there are certainly people who find merit in pretending like they're an animal by wearing gigantic mascot suits akin to what you would see at a sports half-time show, just with a heck of a lot less trampoline dunking, and way more second-hand embarrassment grimaces.Article continues below advertisementBut there are a lot of people who said that they were impressed with the way this furry conducted themselves after they became the focal point of a wedding during the vow exchange between bride and groom.In a viral TikTok uploaded by a user on the app who goes by Shadows (@xxshadowslightxx), she documented the eventual discovery that just a stone's throw away from the matrimonial site was a person who was dressed up as an animal and just attempting to live their life as a "therian."Article continues below advertisement"When your bestie is walking down the aisle and you realize...." a text overlay in the video reads as the bride is being walked down the aisle by a man in a suit (presumably her father).Article continues below advertisementNow if you've been to one wedding, you've probably been to them all. So it's only normal while the proceedings are going on that you're going to tend to look around and see what's happening in your immediate surroundings. Which is something that Shadows did and she noticed across a body of water at the site of the ceremony, there was a cow resting on the grass.However, upon closer inspection, they noticed that the cow wasn't exactly a real cow: "That cow on the other side of the lake is in fact not a COW," they wrote in a text overlay of the video.Article continues below advertisementSource: TikTok | @xxshadowlightxxSo what was it? It was actually a person inside of a costume pretending to be a cow, which Shadows explained in another caption plastered on her video: "but a FURRY just hanging out in the field that just happens to be right behind the altar where they're taking photos..."Article continues below advertisementAccording to the TikToker, the furry wasn't even totally committed to their Fursona either, as it looks like they took the opportunity to snap some photos of the wedding instead of pretending to be a cow to free themselves from the trappings of grazing, presumably.In a follow up video posted to the popular social media platform, Shadows delivered a story time further explaining the run-in they had with the furry during the wedding ceremony. The bride in the video was present in the clip as well, while the TikToker explains what went down.Article continues below advertisementSource: TikTok | @xxshadowlightxxShe went on to explain that it was a "backyard wedding" and that there was a pond on the other side of where the reception was supposed to take place. At first, they didn't notice that the furry was a person "until they stood up."Article continues below advertisementIt's at this point in the video the bride chimes in and says that "a lot of people thought it was a cow" due to the fact that they live in Oklahoma and this type of sighting would be normal.In fact, no one thought anything was amiss until the furry in question stood up and people realized that the animal they were seeing was actually a person in a fursuit.Shadows said that because she had a "really good zoom on camera" she was able to see what was going on with the furry in question.Article continues below advertisementSource: TikTok | @xxshadowlightxxShadows said that after zooming in on the person, however, they noticed that the person wasn't cosplaying as a cow, but rather a "kitty cat."And if you were worried about photographer having to edit the furry out of their photos, Shadows and the bride in the video said that this wasn't necessary.Article continues below advertisement"That person didn't 'ruin' the wedding or 'ruin' the view," the bride says into the video, explaining that their presence really wasn't that much of a downer. Plus, she said that the guests present at the wedding ended up getting a "good laugh out of it," and if you're going for emotions you want people to have when they're at your wedding celebration, jovial laughter is pretty high up on the list.Shadows said that she didn't convey to the bride what was going on with the furry situation to the bride until well after the wedding.The bride went on to say that she wanted to clarify that the person inside of the fursuit wasn't a "weird ex from either side" who was pretending to be an animal so they could snoop on the exchange of the matrimonial vows.Article continues below advertisementSource: TikTok | @xxshadowlightxxThe bride added that the furry was pretty much just doing what they were doing and that it all happened to go down on the day of her wedding. From her recounting of the wedding day, it seemed that the furry watching the exchanging of the vows had nothing but the utmost respect for the sanctity of marriage.Article continues below advertisementThat's because the bride said that the person was "bowing" while her and the groom were exchanging vows with one another; at least that's what her wedding guests were telling her.Before the video ended, Shadows called the entire interaction with the furry, "hard to ignore."Several TikTokers mentioned that the furry was probably a "therian" who didn't know that they were photobombing someone's special day. But there were also those who thought the person was doing it on purpose.Article continues below advertisementSource: TikTok | @xxshadowlightxxWhat do you think? Was the furry trying to garner some attention for themselves and ruin someone's special day? Or was this just a coincidence and whoever was there just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time? 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1-50thofabuck · 1 year ago

