#i'll always just. be that guy who draws cartoons.

[theradicalace]

sometimes if i look at really good art too hard it makes me sad

[hellspawnmotel]

well you guys really called my bluff on this one, haha. I have a lot to say on the topic so this will probably turn into a long post but the answer really depends on this: what interests you about astro boy, pluto, and the franchise/tezuka's body of work as a whole? what do you want out of this experience?

if you're just looking for places to read/watch these things and that's it, I'll put some links here at the top so you don't have to dig through this whole mess.

you can read astro boy (original manga) here (there are occasionally missing pages on this website, if/when you run into those you can switch to this one which is harder to navigate but complete)

you can watch/download the 2003 anime (english sub) here

you can read naoki urasawa's pluto here

so you're interested in astro boy but aren't sure where to start: my opinion as someone whose point of view you respect for some reason

it didn't occur to me until recently that for a lot of people who follow me, your cultural touchstone for the concept of astro boy is most likely to be the 2009 american movie. I didn't watch that as a kid, I was 14 when it came out and fully into my "anime is superior to western animation" phase, but I've watched it now and well.... if you like it that's great! I did not. I'm not going to dwell on that, but I think it's worth noting that whatever your opinion on it as a movie is I don't really think it's a good representation of astro boy and its themes. moving on.

the manga

if you want the pure, unfiltered astro boy experience, this is as close as you're gonna get. it's gonna be a little haphazard though because the dark horse publication, which is probably the only way you're gonna find to read it in english, does not order the stories chronologically. I don't think that really matters because there's not a lot of continuity so as long as you understand the basic premise you can read in whatever order you want, and this puts a lot of really good stories first anyway so it's nice too. personally as far as all versions of astro boy proper go, the manga is my favorite. it's not always an easy read, for reasons I'll get into in a moment, and it's not always good either. some stories are phenomenal, some are just plain silly, and some are downright terrible. but given how long it ran for and how consistently and without breaks tezuka worked on not just it but all his other manga too I think that's too be expected. but even the bad ones I think are worth a look! this is the history of manga as a medium right here! and I love the manga, it's fun, funny, wonderfully drawn, compelling, shockingly dark at times, and just a fascinating read for those with an interest in classic comics.

all that said, I think it would be irresponsible of me to recommend it without also including a big fat disclaimer, which dark horse was kind enough to put at the front of the book.

if you have an interest or familiarity with classic/vintage manga, anime, comics, and cartoons, you probably saw this coming, but some of this shit gets REAL racist, most often in terms of how people are drawn. some of tezuka's biggest inspirations were the rubberhose american cartoons of the 20s and 30s, and all that implies. for whatever the opinion of a white american is worth, based on his writing I really do believe he had good intentions- he consistently speaks out against racism and bigotry in general, in astro boy especially. you can tell he was very passionate about it. but I'm not gonna defend the guy either, you can't be drawing people like that, even if it was the 40s-80s. a lot of the experience of getting into tezuka is reading a story where the moral is "racism is evil! end discrimination!" accompanied by straight up racial caricatures in the art. it's baffling and infuriating. if I could I would travel back in time and hire the man a sensitivity reader, but I can't, and he's been dead for 35 years so we'll never know what he would've done about it today. all we can do is take it as an opportunity to learn and do better. but, if all that puts you off getting into the manga or the series at large, I don't blame you!

with that out of the way, the size of the manga might intimidate you. there's a lot of it. lucky for you you don't have to read all of it if you don't want to! I've read the entire thing because I'm a completionist at heart, but I've had several friends come to me for a smaller and more manageable reading list, which is as follows:

(stars for my personal favorites, grimaces for "I did enjoy this one and I think it's worth reading but I don't feel good about recommending it". I also think "the artificial sun" and "atlas" are important reads if you're interested in the history of the franchise because they get referenced a lot, but they are VERY racist and I don't think theyre good enough overall to make them worth putting on the list despite that.)

that was long. next up:

the 2003 anime

I am not quite done watching this one but I'm pretty close so I feel confident in saying: on the whole, it's great! it looks absolutely fantastic for a tv anime from that era, the character and world design is top-notch, and overall it does a really good job adapting the best and most important parts of the manga into a continuous story, although it softens the blow of the darker moments quite a bit (which might be a good thing for you, depending on your tastes). it's pretty beloved by western fans, and for good reason.

I do have my issues with it, for one this might not be a popular opinion but I think they majorly screwed up on adapting the "greatest robot on earth" arc (my favorite arc btw, yes I might be salty), for another they really sand the edges off of uran's character compared to the manga and make her a lot more meek and girly. but that's just my opinion and if this show is the only one you've watched you wouldnt know that anyway. so don't let that deter you if you're interested, you'll be missing out on a pretty fantastic kids show.

so, if you're looking to really dive chest-first into astro boy as a franchise and understand all there is to know: maybe don't start with this one. it changes a lot from the source material and kind of does its own thing. but if you're just looking for a good story thats fun to watch and total eye candy, go nuts!

pluto

pluto by naoki urasawa is an adaptation/reimagining of astro boy's most famous and beloved arc, "the greatest robot on earth". it's also what got me into the franchise and one of my favorite manga ever! pluto reinvents the story as a detective thriller set in the aftermath of what is effectively, and obviously, the iraq war. it's brutal and harrowing, and beautiful and cathartic and hopeful. to me it is the gold standard for "dark and gritty reboot of a children's story" because urasawa adores tezuka and respects the original version, which was always a dark tragedy anyway, just presented differently. you might have seen pluto got an anime adaptation last year as well. I've watched it, it's pretty good! it doesn't change all that much (I don't like the few things they DID change but whatever) but I just think urasawa's artwork, paneling, and pacing are completely unmatched so I'd recommend the manga first. I'm not gonna be that asshole who insists you gotta read the manga over the anime though, if anime is easier for you you're better off having experienced pluto that way than not at all.