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As always, this was written on the fly without research or referencing anything else. So if I say something incorrect it's because I was forcing myself to work from memory and I don't want to look anything up as I write each part. If I research or discover something in between articles I'll add that info to the next article. This one likely contains misspellings, typos, poor wording, etc as again, I wanted to write on the fly conversationally and not sit and workshop it into a prose poem. I added a few things after I wrote the article but it will be clear what those parts are. In future articles I won't explain all this, just wanted to make it clear again as I get into the monster writeups. PLEASE comment corrections, thoughts, insights, opinions, and insults. I'm lonely!

All the World’s Monsters: Readthrough Part II: Air Squid to Archer Bush(the complete “a”s!)

Finally! The Monsters!

That’s what I’m talkin’ about. All the text for the monsters is IN CAPS, SO THE ENTIRE ENTRY READS LIKE THIS. WHEN QUOTING I WILL NOT USUALLY DO THIS BECAUSE IT WOULD GET ANNOYING, DON’T YOU THINK? So if I quote “blah blah blah” it actually reads “BLAH BLAH BLAH.”

Air Squid

Starting off with a bang. I said before this is the kind of thing I love. Flying squids rule! So, let’s dive in(fly in?).

Each chapter begins with a drop cap, which is nice. The little detail of the fighter dropping their sword is cool. I dig it.

This is a Dave Hargrave monster, and that’s one of the names we’ll see a lot. It’s an intelligent monster, with IQ range 2d6, i.e., they have Intelligence scores of between 2-12, so, from almost animal intelligence to quite bright. Chaotic, neutral is its alignment, with the comma between the two just like that. Remember, in Holmes Basic, which this was following, PCs couldn’t even choose to be chaotic neutral - it was true neutral or nothing. I’m not sure if this applied to monsters - I’ll have to look through the Holmes list again. It may even be reflecting a single axis alignment system and noting that the creature could be either chaotic or neutral. Hmm. (I’ll know by the next article, I’m trying to more or less honestly write this on the fly!) (Note: I figure it out with one of the following monsters.) I won’t go into all this with future monsters, just a note for the first one.

Hit dice from 6-12d8+1, with size ranging from 35 to 75’ long. (I did read ahead through the A’s, and I thank Hargrave for clueing us in; you’ll find a frustrating number of monsters whose size is “shrug.”) Quite a spread, but not really illogical. It seems to be one of those things that early writers did that ended up not being the standard: giving many monsters a fairly wide HD range, where most monsters in official publications didn’t have any HD range at all.

AC of 7 seems okay, interesting that it doesn’t scale off of HD in any way, but not incorrect necessarily. Fly 12 seems reasonable. Dexterity range 1d6+6 is okay I suppose?

The air squid is found outdoors, in water(so presumably it swims too even though only flight speed is listed?), and of course, “air.” These don’t get as specific as other D&D writeups that would include mountains, swamps, forests, hills, and not just “in the air.” I don’t believe any monster stats had an entry or “slot” like that previously, like a part of the stat block or writeup that says “environment” or “terrain” or “found in.” I think it wouldn’t be til 2nd Edition that that became a standard part of the stat block. That info still existed by way of the wandering monster tables. For example, a monster is found on the tables for hills and mountains then obviously those are the two places in which they can be found. Also, the “interpreting the monster entries” section lists cities, mountains, and so on, so they were aware of the idea. Granted, the editors came up with the explanations for the environment types, or as they phrase it, “found in,” and apparently didn’t enforce much consistency. The air squid’s lair is “on mountain peaks.” Sure, why not?

15% chance in lair, only 1 ever encountered, and they always have a type E treasure.

Here’s where it gets really crazy: this thing has 13 attacks, and the size/HD doesn’t matter: the tentacles cause 1d8 points of damage in “constriction,” though there are no rules for this. Presumably the monster just grabs, crushes, and releases. Would it come to ground to do this? Just hover around the ground grabbing and crushing, not grabbing, holding, and flying up high to release? Meh. Plus a d10 damage with its beak. The damage not scaling isn’t really a big deal, but the attacks seem a bit wonky.

Why no ink spit? I’d find that a lot more interesting than a ton of attacks, personally. Being described as “sky-blue,” one would also expect a surprise bonus, at least situationally. Oh, and if you wondered how it flies? Hargrave didn’t just go with “Uh, magic, like, probably an insane wizard’s experiment or something, you know?” but instead attempted to give something of a naturalistic explanation with the squids being “helium-filled.” I can’t help but imagine popping a fully-inflated air squid with a well-placed arrow or spear. It could become like a mini game, with characters trying to pop air squids as they fly by. An attraction at the most incredible carnival ever to exist. Sure only 1 is supposed to appear but let’s be serious with our lack of seriousness.

Not much else to say about the air squid really. It’s pretty cool. With a generation of hindsight it could use some workshopping in my opinion but these were pioneers, dangit. The next entries won’t focus on some of the topics I focused on here because now they’re been addressed.

Airfang

The second monster in the book, and the first “..wtf?” Like, what actually is this thing? It’s apparently “tiny,” with an HD range of 8-12. What is “tiny” in this context, since official “size categories” such as tiny, small, medium, and large were not to come for a while(I don’t think it was until 2nd Edition AD&D)? Is tiny how I would interpret “tiny” if someone told me something was “tiny?” Itty-bitty? Probably not. A foot? Who knows how tiny this up to 12 HD monster with 2 attacks scoring 3d4 damage each could be?

It’s a “metallic scaled creature” with an armor class of 2+4(?) that is “mostly mouth, tentacle, and wings.” Huh. It reminds me of some of the random little enemies in old NES games that swarmed you and you had trouble even figuring out what the heck they even were. Of course, most of those didn’t eviscerate a starting character in a round or two by dealing massive amounts of tiny damage from its tiny tentacles and tiny mouth.

Is the 2+4 representing separate areas for the tentacles and body(because a “tiny” creature should definitely have different AC ratings by location, a mechanic that was kind of trash even on the few official monsters that used it). Or maybe they meant 2-4, which should more properly be 4-2, reflecting that the AC improves as it increases in HD?

Once again, we’re given very specific locations that these abominations can be found, such as “outdoors.” Well that sure narrows it down, thanks. Like the air squid, it’s also found in “water” and “air.” So, basically, literally everywhere. And why in Discordia’s name is it found in water anyway? It has scales and tentacles I guess? It’s faster than the air squid, with a flight speed of 24! I forgot to mention, it also “latches on with its mouth and then bites repeatedly,” so I’m not sure if this implies that it only has to attack once with its mouth and then it auto-hits, or if this is just a descriptive visual, but either way, it’s pretty lame.

You encounter 3d6 of these, too. 3d6 tiny, indescribable monsters that inexplicably have a mountain of HP and have the potential for enormous damage, swarming a PC. Just imagine using these and explaining how their appearance is totally silly, they’re too tiny and fast to potentially make out, one of them took an entire round of hits from the entire party and didn’t die, three of them reduced one party member to bones in a round, somehow, and potentially, some of them are automatically inflicting damage after “latching on.” If your players don’t quit on you, you’ve either built up a huge Loyalty rating with them, or they’re just very, very lacking in discrimination. Or perhaps you knew they’d enjoy a good, absurdist comedy encounter.

Its alignment is “hungry,” hahahahahahahaha! :| If this was a one-off joke, or it was a monster that was otherwise good, it’d be okay. Sadly to the first one, having peeked ahead, this isn’t the first time this “gag” is done in the “a” monsters alone.