(if you ARE interested in both astro boy and pluto and are considering which to get into first, it's important to know that reading the arc pluto is based on will spoil a loooooot of things about the story. so weigh the pros and cons of that before making a decision!)

so, that's basically what I have to say. I haven't watched the 60s or 80s anime adaptations so I can't give insight on those, and I'm by no means an expert on any of this. I only started reading the original manga like three months ago and before that my memories of the other stuff was pretty faded, before I revisited it. if you're interested though I hope this helps, and I hope you enjoy yourself if you decide to take the leap! it's kind of a rabbit hole. I did not know what I was getting into when I decided to reread pluto, but I'm sure glad I did.

if you have any other questions about my personal opinions, feel free to shoot me an ask as well!

[illusioncanthurtme--art]

hello!!! im subbed to your patreon but i am Too Embarrassed to reach out on there lol

just wanted to say how much i adore your art?? its very rare to see someone posting as often as you do, and with PENCILS? holy mackerel.

your grasp of form and shape is amazing, i love your style, the way you draw... like, not to get hyper specific, but - the way you draw the zygomatic arch on people?? its really good 👍 personally, i can never figure out how to marry cartoon/simplified eyes with a solid face structure, so im just really impressed when i look at your stuff!

very very excited for the billford comic you're making on patreon to continue 👀 i wish you great luck and success

also i concur with the anon from a couple weeks back. u should draw ford licking bill's eye at some point lol

That is so kind oh my god!!! You got me grinning from ear to ear, no lie!!

It means so so much to hear that from you!! Having an actual patreon audience is VERY new to me, so I'm doing my absolute best to make stuff for you guys regularly, and as frequently as I can. So I'm very glad you think so!! I think I wanted to say this on my patreon last night after posting that comic: (and I probably will soon, but I don't like making a bunch of "update" posts cuz I think it might be annoying) I'm REALLY enjoying patreon!! It's a shit ton of fun, now that there's actually people there to see my stuff and leave comments. It makes things very exciting and gratifying for me! I'm always looking forward to sharing my next thing! And I've been on the lookout for a third social media to post to for a while now, and I feel like this has become it for me! I'm just having a great time and I want people to know that.

Dude I had to look up what that bone is and I've never given it a single gosh darn thought SDKHKJDSJKSD but to make your point, that bone is located at the spot between the eye and the ear. And I'm always super mindful of the amount of space that exists there. Sometimes I make it too big, sometimes too small... but I'm always thinking about it when I draw. 🤔

And THANK YOU!! I'm super stoked to keep working on that comic. I think I'll post the drawings as I make them to patreon, and when a "part" is done, I'll leave it on patreon for a week before sharing it elsewhere. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I started a billford comic thingie, and I'm expecting it to be pretty dang long. It's a slow burn situation I've got cooking. So far I posted the first half of the first part to patreon. I'm really excited for it >:)

Dude, you are like the sixth person to want me to draw ford getting sloppy on that eyeball and I'm starting to feel like it's inevitable at this point DJKSDGFKLJFDKLFG oh god, what does my future hold :'D

[hyenafu]

Have you ever thought of crossovers between Slightly Damned and Junk Hyenas Diner? Both casts meeting, even as what-ifs or jokes. Lucky and Kieri have similar struggles with their mothers and the expectations put on them by their families, so they'd likely have a lot to talk about. And then there's the two fuzzy chill guys who love food, and the short beings of nebulous origins that came back to life.

It's funny you worded your question that way! One of the reasons I stopped working on The Junk Hyenas Diner is because I felt my long-term plans for it were too similar to Slightly Damned. I made The Junk Hyenas Diner as my thesis project when I got my graduate degree from the Center for Cartoon Studies. I wanted to completely change up the way I did comics and do something new. I was afraid of having Slightly Damned being my only major project, and I didn't want to be stuck in a rut forever. And it worked out great! I loved working on JHD. With a different setting, I got to make different jokes. Working in black and white helped change the way I approach my art, as well. I think I learned a lot from the experience. I made a bunch of short stories and gained new confidence in my ability to adapt and make new things. I fully intended to continue The Junk Hyenas Diner as my second webcomic in tandem with Slightly Damned after I graduated. But... I ended up putting it off more and more. I got busy with going to conventions more way more often, and expanding the breadth of my merchandise. I also got more involved with my Patreon. I needed to do these things in order to secure my income so I could keep living off of my art. I also felt like my heart wasn't really into making a science fiction (well, more like science fantasy) story. I felt intimidated by other artists who could ground their work in a lot more concrete facts about space travel, technology, and biology. I just wanted to make dumb jokes about food. Now I know that just wanting to make dumb jokes about food is valid, but that was honestly part of why I lost my motivation. I've decided to completely drop JHD for the time being. I'll always keep the website archive up because I still think it's a fun read, and I loved the experience of making it. I also don't consider that door closed forever. If I feel compelled to return for whatever reason, I will! I have thought that JHD would be suitable project for a self-contained graphic novel. I could also just lean into telling jokes whenever they come to me. But I don't really have the time or motivation for it right now, so it's not a priority. I think artists should be allowed to drop projects if they're not really feeling them anymore. It happens. Since the last time I made any new Junk Hyenas comics, I went through some rough emotional events that led me to seeing a therapist. That helped me a lot! After that, I ended up leaning more into making mushy stuff (cutesy and romantic) and spicy stuff (kink art for adults) for Slightly Damned in my free time. That's just what's the most fun for me right now. Because it's fun and rewarding, I keep making more and more. Even if there are folks who don't get it (which is fine), being motivated to draw makes me practice drawing, and practice makes all my art better, so everyone who likes my art still wins in the end!

Motivation is a fickle beast. Life changes. I always have way more ideas than the time and energy to actually make them, and I hope that's a problem I keep for my entire life. I can't possibly do everything all at once. Having Slightly Damned be my life's work is still scary thought. Other artists are able to finish their webcomics and graphic novels and move on, so I end up thinking that the grass may be greener on the other side. I don't know when or even if I'll be able to finish Slightly Damned in order to free up more time to work on other projects. But at the same time, right now, I don't really feel like I need to. I am enjoying what I make, and I'm always pushing myself to make each weekly update better. I love my characters so much that I enjoy following my whims and making spinoff projects with them. I think as long as I continue to find this fulfilling (and there are still people willing to support me), there's no need to force myself to do projects that I'm not feeling especially motivated to do. I know this big wall of text isn't what you asked for, but I wanted to explain why I don't draw Junk Hyenas stuff anymore. Anyway, here's a Thanksgiving picture I did of the Slightly Damned and Junk Hyenas casts in 2016:

[kochi999]

I always draw only Arcade porn, but today I really thought about "why I like Arcade" and drew it seriously.