To the second one: this monster sucks. I have trouble believing that out of 5 billion entries, this boring, overpowered, uncreative nonsense was one of the best.

Mystery solved; turns out, this is an airfang

Ant Man

An obvious idea that would be done a number of times - and I’m not saying that as insult, at all - this version is based on creatures from a book, “Kavin’s World,” which could also be the name of a sci-fi sitcom.

These also have a very wide HD range, from 1-14. Not having read the books or feeling that it would be worthwhile to research it, I can’t say how widely the ant men in it varied in strength. Their AC does not vary, at a very high 2. So even the single hit die ones are as tough as plate mail. They only move 6, so, fairly slow(I’ve seen some relatively quick ants). Their intelligence skews towards good - 2d6+6, varying from low to genius and averaging at high(13). Dex is average(3d6). Seems to me an ant’s might be a bit low, comparatively, but hey.

Neutral alignment is fair. Again, I have no idea how these things are in the book. They appear a lot of places, but no place unreasonable for an ant, much less an alien ant or whatever these things are. 200d20 of these appear in a lair, which even by ant standards seems pretty high, but book yadda yadda. Wandering or in lair they have the same amount of treasure, and a 100% chance of it, at that. Seems a bit odd but whatever.

Boy do they get a lot of attacks. 2 “hands”(quotes theirs), 2 stings, and a bite, scoring up to 44 points of damage plus poison from the stings which cause 4d6 on a failed save for another potential 24 damage… yikes. Keep in mind, this describes the 1 HD version and the 14 HD one. A 1 HD monster that can potentially cause 68 HP damage in one round. The bite says “HIT -2” but I’m not sure what that means. It’s a -2 to the attack roll with the bite? Or the damage is 2d6-2? I’m guessing the former, but I’m not positive.

Ant men are big-ass ant people with four arms, two which end in stingers, because sure! and two end in “hands” that score damage as a two-handed sword. They’re also immune to “mental spells,” which I assume means charm, fear, illusory magic, probably hold, and so on. They believe that other sentient species, including those with demonstrably similar intelligence, are cattle, which is not a very true neutral position to hold. Sounds neutral evil or lawful evil at best. “True Neutral. I believe that there should be a balance in all things. Nature is balanced, law and chaos must be balanced, good and evil must be balanced. And everyone not of our race are animals to be used as slaves and food.” Not seeing it.

I don’t know what to make of this one, but it’s not the strangest one I’ve seen so far, so it’s okay.

Ant, Giant

An expected monster, a classic. Is this the first time a giant ant was statted in print? I don’t know, but IT HAS FROM 1-27 HD. But it also doesn’t give an actual size range, so I imagine this is so you can stat from chihuahua sized giant ants to “Them!” giant ants up to true kaiju giant ants. This is also the first one we’re seeing that has an AC that scales to its HD, in this case “its armor class is 3 plus one third of the number of its hit dice, fractions are rounded up giving a range of 2 to -6.” Chuck Cady did well, I like it, and obviously pleasing me is everyone’s top priority.

Its damage also scales, +1 per HD, which gets pretty high - arguably, unreasonably so - but on the other hand, one of my biggest gripes at high levels is how bad the damage often is by high level monsters(the tarrasque doesn’t do jack in damage to any party high enough in level enough to fight it), so I’m just a hypocrite. Wait. I just realized. I thought it was +1 per HD + acid, and it’s actually +1d3 per HD in acid damage. So a 27 HD giant ant doesn’t get +27 damage, it gets +27d3 damage. In acid.

So its bite doesn’t scale, with a 1 HD rat-dog or a 27 HD kaiju ant scoring the damage of a short sword… plus or minus a few dozen d3 in acid. It seems really weird to me that the acid scales that greatly and not the bite, but… I’m kinda okay with it?

Do ants use acid? Hmm. Well, slugs don’t, so. At least there are only 3d20 of them in their lair and not 2,000+ of them like ant men.