Below is the monstrosity I drew on pixiv. I haven't scrutinized the document after the English translation, so it's probably weird.

　My shit-decker feelings (mainly inferiority complex) for Dr. Arcade have finally calmed down after about 10 months of falling for him, so here's one thing I'd like to summarize (give birth to) why I can't help but have such a fussy heart for this guy. I guess the screen turns red when I put my feelings into it. I know it's not popular to capture long sentences nowadays, but it's the last time I'm drawing, so forgive me, I don't have anywhere else to put it.

　I've tried to put all the elements of why I like this guy so much into this one picture, but the part that people who don't know me won't get from the picture and the part that made me fall for that point in the first place is that this guy is officially gay. The other deciding factor that drove me crazy was the fact that there is an ending where he commits suicide by circumcision for the sake of his own pride.

　This guy, who had been running away from the secret of his origins, who was worried and lost, who couldn't tell anyone about the secret of his life, who couldn't make up his mind in that ephemeral world, who had been moping and sulking until he was 35 years old, makes a decision based on the words of a random courier (the main character) and chooses to live while helping others with his special skills, He can either choose to live for his father's redemption, or he can choose neither and be enslaved until he commits suicide. How can you come up with such a setting? The game is so full of elements that mess with our emotions that I can't help but project myself onto the brain-destroyed (physical) courier and the brain-destroyed (metaphorical) me.

↓I can't help but project myself onto him. 　Why is Arcades set up as gay? It's just a setting that has nothing to do with the story. It is really a mystery. Why did they set him up that way? Is it because he doesn't know his father's face and is a fatherfucker? It's a wise decision. Thanks to you, a lot of nerdy women have been swamped. The fact that a man of such a serious character and nature was naturally homosex active drives me crazy again. There is also the mysterious statement that he had a few boyfriends in the past, but that doesn't play into the main story at all. Are you saying that I couldn't even confide my origins to my boyfriends? I wouldn't mind having a boyfriend who confided in a past man about his origins…and then they finally broke up because they couldn't share their life together, but he never revealed the secret of his origins to anyone…that would be fine. I'm a big fan.

　Please, give me an Arcadian ex-career selection setting. What kind of guy she was dating and at what age, and if possible, her favorite position, etc. No, that's too much to ask. I'll have dinner with that. I'm ready to eat. I'll cook a pot of rice for now. Give me that. Give me a piece of Arcadian life. I don't care if it's too late. Give it to me. Hey. If, at the height of the drama, there are now statements like, "Actually, Nate, the fourth master, was in that movie," then why not have a leak that says, "Actually, that was Arcade's ex-boyfriend," or "Actually, that man at Navarro base is Arcade's father. Give it to me. I'm sure you have some secret settings that you can't reveal to the public anyway. Give it to me. Give it to me in a fanzine. Please. I don't care if it's a fabrication by a fan, please give me a doujinshi of Arcades' ex-boyfriend…someone please draw me a doujinshi…I'll do anything…tumbler prohibits sexually explicit pictures, so if you can, please draw me a sexually explicit picture on pixiv. I don't care if it's a cartoon. I have two new friends on pixiv recently. Thank you I love you and I won't miss you.

[sciderman]

Omfg he IS Daffy. Like. If we want to get into specifics…Wade’s entire life is that episode where Daffy keeps trying to play out the scene and the “animator” keeps drawing new ways to fuck up the scene. And after you’re certain Daffy has lost the tiny semblance of the sanity he had left, you pan out and it’s just Bugs in the animation studio closing the book on Daffy.

Oh man that tracks on so many levels. Especially the power exchange when Peter takes on the Daffy role and Wade gets to be Bugs. Even down to how Bugs dresses in drag, typically leaving Daffy to fend for himself in terms of the antagonist. When Wade dresses in drag or even simply wears a dress, even when Peter enjoys it he’s usually left to fend for himself against his biggest foe: his gender and sexuality.

Now I have to know…do you think Peter can get to a point where he’s taking up the Bugs role from time to time, or is he an eternal Daffy?

P.S.: Daffy is my FAVORITE.

i LOVE daffy, he's one of my favourite characters in fiction ever. and i've always said it, wade is very daffy duck coded.

wise guy ✅ funny way of talkin' ✅ ability to break the fourth wall ✅ tortured by the narrator ✅ mad about it ✅

even the kind of performative humour that's signature to looney tunes is hardwired into wade. the way he talks in early comics - even his debut series every issue is themed to ducks. i think it's all very intentional he's always meant to have been a looney tunes-esque figure, and that's the way he chooses to perform.

i was a looney tunes girlie growing up (my favourite) and watched looney tunes cartoons religiously and so SO much of my humour came from those cartoons and feeds into how i write wade (daffy and bugs are both like, the biggest inspirations for the way i write wade, no doubt. no doubt. i don't even know if i can point to any other characters as inspiration, save for wade himself.)

i'll squeeze in a clip from duck amuck (my favourite piece of media like, ever created ever.) please seek out the whole cartoon if you haven't - i really think it's one of the greatest cartoons ever made.

bugs and daffy's dynamic (especially in later content of them, where they're cosier and more self-aware) is a huge inspiration too - an odd couple that kind of hates each other because they're always, always diametrically opposed but kind of know each other so well and know each other's BIT so well that when they have each other's interests at heart and work together they are The Ultimate Duo with like, the most fire chemistry you've ever seen. the most unstoppable banter you've ever seen. when they're in a room together, absolutely no one else can get a word in. obsessed with that dynamic.

wade and peter are very bugs and daffy coded but it's dealers choice who gets to be bugs and who gets to be daffy. they're switches. i think it's all about who has the upper hand in the scenario - bugs usually has a confidence in a situation that comes from him knowing something daffy doesn't - (ergo, wade is usually the bugs. because he usually knows something peter doesn't.)

but... buuuuut, it's not always the case - and wade doesn't always have the upper hand when it comes to his dynamic with peter - particularly when he's feeling emotionally vulnerable. peter can handle those situations better than wade does. those moments, regrettably - happen more often in the fics than on the blog, because it usually happens when their clothes are off. (oops.)

wade's daffy moments happen when he's Not the smartest guy in the room, or things don't work out in his favour or he's not in control of the situation and he's being dramatic about it.

in those moments, peter gets to be the bugs. the level-headed guy who's in charge of the situation. i hope he gets more moments like that. because it's kind of insane that wade's usually the sane one here. and he needs to be dethroned.

peter needs more bugs bunny moments - and though i'm not sure when - olive and anita's warring divas dynamic fits the bugs and daffy model with so much more ferocity. they will be dropping pianos on each other. and you can guess who gets to be the bugs.

[marshallpupfan]

Hopefully this isn't too weird or invasive a question, but I'm curious what draws you to Paw Patrol as an older fan, and also what your experience has been like in the fandom and as a collector? (I'm assuming you're an older fan and probably close to my age from the non-Paw Patrol media you share haha).

I am indeed one of its older fans, and I can think up a few reasons that keeps drawing me to it.

One I can say right away is the fact I have a big love for canines, thus I tend to gravitate towards anything with dogs (and wolves, depending on if they're heroes or villains). They make up plenty of my favorites characters, as some of you seen in one of my previous Asks, and I generally tend to enjoy things more when they're involved (a friend recently recommended an older game to me, which I enjoyed all the more because you got to travel around with your trusty dog).

Funnily enough, not too long ago, I took an interest in the Asterix and Obelix franchise because of its dog character, Dogmatix... and I was quite thrilled when I heard he was getting his own spinoff cartoon! Of course, it was only available in French at the time, but much to my luck, the first half of season one got dubbed in English and [officially] posted on Youtube, free to watch! I gave it a go, and I thought it was pretty good! If anyone's curious, click this link to check it out. And yes, this might've been a thinly-veiled attempt to talk about this cartoon somewhere, since there aren't many English-speaking fans. lol

Arquebus/Musketix is the best character.

But yeah, the pups are one of my biggest draws to PAW Patrol, and unlike some fans, I rather like it when other pups get added to the cast. Boomer and Claw both certainly helped renew some of my interest in the franchise, particularly during a time in which I felt things were going downhill. Hey, I just love dogs!

Obviously, Marshall's easily my biggest draw to PAW Patrol. I'll admit, I tend to take a far bigger interest in an episode when he actually gets some good attention... and it's why my interests start to wane when he doesn't. The dude's legit my #1 favorite animated character, so I suppose it's no surprise to hear I often tune in specifically for him. That's not to say I don't get enjoyment from the other pups, but I'm just so crazy about that spotted pup!

Another aspect that draws me to PAW Patrol is just how fun it tends to be (or used to be, but the modern seasons still have their moments). I don't want to go too deep into this because I don't want things to get too serious, but let's just say... life can be quite rough anymore, and it never seems to get much better. I often look for something that can help me escape that for a while, even if it's just for a half hour at a time. I found that PAW Patrol does that for me. It's cute, colorful, fun, doesn't try to be complex, and by the end, everything turns out okay. And if I need cheering up after a bad day, a certainly clumsy, spotted pup often always puts a smile on my face. Some days, I need that.

----

As for my experiences with the fandom, I'd say it's been largely positive. I do tend to meet a lot of friendly people, many of which tend to be supportive and/or cheerful when I need it, and I generally enjoy interacting with most of them right back! I certainly don't regret being a part of it for the last five years or so.

With that said, I've had encounters that certainly weren't pleasant. I think everyone knows about my copycat by this point, so no need to retread that old ground. There's one infamous user out there who just seems to hate everything (unless it involves Everest), and he often turns hostile if you don't agree with his opinions. The same dude even tried arguing and verbally attacking those who work on PAW Patrol... including their families, too! Crazy guy. I've also encountered some fans who seem to make stuff up, believe their headcanon to be fact, and then become angry when people don't agree with them. I once had someone tell me Ryder is "gaslighting" Rubble, and... I don't even want to know what that means or why they believe that.

And in-regards to being a collector, the reception I often encounter has been quite positive, too. Most fans really seem to enjoy seeing my collection, even if it's just out of curiosity to see just how much merchandise they made of one single pup. I still get compliments on it all the time, from both fans and non-fans of Marshall, and I've even seen other folks who just think it's legit cool.

Surprisingly, I've only had one negative encounter so far, and it was, believe it or not, from someone who used to be a fan of PAW Patrol. She became one of those folks who encountered bad users, got tired of them, and then decided every fan must be awful... and of course, she tore into me because I "talk too much" about Marshall and deemed me a "freak" for collecting so much merchandise. Most of what she said was largely laced with swears and insults, and I'm sure she believes she put me in my place or something... though in truth, I was laughing at most of her replies. Why she felt the need to throw such a temper tantrum on me, I'll never know, but she didn't succeed in even the slightest to discourage me or anything. lol

[sbpstudios]

so! some odd months ago i talked about wanting to make a mascot horror myself. one themed around cartoons aimed for girls. and while i don't have a game yet too show, although i am working on getting everything planned out for it!

i do have some design concepts to show! meet the cast of Rosewood Purgatorium!

i mainly took inspiration from strawberry shortcake for this project, as i grew up on the 2003 series and strawberry shortcake has such a fun and colorful cast that i wanted too play around with it in my hands.

these designs are for the toon characters that we play as in this game. i'm thinking of making a turn based rpg, as i haven't seen anyone do that in mascot horror before (although i might not be the first).

a quick run down on everyone.

Rosie Rosewood: the main protagonist of the cartoon series, your classic mild mannered girl next door sort with a gardening passion.

Honey Sweetheart: your classic supportive best friend type. often worried sick about her friends at all times.