“Alignment: any, hungry.” C’mon, Chuck. I’m introducing good-aligned giant ants and blaming you. The giant ant appears in all the same places as the Ant Man, even though this has a different creator. Ants can be found about anywhere, though…

I would be remiss not to mention the incredible description: “The generic description of the giant ants.” (In all caps of course.) Now we’ll never know exactly what an ant looks like. “I once lay awake long into the night, wondering just what kind of creature was the noble ant.”

Ape, Desert

Back to Hargrave with another pretty decent monster. Desert apes are apes with a literal third eye with accompanying hypnotic powers. I think I’d have liked to see a full-scale psionic ape, but this is cool. Movement 10 is a bit unusual for the way this game scales movement, but I don’t have a problem with it. HD spread on this one is only 4-8, reasonable for rank and file apes up to the leader. Intelligence averages low at 2d6, with dexterity being high, equaling that of the very agile giant ant and ant man(for whatever reason). AC 4 is.. all right I guess.

Chaotic neutral is okay, though I dislike the tendency to lean towards that alignment that seems to have existed since the beginning. I’d like to see hypnotic apes that are more lawful, allowing them to better take advantage of their incredible power, but honestly this isn’t a complaint. Despite how it may sound, very few of my comments are “complaints,” merely observations, though I may make them in a sardonic way in a lame attempt at humor. The truth is I highly respect the effort and passion that is put into these kinds of works, even if I joke otherwise.

Found in “dungeons, open, deserts.” Can we just skip listing “dungeons?” Literally every smegging monster to ever exist is found in dungeons. Pterodactyls are found in dungeons. I’m sure treants are found in dungeons. Like, literally every monster is indexed to a specific “dungeon level” for the purpose of putting them in dungeons. There’s really no need to state “dungeons” on every single monster. Also, what is “open?” Is that the same as “outside?” Or do they mean non-forested, non-mountainous regions, like plains or something? The opening explanation for the book doesn’t list “open,” so it’s another case of monster creators doing what they want and the editors not enforcing any kind of continuity. It’s not a big deal, but I have to comment on it in a readthrough.

Two attacks, one being a rather heavy club(scoring 1d8 damage) and the other, hypnosis, which is listed as an attack with no real indication of what “hypnosis” actually entails, though it lists it as a “visual” attack, I guess because it’s using one of its eyes, so perhaps it means a gaze attack? Not sure if “gaze attack” was a term cemented into D&D/AD&D yet. Either way, is hypnosis the same as charm, or…?

These apes cannot speak a normal language, though you might imagine they could, being of low human intelligence and having hypnosis and stuff. Alas, ape biology simply doesn’t allow for the forming of words like we use, and there’s no such thing as evolution or crazy magical effects to cause this to happen, and so we’re stuck with psionic apes only communicable with through magic such as speak with animals, and we’re told these chaotic neutral scoundrels will lie 30% of the time.

Ape, Snake

This is one of those monsters that when you look at the name you just try to guess what it might be. An ape made of snakes? An ape with snake arms? An ape filled with snakes? This is another Hargrave monster, with the most reasonable HD spread so far, 5-7. these small spreads are okay(not saying the larger ones can’t be, they’re just uncharacteristic of what we tend to see in official writeups). Technically they exist in AD&D for various humanoid monsters as well, they’re simply expressed differently: a stronger kobold is statted as a goblin, an even stronger one as an orc, etc. By the time you get to hobgoblins, their strongest members are statted as ogres. So their HD could have been shown as “1+1 - 4,” and it would have been a greater spread than the snake ape.

Let’s skip to the description to see what this thing actually is. One line leaps out and suckers my face with tentacles: “Also known as an octorilla.” Dave, buddy, you could have called this an octorilla and you went with snake ape instead? Octorilla is much cooler, and gives an almost immediate idea of what it might be like. Was it so it would go into the book earlier, like why people give their businesses names beginning with “a” so they get in the front of the category in the yellow pages(back when people used yellow pages)? Tentacles aren’t snakes, Dave. “But maybe people back then wouldn’t have known!” People “back then” wouldn’t have known half the stuff we put in these games, let’s move on.