Sunny Day: your classic pretty girly girl type. the kind with hobbies like fashion, makeup and gossip.

Emerald Evergreen: the resident theater kid who acts like she's got this big ego when really she's just faking it till she makes it.

Jay Bird: your classic tomboy type who goes on rough and tumble adventures and got plenty of stories to tell.

Violet Night: your classic bookworm smart guy who always knows whatever trivia the show needs to make it's plot work.

Mauve Melody: Rosie's other best friend. she's a grumpy perfectionist that always has to be convinced to participate in the plot.

Taffy Blush: the show's comic relief. a supposed jokester and prankster but- she's not very good at it.

Pepper Spice: the show's bully character and the game's actual protagonist! she's blunt, hot tempered and stubborn. but not to bad a friend if you actually bothered to get to know her.

the descriptions are pretty simple but that's because i'm saving, the Juicy stuff for later >:) a main focus of this game is gonna be poking at these kinda archetypes.

and aaaa- yeah that's all i got to share today. i'll draw the human cast later once i got them all tinkered.

[thingschangelikemonkeypants]

Talking about gender identity for pride month.

6/23/24

Hey.

So, pride month is almost over and I haven't really done the thing yet where I sit down and analyze my identity as a queer person. Hell, I haven't done that since 2020, I've sort of been on autopilot since the pandemic. But today I went ahead and watched "I saw the tv glow" on my laptop as a little treat. Needless to say all the people on tiktok saying that it "absolutely wrecked" them were not exaggerating. Like, honestly, I got chills or whatever.

The first time I ever "came out" was when I was still in middle school (2014) in my family's old apartment. I told my mom that I liked girls, never really specifying if I was bi or a lesbian or anything. I had privately come out to my cousin and a couple close friends as bi, but it never felt right. It almost felt like saying that I liked guys alongside girls was justifying the queer aspect of my romantic attractions.

Eventually I decided not to lie about this part of me, so I told more people I was a lesbian, something my mother already assumed. And a few years later in 2020 (when i was 18) I told my dad I was gay, he took it well, and everything was okay. Except, it wasn't.

Over those fun years between 2014 and 2020, I had struggled so much with the person i saw in the mirror. I didn't know who I was no matter how hard I tried. I thought "who am I, like actually?". I shut out those thoughts with watching cartoons, drawing in my sketchbook, and blasting music on whatever pair of earbuds I could get my hands on. In my moments of weakness I tried to explain this to my mother, I would tell her I didn't like being a girl or "ugh, being a girl sucks" blah blah blah. None of it ever got through to her though, she just told me I was still figuring things out/that I was confused. Typical parent things to say, it isn't anything I'm bitter about, my mother was always supportive of the whole like girls thing. But she didn't know anything about all this gender stuff, and neither did I - I still don't.

Overall, I have been... unhappy. This lingering feeling of "something is... wrong, I just can't put my finger on it". It's awful not knowing, but I think deep down I always knew.

I don't feel like a girl, I don't feel like a guy - I feel like something different.

I learned about nonbinary people back in 2018, only I had the misfortune of learning about them through kalvin garrah, so I was convinced the gender identity was "cringe". Like what? It was a stupid thought.

After some time though, I really couldn't tell you exactly when and how, I started using they/them pronouns. At least, in my head and on my own. Some cousins used them for me, a friend as well but only sometimes. I put them on social media, my sister still isn't down with all that but that's OK. Even if none of my close friends or parents were okay with it I wouldn't really care, I'm tired of caring so much what other people think. I'm tired of caring about dumb shit like that, I want to care about me.

Happy pride month to all the other nonbinary people out there, I love you and I get you. I'm still so lost after hating myself for so long, so if you have any advice or experiences you want to share please do.

Thank you.

There is so much more that I want to say, but I'll leave it at this for now.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

hi it's mermay and i'm thinking about sirens. i'm gunna do some looking of my own (at seadragons, probably) but can you think of any fish that look like their tails/features would make a cool mermaid?

Hello! I've actually answered a similar question before, here is my answer to that one:

But since your question is a little different, I'll feature some unique fish species you could find inspiration from!

The rockmover wrasse! Here is an adult, the juvenile is a little wilder:

Crazy patterns! Should go to good use :)

Eels! Just any type of eel, really. They come in such varied shapes and sizes, and have various abilities too! If you're the type of person who likes to give merpeople the features of the fish they're based on, just imagine a moray eel merperson with two jaws! Or a ribbon eel merson whose tail sways like a ribbon while swimming. I'd suggest looking into eels!

Electric eels too! Despite the name, they aren't actually eels at all, so I'm mentioning their genus separately here. Long fish that sense things with electricity and can generate it, even being able to cause prey animals to stop or start swimming with careful shocks... need I say more?

Here's one that could have many ways to be interpreted as a merson. Stargazers! They're ambush predators that hide in the sand, only having their eyes and mouth showing. I'd like to see how those would be interpreted as merpeople.

Mudskippers! The semiaquatic fish that live most of their lives on land.

Another one that walks, frogfish! Many species not only have a lure, but also walk along the bottom of the seafloor. How's that for an interesting merson challenge?

I don't think I've ever seen a merson who looks like a billfish, as in like a swordfish, sailfish or a marlin. The particular fish here is a sailfish!

I don't see some reef fish often, either. How about a moorish idol?

Perhaps the similarly-shaped butterflyfish?

Oh hey, maybe mandarinfish! That's one colourful guy :)

Deep sea fish are always a treat, too. They look very otherworldly compared to the fish we see often in everyday life! My personal favourite is the barreleye, but any friend from the deep is a friend indeed. The stoplight loosejaw who has a private red flashlight, the cookiecutter shark who sneakily bites chunks off bigger animals, bristlemouths with their large jaws and tiny teeth... I recommend looking into fish that have photophores, aka light-producing organs! They're fish that glow in the dark!!! Extremely cool and mysterious...

Lanternfish are a good example of this, I think. They're thought to be the most abundant group of vertebrates, they're deep sea-living, they have photophores, they migrate vertically in humongous schools that literally look like false bottoms to sonar.

Deep sea anglerfish are a classic, old but gold. Seldom used in merfolk! I've tried tackling anglerfish merfolk myself before, I'll feature my concept sketches below for possible inspiration... though they contain artistic nudity, so I'll only feature them under the cut. Nothing major. Cartoon tits.

And there you have it! I got kinda carried away, I'm sure no one minds. Have a fun Mermay! I'm gonna draw some art for it myself, but in the meantime, have this fish ramble :)

Her first initial concept on the left and some additional ones on the right. Anglerfish of all kinds use lures to trick prey, so I wanted to mix the lure aspect with mermaids to create a siren that lures in sailors with her human half and eats them with her fish half. The human half has working eyes, vocal chords and lungs to first spot sailors, then call and sing to them, but besides that all the other organs are in the fish half. No doubt similar merple exist, but this was my take on it! It's a lot of fun to be creative, I recommend just going with the flow and doing what feels the most natural or coolest. You've got this!

[strummingmyheart]

well i dont normally use tumblr n i deleted my last account because i hated everything about it !! so anyway, you can call me finney, rody or clem, any pronouns but he/it by default, please & thanks yew, i really like sea life especially koi fish or magnapinna squid, n my favorite animal is probably either cats or giraffe's. im in alot of fandoms so I'm only gonna name a few rn, !!

i really like the dcu although mostly batfam and young justice (both the comics & the cartoon), vocaloids !! (mostly kaito, len kagamine, gumi, luka, miku and gakupo), l the mcu although mostly spider-man,deadpool n daredevil, mcyt (ex; life games, hermitcraft, empires smp, etc.), studio investigrave (ex; dead plate and cold front), omori, ensemble stars, random story games i find (like literal storys that are interactive, i usually find them on itch.io and dashingdon, like infamous by amy ^^), bungo stray dogs (the mangs, the anime & the mobile game !!!), project sekai [my favz r tsukasa, mafuyu, shizuku n basically all of wxs, !!], VIVINOS [ex; alien stage and pink bitch club], flcl, vkei (ex; malice mizer, gulu gulu, Yuugure GIRL SUICIDE, etc.), danganronpa, bandori, twisted wonderland, d4dj, the guy she was intrested in wasn't a guy at all, good omens, hi3, yttd, fe (fire emblem) [the entire franchise], persona, n so so many more, so many.

my favorite colors are yellow, red, black and pink. i read alot of fanfiction but im terrible of writing, my favorite book is the goldfinch n I'll probably post one of my old mini rants about it,[ i also might post my when twilight strikes lore dump... wtv I'll get 2 that later!!!11 ], while my favorite book series is percy jackson or the tim drake: robin series if comics count :3.

i like drawing but im really bad at drawing already existing characters, i appreciate constructive criticism but if ur just gonna be rude abt it, don't.

examples of my art !! ;;

the first oc is mei lynn, her whole backstory is basically that she's SUUPER unlucky, like really REALLY bad luck, and on her way 2 school she did isekai'd, fell through the air, landed in a lake and broke her leg ^^

n the second oc is florian, his nickname is driam, hes a dragon shifter, meaning he has a full dragon form (which i haven't drawn yet), a half dragon-half human form, and a fully human form (i haven't drawn this yet either), n his backstory is that his parents who were also dragon shifters [and unapollogetically so] were killed by discriminatory humans who beleive shifters shouldn't be aloud rights called hunters, so he usually just parades around as a human, the only people who know hes a dragon shifter are his partners, (havent drawn them yet but he has 2 partners; his boyfriend abbie who's a cat shifter and his girlfriend mira, whos a mage that specializes in ice, water, and healing magic) and bestfriends, (elliott, a freelance programmer who beleives everyone deserves rights, shifter or not and protests these rights happily. piper, florian's roomate before he moved in with his partners, a human who lightly dabbles in plant magic but she wouldn't consider herself a mage, her apartment is above her flower shop which she named ' The Bluebell ', its her pride and joy and she hired mira to set up protection runes around the shop that activate when they close up for the night. and mikhail, whos a demon that refuses to make a deal with anyone for anything out of fear theyll hurt them because a deal with a demon always backfires on the person making the deal with them because a demon always wins in the deal they make, and demons are just angels who were abandoned by their patron god/goddess, mikhail's patron goddess was the goddess of the night and stars, he was abandonded by her out of hope that the mistreatment he got for being an angel would lessen and in a way it did because in the end he found a family.)

this post wasnt sposed 2 b about my ocs but it was fun to write about...

next post i do will most likely be alot of headcanons for alot of different fandoms !!

[klug]

Ranting

This post is kind of annoying to me because I have always hated the divide of "lore/character fan" vs "gameplay fan" as someone who doesn't identify strictly with either category. I love playing Puyo Puyo and I love the characters and the world of it. I do not think I slot into either box easily.

I also just kind of don't really like how this person says the sub communities don't get along when I feel like that is mostly because a lot of competitive players in the eng speaking community act like they're too good to care about the characters... This sentiment is not as prominent as before, true, but I still see echoes of it now and then and I actually think it just further alienates the casual audience of the game from interacting with the community and its competitive aspect.

There is a lot to like about the competitive community, but I've met so many people who feel embarrassed about their skills because of how people talked down to them about it. And like. I'll be honest guys: let people suck at the game. I'm never going to be a high level player and I'm just barely scraping by as an intermediate player and that's actually fine.

This point also doesn't make sense to me. I thought this was obvious.

Ever since it was Madou Monogatari, Puyo Puyo has always featured the characters as a selling point. that anime aesthetic maybe wasn't prominent in Japan because it's normalized there (it's just cartoons...) but I don't think people played the original Puyo Puyo because it was a competitive game, I think they played it because of the characters.

Additionally the interesting visuals (spells, characters, chain animations, general UI stuff) of Puyo Puyo are appealing to people that don't know the game (and it's also highly satisfying)

This point doesn't make sense to me either because Japanese and American boxarts are not very different for Puyo Puyo.

It is not a fault of how it is marketed to..."the west". but a larger issue here of how it is marketed with a focus on its brand than what makes it unique from other puzzlers. The last Puyo Puyo game to feature characters on its boxarts was Puyo Puyo Fever 2 anyway.