So, this thing was “spawned in the vats of chaos,” which was basically the precursor to “probably the result of a mad wizard’s experiment.” Both of these are the equivalent of Marvel Comics’ “they’re a mutant.” They are what they are and we don’t have time to come up with origins and explanations, dammit. (Not even kidding - mutants were created because Stan Lee was too lazy to continue to come up with origins for characters so he basically said “what if a mad wizard(God) did it?” I’ll wait for angry responses from Stan Lee fans “correcting” me about something I couldn’t actually care less about.)

AC actually has a range, from 6-7, or as I observed previously, should probably be listed as 7-6(I won’t comment on this in the future). Move 8 seems okay I suppose for an octorilla. Swim 6, so, it’s better running around on land than swimming. Intelligence very low, but not quite animal, averaging 5, with a high dexterity averaging 16! Why exactly?

Alignment “chaotic,” so I suppose they are going with the single description alignments. Found in dungeons and “open,” again, among other places, specifically woods and water, which makes enough sense.

This is another with way too many attacks. I really miss OD&D with 1 attack per character or monster regardless of how many arms it has or whatever. Two of its three attack types have scaling damage, and it’s high damage. It gets 4 attacks with its arms, which I guess is a punch or slam of some type, beginning at the same damage as a two-handed sword. The largest cause double this damage. Its beak begins at 1d8 and can also double for the largest ones. It also gets four “constrictions,” which score double its “regular damage,” so, 2d10 for the smallest and 4d1 for the largest? You know that’s overkill. 7 HD giants don’t do that kind of damage in a single attack(though they should). The description tells us that if a sucker-lined arm hits twice in a row or two arms hit in one melee turn(which was probably still 1 round in Holmes and not 10?) constriction takes place and continues until either party is dead. This is when I’m noticing it actually says “1-4 constrictions,” so maybe it only gets the arm attacks unless the previous conditions are met? It’s kind of confusing, and generally, such conditional attacks aren’t listed among the regular attacks like that, but this was an early time. It would certainly make the monster more reasonable if that’s the case. It also says that there’s only a need to make an attack roll for constriction “each turn” if someone is wearing plate mail. That tells me they do mean rounds, but what is the roll for? If they’re saying if an arm hits twice in a row or two hit in a round, the constriction is automatic, then there was already an attack roll made - two of them. Are they saying that constriction isn’t automatic if someone is wearing plate mail? I don’t get this at all.

Aside from some confusing aspects, including what this abomination actually looks like(sure, gorilla and octopus, complete with octopus beak - I still have no idea what that would look like), it’s a neat monster. I like it.

After completing Part II of this readthrough, I looked up “octorilla,” and found that such a monster was published in “the Arduin Grimoire II,” by Mr. Hargrave here. Perhaps Chaosium appealed to Hargrave to change the name because the book was lacking in “a” monsters, or he only really finally decided on “octorilla” between AtWM and tAGII, but I doubt it. Also remember that the introduction expressly stated that no “Arduin Grimoire” monsters are found here, and the second volume of tAG hadn’t been released yet, so this was probably a precursor to the later Arduin “octorilla.” You can see an OSE writeup and the original monster writeup here, complete with pictures(the modern version, not by Hargrave, skips the beak!).

Arceel

It would be understandable to think this was a made-up nonsense word by emphasizing the pronunciation incorrectly, like “ar-keel” or even “ar-seal,” but it is “arc eel,” as in electric eel. It’s man sized, and 10 HD! Sheesh!

The AC is 2+6, the same thing its creator, Steve Henderson, did with his last entry, the nonsensical Airfang. “Its AC is high due to its rubbery skin.” Thanks for the important info, why does its Dex average high though? Also, it’s “repulsive,” lest you think it was adorable.