I concede that this person brought up Moo Niitani emphasizing the characters more than the actual gameplay when Puyo Puyo was still owned by compile and that Sega just lost sight of that along the way, but I don't think this should be surprising.

The characters of Puyo Puyo have always been part of its draw (and that sometimes means the lore is important)

Additionally: the people who will be going out and buying new Puyo games are going to be mostly casual players who like the characters or have some nostalgia for the series.

If the competitive community can stick with Champions/eSports until the end of time, there is genuinely no reason for them to be buying new games every time it comes out. There's no innovation on the main competitive game mode (Puyo Puyo Tsu) outside of minor tweaks and adjustments between games as far as I am aware.

But the people who like the characters/stories or want to play it with friends etc are going to be most of the people going out to buy the game...and that's what speaks to Sega. I don't really know why people think targeting the competitive community would be better. In fact, in a perfect world, a game would have a lot of single player and local multiplayer content for an average casual player but also good online, tournament support, and more customizable features for the competitive players. We don't live in this world right now, but I really don't know what point OPs post was trying to make in the first place? A lot of this is stuff you realize if you actually engage with "both sides" of the community and don't stick to a small bubble

[sporesgalaxy]

how did you decide on your fursona? i keep on trying to make one but none of the animals i test out feel right

well. It was a long process (seriously, 7 years long) so I'll just recount it for you in summary and hope that helps?

Starts out simple: I consider myself to possess some stereotypical dog traits. 1) I'm easily excitable and a little...look I'm not dumb, but I can be...slow. Or dense. Or something. 2) When they say "following someone around like a lost puppy," I identified with that SO much as a kid that I defnitely literally roleplayed it at some point.

Unfortunately, I have no advice for picking out a unique base animal for this reason.

Jump ahead to me being 14 and this being a pony blog. I found out most of the cool artists I liked had fursonas and decided I wanted one. Dog was the obvious choice! (And I have blond hair, so Golden Retriever was also obvious)

My habit of making self inserts who are EITHER a silly fairy with the power of god OR a super normal guy goes all the way back to the dawn of this blog...and Puppy was originally the latter (see: far left image below)

The most interesting it got was when I'd draw Puppy with colors from real pictures of the sky (center image). I was unsure how to work in my silly pixie identity (far right image).

I recall trying a few times to make a fairy doggy, but it just never quite felt right.

For many years I barely drew my fursona. It was but a distant memory...........until at last I made an effort to revisit it in college!!! I reflected on the sorts of cartoon animal characters I liked: Sanrio and classic American cartoons...

UNTIL AT LAST...WHEN I LEAST EXPECTED IT...AN INCREDIBLE BOLT OF INSPIRATION STRUCK WHILE I WAS TRYING TO DISPEL NERVOUS ENERGY BEFORE A MATH TEST.

MAD RAT PURGATORY!!

In a fit of deranged, meme-addled glee, I combined my Toon Fursona (left) with an ongoing wip design for a Sonic the Hedgehog self-insert fairy creature (right)

AND THE PERFECT BEAST WAS BORN.

Hearing the song in the moment I did helped me realize a certain something-or-other that I've always held close to my heart as someone who grew up with no explanation for the strange and unpredictable mental landscape I lived in as a consequence of undiagnosed OCD and ADHD:

That is, humorous juxtaposition found in the gleefully grotesque, the vivaciously violent, the merrily morbid, and all manner of adorable abominations. Thus: the bug body horror.

So, ummmmmmmm. Final notes: Follow your heart! Draw while listening to music? Think about what you're naturally drawn to and compelled by! And have fun!

[socialbunny]

15 questions for 15 mutuals :3

i was tagged by @annieshowell, @obsoletepixels, @goatskickin, @shitysimp, @sicksadsim and @jsasimmer <3333333333 thanks guys ily >:3

are you named after anyone? no, my mom had two names she wanted to pick for me and she and my dad settled on the one i have. but she was alsoo watching this movie in the hospital and one of the characters has my exact birth name so i think that cemented the name lol. and my name dirk, i named myself after dirk dreamer bc he's so me fr

when was the last time you cried? can't remember exactly

do you have kids? No I don't need that that in my life rn

do you use sarcasm a lot? I dooo, never in a mean way tho bc i feel like using sarcasm to mask how u feel abt some1 is pussy fr. i love joking around and poking fun and just being silly and weird and chillin like? irl personality is hit or miss with people. ive been told i talk back too much or always have something to say like? 😭

what sports do you play/have you played? when i was in elementary school i was in a dance group (terrible at it i have no rhythm at all it's honestly embarrassing) and when i was in high school i was in a tennis class (which was a PE alternative where we honestly never did shit tbh, towards the end of the school year we'd just be in the computer lab most of the time) and i considered joining the actual team but i also sucked at it 😭 and i really don't like doing team shit esp sports bc people start acting weird and i start getting real agitated.

what's the first thing you notice about other people? like physical i guess their outfit and hair and other shit i wear my glasses forr but shittttt, like just talking to someone i can catch their vibe really quick. just the way someone talks can tell you a lot abt them

eye color? Brown

scary movies or happy endings? it really depends on what the movie is

any special talents? nothing in particular i can think of. i think anything i do i'm really good at but not especially good at you know. i used to be told i'm really good at drawing but i was told this by the type of ppl who say they cant draw a stick figure so. take that as u will

where were you born? Texas 🤠

what are your hobbies? I love drawing and writing and reading and all the shit in that sphere of hobbies in theory 😭 been in a slump lately and doing shit seems harder than it needs to be. I love watching animation analysis and critiques, and listening to those 3hr vids of ppl talking abt shit i will never watch or care about while i do other bullshit. i really like making renders right now it gives me something to do without getting distracted too much. i also love playing really old shitty video games that have pages of cut content on tcrf

do you have any pets? No :( never had any pets when i was a kid either bc my mom had a whole bunch of dogs as a child and she didnt fw the idea of having any more animals in her house

how tall are you? 5'4 :)

fave subject in school? I love English (predictably I guess 😭)

dream job? i'd love to work in the animation industry in any way possible <3 or work in tv in general. probably have my own cartoon some day but thats such a stretchhhhhhhh i cant even work on my sims fanfiction or any oc shit LMAO. if not then i'd accept nothing less than a job where i don't have to talk to a lot of people and get payed billions of dollars to do bullshit

i dont have 15 ppl to tag since i do ask games so slowlyyyyy but i'll tag @despairoftheendless, @junkskoer, @faghotline and @hyperthinks !!! <3

[your-local-uwu-artist]

how's the smurfing going?

it's going good! my google doc is at over 5 pages, I got some nice sketches and the responses have been very helpful and fun >:D (shout out to isopod guy) the only problem is trying to not make my bias of who's my favorite smurf to be tooo obvious fndkjsa

plus the constant struggle between needing to do research and rewatch episodes and read wikipedia articles and the fact that i get what i call 'withdraw-l'... bassically I can only go so long before I just gotta doodle fdnjak

anyway: I SUPPOSE i might as well explain what the fuck I've been doing (if anyones noticed a lack of posts in the past handufl od days: the reason for my absence is that I was busy iwth my smurfing fdja )

bassically I've always had a LOT of questions regarding the smurfs, (many of which I've had sense childhood) and it's been plaguing me because nobody else seems to care to answer these questions, I'll be like 'what chemichal do you think makes them blue?' and 'what form of asexual reproduction do you assume they use' and 'i don't think it makes sense that they'd crush on smurfette, i'd imagine their mono-sex mono-gender society wouldn't really have those concepts or well, be heterosexual for that matter' and everyone responds with 'what aere you on' (the autism spectrum) 'why are you asking me this?' (i want to here your answer) and 'it's just a cartoon' (AND SOMETIEMS YOU GOTTA ASK SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT CARTOONS) so I decided if I must do everything myself so be-it.

essentially I'm planning to make a very silly half video essay half my nonsense 'if i was in charge of a smurfs reboot' video. heres some of the doodles so far!

vanity's always been my favorite so i'm having a hard time convincing myself to draw some smurf other than him fndasjkfnask (Azrael has always been my second favorite lol) I'm really excited to draw more fo smurf village! mushrooms houses my beloved <3 tbh the village is def a plus for the live action films, while giving the smurfs eyelids and lashes and pecs did not work I do enjoy seeing cute fantasy mushroom village in a photorealistic style <3

anyway one very fun thing i learned about while researching is about these really pretty very epic and pog mushrooms that are native to new zealend and just the most brilliant shade of blue

these things are blue-tiful! And there are actually pigmented! (a lot of things in nature aren't actually blue and rather the structure of it refelcts light and shit to give it a blue appearance) the thing that gives em the blue pigment is a kind of 'azulene' but somehow just a brighter varient: they're so whimsical looking!

a funny thing I've found just through research is that a LOT of people aren't aware of smurfettes origin story, or thought that the origin story was from the live action films, this is so strange to me cause like ????? it's been there sense the begining comics, and theres plenty of episodes where it's mentioned

I'm also suprised by how many people seem to be fond of the new female smurfs: so I guess I'm on the unpopular side here, I've always imagined them as sorta sexless and generless, and that female smurfs (excluding artificially made ones like smurfette) just discovered and decided they preferred feminine gender expression/presentation. (i do wish i included a question asking if people as kids assumed them sexless, cause i always have)

idk I'm still working through the new cgi series and my cartoon pirating site doesn't have the second season, so maybe I'll change my mind on them

ufdnsjafnsdk sorry for rambling the hyperfixation has taken hold lmao

[elfdragon12]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who isn't really a fan of Primus' existence in transformers lore. The worst of it was Rung being Primus in IDW1. That shit made me roll my eyes so hard. Personally, I think Cybertronians being a product of the Quintessons (like in the sunbow cartoon) is a far more interesting origin for their species.

I don't necessarily mind the idea, though I would never personally use it. However, I find it absolutely hilarious that Simon Furman, the guy who hates female Transformers because it "doesn't make sense for robots to have gender, but I'll never get annoyed at male identifying robots because I consider women to be aberrant and am just fine with alienating female readers and colleagues" (there were multiple women who wrote Sunbow episodes, including Diane Duane, not to mention how Ron Friedman pushed for Arcee to exist for his daughter), went on to create robot Christianity... Which makes just as much sense as robot genders. He also wrote demons too! But GIRL ROBOTS?! Well! We have to draw the line somewhere!

The 13 Primes introduced in the Aligned continuity is just Jesus and the 12 Apostles.

For me, I would not use robot Christianity because, while I like both sci-fi and fantasy, I actually don't like to cross the streams too much in my own work. How much Transformers falls between sci-fi/science-fantasy/fantasy really depends on the writer and I just personally prefer it as sci-fi. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it. There's some great speculative fiction that straddles the line. It's just not for me to use. I am of the opinion that James Roberts did not handle it very well, particularly when he brought characters back from the dead (Lug and Tailgate's revivals were pretty bad, especially Tailgate's. I have made an edit where, instead of the Magnificence, it's a Dragon Ball). The cringiest part is perhaps the fact Primus is the character that many believe is his self-insert. He even knows that people believe this, implied in a Q&A when he tried to say Chromedome is the character he most strongly identifies with (yikes!!). I am not above self-inserts, but I wouldn't make them God!

I do very much like the Sunbow origin story with the Quintessons and gives some very interesting ideas on how Cybertronian history developed as a result. That is what I will always default to whenever writing my own Transformers fanfiction. Now! I do find the concept of Quintessons finding Cybertron with this robot people already there proceeding to colonize and enslave them interesting and, in the process, Cybertronians lose their history and so maybe there's a Primus. However, no one truly knows. (If Primus did exist, rather than a deity, he's an original Cybertronian that all future Cybertronians were then copied/improved upon, even doing the building himself! Perhaps mythologized/idealized over the millenia, but none of this sci-fi flavored Christianity stuff.)

I also like the Matrix as a supercomputer that has become so advanced and powerful over the many millennia that it's hard to know if it's science or magic.