It has low human intelligence, but never lairs nor has treasure(I guess it’s the lack of hands?). Chaotic in alignment, it only lives in swamps - not “outdoors” or in dungeons - and its swim rate is abysmal, maybe to allow PCs to escape when they realize this thing is an inexplicable bucket of HP that does 4d6 lightning damage. It’s described as a “lightning bolt,” but clarifies in the description that it “must touch its victim.” I’m not sure if “must touch” simply indicates that an attack roll must be made as opposed to it being an area of effect power, or if it also means that someone touching it takes damage.

These eels are a lot cooler, put them in your game instead

I wish it flew like the air squid. Water-based monsters get so little use, comparatively, in my opinion(though this could be a flaw in execution, i.e., people need to find ways to use them more). And the HD seems pretty high, really. I know it’s a nitpick, but I don’t care for the cutesy name either. Why not just call it “giant electric eel?” That’s what it is, man. It doesn’t even have acid or cold breath given to it by a mad wizard, or that it gained in the vats of Chaos, so it’s just a big-ass electric eel.

Archer Bush

This is one we’ll see other places, such as Mystara. I suppose it’s one of those natural or obvious ideas that multiple people come up with, as mentioned before. It’s mentioned as being taken from the book “Symbiotica,” so it’s just as possible that whoever created it for Mystara was inspired by the same book.

It has no intelligence, but usually has treasure; which makes sense as it’s described as being a “guardian” creature, planted almost invariably for such a purpose.

No alignment is given, not even a joke one like “alignment: wood.” That’s not funny, but neither is “hungry.” Speaking of which, it’s found in “open,” as well as woods. So I guess “open” must mean literally any outdoor area at all aside from cities, which are listed as their own environment, and ruins, which are actually considered part of the “cities” category for some reason. Which means technically, nobody ever plants these in the ruins in which they lair, nor do wealthy lunatics plant them around their yard for security. I’m sure the creator didn’t intend to make their use that narrow, I’m being pedantic, or something similar to it. I don’t think it actually needs an alignment, and sometimes I think systems overstat things that don’t need them. (DC Heroes was the worst for that, statting things like coins - and by the rules, the weakest human can snap one in half.)

One of the most reasonable HD attributions so far, and it doesn’t even have a spread! The AC is pretty low for something that could logically be argued to be a bit higher. Its dexterity is 12, so it’s going to act in melee a little faster than an average person; too bad it doesn’t get melee attacks, and it isn’t high enough to give it a bonus to its ranged attack, and monsters don’t really work like that anyway. It attacks with the “probability” of “a light bow fired by an eighth level fighter of average dexterity.” I don’t put “probability” in quotes to mock it, but to highlight a specific way that certain rules were often expressed early on that you didn’t see so much later. If you read the “AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide” - and I‘m going to write a short article in the future on why you should, regardless of what RPG you run, and what parts are universally useful and often overlooked - Gygax goes into dice probabilities, and describes the potential universality of die rolls and how one can be exchanged for another. I talked about this a bit in the previous part. Looking at chances as probabilities, converting them to percentages, can be very useful. I also point this out to question why “light bow” is mentioned. One could argue it’s to reflect the range or damage or something, but it expressly states that it factors into its hit probability somehow.

It certainly doesn’t factor into its damage, which is insane: it fires 50-100 needles, each of which score 1 HP damage, so we’re talking 50-100 HP of damage potential per round from one bush alone and they average 21 appearing at a time. And that’s before poison, which is save or die, meaning an average of 1,575 possible save or die attacks PER ROUND. That assumes all 21 are within range, but still.

Well, we’re done the “a”s, and I could use a breather after that last one. K. Jones, I’ll be watching you.

Next time we sail into the “b”s, with the Bagda and Fallowman, and, oh I don’t know, tentatively end with the writeups of beetles. See you then!

#rpg #d&d #rpgs #ad&d #osr #all the world's monsters #readthrough #arduin #arduin grimoire #ose #chaosium

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